[Subevent 3]

Category: Quest

Hunt the Goldfishes hiding within the game setup

Each entrant can hunt only one goldfish

Setup: Aquarium

Reward: Eligibility to an exclusive game event

The upper storey of the atrium, that had been a solid wall until then was opened to make room for the new quest. The entrants walked up the carpeted satircase and assembled along the open hallway leading to the setup area.  It was noisy with people chattering about the well-constructed setup, allies mumuring about game plans or just some overconfident fools blabbering as how easy it would be to find a fish in a pool.

[The subevent 3 will begin in 04 minutes]

"So, is it like a Mohri?" Dahn questioned.

"Its gold colored, tiny and cute," replied Manila. "What's a Mohri?"

"Nevermind."

                                                                    [The event goldfish hunt will begin in

00:04

00:03

00:02

00:01]

[Goldfish count in the aquarium: Eleven]

The setup was alike any underwater aquarium, with many aquatic species residing within. The entrants experienced a similar sensation of being underwater. They could feel the pressure of water, the buoy forcing them to paddle their feets to keep their body upright and the irritation on the eyes. But there was no water around them, just an virtual impression of it. And they could breathe and talk to each other just fine. The impression of virtual water was cold and blue hued, with coral reefs and porous rocks covering the base and little troops of fishes hurtling to and fro all around them.

Kris watched a virtual sea turtle swim right above his head. 

"Can you swim up?" Manila asked him then.

Kris looked overhead. It was just an endless expanse of water and he could see nothing else. Andre, Dahn and many other entrants had swam upwards the moment they had got in. Kris however had stayed on the bottom. He cannot swim well due to his leg. He could only move his hands to keep himself afloat.

"They are probably packed up there." 

Manila nodded agreeingly. 

Kris continued his search around the rocks and reefs.

Entrants moved up and down the aquarium, searching for a long time. The quest wasn't certainly easy as it had sounded. Lien had swam down to the bottom after a fruitless hunt above.

"It is one hell of a mess over there. The place is filled with a zillion kinds of fishes." 

[Goldfish count in the aquarium: Ten]

After the message window was displayed to each of them, Manila swam down too.

"Was that you, Mr Yang? Mr. Sho?"

Kris sighed. "Nope... keep looking."

[Goldfish count in the aquarium: Nine]

And then for another ten minutes there was nothing.

[Goldfish count in the aquarium: Seven]

"Did someone find a pair of them?"

Two entrants Ji Han and Jane Moy, both around age 20, sawm down the aquarium with a smug and existed.

"Looks like they did."

Lien kept making constant up and down trip. He seemed to be more interested in the swimming part more than the actual quest. Manila swam around desperately. But to no avail. The count was going down and it was normal for the entrants to get anxious.

[Goldfish count in the aquarium: Six]

This time, it was Bang Cha who had found a fish.

"Any hints you would like to share with us?" Andre asked Bang Cha.

"Ya'll need to go dig deeper. Stick to one place, need to be a lion looking for its prey not a monkey running all over the place." He gave a snobbish look at Lien Sho.

"That was very helpfull."

"And it blinks, ya'll."

"What?"

"The others are dead fishes with dead eyes. But the gold one winked at me."

Kris took a deep breathe. A heavy hand snaked around his neck. It didn't take him more than a moment to know it was Bang Cha.

"Don't try too hard. You can't win it anyway."

Kris shrugged his hand away.

As he continued the tiring search, Kris imagined goldfishes swimming around him around him. There was something familiar about them. These strange sense of images in his head had only gotten stronger as he spent more time in the quest.

After sometime Kris exited the aquarium to take a break. The rest of his guild-members were still busy on the quest except for Lien Sho. He appeared to have exhausted from all that swimming.

"It's taking longer to find the remaining four in the aquarium." Kris leaned onto the pillar on the hallway to ease the pressure on his ankle that was beginning to throb lightly.

Lien crossed his hands against his chest, thinking. "It wasn't going to be a piece of cake anyway. I am happy it does keep adding endurence point though."

Kris' EP had increased by just 5 points. But it was not enough if he wanted to increase his SR. One way to do it was gaining CP, which was much more difficult than gaining EP. CP levels increased depending on the entrant's decision making skills, perception skills, detection and problem solving capability. A quest like this was a good way to attain those points.

Kris shut his eyes and took a heavy breathe. The goldfishes floated in his imagination again. He delved into that illusion more and more and saw more of them, not just golden colored but the prestine white ones as well. Kris snapped his eyes open at the epiphany.

"No kidding!" 

"What?"

"The goldfishes need not be in golden... they could be prestine white as well."

"What? Are you sure?"

Kris hurried back to the aquarium with a new found zeal.

"Of course I am. We just have to see if it is true. There is nothing to lose in trying." 

At that moment a sudden push on his back made Kris loose his balance and glide forward.

Kai Tswoon smiled at him. The intention behind the smile was evil.

"Oops," the girl standing next to Kai faked concern. They were both members of the C-5.

Kris clenched his jaws at the pain shooting in his ankle. He dipped down to the bottom.

"Pristine white was it? Can't thank you enough for the help... but we choose not to." Kai grabbed his cane and tossed it away into the water.

Th other members of C-5 group joind the duo and they swam up, cackling and mocking his misery.

"Ah, I guess they overheard it," said Lien. He looked flustered.

Kris looked for his cane, but it was nowhere on sight.

"You should go."

Lien left him to continue the quest, while Kris struggled to find the cane on the curdled water, trying hard to swim and groaning in pain.

After some time lapse the message window popped up.

[Goldfish count in the aquarium: Five]

Soon enough there was hooting and cheering noises from the C-5 gang.

[Goldfish count in the aquarium: Four]

[Goldfish count in the aquarium: Three]

[Goldfish count in the aquarium: Two]

Four members out of the five had hunted the white goldfishes. 

But when the message window came up, Kris was surprised.

[Your CP has increased]

Current CP: 3

Hah!

This made him hopeful once again. A newborn hope was an ultimate motivation anyone could have. Likewise, it had dragged Kris back inside the aquarium setup.

 He'd keep fighting. He'd never give up.