After a delicious dinner of curry rice with some marinated chicken, courtesy of Mars’s culinary skills, the two girls were on their way to retire when Mars spoke up.
“You might have to change out that PacBook soon, Aya.” Mars said. The brunette tilted her head in confusion.
So far, her PacBook had worked well for her, and was even better for gaming.
“Moon Valley’s getting a major update soon and I don't think that old model’s going to be on the list of supported devices.”
“What!” Aya shrieked in alarm.
“Calm down, Mericross is a pretty big city, it's not like Axen where you have to dig through crap to find a good used PC. There should be lots of junk shops around. I'll even help you find one.” Mars said, laughing.
Aya pouted but realized Mars was right, she hadn't met many reputable junk shops in Axen save for Renard’s and that was only a lucky guess.
She wondered if he could make a delivery to Mericross.
“Make sure you read the FAQs so you can see the new list of devices.” Mars added.
At Aya’s pouting face, Mars sighed.
“Oh come on, that means more story content and even Bloom Haven might get some major changes.” Mars explained.
Aya nodded dejectedly, but she supposed it was for the best, her current PacBook wasn't without issues. It got so hot, one could fry an egg on it.
And with her consistent heavy use of it, it was breaking down faster than she could keep up.
More content for Moon Valley sounded nice and meant more of her mom’s story.
Aya gasped.
Enis was in her mother's story too, Yvlena's story, the details were hazy but she remembered some parts of it.
She was brought out of her thoughts by a hand in her hair.
“Hey don't zone out when I'm talking to you.” Mars said, rubbing her knuckles into Aya’s curly strands.
“I'm just thinking about the story update, people haven't found everything in the game yet, right?” Aya whined.
“An update is a lot more than that, but I understand your worries. Don't worry about it, we've all had those moments.” Mars said, leaning against the pale blue wall of their new apartment.
“You had a tough time too when you were just starting out right?” Aya said hesitantly.
Mars didn't bring up her past too often, and Aya didn't want to bring up unwanted memories.
A smile grew across Mars’s face. The dark haired girl recalled a memory of her time spent at Net cafes, trying to run Scarlet Frontier on the almost outdated computers meant for office work or assignments.
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A fond laugh escaped her, those days were long behind her.
“Damn straight.” She said. “I'll tell you all about it sometime, right now I have some quests to follow up on.” Mars said, tapping Aya’s nose playfully.
Aya returned her smile with one of her own.
“Same here.”
----------
Yvlena rubbed her eyes as she woke up in Bloom Haven. She paused to gather her bearings and looked up at the clear blue sky with a shimmer of pink.
Clouds floated lazily past one another and once again the elven girl found herself at peace.
But Yvlena decided she didn't have time to dally, realizing that Enis was in her mother's story jogged her memory somewhat but the library might be able to fill out the rest.
“Right I've got to head to the library and check on Laurent, but first I better see Risel and ask her if she knows anything about Enis.” Yvlena said, lifting herself from under the tree.
She glanced at her surroundings and took stock of the Rose Manor now within her care.
“I still need to find the Silk rag too! Ugh when will my crafting level up so I can make that damn rag?!” She grumbled and went to her garden to begin picking out the herbs that had grown in her absence.
[Yvlena Acquired
xxx
Luna Orchid x7
Bloom Lily x3
Fox Tail x1
Fox Glove x2
Star Root x5
Ever Bloom x5]
“I got a lot more of the rarer plants now.” Yvlena said, gasping.
Previously her garden would have generated a lot of common spice herbs and Fox Tails, but it seemed with her advancement in levels, the garden was responding.
“I'll need to get more seeds but that'll be when I'm done with Risel and Laurent.” Yvlena said, clearing out the rest of the weeds.
[Yvlena Acquired
xxx
Fiber x5]
Yvlena nodded to herself and walked out the manor’s gate for a trip to the main town and Artisan District where a majority of the NPCs she usually spoke to lived.
The town was in a flurry as she saw the decorating had moved from the Floral District to the main square where Ricardo used to be.
She wondered how his Mercantile trials were going. If he had gotten into another scuffle and lost his goods.
Would she ever see him again?
The Artisan District was surprisingly lively for people who lived so close to the Miasma, around her people talked, cheered and decorated.
It seemed the Bloom Festival drew near, and what a relief that she had defeated Codhessen too.
“I hope Enis won't be around to ruin it.” Yvlena said, shaking her head. The last thing she wanted was for the malevolent being to destroy what was supposed to be a joyful occasion for the town.
If she could open the road to the Verdant Vale, then maybe the people of that town would be able to join in the celebration.
“You mean that old warehouse is back up and running, that means we might be able to mine out that old cave.” A Passerby said.
“You're talking about the mines, it means we'll be able to fix up our buildings in the Residential District you dummy!” another, much more enthusiastic voice said.
Yvlena’s heart swelled, no matter how small,she loved hearing the effects her efforts had on the town.
The scanty town she met when she first started playing the game was a distant memory, now Bloom Haven was populated with merchants, travellers and townspeople.
Maybe the old outpost would be put to use again and Yvlena wouldn't have to worry about taking Iris or Dylan to see their beloved.
Yvlena's feet stopped at the entrance of Risel’s apothecary where the blonde elf was dutifully tending to her large customer base.
“Yvlena! I saw another cloud of Miasma! Did you take care of some things?” Risel asked eagerly.
“There was a Miasmic entity polluting the Verdant Lake, killing it weakened the Miasma blocking the route to the other town.”
“That's wonderful news!”
[Affinity with Risel increased +10]
Yvlena smiled, and walked up to the counter to talk to her friend. She remembered she had to take Risel when she was ready to deal with the Miasma blocking the route.
“Yeah, it means you have to get ready so you can come with me to see the barrier blocking the way to the Verdant Vale.” Yvlena said.
You could have heard Risel's squeal from the other side of Bloom Haven.
“Oh my goddess!” She said, holding her hands to her face. “When are you going?”
“In a bit, I'll come and get you when it's time. I have to check the library first for some information.” Yvlena paused. “You wouldn't happen to know anything about a being called Enis, would you?”
Risel stopped abruptly, she turned to face Yvlena with a dark expression. It was like color had drained out of the other elf at the mention of the name.
“What did you say?”
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