Hello, Hello.

Long break, I know, and it's probably going to be longer still. I'm currently working on my BA thesis, and my promotor basically decided to ignore me for a month telling me that everything about my work is fine, only to end up telling me that I basically must rewrite like the majority of my work right before the deadline.

Now, I'm struggling to have my work finished for the second deadline, and dealing with the exams.

Hopefully, I will be able to do that without any issues.

Because of that, be prepared for a long (multiple months) break, with some irregular chapters in the middle, before I return to my typical update schedule.

I hope, it won't be too bad.

Anyway, chapter go!


Welcome to the ATGMatches message boards.
You are currently logged in, Arch06Knight1
You are viewing:
• Threads you have replied to
• AND Threads that have new replies
• OR private message conversations with new replies
• Thread OP is displayed.
• Fifteen posts per page
• Last ten messages in private message history.
• Threads and private messages are ordered chronologically.

Topic: A New Thread
In: Boards ► General Discussion
TheArtConnoisseur (Original Poster)
Posted On Oct 6th AW94:
Am I the only one that's feeling a bit miffed that the Arena of The Great doesn't have any soundtrack?
It is a great gamemode that has got me hooked, but whenever I play it I can't help but feel that's something missing. I believe that music is that thing, and that ATG could benefit greatly by adding it in a new update or patch. I know it certainly would make the game feel so much better. Just imagine how much better this game would have been if it came with a good fitting music to pump you up.

(Showing page 1 of 5)

►LuggyGoHabby (Unverified Tester)
Replied On Oct 6th AW94:
look at tht snob
complaing abut osts in mod liek some atlas elite

►xxGReeneRG_CHurCHxx
Replied On Oct 6th AW94:
Please, learn how to spell before polluting this forum with your bad grammar, you plebeian.

►LuggyGoHabby (Unverified Tester)
Replied On Oct 6th AW94:
u mad gremmarian atlesian

►xxGReeneRG_CHurCHxx
Replied On Oct 6th AW94:
Urgh...

►HappyNEWby
Replied On Oct 6th AW94:
Ignoring the grammar war that's currently happening. Doesn't ATG have music already? it uses the soundtrack from the original game.

►TheArtConnoisseur (Original Poster)
Replied On Oct 6th AW94:
Yeah, but it doesn't really fit the gamemode. It's clearly made for something completely different, and it doesn't work for the ATG.

►LKing_Doom01
Replied On Oct 6th AW94:
I donno. Personally i think the game soundtrack fits good enough. It makes you feel like your at war fighting agaisnt enemy faction.

►XSpeed_AuraManX
Replied On Oct 6th AW94:
ye i think it fits 2

►HappyNEWby
Replied On Oct 6th AW94:
Woah, that was a fast response

►TheArtConnoisseur (Original Poster)
Replied On Oct 6th AW94:
That's the issue, however. The Arena of the Great isn't supposed to be a big war between two huge factions but a duel between elite teams. The current soundtrack is kinda like what would happen if a war music was played during a Vytal festival, it just doesn't work.

►LKing_Doom01
Replied On Oct 6th AW94:
OK i can see that. But what would you do to fix tht tho. ATG is a mod at best and i dobt the dev team has the people to do the music

►BollyPolly96
Replied On Oct 6th AW94:
they could commision smn

►HappyNEWby
Replied On Oct 6th AW94:
Who would they commision tho?

►BollyPolly96
Replied On Oct 6th AW94:
i dunno. there is this new atlas girl who will have her first concert soon.
maybe her? they could sell it as some srt of poblicity deal

End of Page. 1, 2, 3, 4, 5

(...)

Their base was being invaded.

Enemy soldiers were rushing in from every possible entrance after four worthy opponents had left their defences completely destroyed. The only thing they could do at this point was struggle, as they fought with all their might against the unending horde of foes.

"Protect the west entrance!" Weiss shouted, seeing another wave of enemies advancing on them.

It has been the first time they've been in a situation as dire as this one.

"I'm on it!" Chammy shouted back as she rushed to stop the approaching foes.

All their experience and skill mattered little at this point when they were already in a losing position. The fact that they didn't experience such tremendous loss before only made their inability to do anything more pronounced.

It was a battle they couldn't win.

"Just hold on for a little longer, guys!" Knight shouted frantically, struggling on the other side of the front. "I'm already at their base, and it doesn't have many health points left, either!"

"Define a little longer!" Weiss demanded.

There were four opponents actively pushing against their base—a base that was already on its last legs, anyway—and their fourth teammate was idle since the beginning of the game, almost as if they were dead.

If that 'little longer' was going to be any significant amount of time, they were practically doomed to lose.

"Like three minutes tops!" Knight shouted.

Weiss cursed under her breath.

The final tower protecting the core of their base has just been destroyed by one of their opponents, and waves of minions were moving into their territory uninterrupted. At this point, they would struggle with surviving a single minute, let alone holding on for three of them.

"We can't give you that much!" Chammy yelled, panicking at the approaching defeat.

They heard Knight click his tongue in annoyance.

"In that case, simply hold on for as long as you can!" Knight shouted back. "The battle is not yet lost! We are moments away from victory as well. Just focus on protecting the base as much as you can."

"We're already doing that!" Chammy shouted frantically.

Weiss snorted.

The situation might have been dire, but the banter between her friends never ceased to lift her spirits. It didn't matter that they were currently barely holding on to their survival or that their enemies were seconds away from victory.

Her positive mood was shaken almost as quickly as it was raised, however, as a powerful attack flew right past her and directly towards their base centre.

She couldn't do anything to stop it.

Chammy was also too far away from the attack to do anything about it.

It was powerful enough to finish them off.

It hit their base with no issues.

A giant 'game over' message appeared in the middle of all their screens as the attack destroyed their base and lost them the game.

"No!" Chammy screamed in anguish.

"It appears that we've lost." Weiss sighed painfully while doing her absolute best to hide all of her dismay from her friends—she wasn't a sore loser, after all. "At the very least, nobody can say that it wasn't a great game."

If the number of 'GG's and multiple different messages of disbelief currently being displayed in the chat were anything to go by, their opponents thought that it was an amazing game, too.

It was only a pity that they didn't manage to win it.

"Our first genuine defeat, huh?" Knight asked.

Weiss couldn't help but raise one of her eyebrows a little in curiosity.

Somehow—she certainly couldn't comprehend how—her friend managed to sound more amused at the new experience rather than dismayed at their loss. It was almost like he didn't consider losing to be a big deal.

In all honesty, she was a little bit jealous of that.

Although she still firmly believed that one couldn't accomplish many things if they weren't competitive enough, even she had to admit that being more relaxed about such things made life that much easier.

Unfortunately, as a Schnee, she couldn't afford to adopt such an attitude.

"This defeat didn't count, Knight." Chammy grumbled, snapping Weiss out of her thoughts. "There were only three of us against a full team of four, and we agreed to play more risky because you have less time than usual. If anything, we simply allowed our opponents to win; it wasn't a loss."

Weiss nodded without saying anything.

Her friend was right; they couldn't be faulted for losing that match when they had so many disadvantages piled on top of them. Their opponents were practically cheating against them, and their defeat wasn't a big deal. There was no reason to consider the defeat valid.

Of course, she wasn't going to say anything like that out loud.

She had a reputation to maintain.

"Didn't you say something similar the last time we lost, too?" Knight asked.

Weiss grimaced a little, remembering their real first defeat in Arena of the Great.

It had happened around a month or two ago. They were all a little bit overconfident in their abilities from their long win streak back then and thought they could defeat their foes without a fourth teammate. Sufficed to say, with the average player of Arena of the Great slowly becoming better and better over the last few months, their two additional years of experience were no longer enough to breach the gap of not having a full team on their side.

The fact that all of them had been tired from their huntsman and huntress training back then hadn't helped their chances at victory, either.

"Well, our previous loss didn't count!" Chammy argued.

"Of course, it didn't." Knight hummed.

Weiss chuckled quietly.

"Oh, shut it, Knight." Chammy groaned, and Weiss had the impression that her female friend was rolling her eyes right now. "Now, tell us, why do you need to hurry up today? You said that it might actually be good news this time, especially for us. I have to say, I'm curious about that."

Weiss leaned forward towards her computer, also curious about the news her friend had in store for them.

Usually, whenever one of them had to cut their gaming sessions short, it was for bad, or at least annoying, reasons. All the times she had to stop their session quicker than usual for the concert preparations were great examples of that, so hearing about actually positive reasons for shortening their gaming sessions was a breath of fresh air.

"Right, I almost forgot about that." Knight chuckled a little. "Okay, long story short, my family and I are going on a vacation out of the kingdom, and we will be leaving tomorrow morning. We are hoping to arrive at our destination by the next evening."

Weiss hummed quietly as she went over the information.

That wasn't exactly what she expected.

"Okay?" Chammy said in a confused tone. "That's great for you, I guess. I don't see how that's good news for me and Snow, though."

Weiss nodded her head, agreeing with her friend.

Knight chuckled once more, this time sounding far more excited about something.

"The great news is that the kingdom we are visiting is Atlas."

An excited gasp resounded from Weiss's headphones.

"No way, really?!" Chammy asked excitedly before immediately asking more questions in excitement. "How long will you be here? Where will you be staying? Will you have the chance to meet me?"

"Uhm, yeah, really." Knight answered a little awkwardly.

"That's great!" Chammy exclaimed in a way that made it almost physically possible to hear the grin forming on her face. "Now, answer all the other questions I had for you. Snow and I need more information here, Knight."

Weiss nodded her head.

"Yes, I would love to know more about your visit, as well." She said, before her expression turned a tad wistful. "Although I probably won't be able to get my parents' permission to meet up with you, I wouldn't mind knowing a bit more about your trip."

"Okay, okay." Knight grumbled as he tried to remember all the questions Chammy had asked him. "I will be at Atlas for a whole month starting tomorrow; it's a proper family vacation for us. I will be staying in one of the cheaper hotels with my family, and I'm pretty sure there won't be any issues meeting you. As long as we will be able to recognise each other in real life, that is."

"That's nice." Chammy said with a smile. "I can't wait to finally have the chance to meet you IRL, Knight. Although it's a bit of a pity that you won't be there to meet with us there, Snow, Snow?"

Weiss frowned, ignoring the probing question from her friend.

The date of Knight's stay in Atlas felt weirdly familiar. It seemed as if it was related to her own timetable, actually. In fact, she felt that it coincided with her own plans a little bit too closely for it to be a coincidence.

She briefly glanced at the calendar on her computer to check if she was right.

"You will be visiting Atlas for the public concert of Weiss Schnee, right?" Weiss asked, careful not to reveal that she was talking about herself. "If I remember correctly, she will be giving it near the end of your stay."

"Uhm..." Knight hesitated awkwardly, all but confirming her suspicion.

Weiss suppressed a sigh.

It made sense that Knight was awkward about admitting that the reason behind his trip to Atlas was her concert. After all, it was her family that caused so much harm to their third friend, and the bitter feelings she felt towards them most definitely extended to her as well.

The idea that the main reason her friend was visiting her city was to attend a concert of the heiress to the family that killed her parents must have been grating for Chammy.

To be perfectly honest, such a situation would have bothered her immensely, too.

"Are you serious, Knight?" Chammy demanded.

"Look." Knight started, trying to defend himself. "I know that you dislike the Schnee family and that the current leader of their company has done a lot of terrible things. However, I don't think we should hate their children as much as their parents. They are only around our age."

"It doesn't change the fact that you are directly supporting the SDC by getting the ticket for that concert." Chammy argued.

"Hey, it's not like I paid for those tickets." Knight explained. "My father received the ticket as a reward for one of his missions back in Atlas. It isn't like we can simply give away one huge family ticket to anyone. Besides, even if I were against it, my sisters would have a majority in the family vote anyway. Like it or not, this is the first concert of a possible future music celebrity in the world. There's no way my sisters would give up on something like that."

In her personal opinion, Weiss sincerely doubted she was ever going to become a celebrity through her songs, especially when she planned to make her performance as unimpressive as possible.

In fact, she actively wished her singing wasn't going to be successful at all.

A singing career would only take away her time from interacting with her friends and playing video games.

It wasn't something she was willing to do.

"SDC is responsible for hundreds of faunus working to near exhaustion for minimal pay every day of the week." Chammy said, continuing her argument. "On top of that, that company kills off any possible competition before it can even grow to challenge them. They are cruel bullies who shouldn't be anywhere near as rich as they currently are."

Weiss winced.

She knew about a lot of the terrible stuff that her father did—it was difficult to not know about those things when she was his daughter, and one of her best friends was affected by it at the same time—but hearing it all laid bare like that stung quite a bit.

The fact that Chammy knew so much about the terrible things her family did didn't surprise her at all.

Usually, they didn't talk about the stuff SDC did because it was something of a sore subject for at least two of them. Nonetheless, there was no way her friend didn't research more into her family's crimes after the deaths of her parents.

There were probably countless things about SDC's terrible practices that Chammy could have learned by simply searching the internet.

It was all without mentioning all the rumours and information her friend must have gotten from all the people who were helping her survive. Chammy was being aided by a lot of retired miners and people that typical low-income faunus workers might have known.

A sigh escaped Weiss.

"It's not going to be that bad, Chammy." She said.

"What do you mean?" Chammy asked.

"The SDC isn't going to be getting almost any money from that concert." Weiss answered. "Most of the income from that event will be going to different charities, and the company itself is undoubtedly prepared to lose money for this."

"How can you be so sure of that?"

Weiss sighed again.

The exact reasons for that were lectures that she had to sit through on multiple lessons, from business to music, and right now she likely knew most of them by heart.

"This is the first concert by a person who's already famous for being rich." Weiss explained patiently. "The SDC doesn't need more money than they already have, certainly not from sources of income as risky as concerts. They only need publicity for their new star, Weiss Schnee. By giving away almost all the income to charity, they ensure that people don't have to morally struggle to buy the expensive tickets. On top of that, it will also be a great PR boost for the first public performance of the SDC heiress, making her look better than some spoilt girl who only cares about money."

Silence met her explanation as her friends tried to comprehend her words without the experience of having hours of classes covering all the different aspects of business behind their belts.

"Uhm..." Chammy struggled to say anything.

"That's..." Knight stopped for a second, looking for words. "...an exhaustive answer?"

"I spent at least a dozen hours covering this exact situation in multiple of my lessons." Weiss answered the unasked question. "If you think my explanation was bad, you should have listened to one of my teachers talking about it."

"Good to know." Chammy said.

Weiss let out a breath of relief.

"Anyway, Knight won't be helping the SDC much by going to that concert." She summarised. "In fact, I'm pretty sure that his attendance will be a net negative for the company since he will be taking away the places usually reserved for critics and influencers without being one. Also, Knight can always write a negative review after listening to the concert if he doesn't want to support Schnee's."

Negative reviews would also help her get out of her singing career, but that's beside the point.

"See, it won't be that bad, Chammy." Knight said.

Chammy grumbled.

"I still don't like it."

Another sigh escaped Weiss.

"At least you will have the chance to meet up with Knight, Chammy." She said. "I, on the other hand, will be stuck in my home for the foreseeable future, forced to study and practice by my family."

Chammy chuckled.

"Yeah, I guess there are quite a few good things about Knight's visit to Atlas."

"Of course, there are." Knight said proudly before pausing for a moment as he realised something. "Wait, did you just suggest that you didn't think there were any positives to my visit before?"

"I-I didn't." Chammy said defensively.

Weiss laughed cheerfully.

It was good to know that her friends were going to spend the upcoming month happily. The only things that awaited her that month were countless rehearsals of her concert and multiple formal parties she would have to attend to advertise her career.

She couldn't help but wince quietly.

It wasn't going to be a pleasant month; she just knew it.

Hopefully, after it was over, she wouldn't need to worry about such things ever again.

With a subtle grin forming on her face, she looked at the game that was still opened before her and all the messages of disbelief their opponents had written after they had defeated them.

Being famous was great and all, but she would rather gain her fame with her gaming skills instead of the hours of practice she was forced to put into her singing.

In the end, it was gaming that allowed her to find people she could rely upon, and if there was one thing her dysfunctional family managed to teach her, it was that one needed companions if they wished to aim for the top.

(...)

The journey to Atlas was an incredibly uncomfortable and inconvenient affair for the Arc family.

They were going on a trip with the entire family, and they weren't rich enough to have a private mode of transportation that could take them to a different kingdom. As a result, they were forced to occupy a single train room, originally meant for at most six passengers, with nine people.

The fact that all of them could fit into it without having to push against each other for any insignificant amount of space was a miracle in and of itself.

Had any other group of nine random people been in the same situation as them, they would have probably ended up killing one another by the time the train was halfway to the goal, if not earlier.

It was a good thing that all of them were already used to such conditions.

As a large family with a professional huntsman responsible for providing for it, they were often invited to many distant villages and tourist spots as a thank you for all the work that the patriarch of the family did on his job.

Usually, it meant short trips with trains or bullheads nobody used, but it wasn't uncommon for them to take longer and more uncomfortable trips to places far more popular than that.

Many children in the family often complained about those irritating trips, but they still loved their destination all the same.

Personally, Jaune would count himself among those members of his family that always complained about the longer trips, but considering the place they were visiting this time, he couldn't quite bring himself to do that.

"I have to say, bro. I did not expect you to look forward to our visit to Atlas so much. You haven't complained during this trip at all. I did not think you would be a fan of the snow and cold that Atlas is famous for." Saphron—the oldest of his sisters and the blond-haired girl who was currently forced to lean against the window of the train to make space for the younger siblings—said.

Jaune turned towards his sister.

She didn't think that he would be a fan of Atlas because he most certainly wasn't. Although he didn't mind the winters or cold weather, he would still rather choose to visit other kingdoms, like Mistral or Vale, if he were to choose a place solely for the purpose of a trip.

The kingdom itself wasn't the reason he was excited, however.

"He's excited because his two online friends live in Atlas, and he hopes to meet them." Noir, one of the sisters who actually managed to snatch a sitting place for herself, explained before he could even open his mouth to say anything.

Jaune sighed.

Well, if his sisters were going to explain everything to each other anyway, then his input was unnecessary.

Noir or Blanc could accurately explain everything, anyway.

After all, out of all of his siblings, those twins probably knew him and his friends the best.

It wasn't that surprising, really; they did spend a lot of time talking with Snow, Chammy, and him when they were making Arena of the Great. It was only natural that they would know so much about him and the reason why he was glad to visit Atlas after all of that.

Unfortunately, Noir and Blanc were the only ones who knew about his friends, meaning their room got somewhat awkward as every single one of his family members immediately turned towards him with interest in their eyes.

"Really? You have friends in Atlas, Jaune?" His mom, Amelia Arc, asked with a fascinated tone. "Why didn't you tell us? Are you close with them? I'm sure we would have visited earlier if we knew."

Out of the corner of his eye, Jaune noticed the twins grinning at him and waiting for his answer as well.

It looked like he wasn't about to be rescued from the upcoming interview, no matter how much he wished for that to happen. He would have to answer all the questions on his own, and knowing his family, there were going to be a lot of questions.

"U-Uhm, yes, I do." Jaune stuttered, feeling quite a bit awkward under the attention that was directed at him. "I didn't think it was a big deal; that's why I didn't tell you. Also, I guess we are close?"

"You guess?" Charles Arc, his father, raised his eyebrow questioningly.

Jaune started feeling slightly nervous.

He knew that his parents were going to be extremely supportive of the idea of his friends, but he wasn't sure how they would react to their exact relationship. Charles and Amelia Arc were great people, but he knew very well that they weren't exactly the most familiar with things like online relationships, or any internet-reliant things for that matter.

"W-Well, we don't know each other's names or faces yet, but I'm pretty sure we can call each other best friends at this point." Jaune said.

In response to his answer, most of his sisters simply nodded their heads in understanding, while his mother merely adopted a sympathetic look towards him.

His father, on the other hand, simply stayed silent in contemplation while observing him. Jaune had no idea what was going on in his head, and frankly, he wasn't willing to make any guesses about such things.

"Jaune..." Amelia started, not knowing what to tell him.

He noticed some of his older sisters starting to cringe as their mother started to talk, but nobody had spoken. They knew that their mother's view of online relationships can be a bit old-fashioned, but they also knew that she never meant anything bad by it.

"Are they the friends that helped you with your training?" Charles asked a question before Amelia could say anything more, however.

"What?" Jaune asked for clarification, snapping his attention back to his father.

"Your huntsman training; they helped you with that, didn't they?" Charles repeated the question.

Jaune nodded his head slowly.

"You trust them, right?" Charles asked further. "The same way that they trust you. Despite not knowing how you look or even each other's names, you still trust each other, am I right?"

"Y-Yeah." Jaune answered.

His dad smiled.

"In that case, I can't wait to meet them."

His mother turned towards his dad.

"Dear." Amelia said.

Charles raised one of his arms in reassurance.

"Don't worry, honey." Charles said warmly. "Our boy trusts them, and you know that he wouldn't make friends with anyone truly bad. Besides, we do always push him to make more friends; it would be quite hypocritical of us to have issues now that he has them."

Amelia sighed.

"I guess it's true."

Jaune's expression brightened.

It very quickly turned to an expression of dread, however, as he saw mischievous smirks form on the faces of Noir and Blanc.

He knew very well what those smirks meant—he had been tricked and screwed over by his sisters too many times to not know this smirk by now—and he was scared. It was worse now because he knew exactly what his sisters wanted to do.

There was still something that the rest of the family didn't know about his online friends, after all.

It was something he didn't want to tell them just yet, and something his mother couldn't be allowed to learn, especially not in this tight room where there was no place to run away from the following conversations.

"N-No, please don't, not now." Jaune whispered, trying to plead, but his words had no effect on his sister. "I will take over your cleaning duties for the next month. No, two months, if you just keep it a secret for a little longer."

Unfortunately, even the promise of no work wasn't enough to convince

"By the way, there's one more thing you might want to know about Jaune's friends." Blanc started, sounding entirely innocent as she coldheartedly threw him to the wolves. "Both of them are girls, his age, I might add, and I'm pretty sure our little brother here might actually have a crush on one of them."

The rest of his sisters turned towards him with knowing grins on their faces.

"Good luck, kid." His dad mouthed towards him as he looked at him with an amused expression on his face.

His mom squealed.

"Is that true?!" Amelia asked quickly. "Are they pretty? How close are you? Is any one of them your girlfriend? Do you plan on wooing one of them? You know you can always come to me and dad for dating advice, right?"

It didn't matter that everything his sister said could have been a lie or that his mother was wary of online relationships not a few seconds ago, the moment Amelia Arc heard that one of her children could be in a romantic relationship, all bets were off.

There was no running away from that.

He was doomed.

Suddenly, with such timing, it answered all his silent prayers as precisely as it was physically possible. A loud but pleasant ringing sound chimed from the train's speaker system, signalling an announcement.

"Attention all passengers, the Atlas Frontier Train is reaching its final destination. Please do not lean on the doors, and watch your footing while exiting the train. We wish you all a good day."

Jaune let out a breath of relief.

"Well, it looks like we are here, everyone." He said, immediately changing the subject. "Let's get going; we don't want to end up in foot traffic as we leave the train with the crowds, do we?"

His father snorted.

"You're right, son." Charles Arc said, with barely hidden mirth in his voice. "While I'm sure that you no doubt want to tell us all about your online friends, it seems that this conversation will have to wait until we reach our hotel."

Jaune nodded his head slowly.

His mom pouted a little.

"Don't think that you can simply ignore all my questions, young boy." Amelia said. "I demand you tell me all the details when we are in the hotel. Your romantic relationships are an important issue for your mother. Don't you dare forget that."

His sisters giggled at his misfortune.

Yeah, he wasn't going to forget about that anytime soon.

Despite the impending conversation about his love life with his mother, he had a hard time stopping a grin from appearing on his face.

Mantle, basically the capital of Atlas, stood right before him, and inside it, his two best friends waited for nothing more than his visit. He had no idea where they lived or how they looked, and he was well aware that he wasn't going to meet Snow either. However, with the online contact they still had through their voice chat app, he still believed that it wasn't going to be too difficult to find each other.

Who knew, maybe with both of them working together, Chammy and him might even find a way to sneak Snow out of her house to make it a proper meetup with all three of them present.

With both of his friends together, he didn't believe there were things that were impossible for them to do.

He only needed to meet them first.


And cut!

ATG players are getting good enough at the game to actually defeat our trio, Weiss tries her best to not become a singer, and Jaune comes to Atlas. Next chapter will probably have a lot of Ilia's perspective, but we will see.

Anyway, that's it for now.

Se Yaa!