"Is this really over?" Shasa asked.
"No." Kugoh stared at his friend with determination. "This is just another cave. We've been trapped before and came out of it alive, Shasa. This time it will be no different."
It had been almost two years since the day Shasa, Kugoh, and their late friend, Igord the Vagrash had dug their way down to the remnants of Hatorne's lab in Kandria. They had hoped to find something precious enough to buy them an apprenticeship under an Awakened master.
After all, Hatorne had been a Magus-level fake mage with a talent for Alchemy that rivaled Manohar's for light magic. She had crafted countless wonders that still baffled the Awakened community.
Even if the three Emperor Beasts found only scraps of her research, selling them should have earned them enough money to build a good magical lab. Shasa, Kugoh, and Igord were around seventy years old and nowhere near Awakening.
