Genesis Sync

“Err,” John replied while shrugging. “No clue. I just spawned in a clearing where some guy was asleep before heading for the village after he gave me directions.”

“That’s strange,” Rebecca said thoughtfully. “You said the guards wouldn’t let you enter the village, but Sajiko came out to help you?”

“Yeah, it sounds like they wanted me to keep fetching them beers from the pub or something, John replied. “Sajiko was a bit scary but really helpful; she even gave me the inspect and herb gathering skills.”

“You already have the herb gathering skill?” Rebecca asked in surprise. “Gathering and crafting professions aren’t supposed to unlock till you leave the starter village. You get them from the first city you're teleported to.”

“Really?” John asked in surprise.

“Yeah,” Rebecca nodded. “Players who choose herb gathering spend the first few hours completing a quest that rewards them with a herb bag.”

“I already got the herb bag; Sajiko gave it to me for accepting the quest,” John replied.

“Seriously, what is going on? Your experience sounds like nothing I’ve ever heard before,” Rebecca said in disbelief. “I’ve heard this Sajiko before but didn’t think much of her before now. Normally she just sits in her alchemy shop most of the time selling her potions. I’ve never heard of her interacting with players the way you described, let alone giving out a quest.”

“According to the quest description, I have a chance of getting another one from her if I complete it,” John explained.

“Really?” Rebecca asked before going thoughtful for a few moments, after which she smirked at John and asked. “Did you say you almost died to a bunnie?”

“Yeah,” John nodded. “I tried punching it but ended up doing zero damage.”

Rebecca laughed before saying, “Makes sense. I suppose you're still level one and don’t even have a weapon yet since you haven’t been able to enter the village and begin basic training.”

“Nope,” John replied while shaking his head.

“Still, your experience is really strange,” Rebecca said before falling into thought again. After she didn’t speak for seconds, John asked, “Where are Sarah and Kaela?"

"Ho, missing them already? And here I thought you and I had something special." Rebecca said in a teasing tone before continuing. "Sarah mentioned about need something to eat, while Kaela got bored and wandered off somewhere.."

John nodded in understanding before Rebecca asked, "You must be hungry yourself?”

“Now that you mention it,” John replied as his stomach suddenly made a noise, making Rebecca chuckle. “Let me start the tests on the MK Zero and then I will message Sarah about bringing you some food over?"

“Sure,” John replied as he removed the MK Zero from his wrist and handed it to Rebecca, who placed it on the same scanner she put the MK VI on earlier.

The machine started up, causing a white light to run over the MK Zero, scanning it. As it did, Rebecca fiddled with her access band and sent Sarah a message.

“Welcome back,” Sarah said as she entered the medical room while carrying a fancy-looking silver tray covered with a lid.

“John, you're back,” Kaela said excitedly as she ran into one of the pictures and waved at him. “Did you have a good time?”

“I did,” John said with a smile.

“Yay!” Kaela cheered while Sarah placed the tray down on the beside table while smiling at him. “That's good. By the way, what starter village did you end up in?”

“Dawn Village.”

Stolen from its rightful place, this narrative is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

Sarah’s eyes widened in surprise before she smiled and said, “That’s the village my friend Dawn Star got. I hope I also end up there.”

“Yeah, on that note I have some bad news,” John replied while rubbing the back of his neck. “I asked Tia if she could place us in the same starter village, but she said no. Something about the opportunity she’s providing me and how I can’t have any help from experienced players like yourself.

“Oh,” Sarah said as her expression fell. “That’s a shame.”

Upon hearing John’s words, Rebecca spun around in her chair before asking, “Did you say Tia is granting you an opportunity?”

“Yeah, though I don’t know what it means,” John nodded.

“Could that be why your experience was so… strange?”

“Strange?” Sarah repeated before pointing at the tray and saying to John. “I brought you some food.”

“Thanks,” He replied before lifting the lid of the tray to find a large sandwich filled with meat and salad.

“Wow!” He said before taking a big bite. “This is so good.”

Sarah smiled at him before turning to Rebecca and asking, “What do you mean by 'strange'?”

“It’s like this,” Rebecca replied before she began to tell Sarah about John’s first expedition into Genesis while Kaela listened in eagerly and John himself ate his sandwich.

“John, you're such a loser,” Kaela laughed. “Imagine almost dying to a rabbit.”

“It wasn’t one rabbit; it was three and I didn’t even have a weapon,” John said defensively while Sarah looked at him in surprise, asking. “You really can’t get into the village and you're still level zero?”

“Yup,” John nodded before taking another bite of his sandwich.

“That’s so strange,” Sarah mumbled.

Rebecca nodded in agreement before saying, “That’s what I said.”

“Since neither of us has ever heard of this happening before, it must be related to your opportunity from Tia, though I have no idea what it could be,” Sarah stated.

“The best thing you can do, kiddo, is keep playing and hope you don’t miss something important or mess up,” Rebecca advised.

John swallowed his food before asking, “Have people failed their opportunities in the past?”

“A few; it’s called an opportunity for a reason after all,” Rebecca replied. “While Tia hands out opportunities to those she deems deserving, it’s always down to the individual whether they can seize it.”

“That’s how Aunt got to be known as the Green Flames of Death,” Sarah explained. “Tia granted her an opportunity back when she was still princess and after succeeding her flames morphed into what they are now.”

“Fire Empress is a bit of a strange name for a necromancer, isn’t it?” John asked.

Sarah chuckled before saying, “Aparently Aunt originally wanted to be a sorcerer who specialised in fire magic; she liked the idea of burning her enemies.”

“That’s a bit scary,” John noted.

“True,” Sarah agreed before continuing. “However, as she went through the starter village, she happened to meet a necromancer NPC who informed her that necromancers had access to the same basic fire spells as sorcerers before splitting off and focusing on different areas of expertise. It seems the NPC did such a good job selling the necromancer to her that she ended up choosing that class.”

“Though she apparently regretted it for a long time,” Rebecca added, causing Sarah to nod.

“Regreted it?” John asked.

“Aparently the necromancers' fire spells were not flashy enough for her tastes and so she began to think the NPC had swindled her and she regretted her foolish action,” Sarah explained. “It got to the point that she even considered resetting her character even though her level by now was rather high.

At the time, Aunt had just finished a difficult negotiation with the then Kitsune princess, Sakoto, over citizens' rights to live in the mountainous region separating our two empires. As you may already know, Empress Sakoto is well known for her lack of patience and so the negotiations were particularly taxing. Because of this and in learning that Aunt wanted to reset her character, Tia appeared before her and gave her the opportunity, which earned Aunt her moniker.”

Just as Sarah finished her explanation, the machine beeped to indicate that it had finished scanning the Mark Zero, causing Rebecca to turn back to it and check the results. "So, the report on the MK Zero just came in from Tia, and if I compare it against the results of this scan, all I can say is that I have outdone myself."

“Bragging much?” Sarah asked while rolling her eyes.

“Yeah, especially when it wasn’t just you who created the MK Zero,” Kaela added.

Rebecca chuckled before continuing, "I have confirmed that the MK Zero is still in perfect working order with no flaws whatsoever and that its durability has indeed increased slightly as anticipated.

Now, as for Tia's results on the sync level. Well, the results are actually better than expected and even rather surprising. Remember how I told you that other Mithrillium products have a ninety-three percent successful transfer, five percent absorbed and two percent loss rate?"

"I do," John nodded.

"Well, Tia has confirmed that the sync rate for the Mark Zero is indeed ninety-three percent like we anticipated, while I confirmed that the absorbed rate is five percent with a two percent loss rate." Rebecca smiled, causing John to give her a confused look while asking. "So the numbers are exactly the same?"

"No, they're not, and this is where the surprising part comes in,” Rebecca said excitedly. During your time in Genesis, Tia registered an increase in your sync rate of point zero zero one while the loss rate reduced by the same amount. "This means that as you continue to play Genesis, your sync rate should also continue to improve, thus increasing the distance between you and everyone else."