What does Essential mean?
"Where in Basinfall am I?"
Bob said as he checked his surroundings. It was a hot mess. A volcanic wasteland is not a place a person should be walking around in.
"Cluck! Cluck cluck!"
"What did you say? Too hot inside the basket?"
Bob talked with his chicken. It was an unnamed hen and it was trapped within a basket that Bob strapped on his back. The heat inside the basket was not bearable for it, if it stayed within the basket longer, it would become steamed chicken.
"Okay. But still. Where are we?" Bob said as he opened the basket but still left it on his back.
"Cluck."
"You don't know too?"
It was a serene conversation between a man and his chicken. It would be much more preferable if the background they had was not filled with flowing igneous lava, but it still looked weird.
"Youch!"
Bob got seared on his foot. The slow-flowing lava managed to injure him because he was standing still within a place that he shouldn't be in.
*You received 10 points of damage.
A message box filled his vision and it further distracted him from his predicament. The flowing lava continued to sear his feet.
*You received 10 points of damage.
*Due to being exposed to multiple fire damage in quick succession, you will now suffer burn damage.
"Aaaaaah!"
"Clucklcuckclcucl"
Bob screamed as he ran around, and the chicken did the same. He wanted to escape the hellscape he was on.
"Where the hell are we?!?!"
He complained because all he could see around him was slow-flowing lava and a volcano. Bob continued running through the land while he was suffering burn damage.
"I am so going to die!" He could feel death approaching just like how he smelled so divine.
And then he tripped on something.
"Eh?"
Crash~
Splat~
He fell face-first unto the lava-filled floor. His face was buried in lava and his arms were not spared. The chicken did its best to hold on to the basket and did not fall.
*You have received 10 points of damage.
*Due to your burning status effect, the damage is further amplified to 15.
*You have received 10 points of damage.
*Your HP is critically low.
Sizzle~
Bob was burning. He was under the status effect of burning and now he dove straight into lava. The chicken on his back started panicking and worried that Bob might die because he surely would.
"Aaaaaaaa"
Bob finally realized what happened to him. Due to understanding his situation, he finally reacted to it and it was not a fun time.
Bob stood before he would die from contact damage but it was too late. He was severely burned and the damage per second was still ticking down on his hit points.
*Your HP value has reached 0.
*You are an Essential. You can't die.
*Your HP is set back to minimum.
"What?" Bob asked the prompts as it appeared.
Bob scratched his head with his burned hand. Since it was a game and he wasn't amputated, the arm began to look like new after a few seconds. Still, he had only 1 HP left.
"What does Essential mean?"
*Essential NPCs are non-playable characters that are important to the story of the game and thus are unkillable.
"Hmm. You can talk?!"
*Every player of Immersion Online knows that.
Bob got to thinking. He did not understand what the system just told him. That is only natural.
'What the hell are non-playable characters?'
'Immersion Online. Is that a place I am unfamiliar with?'
Bob stood still with his face burnt black. It was slowly regaining its color as per game mechanics and the burns on his body dissipated.
"Wow. I never got injured before so I didn't know we heal injuries instantly."
He thought wrong. It was a misconception due to his ignorance that this was a game.
"Well, let's go, chicken. We need to go back to the barn."
THUD
As he readied himself for his travels, he suddenly had a stroke.
"ugggggfhhhh"
'What's happening?'
'Ugh. Is that my barn?'
Bob was remembering something from his memories. It was a memory of people talking to him about his chicken.
"Welcome to the village of Bagel, the beginner village." A voice came from his head.
As he was remembering, he could hear the voices like it was from a distant dream. He could not believe that he said those words.
"Do you have a quest?"
"Well, yes! My chicken has gone missing and I need your help, mighty adventurer."
"Accepted."
Bob, who experienced a stroke due to the sudden rush of memories, was having a massive headache.
'What the hell are these memories?!'
"Thank you, dear adventurer. My chicken is now safe thanks to you."
These memories replayed thousands of times. Perhaps even millions of times and there are even times where he talks to multiple people at once.
Bob passed out.
"Cluck?! Cluck!!"
The chicken on his back panicked again. It scratched its feet on Bob's back to try and wake him up. But Bob wouldn't wake up at all.
'Cluck cluck. clcuckcuclc' The chicken thought.
It looked around to see the volcanic wasteland around it. It did not like the idea it just thought of but it was what was necessary.
"Cluck!"
The chicken jumped from the basket and ran away from Bob. After a certain distance, Bob, who was on the floor, suddenly stood.
"Hello. Welcome to the village of Bagel. How may I help you?"
Once he said that, the chicken ran back to him and went back to its basket.
"Thank you for bringing my chicken back safely, dear adventurer."
This conversation marked the end of Bob's quest 'Find my chicken.' Everyone in the game knows this quest as its one of the first quests you get when you register.
"Oooooh Nooooooo!"
Bob regained himself. He could now understand what just happened. He could finally understand why he gets those blackouts whenever the chicken went far from him.
'The quest activates whenever the chicken gets away.' Bob thought as according to the situation.
"Hey. Can you walk back there again? I wanna try something out."
"Cluck."
The chicken did as it was told. It walked away from Bob for quite a distance and then -
"Hello. Welcome to the village of Bagel. How may I help you?" Bob said out of nowhere.
"Cluck cluck!"
The chicken rushed back to Bob. Though Bob said those words, he did not say it from his own volition.
"It's all so clear to me now!" Bob said as he kneeled in front of the chicken.
He had tears on and snot dripping on his face. He tried to hug the chicken but it evaded.
"Cluck."
"Oh. I'm sorry. I'll clean up my face first."
Bob did not pass out at that time. He was aware and he firmed his will but even so, he still lost control of his body. Bob cleaned his face with his sleeve.
"Chicken, you're my savior. Once you are away, I go crazy." Bob hugged the chicken as he said.
"Cluck"
Bob was mistaken. He was not aware that he was only an NPC within a game. That also meant that he could not fully understand why he suddenly asks for help from other people once his chicken goes away.
A man and a chicken were hugging in a volcanic wasteland. It was somewhat romantic but the atmosphere was broken by an intrusive prompt.
{Queue Boss Music}
*You have successfully spawned the hidden boss of the Patrian Volcanic Wasteland.
*You have unlocked the questline 'The 12 Hidden Beasts of Basinfall.'
"Hmm? Spawned a hidden boss? What are these?"
====================
World Message: A disaster has awoken from its slumber. Hell Dog Lerani wreaks havoc in the overworld.
====================
The Patrian Volcanic Wasteland was, as the name states, a wasteland. There were no monsters here to fight.
It was not because the mobs could not live within the heat but because they could feel a much stronger existence within its depths.
Due to having no mobs and the terrain being an enemy, nobody invested their time in doing anything within the useless place.
But that was not important for Bob. Bob was facing a demonic dog that had lava flowing all over its body. It was as taller than a 2 story house.
"Cute doggy. Let me just walk away." Bob was terrified.
"Cluck!?!"
Hell Dog Lerani just stared at the both of them in curiosity. It was a strong monster and it viewed Bob and his chicken as non-threatening entities.
ROAAAAAR
The hell dog roared and walked closer to Bob and his chicken. Bob hugged his chicken tighter and it did not like it one bit.
"Clucklcuk!"
Bob did not care about hurting the chicken in his embrace, he just wanted to be with his savior chicken in his final moments. Bob was a romantic after all.
Hell Dog Lerani was about to reach them. Bob braced himself for an attack. However -
*The game has detected that you are glitching in an area that you should not be in.
*Patrian Volcanic Wasteland level requirement: 100
*Your Level: 1
*You will now be transported to the last area you were in before you glitched.
*First offense penalty: No log in for one day.