**Establishing Connection…

…

……

………

**Connection Established

**Integrity at 89%

**Connecting Call…

…

……

………

[Carl. I need good news right now.]

“President Ethan. I—I believe I will have to break your expectations sir.”

[Just report.]

“Sir, right now, we’re in the border of the Walled City of Linda and… I just discovered some sort of unregistered quest data signature.”

[Some sort of—what are you talking about?]

“Sir. It seems that the update’s nature was not as we thought it was.”

[Would it kill you to tell me the problem straight?]

“Ah. I’m sorry sir. What I mean is, it seems that giving Janus a physical rendering wasn’t just the purpose of the update. Just now sir, a group of players ambushed us and said that they were doing a mission from a message in a bottle.”

[A message in a bottle? Have you checked the database on its origin? I find this attack odd in nature.]

“Already did sir and that’s what I actually found wrong in this situation. According to the players that attacked us, the bottle itself just fell out of the sky and that they received an A-rank mission to stop the bikers coming from the south when they read it.”

[And the data reference?]

“It’s a legit mission with description and snapshot of the info window. But the mission archive code it has is not registered as part of Janus’s signature coding. The quest data signature itself appeared to be part of a third party program with the same status as Janus.”

[Same status as Janus?! Damn it, Carl, I’m freaking lost with all your gibberish. Are you actually telling me that not only we lost control of Janus, there’s also a psychopath program trying to stop us from eliminating the inconsistency of the system?]

“More accurately sir, there are two rogue programs with the same status as Janus; they are all physical, mortal data rendering of Janus’ nature. Like a split persona with their own AI Programming. And while we can tell that the first wanted to stop us, the other seem to be on the opposite side of the table.”

[You lost me already. First you tell me it’s not what we thought it is, then you tell me there’s a rogue program, now there are actually three of these program including Janus? Carl, do I looked like a white drawing board to you?]

“Eeeekkk… sorry sir. I really am. But right now, it’s a rather difficult problem than we thought. The three said programs are not in league which each other and it seems that with their unregistered quests popping up here and there, the original flow of Terroa’s storyline had been severely changed!”

[Meaning, not only we actually can’t control it but we also lost all predictions for the game’s storyline and Terroa itself? Am I getting it?]

“Precisely sir.”

[So kill all three.]

“Eh?”

[You heard me. Hunt down these rouge programs.]

“Eh, sir… but…”

[But what?]

“It’s already hard enough working with these guys to hunt Janus. But to also hunt down the other two…”

[Sigh. You’re so useless, Carl.]

“Waaaaa… I’m so sorry president!”

[Shut it. I’ll just be hiring other people then.]

“Ah, regarding that, may I suggest a few people to you?”

[Are they strong?]

“Oh yes, they are strong. There were even this rumor about the other player circulating all over Terroa. It was said that he can defeat any guild single-handedly.”

[Rumors, Carl, THEY’RE JUST RUMORS!]

“Eeehh… but there was a video of him in the net!”

[Sigh. So what’s his name?]

“I think he’s called Jack or Helium. I will try to contact him through my resources.”

[Carl. Can I tell you something?]

“Anything sir.”

[If I see you in the office today without that contact you are telling me, I will strangle you with my feet.]

“Eeeeiiii… Please go easy on me.”

[So what about that other person?]

“Oh, his name’s The Destroyer, I really wanted to work with him in this mission but no one in Terroa knows where he is.”

[And here I thought you’re going to recommend people you actually know.]

“P-President… that trophy in your hand…”

*CRAAAAAAACCKKKK…

“Waaaaa… I’m sorry. I’m so very sorry.”

[CARL I BETTER NOT SEE YOU IN THE OFFICE TODAY OR I WILL REALLY HANG YOU!]

**Call Terminated.

“Sigh. Someone save me.”

*

***

******

*********

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Chapter 21

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----Release Date: April 21, 2103

----23 Months Later

Silver Road Valley, Thrall Kingdom

Continent of Espada

Five figures with youthful appearances, with the sixth being the oddest of the bunch.

He has a grown man’s gray hair, face lined with age and experience, though still looking around his 30s or 40s, and the strides of a wisdom-full man.

Janus led the group of players under his wing and came into a place where a flower field was located. There’re a lot of flowers in there but the only one with the most color in the whole field was a bright gold.

Golden Rose.

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***** Side B *****

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“Wow.”

“Superb.”

“Awesome.”

“So bright.”

“Cool.”

One word to express their feelings, this youth group led by a non-youth had their eyes shining like a star in deep appreciation of the place.

But before they could even jump to the field to enjoy what fragrance the flowers have, Janus held out an open arm warning and summoned a gun.

The gun on his right hand was of black color, with the word “Ivory” written in sexy Vladimir Script.

He shot a certain spot in the flower field and a water like air shattered like glass, revealing high level Mages in red and purple garbs emerging in their wary stances.

“Hey that costume…” The leader of the youth looked at his team and they all nodded as they exchanged glances of confusion.

If one, it was a look of concern.

From the looks of things, they had immediately knew who these Mages are. But what’s actually alarming is their reason for being here of all places.

Also, why would they hide themselves from them?

There are almost ten of them, and the Mages in the red and purple tunic and garbs with staff and wands all made way for a person from their midst.

“So you were here?” Said the leader mage who wore a pure purple tunic lined with golden embroidery.

His voice had a tinge of magic, like it was purposely made so as to hide who the person on the hood was.

The clothes alone were enough to confirm the suspicions of the youth group. This people are not players. They’re all NPCs.

“I have received a vision from The Oracle that you will be here.”

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