$01-00-06-23-1-1 [soundStopAll] [bgm BGM_EVENT_5 0.1] [charaSet B 1012001 1 Bedivere] [charaSet D 98086000 1 Holmes] [scene 21410] [charaTalk D] [charaFace D 0] [charaFadein D 0 1] [fadein black 2.0] [wait fade] @Holmes What's the Atlas Institute, you ask? An excellent question, [&Mr.:Ms.] [%1]. [k] @Holmes It is an institute of alchemists built in the Atlas Mountains of Egypt. [k] @Holmes It's also known as the Titan's Pit. [k] @Holmes It's one of three branches of the Mage's Association, dealing with accumulation and measurement. [k] @Holmes Their alchemy is not at all like alchemy as you may know it, the kind that became mainstream in the Middle Ages. They are the progenitors of Magecraft, focused on investigating the principles of the world. [k] [charaFace D 5] @Holmes While they are certainly mages, I understand that their Magical Circuits are rather paltry. [k] @Holmes Consequently, they do not rely on magical energy to learn the mysteries of the world, instead using a great number of tools. [k] [charaFace D 0] @Holmes In a way, these tools evolved similarly to scientific progress. [k] @Holmes They treated Pseudo Spiritrons... souls as energy that could be observed and manipulated. This led to Homunculi, lifeforms that possess Magical Circuits. [k] [charaFace D 5] @Holmes “We have no need to become the strongest.[sr]We simply have to create the strongest tool.” [k] @Holmes That was their motto. True to their words, they created many weapons. [k] @Holmes In the world of Magecraft, they are called the Seven Taboos. The Atlas Institute created seven weapons capable of destroying the world. [k] @Holmes Realizing that they had reached their limits, they sealed them away. [k] [charaFace D 4] @Holmes ...There are still many theories about why they decided to build such weapons in the first place. [k] [charaFace D 0] @Holmes The director of the Atlas Institute was given the title Atlasia. [k] @Holmes I saw a wall plate on the way here.[sr]It said Zepia Eltnam Atlasia. [k] [charaFace D 5] @Holmes He was likely the last director. There seems to have been a successor designated, but the name wasn't recorded. [k] @Holmes The directors of this institute would always go mad, and as a result, they created forbidden weapons that would destroy the world. [k] @Holmes It's also possible that they would try to prevent the destruction of the world, fail in the progress, and then go mad as a result... [k] @Holmes Regardless, this place is a storehouse of “Mystic Codes” unparalleled anywhere else on earth. [k] [charaFace D 4] @Holmes Although in reality, it's more like a disposal site. [k] [charaFace D 0] @Holmes The alchemists of this institute would constantly invent things. These were treated as failed creations, and a mountain of terrible weapons accumulated. [k] @Holmes We're headed to the center of that. What do you think? Did you understand my summary of the Atlas Institute? [k] ?1:...I got that it's dangerous. [charaFace D 1] @Holmes A simple deduction![sr]But that's perfectly fine! [k] ?2:Why's it called the Titan's Pit? [charaFace D 3] @Holmes Hm. Do you know the titan who held up the world in Greek mythology? His name was Atlas. [k] [charaFace D 0] @Holmes The name may have been influenced by his story. [k] @Holmes I've also heard that it was called the Atlas Institute because it's in the Atlas Mountains. A simple reason for naming it so. [k] @Holmes The origin of alchemy at the Atlas Institute is tied with the progenitor of Magecraft in Egyptian mythology, the goddess Isis. [k] @Holmes That connection may be why the institute appeared in the territory of Egypt in this Singularity. [k] ?! [charaFadeout D 0.1] [charaTalk B] [charaFace B 0] [charaFadein B 0.1 1] @Bedivere They fled underground to study Magecraft...[sr]No wonder I had never heard of this group of mages. [k] @Bedivere However, I don't see any students.[sr]Did the Atlas Institute fall to ruin prior to this time? [k] [charaFadeout B 0.1] [charaTalk D] [charaFace D 4] [charaFadein D 0.1 1] @Holmes ...No. As far as I have been able to deduce, the Atlas Institute was active from the BC era up to 2018 AD. [k] @Holmes If there aren't any people here, then... [k] [charaFace D 0] @Holmes No, I shouldn't speak based on assumptions.[sr]We'll know for certain when we reach the center. [k] @Holmes An underground academy filled with mysteries. A research facility created with unknown techniques[line 3] [k] @Holmes Is its true identity an ideal shelter, or merely an enormous tomb? [k] [charaFace D 5] @Holmes Let us hold hope in our hearts, and press forward to see the truth. [k] [messageOff] [fadeout black 2.0] [bgmStop BGM_EVENT_5 2.0] [wait fade] [soundStopAll] [end]