Callie enters her shabby apartment and sits down at her desk in her living room. She mimics a nauseously high pitched voice. “A luxurious ‘living room’ that also happens to be a kitchen, and a bedroom. A third of the space for the exorbitant price of all three. There’s nothing better than sharing so there’s no bathroom in here! Share one with the entire floor.”
She peers at her reflection at a table mirror kept on her desk. Her mimicry of the landlord’s smile fades to a neutral expression. Callie’s eyes are a benevolent dark pink color. She has black eye liner and lipstick. She has white hair in a voluminous bob that slightly curls into multiple points. There are small curls pointing beneath her eyes and large curls parting from neck length outwards. Callie is wearing a black crop top shirt that exposes her stomach. The shirt is complimented by a black skirt with decorative frills.
“Great, I haven’t spontaneously died and turned into a zombie.”
She scrolls through social media on her phone only to be bombarded by unpleasant topics recommended to her. The latest topics read, “War will never be the same. A new military grade artificial intelligence has been created...”, “The victim was found murdered in the park. The suspect is still at large...”, and “The cost of living is expected to rise by as much as twenty percent yet again by the end of the year...”
“Why is everything always so damn depressing?” Callie sighs. She closes the app and switches to a different app. Callie plays a video with a more interesting topic.
A news reporter states, “Today marks the third anniversary of Respawn Online World. The famous VR RPG that came out of nowhere and took the world by surprise. A game that boasts an active player-base
of several million players daily. I have a guest with me by the name of John Reel Man. So tell me, John. Do you think we will ever see another game as innovative as ROW?”
“Of course I do. The real question is when? The technology behind ROW is ahead of our time and a very cautiously guarded corporate secret. A year ago, anybody in the field of technology would have told you that replicating the five senses of taste, smell... in a game is unheard of.”
Callie skips to the end the video.
“Players can expect to ROW, ROW, ROW, their boats gently down the stream in this new limited time event that introduces a new quest line accessible at level seventy. The quest line takes place across the seas as part of a voyage across the world.”
Callie scoffs. “Great update developers. Not only do we have to be level seventy to participate, we have to have access an expensive-ass boat capable of sailing across the virtual sea. Exactly the kind of update that I want to see.”
She turns off her phone and retreats to her bizarre-appearing bed. Her bed looks more like a containment pod out of a science fiction film or a coffin connected to a mess of thick cables and wires. There is a metal hinge on the side connected to a cover that she closes once she is comfortable.
A screen turns on with a flash. An automated voice plays. “Bio-metrics scanned. Username Callie Graph Reed confirmed. Logging into ROW.”
Callie spawns in the middle of an overgrown forest. There are some brick walls that appear out of place and the little rubble that remains of an abandoned town. There are vines and moss covering practically everything in sight. There is a river flowing through that provides some calming ambiance.
She checks her menu. She takes a moment to check her quest list. There are a number of ongoing quests that she ignores for the time being. “I still need to collect some monster drops for the guild and some more four leaf clovers to upgrade my wand. The recommended level for the monster hunting quest is level thirty two. I am the same level.”
Callie strolls through the woods in search of monsters. She hears a twig snapping that immediately catches her attention. There are two golems made of gray stone that eerily watch her from a distance.
“You scared the hell out of me. Were you waiting here all night for a rematch with little ol’ me? Sorry but I don’t need any golem drops today. None from the two of you anyway. Its a good thing the two of you are passive mobs or you definitely would have gotten the drop on me. You hide so well in plain sight will all the vines and moss growing over your bodies.”
The golems do not respond. They do not even have a mouth.
“Great to see that you aren’t still mad at me. See ya later.”
Callie wanders off further into the forest until she reaches a suspiciously large clearing in the middle of the forest. There is a giant slab of stone resting in the middle of the clearing.
The slab of stone has been carved into a stone golem similar to the last two that she encountered. There is one notable feature about the carved golem that catches Callie’s attention. The golem has a green gem in the middle of their chest that gleams and seems to emanate mana.
Callie’s eyes seem to gleam as bright as gold coins. “There is the treasure that I am looking for. A golem’s mana core. I will get a handsome reward for selling this.”
The stone golem breaks free from the stone slab and steps forth. The stone slab crumbles to pieces that disappear. Callie can see that the golem seems to mimic the challenger’s level meaning the golem is level thirty two as well, although the golem has better stats as a result of being a ‘boss’ type monster.
The golem wastes no time smashing its fists against the ground and creating a shock-wave. A shock wave that stuns Callie for a moment and deals a mild amount of damage of about fifteen percent of Callie’s HP (Health Points). The golem then charges after Callie.
Callie manages to rolls out of the charging golem’s path once the stun effect wears off. She waits for the golem to turn back to face her once again.
She casts, “Morning Glory!" She aims for the exposed gem on the golem’s chest and waves her wand to cast a spell. She creates a blinding bright orange and purple colored explosion. The attack is a critical hit that deals damage of about ten percent of the golem’s max HP.
She playfully snickers. “A nice hit for double damage. A bad match-up for you, huh? Stone golems may be strong against physical attacks but you have no resistance against magic. So what if you can resist my spell’s blinding effect? I am not going to need it thanks to your easily exploitable weak spot.”
The golem raises its arms to protect itself as it advances within melee range. A few more of Callie’s explosions that steadily shave away at the monster. The golem has taken a combined total of damage equal to about thirty five percent of the golem’s HP.
The golem lifts its guard. It uses one of their arms in an attempt to swing down and smack against Callie, or so she thought. Callie weasels her way out of range of the stone fist when suddenly a stone pillar rises from the floor beneath her. She is launched into the air and takes damage equal to about thirty percent of her HP as damage in a single blow.
The golem does not stop there. The golem waits for her to drop back down within striking range to attack once more.
Callie chants, “Wind of the Fairy!” Transparent wings similar to those of a butterfly sprout over her back. She is able to fly away in a sudden burst of speed that only lasts for a few seconds before returning her back to the floor.
“Damn! All that damage in one move? I was expecting that to be an ordinary melee attack. Cheeky developers. Well played.”
Callie checks her HP. She has fifty five percent health remaining.
The golem smacks its stone fists against its stomach. The impact creates a loud rumbling sound. Callie can see that her defense and her physical attack have dropped by ten percent temporarily.
“Roar of the Mighty, huh? Trying to make me easier to bruise. Too bad for you that the skill has a high recovery time. Time for me to try a little bit harder.”
Callie does not miss opportunity to land another three critical hits for thirty percent damage that drops the golem to forty five percent health. The golem is stuck in place for ten seconds and left utterly defenseless until the skill animation ends.
The golem seems to reel over on the floor as if defeated despite having plenty of health left. The golem’s hands touch the ground. Mana starts to gather around the golem as though the golem were channeling power from the earth.
“What are you plotting now?”
Callie takes the opportunity to attack several times more but the monster’s weak spot is inaccessible. The golem seems to resist damage for the duration, so she only manages to drop the golem’s health to thirty percent despite her frenzy of attacks. “Damn. I couldn’t deal enough damage to break their defensive stance.”
The monster rises from the floor carrying a chunk of earth that it hurls at Callie. The chunk of earth that bursts into smaller chunks like shrapnel that are nearly impossible to dodge entirely. Callie takes damage equal to ten percent of her HP. She has forty five percent HP remaining.
The shrapnel is blinding. All the projectiles firing blindly makes Callie want to flinch and blink at the first sight of movement in order to protect her eyes. Callie has shut one of her eyes. She uses her hand to nearly completely cover her other eye. “I can’t see anything with all this rubble. How does the attack deal so little damage for a charged attack even though you debuffed my defense a second ago? Wait a minute, this must be a smokescreen—.”
The sound of thunderous footsteps approach her. The boss is now right in front of her eyes carrying a second chunk of earth. The golem extends its arm as far back as possible and then slams the chunk directly down as though it were some kind of bludgeoning weapon.
Callie has no time to think. She reacts by panicking and breaks out into a full sprint toward the golem in an effort to throw off their aim. Her tactic very narrowly prevails. Callie can feel the chunk of rock pressing against her back. There was no chance for the golem to adjust its flailing arm mid-motion.
“Too close for comfort wouldn’t you say? I can practically feel your breath against my neck.”
The golem starts to reach for the ground once more. Callie feels a rush of adrenaline and starts running out from her compromising position while the golem is distracted.
In a small moment of respite she notices that the golem has suddenly lost some health. The golem only has twenty percent remaining despite the fact that Callie has not attacked. She tries to attack the golem some more but notices that the amount of damage that she is dealing now is negligible as the golem gathers more chunks of earth.
The golem repeats the last two attacks blinding and then bludgeoning. This time Callie knows what to expect and dodges the bludgeoning attack much more gracefully. The golem’s health drops to ten percent after the attacks.
“Sacrificing HP to strengthen and change up your pattern of attacks? Call me curious because I wonder how much damage your new attack does now. I will give you one free hit. Come on. We both know how this is going to end.”
Callie stands still and extends her arms in a taunt. Her eyes are closed as though she were accepting her fate.
Shrapnel starts flying once again and the impact drops Callie’s HP down to fifteen percent now that she is not trying to evade the AOE (Area Of Effect) attack.
The thunderous footsteps of the golem can be heard as the golem charges in despite only having five percent HP remaining. The footsteps come to a grinding halt as the golem stands right beside Callie.
Callie opens her eyes now that the shrapnel has cleared. She chants, “Wind of the Fairy!" She moves out of range in a sudden burst of speed successfully managing to evade the golem’s final attack.
The golem’s chunk of earth slams against the ground. The ground cracks and crumbles along with with the little HP bar that the golem had left.
Suddenly the defeated golem’s hand extends to grab a hold of Callie. She tries to evade the grapple and then she realizes, “I can’t move!" She shrieks. The ground collapses beneath the golem dragging Callie into a plummet to the depths below.
The pair crashes against a cavern floor with a loud thud. The now destroyed golem releases Callie upon impact. She crawls away from the golem and notices that the golem’s mana core has been collected as well as a fair amount of gold and exp.
She turns her neck up and sees that she has fallen from a great distance. She raises her hand to her chin out of bewilderment. “The fall should have killed me since I was unable to fly. Then again I should have been easily able to dodge the golem’s attack. Unless this was a scripted event that was supposed to happen?”
As if answering her questions, a global announcement is displayed on the corner of Callie’s screen. “Congratulations! The player known as ‘Callie Graph Reed’ has discovered the hidden location ‘Collapsed City’. Details regarding the location will be revealed to the public in twenty four hours and the area will be made accessible to all players.”
Heads start to turn around the world as the notification attracts the attention of most players online at the time.
There is a person with blonde hair and green colored clothing in the middle of a cafe. They are drinking coffee that they spit out directly into the face of one of their friends sitting across from them. Their friend smacks them in return. They complain, “Really man?"
There is a game commentator in the middle of exploring the latest limited time event that gets distracted. “No way! Callie is back? Is she working as a commentator again? You know, she inspired me to try out this game and become a commentator myself a few years ago when the game first released. I wonder how the discovery of this new location is going to interfere with the limited time event. I bet the game developers were not expecting the hidden area to be discovered now of all times.”
There is an assassin holding their knife pressed against the back of a princess. The princess is as gorgeous as a model and is probably the pride of her kingdom. The assassin is being confronted by a bunch of knights trying to save her.
The assassin threatens, “All of you step back and nobody gets hurt! Tell the queen and king that they will hand over the royal family heirloom if they ever want to see their precious princess again. They have one week to bring me the gem!"
The assassin suddenly reads the notification. “A new area? There could be legendary items there! What am I doing wasting my time here for some chump change? I got to go prepare and take the day off work tomorrow! You can keep your crummy princess! I didn’t want the royal family heirloom anyways!”
The assassin sheathes their knife and kicks the princess back to her guards. They leaps out of the castle’s tower leaving the princess and all of the knights utterly flabbergasted over the events that just transpired.
There is a guild master sitting in the middle of their office and signing some documents. She is wearing some shiny and expensive looking armor. She tells her secretary, “I want to know what they have discovered and I want to know now! Make a generous offer for the information."
The secretary responds, “I thought you might say that, mam. I am trying my best but messages, friend requests, and guild invitations are are all blocked and met with an automatic response stating that the player does not accept messages."
Callie’s lips quiver. She bursts out into a smile as she reads the global announcement. “There is no way! There is just no way! There are still secrets to this game even after all this time? Even though we have all these millions of players running around and exploring every inch of the map on a daily basis?!”
“I thought there was nothing else to explore! I thought there was nothing else to see! I have not felt this delightful sensation in such a long time!”
“But what could have possibly triggered it? I refuse to believe that I am the only person who has ever fought the golem alone. Was it because of my specific class as a mage? No! Those are conditions that are way too easy to satisfy. Was it because of my class archetype as a mage and subclass as a witch combined with the fact that I defeated the boss alone? Maybe the event is related to some quests I have completed in the past that I can’t remember about? Ahh, I just don’t know!”
Callie hugs herself and starts to giggle and spin. “I could sell this information. I could make a few hundred dollars easily! A new location will definitely include new rare items and events. Items that could change the competitive playing field. The top guilds would definitely want the first chance for a piece of this bountiful harvest.”
Callie suddenly rigidly stops in place. A sinister smile overtakes her once blissful demeanor. “No! I want to see the new map with my own two eyes! I want to be the first person to discover everything that the map has to offer! I want to find all the cool and rare items before anybody else does! I am going to live-stream the whole thing and commentate over it all! Ahahahaha!”
Callie starts sprinting further into the cave without a care in the world. She enthusiastically shouts out, “Start live-streaming!" A miniature robot the shape of a simple circle starts following her. She reaches a ledge from where she can see buildings in the distance for a great backround.
“Hello everybody! I hope you are having a lovely afternoon! I know that I am because I have discovered this stunning location! To think that a moment ago I thought exploration was dead! Take a moment to look past the ruin and rubble to check out the oddly futuristic style of the buildings in the background. They seem as though they were a part of a once technologically advanced society that failed for some reason. I wonder how their aesthetic will come into play with the lore of the area.”
“Do you hear those footsteps and metallic clanking? I think I might have come across the first set of enemies from the region! Woah, look at that! There are two ‘Skull Paladins’. Those types of enemies aren’t exactly rare in ROW, but they are a very high level form of evolved skeletons. If I recall correctly, then they were introduced to the game in the beta and they should be around level fifty. That was the toughest level of enemy encounterable for the time. Does that mean that this content has been locked away from year one of ROW?”
“Ooh! What is that monster? Do you see that monster that just appeared beside them? They look like some kind of robot but their body’s design makes them look as though they are wearing the kind of gloomy garbs iconic to that of a necromancer, or a goth! A mechromancer if you will. That must mean that the theme of this dungeon is a cross between the undead and robots. What a bizarre mashup! I would have never thought of such a clash of monsters. I wonder what they are supposed to have in common?”
“As we all know, the game usually adds the addition of a new playable race and a handful of classes whenever a ‘hidden area’ is discovered. Since we already have the undead in the game as a playable race, then I believe that this discovery will likely add the option for players to play robots as characters.”
“Personally not my style, but I bet we can expect to see a sudden change in the most popular character race sometime soon. I bet the developers are going to have a tough time balancing a race meant to be added in the game from year one to the current meta of the game.”
“Enough about my crazy theories and rambling! I bet everybody is aching for a glimpse of what kind of treasure this mob drops, aren’t you? Normally I would be too under-leveled to battle these kinds of monsters, but my level should not be a problem thanks to the ‘explorer’ update introduced in update 1.2.”
“This update means that whoever discovers a new dungeon gets the ability to face all the monsters in a mirror match. All the enemies will be the same level until the player eventually reaches the target level of the dungeon. Tough luck for the rest of you that are forced to fight these guys at level fifty.”
“This update was an incentive aimed to make lower level players more eager to explore uncharted territory because what would be the point of discovering a new location if you couldn’t explore it anyways? Of course nothing is perfect and that update is no exception. The double-edged sword is that all items I find will also be weaker than they normally would be to match my level.”
“Gah, mind my rambling! I’m going now, I swear!”
Callie leaps down from rock to rock to reach the ground level where the new enemies are. She quickly opens her menu to browse through her spells. She closes the menu as soon as she takes a small glance at her skill list to refresh her memory.
Callie casts from afar, “Holy Light!" A ray of light appears from the heavens that shines and surrounds the group of enemies as an AOE type of attack.
The light is super effective in an elemental match-up against the Skull Paladins and deals an extra twenty percent damage despite not being a critical hit. They both take twenty four percent of their HP as damage. The Robot Necromancer however is unimpressed and resists taking any extra damage and as such their health drops only by twenty percent.
If you stumble upon this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it.
The ‘Robot Necromancer’ raises its fingers and points to Callie as though it were the commander of the trio. The Skull Paladins start running towards her with their shields and swords drawn.
Callie casts, “Pillar of Earth!" A pillar of earth similar to the one that the golem created earlier appears beneath one of the Skull Paladins and launches them into the air.
The second paladin continues to advance and so Callie casts, “Wind of the Fairy!" A strong gust of air maneuvers around the paladin’s body like a snake and blows against the paladin’s shield as though it were a sail on a boat. The skull paladin’s arm is forcibly extended away from their body making them drop their guard.
Callie casts, “Spear of Ice!" Solid ice in the rough shape of a spear appears in Callie’s hands as though it were a weapon. She hurls the ice against the Skull Paladin’s exposed body. The spear impales the paladin and pins them against the Pillar of Earth that Callie created a moment ago. The ice from the spear spreads around the Pillar of Earth as if freezing the entire chunk. “Check that out. An easy frozen pillar of earth combo.”
Callie lectures, “Sure the undead resist some ice elemental damage, but dealing frost damage isn’t what I was aiming for with that move. Pillar of Earth, cancel!" The Pillar of Earth skill ends a moment early making the obstruction crumble and disappear. The paladin that was airborne falls back down and bashes against the paladin that was pinned against the pillar of earth. Their health drops down from seventy six to fifty six and sixty.
“Ah, I left the necromancer alone for too long and now they are trying to summon more Skull Paladins. Thankfully summoning type skills have a rather long casting time of at least ten seconds.”
Callie switches targets to the necromancer who is in the middle of creating a magic circle in the palm of their hand linked to a magic circle on the ground. “You are now the center of attention, congratulations! Time to put on a show for our audience.”
Callie simultaneously casts two spells at once with the chant, “Combo skill Holy Glory!" Holy Light casts a ray of light that shines on the android necromancer. The light almost appears as though it were stage lighting drawing attention to the actors on a stage while dealing twenty percent damage.
The Morning Glory spell creates a burst of orange and purple colored explosions that mimic the appearance of the sunrise and end as the faint image of flowers. The attack deals twenty percent damage and makes the necromancer stagger, effectively breaking their concentration.
“No way! I broke your stance and made you stagger? I wasn’t even aiming for something like that this time! I was just trying to interrupt you from casting spells! So one of your weak-spots must be the hands that you use to cast spells then, huh? Plus you seem pretty frail as well.”
The robot is forcibly stunned for a moment. Once they recover they cast a different spell. This time a mechanical skull appears in the palm of their hands. They then point at Callie making a purple aura envelope her and deal around sixteen percent of her HP as damage.
“Death’s Call? Sorry but my witch subclass makes me resist dark elemental spells so you are going to have to try harder than that to beat me.”
The paladins that were on the floor a moment ago return to their feet. They charge and lunge at Callie in a relatively quick movement considering their large shields and swords.
Callie is much more agile considering the fact that all of her equipment is very light. She manages to dodge the first lunge attack but the second paladin has already predicted her movements. The second paladin slashes at her with their sword in the middle of her movement and then shield bashes her away with a knock-back type of attack dealing a total of thirty percent damage. Callie has fifty four percent health remaining.
The necromancer seems to have learned from their mistake of attempting to use dark magic against Callie and has switched to using fireballs. However the necromancer is blinded from the effects of Morning Glory and fires their spells randomly in Callie’s general direction. She has no trouble avoiding all of them.
Callie ignores the paladins for the time being. She casts two Morning Glory spells at the necromancer one immediately after another as soon as the spell’s cool down time allows her to. The first hits the necromancer for twenty percent damage but this time the necromancer is immune to the blind effect. The necromancer raises their arm in defense for the second attack and a transparent purple barrier appears around them. The necromancer’s health drops to ten percent.
“Playing safe now and guarding? There goes half my damage.”
One of the paladins roars. The obnoxious noise distracts Callie and gives her a sudden desire to want to attack the paladin but she resists. She can see the second paladin place their hand over the other’s shoulder. She calls out, “Taunt and Comrade in Arms, huh? Trying to raise your defense against all types of attack as well as get my attention. Plus an attack buff that only works on the party members that all use the same class."
“If Taunt is the distraction, then—." Callie redirects her attention to the necromancer who is in the middle of conjuring another fireball.
Callie raises her wand and swipes in defense. She calls, “Guarding now!" A transparent barrier appears around her that reduces the fireballs damage by half meaning that she only takes ten percent of her HP as damage bringing her down to forty four percent HP.
Callie casts another Morning Glory spells that slays the low health necromancer even as they attempt to defend. The skull paladins remain at relatively high health and so Callie casts Holy Light once more to drop their health down to thirty two and thirty six percent of their HP.
The paladins lunge once more. Callie masterfully dodges twice in a row now that she knows what to expect from their attack patterns.
She tosses her wand in the air and quickly opens her menu to swap weapons so that the weapon that drops down is an enchanted single handed dagger. She makes a lunge attack of her own and stabs the last paladin in their back. The attack lands a double damage critical hit for forty percent damage that finishes off the weakened paladin.
The last paladin slashes at Callie bringing her health down to twenty four percent. They relentlessly try to slash again in a flurry but Callie side steps out of the way in time. She retaliates with a quick slash in return.
The paladin tries for another slash and their sword nearly reaches Callie. She is the slightest bit faster and manages to land a risky second slash that slays the final paladin. The paladin and their sword drop down to the ground before they could ever land their attack.
Callie raises her fist in the air to the camera robot recording her the entire time. She is smiling rather gleefully. “Now lets see what kind of items that they dropped for me! It seems I got lucky with the paladins and one of them dropped their rare shield. Too bad that with my character’s build I have no use for heavy items. I will have to sell that later. Now for the moment of truth that you have all been waiting for! What exclusive never before seen items does a robot type mob drop?”
Callie examines the drops. “I seem to be less lucky with the necromancer. They only dropped a few common rarity items but I find these items to be rather interesting.”
“The first is an item called a ‘Metal Gear’ that seems to be used as an upgrade component and building material likely meant to be used on the items acquirable in the region. I imagine this will be a key component for upgrading android class players too once the class is released to the public if my speculations are correct.”
“The next item is a ‘Robot Gauntlet’ with slight resistances to ice and dark elemental damage but slightly weaker against fire and lightning. There is an interesting skill to the gauntlet called ‘Mechanical Movement’ that slightly boosts movement speed and the attack of the user depending on their weight.”
“I wonder how the new skill might affect the current tank meta at higher levels. There certainly are better stats that defensive tanks should prioritize. The new skill might lead to a rise in fighter or bruiser type classes that rely on a mix of attack, defense, and good positioning.”
“Alright, that was it for our first glimpse at the enemies of the region. Now I want to see if the region is truly deserted or if we might be able to find some new friendly NPC (Non-Playable Characters).”
Callie advances further down the path to the collapsed city. There are plenty of undead and robotic versions of monsters lurking around the perimeter. Callie chooses to avoids conflict for the time being as she has low health remaining that is slowly recovering over time.
The city is not designed for human occupation. There is no sight of a farm or source of water incorporated into the infrastructure. There are many bright lights that light the entire region and seem to have survived the test of time despite the fact that the rest of the city is in shambles.
Callie enters a building that has a neon sign advertising itself as a blacksmith. She finds that the swords inside are all rusted beyond use.
There is somebody that seems to be asleep at the counter. They seem to be a pretty simple robot made in the form of a humanoid with a base metal body.
“Hello! You are supposed to be selling weapons here right? Can you tell me what’s up with all the rust and decay?”
Callie tries to nudge them but they do not move at all. Callie examines their body and runs her fingers along their neck as if habitually checking for a pulse when she notices that there is a very thin slit by their neck. A kind of slit that was likely the result of the machinery that created their body in the first place. There are more of these slits on random parts of their bodies including their chest.
Callie searches around the shop until she comes across a rusty lock pick. She carefully places the lock pick into the thin slit and tries to force open the robot’s chest compartment. The lock pick snaps when she tries to apply any amount of force against the fragile item.
“I don’t have the kind of dexterity to open this easily and since they look as though they are destroyed anyways—.” Callie finds a metal stake and hammer. She uses them to forcibly make a hole into the robot’s chest by the location of the slit. She then uses the hammer to pry open the chest compartment.
There is a blue mana core inside similar to the weak spot on the golem that she hunted earlier. This mana core does not shine at all and seems to have lost all power it once stored.
Callie checks her skill page. “Damn, I never invested into electric elemental skills. The only one I have is super weak and might not work." She equips her wand and creates a little tiny zap of electricity that she uses to zap the gem. The gem seems to respond positively and flickers a blue color for a moment before loosing power once again. Callie ramps up her electricity magic to a slightly stronger stream that seems to make some of the futuristic components start to react by turning and lighting up.
“One of the gears inside seems to be stuck in place and does not turn even though it seems as though it is supposed to.” Callie checks her inventory and retrieves the ‘Metal Gear’ item from her inventory that seems to spawn as a group of three small metal gears. Callie finds a wrench and replaces the obvious gear but has no idea what to do with the other two gears.
“Alright chat. Sorry for neglecting you but I need to ask if any of you are mechanic class players. I have these two extra pieces but where am I supposed to put them? Holy shit! Three thousand viewers?! That’s—that’s—. I have never gotten so many viewers before! The best I have ever done was maybe a thousand but I was fired as a commentator for not bringing in the crowd!”
Callie’s heart starts to beat faster and faster with excitement. She receives a reply in chat and listens to the advice. She replaces the gears as advised but her hands are unsteady and shaking the entire time.
Suddenly she hears an awful robotic screeching. Callie falls flat on her ass terrified by the sound and screams back. The robot in turn screams once more which makes Callie scream a final time.
The robot asks, “Where am I? What did you do to me?"
Callie replies, “Hey, I didn’t do anything to you! I was hoping that you might be able to answer questions for me! Not the other way around! Starting with why is your city in such a sad state?"
“What do you mean a sad state? The city is glorious! There is no place in the world as advanced as the city of steel! We are pioneers in the field of technology and the art of crafting weaponry!”
The robot seems to notice the tools in Callie’s hands. Then they notice that they have a hole in their chest compartment. “Security bots, help me! I have been assaulted!”
They leap over the shop counter and rush out into the city streets in a desperate effort to escape. They frantically turn left and right once they see that Callie was not lying about a thing.
Callie catches up. “I am sorry for the rude awakening but I wasn’t sure of what else to do. Please forgive my crude repair methods. I was hoping that if I could activate you, then you might know what to do next. Do you remember your name or anything?”
The robot touches their head as though they were feeling a headache. “I am the one who should apologize. You made the correct choice given the limited information available to you. I am afraid my memory has been corrupted somehow.”
“I can remember that my serial number was A-H-I-T-A-38907638442. I cannot recall a thing about the state of the city, but I can recall the proper procedure for what to do next. We must repair the maintenance bots of the city located at any factory within the city. They will work tirelessly to restore the city to its former glory. Follow me to the nearest factory.”
Overwhelming amounts of numbers and letters start to run around in Callie’s mind. She thought to herself, “There is no way I can be expected to remember that!”
She replies, “Nice to meet you. I think I will call you my ‘pal’ if you don’t mind. No special reason. I think we are already close enough."
The two enter a factory. There are inactive production lines that seem to have been in the middle of producing gears and various metal parts.
The android gathers some rusted pieces. A red laser appears out of their finger that they use to carve and salvage as much of the metal as possible. They craft a bunch of metal gears that will come in handy when repairing the maintenance bots.
They walk through a number of rooms until they come across someone stored in the middle of a large glass tube filled with some sort of transparent green goo.
Callie runs and presses her face against the glass.
The person in question has her eyes closed shut. They are wearing an outfit that appears to be a purple cross between a work uniform and a dress. She has tall purple boots that compliment the dress. She has short and neat green hair that seems to be almost perfectly symmetrical. The kind of percent symmetry that a person might expect from robotic engineering. Upon closer inspection Callie notices that the person in question has thin slits around their face similar to her robot pal, Ahita.
Callie turns to her Ahita. She states, “They look so human!"
Ahita replies, “Of course they do. They are a model designed to appear humanoid after all."
Callie returns her attention to the test tube. Callie gasps out of fright and falls down to the floor.
The green haired person now has her face pressed against the glass. Her purple eyes stare right back at Callie in a rather frightening neutral expression. Her unreadable expression quickly changes into a smile.
She knocks on the glass. She tries to say something but the sound is muffled by all the green gel inside. She grabs a hold of an emergency handle from the inside of the container that opens the test tube, but unfortunately all the slime washes over Callie like a tidal wave.
The person inside rides the wave like a majestic mermaid and then they crash like a majestic mermaid against Callie on the floor. Both of them take some damage from the impact. She is once again staring directly into Callie’s eyes but this time there is no protective barrier standing between them. She also tales the liberty of hugging Callie.
“Hello! My serial number is L-A-D-Y-Z-I-N-N-I-A! It is very nice to meet you! What is yours?”
Callie parts some of her hair from her eyes. She replies, “I feel like a dog with shaggy hair thanks to all this goo in my hair. Why does it taste like nickel and motor oil?"
Zinnia replies, “Because It is nickel and motor oil! Well, a small percentage of the mixture is anyway."
Callie replies, “My name is… I notice that you are bad with social cues. Can you please get off of me Lady Zinnia before we continue this conversation?"
Zinnia nods very vigorously for no apparent reason. “As delighted as I am to see somebody new in the factory, I am obligated to ask for security reasons. Do you two have permission to be in the factory? You are not here to cause any trouble are you?”
“Technically no but what happened was…. So what were you doing in that test tube anyways?”
Zinnia replies, “I was doing my job. I was in the middle of testing the experimental properties of the gel. We were supposed to create a new mixture of gel that might make running external diagnostics even more easier than before!"
Callie asks, “Do you remember anything? Why are you in perfect shape when my other pal over here needed to be repaired?"
Zinnia dramatically poses. She explains, “I am a self sufficient model capable of generating my own electricity from the mana in the atmosphere. Sadly even I am not immune to data corruption. I have no recollection of how long I was asleep for, nor why I entered sleep mode in the first place. I can check to see if the scan ever completed from my office. Okay, I lied. It is not really my office. It is my boss’ office. Maybe we can see what went wrong from the results of my examination if the gel experiment was successful."
The two leave a trail of goo and create a loud squelching sound with every step they take.
The equipment in the office is in no shape to be used or repaired. Some of the ceiling has collapsed and crushed most of the stuff in the room. Zinnia starts digging through the rubble to see if there might be anything salvageable. She uncovers a hardy treasure chest that seems to be intact despite being covered in rubble.
“Since we are already here there is something that I wish to gift to you as a small token of thanks for helping us reboot the city. I have some rare material that was supposed to be used as part of a client’s request to craft a weapon. The client probably, you know, died of old age by now. With the help of our blacksmith friend, maybe we can create some new gear for you once the city is in decent shape.”
Callie opens the chest to find a solid ingot of some sort of solid purple material. The item description displays the material’s name as ‘Segment of the Centipede of Greed’.
There are numerous interesting details about the item. The rarity of the item is epic in a game where items are considered on a line from worst to best as: common, uncommon, rare, epic, legendary, and unique. The item claims to be class specific material related to a class called ‘Disciple of Greed’. Merely having the item in a player’s possession seems to grant a mild amount of hostility from NPC with the ‘holy’ attribute.
“Where did this come from? This item seems to emit a dark elemental aura. I mean, I am not complaining because this matches well with my subclass as a witch. Holy elemental people already kind of hate me. Still, this item is still a seriously weird item. It grants more hostility against me than my subclass does.”
Zinnia states, “It is valuable material that drops from the centipedes that sometimes attack the city. These centipedes are also monsters that are difficult to encounter which only adds to the value of the ingot."
Callie replies, “I gratefully accept this gift! Thank you very much!"
Callie spends the next hour or two assisting with the activation of more maintenance bots before she realizes she has been playing until five in the morning. She says her farewells for the day and assures that she will let the people from the world above know about the situation in Steel city.
The following day when Callie has a chance to log in, she sees that a global quest has begun for players to collect metal gear drops from robotic monsters in the area. The quest seems to ask for a collective total of a few million gears split between all of the players that will restore the city. The city seems to have reached a milestone in the path to restoration and a few basic facilities such as shops, inns, and an adventurer’s guild are now accessible.
The quest grant a reward of choice between a bunch of different sets of armor and weapons depending on the player’s contribution. Callie sighs. “New region exclusive gear but at what cost? Slaying the same few enemies a hundred times over? I will pass this time.”
There is an update notice that advertises the option for players to create a new robot race type of character just as Callie had expected. There are already people uploading videos about the features of the new race. There are already guides on how to make the best builds uploaded by players that have reached ridiculously high levels with the race on day one.
Callie smirks. “So there are no updates about anybody collecting any ingots like the one I was awarded for helping to restart the city, nor any updates about any new discovered classes. I might be in luck.”
Callie enters the blacksmith shop that she had discovered the day before. She finds Zinnia and Ahita are casually conversing inside. There are a handful of more robots in the middle of forging weapons. Ahita has already repaired the damage that Callie has inflicted on their chest. Ahita also has some basic weapons and gear on display instead of yesterday’s rusted items.
Callie states, “Awesome, pal. Your shop is back in business."
Ahita replies, “Yes, although the queen and king of the city have mandated that all spare manpower is to be redirected into the effort to repair the city. I am only allowed to create general equipment for the time being, repair existing gears, and I must deny all time consuming custom requests. All except for one. We were allowed to proceed with your request of crafting a wand. I dare say the results of our work is of exceptional quality."
Callie is presented with a small box lined with red velvet. The wand inside is a nice purple color and of simple and sleek design. The name of the weapon is ‘Wand of Greed’ and the rarity of the weapon is epic. The weapon shares the same level as Callie’s character does which already makes the weapon better than the rare quality wand she currently has equipped. Her magical attack stat rises by a respectable amount of a hundred points. This particular wand is not one of the options presented to players for assisting in the gear collection quest either.
There is one condition a player must meet in order to equip the wand. The player must have a class or subclass with an affinity for the darkness element. A requirement that Callie’s subclass of a witch fulfills. Callie is presented with an option that asks if she would like to change her main class as a mage or subclass into a new class called ‘Disciple of Greed’.
Callie’s heart races. She cannot help but squeal. She smirks as she eagerly moves her finger to the accept option and replaces her subclass of witch into disciple. Her reputation drops by fifty points against NPC of the light attribute and rises by fifty points against NPC of the dark attribute.
The phantom outline of a grotesque purple hand gently grabs a hold of Callie’s shoulder. The phantom and faint image of a sinister smiling face with brown eyes of infinite depth and toothy grin appears behind Callie. The mysterious apparition goes unnoticed by everybody in the room and disappears just as quickly as it appeared.
Callie states, “This is the best wand I have ever managed to get a hold of! Thank you very much! I promise I will put the wand to good use!"
Zinnia replies, “I am happy to hear! There is something else that I want to talk to you about. I told my mother about you and now she wishes to meet you. Could you accompany me to see her? It would make her very happy!"
Callie asks, “You have a mom?"
“Of course I do. Don’t be silly.”
Callie is led to an imposing building. Despite the structure’s terrible state, Callie can understand that the building holds some kind of significant meaning based on the architecture resembling some sort of castle. A number of guards order Callie to halt along the way so that they may inquire about the nature of her businesses.
Callie states, “You didn’t tell me you were a noble!"
“I did introduce myself as Lady Zinnia, did I not? I apologize if my introduction provided insufficient data. I am a noble lady.”
Callie asks, “What kind of noble lady works in a factory?"
“I was programmed to be curious about the world around me. I cannot help it if I want to go to places that should be off limits for me.”
Callie is brought into what remains of a throne room. She starts to sweat bullets. “Not just a noble lady but a princess as well?”
Zinnia playfully sticks her tongue out and pretends to be coy. “Tee-hee. It really is not that big of a deal. What am I even the princess of anymore? A glorious pile of rubble?”
Callie worries, “She is not going to freak out about my dark elemental aura right? I swear I am a good person just that my class does that sometimes."
The conversation is cut short as Callie reaches the end of the room. She bows before the queen.
“It is a pleasure to meet you, your majesty. My name is Callie Graph Reed. I am an adventurer from the world above.”
The queen replies, “I have heard much about you from my daughter. As the queen I am thankful that you have restored my city from the brink of destruction. We would have remained buried alive until the end of time if you were not brave enough to venture into the unknown. I shall grant you the status of nobility within the kingdom of Steel and I shall gift to you a home within the city."
Callie cannot exactly consider owning property here as a prized catch considering how none of the homes are intact. “I am grateful but I already have a home in the city of Marigold. I do not think I could ever consider moving. There are too many fond memories there.”
The queen replies, “Then consider the home as a place to stay when you happen to visit the city."
Callie can see that her reputation stat has increased by a hundred within the city. Her reputation has also increased by ten globally across the virtual world of ROW meaning that there is a higher chance NPC will know about her and seek her out for various reasons.
She can also see that her reputation with the queen herself rises by a hundred and then instantly decreases by a hundred back to neutral. She has a heart attack at such a drastic rise and then drop. She wonders, “Did I mess up by saying that? I thought I was being as polite as possible!"
The queen changes topics at the flip of a dime. “As a mother I must complain! How dare you take my youngest daughter from me? She is much too young to be married! Oh, woe is me!”
Zinnia calmly states, “That is incorrect for a number of reasons. First of all, I have no understanding of the concept of love and as such have no interest in marriage. Second of all, I lack the necessary reproductive organs that makes experiencing love or romance possible. Third of all, I am much older than Callie as well."
The queen bawls her eyes out. “My baby daughter! It feels like it was just yesterday when you came crawling out of the robot production factory!”
Callie asks, “Noble Lady Zinnia, could you please explain this nonsense is about me stealing you away?"
“Ta-da! A pleasant surprise! I have decided to become your companion and explore the world of the present era!”
The queen practically flails her body left and right out of panic and motherly concern. “You have never left the kingdom of Steel before! What if you come across monsters and bandits that demand a ransom? The world is a dangerous place! Much to dangerous for a princess without her royal guards! The mere thought of my precious daughter venturing into the world alone frightens me!”
Zinnia states, “There are likely only a few people, if any, that are aware about my status as a noble. There may be none at all. Callie herself did not know the city existed. She only stumbled across the city by mistake when the floor collapsed beneath her. Plus I am strong enough to be able to defend myself should the need arise."
Zinnia flexes her arms as though she were showing off bulky muscles. Muscles that she does not have on account of her robot body.
Callie seems to have to fight to re-enter the conversation. “Wait-wait a moment! It is not like this is decided already. You should listen to your mom! I do not exactly have the habit of traveling with companions, you know? I haven’t traveled with a companion for so long! I traveled here solo!”
Zinnia’s mouth drops open. She seems stunned. She was not expecting an even slight possibility that Callie might refuse the request. She grabs a hold of Callie’s hands and stares into her eyes once again with teary eyes like that of a puppy.
She urges, “Please? I have spent most of my life within the confines of the city. Can you imagine what it is like to spend your entire life trapped within stone walls?"
Callie practically has flashbacks about the prison that is her apartment complex. She starts to remember how happy she felt when she first met her online friends. They somehow managed to make even living in such a horrendous place somewhat bearable. She forces herself to represses any further thought about such unpleasant topics.
She sighs. “Sadly I know the feeling all too well. I guess I just can’t say no to you after all. I will accept you as my companion.”
Much to the queen’s dismay, the duo form a party then and there. The queen is chewing a hole through her own dress.
Callie and Zinnia return to the city streets. Callie asks, “So now that we have met your mother, should we return to help the city rebuild?"
Zinnia states, “The loss of one or two workers will not make a massive difference in terms of rebuilding. The maintenance bots and the sudden rush of friendly adventurers should be sufficient for the time being.”
“We have more important matters to attend to. I wish to visit the nearest kingdom and see if I might be able to negotiate with merchants or nobles for a stable income of materials that are not commonly found in the kingdom of Steel."
Callie states, “More important my glass mirror. You are happy that you have an excuse to go sightseeing."
Zinnia turns away as if she were caught red handed.
Callie confesses, “I do not mind it. If I am being honest I wouldn’t want to spend all day collecting gears either. It is that kind of repetitive nature of quests that made me stop advancing in terms of leveling up. The last time that I hit a rut where I needed to advance in levels for something made me quit adventuring for a very long time."
Zinnia asks, “Would it make you happier if you went around discovering new areas and monsters instead?"
“Yeah! If only I could discover new areas all the time and have hundreds of thousands of viewers all watching my live stream. That would be the dream.”
“A live what?”
Callie takes a moment to check Zinnia’s stats. Zinnia is level fifty. All of her equipment is comprised of common quality items that matches her level which is the default for acquiring an NPC companion in the world of ROW. Her equipment makes a matching set with the added enchantment of the ‘Mechanical Movement’ skill set at a low and almost useless level.
In comparison all of Callie’s equipment is only uncommon in terms of quality except for her newly acquired wand.
Zinnia’s main class is a ‘Tank’ which prioritizes overall defense, physical attack, and redirecting an enemies attention. Her subclass is “Disciple of Greed’ which prioritizes magical attack and defense, as well as abilities that provide some rather strong control effects like stunning a target.
“Having a partner that is a tank might be pretty helpful. I have low defense and normally have to rely on the jack of all trades assortment of spells that my main class as a Mage provides. The elemental advantages really helps against enemies when I am playing solo.”
“I notice that you the same subclass as me! What are the odds? Maybe you can teach me about it sometime? I have only very recently acquired the class.”
“Of course! I will show you all the best skills the class has to offer starting with the staple skill called the ‘Hand of Greed’. An ambidextrous skill with various uses that can...”
The two begin their trek through the caverns and through a forest to the nearby city of Marigold.
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