The Devil In White: An AA Online Novel

After saying their goodbyes to Helena, which were brief for the previous three statues, and a little longer for Amelia, they hit the road toward Allair Castle, the royal seat of the Brack Kingdom. Some might have called the Brack Kingdom a stereotypical human kingdom, but others would have just as ardently defended it as a classic example that emphasized the role of the powerful but lower-level human starter area. The idea was to make it somewhat mundane anyway, or so the theory was so that no one would have too much trouble leaving it in search of other cities or zones.

As much as she loved the trees and the general appeal of the vibrant green around her, Amelia was in no real mood to sightsee. The way the three walked a little bit ahead of her implied they were longtime companions. Their banter was light and easy and mostly dominated by Raven. Every single creature, plant, monster, road sign, and strange-looking rock was a conversation starter for the black-haired amazon. Forsythe bore it quietly and gave nondescript grunting noises by way of response. He was looking around pretty curious himself but didn't want to get drawn into her inquisition. It was almost as if it were his personal mission not to get drawn into any sort of debate with Raven.

Aidan made comments every now and again, not seeming to mind his increasingly talkative companion. He wore a full-length, pure white hooded robe over whatever he was wearing beneath it, and carried a large wooden stave with a piece of amber on the end. Both of the items were beyond beautiful, and when she had casually tried to use her appraise on the items she had been startled. They were so far beyond her Beginner 7 Appraise skill that the system actually fed her misinformation, which was a first for her in this game. When she looked at the staff she got a description of a weak iron sword, and when she looked at the robes it kept filling up the status window with lady's swimwear options and accessories, and once, a colorful clownfish.

It wasn't a total waste. The longer she looked and tried to puzzle out the components of his outfit, the more experience she was getting. After a few miles, she was already 43% of the way through Beginner 7. If Aidan noticed her burning a hole in his clothes with her gaze, he was at least tactful enough to keep it to himself. The more she tried to identify the peculiar parts though, the more she frowned.

The problem she knew, was the fact that these… Residents? Transients? … were level 125. That's what she couldn't wrap her brain around. The reported highest current player of AA was a man named Gilduirn, a leader of one of the premier raiding guilds Ominous. His stream was featured on the major gaming sites and even on the company site itself because his adventuring was progressive and interesting to watch - and that man was only level 115. For three Residents to appear who acknowledged the world as a game, which was impossible, to also be a higher level than the man many considered best in the world was preposterous. Three of them!

The other troubling fact was how curious and uninformed they were. It was like showing around complete newbies. Raven at some point had begun singing about a rabbit creature they had seen called a Hare Doe, named(according to the game window description) based on its elongated legs and it's penchant to look startled at the approach of predators and the various races of Aspiration. She was singing when she suddenly stopped and started laughing.

"Hey! I just hit Beginner Singing 2 and gained extra lung capacity when singing."

"No way, you were just singing," complained Aidan. "You didn't use any functions?"

"No, I just sang. Maybe you have to DO stuff in this world instead of learning or leveling commanding to get skills. Hey, hey, do you think if I…" and then the conversation deviated to how many silly things she could do to get silly skills. At first, she thought about throwing rocks with her arm to try and get some sort of enhanced pitching ability but soon gave up when appropriately sized rocks couldn't be found conveniently enough. Next, she decided that if she couldn't find rocks she would take a rock with her, by kicking it. What skill she thought she was going to get doing that no one knew but based on her burning and passionate gaze as she kicked the rock for nearly a mile it was probably for the best that it hadn't revealed anything.

Amelia finally interjected about the time Raven was getting ready to start somersaulting the rest of the way to the Brack Kingdom to see if she could unlock a Sonic the Hedgehog ability. Amelia didn't get the reference but decided she didn't care enough to see if it referred to a hedgehog at all. "That's the basis for finding skills in this game. Performing actions with your avatar will unlock abilities, spells, and sometimes even job options. The fact that you are level 125 and don't know that is amazing…"

"Wow that was crabby," Raven said, wincing. "It's our first day you know, we played a lot of other games and we're just as curious as anyone would be."

"What games did you play?" Amelia asked cautiously.

"Pong." Aidan instantly replied cutting into the conversation. Something in his voice caught the attention of Raven and Forsythe, who Raven just called Fours.

"Hula-hoop," Forsythe said, stone-faced as usual.

"Girls Academy Three: The Revenge!" Raven said quickly, not wanting to be left out of their fake game resume and credentials.

"..."

Amelia couldn't think of anything to retort. It had been a long night for her, and in a few hours she would log out and go to sleep so she could get up and make her classes in the morning. Still, this whole experience was just… "What's the objective in Girls Academy Three: The Revenge?" Amelia couldn't help but ask.

"It's a GIRLS Academy game," Raven thought out loud at last. Amelia was beginning to realize that Raven was terrible at lying in addition to being a total idiot. "...there's no objective!"

To prove her point she started singing about a bunch of girls who lived in an academy and ate food and wished for boys, or often enough, girls. It was only quiet when she stopped suddenly and announced she had reached Beginner Level 3 singing. Both Aidan and Forsythe got ugly faces and looked more than a little disgusted that she was being rewarded for her foolish singing.

Amelia raised her head and began checking their status once more, but was failing to learn anything. They had status bars like those of the Residents of Aspiration. These people were, as far as the game would tell her, NPC's. It was probably just a bug.

"Amelia are you an NPC? I know it's rude to ask and if you don't know what I'm talking about you don't have to answer…" Aidan said suddenly.

She looked down canceling the screens and once again had the eerie thought that this man could see right into her mind and was determined to start bouncing balls in there. "I go to college and play Aspiration in the evenings. Anyway, that's my line - you three have NPC bars," she said, knowing that how troubling it was to her was seeping into her voice.

"Ah." A man of little return information, though none of them seemed terribly concerned by the state of affairs. If I was using a high-level avatar and had no information on the game I was suddenly playing, I'd be more concerned, Amelia thought.

Hula hoop. She snorted.

They had to detour around a bridge when it was discovered that some local event quest had broken it. Transient Carpenters were busy fixing the bridge, happily swinging hammers and using saws while they were armpit deep in the water. When the party got close most of them paused and then waved when they realized Amelia and her companions had no intention of trying to kill them or any interest in stealing their quest. She hadn't seen any bodyguards and reasoned they weren't worried because the Brack Kingdom Army patrolled these roads regularly.

They eventually found a place to ford across river rocks and made their way slowly across. It had been Amelia's suggestion not to go into the water like the Carpenters, the river was full of lower level monsters in the 16's and 17's that swam. While they wouldn't be a problem, they were difficult to vanquish quickly in their home the river and it might take a while to get them all, even for high-level Residents. The lower level monsters would sense they were outclassed and only do sneak attacks at most.

At least that's what Amelia had thought. She pointed a few out when the others were curious, and after a moment's consideration, Aidan had pointed his staff very slightly at the river and spoke: [Mass Electric Manipulation - Field].

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Experience gain - Small

Item - 4 Fishtilp eyes, the Fishtilp has eyes that harden until a.d.u.l.thood, reducing the likelihood of damage when encountering enemies.

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Speechlessly, Amelia watched four or five of the monsters lifelessly rise to the surface. Without waiting, Raven had already gone in the water and was retrieving them. Once she had them on the shore she poked them a few times, looking confused. Forsythe walked over a few moments later and revealed a sharpened boot knife. A few moments later he had filleted them, looking surprised at how sloppy his work had been.

"Ah. Beginner Level 1 Cooking learned." He nodded as if he had just figured out that he s.u.c.k.e.d and that was why what he considered an easy task had turned out so horribly.

Aidan was already gathering driftwood for a fire. No one had spoken but apparently, Amelia guessed, they had all wordlessly decided to take a break.

"This world is awful," Raven said.

"The worst," Aidan agreed. Even Forsythe looked a little less stoic and more disheartened than usual after his attempt to cook the fish over the fire. They had burned 1 and managed to blacken 3 of them. From the expressions on their faces, it was the worst meal they had ever had.

"It's not all that unexpected if you're only a beginner cook you know," Amelia said with a bit of sympathy. She remembered her first attempt at cooking and how awful it had turned out. She was still a little traumatized and bought her food from vendors and other Transients when she could afford it. For Transients death wasn't permanent, but there were penalties, and if you ignored eating long enough in Aspiration your avatar would sicken and die from malnourishment or starvation. While cooking wasn't a highly popular job, the ones who stuck to it made pretty good money - assuming they could keep up with the demand. Amelia herself had stopped learning the cooking skill because she wanted to do other things.

She had taken the moment to open her Chronicler and start writing in her adventure thus far. Her thoughts wandered but she started writing about the curious request to open a special door and turn three statues into their original forms, how it was leading to worldwide consequences, and what she hoped the future held. She underlined her last entry about wanting out of this deal three times. The book hummed gently and closed when she put the quill away.

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Achieved Expert Chronicler 1 - 6%

Writing structure increased by 15%

Future Errors reduced by .3%

Past Entries Error Reduced by .6%

Gained Ability:

[View Entry]

[Share Entry]

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She could already look at her entries without an ability, then what was view entry and share entry for exactly?

"Check View Entry, check Share Entry."

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[View Entry]

Through the earnest effort of the Chronicler, it becomes possible to visualize and recall past entries you have made.

[Share Entry]

Through the earnest effort of the chronicler, it is possible to visualize and recall the past and show entries you have made to others who are willing to view them.

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"Entries I have made." Amelia nibbled on her lip. She looked up to find the three staring at her silently. They had finished their meal and stirred up the fire and apparently had silently decided to sit and wait for her to finish up whatever it was she was doing.

"There must be a lot of stuff in this game," Raven said whimsically. "Amelia is so lost in it all the time. I wonder if she has seen the world. Fantasizing of a lost love? Lost family? Does her heart burn and ignite for revenge against the girl that took everything from her and left her calling her ugly?"

"Be nice," Forsythe said. The rapidity with which it left his lips left Amelia little doubt that he was used to saying it. It even defused Amelia who was about to blurt out 'who is ugly?'

"What's it like? The kingdom we're going to be in?" Aidan asked, throwing the conversation in a different direction. Amelia was beginning to wonder if he did these follow up questions to keep the peace. She could never form a response to Raven and Forsythe before Aidan was throwing her these curveballs.

"It's… well, we're in the Kingdom of Brack, you can see for yourself it is largely woodsy. Considered largely a starter area on the new continent so… I guess you could say for you guys it would be impossibly boring?" Amelia wondered aloud. "Oh! [Share Entry - Party - Knighting Ceremony 1]."

On a whim, Amelia tried her new ability, and everyone knee-jerked in surprise when the landscape disappeared and dissolved into a color diluted view of the front of a large and rather impressive stone castle. They stood at the end of the royal road that led directly into the Allair Castle. Going from the forest to a city made the scene somewhat grander than it might have been otherwise, lending a certain imperialness to the surroundings that phased into view. The castle was magnificent, and though they stood with ghost-like onlookers as the King of Brack slowly advanced toward a platoon of knights, it felt as if the scene was only meant for them.

"For bravery in defense of the kingdom, I bid you kneel and receive your reward." His voice called and carried far, probably some sort of leadership perk. Amelia thought. The Resident before him was already wearing his armor, this part was a mere formality after all. The King touched his long golden-handled blade against the man's shoulders on either side and bid him rise. There were cheers from the crowds, and all around them, they could hear Transients and Residents.

"So cool. Do you think Transients can get knighted with enough fame?"

"I wonder what the requirements are..?"

"I'm so proud of Henry, when he was just a boy he…"

There was more to the ceremony but apparently, the duration for the entry sharing had expired, and slowly the event faded and dissolved until they were back by the side of the river. Amelia wondered if she could extend the entry viewing past the point she had chronicled with a higher job level. She was feeling pretty stoked, this was a cool ability and to her knowledge, there weren't that many chroniclers out there. It took hours of writing, and grinding was almost impossible. You could talk about what you ate, where you went, and other mundane tasks but your skill rate hardly advanced at all. Noteworthy events raised your skill level considerably, and Amelia supposed the more historic or amazing something was the more skill you would receive. She stared at her book, greedily thinking about all the experience she had gotten from writing about different things.

Experience gained.

She had just gained experience from showing the entry to the others? This was huge. She could show them all her entries and not even have to write. "Hey do…"

She looked up and realized that she did indeed go into her own little world from time to time. The three of them were talking excitedly about what they had just seen. She had been so out of it that she missed the first part of their excited chatter.

"Knights and a King who has events based on the merits of an NPC force!" Aidan grinned. "This system must be incredibly complex."

"I liked the NPC's, and how after the event their dialog changed," Forsythe admitted, speaking uncharacteristically fast.

"Did you get a load of the King? That guy was huge. His sword was super sharp looking. Do you think he'd let me see it?" Raven said, looking up and down as if she were trying to get an idea to make it happen. "Come to think of it he looked really familiar."

"Oh, Amelia, you look kinda weird, are you okay?" Aidan caught her smiling a little bit, as she had been enjoying the reaction her new skill evoked. It faded though and she scowled at him, recalling that Helena had said something similar about her last night. There was nothing wrong with her smile!

"Perfectly fine." Weird! I don't look weird. I am the sanest, most normal person here. I'll find other people to show my entries and level up. It's wasted on these weirdos and who knows what they'll do if I show them some of the dungeons I've been through. We'll never make it to the Castle!

"How far are we from the castle?" Aidan asked.

She almost fell off the stump she was sitting on and cast a startled look his way. He smiled, c.o.c.ked his head, and narrowed his eyes like he just couldn't figure out what was wrong with her.

Consulting the map, and then, "a few hours. The edge of the city is actually not far from here." She answered.

"Yay! Quest completion tiiimee..." Raven stretched out the word, sounding like a middle-schooler.

"The sooner the better." Amelia agreed.