The Over-Break System

Navigating through the winding yet well-planned and laid-out blueprint of the Mansion, Cynrik headed toward the basement and eventually came to a halt before an enormous circular vault-style door.

Stepping up and placing his outstretched right palm on the highly technological lock, a faint laser light scanned his palm before a robotic voice started speaking.

”Palm print and fingerprints verified; please proceed to Ocular Scan.” Going through the motions, Cynrik moved on from the palm and finger scanner by placing his eye on an object that looked like something from an optometrist’s office.

”Ocular Scan verified; please proceed to DNA Scan.” The same robotic Female voice spoke clearly and directly, prompting Cynrik to bite the tip of one of his fingers, draw blood, and place a drop on a third device.

”DNA Scan Verified, please move to the Cipher Code panel.” This time, Cynrik smirked because this was one of his favorite inventions to date.

If somehow someone could get to this step of unlocking the vault, good for them; however, breaking the ever-changing Cipher Code was only possible if the individual understood the complex arrays of Ciphers that would be randomly generated.

He had allowed Selene to attempt to break the coded passwords time and time again; however, even after two years, she was utterly stumped when she got to this stage, to the point that Cynrik ended up making her a unique entrance key that would only unlock the door if her DNA, prints, and special password would be entered.

Even so, since the Code was in Norse, the odds of anyone figuring it out were negligible at best, and even then, there was a physical key she required to open the lock.

Of course, someone would first have to Break into the Shadow Realm, pass all the security measures, and then FIND the vault door in the first place, but still, with the things Cynrik was creating and his high level of paranoia, it was all par for the course.

Chuckling to himself, Cynrik wasted no time breaking the randomly generated Code, and with a loud his, multiple green lights flashed in the hallway, and the vault door unlocked, revealing an expansive and well-lit room.

At first glance, the layout of the Workshop was precisely what one would expect from someone suffering from OCD, such as Cynrik. Everything had its proper place, hanging on wall mounts or neatly placed on one of the hundreds of shelves.

Frankly, the place looked more like one of the vaults Cynrik and Selene had raided several years back, except for a massive work area filled with a wide assortment of tools and materials.

Glancing around the large 400 by 400-meter underground Workshop, Cynrik’s eyes flicked from one shelf to the next, observing multiple different ”Projects” that could be observed in various stages of development.

From weapons attachments that could be used with everyone in MyrkLys’ equipment to all sorts of gadgets that served different purposes and functions, the wares on display would be enough to make even the richest of people feel faint at heart due to the apparent expenditures that Cynrik had made.

They would have no way of knowing that nearly every bit of technology and resource in the Workshop once had a previous owner who graciously left it to him.

That’s right, the hoard of treasures that Cynrik and Selene had stolen years ago was still around and being used without reserve by him. Everything, from the tools and equipment to the Mansion itself, had been lifted by him and Selene before being repurposed as they saw fit.

Chuckling to himself as he remembered there were still hundreds of billions of credits worth of resources, treasures, artifacts, and materials still resting in his enormous inventory, Cynrik glanced around the room, observing its present state after not having been able to set foot in the area for months.

”Well, at least I know the ventilation system kept this place free of dust while I was on summer break.” Nodding his head while running his fingertips across one of the shelves, Cynrik was pleased to see that it was free and clear of dust or particulates.

”Sigh. There are so many projects and insufficient time for them. Alas, I will crack the Runic Inscriptions for time dilation someday, and then all that will be fixed, but for now, let’s work on the new Hidden Blade mechanism.”

With that thought in the open, Cynrik mosied toward a shelving unit housing dozens of replicas of his Assassin’s Tools before picking one up and heading to his workbench.

---

Several hours later, while Cynrik was fully immersed in his work, the door to the vault opened, and Selene, with Sie perched on her shoulder, walked in carrying a tray of food.

She knew how her husband got once he began working on something, so she spent the day lazing around with her children, watching movies, and playing before dinner before eventually fixing something for the kids before she and her husband.

With the exhausted Vii out cold in his bedroom and Sie refusing to leave her side, Selene ticked away at the entrance procedures for the Workshop and soon enough stood behind her husband with an abundant amount of Mac n cheese and dinosaur-shaped chicken nuggets.

In the beginning, Selene teased Cynrik, saying he had the appetite of a six-year-old; however, it was all in good fun, and she quickly got some cooking lessons from Cinyah.

After all, there was no way she would let her man survive off of processed foods. Instead, everything on the tray was made from scratch; she even got the cookie cutters Cinyah used when Cynrik and Brance were little to make the proper Dinosaur Nuggie shapes.

”Darlinng~ dinner.” Calmly walking up behind Cynrik, Selene watched as he placed down the tools he was working with and cleared up space on his bench.

”Mmmmm smells good,” He said while spinning around in his chair and greeting Selene and Sie.

”Well, I made it from scratch, just how you like it. Six cheese Mac and homemade dino nuggies, hehe.” Giggling as she placed the food down in front of Cynrik, Selene pulled out a chair and sat beside him before portioning out the food for herself and him and withdrawing some soda from her inventory.

As this occurred, a certain little girl watched the food’s movement with hawk-like…er…raven-like vision. Although she had already eaten, like the little glutton she was, Sie seemed to have a second stomach specifically for her Mama’s cooking, something which was WELL known by her parents.

Noticing his daughter’s eyes trained on a stegosaur-shaped nuggie, Cynrik smirked and calmly picked it up.

”Sie, what do we say when we want something others have?” Cynrik remarked without looking up at Sie.

’UNHAND MY NUGGIE, YOU DASTARDLY FIEND!’ Sie Chirped loudly in response to her Papa’s provocations.

”ATTA GIRL, Here you go.” Laughing loudly, and strangely enough, exactly like his father, Cynrik tossed the nuggie into the air and saw the flash of Sie gulping it down with an ecstatic expression.

Thwack!

”Darling, stop teaching the kids to act like hoodlums; you know how Mother reacts to them when they follow your teachings.” Unable to hide the budding laughter creeping onto her face, Selene fake-thumped and scolded Cynrik.

{{Ppfft, at least she doesn’t swear like us, hahaha!}} And like that, another day passed as the small yet strange young family bonded over Dino nuggies and mac n cheese.