Angus could feel the hooded person alive yet also not at the same time. He guesses this is also one of the messages Archmage Bern left behind like before.
Unlike before, when he could only hear and see Archmage Bern's apparition, he could move his body and observe the person better.
Still, he couldn't see the person's face as if it was obstructed by something despite the hood only covering a small part of his face. Angus only finds the person has pure white eyes without any pupils, unlike what he hears about in the story or legend about Archmage Bern.
From the book and legend, Archmage Bern has deep blue eyes as if it is the embodiment of the pure blue mana color. Because of this, he is often referred to as the child of mana.
'Hmm.. It is either the legend and story are wrong or this projection couldn't display his real eyes.' thought Angus.
"If you manage to hear this message, it means I am already dead without being able to pass on my legacy. I don't know how you were able to get my personal ring. But, since you managed to pass my test, you are already worthy of what I left behind in my treasured vault." said the person.
"I hope whatever you find in my vault can help your endeavor." added the cloaked person before disappearing.
Then, the white space changes into a dimly lit vault filled with many shelves, similar to what he finds in the Royal Heart Vault. However, the vault is smaller than the Royal Heart Vault. Despite being small, Angus couldn't help but be surprised at the item on the shelf.
Each item he finds on the shelf is a rare natural resource worth at least a few hundred thousand gold coins. Angus even found some items he didn't know despite his extensive knowledge of materials.
Angus speculates the entire vault may be worth at least hundreds of million gold coins. He also noticed a few natural resources that couldn't be bought with money.
"This is crazy!! Many of these items could only be found in legend and myth. This is truly a treasure trove!!" exclaimed Angus.
Then, he noticed something important. The story and legend of Archmage Bern had already spread around before the Heart Kingdom existed. This vault never opened for who knows how long since the Heart Kingdom is about a thousand years old.
"There is no way all these precious materials could still exist without degrading, even under a powerful preservation rune." said Angus.
Angus knows natural material formed by nature or the world has a short life expectancy. They also easily degrade and lose their effectiveness. Only by using a powerful preserver rune powered by a large amount of mana will the material stay good.
After observing the shelf and the surrounding material, he finds all the material on the shelf is covered by a strong barrier of unknown nature. Using sharp perception and [Analyze], Angus notices something weird about the material and its surrounding.
Unfortunately, Angus didn't dare to touch or get too close to any of this material since he didn't know if Archmage Bern had set another trap or test for him. Although he solved the test and opened the vault easily, it was almost impossible for others.
The vault test is almost impossible to be done unless someone has a powerful calculation ability and skill similar to [Analyze]. The test is so complex and intricate that Angus feels like Archmage Bern didn't want anyone to open the vault.
First, people need to find a clue to open the door through some cryptic message and a small symbol in the room that looks like a scratch. Just because of this, the test is already impossible to be done in a short time.
Angus estimates even experts or scholars need at least weeks or months to decode the message. Even if someone solves the message or knows how to open the vault, it is still hard to succeed.
The message only gives instructions to turn the fireplace color into a rainbow color to open the door. Of course, turning the fire color alone is not enough since the rune in the door is incomplete.
If Angus wasn't familiar with Archmage Bern's rune language from his research note, he would also miss this part.
Therefore, people also need to analyze and complete the rune in the door. However, the incomplete part is based on the room's environment, leading to another problem.
The fireplace in the center of the room is not an ordinary fire. It will change the room temperature, pressure, and air composition each second. Without a powerful mind and calculation to predict the changing environment in the next few minutes, the rune will not work.
To make it more deadly, Angus also notices the fireplace act as a time limit. After a certain time, the fireplace will be gone as it burns all the air in the room. Based on his estimation, the fireplace will be extinguished after thirty minutes or less.
As people can't leave the room, they will be forced to stay in the darkroom without air and a way out. Since the wall is made of the same material as the entire Ancient Vault, it is impossible to break, as not even seventh grade could scratch on it.
The only choice for failure is to die from lack of air or die from starvation if they are somehow still capable of living without air. This kind of test is too ridiculous and nasty. Angus even thought it was no longer a test but a deadly trap for intruders.
Because of this test, Angus always keeps vigilance and uses [Analyze] at full power since he arrives at the vault. If he finds something he doesn't understand, he will not dare to touch it or even get near it.
Observing the surrounding material and shelf, he finally notices the space element in the surrounding material is actually not moving. Since the rune on the shelf is categorized as a fixed rune and sort of barrier, it has quite a dense space element.
As someone that is quite perceptive about space elements, Angus immediately notices this. But, he notices the space element is stuck at its spot, which is an impossible feat. One of the characteristics of space elements is their uncontrolled movement when together.
The denser it is, the wilder its movement. It is completely impossible to make a space element rooted in the same spot for a long time without affecting the surrounding.
"Wait… Unless… No fucking way!! Did he also master the time element?!! Fuck!!" cursed Angus in shock.
After a few minutes of taking a deep breath to calm down, "Huft.. Calm down. Either this rune is one of the ancient vault features or Archmage Bern is capable of using time elemental."
"Damn… If that's true, how could someone like him die?!" said Angus, scratching his head in frustration.
As a researcher, he knows some elements are very hard to use, like time and space elementals. Space and time are correlated with each other. Space without time is nothing and time without space is also nothing.
However, the difficulty of using time elemental is many times harder than using space elemental. It is because time elemental is very flexible. It is too loose and almost impossible to hold, manipulate, or control.
If using space elemental is like cutting the hardest material with a blunt knife, using time elemental is like cutting the swaying fallen leaves with a blunt knife.
The two elements have their own characteristics, power, and their own difficulty to use. Only people with great talent and affinity are capable of using them.
If space elements stop moving, it means the rune is so powerful that it could stop time or manipulate time in the rune.
"Huff… Unfortunately, my knowledge about time elemental is minuscule compared to space elemental. No wonder all this material is still fresh, like it is just formed. It seems I could only leave most of the material here and pick the one that I need at the moment." said Angus.
"Tch… Why didn't this vault even have the panel search function despite having all these ridiculous runes in the surrounding?" complained Angus.
Leaving with no choice, Angus started manually noting down all the material in the vault. During this time, he notices a familiar fire elemental he picks up from his heat sense. Angus finds a beautiful crimson feather on the shelf not far from him.
"Beautiful…" said Angus while having a jaw-dropping expression.
The crimson feather is around 20-30 cm and contained inside a special glass jar. Despite the container and the rune, he could feel its destructive heat. The most surprising thing is that Angus feels familiar warm from it and completely entranced by it.
It takes him another couple of minutes to wake up from appreciating the beauty of the crimson feather.
'Angus, that's my feather!! You must take it no matter the cost!!' said Jayna through their bond.
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