"In the depths I wait, tingling constantly, a plunge you'll have to make, pain you'll also have to take." Clair read aloud. "Yeah, that doesn't sound good."

  "It's going to be in the wet room," I said, looking towards the small attached room. "Fuck." I said, slumping my shoulders in realisation.

  "What?" Clair said, looking at me.

  "Which box wasn't a spatial storage box?" I asked.

  I looked at Clair when I asked her the question. I saw the confusion register since it was obvious that we hadn't found any. "So now we have to go look into barrels with liquid in them," I added. It was only then that she followed the logic, and I saw the horror cross her face.

  "I'm not diving into any barrels." Clair said quickly, "That is for you to do."

  "I.." I started, but suddenly I realised something. "Have you seen Elle?"

  "I haven't, did she not teleport with us?" Clair asked.

  "Hang on, let me try something," I said.

  I sat down and crossed my legs. Elle had said that they were soul-bonded, so there should be a connection to her. I focused inside of me to where I felt the connection to my scythe, I sent a touch of mana through the bond and felt the scythe vibrate on my lap. I searched around for any other connections and found a bond that didn't go anywhere. I sent a touch of mana into the connection, and there was a pulse from the connection, but nothing happened. I tried a few more times before a notification popped up.

  Use of familiars, pets and summons is forbidden in this challenge. You are unable to summon your soul familiar.

  "Well, I guess that explains it, familiars, summons and pets are forbidden in this room." I said, "If she doesn't appear after this room, I'll resummon her."

  "Fair enough, that still means you're diving into barrels of goop."

  "Yup," I said in defeat.

  We walked over to the small side room. It wasn't a large room, maybe 25 feet square, but I housed at least 35 wooden barrels. Like the boxes in the warehouse, nothing was labelled. Unlike the warehouse, the barrels were lined up in rows with room to walk between them.

  The barrels had a simple clip lock on them, allowing for easy access. I measured my scythe against the barrel, and it only came up halfway. I opened the top of the barrel and peered inside. Fish, lots and lots of fish. It looked like salmon, but I didn't bother to identify it. I pushed my scythe into the barrel, and when it went past ?, I turned to Clair.

  "This is gonna suck." I groaned.

  She smiled at me weakly and we went back to work. Clair pulled a piece of chalk out of her bag and wrote 'FISH' in big letters on the lid before sealing it up.

  Each barrel contained something different; there were barrels of wine, vinegar, honey, oil, health, mana and Stamina potion waiting to be put into vials. There were also some less than savoury barrels, one contained enough alchemist fire to level most of the capital. There was a barrel full of blood, fresh blood as well, according to my Identification spell. Another contained a deadly poison that I almost took a lungful of; thankfully, my Identification spell triggered before I sniffed it.

  Item: Barrel of Poison

  Rarity: Uncommon

  Weight: 4171.7lb

  Description: A spatial barrel containing 500 gallons of potent neurotoxin. This barrel is destined for the Royal Family in Sunak.

  All in all, it only took an hour before we had labelled every barrel and were standing back at the entrance of the wet room.

  "Any ideas which one will contain the next clue?" I asked.

  "Well the clue said tingling constantly and must endure pain." Clair replied, "so I guess we can rule out all the non-harmful barrels and the extremely deadly barrels."

  "That makes sense. Do you have a short list of barrels?"

  "I do, I think there are 4 options. The barrel of slime goop, the barrel of mild alchemist acid, the barrel of hot sauce and the barrel of cooling solution."

  "The barrel of hot sauce? Really?" I asked in confusion.

  "I know the brand of hot sauce from the flavour, they use Dragon Soul peppers to make it extra hot. At first, it will tingle if it's on your bare skin and can give 2nd degree burns if you leave it for long enough."

  "And people eat it?!"

  "It's rarely used in mass quantities; it's more like a drop to add a kick to the food. You're more likely to find it in the fancier restaurants where they have exotic food."

  That made sense from the few Nobles I had been around. When you had more money than you knew what to do with, dinner with a sauce that would burn your insides must be a new experience. Rich people were crazy sometimes.

  "How do you know about it?" I asked.

  "There is this chicken stall built onto the side of the outer wall. They use it as a marinade for the meat before coating it in honey and herbs." She said with dreamy eyes.

  "That good, huh?"

  "Once this is over, I'll have to show you it." Clair smiled. I may have blushed a little; you don't know, you weren't there. "Which of the barrels did you want to swim in first?"

  I, of course, did not want to swim in any of the barrels. Each barrel contained 500 gallons of liquid, with the dimensions of the barrel, I guessed they were about 80 feet deep. 80 feet was about 4 tall pine trees stacked one on top of each other. I was not sure if I could hold my breath and swim for that long before taking into account that the barrel didn’t contain water. Slime goop would take longer to swim through than mild alchemist acids. I didn’t even want to consider swimming through the hot sauce and said a silent prayer that it wouldn’t come to it.

  I began looking through the contents of my bag to see if I could find anything that would help me. My search became more frantic as I slowly ran out of items to look through. I ended up holding a pair of goggles, a rubber apron and thick leather boots. I was going to have to go into the barrel mostly naked, else my equipment would slowly be eaten away by the acid. I decided to wear the goggles so that at least my eyes would be protected. The apron and boots went back into the bag of holding. I contemplated using Right Clothes for the Job, but it wouldn't protect me from the acid, but instead just make swimming a little bit harder.

  “This is going to suck,” I said, heading over to the mild alchemist acid barrel.

  I had a feeling this barrel was the one that was most likely going to have the clue in. Acid tingles things that it can’t burn through, and for anything it can burn through. That matched up with the clue, right? I really hoped I was right as I stared into the dark barrel of acid.

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  "Here, let's drop this in so you can see the bottom," Clair said, next to me, she pulled a glowstone out of a pocket and dropped it into the barrel.

  We both watched as the stone slowly fell through the acid, illuminating the inside. At first, I thought that the description was wrong and the barrel wasn't a spatial barrel, but as the seconds passed by, the light from the glowstone grew dimmer and dimmer as it sank to the bottom.

  I looked up to see Clair looking at me with a slight grimace on her face. I could feel her eyes roaming over my naked body, I felt her attention rest on my chest, and I looked down. I didn't have anything that resembled abs, but neither was I fat; no, her attention was not on my physique but instead the scars that were fully visible around my heart.

  "Luca, you've never said how you got those scars." She said, her brows furrowed.

  "A few years before I joined the party, I had a comfy job protecting the soul of someone important." I said vaguely, "I grew complacent and lazy after years of silently guarding from the shadows. I was arrogant enough to believe that with me there, nothing would happen to them."

  I felt the 3 scars with my index finger, running it around their jagged edges. They still felt raw, even though it had been years since they had healed. I had a flash of phantom pain as I remembered the arcane energy being released as the arrow and daggers impacted from in front and behind. I shook my head to dispel the ancient memory and imaginary pain.

  "My hubris cost the person everything, including their life, and almost cost my own life as well." I sighed and looked up at Clair, who met my eyes. "I was blamed in the aftermath even though I was not the killer, but it was still my fault."

  "I'm sorry." She said softly.

  "It's fine, it happened a long time ago, and they are just scars now," I stated. I didn't really feel like going back down memory lane right now. "Do you have any more glowstones?" I asked to change the subject.

  "I have a few ready, but I can always make more."

  "Good, can you drop one in just after I enter, then every 5 minutes after that?"

  "Sure, I can do that."

  I nodded and climbed up onto the barrel next to the acid. It was labelled 'lubrication fluid' and was destined for someone's pleasure yacht according to the delivery note. I stared at the acid barrel and contemplated whether I wanted to dive in headfirst or feet first. That's when it hit me how ridiculous this was, and I was about to talk myself out of doing it when Clair dropped a glowstone into the barrel. Without a second thought, I dove headfirst into the acid.

  I burned as I plunged deep into the barrel, and my skin instantly began to blister as the acid started to eat away at my body. I wanted to scream in pain, but if I opened my mouth, I'd swallow acid; I was pretty sure that'd be worse than just on my skin. I cast Lesser Regeneration, and my skin stopped peeling away as the spell regenerated the skin at the same speed it was being dissolved. I was glad I was no longer going to die, but it didn't stop the pain. I needed to find the clue and fast.

  I began by looking around, as obvious as it sounds, it was actually quite hard to focus. Funny that being dissolved by acid and healing repeatedly didn't lead to a focused environment. Regardless, I swam over to the edge of the storage container, which was a little larger than the barrel but not by too much, and it definitely wasn't made out of wood. There was a bright light that illuminated the wall, and I turned to look at the source. A glowstone had just entered the barrel and was slowly sinking. I looked down to the bottom of the barrel just in time to see the first glowstone wink out, it appears that the acid is strong enough to eat through the enchantments.

  I was about to wince when I caught myself and made sure I didn't open my mouth. I went back to searching for the clue and realised that I could see all the way to the other side of the barrel. I swam just behind the glowstone, searching the sides of the storage. Nothing, just whatever spatial magic was holding the contents in. I searched the bottom of the container, but again, there was nothing. I started to panic as I was running out of breath without finding it. I looked back up to the top of the barrel and used Etheric Step, while the ability would let me pass through most things, portal entrances like the entrance to the barrel were not one of them.

  I had to swim the last foot, and it took all of my effort not to suck in breath the instant my head broke the surface. I flung my arms over the edge of the barrel and kicked with all the leg power I could muster. My vision was starting to turn black, and I was worried that I would pass out before I could breathe again. I felt small but firm hands grab onto me and lift me. I looked up to see Clair trying to help; her lips moved, but I couldn't hear what she said. Lesser Regeneration sent another wave of healing through me, and I felt the acid stop dissolving my face.

  I breathed in. My vision snapped back, and the darkness that had almost consumed my vision disappeared. My ears burned with a fierce intensity, then suddenly I could hear Clair.

  "...you out and now you might die." She said, "We even survived the goblin invasion, but I was too scared to do it."

  "Do what?" I asked and instantly regretted it.

  Clair jumped at the sound of my voice and let go of me.

  "LUCA!" Clair screamed as I began to fall back into the barrel.

  Luckily, my arms were still stretched out further than the barrel, so I managed to catch myself before taking another dunk. Unfortunately, I caught myself halfway between my elbows and shoulders, and the jolt was bad enough to dislocate my right shoulder. I was about to slip into the barrel when Clair's hands grabbed hold of me and pulled me back up. Slowly and more cautiously, Clair pulled me out of the barrel; this time, we managed to do it without further injury. What was even better was that we did it without spilling the acid everywhere, which was something we both feared.

  "What were you saying just now?" I asked.

  "I was…" She faltered, and I could see she wanted to say something, but changed her mind. "I'm glad you're still alive. You gave me a bit of a scare there. Did you find the clue?"

  I wanted to ask her what she had wanted to say, but it would have been hypocritical of me to pry when I vaguely answered her question earlier. Instead, I let it go and shook my head.

  "No clue in there, I searched the walls and did my best to search the bottom, but nothing."

  "You know which barrel it's going to be in," she stated.

  "It can't be in there, no way." I shook my head, not wanting it to be true.

  "Tingling constantly, painful to take a plunge," Clair said, raising an eyebrow. "Anything acidic would dissolve a clue, and a cooling solution is unlikely to be painful to dip in, cold, sure, but not painful. Slime goop is mostly acidic, so it'd also most likely dissolve the clue."

  "Where was this reasoning before I took a dip in acid?" I asked.

  "That's why it was a short list rather than definitive answers. You confirmed a few things for me from searching the acid, which has let me rule out 2 other options from the shortlist." Clair said quite reasonably.

  "And it's not because you want to see me jump in the hot sauce?"

  "I definitely want to see you do that," She said with a cheeky grin, "but I do think it's where we are most likely to find the clue."

  I stood up and walked over to the hot sauce barrel. Clair followed me and watched as I took the lid off the barrel. I was greeted by a dark red liquid that smelled like a fire. I stepped back and coughed as the fumes from the barrel temporarily overwhelmed me. I stepped back up and dipped my little finger into the sauce. Instantly, I felt the tingling on my skin as the sauce started to burn. Without thinking, I put my finger in my mouth and sucked the sauce off. I saw Clair open her mouth to stop me, but she was too late.

  I felt a portal to the demonic realm open in my mouth, and thousands of miniature demons poured out. One by one, they burned and stabbed their foul weapons into my tongue. My eyes began to water from the heat and pain. I could feel my face turn red and sweat flood from my head. I fumbled with the hand gestures for Lesser Regeneration a few times; the heat from the sauce was intensifying, growing hotter by the second. Just as I was about to finish casting the spell, Clair grabbed my arm and shook me. I turned to face her and saw her saying something.

  "OPEN YOUR MOUTH AND BREATH OUT LONG AND HARD!" She screamed in my face before I realised what she meant.

  I turned my head to the side, braced myself on the barrel next to me and breathed out long and hard. I stared in amazement as a small jet of actual flames escaped my mouth. I kept breathing out, and slowly the flames began to shrink down till I was gasping for breath. I stared in silence for a minute, trying to take in what had happened. My mouth felt raw from the experience, and my throat was completely parched.

  "AND YOU EAT THIS?" I asked Clair when I could speak again. “How do you still have taste buds?”

  "The amount you had on your finger would be spread through an entire meal rather than for just a bite." She said, looking a little apologetic.

  "I'm not diving into that," I said, shaking my head. "No way, and I wouldn't even be able to see anything while I was in there."

  "Maybe it's near the top," Clair said, rolling up the sleeve of her top. Before I could say anything, she dunked her hand in the barrel.

  "CLAIR!?" I exclaimed in surprise.

  "What? We have healing potions, and you have Lesser Regeneration to heal me. If I'm lucky, then you won't have to…Ah Ha." She said, whipping her arm out.

  In her hand was what looked like a scroll. I gaped at it in disbelief. I had to dive into a barrel of acid and come out empty-handed. Claire covers her hand in hot sauce and finds the clue. Let's just say, I was feeling fairly hard done by. After a lukewarm congratulations from me, I cast Lesser Regeneration on her when I saw her wincing from the pain of the hot sauce. Once she was healed, Clair opened the scroll to reveal the next clue.

  "Crushed by weight too much to bear, hidden with the mice, safe from sight." Clair read out.

  "This whole challenge is going to suck, isn't it?" I asked.

  "We opened over 200 spatial boxes and at least 50 spatial barrels." Clair said, staring me dead in the eyes, "What part of that said this would be a fun challenge?"

  "Pure naive and blind optimism?"

  "We can only hope to find the others sooner rather than later," Clair said, walking out of the wet room holding the clue.

  "I hope they are doing okay," I said, following her.