[NWO] The Mystery of Maple [An Inquiry]
1 Name: Anonymous Spear Master
A'ight, I started the thread
2 Name: Anonymous Greatsworder
Nice
The concern of the day is our precious little Maple
3 Name: Anonymous Mage
Honestly, she seemed even more nuts than Pain.
Why was she only third?
4 Name: Anonymous Spear Master
The girl spent most of the first hour doodling in a ruin
5 Name: Anonymous Archer
It was adorbs
6 Name: Anonymous Great Shielder
I'm starting to doubt that thing is even a great shield
I came in ninth btw
7 Name: Anonymous Spear Master
Noice
Getting that high with a great shield ain't easy
(Averts eyes from Maple)
8 Name: Anonymous Greatsworder
The final counts for Maple this time
Event 1
Maple: 3rd
Deaths: 0
Damage Taken: 0
Defeated: 2,028
Equipment includes a mystery great shield that swallowed enemies, a short sword
with ludicrously powerful status effect spells, and black armor
The armor doesn't seem to be doing anything particularly OP
But her raw defense is so insane, she tanked spells from 50 mages all at once without
taking any damage.
9 Name: Anonymous Mage
No matter how many times I watch that, it's still insane.
10 Name: Anonymous Great Shielder
Great shield->Well, maybe there's gear like that out there somewhere?
Short sword->Yeah, again, maybe?
Maple herself->Huh?
Her stats and skill loadout are just a total enigma
How high is her VIT?
11 Name: Anonymous Greatsworder
She's literally a walking fortress
Literally
12 Name: Anonymous Archer
It did seem like she was tanking it all with just her VIT
Anybody have any idea what skills she might have?
When she was tanking those spells, there was a sparkly effect, so I think there was
definitely a skill involved
13 Name: Anonymous Great Shielder
Status effects->No clue
Defense boosts->If there were skills that made you that tanky I'd have 'em
Great shield->Who knows
14 Name: Anonymous Mage
Yeah
We don't know a single one of Maple's skills, but I guess we can assume she's got the
basic ones.
It's the unique skills that are a mystery
15 Name: Anonymous Archer
She undefeatable one-on-one?
16 Name: Anonymous Mage
Serious possibility.
For starters, you'd have to do something about those AOE status effects.
She said "Fatal Poison" so that's gotta be a top-tier spell.
Which begs the question, where's her MP coming from?
She was slinging spells like crazy, but we all agree she's sunk all her points into VIT,
right?
How does she have the MP for it?
17 Name: Anonymous Greatsworder
Yeah, I think that great shield is a magic reservoir
Seemed like everything it ate was turning into magic
18 Name: Anonymous Spear Master
So that's what the red crystals are?
They were shattering with every spell cast
19 Name: Anonymous Greatsworder
So basically Maple's build:
Maple herself has defense so high she doesn't take damage
But any attacks and players trying to bypass that get converted to MP
Then she slams 'em with status effects
QED
20 Name: Anonymous Spear Master
Is she the last boss
21 Name: Anonymous Archer
Yeah, one built by a real sadist
22 Name: Anonymous Great Shielder
And she might still have skills she hasn't shown yet
I mean, no one did any damage to her, so she might have like, autoheals or whatever.
23 Name: Anonymous Mage
There oughtta be a law against final bosses that can heal
24 Name: Anonymous Greatsworder
I started laughing even as I was typing it up.
And she's only just started!
Rookie takes world by storm.
25 Name: Anonymous Mage
By the next event, she'll have something crazy on that armor, too!
Oh god
26 Name: Anonymous Archer
She's already a top player…
I'm doomed.
Perfect combo of cute and strong
27 Name: Anonymous Spear Master
Let's keep watch over her
She might have top-tier stats, but inside she's still a beginner.
28 Name: Anonymous Greatsworder
Good point.
Keep investigating however you can.
29 Name: Anonymous Archer
Roger that!
30 Name: Anonymous Mage
Roger that!
31 Name: Anonymous Spear Master
Roger that!
32 Name: Anonymous Great Shielder
Roger that!
The day after the first event, Maple was standing by the board, taking notes.
She was back to work finding damage-reduction skills and making a list of all known
unlock conditions for such skills.
The three-month anniversary of the launch of NewWorld Online was only a day away.
And to mark the occasion, there would be a massive update. It would add any number
of new skills and items. The forums were abuzz with these, but they weren't the main
attraction.
Everyone's top priority was a new map added in the update—accessible by defeating
the boss in the northernmost dungeon on the current map.
The map was available whether you were solo or in a party.
Effectively speaking, this meant clearing the first zone to access the second.
Maple figured she'd give it a shot once she had a few more skills.
"Today I'm going for Great Defense!"
Maple was all fired up about it, but she soon discovered a problem. Night's Facsimile
had a powerful skill that swallowed up everything. And the conditions for Great
Defense required her to get hit a lot—which never happened, because she eliminated
all threats before they hit her.
"Hmm… but with this shield, maybe I don't need that skill. Still… I'd prefer having a lot
of skills…"
Maple thought for a while, but then she had an idea and set out once more.
"I hope this works…"
She was headed to where Chrome had taken her before—Iz's shop.
"Hey, you! Welcome back. You've sure made a name for yourself. To think you were
still in starter gear the last time you came in!"
"Thank you! So… I have a favor to ask. Feel free to say no!"
With that preface, Maple started talking. When she was done, Iz nodded and summed
it up to confirm the request.
"You want a new set of gear that's all white and nice-looking, but you aren't fussed
about the stats. And you want to know how much that would cost? Well, if you bring
in some materials yourself, I can do a set for a million G. Depending on the materials
you bring me, it might end up with better core stats."
Night's Facsimile was a combat-oriented great shield—but not good for skill grinding.
So Maple had made up her mind to get a second shield expressly for that purpose—
but the look of the shield was very important. She didn't want to just buy some crappylooking spare. A lot of eyes were on her now, so she felt like she had an image to
uphold.
She figured she might as well get a whole matching set.
Since her main set was pitch-black, her other set would be pure white.
Maple giggled at the thought. She could already see herself all dressed up.
"Got it!" she said. "I'll go get the money and materials!"
She dashed out of the shop.
And went back to the information board to find out where to get the materials she
needed.
First, she needed pure-white materials that were hard enough. Maple found two
materials that met those conditions.
The first were white crystals. Maple immediately realized that she could never gather
these with DEX: 0.
So she headed out to gather the other option.
They were found in a large underground lake to the south of the town. The lake was
rumored to be hiding secrets lying within its depths, but nobody had found anything
like that yet.
Maple was looking for a kind of fish that swam in schools and had hard scales as white
as snow. One fish in the school was the leader and so blue, it blended into the water.
"I read a story about that in grade school! It sure takes me back!"
Maple bought herself some fishing gear and set off for the lake in high spirits.
"Okay! Let's hook some fish!"
There was a small plop, and Maple waited for her first bite.
Twenty minutes passed.
"F-finally!"
Maple pulled the rod as hard as she could. The splash echoed across the underground
lake.
She'd finally caught a white fish! It was flopping around behind her.
She left it there a minute, and then it disappeared in a burst of light, leaving a single
two-inch scale behind.
Their actual scales were much smaller, but Maple told herself that's just how games
worked and put it in her inventory. She had a lot more fishing to do, but tomorrow was
a school day.
"I didn't think it would take this much time… hnggg… Okay, I guess I'll have to call it a
day after two more."
Fishing also relied on your DEX and AGI stats, so Maple's fishing was incredibly
inefficient. Crafters like Iz could probably catch a fish every minute.
Maple wasn't that lucky, so she did what she could and then logged out.
It would never do to sacrifice real life for the sake of a game. In that sense, she was
much more levelheaded than the friend who'd invited her to this game, Risa.
"Whew… that's enough for today! Gotta get ready for tomorrow."
Kaede turned the system off, glanced over her schedule, and put the appropriate
textbooks in her backpack.
"Okay! Good night."
She crawled into bed and was sound asleep a few minutes later.
Probably having wonderful dreams.