Authors Comments: Hmm, I should probably say something... Last update had a 2 month break. This update had a 3 month break. Following that pattern.... See ya in 4 months?
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“Quest difficulty, B!?”
Sylph felt dizzy.
“This has to be some kind of mistake.”
She was level 1. Only level 1. A player who played the game for a day would be stronger than her. Of all the people to ask, Loki had asked her.
“This definitely has to be some kind of a mistake.”
A level 1 getting a B rank quest should have been impossible. An entire guild would be necessary to complete a B rank quest. Usually, these quests ended up as a raid with some kind of massive giant boss fight. Such a fight would require a lot of people.
“Well, I could always just broadcast my location. Players would come in swarms to help me out.”
Sylph took a moment to ponder the consequences. Guilds would try to recruit her. Players would spam her with friend requests night and day. The worst one of all, pictures of her would circulate across the world. Shameful pictures of a guy in a girl avatar wearing a skirt would be available for the entire public to see. Sylph conveniently ignored the fact that such pictures were already out there.
“N-No. I can’t do that!. Failing would be a better alternative than that!”
Thinking so, Sylph switched gears and looked at the consequences for failing.
“All the players in game will be alerted of your location.”
Okay, Sylph could live with that. If she logged out for a week, surely she could somehow avoid the worst.
“Hmm, what are these titles I will receive upon failure?”
Title: Holder of Broken Promises.
You break promises even to the gods above.
Effects:
You are unable to gain intimacy with people you meet.
People will doubt your words.
Misfortune follows you wherever you travel.
Anything you make has a high chance of failing.
Your equipment breaks much easier.
You are more likely to be the target of a god’s anger.
“E-Eh? Isn’t that a bit harsh. No, I could still live with such a penalty. And the other title?”
Sylph took one look at the title, Loki’s Plaything. Before she even got past the first line of text, Sylph’s face turned ashen. Her body started trembling. Sweat gushed out of her like a waterfall.
“Nope! That is not an option. I have to beat this quest. No, I WILL beat this quest.”
Filled with determination, Sylph loudly proclaimed her victory. Then, a thought hit Sylph.
“This is a B rank quest, what is the reward?”
Her eyes scanned up and down the quest dialogue box. No matter how long she searched, there was no mention of a reward.
“I am forced to do this impossible task… for free?”
The thought staggered Sylph.
“N-No. As Loki said, I am repaying him for all the help he has given me… help he has given me?”
Sylph took a moment to think about it. Sure, his potion allowed her to gain stats and use arts, but it turned her into a woman! The other time Loki showed up was in the middle of her room at the inn. That encounter was a constant source of embarrassment and shame for Sylph.
When Sylph had finished the special event at the beta test finale, Loki gave her a meager reward.
‘First rule of deception: Never deceive yourself.’
Such advice was nonsensical and useless.
“What help!? You have done more damage than good!”
Yelling at the sky, Sylph heard faint laughter. Frustrated, she logged out. Not only was the quest impossible, she was basically working for free and could not afford to fail.
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In a dark room filled with several computer screens, personnel tapped furiously away at their keyboards. Watching the flow of information streaming through the monitor, one woman let out a gasp before raising her voice.
“Director, another B rank quest has been activated!”
The grizzled veteran replied in a bored tone.
“Is that so? There have already been over a 100 such quests activated already. I don’t have the time to hear about every little quest that activates.”
Despite the harsh rebuke carried within his tone, the woman continued to make her case. Her voice became a bit louder as she lost control of herself.
“Y-You don’t understand. The newly activated quest is a chain quest. Not only that, the difficulty… I am not sure there is a group of players capable of beating this quest yet.”
“A chain quest? High difficulty… You can’t mean?”
“I am afraid so.”
“Dammit! How has it already been activated? It should have taken at least half a year…”
Although the quest seemed simple at first glance, there were a lot of hidden factors for both its activation and completion. If the first part failed, well the situation would not be too bad. Failing the second part would have devastating consequences and even the most skilled players in the game would struggle with it. As for the third and final quest, there was no penalties for failure.
That being said, the director was confident. No player, party, or guild could complete the final quest. It would be months before they reached the point where players could stand at the threshold of beginning to beat the final quest.
“Do we know who activated the quest?”
“No. Apparently the quest was given through a non-standard method.”
“Non-standard, huh?”
The director recalled the image of a certain girl, whose actions seemed game breaking. Worried, he called out.
“And the other similar quests?”
“Yes, they are all dormant. No one has stumbled onto them yet.”
The director let out a breath of relief hearing that. He really would not know what to do this wasn’t a singular occurrence.
“I want eyes on all major guilds in the area. If a guild makes a move to complete the quest, I want to be the first to know about it. It will be hard for them to conceal such a large scale movement.”
“Yes!”
As the woman went back to her monitor, the director mused silently. They would fail. Of course they would fail. No player had reached a high enough level to gain the purification art yet from the second class change to bishop. There was also a noticeable lack of paladins and druids.
Despite his certainties, an expectation arose within the director’s chest as he recalled the figure of a certain girl. He still didn’t know her actual name. Secretly, he thought to himself that if anyone could beat the quest, it would be her.
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“Drew, have you heard of the Fakes?”
One day at lunch, Leon suddenly asked an incomprehensible question.
“Fakes?”
“The fake Sylphs. They are getting pretty popular. Multiple people have come forth claiming to be Sylph. Yet, they are all fakes. We saw the real one with our own eyes after all.”
“How do you know they are fake? Just because the people named her Sylph, I doubt that was her actual name. What you could have saw was just a very clever fake.”
Drew did not quite understand why he was defending them. They were fakes after all. Maybe it was because they labeled him a fake when he first appeared, he thought.
“The community came up with something called the Sylph Trials to determine the real thing from the rest of the fakes. It is quite simple actually. There are only two trials.”
“Two trials?”
“Perfectly reproduce the song Sylph played and get to the top of the clock tower. Although many of them have managed to do the first, no one has been able to do the second.”
“They managed to do the first!?”
Not even the real Sylph could do that. He had just played whatever came to mind after all. There was no way he could play the exact same thing again. By the communities own standards, the true Sylph was a fake. How ironic.
“The bard's guild has seen a huge swell in numbers. More and more players want to become bards after Sylph’s performance. Yet, the best of the fake Sylphs chose not to be bards.”
“The best fake Sylph?”
“Yeah, her in game name is Sylphiette. She is one of the few non bard fakes and likely the closest to being acknowledged as the real thing. That said, the person herself denies being Sylph. She claims she just had great admiration for the real thing. If it was not for the fact she could not get to the top of the clock tower, she would be the undisputed number one for the title of Sylph.”
“Why would you say she is the best if she is not a bard? Isn’t Sylph known for her music?”
“Sylph’s music itself is imperfect and lacks a specific rhythm or tempo. The bard’s music skill corrects the owners music to make it sound better. Thus, it distorts Sylph’s flawed song into something better. Also, none of the players received a status buff from her song, yet a bard’s song always gives status boosts.”
All Drew could think about was that things have gotten complicated.
If you find this story on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the infringement.
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“Ah, what a lovely view.”
As if she did not have a care in the world, a content voice echoed across the lake. The owner of the voice sat perched lightly on a tree at the edge of the lake. A gentle breeze stirred the surface of the lake, rustled leaves, and tugged at her hair with its passage.
One could not help but pause at the breathtaking scene. The clear blue water shimmered with a glint of emerald as the waves caught the sunlight. Small animals scurried around the rocks at the lakes edge. Deer rested at the edge and drank from the gem’s bounty. Birdsong interwove with the soothing sound of waves lapping at rocks could calm even the most spooked wild life.
In a scene so distant from the touch of humanity sat a maiden perched on a tree. She should have been a foreign element in the beautiful tapestry of nature’s beauty but she appeared at home with the forest. With a small smile on her fair face, she watched the scene.
It was a peaceful and tranquil scene, something that was missing from her life recently. All her worries were swept away gazing upon the serene scene. She sat still for so long that the more adventurous of the critters looked at her with curiosity.
Her hands reached into the air and a simple silver flute appeared in them. The fair maiden simply stared at the instrument in thought, as nature's symphony continued around her.
Determination filled her eyes and she brought the flute up to her lips. The tranquil scene shattered as her first note hit the air and the many animals scattered.
Frowning, the maiden stopped playing and waited, listening. An hour passed before the lake resumed it's previously tranquil scene. The animals chattered to one another, throwing weary glances at the girl.
She made no move to play her flute again. She looked on lost in thought. As the day fell, she disappeared from the lake. The next day, the forest residents found her there again.
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From Sylph’s investigations, she deduced that the Forest of Lost Souls was filled with a corrupting presence at night. The howling souls summon the source of the corruption in the center of the lake. During the day, the lake serves as a sanctuary of rest for all the inhabitants. At night, it becomes a cursed zone of death. For now, she tried to adapt to the forest.
She had no other choice. The quest prevented her from leaving and she was clueless about how to progress. Perhaps during her stay, she would figure something out. Sylph thought that the peaceful scene of the lake during the day was a hidden key towards solving the quest. Yet, the days dragged by and she still had made no progress towards understanding what to do.
As much as Sylph enjoyed the view, she could not help but feel frustrated. Not only was she stuck with a curse that prevented her from leveling up, she was stuck in the forest while her friends adventures and grew stronger. She needed to find a solution, yet none presented itself.
Loneliness gnawed at her. Days in the forest without human contact caused her to seek out the other denizens of the forest. Yet, they either fled at her approach or were readily hostile to her. Rebuffed at every attempt, Sylph turned to her songs. Even then, she failed. There was an awkwardness as the sound felt out of place.
For now, Sylph avoided being near the lake when the sun set. She wasn’t so sure that she would escape the corrupted guardian’s notice a second time. Plus, she could not afford to owe Loki anything more.
Sylph did not understand Loki’s choice of picking her to handle this problem. She had no purification arts. She was not a druid nor did she have any particular way to heal the forest. Sylph was only level one.
Purify the lake? That idea was hilarious. She had no idea where to even start. For now, she sat and watched. Unlike at night, the lake was peaceful during the day. So much so that she fell asleep many times.
Sylph found her days ending in one of two ways. Either she ventured outside the lake, was found by the wolves and chased or, she stayed by the lake and hid while the area boss came out.
As much as she tried, going outside the lake inevitably resulted in the wolves finding her. If she somehow managed to complete the quest, she would still be a long way from escaping the forest.
Those nights the wolves caught her were spent listening to the wolves howl at night. As the days passed, she came to realize. Their howls were another form of songs. Together, they weaved a beautiful tapestry of love and sorrow, the joy of the hunt and the happiness of a newborn.
In those moments, Sylph could only listen. She was an outsider to their story. Her song had no place in the song the wolves created.
Sylph felt cornered. If she tried to force her way into the wolf’s song, it created a chord of dissonance. It was as if no matter how hard she tried, the forest and its denizens were rejecting her.
Her existence was tolerated. As long as she remained a quiet observer, the animals at the lakeside would not run. The moment she left the lake, she would be surrounded by hostile animals just like she was now. A glance down showed the wolf pack continuing their self-appointed task.
With a bitter grimace, Sylph snapped off a branch. She had made no progress for the past week. Any attempt she made to better the situation just alienated her further. Taking aim at a fruit hanging in a nearby tree, she threw her branch.
Her throw was a poor one, completely missing the tree and hitting the one next to it. Unconcerned, she snapped off another branch and repeated her throw. Another miss, this time by an even wider margin.
Sylph didn’t have any particular reason for doing this. Perhaps, she idly mused, if she hit an object enough times with a projectile, she would receive the 「Throw」 Art. It would not help her any in her current situation, but she was not making any progress regardless.
Her thoughts wandered while she amused herself with her little game of target practice. Her Arts were mostly passives that would not help the situation. If Loki thought she had a chance at beating this quest, the only two Arts that could possibly be useful were 「Deception」 and 「Natural Beauty」.
With 「Deception」, she had tricked the wolves into believing that she was not there. Although it was not a high enough level to allow her to escape detection, it still produced surprising results.
“Could I use 「Deception」 to trick the wolves into believing I am one of them?” Sylph involuntarily muttered to herself.
The thought felt… wrong. Sylph recalled her interactions with the so called god of deception. He had deceived, tricked, teased, toyed with, and even embarrassed her, yet not once had he pretended to be something he was not. As much as she hated to admit it, Loki had some manner of decency to him.
Sighing, Sylph gave up the idea of using 「Deception」. Wistfully, she recalled the song that the wolves played out the previous night.
“How could I do something as boorish as forcefully inserting myself into such a song?”
Sylph’s branch tossing throws became more erratic as the melancholic thought hit her.
“Arf!”
The sound of movement below reached Sylph but she was too distracted to notice. Frustrated, she gave up on her Art acquiring attempt and stood up on the branch to resume her daily game of cat mouse.
“Huh?”
A goofy exclamation escaped from Sylph’s mouth as she looked at the scene below her. Unlike their usual patient behavior, the wolves were dogpiled on top of each other a little ways from her tree.
“What on earth happened?”
Although she expected the wolf underneath the pile to be in a lot of pain, it came out looking fairly triumphant. In a great show of sportsmanship, the fellow wolves were playfully brushing up against the happy wolf. With a sigh, Sylph gave up on understanding the incomprehensible social intricacies of the wolf pack.
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That night, like any other, was spent by the lake. She had done this many times in the hopes of finding a solution to the quest. She hid up in a tree in a secluded spot to observe the ghastly howls.
That night, like usual, she waited for the corrupted guardian to appear. It took her awhile to realize that the ritual was longer than usual. When the corrupted guardian finally appeared, it was not alone. Numerous small figures stepped out of the inky black lake with it.
Sylph watched quietly. Like usual, the guardian disappeared into the forest. The small corrupted figures followed. A blue screen flashed, drawing Sylph's attention.
Quest Update: Purify the Forest of Lost Souls
The corruption has started to spread throughout the forest. Creatures can now become corrupted. If the forest's corruption exceeds 50%, the quest will automatically fail.
Forest Corruption Level: 3%
When morning came, the corrupted guardian returned to the lake's waters. Meanwhile, the many small corrupted figures were nowhere to be seen.