When they walked through the portal they saw that everyone was waiting there nervously. Marianne let out a sigh of relief as she saw everyone come out alive. She then went on to start nagging at Elizabeth for disobeying Viktor and Yue and for going into the dungeon while injured and causing trouble for everyone.

“Oh right, I’m giving you negative points for disobeying,” Viktor said to Elizabeth with a glare. He had ignored it during the boss fight and while they were in the treasure room but so many things could’ve gone wrong just because she was there.

“You too?!” Elizabeth whined, beginning to argue that she played a crucial part and that nothing went wrong.

“We picked these up from the werewolf…” Walter murmured and showed Viktor the mana crystals that he didn’t have the time to collect from the leader of the werewolves. There was also a small red orb which he initially thought was one of the objects that had sent him into Yue’s memories but it looked different. There was an odd marking on it that looked like black devil horns.

“Can I take a look at that..?” Yue murmured and Viktor couldn’t help but think that he seemed flustered. Viktor handed the orb to him and Yue inspected it and seemed even more flustered as he saw the marking on it.

“Are you okay?” Viktor asked worriedly as Yue almost seemed like he was about to faint.

“Um..let’s set up a barrier around town before we leave..” Yue murmured and looked down. Viktor was going to agree but he was also going to as if there was something seriously wrong that made Yue seem stressed.

“Okay, can you please not give me more negative points?!” Elizabeth exclaimed and cut between Yue and Viktor. Yue took the time when Viktor wasn't necessarily paying attention to him to calm down and try to stop worrying.

“I’m serious! I’m gonna get a zero at this point!” Elizabeth exclaimed and tried to beg for no negative points.

Viktor just ignored her after realizing that she clearly didn't regret her actions at all. He moved past her and took Yue from Mai and pulled him into his arms. Yue stared at him with a bright red face.

“It’ll be quicker to run to the werewolf den. We need to get there before sunrise to wipe out any survivors.” Viktor said and moved Yue’s arms so they were wrapped around his neck. Mai smirked at Yue and giggled as she watched him get embarrassed.

Yue was embarrassed, he would’ve argued that he could run but Viktor probably wouldn’t let him go regardless. They started running in the direction that the werewolf leader was running in before he was killed. Viktor led the group, using insight to sense any sort of footprints or sign that he was going in the right direction

“I see it.” Yue murmured as they reached a small mountain behind the forest. There was an abandoned mine on the side of the mountain, the orb that the werewolves’ leader began to glow when they got closer to it and Yue got a chill.

“Do you know what that marking is?” Viktor asked quietly, glancing at Yue before looking forward at his destination.

“Yes…” Yue said after hesitating a bit.

“Can you tell me about it?” Viktor asked, carefully setting Yue down as they arrived at the entrance of the mine.

“I-I Don’t know…” Yue murmured, he ended up almost falling and having to hold on to Viktor’s arm when he had a flashback to the first time he saw that symbol.

Yue had first seen the symbol tattooed on the arm of a deranged man who was laughing like a mad man in front of the bodies of a certain family that he had killed.  He was yelling about having attained the power of gods and having finally defeated his mortal enemy as he kicked the head of one of the corpses on the ground.

Yue had just walked in and he couldn’t even think as he looked at the scene, the image burned in his mind as he stared at three bodies lying on the bloody wooden floor. A mix of rage, fear, and pure agony filled him, both in the moment and when he remembered it.  Looking at the corpse of the little girl who looked to be only around 5 as she held on to her mother was particularly traumatizing, he had treasured that family so much and he couldn't protect them.

Yue forced himself into a prophecy, foreseeing the inside of the den and how there were actually no werewolves left at all. That flashback filled him with a kind of heartache that made him resent being alive and being too weak.

“Woah...Are you alright?” Viktor asked, holding Yue still. Yue had seemed nervous but he didn’t think he’d become like this.

“I-I’m fine…”  Yue said, looking up at Viktor and taking a deep breath. He stared at him for a while just to completely remind himself where he was and what he was doing.

Mai went back to helping Yue walk when she arrived at the mine. She was clearly very concerned but Yue wasn’t responding to her questions. 

They arrived in the main area of the mine. The wide-open area still had rails and half mined minerals all over it. The signs that it was a mine seemed to end there as human bones were scattered throughout it along with what seemed to be the bones of Chuchunas and normal wolves along with other creatures from the forest. There were some wooden crates and swords near a rickety wooden chair where the leader probably sat.

“Even wolves..? That’s basically cannibalism..” Walter murmured and got chills as he looked at all the bones.

They started looking through the area, searching through the crates, and checking for any signs of life still in the den.

“Berries?” Yue murmured, sniffing the air a bit as he and Mai walked over to the crates. He opened one of them with his foot and saw a wooden bowl full of the berries that grew in the forest.

“Maybe their leader wasn’t a carnivore?” Mai asked, looking through the other contents of the crate.

“No...he was trying to make ink…there is vinegar here..” Yve murmured after opening a small bottle and sniffing a bit.

“I think that was just for his next batch of ink, there’s already some here.” Viktor murmured and showed Yue a glass bottle of dark red ink that he found in another one of the crates.

“Was he making an array?” Yue murmured as he looked at the ink and brushes in the crate Viktor had opened.

“There already is an array here!” Alexius exclaimed as he entered one of the caves that branched off from the main area. Elizabeth, Marianne, and Walter quickly went to look at it.

“What spells does it have?”  Viktor asked as he slowed down and waited for Yue and Mai as they walked toward the room. William just stayed in the main room and looked through the crates as if searching for treasure. The other students kept their eye on him to make sure he didn’t take anything without telling Viktor and Yue.

“I can’t tell…” Elizabeth murmured, confused by the spells that were unfamiliar to her.

“One of the circles in the array is cloning and there’s what looks like an infusion circle..” Marianne said as she scrutinized the array on the floor of the cave.

Mai brought Yue toward the array and both of them immediately recognized the magic circle that Marianne called an infusion circle.

“That’s infusion but...it’s the altered version used by demonic cultivators.” Mai murmured. She remembered being asked to burn the wooden floor of a house back in Vietnam because a spell like that was painted on it and was releasing demonic energy.

“The werewolf was cloned and infused with demonic energy, that’s why there were suddenly so many werewolves and why he could release spirit fog...Burn the ground, the array will draw other things to it and cause issues later on if we don't,” Yue said and turned around, using his prophetic powers again to keep himself from having a panic attack.

“Set a barrier please,” Mai said to Walter before she started to use her magic to scorch the ground. She didn’t want the magic to go too far and hurt someone.

Yue held on to the wall as he walked back to where William and everyone else was, ignoring Viktor’s worried stare. He followed his prophecy and opened a crate that William seemed to have ignored. He found that it was full of mana crystals. Most of the crystals were green but a few red and light blue ones were in the crate as well. 

“Oh, those are perfect...” Viktor said from behind Yue and smiled. He took a couple into his hands and checked them with insight.

“Why have you been collecting these? You can easily buy higher purity mana crystals in the Paris auction next month..” Yue murmured and looked at Viktor, tilting his head a little.

“These might be low purity but I think the dungeons’ mana was affecting them, they work much better than a standard crystal of this size and purity,” Viktor said and examined the light blue crystals in particular since they were of higher purity. He was tempted to ask out loud where the werewolves got the crystals from but he could tell it was connected to the thing Yue didn’t want to talk about. 

After they looked through all the crates and essentially the whole mine, Viktor picked Yue up again and they went on their way back as the sun started to rise. Yue told the students that stayed in town that they had successfully defeated all of the werewolves and that all of the townspeople could leave the church now.

When they arrived in town, all the villagers were rejoicing and everyone ran up to them to thank them profusely. It was still very early but they couldn’t contain themselves even if they were tired.

“P-Put me down…” Yue said with bright red cheeks. He would’ve asked Viktor to put him down earlier but he didn’t expect everyone to be waiting directly in front of the forest.

Frida rushed over to him and hugged him with a bright smile the second Viktor put him down. Yue ignored the pain from his side and patted Frida’s head with a smile. Frida was smiling and thanking both him and Viktor happily until she suddenly paused.

“Wait...Now you have to leave…” Frida murmured and her expression became very sad.

Yue flinched, he hadn’t thought about how Frida would react to them having to leave. He was flustered but he calmed her down a bit.

“It’s alright we still have a few days left until we leave...” Yue said and stroked Frida’s hair softly. She still looked sad but knowing that they weren’t just leaving immediately made her feel a bit better.

“Now, let them rest, they had a rough night..” The village chief said and patted Viktor on the back with a smile as he noticed how tired everyone looked. 

They were still being praised as they walked to the inn but everyone respected their privacy and need for sleep when they got to the lobby. Yue let go of Mai to go to his own room by himself as he noticed how tired she was. He helped himself walk by holding the wall a bit, it had already become a bit easier but he still felt a pain in his side.

Before he entered his room he noticed how Viktor seemed like he was up to something as he carried the crate of mana crystals into his room. He didn’t really pay attention to it and just went to sleep in his room.

-

Yue woke up after a while and realized that he had slept until the sun started to get low again. He didn’t actually feel that tired this time. He had checked his body before going to sleep and found that the wound on his back had actually been completely healed by Viktor and Mai's healing magic in the dungeon. The healing magic had probably been directed by his mana to the place that needed healing the most and compared to internal bleeding and what was at most a bruised rib, his poisoned back injury seemed much more serious. Because his wound was healed he didn't feel perpetually tired anymore. He drank a painkiller and himself presentable to go get dinner. Everyone was already there and eating happily since they knew they would mostly be slacking off on patrol since all the werewolves were dead. They were really only going to be there just in case the villagers needed help.

The villagers had made the people who had learned sword fighting from Viktor in charge of the night watch and saved a spot for Frida for when she grew up and was better at magic. The next few days that the students would be staying in the village would be the training days so the students would help out.

“Where’s Viktor?” Yue asked as he sat down to eat beside Mai.

“He already ate, I think he’s looking through the mana crystals or something,” Mai said, giggling at how the first thing Yue said had to do with Viktor. Yue hummed in response, he was curious but he decided to wait since he would see him at night while they were in their usual post.

“I’m going to be in the church tower today, so get as comfortable as you want together.” Mai teased and poked Yue’s cheek and giggled. Yue just blushed and glared a bit before focusing on eating whilst Mai continued teasing him.

Yue was beginning to feel impatient as he waited for Viktor to arrive. He would turn around every 5 minutes to look toward the inn to see if he was coming. He didn’t want to say something through telepathy because he felt shy but he was getting to the point where he was considering it since the sun was almost completely set.

He suddenly jumped when two hands ended up on his shoulders. He almost pulled out his sword when he realized it was just Viktor.

“I’ve been waiting..” Yue pouted and looked up at Viktor who had a sheepish grin on his face.

“Sorry, I was making something,” Viktor said and squatted down next to Yue who was sitting on the tree stump that he usually sat in. He pulled something from his pocket and showed it to Yue.

It looked like a golden pocket watch with a light blue mana crystal embedded onto it but Yue realized what it was after looking at it for a second. He quickly took it into his hand and looked at it with an astonished look.

“Woah...I’ve never seen one of these in person before!” Yue said with wide eyes as he continued to examine it, “It’s a letter portal right?”

A letter portal was a simple but incredibly expensive magic device that could send letters to anyone the device was linked to instantaneously. It was specifically called a letter portal because it could only send things that were about as heavy as the device itself and that was usually limited to letters.

“Yeah, I made it so Frida will be able to talk with us even when we go back to the academy. I figured that even if it’s by letter, continuing to be her teachers will be mutually beneficial.” Viktor said and smiled.  He was actually a bit curious about Yue’s words, he was certain that Yue would have a letter portal to talk to Fei Xiang through letters. 

“That's great!” Yue said with a bright smile.

He had felt bad about having to leave Frida but knowing that they’d still be able to talk made him feel better about it. He went back to fidgeting with it after giving Viktor a thankful look. Viktor just watched as Yue looked at the letter portal for a while, trying to figure out how he made it. 

“I made something for you too,” Viktor said and smiled. Yue turned to him with a curious look, wondering if he was going to get his own letter portal as well.

Viktor touched the space ring and the silver necklace from the dungeon came out but instead of having the empty spaces for gems, it now had the light blue mana crystals in them instead. Yue blushed as he took it into his hands, it was very beautiful and also practical since it was a magic item so he already really liked it. When he looked at it closer and felt that it looked a bit familiar but he couldn’t tell from where. He smiled softly and looked over at him.

“Thank yo—!” Yue started before he cut himself off and turned bright red. Viktor looked at him with a confused look while Yue just lost the ability to think.

It was that necklace. From that dream.

Yue almost wanted to cry from embarrassment, the necklace exactly the same as the one he wore in his wet dream from a few weeks ago. That meant that it was a prophecy and not just a dream.

“Do you not like it?” Viktor asked, a bit dejected.

Yue would’ve immediately told him that that wasn’t the case if he wasn’t incredibly curious about how the upcoming events would lead to what happened in his dream. He was also incredibly embarrassed and completely unsure of what to do because that meant that their feelings would at some point be romantic regardless of his gender. He was still unsure what he felt about Viktor but knowing that it reached the point where they'd do indecent things was crazy and almost eye-opening.

He still couldn’t believe that it was a prophecy but he quickly and quietly put the necklace on himself and then hid his face with his hands.

"I-I do like it..it’s very pretty.” Yue murmured, moving his hands every time Viktor tried to move around to see his face.