Artificial Fantasy

Chapter 66: Singulars

I want to be honest here. I'm a bit nervous as I prepare to explain Azel about my experiences with menu-less crafting. Just standing in front of him makes me feel like I'm a teacher doing some kind of arts and crafts class kind of thing. Then again, I haven't done any kind of teaching or tutoring neither online nor offline, since Hayate is always the one tutoring me on some difficult subject from school. I'm also excited to meet and teach another mage in the game. He not only reminds me of myself when I first started the game but just seeing another kid player here makes my heart beat faster than before. So I begin telling him of my experiences of [Magecrafting]. From my ups and downs to the results I've obtained from my first two crafts, I give him ideas and some warnings from them without holding back a single detail from that day. Suffice to say, his jaw drops.

"Wow..." Azel spoke up. "I didn't know they have spells ready in my kit. And you did all of that in your first and second try?"

I gently rub the back of my head as I say, "Yeah. It was originally one of my attempts at doing those enchantment spells I read from Seraph, but I didn't even expect it to work so easily. But yeah. If you want to make a high-quality staff, I suggest you try making a [Magical Staff Base] with a spell that the grimoire from your kit provided. I know I didn't do that with my [Plasma Staff] due to some... issues. But if you do it in the correct order, I think you might able to build one with no problem."

"I-I understand." Azel sighs before he turns to the nearest [Magecrafting] station. "Alright, Fifth time's a charm. Will you help me with my staff, Mr. Kazu?"

"Just call me Kazu, Az. We're the same age here, I think."

Both of us share a smile, which is the first time I've seen them do so after our meeting.

"Right, Kazu."

With that, Azel starts on his [Magecrafting] as I stand behind him to observe and see in case he needs my help.

----

"Man, it's been a while since we've had a day-off."

Mr. White yawns as he stretches his arms wide while Mr. Spears works on several papers at the table.

"I agree. With all of the observations we've made on most of the test players for the last few months now, I'm relieved that we get to have some time for ourselves before the next patch. To be honest, we still haven't finished all of our reports that we've conducted from the past observations so far."

"Yeah. And with those Palmer kids off doing their thing in the game, it's a perfect time for us to check for bugs and any lingering exploits before the big reveal," Mr. White adds. "Still, I didn't expect their success with the [Surprise Quest] in <Tested Wilds> would turn out to be such a big deal in the gaming community."

"What do you expect? It was heavily advertised as one of the <Adventurers'> first obstacles in the world of <Volo>," Spears answers. "And it shows what we've seen on the live streams and playthroughs on social media. Not only that, but the original [Quest] behind it was also to calm [The White Tiger of the Beginning] in a raid boss battle. If Palmer's kids hadn't stepped in, we might have had to do tweaking on his AI and nerf some of his abilities."

"True. And let's not forget Wind's encounter with those <Lucidus> soldiers and the royal magician herself. The more those two interact with the NPCs, the more they managed to unlock the story and lore of the game faster than others. I know it's part of their programming, but I think might be a little too much like nepotism, don't you think?"

Spears opens his mouth to answer, only to hear chuckling behind him.

"Oh, come on. Not everything I do in my part is not all nepotism."