Layla flew between the thick trees, avoiding the sights of anyone in the town trying to look from the outside in. However, all she could see were people living their lives, and she felt like a creep about it. Instead, she left for the wilderness to investigate the environment. Layla just wanted to see if there was anything immediately obvious that she could spot, but she would just have to trust that Sil could investigate the town by himself.
Once she was out of sight of the planet's habitants, she flew above the forest and noticed a small pack of ant-like beasts. Grabbing her sword, she dropped down and slashed down on their heads, killing them in a single blow.
She took the time to remove their crystals, taking note of the clarity. They were emperor tier easily. Layla was going to need some form of currency just in case. If there were beasts on the planet, then there had to be a nest crystal.
Since there weren't very many beasts around from her aerial view, Layla decided to stop using her ability on herself to regain her MC points and to practice getting used to the planet's gravity. Even though she was able to defeat the emperor tier beasts, Sil could've destroyed them bare handedly.
Layla nearly fell after she stopped her telekinesis, using the sword once again to hold herself up.
"I could take control while you relaxed," the black sword spoke.
"No—" Layla shook her head, "This is nothing."
Lifting herself up, she continued onwards into the woods. Layla used qi to strengthen her body, practicing its use in that way. Her body held a lot of qi but she used it mostly for arrows. She did not use it in the same way as Quinn, Leo, or the blades did for active enhancement. With her being a mostly long ranged user, and her sword nullifying all forms of energy, she found herself not really needing to do that very often.
"Glad to see you're taking the initiative in growing stronger," the sword spoke again.
"What do you mean?" Layla replied.
She was always taking the initiative to grow stronger, it's what she's been doing ever since she was turned by Quinn.
"There's a reason why you're here, Layla," The sword continued to speak in her mind, "Why else would I have taken you so far from the comfort of your own home?"
That was when Layla realized what the black sword was getting at.
"You brought me out here… to train?"
"I want you to grow stronger, but you hit a wall in strength back then, and despite your best efforts, you've never been able to surpass it."
Layla knew the sword. She'd gotten very familiar with him over the years, knowing things about him that she hadn't told anyone else, and vice versa. If it had been anyone else who said that to her, then she would've argued back, it's what she had unfortunately grown used to, but she knew the sword did not mean it as an insult.
Despite everyone else thinking that she was able to defeat the dalki Helen clone, both her and the sword knew it wasn't true. The Helen clone was only defeated after the sword took control and the clone herself sacrificed herself to take over the post. Even though it had been years since then, it weighed on Layla's mind.
"It's true, I did hit a wall," Layla sighed, "Even though I've been turned, and I trained hard for so long, it's like I'm a human again. Limited to my weak level 2 ability while everyone else surpasses me in strength."
The sword could tell she was getting bogged down by the thoughts in her mind again.
"Hey, remember what you told that Sil guy? You may not be a godslayer, but I was, and with my power, you'll be able to match his strength."
"It's borrowed power," she whispered.
"And if it weren't for you, I would've never been able to get half my strength back. You've unlocked skills that all my previous wielders never did, and I've been in some very capable hands. No one else has been able to use me like you have."
Layla slightly smiled, and tightly gripped the sword.
"Thank you."
"I'm just simply stating the truth."
Layla encountered a few beasts along the way, none of which were troublesome for her even with the intense gravity due to their lower levels. The black sword cut through them like butter. She only wished she had a storage ring since there were only so many beast crystals she could carry on hand, opting to only keep the clearer ones.
Even though Layla wasn't really finding a lot of clues about the world or it's celestial at the moment, she took this opportunity to train herself, finding it easier and more efficient to kill the beasts.
That was when she noticed some footprints in the soil. Remembering how the planet's inhabitants looked, the footprints clearly didn't match them. Layla would even dare call the footprints human.
Putting the sword away, she started cautiously following them. Layla was in a marshy biome, and the soil was damp, making them quite easy to track. Too easy. She was wondering why there weren't any attempts to hide the footprints, nothing like using the branches and having them drag behind to obscure the print shape, or by walking on the massive rocks embedded in the ground. Layla couldn't help but feel like the footsteps wanted to be found.
Using telekinesis, she lifted herself in the air, following the tracks through the marsh and into the forest again. The foliage was just pushed through, leaving a visible sign. Layla followed until she came across a small clearing with a simple hut constructed in the middle.
Its roof was being lifted by another tree that was tied to the ground and made of leaves. The walls were a mix of wooden planks and vines.
'Is this a hermit house?' Layla thought to her sword.
"Keep your guard up," The sword said in return.
Layla started using her soul weapon around the area. A little trick she figured out was that her soul weapon was great for finding anyone with qi in the local area. It wasn't as precise as qi perception, but that didn't matter when she had actually absorbed a bit of qi from somewhere. Someone was nearby.
Looking to the direction she felt it, she saw a familiar fierce face in the woods infront of her, the figure holding a bundle of leaves and wearing a straw hat. She dropped the leaves upon seeing the purple horned woman.
"Linda, is that you?" Layla called out.
They both walked up to each other, looking at the other, both as if they had seen a ghost. Linda had her familiar short black hair, and looked a tad bit tanner than when Layla had seen her. However, she saw that Layla was holding a few beast crystals under her arm. She grabbed them and put them in her shadow storage.
"Wh— Linda!" she complained, but then realized what Linda was doing.
"Did you want me to keep your arms full?"
Layla shook her head, "Forget that, how did you get here? Why are you here?"
"Initially, I was making connections," Linda commented, straight faced as ever.
Looking at the hut again, how it seemed so far from the town Layla and Sil were at, she knew there was more to the story.
"Surely that isn't it, right?"
Linda went back to the leaves she dropped and began picking it up, "I was told there was some sort of military coverup going on here, so I was sent to investigate. You'd be surprised how many 'military coverup' planets I've gone to."
Transforming into her larger state, she donned her second set of crimson armor. However, she did not wear it for fighting, but because she wanted to reach for her roof. She then started inserting the giant leaves into the top as she continued talking, "It's a strange planet with how everyone who enters never leaves, but I thought with my shadow ability I could just go at any time. What with the shadow link skill and all. Turns out by the time I was done, all the other shadow users kicked the bucket and I couldn't escape."
Linda then shrunk back down to her normal size, dusting off her hands, "I was pissed that everyone else died before I could get out of here, gathered a lot of information too, but now I'm more pissed those Meimanes stole my fucking armor!"
Now Layla was confused. Linda's armor was kept in her shadow space, how was it stolen?
Linda groaned, "I know what you're thinking, how did I lose my armor when I have the shadow ability of all things? Well despite being an undead, I still have a nose and my armor needed to be washed. I hadn't seen anyone for years so I thought 'it's fine if I leave it out in the sun to dry' and they took it while I wasn't looking!"
Linda crossed her arms and stomped her foot, "damn cockroaches, I bet they're gonna sell it for millions."
"Millions? Your armor was emperor tier, wasn't it? It's not worth that much— no offense."
"None taken. Anything human they find sells for a lot of money, which they seem to have a lot of human things despite never having a supposed alien encounter," Linda rolled her eyes before looking proud of herself, "Aside from me. I'm a local legend."
"Sil told me that people disappear here, never to be seen again, have you seen anyone else?"
Linda went inside her hut, and Layla followed suit. Inside Linda laid on a hammock and had her hands behind her head.
"I don't know either. If there was anyone before me, then I haven't seen them, and any new people I've seen also go away without a trace."
Linda opened up her shadow space and took out a human hand to casually munch on. Layla's face betrayed her learned manners as she stared in disgust. Linda didn't seem to really care.
"Speaking of information, you mentioned Sil right?" Linda got up in her hammock, and sat in it.
"He brought me here. Why bring him up?"
"That boy can teleport right? As 'nice' as this planet has been, I'm sick of it," Linda sarcastically muttered. "I've wanted to leave this damn place for a while now, but the ship Logan sent me got broken because of this freaking gravity, and it's not like I could send a message outside cause there's some sort of forcefield preventing messages from escaping. Where is he anyways?"
"He's in the town transformed as one of them."
"Transformation, huh?" Linda shook her head, but smiled, "I swear, that boy has an ability for everything."
"Let's head back to our shuttle. Me and Sil said we were going to meet up there once we were done."
"Good. I don't want to repeat myself telling you all what I know."
Layla looked happy with herself since she never expected to find a cursed faction member here of all places. The two left the clearing and headed to the shuttle.