...
Cough! Cough!
Shin could not help but cough violently when he tried to suppress the foreign force that invaded his body after receiving Cloe's punch.
He was about to say something more when he saw Cloe aggressively pounce at him for another time, seemingly trying to kill him.
But when he was preparing to defend himself, he suddenly felt something soft pressed on his chest followed by a pair of arms wrapping themselves around him.
He was stunned for a moment before smiling bitterly. He felt some wetness on his chest, clearly indicating that this girl was currently in tears.
He gently wrapped his arms around her while softly patting and stroking her back. "It's fine. I'm here safe and sound in front of you, don't you see?"
"You are still such a crybaby despite growing so strong," he added in a joking manner to lighten the mood, earning him a soft punch from her.
It took quite a while for him to calm her down, which made him quite helpless.
They sat on his bed after quite some time before asking. "Have you calmed down now?"But when he did not receive a reply, he offered instead. "Or are you feeling hungry? I can cook something for you before we can talk."
It was at this moment when Cloe finally opened her mouth. "We-… talk first. Tell me everything."
"I am planning to tell you about it anyway-… along with Leonard and others," he tried to dodge the topic at first but quickly rejected the idea after seeing her sharp and dangerous glare. "But-… I guess I will tell you first."
'She never changes. She is still quite intimidating and scary when she is truly angry,' he thought to himself while wearing a bitter smile.
Shin sighed for a moment before scratching the back of his head "Where should I start?"
***
Real World
World Gaming Organization Headquarters
Carlos was having another headache after watching a certain recording projected inside his office. He stared intently at the player who was the main character of the recording before sighing.
"I am wondering why it is so peaceful just recently because this troublemaker has not done anything big for quite a long time. But it looks like he only has given us a little 'vacation' to prepare us for an even bigger mess."
"Why of all times? Why when the United Cup is underway? Is he not planning to train with his team?" he sighed in full helplessness as he paused the recording.
It was the moment when the player in the recovered had killed his opposition with a final strike that even Carlos had to admit that it was an impressive feat.
He leaned his back on his chair to slightly relaxed before closing his eyes. He tapped his finger on the armrest before mumbling. "At this rate, he will be able to unlock another troublesome content when he finishes all the trials."
"Unlocking the Ancient Races this early when the 'Realm Wars' is currently underway? This will mess up the balance a little too much."
Knock! Knock!
While he was grimacing, someone knocked on the door of his office, interrupting his thoughts.
"Enter."
Clink!
Not long after, Lohengrin opened the door and entered before closing it behind him. He walked over to the desk of the Department Head before handling a tablet. "The chairman has given his orders."
"Oh!?" Carlos was suddenly awakened and sat up straight. "Really? What did he say? Did he agree with our proposal?"
Lohengrin did not immediately answer as he tapped the tablet a couple of times, projecting a timetable of the scheduled plans that they were supposed to follow for the release of the game contents if not for the mess that the Miracle Players were giving them, particularly a certain someone, who was their greatest headache.
"The strategic team said that since the Faction War between the Righteous Churches and the Evil Faction is already underway, and the players are already starting to choose their side accordingly, it will not be much of a problem to release the bypassed contents of the game."
The so-called strategic team was a 'coalition' of every department of the World Gaming Organization.
Due to the troublemakers, the heads of each department had decided to create this team by sending a few of their most elite talents who could come up with quick solutions according to the progress of the Miracle Players.
Surprisingly – or unsurprisingly – the team had fallen under the jurisdiction of the Monitoring Department since they were the ones, who received the earliest news about the progression of these 'troublemakers', especially when they had written down their names on a special list.
The department even had dedicated teams just for monitoring these players.
In simpler terms, the Department Heads had dumped the extra work on Carlos as he was the 'freest' among all of them.
Carlos could not refuse either as their reason was quite reasonable. Moreover, the chairman had already approved it, so he could not say anything.
"And the decision is?" asked Carlos in a somewhat desperate tone while waiting for Lohengrin's next words.
"The leading players are way ahead of the pack anyway, so it will not much affect the progression of the game if we release some of the information about the forgotten contents."
Snap!
Carlos became excited when he heard those words, snapping his fingers. "Then what are we waiting for? Let's start the preparations already!"
Lohengrin shook his head as he continued. "We are not supposed to get involved with the progression of the game as it will mess up the system. But releasing this news will indeed solve some of our problems and restore some of the balance."
"But it will still be a little unfair to the others, particularly the mainstream players, who are right between those leading ahead and the ones lagging behind."
"So, the information that we are going to release will be in the form of lore dump and background stories of certain areas, events, or even artifacts. We will hide the true information among these loads of information as some sort of clues that the players need to explore."
"This way, it will not much unfair to the others. They will still have to spend quite a lot of time and effort reading the history of the game before they can find these easter eggs."
"It will be up to them whether they want to follow these clues or not."
He then paused for a moment before continuing. "But this information will be limited to the earlier contents that are almost been forgotten. Those at are too close to the progression of the mainstream players will still be on hold."
"The purpose of this project is to make the newer players aware of some secrets of the game and let them catch up with the others at a much faster pace. It will also nurture them into new experts that will fill the gaps created by the Miracle Players and Apex Gods of the game."
"Another thing, the quests and clues meant for hidden and special quests are to remain secret, particularly those that can produce drastic changes in the pace of the game."
"Based on these conditions, only the quest from level 50 and below are to be chosen by the team. Level 60 should be the limit."
Carlos continuously nodded his head as he heard these. "That is much better than what I have expected already! We can start with the plan."
"The strategic team is already listing out the quests that meet our conditions and writing up the background stories that are to be posted on the official website," said Lohengrin.
"That's good!" Carlos was quite satisfied with the result before suddenly remembering something. "Oh! What about Troy? What is that guy doing right now?"
"Department Head Troy?" Lohengrin paused for a moment as he tried to recall something before answering. "I heard that he is quite busy these days. He has been pushing the Development Team quite a lot from what I have heard. They are having quite a lot of overtime as well."
"They said that Department Head Troy is saying that have been inspired by something. And the inspirations have been passed down to his people and they have been since then."
He then took a table and searched for something before projecting another timetable. "He even has proposed a series of events in the last few meetings. His team has produced quite a lot of questlines already – five of them are even at major quest level."
Carlos was quite surprised when he heard that and looked at the timetable. "Since when that lazy bum has become this productive?"
Lohengrin shrugged his shoulders. "I am not sure either. But I heard that the chairman is quite pleased with his actions."
"Of course, those from the other departments, who have to be busy due to his proposals, are cursing him because of the loads of work he has dumped in them," he added with a slight shake of his head.
Hearing that, Carlos felt that something was not right. "Why do I feel something is amiss?"
That was when he heard Lohengrin's next words. "It feels like he is acting like a hardworking ant that is preparing for the storm that is about to come."
"Ah!"
Something seemed to have struck Carlos' head when he heard those words. "D*mn! That guy is accumulating many projects while our 'guy' is not present."
"He must be preparing to watch the 'adventures' of his favorite player for a 'movie marathon' after a 'long' hiatus."
...…
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