[@Scarifar]
[center][h1]A few months prior...[/h1][/center]
The West Pelinese Labyrinth was oddly quiet for a place brimming with dark magic. This one reached all the way down to the planet's core, where a mana barrier generated by the Sealed Tower blocked off any further progress. The Empire had placed teleport circles in strategic locations all around the labyrinth to speed up navigation, but today, they didn't feel terribly helpful as Afki and her escort team charted out a previously unexplored branch. They'd been underground for days now, almost a week, and some of the men were getting sick for lack of sunlight.

The quest seemed like a tough one at first. The labyrinth was notorious for generating numerous powerful monsters from its crystal core, and the team went in there fully expecting to fight. But there was neither hide nor hair of any of the usual quarries. There wasn't even so much as a rat, let alone the giant spiders and manticores that usually roamed these parts. The local Formic tribe was nowhere to be seen.

Teleus, a high-ranking paladin from the Adventurer's Guild, raised his torch to shed light on a high roof they just walked under. "Say, Afki, I don't remember if you ever told us how you came to the Empire. What brought a tribal like yourself all the way down here to explore slog-marathons like the West Pelinese Labyrinth? Was it the money? I bet it was the money."