“Good day listeners! This is 95.8 FM Radio Station for Gamers giving you a live update on the situation with our current big event in Ages Online. The war between Caerheim and Honduria has been ongoing for a few days now and the first big happening had just concluded within the last 24 hours. I am Adele.”

The cheery voice of the female deejay was followed by silence unusual for a radio show.

“Toby?”

“Ah sorry, Adele. I was drying my tears. I am Toby, and I am sad to announce that Honduria failed to conquer Loyderidge after an extended battle for the city. Casualties were numerous for both armies and it is speculated that Honduria will need a day or so to actually regroup and reconsider their strategy. Will Honduria ever conquer Caerheim? For Honduria!”

“This will teach you Hondurians not to just waltz in like you own our stuff, Toby!”

“Ahem. Anyway today’s main highlight is a detailed recount of the war from someone who had experienced the horrors personally. Remember last time when Adele said she would join the Caerheim defense? For your sake, our dear Adele had participated in the HC war to bring to those of you who were not at the war as close as possible to the ground. So how does it feel like right in the middle of all the excitement, Adele?”

“Well Toby, if I had to describe it in one word I would use frightening.”

“Understandable, considering you did meet Fyrzen of the infamous Qqers after all. Yes, you heard that right dear listeners! Our precious Adele faced off with the dreaded Fyrzen and survived to tell the tale. How would you describe Fyrzen, Adele?”

“Hmm… handsome? He is not my type however, not when he was so scarily destroying the West Gate of Loyderidge with his Meteor and Brimestorm spells. The way he made people explode is still giving me nightmares, and that Nova Conflagration spell… I thought I was a goner for sure.”

“The Nova Conflagration is the most powerful area of effect spell of the fire elemental tree, but there is a catch. The spell blasts outwards from the user, so hiding behind thick cover would nullify most of the damage. Is that what you did, Adele?”

“Yes Toby. You know Naomi, the rising star of the militia we mentioned last time? I met her and she is really cute! She is really nice too! During the Nova Conflagration, she could not escape in time and I was so scared for her life. Luckily someone came and shielded her at the last second. ”

“Such chivalry. Much respect. But Adele, I think what the listeners are most interested to know is how exactly Fyrzen died. Even I find that hard to believe. Rumours are aplenty but I think most of us would prefer to hear it from someone who was at the scene.”

“Toby, I would say it is a team effort. At first he appeared to be impregnable. All my attacks were doing zilch to his Mana Shield. Actually, most of our attacks were useless, until the same guy I told you about dashed up to him and punched him with a blue glowing fist. That was when we saw the Mana Shield break. After that, wham! We concentrated fire and Fyrzen was history.”

“Thank you Adele for sharing with us your point of view inside the Loyderidge Siege. Listeners who wish to see the battle through Adele’s eyes can also check out our Yuutoob channel where we have uploaded the video clip from Adele’s machine.”

“Please support my channel everyone!”

“In any case, it seems that the blue-fisted man who is the target of all the rumours is real after all. Who would have known such a man existed in the city militia? Just how high a level is he? Is he an event NPC or a player? If he is the latter, why is he hiding in the militia instead of joining Lifey’s Operation? There are so many questions that nobody had an answer to. However, we at 95.8 FM Radio Station for Gamers will strive to find the answers and bring them to you listeners as soon as possible. Stay tuned while we bring to you updates to the situation at our next session.”

Before the program ended, the male deejay managed to add an afterthought.

“Oh and Adele’s name in the game is not adelemitty, so don’t harass some poor soul who might have that ID.”

…………………

Beast felt the looks of everyone in the throne room fall upon him and gulped unconsciously. The pressure was far greater than what he had expected.

“My lord.” He steeled himself. “I wish to ask if you know of a way to stop this war besides waiting out the siege.”

He figured he should go straight to the point than beat around the bush. Beast felt the piercing gaze of the prince’s blue eyes stare into him, as though evaluating him. For a long time they stayed like this, before the noble finally looked away.

As he did so, there was a small but audible affirmation. “Yes, I do.”

On cue, a rotund man who looked like he had lived a comfortable life of excess food stepped forward. “I am Court Historian Mealgar. Please allow me to explain the situation in my liege’s place.”

Just how many presences were there in this room that appeared empty at the start? Beast did not even bother concealing his surprise at Mealgar’s appearance. It was a wonder how he had not detected the pudgy historian given the latter’s body size.

“Boy, do you know about our lord’s position with Honduria?” Mealgar fondled his curly mustache while he surveyed the two players before him.

It was Shadun who answered. “He was its prince.”

“No,” Beast hastily corrected. “He was the crown prince.”

“Hoho, you do know your history.” Mealgar clapped his hands together with a wide grin. “The fact that the Lord of Caerheim was the son of the Hondurian King Ashwald was commonplace. However, not many people knew that he was but one of four sons. Before our lord journeyed over here from the central continent, he was the prince that many thought would have inherited the throne from his father the king.”

The pudgy historian paused for dramatic effect. “He was the crown prince, and still is.”

The cogs turned in Beast’s head. With Mealgar’s exposition, he was beginning to see the picture now. The whole reason this war happened was due to a single desire.

“They are after your birthright…” Beast breathed, realizing the exact cause.

“To be more precise, they were after this.” From under his cloak, Trigent Ashwald withdrew a familiar golden plate of authority emitting a faint glow of magic. Both Shadun and Beast widened their eyes in recognition. It was the Seal of the Lord that had been part of their quests a while back. It was also the one artifact that had threaded their fates together back at Torintu. Beast could not help but feel a tinge of nostalgia.

“My brother, Duplent, had marshalled his forces against me so he could take the symbol of the crown prince back to Honduria.” Trigent’s hair covered his eyes, but Beast could see that they shone darkly. “Father acquiesced to his request, and so the Hondurian army came to our doorsteps. This war and the lives that were and will be lost in it are all on my hands.”

“That is not true my liege!” Lugwen fiercely retorted.

“Oh it is, Lugwen. It is. Because of my hesitation and the subsequent estrangement between Father and I, we are now fighting a war without end. ”

The knight fell silent, unable to reply.

“This seal is the only remaining link I have with Father, and yet Father would see that it was returned back over my dead body. Ironic, isn’t it? Now that war has descended, there is no more chance of Caerheim returning back to Honduria’s fold. My previous dilemma had become trivial.”

Sadness. There was so much sadness saturating Trigent’s words. Yet, he would not have been the lord of the region if he were to break from under the weight of the sadness. Beast would normally try to converse in this situation but for some reason, he felt that he need not speak here. The Lord’s mind appeared to have already been made up and all he had needed was a spark – a trigger that was an inquisition into the reason of this war - to propel him into action.

The brief moment of vulnerability was over as soon as it started, and Trigent looked at Beast with renewed resolve. “I have decided. Caerheim will no longer wait. Today, the Kingdom of Caerheim shall end the war on our own terms.”

Beast inwardly noted that Trigent used the word Kingdom instead of Principality.

“What is your name, visitor?”

“Beast…”

“Beast,” The Lord of Caerheim repeated for emphasis. “You are the first to know this much.” Handing the seal in his hands to Mealgar, Trigent Ashwald decreed. “As such, you will deliver this seal to Duplent and negotiate for peace.”

Dring!

Joint Operation

Negotiate for Peace

Lord Trigent Ashwald had divulged the reason for the war between Honduria and Caerheim. It turns out that Duplent, brother of Trigent, had wanted to obtain the symbol of inheritance Trigent had with him so that he will be appointed the new Crown Prince of Honduria at the expense of his own kin. In the face of this treachery, Trigent had decided to cut ties with Honduria. He hereby tasks you, who had discovered the true cause of the war, with the important job of delivering the Seal of the Lord to Duplent at Vanguard Pass and using it to sue for peace.

Difficulty: B-

Victory Condition:

Honduria retreats.

Failure Conditions:

Loyderidge falls before peace is achieved

Trigent dies before peace is achieved

The Seal is stolen before negotiations are reached.

You are the commander of this Joint Operation!

As the commander of the Joint Operation, you are entitled to share the quest with others and recruit them into the operation. They will then gain a share of the quest reward based on their contributions to the operation effort.

Current Operation Size:

3 NPCs

“I will have Court Historian Mealgar, Court Magician Riwana and Royal Guard Lugwen accompany you for this task.”

“Yes my lord!”

“Yes my lord!”

“Anything for my liege.”

“Until you depart for your mission, feel free to utilize the keep’s facilities to prepare yourself.” Trigent stood up from his seat and headed for a small door set into the side of the throne room. A mild disturbance of air later, one of the assassins from earlier flashed into view to open the door for him.

“I truly hope that you will succeed, Beast.”

Beast was stunned. What had been a session seeking answers turned into a Joint Operation quest, with him as commander to boot! The wonders of Ages Online never ceased to amaze.

Riwana was already elaborating on further instructions while reading from a piece of parchment. “Judging from the current situation, we should leave under the cover the night out of the North Gate and ride east. I recommend that we move in a small group of no more than ten people. The Hondurian Vanguard is currently still regrouping, so we should be able to break out of the siege unnoticed.”

Wait a second. He was the commander. Was he not supposed to be deciding such stuff instead?

“Lugwen.” The court magician turned to the guardian. “Prepare our steeds at the stable for use. Ten of our finest will do. When we ride, Mealgar holding the Seal will be in the center of our formation. We will protect him at all cost.”

“Yes, protect me with your lives ho ho ho!”

“If your tongue could function without your body, I would have torn it off already.” Riwana snapped, making the fat historian cower. “Now, we will meet in front of the North Gate at 10 o’clock. Got it, Beast? Bring whoever you think would be useful.”

“Yea…” Beast was stunned, for a different reason this time. It would appear that everything had already been decided for him by Trigent’s retainers.

“If that is understood then we shall meet again at eight. Please excuse us, for we have much to prepare.”

“Ho, we have a smithy and an alchemy laboratory at the basement, if that interests you. You could find them useful.”

“I hope you know how to ride.”

Lugwen was still giving the cold shoulder.

The three members of Trigent’s court bowed and left, leaving Shadun and Beast alone in the empty room.

Beast sighed. He should have known from the start. There was no way anyone would entrust a mission of such importance solely to a stranger he had only just met. Furthermore, the operation is of a different nature – an escort mission – than that of defending Loyderidge. To put it plainly, he was merely a figurehead for this Joint Operation, a way to recruit others to lend their aid.

Even so, a Joint Operation is a Joint Operation. The rewards for such missions are tremendous. Even if he was only a figurehead, it would benefit him greatly if he were to complete the quest. The only problem he would have to figure out was who exactly to invite into the operation.

Or if he needed to invite anyone at all. This was a covert mission, one which did not require the use of brute force to accomplish. The lesser the people the smoother the operation will go, and the higher the rewards it would be for him to monopolize.

“Hey.” Shadun looked at Beast with expectant eyes.

One look into those eyes were all Beast needed to know what the bard wanted.

“Yes?” He feigned ignorance. With the quest’s potential reward it could not be blamed if he were to be a little selfish. Besides, he wanted to tease the bard like the time they first met.

It seemed that Shadun had read his thoughts and was ready for him. “Remember that one time I let you hold the Seal of the Lord?” The bard deliberately let his sentence trailed on, knowing that his intended effect had been achieved.

“Urgh.” Beast felt his mental defense crumble in one fell swoop from Shadun’s emotional attack. The bard was much slyer than he had originally thought, but he was not without a point. Without that one artifact power Beast had received from the Seal, he might not even have come this far in this same amount of time.

The Seal of the Lord - It was destiny indeed.

He had owed it to him and because of that he was obliged to share.

“Joint Operation Invite: Shadun.”

The edge of the bard’s mouth curled into a smile as he accepted the quest to the sound of a pon, bringing Beast’s party count up to five.

……………..

Naomi stepped into the Militia encampment, glancing sideways every now and then trying to find a single person. After being unceremoniously dumped by Beast, she had resolved to give her disciple a good smacking the next time she sees him. After all, no man should ever leave a female alone in an unknown place, even if she could perfectly defend herself. As his master, she will need to drill some gentlemanliness into him.

Naomi was so engrossed in trying to pick out Beast from the people in the encampment that she unknowingly bumped right into the back of a person, sending him sprawling into the ground.

“Ooh! I am sorry!” She hastily helped the person up. As she did, she got a good look at exactly who it was.

“Aveye?” To her front, a cute boyish male dressed in full leather garb adjusted his helmet before giving the cleric a wide smile showing his white straight teeth. With big watery eyes and a smooth unblemished face, Naomi almost thought that she was staring into a porcelain doll.

“Naomi-chan! Haha, don’t worry about it. I am fine. Wasn’t doing anything much.” Aveye tucked his long raven sideburns back beneath his helmet. The way he did it was sensual enough that it made Naomi’s heart skip a beat. Effeminate and slender, he was exactly like one of those Korean flower boys.

She then realized she had been staring and so jerked her head away in embarrassment.

“You are so kawaii, Naomi-chan.” Aveye teased, succeeding in making Naomi turn redder than before. “You seem to be looking for someone, yea? Who were you looking for?”

“Beast…” Naomi muttered, still unable to look at Aveye in the eye. It was not like she had never met and interacted with the archer before. In fact, she did several times. Every single time the situation ended up similar to this where he would tease her like some older sist-, no, brother. It kind of made conversation hard.

“Beast? Is he the one that saved you from Nova Conflagration? The one who punched Fyrzen with his blue fist?” Suddenly, Aveye lapsed into a serious tone of voice, which reminded Naomi strongly of the time during the battle at the wall. If she could recall correctly, he was the one leading the archers in the fight. That and the fact that he was second in the contribution rankings said a lot about what his demeanor did not tell.

“Yea…” The atmosphere was beginning to feel weird.

Aveye suddenly clung onto Naomi’s arm, giving her a shock. What he said next surprised her even more. “I am coming with you! I want to meet him too.”

“Huh?”

“He saved us from the scary PKer and the way he punched him was so cool!” Throwing a one-two punch of his own, the energetic archer tried to imitate the way Beast had socked Fyrzen in the jaw. Naomi could practically feel the vibe of a very enthusiastic fan rolling off him, and unconsciously took a step backwards from the aura.

“Okay… so please calm down.”

“Yes!” Aveye fist-pumped into the air in a childish show of delight unbefitting of a person his age.

From then on, the two of them searched every nook and cranny for one single person of which they had vastly different intentions of. However, their object of search was nowhere in sight. It was as though Beast had disappeared into thin air. Gordo was not in his tent and even Shadun was nowhere to be found.

Strange, the bard should have been back from the East Gate already, unless… they had gone somewhere else without her. The audacity of Beast!

Just at this moment, the broad figure of royal knight Gordo stepped into the camp, where he was immediately beset upon by two human hyenas starving for information regarding a certain Lore Keeper.

……………..

Beast stared at the royal smithy in awe. The equipment that furnished the workshop was of much higher quality that had been in the Corelia blacksmith. A sleek anvil lies next to a continuously running stream of cool water supplied using pipes laid into the keep walls, complemented by a hearth that already had a fire burning heartily. Various implements such as the polisher were entirely new to his blacksmithing experience. He had expected the royal smithy to be well-equipped, but this was beyond his imagination.

“Hey lad!” The man in charge of maintaining the keep’s smithy hailed Beast. “I have heard from Mealgar that you might be passing by here.”

“This place is very well-kept.” Beast nodded, to which the burly man beamed.

“Of course! Feel free to use anything you need.”

It was the signal for free reign, just like the court historian had said.

Shadun stepped forward pointing at his lute. “Do you have anything for woodworking?”

“Why yes, let me show you to the woodworking room.” He then turned to address Beast. “Sir, the alchemy laboratory is directly opposite this room.” The two of them stepped away, leaving Beast alone staring at the anvil. He did not notice them leave, for he was already busy concocting his plans for the incoming operation.

From what he had gathered from the conversation earlier, they will be fighting on horseback. Since fists do not work well on horseback, he would need another way to fight. It took a bit of thinking but he had just the idea how to compensate. It was time to revisit one of his old skills from before. Rummaging through his backpack for all the ores he had picked up after the south gate battle, he threw all them into the furnace to smelt.

Tink. Tink. Tink. The sound of a hammer hitting metal resounded throughout the smithy.

Once they were refined to pure metal, he then started to fashion thin long rods out of them with their tips ending with a razor-sharp point.

You have completed -

Copper Javelin

Thrown, Consumable

A copper javelin fashioned to be thrown with deadly speed and accuracy. The javelin is made with amateur hands and is thus of low quality. There is a high chance that the javelin will distort upon impact.

Base Damage: 15 - 15

Crafted by Beast

The hammer steadily rises and fall.

You have completed -

Iron Javelin

Thrown, Consumable

An iron javelin fashioned to be thrown with deadly speed and accuracy. The javelin is made with amateur hands and is thus of low quality. There is a high chance that the javelin will distort upon impact.

Base Damage: 20-20

Crafted by Beast

By the end of it all, he had around fifty javelins ready. That was how much he had managed to loot from the drops of dead players. The only metal he had not bear to use was the mithril bars he had found. Surely those could be used somewhere better than being a consumable throwing spear.

Tink.

With one final hit of the hammer, he finished the last of the javelins tips before quenching the red hot metal in the water. The satisfying sound of steam echoed and he drew the cooled weapon back out. It was at this moment a notification window chose to pop.

Your Ancient Blacksmithing has increased to Basic 8!

Beast wiped the sweat from his brow from both the exertion and the heat. It had been difficult but he had managed to level up his ancient blacksmithing twice as well as restock for his throwing skill.

“Now I just need to add the special ingredient.” He muttered to himself.

From his bag full of loot, the Lore Keeper withdrew all sorts of things that were obviously poisonous, ranging from red toadstools to dark-spotted herbs. There was even a fruit identified as a Toxxi Berry that was only revealed to induce fatal spasms due to his Identify skill and knowledge from Ancient Alchemy. Beast could not help but grimace when he thought of how the players had been running around with these in their inventory to keep as food.

Regardless, he ground them all in the big mortar that was in the room opposite the smithy, producing a paste of brown viscous liquid.

You have completed -

Toxxi-venom Cocktail

Consumable

This poison is created by the haphazard mixing of multiple poisonous substances, grounded to a paste like fluid. The most notable ingredient in the concoction is the Toxxi Berry, a poisonous fruit of the rare Toxxi Tree that only grows in the forest of Elithinia. This cocktail is usable for 100 times.

Due to the haphazard mixing, the quality is poor.

• Number of uses -40%

• Effect of Paralysis -50%

• Poison damage +33%

Low probability of inducing paralysis

Afflicts Poison Damage 210 HP / 10 seconds

Uses: 60/60

Crafted by Beast

Your Ancient Alchemy has increased to Basic 7!

Straight away, he applied the paste to all fifty of his javelins before keeping the rest.

“Done!”

His potion supplies were still fine so he was almost done with whatever minimal preparations he could do. The only thing left that he could probably refine in the keep basement was the Antroach Mandibles and the pile of broken iron that was once the Ceremonial Sword.

The only reason why he delayed refining the Mandibles was due to his insecurity in his own skills but attempting to repair the Ceremonial Sword might worthwhile to do. Besides, it could teach him how he should handle magical items in the future.

It was at this time the man from earlier came back to the workshop. “Hey, how is it going? I took a little longer than expected due to an errand.”

Beast glanced at the in-game clock and nodded in agreement. It had been almost four hours since he started smithing.

“Need any help lad or should I bugger off?”

The offer for help was like a godsend. He who is in charge of the smithy should have at least some experiences with magical items and item restoration. There was a problem though. Beast had not asked the man’s name. “Uh…”

“Call me Fostner. I ain’t too formal with people.”

“Fostner, do you know if I could restore a broken and rusted artifact weapon?”

“A broken… rusted… artifact?” Fostner repeated, as though he could not believe what he was hearing. “Show me.”

Beast took out what was left of the ceremonial sword and laid it on the workbench. Fostner eyed the weapon carefully before giving his verdict.

“Blessed-steel huh… Interesting item you have here. It might be possible to restore the weapon by polishing off the rust and re-molding it with new metal but if you say is true… the artifact’s magic might be lost.”

Fostner scratched his head. “I could give it a try though. I come from a respectable line of blacksmiths, so I do know how delicate these things are.”

Beast looked up at his savior in the eyes with a resolute gleam. “Yes please!”

“No guarantees lad. Do you by chance have some metal leftover?

At the latter’s request, Beast gladly supplied the mithril bars he had and the two of them went to work, filling the smithy with the sound of fire and metal once more. It was another half hour before a sword of mithril blue was finished.

Mithril Lanos Longsword

Equipment,Weapon

The Mithril Lanos Longsword is a sword re-forged based on the Ceremonial Sword of Lanos, which was used to knight outstanding individuals to commemorate their promotion into knighthood in the past. The blade was painstakingly crafted under the guidance of Fostner Gren, the royal crafter of Caerheim who descended from a long line of respectable crafters.

Durability: 40/40

Damage: 33-38

Level restriction: 39

Value: 20g

Crafted by Beast

One look at the item window however left Beast crestfallen. There was no artifact tag.

“I am sorry lad, the core was too badly damaged. What we were doing was essentially giving it a new body. There might have been a way to preserve the power but you will have to speak to an Artificer about that. And before you ask, no I am not an Artificer. I am only a blacksmith of our Lord’s court.”

“Thank you all the same.” Beast bowed. He did not have much expectation regarding the sword anyway. Despite it being a failure, he did learn valuable knowledge from Fostner. It turns out that the magic behind magical items are highly dependent on the material they are made from. Once that material degrades, its magical capabilities are also decreased. Without its power, the sword might as well be just another ordinary sword.

Beast finally realised why the blacksmith in Rydelin recommended that he buy a new weapon instead. It was also all the more reason why he should wait until he has enough proficiency before crafting the mandibles.

It was through the session that Beast felt he understood artifacts better now.

Archaeology has increased to Intermediate 1!

+5 Intelligence

You can now identify up to Mythological artifacts.

Beast raised an eyebrow. After his Archaeology skill had reach 99% of Basic 9, it had become stagnant even though he had been spamming the skill on almost every item in his inventory. To think that it actually required a further understanding of the system for it unlock; Ages Online is really more than it seems to be.

“Fostner, thank you for your help.”

“No worries. Your friend is waiting for you at the front chamber.”

“Oh crap. Shadun!”

He had totally forgotten about the bard after being too engrossed in his work. Rushing out from the basement and up the stairs to ground level, he was greeted by a strange sight. Shadun the bard sat on a chair strumming his lute while trying his utmost best to ignore two annoying pests in the shape of Naomi and Aveye. The former was skittering around him trying to wrangle out more information while the latter seemed to be conducting an imaginary interview of sorts with the bard.

It should have been the cue for Beast to sneak away, but he was too late. Aveye caught sight of him before he could disappear into a side passage and the two pests swarmed like locusts to their main target.

“Beast! Come here you!”

“It is Beast-kun! I am Aveye and I am your fan! Nice to meet you!”

Very soon, he was cornered with nowhere to run.

“I already heard from Shadun.” Beast glanced over to the bard with accusing eyes, but was splendidly ignored. “Let me into the quest. I will treat it as settlement for leaving me alone back at the south gates.” Naomi waved her fist angrily.

Aveye on the other hand was giving him the puppy-dog eyes. Beast had to look again to confirm that the person before him was male. “A new quest? Wow, Beast-kun is full of surprises. Can I join in too?”

It’s a trap! The one sentence flashed across Beast’s mind in an attempt to keep his wits around him, but it was useless. In the end, he succumbed to the both of them and it was how the party count went up to seven.

Author's Notes:

And it is Chapter 30!

As with every 10 chapters, I will hereby humbly ask for reviews and comments :)

Please continue to support my work.

Cheers!