Death… And Me

Chapter 4450: What Is This For?

Rean touched the electronic lock, and the surface immediately began to crumble. It was only natural, considering how ancient this place was. After carefully observing the surroundings, he quickly understood that the containers blocking the door had unintentionally acted as protection for the lock all this time. Without them, the already fragile mechanism would have probably collapsed long ago.

Removing the broken pieces with extreme care, Rean examined the inside of the electronic lock. His Godly Sense spread through the tiny structure, allowing him to see countless microrunes embedded within the circuitry. Just like the previous ruins they had explored, he could not fully understand the purpose of these ancient runes. At best, he could make educated guesses based on their patterns, energy circulation, and overall design.

”It is impressive that this thing managed to survive for so long,” Rean commented while carefully examining the components. ”If I were to do something as simple as breathing too strongly on it, the circuitry, runes, and energy pathways would probably collapse immediately.”

Roan looked at the hidden door and the surrounding walls, comparing their conditions. ”The door itself and the walls seem to be in surprisingly good shape, though. Of course, we could always force our way inside, although I doubt there would be much left to find. If the lock is already falling apart just from being touched, anything stored inside should have suffered a similar fate.”

Lukay, who had been observing everything from the side, couldn’t hide his disappointment. ”What I can say with certainty is that these ruins are even older than the ones I explored before. The electronic lock crumbling by itself is proof that no Sacred Relic runes remained intact until now. If you want, we can simply leave and continue searching elsewhere.”

Instead of becoming discouraged, Rean’s curiosity only increased. He took several Array Tools from his Spatial Ring and started examining the lock more closely.

’We don’t know much about the runes used in this lock,’ Rean told Sister Orb through their soul connection. ’But considering there is still energy flowing through it, don’t you think we can at least redirect the signal and force it to unlock?’

[I was thinking the same thing. Based on how the energy circulates inside the runes, try adjusting the...]

Sister Orb continued giving him instructions while Rean carefully worked on the ancient mechanism. Every movement was slow and precise, as a single mistake could destroy the remaining structure completely.

However, before he could make much progress, Rean suddenly looked outside the warehouse.

’There is another Godly Creature approaching this area,’ he informed everyone. ’Its presence is getting stronger.’

Kentucky immediately spread his wings and moved toward the entrance.

”Leave it to me!” Kentucky said confidently before flying away.

Rean continued working without interruption. Since they had remained in the same place for quite some time, their presence had started attracting Godly Creatures from farther and farther away. The creatures wandering around the fortress were naturally drawn to the disturbance caused by their energy.

Fortunately, Kentucky was more than enough to deal with them. The creatures that had entered the fortress so far were only Godly Spawns, with a single Godly Beast among them. At their current level, none of those could truly threaten the group. Only a Godly Predator would be dangerous enough to require everyone’s attention.

Time passed as Rean continued adjusting the ancient mechanism. The process was much more complicated than simply repairing a normal formation. The runes inside the lock were unlike anything commonly used in the current era, and even with Sister Orb’s assistance, he needed to carefully test every change before applying it.

Finally, after nearly two hours of continuous work, Rean successfully redirected the signal within the lock.

An electric current flowed through the ancient mechanism, and the small light above the door suddenly flickered before turning on.

*Zun!*

The door opened quickly. However, the moment it moved, the vibration was enough to completely destroy the fragile electronic lock Rean had been working on. The remaining pieces fell apart, scattering onto the ground.

Naturally, nobody cared about that anymore. The important part was that the entrance had been opened. If the attempt had failed, they could have simply broken through the door by force anyway.

As soon as the door opened, a powerful gust of air surged inward, forcing everyone to stabilize themselves for several seconds. Rean immediately realized what had happened.

”It seems the space inside was completely sealed. It was probably a vacuum.”

Once the air pressure stabilized, Rean and the others entered the hidden vault.

Compared to the enormous warehouse outside, the room was surprisingly small. However, unlike the rest of the ruins, this place was almost perfectly preserved. The only dirt inside came from the dust that had been dragged in when the door opened after countless years of being sealed.

At the center of the room was an ancient array, while several closed containers lined the walls. Each of them possessed its own electronic lock, although they appeared to be in much better condition than the ones outside.

Rean approached the array at the center and carefully inspected it. A surprised expression appeared on his face.

”Interesting. This array is actually in excellent condition. It is just as old as everything outside, but this chamber must have prevented the passage of time from damaging it as much.”

While Rean focused on the array, Celis ignored it completely. His attention was instead fixed on two golden boxes located at the back of the room.

”Those two are spatial storages,” Celis said.

Everyone immediately looked in that direction.

”Oh, look at these,” Kentucky said while opening one of the other containers nearby. Inside were several vacuum-sealed bags filled with different types of runes. Some were extremely small microrunes, while others were larger and more complex.

”Rean, aren’t these Sacred Relic runes?”

Rean walked over and examined them carefully before smiling. ”They aren’t exactly the same, but they are definitely related. With some adjustments, they can probably be repurposed for several Sacred Relic functions.”

He then looked toward Lukay. ”Senior Lukay, you were right. There are indeed quite a few usable runes here. They aren’t comparable to what we discovered in the previous ruins, but the quantity is still enough to be valuable.”

Lukay’s expression immediately brightened. ”Great! I was beginning to think this exploration of the ruins would end up being completely wasted. It is good to know something useful was still preserved here.”

Without hesitation, Lukay stored all the recovered materials inside his Spatial Ring wrapped around his core. Strictly speaking, he was still the leader of this Elite Exploration Group, so carrying the important resources was part of his responsibility.

The twins’ group had no objections. They had never been concerned about ownership of the resources they found during the exploration anyway.

After everything useful had been collected, only the central array and the two golden spatial storages remained.

Rean glanced at Celis, noticing his unusual interest. ”You seem quite excited about those two, Celis.”

Celis did not deny it. ”There are two spatial storages there, but one of them is leaking a very small amount of energy. It is definitely Godly Energy.”

Rean looked back at the ancient array in the center of the room. ”Then there is no doubt. Those spatial storages’ contents were probably used to power this array.”

Taking his Array Tools out once again, Rean approached the first golden box. ”Well, there is only one way to know for sure. Let’s open it.”

Accessing the Spatial Storage was not as simple as opening a normal container. The electronic locks protecting the two golden boxes were clearly designed to prevent unauthorized access, and even though Rean could not fully understand the ancient runes involved, he could tell that forcing them open carelessly could damage what was inside.

”These locks are different from the one outside,” Rean explained while examining the structure. ”The previous one was only connected to the door mechanism, but these seem to have additional protection. They were likely meant to preserve the contents until someone with the correct authorization arrived.”

He paused for a moment, observing the energy pathways. ”Unfortunately, whoever created these did not expect someone from our era to eventually find them.”

Both Rean’s and Roan’s hair changed at the same time, turning white and black. Dark Element started flowing through Rean’s Array Tools, entering the circuitry hidden behind the lock.

”For this one, I will simply corrode the internal system,” Rean explained. ”I don’t see any self-destruction mechanism, so there shouldn’t be a problem. Whoever stored these Spatial Storages here probably believed they would remain untouched unless someone with authorization got in this room.”

The Dark Element slowly spread through the ancient circuitry, weakening the pathways without damaging the container itself. With his tools, Rean carefully redirected Roan’s Dark Element into the correct areas, creating openings inside the lock without destroying the ancient structure.

While Rean worked, Lukay took the opportunity to satisfy his curiosity. He looked toward Celis, who was watching the process silently.

”I have been wondering about something for a while,” Lukay said. ”Why does their hair change like that?”

Celis glanced at Rean and Roan before explaining. It wasn’t a secret anyway.

As the two talked, Rean continued his work. Then...

*Clack...*

The mechanism of the box released.

The golden box slowly opened, allowing everyone to inspect the Spatial Storage inside. Immediately, their Senses entered the storage space to check its contents.

As expected, there were Godly Crystals inside. However, upon closer inspection, they realized they were not natural crystals at all.

Instead, they were perfectly crafted spheres designed to store Godly Energy.

Lukay’s eyes widened as he recognized them.

”Hey, these are Godly Pearls!”

Everyone looked at him.

”Pearls?” Rean asked curiously.

”Yes!” Lukay said excitedly. ”They are extremely useful for cultivation and are incredibly rare. I have never personally encountered one before. From what I know, these Godly Pearls are usually equivalent to Godly Predator Crystals, but even easier to absorb.”

He carefully examined the contents of the Spatial Storage, clearly unable to hide his excitement. ”I once read about an Elite Exploration Group that found Godly Pearls with quality comparable to Godly Horror Crystals. Unfortunately for them, there were only two. Finding even a few of these is already considered an amazing harvest.”

Lukay counted the spheres inside. ”There are twenty-two of them here. This is a very good discovery.”

However, after a moment, his excitement slowly faded. He looked toward Rean and the others with a complicated expression. ”Although... now that I think about it, after seeing you guys kill so many Godly Predators, which I helped... my excitement is disappearing quite quickly...”

Rean and the others immediately understood what he meant.

After all, during their exploration, they had already collected more than a hundred Godly Predator Crystals. Compared to that amount, twenty-two Godly Pearls, despite being extremely valuable, did not seem as impressive anymore.

Kentucky tilted his head. ”Are you saying we ruined your sense of value?”

Lukay thought about it for a moment before answering.

”...Yes. Yes, you probably did.”

Everyone laughed at that... except Roan, who ignored it all.

After examining the Godly Pearls a little longer, Rean looked through the remaining contents of the Spatial Storage. There were a few other materials, but nothing immediately caught his attention. They seemed to be runes and other things made to fix or be used in the maintenance of the array in that vault.

However, one particular object made him stop.

He reached inside and pulled out a rectangular item resembling a tablet. Its surface was smooth, and although it was clearly an ancient piece of technology, it had suffered no damage in the Spatial Storage;

Rean turned it around in his hands, examining the unknown device.

”Now...” he said curiously. ”What is this supposed to be?”

The ancient tablet remained silent in his hands, but everyone could feel that unlike most of the objects found in these ruins, this one had survived almost perfectly.

At that moment, Rean’s eyes turned to the array.