Alex's Room, Le Chevalier

Review time.

Illustrious Investments pulling out of Hectic Works Ideaware was and will be big news. There wasn't a great deal of hype surrounding the launch of Astral Reckoning, but even though I gave up after the first day, I kept a weather eye out for news on the game in the hopes that the thing I started playing to see in the first place would get talked about - the artistic contributions of Johan Ulriksson, a fairly famous sculptor and architect in the current art world.

Mostly though? It gets memed to death over the next few years after AR makes its big comeback.

Everything's on track for that to happen again, but I confess a small worry that the existence of others with inherited memories of the future will interfere. If Illustrious Investments doesn't pull out and light a fire under the asses of the developers, my timeline can veer off course by months or completely off the tracks altogether.

Unfortunately, I have no way of finding out what's going on behind the scenes or influencing events.

Putting my anxiety aside, I rub my crusty eyes. My body needs rest, but my mind is still wide-awake as I continue typing away at my Pane.

Since I got back, I've been writing out my memories, plans, observations and speculations in several documents on my Pane. I can't guarantee that I'll be able to recall everything I know as time goes on, so this is for the sake of prudence. Mentally speaking, I'm already pushing 80 thanks to the accelerated virtual time - that this much of my memory is as clear as it is, is already a blessing.

After recording the day's events, I go online and start scanning through various outlets and forums to get a sense of where the playerbase is at in terms of progression, then note it down into a separate file.

Nostraza Town AKA Noob Town - Everything looks like it's going well. As the 'easiest' and most friendly to inexperienced players, players are doing a good job of progressing through the early stages of the game and have already started going through the local dungeons with modest success. Nothing out of the ordinary that I can see at a glance, but then, I don't know much about how the game should be progressing elsewhere before I came back for RotA, so if there are outliers for that one Real month, I might miss something.

The Town of Forgiveness - Same story here. The players here have found the Iron-Tier Difficulty Reminiscence, 'Squire's Dream', a Level 10 dungeon and are pushing towards the first clear of its Normal mode as a unifying goal. Dungeons of Iron-tier and higher come with additional difficulty options, so Normal over Easy is a little ambitious; but throw enough bodies at a problem and it will eventually go away, I guess. ToF players tend to be slightly more experienced and skilled than others when it comes to such things.

Taladi's Waystation - As can be expected, the Waystation has fully devolved into rampant PKing over the limited low-level resources and facilities, with a few unofficial Guilds forming out of the bloodshed jockeying for supremacy. I don't recognise any of their names, but with the volume of players being what it is, even after a good chunk of them gave up on AR, I feel like this is the biggest variable in terms of potential Inheritor intervention, so I don't expect the results of the war to stay the same.

Meteo City - The biggest change here will undoubtedly be myself. All-in-all, the experiences of the past couple of days has broken much of the naivete of the players and the posts I'm seeing are highly cynical and annoyed, but I'm also seeing a few comments pointing toward me as an example that developing here might not be impossible - with one person named TitanSucks claiming he saw me craft the Beginner's Bronze set for Winfrey; Which is generating a lot of interest from the players who swarmed Stone Arsenal that are now wondering why it wasn't for sale when they went. Claims that it might be crafted gear, with people bringing up my crafting World Announcement as evidence are frequent; Looks as though people have spread my name around as well now. I expect that Stone Arsenal is going to retain a certain degree of interest from would-be smiths in the coming days. Besides that, the A-rank World Announcement for Farmer's Folly was obtained shortly after we left by another party, alerting a lot of players to its existence and the precursor to the Folly Farm.

Tapping my Pane on my knee, I look over the file again and determine that there aren't any drastic deviations from the expected progression curve. At least, nothing that definitively points to an Inheritor getting carried away with their power.

Recalling my impromptu interrogation of Irikis Falk, he mentioned that he only had a 'flashback' when close to something that prised loose that specific piece of information, so it's certainly possible that any other Inheritors remain in a dormant state for the time being, if they're even playing right now.

Stifling a yawn, I lean back and consider what my next move will be. I have the City Hall reputation required to apply for a permit, but to make the most of it I still need to wait a little longer. Daily Donation Crate hand-ins have expanded to two, with Simple Blue Charms and Beginner's Bronze Shortswords, which is still my most reliable source of income for Stone currency, but it takes up a lot of time. Making money off of crafting will definitely still be my primary source of income until more people are going through Miner's Nightmare - once that's found - Farmer's Folly, and it's hidden sequel, The Farmer's Secret which I plan to deal with on my own after getting a proper team together and equipped.

Demand isn't quite as high as I'd prefer because of the low awareness of these dungeons, but now that people are starting to take a serious interest in the Beginner's Bronze set, however, I stand to lose a bit of potential profit on selling that once enough blacksmith players catch up.

I feel my headache returning.

It's not ideal, but I should start selling a few pieces of the Beginner's Bronze set. Only a little at a time at first, to whet their appetites though. I need to seize the initiative on this before I lose my chance, but I can still artificially inflate the demand in preparation for a bulk sale.

The more I think about it, the more attractive it sounds. Even if players can't afford to buy a full set, they should be able to pool enough money to buy their Fighter companions at least one piece.

Satisfied, I finish typing as much as I can down, then pass out the moment I get under the covers.

---

 

Winfrey

"Hey Henry, sorry if it seems like I was blowing you off last night," I send a message to him over breakfast, feeling slightly better after getting some sleep in my body, but still mega-dehydrated.

His response is a little slow, probably either close to passing out or I just woke him up, "Hey, no problem. So, how was the game?"

"The reviews are one hundo percent right. Game sucks right now."

"Right now?"

"Our tour guide, Alex, is pretty convinced that it's going to get and ngl I see the potential."

"Do tell."

"Most NPCs are basically like an automated answer machine companies use for the phones. But I met a few that were pretty close to human, and the graphics engine is definitely living up to the marketing material. Hard to tell the difference a lot of the time."

"Thinking of switching over?"

"Undecided. I'm going back in a couple days, and I need to get my private licence for back home renewed when I do," I twirl my spoon through my fingers as I dread having to talk my Uncle into paying for it.

"True."

"You interested in joining? Sher is going to if I do."

"Think about it. Just broke through to plat in VA for solo, not sure if i'm ready to switch yet."

"oh? nice. :o"

"Yeh. Got a three win streak going against Killer Spies."

"Killer Spies, as part of a nutritional and balanced breakfast for Grand Magists."

"Hell yeh."

"I hate KS/MS duos tho. Flanking foreva and Eva."

"Preach."

"How's Jinx?"

"Sleeping."

A moment later he sends a picture over of his girlfriend, Jinx, half-falling off the bed.

"hah. Adorb."

"You know it."

"Think she'd be interested?"

"Maybe. She's more of a solo explorer though. If you end up playing long-term I'll ask."

"Alright. There's some good views, Alex can probably point you to some good spots if you want to take her on a VR date. ;)"

"See, now you're talking more my language lol."

Another window pops up in the corner of the screen as my phone starts blasting out Drunk Fairy Fantasy by Genevieve

"Hold on, getting a call from Sherry."

Dragging the window down I put my phone to my ear, then rapidly pull it away, "WIN HE WAS RIGHT HE CALLED IT!"

Rubbing my throbbing skull, I swap to my other ear, "Fucking hell, Sherry, quiet down. Say that again?"

"Illustrious Investments pulled out! Hectic Works is fucked!" Sherry shouts, less shrill this time.

"Gimme a sec, I'll look it up," I decide, opening the web browser and typing the company's name into the search engine, pulling up a page of fresh articles from business and gaming publications talking about the sudden decline in Hectic Works Ideaware's prospects for the future.

"Huh. Whaddya know, Alex was right after all," I feel a little surprised.

"No shit. How the fresh fruity fuck did he find out about this!?" Sherry is incredulous.

"His 'unimpeachable source' apparently," I proffer.

"Still think that's a crock of horseshit, beta tester or not," she grumbles.

Dropping my spoon in the empty bowl with a clatter, I exhale, "Yeah, maybe. But he still called it, so..."

Sherry is silent for a few seconds, "I know. Which bothers me a lot. 'cuz I can't figure out how."

"'Unimpeachab-'"

Sherry cuts me off irritably, "Yeah, yeah, I know. What, does his dad work at Hectic Works or something?"

"Maybe. Doesn't really change facts. That update might be real."

"...You want to switch to AR, then?"

I sigh, "I think he's earned the benefit of the doubt. I don't believe he's telling us everything, but...We did say we'd consider it."

"Feels like he's playing us," Sherry complains,"He's suuuper shifty."

"Not saying he's not, but I don't get the impression he's doing it to screw with us."

"...You sure you don't have a thing for this guy?"

I laugh, "Positive."

Once again, Sherry goes silent.

"Then..." She sounds a little hesitant, "I'll believe in your belief in him. Like, trust by proxy."

Chuckling, I smile, "That's perfectly fine. Taking his word that the game is due to receive an update to make it worth the time investment is one thing, but whether we stick around him is a separate question I'd still like to put out there."

Sherry huffs, "I've already made my opinion clear on what I think of him. Boring and shifty."

"Shifty, I'll grant," I swap ears, "But he has a lot of information that we can use even in the short-term."

"Whoop-de-fuckin-doo. Tour Guide is just using beta knowledge as bait," Sherry grumbles sceptical.

"Bait or not, it's tasty bait that'd be a waste not to take. He's been pretty free with it so far," I point out, "So even if we part ways later, we'll still be better informed for the trouble. Not to mention we'll have access to his crafted gear and free housing."

Sherry giggles, "So, what, you wanna make him our sugar daddy?"

I snort a laugh, "I guess that's what it sounds like, huh?"

"Prrretty much~" She laughs.

I sigh, "Ok, fair. Am I wrong, though?"

Sherry makes a sucking noise with her lip, "No, I suppose not. Alright, but the moment he starts perving on me, I am gone. I ain't no epic mount, girl."

"Works for me," I chuckle, "Oh, I was talking to Henry before, and he said he might join us with Jinx as well."

"Really? Cool. Like, now?"

I unconsciously shake my head, "Nah, he said he got to plat in solos so he's all about that sunk-cost right now - but he's gonna ask Jinx if she wants to take a wander around the place."

"Shit, we don't play VA for a couple days and he's already past us? Fuuuck man," Sherry sounds both disappointed and impressed, "Cool if they join us though. Outnumber Mr Tour Guide."

"You can at least try and get along with him, Sher. Symbiotic relationship and all that," I admonish.

"Blech. No thanks. Not changing my opinion 'less he makes the effort to be a human being, and not a walking travel brochure that stabs rats."

I wince at the memory of those...things, then shudder.

"Don't remind me about the Gratts."

"Oop, sorry."

"I'm gonna hang up, I left Henry hanging, but I think we need to talk to Alex before he starts his dive first, if we're really switching," I decide, taking my bowl to the sink.

Sherry hums, "I'll talk to him, you get back to Henry, k?"

"Ok. Speak to you later."

"Later."

Hanging up, I lean against the edge of the sink counter.

I stare at Alex's contact info, considering a quick phonecall anyway, "Guess we'll see where this goes, Alex. You better not be wasting our time..."