Today was another calm day, sunny with a light breeze was the norm here. Minus the few times it does rain or when it snowed in the winter months not much changes just due to how the game works. Not that I mind it, I enjoy this weather, and it's really nice most of the time. Besides if I get hot I can just scamper down to Rebecca's cafe, she has a lot of nice drinks. 

Luckily for me, my house is in the forest between the lake and her tree house, a kinda 'between area' that no one really comes by since there's no roads or streets leading from my house to the more trafficked areas. Though I expect that to change soon, so many things in Maikendo have been changing lately, and its all due to the contractors who wish to stay here- as well as the players of course.

I still remember when my mom would tell me about where she came from, the real world, that it was much bigger than the invisible walls that border just these zones. It made me want to explore that place, to see all the sights, and document every little experience I'd run into. But no one that's come to Maikendo has even been able to leave, besides the ones who beat everything, and especially someone like me who was born here.

It's all super vexing, especially since when I left it seemed like a small fraction of people who are here do wish to go back, granted the number is less than 5% of residents. That number shrinks the longer they stay here, obviously, it would be hard to get used to being away from friends and family, but were a community, we all work together to make each other's lives more fulfilling.

I asked a few of them and many seemed happy about their lives here, after all- they don't grow old, no one does. Everything is free, the weather is nearly always nice, and the people here are charming. Mom even mentioned that with me in her life- she has no wish to ever go back. Which was oddly bittersweet, but I'm glad she is happy, however, I won't be satisfied till I explore as much as I can.

I'm rambling though...

Today Oscar came by with a gift! He said his wife made it for me and wanted to wish me good luck in the whole 'exploring outside of the game' thing. It was a nice little tunic, something a little better than what I had, and especially nice because Oscar gave it to one of the contractors to enhance a bit. It fits like a charm and feels really good on my fur, plus my mom came by and said I looked very 'dashing' in it hehe. Though my brother told me I looked like a doofus, kinda expect that since he's still a bratty teenager. 

Either way, everything is nice here, but I would be lying if I wasn't at least a little excited about what the next test might lead me to. Even if it's dangerous, I want to meet more friends like Ash, Sebastian, and CLYW who looked really cool and showed me things I couldn't even imagine were real. Maybe I could even invite them here? I do have this 'friends list' thing on my Acorn phone that Dr. Oid gave me, I would love to eat hard tac with Ash again, even if he's not much of a talker and it didn't taste that great. Or I can talk to Sebastian about what kinda monster thing he was and if he was a fisherman like Oscar, or maybe talk to CLYW about why he wanted to be digital instead of staying in the real world like everyone else.

So many new things and places I want to go to, so many dangerous places with probably spooky monsters and baddies in them. It's scary, but as my mom told me to always remember...

"You're from Maikendo, Maze. The greatest game on the planet. No matter what challenge appears in front of you, always say to yourself "We are Maikendo, no one can beat us." because we are all here for you, son."

Thanks, mom.

Sitting down and beginning to write on a piece of paper the chipmunk would be curling a weight on his tail, lifting it up and down like it was a dumbbell as he began to write...

“So I thought about other ways I could fight, if my paws were too soft why not use my tail? It sounded like a silly idea given my tail was all puffy and soft too, but I had to ask if it was possible to learn new skills if I just trained enough. So I went to Mr. Oscar, he's super active and has a lot of physical skills, I'm sure he could help me?”
 
Oscar: "Hm, well you're from here, you know well enough we can all learn and grow quickly if shown something. Actually, Mimi is really good at it. She can pick up anything due to how smart she is, maybe you could go talk to her about what you could learn?" Oscar said to me. As such I'd go see Mimi when she wasn't in school to see if she could help, after all, she's always training when she could- or reading in the library.
 
But this time I found her getting cheese treats near the market on coming into town, and told her about my plight, that I didn't want to keep being beaten up anymore and she'd tell me to go to meet her near the field behind the schoolhouse later. When I arrived she would tell me a few things. 

"S-so you need to work on getting stronger, I..I can't really just edit you to be better, but you can improve like me! So if you want to get good at fighting t-try breaking this big rock?" It was massive and about the size of a fridge. At first, I thought it was impossible but maybe I could figure out something as I'd go for a punch- annnnnd I hurt my paw immediately with a big fat 0 for damage floating above it. At least Mimi got a good giggle from it.

“It might seem s-silly but practice in this game makes you better! K-keep trying and you should d-do something to the rock.” She’d then indicate this by hitting a nearby rock herself with her ruler and casting some kinda spell...It caused the ground to be crushed and the rock to become smaller like she made the gravity there heavy. “I-I learned this from a friend, b-but I know not everyone can do what I d-do. But try to learn s-skills from practice f-first.” 

Mimi was the strongest boss in game, so I could understand that she’d be very powerful, but nothing really worked for me. Well besides my tail, because all I did was try to smack it with it- which at least my tail hurt a lot less, all my fur helped make the impacts less painful. Plus as Mimi indicated later that since we are in Maikendo we have to use game logic for a lot of our activities and what we wish to do, which helps because I grew up here. So any action done could lead to me learning something, or improving in some small way. Which, a few days later I tried smacking it a few times using my tail and noticed something float above my head, +1 Tail Swipe.
 
Did I learn a new skill? I guess I did because my tail actually hit a bit harder, even when I just brushed it against the rock- well...when I use the skill I mean. I don't wanna gently brush up against someone and hurt them. So I focused on this new skill of mine and worked to make it stronger, and with every little 1 that popped up I knew eventually more damage would come around, and soon- one day. I did it.
 
With a crash of the rock and a break in the middle, I was able to slam it hard enough with my tail that it would break! I did it! Mimi was even there and would motivate me even harder to get better. “Yay! Good job M-Maze, soon you’ll be s-so strong no monster could hurt you.” I decided to buy my old classmate some ice cream for helping me out, it's the least I could do for her encouragement. We had vanilla and chocolate sundaes at Rebecca’s cafe, it was a good day.

It's been only a few days since I came back from that odd request, but I feel like I may have improved somewhat. Maybe this is why Contractors do those dangerous things, it makes them stronger just like when we bonk monsters here. But it was a tad different, like I had some control over what I could do and so I used my time to practice getting a lot better at climbing!

After all I kinda needed the practice, and what kind of chipmunk would I be if I wasn't good at climbing, my mom would have booted me from my house as a kid if that were the case haha. So I went outside and set up a fun little game involving climbing tree's, and doing general stuff like Mr. Rudy said I should do. Although I hate doing push up's, it feels like a pain and takes forever to do the 200 he requires me to do as soon as I wake up. 

For the past week I've been getting my skills up to make myself even better with all the techniques everyone advised me of, I haven't seen much of a change in abilities when it comes to new powers, but I don't mind that. Being able to see my stats improve is much more interesting than getting some minor power. Though, my mouse friend did come by and give me a present. She gave me access to my own inventory!

Now I can put things away just like any boss could, which I think I'll do that more often just to keep some of my things safe and tucked away. 

Exploring more stories has been something I've always wanted to do, however, it was difficult if not impossible till I met Dr. Oid and she told me good luck on my first journey. Now I get to see more places, explore more world, and eat sandwiches from other places too! Oh speaking of which, Sammich Topping has been getting a lot of business, even if there's no currency here. 

Every time I prepare to head out I go to their ship and buy a bunch to stash it into my inventory so that I could have something to eat for all my adventures for the future. Now every game I play I have tons of nice food to munch on, and maybe even offer to some of my friends, although the food isn't all that special, it's still fairly nice to give them up as a peace offering. 

Never know if there's a hungry wolf or some other critter that would enjoy a nice meal, that isn't me of course. Anyway, my adventures have been rather nice as of late, I've played in a few nicer games that weren't too dangerous, and another few that were just dancing and rhythm games, which I need to get better at. Besides this, I have tried talking to a few other of my friends back where I'm from, I learned a bit about what was happening with some of the contractors who are there.

They all seem to be doing good, happy, at least to a small degree, and with how they've been feeling about the changes to the world. Its almost as if they're just happy that their new lives here are as peaceful as it can be, and I'm happy we could make it feel that nice for them.

With the last few tests that I've done I've realized I could head to almost anywhere, so long as there's a rift or means of travel. But I've also noticed that my travel to reality was just as jarring as anything else, namely that once there I was as I am here. Seems like you don't change much going back, which was something a lot of people asked me about when I told them stories about what I did, and soon yet to do so. 

In this case a few residents, namely about ten or twelve of them were interested in maybe going back, but hearing that they would still be like they are, some got discouraged by the idea. I didn't want to be the one to burn out their hopes and dreams but I had to be at least a little truthful. Granted, even from that majority were still interested in hearing what I had to say and what could be some hints at a possible future plan.

I have no intention of staying in one place for very long so I was willing to help along with it...but it didn't turn out well, as I have some odd connection to both places that hard to really detail. Maybe it has something to do with mom? Maybe, but I am finding my way to a good solution. As for now it seems only me and the other bosses are able go to there and back, of course not staying for long given they're important. Me? Not so much, I'm just here to build up the town and see beyond our horizons, oh and train as much as possible to get all big and strong!

With the new changes that have happened Mr. Oscar has given me a new objective while everyone else works as per usual, namely to survey each of the zones and mark every 'dead spot' I see. Of course, I'd be glad to do so as I've already searched the area around the lake given he's been worried about his kids falling into a hole or running into something bad. Also helps that I live in between that area and the tree house. 

Today I was going to start on the area around the forest, then head out to make sure more sections in town got fixed up, but I woke up to a loud BANG in the sky! I thought we were under attack or something, or maybe some monster was coming to get me again...buuuuut it was just Sora again. >.>;

Normally I can't hear the loud explosions since they're near the lake and the tree's muffle all the sounds from the splashing and the water, this time he seemed to fire it off at the sky near the clearing. Plus my hearing has gotten better so even the slightest thing kinda makes me jump, should really fix that...

Of course, I didn't know that and ran over in a panic thinking the others might need my help, but it looked like everything was fine. Ms. Kayliegh was there too, looks like they were both taking a tour of the place, that's nice. I had work to do so I let them continue with their day, though I got to see them as they went towards the theater and sat down near the still-being-constructed park after I did my brief survey of the forest area.

The Construction Raccoon company is less of a company in the traditional way, at least that's what Mr. Rudy told me. It's more like a collective of builders that are also software engineers, they make these cube things, and they call them 'construction cubes'. Basically you inscribe the type of building you'd like with it and after some contemplation, you toss it out and poof! It forms an outline of whatever you'd like to have built. Really handy for not needing actual materials or worry about waste.

The construction folks need time to make those diagram things to make buildings though, about two weeks, plus the clinic was more important so when I finished doing a bit of scouting I took them back towards that T section. Normally we don't have to worry about sickness or anything like that, but it seems the only illness that was put into this place was 'the cold', which gives you sniffles and sneezing, it sucks! So Rebecca wants to maybe get some doctors to work there since winter is coming soon and its the only time 'the cold' shows its ugly head. Uh though...we don't have many doctors in our world, but maybe someone can learn?

However, for me and the construction company, the main thing we need to do is plug up all those holes, though there's something I was told to tell the workers to keep. It was a hatch, in the theater area. I can guess as to why, but if we can at least fix up the rest that are dangerous to step into that's for the best. The rest of the place though? Most of that will simply be for show I think, after all, I've spotted way more dangerous holes around our little world and I'm not even close to seeing everything yet. 

I'd say I have half a year before I find the limits of the boundaries, and from there I will have a full map ready to go! With a detailed list of where everyone lives and without any worry of those pesky holes in the ground. But, I know one day Mr. Sora, and maybe Ms. Kayleigh will want a spot on my map too. Not that I look forward to something so bittersweet, I just know they will be happy with what we are all building here, that after maybe a while of living in their own world that they can find some peace here. Just like everyone's who's played our game.

Besides, we wouldn't be the greatest game in the world if we didn't treat everyone like family, and Kayleigh as well as Sora, of course, are as good as family as my mom and brother are. 

Thanks for visiting, friends! I'll see you again soon!

After losing my first game I was a bit moppy, I talked to some of my friends, namely Rebecca. She told me it was okay to lose, and that you can't be the best all the time, which was true, but it didn't feel any less bad to me. I promptly got into a small game with her and she demonstrated this by not holding back, which only helped make me sad about losing the game prior. Still, what she said was true, I shouldn't try to be the best at every game, and that losing may be better for me in the long run so long as I keep working and keep training to get better at what I do good.

That being said I got a request to go and scout out the outer realm again from Dr. Oid, she just needed me to see if there were any more changes that were done to the regions and report back to her. I did so and ended up seeing a fun-looking game, sooooo I may have played it instead of doing what she said. It was okay though! I got to have a nice time with it, and I got to meet someone super cool too! Well actually I got to meet a lot of cool new people, even if they weren't as proactive as I was, they were somewhat helpful in it all.

•  Cassiopeia Sonelios - She was super nice, and helped out a ton, although she seemed new to what was going on. From what I gathered she was probably just a new contractor, trying to understand what to do and how to do it. I suspect she may learn a bit better in the next requests she might know, though I do wish her luck in everything. I don't want her to die and end up in some bad place. But I couldn't control what happened, still, she was accommodating and the only normal one out of all of us. When it was done we got to take a nice photo together, I'm going to put this in my photo album with all my other memories. 

• Haerin (Angelo Yun) - He was SUPER edgy, like- the edgiest and darkest representation of a stereotype ever. But he was cool too and helped keep looking out with everyone else while I worked to try and disable stuff and get the job done.  I will say that I'm sure if things became a fight he'd probably be super helpful in that regard, but in this case, my skillset was probably a lot more useful. Plus given the result, I'd say so! Still though, it was nice meeting someone new, and they seemed like they would be talented in many other ways that I'm just not.

• Tsukihi (Takahashi Yuu) - She was also new, like everyone else was, she had two pairs of ears as well but couldn't hear as good as me for some reason. Maybe its because mine are so big *wiggles his ears*. But in the case of Ms. Tsukihi she seemed to be a mage possibly, I didn't see her cast any magic so probably with combat in mind, which wasn't something that was necessary this time, but I'm sure if things went poorly we'd have to worry about that. None the less everyone's extra eyes and her extra ears helped out in spotting things, and even if I did a lot of the work, I'm glad it worked out in the end and they were there to back me up. 

Closing Thoughts: This was super fun, I got to be in my elements, plus I got to carry everyone on my back, I didn't think I was that strong but I guess all that training really paid off in the end. Maybe soon I'll be able to do it without any issues, and maybe gain even better skills from all my training! Regardless of which, it was a nice change of pace from the last game I played. What would I change about how I played this one? Uh...probably learn how to better navigate the forest? That or find some means of alternative travel. Oh right! I got a free scooter from this too, now I can drive around back at home, though I needed to take a driving lesson from Sam. 

PS: I hope everyone doesn't feel too bad about me doing everything...I want others to have fun too, but looking back I did practically do everything alone. Maybe next time I could hold back a bit to let everyone have some engagement with the game? That would be nice I think.