Nightmare Fantasy Online

...now this, this gotta be a joke. What are the odds...

New info had been posted on NFO's official site. While eating my toast, I read about the second official event in the game's history, planned to take place just five days from today.

The second event is confirmed!! Name: [Haunted Haunt Hunt]!!

• As some adventurers may have discovered, there are sets of Haunts, large areas thriving with monsters, in each country that has a letter from the Greek alphabet in its name and is part of a set of Haunts of the same type.
• These Haunts are connected and have been affected by something like a curse that is produced by new Raid-class enemies that have suddenly appeared in the central Haunts, fittingly named the Omega-Haunts.
• These curses have resulted in weird and dangerous mutations of the wildlife in all connected Haunts. If left alone, these mutated monsters may emerge from their Haunts and start attacking the towns nearby.
• Migrants! It is time to show the world your strength! Band together and discover the source of the curses, defeat the Raid-class enemies, and save the world!!

Things suddenly went up a notch or ten. And if we're talking Greek letters, then isn't the Haunt in my country the Alberido Alpha Swamp? And regarding these"mutations", is the parasite that was inside Bloom part of this event?

More detailed info about the event was also included...

• Only D-rank and above adventurers registered in the Adventurers' Union can directly enter the Haunts.
• This event will take place in the normal fields.
• Length of the event: 3 weeks from after the Adventurers' Union officially releases the Omega-Haunt investigation quests. 
  • However, the changes from the curses have been witnessed ever since the end of the first event. 
• The contents of the event are:
  • Explore the affected Haunts and discover the truth behind the Raid-class enemies and make the path ready so a Raid team can challenge the Raid-class enemies.
  • Subjugate the monsters that have leaked from the Haunts to prevent the destruction of inhabitant towns and cities. 
  • Construct event-limited items that grant an advantage against the event-limited monsters. 
  • Finally, defeat the Raid-class enemies hiding in the Omega-Haunts.
• Consequences for failing the event:
  • Destruction of inhabitant towns and cities. Note that they, and the inhabitants' lives, cannot be recovered.
  • Potential loss of Haunts and losing access to potential Haunt-limited items.
  • Some Raid-class enemies can inflict character data loss if one does not properly research and prepare against each enemy.
• Rewards are given based on the player's contribution.
  • Rewards granted from the Union for clearing the quests related to the Haunts are not part of the event reward.

...yeah, things are much bigger this time around. And from the sound of it, it's not just a battle event. They specifically ask the players to do their research about the monsters, so musclebrains without those abilities can't do anything except fight off the riffraff that escapes the Haunts. And they even threw the threat of "character data deletion" into it as an extra warning...

I like that there's a guaranteed reward even if you don't go by the Adventurers' Union. That essentially doubles the reward for me~. But I gotta rank up. I'm currently E-rank in the Union, so I gotta reach D-rank before the event start, at the very least. 

Another thing I gotta do is... Guess I got no choice left. *Beep, bip, boop*.

Let's hope there are some suckers out there. But for today, I'll do as planned. Magic training.

---

Log in.

"Hey, Bloom. Bloom?" - Garami

The witch isn't here, even when I said she wasn't allowed to exit the Player Room. 

I looked inside the "Servant's House", which sorta feels like a dorm for students, and found her in the room that had her nametag on it. And she's dead asleep. Even when I am one of the worst heavy sleepers around here...

"Wake up!" - Garami

"Gya! ...five more years..." - Bloom

Don't fall asleep again!

---

"My head..." - Bloom

Blame your sleeping habits. They're worse than mine. Her sleep status has been lifted...for now, anyway.

...hmm? Her Karma Value just went down by 1 point. And it's lower than when I checked yesterday. Now it's on -42, but it used to be around -20 before I started to study the magic book...

Is this the "corruption" of the [Demon's Presence] skill? I did turn it on right to show the witch that I'm serious, and it was constantly on while I was trying to solve the magic book assignment yesterday with Bloom close by.

Does "corruption" mean it automatically lowers the NPCs' Karma Value while they're around me?

Thinking about it, demons do have it naturally easy to gain negative Karma, so maybe being around a demon will do the same to others? And while we're on the subject, didn't demons in old lore and such encourage people to do bad deeds? And "bad deeds" will normally lead to "a drop in Karma Value" in this game, so...

Tch. It's just a Karma-influencing side-effect. Nothing big then. And since I've confirmed its effects, there's no need to continue with it. It won't be pretty to one day find Bloom having turned into an unsalvagable villain. Not sure if the Karma works that way or not on the NPCs, but better safe than sorry.

"Come on. We're late" - Garami

"Ouch...late? For what?" - Bloom

"For the classes." - Garami

"Ah, okay. But...what are we learning?" - Bloom

"Magic, of course." - Garami

After answering Bloom, I operated the Dungeon Terminal to create a door leading to a specific area on the 3rd floor. It's where the "Practice Area" facility is placed. I couldn't afford the Dojo facility, as it costs more DP than what my upper limit is, so I placed this thing here so that Nyx, Nala, and the other Dungeon monsters could have a place to test out their skills.

"...wait just a minute. Ain't this place a freaking Dungeon!?" - Bloom

"Ah, forgot to mention it." - Garami

"That's not something you "forget"!" - Bloom

"Something wrong with that?" - Garami

".........as long as it does not end with me returning to prison. But are we safe here?" - Bloom

"Sure we are. I'm the Dungeon Ruler after all." - Garami

"No, you have to say stuff like that sooner!" - Bloom

"Calm down. Besides, it's not like we're doing anything bad here. At most, I'm cultivating plants and stuff-" - Garami

"Cultivating plants!? With the Dungeon?!" - Bloom

"Yup. I wanted something to sell, so I used the facilities of the Dungeon for some gardening." - Garami

"...is a witchcraft atelier also possible?" - Bloom

"If I have a reason to include one." - Garami

"Please~, master~. Be it anything from shopping groceries to world conquest, this humble servant of yours will do it~." - Bloom

...this girl never needed to be corrupted. It's a wonder her Karma's not any lower than it already is. Speaking of, didn't she use a forbidden item as I did before? Yeah, she's been on this side from the start.

"Focus. First off, how can one improve one's magic efficiently?" - Garami

"That would be by studying underneath a master." - Bloom

"...and you?" - Garami

"No way I can teach people how to improve their skill levels. I am a slave." - Bloom

Yeah, that's right. That would be logical. Speaking of which, I've yet to look through all her skills yet, not to mention the titles. Now's a good time as any.

Ignoring the last two titles, I can say this girl's not a fighter. She's only fast to flee, even as a magic caster. 

"Hey, is there some way you can even train here?" - Garami

"Not at all. I hate labor." - Bloom

We're two there, sister.

That means..., we got time to kill while waiting for the plan I placed to start working. It's only after that the Fort's DP limit will exceed 250, so...should I try training my aim here? Got nothing else to do, I guess. Maybe except for looking for a Charm-related skill and getting Bloom hot and bothered? 

Ah, there came Nyx and Nala. Tch. There goes the second option.

"Shadows and tentacles?!" - Bloom

...first thing first, I gotta get this one up to speed.