GLITCH

Silver Island

TERRA GUILD, Ruby City

Monday, November 22, 2500

9:03am

Ruby City, another prosperous city next to Platinum City, is located several kilometers northeast of Yellow City. This place is where luxurious accessories made from ruby are manufactured, and no other place in the whole Lecrucia could ever copy the quality. One of the top-tier guilds, Terra Guild, dwells in this place. They helped the citizens in their daily lives, and the guild has the reputation for their good conduct and all law-abiding Glints.

•••

"Now, your mission is to investigate Silver Island and report back its condition. I have heard that this island dwells a curse. It may be a rumor, but still it's crucial for Glints from our Terra Guild to grant this direct request from the AGA. There's no need to fret about the transport; someone from AGA is waiting at the guest room. He knows [Teleport], so you'll arrive at the Crystal City in no time; he can't go to places like Silver Island which has abnormal mana readings, so Crystal City is the limit. After this mission succeeds, and I'm pretty sure that it will be, our prestige will rise up and our guild will surely secure the 5th place of the Guild Leaderboard. This mission is A-rank. I wish you all the best."

"Yes!"

"Good. You're all dismissed."

All five of us where about to take our exit but then our guild leader stopped us and asked for me, the vice-master of the guild and squad leader for the mission, to remain. I did as what he asked, and the rest exited.

"There's something I want to talk with you about."

"What is it sir?"

Our guild leader, Bryan Ymir – 30 years old; a man with red eyes and greyish hair; light-skinned, physically fit; he's currently wearing a whole set of clothing as if he's from a detective movie or something; he even has the hat (is this some form of cosplay?) – told me to sit down and have a cup of coffee.

"There's a message from the AGA. It's something not coherent to the mission they gave though. It's more like a notification to put it bluntly."

"What's the message then?"

"It seems that the 5-star informant herself went there to investigate. She notified the AGA about 'seeking any possible trails of a certain mystery' and just went her way to that island early in the morning."

"That's strange. Why would she go to an abandoned island all by herself?"

He sipped his cup of coffee and replied, "That I don't know. You see, the 5-star informant always goes solo and get every bit of superb information out from pure nothingness. But we're talking about Silver Island here. I think that at the very least, you heard rumors encircling that deserted island right?"

"Yes. Rumor has it that that island became like the Island of Ruins. It has the abnormality of Glitch manifestations every minute. It's also documented that there are abnormal scales of mana reading in that island. Wait – does this mean that we're having a rescue mission?"

"Of course not. AGA only told us that if possible, you and your team make contact with her."

"It seems like AGA puts a lot of their trust to that informant huh?"

"Yes. The information she obtained saved us Glints a lot of trouble to be honest. So, let's end the conversation here; please relay the message to the rest."

I sighed and abruptly complained.

"Guild master, you could've told all of us about this matter. I think that there's no need for you to just disclose this information to me only."

"Perhaps…but to be honest, I prefer to only have you know this. You see…"

"Yes…?" I crept closer to my guild master as he gave me a gesture to have my ear approach his mouth.

"…I just want to act cool and mysterious."

"What…? You…"

I clenched my fist and hit our "beloved" guild master on the face.

"YOU'RE ALWAYS BEEN A PAIN THE ASS!"

"Gehuuuu…!"

Thanks to the ruckus, some members of Terra Guild, the guild currently rank 6 in the leaderboards, rushed to our aid.

"What happened here vice-leader?"

"Ah, this? Don't worry about this scumbag."

"Ehhh... You're so rude Lyca—gheeee!"

I stopped his talking with a punch to his abdomen.

"Sheesh, you really are annoying."

I just scratched my head with an eyebrow raised as I look this guy.

As what this scum mentioned earlier, I'm Lyca Crossfield – 27 years old; a lady with a petite height and slender body (thanks to this I always end up being treated as a kid whenever I get missions outside our town. I get several discounts though, so I don't mind); I possess purple eyes, and yellow-orange hair that extends to my waist, I always go ponytail for my own convenience; I wore a indigo mage robe made out of inferior salamander skin, a green shirt and skirt, and boots. I turned my back from that chief of mine and pouted as I'm getting out of the room.

•••

"We're here."

"Thanks for teleporting us here."

The guy nodded, and teleported back.

Wait…

Isn't [Teleport] a skill that has a one-day cooldown?

"Leader, is something wrong?"

One of my subordinates asked. I'm sorry if I made you worry.

"Nothing at all. Now, let's go to the boat and make our way to that Silver Island."

"Yes!"

•••

SILVER ISLAND

11:39am

"Er…how should I put this?"

I keep mumbling to myself.

As what that book said, this place SHOULD HAVE BEEN LONG ABANDONED.

But why am I seeing this scene?

A city bustling as ever, individuals chattering here and there; there's even a festival going on.

"Seriously, what's with this place?"

Nevermind that. It's time for me to investigate this place unseen.

"[Astral Form]…"

I transformed into my astral form, and started scouting the town. It turns out that there's nothing wrong to be seen in here. They're just normal citizens doing their best living on this historically-documented ghost island. But then again, there's no such thing as normal here. I realized that as I was about to enter the forest.

"TRESPASSER DETECTED. TRACING WHEREABOUTS…"

I gasped as I heard a menacing voice that echoed in the air. Moreover, the city folk who don't even sensed my presence started to run towards my direction and acted like some madmen searching for prey. I took a couple of steps back, and the city folk started walking back to where they originally are. After seeing that, I came to a conclusion that this place hides something ominous.

I need to think of a plan...but first I need to have my lunch.

Yum!

As I'm about to bite my last chicken sandwich…

"AAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!"

!?

There's someone here other than me?

"W-WHAT'S WRONG WITH THESE PEOPLE!?"

Worried, I dashed towards the source of the screams.