[Bob] Hey guys! I just got a text from the higher-ups. They want to push the release date to next year.
[Elise] What! Why?
[Bob] Apparently, they saw how well the demo was doing and want to release the game early so they can start work on the sequel asap.
[Elise] Next time I see those fuckers
[Walter] Calm down Elise, it's not like they're asking for much.
[Bob] Yeah, we only really have a few bugs to fix, and then the game will be ready to be released
[Walter] Speaking of bugs, hey kid, how is your portion going?
[Alex] I should be done by next week
[Walter] Really? That was fast, and to think you didn't even know how to edit a Tapestry a little over a year ago :')
[Bob] Hey, Walter, don't bully the kid
[Alex] Do you all have to call me a kid?
[Bob] Yes
[Walter] Yes
[Josh] Yes
[Elise] Yes
[...] Yes
Reading the simultaneous answers of his whole team, Alex can only lean back in his chair and let out a deep sigh. "Is this karma for when my older self did this to the recruits at his old job? Wait, karma?" Alex sat back up as he remembered something. "The GM game book did mention karma as something GM can use for plot convenience, but does that mean Karma is a real thing here?" He shook his head. "I doubt it, as there are a lot of evil NPCS who canonically get away with their crimes. Also, if karma is a thing here, I'm sure it wasn't on Earth, so my older self's past actions shouldn't affect me." Closing the chat room and saving his work, Alex groaned softly as he stretched his arm before standing up.
"A week should be enough time." In reality, Alex had completed his part of the work the day before, but with his busy schedule, he couldn't afford to take on more. He turned off his PC, stood up, secured his Storage Pouch to his side, donned his backpack, and slung a large sack over his shoulder before heading out. He took a bus to the nearest train station, then travelled for three hours on the train before arriving at a remote village at the foot of a mountain. Using his phone's map, Alex located the inn he was seeking and entered.
"Hello, good sir!" Greeted a young man at the front desk.
"Room for one booked for a week, under the name Alex Alveron." The young man nodded with a smile before checking the screen in front of him.
"Ah, here you are! Well, as per protocol, before I can give you the keys to the room, can you enter the passcode you received when you made your appointment?" Alex nodded and entered the code on the young man's tablet. "Thank you! I confirmed the passcode!" He handed Alex a set of keys. "Here you go, and have a great stay!"
"Thank you, and I will." Finding his room, Alex locked the door, placed his things on the ground, and went straight to the washroom to wash up, clutching a Storage Pouch under his arm. "Ah, this hits the spot." Alex grabbed a marble-sized orb from his Storage pouch and brought it against the lights above as he relaxed in the bath.
For the last few months, Alex has been conquering any stray Rifts he can remember the locations of. Of the many Rifts he conquered, besides the Hallowed Forest, only two had bosses, so Alex could only acquire two more Boss Cores. "It's a bit of a waste to use this now, but I need the extra power boost to pass the entrance exam." Alex looked over the orb before throwing it into his mouth and swallowing the core.
[Core Consumed: Black Wing Trickster]
[Available Traits: Trickster's Cloak, Fairy Wings, Tiny Body, Long-Life]
"Tch, almost all useless, why am I not surprised?" In REALMS, Boss Cores have two uses: they can either be eaten to get one of the Bosses' Traits or to make powerful items. Because traits gained from Boss Cores in REALMS are completely random, people generally don't use them for that purpose. Why risk potentially ruining your life by getting a detrimental trait you can't turn off when you can use the Core to make a powerful item? However, that is something Alex didn't have to worry about, as after consuming the Withered Treant's core, he learned that, like in REALMS and Realms at War, he can choose which Trait he gets.
"Tiny Body is a death sentence, Fairy Wings would be too small to be of any use, and Long-Life provides no tangible benefit right now. Which leaves only Trickster's Cloak." Alex let out a deep sigh as he submerged more in the water. "God, do I hate randomized Bosses. If only I'd gotten the Elf Monarch as the Boss instead, they at least have plenty of good magic Traits to choose from." Selecting Trickster's Cloak, Alex immediately opened up his Traits Menu.
[Traits: Arcane Sight, Inner Library, Mana Eater, Scarred Body, Parasitic Bond, Mana Absorption, Petrify Immunity, Trickster's Cloak]
"-Sigh-, only Mana Absorption would be of any help during the entrance exam. Petrufy Immunity will be useful in the future, while I'll need to remember to disable Trickster's Cloak to avoid any suspicion during the scrying test." The following day, after a quick breakfast, Alex bid the person at the front counter farewell before heading towards the mountain base. After three hours of walking, Alex finally saw what he was looking for: a run-down house with a tree growing through it. Entering the house, he was greeted with a large pulsating purple Rift. After a small break, Alex lifted his sack before plunging into the Rift. After a brief moment of weightlessness, Alex found himself at the entrance of what can only be described as an active carnival. Looking around, he saw an endless forest surrounding the carnival, with an unmoving, laughing moon in the clear night sky.
'Seeing it in person, I now understand why it's called the Dream Carnival,' Alex thought to himself. As he made his way through the carnival, Alex encountered guests of many different races, ranging from ordinary humans to giant trolls. "There's even Dragonkin here; to think I'll encounter one of those so early." After a few minutes of wondering, he finally found what he was looking for—a large red and white striped tent with a prominent ticket sign on top. Stepping inside, he was greeted by a wooden mannequin dressed in a black silk suit, topped with a top hat and sporting a monocle.
"Greetings, honoured guest! Welcome to the exchange center, where you can exchange goods for tickets or tickets for goods!" The mannequin yelled with flamboyant movements, giving a small bow while tipping its hat before standing back up. "What can I do for you during this fine night?"
This text was taken from Royal Road. Help the author by reading the original version there.
"I want to exchange goods for a ticket card," Alex answered, placing his sack on the counter. The mannequin opened the sack and peered inside.
"I see, fine customer! This won't take long!" The mannequin lifted the sack as its face cracked open, revealing a black void filled with jagged porcelain teeth. With twitchy movement, the mannequin lifted the sack, its body contorting until its back was almost at a ninety-degree angle before dumping its contents into its mouth. Emptying the bag, the mannequin's body snapped straight back up as its face melded together. "Analyzing contents," the mannequin said while handing Alex his sack back. "7589 various Low F tier monster parts, 204 Mid F tier Plant-Undead Superior Treant parts, 59 Mid F tier Beast Superior Serpent parts, 1 Mid F tier Magical Superior Fairy body. Calculating exchange rates, calculating the total ticket amount, and subtracting the cost of the ticket card. Here you go, valued guest!" With exaggerated movements, the mannequin flicked its arm, presenting a small plastic card that appeared in its hand. Grabbing it, Alex looked over the colourful card with a large, bolded 3346.
"I want to exchange my tickets for prizes."
"That's what they are for, valued guest! What would you like in exchange for your tickets?!"
"I want the Golden Wheel Ticket."
"Sure thing! How many?" Alex furrowed his brow as a thin frown grew on his face.
"What do you mean, how many? Only one Golden Wheel Ticket can be bought per guest."
"Correct valued guest! Carnival Rules, article two, section eight, paragraph ninety-four, states that each guest can only buy a Golden Wheel Ticket once, in exchange for exactly 1,000 tickets! So, how many would you like to buy?" Alex stood still, staring at the mannequin as he thought over what he had just heard.
'Why is this different from what it should be? The rules are still the same, but why do they keep asking me as if I could buy multiple?' Thinking it over, Alex decided to try something. "How much would one Golden Wheel Ticket cost?"
"1000 tickets valued guest!"
"How about two?"
"2000 tickets valued guest!"
"Three?"
"Sorry, valued guest, but as per the carnival rules (article two, section eight, paragraph ninety-four), each guest can only buy one Golden Wheel Ticket!" Hearing the mannequin's reply, Alex nodded, thinking over what they said.
'Do they consider me two people because I used to be two separate entities? That has to be the case because if not, what else could it be? And if so, does that fact interfere with any of my plans?' He shook the thought away. 'That's not important right now, I'll think about this more later when I have the time.' "I would like to buy two Golden Wheel Tickets."
"Sure thing, valued guest!" The mannequin raised its palm towards Alex as a small slit opened up. "Please insert your tickets or ticket card to confirm the exchange!" Alex inserted the card into the slit, and after a few seconds, the card popped out, landing next to two bright yellow tickets that appeared on the counter. "Anything else?"
"I want to turn in my Golden Wheel Tickets."
"Sure thing, valued guest!" The yellow tickets disintegrated as a large wheel with a dozen different items printed on it rose from the floor behind the mannequin. Stepping to the side to let Alex get a better view of the wheel, the mannequin grabbed the top of it before giving it a hard tug down, causing the wheel to start rapidly spinning.
Roll 2D12:
Result: 1,4
After a few seconds, the wheel slowly stopped spinning, eventually landing on Wonder's mask. As a mask of interlocking shell-like parts materializes on the counter, the mannequin spins the wheel again. Grabbing the mask, Alex watched the wheel land on Cuddly Teddy Bear.
"Tch! Even with two spins, I couldn't get Siren's voice. Well, at least Wonder's Mask is a good consolation prize, and the teddy bear is also a good bonus." Grabbing the teddy bear, Alex stuffed both prizes into his backpack.
"Anything else, valued guest?!"
"Bring up the catalogue."
"Coming right up, valued guest!" With a loud snap, a large book appeared, dropping onto the counter with a loud thump. Flipping through the pages, Alex paused as a page caught his eye.
[1 Golden Wheel Prize: 10,000 tickets]
[Wonder's mask, Siren's Voice, Arcane Goggles, Cuddly Teddy Bear, Bag of Infinite Candy, Music Box, Reverse Sand HourGlass, Toy Ring, Warding Necklace, Laughing Mirror, and Magician’s Deck.]
"Huh, this is new, though with that price tag, I'm better off just paying someone to spin the wheel." After flipping through several more pages, Alex stopped once he found what he was searching for.
[Boss Cores:]
[Clamity Dragon: 999,999,999 tickets]
[Immortal Hydra: 999,999,999 tickets]
[Winter Empress: 999,999,999 tickets]
[Nightmare's First Spawn: 999,999,999 tickets]
[Golden Karp: 999,999,999 tickets]
[Continent Golem: 999,999,999 tickets]
[Rift Whale Parasite: 999,999,999 tickets]
[...]
[...]
[...]
[Forest Mimic: 2500 Tickets]
[Great Cockatrice: 2000 Tickets]
[Thunder Leviathan: 2000 Tickets]
[Walking Hill: 2000 Tickets]
[Night Eater: 1500 Tickets]
[Light Eater: 1500 Tickets]
[Queen Mermaid: 1500 Tickets]
[Great Widow: 1500 Tickets]
[Loving Succubus: 1500 Tickets]
[House Mimic: 1500 Tickets]
[...]
[Gummy Worm: -500 Tickets]
[Ice Cream Elemental: -500 Tickets]
[Dried Skinned Fish: -500 Tickets]
[Giant Walk: -500 Tickets]
[Annoyed Chicken: -500 Tickets]
"I know the handbook said that they sell every non-named Boss Cores, but to think they even have the April Fools bosses. What does it mean for a Core to cost negative tickets?"
"Carnival Rules article eight, section twenty-nine, paragraph one-hundred seventy-four states that each guest is allowed one complementary exchange from the catalogue, in which case not only do they get the item but also the amount of tickets equal to the price!"
"Just to be sure, how many can I get?"
"Carni-"
"How much for two Cursed Eye Cores?"
"That would be negative one thousand tickets!"
"How about three?"
"Sorry, Valu-"
"I want the following Cores. One Ice Cream Elemental, Annoyed Chicken, Slime Prince, Slime Princess, Lesser-Drake, and Scarecrow Prince."
"Calculating the price. Ice Cream Elemental and Annoyed Chicken Cores are worth 1000 tickets. Two Queen Slimes Cores cost two thousand tickets. Lesser-Drake and Scarecrow Cores cost three hundred tickets. The total amounts to one thousand three hundred tickets, valued guest!"
"I want to spend the rest of my tickets, and I'm selling my ticket card to buy sweet bags," Alex said while handing the ticket card over.
"You won't regret your purchase, valued guest! I can guarantee that our carnival only serves the highest-quality, cheap candy! Would you like anything else?"
"No, that's everything." The mannequin's face snapped open to reveal its mouth. Grabbing the card, they shoved it with their whole arm into their mouth. Pulling it out of their mouth, the mannequin brought their closed hand over to Alex before dropping the Cores into his waiting hand. Then, in a loud snap, the mannequin's mouth sealed shut as fifty different coloured small goody bags materialized on the counter.
Grabbing a Storage Pouch from his backpack, Alex shoved all fifty goody bags along with the Boss Cores inside. Putting the Storage Pouch away, Alex bid the mannequin goodbye before exiting the tent. Walking through the carnival, Alex eventually arrived at the exit gate, with a rift floating not far ahead. Taking out a Mana potion, he chugged it down and continued walking. Stopping just short of entering the rift, he spun around to face the carnival and waved a small salute to it. "Silk Boost," pumping the extra power into his arm, Alex smashed the glass bottle against a tree, shattering the bottom. Putting a small stone orb covered in carvings from his Storage Pouch into the bottle. "Sheesh, with how much something this small costs, I should have chosen the Enchanter class; then my money problems would have been solved way faster." With a swift thrust, Alex lodged the bottle into the tree trunk. He took one last look at the carnival before turning around. "It's such a shame such a nice place doesn't have much time left," He murmured to himself before entering the Rift.
- Wonder's mask:
Siren's Voice(Sirens are monsters who can drown people who hear their songs by filling their lungs with water. They need to sing to to fill their own lungs with water so they can breath outside on the surface)
- Arcane Goggles
- Cuddly Teddy Bear
- Bag of Infinite Candy
- Music Box:
- Reverse Sand Hourglass:
- Toy Ring:
- Warding Necklace:
- Laughing Mirror:
- Magician’s Deck:
- Golden Wheel Voucher: