Yarra’s Adventure Notes

Chapter 32 - 32 23 Portable Elevating Platform_1

?32: Chapter 23 Portable Elevating Platform_1 32: Chapter 23 Portable Elevating Platform_1 Chapter Twenty-Three

The Portable Elevator

“We need to climb up there,” Pannis said, looking somewhat troubled at a pitch-black hole.

Three days had passed since the team of five said goodbye to the Fire Elements.

They had had an exceptionally smooth journey during these three days, only encountering magical creatures once.

That lone strong-looking predator seemed to have just had its fill and completely ignored the five of them, allowing them to pass nearby.

In the five days since they entered the cave, the three girls from the Nellie Adventure Team finally understood why Pannis had previously said that fifteen days would feel incredibly long for them.

Apart from a few dazzling strange landscapes, they were accompanied only by narrow caves, the dark environment, unchanging paths, low ceilings, never-ending roads, and constantly high tension.

The combination of these elements was starting to take a toll on the girls’ moods.

They finally believed what Pannis had said before, that spending too much time here could drive one insane.

The girls were currently standing in a cave that was about forty meters high.

They lit up the Crystal Energy lamp and looked helplessly upwards at a hole in the center of the cave’s ceiling, which was three to four meters wide.

“This is the shortcut,” Pannis explained, “Most adventurers who are returning from the Frost Realm would take this route.

They simply climb down from the top using a rope.

But almost nobody uses this route to reach the Frost Realm because it’s too hard to climb.”

“What if we take the long route?” Catherine looked at the hole, knowing she didn’t have the ability to jump directly up there – as for climbing up the rock wall, she didn’t even consider it.

“How long would that take?”

“If we choose to go the long way around now, it will take at least seven to eight days,” Pannis shook her head, objecting to Catherine’s proposal.

“Actually, it is viable to climb up there.

It’s just a bit troublesome.

I’ll climb up first, then lower the rope.

You guys can climb up following the rope.

My main concern is that Vivian might not have the strength to make it to the top.”

“Don’t worry about me,” Vivian took out a flask, triumphantly saying, “I have a Feather Potion.

Once drunk, the consumer’s weight will be reduced significantly for ten minutes.

I can definitely make it up there.”

“Huh?” Lina, out of curiosity, approached Vivian’s side to take a closer look at the potion.

“I’ve never seen you use it before.

If I drank this, could I just jump up there?”

“Don’t even think about it,” Vivian quickly shook her head.

“It only works for mages.

Even if a priest drinks it, despite them also being part of the Caster Profession, it won’t have any effect.”

“Hmph, it’s useless,” Lina regretfully sighed.

Catherine didn’t pay attention to the interaction between Lina and Vivian.

She silently helped Pannis tie a rope of a hundred meters length around her waist, then couldn’t help but ask: “There won’t be any magical creatures up there, right?”

“There shouldn’t be,” Pannis replied uncertainly.

“However, it’s hard to say whether a magical creature just happened to pass by.

I’ll go up to take a look first.

If it’s dangerous, I’ll come back down.”

“Alright, don’t insist.” Catherine urged her, “If it doesn’t work out, come back down, and we’ll take the long way around.

Safety is the most important thing.”

Not used to Catherine’s concerned gaze, Pannis awkwardly turned her head to avoid it.

She pressed herself against the wall and started to climb upwards step by step as if she was glued to the wall.

After climbing just a few steps, she jumped back down and said, “Right, give me the Resonance Crystal we used last time.

No matter what happens down here or up there, we have to inform the others immediately.”

“Hold on, don’t start climbing yet,” Vivian put down her backpack and began rummaging through it.

“I remember bringing something because we were about to adventure into a cave.”

“What did you bring?” Pannis paused in the middle of getting ready to climb.

“Something good, a new product from the Mechanic Guild,” Vivian said, scratching her head in confusion, “Where did I put it?”

“What exactly did you bring?” Catherine clearly didn’t know, “Did you carry along some strange thing again?”

“Found it, ta-dah!

This is the Prototype Crystal Energy Mechanical Elevator, a replica of the technology inherited from the Second Era Goblin Civilization.

It’s known for being a Crystal Gobbler.” Vivian lifted a square metal box about half a meter in length out of her backpack, “Huh?

Why is there only half of it?”

“That’s not a compliment at all, it’s just mocking its large Crystal Energy consumption.” Lina stood to the side with her arms crossed and spoke without any expression.

“And don’t you remember?

When we were packing our backpacks before we left, you couldn’t fit it all in your bag, so you gave the other half to me.”

“Did I?

Hehe.

Hmm, hmph, I don’t remember at all,” Vivian looked around, avoiding making eye contact with Lina, “Speaking of it, I indeed have a forward-thinking mind.

Thank heavens I brought this with me.

It can save us a lot of trouble.”

“Your silly laughter won’t help.” Rolling her eyes, Lina took out a slightly smaller but identical metal box from her backpack and placed it on the ground.

“This thing is heavy, it’s a solid cube.”

“That should be about right.” Vivian struggled to move the large box right under the opening of the cave, adjusting its position, “Phew, it’s really heavy, exhausting me.”

“Your backpack …” Pannis stroked his chin thoughtfully, “Has a floating array embedded?”

“Hehe, yes.” Vivian laughed proudly, “Bagpacks with more than triple capacity are rare to see in the market, mine is eight times that, and it also has a floating array embedded.

It might be a bit big, but it’s absolutely useful.

This is the first finished product in Yarran World to embed a floating array into a spatial expansion array.

It’s because of this I was invited to the top floor of the Starshine Tower.

If not for the impossibility of mass production, I would have been recorded in the celebrity list of alchemy array studies.”

“Being able to nest two arrays with completely different effects is impressive indeed.” Pannis praised sincerely, “You are a genius indeed.”

“Of course, I’ll let my name be recorded in the history of Yarra with my inventions one day, I want to make the name Vivian resonate like the heroes from a hundred years ago.” Vivian was in a great mood, humming a song as she opened the hidden compartments at the top and side of the big box and inserted two flatly-cut crystals into them.

“Wait a minute.” Catherine looked at the crystals on the box with a displeased expression, “If I’m not mistaken, this is…

a five thousand Tael capacity crystal, isn’t it?

That’s one thousand gold coins for one piece, and you need to use two.”

“Um, actually, we need four.” Vivian quickly reacted to Catherine’s old habits, “Big sis, these crystals were provided by my friends in the Mechanic Guild, specifically for this elevator.”

“Why don’t we just climb up then?” Catherine was obviously scared by the price of four crystals which is equal to four thousand gold coins, “Even if it’s for testing, we’d keep what we can save, right?”

“Stop messing around, sis.” Vivian looked exasperated, “They lent me this setup so I can test it when I get the chance, if it’s not tested, the crystals need to be returned, you can give up now.”

“Fine.” Catherine turned her back with gritted teeth, “Go ahead.”

“Hehe.” Vivian shared a smile with Lina, and made a face at Pannis, and then began moving toward the smaller box.

“I can help you move it.” Pannis came forward at the sight of Vivian struggling to move the box earlier.

“No.” Vivian’s smile faded, her serious face carried a hint of dissatisfaction, “I’ll handle my own affairs.

I can manage this little situation.”

Pannis looked puzzled, giving Lina a confused look, only to receive a dismissive turn of her head.

With no other choice, he looked on as Vivian worked hard to move the box by herself.

With effort, she positioned the small box right over the larger base, properly aligned the markings, opened the same hidden compartments on top and to the side of the box, placed two similar crystals inside, and closed the compartment.

Vivian heaved a sigh, “It’s done, Catherine, you can turn around now, it’s all ready.”

Catherine carefully turned around bit by bit, only when she couldn’t see the crystals anymore she asked weakly, “How do we use it?”

“Everyone stand back a bit, and then some more, hey there Lina, don’t be so curious, you’re not a cat, at least recede five meters away.” Vivian observed that everyone backed away to a safe distance, only then she activated the array on the metal, and jumped herself afar.

As the array was activated, magic runes lit up on the surface of the dim box, forming a number of mysterious arrays.

As the arrays flickered, the box, which previously seemed seamless, began to disassemble itself.

With the creaking sounds of metal friction, the lower box began to unfold, with the walls laying flat on the ground, revealing a metal cylinder with a half-meter diameter in the center.

The spread-out walls continued to break down and started to fold and extend on the ground, forming a large square base made of a thin metal layer that’s about six to seven meters on each side.

After the base was formed, the upper box began to transform in the same manner.

The walls unfolded from bottom to top, connecting to form a square bottom plate about two meters on each side.

Magic runes lit up again on the bottom plate and the tightly folded layers of metal that were originally hidden inside started to automatically stand up and connect as per the magic runes’ guidance, finally forming a metal space of about one meter in height on the bottom plate.

“It’s done.

It’s all made from magicsteel and star essence alloy, which are extremely hard and not likely to bend or break.

This one-meter-high cylinder is the lifting system, made of alloy cylinders of various sizes nesting inside one another.

When lifting, these cylinders can extend from thin to thick, supported by crystal energy, and I can control how high it goes.

The top is where people can stand, right there is the door.” Vivian pointed at an object on the edge of the upper metal compartment that looked like a door handle, “Now, please everyone, step in.”

Despite the invitation, tragically, Vivian found that even with jumping she couldn’t reach the door handle, hopping around anxiously on the ground.

“Hahahaha.” Lina laughed wickedly, and walked over to pat the soft hat on Vivian’s head, “Little sis, do you want big sis to help?”

“Get out.” Vivian slapped away the hand on her head, “What’s with this attitude, it’s more unbearable than the prideful one last time.”

“Lucky Emily, great Lady Emily.” Lina tiptoed and opened the door to the upper metal fence, making an inviting gesture, “Now, everyone, please come in, hahaha.”