Chu Lingxiao stepped up to the massive mithril blast door, her slender sword gleaming in the ambient crystal light.
SHING!
A clean cross of azure sword light flashed over the three heavy blood-padlocks.
The three-foot-thick locks, inscribed with the personal blood-crest of Minister Qian Wansan, split into neat halves. They tumbled from the stone threshold, clattering onto the basalt paving like discarded kindling.
Tie Niu and Bram Ironheart stepped forward together, gripping the heavy bronze door handles.
With a deep, grinding groan of ancient brass hinges, the ten-foot-thick mithril door swung open.
A breathtaking wave of cool, starlit radiance washed out from the chamber.
Inside the cavernous vault, towering pillars of raw, unrefined ore soared fifty feet into the air. The crystals glowed with vibrant azure and silver starlight, pulsing with the dense gravitational weight of deep planetary marrow.
