"Hey, Dylan, can I ask you sothing?"
The car journey, even though it was faster compared to walking, would still take about an hour, maybe two, since, well, Terraria didn't have paved roads, and the few dirt roads they had were complete and utter crap.
I also had to be careful while driving; the Humvee might be an excellent car for these dirt roads, but it didn't fully compensate for my inexperience.
There was a huge difference between driving on paved roads and driving on bumpy, non-linear dirt roads. So, I had to slow down to avoid accidentally slamming the car into a tree.
This made the trip take a bit longer than necessary. So, why not make good use of the ti and have a chat?
Dylan, who at this mont looked like a child gazing at the landscape passing by the car window, turned to .
"Sure, what's the question?" He seed more relaxed than before, having gotten used to the car's speed and just enjoying the ride.
I humd a bit as I organized my questions. Let's ask about the mission first; later, if this group really moves forward, I can inquire about his personal life or sothing. Like, why was he pretending to be a peasant when he clearly wasn't.
"Well, about the mission, I don't know much about the area, what's it like?" It was good to have this information; after all, I wouldn't want to be caught off guard by not knowing about the terrain.
I'll give Dylan the credit he deserved; the guy didn't hesitate a second before answering, as if the information was already at the tip of his tongue.
"Village Jille, a village of farrs and agriculturists, they cultivate grapes, strawberries, and apples, all used or sold to be turned into wine or cider." He paused a bit as he breathed before continuing.
"The last ti a scribe from the castle visited this village was at the end of last year, where he docunted that the total population was three hundred and sixty-seven people, these being..."
He blinked, turning to . When he realized I was still paying attention, he continued.
In that ti he turned to , I glanced away from the road for a mont and noticed that his eyes seed to glow faintly in a light blue shade as he spoke.
"[WiseWizardGleam] Impressive, I don't know if he uses so mode to keep his mory organized like Occluncy, but the way he retains information is impressive. (Emote of an impressed old wizard).
[(MOD)GeniusBillionairePlayboy]: A guide from the Order of Guides.... I see where that term cos from, not as impressive as my mory, but still good enough. (Emote of impressed Iron Man).
[(MOD)RedHuntressLive]: Urk!... So, is this envy? What a nasty feeling. I wonder how easy studying would be if I had a mory like that! (Emote of Little Red Riding Hood with envy).
[JiraiyaIsAnIdiot]: His eyes were glowing faintly as he spoke, maybe it has sothing to do with it? So kind of morization dojutsu? A sort of downgraded version of Sharingan? (Emote of an old frog scratching his beard in thought).
[BestToadSannin]: I had the sa impression, but I think it might be too early to think about that. Maybe he's using magic on his eyes or brain? Magic is confusing like that after all. (Emote of a frog scratching his chin in thought).
Yes, the glowing eyes gave a bit of a Sharingan vibe too, but I could feel the magic emanating from them, and I wasn't good with magic; that should say sothing.
And since they were magical eyes, I guess the correct term would be Mystic Eyes?
"Impressive, so kind of magic, I suppose? Or do you just morize information about random villages?" I asked playfully, to which he laughed.
"As much as I'd like to boast and say that it's all thanks to my brain and intelligence, there's magic involved too," he comnted briefly, without further explanations. So kind of secret, I imagine? Sothing from his family or the Order of Guides?
I didn't continue asking; if he didn't want to tell , that's okay, everyone had secrets.
"And about the surrounding terrain, forest, plain?" I asked, turning my eyes back to the road.
Again, without hesitation, he answered . I'm sure his eyes were glowing, as I could feel the mana coming from them even if I turned away.
"The village is between two forests, so a few hundred ters without trees, then a dense forest."
I humd lightly; that was good. The part without trees would give us a clear view in case goblins tried to invade the village. The only problem would be the forest, as it would be easy for us to be ambushed. Of course, if I didn't have the Minimap to report their actions.
"Alright, good to know. And about the goblins? Any important information? I can't say I've faced one before, so any information is welco." Here we go; what kind of goblin was I dealing with?
I could feel the mana emanating from him again, or rather, his eyes, before Dylan spoke again. We'll need to find so kind of glasses for this guy. If I can feel his mana like this, I imagine any competent mage could sense it miles away.
"Goblins, usually having green or navy-blue skin, average height, one ter twenty to one ter fifty, varying depending on the goblin." He took a mont to breathe before continuing.
"Not very intelligent; estimated intelligence compared to a Terrarian child of five to six years, but very good at ambush and trap creation."
I interrupted him in the middle of his speech, as I had sothing to ask, and I thought it best to confirm sothing.
"How are they categorized? Monsters, beasts, or a race?" I needed to know; after all, what the hell happened to the goblins I knew from the ga? What turned them into this?
He paused his speech briefly with my interruption before continuing.
"Monster and race. Actually, goblins are intelligent and conscious enough to be considered a race, but still, they are monsters since they are mainly motivated by instinct, using their intelligence for a few things, but..."
He seed hesitant, as if he didn't know whether he would tell the next part or not, but he ended up deciding to tell .
"There are reports, tales, and records that goblins were once a great race of mages and enchanters. The main facts confirming this theory are the Mystic Symbols."
In the past? Not now... This was strange, and not the kind of strange that ca with sothing good, no. This was the kind of strange that was accompanied by sothing really bad.
"Mystic Symbols? The drawings on the walls and the Guild's walls?" I had researched a bit about this in the last week, but not as much as I would have liked due to lack of ti.
Dylan didn't even need to "turn on" his eyes to answer this ti.
"Yes, and on armor and weapons too. It's the kingdom's main enchantnt system. Not that most people know that; everyone thinks it's sothing created by Terrarians, but it's a goblin creation."
He seed sad for so reason. The loss of knowledge of such a race? Misinformation? I didn't know, but this confird another of my theories.
The strange symbols, or as Dylan called them, the Mystic Symbols, were sothing coming from goblins, and the only goblin I knew with the power to "enchant" things, or in this case, fix them, was the NPC goblin, who could enchant items.
As far as I knew, Terraria had been around for so ti; the kingdom was old. So, either this goblin was very old or immortal, which I doubted, or this form of enchantnt was sothing that could be taught, not so kind of unique talent.
From what I had researched and also from what Dylan was saying, this wasn't so kind of secret or anything, as it was sothing commonly used by higher-ranking contractors.
So, returning to Terraria, I'll see if I can learn more about it. One thing is learning the runes from scratch; another is learning a system that had been explored and used for years by Guild and kingdom people in general.
As we chatted, another thought crossed my mind.
"Dylan, why did you find it strange that the mission involved Goblins?"
He looked at confused before exclaiming slightly.
"Oh! Yes, you're new to the Guild, aren't you?" He shook his head as if he still couldn't believe this information.
Wasn't he new too? But I guess his knowledge cos from the Order.
"It's because missions with goblins always end up being handled by the army, and when they don't, they disappear quickly since it's practically easy money."
"I see..." But it was strange; after all, I found this mission in an exposed place. It was practically the first thing I saw when I went to check the mission board...
If it was so in demand, easy money as Dylan said, why hadn't anyone taken it before? After all, the mission itself says it was posted at least a few weeks ago...
I let this thought fernt in my head for the rest of the journey to Village Jille, and more and more a sense of unease took hold of .
It didn't make sense; soone should have taken this mission, if what Dylan says is true. After all, that was one of the reasons I took this mission: the reward was enormous. It was literally fifty gold coins.
So, why? Every ti I thought about it, the feeling got worse, until, when we got close enough to the village, close enough for to see the people in the village on the Minimap.
When we passed the three-kiloter mark, where I could see the points representing the people in the village on the Minimap, I slamd on the brakes, making Dylan jolt. Luckily, he was wearing a seatbelt, or he probably would have gotten hurt.
I ignored the scared scream of the guide next to and his questions about why I had stopped so suddenly, my attention fully focused on the representation of the village I had on the Minimap...
First, even looking from above, I could estimate that there were more than three hundred people in the village, much more than Dylan had said. The number was probably around five hundred.
Which in itself was strange; after all, why did the village's population grow so much in less than a year? But the worst part, the part that made the hairs on my neck stand...
The color of the points. The color of the damn points representing people in the village. There wasn't a single, a miserable single point that wasn't orange...
"What the hell is this?" I murmured, shivering, my instincts warning that I was right, there was sothing very wrong here.
I quickly pulled up the Minimap and went to see the information. After the stream received the general update, so things got better, more "polished" so to speak. The Minimap was one of those things that received a small upgrade, as it now had an explanation of what the colors ant.
Green was ally/friendly.
Red was enemy/hostile.
Yellow was unknown/neutral.
And finally, the orange color, which I was reading about at the mont.
[Orange: Living beings controlled by the mind in so way, be it witchcraft, hypnosis, dark magic, so fungus or plant... etc.]
I could feel the hairs on my neck standing even more and a sense of ominousness rising, confirming my fears. This damn mission had sothing wrong, very, very wrong.
My thoughts started to race, my brain working at high speed.
I ignored Dylan, who was calling , and quickly stood up, opening the hatch of the Humvee and taking binoculars from the inventory. We were a good distance from the village, but with the binoculars, I could easily see its walls.
They were made of wood and seed to be about five ters high, but that wasn't what caught my attention, no. What caught my attention were the Mystic Symbols painted on the walls...
Dozens, no, hundreds of Mystic Symbols, all in red as if they had been painted with blood...
At this point, the ominous feeling I felt was so great that my only thought was to get in the Humvee, turn around, and get out of this place as fast as possible. But three things stopped , happening almost at the sa ti.
The first thing, when I changed the direction I was looking with the binoculars, I could see even at this distance that there were people in the watchtowers of the walls...
All looking in my direction as if they could see even at this distance of three kiloters... They had noticed the Humvee and, consequently, and Dylan.
The second thing was, the mont the people in the village seed to notice us, a notification pinged in the stream.
It ca from the Minimap, it was the sa notification that I had left on since HOTD, all this ti, it was the notification to warn if enemies appeared within a one-kiloter radius...
Quickly pulling up the Minimap, I could see that behind, both to the right and left of the Humvee, in the forest, dozens and dozens of red dots had appeared out of nowhere, as if they were erging from the ground.
And all these dots were approaching, coming in our direction, flanking us, not letting us escape...
And, finally, what finished centing the fact that we were totally and completely screwed, the stream had given a mission, here in Terraria, sothing it had never done before.
-//-
[Ergency Mission (World) - (Chain Mission)]
Mission Na: What's happening in Village Jille?
Description: Sothing is happening to the residents of Village Jille, they seem to be acting strangely, as if they are being controlled by sothing or soone...
Main Objective: Investigate what's happening in Village Jille and survive.
Reward: Life Crystal (1), Mana Crystal (1), ???, ???, ???
Secondary Objective: ??? / Reward: ???
Secondary Objective: ??? / Reward: ???
Secondary Objective: ??? / Reward: ???
Secondary Objective: ??? / Reward: ???
Secondary Objective: ??? / Reward: ???
Secondary Objective: ??? / Reward: ???
-//-
Ergency mission? World? Chain Mission? How the hell did this escalate so quickly?! Wasn't it just a simple mission involving goblins?
Damn!.... DAMN!
This ca out of nowhere!
anwhile, the (CHAT) was having a little uproar.
[(MOD)GeniusBillionairePlayboy]: Okay... this is scary, am I the only one getting chills here? What do you think about running, DS? I vote yes, and the rest of the chat? (Emote of Iron Man sweating).
[YellowHuntressLive]: I'm the first to say I like a good fight, but at this mont I would vote for running too... 1
[(MOD)RedHuntressLive]: Running is good, you know? It's kind of my specialty, how about running now Devas? LIKE RIGHT NOW!
[SniperHirano]: I'm pretty sure I saw a horror movie like this once... 1
[AsuraLady]: JUST GET IN THE HUMVEE AND RUN ALREADY!
The first thought I had was to go back to the Humvee and escape, but I had a vague feeling that it wouldn't work.
First, I didn't know the total number of enemies, ignoring the controlled people from the village, there were at least two hundred red dots behind us, not to ntion that they appeared out of nowhere and were blocking part of the road!
Second, I didn't know what the enemies were, what they could do, their strength, speed. Fleeing while being pursued by an army in a forest with the only road blocked? Not the best of ideas.
So I did the best thing I could think of. I waved to the people on the village wall with both arms and pointed downwards while making an X sign crossing my arms.
"BROKEN! THIS DAMN OLD MACHINE HAD A PROBLEM! WE'RE ALREADY COMING! JUST A SECOND!"
Luckily, or unluckily, they seed to understand . I didn't know if they could hear or not, but if they could, that was a bad sign.
If they really heard and didn't just deduce that sothing had happened because of the signal I made, it would complicate things a lot.
"Great!" I growled through my teeth and went back to the Humvee.
As soon as I got into the Humvee, I closed the hatch and the windows, trying to muffle the noise as much as possible.
I didn't stop there and took advantage of the fact that the car windows were tinted, and it wouldn't be possible to see what was happening inside the car. I put pillows, cloths, and blankets all over the car.
I didn't know if this would work, but it was better than nothing.
anwhile, Dylan was looking at confused and a little scared, not understanding my actions. When I started putting pillows in the car, it seed to be enough, and he opened his mouth to ask .
"Devas! What happened?! Why is everything-"
I didn't let him finish and put my hand over his mouth. He was talking too loudly, and I still didn't know if the people from the village could really hear us or not.
I looked at him and put my fingers to my lips while whispering.
"Don't shout, I'll explain, but I think we're being listened to, speak quietly."
I could see his eyes widen, and he looked around as if searching for who might be listening.
When I was sure he wouldn't freak out, I took my hand off his mouth and asked in a whisper again.
"Do you have anything to muffle our voices even more?" I may have closed the Humvee and muffled the sound with pillows and blankets, but I still wasn't confident that it was enough.
He shook his head quickly but didn't say anything out loud, just tapped twice on the ring he had on his finger, making a small wooden box appear.
He placed the box in front of both of us on the car dashboard. Then he opened the box, showing that it was a music box with a small dancer inside.
He then turned the handle of the music box five tis, making the dancer start to dance, but strangely, even with the gears moving, the box made no sound.
I raised an eyebrow in confusion, but before I could ask, Dylan answered.
"It's a gift I got from my sister to study in silence; no sound enters or leaves because of a matrix of symbols inside it."
Before I could say anything, he continued in a hurry.
"It's a dancer because my sister is annoying and likes to tease , it's not a personal preference or anything!"
I blinked slowly.
"Okay? I didn't say anything, but fine..."
Uncertain perhaps? And since when does the Guide have a sister? He didn't have relatives from what I rembered.
And this box was cool; I'll see if I can get sothing like this after we get out of this shitty situation.
I shook my head, pushing random thoughts to the back of my mind and focused.
"I'll summarize what I found out." I pointed to the village in the distance. "I have a way to detect people at a distance, like a kind of ntal map; it has a range of about three kiloters more or less. Follow so far?"
When he nodded in agreent, I continued.
"Great. Imagine that each person is a dot on a map, and each dot has a color. Green for allies, red for enemies, and yellow for unknowns."
I would prefer not to talk about the Minimap, but at this point, it was the fastest way to explain things without wasting ti.
I let the information sink in for a few seconds; Dylan wasn't dumb, I could see that he had realized where this was going.
"I won't ask how this works, as curious as I am. You can tell later if you want." He was a bit shaky, probably realizing the shitty situation we were in.
"How many enemies?" He finally asked the question.
I smiled sadly and pointed behind us. "Back there, at least two hundred, all red dots." I turned my hand and pointed back to the village, ignoring the fearful look the guide had on his face.
"In the village? Ignoring the fact that there are well over three hundred people, about five hundred. All of them are orange." I let silence fill the car for a while. Before Dylan could ask, I answered.
"Orange is the color for people mind-controlled." I could see his eyes widen, and his mouth opened without him making any sound, as if his voice had been stolen.
"All of them are orange?" He managed to ask, to which I simply nodded in agreent.
I'll give credit to the guy; he looked completely scared, his face had turned pale as if all the blood had been drained from his body, but he didn't faint or scream in fear, just nodded slowly at .
"I see... what's the plan? Or did you just tell this to know if I want to die for 'little' red dots or 'little' orange dots?" He made air quotes with his hand as he said sarcastically.
I wasn't offended; sarcasm was good, much better than him panicking and freaking out.
"Running is too risky, as I said, I can detect people with a pretty large range, but those back there." I pointed to the forest again and looked at the Minimap to make sure they were still there.
They were, and they were standing, but I'm sure if we took too long, that would change.
"They appeared out of nowhere, or they have a way to hide from my magic." Which I found difficult, as it was the stream's Minimap, not my own magic, but I still didn't rule out that option.
"Or they managed to appear outside my range less than a kiloter away in a second." Which was frankly scary.
The Minimap's range was three kiloters; within those three kiloters, the points representing people began to appear.
So, if they ca running, it ant they were at least five tis faster than the speed of sound. If that was the case, well, we might as well lie down and die. But I didn't think that was it, as if they were really that fast, they would have co and forced us, and Dylan, to go to the village.
So, the other more plausible option remained...
"Teleportation..." Dylan seed to co to the sa conclusion as , but oddly he seed relieved by that for so reason.
Teleportation. I didn't know how it worked in Terraria beyond the ga, but at this point, I was using the ga as a kind of weak suggestion and not a rule.
He nodded slightly as if thinking about sothing, and I could see his eyes glowing slightly blue again before he started talking.
"Normally, sothing like this would be the work of a mage, at least in platinum ranking, so many people like that..." He sighed as he scratched his head in frustration.
"...A gemstone ranking and one of the strongholds... But luckily, it shouldn't be that, right?" He sighed in relief. "After all, if it were soone of that level, they would have co and forcibly taken us and thrown us into the village."
I didn't know the strength of platinum-ranked contractors or gemstone-ranked ones, but by the way Dylan talked about them, with fear and admiration, I would guess they were strong.
I humd lightly. "And if they were all platinum-ranked, it would be the sa; we would have been subdued a long ti ago."
It must be sothing else then, an amulet or a ready-made matrix? I didn't know if that was possible, but it was the most likely option.
I sighed frustrated. I could see that the red dots behind were on the dirt road, aning if we were to run, it would be through the forest...
"I really don't like the option of running through a forest where I don't know anything." I comnted, more to myself than to Dylan.
The Humvee also wouldn't be the best option in the forest. As excellent as the car was, it wasn't well-suited for it.
Ignoring also the fact that we were just deducing things here, these guys could very well hide from the Minimap or have free teleportation, which ant that trying to run was just running to death.
"What would leave us the option of fighting... which would also be suicide..." Dylan comnted, sounding hopeless.
What a crappy situation...
I had an escape route, of course. Sothing I discovered is that, after finishing a mission in another world, the travel system went on "cooldown," so to speak. I had to wait a week to go on another mission.
At least now I could "save" a mission. I imagine it's in case a mission I want to do appears and the cooldown hasn't finished yet; that way, I could store it for later.
As it had been two weeks since my last mission, the cooldown was already ready, aning I had one last option if everything went wrong; I could accept a mission and escape to another world.
But I would leave that as a last resort, as just thinking about running away like that left a bad taste in my mouth.
"Yeah, it's suicide." I didn't deny it. "But there's one last option; our chances are still low, but it's better than accepting death."
"What? What's this option?" He asked, his eyes regaining a bit of hope.
I pointed to the village.
"Free the people in the village and use it as a base."
If we could free the people in the village, we would have people to help us. Not to ntion, I'd prefer to defend a base than fight a head-on battle against an army.
But this plan had only a small problem, nothing too serious.
"I have no idea how to free the people in the village." I lightly comnted to the guide.
I had my title, which made more at ease regarding mind control, but freeing other people? I had nothing that could do that.
I took my eyes off the Minimap and turned my gaze back to Dylan, who seed pensive, his eyes still glowing light blue.
"If you have sothing that can do that, now is the ti to say. If not, I'll just risk taking the Humvee through the forest."
I paused for a second before comnting, a thought wandering through my mind.
"You wouldn't happen to have a way to contact soone from the kingdom to co help us, would you?"
I knew he was hiding sothing, so I didn't comnt before, but now wasn't the ti to keep secrets.
He seed surprised by my comnt before sighing and saying in a self-deprecating voice, as if his secret had been exposed so quickly.
"So, you noticed." He sighed and gave a self-deprecating smile as he shook his head in denial.
"I would have a way to contact soone like that normally, but I kind of..." He looked embarrassed, each word lower than the previous, until the last ones I had to concentrate to hear.
"...Ran away from ho, ended up leaving so things there in a hurry, including my Communication Mirror..."
I stayed silent for a few seconds before bringing my hands to my eyes and sighing.
Damn it! Of all things, a runaway noble?
And I said noble because no kind of peasant or common person acted like Dylan did; the guy might try to hide it, but the way he moved, spoke, and walked had etiquette.
Not to ntion the clothes; he might have tried to pass as soone with a simple past by wearing simple clothes, but they were too clean and neat for that.
Sothing on my face must have betrayed my feelings, as Dylan shrank even more, probably realizing how stupid it was to run away from ho without the only way to communicate with his family.
"But..." He said slowly, his voice returning to life. "I have sothing that can help us; it's called Purification Powder, a powder that can purify and cleanse most curses and abnormal diseases caused by magic."
He seed excited for the first ti since I ntioned our situation. But I could see the "but" or "however" coming from miles away.
"However…" He said slowly, hesitating. "I don't have it ready with , I have the necessary materials to make it, but it will take..."
Of course! There's always a damn "however"!
"How long?" I asked; if he said one day, I would start the Humvee and risk the escape without hesitation.
"Two... No, one hour." He raised a finger. "One hour, and I can make enough powder to get us out of this situation." He seed determined, with fire in his eyes.
"One hour; if you can buy enough ti, I guarantee I can find a way to spread this powder throughout the village and cover all the people in there!" I could see that he was serious, or at least I hoped he was...
One hour? Let's see what I can do.
I waved my hand and stored the back seat of the car in the inventory, leaving the trunk and the back of the car free.
"Your workshop." I pointed to the now free part of the car. "Start preparing the powder; I'll buy you the ti you need."
Without saying anything more, I turned off the car and got out of it, closing the door behind .
Had I yelled before that the car had a problem? I went to the front of the car and opened the hood while shouting and cursing.
"DAMN STUPID MACHINE! I KNEW I SHOULDN'T HAVE BOUGHT YOU! BUT NOOO, LISTEN TO THE SELLER, YOU IDIOT, BUY THIS DEFECTIVE SHIT! WHAT COULD GO WRONG!"
I didn't know if they could hear , but I kept up the act; there was also the fact that it was easier to pretend anger while yelling.
I managed to keep it up for at least a few minutes, shouting at the car's engine and occasionally swearing before noticing movent in the enemies in the forest.
So of them seed agitated, moving from side to side, uneasy about sothing. Well... let's move on to the next part of this theater I was putting on.
I didn't waste any ti. Slamming the car's hood shut, I went to the back of the vehicle, not forgetting to shout while continuing to pretend anger.
"ALL RIGHT, DAMMIT! I'LL DO IT MYSELF, WORTHLESS OLD PIECE OF CRAP!"
I put both hands on the back of the Humvee and started pushing, the car moving slowly forward, inch by inch.
I had to contain myself from smiling; I knew my training had paid off, but I didn't think it was this much, considering I was pushing a military car that weighed at least two tons.
And that without giving it my all, as I felt that if I tried, I could push the Humvee even faster.
But...
I had to hide my smile by pretending to wipe the sweat off my face.
I didn't want to end up straining a muscle or sothing, right? So let's keep pushing this car slowly...
Not too slow, after all, our hosts awaited us at the gates of the village, but losing an hour wouldn't hurt anyone...
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I'M BACK, FOLKS!
Well, I'm still in "exam weeks," but the worst must be over. I'll be able to focus more on the story now, no more beating around the bush for this chapter.
Things escalated out of nowhere, huh? Similar to when you're just building your house in Terraria, and "Bam!" So random event happens, whether it's the apocalypse or just an NPC party.
In my story, Terraria is sothing real, a living world. Things don't really happen out of nowhere. Devas just had the bad luck to stumble upon one of my plots for the world. Unlucky, right?
And Dylan! I'll explain more about our guide in the future, but in general, his bright eyes are the way he uses his knowledge. How? I'll explain later. For now, just see them as cool shiny eyes.
And Village Jille is basically the "beginning" of one of the arcs I have prepared for Terraria. So, the next 3 or 4 chapters should be about it and what will happen. After that, Devas will fortify himself as much as possible again because, well, he learned that things like this can fall from the sky at any mont, and then, another mission!
That said, it's now a rare occasion that I post a chapter during the day! Happy reading, and for the first ti, we don't have a good night.
PS: What's the plot of the village? Anyone want to take a guess?
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