“You ready to go?” Ray asked, peeking into Erith’s room.

“Yeah, I'm just packing a few more things than we can head out,” she responded while packing some armor and extra weapons into a backpack that was far too small to fit everything she was placing into it. “These new packs are amazing. I can’t believe you and Freia could create something like this.”

“Well, it's a common spell that most mages know, but infused into a specially prepared backpack allowing anyone to have an extra-dimensional storage,” Ray said as he walked fully into the room with an identical pack on his back.

They were preparing to leave for Erith’s third threshold quest. She had reached level 30, and the pair had been keeping an eye out for any powerful monsters so she could obtain the best class evolution possible. Their opportunity had finally arrived two days ago when Igi let them know about a newborn wyvern causing issues for some merchants traveling between Promises Echo and a nearby port city. After Igi explained what all a wyvern was, Erith finally accepted and asked Ray to come with her.

“All set,” she said.

A few hours later found them riding along with a human merchant caravan heading back to the port city. Ray was surprised to learn the port city was a human settlement with how many scale kin dominated the capital. The older man had initially complained about only having two young adventures with them. Thankfully, Igi had come to see them off and was able to calm his fears before they set out. The first day passed without a sight of the beast. Ray was hoping it would show up soon, as he did not want to spend too much time away from his crafting. As they sat around a fire where they had made camp for tonight, Ray could not help but get a sense that something was not right. For how much of a fuss the merchants had put up when they heard only Ray and Erith would accompany them, they seemed far too calm.

Should I tell Erith? No, it's probably nothing. I'm sure there used to threats on the road, so I'm sure it's fine, he assured himself.

Ray still could not shake the feeling of something being wrong. So he collected a few rocks before opening his spark creation panel and infusing them all with the ability to produce sound and detect movement magically. Creating a small field of proximity sensors around where he and Erith had set up their camp away from prying eyes.

“Whatcha doing?” Erith asked.

Ray sighed. “I didn’t want to worry you, but I can’t shake the feeling that something is off, so I'm laying out some detectors in case anyone tries to sneak up on us during the night.”

“So you thought so too, huh? Those guys are far too calm for merchants that an angry wyvern could set upon at any point.”

After Ray finished setting up his impromptu direction field, the two got some rest.

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The first night passed without incident, but Ray kept his new creations just in case. They traveled from dawn until dusk again, seeing no sight of the wyvern and setting up camp for the night. They were halfway to their destination and should have been in the beast's hunting ground by now. Ray set up the detection field again at night, his uneasy feeling only growing as the camp seemed to be in a ‌cheery mood.

“I wish we had those things when we first made our way out here. Would have saved us a lot of trouble having to take turns on watch,” Erith said as he finished placing the last of the rocks.

Ray nodded as he looked over the field, ensuring that he did not leave any gaps.

“Let's just hope it's not needed again.”

Erith nodded as she lay down on her bedroll.

“You know, this isn't exactly what I had in mind for a second date, but it's been fun so far.”

“You mean except for or employer acting extremely weird?” Ray asked.

“Well, yeah, but I will not let that stop me from enjoying our time together.”

Ray sighed as he lay down beside her.

“I guess it has been fun so far, and besides, the highest level in that group is only 35, and he's a merchant class, so I doubt he can put up much of a fight.”

“By that logic, some would say you're not very good in a fight.”

“Yeah, but I'm an outlier. I can’t help but master everything I set my min- Owch, what was that for?”

“I can’t let you get too cocky,” Erith said with a small laugh.

Ray rolled his eyes and grabbed her hand. They talked for a while longer before drifting off.

Ray was awoken as sound like ringing bells filled the air. He shot to his feet and drew his dagger and short sword to prepare for a fight. Erith was standing beside him less than a second later with her sword in hand.

“Whoa there, there's no need for that,” a gruff voice said.

Ray followed where the sound was coming from, seeing a group of seven figures cloaked in shadow moving towards their camp.

“What is your business here?” Ray asked, staying on guard.

He did not recognize the voice of anyone they had been traveling with, and that worried him.

Vick

Level: 25

Ascension: 0

Class: Rouge

His suspicion where all but confirmed when he got the result back from Draconic Insight.

“Just put your weapons down and we can have a little chat. That's all I want,” Vick said.

“We can talk like this,” Ray responded

Vick sighed, “Just remember, I tried to do this without hurting ya.”

With his words, all seven figures rushed the pair.