At the Inpelmarr Stream were many players that seemed to have similarly taken the innkeeper’s suggestion. Space was limited, as was privacy, so Beast and Kiki decided to move on. As they followed the river upstream into the mountainous areas, the number of players lessened while the monster density increased. After half an hour of trudging, they finally managed to find a good spot along the river for their business. To be more precise, the riverbank gave way to a small, isolated waterfall that exuded a scene of pristine tranquility.

“Wow.” Kiki involuntarily gasped while Beast took in the view around them.

Not only were there no players around, not even monsters could be seen roaming, making it an ideal safe spot to set up camp. Beast set about gathering wood for making a fire, while Kiki went into the water to wash off the dirt and grime accumulated from their sewer expedition. The plan was as such – They had some satiety left, so Kiki would bathe first while Beast watched over their belongings and get a fire going. After that, Beast would have his turn, while Kiki hunt down the nearby level 53 Rockbulls for their meat.

Of course, there was a mutual understanding that there would be absolutely no peeking. Silent emphasis was on ‘absolutely'.

Not that he had a death-wish anyway. He had seen firsthand how the assassin dealt with her enemies and even tasted her blade once. Beast had absolutely no desire to try it again.

“Haaah.” Beast sighed as the flames cackled on the dried twigs. In the end, it was the outdoors for him again. Beast poked his stick into the pile, trying to the spread the fire so that it would burn evenly. The fire was done and the skewers carved, but Kiki was not yet finished. Girls do like to take their time in the bath it seemed. Without anything else to do, Beast decided to level up his skills while waiting. It was a good time anyway as it was the first time he had been by himself ever since he entered Lanos. Taking out the first item in his backpack- an Armadillo hide, he grinded his Archaeology skill on the item.

You have failed to identify an artifact.

It continued for every item in his inventory until his objective popped up on the notification window.

Your Archaeology skill has increased to Basic 9!

Basic 9 - one more level to the intermediate tier. Beast was excited to know what the secondary effect of the skill will be and it would be optimal if it was something that allowed him to identify the Silver Cloak he had gotten all the way back at Rydelin. Even if it was not what he wanted, Beast doubted that he would be bothered by it – he already had four new artifacts to play with.

First, there was the Antroach Mandibles. He could either commission a blacksmith to make a weapon out of it, or he could try to make it himself. However, to do so he will have to increase his Ancient Blacksmithing level first. He had already screwed up the Silver Hide the first time round, this time he would not be screwing up the material again. Beast briefly wondered how an insect mandible could be factored into the crafting process during weapons making, seeing that it was organic and all. Would it even be an effective weapon? Generally, insect mandibles can go up to 3 on the Moh’s scale of hardness, making them on par with copper and zinc. It was admittedly lower than iron but this was a virtual world of fantastic creatures so who knows how sturdy the jaws of a fantasy creature such as the Antroach could be? Since an Antroach was a proof of valour in the past it would very well be able to break steel.

The item description said it had been used to make weapons in the past, so it might just work out. Also, he should probably share some of the loot he had gotten from Lanos with Kiki. The assassin had been a great help in the adventure and without her he would most probably have died at least a hundred times in there. The signet ring was out of the question. Kiki was not a warlock and thus could not wear the gloves so that was out too. The only thing that remained would be the Phylactery or the Mandibles. Beast had no idea how Kiki will react to the lich again, so he should probably craft a dagger out from the mandibles for her using Ancient Blacksmithing instead.

It would be a gift, and Kiki’s damage afterwards would be potentially exciting to see.

Then, he might be able to utilise his ancient blacksmithing skill to repair the Ceremonial Sword that had been broken ages ago as well. It would be troublesome though; he had gotten quite used to fighting bare-handed and if he changes weapons he would have to train up his mastery all over again.

Beast looked at the Gloves of the Conquerer on his hands. He had already demonstrated its usefulness during the fight with the mage, and combo of Chi Energy attacks with Mana drain could prove to be a constant source of damage and the bane of all mage existence in the future.

The Phylactery would be staying in the bag until he was ready to face Savathrox again. Without the last artifact of the quartet keeping the lich suppressed and immobile, Beast shuddered to think what the undead could do.

Speaking of which, the Vanadic Signet Ring gave him a clue as to how he might go about solving his unique job quest now.

“Quest Window.”

The Lord of Alvastra

Unique Quest

The Lord Historian Vanadic of Alvastra has left behind a memory in which he stayed behind to help an unknown man escape from the goblin horde. He mentioned the city Alexandria as a clue. As the one inheriting his remaining legacy, it is up to you to retrace his footsteps and discover what really happened to him.

You have collected:

Tome

Signet Ring

This quest cannot be abandoned.

Difficulty: ???

Job Restriction: Lore Keeper

So besides the Tome and the Ring, there were other personal artifacts of Vanadic he will have to collect. This would be what the quest meant by retracing his footsteps.

“Character window.”

Status WindowName:BeastLevel:57Profession:Lore KeeperRace:HumanGender:MaleTitles:Genocider

+15 to all statsFame:155-Health:2260 (+230)Mana:1710 (+800)Strength:228 (+15)Intelligence:94 (+60)Dexterity:227 (+15)Wisdom:112 (+30)Stamina:149 (+15)Luck:35 (+15)Bare Hand Mastery: +22% to bare hand damage, +3% critical damage

Iron Body: +12% resistance to all damage, +230 HPEquipment EffectsVanadic Tome of Artifacts: +500 mana

Vanadic Signet Ring: +10 Intelligence

Sundered Gloves of the Conquerer: +35 Intelligence, +15 Wisdom, +300 ManaRelationsCaerheim: 86

Scelenia: 200

“Brief skill list”

Skill list of Beast, Human, LoreKeeper

Detect Mana (Basic)

Scribe

Know all languages

Decipher

Analyse encrypted writings.

Archaeology (Basic 9)

Identify up to Historical

+19% effectiveness to artifact usage

Iron Body (Intermediate 3)

-12% to all damage taken.

+230 HP

Bare-handed Mastery (Intermediate 3)

+22% damage when bare handed

+3% critical damage

Chi (Basic 7)

Fortify (3 mana per damage mitigated)

Blast (3 mana per damage dealt)

Sword Mastery (Basic 1)

+1% sword damage

Predator’s Sense

+30% to first strike when emerging from stealth.

Desperado Backlash

+100% damage, +50% damage taken.

Cooking (Basic 6)

Speed+6%

Throwing Mastery (Basic 7)

+7% to throwing speed

Riding (Basic 1)

Carving (Basic 7)

+22% speed to carving

Carve up to stone

Ancient Blacksmithing (Basic 1)

Item Repair

Ancient Tailoring (Basic 1)

Ancient Alchemy (Basic 1)

Identify

He had definitely grown quite a bit from his time as a newbie. Looking at his status windows, Beast could not help but feel a little proud of himself.

The sound of footsteps signaled that Kiki was done and Beast watched as she walked up the riverbank, notably more cheerful than before. Her hair was still damp from the water and she had changed into a light one piece dress from her dirty leather outfit. Beast blinked. Would she really be hunting Rockbulls in that?

Seriously.

Then again, she should be capable of one-hitting those monsters, so defense would not matter at the slightest. So in the end, Beast wisely kept his opinion to himself and went into the water to clean.

……………………

When he came back a while later with a pot of fresh water for the soup, a pile of rockbeef steaks were already gathered by the flames and Kiki was roasting some of them on the pre-made skewers.

“Thank you.” Beast said as he took over the cooking role.

Carefully flipping the steaks over the fire, he sprinkled some spice and pepper on to them. The result was a grilled beef steak so heavenly that the game could not deny Beast the cooking recipe.

You have learnt the Recipe: Rockbeef Grilled Steak

When consumed:

+10 Stamina

+25 defense

For four hours game time.

To the pot, he added some herbs collected beforehand and a dash of salt. He also added some leftover meat for flavoring; beef is said to boost vitality anyway. After stirring the pot for some time, another recipe appeared.

You have learnt the Recipe: Inpelmarr Herbal Soup

When consumed:

Relieves a little fatigue

Restores 700 HP over 10 seconds

+10 HP regen/5 seconds

For four hours game time.

Your Cooking had increased to Basic 7

+1 to all stats

It was a little more potent but the effect was like a potion, and apparently the game thought so too.

Your Ancient Alchemy had increased to Basic 2

It was interesting to say the least. Who was to say that the ancient alchemy of old had not arose from cooking experiments? After the meal he would have to gather more of the herbs in the surroundings to test the skill further.

Scooping out a serving of the soup with a stone bowl, Beast offered it to Kiki. “Here.”

“Huh? Oh.” Kiki looked a little startled as she took the bowl from Beast. It was still no good; he could not get rid of the awkwardness entirely. Was it because of the loot distribution?

“Hey, I would like you to have this.” In his hands was the Michelin Stone that they had obtained from the Crystal Caverns. He had taken it from Kiki to inspect and never got to give it back. She wordlessly took it from him, her eyes never leaving the blue glow of the stone.

“I… uh… I know I had a lot of loot from the mobs while you did not seem to have gotten any, so I was thinking that you could have the stone first. I promise I will level up my blacksmithing skill and make you a nice dagger from the mandibles.”

“… I don’t deserve it.”

“I insist.” Beast grinned, but his face fell when he saw that he could not elicit the same response from the girl. The situation was still the same and that weird answer gave Beast a sense of foreboding.

What should he do? Going back to his last resort, Beast rapidly cycle through all the relationship articles he had read before. Most of them offered the same conclusion.

Ask. Ask nicely and politely but firmly. Let her know you know something is wrong and it is okay for her to say it out to you.

“I-Is something on your mind?” Beast stammered a little. What was he being worked up for? “If there is something troubling you, it is alright for you to say it out. I am here to listen.”

The assassin girl blinked, a shadow passing across her face. For a moment there, Kiki hesitated and Beast held his breath. Then she spoke, her voice shrill and uncomfortable. The conflict within her had passed over and everything was flooding out. Like that last time it worked, maybe a little too well.

“Can… can you stop being so kind to me?” Her voice was strained, filled with a pained plea. “I… I nearly killed you! What you are doing will only make me feel more guilty than before.”

“But I… I don’t mind.”

This is just a game, right?

“You might not mind it, but I do!” It was an unintended outburst that shocked both Beast and herself. “I… I don’t want to be like Lortan… but whenever I remember that, I thought I had betrayed you the same way he did. I… I am not him.”

Beast lapsed into silence, as did she. For a period of a minute the both of them sat in awkward stillness as the fire burned in the foreground. He had no idea what to do. For some reason, it felt as though he was seeing a little bit of the true Kiki beyond the game. It was after a long while before Beast decided to break the tension. An apology should be good right about now.

“I-“

“I think we should go separate ways.” Kiki interrupted, stunning the male before he could even begin. Finishing her soup, she placed down her bowl down a little too forcefully, like a symbolic demonstration of finality. “I need some time alone.”

Now it was starting to sound like something ridiculous out of an old romance drama.

“I am very sorry… and thank you for the time together.”

Even as she spoke, the assassin stood up and gathered her stuff. Like severing metaphorical threads of connection, she disbanded the party between Beast and herself before disappearing into thin air right in front of the Lore Keeper’s eyes. A slight blue glow lingered around for a while in front of him, before it slowly floated away from the campsite. All this time, Beast’s mouth was agape, his mind wondering how everything could have backfired so quickly and horribly. What he had wanted to say never got out of his throat, and now he was left alone.

It took a substantial amount of time for Beast to gather back his senses and break out of the daze he was in but by then he had no idea where she went, much less where to find her. With a feeling of dejection and regret that he could have handled it better, Beast dove into leveling his crafting skills with a renewed, almost fervent, vigor.

……………..

“Oi, Sebast.” A painful blow knocked on the boy’s head. “Concentrate!”

It was the weekend and there was no school, so Sebast found himself at the Penguin Dojo receiving training lessons from Naomi. However, he was not doing very well in following the new routine that his master had demonstrated, resulting in another livid girl shouting at him. Well done Sebast Koh, he absentmindedly told himself. That would be two girls he pissed off in a matter of two days.

“What have you done to yourself? Dark eyes, gloomy face, depressing spirit. I know you have Ages Online, but to become like this takes a whole new level. It is almost like you got dumped or something.” Naomi said, unknowingly jabbing into Sebast’s sore spot. “Was it your first?”

“I am sorry.” Sebast lethargically replied, not answering Naomi’s question. “I will try my best.”

After Kiki had left the party so abruptly the day before, Beast had channeled his energy into levelling his crafting skills. For the rest of the day till morning of the next, he gathered common herbs, killed low leveled critters like rabbits around Corelia for their hides and went into Corelia mine for an extensive mining trip without rest, all while drinking Herbal Soup at regular intervals to combat fatigue and satiety. Then, after gathering an excessive overabundance of materials, he made standard elementary items using the skills he had learnt from Earth Lake at his base camp near the waterfall.

Common medicinal herbs gave Healing Potion (small). A simple 500 HP recovered over 10 seconds.

Common herbs plus a drop of troll blood gave Healing Potion EX (small). It offered a more substantial 1000 HP recovered over 10 seconds.

Rabbit hides gave Rabbit Leather when processed while Armadillo hides gave the more difficult-to-make Armadillo Leather.

There were a lot of failures involved during experimentation, but his overabundance made sure he still obtained a considerably large amount among all the bad luck and poor skill. It was at this point he realized he needed to go into Corelia to make use of the smithy and armor-working equipment, so he did just that.

Smelting copper ore gave copper ingots, as with iron ore and iron ingots, which he used to forge into weapons. Daggers and arrowheads, being much easier to make, were crafted first under the guidance of the local smith. Then as he became more confident, Beast moved on to long swords and shields. From his rabbit and armadillo leather, he made the relatively simple gloves for experience before embarking on the more complicated vests and pants.

By the time morning came and his in-game fatigue forcibly made him faint, Beast had ended up with about 100 units of small and medium healing potions each, 500 arrowheads, 20 copper daggers, 40 copper and iron swords, 20 shields, and around 40 sets of rabbit and armadillo leather armor in his inventory. His crafting skills were as such: Alchemy Basic 5, Blacksmithing Basic 6 and Tailoring Basic 4.

That was why Sebast was in his current disheveled state of being. Coffee, his usual super-effective stimulant, did not help a single bit.

Naomi sighed. “Well, I guess we should stop for today. You don’t look like you can continue on with this.”

“I am sorry.”

“It is okay. We all have our days.” Naomi said understandingly.

A sudden yank took Sebast’s breath away as he was unceremoniously dragged into the adjacent living room. “Anyway it is almost time for the special press conference with Yashita Corps so I was about to have us take a break.”

Sebast was surprised. This girl… she had become addicted to the game to this extent? The television switched on a moment later, taking away both their attention and any further musing.

“This is journalist Momo Fujisaki at the current scene of the Yashita Corps press conference. Heading this conference would be the Yashita head of public relations, Mr. Kanonji Hitsuga and Chief Moderator Daika Yamamoto. The objective of the press conference is, of course, to discuss about the company’s product, Ages Online as well as on the recent happenings in game. Please observe the press conference live, from our TV station.”

The camera panned to show two smiling men dressed in smart business black waving from their seats at a long table near the front of the room. From the looks of it, it had just started. As soon as the two men indicated that they are ready, questions were fired by the awaiting reporters.

“Kanonji-san, the most recent event in Ages Online that is currently known as the Honduria-Caerheim war is happening as we speak. Do you have any comments regarding the event?”

“Ah, yes… we at Yashita Corps believe that the Caerheim players are fully capable of repelling the Honduria forces.”

“A lot of Honduria players are complaining that they cannot fight for their kingdom in this event. What caused the management decision to limit this event only to Caerheim players? I am sure many Honduria players are eager to know the reason behind this.”

“I… uh… I believe Yamamoto-san can better explain this.”

Kanonji flashed a stunning smile and passed the microphone to his colleague. The moment Daika Yamamoto took the mike from Kanonji and spoke, Sebast instantly knew that this was a man who knew his stuff.

“It was not the management decision to limit the event only to Caerheim players.” The man answered. “Rather, the management has no rights to decide what would happen within Agaia. When we first designed the Joint Operation system in Ages Online, we did it with the intention to replace events. What happened and will happen in the future is entirely due to the logic structure inherently set within the NPCs of the world.”

“Because Ages Online have an intricate AI system, all actions taken are dictated by individual NPCs’ motivation and multiple variables that are presented to them. In other words, you can think of it as a simple law of cause and effect. As for Honduria players, I am sure the chance for them to join an event of this large a scale will come soon in the near future. As of our current observation, there are tensions between-”

“I am taking part in the war, you know?”

“Huh? What?”

“I said I am taking part in the HC war, sheesh.” Naomi repeated irritably, bouncing on the sofa to get Sebast’s attention.

Sebast blinked. “Didn’t you join Ages Online only recently?”

“Yep.”

“You didn’t start at Rydelin? Even if you started at Loyderidge, I thought all newbies would be evacuated to Rydelin?”

“Nope. There was an offer to evacuate but I stayed.”

Sebast’s incredulity was growing by the second. “Why?”

“Because I want to fight.” Naomi replied as though it was the most natural thing in the world.

The coverage of the press conference from the television was drowned by a loud groan.

“What is your in-game handle? I will add you later.”

He did not look up from the palm of his hands as he answered. “Beast…”