Meanwhile, Ari devoted herself to investigating the discovered artifacts. They were unique even among ancient civilizations, yet paradoxically, there were zero records of them.

  ?Ari spent five days wandering through dusty scrolls and worm-eaten parchments. Not knowing the name of the vessel made finding related data a torture. The jars were just ordinary shapes, and searching for "ordinary heat-emitting jars" yielded nothing.

  ?She had to read everything she could get her hands on and deduce similarities. It was a nearly impossible task alone, but she couldn't ask for help. The moment rumors of 'functioning ancient artifacts' spread, the whole world would risk war to seize them. Silence was mandatory until ownership was secured.

  ?On the third night, buried under piles of documents, Ari rubbed her bloodshot eyes. She needed a paradigm shift.

  ?Why are there no records?

  ?No, she felt her search method was wrong. At that moment, she realized the most crucial point she had been missing.

  ?Three weeks later, Eren returned, shaking ice and dust from his coat as he approached Ari’s workbench.

  ?"Did you find it?"

  ?Instead of answering, Ari pushed a piece of parchment forward. A single line of ancient text was written clearly on it.

  ?E-L-E-C-T-R-I-C-I-T-Y

  ?"How do you read this?"

  ?Eren asked, stumbling over the spelling.

  ?"Electricity... or maybe Electro-city?"

  ?"What is it?"

  ?"I was just about to explain. Sit down, this is going to be interesting."

  The narrative has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.

  ?Ari offered him a cup and poured out her research results.

  ?"I told you. There are no records of Onkalo. So I reversed my thinking. Maybe there are no records because it was something so common that it wasn't worth recording. Like, if you ask a chef for a knife, everyone knows what it is. You don't write in a cookbook that a knife is a cutting tool made of metal. It's too obvious."

  ?Ari’s eyes shone sharply.

  ?"And it must be a concept that doesn't exist today. If it were with us now, we would know. Something mentioned countless times in texts, yet we can't guess its identity. And the phenomenon that jar creates... The jar emits heat, right? There are a few things that match this description, and the strongest candidate is Electricity. According to texts, this thing created light and emitted heat."

  ?"But Ari, that jar doesn't emit light."

  ?At Eren's rebuttal, Ari shook her finger and shook her head.

  ?"Think carefully, Eren. The jar isn't glass. It's natural that light inside doesn't leak out. That vessel is literally just a 'container' holding something. What if it's filled with 'Electricity'? The moment you break the container, light would pour out. Heat and light—aren't those the most necessary things in this cold world?"

  ?Ari smiled brightly.

  ?"Then what is Onkalo?"

  ?"We have to view it as a massive storage facility for Electricity containers."

  ?"Like hiding a food warehouse from enemies? Keeping this precious energy source deep underground?"

  ?"Exactly."

  ?Ari nodded. Eren asked again.

  ?"Then what is this jar made of?"

  ?Ari waved her finger again.

  ?"I don't know."

  ?The answer was simple, but there was anger in her voice.

  ?When Eren tilted his head, Ari exploded in frustration.

  ?"I really don't know! We understand less than one percent of ancient civilization. Their mathematics and science are far beyond our comprehension. Open a math book, and it's all symbols. We can't even interpret what those symbols mean. We only know it's math because the title says 'Math'! Science is the same. All explanations are unfriendly. Because it was common sense to them!"

  ?Ari slammed the desk.

  ?"Do you know how it feels to read the letters but not have a clue what they mean? It's torture, Eren."

  ?Ari vented her irritation.

  ?"The things we make and apply are those with pictorial diagrams or lucky instructions on how to make them. And even those, we mimic after years of research, not replicate. Some technologies are so magical that researchers suggest they might be ancient imagination. The prime example is this Electricity."

  ?Eren nodded. He patted his angry sister (figure) to soothe her.

  ?"We found one of the ancient magics. Don't be discouraged by ignorance. Ari, you made a great archaeological discovery!"