Arcane Innovator

I cautiously entered the secret compartment, but as I outstretched the hand that held the magic flame and saw what was hiding inside, I froze in my steps.

'What the hell...'

Now properly illuminated, the interior looked exactly like my own lab back in Ereneth.

I watched in awe as they even somehow managed to recreate the infusion vessel, although I noticed there were no preservation enchantments on it.

This proved beyond anything that Theo must have been alive and helping them with this project, as no one else could have such detailed knowledge about my setup.

'But where do they keep him?' I thought with furrowed brows.

Until now, I had detected no signs of life anywhere in the basement, and this room looked like a dead end. Despite this, I still searched every nook and cranny of this place, trying my best not to miss anything.

While I did this, many questions continued to nag me in the back of my mind. For example, how did they even get all of this equipment in?

That winding staircase that led me down here was way too narrow for any of this stuff to be brought here in the first place.

Perplexed, I continued to walk around, meticulously examining every detail.

I noticed that the storage was full of herbs and other ingredients, yet there was no sign of any potions, and the equipment looked brand new, showing no signs of ever being used.

This indicated that they must have completed this facility just recently and were not quite ready to start their operation.

I still had my doubts about whether they even could in the first place. 'Did they somehow find another mage with a huge amount of essence willing to do their bidding?'

Whatever the case, I decided to play it safe and proceed extra carefully from now on until I found out what was really going on.

I wanted to check the infusion vessel again to see if I had missed any important details, but something made me pause as I was walking over.

Tilting my head, I watched the flickering flame atop my palm with interest. I then moved closer to the opposing wall, stopping in front of it, and after a brief moment, my mouth broke into a wide grin. 'Bingo!'

I didn't notice it previously, but now, as I stood still before the unassuming wall, I was pretty certain that there was a slight draft coming through it.

I leaned forward closely, examining the spot, and soon noticed a tiny crack in the wall's surface.

No, not a crack, I quickly corrected myself. It was a barely visible joint, which meant that I was looking at yet another secret door.

Not wasting a breath, I concentrated on disintegrating the fake wall the same way I did previously, and before long, I was greeted by an opened maw of a dark tunnel that disappeared in the distance.

'So this is how they went in and out without me noticing...' I smiled darkly, deciding to continue exploring this new development as I had an inkling that I was on the cusp of a major discovery.

I eagerly delved into the eerie passage, confidently walking forward after first checking that there were no life signs up ahead.

Yet, contrary to my expectations, there was no hidden exit in some remote alleyway. The tunnel, slightly sloping down, stretched on and on without any signs of ending.

As the temperature began quickly dropping and the air became more and more humid, I soon realized, to my surprise, that I must already be inside the mountain itself.

The previously straight and compact tunnel had transformed into a rough, jagged shaft that looked like it was a part of an abandoned mine.

The ancient-looking wooden supports appeared worn out or, in some places, missing altogether.

Before long, I came toward the first fork and briefly wondered where to go next. But at the next moment, my ears perked as I overheard a muffled sound of conversation coming from the right.

I tensed before quickly discarding my flame so that whoever was down there wouldn't notice me. Then, while submerged in absolute darkness, I carefully made my way toward the source of the faint sound.

'There you are...' I smiled while observing a pair of shady-looking characters who finished with their chat, began walking in the opposite direction, and quickly disappeared inside yet another mine shaft.

I could instantly tell by their shaved heads and the multitude of tattoos all over their bodies that they were most likely members of Dominic's gang.

Not wasting a moment, I immediately followed after them from a safe distance, my eyes glued to the flickering light of the lamp one of them was holding as I did my best not to lose them.

After about five minutes of walking, the shaft ended, expanding into a spacious chamber that appeared to be partially man-made but was mostly a natural cavern.

Before I entered, I paused briefly as I tried to devise a suitable plan for what to do next.

Because of the dozens of life signs I detected up ahead, I could tell that I had most likely stumbled upon the holy grail—the hidden base of Dominic's gang.

I wanted nothing more but to run up there and tear all those bastards limb from limb, but I forced my agitated mind to calm down, reminding myself that I had to do this the right way if I wanted to enact my revenge and make it out of here alive.

I knew I could take on such low-level thugs like those two in front of me without a problem. However, I already made the mistake of underestimating Dominic once and paid the price.

So this time, I won't take any chances and would first properly assess the situation, making absolutely sure there won't be any nasty surprises waiting for me. Only then, while fully utilizing the element of surprise, will I crush them so hard they won't even see it coming.

Happy with my plan, I quickly and quietly moved through the rest of the dimly lit shaft, trying to remain unseen.

However, I was soon forced to an abrupt stop because when I entered the enormous cavern, I encountered several heavily armed thugs nonchalantly leaning against a wall a short distance ahead.

Seeing that they blocked the only way forward and there was no way to move around them unnoticed, I levitated a few pieces of the everpresent gravel and shot the unsuspecting men through the head.

With a thud, they instantly collapsed to the ground before they could even comprehend what had happened.

I quickly proceeded to levitate their corpses, moving them out of the way. Luckily, this spot was still some distance from the main camp, so nobody noticed anything wrong.

Still, I knew it was just a matter of time before someone would come looking for the missing thugs, so from now on, I needed to move fast.

'I guess this is the end of sneaking around...' But before I made my move, I first wanted to see what I stood against, so I cautiously crept forward, hiding behind a protruding ledge from which I had an unimpeded view of the whole place.

I peeked out only to see dozens of gang members. Given the late hour, most of them were already asleep, but many figures were still lazing about multiple bonfires, busily drinking and merrily conversing.

Based on everything I saw so far, I was almost certain we were in some sort of abandoned mine somewhere around the middle portion of Weisberg, on the same level as the craftsman's district.

I remembered seeing a myriad of warehouses along with several mine shaft entrances on the northern side, directly against the mountainside, which looked like they had been abandoned long ago.

'I can't believe that I was so close to them all this time and had no idea... but no matter, I'm here now, and it's time to settle the debt.'

While deciding how best to deal with them, I spotted something that caught my attention. All the way back in a corner of the caver, there was a large iron cage, and inside... 'Is that?'

Narrowing my eyes at the scrawny figure cowering inside, it was hard to tell for certain, but by the stained, worn-out robe of an Alchemist, I was certain it was no one else but Theo.

'I guess I will have to change my plans a bit...'

Returning to my hiding place, I began carefully sneaking around the side of the cavern's wall, making sure not to make a sound.

I knew that before anything else, I first had to rescue Theo. Not only did I owe him for everything he did for me back in Ereneth, but leaving him in there while I dealt with the gang was extremely risky.

Not only could they move him somewhere else before I could get to him, but in the worst case, they could take him hostage, threatening to kill him if I didn't surrender.

And I certainly didn't want to be put in a position where I had to choose between Theo's life and my own because I already knew the answer to this question.

Thus, I carefully made my way toward the cage while trying my best not to be spotted.

This was easier said than done, and by the end of my short journey across the cavern, I was drenched in cold sweat.

Despite knowing that I could most likely take on all these guys just fine, sneaking around all those vicious-looking brutes was still a nerve-racking experience.

Fortunately, the remote corner the cage was tucked away in seemed to be the least exciting feature of this makeshift base, and nobody bothered to look its way.

So I managed to come over just fine and immediately tried to grab Theo's attention by hurriedly whispering. "Theo... Theo, do you hear me?"

At first, the dark silhouette sitting motionlessly in the cage remained still, but then it stirred, slowly turning its head and blinking confusedly.

"D-Darian?" A rasping voice answered. "Is this... a dream?"

I smiled, finding his totally confused face quite funny. "No, it's not a dream. I came here to rescue you..."