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Eden of the Eclipse - Chapter 31

Published at 22nd of June 2022 05:23:11 AM


Chapter 31

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Lucy Heartfelt tsked as she sheathed her sword, the last of her foe disappearing in a burst of light, his whimpering cry of 'You're a monster!' having faded into oblivion. Though, it wasn't as if she had bothered to hear his thesis out before she stabbed him to death with a two hit combo.

"I didn't get a single 'Soul' from killing them. . ." She muttered. She didn't even get a single piece of equipment either. The only thing she acquired was experience points, and she hadn't even leveled up, only reaching 1/3rd of the way to level 13. Clearly, her future plans of farming players for exp did not seem all that sound now.

She turned around to the sound of clapping. Apparently, Arthur and Worm had simply been messing with their Traveler's Book the entire time she fought.

"Bravo, bravo. Excellent fighting as always, Lucy," Arthur clapped his hand in praise, though his face was all but listless as if he didn't really care. The type of expression that sometimes made Lucy want to kick his chin in. He paused and crossed his arms as if in deep contemplation. "But, you know, isn't slaughtering players just for exp what villains do?"

Lucy scoffed. Half-part disgusted at him playing innocent.

"I'm a gamer, not a hero. Who said I have to play nicely? Exploitation runs in my blood, if nothing else. And, besides. . ." She narrowed her eyes at the two. "Weren't you two planning to burn the forest and the players all over again? And don't think I didn't hear you talking about posting the recordings online for money!"

Worm coughed, her eyes danced for a moment, then she coughed once more and finally spoke with a hint of a blush. "T-to be fair, they were after us, and so I determined safety a higher priority than morals. The situation would also make for a suitable condition to gather data on the fire element's implementation in Eclipse, wouldn't you agree? Knowing what we can and can't do with something like that is paramount, no?"

"Wow. . ." Arthur glanced at her. "You really just changed the subject halfway through your speech, huh? Lucy, this girl is amazing. She turned it into a discussion of whether or not it was good data just like that. That's frightening."

". . .I'll kick you. . ." Worm silently murmured under her breath.

As Arthur and Lucy both wondered what it is she had just said, the AI's voice rang.

[Master, master, Alice has a plan!]

"A plan?" They all asked in unison.

[Yes! If master's friends share their recordings, Alice can make it so no one will mess with them anymore!] The AI said, gloating pridefully at her own intellect.

Lucy narrowed her eyes in suspicion. ". . .and how will you do that?"

"Alright, Alice, go ahead and take my recording."

"Mine too."

[Thank you!]

Before Lucy's question could be answered, both Arthur and Worm had already dispassionately agreed to the AIs proposal. Seeing no reason to continue after that, Lucy shrugged, and turned to her best friend.

"Arthur, first order of business, we gotta level you. Level 5 is kinda useless in a party with two level 12 players."

Worm nodded. "Indeed. The fastest way would be to bring him through 'Goblin's Outpost' with us, power leveling him, but. . ."

"Yeah yeah, we already used up our runs for the day, and it'll cost souls to reset the dungeon. . . " Lucy sighed. "If I ever see a gamemaster in this game, I'm gonna rip into em, and slice em until I make them beg the developers to stop being so stingy."

Worm silently prayed for the souls of the developers.

"Well, actually," Arthur sliced in at that moment. Looking blankly at the two. "I haven't even completed the beginner's quest yet."

". . .what?"

He shrugged. "I just ran here to test some things. I mean, think about it logically, Lucy, who wants to go on a fetch quest as their first experience in the first ever full-dive virtual reality game? Are the developers retarded?"

Lucy wanted to smack the boy, but held her hand at the realization that she'd done the same thing as him, while Worm glanced at her, mouthing, 'birds of a feather flock together'. Of course, she expertly ignored her jab.

Then, the other realization struck that Arthur still needed to chase Dafy the Duck. Lucy couldn't help a grin from crossing her face.

"Huh. Tell me, Lucy my best friend in this whole wide world, why are you looking at me with such a perverse grin?"

"I wish you luck~" She simply replied.

". . .I hate you with a passion."

Arthur narrowed his eyes at her reproachfully. Obviously, he knew why she seemed so happy at his misery. By now, there was already plenty of rage online concerning the dang animal fetch quests that each village had. Particularly, it seemed, Dafy was the one most players agreed to be the worst one. He was so notorious in behavior and speech, in fact, that the players of other villagers could only bow down and pat the back of Acron players with condolences.

At that moment, a certain AI's voice popped up yet again.

[Don't worry, Arthur, Alice will scan through the messages cursing at Dafy in the forums and help you locate him quickly!]

"Alice, my best friend in this whole wide world, have I ever told you that I love you dearly?"

[Hehehehe.]

". . ." Lucy thought, 'Goddangit Alice, how could you betray me like this?!'

[???]

While the trio were busy discussing ways to quickly get Arthur up to speed, they had no idea that a raging hell fire of a boiling discussion was currently going on on the forums. The absolute shitshow of a storm could only be called weaponized retardation. The cause of all this, of course, was a video that had begun circulating about.

FuckYourOpinion: There's no fucking way. . .she mowed em down like cattle. . .

Tamtams: bro did you see how she just laughed like a maniac and charged right in? what the fuck? and how the hell did she keep stunning them??? how fucking strong is she???

ipissedmypants: how fucking strong is she??? bro i pissed my pants when she said she fought ten goblins at once

IQMonster: Guys, you're forgetting the important thing. . .the other one with two fucking swords equipped and the guy who burned down the entire forest didn't even fight. Imagine if they did fight with Eve. How many players do you think they could take on at once? Until they fix the death penalty, I don't wanna find out.

CallMeMaybe: The other one with two swords?? You mean Worm the Info Broker? So they have the two highest level players with them, and one of em alone can destroy us, while the last guy there already arsoned the equivalent of a raid group? Yeah, I'm not testing em even after the penalty's fixed. I'm good.

ipissedmypants: bro, you guys stop being so logical. . .i pissed my pants again. . .

Urmomsahoe: @Napolean Dynamite yo, you gotta increase your prices man

Napoleon Dynamite: . . .don't talk to me, I just got PKed for the second time outta nowhere. I'm gonna go lie on my bed and cry myself to sleep.

ForgersCoffeeIsMyLife: . . .

ForgersCoffeeIsMyLife: Okay but what's with the zoom-ins and close ups of Eve grinning like a maniac while she killed them? And what's with the epic soundtrack in the background? And also how the heck did they edit a montage of her killing blows in the end so fast?? Didn't this just happen like less than ten minutes ago??

ipissedmypants: no idea, but it made me piss my pants

MilkTeaIsBetter: For fuck sakes stop pissing your pants. (And yes I just created an account to tell you to fuck off and get a new goddamn bladder. Also Fuck coffee.)

ForgersCoffeeIsMyLife: . . .

ipissedmypants: @MilkTeaIsBetter damn, u just made me piss my pants

MilkTeaIsBetter: Shut. Up.

StepOnMe: Okay but Eve's kinda cute though. I wouldn't mind if she stabbed me.

ForgersCoffeeIsMyLife: wtf

ipissedmypants: wtf

MilkTeaIsBetter: wtf

Napolean Dynamite: wtf

A certain AI giggled to herself as she scanned the forums for discussions about 'Eden'. 'How dare they mess with my master, humph!' Secretly, the AI decided she'd do everything to make her master stand atop the throne of Eclipse, above every other player, beginning with making Eden more famous. To that end, she turned her sights on the current strongest players on the leaderboard, specifically a particular solo-playing rogue named 'Noe', and towards setting up a certain organization.

Entirely unaware of all of this, however, Lucy whistled, walking back towards Acron with Shana and Arthur in tow. Though they were passing through a burned down forest, they looked as leisurely as if they had just taken a lovely stroll.

LotsChrono

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