Chapter 111: Breaking in.
Lee’s manner of walking might have looked relaxed from the side, but his steps were long and quick. He entered the office with his head low, and confidently proceeded to the stairs leading to the underground tunnels.
The only thing that distinguished him from the real caretakers was the adapted waterskin bag that held the fake seal and a few other items, including a small sack of fungal spores.
The caretaker at the vault who currently was on the watch, happily switched with the newcomer, and Lee immediately got to work the moment he was alone.
First he carefully inspected the oval door, but couldn’t find any peculiarities. If he didn’t get it open on the first try, it was possible he’ll have to experiment.
Lee strapped on an awkward looking gadget, resembling a small stack of folded clothes, on his right knee, but didn’t do anything with it yet. Then he closed his eyes and concentrated. This was the most tricky part – he had to pull elemental energy in the form of water and earth particles to each of his palms at the same time.
He had been successful doing that during a proper meditation, but technically this had to work. It took slightly longer than anticipated, but he managed to replicate the process. Before the strange sensation subsided, he quickly lit up the thing he put on his right knee earlier, and pressed his both palms in two of the depressions and lifted his burning knee to touch the last one.
He tried to switch the positions the power of the elements was delivered to, but nothing changed.
’Damn it!’ Lee cursed to himself, and put out the fire.
Theoretically the problem might’ve lied in the seal, but Lee’s guess was that he had missed the obvious. The fire had to be on the top with the two heavier elements at the bottom. It was the common sense.