As they make their way to the archive of hidden Chronicles, the mundane conversation continues, filling the hallways with the voice of a curious young acolyte.

After a while, the duo finally arrives at the archives. Upon entering, Dragbaki senses a familiar magic, the same magic of preservation as in the library of echoing scrolls, but here it's much more powerful and capable of withstanding the ravages of time. Inscribed on the walls are runes for the spell "planeshift," a very powerful spell that only a top mage can perform. It's potent enough to create an entire plane of existence to store whatever the creator desires.

"Let's continue our search for information," says Dragbaki after admiring the runes on the walls.

As they rummage through the archive, the only useful item they find is an ancient tome. The tome contains records of the sages throughout the entire lifetime of the sanctuary.

As Dragbaki reads through the tome, he finds a passage in the text about where they should head next and asks the spirit about it.

"I think I know where we should go next... It says here that the way of ascendance leads to the Chamber of Balance, which, upon the completion of a ritual, would open the portal to the Nexus of Arcanum. And I can speak the language the ritual is written in!" Dragbaki says in excitement, knowing he can perform the ritual.

As soon as he puts away the tome, he and the spirit immediately begin their journey to the inner part of the sanctuary. As they make their way out of the surrounding buildings and into the courtyard, they immediately notice the giant tower in the middle of the courtyard.

"That tower is the way of ascendance, then?" Dragbaki asks as he turns to the spirit guide.

"Yes, that is the way of ascendance, where sages ascend to enter the Nexus of Arcanum to gain access to more knowledge," the guide replies.

As they walk around the courtyard looking for the entrance, the Gem of Illumination suddenly shines brightly in a specific direction. Curious about this sudden event, Dragbaki decides to follow the floating gem.

As they follow the floating gem, they eventually leave the premises of the sanctuary. Although this seems counterintuitive to their goals, Dragbaki's curiosity gets the better of him, and he decides to continue pursuing the gem.

As the gem slows down, Dragbaki's eyes focus into the distance, where he notices a group of bandits. Cautious that the shining gem might be noticed by the bandits, Dragbaki immediately hides the gem. The gem then immediately dims, signaling that its work is done.

After Dragbaki hides the gem, he cautiously approaches the group. As he gets closer, he sees that the group is made up of five bandits and is actually robbing someone, a girl who looks like a caster.

"Hey, this girl is rich, and she looks great too," a bandit says as he leers at the girl with lustful eyes.

"Heh, sure you can handle me?" the girl smirks as she mocks the bandit that spoke. The sassy comment enrages the bandit and the others to attack her.

As soon as they start their attacks, Dragbaki immediately leaps from his position to join the fight.

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"Need a hand?" Dragbaki asks as he launches a Firebolt at one of the bandits.

"No thanks, I can handle this," she frowns at the sudden arrival of Dragbaki. Annoyed, she uses an Eldritch Blast to target two bandits, and with the effects of Agonizing Blast and Repelling Blast, the two bandits are sent flying about ten feet before writhing in agonizing pain.

"I can see that, but two heads are better than one, right?" he replies as he sends another Firebolt to the same bandit, finishing him and leaving the body charred.

"Two heads, yes, but I've always found that one skilled hand is worth ten untrained ones," she says, dodging the attacks of the two other bandits near her. She then counters their attacks by knocking the other two bandits down, giving the two of them enough space to have some rest as the bandits are no longer a threat. Four of them are knocked prone and in agonizing pain.

"I can't argue with that. You really know your way around a fight," Dragbaki says in amazement as he launches a 3rd-level Magic Missile to end all four bandits simultaneously.

"I don't pick fights I can't win," she replies, still quite annoyed.

"Alright, that was my bad. My apologies," Dragbaki says to appease the girl. After a short rest to regain their stamina, Dragbaki asks the reason the girl was there.

"So what's the reason for you to be here? I see that you're a Hexblade Warlock. Is that something related?"

"And how did you come up with that conclusion that I'm a Hexblade Warlock?" the girl asks, with a tinge of sass, looking at the boy with a raised eyebrow.

"Well, you have a weapon that's possessed, and you used Eldritch Blast. Going by those, you're a Hexblade Warlock," Dragbaki replies, clearly using his knowledge of various things he's learned through the years.

"Hmph, alright. I'll tell you why I'm here, but you also need to tell me why you're here, got it?" she said in reply as she surrendered after hearing his explanation, clearly seeing how he clearly knows his stuff.

"Fine by me, considering that's my plan," Dragbaki said, quite intrigued by the girl.

"I'm here to help my patron atone for the sins they've done before… I'm here to look for the Sanctuary of Illumination so that I can use the portal there to travel to the Nexus of Arcanum and help fight the darkness. He said that by joining the war, it would probably be enough to atone for his sins," the girl explains as she organizes her things to continue her journey.

"Well, I'm actually going there too, and besides, I'm pretty sure you wouldn't be able to access the Nexus, as I'm the only one who knows how to get there now," Dragbaki explains, and the spirit guide appears right beside him.

"Young hero, are you sure we should offer her help?" The spirit guide asks as he confirms Dragbaki's offer.

"Yes, I'm sure. Besides, the Gem of Illumination guided us to her, didn't it?" As soon as Dragbaki replied to the spirit, the girl immediately asked, "What the heck is that?!?" Clearly alarmed and surprised at the sudden appearance of the spirit.

"Greetings, I am the spirit guide for the young hero. I am here to guide him in fulfilling his prophecy," the spirit guide explains.

As she hears the explanation, she immediately turns to the boy. "What prophecy is it talking about?" she asks.

"Well, apparently, as the son of Mystra, I am the chosen one to defeat the darkness," Dragbaki says as he summarizes the prophecy.

"Wait, you're the son of Mystra

? The goddess of magic, Mystra? Hmm, maybe you really can help us. Mystra's ranking among the gods is quite high. Maybe she can help vouch for my patron," she said excitedly, knowing the son of Mystra is in front of her.

"Well, I may be the son of Mystra, but I'm currently searching for her myself. I haven't seen her in decades now. That's why I even accepted my role in the prophecy, because this is an opportunity to have a solid way of finding her," Dragbaki said, quite dejected as he yearns for his mother.

"Then let me join you on your journey, then? I can be quite useful. Besides, two heads are better than one, right?" she said as she repeated the exact words he said to her earlier, clearly trying to lift up the mood.

"You know your personality is quite different from earlier," Dragbaki remarks.

"Hey, I can be sassy, but I'm not an arrogant jerk. I know when to be proper, okay?" she said, annoyed at the remarks.

"Hahahaha, alright, my bad for the remarks… By the way, we haven't introduced ourselves yet. I'm Dragbaki Glynpeiros, a sorcerer and fighter multiclass," Dragbaki apologizes and introduces himself to the girl.

"The name's Lyria Nightshade, also known as 'Shadowblade.' I'm a Warlock Fighter multiclass," she said as they shake hands, acknowledging each other's skills and abilities.

"So where should we go now?" Lyria continues.

"Well, we should probably head to the sanctuary. I can guide you there since that's where I was before I got to your location," Dragbaki said as he begins to lead Lyria back to the sanctuary. After a while of walking, the duo finally reaches the sanctuary.

"We should probably go and camp in the courtyard so tomorrow morning we can go and immediately go to the Chamber of Celestial Balance so that we can go to the Nexus of Arcanum," Dragbaki and Lyria finally reach the courtyard. Dragbaki finishes explaining what he thinks they should do tomorrow.

"Alright, considering you know your way around here," Lyria says as they begin to set up camp.

Just before going to sleep, Dragbaki and Lyria decide to exchange information about the journey they're going to have. After finishing their food, Dragbaki sets up a barrier to surround the camp and an alert spell that would alert them of intruders. After finishing the security around the camp, the duo finally ends the day.