She didn’t bother answering me.
She only said, flat and cold, "Listen, kid — I won’t be tagging along with you, and I won’t take you with me when we start the raid. I have one piece of advice: stay as far away from me as you can."
Then she turned and walked off without another look.
North watched her go and asked, "What was that about?"
I put on my most serious face. "Not sure," I said. "But my best guess is she’s lost her edge. She’s living to destroy Peanu. That’s all she thinks about. Take her warning seriously, don’t get close."
North frowned, but she nodded. We both stayed quiet for a moment, listening to the steps fade into the trees. I felt a cold knot at the back of my neck and told myself to pay attention.
"Anyway, how’s your comprehension coming along?" I asked North. I’d noticed she hadn’t reached Grandmaster rank yet, same as me.
"It’s going okay," she said with a small shrug. "Dante’s really good at that stuff, but he’s been away because of this mission. I haven’t finished my quest either. Maybe I’ll be able to on Peanu."
I raised an eyebrow. "On Peanu? What’s your quest?"
She met my eyes directly. "It’s called Courageous Death. I have to kill twelve level 199 humans by striking their hearts. The only reason for their deaths must be the destruction of the heart—no accidents, no side damage."
I blinked. What kind of twisted quest was that?
"Well... sounds brutal. And humans too. Imagine if Billion had been given ten thousand humans instead of abominations."
North grimaced and shook her head. "Nope, don’t wanna imagine that. But mine’s doable if I push my comprehension and polish my skills."
"And you’re planning to do that during this raid?" I asked carefully.
She nodded once, firm.
I exhaled, dragging a hand through my hair. "Sometimes I wonder if not awakening would’ve been more chill."
She chuckled and leaned a little closer. "Yeah, right. Then you’d be whining about how amazing awakening must be. The grass is always greener on the other side, you lazy bum."
"Really? Want to hear about my quest?" I asked, tilting my head.
"Yeah, tell me."
"It’s called..." I paused for effect, "Abyssal Repetition. I have to activate my skill Abyss Severance a million times."
Her lips curled into a smile, but it froze almost instantly. "What?!" she nearly shouted.
"Exactly," I said, throwing my hands up. "That was my reaction too. I’m losing my mind just thinking about how old I’ll be when I finally finish it. Right now I can only manage two activations per minute. You can do the math."
North stared at me for a moment, then shook her head.
"Almost two years of nonstop grinding, every single day, twelve hours a day. If that’s all you do for twelve hours. That’s... that’s insane."
"Tell me about it," I muttered. "Feels like the system thought I was lazy and punished me with this quest."
She laughed. "He might actually do that if there was a way."
"What do you mean, ’there was a way’?" I asked. "Even if there isn’t, the guy will find some trick."
"Then I can only wish you luck," she said.
I let out a long breath. "So boring. I’d take your quest any day. At least yours sounds dangerous. Mine is just endless clicking. Even spamming has limits."
"All right, all right. You keep going. If you want to tag along with him, you’ll have to grind."
Her tone made me pause. She was talking about Billion and how fast he was growing. He was already the strongest in our world. Maybe soon in the whole galaxy.
"I think he might find a way for my quest and comprehension," I said. "But one thing’s sure: I won’t let him go alone if he leaves Vaythos. I’ll go with him as a Master if I must. I want to meet cute girls from other races. I’ll make that happen. And I’ll watch him for you."
She scoffed. "No need. I can do that myself. He already promised me he’d take me."
"What? When did that happen?" I asked, surprised.
She put her hands on her hips. "What do you mean? We have personal talks too, you know. You don’t think we tell you everything."
I stepped back, shocked. "You don’t. But he promised me he’d tell me everything. Even about your kiss."
Her face went flat, serious. She moved closer. "What did you just say?"
I coughed, trying to smooth it over. "I said he will tell me if you guys kissed."
She opened her mouth, ready to bite back, but before she could, a man and a woman burst into the clearing and dropped to their knees before the Emperor.
We both turned toward the newcomers.
They wore simple clothes, but each had a large emblem on their chest — one of a half moon, the other of a dark moon.
"Rise," the Emperor said. "Tell me the status."
They stood. The woman stepped forward, though I could see her nerves even though she was a Master herself.
"Umm... we were contacted by Commander Billion to pass a message to Anchor, and we did. In the message, he requested that our forces arrive along with Sir Steve and Madam North."
I couldn’t help but smile a little. At least he hadn’t forgotten me.
"I am aware of that," the Emperor replied. "I want the status of Peanu. I am sure Dante informed you of our mission."
The woman glanced at the Emperor, then at the man beside her, who kept his head lowered.
Finally, she spoke, her words shaky.
"Yes, Your Majesty. The problem is...everyone is shocked with what’s going on in Peanu right now. Our entire network is trying to piece it together. But what we’ve confirmed is that Commander Billion has caused... some serious chaos."
I raised an eyebrow at that. Sounded like him already.
"The first odd movements we traced were from the capital," she went on. "The Emperor of Peanu was reported to be heading to the Yami Continent. But later, we discovered he actually went to the Lamp Zone."
The Emperor cut her off. "You mean the mysterious zone of Peanu?"
She nodded quickly.
"Continue," he said.
"Yes. From what we gathered, the Lamp Zone opened for the first time in Peanu’s history. The Emperor went there with at least ten Grandmasters. But..." she hesitated, "...there were reports that some Grandmasters died when they first tried investigating the zone. Roland Max requested the Emperor’s help personally."
My gut tightened. Grandmasters dead. A mysterious zone. That had to be Billion’s work.
She pressed on.
"After that, everything went dark. The next clear report was an emergency summon issued directly from the capital. The Emperor called every Grandmaster to return immediately."
That stirred the whole place. Even our Emperor looked unsettled.
"Did news of our arrival leak?" he asked.