Advance! 6: Unique Quest: Fantastical Advance!

As Mizuki slowly opened her eyes, she immediately swung her head to look at her arm, which was still intact. "H-How…"

"The elves have a special artifact that can regenerate lost limbs, my name is Yoshiro, and the elf next to me is Toshiko. We already explained the situation to the other two just now." He proceeded to explain everything to Mizuki.

"O-Oh god… So if neither of you had decided to check Ancient Fate…"

"You three might very well have died, yes. But what matters is that we did make it, and you three are safe and sound… The slime didn't need much of our healing expertise though…" Toshiko admitted.

Mizuki glanced at Sli-Mai who looked perfectly fine, apart from her being about to cry. "Sli-Mai, how did you survive that?" She asked curiously.

"W-Well, you know how I'm a slime right? My body has an instinctive defense mechanism that, when I get hit, my body liquifies and splatters across the ground, which lets me solidify again, shortly after."

"Oh…"

"Well, I know I never want to go to that area ever again, that's for sure…" Noburo said.

Mizuki stood up and glanced around, they seemed to be in an elven hospital, it looked more like a tree house than a hospital though…

"A-Anyway, do you three want to go back to Hirano now? I can transport us there…" Toshiko asked.

"Y-Yes, please…" Mizuki agreed, Toshiko glanced at Yoshiro. "...Could I have my bow back now, by the way?" She questioned why he still had her bow. He nodded and handed her the bow.

"W-wait, so you're not an archer, Yoshiro?" Sli-Mai asked with curiosity.

"Yeah… I'm actually a summoner, but I was taught how to use a bow when I was younger." He grabbed his staff that was on the ground.

"Now that everyone's ready…" Toshiko rummaged through her bag before grabbing hold of a return item, she gripped it causing all of them to disappear with a flashing light.

Hours had passed since they returned to Hirano, Mizuki stood atop the inn's balcony and stared up at the moon, seemingly lost in thought.

Meanwhile inside, the four other members of her party were sitting in front of a table. "So like we said before with Sli-Mai… I guess me and Yoshiro will be joining you for the rest of your journey… Just, in case we ever see that person again." Toshiko told them.

Noburo nodded, Sli-Mai was glancing over at Mizuki, who was still looking at the moon.

"...Um… Mizuki, are you okay?" She sounded concerned.

Mizuki turned to face Sli-Mai, her face went from contemplation to a determined look. "I have figured out what I want to do, we don't truly know anything about this world… As it's been made obvious by that person who seemingly had wings…"

She walked further into the room. "So I propose a new quest, it's a quest to figure out everything about our world, Adventure-Lands. It would be a quest that would require us to figure out as much as possible about what makes our world worth being called an adventure!"

Mizuki froze as she heard the voice inside her head again, this time she could make out that it sounded… robotic. "You have started a new Unique Quest: Fantastical Advance!, You have also completed a Unique Quest: The Tragedy of Ancient Fate."

Suddenly, the space around them began to distort, before ceasing shortly after.

They're eyes widened. "W-What just happened? Why do I feel like some of my memories were just replaced with different memories…?" Toshiko questioned.

Sli-Mai shook her head in agreement. "I-I felt that too… Strange, it's only a few memories that feel off…"

Mizuki sighed before taking a look at the Unique Quests menu.

Unique Quests

Ongoing (1)

Completed (1)

Completed Unique Quests

The Tragedy of Ancient Fate, Objectives:

Encounter the fallen angel within Ancient Fate (1/1)

Ongoing Unique Quests

Fantastical Advance!, Objectives:

Gather all the Sacred Items scattered throughout Adventure-Lands (0/???)

Help as many individuals as you can while doing so. (0/???)

Advance the World. (0/??)

"That last objective… What does "Advance the World" mean…? Not to mention, I don't know what sacred items are…" Mizuki questioned.

"I think the adventurers guild would know about them… Probably." Yoshiro pointed out.

"And… Apparently that person who almost killed us, is a fallen angel? I've never heard of that race before… I've heard of Angels, but…" Mizuki speculated for a moment but couldn't figure it out.

She felt irritated thinking about it so she quickly brushed it off. "L-Lets just go to the guild… Maybe Chiyo will know what Sacred Items are…" The rest nodded and they quickly made their way toward the adventurers guild.

Chiyo looked at Mizuki with relief. "O-Oh thank goodness you're okay… I'm glad I sent Toshiko and Yoshiro over to help you in case you needed it…"

"You… Were the one who sent them?" Mizuki asked.

"Yeah… I got worried due to how many reports of missing people were coming in, so I sent two of our up and coming adventurers after you… I would've sent someone with power akin to the Hero, but all our skilled adventurers were out at the time." She explained.

"I see…" Mizuki thought for a moment.

"Chiyo, do you know what "Sacred Items" are-" Chiyo suddenly grabbed Mizuki and ran into the back.

"Shh…! Mizuki, you can't talk about that in such a public area… How do you even know about those…?" Chiyo asked.

She looked confused. "I-It's a long story, but essentially, a quest has gathering sacred items as one of the objectives…"

Chiyo's eyes widened. "S-Sacred Items are very important items that serve as the core within every area in Adventure-Lands. If someone who wanted to use them for evil picked one up, it would transform the area into a stronger, more dangerous version of that area…"

"But… If someone like you picked them up, Mizuki… It would transform the area into a more peaceful version of that area." She explained in detail.

Mizuki's eyes widened. "W-Wow… I see why I shouldn't mention them in public then."

"O-Only the adventurers guild, and the top ranked adventurers in every kingdom should know about Sacred Items… But not even one has been found…"

"Well… I may not be sure about how to go about finding them, but I promise that I will find them all before someone with evil intent finds them, Chiyo…" Mizuki promised.

"T-Thank you, Mizuki… Hopefully you'll be able to find them." They went back outside.

"Well… What now, Mizuki?" Noburo asked.

She pondered his question for a moment before smirking. "There's this saying I always wanted to say."

"Let's set off on a fantastical adventure! One which will contain many happy memories, and also sad ones… But no matter what, we will advance until we have finished our adventure!" Mizuki laughed.

Noburo tried not to laugh at her statement. "W-What the heck…? Haha… Alright fine… That's something to look forward to then!" The rest of them started to laugh as they walked into the Flatlands of Slimes…?

Prologue: Fantastical Advance!, Start!

END

Arc 1: Preluding Tragedy…

END

Act 1: BEGIN.