Drill Crisis

The Giant Civilization of ancient times created countless wonders. For thousands of years, humans and elves have attempted to replicate some of their technology.

This had also turned Xi'endrick, the giants' homeland, into an adventure destination that adventurers flocked to.

When Karl was still receiving his basic education, some expert scholars had issued statements claiming that current civilization was no inferior to that of the ancient giants.

But after seeing what was before him, Karl felt that those who spoke such words were either influenced by political factors or were simply seeking attention.

"Oh, what exquisite smelting technology! And this technique of etching Magic Runes... If I can fully understand the technology on this thing, my Power Armor's combat power will surely reach a new level!"

As he excitedly stroked the machine's outer shell, Karl didn't notice that the massive drill bit was slowly starting to rotate.

He didn't notice, but Hopp did.

So, Hopp kicked Karl's Power Armor.

"Look behind you! That thing has activated!"

"What?"

Before Karl could even understand, Hopp had already grabbed his wrist, directly flinging him away from the drill bit.

Meanwhile, Hopp herself used the rivets on the machine to quickly move in the opposite direction of the drill bit.

"Gurgle, gurgle~"

As the drill bit churned, the water flow in the cavern began to change direction.

"We need to get out of here quickly!"

Catching up to Karl, Hopp pressed close to his helmet and shouted.

The water flow in the cavern was becoming increasingly violent.

The silt at the bottom was being stirred up and rapidly spread throughout the entire cavern.

The visibility in the water was decreasing, and it was foreseeable that it wouldn't improve anytime soon.

"No! The visibility is too low! We might get sucked into that drill bit! Grab me! I have an idea!"

Realizing the gravity of the situation, Karl quickly recalled the general structure of the drill bit mechanism he had glimpsed earlier.

Apart from their size, there weren't significant physiological differences between giants and humans.

Therefore, many of the giants' mechanical designs were completely compatible with human ones.

What Karl intended to do was to find the entrance to this machine in a short amount of time, then use his Artificer abilities to open it, allowing himself and Hopp to enter the machine's interior.

Dragging Hopp with one hand, Karl swam upwards with all his might.

He remembered seeing something that looked like a gate in a certain position behind the drill bit machine.

Following the metal plates upwards, Karl searched with his extremely limited vision, relying on his vague memory.

The water flow became even more turbulent, and Karl and Hopp were swept along by the undertow, making their swimming efforts increasingly difficult.

As the two were about to be carried away, Hopp was about to persuade Karl to leave, but Karl shouted:

"Found it!"

Placing his hand on a metal plate, Karl felt his Spirituality come into contact with a magic mechanism.

Activating his Psionic abilities, Karl attempted to quickly understand the operating principle of this magic mechanism.

Just then, a powerful surge of water swept over them. Karl, who had been pressed tightly against the metal plate, stumbled and was about to be washed away by the current.

"Ha!"

In a critical moment, Hopp immediately activated Rage.

Her 1.6-meter height suddenly increased, and her lengthened arms grabbed Karl, pressing him back onto the metal plate.

However, as her body size increased, the resistance from the water flow against her also grew stronger.

Her fingers, which had been tightly gripping the rivets, began to fail under the resistance of the water, slipping off the protruding rivets one by one.

At the critical juncture, a blue light flashed from Karl's body, and the adjacent mechanism immediately made a sound.

The massive gate opened, and the empty cavity inside instantly flooded with muddy water.

Karl and Hopp, being too close to the gate, were directly "swallowed" inside.

Soon, the gate closed again, and with the operation of the internal mechanisms, the muddy water was gradually drained. Karl and Hopp knelt on the ground, still shaken.

After a long while, the two finally recovered.

"Phew~ we're saved. So, what exactly is this thing?"

Taking off her underwater breathing apparatus, Hopp patted her chest, still unnerved, as if they had been a moment slower, they would have been dragged into the drill bit and turned into mush.

"I believe this is a creation of the ancient giants. This machine might be equipment they used to mine Khyber Dragonshards. Alas, it's fortunate that I chose Giant Language and Giant Runes as my elective alien languages; otherwise, we might have really perished here."

Taking off his Power Armor, Karl looked at the gate, which was at least six meters high, and felt secretly fortunate.

The giants' language used Dwarvish pronunciation, much like the relationship between Chinese characters and Pinyin.

Having learned Giant Language, one basically understood Dwarvish as well.

The reason Karl chose this particular elective alien language was partly due to a bit of laziness.

Of course, the optimization effect of the Giant Runes on magical items was also one of the reasons Karl ultimately chose it.

"So, what do we do now? Keep going deeper and turn off this machine?"

As he spoke, Hopp's body gradually returned to its normal size.

The drill outside was still running, and if the two of them went out now, they might be swept away by the water current.

Therefore, what Hopp suggested was indeed what they were about to do.

"There's no other way, is there?"

Shrugging, Karl tilted his head back and began examining the magical mechanisms on the inside.

Observing with both his eyes and his psionic abilities, Karl quickly found the mechanism to activate the internal gate.

But upon seeing the crystal plate with several runes on it, Karl's expression turned a bit strange.

I didn't expect these giants to be using a digital password lock mechanism tens of thousands of years ago, and it looks like it's a touchscreen at that!

While feeling a sense of wonder, Karl released his psionic energy and made contact with the crystal plate.

His psionic energy, in a special way, connected Karl to the magical mechanisms within the crystal plate.

After touching the residual spirituality within the magical mechanism, Karl closed his eyes and began to analyze it.

This mechanism is also set with a six-digit password using ten different runes. Hmm~, judging by the magic runes inside the mechanism, there doesn't seem to be a limit on the number of password attempts. It looks like I can use brute force.

After carefully inspecting the internal functions of the mechanism, Karl narrowed his eyes and began cracking the password like a hacker.

Unlike purely mechanical lock mechanisms, this special type of mechanism required the input of the correct rune password before it could be opened.

Many safes today also used this anti-theft method, and some even had limits on the number of attempts.

Besides artificers, probably only some rogues would dare to try opening such mechanisms.

Karl's psionic energy quickly scanned the internal structure and magic runes of the mechanism. Looking at the runes that lit up on the crystal plate, his brow furrowed.

"Cloud, Death, Wyrm, Enemy, Flame, Friendship..."

Manipulating his psionic energy, Karl injected magic power into the runes representing these meanings one by one.

"Chih~"

With the sound of an airlock opening, the gate leading into the machine slowly opened.