Part 6: .hack Infection - //Update 06 - Θ Quiet Eternal White Devil

//Update 06

Hello everyone! Today is gonna be a fun day. There's no Mia or Elk anywhere to be found, so that makes it immediately good. We've got a lot to get through, so let's hop to it! Logging in brings us face to face with someone familiar...

Video:





: Kn - know him? He's the one who invited me to come here and play this game.

: Then I must ask. I have not been able to contact him since that event. What has become of him?

: Do you trust me?

: What you say will determine.



: I see. How much of that is true, I do not know. But do not dare to forget... That bracelet's power is the same as the one that placed Orca into a coma!

: Yeah, I know. I don't have to be reminded of it.



: You don't have time to get depressed.



: Who are you?

: A friend, or perhaps a foe? A meddler with a warning.

: You sent that e-mail? Helba?

: That aside, I must warn you. Beware of Lios.

: Lios?

: Lios is on the side of the System. With that bracelet, you'll be treated as a virus. Also, you'll need this.



: You're thinking, "How does she know?" Right? It's not hard to imagine. Like I said. Someone is always watching you.

: Hold on. Why are you helping me?

: Helping you? Who knows. You might be the one helping me. Take care... little boy.



Balmung is still an asshole and Helba is acting creepy. Nothing new to see here, folks. Best to ignore them for now. Last time, we saw a post on the forums about someone looking for a weapon. Posts like these are usually ways we get introduced to new companions, so it really behooves us to investigate. Once the regular group is assembled, we set off for Δ Raging Passionate Melody.









: Come on, Natsume. Be strong! That's why you started this game. Oh... I am such an idiot... I really want the Spiral edge.

Well, she seems nice enough. A bit ditzy. Self-deprecating, sure, but nice enough. Let's see if we can help her out. She looks pretty weak.



Pretty early on in the dungeon, we find this bit of armor. It's one of the best pieces you can find in Δ Server, short of trading. We won't find an upgrade for a damn long time. Sure, we lose the ability to cast Vak Kruz, but the stats are totally worth the trade-off. Nothing else of note happens in the dungeon. Spiral Edge can be found in the Gott Statue.







: (Natsume was looking for this.)

: Wow, you have the Spiral Edge? You're so lucky.



: Oh? Are you sure? But I can't give you anything in return. Well... except maybe myself.

What.

: What?!

: Don't take me wrong. Well, what I meant was... Maybe I could help you out with something.



: Bye.

Natsume is another Twin Blade. She's not the best party member, but she's still a pretty decent addition to the team. Now that she's on the team, time for some level grinding. Here's some highlights:



Fuck these guys. Really high damage output, regeneration, and high defense. They're extremely common around level 10. Matters weren't helped by Mistral deciding to cast water spells almost every time we met them.







The Lath Blades are another pretty good item from Δ Server. More accuracy is always good to have, even if it does cost us the Death effect. Orchid Dance is the first elemental melee skill we've seen in the game. It deals Wood Element damage, but costs 30 SP to use. Kite only has 46. We don't keep them very long, though.

The Hunter's Hood is another solid item - there's really no upgrade for it until around level 20. Not much else to say about it. Anyway, let's put these new items to work. Recall, last time we played, there was a post on the forums from Jonue the Goblin inviting us for the next round of Goblin Tag.

















Goblin Tag isn't exactly hard. It is pretty fun beating these guys senseless, though. That's enough of that for now, though. Let's see if there's anything new on the boards. Maybe another round of tag?


...i think.
...but can't enter it any more why?

Θ Quiet Eternal White Devil is added to the words list.

Wait, Θ? Does that mean what I think it means?






when it gets bigger? Do you get anything out of it?
----------------------------
RE: Grunty Found!!
Author: JING

Cool! You made it! Now you can start using the Grunty Food.

Crest, you're probably not there yet, so I won't spoil it for you, but when you raise a kid Grunty it'll eventually become an adult. Grunties you've raised also have their own items and you can even trade with them. If you don't pay attention to what they want to eat, they grow into useless Grunties, and the items they have are pretty bad. If you give them what they want, they become pretty good Grunties, and their items are also pretty good. So, you should probably have a variety of food you can give to them.

















Ignoring the implications of Helba spying on a preteen, it looks like Θ Server is indeed re-opened now. The rest of the game has opened to us! Let's go check it out!









: Hey. A gentleman never makes a lady wait! You are going to Θ Quiet Eternal White Devil with me, right? I'll be waiting at the Chaos Gate. Get there as soon as you're ready.

: I'll be there ASAP.

In this case, ASAP means "As soon as we check out the root town." The shops are all the same idea here, there's no new ones. However, there is something that we've been hearing about for a while now we need to check out.



The Grunty Farm!

: Here you can feed the young of the legendary Grunty. It's always hungry. Please get its food from the areas. They have been revered as divine beings and are known as "Sitters" in this world. Their numbers have dwindled and are considered to be endangered. It's even more rare to see a child these days. You're lucky to be able to raise one.

: Grunties wandering in the town are wild, and do not eat. This is because they are adults. Give the food you've gathered to this child. I'm sure you've noticed already, but foods grow in each area. Gather them in the fields and dungeons and feed them to the Grunty. If you talk to it, it'll tell you what it wands, so please give it what it asks. It will eat whatever you give it, but there's no way to tell how it will mature.

: But then again, it may be good to feed them different things. A Grunty will become an adult by feeding it. As it matures, its body size increases and it will talk differently. At first, its requests will be vague, but as it matures, it will be more specific. At first, just feed it. Once the requests become more specific, you should probably feed it what it wants.

There's three separate speech "boxes" there because this was a 20-line wall of text when I was writing it out in Notepad++. Normally, I wouldn't break speech up like that, but this is an exceptional case. Anyway, this is a Grunty:



The Grunty matures each time you feed it, so the effects are immediately measurable. Right now, its stats are all 0, making this little baby a blank slate. I don't really know what the stats mean, and they can basically be ignored as far as I can tell. I fed the little guy a few times, giving him what he wanted.



This is still a mid-stage for the Grunty - he's not fully matured yet. His necklace is also pretty freaky.

As far as Grunty Food goes, there are sixteen types in the game. Each kind of food can be found in a specific field type, and the different kinds of eggs can all be found in dungeons. In the interest of completion, here is a list of what can be found where, courtesy of the .hack wiki.

Field Food:

Cordyceps - Water Field
Grunt Mint - Fire Field
Mandragora - Darkness Field - Thunder Field - Wood Field
Mushroom - Thunder Field - Wood Field
La Pumpkin - Darkness Field - Thunder Field
Oh No Melon - Fire Field
Piney Apple - Wood Field (I've only ever seen these in dungeon fields, like the kind we saw in the third update.)
Root Vegetable - Earth Field
Snakey Cactus - Fire Field
Twilight Onion - Fire Field

Dungeon Food:

Bear Cat Egg - Castle Dungeon
Bloody Egg - Flesh Dungeon
Golden Egg - Any Dungeon
Immature Egg - Stone Dungeon
Invisible Egg - Cave Dungeon

Got all that? Good! That's enough info dumps for one update, and we've kept BlackRose waiting, so let's check out that field we heard about.





: Well, that was easy. Strange...

Indeed. We didn't even have to hack the gate to access the field. It was open from the get-go!



We find Kite a new pair of boots while in the field. Ap Vorv is the spell to increase physical accuracy!





Told you we wouldn't be using the Lath Blades for too long. More accuracy is always a good thing!



: Nobody's here. The thing with the red wand or the girl.

: Was that a hoax? That can't be, right? Something isn't right, but no sense in standing here. Should we go back for now?

Very strange, indeed. The mysteries keep adding on to an ever-growing pile. I don't think there's very much we can do right now, so let's log out and see what's going on.








"Beef Stew is my favorite! " has to be my favorite line from any e-mail Kite sends. It's completely out of left field as far as the conversation with Mistral is concerned. Well, that's all for today. Next time: Elk goes a whole hour without annoying me, Mia pisses me off twice in the span of ten minutes, and more new friends!