Zaria exhaled softly, her lips curving into a smirk, "Grade Six. That's child's play!"

The next moment, the wall in front of them shimmered faintly, and then it shifted. The solid stone dissolved into mist, revealing a descending stairway that led into darkness, and a cool, abyssal wind drifted upward from below, carrying a faint metallic scent.

Ace's eyes gleamed with approval, "Nicely done. Below this path should be the inner vault chambers. If I remember correctly, the treasury must be protected by a Quasi-Grade-8 formation!"

Zaria arched an eyebrow as she didn't like Ace's words and scoffed, "That's supposed to impress me?"

Ace chuckled quietly, "No, but it should make you cautious. Khazar might not have stationed guards here, but that's what makes it even more dangerous!"

Zaria didn't reply, and followed by Ace, they started to descend.

The stairway spiraled deeper and deeper into the abyss. The air grew heavier, charged with both spiritual and abyssal resonance. The deeper they went, the more they felt as though they were stepping into the heart of the city itself.

At the bottom, the stairway opened into a vast subterranean hall. The ceiling arched high above, inlaid with countless glowing runes that flickered between colors of blue, black, and gold. The ground beneath them shimmered faintly, humming with compressed intent of law.

However, at the center stood a single sealed door. It was massive, forged from unknown metal that seemed to swallow light.

Seven circular glyphs orbited its surface, moving slowly, each one pulsing with complex, layered symbols. The entire space vibrated faintly with the pressure it exuded.

Ace remained silent, but the solemnity in his eyes couldn't be hidden, while Zaria's expression also turned serious.

"This is a Shifting Master Lock! Although it's different from the Heavenly Master Locks, I'm sure it's the same!"

Ace's gaze was fixed on it, and he spoke, his tone turning serious, "This is the quasi–Grade Eight formation I mentioned, but I don't think it would be a Master Lock! Khazar didn't leave this place unguarded for no reason after all. But the treasury lies beyond this gate."

Ace then glanced at Zaria and asked, "Can you do something about this Master Lock? I can't help you unless I summon my original body here."

Ace was telling the truth, as he always relied on the Universal Key system to open Master Locks like these while paying Thief Points.

However, his knowledge of Master Locks was limited, and according to Malservus, he needed to be at least an Ascension Grand Master to begin learning about it. She promised to teach him personally.

Zaria didn't answer and stepped forward, her eyes glinting with calculation as she examined the shifting glyphs.

"The shifting master locks are always most difficult to open, even if you know how to break them for their cores are nested behind a deception loop, which constantly shifts at a specific period, alternating the patterns entirely.

"Furthermore, each glyph connects to the next in sequence, resetting if the wrong node is touched. Breaking it by brute force would alert the entire castle instantly!"

Ace was astounded, "I don't know you know so much about Master Locks. But can you open it without the Master Key?"

At that moment, Zaria smiled thinly, "Well, I might be able to break a Grade-7 Master Lock if given time, and this one is almost at Grade-8. Even if I tried to break it, it'll take months to figure out its shifting patterns before I even start to open it.

"I guess I have to use that technique, but it'll only open it temporarily, and we would have a very short window to do our thing before that technique wears down, and not only will the lock be sealed, but it'll alert everyone!"

This time Ace was shocked, "What? You can really open it despite it being above your rank?"

Ace was planning to call back his main body if Zaria had no other way, but unexpectedly, she did have a way to open it.

Even though it was risky and temporary, Ace was still impressed by Zaria's resourcefulness, and now he really wanted to know just what kind of origin Zaria had to be so proficient in Alchemy and Rune Crafting, especially Master Locks!

"I don't think we have much time to discuss this right now. Just tell me if you want to risk it all? After all, once that technique wears down, the entire Black Hermit City, including that Dread Duchess, will rush here. Should I do it?" Zaria questioned as she completely left this decision to Ace.

Ace fell into deep silence as he started to calculate the pros and cons. 'If we can empty the place and leave before her technique wears off, it won't be a problem. But Dread Duchess shouldn't be underestimated. However, if I added my main body, I might be able to buy some extra time…'

He finally looked at Zaria and sternly asked, "If you're confident in escaping a Half-Abyssal King…I'm down!"

Zaria gave Ace a profound yet fearless look, and without a word, she extended both hands, and this time, the air itself seemed to bend around her.

Her amber Qi turned translucent, like threads of living light, and wove between the seven moving glyphs. Each touch was gentle, each pulse exact.

For a few tense moments, the hall was silent except for the low hum of Spirit Qi and the rhythmic beats of the glyphs rotating around her fingers.

"Forbidden Runic Technique: Temporal Contortion!"

Thereafter…crack…a faint light line split across the formation, and the glyphs froze mid-spin.

Zaria's expression turned ethereal as her spirit Qi surged once more, and she murmured under her breath, tracing a series of invisible symbols in the air.

Ace watched everything without blinking, and he was also sensing the profound aura in the air and the profound law…

'The Law of Time!' Ace's eyes narrowed slightly as he wasn't expecting Zaria to know a time-related forbidden spell, not to mention it was a spell related to rune crafting.

After a while, Zaria's lips suddenly curved into a satisfied smirk as the glyphs began to unravel like silk threads cut loose, and the moment the Master Lock gave a long, low hum and then dimmed!

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