Chapter 79: The Open Skies
On the lower level of the ship was a large dining hall complete with an extended rectangular table, fit with a long strip of purple table cloth in the center. On it was set numerous plates and bowls of fruits, vegetables, and a variety of cooked meals all prepared to be eaten by those sitting at the table. As Gregory wandered around and politely refilled the wine glasses of those seated, everyone else aboard the Sky Darling was happily enjoying the luxurious meal with Quinn and Captain Leonard sitting at opposing heads of the table.
“We blasted that darn thing with everything we had. Enchanted arrows, charged up spells, the whole lot of it...” Herilon said with a chuckle as he put his elbow on the table, a drumstick waving around in his hand. “Trexon over here-” He motioned the drumstick in his direction. “Said the scales on that dragon were harder than Mithral, and magic resistant, so there’s no way we’re winning the fight. Sapphire-” Herilon pointed at her. “Our cleric and strongest healer, tells us the healers can’t keep up with the damage the darn thing is dishing out. It all looks pretty lost, we’re all expecting Quinn to call the retreat, but then…” Herilon held back a chuckle as he leaned back in his chair.
“Then, Quinn looks at me and she says... She says… Herilon. Jump in its mouth.” Herilon said while Clara reacted with shock and confusion, Ren looked on excitedly and Captain Leonard took a sip of wine. Quinn just rolled her eyes.
“Jump in its mouth, for god sakes why’d she tell ye’ to do that?” Tullan asked, surprised.
“I told her, I said that’s suicide, that thing’s acid breath is already almost killing our tanks in one hit and they're outside it's mouth. She said, ‘You're a berserker aren’t you? Go in there and fuck shit up’.” He started laughing, and Tullan, Ren and Leonard all joined in but Clara and Aegis both looked equally confused.
“I don’t understand, surely jumping into the mouth of an Acid Dragon would be too dangerous?” Clara asked worriedly.
“Nah, nah.” Herilon took a bite of his meat. “Us berserkers, we’ve got a skill called Undying Will. It means that once we hit 1 health point, if we activate it, we can’t be killed for 1 minute. Of course, any damage taken will extend our lock out time, and once the one minute is up we’re goners.” Herilon shrugged.
“That still sounds reckless, even for you other-worlders.” Clara said with concern.
“Nah, it was nothing. So I pulled out my greatsword, jumped in the things mouth and went to town. Let me tell you, there weren’t any scales on the inside but god did it smell awful.” Herilon laughed as Sapphire, Quinn and Tullan laughed along with him.
“So, what happened after that?” Ren asked eagerly.
“I killed the damn thing inside out, I did so much damage in that one minute that the thing keeled over from just my blade. Turns out all that armor was compensating for low health. But in that minute I took so much damage that my forced log out time was extended for two whole days in the real world.”
“Sheesh.” Leonard rolled his eyes, while the others all laughed.
“Just how much damage was it that you took?” Aegis asked curiously.
“Something in the 100’s of millions.” Herilon laughed, nearly spitting his food out as Leonard had to hold in his wine - they were all clearly intoxicated save for Aegis, Ren and Clara who were not allowed or interested in drinking any of the wine. Clara was shaking her head with disapproval but had a light smirk forming on the side of her mouth.
“I wanted to ask you a question, Sapphire…” Aegis turned to her once the laughter settled down. She was in the midst of slurping a spoon of carrot soup, but lowered her spoon to look at him expectantly. “You were using magic by snapping your fingers. Is it possible to cast magic without any motion at all?”
“Hehe, no, silly.” She replied as she and the other Night Hunters smiled from hearing the question. “Do you want to take this one Trexon?” She turned and he gave a nod.
“You’ve finished the Intermediate Enchanting quest recently, no doubt.” Trexon replied as he put down his fork and snapped his finger, causing the staff on his back to glow with a bright Lumina spell. “It’s simple really, when your brain tries to send a signal to your hand to move it, the Simbox intercepts it and sends that signal to your virtual character instead, right?” Trexon asked and Aegis nodded along.
“Well, we don’t have a ‘magic’ muscle, so when we try to send a signal to our ‘mana’, it’s essentially being sent nowhere. It’s impossible. The Shattered World magic works by piggybacking off of two muscle signals, and only two. Signals sent to your hands, and vocals. If you are focused on casting magic when you use certain impactful hand signals, it’s possible to trigger a spell cast, but for new players it's easier to use your voice. In some situations you cannot use your hands, so both have their pros and cons.” Trexon finished.
“For example.” Quinn chimed in. “It’s a bit hard for someone like me, A Ranger, to use hand gestures to cast spells while I’m holding a bow and arrow in my hands.” Quinn shrugged.
“I see, thanks for explaining.” Aegis gave a polite nod to them.
“Hey Clara, want to see more of my Beastshapes?” Ren turned to her excitedly.
“Uhm… sure, I suppose.” She smiled politely before turning to look at Aegis for permission. Aegis was taken aback by this but gave her an approving nod.
“Great, come on, let's go on deck!” Ren grabbed her arm and started leading her out of the hall.
“Nothing big.” Quinn called after him as the two left the room. Leonard watched as she left before turning to Aegis.
“Are you perhaps planning on, you know, making her ‘Elite’?” Leonard winked mischievously at him.
“Making her ‘Elite’?” Aegis replied confused, looking to the others to see a few eye rolls.
“You know, getting to know Priestess Clara on an intimate level.” He wiggled his eyebrows suggestively.
“Knock it off, he’s just a kid.” Quinn interjected.
“What? It’s in his best interest. If he’s having to escort her across the world, it wouldn’t hurt to make her stronger.”
“Elite NPCs aren’t stronger, just smarter.” Trexon corrected him.
“Elite NPCs are able to think for themselves, right? Like real people? I’ve seen a few now, in Kordas and in dungeons, but how do you make an NPC elite?” Aegis asked, confused, not touching his food anymore and instead interested in the conversation.
“I know of only one way. The same way I turned my wives and husband Elite. With passionate, sensual love.” Captain Leonard licked his lips seductively.
“Is… that the only way?” Aegis asked awkwardly while avoiding eye contact with Leonard and instead looking at Trexon.
“It’s sadly the only known way. Players have fallen in love and married NPCs over the last few months since the game was released, and over time most of those married NPCs become Elite. It’s not the only case of NPCs becoming elite, but it almost seems to happen randomly, no one actually knows what triggers it.” Trexon replied.
“Don’t try convincing them that they’re characters in a gameworld, though, that never ends well.” Herilon chimed in, sounding as though speaking from experience.
“What happens?” Aegis asked.
“They’ll think you’re delusional.” Herilon shrugged.
“Like we see elves and expect long ears, they see us as ‘other-worlders’ and expect that we sometimes disappear and reappear, and believe that we’re going to a dream world. Their AI is hardcoded to not be convinced otherwise, so, despite numerous players trying to ‘break’ the AI, they’ll just start avoiding you and think you’re crazy. Even the Elite NPCs.” Trexon explained.
“Do you suppose there is a specific thing you need to do to make an NPC elite?” Aegis asked him.
“Probably, and it certainly has something related to romancing them, but exactly what, I can't say. You’re welcome to experiment, but I’d recommend against it with a Priestess of Eirene.” Trexon replied.
“Oh pish posh, you’re no fun Trexon. The Priestesses are the best ones to experiment with.” Captain Leonard grinned mischievously.
“Might not be a bad idea.” Sapphire shrugged, to which Quinn, Tullan and Trexon gave her judgemental looks. “What? It’s a three part quest, two involved her. The third one’s probably going to involve her too, and I doubt it’s going to be as easy as the first two.” Sapphire explained herself.
“Right…” Aegis looked down at the table, fidgeting with the ring on his finger. He had no intention of trying to ‘woo’ Priestess Clara, but his mind ran over the concept. From his experience thus far, non-Elite NPCs still had strong personality traits, such as Farlion caring about his family, acting against his guard job in order to protect his wife. Clara had done the same, she gave out quests to heal the people of Rene, but it was as if it was her own will to do it. It wasn’t as if the NPCs acted like emotionless robots from the beginning, but they didn’t take much action on their own, unless instructed to do so.
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Comparing that to the four NPCs Aegis had encountered during the Leadership test, they did whatever they wanted regardless of what players asked or told them to do. It was as if the difference between Elite and non-Elite was free will… so what would trigger that change? As Aegis pondered this, one by one the others at the table stepped away for the evening, until it was just Aegis left.
Aegis stood from the table to head out onto the deck looking for Priestess Clara and Ren, but he saw neither when he reached the top of the stairs, only Quinn sitting at the front of the ship as it sailed under the dark starry night skies. Quinn spotted him and gestured behind him up to the upper level of the deck near the helm. Aegis followed her gesture to see Clara sitting on the banister of the upper levels of the ship, staring up at the skies while kicking her legs back and forth.
“Is everything okay?” Aegis asked her as he climbed the stairs to the upper level.
“Oh yes, I was just enjoying the view. It’s so easy to see the stars when you're out above the Abyss. Beautiful, isn’t it?” Clara motioned up at the night sky dreamily. “Should we rest for the evening?” She asked. Aegis got the feeling that she would follow whatever instruction he gave, given that he was escorting her for the quest.
“What would you like to do?” Aegis tried asking.
“Oh.” She looked slightly surprised. “I wouldn’t mind enjoying the view a bit longer.” She smiled.
“Sure, okay.” Aegis nodded as he moved to sit on the banister beside her.
“Do you see that star, up there?” She pointed at a bright glowing star that stood out amongst the rest.
“I see it.” Aegis nodded.
“Curiously, it shares a name with you. That star is called the Aegis of Eirene.” Clara smiled. Aegis knew it wasn’t a coincidence, that’s what he’d named himself after, so tried to laugh it off.
“Wow, what a coincidence.” Aegis forced out awkwardly.
“It’s as if you were destined for this journey.” She smiled at him.
“Right…” Aegis played along with a nod.
“Many of the gods and goddesses shine their light on our world, but Eirene is one of the few whose light always shines, even when the sun is gone and you find yourself in the dark. It feels as though she’ll never abandon you, doesn’t it?” Clara asked him excitedly.
“Yeah, I guess it does.” Aegis smiled back. It went awkwardly silent after that, he couldn’t think of anything to say that might trigger some sort of reaction.
“I suppose that is enough Stargazing for the evening. I am ready to settle in for the evening whenever you are.” She smiled at him expectantly. Aegis got the same feeling again, that she’d follow whatever instruction he gave next.
“Sure, feel free to do what you’d like, I’ll stay a bit longer.” Aegis tried answering, curious to how she’d react.
“Oh, okay. Very well. Have a nice evening.” She replied before hopping off the banister and heading below deck. Once he could no longer hear her footsteps he let out a sigh of frustration.
“If it were that easy, every NPC would be elite.” Quinn called out to him mockingly. Aegis shook it off while letting out a yawn, staring down at the deck of the ship from the banister on the upper level. From this viewpoint he saw clearly the large stone circle built in the middle of the deck between the upper levels and the mast, and in the stone was a circle of magic runes engraved into it. Each engraved symbol was giving off a very faint purple glow that Aegis hadn't noticed during the day.
"Is that magic circle important to the Airship flying?" Aegis asked Quinn curiously. Quinn looked at Aegis to follow his eyes to see what he was talking about.
"That? No, that's a portal stone. Trexon enchanted it to lead back to our Guildhall in Kordas, in-case of emergency. Only a level one hundred plus Sage like him can open it over such a long distance though, and it's exit only. It was a bit expensive to set up for a one-time use enchantment, but Captain Leonard paid for it, so..." Quinn shrugged, and as she explained, something popped into his head he hadn’t thought of before.
“What would happen if I logged out on an Airship? Would I be back in Kordas when I logged back in?” Aegis asked her as he hopped down from the banister.
“Nope.” She shrugged. “Just like any vehicle, if you log out on it, you’ll log back in on it, assuming it doesn’t get destroyed of course.” Quinn replied.
“Ok… is it okay if I log out for a bit?” Aegis asked.
“I think we’ll survive without the brave level 30 priest to protect us.” She mocked him.
“Great… be back in a bit.” Aegis began the log out process and climbed out of his Simbox.
Looking over he saw that his mother Jillian was still sitting in her Simbox, it was morning in the real world, but Aegis had long since abandoned a regular sleeping schedule. He checked to make sure he hadn’t any messages from Shinji in regards to the stream before starting a quick workout and hopping in the shower, all the while pondering about the system behind the games AI and how he might activate Elite for not just Clara, but Farlion, and others as well. He came up with a few possible methods but all seemed equally as far fetched as the next. After eating breakfast and brushing teeth he walked up to his mother’s Simbox to press the Simbox communicator.
“Hey Mom, how’s it going?” Aegis asked her.
“This intermediate quest is bullshit!” She shouted at him, her voice furious which caught him completely off guard.
“Is it really that tough?”
“Nothing I can’t handle. Do you need something?” She replied impatiently.
“No… nope, just checking in.”
“I’m fine, gotta focus.” She replied hastily. Aegis ended the communications and couldn’t help but laugh at how serious she’d sounded, but it ended quickly when he realized it’d be his turn soon. He looked at his Simbox and hesitated climbing back in. He wanted to sleep, but the thought of sleeping with all those people watching him made him uncomfortable, opting instead to crash on the couch for the evening.
The first real sleep he’d had outside of the Simbox was something his body craved, and as a result he remained passed out for a solid 16 hours before he was woken up by Jillian nudging him.
“Hey, you okay?” She asked him as she looked over his groggy eyes. Aegis saw water dripping from her wet hair as though she’d just come out of the shower.
“Huh? Yup. How long was I out?” Aegis asked as he sat up and rubbed his eyes.
“Dunno. Didn’t want to use dreamstate?” Jillian asked as she headed to the kitchen and started preparing food.
“No… I don’t like the idea of people watching me sleep in dreamstate.” Eli shrugged.
“I don’t think that’s what’d happen. Shinji would probably use editing magic and play advertisements or whatever they do nowadays.” Jillian replied. “Congratulations on that world Notification, by the way. How many viewers are you at, lil super star?” She asked as he turned the corridor to watch her preparing food in the Kitchen with a yawn.
“I turned off the viewer numbers, it was too distracting.” Eli shrugged. “Do you really think people want to watch someone who just plays the game, without talking to the viewers? Like, you know, other people typically do.” Eli didn’t want to say his name.
“I think so. I saw a Shattered World Streamer who had a lot of viewers who just farmed and cooked all day. There’s an audience for everything nowadays.” She replied while patting him on the shoulder. “From what I know about my son, all you have to do is be yourself and people will want to watch you.” She gave him a reassuring smile.
“Do you think… I mean, are you worried that I’ll…” Eli asked hesitantly.
“Eli, the first thing you did was get me a Simbox and pay for a month-long vacation for me. The only thing your father ever gave me that was worthwhile was you. Don’t you worry about that one second, and just have some fun.” She ruffled his hair. Aegis smiled back and joined in helping her cooking, eating together before the two prepared to enter their Simboxes once more.
When Aegis logged back in it was the middle of the day, the Airship still sailing through the open skies above the dark misty Abyss. Sapphire was sitting on the front of the ship at this time, while Leonard was at the helm steering.
“I’m back!” Aegis announced.
“Ooh, welcome back. Still two days left ‘til Kriene though.” Sapphire replied.
“Did I miss anything?” Aegis asked.
“Not a thing, darling.” Leonard replied.
“Right, gonna go check on Clara.” Aegis nodded and Leonard gave him a wink. Aegis found Priestess Clara in their shared room, kneeling beside the bed and clutching an amulet in prayer to Eirene. Aegis took a seat on the opposite bed and waited for her to finish.
“Ah, you’ve returned, welcome back.” Priestess Clara replied politely as she got up to sit on her bed and face him.
“So, you mentioned you trained at the Monastery of the Stars, in Arallia. What can you tell me about it?” Aegis asked her.
“It’s a beautiful place, built on the peak of the mountain of which Arallia’s capital is built, within the Oasis.” Clara explained.
“Oasis?” Aegis asked curiously.
“Oh yes, Kriene is a vast island but it is predominantly desert. At the very center of the desert is the great Arallian Oasis, said to be brought into existence thousands of years ago by a great Elemental of Water. The Oasis was formed around a singular mountain, and the city Arallia, the capital, was built around that mountain.” Clara explained excitedly.
“And the Monastery of the Stars, that is at the top of the mountain?” Aegis asked.
“Yes, at the highest point. It is said that it is the closest you can get to the stars in the entire world.” Clara nodded. “It is quite a sight to behold, I look forward to showing it to you.” She said.
“So… What sort of training do you do? At the monastery?” Aegis asked.
“We are taught the importance of resolving conflict without violence. But I’m sure you know all about that.” She smiled at him politely.
“Right…” Aegis replied. Still disappointed he was only getting NPC-like responses, he had to let out a frustrated sigh.
“What about your friends and family? You mentioned you had left some behind in Arallia, right?” Aegis asked her, and for the first time she reacted oddly - her face blushed and she broke eye contact.
“Yes, that’s true.” She said shyly.
“Is there someone in particular that you are looking forward to seeing again?” Aegis prodded the topic and watched her reaction carefully.
“W-well, perhaps, But it is unlikely we will meet them on our way to the monastery.” She shrugged.
“We could take a short detour, if you’d like, I wouldn’t mind.” Aegis suggested.
“Oh, no, I wouldn’t want to trouble you. I have a duty to fulfill, we must get you to see the Great Prophet as soon as possible.” Clara replied nervously.
“It’s fine if we visit just one person. They’re in the city, right?” Aegis asked.
“Y-yes, I think so.” She looked and sounded like Lina did whenever Lina got embarrassed.
“Then it’s settled, we’ll visit this person before going to the monastery.” Aegis insisted.
“O-okay, thank you, Aegis. You truly are the Star of Eirene.” She smiled.