My planet is infested with Goblins

"What do people keep down here?" Noah asked.

Director Ormond watched another sealed level slide past the transparent wall. "Anything that cannot be trusted to be kept by an ordinary storage bank."

The chamber continued its silent descent. Noah glimpsed a corridor lined with doors formed from different materials. One appeared carved from blue crystal. Another was covered in scales that shifted as though something beneath them were breathing. At the far end stood a circular barrier filled with darkness so complete that the silver lights around it seemed to bend away.

"Argent Crown stores divine weapons, inheritance contracts, fragments of destroyed worlds, dormant creatures, territorial deeds, civilization cores, and unidentifiable objects." Director Ormond said. "Some clients entrust us with wealth. Others entrust us with problems they do not wish to keep near their homes."

"And the bank gladly accepts them?"

"Ofcourse, the bank only accepts those within its capability."

"What happens if you do not understand what an object does?"

"Generally, we do not need to understand an object to preserve it. We need only to know the conditions under which it becomes dangerous."

The answer sounded rehearsed, yet Ormond spoke like a man who had seen enough dangerous things to know the difference between knowledge and caution.

The chamber slowed. The transparent wall darkened, and a silver ring appeared beneath their feet. A section opened onto a narrow corridor built from dark gray stone. No attendants moved between the doors. Old silver lines resembling roots spread through the walls, and the air carried the pressure of defensive formations resting beneath the surface.

"This is the Ancestral Descent level," Ormond said. "Only bloodline inheritances, sealed clan trusts, and contracts recognized by the older laws of the God Civilization are stored here."

They passed several doors, each separated by a long stretch of empty wall. One bore the image of a mountain split by lightning. Another displayed seven stars above a crown. None had handles or visible seams.

They stopped before a dark silver door engraved with a tree.

Noah recognized the image immediately, but it was far more elaborate than the crest displayed on Aelwyn clothing. Its branches supported stars while its roots coiled around a small planet. Tiny figures had been carved among the roots, and the trunk was marked with lines resembling rivers and roads.

"The vault recognizes three conditions," Ormond explained. "Aelwyn blood, the designated authority, and proximity to a Planet Seed awakening."

Noah removed the black card and bronze key. A small opening appeared at the center of the engraved tree.

"The key first."

Noah inserted it. The silver tree brightened from its roots upward.

"The card."

He pressed the black card against the trunk. Pale symbols appeared across the door, followed by a voice without age or emotion.

"Bloodline confirmed. Authority confirmed. Awakening threshold confirmed. Beneficiary: Noah Aelwyn. Depositors: Alaric Aelwyn and registered consort. Transfer conditions satisfied."

More symbols formed beneath the first.

"Argent Crown preserves the entrusted object in the condition received. Argent Crown does not guarantee function, safety, compatibility, usefulness, or value. Does the beneficiary accept responsibility for the inheritance?"

Noah looked at Ormond. "Is that normal?"

"For objects the bank cannot classify, yes."

"You do not know what is inside?"

"I know only what the deposit record permits me to know."

His father had trusted the bank enough to leave the object here. More importantly, he had trusted Noah enough to collect it without a guardian beside him.

"I accept."

The symbols vanished. The tree’s silver roots withdrew from the edges of the door, revealing a seam. The slab moved inward without sound.

Director Ormond stopped at the threshold. "The family contract permits only the beneficiary to enter."

Noah stepped inside.

The vault was smaller than he expected. It contained no shelves, storage chests, weapons, or piles of Faith Point crystals. A single pedestal stood at the center beneath a cone of white light.

A transparent case rested upon it.

Inside lay a black stone.

It was roughly the size of Noah’s palm and shaped like a broken piece of something larger. Parts of its surface were smooth enough to reflect the light, while others were rough and uneven. Thin silver markings ran through it, but they did not glow or move. They resembled mineral veins trapped beneath dark glass.

Beside the case stood a memory crystal.

Noah touched the crystal first.

Light expanded above the pedestal, forming the figures of his parents. His father wore a dark traveling coat. Noah’s mother stood beside him with one hand resting against Alaric’s arm. The image was clear enough for Noah to see the weariness around their eyes.

"If you are seeing this," Alaric began, "then the bank has confirmed that your awakening is close."

Noah’s fingers tightened against the pedestal.

"The object before you has belonged to House Aelwyn for many years, though I cannot truthfully say that we understand it. It was recovered during an expedition into ruins beyond our ancestral territory. The structure did not match any divine civilization known to our scholars, and most of its records had already been destroyed."

The image shifted, showing the black stone resting inside a larger chamber surrounded by unfamiliar symbols.

"We brought the object back," Alaric continued. "Appraisers, artifact refiners, historians, planetary researchers, and gods with specialized identification authorities examined it. None determined its purpose."

Noah’s mother spoke next. "It does not respond to Faith Points, divine power, bloodline energy, soul energy, or known planetary laws. It cannot be opened, damaged, or absorbed. We do not know whether it is a tool, a key, a fragment, or merely a material that resembles an artifact."

Alaric lifted the stone in the recording. "The only reason we believe it may be related to Planet Seeds is the place where it was found. The chamber surrounding it contained repeated references to worlds at the moment of formation. Most inscriptions were incomplete, but the surviving sections led several researchers to believe the object was intended to be present during an awakening."

Noah’s mother looked toward Alaric before facing him again. "We cannot promise it will help you. It may do nothing. It may remain exactly as it is now."

"Then why leave it to me?" Noah murmured.

Her next words came so closely after his question that it almost felt like an answer.

"Because every generation of our family inherited something the previous generation could not fully explain. Territory. Enemies. Obligations. Possibilities. This is the possibility we chose to leave you."

Alaric’s expression softened. "We could have left you Faith Points, civilization cards, or prepared planetary resources. Those would have been safer gifts, but safety is not always the same as opportunity. Do not mistake this object for a promise. Whatever happens during your awakening, your world will still depend on your judgment. A powerful artifact cannot make a wise god, and an ordinary beginning cannot prevent one from becoming great."

His mother smiled, though sadness remained in her eyes. "We hoped to stand beside you when your Planet Seed awakened. Since we cannot, take this as proof that we were thinking of that day long before we left."

The recording flickered.

"If the stone reveals nothing," Alaric said, "place it aside and continue forward. Do not waste your life attempting to force meaning from an object that refuses to provide it."

"And do not believe that our absence means you must succeed alone," his mother added. "Ask for help when you need it. Trust carefully, but do not confuse isolation with strength."

The light began to fade.

"Whatever race the Will of the God Civilization grants you," Alaric said, "guide it as if its future matters."

Then the chamber was silent again.

Noah remained before the pedestal, staring at the place where his parents had stood. Two years had passed since their departure, yet the recording made the distance feel new. They had known they might miss his awakening. They had prepared for it before telling him they were leaving.

He turned toward the case.

A silver line appeared along its edge when he placed his hand against the surface. The cover opened.

Noah reached inside and lifted the stone, but nothing happened. It was colder than the air inside the vault and heavier than its size suggested, yet it might otherwise have been a piece of polished rock taken from an ordinary riverbed. The silver markings remained dark and still. No aura emerged from it, and no hidden information entered his mind.

Noah turned it over. One side was flatter than the others. The rough edge suggested that it had once been attached to something larger, though no tool marks or fracture lines were visible.

He pressed a small amount of divine energy into it. The energy dispersed without resistance. The stone did not absorb or reject it. It simply produced no response.

He held the black card near it, then touched the bronze key to one of the silver markings. Nothing changed.

"So you really are just a stone," he said.

The stone did not object.

When Noah returned to the corridor, Director Ormond stood exactly where he had left him.

"The inheritance has been transferred?" the director asked.

"Yes."

"Then the bank’s obligation is complete."

"You saw it when my parents deposited it. Do you know anything they did not say?"

"The official record identifies it as an unclassified object of possible planetary significance. No measurable energy. No recognized authority. No confirmed function."

"That is all?"

"Your father visited this vault several times after the deposit. He never removed the object. Each visit ended with the same instruction: it was to remain sealed until you approached your awakening."

"Did he ever say why he was so certain it should go to me?"

"He was not certain."

The answer surprised Noah.

"Certainty and decision are not the same thing," Ormond continued. "Lord Alaric appeared uncertain about the object every time we discussed it. He was only certain that the choice should eventually belong to you."

The vault door closed behind them, and the silver tree dimmed until it became an ordinary engraving.

The return to the upper levels felt shorter. Noah placed the stone inside a protective container provided by the bank, though Ormond admitted that the container was more likely to protect Noah’s belongings from the stone’s weight than to protect the stone itself.

At the reception area, Lysa Venn straightened when Noah and the director appeared.

"Your access has been completed, Lord Aelwyn."

"Noah is fine."

"Yes, Lor—Noah."

He returned the bronze key and black card to his inner pocket. "Thank you for helping."

Lysa seemed uncertain whether he was mocking her. When she realized he was not, some of the tension left her shoulders. "You’re welcome."

Outside, the central financial district remained bright and orderly. Divine merchants crossed the avenue beneath advertisements for planetary resources worth more than entire neighborhoods. Wealth moved around Noah in amounts large enough to change climates, raise armies, and purchase the futures of civilizations.

Inside his school bag, he carried a black stone no one could value because no one knew whether it possessed any value at all.

By the time he returned to the eastern district, evening had settled over Astralis. The towers above the city caught the last light, while the lower streets glowed with market lamps and streams of passing vehicles.

Noah reached his apartment, locked the door, and placed the protective container on his desk. He removed the stone and set it beside the Planet Seed Awakening notice.

For the next hour, he examined it from every angle. He searched the public artifact registry for matching materials, symbols, ruins, and unidentified planetary relics. The results ranged from meteor fragments to fraudulent awakening charms sold to nervous students. None resembled the stone.

He tried divine energy once more, but the object remained unchanged. He placed it beneath the desk lamp, waited, and inspected the silver markings. They remained as dark and motionless as they had been inside the vault.

Noah finally wrapped the stone in cloth and returned it to the protective container. His parents had not promised him a miracle. They had left him a question.

He placed the container inside his school bag beside the awakening notice and closed the clasp.

Two days remained before the ceremony.

Until then, the mysterious inheritance was only a cold black stone.

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