Even with the directions, it still took him some time to make his way through the massive facility. As he passed from room to room, his desire to stop The Syndicate only grew.

Eventually, he made it to the exit the guard had told him about.

He stepped into the long, dark tunnel, much like the one he’d used to get into the facility, and blessed silence washed over him. He let out a relieved sigh and rubbed his aching ears.

He walked forward into the darkness. Finally out of sight for the first time in hours…

The walk up took quite some time, and he kept his eyes and ears open for any sign of anyone else in the tunnel.

He emerged in an empty building and stepped outside. It was early morning and a light drizzle pattered onto the cobblestone streets.

Damn! He was late!

He got his bearings and rushed through the city to the alleyway where they’d agreed to meet up.

"Where in the hells have you been?" Vadik asked the second Connor stepped into the damp alleyway, "we were supposed to meet hours ago. We were about to go back to the guild without you, but she insisted we wait just a little longer."

"I know," said Connor, "I got a bit carried away, but I found them! I found Victor!"

***

The three of them were too exposed in the early morning light, so they returned to his secret house. He told them all about what he’d found beneath Zauberer, the slaves, the weapons and armor they were making… everything.

“This is bad,” Adelia said.

“I have to agree,” Vadik said, “it sounds like they’re gearing up for a war. How are we going to rescue Victor? We’d be swarmed under in seconds. Even with the thieves guild helping…”

“Yes,” Connor said, “we’ll lose if we try to fight them head-on. Which is why we will be using the guild as a distraction more than anything else.”

“Are you sure Korvac will go along with this?” Adelia asked.

“We won’t know until we speak with him, but even if he says no… we have to do it. This isn’t just about Victor anymore. They could plunge the whole world into a war, and I don’t know if the human kingdoms could stand against whatever might use some of the armor they were forging.

“This is more dangerous and more important than I thought. I could use your help, but I understand if either of you want to back out now,” Connor said.

“Back out?” Vadik said, “as if I’d leave just when things are getting interesting. Let’s take the fight to The Syndicate and see what those bastards have in store for us!”

“The next time you even ask if I’m going to back out, I’m going to slap you. I have no loyalty to cities, kingdoms, or countries, but you’re my friend, Connor. If you’re going then so will I,” Adelia said.

Connor smiled. He knew they wouldn’t let him down, and make him do this by himself, but it still felt good to hear it.

Truthfully, he wasn’t sure if attacking this group was the right thing to do. They were heavily outnumbered, and The Syndicate had shown they had more resources every time he turned around.

They had already faced wizards at the docks, and he doubted those were the only ones The Syndicate had.

Part of him wanted to grab his friends and run as far as they possibly could.

But, they had his uncle, and he couldn’t just let innocent people stay enslaved, or allow The Syndicate to bring chaos and ruin to the world.

He’d never really thought much about other people except for his friends and Victor, but that was when Victor had been around to take care of them.

This text was taken from Royal Road. Help the author by reading the original version there.

Now, he felt like their lives rested on his shoulders, and he needed to do everything in his power to save them all.

“Thank you,” he said to his friends.

“So, when are you going to tell us how you plan to break in and rescue Victor out from under their noses?” Vadik asked.

“We’ll figure things out when we meet with Korvac tonight. Before then, I have some things I want to try with my potions,” Connor said.

Adelia narrowed her eyes at him.

Connor held up his hands in a show of surrender.

“Yes, I know. I learned from my mistake,” Connor said, “I’ll see what I can do with my potions before I have a nap. The healing magic seems to have finished, but I don’t want to collapse again.”

“You’d better not,” Adelia said.

“In the meantime, why don’t you two take a moment to rest and prepare? I want to get Victor out of there as soon as possible, and it’s going to take a lot of work. There’s no telling when we’ll next get a chance to breathe,” he said.

He went down to the basement where his hastily set-up workshop waited for him.

The focusing circle lay on the ground from before, ready to be used again without him having to draw it.

He pulled his codex out of his bottomless bag and ran his hands over the smooth, metallic surface and the runes, which pulsed with a blue light.

It’d helped him before… Could it do it again?

“Uh… Hello?” he asked, “Could you help me find a potion to make me stronger?”

Nothing happened.

“It was worth a shot,” he muttered.

It opened in front of him and flipped through pages so fast that it blew a gust of wind into his face.

After a few seconds of turning through pages, it slowed down and stopped.

He read the entry.

Name: Potion Of Unbinding

Difficulty: Proficient.

The potion of unbinding works on magical bindings in and on the imbiber, devouring them until the user is free, or the potion has been used up.

It will work on existing bindings as well as new bindings placed on the user while the effects remain.

He sighed. How would this make him stronger? Besides, it was too advanced. But, it was responding to him… maybe he needed to ask differently?

“That’s too difficult for me,” he said, “I need something easier than that. Something that could help me in physical combat.” He was also limited by ingredients, but he wasn’t sure if telling his codex that would just confuse it or something.

There was another pause, and the codex hummed before it flipped through pages at a phenomenal speed once again.

It landed on a different entry, but one that looked all too familiar to Connor.

Minor Strength Potion. The same potion he’d tried and failed to make before.

He closed his eyes and sighed. First, it showed him a useless potion that was too difficult for him to make. Now, it was showing him another potion he’d failed at making before.

He wanted to slam the codex shut, but some small part in the back of his mind stopped him.

He’d nearly succeeded the last time he tried to make the potion, and he’d advanced a bit in alchemy since then.

If he failed, he wouldn’t be much worse off than he was now as long as he didn’t drink it. If he succeeded, the extra boost to his strength could mean the difference between life and death.

He took a deep breath and opened his eyes. I can do this. He thought.

Thankfully, he had all the ingredients the potion required. With everything ready in front of him, it was time for him to try again.

He ground up the troll’s root and ginger into a fine powder with a pestle and mortar. Red lightning crackled from his fingertips and into the herbs as he worked.

He took his time, making sure not to rush it

The more perfectly he completed each stage of the potion, the better his chance of success would be.

Once he’d refined it into the finest powder he possibly could, he poured it into the crucible.

He then added the ogre blood and some water to turn it into a solution as he turned up the heat.

The mixture started to bubble and boil, and an overpowering miasma filled the air.

He ignored the stench even as it wormed its way up his nostrils, and kept his hands on either side of the solution.

He pulled on his alchemy power, and red lightning arched from his fingertips and into the concoction.

He used only the minimal amount of power as he slowly and methodically refined the potion.

Before, he had treated it like a sprint. Now, he approached it like a marathon. A test of his endurance. He was already holding up far better than the last time.

Sweat trickled down his forehead and into his eyes, but he didn’t even blink.

Motes of light streamed away from the solution as he stripped it of what he didn’t need, further refining it as the amount of liquid gradually dropped.

It was almost depressing how much liquid was lost in the refining process, but it was better than drinking something that would kill him.

He worked for hours. Sweat soaked his clothes, and his hands shook. Even his legs felt weak beneath him, but he continued his methodical refinement and drew ever closer to his goal.

Finally, he stripped away the last remnants of useless essence and recombined everything together in a new form.

The potion was complete.

He slumped down, breathing heavily.

The potion didn’t have any of the murky coloration as it had last time. Instead, he was left with a clear, light-orange liquid.

It seemed like he’d succeeded, but he was too tired to test it out now. He took a moment to relax and steady his shaking hands before he poured the potion into vials he had prepared. He put them all away safely in his bottomless bag and went upstairs.

He had spent hours on it, but the sun was still high in the sky, and as he didn’t want to repeat his previous mistakes, he ate and went straight to sleep.

This time, he slept like a rock.