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But the treasure helped. It was certainly captivating enough to keep them distracted--so captivating, in fact, that Royo had to be careful not to get too lost in it himself. He did still have a weapon on him, if worse came to worst, but he hoped to find something else that would be useful. Even if he did manage to get past the one called Manuel, there were still subsequent opponents to think of.

Fortunately, he had some idea of what to look for--or hoped he did, at least. He had held a passing interest in ancient artifacts a few years ago, toward the end of his formal education. At the time, he hadn’t actually put much stake in such things. It was more of a guilty pleasure than anything, but needless to say, the very recent past had altered his opinion. Having encountered so many superhumans and ghosts--and now even a “god,” supposedly?

He would be rather disappointed if none of the items around here were even a little bit magical.

The temptation, he knew, was to gravitate toward any object that was glowing, but according to an essay of dubious origin he recalled reading, that would be a rookie mistake.

While it was true that the emission of light could indeed be indicative of some manner of “power” stored therein, it was very unwise on the treasure seeker’s part to touch such objects without reserve. Even discounting the still-quite-credible threat of deadly radiation, there was another potential problem, according to the essay. Oftentimes, these “forces beyond mortal reckoning,” as the essay had dubbed them, would use the human body as a conduit--not unlike that of electricity, though potentially even more dangerous.

Now, perhaps that was all nonsense, but Royo was of a mind to exercise caution, nonetheless. He knew, at least, that those glowing jewels which had surrounded Malast were safe to the touch, as those were simply akaridaiya, or light diamonds.

Well. Calling them “simply” akaridaiya was perhaps doing them a disservice. Akaridaiya had been tremendously valuable in the Undercrust since ancient times and had never ceased being so. Perhaps it was only natural they should treasure objects which could emit sustained, unfueled, harmless light.

The Hun’Kui weren’t particularly bothered by the darkness, of course, but other races could be, and Royo knew for a fact that surface-dwellers would pay absolutely absurd prices for those diamonds, if he could find the right buyer. Why, the volume that had surrounded Malast would be worth the GDP of a small kingdom. Possibly even a not-so-small one.

All of that was potentially wonderful news, to be sure, but it was far from his mind, presently.

Royo’s goggled and glowing eyes scanned his options, eventually catching upon a notably non-metallic object. A glove. It did have a silver metal lining, but the rest of it was some kind of cloth. He had to believe that if anything here would be safe to the touch, it would be a glove.