Virtual Reality : Dystopian Tales Online

006.3 | The Cassaianne Guild

It must have been an issue, or maybe a secret event that made the two figures fight every time they meet. It wasn't clear, but everyone is aware that it is something controversial. The players from the first string servers were quiet about the issue, so the new string members could only speculate. 

Anyways, none of the oldest generations bothered to stop the two people from fighting. Even now, as the Thunder Beast guild leader trapped the rabbit-looking vice guild leader of Cassaianne, they were instead hooting and cheering like owls wearing clown dresses. Someone even opened a betting pool to guess who will win today's argument. 

In their eyes, the weak-looking Xav-11 is at a disadvantage. His figure that is two heads shorter than Jung-55, could only do nothing but be enveloped by the dominant air. He indeed looks like a rabbit cowering in front of a heavenly beast. 

"Ah... I will... I will tell Clover... I will tell him that you're bullying me again," Xav-11 almost cried; his threats sounded weak and empty.

Jung-55 remained, glaring at the tiny creature, making Xav-11 tremble more. With no words to speak, Xav-11 started spamming him with a crying emoticon. Tears and such don't exist in the virtual world, but a particular command can create a "crying face" image.

"You are bullying him again," Ari-05 chuckled lightly. He wasn't looking at the two players causing trouble but instead on the wine glass in his hands. He had been serving drinks and food to the people that were passing by. 

A small finger-sized one-foot-long baby black snake slithered unto the counter. It made baby hissing sounds while looking around. The snake thought that nothing is interesting to see and no food to hunt, so it returned to its master. Melon-45 reached out his hand to let the baby snake climb into his arms. 

"It is because of his reaction, ah," Melon-45 snickered. "I could never tell how many expression packs he had made. It has been ten years, but I have never seen him repeat any of those expressions."

"What did you expect?" Allen-38 butt in. He leaned to Melon-45 comfortably. "Xavier is the very definition of art. If he could not make a variation of a single expression to a thousand, then that isn't Xavier at all."

Melon-45 agreed. Melon and Allen are just regular people, but they still belong on the above-average spectrum. They attended the same art school together and had known about Xav-11 in real life. More of, in the art world, Xavier is considered a god. 

If ordinary people could see thirty colors in a spectrum, he could see a hundred and could distinguish the difference even on the most miniature scale. Much surprisingly, Xavier wasn't in the painting business but on sculptures and paper cuttings. He is famous both in real life and in the game world. 

So, it could be said that his existence wasn't a secret. Few of the known players in VR are from influential families. Examples were Leon and Shin that are both known publicly as chaebols. There is also Rios-72 and Jung-55; both families are related to the military. More people are being suspected, but they weren't open, unlike these people. 

The teasing continued. The leaders who were once seen as powerful and serious ignored their setting and happily contributed to the childish game. Just in time, a flicker of light appeared in midair, where a group of people suddenly showed up. Nobody was surprised by the unusual event and greeted the players who just came in. 

Two pairs of haste steps mixed in the crowd. The sound wasn't particular with all the noise, but the coming of the two players made the people around take a look. The twins, Marlene and Marcus, are holding hands as they drove their way towards the bar. They quickly found their spot and hastily climb up on their seats. 

The barstools were a bit high that even the two fourteen years old still needed to hop up a bit. Rios-72 watched the two teenagers sit in their places as he lightly shook the drink in his hands. Marlene looked around and found the Arcana Guild Leader beautifully sipping his drinks. His looks manifested some alluring beauty. 

Rios-72 noticed the young girl staring at him. 

"You wanted a drink?" He asked.

"You shouldn't give drinks to kids."

He looked behind to see who just talked and found a man of the same race wearing western-styled elf clothes. However, unlike the tight clothes of those from the eastern design, western clothing wasn't conservative that fully exposed the player's skin. 

Leon's clothes were skin-tight, fully exhibiting the shape of his slender body. The upper torso is covered with a crop top with extended sleeves that exposed his navel. His skin was imprinted with the various tattoo, and there is a piercing on his belly button. Nobody will believe that such an upright gentleman has this body type if not from the hooded cloak covering his body. 

Well, it wasn't really an issue. Tattoos and piercings are now considered works of art. In addition, the tattoos in his body meant that Leon has a high incantation level. To be able to imprint magic circles on one's body determined the person's proficiency in magic. 

Rios-96 just smirked while showing his glass of drink.

"Would you like some drink?" Rios-72 asked.

"No, I don't drink," Leon-36 directly refused.

Rios-96 just shrugged his shoulders. Some people dislike drinking, and forcing them is not his thing. Ari-05 went to the twins and handed them sweetened milk. Leon himself ordered some fruit drink. 

Shin-18 did not come to the bar but instead joined the teasing. The betting tables have now reached an unbelievable level. Low-level players seeing the big shots spending hundreds of golden coins in one dropping made their knees soft. Some of them are trying hard to fulfill the monthly contributions, and here come the rich people spending them like water!

Xav-11 and Jung-55 are both in deadlock. No matter how many times the taller man provokes the little rabbit, the said ancestor won't budge. The expression pack is being sent hastily that the text bubbles around Xav-11 almost covered their vision. 

Aud-01 is the last to arrive. He had his interface open and seemed to be checking something. Xav-11 saw Aud coming in view. By just simply brushing Jung-55 away, he dashed towards the player and anchored on his arms. Aud-01 almost jumped in surprised when Xav-11 appeared unnoticed.

However, what struck the other players dumbfounded is how this elf managed to get away from the beast's lock by simply brushing him out. Does it mean that those weak looks are just for show? That only one who voted for Xav-11 won the bet.

"Something wrong?" Aud-01 asked. He just arrived on the scene, so he didn't know what happened.

"Aud! They're always picking on me. Help me! Help me!" Xav-11 complained. Aud-01 looked at the crowd and found his group and the guild leaders. He patted the elf's head.

"You did a good job. That's okay," Aud-01 said with a smile. Xav-11 was almost blinded by the smile and attacked Aud-01 by hugging him while rubbing his cheeks.

"Why are you so cute! You're so cute! So cut-"

Xav-11 was halted when somebody removed him from Aud-01 by picking him on the collars. Xav-11 looked at the person who is holding him and found a familiar person. He sparkled and gave him a welcoming smile.

"Oh, it's you, Frass! Hello," Xav-11 joyfully greeted.

While Xav-11 spammed Frass-02 with greeting messages, Aud-01 approached the bar. Jung-55 clicked his tongue and looked away. Melon-45 and Allen-38 wilted and lied to the ground since both of them paid the highest bet. Rios-72 looked over, receiving the prize money. 

Melon-45 watched as Aud-01 easily skipped over their dead bodies. He called out, "I never know that the Cassaianne hold such task. That must be the reason why none of this guild created a hole on the TV."

TV is the term used for appearing a player's name on the screen as if advertising. Everyone worldwide will see it like how announcements are being aired on television. And anyone who appeared on TV held a special spot on the game's scoreboard where the places to be announced are those who belong in the top ten. Or when bosses killed for the first time and the shortest time for a dungeon to get cleared.

Leon-36 and Shin-18 appeared once on TV on the second server when they are able to kill a Hidden Boss in the dungeon. Ari-05 also appeared a lot on TV before with awards for killing floor bosses and clearing the dungeons for the shortest time. A few of the high-ranking officers in Cassaianne owned a place on the TV once but not on the current 5th server.

"The task is just to help all the players to reach one hundred to open a new server, right?" Allen-38 muttered. "If Clover just asked us, we could have done it two years ago."

"Well, it is true that leveling up in the 5th server is hard. Can you imagine, we both reached the level of four hundred, yet we can't go further up due to the demands of the game. It takes a lot of quests and dungeon," Melon-45 complained.

"Clover probably has his reasons," Rios-96 commented, giving Aud-01 a wink. "That guy is pretty aloof. He just does whatever he wanted to do. If he needed our help, he would just ask with no shame."

Aud-01 and Frass-02 sat on their chairs while listening to the guild leaders. Ari-05 had already prepared the drinks and placed them in front of them. 

"Why are you guys all so serious when it comes to this! You should enjoy and have fun!" Xav-11 said, now on the circle of conversation. "And here I prepared the venue with all my designing skills."

"If you wanted to say that your decoration is great, then sad to tell you I didn't like it," Jung-55 said straight on.

"Who needed your personal opinion about aesthetics! A primitive like you will never understand true art!" Xav-11 cried.

"Huh? You think this is aesthetic?" Jung-55 gave him a sharp glare. Xav-11 trembled and ran behind Aud-01 to hide.

"You think you can beat me? GO! GO, Aud will save me," the rabbit trembled.

Aud-01 looked at them and just smiled. He patted the trambling rabbit again to assure that he's safe and nobody could hurt him here. Though, nobody will really try to attack Xav-11. For the person who has access to all the rooms and the ability to teleport anyone he dislikes outside the guild, Xav-11 is like a hidden boss you should not let get angry.

"It's okay; it's okay," Aud-01 said. "Well, isn't it time already? All the casts are complete. I heard you prepared a program for everyone."

"Oh right," Xav-11 quickly earned his grace and remembered something important. He smiled and hugged Aud-01 once more, earning a growl from Frass-02 beside them. "I guess I have to go. See you later, sweetheart."

The elf left the scene. Aud-01 watched the player dash towards the stage where some people are already performing. He snatched the microphone from whoever was holding it, creating a sharp static. The players covered their ears from the loud noise and protested to the person standing in front.

Xav-11 just smiled.

"Good day, everyone!" Xav-11 yelled, doubling the static from earlier. "How are you?"

Another set of complaints erupted. However, their faces showed something close to gratefulness. Just the sight of this elf really makes everyone feel light-hearted. They could never hold a grudge against this kind and rabbit-like person.

"Well, well... I assume that everyone knows the reason why we are all gathered here. Anyone from the crowd wanted to answer?"

"Free drinks!"

"Free food!"

"Beautiful girls!"

"Free party!"

"Hey! That's not the reason why we are here!"

The elf earned an earful of laughter from the crowd.

"You guys sure like to bully him," Aud-01 commented on the sidelines. Ari-05 just chuckled when he remembered saying the same thing earlier. Aud-01 noticed the bluish-purple drink Ari-05 is making and could not help but to gulp. 

Ari-05 purposely made the drink to attract the other person's attention. He pushed the highball glass towards the player as he leaned to the counter. It is impossible to talk in this kind of noise, so Ari-05 went closer. 

"Someone handed me purple flower nectar earlier. I just harvested the honey from the hive and thought of making some drink. How about some taste?" He gently said. 

"Then, I won't be polite," Aud-01 wasn't shy and quickly drank half the glass. He licked his lips, tasting the leftover. Ari-05 didn't dare to look directly and focused his eyes on the stage. 

"It is surprisingly sour," Aud-01 commented. Though, he continued to drink it by sips. 

"You didn't like it?"

"It's good," Aud-01 shook the glass to dilute the slight sourness by melting the ice cubes. "Add it to the menu."

Ari-05 nodded, writing the note in his mind. The two no longer chatted as they focused on Xav-11, which seems to be arguing with the other players on the stage. 

"Okay, okay, listen to, you there stop laughing!"  The crowd made a peal of heartfelt laughter. Though, they settled down after a round of messing. Xav's smile also becomes solemn, giving off a noble sense. Nobody dared to joke around and let the vice guild leader talk. 

"Ten years ago, the game Dystopian Tales Online was released. At the same time, the inside-game Virtual Reality was also introduced."

"Virtual Reality is just a prototype game where we play games while sleeping using the Dream Simulator. The test is still going on, requiring at least five hundred players to complete the first part. four years ago, we finally reached that number."

"Upon the release of the fifth server where the fifth string players entered the scene, the Cassaianne Guild was given a special task of helping these new players to reach level one hundred in four to five years. No new server will be introduced not until this task is done."

"As what we all know, the fifth server contained the greatest difficulty amongst the servers. The level cap has been expanded to five hundred, and the dungeon floors now have one thousand floors. It took us many years to complete the given task."

"This day marked the end of the fifth server. The Virtual Reality players will proceed to the second phase of the experiment!"

Everyone applauds loudly, with cheers echoing around the mess hall. Xav-11 proudly claimed the achievement. And as a present for this celebration, he prepared something grand. Xav-11 raised his arms, activating a solemn enchantment. 

He started glowing in a rhythmic pulse. Below his feet, a ripple of multiple circles was formed, sending out specks of glowing spots. It continued to accumulate when the radius suddenly erupted, almost occupying the floor of the mess hall. There were sounds of gasps and surprise. Some players raised their feet while some gazed down. 

"What is this?" One female player asked.

The glow from the floor is almost hypnotizing, making her reach down to touch it. And just by that, as if changing the waters through a water drop,  the whole scene rippled to a place closer to an underwater aquarium. The players loudly expressed their awe as their eyes wandered through the entire set.

"He's a high leveled elf after all," Rios-72 commented. 

This enchantment is very familiar to him. He can also do it if he wanted, but the scale wouldn't be as large as Xav-11's. That guy's scope of magic is too large. To be able to create an elaborate illusion like this, one must have spent a lot of energy. It also takes a lot of planning and positioning. Such manipulation is comparable to a beast.

Rios-72 understood his race's capabilities; thus, he voted for Xav-11 during the bet. 

The change in environment heightened the excitement. The calm and warm light coming from the illusion made everyone feel safe and at peace. Xav-11 attained the atmosphere he intended and blasted the speakers in total volume. On cue, the band of bards and druids started playing in the background. 

"Everyone!" Xav-11 called out. "Let's start the party!"