The Celestial Realm is an area of Farside usually reserved for high leveled characters to gain Celestial-born or Daemon-born forms. It was originally a peaceful realm with plenty of beasts that were even willing to make friendships with the people of the alliance if they were polite enough, but no longer. The Celestial Realm had become a place of violence, where alliance members were attacked on sight. Typically, alliance members who come here carve a bloody path through the realm in order to forcibly take the powers of these beasts, causing the inhabitants of the realm to turn hostile. Thus, the Celestial Realm had turned into a hellish place where only well equipped, large-scale parties dared to set foot.

--------

During the transfer, I somehow closed my eyes, and when I opened them once again I saw and incredible sight. Standing atop a hill, I was stunned by the scenery.

Sprawled out before me was an ancient city that looked to be long abandoned, yet the buildings were still in fairly good condition. Beyond the dilapidated buildings stood a might forest with gigantic trees akin to a sequoia at the smallest. These trees were not restricted to coniferous trees, and the truly huge trees seemed to be a mix of both coniferous and deciduous trees standing tall above that forest. Mighty rivers flowed through the forest, looking like trickling streams amongst those massive trees, while the sounds of myriad beasts could be heard coming out of that primordial forest. Towering mountains rose to the left of the forest, to the North according to the map, while rolling plains could be seen to the south, with herds of many strange beasts wandering them. On the far side of the forest, an azure ocean of restless waves crashed against the shore.

The most stunning thing of all was a single tree that towered above the forest, greatly dwarfing it. It was as wide as a small mountain, and shot up into the sky, towering to a similar height to those mountains to the north. It's leaves were like gigantic crystals, and the light easily came through, and down to the trees below. The leaves changed the direction of the light passing through them, and seemed to evenly distribute the light to the forest below. The tree was surrounded by a large lake, that was likely the size of a sea, and acted as a sort of natural moat.

*Ding*

Congratulations on accessing your Platinum account Zef, A.K.A. Andaros. Due to the features of your platinum account, you have gained early access to the Celestial Realm of Farside. In this place can be found a myriad of Celestial and Daemonic beasts which can grant you their powers. Under normal circumstances, you would likely immediately die upon entering this realm due to your low level, but fret not, you have the protection of the spirits. Until you have acquired a full set of celestial and daemonic beast features, you will be protected, and upon acquiring a full set you will be transfered out of the Celestial Realm in order to be born.

You must be careful about what beasts you accept features from, as many of the beasts in the Celestial Realm hate those of the alliance races, and while they may not be able to physically harm you they may give you worthless or detrimental features in order to let out their hate. Not all beasts will do something like this, and some may simply refuse to help you, or require some dangerous quest in order to gain a specific ability, so take heart. Nothing is impossible if you just have faith and try your best.

Have fun searching for abilities, and do your best.

P.S. While in the Celestial Realm during this early access, you will be unable to gain experience.

*Ding*

A new quest has been received: Gather Bestial Features!

You must acquire sufficient beast features to create your celestial-born or daemon-born modifications. Try your best!

0/32 bestial features attained.

Quest Type: Mandatory

Special Rules:

No experience will be earned while this quest is underway.

Any experience gained from sub-quests may or may not be applied toward a permanent experience boost upon completion of the quest.

Hunger and Thirst disabled during this quest.

Infinite Health, Stamina, and Vitality during this quest.

Unable to be attacked during this quest.

As the player character is mute, the player will be able to communicate telepathically with the beasts during the duration of this quest

Character age will be set to the player's real age for the duration of this quest

Rewards:

Bestial features finalized

Celestial-born or Daemon-born status gained

special trait based on the combined features gained

possible special skills based on race features gained

Unlock of one random racial feature.

I couldn't have imagined that I would have so many points or slots to go toward the bestial features, but Rino did warn me to be careful about whom I accept powers from, so that part matches up. I also could not have imagined at this time how much my choice bestial features and my final form would affect not only my time in the special tutorial, but my life throughout the time I played on Farside, and long after.

Hmmmmm, what was that command?

'Character Menu,' I finally thought after remembering the command.

Character Menu

Character Information:

Name: Zef

Race: Angaellis/Daemonis Hybrid

Sub-Race: Currently Pending

Sex: Male

Age: N/A (Note: Character age currently not available as character has not been formally finalized and born.)

Level: 0 (Character formation/tutorial)

Cultivation Levels: N/A (Reservoirs finalized at age 10)

Reservoir Capacity: N/A (Available once reservoirs finalize their initial growth)

Health: 100/100

Mana: 10/10

Psi: 10/10

Stamina: Infinite (Will change once Celestial Realm has been left)

Vitality: Infinite (Will change once Celestial Realm has been left)

Stats:

Body: 10 (Focus - None)

Mind: 25 (Focus - None)

Psion: 25 (Focus - None)

Lucky Blessing: 100

Benevolence: 0

Cruelty: 0

Note: Benevolence and Cruelty only applicable to Celestial Realm. These stats will decide whether you are a Celestial-born or a Daemon-born. The stats are based on the number of bestial features gained from Celestial or Daemonic beasts. If a balance is struck, a new kind of sub-race will be born upon finalization of features.

Titles:

Class Titles: Main: None

Secondary: None

Tertiary: None

Crafting: None

Political Title: None

Achievement Titles(Maximum of 4 set titles):

Miracle Child

None

None

None

Traits:

Angaellis/Daemonis Hybrid (Best Possible)

Magic Eyes

Mystical Voice

Mute - standard speech & sing-song

Untapped Potential (Upgradable):

Unknown

Unknown

Unknown

Unknown

Unknown

Unknown

Bestial Features: Currently None

Equipment Information:

Equipped Items:

Head: None

Neck: None

Shoulders: None

Upper-Right Arm: None

Upper-Left Arm: None

Lower-Right Arm: None

Lower-Left Arm: None

Right Wrist: None

Left Wrist: None

Right Hand: None

Left Hand: None

Fingers: None (10 fingers based on race)

Chest: Standard Shirt (No protection)

Back: None

Waist: None

Legs: Standard Pants (No protection)

Lower-Right Leg: None

Lower-Left Leg: None

Right Ankle: None

Left Ankle: None

Right Foot: None (2 slots)

Left Foot: None (2 slots)

Weapon(s): None

Shield: None

Over-Armor: N/A

Additional Equipment: None

Skills:

Language Comprehension:

Farside Beast Language (Vocal and mental only language)

Allies/Party: N/A (Unlocks at age 5 )

Guild: N/A (Guilds unlock at level 15)

Faction Standings: N/A

I looked over the window, and looked through the windows carefully. There were a few things I didn't understand, like why the game separately equipment by arm, such as right upper-arm, and left upper-arm. Why didn't it just say vambraces and then have a space for left and right. The same could be said for bracers, gloves, boots, and greaves? Also, why were there a lot less parts to armor and equipment than in a set of medieval armor from old earth that I read about in an old book? Another thing that threw me off was why the shoulders were one unit rather than two, since there would definitely be the odd-balls who would want to where only one shoulder pad and go for the ancient Old Earth Roman gladiator look.

As I thought of these things, the menu morphed, and the arm and leg armors switched into the simpler menu display I was thinking of, and the shoulders were actually split into right and left in the same format as the new one the other armors shared. I was amazed that the menu system could adjust itself to my thoughts, but I left it at that, this would be much easier to understand anyway.

*Ding*

Congratulations, you have inspired a change to the current menu system! Count yourself lucky punk, you get a nice little bonus!

Bonus attained:

New quest open

Potential skill or trait unlock

New quest received: The Unknown

To defeat this sub-quest is not simple. . .

You don't do right, I'mma beat you

You do right, I'mma beat you

You don't win, I'mma beat you

You win, I'mma beat you

You stay alive, I'mma beat you

You die, I'mma beat you

Any way you look at it, I'mma beat you

You don't recognize me, I'mma beat you

You recognize me, I'll reward you.

Quest Reward:

Unique skill unlock tailored to player character.

Unique trait unlock tailored to player character.

Quest loss punishment:

Beat to hell and back

What the hell, anyway I'll get beat?

This quest didn't leave any way out, and it didn't explain anything, so it left me feeling aggrieved. Really, couldn't it explain anything, or even leave a way out of receiving beating? I couldn't figure out who would be so sadistic as to create such a quest where the only option is a beating, and then reward it for inspiring a change to the system.

Wait, I recognize this kind of speech, why does it sound like my mom?

My mother was always saying that every time someone would do something wrong. It was like a catch-phrase for her. Any time she was angry she'd yell it. Of course, I never once saw her do it, but I also never tried to get on her bad side and earn a beating either. I really loved my mother, and wouldn't purposely do anything she wouldn't like. I might get in trouble for bringing trouble upon myself with my appearance, but that wasn't something I had control over. Still, I couldn't understand what was with this quest, was that my mother the quest was hinting at? Even so, why would there be such a hint here?

The moment I finished thinking this, I heard a ding ring out, and the quest was completed as a window popped up.

Congratulations, you have found the answer to a riddle that has stumped many! Be proud, stand strong! Never forget your mother's love! Don't forget, "If you do wrong, I'mma beat you!"

Quest Reward:

Personalized unique skill and trait upon completion of the Celestial Realm Character customization.

This result made me wonder if the quest system could spontaneously generate quests based on the player's memories. If so, I wondered what was the aim in utilizing such a system. Considering that the system could do such a thing, it was a good thing the company's systems had never been compromised and their main systems hadn't been found, or a lot of sensitive secrets might be used to blackmail people. Supercal didn't seem interested in controlling anything, and instead only controlled their game alone. The company as a whole took no interest in politics, or conquest, nor did they try to control a monopoly on VR games.

The reasons Trinity was the uncontested number one were not related to any efforts to control anything, but their dedication to protecting their customers and the quality of their game. Trinity had the most realistic graphics, and the best safety of any VRMMORPG on the galactic network. Technically it was on it's own network, but it was still considered as being on the same general network. Coupled with the safety of their pods, the dedication to ensuring a realistic gaming experience, and a number of other factors, it certainly made their game more attractive than most other VR or regular MMORPGs.

Thinking of these things still left me stumped about the reason I would face this quest, and the words in the congratulatory message. Did my mom have something more to do with Trinity Online than I already knew? I couldn't be certain, but I had a strong suspicion that was the case.

Whatever, it doesn't have anything to do with me. I don't expect anything special, even if that turns out to be the case. I should just get to work, I have 32 features to choose, that's a lot of work. How should I go about it?

Thinking to here, I sat down and began to consider what type of features I might like. First, wings, both the Angaellis, and the Daemonis were able to call out wings made of psion energy, but had to wings of their own. I was always fascinated by the angels as depicted in Old Earth's Christianity and Catholicism, and thought the idea of having real wings was pretty cool.

What else?

Next, I remembered the legends of unicorns, who had incredible healing power stored in their horns and ran extremely quickly through the wilds. I also remembered seeing some old pictures that depicted women with unicorn horns, and remembered thinking they were pretty cool looking.

After that, there were the deer or elk of Old Earth. They had huge antlers that looked like a type of natural crown, and made them seem very regal. They didn't go looking for trouble, but would sometimes show incredible power on a level you wouldn't think they would have.

I was inspired by that thought, my body inside the game was not nearly as dangerous looking as before, and I would rather look unimpressive and be able to unleash huge power than look impressive and be without depth. This new world was one where such things would be important. Unfortunately, events would occur that would cause me to be unable to build up such power for quite a while after this.

What else should I aim for?

I always liked the image of wolves back on my homeworld, a number had been released into the wild back there. They were dangerous to have to face, but wolves were quite cool looking. My favorite type of wolf were what was referred to as white wolves. They weren't all pure white, but their white winter coats were quite impressive. I have seen a few paintings of such wolves on a green background, it was fanciful, but they looked majestic. I wondered if I shouldn't get wolves nose, ears, or tail for my animal features.

If I did the nose, I decided I'd rather only have the olfactory sensitivity rather than the actual muzzle and snout of a wolf. I wanted to keep my current facial features, and not make any visible facial changes besides the unicorn horn in the middle of the forehead. That is, if I could even manage to get the unicorn horn in the first place.

As far as other bestial features, I was completely undecided. Perhaps I might go for scales like a dragon, or gills for breathing when underwater. Maybe I might be interested in internal organs of beasts who's organs where more effective and durable than humans and the other alliance races, or I might just go with something random. As long as it wasn't too negative, and had an overall positive set of bonuses, it should be fine. After all, I didn't need my bonuses to be the best, just so long as they weren't the worst, things wouldn't be so bad. Even if they were the worst, and all negative bonuses, I would be able to make something of the situation so long as I was willing to put in the effort both now, and later on.

Thinking thus far, I decided to see what beasts I found, and see if any of them had any interesting abilities I'd like before I decided anything more. Appearance-wise, just the things I had already thought of matched the image I had in my head, so that was enough. As for other things, I'd prefer if they were internal, or not easily seen. After all, too much was not good.

Having decided my course for now, I looked toward that ancient city below. Observing it, I found that no beasts seemed to wander it's streets, but this did not mean there would be none. I learned from the quest menu that I should not be able to be attacked during this quest, but that did not mean that there was no danger of dying at all, so I decided to be cautious. Considering my options, I could go into the city, skirt around it to the forest, or head towards either the plains or the mountains. Honestly, the mountains were quite a ways away, while the plains looked rather full of wildlife. The forest, on the other hand, was on the other side of the city, so I would either have to make a long detour around it's gigantic oval walls, or go through it to save some time.

I honestly thought there might be greater danger in the city, but the thought of going that route invoked a sense of adventure. This lead me to decide to cautiously go through the city, and maybe explore it for any remnants of the civilization that had lived there. I was worried there might be some form of "magic" circle that might activate, but if I took precautions it should be okay.

The quest told me I could use telepathy to communicate with the beasts during this quest, but I wondered how that would work with the cause of my stuttering being inside the brain. I wondered if they would possibly be able to understand sign language, or if I'd only be able to communicate with a stuttering telepathy. Anyway, I decided to see if they could understand galactic sign language before I attempted to use that telepathy, in case they could understand it.

I stood up, and headed down toward the city. It took me a very long time to reach it, as the hill I was on was quite large, and it was at the bottom of the hill, but I finally reached. Arriving before the gates, I cautiously approached, and gingerly stuck a foot through, putting my foot onto the ground inside the gates, and being ready to quickly withdraw the foot incase a magic circle was present. Luckily, no such thing was present, or at least didn't activate, and I proceeded onward, into the city.

This city was gigantic, and the buildings were far larger than what a human would build, it seemed to be a city of giants, but where were they now? It was hard to believe that the beasts I had seen thusfar would be capable of defeating the builders of such a gigantic city. I forgot my original objective, and wandered around looking at the amazing architecture. The detail on the frescos and decorations of this city made it hard to believe they had been made by giants, but the scenes were certainly amazing. These decorations seemed to evoke an illusion as I looked at them.

Angels and Demons battled over a magnificent city floating on a gigantic continent that seemed to be hovering within the void, while beasts fled from the powerful blasts caused by the fights of these celestial beings. Magic flew everywhere, psionics answered while martial might was mixed in, causing massive damage to the surroundings. Gigantic trees burst into flames before they turned to ash in the next moment, gigantic mountains were leveled in an instant, and massive lakes were dried up just as quickly. Huge mountains arose, trapping beings within them, lightning lashed out and destroyed those mountains in an instant. Gigantic ice storms raged, and clashed with huge pillars of fire as ice spires sprung up within them. It was a chaotic scene unlike any I had ever seen before.

The power of these beings was on a level that was awe inspiring, I imagined to be far beyond the level of the current players on Farside. The chants these beings were using were far too complex for me to even understand, let alone use myself. The scene was incredible, and left an indelible impression on me. I couldn't wait for the day in which I could do similar things to this.

-----

Exploring the city, I came to find that no beasts would enter into the city, and it was completely empty. It appeared untouched, a great deal of ornately crafted living utensils, and comforts were left lying in their spots, as if whatever happened to the people here happened in an instant. I couldn't figure out why the various silverware and metal-ware were unharmed by the passage of time. From the dust on the buildings, these things should have been oxidized and broken down by the passage of time, yet they were in pristine condition once I wiped off the hardened layer of dust which was covering them. I felt like an archaeologist trying to understand the mystery of an ancient civilization, but the objects I was uncovering were still in mint condition rather than being decayed over thousands of years.

The buildings were also in remarkable condition, leading me to wonder what had happened here, and why everything had been so well preserved. What was the purpose of this preservation, and how was it done? The mystery was killing me. I decided to investigate, and see what I could understand about what had happened here. Even if I didn't find anything, it would at least allow me to sate my curiosity. That old saying, curiosity killed the Noumbrev came to mind, but that was just a passing thought.

I began to look through the city, being careful to watch for any signs of traps or magic circles in the area. Any time I tried to enter a building, I first checked to make certain that no reaction happened when I stuck my foot through, then entered into the building after making sure nothing happened. I adopted the same procedure for any rooms I attempted to enter after a circle was activated when I tried to enter into one, luckily the effect was only an itch effect, but it still caused me to become more cautious. The only thing in that room was a case of old dolls, and nothing really caught my eye, despite their value they had no effects of any kind and I had no storage devices anyway, but that itching effect was truly torturous. The itch only lasted for an hour, but it was a terribly strong itching sensation.

After a long time searching, I found a single room that had a trap which began to throw fireballs toward the person who entered into the room. On a single pedestal were two ornate rings, the only objects in the room were these three things. It almost killed me the first time, and I had to rest for a while in order to restore my health. I tested a few times and found the area of effect to be around 3 kels, which is equal to the old foot of the imperial measurement system

Farside's measurement system was a bit strange as it took the foot and then did the same thing as the metric system did with the meter. The measurements were vels, cels, mels, kels, fels, drels, and kefels. The whole measurement system was difficult for me to understand, and equate to, but we had all been told, and show how the system worked, so I barely managed.

*Ding*

You have received a new sub-quest: Gather the two mysterious rings!

Two mysterious rings sit atop a pedestal within a room of the giant's city, protected by a magic circle. Gather the two rings, and leave the room in safety. Be careful, this room is more dangerous than it seems.

Rings Collected: 0/2

Rewards:

The two rings

Failure Conditions:

Leaving the building without having retrieved the rings

Death

Penalties for failure:

Permanent experience gain reduction.

I couldn't believe this quest, but the way my life had been going lately it was typical. I simply ignored the unfairness of these mandatory quests, and tried to figure out what to do next. As far as the room went, those fireballs were not too large, but that pedestal was pretty tall, and I had to learn the timing.

I began by putting by foot on the floor and immediately jumping back a few times to see how often the fireballs might fire, or if it was a single shot circle. Unfortunately, it was a constant circle, but after some testing, I found that the circle took approximately 15 seconds to recharge before another fireball would fire off. The fireballs were not particularly fast moving, so if I had not been caught off-guard by the first fireball's size I wouldn't have been hit. After some more testing, I decided to try reaching that pedestal. 15 seconds would have been a fairly bothersome timeframe for the giants, although the damage was likely not very high for them, but for me those fireballs could be deadly. As such, I repeatedly tested to make sure their firing speed would not speed up over time.

Once I had determined that it wasn't a circle where the firing timing would speed up, at least at the edge, I decided to see if I could run fast enough to avoid the fireballs. For this purpose, I ran into the room, and began to make a short circuitous route into the room and back out. I chose to take a route that went around 15 kels into the room, and back out. It turned out that I could certainly avoid the fireballs, so I decided to risk running to the pedestal and circling it to see if the fireballs would still fire at the pedestal, and if there was even a way to climb the pedestal in the first place. If there was no way to climb, it would not matter if I could reach it at all as I would be unable to reach those rings anyway. I sincerely hoped there was a way to climb, and that there were no other variables, or I would have to face a permanent experience point reduction to anything I did that earn experience, and that amount was undetermined at this point. It could be that I would have a 50% of higher reduction in earned experience, which would be horrible.

Rushing toward the pedestal, I found the trip to take forever, the room must have been several fels in length. I found another problem besides fatigue as I ran, the fireballs slowly began to increase in the diameter of their explosions. All I could do is keep running and hope I could continue outrunning the explosions, so I ran as quickly as I could run while my pace remained steady. As I got close to the pedestal, I saw that it had a very rough surface, and had regular hand and foot-holds all over it's face.

When I was within 300 mels of the pedestal, it became hard to stay ahead. I was finally hit when I had just stepped within the last ten mels by a monstrous fireball, taking out 40% of my health. It hurt like a b**ch, and I was thrown into the pillar, taking another 30% of my maximum health when I hit. Fortunately, the fireballs stopped firing once I reached the pillar, but I was terrified when I looked up to find that lightning was gathering along the inner rim of the dome at the top of this circular room and began climbing as fast as possible.

Luckily there were a great many places to use for climbing, but as lightning struck where I had just been I did not count myself lucky.

You were within 3 mels of a lightning strike, and have experienced a slight paralysis, reducing your movement speed by 1% and lessening your hand-eye coordination for 15 minutes.

If it was only that things wouldn't be so bad, but every time the pillar near me was struck, I received a message indicating another reduction to both movement speed and hand-eye coordination. The amount of reduction varied between amount .01 and .5%, but the reductions slowly built up, and by the time I was under the lip at the top of the pillar it was difficult to even move a couple of lightning strikes had actually hit me toward the end, and I had only 1 point of health remaining, a very distressing number. Luckily, the lightning couldn't hit me where I was, but sitting there on a cliff face with no harness would be dangerous, so I could only allow myself to sit still for a moment in order to regain some health before I grabbed the ledge and pulled myself up to as quickly as I possibly could.

As I got up and ran toward the rings, I found yet another set of problems. One was the huge size of the rings, the other was the the fact that the circle was now rapidly reducing the temperature of the air surrounding me. Luckily it didn't do any damage at first, and I was able to regenerate some health as I quickly ran, but as I came within 15 mels of the rings the damage began, and the accompanied slowing effect. Fighting against time, I rushed toward rings as quickly as possible. Within 10 mels, I could finally see information on the rings.

Heart Ring of Everlasting Devotion (Unbound) (Men) (Mythical Artifact)

This is the male's copy of the paired rings meant to signify everlasting devotion. The original owner of this ring has long since disappeared and any link to him has been severed, as such it can be worn by another being. The original bonus of these rings is unknown, but the knowledge of their purpose as wedding rings will allow their first effect to be known. This is a sentient ring, and other effects will unlock based on circumstances and the ring's acceptance of the owner.

Item Effects:

Increases all stats with the wearer of the partner ring by 10% of the wearer's stats.

Locked effect

Locked effect

Locked effect

Locked effect

Bonus effects:

Adjusts it's size to properly fit on the accepted owner's hand.

Currently unbound, additional effects will show themselves upon binding

Requirements to Wear:

Currently unknown.

Must be Male.

Heart Ring of Everlasting Devotion (Unbound) (Women) (Mythical Artifact)

This is the female copy of the Hear Ring of Everlasting Devotion, and is meant for the mate of the male ring. The original bonus of these rings is unknown, but the knowledge of their purpose as wedding rings will allow their first effect to be known. This is a sentient ring, and other effects will unlock based on circumstances and the ring's acceptance of the owner.

Item Effects:

Increases all stats with the wearer of the partner ring by 10% of the wearer's stats.

Locked effect

Locked effect

Locked effect

Locked effect

Bonus effects:

Adjusts it's size to properly fit on the accepted owner's hand.

Currently unbound, additional effects will show themselves upon binding

Requirements to Wear:

Currently unknown.

Must be Female

I couldn't do much more than glance over the rings' information as I rushed toward them. Even that almost caused me to stumble and become a popsicle. These rings were already incredibly insane just from looking at their first effect, but they were also mythical tier artifacts with 4 unknown bonuses in addition to some hidden additional bonuses that would appear once it was worn. Not to mention you could add on the fact that they could adjust to fit the person they were bound to. It was too bad I had no clue how to bind artifacts to you, but I hoped they could at least be used as a windbreak from this icy wind.

The damage became greater and greater the closer I got to the rings, and I barely managed to dive into the male ring, but as I did I didn't notice that a single drop of my blood fell onto the ring, which would soon put me into a quandary. As I landed within the circle of the ring, the wind was blocked, and they damages caused by it were stopped, allowing me a short breather. Sadly, this didn't last long, as a brilliant light was soon emitted by the ring, and the next moment I was facing the damage and slowing of that icy wind once again. I had no idea what had happened, and only barely made it into the circle of the female ring before my life reached 0.

I couldn't figure out what happened to the male ring at all. I peaked over the edge of the female ring and risked losing my life, but no sign of the second ring could be found no matter how I looked, so I could only take shelter in the female ring for the time being. Despite the fact that damages ceased once I was out of the wind, the air was still very cold, and I was worried I would be unable to make it out of there as anything but a popsicle.

Shivering, I clutched my shoulders, but was amazed when I realized that it felt much warmer than it had a moment ago. It was still quite cold, so I had to get moving soon, but I could stand it somehow for the time being. My health slowly began to restore, and I wandered within the ring, keeping my self warm by moving. Thankfully the quest I was on kept me from becoming tired from regular movement, although the constant running earlier had taken it's toll, otherwise I would have collapsed from exhaustion by that point.

It certainly was a harrowing experience, but I kept wondering what happened to the male ring, until the moment I looked downward. There on the ring finger of my left hand sat an ornate ring, glowing slightly. The next moment after I noticed it, it disappeared and was replaced by a tattoo in the shape of an ornate silver ring just like the male ring. While this was happening, I almost collapsed as I was overcome with an incredible pain.

*Ding*

You have been soul-bound to the male copy of the Heart Ring of Everlasting Devotion, and learned the additional effects of the ring.

Additional bonuses:

Inter-spacial Storage Ring:

Initial space: 15 mel squared

Additional space: 5 mel squared per level beyond level 1

Lay on Hands (Rank 1 of 10):

Can restore health of someone you are touching to full

Can remove all negative effects placed upon the touched target

Can resurrect target

Cannot be used in combat

Charges:

1/1 (requires 24 hours to charge)

Restrictions:

Must be touching target with both hands

Lay on Hands not applicable upon some quest NPCs

+50% healing spell compatibility

Cannot be dropped, sold, stolen, or removed

Due to soul-binding, will transfer with the character upon death

Must be above the age of 10 to use the inter-spacial storage of this ring

I was shocked to see these effects, and had no idea how it had been bound to me in the first place. That inter-spacial storage would likely allow me to put the female's ring into it, but I decided it would be best to wait until my health had fully recovered before trying to stuff it in there, as it would be very dangerous otherwise. That icy wind was still blowing violently outside, and the only thing stopping it from harming me at that moment was the female ring. It was a good thing I was above age 10 currently, but I wouldn't be able to use the storage until I was above that age once I got through the celestial realm.

The special tutorial of Farside would require me to go through being born, and raised on Farside within the game. This was a bit inconvenient, but would also served to enhance the game experience of players who purchased a platinum pod. The special tutorial would give a generous reward for the first person to complete it on each planet, and the subsequent completions of the regular tutorial by players with at least a silver tier account would gain a lesser reward dependant on their account type and character quirks. It was a retroactive bonus that would apply to any current account of the proper level that was active on Farside upon completion of the special tutorial by a player on Farside.

The completion of a special tutorial was a huge deal, as it would certainly make the players of a given planet more powerful, and they frequently unlocked a number of character races that would not be unlocked for general use until the special tutorial was completed. Whole planets would often celebrate when one of the more popular worlds of Trinity had the honor of having the special tutorial completed back in the day, but Farside was the only remaining special tutorial, and was not one of the more popular worlds after all, so it was unlikely such a thing would happen should I finish this tutorial properly. The others were waiting for me to finish the tutorial though, and even the inmates had at least a silver account, so they would at least be happy with the results if I could complete it.

I continued waiting until my health had fully healed as I wandered within the ring, wondering why it was so cold out there but was not inside the ring. It wasn't like it was warm within the ring, but it certainly was anything but the bone chilling cold of the current outside, and was even right around freezing rather than being sub-zero. My health rose to full more swiftly than I thought, while I was using movement to warm my body, and I found myself reluctant to try to store the female copy of the lovers' rings. I hesitated to remove the ring, it was cold after all and stood there debating with myself over whether I should ven remove it, but these two rings would be quite helpful later on if I took both of them.

Eventually, I removed the female ring by storing it in the inter-spacial storage, though it did take me a while to figure out how it worked. Storage was as simple as touching the ring and thinking "Store item," a fact that left me sheepish for not thinking of it earlier. Of course, the sheepishness did not last long as several notifications popped up.

*Ding*

Congratulations! You have completed a step and a sub-quest has updated: Gather the two mysterious rings!

Two mysterious rings sit atop a pedestal within a room of the giant's city, protected by a magic circle. Gather the two rings, and leave the room in safety. Be careful, this room is more dangerous than it seems.

Having retrieved the two rings, you must successfully exit the room without losing your life.

Rings Collected: 2/2 - Completed

Exit Room without dying - In Progress

Rewards:

The two rings

Failure Conditions:

Leaving the building without having retrieved the rings

Death

Do not leave the room with both rings

Penalties for failure:

Permanent experience gain reduction.

I felt the first blasts of wind strike me as I finished reading, and shivered uncontrollably. I quickly began running toward the edge of the pillar. I kept up the speed as I neared the edge of the pillar, which was a mistake as slipped off the edge as I tried to stop myself.

Luckily, I managed to notice an ice spike sticking up from the edge, and grabbed it. That icicle was actually strong, and I quickly decelerated only to find myself slamming into the pillar below the ledge. I had to scramble to grab a handhold, and then to get up under the ledge close enough no lightning would fire at me. I had to once more wait for my health to recover in order to climb down the pillar, leaving me rather annoyed.

While I was sitting there waiting for my health to recover, I realized I had 2 problems. The first problem was the lightning strikes and their numbing effects in relation to my reduced climbing speed while climbing downward. The second problem was the fireballs once I got down to ground level. These fireballs were quite large near the pillar, and were all quite powerful at my current level. I also had no idea if there would be any complications such as the fireballs all being the larger size once I got down, or the lightning on the pillar being more powerful, firing more rapidly, or causing more of a numbing effect than before. For all I knew, there could be a lot more dangerous things in store than that, it was a fearful thought.

After my health recovered once again, I shored up my courage and began to climb down as quickly as I could. I nearly had a heart attack when a lightning strike hit very close to me, and caused me to lose my grip while also stunning me. It took 2 seconds for my stun to wear off in which I had already fallen dozens of mel toward the ground. I frantically grabbed for the next handhold on the pillar and wrenched my wrists while I also slammed into the pillar, taking my breath away. I didn't have much time, and barely got my breath back, and my pain under control when the first lightning strike hit. Luckily, the strike was off and I didn't get directly hit by the lightning, nor stunned by it.

I began to scramble down as quickly as I could without hurting myself further, but was forced to deal with the numbness from strikes that missed. Fortunately, this actually helped to some extent as the feeling of pain from my wrenched wrists was reduced by the numbing, even if the numbing sensation itself was rather annoying. There were a number of strikes that almost hit me, but no stun effect luckily enough, and a few close slips where I fell a couple feet before getting a grip on a handhold. In the process of climbing down, I hurt my wrists dozens of times. It seemed that I couldn't be attacked directly, but the trap didn't actually aim to do that anyway and took advantage of loopholes in the quest rules to hit me with something I remember Siri called environmental damage.

I managed to reach the ground safely enough, but that was just the start of even bigger problems. My body was numb, and I barely had enough time to start accelerating before I was hit my a fireball blast, throwing my several feet through the air before I hit the ground hard. I had no choice but to ignore the searing pain in my back as I forced myself off the ground using all my strength to both push myself up, and resist the sharp pains that when through both my wrists and my back as I got up and started to run once again.

My next problem occurred here, not only were the fireballs staying large, their rate of fire was faster than before. I was hit by the shockwave of the next fireball but, were I to let up on speed for even a moment, I would be hit by another fireball, so I was forced to continue running while being pushed by the shockwave from the second fireball to hit me. Miraculously, I managed to land running, and put on a burst of speed thanks to the second fireball's shockwave. Unfortunately, I hurt my legs while landing, and the pain from my back and legs was excruciating, but I had no choice by to run as fast as I could.

I don't recommend running while in excruciating pain, it saps the will, and your stamina. Halfway through my run back I already felt like I was about to faint, but I soldiered through it. At the end, I was hit by another fireball blast wave, and thrown out of the room. I only had a sliver of health left as I looked deliriously at my health right before finally passing out.