Bones retracted his aura as much as he could. The necessity, he found out, every adventurer had to learn with time. It made sense. Higher level users had more power within them, so much in fact, it oozed out of them. Without control, the mana they excuded raised pressure in a radius around them. Gold rankers with unrestrained aura could knock the weaker adventurers out while normal citizens could die under the pressure. Not to mention, having unrestrained aura is basically telling everyone you either have no mana control or you’re a major prick. Either tells a lot about the user.

Retracting his aura, Bones walked in between the boars, none noticing him. It was only when he was around twenty meters away from the boar that it was alerted and snapped its head in his direction. They had a stare down and the boar ultimately averted its eyes and strode away. Good instinct.

The area was more or less like he remembered. There were no more signs of the ritual, the grass having grown over the holes the skeletons crawled out from. In the distance, Bones saw one of the boars rooting against the damp soil with its toughened snout, trying to dig up the ground. “That place seems to be exactly where…*tsk* Bones casted Bone Lance and sent it flying toward the boar, impaling it and sending it sliding a few meters away where its body lay motionless.

Bones approached the spot the boar was rooting and saw that the entrance to the cavern was bigger now. The boar was widening the hole of the cave. He felt annoyed but it wasn’t like he did a good job hiding the entrance in the first place. A mistake he would try to correct. He turned around, trying to see something he could use as a cover but all he saw were trees and boars.

I could make a hatch out of bones and cover it with branches and leaves.

He turned in the direction of the boar and started walking toward its body. He knew this part would be messy. He couldn't use bones manifested out of mana as they would dissipate quickly. He needed physical, solid bones so he unsummoned his equipment and took out a sword from his inventory.

Taking a deep metaphorical sigh, he kneeled next to the body and got to work. Roughly an hour later, he stood up. His pristine white bones drenched in blood with body parts of what was once a boar around him.

He tried to rip the bones out with bone manipulation and while he felt the connection with the bones, it wasn’t strong enough. Maybe when his mana manipulation reaches a high enough level he would be able to do that? He shuddered just thinking about the implications. Once the bones were pulled out of the body, he didn’t have a problem manipulating them as he wished to.

After storing large bones in the inventory, Bones turned to trees in the distance. The next step was to cut off long branches, boughs, with enough leaves on them to cover the hatch. Trees were big which also meant long boughs. Bones had to cut them into logs as they were too long for a hatch.

Gathering everything he thought he needed, he went to work. First, he shaped bones, making them straight as much as he could, while using spider silk to make a net of intertwined bones. Next he placed the branches atop of the net, filling the gaps and tying them up with spider silk again. Once he finished, he covered the entrance and inspected his work.

This will hardly fool anyone, but it would have to be enough for the time being.

He covered everything with dirt and flattened the ground so once the grass grew over the hatch, it wouldn't be as noticeable.

Using Bone Manipulation, Bones lifted the hatch and jumped down, stopping manipulation mid jump and closing the entrance behind him. The cavern was the same as before, dark and humid. Bones looked up and with rough calculation, estimated the entrance was between twelve and fifteen meters away.

I might not have enough bones left to make the stairs…No, definitely not the stairs. Ladders then?!

He summoned leftover bones and inspected how much spider silk he had left. He had enough materials for what he planned. He didn't need the ladders to reach all the way to the top, just enough to reach the first platform and the second ladders for the second platform at the top.

Both the ladders and the platform to stand on were simple to make. Bones used smaller bones as steps and long boughs as rails. Tying them up with durable spider silk and he had ladders. As for the platform? He cut a few boughs he had leftover into smaller logs and tied them side by side until he made a platform wide enough to stand on.

I reckon they wouldn’t withstand someone much heavier than me.

Ladders were around five meters in length and once Bones climbed the ladders, he installed the platform into the wall of the cavern. The second set of ladders was placed and installed on top of the first platform and the second platform was installed just under the entrance of the cavern.

This is fine. Beats climbing the walls just to get out!

Bones jumped down and turned to the markings on the walls at the far end of the cavern. Once, they were markings he used at the entrance to his basement. Now? They marked the entrance to the dungeon. Once he got closer, the markings shined briefly with white light and he received the prompt to enter the dungeon. He expected that to happen like it did the first time. What surprised him was the prompt asking him if he wished to enter the dungeon.

What happened to being able to continue the dungeon? He refused the entry and stepped away. He looked around, but there was nothing else indicating another entrance to the second stage of the dungeon.

Markings on the wall were faint but they were still visible up close. *sigh* He sat crossed-legged and entered meditation.

…

Back in the city, after midnight, two figures could be seen moving from rooftop to rooftop. They seem to be heading west, towards brothels where a certain individual has been spending most of his nights. They stopped on the flat rooftop of a pub before the square that led to the sinister looking street filled with not-so-legal nightly activities. Laughter and shouting could be heard coming from down below. These parts were never quiet. The taller of the two figures took down his hood, revealing blue hair and an icy cold stare.

“Belle, you will wait for me down in a pub. Once I finish and secure the target, I’ll meet you there.”

“Okay Rayne but..”

“No buts, you will wait for me in the pub! We need to do this as fast and quietly as possible. Smash and grab operation. Over and out!” Rayne finished by jumping down from the rooftop.

“Snatch and grab Rayne!! SNATCH AND GRAB!” yelled Belle correcting him.

Down the street, in one of the more “prestigious” establishments serving joyous and merry encounters, Guntar was downing his umpteenth ale. Things haven’t worked in his favor for the last few months.

First, he made a deal with an old man who pretty much forced him into making it. Then he was forced to flee Westbrook and he got robbed by a skeleton. Now? He’s in hiding, sort of, because the word on the street is that the adventurer guild is looking for him. Since there was no official wanted contract issued yet, he figured it was personal. He and Trevak were forced to pay for the stolen goods from their own pockets. At least he settled his debt to his boss. He couldn’t even take on a new job until things settled down a bit. He considered moving east but he would be noticed leaving the city.

“God, this is so fucking boring.” he grumbled following a long deep exhalation. He ordered another drink and kept grumbling to himself. This sucks. Trevak is god knows where on the mission. I can’t go out and it’s boring inside.

“Would you like me to chill that drink for you sir?” the waiter asked while approaching.

“Yeah, that’d be great!” Guntar cheered up and turned to the waiter. “I didn’t know they had waiters serving here?”

“They don’t. Over and out”. The waiter replied.

“Over and o…?” A thump sound was heard as Guntar was knocked unconscious before he could finish his sentence. Rayne grabbed him by the collar and dragged him out of his booth and towards the window where he disappeared before anyone could make out what happened.

In a popular pub called Rush Hour, bustling with people, Belle sat on the bar stool, sipping on the red colored drink. Small chunks of fruit were swimming in the glass and one would think it would be a healthy drink, but it wasn’t. It was a popular alcoholic beverage strong enough to affect a silver ranker and, well, she had a reason to drink. At least she thought so.

“He left?! He freaking left me out!! Like, what?! I’m not good enough? Is tath it…? She yelled at the middle aged bartender across the bar who kept looking for a way to slip out. The guest was relentless to say the least and Belle wasn’t good with drinks. She was barely old enough to drink at twenty two. She didn't have friends to go out and party with. It has been just her and Rayne for the past few years.

“That Rayne, screw him! If he wasn’t my mentor, if he wasn’t…wait, what? I lost my train of thought…”

“I’ll have what she’s having.” a man ordered, appearing next to tipsy Belle. She turned to the man. “You look exahtly…exactly? Exactly like someone that left me here!”

*sigh* “Sorry Belle, it needed to be done quickly. How about we get some burgers after the drinks?” Rayne said, trying to diffuse the situation.

*snorts* “You even sound like him! Alright.” Belle relented ungrudgingly, but couldn't stop grinning.

Constant shivering woke Guntar up with a pounding headache. The smoke-like foggy air was coming out of his haggard breath in the frigid air of the prison cell.

"Whah…what in the…where am I?" he asked the person he detected standing in the shadow of the cell. Rayne stepped up into the light, a candle by the wall lighting up his face, revealing a rather stoic expression on his frosty face. Guntar slowly lifted his head, his eyebrows and beard covered in frost. He sneered as he said: "You're like…the worst waiter ever! Anyway, I'd like that drink now."

*smirk* "Hilarious! I don't think you quite understand the situation you're in. You were a difficult man to find, but you WERE found." Rayne said while circling the strapped Guntar in the middle of the cell, who kept groaning and waiting for the headache to pass. "I hope you like the cell, it will be your home for a while."

"Why is my head still pounding? The fuck have you done to me?" Guntar groaned.

"The headache won't pass. I've hit you with a Brain-freeze skill and while you stay in a cold environment, you'll continue feeling the headache. I'll be leaving you in the cell over the night so you'll have time to think this through."

"But it's not freezing in here!" Guntar stated.

Rayne smiled and turned to leave. "Give it time…"

"Fuck you man! There's nothing to think about. You hear me?! DON'T WALK AWAY FROM ME!" Guntar screamed after Rayne as he was leaving. "Shit! This sucks balls…"

The prison cell was located in the dungeons, deep in the basement of the adventurers guild. The prison cells were mostly used as a temporary place to hold adventurers breaking the law or wanted men before being transferred to the city jail. The cell holding Guntar however, was located at the far end of the dungeon and was modified by Rayne so as not to be…as pleasant.

Rayne, while demoted from his position as the guild leader of the Westbrook branch of the adventurer guild, he still held a high position within the guild and as a pupil of a guild master, held certain leeway within the guild. One of them being, operating secretly and under the radar. The plan to snatch Guntar was in the works for a month, but Guntar laid low the whole time. Rayne finally had enough and took matters into his own hands and went to snatch him, breaking one of the unspoken rules set by ascendant Domino. Any person of authority was forbidden to operate and exercise authority while in his domain. His domain mostly applied to the Underground City with western district being a gray sort of area.

Rayne knew he wouldn't be able to keep Guntar in a cell for long before the word got out. He also knew that Guntar knew that and he had a limited amount of time to get the information out of him. Fortunately, like king Wezar, Domino hasn't been in the city for years now. His underlings, while strong and influential enough to keep running the Underground, weren't strong enough to oppose The Guild directly like Domino.

Belle waited for Rayne in his office, playing with a puzzle in her hands when Rayne entered.

"...Rayne, was this really necessary?"

Rayne expected the question. This wasn't how THEY did things but interrogation, even by violent methods, wasn't anything new.

"Does it bother you?"

Belle looked away from her puzzle and shook her head. "Not really. Can I come with you tomorrow?"

Rayne looked at her green eyes and the stern expression on her face. She's too young…is what he thought but still nodded his head. "Alright, if you really think you're ready?"

"I am, Rayne!" she replied with conviction.

"Alright, but you have to do exactly what I tell you to do. Understand?"

"Yes, sir!"

*sigh*