-Ethereal- BOOK I

Secrets

I look around. Everyone except for Gin had launched the game and where no longer in my space. I turn over to Gin

"Guilt, look for the e-mail Gin sent and place me out of party chat," I ask Guilt

"Right away Y/N. Gin has sent over a username and a password. He describes these two to be the special account login for the game Yggdrasil. Should I launch the game?" Guilt asks

"Not yet. Standby," I request

"I will be on standby Y/N," Guilt responds

Gin smiles.

"So, what aren't you telling?" I ask

"Well, there are lots. Depends on what you want to know. Not that anything is in 'need to know basis' But lots of information is trivial" Gin replies

"Who gave you these accounts?" I inquired

"A friend whom I helped a few years ago. He is now a game developer on a new project. I once heard he was working on an expansion for Yggdrasil but was canceled due to the current game engine limitations. Since he is no longer directly working on Yggdrasil he gifted me these accounts. Don't get me wrong, the accounts were not my goal, all I wanted to ask if there were any bugs in the code to allow for some fun" Gin comically responds

I turn to face Gin

"Going by your happy attitude, you got more then you were looking for" I comment

"Hun, kind of. Not quite. There is an area where we can play around but it's locked in the canceled expansion. So getting in there will be tricky, hence the accounts will facilitate that for us. It's ok I suppose. But what made me laugh is how adamant he was in informing me about his expansion" Gin laughs off his reply

"Anything particularly amusing?" I ask

"Lots actually. But the general idea was that he had made a whole story arc involving NPC based on my friends. He does not know my friends very well except for one. But he tried" Gin answers with a bright smile

I never met any of Gin's friends. This might be a good chance to hear about them. I think to myself.

"What friend?" I ask

"Oh, a good friend of mine named Marshm..." Gin pauses, corrects himself and continues. "A friend of mine named Marsh. The thing about this friend of mine is they like to bite"

"Bite? What kind of friends do you associate with" I ask

"Irrelevant! And trivial since those NPC are disconnected from the game and will not be encounter" Gin states

"I see" I sadly comment

"What is important is the area we will be accessing. It was the only area connected to the game for testing purposes. However, the number of resources required to maintain it made the whole game laggy and glitchy. Mainly because of its unoptimized original code and outdated engine. The new code did not work correctly without heavily patching Yggdrasil's code and rewriting its code in some areas. It was cheaper to just make a new game. Needless to say, it was started but when reality hit, some of the code was already modified. Therefore when it was canceled the code was just lightly patched and the entrance to the new area was made improbable to access" Gin informs

I look at Gin with a puzzled look.

"Enough of this mumble jumble. Now for the juicy part. The area in question was going to be a way of introducing FAMICI in a controlled and balanced way it was also supposed to be an endgame dungeon. All mobs there were going to be boss type, new and current. The deeper you ventured it would have required an entire guild and beyond that cooperative guild expeditions and so on. Interested?" Gin asks

I feel a great surge of excitement flow through me as Gin asks. Contain the smile creeping from my lips. I place my hand over my mouth in an attempt to control my emotions.

"Such a temptest you can become. I suppose it does sound fun" I respectfully reply.

I remove my hand from my mouth

"How are we entering and how are the others supposed to survive?" I ask

Gin smiles and disappears from view. I suddenly feel some weight on my shoulders. Gin was sitting upon my shoulders as I look up.

"You friends will not be joining us in that area. They will only die. I know I mentioned it was supposed to be balanced with those unable to use FAMICI but it was never put in place since that was what the testing procedures were for. However, the accounts that they received did get a boost to their leave cap. The new cap was not part of the expansion it was purely for testing purposes so it will work on the regular game. I will convey that information to them momentarily. As for getting in. It's a bit tricky. It was set up in a way where only a level zero could enter as long as the acceptor thread is available. Unfortunately, it's not. But a little virus will fix that. Don't worry it won't spread or anything or be detected. Yggdrasil in itself will not be affected. Now as for the level issue it can be fixed with the dev tools that come with our accounts" Gin states

"Is that so. I suppose you have covered all the angles" I suggest

"On another note, it's probably a good idea to keep that place just between us. Unless you would like me to train them up for FAMICI" Gin laughs

I shiver a bit and regain my composure

"No, I rather spare them that nightmare. One doomsday is more than enough don't you think?" I ask

Gin begins to laugh again.

"All in good fun my friend, all in good fun" Gin comments

"Guilt" I call

"Yes Y/N" Guilt responds

"Connect me back to the party and launch the game" I command

"As you wish Y/N" Guilt replies