Haru: Novice, Level 4/20
Optifex: Novice, Level 4/20
Haru forded the raging river of invites little by little. Each time, she’d gather a group of new players into a party, then show them how to take down boars together. The max group size was 5, so it was her and 4 newbies. After her party fulfilled the objective, she would then point the players in the direction of the next part of the quest, leave, and start over once again with a new group.
At the same time, Opti joined in on gathering new players into parties and helping them kill boars as well. Between the two of them, dozens of groups made it past the first quest and continued with the rest of the story, just like they did with Emu.
Both Haru and Opti leveled up multiple times while helping others get past the first quest. The most recent put each of them at level 8.
Haru took a short break as the victory fanfare played, and she watched her latest group run off to turn in and receive their reward. In the same fashion, Opti stood next to her. The two took stock of the count of new players stranded at the fountain. Their numbers dwindled. He folded his arms and nodded, apparently satisfied.
“Ding!” Emu called out from across the field, waving with a smile.
Haru squinted at the sight and waved back. “What are you doing here?”
With Alara in tow, Emu ran over to meet up with Haru.
“I got a DM,” Emu motioned toward Opti. “It sounds like you really were all-in on paying it forward.”
Haru tilted her head at Opti and hummed.
Emu waved his hands at her and laughed nervously. “I think he just didn’t want any misunderstanding.”
With an innocent smile, Opti looked at Haru and batted his eyes.
“Besides,” Emu started, “it gave me time to finish the job quest.” He flexed. “Now I’m a Legionnaire. The quest is solo only, so it’s not like anyone missed anything.”
Opti nodded enthusiastically.
“Oh right,” Haru replied, “it’s the one where you have to light the torches and pick which job you want to unlock first.”
Emu performed the thumbs up emote. “Right, that’s the one. Though, they don’t add your novice levels to your new job anymore. Kind of lame.”
Haru grew worried, sensing frustration coming from her companion.
“But that means I can come back here and help you help others out.” Emu smiled. “You both should go and do your job quest.”
Haru looked around at the players still stuck. “But…”
“I can help them, don’t worry.” Emu put his hands out. “Plus, you’ll need to come back anyways to level up, right?”
Alara huffed. “I thought we were going to progress more today…”
Emu chuckled. “We are, once everyone is caught up to you.”
The mage grumbled.
With hesitation, Haru thought it was a good idea to unlock a new job. It would make them much more effective, and maybe it would be easier to help others. “Did you want to go do that now?” She turned to Opti.
He shadowboxed. “I’m ready and already know what my job pick will be.”
Haru nodded and beckoned him as she departed to return to the deadwood forest. The two said goodbyes to their companions.
This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.
She already knew the way. It was her zone after all. Beyond the deadwood and through the mountain pass was a small dirt path that led up to a terrace overlooking the rest of the valley. Upon that was an obelisk that started the quest.
The two took the long, safe way to get to the dirt road nestled in the mountain pass. They stopped at the base, just before their climb toward the quest.
“Do you know what you’re going to pick?” Opti turned to Haru.
Haru was considering her options. While the game allowed you to switch jobs, that wasn’t until much later, when players got to Fairbank. There, they had a private room where jobs could be swapped, and sub-jobs could be applied. This wasn’t available until getting past Haru’s encounter. Whatever that was now.
“I’m not sure. It seems Emu will be the tank. Alara is already a caster DPS. That narrows my options to either melee DPS, physical ranged DPS, or healer. Do you have any ideas for yourself?” Haru sized up the length of the dirt path.
“Monk, of course.” Opti threw a couple of punches. “I’m starting to like this whole hand-to-hand thing.”
“So, melee DPS.” Haru commented.
“And off-tank.”
Haru nodded. “I think it takes a lot of grinding to get high enough skills to off-tank monk though.”
“I’ve got nothing but time.” Opti shrugged.
There was some utility in not being able to log out. A monk off-tank was a powerful backup in case the worst happened. Haru was excited about the prospect of that addition to the party. But that made her indecision even worse, considering the various prospects for additional utility for each of the jobs.
The two began their ascent up to the terrace. As their altitude increase, the dark clouds and purple hues of the deadwood forest exchanged for sunny skies. Eventually they got high enough up that they could see over the opposing mountain across the gorge and into the Plentiful Glade, a rainforest.
“Here it is.” Haru called out, pointing at the glittering stone obelisk near the edge of the terrace.
It was a simple quest. One she was familiar with since she did some exploration after being removed in the alpha version of the game. A player just needed to poke the obelisk, go and light three braziers farther up the path, then pick the job of their choice. Most of the effort for the quest was in getting here and returning.
At the same time, both Haru and Opti poked the stone.
A flash of light dazzled, and Haru took a moment for her vision to recover. As her vision returned, she was standing on a terrace, but it wasn’t the one with the stone obelisk. In front of her, far beyond the ledge and above, upon a wide mountain, was the city of gold she saw in passing visions before.
From where she stood, there was no way down into the dark valley below, no clear path to get to one of the city’s twelve pearlescent gates. The golden aura it gave off calmed Haru. Even the latent pain that was nestled within her chest had completely vanished in its presence.
A wise feminine voice called out from behind. “I would not risk going all the way down there.” Her light blue robes flowed in the gentle breeze, and she edged forward softly lowering her cane to stabilize herself. “Most do not come back. It is not how you find a path through anyways.”
“Who are you?” Haru didn’t recognize her as any sort of NPC in the game.
“A humble messenger.” She took a deep breath and rested both hands on the crook of her cane. “If you must call me something, then my name is Oracle.”
Haru took another glance at the city. “Why was I shown this before? Why am I here now?”
Oracle raised her hand and motioned in Haru’s direction. “The mark you bear. It is one of the keys to unlock those gates.” The woman pointed toward the city. “If the mark is activated, of course.”
“So, what I need to defeat the demon is in there?”
Oracle laughed. “I’m afraid that you have it backwards. That mark can only be activated by Irae’s demise.”
Haru pulled up the menu and looked at the mark in the key items. “Why does the mark keep trying to show itself to me?”
“Perhaps you are doing what it wants.” Oracle stepped forward.
“But I don’t know what it wants.” Haru’s voice was filled with confusion.
Oracle chuckled. “Of course you do. Otherwise, it would not have picked you. It believes you can fell Irae for good.”
Haru stared once again at her key items menu. “That makes one of us.”
“You stood against Irae and survived. Now you have embarked on a journey to finish what you started.” Oracle stood next to her and observed the city. “If you truly did not believe in yourself, why did you even try in the first place?”
Haru shook her head. “Because I couldn’t just let someone else go in my stead. It was me that needed to go after the demon.”
“Why?”
“I was infected by the demon. For some reason it doesn’t affect me as much as it does the others.” Haru looked at Oracle.
“Why?”
Haru hesitated. She wondered why that was a question that never crossed her mind. Her first instinct was to explain how her stats were preventing the affliction from disabling her entirely, but the idea didn’t seem to hold up.
Oracle sized Haru up. “It is because that is what you are designed to do.”
“I’m designed to fight demons in a game that could never anticipate being infested by a real demon?” Sorry, but I doubt that.”
Oracle chuckled. “The most patient boss in the hardest game in the world endures playing her own game to save it. That sounds like a well-executed design to me.”
“Then what am I supposed to do against this thing? Am I even going in the right direction?” Haru cocked her head.
“When the time comes, do what you do best.” Oracle nodded and smiled. “That was the plan all along.”
Before Haru could object, a blast of light flooded her vision and as her sight returned, she found herself once again standing in front of the obelisk.
Opti ran up from behind her. “I got Initiate, the first job for Monk. What did you pick?”