Moving as quietly as I could behind a group of humans tailing the Hybrids, we entered the building and made our way downstairs. After a short walk down, they exited into a larger room, torches lined the sides with a corridor on the far side that the Hybrids were being led down to.

The sheer amount of people moving was overwhelming, thousands of Hybrids were moving through this room into the corridor. I have never seen this room before, even after being dragged into this very building many times.

My evolution into a Vengeful Wraith allowed me to figure out more Shadow Magic, and while it was still incomplete, I could invoke shadows around me to stay hidden. Using this to my advantage, I kept moving silently along the walls and waited till the last of the humans entered the corridor before closely following behind.

Listening to the conversations of those ahead of me, I found nothing of use from their words. They were only talking about how they were ordered to round up all the Hybrids in Crater and were asking each other if they knew anything. Planning to keep my distance and try to listen to the noble-like people later, I continued to follow.

After several hours of walking, we finally arrived in a huge cave. There was a lower and upper floor, with the humans standing on the upper floor while the Hybrids were forced into the lower floor. Down there I could make out a huge pair of doors with a faint glow. Squinting my eyes, I could make out from strange symbols and inscriptions on the door that I didn’t understand.

Moving along the upper floor’s wall, I quietly made my way behind the nobles who were speaking to one another, just loud enough for me to pick up some of their words.

“-sacrifice them all to escape from here.”

“Do we have enough? The scriptures say thousands but isn’t the number a bit too low?”

“What choice do we have? It’s only a matter of time until those that were taken reach level 20.”

“We have to wait for the next full moon, only then will it work according to the scriptures.”

Wondering what they were talking about, I continued listening to them but they moved the topic on to how to watch over them. Knowing it was unlikely I would get any more information, I wondered what these scriptures they talked about were, but seeing nothing on them I decided to report back to the others first. From the words these nobles spoke it appears they were planning to sacrifice the Hybrids to open the doors here, for what purpose or reason I did not know, but it was something to do with escaping here…whatever here meant.

Moving along the walls again, I felt a pair of eyes suddenly look at me. Freezing, I looked towards the direction where the stare was coming from…strange, it wasn’t from anyone in here, the stare was coming from the wall…was someone there? After a few minutes the stare moved away, and with a haste to my step I kept walking towards the corridor that I came from, planning to run as I may have been discovered.

[Third Person PoV]

“My my my my. A Wraith that detected my Star Gaze. What an interesting lad, very good senses.”

“Sister, focus on our objective. We’re here to find our new sister, not to gaze around like a pack of tourists.”

“I know I know. It's just that door gives me the creeps, we should deal with it.”

“All in due time. We need to guide our new sister out of Crater Hell first. I believe I’ve found her. Quite far from this little shaggy town, she matches the vision our elder sister had.”

“It’s all well and good that we’ve found her, but we can’t interfere, it’s against the rules. How do we guide someone without interfering?”

“Well, I’m sure we’ll figure something out. I feel she will be drawn here for those that are a mix of human and monster. Really, the residents of this place are disgusting, using such a method to keep themselves safe.”

Swinging her legs while humming, the younger of the two was looking into the far distance, towards the location of a certain plateau.

“It’s surprising to see anything alive in this place. I had always been told it was barren. There are even Dungeons here. Not to mention the mana signature of beings and Dungeons stronger than you are further in.”

“It matters not. I believe I know of a way to guide our new sister from this place.”

“Are we just going to grab her and leave? That way we can get back to the temple, I want some snacks.”

“Dear you just said we can’t interfere. Really now. No, the best way is to leave something for her to find, and where better than with those humans…”

“What if she doesn’t find it?”

“She’ll be attracted to Lunar energy dear, we’ll just mix a little in so she’ll find her way to it, it's technically not interfering. Remember, we only want to guide her away from this place. The rest will be up to her. I look forward to seeing her at the temple.”

Looking at the houses in the distance, the two figures disappeared from the wall they were sitting on.

[Alisha’s PoV]

It’s been several hours since we arrived here. After heading out and killing monsters to vent my frustrations, I’ve managed to calm down while skinning monsters and feeding the people I’ve bought here. With them now resting and sleeping, I was alone sitting here, doing my best not to fall into a mess thinking about what I had done.

It was too soon to rescue these people. I knew that now, we rushed out thinking we could easily bring everyone back. Now I was responsible for six people dying, they were so close to being freed and I ruined that for them. Letting the tears fall, I clenched my fist in anger at myself. I heard footsteps quietly approaching, without turning my head I knew who it was.

Gray sat down near me and without a word grabbed some food. We sat in silence while I tried to think of what to say to him…I’d let everyone down. Just as I’m about to speak, Gray beat me to it.

“The humans have moved the Hybrids to a weird cave.” Looking up at Gray, he continues and tells me about what happened and the words he listened in on from the nobles.

Listening to him in shock, I started to realise the gravity of the situation. We truly rushed this, we didn’t think of what could happen to those in Crater, even though we gave warnings we had thought that the nobles wouldn’t act given Elizabeth’s words about them.

Thinking of what Gray said about the humans needing to wait for a full moon, I look up and see it was still a crescent. Not knowing how long it was until a full moon, I at least knew it wasn’t going to be anytime soon. Thinking for a moment, I told Gray everything that had happened, doing my best to do so calmly.

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Seeing Gray look downcast at my words, I bite my lip in frustration. “It’s not only your fault Alisha. We were all too eager and rushed out, we should’ve planned this better.” Staying silent at his words, I understood what he was saying but part of me refused to accept them.

“We should use those Tomes of Basic Knowledge to find out how to help everyone first. I can use mine for construction if you want to do something like cooking or making clothing if you want.”

Nodding to those words from Gray, I dug out the Tome from my bag and brought it up. Pausing for a moment, I think about what I was good at. I would’ve picked construction, however with Gray doing so I decided I’ll focus on something that I might like instead. Thinking it over, I decided to go with cooking instead, if we can make more different food we could strengthen the Hybrids. A diet of nothing but monster meat was boring after all.

Requesting the basics of cooking from the Tome, it slowly shifted into a thick book, much thicker than I thought possible. In my hands was now a book titled “The Basics of Foodcraft.” Seeing the title, I open the book and start reading.

***

Several hours later I was hungry. Much more hungry than I thought I ever could be, the food in this book looked delicious. It was extremely detailed as well, showing me ingredients, how to cook and what food could be used for. Other than tasting good, you could use mana to craft food to give you certain effects!

The more I read the more interested and eager I was to try out cooking. I’ve seen some of these herbs around while exploring the plateau. A lot of it looked easy to do as well.

Something interesting I also read about was that you could have a subclass for cooking! Wondering if this applied to other crafts like weaponsmithing or construction, I read on. It was unknown how to unlock the class, but there had been success with just making food and the System recognizing your talent in it. It provided certain benefits to cooking, like increasing the quality of food.

Hearing a frustrated groan near me, I looked up and saw Gray rubbing his temples. Seeing me he smiled and said “I don’t get it at all. Want to have a glance?”

“Sure, I’ll trade you. I really get the cooking stuff, I’m eager to try it later.”

Exchanging books with Gray, I was about to read when I heard the sounds of someone approaching us. Judging from the smell I knew it was a Hybrid and looking back it was the girl with dark brown hair and pink eyes. Seeing her look nervously at me, she asked “C-can I s-sit with you t-two?”

Patting the spot next to me, I nod and smile to her. Nervously sitting down near me, I handed her some of the meat I had been cooking and she thanked me.

Reading a bit of the construction book, I didn’t get it at all. I was rereading a few lines and they were not sticking. Feeling a bit frustrated about this, as I was about to continue reading the girl asked me a question.

“I-is Sally h-here?”

“Mm, she isn't. She’s out helping with bringing more of our brethren back.”

“D-does she have s-silver hair and eyes?”

Looking up from the book, the girl looked at me with nervousness and some excitement. Did she know Sally from the slums?

“Yes, that's her. I’m not sure when she’ll be back, but it should only be another two days.”

Seeing the girl nod, I was about to check her System but decided to do as the Zalus people did. “I’m Alisha by the way, what's your name?”

“C-chloe.” Looking at me with a strange look, I ruffled her hair and smiled back.

“I’m Gray.” Saying it like Sally would, Gray nods at Chloe before returning back to the book.

“W-what are you two doing?” Sounding a lot less nervous, I showed her the book. “We’re learning how to do construction and cooking to help look after everyone.” Seeing her nod thoughtfully, I kept reading while we sat in silence, until I heard the sound of others waking up. I knew we had a lot to do, and I had planned to get the Hybrids working to cook and build some more fireplaces. Houses would need to wait, I did not understand a thing from this book.

[Sally’s PoV]

Moving through the grassy plains, we were on the last leg of the walk back. It was daytime at the moment and looking back, we were leading the Hybrids Elizabeth had rescued. Elizabeth and I were leading the group while Olivia was directly behind us.

I had met up with Elizabeth after waiting another day in front of the dungeon I was assigned. We knew the humans would stop sending groups out after a day or two of waiting. After joining up with Elizabeth, we continued to move safely through the day and after three daylights of moving we finally arrived home.

Reaching the plateau, I saw groups of people already here, being led by Alisha in the distance. They were moving up the plateau, carrying a large amount of monsters. Even from this distance I could see the smoke of fires, at least three, from the top. As we moved, I lost sight of Alisha as she led those who had monster corpses away as we just arrived at the path up.

With Elizabeth leading the group up, Olivia and I stayed behind to keep watch. Once the group got up with no problems, I moved behind them with Olivia behind us. Not speaking due to feeling tired, we finally got to the top and moved towards the now busy campsite.

Looking around, there were three fires going, with plenty of wood stacked up. A large mountain of monster corpses sat in the middle, where Hybrids were fetching them one by one, skinning and getting meat from them.

Alisha was helping direct them in pairs or threes while Gray was helping a group smoke some meat. Seeing her ears twitch, she turns to face me and waves while running over. Hugging me suddenly I felt her go limp before trembling. Putting her head, I knew from Olivia about what had happened as Alisha started to cry. Seeing Olivia walk past and start helping direct the Hybrids we had bought, I let Alisha cry.

After a few minutes she pulled away. “Sorry, and thanks Sally. I got a bit overwhelmed there.” Rubbing her hair, I just say “It’s fine, we’re all at fault. Don’t blame yourself.” Seeing her look down again, I pat her head this time. “We’ll need to organise everyone and start trying to help them out.”

“Oh, about that…we need to talk. Everyone needs to hear what Gray found in Crater.”

Nodding, she led me away from the group while grabbing Olivia and Elizabeth. For a moment I felt a stare on me, but without time to investigate it, I sit down with Alisha and the others.

“So, in Crater Gray found…”

Listening to her words, I grew more shocked the longer she spoke. Once she finished, I asked aloud “The nobles said “escape from here”? Escape from where?”

Just as Alisha was about to speak, Olivia said two words. “Crater Hell.” We turn to look at her as she bites her lips and sighs.

“Crater Hell, it is what those outside of this place call this location. A forbidden zone, coming here is considered a crime, though those who do usually don’t appear again.”

Staring at Olivia, I realised what she meant. We were in a place that the rest of her world…no, our world considered to be a place to never go.

“There is no known way to escape…but if the humans have found a door that leads out, that would explain why they are so eager to move now. We pose a threat and they feel a need to escape here. However, an enchanted door doesn’t sound like a way out…”

Elizabeth shakes her head. “I’ve never heard of such a thing. But I’ve always found it strange that so many Hybrids were bred if their sole purpose was to “protect” humans. There are thousands that don’t step outside the slums but are still killed before they turn nineteen.”

“So there is another purpose to the Hybrids?” Asking this, the four of us ponder for a while before Olivia spoke up.

“I’ve never heard of a sacrifice being needed to open a door. There is something wrong with this, it’s not as simple as breaking an enchantment or seal.”

“What should we do? We can’t march in now, they have six level 20s and have jammed the Hybrids into one location, they could wipe them out before we do anything.” Asking this, Alisha tilted her head and frowned.

“We have fourteen days until the next full moon. We can’t just rush in, but we need to do something before the full moon, that gives us thirteen days.” Olivia mutters out loud, sounding like she intended on joining us.

“Let us focus on the now. In the next seven days let's try and make shelter and treat everyone then we’ll focus on what to do with Crater.” Speaking up, Elizabeth looks at us, seeking approval.

Nodding, I got up and moved to help those that didn’t know what to do, thinking about everything that we had spoken about. Just as I’m moving to a group of people, I feel a stare on my back, I turn and see a face I haven’t seen in years. Dark brown hair, deep pink eyes, it was Chloe…