Chapter 8

I knew something major had happened when I logged in because the starting village was nearly deserted. Only the NPCs were left. I opened my new in-game browser to search for the cause and found the answer on the front page of the game's official site.

The main header held an advertisement for modern diving suits, although they'd been relabeled as 'Selkie Skins'. They came with rebreather masks and night vision goggles marketed as 'Lost Atlantean Technology'.

[Due to popular demand, human players can now dive under the sea alongside their aquatic friends. To make up for this loss of advantage for aquatic-race players:

(1)Water pressure in all underwater areas has been doubled.

(2) Aquatic races now possess an increased immunity to changes in pressure.

(3)Orichalchum is now marked as a deep ocean resource. It will no longer spawn in shallow waters.

(4)Aquatic races no longer suffer a debuff on land.]

I skimmed through the rest of the patch notes, but all of it reinforced the impression there was absolutely no reason to play an Aquatic race. Reefs, shipwrecks, and hidden resource grottos could now spawn randomly off any coast. Ocean monsters now randomly spawned anywhere there was salt water and a required depth. It even said:

[All coastal areas now have a .01% chance to spawn the following events: Fishing for a Wife, Free Nessie, Red Tide, Blue Tide, Glowing Tide, Siren Swarm, Kraken Attack, and Charbydis Maw.

All continents now have a .01% percentage chance for the event 'Lost Outpost'.]

My gut clinched as I scanned through the list of new crafting recipes that could be found in any major city. The developers hadn't given out any existing Atlantean recipes I knew about, but there were things like 'Rust Prevention Wax' and 'Water Resistance Potion', which would make it easier for high level players to enter the ocean with their existing gear.

Initially, I felt furious. They basically handed the ocean economy over to land-based players.

Then I realized I should be happy. The Guild players and goldfarmers could now go anywhere to harvest ocean goods, meaning they were no longer clogging up maps dedicated to aquatic races. I wouldn't have to stand in line to get quests anymore and I could get more one-on-one attention from instructors.

The biggest benefit of the new update didn't show itself until I started swimming toward one of the NPC stores. The patch notes hadn't been kidding about the increased water pressure. It was much, much harder to move around. It took nearly five minutes to swim the same distance that would have taken only five seconds the previous night.

When I arrived at the general store, I had to stop and let my stamina recharge. I had to check my system log to figure out what was going on.

[You have exerted yourself under immense pressure. Gain +1 Strength.]

[You have exerted yourself under immense pressure. Gain +1 Constitution.]

[You have exerted yourself under immense pressure. Gain +1 Vitality.]

[You have exerted yourself under immense pressure. Gain +1 Agility.]

[You have exerted yourself under immense pressure. Gain +1 Strength.]

...

The log seemed to be an unending line of the same notices. I tried to scroll up, but the screen kept glitching and resetting to the bottom. That's when I realized my stats were increasing even when I stood still.

"Can I help you, sir?" the female shopkeeper called from behind the main counter. She was a purple-haired mermaid sporting a crew cut, a simple fishscale shirt, and black leggings.

I didn't know how to respond at first. Was I allowed to talk to NPCs about game mechanics? After a moment of thought, I decided there was no harm in trying. NPCs were part of the game system.

"I think I'm bugged," I said. "According to my system log, my stats are increasing like crazy, but I'm not doing anything."

The lady chuckled and shook her head at me. "Of course they're increasing. Mine are, too. It's because Aetherscape updated and the water pressure in this area doubled. It might take some time for our attributes to normalize to the changed environment."

[Hidden Quest: Secrets of the NPCs

You have spoken to an NPC as an equal and referenced something only a player would understand. Surprisingly, the NPC understood what you meant and responded as a fellow player. Question the NPC about themselves and learn how they can know about such things.

Complete: ???

Reward: Title "NPC Friend", +100 Fame, ???]

The quest notification startled me.

"Um, ma'am—"

"Call me Marla," she replied. "I'm assuming you received the hidden quest?"

I nodded dumbly.

"It doesn't seem like I'll be hounded by any other customers in the next few minutes, so come in and take a seat. I'll explain things to you." She pointed at a stool in the corner and didn't speak again until I sat. "As you should already know, Aetherscape has four realms—mundane, fantasy, nightmare, and mythic. All four realms are connected by the same theme—dreams. However, what you don't know is Aetherscape's dreamers come from more places than just Earth. This world is a nexus point where the dreamers of many worlds and dimensions meet."

"So NPCs are aliens?" I asked.

"Alien is a simplistic term, but you can think that way if you want. Of course, I'm sure you'll think my explanation is just programmed backstory, which is exactly what you should do. Everyone questions the nature of their reality at some point, but only fools jump off a cliff without looking at where they'll fall."

I understood what she meant. It might be fun to ask 'what if', but acting on it outside of the game would be stupid. "So how does this work from your perspective? You're a player on a different world?"

"Basically, yes, except the focus of the game on my world is different than yours. You see, just like there are four realms in Aetherscape, there's also four ways to play. You're playing version one. I'm playing version two, which makes me an NPC. There's also a version that controls pocket realms and dungeons. Those usually take on the form of intelligent Boss monsters. And version four is... well, they're basically mythmakers who build new dreams for people to explore. As far as I know, they're something like Gods and they only leave the mythic realm when the servers shut down for updates."

"This is weird," I said. "I can't tell if your original programmer was nuts or if you're actually a self-aware AI."

"I believe that's the reason the hidden quest exists. It's fun to question."

"Okay, so say you're serious. How do I play version two of Aetherscape?"

"As you know, NPCs are always online, so you'd need to move to a different world with a version two server and hardware capable of utilizing the bilateral quantum processing necessary to simultaneously play the game and interact in reality."

I only hesitated a second before I complained, "That's impossible. I'm from Earth and we haven't mastered space travel, much less all that other stuff you just mentioned."

"In other words, it's impossible for you and you shouldn't worry about it. Be happy with what you have. The important thing is my explanation should help you understand a few things about NPC mechanics, like why we're able to respawn like players and why some NPCs are just plain eccentric in who they like. Also, in case it isn't obvious, you should never, ever raise your hand against an NPC unless you want them to hold a grudge against you. We're restricted in where we can go, but some NPCs will send assassins across multiple maps to get their revenge against those who slight them. Players without the 'NPC Friend' title will see it as just an extended storyline, but it's more than that. NPCs drive the game's plot, but the direction we drive it in is determined by Players."

"I'll keep that in mind," I promised.

"I normally wouldn't tell you all this," she continued. "I'm only doing it because of that damn update and you seem like you plan to stick around despite it. I want to make sure you remember me and keep coming back. I have to meet a certain quotas before I can create a doppleganger to run this shop and open another shop somewhere. I'm almost there, but—" She gestured to the deserted town outside.

"You don't have to worry," I soothed. "I'm going to be in this area for a while longer. I'll make sure you and the other three shopkeepers can advance before I move on. It's the least I can do."

"Good. In that case—"

[(NPC) 'General Shopkeeper Marla' has sent you a friend request.]

"Accept my invite. From now on, you can contact me through your friends list if you need to ask any questions. And if you try to compose a mail aimed at me, it'll open a shop window so we can do transactions remotely. Keep in mind I'm only allowed to reveal myself to ten players in total. Don't make me regret choosing you."

"I won't," I promised as I accepted her request.

[Hidden Quest Complete: Secrets of the NPCs

Reward: Title "NPC Friend", +100 Fame, Remote Interaction with NPC Friends Unlocked]

"Make sure you don't blab about this online," Marla warned. "I'll get in trouble if word about this hidden quest leaks too early in the game. It's supposed to be a super-rare encounter."

I laughed. "Who am I going to tell? You're the only person on my friends list." Her expression filled with pity, but I waved it away with another laugh. "I prefer it this way. Fewer friends means less distractions from doing the quests you're about to give me. Crap. You can still give me quests, even though we're friends. Right?"

She gave me a broad, almost predatory grin. "Oh, yes. I have all the quests you could want and more."