After testing Charlie's Spectral Soldier skill for a while, Luke returned to the fortress. He had uncovered a few things about the power, and so of them were worth noting. The summoning cost was 500 mana. Charlie had nearly two thousand, but that didn't an she could call forth four versions of General Morvat. The skill only allowed one. And after a while, the summon dispersed.
Luke still wanted to push the limits in combat, find out what happened if Morvat was actually killed, or how he functioned in different styles of fights. But one thing was already clear: once Morvat dissipated, he couldn't be called again imdiately. The real test now was the cooldown. How long until the skill could be triggered again? How many tis in a day could they rely on it? That would take longer experints, and this wasn't the ti.
The survivors of the fortress were racing against the clock. A major eting was scheduled soon, where they would decide how to announce the capture of the second fortress to the other Safe Zone. That also ant facing Bartholow's inevitable hostility. And Luke couldn't risk draining Charlie's mana reserves too low. Even with Jerry watching Bastion's movents, they had to remain prepared for a full-scale clash at any mont.
As he passed through the fortress halls, Luke spotted Jack. The healer had spent every waking mont tending to the injured. He was burning through his mana quickly, so a new system was put in place: instead of fully healing a single person, Jack would stabilize them to about seventy percent, enough so they could work again. The goal was clear, get as many people back on their feet as fast as possible, ready to fight if it ca to that.
Everyone had their roles. Skilled builders were strengthening the fortress walls. So had high enough levels to transmute one type of stone into another, fortifying even simple bricks until they were stronger than iron.
When dinner ca around, most gathered in the dining hall where food was being handed out. Luke slipped away. He wandered through the halls until he reached the greenhouse. Alone, he built a fire, pulled out so pans and a pot, and began cooking.
"One day at a ti," he muttered to himself.
It had been a long day, their first night after taking the second fortress, but vigilance was still required. Part of him couldn't wait for the system's notification, the riddle that would reveal the third chanism's password. He wanted to get there, to explore the fortress and discover its dangers. If taking the second fortress had been this difficult, what kind of nightmare awaited inside the third?
He shook the thought aside and focused on his cooking. From his pocket dinsion, he drew out so at, chopping it at blinding speed with his throwing knives until it beca ground beef. He pressed it into small discs and laid them on the pan. The sll filled the room. When the patties were done, he slid them into bread. Then ca lettuce, tomato, cheese, onion. He even had bacon, courtesy of reward chests from past events.
Luke had made himself a hamburger. With the salt packets he'd stashed from loot chests, Luke crushed a few tomatoes, mixed in herbs, chopped plants, a little water, and stirred it all together until it thickened into sothing that looked like a potion. In truth, it wasn't alchemy at all.
It was ketchup.
He sat down on a wooden bench, uncorked the makeshift potion bottle, poured a generous splash over the burger, and sank his teeth into it with a satisfied bite.
"You traitor! Where's mine?" Artemis complained.
Luke ignored her, chewing slowly, savoring the taste.
"I had to take the first bite. Don't start whining." He grabbed another burger, set it on a plate, drizzled ketchup on top, and slipped it into the pocket dinsion. "Satisfied?"
Her muffled, distorted voice ca through, probably because her mouth was full. Apparently, she was.
Luke leaned back, exhaling through his nose. "A little piece of Arica in this place," he murmured, mories of ho slipping through his thoughts.
The mont broke with the creak of the wooden door behind him. Soone had stepped inside.
It was Allison.
She crossed the room, her tone calm but firm. "Things moved too fast today. We barely had ti to talk. We need to plan the journey to the third fortress, figure out what dangers are waiting for us on the way."
She pulled a chair over and sat near him. Then her eyes dropped to the table.
"Wait… are you eating a burger?"
Luke swallowed and shrugged. "Yeah. Want so?" He gestured toward the plate stacked with a few more.
This text was taken from Royal Road. Help the author by reading the original version there.
"No," she murmured, though her gaze lingered.
"There's ketchup," he added, sliding the potion-bottle closer to the tray.
Allison glanced at the ketchup, then at the burgers. Her resolve cracked. "Maybe just a little." She picked one up, still looking at him. "I actually ca to call you to dinner with the others, but it seems you've already taken care of yourself."
She took a bite, chewing thoughtfully, then t his eyes.
"Tastes good, doesn't it?" Luke asked.
She nodded, a faint smile curling her lips, before her expression hardened into sothing more deliberate.
"I want you to know I'll keep the promise I made, to help you find the truth about your mother. Even if I don't get along with my family, my na still carries weight. I'll use it to help you however I can."
Luke thought about brushing it off, reminding her that he already had an agreent with Samael. But before he could, she leaned forward slightly, her gaze sharpening.
"But you should have trusted months ago, before you decided to run from Haven." She pulled back, voice low but steady. "You were the one who helped when I first arrived here. I was lost, drifting without a purpose. Fighting myself more than the world. But through everything we've faced since then, the trials that broke us, the choices that forced us to change, I realized sothing. Our old selves can't survive here. We either adapt, or we're swallowed whole."
Luke listened, her words echoing against flashes of his own journey, the scars, the battles, the mistakes that had carved him into sothing harder, sharper.
"What are you trying to say?" he asked quietly.
"That you helped ," she replied. "You were just an ordinary person thrown into all this, but you endured. Because you had a goal. I learned to do the sa. To cut away what no longer served . To leave the dead weight behind."
Allison's gaze dropped to the sheath of her sword. "From here on out, things are only going to get harder. We may have to fight people, even kill them before they kill us. I know you, like , won't hesitate if it cos to that. But I need to hear it anyway. Will you help get back to Earth? The sa way I'll do everything I can to help you? What I an is… will we help each other out of this place so we can reach our goals?"
She extended her hand.
Luke clasped it without hesitation. "Of course."
"Even if the road there isn't… a good one?" she pressed, tightening her grip. "Will you give up on your goal, or keep pushing forward?"
He squeezed back harder. "Always forward. I'll return to Earth. After everything I've been through, there's no chance I'll stay behind."
She exhaled, watching him intently. "Then it's settled. Back to the beginning. Partners again."
The tension lifted, and Luke felt the distance he thought had ford between them dissolve completely.
"But what's going on here?" a voice interrupted.
Luke turned to see Evangeline standing in the doorway, Jack hovering just behind her.
"Don't tell this is what I think it is…" Evangeline marched closer, eyes narrowing on the tray of burgers and the bottle of ketchup.
She glared at Luke. "Burgers?"
"Yes, they're for—" He stopped as she snatched one. "I made extras to store away… they weren't for you."
Evangeline sat herself down, slathered on ketchup, and bit in without remorse. "This is amazing!"
The thief had stolen one of his burgers.
Jack lingered nearby, staring at Luke, then at the tray.
"Go ahead, take one," Luke sighed.
"Th-thank you, Luke! May the Goddess of Kindness bless you!" Jack said earnestly, grabbing a burger before sitting at Luke's side.
"Why did all of you co here, anyway?" Luke asked.
"To drag you to dinner," Allison replied.
"I ca to snoop," Evangeline said with a grin.
"I ca to thank you for bringing here," Jack added. "And to ask where I can sleep. I'm officially holess. Everything I owned is still back in the Safe Zone."
So the four of them ate together, trading thoughts about the next day. For a mont, worries and burdens lted away, replaced by sothing simpler. But then it happened. A system notification chid the mont twenty-four hours had passed since they activated the chanism.
[The riddle for the third chanism is now available!]
The four exchanged looks.
"You all got that too?" Jack asked.
Evangeline shot up from her chair and bolted through the halls. Luke and Allison went after her imdiately, Jack trailing behind. They reached the chanism chamber where Mason stood alone, staring at the construct. No one else was allowed near it without clearance. Jack stayed outside the threshold.
Allison, Luke, and Evangeline approached.
Mason turned. "The riddle's appeared."
As Luke stepped closer, a glowing ssage unfolded before him:
**When the night hides its first glimr, the cycle begins in the absence of light. Return to the first sanctuary, where darkness is the key to uncover the secret.**
The words seared into Luke's mind. Solving this riddle ant one step closer to Earth.
Silence hung heavy, until Evangeline's voice broke it. "I… I solved it."
The three of them turned to her, startled by how fast it ca.
"Already?" Allison asked.
"It's a-almost the sa," Evangeline stamred. "Nearly identical to one from before."
She looked at them, her voice steadier now. "I know what it ans by 'return to the first sanctuary.' It's talking about the first chanism. The lunar panel on the wall."
The revelation hit like a thunderclap.
"Don't tell …" Mason muttered.
"That the only way to get the answer," Evangeline said, her tone grim, "is by infiltrating Bastion."
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