"Why that method?" Alina asked. "Why not figure out other cultivation methods different families have?"
"We could pick the best one once we have a few.'' Ruby agreed.
"Well, it shall be our first endeavor." Salem responded. "This will be fun. I don't think I've ever stolen something before."
"You haven't stolen before?" Alina asked. "You're so innocent."
"Have you?" Salem asked, smiling.
She shook her head.
"Then you're just as innocent." Salem chuckled. "Let's go."
It wasn't hard to find the Frost family's sprawling mansion. The mansion was seven stories tall, towered over the neighboring structures, and was painted blindingly white.
As Salem began usung bugs to scout out the rooms, he noted their traps and strange circles with runes in them.
Copying a decorated circle, he asked Ruby if she understood what it was for.
"This is a formation circle." She explained, examining every line that made up the circle. "I can't tell exactly what this one does because I specialize in sword spells, but it can't be good."
"So we should avoid anywhere there is a formation?" Salem asked.
"There are probably relay nodes that will activate it anyway.'' Ruby said. "We should just break it and save ourselves the trouble."
"Thank you." Salem said, returning his attention to his bugs.
Using his bugs, Salem was able to create a holographic map of almost the entire residence, with dark red splotches where any potential traps would be.
The three of them planned their escape route after finding what seemed to be the vault.
Salem was unable to verify as Ruby warned him of a ridiculous quantity of one of the only formations she knew. Detection formations.
"That many detection formations mean that your bugs will be detected and put them on high alert." She explained. "When we get to there, we need to destroy them or deactivate them."
"Would that not send them running?" Salem asked.
"It would." She responded. "They wouldn't be able to track us down to the millimeter, though"
"They're that accurate?" Alina asked in surprise.
"Most will be." Ruby said.
"Why are you unsurprised by that, Salem?" Alina asked.
"Well, where I came from the government could track you through a mobile device in your pocket." He explained. "They could track you slightly less accurately though."
"And everyone kept them?" Ruby asked disbelivingly. "Why would they not throw them away?"
"Because they were convenient." Salem said. "They allowed us to access gigabytes of data in seconds, connect with people across the planet, and allowed us to watch videos of cats."
"..." Alina looked stunned for a moment. "But...Why cats?"
"I have no clue." Salem laughed. "I guess because they were cute. Through the combined social media and video communications platform YouTwitFace, people even watched other people play games that the viewers play."
"Sounds like it was a large part of your culture." Alina noted.
"It was a toxic, yet integral part of the world." Salem said.
"Why was it toxic?" Ruby asked. "Did people attack each other or something?"
"Yes." Salem said. "Verbally, and ruthlessly. There were also cases of people tracing someone's location and killing them."
"Wow." The two women said simultaniously.
"Yeah." Salem said. "Let's get back on topic, shall we?"
He gestured to the hologram.
After they planned their entry and exit, they waited for night to fall, allowing their stealthy advances while enshrouded by shadows.
....
Bill continued on his way through the unlit halls, guided by the pale moonlight that streamed through the skylights.
His job was to patrol the halls and activate the alarm talisman in his pocket if he spotted someone.
He walked through the empty halls, contemplating something deeply, to the point where he almost didn't notice the shifting shadow that came down from the skylight above him.
He reached into his pocket, but before he could activate the alarm talisman, everything went dark.
....
"Shadows are very useful." Salem noted. "Although, we could have waited for him to pass. No one ever looks up."
"That's true, but it would be a risk." Alina said, leaping down through the hole Salem had made with nanobots.
She landed, light as a feather, and looked around.
Gesturing for them to follow, Salem had a shadow place the unfortunate soul on the cieling and bound him there with nanotech bones.
"Seamless." Salem said, admiring his handiwork.
"Yeah." Ruby said, shaking her head. "Perfectly and seamlessly camouflauged like his natural habitat."
"Exactly." Salem said, following Alina, who was leading the way. "I'm going to leave another fun stone for them to chew on."
"Huh?" Alina stopped in her tracks trying to process the almost nonsensical phrase Salem just uttered.
"I'm going to write on another rock and see how they interpret it." Salem elaborated. "Give them something to chew on."
"What are you going to write this time?" Ruby asked.
"It's a surprise." Salem smiled.
The trio followed the planned pathway to the room with hundreds of formations and destroyed every single one with Salem's and Ruby's nanotech bugs.
As soon as they broke the last one, Alina checked the halls.
"It's utterly silent." She said. "I can't see or hear anyone approaching."
"Strange, isn't it?" Salem said. "Anyway, let's go and get that cultivation method."
"So that's what you're after." A figure appeared in front of the vault doors. "Well. You'll never get past me and get it."
"So it IS in there." Salem nodded. "That makes this easier."
As soon as he spoke, he whipped a tendril of shadow at the figure, intent on immobilizing him.
The figure leapt up and began crawling on the ceiling.
"So you're the unheard of Shadow Lord?" It asked.
"Yeah." Salem nodded, finding it funny he only just connected the dots.
"Then who are you two?" It asked, gesturing to Ruby and Alina. "Servants?"
"Companions." Salem interjected.
"Ha." The figure scoffed. "As if you have them for anything other than pleasure."
Alina waved a hand and sent several tendrils of shadow hurtling towards the figure.
"There are two of you?" The figure said in surprise.
"Yeah." Alina said. "And a Sword Mage."
"Oh s**t." The figure laughed. "That's funny! Sword mages are pathetic!"
Ruby created herself two black blades and set one on fire with a spell. She cast the other at the figure.
"What's this for?" The figure caught it and laughed. "You want me to duel you?"
As soon as it finished speaking, the sword burst into a freezing fog that rapidly coalesced onto the figure, fusing one of its hands to the ceiling.
"Let's just kill him." Ruby said. "We can't have some shady figure survive like this."