The lands around Kasia, the capital of the Virtonis Empire, had few trees, some low hills and it gave the most space for a city in the entire continent. It was huge, open, and warm.
The plains gave home to a city that looked like a modern one at night. It was massive and it almost looked like a metropolis.
At nighttime, the large tree Max was standing in front of, which was thirty meters tall, glowed white and purple. He stood at the grave of a known figure of this floor's history. Nobody knew where his body was, except him.
A sword was buried with him, which was told to Max by the note left behind by the Maestro. Max learned a bit more as he traversed back to Virtonis about history and these figures.
He was going to take a sword which had been used in a lost land at least as dangerous as the third floor.
He stood and looked at his teammates.
"Go ahead. No one's around," Eliyah said, though he was tense.
"I could use a hand," said Max.
"Nah man, you're on your own," Thomas replied.
Max sighed and summoned a shovel out of his inventory.
He started digging.
***
Misa Zanoza flew through the night on glowing blue wings, headed for Virtonis to meet her brother Stefan. Three tail-whips of electricity extended from her body: two from her shoulders, moving the wings, and a third from the small of her back.
The large, glowing tree below caught her eye first. Then she noticed movement beneath it. She focused her vision.
Her eyes flared bright white-blue, and the ground sharpened into detail: four players, one of them digging.
"Huh?" she said to no one. "What are they digging?"
She glanced at Kasia, then back down at the players. Curiosity got the better of her.
She was an Awakened. She could handle herself. On the fourth floor, an Awakened wasn't impressive at all. Here, it was a different story.
She dropped toward the figures without hesitation. She felt free, now that she wasn't with her brother. At least for now.
"What the fuck? Guys?!" Eliyah yelled, pointing at the sky.
Max stopped digging and followed his gaze upward. A glowing, winged figure was coming down toward them. It looked like some celestial being.
He dropped the shovel and clutched the sword handle on his back. His aura flowed through his body, vitalizing him. He sensed everything more clearly, more deeply, and the colors of the lights grew more intense.
The figure seemed to notice their tension. She landed a short distance away and approached slowly. Her wings vanished, and a light-blue aura swirled around her, paler than his own.
She wore white armor, blue light gleaming in its gaps. Her shoulder-length brown hair stirred in the breeze.
"What are you guys up to?" she asked.
The squad looked at each other.
"Uh, it's a quest," Thomas said, smiling.
"Quest?" She frowned. Her gaze swept over the squad and settled on Max, on his dyed blonde hair first, then the aura around him, as though he were the one who mattered.
"Players?" she asked.
"What?" Max blurted. Eliyah chuckled.
"You're a player too?" Eliyah asked, grinning.
"Yeah. You guys look strong for this place." She raised her chin at Max. "And you're an Awakened."
Max glanced at the squad, at Manuel mostly. "Should I tell her?"
Manuel shrugged. "Why not."
"He's the Epic boss killer," Thomas said.
The girl looked at Max again.
"I dyed my hair blonde," Max said.
She looked at the ground. Max could have sworn he saw her smile. Then she covered her face with her right hand and laughed.
Max's grip tightened on the sword handle.
"Well, your blue aura matches his," she said. "The hairstyle's the same, too. What's the title you got for being the first to slay that thing?"
"I got Pioneer. I'm Max Veritas, by the way."
The girl nodded. "Priam got that title for—I mean, primerose got that title for killing the first main boss. He told my brother and me some things. My brother used to be with him on the second floor. Former friends and shit. My brother also got that title later, for something else."
Max nodded. "What's your name?"
"I'm Misa. Nice to meet you guys."
Max smiled.
"Who's your brother?" he asked the girl.
"His username is glowse. Check the leaderboard. G-L-O-W-S-E," she spelled out.
Max opened the Menu and then the Level leaderboard.
[1.primerose - Level 401 (view profile)
2.highper - Level 399 (view profile)
3.francylav10 - Level 395 (view profile)
4.glowse - Level 393 (view profile)
5...]
"Your brother..."
"Is him, yeah. Anyway he's no longer with Priam, I mean primerose. What are you digging for?" The girl pointed at the hole in front of the huge tree.
"Is that even important? What's the sister of that guy doing here? You look Awakened at least," Max asked. He slicked back his blonde hair.
Max then looked at Manuel, who nodded.
"She's telling the truth," the spearman said. He used a lie detection ability of his.
"I can't tell you that. Will you be at the tournament here?" she answered with a question, her brown eyes meeting Max's own.
"Uh yeah. I'll just have to sign up. Is something wrong?"
The girl nodded and walked past him. Max took a nervous step to the side and turned.
"No, I'm just curious," she said in an uncaring voice.
She looked down at the hole. A coffin made of black steel lay in it. 3 meters down. The girl extended her hand and as if by a magnetic force, the coffin flew into her palm and stuck to it.
She laid it on the ground beside the hole and looked at Max.
"Come on, open it. I wanna see." She gestured with her head.
Max looked at her as if she was an alien. She is pretty. He shooed the thought away.
He would have to cut steel. Some kind of black variant. If it was even steel.
He drew his Virtonia and charged it.
A dozen heartbeats of silence later, the sword shone in a bizarre shower of colors. Purple smoky aura enveloped a rainbow storm of moving colors inside of it, seemingly containing it.
The girl looked at this with an open mouth.
"You have an Attribute already?" she asked.
"Yeah, in the weapon itself as you can see."
Max raised the sword and swung it down like an axe. It struck the black steel coffin and a loud noise reverberated. The others covered their ears.
There was a solid indent in the steel when Max looked at it afterwards. He had hoped he could one-shot it.
But then, purple light weakly shone on it. The indent started to melt. Max looked closer and so did the girl.
A hole was made from the effect of the mysterious aura. "The status effect is pretty random I think. That's how it works."
"Uh huh," said the girl, looking at Max for a few seconds.
Max smiled uneasily. "It's pretty nice, I'd say."