Chapter Sixteen

Disclaimer

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

A/N

Truthfully, I haven't a clue what is going to be in this chapter. I know how I will end the story but in between is a mystery. As always, I will let the story unfold itself keeping in mind the end game.

Since the maintenance ended, I have been concentrating on doing the g1 storyline. I am only doing this to get to the dragon in g3. I have something planned for it.

For right now though my priority is how Nao is coping with me redoing g1. She told me I had to but actually doing it is another matter. Nao's father, Mores, is featured prominently in this particular storyline. She told me herself that seeing him repeatedly hurts her in ways I cannot imagine.

For my part, I have been trying to communicate with him. However, that is proving fruitless. In doing this storyline the NPCs are reacting with the normal predictable responses or non-responses, however you choose to look upon it. Even Cichol, who I talked to previously, does not respond to me now. I think it's because I am using the game server to communicate with them instead of the other dimension where my homestead is.

Duncan and the other NPCs no longer talk to me regular which is frustrating. They have been reset and calibrated to my presence. One good thing came out of this is that there is no longer a difference to me between game time and real time. I wonder if I can ask if we can let me go back to the other way though. I was getting the hang of it and it was fun getting my stuff up so much faster than normal.

When I rebirth with Nao, she talks regularly with me. I wonder if she brings me up to a special plateau in the other dimension when I rebirth. I cannot believe that is the same area everyone else RBs in.

Thankfully, the admin did not reset my special controls or my character. They are intact. I think they went out of their way to keep them for me. I found I have a certain amount of credit with the online store too, which is a relief.

The admin was true to his words in that I found I had new pets waiting for me the next time I RB'd with Nao. With her help, I was able to set them up. It was nice to finally get an Ice and Thunder Dragon. I had a very interesting conversation with Nao while setting up the extra horses.

"Jack … I was wondering … why the extra horses? I mean you have plenty enough horses already to be able to ride for a full 24 hours so why the extra horses? Not for inventory slots, certain dogs would have bigger inventory slots."

I looked into Nao's beautiful blue eyes and replied, "They are for you. I want to go riding with you and hoped you could use them along with the others for that."

Nao's cheeks turned red as she replied, "Jack! You know that I can't. As much as I would like to there is no way Morrighan will let me. In addition, you can't call out more than one pet at a time. Also I don't have a physical form in Erinn except on very rare occasions."

"Did I say in Erinn? I was talking about my homestead when I get it big enough."

"Jack, you understand you can only call one pet at a time don't you?"

"Hmm, couldn't the Goddess fix it where you can call my pets as well while on my homestead?"

Suddenly Nao got nervous and worried, "Jack, you do understand such request demands payment right?"

"You mean I must fight another glitched fomor. What will it be this time?"

"You are serious about this aren't you? Remember what that glitched Glas did to you?"

I remembered being bed ridden on my homestead until I healed naturally, which is a change for me. I still wanted this and I can tell Nao did too but was scared about me getting hurt or worse. "Look I understand how you feel but …"

Nao began to cry, "You know the Golems on Ceo Island?"

"I have fought them before. Lost every time though. Why?"

"Well to get what you are suggesting, all the Golems on the Island will be glitched. When that happens, Morrighan will instantly transport the entire Island into the pocket dimension near you homestead. Once there it will become a flyable pet zone. You must solo fight every Golem and clear it before what you asked will be granted."

"The Goddess is not asking for much, is she?" I asked sarcastically.

"The Goddess is not controlling this. She is looking into that," replied Nao back at me.

"Yet she knows which task I must overcome when I make request such as this one."

"She would not be much of a Goddess if she did not know every aspect of life in Erinn would she? Still the one thing that still baffles even her is who is controlling your strings so to speak. For that we are sorry."

Jack stepped up to her and softly said, "There is no need to apologize. If anything, I should be the one to apologize for showing impertinence towards her in these trying times. Still the price this time is making me rethink my request. May I have time to reconsider?"

"Yes you may as you had not put in an official request. Is there a request you wish to make officially?"

"Well I was wondering if it could be set up where I can choose which time I can observe and when. When I'm with the other militants I guess game time should be strictly a standard I can't deviate from but when I am alone I may wish to recognize real Erinn time meaning an hour is an hour."

Nao chuckled a little, "The admin told us you might make this request and he said it was do-able however, he also said he will set it up after you pass our test which is three glitched Hell Hounds located in a special Math dungeon I can teleport you to right away."

Since I was already dressed for battle, all I had to do to prepare was don my Spirit weapon and Shield. After doing so, I quickly glanced at Nao who teleported us in the Math dungeon right at the boss room door, "Wait, you teleported US directly to the boss room?"

"As you know, the Goddess would have to teleport the dungeon up to the pocket dimension. After some discussion with the admin, they decided to only teleport the room in question pertaining the glitched Fomor. Glitched NPC's and Players will be teleported to a special room inside the Citadel. You will call it an arena. There you will fight those type of fights otherwise you have to do it on the fomors home turf."

"OK, I got it. Time for a little less chit-chat and more action. JUNI!"

"Yes, MiLord!"

"I wish to try to cleanse the first of these three glitched Hellhounds. Is that possible?"

"I already told you that it is."

"Good."

I then triggered the door to open. Since I have been stuck here, I triggered multiple boss' rooms, too many for me to count but the first one was normal Abby, the simplest one to beat. I knew by now I could do it. In fact there is little difference in what I could do now verses what I could do back when I could log off.

I soon noticed the hounds very quickly had a reddish tint to them. I gulped hoping they did not have any special new abilities to go with their glitched states. My hopes were dashed when they started to run at incredible speeds. What made their new speed more menacing were the red flames coming from them. On a lark I tossed a pebble so it would hit the flames, it disintegrated instantly. I was glad no other player was trapped inside this dungeon needing rescuing. I was having a tough time as it is keeping myself safe, if I had to worry about another person, I might not make it out and I know in these fights to lose is to be deleted.

"Milord!"

"Jack! Just call me Jack. What is it, Juni?"

"Jack I believe I can withstand those flames with my cleansing magic. We will be killing two birds with one stone. Even if they cannot be cleansed maybe you can land a solid strike on them using me."

I quickly got my Mace out. I noticed it is emitting what appears to be yellow energy at an alarming rate. I deduced it must be the cleansing magic. It took some doing but I managed to score a hit with the mace. The result was sending that particular Hellhound flying into the nearby wall. This action had the affect of halting the other two hounds in their tracks for the first time since the battle began.

I thought I would have an easier time but I was wrong. They started to send out fireballs at me at an alarming rate of speed. It was as if they did not have a cool down time in between spells. What was even worse was these were not ordinary fireballs. They were the red fire type meaning one hit from them and I would be instantly deleted. I hesitated to use my shield in fear of it being deleted. I managed to block a couple of the blasts with Juni the mace but my luck was not going to hold out for long.

"Why are you not using your new shield, Jack?" asked Juni.

"Because it will get deleted if it gets hit."

"Because of the high quality of that particular shield I can imbue it with some of my power that should protect it from the red flames. I would not be able to do so with your old shield, however. Danster must have seen this coming when he gave you that shield."

Danster happens to be one of the best Smiths in the game. He came to my homestead a few weeks back and asked if I still have to battle glitched fomors. When I told him yes, he opened a trade screen. What I saw blew me away. I familiarized myself with all the weapons and armor the game offers. This shield was not on the list however; its states were even better than the previous shield he gave me, the Demonic Fear Shield. This shield has a defense of 8 and protection of 5. It further said it s repair cost would be the same of a basic round shield Ferghus sells.

Dan told me the Admin gave him the plans for it a while back and said it was for me. He further told Danster he was one of the few capable of completing the Shield. It is a one of a kind shield, which did not have a name. The shield was designed with my abilities in mind. I can toss it like a Frisbee and it comes back to me like a boomerang. No other player can toss a shield. A normal player can only throw ninja equipment to my knowledge but it has restrictions, which this shield does not. The materials that are in the shield are not copper nor iron, its mythril, silver, and some unknown metal the admin gave him.

I quickly got the shield out and it worked. I was able to block the Red Flames with the shield. However, I was not making any headway. I was too focused on surviving this battle instead of winning it. At this rate, it would only be a matter of time before I get hit.

I knew I had to change the flow of the battle. With this in mind, I flung the shield. I had to take risks to change the flow. Normal attacks just were not doing it. As the shield flew, it created a high pitch whistling sound. Sure enough, it was just what I needed to distract those hellhounds.

I got close enough to the downed Hellhound to use the mace on it. Juni remembered I wanted to try to cleanse it. She emitted a strange yellowish light that went thru the affected hellhound. It worked, the hellhound was cleansed, however, the beast disintegrated before my eyes.

"Juni, report. How did it disintegrate?"

Juni materialized, "Jack these are hellhounds. Part of the cleansing magic of the mace is holy magic. That much holy magic surging within the hellhound had a very negative effect."

"In that case, can you send a cleansing pulse that would affect all creatures in this chamber?"

"Yes and No. Yes is it was possible but no I cannot. While I can do just that, the cleansing spell has a very long cool down time meaning you can only use it once an Erinn day."

I knew I could not rely on the cleansing magic for the rest of the battle. Thankfully, the other two hellhounds decided to be more cautious now. I was able to dispatch them now using normal tactics.

I said the shield comes back to me like a boomerang. Well tossing it was the easy part but catching it was proving hazardous. I usually had to wait until the shield comes to a stop itself. The one time I tried to catch it in combat, I went flying with it right into a dungeon wall hard. Evidently, I need practice with it. Looks like I need to find a secluded place in Iria again, sigh.

When I opened the chest in the treasure room, I nearly fainted from what was inside. It was Royal Knight Armor. I have been wanting this armor ever since it was introduced but to get it I would have to do tons of BORING stuff so I basically told myself it was out of my reach. Royal Knight Armor has a defense of 11 and a protection of 5. That alone makes it extremely desirable but what sets it apart is that it also has upgradable magical defense (3) and protection (2) capabilities. I already have a plan for its upgrades that will not take away from its already high durability (20) but enhances all the stats.

I loved the colors. The breastplate was black but it had glossy and flat surfaces, which made it appear two-tone. The leggings and sleeves were deep dark blue almost like black but when put together the blues shines through. The skirting was off white. In all, I think someone went out of their way to make it look like the spika armor I already wear.

I considered at one time getting the Royal Knight Boots and gauntlets to make it a complete set until I found out that it does not get a complete set stat boost like other sets get. I was happy to hear that since these spika boots were a gift from Danster anyways and the colors match the breastplate perfectly. Truth be told, there was no big deal stat gain by having the Royal Knight gauntlets over the snake gauntlets as well and I prefer the styling of the snake gauntlets better. The colors match the armor as well.

A/N

I am going to stop things here as I ran out of Ideas. I wanted to upgrade his equipment though as he will be involved in huge fights in the future and will have to be able to defend himself properly. Maybe in the future chapters the 'flow' will be better. Oh, and one more thing, can anyone tell me the inspiration I had behind his new shield? Can someone recommend a good name for it?