Leon opened his eyes and saw a bright light coming from outside the cave. He gazed with narrowed eyes and saw Vadim approaching.

"I've widened the cave's entrance, lad." Vadim said, as he seemed to have shed some sweat doing physical labor.

"Single-handedly?" Leon asked.

"Why? Something wrong with that?* Vadim asked, seeming a bit offended.

Any Dwarf can clear that amount of earth without much trouble. They are just that efficient and Vadim was helping the Elves recover anyone they may have lost under the rubble.

"Saviors, we don't know how to thank you, we are greatly in your debt." An adult Elf approached both Vadim and Leon offering his sincerest thanks.

"Just take your people and go." Leon said dismissively.

"Hey!" Vadim wanted to whack Leon on the head but he held himself back seeing how badly Leon was hurt. He then turned to the Elf, "We're glad yer people are doin' fine. It's best you do what he said though, you don't want to stay 'ere any longer."

"Yes. You are right, we can't stay." The Elf man said, "The Feudal Lord has sold us to that brute. I doubt he'll leave us at peace if we return to our village."

"Then head east." Vadim said, "The Duchy of Godfrey won't treat you badly."

"They pose expensive taxes." The Elf said and exhaled a sigh, "But if it is for the sake of the young, I think we can manage."

"Hey!" Leon interrupted the talk, "That oldie that was caged, the one that followed us in the cave."

"The Water Mage?" The Elf seemed troubled, "I'm afraid I know little about him. He seemed harmless when he was in the cage and almost too quiet."

"You didn't find him?" Leon asked Vadim.

"His traces end at the cave's exit. He must've used magic to buzz off." Vadim replied.

"That is more trouble than what we can afford." Leon seemed bothered.

Unlike his usual attitude the past few days, Leon seemed rather colder than usual, almost as cold as when Vadim first found him.

"We thank you again. If we would offer you…" The Elf spoke but he was interrupted.

"Your medicine was enough aid, thank you." Vadim said, "Just take your people and waste no time."

"Alright." The Elf nodded and turned around, "Just a word of advice, the magic in these caves is as old as the Age of Orcs. Be careful."

"Thank you."

And the Elves left.

Leon received some treatment from the Elves' medicine man. He had burn wounds around his arms as well as many bruises all over his body. Despite the fact that they were inside an illusion, it all felt too real and left real traces on his body.

"That thing in the sea… was it really some illusion?" Leon asked.

"Aye! But the Age of Orcs, those Elves said." Vadim replied.

"What about it?"

"It happened a long time ago, the founding of Amber. You should've learned about that in the Academy." Vadim said.

"Do I look like a history buff?" Leon asked.

"Ugh!" Vadim rolled his eyes and sat on the ground, "The Orcs are one of the Demonic races that once conquered the continent a long time ago. They have settled in the eastern parts of the lands north to the Ruby Gulf, which is the Peninsula of Amber nowadays."

"And the humans came and destroyed them?" Leon asked.

"Humans, Elves, Dwarves… even Giants!" Vadim added.

"Damn!"

"That was a long time ago." Vadim said, "The Orcs have been reduced to mere tribes since then, those barbarian fucks are as mad as monsters now and we even thin them out every now and then."

"So?"

"They left many ruins around the landscape. Fortresses, Shrines, Caves, things like that?"

"So were the orcs this sophisticated of a civilization to the point where they would make such an illusion to ward off invaders?" Leon asked.

"Errrr… No!" Vadim replied and scratched his beard, "Honestly, Orcs don't have a remarkable magic tradition."

"It is obvious from the name." Leon replied, then rested his back on the cave's wall and closed his eyes.

A few seconds passed then Vadim initiated a new conversation.

"On the other hand, ya seem to have inherited something nobody ever expected." He said.

"What is that?" Leon opened his eyes and turned to Vadim.

"Lightning, lad." Vadim replied, "You never told me you can do that."

Leon remained silent for a second before looking at both his hands which were now covered in bandages and herbal ointment by the Elf medicine man.

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"I never knew I could." He said and then had a smirk drawn on his face, "Well, I guess Lightning is a variation to Fire."

"It is true. However, Lightning is your father's signature magic." Vadim said.

"Father?" Leon's expression became a bit sharper, "You mean the Duke guy?"

"Yes. A mighty man, he is. They call him the Storm Lord." Vadim said.

"So… If I cast lightning now, does this resolve the fact that his son is considered illegitimate?"

"Well…" Vadim bit his lower lip and looked away thinking for a reply, "… for all the good and bad that comes out of it, this proves ye that bastard's son… not a bastard son… see how I said it? HA!"

"I see." Leon smiled but then his smile disappeared as he looked away, "I'm no one's son."

"You should be though. At least ye're Anna's son."

"Every time you mention her… it doesn't feel right with me. I don't know her but this bastard in me just can't stop shaking whenever her name is said."

"Here you go again."

"Let's just see what that woman has for me when we get there."

"So… you're finally agreeing to come home." Vadim became all smiles.

Leon shook his head.

"I agreed to come for my benefit, I never said anything about staying."

The two remained silent after that until Leon decided to stand up one hour later as he felt comfortable enough to move. Rather than getting out of the cave, however, he turned his head inside and without waiting for Vadim, he started walking deeper into the cave.

"Hey! Don't go there." Vadim called.

"Light!" Leon didn't reply and simply cast an orb of light to illuminate his way in.

"Tsk!" Vadim clicked his tongue and shot up after Leon, "We don't know what we're walking into."

"I feel like something valuable was stashed here." Leon replied, "A criminal claimed it is his heritage that was hidden in this cave, a noble family has connections with this cave too, and a wizard tried to sneak his way inside."

"Prolly some ancient civilization ruins. Who cares?!" Vadim said while feeling annoyed.

"I do."

The first few meters in the cave made them believe that this cave was dug by a very ancient technology since its walls were very smooth unlike how it was at the entrance. It was a Dwarven quality digging but the shape of how it was dug made Vadim deny it being so.

Still, they ended up at a large hall with a circle on the ground carved from the stone beneath and had many elaborate and unknown inscriptions.

"Familiar?" Leon asked.

"No." Vadim replied, "You?"

"Looks like the holy glyphs of the temple." Leon replied then shed more light on the walls and on the four pillars linking the floor to the ceiling, "The interior was carved in the mountain but they didn't bother decorating anything but the floor."

"The way ya say it, you make it sound true." Vadim looked around carefully, "It's not just carved, it's cleanly carved. Dwarves would take a week to build such a spacious hall."

"Your people sound fun." Leon said and then focused on the floor, "I've seen little remnants of this world's past civilizations. This would be my third but it is still different from the other two."

"What were those other two like?" Vadim asked.

"A toppled Obelisk within the forest outside Karanberg and an underground ruin that seemed like a vault for the old temple where your mind does the opposite of what you tell it." Leon replied.

"For real? You've been to that death cave?" Vadim asked with wide eyes.

"You know about it?"

"Aye! Heard of it. For the entire 8 years I've worked in Karanberg, it was like a myth among the Mercenaries."

"Hm… what are the chances?!" Leon shrugged his shoulders and walked away from the inscription on the ground.

Vadim seemed to have given up after checking every wall for a hidden compartment that would open any more way inside but he found nothing.

"This is a dead end anyway. I don't think…" Vadim was about to say something but Leon interrupted.

"It's a vault." Leon said.

"A vault?" Vadim turned to him wondering.

"The color of stone isn't fixed due to some level of humidity which means some of these walls have a body of water on the other side. My guess is the nearby river. If we are beneath this level of water, it means that this room is powered by some water pressure or water current mechanisms… most likely magic is involved." Leon said.

"You… Did you use magic to Read all that?"

"Nope. I'm just familiar with this type of engineering. Still, this is on an extremely huge scale. Only magic can do that."

Leon returned to the center of the room and looked at the inscriptions on the ground. They were formed in a circle and had many lines pointing in directions."

"Read!" He then spoke the magic words.

At first, it felt like his thoughts were extremely swift and unbothered, then suddenly, his brain felt like it was being grasped into something very tight that it almost felt like bursting.

"ARGH!" Leon held his head immediately and groaned from pain.

"LEON!" Vadim ran close to him but Leon held his hand up to tell him to stop.

After a few seconds, Leon came back to his senses with a message in front of his face.

< (Heresy) has been activated! >

This skill again, the one that protects his mind from outside influences.

"I can't believe it." Loen said with a smile, "This thing has some sort of mechanism to negate Knowledge Magic."

"Yeah…" Vadim looked at him with a serious face, "That's not very uncommon."

"Except that it doesn't try to bite my brain off when I try to Read." Leon replied, "This thing countered my Read. It felt like it got fashioned to resist it."

"What?" Vadim made a funny face, "But that's strange… I've never heard of your Read spell before… which means it is not just rare. Who would prepare for it?"

"Someone who knows about it." Leon said and sat on his ass while thinking deeply.

"Whatever you're thinking about, let's just leave it be and go on our way." Vadim finally wanted to entertain Leon's dungeon-crawling hobby no longer and wanted to drag him out.

"No no no no, wait!" Leon suddenly thought of something good, "Let me do this one thing one last time."

"Sigh!" Vadim felt annoyed but his policy was Leon was not to force him on anything unless it is to get him out of harm's way.

Leon sat on one knee and put his right palm on the inscriptions on the ground. With a mischievous smile, he said the second magic word.

"Write!"

< Loading… >

Nothing happened in the room itself but a message appeared in front of Leon's face.

"Nothing happened. Let's…"

"Shush! Shushushushush!" Leon immediately went into full focus while watching the 3 dots following the word focus flash in order. A light laugh broke his code of silence when another message appeared.

< Stone Lift System! Access Approved! >

< Identity: Ring Bearer! >

< Due to a staff shortage, you will fill the next available Authority level. >

< Authority Promoted: Guest → Staff >

< Authority Promoted: Staff → Manager >

< Authority Promoted: Manager → Administrator >

< Welcome, Administrator Ring Bearer! >

< Please, input your new Password. >

Leon stood up with his face no longer able to contain his wide grin facing Vadim.

"Open, Sesame!"