Growth.

The tunnels were not suited for humans. Long twisting tunnels that spread through the bedrock, going upwards and downwards. On their walls red light shone from red hot strands of metal that rose the temperature to forge levels. And being enclosed without a way to dissipate the heat the temperature reached at least a 1000° C, as hot as a candle. To stay in these tunnels was like standing in flames. And those same tunnels were under heavy pressure, at least 20 atmospheres, at most a 100.

It was something to celebrate then that the few humans who could even enter the Tunnels of the Braith had ways of keeping the heat and pressure at bay. Mages used temperature regulating spells and barriers, ki users used their ki to insulatethe heat and resist the pressure. The latter were even more fortunate since the rough conditions could accelerate their training. If they could remain within the tunnels for long that is.

Instead of humans the usual inhabitants of the Tunnels were the creatures that gave them their name, the Braith. These alien creatures were not carbon or silicon life forms, like scientist believe should be the predominant kind of life. This explained why the Rare Earth Hypothesis was both right and wrong. Carbon life forms were rare, but other kinds lived in inhospitable places.

The Braith were formed of molten rock, animated through natural magic. If their creation myth was right, and the Lifegiver had told Gaius it was, Bramitha the god of magma, had looked upon the surface and other planets and seen life. Wishing the same for his own realm he animated the molten rock, forming the first magma beings. They roamed the mantle and fed on it and were great giant beasts of immense power, though if they went to the surface they would quickly die from the pressure difference. However Bramitha was not satisfied and sought to create sapient life. But said life could not prosper in the mantle, so he made his children inhabit the cortex just above. They were the Braith.

The Braith are humanoid, as those who inspired Bramitha were, but their similarities to humans ends there. They have three legs, four arms and three diamond eyes. They reproduce asexually and live for two hundred Earth years, having an average of eight children in their lifetime. While they were segregated from other kinds of life, the efforts of dimensional mages connected them with others. They offered great training conditions for ki and rare materials from the depths of the crust and mantle for mages so they prospered in commerce. The Tunnels of the Braith thus became a galactic hub of trade, where the supernaturally aware of many worlds intermingle.

One month after he dealt with the Ablution Society Incident Gaius found himself haggling with a seven headed Brtkkkkbm, a kind of insectoid alien, in these Tunnels.

“I can't pay a dozen grams of ilphinan honey for a kilogram of prtkkkn exoskeleton powder! One is a powerful healing substance, the other a nutritious spice.”

“Kkkts trkksw prtkkkn.”

“I don't care how dangerous it is to hunt prtkkkn, ilphinans are hard to find. I paid one fireburst rubie per gram for it. At most seven grams.”

“Prtkkkn kklt pkrt.”

“Alright. I can empathise with your situation. Add a kilogram of krk flowers and deal.”

“Kl.”

“Good”

Gaius left the stall and headed towards a room in the depths of the Tunnels. In it a Braith receptionist was processing some magma beast innards in a lightning grid..

“Welcome back Gaius.” It said in a high pitched voice, its second eye floating to his direction. “I hope you managed to get what you wanted.”

“I did Breeeeee. I feel a little bad about it, since I don't need healing, but I managed to exchange what I wanted. Powder for Reiko to grow, and flowers to enhance my Touki.”

“Good for you. If you want to see your bird it is in the pool.”

“Thanks.”

Gaius headed towards one of the doors in the alchemist’s house and headed towards the magma vent. It was a simple space, a rock cavern with a pool of magma in the middle. Once he entered the room he headed towards his familiar.

“You gave me a scare before boy. I can't believe how much you are eating right now.”

A trill sounded from a blue feather cocoon in the middle of the pool before Reiko’s head poked out of it. His feathers were of a deeper blue, instead of his previous sky blue it now looked sapphire blue. Gaius entered the pool and gave him his food, before submerging himself in the lava while eating the flowers.

“Ugh. Tastes like boiled leather.”

Gaius began to work out, using the temperature and pressure of the pool to forge his Touki further. In the past month Gaius had improved greatly. His offensive magic was now a bit versatile, with spells that could harm nearly every creature. While he had not real world practice his results in warding were nice. And he had finally gotten martial arts training which caused his combat capabilities to soar. With all this he was now officially a Rank 4.

But his greatest improvement was in his body and Senjutsu. With a thousand five hundred more years of knowledge and way better facilities he had had previously, his body had grown immensely. He now had a body worthy of a Touki user, capable of lifting and throwing a car with his bare muscles. His Touki had increased by 20%. And he had managed to master Akai’s presence mimicry and his own curse making. He specialised in damaging curses and mind altering ones such as fear or rage. All in all it had been a productive month.

However he had less luck in his missions. He had rooted out three more Cult bases, but no vital ones. As for Awakening there was confirmation that it was related to the supernatural, since one user was spotted doing magic, but it's nature was still clouded.

The reason he was in this planet was simple. Two days ago Reiko had started to absorb massive amounts of heat, freezing their home, and to slim alarmingly fast. It seemed to Gaius that he was undergoing a growth spur, probably relating to its body finally catching with the Touki he gained and upgrading in one go. In order to give him the heat he needed Gaius chose to open a portal to the most welcoming high temperature place he knew of, the Tunnels of the Braith. He had already traded with one in the ancient era, though it was they who contacted him and came to Earth. He chose to take advantage of his stay here to train, and with all the exotic resources and harsh environment he was actually improving. Thankfully he was a Senjutsu user or he could only stay in periods of three hours.

That night Gaius was sleeping in Braaaaa’s, Breeee’s father, house when Breeee came to wake him up.

“Uwah?”

“Gaius. Your bird is finished.”

Hearing this Gaius quickly rose and headed to the shop. Once there he was greeted by Reiko roosting on his shoulder. Aside from color nothing had changed superficially, but the fact he was handling the pressure without using his Touki meant his body was actually stronger.

“Finished already?”

The bird nodded his head and nuzzled his beak against Gaius’ face.

“I swear you are growing more intelligent by the day.”

Braaaaa and Breeee approached him from behind and congratulated Gaius on his familiars growth. Once they were done Braaaaa asked.

“Then are you leaving?”

“Yes. I need to go back to Earth.”

“Come whenever you want. Our debt is not yet repaid, and the least we can do is give you shelter when you want.”

“I appreciate your hospitality. Take care of your brelik, don't let it get injured again.”

The Braith nodded and went back to his home. Gaius inverted the reverse summoning spell and appeared in his workshop on Earth. Just when he was about to go back to bed he received a call.

“Yes?”

“Akihiko here. Listen we have an important reunion soon, in two minutes. It's good you are already finished.”

“I wanted to sleep. Alright I'll go. What is it about?”

“It's 17:00 Gaius. As for the second question, we are going to take down the Blue Leathers main auction house.”

In the law keeping building the auditorium was filled. All Rank 2 and above as well as some specialised Ranks 1 or 0 had been summoned. In the podium stood the Elder of the Back, Hamamoto Kioshi. He was about to begin the explanation when Gaius entered and sat besides Akihiko and Ryuunosuke.

“Did I miss anything?”

“Nah. Only the mission objective.”

“Actually, what is the target exactly?”

Ryuunosuke began answering when the Elder began speaking.

“Tonight we are gathered to take down the Blue Leathers auction house. For far too long have they dealt in illegal goods and worse, slave trade. They had hidden it well, but a month and a half ago some of our operatives found it.”

In the wall behind him a map of the city appeared. It then changed to a photo of an ordinary office building.

“Isn't that the place we reported?” Muttered Ryuunosuke.

“Yes. Now you know why we couldn't speak of it.” Whispered back Akihiko.

“We have managed to infiltrate and make inventory. All of you will be assigned in groups to perform a certain task. Those that will prevent escape, those that will combat the Blue Leaders, and those that will retrieve the merchandise.”

The Elder kept detailing the overall plan of attack, as well as the level of force they were authorised to use and the most important objectives for each of the groups.

“Those of you that will retrieve the merchandise I want to prioritise freeing the prisoners. I want not a single hair in their heads touched. For that healers will be assigned to this task.”

Once the meeting finished the three went to Amagi Ai to ask for their task. They found her in her despacho

“Amagi!” Shouted Akihiko to grab her attention.

“You three! You don't know how glad I am to see you.”

“What do we do?”

“You have been assigned your own mission. Don't worry about the Cult now, this mission is a priority. You have to speak to Yu over there.” She signaled at an office in the other side of the corridor. “I can rest easy knowing my best investigator and his bodyguards are on this assignment. I recommended you.”

They accepted her directions and went to the office they had been pointed to. Once there their coordinator for this mission told them their mission without preamble.

“I see you are here. Your mission is simple, since the Blues have spies among us for sure we want you to retrieve three valuable objects. All three are kept in the auction managers personal safe. They are highly sensitive, stolen from important people. If we recover it we'll get them to owe us a massive debt. Do not fail.”