9] Onto more Tasteful Findings

Pixie POV

Guild formed, and players steadily started coming, asking to enter the Guild, Thankfully, one of dad's Pals took in to run the HR side of Guild management with the help of a Female player me and mom were sure was one of her Germanian Coworkers, why she took to the aesthetic of a Female Secretary was something Fae just gave up on dissuading that player from doing. For now, most Players of the guild can go do what they so want, of course, making Parties is ok, and a small hint that building team rapport with other than your usual Party pals would be good was left by me as I went to look around.

The Area safe for players was very Uniform, very few out of the norm spots were present, but all were in areas in the Outer areas. Hidden quests however weren't exactly hidden in such obvious manner. So I went to walk around all of it, and guess that my usual round of Dice rolls happened. In a big house located around a somewhat "luxurious" area, medium or bigger homes, the NPC shops that sell more niche or more powerful basic Potions at a steep price tag.

A voice called me, the door that seemed to not open creaked open in a weird eerie way, since this screams a special quest or maybe merely a unique surprise, even if a Trolling trap, I enter. Following the voice feedback, my trip inside ended at what one would judge to be a Dusty Studio used by the owner of said house, and an old man was there, sitting behind that imposing Desk.

"Ah, finally! Someone who walks a similar path. Maybe you will be worthy my legacy."

[Quest: Alos Cardin Legacy I]

A multistage quest? I accept it.

"Great, I like your courage, go search for those who Hunt, and Hunt them. Come back after you hunted them all."

Leaving the house, with only that Vague explanation, I start by looking around the safe area, quickly seeing no results, I decide to see what Foo- Enemies I need to kill. It was a bit of a tricky affair, but I found something that I am sure is what I need to Kill, instead of a Party of Players from a weird Guild by the Name Cactus Garden, the leader being a damn Chuuni didn't help their case.

Human NPCs, dressed in what one may say is a cliché Hollywood Hellsing Vampire Hunter attire, no less than 30, likely 50. Oh well, their bad day, but NPCs have no rights, and it's not cannibalism if they are just Dumb Ais anyways. Itadaki- Time to dance.

{One Merciless Slaughter of Enemy NPCs later…}

The devs are foodies or something? Vampire Hunters tasting like a traditional Dacian Stew? Don't mind me then, but damn, Spicy poison and liquid Silver that tasted like powdered Curry, just the extra flavor I wanted. Quest window popped up when I killed my 165th Hunter, so I made my Return trip. That yielded Kobolds, Trap spiders, Snakes, flaming moths and a few more new Foo- Monsters for my guide.

"Good. You show promise. Hope you are truly worth my attention."

[Alos Cardin Legacy II]

I accept, and seems my next challenge is rather, finding and catching this old man's Butler. Bastard is quick, I give him that, and seems he is oftenly changing hiding places. But this challenge is… for a different set of skills. Place is Dusty, smells like some bad brand of Cologne, not to say about the fact this crappy home of his seems able of lifting copious amounts of Dust at any motion of mine. But like my mother, having good senses is just the tip of the Iceberg.

"Traditional Black tea leaves…. Mild roast. Classic Albish blend. Got you."

A Smell that was part of a good memory of mine when I went to the Global VMB Tournament in Germania. He LOVED tea, and that blend was the one before the match we ended with second place as a team. And this challenge just wants you to chase that sucker by Smell or other not so Visual hints? You GAVE me this Quest stage.

"Found you!"

Of course he tried to run, except I made a wall of Sticky vines, lumped all furniture in front the windows, and even laid a remote Bomb on the Chimney of this room's fireplace. That this guy would be in the closet of his master's Bedroom…. Is there a joke I am missing? Quest was done, so I returned to that old bones for the next stage.

"HAHAHA. Good! VERY Good! Next is the Very last, come."

The last quest was in the Spacious and totally not creepy Basement of this bastard, it was dark as crap as well. Oh well.

[Quest: Aloscard Legacy: Monster with a Heart]

The description was as helpful as a Frog would be in a War, of no use. But I can guess what I must do.

"For the last task before I give you my Legacy, FIGHT ME."

The barely present Lights die, a fight in the Dark? Ha! Mike's HALO drop exercises in Sybrian Winter at Night would be harder. And I give my approval to the Developer of this guy, my mother would do that as well, No vision? Why need that when the bastard smells like a fucking WAR MANIAC? Ah, oops, my not so nice Smile was present. Manners Adie, Manners.

…

The fight was fun. A Pain in the ass fun thing. But I did it, he wanted to Bite me? Don't go trying my own spells on me, bastard. But his HP is 0, so now he is not Hostile anymore, and I did that by Biting him. Ha! I outvampired THE Vampire.

"HA… cough…. PERFECT. You my Lady, is worthy inheriting my Legacy! Take it, as well as an extra, you truly are a Monster that still holds a Human Heart, Soul."

[Skill Acquired: Legacy of Aloscard]

[Title Acquired: Monster with a Human Heart]

Title is, beat this specific last quest via a specific HP drain attack. The Skill this quest gave me is…, Boosts my Blood spell library, the more I kill enemies suffering from Bleeding status or with a HP drain attack, it builds a counter, if my HP drops to 0, I gets instantly revived at full HP and with 5 seconds unable to be damaged at the cost of 50 of those in the counter. Each subsequent death requires 50 extra from the counter, and it accumulates, refreshes once per in-game day.

The Title Raises my Crit chance with HP drain attacks or EVIL type skills, while also improving Healing and Potions. And it works better in doing those at either Enemy or allied Players. Odd, but it feels very PvP focused. Anyways, yay, more powers, now to eat something to get this Garlic taste off my mouth.

Fae POV

Exploring solo is fine, I would like to see if that Schwartz fella that played with Pixie back in her VMB days was like she told us, but he quickly went to grind resources for the Elenium wing of the Guild. Ah well, I can still enjoy this calm and free trip around, earning Devourer wasn't so bad, not when you can just dump an awful lot of Gold in Potions for HP and any possible Status debuff, so was Foul Eater. Now? I am walking around a Mist covered forest.

"A clearing? No, Ruins of some building."

The forest was sparse, merely keeping the pace, finding the slightly worn and taken by vegetation path that led here wasn't troublesome, these Developers are odd and very cheeky, few even in Military service would have the skills to notice that detail. The "ruins" were well kept, it was a castle, like those you see that still held up in Germania or Imperial successor states.

Entering it, it's a dungeon, but the type is peculiar. Stealth? And Plenty to explore? Don't challenge me you damn game Developers. Rushing isn't wise, but if there's a hidden timer, then speed and stealth are a must. But I wouldn't been THE best Aerial Mage ever as well as such Legendary existence of my Life if I didn't learn to use my superb Omnidisciplinary nature. So I manage to cruise this Dungeon without ever slowing, much less having the alarm happen.

My first aim was climb, and I did, many locked doors, many made of Heavy and thick Steel, inspecting if there's noises behind those, I evade most as there's clearly monsters imprisoned. As I manage to arrive at the upper area, it becomes clear this part was where some staff lived, maybe this castle had once been repurposed as a lab for insane scientists to use old Pre-Orb rituals that created the monsters that now patrol these walls.

But that was past what Fae wanted to bother with, so she went up and up, lockpicking those doors when she thought was safe, looted some Goodies, including some antique guns that would probably be of Interest to Hektor and the Elenium wing guys. Then, she finds one oddly super security locked door, the frame was like those Super reinforced Doors that held monsters. But I didn't look like the kind of Room for whoever once controlled this place.

It opened, after a nice effort, now that's something Fae liked, a nice challenge over a rising one. Inside was… a normal dorm for a person, looking around and searching, she decided that maybe there's a special easter egg here. And there was, once she arranged some weird wooden statues of a little Girl in proper order in the hidden shrine inside that closet, a Body Pillow spawned, one that had a Red Haired Mahou shoujo on one side, and when she lightly boped it, it turns into a 3m version with a Curvaceous Tall lady that seemed made of a piece of the cosmos.

"Loot is loot I guess."

Once she stored it, she got to the room of the Head honcho of what had been once a Lab for Mad scientists. There, she found little aside the Loot chest, that earned her a Unique series set. Twin Short blades, one that beamed a Night skyscape, the Other a Brilliant cosmos during daylight, yet seemed to echo her own blue eyes of her IRL body. The armor was a strange set of Black Germanian Style Uniform, the set had Boots, pants and a Thick upper set of a Leather jacket White Shirt and Black Gloves that came just shy of her Elbows. For her head, a Pair of Heavy-duty desert type Tinted Googles.

"For the love of Mike, this makes me look like those Weird Ghostapo of Old Hollywood movies of a WW2 supernatural Nazi Germany."

Still, it was an Unique series and even were both Indestructible as well had Empathic Growth, so the more she used, the more this gear would grow alongside her. So she worn it immediately, and as she looked over the small pile of Dusty papers, she sees one thing. She pulls it out and sees it.

"Garbled mess, unreadable, likely to avoid issues by some overly sensitive loser of the web."

[Quest: Finding the Sterneweg]

So a special Quest hidden INSIDE a dungeon? Talk about convoluted ideas, and Germanian 'Path of the Stars'? what in the Mike these guys were taking as they designed this? Whatever, quest is a quest. I start it, and my first bet is…. Underground.

Which probably was a mix of hit and miss. For one, YES, I did find more clues, for another, Ugly shit is being kind to whatever abominations those monstrosities are. Once I conclude there'll be no more clues, I leave for good this dungeon. And make a Beeline for my next target Slash destination. A Village near this castle. The NPCs there seem very peaceful and are non hostile, they're human after all, despite the weird color of skin. Soon, I find the actual place I need to be.

"What an illustrious Crypt."

Talking to those previous NPCs and doing some simple VN style minigame to build charisma with them, I had earned a key item, better do shit peacefully when possible than go around Blasting things or enacting Mass WMD warfare. (Somewhere else, maple sneezes). The text was weird, but interacting with the carved text on the crypt doo as I held the paper given to me by those NPCs, it glows for a second, and those Doors open. The Sky becomes dark, nighttime even, and in the corner of the tree filled landscape, a weird Moon thingy stalks this area.

Walking down those steps, darkness takes over, and even the once powerful Store-bought torch and Elenium made Torchlights fail to dent it. As I arrive at the first and last underground Floor, pitch black darkness is replaced by the eerie and somewhat emotional Night and moonlit ambiance, in front of a Cane stuck into the Lid of a tomb, a Female, human, yet she's dressed in the most absurd ways for a game like NWO aesthetic wise, well, I had been rewarded this Imperial Germanian style Unique series, guess the devs care little about aesthetic uniformity on ALL elements.

Her bust is damn near Elya levels, and the face is covered by a gas mask with Deep tinted Visors, the stahlhelm just completely keep whoever this person is hidden, as does the many layers of Thick Imperial gear tinted a Pure Black. That she holds a Shovel made of monolithic Metal by the looks is merely an Extra.

"Yet another… comes to steal my Lady's memento…"

Fight is imminent, so I ready myself, and avoids such a lightning-fast lunge by a mere hair's breadth. Ah yes, games be like that. My best Smile comes out, but my enemy is an NPC, she won't recognize it. And so…. I began my dance with this Mysterious Lady of Monstrous Strength.

…

How long have I been at this? No matter, I am very, VERY Happy. Flight or not, this is peak fighting to avoid defeat, my foe is in her last and most dangerous state, only one more attack and I can end this. But I am also at the same problem, too many attacks and no time to use a Potion, so we go on. But one side is a Computer with a VERY limited AI, and her foes is THE BEST when it came to DEADLY combat. So once she opens a gap I recognized as part of a pattern, she was done for.

[DOUBLE SLASH]

As if by coincidence, our fight had ended right where she had initially stood, in perpetual Guard of that cane. AI or not, this was some exceptional fight, so she rests her bloodied head in my lap. And so, her defeat speech comes.

"Ah… my lady…. I failed you…."

The helmet drops, revealing light Brown hair, waitafuckingdamninstanthere.

"… You… I see… after all this time…."

Then the mask starts dropping, and I see a face I am NOT READY to look at again and-

She becomes bits of light. Not before her voice echoes the last part she spoke

"Welcome back… my Lady."

[Unique Special Hidden Quest: Rebirth of the Lady completed]

[Title Acquired: Lady of Stars]

[Title Acquired: Master of Schwarztein]

[Skill Acquired: Lady of Stars]

[Skill Acquired: Projekte creation]

[Item Acquired: Memento of your Most loyal]

[Special Quest activated: ?]

That's a crap ton of shit, and damned be it, I won't leave one pixel or bit of data unturned here. That Done, I make a return to the Guild.

NWO Developer Studio Office

'AHHHHHHHH."

"What in the fuck? Want to make me deaf? What happened? Deadly Bug? SAO glitch? Someone hacked our source code?"

"No….. SOMEONE found THAT."

"Ohhh crap, management will NOT BE HAPPY."

The commotion attracts the attention of the other members on that shift, who all collectively crap their pants.

"Shit, WHO KEPT that damn thing in? Wasn't that supposed to be a JOKE?"

'Yeah, I'm checking the Logs, but for now-"

The Shift head's phone buzz, he picks and sees it's a message from above. He reads, then silence, one minute, two, until all present there pressure him.

"Upper management said to let it be."

"WHAT?"

A collective scream comes, unbelievable.

"Yeah, Pal higher above got me this info, three VERY big Investors saw that thing come just now, guess someone on those Investors side play the game, they got amused and approved, even asked the CEO if that had been planned. Sooooo… keep it."

The rest of the shift, all present working only had one question, WHO'RE those Investors?