"Amanda..."

No response.

She was too out of it. She reeked of ale. I wouldn’t be surprised if she drank a whole barrel.

What surprised me a bit about her was that she looked exactly the same as she does in the real world.

Her clothing was light as it tightly stuck to the contours of her body. The clothing was dark gray in color.

She wore a black scarf around her neck and a pair of shorts that were short enough that it left nothing to the imagination.

As for weapons, she had different types of knives attached to her hip.

She had a lack of presence and she also used some kind of skill to teleport her father away.

I suspected that she had an assassin class, but the way she was dressed and the weapons all but confirmed it.

Her clothing, though a bit too revealing, facilitated fast movement, and the knives were for close-range attacks.

I called her name once again but nothing. This left me with no choice. Raising one of my legs, I pierced into her flesh, or so I tried.

’Why is her skin so thick?’

Her skin was soft to the touch yet hard to pierce. It felt as if I would break my own leg before I could even lay a scratch on her.

Come on! Wake up!

"MmHmm"

Suddenly, a soft moan escaped her as her eyes slowly began to open, revealing irises that were as bright as crystals.

For a few terrifying seconds, we locked eyes as she slowly sat up. Her face portrayed a look of confusion as she tilted her head.

"I don’t remember ordering lobster."

"I’m not a lobster, I’m a centipede."

"Eh, did the lobster just talk?"

"It’s me, Liam."

She lowered her head to take a closer look before asking.

"Liam who?"

"You sent me a message that said I should meet you here and that you have something important to tell me."

Her face brightened at the realization.

"Oh Liam, what took you so long? You were supposed to be here hours ago. Anyway, what’s with this form? I must say this is the first time I’ve seen a player taken on an insect form. Is this some kind of transformation magic?"

"No, this is my true form. Anyway, why did you want to meet me?"

After traveling to get here the whole day, I was eager to know the exact reason she wanted to meet.

She insisted that we met in Vesperia and that it was a matter of great importance.

"Oh, right?" She picked up one of the mugs on her table only to see it was empty, which caused her to click her tongue in annoyance. "I heard about the deal you made with my father. You’re planning to obtain another Terra-shard. Well, you’re in luck."

"How so?"

Amanda smiled smugly as she rested her hand on her cheek.

"I happen to have an important clue on where we can locate one."

That’s convenient.

"How did you just so happen to know where to find a shard?" I asked.

Amanda’s brow knitted into a tight frown. I knew that look. I’ve seen it on Amelia countless times.

It was a look that said she was serious. This further arose my suspicions.

"It doesn’t matter how I found it; just be glad I did and that I’m sharing it with you. If we’re going to work together, then it’s best you keep the questions to a minimum. Just sit back and let me save you."

Save me? I realized it before, but, she seem to have some kind of hero complex. Is that why she’s trying to help me? It also felt as if she was keeping me at arms length, even though she was the one that trained me how to fight.

Has she always been like this?

Even during our combat lessons, she hardly spoke anything of importance. She was highly secretive and elusive.

"Tell me about the scenario you found," I said, changing the subject. I should at least know this much.

The intimidating pressure coming from her slowly subsided as she leaned back in her chair and began to explain.

"To summarize, my party and I were investigating an ancient civilization that had been lost for thousands of years. We were trying to figure out this world’s origin, but everything we found kept leading us back to this ancient civilization."

That is interesting. I’ve never given any thought to how this world was formed or its history, for that matter.

Whenever I got the chance at the university library, I read a bit about its politics and geography, as well as the monsters that inhabit the world but never dove into its history.

But I never thought to study its far-back history since there aren’t many texts dedicated to this.

"We managed to find this lost city, and based on the strange activities taking place there, we managed to locate a flag. You and I will head there to clear the scenario."

"Huh, what about the party members you mentioned before?" I asked.

There was that serious expression again. It was quite obvious that she wouldn’t say.

She sighed and continued speaking without bothering to answer my question.

"One of the problems is that this place is very far away, so it will be a while before we get there."

"How far are we talking, exactly? Since I can fly, then maybe we could cut the travel time significantly."

She shrugged.

"About halfway across the world."

"What?!"

"It will be one heck of a journey, especially since we’ll be traveling through the void lands. Only a handful of players has ever ventured there and survived. Even top players are in danger of being killed there. That’s why most stick to the Heaven’s Plain."

Heaven’s Plain is the name of the super continent we were currently on. This single continent held 80% of the planet’s civilization. It was where most of the kingdom, villages and towns were located.

Of course, it wasn’t given the name Heaven’s Plain because this place like heaven; it was given this name because the rest of the world was like hell.

"And that flying idea of yours won’t work," she finally said.

"Eh, why not?"

Suddenly, an eerie smile appeared on her face.

"Because this expedition of ours is partly a training regimen."