Delta PoV

Hehehe to think so much fun follows Techno like this.

To think he would encounter that old coat Menthol. Not only that, i can’t believe his sister could make that old bastard react like that. Up until now, only Gaia and I were able to piss him off so much that he opens up like that and that was during the wars.

Now then, to annoy Gaia by passing her some news she would hate with the bottom of her magic gem heart.

I look through her eyes and see she was in a meeting with a few other race representatives. How can things get any better than this. Annoying her in front of other people is always the best time to piss her off.

Delta: ”Hey Gaia, i got some news on Techno. He’s up to some fun again.”

Gaia: ”Shut up brat. I’m busy as you can probably see since you are looking through my eyes.”

Delta: ”Guess you don’t want to know where they are or how they got Menthol to pass over the scrapyard once a week for the Tiger beast men and Draconian race to gather scraps. Or how Techno is going to come and get you to give them some ships so they can do just that.”

Ah the sweet sound of Gaia’s grinding gears. There is no sweeter sound than that especially when it’s you making them grind so bitterly like that.

She was releasing a lot of killing intent in the room which caused the others to jump up and move back.

When she finally noticed she put herself in control.

Gaia: ‘Ah...haha sorry about that. I was contacted by someone and they told me something rather...unpleasant.’

Goblin Rep: ‘It must be bad for you to be so angry.’

She starts to take deep breaths to help circulate cooler air.

Gaia: ‘You have no idea.’ ”How long before that son of a bitch returns?”

Delta: ”Can’t say for sure. They stayed on Menthol for about 3 days so the route was thrown off quite a bit. But I wager around a week before they arrive. I’m sure it will take many people by surprise to see Menthol’s massive body fly through the sky.”

Gaia: ”It’s going to be a pain in the ass to control the clockworks awakened from going up there. What is the level of most of the monsters?

Delta: ”Ranges from 70-200 more or less.”

Gaia: ”Fuck! They were having fun in such a high leveled area. I’m going to need to add a restriction to those who go up there. There are some people who have made their small dingy boats. I still wonder if those things can maintain them but they still are flying in the skies.”

Delta: ”Best discuss this now while you have the chance.”

She let out a sound of disgust and returned her attention to the meeting. It went normal but at the end she addressed what was going on.

The solution was simply to not allow anyone below level 60 from going up there. Or at least someone they believed wasn’t armed well enough. There was no doubt in her mind that Techno already developed several more advanced weapons after he took Victor with him.

The demons were skeptical about his actual strength. As were ogres and Genies but it wasn’t strange since they never met him.

I also highly doubt he would give a rat’s ass about them as well. He doesn’t do things for fame. They just happen and he just seems to be at the right place and the right time.

Still, i would love to meet this two chief. Their level of wickedness by making Techno take their daughters was more the genius. I wonder if they want in on the fame by having their daughters with them. Or maybe to train the girls since they aren’t that strong compared to an adult.

Well not like i care. It’s still funny to watch but he isn’t the only interesting one. Several other parties have long since left the capital and were slowly building greater bodies by gathering materials and returning to smelt them.

Techno’s alchemy metal is still the strongest since they have Victor who had some skill in it to begin with.

I would say in terms of 1 on 1 Asura Techno was the #2 strongest awakened with Bulk being #1 since he added the status points to fight the Rock Rhino during the war.

If Techno chooses to add those status points he gained from all the levels then he would most likely become the strongest with ease.

I can’t wait to start pissing off both Gaia and Menthol. Things really are getting interesting.

Jeopardy PoV

By the effort of Techno Gear, Nova Gear, Bulk Steel and Victor Belkon. Two new races have been unlocked.

Draconian

Beast man (tiger)

This appeared for all the players just now. Techno...Nathaniel. Just like in the betas he was incredibly lucky and was the probably the most well-known.

Right now i was on the shores near the Merfolk village i helped build. I unlike many of the players who were frantic about the quests and all that i didn’t really care. I was stuck in the game for 5 months before the next break appeared.

Already half a month has passed and in that time i stayed in the village helping out and training. From watching game footage i saw that during the betas some players encountered large monsters. They were all massively high leveled but there were few smaller monsters.

When we logged back in the number of real animals/monsters exploded. It seems during the time skip we were away the game company began adding the lesser creatures and during that time a chaotic ecosystem of monsters was built.

The area around the clockwork nation is considered the safest because of the large number of races that make up the nation. Everyone calls it “The Clockworks” nation because it was only through their effort that the nation even appeared with the strength it has now.

What i am doing right now was a subjection quest for the merfolk chief. The old one died some years ago but his son had taken up the mantel and he remembered me and the water elemental core helped prove my identity.

With me there were two people who were like me, someone who wasn’t in a rush to get big. The game showed no real objective. The two with me was one female merfolk and the other was a male Siren.

We needed to clear the beach of monsters that appeared. It was a real annoying monster at that. It’s a giant clam monster that acts like one of those fantasy world mimic chest monsters in dungeons. Inside is the real body which is like a pinkish muscle monster and on the outside was an annoyingly strong shell which is sought after because of how strong it is. If we can get one that isn’t broken the making a shell shield for our parties Siren tank wouldn’t that bad.

Merfolk and Siren are somewhat unique to other races. Unlike the many other races that have craft based technology both fish races developed unique martial art for both races.

Both my party members took the time to learn both arts but because the only clean water are the main reserve of the village there isn’t much in the way of training except for the land based techniques.

Still the merfolk are more mage like similar to me. The martial arts are built around utilizing the strong water affinity of a merfolk and hit with strong water attacks.

As for the Siren, it’s more physical but still uses water as the base. In the land skills a siren can cause shockwaves through another being using these techniques. The shockwaves are actually sent by using magic through the creature body. Since only spirits or skeleton undead have no water since they have no bodies the techniques are massively powerful against most if not all living beings. Skeletons can still be damaged but they are like any of the artificial beings.

Even i was in a bit of danger because the shockwave can be sent with the water in the air so even then it can be hit but it’s much less intense.

The siren goes in and uses his martial arts techniques. Each hit on the iron hard shell shaved a huge amount of health from the monster.

We were asked to clear the beach of these. The total population is around 500. This is the final one. The one we were attacking was like a boss. This thing had over 3000 HP and the attacks of the Siren were taking 15 each hit.

Let me say that this is really high compared to the “fast” trainers who don’t actually take the time to learn the real martial arts behind the techniques and just use the game system to help them.

The trick to the boss is him hit it until it opens up and attacks. In total the giant 4 meter long 2 meter high clam soon opened up after it loses 500 HP when it’s defending.

As soon as he hits the last time he does it jumping back and us both are ready.

Though water would normally be ineffective against a water based monster that would only apply when you don’t hit the weak point.

The mermaid and i had already prepared magic in advance. I charged to my original affinity which was lightning magic while the mermaid did the same with water.

We mages have been training our magic control since we started and met because of it. Meditating and all that was done.

I held both my hands out and from my two dolls like hands lightning crackled dangerously.

Around the mermaid clean water was circling her making a dangerous sharp blade that spun around her.

Mermaid: ‘I’m ready.’

Jeopardy: ‘Fire at any time. I will send mine just as it reaches.’

The mermaid nodded and spun in a full circle. This caused the water to follow her movement. If i compared this to water bending from an old cartoon several years back it should be easier to understand. The graceful spin ended in a sharp swing of her arms horizontally.

The water circled around her and when she swung half of the gathered water separated and flew at the opening king clam.

I needed to time this just right. The water needed to still be in its blade when i fired or the elemental combo won’t work.

An elemental combo is like any natural thing that reacts in a certain way with something else. Water with lighting is one example. Another would be flash freezing something with ice magic and rapidly heating with an intense fire. It would cause an even greater explosion as the ice rapidly heats and releases oxygen from the breaking of the water molecules.

As the water blade begins to reach the king clam it began to close the shell. This was bad because the shell had lighting resistance which was a pain since until now we have been having an easier time.

I needed to wait but it didn’t take long. The ridiculously sharp water blade reached the pinkish meat inside and began to cut it. That was the cue for me to fire and i did just that.

I spread my hands making several bolts of lightning to shine in between my hands. I then aimed it forward and the lightning shot from my hands and flew right into both sides of the water blade. Thought the water was “clean”, it was only to the point where it was drinkable. Because of this the lighting traveled with ease though the blade and right into the main body of the king clam electrocuting it.

The clamshell closed soon after but the HP was already 0. The massive damage from lightning magic can’t be underestimated. It’s considered the most offensive of the magic systems if you focus on that one.

Since i only have water and lighting magic i can’t do much about it but train.

Siren: ‘Hahaha, now that was fun. Let's return to the chief to tell him the coast is clear.’

Mermaid: ‘Why not first remove the two still intact sells which can become a shield for a tank we find later on.

Siren: ‘Why don’t you butcher the damn thing.’

Jeopardy: ‘I’ll interrupt the love comedy here and do the work before it escalates.’

Siren/Mermaid: ‘WHAT LOVE COMEDY’

These were the first people in a long time that I could joke around with. I still can’t get those looks Nathaniel made to me but until I can work up the courage to speak with him in real life, I’ll keep working on getting better here. I lost a lot of my own self confidence so i will remake myself as someone...hopefully better than i was.

Jeopardy: ‘Go clean up the others we hunted today before they rot. The lesser shells are something the village can use for shields and maybe commodities.’

Ya for now the best for me is living a simpler life away from my father.

Techno PoV

Right now I was in the draconian village staring down the two chiefs who were grinning mischievously. The draconian one was giving a helmet so he can hear me.

Techno: ”I WILL NOT take them with me.”

Tiger Chief: ‘You will because if you deserve our biggest treasures.’

Annabeth: ‘I WILL NOT GO WITH HIM!! NOT EVEN DEAD!!’

Draconian chief: ‘You will because it’s already been decided.’

Bulk: ‘Man i love it when techno gets screwed ov..urg

A massive slightly red fist hit bulk square in the face making him collapse with a loud crash.

Techno: ”If you want to get screwed that much then the next time i make a body for you i will make a small puppy and put you in that and leave you to Nova.”

Bulk: ‘I was kidding please nothing but a pathetic body like that!!’

That was said to everyone that had the helmet and Nova as well. Hearing she would get a puppy after getting all her weapons and Proto taken away make her two eyes shine dangerously. I could see it sent a shiver down Bulks gears and he understood his place.

Draconian chief: ‘I really don’t see the problem with taking our daughters.’

Techno: “I already have enough crew members. I don’t need more.’

Tiger chief: ‘I see no magician or scout. Both our races fit the requirements if trained a bit in that direction.’

I really hate these two old men. I really want to screw them over big time for this but because of all that was going on, I’m out of most of my ammo.

I’ll just make a note of this for a later date.

Victor: ‘I also think the same Techno, why not just accept the girls. These two will probably tell the girls something like they will be exiled or something if left behind and left to protect themselves.’

The two girls turn pale and the old men frown then look to the away. It seems he hit the bull’s eye on that one.

It really pissed me off seeing that. I was once again one-sidedly made to take troublesome people. First it was Gaia making the gnomes come aboard and flipping me. Now these old bastards and they planned to use such a cheap thing like that to make me sympathize.

I got annoyed to my limit.

Techno: ‘AHHH!!!!’ ”Do what you want!!”

I turned with both bodies and leave everyone behind. With Menthol reaching the clockwork scrap yard in 2 days I wanted to have bargaining chips with that damn hag so I can set these guys with at least a single ship to survive.

I really don’t know why I’m still going to do anything for them but I guess my connection with Gaia will help out. Also adding two more races to the nation doesn’t hurt. One is a tailoring race and the other another magic race that is excellent with fire magic.

Nothing to lose and everything to gain when I can extort more stuff off Gaia for it.

I stay in the ship the rest of the time we were on Menthol.

Annabeth PoV

Ahhh~~~~! THIS SUCKS MAJORLY.

I was so pissed off that I had to go with that insensitive bastard. Seriously, not only was he against it, when I was asking not to go he was encouraging it.

The normal script would be for the person that gains the companions to make them want to go. Damn I hate this, this group is too weird.

I gave up eventually and packed all my things which wasn’t much.

After I moved everything into that shitty ship I lay down. Greer was lying faced down looking my way as well.

Greer: ‘This sucks. The girl doesn’t let up on the petting.’

Annabeth: ‘At least you get to feel good getting petted.’

We both sigh and then I bring up a menu box.

On it was something awakened had. I pressed the final one which said “logout”

I feel my body lay down and fall asleep and my vision goes black before appearing again in a large oval capsule used by the players.

I pulled the inner helmet of the capsule and make the lid rise after pressing one of the buttons.

The room i was in was an employee's work place. Now what kind of employee would play a game. Obviously every one of these capsules are for the GM’s of LIFE company.

Each race had a GM somewhere hidden among the NPC and have a special NPC character so that event that happen to them could still trigger quests.

I exit my capsule and soon after I see one farther down open. From it was a familiar petty girl that looked more like a 12 year old then the 19 years she actually had. I myself was only 18 but we were hired as GMs because of our love for Role playing and we were professionals in acting. These two requirements were needed for GM’s since we need to be able to like and do both so that we aren’t found out by players.

I walked over the petty girl and we walk together out of the room. We were both mentally exhausted from the ordeal.

We walked in silence and headed to our rooms. We needed to sleep and the company offers dorms for GM since we need to spend long hours in game.

The GM’s had special characters like i mentioned. Even when offline an AI will take over. It has the same personality and all our recollections for what has happened. When we login we gain the memories of what happened during the time we were off. That was why we had nothing to worry about being...abused, since the AI are just like us.

As we enter a kitchen room we found several men inside.

They were watching tv and when we looked we paled.

All the men were holding back their laughter.

Man 1: ‘So...how is...your new crew? pff!’

The all started laughing which caused veins to appear on my head.

Annabeth: ‘Shut...up you old bags of bones. Those weird bastards are just as bad as you all.’

Man 2: ‘Oh come on, you’re with “The Clockwork” now. *chuckles* you should be...happy.’

He was saying things that were pissing me off. I had already mentioned how i want to make the draconian be recognized as the strongest race in Etheria but after what i saw today and the last few game days i can only say that clockwork are the race of power. Or maybe it’s just Techno’s crew that is too strange for their own good that it makes them strong.

Man 3: ‘Anyway...Greer...how do you *chuckles* like Nova’s petting.’

The little girl next to me goes beet red and i can only sigh. The girl is extremely shy around to many people but in the game she is better since she became a tiger woman. They are more open with their own family so she got along well with them and opened up in game but in real life she is still as timid as always.

We try to ignore the laughing and get some food. We look at the TV which was showing our video footage. This is the annoying part about being a GM. You had no privacy except when you needed to do your business...all kinds of business. Especially nighttime kind.

It was strange to look at it from a third person perspective since the view changed from Techno’s PoV to Bulk then Nova. Each caused their thoughts to speak as if they were actually speaking so we could listen. Nova was really strange but when we saw her PoV we finally understood her strangeness. She had censorship so monsters were less frightening to her, robots looked just a little bit more like a toy then you would want it to and her weapons looked like an actual toy.

It was strange knowing what was real then look through her eyes and seeing a child censored world like this.

The tiger men looked more like cat people which explained why she called them kitties and Menthol actually did look like a giant old man instead of an intimidating giant black golem.

I can’t help but sigh seeing that the girl wasn’t crazy like her brother. Still the two robot clockwork is really strange. Not only that to take on the shape of Asura and Yasha, he is brave I can say that. In Etheria, those two are considered rogue demons that have lived thousands of years. I can only say it will make many weird events happen for them.

Before we can leave the kitchen someone came and told us that the boss was calling for us both.

We were a bit worried. Unless we had to do a special task we were never called for.

We followed the messenger and entered the room.

Sitting at the desk at the back of the office room was an elderly man that had a refined aura about him. He looked to be in his mid-70s and had grey hair already. He was the boss of the GM branch of LIFE company, Wilson Gokin

Wilson: ‘You two are the ones with the characters, Annabeth Redscale and the Tiger Beast man race Princess...When were you named?’

Greer: ‘Someone gave me a nickname to call me by but I think it officially became my name after I was made to join “The Clockwork” crew’

The man nodded then looked from one paper to the next.

Wilson: ‘Well then, we have an assignment for you both. From the records it seems the young girl Nova has educational problems and is getting spoiled. The first part of your assignment is to properly keep the girl from getting dangerous from the environment. Censorship can only do so much. The second part is that we want to try to at least open up the Leader Techno. He trusts only his sister to truly speak with and won’t talk with anyone else. You should try and befriend him and open him to other people.’

Annabeth: ‘So in other words you want us to make him like us?’

Wilson: ‘Its Alexandra yes?

I nod.

Wilson: ‘You need to be friends, nothing more, if it goes beyond that then it’s not my fault but your own.’

I nod understanding the meaning of what he said.

Wilson: ‘Alright i guess its fine with this right. Sarah, anything to add?

Sarah (greer): ‘One question, why are you worried about this boy?’

Wilson: ‘He is part of a rehabilitation program for juvenile convicts. He will remain inside of Etheria for 7 real world years which is the time he has before his time is up. He also had a mental breakdown when he was in prison from an accident his family suffered it caused him to become a mute to everyone but his family.’

We were shocked to hear that. Because of the texting he does to speak we thought he was just a recluse and didn’t want to talk but to think it was like that.

Sarah: ‘If i can help a bit I will do it. I don’t know about Techno but I can help the girl. I have a little sister her age so I know how to deal with them.’

Alex: ‘Are you pushing Techno off on me.’

Sarah: ‘You did look interested in the Yasha body.’

I turn bright red as I wished I could strangle this little brat.

Wilson: ‘Enough! You don’t need to split the jobs. This is a long term assignment so it doesn’t matter who does what. Time will tell what happens anyway. For now go rest. Menthol will be reaching the clockwork scrapyard in 8 hours and with 3 game hours after it enters the scrapyard it will reach the capital. You can have a full 8 hours of sleep now go before you lose more time.’

He waved us away just like after all that.

We return to our rooms and get ready to sleep. It would be a long duty now. To think, GM’s assigned to look after two races now have to babysit a mentally broken jail bird and his sister who has the innocence of a child but with weapons made for killing and thinks they are toys.

We jump in bed exhausted and instantly fall asleep. We simply have to wait now and rest well.

Wilson PoV

After the two girls left i waited a bit before i picked the phone. I punched in the number for a colleague who held great interest for the boy. Enough to ask me to do this for a single boy.

Wilson: ‘Yes, it’s me.... Yes Warden Pierce i had two of my GM’s look after them. Yes the girls are his age and don’t seem to completely hate him. I think given time and a small gradual increase in his friends and crew he will eventually open up. We have 7 years to try and make him better so we can go slow for now.’

After a bit more i hang up. The Warden in charge of the boy is quite the nice man. Normal wardens would treat brats like brats but to see him curious about a possible fraud case is unique i would say.

Still its none of my business. My part is managing the GM’s, if i simply move one or two to help heal the broken mind of a young man then i would do it since 2 GM’s won’t be missed in a company that has over 500 operating under their control.

I hang up soon after and think about the young man they asked about.

I bring up his game achievements which makes me raise my brows in surprise.

Wilson: ‘Hoho so Pierce is interested in quite the adventurous boy. To do so much in so little time. Quite the boy’

I start chuckling as i read through his information. I think i will watch this boy for a while. It will be interesting to see how far he will go.

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example of Jeopardy charging magic

http://digital-art-gallery.com/oid/113/640x457_19608_Spark_2d_fantasy_mage_lightning_spell_fight_picture_image_digital_art.jpg