As the two respawned into the area, Aethera would receive a notice for two new outlaw players. Although the area was a no-kill zone, the notification still lit in for the area “She looked at their names in surprise. “Yggsalad and Julia?” She had some questions but knew something must have occurred in the Black Market. Looking for answers she jumped on a tall building near the Black Market hideout and surveyed. Inspecting characters from afar she finally saw Jun and Julia. She jumped high into the sky and then landed straight in front of them. “So, would you like to explain yourselves?” She noticed Julia was crying and Jun seemed like he’d seen a ghost. “Yggsalad, what happened in there?”
Jun grabbed onto Aethera and dropped his head. “We have to find the other Tradesman, quickly. Before the end of the day. Or else.”
Aethera could tell something required this urgency. “Or else what?”
“They will Synapse us..”
Aethera had heard rumours of the term before but didn’t know who implored it. It made sense to her that the Black Market would use scare tactics like that. Jun continued to explain Aethera of the events and understood. “Well then we must find this Crypto player.”
“What happens when you pinpoint the area for his location?”
Jun opened his map and looked at the Quest but he couldn’t see Crypto anywhere, although it said he was on this map.
Jun held his map to Aethera and she inspected it. But she couldn’t see the player’s position as well. “You know what, let’s ask some locals if they know anything about this Crypto player.”
Julia was still on the floor saddened. “Julia come on!” She didn't budge. “Your lord is telling you to get up!” She still didn’t budge. “Jun then ran to Julia and held her by the shoulder. “Don't worry, we're going to find Crypto. Please believe!” Julia looked at him dead in his face. “What's the point, they are going to make me into something I never wish to be…” She was solemn. “I will not allow that. I swear we shall find him and…”
“Who would we be if we do what Baxter did? I cannot stand for it.” She exclaimed. Jun finally understood where she was coming from. “I never planned on giving up lightly.” Julia would raise her head and smile. “And if you think your Lord would succumb to such tricks. You have mistaken me.” He rose and held her hand and she rose with him.
Aethera smiled walking towards the city. “Let all set out through the city. The more we spread out maybe the more we can retrieve. Jun looked at Julia who had just come from all her emotions. “How does that sound?” She simply nodded.
Aethera points at her map. “Alright, Since the Black Market is located here” She pointed northeast on the Elleon map, We are to search these areas. She points high north on the Map, then far west and Far South. In each of the areas, there are different types of merchants but also different Quest Guides. In the north, there seemed to be Mage-like Classes. In the West, there seems to be a theatre. And in the South, there seems to be a free market. So blacksmiths and textiles.” She looked at the two. They remained still but attentive. “How about this, I will head to the South where the Blacksmiths are. Julia, head to the Theatre and Yggsalad, head to the Mages.” The two agreed. Aethera had a commanding air to her. As they were about to disperse, the quiet Madder finally left her silence. “Jun I will be trading spots for a bit here. Madder hoped from Jun’s shadow to Julia’s and She was none the wiser of this occurring.
As Aethera made it to the South of Elleon, she noted the large Fountain they came upon. She gazed around looking for a message board or anything of the sort. Finally, she snooped from afar at the merchant they had seen earlier. “Those scoundrels. How dare they sell their stuff for so much.” When she said that a person shopping at the shop turned away shaking his head. The adventurer yelled out, “You think anyone wishes to buy such expensive materials? You got to be out of your mind!” Aethera chuckled. She then saw the adventurer head into a nearby Tavern called the New Grotto. As she entered, she suddenly felt underdressed. Players inside were wearing casual gear. Inside the New, Grotto looked like an Arcade. She walked around, looking at the players playing the games inside. “How on earth is this even possible? A game within a game?” Players were playing arcade games like Air Hockey, Time Urgency, and Plumber Kart. It was all there. She then peered upon a player about to start a game of Emote Emote Revolution. The player went into their inventory grabbed some gold and placed it into the game. The game sprung up with life and the player began to play. At the end of it, Aethera expected the machine to spit out tickets, but instead, it spit out a coin. Aethera inspected the coin. “Guy!” She then pounced upon the player, grabbing the coin out of her hand. “Hey, what are you doing? Give it back.” the player uttered. Aethera took the coin and brought it to the cash. “Hello, Sir. What can I buy with this coin here.” The Waiter opened up a menu for Aethera and she saw all the items. “She smirked.”
If you stumble upon this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it.
Meanwhile in the North, Jun would find the Mage's quarters. In Elleon, the Mage District was split into the Apothecary shops, the Gem Slot shops, then the Summon Square, and the Gatcha Center. Then there was a Diviner. There were also Quest Guides all over for all sorts of Mage classes. As Jun entered the zone he saw an empty bench. He didn’t know where to start. Suddenly a voice crept up from behind. “Hey there! You look like you are looking for something you cannot find.”
The voice was coming from the Diviner. He got up and walked towards her inspecting her shop. There were two seats and a table in between. On it was a small crystal ball. “I assume you tell fortunes?” Up came a woman, gowned in a purple dress, that blocked her face. “She sat down, gesturing for Jun to do the same. “Yggsalad you should sit.”
He was slightly startled that she knew his name but he sat and she put her hand on the ball. “Please put your hand on the ball.” He was hesitant and then she finally assured him, “The first one is free.” He finally put his hand on the ball and it glowed a bright Yellow. The shine was so bright that it glowed far into the sky. “It seems you have a great fortune ahead of you. Whatever you have come here for shall be granted in ten folds. Thousand-folds. Are you a gambler?” He shook his head. “I am looking for a certain player but I can’t find him.”
“For a class change, I assume.” The Divineer stated. She crouched into her seat nearing Jun. “I’ll tell you a secret. Word on the street is that certain classes haven’t had new players for a while. The Mage class has been flourishing, as well as the Warrior classes. However, the Rogue Class has had some trouble with new entries obtaining class changes. When it comes to vocations though, only one class hasn’t had any movement, and that is the Trader class.”
Jun pushed his seat back. “How…Why are you telling me this?”
“We mages are not dumb to a pretty penny, but a petty penny. We cannot stand for such things. She then opened her inventory. You see this. There is a new currency that is owned in Elleon. And everyone is starting to take it over gold. Gold is way too scarce in this city. Players cannot afford to even play.”
Jun looked at the items in her inventory. “You gotta' be kidding me.”
Finally, We find Julia at the Theater. As she walked through the Entertainment District she felt a strange resemblance to the Black Market’s District but she pressed on. Flashbacks of the grimey places replayed in her mind but she shook her head and continued. She finally came to the Theater and saw a sign to the side that read, Theatre of Elleon. “Not so creative.: But she entered and saw many players simply looking at a stage. In the centre was a single player playing a violin. The song reminded her of a song played in real life from an anime she had once heard. It was very nice and brought her a bit of happiness. When the player was done everyone began to clap. There was then an option to give the player a gift. She thought that it would be nice to do, so she opened up the gift option. To her surprise, there were only 3 choices. Either a rose, tomato or an item called Crypto. As the player was receiving the gifts players began throwing roses towards the player but also on the stage a pot spawned. All of the Crypto that was gifted to the player entered the bag. When it had completed, it tightened, allowing the player to pick it up and when he did he bowed, thanking the players for their gifts.
When the player left the stage, Julia went to find the player. He continued to walk out of the theatre into the District to which Julia followed him. “Hey!”
The player continued to walk but a second time Julia stopped the player. He turned to face Julia, looking curiously. “I just wanted to say, your playing was very good.” He walked towards Julia and bowed. “Thank you for your praise.”
She then struck another tone. “I do have one other question. What is this Crypto you received? How do players use it?”
Rather than being coy, the player was joyful about the question. “I thought you were going to try to get me to teach you!” He then continued to walk towards the centre of the Entertainment district. “You see that.” It was a message board of sorts and it showed the current value of Gold versus Crypto. “Right now a Crypto is breaking the limit over gold. Gold is no longer useful in Elleon, nor are vendors seeking it.” Julia looked surprised. “How is that even possible?"
“To my knowledge, an event popped up in the city to kill a boss monster called The Encrypted. When all the players defeated the monster it suddenly transformed into Crypto-Currency. So all the Crypto you see here is from the Boss Monster. But its value is increasing over gold, due to its limit physically. There exists only so much Crypto but gold is infinite which is lowering its value.”
Julia finally understood. Madder in her shadow seemed to pick up on something far deeper than what Julia was thinking. Finally, Julia received a notification from Aethera. “Hey, meet back in the New Grotto Tavern, I have some news for you guys.” Aethera then linked the location.
It would only be minutes when they met at New Grotto. “So?”
“No, you first!”
‘Well, it turns out Crypto is a new currency.” They all said at the same time.
They all went silent. “Well, what does Crypto the currency, have to do with Crypto the character,”
Aethera questioned. Jun thought for a bit and looked at Julia’s Shadow. It then hit Jun. What he thought, was impossible, but at the same time, Madder had done some impossible things lately and was none the wiser to assume that it wasn't possible. “What if Crypto is in the Crypto.”
The two other players looked at him oddly. “What do you mean?”
“Well I know of characters able to manifest things and transform and it was maybe what Crypto did?”
“Well at the theatre the player did say that there was an event in Elleon to kill a boss monster with something Crypto-ish in its name, and after there was an item players could use to buy things.
“We have to get our hands on Crypto to see if we can use it in some other way. But where can we get a Crypto?”
Aethera smiled and pulled out a Crypto from her inventory. “What if I told you I was doing some research and ran into some.”