⬣//A SINGLE CRACK LETS THE LIGHT IN.

[cccorp]

>>UNTITLED ROOT TOWN // >>FUTURE // >>PROGRESS? // >>HE HUNGERS // >>Zelkova Corner

⬣//BRAVELY SAILING INTO THE UNKNOWN

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?

⬣//BUILDING THE FUTURE

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.

<b>Recipe name:</b> <b>Recipe category:</b> <b>Which two items does your recipe call for?</b> <b>Effect:</b> <b>Description:</b>

Submit your recipe contest submissions here.

⬣//ONE STEP FORWARD, TWO STEPS BACK

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.

⬣//WHAT ARE YOU, AN IDIOT SANDWICH?

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.

Feed the local Hien here.

⬣//ZELKOVA’S CORNER

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.

>>Navigation

Comments

[insinning]

Mister...? I'm only nineteen, you don't need to--

[Staring at Tylor with no small amount of concern.

True, but disturbing.]

Um. I don't think blood is good to have in food.

[tylorific]

[ Tylor laughs and turns back to his potato-- ]

Oh, don't worry, I'm pretty good with my hands.

[ And he holds up the one he just finished. Okay... well it isn't bad for not looking, but the first one he did is clearly better. Luckily, no blood! ]

See?

[insinning]

[Well. It could be worse. He's not worried about wasting food in a game]

I guess that's pretty good.

[Not the best, but who is Sinclair to criticise. Tylor wasn't even looking. He finishes up his potato and adds it to the pot. Next potato!]</small.

[tylorific]

Thanks!

[ Another couple of potatoes in, he slows a little-- ]

So, how many of these do you think we need?

[ His energy for the tedium is flagging like the increase in his slouch, but hey!! small talk is fun, isn't it? ]

[insinning]

I-I think we have enough now.

[Tylor??? How do you peel so fast. Hastily adding the last of his potatoes in and then...filling it up with water]

I wonder if it'll take as long to boil as in real life.

[tylorific]

[ Creeping boredom, hell of a drug. ]

It does. [ ?? trust him maybe. he sounds like he knows, even if he's watching it boil until he asks-- ] Do you like cooking in real life?

[insinning]

I don't know if I like it. It's kind of a pain when people start yelling different directions at me...

[Flashbacks to the last time he was in a kitchen. U-Ugh]

[tylorific]

Well, that doesn't sound like any fun at all. I promise not to yell any directions.

[ He sounds serious!! But it's quickly supplanted with curiosity-- ]

But then, what do you like?

[insinning]

Ah--that'd be nice, thank you [And whoa, Tylor changes topics faster than Oria] As in, hobbies? Mmm. Reading. Video games...

[Chess has downgraded significantly in his esteem ok.]

[tylorific]

Really? What kind?

[ Does he mean books or video games? Who knows. Play shogi with him sometime Sinclair. ]

[insinning]

For books? I like fantasy. For video games, mmorpgs. Though, after this, I don't know if it'll feel the same anymore.

[teach him shogi tylor!!]

What about you?

[tylorific]

Well, I like movies, tv shows, card games, walking to the convenience store, board games. Spending time with M&M and Hani.

Video games too, of course. But I've only really been playing this one lately.

[ A blink. ]

Oh, do you mean because this mmo is so real?

[insinning]

Yeah, I don't really do much else in my free time now--

[ Oh, that's a common point. But Hani knew everyone so]

--M&M?

[tylorific]

That's okay. You can do a lot in game instead! Like cooking or playing cards.

[ He sounds way too happy to explain this, actually he's beaming-- ]

Morgan, Mithrun.

[insinning]

Oh.

[Thinking.face.]

That makes sense...you know both of them offline then?

[tylorific]

Actually, we spend most of our time together in game. But it'd make me really happy to see them both in real life at the same time.

[ A happy little laugh. ]

Do you know them both too?

[insinning]

Yeah. Mo--Mithrun's been helping me a lot. And Hani has been very friendly.

[Almost too friendly? Breaking Sinclair's normal metre smh.]

[tylorific]

Has he? That's great, I'm glad he has such nice friends to help.

[ Looking back to the potatoes-- ] They're both so beautiful, too. What's the next step for the dumplings?

[insinning]

I suppose--

[Flustering a tiny bit. Tylor is just so honest? How]

Mmm, we need to mash them down and then add eggs and butter.

[Melted of course. These are a lot of potatoes to mash though]

[tylorific]

Oh, don't worry. You're cute too, Vogel.

[ Said breezily as he looks around for something to mash with. Hopefully there's something because he will resort to Tribal Grappler gauntlets if he has to. ]

Now, this is the fun part. Fluffy or lumpy?

[ Tylor looks ready to mash some potatoes into submission. ]

[insinning]

Ah- [Oh hello, there's that blush again] that's not really--

[Is there a wooden mallet there?? Picking one up and handing it over to Tylor]

Fluffy is good.

[Nice and smooth! He'll get the eggs and butter handled then]

[tylorific]

Fluffy it is, leave it to me!

[ mash mash mash. ]

So potatoes, eggs, and butter. Any other ingredients?

[insinning]

Croutons. Ah. The filling can be whatever we like though.

[Maybe some kind of monster meat? Hmmm. It doesn't feel right, but it should be...]

[tylorific]

Whatever we like, huh? Well, what's your favorite?

[ Tylor has a lot of food in his inventory, ever since the picnic and joining like four guilds. ]

[insinning]

Sausage is usually nice in them.

[What does he like? He's always been a bit of a picky eater but when it came to these dumplings, anything went]