Explanations

Devotion trudged his way back through the tunnel, Ysmir in tow this time. He was still a little mad at the fox for abandoning him, but he really couldn't stay angry for very long. After all, Ysmir had saved all of their lives by doing that. It was such a pity that they couldn't communicate with each other, besides Ysmir giving physical gestures. Devotion exited the tunnel, back into the main chamber where they had fought that Frostbite Spider.

"Suppose it's safe to start harvesting this. Too bad it's too big to fit into my interspatial ring. Would have been way more convenient. I'll tell Alex that it's all clear so she can help." Devotion thought out loud. After all, the only reason she had hurried out is they weren't sure what had killed that Spider. Now that they knew it was clear, they should be alright to take their time extracting anything valuable from that corpse.

Devotion climbed that ladder, exhausted, and barely managed to pull himself through the trapdoor. The cold in the storage room was gone. It must have only been cold from the aura of that Frostbite Spider. Devotion looked around, seeing Alex standing protectively over Victor. She nearly attacked Devotion, then relaxed, seeing that it was safe.

"You got the fox, too?" She asked.

"Yeah. Don't worry, there's no invisible force trying to murder us this time. Turns out this little one went to the master of that Frostbite Spider and killed him while we were fighting. They had some sort of Soul Link, so it died. We're safe to go harvest from the corpse. I'm pretty sure most of the parts of that spider can sell for a decent price." Devotion explained.

"You're right. The crystal core alone is worth a ton, and the venom can make a pretty toxic poison, if you know what you're doing with it. I can extract the venom, I've done it before, you get anything you find useful."

"Works for me." The two of them began to climb down the ladder. They reached the bottom and spent some time extracting all of the valuable parts of the spider's corpse. It was dirty and bloody work, but it would pay off in the end. "Victor deserves the biggest cut out of all of us. Poor guy got stabbed." Devotion thought out loud.

"Whose idea was it for him to get stabbed?" Alex retorted.

"Alright, we don't have to keep bringing it up. Don't worry, I'll never make him do that again on any future missions we go on. Maybe you'll be able to focus on something other than not letting him bleed out."

"So I'm invited to the next mission?" Alex stopped in her tracks.

"I mean, you saved both of our asses, so I'd say it's only fair, now that I'm certain you didn't come on the mission just to kill both of us and take the money." Devotion explained his reasoning.

"I could still do that." Alex retorted.

"If you wanted to, you would have done it an hour ago."

"Fair enough."

Devotion finished extracting the crystal core, and they stowed all the valuable parts of the spider.

"Did you ever see what this guy was researching, anyway? I wonder if he ever even was a professor at the guild." Alex asked as they climbed back up.

"I grabbed all his documents. I haven't gotten a chance to really look at them, a bunch of diagrams I don't understand. We should wait until Victor is up to study it. He might have a better idea." Devotion conveniently left out the fact of the old page he had found in the drawer. Something about that page gave him a strange feeling of familiarity, he just couldn't place his finger on where he had seen it.

The two of them made it up the ladder, and Alex once more picked up Victor's unconscious body. They trudged back to the inn, ignoring the gaping looks of the commoners within it. They really didn't have the energy to care about these commoners that they would never see again.

They got Victor into his room and laid him into his bed, dressing his wound and leaving him be.

"Alright. We're out of this. You owe me a hell of an explanation." Alex stopped Devotion as he tried to slip into his room.

"Explanation of what?" Devotion tried to play dumb.

"Don't be stupid. Where did you get this thing, why do you have so many secrets, and why can't you seem to keep a story straight." Alex accused, holding up the Sparkthrower she had borrowed.

"Oh. That. Let's not talk in the hallway. Come in." Devotion groaned and beckoned her to enter his room. He supposed he really had no way of getting out of this.

The two of them walked in and Devotion shut the door. After ensuring nobody was listening, he sat down and began to explain.

"That thing that you are holding is called a Sparkthrower. It's an invention by the Duke of the Mechanism Sect. I'm not sure if Duke is just a title or his cultivation base. Either way, he is an incredibly powerful cultivator. I have no idea how strong he exactly is. He gifted that to me after I took a private tour of the Mechanism Sect." Devotion explained the Sparkthrower first.

"You expect me to believe that the Duke of the Mechanism Sect just up and handed you one of his prized inventions?" Alex didn't believe it. "Be honest, how did you steal it?"

"I didn't steal it. I tell the truth." Devotion said. He really wasn't lying. Of course, he had left out the fact that his aptitude for Conjuration was beyond extraordinary and that they were recruiting him, but that wasn't important to the story, was it? Probably not.

"Ok, so that's how you got this thing. What about the staff or the fox? Why doesn't the fox ever vanish into dust like other summons?" Alex asked.

"The fox is named Ysmir. I have no idea why it hasn't vanished yet, to be completely honest. I summoned it by accident, and it's been here since."

"That, I can believe, since I saw your summon during examinations. Rydel only knows how your cultivation works." Alex replied.

Hearing the name Rydel, Devotion felt something react in his interspatial ring. That old page had reacted to the name.

"Why did you say Rydel? Who is that?" Devotion asked.

"It's like how people say 'god only knows' or something similar. I don't believe in gods, only powerful cultivators, so Rydel Alabaster is the peak of power that I can use. Shame what happened to him." Alex explained.

The page reacted even stronger, hearing the name Rydel Alabaster.

"What happened to him?"

"Do you seriously not know who Rydel Alabaster is? Were you living under a rock? He was the most famous figure on the continent for years!" Seeing Devotion's blank stare, Alex continued. "He was the most powerful cultivator on the continent for years. He specialized in Destruction Magical Arts and had enough manpower to take out an army. However, he died a few months ago of unknown causes. It's terrifying to think that something could have killed him, considering how powerful he was. But we're getting off topic. How do you store things with a wave of your hand?"

Devotion took a second to process that information, then decided to think about it later. "Interspatial Ring. Also a gift from the Duke."

"So you stole that too. I won't even ask how. I'm surprised you can even show your face in Wanchen now, considering how much you've stolen from one of the most powerful men there."

"Lord, here comes the snark again. Any other of my deeply personal secrets you want to know, or are you satisfied?" Devotion asked.

"No, I won't pry any further before I draw Karma on myself. You keep your secrets, I'll keep mine. Maybe one day I'll share some with you."

"Not even a one for one trade? I told you so much, I feel that earns me at least something. I don't know shit about you." Devotion stopped her from leaving.

"Fine. My aptitude for Restoration is the highest ever recorded. That's the only reason I'm in this guild, despite not being great at Conjuration. They specifically recruited me because they needed more healers. That's the only reason Victor is still alive. Any other healer of my level would have been too slow and ineffective." With that, Alex got up and left, shutting the door behind her.

"Told me that before her last name." Devotion muttered. "Too bad she isn't as special as she thinks. She isn't the only one with a record aptitude."

Two things were constantly burning in Devotion's head since the events of the day: the familiar feeling of that old page, and the name Rydel Alabaster. He eventually drifted off to sleep, those concepts bouncing in his mind.

For the second night in a row, Devotion had a very vivid dream.