End Online: Volume 1 (9 page)

Both the wolf and I
were down to thirty percent health, we were both feeling exhausted and
sluggish, but the wolf still held the upper hand. I didn’t have enough strength
to jump back up and hide in the foliage, and the wolf didn’t have enough to
launch the attacks dealing with extreme speed like it’s very first one.

Weaving through the
trees, we exchanged blows in gaps between the trunks, I fended off most of
the slashes it sent out with its claws and evaded its jaws when it got too
close, swinging my swords back twice for each of its attacks. It was
nothing short of luck that the fight shortly swung in my favour, the wolf
adopted a limp and I gained complete dominance over it in speed. A short dash
and I was under its head unleashing the triple thrust on its exposed neck,
ended out fight.

I felt a little
guilty,
it was such a beautiful creature. Yet it was doomed
to death, this is the shame of boss monsters. It appears I levelled up a few
times from the fight, and the loot menu rewarded me a giant canine tooth and
great white wolf pelt, the quest item and a crafting item. Somehow I felt
ripped off.

Exploring the cavern I
discovered the waterfall I heard when entering and a considerable sized pond at
the very back of the cavern. In the centre was a small hill clear of all trees,
the mid afternoon sun shone directly through a
hole
travelling from the ceiling through to side of the mountain, bathing the entire
clearing in warmth. A man could easily slide down it and into this area,
although I doubt he would survive.

Retrieving the few apples
that had been knocked out of the trees from the attacks of the great white
wolf, I stowed most them all in my inventory as food and rested in the clearing
eating a few. I find that food in this game can be truly delicious, especially
these apples. Once I had finished naturally recovering I travelled the foliage
to collect even more apples and stockpile my inventory with them.

My journal had updated to
describe my fight with the boss, although to recite it in the form that a bard
would use when singing heroic tales was something I would not do even if it
lead to my grave!

Leaving the cave behind
I
started heading back to Iceridge, all the snow giving the
appearance of a glorious city of white, with the sun fall on it creating quite
the image. It was truly a sight to see, bringing out the beauty of this world.

I arrived back at the
Iceridge Military Academy just before dusk, entering as all the players
from the days training were leaving in groups of two or three, chatting to each
other like school friends. Perhaps they were
,
I even
recognized a few who were doing the training while I was still there but didn’t
approach anyone. I did however overhear some people chatting that the
“Delinquent” was back, but I was already preoccupied and gave it no thought.

I found Centurion Markus
about to leave the training field and stopped him before he was gone.

“Centurion.
It is done. I have slain the great white wolf for you.” I
didn’t see the point of bantering around the issue. This isn’t exactly the type
of person to enjoy small talk after.

“QUIET! Do you want
everyone to know what I asked of you?” Well, I guess not, I certainly hope to
be the first person to have discovered and done that quest, but it’s hard to
determine with the large number of players out there. The centurion
lead
me to the room out of the training area where he gave
me the quest before continuing.

“So, the great white wolf
is no more then? Show me some proof!”

“Very well, hopefully this
shall suffice.” I remove from my inventory the great white wolf pelt I gained
from killing the boss and placed it on the table in front of me. It was a
massive pelt that matched the size of the beast easily.

“MY
LORD!”
The centurion’s eyes popped out of
his head as the pelt, “This thing has easily doubled in size since I fought
it!” Now that he mentions it the scar running down his face doesn’t exactly
match the size of this wolf’s paw, I can’t believe I never picked up on that
originally!

I fail as a detective.

“Well, you need to be
rewarded of course, I honestly did not think you would be able to do it but
your efforts are highly commendable. Give me one moment.” He wasn’t yelling
which made me feel a little uneasy but he grabbed the wolf pelt and dragged it
into a room behind this one that I had not been in before.

What came from that room
was an absolutely horrendous noise of tearing, thumping and cursing. It
belonged in a horror movie.

Centurion Markus returned
holding onto a snowy white cloak long enough to cover up down to my ankles
and it also had an oversized hood with lots of extra room. The material was
covered in the wolf’s thick white fur coat all over the outside, although
trimmed to about half its original length. The fur didn’t exactly feel
thick when it was bashing me around, but the quality of the material was truly
marvellous.

“This here will keep all
the cold out of your bones. It doesn’t have much in terms of defensive power,
but it can be worn over any armour. Also, you are best hiding that face of
yours, just looking at it makes me feel violent inside! Pulling the hood over
your head will help with that, although it will inhibit your movement speed, so
it’s no good for battle.”

“I also have some coins
here for your efforts, it’s a decent amount so don’t waste it and get yourself
some proper equipment!”

He slides across 3 gold
coins and hands me the cloak, I was near shedding tears of joy of being able to
hide my face which should prevent my aggravation skill from destroying NPC’s
opinions of me!

Equipping the cloak the
cold chill in the air around me immediately disappeared, allowing my body to
warm up to a comfortable temperature.

“Now!
You never told me your name before! What is it!?” I wasn’t
entirely sure if he was asking me or demanding I tell him.

“My name is Lost-“

“HAHAHAHA!
NAME!
PATHETIC!”
That’s it. I turn
around and walk away from this child. Before I get out of the room however he
has more to say.

“Come back sometime if you
want to get even stronger, I will be sure to per-son-al-
ly
train you.
HAHAHA!”

Well, I don’t exactly see
myself ever going back to see that guy ever again if I could help it,
but stranger things have happened.

Putting the military
academy behind me I need to find myself some actual armour, but
it’s
night time now so it can wait until tomorrow.

***************************************************

I was glad to finally be
out of the barracks and away from Centurion Markus. It’s not that I
particularly hate him or
anything,
I will simply never
be able to get along with him.

Pulling the oversized hood
of the ‘White wolf winter cloak’ over my head, it came down to just above my
eye level, covering about the top quarter of my vision. Some strange icons appear
in the top left of my vision, an outline of a person with a question mark in it
and a figure of a stopwatch, I figure these are the mask identity and slow
enchants currently on me.

It was certainly odd
however as I don’t feel like I had been slowed down, at least not until I tried
running and felt like all the air surrounding me at become a thick mud, to
the point where moving in any direction was incredibly difficult.
Understanding that this was the feeling of being ‘slowed’, I returned to walking
for the duration of the time it took to enter the central courtyard.

At first I was a little
surprised at how busy it was, the players crowded the area trying to get into
the item shops they wanted. I guess this is End
Online’s
peak hour, it must be an extremely good server to handle this many people at
once in a single area.

I weave through the
crowd until I arrived at the weapon shop I had previously browsed through
before my training began, coincidentally also before I had money too. But
things are different
now,
I have three gold to my name
and could buy one of the nicer looking weapons off the wall if I want to.

Inside the shop was
exactly the same as I remembered, the only difference was spots on the wall had
been emptied or replaced by new stock. The shop is considerably crowded just
like everywhere else around
here,
I got bumped into
and pushed around a fair bit while looking along the wall for a nice weapon.

I spotted a steel
katana with a self-repair enchant that you would never have to
sharpen or maintain, it did a base damage of 52 – 56 and would cost me
twelve gold and forty silver. Far too expensive and outside my budget
unfortunately, however, I consider a weapon that would never cost me any
more to be rather tempting.

‘This is for the
best.’
I tell myself slowly in my mind.
putting
some basic consideration into the fact that I was
only currently proficient in short swords plus the purchase price of the sword
is more money than I could even manage at this point in time..

Next to me I see the bin
for all the swords costing
seventy silver,
the highest
price of all the bulk produced weapons. In there, there
is
surprisingly only two short swords.

Short swords are not very
popular in this game, next to nobody uses them due to doing considerably less
damage than long swords and also requiring you to get even closer with the
monster you are fighting. Basically less damage, and more risk of death.

Although in my situation
short swords are ideal, mainly for the agility you can use while equipping
them. I pull out the two swords out and inspect them away from the rest of
the weapons.

The quality was somewhat a
shock as was the fact that the length of the blades was different, one being
about a hand span longer than the other. The damage however is nearly double
the two training swords I currently have.

It is also fortunate that
all the swords worth seventy silver had
scabbards,
most of the blades valued lower did not. The two weapons I currently have
were much like that, no scabbards, only stuck through my belt. They were also
all chipped and apparently could not be repaired due to the constant use in the
military barracks, consistent re-forging has left them in a state where no more
repairs can be made.

I was not going to get a
much better deal than this and new weapons are direly needed, I decide to spend
the money to buy them.

At the counter I present
the weapons to the blacksmith, placing them on the counter in front of him. He
looks at the weapons then gives me a quizzical look, as if he was trying to
figure something out. Unsure as to whether it was the weapons I was
buying,
or the hood over my head, I am nonetheless
happy that my ‘Aggravation’ skill appeared to not be coming into effect.
Checking the progress of the skill towards skill level eleven, it appeared
to be at a standstill, but I will have to check later on as well just to be
sure.

“That’ll be
one gold
an’ forty silver,” The blacksmith informs me
in such a strong voice I am slightly taken aback.

I remain silent and remove
the three gold coins I had in the money pouch tied to my belt. Each pouch
can hold a maximum of 999 coins of any type, however a hundred coins of copper
will not automatically turn into a single coin of silver in the bag, and you
had to go to a bank in any city or larger settlement to convert them. You can
also purchase additional money bags from the banks if you require or for a fee
you can open an account with the bank and securely keep your excess money
stored with them.

Sliding two of the
coins across the counter, I replace the last coin back in my pouch.

“Here’s sixty silver
change
, thanks for
ya
service.”
Sliding my change back to me all I get is one silver coin with a little
number 60 next to it, at least this solves the issue of giving me back a large
pile of coins.

I receive a notification
confirming the completed transaction and my new equipment. Dismissing it I
equip the new weapons, one on each side of my hip. I no longer need
the old swords so I place them on the counter and slide them towards the
blacksmith, prompting a new transaction.

“What? I can’t repair
things like these.
Ya
wanna
sell ‘
em
?” I give a curt nod, enough to get the
message across.

“No good, can’t buy ‘
em
either, they
ain’t
worth
scrap.” The swords are pushed back towards me with the blacksmiths refusal to
buy them. Can’t blame him though, they are complete rubbish.

“Then, dispose of them,
please.” I push them back to him and use as little words as possible to
avoid any possible recognition. At least I can’t seem to speak one word
sentences,
just the thought of it causes a headache and
makes me rage inside.

He narrows his eyes,
inspecting me closely. Surely I didn’t say too much and he discovered who I am
through my voice.

“
S’pose
I can do that for
ya
, make sure
ya
come back here to repair those swords though.” That is a
relief,
I give another quick nod and leave the shop.

There is what appears to
be trash cans spread throughout the city, but to throw an unwanted weapon in
one. It just doesn’t feel right.

Next stop on my list is to
get some recovery potions to use in any emergencies. I drift through the crowd of
players, until I reach the store with a potion on the sign outside. Inside
are benches everywhere covered in baskets of herbs, some possibly
poisonous by the looks of them.

What I am looking for however
is the corner of the shop with the crate full of minor healing potions that
will heal anywhere from 150 – 200 health points over a period of five seconds.
They were also an eye boggling
forty silver each
. I
approach the counter and there is a small old lady sitting on top of a very
tall stool.

“Yes dear, how can I be of
assistance to you?” The old lady’s voice croaked out in response to me.

“Umm, how do I say this, I
would like to purchase some potions, but they are somewhat expensive for me. I
was wondering if there would be a way for me to aid you and earn some in
any way.” Having never spoken to this lady before getting this cloak I had
no fear of being found out by voice.

“
Hehehe
,
looking to earn a living through hard work are we? I can respect that. How
does this sound
to you, my stock are currently running low
so if you bring me twenty of both Green Medicinal Herb and Antidote Root, I
will give you two minor healing potions and two antidote potions.”

“It would be my pleasure
to collect them for you.” I am so overwhelmed to actually get a quest from
one of the stores that I failed to realize I had no idea where to collect the
materials.

On the way out I realized
I still have no proper armour and haven’t even explored a fraction of this
city. Considering how nearly all of the shops in this area were full of low
level equipment there must be more areas with a higher grade of goods.

Taking the western exit
out of the square I wandered the streets for some time, the area gradually
began to fill with more and more players of a higher level than myself. Extravagant
staffs with all kinds of gems engraved, swords of all shapes and
sizes. One of the swords was twice the size of the person wielding it.
Naturally it was attached to his back without a
scabbard,
there would be no way to draw it if it did have one.

Passing by a man dressed
as a samurai I came into a bazaar twice the size as the courtyard I was
previously at. There are market stalls set up everywhere in no particular
fashion or order, with an enormous four story building positioned at the far
end overlooking the entire bazaar.

These stalls being player
run stalls is an accurate assumption taking into account how randomly they are
positioned and the varied equipment the sellers are wearing.

Pulling out an apple from
my inventory I nibble away at it while I look through all the merchandise that
is for sale, I even spot the herbs that I require for my current quest, however
the price of them is much higher than the rewards for the quest.

There is everything
imaginable for sale at these stalls, but the majority appear to be selling
various monster drops and crafting supplies. Coming across a stall selling
various armours and weapons I decided to browse to try to find something in my
price range.

Alas, there was nothing
even remotely close within my budget and most I was also far from even meeting
the requirements to equip them.

“Excuse me. Is there
anything I can help you find?” The player on the other end of the bench gave a
business smile that failed to reach his eyes. He had a steel plate breastplate
on over the top of a light brown work shirt with matching pants.  Black
hair swept back and brown eyes stood the man in front of me.

“Well, I’m looking for a
piece of torso armour with in the price range of one gold and
sixty silver
.”

“
Hahaha
,
unfortunately you won’t get much for that.”

“I know, I’m only level 10
and only want something simple for now.”