Oi, ye shit. I dun drink to wallow in me sorrows. I drink to remember and honor all me allies that ain’t here to see me beautiful face! Hic! A toast to the fallen: Go n-éirí an bóthar leat! (Translation: May your journey be successful!)

~Goibniu, The God of the Forge and Brew

Reaching the next floor, Hooligan and Crow remained silent. They pushed open the door and found themselves standing in a very utilitarian hallway. It felt a little oppressive because of the rough-hewn stone walls. There were even scars on the wall that looked like old battle wounds.

On top of that, after their harrowing race through the squirrel-infested garden, the already quiet atmosphere seemed suffocating. The experience in the garden had disquieted them, and they realized the silence of this place caused them to feel secure, which was a lie. Walking into the garden as they did was stupid, and they should’ve been more cautious. It was the lack of danger that made them less vigilant.

This floor wasn’t so bad, and they went through the rooms, but they were mostly empty. The inner rooms had balconies that overlooked the garden below, and the fruit the big fruit tree still reached several floors above. The outer rooms had balconies too, but they overlooked the open grass areas up the walls.

“Are these living quarters?” Hooligan asked.

“Probably, but based on the rooms, I’d guess they are for guards.”

“Prison below and prison above,” Hooligan muttered.

Crow rubbed her head because he found it cute when she muttered weird profound things. Mentally, he was labeling her words the Mutterings of a Hooligan Philosopher.

“You better not be bullying me in your head…” Hooligan grumbled, and Crow nearly died of fright. Women’s intuition is a scary thing.

The stairs to go up were on the opposite side of the stairs coming up. It also looked like this place was a guard station because it was blocked off by metal bars and a rusted door that had long fallen to the floor. The wind of their passing caused the door to disintegrate into piles of rust.

“Should we check the other half of the rooms?” Crow asked. This floor was obviously square-shaped, so reaching the stairs, they only went through half the rooms, but there wasn’t much for them to discover.

“Might as well,” Hooligan replied. “It’ll only take a few minutes.”

“Fine. I’ll take the left doors since they face that tree. Never know if anything snuck in. You take the right side, but same idea, assume things can get in.

They went through the rooms quickly. When Crow finished his last door, he exited to the hall and looked on as Hooligan entered the last room.

“Yes!” Hooligan’s shout brought Crow over. She was hopping around like an excited monkey as she removed the scraps of wood from what looked like the frame of a futon. It was strange that the wood looked like it was still in decent shape since the rest of the furniture had rotted away. Crow saw that Hooligan exposed a hidden compartment.

Inside was a long, narrow glass tube. Inside the corked tube was a viscous blue liquid. Not even Crow was sure what it was because he’d seen nothing like it. Along with it was a leather parchment with an ancient Draoidh script.

“What does it say?”

“It’s a recipe for Origin Sigil Ink, which is in that vial based on the description. This uses some material I’ve never heard of, but I’m willing to bet that is a top-level regent for sigils, so this is a significant find for you if that’s what you intend to study.”

“So I can make my sigils using this?”

“I wouldn’t. Not unless you make a high-tier sigil,” Crow said while pondering for a moment. “If you dilute this, you might be able to use it to help strengthen your foundations in this talent. Half a drop of this mixed with low-level inks will likely not have any adverse effects and may improve your success rate. However, since I’m not sure what three of the main ingredients are, I’d do that sparingly. This might be the only vial you have for a long time.”

“How would it help strengthen my foundations?”

“From what I’ve read, successfully creating sigils is more helpful to you than failing. You’ll be able to use Mana Sense to find the weaknesses in your drawing so that you can improve those areas. Failing, you’ll be able to see the point of failure but nothing else.”

“Are you so certain that mixing this ink will help?”

“Not really. The purity of that ink is so high that I’m theorizing its benefits. Mixing it with a lesser ink should improve its quality, which will lessen the impurities and give the sigil a bigger chance of success. That’s why I think it should work, but you should definitely test it. Also, I’ll translate this for you before… we leave. Do you mind if I keep the original?” Crow asked.

“My man is the best!” Hooligan said coquettishly before kissing Crow’s cheek. “You can keep it. The translated version is likely to cause me fewer problems.”

Crow nodded. She wasn’t wrong. An old parchment like this was likely to spark people’s greed. If others discovered he had it, it could create problems, but he mentally snorted because it wasn’t worth mentioning compared to his other treasures.

“Let’s go. There is nothing else here; it was a miracle you found that stash. I don’t think anyone’s been here, so, surprisingly, we haven’t found any treasures.”

“We found the apples and this ink,” Hooligan said, holding up the vial.

“Those aren’t priceless treasures, though. The Fruit of Avalon isn’t so rare that it can’t be found. Most people are still aware of their existence. That ink might be priceless, but I doubt it since I’m pretty sure we found that in a guard’s quarter. I’m not saying it isn’t valuable but think about it. We are in a bunkhouse for guards, or at least we believe so, and even the lowest grade treasure should survive the ravages of time. We haven’t seen one. I find that odd. I’m fairly certain we are the first to get the chance to enter the tower and only because we completed all the Shrines.”

Hooligan nodded while walking up the stairs. Once more, they found a small antechamber with a closed door at the top of the stairs. Stepping into the hall, Crow had to rub his eyes to ensure he wasn’t hallucinating.

There were no inner rooms, and the ‘balcony’ circled the entire floor allowing him to see the boughs of the tree outside. He could even see the stairs going up on the other side. There were six doors, three on each side, and they could see luxurious furnishings inside. Even the walls outside were richly decorated with tapestries and golden sconces. Everything looked immaculate, as of it remained untouched by time.

“Is… this all real?” Hooligan looked at the dirt their feet left behind on the pristine floors and felt a little guilty about tainting this place.

Crow walked up to one of the nearby chairs and sat on it. He half expected it to collapse under him. Not only did it hold, but he experienced comfort unlike anything he’d ever experienced. Unsure of where this miracle of a chair was built, he quickly put it in his Vortex Pin.

“D-did you just loot a chair?”

“Sit in one; you’ll understand.”

Hooligan did just that; soon, she had a chair and a sofa in her Shield. Both of them looked toward the beds and took off running.

“That one’s mine!” Hooligan growled and kicked Crow’s ankle. It held no power behind it, but it caused his feet to cross, and he stumbled. By the time he recovered it, Hooligan had already taken the bed away.

The moment she did, Crow lost interest because his eyes focused on what was under the bed. Crow stopped looking for formations because there were so many in this realm that it overwhelmed his senses. However, he was looking at a formation key, so he opened his Mana Sense and activated his eyes.

“What kind of dark shit is this?” Crow muttered and double-checked the formation to make sure he wasn’t wrong.

“What is it?”

“This formation would inject whoever laid on that bed with Death Mana. This method is very sinister.

“What does that do?”

“Kills the target of the formation, but maybe not immediately. The more I think about it—I’m not sure this formation makes any sense. Assuming this tower is a prison, why go through all this to kill someone?”

“What if this room contained a Rusalka?” Hooligan asked absently. She was flipping through a small book she found on a shelf. There were at least a dozen similar books alongside it.

Crow was still observing the formation, so he hadn’t looked at anything else.

“That’s awfully specific,” Crow laughed. “Wait, what is a Rusalka?”

“Undead maiden usually killed violently. Most of our legends claim they result from drowning, but my father said they are just maidens with a tragic story. They aren’t vengeful, but they feed off the warmth of humans and usually kill them in the process.”

“How is that not vengeful?”

“They prey on warmth or vitality, which is why they typically feed on men because of what you call Yang Energy. Their bodies contain more heat because of the male’s sexual essence. They are usually gorgeous women, which also makes them look like fairies. Their beauty lowers men’s resistance to approaching them.”

“Where is all this coming from?” Crow finally looked up and saw her reading a journal while smirking.

“Pretty sure these are her journals, and this says she died, but her fiancé didn’t want to harm her and placed her here. They continued to meet and talk, but she didn’t realize that every time he approached her, he would lose five years of his life for every hour he spent with her. This story is heartbreaking.”

“Does it mention this formation in there?” Crow asked while eyeing the books.

“I’m taking all of these. This person studied sigils, so I might be able to gain some insights from these journals,” Hooligan said in a rush. “But yes, the formation is mentioned. There are two main ones, and the other one is called Eternal Preservation.”

“Ahhh,” Crow exclaimed, realizing a lot all at once. “The Fruit of Avalon is the biggest hint. The Death Mana was to help her cultivate, not sustain her. The fruits were the source of vitality that kept her fed. The happy side effect was that all the furnishings of this place were also preserved. Uh, maybe we should loot everything and leave quickly.”

“Why?”

“All these formations are still operational…”

“Oh, you think she might still be here?” Hooligan looked around nervously.

The two of them ransacked the rooms taking some luxury goods, but Hooligan didn’t have a Vortex Pin, so her storage was severely limited, and she decided to give up on a lot of the furniture. They didn’t find much worth their notice. Even most of the books were for recreational reading.

In the end, they only took about two rooms’ worth of goods and left the rest. Climbing the stairs to the next floor, they both shivered as their breath came out in a fog.