Legacy of Masteria

Chapter 4: Into the MesoGears

The traveler was contacted by the Glimmer Man, who asked them to come speak with him in New Leaf City. There, he explained that he had been working on finding Subani’s Legacy. When the traveler expressed confusion, he reminded them of the guiding light which had helped Icebyrd create New Leaf City. He explained that in order to find Subani’s Legacy, he had hired the renowned treasure hunters, the Barricade Brothers. The traveler then asked him why he needed them, as it was clear that he had the resources to achieve his goals easily.

The Glimmer Man laughed and explained that he preferred to be the brains of the operation, while leaving the physical labor to others. He then told the traveler that even though the Barricade Brothers were skilled, their progress had been sluggish, with it being difficult to even keep track of where they were, because of which he asked the traveler to help the Barricade Brothers in whatever way they needed. He then instructed the traveler to meet with John Barricade inside Bigger Ben in New Leaf City, reminding them to keep whatever discoveries the brothers had made confidential.

The traveler entered Bigger Ben and caught John by surprise, who wasn’t expecting to see another person there. He was further taken aback when the traveler explained that it was the first time that they had heard of the Barricade Brothers, and before John could begin listing their achievements, the traveler interrupted him and explained that the Glimmer Man was eager for a status report.

John reluctantly admitted that the investigation was going nowhere, as the only thing he had discovered was that there was a series of chambers below Bigger Ben, though the path was being blocked by strange spider-like monsters that were neither alive nor robots. He then asked the traveler if they knew how to fight, after which he asked them to clear out the Killa Bees, Fire Tusks, Electrophants, and the Wolf Spiders inside the MesoGears.

While fighting the monsters, the traveler was surprised to find a tombstone on grassy ground, which was quite out-of-place amidst the stone clocktower. Etched upon the tombstone were the words, “Here lies the Great Guardian Christopher Crimsonheart,” signed only with a ‘V’. The traveler wondered whether Lukan had built the tombstone for Crimsonheart after traveling back to the present, noting that tombstones were considered luxuries in the past.

(A/N: The brown dialogue box tells us that the tombstone says what I wrote above, but if you click on it again, the white description box actually says, “Here lies Christopher Crimsonheart, the immortal warrior,” which is the original inscription from the old Masteria storyline. Most likely, they forgot to update the asset description.)

Just then, John arrived and noted that the tombstone, while intriguing, didn’t seem like it had anything to do with Subani. He then hoped that his brother, Jack Barricade, was having better luck on his end. The thought of his brother then prompted John to ask the traveler if they could check on Jack, who was investigating Crimsonwood Keep, where Subani had once resided. The traveler agreed and made the perilous trek up Crimsonwood Mountain, where they discovered Jack inside one of the caves.

Just like his brother, Jack was easily startled by the traveler’s arrival, as he had thought that one of the corrupted knights had come instead. He explained that he had gotten kidnapped by the corrupted soldiers while wandering around the Phantom Forest and was held captive for several weeks, though both he and Dr. Yoon of the Masteria research team had managed to escape.

When the traveler asked if he had learned anything about Subani’s Legacy, Jack explained that while he hadn’t been able to learn anything about Subani, he had stumbled across something just as important. He told the traveler that a few days after he had been caught, the corrupted soldiers had taken him to the council hall where the Grandmasters used to have their meetings.

There, he had been surprised to discover the four Grandmasters, noting that he had never expected to meet them when Crimsonwood Keep had been abandoned for a thousand years. Though he hadn’t been able to understand their language, he did catch one word: Antellion. He explained that the Grandmasters had been staring at a mirror-like device with strange, glimmering symbols, which he had been able to memorize before they had made the symbols vanish.

He then gave the traveler a journal, in which he had written the symbols and asked them to give it to John, who was an expert on ancient languages, as he believed the symbols to be the key to uncovering what was happening at the Keep. The traveler returned back to the MesoGears and showed the book to John, who noted that the symbols seemed familiar, despite him never having seen them before. Worried about his brother, he asked the traveler to show the symbols to the experts of New Leaf City in order to see if they could translate it.

The traveler went to visit Elpam Gorlab, who immediately went white upon seeing the symbols. He explained that the symbols were in the written language of Versal. The traveler noted that they had never seen such symbols in Masteria before, to which Elpam explained that they wouldn’t find the script adorning any walls or written in tomes, as it was the contemporary script of Versal, which had evolved past the ancient form of Versalian which had been used a thousand years ago.

He then asked the traveler where they had encountered it, and upon learning that it had come from the corrupted Grandmasters of the Keep, he noted that what he feared had come to pass. He explained that the people whom Jack had seen were not the corrupted Grandmasters, but followers of Naricain from Versal.

He then attempted to translate the symbols, which he believed to have come from a larger passage, and told the traveler that it said, “Obtain… Noille Nalle… Crimsonheart’s… resting place… in Olde Sapp Village…” The traveler was surprised to learn that Naricain’s followers had learned about Crimsonheart’s gravestone, as the traveler and John had only discovered it quite recently.

Elpam told the traveler that he believed that the Noille Nalle was at Crimsonheart’s resting place, explaining that the term meant ‘Star of Night’, referring to the Antellion, which he claimed was an accursed artifact which had brought immense pain to the Versalians. The traveler immediately realized that Lukan was indeed the clue behind the mystery and decided to return to Jack in order to let him know what they had discovered.

Before the traveler could head back to the Phantom Forest, they were stopped by the Glimmer Man, who asked them about the Barricade Brothers’ progress. The traveler admitted that the brothers hadn’t made much progress on learning about Subani’s Legacy, though they had discovered that Naricain’s followers were attempting to claim the Antellion. The traveler also noted that the gravestone in the MesoGears had only been made recently, and so it didn’t make sense why Naricain’s followers would be interested in it.

The Glimmer Man was intrigued and asked who would have gone to the trouble of making a false grave site, to which the traveler told him that they believed that Lukan, the Antellion’s protector, had done it. The Glimmer Man laughed and said that he was right to have hired them, as they had made much more progress than the Barricade Brothers. He then bid the traveler farewell, as he had other business to take care of outside the city.

The traveler then returned back to Crimsonwood Mountain and told Jack what they had learned from Elpam. Jack decided that they ought to infiltrate the Keep before Naricain’s followers could. Upon arriving at the Keep, the pair found that the entrance was locked and its security system was active. The traveler noted that they knew people who claimed to be descendants of the Shadowknights and wondered whether they knew how to bypass the security.

The traveler then went to Dead Man’s Gorge and found the Raven Ninja camp. There, Taggrin told the traveler that Lireni’s log had a record of a special sort of quest that all who wanted to enter the Keep had to complete, including Crimsonheart himself. He explained that there were five trials that needed to be completed at Crimsonwood Mountain in order to gain the qualifications necessary to enter the Keep.

(A/N: There’s a total of five quests for this part. The first one, the Magician’s Trial, requires you to be in a party of five people: a warrior, a magician, a bowman, a thief, and a pirate. Luckily, this is the only one where you need a group, as the rest can be done by yourself.)

After completing the trials and obtaining all five pieces of the Keystone, the traveler returned to Jack and used it to open the door to the Keep. Inside, the pair were shocked to find the Glimmer Man, a strange woman with blonde hair and red eyes, several Versalian soldiers, and a wounded Lukan being propped up by the Nameless Warrior.

Before them was an enormous, ethereal Dimensional Gate with purple runic marks, slightly ajar, allowing light from a space beyond to seep through the crack between the doors. The Glimmer Man greeted the traveler and told them that they were late, joking that in the process of trying to solve the riddle, the answer had ended up revealing itself.

He reminded them about how he had said that he wasn’t much for busywork, but explained that he couldn’t sit idle when he had people depending on him, as being in charge meant having to make big calls. The traveler demanded to know who he really was, and so the Glimmer Man shed his alien form and revealed himself as a young Versalian man with blond hair and glowing purple eyes.

(A/N: This is a retcon of the Glimmer Man’s original backstory, which had him being a magician from Ellinia. It doesn’t really make much sense why this is a disguise for him because what in the world is he doing in the Amoria PQ when he’s supposed to be a follower of Naricain?)

He introduced himself as Modryn, explaining that he had disguised himself in order to hide his true identity from any Versalians who might have arrived in Masteria before him. He noted that fate was strange, as he and the others had worked so hard to find Masteria, only to have someone happen upon it by pure coincidence due to a malfunctioning device, adding that irony didn’t even begin to describe it.

However, he told the traveler that he couldn’t complain, as he had gotten what he had been after, revealing that the last surviving fragment of the Antellion that Lukan had been guarding was now in his possession. The shocked traveler demanded to know what he was planning to do with it, to which Modryn explained that he had many goals, wondering whether he first ought to begin by rebuilding the broken world of Versal, or by reviving Naricain.

He then bid the traveler farewell and told Yurian, the blonde girl with red eyes, to begin preparations. (A/N: Shot in the dark theory: the Devatas of Afinas have ties to Versal.) The pair then proceeded to attempt to revive Naricain by opening the door, from which massive black hands emerged from the other side.

Just as the Phantom of Naricain appeared, Cayne unexpectedly arrived and began fighting the creature. (A/N: Best boy Cayne is here, I was so glad to see him.) He enthusiastically greeted the traveler, as he hadn’t expected to run into them, but noted that he ought to save the greetings for when they were finished. Cayne then took the traveler, Jack, Lukan, and the Nameless Warrior outside the Keep, where they were surprised to see Dr. Yoon, the other researchers, Garnet, Enneth, Riman, and a squad of Afinas Knights.

After reaching safety, the traveler asked Cayne what was going on, to which he explained that the leaders of Afinas had also taken an interest in the Antellion. Just then, Lukan groaned in pain, causing the traveler to rush to his side. Pleased to see someone he had missed greatly, Lukan warmly told the traveler that he could now die without any regrets.

(A/N: The present-day Lukan actually has the same NPC as his original sprite from the old Masteria storyline, complete with long hair and a moustache. However, the illustration that we see during his dialogue is his younger form with shorter hair and no facial hair.)

The traveler admonished him not to say such things, causing him to laugh and say that he was just joking, noting that it would take more to kill the protector of the Antellion, despite him not being in good shape. However, the Nameless Warrior replied that Lukan wasn’t the protector of Antellion after having handed it over to Naricain’s followers, causing Lukan to jokingly call them a brat.

He then introduced the traveler to the Nameless Warrior, revealing that they were a descendent of the Bosshunters, one of the Keep’s guilds. He explained that the Bosshunters had roamed the world in small groups, which had allowed them to avoid the consequences of the great war. The Nameless Warrior told the traveler that they had met when Lukan had introduced himself, claiming to have recognized their Bosshunter armor. They then formally introduced themselves as Broad to the group, after which Lukan told the traveler that he had important information to reveal.

He explained that after they had last parted ways since returning back to the present, he had begun researching the changed history that they had experienced after following Dr. Jang through her Time Portal, but he had been shocked to learn that nothing had been changed. He reminded the traveler that when they had gone back in time, they had never seen the Lukan of that time, though he ought to have been there with Crimsonheart and the other Grandmasters.

He added that if the past Lukan had truly been there, then he would have sunk deep beneath the sea, along with the rest of Masteria. However, Lukan explained that accepting the past Lukan’s existence to be true didn’t account for who he himself was. He also pointed out other strange occurrences, such as Subani having met Icebyrd Slimm, despite Subani having been killed by Naricain in the altered timeline, as well as the fact that people still remembered Dr. Jang.

Because of those contradictions, Lukan believed that the clearest hypothesis was that nothing had changed, as it was only himself and the traveler who believed that something different had taken place after both of them had witnessed the supposed original timeline in his memories. He then postulated that they had witnessed a fabricated memory, and that the history that they and Dr. Jang had changed was the history that was supposed to have taken place all along.

(A/N: The specific dialogue in this storyline is somewhat vague enough that certain other interpretations have been made. One such interpretation is that Lukan is really saying that the memories that we saw in his head with Professor Foxwit’s time machine - in other words, the timeline where Subani sacrificed himself to seal Naricain inside a statue - was the true timeline, and that the entire sequence of events in Masteria Through Time, which had us supposedly go into the past, never really happened.

Personally, I really don’t think this theory is true because the wording of what Lukan says in the dialogue - “My memory that you claim to have seen… I wonder now if it really was mine”, pretty obviously is referring to the memories in his head, not the timeline from the past, since Lukan would’ve otherwise said that it was a memory that the both of them had seen, given that we were alone in Lukan’s head and both of us were there in the past.)

The confused traveler then asked why those memories had even been inside Lukan’s mind and wondered who would want to confuse them and send them back to the past. Lukan then revealed that he had only recently learned the answer, explaining that the light of Subani which had commanded Icebyrd to build New Leaf City, the person who had presented the Antellion fragment to Dr. Jang, the person who had berated him in Subani’s voice every day, and the person who had spoken in Naricain’s voice in an attempt to try to convince him to cast aside his duty, were all manifestations of the Antellion itself.

He told the shocked traveler that the Antellion had tried to return to Versal on its own by manipulating others with illusions. When the traveler asked why it would try to do such a thing, Broad told them that they would have the answer on the day that they could open the Dimensional Gate again, with the same applying for what the followers of Naricain were trying to do with the Antellion, though Broad noted that all they could do at present was wait.

Cayne then added that even though the Dimensional Gate wasn’t working anymore, it would at least be under Afinas’ control. He then asked how he and the others should react to the news of Subani and Naricain’s voices being fabrications of the Antellion. When the traveler asked what he meant, Cayne explained that he and his dispatch had been sent to contact Subani, and though they had their concerns about the Antellion, they hadn’t expected to learn what they had.

The traveler asked whether Subani was an important figure to Afinas, to which Cayne told them that though he couldn’t go into detail, much of it had largely been because of Grandmaster Delgrund. He added that the traveler was also getting high on Afinas’ watchlist, and that he would explain everything to them during their next encounter. He then encouraged the traveler and the others to rest, noting that it would be good for their health.

When the traveler asked if he would be staying with them, Cayne regrettably told them that even though he wanted to stay and catch up, he felt that he ought to return back to headquarters, as there were ongoing problems there to deal with. He also added that Alika, while doing her best, was utterly exhausted because the problems that they were facing could only be solved through brainwork.

Because he knew nothing about Alika’s work, and since he couldn’t help through strength alone, he had turned to the traveler in order to get their aid. He then promised to contact them shortly when things at headquarters were more sorted out. Cayne then took his leave, promising to tell Alika hello from the traveler, and ordered Riman and the relief squad to give their full support to the traveler, whom he emphasized was highly important.

(A/N: I have a theory that the divine protection of Afinas that the Devatas channel comes from Subani. Whereas Modryn and the others are followers of Naricain, I believe that Afinas and its Devatas are followers of Subani, though all of this is being manipulated by the Antellion somehow. I’m not sure how PULSAR plays a role in this, but I’m sure we’ll find out soon.

Honestly, my personal belief is that the writers finally decided to follow NxProse’s story of the war on Versal, except they realized that they had written themselves into a corner after having killed off Subani and imprisoning Naricain without either of them doing anything, and so they decided to write the Antellion itself as a villain in order to retroactively turn those two characters into competent, powerful beings through their false manifestations.)

The traveler then returned to New Leaf City and sought out Icebyrd, who greeted them as the savior of Masteria. The traveler immediately cut to the chase and asked the mayor what he was keeping from them. Icebyrd laughed at their bluntness and decided that the time had come for him to reveal the real reason why he had built New Leaf City.

He reminded them of how he had made a wish and then asked whether they believed in fate, and whether the choices that they made were truly theirs, or whether fate determined their entire future. He explained that it had only been the very moment that he had decided to take fate into his own hands and shape his destiny through force of will alone that the light had appeared before him, calling itself Subani and prophesizing the coming world of terror.

The light had bestowed a vision upon him of a pitch-black sky and a twisted, horrific world, in which all order had collapsed. At the center of the world had been a terrifying beast so large that it was impossible to see the entire thing, slowly devouring the world with countless arms. He shivered as he explained that he could still recall the despair that he had felt in the vision while watching the apocalyptic beast devouring the people and the world that he knew.

However, he explained that the light had told him that he had a chance to stop that future from coming to pass, commanding him to build a city on the land of Masteria, as it was the first step towards securing a better future. He told the traveler that Subani had helped him choose the exact land to build on, as well as which historical sites to excavate, with the light growing more and more faint as they made progress.

Upon finishing the city, Subani had told him not to tell anyone about what he had seen until the right time came, instead letting everything unfold as though he had no idea about what was happening. It was then that Subani had disappeared, promising to return again when the need was great.

Icebyrd explained that he couldn’t be sure if he had been hallucinating, or if he had been hypnotized, wondering whether the light itself had even been Subani. However, he added that he believed in the traveler, and that that they would write their own fate with power, courage, and honor. Because of that faith, he told the traveler that he believed that the ‘right time’ that Subani had mentioned was now.

Thanks so much for reading! With MONAD being removed from the game, it’s unclear how the Masteria storyline, which has incorporated a lot of the lore from MONAD, will proceed. It’s been confirmed that GMS will be getting the Neo Tokyo event, and so I’ll be localizing the Neo Tokyo section once it gets released. Just like with the main guide, I’ll keep updating the GMS-verse page as new things get released, but until then, take care and I hope to be back soon!