Today, the perfect romance heroine Shadyna is finally getting confessed to~
_ Sateri:
Is this real? Am I dreaming right now~? Well, technically I AM dreaming. Doesn't make our conversation any less real though~
_ Shadyna: Yes~?
_ Sateri: Something has stranded into the void. You may want to check it out.
It's a random side quest instead?!
I know Sateri randomly confessing to me during our daily greeting (praying) is too good to be true, but I certainly didn't expect her to just throw a quest at me out of the blue either!
_ Aenilie: I felt it too! It is very, very big!
…I would like to ask her if she knows how little her description narrows it down, but my virtual divine daughter is cute so I'm letting that slide!
Still, something big appearing in space huh… A boss? Is it about Sateri's promise of shooting me down midair back when I first explored space I wonder?
…In that case, going out there is the last thing I should do right now. Of course, I will go out eventually since my fiancée personally requested it, but I will do so when I am fully prepared and armed to take on the boss waiting for me there, the greater boss that spawns after the first one, AND the princess captured by those two!
The last one will undoubtedly be the hardest, un.
_ Shadyna: Alright, I'll see what I can do. Anything I should know before going out?
_ Sateri: It came from the outside, so please exercise your utmost caution.
I already am. Just hoping you would at least give me a starting weapon though. Not that a pacifist like me would use it per se…
Since we are going to no-weapon whatever being out there, might as well compensate for it properly with the power of friendship!
_ Shadyna (Guild): Good evening everyone~
…
_ Choruse: It's rare for you to call us on your own. Did you finally murder someone and need help hiding the body?
_ Shadyna: How rude~ We are just going to do some recon today. Here's some hybrid potions to use.
My bodyguards of the day quickly arrived after I announced my login in guild chat, as expected. Because the dark elven sisters are known have great combat synergy with each other, I have no doubt that they will be a formidable fighting force when diplomacy inevitably fails like it always does before boss fights.
I may die from the mental damage before I can die from the boss's attack though.
By the way, corpse desecration is not violence so I would not need anyone's help to dispose of all evidences in the first place. Good luck investigating a locked-room murder when there is no room, house, or even the entire neighborhood left!
What do you mean, the whole player base would know it was me in that case?!
_ Choruse: Ehm… we still have our own potions…
_ Shadyna: Those won't recharge fast enough if we use them excessively, so consider these your emergency supply. You prefer melee right? I'll give you new magic buff now. Ophilie, Aenilie, [Ethereal Form]!
Spinning in the sparkling lights, the two turn into new appearance resembling half-transparent spirits. Not having anything below the waist sounds like a disadvantage at first, but their movement (floating) speed is the same, and the equipment bonuses, boots included, apply as normal.
_ Shadyna: [Phantom Edge]. [Devotion]. Lutena, go~!
We begin the usual synchronized dance that many have witnessed during Raid Breaker times. For the record, it wasn't my intention at first. It appears that NPCs in [Ethereal Form] will by default mimic the summoner's movements, or the whoever I order them to attach to. I just had to learn Lutena's spell casting animation for all of us to dance like a professional synchronized dance crew~
Still, having Aenilie in the buffing ritual is probably the first even for my guild members. My rechargeable lunchboxes are strong enough for most of our daily grinding after all.
And they are going to be even more surprised when they see the numbers. Not to diss the beautiful hardworking mother in anyway, but it's hard for a normal NPC to compete against one with the [Apostle of Light] profession of all things, all else being equal.
When you look at the stats, it's kind of obvious why her daughter needed ten times the sacrifice to unlock [Ethereal Form]. It was still a royal pain to do it though…
_ Shadyna: Next up is
_ Melodyn: Ehm~
_ Shadyna: Yes~? Oh, right. I'll craft some [Resurrection] potions, just in case.
Since none of us main support, potions will be quicker to use than slowly casting the spell. It's a pity that I cannot craft [Soul Ascension]-enchanted potions with effect as strong as Lutena's own casting.
_ Melodyn: What kind of genocidal recon are we doing that requires this much firepower?
_ Shadyna: Recon! In! Force~!
Now that she mentions it, we may encounter a horde as well. Should I leave Lutena back at the base in combat form with [Shared Fate] as HP battery for [Solar Radiance]? Gelly has acquired some neat debuff spells after evolution so I prefer having her available in the frontline too…
_ Choruse: …We should have prepared our wills before coming here, shouldn't we?
_ Melodyn: Indeed~ We shouldn't repeat our mother's mistake of neglecting a will when she joined the local lich's army to support our family.
The sisters' backstory is getting even more bizarre!? What's next, their education was a perk from their mother's voluntary military service?
_ Choruse: We should not. The mayor was very confused when he found out that most of mother's wealth was amassed after she died. She even went to him to explain in person and that still didn't help.
I'm confident that the supposedly dead person discussing her own postmortem bureaucracy is the source of the poor mayor's confusion in the first place!
____________
Meanwhile, in the cathedral-like guildhall of
_ Torenis: Thank you for your patronage as always,
The elf gracefully receives it with a surprised expression.
_ Fuelri: Sorry about that. Your clerk mentioned this so I thought you already had them in inventory…
_ Torenis: Catalogued, yes. Stockpiled, no. It was so niche, we didn't think anyone would ask for it. The only way to unlock being a rare boss drop didn't help either. Why on earth would you ever need this skill… Actually, scratch that. You even weaponized [Recall] to begin with.
_ Fuelri: I'll pretend I didn't hear that last part. Even if I don't actively use it, it's good to have more tools in the box, lest myself fall behind
It's probably a better idea to vacate the area as fast as possible rather than recklessly attacking in that apocalyptic scenario, thinks
_ Torenis: Not what I would do, but you do you. If you need anything else, don't hesitate to contact us. As fellow summoners, I don't want you to lose against that [Dark Bolt] addict either.
And because
_ Fuelri: Heh. Don't mind if I do.
Reading the scroll in her hand, the elf is surrounded by dancing sparkles. One of the few times she has some resemblances to the image of elves most people have.
[Condition fulfilled. Unlocked Skill: "Final Order Lv.0"]
_ Fuelri: That's one out of the way… Ah, I would like to order [Vengeance Edict] next.
_ Torenis: …*Sighs* Give me three days. We have to camp another boss for that.
____________
Armed to the teeth and ready to roll, the pacifist is going to war~!
Before I can uh… delegate the actual fighting to the bloodthirsty dark elven twin, we found ourselves in quite a predicament the moment we [Recall] to my space gazebo at the top of the stone tower…
There's no boss.
No, it's not "there's no boss at this location", but rather "something's here, and it's not a boss" kind of problem. We even prepared ourselves for a long flight in space just to spot the darn thing as a tiny pixel in our vision…
This content has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.
_ Aenilie: Milady, that's it! It's what stranded into our world!
Well duh, I doubt anything players-made can randomly appear in this empty space. Not without me knowing or facilitating it beforehand.
_ Shadyna: Even if you say that… Those are just bones.
It's like an asteroid field in sci-fi movies, but with bones instead of rocks. Big bones, small bones, kinda average bones, all floating in the space above us, dotting our vision from one end to another, extending all the way past my headset's rendering distance. I don't know how this boneyard looks when viewed from the ground, but from our seats here, the bones are as numerous as the stars in the sky.
The divine girls did say it was big, but I certainly didn't expect it to be the world-map-spanning kind of big…
_ Melodyn: It could use some meat and skin, don't you think~?
_ Choruse: Indeed. Makes one wonder if it has been subsisting entirely on bone meals this whole time.
Leave the bony jokes to Sateri's boss descriptions please~ I really don’t want our Goddess to get competitive and blast me with even more humerus puns until there's nothing but skeletal remains left!
_ Shadyna: So… what should we do about these bones?
_ Choruse: …Skin it.
Daheck?!
_ Melodyn: Butcher it.
At least suggest something you can do to bones, you beautiful psychos~!!!
_ Aenilie: Milady, you should collect them first before doing anything.
Brilliant idea, Aenilie! I'm not sure what to feel about the NPC being the only sane person in the group, but I'll take whatever help I can get!
…How the heck am I supposed to collect all of them though? The kind and caring Goddess couldn't possibly expect me to fly to, pick up, put into my inventory, every single one of the floating bones here, right?
Right?!
Sateri, what kind of maniacal suitors are you trying to attract with these impossibly tedious challenges?!?!
_ Melodyn & Choruse: Can we kill the same amount of monsters and rip their bones out instead?
_ Shadyna: Denied!
See what I mean, Sateri?
____________
In the one and only arena of the game world (for now), a dual-wielding waitress is facing off against a full party of macho men on the ring. The lopsided numerical advantage out of place for an arena aside, any sane normal person would question why someone decided to they needed to do this in the first place. Couldn't possibly be the blonde lady on the ring herself right?
It was, in fact, that very person who asked for this.
_ Hessenria: Too slow! [Pierce]!
Ducking to avoid a cleaving attack from her left flank, the lead waitress kicks off the ground towards the assailant, running both of her swords through him with ease.
_ Macho warrior: GUHAH!!!
As expected of a combat veteran, the muscular man is still moving after such brutality. That's why the blonde beauty proceeds to let go of one hand to blast him with [Dark Bolt], shove a [Dark Bolt] bomb into his face, then pull the swords out and stab him again for good measure.
No amount of muscles could save him after that.
Sitting on a wooden stool a meter beyond the ring because audience seats are for losers, the guildmaster of these manly men and her idol partners are observing the onslaught with glee.
They take no joy in seeing their guild members taking a beating, obviously. However, as combat maniacs themselves, the sight of the waitress using a combination of [Leap], self-inflicting [Slam], and kicking totally-not-her-guildmaster scarecrows to dominate the maneuver warfare is something to behold.
_ Cinrald: It's a pity that you cannot stack multiple [Alchemy] items, isn't it,
_ Hessenria: It is. I tried using a hybrid item to bypass the consumable cooldown, but all of my [Alchemy] items seem to share a skill cooldown in addition to consumable cooldown. Skill effect won't fire until both wear off. It's as if Sateri-chan added it specifically for this usage.
_ Cinrald: Ahahahaha! Maybe someone did try and prompted her to patch it? Wouldn't be the first time either.
Although using a [Leap] bomb right after a [Leap] bomb-equipment hybrid is out, activating it after a normal [Leap] skill is still valid, effectively doubling the number of escape skills one can have. Had
It was not like she didn't have this technique back then either. She even made her gauntlet a hybrid item just so she could fire off an additional [Dark Bolt], which she did use in the last second of the fall and unfortunately missed. Everything was already there, she just got tunnel vision and failed to realize that it could be used for, say, other skills.
The [Dark Bolt] addiction is already terminal… At least the waitress is working honestly to remedy that.
_ Macho sorcerer: BUWARGH! Good… Game… *Drops dead*
Unable to keep up with the constant evasion that no longer solely relies on [Leap], the macho party was picked off one after another. It's not like they had much of a chance even though
_ Cinrald: Alright, I've finished crafting. Let me join in the fun as well! You have to join us if you lose!
_ Idol #2: I'll be next.
_ Idol #3: And me after. Let us see how you handle your own tactics.
_ Clerk: *Arrives by [Recall]* Guildmaster, I need you to… No fair! I want to fight Lady
Suddenly having to take on a cohort of beautiful combat maniacs, the blonde waitress could only smile wryly.
_ Hessenria: This is exactly why I didn't want to join your guild. I won't have time to do my job, or anything else for that matter.
She will gladly entertain them until the end of the day though.
____________
After a long and detailed brainstorming session about what to do with the bone pile above us, I have come to a conclusion:
Sharpen the bones to skewer players, craft the bones into weapons and kill players, use the bones as-is to smack players, throw the bones from orbit onto Tyrel to completely obliterate even more players with [Alpha Strike Bonus]. Are you two even capable of suggesting something without creating more dead bodies in this cruel virtual world?!
It's a mystery why they decided to join Hessy in the first place. I really hope it wasn't because they get to murder our degenerate patrons while getting paid for it.
…That was definitely the reason, wasn't it?
Half way through the psychopathy-inducing conversation, I left the sisters to their fantasies and went to investigate the bones instead. This pacifist me wouldn't be able to contribute anyway~
Approaching one of them, I find the bones a tad bigger than I originally thought. The small one in my hand now is bigger than my entire arm, which means these are probably not humanoid bones.
Not a normal-sized humanoid at least.
What exactly are these though? [Inspect], your opinion?
[Old Bone]
You. Don't. Say!!!
Since my [Inspect] is useless as usual, I try to put the bone into my inventory…
Nope, no dice. This is a quest item alright. With the logistic patch, I most likely wouldn't be able to [Recall] with it either. And so, I ask Su to come to the gazebo instead.
_ Su: [Powerful Old Bone], is what it says.
…Sateri darn it~!!! The uselessness has spread to my guild members' [Inspect] as well~!
Nevertheless, if this is what level-capped [Inspect] gives, I am confident that we are not missing any vital information that may result in me going in the wrong direction again. That leaves me with the question of: What should I do with these bones?
_ Su: I recommend experimenting with a few. You have enough of them in my opinion.
_ Shadyna: "Enough of them" is quite an understatement, but thanks for the advice.
Whatever these creatures were, they are too dead to voice a complaint. In the bizarre event of someone other than me collects them, I doubt said maniac can notice that a few dozens of them were uh… donated to science.
_ Su: If you don't mind, we can conduct our investigation during daytime independently too.
_ Shadyna: Ah, of course. I'll be counting on you.
_ Su: Very well. I shall return now. We were in the middle of an important research on whether avatar height affects maximum equipment size and hair length.
…Wait, so you are saying lolis can have proportionally bigger sword and longer hair?
_ Shadyna: Please send me the findings afterwards!
_ Su: Ufufu~ Gladly~
Seeing my researcher off to continue her utmost important project (yes, really!), I return to the dark elven sisters to see how many crimes against nature they are planning to commit.
_ Choruse: Guildmaster, we just remembered that our guild specializes in [Cooking].
No, please remember that sooner. It's supposed to be your main job!
_ Choruse: That's why, we should cook these bones.
That's… surprisingly mild, or my standards have dropped to the bottom due to constant brainwashing.
_ Melodyn: Of course, we can always feed it to our patrons if it turns out to be poisonous~
Knowing our customer base, you girls will probably charge premium for such poison as well~
____________
At the border of a faraway hunting zone, a small tent has been built by a small party. With similar tents and bigger settlements having become a common sight during travels these days, a new player would find it hard to believe that the previous meta was to leave nothing out in the wilderness. The medieval fantasy world is finally getting its long-awaited "medieval" part, all thanks to the hard work of its denizens.
The merchants inside were in the process of turning the place into a cozy rest stop when a waitress paid them a visit.
_ Inerin: Good day,
_ Olkan: Welcom… Oh, is
_ Inerin: Kind of. She is currently occupied with the twin so I am here in her place.
_ Olkan: Damn, I'm jealous… A-anyway, we will leave you to it. Send me a PM after you setup the network.
_ Inerin: Uh… sure.
She was about to inform him that she had already finished it, but the merchants seem to be genuinely oblivious to the [Recall] network's inner workings. Being an idealist who always looks out for her friends, she avoids giving away information that may disadvantage them at all cost, no matter how minor it may be.
As the result, the waitress now finds herself standing alone in an empty tent with nothing to do.
Contrary to the popular beliefs, the [Recall] network does not use a machine beyond human comprehension, made out of [Artifact] materials, or require daily virgin sacrifice. In fact, it is only a lump of fake grass crafted from [Construction], enchanted with a very niche skill: [Plant Camo].
It's one of the camouflage skills that are more often seen on monsters than players, for they are not that useful. They make [Inspect] return a different result than it usually would, like a plant for this particular skill. If someone happens to [Inspect] this lump of grass, it would show [Grass] instead of its original name, [Fake Grass Designator].
Of course, anyone can make an item with the name [Grass] to begin with, although no sane player would be tricked into thinking that a wooden barrel is actually grass regardless of what [Inspect] says. That's why very few players even bother with these skills.
On the other hand, aggressive monsters do get tricked into thinking the item as part of the environment and will ignore it. Because this was crafted and enchanted by players with OP gear and stats, no monster short of a bonus boss has any chance of detecting it, corruption raid included.
Appearance-wise, these designators were made to look the same as its surrounding flora mainly for the sake of immersion at first. In fact, they so well-made, they blend perfectly into the scenery, making it nigh impossible for players to tell them apart from the background. The only practical ways to know would be to pick it up by mistake or blow up the area, which no one has attempted so far. Understandable as most have grown out of picking up grass to eat by the time they need the [Recall] network, and they prefer not getting embargoed for blowing up the only teleporting service in this game.
And that, is how
The bow-wielding waitress decides not to think too deeply and enjoys a cup of tea before going back to the cafeteria.
--- Topic: World Map Project discussion ---
## CuteIsJustice
Due to overwhelming positive feedback support from the community, I hereby announce the birth of CSF World Map Project! It is an open source map by players, for players to maintain an up-to-date map detailing settlements and important landmarks around the world! Contribute to it directly or send me a PM if you think there's a place that should be added to the map!
The main repository as well as the latest map can be found here: [Link]
Discussions about settlements should go to previous thread: [Link]
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## Mage of Sin
Gratz on the promotion! (^^)/
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## Shining Knight
Congrats!
Time to do a pilgrimage around the… globe?
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## Nearseeing Sage
Circle. The world map is literally a circle. (´∀`)
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## CuteIsJustice
Being surrounded by darkness usually ends up that way. (^_^;)
Where are you right now @Nearseeing Sage? I need help investigating this Cartographer Origin title I just got.
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## Nearseeing Sage
(＠_＠)?!?!
Stay right where you are. I'll be there in 30 seconds!
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## CuteIsJustice
But you don't even know where I am!? Σ(ﾟДﾟ)
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## Newbie Charisma build
We are witnessing the rise of a new Origin title holder! (≧ロ≦)
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## GoldBar9999
Well, Origin titles haven't dominated the meta since that big nerf. They are more like nice-to-have bonuses these days. (´･ω･`)
@CuteIsJustice: We have established multiple rest stops and paved roads between settlements for easier traveling. Would you mind adding them to the map? We are always recruiting btw.
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## Manly Warrior
Gratzzzzzz @CuteIsJustice! \(^o^)/ I for one did not expect that you can gain titles by IRL actions!
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## Bountiful Hunter
Congratulations you mad lass!
Age of exploration, here I come!!! (`･ω･´)
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