My Creations Followed Me to Another World-Chapter 29: The Vault Breach

The air in Sub-Level 3 was not merely cold; it was sterile. It smelled of ozone, polished stone, and the terrifying dormant high-tier magic.

Dante pressed his back against the cold concrete of the service tunnel exit.

Beside him, Subject 47 was a statue of black tactical gear, her visor fixed on the long, ornate corridor ahead.

Shivvy stood between them, her small hands trembling slightly, though her eyes were eerily calm.

Dante closed his eyes for a split second, checking the internal interface provided by 47’s neural link.

[47: ADEPT LOCATION. TEA BREAK. TIME REMAINING: 05:00]

Five minutes. Five minutes to cross a kill box designed to stop master thieves, archmages, and ghosts.

"Shivvy," Dante whispered, his voice tight but steady. The [Focus-Stew] was working on him too, suppressing the rising panic into a cold, hard knot of calculation. "Game Logic only. You don’t see a vault. You don’t see traps. You see a loot node. Understood?"

Shivvy looked up. Her pupils were dilated, her expression flat. "Loot node. Alright, Creator."

"Go."

Shivvy stepped out of the shadows and onto the polished marble floor.

Ten feet ahead, the air shimmered with a distinct, rhythmic blue pulse. The Resonance Ward.

Dante held his breath. In the lore of this world, touching that light with even a drop of mana in your veins would boil your blood.

Shivvy walked forward. She didn’t hesitate. She didn’t flinch. She was a Level 3 Thief, a collection of data and texture files created in a game engine. She possessed no mana core. She possessed no soul-thread for the ward to latch onto.

She stepped into the blue light.

The light rippled, like water disturbed by a stone, but it did not snap. It flowed through her. To the ancient arcane logic of the ward, she simply didn’t exist. She was a zero-value variable in an equation looking for a one.

She passed through.

"Ward One bypassed," Dante breathed, the relief hitting him like a drug.

She kept walking. The corridor widened. The air here felt heavy, thick like syrup. The Aether-Sniffer.

47’s HUD flashed.

[47: SCANNING TARGET. ENERGY SIGNATURE: NULL. PHYSICALITY: 100%.]

The Sniffer was hunting for ghosts, for invisibility spells, for the hum of a stealth suit. It scanned the corridor, looking for the spiritual displacement of a hidden intruder.

It found a little girl in a green tunic. Flesh. Bone. Mundane cloth. To the Sniffer, she was no more suspicious than a rat or a drifting leaf.

She kept walking.

Now came the final test. The one that terrified Dante the most.

At the end of the hall, atop a plinth of black obsidian, sat the Sun-stone. It glowed with a soft, inner fire. But surrounding the plinth, etched into the floor in glowing crimson lines, was the Rune of Judgment.

Malice. Greed. The intent to steal.

Shivvy stopped at the edge of the crimson circle.

Dante watched, his heart hammering against his ribs. The [Focus-Stew] granted [Intent Nullification], but was it enough? Could it hide the terror of a child?

Shivvy stared at the stone. Under the influence of the stew, her mind was a quiet, white room. She didn’t want the stone. She didn’t want the gold it represented. She simply saw a floating UI prompt that only she could perceive.

[Interact?]

She stepped onto the rune.

The crimson light flared—once, bright and angry—searching her mind for the sin of theft. It searched for the adrenaline of a heist, the lust for wealth.

It found... obedience. It found the simple, binary command of a programmed entity completing a task. [INTENT: NEUTRAL].

The crimson light dimmed, returning to its dormant state.

Shivvy reached out. Her small fingers brushed the warm surface of the Sun-stone.

[Pickpocket Skill Activated.]

The stone didn’t slide off the pedestal. It vanished. One moment it was there, the next it was in her inventory, stored in a pocket dimension of ones and zeros.

[System: Asset Retrieval (Major) Quest Complete.]

[Reward: 500 EXP Gained.]

Dante nearly sagged against the wall. They had done it. They had broken the unbreakable vault using nothing but a glitch in reality.

[47: WARNING. ANOMALY DETECTED.]

The red text flashed across Dante’s vision, shattering the victory.

[47: HIGH-LEVEL MAGIC SIGNATURE APPROACHING RAPIDLY FROM ELEVATOR. ADEPT RETURNING EARLY.]

"Damn it!" Dante cursed. The paranoia. The Adept hadn’t taken the full fifteen minutes.

"Shivvy, run!" Dante hissed, abandoning stealth.

Shivvy turned and bolted back down the corridor, her small feet slapping against the marble. But the elevator doors at the far end of the hallway were already glowing with magical light.

"He’ll see her," Dante realized with horror. "If he sees her, he marks us."

He looked at 47. The gap between the elevator and Shivvy was closing. There was no time to hide.

"47. Intercept." Dante’s command was cold, fueled by the [Manager] instinct. "Silent neutralization. Do not let him cast."

47 didn’t acknowledge. She simply moved.

She burst from the service tunnel, not as a ghost, but as a blur of kinetic violence. She crossed the distance to the elevator just as the heavy brass doors slid open.

A man in flowing Spire robes stood there, a steaming cup of tea in one hand, a look of mild confusion on his face as he saw the empty plinth. He opened his mouth, mana gathering in his throat for a Word of Power.

He never spoke it.

47 slid into his personal space, bypassing his passive shield which was tuned for magical attacks, not physical ones. Her hand, rigid as a steel bar, struck his throat in a precise [NERVE STRIKE].

Crunch.

The Adept’s eyes rolled back. The teacup fell, shattering on the floor. 47 caught him before he hit the ground, easing his unconscious body down silently.

[System: Spire-Adept (Threat Level: High) Defeated.]

[Combat Style: Stealth/Mundane. Bonus XP Applied.]

[Reward: 350 EXP Gained.]

A massive surge of energy, unlike anything Dante had felt before, erupted in his chest. It wasn’t just adrenaline; it was the System rewriting his reality.

[DING!]

[System: Experience Threshold Met.]

[Congratulations! Creator Level 4 Achieved...]

[Overflow Experience Detected...]

[Congratulations! Creator Level 5 Achieved!]

The world seemed to sharpen. The fatigue in his legs vanished. The lingering fog of the [Focus-Stew] was burned away by a rush of pure, revitalizing power. His mind expanded, the mental strain of maintaining the summons lifting effortlessly.

[Status Update]

[Max Mana Increased: 30 -> 50]

[New Feature Unlocked: Summon Slot (4)]

[Current Party Size: 3/4]

Dante gasped, the air rushing into his lungs tasting sweet. He stood up straight, feeling the new capacity humming in his veins. He wasn’t just a refugee hiding in a sewer anymore. He was a Level 5 Creator now. He had a full party.

"Clear," 47 reported, standing over the unconscious Adept.

"Get back here," Dante ordered, his voice ringing with new authority. "We’re leaving."

The run back to the maintenance hatch was a blur of efficiency. Shivvy was clutching her inventory space as if it were physically heavy, but she kept pace. Dante felt light, his movements precise. 𝘧𝘳𝘦ℯ𝓌𝘦𝒷𝘯𝑜𝑣𝘦𝓁.𝒸𝘰𝓂

They reached the end of the service tunnel. The rusty maintenance hatch was ahead.

It swung open before they even reached it.

Hana stood there, framed by the dim light of the alleyway. She held her iron knife in a reverse grip, her face a mask of fierce, protective tension. She looked at Shivvy, then at Dante, then at the unscathed 47.

"Did you get it?" she asked, her voice tight.

Shivvy nodded, patting her pocket.

Hana let out a breath that sounded like a sob, then stepped back, ushering them through. "Move. I have the route secured. The patrol is still unconscious."

As Dante climbed through the hatch, emerging back into the cold night air of Aethelburg, he looked at his team.

The Tank/Rear Guard (Hana).

The DPS/Infiltrator (47).

The Utility/Key (Shivvy).

And on his interface, the empty, gray box of the Fourth Slot pulsed, waiting to be filled.

Iris, Dante thought, the name of his Level 50 Strategist coming to mind. If we’re going to survive the Spire, the Temple, and the Ledger... I’m going to need a brain even bigger than mine.

He looked up at the Spire towering over the city, its magical eye blind to the robbery that had just occurred beneath its nose.

"Let’s go home," Dante said. "Mission accomplished."