Open World Online (O.w.O)

• 1^st Person POV (MC)

-Present Time-

-System-

Congratulations!!!! Your {Class} have been advanced!

{Class}: [Mage] -> [Celestial Mage]

Celestial Mage are magic casters who harness mana emitted from celestial bodies.

{Class Skill} <Celestial State>

Description: Harnessing mana from celestial bodies. You attuned yourself to them giving you a state reflecting which celestial bodies you have chosen.

Solar State: Attuning yourself to the Sun. A symbol of the sun will be engraved upon your forehead. While in this state, slightly enhance your damaging {Spell}.

Lunar State: Attuning yourself to the Moon. A symbol of the moon will be engraved upon your forehead. While in this state, slightly enhance your defensive {Spell}.

Astral State: Attuning yourself to the Stars. A symbol of stars will be engraved upon your forehead. While in this state, slightly enhance your supportive / utility {Spell}.

Each of the states has infinite duration and has a 30-minute cooldown in between state changes.

Requirement: LV 25 Celestial Mage

-System-

I see... this {Class} playstyle is State change but it has a big cooldown. Knowing this, I activate the {Skill}.

“<Celestial State: Astral>!!!”

Nothing seemed to change until I looked at a reflection of myself. Right on my forehead, a depiction of stars is engraved.

Hmmm, wouldn’t that mean everyone can see what state I’m in?

Shrugging, I wanted to see what kind of ‘Enhance’ effect they meant in the description. The category is support/utility so I’m thinking of casting a buff {Spell} to myself.

“[Fortify]!!”

My body glowed in glimmering colours, a different colour than the usual casting of [Fortify]. Checking my {Status} it seems to give a slightly longer duration and slightly more potency so if I paired it with Extend metamagic. It would last even more.

Good good, I wouldn’t expect a big change knowing this is the first advancement. Stretching my body to its utmost limit, I ruffled Gaia’s head and squished his cheeks before giving my goodbyes as I logged out.

-Exiting O.w.O-

“Fwaaahhhh!”

I stretched once more on my fluffy bed and reached for my smartphone at the bedside table. After opening my bank account, I am sure of one thing.

I don’t know if it’s one person or not. If they keep on buying my potion stock, I will gain profit instead of breaking even with my living costs.

Splayed on my bed, I closed my eyes to get a restful sleep.

Zzzzzzzz...

Waking up from my sleep, it is around late morning nearing afternoon. Yawning until my eyes grow teary and shambling my way to the kitchen. I reheated a Tupperware containing leftovers from yesterday's dinner for my lunch.

While eating, I am browsing Pochi Mochi’s Wikia including its discussion forums.

Oh? In one of the forums, someone is complaining about fighting magic casters and how OP they are. The replies though, are quite insightful.

-Comments-

Magic casters innately have low defence and a low HP pool. To fight and win is to give surprise attacks capable of one-shot them.

But of course, a magic caster wouldn’t just let it happen. They will use summoning {Spell} to act as their meat shield. Defensive {Spell} to protect them. So, to counteract all of that. It is best to use an anti-magic field or anti-magic armour. When they are caught inside of it, magic casters essentially become useless or not able to do anything against you. Magic resistance gears would also help in reducing their damage and the {Skill} <Status Resistance I> especially upgraded ones are obligatory to have when facing a magic caster class.

-Comments-

I see, I see... That is kind of true, even enchanted items would lose their functions within an anti-magic field. A complete counter to magic casters, I don’t think I can do anything so if that happens to me I’ll just accept my fate.

Oh yeah!! I scrolled to the Wikia page, especially to classes section. Pochi Mochi does have great networking skills to gain tons of information.

Knights and their advancement; Paladin, Royal Guard, etc.

Berserker and their advancement; Beast Warrior, Chaos Bringer, etc.

Archer and their advancement; Ranger, Sniper, Spirit Archer, etc.

Monk and their advancement; Myriad Hands, Merciful Hands, Elemental Hands, etc.

Why is monk related to hands though???

Rogue and their advancement; Assassins, Thief, Soul Takers, etc.

Priest and their advancement; Bishop, Druid, Dark Priest, etc.

Mage and their advancement; Elementalist, Illusionist, Summoner, Celestial Mage, etc.

He also put hybrid classes or even race-specific classes. After all, I too have noticed players having different races than humans nowadays. Particularly the humanoid-looking ones at least like dwarves, elves, or beast-man. Still rare to see races like Siegfried though...

What’s this!? Has Pochi Mochi already reached LV 80? He’s so fast for real. I mean it’s kind of true, levelling here is quick...

Oh??? After reaching LV50, Players will unlock several Safe Points leading to faraway cities. I wonder what they’ll look like. Unconsciously, I smiled excited about the thought of visiting it.

After finishing my lunch, I cleaned things up and washed my face. I am a person that always takes an evening shower rather than a morning.

With a full belly and feeling refreshed, I wore the helmet and began to play again.

-Entering O.w.O-

The familiar scenery of My Temple and multiple mini biomes greeted me. Soon after, the pitter-patter of Gaia too reached my ears as usual.

His presence always cheered me up as I giggled while squishing his cheeks. Seeing everything is handled by Mr. Golems nicely I began to check what changed in the pedestal at the centre.

Aside from the ‘Wheels’ controlling time and seasons. Another one has been removed from rust and detached itself so it begins to float. The size of this ‘Wheel’ is the smallest one making it not budging when I try to move it.

It is an interesting depiction of the wheel. Instead of a sun and moon or seasonal image. It is merely a circle, at first it is a dot but when I pull the wheel to make it bigger. The dot turns bigger and...

*GRRRRRRKKKKK*

The earth beneath me trembles and the size of this temple expands it doesn’t feel cramped anymore. Now it has become spacious as big as a city park.

(“What about the sections?”)

 I’m referring to the rings and cones that’s where my mini biomes are. Peeking out from the temple, it doesn’t seem to change or push the mini biomes.

Well, it is better to leave this wheel the biggest size then? With that in mind, I leave it and rotate it making the pedestal look like an armillary sphere in those science movies or documentaries.

I have some schedule like visiting both The Academy and The Church. Learning new {Spell} and also buying some Spell Books to increase my {Trait}.

After asking Gaia to stand guard and take care of this place, I teleport to Frontera and then straight towards The Academy.

Hmm... I can purchase a Spell Book for each element. However, it will blow my wallet apart. I don’t mind after all it is to progress my {Trait}.

Since then, my elemental {Trait} has all been raised to IV meaning I can use Tier 4 {Spell}. While ‘Learning’ new {Spell} from randomised Spell Book display and jot them down in my journal. Moving on! I went to The Church and did the same thing.

Once I was done with everything, I teleported to My Home. With a purpose to trial and error the newly ‘Learned’ {Spell}.

--

“*Rattle* *Rattle*” -Something-

“*BAAAAA!! BAAAAA*” -Gaia-

Hm? What’s with the ruckus? That high-pitched tone conveying urgency coming from Gaia drew my attention as I went outside my now spacious temple.

“What’s going on?”

“*Ba! *BA!” -Gaia-

As if he’s saying ‘Look at this’. I turned my head in the direction Gaia’s pointing. He seems to be wary and I pet his back to calm him down.

What I’m seeing is a snake but... IRL this snake would be a deformed one. It has two heads instead of the usual one. The size of it is remarkably small like a wet spaghetti stick albeit moving and alive.

The scales are even more peculiar. How should I say this, both having albinism and melanism? The left head is pure black signifying the heavy dark pigmentation while the right head is pure white signifying the lack of pigment. Then it becomes a single body with distinct half white and half black.

At the end of its tail, the snake made a rattling sound as if warning bystanders to not come closer. Although, throughout its body myriads of ‘Hurt’ visual effects are displayed.

Why does it feel like deja vu?

I stare at Gaia who is still concerned towards the snake. Assuming they are intelligent beasts like Gaia, I move forward trying to touch the snake.

“*HISSSSS*” -Snake-

It lunged towards my approaching hands and bit it. I can feel a slight pressure on my skin. Not enough to pierce it rather it felt like a slight pinch.

The snake was too small to even inflict damage on me as I cast [Greater Heal] a Tier 3 {Spell}.

Due to my current <Astral State> the usual warm green glow visual effects have been changed into a fancier version of glimmering starlight. Ultimately it is still doing the same just with a stronger healing effect.

Even trying to heal this small snake takes a lot of time and several cycles of resting. Similar to when I treated Gaia’s here.

Well, at least the snake has calmed down. It didn’t try to bite my fingers anymore instead it curled up on itself into a roll. Since I’ve been with the snake for quite a while, the panel now shows me its HP.

At the moment, it is full so no issues in this part but the snake needed a moment to rest. Carrying this being in my hand, I went back to the temple where Gaia followed suit.

I already pre-crafted some furniture. One of them is a white pillow fitting the colour ‘Theme’ of my temple.

Putting the pillow near the gaps between pillars. I let the snake settle on so it can rest. Gaia is keeping watch so intensely of this snake. With a firm nod, I left the vicinity of my temple and returned to ‘Trial and Error’ {Spell}. Gaia seemed intent to stay with the snake so I’m alone in the corner of My Home.

*BAAAMMMM*

Ouch! I stumbled and slammed my head on the ground. I am not used to it yet, I will be with more practice!

--

Haaaah... Haaaah... I get the hang of it now and what about this {Spell}??

Ohhhhh!? How very peculiar. This would prove to be incredibly useful in terms of information gathering.

After a brief stretch of my body, I wanted to rest for a bit. Sleeping on a bed of grass should’ve felt sharp but it seems the Devs made it soft and fluffy. As if I’m lying atop a silken bedding. Closing my eyes, I didn’t realize that I had fallen asleep.

--

*LICK* *LICK* *LICK*

What’s with this wet and warm feeling on my cheek? Lazily, I opened my eyes to be greeted with a deer face, forest green eyes, and minty breath.

“Ah? Gaia? I must’ve fallen asleep.”

Without thinking too much, I already gave scratches on Gaia’s neck. It was eliciting a satisfied bellow from him easily.

Hold on... I thought he was watching that snake. My scratches stopped and I moved to where the snake had been. The white pillow has an indentation but the snake is nowhere to be seen.

“Gaia? Do you know where the snake is?”

Gaia shakes his head saying ‘No’. Well, I guess that’s the encounter I suppose. Shrugging, I went to check on Mr. One, Mr. Two, and Mr. Three.

They are doing their job well. Utility Golems are the best! Passive ingredients gathering paired with auto-crafting have turned me into a factory. Plus with the help of this cute boy over here the product always be high quality.

“*BaAaAaA*” -Gaia-

He’s happy. Hehe~

Either way, how long have I been asleep?

Opening the system panel, my eyes go wide as saucers. It seems so short in my nap but actually, I have taken 3 hour's nap as it is now nearing evening IRL!

Haaaah... It must be the leftover exhaustion from years of working overtime that my body tried to catch up on sleep.

-Exiting O.w.O-

I logged out for a bit to have a quick early dinner, shower, and generally clean myself up before logging back in. Anticipating Siegfried will be online anytime soon...

-Entering O.w.O-

Once the view around me isn’t the ceiling and my room. Instead, the thick lush forest of my Mini Deep Woods biomes. I was greeted by Gaia and saw Mr. One working hard.

I immediately accessed my crafting {Skill} to take my crafted potions and re-crafted them. Simultaneously, I also opened the players’ market checking if my potions had been sold or not.

(“Again!????”)

Who keeps buying my entire stock? That also includes my new potions. Now, I have tons of Zeni. Shaking my head to drive away my thoughts, I converted 70% of it to IRL money as usual.

Once I have done the deed, the newly crafted potions will be registered in the players’ market for sale. It is a cycle of crafting and selling, I just didn’t expect I have a reliable buyer that keeps buying my stock.

If they’re happy to purchase them, I’m happy to indulge them. I’ll use this money well thank you whoever you are.

I can also decorate a section into Mini Snow Fields. Then several small critters into it such as the snow rabbit and the like.

It’s strange... the Mini Snow Field looks exactly like the real one. With falling snow and a tall mountain, I didn’t feel bitter cold just a comfortable chill.

Walking around the mini biomes like the Swamplands and Deep Woods. I just realised something...

Are the critters here? Usually, I spotted one or two small creatures roaming around giving these places a ‘living’ vibe but some have disappeared.

Maybe I didn’t catch enough, I’ll capture more then.

“Gaia, take care of the house okay?”

“*BA!*” -Gaia-

A short and strong reply from him gave me confidence as I teleport to Frontera.

By using the ‘Catcher’ tool, I managed to capture many small creatures in Deep Woods, Swamplands, and Snow Fields. With this haul, I can make my Mini biomes look even more ‘lively’.

-Back to My Home-

Releasing those critters doesn’t take a lot of time. I can see they are settling in pretty easily and making the biomes look nicer.

*PING*

-Chat-

(Siegfried)

-Grind????

(Me)

-Yep! Usual place? O-o?

(Siegfried)

-You got it!

-Chat-

Taking only bare necessities to my inventory from my safe. I departed to Frontera...

-Frontera, Adventurer’s Guild-

Waiting at the usual place, I scour through my players’ journals. It is like studying to me, revising and relearning then memorising each ‘Keyword’ while understanding what these {Spell} do.

Maybe I can write a Spell Book on my own? Ohhhhh!!! That is a good idea.

I can just imagine myself holding an old grimoire looking very wizardry and fancy. Hehehehehe~

“Haha, what makes you smile like that?” -Siegfried-

“Ah!!! Sieg!”

He stood close by without me noticing, taking me by surprise as I let out a breath of relief.

“Just thinking about buying a book for a grimoire. You already know about my ability to use {Spell} right?”

“Yeah.” -Siegfried-

He nodded while we moved into the guild.

“I searched it up in Pochi Mochi’s blog. Magic casters have a magic panel accessible for them so they can easily look at and use it. But...”

“You don’t have one?” -Siegfried-

It is my turn to nod.

“So far, I’m using players’ journal to note all my {Spell}. It works well indeed but you know? I need more oomph! What people say uhmmm... ‘AESTHETHIC’ with sparkles in between.”

“Hmmm... The Academy Library should’ve some tips on making grimoire like that.” -Siegfried-

“That’s true, I’ll check on it later. Now! Let’s grind.”

By accepting the same requests, our next destination is in ‘Jagged Highlands’ another area beyond Snow Fields.

I have been there before, I mean to the entrance of the area. The travel time is quite long so I proposed something to Siegfried.

“Sieg, hold my hand.”

“W-what?” -Siegfried-

He sounded shocked and baffled. He was startled enough to give a wide berth between me and him rather than doing what I was asking.

...

...

...

Ahhhhhh... I know why, it sounded like I was hitting on him. Hahahahaha that’s very embarrassing. Silly me.

“Okay, sorry, I’ll explain. So, you know that the travel time between areas is quite long right?”

“Yeah?” -Siegfried-

“I discovered a {Spell} that helps with that. To teleport both of us. I need to be in close contact, that’s why I asked to hold hands.”

“I-I see... Fiuf.” -Siegfried-

He stretches his hands, woah... It is roughened to the point I see calluses. I do have calluses in my hand but mainly on my dominant hand because I wrote a lot for years.

Taking his hands with mine, it is coarse and much larger obviously.

Hm? Why is he taking a deep breath? Nevermind...

“[Teleportation]!!”

The casting time is as quick as casting a [Fire Bolt] and once that’s done. The scenery surrounding us instantly changed to pure white snow, and chilly cold winds blew past us.

Letting my hands go, I move in front with my hands on my waist to proudly say...

“There! We’re in Snow Fields. Quite fast wouldn’t you think so? Sieg??”

“A-ahh... Y-y-yeah.” -Siegfried-

He sheepishly rubbed the back of his head and passed by me to lead in front.

Did I make him uncomfortable? He seems to be a person who doesn’t like physical contact except during fights. I’ll keep in mind to alert him regarding the usage of this {Spell} from now on.

Upon arriving at the Safe Zone between Snow Fields and Jagged Highlands. The usual scenery of player couples greeted us.

I tried my best to squint my eyes in hopes of avoiding defiling my eyes with this atmosphere of love and lust. Who does that inappropriate thing in public anyway?

Understanding my plight, Siegfried strikes a conversation as we try to pass by rows of couples.

“You know, some players do +18 stuff to monsters.” -Siegfried-

My eyes go wide almost pop from my socket hearing it.

“WHAT!!!????”

I made a gagged reaction thinking about doing +18 stuff to Zombies or Arch Specter. But then... Slime... If one is depraved enough then maybe?

“Hahahahaha...” -Siegfried-

He’s teasing me! I know it! But before I can retort-

A beautiful scene of multiple mountains connected by a single road greeted me. These mountain spires pierce the clouds and I can see trees, ferns, and more vegetation that one can find only in high-altitude environments.

No doubt there will be ingredients and materials I can harvest or mine here! I can’t wait to discover them.

“Oh yeah! Sieg!”

“Hm?” -Siegfried-

He turned his head towards me. The system has a screenshot or video record function. I have never used it but now I want to! Commemorating this beautiful scene I’m reminded of the Deep Woods lake or Beginner’s Field sunflower patch.

“Do you want to take a Screenshot with me?”

He pondered for a bit.

“Sure why not?” -Siegfried-

“Great!!!”

Once I tapped the option of a selfie screenshot, a blue cube appeared equipped with a lens resembling a floating camera. It seems Siegfried can see it too as we position ourselves.

The blue cubed camera displays a timer of 3... 2... 1...

I smiled while giving a victory sign. Pretty corny but why not? The whole purpose of the game is to have fun.

Looking at the picture, I see myself and Siegfried within the beautiful scenery of these jagged highlands.

And... Oh! You!!!! Atop my head, there are Siegfried’s fingers making me look like I have bunny ears or antennae.

“Hahahahahaa...”

I couldn’t help but chuckle and share the image with Siegfried who laughs as well.

“Haha~, okay let’s continue. We’re going to dilly dally for too long if not.” -Siegfried-

“Yup, let’s go!!!”

Fully energized and revitalised. We set off to explore the Jagged Highlands and complete these adventurer’s requests.