Walls sturdy enough to withstand sun, windblown sand, and time turned to soft mud in Shade's hands.
He reached into the mud and soon pulled out a roll of parchment. Having been completely sealed within the wall and isolated from the air, the parchment had been preserved fairly well. Though the ink faded somewhat upon contact with the air, its contents remained legible.
Shade still chose to turn it into a toy. As for his hands, now smeared with filthy mud, water was precious, so he rubbed them against the wall a few times before bending down and burying them in the sand to clean them. That counted as getting them clean.
Her light brown skin gleamed beneath the sunlight, displaying the beauty and health of her body. Ms. Meister continued leading the way, and beneath an overturned stone fountain on the outskirts of the ruins, Shade found another buried chest.
The metal chest was so rusted that its rough surface hurt to touch. The chest itself held no value, and its lock had long since been ruined by time. The parchments inside were probably only fit for kindling.
But at the bottom of the chest was something wrapped in a piece of red tattered cloth. Shade opened it and discovered a piece of black metal.
It was roughly shaped like one-third of a round disc, with crude markings on its surface. The metal itself was far from ordinary, because this cold piece of metal was the only item found in the ruins so far that Toy Making could not turn into a toy.
"Let's head back. There isn't anything else interesting here."
Only after Shade turned the most likely useless chest into a toy and put it away did the lady standing behind him speak.
Shade did not ask