[F17 | SP] A Kernel of Truth and Doubt | <<Challenge of Olympus: Forager>>

[Acanthus 0]

The more Acanthus adventured, the more normal she felt. When she shut herself in for the first few years, her life was constant numbness punctuated by panic attacks and terrible thoughts. She recalled after her first adventure feeling content, and that contentment felt like finding a long-lost friend, or hearing a song you’d forgotten about. She relished that warm relief that she worried had been lost forever. Now, contentment was a consistent companion. She enjoyed her daily walks around floor 24, and her frequent trips back to Tolbana. Her life had developed a routine again; rather than a routine desk job, it was a routine adventuring job. Acanthus started to hate it.

She laid on a couch in A Familiar Tune, morning sun trickling in through half-drawn curtains. The city was waking up as well. Fishmongers shouted their prices, players excitedly chatted as they made their way to the harbor, outward bound for the sandy beaches of Raitoboru Bay. She needed to go there someday. It was supposedly a magical place of rest and recovery. She heard players talking about “having a beach episode.” Acanthus wasn’t sure what that meant. Having any kind of episode on the beach sounded like a bad time. But the players always talked about “beach episodes” with such anticipation.

 

Spoiler

 

Acanthus | Lvl 21 | HP: 450/450 | EN: 60/60 | DMG: 13 | MIT: 66 | EVA: 1 | ACC: 2 | LD: 3 | BLD: 36 | PARA | Ambition

Equipment Meteor | T3 Perfect Straight Sword | BLD 2 PAR 1 In Noctem | T3 Perfect Light Armor | MIT 2 EVA 1 Tuning Fork | Ambition	Battle-Ready Inventory None
Skills and Mods Straight Sword R5 Add-on: Focus Add-on: Precision Light Armor R5 Add-on: Resolve Searching R3 Mod: Night Vision Hiding R3 Combat Mastery: DMG R1

 

 

Edited August 22 by Acanthus

[Acanthus 0]

With a tired sigh, she rolled over to her side, and swiped open the quest menu. Let’s see what the job for today is. Completed. Swipe. Level too high. Swipe. Needs a full party. Swipe. Challenge of Olympus? It’s showing incomplete, but didn’t I already do that? Viewing the quest, she realized it was similar to the <<Earning a Living>> thread. It was repeatable for different professions. And the reward was a nice boost to her gathering abilities. Might as well. She pressed a few buttons to track the quest, and hoisted herself off the couch with a groan.

Job or not, Acanthus was grateful that the commute was much nicer. Her shop was about a ten-minute walk from the main plaza on floor 24, and the view was much nicer than the inside of a train. She stopped by the same baker she did every morning for a breakfast pastry, waved high to the same shopkeepers on her way to the plaza. Much nicer than taking the train into Tokyo.

[Acanthus 0]

Floor 17 was the same as she’d left it since the last quest. Given the similarities of floor 17 and 24, much of the atmosphere was the same. To Acanthus, the difference was subtle but important. She would have described the feeling of teleporting to floor 24 as the feeling of your first summer vacation that you really learned to appreciate. But floor 17 was the feeling of returning to school. Not necessarily bad, but the air of obligation that hung over her felt like it muted any potential joy of learning or moving forward.

Unlike her first visit, she took no time to sightsee. This was not a vacation, it was just another job in the form of a quest. She checked her route; this time, the quest directed her south. She was supposed to find a water nymph who would take her to Demeter’s Island. Acanthus wasn’t sure what the water nymph would look like, but she probably…

[Acanthus 0]

Acanthus lost her train of thought. Definitely a he, not a she.

The water nymph before her wore something that resembled a tight diving suit that reached his thighs, and was unzipped, revealing a lean, pale blue chest. He leaned casually on a boat tie, surveying the sea with a strange intensity. She pictured him as a lifeguard in an American film. Her footsteps sounded on the wooden dock as she approached, and he perked up. “Hey, you must be one of the newbies, yea? Just finished shipping over the last batch for today’s quest. I think you may be it.” His tight black curls bounced along his shoulders while he spoke. Some game developer spent way too long sculpting this nymph’s abs. His mathematically perfect body was peculiar to Acanthus.

“That’s not a problem, Mr. Water Nymph.” The nymph laughed. “That’s such a dad name. Just call me Argo.” Argo’s gaze moved over Acanthus’ shoulder. “Oh, my bad Acanthus! Looks like we’ve got one more for the ride.”

“Acanthus? What are the odds?”

[Acanthus 0]

Acanthus leaned over the trireme as the wind gently carried it across the waters. She picked awkwardly at some of the barnacles and chaff stuck to the bow. Driven by her desire to avoid the conversation, she pulled a surprisingly large amount of materials into the boat.
“C’mon, Acanthus. I know I left a bad impression that first time. I’m just asking for a do-over.”

Acanthus gave a small sigh; she pulled herself back into the boat, sitting across from the familiar leather-clad figure. “Hello, Titania. How have you been since Olympus.” Titania beamed. “It’s been great! I’ve met tons of players. I even joined a guild. I wanted to get my foraging up so that I could help take on some of the field bosses.”

“That’s nice.” A dull silence fell between them. “So… What about you?”

“I’ve been doing well. I went on a few quests. I’m actually doing a longer quest chain right now, called Scents of the Wild.” She thought for a moment. “With a friend.”

Spoiler

Post Action: Gathering Materials
ID 228308 | LD 12 + 3 = 15 | CD 9. Critical Success! (2) Materials.
EXP: 118/149

 

Edited August 25 by Acanthus

[Acanthus 0]

“Wow! So you finally made a friend.” Acanthus glared, and Titania immediately put a hand over her mouth. “Acanthus, I’m sorry. I didn’t—I… Ugh.” She slumped back into the boat. Acanthus walked to the back of the trireme to busy herself picking more barnacles. Seeing none, she fished a long dragnet out of her inventory. She knew the boat ride would be long, so she came prepared with equipment to help her gather along the way.

“Man, you really are prepared! I’m a little jealous.” Acanthus continued to focus on trawling for various materials. The ocean was rich with life, and she was able to pull bundles of seaweed, clams, and other useful sundries from the depths. “But using a net… Isn’t that more like fishing than foraging?”

“There’s more than fish in the ocean.” She cast the net again.

Titania moved over to her peripheral vision, and leaned on the boat’s rail. “Acanthus, I’m sorry I sucked that first time you met me. I know I let my mouth run and I made some tasteless jokes about you and Apollo. Can you let me know what else I did? I’ll try to avoid it in the future.”

Spoiler

Post Action: Gathering Materials
ID 228309 | LD 20 + 3 = 23 | CD 11. Critical Success! (2) Materials. (4) materials total.
EXP: 135/149

 

Edited August 25 by Acanthus

[Acanthus 0]

Refreshingly direct. Acanthus thought maybe she could afford to give Titania another chance. Without breaking her concentration on the net, she began to talk out loud. “It wasn’t just that. It was… I don’t know. We were having a big feast to celebrate all the people that cleared the quest, and you didn’t even care. You pulled me out of that banquet hall and didn’t even ask if I wanted to go.”

“Acanthus, I know I shouldn’t be making excuses but… I did it because you just looked, I don’t know, like you were in another galaxy or something.” Pulling her net alongside the boat, it once again yielded a plethora of materials. The boat started to sag conspicuously to the side. Acanthus quickly reduced the items and placed them in her inventory.

Acanthus thought back to the banquet. Titania wasn't wrong. Something about the noise, the lights, the fact that she was dressed so differently, from her hair to her shoes... She had a distinct feeling of disjointment, and then she was looking at herself from the next seat over. Like she was watching a movie.

Spoiler

Post Action: Gathering Materials
ID 228310 | LD 18 + 3 = 21 | CD 10. Critical Success! (2) Materials. (6) materials total.
EXP: 152/149 Level up!

 

Edited August 25 by Acanthus

[Acanthus 0]

“You looked like how I felt when I started the game. Like you weren’t really there. And when I felt like that, I always needed a change of scenery. So I assumed you did too.”

With one last attempt, Acanthus tried pulling some seaweed and coral into the moving boat. It seemed she'd depleted the ocean. It made sense, given all her precious luck. “You’re not wrong. But neither am I a child. Please ask my permission for anything like that in the future.” Acanthus waited a moment, then gave a quick bow. “I appreciate you talking to me. You were right, you do make a good second impression.”

Titania gleefully jumped, and took two big steps towards Acanthus. She paused, arms outstretched, and asked, “permission to hug?” Not a huge fan. But she did ask. Acanthus nodded, and Titania squeezed her tightly.

“Yes! Friends! This is great. Oh man, I can’t wait to do the quest. I bet it’ll be great. We’ll have to share stories after we both complete it.” Argo whistled back to them. “Get ready! The island is on the horizon. We’ll be there soon.”

Spoiler

Post Action: Gathering Materials
ID 228311 | LD 4 + 3 = 7 . Failure.
EXP: 156/299

 

Edited August 25 by Acanthus

[Acanthus 0]

The island of Demeter was even more gorgeous than the rest of floor 17. Every last plant was carefully tended and bloomed with a full vitality. Everywhere Acanthus looked, it was an earthly kaleidoscope. But Acanthus was slowly numbing to the beauty all around her. Nymphs buzzed around the two of them, guiding them to the great hall of Demeter. Argo stuck close-by as well. “She’ll give you the task inside. You’re the last ones to arrive, so they’ll be good to go once you sit down.

Acanthus and Titania snuck into the great hall and found seats in the back. A few of the players turned to look at them; the rest idly chatted without paying them any attention.

The room stood still as Demeter entered. She was in her goddess form, standing three times taller than the tallest player. She wore humble working clothes: overalls and a clean cloth shirt, and a sunflower-yellow bandana to keep her auburn hair out of her face. The underside of her fingernails were caked with dirt. She wiped the sweat from her brow and gave a glowing smile to the players. “It’s a pleasure to see you all here! Why don’t we get started.”

[Acanthus 0]

“I’m not much for speeches, really. Why don’t I just give you the task and let you all go? We can save the speeches for when you all return, successful in your task.”

Demeter pulled a small kernel from her overalls. “This is an Alethia Kernal.” It was barely visible from her fingers; it couldn’t have been any bigger than a piece of corn. “They are exceedingly hard to find. It’s said that they only sprout under the perfect conditions, and those conditions change from seed to seed. But,” she continued, “these kernels are vital to feeding the gods. They are one of the few sources that can be harvested and refined into ambrosia.”

Demeter paused to take stock of the crowd, stopping to smile warmly at each player. “As the goddess of the harvest, it’s easy enough for me to come up with the kernels myself. But the point of this contest is to challenge you all as foragers.” Some of the players started to murmur. Demeter grinned, her eyes glimmered faintly in the light. “That’s right. I did say this is a competition. You are to divide into teams; no more than four, no less than two. The players that donate enough kernels will accomplish the quest. The rest will have to try again later.”

[Acanthus 0]

As the players continued to murmur in discontent, Acanthus raised her hand and waited. Demeter looked over the crowd to her. “Yes, adventurer?”

“You told us to make teams. But you said the ‘players’ that donate enough kernels win. Was that intentional?” Demeter’s grin widened. “Very astute! That’s right. You’ll be collecting as a team of two to four, but kernels will be counted by the player.” The players’ volume had increased to indignant whispers. Demeter was unfazed. “That’s all. I’ll leave you to it!” With a clap of her hands, she vanished in a light summer breeze.

The room devolved into an uproar. Players were scrambling to form parties, arguing about how to share the kernels, and where to start looking. Titania leaned over to Acanthus. “Hey, I think we need to team up, and I think we need to head out. Now.” Acanthus felt overwhelmed by the situation. This was nothing like Apollo’s solo, philosophical task. 

[Acanthus 0]

This was a mass competition of brute gathering. More numbers likely meant more kernels, and that would increase everyone’s chances in the group. Acanthus looked over to Titania; she held her hand out, gesturing toward the outside of the tent. “Acanthus, I know you’re thinking more is better. And I know you were upset about me whisking you away last time. But I think we need to act fast. Will you trust me on this one?”

She reflected for a moment. As much as she didn’t want to admit it, Titania was right. Speed was more important than bodies. They needed to act decisively, and Titania was just the person to do that. “Lead the way.” Titania grabbed Acanthus’ hand and pulled her quickly through the dozens of players still bickering over the details, and into the fresh island air beyond. In an instant, the two were bounding off into the fields for first pick of the kernels.

[Acanthus 0]

“This whole quest has to be a joke. Some kind of prank.” Titania gave an exasperated cry as she kicked over another stone. “It’s been two hours and we haven’t even found one kernel.”

“Maybe we’re looking in the wrong place?” Titania shrugged. “I doubt it. I’ve seen a few parties wander by us, and they look as lost and confused as we do.”

“Where do we even find a kernel? Kernels normally grow on tall stalks, but I haven’t seen any.”

She had previously eyed some fruitful stalks, and while they had plenty of materials to forage, Acanthus failed to recover any of them. To add salt to the wound, there were no Alethia kernels in sight.

“We’re operating on video game logic, Acanthus. It’s not about how the kernels grow. We’re just as likely to find them in the middle of—hey now!” She darted over to a recently kicked rock. “Check this out!” She held up a small brown seed. Their first Alethia kernel.

Spoiler

Post Action: Gathering Materials
ID 228311 | LD 6 + 3 = 9 . Failure.
EXP: 160/299

 

Edited August 25 by Acanthus

[Acanthus 0]

Acanthus’ heart gave a quick flutter. “Congratulations! Maybe there’s—oh, look.” A few meters away, a quest marker appeared. Walking over to the dirt, she dug up a kernel of her own. She also noticed a few groups of yellow cornflowers. Everything in Demeter’s domain was bright, healthy and fruitful. She attempted to harvest the cornflowers. Despite their inviting foliage, the cornflowers yielded no materials whatsoever. Acanthus wondered if she was actually prohibited from foraging unless it was related to the quest.

Titania clapped her on the back. “Look at us! We’ve got two now.”

“Well, one each. It is by player.” Titania’s mood dampened ever so slightly. “Yea, but let’s just take the win we have. C’mon, let’s spread out and check the area a little more. Maybe this isn’t a joke after all.” Maybe not a joke, Acanthus thought to herself. But finding two back to back after two hours of vainly searching? Maybe more than a coincidence.

Spoiler

Post Action: Gathering Materials
ID 228313 | LD 6 + 3 = 9 . Failure.
EXP: 164/299

 

Edited August 25 by Acanthus

[Acanthus 0]

Another two hours in, and even Acanthus was despairing. They had crossed paths with some of the other parties that had started later. The larger parties had still found a kernel per person, leaving Acanthus and Titania in the dust.

“Sorry, Acanthus. I guess we should have picked more people. I made a bad call.” Acanthus shook her head. “But you made a call, and it was better for you to make a quick, incorrect call than languish like I would have.” Titania settled onto a nearby rock. “That sounded like a compliment,” she said in a sing-song voice. Acanthus blushed. She bent over to look for more kernels. Finding only more potent alchemical flowers, she plucked those instead. Yet another failure, Acanthus thought bitterly to herself.

“Less a compliment, and more an indictment of my own inability to relax and just… do things.” She continued picking at the dirt. “How… how do you do it? You just act like nothing matters. I mean—” Acanthus blushed again, and Titania laughed. “Looks like it’s your turn to eat crow with quick words.”

Spoiler

Post Action: Gathering Materials
ID 228314 | LD 6 + 3 = 9 . Failure.
EXP: 168/299

 

Edited August 25 by Acanthus

[Acanthus 0]

“I’m sorry, that was—”

“Nothing to apologize about,” Titania said lightly. “It’s true. I act like this because nothing really matters.” She let the words hang in the air before she continued. “Acanthus, I know it’s bad form to talk about real life, but I’m gonna do it unless you tell me to stop.” Acanthus gave a slight nod before moving over to a collection of root-like vegetables to gather. As the materials vaporized yet again, Acanthus nearly yelled. She bit her tongue.

“In the real world, I taught philosophy in Berlin. Youngest person to teach at my university. Do you know how I made it? I treated everything like it was the most important thing. I told myself that everything would end if I failed an exam, or if I skipped a class I might as well drop the class because I would certainly fail.” Titania became distracted for a moment as a warm breeze drifted by. She inhaled deeply. “And it wasn’t just classes either. My social life, my love life. Everything was so intentional. So premeditated. I was driving my mental and physical health into the ground because everything mattered.” Titania held her hand out as a large grasshopper jumped onto the rock. It hopped into her hand.

Spoiler

Post Action: Gathering Materials
ID 228315 | LD 3 + 3 = 6 . Failure.
EXP: 172/299

 

Edited August 25 by Acanthus

[Acanthus 0]

“So there I was, at the end of my rope, desperate for a task that could be important, but not really matter either. And I heard about this game. A virtual game that wasn’t just played—it was lived! I drafted up a proposal for a paper about the philosophical implications of VRMMOs. My committee ate it up. Moved heaven and earth to get me an early access copy.” The grasshopper gave a soft buzz in her hand. Titania stared at it as she continued talking. “And so I played the early access, drafted an initial paper. But I knew that wasn’t enough. I’d only scraped the surface of VRMMOs. So I logged back in. And,” she giggled, “I never logged back out.”

Acanthus continued plucking at the flowers around her, desperate for some sign that she could forage here. And still, the materials did not appear.

“...I’m sorry. That must be awful.”

“Awful? I’m having the time of my life. For the first time in years—maybe decades—I feel free. Because we’re just in a video game, and nothing here matters.” She gave the grasshopper one final look, and then crushed it.

Spoiler

Post Action: Gathering Materials
ID 228316 | LD 6 + 3 = 6 . Failure.
EXP: 176/299

 

Edited August 25 by Acanthus

[Acanthus 0]

Acanthus recoiled briefly. Titania noticed and said, “Acanthus, it was just a bug. Not even a bug. It’s a fake bug in a fake world. I might as well have stepped on a leaf in real life.”

Acanthus thought of her next words carefully, picking over some low shrubs for materials while she was at it. At last! She wrested a large handful of berries from the bush. Her luck had turned around.

“But… Some of the NPCs are so life-like. Some of them even seem to grow and remember along with us, the players.” Titania rolled her eyes. “Chalk that up to good programming. Cardinal is incredible with how it spits out code that seems human, but at the end of the day, that’s all it is. Code that’s advanced beyond our ability to conceive of it."

Acanthus was still flustered. “Still, what about the players? This is a death game. The players that die can’t come back. This is real to them. To us.”

“Oh Acanthus, don’t tell me you’ve bought that whole story.” Acanthus was dumbstruck. “I beg your pardon?”

Spoiler

Post Action: Gathering Materials
ID 228317 | LD 15 + 3 = 18 | CD 5 . Critical Success! (2) materials gained. (8) materials total.
EXP: 193/299

 

Edited August 25 by Acanthus

[Acanthus 0]

Titania laughed. “That’s the biggest joke of them all. Just because we don’t see players that disconnect doesn’t mean they’re dead.”

“I… but then…” Acanthus was speechless. “Where do they go?”

Titania shrugged. “My guess is they just aren’t allowed to log back in, and we’re living some grand social experiment. It’s also entirely possible that we’re experiencing all of this in the blink of an eye. It’s all just electric signals and neurons firing. We could be here for twenty years, but we’ll wake up back at the start, and it will have been half a day, tops.” The prospect terrified Acanthus. She tried to focus herself on some more of the shrubs to ground herself. But the shrubs had nothing left to give.

Titania hopped off the rock. “It’s all Occam’s razor. What do you think is more likely—some team of game developers managed to sneak code into the game that traps people and fries their brains when they die? Or that it’s just a marketing gimmick designed to increase player immersion? For all we know, we all signed waivers before we logged in and the game is specifically blocking that memory out.”

Spoiler

Post Action: Gathering Materials
ID 228318 | LD 5 + 3 = 8 . Failure. 
EXP: 197/299

 

Edited August 25 by Acanthus

[Acanthus 0]

Dumbfounded, Acanthus worked mindlessly on a nearby branch, pruning its fruits. [roll results]. Titania continued. “I mean, we all put on giant helmets that scanned our brain and are directly interfacing with it. How simple would it be to block out a single memory of consenting to ‘forgetting’ that this wasn’t a death game? Just to give the players some buy in?”

“So that’s why I feel comfortable making rash decisions. Because nothing in here really matters. It’s all just a game, and no matter what I do, I’ll be waking up in the real world. Hopefully we’re experiencing time dilation, but whether I’m waking up in two days or two decades, we will make it home. All 10,000 of us.”

“I wish I could share your enthusiasm. But I can’t let go of that worry. That feeling that you’re wrong, and we really are fighting for our lives out here.”

Spoiler

Post Action: Gathering Materials
ID 228319 | LD 2 + 3 = 5 . Failure. 
EXP: 201/299

 

Edited August 25 by Acanthus