NOVEL WEB Chapter 97: Dunbar’s Number
Even now, the auditorium was still busy as a hub with players interacting with each other over the new update. In the middle of all this, Sean, the popular critic with the username KuroUsagi, was fully immersed. His focus was directed on studying the more than five new missions available on the mission list, scrutinizing each and every mission for any hidden pieces, especially these three:
[Set up a full Initiate Attunement party to lure a supernatural phenomenon toward the approaching group of bandits.]
[Note: Additional instructions will be given by the headmaster or the fairy assistant once you’ve set up the party. In case of death, you’ll receive additional compensation of half of the total reward.]
[Reward: 1,000 merit points per player]
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[Set up a party (at least one or two have to be true acolytes) to act as a distraction when the time comes.]
[Note: Additional instructions will be given by the headmaster or the fairy assistant once you’ve set up the party. In case of death, you’ll receive additional compensation of half of the total reward.]
[Reward: 750 merit points per player]
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[Set up a party (no requirement) to dig holes or trenches at a certain location.]
[Note: Additional instructions will be given by the headmaster or the fairy assistant once you’ve set up the party. In case of death, you’ll receive additional compensation of half of the total reward.]
[Reward: 500 merit points per player]
…
No matter the nature of the new missions, they promised a large sum of merit points. While lacking a clearly defined commencement or conclusion, Sean surmised that these missions spanned the entirety of the event. This meant that one had to make sure that the task they chose was something they would want to carry out for that amount of time.
Hmm? But why is there a mission to dig a hole? What does it have to do with confronting bandits? Is there more to it than what meets the eye? He suspected that it might be another trap similar to the one used against the arachnid’s invasion. Or maybe even trenches that could be used to surprise the enemy.
At any rate, with the more rewards from missions and the discounted price in the virtual shop that was at least 20 percent on many things, he benefited greatly. This was a great boon for him since he just advanced to first-stage Initiate Attunement and had not yet bought any spell. There was no time better than now to purchase what he wanted — just like the sale on gaming platforms he used to frequent.
“Hey, what are you up to?” Chicken approached him as a friendly tap landed on Sean’s shoulder.
“It’s nothing.” Sean shook his head and replied, “I’m just contemplating which task to tackle. But they all seem to require a party no matter what the task is. Some of them even specifically required a full Initiate Attunement party.”
“Chill, bro. The crew’s ready.” Chicken gestured to the three players accompanying him.
“That’s quick!” Perhaps his amiable nature made it easy for others to approach him and be friends with him. But as he stared at them, Sean couldn’t help but widen his eyes and tense up.
One of the three players was “DigitalMagicianPatrick,” who he recognized as a familiar face, but the others… Wait, where the heck did he get the top hat from? Patrick was now dressed closer to a street magician rather than a fantasy mage. For some reason, his attire was slowly changing to reflect his real-world occupation.
Regardless, the second member was just an ordinary female player from the same batch as him and raised no eyebrows. She had black hair, a more Eastern look, but nothing that stood out. Yet, the last one…
“ButterflyWingsAreDelicious?” Indeed, the last member was a towering female player with red skin and a pair of horns — a Bloodline Magus, according to the official wiki. “Holy— No, wait, this is a good thing. It will be very beneficial for us to have you in our party.”
“Hmph. I’m only joining because the fun missions require a party; the rest are solo missions that are concentrated on the academy. Heads-up, I will act separately from you people later, though I don’t mind some cooperation,” she briskly asserted, arms crossed.
“Oh, I see.” Sean pondered briefly before posing a question: “Have you guys considered which missions to undertake?”
“Why not take as many as we can?” Chicken suggested casually. “That way, we don’t have to worry about which one to choose and do all of them at the same time.”
“Idiot. You won’t be able to finish them all in the time span of the event. Failing to finish the missions may bring unnecessary consequences to us.”
“Crap, you’re right.”
Huh. To Sean’s surprise, Butterfly was quite clever and quick on the uptake, unlike what he had in mind regarding her.
“Then, which one should we choose?” someone inquired.
“Hmm, this is where he should decide.” Patrick pointed at Sean and said to him, “Your reputation precedes you, Kuro.”
“We trust your judgment in this matter,” added the black-haired female player with the ID “LunaticScarlet.” He recalled her username from their mana aptitude and elemental affinity tests.
Seeing that he was relied upon at this time, he felt that it was within his responsibility to carry this party. “Fine. I won’t disappoint you guys.” He opened the mission list and presented it to them. “I believe the most optimal task for this event is… the distraction mission.”
After all, the mission didn’t prohibit them from looting the enemies. Although it might be one of the more dangerous ones and posed higher risks, it allowed for more independent actions, seizing opportunities that they otherwise wouldn’t get. That was why Sean believed this would give them an edge over other missions. While success wasn’t guaranteed, the party’s composition offered a reasonable assurance of accomplishment. Of course, he didn’t forget to explain this reasoning to the others.
“Alright! What are we waiting for? Let’s form the party and take the mission!” Chicken laughed heartily.
““Let’s go!””
***
“You got the stuff?”
“Yeah, I got it. Where’s your promised reward? I want to see it!”
“Nah, nah. You won’t see it till I see the stuff.”
“You…”
There was a tense silence between the man and the woman in the room. The man had blue hair and a sharp face and donned a fancy acolyte robe. On the other side, the woman was dressed in a neat brown attire fitting for a craftsman girl. After what seemed to be a minute, the woman finally broke the silence and conceded, “Okay, you win. Here’s the stuff.” She placed a sun-shaped amulet with intricate runes on the table. “But promise that you let me do ‘that’ for thirty minutes.”
“Nuh-uh. The promise is only ten minutes. Take it or leave it,” the man said, smiling.
“Grr. You win, Patron!”
Obviously, the man was none other than Victor, and the woman was Eleanor. Victor had called her to his office to ask about the magic tools he had requested her to make. Looking at the amulet on the table, he was pretty satisfied. Even in its dormant state, the amulet was attracting a lot of negative energy from the surroundings — a telltale sign of its prowess.
“What name did you give to this magic tool this time?” Victor couldn’t help but inquire.
Eleanor grinned proudly. “Since its properties are the reverse of the Spectral Aegis Amulet, I decided to call it the ‘Spectral Beacon Amulet.’ You know, keeping that mystical symmetry, as their materials are similar.”
“Ah, clever.” But just as Victor reached out to touch the amulet, Eleanor swiftly snatched it back.
“Ey! Hold on, big shot. No amulet ‘til I get what I want.” She stuck out her tongue at him.
“Fair enough. A deal is a deal.” It would be wrong on Victor’s side if he didn’t reward Eleanor properly after she had been doing such a good job. “Liz, someone’s waiting for you; she wants to be ‘rewarded.’”
Moments later, a fairy flew out reluctantly from the bedroom and perched herself on Victor’s shoulder, questioning, “What does rewarding her have something to do with me?”
Ignoring her protest, Victor mentioned, “As a reward, I will let you hug Lizbeth for a solid ten minutes.”
“What?! WHAAAT?!?!” Every hair on Lizbeth’s tiny body stood on end upon hearing what it was all about. In fact, she was shaking from head to toe as if she were in the face of literal death.
“You heard what I said. Go and let yourself be embraced by her.” Victor gestured at Eleanor. “If you count the ceiling tiles, it will only be a moment— Oh wait, the ceiling doesn’t have tiles.”
“I didn’t sign up for this!” The fairy stomped on the air in anger.
“Well, you have to.” Victor shrugged his shoulders. “I am your master, after all.”
“This is an abuse of authority!”
“Haven’t I always done that?” He grinned in the evilest way possible, just like a cartoon villain.
“But, but…!”
“Come to mama!” Eleanor literally lunged at Lizbeth in an attempt to catch her. Lizbeth, in a desperate attempt to escape, zipped through the air at her fastest speed to dodge. Finding the spectacle amusing, Victor made no move to intervene, as Eleanor, being a true acolyte herself, managed to restrain Lizbeth in place.
“Nooo!” Lizbeth screamed as loud as she could as she collided head-on with Eleanor. “Master, you will regret this!”
“Oh, I will regret it as much as I want later.” Victor chuckled, toying with the amulet in his hand. This wasn’t the only one that Eleanor crafted; there was a spare in case something went wrong. While Victor cared little for the players’ well-being since they could respawn infinitely, the magic tool required resources and time to be created.
That aside… Victor turned his attention back to both Lizbeth and Eleanor, who were still preoccupied with the Teletubbies hugging session. One is a workaholic but isn’t right in the head, while the other likes to slack off but is slightly better… Nah, both have at least a few screws loose. It was truly an odd combination, but somehow, it was what Victor got.
Putting that thought aside, Victor strode toward the large window and looked outside. There were quite a lot of things that had happened after the game’s version 0.3 update that caught his interest. Notably, players were congregating into groups more than ever rather than collaborating freely, as they did in versions 0.1 and 0.2.
Auralise, in particular, had successfully established a very distinct group among the players, similar to that of a company. Enticed by money, some players gathered around her and willingly carried out her commands, propelling her rapid progression to the first stage of Initiate Attunement. Lately, she and her group had been actively training to cast spells and would go hunt in the forest, yielding quite a large sum of merit points.
In contrast, her rival, ButterflyWingsAreDelicious, was a lone wolf. Although, at this event, she joined up with KuroUsagi’s party to do a distraction mission — quite a peculiar choice. Nevertheless, it would play a crucial role later on based on his plans.
As the player count continued to rise, micromanaging them became increasingly more complex and difficult. There was this limit called “Dunbar’s number” written by Robin Dunbar, which he defined as the number of stable relationships people are cognitively able to maintain at once. And the proposed number was 150, smaller than the total player base in the game right now.
“Hmm? They are coming.” Victor had never stopped maintaining the {Demonic Eye}’s spell — he could see Graviel and co’s movements.
Regardless, everything was within his expectations.
