13 Revelations

The trek back to Darkwood City was mostly uneventful. Came across some more rabbits, but Lenora killed them quickly. We made it back to town just before sunset.

"WHOO! Finally, I made it to a town! I can sleep in a bed finally."

"I usually rent a room at the inn by the hunter school, they even have a bath. I got things I need to do, so I will see you around."

"Oh, before I forget, could I add you as a friend?"

"Sure, thing Gwyn. If you want to party up, let me know or if you just want some to spend the night together."

Lenora said that last part as she walked away and gave me a wave.

(So, does this mean we are friends with benefits or are we kind of going out now?)

I push off those for later and head over to Urlgan before I log off for the day. I walk into the training yard where I see the large orc training other players.

"Hey, Urlgan. I completed that quest. Turns out, it was a demon doing demon thing to an angel."

Urlgan gave me a look of shock and started to ask me questions.

"How many demons are there? You know about how strong? We will need to get a group together to go into the forest."

"It's ok, another person and I killed the demon and stopped its ritual."

Once again, he looks at me as if I am some rare animal in the zoo.

"That is amazing. You came here as a green recruit, and now you have killed a demon and lived."

"Thanks, but I didn't do it by myself. I had help, and I almost died. I got lucky."

"It's true that luck does play a part in our battles, but you can't discount your own skill. Next time you are in the Capital City Riadence, seek out my old master there. His name is Mel'Ar, tell him I sent you and tell him about Darkwood Forest."

Quest Complete: Omens in the Dark

New quest!

Quest: The Gathering Storm

Quest Type: Unique

Difficulty: E

Go to Riadence and speak with Mel'Ar about the Demon Lord threat.

Rewards:

2000 XP

10000 G

???

"Alright, I will go there as soon as I can. There some things I need to finish here before I can leave."

"Just don't take too long. Also, here is your hunter certificate. With this, you can now join the Adventurers Hall and take or give requests there. Good luck out there, and don't forget your training."

"I won't, and thanks for everything!"

Urlgan gives me a smile and gives me a nod before turning his attention back to the other players. I make my way back to Old Man to let him know I am back from my quest. I wind my way through back alleys until I reach the familiar little shop hidden away within the other buildings.

Opening the door, I hear the familiar ding of the bell, and I am greeted by the pleasant smell of various plants.

"Hey, Old Man! I'm back!"

I hear some shuffling coming from the back. The curtain that separates the store from the lab parts and an elderly man walks in.

"Good to see you again, Gwyn. I can sense that you became stronger! That is good, congratulations."

"Thank you. I just wanted to let you know that I was back, but because I am an Ascended, I will be gone for a few days. Once I return, I will be training with you again."

He strokes his beard and nods.

"I knew you were something special but to be an Ascended. I was right in choosing you as my successor. Well, I won't keep you, and I will see you when you show up."

I leave the shop and make my way back to the inn I stayed at before. I rent another room and walk upstairs. Once inside my room, I undress and store my clothes in my inventory. Since I slept naked while out on my quest, I feel more comfortable doing so.

I laid down in the bed and leveled up skills and my levels. With the end of the day approaching, I log out of the game and decide to get dinner started.

---

Rebirth Online Game Studios

In a large room were multitudes of people are pounding away at their keyboards, a person jumps up from their seat. He rushes towards the office of the lead game designer.

*Knock* *Knock*

"It's Open."

"Hey Jason. Something really strange just happened in the game."

The man named Jason was the current Lead Game Designer and was in charge of many aspects of the game.

"If it was something weird, why didn't you take it to your team leader?"

"He is out on a break, and I don't know where he is, so I came to you."

"Ok fair enough. So what you got?"

"A player somehow prompted the start of the Demon Lord invasion questline much earlier than expected. She even completed two optional objectives we never implemented. Also, she has a skill that was never put into the game."

Jason sat deep in thought for a moment before responding.

"What were the two optional objectives and this skill she got?"

"The objectives were to save the angel and kill the demon. Normally the player was supposed to either run away or die from the demon, which would prompt the next part of the quest chain."

"The skill she got is called Friend of Eri. It breaks the game by gradually increasing all earned XP she gains as well as multiplying any sort of attribute gain. Just this skill alone, she would be walking god in the game."

Jason has a troubled look on his face as he digests the information he received.

"Did she hack our game somehow?"

"No. I checked her packet logs multiple times. None of her packets had any injected data in them. Her skill was gained in the game from Eri herself. We are still trying to figure out why the quest chain changed as well."

"Got it. Keep her under surveillance for now. We need to figure out why the game changed on it's own."

---

There in the dark void was a figure. It was of a woman with long black hair and green eyes. She had pale flawless skin and wore something like a toga, except its colors resembled that of the clouds seen in space, nebulae.

"Stupid brother of mine. 'Stop messing with my worlds.' 'If you want to play with other worlds, create your own.'"

"As if I have the patience to create my own world! He has all these toys, and he doesn't even play with some of them."

The woman floated along in the void of space until she came across a little blue planet.

"Oh? What's this?"

The woman floated closer to the planet orbiting just outside near its moon.

"This seems to be another toy my brother has forgotten about. Judging by the levels of divine energy, it has been a very long time too. Far longer than his other toys."

She closes her eyes and holds out her hands towards the little blue globe. After a while, she opens them again and smiles to herself.

"Seems the creatures on this world seem to no longer hold much faith in god anymore. Their technology is quite advanced, and they even created their own world to play with."

She floats along in thought, thinking of something.

"Well, since brother has abandoned this world, why not make it mine? I also kind of like the idea of this Eri person. A guide of the gods?"

With a few motions of her hands, the familiar figure of Eri appears next to the woman.

"Hello Eri, my name is…well you can just call me Scarlet for now."

"Yes mistress. Thank you for bringing me here."

"You are welcome. I see that the so-called game you were in has yet to start. I plan on having some fun with this world, so I want you to go into that game and guide people like you are supposed to. If you meet any interesting mortals, do tell me about them."

"Also, you can interfere a little bit with that world if you have to, just not too much."

"As you wish, mistress."

Eri disappears, leaving Scarlet alone in the void looking down at the world.

"This will be very fun indeed."