Private Eastern Brisshal Investigating the Consequences

[Ueno Mizuki]

Mizuki would take the opportunity of Cleo using breathing exercises to fully regain control over herself to eat some more meat. Being a wolfkin she had become accustomed to the sensation of never feeling quite full. It was certainly convenient that her lifestyle within the game meant she didn't have to worry much about gaining weight. And more importantly, that what she ate in the game didn't cause her Earth body to gain weight.

One of her ears twitched as Cleo explained that she was just shocked by what Mizuki had told her. The wolfess looked up in thought as she finished chewing the chunk of meat she'd bitten off, then swallowed it before answering.

Hmmm... It would look that way for another person. I can't rule out that my lack of concern isn't entirely reasonable either. However, what I do know is that emotionally speaking I'm doing quite well. Maybe I was never completely normal.

She'd spent four years trying to move on from Terrasphere, four years of doing her job, living her life. Thanks to Terrasphere she'd picked up an interest in programming and started working out more, alongside the new hobby of going camping. In many ways, Terrasphere had caused her life on Earth to expand as well.

But she'd never been able to forget how comfortable she was as Mizuki. The fact that she felt this way could just mean that she'd always been off, and Terrasphere had only been the opportunity she needed for her abnormality to come to the surface.

While the two of them had been talking for quite some time now, they'd met each other early enough that it was still afternoon. Still, the conversation had lasted longer than Mizuki would have anticipated. She pondered Cleo's explanation regarding the alcohol, then shrugged.

You do have a point. And it was pretty obvious once you started talking about how you were here for your job. Since you can't stream or otherwise contact Earth here, people who come here for their job are most likely going to be investigators, reporters, or law enforcement.

Since Cleo was part of the law enforcement, she should have sufficient access to resources which would help her process and handle the horrors her job would expose her to. As such, Mizuki didn't think she had to worry too much about Cleo's well-being.

If your job is to protect people I'd suggest that you take the opportunities you get to train and become stronger. Unless you really are going to arrest every Traveler the best you can do to help is to become strong.

@Cleo Looker

 

[Cleo Looker]

It's possible that you were never what society would have considered to be a normal person, yes, though I'm not so certain that's inherently a bad thing. Perhaps the game has made you more likely to express those tendencies in ways that will be seen as problematic by a lot of people, but otherwise, I'd say it's not all so bad. That you're doing well emotionally and not likely to express those tendencies against real people or in the real world, at least I hope not anywya, is a good sign. At least, I think so. I'm far from a doctor or psychiatrist. I've only done some light reading in these subjects.

Cleo hummed, shrugging. As long as Mizuki had no intentions to do these kinds of things in the real world and was able to at least identify the fact that these things were only okay in Terrasphere because it wasn't real. And in an ideal world, it would all be fine because there'd be no consequences to anything that happened in this game. Sadly, they weren't living in an ideal world and it would be important to make sure that any impulses in the game, any persona that somebody played here, did not bleed out in any way, shape or form into reality.

I do intend to get stronger, yeah, though I'm far from weak as I am. I've been pretty rapidly improving and learning to utilize my skills, though it helps that I'm trying to keep my abilities relatively simple in execution. I'm sure you're aware of the idea that the more convoluted a plan is, the less likely it is to succeed without something going awry in the process.

It could be said, then, that her plan was the simplest plan in history. The collective ancestors of humanity had, after all, really mastered the strategy of 'throw sharp stick' into the art form that it was today. In a game with magic and supernatural feats of physicality, it was possible to make 'throw sharp stick' into something truly terrifying.

And it's not like I can actually arrest Travelers, considering I have no rights or authority in this world. The fact that I work with law enforcement in the real world doesn't exactly mean much to anybody playing this game. In fact, it can actively make some people treat me like an enemy, so I'd prefer that you keep it to yourself, if you would? If anybody asks, you can tell them I'm a lawyer or legal aid.

@Ueno Mizuki

 

[Ueno Mizuki]

Mizuki quickly shook her head when Cleo mentioned the possibility of her uncivilized behaviour bleeding into her self on Earth. While that wasn't an unrealistic concern, so far the separation between Terrasphere and Earth had been complete enough that the huntress felt safe in her conviction that she wasn't about to start eating raw meat on Earth.

I haven't had the opportunity to talk to a psychiatrist about it, but I doubt you'd notice anything abnormal about me on Earth except possibly for my eyes.

She pointed towards the mismatched pair her avatar possessed.

I have heterochromia on Earth as well, but other than that there's nothing remarkable about me.

You did look like you were comfortable holding that spear despite being new, so I wouldn't be surprised if you were ahead of most of the newcomers with your skill. It also looks like you aren't relying on the assist mode, which is good. It's useful against normal enemies, but if you're planning to keep other people safe you need to be able to stand up against real threats, not just some bandits.

A frown showed up on her face as she said that, realizing something.

Although, now that I say it like that... The assist mode allows you to execute abilities by taking the starting pose and calling out the name of the skill, but it has the built-in downside that your skills are less flexible and your movements will freeze after the execution of an ability. If you're in critical condition you also won't be able to use your body well.

If this was anything other than Terrasphere I'd imagine that the developers just wanted to make it easier for newcomers to use their abilities while encouraging and rewarding dedication towards improving your skills, but since this is Terrasphere... The reason might not be as simple as that.

If the developers were more interested in ruling this world as gods than simply killing people, maybe it was meant to nudge people into integrating with the world? She still wasn't convinced that Terrasphere was just meant as a murder game, for the simple reason that if that was the goal she was pretty sure it could have been done much more efficiently. Although that probably wasn't the kind of thing you should say out loud to a police officer.

Indeed, a simple plan is more likely to succeed. Many people still go for whatever interests them, like me, but it's a smart idea to keep the basics of your design straightforward and easily applied to different situations. Most Travelers make sure they can survive on their own.

Mizuki smiled in response to Cleo's request and nodded, then huntress seeing no reason to deny the detective's wish.

No worries, I won't tell anyone. It wouldn't do anyone any good if you weren't given the chance to work together with the other Travelers, and they might give you better insights into the world than I did.

@Cleo Looker

 

[Cleo Looker]

Well, as long as Mizuki was certain that she hadn't developed a taste for raw meat and seemed pretty unlikely to develop one in the future, then Cleo was probably fine to just put a pin in that concern and leave it alone for the time being. It was, after all, very hard to back up any kind of thought or feeling that stated that somebody might be likely to do something, or might want to do something. It was almost impossible to prove that somebody would be willing to do something and if willingness were a crime, then far too many people have ended up in prison a long time ago for crimes that they would ONLY ever commit in their head.

I've been given some pretty solid advice from some veteran players on the best ways to get strong, practice and excel at combat. Possibly to the detriment of any non-combat skills, but well, I don't exactly plan to stop and smell the roses, or start some kind of business knitting scarves. I plan to be in combat, saving people, as often as I possibly can, until everybody is safe or there's no longer any need for me.

And then she would leave the game, though she left that unsaid. It was probably picked up on anyway, it wasn't as if she'd made her distaste for the game hard to notice, in any case.

There is something of a chilling potential that the action assist feature is designed with the intention that turning it off will make players feel more integrated into the world and have less of a desire to leave it behind, yes. Something of a major extreme to the idea of games rewarding high skill by becoming more immersive, or offering the player limited rewards.

Though, it was good that Mizuki was at least willing to keep her secret and could see the reasons why she would want to keep her occupation a secret. Having people be willing to work with her was going to be a boon and she needed as many players, as many real people, as she possibly could to unknowingly be feeding her as much information as they possibly could. She really did need to settle on some kind of cover story, though, in case people she knew began comparing notes about her.

The heterochromia is a nice touch, though. It's a very pretty feature, both in the game and, I'm sure, in real life.

@Ueno Mizuki

 

[Ueno Mizuki]

Mizuki frowned slightly as Cleo explained her plan, the wolfess hesitating before answering. She knew that Cleo wasn't exactly going to agree on this, but she was still going to say it.

I approve of prioritizing combat abilities, since those are the most likely to become vital for your goals, but if the Terrasphere of tomorrow is going to be anything like the Terrasphere of yesterday there's also going to be events where lots of Travelers will be attending but which don't have a focus on combat. The playerbase isn't so big that there's always going to be someone in danger, although I guess if that's the case you can just log off if you'd rather not get too integrated.

The detective was smart enough to quickly pick up on the consequences of the action assist mode being designed the way it was. It did really point in the direction of the developers wanting people to accept this game wholly and become part of it, thus becoming more hesitant to leave it behind despite the danger it posed.

The wolfess began to collect what meat remained, putting it in her inventory as she continued talking.

I do like the idea that you're rewarded for trying to truly master your skills instead of relying on the world to assist you. It's another aspect of Terrasphere which is amazing, which makes the death thing even more annoying.

Why would someone make such an amazing world to live in, and then make it so punishing when it didn't have to be? Or did it have to be? Mizuki had tried to become more familiar with programming, especially video game design, but she still couldn't even begin to guess at how the game killed people, or what technical purpose it would serve. Terrasphere just defied all common sense.

Her hands stopped moving as Cleo complimented her eyes, the wolfess scratching the back of her head as she looked a tad embarrassed, although not overtly so.

I've kind of gotten so used to it that I don't really notice it myself most of the time, but thank you. Of course, on Earth it's one blue and one green, since humans can't have yellow eyes. I just figured that it'd be fitting for a wolf.

She hesitated for a moment before resuming her work.

If you look even remotely like this back on Earth being a police officer must be a hassle, with how many stares you'd attract from everyone.

@Cleo Looker

 

[Cleo Looker]

You said it yourself, if there's not going to be any danger, then there's little need for me to get involved with something. Why would I bother getting involved with some kind of ridiculous, safe easter event or something, when my only purpose for being here is to help people survive the dangerous and deadly stuff? Treating this like a game would just get more people killed and those deaths would actually be on my hands. I can't just log in and spend a few hours drinking ale or whatever people drink here at the local tavern.

That would be the height of being irresponsible, given her employment. Other agents that had played the game had sometimes lost sight of what it was that they were supposed to be doing, but Cleo was determined to be different, to remind herself at every turn that this game had killed people, that it wasn't something fun or happy at all, despite the gleam that it tried to give off. There was nothing positive about this place, she just had to remember that and convince as many people as possible about that point of view. That was all there was to it.

And it was clear that Mizuki wouldn't be convinced.

Though they both seemed ready to move on from that conversation and onto lighter topics, such as Mizuki's pretty eyes. Having a green eye and a blue eye sounded quite nice, if Cleo was being honest. It would look pretty unique and people would always clearly remember a person for a physical feature like that. The compliment to her avatar caught her off guard, though, causing the agent to blush and twirl a collection of hair around a finger.

Ah well, actually, it's kind of a funny story. I actually look exactly like this in the real world. I didn't bother to touch the character creation screen at all, aside from making my eyes red. And even then, in real life, they're this shade of brown that shows up as red in certain kinds of lighting anyway.

@Ueno Mizuki

 

[Ueno Mizuki]

Since I'm not much of a drinker myself I don't really know what's the most common drink, although I would imagine that ever since we Travelers arrived some of us have gone through the trouble of introducing all the beverages from Earth, as long as the ingredients are available.

While Mizuki wasn't very happy with the idea that Cleo would refuse to reconsider her position on Terrasphere and experience more than just the combat and the bloodshed, there wasn't much point to continuing the argument. Neither of them was about to change their mind, and both had good reasons to support their position. At this point, the only thing that could possibly resolve the disagreement was if they were presented with new information or if they were given time to change their mind.

The wolfess watched as Cleo actually seemed to be a bit embarrassed by the compliment, the reason for the redhead's reaction being revealed moments after as she explained that this appearance was an almost exact match of her real self, except for the colour of the eyes. Mizuki raised her eyebrows, giving Cleo another look as she tried to imagine someone like that just walking around as an officer.

Really now? I must say, you have had quite the good fortune with your genes, and I imagine you put a lot of work into keeping your body in good shape. I don't think there are many people who could compete with that.

If Cleo actually looked like that she could easily have become a model or a celebrity. For her to have chosen to be an officer instead... Well, she was clearly invested in helping others, and she'd made it clear that she'd been passionate about it from a young age. Mizuki finished storing the meat that remained, although she couldn't help but glance at Cleo.

I'm curious, however, if it ever gets in the way of being treated with respect by civilians. I'd think that often they'd be too distracted or too attracted to take your position as officer seriously.

@Cleo Looker

 

[Cleo Looker]

That did make sense, that the players would start sewing the threads of their own cultures throughout the places they visited in the game, especially the ones that had ended up UI locked, until things from the real world could be found everywhere. Surely there were all kinds of drinks available, wines and whiskeys and beers, all of which could have been found in the real world. People would always carry the things that were familiar to them with themselves and leave pieces of those things in everywhere they went. That was just how culture spread and developed.

Though again, there was was more embarrassment as Mizuki complimented her looks, making Cleo blush and glance away again. The wolf was laying it on a little thickly, wasn't she? It had the redhead brushing some hair over her shoulder.

Ah yeah, it does take a lot of work to keep in such good condition, especially as the years go on and I get more and more reminded of how young I used to be in comparison to how I am now.

Though she was far from an old woman, her twenties were in their twilight now and fading. She lived a good life, but it had been very empty of things such as romance or family. Her parents were great, but she was a grown, independent woman now.

As for whether or not it got in the way of her being treated with respect, Cleo shrugged. That was pretty hard to summarize.

Well, y'know, sometimes people stop and stare, or try to get fresh with me. But it can also be pretty useful every now and then. Nobody suspects a thing if I'm not dressed in my uniform and stuff.

She waved a hand, reaching for one of the remaining pieces of meat and absentmindedly stuffing it into her mouth, chewing on it. She hadn't really been thinking at all, when she'd done it. There had just been meat and she'd needed to stop talking for a bit.

Anyways, avatar or not, you're very pretty. I bet you aren't so bad yourself in real life.

@Ueno Mizuki

 

[Ueno Mizuki]

I don't know how hold you are, but you don't look very old yet. However, I know what you mean.

Mizuki's Earth self wasn't old either, but she was approaching the end of her twenties. While that was still quite young, she could already feel that it wasn't the same as when she'd only just reached adulthood.

Well, with good genes you should be able to remain in good shape for many more years I think. And, of course, keeping up a good workout regime. Actually, ever since I joined Terrasphere I've also started working out more on Earth. I won't be able to perform superhuman feats like I can in this world, but at least it's better than sitting behind a desk all day.

It was a real shame that VR technology didn't allow you to train your body through your experiences in Terrasphere. If that was the case then no threat of death would be sufficient to keep people from joining, so maybe it was for the best.

A quick nod answered Cleo's comments about how her looks affected her job.

So it's good for undercover work? That does make sense. Being attractive might make it harder for people to be intimidated, but they'll also be more inclined to talk to you.

She suppressed a slight grin as Cleo ate another piece of meat, apparently without even thinking about it. The remainder of the meat got stored away, and Mizuki pushed herself up and stretched. Although her stretching didn't prevent her tail from wagging twice as the detective complimented her appearance.

Much appreciated, although my Earth self isn't quite the same as this body. I used my Earth self as a base, but I made it a couple of years younger and added some traits to make it more wolf-like. Aside from my eyes I think I'm quite plain, honestly. Anyway, if you want to train or something so you can be better at helping people I wouldn't mind helping out. I'm not the strongest player, but I should be of some use.

@Cleo Looker

 

[Cleo Looker]

Well at the very least she was talking to somebody that apparently knew what it felt like to tell that you were getting older and losing any youthfulness. Cleo gave Mizuki a wry grin and a small chuckle, shaking her head. It was, at least, reassuring to know that she hadn't been talking to some teenager or underaged girl all day as if they were both adults. Hell she'd complimented the woman on her looks, so that would have made things extremely awkward.

Well it's good that you're at least motivated to make some positive changes in your everyday life. Exercize is the most important part of being alive, we're not made to be stationary, unmoving creatures. Remaining fit and active is one of the most natural states for a human that there can be.

And she nodded along to Mizuki's comments about her good looks maybe being useful for her work, noting with some confusion the slight grin that Mizuki wore, though she quickly forgot about it in exchange for paying attention to the way that the beatskin's tail wagged at the compliment that she'd given out. It was pretty cute to see those kinds of emotional tells on a person.

I wouldn't mind doing some training or stuff. I'm really planning to kick that kind of thing into high gear, until people can depend on me for basically anything that they need.

@Ueno Mizuki

 

[Ueno Mizuki]

Before Terrasphere Mizuki would have argued against the idea that being out and about was the natural state for humans to be in. While that might have been true in the past, times changed, and so did people. However, her time in Terrasphere had awakened those primal desires in her, so she could only return Cleo's grin before nodding in agreement.

Terrasphere did remind me of the importance of moving your body, so you're correct there. Of course, on Earth, I can't imitate what I do here, so aside from exercising I sometimes go camping.

For other people to be able to depend on you... The wolfess frowned and folded her arms, looking thoughtful for a moment. The fire still burned before them, but with the meat all having been grilled and there having been no purpose to keeping it alive it was dying down, along with the crackling of wood turning into charcoal.

With how the systems are set up you will have to specialize, because there are too many different things you could excel at. But when it comes to combat training we should be able to help each other out: things have changed from how they used to be, so training together with someone to figure out how I need to adapt to the changes would also work in my favour. You specialize in polearms and throwing them, correct?

@Cleo Looker

 

[Cleo Looker]

Right, I should sincerely hope that you aren't emulating the things you do in this game when you're out and about in reality. Most of the things encouraged by this game are pretty serious offenses.

Her mind drifted to the way she quite openly carried around her spear, rubbing at the back of her neck as she tried to picture somebody actually doing that in the real world. There was no reality in which somebody could do something like that and not immediately be shot or arrested. It was a pretty funny mental image, though she did have to admit that even she would probably be ill at ease if she ran into somebody that was just openly carrying around some kind of medieval weapon, outside of very specific circumstances. She'd had a few odd run ins with different cosplayers and LARPers before, so it wasn't like there was no precedent for it to happen.

As for needing to specialize, Mizuki had a point. There were plenty of focuses that she could choose, if she really had to. That Mizuki was willing to at least be a training partner and help her figure out the best way to go about things was a good sign, it meant that she would have the opinion of a veteran on certain aspects of her build. She wasn't exactly a practiced gamer, after all.

You raise good points. Training together sounds good. And yeah, I focus on throwing polearms. Don't ask me how or why I landed on that particular fighting style when I have absolutely no idea myself.

She shrugged, chuckling. It was strange to think that she had picked a fighting style not based off of pure pragmatism, but simply because she liked the way it looked and felt. Really, if she had wanted to be pragmatic, she would swap to firearms.

Training together sounds good, though. I guess you specialize in transforming into beasts and fighting in beast form?

@Ueno Mizuki

 

[Ueno Mizuki]

I dunno, hunting wildlife is usually regulated but not forbidden. As for fighting against things that threaten civilization, we don't have a lot of those on Earth, do we?

Mizuki rubbed her chin before shrugging.

Hurting or killing other people is bad, so I get what you mean, but that's not really what the game encourages you to do. That's more just what some people do when given the opportunity. But to address your actual point, I'm not tearing out throats or eating raw meat.

Given that Mizuki herself didn't actually use any weapons, the point Cleo was making about openly carrying around weapons completely flew past her.

But another discussion about how this game drove people to become serial killers was far less interesting than talking about which masteries they'd chosen and what kind of style they preferred to use. Mizuki looked at Cleo, thinking back to the spear the redhaired beauty had been wielding before.

It's a reliable tactic and allows you to engage enemies from a safe distance, and if you also train with wielding spears in melee combat you have something to fall back on if your opponent manages to close the distance. Maybe it reminds you of your training as an officer?

It wasn't like police officers used polearms in the modern age, but to summon and launch spears might be similar to wielding a big gun. She would join Cleo's chuckling for a brief moment before her companion's words struck something within her.

That's an important part of my style, yes, although I can also fight without transforming. That said... That might be something you should be aware of.

Mizuki's expression became more serious as she was reminded of something that Cleo might consider relevant, given the concerns the lancer had for how the game affected the mind.

The masteries have changed since before the break, and some have disappeared entirely. Before the break one of my masteries was called Berserk, and it would grant me power based on how much damage I had taken and my state of mind. It no longer exists, but if you're worried about how this world can change you...

@Cleo Looker

 

[Cleo Looker]

I mean, you have a point, but typically killing basically anything is fairly frowned upon, at least as far as my experience has led me to believe. Killing people is definitely at the top of the bad list, for sure, but some people would argue that the creatures in this game are alive, or that some of the sentient monsters is just like killing a person.

And god forbid she bring up the idea of a Lander being killed. For some reason, people seemed to absolutely hate the idea of killing or hurting one of those, despite the fact that they weren't even alive. They were just binary code floating through a computer, literally nothing would be lost if one or a few dozen died. Better tham than any of the players. The players would die in real life if they kept dying, after all, so that would be an actual, tangible loss of something that couldn't be replaced. Weighing up life vs data was, in Cleo's opinion, a very easy decision to make about value.

I don't know that it quite reminds me of any training I received. If I was going for something that reminded me of my training, I'd have taken Martial Arts and also guns, maybe Aeromancy for stun guns and stuff.

That would be an interesting idea, trying to build a character as if they were a real world police officer, though it would never happen now. She was already a bit too firmly set down her path to change things up and shake things up massively.

Speaking of a shake up, Mizuki mentioned one of the old masteries, known as Berserk and the description made Cleo's blood run could, heart momentarily pausing as she looked at the beastkin.

You're not telling me that the game actively manipulated and changed your state of mind, are you? That shouldn't even be within the realms of possibility, as far as I know them at least. That's not good. That doesn't happen anymore, right? No more berserker rampages or altered mental states due to Masteries?

@Ueno Mizuki

 

[Ueno Mizuki]

Mizuki shrugged again as Cleo brought up how there were people who would frown upon killing anything, regardless of whether it was a person or not.

That's true, but when it comes to hunting animals whether it's considered acceptable or not is still more ambiguous than if we were hunting each other. As for sapient monsters... That's definitely a point to consider, although from my memory the things we fought had a tendency of coming to us, rather than us hunting them. I think every sane person would have left Titanius alone if it hadn't been a threat to everyone.

You weren't going to pick a fight with an eldritch entity unless you either had little choice or were completely bonkers. Mizuki hadn't been part of every incident, but for the most part she couldn't think of a lot of Travelers who'd go out of their way to kill sapient creatures. Unless it was PKers, anyway, and they already agreed on those being bad people.

Guns don't exist in this world unless they were added after the break and I didn't notice them.

Mizuki was confident about that, at least, if only because there had been Travelers who were very insistent on trying to get their hands on guns only to find that this was simply impossible. But if guns were a possibility now...

Well, it was only a suggestion. It does seem like a good choice anyway, and it looks good as well.

Cleo might make anything look good, but wielding and throwing polearms suited her somehow. The idea of Aeromancy was a good one, although Mizuki herself had no use for it as she already knew what she wanted to do.

She tilted her head and rubbed her chin again as she considered whether there were any other masteries that might mess with your head. Berserk had been the standout, so with that gone, it shouldn't be an issue... On the other hand...

One of the benefits of VR would have been that it could be used for training purposes, and since it interacts almost directly with the mind it sending signals that mess with your head isn't entirely impossible, although it's just as ridiculously advanced as every other mystery related to Terrasphere. Berserk was the only mastery I can think of that had to do with your state of mind, but I think I saw a new mastery called Corrupt. We might want to look into that.

@Cleo Looker

 

[Cleo Looker]

I have no clue what Titanius is, but judging by the way you're talking about it, I'm guessing it was nothing good or fun. It certainly sounds like an evil monster name from things like video games or comic books, the kind of thing they'd throw on a villain that they've been hyping up for the past few issues or films or something along those lines.

Well, as long as people were smart enough to not want to go hunting for the kinds of threats that ended and ruined lives, then hopefully her job wouldn't be as difficult as she was being convinced that it would be. Eventually there was a good chance that she'd have to come face to face with some kind of serious threat, though, so it made sense to get prepared for that kind of thing as quickly and efficiently as possible. For that, Mizuki would definitely come in handy. The perspective of a veteran could prove to be invaluable, even one who seemed so out of the loop.

Guns are a thing now, they're listed in the description of applicable weapons for the Ranged Weapon mastery, alongside things like thrown weapons, bows, crossbows and that kind of thing.

And then, once again, Mizuki had to be the bearer of bad news and remind Cleo that the mastery, Corrupt, did indeed exist and, with a name like Corrupt, probably wasn't exactly healthy on the mind of the person wielding it or anything of the sort. The agent grimaced at the thought of that mastery, instantly adding it to her list of things to investigate. It would truly help if she could actually find somebody using that mastery, even if it would probably be pretty hard to find somebody using it, considering that it was probably one of the tabboo ones.

You're right, Corrupt definitely sounds like the kind of mastery that needs to be observed. I would've said the same about Berserk if it were still here. It's definitely worrying, that there's so many potential things that could mess with a person's head and change aspects about them, even if only temporarily.

The mental image of Mizuki, running on all fours even whilst untransformed, foaming at the mouth and snarling as her hands gripped onto some misty animal, sinking her teeth into the apparition's flesh, rose to the top and demanded Cleo give it attention, at least until she forced it away again.

I do wonder what I'll pick for my own 5th mastery, though. I'm no good at doing things like building a character in a video game, so it'll take some thought.

@Ueno Mizuki

 

[Ueno Mizuki]

Mizuki couldn't help but chuckle at Cleo's description of Titanius, at how uncannily appropriate it really was in hindsight. For those who had fought it, it had been an eldritch entity that defied the rules of nature, twisted and corrupting everything it touched, but from the outside it really seemed like some kind of villain from a show or something.

Well, you're not wrong. The short of it is that Titanius was like one of those Lovecraftian horrors, and it was corrupting everything around it. We had to take it down before it could threaten both kingdoms. Fighting it wasn't exactly fun, no, especially since that was around the time that the first people with UI-lock began to show up.

She deliberated on whether she should also talk about what she and the others had found in Titanius's inner realm, such as it was. Would Cleo react poorly to being told some kind of humanoid female had acted as Titanius's inner self? Well, she could also tell that story another time.

Upon being told that guns were a thing Mizuki made a face. She didn't hate guns, per se, but she wasn't entirely sure she agreed with the idea that they were suitable for a setting such as Terrasphere. The wolfess shook her head quickly.

...Right. Not sure I agree with that change, but I guess it was inevitable that the Travelers who were stuck in this world for four years would figure out how to make a gun. It's hard to slow down progress, after all.

Personally, Mizuki thought that Corrupt sounded even worse than Berserk. Berserk just meant gaining power from your anger, which could be risky but wasn't supernatural or something. Corrupt, however, sounded like bad news no matter how you looked at it, so she was glad that Cleo was taking her warning seriously.

Given that it didn't exist before the break I don't think any of the veterans are going to take it: most of us are inclined to just keep going as before, or as close as possible with the changes in the masteries. It's more likely one of the newcomers would take it.

Mizuki hadn't needed Beast Arts before the break to be able to transform into a wolf, but now that she no longer had either the Hunting, Berserk. or Acrobatics masteries at least it hadn't taken up any space she'd needed before. She perked up a bit as Cleo mentioned that she wasn't sure how to fill out her last mastery slot, looking quite interested.

I haven't picked a fifth mastery either, because three of the five masteries I used before are now gone. That said, masteries often have synergies with other masteries, so if you want I could help you think of something. What masteries do you have aside from Ranged and Pierce?

@Cleo Looker

 

[Cleo Looker]

Well that sounded wholly unpleasant. She was no expert on lovecraftian horror, she'd heard that Lovecraft himself had been a bit of a problematic fellow, but she knew enough basics to have an idea that actually facing something like that probably wasn't the nicest of experienced, or the most pleasant way for somebody to spend their free time. And people had actually continued playing this game after coming up against something like that? She wasn't sure if that meant that the game was having a bad effect on people, or if way more people had it so badly that something like a lovecraftian boss battle couldn't deter them from trying to escape their realities.

She shuddered, trying to push the thought of her mind, thankful that she hadn't been around to deal with something like that, even if she was pretty sure she was obligated to be on the front lines whenever something like that appeared again, especially if it proved to be a threat to players. If it was just going to wipe out a town of NPCs and nothing else, it'd be pretty easy to look the other way, but the moment that players got involved she was essentially cursed to join in.

No world stops progressing, not even a virtual one I guess. Eventually weapons technology has to improve and take the next step forwards, otherwise it'd be insane to think that the world just doesn't seek to make any progress in that direction.

No world like that existed. As long as there was a need to kill, craftsmen would feel the need to invent better ways to do that killing. It had been the spear once, then the sword, then the bow, all the way to guns. It was hard to say what the next step of handheld weaponry would be. In the real world, or in Terrasphere.

And Mizuki had a point. A terrible, scary point. These new players would just think that Corrupt was 'edgy' and 'cool' without any knowledge of the kinds of things that this game could actually do to them. They wouldn't even know that they were being altered, or perhaps they wouldn't care, figuring that it was just a game and that it couldn't possibly extend into the real world.

Cleo frowned as Mizuki moved on, though she was able to accept a change in topic. Advice from a veteran would help a lot.

I have Arcanamancy and Chronomancy, in addition to Ranged and Piercing weapons. I use Arcanamancy to create duplicates of my spear, it's more efficient than creating entirely new spears, then I'm learning to use Chronomancy to do things like loop the spears, or set a timed delay on their trajectory to help bypass defenses.

@Ueno Mizuki

 

[Ueno Mizuki]

Mizuki could tell that Cleo found the entire concept of fighting Titanius disturbing, which she couldn't blame the lancer for. As exhilarating as it might have been, it had been a nightmarish scene which had probably played a significant role in a lot of people becoming a lot more somber afterward. Even without the UI-lock problem, that memory would have stuck with people for a long time.

Better to switch topics to something more pleasant, such as the inevitable march of progress. Still not exactly a topic which was made of rainbows and puppies, but it was better than thinking of a corrupting, bloated mass that tore people apart with bulging tentacles while vomiting massive amounts of acid that dissolved equipment and body alike.

I'm just hoping that in this world such advances don't turn individuals into little more than target practice. I like the idea that with enough training you can stand up for yourself without having to worry that the other person just pulls a gun and undoes any progress you might have made.

It might be inevitable, but it was still something that the huntress would want to delay if possible. She didn't want to have to abandon her current style of bestial combat just because other people are introducing guns and rockets to the world of Terrasphere.

That's right, Arcanamancy creates objects instead of releasing blasts of pure arcane energy now... Before the break using Arcanamancy to create anything would have required an Awakening, but those no longer exist.

Mizuki had read through most of the masteries, even if she'd skimmed over some of which she was already pretty sure what they entailed, such as Ranged Weapons. Her expression was thoughtful as she stared into the distance, her mouth hidden behind the curled-up hand held against her lower face in a rather traditional thinking pose.

From the sounds of it you're really focusing on firepower. You could also use Chronomancy to speed up your projectiles, though, so you aren't limited to looping and pausing. As for the fifth option... You don't have an Alter yet, which might be a good idea to invest in. Is the spear you wield yourself an actual weapon or another creation?

@Cleo Looker

 

[Cleo Looker]

I'm pretty sure things like magic, superhuman physicality, extra senses, forcefields and other such things will do a pretty good job of making sure that guns don't just dominate the setting from here onwards. It's hard to say how things will actually develop, but the developers seem to weirdly care about balancing enough to make sure that kind of thing just won't be allowed to happen.

It felt weird putting her faith in developers that had already killed dozens of people, but she felt that she had enough of a profile to assume that they were at least somewhat focused on maintaining a decent balance, mechanically speaking. Why they continued treating it like an actual game, she couldn't say, but it was something that she could at least feel relatively comfortable betting money on. Maybe not so much her life, it was going to be useful to make sure that she knew what the limitations of firearms were, but surely it wouldn't take too long to run into a gun user?

Though, returning to the topic of masteries, Mizuki once again mentioned how Arcanamancy had used to perform, similar to the way that Vina had described it, though she mentioned something known as an Awakening, which was the first time that Cleo had come across this term. Some sort of legacy term, if she had to guess, probably to do with something about progressing a mastery to its limit and then beyond even that, as cliche and ridiculous as that kind of thing sounded. Limits were known as limits for a reason, after all.

Right, I was considering doing that with Chronomancy, yeah, though my main idea was around looping projectiles to create larger, more spread out attacks without having to throw multiple projectiles at once. Still, adding more firepower to an existing spear would also be a very good use of it.

It was something that she could practice with, as she got better at using Chronomancy. Right now it took most of her concentration to dilate time and slow something down, she had used it to extend a few jumps so that it felt like she was gliding rather than falling at normal gravity. It was all in the testing phase, anyway.

I was thinking of picking up an Alter, yeah. And yeah, I can wield my actual spear, which is an actual thing, or I can wield the copies as if they were the actual spear, so I can dual wield and stuff too.

@Ueno Mizuki