When Bernard saw this he was slightly surprised, although he had been disappointed when he saw that even though he had literally earned experience points from unlocking the secret of the crest he ended up gaining nothing, even though he hadn't expected too much but seeing everything totally destroyed like this kind of made him slightly upset.
However, the building was large so when he saw another door again, his hope was slightly rekindled once again. Bernard walked up to the door, however just like before there was no handle to push the steel door open, neither was there those statues he could try to move in order to open the steel door, and just as he was wondering how he could open the steel door that was when he saw the combination lock on the steel door.
As he saw this it finally dawned on Bernard this might be the real military base vault, although it was hard to tell if there was anything inside or not, nevertheless, he was willing to give it a try, but then it seemed like he wasn't going to be easy like before where he had moved those statues and had even used his military crest, from the look of things the steel door before him looked more like a vault, he also noticed the combination lock had a passcode he had to unlock if he wanted to open it.
He could have broken the steel door down, but then after giving it a try, it was just like he thought it was a military-grade material which meant even if he used force or even a symbiote bloodlines abilities he wouldn't be able to break it down, except he was as strong as an aboriginal would he be able to easily smash the steel door apart like it was nothing. As he thought, perhaps it was the reason why the first door had not been broken so far, or why he didn't see any demon beast claiming the place as its territory.
Nevertheless, one thing stuck in his head like a sore thumb, that whatever that was stored behind the steel door had yet to be destroyed or taken by those who had invaded the place and destroyed everything in thing, another thing was it was also likely whatever that had been stored behind the steel door was something important that was worth locking.
At the same time this made him wonder since his crest was able to open up the secret passageway to this place, does this mean the person or even people who had invaded this place before might have also had the military crest in their possession.
Bernard looked at the steel door, and around the corners of the door maybe he would be able to find anything then again if it was that easy to find the first people who came before him would have taken everything, so he had no choice but to shake those thoughts away from his head and thought of something else, so far all he could see were metals, not even using his symbiote abilities would work since he had already tried yet nothing worked.
So he could safely say it was as good as doing nothing, which meant he had to think of another way of either breaking down the steel door which might very well be impossible or unlocking the vault combination lock, which was also unrealistic.
However, Bernard didn't want to give up, of course, he knew the odds were against him, but at the same time the fact that he could find something very important inside was too tempting to just give up like that, after all, all that stood in front of him and his treasure was a single door with a lock combination, so even if it meant cracking his brain just to figure out something he would still give it a try.
Since physical attacks wouldn't work he finally looked at the lock combination placed on the center of the steel door, looking at it all he needed to do was twist it severally from side to side or back and forwards, but then it was much easier said than done. As he placed his hand on the small round lock combination with a dial on it, he couldn't help but twist it a few times randomly while hoping for a miracle to happen.
"Beep Beep"
However, when he was done Bernard couldn't be more disappointed, although he knew had not been lucky while growing up, but if he was to say lately he had been very lucky so he thought if he used his luck or charm, on the lock combination something might happen, but now seeing how the steel door did not react, he could guess his luck had run out of juice...
Right now, if he was to be honest, he wasn't too far from being called desperate, although he wanted to try everything just to see if it could work but at the same time he also knew his hands were slightly tied, just then he soon thought of something and wondered if it would work, although he wasn't too hopeful but he was willing to give it a try anyways, so he opened up his status screen displaying his list of abilities, skills, and bloodlines and called out appraise.
[Appraise has been activated]
[Appraising combination lock]
[A Vault combination lock machine that is linked to a steel door. Entering the right combination lock linked to the door can successfully open the vault]
When Bernard saw this, he knew there was no way he was going to break the steel door or open the combination lock if he didn't have the passcode, however, he didn't want to simply give up, not minding the fact he had come from far but the fact he would be leaving empty-handed after all his hard work made him a bit pissed.
At this moment, he had surely become desperate and was willing to try whatever he could to see if it would happen on the vault lock combination, since symbiote abilities or skills did not work, and the one with the highest chance of working did not open the vault.
Bernard didn't give up, as a flash of inspiration came to his mind, what of it he cast Appraise enough times until it eventually levels up just like other of his abilities and skills? Although he didn't know if it would work or not, but he was willing to give it a try and if it didn't then he would simply find a way for him to leave.
So without wasting any more time, Bernard began to casting out appraise endlessly while looking at the vault combination lock in front of him, at first just like he thought there was no reaction and nothing happened, however, he still continued, because he could feel as if he was already close enough to leveling up the skill, so he simply just continued before he got a notification message.
[You have exceeded the number of times to use 'Appraise]
[Appraise skill has successfully leveled up]
[Appraise skill is now level 2]
This content is taken from fr(e)ewebn(o)vel.𝓬𝓸𝓶