Rise Online: Return of the Legendary Player

The day before the incident at the Arena in the Royal City of Tretidian~

- Rise Online Headquarters of the Hónghé Group, Los Angels. -

"...Hollie Rees, I owe you an apology. You were right, the Psych Class will transform Rise Online even more than I could have predicted," said Charles Richards, a lead developer for Rise Online.

Immediately, hubbub formed at the meeting table where more than a dozen heads of various departments of Hónghé Holdings were gathered.

"Sir, what do you mean by that?" Hollie Rees asked, confused.

"Ever since the day you warned me about the sudden insertion of the Psych Class into Rise Online, for some reason I kept thinking about it. This was not the first time that 'Odin' has inserted a new class into the game with autonomy, and since I knew several important points about the Psych Class, I judged at first that this would not be a big problem for us."

Kaia Luna, Rise Online's Continental Finance Manager, seemed very focused on the subject, and while most department leaders were not understanding how this was related to the video that mentioned the nickname 'Kaizen', she had already interpreted the relationship between these two. Despite this, she did not want to stand in front of Charles Richards in the meeting, so she entered a simple question into the dialogue between him and Hollie Rees.

"So, boss, what made you change your mind about that Psych Class? I heard about that many professional players and analysts say that it's probably not a competitive Class on the level of the other more common ones."

"Ms. Luna, that point you made is exactly what I thought when I got on the plane to China over the weekend. The Psych Class should not be a competitive thing, and theoretically it is not. All Class Abilities require a lot of points to unlock, as well as consume a lot of MP and Stamina. While a Warrior Class player will unlock three or four initial Class Skills, a Psych player would have unlocked with the same playing time only one."

"Folks, have you ever heard the phrase 'Not too much, not too little. Just enough.'?" Emerson Rodrigues inquired as he rose from his chair. "I may not be a game data analyst like you guys, but I am good at reading how people behave."

The bald man was bigger than everyone in the room, except that his charming closed smile was charismatic and scary enough for all the brief buzzing to cease completely.

Soon, he continued to speak. "In the early-game, most players in Rise Online focus on getting as many skills as possible, because you can't distribute attribute points. That way, they think they are ahead of the other players, except that if a good player got the Psych Class and realized that it's a lot of Class Points to unlock each skill, his focus will be on..."

"Moving up levels." completed Kaia Luna. "That means that the Kaizen player, who managed to kill a Mythic Rank monster, is the Psych Class holder, right? But that should be impossible. The Psych Class entered the game on Friday and today is still Wednesday. There's no way anyone could have evolved over a hundred levels that fast."

Charles Richards fiddled with the tablet in his hand and projected Kaizen's chart into the air for all to see.

[Statistics Screen

Nickname: Kaizen | Class: Psych

Current Title: The descendant of the Ironstones; Talented

Profession: Blacksmith Apprentice.

Alignment: Chaotic Neutral | Fame: 90].

[Attributes

Level: 22

HP: 300 | Vitality: 27

Intelligence: 28 | Luck: 16

Attack: 55 | Agility: 40

Charisma: 11

Defense: 28 (+120)

Magic Resistance: 7 | MP: 130

PR: 120]

All the bosses looked in enormous admiration at the chart. The fact that the newcomer was already level 22 playing for less than a week was almost unbelievable, considering the difficulty players normally have to evolve. However, the most impressive element was not in his level itself but in the amount of attribute points he had. Adding up all the attributes except HP, MP and PR, Kaizen already exceeded 200 points, without considering the defense and attack of his equipment.

"If he keeps evolving like this, he will become unstoppable." One of the bosses commented.

"I can't believe that there is someone who can evolve so fast and achieve such good attributes. He must have figured out the tactic of forcing attribute points to increase, but I can't imagine the effort to do that." A senior developer was also fascinated as he admired Kaizen's statistics screen.

"What are we going to do, sir? How can we nerf this?" A woman inquired to Charles Richards.

The man smiled, wryly, and took off his thin, rectangular glasses. "What will we do? Nothing. My positioning will remain the same as before."

The speech of one of the Chief Developers astounded everyone. A player who could damage competitive integrity was alarming for a game as new as Rise Online. While most in the room looked at the people next to them, trying to find an answer to this situation, Charles spoke again.

"If 'Odin' allowed the Psych Class to be integrated into the game, it is obvious that he is the only one who can find ways to contain it. By the way, think how frustrating it would be for the Kaizen player to work so hard to evolve and be hampered by a decision of ours. What would we do? Would we adjust his attribute points to those compatible with his level? That wouldn't be fair, because he has worked so hard to rise from negative levels."

"You're right. It's too late to nerf him." Hollie Rees said.

Charles Richards sat down in the empty chair belonging to him at this meeting table, looked at each of the people there, and said:

"We will not interfere in the Psych Class case because the supercomputer 'Odin' has already begun to act."

"What are you talking about, sir?" inquired Kaia Luna, clenching her eyes.

"The vast paranormal world of Rise Online is the answer... Since the game's release, the paranormal and the supernatural were living in the shadows and few players had the power to experience it."

The Lead Developer was speaking with such seriousness that he propped both hands on the table and looked with focus at everyone.

"However, the Psych Class bearer is directly, and naturally, connected to the physical and supernatural world. Thus, since the appearance of the first Psyker on Midgard last Friday, beings who had been hiding until that moment have been urged out of their hiding places by an unusual desire for freedom. Kaizen will learn that being a Psyker also means being a meeting place for paranormal beings, a beacon for creatures from this mysterious and dark world. Probably the way 'Odin' found to hold Kaizen was this, as if he were responsible for opening Pandora's box and holding its weight."

...

Edited by: DrHitsuji

​ If you want to see original illustrations of Rise Online characters, consider helping me on pa treon: Pa treon.com/NandoFalske

More character images in:

https://discord.gg/bpqq9u4gS8

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