Editing's done.
Enjoy
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Volume 2 Chapter 1 - Character Reassessment
Today is Monday, but school is closed. I'm currently sitting in the living room watching some TV show. My sister's shutting herself inside her room, so I'm all alone.
Why am I not playing? You'll see. The current media is broadcasting its interview with one of the developer of Eden Online.
"Good afternoon, dear audiences and viewers. Today, we have a guest from the recently popular online game Eden Online. He was involved in its development. Let's welcome him, Mr. Robert Travesty."
The camera follows the movement of a person who is coming from the audience seat. He wear a black suit and a bright red tie. His hair is short and combed neatly to the back.
After a handshake, the MC starts the conversation.
"Greetings, Mr. Robert."
"Hello."
"Before we start the interview, do you mind telling us a bit about yourself?"
"Absolutely not. My name is Robert Travesty as introduced before, and I'm the current project head working inside R/R Tech lab."
"What kind of projects are you leading?"
"I and my team are currently trying to improve the AI of Eden Online."
"Is that so? Our sources told us that Eden Online was under maintenance since 2 hours ago."
"That's right, we already broadcast a system notice about 1 hour before maintenance."
"Do you mind telling us what the maintenance is for?"
"The current Eden Online is being upgraded to version 1.2. I brought here with me, the v1.2 changelog."
"Ohhh, do you mind telling us about it?"
"That was the reason for this interview. I'll tell you what change will occur when the server goes online."
The screen shows "Full Body Mapping" on the top.
The camera turned to the left. It shows an open space room with floor mats. On the left, there's a control panel displaying some graphic image from Eden Online.
Robert goes to the left edge of floor mat, while a scientist operates the control panel. A while later, a simulated humanoid body appeared in the middle of the floor mat.
"We are now connected." (Scientist)
"We will show you the demonstration of full body mapping." (Robert)
The scientist operates the control panel quickly. A short sword was simulated inside the floor mat.
Every things simulated inside the floor mat were blue in colour. Robert picked up the sword and prepared his stance.
"This is a short sword, as everybody knows, it's the weapon equipped to your avatar in the beginning of Eden Online, and its damage output is 12."
Robert does a diagonal slash to the humanoid body in its chest area. A number popped out of its chest showing the amount of damage it received. It shows 12, the normal damage of a short sword.
"Next, we'll show you what changed."
Robert makes a stab towards the humanoid body. It grazed the upper arm. Another number popped out, it's 2. Robert unleashed another slash grazing its leg. The same number popped out.
"A graze on any part of the body will deal about 10% to 15% damage."
Robert moves behind the humanoid body and slashes its neck. Number 18 popped out, a crossed mouth symbol appeared above the humanoid body.
"Some of you might knew this already. If you manage to cut certain areas which are mouth, neck, and tongue, you can put a silent debuff on your opponent. It lasted about 15 seconds, but after updates are applied, it'll be reduced."
Robert then gestured something at the scientist. The scientist operates the panel, and humanoid body is now wearing armour. It’s equipped with cloth bandana providing 2 def power, steel armour providing 10 def power, and leg guard providing 2 def power.
“Along with the Full Body Mapping system, we reworked the damage calculation.”
Robert swings his sword at humanoid body, it slashed trough the steel armour. Number 2 popped out showing the amount of damage it received. Next he slash its head, and number 10 pop out.
“Each defence armour you wear will only protect its covered area. Body armour only calculated def against any attack that target the body. Headwear only calculated def against any attack that target the head area. So on and on. You get the gist of it.”
The MC is now back on screen.
“Thank you very much, Mr. Robert. I’m sure with the new updates, the adventure inside Eden Online will get more interesting and fun.”
“I assure you, our team worked hard to bring you a satisfying experience. Enjoy your adventure.”
I turn off the TV and start browsing my computer. I’m opening Eden Online official webpage, trying to find more information about the new update.
They had the update changelog uploaded on their website. It contains a numbered list and some videos.
Eden Online v1.2 Changelog
[list=7]
[*]Appliance of Full Body Mapping system.
[*]Adding weak points to players and monsters body.
[*]Rework damage calculation.
[*]Introducing Karma System
Any PK action will trigger karma status. All of your status and skills will be frozen during this state.
Your name will be put on a bounty, if there’re other players within 10 meters range, your position will be shown on their map. NPC will not go after the bounty. You will drop 1 item with the most rarity if you’re killed by a neutral player.
[*]Rewritten some items and skills to correspond with Full Body Mapping.
[*]NPC AI improvement.
[*]Adding more quests.
Each numbers got their own videos showing a little bit of demonstration. There’s also a video of Robert’s demonstration which aired on TV just now.
My body is trembling with anger. I know about silent debuff when I fought the goblin commander. To think they announce it to public.
‘WHY would they do that?’
With silent debuff being known, I can’t gain advantage if I were to face other people in PvP. Inflicting silence was supposed to be my advantage, now I fear of being silenced by my opponent.
I almost slammed my computer screen.
'Karma system, there'd be less PK when the server is up.'
I'm currently watching the demonstration videos one by one when an image appeared in my mind. It's the image of an old man feeding bread crumbs to the birds near the fountain in Eden Online.
I start searching for information regarding the old man's behavior.
'The way he sit there doing nothing but feeding, is like screaming "I got a quest!". But how? How do I trigger it?'
His appearance's eye catching. Every player who spawned in the fountain would take notice of the old man. There should be some kind of info.
15 minutes later.
None.
I found no information about him. There's a discussion thread in the forum, but no solid info whatsoever. Some people can chat up to 2 sentences before they got ignored again.
'Well, screw this!'
This is a bad habit. I can't really handle stress in a good way. When too much stress accumulated, I go into do or die mode. I mean, what can be worse than death? I just need to enjoy it as much as I can.
Now, I'm just sitting here clearing my mind from negative thoughts.
'Come to think of it. I got a skill with 10% piercing chance. How will they change it?'
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2 hours later.
"Yeeeaaahhh. I'm finally back."
Maintenance for Eden Online is finished. I log back in immediately when I read the news on their official website.
'Skill info, skill info. Need to check on my skills.'
Skill Info
Skill Name:Mana ManipulationSkill Rank:BeginnerSkill Type:Passive / Skill TreeSkill Level:920%
Mana manipulation. Allowed you to control your mana output.
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Skill List :
* Minimum Power (Reduce Mana Cost)
* Piercing Spell (Toggle Support Magic, Reduce Damage by 20% to add piercing effect to your spell)
Skill Name:Fire MasterySkill Rank:BeginnerSkill Type:Passive / Skill TreeSkill Level:783%
Fire element mastery. Allowed you to harness fire element power with your mana.
Skill List :
* Fireball (Single Target Offensive Spell)
* Firewall (Area Target Defensive Spell)
Skill Name:Ice MasterySkill Rank:BeginnerSkill Type:Passive / Skill TreeSkill Level:784%
Ice element mastery. Allowed you to harness ice element power with your mana.
Skill List :
* Ice Shard (Single Target Offensive Spell)
* Ice Javelin (Single Target Offensive Spell, 10% Chance to Freeze Target)
Skill Name:Wind MasterySkill Rank:BeginnerSkill Type:Passive / Skill TreeSkill Level:545%
Wind element mastery. Allowed you to harness wind element power with your mana.
Skill List :
* Air Resistance Down (Single Target Assist Spell)
* Air Bullet (Single Target Offensive Spell)
Skill Name:Earth MasterySkill Rank:BeginnerSkill Type:Passive / Skill TreeSkill Level:513%
Earth element mastery. Allowed you to harness earth element power with your mana.
Skill List :
* Clay Shield (Single Target Defensive Spell)
* Rock Bullet (Single Target Offensive Spell)
'A little bit more and I'd reach Intermediate.'
Character InfoNameRenRaceHalf ElfClassElementalistLevel1248%Physical Strength637%Magical Power977%Physical Resistance585%Magic Resistance522%Endurance78%Speed768%Focus875%
My status growth is terrible. I became too dependent on healing spells.
My piercing spell activation rate changed from 10% to 100%.
I check my friend list, it seems everybody is online except Lily. I try to message Tatsu.
"What's up, Ren?"
"Just checking. How is it going?"
"So far, it's good. The Full Body Mapping system is making it easier to hunt."
"That's good to hear. How is Yuu?"
"He's... fine. Still flirting whenever he can."
'He's hesitating. Some kind of trouble?'
"Are you sure?"
"He's going to be fine. Just a little bit heart broken."
"He never changed eh..."
"What about you?"
"Haha, I gained exp very fast, so my status can't keep up."
"I see. In here, grinding for status's also important. How about your skill level?"
"I'm about to enter immediate."
"Oh! That's fast. Oops, I gotta go. Come find me when you reached Adel Town."
"Sure."
With that, we ended the chat. No goodbye whatsoever. I need to grind my status, so I should hunt alone.
'Should I copy another skill?'
Skill Name:CopycatSkill Rank:BeginnerSkill Type:UniqueSkill Level:874%
Expect the unexpected.
Copy your opponent skill and use it as your own.
* Heal (Single Target Recovery Spell)
I assessed my skills once more. My usual hunting pattern is <
Even with <
'Is there no other way to restore mana beside potion?'
I start wandering around the town. Since they added more quests, I should try to find some more.
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Done.
After reading this, you should have a rough estimation on what to expect on the next chapter.