On the morning of the sixth day since coming back to the fortress the group collectively decided it was time to discuss their future plans, because as much as they enjoyed the safety of the Order they still had a world to save.
"Okay, but what exactly are we supposed to do? We don’t know where the next temple is, and even if we knew we have no way to tell whether we’re strong enough to take on whatever lurks inside." Isara pointed out.
"There’s the tunnel leading to Mountainfall, we can just go there and ask Sylara about more temples – and if she decides that we’re not ready yet then I don’t know, we can go to Greenheart and check how they’re doing with the First Grove." Calen shrugged.
"Has anyone used that tunnel since it was opened? Or informed Mountainfall that the issues here were dealt with for that matter?"
"I don’t think so, the last time I asked Nickolas it seemed like they were going to send a delegation to tell them and extend an invitation to the tournament."
"When will the delegation depart?" Cassian questioned.
"As soon as everything about the tournament is finalised, so probably one or two days from now."
"Then we should go with them, we’ll get to speak to Sylara and we won’t have to update everyone about the current state of the Order."
"Seems like a good idea, I’ll talk it over with Nickolas when he stops by the forge."
"Is the squad of the delegation already set?" Elira asked.
"Yeah, they’re sending Greg, Damien and Alfred – who wanted to also take Morgan as well but Nickolas didn’t agree."
"He’s really infatuated with her, huh?" Isara snickered.
"He is, but it’s not like she’s any better – if not for the difference in their position, and therefore schedules, they would be inseparable."
"Good for him I guess, maybe he won’t get black out drunk on the next festival of he had someone to keep him company."
"Company never stopped you from getting completely smashed though."
"That’s different, I never drink when I’m alone."
"Whatever you say..." Calen shrugged. "Either way I think we can all agree on the plan right? It’ll give us some more training time but also a deadline so that we don’t waste too much time."
"Can I go back to training now?" Cassian asked.
Cassian promptly left the room, presumably to spend all the remaining time on cultivating aura.
"I’m going back to the library as well." Elira announced and also wandered off.
Calen and Isara were left alone and neither of them moved to leave.
"How’s your hunt for the magic circle going?"
"I haven’t had any success so far but I found a promising secret passage yesterday – I was going to explore it today."
"Mind if I tag along?"
"I don’t mind, but don’t you have a your own thing to do?"
"Thomas and Greg are making rewards for the tournament today, they said I’m free to do whatever I want until afternoon."
"Alright then, you’re welcome to come with me on my fruitless hunt."
Calen raised an eyebrow as they exited yet another secret passage.
"Why does this place have so many hidden tunnels and fake walls? Like what’s even the point of this one – it connects two corridors which are already connected."
"It saves you literally ten seconds."
"Trust me, this isn’t even close to the dumbest secret in this castle – there’s a place with a hidden staircase right next to a regular one."
"It almost seems like half of the things in this place are built because they just could be there, not because they were actually needed."
"Well, that lines up with what we know about the castles origin, doesn’t it?"
"I suppose it does." Calen nodded. "Where was this new passage of yours again?"
"On the lowest level of the dungeons, were almost there."
Just like she said, they soon reached their destination – an inconspicuous stretch of stone wall in a corner.
"Can you feel it?" She whispered.
There was a subtle hum of magic in front of them, which could mean two things – something is enchanted or what they’re seeing was an illusion.
"It’s the only tunnel hidden with magic that Ive found so far, and considering how rarely this part of the fortress is frequented I think it’s fairly probably this is what we’re looking for.
"We should dispell it first, I’d rather not fall into a giant hole by accident."
"No need, I have the Moon Eye, remember?"
She picked up the glass dangling at her neck and peered through it at the illusion.
"...we might need to dispell it after all."
"There isn’t much light here and the illusion seems to be blocking even that, it’s pitch black in there."
"Okay, I guess we have to find the power source then."
It didn’t take them long to locate a stone brick that emitted the hum – someone encased the magic crystal inside to avoid any damage and hide the passage even further.
"How do we get it out of there?" Isara frowned.
The last few days he’s been learning how to adjust his strength properly and stone was substantialy weaker than magic crystals, destroying the former while leaving the latter intact shouldn’t be an issue.
When his fist connected with the stone it immediately shattered and shards flew everywhere.
After the last pieces of rock were dislodged by hand they gained access to the thing they were looking for.
"It’s definitely bigger than I expected." Calen admitted.
The crystal was ocean blue, perfectly spherical and around the size of an orange.
Similar stones were often used to craft powerful catalysts like magic staffs and they usually cost a fortune, using one to power a singular illusion was a ridiculous overkill.
"I’m starting to suspect that they splurged on them materials to retrieve the after the project and use them themselves."
"Well, since they’re most likely dead they probably won’t mind if we take the things the circle doesn’t need, right?" Isara grinned. "Let’s see what gifts they left for us."