“Oooh, whatcha got there?” Jared asked the girls when he heard the cling of the metal. “Some metal trinket thing. I’m not entirely sure what it is.” Veronica replied while holding the trinket out on her palm for everyone to see. Hmm…? Is that a usb drive? Cain thought while walking up to Veronica. “May I?” He asked while reaching out to grab the drive; Veronica nodded shyly in response to his question.

Cain created a flashlight using mana; performing the necessary procedures to cover up what was really happening. He tossed the flashlight in the air while muttering “Hover” and used his mana zone to keep it afloat. “...couldn’t you do that before so we wouldn’t have to use torches?” Catherine asked Cain when she saw the flashlight light up half of the clearing.

“I’m only here to observe, make sure no one dies, and occasionally give advice. Other than that, pretend I don’t exist.” Cain replied while holding the drive up to the light, inspecting its contents. Catherine stared at him with slight distaste written in her eyes then walked away to prevent herself from doing something rash in the moment.

It’s similar to a flashdrive… but it appears to run off mana instead. Cain stared at the components within the flashdrive, attempting to analyze them without taking the casing apart and potentially damage the relic. There’s this weird metal inside that acts like copper paths within pcb boards, but it’s not copper or gold. Cain attempted to smother the flashdrive with his mana to see if it would accept the mana somewhere.

The casing of the flashdrive channeled most of Cain’s mana and fed it back through his fingers. The casing is behaving like a faraday cage for electricity… even sending the mana back to my fingers, its contact point. Cain slowly pinched on the sides of the casing until it snapped. The components and shards of the casing flew outwards into portals Cain created using SRI that spontaneously opened.

Cain had injected some of his mana within the casing to cause it to shatter like plastic, defying its properties that were similar to metal. This allowed the circuitry within the casing to shift randomly in the short moment no force was being exerted on it to keep it from falling to the ground.

This shift caused Cain to lose his grip on the pieces inside, which either shattered outwards or fell towards the ground. Cain used the moment he lost his grip to judge when he should stop applying force, thus he avoided damaging the components greatly.

The exit portals deposited the pieces of the drive on Cain’s outstretched left palm. He created titanium tweezers using the necessary procedures to cover it up shortly afterwards. “Are you sure that was ok? What if it was some sort of amulet or gem?” Victoria asked while Cain was sifting through the pieces.

“It’s not anything of that sort.” Cain replied while gathering what was left of the casing into a small pile and then picking up the circuitry that was within. “Then… what is it?” Veronica asked, slightly intrigued by it. “Presumably, a piece of technology that’s several centuries ahead of this country’s current era.” Cain replied while holding the circuitry with the tweezers in the air.

“And how do you know this?” Catherine asked with slight ridicule. Cain could tell she was still annoyed on his stance and position within the party, for whatever reason that may be. “Because that’s the era my country is in, the one I came from.” The party stared blankly at Cain, still trying to process his revelation.

“You’re saying a country that’s centuries ahead of technologically exists? How come we don’t know of it then?” Victoria curiously asked him. “Do you know how many continents are on this planet, and how many countries are within each continent?” Cain asked back, slightly annoyed he couldn’t study this relic in peace.

“No…” Victoria replied, slightly defeated when she realized just how much knowledge they truly lacked. “There’s your answer.” Cain replied coldly, using his Mana Zone to rotate the light around. “Do you guys know what this metal is?” Cain held out his palm which contained the shreds of the casing.

Veronica and Victoria each picked up a piece and tried to channel their mana through it. “It appears to be orichalcum. Depending on how it’s configured, it can either channel or repel mana.” Victoria concluded to which Veronica confirmed with a nod. “How is it different from mythril?” Cain asked when he recognized the familiar fantasy metal.

“Mythril can be shaped with mana like clay using the right techniques. Other than that, it’s mana conductivity is one of the best in existence, if not the best.” Victoria answered, handing her and Veronica’s piece of the casing back to him.

“Hmmm… if we’re lucky, we might be able to salvage both of those materials then.” Cain’s comment lit up the faces of the party, almost more than the flashlight that hovered over Cain’s shoulder. Cain gently set the circuit inside a newly created dimension. This was done to isolate the fragile components.

—Group Chat: Cain, Dresil, Bob, and Rex— (30ms)

Rex: So, so? What were your findings?

Rex: Can you look into the flashdrive to see its contents?

Cain: :sigh:

Cain: It does seem to be a flashdrive, but it uses mana instead of electricity to run.

Cain: Idk how to extract the contents of the drive w/o messing up the circuitry within though. Not to mention, I probably wouldn’t even be able to read their language.

Bob: We can help you with that. Language barriers do not exist for Spirit Kings, gods, and similar existences.

Cain: Oooh, will you be able to do something similar to how Dresil translates for me or just a direct translation.

Bob: Unfortunately, everything appears to us as one language. Therefore we could not translate automatically since there aren’t two languages to interact with.

Bob: We could, however, use the same process as Dresil. It would just be manual.

Cain: Hmm… that’s good enough.

--------------------------

“Can we really get some orichalcum and mythril?” Jared excitedly asked Cain. “It’s possible. This place is most likely a research facility or something similar where confidential activities need to happen underground. So there must be some sort of guard or machine we can extract it from.” Cain stated his conclusions then deposited the flashlight into the Mana Trash dimension.

“Alright, let's head into the next room then!” Jacob declared for the party. Jared shouted a small cheer that returned as a lonely echo. “Oh…” He awkwardly muttered when he realized no one else joined in on the cheer.

The party slowly walked towards the opposite hallway, the one to the right of the entrance to the clearing. Jared and Jacob swiftly cleared it for any hidden dangers then had Veronica and Catherine thoroughly inspect the room. Catherine waved a handkerchief over her mouth, coughing slightly. She exited the room with it held over her mouth.

“Geez… it may be dusty, but it wasn’t that dusty.” Veronica commented following shortly after her. “Find anything?” Victoria asked the duo. Both of them shook their heads in disappointment. Cain inspected the room they just explored to find that it was indeed quite dusty, almost dangerously so.

—Dms: Cain and Dresil— (6ms)

Cain: Help me clear Veronica’s lungs of dust.

Dresil: What about Catherine?

Cain: Meh, she’s fine. Veronica seems to have some old dust inside too.

Dresil: Understood, Master.

--------------------------

“Veronica, stand by me for a sec.” Cain gestured to his left. He had been leaning on the wall next to the hallway the girls just came out of this entire time. Veronica nervously walked over to Cain and stood beside him. “Take a step forward then take a deep breath and hold it.” He instructed Veronica once she was near him.

“Wow… the air quality here is so much better.” Veronica commented then followed Cain’s instructions. “Relax everything except your lungs, don’t let go of that breath.” Cain ordered Veronica as he put his hand on her back. Her muscles tensed slightly when Veronica felt Cain’s hand, her ears almost matching the red lighting on the walls. Dang giiirrrlll. You’ve got some muscleees. He thought as he felt each one tense up then relax.

Cain used the unique traits of his eyes to avoid Veronica’s mana as he directed his own towards her lungs. Dresil monitored Veronica’s vitals so the two could react in time if something unexpected happened. Cain isolated the dust particles swirling around in her lungs and turned them into mana. He then converted the newly transmuted mana into his own and directed it outside Veronica’s body.

“Ok, breathe out.” Veronica let out the breath she was holding, her face turning slightly red due to how long it was held. “Alright two more times now.” Cain’s statement brought forth slight reluctance from Veronica. “Agaiiin? How many more–woah. What did you do?” Veronica’s complaint was interrupted when she realized how much her breathing improved.

“I took out most of the dust from your lungs. Have you been to dusty places before? You should try to keep something over your mouth or just don’t go. Too much will cause breathing problems.” Cain reprimanded Veronica; she averted her eyes from his in turn. “Maybe once or twice before… I won’t do it again though.” Veronica dejectedly replied.

The two repeated the same procedure twice more, leaving a very miniscule amount of dust behind. Cain couldn’t convert it all into mana until he got more accurate with his control over mana. The rest of the party looked at him, seemingly wanting the same treatment. “You guys don’t need it yet. I’ll do it when you do though.” Cain replied when he read the atmosphere.

“Onwards to the next room then!” Veronica chipperly shouted, overjoyed that she spent time close to Cain, and although small, some physical contact. It didn’t matter how long each moment lasted, because for her, it would exist as an eternity in her memories.

The party regrouped into their formation as they made their way towards the last unexplored hallway; Veronica had a light skip to her steps. Cain smiled slightly at her enthusiasm; her behavior reminded him of himself with his first crush. Jacob entered the passageway across the one they entered the clearing from; Jared directly to his side with a torch and identifying spots for potential traps.

The party descended the rugged, chipped stairs for about 10 meters before it evened out into the first basement floor. There were multiple open rooms with frames acting like walls, shattered glass scattered throughout the floor. The crunch of the glass underneath the party's boots echoed throughout the room. Catherine’s each step was cautious as she tried to avoid getting her heels caught in the holes and cracks.

This looks like a conference floor with a lot of conference rooms and offices. Cain thought as he analyzed what he saw and the feedback from the Mana Zone. Jacob and Jared led the party down the main path that had a conference room on either side of it. At the end of the path, metal doors that led to an elevator laid dented inwards, cracks spreading on the walls. The path also fanned out to the left and right, branching off into a variety of offices and cubicles.

Jacob and Jared scouted for danger in the immediate surroundings. Jacob then turned around to instruct the party to split up and scout for danger, but Cain interrupted him. “I won’t do this too often, but since you guys need your energy for the next floor, I might as well. There’s nothing on this floor.” Cain’s statement turned the heads of the party to face him.

“Not even a little bit?” Victoria asked, somewhat curious and suspicious as to how Cain knew this. “Only trace amounts which can’t be extracted.” Cain confirmed; Jacob cleared his throat to say something immediately after. “Is there a way we can go down then?” Cain stared at him puzzled, then remembered they didn’t know what an elevator and fire escape was.

“Yep. Go to my left then turn right and there’s stairs down.” Cain pointed towards a small hallway as he spoke. Jacob turned around and walked to the corner Cain pointed to, Jared followed closely behind. After a moment, the two waved for the others to join them.