Chapter 85: Strange Beginning (III)
"Hey Kiyro, what are we watching?" asked Anna. She picked up a spoon full of ice cream and slowly ate it.
"Just wait a moment." Kiyro hovered his mouse over the first video with the most viewed results: Growth's World Quest. Clicking on it, the video began to play.
"This is Brian Jackson and Jennifer Hong giving you live coverage on the up-to-date gaming news on the Eleventh Hour gaming broadcasting show." The lightly colored brown-skinned male smiled gently with his cosplay-like costume.
"I'm so glad you're here with us, Brian," said Jennifer. She was a beautiful-looking female wearing a maid outfit. Both of them looked a bit out of place. "Hours ago, the game Growth booted out all the players on the server. That's close to billions of players worldwide that have been ejected out. The number of disgruntled voices was quite astounding."
"Yes, it is. I would be upset when I booted off the server when I was playing. But for the Yami Hikari company to announce a Worldwide Quest at the end of the Special Hidden Quest: Alpha. That was quite a risky move. Both cities in the Growth world have been protected, and the Landsharks thwarted. Both sides have suffered heavy casualties, but the citizens have prevailed from the rough war. I must say that was an epic battle. We are lucky to have footage from the WaterRose guilds. Who graciously gave us small footage of their epic war."
"Getting footage from inside the game is quite difficult these days. One could only get footage by renting out magical orbs obtained through a certain quest. The problem is renting out one of those magical orbs; you must pay by the hour. So what was it, a hundred gold per two hours?" Jennifer stated cutely.
"Yep. Only the wealthy can rent those, and even then, it wouldn't be able to record them for so long. People have tried to find different ways, but there aren't any solutions to the problem."
"Well, we should be glad that we have something to show our viewers don't you agree?"
"Yes, we should. Now on to the short clip."
An image blew up on the screen and covered the whole screen. Laid out before them was a half-crumbled city. As skeleton-like creatures rode on their backs, large elephant-like monsters emerged from the dark shadows. It was an epic fight between the dead and the living. An ongoing battle lasted through the night and into the morning when the sun was slowly coming overhead. Arrows and magic were cast toward the dead, and the living retaliated with fierce convictions. However, they did not waver and instead battled on.
In the middle of the large fight, surrounded on all sides, was Liliac from the WaterRose guild. Her guildmates surrounded her tightly while she blew the horn. The undead Landsharks screamed in agony, and the elephant-like monsters swayed from the blaring sound. BlackTurret, Rangers, Zoulz, Killemall, Zenith, and Hercules guild swarmed like a wave dispatching them in droves.
As Lilac finished blowing on the horn, her black panther companion rushed in, dispatching the surrounding enemies encroaching too close to her. A chanting of mages' voices could be heard singing their usual song. Their voices intensified with each chant; they stood around Liliac in a circle holding up their hands like a prayer to the gods. A small white barrier expanded out, covering her guildmates and the other players alike.
Lilac pulled out a magical book, and it fluttered open as a single piece of paper ripped out of the page and floated before her. Magical light blue glyphs appeared on the paper as it glowed with power. Then, blue flames erupted as the paper burned into crisp and disappeared. She raised up her sword into the sky, and she looked upwards.
Black Clouds quickly gathered in the sky and appeared before the guild. The sky flashed with lightning and thunder as the clouds rolled in. The thunderous roar of power electrified even the air. The world became dark. Lightning strikes danced like flickering lights as they impacted into the ground, wiping out dozens of monsters in their path.
The electric lighting did not harm the players in their white barrier, but not all came out unscathed. Throughout the whole time, nature took its course; the voices of the chanting mages were slowly wavering, losing some of the smaller scale barriers. As the lightning and thunder quelled, three-fourths of the enemies were annihilated. The rest became easy picking for the guilds. Finally, the scene faded out and was brought back to Jennifer and Brian.
"Wow. What an epic fight. If I'm not mistaken, she had used one of her grand spells. Supposedly she found a rare scroll book in her dungeon explorations. She stated that was a one-time spell, though," said Brian. He stared with awe. "That was truly an overkill."
Jennifer nodded with agreement. "I heard there was an equally crazy amount of fighting with Hercules and the Grand Legion's guilds. What was it? There was a giant monster named Lilith that terrorized the city. What's more astounding is that Lilith was one of the six legendary heroes of history. Her memories were seen by all the citizens of the City of Diadem and the players present. What a crazy predicament that she was still alive to this day."
"Yes, it is. What is interesting to learn from that city's battle was that Lilith was not killed by either Hercules or Grand Legion guild but by some horse-size fox-dog-like creature. Do you think it was another monster?"
"I'm not so sure. No more sightings of it were specified after the booting of the server."
"But what surprised everyone is that the quest has been made into a real-life quest. So what is the company thinking?"
"I'm not sure, but I'm excited to know where this will go." Jennifer cutely giggled at the camera. "So far, we know that there are three types of quests. The 1st one is the placement of runes in a specific area. The 2nd one is the delivery of runes to certain groups. The final quest is still pending, and we don't have any information about it yet. A total of 3,333 worldwide were sent out to different players. At this rate, the quests should be completed in a couple of days; what would be next?"
"That would be a question we would all like to know."
"I completely agree with you there. So what exactly is the first quest even about? Is it just placing rocks in certain locations?" asked Jennifer as she peered at him curiously.
"Mhmm. That's all there is to it. You will get a map delivered to you through the Alive gear. Wherever the place is located is where the runes need to be placed. You do know that runes are widely known for the use of magick."
"Really? You actually believe in that?"
"Well, that is a matter of opinion. For each culture, there are different types of magick that each is based upon. But, still, they all do one of these main things: Inscribing words into paper, objects, building, body, and even using sound to supposedly activate the natural flow of energy that is in the world. So, with that being said, if by activating...Actually, let me correct myself; in other words, gathering the power of the world's preexisting energy, wouldn't you say that the event in itself is something more?"
"So, are you implying there is more to this quest?"
Brian nodded his head and crossed his hands. "Yes. Let me tell you why."
A video appeared of Mrs. Noriko in her interview with the newscast. A part of the clip was shown.
The voice becomes louder, "...is it true about the break up with the Kosmos company?" Added Simon.
"Yes. There were some difficulties, but we parted ways long ago. They have gone their own ways, and we as well. I have a question for you. Do you believe in Magick?"
"Excuse me? Magic? Are you talking about the parlor tricks that magicians do?" Simon chuckled at his own answer. But then, he looked toward John as if she was saying something funny.
"No. There is a difference between Magic and Magick." She smiled.
"What is the difference?" Simon looked at her, confused. He wasn't sure where this was going.
"Magic is today's magician who creates the illusion of tricks, while magick is natural. But, unfortunately, the world supplies natural Magick."
"I must say. You say the strangest things. What does Magick have to do with anything in the game?" John was confused.
"Everything." She smiled.
The clip was cut off at that moment.
"Don't you see? Mrs. Noriko is a believer in natural magick. Why else would she state that in the news?"
Jennifer fidgeted in her seat. "I'm not so sure I like the thought of that. It's already upsetting enough to hear something so ridiculous. The number of people who would be turned away from this idea could be astounding, and this would game be labeled as a devil's game."
Brian chuckled as he brought his hand in front of him into a fist. He shook his head lightly to Jennifer's answer.
"Yes, there will be people considering this as some kind of hoax already, but the number of people curious and wanting to know if there is more would take that extra step. Humanity has always wanted to know more; if there is, science has not answered all the questions yet. We all want to escape from reality in some form or another. We read fantastical books and watch them in movies to have a taste of this dream. Many people out there already crave more than a mundane life. The thought of possible magic in our own world is like holding a piece of candy to a child. With that being said, what could the quest be aiming for but magick itself? Have you thought of that?"
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