It took them twenty or so minutes to reach Aleph’s hideout, as they took the route least likely to attract any untoward attention.

The confusion that had originally been clouding Zirel’s visage was replaced by calm after Tom explained the situation to him. Or hinted at it, atleast. It was time for Zirel to find out why he had risked his life to cross into the Noble District.

While Aleph would still require time to trust Zirel completely, Tom had more or less come to trust the prince not to go against their interests, at least in the short-term. Not only had he seen Zirel’s memories, he had also felt the visceral rage he felt towards the Nottrakon Family after what the Elite Guard had done to his party members.

He had also lent Tom the Elite Guard’s crest, due to which the King would shortly piece together the true sequence of events and conclude that Zirel had killed the guards and infiltrated the Noble District due to some unknown reason, which would prompt them to dispatch powerful forces to capture him.

That was enough trust earned to let him in on the secret and Tom had given him his word before he had accepted the crest. Without it, Tom had a feeling that his already messy infiltration would’ve gone far more poorly.

“Doesn’t look like it’s been tampered with,” Aleph declared as she finished examining the crystal seal she had left behind on the hideout. “Not that anyone should have much of a reason to probe it, but still, this is a good omen.”

Tom observed as Aleph, with a flourish of her right hand, undid the crystal seal. Fragments of shattered crystal collapsed inwards, revealing a flight of stairs that led into a former cellar that they had repurposed for their purposes.

Aleph took the lead, Tom followed and Zirel trailed behind them, his gaze betraying a hint of caution as he entered an unfamiliar premises.

The first thing Tom noticed upon entering his former residence was that the crystals Aleph had formed on the Candelabras were still glowing, albeit having dimmed a little.

Nevertheless, they offered enough light for Tom to take in the room.

The two animal hide sofas he had often slept on remained in their original position along with the now dust covered coffee table placed between them. The small cot Aleph slept in was undisturbed, though the mattress cover probably needed to be washed.

Tom was unsurprised to hear soft footsteps behind him as Zirel strode into their former residence, blinking twice before he spoke, “Well this is quite something.”

“Are our humble accommodations not to your liking, prince?” Aleph jibed in return, though her tone carried no real malice.

“Well,” Zirel considered the question as his gaze swept across their living quarters. “I guess I should be thankful to the Elite Guards for one thing— they had standards.”

“Prick,” Tom called out, his tone tinged by a touch of humor.

“More importantly though,” Zirel carried on, unfazed by Tom’s remark. “That spot seems to really want to avoid my attention. What exactly are you hiding down here?”

“Damn,” Tom muttered under his breath, his tone carrying his surprise. “Took me a while to see through that and you just…,” He trailed off, physically shrugging as he turned his gaze to Aleph.

She met her gaze, a question carried within her azure eyes.

Taken from Royal Road, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon.

Tom nodded.

Aleph took a deep breath and then exhaled. Even now, even as she stood at the final juncture before accomplishing one of two long-sought goals, there was a sense of anxiety, a sense of constant pressure that had been weighing down on her since the day her family manor went up in flames.

A feeling that everything would go wrong, all the work she had put in would be taken away from her and she would have to start from scratch again; this time, with even less to her name.

‘I am stronger than that,’ She thought, once again taking a deep breath and exhaling, this time letting the coagulated fears, anxieties and stressors that she had been clinging onto, leave with it.

“That,” Aleph replied, as she walked over to the spot Zirel had pointed out and hoisted a chest, their focus latching onto it only after she made physical contact with it before walking over and placing it on the sofa. “Is the inheritance of the Noble Longstradia family.”

“You’re joking,” Zirel blurted out.

“Why else do you think I’d risk my neck to sneak into the Noble District? I needed the key,” Tom explained, not hiding his amusement at Zirel’s lost composure.

“The Key? Why would the Nobles have the key if you have the inheritance. And how did you even figure that out?”

“It is not a physical key that unlocks the Longstradia Family inheritance,” Aleph said, her tone calm. “It is the Greater Control Glyph.”

“I… I don’t understand,” Zirel replied, his expression seeming dazed. “Even I haven’t mastered that Glyph, because it does not fit well with my combat style. Maybe I could, but, what good would going to the Noble District do?”

“When I taught Synrak the Control Glyph,” Aleph began, her tone conspiratorially low. “He learned it in a day. I’m not surprised that he found a way to learn the Greater Control Glyph.”

“A day? That’s impossible!” Zirel protested, his cheeks slightly red from perspiration.

“Maybe it’s because he can see bits and pieces of people’s pasts, Glyphs come easy to him,” Aleph replied with a nonchalant shrug, seemingly not inclined to push Tom beyond a

point.

“Correction,” Tom said. “I beat it out of a Noble Scion. Not sure if that counts as learning, but yeah. I can do it.”

“Prove it,” Zirel’s demand was made in a low tone, his expression grim.

Tom realized that his nonchalant attitude might have challenged Zirel’s worldview a little too hard, too fast.

Nevertheless, he complied, going through the motions with his The Flame card and showcasing the amount of fine control he had gained over it.

“Do you understand how terrifying a feat this is?” Zirel asked, his gaze directed to Aleph.

She nodded.

“Glyphs are not something that can be influenced by cards. A higher mental stat can assist, but unless it dwarfs all your other attributes at our levels, it alone cannot let you learn a Glyph. I thought the most valuable thing about you was your card but… it appears that I was gravely mistaken,” Zirel muttered under his breath, his expression incredibly tense— as if he had glanced upon something that was better off left undisturbed.

Zirel was probably right, too, in his own worldview. Common cards definitely could not influence learning speeds. Uncommon, Rare, hell even Epic— who knew if they could? But neither Zirel nor Aleph could naturally come to the conclusion that his card belonged to none of those categories.

Thomas Lowe was Legendary, after all. One of his kind, too.

“Please,” Aleph gestured to Tom. “I have waited too long for this.”

Tom’s expression sobered before he nodded to Aleph. Keeping one eye on Zirel, in case the prince would try anything, he strode forward.

The moment he placed his hand on the chest, he picked up on a circular lump of energy nestled underneath the chest. It revealed to him myriad small, branching off pathways that covered the entire surface area of the chest, enough information to leave most Academy students reeling.

But all it did for Tom was curl his lips upwards into an amused smile.

With but a thought of his, the energy moved in the direction he willed. The next moment Tom split the energy down three dozen pathways, ignoring the false and the misleading pathways that had been added to confuse him.

A loud click rang out before the chest swung open with more force than required.

Tom gasped.