The next morning, Wulf and Kalee awoke next to each other in one of their room's beds. They had one last day to plan and practice, and then they had to break in.

There wasn't much time. There never was. They washed up in the Inn's bathhouse, got dressed, ate breakfast, then set to work.

They knew the outside of the facility like the back of their hand, but it was the inside that would give them trouble. Seith built a tiny swimming construct that Irmond could track with his ranger senses, using a sense enhancement Skill, and they sent it up through the intake pipes without any trouble.

Apparently, they'd designed it similarly to the way an Oronith enhanced a Mage's spell Skills. The little construct would allow Irmond to use his abilities to look around inside the facility and give them some insight into what they were up against.

The larger vaults, the ones that stored the most powerful spirits, would need the most cooling. It was difficult to keep a powerful spirit contained. They'd break a metal cage, and any construct capable of keeping them in check—a construct made of arcane material, most likely—would create lots of heat. In time, it'd break down and fall apart.

"It looks like there's a big pool surrounding nearly twenty containment zones," Irmond said. "I can't tell you exactly what sorts of spirits they're holding in there, but in the biggest chamber, I'm sensing all Orichalcum-tier spirits. They're not happy about being locked up."

"We can work with that," Wulf said. "It'll make them easier to bargain with."

"These are Orichalcums?" Seith asked. "Isn't that kind of…I dunno, mean? No, not the right word." She shook her head. "It feels wrong to destroy a living, sentient creature like that, purely for the sake of advancement."

"How about for the sake of the world…" Irmond asked. He winced. "Like, how do you justify not making that sacrifice to increase Wulf and Kalee's tier, increasing our odds of saving the world?"

"It's just about increasing the odds?" Seith shook her head. "There has to be another way. Or it's probably a small increase. You guys saw how…alive the storm spirit was when we made the crossing over this way a few years ago. Hells, you guys talk with the Wraith, and it's basically just a spirit."

Wulf nodded. "The good news is that we're not killing the spirit."

"They're not as experienced as Wraith is," Kalee added. "A spirit gains sapience as it ages, too, which is one of the reasons Wraith is as intelligent as it is."

"But we're making a bargain. We're giving the spirit something they want, in exchange for something we want. We want it to provide the bridge to join our two cores, and they want to feel our emotions, our drives, our desires. Ultimately, they feed off it. They're in a perpetual state of torment, and their desire to have the emotion that we have will draw them to us. They'll gladly give up their free will just to feel something."

"That's…kinda sad…" Irmond breathed.

"Yeah," Wulf said. "But it's the way of the world. You've killed monsters before, specifically to gain mana and advance. You've eaten meat, which is in effect the same thing. Cattle can be pretty intelligent."

"Point taken," Seith said.

"Oh, no…" Irmond muttered. "Looks like they've spotted our construct."

"You know how to get in and out of the vault?" Kalee asked. "You looked for the route, right Irmond?"

"I got it," he said. "Pretty sure."

"Then deactivate the construct," Wulf said. "The runes and such are drawing attention and creating arcane pressure. Without it, they won't see anything."

"Now, let's get that plan just a little more concrete before we get started. Let's go over everything one more time…"

~ ~ ~

The next morning, the four of them woke up early. They split up: Irmond and Seith would stick together, and Wulf and Kalee be the second team.

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Seith's job was to get them out of the building. She'd stay outside and handle the pumps, and Irmond and Speckles would be their eyes in the sky, making sure no one snuck up on them, or nothing entered the facility that wasn't supposed to.

Before the sun even rose, Wulf and Kalee followed a pair of workers. The two always approached the facility at the same time, but they stopped for morning coffee at a small restaurant before they began their day. Wulf and Kalee could use that.

They followed the two. Both were non-Ascendants, and they wouldn't put up a fight. The moment they passed an alleyway, Wulf and Kalee each grabbed one of them and dragged the two workers into the shadows.

Though many of the workers wore turbans and had a darker skin tone than the people of Centralis city, not all of them were the same. There were people from all over the world employed by the Spiritmongers Guild now (even if they'd gotten their start in a nation the Far West), and plenty of near-humans as well. Wulf and Kalee would blend in just fine.

Wulf flicked one of the non-ascendants on the top of his head, and the man collapsed. Kalee did the same to hers.

"We need their uniforms and their rune-codes," Wulf said, pulling off the man's formal tunic and vest, then pulled them on over his own clothes. It would be warm, considering the climate here, but if these two non-Ascendants could manage it, then so could he.

He turned to Kalee, and she finished tying up her uniform as well. "Rune codes are in their pockets," she said.

Wulf fished around in the pocket of his trouser, then found the slip of enchanted parchment covered in the correct runes. It was tied to his belt with a length of twine.

"Got it," he said. He looked down at 'his' nametag. Geof. Hopefully no one would notice that he didn't look the same, but given how many people passed through that buildings doors, he was pretty sure they could get by just fine.

They left the disposable clay mugs of coffee with the unconscious workers—the two would need it when they woke up—then continued onward.

Walking side-by-side, Wulf and Kalee approached the facility's main street-facing door. It was the door the workers always entered through, and the one Wulf knew the best. He pulled his rune-code out of his pocket, fumbled with it a bit, then pressed it up against the construct that read it.

A bell chimed, and the runic circle at the center of the door unlocked. A clunk ran through the wood.

When Wulf pushed the door open, it swung inward with ease.

Kalee reached for her own rune-code slip, but another worker behind her said, "Just go in. You don't have to scan if the door's already open."

"Yes, sir," she said.

"Newbie?" someone mumbled.

"They both look pretty young," someone else mumbled.

"Uniforms are old, though."

"Probably hand-me-downs. They got the job 'cause daddy's a high-ranker at the guild, didn't they?"

Wulf pretended not to hear. A non-Ascendant wouldn't have heard with how quietly the two were talking, and it was better if he pretended to be one. Most of the workers he'd seen entering the facility were non-Ascendants.

Once they were inside, they found themselves in a utilitarian lobby made of stone blocks. They needed to get to the elevator.

"Do you know how to mask yourself?" Wulf asked softly, pulling Kalee to the side. "How to hide your arcane presence? If we encounter any high-ranking Ascendants, they'll know exactly how strong we are, and it'll make them suspicious."

"I know," Kalee replied. "You?"

"Dr. Arnau taught me recently, but I've been practicing."

"Hey, you two?" Irmond's voice crackled through a communication construct tucked into Wulf's ear. "You guys in the building yet?"

"We're in," Wulf replied. "Keep your eyes peeled."

"Find something good for us too, then," Seith replied. "If you can bring it with you."

Wulf kept walking through the lobby, aiming straight for the lift-pods on the other side of the room. He kept his head high, but tried to look slightly nervous, like a boy on the first day of his job. As he walked, he said, "Remember what you were telling us about earlier?"

"How you weren't sure if you'd even be able to take an Orichalcum spirit?" Kalee added.

"Well, I'm not sure," Irmond said. "Only the strongest can do that, and I won't even be there."

"Transporting it out of the vault will be the hardest part," Seith said. "You might not be able to drag out any spirits higher than Gold for us."

"I'll get the strongest spirit I can," Wulf said. "That's a promise."

"You'll try, sure," Irmond said. "Look, just remember. You two are the strong ones. We'll try to match you, but you two are the ones who need this the most. Don't get yourselves captured or stuck for us."

"I understand," Wulf said.

He opened the door in front of the lift-pod. It was similar to the device in Kalee's uncle's apartment, except it was much larger, and there were already a few workers inside it. Wulf drew his concentration inward, focussed on his cores and his mana.

Masking your arcane pressure, it turned out, was incredibly easy for him, because it took broad, forceful movements of mana to accomplish your goals.

He pressed inward with willpower alone, stubbornly demanding that his mana not move, that it stay as a tiny glob in the center of his core. It obeyed without question.

"What floor, you two?" someone asked.

"Don't just stand there," someone else muttered.

"Uh, book us for the sixtieth floor," Wulf said. High, but not too high. It might not be directly to the vaults, but they could take the emergency stairs the rest of the way up.

Someone grumbled something, but made a notch on the parchment slip attached to the wall. The lift pod began to rise.

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