He sat there for several minutes, allowing the Breath of Yggdrasil to completely saturate his system. He didn't rush the process. Out in the real world, haste was often necessary, but in here, he had the luxury of ensuring his body was in absolute, peak condition before he presented himself to his new associates. He needed them to see a leader, a man of unshakeable power and resources, not a mage who had nearly worked himself to the bone carving rock.
When his internal mana reservoir felt like a deep, still ocean once again, Lencar finally opened his eyes. The color had returned to his face, and the sharp, focused clarity was back in his gaze. He flexed his fingers, feeling the familiar, terrifying strength humming beneath his skin.
"Much better," he murmured to the empty void.
He stood up, his movements fluid and entirely devoid of stiffness. He picked up the featureless wooden mask, pressing it back against his face, feeling the enchantments lock into his mana signature. He threw the heavy black cloak over his shoulders, letting the shadows envelop him once more.
With a single, focused thought, Lencar willed himself out of the silver ring.
He materialized in the center of the massive, pristine main hall of his newly constructed underground base. The black, ceramic-like walls and the glowing pink crystal pillars stood in perfect, silent majesty. The air was cool and fresh, continuously cycled by the Wind Magic vortexes hidden in the ventilation shafts above.
It was ready.
Lencar raised his right hand, extending his index and middle fingers. He focused on the exact spatial coordinates of the cramped, magically insulated safehouse hidden beneath the Nairn Black Market.
"Spatial Magic: Void Step."
The air in the center of the hall tore open with a deep, resonant hum, swirling with dark purple energy. Lencar didn't step through it immediately; he waited for the portal to stabilize, allowing the ambient light of the safehouse to bleed through into the dark cavern.
On the other side of the portal, inside Dominante's cramped workshop, the atmosphere was thick with tension.
Dominante, Fanzell, and Mariella had been waiting exactly as he had instructed. The room looked entirely different than it had just four hours prior. The chaotic mess of half-finished artifacts and scattered parchment had been meticulously cleared. Several large, heavy leather trunks bound with intricate magical locks sat by the iron door.
Fanzell was leaning against the wall, his arms crossed over his chest. Thankfully, he was still fully clothed, wearing a sturdy leather tunic and a dark traveling cloak. His blue eyes were sharp and alert, his hand resting casually near the hilt of his wind-infused sword. Mariella stood perfectly still near the center of the room, completely indiscernible from a statue, her silver hair catching the dim light of the floating orbs. Dominante was pacing back and forth, her vibrant orange hair bouncing with every anxious step, muttering runic equations to herself to calm her nerves.
When the purple portal violently ripped open in the middle of the room, Dominante let out a sharp gasp, jumping back. Fanzell instantly dropped into a ready stance, and Mariella's hands blurred toward her hidden daggers.
But as Lencar's tall, imposing figure stepped out of the swirling void, the tension in the room instantly evaporated, replaced by a collective sigh of relief.
Lencar looked at the three of them, taking in the packed trunks and the weary but hopeful expressions on their faces. Beneath his mask, a genuine, warm smile touched his lips.
"My apologies for the delay," Lencar said, his voice carrying that familiar, resonant metallic distortion, though his tone was light and welcoming. "You all have waited enough. The preparations at the site are finally complete."
Dominante let out a long, shaky breath, pressing a hand to her chest. "Thank the gods. I was starting to think you had run into a Magic Knight patrol, or that the Diamond Kingdom assassins had somehow tracked you down. Four hours is a long time to sit in the dark waiting for a portal to open."
"I encountered no resistance," Lencar assured her smoothly. "Building a sanctuary simply requires a certain degree of meticulous care. I see you have packed your belongings."
Fanzell stepped forward, gesturing to the heavy leather trunks. "We packed the absolute essentials. Dominante's rare crystals, her primary forging tools, and all of her coded research journals. We also packed what little clothing and rations we had. The rest of the heavy furniture and the base metals we decided to leave behind. It would be too cumbersome to transport."
Lencar glanced at the trunks. He could easily transport all of it in a single trip using the massive storage capacity of his spatial ring, but he didn't want to reveal the full extent of his hand just yet. Multiple magic attributes, and high-tier Spatial Magic were already enough to make him a terrifying anomaly. Adding a high-capacity spatial dimension artifact to the list might make them unnecessarily paranoid about his true identity.
"There is no need to abandon good materials," Lencar said reasonably. "However, moving everything at once will be chaotic. Let us take the most crucial items first—your research and your primary tools. You can come through the portal, inspect the new base, and choose your respective quarters. Once you are settled and comfortable with the layout, we can make multiple trips to retrieve the rest of your supplies. I can maintain the spatial tether for as long as necessary."
Dominante's eyes lit up with profound appreciation. "That would be wonderful. I hated the thought of leaving my brass ingots behind. They cost a fortune."
"Then grab what you can carry for the first trip," Lencar instructed, stepping aside and gesturing to the swirling purple vortex. "The air on the other side might feel a bit... different. Do not be alarmed. The base is completely secure."
Fanzell, ever the protective husband and former Commander, took the lead. He hoisted one of the heaviest trunks onto his shoulder with ease, his muscles shifting beneath his tunic. He gave Dominante a reassuring nod, then stepped boldly into the dark purple energy of the portal.
Mariella followed immediately after, carrying two smaller, heavily warded cases, her movements silent and fluid. Dominante went last, clutching a thick, leather-bound grimoire to her chest like a lifeline. Lencar brought up the rear, stepping through the void and allowing the portal to snap shut behind him with a sharp pop, plunging the Nairn hideout into absolute silence.
The transition from the cramped, humid basement in Nairn to the sprawling underground fortress in the Shivering Crags was nothing short of a sensory shock.
The moment Dominante stepped off the portal's threshold and her boots clicked against the perfectly smooth, black ceramic-like floor, she froze. The heavy grimoire nearly slipped from her grasp.
"By the heavens..." Dominante breathed, her voice echoing endlessly into the distance.
Fanzell had already set his trunk down, his head tilted back as he stared up at the massive, vaulted ceiling. Even Mariella, who was trained to suppress all outward emotion, allowed her icy blue eyes to widen in genuine, unadulterated shock.
They were standing in the center of a cavernous, magnificent hall that looked like the grand cathedral of some lost, ancient empire. Massive pillars of solid steel, encased entirely in glowing, translucent pink crystal, soared upwards to support a ceiling of polished black stone. The sheer scale of the architecture was overwhelming.
But it wasn't just the aesthetics that stunned them. It was the absolute, impossible size of the space.
"Wait," Fanzell said, his brow furrowing as he spun around, his sharp tactical mind rapidly calculating distances and dimensions. He looked at Lencar, pointing a finger toward the far end of the hall, which seemed to stretch on for a ridiculous distance. "The ambient mana outside this structure... I can feel it pressing against the exterior wards. This is a mountain peak. We're inside a Crag. But... the footprint of this room alone is larger than the physical width of the mountain we must be standing in. How is that mathematically possible?"