We stayed together for the rest of our tour of the village. Our biggest problem was food, we had next to no provisions and even with the ability to hunt and grow food it was important to have a backup.
Vel and I made a beeline for the kitchens. With a rune master on site, the kitchens of Nis had a walk-in freezer. We spent some time in the cold stacking frozen meats and vegetables into crates and I placed them in my necklace. The additional stasis enchantment meant that objects didn't suffer the passage of time, unlike with our regular amulets. We took enough for around two months of travel, packed into crates they only took a measly ten slots. I didn't expect we would need to travel for that long but I had plenty of space.
Next, we headed to the scout's headquarters. Our next problems, once we had stocked up on food, were gear - neither of us were dressed to take on any kind of expedition through the jungle - and information. The building had obvious traces of fighting, spell impacts on the walls and splashes of blood here and there.
We searched for the head's office and found it without trouble. It was deep into the building where the signs of battle were absent. Most of the doors were broken however, the invaders had been thorough in their search, but nothing seemed to be missing. I would have expected them to take the map at least but it was likely they hadn't needed it, they likely already knew where the villages were.
On the wall was a large map of the Twilight Jungle. Underneath was a cabinet with rolled up regional maps which matched the different marked areas.
The main map was highly detailed and showed all the villages around the central cavern. It was hard to express how big the place really was. The ceiling was at least a dozen kilometers high, enough to let actual weather patterns happen. Roughly converting the measurements on the map to metric, I would say the cavern was around two hundred kilometers across. How did it stay stable? Probably magic.
At the center was the aptly named central pillar, where the adventurer's guild was based, and dotted around were several dozen villages that ranged from smaller than Niu to large cities. Niu and Nis were in the south western quadrant, the largest city - the capital - was in the east, and the second largest - the main trade hub - was in the north west closer to the pillar.
"Closest village is Asril," she pointed, "we can get there in a week. The problem is that it's not that big. Ideally we would go to the capital but it's on the other end of the bloody the jungle."
"So, Asril, then the guild, then Amiril?" I asked.
"And probably any village in between," she traced a path with her finger, "to pass the message and restock on provisions if necessary."
It would be a two months long journey at least, without accounting for how long we would stop at each point.
"That's one hell of a trip," I whistled.
"We'll take it one leg at a time," she said.
She pulled a regional map from the cabinet and spread it before us.
"And look, between here and Asril is another ruin as well. We can explore it on the way to see if we can't find another one of those secret chambers."
"Sounds like a plan," I nodded. "We'll wait a few days for any scout from Niu, they'll probably send a group here if they have managed to deal with the invasion. If not … then we head to Asril."
"Hopefully they did," she said but her words rang hollow.
I helped Vel take the large map of the Twilight Jungle from the wall and roll it into something more portable. The smaller maps were stuffed into a case and vanished into storage.
Next step, the armory.
It was located in another wing of the building, closer to the barracks than the administration offices. We had to make a detour due to the fallen aviary which had collapsed several hallways. I kept a close eye on the building's structure with my sphere, I wanted to avoid walking under a potential collapse.
The large double doors to the armory were smashed open as well but the inside was still well ordered. It felt strange, most invaders would have ransacked the village but not these ones. That kind of behavior didn't make sense on the surface, why take the people but not anything else? Unless the people had a much higher value compared to the rest.
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It was frustrating, I had a lot of hypotheses but a dire lack of data to support them.
I shook the thoughts out of my head for the time being.
"Let's see if there is any spare gear in here," I said as I started to walk the shelves. "I think we should get some expanded bags first."
They would make carrying supplies much easier even at their inflated storage cost.
"Found them," Vel waved at me.
The bags were on a shelf near the entrance and there were several varieties. The backpacks we had used during our trial, pouches like I had on my belt, and messenger bags of various sizes. I took three backpacks and five of the large messenger bags. Even if I didn't fill all of them, they would be useful to have around. Vel took only one backpack and two of the smaller bags due to her smaller storage item.
"Alright, let's find some armor now," I said. I quickly searched through my sphere and found them at the other end of the small warehouse. "This way," I pointed.
The shelves had a collection of rectangular baskets stacked on top of each other, in each of them was a set of armor. Most of them were similar to what we had worn during our trial, standard scout armors. Then, near the end of the shelf, there were a few bigger baskets.
I pulled one out and opened it on a nearby table. The equipment inside was a grade above the standard ones. I could see enchantments on every piece with my sphere. I took out the chest piece that was on top and Identified it.
> [Elite Scout Chest Armor (Protection, Durability, Flexibility, Silence, Sizing)]
It was made of dark leather reinforced with a treated silk mesh. Outwardly, the design made it look like an under-bust corset with a separate chest piece, subtle silver highlights and visible straps that ran around the front to sell the illusion.
"I like the design," Vel said. "Stylish and practical at the same time."
I nodded with a smile. The armorer who made those certainly had some fun with them. There were sets designed for both men and women, the main differences were around the chest area. While it was possible for both to wear the same armors, it was very unpleasant to have your breasts pressed flat for long periods of time. It wasn't too much of a problem for me but Vel had bigger assets and she had needed to get her hunting armor modified to alleviate the pain.
The rest of the set was of a similar quality. The chest armor had a second part, an open skirt that attached to the waist and protected the upper legs without hindering mobility. To protect the shoulders and neck, there was a short silver shawl made of a more supple leather. They both had silver designs as well.
The undershirt and pants were black silk-reinforced cloth with durability and breathability enchantments to allow the armor to be worn for long stretches of time. Finally, the boots were made of the same black leather and reached up the knees with special pads to protect them. To go over the armor was a long dark coat with a hood. It had a relatively plain design and closed to one side with a series of buckles.
"Let's get dressed," I said as I looked over the armor spread before us.
I removed my belt and placed it on the table, the rest of my clothes besides my underwear vanished inside my storage amulet. Once I had put on the new armor for the first time, it would be possible to switch it out. High quality armor like this one had sizing enchantments that made them fit the wearer but they needed to be put on the old fashioned way to work. If I tried to summon it directly, it would just fall from my body.
I replaced my old leather belt with the one from the basket as it was enchanted. This one had a cross over design that made it look like two belts. It was in reality a single long belt that looped over twice and was held together by silver medallions. With two loops, I could even add a set of small pouches along the upper loop if I wanted to hold potions or other items I wanted to quickly access.
There were no mirrors in the storage house but through my sphere, I could see myself from every angle at once. I flexed my limbs to test the fit of the armor, it was perfect. Praise Gaia for enchanted gear. I also preened a bit, I looked really good with everything on.
"You look even better in this one," Vel chimed in.
"You too," I said as I pulled her in close for a quick kiss, "very, very good."
We both wanted to take some time to cuddle but we were still in dangerous territory, with the barrier over the village broken, monsters could enter at their leisure and neither of us wanted to get caught with our pants down.
"Let's split off for the rest," I said, "we still need to find somewhere to sleep."
Vel nodded and broke our embrace. I started by taking two more sets of armor off the shelf and placing them in one of the storage bags. Neither of us knew how to repair armor so it would be useful to have spares. Next I went over the travel supplies and picked up some useful tools, shovel, axe, fire stones, blankets. Vel took a portable shelter for each of us.
I made a quick round through the weapons section. There wasn't much I was interested in, my bow, daggers, and glaive were higher quality than what was available. However, there was something that piqued my interest.
> [Handy Expanded Quiver (Selection, Durability, Space Expansion, Weight Reduction)]
The quiver was much smaller than a standard one and meant to attach to the belt instead of the back. The space expansion allowed it to hold many more arrows. But the best part was the Selection enchantment, it made the item the user wants be the first they grab. With this and Mystic Arrows, I could carry an array of special arrows and copy them at will. Which is what I did next, I picked up one of every special arrow from the reserves. Incendiary, paralyzing, and so on.