The cloaked pervert waved his? hands quickly. "I really don't have much time. Most of the tower stuff is pretty self explanatory. Explore and you will figure everything out. There are monsters outside. Don't worry about what they are called, their backstory, any of that."
"I doesn't matter?"
"It's vitally important! I'm just in a rush. Key loop- send Awakened Spirits to kill monsters, get loot, upgrade, rinse and repeat. Best loot is Resonance Crystals. Get one hundred Resonance Crystals and you get one chance to summon a random Awakened Spirit at the Spirit Heart Pool."
"You ChatGPT'ed the names for all these, didn't you?"
"NO! The names are super cool, and my hot cousin's awesome OC. DO. NOT. COPY!"
"I pinky promise."
"Good. You better." The hood looked away, arms crossed. I waited. And waited.
"Not in that much of a rush, huh?"
"DAMN! Resonance crystals can get you up to a five star AS. Six stars is the highest rating! Six stars get the relationship system and highest intelligence. You want the six star AS, but every star rank can be useful if used well."
"And how do I get them, if Resonance Crystals can't do it?"
"Events, quests, progression through the storyline and special in-game drops. You can also build sets to get them."
"There is a set system?"
"Yes, no time to explain. You can craft gear or buy it from a merchant or get it through drops, you will figure it out."
"How do I upgrade myself?"
"Relationship system. Crap, I'm out of time. Look, here is a thousand Resonance Crystals and one Iridescent Clarion Stone, to even things out for you. Plus the usual starting package, don't say the Devs didn't look out for noobs." Black Robe was racing now, trying to get all the words out as fast as he could.
"Don't let the monsters in, 'cause they will violate you horribly as they kill you. They do awful… just… awful things. I don't know what the hell Rosalia was thinking when she designed them. Bottom line is- do your best. Fight hard! Remember, while you may die horribly, your ruined, defiled, body will pave the way for the Hero!"
I decided it was time to try violence again, but the swine vanished in a burst of green light. "At least tell me your name, coward!"
My voice echoed off the stone walls. There was no further reply.
Well. Not ideal. Not how I thought this morning would go. I was headed uptown to a very discreet cafe, one with a members only invite system, for a very special lunch.
Look, sometimes a man just wants a plate of omurice with a heart drawn on it in ketchup without any judgment from the uncultured, okay? It's not weird. Those maid costumes are tasteful, and everyone is very respectful.
I looked around at the bare stone room. There was a pile of growing crystals on the floor where the hooded person had been hovering. Big suckers. Most of them were hexagonal, milky white and about as long as my hand. Maybe two inches across. The one fancy crystal, clearly the Iridescent Clarion Stone, was three times that size in every direction. It was humming. A faint, haunting tune.
I picked one of the white ones up. Heavy sucker too. How was I going to carry all of 'em?
As soon as I thought that, they transformed into a cloud of golden light and swirled up at me. They rushed me! The cloud smashed into my hip and, in a second flash of golden light, turned into a pouch. Small pouch, the size of my fist and weighed less than my headphones. The whole process was impressively painless. I touched the pouch and immediately knew it was filled with a thousand Resonance Crystals and one Iridescent Clarion Stone. Useful.
Whelp. No need to question any of that. Or any of this. I have read enough Isekai to know how this goes, not to mention played enough gacha. Time to find a pond to chuck 'em into.
Anything else in the room? I blinked. Tacked to the wall was a notice board, with a calendar, some fliers, and even a little pouch with scrolls sticking out of it.
This… was not there five minutes ago. I would demand to know what the actual expletive was going on here, but… I knew. Gacha. Gacha was going on.
I sighed. Then trotted over. Time to take a loot bath! Oh, but where to begin?
I rubbed my hands. Then glared at my hands. They were rough. Not at all the pillowy, soft, lotion-soaked hands I had before. I tried not to feel crushed. More than ten years of development, lost. Back to chafing palms and misery. Curse that black robe!
Deep breaths. Deep breaths. It's fine. There will be some magical nonsense to fix this. Maybe even in the free welcome gifts. Positive thinking. Positive thinking. I picked a scroll.
Thank you for playing Dream of Eternal Sky! To celebrate our 523rd year, we are giving new players an exciting new feature- hats! Yes, what you all have been demanding- Hettie's Hat Shop is now available full time, and best of all, she WILL be taking Runed Bones for the Common hats. If you are brave enough to turn up looking for something crude, anyway. To celebrate, we are giving all new players their very own hat. Open the hatbox and see what's in store!
Hats? Equipment for stat boosts, cosmetics, both? Fingers crossed- both. I mimed opening the hatbox on the scroll and nearly dropped the thing when the box slid open and an actual, real life, 3D hat popped out. It was a Robin Hood hat. Green, pointed, kind of triangular with a red feather sticking out. No stat boost that I could see. Damn. Next letter.
In response to repeated messages from players, we are pinning this note-
No, we will not be changing the balance. Yes, we are aware of the K/D ratio. Yes, it is higher than comparable games. We would remind you, however, that Dream of Eternal Sky is a skills based game. The game is carefully calibrated to be accessible while challenging, and without requiring PTW. We would remind you that abusing the Devs or community mods is grounds for instant defeat…
Yikes. Never reassuring to hear the Devs say "Git Gud." Onward. I opened the rest of the letters, not bothering to read all the nonsense. As a result, I became the proud owner of five hundred and twenty Runed Bones, two hundred Fragments of Remembrance in a variety of colors, and a small stack of Tower Furniture Coupons, Millinery Orders and Made to Measure Receipts. All of which were for specified rooms or characters, and the shop was closed too.
I checked the calendar.
Log-In Bonus, Day 1: 10 Remembrance Crystals.
Oh, nifty. I checked the rest of the calendar. Yep. First nine days were Remembrance Crystals with twenty on the last day, bringing the total up to 100. On the tenth day, you got a smiling girl with a giant ax and an iridescent, shimmering border around her picture. No idea what that meant, but I was sure it was good.
I looked at the other sheets. Aha! Daily missions. Only today's missions were available, and they were pretty clearly tutorial type missions. Mission 1- summon your first Awakened Soul.
Yeah. I could just about manage that. I took a look at the fliers and only just restrained myself from flipping out. Sales for in game resource packs. Requiring "Frozen Diamond Star Shards." I recognized a premium currency when I saw it. I resolutely spun on my heel and strode off. Anything else of note in this otherwise empty room? No. Just windows. Well, giant empty holes in the walls where windows should be.
Plenty of 'windows,' though, some almost floor to ceiling. I looked outside, staying well back from the ledge. Forest. Deep forest, with huge trees. I could just about make out a shimmer of what looked like a river, maybe a lake, and there were mountains on the edge of the horizon. But everywhere around the tower seemed to be primeval forest.
Looked pretty nice, actually. Monsters though. Did not trust the forest. Did… hood guy say how long until horrible monster violation and death? The last item on the daily missions was to defend the Tower, so I should have some time. Shouldn't I?
I spun towards the door. If I had abs and I could do a pushup, then by GOD I could jog. I leaned forward, lifted my leg and set off.