Chapter Six

Disclaimer

I don't own Mabinogi nor any NPC's connected. Either Devcat or Nexon does.

A/N

So how does one fight in Mabinogi when they are on the other side of screen from where they normally stand? In other words, how do they fight when it is for real? I have debated this for some time now and I think I have a working theory of how it might work. We will see if you think it is believable of not. Please leave comments as to your thoughts on the subject.

Danster considered Jack's words carefully, "The difficulty of this shadow mission jumped ten levels … could you please explain how that works."

I explained what the Goddess had told me about certain glitched monsters.

"I guess I'm lucky I teleported you into this mission. You still don't have any idea how to fight?" I shack my head no. Dan exploded, "Look anyone can do a basic attack. Besides, you have the potential of being a one of a kind fighter. You can do things no one else can do in this game. Remember the dagger toss you did earlier. No player can do that here. I bet you there are other things you can do others cannot do."

"How about the moves and skills I should already be capable of doing?" I asked exasperated.

"I bet you can still do those skills too but in a different way than you are used to. Remember this is real to you. I still have to use the command menu from my PC in our world. I bet you can learn to instinctively do those moves. Now as I recall you have two glades you were proud of, ones you took great care to upgrade. Do you still have those? And where is your armor?"

"I searched for my armor when I first arrived and no luck there. It appears I have no armor at all past the gloves, greaves, and helm. I am searching for those glades now. I think I left them on Staton, my first pet."

I hesitated, remembering the glades. Weapons can be upgraded just like we can. Difference is that there is a max to which a weapons can be upgraded. If you do it wrong then there are huge penalties like you can have a very powerful weapon but what good will it do you if it breaks constantly after the first swing. It took me months of dedicated use of these glades to upgraded them them to the max in both durability and power. I referred constantly to Mabinogi wiki to help me upgrade them. This was way before beam swords was introduced in the Black Dragon event of 2012.

Staton appeared after I called him a pang of guilt ran thru me as I remembered breaking our powerful bond by choosing to be a dark knight. Thankfully, the Goddess allowed me to correct that mistake years ago. I just hope our bond can be reformed. I searched his inventory and found the glades Dan had mentioned. I note that I have not used them since I went DK. I felt I had not right to. Can't cry over spilt milk now. I also notice that Staton is looking at me in a very strange way. After transferring the Glades into my own inventory, I recalled Staton.

I looked over at Dan who was calling forth one pet at a time and recalling them a second later. I have seen this done a thousand of times when players are searching their pet's inventory items. I wonder what he is searching for. Usually Dan does not search pet's inventory in front of us unless it is for us pacifically. I quickly found out for what he was searching. He quickly opened the player inventory trade screen and on his side of the trade he put up an exact duplicate of the Spika Silver Plate armor I used to wear.

"Dan … oh my gosh … this looks exactly like …"

"I know," he interrupted, "I was making Spika armor when this color combination popped up. Since it was a dead ringer of the armor you use to wear I stored it in hopes you ever made another male character but you kept on making female characters to play with one after another. It was maddening. Now I am pleased your main is back in action since this armor suits your main much better. Will you please take it already?"

Quicker than a jackrabbit, Jack not only took the offered armor but donned as well. He admits he had felt naked without it. Over the years, he had many variations of outfits but by far this outfit armor was his favorite. Even though it felt different, wearing on this side of game it felt comforting.

I started to laugh though which made Dan wonder, "What are you laughing at?"

"I don't know … hmm … you made these grieves I am wearing, this helm, and now this armor. The only thing I am not wearing that you have not made for me is these Snake Gauntlets. Am I your personal doll you like to dress up?"

Now it was Dan's turn to start laughing, "Ah you finally figured it out. Darn you. Now I have to find another person to dress up … but seriously, all I did was replace the armor you previously had. You bought that armor from someone else a long time ago. As for the grieves and helm, I was honored to do them for you. Unbelievably, I knew all about you during the early years of the game. You always handled yourself with dignity and honor except for that one time in that dungeon but you learned from your mistake and moved on. The kicker is when you recommended our guild to others after your guild disbanded. I was honored when you decided to put forth your own application after soloing it for a year. Those are gifts to a great player and friend. Now I suggest you stow your glades in weapon slot two and grab your shield and spirit weapon."

As I donned my Heater shield with a basic defense of 2, I noticed Dan was looking at me curiously. "What?" I asked.

"You are still using that outdated shield? I thought by now you would have updated by now to a more powerful shield."

"Dan, you know I solo play and not an black smith. There is so much a player of my kind can do or buy from other players. Exactly what do you think I should have upgraded to?"

Suddenly the trade screen popped up again and a shield I never seen before popped in the screen. I scrolled over it and saw it was named Demonic Fear Shield. I noticed the the defense and protection stats and nearly fainted. It had a basic defense of 5 and protection of 3. I could feel my mouth salivating in lust for this shield.

"You can't have this shield jack. It was a pain to make. But I am willing to sell it to you."

Now I was miffed. Dan knows I don't play in high risk dungeons. High risk equals high rewards. It's not uncommon for players to be billionaires in this game. However I was at a impasse on how to pay for this shield I really wanted now more than anything.

Dan noticed my hesitation. I noticed he did not cancel the trade like many others do after they show me things. Evidently he wanted me to have it yet he knew I would not take it without paying for it besides that cannot happen unless both sides agree to the trade. If one side cancels the trade the trade screen goes away. He knew I was honorable because he let me borrow other stuff in the past and I always returned them fully repaired even if he loaned them to me slightly damage. This shield was in perfect condition. "Is this a loan?"

"No and it's not a gift either. I will agree to the trade only if you agree to come whenever I call you. Do you agree?"

I know to which he is referring. Many times I bowed out of high risk quest dungeons. It comes from a time I went in such a dungeon a long time ago only to die quickly and having to rely on the other stronger players for protection. That particular dungeon ceased being fun for me.

However I will say the most fun I had was going in the higher dungeons with the guild officer (second in command) at the time. We moved thru the dungeon with ease and it was very fun. We did not go into the hardest level of that particular dungeon but the intermediate level. I learned lot too. I will never forget that day even though the guild officer ended up betraying the guild when Dan trusted her with the guild temporarily while he moved. The guild broke up and Dan had to rebuild it.

I reluctantly agreed to the trade. I was not looking forward o the high risk dungeons or hard-mode dungeons but a long time ago I silently said to myself I would follow this man to the pits of hell if need be.I quickly donned the shield so next was my spirit weapon.

The spirit weapon he is referring to is a Mace. I am one of very few players that chosen to use a Mace as a spirit weapon. The most common spirit weapon is a claymore for humans, a bow for the elves, and I really have not seen a giant use a spirit weapon. I chose the mace for its uniqueness. Everyone who saw remembers it and remembers me as well.

When I placed the mace from my special inventory into my hand, I literally felt the extra power. I briefly thought about the many new good aspect of the game was the addition of special inventory. It used to be that upgraded armor and clothes had to stay in your normal inventory. There wasn't any special, VIP, or wardrobe inventory slots when the game first started. This led to people soon being unable to play the game due to too much inventory. Now with the extra inventory tabs that is not really a problem anymore. Until I upgrade the armor I will simply wear it or put it in my wardrobe.

Now I realized when I held my mace spirit weapon (which was black, sigh. I need to see if I can change its color) it contained extra power. I quickly called forth the spirit. "It is a pleasure to finally meet you my master."

This spirit was not your typical spirit weapon pixie. I call them pixies for that is what they look like to me but really they are the egos of the spirit weapon, the physical form of the spirit within the weapon. "Who are you and what have you done with my spirit weapon's ego?"

Dan heard that question, "Is there a problem over there?"

"Quickly tell him there is no problem. Keep in mind only you can see and hear me master. I will explain in a second but you need to answer him quickly."

Jack chosen his words carefully, "There is no problem, Dan. I am just conversing with the spirit inside my mace."

Dan did the gesture for laughing, "So you have a normal conversation with your weapon's ego. You are truly becoming an oddity among the players. You should try to keep those oddities a secret as best you can Jack. You don't need the admin breathing down your neck thinking you are a hacker."

Just the mention of the admins thinking I am a hacker sent chills down my spine. There were rumors of them deleting hacker accounts and blocking them from ever coming back on the servers. If they were to do that to me what will happen to me. Somehow, I just don't wish to think about that possibility.

"That will not happen to you, Master. You have more in common with the NPC's than you realize. You are now a part of this world although technically you are still just a militant."

I looked at the fully-grown spirit before me. She reminds me of a genie from the old TV shows from the 70's and the movies from the 60's than the pixies I used to know so well. Her gown was all in deep rich purple and it did not look gaudy at all. It looked rather sensuous.

"Be that as it may, is it possible that you can mute my side of our conversations from all others please, whenever we do speak like this?"

"Done Master. You can speak freely to me without worries of anyone hearing your side of our conversations. Do you wish to know something before we begin the hunt for this glitched fomor?"

"So you know about them and it appears you know about whom I am and what this is about for the other players."

"Yes I do. The goddess replaced the normal spirit your mace used to have with me. She had to explain everything to me before I agree to become a part of this arrangement."

"Who are you exactly?"

"Hmm you don't seem to recognize me. Try looking past the purple outfit to the character underneath."

When she said character, I immediately looked at her with a different perspective. The blonde hair and the eyes, I knew her but it was impossible if I was correct. "No! It can't be true."

She knew I now knew who she was. "It is Jack. It's me Junipers, the first female character you ever created."

"But how is this possible. You were a character I played for a long while when I got bored. How can you be autonomous with your own thoughts and feelings?"

Juni came over and sat down next to me. "To be honest, the goddess did not just replace me with your pixie spirit. She merged me with her. She also imbued me with some of her power to compensate for the lack of power the mace had so it can destroy those monsters we have to hunt. You may be interested to know I retained every memory we created together since you created me. Now though is not the time to talk. We are in a Shadow Mission. These missions have timers and we need to find that glitched fomor before the time runs out."

I jumped up and said, "Right! Do you know how I can use the normal fighting skills I learned in this game?"

She blushed, "Yes but I promised the Goddess not to tell you. You must find that out on your own. However, I can tell you not to think about it too much and it will happen naturally." She poofed out.

Great! She knew but won't tell me. What now? I looked at Danster, "You can leave if you want too. Only I need stay."

Dan did the gesture for no. "Alone you might not make it to your target. I will stay. This SM is no problem for me to solo normally. Stick with me and you will make it to your target. However, I will not engage your target. From what you tell me, you are the only one that can destroy it. You had better switch weapons so your spirit does not get too hungry. Just use her when you have to."

With that we start our search.

A/N

To be honest this chapter was done a very long time ago like I explained earlier and all I was supposed to do was do some mild editing then post it. However, while doing the editing, new ideas for this hit me and when I reread it it sorda works. sorry for the delay. I hope you like it.

Please review/comment.