"Well it's great that you're excited, but I don't know where their base is"
Feyd's expression stiffened for a moment before he asked awkwardly.
"D-Didn't you say you know where they are?"
Ray rolled his eyes for a moment before shaking his head.
"No, I just said I know the general vicinity where they might be. Oh, and before you say anything, the area is a bit too large to search by ourselves, so we'll need some help"
"Instead it will be more useful for us to prepare and train while I find people to search for us. It's a tedious task that will probably take a few days to yield results even with help"
Feyd smiled wryly at Ray's response and sighed.
"It would be great if we can go now... But why can't i also search? One more person to help search is better than none"
"Well one more person won't make that much of a difference, also us two are the only people who will fight the bandits. Not only are the people we can hire probably disinclined to actually fight the bandits, we don't have the money to hire them even if we wanted too. At most they take out a few henchmen or get a lucky hit on the boss, for hundreds of credits"
Feyd nodded his head, acknowledging Ray's words. Ordinary people with ordinary weapons usually cannot do much to people with powers.
"Well I agree with your plan, but I have a slight concern. Won't the bandits find it we are searching for them if you hire and send out that many people to search for their camp?"
Ray shrugged at his words while sighing, "Not like we have any better option. Searching ourselves will take weeks on average, and there are no private mercenaries I can contact. At most Adventurers from the Guild, but even then I have to publish a mission which is public"
"Anways it's a small price to find them faster, and it won't cost much either. The quest to find the bandit camp is only C- Rank due to the difficulty in finding it and the chance to get captured by the bandits. Even if the bandits know someone is searching for them, it's not like they can defeat us anyways"
Ray mostly didn't want more people to know of his and Fey's powers, or be near him while he searched for the artifact. Though he wasn't lying to Feyd either.
Feyd wanted to tell Ray to not be overly confident, but also knew that Ray was right. Enemies like the rat king were extremely rare, almost at the highest level of the Wastelands except for a few monsters that lived in special places. The chances of meeting someone as strong as it was slim.
"Alright, so we just gonna train till the Adventurers find something?"
"Pretty much"
The next day Ray went to the Adventurer's Guild to post a mission, searching for the bandit camp. It was a C- Rank mission with a time limit, that would give better rewards the earlier the specific camp was found.
Meanwhile Feyd was fully focused on training, particularly his Rift. He temporarily put away his books.
"How you trying to do?"
Ray asked Feyd who was continuously making Rifts and closing them. Feyd, who was intensely focused, seemed to snap out as he turned towards Ray.
"Ah–! You scared me abit. You're getting stealthier by the day"
Ray shrugged, but had a faint smile at Feyd's complement.
"Well I was trying to form my Rifts faster, with and without hand movements"
Feyd could open Rifts without any hand gestures or movements, but it generally made the activation of his power more difficult and thus slowing it down.
"Hmm? Any particular reason?"
"Well remember how in the fight against the rat king I told you I had to go through my Rift a few times? Well I wouldn't have had to if I formed a Rift infront of the rat king and sent it somewhere else. But I'm still abit slow to do that"
"Oh, also when the rat king was about to hit you a few times if only I could form a larger Rift it's claw would've just gone through the Rift doing no damage"
Ray lifted an eyebrow at the idea but nodded his head, agreeing with Feyd's assessment.
"You're right, doing that means you won't have to belch your contents out nor be weakened, instead it might just add a whole another level to your combat"
Feyd nodded excitedly that Ray understood his vision.
"Yeah, exactly! And I could constantly send fire blasts and sword attacks through Rifts that form all around the enemy, or trap them and stiff–!"
Ray smiled as he made an offer to Feyd, "Want me to help? I can throw stuff at you while you try to form Rifts where the object is gonna hit you"
"Ayy thanks!", Feyd gave Ray a thumbs up.
"No problem, I also gotta train my Telekinisis, i'm not too proficient with it yet"
The two trained together for the next few days, almost a week, untill one evening the Adventurer's Guild notified Ray that his mission had another person claiming that they had found the camp.
Ray had already went out a few times the past few days only to find poor attempts at trickery by Adventuers, the wrong bandit camp or bandits luring Ray to kill him.
However it was not like he could skip any person claiming they had found the camp, since they might have actually found Steam Cannon's camp.
Ray met an Adventuer who was sure that he found the camp, even vividly describing its layout and the symbol the bandits had on their armour, which was similar to what Ray had seen on the bandits from long ago.
The man gave a map with simple directions while hoping to get the reward. Ray himself went to the place on the bike to confirm, telling the man that he would be contacted again If his information was right.
It took a few hours of high speed travel on the bike to reach near the marked location on the map, where the bandit camp supposedly was. However as he neared the place he saw a ravaged, old, decrepit town.
The place had destroyed and burned wood that seemed like the walls and roofs of houses, while the ground was dirty with ash and rubble.
'Hmm well atleast he was telling the truth when he said there was an abandoned round here'
It seemed this town was attacked by monsters long ago and no one ever bothered to rebuild it, since it had not much significance. Most of the people in the town died and the authorities never found out why the monsters all got attracted to the town.
Some people speculated it was the signs of a beast tide, some thought a dark mage did it, while others said that a meteor landing near the town caused it, but after no further chaos ensued its story was left to rot in the back of people's minds and a few papers in administrative offices.
It seemed that the bandit camp was situated up a small mountain, at its summit, where a meteorite had landed. The meteor was already taken by the government for whatever reason, but the landing apparantly created a crater in an already bowl shaped summit making it suitable for hiding buildings.
Ray simply used shadows and his body to scale the mountain, ignoring whatever path there might have been. He reached the top soon due to his high speed and walked towards the crater.
High wooden walls, watchtowers and buildings. Torches and campfires lit up the place exposing bandits and tents all around. Crates, boxes and other storage items were scattered around.
Ray's eyes narrowed and his gaze sharpened. He focused on some of the gathering bandits, more specifically there armour.
'Same symbol, this must be the place'
Although Ray couldn't be a hundred percent sure, he was ninety-eight percent sure this was the camp he wanted to find.
'Now it's just a small matter to find the artifact and maybe hide it from Feyd. Don't want him to get the wrong idea'
Ray soon reached the inn where Feyd was eating dinner after he gave the mission reward to the Adventurer.
"Orgh, ya'rg bacg, I dirdn baui yuo dirneg–"
Feyd spoke as he ate, though no food escaped his mouth. He soon swallowed the food and continued.
"–You gotta order some yourself"
Ray shrugged and got himself some food before sitting opposite to Feyd. The table they were at was pretty small, maybe only for two or three people.
"I found the camp, well I'm pretty sure atleast"
Feyd shifted his focus from his food to Ray as he gestured him to continued.
"The place is atop a mountain that is kind of bowl shaped. The have walls, watchtowers and a few dozen bandits I estimate. We can try attacking them from afar and drawing out their boss"
Feyd nodded agreeing to the plan. It was simple and effective, and he had nothing much more to add. Some detailed could be discussed after actually surveying the place.
Feyd left first while Ray ate a few more plates. After having his fill he saw Feyd playing his guitar by the window staring out at the stars.
Ray quietly walked to his bed before sitting down and taking out a book to read. Feyd closed his eyes and continued to play as Ray enjoyed the music.
However soon an unexpected whistling came surprising Feyd. He opened his eyes and looked towards the source to see Ray reading his book while whistling a tune.
Feyd smiled softly as he changed the song he was playing and followed Ray's whistling. He was glad they had picked a secluded inn with good soundproofing, otherwise their neighbours might have complained.
...
Clouds parted to reveal a slightly red moon shining down onto a mountain's summit. The mountain had walls and buildings inside its crater.
Bandits drank merrily and laughed, joking around and having fun while feasting on meat. However a few people bounded and caged were not as joyous, awaiting their fate of being sold off as slaves
In a building made of wood, relatively larger than the others, a man in robes stood before something with an ominous aura.
The man was tall, almost six feet, with gigantic muscles and bronze skin. His black hair was like a lion's mane that contrasted against his smooth, shiny muscles that were like bundles of iron.
A brutal scar cut through his forehead, past his left eye lid, down to his cheeks diagonally, though his black eyes were fine.
A strange, dark, purple energy flowed around the black necklace in his hand while the strange altar like structure in front of him hummed.
The necklace was the size of half a thumb, and appeared to be some kind of mineral or metal tied to a string.
"Sir, I saw someone saying on us a few hours ago. Like you said, I didn't do anything and let him go"
A lean man with green eyes and brown hair walked into the room solemnly and reported with grave admiration. He pushed his glasses up slightly after speaking
"Did he seem strong? Any special powers?"
The tall man's voice was deep like the ocean and carried a trace of hidden malice that naturally intimidated people.
"No sir, I didn't see how he came up, but there was a bike down the mountain. It seemed he scaled the mountain directly and I didn't dare risk exposing myself, so I didn't follow him as he descended"
The man's voice was unwavering, though fearful of the person before him he knew he was not in danger.
"I see, alright then. Let's see who is targeting me all of a sudden"
The man played with the necklace in his hands before signaling the man to leave. The person left the room quietly.
"Why did people have to come now of all time? What terrible timing"
A trace of purple flashed in the man's eyes, and within its depths a hint of golden could be seen.