Chapter 88: Entering The Third Vault (1/2)
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The link is also in the synopsis.
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[The chapter is edited by my Editor: Alan_Loo/AlanL]
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The tunnel leading to the third vault was a long one. While falling through the tunnel, Quinn estimated that the depth was at least thirty meters. He could see light at the end of the tunnel, but the passage to that light was dark, making it hard for Quinn to see anything other than the end he was swimming towards.
Thus, the second Quinn entered the tunnel, he lit up his surroundings to observe, not because he wanted to have some light as he was half falling-half swimming to increase his falling speed, but in case there was something of interest and importance on the tunnel's walls. The result he was able to glean at, as he passed the stone walls, was that the tunnel walls were smooth and clean. There were no signs of any markings or etchings that gave any information about what was to come.
Quinn felt relieved and worried while swimming through the tunnel. He was relieved because there was no extra information that needed to be memorized on the fly before exiting the tunnel, and he was worried because he was once again stepping into the unknown with no idea of what would come.
He was sure that whatever came was related to water because it was what he had interpreted from Friar's riddle. So he ramped up the water magic around him and got himself ready as he closed in towards the light at the end.
The thing at the end of the tunnel wasn't what he was expecting. Quinn was expecting there to be water when he exited the tunnel, but the reality was one-eighty degrees different.
The moment his head exited the tunnel, his breathing hitched because there was no water outside the tunnel. He couldn't get any more water inside his body through his mouth. The second he came out of the tunnel, Quinn's pupils narrowed because of the sudden cut from an oxygen source. His respiratory system was magically transformed to work inside water, but that also meant that his natural respiratory system was reshaped and, thus, he couldn't exchange gases from the air.
Quinn gasped for a solid two to three seconds before his mind caught up to what was happening, prompting him to reverse all the transfigurations in his body and went back to his human respiratory system.
The water from his lung cavity was immediately gathered up and vanished so that there wasn't any fluid buildup, and when everything was cleared, Quinn took deep breaths through his mouth to get the airflow going. The erratic gasping subsided, and Quinn went back to breathing through his nose.
Recovering from the sudden surprise, Quinn noticed something unnatural in his current position. His eyes widened when he saw that his arms were resting on the rim of the tunnel.
”... I was swimming down, right?” asked Quinn to himself.
Quinn had swum into the tunnel down from the lake bed and expected to emerge from the other end; like falling 'down' from a ceiling vent. But instead, he climbed 'up' from a manhole in a road.
He stretched his hand to push himself back and looked 'below' to see that he could still see the lake end of the tunnel.
”Okay, this is freaky and really interesting,” commented Quinn. He then decided to get out of the tunnel. He placed his hands on the rim of the tunnel and pushed himself up out of the water.
Standing on the edge of the tunnel, Quinn looked down, and even now, he could see the other side of the tunnel that opened up in the Great Lake. Quinn just needed to jump in the tunnel and sink or swim down to come out of the lake bed of the Great Lake.
”How did they do this?” remarked Quinn, looking at the dull stone cave, briefly looking for signs. ”This cave is upside down. So cool~.”
”Did gravity somehow switch without me knowing? Water does mess up with gravity perception,” holding his chin with his hand, Quinn speculated, ”Or is the tunnel some kind of portal, and I am in a separate dimension? Hoho, I will need to see what this is all about.”
Quinn wasn't planning to research further this topic before completing the vault, because if the tunnel was indeed a portal, then messing with it could end up damaging the portal, and in turn, destroying the only known way to the third vault.
After admiring the magical phenomenon, Quinn roamed his eyes all over the cave.
Starting from the tunnel, Quinn noticed that not a single drop of water from the tunnel made its way into the stone cave itself. The tunnel was filled with water to the brim, but not a single drop had splashed into the cave after Quinn had pulled himself into the stone cave.
”There is some kind of anti-water ward in here,” observed Quinn as he looked at the dry cave floor and then looked down at his body.
Not a single drop of water could be seen on Quinn's body. Combing a hand through his hair told him that even his hair was dry as if he had never swum his way into the cave.
”Yup, a version of anti-water ward,” confirmed Quinn as he examined the credibility of his speculation by dunking his hand into the tunnel and pulling it back to see that not a single drop of water had made its way into the cave on his hand. ”Does it mean I can't sweat in here, or do the hydrophobic properties only extend to the lake water?”
Scanning the other parts of the cave, Quinn looked up and examined the light source that illuminated the entire stone cave. It was a load of crystal sticking out of the roof, scattering soft water blue light all around the stone cave.
”A natural luminescent mineral crystal and a blue one at that. Blue ones are so rare!” slightly gasped Quinn. He had seen luminescent mineral crystals in his travels but had never seen the particular shade of blue like the one he was looking at right now.
The luminescent mineral crystal could be replicated with alchemy, but because the alchemists were rare, artificial crystals weren't widely available. The people who hired alchemists didn't ask for glowing crystals when they could have an alchemist produce other, more significant things.
”Maybe I could make some of them for the living hall,” murmured Quinn, thinking about how the living hall would look like in the light of a luminescent mineral crystal. ”Nah, I should make runic lights for the entire manor. At least that way, they could be turned off when not needed.”
Strolling away from the tunnel, Quinn wandered towards the part of the cave that had a room-wide, three-step short staircase.
The stone steps on the floor acted as a divider inside the cave. The cave before the steps was like any stone cave you could find in the wild, but the area after the steps was definitely man-made.
Instead of the rough walls and ceiling of the first part of the cave, the second part of the cave had no partition between the walls and ceiling. All the surface part floors were melded together to form a dome.
And at the furthest end of the dome, there was a triangular opening in the dome wall. Similar to the tunnel, it, too, was filled entirely with water. And just like the tunnel, there wasn't a drop of water spilled out of the triangular opening, despite the triangular opening standing vertically to the floor.
Slowly descending the short steps, Quinn came across some movement because of the triangular entrance. The second Quinn stepped down for the last time, the stone sunk at some places to form engraved words in the wall.
Large engraved words formed above the entrance to form the words,
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「<-~| POSEIDON'S WRATH |~->」
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Words appeared on the left side of the entrance.
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「Beware, challenger! Enter the entrance and you shall feel the wrath of god! 'This is not for the soft-hearted and weak! Think before entering because god's fury doesn't have eyes.」
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Another set of words appeared on the right side of the wall that said.
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「The trials are long and arduous! To understand the Law, you, brave challenger, will need some aid. Wish it upon the water, and you will return to the safety, away from peril!」
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Fluidly an orb of water came out of the water inside the triangular entrance and gently floated towards Quinn. It stopped a short distance away from him.
The orb of water emitted faint magic. Quinn noticed that the words were on the right side of the wall. In addition, he could tell that this orb of water was the aid he was told that he'd have in the words engraved on the right side of the wall.
He walked around the water orb, observing it and carefully casting some magic to see what kind of magic was used inside the water. After some deliberation and internal debate, Quinn confirmed that the water orb wasn't harmful to him.
”No harm in giving it some help,” shrugged Quinn as he stepped closer to the orb and gracefully lifted his right hand towards the water orb and gently touched the water orb with his index finger.
The water orb shone faint blue before the water rippled and went inside Quinn through his finger.
”Woah! Hey! Woah! Flippin' hell,” exclaimed Quinn as he watched the water get sucked into his body, followed by a brief spike of light on his inner forearm.
In a surprise, Quinn withdrew his hand and turned it over to see that his previously unmarked forearm now had a navy blue symbol on it. Quinn could feel that if he channeled magic into the emblem on his skin, it would trigger whatever magic present in the water that went inside Quinn's body.