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⬣//A SINGLE CRACK LETS THE LIGHT IN.
As they say, fortune favors the brave. Five lucky players took part in a Limited Quest: The Mysterious Sky Islands, in which they discovered a brand new Root Town. While the team was largely successful in their efforts to make the mysterious floating town in the sky habitable, not everyone embraced the spirit of teamwork on this journey.
When you gate in to this shiny new Root Town, you'll notice something curious: it has no name. Its name simply displays as "???" in every context menu and there is no signage around the Root Town itself that points to its true name— rather, the name it had before they came along.
Whispers on the wind tell of an evil wizard in flowing white robes who ruthlessly boiled the village elder alive. With him died all of this mysterious Root Town's lore and history, and in its place are tales of the monster who robbed this land of its identity. The elemental sprites that populate this village refuse to speak their name, simply wishing you "good luck, have fun!" as you turn to leave.
While on your journey to check out the island, you'll notice how unstable the bridges are. Unstable might be putting it lightly, because for some unlucky souls, crossing the wrong bridge means plummeting to your death. It seems that whoever was put in charge of constructing these bridges didn't give a damn about structural integrity.
The local sprites are pleading with adventurers to assist them in building better, more stable bridges, but bridging the gap between one island and the next is not a job for a single person. If you have enough of a heart to heed the pleas of the sprites, you'll want to work with your fellow players to get the job done. All the wood, nails, and rope you need to construct better bridges has been helpfully supplied to you by the sprites. You could always sabotage the project too, of course, but what kind of person would you be if you did that?
The professions system has been added to fragment. Rejoice, busybodies, for there is much furniture to be built and dubious potions brewed.
In celebration of the new crafting & gathering system, a crafts festival is being held in the Unnamed Root Town. Take care not to plummet to your death while traversing those rickety bridges.
Players are encouraged to set up a booth of their own and trade their unique handcrafted items with their fellow adventurers. In addition to being supplied with enough level 1 and level 2 crafting materials to give the crafting system a spin, the local NPCs are running a contest encouraging people to come up with their own for a chance to have their creations canonized as real crafting recipes.
To submit your own recipe ideas, you need only fill out this handy form:
Recipe name:
Recipe category: Alchemist, Carpenter, Chef, or Jeweler?
Which two items does your recipe call for? Choose two items to combine. Only gatherable items (refer to the professions page) can be used.
Effect: What does this item do, if anything?
Description: A brief description of your lovely new product.
Fragment's beta test has seen its fair share of unusual bugs and unintended features, and with the latest update bringing many new changes, it's inevitable that some things have broken behind the scenes.
If two players happen to log in at the same time, they might find their avatars swapped with one another's. Thankfully, this issue doesn't lead to the unpleasant exchange of deep-seated memories or anything of the sort, but getting used to a body that isn't yours takes time. Thankfully, this particular bug resolves itself when both players log out.
The windy town of Unnamed Root Town is generally quite scenic and pleasant, but there's just one issue. It's far, far windier than it should be. If the rickety bridges don't kill you, the gusts that intermittently blow across the sky islands might knock you off your feet if you don't watch your footing carefully. Thankfully, the crafts festival on the southernmost end of the island hasn't been impacted by the severe winds. Among them is one voice that you don't recognize: a voice that promises a death, gruesome and bloody, in the days to come.
To everyone's relief, the carnival and its notorious hall of mirrors has packed up and left Lumina Cloth, but your past hasn't finished haunting you. The foul winds carry whispers of the past along with them, uttering words and phrases uncomfortably familiar to you. They're the voices of your past, the voices of people you've known, loved, and lost. Covering your ears won't keep the voices out of your ears. Nothing will.
Finally, on the more mundane some of things, professions have a few kinks of their own that need to be worked out. Occasionally, a crafted item won't come out quite right, instead resulting in one of the following "items":
Alchemist: Truth Serum. Become unable to lie for 24 hours.
Blacksmith: Whatever you're enhancing transforms into a denim disaster. Introducing your new "body" armor, "leg" armor, "head" armor, and "arm" armor.
Carpenter: Mirror Mirror. Reflects the person you're most afraid of becoming.
Chef: Durian Delight. A succulent durian pudding that reeks so strongly that its stench can be smelled all across the Root Town or Area you're occupying.
Jeweler: Crystal Ball. Breaks after one use but allows you to read another player's thoughts for five minutes.
With crafting in full swing, a certain admin has been lured out of his hidey hole by the smell of delicious chef-prepared meals. Hien is hungry, and you will feed him.
Chefs are not limited by the recipes they know like some professions are, so players are encouraged to think outside of the box and combine unique ingredients to cook up something truly special.
Taste, however, isn't the only important part of a perfect meal. Chefs looking to impress the big man himself are expected to present their culinary delights to him with pomp and finesse. You need to impress Hien if you want to gain more from this venture than the participation prize of a chef skin.
Those who successfully woo Hien with their delectable dishes will be given an additional prize: a little black pomchi pet to accompany their avatar around Root Towns and Special Areas. Hien will be giving these out at his discretion, so you better suck up to the dogboss in charge if you want a pomchi of your very own. If you catch Hien in a good mood, he may even agree to give you a different breed of dog if you ask nicely.
Hello, everyone! Can you believe it's been an entire month since our beta test began? Even though we've already been through a lot together, we've still got three months left! I'm rooting for you all!
As of today, the level cap has increased from 25 to 50. That means new armor and weapons will be available to you! Get out there to different Areas and start leveling up! But don't forget to stop every once in a while and enjoy your surroundings, too. Which reminds me—don't forget to check out the new Recreational Areas! We have a beach and hotsprings for you to enjoy now. I hope everyone continues to have fun exploring!
We've also opened up the GP shop, where you can create your own special armor set for a certain price, along with a few other things. Please check it out!
Oh, and don't forget to use these three new greeting cards I've made! Here they are! Make sure you use them so you can connect with your fellow players! We're all friends here, after all.
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But Hien realizes. When Matoba came, the voices stopped. ]
Why does it sound as if I have a fucking choice? Because I don't.
[ He can't do anything about it and he misses what he used to be, but at the same time, he's abandoned it for good, so he should have no reason to feel this way. What's gone is gone and Hien is left to pick up the pieces to reform them into a new whole. ]
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[Matoba asks it with a lofted eyebrow. It's not quite his usual teasing, but it's patient and direct.]
[His chin tilts up, eye raising to the sky over them- to the rustle of the breeze through greenery, and the haunting whispers that came with it.]
... Yo, Seiji...! It's been a while ...
[His eye flutters shut with that seemingly warm, empty voice, and then opens again onto Hien. His eye... hurts.]
Discard what you don't need.
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... Then what did you discard?
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[That eye squints a little, like it's trying to see something in Hien's. That thing that he has in his eyes, too visible, too easy to take advantage of despite everything. That unfortunate, attractive kindness.]
[He wonders if the others see it when they look at him, too.]
[In Matoba's eye there are flickers of joy, of coldness, of amusement and even warmth. There's the sharpness that comes when he's found a weak point. The dullness of quiet anger. There's even softness, open vulnerability, hurt, despite all his attempts to erase that from himself.]
[But none of those are quite the same thing, quite the same capacity towards others, as kindness.]
I didn't think you were so naive, Hien-kun.
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Naive?
[ The grip on the collar gets tighter. ]
Why don't you just say it instead of dancing around it like some cryptic asshole that never gets to the point?
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[Matoba sees him coming and doesn't move, although there's certainly a twitch to the hand at his side, as if he were ready to act in a moment- he's grabbed by the throat, a familiar position, and can't help a shuddered breath that accompanies his grin.]
[Here we are again, Hien-kun.]
Yes, naive, Hien-kun. Because you thought that you could live this life with that kind heart of yours.
... You're just like...
Call for me. When you're in trouble, I'll...
[Another shuddered laugh into a cough as he's gripped.]
You don't have a choice when you're responsible for more lives than yourself, you know. That's why you're naive.
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Hien would ask if he wasn't so pissed off about what Matoba continues to say, so his anger far outweighs his curiosity. ]
Speak for yourself.
[ He growls out. The grip only gets even tighter. ]
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[He wonders how many voices it is, for Hien.]
Do you think... I'm not? [He laughs out, a harsh sound; he should stop wasting air, but he just can't help himself.] ... You're ...a poor liar, too....
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Matoba and the winds say it at the same time and it feels like it echoes in Hien's head, which makes him feel absolutely reeling at the moment, and he throws Matoba on the ground instead of casually letting him go. Good thing this area isn't PvP-enabled.
Hien normally doesn't yell. He's always on the quiet side no matter what, whether he's pissed off, annoyed, satisfied, or anything else. ]
Just say what you want to say! Directly! Straightforwardly! What do you even get out of this?! Do you enjoy making fun of me when you're most likely being assaulted by the voices at the same time too?! What the fuck is your problem?! What do you want from me?!
[ But he feels like he's so close to reaching a breaking point. ]
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[His chest rises and falls as he pants, though it's hard to see under all those heavy robes, and he slowly turns his head to glance his eye back up at Hien, at all the rage boiling out of him, at all of the hurt.]
[Kind people hurt so easily. They couldn't bear to close themselves off completely.]
[... Well. Neither could he.]
I'm not making fun of you, Hien-san, [He says quietly, privately.]
[He'd like to say. He'd like to tell him. But he keeps his tongue, and restores his little smirk.] It can see into your heart just the same as all of us, you know. It's reckless for you to be so easy to rile up when you're so insistent on making enemies.
[He doesn't mean the players.]
Learn to play your role or don't play it at all, Head Admin-san.
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"Learn to play your role, or don't play it at all."
"That's why you're naive."
"Each of these cranes will symbolize an aspiration for you. Please keep them."
"He's vanished from his room! We can't find him!"
"I missed you. Weren't you lonely too?"
"Keep him chained like a feral dog. He's only good for--"
Enough.
That's enough.
He's had enough, so he logs out. He doesn't normally stick around anyone when doing so, even if there's no secret behind it. It's just like any other player.
Hien will remember this. ]