Chapter 54: Return to the Base

Sol left to return to his cold dark cell under the slums, leaving the Guildmaster and Trevor in the meeting room. With Sol gone, the Guildmaster focused her attention on her receptionist. She stood up from her chair and handed Trevor another communication gem.

"Trevor, I am going to assign you to this quest. Stay in touch with Sol and report to me anything of note. I will be busy for the next few days."

Trevor respectfully took the small gem, "Yes Guildmaster, but may I ask what you will be doing?"

She gave a small smirk, breaking from her normal serious face, "I'm going to gather some old friends. Can't gather adventurers through normal means so as to not alert these nobles. If you can't find me, you can report to Abigail; you can trust her."

"Will do Guildmaster."

The Guildmaster was about to leave the room but suddenly stopped, "Oh and one more thing."

"Yes Guildmaster?"

"This is an around the clock assignment, but if you complete this successfully, I will give you that extended vacation you've been working towards."

Trevor almost jumped out of happiness, "Really Guildmaster?!"

Responding with a simple nod, she left the room, leaving one last parting message, "Don't let me down Trevor."

Trevor saw her leave and pumped his fist in the air from excitement.

…

Sol avoided as many people as he could on his trip back to the underground base. The fewer people who saw him out and about, the better, as he didn't want his kidnappers to somehow hear of him being out and about.

Traveling only via [Burrow], Sol also used [Silent Steps] and [Concealment] to lower his sound and presence as much as he could. Sol soon arrived at the slums and moved through the dirt and stone towards the mana signature of Rebecca, who was his cellmate. Once closer, he saw that she was already awake, evident by her mana signature pacing around the room with a wobbly gait.

Sol struggled on whether or not to let Rebecca know of the plan, and after some deliberating, he decided not to. If she knew, there was a chance of accidentally leaking it to their captors. The risk was already high enough with Sol having to pretend with his poor acting skills, and it wasn't a gamble he was willing to take.

Sol continued further and came out of the back wall of his prison. There was a small worry at the back of his mind that someone came to check up on him while he was gone, but evident from the still tightly shut door, Sol believed it was fine. The only loose end from his quick expedition was the spatial ring he brought.

On the way back, Sol had already inspected the insides of the ring. The Guildmaster said the truth; it contained supplies like food and equipment for all occasions and a rather nice dark blue sword.

Blue Ripple

Rare

Attack: 45-55 

Durability 587/650

Skills: [Water Amplification] Lv 4, [Twin Water Magic] Lv 4

[Twin Water Magic] Lv 4: When casting projectile-based water magic, a second projectile is created with leftover mana. The second projectile has 40% efficiency.

'Trevor probably picked this because he knew I could cast water magic.'

The [Water Amplification] skill was the same as the one Sol saw from the Lavamancy Staff back when he was choosing his rewards in the fort's vault. The only difference being this one boosted water rather than fire, and it's at a lower level.

Mentally organizing all the new things he had acquired, he still needed to hide this somehow. The problem was there was no furniture or anything really in the room. He could try to chip away at a small area to hide the ring in, but he had a better idea.

'Not sure if this will work, but might as well give it a try.'

Holding the spatial ring between his fingers, Sol used [Burrow] to submerge his right hand under the stone. There he let go of the ring and retracted his hand. The ring no longer being held by Sol was no longer under the effects of [Burrow] and stayed 4 inches under the floor.

Sol's idea worked and he could hide the ring perfectly, but it also gave him a new fear.

'If I ever run out of mana while underground, I have effectively buried myself alive…'

With that thought now living rent free in his mind, Sol tried to distract himself by continuing his mental organization of spells. Last he left off, Sol was halfway through his water spells, so he picked back up where he left off. He activated [Meditation] to give him a boost to concentration, which surprisingly helped out a lot, and began.

…

Time flew, and before Sol knew it, over an hour had passed. Just as Sol was starting to tackle his earth spells, a knock came from the door.

"Darling~, I'm back~!"

'Oh brother…'

Sol truly wished he had the other assassin that barely spoke over Weaver, but likely based on the fact he beat them, they weren't going to be left alone in a room with him even if he had no weapon. Well, no weapon as far as his captors knew.

This time Weaver didn't wait for a response before opening the door, wearing a completely different outfit. This time he was wearing a tacky button-up white shirt with an apple pattern and white cloth pants. It made Sol wonder how many outfits this man had for him to change so many times within mere hours of each other.

"Did ya miss me? Don't say no, I don't think my heart could handle it…"

Not even bothering to respond, Sol stood up and patiently waited for him to actually do what he came here for. Seeing no reaction from his captive, Weaver chuckled as he shook his head.

"Tsk, you're no fun. Fine, let's get started."

His tone changed, and what could only be explained as the vibes the man gave off shifted, taking a more serious tone. Sol had already felt something similar to this when Weaver used his strings to instantly capture him.

Still keeping the smile on his face, Weaver produced a wooden sword from his spatial ring and tossed it over to Sol.

"Let's see where you're at."