Chương 133: Chapter 132: The Dragons' Gold Vault, and a Ten-Thousand-Year-Old IP Address

The interior of Aureum Island opened into a storage vault the size of an entire underground city. Along both sides of the granite-paved walkway stood thirty-meter titanium-alloy racks, stacked with millions of enchanted gold bars glowing bright enough that no lighting was needed. Lucian made it ten steps and stopped dead. Eleanor, walking beside him, tilted her head to look at him.

"Are you crying?" Lucian kept his back straight, eyes unblinking.

"No."

"Your eyes are wet."

"It's the gold light reflecting off my corneas." Ting. The dim black System panel opened in front of him: [QUANTITATIVE SYSTEM ASSESSMENT:] Host's financial self-control: NOT A TRAIT THAT CAN BE MEASURED MATHEMATICALLY. Lucian muttered.

"Coward." He pulled his eyes away from the mountains of gold and followed Evelyn toward the base of Lighthouse Zero — a single slab of black bronze rising straight out of the ground to the top of the cavern's stone dome. Evelyn plugged her magitech tablet into the optical port at the lighthouse's base. Tak-tak-tak. Her ten fingers flew across the keys. A green magical screen filled with system log lines, in English: [SYSTEM LOG: ROUTE_INITIALIZE] Status: CONNECTION REFUSED.

Error Code: AUTH_TOKEN_EXPIRED (9, 842 YEARS AGO). Required: ROOT_CERTIFICATE_VALIDATION. Lucian crossed his arms, reading the red text. Find this and other great novels on the author's preferred platform. Support original creators!

"Renew it." Evelyn didn't look up.

"There's no renew button."

"Call tech support." Evelyn stopped typing and looked straight at him.

"Lucian."

"What."

"Tech support died ten thousand years ago." Lucian went quiet for two seconds, then sighed.

"Terrible customer retention." The Holy See retains a Root Certificate valid for legacy route authentication across the network, not administrative control. Evelyn kept typing, running a decryption string against the packet headers. Ting. An ancient network address line resolved clearly on the crystal display: ROUTE_HEADER: 00-EARTH / ROOT_NETWORK / SEOUL_RELAY Evelyn's fingers, resting on the keyboard, went still. She let out one short laugh, then went completely silent.

Behind her silver-framed glasses, her eyes went wide, fixed on five green capital letters: S-E-O-U-L. This wasn't a vague guess anymore. Not a theory about some random soul-crack. Without the matching live endpoint, the certificate could prove identity but could not open a route by itself. Evelyn sat frozen at the keyboard for a full thirty seconds, without a single joke.

Around the control platform, five golden-horned Dragon Scholars knelt on the ground, carefully transcribing every line Evelyn had just typed with quill pens. One dragon scholar looked up, asking with reverence.

"Most honored Decipherer of the Celestial Path... how is this sacred inscription pronounced?" Evelyn took off her glasses to wipe a smudge, answering flatly.

"It says 'IP address.'" The scholar immediately began writing carefully on a goatskin scroll:'Ai-Pi... the true name of the Primordial Heavenly Way.' Swish. Eleanor walked up to the stone railing where Lucian stood, looking out over the calm subterranean sea. She tugged lightly at his gray cloak, speaking softly.

"If Earth really is your homeland... do you want to find a way back?" Lucian looked down at the magical lights glimmering on the water's surface, quiet for a moment. He tucked both hands into his pockets and answered, even and level.

"I'd need to check the exchange rate between gold coins and paper currency over there first." Eleanor laughed out loud. She didn't press further, just smiled softly, watching his profile in the gold light of the treasury. Ting! The Unified System V2.

0 panel opened: [ROUTING DATA ANALYSIS COMPLETE] Root Certificate required to open the gateway: relocated from Dragon territory during the Second Era LAST KNOWN STORAGE COORDINATES: SECRET ARCHIVE OF THE SUPREME CENTRAL HOLY SEE The Dragons, it turned out, had only ever been coastal lighthouse keepers from before the war — not the system's original architects. They'd preserved the relay station for ten thousand years without ever understanding how the network actually worked. WHOOOOM!

A horn made from a massive conch shell sounded from the mouth of Aureum Dragon Harbor, shaking the entire underground dome. A fleet of twelve pure-white armored warships, sails embroidered with the blazing Sun Cross of the Supreme Central Holy See, slowly advanced into the bay, sealing off every exit from the harbor. A magically amplified voice, carrying the authority of senior Archbishops, rang out across the water.

"Summons from the Supreme Central Holy See! The Dragon Empire is ordered to immediately surrender Administrator Lucian Vance and the Time Crystal!" Lucian leaned back against the treasury railing and calmly pulled a quill from his coat pocket.

"Good." The corner of the ten-year-old's mouth curved into a smile.

"Customer support finally sent someone in person."