Having figured out that Raze was down below was not the same as figuring out why or how he got there. So the three of them were now stumped with what to do. Liam had gone to pick up a rock and threw it off the cliff.
They knew what he was doing, so they waited and waited until they could hear some sort of sound, but they heard nothing back.
“Now I’m not sure if they’re alive or not,” Liam stated.
“That was a small rock; why don’t you pick a bigger rock? Just because you have a big head, it looks like you have a small brain,” Simyon stated.
“Oh yeah, then maybe I should just throw you down there; you’re just as heavy as a rock, right? You’ll make some loud noise. Or maybe we can ride you down there, and your hard body will break our fall!”
The two seemed to be at each other’s throats, and they were relatively close to fighting. Safa didn’t break up the fight and instead was just trying to figure out a way down, that was until she saw someone come out from the forest.
“Who do you think’s not alive?” The voice asked.
—
Entering a portal on his own like so, Raze wouldn’t dare. It was just too risky; he much would rather head through the portals that the Academy already had and were aware of the ranking.
The thing was right now he had Dame by his side. Dame, a powerful Pagna warrior at the peak of the initial stage, and with the items Raze had given him, he was even stronger than that.
If he entered with Dame, then everything should be okay. If it was dangerous, then they could at least find the exit.
‘No wait, the portal inscription from before!’ Raze thought to himself. ‘Isn’t it okay for me now to enter any portal? As long as I am able to survive the initial entering, then I can always return to this point, thanks to the magic circle that was left behind by the Dark Faction founder.’
It was a revelation that Raze hadn’t really figured out till now, but it should work. He had more than enough power stones now to do such a thing. Heading inside to get more would be a bonus for him, and it would allow him to gather crystal to increase his magical strength as well.
“Let’s do it, but let’s err on the side of caution first. I’m still a little injured,” Raze explained. He started to bring out his power stones and some of the ingredients he had; he was going to create some pills for this journey.
“I need to be prepared for anything, and I need to get my strength up as well,” Raze said to himself.
“Oh?” Dame said, peaking over at what Raze was doing. “Do you mind making a couple for me? You never know, I might need them as well.”
Raze went ahead, creating a few Qi pills. He had created one of each color: Red, Blue, and Green, and had done so twice. So he had six pills in total. He then had done the same and handed them to Dame, who had six pills as well.
There were still plenty of crystals in his possession after all, and once going through the portal, they were hoping that there would be even more for them to gather. Raze was actually hoping to see some high-level beasts on the other side. With Dame, he couldn’t waste this opportunity.
“Alright, you ready?” Dame asked. “Then let’s go.”
Dame was the first to step into the portal, and following right behind him was Raze. The two went inside, and unlike the portals Raze had been in before, this one didn’t close up.
A few moments after the two had headed inside, several voices could be heard through the mist.
“Hey, hey now everyone stick close together; we don’t want to get lost,” Liam said, his voice shaky. “Especially you, Safa; you can grab me wherever you want, and I mean wherever you want.”
“Do you really have to be such a perv in a situation like this!” Simyon shouted.
The two of them were both holding onto Safa and were doing so on either side. Going through the thick fog, they realized that they were unable to see anything. But Safa had eventually found a type of path in the ground.
She soon started to follow it with her feet, and as she did, the others continued to follow her. They noticed that it looked like imprinted footprints. Right now, though, they weren’t even sure they were in the right place as the others.
“Ah man, this is scary, I think I’m hearing voices in my balls, I mean head,” Liam said, almost on the verge of tears.
“Did you lose brain cells coming down here?” Simyon replied. “How could you get balls mixed up with your head.”
Eventually, the three of them had reached the end of the trail, and now right ahead, they could see it. The large circular object that was directly in front of them, floating about.
“Is that a portal!” Simyon called out. “What’s one doing out here in the Academy; do they even know about it?”
“No, they don’t,” a voice said from behind. Appearing through the fog was none other than Gunther, one of the original examiners and the friendly soul that had helped the three get down into this place.
“Why did you guys just go ahead and run off like that; I almost lost you through all this fog,” Gunther claimed. “Anyway, do you really think the two of them went in there?”
Safa tugged on Gunther’s shirt, and then pointed to the footprints below. It certainly did seem like an adult-sized footprint, but if it was Raze, how did they even know the portal was down here?
Looking back at the others, Gunther started to smile. “Hey, so who’s up for a little adventure?”