SideQuest!

Video Log #456

"Game resources at nineteeeee percent, and....done."

"Heya guys, dicks4lyf here, bringing you more of that Heroes of the Ensemble goodness on Youtube 360! But before we start, I just like to give a shoutout to my solid 4lyfers out there going strong at 106k subs. Shoutout to bathos and SkyisThELimit777 for sending me this new "Marauder" cosmetic armor set. Thanks a lot guys! It's so beautifuuul! I really appreciate it.

If you're new to the channel and you like what you see on our regular streams, consider subscribing to get more of that HoE goodness. You can also donate via Patron to support our channel. Link in the description. That way, you'll get access to our EXTRA. SPECIAL. PERKS. Don't forget to leave your comments down below and tell us what you want to see next on our future videos!

And with that out of the way...let's rock people!"

At the flick of her hand, a stream of bright lights flooded Julia's VR headset as the loading screen for the game sets in and the RealityVR suit that encased her body recalibrates to simulate a serene, floating sensation as a scenery of stars, comets and other heavenly bodies float around her like that of the planetariums in the days of old - which then dissolves into pure white as the game starts.

Julia felt her stomach fall as the VR suit then starts to move on its own, slowly positioning Julia's body in a diving position as the scenery quickly unfolds into a blanket of clouds getting separated by the speed of her fall, slowly revealing a green patch of land south of what seemed to be rows upon rows of tall Gothic-styled buildings and houses.

As soon as the fall reached the 'optimal height', the VR suit shifted into an upright position to facilitate a 'feet-first' kind of landing. As soon as she hit the ground, blades of grass flew around her where she knelt, flying outward of the impact zone in a circle.

As the last part of the automation of the suit, she felt her body rise to an upright position as the dust settled. And as she did, she felt the suit gradually loosen - signifying that she can now control her character's actions.

"Ahh! Superhero landing! Never gets old in HoE!" she commented as she tries to stretch her arms and legs. "Okay guys, so before we do anything on our stream, I just want to make a very important announcement. For those who haven't watched my earlier streams, a bit of a back story. Okay, so remember the update that Rabid Games made last June regarding the Guild system? Yeah...it sucks. The update basically states that in order to purchase tier-7 and higher weapons and armor, you need to either be a member or a master of a guild. Now, for a solo Class D Swordsman such as myself, it sucks a lot more. Let me show you something."

She then pulled one of her swords from the sheath and began to inspect it, looking closely on the dents and scratches made on the surface of the blade - and the red HP bar hovering over the sword.

"Wow. That's a lot of durability lost on a single quest." she commented. "See? This is why this update is hell. Leveling up in HoE is hard enough as it is. Weapons and armor easily lose durability, Repair Runes are expensive as s**t and now that this new update is active, you'd barely feel the rewards on quests - because you'd just spend your gold buying a truckload of Repair Runes because you can't purchase a more durable equipment if you're playing solo! I mean-"

Julia's speech was interrupted as a figure resembling that of a man whistled past her like a cannonball and dived near her location, blasting her face with dust.

"Wow...just wow." she remarked, trying to fan the dust away with her hands. "Thanks a lot, Alex."

"My pleasure. Nice day for a stream, eh Julia?" mocked the man, laughing as he rose. As the dust settled, he is revealed to be an avatar with black, swept-back hair, wearing a thick black trench coat armored with overlapping sheets of silvery steel plate armor, intricately outlined with engravings of runic symbols. He bears on his waist a straight, slender sword that looks like a hybrid of the katana and the machete.

"For f**k's sake, Alex, land somewhere else." Julia complained as she let out a sigh. "You know I always do my intros here."

She then waved her hand to reveal a bright yellow, hexagonal holographic interface in front of her, swiping to the left to reveal a hexagon with a globe icon on it, maximizing into a window showing the map of the entire region.

"End recording." Julia sighed, triggering a soft beep sound on the interface. "God, every time you show up, rrrr....I swear. What brings you here on this server?"

"Just checking in on you. I mean, we haven't played together in a while, right? Come on, let's have some fun. We've got some new quests posted in that region." he replied as he pointed at a crescent-shaped landmass in the corner of the map with a fast-travel icon hovering over it.

"Crescent Island? The Tutorial town?! What quests can we possibly do there, kill off rats?" she sneered as she minimized the world map. "I need to repair my weapons first. I need to go to a blacksmith."

"Nah. Just use these." he answered as he handed me a bag of shiny red shards with strange, mystical engravings on them.

"Repair Runes? These things are expensive. Are you sure you won't need these on your quests?" she asked as she pulled up her inventory menu and placed the bag on top of her swords, replenishing the durability bar.

"Oh, help yourself. I have enough to spare." he exclaimed as he pulled up his inventory interface, showing a large bag of Repair Runes with an astounding 9999 balance.

"What the-...where did you get all that stuff?" Julia inquired intently, utterly perplexed as he scrolled through item upon item of expensive in-game consumables such as elixirs and buff potions.

"Wanna know where I got these? Come, let me show you. I'll explain on the way. There's someone I need you to meet first." he replied as he pulled up his World Map and selected the fast travel point at Crescent Island. "See you on the other side." he bade as his avatar slowly dissolved and a beam of bright cyan light flashed in his wake, leaving Julia alone standing in the meadow.

"Oh, this better be worth you interrupting my recording, Alex." Julia muttered under her breath as she pulled up her World Map, selecting the Crescent Island fast travel point.

At that moment, her interface became surrounded by streams of cyan light rushing upward into the heavens, and as she looked around her observing her arms, she saw the polygons of her avatar began dissolving into the beam, the pieces of her rising up like charred ashes of wood in a bonfire.

A few seconds later, the interface began to settle, and slowly the world around her starts to map itself out on its own, with strings of lights outlining the elements in the field. After all the resources have loaded, the video feed eases in on a more defined features of all the elements around Julia - revealing roads and houses made in the style of the late Victorian era, a fleet of airships hovering the skies and a throng of NPCs and players alike roaming the streets and interacting with one another. In the distance, Alex is standing in wait in front of one of the brick houses, his sword plunged into the ground as a woman NPC dressed in a modest purple gown berates him with a barrage of seamlessly interactive but looped dialogue.

"Hey, about time you showed up." he greeted as he uprooted his sword from the ground and walked towards Julia.

"It wasn't even that long!" she ranted, storming towards him.

Alex replied with a sneer as he drew his sword. "You have no idea how long this NPC's been pestering me. It's like...ages" he muttered as he casually slashed the NPC's head, spurting blood all over the street. All of the other NPCs around the area, including the shopkeepers and custodian bank keepers stopped in their tracks, gasping in awe at this grisly sight.

Julia's eyes widened in shock. "What the fricking hell is wrong with you, Alex? That is utterly unnecessary and barbaric! That NPC is doing nothing to you!"

"So what? She's f*****g annoying!" he nonchalantly replied. "Besides, what are those NPCs gonna do? Retaliate? You expecting them to f*****g figh-"

A fiery missile suddenly whistled past Julia's ear from behind, hitting Alex square in the face and knocking him off. Though a bit stupefied by the sudden chain of events, she turned around to check the source of the spell, and in the distance, she saw a white-haired man in a white robe that looked somewhat of a mix between a kimono and a trench coat, with shale-colored armor plating on his left shoulder and right hip His arms are protected by armor pieces that look like vambraces, while his legs are covered with black and cruel metal greaves . On his waist is tucked a sleek sword that looks like an amalgamation of the katana and the Korean geom. A line of yellow text that reads "sev7645" hovers over his head.

"Yellow?" Julia muttered to herself. "That's new...what ranking is that supposed to represent? Or is that a new job in the game.

"Please..." said the white-robed man in a calm voice as he pointed a fiery hand towards the direction of Alex. "...let's keep this server decent and proper."

"Oh, I'll make sure you'll see what's decent and proper!" Alex yelled as he drew his sword and blinked towards the white-haired man.

"All right, enough of this. Kick player." uttered the white-haired man in a very bored tone, flicking his hand to extinguish the flame. In that moment, Alex, who was about lunge at his enemy, abruptly dissolves into thin air, leaving a flash of a pillar of light in his wake.

He then turned on the carcass of the beheaded woman. "Oh, uhh...Respawn."

At his command, the body parts began to reassemble. As soon as the head reattached, the woman's mouth started to spout bloody curses once more - only to stop abruptly and transition into a neutral demeanor at the absence of the player she was once trying to address.

"Sorry about that. Was that your friend?" the white-haired man asked Julia.

"Uhh...sort of? I mean, he was somethi-"

"Skip!" the man ordered casually.

"Hey! I'm not an NPC!" Julia complained. "Hey! Listen here, you little s**t!"

But the white-haired man did not pay her any attention. Instead, he turned to the other NPCs and players around him still in a state of shock to address them. "Please disperse. Nothing to see here." he commanded as he waved his hand, as if shooing off the crowd. The NPCs dispersed immediately, with the players following suit. After the deed is done, he began walking towards the end of the street where a shop is located, paying no attention whatsoever to Julia, who kept ranting in his ear like the NPC Alex killed earlier.

"Hey! Hey! You little s**t!" screamed Julia as she follows the man. "Listen here-!"

"Oh, you're still here? Strange...I don't remember accepting any quests." he muttered as he continued walking his way. "Abandon quest."

"I'M NOOOOT....AN NPC! Get it?!" she roared.

"Abandon quest." the man repeated, paying her no mind whatsoever.

"Stop treating me like an NPC, dammit!" she cried out. With her patience run thin, Julia decides to run in front of the man and block his path. She then draws one of her swords, pointing it towards the man's head. "You! I challenge you to a duel!"

Upon hearing this, the NPCs once again stopped in their tracks, this time hiding behind the stalls and walls of the houses. The players, however, recognizing Julia's username, stopped their business to spectate - as they know they'll be in for a show.

Julia has been in the HoE dueling scene for quite some time now, and she's well known within the community for dueling with Class B and higher players and defeating them with pure skill. One notable duel she was in which built her career as a streamer was with a Class A Paladin named DigBick, a very tanky guildmaster whom she subdued with a series of evasions and quick strikes during one of HoE's huge game events. Since then, she took on challengers to battles and became quite notorious within the game's roster of top duelists.

Julia is quite competitive by nature, and would not hesitate to take on a much stronger enemy if she feels she's mocked or looked down upon.

"Challenged by a pretentious NPC, huh?" berated the white-haired man.

"Draw your sword!" she ordered.

"As you wish." he agreed, quickly drawing his sword and striking against his opponent's weapon to throw her off. The audience was left in awe as they witnessed the sword draw land so quickly and powerfully it pushed Julia by a few feet and staggered her. The white-haired man then neatly sheathed his sword, and slowly crouched to assume an offensive stance.

"This will be fun." Julia remarked as she pulled up her interface. "Start recording."

"Agreed." the man reacted. "Have at you!"

And just like that, the white-haired man quickly blinked in front of Julia to strike, hurling three subsequent strikes which she successfully deflected. The quick swordsman, upon noticing an almost depleted durability bar hovering over Julia's swords, immediately retreated two feet away to disengage.

Surprised by this very unexpected move, Julia did not waste time and quickly pulled up her inventory to use a Repair Rune shard to replenish her swords' durability and recover into a defensive stance.

"What? You chickening out?" she taunted.

"I see now." the man remarked. "So you're actually a player, huh?"

"Well...duh!" Julia parried.

He then immediately pulled up his menu, opening up an option called "ADMIN" - a selection apparently unavailable to regular players. "What the...he's a GM?" Julia thought to herself.

"What are you doing?" the girl asked. "We're in a middle of a duel."

"Your equipment's durability is pitiful." he commented. "There's no honor in fighting with someone who has to constantly repair. Removing durability counter for your items."

And at the push of a button, the durability bar disappeared, and a bright white glow surrounded her swords and her armor radiated a faint white light.

"What the-?!" Julia gasped.

"Do not hold back, player. Have at you!" her enemy declared, blinking once more towards her location to lunge.

Julia immediately recovered her composure, drawing her second sword to hit her enemy's weapon from the side to parry it. The white-haired man the quickly switches to backhand and disappeared in thin air and reappeared behind the female swordsman a few seconds after. Noticing a reddish indicator that points south of where she is facing, Julia swerved her right hand sword around her to deflect another lunge from her enemy and respond with a thrust of her own as she turns around, glancing her enemy's shoulder armor as the blade slides across the plate's surface. The white-haired man recoils as he tried to tilt his body to mitigate the damage, dashing away one more time to disengage.

"You're pretty good." she praised as she pointed her swords towards the enemy, assuming an offensive stance. "Never caught your real name."

"It's flashed over my head. See?" he replied curtly.

"You expect me to believe your real name is sev7645?" she retorted.

"Yes." he answered firmly.

"Right." she smirked. "And my name is dicks4lyf."

The man sheathed his sword and disappeared once again, lunging once more in front of Julia.

"You know, your attacks are becoming really predictable." Julia commented as she casually deflects her opponent's swift attacks. "Don't be shy. Use an ability or two."

"If you say so." Following what she said, his sword began to brighten as he was about to strike, and as he lands each blow, his blade emits a series of blade-like rays of light that follows the orientation of each strike, forcing Julia to be on the defensive, crossing her swords to shield herself.

Unsatisfied by the attack, the man stretches out a fiery fist and blinks towards his enemy, battering Julia's defenses with blazing punches.

"s**t. He's gonna break through. Cross Judge!" she yelled, emitting a sword-shaped light around her, pushing her enemy back.

"A nullifier? Interesting..." he muttered as he sheathed his sword, taking a few steps back before disappearing again into thin air. He then re-emerged, but this time, several images of himself began marching towards Julia, swords drawn. One by one, the images dashed to hit her with a single strike or thrust. It started out slow at first - throwing blows one at a time. But as the minutes pass, gradually the images began to grow faster and more aggressive, switching up their attacks, throwing s***h projectiles and shooting energy missiles.

"Cross Judge!" she yelled, but to no avail. The images kept coming.

"That's not going to work. This is not a magic spell." taunted the other swordsman's images as they hurled strike upon strike on the woman. "Running out of tricks already?"

"You wish!" she parried as she flicked her hand, materializing a flurry of swords flying in the air towards the images, the figures dissolving into a smoky haze as the swords landed, covering the battlefield in a blanket of mist

"Where did he go?" she asked herself as she scanned the surroundings. The swords should have finished off all of the visible threats around her, but the white-haired man was nowhere to be seen. Instead, in the distance, all she could see is her opponent's sword plunged into the ground, with half of its blade buried to the ground. Then, out of nowhere, Julia felt a tingling sensation in her spine as her body suddenly warmed up for a brief moment. It was strange, she thought. It was as if everything that's happening right now is familiar in some way. Was it deja vu? Strange, she thought to herself.

Suddenly, she felt a peculiar urge, her hands itching to swish the sword behind her. And, as if having a life of its own, her hands swished behind her, and to her shock, metal sparks flew as it collided with a slender blade primed to make a thrust. The strike sent her opponent flying towards one of the houses, making a loud boom as he landed.

"What the hell was that?" she thought to herself as she felt her heart pounding and her ears ringing. As soon as she returned to her senses completely, she began to realize that the actions she did a while ago was not from an automation from the VR suit, but instead an unconscious decision on the part of her body.

Moments later, the white-haired man rose from the rubble, rubbing off all the dust on his attire and casually walking away from the scene. A few seconds later, he begins to clap, as if congratulating Julia on her victory.

"That...that was a good fight, I have to admit." he laughed out as he sheathed his sword. "Well played."

"You're pretty good too...Sev." she replied as she lowered her guard, went towards him and held out her hand. "Well played."

Sev's smile immediately turned into a look of confusion at the sight of Julia's hand. "And what am I supposed to do with that?" he asked.

"Uhh...you shake it like a normal human being?" she replied sarcastically.

"Oh...of course." he exclaimed, as if legitimately discovering the concept of the handshake for the first time. "In that case, let's shake it." he continued as he awkwardly shook Julia's hand side-to-side.

"You're weird." Julia sneered.

"Thank you." he replied, smiling as if it was a compliment. "Oh, by the way. I needed to tell you something. Open your interface."

Julia, upon recovering her hand, did as she's told pulled up her interface. As soon as the hexagon window appeared, a soft pop sounded and a red "1" popped up on top of the "Messages" tab.

"What's this?" she asked.

"Read it." Sev replied, urging her on. "If you have any questions, just reach out to me in-game."

Finding herself with no choice but to comply to know the contents, Julia maximized the window listing her messages and found a mail on the very top of the list, with a subject in bold that reads 'Invitation to join'. Curious, she immediately opened the mail and read the contents:

To Miss Katherine Julia Cheong,

Thank you very much for showing your interest in joining our guild by sending your request. As the guildmaster of the "Antonites", I take great care in evaluating our applicants using an established set of metrics that are fair and inclusive, which are, in simpler terms, are skill-based and personality-based. We believe that respect and sportsmanship are just as essential in a guild as it helps in maintaining a healthy gaming atmosphere.

After careful consideration of your skill and in-game conduct, we have decided to entertain your application to enter our exclusive guild. However, in order to fully introduce you into the fold, we would need you to pass one final...interview to legitimize your membership.

To give you an overview of what you're about to get should you pass, membership will give you access to a lot of perks such as an unlimited supply of Repair Runes and access to high-tier equipment sold at 50% their original in-game prices. Our representative, sev7645, is the OIC in organizing the initial interviews. You should be able to receive this email after you pass. Please access the link attached below to fill out a form so we can reach you while you're offline. We're looking forward to working with you in the future.

Regards,

Antonio Rubio

CEO, Rabid Games

"Holy s**t!" she ejaculated as she turned to face Sev. "Sev, I didn't know you were a-"

She halted as soon as she realized that Sev wasn't already there. She tried to check her surroundings, but no Sev. "Has anyone seen that Sev player?" she asked the other players.

"I think he logged out." answered one of the male mages standing near the potions shop.

"Wow." she remarked as she minimized her interface. "That's just some serious bullshit right there."