Chapter 14: A Ship Named Summer Lady

-Ashton, Herlie docks

The docks at Port Herlie were busy as usual. The old wooden structure wasn't nearly as big as what had been in Clik, but it had a more adventurous feel. Right by the entrance to town, there were several large warehouses, bearing signs proclaiming who owned what. Over at the main dock area, Ashton could see the ship Summer Lady. It was facing west, which meant that it was probably heading out this afternoon. So they wouldn't get much time to spend here.

On talking to the captain, they got passage provided they watched out for pirates and sea monsters, battling as needed. The ship was leaving in an hour, so they had just enough time to check their supplies. "We could use some healing herbs," Rena said aloud, then frowned. "No, wait, I thought we were running low." She held up a bag that had a good amount of herbs, of various types too. "Maybe I bought another bag."

"Better to have too many than too little, right?" Opera pointed out.

"True. Wait, what's this?" She pulled out a dainty purple charm on a silver chain necklace. "I don't recall having something like this."

Ashton took the pendant and checked it. "This is pretty useful, actually. It's a Poison Check; it has an embedded crest that will prevent most poisons from taking effect. I hear it also helps when trying to work with sick animals."

"I don't remember buying anything like that. Is someone sneaking me things?" She looked up at the other three.

Ashton looked at the other two, but everyone seemed puzzled. "No, I don't think so," Claude replied.

"Strange. Well we do need some other things. Who's coming with me?"

"I'll go," Ashton said. "I'm looking for someone myself; I'll try not to take too long."

It ended up just to two of them, while Opera and Claude checked on the ship's defenses to know how to help. There were two main plazas to this town. The lower one was made of stone, surrounded by a large inn and many houses. The upper plaza was mostly grass and trees, on a cliff overlooking the sea. At the lower plaza, they met with a girl in pink pigtails. She spotted them immediately. "Big brother Ashton, you came!" She came over and hugged him. "Hi!"

Gald to see that she was outside, he patted her back. "Hi there, kiddo. This is Eleanor, a friend of mine. Eleanor, this is one of my new friends, Rena."

Eleanor hopped back and shook her hand. "Hi Miss Rena! I read about you in Ashton's letter."

"Did you?" She smiled. "Well it's good to meet you, Eleanor."

Is this the little git that we're fused to you for? Gyoro asked, squinting and leaning forward.

I think she's precious, Ururun countered. Probably soft and sweet.

You're not eating anyone, especially not Eleanor, Ashton insisted in his thoughts.

Ignorant that he was having a discussion about eating her or not, the girl asked, "Where's your other friends?"

"I'm sorry," Ashton said, "but we can't stay long. The ship leaves shortly."

"Oh, that's too bad. But you did come see me."

"Do you want to come shopping with us?" Rena asked. "We could talk that way, if you want."

She grinned. "Sure, that'd be great. I can climb up to the upper plaza all by myself now, you know."

"That's great," Ashton said, taking her hand as they went up the stairs. "She used to be very sick, but it seems you're recovering quickly."

"Better than I've ever been," Eleanor said cheerfully. "Mommy says it's a miracle." She laughed. "And you do have dragons! So that one's Ururun," she pointed to the purple one, "and that one's Gyoro?"

"Right," Rena confirmed. "They're cute, aren't they?"

"Yeah!"

Can I at least taste test her? Gyoro asked, leaning down to where she could touch him.

"You don't hear their thoughts," Ashton said dryly.

After they got their shopping done (and Rena found out that she had more money than she thought), they walked with Eleanor back to her house. "Oh, but can you wait a moment? I have something I want to give you."

"All right," Ashton said.

She smiled, then went inside. A short time later, she came back out with a white bag tied up with a blue string. "Here, I bought these for you. It's my favorite candy, Rose Honey Drops. They last a really long time, but don't bite them or you'll break your teeth."

"That's good advice, thanks." They exchanged goodbyes and then Ashton and Rena went back to the ship. It wasn't long before they were sailing to Lacour.

-4D, chatroom

Jeb: How's the adventure going?

C.J.: Slow… we're on the ship to Lacour now.

Jeb: Ah. Well the ships are a fast method of transport. You should be at the continent within a couple of days.

C.J.: Yeah, but this is a character used to bullet trains and flying cars that break the sound barrier. Sailing ships are sloooow. (grumbles dramatically)

Jeb: (laughs)

C.J.: All well. How is Ernest doing?

Jeb: I was thinking of checking up on him. You know, make sure he hasn't killed himself yet.

C.J.: (laughs) Oh yeah, that would kind of disappoint Opera. (sarcastic)

Jeb: He's listed as being at Hoffman Ruins. This is going to be so hard to keep him at the entrance, away from the raw Energy Stone (cringes)

C.J.: Yeah, that wouldn't be good.

Jeb: So how's your luck with the doctor?

C.J.: Bad. I tried convincing him that it doesn't help me any to have restrictions on the Eternal Sphere and that it just made me upset to lose Celine like that. He asked me if I wanted drugs and I was all, no way! (mad)

Jeb: That was rude.

C.J.: Right.

Jeb: Did you get him to explain the logic behind the restrictions?

C.J.: Not very well. He says it's because I should be focusing on my life in 4D. I even asked him if that is so, why are they encouraging kids who don't get selected for lifetime careers to take those jobs in the Eternal Sphere instead? Sheesh.

C.J.: Has Penny heard anything yet, by the way?

Jeb: Not yet. There's a science fair coming up, so she's going to modify the robotic dog kit we got as an entry. If she places at that, it would look good to the mechanics.

C.J.: Right. Well I hope she has better luck than me.

-Ernest, Hoffman Ruins interior

It was a step pyramid, with the entrance on the upper third of the structure. It was obviously a place of importance. Earlier, Ernest had glanced over the remains outside. That had once been a village of wood and earthen brick. Much of it was gone now. But this pyramid was built to last. From the look of things, the continental governments took care of its upkeep these days. Talk among his helpers suggested that there was a dispute over who owned this island, but neither side wanted to start a war over it. Overall, this planet was pretty peaceful.

If he had his university students and workers, he'd have them outside examining the town ruins, with a few select in here to check out the interior. They'd all be taking highly detailed notes, leaving as much as possible in place. Unfortunately, this world was not yet deeply interested in its ancient past. The workers with him were more interested in fighting monsters, finding treasure, and maybe mining some of this mysterious Energy Stone they spoke about. Such a pity.

There was someone else who seemed interested, at least partly, in such things. It was a guy with wild green hair who wielded the unlikely weapon of a giant tuning fork. From watching him fight on the way here, he used it to amplify his magic. Ruprecht was looking over some hieroglyphs on the wall. "Isn't it interesting that it's all small rooms here? For such an important looking structure, there aren't many grand rooms."

"It may have been used by a secret society or the like, for initiating and teaching members," Ernest replied. He looked over the door to the room they were in; possibly, it was an advanced technology, being silent and automatically sliding aside. "Possibly a prison if these doors can be locked down."

"These rooms don't matter," one of the other explorers said. "What we want is below, in the mines."

Ernest turned towards him. "Ah yes, those mines. I didn't see any stairs."

He pointed to an apparent dead end. "There's a strange door here that leads to a lift. It's not much larger than the rooms here, but if you flip the switch, it will change where the door leads."

An elevator? He and Ruprecht followed him and another adventurer to the lift. Behind an odd triangular jutting column, there was indeed a hidden elevator. It brought them down to the underground mine.

"The main deposit is along the southern path," one pointed out. "Stick to the ways heading directly ahead, as there's lots of offshoots and dead ends. You can reach it by other paths, but the south one is the fastest."

Ernest looked around the area. While the metal flooring underneath his feet seemed possibly advanced, the rocky mine ahead was not. A rough wooden bridge passed over a stream. A proper archeology study would take months. However, this wasn't proper. "All right, let's go check it out."

-?, Hoffman Ruins

Ruprecht whistled idly as he walked along with the three na… two natives. The third one there was definitely not from this planet either. However, he didn't reveal himself or his knowledge to the Tetragenes. He had observed them for a long time. They were no slouches, even if they'd never come up to his level.

"What's that song you're whistling?" one of the natives asked him.

"Nothing in particular," he said. The original song wasn't of this planet either, although there was a decent chance there was a similar melody about.

For a little while, he considered why he was here. In some respects, it was annoying. He had to hold back while keeping a step ahead of the natives, like Ernest was doing. He wasn't using any magic, although he claimed that the sonic attack from his tine was a spell. And even though he was to check on a needed material here, he wasn't to bring any back. All he was doing was making sure it was there and that the natives could harvest it. At least, natives who weren't the greedy bumbling adventurers with him.

But then it was all a game, wasn't it? A smile came to Ruprecht's face. Sure, they could annihilate the planet's inhabitants right now. They could have when they landed almost six months ago. Some of the others were annoyed because they weren't, particularly Marsello. As for himself, he liked the game. They were giving the natives hope that they could win when their situation was, unknown to them, utterly hopeless. It was fascinating and entertaining, watching them struggle. Of course, it would be more entertaining if there were actually competent foes on this planet.

That was incredibly unlikely.

"And how are you beating more monsters than us just using a whip?" one of the natives complained.

Ernest laughed in a lighthearted manner. "It takes skill and strength."

That and some technological assistance, Ruprecht thought. It wasn't just a whip; a device embedded in handle added more energy and force to the whip. From the looks of it, Ernest was using plant-based heraldry to enhance his weapon.

None of other three had protection from the unprocessed mineral which they called, unimaginatively, Energy Stone. The natives showed signs of having touched it before; they were eager to get back to the source. As for Ernest, he was more interested in looking around. Would it affect him the same as the rest? According to his calculations, Ruprecht felt certain that it would. It would be interesting to see how. He, of course, was protected.

It was such fun to see them trying.

-Ashton, crossing the Otal Ocean

The ocean was quiet today, with only small waves lapping the ship's sides. A couple of blue dolphins were swimming alongside them, whistling and playfully jumping around. On board, the crew was glad, joking and singing while doing their work. Ashton stood by the railing, looking to the north. When he looked east, he could see Hilton, the main port of Lacour. But he was thinking about Eluria.

They'd have to go there eventually. Also eventually, he'd have to tell Claude, Rena, and Opera about his homeland. He knew that they knew he was from Eluria. They were nice enough to not question him too much about it. But no matter how much pain those memories had, he had to share them. If only to warn them of what dangers were ahead.

Every now and then, his thoughts were interrupted by the dragons. Gyoro and Ururun didn't seem affected by the ship, but they were complaining about everything. This ship is so ***** slow. We could have outraced the thing.

You'd go in the water? Ururun pointed out.

No! Frickin' frackin'…

"What's gotten into you two?" Ashton asked quietly. "I feel lousy and I know it's because of you two."

No duh, circus freak.

Ururun made a whining sound. We want to go back to Salva. We haven't eaten the Energy Stone in so long and it's making us weak and sick.

He looked to the ice dragon. "You two ate Energy Stone?"

Ever since we were a little dragon, Gyoro said. We didn't have two heads back then. Why do you think that mine keeps producing so many gemstones even though it doesn't grow much?

"Really?" Then he realized what that meant and made a face. "Wait, that's it? That's kind of gross."

Alchemists can make diamonds from regular old **** stones and some dirt. Why's that surprising? He did seem amused, though not enough to improve Gyoro's mood much.

"Energy Stones are bad for living creatures," Ashton pointed out. "It drives humans insane and turns animals into demon-like beings. Were you born a demon dragon, or just developed into one?"

How should we ******* know?

I think we were a normal dragon once, Ururun said. Bah, I'm miserable. Let's change the subject. This conversation is now about barrels.

"Barrels?" he asked, puzzled.

Oh ****, Gyoro groaned, dropping his head down.

I thought you liked barrels too, Ururun replied, sounding hurt.

I do, but I'm not obsessed with them like you are.

"What's so interesting about barrels? I mean… they're just barrels."

They are incredible because they are barrels! Let me explain…

Gyoro nudged Ashton's head. You asked for it.

Ururun had perked up, enough that others could tell he was happy from the way his head bopped around. Lots of dragons love treasure above all else, but I love barrels above all else. See, treasure is just glittery rare stuff that people always want to steal from you. You know what a treasure is just by looking at it. But barrels are different. When you look at a barrel, you don't know what treasure is inside it. It could be wine, or gold, or flour, or diamonds, or dirt, or bones, or meat, or anything imaginable! It could even be empty, but that's okay, because the great thing is the possibility and the anticipation of not knowing.

"Like a present?" Ashton asked. "But they're always opened eventually, like barrels."

Yes, but then you can close it back up again and the mystery starts all over again! You can't do that with a present.

"It'll just have whatever it had when you closed it. That's not a mystery."

It is when you have a five minute memory, Gyoro stated.

Oh shut up! Ururun nipped at its twin's head, causing Gyoro to fight back.

"Hey, cut it out," Ashton said, bringing his hand up to motion them apart. He wasn't too sure about getting his hand close to them like this, but something had to be done. "Do you two always have to fight like this?"

Yes, always.

"But aren't you the same dragon?" he pointed out.

Not necessarily, Ururun said. We've fought each other more than anybody else. But that's depressing. On the other hand, barrels are sexy.

"I'd protest that, but it'd probably be useless, huh?"

Gyoro snorted. You encouraged him.

But just think about the beautiful shape a barrel is, Ururun went on. And a barrel with a fine wood grain pattern is simply gorgeous. I love them all! We've hoarded lots of barrels over the years, haven't we?

They're handy for putting treasure in, Gyoro admitted.

They are treasures themselves!

"Hey Ashton!" Rena came up to him. "We're just about to Hilton. Isn't this exciting?" She grinned, obviously eager to see a land other than the one she was born on.

"Yeah," he agreed. "Hilton is a nice port. I liked Clik better, though. Too bad it got destroyed."

"So what are you doing here by yourself?"

Ururun was still bopping around, while Gyoro had dropped down to curl up on Ashton's shoulder. "I've got these guys. We were having a… oh, I dunno the right word… interesting conversation about barrels."

"Barrels?" Rena asked with a half-laugh.

He turned around so he was facing her. "Dragons are odder creatures that I thought."

-Penny, 4D

Pieces of robotic dog were scattered across the floor of Penny's room. Sitting cross-legged nearby, she examined the diagrams, manual, and other booklets that came with their new pet. "Hmm, I may need to ask Mom and Dad to get me some more tools," she murmured to herself. "But then I might be able to make it do that… yeah, if this works like that…" she frowned, tapping her pencil against her cheek. "Okay, put it together as instructed first, so I can see how they want it to work… then I can redo it to how I want."

There was a beep as the family's butler came into her room. "Penny, you need to fulfill your studying quota for today. This does not count."

Giving an exaggerated sigh, she put the diagram booklet down. "All right. Don't clean up my room for now, cause I'm working on this project."

"I'll need your mother's approval," the robot replied before speaking electronically to a monitor in her room. The large screen turned on, displaying a list of articles. "According to your schedule, writing a report on one of these historical lessons should be a suitable homework assignment."

"I'll get to it."

After the robot left, she got up and went to the chair by the screen. Penny opened up a drawer, then pulled out a floating input pad. She did prefer these days of self-study as opposed to the classroom's assignments. Sometimes they seemed to go over stuff so slowly, when she was ready to move on to a new subject. So what should be today's lesson?

One article got her attention more than the others: 'Early History of the Eternal Sphere- The Nedian Problem'. According to the description, it was about some of the first hackers of immersion gaming history and the development of the legal system to deal with such people in an internet-based society such as theirs. She didn't like hackers, but it would be interesting to know about these early ones. She selected that as her assignment.

Article ESC-01125-JS4211

Early History of the Eternal Sphere: The Nedian Problem

In the first release of SC's Eternal Sphere game, there were ten races to choose from on a single server, the Milky Way Galaxy. These races followed classic builds of MMORPGs (Massive Multiplayer Online Role-Playing Games), such as the Mighty Glacier, Fragile Speedster, Glass Cannon, and so on. Efforts were taken during beta-testing, and indeed the whole programming process, to make sure that the ten planets and races were all in fair balance.

However, gamers have always proved resourceful in finding practical flaws and hidden exploits to create unbalanced game-breaking characters. The Eternal Sphere turned out to be a hard nut for them to crack, as it took four months for abuses to start showing up. Even then, the real-time nature of the game made it easier to spot hacked characters, as growth was purposely made gradual and realistic.

The first hacker to make complete changes to how the game was played was known by the handle Lucifel. Lucifel was clever and did not make blatant hacks that would be spotted by the alert SC security programs. Instead, he hacked into the race and character data, finding the algorithms and numbers that made everything work. By testing the limits and calculations, he made a discovery about the max potential for ES characters. For instance, the Golian race, known for its massive power and health, was discovered to have the weakest max potential damage output in a battle, even though they started as the strongest race at the beginning of character creation.

More importantly, he discovered a flaw in the calculations for the magical race of the planet Nede. The Nedians were not the high end of magic using races on initial specs; the Mabliens were instead. But in this flawed calculation for magic processing, Lucifel discovered that the Nedians could easily bypass the stat caps for their race. The Nedians and the Mabliens both were allowed the character creation trait Mana DNA Imprint to put symbols of heraldry in their genetic coding, thus making them much more powerful mages than other races. However, Mabliens had a firm statistic cap, putting a limit on how much damage their spells could produce. Through a process of specialized training with the Mana DNA Imprint trait, Nedian mages could overcome their statistic cap and potentially have limitless magical power at their disposal. Lucifel had discovered how to make a Nede character into a complete game-breaker.

The process still took a large amount of time, so the SC did not catch on as Lucifel began to tell others of his discovery. This led to a surge of Nedian players who all picked the Mana DNA Imprint trait. Thinking it was a natural shift of the system, SC allowed for the trait to become automatic for both Nedian and Mablien characters. While Mablie remained at steady player numbers, Nede gained even more players. This led the planet of Nede to dominate the Milky Way server and become rulers of the galaxy.

The Sphere Company took note and adjusted their plans accordingly. They attempted to make other races more attractive, with new powers and technologies, as well as status of being galactic underdogs. However, none of that outweighed the attraction of the potential for limitless magical power and many players stuck with Nedian characters. Thus, the SC came up with a contest to design non-player characters for a story arc involving a planetary uprising against the might of Nede.

While many players took on the challenge to create other races without normal limitations, the hacker Lucifel had other plans. Having studied the Nedians for so long, he began design work on…

Penny's study was strangely interrupted by a red alert box popping up in the middle of the video article. 'House network is contacting the medical network to report an emergency with Jeb. Please put any network activities on hold so there is clear and efficient communication. This situation is serious.'

"What?" she asked softly, starting to shake. Wasn't their technology supposed to stop medical emergencies from happening at all? She got up and ran out of her room. "Mom! What's happening with Dad?"

-Ernest, deep Hoffmon Mines

"You look bored," Ernest said, looking to Ruprecht.

The strange man grinned, holding his tine weapon over his shoulder. "Do I? I might be. You know, all this monster slaying and following the path can get tedious after long enough. I would have been happy to stay at the entrance and study the building remains more. It's too bad looters got everything that was up there."

Smiling back, Ernest felt glad he'd run into this fellow. He wasn't quite an archeologist, but he was likely the closest he'd find on this planet. "Actually, I would've liked to do that myself. You can learn interesting things by observing such places and thinking about how they may have worked when in use."

"Maybe. Most people aren't interested in that, though."

"Hey, the vein of Energy Stone is in the next room," one of the others called to them. "There's usually some tough monsters in there, so keep alert."

"Right," Ernest called back.

However, he felt oddly nervous. This wasn't his usual caution in entering a dangerous area. No, this was like an internal warning that something incredibly dangerous was up ahead and he'd best stay away from it. And truth be told, he didn't know much about this strange mineral, just that it was highly valued on this planet. It could be that dangerous.

"What's wrong?" Ruprecht asked him.

"I don't know," he replied. "I feel uneasy about something."

"I wouldn't worry. This place is traveled through often, and they know what we're getting into."

"I've heard that." Since his new friend didn't seem worried, he put aside the warning and went with the rest.

After a short tunnel, they came into a large cavern with a high ceiling. Ernest had expected, for such a desired mineral, that the veins would be in the walls and hard for a stranger like him to see. Instead, the Energy Stone was right there in massive open piles, a solid mass of glowing pearl green stone. His skin tingled as he felt that this stuff as very special indeed. Very special…

There came an almost-human yelp as a pair of dark violet apes emerged from behind the piles of Energy Stone. Hostile to the invaders, one caused a mana pyramid to form around it. Ernest normally tried to work around such animals until they accepted his presence. Not this time. He felt equally incited and attacked back along with the other explorers. Feeling the start of an electrical bolt, Ernest dodged one of many bolts of lightning that fired around the room, emitting from the one ape. His whip grew thorns as he lashed out against them.

Between the four of them, the explorers defeated the mage apes. Then a voice seemed to come from the mineral itself. "Which one of you is strong enough to make claim to the mine?"

Ernest looked at the other three, who turned their weapons at each other. Something strange seemed to come over him, dissolving any inhibitions that kept him in check. Reaching into a coat pocket, he felt the cool curves of his demolition gun. He was supposed to only use it when alone. That didn't seem to matter anymore, as a smirk came to his face. "Would you fools try to defeat me?"

-Jeb, 4D

Planet-Tetragenes (home), Expel (current)

Character- Ernest

Style- adventure/archaeological research

Quest status- Exploring Expel: Hoffman Ruins

Alert- This character has fallen under demonic possession. You are not allowed to log back in as Ernest until the possession is cleared. This is for your own safety.

Jeb tried to read the data in front of him, but it was all blurry. He had a burning headache which seemed to disconnect him from the rest of his body. When the immersion chair released him, the lights of the room caused his eyes to ache. The lights automatically dimmed in an attempt to help him.

"Dad, what happened?" Penny asked. She and Nancy were by him. "We got an alert that something happened to you."

"Hush, dear," Nancy said, quieting their daughter. She took Jeb's hand as he closed his eyes. "Stay there for now. The doctor should arrive soon."

"Okay," Jeb replied, leaning back into his chair. It was a known danger of immersion gaming that severe damage, death, or a possession like this could have adverse effects on the player. Supposedly, they had removed the worst dangers. This was still bad

The headache pulsed, spreading pain through his body. Jeb wasn't able to pay much attention after that, but he heard the doctor asking for strong painkillers from the house computer. Then he was asleep before he realized it.

-C.J., chatroom

Nancy: Something bad happened to Jeb during his last play session. Ernest got exposed to raw Energy Stone and he got possessed by it.

C.J.: How awful! Is he doing well?

Nancy: Well he's asleep, so he's not in pain anymore. But I thought you should know.

Nancy: Since Ernest is possessed, Jeb can't log back into that profile until the possession is lifted. Unfortunately, this goes against your plan to keep Opera unattached as long as possible.

C.J.: Oh yeah, and since she's looking for him… this isn't going to end well for me.

Nancy: We'll do what we can to convince your doctor to lift those restrictions. Just let us know when you need us.

C.J.: Thanks Nancy. You're all good friends.

Nancy: If you'll excuse me, I need to get back to watching after Jeb. Talk to you later.

C.J.: Right, later. I hope he recovers quickly.

(Nancy has left the chatroom)

(Enlo has entered the chatroom)

Enlo: Hey C.J., may we talk?

C.J.: Hm? Who're you?

Enlo: I spoke with you at that anti-celebration for a bit.

C.J.: Oh right. What is it?

Enlo: I've been doing some research on your Celine character. There are some things in her character data that are suspicious, stats that are abnormally high.

C.J.: I'm not a hacker. Or wait, are you a hacker? Or one of the Sphere employees?

Enlo: Oh please, hacker is such a dirty term. I like to think of myself as a Robin Hood character, skirting the law for the good of the common people.

C.J.: So you're a hacker.

Enlo: If you must insist on that term, yes. But I am here to help you, m'lady. (bows like a gentleman)

C.J.: Isn't that a little dangerous to just announce into a chatroom?

Enlo: Not if you know what you're doing. Would you accept my help? You'll be under my wing and protection, so don't worry about the law.

C.J.: I don't know about that. I play fairly.

Enlo: That's fine. Well I'll tell you of what I've found. Your restriction came down on this date and time. Three minutes later, Celine's social luck stats were all boosted by 300% and the random event calculator set to the most forgiving and blessed algorithm.

C.J.: Which means what?

Enlo: Celine had max luck stats and a luck 'blessing', so to speak, in all stats used in a social dating sim. With that kind of charisma, you could easily have multiple cases of love at first sight and superfast courting to marriage. The origin of this appears to be the medical network's restriction program.

C.J.: So you have proof that they're forcing me out of the game?

Enlo: Almost. There's still some holes slippery lawyers can get through. Is there anything that happened around that time that might account for that luck boost?

C.J.: I don't think so.

C.J.: Oh, there was that book she picked up in Cross Cave. She gave that to Rena and Claude to handle. And Chris (the Prince) picked up a pair of silver rings that don't seem to do anything. He has one, while Princess Roselia took the other.

Enlo: I doubt that book did anything, but I'll check it out more carefully. The rings could have influenced some; did Celine ever wear one of them?

C.J.: Not to my recollection.

C.J.: You may want to look into my other character Opera, and another Tetragenes called Ernest.

Enlo: I was going to look into her shortly. What about him?

C.J.: Opera has an unrequited love for Ernest, but that has been starting to shift. They've been separated for a while now.

C.J.: However, Ernest's player Jeb just went in to check on him and Ernest got possessed by raw Energy Stone (an Expel mineral).

Enlo: I know what that is. So he lost control of that character, which could affect what Opera does.

C.J.: Right. I'm sure if something were to happen to him, Opera would get depressed, which would pass to me, which would cause the medical network to insist on restarting me.

Enlo: Hmm.

C.J.: (laughs nervously) But I'm starting to sound like a conspiracy theorist, aren't I? Normally I'm not like this, but it's just been stressful.

C.J.: (whispers ) Don't let my butler know about that.

Enlo: I think I understand.

Enlo: I'll keep looking into your case, but understand this: the medical network operates in a different manner than the Eternal Sphere network, and other places I've gotten into. It'll be a challenge to me, but if I can manage, I'll see if I can't tweak that restriction from the inside. I can't remove it directly without raising suspicions, but I might con them into lifting it themselves.

C.J.: I see. Well thanks for your help.

Enlo: I'll keep you informed as I go along. Keep your spirits up, C.J..

A/N: Barrel!

Those of you who've played the game may wonder why I've brought up the Nedians at this point. Let's just say there's a massive infodump later on I'm trying to alleviate. Or rather, an infodump on top of the the in-game infodump. You'll thank me later.

Site wouldn't let me use the date/time format I wanted in Enlo's lines, unfortunately.