Myra stepped closer to the teleportation terminal next to the platform and began ruffling her hand inside her side bag.

'What is she doing?' Leon thought, still not understanding why she told him to wait.

Myra took out something silver in color, coin-shaped, and pressed it into the terminal.

"Hm?"

Leon got closer to take a look.

"What's this?"

The coin she stuck on the terminal had a Blood Tower sigil pattern etched on it.

Turning to him, Myra said, "The Blood Tower was linked to it after god knows how many centuries. It's only sensible to claim it."

"..."

Leon's eyes twitched. He couldn't believe it.

'But… I'm the one who found it.'

He sighed, 'Well, better than having Valentine's sigil.'

He let it slide, thinking it was a fair price for his sister having to deal with Alice for a day.

After Myra took note of the surroundings and etched more sigils on the wall, she turned to him and gave a thumbs up.

Leon stood from the ground, dusting off his pants.

"Let's go then," he said.

Walking past the waterfall curtain, sunlight hit Leon's face. The scent of wet soil filled the air, and the distant chirping of birds reached his ears.

He raised his hand to shield his eyes from the sudden brightness.

Beside him, Myra stepped out as well.

The moment she did, her eyes widened in awe.

Leon followed her gaze and froze too.

The first thing that caught his eyes were the luminous leaves hanging from enormous, sprawling branches. Towering hollow trees stood around them, their trunks carved with natural arch-like entrances.

A faint glow seeped through each of the leaves, and dimmed as they fell off on the ground.

Leon slowly turned, taking in the full 360-degree view.

Vines and tree branches intertwined above, connecting to other trees like a web of sky bridges. Some twisted into spiraling pathways, forming structures that looked nothing like anything they had ever seen before.

"This is pretty…"

Myra whispered, reaching her hand toward a small bird that flew past.

Then her voice lowered. "Where are we exactly…"

She turned to Leon with a puzzled look.

"There were no records of such a place in any of the archives we have."

It was a city called Tir'na Vall.

A place far beyond the reach of humans now.

If Leon was right, then this location lay somewhere around the southern continent's ocean. But he wasn't entirely certain.

Tir'na Vall had never been mentioned on the game's map. Ethan, the protagonist, had only reached this place through teleportation. It was the only method capable of bypassing the countless barriers and reaching here.

Leon and Myra walked across the shallow water that flowed beneath the waterfall and approached one of the hollow trees.

"Should we go in?" Myra asked.

"Why not," Leon replied.

The interior of the hollow trunk was dim yet faintly glowing.

A soft luminescence poured down from the top of the tunnel, lighting the space in a greenish hue. The air was damp and heavy; it kind of reeked.

Leon and Myra both pressed their noses.

"Gross," he muttered.

Moss clung to the walls, and small insects crawled in and out of crevices. Mushrooms and fungi spread along the base like a carpet.

Myra crouched down, studying everything with fascination. She even reached out to pick up a crawling bug.

Leon frowned. "Really?"

She looked up at him innocently. "What? It's for study."

"It's disgusting," he deadpanned.

"I was just checking it out," she muttered, still eyeing the bug as if it were treasure. "I have never seen this pattern befor—"

"Leave the poor bug alone."

"Ah," She stood up, "I apologize, young master."

They continued deeper into the tree.

The hollow inside connected to another trunk through a natural archway. Inside, they found broken earthen pots scattered on the ground, and a few patches of dried animal fur lay over a cracked stone table.

"Someone lived here?" Myra said softly, scanning the room.

She turned toward another hollow tree outside. Its entrance was shaped the same way, almost like a village made from living trees.

"So a human civilization was living here? Then why isn't there any record of it?" she muttered to herself. "Even the Blood Tower has no such archive."

Leon watched her reaction, a small chuckle escaping him.

'Humans? Nah… Humans have long forgotten this place,' he thought to himself.

The ones who lived here weren't humans. They were an entirely different species.

The race that once ruled this place was called Sylvra.

Back then, people used to call them the Hollow Folk.

There were no records left of their existence now, because they had been deliberately erased. It was the will of Lady Auriela, the Everbright Goddess.

It wasn't a curse. It was a choice made by all of them.

The Sylvra themselves had wanted to be forgotten.

Not even Veronica knew this race had ever existed.

'Maybe he knows about it…?' Leon thought, his mind drifting to a particular someone.

If anyone knew, it would be the Tower Head of the Moon Tower.

But considering how little time that man had on his hands, Leon doubted he had ever bothered searching for them.

Leon let Myra examine a few more things and place her coins carefully over them.

He decided not to rush her. The last thing he wanted was to make her suspicious.

"Done?" he asked.

"Yes," Myra replied, nodding as she shoved the remaining coins back into her bag.

'She's got one hell of a persistent mind,' Leon thought, glancing at her hand bag.

His eye twitched slightly.

'Don't tell me that thing is full of those coins.'

He exhaled quietly and stepped out of the hollow tree.

"Let's get the Moonblade and return."

On his way outside, Leon recalled a particular scene.

A blunder Ethan had made in the game.

Many players had complained about it on the forums back then, calling it "the most annoying side quest of all time."

And Leon had no intention of repeating it.

The blunder was simple.

Ethan had taken an entire week to find the Moonblade. Not because he wanted to, but because the Sylvra had dragged him into one of their tedious side quests.

Yes, the race still existed. But they didn't live here anymore.

They had long abandoned this place and moved to a nearby open forest. It wasn't far, but they avoided this site because of the monsters that lurked here.

In the game, players who wandered too close to the riverbank would run into a Sylvra scout. That encounter automatically triggered the side quest, forcing Ethan to spend a whole week dealing with it.

A week wasted on something that didn't even let him use the Moonblade properly because of its side effects.

'Alright, I have the map. If we just avoid the river shore, we'll be fine.'

Leon didn't come here to play hero. That was Ethan's role, not his.

His only goal…

'Grab the Moonblade and return before curfew.'

But before that, Leon turned to Myra.

"Myra," he said, "don't stick those coins everywhere from now on."

Myra froze mid-step, looking at him with a faintly sullen face.

"All right, young master…" she muttered.

Her expression was almost like a kid who'd just been told to give up candy.

Leon sighed and rubbed the back of his head.

"You can do it after we're done here."

Her eyes lit up a little at that.

"Understood," she said with a small smile; the gloom on her face vanished in an instant.

Leon couldn't help but smile back.

'She's rather obedient today.'

After saying that, Leon closed his eyes and focused.

He tried to recall the unique mana signature of Miss Lumina's Moonblade from memory. Slowly, he activated [Mana Sense], letting the faint waves of mana around him flow through his perception.

"Ah, there's so many…" he muttered.

This entire place was overflowing with mana. Even the tiny glowing leaves were brimming with luminous energy, each strand of it delicate yet dense.

It took Leon nearly an hour to separate the different signatures and pinpoint what he was searching for.

Finally, he found it.

The Moonblade's mana signature.

It was faint, but he was able to notice it.

"Oh, great," Leon said with a small grin.

But there was a problem.

The signature was far. Way too far.

If they went on foot, they might not make it back to the dorms before curfew.

Leon reviewed his plan, then turned to Myra.

"Myra," he called.

She straightened slightly. "Yes?"

"I have one good news and one bad," Leon said.

Myra blinked, confused.

"The good news first?"

"The good news is, I've found the location."

Her eyes lit up. "Great work, master. And the bad news?"

"The bad news is… it's a bit far."

"Ah." She tilted her head. "How far?"

"…Maybe around thirty to forty kilometers," Leon answered.

That was indeed bad news. Myra could already tell it would take them several hours to get there, which meant returning before curfew would be impossible.

She noticed Leon still staring at her with a particular look.

"What do you want me to do… master?" she asked carefully.

Leon grinned.

"Do you know a way we could travel faster?"

He did have Alice's short-distance teleportation, but it wasn't an option. That skill drained too much mana and would exhaust him after just three kilometers.

Besides, Myra was still something of a mystery. Even when Leon had checked her character sheet before coming here, most of her information had been hidden. Only her race had been listed as "Human," and not Sanguine.

But Leon wasn't surprised. She was clearly using some sort of anti-detection spell to keep her true race hidden.

If Hibuki was right, and she really was a half Sanguine, then she should have at least some of their traits.

And one of those traits was extraordinary physical strength and speed. They could cover long distances without using a drop of mana.

Myra fell silent for a moment, as if debating with herself.

Then she met his eyes and said softly.

"I… can help."

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