The Gamers: The Arcadia Games- Round 1

Status
Not open for further replies.
It was impressive. Impressive but lonely.

The battlefield that stood before them was one of many raised platforms and multiple monsters guarding it, as the king of the hill stood by himself, not an ally in sight. What happened to the other members of Team Snake? Surely not all of them went off to East Station, right?

Did they also leave? Or were they slain by other teams? Regardless, a strange sort of sympathy was rising up within Tian-Gui. A sympathy that was crushed just as quickly by the understanding that this individual essentially had no intention on caring about the 'aftermath' of this encounter. He had crippled himself, essentially, and now? Even if he chased Team Justice off, what was he going to do? The Snakes, if the top tiers of Peacock and Rei performed well, were essentially wiped out.

This individual, too, then, was a suicide bomber, and the blue-eyed titan felt that flame burst within the center of his chest once more. Artisia spoke up, her personal anger spewing out, but, in contrast to her, Tian-Gui could only feel a detached, cold anger.

Perhaps it was due to the Gamer's Mind. Perhaps it was because the flame now was blue, hotter before, yet cooler in coloration.

"Alex, Mana Thread Shouko's Bombs together so they can be thrown all at once. We'll knock him off the platform with that. Colt, can you lock down the Guardian for ten to fifteen seconds? I'll stay with Shouko and Alex and shield them from the arrows while they go up against the Gremlins. Artisia, Xenon, you two head up. I'll trust one of you with the bombs. Throw it at the archer when you get into optimal range. Ignore the Gremlin Archers and cover each other."

The platforms were strong, but they also meant that the archer had a limited amount of space to maneuver.

"We'll use the bombs to knock him off his platform. Alex, when that happens, drop your Fire Elemental onto the Orc Shaman and have it cover Colt so that he can go for the Ranger. Our mission is to take down the Snake Ranger first. After that, we can freely escape, regenerate, and take our time mopping up the monsters."
 
The Ranger just listens to Artisia's words as Tian-Gui lays his strategy to the others while Artisia slings her insults at him. Despite the Gamers all being in range for any Arrows though, none fire. The man is just wearing the basic tunic and cloth pants that everyone started with when they entered these games.

The man just puts his hand over his eyes and just suddenly begins to laugh, wiping a tear from his eye. Thankfully it seems that the taunt plan is... working? It certainly is giving Tian enough time to prepare his strategy.

"No, that would be the damn Peacocks. And I guess you guys as well. After all, without your skills as Gamers... without your powers in this game you guys are nothing. You guys are just big kids in the sandbox, pushing around those smaller than you without realizing that outside of all of this, in the real world, all of your "Power" is useless." He just just gestures to the 'grand fortress' that he is standing on now with both hands.

"This is the kind of grandiose bullshit battles that people like you and the Peacocks crave. Me and my friends came to this game to have some fun. My friends, some other guys, and I all formed Team Snake just to have fun and fight Monsters. And because we didn't give a shit about PVP egotistical, elitist assholes like you and the Peacocks decide to give us all a bad time just because we didn't care about one part of the Game." He just shakes his head, before looking back at the flag pole now, pointing to it as he looks back at the Gamers.

"And that damn Arcadia doesn't help either, as he seems to be the type of developer who's implementing all of these changes to force everyone to fight each other before we can have any sort of grand tournament or interesting final showdown."

Another shaking of his head comes as he just smirks, holding his hands up. "I'm the only one left on my Team thanks to those Peacocks and your attack dog. And if you think you guys are going to get an awesome final fight, experience point, or gold coin from me then you're mistaken."

"And Injustice is word you dumb-ass" at this he actually shakes his head again, laughing even, "but even if it wasn't a false word like that suits all of you. Just a bunch of people living in a falsehood without realizing that without all of this, your powers or your skills as Gamers, you're just nothings in the real world. So false 'heroes'" he puts up his fingers to make air quotes, "enjoy your 'victory'. I hope the defeat of your allies and your effort didn't all go to waste to attain it."

With this he just begins to walk away on the long bridge now towards the center platform where the flag is, and as he does so he raises his hand up towards the air and says "Log Out!"

He just vanishes now in a flash of light. As do the two Gremlin Rangers and the Orc Shaman.

After he vanishes, a multitude of windows appear before the Gamers as the flag of the camp changes to that of Team JUSTICE and just an ordinary Orc Axman appears where the Shaman once stood, with the flag back on the ground, all of the platforms having vanished now as well.

(This one appears before Artisia alone.) ​
You have been removed from Team Snake.
​
Click to expand...

(These appear before all of the Gamers)​
Artisia has joined Team JUSTICE!
​
Click to expand...
From: Rei Amagi
Subject: None
This is what I get for trusting you all. I'll
​
Click to expand...
Team Snake has been TERMINATED!
​
Click to expand...
The Quest 'Attack Snake Gekkoukan' has been completed.
​
Click to expand...
Rei Amagi has left the party.
​
Click to expand...
Quest Reward

15 EXP
2 AP
​
Click to expand...
The Quest 'Secure the Cloak of Void' has been created.

Do you accept?

[Y] [N]
​
Click to expand...

Team JUSTICE had won the battle and Team Snake has been fully defeated. And finally... they could perhaps go and sleep. After all, all of the Gamers have been up for nearly a day now thanks to the compressed time. Exhaustion perhaps already feels like its setting in, or perhaps is going to set in very, very soon. Thankfully it seems like they have a camp for teleporting back now to the base camp... but no rewards to gain from the accompanying Purchase Chest.

Except for just a single belt pouch left behind in the chest with nothing in it but the air of the world.




​
 
embed.php


Artisia huffs and puffs and gets ready to scream at the Snake member many times over, but she listens so she can insult him a lot when he's finished. This damn guy going on about how they were being 'elitist' and 'trying to have fun', but what shit was he pulling right now? He was literally standing above them on a higher platform, talking down to them, and shouting profusely. If that wasn't elitist, Artisia didn't know what was.

As the Team Snake member raised their hand, she had a feeling something bad was about to happen. "YOU RAT BASTARD! YOU BETT-" Before Artisia could even finish, the Snake member logged out and took all of the monsters with him. There were a number of windows that popped up in front of Artisia. One that she had been removed from Team Snake. THANKS. OF COURSE I'M REMOVED THAT ASSHOLE COMPLETELY DISBANDED THE TEAM BECAUSE HE WAS THE LAST MEMBER. A message from Rei popped up, which was unfinished, but he said that he was disappointed in them for some reason. Artisia immediately closed that. Another saying a quest had been completed, another displayed EXP and AP they gained from the quest. And then there was a window that displayed that Rei had left the party. Artisia's anger certainly did not help her response to this. Her anger boiled over at this point.

Artisia clenched her hands into tight fists and then threw her hands up in the air. "ARE YOU GODDAM SERIOUS RIGHT NOW?! WE WENT TO ALL THIS TROUBLE TO CONFRONT THIS ASSHOLE AND ALL HE CAN DO IS RUN AWAY AND SCREW US OVER?! OH NO. AND THEN REI. WHAT THE... WHAT THE HELL! YOU'RE GONNA TELL ME THAT YOU'RE DISAPPOINTED IN US WHEN WE WENT TO ALL THIS HARD WORK TO HELP COMPLETELY DEVASTATE A TEAM?! ARE YOU SERIOUS? IF HE WANTS TO STRUT OVER HERE AND TELL ME HIMSELF, THEN I'LL BELIEVE THIS ABSOLUTE BULLSHIT. HE BETTER SHOW HIS FACE TO ME IN THE NEXT TEN MINUTES, OTHERWISE, THE NEXT TIME I SEE HIM, I'M GONNA PUNCH HIM RIGHT IN THE FACE. I DON'T GIVE A SHIT THAT HE'LL COMPLETELY DEMOLISH ME AGAIN, BUT HE DOESN'T GET TO PULL THAT SHIT, THROUGH AN UNFINISHED MESSAGE, AND THEN QUIT OUR GODDAM PARTY! UGHHHH!" Artisia wanted to hit something or someone so badly, but she held in the urge. She was already exploding with anger and she hadn't even noticed a new quest had popped up. "JESUS GAIA. ARE YOU TRYING TO BURN US OUT?! ARE YOU TRYING TO KILL US ALL?! I SWEAR TO FUCKING CHRIST IF I HAVE ONE MORE GODDAM THING HAPPEN TO ME THAT PISSES ME OFF, SOMEONE IS GONNA DIE. AND IT'S NOT GONNA BE PRETTY."

Artisia tried to distance herself from the others by walking toward the camp. At this point, it wasn't going to help if anyone talked to her, not even Xenon. She was beyond furious and she knew she'd hurt someone if they tried to calm her down at this point. If someone did try to stop her, however, they'd get into quite a confrontation with her.​
 
Artisia & Tian Collab

So they ruined his 'gaming experience'. So their power was 'useless' in real life. So he was going to make sure that all they got out of this was a hollow victory. So what? As the incensed Ranger logged out, all those monsters and platforms disappearing instantly, Tian-Gui simply let out a sigh. They made it through this encounter without a fight after all. The only thing that people suffered from was emotional anger, but for that Ranger, it was nothing but a game.

He'll get over it. He'll get over it, and maybe, next time, he'll find a game that wasn't run by a madman.

Tian-Gui let out a deep breath. This end...this end was fine. They completed the quest. No one who could die in real life actually died. A stream of messages popped up soon after, from Rei's mysterious message to the completion of the quest to his sudden quitting of Team JUSTICE to the generation of a new quest. A bitter expression surfaced on his own face, but before he could delve into those thoughts, Artisia's rant burst out through the camp.

She stormed off, and, giving the others a look, Tian-Gui followed.

"Artisia, I know you're angry, but it's still dangerous to go out alone," he reasoned, catching up with her after expending some effort.

---

Tian-Gui seemed to catch up with her as she was storming away. She quickly stopped and faced him. "I'm not stupid enough to run and go die. That would be a waste. We need each other and I need a goddam moment to cool off. Got it?" As Artisia continued walking in the direction she did, she clenched her fists again. She muttered under her breath, "Tian, I swear, if you wanna get punched, go ahead and keep talking."

---

"Then I'll watch your back while you do so," he replied firmly, slowing down so that she can maintain whatever distance she wanted. "Not going to let you get ambushed like Colt was."

Right, that was another failure of his, wasn't it?
~

Artisia stopped once more as he spoke… Again. Artisia was angry and she was ready to hit someone, but Tian wasn't trying to make her angry. He was trying to protect her, however, Artisia wasn't seeing the whole picture since she wasn't in the mood to play along with Tian's heroic streak.

"You… Tian… You need to learn when to leave a woman alone. I don't give a shit whether you're going to protect me or not. I'm not going to go out and get myself killed. I'm not even going to walk away far enough for me to die, you got that? Or do you feel awful because that would mean another one of your comrades would have to die on you? Oh boo-hoo. People die. Life goes on. Just leave me the fuck alone Tian."

---

A sharp intake of breath sounded, his expression turning rigid, before Tian-Gui released that tension. She was certainly confident that she could escape from a dangerous situation, wasn't she? But it was late into the game now, and only unknown variables existed. Monsters were more intelligent as well, and in her anger, he doubted she'd see them coming. No, considering the effect of the Gamer's Mind, perhaps she willingly won't see it coming.

And yes, he did not want to see another person die.

"People die. Life goes on. But that doesn't mean I'm going to let it happen if I can prevent it. I'll leave you alone once you come back to the group, Artisia. Until then, rant however you want."

Xenon would be better for this, wouldn't he? But Xenon probably wouldn't take a punch quite as well.

~

Artisia walked back over to Tian and stood in front of him with as much strength as she could muster, but after a moment, her anger shifted its focus. It wasn't as much the fact that they had been completely duped into a situation where they literally got nothing, but it was the fact that Tian had this fixation on the fact that he could save everyone. Artisia knew nothing about death, of course, but as a considered murderer, she took a small toll.

"You know something? I orchestrated and killed a girl who could do absolutely nothing about it. And her teammate was right in front of me. But you want to know why I killed her? Because I wanted to help Team Justice. This stupid fixation you have about saving people, it's going to backfire and you're going to get hurt. You're going to be numb with excitement because 'you're helping your friends'. I didn't even kill a real person and that's how I felt. Wait until we actually have to kill someone and then come talk to me. Until then, shut…" Artisia wanted to mutter obscenities at him, but she fought against it. "Just shut up."

Artisia walked a small bit away from Tian and then sat, trying to meditate for just a moment, to see if it would help clear her thoughts for even just a moment.

---

He could say something, couldn't he? He could say how he only wished to save those that he deemed as allies, friends, innocents. He could say how he didn't really care at all about those that he then deemed as 'enemies'. He could say that his 'fighting style' was designed so that he could, in fact, defeat someone without killing them. He could say so many things.

But Artisia told him to shut up. Not to leave. So he stayed silent and stayed.

The quest window still covered before him, and he tapped it.


~

As he tapped the 'Y' Button upon the window, the following window would appear before all of the Gamers, as if just one of them accepting the Quest made all of them accept it due to them being in the same Party. Or perhaps it is due to Tian being the party leader.

Secure the Cloak of Void

Issued By
Void Wizard's Familiar: Ddi Rym

Time Limit
10 Hours

Recommended Level
20

Objectives
Secure the last Camp around Gekkoukan
Clear the Gekkoukan Dungeon

Failure Penalty
Arcadia's Plans go Uninhibited
Cloak of Void remains imprisoned

Reward
15 EXP
2 AP
Possible Rewards from Ddi Rym and/or Cloak of Void
Click to expand...


A recommended level of 20. They would need to both sleep, and train a lot in the remaining time they have. Furthermore this is something they would need to tackle without Rei, since he seems to have left the party after leaving a mysteriously unfinished looking message behind.
[BCOLOR=#ffffff] [/BCOLOR]​
 

Thanks to their new Camp, they'd be able to get back to their Base Camp with just a button press and a bit of teleportation. Of course, as they did... a bit of Deja Vu would be experienced.

As a certain man went on his jog from his place in the Residential District, the call of errands he had in the Port Island District would beckon him to the northern side of the Residential District where the South Station awaited him. His train ride would be normal, but as if repeating Colt's very footsteps, the moment he stepped out of the train his entire world would grow hazy and be enveloped in a flash of white.

Right as the Gamers all teleported back to the South Station, they would be greeted with a bright flash of light. Now Colten would see what it looked from the outside when a man who looks strikingly similar to Kamui steps out of a bright light and falls onto his face. Like Colten did, all of the Gamers would see the following text over this man's head. As well as a window that he has both joined the Party and Team JUSTICE.

The Gamer
Kiryu Heiwajima Lv 15

Of course, he would be in his normal clothes rather than the fantasy themed garb of this game. Of course, he would also have no equipment. Just as Colten feared, Kamui's dying in this Game has brought him back here as a Gamer. Meaning now... if Kiryu were to die here...

He would die for real.

For now though, there is some very nice equipment in the Chest that everyone could utilize, courtesy of Rei from earlier. At least Rei didn't take any of his dozens of Materials, large amounts of money, Auction Laptop, good equipment, his cellphone, his laptop bag/game case, Abyss Auction Membership Card, letter from Arcadia bundled with the last three Items on the meeting table, or other such things with him when he left the team.


Which meant that Team JUSTICE could use these things as they fit now.

After they all got some sleep of course. Exhaustion is already starting to set in, the Feast seeming to have held it back for now, but even its power is unable to stave back the exhaustion brought about by the straight twenty four hours of activity that the Gamers have done today, this being a combination of their time in the Games and their time today before they were sucked in.

So after spending some gold to buy two more Tents and upgrade one of them to a three person tent, providing everyone with sleeping space, it would be time to go to sleep.

And awaken seven hours later with only three hours left to complete the Mission from Ddi Rym. Which meant they would have to first take that last camp around Gekkoukan after they awaken and do some preparation.



​
 
Three hours left.

That was the first thing on Tian-Gui's mind as he rolled out of the tent, rubbing his bleary eyes. Strangely enough, or, perhaps, expectedly enough, the environment outside hadn't changed much at all. Arcadia's time dilation remained in effect, and though they had spent more than an entire day in here, the sun had yet to set in this pseudospace. Good. They had to do all this effectively then.

Three hours. Less than three hours. Armor? Fully equipped. Leftovers from the feast were still good. Plenty of Gold gained overnight. And this time, they had the time to properly equip everyone. Kamui had somehow come here, after all, and he was now a LVL 15 Mage heading up into a LVL 20 quest. No, was it even right for him to come along then? Perhaps Kamui should be left behind. Even against individuals that were only two levels higher than him, he had been promptly destroyed in just fifteen or so seconds.

Tian-Gui's brow furrowed, as he scrolled through the Abyss Auction laptop, searching for new upgrades. More armor was useful. That blow to the head shook him up, even though it did clear his mind. His gloves had to be upgraded. He wasn't parrying, nor was he dodging, so that…was essentially wasted, wasn't it? And then, tools to augment the repair process. A book on mana manipulation would similarly be useful, wouldn't it?

A half hour later of browsing, Tian-Gui found most of what he needed.

Something strictly centered around mana manipulation couldn't be found at all. A shame, but whatever.

Blacksmith's tools and a Steel Helmet were both fairly easy to find, and seemed to come at a more or less reasonable price.

But gauntlets that specifically centered around grappling? Just going by search tags, it was difficult, at least until Tian-Gui spotted this gem.

Barbed Gloves (50,000 Yen): Scorpio here. For all of you who are tired of those you grab getting away, these special heat resistant gloves made of incredibly durable Salamander Leather have small, metal barbs in them that will definitely bite into the flesh of anyone you grab. Even if they're wearing light armor, it'll still stick to that.
Click to expand...

It was definitely a nefarious gem, but at the same time, Tian-Gui didn't have many other choices, did he? The Gamers needed all the advantages they can get in the quest to secure the Cloak of Void, and those gloves, regardless of how brutal that description sounded, would provide such an advantage. With that, he made his purchases, right as Artisia came over, wondering what exactly that was.

Tian-Gui gave her a quick explanation, before turning to the rest of the group.

"Alright, we have two and a half hours left to complete this quest. How do you guys all want to do this? We can turn all our attention to leveling up our skills within our camp, but that means that Kiryu and Colt will be at a disadvantage, due to their lack of skills. Alternatively, we can all head off to hunt monsters, gathering EXP instead and attempting to level up through monster slaying. That would increase our monetary resources as well, meaning better supplies. If we prioritize monster-hunting, we can also go capture that camp before any other team does."

"Regardless of what we choose though, we need to stop after one and a half hours, leaving one hour left for the quest. In that time, we can prepare and purchase all the other buffs we need, as well as eat what's left over from the Feast. This is a level 20 quest, after all, and none of us are even close to that level."

"Kiryu, go check the Storage Chest. There should be a whole bunch of stuff that's useful for you."
 
Kiryu sat up, rubbing his hand over his face as he looks around, a haze still in his golden eyes as he looks at each silhouette as they grew clearer and clearer. He stood up now, easily towering over most of the group and rubbed his face some more. getting the grogginess out of his eyes and shaking his head "Well this is certainly something huh...I mean what the hell is going on....not even I can play this one cool as a cucumber right now." He looked at the others and pointing at the names and levels above their heads, tilting his own, bewilderment evident in his posture and face. He shook his head again "Did I dream that I got out of bed or something, and why would I dream it and end up in the game with all of you?... Not trying to be rude but the fuck?"

He chuckled now, and shook his head "You'd think I'd be throwing a conniption or something, like crying, hysteria, if this is real...it is isn't it...yeah so uh could I get an explanation...a quick one about why the hell you all have, obvious now, your real names and the class The Gamer...really? Well..." He shrugs again not really knowing what to say, all he knows is that he is somehow back with the group only things have changed....how don't fucking know but he was going to find out. He listened to Tian-Gui's explanation and nodded "Alright boss, there's a reason I liked you, direct and to the point with this stuff." He walks over to the storage chest and opens it up grabbing the Gremlin sorcerer's robes of protection, the gnarled staff, a life pendant, a minor protection ring, and a minor magic ring, equipping them all as he grabs them out. "I'm not one to be babied, despite seeing your point on us still being low leveled, as long as people do their jobs we should be fine with whatever get's us stronger faster. Be it leveling, or the skill thing you said."
 
Arriving at the final base of the Snakes, Alex couldn't help but be impressed. Well, they certainly set up for a final confrontation, bet Some people are more than happy about this. The plans on how to tackle this fortress followed, Alex agreeing to them. It was all thrown out the window as Artisia took the idea Alex mentioned before, abuse their mental functions. It turned out to work exceptionally well, as the Snake spit out everything, including telling about how he spoiled all of their plans.

"The dirty snake just left?" Happy about the victory without any violence, but a tad annoyed at the lack of rewards, Alex accepted the victory. clicking on all of the windows as they appeared. Damn notifications, "So, onward and upward yeah?" Alex only paused as he thought afterwards about Rei's message. It was incomplete. That along with the removal from the party meant, that something likely happened to him. Arcadia was likely involved. We need to get strong fast.

Alex watched as Artisia and Tian went off, "Watch out Xenon, you might need to act fast." Alex chuckled.

~~

As they made their way back to their base of operations, Alex Quickly found himself heading to the purchase chest, Alex planned to grab another magical book from it. Lightning, strike hard strike fast, and not something anyone would expect from a 'fire' mage. The roulette happened like last time, honestly, Alex couldn't help but enjoy the strange flair of the Arcadia Games at times.

Next, I need to get some defensive magic, I can toy with it later, make it stronger, more versatile to my needs. Opening the laptop Alex furiously typed away, Clicking all the right links, finding a barrier spell and a rare magic book that piqued his interest. Checking both of them as he added it to the shopping cart before accepting the purchase. Hope no one minds I spent 192 500 on books. I'll make it up to them, if I have to.

"Oi, Colten and Kiryu," He began shortly after stepping away from the laptop, "Time for a Gamer crash course. We work like rpg characters, but a bit more sandbox, most things are voice command, and our strongest asset so far is our skill. We can make new skills on our own, or we can teach / learn skills from each other, if the requirements are met." Alex took out the lightning skill book, and clicked accept to learn it, then the barrier book shortly after it arrived, "We use normal books as skill books from a game, and some books exist that give us those nice fantasy like skills." The second book, the arcane book of manipulation, was beyond his current skill level, so he placed it safely in his inventory semi discretely. "That's all for now."

Afterwards, Alex went to bed in a tent. A rather uncomfortable thing compared to his bed at home, and the tent was much smaller than his house. He groaned and dealt with it though.


~~~

In the morning, as he awoke, he felt more refreshed than he thought he would be, likely due to the nature of being a Gamer.

Shortly after the morning started, Alex got to grinding his skills, he needed them to all level up, and quickly at that. Sadly though, this was interrupted by Tian, "So we teach them some skills, or buy them some books from the abyss, problem solved. I say we split the time, half skill grinding and training, then monsters, then head out."
 
During the entire ordeal with the ranger Colt simply dealt with it. On one side he was happy that they basically completed their quest but the way they earned it didn't feel right along with the red flags going up when the in game windows starting popping up. For now the fighter simply went along with everyone else and doesn't say much.

-------
​
Sadly Colt's worry came true when Kiryu seemed to come into the world in a similar manner that he himself had experienced. He'd take the time to explain to his friend what little he knew before they both received a crash course lesson from sensei Alex. Everyone seemed simply enough and for now Colt didn't need to ask any questions cause everyone was tired and wanted to go to sleep, which he himself would follow suit swiftly.
​
---------
​
As morning came the red head stretched till he heard some satisfying pops and began on the task of what he wanted to do before things started kicking off. First, he deposited his Minor Ring of Protection and one of the orcish shortswords back into the storage chest; still wanting to keep one extra sword just in case. Second, when the laptop was free he would take it up to see what it was all about and see the purchases with that lined in with the other currency he held in his inventory. Figuring that he'd rather make sure that he stayed alive long enough to be able to get more currency and even be able to come back he dumps 25,000 on a steel helm and the other 25,000 on a matching pair of steel gauntlets; equipping them as soon as he gets them. Short of the leather chest piece he was being to look more and more like a medieval knight by the second.

Colt sat on the floor and listened to the morning's planning stage of what to do next. He raises his hand before speaking up. "My vote is with sensei Alex's idea."​
 
embed.php


Artisia sat where she was for just a little bit before she decided it was alright for her to get up and walk back to the group. She wasn't fully recovered from her unhappy mood, but she was good enough to interact with other humans without pissing them off. She walked back to the group and she went back to their base of operations. It seemed that they had packed most, if not all, of their upgrades into the camp. But as they had arrived there, there was a bright flash and all of a sudden, a new Gamer appeared before them. Artisia guessed it was the wind mage from before.

"Well great! Another member," Artisia commented sarcastically. She had more important things to do than train someone who had nothing in common with her power-wise.

As they had arrived there, Tian seemed to explain the function of the computer that they had and the auction that they could use in order to buy armor, weapons, and different things with the real money that they'd accumulate. There was also a forum for information about different items and about different types of items being sold in different places in the auction. This piqued Artisia's interest because she had an item that even Rei didn't know what it was.

She went on the computer and searched for the ability rune for a little while, but didn't really find anything. So she decided to look for some better armor. Full-body armor, in fact, so that she could take more hits for the team. It would also give her a chance to learn how to repair armor. That was a skill she definitely needed. She ordered the Light-Steel armor for 175,000 yen (before the discount).

After she order the armor, she decided to search once more for the ability rune, and found only one post in regards to ability runes. It seemed that they were glyphs, or symbols, that could be used on the body in order to empower someone for a few days. Weaker runes only lasted a few days, but it didn't really specify how much longer actual runes would last. Artisia also couldn't find any information about what certain runes did, or even what the rune she had did. It was entitled, "Mana Point" and she had no idea what it could've meant.

At the bottom of the post, someone had commented about a skill that was called, "Arcane Branding". It was the branding of a rune or glyph on the body that could empower the body forever. The comment warned that you could only get three brands on your body and that the process for getting a rune branded onto you was incredibly painful. There was also a link to an "Arcane Branding Kit", which Artisia immediately bought for 125,000 yen (this was the listed price, but the discount made it less than that). She didn't care how much money it was, she needed this. This rune was her ticket to becoming stronger. She didn't know exactly what the rune would do, but if it was going to help her at all, then she was going to have it.

She received the Arcane Branding Kit and pulled Shouko aside. "I need you to do something for me. I need you to take this kit and this rune and engrave it on my body. We might need someone to hold me down for this, so Alex would probably be the most useful among them all since his Mana Threads are as strong of a material as we can get." Artisia grabbed Shouko by the shoulders and looked her right in the eye. "I was told that this was gonna hurt a lot, but if we're gonna be victors in the dungeon, I need this done. Shouko, I'm going to be hurting really bad. You can't stop. You have to keep going. You have to brand me with this rune." Artisia showed Shouko her right palm and pointed to it. "Right here."

---

When Artisia woke up, everyone already seemed to be up and talking about the way that they should be approaching the time limit. Tian suggested they grind their skills or slay monsters. Alex seemed to think that they split their time and do both. Artisia, however, thought that they should do something different. "I think we need to capture the other camp first before anything. We can't be battling another team for the camp. We absolutely need that, so we should prioritize that first. Then depending on how much time we have and how much EXP we gain from that, we should see what would be better. Grinding our skills might do us some good, but like Tian said, we get more resources from fighting monsters. We also have a better chance of leveling up if we fight monsters, so I think we should commit to doing that. If we have skills we can grind while traveling between groups of monsters, then I think we should do that. Since our level is a bit lower than the suggested level, we should at least try to meet that before we do anything else."​
 
When Artisia let the cat out of the bag that she had killed three snakes of her own, thus skewing the numbers of Tian Gui's calculations, Xenon paused. Then broke out into a light chuckle. Looks like I was getting worked up over nothing, he thought sheepishly. But still, battle planning became significantly more simple with the newfound knowledge, so that was a plus.

The battle... if it could really be called that, did not go as expected.

Xenon hadn't expected to see the massive fortress that the lone snake had built out of spite. No one had, really. From there Artisia began to taunt the snake, bellowing insults like the true delinquent she was. Throughout her crass, but strangely grandiose speech, the red haired teen stood back with his muscles tensed for action. As per plan, the ruffled snake flared up angrily, calling out the Peacocks, Justice, and even Arcadia. Xenon didn't really regard the snake's speech with much weight, but the thought did cross his mind: All of these guys really were just trying to play a game.

They didn't know anything about Gaia, or Arcadia's malicious intent. They just wanted to play a game. I guess he is right then, in a way. We did storm in here and kind of "bully" other players. Though, Xenon reasoned, it was because they weren't playing with the same stakes. A shiver ran down the red hiared teen's spine as he recalled his own close encounter with death.

Then, just as wuickly as the lone snake caught fire, he burned out and left. Xenon wasn't sure if he should have felt relieved or miffed. Artisia, it seemed, found it more suitable to be enraged. Just as he was winding down and looking over all the windows that had suddenly popped up, the female gamer stormed off on her own to cool.

Xenon resigned to watch her leave with Tian Gui following. Beside him, Alex chuckled as he piped, "Watch out Xenon, you might need to act fast." The red haired teen chuckled back dryly and shook his head. "When she's like this, I usually back off to let her sort herself," he replied, turning to face the other male. "Otherwise, I think I'd probably get my ass handed to me."

---

Xenon hadn't realized just how tired he was until he plopped down for his turn at the laptop. His first priority was weapons. After a quick browse, he found a pair of steel deer antler blades for 40,000 yen, of which he hit buy without a second thought. Ever since the prospect of weapons had come about, they had been his first choice for a long time coming.

When they first arrived, Xenon took them into his hands with bated breath. He let out a low whistle, unable to keep the smile off of his face. In each hand, the heft of sweet steel made him practically thrum with excitement. And though fatigue was nudging at him, Xenon took his new blades to his own corner of the camp to give them a much anticipated trial.

---

When he was done training, Xenon returned to the camp's center with the full intent to fall on the ground and wither into sleep. But as he was about to go to one of the tents, some items on the meeting table caught his eye. Among them were a few of Rei's personal possessions and a letter.

Curious, he picked up the letter to find that it was sealed in wax with what appeared to be a jester hat. Arcadia. Xenon instantly thought. The jester of the games had been relatively quiet by his standards as of late. What is it going to be this time? Xenon thought, An invitation to a dance party perhaps? He chuckled a bit at the prospect.

But once he opened the letter, he stilled completely.

A lump bubbled in Xenon's throat as he clutched the paper. Was this the reason why Rei's message was incomplete? The teen took in a sharp breath, held it, then let go.

Wordlessly, he picked up Rei's cell phone and laptop and put them into his inventory. He planned to return them to someone after the Arcadia games were over, even if he had to ask the entire Gekkoukan high school student body.

Then, he retired for the night.

---

The next morning, Xenon woke up and dismissed the rested notification. Though the fatigue was out of his body the red haired teen's mind was still thrumming. Right up until the planning meeting started, he dived into mana practice to keep his hands busy. It was also about then that he began to itch for a deck of cards. It felt like an eternity had passed since he'd been able to practice magic.

When it was time to meet up, Xenon let out a soft sigh and joined the rest of the gamers. The main topic of the debate this time seemed to be how to divvy the remaining time between grinding and questing. "My vote is with Alex's plan as well," he piped in calmly. "I think we'd be in a tight spot trying to complete the quest without leveling up a bit." Then, he paused, biting his lip.

"There's also something else," Xenon began softly. He held up Arcadia's letter. "I'm not sure if any of you got the chance to read this but..."

Dear Gamers,

These personal affects of the deceased Rei Amagi are the ones that the players of this game cannot interact with, and I have no personal use for them. So I shall leave them for you to use as you see fit.

From,
Arcadia
Click to expand...

"... Rei's dead."
 
Sensei Alex? That has a nice ring to it. Alex smiled as the newer gamer agreed with his suggestion. Colten wasn't the only one as Xenon also expressed that it was a good idea. Though, he also brought up the less than great news of the supposed death of their mentor.

"I doubt Rie is dead." Alex chimed, "He was messaging us when he got cut off, I doubt that any of the players would be able to one shot him so easily without him even noticing. He was sorta always serious, so I doubt he would let his guard down around anyone. So which fun filled person comes and goes and has a love hate relationship with Rei?" He posed the question, though he was planning on answering it himself seconds later, "Arcadia. I wouldn't be surprised if we find Rei as we go on our business, trapped or something. We will likely find out as we forge ahead."

"But I don't think it changes what we should do, we need some new skills and levels, skills can be used and leveled as we fight, so we should get some new ones first. I am willing to share some of my techniques, in return to learn some tricks back in return." Alex opened up his skill menu to read over the ones that may be the easiest to help teach others. "I'll teach the newer guys the basics of mana like how Rei did with us, though Kiryu may already understand most of it from carrying over as a mage from the game." rubbing his hair between his fingers he thought for a moment, "I guess Kiryu will be able to pick up other things I know fairly easily if he wants?" Alex shrugged, Another Gamer with a barrier could be useful if he could learn it from being taught. "I am fairly certain we can all learn something useful from each other, So If people are will to both learn and share, I'll go over Mana Protection, Mana Threads, Mana Meditation and what I have learned of Mana manipulation thus far from my Mana focus."
 
Kiryu turned to Alex and nodded "We could probably learn a few things from each other actually." He upgraded a few of his maxed out skills, namely his mana ability, focus ability, and his mana missile spell. He looked over his other skills now and looked down them..."Huh I really should use that mana shield I picked up as an Arcadian Player shouldn't I haha."

He chuckles and looks towards Alex "So do you have any need of my skills? Maybe do a duel useage of fire and wind between us, as well as the more basic skills as well...Also I didn't quite give my answer to leveling or skills...if it benefits us more then we should level. Skills can always wait till we have more downtime." He says and looks towards the others wondering what has he gotten himself into with playing this game and ending up stuck in it.
 
As votes went around, Tian-Gui accepted them all, mentally notching each vote in one direction or the other. Some of the options had strange reasoning behind it, such as Xenon worrying about leveling up and then splitting the time up between grinding their individual skills and kill monsters. Indeed, with less than three hours left, Tian-Gui doubted they were going to get enough done on their skills to improve new ones. Artisia's idea was the most solid, really. At their very base, there were only a few techniques that they used, and fights themselves were very quick affairs. Taking a camp, after all, took less than a minute, despite how much damage was inflicted within that time frame. It wasn't conductive to skill grinding, especially when these fights were all still dangerous enough that people could die very quickly.

Essentially, if they were going to skill grind during fights, they'd be using effective skills, not new skills.

Before he could speak of his thoughts on all this, however, Xenon dropped a new reveal: that Rei was dead. Tian-Gui blinked. He hadn't actually considered that possibility. Or, perhaps, it was a possibility that he simply had ignored. Their teacher and the strongest gamer, dying? Yes, considering how they were able to defeat him before, it was certainly a possibility. If the Peacocks had betrayed him…

First, the fight with the ten Snakes would wear him down. Then, the Peacocks would attack, doing enough damage in a single instant to take him down while he was busy thinking. But…on the other hand, Rei had Second Wind or some variant of it, didn't he? And…Tian-Gui couldn't recall it completely, but he was fairly certain that the gamer also had the Void Wizard's Ring of Protection. So, with all this, Alex's own theory about Arcadia being involved DID make sense.

After all, Rei didn't bring the entertainment the jester had expected into the game. Vengeance then?

"Yes," Tian-Gui agreed, "We have no choice but to press on regardless. If we're going to be grinding, however, I recommend being careful with just how much HP and MP we consume. Right now, we do need to maximize our EXP gain, but the only place we get an EXP buff now is outside of our camp."

"However, it's still my belief that learning new skills and trying to level them up into anything useful still isn't as useful as leveling up while grinding the skills we use the most. In the beginning stages, our abilities are all fairly mediocre, after all, so when we fight, we'd be using our strongest skills regardless. Levels give us more HP and more AP to spend on stats and upgrading skills, while gaining new skills doesn't give us many short-term benefits."

"If we are teaching, however, I'm willing to teach the melee specialists Physicality Rise and Ki Focus. It'll be helpful if they were taught Second Wind as well, but I'd rather not risk trying to teach that in our current situation."

The situation with Rei had to be set aside for now. No matter if he was dead or alive, the Void Wizard had to be brought back first.
 
What was shaping up to be a difficult final battle ended in an anti-climax. After mouthing off a rant against them, the last Snake logged out of the game and ended the team. Even the camp's ownership was transferred to Team JUSTICE. Convenient. Shouko was glad she didn't have to expend her remaining bombs.

However, amongst the torrent of messages that appeared was a peculiar note from Rei, before he promptly left the party. Disappointed? Shouko had a bad feeling. The camp's chest was empty save for a single pouch. Since nobody else was interested, Shouko clipped it onto her waistband. It would come in handy to store potions or bombs.

They teleported back to the Base Camp distinctly lacking a celebratory mood. Shouko herself was distracted by Rei's disappearance. Everyone decided that it was a good time to rest before tackling the next quest, and each wandered off to prepare in their own way. Before the night was over, there was still one last event- Kamui, back to join the ever growing band of Gamers.


Artisia came to her later, bring to her an item called an Arcane Branding Kit. She began to tell her that she had to engrave a rune on her body, and she needed to be bound during the process. Before she could even respond, the smaller girl was grabbed by the shoulders and the monologue. "I was told that this was gonna hurt a lot, but if we're gonna be victors in the dungeon, I need this done. Shouko, I'm going to be hurting really bad. You can't stop. You have to keep going. You have to brand me with this rune." She showed Shouko her right palm and pointed to it. "Right here."

She squeezed out of her iron grip and said, "Okay, okay! Calm down! You're being scary!"

Taking a closer look at the Arcane Branding Kit and the rune in question, Shouko realised that she was literally supposed to heat up the Rune and press it onto the recipient. Brutal. Artisia is nuts. She should have asked Tian-Gui to do this.

However, Shouko didn't decline. Alex had already taught her how to cast Mana Threads, so she set about restraining Artisia to a nearby metal bench and laid out the items on the ground. The kit contained a small magical brazier that allowed her to heat up the Rune. Once red hot, Shouko picked it up with the tongs and held it over Artisia's palm.

"Here we go," she said, before inflicting excruciating pain upon another team member.

She was exhausted by the time the branding was done. Shouko was honestly surprised that she was still capable of feeling tired. Getting drunk was out the window, why not fatigue? She settled into one of the available tents. Although she didn't fancy the idea of sleeping in them, it was safer than walking home alone.

~~~

There were already several people awake and about by the time Shouko got up. She yawned. Questing was hard work, she realised. Only the promise of money kept Shouko in this dangerous and tiring business.

The first item on her agenda was to pillage the chest. Even though she had been here from the start, Shouko had never really checked what had gone into it. Evidently, quite a lot. There were several items she could use.

"I've been missing out on the loot!" she cried out.

Shouko took a Sniper's Cowl, a Life Pendant, a Minor Magic Power Ring, a Minor Force Ring, and a Minor Accuracy Ring. She put them all on and marvelled at the boost to her statistics.

She also took a turn using the laptop, searching for equipment she still lacked. Additionally, Shouko looked for anything she might be able to make using her chemical knowledge. The explosives were great, but she wanted other options as well. If she could make potions, that would be fantastic.

She found a basic leather helmet for 12,500 yen. It was probably important to protect her head, so she placed the order for it using the camp's funds, seeing as everyone else was using it liberally. She also bought a pair of gloves for 5,000 yen.

~~~

Shouko joined the rest of the group later much better equipped. However, she didn't look very stylish in the drab but practical armour. It was of course much better to look dull than to be dead.

She lazily voted for hunting monsters. Experience was good, and monsters meant money. It was Xenon's discovery that jolted her wide awake. A pit formed in her stomach, and her first reaction was to turn and gaze accusingly at Tian-Gui.

"Wait, what are you guys talking about? Training? Rei- he might have died, you know? Shouldn't we go after him? Find out whether the Peacocks betrayed him, or something? I don't know if you guys remembered, but he's the one who's been helping us so far."

"And Tian-Gui," she said while staring furiously into his eyes. "This is the last time you pull that shit. He was being a control freak, but it wasn't a good reason to send him off with strangers! Some team justice we are!"

Disappointed in us. He has all the right to be.
 
embed.php


Artisia heard that Rei had been dead and Artisia highly doubted that Rei was, in fact, dead. The unfinished message may have been a hint toward the idea that he had died, but she doubted that Rei would be defeated by the Peacocks or the Snakes. There was definitely something fishy going on. Artisia had never heard of someone's possessions being delivered to the team when they died, especially not by Arcadia. It was an odd occurrence, but Artisia was very certain that she'd never heard of something like that happening before.

Everyone continued to talk about the idea of training and began to say that they could exchange skills. Artisia was interested to learn Mana Protection from Alexander since it seemed like a skill she could really use. Tian-Gui also offered a few of his skills for melee specialists, which Artisia knew included her. It seemed like Physicality Rise was a skill that she could probably use to her advantage, especially since it would probably increase some of the damage that she could do to an opponent. However, she didn't have Ki Focus, so she would probably have to learn that first.

There was also the issue that she probably needed to level at least two or three times in order to utilize some of the new talents that she either would or had already unlocked. But right now, she wasn't going to think of that. If she was going to level, then that's what she would do.

Shouko then brought back the topic of Rei. She seemed to think they should investigate his death before they go around trying to unlock the dungeon and clear it. Artisia looked over to Shouko and just stared for a moment. "Shouko, Rei isn't dead. With all of the things he taught us, he never would've lost a fight. As much as I hate to say it, he's the strongest person I've ever seen. And I've experienced his power firsthand. He seemed to have a skill for nearly every situation. And, even if he is dead... If we find out anything, it's only going to hurt us. Not only because we find out that he's actually dead, but the fact that we won't be able to stop Arcadia nearly as quickly. I know there are things that we want to know, but now we can work by ourselves. Rei was our crutch and now that we're free of him for a little bit, it's our way to prove to Rei, dead or alive, that we're using the knowledge that he gave us. We can prove the fact that he should be proud of us. We know how this power works now and we need to stop relying on him for everything." Artisia paused for a moment. "Well... I, uh... I don't mean to say that we shouldn't work with him still... It's just... I haven't seen him all that much and we seem to be doing just fine."​
 
He felt nothing.

Was it because of the Gamer's Mind that Tian-Gui could sort through his thoughts properly? Or was it because he hardly knew anything about Rei outside of his overpowering strength that he couldn't feel any emotion at all? The short Gamer was gone. Announced dead by Arcadia. Possibly betrayed by Team Peacock. Possibly attacked by Arcadia.

Another life, another burden, and this time, nothing would be coming back.

Shouko was wrong. It was never his intention to send Rei off, though he did think that Rei joining the Peacocks would help immensely in their attack of Team Snake. But those weren't the right words at the moment.

Artisia was wrong. The very fact that they were able to defeat Rei in the past, in spite of a level difference, meant that the Gamer wasn't invulnerable, and could definitely be defeated. But those weren't the right words at the moment.

He had only been their teacher for a day. The only thing he really taught them was Second Wind. They hardly learned anything from him. They were mostly left on their own, Rei doing whatever he could to keep them alive, but not raise them up to become strong.

But pointing that out as well, had no point.

"If we seek the Peacocks out, and they reveal that they did in fact betray Rei, what are you going to do? Die seeking revenge? If it's revealed that Arcadia attacked Rei, what are you going to do? Die fighting him?"

Tian-Gui's gaze did not falter, a bitter expression rising up.

"Rei's…disappearance must be put aside for now. If Arcadia did it, completing this quest is what's going to get us our revenge. If the Peacocks did it, what are we going to do? They never knew the lasting consequences of this. So, Shouko…what else can we do but to push forwards? We have less than three hours."

We have no time to mourn for someone we hardly knew.

Not when more lives were at stake.
 
Getting to the one remaining Camp was easy enough. It merely involved teleporting to one of the Camps at Gekkoukan, and then taking a five minute walk. The battle with the Orc wasn't as easy. It still... went by fairly quickly though. Due to it not only being seven on one, but also due to better teamwork and coordination this time around on the Gamers' part. With the Ranged Attackers firing a barrage of attacks, before the melee fighters intercepting it, Colten's strong sword played a key part in smiting the beast in the end.

No one even really got hit actually. Due to knowing about its glowing Arcane Slash this time around, the Gamers who were in its range were more than capable of dodging that attack when it came forth due to knowing how it came. These Orcs may have human like intelligence, but in the end they are still AI in a game perhaps. Their patterns can be predicted and countered once they have been fought enough of course.

Of course, such a thing is much harder than it sounds, and its a high possibility that luck also played a good part into it. Regardless, the Orc was dispatched in just under twenty seconds. It didn't seem to fight as hard as its previous descendant did. Maybe due to not having the Upgrades that the previous one did due to the Camp having been destroyed.

Regardless, with pretty all around good fighting on the Gamers' part, they had acquired the fifth and final Camp surrounding Gekkoukan.

Quest Objective Complete!
Click to expand...

And the Gamer Power made sure to let them know. Now they had about two hours and forty five minutes left to finish this quest.

Plenty of time, enough to hunt some Monsters for at least an hour to an hour and a half, teaching each other various things during rests and the like. They would want to leave at least one whole hour for completing the Dungeon, since they would probably need to rest as much as possible whenever they could while inside, and perhaps maybe fifteen minutes to rest up before heading to the Dungeon since, judging by the recommended level, the Gamers definitely would want to be at full strength before entering, and not enter all exhausted like Tian when he spams Second Wind.

​
 
Shouko stated blankly at Artisia, then Tian-Gui. Her expression became distant and unreadable.

"Alright. I get it. We'll push on, then," she replied, her tone contrasting with her earlier outburst. They were right. She barely knew Rei. She barely knew Artisia. She barely knew Tian-Gui. She barely knew any of them.

Silly me. To forget for a moment that humans are self centered by nature. We are just partners, not friends. If I was the one in trouble, the rest would similarly prioritize the next quest over my life.

It only took a moment for Shouko to steel her mind. In the end, she could only trust herself. She was used to that.
 
Kiryu shook his head wow big cheese goes down and not a one of them bats an eye really...at least the top brass ones don't. The others... well I dunno. He looks around at the other Gamers and just looks between them, they either seemed displeased at the news or just didn't care at all. He wondered if they were human, or some constructs built into the game now. It was weird, just plain weird that they didn't give a rats ass about a team member possibly dying or even getting captured by the enemy. The one girl, Shouko made an outburst but just almost waved it off right away. He couldn't believe it...but he kept his mouth shut, even now he still felt like an outsider looking in.

"Right, leveling and the like then, grind skills during battle and all that...cool." He was at a loss for words...or at least dorky and corney jokes and puns at the moment. All he knew was that he didn't want any of them...
he didn't keep his mouth shut for long "You know...not cool, like I wouldn't want any of you twats to prepare my eulogy, like jesus christ, even if you didn't know them for very long, whether they be acquaintance, game buddy, real friends, or more they deserve your recognition and to be remembered..not to be set aside like yesterdays garbage. Grabby, fuck off like really even if you think it's for the greater good, fuck off. I'll watch your back, won't shoot it, and keep this to myself after this but seriously you're fucked up,same to anyone else who thinks it's cool to just drop someone like that." Kiryu looked down and took in a deep breath, his fists had been clenched...if it hadn't been the game...if he hadn't had weak ass stats in areas that he definitely wasn't weak in IRL he wouldn't worry about what may come next, but he is worried about what comes next and decides to do this how he did as an Arcadian, he looks back up, a fake smile on his face and shrugs "Anyway that's just two cents from a guy with extra change...why don't we go ahead and get the party started, and take care of some monsters around the area."
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Top Bottom
Back