Free Life Fantasy Online

On one of the spacious floors of a high-rise building.

There are adult men and women, sitting at desks and looking at the monitors.

"Oh….ohh? Princess has started to level «Alchemy»."

"Then…that means, the discovery of «Necromancy» is near!"

"Though in the case of Princess, that's «Necromantic Secrets»."

"…Was that the case if the user is an Immortal?"

"Right, right."

Should Saturday and Sunday not be a holiday? Such a thing has nothing to do with the management…or rather, they work on a shift system. There are also members of the development team here and there, working hard.

A man comes over to join them. Yamamoto Kazutoru…the head of development for FLFO.

"Hey. Any problems?"

"Not especially."

"The number of problems isn't zero, but considering there are 20,000 participants, it's a small amount."

"So how's the development going?"

"……Well, there aren't any problems."

"Saying it like that makes me worried. Isn't it better to mention it early if it's impossible? It takes time to find and allocate helpers."

"It's nothing that desperate. I just ended up starting another modelling project while taking a break from the main one."

It's easy to fall into such a trap for people whose hobby and work coincide. Like…when they take a break from drawing for work, they start doodling unrelated things. When asked about it, they will reply back with a cry from their soul: "It's drawing, but it's different!"

In this case, as long as there is no problem with the progress of work, it's fine.

"This again. …What are you working on this time?"

"So, there are 4 GMs at the moment."

"That's right."

"Then, with the second batch joining, won't they die?"

"Well, I'm thinking of increasing the number…"

"So, we could just leave simple inquiries to the AI, right? After coming to that conclusion, I started modelling the correspondent."

"…Eh? What are you guys doing? What about the AI?"

"They're helping with it over there."

After looking in the indicated direction, a peace sign was given in response, probably because they had heard the conversation.

"No, don't just make a V. How far along are you?"

"We've been asking people about their favourite characters and applying them to the AI."

"And I'm modelling according to those."

"…You've already done more than one?"

""It's running on the test server, though?""

There would be a bunch of question marks floating above Yamamoto if it were possible. He is the person in charge. There is no reason why the person in charge shouldn't know the state of the test server. He began to desperately fish around in his brain…then finally remembered.

"Ohh…! You're talking about Navi!"

"Right."

"It was saying ‘Hey! Listen!', so I thought someone was just playing about."

"Well, we can't use that one for real, but we're aiming for something close to that image. Well, it's for the inquiry system in the game."

"So you want to have them appear before players are referred to a GM?"

"That's right. The problem is that some of the characters are a bit crazy because I made them to take a break."

"Details."

"Mini Cecil, Mini Princess, Mini Imouto-chan, Mini Kotatsu, Mini Ruzebarm, Mini Musasabi, Mini Ertz, and so on, to make a mini-character army."

"What are you guys doing…"

""It was super fun!""

"…let me see a bit."

"Now you're getting interested."

Rather than a miniature garden…it's more like an isolated world with an army of player mini-characters. In terms of image…you could say it's a bit like Sylvanian Families.

In that world, Princess is sitting on a throne, with Alf and Ske-san standing to either side, and Cecil, Kotatsu and the others serving her.

"…What's with this audience?"

"A queen and heroes?"

"Don't they look just like the real thing? This was taking a break?"

"It was super fun!"

"I see…"

Well, of course, the player mini-characters cannot be used. Perhaps after getting permission from the players, they could be used in some event? So he thinks.

The more normal AI will be added during the next update though. Along with some bonus functions. The options being: General Support AI, Serious Support AI and Performing Support AI. The default being serious.

There will be a note that management is not responsible if someone playing using these options becomes even more irritated after reporting a bug and the performing AI comes along and annoys them further.

"So, how's the patch going?"

"It's going well."

"What about the patch notes?"

"I'm working on it now."

"Mm, it's good that things are going well!"

There is a reclining chair, set up with VR equipment, in the corner of the room. It is an area for play testing, connected to a different location than the public game server. The GM's are elsewhere.

The one who had been sleeping there takes off the VR device and comes back.

"Play testing?"

"Ah, Yamamoto-san. You were here."

"Because of the event. So, what were you looking at?"

"I was checking the doll system…because there are too few users…"

"…Ah, that. Wasn't it painful if not raised to a certain point?"

"Right. It only becomes viable after you can control three dolls and have all three types, attack, defence and support, available."

"And most are stopping before they get to that point?"

"Right…it's really sad…"

"But it's not weak?"

"Of course not. But it does take some getting used to operating, and the main body tends to end up unused."

"And they have to cut down trees to make dolls."

"But they can use the appropriate puppet to match any role in a party…"

"Then look forward to more from the second batch."

Balancing skills is a top priority for the development team. They also check the data on how many players are acquiring certain skills. If there are too few people taking a skill, they consider adjusting it. It is important to note that they need to properly check whether they are less well-known and if it is something only a few people can handle.

The doll skills are not weak, but can be considered a system that only a few people can handle. In addition, other skills that are considered as summon or servant magic are more well-known.

In terms of servant magic, they can be classified as tamers using «Taming», summoners using «Summoning Magic», marionetters using «Doll Magic», elementalists using «Spirit Magic» and necromancers using «Necromancy».

Of course, tamers and summoners are the strongest. Not that this means in terms of data. It's just that they are very popular.

There are still no players with «Necromancy». It is still unknown to players, but Princess will discover it soon. Ske-san hasn't taken Alchemy. Truly a waste. It's a major skill for the lich. Though he is likely to learn it after Princess passes on the information.

«Spirit Magic» is classified as a servant magic, but it's different from others. A contracted spirit is a friend and equal. If treated badly, they will leave and «Spirit Magic» will become unusable. Currently, no players have this one either. It is still unknown.

Although they are all servant magics, the conditions for them are different.

Tamers use feeding. Summoners subdue their summons with force. Marionetters make dolls. Necromancers take in corpses with dark ritual. For elementalists, it is decided by the spirit, not the player. «Spirit Magic» will be quite rare.

In general, up to one servant is not counted in a party. With two or more, they will be counted. Otherwise, it becomes difficult to make a party. If a player who is mainly a servant user enters a party without a servant, they are little more than a scarecrow and experience and drops are dependant on the size of the party.

Even if someone is a servant user, they are still playing an MMO, so should be able to join a party. They can change their servant to suit the party. When soloing, they can summon all they can.

The SP consumption for servant users is quite high. There is an advantage to having even one servant, and they can be acquired with SP. In which case, anyone can use them. Though it is up to the individual to learn to cooperate with their summoned servant.

Marionetters don't have to catch monsters, but instead need to cut down trees to make dolls. This can be a high hurdle. It is difficult and requires a lot of steady work. Moreover, since the doll is in the shape of a person, it is necessary to prepare equipment. Meaning, it costs money. The dolls also require a specific item for recovery. Marionetter is a bit of a unique style that will only appeal to certain people.

"Eventually they'll be able to make automatic dolls!"

…Says the guy who was doing the play testing. Moving the dolls is quite difficult. In return, the dolls can be quite tricky and strong. There are five types of dolls: attack, defence, support, caster and worker. In addition, attack, defence, and support dolls can each learn collaborative arts.

For example, right after the defence doll blocks an enemy's attack, the support doll does a [Backstab] from behind the enemy. Or when the support doll knocks down the enemy, the attack doll will follow up with a [Heavy Stomp]. Dolls are mainly used for coordinated attacks, and they are strong if used well. And depending on the situation, it doesn't need to be other dolls. The collaborative attacks are possible with both dolls and other players.

"Well, it's still only 20,000 people. Pray that there are some doll lovers among the 40,000 of the second batch."

"God, please God. It's too unrewarding if the things I made aren't used, God…"

"That's too desperate. But I get it…"

Everyone here is the same kind of person. So they all understand how it feels.

"I'm not weak! Just a bit of a fanatic! It's sad!"

"O-oh…"

He is getting too heated up.

"Now then, you guys. The first combat tournament is over. Now it's time for the producers to start reflecting on the tournament in their own fighting event."

Of course, thinking about the events is also part of their job.

They move from the area with the displays to a conference room, to begin a review meeting. To start, the participants discuss the points they were interested in.

"PvP is not well received, after all".

"It was a lot of fun, but only 30% of the players participated. The World Quest had over 90%."

"It's fair to say that it's at a level where there is no PKing at the moment. Though that should change when the numbers increase drastically with the addition of the second batch…"

"Is there resistance to it because it's in full dive?"

Well, to begin with, the Japanese are not very active in PvP.

The ideal goal was to have around half of the player base participate in the fighting tournament, with the reality being around 30%, so it can be considered about as expected.

"So the summer event should be a survival event, as planned. Then probably a sports day in September and Halloween in October."

"A sports day?"

"Yeah, a fantasy sports day with swords, magic and monsters. Maybe a hunting competition."

"More details?"

"The challengers start at the same time after drawing a lottery with the name of a monster on it. The monsters drawn in the lottery pop up all over the field at the same time. They don't have to finish it off themselves, but can take damage from other players and their targets."

"That sounds like a big battle."

"Then it would be okay to pull the target around and have another player defeat it. What if they die?"

"Of course they're disqualified if they die. And it would be quite a small field."

"Evil."

"There's going to be an event for rolling a big ball, right? Can we make it rolling a panjandrum?"

"Sounds okay? If they don't roll it carefully, it will explode."

"Fuu! And of course they can try to make those nearby explode instead…"

Just knowing that the combat tournament was no good is fine, but this level of derailment is like…what is a review meeting anyway.

There is not much point in a review meeting in the first place, because the premise of a ‘combat tournament' was already no good. In that case, it would be more meaningful to put thought into making the future events more exciting.

"Well, we should finish the survival event before focusing on the sports day."

"The direction should be player cooperation, right?"

"I don't think we'll get as many participants if we make it confrontational. Doing that with the sports day might be the limit."

"The last day is a world quest, right?"

"Right."

"I'm a bit worried about the trigger, so is it okay to make it forced?"

"Isn't that fine? Just make it seem a bit suspicious."

"Hmm…then, let's make the main field a little suspicious. It might be a good idea to occasionally have the detection skills react… and more often as they go into the second half?"

"Sounds alright? It should be enough to make them concerned."

"Then let's go in that direction."

"Got it."

Actually, it was proposed that during the camping event it should be possible to acquire a special animal or fantasy creature as a pet, but it was rejected. Largely because of the problems it would cause with servant magics.

And it would make some players quite sad. Mainly Immortals and monster types. They haven't seemed to notice it yet, but animals get rather scared when they get too close. This is especially bad for the High Immortal Princess.

Moreover, giving out such things during the second event is too soon. So ultimately it was rejected. If they get along with the animals during the event, they can enjoy the fluffiness, but can't take them home.

In the break room…is part of the in-game monitoring team.

There are several long sofas arranged for watching displays, a coffee maker and a drink bar and so on, making it a comfortable place for resting. Food is also available.

"A horse player pulling a carriage".

"We did prepare such events, but it's good they were found. Enjoy your horse-specific quests…even if it is just pulling things."

Several men and women are relaxing while watching.

Incidentally, the rest of the monitoring team are still working properly.

"Princess is working hard using alchemy on sand."

"I think that's quite efficient. Can't they also deliver potion bottles?"

"More like bottles of distilled water, but it's mostly about delivering potions."

"Two of the top producers are collecting together."

"Primula-chan and Dantel-san, huh. They must have been waiting for the south to be liberated."

"And Fairellen-san is still flying."

"Like I said, it's fun to fly."

"The sexy radish player is doing well. They've become a sexy mandragora."

"So they already graduated from sexy mandrake."

"Hm…?"

"What happened?"

"Oh, go! Go! Keep going!"

"Hmmm…? Ah! Is the Reverse-Soul Ritual quest about to happen!?"

"Don't give up! It looks bad, but it's fake! Look closely, your HP isn't going down! Push through it! Only Immortals would die!"

"They got through! All that's left is to pray!"

"Ohh….! Perfect. The birth of an angel is just a matter of time."

A racial quest where a devil becomes an angel, the Reverse-Soul Ritual. It seems that it has finally been discovered. The condition to acquire the quest is to go to the church and pray in front of the statue. The quest objective is to help people 10 times. This can be done with chores from the Adventurers Union and other miscellaneous quests. After that, they need to make their level a multiple of 5 and report the quest in front of the statue in the church. Then they will be reborn as an angel.

Devils and Angels have no difference in stats, but their characteristics… and their monster skills, change. Devils are offensive types and angels are defensive, and their attribute changes from darkness to light.

There are actually two types of rebuild, with the first being a full rebuild, accompanied by a level reset, when the stat direction changes completely. The other type of rebuild is a limited rebuild, where the stats remain the same, but the battle style will change due to a change in skills.

Going from devil to angel is the latter, limited rebuild. Racial skills cannot be changed. Skill names and attributes are forcibly changed to the angel version, while inheriting their level. Though since they are going from an offensive oriented race to one focused on defence, they are likely to want to change their skills.

There is also a way to fall from angel to demon, so it is possible to try it out and see which they prefer. It is possible to change every 5 levels, which is much more flexible than other races. It is possible to use this to level a skill that might be more difficult for one or the other, then change back after another 5 levels. Of course, the higher the level, the farther away 5 levels is, and the harder it is to prepare equipment. Moreover, improving skills with this rebuild method means not getting SP every 10 levels.

Of course, it's only possible to change between angel or devil once at that level. Doing it as many times as you like without raising the level? No way that's allowed.

In the world of FLFO, it's fine to think of angels and devils as equal.

"The slime player has become a King Slime."

"Well, it's still just a big slime…"

"Where does it go from there?"

"I think there was some kind of mysterious species route for the mucus type races, right?"

"That's right."

"Can they reach it?"

"I wonder…"

"So the ones at the top are in the 20's now."

"They're exploring the second areas."

"I'm looking forward to the increase in extra races by the time they reach the third."

"Is Ske-san's lich the only one that's confirmed?"

"Ske-san's is an item evolution, so it's confirmed. We'll see if there will be centaurs, arachne, naga and vampires."

"Ohh, I wonder what the horse player will do? If he goes the centaur direction, he'll come off the route that leads to pegasus and sleipnir."

"Because they don't have human parts. Just because they have a human form, doesn't mean they're good! It depends on who's inside."

"Vampires are derived from bats, aren't they?"

"Right… Would vampires be considered Immortals in this world setting? But the biggest problem was that we couldn't think of an extra race for bats. So vampires were thrown in."

"I thought they no longer needed food and sleep to be considered Immortals in this world."

"Hmm. Then vampires seem unlikely… Maybe there's a possibility of not raising blood sucking skills while a bat…"

"Even though different races perceive them a bit differently, it's a game where taste is recreated, so I wonder who would go out of their way to drink blood…"

"Blood sucking is quite strong itself, though it's at point blank range…so quite hard to use."

"It's hard to think of a vampire that doesn't suck blood, so I don't blame them."

"Speaking of races, isn't Princess's race tree dangerous?"

"That one. Yeah, it's dangerous."

"If all goes well, she should evolve 10 times?"

"That's about it. It can evolve to the same point as an angel. Well, if it fails, the minimum should be 3 evolutions."

"What a monster."

"Definitely. I have to agree."

"But it looks like things are going well for Princess…"

"For us, it's fine if she stops after five stages, without becoming an Outer One."

"She'll become an important figure in the world if she makes it to being an Outer One….she'll be both important and super dangerous, as a princess of the Outer Ones…"

"That's right… Even the king of a country would be in a position where they should be careful…"

"If she goes down that route, there should be a special quest."

"There's quite a special relationship between the nobility and the royalty. It's a good thing there's no exile route, because the AI of the royal family doesn't have a stupid setting. There may be a route where some noble houses are destroyed, though."

"The players already know the world setting for the Outer Ones… Choosing that race means a certain amount of railroading…"

"It's more of an RP race, so I'm glad Princess was the one that got it."

"It's a FDVR game, so it's easy to encourage RP."

"That's right!"

"Oh, by the way, nobody seems to have heard about witches yet."

"They would probably need to go to the third west area or raise their adventurer rank, take a noble escort request and hear about it from the nobles?"

"I see. I think Salute-san seems likely to look into it?"

"She'll probably try to become one after finding out about them. They're the original creators of magic potions… Oh, the fox reached 20."

"They have four tails now…"

"Ah, the wolf guy is 20 too."

"Oh, he'll struggle with this one."

"Umm, the wolf tree is… Ahh, I see."

"Choosing Werewolf means the humanoid route. Black Wolf leads towards Cerberus. And White Wolf…there was something there too?"

"There is. So, which will he choose…"

"This guy… won't have the option of white, because he didn't learn light. But he has darkness, so it could be either black or Werewolf."

"Oh, so he went with black dog."

"He's gone out of his way to make it hard to play with others…. Hm? Wasn't this guy the bad dog? …Ah, it is. There's…no chance he went the dark route to get close to Princess, is there? Though if he's planning to get close to her, choosing the dark route is a fine play… But this guy shouldn't know the race skills for Princess' evolution…"

"It's a decision based on attribute rather than race though."

"I suppose that's right. Any darkness route would be fine, and on becoming an Outer One, both light and darkness are good."

Whether he chose the one he genuinely wanted to play, or was just following his desires…only he knows…

If there's anything to be said, it's that he's very excited after evolving into a large dog. He has a good sense for combat, putting him in the top ranks, and gives off the impression of a capable hunting hound. However, his behaviour in anything other than hunting is that of a bad dog.

"Farmers are hard at work in the fields…."

"Oh, they bought more fields. That whole area is their land now."

"It seems they were originally planning to buy it anyway, but did they accelerate their plans due to the event?"

"Well, it's a good time to get more fields. And it looks like they're going to build a house there."

"There aren't many farmers in the first batch, but the second is coming, so it might be the best time to secure it."

"Mm, right… But they can buy some in the north, east, south and west, so there's still plenty of room."

To be precise, it's not a field but land. On buying the neighbouring land, it will expand. Buying land is part of the housing system, so it's also possible to build a house on it.

The price of the land depends on its location. The closer it is to the centre of the city, or to the main road, the more expensive it is. The farmers have bought a lot of land outside the city and turned it into fields.

It's a game-like process, so the more land you buy, the more expensive it becomes. But land outside the city is relatively cheap, so it is perfect for people wanting a lot.

By the way, the top crafters, such as Ertz, want shops. Naturally, they want to buy land in the town, near the main street, so it will be more expensive. Even after buying a plot of land it's necessary to pay to remodel the store or house that is there, so it is not easy to afford even for the beta group.

It is also possible to rent a store, but if you don't at least buy a cheap one, then it's not possible to remodel them to your liking. It might be inconvenient, but the crafting group have had the goal of making money with stalls and buying land from the beginning. If you rent a shop, you have to pay for the contract, and if you hire Residents, you have to pay for them, so it will end up costing a lot. If you can find a good place to rent, you can buy it later, but it's not so easy.

"The crafter group is focused on crafting…so they're having to request escorts. There are only Primula-chan and Dantel-san out on a business trip, in the recently opened south."

"Princess is crafting. The fairy is doing flight training. Devils are starting the Reverse-Soul Ritual…"

"Oh, Nephrite-san logged in."

"The handicrafter, huh. Seems to have been busy lately, right?"

"Must have finally gotten some free time. She's opening a stall alongside the Ertz group straight away."

"Fumu… «High-Class Magic Ability» should finally spread."

"If anything, it feels too late."

"At least it means the seven compound magics should start to appear."

"Think the rarest will be «Space Magic» from light and darkness?"

"Most of them take either light or dark."

"It's because of [Light] and [Night Vision]."

«Magic Ability» includes spells such as [Ember] and [Drinking Water], which the development team calls life magic. The reason why [Light] and [Night Vision] are not included in this life magic is because they feel too advanced. [Light] allows for placing a light above your head even while moving, and [Night Vision] adjusts how little light you can see in.

The life magic that development would most want to be real is [Washing]. No need for a bath and washing machine. No time needed to wash and dry. Instant and hassle-free.

…A spell that has been implemented to reduce stress. The game was made to be realistic in that players will become dirty and get wet in the rain. It also simulates the feeling of sand in your clothes. It is a magic that can solve these problems instantly.

Part of the reason for adding it is that such states can be considered abnormal conditions. The state of being wet for example. If you get caught in the rain or go into water, you will naturally get wet. Being wet makes lightning and ice much more effective. But other than when in combat, they are just annoying. So, [Washing] was added to solve the problem with magic.

Of course, poison and petrification or the like cannot be removed with [Washing]. It really is just ‘washing'.

[Night Vision] from «Dark Magic» is popular for hunting at night. It applies to the caster, so it won't alert the enemy. [Light] appears above the casters head, so it can attract enemies. However, recovery spells are derived from «Light Magic», so many people take that instead.

"Now, I wonder how many people will have complicated feelings about «Space Magic» having inventory."

"We made it that way on purpose."

"It doesn't help that it's a derivative of light and dark, making them mandatory magics. It's definitely convenient to have, but it's not at a level where you can't get by without it."

"It consumes a lot of MP. Won't it be hard unless they're a pure magic type? It's more of a support ability."

"They could just end up not using it at all."

"If they're not looking for inventory, that's possible."

The service has only been running for about a month. It's natural that there is not much information. It's a game with a lot of masked data, but information on skills and such will increase as time goes by.

There are occasionally people saying "Give more information, it's unfriendly!", but the developers here are the kind of people to reply with "If you want to play the game with a strategy book in your hand, why don't you just play older games?". Basically, they will give hints, but expect people to find the answer themselves.

Suppose someone raises a skill and a new derivation is discovered. If someone were to go crazy and say "There was no such information!", they should probably stop playing as the game isn't suited to them in the first place. Or perhaps they could wait a year before playing?

The ideal player is one who says "Seriously!? I want that, but I don't have enough SP! Oh, there's that skill too!? Gunununu…". The development team are grinning at these people. And then there is even more information posted on the bulletin board, annoying them even more.

In other words, it's hard to understand people who want information handed to them on a platter. It's at the level of a band breaking up due to differences in music preference.

"Looks like everyone's having fun."

"Yeah."

"…The hell of MMO's is about to come though."

"That's…right."

Put simply, an MMO is ‘how to make work fun'. In that sense, FDVR makes things easier. Because players can move their body, rather than just clicking a mouse. Combat is like playing a sport.

For those optimising their crafting activities, they can arrange all their materials and tools around themselves while sitting, becoming a machine that makes things without needing to stand. Morning comes before they realise. Truly a time thief. It's even more dangerous with an inventory full of materials.

Well, that said…the VR device will force a log out, if excessive fatigue is detected.

As a result, MMO's generally have low drop rates and ridiculous experience tables. Because the aim is to have people playing it for a long time. A few hundred kills to get a drop is not bad at all, a few thousand is normal. In some cases it's tens of thousands.

And the ideal is for people to do it because it's fun, so they have the item before they realise it. Well, that generally doesn't happen though, so they'll make a lap while complaining that it won't show up. But it's still okay if they're saying that. They're still having fun. Then they'll start to become silent. And sooner or later, making a lap becomes a daily routine. And when they start running into other people that have it, it's the end of the world. They're completely sick.

So, as a remedy, there can be a system to exchange materials gathered while hunting it for the item in question. But even with such a system, sometimes it's a case of…'you expect me to hunt how many?'.

‘So if I keep hunting, I'll get it eventually?' If you think that way, you're a good MMO player. Someone who has been well trained. ‘Update? What bug did you implement?' or, ‘Did you finish the update on time!?', and so on are common too.

MMO's are hellish worlds. Even this FDVRMMO will show its hellish sides. The only thing management can say is: "Welcome to the MMO swamp. Nice to have you". Surely, the devil whispering in your ear has a nice smile.

To start with, the required number of kills will be small and will be increased gradually. In the beginning you'll learn to enjoy the rising numbers. Before you realise, you've got one foot in the swamp and the next thing you know, you're already well trained!

"Oh, the golem person became a high golem."

"They've grown up…"

"It's about the size of a giant. More, if you count the width."

"Umm…was there a branch from the high golem?"

"Hm. They can go become gargoyles actually, but I wonder about this person."

High golems start around 2 metres in height, approaching 3 metres later on, with a width of about two adult men lying down, making them ‘medium' size. They don't get any bigger than this though.

Incidentally, a mini-golem, the early stage of golem, is about the size of an adult woman. A golem is around 2 metres. Considering the width, they are among the largest races.

"How many of the second batch do you think will be inhumans?"

"There are 40,000, so 4000 seems about right…"

"There will be more information about angels, so there are likely to be more."

"But it's a defensive type, right? It's not bad for those wanting to play a priest, but it will increase damage from darkness. It might not be stable depending on the hunting ground."

The management is still watching the players today. ….While grinning.