Masteria Through Time

Chapter 1: Call to Masteria

(A/N: This section isn’t actually part of the Masteria Through Time blockbuster, it’s a small set of introductory quests to Masteria that serves as a sort of prequel to the blockbuster. These quests were actually added some time after the blockbuster came out. I also mentioned this in the foreword, but my assumption is that the protagonist of this section is the same protagonist as all the other sections, with the only exceptions being Neo Tokyo and the class storylines for Hayato, Kanna, Jett, and Beast Tamer.)

A traveler received a package, which contained a walkie-talkie. From it came the voice of Icebyrd Slimm, who introduced himself as the mayor of New Leaf City. (A/N: I’ve mentioned this before in the previous section, but Icebyrd Slimm was based on NxProse himself.) Icebyrd began rambling about the meaning of life and soon came to the point by explaining that the answers to all such questions could be discovered in New Leaf City. He explained that after the traveler’s voice had rung through, he had a feeling that they would be drawn to adventure, adding that he himself had been an adventurer in his younger days.

(A/N: One major issue that I have with the new Masteria storyline is the way that it retcons and ruins the personalities of pre-existing characters, all of whom become caricatures of their old selves. In this case, Icebyrd is relegated to being a bumbling idiot, which honestly seems like an insult on the writers’ part, given that Icebyrd was based on NxProse.)

Icebyrd explained that New Leaf City was built on the continent of Masteria, which had risen from the sea after a thousand years. Intrigued, the traveler visited New Leaf City, where Icebyrd greeted them and asked Lita Lawless to help the traveler out, though Lita merely flipped Icebyrd off. (A/N: Here, Lita has become a standoffish, rude character, rather than the outspoken and fair sheriff that she originally used to be.) Icebyrd then laughed and told the traveler that Lita was the sheriff of the city, and that he had grown up with her in Kerning City.

The traveler then asked more about Masteria, and so Icebyrd explained that the legends of Masteria stated that the continent was where great armies that thirsted for power had collided and met their ends, with ancient Masteria meeting its own end at Olde Sapp Village, upon which New Leaf City had been built. He told the traveler that Olde Sapp Village had been much smaller and more primitive than New Leaf City, with nothing left but foundations and cornerstones when he had first arrived.

He explained that he had called in every favor and had invested every asset that he had earned over his lifetime after making a wish. He told the traveler that he had always longed to create a place where people could fulfill their dreams, and that his wish had been granted in exchange for a great responsibility that he believed might be too much for him to handle.

When the traveler asked what he had been asked to do, Icebyrd laughed and told them that it hopefully wasn’t something that they would need to worry about. He then explained that he had been sending walkie-talkies to as many adventurers as he could, but that the traveler was the first to have answered the call.

With that, he invited them to explore Masteria, and to learn more about it. He told them that recently, a scientific team called the Masteria Research Lab had arrived, although they had holed themselves up in several rooms of Professor Foxwit’s laboratory, where they mostly kept to themselves. He then introduced the traveler to Foxwit, explaining that the 97-year-old professor was their resident genius who had agreed to help New Leaf City after Icebyrd had saved him from man-eating plants in the jungle.

He then showed the traveler a special pod that would teleport them to Foxwit and told them that even though Foxwit was eccentric, he was a good man who would help them get started on their adventures in Masteria. The traveler then used the pod and introduced themselves to Foxwit. However, Foxwit told them that he already knew their story, as he could detect nearly every signal that moved through Masteria. The traveler was amazed, though they were concerned about the legality of such an action.

Foxwit dismissed the notion and told them that he had permission from the mayor and the sheriff, although he added that there were some stipulations about ethics and security that meant that he could only share the information that he gathered with Icebyrd. Though the traveler was certain that it was illegal, they nevertheless asked Foxwit how his system worked. Believing that it would be more efficient for them to experience it, Foxwit gave them a headset to put on, with which they were able to hear the buzz of insect wings and a waterfall.

As Foxwit began explaining that they were hearing the sounds of the jungle, the traveler heard a girl crying out for help amidst the sounds of vicious monkeys. The traveler immediately rushed to the source of the cries in the jungle and fought off the monkeys attacking the girl. The girl thanked the traveler profusely and introduced herself as Becky, a member of the Masteria research team.

She explained that she had come into the jungle alone to study the ruins of ancient Masteria, since the other researchers continued to remain in the lab, as they only placed importance on artifacts of practical value, rather than learning the culture and legends of the ancient people of Masteria. She told the traveler that the researchers were likely slacking off, as Dr. Jang, their team lead, was away. (A/N: Dr. Jang plays a major role in the Masteria Through Time blockbuster.)

As the traveler continued trying to calm Becky down, she asked them whether they could accompany her in her exploration of Masteria, as she was terrified of being attacked by monsters again. Feeling bad for her, the traveler agreed to escort her during her investigation. Becky thanked them and explained that she had been able to scout up to the Krakian Ruins, and so it would be unlikely that they would encounter the monkeys there again.

When the traveler asked about the Krakians, Becky told them that the Krakians were the aboriginal people who had once been native to Masteria. She explained that she was researching their ruins and attempting to analyze the ancient Krakian language, which showed many similarities to the ancient language of El Nath.

The traveler was impressed by her work, to which Becky proudly proclaimed that Dr. Jang was the first person to have performed a deep academic analysis of Krakian writings. She then explained that according to what she had learned thus far, the Krakians had a close relationship with foreigners called Versalians, who had visited the western reaches of Olde Sapp Village, and that the strong cultural exchange between the two groups of people was the reason for the inconsistencies in the architecture of the Krakian ruins.

In order to learn more about the Versalians, Becky and the traveler began to head west and soon found themselves in the Phantom Forest. They quickly discovered several hostile entities and began to flee. They soon encountered a mysterious light that guided them to safety. (A/N: The actual chasing and the light guiding them happens off-screen for some reason, with only their discussion about what had just happened being what we see. The light is most likely that of Subani, and it’s later explained in a future storyline that the one chasing them is the Headless Horseman.)

They continued onward up Crimsonwood Mountain and soon discovered several ancient structures. Becky told the traveler that she had never been to the region that they were at before, noting that the vegetation and soil were completely different from what she had observed elsewhere. She then attempted to read the writing on one of the structures, and though she noted that it was different from the Krakian text that she was used to, she also noted that it still had undeniable similarities to the ancient script of El Nath.

(A/N: The fact that they specifically chose to specify El Nath makes me wonder whether there’s some connection between Masteria and the Abrup Basin, a part of El Nath that we see in MONAD.)

After translating the writing, Becky told the traveler that it roughly said, “Only those who are qualified may ascend the mountain.” Suddenly, corrupted monsters appeared and began to attack the pair. After fighting them off, the traveler took Becky inside a cavern, where they discovered more monsters. (A/N: The corrupted Keep monsters from the original Masteria storyline have a new look, with all of them having the same red and black color scheme and weapons for their job class, rather than each of the four types having a unique color scheme and appearance.)

After the traveler defeated the monsters, Becky thanked them for accompanying her, as she would never have been able to survive alone. The traveler replied that they needed her as well, as they never would have been able to make any progress in exploring without her knowledge of ancient languages. Becky then began translating another writing in the cavern, which she read to be, “To the ones who seek truth through knowledge…”

However, she found that she was unable to translate the literal text, and so she summarized by saying that it had been written by Subani, the Magician of Light, instructing others in having the right mindset towards study and training. She told the traveler that Subani was the first disciple of the Grandmaster, explaining that the Grandmasters were the greatest champions of their age, and that they had built Crimsonwood Keep on the summit of the mountain in order to safeguard an object of great significance called the Antellion. (A/N: The Grandmaster that Becky is referring to is Christopher Crimsonheart, who was the founder of the Keep and the adoptive father of Subani and Naricain.)

Realizing that they would need to keep climbing in order to learn more, the traveler and Becky continued scaling the mountain and eventually reached the Keep. Inside, they discovered an enormous statue and a slate with writing.

(A/N: The statue was created in the likeness of Crimsonheart. The statue of Crimsonheart from the original storyline depicted him having four hands with weapons of each job type. Later on, the statue was updated to have five hands in order to reflect the addition of pirates. The current statue only has two hands, although he still has five different weapons to signify the five jobs. I couldn’t find a good picture of the statue by itself, but it looks identical to one of the chairs that you can get at the end of the Masteria Through Time blockbuster.)

Becky translated the writing and explained that it said that the Grandmasters had reached the pinnacle of their might through the power of the Antellion. However, when the Archdemon Naricain, who was meant to become the Antellion’s protector, had come in search of it, a time of tragedy had roiled the land. (A/N: Archdemon is a pretty grand title for someone as unimpressive as Naricain, which you’ll soon see in later sections.)

The traveler then wondered whether the writing was alluding to the war of destruction that Icebyrd had mentioned. Becky confirmed their speculation by explaining that Naricain was the cause of the war, with Subani fighting against him, hypothesizing that their battle was likely the reason why Masteria had sunk into the ocean. She also read that the Antellion was said to be “like the brilliance of a star, never diminishing”, and wondered whether it was a sort of animating force or a source of perpetual energy. Suddenly, the ground began rumbling and the traveler quickly led Becky outside the Keep to safety.

One week later, Dr. Yoon arrived at the Masteria Research Lab and told Dr. Jang that he would be ending support for any research that hadn’t yet yielded useful results, which included operations near the Keep. Dr. Jang conceded that a good scientist needed to look towards the future, but she also noted that researching the past gave the understanding to determine how to shape the future, and so she declared that she could not comply with his orders.

She told Dr. Yoon that she believed that not only was the Antellion real, but it also existed somewhere in Masteria. However, Yoon cut her off and explained that the decision had already been made by upper management to reduce her budget and headcount. He also urged her to go along with it without her usual fuss and theatrics.

After he left, her fellow researchers began agreeing with Dr. Yoon, claiming that there was no point in putting so much effort towards researching the Antellion if there was no hard evidence of its existence. As Becky attempted to argue with them, Jang decided to go along with the order to shut down operations in the Keep, though she reaffirmed her belief in the importance of researching the past.

She decided that she would appeal to upper management and asked the researchers not to give up, as she was adamant that the way to fight back against the threats to Maple World was hidden somewhere in Masteria, believing that the power which had sunk Masteria and sealed away the Archdemon was lying in wait to be rediscovered. In order to keep operations going, she ordered the researchers to write a report on the value of Masteria by using the soil analysis data that they had gathered.

Soon after, Becky sought out the traveler and thanked them for all their help in her research. Suddenly, she began crying as she told the traveler about the cuts to their budget. However, she remained hopeful that Dr. Jang would continue fighting on their behalf and promised to keep them updated. Some time later, Icebyrd reached out to them and asked how their adventures were going.

The traveler told him about how they had helped Becky with her research, to which Icebyrd asked them what they had learned. The traveler explained how they had learned about the war between Subani and Naricain, and how their battle had caused Masteria to sink. They then asked Icebyrd about who had asked them to build New Leaf City.

Since they were the first one whose adventures in Masteria had brought them closer to the truth, Icebyrd agreed to reveal his secret, though he asked them to keep it to themselves. He then explained that it was a being of light, or perhaps a voice within the light, which had told him to build New Leaf City in order to prevent an Archdemon sleeping in Masteria from reawakening. He believed that the light was Subani, who had raised Masteria from the ocean and set things in order. He then reminded the traveler to keep the information to themselves as they continued searching for the truth.