…

Hey… uh, JM?

A voice, carried through the ethereal, split upon an infinite fractal of infinite seconds.

What is it?

Oh, nothing that crazy, just an interesting series of coincidences. Some which… might need a bit of input from up the chain.

Hahhh… what is it now? Surely there can’t be half a dozen game breaking foundations within a week of release? I like sleep, MM, I really do. There is no way this is something that needs to go all the way up to balan-

No, no, calm down, it really is just some, uh… it’s better if you just come over here.

Passing through voids unknown, JM quickly gave in to the request.

Fine, fine… what’s up?

Do you remember the guy who completed the first stage of Wild Hunt’s Grace like, right off the bat?

No. If you’d recall, I’ve had my hands full with the Drake Slayer, The Ritualist, the-

Stop, stop, I get it! He’s not managing to break the game you don’t need to keep tabs on him, I’ll give you a refresher. Server sixty four, Monster Tamer? He was the second player to complete a unique quest in general, got a whole grunch load of achievements on his first day and then none since?

Mmm, oh, Koth?

Yeah, that guy. I know you’re more focused on 65 and 66, but 64 is still in our jurisdiction JM, he might not have done much but it shouldn’t be that difficult to at least keep the guy in memory.

Oh please, spare me the lecture, what is it? What did he do MM?

Okay, well, you also remember that monster that happened across a relic on the first day of the game’s release? Shred of Morrigala, unique item?

…Did he tame it?

Wow, so quick to guess, yeesh!

So… he isn’t a problem?

Oh, no, he tamed it.

JM, just… nevermind. So, you’re saying he’s already at 2/3rds of the way to getting a unique class… within a week?

Oh, no, it didn’t count as fulfilling the condition for some reason.

Isn’t… isn’t that a bug?

Well…. I’m not er, sure about that being a bug, per se, it’s not like he did a quest for a monster to unlock an epic level or above class, he just… got one. Which… isn’t really supposed to uh, happen? But, sheer chance says screw it, so I say we just leave it be. Especially, because of this! Behold!

Featherguard-Each point of agility is 1.4x more effective, each point of strength is 1.2x more effective. Gain 45 max HP, gain 24 max MP. Featherguard is lost upon taking 10% or more of your HP in a single hit, or when dismissed.

Oh, that’s kind of… eh for a modifier passive but, uh… what does this have to do with Koth though? He’s a Monster Tamer, they don’t get stat modi-

That’s a passive Koth just got.

HAH????

Despite the lack of a physical body to operate in the virtual space, MM still shrunk back from the ethereal hands grasping for his throat.

Woah, woah, calm down! All hope isn’t lost here! Read the second part of that.

FRf–g-egegeghehfe-rrfgffhhhhooooooo… “Featherguard is lost upon taking 10% or more of your HP in a single hit, or when dismissed”... Wait, so… this is… a passive, you said, not a buff? How does losing a passive work?

More specifically it’s an equipment passive.

…? Isn’t that… isn’t that supposed to be level locked to later content? And what, does the gear just… explode?

Okay, well, if you’d stop interrupting me and everything JM, I’d be happy to explain!

…

Thank you. This is because of Morrigala Adept. It was always pretty weird for an Epic class, bordering on the gimmicky level of a few Uniques but with the overall lower level of power that an Epic has, but this is… interesting. [Morrigala Metamorphose] was always meant to be a diversity ability. You were supposed to be able to occupy pretty much any role, but while still remaining specialization into magic.

What was not intended, was for the player using it to morph into literally anything… A N Y T H I N G. But, the natural limit of the human psyche kind of made that an issue in and of itself, so we didn’t worry about it. Theoretically it was possible, and it did come up in testing, you just had to envision… I dunno, the perspective of a sword, and accurately morph into it? Something along those lines… but, that was difficult to do, and especially to maintain. So, as I said, nobody worried about it.

You might be reading a stolen copy. Visit Royal Road for the authentic version.

But… we never programmed any NPCs or mobs to directly use the Morrigala Adept line skills, and so we also didn’t worry about that. It was always meant to be a player exclusive thing, they just had to find the randomly spawning artifact, and use it, either raw or refined. But… strangely enough, the first thing to find it was a Great Crossing’s Eagle with a rare trait combination. So… it just used it. To great consequence, but it still did.

And in doing so, it has become a genuinely unique existence. And so, this is why I found it interesting, enough to tell you about it anyways.

So… this obviously needs to be balanced, right? Monster Tamer was already a class path balanced about as well as a toddler on a unicycle. The most fragile of push and pull could be enough to break the entire thing, and I’d say giving it stat modifiers is a bit more than just pushing the thing.

Weeeeeeeeeeeelllllll, we’re also not giving him the conditions for the Myth Wielder questline, so… I think it’s fine to let slide. The chances of him getting a legendary class have pretty much been gibbed by this, given the Tamer legendary is probably one of the easier ones to get, relatively speaking. So… as a consolation prize? I’d say it’s alright to let him keep that. Unless you wanna bring this up to balancing and get the rewards switched?

Hmmmm… no, I suppose we shouldn’t break the flow of immersion. And it’s against policy to directly interfere unless there’s plausible cause to do so. This is all technically still possible, no bug abuse on his part, if not… unintended. I guess I’ll need to keep an eye on him now as well…

Oh lighten up JM, I’m sure it’ll buffer out soon enough, and we’ve probably got the easier jobs. Would you rather be the one DEALING with every kink in the system, or the one spotting them?

You know what MM? Sometimes, just sometimes, I think you might just be smarter than a middle schooler.

Oh shut up JM. Now… what else was he… oh, right, he’s in Pierre’s Karst. Pretty nothing area, just-

What did you just say?

…Hm?

Pierre’s… Pierre’s Karst?

Yeah? What about it?

Ohhhh, I’m gonna get an aneurysm… I’m not sure his chances are as “gibbed” as you think if he’s in there.

What… about it?

There are a ton of dungeons in the layout of that place. And more than a fair few of them are there specifically for class quests.

I’m not really that informed on low level areas, moreso the mid-game. What, is that a problem?

There are… at least three Monster Tamer specific unlocks in that place. The start of the Traces of The Giants questline, a Rare tier support class that can be tamed, and uhm… Oh yeah, I think it was… you know… Lunar Heritage???

Lunar Heritage? Wasn’t that one of the exclusive quests for Monster Tamer?

Yeah.

Oh. Oh dear.

Yeah, better hope he doesn’t find the damn thing if you don’t want him getting a chance at a legendary class on TOP of a borderline game breaking passive! How did, how did he even get that, remind me?

The monster he tamed that had Morrigala Adept transformed into his armor for a bit, and it ended up giving him a passive instead of raw stats.

Of-of course it did, because nothing can ever be easy. HFahgg, alright, I’ll keep an eye on him, that seems like it could go tits up at any moment to be frank, well, maybe not as much as-

The_Cup has reached level 20!

WHAT.

Oh. Oh dear.

It… it hasn’t even been a damn week! Exp quests above level fifteen aren’t even in the GAME yet! What the hell!?! What, is he just grinding pure mobs? Literally how? He’s a melee class! He was in Karis Capital lands last I checked was he not??? Did he-

Flicking through innumerable menus in an instant, characters and locations flew by in the blink of an eye, eventually settling on one single possibility.

No??? He’s still in the area, so what, what did he even-

Slowly, surely, incoherent ramblings, the screams of the damned as some would call them, pervaded the seemingly infinite space, the punishment of a sinner delivered unto each man within its confines.

And unfortunately for the poor moderators, it would continue to be a very, very, long day.