A familiar… something that was a companion of the player and could boost them additionally in various fields. It was a mechanic that was not in Clash Online.
At least, not for the players.
Some very strong boss NPCs and other important characters in the beta had familiars, so any players had expected the system to come to the game soon.
But even during launch, it had not been added.
And now, Cane had the opportunity to become the first person to attain a familiar. He was not going to miss this opportunity.
"Come, plant your seed in here and water it with the mystic water of bloom. Once that's done, you just need to wait some time for the familiar to bloom."
The chief told Cane as he stood on shaky legs and waited for Cane to do as he had been asked to.
Cane looked at the patch of soil in front of him before he buried the golden ball in the soil and watered it a few times.
And then he awaited and waited…. and waited.
Half an hour passed, but there was no sign of a familiar blooming in the soil. Cane was starting to feel worried and scammed.
Even the old chief looked worried for Cane.
"Hmm, it seems like the familiar inside the seed is far too strong for the normal soil to help. You might have to go on the 'hero's journey' to get it to hatch."
The chief told Cane and he gestured for Cane to retrieve the golden ball.
Cane did that and put it back into his inventory.
"Hero's journey? What's that?"
Cane asked as his heart skipped a beat. It sounded like a new and never-before-seen quest and it made him excited.
Finally, his patience with the game was starting to pay off.
The old man coughed and he helped the chief back to his house. He was also the one who answered Cane.
"A hero's journey is an old folklore passed around our village. It is said that only the strongest and the purest of heart can hatch the strongest familiars out of their prison. There are six supreme guardian familiars. I wonder if your golden seed is one as well."
That Cane doubted.
In Clash Online, any supreme and one-of-a-kind item was usually reserved for the NPCs and never for players.
If the six supreme guardians truly existed, then they would surely go to an important NPC and not to a player like him.
'Then again, the game is glitched and gave me the NPC tag. Who knows what else can happen?'
Still, Cane knew that it was better to temper one's expectations than to feel the heartache of defeat.
cough
"Anyway, I will tell you what you need to do and where you need to go from here. But remember, if you decide to take this journey, it will be a long and painful road. Are you sure you want to do this?"
The old man asked Cane, and he did not hesitate to answer.
"Of course I want to undertake this journey."
He would undertake this journey and also be the first one to tell the world about it. Cane could just imagine how many more fans he would be able to gather because of this.
'Oh-! This is so exciting. I can't wait to make this announcement.'
Cane was excited about this. But not everyone was as happy and excited as he was about his success.
In the Genesis head office, Reeze was starting to get a headache as she looked at all the complaints she was getting because of Player 'Cane'.
People had been warned and also banned because they kept complaining about him even when the developer team had told them specifically that he was not cheating.
And because of this, the Genesis committee was starting to pay attention to Cane as well.
They were not the only ones to do that either. The other people who knew about the game and its secrets were starting to get close to the truth.
"Is there truly nothing we can do about him? Why is it so difficult to ban one person? He's a player as well, right?"
Reeze asked while gritting her teeth. She could feel her headache getting worse.
Her secretary flinched as he noticed her anger before he straightened his back to answer his boss.
"Miss, it's because the system does not 'recognize' Cane as a player. Every time we try to access his files, the system stops us. Just as it stops us when we try to touch any important NPC file."
The secretary informed her, and she gritted her teeth.
"So, you are trying to tell me that the 'game' is protecting Cane? And you expect me to believe that? This game has no will of its own. It's a computer program and we just need to find the right code to crack it. Now go and get back to work."
She told her secretary.
The reason she was so angry was because she wanted to be the first one to uncover the secret of this game. That way, she would be able to gain a massive advantage.
Of course, all her plans had been thrown out of the window because of the appearance of the new variable, Cane.
"Tsk, hey—! Contact a bounty hunter or something. If this guy won't go away on his own, then we will have to force him to go away. Also, make preparations to buy his account. Do anything and everything you can."
The female ordered, and her secretary sighed as he looked at her.
He knew that look on his boss's face well. She was not going to back down until she got what she needed.
Unfortunately, that meant that he would have to do her bidding for now.
'What a mess. But as sorry as I feel for the other person, I am not about to risk my job for them. I should get ready to do as Miss Reeze has asked of me.'