2008-07-03, 03:22 PM
I know that a lot of you think this game doesn't have much of a story. To be honest, I felt the same way for a long time. The story always seemed to be there just under the surface, but it just wasn't being revealed. The thing that sort of prevents the story from being cohesive is how long it takes to move from one part of the quest to another. Between level requirements and finding elusive items, it can take quite some time, so when you move on to the second part of your quest, you've already forgotten what the NPC told you when you started the quest.
But, after reviewing the data, talking to many NPCs around the world, but particularly in Victoria, and checking back on quests, I've been able to piece together the storyline to a decent extent. Magatia is an unavailable area that plays a big part in Ossyria's backstory. Still, there's some things, mostly surrounding the Guild Quest, that can be nailed down. I've written it up into an easily readable form (instead of trying to interpret the 20 or so quests involved). Keep in mind this isn't everything I know; it's only the first portion. Continue checking this first post for updates to the story as I find them and/or type them up.
So, without further ado, here's what I have written so far (Again, this is all from the game itself, NOT fanfiction. The basic story remains the same.)
[SIZE="5"]Victoria[/SIZE]
Part 1:
Sharenian Guild Quest
Winston's Fossil Dig up (level 20)
Dr Betty's Research on Plants (level 22)
Dr. Betty's Research on Animal fossils (Level 22)
Planting Trees (Level 20)
In Search Of The Book Of Ancient (level 55)
Alcaster And The Dark Crystal (Level 60)
That's all for tonight. Seeya later for part 2.
Part 2:
Manji's Ragged gladius (level 45)
Part 3
I need Help with my Homework! (level 10)
Arwen and the Glass Shoe (level 25)
Mr. Wetbottom's Secret Book (level 30)
To the New World (level 40)
Ronnie & the fairies building a new house (level 55)
[Size="5"]Amoria[/size]
Part 15
Part 4
Part 5
[SIZE="5"]Leafre[/SIZE]
Part 7, Leafre Special!
Part 8
Part 10
Part 11
Mu Lung
Part 12
part 13
But, after reviewing the data, talking to many NPCs around the world, but particularly in Victoria, and checking back on quests, I've been able to piece together the storyline to a decent extent. Magatia is an unavailable area that plays a big part in Ossyria's backstory. Still, there's some things, mostly surrounding the Guild Quest, that can be nailed down. I've written it up into an easily readable form (instead of trying to interpret the 20 or so quests involved). Keep in mind this isn't everything I know; it's only the first portion. Continue checking this first post for updates to the story as I find them and/or type them up.
So, without further ado, here's what I have written so far (Again, this is all from the game itself, NOT fanfiction. The basic story remains the same.)
[SIZE="5"]Victoria[/SIZE]
Part 1:
Spoiler
Long ago, Victoria Island was ruled by the civilization of the Sharenian. The Sharenian ruled from the heavily forested area in the north of Victoria, where Perion is today. This culture lasted for hundreds of years, and created much of the things that make the Maple World what it is today. The Sharenian country really did span the entirety of Victoria. The Stone Golems were created to guard their Temple at the southern edge of the island. Even the Sanctuary, deep in the Ant Tunnel, was once an important proving ground for them. But alas, all great things must come to an end, and the Sharenian met their end under the rule of Sharen III. Sharen III was a wise and compassionate man, who ruled fairly and was liked by all. He craved immortality, however, and sought out the Rubian, a precious jewel that brings youth to anyone who owns it. unfortunately, the Rubian is cursed, and all who possess it meet their end, downtrodden and defeated. Sharen III, being the ruler of the entire nation of Sharenian, inadvertently took it down with him. Perion became the barren, arid wasteland we know it as today.
More recently, the Excavation site and all of the digging going on nearby have not been helping the problem.
And that is how the world remained, without any major ruling group, until nearly 300 years ago. Alcaster, the famous magician of El Nath, began studying a story passed down for a long time. It told of a great war that took place ages ago, and a legendary book, The Book of Ancient, containing forbidden magic and dark spells, that was used as a weapon in this war. The war, though fought for unknown reasons and between unknown factions, does have a few survivors to this day: the 4 wisemen of Victoria island. Grendel, Athena Pierce, Dances with Balrog, and Dark Lord all met during this conflict. Together, they decided to hide the Book of Ancient from everyone. After hiding it, they created a map, and to prevent it from being abused, split the map into four corners, each one keeping a piece.
Grendel retired to the town in the trees, Ellinia, and began to study black magic. His first attempts at this were to bring straw dolls to life. Black Magic is very dangerous, because if it is misused, the magician risks losing his ability to use spells all together. Black magic dealing with life is especially forbidden, and yet the young Grendel went straight for it. Unfortunately, something went horribly wrong, and the curse of Black Magic leaked into the dolls. Grendel took the Cursed dolls and sealed them deep in the dungeon, never to be seen again... Or so he hoped. Years later, the Lupin living nearby discovered the cursed dolls and stole them away, causing them to become Zombie Lupin.
Around this same time, Athena Pierce, wandering the plains of Southern Victoria, came across a small town that was under attack by hordes of powerful monsters, led by Mushmom. She defeated the onslaught singlehandedly, and has since remained there to protect the village of Henesys and teach young beginners the Way of the Archer.
Getting back to Alcaster, after having someone gather up the 4 map pieces from Victoria's wisemen, he was able to piece the map together using another form of Black Magic. The map revealed that the Book of Ancient was hidden in Orbis Tower. Finally, the book was recovered and Alcaster studied it for a long time. Eventually he discovered a way to seal its forbidden power
once and for all using Dark Crystals.
Quests for Part 1:Long ago, Victoria Island was ruled by the civilization of the Sharenian. The Sharenian ruled from the heavily forested area in the north of Victoria, where Perion is today. This culture lasted for hundreds of years, and created much of the things that make the Maple World what it is today. The Sharenian country really did span the entirety of Victoria. The Stone Golems were created to guard their Temple at the southern edge of the island. Even the Sanctuary, deep in the Ant Tunnel, was once an important proving ground for them. But alas, all great things must come to an end, and the Sharenian met their end under the rule of Sharen III. Sharen III was a wise and compassionate man, who ruled fairly and was liked by all. He craved immortality, however, and sought out the Rubian, a precious jewel that brings youth to anyone who owns it. unfortunately, the Rubian is cursed, and all who possess it meet their end, downtrodden and defeated. Sharen III, being the ruler of the entire nation of Sharenian, inadvertently took it down with him. Perion became the barren, arid wasteland we know it as today.
More recently, the Excavation site and all of the digging going on nearby have not been helping the problem.
And that is how the world remained, without any major ruling group, until nearly 300 years ago. Alcaster, the famous magician of El Nath, began studying a story passed down for a long time. It told of a great war that took place ages ago, and a legendary book, The Book of Ancient, containing forbidden magic and dark spells, that was used as a weapon in this war. The war, though fought for unknown reasons and between unknown factions, does have a few survivors to this day: the 4 wisemen of Victoria island. Grendel, Athena Pierce, Dances with Balrog, and Dark Lord all met during this conflict. Together, they decided to hide the Book of Ancient from everyone. After hiding it, they created a map, and to prevent it from being abused, split the map into four corners, each one keeping a piece.
Grendel retired to the town in the trees, Ellinia, and began to study black magic. His first attempts at this were to bring straw dolls to life. Black Magic is very dangerous, because if it is misused, the magician risks losing his ability to use spells all together. Black magic dealing with life is especially forbidden, and yet the young Grendel went straight for it. Unfortunately, something went horribly wrong, and the curse of Black Magic leaked into the dolls. Grendel took the Cursed dolls and sealed them deep in the dungeon, never to be seen again... Or so he hoped. Years later, the Lupin living nearby discovered the cursed dolls and stole them away, causing them to become Zombie Lupin.
Around this same time, Athena Pierce, wandering the plains of Southern Victoria, came across a small town that was under attack by hordes of powerful monsters, led by Mushmom. She defeated the onslaught singlehandedly, and has since remained there to protect the village of Henesys and teach young beginners the Way of the Archer.
Getting back to Alcaster, after having someone gather up the 4 map pieces from Victoria's wisemen, he was able to piece the map together using another form of Black Magic. The map revealed that the Book of Ancient was hidden in Orbis Tower. Finally, the book was recovered and Alcaster studied it for a long time. Eventually he discovered a way to seal its forbidden power
once and for all using Dark Crystals.
Sharenian Guild Quest
Winston's Fossil Dig up (level 20)
Dr Betty's Research on Plants (level 22)
Dr. Betty's Research on Animal fossils (Level 22)
Planting Trees (Level 20)
In Search Of The Book Of Ancient (level 55)
Alcaster And The Dark Crystal (Level 60)
That's all for tonight. Seeya later for part 2.
Part 2:
Spoiler
Decades ago, there was a legendary hero that roamed the island of Victoria named Tristan. He was well known, but rarely seen, always hunting for the strongest, evilest monsters. One day, Manji of Perion, an up and coming warrior, detected an evil aura emanating from the cave at the center of Victoria Island. He was drawn to it, and began descending deep into the Ant Tunnel.
Eventually, Manji went so deep into the cave that no light was able to reach and the cave walls began to appear blue. He knew this was dangerous territory, but his sense of adventure kept him on the trail down to the dungeon's end. At the end of the cave, he discovered an ancient sanctuary, long vacant of humans and beginning to crumble. The dark force was coming from the sanctuary, he was certain. Finally, after reaching the last, darkest room of the sanctuary, he saw something: two glowing eyes piercing through the darkness. Yes, it was the fabled Balrog! It flapped its huge wings and grinned devilishly with its sharp teeth.
Just then, the Balrog started to attack! Manji knew he didn't stand a chance, but it was too late to run. As the Balrog's claw came crashing down, Manji winced, but felt no blow; he looked up, only to see the legendary hero Tristan there to save him! The hero's sword had a mythical glow that helped it to repel the balrog's dark aura. Tristan and the Balrog fought for quite some time, until he was finally able to gain an advantage, and knocked the Balrog into a pit. Tristan turned to check on Manji, but this turned out to be a fatal error; The Balrog flapped its damaged wings enough to clamp down on Tristan with its jaws, and both fell deep into the darkness.
Manji raced down the cliff, searching for Tristan. By the time Manji reached the cave's floor, it was too late for Tristan. The legendary hero passed on his sword to Manji, but it was severely damaged by the fierce battle and the Balrog's brutal evil aura. Manji swore that one day, when he was strong enough, he would restore this sword to its former glory and give it to a warrior as noble as Tristan.
Quest for Part 2:Decades ago, there was a legendary hero that roamed the island of Victoria named Tristan. He was well known, but rarely seen, always hunting for the strongest, evilest monsters. One day, Manji of Perion, an up and coming warrior, detected an evil aura emanating from the cave at the center of Victoria Island. He was drawn to it, and began descending deep into the Ant Tunnel.
Eventually, Manji went so deep into the cave that no light was able to reach and the cave walls began to appear blue. He knew this was dangerous territory, but his sense of adventure kept him on the trail down to the dungeon's end. At the end of the cave, he discovered an ancient sanctuary, long vacant of humans and beginning to crumble. The dark force was coming from the sanctuary, he was certain. Finally, after reaching the last, darkest room of the sanctuary, he saw something: two glowing eyes piercing through the darkness. Yes, it was the fabled Balrog! It flapped its huge wings and grinned devilishly with its sharp teeth.
Just then, the Balrog started to attack! Manji knew he didn't stand a chance, but it was too late to run. As the Balrog's claw came crashing down, Manji winced, but felt no blow; he looked up, only to see the legendary hero Tristan there to save him! The hero's sword had a mythical glow that helped it to repel the balrog's dark aura. Tristan and the Balrog fought for quite some time, until he was finally able to gain an advantage, and knocked the Balrog into a pit. Tristan turned to check on Manji, but this turned out to be a fatal error; The Balrog flapped its damaged wings enough to clamp down on Tristan with its jaws, and both fell deep into the darkness.
Manji raced down the cliff, searching for Tristan. By the time Manji reached the cave's floor, it was too late for Tristan. The legendary hero passed on his sword to Manji, but it was severely damaged by the fierce battle and the Balrog's brutal evil aura. Manji swore that one day, when he was strong enough, he would restore this sword to its former glory and give it to a warrior as noble as Tristan.
Manji's Ragged gladius (level 45)
Part 3
Spoiler
The fairies of Ellinia are a peaceful, wise race that practice magic in schools and gather lots of knowledge all around, kept in the Magic Libary. The only human that they will obey is Grendel, because of his overwhelming magical powers. Fairies are generally distrustful of humans, but sometimes they have no choice but to ask for help. The one thing that can win over a fairy, however, is a shiny object. Many of them have a specific valued object that they carry with them. Arwen the fairy has a glass shoe which is often coveted by monsters, for example. Some fairies are so desperate to keep these shiny objects that they are even willing to sacrifice a wing to get them back!
Ellinia is not the only place where Fairies live, however; another variety of Fairies populates the floating town of Orbis. While the fairies of Ellinia have delicate, fragile wings like those of a butterfly, the fairies of Orbis have powerful, angelic wings, many times the size of their body in some cases. Both species of Fairies get along together well. They trade valuable items to create potions and elixirs. Wing the Fairy of Ellinia sometimes hires strong humans on their way to Ossyria to deliver items to his friend Kriel, who synthesizes powerful magician weapons and items. One of these items is the Tears of Kelvelos, a legendary monster's drop that was obtained by Wing's family long ago.
Quests for Part 3:The fairies of Ellinia are a peaceful, wise race that practice magic in schools and gather lots of knowledge all around, kept in the Magic Libary. The only human that they will obey is Grendel, because of his overwhelming magical powers. Fairies are generally distrustful of humans, but sometimes they have no choice but to ask for help. The one thing that can win over a fairy, however, is a shiny object. Many of them have a specific valued object that they carry with them. Arwen the fairy has a glass shoe which is often coveted by monsters, for example. Some fairies are so desperate to keep these shiny objects that they are even willing to sacrifice a wing to get them back!
Ellinia is not the only place where Fairies live, however; another variety of Fairies populates the floating town of Orbis. While the fairies of Ellinia have delicate, fragile wings like those of a butterfly, the fairies of Orbis have powerful, angelic wings, many times the size of their body in some cases. Both species of Fairies get along together well. They trade valuable items to create potions and elixirs. Wing the Fairy of Ellinia sometimes hires strong humans on their way to Ossyria to deliver items to his friend Kriel, who synthesizes powerful magician weapons and items. One of these items is the Tears of Kelvelos, a legendary monster's drop that was obtained by Wing's family long ago.
I need Help with my Homework! (level 10)
Arwen and the Glass Shoe (level 25)
Mr. Wetbottom's Secret Book (level 30)
To the New World (level 40)
Ronnie & the fairies building a new house (level 55)
[Size="5"]Amoria[/size]
Part 15
Spoiler
This one is completely from Nexon. All I did was copy it over from the flash animation. Now granted that wasn't exactly easy, as I had to watch it 20 times, but I didn't write it.
_________________________________________________
The story of Amoria begins with the story of Elias. Elias was a noble hunter whose love of battle knew no bounds. He fell in love with a maiden of striking beauty, Cecelia. She hoped he would one day realize her love went beyond the mere fleeting of arrows, but Elias continued to hunt on and ignore his wife. During one of his hunting trips, Cecelia was kidnapped by a group of monsters. When Elias returned and found his wife missing, he immediately set out after her, vanquishing any monsters in his wake with his might bow, axe, and powerful magic. Alas, he came upon the cave where his true love has been taken. He heard her voice cry out in terror, and immediately rushed in to find several Drakes prepared to feast on her. Elias defeated the monsters and carried his wife back to their house, but her wounds were too great for even his skill to heal. Saddened by the loss of his wife, he used the last bit of his magic in a sacrificial act and created a place that would allow others to experience the love he once had, and as a lesson to never take it for granted. Thus, the town of Amoria came to be.
[SIZE="5"]Orbis[/SIZE]This one is completely from Nexon. All I did was copy it over from the flash animation. Now granted that wasn't exactly easy, as I had to watch it 20 times, but I didn't write it.
_________________________________________________
The story of Amoria begins with the story of Elias. Elias was a noble hunter whose love of battle knew no bounds. He fell in love with a maiden of striking beauty, Cecelia. She hoped he would one day realize her love went beyond the mere fleeting of arrows, but Elias continued to hunt on and ignore his wife. During one of his hunting trips, Cecelia was kidnapped by a group of monsters. When Elias returned and found his wife missing, he immediately set out after her, vanquishing any monsters in his wake with his might bow, axe, and powerful magic. Alas, he came upon the cave where his true love has been taken. He heard her voice cry out in terror, and immediately rushed in to find several Drakes prepared to feast on her. Elias defeated the monsters and carried his wife back to their house, but her wounds were too great for even his skill to heal. Saddened by the loss of his wife, he used the last bit of his magic in a sacrificial act and created a place that would allow others to experience the love he once had, and as a lesson to never take it for granted. Thus, the town of Amoria came to be.
Part 4
Spoiler
Orbis is the first town that a traveler from Victoria will arrive at on the vast continent of Ossyria. Orbis is not actually on the continent anymore, however; through the force of Lithium crystals refined in Magatia and enchanted with the powers of alchemy, the city is actually floating in the sky, high above the El Nath mountain range. The town was raised into the air a long time ago by the goddess of Wisdom Minerva, who ruled over Orbis. She spent much time in a special tower built for her by the humans of Ossyria. Recently, the humans brought a huge statue to her, made in her image; She liked it so much, she had it moved into the Tower so she could drink tea and admire it every morning. Many travelers paid her a visit every day, and not all of them were human or fairy; occasionally, monsters would come through. This day, the unsavory Papa Pixie came into the tower, asking Minerva to sell some Water of Life to him so that he might create more Pixies. Minerva would not part with the Water of Life, however, and he was forced to leave, quite unsatisfied.
![[Image: GoddessMinervaStatue.png]](http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v204/Isaac_mage/GoddessMinervaStatue.png)
The next day, the goddess awoke to find that her statue had been broken! The culprit had broken in overnight and destroyed her prized statue, but accidentally left a footprint. Papa pixie came by not long after, offering to fix the statue in exchange for the water of life. Minerva was so happy with this news that she didn't realize how suspicious Papa Pixie was behaving. After Papa Pixie left, the humans came by, and Minerva quickly covered the statue with a nearby cloth, embarrassed that this could happen to a goddess. She decided that it must be fixed as soon as possible, and thus was forced to hire Papa Pixie. Her chamberlain, Eak, tried to point out that this was a bad idea, but he nagged her so much that eventually she ruined his cloudy body to force him to be quiet. Papa Pixie, seeing that Eak was now disposed, brought more and more pixies in to the tower. His final act of deception ready, he asked Minerva to model for him so that he could fix the statue properly. She went into the ruined statue and Papa Pixie sealed her there, hiding the pieces of the statue all across her tower to prevent her from being released. Only a daring party of powerful humans could possibly challenge Papa Pixie and free the goddess from her marble statue prison...
and many areas of the floating island have fell into disrepair and were eventually overtaken by monsters. Some residents of this area refused to move, despite the monsters looming outdoors. One such resident is the fortune telling Sorcerer, Spiruna. She has been able to foresee Orbis' terrible fate for some time: the floating city was slowly sinking and might soon crash into the ground! No one knew exactly what was causing the town of Orbis to sink, however. One theory that was proposed was that Orbis was getting heavier due to the rapid increase in the number of monsters on the island. The dark forces unleashed by Zakum and other incredibly evil monsters led to this increase. Particularly, the Jr. kitties seemed to be to blame. Upon finding a brave soul to take out hundreds of them, the island's sinking slowed down, but still persisted.
After further investigation, it was discovered that the pixies were causing this. They were leeching the power from the clouds and stones keeping Orbis afloat to regain their HP and MP. Finally, after roughing up a lot of Pixies, enough clouds were recovered to repair the damage they caused. Spiruna used her cloud sprayer to redistribute them evenly and Orbis was saved.
[SIZE="5"]Ludibrium[/SIZE]Orbis is the first town that a traveler from Victoria will arrive at on the vast continent of Ossyria. Orbis is not actually on the continent anymore, however; through the force of Lithium crystals refined in Magatia and enchanted with the powers of alchemy, the city is actually floating in the sky, high above the El Nath mountain range. The town was raised into the air a long time ago by the goddess of Wisdom Minerva, who ruled over Orbis. She spent much time in a special tower built for her by the humans of Ossyria. Recently, the humans brought a huge statue to her, made in her image; She liked it so much, she had it moved into the Tower so she could drink tea and admire it every morning. Many travelers paid her a visit every day, and not all of them were human or fairy; occasionally, monsters would come through. This day, the unsavory Papa Pixie came into the tower, asking Minerva to sell some Water of Life to him so that he might create more Pixies. Minerva would not part with the Water of Life, however, and he was forced to leave, quite unsatisfied.
The next day, the goddess awoke to find that her statue had been broken! The culprit had broken in overnight and destroyed her prized statue, but accidentally left a footprint. Papa pixie came by not long after, offering to fix the statue in exchange for the water of life. Minerva was so happy with this news that she didn't realize how suspicious Papa Pixie was behaving. After Papa Pixie left, the humans came by, and Minerva quickly covered the statue with a nearby cloth, embarrassed that this could happen to a goddess. She decided that it must be fixed as soon as possible, and thus was forced to hire Papa Pixie. Her chamberlain, Eak, tried to point out that this was a bad idea, but he nagged her so much that eventually she ruined his cloudy body to force him to be quiet. Papa Pixie, seeing that Eak was now disposed, brought more and more pixies in to the tower. His final act of deception ready, he asked Minerva to model for him so that he could fix the statue properly. She went into the ruined statue and Papa Pixie sealed her there, hiding the pieces of the statue all across her tower to prevent her from being released. Only a daring party of powerful humans could possibly challenge Papa Pixie and free the goddess from her marble statue prison...
and many areas of the floating island have fell into disrepair and were eventually overtaken by monsters. Some residents of this area refused to move, despite the monsters looming outdoors. One such resident is the fortune telling Sorcerer, Spiruna. She has been able to foresee Orbis' terrible fate for some time: the floating city was slowly sinking and might soon crash into the ground! No one knew exactly what was causing the town of Orbis to sink, however. One theory that was proposed was that Orbis was getting heavier due to the rapid increase in the number of monsters on the island. The dark forces unleashed by Zakum and other incredibly evil monsters led to this increase. Particularly, the Jr. kitties seemed to be to blame. Upon finding a brave soul to take out hundreds of them, the island's sinking slowed down, but still persisted.
After further investigation, it was discovered that the pixies were causing this. They were leeching the power from the clouds and stones keeping Orbis afloat to regain their HP and MP. Finally, after roughing up a lot of Pixies, enough clouds were recovered to repair the damage they caused. Spiruna used her cloud sprayer to redistribute them evenly and Orbis was saved.
Part 5
Spoiler
Ludibrium, much like Orbis, is a town high in the air. However, unlike Orbis, Ludibrium Castle is supported by two enormous 100 floor towers, called Eos and Helios. The entire castle is made up of toy bricks, which while it may not seem strong actually provides a formidable barrier to most monsters. Ludibrium is so high in the air that it experiences sunshine 365 days a year. Despite their playful, leisurely appearance, the people of Ludibrium are highly advanced and use factories to produce incredible amounts of toys and use an advanced power system that relies on the immense energy hidden in Tachions and the flow of time.
The towers, being so enormous and valuable, are often a target for the local monsters. So, the soldiers of Ludibrium must clean out each of the towers from time to time. Lately, however, the number of soldiers has been dwindling due to the threat presented at Omega Sector, and the Ludibrium Soldiers have resorted to asking adventurers traveling through to clean out the towers for them. some of the monsters are Ratz toys, created by Nemi to try to eliminate the monster problem but ended up actually increasing it. Others, like Tweeter, are ordinary monsters that nest on the outer walls of Eos Tower. Still others are toys from the Toy Factory that have gone astray. The strongest monster that is attacking Eos Tower is actually made out of leftover bricks used to construct the tower itself! The Block Golems came to be through the evil influence of Dark Crystals. They want to destroy the tower and use the blocks to create even more golems. The leader of the Block Golems is Rombot, a monster so tainted that it has grown beyond redemption and must be destroyed once and for all.
Drum Bunnies are another cute toy monster that went out of control. Somehow, they were exposed to the force of Darkness created by Dark Crystals, and began using this energy to operate. They became wild and enraged, destroying the tower. The General in Omega Sector thinks that it could be the attacking Greys that are to blame...
Eos Tower is not the only area of Ludibrium that's in distress, however. The Clock Tower in the center of the Castle has stopped ticking. A monster that slipped through the Cracked dimension stole the Clock's pendulum, causing it to stand still. That monster ran to hide in the Hidden room of Eos Tower, full of Doll Houses. It had the uncanny ability to disguise itself, and managed to blend in to the houses. Luckily, a keen-eyed traveller noticed a subtle difference and destroyed the monster, retrieving the pendulum. The traveler then returned the Pendulum to Grandpa Clock in the Clocktower, who fixed it and started the tower ticking again. For a while, it seemed like the invasion of monsters from the other dimension had ceased...
part 6Ludibrium, much like Orbis, is a town high in the air. However, unlike Orbis, Ludibrium Castle is supported by two enormous 100 floor towers, called Eos and Helios. The entire castle is made up of toy bricks, which while it may not seem strong actually provides a formidable barrier to most monsters. Ludibrium is so high in the air that it experiences sunshine 365 days a year. Despite their playful, leisurely appearance, the people of Ludibrium are highly advanced and use factories to produce incredible amounts of toys and use an advanced power system that relies on the immense energy hidden in Tachions and the flow of time.
The towers, being so enormous and valuable, are often a target for the local monsters. So, the soldiers of Ludibrium must clean out each of the towers from time to time. Lately, however, the number of soldiers has been dwindling due to the threat presented at Omega Sector, and the Ludibrium Soldiers have resorted to asking adventurers traveling through to clean out the towers for them. some of the monsters are Ratz toys, created by Nemi to try to eliminate the monster problem but ended up actually increasing it. Others, like Tweeter, are ordinary monsters that nest on the outer walls of Eos Tower. Still others are toys from the Toy Factory that have gone astray. The strongest monster that is attacking Eos Tower is actually made out of leftover bricks used to construct the tower itself! The Block Golems came to be through the evil influence of Dark Crystals. They want to destroy the tower and use the blocks to create even more golems. The leader of the Block Golems is Rombot, a monster so tainted that it has grown beyond redemption and must be destroyed once and for all.
Drum Bunnies are another cute toy monster that went out of control. Somehow, they were exposed to the force of Darkness created by Dark Crystals, and began using this energy to operate. They became wild and enraged, destroying the tower. The General in Omega Sector thinks that it could be the attacking Greys that are to blame...
Eos Tower is not the only area of Ludibrium that's in distress, however. The Clock Tower in the center of the Castle has stopped ticking. A monster that slipped through the Cracked dimension stole the Clock's pendulum, causing it to stand still. That monster ran to hide in the Hidden room of Eos Tower, full of Doll Houses. It had the uncanny ability to disguise itself, and managed to blend in to the houses. Luckily, a keen-eyed traveller noticed a subtle difference and destroyed the monster, retrieving the pendulum. The traveler then returned the Pendulum to Grandpa Clock in the Clocktower, who fixed it and started the tower ticking again. For a while, it seemed like the invasion of monsters from the other dimension had ceased...
Spoiler
Unfortunately, that was not the case. The monsters from the other dimension just kept slipping through, and they only became more powerful the longer the crack stayed open. Alishar, the gatekeeper that guarded over the door of dimension between worlds, was corrupted. He began to send through all sorts of powerful monsters from the Other Dimension, with the Pass of Dimension that allowed them to slip through the door. As more monsters passed through the opening, the Other Dimension began to leak into ours, making areas near the Door inaccessible to those without Passes. The door was gaining size due to the Crack of Dimension, and so soon all of Eos Tower might be in danger. The King of Ludibrium found that the only logical course of action, with all the soldiers being preoccupied, was to find a party of strong adventurers who could travel into the abandoned tower and have them sort out the mess.
By defeating the monsters from the Other Dimension and taking their Passes of Dimension, the party was able to force their way through the contaminated area of the Tower and proceed deeper and deeper. Alishar was threatened by the approaching party, and summoned more and more powerful monsters to challenge them. The King Block Golem from Another Dimension guarded the doors to the spare passes, but a stealthy thief was able to sneak past unnoticed. Alishar realized he needed a more cunning enemy, and brought through the leaders of the Block Golems of the Other Dimension, Rombad. The party of adventurers were shocked at Rombad's ridiculous power, but they defeated all three of the enemy leaders, taking their Passes of Dimension as well. Alishar's final trap was a complex code he devised, locking the door to his throne room. The party eventually guessed his code and broke into the Throne Room, only to find that it was empty! Luckily, a lone Dirty Ratz from the other dimension ran out, and dropped the Pass of Dimension. The item's power forced Alishar out of hiding from between the dimensions, and he raged against the party. After a long fight, Alishar was defeated, dropping the keys to the Door of Dimension and fleeing back across the threshold. The party was rewarded for their efforts by the King of Ludibrium, and the King's messenger promised that should Ludibrium Castle ever need saving again, they would be the first called.
The peace at Ludibrium Castle didn't last long, however. The town's power source, the Time Sphere, was being disrupted. This posed a huge problem, as without it the flow of time around the town would be completely stopped. The King dispatched a team to check out the Time Sphere, which was located deep down at the base of the Clocktower. Their report wasn't good; the number of monsters down there had grown exponentially, with many new kinds of monsters down there as well. Worse yet, the Time Sphere was leaking Tachions, the object used to produce its power, and would have to be replaced. Mr. Bouffon, the King's aide, recruited a powerful traveler to help restore the Time Sphere. The traveler went down into the Path of Time and defeated the strong monsters there, which had become evil after obtaining the power granted by Tachion. Mr. Bouffon only requested a small number of Tachions at first, to make sure that they would work. After combining the Tachions with a small amount of Mysterious Powder he had already collected, he managed to create a tiny replacement Time Sphere. Now that it was known for sure that the two would react, the traveler gathered both Tachions and Mysterious powder en masse.
Mr. Bouffon, grateful for the favor, began using these materials to construct a full-size Time Sphere that would later be taken down. A new problem had developed, however; the crack of dimension caused by the leaky Time Sphere was growing bigger, and more powerful monsters were coming through. Papulatus, an incredibly powerful monster that made even Alishar's abilities pale in comparison, had already passed through the crack and was leeching the Tachions coming out of the Time Sphere. Simply replacing the existing Time Sphere wouldn't do the trick anymore; Papulatus would ruin the new one as well. Someone needed to defeat him once and for all, to ensure that Ludibrium's power source could exist undisturbed and out of danger. First, however, the crack had to be sealed so that Papulatus couldn't just escape back to his own dimension.
After Papulatus passed through, many other monsters began to follow it into our world. Some had even passed through the exact same crack as Papulatus, while others had passed through one of the smaller cracks caused by it. The traveler, under the direction of Flo, a powerful magician, headed down to take out the Grim Phantom Watches and Gigantic Spirit Vikings, monsters from the other dimension. Finally, after killing hundreds of them, the traveler found a piece of crack on one of them that was identical to the one caused by Papulatus' intrusion. Flo gave the traveler the piece of Cracked Dimension, and sent him back to Mr. Bouffon. Once there, he was told that he would have to gain far more power in order to defeat Papulatus. After training himself for a long time, the traveler came back and asked how to reach the clocktower's lower floors. Mr. Bouffon informed him that the Time Sphere's power chamber needed a special medal to enter it, and that medal had been stolen by the incredibly powerful Gatekeeper and Thanatos, monsters second only to Papulatus itself in pure strength. The traveler defeated these daunting foes, taking back the Ludibrium Medal needed to access the Origin of the Clock Tower. Finally, he used the piece of Cracked Dimension to seal the hole between worlds, causing the old Time Sphere and Papulatus to be forced out of hiding. Seeing its escape route was blocked, Papulatus launched a series of vicious attacks, and after a long, drawn out battle Papulatus was at last defeated. The new Time Sphere was put into place, and the traveler was rewarded, named a Hero of Ludibrium, and given a powerful cape to symbolize this victory. The crack between the dimensions was sealed, but that doesn't mean all the problems caused by it are fixed yet...
Unfortunately, that was not the case. The monsters from the other dimension just kept slipping through, and they only became more powerful the longer the crack stayed open. Alishar, the gatekeeper that guarded over the door of dimension between worlds, was corrupted. He began to send through all sorts of powerful monsters from the Other Dimension, with the Pass of Dimension that allowed them to slip through the door. As more monsters passed through the opening, the Other Dimension began to leak into ours, making areas near the Door inaccessible to those without Passes. The door was gaining size due to the Crack of Dimension, and so soon all of Eos Tower might be in danger. The King of Ludibrium found that the only logical course of action, with all the soldiers being preoccupied, was to find a party of strong adventurers who could travel into the abandoned tower and have them sort out the mess.
By defeating the monsters from the Other Dimension and taking their Passes of Dimension, the party was able to force their way through the contaminated area of the Tower and proceed deeper and deeper. Alishar was threatened by the approaching party, and summoned more and more powerful monsters to challenge them. The King Block Golem from Another Dimension guarded the doors to the spare passes, but a stealthy thief was able to sneak past unnoticed. Alishar realized he needed a more cunning enemy, and brought through the leaders of the Block Golems of the Other Dimension, Rombad. The party of adventurers were shocked at Rombad's ridiculous power, but they defeated all three of the enemy leaders, taking their Passes of Dimension as well. Alishar's final trap was a complex code he devised, locking the door to his throne room. The party eventually guessed his code and broke into the Throne Room, only to find that it was empty! Luckily, a lone Dirty Ratz from the other dimension ran out, and dropped the Pass of Dimension. The item's power forced Alishar out of hiding from between the dimensions, and he raged against the party. After a long fight, Alishar was defeated, dropping the keys to the Door of Dimension and fleeing back across the threshold. The party was rewarded for their efforts by the King of Ludibrium, and the King's messenger promised that should Ludibrium Castle ever need saving again, they would be the first called.
The peace at Ludibrium Castle didn't last long, however. The town's power source, the Time Sphere, was being disrupted. This posed a huge problem, as without it the flow of time around the town would be completely stopped. The King dispatched a team to check out the Time Sphere, which was located deep down at the base of the Clocktower. Their report wasn't good; the number of monsters down there had grown exponentially, with many new kinds of monsters down there as well. Worse yet, the Time Sphere was leaking Tachions, the object used to produce its power, and would have to be replaced. Mr. Bouffon, the King's aide, recruited a powerful traveler to help restore the Time Sphere. The traveler went down into the Path of Time and defeated the strong monsters there, which had become evil after obtaining the power granted by Tachion. Mr. Bouffon only requested a small number of Tachions at first, to make sure that they would work. After combining the Tachions with a small amount of Mysterious Powder he had already collected, he managed to create a tiny replacement Time Sphere. Now that it was known for sure that the two would react, the traveler gathered both Tachions and Mysterious powder en masse.
Mr. Bouffon, grateful for the favor, began using these materials to construct a full-size Time Sphere that would later be taken down. A new problem had developed, however; the crack of dimension caused by the leaky Time Sphere was growing bigger, and more powerful monsters were coming through. Papulatus, an incredibly powerful monster that made even Alishar's abilities pale in comparison, had already passed through the crack and was leeching the Tachions coming out of the Time Sphere. Simply replacing the existing Time Sphere wouldn't do the trick anymore; Papulatus would ruin the new one as well. Someone needed to defeat him once and for all, to ensure that Ludibrium's power source could exist undisturbed and out of danger. First, however, the crack had to be sealed so that Papulatus couldn't just escape back to his own dimension.
After Papulatus passed through, many other monsters began to follow it into our world. Some had even passed through the exact same crack as Papulatus, while others had passed through one of the smaller cracks caused by it. The traveler, under the direction of Flo, a powerful magician, headed down to take out the Grim Phantom Watches and Gigantic Spirit Vikings, monsters from the other dimension. Finally, after killing hundreds of them, the traveler found a piece of crack on one of them that was identical to the one caused by Papulatus' intrusion. Flo gave the traveler the piece of Cracked Dimension, and sent him back to Mr. Bouffon. Once there, he was told that he would have to gain far more power in order to defeat Papulatus. After training himself for a long time, the traveler came back and asked how to reach the clocktower's lower floors. Mr. Bouffon informed him that the Time Sphere's power chamber needed a special medal to enter it, and that medal had been stolen by the incredibly powerful Gatekeeper and Thanatos, monsters second only to Papulatus itself in pure strength. The traveler defeated these daunting foes, taking back the Ludibrium Medal needed to access the Origin of the Clock Tower. Finally, he used the piece of Cracked Dimension to seal the hole between worlds, causing the old Time Sphere and Papulatus to be forced out of hiding. Seeing its escape route was blocked, Papulatus launched a series of vicious attacks, and after a long, drawn out battle Papulatus was at last defeated. The new Time Sphere was put into place, and the traveler was rewarded, named a Hero of Ludibrium, and given a powerful cape to symbolize this victory. The crack between the dimensions was sealed, but that doesn't mean all the problems caused by it are fixed yet...
[SIZE="5"]Leafre[/SIZE]
Part 7, Leafre Special!
Spoiler
The Minar Forest one of the main features on the continent of Ossyria. It takes up a huge portion of the southern and western territory. The forest is very dense and incredibly dangerous, populated by powerful monsters and fearsome dragons. The entire region is so isolated that it's rare for a human to even be seen. At the center of the Minar Forest is Leafre, a village founded by the Hafrings, a tribe of intelligent native creatures that are very fuzzy. The Hafrings are mostly pacifistic, but have formed a deal with the dragons of the forest. The Hafring care for the dragons' eggs and make sure they are safe, while the dragons protect the Hafring from the dangerous monsters outside. The dragons raised by the Hafrings tend to be much kinder and less ferocious than those that hatch in the wild, which also makes the forest safer. They employ a number of techniques, from heating the eggs and cleaning them to a shine to singing and playing musical instruments for the unhatched babies. The Hafrings in charge of the eggs even go so far as to decorate the rooms in pleasing colors to make the dragons happier.
The Hafrings aren't the only creatures living in the Minar Forest, however. The forest's other residents are the Kentaurus, half-human, half-horse creatures that come in three different colors with varying elemental attributes. The Kentaurus factions are all at war with each other: The fire versus the water versus the darkness. They fight constantly, resulting in huge battles that tear sections of the forest apart. Occasionally, an unfortunate group of Hafrings will wander into this battle and get hurt very badly. The only medicine that can heal a Hafring is that created from Birk's chewed Grass, but they are simply not strong enough to gather these items on their own. Luckily, a kindly explorer aided the Hafrings by defeating Birk and collecting the grasses, saving the lives of many. Leafre was opened to humans, and many travelers began to make their way there. These new travelers weren't the first humans to come by, however; at least one human had been living deep in the Minar Forests for quite a while.
Raul, a knight, was this man. He had spent a lot of time with the Hafrings and knew that they were being threatened, even if they did not. He gathered together a group of powerful human warriors and set out for the center of the forest, where a dangerous beast was hiding out. Horntail, an evil three-headed dragon, was threatening the Cave of Life, where the dragon eggs are kept. Chief Tatamo, the leader of Leafre, sent a message to his old friend, Grendel the Really Old of Ellinia, requesting a special item to help protect his village. After a lot of searching, he finally found the Pure Water of Protection. This special water can be dripped onto an item, instantly creating a transparent shield to protect the object from anything. The whole bottle, placed strategically on a tree in the center, was enough to protect the entire forest of Leafre. Unfortunately, Horntail had already taken the Cave of Life. He was hiding out deep inside, blocking the path to reach Nine Spirits Dragon's nest, where the egg of the special dragon that leads all of the dragons in Minar Forest can be hatched. Raul knew that he had to get the Nine Spirit's egg to the nest, and organized the Dragon Squad to take it out. Unfortunately, Horntail caught the squad by surprise and they were nearly wiped out. Raul barely escaped, suffering grievous wounds, but lost the Nine Spirit's egg. Horntail, realizing that this dragon was a threat to his control over the region, stole the egg to prevent it from hatching. After returning to town, Raul asked a powerful traveler to help him fight the Horntail. The traveler, seeing Raul's terrible injuries, insisted that he stay here and let him handle the formidable foe. Raul consented, but only after a significant amount of convincing.
Other problems had begun to crop up in the Minar Forest, however. The tree that had been sprinkled with Pure Water of Protection had begun to turn crimson red. The Hafrings were concerned by this, and asked the traveler to take a message back to Grendel asking about the problem. After studying the problem for some time, Grendel finally discovered what was happening: The barrier was being weakened by the Nine Spirits Dragon's absence. He had devised a temporary solution, but it was only temporary and the only way to ensure that the Barrier wouldn't collapse was to defeat Horntail. The items needed to strengthen the barrier could only be obtained from the Kentaurus, however, and they weren't likely to give it out easily. The traveler took this information back to Leafre, and defeated many Kentauruses to collect their Flames, Marrows, and Bones in order to patch the Barrier. Chief Tatamo gratefully accepted the items and used them to fix it immediately. Horntail still cast a menacing shadow over the village, however. The traveler set out for the Cave of Life to confront this cruel creature.
On the way to the Cave of Life, the path was littered with Wyverns. Raul had warned about these; The wyverns are the most violent kind of dragon, and are not native to the Minar Forest. They used to live in the swampy lands north of the region, but allied themselves with Horntail to attack the Forest. He had advised that the traveler kill at least 18 of each species to ward them off. Horntail's evil power began permeating the air of the forest, causing many of the monsters to become dark, including the wyverns. By taking their blackened spirits to the imprisoned girl at the cave of life, she could use them to escape. Moira, the girl, warned the traveler to retreat before Horntail's gatekeeper spotted him, but he politely declined. Seeing the traveler's resolve, she gave him special potions that would allow him to slip into the Cave of Life. After gathering his guild, they used the potions, which disguised them as Cornian, and sneaked past the gatekeeper. Finally the traveler entered the Cave of Life, and they began the assault on Horntail. The battle drug on for a long time; they disabled his body, one part at a time. At long last, one final hit destroyed the evil dragon and the Nine Spirits' egg was recovered. The newly hatched Nine Spirits' Dragon rewarded the hero and his guild. Raul congratulated the squad, rewarding them as well, and their names were spread all across the world as the team that finally saved Leafre from Horntail's cruel grasp.
[SIZE="5"]Omega Sector[/SIZE]The Minar Forest one of the main features on the continent of Ossyria. It takes up a huge portion of the southern and western territory. The forest is very dense and incredibly dangerous, populated by powerful monsters and fearsome dragons. The entire region is so isolated that it's rare for a human to even be seen. At the center of the Minar Forest is Leafre, a village founded by the Hafrings, a tribe of intelligent native creatures that are very fuzzy. The Hafrings are mostly pacifistic, but have formed a deal with the dragons of the forest. The Hafring care for the dragons' eggs and make sure they are safe, while the dragons protect the Hafring from the dangerous monsters outside. The dragons raised by the Hafrings tend to be much kinder and less ferocious than those that hatch in the wild, which also makes the forest safer. They employ a number of techniques, from heating the eggs and cleaning them to a shine to singing and playing musical instruments for the unhatched babies. The Hafrings in charge of the eggs even go so far as to decorate the rooms in pleasing colors to make the dragons happier.
The Hafrings aren't the only creatures living in the Minar Forest, however. The forest's other residents are the Kentaurus, half-human, half-horse creatures that come in three different colors with varying elemental attributes. The Kentaurus factions are all at war with each other: The fire versus the water versus the darkness. They fight constantly, resulting in huge battles that tear sections of the forest apart. Occasionally, an unfortunate group of Hafrings will wander into this battle and get hurt very badly. The only medicine that can heal a Hafring is that created from Birk's chewed Grass, but they are simply not strong enough to gather these items on their own. Luckily, a kindly explorer aided the Hafrings by defeating Birk and collecting the grasses, saving the lives of many. Leafre was opened to humans, and many travelers began to make their way there. These new travelers weren't the first humans to come by, however; at least one human had been living deep in the Minar Forests for quite a while.
Raul, a knight, was this man. He had spent a lot of time with the Hafrings and knew that they were being threatened, even if they did not. He gathered together a group of powerful human warriors and set out for the center of the forest, where a dangerous beast was hiding out. Horntail, an evil three-headed dragon, was threatening the Cave of Life, where the dragon eggs are kept. Chief Tatamo, the leader of Leafre, sent a message to his old friend, Grendel the Really Old of Ellinia, requesting a special item to help protect his village. After a lot of searching, he finally found the Pure Water of Protection. This special water can be dripped onto an item, instantly creating a transparent shield to protect the object from anything. The whole bottle, placed strategically on a tree in the center, was enough to protect the entire forest of Leafre. Unfortunately, Horntail had already taken the Cave of Life. He was hiding out deep inside, blocking the path to reach Nine Spirits Dragon's nest, where the egg of the special dragon that leads all of the dragons in Minar Forest can be hatched. Raul knew that he had to get the Nine Spirit's egg to the nest, and organized the Dragon Squad to take it out. Unfortunately, Horntail caught the squad by surprise and they were nearly wiped out. Raul barely escaped, suffering grievous wounds, but lost the Nine Spirit's egg. Horntail, realizing that this dragon was a threat to his control over the region, stole the egg to prevent it from hatching. After returning to town, Raul asked a powerful traveler to help him fight the Horntail. The traveler, seeing Raul's terrible injuries, insisted that he stay here and let him handle the formidable foe. Raul consented, but only after a significant amount of convincing.
Other problems had begun to crop up in the Minar Forest, however. The tree that had been sprinkled with Pure Water of Protection had begun to turn crimson red. The Hafrings were concerned by this, and asked the traveler to take a message back to Grendel asking about the problem. After studying the problem for some time, Grendel finally discovered what was happening: The barrier was being weakened by the Nine Spirits Dragon's absence. He had devised a temporary solution, but it was only temporary and the only way to ensure that the Barrier wouldn't collapse was to defeat Horntail. The items needed to strengthen the barrier could only be obtained from the Kentaurus, however, and they weren't likely to give it out easily. The traveler took this information back to Leafre, and defeated many Kentauruses to collect their Flames, Marrows, and Bones in order to patch the Barrier. Chief Tatamo gratefully accepted the items and used them to fix it immediately. Horntail still cast a menacing shadow over the village, however. The traveler set out for the Cave of Life to confront this cruel creature.
On the way to the Cave of Life, the path was littered with Wyverns. Raul had warned about these; The wyverns are the most violent kind of dragon, and are not native to the Minar Forest. They used to live in the swampy lands north of the region, but allied themselves with Horntail to attack the Forest. He had advised that the traveler kill at least 18 of each species to ward them off. Horntail's evil power began permeating the air of the forest, causing many of the monsters to become dark, including the wyverns. By taking their blackened spirits to the imprisoned girl at the cave of life, she could use them to escape. Moira, the girl, warned the traveler to retreat before Horntail's gatekeeper spotted him, but he politely declined. Seeing the traveler's resolve, she gave him special potions that would allow him to slip into the Cave of Life. After gathering his guild, they used the potions, which disguised them as Cornian, and sneaked past the gatekeeper. Finally the traveler entered the Cave of Life, and they began the assault on Horntail. The battle drug on for a long time; they disabled his body, one part at a time. At long last, one final hit destroyed the evil dragon and the Nine Spirits' egg was recovered. The newly hatched Nine Spirits' Dragon rewarded the hero and his guild. Raul congratulated the squad, rewarding them as well, and their names were spread all across the world as the team that finally saved Leafre from Horntail's cruel grasp.
Part 8
Spoiler
Omega Sector is a military base located on a small island at the foot of Eos Tower. The people of the Omega Sector possess some of the most advanced technologies in the world, and they certainly need it. Recently, the Sector has come under attack by invading aliens from outer space. There was little warning, and their motives were unknown. The sole piece of evidence that could alert the citizens of the world was a letter from deep space that landed in Victoria Island one day. Luckily, a citizen of Henesys found it before the monsters could get it and handed it over to the leader of Henesys, Chief Stan. Chief Stan was unable to deliver the letter, but he did manage to find a traveler who was headed to the Omega Sector to take it to Dr. Kim, to whom it was mysteriously addressed. After a significant journey, he finally reached the Omega Sector's Command Center and handed the letter over. Dr. Kim, shocked at this letter from outer space and that it managed to make its way to him all the way across the world, rewarded the traveler. It was too late, however; The aliens had already begun their assault on our world. Dr. Kim was a genius developer, and had been working on an enormous robot to combat these aliens. In need of a messenger, he then asked the traveler to take the blueprints for this robot to 3 top ranking soldiers, Chury, Hoony, and Gunny. Chury was still stationed in the Silo at the time, so it was a simple matter to track him down. After showing the plans to him, he asked the traveler to pick up some space food for his buddy Hooney before heading over there. Since he would have to visit Hooney anyway, the traveler agreed. Upon showing Hooney the plans, he then asked that the traveler deliver a Laser Gun to Gunny when he took him the blueprints. Again, the traveler agreed, finally finishing all the tasks asked of him. He returned to Dr. Kim, and was again rewarded handsomely.
The invasion was still going on, though. Dr. Kim had asked the traveler to return to see the completed robot, but it would be a long time before that happened. Temporarily finished visiting the Omega Sector, the traveler began hiking up Eos Tower back to Ludibrium. At the top of the tower, in an old, run-down house, he ran into an odd girl named Korin. She looked very confused, and he tried to help her. She said that she had been missing for the last 10 months, and had recently turned up with no recollection of that time at all. She said that not long before his arrival, she had been questioned by two strange men in pure black suits about what had happened during the time she was missing. Korin wasn't a fool, and realized that these men probably knew something about her disappearance. Desperate, she asked the traveler for help. Not being one to leave a person in need, he decided to aid her. There was only one place he knew of where such strange occurrences could happen: the Omega Sector. Tired after having just walked all the way up, the traveler still turned around and went back. It didn't take long before he found a person matching Korin's description of her questioners in the base. The traveler confronted him about Korin's predicament. The black-suited man could tell that his visitor wouldn't settle for a lie, and decided to tell the truth. His name was agent Marco, and he was investigating the disappearances of many people around the world over the last year. At the time Korin was abducted, he was already on the trail but arrived too late, and there was nothing they could do to save her. She, as well as the other missing citizens, had been abducted by Mateon, one of the kinds of aliens invading the Omega Sector! They had stolen her memories and were now carrying around pieces of them. Marco said that he could reassemble the pieces, if someone could gather them up. Without hesitation, the traveler set out to the Off Limits area of Omega Sector and began fighting the Mateons. After hundreds of Mateons had met their demise, he finally collected all of the Memory Pieces and brought them to Marco. Marco put the pieces back together into Korin's Memory, which looked like a precious gem, and carefully handed it to the traveler. He warned that it was fragile, and that upon recovering her memories Korin may go into a slight state of shock, but that it would be normal. The traveler was sworn to secrecy on the matter, and sent on his way back to Ludibrium. Once again, he laboriously climbed the Eos Tower, at last arriving in Ludibrium at Korin's house. She was surprised that he had returned so soon, and had a hard time believing his tale. He handed her the memory, and it was absorbed into her. She suddenly remembered everything. The aliens had tried to gather information on Ludibrium and the Omega Sector from her memories, but she fought back, finally escaping after being imprisoned for 10 months. Extremely grateful, she handed the traveler a scroll.
After some time, the traveler, who had been attending other matters around the Ludibrium Castle, became curious as to how the Robot's construction was going. He descended the Tower and arrived in Omega Sector, immediately heading to Dr. Kim's post in the Command Center. Dr. Kim was pleased to see him. The robot's design phase had just been completed, and now it was time to begin the actual construction. The parts had just been manufactured in the Ludibrium Clocktower's Factory, and needed to be delivered to the hangar in Omega. The traveler knew what was coming next, and just went ahead and started up Eos Tower. After making his way back to Ludibrium, he searched out Assistant Cheng, the man Dr. Kim had spoken of. They had already made contact, and Cheng was ready to hand over the Boxes of Parts. Once more, he made the trek down Eos Tower to the Omega Sector, and breathing heavily gave the boxes to Dr. Kim. Dr. Kim was so impressed by the traveler's dutifulness that he rewarded him with Ludibrium Warp Capsules, which could instantly transport anyone to Ludibrium. The traveler was a bit angry at first, thinking that he might have used these to avoid all those trips up the tower, but finally was grateful since it would save him another trip. After resting up for a while, the traveler was about to return to Ludibrium when Dr. Kim approached him. The parts had been stolen by the aliens while being transferred to the Robot's construction site. Luckily, the soldiers had placed tracking devices on the boxes, and their locations could be pinpointed. The aliens had hidden them at Boswell Field, but all of the stronger soldiers were currently occupied. The traveler jumped at the chance to act as something besides a delivery boy, and set out to see the aliens and collect the boxes of parts. After destroying the alien storage devices, he recovered the boxes and returned them to the Omega Sector. Dr. Kim was overjoyed, and gave the traveler several more warp capsules, some of which would take him to the command center instead of Ludibrium.
Satisfied with his work for the day, the traveler again prepared to use the Ludibrium Warp capsule. This time, the General in charge of running the entire Omega Sector, General Maestro, approached him. He said that the cute, peaceful Drum Bunnies of Eos Tower had suddenly become fierce, angry monsters attacking all passerby attempting to reach the Omega Sector. It was so suspiciously unnatural that the General began to presume the aliens must be involved. The initial reports had revealed that the Drum Bunnies were carrying a Dull, lifeless crystal. Even though its power was already depleted, they still gave off an evil aura. General Maestro needed these to study their effect on monsters. The traveler climbed up Eos tower to the middle floors, and hunted the Drum Bunnies for these crystals. It took quite a while, but he finally was able to return to the Omega Sector with all the Dull Crystals. The General was quite pleased with the results, but still saddened. The Drum Bunnies had originally been created to start the Festival at Ludibrium, but as the festival came to a close, the bunnies began to be corrupted into monsters. The research on the Dull Crystals had provided some clues, however. It seems that one of the invading aliens, Alien Gray, had been involved in this. General Maestro requested that the traveler go out to the Kulan Field and rummage through Alien Gray's things until finding something worthwhile. After breaking a few safes, the traveler found a document written in the Alien's language. He handed it over to the General, who used Omega Sector's advanced translators to read it. The document detailed the plan to contaminate the Drum Bunnies. By using Dark Crystals, crystals created from chunks of darkness formed in the minds of evil monsters which contain huge amounts of dark power, kind and pure creatures could be contaminated and forced to become monsters. The Aliens had used these crystals to turn the innocent Drum Bunnies into cruel monsters to aid in their attack on Ludus Lake. Since the crystals were the only things causing these monsters to be evil, however, after time the dark power inside begins to wane, and they fade into Dull Crystals. A temporary solution could be accomplished, the General discovered, by using these Dull crystals and the ore of the Dark Crystal. The traveler quickly ran to the middle of the tower to fight off Drum Bunnies and collect their dull crystals. Not long after, the General was able to seal the dark power, if only for a short time. The traveler received a powerful scroll for his trouble. The problems in Omega Sector weren't over quite yet, however...
Part 9Omega Sector is a military base located on a small island at the foot of Eos Tower. The people of the Omega Sector possess some of the most advanced technologies in the world, and they certainly need it. Recently, the Sector has come under attack by invading aliens from outer space. There was little warning, and their motives were unknown. The sole piece of evidence that could alert the citizens of the world was a letter from deep space that landed in Victoria Island one day. Luckily, a citizen of Henesys found it before the monsters could get it and handed it over to the leader of Henesys, Chief Stan. Chief Stan was unable to deliver the letter, but he did manage to find a traveler who was headed to the Omega Sector to take it to Dr. Kim, to whom it was mysteriously addressed. After a significant journey, he finally reached the Omega Sector's Command Center and handed the letter over. Dr. Kim, shocked at this letter from outer space and that it managed to make its way to him all the way across the world, rewarded the traveler. It was too late, however; The aliens had already begun their assault on our world. Dr. Kim was a genius developer, and had been working on an enormous robot to combat these aliens. In need of a messenger, he then asked the traveler to take the blueprints for this robot to 3 top ranking soldiers, Chury, Hoony, and Gunny. Chury was still stationed in the Silo at the time, so it was a simple matter to track him down. After showing the plans to him, he asked the traveler to pick up some space food for his buddy Hooney before heading over there. Since he would have to visit Hooney anyway, the traveler agreed. Upon showing Hooney the plans, he then asked that the traveler deliver a Laser Gun to Gunny when he took him the blueprints. Again, the traveler agreed, finally finishing all the tasks asked of him. He returned to Dr. Kim, and was again rewarded handsomely.
The invasion was still going on, though. Dr. Kim had asked the traveler to return to see the completed robot, but it would be a long time before that happened. Temporarily finished visiting the Omega Sector, the traveler began hiking up Eos Tower back to Ludibrium. At the top of the tower, in an old, run-down house, he ran into an odd girl named Korin. She looked very confused, and he tried to help her. She said that she had been missing for the last 10 months, and had recently turned up with no recollection of that time at all. She said that not long before his arrival, she had been questioned by two strange men in pure black suits about what had happened during the time she was missing. Korin wasn't a fool, and realized that these men probably knew something about her disappearance. Desperate, she asked the traveler for help. Not being one to leave a person in need, he decided to aid her. There was only one place he knew of where such strange occurrences could happen: the Omega Sector. Tired after having just walked all the way up, the traveler still turned around and went back. It didn't take long before he found a person matching Korin's description of her questioners in the base. The traveler confronted him about Korin's predicament. The black-suited man could tell that his visitor wouldn't settle for a lie, and decided to tell the truth. His name was agent Marco, and he was investigating the disappearances of many people around the world over the last year. At the time Korin was abducted, he was already on the trail but arrived too late, and there was nothing they could do to save her. She, as well as the other missing citizens, had been abducted by Mateon, one of the kinds of aliens invading the Omega Sector! They had stolen her memories and were now carrying around pieces of them. Marco said that he could reassemble the pieces, if someone could gather them up. Without hesitation, the traveler set out to the Off Limits area of Omega Sector and began fighting the Mateons. After hundreds of Mateons had met their demise, he finally collected all of the Memory Pieces and brought them to Marco. Marco put the pieces back together into Korin's Memory, which looked like a precious gem, and carefully handed it to the traveler. He warned that it was fragile, and that upon recovering her memories Korin may go into a slight state of shock, but that it would be normal. The traveler was sworn to secrecy on the matter, and sent on his way back to Ludibrium. Once again, he laboriously climbed the Eos Tower, at last arriving in Ludibrium at Korin's house. She was surprised that he had returned so soon, and had a hard time believing his tale. He handed her the memory, and it was absorbed into her. She suddenly remembered everything. The aliens had tried to gather information on Ludibrium and the Omega Sector from her memories, but she fought back, finally escaping after being imprisoned for 10 months. Extremely grateful, she handed the traveler a scroll.
After some time, the traveler, who had been attending other matters around the Ludibrium Castle, became curious as to how the Robot's construction was going. He descended the Tower and arrived in Omega Sector, immediately heading to Dr. Kim's post in the Command Center. Dr. Kim was pleased to see him. The robot's design phase had just been completed, and now it was time to begin the actual construction. The parts had just been manufactured in the Ludibrium Clocktower's Factory, and needed to be delivered to the hangar in Omega. The traveler knew what was coming next, and just went ahead and started up Eos Tower. After making his way back to Ludibrium, he searched out Assistant Cheng, the man Dr. Kim had spoken of. They had already made contact, and Cheng was ready to hand over the Boxes of Parts. Once more, he made the trek down Eos Tower to the Omega Sector, and breathing heavily gave the boxes to Dr. Kim. Dr. Kim was so impressed by the traveler's dutifulness that he rewarded him with Ludibrium Warp Capsules, which could instantly transport anyone to Ludibrium. The traveler was a bit angry at first, thinking that he might have used these to avoid all those trips up the tower, but finally was grateful since it would save him another trip. After resting up for a while, the traveler was about to return to Ludibrium when Dr. Kim approached him. The parts had been stolen by the aliens while being transferred to the Robot's construction site. Luckily, the soldiers had placed tracking devices on the boxes, and their locations could be pinpointed. The aliens had hidden them at Boswell Field, but all of the stronger soldiers were currently occupied. The traveler jumped at the chance to act as something besides a delivery boy, and set out to see the aliens and collect the boxes of parts. After destroying the alien storage devices, he recovered the boxes and returned them to the Omega Sector. Dr. Kim was overjoyed, and gave the traveler several more warp capsules, some of which would take him to the command center instead of Ludibrium.
Satisfied with his work for the day, the traveler again prepared to use the Ludibrium Warp capsule. This time, the General in charge of running the entire Omega Sector, General Maestro, approached him. He said that the cute, peaceful Drum Bunnies of Eos Tower had suddenly become fierce, angry monsters attacking all passerby attempting to reach the Omega Sector. It was so suspiciously unnatural that the General began to presume the aliens must be involved. The initial reports had revealed that the Drum Bunnies were carrying a Dull, lifeless crystal. Even though its power was already depleted, they still gave off an evil aura. General Maestro needed these to study their effect on monsters. The traveler climbed up Eos tower to the middle floors, and hunted the Drum Bunnies for these crystals. It took quite a while, but he finally was able to return to the Omega Sector with all the Dull Crystals. The General was quite pleased with the results, but still saddened. The Drum Bunnies had originally been created to start the Festival at Ludibrium, but as the festival came to a close, the bunnies began to be corrupted into monsters. The research on the Dull Crystals had provided some clues, however. It seems that one of the invading aliens, Alien Gray, had been involved in this. General Maestro requested that the traveler go out to the Kulan Field and rummage through Alien Gray's things until finding something worthwhile. After breaking a few safes, the traveler found a document written in the Alien's language. He handed it over to the General, who used Omega Sector's advanced translators to read it. The document detailed the plan to contaminate the Drum Bunnies. By using Dark Crystals, crystals created from chunks of darkness formed in the minds of evil monsters which contain huge amounts of dark power, kind and pure creatures could be contaminated and forced to become monsters. The Aliens had used these crystals to turn the innocent Drum Bunnies into cruel monsters to aid in their attack on Ludus Lake. Since the crystals were the only things causing these monsters to be evil, however, after time the dark power inside begins to wane, and they fade into Dull Crystals. A temporary solution could be accomplished, the General discovered, by using these Dull crystals and the ore of the Dark Crystal. The traveler quickly ran to the middle of the tower to fight off Drum Bunnies and collect their dull crystals. Not long after, the General was able to seal the dark power, if only for a short time. The traveler received a powerful scroll for his trouble. The problems in Omega Sector weren't over quite yet, however...
Spoiler
As the traveler wandered out into the Off Limits area and into the Kulan Field, he saw many of the Gray aliens swarming around. Most of them looked menacing, but one was standing very calmly in the middle of the field. This was odd, but not nearly as strange as what happened next: The alien began to speak in English! He said that his name was Alien Gray, and that he and the other Grays were actually peaceful aliens that simply wanted to help the Maple World. The Omega sector, he claimed, was trying to use the alien's presence to gain power so that they could eventually take over the world! The traveler was concerned by this. These aliens were intelligent, so why couldn't they also be kind? The Omega Sector did seem kinda suspicious... So, he agreed to help Alien Gray. The aliens needed a classified document that was being stored in Omega Sector's Silo. Obviously, they couldn't sneak in to get it themselves, but a human could. The traveler walked back to Omega Sector and entered the silo. He broke open a few safe boxes and eventually was able to collect the necessary documents. As he walked back to Alien Gray, he felt a slight amount of apprehension. It was too late to turn back, though, and so he took the documents to the aliens. Upon seeing the classified information, Alien Gray began to laugh maniacally. He handed the traveler a device that would allow him to summon aliens to his aid a few times. Then, he turned nasty. Alien Gray yelled, "Get out of my sight! You better not let the Omega Sector find out about this, who knows what they'll do to you!"
The traveler instantly realized he had been tricked. These aliens had no intention of cooperating. Now, he had even ruined the relationship with the Omega Sector... The yellow Mesoranger, one of the top soldiers at Omega Sector, saw him walking by. She decided to give him a chance to redeem himself. The traveler jumped at the chance. The yellow MesoRanger asked him to defeat 120 Ultra Grays, some of the strongest aliens. He immediately ran deep into Kulan Field and fought them all off. It was not an easy task, so after reporting back to the Yellow MesoRanger, she acknowledged that he wasn't an Alien supporter. The traveler was able to relax a little now. Since he was now officially back on the good side, the Yellow MesoRanger asked him for another favor. When the aliens' space ship had crash landed near the Omega Sector, they had also brought down several meteorites from outer space with them. These meteorites might give some info on where these aliens were from. The traveler went back out through the Kulan Field and gathered a sample from each of the Meteorites he came across. These were turned in to the Yellow MesoRanger, who gratefully took them back. Now that he was back in the Sector's good graces, there were a lot more requests to fulfill. The first of these came from Chury, one of the soldiers to whom he had shown the Blueprints for the robot. Chury said that there were still other people who were supporting the aliens. Many of them had helped the aliens to gain classified information, and even constructed a base for them somewhere on the island. The traveler, knowing first hand how deceitful these aliens could be, agreed with Chury, and set out to retake some of this information. Reaching the base was difficult, as they had laid traps all around. Once there, he destroyed their safe box and took back the report. This could be used as evidence so that the alien supporters were locked up and could no longer fight against the Omega Sector. Upon receiving the report, Chury began studying it immediately.
The next MesoRanger the traveler came across was the Black MesoRanger. He was studying the Grays and had noticed the number of them was steadily increasing. The most efficient way to do this would be to defeat a good number of the weakest ones, Barnard Grays, to send a message to the others. Despite the fact that they are the weakest, the Barnard Grays posed the greatest threat to the Omega Sector because they are forced to get as close as possible. The society of the Grays is very hierarchical, and so the lowest ranking ones are always sent into dangerous situations. Still, it made little sense that they should stay so close to the base, and the Black MesoRanger suspected they were being controlled by a dark force. The traveler went to Kulan Field and wiped out all the Barnard Grays that came nearby. Once he reported back to the Black MesoRanger, he was set with another task. The dark force was still being researched, but they had been able to learn about the Grays' ranks. The highest ranked in the area was the Chief Gray, their leaders. Some of these Chief Grays carry objects called Notes, which contain a significant amount of detail on the history of the Grays. This information would be invaluable to the Omega Sector, and so obtaining it was a top priority. The traveler made his way to the furthest point of the Kulan Field to find the Chief Grays. There were very few, but after searching thoroughly through the entire area, he managed to gather up the Notes. The Black MesoRanger was very pleased. It didn't take long to get the information translated, and the Notes contained some shocking details.
The aliens weren't attacking Ludibrium and the Omega Sector at random; they had a very specific purpose. Their homeworld, Zeta Leticulan, was very polluted with dangerous contaminants. Fearing that their entire species might go extinct, they set out to find a new home, and chose Ludus Lake. This might prove to give an advantage to the Omega Sector, though. If the contaminants could be discovered and their toxicity determined, then maybe it could help force them to leave. So, the black MesoRanger needed to collect some DNA from each of the 4 classes of Grays. The traveler again headed deep into Kulan field to collect the DNA from defeated Grays. It took a while, but finally he had gathered enough. The Grays wouldn't be posing a threat to Omega Sector anymore, soon. The Black MesoRanger rewarded the traveler handsomely and sent him on his way. On his way back to the Omega Sector, the traveler spotted a second path that he hadn't traversed yet. The aliens on this path were totally different from the Grays, the Mateons. Now he remembered, they had stolen Korin's memory. It didn't take long before he spotted another MesoRanger, though. This one, the Green MesoRanger, was concerned with wiping out the invading Mateons. The Boswell Field had far more intense attacks than those occurring in the Kulan Fields, and the Mateons had no qualms with attacking innocent passers-by. The traveler went out and defeated 100 of these mateons, and came back as fast as possible. The green MesoRanger was shocked that he returned so fast. Stronger reinforcements were coming, though, and the Mateons were no longer the highest priority. Plateons, which ride in large hovering vehicles, were drawing close. This time the Green MesoRanger needed some of the helmets that the Plateons wore on their heads; the Mateon species couldn't breathe the air here, and had to use these helmets to survive. The traveler again headed out for the Boswell fields, collecting a hundred of the helmets. This task went by quickly, and again he reported to the Green MesoRanger. As fast as the Mateons could be fought off, though, more powerful ones came in their place. This time, there were Mecateons, which are Mateons riding in Mechanical robot walkers that fire laser guns. These naturally posed an even greater threat to the Omega Sector, but they had also brought along another wave of Plateons to aid them. The traveler headed to the deepest parts of the Boswell Fields to destroy this army of aliens. It was a tough battle, but he finally managed to collect all of the Laser Guns and defeat the extra Plateons. When the Green MesoRanger heard of this, he was so happy that he had the traveler named as an honorary MesoRanger. The traveler was quite pleased with his new title, and decided to head back to the base.
After getting back to the Omega Sector, one of the Mechanics, Kay, approached him. She was trying to come up with a use for the leftover fuel that comes from a defeated MT-09, a giant robot that the Mateons had constructed to oppose the one being built out of the parts in Omega Sector. She needed at least 5 canisters of the fuel, but there was no one available to go retrieve them for her. The traveler agreed to become her assistant and go out to fight the MT-09. So, he set off in search of the MT-09's at the furthest point from the Omega Sector, the Boswell Field's end. The alien's robot was a force to be reckoned with, capable of firing homing missiles and had very heavy armor. The fight was challenging, but finally the traveler collected all 5 of the MT-09 fuels and took them back to Kay. She handed him a bunch of extra screws as a reward, and already had a new request. For the new robot the Omega Sector was planning, she would need a better control program. The best model to program this on would be the one from Rombot, the leader of the Block Golems in Eos Tower. Occasionally, it drops a Memory Card which contains the control program. They would need at least three of these to completely understand it, since they often get damaged in battle. So, the traveler now went back to Eos Tower to collect the Rombot's control programs. After hunting in the Block Golem's hidden Tower for some time, he finally collected enough of the Memory Cards, even an extra one. He handed these over to Porter, a scientist in the Command Center, who could decode them. It didn't take long, but unfortunately Porter's cold had caused him to ruin one of the disks. The traveler handed over his spare memory card, and was finally able to hand them over to Kay. With this, the robot's construction was very nearly complete. Kay rewarded him, and he began to climb out of the Silo. Porter stopped him before he got out, however. An urgent message had just arrived, marked for Kay. Since the traveler was now Kay's assistant, he took the message back down to her. She read it quickly, and rejoiced. The dropship, which had been missing for a long time, was finally found, crashed out in the Plateon Field at Boswell. She asked that he find the pilot an the dropship. The traveler immediately set out to rescue the pilot and recover the dropship's technology to prevent the aliens from acquiring it. One short hike later, he arrived at he abandoned dropship, but the pilot was nowhere to be found. After looking around the dropship, though, the traveler did find a short letter that appeared to have been written in a hurry. It said that the pilot was OK, and that he had to leave the wrecked dropship to get away from the aliens. The traveler immediately headed back to Omega Sector and gave it to Kay. She was relieved to know that the pilot was still alive. Kay considered this a personal favor, since the Omega Sector had quit officially investigating this a while ago, and gave an amazing reward. The traveler set off finally finished with his work in the Omega Sector.
Some time later, while exploring the Ocean, he found a bottle with an SOS note in it. The same traveler noticed a small desert island, as described in the note. He headed up to the surface to see the island, and found a man named Robinson who had been there for a long time. Robinson desperately needed something to drink, and so the traveler handed him a bottle of Pure Water. Robinson told his story: He had been a pilot in the Omega Sector Army, and his dropship had crashed after being ambushed by the aliens. He had managed to bail out and run to the island's shore, and began swimming away from the aliens. An enormous tidal wave washed him up on this tiny desert island. He wrote lots of SOS letters, hoping that someone might find it. He needed the Omega Sector to send a rescue team because he wasn't strong enough to get back on his own. He handed the traveler an ID card that could be used to prove his identity. The traveler set out for Omega Sector as fast as possible, and arrived shortly after. He handed Kay the ID card, and she looked at it. She was very happy, and handed him a special warp capsule, the Omega Sector Warp Capsule. This could take a person from ANYWHERE in the world straight to Omega Sector. She warned the traveler not to try to use it, however, because it only works for Omega Sector members. He immediately set out for the small island again, with the warp capsule in hand. Not long after, he met up with Robinson again, and gave him the warp capsule. Robinson was quite grateful, and the problems with Omega Sector were at last settled... for now.
Korean Folk TownAs the traveler wandered out into the Off Limits area and into the Kulan Field, he saw many of the Gray aliens swarming around. Most of them looked menacing, but one was standing very calmly in the middle of the field. This was odd, but not nearly as strange as what happened next: The alien began to speak in English! He said that his name was Alien Gray, and that he and the other Grays were actually peaceful aliens that simply wanted to help the Maple World. The Omega sector, he claimed, was trying to use the alien's presence to gain power so that they could eventually take over the world! The traveler was concerned by this. These aliens were intelligent, so why couldn't they also be kind? The Omega Sector did seem kinda suspicious... So, he agreed to help Alien Gray. The aliens needed a classified document that was being stored in Omega Sector's Silo. Obviously, they couldn't sneak in to get it themselves, but a human could. The traveler walked back to Omega Sector and entered the silo. He broke open a few safe boxes and eventually was able to collect the necessary documents. As he walked back to Alien Gray, he felt a slight amount of apprehension. It was too late to turn back, though, and so he took the documents to the aliens. Upon seeing the classified information, Alien Gray began to laugh maniacally. He handed the traveler a device that would allow him to summon aliens to his aid a few times. Then, he turned nasty. Alien Gray yelled, "Get out of my sight! You better not let the Omega Sector find out about this, who knows what they'll do to you!"
The traveler instantly realized he had been tricked. These aliens had no intention of cooperating. Now, he had even ruined the relationship with the Omega Sector... The yellow Mesoranger, one of the top soldiers at Omega Sector, saw him walking by. She decided to give him a chance to redeem himself. The traveler jumped at the chance. The yellow MesoRanger asked him to defeat 120 Ultra Grays, some of the strongest aliens. He immediately ran deep into Kulan Field and fought them all off. It was not an easy task, so after reporting back to the Yellow MesoRanger, she acknowledged that he wasn't an Alien supporter. The traveler was able to relax a little now. Since he was now officially back on the good side, the Yellow MesoRanger asked him for another favor. When the aliens' space ship had crash landed near the Omega Sector, they had also brought down several meteorites from outer space with them. These meteorites might give some info on where these aliens were from. The traveler went back out through the Kulan Field and gathered a sample from each of the Meteorites he came across. These were turned in to the Yellow MesoRanger, who gratefully took them back. Now that he was back in the Sector's good graces, there were a lot more requests to fulfill. The first of these came from Chury, one of the soldiers to whom he had shown the Blueprints for the robot. Chury said that there were still other people who were supporting the aliens. Many of them had helped the aliens to gain classified information, and even constructed a base for them somewhere on the island. The traveler, knowing first hand how deceitful these aliens could be, agreed with Chury, and set out to retake some of this information. Reaching the base was difficult, as they had laid traps all around. Once there, he destroyed their safe box and took back the report. This could be used as evidence so that the alien supporters were locked up and could no longer fight against the Omega Sector. Upon receiving the report, Chury began studying it immediately.
The next MesoRanger the traveler came across was the Black MesoRanger. He was studying the Grays and had noticed the number of them was steadily increasing. The most efficient way to do this would be to defeat a good number of the weakest ones, Barnard Grays, to send a message to the others. Despite the fact that they are the weakest, the Barnard Grays posed the greatest threat to the Omega Sector because they are forced to get as close as possible. The society of the Grays is very hierarchical, and so the lowest ranking ones are always sent into dangerous situations. Still, it made little sense that they should stay so close to the base, and the Black MesoRanger suspected they were being controlled by a dark force. The traveler went to Kulan Field and wiped out all the Barnard Grays that came nearby. Once he reported back to the Black MesoRanger, he was set with another task. The dark force was still being researched, but they had been able to learn about the Grays' ranks. The highest ranked in the area was the Chief Gray, their leaders. Some of these Chief Grays carry objects called Notes, which contain a significant amount of detail on the history of the Grays. This information would be invaluable to the Omega Sector, and so obtaining it was a top priority. The traveler made his way to the furthest point of the Kulan Field to find the Chief Grays. There were very few, but after searching thoroughly through the entire area, he managed to gather up the Notes. The Black MesoRanger was very pleased. It didn't take long to get the information translated, and the Notes contained some shocking details.
The aliens weren't attacking Ludibrium and the Omega Sector at random; they had a very specific purpose. Their homeworld, Zeta Leticulan, was very polluted with dangerous contaminants. Fearing that their entire species might go extinct, they set out to find a new home, and chose Ludus Lake. This might prove to give an advantage to the Omega Sector, though. If the contaminants could be discovered and their toxicity determined, then maybe it could help force them to leave. So, the black MesoRanger needed to collect some DNA from each of the 4 classes of Grays. The traveler again headed deep into Kulan field to collect the DNA from defeated Grays. It took a while, but finally he had gathered enough. The Grays wouldn't be posing a threat to Omega Sector anymore, soon. The Black MesoRanger rewarded the traveler handsomely and sent him on his way. On his way back to the Omega Sector, the traveler spotted a second path that he hadn't traversed yet. The aliens on this path were totally different from the Grays, the Mateons. Now he remembered, they had stolen Korin's memory. It didn't take long before he spotted another MesoRanger, though. This one, the Green MesoRanger, was concerned with wiping out the invading Mateons. The Boswell Field had far more intense attacks than those occurring in the Kulan Fields, and the Mateons had no qualms with attacking innocent passers-by. The traveler went out and defeated 100 of these mateons, and came back as fast as possible. The green MesoRanger was shocked that he returned so fast. Stronger reinforcements were coming, though, and the Mateons were no longer the highest priority. Plateons, which ride in large hovering vehicles, were drawing close. This time the Green MesoRanger needed some of the helmets that the Plateons wore on their heads; the Mateon species couldn't breathe the air here, and had to use these helmets to survive. The traveler again headed out for the Boswell fields, collecting a hundred of the helmets. This task went by quickly, and again he reported to the Green MesoRanger. As fast as the Mateons could be fought off, though, more powerful ones came in their place. This time, there were Mecateons, which are Mateons riding in Mechanical robot walkers that fire laser guns. These naturally posed an even greater threat to the Omega Sector, but they had also brought along another wave of Plateons to aid them. The traveler headed to the deepest parts of the Boswell Fields to destroy this army of aliens. It was a tough battle, but he finally managed to collect all of the Laser Guns and defeat the extra Plateons. When the Green MesoRanger heard of this, he was so happy that he had the traveler named as an honorary MesoRanger. The traveler was quite pleased with his new title, and decided to head back to the base.
After getting back to the Omega Sector, one of the Mechanics, Kay, approached him. She was trying to come up with a use for the leftover fuel that comes from a defeated MT-09, a giant robot that the Mateons had constructed to oppose the one being built out of the parts in Omega Sector. She needed at least 5 canisters of the fuel, but there was no one available to go retrieve them for her. The traveler agreed to become her assistant and go out to fight the MT-09. So, he set off in search of the MT-09's at the furthest point from the Omega Sector, the Boswell Field's end. The alien's robot was a force to be reckoned with, capable of firing homing missiles and had very heavy armor. The fight was challenging, but finally the traveler collected all 5 of the MT-09 fuels and took them back to Kay. She handed him a bunch of extra screws as a reward, and already had a new request. For the new robot the Omega Sector was planning, she would need a better control program. The best model to program this on would be the one from Rombot, the leader of the Block Golems in Eos Tower. Occasionally, it drops a Memory Card which contains the control program. They would need at least three of these to completely understand it, since they often get damaged in battle. So, the traveler now went back to Eos Tower to collect the Rombot's control programs. After hunting in the Block Golem's hidden Tower for some time, he finally collected enough of the Memory Cards, even an extra one. He handed these over to Porter, a scientist in the Command Center, who could decode them. It didn't take long, but unfortunately Porter's cold had caused him to ruin one of the disks. The traveler handed over his spare memory card, and was finally able to hand them over to Kay. With this, the robot's construction was very nearly complete. Kay rewarded him, and he began to climb out of the Silo. Porter stopped him before he got out, however. An urgent message had just arrived, marked for Kay. Since the traveler was now Kay's assistant, he took the message back down to her. She read it quickly, and rejoiced. The dropship, which had been missing for a long time, was finally found, crashed out in the Plateon Field at Boswell. She asked that he find the pilot an the dropship. The traveler immediately set out to rescue the pilot and recover the dropship's technology to prevent the aliens from acquiring it. One short hike later, he arrived at he abandoned dropship, but the pilot was nowhere to be found. After looking around the dropship, though, the traveler did find a short letter that appeared to have been written in a hurry. It said that the pilot was OK, and that he had to leave the wrecked dropship to get away from the aliens. The traveler immediately headed back to Omega Sector and gave it to Kay. She was relieved to know that the pilot was still alive. Kay considered this a personal favor, since the Omega Sector had quit officially investigating this a while ago, and gave an amazing reward. The traveler set off finally finished with his work in the Omega Sector.
Some time later, while exploring the Ocean, he found a bottle with an SOS note in it. The same traveler noticed a small desert island, as described in the note. He headed up to the surface to see the island, and found a man named Robinson who had been there for a long time. Robinson desperately needed something to drink, and so the traveler handed him a bottle of Pure Water. Robinson told his story: He had been a pilot in the Omega Sector Army, and his dropship had crashed after being ambushed by the aliens. He had managed to bail out and run to the island's shore, and began swimming away from the aliens. An enormous tidal wave washed him up on this tiny desert island. He wrote lots of SOS letters, hoping that someone might find it. He needed the Omega Sector to send a rescue team because he wasn't strong enough to get back on his own. He handed the traveler an ID card that could be used to prove his identity. The traveler set out for Omega Sector as fast as possible, and arrived shortly after. He handed Kay the ID card, and she looked at it. She was very happy, and handed him a special warp capsule, the Omega Sector Warp Capsule. This could take a person from ANYWHERE in the world straight to Omega Sector. She warned the traveler not to try to use it, however, because it only works for Omega Sector members. He immediately set out for the small island again, with the warp capsule in hand. Not long after, he met up with Robinson again, and gave him the warp capsule. Robinson was quite grateful, and the problems with Omega Sector were at last settled... for now.
Part 10
Spoiler
The Ludus Lake region still wasn't completely settled down yet. Though the cracked dimension may have been repaired, it had still had drastic effects on the world as a whole, and out of the remaining problems, the largest were in Helios Tower's Library. Unlike the Eos Tower, which had been constructed first, the Helios Tower used an elevator to descend its enormous distance. This kept the possibility of monsters taking up residence in the seldom used areas to a minimum, which allowed the remaining sections to be used to their full potential. The first floor of the Helios Tower became a library of books containing the tales of the entire world. These books were very important and interactive, and somehow the power of the cracked dimension managed to get the stories out of order. Wiz, the librarian tasked with keeping Helios and the stories in check, was greatly distressed. If the stories were taken out of order, the entire history of the world could be lost. There was one way to retrieve the proper stories, and that was to enter the story's world and set it straight. Unfortunately, Wiz couldn't leave his post in the Library, as the monsters would raid it as soon as he left. Lucky for him, the traveler was passing through on his way to the next town. Wiz asked if he could please enter the Folk Town, the setting of the altered stories, and set them straight. At least 7 books were currently identified as being out of order. So, not being one to neglect a person in need, the traveler agreed and set off into the Korean Folk Town.
The Korean Folk Town, though at the base of Helios Tower on a twin island next to the Omega Sector, was completely different. While Omega sector was very highly advanced in technology, the Folk Town had next to no technology at all. There were many small huts with straw roofs. Living in one of these huts was Mr. Cantsee Shim. He was an elderly man who was losing his eyesight. He told of his lovely only daughter, Shim Chung. She had left some time ago, and he was growing worried. Upon hearing the man's name, Cantsee, the traveler asked if he was truly blind. Mr. Shim replied that he could still see, but he was very concerned about his eyesight that was rapidly deteriorating. The traveler suggested that he try glasses, but Mr. Shim ashamedly admitted that he was too poor to afford them. He had been offered a pair for 300 packages of rice, but was unable to come up with it. The traveler, recognizing this as a part of one of Wiz's storybooks, volunteered to gather up the rice packs. Supposedly, other visitors to the Folk Town had reported that the Retz in Helios tower had been stealing the packs of rice. Knowing this, the traveler went to the tower and collected all 300 of the rice packs over a long time. He brought these back to Shim as quickly as possible. Shim was overjoyed, and handed him over their family treasure: the correct storybook of his ordeal. The traveler had one book down, but still many left to go.
Chil Sung, another resident of the Folk Town, was next. He and his brother, Chil Nam, had just lost their mother. They had divided everything left to them perfectly even between them. Both thought that the other brother deserved the larger share. Chil Sung had just recently gotten married, and still had many expenses to pay for that. So, one day, Chil Nam had an idea. What if he had someone take a sack of rice from his stack to his brother's stack? If he tried it himself, he would undoubtedly be seen, and his brother would never accept such charity if it were offered directly to him. The traveler just happened to be walking back at that time, and Chil Nam approached him. Again recognizing this as one of Wiz's stories, he took one sack of rice to Chil Sung's house, and slid it into his stack of rice. As he began walking back, Chil Sung called to him. Fearing he had been caught, he stopped. Chil Sung then asked if he could take a Sack of Rice to his brother's house, and secretly slip it into Chil Nam's stack. The traveler again dragged the sack of rice to the other side of the Folk Town. The next day, Chil Nam was quite confused; he still had the same number of rice sacks, but knew that the traveler had taken one to his brother's house. He shrug it off and asked him to take another one. This went on for some time, until finally Chil Sung spotted the traveler returning from the rice sack. He immediately realized what was going on. The two brothers grew much closer together. As the traveler headed off, Chil Nam stopped him one last time. He handed him the storybook that was left by their mother. It was another of the corrected tales from Wiz's library. He also offered to make Roasted Pork and that his brother could make Buckwheat Paste for him any time. The traveler gratefully accepted the offer and went on.
Chil Nam and Chil Sung were not the only brothers in Korean Folk Town, however. The other pair of brothers didn't get along quite so well. Hongbu, the younger brother, was a polite, kind, and honest man with a large family, while his older brother Nolbu was typically very angry and rude. Hongbu's family was very poor, and were forced to live as beggars. On one day where Hongbu visited his brother, asking for rice, Nolbu's wife slapped him in the face with a rice-covered ladel and sent him away. He walked home, not angry or saddened by the events, but grateful for the little bit of rice that had stuck to the side of his face. Right outside his hut, he found a swallow on the ground with a broken leg. It had been attacked by a snake and now was unable to move. Hongbu fixed the bird's leg, and sent it on its way, migrating south for the winter. Many months later, after that cold winter had ended and the spring arrived, the swallow returned. The God of the Sky had seen Hongbu's kindness towards this swallow, and wanting to reward such a deserving man, gave the swallow a special seed to take to him. On its way back to the Folk Town, the unlucky bird had clipped its wings and crashed. Unable to deliver the special seed, it desperately looked for a trustworthy soul to finish the task. The swallow saw the traveler and instantly recognized his kind nature. Surprised to find an animal requesting his help this time, the traveler nonetheless agreed to help. He took the seed straight over to Hongbu's home. Hongbu, not knowing of the traveler's errand, welcomed him into his home. The traveler told Hongbu of the swallow and the seed. Hongbu asked him if he could plant the seed on his roof, because he was not strong enough to climb up there due to hunger. He did this, and the seed instantly grew into a gourd. Remembering how hungry Hongbu was, the traveler decided to check the inside of the gourd for food to give him. Much to his surprise, when the gourd was opened it turned out to be full of gold and jewels! The traveler took the treasure down to Hongbu. Shocked, but modest as ever, Hongbu gratefully accepted the chest, immediately setting out to buy food for his family. He gave the traveler the only thing he could, the storybook that had been in the family for a long time. Grabbing a third storybook, the traveler began looking for more.
The next resident he ran into was Haenim. Haenim was a young boy who lived in a house with his younger sister, Dalsoon, Their mother had gone out to make rice cakes the night before and not yet returned. Later that night, a Hogul tiger had come to the door of their home, dressed in their mother's clothing, pretending to be her. Dalsoon was fooled, but the older Haenim did not fall for it. The tiger tried all sorts of tricks to get them to let him in, but none of them worked. He became frustrated and ran off, yelling that the next night he would come back to eat them. Haenim and Dalsoon feared for their lives, but came up with a clever plan. They would need a large length of rope and some slippery oil. The only problem was, the Hoguls had stolen all the rope not long before. To get it back, someone would have to go out there and defeat them. It was about this time that the traveler passed by. Haenim thought he looked strong, and begged him to help. Naturally, he agreed to do anything he could. Collecting a few lengths of rope from the Hogul would be no challenge. It didn't take long to get the rope, but the oil was much tougher to find. It could only be made from Cico, a creature living in the ocean of Aqua Road. While hunting for this item, the traveler saw a ship fishing directly above him, and decided to check it out. The man on the ferry was named Tae Gong. He had been out fishing for a long time, and thought his wife must be worried about him. The traveler asked if he could take her a message. Tae Gong thought this was a good idea, and asked him to gather up some shrimp meat, her favorite food, so that she wouldn't be so mad at him for staying out for so long. The traveler jumped back into the water. He easily gathered up enough shrimp and while doing this, managed to find the slippery oil also. It was starting to get dark, so he headed back to Korean folk Town as fast as possible. Haenim gratefully accepted the materials. He said that his plan was to use these ropes to climb into the sky, and then coat the rope behind him with slippery oil so that the Hogul could not follow them. He handed the traveler a storybook, telling the story of the kids who became the sun and moon. That was 4 books, but there were still a lot of stories that were still distorted. Not forgetting about his promise to Tae Gong, he took the shrimp meat to his wife, Grandma Yeon. Contrary to Tae Gong's expectation, she wasn't happy that he had sent someone to gather food for her. She felt bad for the traveler, and offered to make pots for him any time, a service usually reserved for trusted members of the village. Thinking that this might come in useful in the future, he accepted the offer.
On his way through town, the traveler ran into a distraught looking girl. She was carrying a cracked pot that was leaking water. He stopped to help her. Her stepmother had given her a lot of work to finish by nightfall, and with the cracked pot she would never be able to complete it. She introduced herself as Kong Ji, one of two sisters, the other named Pat Ji. Kong Ji was very beautiful, while Pat Ji and their Stepmother were ugly, and they resented her for this, forcing her to work harder and harder every day. Remembering Grandma Yeon's offer, the traveler volunteered to get her a new pot. She was overjoyed, and went about her other jobs with a little more enthusiasm. Meanwhile, the traveler had walked down to Grandma Yeon to talk to her about buying a pot. She asked for a little money, which he didn't mind giving up. He quickly brought the new pot down to Kong Ji. She was surprised that he had actually been able to convince her to make him one. This would help her work greatly, but she still needed one thing: her stepmother had now ordered her to make rice cakes and do all the laundry on top of the existing things. To make these rice cakes, she would have to go out to the dangerous Black Mountain to gather Artemesia. There was simply not enough time for her to do everything, and she pleaded with the traveler to help her once more. He gladly agreed, setting out for the mountain. The Artemesia grew wild all over, so collecting it was fairly easy. Even this small chore being taken off her workload allowed her to finish everything in time. The next day, though, things began looking even worse. Her stepmother had ordered her to plow the fields, but the weak old Wooden Hoe they had been using snapped in half. The only option was to get a stronger Steel hoe. They were too expensive for her to purchase, however. She had one last idea. The Blins, prankster monsters that lived deep in the Black Mountain, which were the freed spirits of discarded items like brooms, flails, spears, and most importantly hoes. Often they still carried these items with them, so perhaps a Steel Hoe could be taken from defeating one of these. The traveler set out for the deepest part of the Black Mountain. The Blins were powerful foes, and after sorting through many brooms and other worthless discarded items, he finally found a Steel Hoe for her to use. He immediately returned to the Folk Town to give it to Kong Ji. She was thrilled once again, to know that a complete stranger would help her with even the most difficult tasks. She handed over the storybook of Kong Ji and Pat Ji to him as thanks. Perhaps one day soon she would no longer have to do these chores, and leave the unhappy household, but for now she had what was needed to complete the labor ahead of her. With 5 books down, the traveler set off in the town again.
The last person that he had not spoken to, Chumji, approached. He was the lord that ruled over the Korean Folk Town. The blins were not the only kind of goblin that had plagued the Folk Town lately. One of the side effects of the Cracked Dimension's disruption in Helios Tower was that powerful Goblins had escaped from one of the story books. Chumji had the book in his possession, but it was still out of order. He read the one still important paragraph from it, which stated that the Black Mountain had been cast into permanent darkness by 3 King Goblin's influence. They hid themselves well in this darkness, so bringing them out to defeat them would be nearly impossible. Fortunately, Chumji had one last bit of information about the Goblins' weakness. They each loved a certain food, and from his research Chumji discovered that the foods for these three Kings were Roasted Pork, Buckwheat Paste, and Rice Wine. He said that all of these were produced right here in the Folk Town, so to obtain them would not be too terribly difficult. The traveler remembered from his previous tasks that Chil Nam and Chil Sung could make these. So, he paid a visit to each of the brothers. Chil Nam was willing to make his specialty Buckwheat Paste, but only if the traveler brought him a few tiger stamps to prove the population was under control. Chil Sung was ready to whip up a batch of Roasted Pork, but his pounder for making rice cakes had broken and he needed some new ones. The last item, Rice Wine, was best produced by Kong Ji's cruel stepmother. She promised the traveler that if he could get some shiny, smooth fox tails for her, then she could convince the stepmother to give up some Rice Wine. The traveler set out with his list of items and began collecting them. After grabbing five pounders, four stamps, and three three-tailed fox tails, he turned them in one at a time, gathering the items needed to lure the King Goblins. To get more instructions now that he had bait, he returned to Chumji. Impressed that he had gained the trust of so many residents, Chumji said to head out to the Haunted House, a place at the furthest distance high up on Black Mountain. The best spots to do this were to place the pork on a pile of rocks, smear Buckwheat paste on the inside of a tree, and set the Rice Wine down near a stone lantern. Each of these goblins had a special item that granted them great power: The Blue King Goblin carried a giant club that could summon any existing item that was in the world if it wanted, the Yellow King Goblin wore a special Goblin Cap that could make the wearer invisible, and the Green King Goblin wore a Goblin Cape that gave great strength in wrestling matches. The traveler needed to defeat each King Goblin and take its enchanted item to prove they were defeated. Armed with this knowledge, he set off for the Black Mountain's peak.
On his way to the Haunted House, the traveler ran into the God of Mountains. He was complaining that someone had dropped an axe on his head. Naturally, he threw this old axe away. Not long after, though, the tree cutter had come along looking for it. The God of Mountains offered him a new Golden axe, or a Silver axe, but the Tree Cutter insisted on his own axe. The God of Mountains, shocked by his lack of greed, agreed to get the old axe back. Before he could recover it, however, a Dark Axe Stump had run off with it. The traveler knew what was coming next, and immediately began slaying Dark Axe Stumps on his way to the peak. It didn't take long to find the Tree Cutter's axe, which was positively identified by the God of Mountains. Since the Tree Cutter was working nearby on the Black Mountain, the traveler dropped the axe off. The Tree Cutter, glad to have his own personal axe back, gave him a book he had been holding for some time. Lately he had been very busy, and thus unable to read the book, so he didn't mind giving it away. With 6 storybooks in hand, the traveler again headed for the peak of Black Mountain. Once at the old Haunted House, he followed Chumji's instructions, first smearing the Buckwheat inside the tree, which drew out the Green King Goblin. He defeated it with ease, and then took its Goblin Cape. Next, the Roasted Pork on the pile of stones lured the Yellow King Goblin out, and it was quickly defeated, losing its Goblin Cap. Finally, the Blue King Goblin was drawn into the open by the rice wine on the Stone lantern. The traveler killed this last King Goblin fast, took its Goblin Bat, and headed back to town as soon as possible. Chumji was now shocked that this traveler was able to defeat the powerful King Goblins, and as a reward offered him one of the Goblin's special items, in addition to the now-corrected Storybook. With 7 storybooks in hand, the traveler headed over to Helios Tower's library. Wiz was ecstatic upon seeing all the correct storybooks back in place. Things weren't perfectly fixed down there yet, but things were settling down. At long last, his work in the Ludus Lake area completed, the traveler headed to town for a well-deserved rest.
Aqua RoadThe Ludus Lake region still wasn't completely settled down yet. Though the cracked dimension may have been repaired, it had still had drastic effects on the world as a whole, and out of the remaining problems, the largest were in Helios Tower's Library. Unlike the Eos Tower, which had been constructed first, the Helios Tower used an elevator to descend its enormous distance. This kept the possibility of monsters taking up residence in the seldom used areas to a minimum, which allowed the remaining sections to be used to their full potential. The first floor of the Helios Tower became a library of books containing the tales of the entire world. These books were very important and interactive, and somehow the power of the cracked dimension managed to get the stories out of order. Wiz, the librarian tasked with keeping Helios and the stories in check, was greatly distressed. If the stories were taken out of order, the entire history of the world could be lost. There was one way to retrieve the proper stories, and that was to enter the story's world and set it straight. Unfortunately, Wiz couldn't leave his post in the Library, as the monsters would raid it as soon as he left. Lucky for him, the traveler was passing through on his way to the next town. Wiz asked if he could please enter the Folk Town, the setting of the altered stories, and set them straight. At least 7 books were currently identified as being out of order. So, not being one to neglect a person in need, the traveler agreed and set off into the Korean Folk Town.
The Korean Folk Town, though at the base of Helios Tower on a twin island next to the Omega Sector, was completely different. While Omega sector was very highly advanced in technology, the Folk Town had next to no technology at all. There were many small huts with straw roofs. Living in one of these huts was Mr. Cantsee Shim. He was an elderly man who was losing his eyesight. He told of his lovely only daughter, Shim Chung. She had left some time ago, and he was growing worried. Upon hearing the man's name, Cantsee, the traveler asked if he was truly blind. Mr. Shim replied that he could still see, but he was very concerned about his eyesight that was rapidly deteriorating. The traveler suggested that he try glasses, but Mr. Shim ashamedly admitted that he was too poor to afford them. He had been offered a pair for 300 packages of rice, but was unable to come up with it. The traveler, recognizing this as a part of one of Wiz's storybooks, volunteered to gather up the rice packs. Supposedly, other visitors to the Folk Town had reported that the Retz in Helios tower had been stealing the packs of rice. Knowing this, the traveler went to the tower and collected all 300 of the rice packs over a long time. He brought these back to Shim as quickly as possible. Shim was overjoyed, and handed him over their family treasure: the correct storybook of his ordeal. The traveler had one book down, but still many left to go.
Chil Sung, another resident of the Folk Town, was next. He and his brother, Chil Nam, had just lost their mother. They had divided everything left to them perfectly even between them. Both thought that the other brother deserved the larger share. Chil Sung had just recently gotten married, and still had many expenses to pay for that. So, one day, Chil Nam had an idea. What if he had someone take a sack of rice from his stack to his brother's stack? If he tried it himself, he would undoubtedly be seen, and his brother would never accept such charity if it were offered directly to him. The traveler just happened to be walking back at that time, and Chil Nam approached him. Again recognizing this as one of Wiz's stories, he took one sack of rice to Chil Sung's house, and slid it into his stack of rice. As he began walking back, Chil Sung called to him. Fearing he had been caught, he stopped. Chil Sung then asked if he could take a Sack of Rice to his brother's house, and secretly slip it into Chil Nam's stack. The traveler again dragged the sack of rice to the other side of the Folk Town. The next day, Chil Nam was quite confused; he still had the same number of rice sacks, but knew that the traveler had taken one to his brother's house. He shrug it off and asked him to take another one. This went on for some time, until finally Chil Sung spotted the traveler returning from the rice sack. He immediately realized what was going on. The two brothers grew much closer together. As the traveler headed off, Chil Nam stopped him one last time. He handed him the storybook that was left by their mother. It was another of the corrected tales from Wiz's library. He also offered to make Roasted Pork and that his brother could make Buckwheat Paste for him any time. The traveler gratefully accepted the offer and went on.
Chil Nam and Chil Sung were not the only brothers in Korean Folk Town, however. The other pair of brothers didn't get along quite so well. Hongbu, the younger brother, was a polite, kind, and honest man with a large family, while his older brother Nolbu was typically very angry and rude. Hongbu's family was very poor, and were forced to live as beggars. On one day where Hongbu visited his brother, asking for rice, Nolbu's wife slapped him in the face with a rice-covered ladel and sent him away. He walked home, not angry or saddened by the events, but grateful for the little bit of rice that had stuck to the side of his face. Right outside his hut, he found a swallow on the ground with a broken leg. It had been attacked by a snake and now was unable to move. Hongbu fixed the bird's leg, and sent it on its way, migrating south for the winter. Many months later, after that cold winter had ended and the spring arrived, the swallow returned. The God of the Sky had seen Hongbu's kindness towards this swallow, and wanting to reward such a deserving man, gave the swallow a special seed to take to him. On its way back to the Folk Town, the unlucky bird had clipped its wings and crashed. Unable to deliver the special seed, it desperately looked for a trustworthy soul to finish the task. The swallow saw the traveler and instantly recognized his kind nature. Surprised to find an animal requesting his help this time, the traveler nonetheless agreed to help. He took the seed straight over to Hongbu's home. Hongbu, not knowing of the traveler's errand, welcomed him into his home. The traveler told Hongbu of the swallow and the seed. Hongbu asked him if he could plant the seed on his roof, because he was not strong enough to climb up there due to hunger. He did this, and the seed instantly grew into a gourd. Remembering how hungry Hongbu was, the traveler decided to check the inside of the gourd for food to give him. Much to his surprise, when the gourd was opened it turned out to be full of gold and jewels! The traveler took the treasure down to Hongbu. Shocked, but modest as ever, Hongbu gratefully accepted the chest, immediately setting out to buy food for his family. He gave the traveler the only thing he could, the storybook that had been in the family for a long time. Grabbing a third storybook, the traveler began looking for more.
The next resident he ran into was Haenim. Haenim was a young boy who lived in a house with his younger sister, Dalsoon, Their mother had gone out to make rice cakes the night before and not yet returned. Later that night, a Hogul tiger had come to the door of their home, dressed in their mother's clothing, pretending to be her. Dalsoon was fooled, but the older Haenim did not fall for it. The tiger tried all sorts of tricks to get them to let him in, but none of them worked. He became frustrated and ran off, yelling that the next night he would come back to eat them. Haenim and Dalsoon feared for their lives, but came up with a clever plan. They would need a large length of rope and some slippery oil. The only problem was, the Hoguls had stolen all the rope not long before. To get it back, someone would have to go out there and defeat them. It was about this time that the traveler passed by. Haenim thought he looked strong, and begged him to help. Naturally, he agreed to do anything he could. Collecting a few lengths of rope from the Hogul would be no challenge. It didn't take long to get the rope, but the oil was much tougher to find. It could only be made from Cico, a creature living in the ocean of Aqua Road. While hunting for this item, the traveler saw a ship fishing directly above him, and decided to check it out. The man on the ferry was named Tae Gong. He had been out fishing for a long time, and thought his wife must be worried about him. The traveler asked if he could take her a message. Tae Gong thought this was a good idea, and asked him to gather up some shrimp meat, her favorite food, so that she wouldn't be so mad at him for staying out for so long. The traveler jumped back into the water. He easily gathered up enough shrimp and while doing this, managed to find the slippery oil also. It was starting to get dark, so he headed back to Korean folk Town as fast as possible. Haenim gratefully accepted the materials. He said that his plan was to use these ropes to climb into the sky, and then coat the rope behind him with slippery oil so that the Hogul could not follow them. He handed the traveler a storybook, telling the story of the kids who became the sun and moon. That was 4 books, but there were still a lot of stories that were still distorted. Not forgetting about his promise to Tae Gong, he took the shrimp meat to his wife, Grandma Yeon. Contrary to Tae Gong's expectation, she wasn't happy that he had sent someone to gather food for her. She felt bad for the traveler, and offered to make pots for him any time, a service usually reserved for trusted members of the village. Thinking that this might come in useful in the future, he accepted the offer.
On his way through town, the traveler ran into a distraught looking girl. She was carrying a cracked pot that was leaking water. He stopped to help her. Her stepmother had given her a lot of work to finish by nightfall, and with the cracked pot she would never be able to complete it. She introduced herself as Kong Ji, one of two sisters, the other named Pat Ji. Kong Ji was very beautiful, while Pat Ji and their Stepmother were ugly, and they resented her for this, forcing her to work harder and harder every day. Remembering Grandma Yeon's offer, the traveler volunteered to get her a new pot. She was overjoyed, and went about her other jobs with a little more enthusiasm. Meanwhile, the traveler had walked down to Grandma Yeon to talk to her about buying a pot. She asked for a little money, which he didn't mind giving up. He quickly brought the new pot down to Kong Ji. She was surprised that he had actually been able to convince her to make him one. This would help her work greatly, but she still needed one thing: her stepmother had now ordered her to make rice cakes and do all the laundry on top of the existing things. To make these rice cakes, she would have to go out to the dangerous Black Mountain to gather Artemesia. There was simply not enough time for her to do everything, and she pleaded with the traveler to help her once more. He gladly agreed, setting out for the mountain. The Artemesia grew wild all over, so collecting it was fairly easy. Even this small chore being taken off her workload allowed her to finish everything in time. The next day, though, things began looking even worse. Her stepmother had ordered her to plow the fields, but the weak old Wooden Hoe they had been using snapped in half. The only option was to get a stronger Steel hoe. They were too expensive for her to purchase, however. She had one last idea. The Blins, prankster monsters that lived deep in the Black Mountain, which were the freed spirits of discarded items like brooms, flails, spears, and most importantly hoes. Often they still carried these items with them, so perhaps a Steel Hoe could be taken from defeating one of these. The traveler set out for the deepest part of the Black Mountain. The Blins were powerful foes, and after sorting through many brooms and other worthless discarded items, he finally found a Steel Hoe for her to use. He immediately returned to the Folk Town to give it to Kong Ji. She was thrilled once again, to know that a complete stranger would help her with even the most difficult tasks. She handed over the storybook of Kong Ji and Pat Ji to him as thanks. Perhaps one day soon she would no longer have to do these chores, and leave the unhappy household, but for now she had what was needed to complete the labor ahead of her. With 5 books down, the traveler set off in the town again.
The last person that he had not spoken to, Chumji, approached. He was the lord that ruled over the Korean Folk Town. The blins were not the only kind of goblin that had plagued the Folk Town lately. One of the side effects of the Cracked Dimension's disruption in Helios Tower was that powerful Goblins had escaped from one of the story books. Chumji had the book in his possession, but it was still out of order. He read the one still important paragraph from it, which stated that the Black Mountain had been cast into permanent darkness by 3 King Goblin's influence. They hid themselves well in this darkness, so bringing them out to defeat them would be nearly impossible. Fortunately, Chumji had one last bit of information about the Goblins' weakness. They each loved a certain food, and from his research Chumji discovered that the foods for these three Kings were Roasted Pork, Buckwheat Paste, and Rice Wine. He said that all of these were produced right here in the Folk Town, so to obtain them would not be too terribly difficult. The traveler remembered from his previous tasks that Chil Nam and Chil Sung could make these. So, he paid a visit to each of the brothers. Chil Nam was willing to make his specialty Buckwheat Paste, but only if the traveler brought him a few tiger stamps to prove the population was under control. Chil Sung was ready to whip up a batch of Roasted Pork, but his pounder for making rice cakes had broken and he needed some new ones. The last item, Rice Wine, was best produced by Kong Ji's cruel stepmother. She promised the traveler that if he could get some shiny, smooth fox tails for her, then she could convince the stepmother to give up some Rice Wine. The traveler set out with his list of items and began collecting them. After grabbing five pounders, four stamps, and three three-tailed fox tails, he turned them in one at a time, gathering the items needed to lure the King Goblins. To get more instructions now that he had bait, he returned to Chumji. Impressed that he had gained the trust of so many residents, Chumji said to head out to the Haunted House, a place at the furthest distance high up on Black Mountain. The best spots to do this were to place the pork on a pile of rocks, smear Buckwheat paste on the inside of a tree, and set the Rice Wine down near a stone lantern. Each of these goblins had a special item that granted them great power: The Blue King Goblin carried a giant club that could summon any existing item that was in the world if it wanted, the Yellow King Goblin wore a special Goblin Cap that could make the wearer invisible, and the Green King Goblin wore a Goblin Cape that gave great strength in wrestling matches. The traveler needed to defeat each King Goblin and take its enchanted item to prove they were defeated. Armed with this knowledge, he set off for the Black Mountain's peak.
On his way to the Haunted House, the traveler ran into the God of Mountains. He was complaining that someone had dropped an axe on his head. Naturally, he threw this old axe away. Not long after, though, the tree cutter had come along looking for it. The God of Mountains offered him a new Golden axe, or a Silver axe, but the Tree Cutter insisted on his own axe. The God of Mountains, shocked by his lack of greed, agreed to get the old axe back. Before he could recover it, however, a Dark Axe Stump had run off with it. The traveler knew what was coming next, and immediately began slaying Dark Axe Stumps on his way to the peak. It didn't take long to find the Tree Cutter's axe, which was positively identified by the God of Mountains. Since the Tree Cutter was working nearby on the Black Mountain, the traveler dropped the axe off. The Tree Cutter, glad to have his own personal axe back, gave him a book he had been holding for some time. Lately he had been very busy, and thus unable to read the book, so he didn't mind giving it away. With 6 storybooks in hand, the traveler again headed for the peak of Black Mountain. Once at the old Haunted House, he followed Chumji's instructions, first smearing the Buckwheat inside the tree, which drew out the Green King Goblin. He defeated it with ease, and then took its Goblin Cape. Next, the Roasted Pork on the pile of stones lured the Yellow King Goblin out, and it was quickly defeated, losing its Goblin Cap. Finally, the Blue King Goblin was drawn into the open by the rice wine on the Stone lantern. The traveler killed this last King Goblin fast, took its Goblin Bat, and headed back to town as soon as possible. Chumji was now shocked that this traveler was able to defeat the powerful King Goblins, and as a reward offered him one of the Goblin's special items, in addition to the now-corrected Storybook. With 7 storybooks in hand, the traveler headed over to Helios Tower's library. Wiz was ecstatic upon seeing all the correct storybooks back in place. Things weren't perfectly fixed down there yet, but things were settling down. At long last, his work in the Ludus Lake area completed, the traveler headed to town for a well-deserved rest.
Part 11
Spoiler
The next town the traveler visited was the town under the Sea, Aquarium. The well in Korean Folk Town plunged straight into the ocean, making it easy to reach. The Aqua Road was completely under water, but somehow he could still breathe, albeit painfully. Colorful fish swam by, and the bright sunlight shined through the water's surface, playing on the sandy ocean floor. The residents of this town all had fish-like attributes. The first person he met was Kenta, whose hair resembled jellyfish tentacles. He was working in the Aquarium's Zoo, which had captured rare monsters from all across the world, including a Jr. Balrog. He also studied the wild animals that lived in the ocean near Aquarium. Recently, he said, they had begun to act strangely, though it wasn't obvious to the casual observer. Some looked drained, and out of energy, while others were constantly in a fit of rage, making them more powerful than usual. The only suspicious thing that had happened before this change was a wild storm. Kenta felt that this could become a serious problem, and needed to gather DNA samples from a few of the monsters. The first set of monsters he wanted to look at were Cicle, Cico, and Pin Boom. It took a little while, but after hunting them down, the traveler gathered up a DNA sample from each. When he returned to Kenta, he gratefully accepted the samples. Kenta advised that he might need more samples in the future, so he should visit again soon. While wandering through the Aquarium, the traveler heard a rumor about a device being created in Orbis Tower that would allow a person to breathe easily underwater. His interest was immediately piqued, so he set off for a hole in the walls of Orbis Tower that had appeared under water.
After a short journey, he found himself at the foot of the immense Orbis Tower, peering into it through the crumbled wall. Upon setting foot inside, he saw a room that was somehow keeping the water out. Suddenly desperate for a breath of fresh air, the traveler entered. Inside, he found a scientist working feverishly on something. As he stepped closer to take a look, he heard something squeak, then break. The scientist turned around, and began shouting, "You broke my doll! Sorry doesn't cut it!"
The apologetic traveler volunteered to go get him a new one. The scientist immediately calmed down, and gave him a set of instructions. To reach the monsters that kept the Baby Seal Dolls, he would have to pass through hordes of Scuba Pepe. Once past those, there would be Jr. Seals, which carried these dolls. He asked for 10 replacements and for him to wipe out 50 of the Scuba Pepe. It was an easy task; The Scuba Pepe were playful creatures that lived in the tower, and wore snorkels so that they could breathe underwater. Thinking he could possibly use them, the traveler gathered up a bunch of these snorkels. These didn't work for him, but he did find a few items that would: Air Bubbles. These bubbles would let him breathe normally for a short time. He grabbed as many as he could, so that the task wouldn't be so straining. Gathering the dolls was easy, and soon he was back at the Laboratory. Feeling bad about how he overreacted, the scientist introduced himself as Hughes the Fuse. He was working on a special item called the Oxygen Tank, which would allow anyone to breathe freely underwater for an unlimited amount of time. He offered to make the traveler one, but only if he could gather the materials. It would take Snorkels, Air Bubbles, and lots of metal, particularly Screws and Steel. Fortunately, these were all things he had gathered beforehand, and was able to give them to Hughes immediately. After a short period of working, hughes presented the traveler with an Air Tank. The traveler thanked him, and went to test it out. Moving around in Aqua Road was much easier now, and it was no longer stressful. He returned to town, and decided to visit Kenta to see what progress had been made.
Kenta had finished with the first batch of samples, and found a few more mysterious changes. But, to be sure that this was the problem, and not just something with those specific monsters, he would need new samples. This time, he wanted the DNA of the fish, particularly Flower Fish, Masked Fish, and Bubble Fish. Flower Fish was a slow-moving bottom feeder, grazing the ocean floor like a cow. Masked Fish traveled in huge packs and swam very close to the Aquarium. Bubble Fish had long been one of the kindest of monsters, but lately had begun to harm passerby. The traveler set off to the eastern side of Aqua Road, where all these fish lived. The DNA was difficult to collect, but the monsters were weak and posed no threat. It didn't take long for him to collect all 3 species' DNA. After taking these back to Kenta, he found more disturbing clues. The monsters that were living closer to the Aquarium, like Masked Fish, were in greater danger than those that lived far away. He still needed more evidence, though, so he asked the traveler to gather one last batch of DNA, this time from the monsters on the western side of Aqua Road. These monsters were Poopa, Sparker, and Freezer. Getting the DNA this time around was not too difficult, so he hurried back to Kenta. Kenta immediately set himself back to his research, determined to discover the cause of the change. He rewarded the traveler with tickets to reach Korean Folk Town, and recommended that he talk to his coworker, Muse.
Muse had been worried for some time. Not long ago, an expedition had set out to explore the troubles at the bottom of the ocean. Muse's boyfriend, Gail, had been a member of this expedition. The bottom of the ocean is a very dangerous place, even for the strongest of people, and after a while the Aquarium had lost contact with them. With each passing day, Muse was growing more and more worried. She was not strong enough to venture down there by herself, but she had heard about a powerful Sea Witch who could look into the future. Maybe, if she could contact this Sea Witch, then she could find out what had happened to Gail and the rest of the expedition, without having to head to the sea floor. The only problem was, that even the Sea Witch lived pretty deep down, and she couldn't even reach this far. The traveler, who was now also concerned about the expedition's fate, asked if he could go on her behalf. So, he set out down the Deep Sea Gorge in search of this Sea Witch. The monsters outside her cave were incredibly powerful, but he managed to reach it unscathed. The Sea Witch, named Carta, was not too happy with strangers barging in to her home. He asked her if she could see th future for him, but she scoffed.
"Only a fool would believe that fortune telling is possible." she said. "The future isn't set in stone; believing that is ignorant." She did say, however, that she could look back on past events and the present actions of a person. Carta could tell that someone had sent him here. She asked who it was, and the traveler told her of Muse and Gail. Carta had warned the expedition that the bottom of the ocean was not a place for humans, but they had ignored her. She would agree to perform the ceremony to see what Gail was doing now, but only if the traveler would gather up the materials needed. This would not be an easy task; for the ceremony, she would need 3 Cold Tears, the frozen tear of the saddened underwater ghost, Bone Fish, and 10 vials of Sea Dust, magic powder which floated through the sea and occasionally got trapped in the sunken treasure chests. The last item needed was the Pianus' Scream, the cry given off at the death of the banished heavenly Fish, Pianus. These were all incredibly rare items, and it would take a brave soul to gather them all. It didn't take long for the traveler to defeat enough Bone Fish, and the Sea Dust, though rare, was not so challenging. On his way to gather these Sea Dusts, he saw a sunken ship resting on a cliff. A faint light was shining through a hole in the hull, and curious, the trveler investigated. Inside was a man dressed in safari clothes. He said that his name was Taeng, and that he had led the expedition to the Sea Floor. He told the traveler what had happened. A few months ago, the expedition was assembled to take a look at the strange goings on at the bottom of the ocean. There were only four people who were powerful enough, so Taeng and Gail and two others set out. They had taken this wrecked ship as a base of operations, and Taeng had deployed the rest of the team to investigate. After a while, he grew concerned as they weren't coming back... He went out on his own, but couldn't find any traces of them. He asked the traveler to help him look for some of their possessions, like their flashlight, notebook, and camera. He suspected that the sharks lurking outside the wrecked ship were to blame, but he couldn't be sure until those items were found. Unwilling to let a potentially vital piece of information pass by, the traveler headed out to hunt the sharks. Hoping that he wouldn't find anything, the traveler was unfortunately disappointed as a flashlight dropped to the rocky floor. The notebook and camera followed shortly after. He slowly trudged back to the wrecked ship, and handed the items to Taeng. Needless to say, Taeng was deeply saddened by this outcome. The path to the bottom of the ocean was blocked, so they couldn't have gone far... He was still hopeful that they might be alive, however. The traveler needed confirmation, so he gathered his strength to prepare for the last obstacle in his way to discover Gail's fate. However, Pianus posed a much greater threat than he could have imagined. The traveler summoned his guild, and together they fought the ferocious fish. It was a long and tiresome battle, and Pianus pulled out all the stops. With one last, powerful attack, the heavenly fish fell, letting out a horrible cry upon its death. This sound was captured inside a special can, and the traveler hurried back to Carta. She was impressed, and took the items, quickly concocting the potion. It changed colors, and once this happened she asked aloud what had happened to Gail, the deep sea explorer. She described what she saw: a rock near a cave, with a brilliant pattern on it; then, black fog enveloped the sight, surrounding the team, and they sunk deeper and deeper until she could no longer see them. She was knocked back quite suddenly by an enormous negative vibe. Living deep in the ocean, she was used to a lot of evil auras, but this was more powerful than any she had encountered. Carta was finished looking into the potion for now, and told the traveler to take this news back to Muse. He hesitated; she would be devastated, he couldn't do this to her. Carta convinced him that lying to her would only make her pain even greater, so he decided to tell her the truth. He headed back to Aquarium to confront Muse.
Muse was very happy to see the traveler, because he hadn't checked in for a long time. He told her that Carta could only see a black fog, which wasn't a good sign. Muse took this surprisingly well, but was clearly distraught. She began to call a town meeting, but first rewarded the traveler for bravely investigating Gail's fate. The traveler left Aquarium in a melancholy mood.
The next town the traveler visited was the town under the Sea, Aquarium. The well in Korean Folk Town plunged straight into the ocean, making it easy to reach. The Aqua Road was completely under water, but somehow he could still breathe, albeit painfully. Colorful fish swam by, and the bright sunlight shined through the water's surface, playing on the sandy ocean floor. The residents of this town all had fish-like attributes. The first person he met was Kenta, whose hair resembled jellyfish tentacles. He was working in the Aquarium's Zoo, which had captured rare monsters from all across the world, including a Jr. Balrog. He also studied the wild animals that lived in the ocean near Aquarium. Recently, he said, they had begun to act strangely, though it wasn't obvious to the casual observer. Some looked drained, and out of energy, while others were constantly in a fit of rage, making them more powerful than usual. The only suspicious thing that had happened before this change was a wild storm. Kenta felt that this could become a serious problem, and needed to gather DNA samples from a few of the monsters. The first set of monsters he wanted to look at were Cicle, Cico, and Pin Boom. It took a little while, but after hunting them down, the traveler gathered up a DNA sample from each. When he returned to Kenta, he gratefully accepted the samples. Kenta advised that he might need more samples in the future, so he should visit again soon. While wandering through the Aquarium, the traveler heard a rumor about a device being created in Orbis Tower that would allow a person to breathe easily underwater. His interest was immediately piqued, so he set off for a hole in the walls of Orbis Tower that had appeared under water.
After a short journey, he found himself at the foot of the immense Orbis Tower, peering into it through the crumbled wall. Upon setting foot inside, he saw a room that was somehow keeping the water out. Suddenly desperate for a breath of fresh air, the traveler entered. Inside, he found a scientist working feverishly on something. As he stepped closer to take a look, he heard something squeak, then break. The scientist turned around, and began shouting, "You broke my doll! Sorry doesn't cut it!"
The apologetic traveler volunteered to go get him a new one. The scientist immediately calmed down, and gave him a set of instructions. To reach the monsters that kept the Baby Seal Dolls, he would have to pass through hordes of Scuba Pepe. Once past those, there would be Jr. Seals, which carried these dolls. He asked for 10 replacements and for him to wipe out 50 of the Scuba Pepe. It was an easy task; The Scuba Pepe were playful creatures that lived in the tower, and wore snorkels so that they could breathe underwater. Thinking he could possibly use them, the traveler gathered up a bunch of these snorkels. These didn't work for him, but he did find a few items that would: Air Bubbles. These bubbles would let him breathe normally for a short time. He grabbed as many as he could, so that the task wouldn't be so straining. Gathering the dolls was easy, and soon he was back at the Laboratory. Feeling bad about how he overreacted, the scientist introduced himself as Hughes the Fuse. He was working on a special item called the Oxygen Tank, which would allow anyone to breathe freely underwater for an unlimited amount of time. He offered to make the traveler one, but only if he could gather the materials. It would take Snorkels, Air Bubbles, and lots of metal, particularly Screws and Steel. Fortunately, these were all things he had gathered beforehand, and was able to give them to Hughes immediately. After a short period of working, hughes presented the traveler with an Air Tank. The traveler thanked him, and went to test it out. Moving around in Aqua Road was much easier now, and it was no longer stressful. He returned to town, and decided to visit Kenta to see what progress had been made.
Kenta had finished with the first batch of samples, and found a few more mysterious changes. But, to be sure that this was the problem, and not just something with those specific monsters, he would need new samples. This time, he wanted the DNA of the fish, particularly Flower Fish, Masked Fish, and Bubble Fish. Flower Fish was a slow-moving bottom feeder, grazing the ocean floor like a cow. Masked Fish traveled in huge packs and swam very close to the Aquarium. Bubble Fish had long been one of the kindest of monsters, but lately had begun to harm passerby. The traveler set off to the eastern side of Aqua Road, where all these fish lived. The DNA was difficult to collect, but the monsters were weak and posed no threat. It didn't take long for him to collect all 3 species' DNA. After taking these back to Kenta, he found more disturbing clues. The monsters that were living closer to the Aquarium, like Masked Fish, were in greater danger than those that lived far away. He still needed more evidence, though, so he asked the traveler to gather one last batch of DNA, this time from the monsters on the western side of Aqua Road. These monsters were Poopa, Sparker, and Freezer. Getting the DNA this time around was not too difficult, so he hurried back to Kenta. Kenta immediately set himself back to his research, determined to discover the cause of the change. He rewarded the traveler with tickets to reach Korean Folk Town, and recommended that he talk to his coworker, Muse.
Muse had been worried for some time. Not long ago, an expedition had set out to explore the troubles at the bottom of the ocean. Muse's boyfriend, Gail, had been a member of this expedition. The bottom of the ocean is a very dangerous place, even for the strongest of people, and after a while the Aquarium had lost contact with them. With each passing day, Muse was growing more and more worried. She was not strong enough to venture down there by herself, but she had heard about a powerful Sea Witch who could look into the future. Maybe, if she could contact this Sea Witch, then she could find out what had happened to Gail and the rest of the expedition, without having to head to the sea floor. The only problem was, that even the Sea Witch lived pretty deep down, and she couldn't even reach this far. The traveler, who was now also concerned about the expedition's fate, asked if he could go on her behalf. So, he set out down the Deep Sea Gorge in search of this Sea Witch. The monsters outside her cave were incredibly powerful, but he managed to reach it unscathed. The Sea Witch, named Carta, was not too happy with strangers barging in to her home. He asked her if she could see th future for him, but she scoffed.
"Only a fool would believe that fortune telling is possible." she said. "The future isn't set in stone; believing that is ignorant." She did say, however, that she could look back on past events and the present actions of a person. Carta could tell that someone had sent him here. She asked who it was, and the traveler told her of Muse and Gail. Carta had warned the expedition that the bottom of the ocean was not a place for humans, but they had ignored her. She would agree to perform the ceremony to see what Gail was doing now, but only if the traveler would gather up the materials needed. This would not be an easy task; for the ceremony, she would need 3 Cold Tears, the frozen tear of the saddened underwater ghost, Bone Fish, and 10 vials of Sea Dust, magic powder which floated through the sea and occasionally got trapped in the sunken treasure chests. The last item needed was the Pianus' Scream, the cry given off at the death of the banished heavenly Fish, Pianus. These were all incredibly rare items, and it would take a brave soul to gather them all. It didn't take long for the traveler to defeat enough Bone Fish, and the Sea Dust, though rare, was not so challenging. On his way to gather these Sea Dusts, he saw a sunken ship resting on a cliff. A faint light was shining through a hole in the hull, and curious, the trveler investigated. Inside was a man dressed in safari clothes. He said that his name was Taeng, and that he had led the expedition to the Sea Floor. He told the traveler what had happened. A few months ago, the expedition was assembled to take a look at the strange goings on at the bottom of the ocean. There were only four people who were powerful enough, so Taeng and Gail and two others set out. They had taken this wrecked ship as a base of operations, and Taeng had deployed the rest of the team to investigate. After a while, he grew concerned as they weren't coming back... He went out on his own, but couldn't find any traces of them. He asked the traveler to help him look for some of their possessions, like their flashlight, notebook, and camera. He suspected that the sharks lurking outside the wrecked ship were to blame, but he couldn't be sure until those items were found. Unwilling to let a potentially vital piece of information pass by, the traveler headed out to hunt the sharks. Hoping that he wouldn't find anything, the traveler was unfortunately disappointed as a flashlight dropped to the rocky floor. The notebook and camera followed shortly after. He slowly trudged back to the wrecked ship, and handed the items to Taeng. Needless to say, Taeng was deeply saddened by this outcome. The path to the bottom of the ocean was blocked, so they couldn't have gone far... He was still hopeful that they might be alive, however. The traveler needed confirmation, so he gathered his strength to prepare for the last obstacle in his way to discover Gail's fate. However, Pianus posed a much greater threat than he could have imagined. The traveler summoned his guild, and together they fought the ferocious fish. It was a long and tiresome battle, and Pianus pulled out all the stops. With one last, powerful attack, the heavenly fish fell, letting out a horrible cry upon its death. This sound was captured inside a special can, and the traveler hurried back to Carta. She was impressed, and took the items, quickly concocting the potion. It changed colors, and once this happened she asked aloud what had happened to Gail, the deep sea explorer. She described what she saw: a rock near a cave, with a brilliant pattern on it; then, black fog enveloped the sight, surrounding the team, and they sunk deeper and deeper until she could no longer see them. She was knocked back quite suddenly by an enormous negative vibe. Living deep in the ocean, she was used to a lot of evil auras, but this was more powerful than any she had encountered. Carta was finished looking into the potion for now, and told the traveler to take this news back to Muse. He hesitated; she would be devastated, he couldn't do this to her. Carta convinced him that lying to her would only make her pain even greater, so he decided to tell her the truth. He headed back to Aquarium to confront Muse.
Muse was very happy to see the traveler, because he hadn't checked in for a long time. He told her that Carta could only see a black fog, which wasn't a good sign. Muse took this surprisingly well, but was clearly distraught. She began to call a town meeting, but first rewarded the traveler for bravely investigating Gail's fate. The traveler left Aquarium in a melancholy mood.
Mu Lung
Part 12
Spoiler
While wandering through Orbis one day, the traveler saw that a new platform had been installed at the Orbis Station. He decided to check it out, and met a crane named Hak. Hak often flew the skies between Orbis and the mountain village of Mu Lung, and decided that in order to make a little extra cash, he could carry travelers between these two towns for a small fee. The traveler, always eager to explore a new land, paid him and started off on the flight to Mu Lung. The trip was short, as Hak flew fast. Just one minute later, he found himself standing amidst a huge temple. The walls were a deep red, and all of the buildings had blue roofs. The most interesting fact of all, however, was that the citizens and shrinekeepers of this town were all Pandas! They looked like the Hafrings of Leafre, but were a little taller and patched in white and black. The first one he talked to was named No Gong. No Gong was a master, and wanted to train more people up to this level of discipline. Up for a challenge, the traveler agreed to undergo this training. His first task would be to take down ten straw target dummies. This was very easy; it took only a few moments before he returned to No Gong's position at the Temple. No Gong had already forgotten that he had sent the traveler out on this errand, however. He was surprised, but after a short explanation, prepared the next task. This time, it was to defeat twenty Straw Target dummies. Again, it was short work, and he returned quickly. Not surprisingly, No Gong forgot about this once more, and hastily sent the traveler out one last time to defeat forty Straw Target Dummies. It took a little while longer, but still it was an easy task for the experienced traveler. He visited No Gong for the final quest, and hoped to receive the mark of the master. He was not happy that the traveler kept coming back, but finally admitted that persistence was a key part of becoming the master. No Gong advised that the traveler now go speak to his associate, Do Gong.
Do Gong was another master working at the Mu Lung Temple. Unlike his fellow master, Do Gong had a good memory and was able to recognize the traveler instantly just based on No Gong's description. The traveler admitted to Do Gong that the philosophical nature of the master's speech was confusing him. Do Gong suddenly had an idea: if the traveler read the Book Ghost, he would be able to comprehend this form of speech much more easily. There were ten pages missing, and he would have to go out and find them. Jumping at the opportunity, the traveler set out for the Sky Forest, where Do Gong had reportedly lost it. When he got there, he found dozens of Book Ghosts swarming all over the place. Only a few would have the pages he needed to read, however. So, the traveler began wiping out Book Ghost after Book Ghost, searching for the Book Ghost's Sheet of Paper. This took a long time, but finally he managed to get all ten of the pieces and returned them to Do Gong. Do Gong began to reassemble the book, putting the pages in order, when he noticed some suspicious footprints all over the ripped out pages. After investigating this for a short time, he realized what must have happened. These were cat footprints, yet they resembled those of no ordinary cat. Street Cats, which are normally rather dull-witted and violent creatures, had been changed into monsters by the immense power gained after reading the Book Ghost. They had begun to dress up as sages and wise men, luring innocents into their traps. To prevent this knowledge from spreading throughout all the Street Cats, which would cause an epidemic of unimaginable proportions, someone would need to gather the spirits of the Sage Cats that contained this. So, the traveler now set out to fight off hordes of Sage Cats and gather the five Kitty Spirits. The spirits were rare, but he finally found them all. Upon returing these to Do Gong, he granted the traveler some advice on how to become the master: the best way is to simply train hard and help others in need. Seeing his determination, Do Gong was impressed, and certain that the traveler would become a master someday.
Keeping this advice in mind, the traveler walked into the main town of Mu Lung. The first person in here that he met was Tae Sang. Tae Sang was the farmer who ran the Peach Farms immediately outside of town. He was putting up wanted posters of monkeys. When the traveler asked about this, he said that these monkeys, known as Peach Monkeys, had been breaking into the Peach Farm and stealing all of the peaches. These were special peaches, used to create all kinds of medicines and renowned for their great taste. Without them, the town would be in dire straits. The traveler knew what he must do, and agreed to wipe out the thieving Peach Monkeys. He set out for the Peach Farm and began hunting them down. The wanted posters said to kill 50, so that's what he did. The monkeys had many tricks, like throwing the peaches they had stolen, but it did them no good. He returned to Tae Sang. While grateful that the Peach Monkey population was down, they had already done too much damage; the majority of the farm would need to be replanted. He was out of seeds to plant, though. The traveler, during his time fighting the Peach Monkeys, realized that they had been dropping the Peach Pits when defeated. He could go back out and collect a hundred of these to reseed the entire farm. Tae Sang thought this was a great idea, and so the traveler went back to the peach farm. Getting a hundred peach seeds was fairly easy, so it wasn't long before he found himself back in town. He was quite pleased with the traveler's results, so he recommended that he visit his friend in the Herb Town, Mr. Ku. With this, the traveler set out to Herb Town.
Herb TownWhile wandering through Orbis one day, the traveler saw that a new platform had been installed at the Orbis Station. He decided to check it out, and met a crane named Hak. Hak often flew the skies between Orbis and the mountain village of Mu Lung, and decided that in order to make a little extra cash, he could carry travelers between these two towns for a small fee. The traveler, always eager to explore a new land, paid him and started off on the flight to Mu Lung. The trip was short, as Hak flew fast. Just one minute later, he found himself standing amidst a huge temple. The walls were a deep red, and all of the buildings had blue roofs. The most interesting fact of all, however, was that the citizens and shrinekeepers of this town were all Pandas! They looked like the Hafrings of Leafre, but were a little taller and patched in white and black. The first one he talked to was named No Gong. No Gong was a master, and wanted to train more people up to this level of discipline. Up for a challenge, the traveler agreed to undergo this training. His first task would be to take down ten straw target dummies. This was very easy; it took only a few moments before he returned to No Gong's position at the Temple. No Gong had already forgotten that he had sent the traveler out on this errand, however. He was surprised, but after a short explanation, prepared the next task. This time, it was to defeat twenty Straw Target dummies. Again, it was short work, and he returned quickly. Not surprisingly, No Gong forgot about this once more, and hastily sent the traveler out one last time to defeat forty Straw Target Dummies. It took a little while longer, but still it was an easy task for the experienced traveler. He visited No Gong for the final quest, and hoped to receive the mark of the master. He was not happy that the traveler kept coming back, but finally admitted that persistence was a key part of becoming the master. No Gong advised that the traveler now go speak to his associate, Do Gong.
Do Gong was another master working at the Mu Lung Temple. Unlike his fellow master, Do Gong had a good memory and was able to recognize the traveler instantly just based on No Gong's description. The traveler admitted to Do Gong that the philosophical nature of the master's speech was confusing him. Do Gong suddenly had an idea: if the traveler read the Book Ghost, he would be able to comprehend this form of speech much more easily. There were ten pages missing, and he would have to go out and find them. Jumping at the opportunity, the traveler set out for the Sky Forest, where Do Gong had reportedly lost it. When he got there, he found dozens of Book Ghosts swarming all over the place. Only a few would have the pages he needed to read, however. So, the traveler began wiping out Book Ghost after Book Ghost, searching for the Book Ghost's Sheet of Paper. This took a long time, but finally he managed to get all ten of the pieces and returned them to Do Gong. Do Gong began to reassemble the book, putting the pages in order, when he noticed some suspicious footprints all over the ripped out pages. After investigating this for a short time, he realized what must have happened. These were cat footprints, yet they resembled those of no ordinary cat. Street Cats, which are normally rather dull-witted and violent creatures, had been changed into monsters by the immense power gained after reading the Book Ghost. They had begun to dress up as sages and wise men, luring innocents into their traps. To prevent this knowledge from spreading throughout all the Street Cats, which would cause an epidemic of unimaginable proportions, someone would need to gather the spirits of the Sage Cats that contained this. So, the traveler now set out to fight off hordes of Sage Cats and gather the five Kitty Spirits. The spirits were rare, but he finally found them all. Upon returing these to Do Gong, he granted the traveler some advice on how to become the master: the best way is to simply train hard and help others in need. Seeing his determination, Do Gong was impressed, and certain that the traveler would become a master someday.
Keeping this advice in mind, the traveler walked into the main town of Mu Lung. The first person in here that he met was Tae Sang. Tae Sang was the farmer who ran the Peach Farms immediately outside of town. He was putting up wanted posters of monkeys. When the traveler asked about this, he said that these monkeys, known as Peach Monkeys, had been breaking into the Peach Farm and stealing all of the peaches. These were special peaches, used to create all kinds of medicines and renowned for their great taste. Without them, the town would be in dire straits. The traveler knew what he must do, and agreed to wipe out the thieving Peach Monkeys. He set out for the Peach Farm and began hunting them down. The wanted posters said to kill 50, so that's what he did. The monkeys had many tricks, like throwing the peaches they had stolen, but it did them no good. He returned to Tae Sang. While grateful that the Peach Monkey population was down, they had already done too much damage; the majority of the farm would need to be replanted. He was out of seeds to plant, though. The traveler, during his time fighting the Peach Monkeys, realized that they had been dropping the Peach Pits when defeated. He could go back out and collect a hundred of these to reseed the entire farm. Tae Sang thought this was a great idea, and so the traveler went back to the peach farm. Getting a hundred peach seeds was fairly easy, so it wasn't long before he found himself back in town. He was quite pleased with the traveler's results, so he recommended that he visit his friend in the Herb Town, Mr. Ku. With this, the traveler set out to Herb Town.
part 13
Spoiler
After descending through Mu Lung's mountainous Sky Forest and Tae Sang's Peach Farm, the traveler reached the Old swamps of Herb Town. The herb gardens extended from the town for a quite a ways; they looked to have been sorted by age, with the oldest herbs planted far from town, and the youngest ones located nearby, so that they could be tended with ease. The traveler thought he saw some of the Bellflowers scuttle by, but when he couldn't find them he assumed he must be mistaken. He reached the Herb Town shortly, and was not too surprised upon discovering that the occupants of this town were also pandas. Mr. Ku was easy to find, as he stood near the center of town looking worried. The traveler approached him, and mentioned Tae Sang's requests. Word had already spread, and Mr. Ku had his own problems: The Herb Gardens located outside of the town were not producing healthy crops as they should be. A group of misguided Bellflower Roots had snuck in and sucked out all the nutrients from the soil, which caused the planted Ginseng to wilt. These herbs were very important, as Tae Sang needed them to create better potions. So, the traveler turned around and went back out to stop these Bellfowers. They were quickly moving from garden to garden, and were a little hard to find. Eventually, though, he had defeated enough to hopefully scare the others off. Mr. Ku was pleased with the results of this, however some still were sneaking in. He decided that he may have to build a wall around the gardens soon...
The next day, Mr. Ku was furious again. This time, the herb garden was being continually raided by a group of pirates. These pirates were coming from the Red Nosed Pirate's Den that was hidden deep in the swamps outside of town. They were running through the gardens, stealing the Ginseng and only the most valuable herbs. The traveler agreed to head to their lair to defeat a large group of Kru and Captains from the pirate ship. On the way, he passed through the Old Swamp, and saw one of the older Bellflowers. This bellflower also saw him, and ran up. Ready for a fight, the traveler was shocked when it began talking to him! The bellflower begged him for help. Willing to listen, the traveler sat down and listened to his story. The bellflower said that his named was Guon, and he had once been the chamberlain to the King of the Bellflowers. Once, they had been a peaceful race living alongside the pandas in the Bellflower Valley, but not long ago the evil Lord Pirate had come and kidnapped their King, Wu Yang, and taken him hostage. Now, he was forcing the Bellflower Roots to do his evil bidding, threatening to kill their king if they refused. The pirates treated their slave Bellflowers horribly, and they had been reduced to stealing nutrients from the Ginseng gardens to live. The only way to restore the Bellflowers to their previously peaceful nature was to defeat the cruel Lord Pirate, free Wu Yang, and set the Herb Town back in order. He also asked defeat the entire leadership of the pirate ship, which consisted of 200 Lord Pirate's Kru and 200 Lord Pirate's Captains with special ranks. They didn't come out of the ship often, but when they did it was only for a few seconds to check up on things. He would have to be fast to get them all. The traveler was very concerned by these problems, but the only problem was that the Pirate Ship was out at sea right now, and he couldn't take care of Lord Pirate until it returned. He decided that this must wait, and began heading to the Red Nosed Pirate's den. He fought off hordes of the ordinary Kru and Captains, and then quickly headed back to Mr. Ku. Mr. Ku was now confident that no one would be messing up his herb gardens anymore, and sent off his newest batch of Ginseng to Tae Sang.
The traveler waited in Herb Town a bit longer, and rumors spread that the Pirate Ship would be returning soon... the battle with Lord Pirate loomed ahead. He anxiously awaited the coming fight.
After descending through Mu Lung's mountainous Sky Forest and Tae Sang's Peach Farm, the traveler reached the Old swamps of Herb Town. The herb gardens extended from the town for a quite a ways; they looked to have been sorted by age, with the oldest herbs planted far from town, and the youngest ones located nearby, so that they could be tended with ease. The traveler thought he saw some of the Bellflowers scuttle by, but when he couldn't find them he assumed he must be mistaken. He reached the Herb Town shortly, and was not too surprised upon discovering that the occupants of this town were also pandas. Mr. Ku was easy to find, as he stood near the center of town looking worried. The traveler approached him, and mentioned Tae Sang's requests. Word had already spread, and Mr. Ku had his own problems: The Herb Gardens located outside of the town were not producing healthy crops as they should be. A group of misguided Bellflower Roots had snuck in and sucked out all the nutrients from the soil, which caused the planted Ginseng to wilt. These herbs were very important, as Tae Sang needed them to create better potions. So, the traveler turned around and went back out to stop these Bellfowers. They were quickly moving from garden to garden, and were a little hard to find. Eventually, though, he had defeated enough to hopefully scare the others off. Mr. Ku was pleased with the results of this, however some still were sneaking in. He decided that he may have to build a wall around the gardens soon...
The next day, Mr. Ku was furious again. This time, the herb garden was being continually raided by a group of pirates. These pirates were coming from the Red Nosed Pirate's Den that was hidden deep in the swamps outside of town. They were running through the gardens, stealing the Ginseng and only the most valuable herbs. The traveler agreed to head to their lair to defeat a large group of Kru and Captains from the pirate ship. On the way, he passed through the Old Swamp, and saw one of the older Bellflowers. This bellflower also saw him, and ran up. Ready for a fight, the traveler was shocked when it began talking to him! The bellflower begged him for help. Willing to listen, the traveler sat down and listened to his story. The bellflower said that his named was Guon, and he had once been the chamberlain to the King of the Bellflowers. Once, they had been a peaceful race living alongside the pandas in the Bellflower Valley, but not long ago the evil Lord Pirate had come and kidnapped their King, Wu Yang, and taken him hostage. Now, he was forcing the Bellflower Roots to do his evil bidding, threatening to kill their king if they refused. The pirates treated their slave Bellflowers horribly, and they had been reduced to stealing nutrients from the Ginseng gardens to live. The only way to restore the Bellflowers to their previously peaceful nature was to defeat the cruel Lord Pirate, free Wu Yang, and set the Herb Town back in order. He also asked defeat the entire leadership of the pirate ship, which consisted of 200 Lord Pirate's Kru and 200 Lord Pirate's Captains with special ranks. They didn't come out of the ship often, but when they did it was only for a few seconds to check up on things. He would have to be fast to get them all. The traveler was very concerned by these problems, but the only problem was that the Pirate Ship was out at sea right now, and he couldn't take care of Lord Pirate until it returned. He decided that this must wait, and began heading to the Red Nosed Pirate's den. He fought off hordes of the ordinary Kru and Captains, and then quickly headed back to Mr. Ku. Mr. Ku was now confident that no one would be messing up his herb gardens anymore, and sent off his newest batch of Ginseng to Tae Sang.
The traveler waited in Herb Town a bit longer, and rumors spread that the Pirate Ship would be returning soon... the battle with Lord Pirate loomed ahead. He anxiously awaited the coming fight.