Chapter 45
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Linda, Craig, and Laura dug a hole and buried all five bodies together. Of course, they took all the Infinite–Expansion Satchels from the bodies.
The Infinite–Expansion Satchels were just basic storage bags, with no binding marks.
Everything inside would come out at once as long as they opened them.
Linda split the loot into four shares, making sure even Rafael, who was still mumbling in his sleep, got his cut.
After digging holes, burying the bodies, and splitting the loot, the four of them felt even more like a crew.
When they caught each other’s eyes, Craig was grinning like an idiot.
He looked almost as spaced out as Rafael was at the moment.
Linda called out, “Craig, check on Rafael, will you?”
“Right, I almost forgot,” Craig said.
He quickly grabbed his stash of herbs and whipped up an antidote for Rafael, who just sat there, totally chill, letting Craig fuss over him.
Linda and Laura stood guard.
Linda glanced at Rafael, who was finally coming to, and Craig, who was busy mixing up the antidote. She turned to Laura and said, “Just wait here for a bit, okay?”
“Okay,” Laura replied.
Linda hopped onto her sword and flew off into the depths. After scouting around, she came back holding a few fresh herbs. Craig recognized them right away. “That’s bloodstop herb.”
Linda nodded.
She crushed the bloodstop herb in her hand and called out, “Craig.”
Craig replied, “What’s up?”
“Your hand,” Linda said.
Looking puzzled, Craig held out his hand. Linda gently took his arm, pressing the crushed herb onto his right forearm.
Craig was momentarily stunned.
The cool herb brought sensation back to his numb wound. not pain, but an odd, almost fiery warmth he couldn’t quite put into words.
“It’s just a minor wound,” Craig stammered.
Linda said, “Don’t take it lightly.”
Craig nodded quickly.
Linda put away the rest of the bloodstop herb. When Rafael finally woke up, he blinked in confusion and asked, “What just happened to me?”
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Chapter 45
Seeing that everyone was more or less recovered, Linda cut straight to the chase. “Let’s get down to business.”
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She gave a quick rundown of the Ram–Head Valley collapse and subtly brought up Emmett’s theory. The three listened in silence, trying to wrap their heads around it.
Rafael stared in disbelief. “So, you’re saying the Veil is a trap? Someone set this up to lure in all the promising mages and take us out in one go?”
He’d just been wandering through a sea of mushrooms in a dream. He didn’t expect to wake up to such a tragic piece of
news.
Linda said, “Not necessarily, but there’s definitely something off about the Veil.”
Craig thought for a moment. “This is serious. We can’t afford to take it lightly.
“But with Byron and Laurence outside the Veil, if anything really goes down, they’ll notice before it happens.”
Linda nodded.
Craig tried to reassure everyone. “So, let’s not freak out.
“If we sense anything off, the four of us just bail. We’ll make it out in time. But from now on, we stick together.”
Laura and Rafael nodded hard.
Linda said, “I’m not worried about the danger. Since we’re already here, we can’t just leave all this treasure behind. No way I’m letting it go to waste.”
Their eyes lit up at once, all three of them locking onto Linda.
Since the Veil was about to come crashing down anyway, they had to grab whatever they could.
Linda let out a low chuckle. “Juys, how many storage rings did you bring?”
Three hands shot up at once.
Each one was sporting a ring.
Linda was speechless.
Craig grinned, “Before we left, Kermit borrowed these from Mack for us. That way, if we run into any top–tier loot, we’ve got somewhere to stash it.”
“Good,” Linda said.
They were all Tier 3 storage rings, each able to hold several hundred cubic feet of loot.
Laura said, “I brought you a bunch of glittering gems.”
Craig suddenly slapped his forehead and said, “I almost forgot. Linda, we found a colorful gem mine earlier, but we got busted halfway through.
“Now everyone’s scrambling for it. We gotta hurry over there.”
Linda said, “No rush.”
She unfurled her map.
Craig glanced at it. “Linda, how come your map’s got a few more markings than ours?”
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Chapter 45
That was because Linda threatened Emmett to cough up the infe
Linda circled the nearest spot. “Is this the gem mine you guys were talking about?”
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Craig and Laura didn’t recognize it at first, but Rafael blurted out “Yeah, that’s the one. It looks like a rooster, but Laura already mined out the comb.”
Laura patted her ring. “It’s all in here.”
Linda chuckled. “Since you already grabbed the best gems, the rest doesn’t really matter.”
Linda slid her finger over to a mountain peak on the map. “Let’s check this place out.”
It was called the Cloud Cave.
None of them had any doubts about Linda’s call.
After rolling up the map, Linda and Laura each led Craig and Rafael as they headed out.
Linda was flying on her sword when she suddenly got this weird feeling and glanced back over her shoulder.
Rafael asked, “What’s wrong?”
Linda thought to herself, ‘Ever since we left the valley, I can’t shake the feeling someone’s been following me, but they never actually show up. Better stay sharp.
“It’s nothing, just hang on,” Linda said.
Linda sped up to catch up with Laura, and the four of them landed on the mountain peak. The summit was shrouded in mist, which parted to reveal an ancient, unadorned Hermit’s Sanctum.
Laura and Craig had already arrived.
In front of the Hermit’s Sanctum, there was another group waiting.
Linda glanced over at the tense mages. There were several elite students from different organizations. Among them was Matthew Soto.
The rest of the group clearly respected him. Without saying anything, the group unanimously followed his lead.
Linda thought about it and realized it was only natural. Matthew was the top student of Azure Spire in the High Sanctum of Archmagi.
His strength and skills made him a natural leader. He was exactly the kind of person other mages would want to win over to their side.
Linda came to a stop.
Rafael spotted Matthew and let out a snort, clearly not impressed.
Matthew looked totally baffled.
It seemed like from the very first encounter, these folks had it out for him.
“Linda,” Craig called out.
Linda nodded, gesturing for Craig to relax. Then she strolled back with Rafael to rejoin the group. Linda wasn’t surprised to see a crowd at Cloud Cave.
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Chapter 45
There were only a few treasure spots in the Veil, so it was no wonder everyone was gathered there.
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As everyone was eyeing each other warily, one mage finally stepped forward and broke the silence. “Fellow mages, are you here to explore Cloud Cave as well?”
Craig shrugged, “Nope, we’re just planning to stay here for a few days
The guy who asked stared in disbelief. “What?”
Rafael curled his lip. “You asked a pointless question, so my friend gave you a pointless answer.
The mage, Homer Hodges, looked a bit embarrassed, but deep down, he was annoyed.
If you guys weren’t so young and actually pretty strong, I wouldn’t be lowering myself to talk nice to you, he thought.
His voice got noticeably stiffer, and he ditched the small talk. “We found Cloud Cave first.”
“So what? You gonna try and fight us for it?” Craig and Rafael chimed in together.
Homer sneered, “First come, first served.”
Linda replied with a cool smirk, “First come, first served. Fine by me. But let me ask, you guys have been hanging around here forever.
“Has anyone actually managed to get that door open yet?”
Her words hit home. A bunch of people became annoyed right away. “You…”
But Matthew whipped around to face Linda, a look of shock flickering across his face. ‘Wait, that voice…
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