Whoosh!
A desolate land with gloomy sandstorms blowing. The eastern wilderness outside the gates of the Roeide Duchy.
After passing through the gates and walking for a while, ferocious monsters began to appear sporadically. Could it be due to the influence of the demonic energy that recently started stirring beyond the Erins Gorge? They were much stronger and larger than the monsters encountered so far.
"I can see why the Alpharion Empire hasn't conquered the eastern wilderness beyond the Roeide Duchy until now."
I nodded my head.
Aside from the fact that the monsters inhabiting this place are strong, it has no value as territory. A barren land in a different sense from the desert, and beyond this lies only the endless Erins Gorge.
They could use the coast beyond the gorge as a port, but anyway, all trade in this world takes place within a single continent. And the territory of the Alpharion Empire that borders the sea is not only beyond this Erins Gorge. The value of the eastern coast isn't particularly high until exchanges with other continents that might exist in this world begin. It would be different when this world starts to develop after all events, including interventions from other dimensions, are over.
But even if people don't live there, even if it's a useless barren land, it's still officially the territory of the Alpharion Empire under international law. The existence of a vast land within the empire's territory where the nation's influence doesn't reach must be a thorn in the side of the Alpharion Empire.
"But."
Swoosh!
Screech!
After dealing with a giant spider in front of me, I became very angry.
"What is this!?"
The liquid gushing out from the wound of the spider cut by my sword is neither a strange green blood nor an eerie red blood.
Why is the monster's wound pixelated, and white milk coming out?
Is it because of this? It's because of this, isn't it?
[Safety Filter]
I glared at the faint green curtain that had appeared before my eyes.
It's not particularly disturbing, nor does it obstruct my vision.
But somehow, the monsters have been 'censored'. They didn't censor the spider's creepy appearance into something like a cute teddy bear, but the blood and wounds looked strange.
Now that I've checked the patch notes in detail, I could guess the cause.
"Astria Online has become a 12+ game as of today."
'Astria Online', which was an adult game, has been lowered to a 12+ rating with this patch.
Now, even minors can play this game.
In fact, this had already been announced. I just didn't pay attention because there wouldn't be big changes for adults who were already playing.
The advertisement featuring me, which I hadn't watched till the end, was already promoting Astria Online as a 12+ game.
Then surely, what applies to underage players is...
"This thing called the safety filter."
Swish swish.
Feeling very angry, I stretched out my short arms and waved at the green curtain in front of me as if to erase it. Disappointingly, the safety filter didn't disappear.
This is a big problem for me.
I play this game to feel a sense of reality, but with something like this on, it strongly reminds me that it's a game.
Why? I'm an adult, so why is this applied to me?
This is clearly a bug.
Hana Games became a large corporation after the release of this game. But judging by how they're not handling things properly in areas like this, it seems they still have habits from when they were a small company.
I unnecessarily brought up the interface and fiddled with various settings before using the GM call function. This was to report the bug.
Woong.
After using the call function for a while, the face of a blonde beauty wearing magician's clothes appeared before my eyes.
Team Leader 'Han Yeoreum'.
A person from the marketing department in charge of my advertisement, and a strange being who knows about the Astria continent before it became a game.
I puffed my cheeks upon seeing her face.
Is she the only GM available?
Her image floating in the air is a hologram. It seems she's only transmitting video.
Why isn't she coming? I'm in a hurry.
-Oh my, our cute Rain-nim! What's the matter? I'm sorry~ It's patch day, so inquiries are piling up. Ah, yes. It's nothing serious.
Team Leader Han Yeoreum seemed to be in the middle of handling another user's inquiry.
Nothing serious? A big bug has occurred!
I waved my hands around angrily.
"Hey, this green filter, what is this? Why is milk coming out of monsters?"
Team Leader Han Yeoreum's busy gestures paused for a moment.
-Eh, huh? The safety filter is applied to Rain-nim?
"Yes. Please do something about this quickly."
The hologram image of Team Leader Han Yeoreum wore a troubled expression.
-Why did that appear for Rain-nim? Did the person in charge mistakenly apply it while applying filters to pre-generated accounts with avatars for minors during the server check? Oh my, I can't deal with this. Rain-nim, can you bear with it for a little while? I'll handle it by the end of today.
"O-Oh, by the end of today? Can't it be done right now?"
-Well, it's hard to explain in detail, but interfering with Rain-nim's avatar during live service is complicated in many ways. Of course, if Rain-nim wants, we could disconnect everyone right now and enter emergency maintenance...!
"No! P-Please take your time!"
I hurriedly waved my hands.
If they enter emergency maintenance because of me, I'd feel sorry for the other people who are enjoying playing right now.
"Haah."
After ending the communication with Team Leader Han Yeoreum, I sighed and let my sword droop.
I didn't feel like hunting.
I just crouched down and fidgeted with my fingers on the wilderness ground for no reason.
What should I do now?
There's no urgent need to hunt right away. The quests are sequential anyway, and the elite dungeon hasn't been discovered yet. At least until users advance to the gorge area, 'Erins Gorge', visible in the distance, something should be revealed. Even if an elite dungeon is discovered quickly, it will take time to open, just like before.
I was planning to level up ahead of Chris, who's busy with work, and if I found a good exp hunting ground, I was going to help Chris level up there.
Having come far into the wilderness, I looked towards the walls of the Roeide Duchy, which now appeared small.
Come to think of it, Sister Elenoa said to stop by the ducal family sometime.
I was planning to level up first, tour the entire Roeide Duchy, and then visit the ducal family.
Whoosh!
Suddenly, a strong wind started blowing near me.
I shifted my gaze to where the sound was coming from.
"Oh."
I exclaimed at the sight of a magnificent tornado blooming in the wilderness.
A whirlwind of sand, a dust devil, had risen from the wilderness ground, sucking in several giant spiders.
"Aerial, is it?"
The mage's new ice spire skill, 'Aerial'.
A skill specialized in mob gathering. It's not a skill with a large damage share in single named battles, but it's very helpful in leveling sections like this. In the case of named monsters, it also has the effect of confusing their vision, lowering the hit rate of attacks. Rather than a dealing skill, it can be seen as a staple skill mainly used for mob gathering and debuffing.
Since mages have 'Arcane Burst' as an extreme dealing skill anyway, it's nice to have a skill like that too.
Boom!
Screech--!!
Arcane Burst exploded over the giant spiders gathered by Aerial. The giant spiders fell, spewing milk.
An excellent skill combination.
The caster of Aerial who dealt with the giant spiders, a male mage, looked in my direction. And he wore a slightly surprised expression.
"Oh, Rain-nim? It's been a while."
"Eh."
He recognizes me. Who was it again? The face seems familiar somehow.
"I'm Pookkikkik, the mage from Scada's raid party."
"Ah, Pookkikkik-nim. Nice to see you."
I chuckled. I remember because the nickname is so strange. He's the mage I worked with when first forming the sub-character raid party for the 'Tree of the Abyss'.
The sub-character raid party, also known as the 'Scada & Red-White Team 2' raid, was disbanded after farming progressed to a certain extent. This was because many sub-characters of the Red-White Guild members were also raised, and including those who had completed farming in the existing team, they reduced the number of people and divided the teams to run buses.
Since it's the first time meeting after the banquet at the Alpharion Empire's imperial palace, it's been about a month.
"Why are you crouching down instead of hunting? I thought Rain-nim would be ahead of everyone else."
I slightly stuck out my tongue and smiled awkwardly.
I can't exactly say, 'Milk comes out of monsters, so I don't feel like hunting.'
"Um.... It doesn't seem that urgent right away."
"Is that so? Then, how about checking out the Orc Forest?"
"Orc Forest?"
I tilted my head.
The Orc Forest is the first hunting ground encountered after starting 'Astria Online', also known as the 'Newbie Zone'.
"A lot of newbies came in after today's patch. Even though the expansion pack has opened, only those who have completed farming the Tree of the Abyss can properly hunt in this wilderness area right now."
"What are they doing there?"
"It seems they're helping newbies and running bus services for the 'Orc King's Cave'."
I gaped blankly.
On the release day of the expansion pack, 'Endless Gorge', Astria Online became a 12+ game.
For newbies who started the game today, while there would certainly be adults, most would be minors.
They're running bus services while taking money from little kids?