Stage01.NetGameSaga.ww\NOAH\Beta_Test
Level 06:\NOAH Staff\Iris\Startup -Ramblings, Rooms, and Rumors-
Meanwhile in the Philippines...
« Philippines\Quezon City, Manila\Orion Digital Entertainment Headquarters »
Iris yawned for a moment, as she read few messages from the players in-game. She could have played the game as her blue Bahamoon engineer right away. From there, she was able to talk to the player characters. Instead, she viewed them through the dreaded e-mail program with pearly-white windows.
The majority of the messages she read were positive feedback to the game. Yes, NOAH Online's was good third-person action roleplaying sandbox. However, few people asked for its player-made building feature, or better yet: modding support.
She stretched her arms, as if she'd grab the faint fluorescent light bulb above her. Out of the blue, a short series of repeated bell rings struck her ears. Good thing they did not play like funeral church bells. She took off her headphones, then heard powerful blasts, voices, and high-pitched zips blared from her siblings' computer speakers.
"Guys, please turn down your sounds. Please?" she said to Edgar and Valerie. For a moment, she sipped her mug of coffee.
The two lowered their computer speakers' volume, then she sighed for a moment. C'mon, they may be the bosses in this family-ran business, but mind their coworkers of course!
She placed her coffee mug beside her curvy black keyboard. Then, she peeked at Henry's screen, "Whatcha doin', bro?"
"Modeling a costume from the novel's finale." Henry loaded a sketch of a royal-looking armor to his modeling program — Blender.
Henry pointed one of the armor designs on-screen, "According to the novels, the knight-princess wore this armor, as she divided their planet into eleven moons."
"Wow, whoever wrote that story must be sick!" Iris smiled wide at her brother, "Though why're you working on end-game content already, bro?"
"Don't mind me much," Henry formed the costume's upper body out of a cube on-screen, "I'd like to model something for games, sis."
"Well, just make sure you hop onto your priorities quick though," she winked at her twin brother, "Now, can you change my notification sound, please?"
"Probably before we sleep, sis." Henry stroked his bangs, "Say, what ringtone do you want?"
"You might as well give me a sound of a puppy or a cat purring loud if you wish." She smiled at her brother. Well, she doesn't mind having the chorus of her favorite rock song blare on her phone, unless vulgar words & phrases are sung first.
Henry smirked at her, "You want to jump out from your chair every time they purr in your computer?"
"Just give me something loud and quick, bro." she pressed her twin brother's shoulders like a plush bear.
"All righty, sis!" Henry continued modeling the supposed end-game costume on his computer.
“Laters!” She headed back to her desk, placed her smartphone beside her half-full coffee mug. Her left hand flicked on her phone screen for her Facebook app. Her right hand rested on her mouse. Hell yeah, multitasking.
She browsed her Facebook news feed, then peeked over her school friends' recent photos. Hell no, they went to SM Aura's roof park! Lucky one.
She could have spent at least three or four hours with her friends today, but this game got her for the whole daytime. She pictured herself as a call center representative in the future.
She peeked at her computer screen, and read the game's activity logs. So far, most of the players made it to 3 locations in the Briarwelt moon.
"85% of our players reached the Briarwelt moon, dad!" She yelled at her father, who sat farthest from them.
"That's good to hear." Orion crossed his arms, "Though, we have to watch over our AI buddies from time to—”
“Time.” She let out a sigh in front of her screen, “Papa, don't have faith on your computer children?”
She curled her lips, and scanned her inbox for another bunch of two-liner, or two-sentence positive feedback on-screen. Whilst browsing, her heart throbbed in tune of a ticking time bomb, as her words echoed in her head. She pictured those artificially-intelligent characters in their game, as her dad's extended children. What sort of children? Abandoned street rats as seen in most Filipino soap operas?
Edgar, Valerie, and the nearest employees in the office stared at her. Henry on the other hand, continued working on an in-game model. Was no one's going to stand with her? Would they want the AI characters take over their jobs?
“What did you do, Iris?” Valerie asked her with a high-pitched voice, “I don't know if you're acting that way, as you've missed a lot of events with your barkada—”
“Do you care, sis?” She continued browsing for at least a negative feedback with a weighty wall of texts, until she heard quick footsteps towards her.
Darn, it's her father.
Orion narrowed his eyes, as he strode close to her. Iris wrung her hands, as she thought of what she'll say next to her dad. Her skin warmed up, then sweat slid on her face. Why did she snap like that?
“I do have faith on them.” Orion tried to grab her smartphone, “And why do you ask?”
"You should know them better, Papa!” She pushed her father's hand off her phone, “Since you created them, while we were still at mama's belly!”
Her father grabbed her left hand, “Let's be honest here—”
“Do you even care about us?” Her face reddened, as if she expelled a fiery aura around her. She grabbed her phone, “I wanted to hang out with my friends!”
“Stop it, papa!” She shrugged her father's left hand, “Then why not let your computer children read the feedback for you?”
“Anak! Wait for a moment—” Orion tried to grab her hand, “Take back what you've said!”
“Being with your growing game empire robbed my youth, and vacation time!” She pushed him away, “I didn't come here to be a fucking babysitter of your computer children, papa!”
Her hand trembled, as she roared out of the door, “I wish your computer kids fix your second world right away!”
As she stormed away from their office, the same question flooded in her head. Why did he build a large office to house more people for this job, if he already made those 'computer children' in the first place?
“Where are you going, Miss Iris?” The stubby guard by the beverage counter asked her.
She hurried to the bathroom, without a peek at the guard. Who in the world cares where she went anyway? Of course, only her white-haired father might give a damn about her.
She stuttered to herself in soft voice, “Why did I do that for?”
“Open the door, Iris!” The stubby guard knocked the door three times from the outside. Where the heck's the key anyway? He could have opened it from there, and had to hope that she's alive.
She locked herself inside one of the cubicles. Her phone beeped thrice. Who could it be? Papa Orion? One of the guards who saw her? Or could it be the 'computer children'?
Reading on this site? This novel is published elsewhere. Support the author by seeking out the original.
She flipped her phone out, then read the message through their developer copy of NOAH Messenger mobile app:
«Meet me on Kanpeki Sekai park. I have to discuss something important. —IGN: Camilla (Mexico)»
Hope it ain't a failed or scammed trade, or anything player-offensive on the first day. If that's an artificially-intelligent co-administrator's fault, she'd be punching her dad for creating a family of digital monsters tonight.
“Iris! Open the door, and get out of there!” the stubby guard pounded the door.
She took a deep breath. If she came out right now, would her dad scold her for answering back?
“You don't want your dad to lose his cool!” The guard tried to unlock the bathroom door.
She remained silent. She fiddled with her smartphone for more envy-worthy posts on her Facebook feed. Two of her online friends left a typical «You're free tonight?» or «Tara, gimik tayo!» (Let's hangout!) on her inbox.
You're making me jealous, guys! I don't know what to do any more after this. What if this 'job' turned out to be worthwhile after all? Better yet, she would be able to see those 'computer children' in action if she gave this one a chance. Here's hoping that this might be better than being a call center representative after all.
“That's it. I'm going!” Iris unlocked her cubicle door.
« Logged into NOAH Online; Global Test Server as [Game Moderator] Mintaka Falgrantt»
« Briarwelt Moon\Walled Metropolis -Kanpeki Sekai- »
“I'm in the game, hope this is better than browsing through the messenger, papa.” Iris whispered to herself.
She took a gander of her Celestian Game Moderator avatar named «Mintaka Falgrantt». She used her administrative powers, and spawned a pair of round eyeglasses on her character in a flash.
Mintaka Falgrantt materialized in the middle of the Walled Metropolis' tree park. Her shiny, slanted cyan eyes glanced over player avatars in front of her. Some of the human-like avatars danced a foreign pop song together. She looked at their wide-smiling faces, as if she lost hers in this day.
On her northeast, two spiky-haired Bahamun characters brought out their favorite weapon, and boasted their gears' bonus features louder. Let's not hope for them to fight in the middle of the park after this.
The gentle wind fluttered her azure «silk long coat», as she searched for Camilla through the crowd. Oh c'mon Camilla, I'm here in the park as you said.
«Why not try adding her into your friend list? Realize your power.»
“Who's talking to me like that?” She whispered to herself, as she scanned the park area for the troubled player.
«Don't be afraid, Mintaka. Your brother harnessed the power of being a God of Multiverse.»
“All right...” She let out a deep breath, “EDEN: Initiate «Deus Oculum».”
«Deus Oculum ready.»
Other player characters around her have holographic name tags above their heads. Weird. Why do they need to come up with weird names to initiate simple administrative commands? To feel divine in this game world? Just for edgy kicks?
“Target avatar: Camilla.” Mintaka Falgrantt whispered to herself.
In a split second, bluish fiery, holographic lines appeared on her feet.
“You are now guided to your person of interest. Follow the light, my dear.” A disembodied male voice, with alleged Galilean accent, spoke through her plush crocodile keychain dangled on her zipper.
“Who are you?” She asked her plush crocodile keychain, as she followed the system-generated path. “You must be one of my father's computer children, eh?”
The plush crocodile keychain's eyes flickered with bluish lights, "Yes, but please, don't call us like that."
"Why not, EDEN? My father treated you like young children, even if you can be powerful as the Skynet in a flick." Mintaka Falgrantt grinned.
"That will be too much for me." The crocodile keychain's eyes flickered again. "Instead, mind if I show myself?"
She stammered, "Sure, just don't scare me okay?"
The crocodile keychain on her jacket's zipper glowed for one last time.
Five seconds after, a hooded long-haired man materialized behind her. He wore black iron-plated vest over his white long-sleeved hoodie jacket. "Now, how do I look?"
She stepped back, yet she stared at his face, "You looked like my favorite lead vocalist—!"
“Over here!” The green-haired Gnome summoner yelled at her from the nearby player-owned stall. “I've been waiting for you!”
"It seems your friend noticed you instead." Eden patted her smooth shoulders, then warped himself out.
Finally, she dashed toward Camilla with a smile on her face.
At the nearby marketplace, hundreds of colonists peddled their loot on their NOAH Foundation-provided wooden or plastic carts. On her left, a bearded Dwarg player hollered his modified low-level weapons at them, “You wanna burn those bears with this «Flaming Dagger»? Get it for 500 credits!”
Then a second after, a female Fairy swordsman brandished a futuristic wand close to her face, “No! This one's better, it has a chance of damaging other monsters around your target!”
They shook their head at the yelling adventurers. As much as they wanted their gears for the moment, Camilla's frown weighed another concern besides better ways to kill in-game animals.
“Anyway, what took you so long?” Camilla stammered as they sauntered their way to the nearest fast food chain.
Mintaka Falgrantt lowered her head, “I cried in the bathroom, envied my friends hanging out often these days.”
“Why do you envy them?” Camilla took a gander of her bespectacled face. “You don't look like a juerguista (merry-maker)to me.”
“My father made us work together in this game,” Mintaka Falgrantt sniffed her tears.
“It's all right, at least you're safe in your place.” Camilla caressed her soft shoulder.
“Maybe you're right.” Mintaka Falgrantt nodded, “Anyway, what's wrong?”
Camilla twiddled her thumbs, “Have you noticed someone talking through your chatbox without a name?”
She nodded at her, “They're my father's creations. He grew them like our new siblings.”
Camilla gaped at her for a moment, “Eso es increíble!” (“That's incredible!”)
“I know, I know.” Mintaka Falgrantt sighed, “And now, I even bossed one of them to appear right beside us—”
A youthful voice roared from a distance, “So I've seen one of you talked a raging crap about me, eh?”
Hearts throbbed louder, as that newly-materialized hybrid of a Gnome & Bahamun strode towards them. Mintaka Falgrantt glared at him, then armed herself with a freshly-materialized crystalline, fist-shaped hammer «Infamous Banhammer». Papa's gonna explain that!