They had reached the bottom of the long stairway and were certainly underground. What met them was a small room with several crates that stacked high to the ceiling. In one of the barrels off to the side, Damian could see a weapon handle sticking out.

  Weapon smuggling?

  Question: If you have a storage skill, can someone have a skill that allows them to take items you have tucked away?

  Answer: Never heard of an ability like that before. Hope it doesn't exist! There is another way to take someone's storage. Hint: It involves completing their rite.

  Yes, after a variable period, the contents they were holding will spill out into the world all at once. After the wraith battle, several of these small bursts of goodies popped out. Before any grubby hands could get a hold of them, Ms. Sanderson and the military took them and categorized them away.

  Usually, you would make a list for the healing center, outlining the items to expect. It wouldn't be good if a vial of poison shattered in a public space after your rite.

  Question: How can you stop people from smuggling weapons, drugs, and dead people who haven't had their rites completed?

  Answer: First! Any dead that is going to come back can't be stored away, just like how you can't store a person. Funnily enough, you can store living animals. There is, however, a toss-up over whether the spatial skill in question will keep them alive.

  Second! It's a rare skill to have, but people can gain the ability to peer into your spatial storage, whether it's your own skill or one of the rare spatial storage enchanted items!

  We were fortunate that they didn't send someone with that skill to the Spire. A simple lie detector should have been enough. Well, it was enough in the end.

  'sigh'

  "Ouff." A black cloak was shoved into Damian's chest.

  "He's kind of cute spacing out like that~" Elaina teased.

  Frey quickly moved between the two of them and began helping Damian put on his cloak.

  "It's not cute. Nothing cute about it. Now let's move on. Where do we go from here, sis?"

  "That's Big Sis to you~" Elaina put her hand on a stone wall, and runes invisible to the naked eye lit up. The wall then shifted away, revealing a wider tunnel. The sound of water flowing could be heard.

  "Hmm... Who has the spatial skill? Do you think you have the room to carry some of these crates? We were supposed to move them out in a week, but with how things are going, we might as well make our move now."

  "Ah... I can maybe take a crate or two. I'll have to see how much my skill can hold now."

  Donna, in fact, was able to take four full crates of weapons. She had the extra space from offloading all of our dungeon materials to Jimmy Lee. Donna could actually hold a good bit more, but not a whole crate.

  They weren't about to start unpacking one just to fit a couple more goods.

  As they stepped through the archway, Damian could see they were in the city's drainage system. Fortunately, it wasn't the sewer.

  "Will this take us all the way out of the city?" Damian questioned.

  This tale has been unlawfully lifted without the author's consent. Report any appearances on Amazon.

  "All the way and then some. Frey, if you would?"

  "Fergus, if you would?" Frey mirrored her sister's words.

  Fergus summoned a light above their heads as Elaina resealed the secret door.

  "Oooo~ A light user. Handy~ Mind sharing all of your skills? Best to know what everyone can do in a fight. Although this route should be guard-free, you never know what might happen."

  They looked at Frey, and she gave a nod. She was her sister after all.

  "Ok, this is what I have now."

  "Oooo~ Is that Ecchi Buff the same one Mom has? Oh, she'll be so proud~."

  Frey blushed and looked away.

  How can I make her blush like that? Damian was brainstorming ways to tease the impervious Frey. Whenever he tried, it usually backfired...

  *cough*

  "I also have this new staff, which imbues my skills with lightning. I haven't tried it with my Scorched Laser yet."

  "Hoho~ You should try it with your Ecchi Buff~. You might unlock something new within yourself~."

  Is it worth a try... Do I risk it? Damian was heavily contemplating the possible outcomes from the combination.

  *cough* Frey was blushing so much that Damian thought steam was going to come out of her ears.

  "Hohoho~ I'm not kidding, by the way, excellent gear can sometimes enhance your skills in ways you wouldn't have imagined, like your flight skill. If it hasn't improved much since I last saw it, you could try channeling lightning through it. You'd likely increase its speed significantly or something along those lines."

  ""?"" The whole party was dumbfounded by the information, rightfully so. How often would you hear in the rumour mill that someone combined an offensive enchantment with a non-offensive skill? It took a particular kind of character to gloat about how their flame boots made their night activities much better.

  Huh, didn't know that one. Sucks to be poor.

  "Really? Here, let me try a bit."

  Frey started to hover above the group as they quickly walked the path. The roof of the drainage system was just high enough for a test. Damian caught a flash of what lay beneath her robes.

  Fortunately, she was wearing pants as she always did. If she ever decided to swap to a skirt, then they'd have problems.

  Frey was noticeably faster than before. She could move at about a jogging pace now. Before, it had been more of a slow walk. Still not fast enough to quickly dodge projectiles. She'd still be better off dodging while on the ground.

  Lightning flickered around the flames at Frey's feet, and her speed increased rapidly. Moving her several paces forward all at once. It was about twice as fast as he'd ever seen her sprint.

  "Oh, wow!" The group unanimously commented. *clap* *clap* Alex even provided a noble's clap.

  Maybe this would make it viable for her to fly during combat. I still don't feel comfortable about it, though.

  "Hmm, I think my staff's internal mana is getting low. That took a bit more than I thought it would."

  Frey had fired numerous large lightning-charged fireballs earlier. Not nearly enough time had passed for her to fully recover the mana that accumulates within her staff.

  One common tool remote types use is a staff with a built-in mana accumulator. There is mana throughout the land, air, and water; it's just not as concentrated as the enchanted tools we use. It's practically everywhere. The only issue is that, since it's foreign mana, people can't use it to power their skills.

  This is where staves come in handy. They are designed to take in the ambient mana and convert it into a usable form for their wielder. By triggering the rune to utilize this mana, you can harness an extra mana pool toward the rune's functions in the staff.

  Unfortunately, although this is a huge boon, it comes with a minor setback. The parts of the spell that utilize this foreign mana can harm the caster. It won't hurt you if you use it with a spell that is beneficial in nature, but if it's designed to harm, you could suffer the backlash as well.

  Fergus's shield works similarly, but instead of taking in ambient mana, it takes the mana from a foe and converts it into something else, mana that no longer belongs to the caster. Maybe some of the caster's original mana remains in the attack, that'd explain how it tracks its way back to the source.

  The problem of your staff runes causing self-harm can be overcome by supplying your own mana instead of using the secondary mana pool, but this would be more taxing on the wielder. Some staves had an extra mana pool, but didn't take in the ambient mana. You would have to supply it fully when you weren't in combat.

  'sigh'

  It was best for her to recover her mana naturally, rather than waste their mana potions now.