Now that Uriel's confidence enjoyed a huge boost from his first success, he wasn't hesitant to step into the Kukulkan pyramid anymore. If anything, he was more excited than ever because now he was being backed by most of the researchers on site and he was being treated as a full fledged archaeologist by them.

"I already figured out what's the Great platform's function which is good, but to find the entrance to the underground structure I'll need to study every single POI." Uriel had been attempting to explain the situation to Nika who was his personal assistant, but all she did was to nod at his every word with pretend interest on her face.

"I get it, I totally get it, so how long will it be?" She asked, for the umpteenth time.

"Did you not listen to what I just said? It could be a couple days, it could be a few weeks or even years! Stop bothering me!" He finally raised his voice in annoyance causing Nika to pucker her lips out in a pout. "Fine, let's go to the great pyramid first."

"Yes! I knew you would fall for my charms in the end!" She waved her arms in the air and disappeared with a gleeful smile. Not long after she showed up in front of Uriel along with Flanagan and four other bodyguards. They had already prepared gear, archaeology equipment and supplies for a week long trip.

"Isn't this a little bit too much?" Uriel's brow began twitching uncontrollably. "This site is not that big."

"One never knows, maybe we'll get to enter the hidden structure." She shrugged and led the way towards the pyramid. Although the way was clear and there were no cryptids on sight, the group of bodyguards still surrounded him as if he was going to war.

They were skillful enough not to get in Uriel's way, but that didn't make it any less annoying. 'Is this how famous people feel? I guess it's a good thing I'm not famous, one week of this and I'd go crazy.' Despite his thoughts, he still felt a bit of a thrill for the VIP treatment.

Once in front of the pyramid, Uriel finally had the chance to really take in its magnificence. It wasn't just a few bricks piled up on top of each other, it was made with thousands upon thousands of stones all cut to perfectly fit each other.

Climbing the long stairs that led to the top where the ancient glyphs had been discovered, Uriel pondered about the method the Mayans probably used to build it. Was it possible to build a structure such as these with the technology they had or was it built long before the Mayans even arrived at this place, such questions kept him distracted for a while.

Stolen novel; please report.

Nika was the first to get inside the chamber using a lantern to light the way and Uriel followed closely behind, thanks to being an evolved human he wasn't tired in the slightest.

"Where are the carvings?" Uriel asked as soon as he stepped inside and Nika lighted up the whole place. The chamber wasn't that spacious and it was made of stone, just like the rest of the pyramid, but there was a stone that seemed to be made of a different material.

It was as if the stone had peeled off, revealing a material that resembled something in between copper and gold.

"I see, so the carvings aren't in the stone, but on the material beneath it." Uriel said as he took a brush from the archaeology equipment.

"A brush!? I present to you THE hardest material known in the world and you pick up a brush to crack it!?" Nika facepalmed.

"It's not for opening the supposed door, it's just to wipe the dust off so I can read better." Uriel explained as he proceeded to dust the carvings on sight and soon enough they were clean enough for Uriel to read.

[Emergency exit]

'What!? For real!?' Uriel couldn't believe his own eyes. 'I can't let everyone know that the language says something so... mundane.' Uriel pondered for a while on how to tell everyone that the pyramid wasn't an entrance to the structure but the emergency exit. It wasn't just that the message carved on the pyramid was so simple it was anti-climatic, but also because it might allow other researchers to easily deduce the whole alphabet and make a codex of their own, just like he did before.

"What does it say? Judging by the look in your face it seems you were able to translate it." Flanagan said out loud, forcing Uriel to give a prompt answer to avoid looking suspicious.

"It says something like 'For those who despair, for those who fear, one way is the correct way but this is not the way'." Uriel provided a complete made up riddle to keep the researchers back at the camp distracted.

Flanagan swiftly jotted down everything Uriel said without missing a beat.

"Do you know what does this strange message mean?" Flanagan asked with excitement.

"I don't know for sure..." Uriel kept lying without blinking. "But I think it means that the door doesn't open from this side."

Uriel asked to stay for half an hour more just to keep appearances and pretended to attempt to figure out more about the ancient glyphs, when in reality he simply enjoyed being inside the ruins of such an amazing structure.

Going down the stairs carrying the delicate equipment was a bit difficult because of how steep the stairs were, but as ascended their physical capabilities were enhanced, including their sense of balance. Once they were down, Flanagan made sure to share Uriel's findings with the researchers on site and then they set off to the next structure.

Now that Uriel knew the pyramid wasn't the entrance to the underground structure, he needed to rule out each and every one of the remaining POIs. Such a task was as promising as entertaining and he found much joy in visiting the different structures. First came the priest's houses, but they were just old remains and nothing more, then he headed towards the tomb of the high priestess. There were also some carvings below the stone surface, but none of that was helpful and when asked he simply stated that he wasn't able to translate it.

The most interesting part was when he reached to the next POI, something not even Uriel who had studied archaeology since he was a child could anticipate.