Story Reader / Festival Event Story / Fist of the Taoist / Story
The Beginning
>Gray Raven, here is the routine dispatch for your ground operation. We have left several supply crates on your planned route.
There are serums, repair kits, and spare parts in these crates. I'm sure they will be helpful in your upcoming fights.
Although I should end this message now with a typical "bon voyage"...
I must apologize—there is an unexpected task we hope you can take on before collecting your supplies.
We hope you can search for a few supply crates that have landed in no man's land after veering off their original trajectory.
While you can ignore this request, I'm afraid this is the only supply drop for this mission, so...
—Support Force
According to the coordinates we received, I believe we're near the no man's land where the supply crates landed, Commandant.
...
...
Hmm, those mechanoids have been staring at us.
The Punishing Virus concentration in this area is pretty minimal... And they aren't acting like Corrupted, either.
Maybe, maybe not... But we would've been warned beforehand if there were a massive horde of Corrupted in this area.
Either way, this doesn't look like a no man's land at all.
Lee is referring to the various structures before you. These buildings might see some damage here and there, but they are largely intact overall.
You can even see signs of repairs done on the exterior walls.
In a way. All of these buildings are in fact holograms.
Commandant, I would refrain from doing that. They are all holograms only.
Lee points upward at the sky as he says it, and you all notice the recon drones hovering in the air.
They're simultaneously moving and scanning the area, all the while coordinating with each other to adjust their projections. It's quite an effective way to create a holographic environment.
Based on their scale, I'm afraid everything we're seeing here is just a projection.
I have no idea. Should we look into it, Commandant?
The situation is peculiar, but our main objective here is to retrieve the supply crates. Let's start our search as the commandant said.
These here are a few odd fellas indeed. Stay where you are!
A voice nearby shouts at you as you are preparing to go.
Y'all just gonna request a self-introduction right out of the gate, huh? I ain't got no name nor title, so you can just call me "Foreman" like the rest of them!
You're as odd as it gets here! I haven't seen any of y'all here before!
We're from Babylonia, and we're here for a reason... My name is Lucia. Do you mind telling me yours?
Hmm... A name, you say? Just call me "Foreman"! That's right, Foreman!
Foreman... So, are you the one who's controlling all these mechanoids?
I'm the one asking questions here, alright? So answer me first!
...That means you just happened upon our place, is that so?
That's right. We followed the coordinates from our Support Force here. Have you seen our supply crates?
You can find Babylonia's logo on them. They should be quite easy to identify.
I don't know nothing about supply crates, but we did pick up some weird boxes with strange pictures on them a while ago.
That would be what we're looking for! Where are they now?
They're now rewards for the "Fist of the Taoist".
"Fist of the Taoist"?
A competition to determine who the "Fist of the Taoist" is, obviously! Hey, seeing that y'all are here already, do you want to give it a go?
You should've labeled them "Not Rewards for the Fist of the Taoist" then, shouldn't you? You want them back? Join the competition and win!
What you're saying is... the only way we can get our supply crates back is to join this competition of yours?
You're welcome to take them back by force, as long as you're cool with making enemies of us all.
You should know that this is our big celebration for the yearly Ghost Festival! We mechanoids will be undergoing the trials to become a Taoist, as well as participating in a ghost-hunting competition!
I have no idea where you get all this information from, but does the title of the Fist of the Taoist mean anything special to you?
Are you teasing us about our knowledge of ghost-hunting? I'll let you know that we folks here watch Ghost Expert daily! DAILY!
...Are you telling me that all the mechanoids here are fans of Ghost Expert?
Probably a movie about this Taoist Foreman was talking about.
T-this ain't no fan convention! It's a study group with dedicated researchers! Not fans!
So how do we participate in this competition, and how do we win?
That's simple. First of all, you must pass the trials from our East, South, West, and North Generals, obtaining the qualification of a ghost hunter.
Afterward, you will use your qualifications to enter the four ghost-hunting venues we set up according to their order and hunt some ghosts!
The first one who goes through all four venues is the real Fist of the Taoist!
We will get our supply crates back after we become the Taoist, right?
You don't get them back—you're rewarded with them!
Speed is of the essence, then. In that case, we shouldn't waste any more time, Commandant. Let's go.
Brilliant! Here come four more contestants! Good luck!
