"Nero we've been inside the Vault for 37 minutes," Gabriel said, surprised at his own words. This was the first time he ever saw Nero distracted from the task at hand, or failing to make the most of a situation. He couldn't understand why he was prioritising delving into long forgotten matters when they should be prioritising gaining as much strength as they could from this Vault.
Nero looked at him and understood exactly what the other was feeling. But what Gabriel didn't understand was that Nero was prioritising the most important things. These ruins would not be going anywhere, and unless Kolar lost the war, chances were high that he would visit them again.
Yet the chances of visiting the Vault again would be minimal. Even if next year the fog did retreat and the research facility was once again accessible, it was unlikely Nero would still be a Neophyte.
That meant he had to make the most out of the resources available. That left him with the obvious choice of scouring the Vault, trying to gain as many benefits as he could. But Nero also strongly valued all the information he was getting here.
The Vault seemed specifically designed for humans, so the information he could get from here about the Eldrim, or Lumina, or any other critical topic was much more likely to be relevant to him. Maybe what he learned today could help him unravel the secrets of the city tomorrow.
He was thinking long term, but it was also true that after a certain point he needed to prioritise more immediate benefits.
"Yes, yes, I'm done," Nero said as he finally left the computer. "I discovered the medical bay, as you requested, and also found where the security node is."
"What about cards? Anything about cards?" Gabriel asked excitedly. How could he not be excited? Supposedly, the origin of all Eldrim cards was one of these Vaults. If they could find more…
"I couldn't look up everything in detail. Everything I got was from a blueprint of the Vaults layout. There's nothing on it that suggests anything even remotely related to cards. However, I did find what I think is the director or overseer's office."
Gabriel raised an eyebrow in curiosity.
"The exact word used was 'Reeve' so I can only assume it means boss of some kind. Come one, let's disable the security node first. Then we can hit the other two places. I don't think we should spend too much time here. Don't forget, the fog could come back at any time."
The fog that Nero was talking about was not the fog that filled the basement, but the fog that used to cover the research facility entirely. It would be tragic to attain upgrades the likes of which had not been seen for a millenia, only to be killed by the fog.
"Did you at least learn anything interesting?" Gabriel asked, unable to hold back. His impression of Nero was too strong. He was a man with a one track mind. He didn't believe that Nero would waste so much time on history because it was a hobby of his.
"It's not like the computers contain diaries or journals that can tell me what was happening back then," Nero said with a shrug as he led the way to the room with the security node.
"I went through some of the documents and tried to see what they were about. As for the situation back then, it can only be deduced from clues. There is no mention of the berserkers or corruption, or anything even remotely related to that. But I did see personnel files. There were over three hundred humans working in this Vault.
Considering that everywhere in these ruins, humans are only considered assistants or research specimens, it really raises the question of why these Vaults are so different."
"People have been debating that for hundreds of years," Gabriel stated.
"Besides that, the computers I accessed didn't really have anything I could make sense of. I tried to find the database that records whoever accessed the Vault, but I couldn't come across it. I was really interested to find out the ancestor of Jessie."
There was another reason, though he didn't mention it. He doubted anyone had been to the Vault, considering it was covered in fog, but if he could somehow get his hands on any kind of database for this sixty, he could find proof if someone had accessed it before the earthquake.
Yet even knowing it was unlikely, he could only search for evidence here, since it was unlikely he'd be able to access computers anywhere else.
They soon entered the room with the security node, and paused. Compared to the rest of the Vault, which was in pristine condition, this room was very different. Specifically, there were human corpses in this room - three of them.
They had long become skeletons, their clothes hanging loosely over their bones, and their weapons on the ground besides them. Two of the bodies lay haphazardly on the floor, as if they had fallen in combat, while the third sat on the ground, leaning against a computer.
The room also displayed signs of battle, as the walls showed cracks and scratches, though that was the extent of it.
"How exactly are corpses supposed to look if they're a thousand years old?" Gabriel asked as he looked at the bodies.
Despite the passage of a millennium, the bodies were in a remarkable state of preservation. The absence of insects and the constant, controlled airflow from the ventilation system had prevented typical decay. The first corpse, sprawled nearest to the door, had a desiccated, mummified appearance. Its skin was taut and leathery, stretched over bones that jutted sharply against the shrunken flesh.
The features were still discernible, which was incredibly disturbing.
The second body had reached a more skeletal state. Much of its flesh had withered away, leaving a ghastly framework of bones interlaced with fragments of dry, parchment-like skin. A few wisps of blonde hair clung to the skull, and tattered remnants of clothing hung from the brittle limbs.
Both those skeletal corpses looked, more or less, like what one would expect from a thousand year old bodies. By comparison, the third was extremely anomalous.
This body was preserved in a way that defied natural decay, as if it had died yesterday. The skin, though pale and slightly translucent, retained a semblance of vitality, and the facial features were hauntingly intact, eyes still showing an expression of fear in them.
The hair, blonde and lustrous, cascaded around the head, untouched by the ravages of time, adding an eerie sense of immediacy to the scene.
In fact, even the blood on his clothes looked like it was still fresh. Yet how was that possible? Could… could someone else have come in before them and then died under mysterious circumstances?
Before their imaginations could run wild, Nero noticed something and kneeled beside the body. Carefully, he poked the corpse's face, as if checking to see if he was alive.
"I think… I think this one was a Mystic, or maybe even higher," Nero said.
"But that's not the only issue, is it?" Gabriel asked.
"No. It isn't," Nero answered solemnly.
If these bodies were really a thousand years old, how was it that they weren't cursed yet? There was a very good reason Kolar and all the other countries cremated all their dead.
Nero finally got back up and moved around the body to see if the computer was still working. Fortunately, despite the screen being cracked, it was.
"Help me figure out how to disable the node," Nero said as he tried to navigate the processes in the computer. Eventually, after some trial and error, they found the protocol to disable the node, but ran into an entirely different problem.
"Confirm identity to disable security node," a voice said out loud. It was the same voice that told them to confirm their identities before moving on.
Hearing it also caused Nero to realise something. The documents in the computers were all in old Valen, but whatever program was speaking was speaking in modern Valen. Nero only added it to the list of mysteries before pressing his hand against the scanner, yet he was rejected.
"Insufficient authority. Cannot disable the security node."
Nero paused for a second, then turned to look at the incredibly preserved corpse right next to the computer.
"Do you think…?" Nero asked, looking at Gabriel.
"Well, that would be highly convenient, wouldn't it?"
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They tried again, this time using the palm of the incredibly well preserved corpse. It was actually a bit of a task, since the body was much heavier than it appeared to be.
"Identity confirmed: Carin Johnson. Initiating security node shutdown."
A loud siren went off across the entire research facility, and suddenly everyone knew that the final security node had been shut down. The command centre outside suddenly experienced a flurry of activity, as more and more soldiers ran inside the facility, trying to achieve whatever objective they had set out for.
With that, Nero's mission was also complete. Now all he had to do was leave the basement without dying.