Genesis Code: The Genetic Awakening-Chapter 148: Espionage (2)

Caleb moved like a ghost, shifting from one shadow to the next. Within moments, he had scaled the castle walls and entered the hallway leading to the study. He picked up the hidden forces of the duke and completely ignored them.

With slow and silent steps, he closed in on the study, swiftly passing by the door and arriving at the wall that housed the hidden chamber.

The chamber itself was small, and its walls were separate from the hallway walls, creating a hollow space Caleb had to cross.

’And this is where things get tricky...’ Caleb mused. ’Phasing through the first wall won’t be much of an issue...’

The real problem was the hidden chamber walls. Its security spells were entirely different, specifically targeting any slight distortion in space.

That meant teleporting and phasing weren’t going to cut it. He needed to do some good old-fashioned observation and deductions.

’Hehe, this is fun...’

A slight wave of mana and Caleb phased through the first obstacle, stepping inside the narrow divide.

The space was very narrow with barely any lights available. But that was not an issue for his enhanced eyesight and senses.

There were cobwebs in the corners and dust lingering in the air and on the floor. It was not a place meant for the castle staff to know.

’This will leave traces...’

Caleb lowered his gaze as he floated slightly above the dusty floor. Then, a gentle wave of air swirled around and erased his footprints.

Gradually, he moved forward and came to float in front of the entrance of the hidden chamber. Behind him was the path that led to the study.

There were no signs that the Duke had been alerted. Caleb was just a couple of meters away from the Duke’s position with the Duke none the wiser.

Returning his focus to the hidden chamber, Caleb narrowed his eyes and switched his vision to the arcane, allowing him to perceive the invisible runes of the spells cast on the entrance.

Blue turquoise eyes changed and took a darkened hue with outer white rings against dark sclera. All colours of the spectrum disappeared, replaced with a black and white lined vision.

Every matter in his surroundings became black while anything magical glowed white, outlining the matrix of the spells and runes embedded in the door.

’Wow...’ Caleb couldn’t help but be surprised. ’The entire chamber looks like some complex computer circuitry.’

The hidden chamber was a rectangular-shaped box 4 meters high and 6 meters long. The circuitry lines went from top to bottom, all of them converging on the centre of the chamber — the gateway to enter the chamber.

’Looks like some kind of biometric system...’ Caleb deduced with a flicker of shock in his eyes. ’This world may be more advanced than I give it credit for.’

There was still a lot he didn’t know about.

Prompting his system, Caleb utilised the appraisal function to analyse the runes and matrices.

[Estimated time for analysis: 3 minutes.]

Regardless of the nature of this spell, there was bound to be a back pass to find, and this was what the system was searching for.

A long list of miscellaneous data flashed past Caleb’s vision. He noticed a few spells built into the chamber that had to do with temperature regulation, mould formation and air regulation.

As the analysis went on, Caleb focused on his domain sense, observing what was happening at the temporary campsite.

’Looks like he’s fed up.’ Crusher had abandoned his observation after finding nothing suspicious about Belzac.

Shifting his attention, he checked up on Jess as well. She was still locked up in the Commander’s office, minding her own business. freewёbn૦νeɭ.com

However, there was a subtle smirk on her lips. The Catwoman suddenly mouthed something Caleb didn’t fail to understand, bringing a smile to his face.

’Hehe, don’t worry. All is good...’

Some time later, Caleb heard the familiar ding from the system, drawing his attention to the HUD.

[Analysis Complete]

[A failsafe mechanism allows for the opening of the chamber in the event of energy runout or accident. Interfering with specific node points should open the chamber]

The system pointed out several node points on the hidden chamber for Caleb, pointing out the order in which to short-circuit the entire system without raising the alarm.

’Nice...’

Caleb moved back slightly, his eyes darting around as he noted the nodes he needed to disrupt.

’Finding this without magic would have been impossible if you didn’t want to get caught.’ Caleb thought with a smile. ’The goal is to avoid using magic on the chamber...

’Here goes nothing,’

A sigh escaped his lips as he employed his physical speed. This was bound to disturb the dust around, but Caleb had a plan for that.

Whoosh!

In a flash, Caleb completed a lap around the chamber, swiftly identifying the node points and delivering the required pressure to those points.

Moments after his move, the chamber hummed and glowed for a second and quieted down. Observing what occurred through his eyes, the selected nodes flickered slightly and abruptly went off, cutting off the mana supply to the spell matrices.

Click!

’Shit!’ Caleb cursed at the unexpectedly loud click. ’That was too loud!’

His focus shifted to the Duke, silently cursing a second time when the Duke looked around his study with a frown. The Duke got up and looked around his study, moving towards the cabinets and drawers.

"What was that...?" The Duke moved to the windows and checked the hinges for anything that could have produced that sound. Unfortunately, he had no such luck.

It was only when the Duke returned to his seat that Caleb released the breath that he held within. ’That was fucking close...’ He closed his eyes for a moment, switching back to his natural turquoise blue hues.

With the minor close call out of the way, Caleb could now focus on the hidden chamber’s wide-open doors. However, before he could move inside to explore, the Duke received a call, drawing his attention.

"Yes?"