Chapter 1296: Uninvited Guests

    ?

    "...Man."

    Giving himself a bit of time to process the information being shown in front of him, Valyr soon let out a faint sigh before softly chuckling.

    "Although I''d easily get my ass beat if I were to face my other self if it were at the peak of Rank 2, that would only be the truth if it had a subclass."

    "If the only stats it got were from its class and the elixirs it consumed..." Valyr slightly grinned at the thought.

    "Then the tables would easily turn to my favor."

    Looking at his status screen for a bit more after that to see if he missed anything, the young man went ahead and brought up his skill screen to the side, wanting to make sure that he

    hadn''t missed a skill or two with how he perused his notifications.

    Seeing that he hadn''t missed neither information nor any new skill after giving both screens a quick skim, it was only then did the young man let out a long sigh of relief.

    "I suppose now''s a good time to call it a day," muttered Valyr to himself, softly yawning as he felt a bit of sleepiness wash over his entire body.

    Finding it slightly amusing that lethargy immediately took over him the moment he stopped busying himself, the young man faintly shook his head as he made a mental note to hit an Experience Pit the moment he came back to Greater Beyond.

    Briefly asking him whether or not to stop grinding XP the moment he had enough to reach the peak of Rank 1, Valyr decided to leave the question for some other time, reminding himself that he had yet to get any proper sleep for over two days.

    With that, the young man went ahead and began the process to log out of the game...

    Only to be interrupted by a random notification just before he could confirm his selection.

    Ding!

    [GodKingThomas has sent you a message.]

    "Hmm?" As he forced to teeter between the boundary of wakefulness and sleepiness amidst the notification, Valyr immediately felt his consciousness be jolted awake the moment he read the notification he received in greater detail.

    "Thomas is in the game?" Vigorously shaking his head in a bid to extricate himself from the sleepiness he was feeling, the young man rubbed his eyes a couple of times to check if the notification was a hallucination brought about by his exhaustion.

    Yet, no matter how many times he rubbed his eyes, the contents of the notification remained the same.

    With that, Valyr did not hesitate to pinch his inner thigh as hard as he could, forcing him to grit his teeth as he endured the pain that he was inflicting on himself.

    "Nngh..." Feeling all the lethargy disappear after around a minute of the experience, it was only then did Valyr bring up Thomas'' message in front of him.

    Whoosh!

    "Hey, Valyr. If you''re not busy with anything at the moment, can we talk?"

    Gently rubbing the part he pinched to oblivion, the young man continued to grit his teeth as The read the message Thomas sent to him.

    "Of course, if you''re busy, just give me a heads-up as to when you''ll be free."

    "I was actually planning to log out of the game just before you sent me a message," wrote Valyr in his reply, deciding to be straight to the point. "After all, if you haven''t already noticed, I''ve been in the game for over a day."

    to have the two of them join in on the operation they had.

    "They said... and I quote, ''That amount of money is more than enough to help solve our problems''," wrote Thomas, which only made Valyr let out a low sigh the moment he was

    reading it.

    ''To think the same reason in that long-forgotten memory would become a reality for me once

    more.''

    Briefly shaking all of the negative thoughts that lingered in his head, the young man pushed the memory he had of the two to the side for a while as he asked Thomas for more information over their request.

    Reading that the two were accompanying Thomas in the game while they were chatting, Valyr did not hesitate to tell the man that he''d meet up with them as soon as possible, prompting him to leave the inn he was staying at just as it was getting late at night.

    Whoosh!

    Pushing his agility to its newly heightened limits, it only took less than a minute for him to arrive at the area where new players usually spawned.

    Looking around for a bit to see where Thomas and the others were, the young man soon took note of a trio of familiar silhouettes loitering by the side of a small building, two of which he was only seeing again for the first time.

    "It''s been a while." Moving closer to where the three were, Valyr looked at them with a slightly apologetic smile on his face, the signs of weariness and lethargy from before having

    already disappeared some time ago.

    "It''s definitely been a while," replied Thomas with a nod, slightly grinning as he gave the young man in front of him a brief embrace. "There''s no need for me to introduce them to you,

    right?"

    "Why would you even introduce them?" replied Valyr with a slight chuckle, only to shift his gaze towards the couple that stood beside Thomas. "Anyways, welcome to Greater Beyond,

    Meria. Lucques."

    "Sorry for having you come here," replied Meria after some time, her head slightly lowered in shame. "We know you were about to go to sleep, but... we have an urgent matter that we need

    your help with."

    "Well, I had a feeling that''d be the case ever since Thomas messaged me." Valyr nodded in response, his expression turning solemn. "Now, tell me... does it have anything to do with

    those debt collectors?"

    "Worse." Lucques took the chance to reply in Meria''s stead, his expression somewhat grim.

    "Way worse than the debt collectors."

    "It''s not the debt collectors?" asked Valyr in slight confusion, only to be reminded once more

    of the memory he skimmed through. "Wait... are you telling me...?"

    "It''s exactly what you think it is." Lucques nodded as he let out a defeated sigh.

    "It''s the Monstrata."