Chapter 4 “Anari”

Normally MMORPG were type of the game where you could become who you always wanted. You could fight with swords, cast magic, fire the bow. That was always the appeal of games like that. So when players found out that they couldn’t choose their class at the beginning of EOA, they were outraged about it. Many send letters of complaint to the Space Electronics, but the changes were never made. One day there was a response from Mr. Horvitz in one of his interview.

-Mr. Horvitz why did you choose such a strategy, you can’t choose class? There is not tutorial or any instructions? Things are often blocked and also hidden quests? Some people even think that there aren’t any quests at all.

-haha, I get asked that a lot so I have prepared answer for this question. First of all, you keep talking its game it’s a game, when it’s not, well let’s leave it at that, after some time people will understand. At least, those with the traces of intelligence.

-that not very kin of you to say that. Many people also said that they didn’t like your attitude at character creating process.

-I had a lot of fun filming that you know, but apart from that movie, I didn’t do anything.

-the following messages sounded like continuation though.

-the whole game is made by AI, so no I didn’t do it, you can’t blame me, also I have to make it clear. Our company doesn’t have direct access to the game code so any letters of complaint that ask us to change something are simply ignored. Don’t send it to us!

-wait, you don’t have access to game code?

-yes that’s why no one knows what this game will lead to. All we can do is simply explore the world like all other gamers. Well we can communicate with AI if there will be a necessity but we don’t do it too often and we don’t want to spoil the fun for ourselves. Things would be locked for us after all.

-but that means that you can’t answer any questions about the game, is it right?

-I can’t be sure for 100% but the AI have my vision of creation so I can somehow give you my analysis on the situation.

-that’s the best that we can get, so why did the game turn out like this?

-it’s simple, AI wanted to create unique world where nothing is given to the player. Players have to fight their way out on their own to reach anything.

-you say that, but isn’t there too many random things in it.

-you have to trust me on this one but wait and see, the game is out for about a two weeks, many still are in first month period and some just gotten their profession.

-exactly that, so many people are outraged about profession system. They get it at random at the end of the mouth and can’t do anything about it. They can’t even get another try.

-I think that class system here is the most awesome thing out there, at least from the things that we found out so far.

-tell it to people who gotten Gardener or Painter as their profession, they don’t like it. Especially, after they couldn’t affect it at all.

-that’s not true, class isn’t random at all, it’s all depends on destiny of player. And every profession has its uses, it’s not like they are useless.

-isn’t destiny also random generated?

-I also kept hearing things like destiny and that you can’t affect at all. But that is not true. I am not sure how it exactly works but your whole first month gameplay affect it, every single little action in fact.

-what sort of actions?

-think about it on your own and you will find the answer, I won’t tell you as it would spoil the fun. But I can tell you that there are many various classes, and it would be hard to list them all even after many years.

-isn’t in normal classed like warrior, mage, rogue?

-yes and no. It looks like classes are based on known archetypes but each of them is different, also I can say for sure that there are some unique classes as well. I can say for sure because I got one myself. Hahaha.

-we don’t have much time left so could you tell us about quests.

-I don’t know much about them, it may be that there isn’t any as you said, but if the note says that they exist they should. When someone finds it and share his discovery only then we will know.

-thanks for your time Mr. Horvitz.

-ah no problem, I just got killed so I can spare a day. To everyone! Don’t ask me on any other day to do anything! I AM BUSY!

Interviews like that didn’t encourage new people that wanted to try out ‘eye of Adventure’. Most of them, thought just like Alice.

“No way, no way, no way!”

Alice had a little interested in MMO since some time now, but she never played one. As for the interest, it was thanks to her childhood friend whom she had. She always used to run after him and play around with him when they were little. They had always a lot of fun playing together with other kids but she knew that the biggest smile appeared on his face only when he was talking with others about his adventures in the game. It was strange for her, but she didn’t judge it as she couldn’t understand it. In the end, it didn’t matter to her much. At that time she didn’t ever think that she would ever play a computer game. But one day her friend’s house suddenly become dark and she couldn’t find him anymore. When she asked her parents about him, they only told her that he moved out. That was strange for her as her friend never mention anything like that. He also didn’t say goodbye or anything. He just disappeared suddenly and that was it.

“Maybe he didn’t though of us as friends.”

She thought one day and started to cry.

Time went one and one day she decided to find him. But how could she found someone only based on name and place he used to live. She again asked her parents but they didn’t tell her much. Then she started to ask in school but there weren’t many people who knew him as she moved to high school already. Then she started to ask their neighbors. Sure, they answered her question but there was a small problem with their answers.

-ah that kid, I heard that his family moved to another Country, Portugal was it, or Spain, I am pretty sure that it was the Spain.

That didn’t help her much, so she continued with others.

-ah, the one that always helped me with shopping bags, that was a good kid, he moved to Carmans, yes that’s the city south of here, two hours by train and you will reach it.

That story would bring her hope but as far as she knew, her friend wasn’t a person who would help old people with their bags. He once told her his theory.

“

-Old people, I don’t know why but they always pretend to be weak, and always look for help. But don’t be fooled, the older they are the higher level they have, so they are strong. My grandpa’s level is over nine thousand! He can chop tree in one hit, and then lift it up without any problems.

”

She didn’t understand much from this sentence, but her friend would never help someone who is old.

Pretty much everyone said different thing about him and his current placement. He moved to the other country, or just another city, some even said that he flew up to the space.

“People like to tell fairy-tales, also if that were to be true, he would boast about it.”

Even though she decided to take every answer seriously and analyses it. She also got some strange responses as if people were trying to hide something, once conversation went like this.

-so you remember him?

-ah yes, the one that you were always playing with, it was refreshing to see young kids like that. Although I don’t know what was he doing at night but he was always yawning. I remember that once he and his friends destroyed one of my windows when they played baseball, but what is your childhood if you don’t destroy one or two windows from time to time. I did the same and it’s a precious memory.

-then do you know what happen to him, where is he now?

-better leave it be, nothing good will come out if you find out.

Alice continued her search, she started to call some of her others childhood friends, and asked them about him. And it was one of those conversations that gave her idea.

-ah Alice, it’s been a while,

-yes it was Jimmy, so do you know where he went, or how can I contact him?

-sorry, I have no idea, I also looked for him for a while but I gave up.

-so it’s impossible to find him?

-well that’s how it goes. Normally you can’t find someone based on the name only. But don’t you have other information as well.

-what information?

-what would Arthur do no matter what, in this world?

-I don’t know. Emm play games?

-exactly.

-and how does it help in any way?

-if you can’t find him in real life, why don’t you find him in game? There is one super hard one out right now and knowing him, he would surely be playing it.

-but how can I find someone in game, isn’t it even harder than my current search?

-normally it would be impossible to find someone, but finding him may not.

-why is that?

-I used to talk with him about games all the time and I know that he was ‘overpowered’ if you know what I mean.

-I don’t.

-well, it means that he was one of the best and that was before, when he was young. I wonder how good he is now.

-I still can’t see your point.

-all you need to do is log into the game and find the strongest player that’s all. But, well forget about it. It is bad idea after all.

-why is that bad idea?

-you see, that game is a little different, and it’s definitely not for someone like you.

-it’s just a game, I will manage somehow.

-yes good luck with that, I will send you a link with some information’s about this game so decide after seeing it first, I have to go now so, bye Alice.

She watched the videos send to her by Jimmy and then decided.

“No way, no way, no way!”

She didn’t play many computer games before but this game didn’t have a good opinion. All the comments were about it being hard and somewhat evil in its root. [What were they thinking when they made it!] [Common you can’t even choose your class!] [No wonder that AI made it. Looks like computers really wants to exterminate human race, Matrix was not a lie.]

Especially interviews with creator were really repulsive.

Knowing all this she decided to give up on Jimmy’s idea that was not really realistic anyway.

Time went on. But as it went on, some way or another, that game become incredibly popular, and not only with gamers but with average people as well. There were even television programs about it. Everyone was talking about ‘eye of Adventure’ or its different name “a new world”. Most of Alice’s friends were playing it already and were talking about it nonstop. Instead of normal meetings they would meet up in the game. That was partly because of incredible feature one hour here equals five in the game. How did it work Alice did not know but it sounded incredible. As the exams were near, she asked her parents to buy her capsule so she had more time to study. Thanks to that she had so much time that she aced all of them. Then the holidays came and she decided try the game out.

“If it will be hard I will just give up, nothing more.”

With this though in mind, Alice started the game.

Anari was her name. She was running around the city of beginners. She was already tired of it as she was running for so long already. Not knowing where to go or where is the place she was looking for? She ran and ran and ran. Few times she gave up on the way but after some rest, she would start running once again. Why was she running? Well it all started from being hungry and fainting.

As many people before her and many after her, Anari appeared on the central square of beginner’s city nearly a month ago. She didn’t have any ideas of what she was supposed to do, so in the end she walked in random direction in hope of finding anything. For the time, she decided to explore city as it was new sight for her. Even though walking around and doing nothing may not be that interesting, sights that she could see were pretty enough for to enjoy her trip.

Time went on and she decided to eat something but not there, but in the real world. She logged out for a moment and returned about two hours later. To her surprise she couldn’t move anymore as she got a status called, ‘never ate anything in your life’. It seemed like she will die at her first day of play. Well she expected that she will die at some point but at least not in this way. Still she didn’t end up dying. Sure she fainted but after some time she woke up on the floor of someone’s house. Although now she knew that it shouldn’t be called a house.

-why there is so many death from hunger in this city I will never understand. Anyway I see that you are better now. There is the door, go ahead I don’t have time for other people.

That was a deep voice of an aged man. She looked up at him and to her surprise she found out that he was a Wizard. It wasn’t hard to recognize him he looked as wizardly as possible. Tall, slim with big pointed hat. He was also wearing a dark blue robe. Seeing him Anari’s eyes started to shine and she quickly said.

-please teach me some magic!

At first Wizard was against it, but when she looked at him with her deer eyes he gave up.

It turned out that she managed actually managed to do anything the Wizard asked her to do, so she was quite happy about it. Still, he was always saying the same thing.

-you can’t choose your profession, it’s like destiny.

Even though Wizard kept on repeating that Anari was sure that if she follow Wizard instructions she should be fine. For 12 days she was doing various things in his laboratory. She was lifting up crystal balls with her mind, making them disappear, or even setting them on fire although in that process many other things that belonged to the Wizard got burned as well. For the most of the time she was asked to read magic books, as Wizard said.

-you need knowledge in order to cast spells.

Some way or another she leveled up to level 6. After that the Wizard called her to him and asked.

-it is time to put you to the true test. I want to give you three challenges that will test your abilities. But one question before that, do you like riddles?

-hmm… only the good ones. I don’t like if they are boring and easy.

-good. If you are that eager wait for another two hours, I will prepare something amazing.

After another five hours Wizard came back.

-it’s not easy to come up with good riddles but here I made them somehow.

Riddles were strong point of Anari. She liked them and solved them from time to time, so task in which she had to solve them appeared to be interesting. It was her fifteen day of playing the game yet most of her time she spend it in one place, the Wizard’s hideout. It was a good opportunity to explore the city a little more.

“Good opportunity of course, how stupid I was.”

She was now reflecting on this day.

Her task required her to find three magical items.

The first task asked her to read the page of text and based on that point out where the first item was hidden. The item was cloak of magi as it was described. It did look like interesting challenge at first but after reading the text twice she had no idea where to look. The text itself was strange and somehow unbelievable. It was literally a litany that praised the Wizard and his deeds. Her previously good opinion about him was ruined thanks to that. In the end she could not point specific location but she listed down all possible locations based on the text. There were three main places.

The big mountain where Wizard fought against a dragon, but there was no mountains in the city so she decided that it was not it. The other was a temple where the Wizard was received reward for fighting against demons army. Anari though that this could symbolize a big chapel with big cross on it which she saw the first day she arrived, but after looking inside it, she could not find anything there. Then the last place was the place called coliseum where Wizard with single hand and with closed eyes defeated hundred men without use of magic. As stupid and unbelievable the story was, that was her only clue as to location of the item. Anari found out that there is training arena somewhere in the city. Unfortunately, she had no idea where to find it. After four days of search when she was resting and about to give up, she heard two players talking.

-did you see today’s Tournament?

-not really, I logged two days ago, what is that tournament you are talking about?

-you came here without any information did you?

-well, I heard that it’s better that way.

-I heard it as well, but anyway the tournament is where you fight against other players, I heard that you can win a sword or something.

-wow, I thought that getting item before you get profession is impossible.

-well people say that if you win that tournament you can get sword and even fighting profession later.

-why did you tell me now? I can’t do this now.

-don’t worry it’s only a rumor and things you hear in game doesn’t count to the lockout. I also don’t know for sure but it’s worth a try given the rumors. Even if you don’t get the profession from it you will always be one step before the other beginners as you will have some fighting experience.

-so, what was special about today’s tournament?

-well I took my chances and tried even though I knew that I have no chance. I am level 3 and there was a guy with level 7, but there is a lot of experience to get if you take part in it so I signed up regardless. Although I lost my first fight I still got 50% of my level.

-wow, that’s awesome. I have to level up and take part in it as well.

-normally it’s given that a player with higher level will be the winner, but that was not the case this time.

-what happened?

-there appeared a guy who had level 1. Everyone laugh at him at first because he had to take part in the tournament on level like that.

-was he that retarded to even try?

-no just unlucky, there is some strange job that forces you to take part in the tournament even though you don’t have any explanation on how combat system works.

-yep unlucky indeed. It’s better if I don’t go there when the tournament is ongoing. Anyway what happen to him?

-he won the tournament.

-what!?

-exactly, it’s rare to see something like that from a newcomer, he managed to beat every opponent and didn’t take even a single hit from them.

-but what about the guy with level 7?

-he fight with him in the finals, but even in that fight he won without much trouble. Especially the last move of newcomer was something that you only see in movies.

-it’s unfortunately, that I didn’t see it, but my choice foods come first was right, I think.

-haha, so many dies out of hunger on their first day. Anyway let me show you the way to the arena so we can train for next tournament, that guy shouldn’t return anymore and I heard that guy on the level 7 will ends his first month in two days so he won’t be there either.

-in that case I will win the next one.

-haha, I won’t let you.

Watching them Anari though.

“It must be nice to play with friends.”

So far she didn’t tell anyone that she started to play but she decided to do that when she get a class. She always could make new friends here but she wasn’t very good at that. Most of the friends she had right now were her classmates or from childhood where she was mostly introduced to her by her lost friend.

Because she needed to find the arena so she followed those two. She reached the arena thanks to that tactic and decided to look for the cloak. When she was looking around training center for some time a strange old man come to here.

-welcome child, I am instructor here. If you want, I could teach you the way of the sword but I think that it’s not very suitable for you.

This story has been taken without authorization. Report any sightings.

Words like ‘way of the sword’ rather scared her. How could she fight against anything in the first place, that was simply scary for her. Magic where you stay away from monsters seemed better in her eyes but if possible she would want to avoid fighting at all.

-ah no, no, no, I don’t want to, I just looking for something.

-what is it? I might help you.

She didn’t know how to ask about magic cloak that was possibly here, and she didn’t want to sound strange so she asked.

-did any mage ever fought in this arena?

-mage you say? Not many, also as I remember it is said that they are intelligent people who would knew that it’s better to avoid places like that, but when I was a kid there was one arrogant Wizard who decided to take part in the fight. Back then people knew how to fight, it’s not like today, where they just swing their sword randomly and pray that they hit something. Although today I had pleasure of seeing someone with skill so it’s not like everyone lost their touch.

-yes I heard about it, but what about the Wizard.

-well, he decided to take part in tournament, but he said it would be unfair for him to fight against someone as he was strong and defeated a dragon or something.

“Yes I am on the right track, just like in the tale.”

-so what did he do?

-he said he won’t use magic and asked someone to tie one of his hands.

“No way, those tales were true, Master I once again have good view on you.”

-so he single-handed defeated one hundred men, right?

-hahahaha, you know I remember that he had the same delusion as you. He was even screaming things like ‘give me a hundred!’.

-… .

-in the end he was beaten or rather he beat himself in ten seconds. As soon as the fight started he tried to attack his opponent. However his opponent just moved out of the way. But the Wizard continued with his attack blindly swinging in the air. He didn’t knew how to use a sword, so he eventually beaten himself with it and couldn’t move for a while.

“I will never have good view on you Master, ever again.”

-thanks for the tale, but have you heard anything about magic cloak which is supposed to be here.

-I see that you are more interested in magic rather than sword fighting. You should look for different place in this case. Although there is another legend that is told here that have connection to magic.

-what is it about?

-if you enter the training grounds but your destiny lies elsewhere, you will be granted a clue that will lead you to your proper path.

-well I will try it out, thank you for help.

Anari had a nice talk with instructor, although she was a little tense, nevertheless she decided.

“If this isn’t the place I give up”.

It already took her a lot of time and Anari usually ended up giving up easily. Still in a moment she thought that it would be better if this weren’t the place but as she entered the training ground a gray-white cloak appeared in the air out of nowhere and fallen right onto her.

[Cloak of magi

Intelligence +4

Magic +2

Mana +100

Cloak of magi. Bestowed to those who found their path, but got lost on their way. There is message written on it.

“Swords are scary, even though you think that they should be on your side they turn on you and suddenly take control over your hand. Then they attack you. Better follow this advice and never get close to them. The great Wizard.”

Level Required 3

Armor type Cloth]

She jumped in joy as she found it. Her first item, which she end after all this hard work. She equipped it shortly. It was a simple gray cape, but it changed her look a lot and now she stand out even more from the crowd as apart from her, every player was wearing the same clothing only different in color. It was not only the cape that made her stood out though. When she first log in, many people asked her how she got somewhat unique avatar. She looked at mirror and found out that she have long light blue hair tied into ponytail. In reality her hair wasn’t that long as it was troublesome to take care of. Also naturally in reality there is no way to have blue hair, she had them light bronze. It seemed strange at first but she did start to like her new hair, it was somehow unique. Back in the day she once wanted to dye her hair but her parents wouldn’t let her and now she was happy that they didn’t as it would be stupid to do it in real.

Having hair like that also had its disadvantages as many people stared at her and wanted to ask about it. Anari mostly ran away when that happened. Now with cloak added to it everyone will want to ask how to get it, but for now she didn’t think about it as she was proud of herself for completing Wizard’s task.

“Now, new challenge.”

She started to read the second challenge. She was instructed to do this only after she managed to complete the first one. The challenge this time wasn’t the riddle but something else.

[Good work I knew you could do it. For a note every story that was written on that page is of course about great me and is 100% true. I wanted to share with you some of my best memories…]

“Best memories? Rather memories of painful defeat and unfulfilled dreams.”

[…Now the second challenge is before you. Unfortunately this time it’s not the riddle because I had a bad day, but don’t worry the third one is marvelous…]

“First one was not a riddle either if I have to say.”

[Look forward to it, but firstly you have to complete this challenge first, as it’s a must for a mage. As you know any magic is mostly based on elements of nature, there are many exception but let’s ignore them for a moment. I gave you a ring when you left for your quest, equip it and fill it with power of your choice. You can only fill it with up to 6 different elements, good luck]

[Quest “Master of riddles”, moved to next stage…

Fill the empty ring with power.

Rank of quest 10 ]

“So the 6 elements that the task is about should be four elements of nature, Fire, Water, Earth and Wind plus additional elements of light and darkness. As how to fill it, it can’t be easy and it looks like it’s another riddle this time as well. But it also doesn’t look that hard, I just need to find representation of each element and… do something with the ring.”

She felt that a new wind is blowing in her sails as she solved this instantly. All that’s left was to find something that would be suitable for representation of elements.

Anari was leaving the training center already equipped in her new item the gray cloak. Although it took her some time before she managed to equip it properly. She had absolutely no experience with ‘menu system’.

When she left the training center Anari spotted someone who was lying on the ground not so far from its entrance. The person was laying head down first to the ground and his stomach was rambling.

“Waaa! I am not that bad at this game, after all. I even have quest to become magician and this cloak.”

Those were her thought at first but she immediately remembered that not so long ago she was lying on the ground and dying out of hunger exactly the same way.

“Eh who I am kidding I was the same position just a while ago also my quest, cloak it’s all luck”.

Look on the bright side and be proud of yourself. Every time Anari tried to do that her logic always went in negative thinking. Still she decided to help the man, even if she was afraid to go near him. While walking next to his body she dropped some bread that she bought thanks to the money that Wizard gave her. After that she just said that she needed to go and ran away as fast as she could before man even reacted.

“Ah, I can’t even talk with a person who can’t even move…”

Once again depressing thoughts kick in.

“…but next time I find someone like this I will.”

With that determination she went on with her challenge. She didn’t know how much time it will take her so she decided that she should speed up a little.

From that moment on she was running all the way up to right now although at first it didn’t go well.

“How did I end up here again?”

Anari came back to the training center half an hour later after circling around in the city. It happened simply because she got lost again. She at least found out that the person who was lying on the ground was no longer there.

“At least he managed to survive, or did he die because I wasn’t helpful enough? It can’t be helped. Now which way I should go this time”.

As she was about to decide two small children come to her crying.

-miss, miss help!

She wasn’t afraid of children at least so she tried to be good grown up in their eyes and answered.

-how can I help you?

Kids started to saying things that made no sense.

-there was a tree and momo was trapped.

-so we asked a man for help.

-but when he reached momo he fell from tree.

-and now he is dead.

-no he is not.

-yes he is.

-anyway please help!

She had no idea what they were about but she said.

-leave it to me.

Kids leaded her behind some restaurant. Behind that restaurant there was a big tree, and underneath it, some strange looking creature and a orange cat siting on it. It turned out that the strange looking creature was a man with strange black-white hair.

“Hmm a corpse, maybe it’s some detective quest where you need to find the culprit. First clue, white paint on the head.”

She liked detective stories, so view of someone’s corpse lead her to thinking.

“Wait a moment that’s a real corpse! Not a film a real corpse!”

Just as she was about to scream for help she remembered something.

“Ah that’s not a real world”.

One could forget about it when game was as immersive as that, and NPC were sometimes more human than some of real humans.

“So a detective story it is then, first I need to ask the witnesses.”

-okay you two can you tell me what exactly happened? Little slowly this time.

The two of them told her a story about how their cat ended up on the tree and couldn’t come down. They were looking for help but no one wanted to help them. Then they found someone who was walking slowly without hurry, someone who looked like he had a lot of free time. They asked him to come. He didn’t want to do this at first but eventually they made him climb the tree. They saw that he had some problems with that even though he looked like he was in a good shape. Then as he finally climbed to where the cat was he fell down. After that they started to look for someone else that would help that man.

“So the kids are the culprit, they made this guy climb the tree and he simply fall down from it. Case close, shouldn’t I get some experience?”

Nothing of that sort happened though.

“Ah yes it’s still unknown why does he have white paint on his hair.”

Then she hear loud rumble which came from the direction of the man.

-see, see, he does live.

Said the boy.

Anari looked at the man and that reminded her of someone whom she just met half an hour ago.

-isn’t it the same person that was lying next to training center?

She said out loudly.

-you are talking about training center miss, next to the arena? I was on today’s fights, there was one guy who used two swords and won the tournament without getting hit even once. I decided that when I grow up I will look up to him and follow his steps. I also liked his style he had somewhat unique hair, black-white hair.

“The two that I followed before said something about guy like that as well.”

-he must be some great person to inspire young kids like you.

-yes, he was like a hero.

As Anari heard that she looked once again at the man who was lying next to the tree and then she thought of something.

-isn’t he your hero then?

Boy walked up to the man and started.

-aaaaa, it’s him, how I didn’t see it before. So that’s mean that’s mean!

-what does it mean?

-mmm, after he won the tournament he must have been very tired, we asked him to climb a tree and he fell.

“He was too good for his own good. Even though he was tired after the fight he tried to help them.”

She thought at first but then.

“Wait, after the fight?? Strange, when I made it to training center it was already long after any fights. But I saw him there as well, it when I started second part of the challenge! I throw him some bread and ran away. It was probably after that when kids found him…”

She stopped for a second and reached final conclusion.

“Wawa! The kids are not the culprit! I am the culprit! I gave him some food he eaten it but it wasn’t enough so he fell from the tree.”

It turned out to be a detective history where the culprit was the detective. The mystery was solved but Anari still didn’t get any experience for it.

After that she tried to wake him up, but that didn’t work, so she decided to move him to a nearby restaurant. She had a lot of problems while doing so. There was absolutely no way that she could lift him up in the first place. But one way or another she somehow managed to drag him there. She wanted to explain everything to the manager but when she saw that he was somewhat big and muscular man she got scared and said on one breath.

-this is my friend who fell from a tree, so I took him here, here is a payment, take care of him, I am in hurry, bye!

Manager couldn’t even say a word as she talked as fast as possible and ran away the moment she finished. Then a message appeared before her.

[Ring filled with power… Remaining elements 5]

-how?

She said in a low voice but could not find the answer, one way or another she moved on to find other powers.

The second challenge went quickly after that. As tricky as it may sound, filling ring with elements turned out to be quite easy. Too fill it with fire. She needed to put it into fireplace for a minute. Too fill it with water she needed to drown it in the bucked filled with water. To fill it with earth, she needed to bury it for some time underground. Then filling it with wind wasn’t as obvious as the rest, but with some luck she found out that the only thing that she needed to do is reach out her hand into the air and keep it on in windy alley. All that didn’t took her more than two days, she also logged out at one time.

As for the last element she chose to fill the ring with holy energy, main reason was because she didn’t have an idea how to fill it with energy of darkness. Her idea was to walk around some dark places but she would prefer to avoid places like that. Also the light element was easy to figure out. Ho to the chapel and ask a priestess for blessing. Although she had to make a donation for the church, she got what she wanted. After she left the chapel and made her way to some place that there were not that many people around. She realized something.

“I have been playing practically nonstop since the start”.

Yes the game cached her attention to the fullness. She also didn’t have much to do as the holiday just started.

“How I am on time again? First day plus thirteen days in Wizard laboratory. Four days on first task, Two days on the second, and another half of today. This leaves me nine and half a days for the last challenge. It shouldn’t take more than first challenge I hope so let’s assume it will take four. When I done with it I will log out and wait till the end of the month.”

That was her original plan, but then she started to read about the last challenge.

[This challenge showed you the most basic enchanting, to create a magical item you need to fill it with power. Of course that was just slightly demonstration as the ring was specially designed for gathering energy. Normally it’s not that easy and require a lot of training. Look at the ring and see what became of it, don’t have big hope as it was filled by you who had no idea about enchanting is in the first place. Be happy if it’s changed a color at least. When you are ready start searching for the last item.]

Before she moved out she took out the ring from her pocked. To her surprise instead of once dead crystal in it was filled with strange orange light within it. It was so beautiful that Anari stopped moving for a second. Then she checked its stats.

[Ring of Kindness

Elemental magic +2

Holy magic +10

Mana +500

True kindness is a thing that one can’t create just because one wanted. It is your good character that can create it. Only those who help others without hope for reward can really be called kind.]

[Achievement: Be the first one to get specific magical item.

Note: no one before you had an item like this.]

She didn’t know what to think about it, but it at least solved her previous surprise where number of elements somehow went down to 5.

“True kindness? That over statement. Especially when it was my fault that he fell down in the first place.”

Her logic always prevented her for feeling good about herself although she did feel good about something else.

“The first one to get it.”

She found out that being the first one to do something felt really good at that moment she started to truly love this game, she wanted to be the first one in something else again.

-Time to finish the last challenge.

Anari began to read the last instructions.

[The last challenge is a tricky one. Because you wanted hard riddle I made one. It’s took me a while so be thankful for it. Also I made it especially for you. It’s not just a riddle but a double riddle, great isn’t it? Okay the first riddle is more of a puzzle than a riddle but I personally think that there is little difference between riddles and puzzles, pointing out the differences would be hard, it depends on the culture, elves would say it’s the same thing. Anyway, you have four pages with pictures on it, every picture symbolize an object. To create a riddle you need to take first letters of the pictures and combine it together. How to choose the pictures I cannot say because it would spoil all the fun, think of it on your own. Each page will represent one sentence. Four sentences create a riddle that will lead you to the last item, for a note it’s a magical staff. With all those items gathered I am sure that you will end up in magical profession. I am leaving this city soon, I wasn’t playing to stay to long anyway and someone is waiting for me so don’t look for me afterwards. That’s all I could do for you, good luck in your travel and farewell.]

“Even though he was just a character in a game he also was a good person at heart, he helped me a lot even though at first he always said how he don’t like to interfere with people that much. In the end despite everything, I am really grateful to him.”

Anari really thought about the Wizard that way just then, if he didn’t help her she would probably die at least once out of hunger at the start, but now thanks to him she was on her last mission to hopefully get a good profession.

As she took out the pages with pictures a message came out.

[Quest “Master of riddles” moved to the last stage

Warring: based on the changes made by Wizard and time that you have left, rank of the quest went up.

Rank of the quest 9]

And Anari soon found out why rank of the quest changed so much.

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