Edited 25/11/2023

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Ai stares at the medium-sized box in his hands. There’s a beautiful illustration depicting an elegant elf casting magic on the cover of the box. In front of the elf is a fully armored knight, the magic of the elf gently showering him. 

A few days ago, his classmate gave him a copy of the popular game [World Symphony] as a casual gift. Ai doesn't know him too well, but regardless he was thankful. “My friend gave me this for my birthday but I already have one, so I’m giving this one to you.” was what his classmate said as he handed him the game before taking off.

It wasn’t an overly grand gesture, just that the classmate had seen Ai first that morning and spontaneously decided that he would be the one to have the extra game. Although strangely, he couldn’t quite remember the person’s face.

Carefully, Ai puts the game on his desk and opens his phone browser. He quickly types [World Symphony] forum in the search bar. He’s the type who likes to research the games he’s interested in playing. He doesn’t like going into something blind and would rather go into at least the hottest forum discussion to know what he should look out for in-game. Better safe than sorry. He doesn’t want to play the game and miss out on an important beginner quest or take a quest that would not give a worthless reward. Spoiler as it was, he doesn’t want to go in unprepared. 

Going into the forum, the first thing he sees is a thread titled “Beginners, DON’T pick this class!”, started by a user called Maestro. Ai raises an eyebrow at the name before clicking on the thread. It isn’t even a pinned thread, but it floated at the top of the results, showing how popular it is.

Beginners, welcome to [World Symphony]!

I don’t want you to get trapped so it’s good that you’re reading this post.

Once you enter the game, there will be many class options that I won’t spoil and you can find out when you play. BUT! There is one class that you absolutely CANNOT choose. The Mediator class. DO NOT CHOOSE this class. It's absolute trash and has no pros at all! It gives you extra rewards and options when talking to NPCs but a minus on combat abilities.

You might not see it as a bad thing, but the extra NPC rewards are absolute GARBAGE! I tried this class and was making no progress at all for two weeks. I leveled up to 20 but even the lower level mobs were still posing problems. This class is so stupidly weak that it's not even worth leveling and the NPC rewards were absolutely not worth it, it didn’t help at all.

Don’t know why they still have this class available when it’s a complete waste of assets.

 

The comments under the post echo the exact same sentiment that the original post has.

 

[FlameDegenerate] Thought I’d mess around with this class for a bit to see what all the mess was about. Got stuck for 2 days on a rank S quest that only gave me minor HP potions as the extra reward. Yeah. Trash.

[Max_Overload] What the hell, they never buffed this shit?

[Maestro] Doesn’t seem like it. Found this link to a forum from when around the game first launched, and people had the same complaint that went unheard.

 

Curious, Ai clicks on the link and finds that someone has indeed complained about the same thing Maestro had. The reduced combat skills, the lack of special skills, and the overall uselessness of the class. It seemed like the game developers never even made a statement to say that they were going to fix the class, instead, they seemed to just have left it as is. 

Ai finds that slightly concerning. Doesn’t something like this usually blow up in the company’s face and cause many problems? The more he thinks about it the more confused he gets, so he puts it in the back of his mind for the time being.

After scrolling through a little bit more forum topics, Ai finds that besides the Mediator Class issue, there aren’t many problems. Though it has some minor issues here and there, people seem to genuinely love the game and share with other players what they know freely in the forums. Well, as far as Ai could see anyway.

Comfortable with how much information he earned, Ai decides that it’s time to plug in the game and take it for a spin. 

He inserts the disc into the VR console and then lays down on his bed with his eyes closed. The console isn’t the complex machinery-looking thing that exists in traditional TV shows and the like. Instead, it’s a simple head circlet that was connected to an exterior console. Ai simply needs to plop the disc inside the console and put on the headgear. 

After a few seconds, he can feel his entire consciousness fading away, as if he’s falling asleep, as he enters [World Symphony] for the very first time.

At first, he couldn't see anything. It’s an expanse of darkness. He can feel his limbs but they feel very heavy, as if he just woke up from a deep sleep. He tries opening his eyes but they feel heavy as well. 

“Welcome, traveler.” A soft and gentle voice speaks.

At that moment, the world is suddenly covered in white. Its bright flash makes his eyes itch as if he’s looking directly at the sun, but it doesn’t hurt. After the flash subsides, Ai finds himself staring at a beautiful…woman? He actually couldn’t tell. The stranger has long flowing golden hair, and luminescent blue eyes while wearing a simple loose white garment that resembles a Greek chiton. Their face is neither masculine nor feminine, which makes it all the harder for Ai to tell. 

Seemingly unaware, or ignoring, Ai’s troubled look. The golden-haired stranger continues to speak. 

“I am Aethera, the god of this world.” they announce.

God, not goddess, Ai notes in his mind. 

Aethera the god gives Ai a gentle smile and takes a step closer. “Hello, my child.”

Ai, who rarely interacts with people, is suddenly overtaken with shyness. He never really talked with the people in his class and he was distant from his family, so a beautiful shining god suddenly coming closer makes him extremely nervous, even though he knows that it isn’t real and it’s just code and commands.

Ai bows deeply as if to show respect then stutters nervously. “H-hello…”

Aethera takes no notice of Ai’s nerves and continues explaining. 

“It appears that your soul wandered into the wrong afterlife due to a mistake,” Aethera explains, his voice tinged with guilt.

Is the transmigration the plot they were going with? Ai thinks. 

“Oh, I would love for you to be reborn in this world as an apology for your untimely death.” Aethera grins. “You can pick whoever you want to be.”

Then in front of them appeared six statues all pulling their poses and dressed in their unique garbs. Ai scans all the statues and realizes that these must be the classes available in [World Symphony]. 

There’s the paladin with their giant shield, heavy armor, and a single lightweight one-handed sword, the mage with their wooden staff and robes, the warrior with their lightweight armor and giant two-handed weapon, the bard with their instruments that doubled as magical weapons and traveling garbs, the archer with their elegant bow, the healer with their book and priestly garb and finally, the mediator.

The mediator is exactly like how the forum said. There stands a statue of a human with no weapons. They wear traveling garbs similar to the bard yet it seems less protective. On the mediator’s belt hangs a single oil lantern and a small book. This is probably the Book of Languages, a bound accessory special to the mediator that cannot be unequipped. The forums said that this book has no apparent bonuses and is absolute trash because not only could it not be unequipped, it also made the players waste an accessory slot.

Yet another reason why the mediator class is so hated in the community. 

“Does this path interest you, lost one?”

Ai looks at Aethera and realizes that he’s been staring at the mediator class longer than comfortable. Ai rubs his eyes and turns away from the mediator statue, intending to take an interest in the priest or mage class, something that’ll allow him to keep a distance from the enemies. Just as he turns away, a small glint from the mediator statue gets caught in his peripheral. 

Once again turning to the mediator statue, Ai realizes that there’s a small gem hidden under the mediator statue’s collar. It isn’t big in the slightest, only the size of a fingernail. It’s a crystal gem pendant that looks almost invisible, but it’s there.

Without realizing it, Ai drifts closer to the Mediator statue. He’s curious about the pendant, no one in the forum had said anything about it or even so much as referenced it. It could just be another part of the Mediator garb, but it sparkles so brightly and stands out so glaringly.

“What is this gem?” Ai mutters without thinking yet he turns to the god anyway, hoping for him to speak. After a moment of no answer, Ai realizes that the question is probably not in Aethera’s database, hence why he has no answer. So, does that mean that the gem means nothing at all?

Turning away from the statue, Ai prepares himself to pick the mage character. It’s a long-distance character that still deals good damage, so it’s the perfect class for Ai who doesn’t like close combat. Before he can do so, Aethera slowly walks past him and stands in front of the Mediator statue himself. His slender fingers touch the Mediator’s face.

Ai’s eyes widen as he sees the AI’s behavior. It’s a programmed code but it shows a gentle, almost painful, expression as it gazes at the statue. 

“Aethera’s gem.” He says, his voice quiet and soft. “A lighting guide.”

Another gentle look then Aethera slowly returns to where he stood. The long gaze tinged with pain is gone. Instead, he’s smiling as he did before, completely blank, staring at Ai.

“Does this path interest you, lost one?”

Ai blinks a few more and stares back at the Mediator statue. Its face is frozen in a blank expression as it looks back. 

What he saw is clearly a hidden cutscene. Did asking about the gem trigger it? Why did no one in the forum ever mention this? From what he read, the class-picking part of the game was pretty straightforward. The player approaches the statue of the class they want, then when they confirm their choice, Aethera would say a few words of farewell and luck then send the player to the starting point of the game. 

No one in the forum ever explained about a cutscene like the one Ai just saw. There are no branching pathways in the class-picking menu, it is just a system in the game. 

Looking at smiling Aethera, Ai decided to test this. 

“What is Aethera’s gem?”

…

“Tell me about the mediator class.”

“It’s a path that one chooses when they wish to solve troubles. They are blessed with a skill in languages and mediation but are highly fragile in battle. It is a scholar-type path.” Just the standard description found on the website of the game.

“Do you know anything about Aethera’s gem?”

…

Ai sighs. His test isn’t working out very well. He thought that by unlocking the cutscene, there would be more dialogue options for Aethera. Apparently not. Ai closes his eyes and thinks back to the cutscene he witnessed.

“Does this statue make you sad?” is the question Ai found himself asking. 

…

“Yes.” A small voice.

Ai gulps and continues. “Why?”

“They are getting fewer in numbers,” Aethera says, staring sadly at the statue. “My blessings are not enough to keep them safe, they continue to be slaughtered in battle against even the weakest enemies. T’is a necessary sacrifice for them to keep their knowledge, but one can’t survive against monsters with only the power of words.”

This must be the story behind the Mediator class and the reason for their lack of combat skills. Aethera’s blessing…

“I wish for my children to reach Heaven's Gardens.” Aethera says, closing his eyes.

Heaven’s Gardens...that’s the highest-leveled dungeon in [World Symphony]. It’s an airborne sky dungeon that could only be found as part of a hidden quest somewhere in [World Symphony]. Though players have found it, only two players could take the quest at a time and if they failed, the quest would ‘move’ and the players would have to search for it all over again. 

So far no one has ever completed the dungeon due to its high difficulty and limited party members. Normal dungeons in [World Symphony] could be undertaken with a limit of around four to six party members. Some world-class dungeons could even be undertaken by massive guilds. Heaven’s Garden however had a strict limit, so players had to either solo it or duo it with a partner, which wasn’t easy. Two party members just couldn’t cover all the needs in a party let alone solo.

Ai wants to ask more questions, but Aethera is already back in his game tutorial mode, smiling at him as he does. 

“Does this path interest you, lost one?” He asks for the third time. 

…

“Yes.”