As Lizbeth and Eleanor left his office, Victor found himself deep in thought and contemplated a lot of things. Now that a talented blacksmith NPC was in the bag, the academy’s development would only skyrocket. If he could secure a stable supply of materials, such as metal or even rarer stuff like magic metal and magical beast remains, he would be confident to face his former comrades and their army with the players. This would also enrich the players’ gameplay.
Contemplating these prospects, Victor activated his Master Shadowlink Mark and opened the main page to see the academy’s progress so far.
Academy Name: Sanctum of Interdimensional Magi
Headmaster: Victor Asteriscus
Academy Points: 510
Academy Grade: Level 1
Total Acolytes: 96/100
Progression Value: 90/100
Just ten more progression value points and the academy would level up. The quickest way to fill the quota was to complete the Farming Simulator chain mission. Therefore, he chose to increase the merit points for agricultural tasks to speed up the final step, which was planting the seeds. What would typically take two days, he hoped, could now be completed in just one. If all went as planned, the fruits of this labor would be evident by tomorrow night.
Once the academy leveled up, he could roll out the next patch update right away. This also meant that he would need to finalize the details soon. He resolved to draft the update notes tonight, outlining the new features and contents.
Victor exhaled softly as he realized something crucial. “The most important thing is to increase my strength. If they were to come when I haven’t had my breakthrough yet, it could spell trouble. On that note…”
He deftly manipulated the holographic screen, bringing up a detailed display of his current status.
Victor Asteriscus
HP: 100%
MP: 231/231
Power Rank: Third-stage Initiate Attunement
Elemental Affinity: Cosmo (95%) | Anemo (82%) | Pyro (57%)
Mana Aptitude: Inferior bright grade
Meditation Technique: Myriad Elements Method (third level, 90%)
Status: Healthy
Strength: (25)
Agility: (25)
Vitality: (25)
Magical Power: (34)
Infused Mana (total): (225 → 231)
Spell Repertoire: {Blink Step}, {Spatial Mirage}, {Slicing Wind}, {Zephyr Dash}, {Tempest Burst}, {Wind Guard}, {Flame Whip}, {Flame Dart}, {Ember Shield}, {Heat Wave}, {Demonic Eye}
Ten percent more… At this rate, I should be able to touch the rank of Elemental Adept in three to four days at most… Victor thought in excitement.
And yet, what would happen when he reached the peak of the third-stage Initiate Attunement? Many acolytes found themselves trapped at this bottleneck, unable to progress further in their lives. While Victor had unlocked the secret of elemental fusion from the insight reward, the lack of a high-rank meditation technique made the advancement to the Elemental Adept rank significantly more challenging or just straight impossible.
Shaking his head, he dismissed these worries for the moment. “No point in dwelling on it now. Such challenges would be faced in due time.”
Realizing there were no pressing tasks for the rest of the day, Victor decided to focus on meditation, hoping to accelerate his progression. With a clear mind and a determined spirit, he settled into his meditative posture on his bed, channeling his mana to circulate the Myriad Elements Method.
***
When the night came to envelop this world, the sun had just risen for the majority of the players’ current base. Other than the official website forum, which had become a hub for players and non-players to discuss the game, the Gamer’s Empire Discord server was also very lively.
Although the game promotional manager — Cyber Warlock — hadn’t shown up these days, the topics in the group basically revolved around Magus Academy Online. At least in the morning.
ZeroXScyth (Server Owner): “Damn, today was a lot of fun! Exploring that village in the game was like nothing I’ve ever done before. Wonder when we’ll get to visit the place again…”
MikeIsHandsome1000x: “Totally! The three of us even had our own little adventure to mingle with the local NPCs while you three were accompanying the headmaster. All I can say is that this game’s attention to detail blows my mind — from the ultra-realistic dialogues to even villagers playing flute music. Not to mention the high-quality graphics.”
Storm Bringer (Administrator): “You guys and your adventures are making me green with envy. How can you brag so much and not feel bad? I’m super jealous!”
Prominence (Administrator): “+1”
SuperNovaX (Moderator): “+2”
Several other lurking server members also jumped in to add their “+1” to the conversation, with the count reaching “+23.” Clearly, the server was full of bored people, even those who couldn’t yet join the game.
Squadzell: “And here I am, just listening to all of you having the time of your lives in the game, while I can’t even get in. Don’t have the qualifications yet. Feels bad, man. ╥﹏╥”
Prominence (Administrator): “I can vouch that you’ve been with us since the beginning. Better luck next time, dude.”
Squadzell: “:drowncat: :drowncat: :drowncat:”
A lot of server members responded to his lament with a flurry of sympathetic emojis, quickly racking up over a dozen. But his existence was soon forgotten by them like usual as the conversation shifted to the new NPC brought back by the headmaster and the six players.
Prominence (Administrator): “Say, the new NPC girl sure is charming and seems really lively. I caught a glimpse of her a few times and am liking her design and character. That being said, do you think there will be a new feature to date NPCs added to the game soon?”
Locktekei: “Yeah! I was wondering about that too!”
ButaYaarou: “Hmm, since the game is set in the medieval era (not sure), age of consent shouldn’t be a thing yet, right? Can I finally date my waifu Klee and Diona?”
SirLaughsALot: “Hello, FBI. Yes, I was the one who contacted you previously. The criminal you are looking for is here with me. Please come quickly.”
Nevertheless, the idea of being able to date NPCs garnered the attention of the players. Some even jokingly claimed that the new NPC was theirs to take.
ThunderLord999: “All joking aside, the new NPC looks like a blacksmith. I think that this will improve the gameplay since we will have a constant supply of quality tools. Heck, we might even be able to buy weapons with merit points.”
No matter how good Thunder was at weapon crafting, he was no blacksmith. It would have been a different thing if a player with a blacksmith profession existed in real life, but such a thing was exceedingly rare nowadays.
ZeroXScyth (Server Owner): “Oh yeah, this reminds me about a certain thread on the forum by a famous critic. Storm, have you read it? His conjecture is pretty similar to yours, but he isn’t even on our server, nor does he have access to the game yet. It’s the one written by Black Rabbit… I mean, KuroUsagi.”
Prominence (Administrator): “For some reason, the mention of ‘black rabbit’ reminds me of a certain magazine. #iykwim (͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)”
ZeroXScyth (Server Owner): “Sheesh. Stop with your dirty mind, or I’ll have to mute you.”
Prominence (Administrator): “Oops. Sorry, boss. 🙊”
Storm Bringer (Administrator): “I read his post. That guy is a well-known game critic with a big following. Unlike me, who’s just a streamer, he’s a true reviewer. Still, I’m not going to lose to him in this game where I’ve got the upper hand.”
MikeIsHandsome1000x: “Whoa! Are we going to witness an epic battle between two masters?”
SuperNovaX (Moderator): “Has a worthy opponent finally appeared? Is this the comeback for our reviewer Storm?”
ZeroXScyth (Server Owner): “Are you confident about this?”
Storm Bringer (Administrator): “Hehe. He may be an experienced critic, but I have something that he doesn’t: direct access to the game. I’ve got a real edge with firsthand info, even though I’ve been away for the past few days. Compared to him with his secondhand information, I’m not even worried.”
Storm then moved to the “MAGUS ACADEMY ONLINE” category of the server, more exactly the “game-reviews” channel within it, to type his newfound insights of the game.
Storm Bringer (Acolyte): “Yooo! It’s been a while since the last time I made any noteworthy analysis about the game. Well, buckle up because your favorite reviewer is back with some fresh takes!”
Storm Bringer (Acolyte): “First off, I have to praise the developers for the stellar foreshadowing of an upcoming update and the extent that the current Alpha version 0.2 update covers. It can be seen that they’ve put in serious thought and effort to elevate this game to new heights!”
Storm Bringer (Acolyte): “The content of this update is far more than an invasion of arachnid monsters and quality-of-life changes. We’re talking about a whole new settlement, new magical beast models, larger maps, etc. The content is far more abundant than I thought before! The devs must be brewing some epic stuff behind the scenes for us with all this being set up, even if I found it rather strange for a typical MMORPG game. But what can I say, this one is an outlier among others in a good way!”
Storm Bringer (Acolyte): “Take the new settlement, Thornwood Village, for instance. Please note that while I was suffering from resurrection cooldown, my trusty friends sent me their footage. And wow, when I watched the recordings for the first time, I was impressed by the game’s official art design. That kind of immersive feeling is difficult to describe in words; from the authentic rural architecture to the detailed texture of the clothing on different NPCs, I can see traces of hard work and attention to detail everywhere!”
Storm Bringer (Acolyte): “In addition, there’s an even more interesting supernatural phenomenon system when going back from the village. This is totally different compared to facing off against magical beasts like the Lesser Hiveborne Arachnids. Throwing normal spells and physical attacks just won’t cut it. I always thought that magical beasts alone were already terrifying, but I didn’t expect that there’s something that beats it by leaps and bounds.”
Storm Bringer (Acolyte): “All I have to say is that our headmaster is worthy of being the leader of the academy, and his response to such a situation is simply insane. A single spell from him dispersed the phenomenon, saving the players. Man, I wish I could’ve been there to witness it firsthand to get a better feel and look at the scene, but alas…”
Storm Bringer (Acolyte): “Aside from that, the most surprising thing for me is that the new NPC helped by using a mysterious magic tool. With this much information, I can deduce that she is a very special NPC like the headmaster and will bring us more new ways to play, such as weapon crafting, even more side plots, and many others. This is something to be anticipated!”
Storm Bringer (Acolyte): “I was going to add more things to my insights about the recent missions and such, but I’ll save them for a post on the official website forum. Gotta spread the word and make up for lost time. See you there, folks!”
And thus, he switched to the official forum to copy what he posted here and continue writing.
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