The Order's journey through the Shadowlands continued. Seven days had passed since their group had begun this new project. And now everyone was accustomed to life in the caravan.
For a caravan, the greatest fear when crossing the Shadowlands was encountering dragons. But for a group of well-equipped apprentices led by Rafael and Omar, they were "praying" to the Gods to send a dragon to them... After all, hunting some of them and finding some eggs was one of Rafael and Omar's goals.
Omar was still shaken by Karyne's death; he had already recovered his arm. And Katya, who now wore a cloak and mask hiding her new appearance from the group members, had also come to join the expedition. Of course, his loyal and now young knight also followed him. But the reason they were both better was the hope of bringing Karyne back to life.
Her soul was still trapped in a purified soul stone. But no one in the Order had high-level knowledge of Necromancy. That was why the two friends were excited today. They were passing through the outskirts of Stygai. And Rafael wanted to check if he could make contact with Zhang after visiting the city.
It had been 8 years since Zhang left them and began his training as a disciple of the Immortal, and it had been 1 year and a half since his messenger had delivered any messages. Before that, Zhang had informed them that he would be partially restricted during a certain ritual he was going to perform. But the problem with the messages was something general related to the entire city.
According to the Master of Whispers, all 14 Masters in the city were incommunicado, and this could be a sign of a new Calamity. Since the city was dangerous, the King of the Shadow Men never sent anyone to check. Therefore, the responsibility of investigating fell on Rafael...
Leaving the caravan as soon as the sun rose, he made a few detours while running at high speed to reach the city and enter it at the only available and safe time, from 12:00 to 1:00 p.m.
After reaching the city entrance 1 hour before the safe time, Rafael regretted that his clone was not here. He could have taken many more risks and even tried to visit the Immortal Necrotower. But with his real body, he could only do some tests and not go too deep.
While he waited for the safe time, he performed some rituals to protect and hide his body, including summoning a Golem and a lesser undead, and returned his consciousness once again to the Tower of Distortion, where his group was now exploring the gigantic first underground floor…
***
There was a sun in the blue sky that was identical to the real one; one could even mistake this place for the outside, but Rafael knew he was inside a tower. The heat was over 50 degrees Celsius, and all that could be seen was sand. This place was a scorching desert that resembled the deserts of Earth.
This time, his clone was alone. Checking the system notes, Rafael realized that his current mission was to find the portal to the second floor of the tower and reactivate it. At the same time, he warned the other members of the group who were alone investigating and exploring the strange and gigantic desert.
As he walked, Rafael thought about the other floors of this strange tower and whether they would be similar to the information he had collected. If they were, farming would be much easier since the floor had fertile land and a better climate… After walking for almost 30 minutes, it seemed that his clone was lucky. A structure made of stone and protected by some kind of barrier was found by him.
But before he could get close to her, he had to fight once more with the terrible and persistent sand worms and scorpions. These monsters that lived here were not dangerous, and any apprentice could deal with them. But they always walked in groups and had mid-level poisons.
Even if nothing of value was found here on this floor, their corpses and poisons could still fetch a good price.
Since his blood clone could not use spells, Rafael took Red Fang out of his inventory and began to cut down all the monsters quickly. After the massacre, he reached the barrier and dripped his blood, which now marked him as the new Master of the Tower of Distortion, after the death of the previous one. He then used the grotesque shadow centipede that liked to drink blood to notify Yuri of his current location.
Sitting on the strange stone structures that resembled Stonehenge, Rafael looked at Red Fang and remembered "Silvia" again. Unconsciously, his thoughts wandered to the image of her beautiful body and that night they had spent together… He shook his head, ridding himself of the inappropriate thoughts. And that made him remember Zaya and Aisha.
He had restrained himself and never crossed the line with those two, because he knew that sex would deepen feelings, making it even harder to separate emotions and pretend that nothing had happened.
Of course, Zaya was just like Rafael, they were very similar in their obsession with magic, studies, and experiments… Therefore, although something more intimate had happened at Valyria's Sigh when they were both drunk, the two moved on without either side trying to pick up where they left off.
Aisha, on the other hand, constantly showed that she had feelings for him, even acting like his former wife did, always taking care of his well-being. But Rafael never reciprocated those feelings. He was a figure of great influence and weight in her life, it was normal for her to have feelings for him. Since he saved her from slavery and gave her everything she had in her current life…
So he felt like he was taking advantage of her, like a teacher or mentor having an inappropriate relationship with his student…
On the horizon, a cloud of black birds appeared, pulling Rafael out of his thoughts, and soon the cloud descended on the fake Stonehenge, transforming into Yuri.
"I've already warned the others, they'll be arriving soon."
"My real body is about to enter Stygai. Suspend the advance on the dungeon until I leave the city."
"Yes, Leader of the Order, we await your return!"
****
Special thanks to the Patreons:
Sage's Supporter: Jan, Vinnie, frimorigo, Leery Falcon, Parsa, Scott Robertson, and Pato Senalima!
Magical Apprentice: Axel Bour, Gabriele Sulpizio, Takatchi, mandeep singh, Austin, Kobe Robertson, Paul Gaslac, and Niteo akuma!
Senior Magic Apprentice: Cole Bromley!