Is this the place?" Selira Valeborne screeched the car to a halt before asking.
"Yes," Caelum replied.
They both stepped out and walked slowly toward the building, taking keen note of their surroundings.
Akira Tire Factory.
It was once a promising tire production company–until it was forced to shut down six months ago.
Caelum and Selira paced about the factory compound, their eyes scanning the desolate surroundings for any signs of danger. After a few moments of cautious observation, Selira suddenly dashed straight into the main building. Caelum followed suit without hesitation.
If she rushed in like that, it could only mean one of two things, either she sensed no danger with her detecting skills, or she sensed danger and was so excited she ran straight for it.
The Akira Tire Factory was an old, two-story building complex, constructed entirely with aluminum roofing materials. Most of the aluminum sheets were already corroded and rotting from exposure.
If a monster were to attack, they wouldn't stand a chance, not in a place like this.
Inside the ground floor of the building, Caelum asked quietly, "Have you ever heard of the Curse of Akira Factory?"
Selira furrowed her brow. "The curse of the Akira factory?" she muttered before responding, "No."
"Some locals say that the Akira factory was thriving when it first opened. Business was booming_day in and day out, cars dropped in for various repairs," Caelum began, his voice low as they crept through the vast facility.
The factory was enormous. They had been searching for about ten minutes now, and even with Selira's high-level detecting skills, she hadn't found anything amiss.
Caelum continued, his tone gradually growing more tense. "One day, the employees started dying... mysteriously. One by one. Day after day. Month after month. No one knows why, even now. All the investigations reported that it began around the same time the tires stored in the basement started disappearing."
At those words, Selira's ears twitched slightly, and then a wide, mischievous grin spread across her face.
Caelum blinked. "Why does she have that scary look on her face...?"
But before he could ask, Selira suddenly stood upright, took a long, deep breath, then tilted her head northeast and bolted, disappearing from sight in an instant and leaving a trail of dust behind her.
"W-what?" Caelum stammered, struggling to process what had just happened. He quickly sprinted after her, careful not to activate his Thunder Force ability.
BAM!
With a single, devastating kick, Selira shattered the door leading to the basement. The moment they both stepped inside, they were greeted by a horrific stench.
Gulp!
Caelum fought to keep himself from vomiting, forcing his body to endure it, while Selira looked around with an expression of disgust plain on her face.
Lifeless bodies were strewn across the ground, some half-eaten, some torn apart, and some lying in pools of blood, their heads completely missing.
If it were Darius_before he reincarnated_he would've tolerated this scene with ease. But in this new body, Caelum felt violently ill. Clearly, the former Caelum had not seen his fair share of war.
"It's here," Selira said, walking toward the far end of the basement.
Before Caelum could react, she did something even more shocking.
She dipped her hand into the small pouch strapped to her waist and pulled out something utterly insane—a massive sword, glowing with pulsating rune lines. How such a large weapon had fit into such a tiny pouch was beyond comprehension.
But there was only one explanation that came to mind: Pocket Dimension.
A magic tool used to store vast amounts of objects in a limited, portable space.
Selira dragged the sword out and gave it a swift, graceful swing to the left, her hair flowing elegantly through the air. Then, without warning, she brought it crashing down.
SMASH!!
Not just the floor, but the entire factory split in half. The ground tore wide open as far as the eye could see, and the building collapsed in a tremendous roar of destruction.
Selira turned cutely to her younger brother and smiled. "Hurry up, or you'll be buried under the rubble," she said with alarming cheerfulness before leaping into the massive crater she had just created.
Caelum stared at her, thinking only one thing_She's insane.
Then he jumped in after her.
They landed deep below ground level, in a massive burrowed tunnel. The air was thick with pressure, almost suffocating, and echoing screeches poured in from the darkness beyond.
Name: Selira Valeborne
Monarchical Sect: None
Ability: Master of All Weapons
Description: The user instantly masters any weapon they hold to full proficiency.
Hobby: Gardening.
It was truly a terrifying ability. The fact that she could instantly master any weapon or artifact she held was absurdly overpowered. Caelum could now see why people called her The War Goddess.
Up ahead, Caelum and Selira paused, discussing whether to walk through the tunnels until they found the monster_or monsters_that lived down here.
"There's no need for that," Selira suddenly said.
She stepped toward one of the tunnel walls and placed her hand on it, standing still for a long moment, as if listening... or feeling something buried deep within.
Then they both heard it.
Hundreds of screeches and rushing footsteps echoed toward them from every direction.
Their eyes locked.
Something was coming.
Caelum had already prepared to use his Thunder Force ability if he had to, whether Selira was here or not. But he didn't need to, because the next second, Selira grabbed her sword artifact again.
This time, she swung it left first, then sliced the wall in front of her. The sword glowed violently in sync with her movements, and not only did the wall in front of her split apart, but the entire tunnel ahead was cleaved into two in an instant.
Crash!
It was a powerful sight to behold. In a single swing of her sword, Selira had eliminated all the beasts in the tunnel, all the way to the very end. As the tunnel divided, Caelum briefly caught sight of the far end, where glowing rocks clung to the walls like stars frozen in stone.
"All done," Selira said with casual ease, as if nothing had happened. She calmly returned the sword into her pouch. "Shall we get going?" she added, glancing back at Caelum before sprinting forward into the darkness and dust-choked tunnel.
This trip made Caelum realize something—it struck deep. His new body was weak. All day long, he had done nothing but sit back and watch Selira Valeborne handle everything. Tsk! It pissed him off.
But knowing he could trust Selira, Caelum made a bold decision. He chose to reveal that he was a dual ability user.
She would've found out later during the making of the Amplification Runes anyway.
Decision made, Caelum released a cool burst of lightning from his feet, and with the next step he took...
Zoom! Caelum had reached Selira, who had been running far ahead at insane speed.
While running, Selira suddenly sensed a powerful presence erupt within the tunnel. Her first instinct was to stop and rush back, to save Caelum from this presumed threat. But just as she tensed to turn around, a blue streak of lightning came shooting from behind her—and in the blink of an eye, it was right at her side.
She wasn't wrong about what she just saw.
Caelum was running beside her, streaks of lightning crackling around his frame.
He looked_in one word_cool.
Then, in the next step, Caelum accelerated again and sped past her. But he underestimated who Selira was. Because with just one burst of her aura, her speed tripled—launching her forward like a missile, now just inches from overtaking him.
Their little race ended as they arrived at the end of the tunnel. The walls here were lined with glowing gems, and more importantly, scattered all across the ground in thick layers was the treasure they came for:
Black Ore.
Selira brought out another pocket dimension pouch from within her main pouch. Together, they spent hours gathering all the Black Ore—digging through the rock, mining the veins, and harvesting rare gems they could later sell to raise funds for their struggling family.
During those long hours, Selira didn't ask Caelum a single thing about the second ability he had just revealed to her. Instead, they talked about business, gardening, and the complexities of this world's monarchical hierarchy.
Caelum gained a lot of valuable insight from this experience. And the fact that Selira chose not to probe further about his second ability only made him trust her more.
Not long after, they drove back to the Valeborne Family skyscraper.
"Black Ore secured," Caelum joked to Anna, who listened intently to everything he told her about his and Selira's little expedition.
Of course, this was after he had showered.
Now, it was finally time for him to refine the Black Ore into the Amplification Rune.
T-minus 22 days until the deadline for Caelum's coming-of-age mission