"Moira, you are playing Freedom Online too? I thought you said you couldn't afford to play it." Her guy friend Kenneth asked as the two were walking home.
She smiled at her average looking classmate. "My brother got it for me. Apparently something good happened for him. The game is a lot of fun!"
The bleached haired pre-teen smiled. "I'm glad. I have wanted you to be able to play video games with you for a long time. What is your in-game name?"
"Dancing princess." She replied. "What is yours? If we hang out, you can see how wonderful my brother's music is!"
Kenneth inwardly groaned as she mentioned her older brother like a fan-girl, again. "My in-game character name is Huntsman Ken. I've been polishing up my archery and survival skills. I'm a bit behind the experts who do nothing but play the game. I've finally reached level 20. You probably aren't very far into the game yet. I'll take you around hunting sometime. What is your starting town?"
"Trillith, and thank you for the offer Kenneth, but my brother and I have a goal to play the game without hunting down monsters." She tried to politely decline.
"What?" Kenneth was floored. He had never heard of anyone trying to level up this way. "What level are you?" He finally had the courage to ask.
"Level 4" She smiled.
"Then your highest skill tier?"
"Oh, my dancing is already rank 3. Most of my normal skills are still at the beginner stage. My brother is super awesome though; his music skill is already rank 5!"
Kenneth's mind felt overwhelmed. "How…" He shook his head a few times. He knew Moira wasn't lying. She was honest to a fault."
The boy's Genius-Watch 9 sent him an alert. He pulled it up. [Vextor guild has posted a video on the game Freedom Online's bug forum requesting an explanation from the gaming company. I've attached the link. – Alexander]
"Looks like someone found the first in-game glitch; Moira, want to watch?"
Moira looked over to her friend. "What's a glitch?" She inquired.
"Ah, I forgot, you never played games in the past. A glitch is where the game's data has an error causing unusual effects. Sometimes a glitch can make things difficult to proceed and other times it is something that if used can create something for someone to use to get stronger faster. It is sometimes called a bug." He explained, showcasing his knowledge.
"Oh, so you are saying this group has found one of these glitches and is asking for the game company for an explanation? Why ask for an explanation?"
"Well, sometimes, in games, a glitch isn't really a glitch but instead an in-game hidden event. The guild asking for an explanation is probably because they are unsure. We would probably understand if we watched the video." He moved the holographic screen so the two of them could watch.
The scene unfolded as the group of six fought a large water elemental and lost. Strange music that Moira instantly recognized was playing in the background.
***
Earlier that day…
Jericho found himself summoned to a chaotic fight. Multiple short notifications flooded his vision rapidly as he tried to get away from the battle. [You have been summoned into battle.] [You have obtained a new quest. Help Elemental Llyn be victorious in defending the lake.]
[Due to being a water elemental in combat, Form-Shift has been temporarily locked. It will be unlocked after combat is over.]
[Due to being registered as an in-game creature you are bound by the agro system during combat. As you do not possess the skill (Flee) you cannot leave combat until either combat has ended or character death.]
An arrow hit Jericho the water elemental. [-15] appeared in front of him. Jericho moved as fast as he could to hide behind Llyn. Two more arrows hit him. He felt a slight regret for a moment about not investing stat points into agility.
{Jericho?} Llyn asked in shock as he felt the small arms of a lesser water elemental clinging to his leg.
{You summoned me here, but I don't like fighting.}
A few 'lucky' hits from the team of six hurt the distracted elemental.
{Absorb into me. I'll keep you safe.} Llyn ordered focusing back onto the fight.
Jericho activated the ability [Merge/separate] and temporarily merged into Llyn's body. The tiny elemental didn't feel very safe. He watched as Llyn was taking hit after hit. {I've got to do something.} He voiced from inside the other elemental.
Llyn slashed at the hunting party knocking the shield-wielding user back a few feet. {Then partially separate from me and use your music. I will do my best to keep you safe.}
{Right!} Jericho didn't want to fight but this was to protect himself and his current allies.
A small face and arms emerged from the back of the giant water elemental. The arms mutated into a violin. {First we recover everyone's health.} He started to play The Storm (Rain) part 1.
The attackers paused momentarily as they listened to a vaguely familiar tune. The rain fell and the water elementals started restoring health by using the falling rain.
Jericho wasn't finished. He started playing Water's Tears. The unfamiliar ebb and flow of the water violin was very contrasting to the chaotic nature of the fight. Droplets of water started to form around Llyn and Jericho.
The players slightly panicked as the elementals' attacks were dealing progressively more damage and their own attacks dealing less damage.
Just before the end of the musical piece, Jericho transitioned back into a loop instead of ending the melody. [You have gained the Tier 1 music skill, Loop: Instead of bringing your music to a conclusion you can repeat it. Cast time increases. Duration of music increases. End effects are amplified by an additional 75% for each repetition. These percentiles are additive. 2 Repetitions will have 175% effect; 3 Repetitions will have 250% effect. In the example of your current piece, hypothetically: if water's tears summoned 10 droplets of water normally, then 2 repetitions would form 17 and three would form 25.]
Jericho noticed Llyn's the invader's fight was quickly approaching a climax. He finished the loop he was on and directed all the water he summoned towards Llyn.
The elemental's Hp was restored. Llyn took advantage of this unexpected boon and finished off the remaining attackers.
Jericho was relieved that the battle was over and that he didn't have to experience his first in-game death yet. He emerged from Llyn's body. A few notifications appeared before him.
[You have participated in the battle against invaders of the lake. You have gained 60 Monster Experience.]
[You have completed the hidden quest Help Elemental Llyn be victorious in defending the lake. You have gained 400 Monster Experience. You are revered by the water elementals of the Lake.]
[Monster experience is a consumable type of experience. You can spend the points on increasing specific monster skill's proficiency, gaining levels like normal Exp, or use them as a currency to exchange with other monsters for items. Currently you possess 460 MExp. How would you like to allot them? Once chosen, you cannot undo the choice.]
Jericho's watery face smiled. {Allocate into skill proficiency.}
[You can allocate MExp into the following skills:
Command water 2/10 --> 3/10 (30 Mexp)
Aqua bullet 2/10 --> 3/10 (30Mexp)
Aqua slash 2/10 --> 3/10 (30Mexp)
Water's Tears 5/10 --> 6/10 (60 Mexp)
The Storm part 9/10 --> 10/10 --> 0/10 Adept (100 Mexp + 100Mexp It costs more to increase to a higher grade of skill.)
Mutable body 7/10 --> 8/10 (80Mexp)
Note that points will not be confirmed allocated until you give the command.]
Jericho thought for a bit. Math was not his strong suit but he knew which skills he considered more important than others. Thankfully the game helped him do the complicated calculating. {Assign as many points as possible to mutable body}.
[370 Mexp assigned. Skill Mutable body 7/10 beginner --> Skill 0/10 Adept Rank up! Mexp remaining 90. After confirmation, you will evolve from a lesser water elemental to a small water elemental. Your skill tier will increase to 2. You will gain new water elemental specific abilities. Cannot add more Mexp to Mutable body at this time.]
{I can increase my music skills on my own. Confirm skill growth allocation.}
[Are you sure you wish to confirm skill growth allocation? 90Mexp will be unable to be assigned to skills later.]
Jericho, if he were in his human form would have bit his lip in thought. {No, do not confirm. Assign remaining points into Control water.}
[Allocating 70 Mexp into Command water. Skill level 2/10 will increase to 4/10. 20Mexp remaining. Confirm? No more skills found able to have Mexp assigned.]
{Confirm.} He replied.
[20 Mexp remains. Would you like to assign it to general exp or turn it into monster currency? Mexp to exp ratio is 1:3.]
{Monster currency.}
A strange sensation filled Jericho's watery frame. His body doubled in size and looked less like a cute blob.
[You have gained 20MC. This special currency can be seen next to your gold.] [Control water has grown to 4/10 Beginner. Mutable body has grown to 0/10 Adept. Your Monster skill line water elemental has advanced to Tier 2.] [You have gained…]
© J Eranoth