On a bright and sunny day, we would find our adventurers on a newfound journey. Jun looked towards the east. There was a lake with people casting fishing lines and in the lake itself small boats with fishermen. To the west. The landscape was much different from the Hillsbane area. Instead of plains, it was mountainous regions. On these mountains, you could see players climbing up the sides carefully gathering resources. There was a clear path to the top but it seemed less travelled. On this trail, players were mining ores to the sides of the path. The area seemed to be one rich with materials for many purposes in Asper Online. It wasn't the fastest yet, but it would be sought by players who needed safe passage. In his carriage sat a male and female cleric duo. As the two would converse, Jun would try to indulge in their conversation. “They said to meet them at the top of Mount Haraburn.” The two looked around as the caravan carried through. Even Jun was starting to look around for the people they were meeting. It had been not too long since Jun’s class change, and he had begun to hustle, seeking adventurers who wished to use his services In Winborough, a small meddling town where the duo would see a Caravan guarded by a Knight and Spartan. That gave his caravan enough sense of security to use. “They said there's a patch of grass where Spring Leaves could be harvested. Under a set of Ursine Tree.” Enjoying the ride, Jun looked around. He didn't wish to pry too much of his passenger affairs, so he kept his eyes on the road. Continuing the path he began to notice the amount of players that were mining in the area. There’s a ton of players," he thought. “What's going on?”
“Well with the new patch players are getting ready to take on new and improved Gandora.'' It was Aethera from outside walking next to the Caravan. Coming around from the other side was Julia who protected the Caravan like a Golden Retriever. “Woooo'' she was running around it like a Frisbee. “Weee!”
Aethera tried to catch her but she evaded it and continued to run around the carriage while spinning. “I really shouldn't have told you about the ‘follow’ mechanic!” Aethera mentioned. The follow mechanic is a command in a game that allows you to follow a player by targeting them and simply choosing the option, but when you follow a character in a Caravan, it causes your character to constantly get as close as possible to the followed player. Thus, Julia was simply following as close as possible at all times. The two clerics continue to talk until finally, they look at a set of players gathering leaves under a gigantic tree. The “Yggsalad, Stop!” a voice yelled from inside. Jun pulled the reigns and the caravan came to a halt, emerging two characters from its doors. The first, is a shorter male character, with long dark hair, and a white robe, that has a silver lining across the centre. The next was a woman that followed. She was gowned in a similar robe but wore a blackened outfit fashioned like a nun. Her head was uncovered, and she had long blonde hair and a cape that went all the way down to her back. On her back sat a large book, that seemed to glow every couple of seconds or so. “Look Gwen it's the Ursine Tree!” It didn't take Gwen any time, she had already run to the tree and petted it. Other players were quietly gathering. Jun, Julia and Aethera all looked at the tree. “Um is that a tree” Jun asked. The Ursine Tree looked like a wooden sculpture of a bear. And at the top of the tree, there are branches and roots at its feet. “Darlin come!” The male character then walked slowly to her. He looked up at the tree and then down at its feet. He squatted and took his hand pulling out a grub from the ground. He closed his eyes in satisfaction. “These are them!” Both grew smiles on their faces and began to gather. While the two gathered, Aethera took a rest on the mountain, standing in a defensive stance with her hands ready for combat. They remained a little more relaxed than on watch.“Hey Jun…” It was a voice that we hadn’t heard for some time. “Madder what’s up?” From the shadow of the caravan, Madder would partially manifest, becoming a shadow that crept upon Jun as he sat above. “There’s something I gotta tell you about this area…”
Suddenly there was an announcement in the area. “This area is now a Chaos Zone.”
Jun whispered back to Madder. “Um, what is going on?”
“Yep. That's the thing.” Madder whispered looking up. The two clerics were still gathering as if they had not heard the announcement, but other players weren’t so carefree. “How many do we have?” Gwen asked the other.
He inspected his inventory and raised a virtual bag in front of them. “Ten…”
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In the sky, the bright and sunny day would be replaced with a red moon and pitched black sky.
One of the player groups immediately teleported out. Another jumped right off a nearby cliff using a glider to end up yonder. Aethera,
“Um Jun!” Julia yelled. Jun looked upon Julia as she was surrounded by creatures. “Are those Skeletons?”
Julia swung her sword around her, smashing all of the skeletons into pieces. She then jumped past them pacing towards the two clerics.
They were still collecting with no care in the world. Jun would look at the Ursine Tree. Something seemed off to him. He inspected the area and he noticed that the Ursine Tree was giving off an aura and there was a timer ticking down for 5 minutes. “Guys! Something up with the tree.!”
The clerics continued to gather the material. “Are they just going to ignore me?” Jun thought, annoyed by their lack of awareness.
Finally, a beam of purple light rained onto the hill and the next set of skeletons would spawn, walking towards the group. Another beam came down, surrounding Jun. Set apart from the Caravan became trapped, yelling to the sky. The skeleton raised its arm towards him as if to swipe and Jun yelled. “Ahhh!” To his surprise, the skeleton passed him. It was then he noticed that the skeletons were not targeting them but someone else. He looked back at the Ursine Tree. It had 3 minutes left on its timer. “It seems to be targeting the clerics!” Jun yelled. Julia and Aethera turned and rushed towards the clerics. Julia and Aethera began smashing through the Skeletons, evading attacks and manoeuvring along each other until they met the foot of the Ursine Tree. Julia felt an aura over her body and saw a passive skill tab appear. “Defend the Ursine!”
“Yggsalad. It seems to be a Defend quest!” Julia yelled. Aethera would also receive the same passive skill tab and continue to read it.“
Aethera would then look at the two clerics and notice they too had the passive skill appear as well and it is when she understood. “Hey, how many do you have left?”
“Sean?” Gwen said, looking at her partner. He pulled out his inventory again and so did she. “We require 200 Spring Leaves. One Hundred each.” He then added the amounts of both. “And we need 100 more.” He said hesitantly.
“Ugh Madder, The Skeletons are one thing, but what's that? Behind the caravan, a ghastly aura began to rise from below it. It then began to raise it into the air. “Hey!” Put it down!”
“You get down here now!” Jun would yell! The caravan was suspended in the elevated sky. The Skeletons continue to approach the Ursine Tree. Aethera threw her spear and retracted it back. She then did a backflip landing her shield on a skeleton. “How many more do we have?” She asked.
“We need 50 more,” Sean said calmly. “Please we are so close!”
It was a good thing that no one paid attention to the caravan except Jun, because they would see what most players would call a glitch. “Madder…” From the caravan, Madder’s shadow was drooling from it to the floor. Jun assumed the Red Moon was still able to cast a shadow for this effect to occur. While he was worried about the caravan, something else a bigger threat would appear. “Ugh!” Julia yelled.
Suddenly Julia's body was flung straight above Jun in front of him. He turned to face the Ursine tree. “Yeah, I was going to tell you that this is the Ritual of the Trent Ursine LVL 100.”
“Why didn't you say that earlier!” Aethera yelled back to Madder.
“We; I didn’t want to ruin the surprise.”
“You could’ve told me that was going to happen,” Julia said as she rose from the damage. Her arm was fizzling. “She then raised her hand over her hand. “First Wind”. Her arm was recovered with green check mark symbols surrounding her.
“Since when did you know about healing skills?”
“Since I became a paladin?” She replied. “Madder don’t come out. We got this!” Julia seemed confident. How long since the Cryptos event? Where was Crypto? It has been 2 months since Jun's class change. In that time all of them had chances to gain XP and progress. Back in the Caravan Space that Jun had summoned the players to, all arrived in the flesh. You would think that Crypto and Madder would've been able to keep themselves concealed but when Julia and Aethera saw the two visages in the Caravan they immediately jumped back. Two players with flashing red text for names and extremely high levels. “Ugh, Jun, who are they?”
Aethera entered a stance but was hit with a message that she couldn’t enter combat in space. “I have some things to explain…” Jun said to them. He held his head and laughed embarrassed. “This is my…”
“What kind of Mentor would I be if I didn't help my pupil!” Madder then emerged from the Shadow. She was level 145 with 6 Veils. “I guess I have no choice” Although the clerics were so engaged in their efforts of obtaining the material they couldn’t help but notice the Pirate notice appearing on their HUDs. The clerics jumped, but the notification wasn’t coming from Madder. From the skies, several players would emerge. “I am Vegan! Here to claim this World Boss for Enighma!”
“I THINK WE SHOULD REPORT THIS GUY FOR IMPERSONATING A TOP GUILD AGAIN!” Jun yelled. “WANNA’ BE!”
“Is that you Yggsalad!” Vegan yelled. "Why I-Ougta'!" He then rushed straight towards Jun, ready to strike.
In a short period, a lot has changed in the world of Asper Online.
How will our adventurers fare?