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⬣//JUST AS A SEED TAKES ROOT.
A team of four courageous adventurers managed to unearth a secret Area unique from the others: the Hulle Granz Cathedral. Unlike other Areas, this one is lacking all the usual monsters, dungeons, and treasure. What might the purpose of this Area be, then...?
Well, if you’re feeling penitent or perhaps wish to hold a sermon of your own, head to Hidden Forbidden Holy Ground and knock yourself out. What? Too soon?
Anyway, be not afraid! The cathedral is perfectly safe. Following Ganymede’s little incident in the cathedral, a timely email has been sent out to beta testers regarding health and safety that reads as follows:
To our beta team,
Please exercise caution when playing video games for extended periods of time. Take breaks every thirty minutes and do not sit in the same position for more than two hours at a time. Remember to stay hydrated and play in a well-lit environment.
Failing to take care of your health while gaming can result in a litany of health complications, including but not limited to eye strain, muscle fatigue, headaches, dizziness, and involuntary loss of consciousness and motor functions.
We take the health and safety of our beta testers very seriously. If you have any concerns, please contact us at cccorp.ccmail.com.
Thank you for your continued efforts,
CyberConnect Corporation of Japan.
Guilds have been patched into the current version of Fragment and are now available for players to create their own and join others. While some guilds have opted to go the private route, others are in need of players to fill their ranks!
The admins have kindly supplied those recruiting for their shiny new guilds with a number of goodies to aid in their player gathering efforts:⬣ A bundle of personalized flyers proudly displaying their guild logo and a description of the guild’s @ home and available amenities.
⬣ Party poppers and streamers. Nothing screams “join my guild!” like a face full of glitter, confetti, and colorful strips of ribbon.
⬣ A megaphone that lets your voice echo far and wide, even across Root Towns and Areas, but with great potential for abuse comes restrictions! The megaphone can only be used five times before it breaks. Use it wisely!
⬣ A unique recipe for a cocktail, latte, tea, or other type of beverage that can be blended up and served in little sample cups to court potential members. These drinks are unique to their guilds and, when consumed, have a special effect that reflects the leader of that guild. Is your guild leader a pretty cheerful guy? Drinking their special brew will make you feel happy too!
Whatever effect your guild’s drink has is up to the leader’s discretion, but if you so desire, drop a comment under the questions top level and we’ll brew one up for you.
Additionally, you may host a guild open house and invite potential guildies into your @ home to let them take a look around! Guild @ homes are typically locked to guild members & their guests only, so use this as your opportunity to put your best foot forward and impress the world with everything your guild has to offer.
Also arriving with the newest update are mountable Grunties! Aren’t they cute? ...Well, they’re someone’s definition of cute.
While the ability to ride around town and in Areas at 2x speed is certainly alluring, you can’t just walk up to the Grunty Ranch located in each Root Town and take one out for a stroll. If you want a mount of your very own, you’ve got to commit! Becoming a proud Grunty owner means you must first become a proud Grunty parent, and to do that, you’ll need to raise your Grunty from infancy into adulthood.
Just what kind of adult might your Grunty become? That depends on how you raise them and what you feed them. Those strange "foods" popping up all over Areas might not taste good to you, but they sure do to Grunties!
For more information on how to acquire a baby Grunty of your very own and raise it into a proper — or not so proper — member of Grunty society, head on over to the Grunty Ranch.
Mac Anu, the City of Twilight known for its gentle ocean breezes, has been uncharacteristically warm lately. Very, very warm. Its usual orange skies have been swapped out for vivid blues, the sun dwelling high in the sky and threatening to burn everything in its wake.
It won’t take much wandering to feel the effects of heat exhaustion sink in, and even after you log out for the day, those symptoms seem to linger. Do Hien and Zelkova know what the hell is going on? Of course not. Unusual occurrences are slowly becoming the norm in Fragment, it seems, but the point of a beta test is to work out any kinks. Report it and move on.
Lumina Cloth is similarly affected by unusual weather phenomena, but it’s much more pleasant and hospitable than poor Mac Anu. The sun hangs just above the horizon, bathing the strip in early evening light. It’s much cooler here too, and what’s more, it appears that a carnival has rolled into town. What fun!
All the usual carnival fare is here: greasy fried foods, drinks served in foot long glasses, and a litany of carnival games that are totally not rigged. Entry is free and so are the prizes, but some of them take a bit of legwork to win.
⬣ Successfully PK another player to win the carnival exclusive Thursday The 12th™ skin. PK’d players will receive an appropriately spooky ghost skin of their own!
⬣ Step on up to the dunk tank and get dunked on to win a sexy swimsuit skin! Both the dunkers and the dunkees will win this skin, but only those who successfully dunk the player in the tank will be rewarded with the chance to show off some skin. The appearance this skin takes is dependent on the player wearing it, so have fun and get creative with it!
⬣ Take a trip through the hall of mirrors with a friend and do some reflecting! Stare too long into the mirrors and you might recall a memory that doesn’t belong to you, but to the person venturing through the hall of mirrors with you. Did that really happen? Surely it’s all in your head. Memories available for memshare are limited to the ones listed on your application.
Additional rewards include giant plush monsters that can be used to decorate guild @ homes and private rooms (limit one per player!) and a pet goldfish that, unfortunately, will die a hero’s tragic death within a week. Womp womp.
We’ve had a busy week! It seems like there was a glitch that allowed players to equip other players as weapons, which resulted in a ten player chain, wielded by none other than our hardworking head administrator, Hien! I’ll have a talk with him about not doing this kind of thing in the future, I promise!
That wasn’t all, though. An unknown entity reached out to the players participating in the ten-player chain and issued them a special title: Good Friends Stick Together. Fragment’s not supposed to have titles. Well, at least not in the beta. But you can go ahead and add it to your name if you want to anyway, and it shouldn’t cause any problems! We still can’t pinpoint who sent those messages and how they overrode the permissions to create those titles in the first place, but... Hmm. I don’t want to start any rumors, so I’ll keep looking into it.
There are those armor sets too, which I didn’t know had been handed out to those of you that reached level 25. Oria brought it to our attention, thankfully! There’s not a whole lot we can do about it now, but we know that some of them are pretty invasive. But knowing is half the battle, right?
Our friend Ganymede suffered an accident recently that had him lying unconscious in the hospital for about a day. He seems to be feeling better now, thankfully. Ḩ̵̲̼͆̃͐̆ò̸̧̰͕̥̈́͒̕͜p̷̫͙̯͇̾̄͜ę̸̹̒f̷̠̭͉̱̅͘ǘ̴͎̙̥̭̈́̈́l̵͇̙͍̳̜̇̓̒l̷̬̲̀̆̈̅̂ͅỳ̵̧̻̖ ̷̠̫̭̰̦̋͗h̴̰͕̑͗e̸̦̼͇̾͘ ̴̡̢̝̺̳̊̎̎̔p̴̳̠̼̜͔̂̅̐à̵͕̹̟ͅỹ̴̡̛͝s̶͉̕ ̴̢͕̬̑̆̕͝b̸̹̲͗͒̊͑͠ē̶̛͖͠ṯ̸̻̺́͒͐t̶̻͕͎̑ĕ̶̖̀͗͛͋r̷͙̗̙̲͙̓̚͝ ̷̻̠͉̈́̚a̷̡̙̳̽́̀̋̔ẗ̴̢̨̛̬̺t̴͖̳͝ē̷͇̆͆̍̚ͅn̵̪̜͉͊̉̔̄͐t̵͕̼͈̓͋̈́̕î̷̬o̸͇̐͋͑͌n̶̟̫̟̽̑͒͐͘ ̷̜̈́̈̀̂̎t̶͙̂͛ô̸̠̜ ̶̫͎̎h̶͖̳͛i̸̗͖̖̅̂͆̄͛s̸͔̈́̇̍ ̸̩̗̻̕s̵̬̼̳̲̞͝ù̸̞̺̣͙̾͒͛ŗ̴̻̟̻̭̂̈́r̶̡͈̲̣̣͋̊͗̕o̶̥̝̮̓ų̴̻̯̬̊̑̑͌̉ͅn̶̢̙̦͔͖̈̒͝d̷̰̼̤̥̃̿͒̌̎i̸̯͑̾͊̑͝n̵̦͐g̸̪̾͝͝s̷̛̝͙̣̹̍͛͝ ̸͔̲̠̩͗̓̀͘a̷̛̼̓̈́͊ṅ̵̥͆̎ḑ̶̨̯̱͍̇ ̷̛̗̮̀̆ḧ̴̼̪́͗͝i̵͓̬̤͂͐͒s̶̮̎̿̃ ̴̛͔̋͗̽h̷̝͑ͅē̴̱ȃ̵̝͎ͅļ̷͍̀͐͊̊̽ẗ̸̼̺̟̥̼́̄͛h̶̥̹̬̮̽̅ ̷̟̖̮͛́̿t̸̢̤̤̂͒͋̍o̶̼̟̓ ̵̥̳͙̖̆̈́ả̶̛̳̱͙̖̩̿̽͘v̴͈͉͖͊͘ỏ̶̤͚̅͑͝i̴̱͈̩̳̳̿̇̕͠ḏ̵͙̮͗͆ ̶̯̭̝̹̯͊s̸͍̰͔̔̀͋͋̐u̷̟̠͑̔̏̚c̵̨͖͉͇̀͆͘ͅh̴̨̓͌̄̈ ̶̧̱̻̼̏̃̃i̷̱͉͈̿̎̋͒͜͝n̴̢͓͍̂͝͠c̷̢̢̛̹͚̑̓̅ͅi̶͕̟̻̘̫̾͌d̶͉͉̏̇e̵͉̱̩̯̤͐̎̉̾n̸̡̠̈͜ţ̴̇͑̈́͘s̵̩̼͔̙̙̉͘ ̵̮̯̞̮̾̈́͋̔̈h̵̡̗͉͉͈̉̐̅̚ȁ̵͖͚̖̾p̸̰̬͖̩̀̈́̆̓p̶̢̛̼̈́͆̒͘ͅe̷̟̘̩̲̻̾̊n̵̨̩̜̟͆͘i̵̙͉̺̮͠ͅṋ̷̆ġ̶͙͚ ̴̩̋à̷̄̑̂͝ͅǧ̵͖̜͍͕̒̑͒a̷̧̛̞͐̃̈́͘i̷̯͉̬̯̽̍n̷̘̝͓̽̅̕!̵̩͑
PK carnival!!
[Matoba's all equipped up and ready to go!! He did say he would do it, so here he is, double checking his equipment and items and his knowledge of the Steam Gunner skilltree so he knows what to expect. His defenses will be questionable, here, but his own attack speed is pretty good. Maybe he'll be able to out-DPS this?]
...Turn your pain sensors off now. I'm not going to show any mercy.
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Neither will I!
[ Should we say they're in the arena or just in the carnival full of people lmao
Also his hat(?) slips a little, and it shows an unequippable title once equipped above his head, "Big Whiny Baby".
Stuff happened. ]
let's say they're in the arena LOL
[Not that he has his pain sensors off. Matoba likes to feel alive.]
[As Matoba is stretching out his arms and readying his combat menu, he happens to glance over and spot Oriade's title for a second there, and... hm.]
... I suppose that is our wonderful Head Admin's doing. [Scathingly dry.]
o7
[ Oh. The title. He almost forgot about it—well, he tried to. It's fine. It's fine. ]
Oh, the title? The one who passed out the title changed mine specifically to spite me.
[ He doesn't fume about it, and he speaks as if some unruly child was throwing a fit and this was the result. ]
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[Matoba says it slowly and drops his hand from his menu, a certain glint in his eye- he glances around them, as if someone might be watching, and smiles, walking up towards Oriade more slowly.]
So you spoke to them.
[His stature isn't that much, but he's just taller enough that he can peer down into Oriade's eyes in a way that ...might be a little intimidating.] What did they say to you?
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So that's why he readies a Thorn Shot very quickly with a challenging grin on his face. Steam gunners are known to be the fastest class, and you know what he's going to do?
Shoot him, of course.
The Thorn Shot will be dealing a critical (50/50 chance, 17 roll) but will it hit (6)? ]
I'll tell you if you win~
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[He's smiling when he recovers from the hit. It's not a nice one.]
You're going to regret that.
[(Maybe not now, since now almost half his HP is gone- tissue paper P.Defense and all that- but trust him, Oriade. He'll find a way.)]
[Immediately he unleashes a GiRue Kruz at the gunner, still in pointblank range- that goes for both of them, now, and he has no plans of stopping his assault until he's either PK'd, or he runs out of SP.]
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You didn't turn your pain sensors off?!
[ This alarms him and he attempts to gain some distance. Not that it would really matter, because Matoba is a magic DPS anyway. ]
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Why would I do that? [Matoba chuckles darkly, instead choosing an AoE BiJuk Rom to chase after him with, in case he managed to dodge out of the brunt of the attack.]
What's the point of fighting if you can't feel anything? Do you prefer to shed blood you're not prepared to lose yourself, Oriade-san?
[Don't worry, Oriade, that crazed smile is nothing to worry about.]
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Because I can do this!
[ If he doesn't feel pain, he won't stagger as much as the game forces him to when hit by an attack. With his low defenses, he can't take that many hits, whether physical or magical. That's why he takes advantage of the disabled pain sensors to keep running at him while loading up Thorn Shot. Steam gunners are supposed to be ranged classes, but Oriade? He prefers to shoot them at point blank range.
That's why he even after battered with water and sharp leaves (though mostly indirect hit with the AoE--if it was a direct hit, he would be in Danger even more), the end of the barrel of Oriade's silver handgun, likened to a CZ75 model, presses into Matoba's forehead.
There's a moment of his eyes narrowing right before he shoots, a crit-loaded attack right there. ]
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[That's what Matoba thinks, anyway- it's true that Oriade has the advantage of simply powering through any attacks, but he has the advantage anyway. Matoba knows he can't win this with such a chunk of his HP gone already. This battle is as good as over.]
[What he can do is get under his skin.]
I wonder if you could do this with a life on the line, [Matoba says calmly, smiling up into Oriade's eyes, before the point-blank shot takes him out. Everything begins to go dark, a familiar sensation from the time Hien took him out before, as his HP drains and he dissolves back to respawn.]
1/2
But Oriade is already there at the respawn point as if he was waiting for Matoba–and he was! Once Matoba respawns, Oriade walks over to him. ]
I can.
[ He doesn't look disturbed nor terrified and simply gives Matoba the answer to his question with a calm, small smile. ]
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[ He breaks out into a grin. ]
I hope they'll put an equalizer mode in PvP someday so that we can fight each other for real.
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I look forward to it.
[To his viciousness, to his competency. Whatever the hell is going on in this game, it'll be good to know who is a real factor here should things begin to break down and they need to hold it together. It's not about competency in the game itself; it's about the state of mind it takes to make that kind of decision.]
Let's test things out again at another cap... Say, 50?
[He's still gunning for you on that false start, though, Oria. Watch your back. 🙂]
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[ He still has the feeling that Matoba wants some sort of revenge, because, yeah, if it were him, he'd be absolutely vindictive about it. ]
The message that they sent me wasn't anything weird though. Do you still wanna hear it?
[ Oria said he'd fess up if he lost, but maybe he does have some guilt about attacking Matoba first like that?
...
Nah. ]
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[Hopefully a Darkness spell in there somewhere. Tch.]
[Pulled from his thoughts... Ah, he'd almost forgotten after that bit of excitement.]
Hm? Oh, that. Yes, I suppose I am still interested. Well, what did they say? Perhaps I shall tell you, as well.
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I told them that their humor sucks about the title, they said that their humor was great, and we fought over that. Then they changed the title and made it unequippable after sticking it on me.
[ Hence, the "Big Whiny Baby" title floating above Oria's head right now. ]
Absolutely ten years old, whoever that is.
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[Oh, right, as for him...]
Haha. Well, they asked about yaoi so I sent the transcript of My Little Seme Can't Be This Gap Moe! to them. So I sure hope it isn't an actual ten-year-old!
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[ Holy shit. Oria just looks at Matoba with wide eyes for a moment. ]
You had time to type all that out? Koto?!
[ hello???? ]
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What else is there to do while grinding dungeons?
[Why does no one believe him that he's a hardcore grinder????]
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[ Oria can't decide if he's amazed or... whatever this second feeling is that he can't recognize right now. He's so shocked that his British accent is slipping into his words. Congratulations. ]
Casting spells while reading out what you read on that weapon skin... Amazing.
[ whispers: ]
What the fuck.
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It isn't difficult once you memorize the menu positions of your spells...? Ah, but you are a different class. Perhaps for physical DPS it matters a little more....?
[Or maybe, he's just used to multitasking; after all, he commands a small army while diving in and out of Fragment.]
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But he returns to his normal and usual way of speaking. It's fine. ]
All you have to do is load up your skill queue and let the spells happen while hoping you don't get staggered, right? I have to actually aim.
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[Magic life. Shoulda picked the "brainless DPS", Oria!!]
Well, it doesn't particularly matter to me. Equipment combinations and the like are what make a class like this more interesting, and I am more of a dungeon completionist. I don't need to worry about tactics if I can just overwhelm anything in my way.
[Sometimes the straight path is easiest!]
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All the better for you to do something else while you game?
[ He remembers his wielder idling in the weaponception katamari, Matoba... afking with your tax evading ass. ]
Aiming doesn't take too much effort though.
[ He swears he's not using an aimbot. ]
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