noveldrama
Chapter 252: The Doorr, The DOOOR Ant-hony!
Chapter 252: The Doorr, The DOOOR Ant-hony!
Feeling wronged after being scolded for his lack of insight, Aoni sat on the ground, floof in lap, while he played out the previous few minutes. He'd been chopped in the head again, whereas Glacia got a snack and head pat, then ignored, then chopped again for trying to talk, resulting in him sitting on the floor drawing circles with his finger on the dusty, cracked stone.
'I don't suppose you'll reveal what's behind it, right?' Aoni asked as his eyes flicked toward the ethereal chat box floating to his left.
Unfortunately, no matter what questions the Lad asked, it seemed like the Attribute Notice was ignoring him yet again.
"Hahhh, how long is this going to take."
"SHUT IT!" Snapping his head toward Aoni, Anthony hissed before going back to scanning over the intact stone structure with glowing hands.
The spell he was using wasn't of a high level or anything like that, and technically, all it did was help him decipher Runes, but so long as he continuously supplied enough Energia to it, there was a VERY slim chance that Anthony would be able to activate the mechanism so that he could open it.
However, since it wasn't an exact science, there was just as much of a chance that he could set off a bunch of traps; thus, Ant had spent his time breaking down and going over the entire Door in segments.
---
5 minutes
20 minutes
2 hours
Time passed by as Ant flew around the air using magic and making sure that not a single inch of the Door was missed; only then did he land on the ground beside his Brother and the sleeping Glacia.
"Well? What do you have, please, for the love of all things, don't say nothing because if we just sat here wasting almost 3 hours, Ima lose it." Jumping to his feet so fast that he accidentally startled Glacia awake, Aoni rushed over to his Brother and began pestering him for answers.
"Sigh…well, it's not nothing…" Ant started with a scrunched-up face.
"Butt…"
"…"
"OH, SPIT IT OUT ALREADY! Can you open it or not!" Throwing his hands in the air and contemplating rushing forward to try attacking the 30-foot stone door, Aoni's shoulders were suddenly caught by Ant, who then delivered yet another chop.
"While I can't decipher the actual text, I got the gist of the inscription's purpose by reading the intent fused with them. I told you this before, but I am no expert on formations or even Arrays; however, because of my Attribute, I am able to get a feel for the intent behind spells and runes."
"Through that, I can in a way, understand the meaning and use for spells. However, don't get ahead of yourself because it's no different than trying to appraise fine art, meaning everything I have is conjecture based on personal experience."
| … |
| It has been determined that Anthony Thurston has no means of breaking the Formation laid on the Vault Seal |
Right as Aoni was going to give up and start trying to smash his way into the room opposite the Door, the chat box suddenly stole his attention, making his breath hitch before he could start yelling again.
"Since I can't figure out exactly how to open it, I think we should leave it for now and blah blah blah…"
Anthony's words seemed to fade into the background as a weird feeling bubbled up in Aoni's chest.
In the past, whenever his AN started a chain of messages with, "It has been determined," it always led up to something either annoyingly complicated or…beneficial.
Bearing that in mind, Aoni didn't hesitate to tune out his Brother's rambling and give his full attention to the chat as a string of messages appeared one after another.
| As it may or may not be extremely useful to the Host's progress, two options have been generated |
| Option 1: Temporary Unlocking of ?¿?¿ ?¿?¿? ¿?¿?¿?¿? |
| Through this option, the seal can be unlocked, giving the Host full authority over the Formation, thus allowing it to be used again in the future. However, the cost in Progress Points will be heavy. This option yields nothing in the way of immediate benefits; however, it is the fastest of the two options|
| Option 2: The User pays a small amount of Progress Points for a Passive to Destroy the Seal|
| Unlike Option 1, this choice will allow the user to receive immediate benefits thanks to the nature of the passive, at the cost of time and the Formation's destruction |
'…spend a lot of points to unlock the Door quickly, or spend a small amount to get a passive to break the seal…'
'On the one hand, I have a shit ton of points that are basically useless to me right now, plus, I can use this place almost like a safe or bunker in case of emergencies, whereas on the other hand, I get some type of benefits and a passive…decisions…'
"Hey! Are you listening to me?" Snapping his fingers in front of Aoni's face, Anthony asked with a tinge of annoyance in his voice.
"Nope, not at all, anyway, question, say you had the option of either unlocking the formation with a heavy cost or breaking it to get a shit ton of benefits, what would you choose to do?" After considering his options for another minute or two, Aoni felt the decision was a bit too heavy for him alone to make, so he posed the question to Anthony instead, hoping for insight only his Eldest Brother could give.
"Huh, what the hell are you talking about…wait, do you have some weird crafting technique that will help you out here?" Sensing there was more to this question than Aoni was leading on, Anthony, quick to the uptake, steered the conversation differently.
"Eh, something like that. I may be able to open it, but I don't really know the logistics behind it until I try…that's why I am asking you instead of just acting."
For a moment, the two brothers simply stared into each other's eyes, one wholeheartedly asking for guidance and the other trying to figure out what was going on in their head.
"Is the cost something detrimental to you, like will it physically injure your body or something of that nature?" Taking a deep breath, Anthony chose not to push for clear answers and instead decided to trust his youngest Brother and went about trying to figure out the benefit-to-cost ratio of Aoni's actions.