Yarra’s Adventure Notes
Chapter 225 - 79: Treasure_1

Chapter 225: Chapter 79: Treasure_1

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"Eeeek, eeek." The harsh and piercing sound of metal friction echoed in the narrow tunnel. The rusted metal door, with bits of yellow-brown debris continuously falling off its surface, was slowly, bit by bit, moving inward under the persistent force exerted by Pannis.

"Hey, hey!" Catherine was somewhat shocked by Pannis and Vivian’s reactions and asked in astonishment, "I thought we hadn’t cracked the trap yet. What are you doing?"

"Me? I’m? Cracking? The? Trap?" Pannis answered in a strained voice while continuing to push, "This is the correct way to solve the trap."

"Huh?" Lina’s mouth hung open in surprise, and after uttering a few unintelligible sounds, she finally asked, "After studying so hard with all these complex theories and professional terms, is the result merely about pushing the door open by force?"

"Yes, this is the most profound technique." Vivian put on a dead-serious face and said in an unquestionable tone, "His action looks just like pushing a door, but in reality, he’s applying the optimal force calculated from Ehren’s formula in physics while pushing the door at the best angle as computed using the Ferei theorem in mathematical principles. Simultaneously, he will construct a magical analysis diagram based on the Castle structure model from the magic structure theory. Only with the support of these three elements, can one open this door without activating the trap."

"Eh? What are these?" Lina, unable to comprehend, stared blankly at Vivian’s moving lips, and asked timidly, "Why couldn’t I understand any of it?"

"You’re a spellcaster yourself and you don’t understand these things?" Vivian chided Lina sternly, "These are compulsory lessons for a mage."

"But...my spells are Divine Spells. I’ve never studied these," Lina uttered in a weak voice, "Did Pannis really open the door using those theories you mentioned?"

"Of course not." Vivian curled her lips, "I was teasing you, you big dummy."

"How dare you!" Lina lunged at Vivian, reaching out with both hands to severely pull Vivian’s face, "You think it’s fun? Fooling me around? I’m going to squash your face."

"Ah! It hurts, you dummy!" Vivian, far from being intimidated, stood on her tiptoes and reached out to grab Lina’s face too, twisting it with all her might.

"Thump, thump." Catherine’s fists landed on the heads of the two rowdy girls, causing them both to hold their heads and crouch down in pain, "You two, are you that childish? Playing these juvenile games. And you, Pannis, you should have told us when you opened the door. What’s so funny hiding over there?"

"I’m sorry, my mistake." Seeing that Catherine’s anger was about to be directed at him, Pannis quickly apologized sincerely, "Please forgive me."

"I’m so done with you." Catherine let out a sigh, "Now that the door’s open. What are we waiting for? Let’s get in. Elrad on the other side, let’s go, and don’t stray from my sight. I will be watching you."

"Mind your own business, idiot knight." Elrad snorted coldly and followed them through the door.

"Pannis, Vivian, now can you explain?" Catherine stepped cautiously into the open door, still a dark tunnel, and asked nervously, "What is going on?"

"Vivian and I both fell into a mistaken assumption." Pannis said with a bitter smile, "The designer here is indeed a master manipulator, exploiting our habits as people who solve traps. Every step we have taken is within his calculation."

"How so?" Catherine asked, "Did you notice any problems with your observations?"

"No, there was nothing wrong with our initial observations," Pannis stopped and pointed to an obvious array behind the half-open metal door, "See? This is the first trap array. It doesn’t matter what its function is now, but it’s the most obvious one."

"Hmm, I see it." Lina ran back to look at the array, "Then what?"

"If there are intruders, those who managed to make it this far are likely to be careful treasure hunters and trap disarmers. They’ve already encountered two deadly perils, so they would definitely stop here to inspect for traps," Pannis briefly paused, patting the cave wall, "This is the second trap. I won’t explain this now. Continuing on from earlier, once someone stops to investigate for traps, they effectively walk right into the enemy’s snare."

"Precisely, the traps here are interconnected like links in a chain." Vivian continued, "Just like I explained before, the first trap is connected to the second. This connection is rather obvious, and most disarmers who are vigilant will find it. Once they find it, they think themselves quite smart, assuming that there must be a third trap, and then start looking for it."

"See, there is the third trap," Pannis pointed at a magical array at the end of the passage, "When the disarmers find the third array, they will think, ’Aha, we were correct! Luckily we were cautious. In this game of traps, we are the victors.’"

"Yes, exactly." Lina spoke, "I remember hearing that in theory, a three-fold trap combination is the limit. We are indeed victorious."

"Yes, we fell into that trap before." Vivian went on, "But then our elder sister reminded us. Sister, do you remember what you said? What if the inheritor of this place doesn’t know how to disarm the traps. Truly, you were correct. There’s no external control mechanism here. To bolt through safely, one must disarm the traps, meaning the inheritor must have been able to disable the three-fold trap combination, or they simply wouldn’t get inside. But this isn’t right; there’s no reason for them to set such traps. So, there can only be one answer."

"Actually, the three traps are not connected to the opening mechanism of the metal door," Pannis sighed and shook his head, "Regardless of whether the metal door is opened or not, the traps wouldn’t be triggered. The first trap was too obvious while the subsequent traps were too cunning, distracting us completely from the fact that these traps, in relation to the main door, merely served as decorations. They bear no meaning. However, who would think such an elaborate set of traps actually had no connection to the doorway?"

"This...this...this..." Catherine was somewhat taken aback by the rapid explanations. After a pause to clear her thoughts, she responded incredulously, "That’s impossible. If that’s the case, then wouldn’t the design of this set of traps be meaningless? Was it merely meant to scare us?"

"Just like the wind channel we passed through. Did you assume the purpose of the passage was simply to impede people’s passage through? The purpose of it’s existence is merely to annihilate the intruders," Pannis grimaced as if recalling the possible aftermath had Catherine not warned them earlier, "It’s the same as this set of traps, which exist for the intention of tempting people to disarm them."

"Haha, Pannis, your words are getting more and more profound," Lina laughed dryly, "Can you say something we can understand?"

"If I’m not mistaken," Pannis pointed at the magic circle at the end of the passage, "There should be a corner here. Opposite the corner, there must be a sensor-type comparative array that has no energy connection to this set of traps, yet it’s wholly identical to this magic circle. The only purpose of such a comparative array is to automatically activate once the array it compares to gets abnormally disarmed. So, no matter how we disarm these three traps, it will eventually activate the comparative array, and then, hehehe."

"A trap prepared for the smart, huh?" Catherine sighed and shook her head, "If we actually met a person who didn’t notice the traps and directly rushed in here... Okay, I understand. That person wouldn’t even find the entrance to this place."

"I don’t care about all that," Lina said, "What I’m most curious about is: what does ’hehehe’ mean?"

"’Hehehe’ means, we are about to get rich." Pannis led everyone past the last corner. At the end of the passage was a pitch-black cave; they couldn’t see what was inside it. However, on the two sides of the final passage, a large number of magic circles were engraved, each embedded with a shining crystal. Pannis quickly took all the crystals from the magic circles and then heaved a sigh of relief. Juggling a few crystals in his hands, he said, "Look, this is what ’hehehe’ represents. The energy from these crystals would trigger an explosion when activated by the magic circle, the force of which would be enough to destroy this massive underground cavern. Then, along with the treasure, everyone would be buried here in an instant. Even the most well-prepared couldn’t escape, hehehe."

"We really did strike it rich." Catherine, with eyes glittering, scrambled over to snatch the crystals from Pannis’s hand. She nestled the crystals against her face ecstatically, saying, "High-quality crystals worth eight thousand Taels each, four thousand Mithril Coins on the market, twenty pieces in total. Haha, I’m euphoric! My precious stones, I love you."

"Ahem, ahem." Pannis cleared his throat a few times, attempting to draw Catherine’s attention. When that failed, he raised his voice and said, "Catherine, I must remind you of something. While you’re investing your feelings in your ’babies’, there’s a vast amount of wealth accumulated over the generations lying within the cave before you. You’ve neglected them over a few ’babies’; they might just feel heartbroken."

"Oh, right." Catherine abruptly looked up, her eyes sparkling vivaciously as she excitedly said, "What are we waiting for then? Don’t waste time, let’s go!"

"Seriously, who’s the one wasting time here?" Lina murmured, slapping her forehead, as she followed the expressionless Elrad into the cave.

The cave was vast but pitch black. Pannis quickly adjusted the illuminator to the diffuse light mode, lighting up the entire cave. The moment everyone saw the sight within the cave, they were stunned. Catherine was so shocked that the Falcon Shield slipped from her grasp and clattered to the ground.

Densely packed pearls and gems like a starry sky, valuable metals piled up to human height, stacks of Mithril Coins one could swim in, and antique artwork emitting a rustic aura. The dazzling and shiny sight would make anyone lose their mind at first glance.

Unfortunately, none of this... none of it was there at all.