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How long has it been since the last regional quest was started?
Five months ago, the Celeste's Messengers guild started Muryo Forest's regional quest, which ended in failure and gave birth to the field boss Ragar. Now, this former forest guardian roams Muryo Forest's higher-difficulty areas as a boss notorious for wiping out parties.
The most ambitious of all guilds, KDA Guild, started and also failed the regional quest of Great Ellim Plains, turning the entirety of it into a monster-infested uninhabitable wasteland and killing its guardian. His corpse now endlessly gives birth to terrifying and grotesque flesh monsters. Now, it is known just as "The Great Wasteland," infamous for its extremely dangerous monsters and unexplored ravines and dungeons.
And thirteen months ago, two months after the release of the game, the strongest of all guilds, Radioactive, also failed a regional quest. Accidentally turning a former paradise island into a hell on earth. Literal rivers of lava, fireballs soaring through the skies, rain of ashes, a live volcano constantly giving birth to terrifying monsters made of lava and fire. Its guardian? Sacrificed herself to quell the raging mana of the volcano and prevent the lava from ruining the surrounding sea and reaching the mainland.
With that amount of misfortunes and failures to everyone's track record, to say that every player who knows a bit of the game's history is anxious is a great understatement. They're beyond worried about the Olfor Mountains because this region is one of the three largest mines for mana-infused metals and the largest source of iron for three major cities.
So if this 'Vermouth' player fails this regional quest, which is highly suspected to happen by most players, then everyone residing in these three cities is screwed. It's fine if it ends in the same way Muryo Forest did, but if not and the entire mountain range is turned into some kind of highly dangerous area, then the economy of these three cities along with the surrounding towns and villages is likely to take a dangerous dive.
And the players cannot afford that kind of risk. That's why leaders of four of the biggest guilds have decided to gather and meet in order to discuss this predicament.
From the largest crafting guild, AlbertHammers of Zeus' Bladesmiths. It is understandable why he is highly concerned with this situation. After all, one of their major bases and smithy is inside a fortified castle within Olfor Mountains.
The most famous swordsman in both the real world and the game world, LAN of Clashing Swords. As an ally guild of Zeus' Bladesmith, they are obligated to help resolve this issue. Additionally, they are partnered with Zeus' Bladesmith because the majority of their members use swords, and they need someone to supply them with those swords at a steady pace; thus their partnership.
Known as the most righteous player and has the highest REP points, Alex_Andra of Chains of Astra. By resolving this current predicament, she will be able to reduce the risk to the lives of both the players and NPCs. She has no other reasons to be here other than that. Her co-leader has other things to say though.
And the leader of the most mischievous guild, Sui's Sauce of Ichor's Remnants. This guy has no reason to be here, he just wants to get involved and maybe get something out of it. But mostly just for the fun of it. After all, that's what he's all about, fun. Now, it was never his intention to gather pranksters to his guild. He's not one, after all, but reading reports involving hilarious pranks done by one of his members is simply one of the most fun things to do.
Now, this guy is a constant cause of headaches for his vice guild masters. As for why, why don't you take a guess?
The main purpose of this meeting is to locate the player that is causing everyone a headache. Namely, Vermouth. In order to discuss with them the details of their quest and offer help. No, this is to force them to allow their involvement with the quest and ensure that it is successfully completed. Failure here is highly unacceptable.
The four of them have decided on four things.
Firstly, Ichor's Remnants will form multiple squads that will search for this player.
Second, in case of failure, Zeus' Bladesmiths and Clashing Swords will focus their manpower on mining in the Olfor Mountains to stock up on resources. This is to make sure that the industries relying on metals are not crippled until an alternative is found.
Third, Chains of Astra will be focusing on preparing for the quest and gearing up their guild's army in case of a large boss fight or event. Gathering information regarding the history of the Olfor Mountains and its landmarks, and literally anything that might help.
And lastly, they must make sure that this player joins one of their guilds. This is not only to secure possibly a great powerhouse but to also monitor their actions. After all, they clearly need to be watched if they would just start a Regional Quest without knowing the consequences of failing it.
Aside from other smaller things, these four are the most important of the tasks.
Concluding the meeting, the four separated ways to accomplish their respective tasks.
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Meanwhile, a certain someone is currently weeping inside her inn room for reasons currently unknown.
Why wouldn't she? She just got herself scammed into doing a ridiculously hard quest, after all.
The details of the quest aside, the reason why she is in so much emotional pain is quite simple. Simple, but incredibly annoying, not to mention it is incredibly ANNOYING! Incredibly annoying!
"What do you mean 'Complete 50% of The end of Earth's Reign questline to equip,' you dumb silly freak!?" Vermouth shouted in anger as she verbally and physically abused the interface in front of her.
"Arrgh! That damned tortoise! I should have not trusted him! Aaaahhhh!" Vermouth repeatedly slammed her feet on the wooden floor in her anger, disturbing the sleeping old man in the room below.
"F**k!" She let out one final swear as she attempted to calm herself down. Key word, attempted.
"I swear I'll throw at least one fireball at that tortoise's face! Consequences be doomed!" She growled before she started repeatedly smashing her staff on the floor.
"How dare he!? How dare he, how dare he, how dare he!?" Vermouth shouted repeatedly as she resumed stomping her feet on the floor, as if in an attempt to share her annoyance to the old man in the room below by disturbing his sleep.
"Argh! I'm so annoyed!" Vermouth shouted once more before she finally calmed down enough to end her tantrum, much to the relief of the old man below. "I was so excited too!"
Vermouth lied down on the bed and decided that she had enough of this game for today.
"Hmph! Screw this, I'm logging off!" She shouted before opening the interface and promptly tapping the log-out button.
Back in the real world, Milya took off the headset and carefully placed it on her bed, making sure not to vent her frustrations on it.
"Geez, what a scam that was. I need some ice cream to cool off." Milya muttered to herself while running down the stairs.
Milya ignored her family's presence on her way to the fridge and took out a small bucket of cookies and cream flavored ice cream along with a spoon. Back in the living room, Milya sat on the couch right beside her brother, who was actually enjoying ice cream of the same flavor as her.
If you spot this story on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.
Milya sunk into the couch with a huff before opening the bucket of ice cream and digging in.
"Did something happen?" Her brother asked, incredibly perceptive as he is, you don't need to be an empath to see that she was in a bad mood.
Milya gave him a quick side glance before huffing in obvious annoyance and returning her attention to venting her anger on the ice cream in her hands.
"Eh…" Aleb could only let out a dumbfounded sound as he looked at his sister in confusion.
Just as Aleb was about to give up finding out why Milya was acting like this, she spoke with the spoon still in her mouth.
"An NPC scammed me…" She said, her annoyance ever-present.
Aleb took a moment to take that in before needing to press his hand on his mouth to muffle his laughter.
Milya immediately took notice of this and huffed in annoyance.
"It's not funny!" She complained. "That damned tortoise gave me items and in exchange, I would do a quest for him! But not only was the quest dumb hard, I'm not allowed to use the items until I finished half of it! It's annoying!"
"Every good thing has a catch to it, Milya," he said after reigning in his laughter. "You should have tried learning more."
"Urk…" Unable to refute her brother's statement, Milya returned to eating her ice cream grumpily.
Aleb let out a low chuckle in amusement.
"What was the quest about?" He asked.
"It's called 'The End of Earth's Reign' and has eight parts." Milya started, her tone still laced with a hint of annoyance. "The first part I have to do is collect five rare drops from the field bosses of Olfor mountains. I have the list in-game, I just didn't bother remembering at the moment because I was mad."
"I see…" Aleb murmured. "It's a regional quest, isn't it?"
"It is, so?" Milya replied nonchalantly with a spoon in her mouth.
Aleb let out a quick sigh because of the obliviousness of his sister. Maybe mentioning to her that will help. Or maybe not.
"Quick fact: no one in the game's history has ever successfully completed a quest of that caliber. None." Aleb stated ominously. "Let that sink in, please."
Hearing this, Milya only grinned. "Then I'll just have to be the first."
Aleb held back a groan, having expected this reaction at the back of his head. "Alright, I'll leave you to that."
Milya smiled. "Thanks, bro. For believing in me."
"Sure," Aleb replied in kind with his own smile. "By the way, I sent the game data to your family email, check it out later. My in-game name is in the email too. If you need help with your quest, just contact me through the friend and chat menus."
Aleb stood up and left the living room to put away his now-empty bucket of ice cream and headed for his room upstairs, leaving Milya to her own.
Milya opened her emails through her phone and easily found the one her brother sent, containing a document file and his in-game name at the top.
"Bela. Literally just his name but spelled backward." Milya chuckled. "But well, I guess I can't really speak when my player name is just wine."
Milya quickly finished her ice cream and threw the empty bucket and spoon into the sink before returning to her room, having calmed her anger from the little annoyance that the tortoise gave her.
Quickly logging back into the game, Vermouth opened her interface and pulled out the skill scrolls she got from the tortoise to cool her rising anger. These scrolls shall be her copium.
And like usual, Vermouth unrolled the scrolls and placed them over the others before ripping them all at the same time. All three scrolls disappeared into a cloud of flames that entered Vermouth's chest.
Excited for her new class skill, Vermouth opened her skill interface.
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Passive Skills
[Casting III (63%)]
Tier 1 skill - Decreases the chance of failing a spell by 3%, increases by 1% every level. Shortens the casting time by 10.5%. Allows movement while casting at maximum level. The default spell fail chance is 15%. Failing to cast a spell will cancel its effects while still consuming the mana used.
[Mana Boost II (22%)]
Tier 1 skill - Increases mana by 20%.
[Magic Mastery III (23%)]
Tier 1 Skill - Increases m.atk by 60%
[Chain Cast III (12%)]
Tier 2 Skill - Successfully casting a spell shortens the cast time of the next spell by 4.5% and increases m.atk by 6%. Stacks 5 times. All stacks are lost after 15 seconds of not casting a spell. Increases the chance of failing a spell by 5% for every three spells successfully cast.
[Totemist I (49%)]
Tier 9 Skill - Allows the user to assign spells on crafted totems, removing the need to cast. Reduces the mana cost of all spells by 75%. Additionally, using materials with high mana conductivity and related elements will increase the effectiveness of the spell assigned to the totem. Totems are unbreakable and only the user can interact with them. Placing down totems with continuous spells will make the totem continuously absorb mana from the surrounding area and keep the spell running. Totems can be indefinitely attached to the main weapon as long as it is a staff. The number of totems that can be attached to the main weapon will depend on the weapon's rank. The number of spells that could be assigned on a single totem is directly proportionate to the skill level.
Grants the spells [Totem Creation] [Assign Totem] [Totemist - One with Mana]
[Combat Mastery I (2%)]
Tier 1 Skill - Increases P.atk by 20%
[Multicasting I (1%)]New!
Tier 3 Skill - Allows the user to cast more than one spell at a time. Limit: 2 Spells
[Whimsical Witch I (1%)]New!
Tier 8 Skill - You are a whimsical witch.
Active Skills
[Mana Charge III (17%)]
Tier 1 Skill - Restores 27% of mana.
Charging time: 3.5 secs
[Invisibility I (32%)]
Tier 4 Skill - Makes the user transparent to all entities and erases all physical traces. Receiving damage will remove the skill's effects.
Duration: 5 mins. Cooldown: 60 secs.
[Pulse Radar I (27%)]Tier 5 Skill - Send an energy pulse toward all directions and reveal all living entities within a 50-meter radius of the user.
Cooldown: 2 mins 30 secs
[Mana Clumps I (1%)]New!Tier 5 Skill - Create harmless clumps of mana within your body, which could then be used to power spells. Each clump can store 1,000 mana points, raises with skill level. The user can create 1 clump at a time.
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…
Silence ensued.
"I need more than an insult! Description, hello!?" Vermouth shouted in annoyance due to the lack of explanation. "It's cool that it's a tier 8 skill, but I need to know more than that!"
"I'll try out the other new skills later." After dismissing her menu to rid herself of her annoyance, Vermouth stretched her limbs and left the inn.
"Now, what are my targets again?" She pulled out the tablet from out of her inventory and read its contents. The scribbled writings on the tablet glowed and a holographic interface appeared.
[The End of Earth's Reign] [Regional Quest]
"The earth has claimed the sky's treasure for far too long. It is time that the curses are lifted, seals are broken, and authorities are returned."
[Progress 0/8]
Quest 1 - The False Guardians' Fall
"Sever the false guardians' connection to the Earthen Seal."
Objectives:
Tear off and collect the cores of Olfor Mountains' five field bosses.
[Progress 0/5]
"Seems easy enough, I plan to hunt them all on my own anyway. Farming them for their rare drops should be easy after the first fight."
Vermouth closed the interface as the tablet stopped glowing. Vermouth looked up at the snowy summit of the mountains, that could be seen even from here in the city, as she threw the tablet back into her inventory.
'I wonder what Aleb is doing right now. Is he in-game too?'
Vermouth pondered as she made her way out of the city.
"This place is as empty as ever, huh…" She murmured as she hopped to stone after stone.
Now back to the rocky mountains, Vermouth used a certain skill to detect monsters that might be lurking around her. If you can't find them with your eyes, then they must be hiding, right?
"Pulse Radar!" As Vermouth's voice echoed into the distance, along with it followed a blast of light that passed through every obstacle that wanted to impede the pulse of light's path.
Immediately after, an object was highlighted not far from her. It was a huge boulder thrice her height and ten times her width. Not understanding why it was glowing even though it was supposed to be an inanimate object, Vermouth approached the boulder and poked it with the butt of her staff.
"Why are you glowing- !" Upon realization, Vermouth hurriedly set up her barrier and made space between her and the boulder. She then casts, taking a few seconds to finish. "Burgeon!"
Seeds the size of her nails shot out from the tip of her staff like a spray and landed on the boulder, its roots quickly latched onto it and sprouted into small leaves. While the leaves remained small, the roots lengthened and thickened at an astonishing rate and dug deeper into the boulder.
"This is a good chance to try this spell out! Now get up, you sneaky golem!" Vermouth shouted in the boulder's direction.
Right on cue, the boulders started shaking, as Vermouth looked on with anticipation. First to pop out from under the huge boulder were its arms, purely made out of stones held together by its mana. Its head was a simple purple orb, held between two larger stones. All held up by its shorter legs that were similarly made out of stones, like the rest of its large body. It stood up, its size reaching up to the same height as a five-story building.
"Huh, that thing is huge," Vermouth murmured in astonishment due to the sheer size of the rocky monster. She looked at its name and couldn't help but scoff in amusement."
[Pebblepile] [Level: 59]
"Welp, let's see what you're made out of then, you pile of pebbles," Vermouth scoffed in amusement. "Aside from pebbles, haha."
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