Chapter Text
GUILD-CHAT
fx (@flx_off) : snowbird you have to be kidding me.
snowbird (@biggestbird334): LOOOK, i have a shit ton of assignments and pop quizzes coming up…
snowbird (@biggestbird334): idk if i can make it to the next dungeon raid
thomas (@thegreat5200): cut him some slack flux
thomas (@thegreat5200): he's BEEN doing overtime 💔💔
snowbird (@biggestbird334): pls flux
fx (@flx_off): THE RAIDS NEXT WEEK
fx (@flx_off): HOW DO I FIND ANOTHER SUB DPS IN THAT TIME?
seraphim (@seraishere): maybe its cause of ur infamous attitude towards everyone else in the server lol
fx (@flx_off): not another word out of u sera
rotation (@hvy_rotation): i posted a forum
rotation (@hvy_rotation): https://arcane-mysteries-forum.com/thread/48291/recruiting-sub-dps
fx (@flx_off): ????
thomas (@thegreat5200): LOL? lets hope ppl see it 😓😓
gotoga (@gootoga): will they even agree considering that flux is a nightmare to deal with
newkids (@0_newkids): LOL?
fx (@flx_off): ???????????
fx (@flx_off): **** ALL OF YOU
Fluixon was frustrated, hell — he was going to rip out all of his hair strands before they had a chance to fall out due to stress. He's juggling college, his guild, and his part-time job. And on top of that, that new defeat against the Flight guild was embarrassing, absolutely an outrage!
And what do you mean that Snowbird is going to go MIA on him when the new dungeon was going to open a week later?
Oh, the world must be against him — maybe someone cursed him because there is no way that everything is just suddenly getting worse. He doesn't know if a new sub dps will even arrive, and if they do, what if they're not good enough? Maybe he'll just… go solo dps, yeah.
Nope, no way that's happening.
It's too hard, even for Flux. (Who, not to brag, in his own words, was the best in this server. Well, besides that one player who he despised…)
Seriously what does he do? Not like he wants a new sub-dps. Snowbird was easy to work with — and possibly the best sub-dps he had in his life.
?
There was a new message in the guild chat.
GUILD-CHAT
rotation (@hvy_rotation): wait someone actually dmed me lol
rotation (@hvy_rotation): do u guys mind if i make a dc group so we can see her game-play ☺️☺️
thomas (@thegreat5200): yo someone actually volunteered..? yes rotation make that group
snowbird (@thebiggestbird334): oh my god im havihg a successor...
snowbird (@thebiggestbird334): also hell yeah make that dc group
gotoga (@gootoga): yes make that group
newkids (@0_newkids): i want in
seraphim (@seraishere): idk if i can make it rn but js add me into the group..
rotation (@hvy_rotation): okok im making it now
fx (@flx_off): fine add me too
Fluixon typed quickly, sending the message in the guild chat. Rotation promptly replied, then added Flux into the Discord group-chat where all the others were. He scrolled up, looking at the text messages before — this person seemed like a newbie.
s > today at 13:51
ㅤㅤoh is this everyone?
rrrotation > today at 13:51
ㅤㅤyep
s > today at 13:52
ㅤㅤjust a heads up, i play archer and im only level 98…
…
Oh, absolutely not.
Archer? That was the worst class in the whole damn game. Many people don't even play them that well — plus the branched options of that class barely have good damage output, even with their individual buffs. This was a disaster waiting to happen and Flux did not like this at all.
Maybe he should just turn them down right now.
But before he could type, Snowbird beat him to it.
sno > today at 13:52
ㅤㅤwhats your branched?
s > today at 13:53
ㅤㅤwindrunner
Great, and he just had to be the worst branched version of the Archer class.
Fluixon quickly changed to the other group-chat that the main guild-members had. He pinged the others — it was clear why he did so. This wasn't going to cut it.
flux > today at 13:55
ㅤㅤ@everyone
ㅤㅤthey're not gonna cut it.
sno > today at 13:55
ㅤㅤcmon flux just give them a chance
ㅤㅤwe dont know if we will get more applicants T.T
ㅤㅤi rather not risk it…
flux > today at 13:55
ㅤㅤim sure theyre bad
ㅤㅤwindrunner is hard to learn with all its mobility and bullshit
ㅤㅤwe can just get another person our guild is popular
thomas > today at 13:56
ㅤㅤmight be popular but i dont think people will go for a sub-dps role for such an important raid so suddenly
ㅤㅤall the other high-tier ranking players are already in other guilds so all the players who are left now are just low-tier
flux > today at 13:56
ㅤㅤwhat about other people in our guild
rrrotation > today at 13:57
ㅤㅤhow about lets just give her a try atleast yk
ㅤㅤshe might be good who knows
flux > today at 13:57
ㅤㅤshe..?
ㅤㅤoh i see it on her profile
ㅤㅤbut still, shes not even lvl 100 which means she doesnt even qualify for low-tier
rrrotation > today at 13:57
ㅤㅤfine wait lets see her gameplay first then we will decide
Game-play? What game-play? Fluixon knew it would already look like dog shit!!! Windrunners were the worst, the absolute worst players in the game — Fluixon knew it by heart. He even had traumatic memories of a windrunner screwing up of his most perfect dungeon runs, they were absolutely untrustworthy and had no skill!
Yes, they had potential good DPS. Yes, they are still playable. But in a dungeon raid? They were too risky to take as a sub-DPS — either this player has to be the best MMO-RPG player in the entire universe or this person needs to have a perfect DPS build for it to even work.
Fluixon does not know what had gone into the minds of the other guild-members but he absolutely hated their mindset of letting a new person into the guild even though there were other good high-tier players in their guild already. Sure, they didn't have fresh blood for a long while because of Flux's hesitance but this is just the wrong way to do it!!
Their guild ranking is on the line, goddammit!
The person sent a new message in the group, so the others quickly switched chat to talk to them. Fluixon who was still hesitant, looked at the messages piling up on the group icon, the number growing by the second. He grumbled as he switched chat, it's not like he wanted to do this but the others were somehow persistent. Maybe they're doing this because they want new blood in the guild.
Fine. Whatever.
s > today at 13:57ㅤ
ㅤㅤim the vc but i cant use my mic i hope thats ok
rrrotation > today at 13:57
ㅤㅤits ok! ^^!!
All the main members joined the voice chat in progression, then "s" or, whatever their name is, shared their screen to show the game. The screen had a black haired female character with the new outfit set who was standing in the middle of the city square. Her mouse movements seemed a bit too wobbly for Fluixon, even as she clicked on the quest of the city's billboard. (Or maybe, Flux just wanted to analyze micro details so he could end this stupid situation already.)
"Wait, are you "sling"?" Hvyrotation spoke up in the voice-chat, his voice sounding surprised.
s > today at 13:59
ㅤㅤoh yeah
ㅤㅤi am sling
ㅤㅤi go by s nowadays though!
?
Is this someone famous? Somebody already well-known in the field of Arcane Mysteries? Well, Fluixon wouldn't know either way... he's been grinding for the new equipment since the last two weeks to the point he wasn't able to interact with anyone outside of the Conspiracy guild. If Rotation knew them then they're probably some kind of popular player in the server.
"Oh my god?? I was planning to recruit you!" Hvyrotation beamed, followed by Newkids, "Oh, we did that one dungeon before, right? You were pretty good!"
???
... even Newkids somehow knew her.
Is Fluixon too out-of-date with the community board nowdays?
s > today at 13:59
ㅤㅤyeah, you were good too ^^
ㅤㅤwhat dungeon do you want me guys to do?
"Oh shit, do we even give you a trial to do? You're already pretty good, I've seen clips of you!" Hvyrotation said.
s > today at 13:59
ㅤㅤohh uh i'd still like to do it though
ㅤㅤit would feel unfair when other low tier players have to fight to get into urguild haha
"Alright then — For thhheee dungeonss, Snowbird here will advise you," Hvyrotation spoke, "Snowbird, if you will?"
"Why can't you do it?" Snowbird retorted.
"Cause you're better at this stuff! C'mon it's obvious!" Hvyrotation fought back.
"Fine..." Snowbird grumbled, his icon lighting up as he spoke, "Alright, how about the Violet Patch dungeon?"
The meaningless chatter soon faded into the background as Fluixon stared at the screen — only one question ran through his mind as he stared into nothing. Just who is this person for Hvyrotation to skip over the trial entirely? What are they? Some sort of gamer "genius"? They're literally using the windrunner branch!! And they're low tier too!! Just the cherry on the top, isn't it!?
Fluixon quickly switched to their other group-chat, pinging Rotation.
flux > today at 14:02
ㅤㅤ@rotationiscool who is that?
rrrotation > today at 14:02
ㅤㅤwait you dont know sling?
ㅤㅤWTF
ㅤㅤi know u were grinding for the new necromancer equipment but i didnt know u were this disconnected from the community 😭😭😭
gotoga > today at 14:02
ㅤㅤtheyre like the returnee newbie who levelled up in an insane rate even with the worst class lol
ㅤㅤthey went viral like last last week
flux > today at 14:02
ㅤㅤ?
ㅤㅤwhat...
rrrotation > today at 14:03
ㅤㅤyeah shes disgustingly good
ㅤㅤi was gonna ask u to recruit her soon once she was lvl 100
ㅤㅤwait ill send u a clip shes actually so good
ㅤㅤhttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=szyPY8nbBF4&l
Fluixon, with his morbid curiosity, clicked on the link as soon as it was sent — while ignoring Snowbird's obnoxious reaction to S's or well, Sling's(???) discord stream. The clip was titled something like wind-runner carries the dungeon team, nothing important to Flux at all. The clip was taken from a stream who was well-known in the community for streaming [Arcane Mysteries: Twevleth Calling]. On their alt account, they were trying to quickly farm a certain dungeon.
And that certain dungeon was "Unending Gloomspire", it was a team-based expendition where stats of mobility and agility play a very big part in the dungeon itself. Basically, the whole area consisted of moving platforms, surfaces that crumbled, and a whole bunch of traps. There are wind-affinity based buffs on each floor, which are affiliated with your character's base movement stat, which means you always have to use a characters with high mobility and agility base stats. Of course, you can just use relics to increase your stats but base stats still help by a margin.
Now, between every floor, there's a small segment where your character has to avoid rolling barrels and falling rocks while ascending the spire. Which is why — the streamer using the shaman assassin class was farming in this specific dungeon. They matched with a wind-runner archer class who was "S" or "Sling". So, people who play the wind-runner archer class are technically known in the community as "not-so good" players as the difficulty to play as that class is extremely hard.
The streamer was reluctant as first, but somehow, this specific player was just too good. Even Fluixon was a bit flabbergasted as he watched the clip play on his computer. This player, no, S, was an amazing DPS. She was well aware of attack windows, the positioning of her teammates — even though she could've been greedy and focused on damaging the enemies, she focused on the survivability of her team so most of the floors were quickly finished.
But at the last moment, the tank was downed and the healer couldn't reach her when she was on low-health due to them being separated on different platforms, but S pulled through and delivered the final blow. Fluixon was enamoured, could there be a player so good as this? The way they played, the way they are aware of the positioning, attack windows, cool-downs and everything else was just spectacular. Even as the others from the group laughed in the call, Fluixon was just watching different clips of their play
They were a newbie, yes, but they definitely had experience from other MMORPG's. The fact that she can even make such a hard to learn class work so well, the fact that she can just pull off the craziest saves, no wonder why she got so popular in the community! Plus, she was so nice when conversing to people, not like the other dick-heads he's encountered before. Oh, oh my god, he needs to do something right now...!!
Okay, Calm down, Flux.
He needed this person in his guild right now, and badly. They're like a gem in the wild with no guild, a bit under-leveled, yes but he needed to snag her in his guild right this moment. He's already planning how to spoil her with the best relics and weapons, as well as planning their amazing necromancer-archer synergy. With a fluid player like that, Fluixon can most likely take over the number one guild in no time.
Well, um, maybe not. Flight's guild-leader is in on another plane of Nirvana, but Flux must do his best to beat his rival guild!!
But then, it struck Flux. What if the clips were just stitched together to make them look good? What if they were just a person who bribed the streamer and multiple other video creators to seem like they were at a godly level? It's possible, but Fluixon hopes that isn't the case.
Because of that same suspicion, Flux quickly switched back to the voice-chat. He clicked on the discord stream, Snowbird made a comment about how he just viewed the stream but he made no effort to reply to Snowbird's words. Except his gaze was fixated on the screen, sharp as his eyes watched S's character move across the field with swift movement.
Even though Flux had his doubts, they were quickly cleared when S proved him wrong once more.
She made a nick in time decision where she targeted and killed the floor boss in time when it was locked on their tank who was already on low health. That was a smart move considering that attacking the other minions who were after the tank wouldn't do so much help. Their movement set was almost exact same as the clips which meant they weren't faking it atleast. This gave Fluixon a sense of immense relief.
A DPS who is fully aware of their teammates condition is like a rare find nowadays.
flux > today at 14:16
ㅤㅤlets recruit her
ㅤㅤher gameplay is surprisingly good
rrrotation > today at 14:16
ㅤㅤwait RLLY?
ㅤㅤomg
sno > today at 14:16
ㅤㅤwait r u srs
flux > today at 14:17
ㅤㅤyeah?
Yeah, yeah, his guild-members will never let him forget about his quick decision. Hell, they'll even drag it to Fluixon's grave, might as well rehearse it at his funeral itself.
thomas > today at 14:17
ㅤㅤlets wait for her to finish first
So, Fluixon as well as the others waited — they were watching as S delivered a final finishing blow to the final floor's boss, clearing the dungeon. Fluixon was in awe, his eyes were glued to his screen. Is this what love at first sight meant? To fall in love with such incredible techniques? Flux is so overjoyed that he even got a chance to snag her before the other rival guilds got to her.
"Yup, congrats S, the guild-leader let you in!" Snowbird announced.
She might as well be Fluixon's second sub-dps entirely! Well, yes, it's very greedy for him to do this. But imaging how he'd beat the Flight guild with S and Snowbird once he does a guild battle — oh, he just can't wait.
s > today at 14:20
ㅤㅤoh thank u ^^
ㅤㅤcan i be a temporary sub dps though
!?
That simple message destroyed Fluixon's dreams immediately. It's like his dreams and visions just got shattered right infront of him. Just when everything seemed so perfect, so aligned with fate, everything just had to crumble right infront of his face. He almost typed out a hurried "Why?" before he stopped himself to maintain the regal guild-leader image.
sno > today at 14:20
ㅤㅤwait y?
s > today at 14:20
ㅤㅤwell uhh
ㅤㅤarent you the guild master's sub dps, sno? it was mentioned in the forum that this place was temporary
sno > today at 14:21
ㅤㅤyeah i am
ㅤㅤbut its ok, we can always have two sub dpses, theyre better in raids too
s > today at 14:21
ㅤㅤoh i see
ㅤㅤbut still, i want to go solo on this account actually
ㅤㅤso i think it'll be best if this position is temporary
What?
Solo? Solo? Who goes solo in a MMORPG game like this? Especially with skills like that, what are they thinking? Trying to play casual??? Oh my god, Fluixon is gonna pass out from a heart-attack, what do you mean that a player with such godly skill is trying to go solo? This was stupid logic, absolutely stupid! Guilds were almost essential unless you were a casual player.
flux > today at 14:22
ㅤㅤ?
ㅤㅤare you a casual player?
With his impulsiveness, Fluixon typed out a reply before he could even stop himself entirely.
s > today at 14:22
ㅤㅤi mean kind of?
ㅤㅤnot really its just that i have another account to manage
flux > today at 14:22
ㅤㅤis this your alt?
s > today at 14:23
ㅤㅤoh nono im just helping out my friend
ㅤㅤi wanted to go solo because i dont really like talking to people as much yk
???
Well.
Number one, understandable. People were frustrating to talk to in this game (more like Fluixon is just too stubborn to talk and make more friends) — so Fluixon can quite relate to S, because he loathed social interactions.
Number two, this is bad. For Fluixon, it's really bad. He needed to get this person in his guild permanently badly. A person with skill like this can't go solo (Fluixon just doesn't want to let go of skilled people) — it'd be a catastrophic mess in a competitive MMORPG like AMTC. Plus they're not even a casual player!
So.
Fluixon made up his mind.
He's going to win over this "S" person no matter what. Maybe use his money to spoil them, to give them good equipment to the point they feel indebted to him, and him only. Hell, he'd even give them cosmetics or rides if they wanted them.
sno > today at 14:25
ㅤㅤi sent you an invite come join ^^
s > today at 14:25
ㅤㅤalright thanks :D
Yeah, Fluixon is going to do his very best to win S over.
GUILD-CHAT
System: [s(@slas_ling) has joined the guild]
thomas (@thegreat5200): welllcomme!!
snowbird (@biggestbird334): hihijihi
s (@slas_ling): hello!!
fx (@flx_off): welcome
He was going to do his very best to win this sub-dps over.