Locked Door

Moving up the stairs with cautious steps, Theodore eventually found a door after a long climb. The door was locked tight and was made of steel. Even if Theodore wanted to forcefully break it, he would find it difficult to do so.

Though Theodore had tried to pick the lock with his threads of Aether, the door appeared to be enchanted with some sort of artificial magic resistance, with his threads being broken down upon contact with the door.

"It's just one thing after another today," Theodore muttered as he found himself in yet another dead end.

Standing before the locked door, Theodore considered his options. Should he wait for someone to open the door and sneak past? A quick survey of his surroundings would make it clear that there was nowhere to hide. Not to mention that unless the one who opens the door is careless, there wouldn't be much of an opportunity to sneak through.

There was also the option of simply turning back and finding another way. However, Theodore was getting tired and he feared that he might run into another creature that might be lurking in the dark depths of the sewers. Not to mention, there were no guarantees that he would find another exit anytime soon either way if he turned back. Theodore would rather take the opportunity right in front of him instead of leaving things to chance.

(I am going to have to pick it the good old fashion way.)

In the Demon Lord's many lives, there were those who started out as thieves, some of which were capable of picking various locks. There was a problem, however, as Theodore's unpracticed hands would be unable to wield the skills within the Demon Lord's memories properly.

It wasn't going to be easy, to say the least.

For about an hour or so, Theodore tried to feel around the inside of the lock using hair pins he borrowed from Fiana. Unfortunately, he did not have a great deal of success. His hands simply lacked the sensitivity and nimbleness needed.

If only he could use his Aether. That would make this so much easier.

However, Theodore did not give up just yet. Opening his satchel, he began to search for anything he might be able to use. He did not expect much, but he thought that it wouldn't hurt to look.

Soon after taking a peek into the satchel, Theodore's eyes were drawn towards a jar in which a slime had been captured within. Theodore had wanted to take it back with him to study, and having seen the mother slime, he became ever more so interested.

(Hmm... What if...)

Though it required Aether to function, the slime's body was very much physical. With its body consisting of mostly water, a slime also has a gelatinous membrane surrounding its body, a layer of skin, if you will.

Theodore thought that slimes were akin to jellyfish, which made him wonder if there were any jellyfishes off the northern coast of Nix. Regardless, the layer of gelatinous skin would make it so that the magic resistance of the door would not interfere with the inner workings of a slime.

Theodore pressed the slime against the door, removing it after making sure that its flexible body had seeped into the keyhole. After the removal, Theodore extended a thread of Aether towards the slime's core. As expected, there was some artificial magic resistance within the slime's body as well, but it was easier to work through than the magic resistance on the lock.

Connecting to the slime's behavioral matrix, Theodore began to extract information.

Though simple at first glance, the one who created the slimes was most definitely a master of the art of enchantment, at least when it came to creating behavioral matrices.

As proof of that, the slime's behavioral matrix had various defensive countermeasures in place, from junk information that would trick those trying to access the core to various traps that would send vicious feedback attacks that used a mage's own Aether-sense against them by injecting false information into their Aether, triggering potentially deadly immunity responses by making their body think it's under attack via Aether or inducing seizures by flooding their brain with useless information. All in all, a slime's behavioral matrix was not something one should try to access carelessly.

However, skilled the creator might be, Theodore was a Demon Lord reincarnate, a being that 'reproduced' by imprinting its will, its ego, upon Aether and uses it to invade the 'souls' of other beings. To mages, enchantment might be an art, a skill, and a technique, but to the Demon Lord, it was merely second nature, as natural as lifting a finger.

Skillfully, Theodore navigated the traps within the behavioral matrix. Upon feeling that he might have triggered something, he quickly cut off his connection before an attack on his Aether-sense could be made. Slowly, carefully, and methodically in a way that was instinctual to him, akin to how bees knew to build their nest and how beavers knew to build their dams, Theodore eventually found a way into the slime's behavioral matrix.

As the slimes would have to navigate various terrains within the city, be it stairs, slopes, ceilings, bushes, canals, and so on and so forth, Theodore reasoned that the slimes would probably have a system that helps it identify the surfaces they came to contact with, something akin to a human's sense of touch perhaps. This meant that by cramming the slime into the keyhole, Theodore might gain information in regards to the inner structure via the slime's identification system.

(It works... In that case...)

Once again, Theodore squeezed the slime into the lock, this time, with his threads of Aether connected to the slime's core. Using this direct connection, Theodore gained access to the slime's identification system, its senses, and used it to feel his way around the pins within the lock. Then, by manipulating the slime's body from within using threads of Aether, he pushed the pins, feeling their pressure and clicks with the slime's body as he did so.

And so, with the final click, the lock was undone.

With a strong push, the heavy steel door swung open, allowing Theodore to slip in once he made sure no one was around.

Once in the room, Theodore searched for any sights of additional security measures and found there to be none, not even a simple alarm system. From this, he reasoned that the room was likely meant to be hidden as an alarm system would require a transceiver and receiver or a series of transceivers and receivers depending on the range of the alarm. Someone could use these receivers to locate the room and therefore a hidden room tended to not have any alarms.

Closing the door behind him, Theodore could hear a click from the door. It appeared that it was made to lock itself once closed, a security measure for even the most absent-minded key bearer. Theodore was impressed because it was not something enchanted into the door but a more analogue system built into the door itself.

Stuffing the slime back into the jar, Theodore continued to explore further.

The room he had just entered was small and had nothing but the steel door in it. The walls were humid and mold could be seen growing.

The mold was an odd sight, as the slimes would most certainly make quick work of them. This must mean that the slimes had a hard time finding their way into this place, perhaps due to this room being a hidden room of some sort. Theodore, now more than ever, was convinced of the room's secrecy.

The room connected to a narrow hallway that led to another set of stairs, and at the end of the stairs was yet another locked door.

Puffing out a sight of irritation, Theodore pulled out the slime once more, using the same trick on this door.

The door opened with ease and Theodore proceeded inside, finding no alarms on this one either. However, he did find a ladder leading up to a trapdoor. The trapdoor was not locked, but it was stuck. Something heavy had been placed on top of it.

Fortunately, the trapdoor was not enchanted, allowing Theodore to slip his Aether threads through the gaps on the sides and investigate the space above, revealing to him that bricks had been placed atop the trapdoor.

Using his threads, Theodore began removing the bricks one by one, quite glad that none of them were too heavy for his threads to lift.

In time, the bricks were removed and Theodore climbed out of the trapdoor, entering what appeared to be a small storehouse.

After locating the exit, Theodore turned on the blinders on his brightstone lamp once more and cautiously approached. With a light twist and push, the door opened easily, to Theodore's relief.

Poking his head outside, Theodore made sure the coast was clear. He went back into the storehouse, placed the brick on top of the trapdoor, made sure the coast was clear again, and stealthily crept outside.

Finally, Theodore was on the surface once more. Yet, all was not well. From the horizon, the light of dawn could be seen gradually overtaking the night sky.

Soon, it would be daytime, making it rather difficult for Theodore to get around.

Dejected, Theodore returned to the storehouse, planning to wait until nightfall before restarting his journey back.

***

End of Chapter 96

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