"So you had been g-g-going through this investigation and preparation for several months during the training camp and military service?" Tiana asked in astonishment.

Heeding her insistence, the group had left the resort village as soon as Orisa grabbed a bit of rest. They adjusted their supplies, bought four more horses and another tent, and moved out. The company had been moving along the road for half an hour before they stepped off into the forest. Tiana was afraid of the Inquisitors and their leader, a seasoned veteran who could check her words after sensing her nervousness. A ride through the forest calmed Tiana a little, leading Orisa to their current conversation about the end of the world scenario.

"Well, pretty much. Although it's hard to call our struggle an investigation since we have learned almost nothing particularly useful so far," Orisa concluded regretfully.

"I w-w-wish I still had access to our family's resources and knowledge."

"We already have the best thing your family could ever offer," suddenly added Iten. Orisa couldn't believe her ears and after carefully studying his expression, concluded he meant it more as an aggressive comment towards the Supreme Commander. But it was too late for poor Tiana, whose cheeks and ears turned bright red. Orisa subtly observed the girl's reaction, spotting how she was biting her lips and adjusting her hair, peeking at Iten from time to time. 'Woosh, this is unexpected. Oh my, I just hope it's an overblown gratitude showing and not something else,' Orisa thought in amusement.

"Iten has a point," she then added with a smile. "You are all we need, Tiana. We'll manage, I'm sure. What do you think about our little party? Want to join?"

"W-w-why do you ask rhetorical questions?" Tiana answered, focusing on the discussion at hand. "I thought about the W-W-Waves myself, too, but have never moved beyond simple consideration before. Now I can finally start doing something that could benefit my home, not ruin it or its people."

"Yay, great to have you with us!" Kanai said cheerfully, and Iten nodded with a content smile.

"Are there only four of us? W-w-who else knows about the movement?"

"Only my mentor and Onuki so far." Suddenly, Orisa became silent. She remembered another person who had known about their plan for some time, but she decided not to mention him for the sake of the mood.

"Oh, I heard about your mentor and w-w-would love to meet them in person."

"I'm sure you'll like each other, Tiana. So, you two are here, where is the rest of the team? How is everyone?"

"Working, of course," answered Iten. "Dippo allowed me to leave, but everyone else is serving to cover for our absence. We were lucky that Nana and Nene managed to transfer divisions. Nothing in particular to say, everybody is doing well."

"That's nice to hear, thanks. By the way, Tiana, are you traveling light? We'd need to stop someplace safe and stock for more gear and things for you," Orisa asked. They didn't have enough time to perform a thorough inspection of Tiana's backpack, but she grasped the situation just from its puny size.

"Mhm, yes. I thought I ought to hurry and leave the house, but I also w-w-went to our bank on my way here and withdrew my monthly limit. It's not much, but..."

"Don't worry, dear, we aren't exactly poor. How much were you able to take?"

"Only twenty-two grits," mumbled Tiana, causing a coughing fit from the rest of the group. The sum was thrice the already enormous amount Rita gave Orisa.

"First world's problems," Kanai rolled his eyes. They ignored Tiana's meek protests and questions, exchanging mischievous gazes. "By the way, how did you find us?"

"Um..." Tiana took a quick peek at Orisa. "I'm sorry for not saying anything beforehand, and I'll understand if you g-g-get mad at me for this, Orisa..."

"I can't imagine you doing something really bad, Tiana. Don't worry, keep going," Orisa cheered on her friend, while also recalling their interactions at the beginning of her training camp time. For some reason, bad memories just kept getting into her head today.

"The ring that Maria g-g-gave you... She did mention it briefly, but I forgot about it after joining your g-g-group. I didn't say anything about it because of this, honestly! I w-w-wasn't trying to hide it or anything..."

"Tiana, it's okay. What's with the ring?" Orisa asked, but the situation became clear to her already.

"Our family can track these rings similar to how Siri resonates w-w-with the navigation pillars. But it's only possible if you know the specifics like its unique Mana signature. Maria had changed it before entrusting the ring to you, so it w-w-was rather safe... I suppose..."

"Mhm, I see. Well, I would have preferred to know about such things in advance, that's for sure."

"I'm really sorry, Orisa! I didn't mean to spy on you! Maria said she w-w-wanted me to be able to find my only friend in case w-w-we’d lose contact..."

"It's fine, Tiana. I'm not mad, just a little bit... wary, I guess?"

"Tiana, sweety, do you have the same ring, too?" Kanai asked casually.

"Indeed. You don't need to w-w-worry, I changed its signature already. Only Maria knows it now."

"So it's just your maid, huh? I see I see," he mused, trying to gauge how trustworthy Tiana's guardian was from everything he knew about her.

"In the end, you saved, me for which I'm beyond grateful, Tiana. So don't worry too much about the ring," said Orisa. On the inside, she did feel slightly different. The situation resolved itself well, though she couldn't help but think how things would turn out were Tiana's father the one to find it. The whole feeling of being under surveillance didn't sit well with her, either.

The conversation died out, and the group continued their ride through the thin forest.

"So what have you two been up to?" asked Iten sometime later to break the silence. "How was your travel?"

"Oh, you know, nothing interesting. Just little things here and there," Orisa waved his question away. For some reason, she felt guilty because of their adventure. It was full of pain and suffering but still made them much stronger. Because of this, Orisa felt like they had cheated somehow during their travel, so she didn't want to admit it in front of a righteous Iten.

"Oh, really!?" Kanai almost choked on the air. "Iten, don't listen to her! First of all, she got sick on the third day of our party after saving two random kids from a Beast..."

His recollection went on for quite some time, supported by Orisa's snarky remarks. The part about them digging a tunnel had garnered the most yelps. However, the most shocking tale was still ahead:

"In the end, we decided to leave the tunnel. That was when a twice-evolved Beast ambushed us."

"WHAT!?" Tiana and Iten gasped in horror, although Tiana's reaction was ruined by her stuttering.

"Well, something like that did happen..." muttered Orisa uncomfortably.

"Please, say you are joking," Iten looked at them, thoroughly shocked.

"How w-w-were you able to escape? To think there w-w-was someone who managed to flee from such a threat..."

"Well, you know..." Orisa tried to come up with something, but Kanai decided to bury her completely:

"Escape? Come on, who do you think you are talking about? It's Orisa, our glorious, oops, I mean completely nuts daredevil, she-."

"What I was supposed to do? Leave you behind?" she scoffed, trying to shut him up.

"Yeah yeah. Anyhow, imagine, our poor friend with a broken stat build and numerous handicaps killed the thing! And that’s after taking into account that we lost the Lantern!"

"Of course. What was I even expecting from you two? I get it, you left the tunnel and went straight to the village where we met you?"

"Iten, I'm telling you! I wouldn't believe it myself if not for the giant crater and burning forest. Holy shit, this was a sight to behold. It's a shame there are no cellphones to make a video. When I found Orisa, she was lying on the ground in front of a magma-filled chasm. She passed out in a pool of own blood, with her hands and spine broken. I almost pissed myself, you know? Thought she was a goner. It was too much even by Orisa's standards."

"Um, yeah, kind of..." she shuffled uncomfortably under Iten's scrutinizing gaze. Tiana was silently staring at her as well.

"And there was also this weird ghost thingy, too," Kanai kept throwing something brown on the fan, and it surely wasn't chocolate.

"Wait, so are you telling me Orisa managed to kill a twice-evolved beast alone, without the Lantern?"

"Why would I lie, Iten?" Kanai turned serious. "I mean, it's a miracle that we are alive. The only thing I remember was how it blew off my hand with a single strike. When I woke up, everything was over, but even I could tell how ugly it went. The air was so thick with Mana, and everything around the place was burning like in hell. I don't want to remember her broken and tattered figure, Iten. I was so fucking scared she wouldn't make it. Why would I lie about something like that?"

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With a sour expression, Iten turned away from Kanai's grim face. Seeing where this was going, Tiana interjected with an obvious question:

"Orisa, I don't doubt his w-w-words, but I can't say it doesn't sound impossible. How did you manage to slay it?"

"Um, well..." Orisa shivered uncomfortably under Iten's gaze. "Earlier on, we had found a replacement for the Concentration Potion, a spell that uses unevolved cores of Beasts as its main component. Instead, I took an evolved core to enter a much more focused state, but even that wasn't enough at first. The Beast got me cornered, but I used its own decoy skill against it, making it think I was trying to flee. I made a duplicate filled with slowing and freezing magic, and when the thing attacked and triggered the trap, it became incapacitated and gave me a few seconds to prepare the last strike. I used another evolved core as an energy source, released its Mana, and empowered it through five Seals. It is worth mentioning that thanks to Kanai, we had also found a way to make Seals much stronger and squeeze even more power out of them, which led to the spell I used to kill the Beast."

"Would you be able to repeat it?" asked Iten, still in doubt but also a little curious now.

"I think so. But you need to keep in mind that it takes time to build five Seals, so the target must be kept restrained. Also, the spell costs too much money to throw left and right. I think I can use unevolved cores, too, but they aren't free either."

"Understood. Thank you."

Their ride went on. Twice during the first half of the day, they had been attacked by Beasts. Orisa and Kanai took care of them with ease, leaving no chance for Tiana and Iten not only to help but even to react in time. The unannounced competition became even more one-sided when they left the forest and entered a vast plane where enemies were visible from afar.

Seeing there was no need of their skills, Iten and Tiana started a conversation. Orisa kept observing her female friend's reaction and behavior with Iten, quietly pondering the situation. Kanai woke her from her thoughts with a sudden phrase:

"Mister Baggins, I can carry the ring for you!"

Orisa almost fell off the horse, and then looked at him with wide eyes. Kanai chuckled merrily after lifting her mood a bit and sped up his horse to catch up with the other two members of their small party.

They stopped by a little spring to have lunch, and Tiana turned to Orisa after they all had settled down with their plates:

"W-w-what's our next move, Orisa?"

"We have only one direction from this ghost figure, the Spire in the Epicenter," she began, but Iten immediately interjected:

"The ghost figure? Ah, Kanai did mention something like that. Would you elaborate?"

Orisa went through the recollection once more, omitting the part about the weird dream which she withheld even from Kanai. Tiana looked thrilled, but Iten remained doubtful and voiced his opinion:

"I understand why you are suspicious, Kanai. It definitely sounds like a hoax, especially because there was no new information except for the Spirespawn word."

"Anyhow, that's not what's important here," Orisa abruptly cut in. "Since we have no leads other than those five places, I would like to visit them. And we should start from the one that we already know, the cave."

Kanai and Iten sighed simultaneously, while Tiana supported the idea with a firm nod. Since she was expecting this reaction, Orisa only shrugged and continued:

"I want to recruit Toatre if possible since she is the best expert on technologies of this world we could ever find. And she is a cutie pie, too."

"Yes, I see where your priorities lie," groaned Kanai.

After careful consideration, they decided to temporarily split the group in two, with Orisa and Kanai continuing towards the cave on horses, while Tiana and Iten went to contact Toatre, deliver Orisa's message, and store more supplies. The recruitment process went smoothly - the moment Toatre had heard about Orisa, her plans, and future tasks, the girl immediately dropped out of the workshop, gathered her belongings and instruments, and departed towards the meeting point.

Four days later, a group of five people was standing in front of a cave-in inside a little room deep into the cave. The spot gave both Orisa and Tiana chills since it looked exactly the same as before, but they steeled themselves and continued.

"I'm still afraid of another rockfall," Orisa muttered thoughtfully after inspecting the ceiling. She proceeded to place Force Blocks to support it, while Kanai began to weaken rocks in front of them with his spells.

"A quite interesting way of doing things you have there, Orisa, Kanai," murmured Toatre then pointed her hand at the spot where Kanai's spell was softening the stones and chanted:

"Quickflow!"

Another cloud appeared inside Kanai's Field of Corruption, making it boil.

"What are you doing?" he asked worriedly.

"Oh, this? I assumed that you would like to speed the decomposing, mhm. The Quickflow can increase the speed of Mana and all related processes. Was I wrong?"

"Oh, um, huh. No, thank you for your help..."

Orisa conjured her signature drill and began to break the rocks. For a few minutes, the three newcomers had been observing her work with a varying degree of awe, until Tiana finally asked:

"W-w-what shall w-w-we do in the meantime, Orisa?"

"Watch the cave for Beasts and observe the ceiling, please."

"Imagine there is a Creeper behind the rockfall," chuckled Kanai, earning an angry hiss from Orisa.

The digging went on for another hour when Orisa's drill suddenly disappeared inside a four-meters long tunnel. It vanished quietly and without a trace as if dispelled. Two more attempts proved that the drilling was over.

"Guys, I think we have to do it manually..."

"What happened to your drill?" asked Iten after coming closer.

"I don't know why, but it just dissolves every time I try to dig farther."

"Have you tried other spells?"

"Yep. The Force Wall disappeared instantly."

The uncomfortable sensation she had been feeling all this time had only increased in intensity after she got closer. With each meter that she had passed, the feeling had grown stronger and now had become oppressive.

Without wasting more time, Iten lit a flare and crawled into the hole that Orisa's drill had left. He got back a minute later and announced:

"There is something behind the rocks there. It's solid and grey. And very cold to the touch."

"For now, let's widen the hole so we could get closer easily?" Kanai directed the question to Orisa. She nodded and returned to the digging.

"It was strange at first, but now I have come to like your new relationship," Toatre said suddenly while looking at Orisa and Kanai. All four remaining members of the group coughed in surprise, and Kanai hurriedly asked her:

"Um, what do you mean?"

"Mhm, I shouldn't have said that, am I right? The way you look at her, or how Orisa brushes past you, lightly touching your hand. I assumed you weren't hiding it. I'm sorry for bringing your great mystery to the light."

"Ahem, well, there is no mystery, you see..." Kanai began uncomfortably.

"Guys, it's a very long and strange story for another time, okay?" said Orisa in a strict tone while still working her drill. "There is nothing, well..."

"Physical?" suggested a red-faced Kanai.

"Yes, indeed. There is nothing of this sort going on, so you don't need to fantasize or something," Orisa finished.

"Oh, Orisa, I'm so happy for you!" exclaimed Tiana.

"You are missing the point, but thank you."

Another hour had passed before they became content with the tunnel's size. The far end of the path looked like a poorly made cheese - the dark-brown rocks were riddled with holes and cracks revealing the grey something that Iten had mentioned before.

"Do you think you can weaken the rest of the stones?" Orisa asked Kanai, but he shook his head and pointed his wand:

"Field of Corrosion!"

A cloud appeared around the rock and got immediately sucked into the grey surface. The group exchanged puzzled looks.

"There are no tools for digging in our backpacks if that's what you were thinking," Iten said, looking at Orisa and waiting for her decision.

"Damn. I don't want to go back for the tools and waste three more days," Orisa groaned.

"It isn't much, but it's an honest tool," said Toatre and handed Orisa a relatively small black hammer.

"Okay, I'll take it from here. You people should rest and perhaps even prepare a camp for the night," Iten took the hammer from Orisa and strolled to the last obstacle on their way to the unknown.

The rest of the team went outside the cave to round up the Beasts that had gathered there. Orisa watched Toatre fighting in amusement - the girl was using an unbelievable combination of magic, buffs, debuffs, and melee abilities, exerting an unexpected level of strength from her tiny figure. Another point of wonder was how she was moving during the fight. It closely reminded Orisa of several Eastern fighting styles where the fighters were smoothly flowing from one stance to another. Toatre looked like a living liquid.

"Alright, I'm done," a rugged and tired Iten called them two hours later. "You'd better see it for yourself."

Inside the tunnel, they found a dirty grey surface. Aside from the big vertical rectangle that was bulging slightly above the exterior, the rest of it was perfectly flat.

"A wall..." muttered Kanai, dumbfounded.

"A door?" mused Orisa and touched the object. She regretted doing so as it felt horrible beyond words. The problem was not the surface itself since it was just cold and smooth like metal. What made Orisa shiver was the sensation the touch brought upon her. She felt like standing on the edge of the endless pit, a giant gaping maw that was ready to devour anything and everything. She sensed the wall drain her Mana.

"Major Status!"

"Major Condition!"

But the spells were absorbed completely and without a trace, providing Orisa no clues at all. She stretched one of her Mana layers and directed its flow into the wall. Similarly to a stranger craving for water amidst the desert, the surface greedily absorbed her Mana without end.

"What are you doing?" Kanai asked carefully.

"Well, I just thought about something..." as if in a trance, Orisa caressed the wall's surface while studying the bulging rectangle of the door. The sensation she was getting from the bottomless pit in front of her began to change gradually. With a fleeting smile, Orisa muttered slowly: "Aren't you one hungry little thing, huh?"

"Palm Push Strike!"

Everyone gasped in shock when Orisa smashed the door with her palm, but the explosion everyone was expecting didn't occur. The wall absorbed every droplet of Mana swiftly.

"Everyone, step out," commanded Orisa and took several steps back.

"Blast Shell!" - "Blast Shell!" - "Blast Shell!"

Upon impact, the Shells produced explosions that were immediately sucked into the surface as well. Not even a speck of ash could be seen across the grey wall.

"Hmm, not enough?" mused Orisa.

"Quadro Block!"

A thick wall appeared between Orisa and her friends, barricading her inside the tunnel.

"What are you doing?!" shouted Kanai angrily.

"Let's call it an aggressive lockpicking," she grinned and took an unevolved core from her belt.

"Force Armor!"

"Assault Seal!" - "Support Seal!" - "Utility Seal!" - "Rotary Seal!" - "Attack Seal!"

Five Seals were hanging in the air in front of Orisa. She turned around and winked at Iten mischievously before turning back and raising her palm with the core squeezed in it:

"Asura Strike!"

The core cracked and released its enormous contents. A ray of blue energy rushed forward and, after absorbing all Seals, struck the wall. Despite her confident look, Orisa was sweating profoundly. If her guess was wrong, she could end up buried by the rockfall or evaporated by the excessive energy from the spell. But her hunch was right - the wall greedily absorbed everything, and small ripples ran over its grey surface.

"Are you out of your fucking mind!?" Kanai shouted, banging on the Force Block.

"Orisa, I have never thought of you as a master thief. I should reevaluate you once more. Isn't it amusing?" Toatre chuckled.

Iten shook his head disapprovingly but said nothing. For ten seconds, nothing happened. Then a light vibration shook the area, causing dust and tiny pebbles to fall off the ceiling.

With a loud hissing of an airlock being open, the door moved forward and then split into two parts that slid to the sides. One by one, starting from the farthest, the lights inside a long bare grey corridor started turning on. When the last lamp activated, it revealed an ancient human skeleton laying in the doorway.