The group of two octopussies, one engineer, and 27 sheep left the caverns and arrived at a plateau.

Quest: Shepard, herd the Sheep - Level 10

Description: Herd a minimum of 25/30 sheep to the Stables.

Possible Rewards:

Sunny Meadows Crook skill Sheep

Penalty: Scenario ends

Time-Limit: 15 min

Difficulty: A

A forest with thick underbrush spread out next to the cave exit. Three trails branched out, and Aito chose the right one. It was just three meters broad, much to narrow for a flock of 30 sheep. To the right of it was a rock wall, to the left thorny bushes and behind them the trees.

"Beware of the twiners, Milady. They try to grab the ankles of the sheep and pull them into the woods."

"They can try," Flora smirked. "Actually, they can't."

Flora walked to the front and cast a spell on the underbrush.

!

Her recently learned, and new favorite spell left nothing behind in a 2m x 5m corridor but rich forest earth and a few leaves. Unfortunately, it cost 50 mana.

A tree was in the way: , a patch of thistles: , another narrow part , some twiners overhead: .

Flora held and her mana-potions on cooldown and had a great time literally bulldozing through the level.

The group crossed brooks on shoddy bridges and progressed without any hitches to a clearing. Aidan herded the flock to the rock wall and patrolled together with Flora on the open side.

Three mangy wolves appeared between the trees, but Aito was ready. Rapid Fire shot two laser beams per second out of both eyes. Aitoshuri decimated them in 3 seconds, one second for each.

The harder job fell to Aidan, stopping the blue sheep from joining the battle.

"Forget about the Headmaster. You are the headmistress of ASS Kicking!" Flora cheered.

Aito's answering beep sounded like a sigh. She showed her rating to Flora: it had sunken to D.

"Burned toast and stale jam! Cretin! Villain!" Flora cursed. "We do something about it directly after the scenario. Aidan, remind me if I get distracted."

The trail winded up a hill, but Flora would have nothing of it. She bulldozed a straight path up. Rocks rolled down but got destroyed by the robots before they hit the sheep. When the wind picked up, Flora grew concerned.

"Will there be another bout of lightning?"

"Last time it only rained, Milady."

After Aidan finished the sentences, the first drops started to fall. Soon, you couldn't call it "only rain". The water poured down as if the gods emptied their chamber pots. They had to reenter the trail because Flora's slope transformed into a mudslide.

Flora activated her headlights and the lantern spell again. With a bit of telekinesis, she helped the sliding sheep to stay on track.

Finally, they reached the peak. The rain lessened and sun rays broke through the clouds.

In the distance, Flora could see the farm. The sheep felt the closeness of their home as well and picked up speed.

"Stay focused, dears. The last stretch is always the hardest. We still have 4 minutes left, no need to hurry and get sloppy. What can we expect?"

"The area right next to the farm is always different, Milady. The first time it was fire, the second time a flood and the third time bugs bit the sheep and made them go wild."

Flora surveyed the landscape. It looked a bit like a golf course with green lawns and sandpits between them.

"Sandpits?"

After rounding the flock, Flora entered one cautiously. Stooping down, she let the sand ran through her fingers, and no debuff appeared, but she felt a slight pull to the middle of the pit. She put the Hungry Chest at the center. Immediately, it started to sink.

"Quicksand." Flora pulled the container back into her inventory. "Stay clear of the pits and look out for anything, which could chase the sheep into one."

The robots held a tight rein over the sheep, and they walked between the pits.

Suddenly, Flora realized the way ahead looked a lot more yellow and less green than before.

"The desertification is happening right before our eyes. The sandy pits are growing. " Flora exclaimed. "Forget what I said about slow and steady; let's make haste."

The group picked up speed. With three shepherds, it was no problem to stay on track while pushing the pace. One time, they had to make a sharp turn because the grass in front of them transformed into sand, but most of the time, curving to the gate was sufficient.

Flora pushed open the gates, and all 30 sheep made their way home.

Quest completed: Shepard, herd the Sheep - Level 10

Rewards: Sunny Meadows Crook, Skill 'Sheep'

Difficulty: A

Rating: A (30/30 sheep)

We hope you enjoyed playing the scenario 'Shepard, Herd the Sheep!'. Please rate it at the Cetviwos Shop.

You gained the skill: Sheep.

Description: Transforms the target into a helpless sheep. Only one target can be sheeped at a time. The targets regenerate ten times more. Any damage will cancel the spell.

CD: 25 sec

Duration: 10 sec

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

Bonus-Scene:

"Great job, sweeties. Let's take a victory picture."

Flora activated friendly fire and cast her new skill 'Sheep' on herself.

She waved to the camera and wanted to say "Cheers!" but only "Baa" came out of her mouth.

The flash activated, and the sheep spell ended. Only then, Flora noticed the blue sheep stood between them. The little rascal had photobombed them.

After the scenario, Flora logged out and went to the mailbox.

It was a wonder it hadn't spilled over. Hundreds of unread emails awaited her. Of course, Flora wanted to write to the Doge first to clear up Aito's status but then redecided.

"Aidan, select all the money mails. I want to know how rich I am in VirDos."

"40833.03 VirDos, Milady."

"Even with 2000 VirDos weekly expenses and no further sales, it will take a while to deplete. We don't need CentralTanks money; we need Aitoshuri with us!"

Flora wrote this in the letter to the Headmaster, the Doge, Eddie, and Eddie's lawyer: She wanted to own Aitoshuri officially, and her rating should be returned to A. No further monetary compensation required.

Eddie negotiated a deal for over 100k VirDos. It was a lot of money, circa 10k Euros, but if you only could transfer 100 Euros per day to the real world, it was a moot point.

"Actually, you can transfer more with courier contracts, Milady. You don't have to use your converted RL money for them but can use your game currencies as well. All your money is accounted for, so you have no worries. Unfortunately, you can only have one contract per clan."

Immediately, Flora canceled converting Euros to VirDos and transferred 1000 VirDos per day to the Riverstones out of her game pockets.

"I dislike those shipping money around transaction games. The only reliable money is what you earn, and the most reliable of all is when you build or grow things and sell them. Farming and crafting are the most honest professions in the world. I only courier money as a favor for my terrible son."

Flora skimmed over the rest of the letters.

Most were shady business opportunities and collaborations, which she deleted instantly. She ignored, for now, the more promising, but work-intensive offers and let Aidan deal with the clear-cut yes or no mails regarding retailers who want to include Flora's products in her assortments.

There even was someone interested in the 'If you have nothing to brag about, you can still show off this'-toaster to her absolute glee.

Quite a few thank you mails by former jerkies found their way to her. Flora was glad she could help them and was delighted writing notes of gratitude wasn't as out of fashion as she had believed.

The deans of the different elemental faculties welcomed her and told her where she could further her education. The Elemental Council sent her a message as well. They hinted at her a chance to get an even better class, Elemental Master.

"You've acquired for the class Elemental Mage while sleeping, Milady."

Name: Elemental Mage

Branch: Magic

Passive: + 1 Training efficiency modifier for all elemental affinities

Active: Elemental Power Gain

SIG Elemental Crossing

You gained the skill: Elemental Crossing.

Description: Adds a weak secondary elemental effect to elemental spells. (Fire ↔ Wind, Earth ↔ Wood, Water ↔ Ice, Metal ↔ Lightning)

CD: 5 min

Duration: 25 sec

After staring at Elemental Power Gain, she got additional information:

When you get damaged with the elemental power of one of the connected classes, you get affinity percent of the damage in mana.

"It would be nice if I would get less damage."

"There is the tier 4 spell: Elemental Power Transfer, Milady. It transfers the incoming elemental magic into mana. This spell is only available for one element at a time, but I'm confident you can modify it."

"Do I want to get the Elemental Master class?"

"Yes, Milady. It offers prismatic elemental spells. That means you can combine multiple elements of your choice into one spell. Both secondary effects have the same strength, but the base damage of the spell is the same."

"That's like when you order extra bacon on your ham pizza. They don't add the bacon; they put less ham on the pizza to open up space for the bacon. Although you paid extra, you didn't have the extra amount of toppings, just the variety. I hate that, but I want the class. Write it on the list, please. Prio B."

During her talk with Aidan, Flora had logged back into her workshop and entered the Simulation Grounds.

"What's next on the list of recommended scenarios before entering the Cradle?"

"Building the Pyramid, Milady."

"Great. That sounds exciting."

Flora opened the scenario, but her face fell when she read that it took six sessions of 6 hours to complete. The duel was only three days away, where should she get 36 free hours?

Fortunately, her AIs notified her of the fine print. People with a synchronization above 90% could complete it in 6 sessions of 4 hours and above 99% of 2 hours.

The time dilation between Cetviwos and the real world was 2:1. They increased the time dilation for high-syncs in this scenario to 3:1 or 6:1.

The list of possible risks and complications was printed even smaller and quite long: sleep problems, mental exhaustion, physical exhaustion, hallucinations, anxiety, …

Currently, it was 5 a.m. Flora was still exhausted. The last day had already destroyed her sleep rhythm. Therefore she thought it was the optimal time to tackle the scenario.

But first, she ported to Tricky Beach, the Seven Masters Dojo, and the Garage to complete her dailies. She doubted she would have any energy left after the scenario.

Flora finished the quests at 9 o'clock.

"If Building the Pyramid will take twelve hours, we have a bit of time left to my usual bedtime. Is one of the other recommended scenarios short enough to slip in between?"

"Yes, Milady. 'Do it like the Super Mario Bros(1)' doesn't have to be finished for the reward we are going for, + 1 OV Physical Defense. You obtain it via an achievement 'Hard-Headed' if you acquire 250 coins."

Soon after, Flora found herself in a blue overall with a red hat on her head. She stood on a 2-meter broad pathway of brown bricks. Uniformly blue sky and some very green plants could be seen by looking around. More disturbing for Flora was the brown brick ceiling, which hung in the air over some parts.

"Please reformulate your last sentence, dear. I understood I have to hit the bricks with my head. That can't be right."

"I'm sorry, Milady. You understood it entirely correct. The coins will appear if you either punch or headbutt the ceiling, but for the achievement, you have to use your head."

"Oh, dear."

In the next hour, Flora got eaten by crawlies and by turtles, fell into chasms, and got crushed by a rocket with a mean grin. Worst of all, when she took a short rest on a green tube, a venus fly trap suddenly appeared under her, and she got eaten again.

On the positive side, she didn't suffer a headache which she had expected. Instead, she reaped a cute new spell.

Name: Bouncing Flames

Branch: Magic

Description: A flame bounces in the direction you throw it for 30 m.

CD: None

Finally, Flora survived long enough to obtain 250 Coins.

You gained an achievement: Hard-Headed

1 OV Physical Defense Trait 'Hard-Headed': Increased resistance against knock-outs

"I'm finished with this torture. Let's build some pyramids!"

"Milady, some comments stated that they missed hitting their heads on brick walls when playing the pyramid-scenario."

"Noooooooooo…"

(1: Nintendo owns super Mario and his brother. I'm sure CentralTank paid them royalties. On the other side, they are not particularly thorough with their remunerations... )