Once a basic skill reached 500 points, it entered an entirely different realm.
Soren simply strolled into Graybeard's mansion. Even when he walked right past the guards' eyes, they noticed nothing. The Furnace of Flame was still lit, but Soren was in no hurry to go there. The artifact would undoubtedly be the top priority, and barring anything unexpected, Graybeard would be watching it himself. Soren's main objective on this trip was mithril. Even if he failed to get the artifact this time, he could always find a way to seize it from Graybeard later.
After all!
According to the original course of history, Graybeard had eventually died at the hands of mind flayers. The artifact had then become ownerless, attracting adventurers from all across the Underdark to fight over it.
Soren entered the mansion.
He could sense faint psionic fluctuations throughout the building, likely maintained by some sort of magical alarm. Not daring to be careless, Soren cautiously cast Lighten Spell on himself before moving forward.
He was looking for the treasury.
Graybeard was one of the wealthiest lords in the Underdark. He had defeated a mind flayer nest and obtained a vast fortune from it. He was also a master smith of the Underdark, and over a century of accumulated wealth was no joke. This fellow was richer than many kings of the Surface World. More importantly, he excelled at locating mineral deposits. Graybeard had discovered not only mithril veins but adamantine veins as well, though the latter discovery had been seventy or eighty years ago.
That was how Graybeard had obtained the enormous funds needed to build Gracklstugh.
In that respect, they were alike.
Without the funds from Treasure Island, Soren would probably have struggled to establish Port Nyanzaru so quickly.
Graybeard's mansion was enormous!
Soren made