One of them was the method of opening the enormous gates. Ves pressed the gem against the surface of the barrier, but it didn't work this time.
"Damn. How will we get through this time?"
The gates stumped the factions for a long time. Ves didn't think he'd be able to decipher the right method by himself.
Ves suddenly turned to look at his shoulder. Throughout all of this time, Lucky had been lounging on the shoulder of his combat armor like it was his personal chariot.
Lucky lazily yawned as he completely disregarded the difficulties that Ves was facing at the moment.
"Lucky?"
"Meeeooow?"
"Your sick days have expired. It's time to get to work!"
"Meeoow!"
Suffice to say, it took quite a bit 'convincing' in order to gain Lucky's cooperation. The cat reacted very grumpily at Ves, but he had already recovered enough by now to phase his body for a brief moment of time.
Ves handed the living gem over to Lucky. "Bring it to the other side and work together to find some kind of override. I bet it's a lot less troublesome to open the gates from within this citadel.
Lucky held the gem between his teeth with a resentful expression before he turned intangible and phased through the giant gates.
More than ten minutes passed before the gates suddenly shook.
"Back off! I think it's opening!"
Ves and his team hastily moved back as the gates slowly slid open. The entire hall seemed to shake a bit as a lot of force was being channeled to make an opening.
The cyclopes that had been waiting around finally moved again. They picked up their fallen comrades and silently passed through the entrance to the core area.
Ves and his men had to stand aside in order to avoid getting stepped on by the giant humanoids.
Once the cyclopes moved past, Ves moved forward as well.
The interior of the core area had a very different atmosphere. The lighting was dimmer but the scale of the entire area was larger. The ceiling almost wasn't visible to naked eye anymore because it reached an incredible height. The corridor he had just entered was so wide that it could easily fit a multitude of mechs standing side by side.
"What a big area." Dr. Perris gasped.
Ves tried to seek out his pet. "Ah, there you are, Lucky!"
The gem cat had practically emptied his entire reserves of the day from the way he collapsed on the deck. Ves carefully picked his body up and placed his pet back on his previous perch.
"You've done your job. You deserve a very welcome rest."
"Meoooow…"
The living gem on the other hand became more energetic than ever. It eagerly bopped up and down as it led Ves deeper into the core area.
Eventually, he reached the end of the corridor. Two enormous entrances were situated on the left and right sides.
The cyclopes were patiently standing in front of the left entrance. Clearly they were waiting for someone to open the way so they could get inside.
Ves carefully looked in this direction before shaking his head. He turned around and approached the enormous entrance situated on the right side of the corridor.
"This should be the lab section where Special Project 'V' is housed."
"What makes you think that, sir?" Dr. Perris asked.
"Those cyclopes over there are associated with Special Project 'U'. They have no relations with life-prolonging treatment serum. Besides, I can already tell that what I'm looking for is behind these gates."
"How?"
"I can sense it." He grinned.