Three weeks later...
After traveling quickly through the Seidel Kingdom, Vicente and Rory had already entered the Diamond Province and were currently heading to the place Torne had spoken to his master about years ago.
Given their level of power, their flying speeds were excellent. At the same time, no problems hindered them on this trip.
Thus, the two of them were very close to reaching the kingdom's capital, where the secret altar of the order should be in this state.
...
'Master, the altar I told you about must be in these woods. Some plants have grown since I passed this place, and battles or earth movements may have slightly changed the surroundings. But even so, I feel we're close.' Torne said in Vicente's mind as soon as Rory and the young man stopped before a patch of dense woodland on the mainland.
"We'll have to search the place from now on," Vicente said to Rory. "We're following a clue left by magicians thousands of years ago. Unfortunately, we don't have a map with the precise location, so we have to get a feel for the place."
"And how do we do that?" Rory asked, not surprised that Vicente didn't know the exact location of this altar.
"That's simple. We look for places with a high density of negative elements. Part of the protective devices on an altar like the one we're looking for are the creations of Dark Path magicians. They certainly have negative elements that make their surroundings more sinister than other places."
Elements of all kinds were scattered unevenly across the continent. The presence or absence of negative or positive elements was not a sign of the existence of organizations, secret posts, or people on one side or the other.
Having areas concentrated in darkness or light all over the continent was extremely normal, so the mere fact that such an area existed near the order's altars would not be enough for one to find these places without prior information.
Anyone traveling through the area where Vicente and Rory were now would pass by without noticing the secret altar's location, even if they felt the area's negativity.
The two of them would soon scour the terrain separately, looking for anything that might catch their eye.
The two were Sovereigns and could fly so that large forested area near the kingdom's capital was no big deal for them. After just 15 minutes of searching, Vicente found something and called his friend.
"Rory, I think I've found the place." He said, using a special communicator.
Rory quickly moved to where Vicente was until the two landed in front of a large tree with a trunk as thick as a house.
This tree had a grayish trunk, while the undergrowth around it seemed to be of the poisonous type.
Vicente did what Torne had taught him at the order's other secret altar and picked up the necklace Professor Julian had given him years ago. Rory narrowed his eyes at the sight of it, aware of the item's origin.
"Is that what this thing is for? Did you tell Julian the truth he was looking for?" Rory asked, aware that his friend had promised that professor to tell him the truth about that item if he ever found out.
Vicente moved the necklace closer to the tree trunk as he answered Rory. "I wrote Julian a letter. I told him what I could say without causing problems for both of us. But he doesn't need to know this was a valuable Cataclysm Order item."
"I see... It looks like we got lucky then." Rory realized this could help them find other secret outposts, which could guarantee them a structure from a large ancient organization on the continent.
He just didn't know if these order sites would need repairing. But they would certainly be good spaces for the family to carry out some of their activities.
While he was thinking about it, Rory saw the trunk of that tree change slightly, dispelling the illusion around it and showing a small metal hatch.
Vicente used his Cataclysm Moon Pendant to open the entrance, soon gaining access to the inside of that trunk, where the ladder led underground.
He and Rory descended the ladder, soon arriving at an entrance area, where a large round metal door stood in the way of the actual entrance to this secret altar.
Rory narrowed his eyes as he noticed how well-preserved the surrounding structures seemed to be, as well as noting the amount of defensive mechanisms in the vicinity.
It would be almost impossible to find this place without the item used by Vicente or even the information they had.
Getting in there wouldn't be easy, either. Rory could sense that even Sovereigns would have great difficulty getting in there!
'This place seems to be better than I thought.' He thought to himself as he followed his friend after Vicente opened the door into their path.
Passing through a 10-meter-long corridor, the two soon reached the first level of this secret altar, where men from a post like this would normally hang out, eat, or rest.
The place seemed to be very similar in structure to the other secret altar Vicente had explored with Torne and Onyx.
But that was to be expected. After all, the Cataclysm Order was an organization, and its posts followed similar patterns.
Rory watched the place with his mouth open when he saw how large and well-built the post was.
Vicente had already seen something similar in Kenyth Empire. He quickly made his way to the lower levels of this area, where there should be resources and items of interest to them.
They would soon pass through the training area of this secret outpost, and it wasn't long before they reached the third floor of the basement, where the first of the two storage rooms for artifacts and resources was located.
As soon as they left the stairs to this area, Rory opened his mouth to comment in a surprised tone. "This... This is much more than you got at the other altar you explored!
There are even 4th-grade resources here!"
Rory walked around an area that seemed to be a small store. On the shelves were pills, potions, plants, flowers, roots, precious stones and crystals, combat artifacts, and other useful items for various situations.
Many things were there, much more than Vicente had found on his other exploration.
'This place has not been found by anyone before you, master.' Torne confirmed what Vicente was already thinking.
'Why do you sound so pessimistic, old Torne?' Vicente noticed the ghost's strange tone.
'Sigh, if no one has come here, that's not a good sign for the order. It's great for us and our plans, master. However, the part of me that served in the Cataclysm Order wishes there were still members of this force hiding somewhere, trying to re-establish the group.
No one having come here before us is not a hopeful sign for me.'
'I see... Well, there are many secret outposts like this around the continent. Maybe the weak Seidel Kingdom hasn't caught the attention of your old comrades in the group.'
'Maybe...' Torne commented, but he didn't believe it.
His people may have explored other places like this, but perhaps they had given up or been forced to give up exploring them because of bigger problems!
'In any case, I can only count on you now, master.' Torne thought to himself as Rory identified many valuable resources for both Dark Path and Light Path magicians.
