Open World Online (O.w.O)

• 1^st Person POV (MC)

-Present Time-

The tree bark has a glimmering sheen coating it and I can see budding leaves from its previously dead branches. Like a fast-forward video of plant growth, I witnessed the leaves grow larger and unfold gracefully. Its shimmering golden colour twinkles underneath this afternoon sun. Even I can tell that this tree is healthy and hale.

It's breathtakingly beautiful to watch as if I’m in a cut scene. But just right at this moment...

*Rustle* *Rustle* *Crack*

I can hear branches snapping from afar and the surrounding trees shivered upon the incoming being that comes ever so close.

I wanted to stand up but my body didn’t move, I tried to move a muscle but it was futile then...

In the corner of my vision, I can see a tiny icon of a play button and an arrow circling it. Below that icon a description that made me click on why I cannot move.

‘Cutscene is in Play’

Might as well sit and watch them as I stare at the approaching creature. I finally saw what is it...

A huge hulking wolf probably as big as an elephant with half of its body decayed into bones and rotting flesh. From its intimidating jaw, dark smoke billows and all that’s engulfed by it decayed. Leaves withered into brown then blackened. Even the surrounding trees greyed like what had happened to this tree over here.

It noticed me, in this situation I am a sitting duck immobile due to cutscene. Before it pounces on me though. The roots of the golden tree spout forth from below like a spike trap. Piercing holes into the body of the wolf.

This has become a fight between the plant and this creature.

The wolf inhaled its breath and exhaled it fully blasting the decaying miasma to the tree. But mysterious winds coming from somewhere deflected the miasma and the roots grasped the wolf in its entirety then crushed it into a mangled mess.

The tree swiftly won in the end.

Such a surreal sight to see a tree capable of fighting back like that. As I notice the cutscene icon vanished and I can move my body around like usual.

*Creaaaaaak*

The roots from this tree gently grow towards me. Presenting something that I can take. In the form of a glimmering sphere like a monster loot. After obtaining it, I checked my inventory.

-System-

[Seed of Life (Unique)]

Description: A seed from the Tree of Life. A Racial-Changing item where one can become an Elf.

Congratulations! You got your first {Title}. They are honorary badges that affect your relationship with the People of O.w.O.

NEW!! {Title}: (Nature’s Savior)

Description: A {Title} given to those who healed The Tree of Life. While having this {Title}, Elves regard you as Friendly.

-System-

Ooooooooohhhhhh....

I see, I see... that is how you get racial-changing items besides the Character Creation. I think if I remember, Racial-Changing items have disappeared from Character Creation. I wonder about my item [Astral Orb]. Am I the only one having this race? Or is there some kind of scenario like this one to get it?

Nevertheless, I didn’t want to change race since I’m already satisfied with mine so I’m thinking of planting this seed in my home.

The {Title} though, my first ever {Title}. I guess I won’t get those hateful stares from the elves. Let's try...

Bidding farewell to the tree, I simply teleported to Lainore and arrived at its entrance.

The previously glaring guards stare at me in disbelief before in a hurry. Leave his post and dash towards the City Hall. I followed them and saw the Elder dismiss the guards with a gentle persona.

Once a guard whispered to her ears she appeared to be in deep thought before she then spoke.

“We’re thankful for your assistance in clearing our water source. Mayhaps, you can tell us what’s causing it?” -Elder Elf NPC-

I then began explaining what I had seen and once I talked about the decayed wolf. Several elves including the guards gasped and widened their eyes from shock.

Nevertheless, I continued till I finished.

“It is true then... then we must prepare.” -Elder Elf NPC-

“Prepare for what?”

I asked in earnest, the elder simply shook her head.

“We cannot add more burden to the saviour of Mother Tree. We will take care of this by ourselves. Once again, thank you for your help. Our village is open to you and their services will prove to be an invaluable help.” -Elder Elf NPC-

She and the rest promptly leave the city hall leaving me astounded in the middle.

I shrugged and just thought about what kind of shops were available in this elven village. The icons on the map showed me; that there’s a tailor, alchemist, enchanter, and artisan.

Visiting each of them gives me auto-craft recipes. Plus the enchanter can replenish used EP so that’s a thing... rather than waiting for 1 In-Game day.

Keeping important items in my Safe Inventory. I walked out from Lainore, still wanting to find a dungeon suited for my class.

“[Extend: Invisibility]”

“[Extend: Incorporeal]”

As I get deeper into the Leinore Forest, the monster gets stronger too. I just identified LV 70 beasts and freaks of nature. One part of the forest is just death and decay, all of the monstrosities there are around LV 80 and they can detect me from afar. So, I sprinted like a rabbit...

Haaaaah... I guess I’ll farm the dungeon ‘Ancient Ruins’ for now. Opening my friend list, I was hoping Siegfried to be online and he is...

-Chat-

(Me)

-What’cha doing??? O-o?

After several minutes...

(Siegfried Calenus)

-Ahhh!! Sorry for the late reply. Just finished the advancement class quest. Wanna grind gear? You heard the announcement right??

(Me)

-I was just going to ask you. >_< where do we go first? I’m thinking of ‘Ancient Ruins’ and ‘Beast Cave’.

(Siegfried Calenus)

-Yup. Beast Cave during the day and Ancient Ruins during the night? Ad infinitum till we get a set.

(Me)

-Oki Doki!!! Meet up at Frontera’s usual place?

(Siegfried Calenus)

-*Thumbs Up*

-Chat-

Soon after, I stocked up on necessary potions and immediately teleported to the adventurer’ guild of Frontera.

I can see Siegfried’s waiting there, he’s leaning to one of the walls that gate the building.

“Sieggg!!!”

“There you are. Let’s go?” -Siegfried-

I nodded as we fast-travelled to the Area Deep Woods courtesy of [Teleportation] {Spell}. This won’t be MMORPG without constant Grind and RNG as we conquered Beast Cave again and again.

Approximately, we played for 6 hours till midnight in Siegfried’s time each day and night cycle conquering between Ancient Ruins and Beast Cave.

Truthfully, there is a big change when you’re going to solo a dungeon or go with a party. One is the difficulty of the dungeon then the structure of the place is much different.

We also discovered a new thing in ‘Ancient Ruins’ a combination of both creativity and daredevil. By allowing the ‘Boss’ to stay with low HP not healing it with the blue flames. It goes to its second phase rather quickly but the surrounding blue flames fizzle.

But! We overpowered it by using pure {Status}, {Skill}, and {Spell}. I mean, it is scaled based on our Level. Ultimately though, it’s still a dungeon for low LV players so it doesn’t have a lot of complicated mechanics.

And also... hehehehe~ [Guidance] buff works its wonders. I’m glad with the increase in drop chance so we’re having an easier time grinding.

-Back in Frontera, in a park somewhere-

“Alright! Let’s see what we got here.” -Siegfried-

We’re currently displaying what we have and trading things if we need them.

For example; I got an item [Sword of Darkness (Rare)]. Since I’m a mage I don’t use it, so I traded it to Siegfried even if he’s a berserker class.

Conversely, Siegfried got [Talisman of Darkness (Rare)] a weapon for the Priest class. He traded it to me as well.

We’ve been doing that until we got a full inventory.

“Haaaaah...”

I sighed in massive relief, I had a set full to wear; Headgear, Chest Piece, Leggings, and Shoes including a Weapon. All with higher {Status} and better-boosting effects to dark element {Spell} because that’s the theme of Ancient Ruins.  

-System-

[Circlet of Darkness (Rare)]

Description: An ancient and broken headpiece, Dark mana seems to gather ominously. When worn, Moderately Increase WIS and Slightly Reduce MP cost of Dark Elemental {Spell}.

 Requirement: LV50 Mage or Priest class.

[Robe of Darkness (Rare)]

Description: A torn robe, worn by a renowned mage who’s its name has been lost to time and insanity. When worn, Moderately Increase Resistance to Dark Elemental Damage and Slightly Reduce Cast Time of Dark Elemental {Spell}.

Requirement: LV50 Mage or Priest class.

[Shoes of Darkness (Rare)]

Description: Torn shoes have been used and endured. When worn, Moderately Increase INT and Moderately Increase Maximum MP and Passive MP Regen.

Requirement: LV 50 Mage or Priest class.

[Staff of the Darkness (Rare)]

Description: A sleek ebony staff wielded by an ancient mage who wished to pursue immortality but was consumed by insanity in the end. When worn, Moderately Increases INT, Moderately Increases Dark Elemental {Spell} potency, and Moderately Ignores enemies Dark Element Resistance.

Requirement: LV50 Mage class.

-System-

“Uwah... I’m focused on Dark {Spell} now.”

Robes consume both Armour and Leggings slots. So with this, my set is complete as I wore them.

“Yikes, you look like those necromancers in the sewers.” -Siegfried-

“Hey!!!”

I pouted. Extending my hand, I cast a simple {Spell} belonging to NPCs. Aptly named ‘[Conjure: Object]’ I used it to summon a simple mirror. It has a duration and once it’s done. The object simply vanishes, I can only use this {Spell} to summon miscellaneous objects for a brief period so it isn’t useful in combat.

Looking at my reflection, I sighed in defeat. I do look like a necromancer albeit a tattered one at that. I twirled around to check what I looked like from back...

“Mag... I always wondered...” -Siegfried-

“Yeah?”

“Do you have a lot of non-combat {Spell} learned?” -Siegfried-

I think he’s referring to when we travel inside the dungeon. I unleashed a lot of NPC {Spell}, I believe they called it ‘Daily Life Magic’ or something. Incredibly short {Spell} cast time and has practically no cooldown.

“Yup! I learned a lot of {Spell} from NPCs, Monsters, and Players.”

I puffed my chest in pride as I worked hard to remember the names and effects of these {Spell} manually.

“How odd... you don’t have a {Spell} Memory?” -Siegfried-

That’s a thing? I raised my eyebrows in confusion and replied.

“W-what do you mean? What’s {Spell} Memory?”

Siegfried looks quite perplexed by my response as he elaborates.

“It’s a recent addition to Pochi Mochi’s Wikia for Magic Casters. Sure, they can learn almost limitless lot of {Spell} in their {Spell} List. But Magic Casters can only use some of them limited by their {Spell} Memory. Like... How should I say this? Uhm... Quickslots! Yeah like that.” -Siegfried-

I nodded in understanding. It makes sense... If that is true then in Siegfried’s POV and many other magic casters. Me ‘equipping’ NPC {Spells} would be a waste of Quickslots.

“Hmmm, I don’t have any {Spell} Memory it seems. For as long as I *myself* remember the ‘Keyword’ of a {Spell} I can use it. I see... It's due to my {Trait}.”

Now it’s Siegfried’s turn to nod along and also he began to wear a full set of lion armour from the secret chimera boss in Beast Cave.

He’s wearing a fearsome-looking lion headdress, pauldrons, leggings, and shoes made from the lion skin of the chimera.

It suits the ‘Barbarian’ look and he says that this armour doesn’t get considered as ‘Heavy Armour or Medium Armour’ but rather like robes ‘Clothing’ so it won’t interfere with his class {Skill}.

“Sieg? I assume you’ve already put your name in the participation for the C.B.R event?”

With a big wide grin and punching his hands together, he said excitedly...

“Of course! Wouldn’t want to miss out on it!!” -Siegfried-

“Haha... I don’t want to fight you though...”

I saw Siegfried’s agility and speed. He can freely alter from the lithe form into a strong form easily like a snap of a finger. To fight him, I need to keep my [Star Shield] up for as long as possible. Plus, his ability to summon Beast Spirits to give him extra effects is... Ugh...

“Chill! I’m not gonna attack you. Truce?” -Siegfried-

Internally, I heave a heavy sigh of relief.

“Truce! I won’t attack you either.”

We agreed and shook hands. As Siegfried logged off, I checked on my crafting regarding the ‘Furniture’. Though... I don’t think making cliffs and spires, trees, and the like is regarded as ‘Furniture’ but eh...

Once I received all of them, I simply teleported to My Home. Where I can hear the familiar sounds of galloping from afar.

“Master!!!” -Gaia-

“I’m home~.”

I patted the head of this herbivore gently and put the ‘Furniture’ to match the biome I was making.

Fields of Sorrow and Jagged Highlands. Lainore Forest will be for later as I used my ability to create more adamantine ores.

I have produced these ores secretly during the grind with Siegfried so I have enough to make all the golems here adamantine.

Once I put the decor here and there, I used the {Spell} [Summon Golem] upcasted to my current Tier. Which is Tier 6...

With the usual visual effects taking over, I’m now presented by 6 Adamantine Golems. Each of them is assigned to their corresponding section and maintains plants, critters, etc of their station.

I see... The new upgrades allowed them to innately have the {Spell} [Fly] effect applied. That is good, that is good... Jagged Highlands have a lot of verticality.

I already planted the seeds and in return, I will passively gain the harvest. I love it!

I smiled while caressing Gaia as we travelled around each section of My Home. I have 12 Sections, 5 of which have been used... Ahhh!!!

A realization dawned upon me, I haven’t checked what is my newest ‘Wheels’ on the pedestal.

Skipping my steps, I climbed the stairs with Gaia towards the central pedestal. I can immediately tell, that the next ‘Wheel’ has been removed from its rust. It simply floats and doesn’t rotate.

Approaching it, I noticed the engraved icons are the shape of ‘Cones’. Small, Medium, Large cones and it is segmented into 12 parts. I realised it almost instantly, these segments referred to my sections. Even the orientation of it resembles every one of my sections.

What if...

I pulled one segment and it came off rather easily then I put it on the other segment like building blocks. It adjusted itself to fit with the new spot.

*FWOOOSH*

A gentle silent breeze passed through the gaps between the pillars. Catching my attention to look outside. The previously nearby Mini Deep Woods biome is now just an empty lot with a flat grass field.

The golem looked confused about what happened as it didn’t get transported. Before long, it recalibrated and began walking in a direction.

I looked where the golem was going and I could see the Mini Deep Woods was now there...

This means I can freely alter where the sections are. A wide smirk adorned me as I knew what to do...

I purposely left the ‘Inner Area’ empty. Only filling the ‘Outer Area’ and ‘Middle Area’. I have some plans regarding the ‘Inner Area’ of My Home.

That is it for the day, I’m a bit tired...

-Exiting O.w.O-

I took a nice hot shower, turned the heater up, and ate food before brushing my teeth. I fall asleep quicker than usual.