The Mechanism

It was the simplest method to open domain doors in Genshin.

Or rather, in-game it was. You just had to press on "Open" or "Start". In reality? Not that easy.

"How the hell does this even work?"

He had been trying to find a pattern to the mechanism for about an hour already.

The cube turned several ways around its axis, releasing clinking sounds every now and then. Sometimes, its rotation was blocked by something and Sai had to go back several turns and twists. He was having fun, though. It was like solving a Rubik's cube, and he enjoyed it.

"Let me try it again." Beidou said.

"Okay, but try the elemental energy first, as pure as you can make it."

"Fine."

Sai meddled with the cube and asked Beidou to keep trying to put some energy into it, but to no avail.

"Let me try turning this thing." She asked.

They changed positions. Sai kept trying to find other clues and she played with the cube.

Another hour passed and they started feeling hungry and tired.

"Let's take another rest." He suggested.

"I can keep going some more." She disagreed. "You take a rest, your wound might become a problem so you need all the energy you can get."

"You have to rest too. We might face a strong monster once we get inside so we will need your strength."

"I will, don't worry."

"*Sigh…*"

"Um, captain, you wouldn't happen to have food on you, right?"

Sai asked the question that he was trying to avoid. It was obvious that neither of them had more supplies. It was a race against time.

"You want the chilis?"

"No, I'm good."

…

More time passed on that same routine, and it was taking its toll on them.

Beidou gave up on the cube and kept trying to force open both the doors. She threw her strongest lightning bolts and a power that scared the sh*t out of Sai just from the sounds it made. He swore he could feel his hairs standing up from a hundred meters away.

But that didn't work either, so she tried smacking anything that stood out. After also failing at that, she laid down nearby and took a nap. Once she woke up, she tried a couple other things and soon sat down to play with her bamboo jug.

At some point, she took her hairpin off, letting her messy hair flow through the air. Unfortunately for Sai, he was too concentrated to notice the eye candy.

And speaking of him, he was starting to get nauseous.

He hadn't had proper rest, a proper meal or even water for too long now. Each of those things were a heavy toll on a well-off modern man. The only saving grace was that the place wasn't hot nor cold. It was just the right temperature.

"Just the right temperature… Beidou!"

"What?"

"Do you feel cold?"

"No."

"Then, do you feel hot?"

"More than hot… stuffy."

"Stuffy? Hmm."

"Kid."

"Yeah?"

"Are you done? Can we get out?"

"Not yet."

"..."

…

*Munch*~*munch*~*munch*~*munch*

*Munch!*~*munch*~*muunch*~*munch*

*Muunch*~*munch*~*Munch*~*munch*

Hearing Beidou munching on the chilis almost made him want some too, but just the memory of their spiciness shooed the thought away. He wondered how she managed to eat that many at a time.

'People think they can taste spiciness, but in fact, spiciness in itself is not a type of flavor. We feel spicy because the brain confuses the chemicals for a burning warning, and it gives us the sensation of burning… Or something like that.'

…

Sai started doing push ups.

"Oi! What are you doing? You have to rest!"

"It's just- that I heard that- when you work out- your brain gets more oxygen- and you become clear headed. Huff! Huff! Huff!"

"You're just going to feel more thirsty, stop it."

"I know, I think this much is fine just for some pump."

Sai saw a red liquid falling onto the floor.

'Dammit, I'm bleeding again.'

The blood formed a pool even over the root-like patterns on the floor.

And suddenly, they started to make a little sense to him.

"Of course! This is man-made! Clearly man-made! I knew it, but, why didn't I think of this before? Everything has a purpose here. Maybe not the patterns themselves, but their very existence and placement… What are they trying here? And who are the creators? I need to find that out if I want to understand how it works. Okay, let's go again with the hypothesis…"

"Did you figure something?" Beidou asked as she cleaned his wound with her blood stained coat.

"No, but now I have a whole new perspective to start from. Hmmm, help me out again with your elemental energy. Try inserting it in these patterns."

"I tried it already, they shine. But that's it."

"Do it again."

And so she did.

"Now what?"

"Wait, lemme think."

"..."

"Okay, do it again."

"You messing with me?"

"Do it, I need to see it again. I'm almost there, I can feel it."

And so she did it once again. Bright blue colors springing out from the ground and through the patterns.

"Hmmm… How good are your eyes, Beidou?"

"You mean my one eye, right?"

"You have both though, don't you?"

"Yeah but using the other one here won't change nothing."

"That's not the point. I just want to know if you can see the path lightening up from the place you inserted it to its tail."

"Uhh.. lemme see."

She inserted it again and again.

"You want to know if it's coursing through the patterns, right?"

"Exactly!" He got excited.

"Nope. Can't see it. Once I put in the energy it just immediately glows. Every single part of it."

"Dammit. Is there somewhere not connected to the main branch that glows up, too?"

"Not that I can see, but I'll search."

"Alright, search for even the smallest piece. And keep pouring the energy in."

"Kay."

For some time, blue light shone non-stop.

…

"There's none."

"None?"

"Nothing. Everything that shines is connected to this main line here."

"Yes, it does look like a different material than the rest. Did you find anything else?"

"Not really. But I can keep trying if you want."

"Does it not tire you out?"

"Me? Nah… I'm not even using much energy. This thing's very reactive."

"Is that so? Hmm. Very reactive, huh. You could even say that a minimal effort is required to light it up, then?"

"That's about right, yeah."

"And you can even do it from a distance."

"Sure I can."

"Even if someone's not very good at it, that person could still light it up?"

"I guess."

"Then… I'm pretty sure the patterns have nothing to do with the mechanism."

"..."

"Hahaha! Good!"

"HOW IS THAT ANY GOOD?! We've been testing with this thing for the last five hours and now you say that it is not even related to the solution!"

"No, no, you're not seeing it for what it truly is. Finding this out was really important, it reduces the variables quite a lot. So much that I think that we could even solve it in just a few more hours!"

"Seriously? How confident are you?"

"Hehe… 70% confident."

"Err…" Beidou felt in the skin the definition of bitter-sweet.