5 Chapter 5 - New Bubble Species
Chapter 5 – New Bubble Species
Glen apologized to the inn auntie about disappearing suddenly but to his surprise, the auntie knew about players and the same thing had happened many times for the last two months.
Glen also apologized to the girl and luckily, the girl decided to let it go after she knew that he was a new player. Since nothing embarrassing happened between the two, the girl did not press the matter further too.
"I am not sure why you guys are called players but I know that you guys will usually disappear for a long time before appearing at the same location again. I am not the only one who knew this, everyone I know is aware of this too," the inn auntie spoke.
"Still, if you guys are going to disappear and then appear again, at least pay in advance. I am not doing charity here. I am doing business. I already lower the rent by a few hundred golds and I don't want to lose more," the inn auntie continued.
"Considering you are a newbie so-called player, I am sure you don't have any money with you and with the beast you left behind in your room, I am not that positive in letting you pay later either," the inn auntie added.
She was talking about Bubbly. Since Bubbly was the Bubble beast, one of the weakest beasts in the game, it would be hard for Glen to find some money by hunting and exploring. The inn auntie kept lecturing Glen for half an hour and the players who were hanging out at the dining area snickered at Glen.
Glen was not that embarrassed because he knew that the same thing had happened to many players before.
Usually, in VR games, the inn was the place where people log in and log out. There was no problem at all whenever they did that and Glen had the same mentality too.
Be that as it may, it was different in Beast Life and they all had to follow the rules of the game.
"When you want to disappear next time, pay me in advance or find yourself a house and you can do whatever you want," the inn auntie advised and warned.
"Thank you and I am sorry," Glen spoke.
"Why are you thanking me? You need to pay for my service for taking care of your beast," the inn auntie spoke.
"…" Glen was speechless and it looked like the inn auntie was a businesswoman through and through. "How much?"
"500G. You disappeared for almost a month and your beast is a delicate one, so the payment is a bit high. If you don't have the money now, pay me back later. I give you three days and considering you are a tamer, 500G in three days is easy," the inn auntie spoke.
But she mumbled in silence, 'Unless your bubble beast is useless but…"
"If you cannot pay in three days, work at my inn for a few days and I will consider the debt paid," the auntie ended there. Glen agreed to that and then, he asked about Bubbly.
"Follow me," the inn auntie called for another employee to take care of the counter and left with Glen followed behind. They went to the back of the inn where the stables to keep the customers' massive beast was located.
When Glen arrived there, there was no other beast around. Even so, he saw a single blue bubble floated listlessly around. The bubble might look different but Glen knew that it was Bubbly.
"Bubbly!" Glen shouted.
"!" Bubbly turned around and saw Glen. Glen smiled and he expected that Bubbly would be happy too but he was wrong.
Once Bubbly saw Glen, he puffed up his bubble cheek and looked the other way again.
"…" Glen knew he was sulking. He understood it because he left Bubbly for almost a month. It was a cruel move from him. Due to his lack of knowledge about the game, he made this blunder and he knew he was at fault.
"Bubbly, I am sorry. I will not do this again," Glen spoke but Bubbly ignored him. After that, he kept apologizing and until he promised to find delicious water for him, Bubbly softened and looked at Glen again.
Bubbly puffed up his cheek again in displeasure but he did not ignore Glen anymore. Glen patted Bubbly's head and laughed dryly. He never thought that the beast in the game had this distinct personality.
Bubbly looked different now. Before, his bubble body was transparent and Glen could see the one colorless star inside it but now, he was all blue and the bubble body was thick.
When Glen patted Bubbly's head, he could feel that it was not as feeble as before. It was firm as if he was patting a normal animal. Moreover, the star inside Bubbly was not viewable any more thanks to his thicker body.
'I wonder what your stats now?' Glen checked Bubbly's stats. He was too shocked by everything that had happened and was unable to check it. Even so, he knew that the upgrade was successful based on Bubbly's new appearance.
Name – Bubbly
Gender – Male
Species – Thick Bubble
Tier – 2 star
Rank – 1
Stage – Colorless
Potential – White
Talent – D
Element – Water
HP – 2.00 [Max 2.80]
Energy – 5.00 [Max 6.20]
Attack – 0.90 [Max 1.30]
Defense – 2.00 [Max 3.20]
Speed – 0.10 [Max 0.50]
Advancement to Colorless Rank 2 – 10/100
Leftover Stat Points – 0.2
Skill
Bubble [Water] (G) [Level 1 – 0%] – No effect
Bubble Barrier [Water] (G) [Level 1 – 0%] – Def+1.0, 0.5 energy per use
Bubble Gun [Water] (G) [Level 1 – 0%] – Atk+0.3, 0.2 energy per use
Glen read the stats and he was happy. The upgrade method was successful as Bubbly was now a Thick Bubble species instead of the normal Bubble species.
Other than that, Bubbly's tier was now at 2 stars and if Glen could see the stars inside Bubbly, there would be two of them now. Unfortunately, Bubbly's new skin blocked the stars. Since the tier had increased, the potential increased too.
Bubbly could now advance to White Stage which is the next stage after Colorless. In simpler terms, Colorless was Stage 1 while White was stage 2. As for Stage 3 and above, if Glen could upgrade Bubbly again, he would be able to see the higher stages.
Now that Bubbly could advance to White Stage, Glen did not need to worry about being unable to tame more beasts. Once Bubbly advanced, a new slot would be available for his next beast.
The potential was not the only one that increased, Bubbly's talent had increased from Grade E to Grade D. With better talent, Bubbly would be able to absorb the advancement energy faster and rank up to a higher rank.
Bubbly's five stats had increased too where his Defense and HP saw the biggest jump. Not a surprise considering his body became thicker due to the upgrade. His other stats increased too but not as much as the two stats.
Other than these, Bubbly got two new skills which were Bubble Barrier and Bubble Gun. The name was easily understood as to what it would do and thanks to these two new skills, Bubbly was not the useless and weak Bubble beast anymore.
Even so, there was no improvement to the default skill, Bubble. It remained the same and as useless as before. Still, Glen did not mind that because Bubble Barrier and Bubble Gun were enough for now.
"You are stronger now, buddy," Glen spoke.
"Buu! Buu!" Bubbly raised his head agreeing to Glen's statement.
"With you getting stronger now, we will be able to pay back the debt," Glen sighed. He was scared if the upgrade failed and then unable to pay the debt back. The inn auntie looked scary and working under her must be a scary experience and thus, he understood the lack of employees in the inn.
After that, Glen checked his notification and there it was the mission completion notification after Bubbly completed his upgrade. Glen got the chance to obtain all the information on one common material.
Since he did not know what common material was there in the game, he decided to keep it for use later. After that, there was another notification for his new mission.
[Mission – New Power
Description – Bubbly's new upgrade is a huge success. Instead of a small upgrade in a certain area, Bubbly gains a big upgrade in many things. Even so, having the new power without using it is a waste. Go to the wild area and test Bubbly's new power. Defeat at least ten Colorless stage beasts
Completion – 0/10
Reward – Bubbly's advancement energy increased by 30 points]
If Glen did not like the mission, he could create his mission again. However, this mission was perfect because he needed to go out hunting to pay back his debt. So, Glen accepted it.
"Bubbly, let's test your new power!" Glen was excited. Now that he knew the Data Saver skill worked, he was more pumped up to play Beast Life.
"Is your Bubble beast a new species?" Suddenly, Glen heard a voice behind him and was shocked. He looked behind him and the inn auntie was there.
Since he was busy with Bubbly, he did not realize that the inn auntie was still there.
"Yeah…" Glen replied. He could not lie about it because Bubbly looked different than the Bubble beast in the wild. Not only that but he wanted to become an Upgrade Specialist and if he kept a secret about his achievement, how would he be able to make money?
"Where did you get him?" the inn auntie asked as she was curious. She already knew it was a different species and had been waiting for Glen to come back. She wanted to know.
"I upgrade Bubbly myself," Glen did not keep a secret.
"!!!" the inn auntie was shocked. "You upgrade it? For real? I never heard of someone able to upgrade a Bubble beast," the inn auntie's eyes were wide opened. She had thought that Glen found it somewhere.
"Are you an Upgrade Specialist?" the inn auntie asked.
"I am not but I want to become one," Glen replied.
"Really? Then, when you become one, can you help me?" she asked.
"Sure. Since you take care of Bubbly, I will be happy to help you," Glen replied when suddenly.
*Ding*
[You are now part of the storyline, Maru South Village: Rising
Role – Upgrade Specialist Wannabe]
