Chapter 476 - About time to leave

A few hours later we reach one of the bigger caves after the Witch punctures a hole through the wall towards it, avoiding the cave-in. That hole is probably as long as a football stadium, and I watch her the entire time she does so, Mais quietly walking behind her.

She stops in front of the wall and taps on it with her finger, sending a ripple through the stone. Affected rock seems like it melts and starts behaving like water, controlled by her will. It moves to the sides, it swirls, it compresses all around her while she calmly advances like an unstoppable force, the stone clearing from her path, using mana from her crown.

When we're done, she steps aside, and the quasi-leader rushes in with a few more guys to run checks.

“As promised, we have reached one of the smaller mining outposts, and this one isn't on any maps, nor was it visited before,” he shouts, his words quickly spreading. Yet everyone waits, and no one rushes in.

Only when everyone passes through does the Witch close the hole.

The man continues, “Three hours. Rest, eat, look around and loot. But let me give you a warning! If you want to fight against each other, it's fine, but if you take it too far, you will be dealt with. Go!”

His words don’t even reach the group fully, and everyone rushes through the massive cave, skills lighting up the area and scans shooting all over.

There are a few dozen small buildings to the side: some smithies, piles of rock, old broken crates full of mined metals or crystals. More of it is hidden in the houses or somewhere else. This is what most of the people are here for. Just a few handfuls of the right metal can make you very rich on the surface.

(Nat, please recharge the creepy box; me and Aaron will do some looting.) Dennis hands me the small box densely inscribed and plated in voidcopper. After that, he and his brother disappear, excited not for the items but for the experience itself.

That leaves Biscuit, Lily, and me on one side, with Mais, the Witch, and a few others waiting on the opposite side of the cavern.

As I sit on the ground, Biscuit moves closer and puts his head on my leg while Lily takes my other side.

(It needs recharging already?) she asks.

(It seems so.) I quickly check the inscriptions on the box, and all seems to be fine. (Can you check inside?)

Lily takes it off me, carefully opening it and checking the bone she regrew from her finger and the small grape-sized gray orb.

(The bone is already slightly worn down. I really need to work harder to keep it stronger, even when it’s separated from me.) As she says this, she uses her healing skill, adjusts the gray orb slightly, and then closes it.

(It’s fine. Items like these are just for fun and experimenting.) I slide one of the panels a bit, revealing the mana stone inside, and touch it to charge it with my mana, as it’s already close to being empty.

Without it powering the inscriptions, the shielding and inscriptions on the bones inside would fail.

(But we spent so much time on that box,) Lily complains.

(Yeah, and you've learned a lot from it, just like I have.) I stare at the box in my hands. (But at the same time, it can be discarded and made anew.)

As I store it away, Lily glances at the sword on my waist. (Even the sword? If you’d like, I can take a look to see how it’s holding up.)

I glance at the sword and touch the hilt. (No need; it seems fine for now. My main goal in having the four of us work on the sword was to evolve my skill. In that, I partially succeeded, but otherwise, the sword is a failure. A few months, maybe a year? It won’t last beyond that. Until then, I'll learn as much from it as I can.)

(That’s a rather sad way of thinking. It’s something all of us made with a lot of effort. Of course, you did most of the work, but you know what I mean. It would be nice to have it as a reminder.)

It’s amusing to watch her try not to get tangled in the conversation, and I say, (I value these memories and knowledge more. Given that we're on a dangerous expedition, I might be jinxing it, but we already created a few items—so there’s nothing stopping us from making many more together in the future.)

A slow smile spreads across her face. (I loved working on that sword too, but yes, if the jinxing keeps up, we might all end up dead.)

***

Close to three hours pass, and the twins return. Their clothes aren’t even damaged, and they look clean, but I can feel they fought a bit. It’s like when you use the engine for a while and turn it off—it still radiates some heat. That’s the feeling I’m getting from their bodies currently.

(A few bits of voidcopper and voidsteel. Aaron picked up some weird-ass crystals. People seemed happy, but I think it’s nothing special. Are we maybe spoiled? Are you our sugar daddy, Nat?)

(Please never say those words again.)

(Did saying that increase the difficulty of future training?) he asks.

(Yes.)

(Screw you.)

(If you really want to complain, become stronger and beat me up.)

(You know, Nat, after these months I can really see why you got offered Patience, Greed, and Pride. You can be surprisingly chill when someone bothers you, patient even. Savant would be proud.)

(Yo, don’t push it too far.) Aaron nudges him too strongly and hands me some mana crystals he found.

All of them are of epic rarity, but the kind I haven’t seen yet, so after a bit of examining, I pocket them.

Neither of the twins complains or asks for anything in exchange. They never do, but owing them would feel weird, even though they say the training alone is big enough payment.

So my way of repaying is through equipment I make for them once in a while.

(Recharged,) I hand the box to Dennis. (Don’t lose it.)

(I love how he says it every time,) Dennis sighs toward his brother.

(Should I remind you how many shards I could get for the value of the materials of that box?) I ask him.

(Please don’t. I will cry. Also, me and Aaron have noticed something really fun. You will like it, want to hear it?)

(Tell me.)

I then feel multiple checks of the link all of us have, even strengthening it so no one can listen to it. With growing curiosity, I do some checks of my own, and for a moment deploy the array structure stored in the back of my mind, creating a field around us.

With a big smile, Dennis says, (The Witch is connected to someone deep below us, likely communicating with it. And we are heading in that direction.)

The little jerk knows me too well. A couple of ideas immediately form in my head as I start coming up with reasons, ideas, countermeasures. The tips of my fingers tingle, and the background noises weaken as a new mystery takes over my mind.

With it comes a bit of annoyance that I had not noticed that connection. Sure, the twins have a skill called [Connection] and trained it much more than I worked on my [Perception], instead focusing on other skills. There will always be people better at certain things, at their specialties, than I am, but…

(Do you think the same thing as us?) Aaron asks me this time. He says "us," but knowing the brothers, Aaron is more thoughtful, and he probably came up with the idea earlier than Dennis.

I agree with a nod, (It seems like her goal isn't that dissimilar from ours.)

***

POV Sophie Martinez

I pass through the gate that closes behind me, the guards redeploying the defensive array after greeting me. Gesturing in acknowledgment, I keep up my mask and walk the tree-framed pathway leading to the tower made of white stone.

As I walk, I do checks of the array all over, deploying my own locks on top of the guards'.

At front of the door, I stop and close my eyes, doing checks of my mind, looking for any signs of foreign mana, mind parasites, influence, trackers, all of that. Lastly, I deploy a cleansing structure, and only then do I pass through the door I open myself.

Another set of guards greets me, these ones with a deep bow.

My assistant Mila hurries over. 'We’ve received messages from the Archon and the Circle. The Archon requests your presence at the gala dinner in a few days to celebrate a new addition to the Circle—it's Orik, just as you predicted.

"Please confirm with them that I’ll attend. And what’s the message from the Circle?"

“There will be monthly maintenance of the Framework, and this time you’ve been invited too!’ Her eyes sparkle with excitement. ‘No one as young as you has ever been invited before!”

“How did Beatrice react?”

"I…" Mila hesitates. "She wasn’t too happy, so I added more guards around your sister and ran background checks on them."

“Good. Check the arrays as well and do it yourself—use the structure we trained a few days ago.”

“As you order. Shall I have dinner ready in one hour?”

“Yes.” I continue to walk, and Mila leaves to head down a different pathway.

There are no elevators, as I had them removed, so when I reach the spiraling stairway piercing through the middle of the tower, it takes me a few minutes of walking to reach my floor. I feel the barrier deploy, and multiple checks pressure me as I pass through.

Finally, at the top, I stop by the window and look toward the city where I have spent my past few months.

It’s not very big, nestled along the lake bank, but nearly every building is a tower. The city forms an almost perfect circle, with every stone structure placed with intention. Everything about the buildings is carefully calculated: height, width, materials, density, even the number of windows.

Cobbled streets weave between the towers, bordered by metal frames. At the center of the city stands a short, perfectly circular building with a roof made of mana-conductive metals, linking it to the rest of the city.

With a sigh, I turn away and once again go through all the checks, and only when I'm done do I knock on the door. From inside, a skill reaches out and connects to my emotions, and another one pulls a wisp of my mana, testing it. Only then do the doors open, and I slip inside, closing them behind me.

The expression I’ve kept on my face until now crumbles, and I allow myself to relax.

“Fuck, I hate this place.”

“Language!” A voice that brings a smile to my face calls from inside.

“I’m the older sister here, so I will do whatever I damn well want.” I throw my robe away and rub my shoulder. “How have you been?”

Moving through the hallway, the big, cozy room opens up—so warm and welcoming it feels like I could relax just by collapsing onto the floor.

Izzy sits in the corner, her head resting against Noodle, whose body is thicker than hers and probably as long as six of my little sisters lined up end to end.

Using her as a scale cheers me up, and I throw myself next to her, hugging her small body that is always so warm. Both Izzy and Noodle are staring at the book Izzy has open in front of them, and their eyes move in perfect sync as Izzy reads, mouthing out some words.

That feeling of connecting to me reaches out again, and I don’t block it, not even for a second, and let Izzy read my feelings like they are an open book.

Sensing what I want, she acts annoyed and shakes her head, but with a sigh, she taps the top of my head.

“Is it about time to leave?” she asks.

“Yes. I finally got access to the Framework and will be near the Archon in a few days. If everything goes well, a few weeks later we will be done here.”

“Soph…”

“Yes, Izzy?”

"I want you to be careful and call others to help." For the first time, Izzy looks serious and even puts her book away. "Can you do it for me?"

“I…”

“Soph,” Izzy says quietly, and this time her feelings rush to me, and the same way she felt mine, I feel hers.

The hesitation, hope, worry—the fact she hasn’t asked me that, not even once since we separated from the group. She waited the entire time for the perfect opportunity and for my feelings of anger to weaken. I can sense that, but I can also sense why she did that and the feeling of loneliness and fear.

There is no way I can say no after feeling her heart.

"Okay, we’ll call them and ask for help before I go all out. Yes, even Tess." I feel defeated, but as she hugs me with a big smile, despite feeling like a loser for forgiving first, I also feel good.

“Love you, Soph.”

“I love you too, Izzy.”

“And I like Noodle and Blackie as well!” She declares and rests against Noodle, who flicks her nose with his tongue, making her giggle.

My shadow also perks up at the announcement. Confused, incapable of feelings such as love nor understanding them.

A surviving fragment of a bond without its master, now resting in my shadow.

***

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