Status
Age - 19
Presumed Rank - D - Dynamika
Titles - No Titles
Level 24
Class - Classless - No Class Benefits
HP - 160
MP - 485
Vigor - 11
Strength - 10
Endurance - 23
Mind - 32
Intelligence - 33
Dexterity - 23
Skills
Melody of Mana - lv2 Resonance - lv1 Arsenal of Song - lv3 Steal - lv5 Hide Presence - lv20 Pickpocket - lv8 Sense Mana - lv3 Mana Core - lv5
Traits
Traveler - Immune to Age, Disease. Resistant to status debuffs. Honorary Denizen of Veria - Will be treated as a Denizen of Veria. Middling Mana Affinity Paranoid Instincts
Letting the screen hover in front of her, Miyu leaned back with a faint smirk. Sure, she wasn't exactly OP, but she had a decent setup…
NOT.
Her skills were a mystery.
All the mana-related ones? Yeah, might as well have been written in another language. No one had ever taken her aside to give a crash course, and she was way too paranoid to reveal herself as a Traveler. If she did, she doubted anyone would actually help her out. Veria wasn't exactly a world where people went around sharing knowledge out of the kindness of their hearts. Especially after what she'd seen.
Mainland Veria had been a nightmare—a "Magic-Homeless-Hobo's Nightmare," as she'd started calling it to herself. Worse than that, she'd barely had time to settle in before some civil war popped off within one of the giant corporations running everything. It was nothing like Earth, where corporate infighting might kill a stock or two. Here? They went straight to violence. Absolute chaos. She hadn't hesitated to book it out of there, hiding in a crowd of refugees bound for Lokir.
Of course, things didn't get any easier from there. Just a couple months into life on Lokir, their group had managed to attract the rage of an entire horde of monsters called Fyrraths. And from then on, it was just running, day after day, only stopping long enough to gather whatever scraps they could find. Miyu had resigned herself to it—that was just how things went here. At least, until that crazy knight in shining marble armor had shown up.
It was hard to forget. One minute, they were cornered, and the next, that armored figure had swept in like a storm. Whoever they were, they'd torn into the Fyrrath horde with magic that Miyu had never seen before, some kind of bombardment that made the monsters scatter like rats. Then, after a whirlwind of confusion and movement, they were all here. Finally. And, for the first time in months, Miyu actually felt some peace.
She wasn't exhausted physically anymore, but her mind and spirit? Absolutely drained. She couldn't shake the homesickness that gnawed at her whenever she was still for too long. The pull to Earth, to Greece, to her real life, was relentless. She thought about her brother, and a pang of sadness hit her chest. She missed his crazy antics, his jokes, and their shared memories. But, with a sharp breath, she squashed that thought before it could take root. No use torturing herself now.
As she leaned back, something blinked in the corner of her status screen. She tapped it without much thought. To anyone around, it might've looked like she was just poking the air, but she was used to those odd looks by now. A new window popped open with a title that made her sit up straighter.
Quests.
She'd heard other Travelers whisper about these—objectives given by the System, apparently, that could lead to rewards if completed. Rewards she'd never actually seen herself, which was a mixed blessing. Miyu had figured, with her luck, she'd be the one Traveler whose System decided to stay silent. She'd missed out on some rewards, sure, but she'd also avoided the dangerous risks that came along with them.
But… now there it was. A quest. With a big, glaring label beside it:
[Permanent Quest] [Exclusive to Miyu Galanis]
The quest's title blinked with what felt like way too much energy: [Armed Escort].
She couldn't help the snort that escaped her. "Armed," yeah right. It was almost like the System was poking fun at her. She didn't have any weapons, just a few tricks up her sleeve and some quick feet. The System seemed to have a mind of its own sometimes, like it was throwing in a bit of snark just to mess with her. By now, she'd learned to ignore it.
Mostly.
Still, her amusement faded as she read the quest objectives:
Escort Marked Candidate - Aedhira Ver Novus Israejin.
Miyu groaned, shoulders slumping. That name wasn't entirely foreign to her, at least "Aedhira" wasn't. The rest was a mouthful, but she'd seen Aedhira in action once. He was the knight in that strange, marble armor, the one who had single-handedly blasted the Fyrrath horde to pieces. He was also, as she'd pieced together, the leader of the Aes—a group of automatons, a few of whom were currently gathered in the cafeteria, completely oblivious as they indulged her Xar'qul addiction.
And, as if to make things just a bit more complicated, Aedhira was also the one person who'd gone missing almost a day ago.
"Great," Miyu muttered, rubbing her temples. Just her luck. She didn't have any solid proof, but it was starting to look that way. Normally, at least a few of the refugees would mention seeing that white-haired boy—usually just a glimpse, here and there, maybe with him strolling around Fort Blanche or directing the automatons in that quiet way he did. But no one had seen a trace of him for a day now, and the effect was obvious.
The refugees, who had barely kept it together through months of running, surviving by the skin of their teeth, were beginning to stir restlessly. Miyu couldn't exactly blame them. They'd been through hell and back, and if pinning their mental state on one person—some strange, mysterious figure in fancy armor—was their way of coping, well, that made sense to her. She'd seen stranger things.
Still, it wasn't just the refugees. The automatons were showing signs of… anxiety? Miyu wasn't even sure how that was possible for machines, but she'd overheard snippets of their conversations, and it was clear that they were concerned too. She'd catch phrases like "absence," "leader," and even the occasional tremor in their normally steady voices. If steel-bound soldiers could feel uneasy, it wasn't hard to guess why. Their commander, Aedhira, was nowhere to be seen, and their programming or whatever it was must've been struggling to process that.
The atmosphere in the fort was shifting, and she couldn't help but feel the tension creeping into her own nerves. It was almost like waiting for something heavy to drop. Even though she didn't say it out loud, Miyu's mind flickered to the worst possibility—the return of the Horde. She shuddered involuntarily, then shook her head. She'd never been one to tempt fate, and just thinking those words felt like bad karma. Best not to dwell on it.
She popped the last bite of Xar'qul into her mouth, savoring the taste as she gave her stomach a contented pat. Okay, maybe she'd overdone it a little with her portion. Again. But, hey, it was the first time in ages she'd had something close to a real meal, so she didn't regret it. Still, she figured she could walk it off. She needed to clear her head anyway, and a bit of movement might help shake off that nervous buzz.
With a sigh, she headed to the disposal hatch, tucked her plate inside, and watched as the machinery hummed softly, whisking away the empty dish. Then, giving her cheeks a light slap to wake herself up, she squared her shoulders and exited the cafeteria.
As soon as she stepped into the dim corridor, the usual hum of Fort Blanche felt different—quieter somehow. Like everyone was holding their breath.
The halls of Fort Blanche were quieter than usual. Too quiet, actually. Normally, there'd be a low hum of chatter from the other refugees, whispers of gratitude, or just the general sounds of life scraping itself back together. But now? The silence was oppressive. Everyone, it seemed, was in a tense sort of waiting, as if afraid that if they said or did the wrong thing, the last threads of their fragile peace would snap.
Miyu let out a long sigh, glancing around as she made her way down the corridor. Just as she'd thought, not a single soul could tell her where Aedhira was. And sure, there was a tiny, teeny part of her that wanted to shrug it off—Aedhira could handle himself, right? The guy had literally bombarded a horde of Fyrraths to protect them, like a one-man artillery squad. But... another, larger part of her was itching with that same anxiety she'd seen flickering across the faces of the refugees.
"Don't even think about it," she muttered to herself, shaking off a hint of dread that creeped up her spine. "Not my problem." But then she remembered that the automatons—those steadfast, ever-calm metal giants—were starting to look jumpy. And if they were worried, well… it wasn't exactly reassuring.
She took a long, deep breath as she walked, running her fingers through her hair and feeling the static buzz of the air around her. Even without anyone saying it out loud, the atmosphere was thick with expectation and tension. If Aedhira didn't come back soon, she wasn't sure what would happen. Everyone seemed to be depending on him more than they cared to admit.
She took a corner, brushing past one of the larger automatons—a steel giant who, oddly, looked as close to "lost" as a machine possibly could. Its red eyes scanned the hall slowly, as if it was searching for something—or someone—and its movements seemed to have a sluggishness to them, a hesitation she'd never noticed before. Almost like it, too, was wondering if its "knight" had left them behind.
"Hey," she said, giving it a slight nod, more out of habit than anything. The automaton's eyes flashed briefly in acknowledgment, but it didn't respond beyond that, only returning to its slow, almost pensive patrolling. She didn't want to admit it, but its heavy, plodding steps, devoid of their usual purpose, made her stomach tighten.
"Great," she muttered again, louder this time. "First, the guy's missing, now the metal army's got a case of the jitters."
Despite herself, she couldn't shake the gnawing feeling in her gut as she passed by the automaton. She'd heard some of the refugees saying that Aedhira had left on some sort of mission; others swore he'd been injured. But Miyu wasn't buying it. For someone who seemed almost mythical, a part of her refused to believe he'd just disappear. Still, the longer this weird tension in the fort dragged on, the more she worried.
After a few more turns and a few more tense glances exchanged with other nervous-looking refugees, Miyu found herself near the fort's observation deck. She pushed open the door and stepped outside, greeted by the cold, artificial lighting of Lokir's barren moon surface. The endless gray, dotted here and there with shards of ancient debris, was both eerie and beautiful in its way, stretching out in every direction under the glint of distant stars.
She pulled her coat tighter around her and let out a slow breath. For a while, she just stood there, staring out at the bleak landscape, trying to push the anxiety down. But with every heartbeat, she couldn't help but wonder—what if Aedhira really wasn't coming back?
She shook herself, trying to push the thought away. Just because the refugees were anxious, just because the automatons were jittery, didn't mean he was gone for good.
But what if he was?
"Maybe... maybe he's just on some mission or something. Maybe he's testing us," she muttered to herself, folding her arms. "That's it. He's probably watching from somewhere, making sure we're all tough enough or something."
But her own words sounded hollow, and she couldn't quite convince herself.
Suddenly, a bright flash interrupted her view, nearly blinding her as her system window popped up front and center. Startled, Miyu let out a loud, "Άι στο διάολο!"—a Greek curse that, roughly translated, meant "piece of shit." Her outburst echoed briefly in the silent observation deck.
Her attention shifted to the flashing quest icon pulsing obnoxiously on the screen. She pressed it with an irritated jab, opening her quest log, where her only active quest, [Armed Escort], was flashing in a bold, almost threatening red. With a deep breath, she tapped on it, waiting for the system to bring up the details.
The quest window expanded, but this time, there were a few significant changes.
First, a new line at the top now listed the quest as Rank: S - Strykre Ranked. Miyu's eyebrows shot up. She wasn't exactly a battle-hardened expert, but she'd picked up on the powerscale pretty quickly during her last couple of months here. The letters mattered, and "S" was definitely high up there. Strykre Ranked. Just thinking about it made her throat go dry.
Second, the quest title itself had changed from "Permanent" to Compulsory. That single word hung in the air like a weight, and it took Miyu a few seconds to gather her thoughts. A compulsory quest? That didn't sound like a choice at all.
But the last addition caught her eye—a new option had appeared below the quest description. It read [Quest Aid]. Feeling a prickle of hope, she clicked on it, her eyes widening as the screen shifted to reveal a small, detailed map.
At the center was a single, pulsing dot. It glowed in a shade that was somewhere between yellow and gold—or maybe it was even white; it was hard to tell with the shimmering effect it had, like it couldn't quite decide on a color. But that was less important than the fact that the dot was moving. Slowly, at a snail's pace, but moving all the same.
"Is this… him?" she whispered, her breath catching. Aedhira, the white-haired boy, might just be at the other end of that dot.
A wave of relief washed over her, but only for a moment. If this was a lead on his location, that meant he was… far. Somewhere out of reach, and that didn't sit well. But the map showed a rough direction, tracing a path she could theoretically follow.
"Well, system," she murmured, trying to quell the nervous energy building up in her chest, "looks like you finally did something useful."
She stepped away from the observation deck railing, already formulating a plan. With Aedhira possibly marked on her map, she might be able to track him down. Her mind spun with possibilities; maybe she could gather a small team, or at the very least, inform the others. But a nagging instinct told her to move quickly and quietly, to check it out herself before raising any alarms.
The journey could be dangerous, sure, but what wasn't, these days? And if he was in trouble… well, they owed him that much, didn't they?
With a deep breath, she closed the system window, feeling a flicker of excitement for the first time in days.