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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!̵̩͑
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[ He starts peeling another mandarin, quietly breathing out through his nose. ]
... Especially on sentiment.
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Do you think you're bad at expressing it?
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AKA Hien is telling him to shut up. ]
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He's going to sit there like that for a minute, like when you put a thing on your pet and they just kind of don't immediately know what to do with this new reality of theirs. )
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He would ask Hien's motive, but he's got a mandarin in his mouth. The "???" timer resets. Life is strange and altered once again.
Mithrun leaves this situation be for longer than a normal person reasonably should. Eventually, he starts to chew on the mandarin (instead of just taking it out). The slice of cheese is still there. )
... Are you going to put more things on me?
( He's got about a hundred mandarins on him and a slice of cheese. Anything could happen. )
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Not for now.
[ So he's safe. He starts peeling off another mandarin. ]
You react very similarly to a lethargic cat.
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( Doesn't seem offended, though. He works through his mandarin slowly. He kinda doesn't feel strongly about the cheese, so he's just leaving it there. )
Do you like cats?
( This may sound like a thinly-veiled question to understand what Hien thinks of him, but gazing into the depths of Mithrun's empty eyes suggests he's genuinely just wondering if Hien likes cats. Hien, after all, is a dog person. Unless, perhaps, he swings both ways...? )
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Yeah. I do.
[ With how he says that, Mithrun is free to assume that Hien likes animals in general. He really liked seeing Anthy's post about everyone's pets and promptly ignored the swag war because his priorities were pet picture taxes. ]
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I see.
... My family used to have a dog. She was a British golden retriever, in cream. She thought she was a much smaller dog, so she'd try to sit in people's laps.
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[ He stops himself before he can continue that sentence. That's so cute?! Holy shit!! Hien is excited on the inside while trying to imagine what that would look like. The epitome of cuteness. Adorable. The happy grin of the golden retriever brightening up a room, radiating it's sunshiney energy— ]
... Did you hate it?
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... I don't think so.
( He was rancid, but not evil, at least. )
I think what I didn't like was that she seemed to like my brother more. And he was always sick, so she'd stay vigilant by his bedside.
Then sometimes she would try to climb on top of him, ( thinking she was a small dog, and all, ) and bark to alert us that he couldn't breathe very well.
( Very vigilant, even for self-created problems. )
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[ Even if she was causing that problem herself. That's cute, at least.
But this makes Hien pause as he seems to ruminate on something for a second. ]
What do you like?
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The question, though, gives him pause. )
... In general?
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[ He's very interested in hearing Mithrun's answer, given his everything. It is the only reason why he asks, since he wouldn't care otherwise. In the meantime, he has peeled around five more mandarins now, stripping them completely from the white stuff. ]
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He's quiet for a time, before shaking his head. )
... Nothing in particular. I used to, but those are things I lost.
( He kinda assumes CC Corp has a basic profile on him, though he doesn't know how much of that's been forwarded to admins like Hien and Zelkova. )
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But in a world where you can't like or dislike anything... Hien can't imagine it. He may be chock full of dislikes, but there are still a few things that he likes, and they help him continue. ]
... I see. Not interested in starting anew regarding that? I see you've been undergoing many trials as of late.
[ All those dungeon runs... ]
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I've been told it's medically impossible for me to make progress, or change. There was a point where my physician suggested the kindest thing they could do was let me die.
( He seems indifferent to this. It doesn't hurt to recall.
The reality is, he feels achingly empty. But what's impossible is impossible, and he lacks the desire to argue with his prognosis.
However. )
... But the people I've met in Fragment are strikingly optimistic, or maybe only curious. Maybe it's because they don't know my circumstances intimately. But the argument is that nothing can be certain until I try it.
It's unlikely that I can improve. ( Regain wanting, likes and dislikes, etc. ) But it's made me curious to know if I can.
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[ Is Hien being optimistic? Perhaps, but he's drawing a lot on past history here, and thinks it's logical enough for one's optimism to not be so blind after all. ]
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... That's true. ( He concedes this. Brain plasticity is a powerful thing, and still not fully understood. ) My physicians may not believe there's anything for me, but... I'll admit, some part of the reason I began to take to testing the game as thoroughly is because, after suggestion, ( thanks oria ) I considered the breadth of experiences here could stimulate my brain, somehow, in ways the physician could not yet know.
( Even by other widespread VR standards, Fragment is an impressive thing. Even if he were the type, or if he even had the desire to, he wouldn't begrudge these physicians for not factoring such realism into their estimations.
Before Fragment, in the real world, he couldn't really do much but look out the window. Not a lot of stimulation to be had there. A prognosis of impossible recovery seems reasonable, under such normal circumstances. )
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[ Or on Mithrun's curiosity. Whichever is greater. ]
Isn't it nice, to be stimulated in such ways that you can't feel in real life...?
[ Though that's less of a genuine question as he looks at Mithrun, who's currently covered in mandarins and one slice of cheese. ]
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It's surprising. I can make predictions about how a strong breeze may feel, but there are many things here I can't predict.
( In terms of how they feel. )
Like being covered in several dozen mandarins, or other players seeing my memories.
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Other players seeing your memories...?
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( Considers... )
Do administrators want reports on things like these?
( Since they like. don't know the source of them and all. allegedly )
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[ Hien narrows his eyes and gets up. Mithrun is also free of his mandarin cage as they all disappear apart from the peeled ones... which Hien eats in one go. Don't think about it. ]
Lead me to the location.
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1/2 ; cw police brutality, mention of child death
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cw: trigger-happy police, eye injury
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