Chapter 163: First Attempt at Cracking

“…I’m not sure how many clock cycles it’ll take, and I don’t know how many the receiver can handle, so for now, I’ll just run the loop without weighting it. Since it’s single-threaded, if the clock cycles are low, sometimes doing it manually might be faster.”

Muttering to himself, Isamu scribbled on a memo.

Knowing that as long as Orihime doesn’t scratch, everyone understands that he won’t return to this world, so they silently watch.

Initially written in Earth’s programming language, he was converting it to the magic circle here.

The magic circles he was trying to create was almost identical to the programs on Earth that hardly invoke magic, so it was more reliable to translate it like this rather than drawing it directly as a magic circle.

“All right! It’s done!!”

Isamu finished drafting on the memo in about ten minutes.

“That’s quite fast…?”

Eto, who was probably surprised at the fastest creation ever, asked.

“Yeah. This time, the magic circle I’m making is almost unrelated to magic tools, to the point where you could say it’s subtle. I just translated it as it was from the original world.”

“A magic circle that’s not a magic tool??”

Willem, who was peering curiously at the memo next to him, also tilted his head.

“What I want to do this time is guess the password, a set number. Fortunately, there’s no limit to the number of attempts, so if I keep entering manually like this, I’ll eventually hit the jackpot.”

Saying that, Isamu entered “000001.”

“But doing it manually takes a lot of time… If you can try one number per second, for example, you can try nearly 90,000 numbers in a day. Since this time it’s six digits, there are a million possible patterns. If you’re unlucky, it could take about ten days. On average, it might take five or six days.”

To guess a number completely blind, you have to search through them one by one, increasing each digit sequentially from “000000,” “000001,” “000002,” and so on.

But on the other hand, if you spend the time, you’ll eventually arrive at the correct answer without doing anything special.

“So this is where this magic circle comes in. This will automatically increment the numbers one by one and pass them to the judgmental magic tool side.”

“Automatically…”

“Yeah. This was made to automate and speed up such simple tasks, like repetitive work in my world’s magic device computers and magic circle programs. If it could process ten times faster, it would be decoded in a day at the slowest.”

“Ten times…”

“However, I don’t know how fast it can pass the numbers this time, so I won’t know until I try.”

In fact, in the world where Isamu was, the speed of computers was boundless, and it was said that a password with only six digits would be cracked in less than a second.

By the way, as the number of digits increases and the character types increase, the time required for cracking increases exponentially. For a recommended twelve-character alphanumeric with uppercase and lowercase letters and symbols, it would take over ten thousand years.

But I digress.

Isamu borrowed a small circuit board and magic ink from Eto and neatly wrote out the magic circle for password cracking.

“Okay, preparation complete!”

He finished drawing the magic circle in about five minutes, removed the physical buttons used for number input, and connected his homemade magic circle.

“It’s quite brilliant… To think this is an original magic circle, it’s hard to believe even when you see it.”

Seeing Isamu swiftly drawing the magic circle as if writing in a diary, Gascoigne exclaimed in admiration.

“Well, I’ve been at it for almost a year. Well then, shall we begin?”

Answering Gascoigne, Isamu finished the final check and set the magic stone into his homemade magic circle.

“Click.”

And with the iconic line of an old anime villain (the one with the long nose), the magic device was activated.

“…………”

Everyone stared silently at the magic circle, but since it wasn’t a magic tool with any particular reaction, the magic circle just faintly glowed without anything happening.

“Since just waiting here won’t help, shall we have a meal while we wait? Even if we finish eating and the analysis isn’t done, we can split into teams to stay here and continue the investigation.” 

Isamu suggested, seeing everyone looking like they were about to forget to breathe after a few minutes.

“Nyaa~”

Orihime, who had long since reached her limit, was already wandering around, sniffing the air around her.

“Yeah, you’re right. Just waiting around is a waste of time.” 

Annemarie said, startled by Isamu’s words, as she sighed heavily and sat down.

“Yeah, your meals don’t taste like something you’d eat inside ruins. It’s a blessing.” 

Gascoigne said. 

“I was wondering why you brought a refrigerator with you, but once I tried it, I understood.”

Gascoigne and Schmeichel, who often went to battlefields and ruins, were fascinated by Team Orihime’s combat rations after only a day.

The team had become quite adept at outdoor cooking, and preparations flowed smoothly.

“Nya nya nya~”

Orihime noticed that preparations for the meal had begun and happily meowed briefly on top of Mizeroi’s head, who was becoming her exclusive food attendant.

This room was a dead end with only one staircase, so just to be on the safe side, we took turns keeping watch at the top of the stairs while we leisurely enjoyed our meal, when suddenly it happened.

*Beep beep beep beep… Ding dong!!*

“What was that!?”

“Is it a monster?!”

With the sudden unfamiliar sound, Gascoigne and Felix hurriedly stood up with swords in hand. The other members also shifted into a half-crouched position, ready for action.

“Oh? It’s over, isn’t it…? It’s been about two hours, so it was surprisingly quick.” 

Isamu’s relaxed voice echoed, the only one not in a hurry.

“Huh? It’s over?”

At first, the members didn’t understand what he was saying, but after a short pause, everyone realized.

“What… Oh! Does that mean it’s opened!?”

“Yes. I think that sound was the sound of the lock opening. Hmm, I don’t know the processing speed because I don’t know how many tens of thousands of passwords there were, but I’ll estimate around 70 attempts per second at half a million… Well, let’s assume it’s between 50 and 100 attempts per second.”

Muttering such things, Isamu leisurely got up and walked towards the locker.

“It was rushed, so it can’t be helped, but I need to think of a way to output how far the countdown has progressed.”

Continuing to mutter, he scratched his fingertip in what seemed like a handle-like depression and pulled it towards himself.

*Creak*

The door opened with a slightly creaking sound, probably because it had been closed for so long, and it was surprising that it was still functioning.

“…It really opened.”

Gascoigne muttered quietly. The other members likely felt the same way, even if they didn’t say it.

“Now, now, I wonder what’s inside.” 

Isamu said cheerfully as he illuminated inside the locker with a lantern.

“Hmm~ Is this a helmet? And this…”

What caught his eye first was something that appeared to be a helmet placed in the center.

It was made of a matte beige-colored material that seemed like plastic. It was very lightweight, but tapping it a few times gave the impression that it had considerable strength.

And another thing inside was like a thick card.

For a modern Japanese person, it would be described as “smartphone-like without a screen” or “slightly slim mobile battery-like” in terms of size and texture.

Made entirely of glossy black, except for one attributeless magic stone embedded in the upper right, it had no screen, buttons, or terminals.

Subtly beveled and feeling quite nice to the touch, its texture was rather high-quality.

“I wonder what this is… The one with the most potential seems to be an ID card… a magic device for proving identity and authority…”

Isamu examined the retrieved items from various angles under the light, but their true identity remained elusive.

Even replacing the magic stone didn’t display or activate anything special.

There had been countless security measures presumed to be non-contact type. This would most likely be said to be the key to opening them.

“I see… Now that you mention it, that makes sense.”

In this world of Ethersia, the adventurer guild’s guild card is considered a similar magic tool for personal authentication, nodded Willem, who had a long history as an adventurer.

In the end, the locker contained only a helmet and an ID card (temporary).

It seemed the helmet was designed for women, as it fit Tiramisu perfectly.

“Hehe, it’s ancient armor, you know~.” 

Tiramisu herself said happily, tapping it lightly on her shoulder. Orihime, who was perched on her shoulder, also seemed delighted, so they left it on her.

Seeing Schmeichel looking slightly envious, Isamu had a hard time holding back his laughter.

After that, they continued their exploration, going back and forth between the spacious basement first floor and the small basement second floor.

And on the second day of exploration, just as they were about to wrap up soon, they discovered a staircase that clearly led further down from the basement second floor.

“This staircase is noticeably wider.”

“Yeah. The material seems different, and more importantly, it feels like it skips the basement second floor and directly connects to below.” 

Felix and Gascoigne movied ahead to check the situation.

As they said, while the previous staircases barely accommodated two people side by side, this staircase was as wide as a corridor, with enough space for four people to walk comfortably. The material wasn’t like the concrete or plastic before; it was metallic.

Without any landings, they cautiously descended the straight staircase.

They felt like they had descended not just to the basement third floor, but possibly even down to the fourth floor, when the staircase ended and a path appeared.

Unlike the basement first floor, there were no corridors crisscrossing; it stretched straight ahead. The floor was even but remained natural rock.

They proceeded slowly and cautiously, but soon their progress was halted.

“…It’s a dead end.”

“It feels like they were still digging here.”

It was a dead end where exposed rocks surrounded them, just like the surroundings.

As Felix said, it seemed they were in the middle of excavation; it wasn’t completely vertical but slightly sloped, with small and large rocks scattered around.

“Was it abandoned during construction?”

“It seems so. According to Isamu’s guess, this ruin area was originally a military facility, right? Maybe they hurriedly left halfway through construction due to unfavorable conditions.”

“It’s disappointing, but there’s nothing we can do about it. There are still unexplored areas above, but it’s late today, so should we set up camp around where we descended the stairs?”

Exhausted from climbing up and down stairs all day, the group immediately began preparing for camping.

Before eating, Isamu started boiling water with a portable magic stove to make tea.

“It’s a luxury to be able to drink warm tea and eat soup in an underground ruin.” 

Gascoigne murmured as he watched Isamu boil the water.

People in Ethersia knew from experience that burning fires in small spaces could be suffocating and even deadly, so starting fires underground was strictly prohibited.

Even if it weren’t prohibited, no one would carry bulky firewood into ruins, so being able to have something warm in underground ruins was revolutionary.

As the water began to boil, steam started to rise faintly.

The steam flowed towards Annemarie, who was sitting opposite Isamu, and she hurriedly tried to brush it away with her hand.

“Haha, the steam is going your way because of the wind…”

Laughing, Isamu started to say something, but then his movements abruptly stopped. His eyes were fixed intently on the steam continuing to flow towards Anne-Marie.

“W-What’s wrong…?”

Annemarie asked with concern as Isamu suddenly fell silent.

“Why is there wind here?? There wasn’t anything like this when we camped yesterday… There’s a faint breeze only here…”

It was a subtle level of wind that wouldn’t be noticed unless one was living normally.

And having wind meant there were gaps for the air to escape.

“Could it be… I’m sorry, but can you stop preparing for camping and help me tidy up the luggage? Also, Ulysses and Anne, could you please assist?”

After a moment of thought, Isamu issued instructions loudly.

“What’s wrong, Isamu-sama?”

Tiramisu asked while trying to pull out the camping equipment as instructed.

“There’s a subtle breeze blowing deeper into this area. This might not be a dead end; it could be a dummy made to look like one.”

“What do you mean?”

Gascoigne tilted his head at Isamu answer.

“It could be magic like a stone wall, magically sealed and made to look neatly closed. I found a magic circle before that could create stones; it could adjust the texture of the stones it produced. If so, maybe we can seal this place with stones that look exactly like these stones.”

“I see… So, they couldn’t completely seal it, or over time, it has subtly started to crumble, creating a gap…”

“Yeah, something like that.”

“So, what are we going to do? You’re going to use some sneaky magic, right? But you can’t just blast explosive magic in such a tight space, can you? Ah!! I see, are you going to use that subtly nasty magic?”

“Hehehe, correct.”

“Haah, it’s amazing how you handle such a subtle magic…”

Gascoigne raised both hands lightly, impressed, while shrugging his shoulders.

“Since doing it all at once could lead to serious consequences, let’s shave off little by little from above. Mizeroi-san, sorry to ask, but could you lift me up?”

“Understood.”

To avoid risking a collapse from undermining the middle or lower parts, they decided to start shaving off from the upper part. Mud Madness Magic could only soften from where it was touched, so Isamu had Mizeroi lift him and cast the spell.

“The mire, which swallows great beasts, transforms from rock. Mud Madness!”

Carefully adjusting the effective range, Isamu’s magic caused a section about 50 centimeters high and 1 meter wide to melt and flow down the wall.

They shaved off about 50 centimeters in depth, but they still couldn’t see beyond.

However, a few centimeters of stone near the ceiling that hadn’t been turned to mud collapsed and fell down. The ceiling after the collapse was nearly horizontal.

“Just as I thought…”

If it had been integrated as bedrock during rock cutting, it wouldn’t have ended up looking so neat even after collapsing.

Continuing, they melted a bit lower and dug deeper and deeper as they expected, until a hole opened up as Isamu predicted.

It was blocked by a thick rock wall about 2 meters thick.

Next, Ulysses and Annemarie, who had a large amount of magic power, were asked to melt the wall wide enough for people to pass through.

After about 30 minutes, they finished the work after melting the wall to about half the width of the passage.

“Quite impressive. Even if we had known it was a rock wall, digging through something this thick would normally take several days.” 

Gascoigne sighed, looking up at the melted section of the thick wall.

“Now, let’s just do a quick check. Since we’re a bit wary of the magic power and time is limited, we’ll do a thorough investigation tomorrow.”

“Understood.”

“Got it.”

“Roger that.”

“Copy.”

Since they had interrupted their preparations for camping to do this work, they decided to confirm just what lay ahead for now and continued onward.

Beyond the blockage, like the nearer side, the passage exposed bedrock, straight into the distance without side paths or rooms.

Then, about 20 meters further in, the passage widened slightly, and beyond that, they discovered a large metal door stretching from floor to ceiling, waiting for them.

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