Chapter 1297: Monstrata

    ?

    "The Monstrata, huh..."

    Hearing Lucques mention that certain term, a wave of memories immediately washed over Valyr''s mind, prompting him to recall similar memories from the past that he''d long decided to bury deep within.

    In terms of which among the two was worse, Valyr thought of the debt collectors as mere minor nuisances, being nothing more as a small tribulation that would eventually disappear from both Meria and Lucques'' lives.

    After all, the money they would make from Greater Beyond in the future far surpassed the amount of debt their family had accrued from the debt collectors.

    And that was even including the near-extortion levels of interest those collectors had added later on.

    However, unlike the multiple debt collectors that hounded them, as far as Valyr could remember, the Monstrata stood at the pinnacle of ruthlessness when it came to debt collection.

    Being the first group Meria and Lucques'' family had approached back when they were in their most dire straits, the Monstrata had given them the sweet promise of being able to pay back their loans without accruing any interest.

    At first, the group followed the words they uttered to the letter, allowing the pair''s family to be more at ease as they gradually paid back the loan they obtained from the Monstrata.

    Yet, just a couple of years before Greater Beyond was released to the public, the ownership of the group changed hands, causing all of the previous agreements the Monstrata made with others to become null and void.

    Naturally, that included the agreement Meria and Lucques'' family made with the group.

    With the Monstrata seemingly aiming daggers at them with every move they made, the pair''s family began to live in utter terror, wanting nothing more than to repay the debt they owed the group as soon as possible.

    Unfortunately, just as they had scrounged up enough money to pay off the original debt they owed the Monstrata, the latter decided to increase the amount the pair''s family had to pay all of a sudden.

    And thus, a downward spiral began for both Meria and Lucques, with the two of them being forced to take odd jobs here and there just to help their family repay the additional debt that the Monstrata suddenly tacked on.

    In fact, it was around this time that the two met Valyr, who did not hesitate to help the two amidst the situation he was going through.

    Sometime after that, they then met Thomas, who helped both Meria and Lucques find jobs that paid far better salaries than the temporary odd jobs they''ve been forcing themselves to go through.

    Once Greater Beyond was released, it took a while for the two to finally accept to the idea of earning money while playing games, having already experienced the pitiful conversion rates the other VRMMORPGS had given them in the past.

    But, with Valyr giving them proof that it was possible for them to earn far more than any job could offer in Greater Beyond, the two eventually took the plunge, quickly allowing their lives to turn around as they gradually rose through the ranks of power.

    Yet, even with the help of the income they made off playing Greater Beyond, it still took over 3 years for them to finally pay off the debt they owed the Monstrata.

    And that was only due to the fact that the new head of the Monstrata had become one of the victims of a notorious assassin.

    Inwardly thanking his past self for having converted his profit from the beauty elixirs into Delta he could spend, it only took around quarter of an hour for him to return to peak

    condition.

    With his body and mind both fully recharged, the young man briefly thought back to the conversation he had with Thomas and the others, prompting him to make his way to the

    gaming pod after some time.

    Glancing at the window to the side to see how much time had passed since he left, the young man soon logged into the game, giving it the authority to transfer his consciousness into the

    world of Greater Beyond.

    Whoosh!

    Clenching his fists a couple of times as he appeared at the village''s spawn point, Valyr went ahead and sent a message to Thomas, asking the man where they currently were. Seeing that the response he got from the man was the Verdant Woodlands, the young man did not hesitate to unleash a portion of his full agility, turning his body into a blur as he left the village within a matter of seconds.

    Then, by the time he was a few kilometers into the outskirts of the village, he proceeded to make use of the remainder of his agility, allowing him to move a few meters with every step.

    Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh!

    With the surroundings to his sides becoming a slight blur due to the speed he was going at, it only took half an hour for the young man to arrive at the Verdant Woodlands, with the sight of the trio surprisingly greeting him the moment he arrived.

    "...What happened to you three?" Seeing all three of them appear in front of him with greatly haggard expressions, the young man could not contain the curiosity he felt as the gears in his

    mind began to turn.

    "Well..." In response, Thomas began to recount the things the three did after Valyr left to go to sleep, starting off his narration at helping both Meria and Lucques reach Level 10. After briefly mentioning how he almost died trying to attempt what Valyr did for him back then, the man then moved onto how the three of them decided to head to the Verdant Woodlands in advance to gather the materials needed for the beauty elixir.

    "So... how much were the three of you able to gather?" Getting the feeling that the two took

    far longer than Thomas did to reach the peak of Rank o, Valyr surmised that the three working together would have probably amassed only a couple kilos of the materials at most.

    Yet, there was something he forgot to take into consideration.

    Thomas'' familiarity with the materials.

    "Er... around 50 kilos, perhaps? Or was it 60?"

    And thus, the young man was briefly left at a loss for words.