'Is this because the system is asleep? Damn, he corrupted so much before. Or is it because my pickaxe got upgraded, changing how the calculation works?' Ben wondered in his mind. No matter how hard he thought, he couldn't find the true reason. In the end, he could only let out a heavy sigh.
With a tough thud, two Krell scouts with upgraded chitin stepped in front of him. "Have you rested enough, Elvira? Let's go."
"Sure, I'm waiting for you." She stood up and walked toward the engraving, placing her palm on it.
Ben stared at the engraving. 'It looks like Egyptian hieroglyphs, but the pictures don't feel like they're from there.'
Based on his experience, hieroglyphs usually had images of pyramids, human body parts, lions, hawks, and the like. But this one was filled with strange symbols he couldn't make sense of. Only a few were familiar—a depiction of a third eye, something resembling a computer, and a modern cross.
Suddenly, the hieroglyphs began emitting a blue light. Before he knew it, they were engulfed by it. The surroundings blurred—the beautiful white gemstone walls, ceiling, ground, and even the white lava all vanished, replaced by a dusty metallic floor. Ben looked around, and an eerie sense of familiarity crept over him. 'This… is like a bunker.'
Concrete walls surrounded them, and in front stood a massive vault door. Ben had worked on a few underground bunker projects before, so he was familiar with many door models, but this one baffled him. It was huge—wide enough for two giant creatures to walk side by side with plenty of space left. The door itself towered easily over ten blocks tall. His eyes darted around, searching for some kind of terminal.
Meanwhile, Elvira walked toward the door. She carefully ran her fingers along the surface, then knocked on it a few times. A dull, muffled thump was her only response.
Frowning, she repeated the knocks, this time channeling her mana into each tap. With every knock, her mana spread out like delicate spiderwebs, creeping into the door's structure. If she sensed even the slightest change, she marked the area before moving to the next section. This was her method for exploring ruins—making sure she didn't trigger any traps.
Ben, still searching for a terminal, furrowed his brows. 'I don't believe there's nothing. Even if it's designed to only open from the inside, there's always a failsafe.'
Of course, getting access to it wouldn't be easy. But for a vault of this size, there had to be an emergency mechanism. A vault this massive wouldn't be built without some kind of contingency—otherwise, a single error could lock away all the treasures inside permanently. 'Is it some kind of biometric keypad? A mechanical override, like a manual crank? Or… something magical?'
Considering how they were teleported, Ben felt it had to be something magical—but mixed with technology he was familiar with. He turned to Elvira, intending to discuss the matter, but seeing her still busy, he decided against interrupting her. Instead, he chose to explore more. He ordered the two Krell scouts to help, this time focusing on canvassing each panel on the floor and walls.
Time passed as they knocked on different spots, tried pulling panels off, and pressed on anything that looked like a button, but they found nothing. Meanwhile, Elvira's progress on the vault door also hit a dead end. Her face was covered in sweat as she stepped back, letting out a frustrated breath. "This thing is far more complicated than I thought."
"You finally done?" Ben asked, glancing at Elvira, who was wiping sweat off her forehead.
"Not really," she muttered with a frown." The more I look, the more confused I get. I can't find any traps or any mechanism to open the door. And the strangest part? No matter how far I probe, it feels like the door's thickness never ends."
Ben frowned but quickly recalled how Elvira could shrink objects here—and his own dimensional pouch. It wasn't impossible. 'Did they use some kind of protection to mess with detection magic?' He figured it was plausible. He shared his thoughts with Elvira, explaining his experience building similar doors and what kind of mechanisms they usually had.
Elvira listened in silence. But when Ben mentioned code mechanisms using biometric information like fingerprints and eye scans, her eyes lit up. "We have a method that uses special mana signatures to trigger mechanisms. It's the same thing I put in those talismans to activate them."
"Then do you have any idea what kind mana signature they use?"
"No, but I guess we can find some clues from the engravings outside." She scanned the area, searching for any markings or symbols, in case she miss something. "Give me some time my beloved, I will try to crack this code."
"Well, time is the only thing we have now," Ben replied with a sigh. To get out, they needed to find the exit—but how could they do that when they were already stuck at the entrance? "Before you get busy again, can you tell me about your experience with ruins? Have you ever seen anything ? I mean, similar architecture."
"Nope, this is the first time I've seen a ruin with this kind of architecture with my own eyes," Elvira said, her gaze sweeping across the massive vault door. "But I believe, based on reports, that the combat suit relic also came from a ruin . The structure, the material composition—everything about this place reminds me of what was described in those findings. Back then, we didn't have access to the original site, only recovered fragments and incomplete data."
'No wonder you were so excited when we found this ruin…' Ben crossed his arms, thinking back at the strange symbols outside the vault. "How about the translation for those symbol outside? Can you tell me what it meant? Maybe there's a clue we're missing."
"Honestly, I have no idea what it means."
"You what?" Ben asked in surprise. "Then how did you activate the dungeon?"