Despite her initial concerns, Lila cozied quickly into not caring about the night shifts. In the end, if you could have a full eight hours of sleep, it was better than not having that luxury. Aira didn't mind, as she wouldn't sleep anyway, even if her companion decided to stay awake.

That night was the first time they spent under a solid roof after leaving Mountain View. And that put Aira into a brooding mood.

By the end of the first day, they had gotten so deep inside the ancient structure that no light came from the outside. Even if the night was starry and one of the moons was shining, that wouldn't change a thing. Aira and Lila had to constantly use the torchlights they found during their search or keep the fire burning in the room they chose for their temporary camp to fight back the darkness.

The building's mysteries unsettled Aira. She felt like all that unknowable number of floors above her pressed her down with their weight. In her past life, she had a few quests with tower trials. She had to clear level after level, filled with monsters, before reaching the final boss on the top floor. But even these challenges weren't as oppressive as the ancient structure surrounding her now.

And that's without any magic!

Aira made sure that Lila was sound asleep and left the room for the corridor. She didn't plan to venture too far, not to lose sight of their room, but she needed space to stretch her legs and allow her thoughts to flow.

She was used to being alone during her missions. Aira had friends and temporary companions when quests demanded that. But mostly, she was a loner. That's why she didn't expect her exclusion from human society to hit her so hard. It wasn't only about the magic, her skills, and her stats anymore. She had to build a relationship with this quirky green-haired woman. Otherwise, her chances of survival in this world were slim.

Aira walked along the dark corridor, trying to figure out how to navigate without light. When she sent pulses of energy around her, she felt some reaction from the carcass of the old infrastructure, but she wasn't yet proficient enough to use it in any meaningful way.

The facility remained a mystery. For some reason, Aira felt there should be at least something here that would reply to her powers. It was like she needed to put the last piece to finish the puzzle, but she couldn't figure out what it was.

After a few more futile attempts, she decided to take a different approach, using her collection of gadgets. Aira recalled the feeling she had during the night of their flight from Mountain View. It was like she followed some special pathways that conducted the energies.

Her own world's experience made her treat all gadgets as artifacts that were solid magical objects imbued with special powers. Initially, she hesitated about using them for anything besides focusing her powers and passing the ambient energy through them. That was the attitude she maintained throughout her life. Using artifacts was frowned upon by her tutors. Skills, especially her Mana Manipulation, and her faithful warhammer, should be enough to defeat any foe and turn any conflict in her favor.

But sifting through all the piles of broken pieces of ancient tech in this facility, Aira realized that her attitude was wrong. She had to find a different approach and change her stance in so many ways. She had to evolve and adapt.

Aira found a cozy corner with a view to the entrance to the room where she left Lila and started her meditation as usual. Step by step switching between her senses, limiting them in the beginning and then combining the inputs. The darkness of the building enveloped her. Groans and screeches of the old structure filled her hearing.

During the last phase, she lit up her tablet, and all of a sudden, she saw it. There were multiple pathways within that device. It was all about pathways. All of them allowed energy to be transmitted. Even more, some of the energy was emitted outside of the device, reaching her and allowing her to use the device as a focusing element for her powers.

Could she perceive this whole building as a grand device? A gadget? Were there any circuits there, hidden within its structure, she could trace?

Aira extended her senses as much as she could, and the whole building lit up in her mind's eye. Hidden pathways connected different rooms. Most of them were cut off in the centuries of vandalism and pillage. Still, there was something massive there, hidden deeper within the rock into which this facility was carved. There was a section that may have remained intact. And they had to find the entrance.

***

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The following day, they continued their exploration of the facility. Stale air that reflected centuries of decay was now affected by the smell of fire they kept throughout the night. Aira and Lila brought life to this forgotten place, and their footsteps echoed eerily through the empty halls. But despite the bleak surroundings, Aira felt a sense of renewed purpose. She explained her night's findings to Lila during breakfast, and they were eager to locate that hidden spot.

Their search wasn't as straightforward as they hoped. Aira could feel where the pathways went, but there were so many of them that it was hard to distinguish between one bunch and another. Even worse, multiple times, they found dead ends with power conduits vanishing in solid walls without any chance for them to follow through.

Still, they were moving further away from the entrance, deeper and deeper into the facility. It felt like Aira and Lila were going in the right direction. And their perseverance was rewarded by lunchtime. Following a bundle of promising conduits, Aira found a hidden hatch that opened to a corridor lined with cables—all the connections from throughout the ancient building led here.

Lila followed Aira's lead, her curiosity piqued. "You sense something, don't you?" she asked softly, and Aira nodded in response.

They walked through a series of long corridors, each more worn than the last, until they reached a section of the facility that remained more intact. The walls here were reinforced with heavy metal plates, and the floors were smoother and less littered with debris. Aira's senses tingled as they approached a massive door at the end of the long passageway.

The entry point was enormous, several times Aira's height, and adorned with complex mechanisms and heavy locks. It looked like it had been designed to contain something very important or dangerous securely. The intricate network of gears, levers, and valves suggested a level of engineering far beyond anything they had encountered so far.

"Roots and rivers! Would you look at that?" Lila breathed, her eyes wide with awe. "What in the thorny thicket were they trying to keep locked up behind this monster?"

Aira shook her head, her excitement tempered by the realization of the challenge before them. "Lots of things," she wrote. "I think it is what we were looking for."

"Not even the Elders would've dreamed up something like this," Lila replied. "Moon and moss, Aira, it's a fortress on its own!"

They examined the door closely, trying to understand how it operated. The mechanisms were intricate, a blend of advanced technology and engineering. Aira traced her fingers along the metal surface, trying to find any faint energy signatures within. It was a daunting task, but she knew she had to do her best and sharpen her senses to the maximum.

Lila attempted to move one of the valves, grunting with effort. But it barely budged. "This isn't going to be easy," she said, wiping sweat from her brow.

Aira joined her, and they tried to make the mechanism react to their force. Despite their combined strength, it felt like trying to move a mountain. The door was clearly designed to be operated by something far more powerful than an ordinary human—or a mage with most of her skills and powers severely limited and transformed.

"Well, root me sideways!" Lila exclaimed, stepping back and catching her breath. "This thing's heavier than a mountain boulder. You'd need a giant's strength to get it moving. Looks like we're skirting the shadowline here—need a new plan."

It was obvious that brute force wouldn't be enough. They needed to find a way to unlock the mechanisms exercising control over the intricate circuitry Aira had been sensing within. She gestured for Lila to step back and focused her powers on the door, probing it with pulses of her Energy Manipulation skill. It was like trying to untangle a web of invisible threads. Each one connected to a different part of the locking system.

Aira concentrated, drawing the power from any sources she could access. The trees and other living objects were too far away, so she had to gather energy from thousands of small sources surrounding her slowly. She directed the gathered energy forward, guiding it through the door's mechanisms. The gears and levers began to vibrate, slowly at first, then with increasing intensity. Aira could feel the resistance as she continued her manipulation, but she pushed through.

Not being able to influence the process in any way, Lila watched in silent awe as the massive door responded. The valves started to turn, gears grinding as they moved. It was slow, painstaking work, but Aira persisted, her determination unwavering. She could feel the strain, the effort it took to control the energy, but she refused to give up.

Minutes turned into what felt like hours. Aira sensed that her reserves were insufficient for this titanic task, and she let herself exploit the measure of last resort, something she hoped never to use when she first learned about her race and the capabilities of her updated skill. She scanned the surrounding area, finding all sorts of rodents and small creatures that inhabited the facility, and tapped into their energy reserves.

Finally, she was able to turn the tide—intense energy overwhelmed with the force of a hurricane. Not being able to control it, Aira poured everything she could grasp into the ancient mechanism. With the last bits of her will trying not to affect Lila by this maelstrom of force.

With a resounding clang, the last lock disengaged. The massive door shuddered and swung open, slowly revealing the darkness beyond.

"By the old roots, you did it," Lila whispered, her voice filled with amazement. She turned to Aira, her eyes shining. "Boulder-solid work, Aira. Never thought I'd see this door open, not in a thousand winters!"

Aira smiled, exhausted but triumphant. And then she fell down, completely drained. The last thing that reached her hearing was Lila's muttering: "Oh, you half-baked pine sap... drained yourself dry! Alright, catch a leaf and rest up—I'll keep watch like a hawk in the treeline."