Soft starlight shone through the stormdrain, silhouetting the canopy of an oak that towered high. A circular manhole set into the roof of the drain gave Kaius just enough room to stand up straight. This section of tunnels was low enough he’d had to stoop to move through them.
Kaius was pretty sure it led to a park, judging by the thick bushes that surrounded the drain. Plus, unlike the other grates they’d passed, this one looked poorly maintained. Roots had wormed their way into the stone bricks, and the metal was rusted and pitted. Maybe the overgrowth had made it hard to find for the people who were supposed to maintain them.
He gave Kenva a questioning look, his teammate now dressed in brown trousers and a dark grey tunic instead of her reinforced leather armour. He’d changed too — even without being soaked in blood, walking the streets in full combat gear was mighty eye-catching, especially in the middle of the night.
Kenva shrugged at him. “Let’s just get out of here — I’m exhausted.”
He understood the sentiment. After leaving the hideout, they’d spent hours making their way through the stormdrains. Neither of them had thought it wise to head directly for home, so they’d circled the city — aiming to make their way back from the opposite direction.
Clenching tight around the bars of the grate, Kaius heaved up. Rusted bolts gave way with a snap, showering him with chips of stone. Tossing the grate to the side, Kaius quickly clambered through, and gave Kenva a hand up.
For a minute, both of them searched their surroundings — alert for any sign of the guard. The grate had been far noisier than he would have liked, but yanking it open was far better than burning his last charge of Fractured Warp.
The only thing he heard was the rustle of leaves as a stiff wind rolled through the copse. They were in a park. A small one — he could see the streetlights filtering through the trunks in every direction.
Fitting the grate back over the drain, Kaius kicked some loose leaf litter over the edges of the seam — he’d cracked the stone.
“Guards,” Kenva said, tapping his shoulder before she nodded at a gap in the trees.
A pair of them were walking down the street, one of them holding a lantern. Thankfully, it seemed like a routine patrol — the houses here were large, and most had true gardens in front of their entrances, rather than the cramped courtyards he’d seen closer to the wyrdwall.
“Let’s just wait for them to pass.”
They crouched down, hiding in the bushes as the men passed.
While they waited, Kaius mulled over the last few hours. The job had gone poorly — they’d been utterly out of their element, and had suffered from more than a little bad luck besides. Even Kenva’s early overeagerness wasn’t truly to blame for what had gone wrong. Sometimes things just went sideways.
Despite that, he thought they’d done well. They had a journal, which was something — but more importantly they had a location.
Plus, forcing himself to act outside of his comfort zone had been good for his skills. Kaius focused on his Status.
**Ding! Class Skill Notifications Consolidated!**
** Infused Glyph of Felmenia has reached level 228 > 230!**
**Ding! General Skill Notifications Consolidated!**
…
**Rapid Adaptation has reached level 258 > 259!**
…
**Sergeant’s Insight has reached level 257 > 260!**
…
**Tempered By Dissonance has reached level 244 > 249!**
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**Truesight has reached level 252 > 255!**
…
**Spellblade’s Harmonic Control has reached level 255 > 256!**
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**Greater Regeneration has reached level 268 > 272!**
…
**Moment of Flow has reached level 241 > 242!**
…
**Brotherhood of Ichor and Animus has reached level 267 > 268!**
Kaius frowned at the single entry to his Class Skill gains.
He knew it made sense — most of them were still capped until he could evolve them, and he’d made no use of Drakthar or HellbladeInvestiture — and thank the gods things hadn’t been so dire as to force him to use Hymfocus or VOS. It was a good problem to have, but he couldn’t deny he was eager to progress and unlock more abilities to work on.
At the very least, the little practice he’d been able to squeeze in at the Guild’s training halls during the week they’d visited Aanthrast had brought Drakthar to level two-seventy-five — it wouldn’t be long before he got to pick another spell.
He was surprised at how little Rapid Adaptation had grown, considering the absolute onslaught of affliction-focused explosives that the rogue had used. Even if most of them had been weak enough for his Vitality to power through them, quantity had to count for something.
Still, the gains he’d seen by taking a surprise axe to the chest had been far more respectable. Nearly a full ten levels split between Tempered by Dissonance and Greater Regeneration was almost enough to make him want to take a few more hits like that on the chin. Of course, the second he started trying to game the system like that, his gains would plummet. Still, a man could dream.
Everything else was in-line with what he expected — racing through smoke and trap-filled halls had been a good work out for all of his sense-focused skills.
Kaius still wanted more, especially if they were going to bring a fight against an Onyx-affiliated Gold. That rogue had proven that preparation and experience could mean a lot in a fight — and he had no doubt that someone like Brokenlight would be even more vicious and unpredictable.
Hopefully their journey through a high-mana zone would come with a few levels: he was only twelve away from evolving Mystic’s Rend. It was a core part of his kit, and his best way to spend his unbound free mana in a fight. Ideally, he’d get something efficient, that he could leverage for reliable extra damage, though he couldn’t exactly weigh up the choices he had yet to receive.
Kenva tapped him on the shoulder. He blinked away his notifications.
“They’re gone,” she said silently.
“Shall we, then?” Kaius replied.
They crossed the park quickly, and hopped a short wrought-iron fence to stroll down the street like they were on a simple nightwalk. With the hilltop ducal palace looming over the centre of the city, it was easy to get their bearings and make way for the Crown. Porkchop and Ianmus were already there, up and waiting.
Despite the late hour, Kaius knew it would be a while yet before they managed to get any sleep.
They had an expedition to plan.