Three days passed quickly.

They spent the time the way Morgana had suggested.

Which was a combination of resting, familiarizing themselves with all the features of the apartment, walking through the streets of sector four to make sure they don’t get lost, and of course, getting comfortable with the city.

This was a different place than Havenhart, so it took a little getting used to.

As usual, Lukas cooked. As for Melody, she reorganized the kitchen twice during her attempts at learning to cook.

Akira found a bookshop two blocks from their building and came home with four books about the Second Floor that she read in a single sitting.

Lukas borrowed some of the books, reading too, but was unable to get through most of them. He wondered how Akira was able to do it.

He’d been expecting text describing the wonders of the second floor, but all he’d gotten was a book dryer than sandpaper.

How on earth had the author made something as fantastic as the Second Floor sound like this was a question Lukas would struggle to answer.

On the morning of the third day, they were at the dining table when the knock came.

Lukas rose and walked to the door.

Karrakas stood in the corridor, dressed in the same dark suit from the Le Fay mansion, his dark blue hair neatly combed. He raised one hand in a small wave, his sharp teeth showing in a grin.

"Right on time," Lukas said.

"Always," Karrakas replied.

Lukas stepped aside and gestured him in. Karrakas entered, looking around the apartment briefly as they walked through the living room.

Lukas led him to the dining table.

Melody and Akira were already seated, both with drinks in front of them.

Karrakas greeted them with a nod and a smile, pulling out the chair at the far end of the table. Lukas took his seat at the head of the table.

"Before we begin," Karrakas said, settling into his chair and folding his hands on the table, "I want to be clear about what my role actually is."

"I am one of the best guides currently under the employ of the Le Fay family. That is not me attempting to be modest and it is not a boast. It is simply the truth, and you deserve to know who you’re working with."

"My job is to give you accurate information, lay out your options clearly, and once you’ve made your choice, guide you along the best path to get where you want to be. I don’t make decisions for you. I make sure your decisions are informed ones."

Lukas nodded. "Then let’s hear the options. What spatial gates do we have access to in sector four?"

Karrakas reached into his jacket and produced a folded document, opening it flat on the table.

It was a map, more detailed than the one the receptionist had given them, with three locations marked clearly in different colors.

"As Adepts, you have access to all gates into the Second Floor, but I’ll recommend three to you," he said. "Each one leads somewhere different, and each has its own advantages and its own problems."

He tapped the first mark. "The first gate drops you onto an archipelago. A large collection of islands sitting in the middle of a vast ocean."

Lukas had read about how the Second Floor was so large, it contained different terrains and one could walk for years, and still never come across it.

"The main island is large enough to accommodate the people streaming through daily, but not as large as this sector," Karrakas said.

"The island has been well documented. There are several E-rank dungeons spread across it, all of them carefully mapped and consistently farmable. For new Adepts, it is one of the more reliable options available."

"What about the ocean itself?" Akira asked, leaning forward slightly.

Karrakas met her eyes. "The ocean is a different matter entirely. Crossing it is not impossible, but I would strongly advise waiting until you’ve reached C-rank before attempting it. The water itself isn’t the problem. The problem is what lives in it."

"There have been documented cases of S-rank beasts being drawn to the surface. Whatever pulls them up, no one has been able to determine with certainty. All we know is that a boat crossing the open ocean is a target. A stationary one is a larger target."

Akira sat back. "So we stay on the island."

"For now, yes. And on the island, you’d be perfectly safe from that particular threat."

He tapped the document. "The one downside worth noting is that the island has been cleared of roaming beasts entirely. Hunters and guilds worked through the population years ago. So if you want to kill beasts and earn experience, you have to enter the dungeons. There’s nothing to hunt in the open."

Melody nodded slowly. "And the second gate?"

Karrakas moved his finger to the second mark on the map. "This gate is one of the most popular among new Adepts, and leads to a desert. Possibly the largest on the entire Second Floor, though no one has confirmed that because no one has ever found the edge of it."

He paused for a moment, meeting their gaze to make sure they’d heard what he’d said.

"During the day, the heat of the sun is scorching. During the night, the temperature drops sharply in the other direction. As Adepts, your constitution handles both extremes without serious risk, but it is worth knowing."

"What makes it popular?" Lukas asked.

"The gradient," Karrakas said. "The beasts closest to the gate are weak. The further out you go, the stronger they become."

"New Adepts can start close to the gate, build their strength, and push further out as they advance. Many Adepts never leave this particular location at all. They simply keep moving the boundary of where they hunt."

Akira grinned. "And there’s a downside, isn’t there?"

Karrakas matched her grin. "There is. The sand, in every direction, makes navigation genuinely difficult. It is easy to get lost, though a compass solves most of that problem."

"The real issue is the beasts themselves. They don’t roam openly the way beasts do in other environments. They sit beneath the sand, lying in wait."

"You will not see them coming, and you will not hear them. One moment the ground is flat and empty, and the next, something is already lunging at you." He looked around the table. "If your guard drops for even a moment, a single strike could kill you."

"The desert forgives a lot, but the one thing it punishes above all else, is distraction."

There was silence around the table as they all thought about that.

Then Lukas stared at the third mark on the map.

"The third gate," he said. "What is it?"