End Online: Volume 3 (8 page)

With my eyes widening in
disbelief, all the fear inside me vanishes before my shock.

“W-W-What!?” I cry out.

I eventually calm down
enough to think about what just happened, turning pale at thinking about the
consequences of revealing my true identity to others. If my identity under the
hood gets revealed and the two are connected, then all the infamy I have gained
will be carried on.

I am currently on a main
pathway in Grenton, which is swimming with players.

Opening my status, I
breathe a sigh of relief when I see that my infamy has turned to zero. The
title I had as ‘The Hooded Man’ also vanishes, but surely that will return upon
putting the hood back on.

‘Perhaps it is NPC’s
who have to become aware of my true identity to incur the negative effect.
Also, why couldn’t I remove my hood but Fen could? This girl, she is far too
mysterious and frightening!’

I go with Fen to some sort
of cafe that she tracks down by sniffing the air.

We sit down on two outside
seats when an NPC waiter comes up to us.

“Good afternoon Sir,
Madam. What can I get for you today?”

As soon as this butler
style waiter asks me for my order a window appears in front of me with a list
of possible food options.

I am really not feeling
hungry at the moment so I only choose a large slice of ‘Fig Banana Bread’ and a
coffee. Ironically, everything in this game is at least slightly different from
real life, yet coffee is still the same.

Our food comes out almost
immediately. Unsurprisingly, Fen only ordered a piece of steak.

With the food in front of
us, it is strange that the girl doesn’t touch the meat. She just stares
intently at me.

“W-What?” My voice
stammers a little under the pressure of her gaze.

“I want… That…” She looks
down at the inch thick banana bread I ordered.

“You want some?” I ask to
make sure as I slowly push the plate towards her.

Seeing what I am
intending, she shakes her head. Opening her mouth, she makes a cute little
“Ahh” sound.

The nervous tension in me
builds up as I comprehend what it is she wants.

Cutting of a small slice I
place it on a fork and extend it to her mouth. She eats the entire piece while
barely chewing. After swallowing her cheeks dye a deep crimson and I feel the
piercing stares of onlookers again.

When she goes to eat her
steak, she first attempts to pick up the entire thing in her hand to eat it.
Stopping just before doing so, she gives a thought some consideration before
picking up the silver cutlery.

Fen attempts to use the
cutlery like I did, but she is too clumsy with them.

“Ah, Fen. You do it like
this.”

I give her a small
demonstration in the air on how to use it, which she astonishingly manages to
imitate perfectly.

Our lunch lasted for a
good half hour, in which time I fed her half my banana bread and she managed to
force half her steak down my throat. By this time the earlier headache from
when my hood came off is completely gone too.

“Are you happy now Fen?” I
honestly want to log off right now. Not that I need sleep or anything. It is
just the feeling of being trapped is terrifying and I need to get out.

“… I am!… We need… To do
this… Again!..” She puts on a huge smile in delight.

I think about logging off,
but first I want to test out my speed now that the hood is off. Technically, my
speed should be about double what it was previously.

Fen follows as I turn into
an out of the way alley, completely out of the public eye. The alley itself is
long and narrow, perfect for my test. I take off at top speed to reach the
other end as fast as possible.

With a dull thud, I run
directly into the wall.

‘Too fast!’ 
I think to myself.

The speed is incredibly
difficult to control, in a single moment I already lost over ten percent health
and even stunned myself.

When I can get back up, I return
to the alley entrance,.

This time, I activate
‘Perceptual Sight’ to slow down things around me. Focusing all my energy into
the sacred art, time slows down even more than ever before.

The surrounding areas slow
down by a massive fifty percent. A small message appears in the bottom corner
of my vision, but it disappears before I can read it.

I try running, and it is
almost like I am swimming through water. However, at the same time the headache
from earlier start to grow in my mind. Stopping immediately, I am already
satisfied with how fast I can be, it will simply take some practice to perfect.

The tension builds up in
me as my finger closes on the logout button. Almost all the stress is relieved
from my body when I successfully log out of not only End Online but also my
locker.

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

Back in my bed, sweat is
constantly beading on my forehead. For some reason, the headache I had in the
game is still there.

-Verde-

I logged off after we
decided to meet back in three hours. Well, it is three hours until we can start
the quest once the in game sun rises.

Lifting my VL off of my
head, the low evening sun floods my room with a golden light. The window is at
the perfect position, allowing the entire room to be evenly filled with the
gentle glow.

The first thought that
came to my mind is about Lost. The second is that today happens to
be Valentine’s day.

Rolling over and stuffing
my face into the pillow, my face becomes conflicted. I waited so long for him
to arrive in Grenton. I had grown more and more anxious with every passing day
hoping he would arrive before today.

Why? Because I want to ask
him to be my Valentine for the day.

I have been asked out by
an innumerable amount of men in both real life and in virtual reality. Even
today, in the game I had a shocking seven people presenting roses before me.
Yet every single one of them I refused without a second thought.

Not once in my entire life
have I ever considered accepting any man’s feelings. It isn’t because they only
approached me based on my looks, I simply did not have any interest in them.

As a matter of fact, I
never really had much interest in anyone until a while after meeting Lost.

I don’t know exactly when
it started, but I get incredibly nervous when we are close together. And every
time we are near each other, I remember that kiss!

Of course, I do not let
this show on my face. Attending those kinds of gatherings with my family, I
have been taught since a young age to hide my true emotions. It simply does not
change the feelings that are hidden underneath.

I had taken a step into
opening myself up and inviting him, but he simply came too late.

After that I had to tell
him to meet me at sunset, being unable to see him for my stupid actions.

When I found out that he
was not going to arrive in time for me to ask him to have a proper valentine’s
date with me, I took it out on others.

I travelled around Grenton
stealing peoples purses and even jewellery when I dared to. I did it far too
much and eventually got caught. The guard then took all my stolen possessions
and escorted me directly to a jail cell, where I was forced to reside for
twenty four hours in the game.

The punishment could have
been much worse, but I was fortunate that this was the first time I was caught
in Grenton. I say it is fortunate because each time you are caught the
sentence will double each time. Although, there is a limit depending on the
crime, I hear the maximum time someone can be locked up is about 1 month
in real life. Most people would simply log out for the duration of these
periods though.

For one reason or another,
I can’t seem to get any rest. Lifting my head off of the pillow, I see that
only an hour has passed since I logged off, meaning there is still two hours
until we planned to meet up.

Making up my mind, I put
my VL back on and log back into End Online.

Returning to the inn, the
entire lobby is packed with players drinking ale and around the barrels that
are used as tables. In the corner of the room there is a platform with a bard
playing. Whether they are a player or an NPC, I don’t know, but the atmosphere
the bard is providing to the inn is incredibly relaxing.

I decide to walk the night
time streets for a while, if I couldn’t sleep outside of the game, I don’t want
to try now that I’m in it. Truth be told, I had logged out and slept while I
was locked away in the prison when I got caught for stealing.

Leaving the Gold Run Inn,
a cool night breeze swept by me. Pulling my cloak tighter against my body to
escape the cold, the Grenton night time takes a while to sink in.

Paper lanterns hang from
all the buildings, illuminating the streets with a soft warm glow. The light is
almost enough for one to feel warm, despite the wind. The beauty of the
surroundings more than compensate for the pitch black sky, next to no stars
shining through the foliage of Grenton’s world tree.

As I wander through the
streets, I spot a familiar figure in a white fur cloak at a restaurant. The
only strange thing is that this person does not have their hood on. About to
pass up on the person as simple resembling him, I notice the girl sitting at
the opposite side of the table.

‘Fen!!?’

My mind cries out an alarm
and I know that the other person must indeed be Lost. But when did he take the
hood off? I thought he couldn’t take it off!

Realizing I am only about
twenty meters away, and in the middle of the road, I dash to the side and hide
behind a building.

The first thing I do is
open my registered friends list. Sure enough, Lost is currently online. I poke
my head out from behind the building I am hiding behind. Making sure to activate
my skill to prevent other players from looking at me while I steal a glance at
Lost and Fen.

My face suddenly becomes
all flushed as Lost picks up a piece of meat on his fork and feeds it to Fen,
directly into her mouth. My chest suddenly becomes heavy and my mind clouds.

I pull myself back around
the corner and hide.

“Why should I worry about
that wolf? She is just an NPC, not a real person.”

I voice my thoughts in a
whisper without thinking. From the moment I started liking Lost, I never really
felt concerned about Fen because she was nothing but a computer program, a
‘companion’ in the game. But right now it feels like the guy I like is about to
choose someone else!

‘Impossible! There is
no way anyone would choose someone else over me! I’ve seen the lustful look
that every guy gives me. I may not be able to see under Lost’s hood but no
doubt he looks at me the same! Hmph!’

Turning my embarrassment
around, I steel my mind in preparation for what I plan to do next.

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

-Lost-

After I have a quick sleep
for an hour, the headache I had seems to have dulled. I can still feel it, but
thankfully not enough to call it painful.

After waking, I
slowly make my way into the bathroom to wash my face and refresh myself before
returning to put my VL on. The whole process takes about twenty minutes, but
that is mostly thanks to climbing in and out of my wheelchair.

Inside the game, I return
to the alley where I originally logged off from. The sun is still down in game,
but the eastern horizon is slowly starting to brighten.

‘Now, I should avoid
using my ‘Perceptual Sight’ sacred art in case that headache comes back.’ 
I remind myself in my mind. I also use my hands to feel my head,
no longer hindered by that hood.

Checking the time, I
should still have about half an hour before we are all scheduled to meet back
up. Everyone other than Fen is also offline too. As for that wolf girl, she is
not only standing right next to me, but also clinging onto my arm.

I don’t try to remove her
from my arm. There is a small part inside my chest that is terrified of her.
Perhaps I am weak willed, but I cannot find the courage to force her away.

Before doing anything,
there was one thing that I wanted to check, so I bring up my player data.

Inside, my heart seemingly
jumps for joy. Not only is that ridiculous title gone, but so is all my infamy!
I am a little surprised at my new religious stats, especially that my alignment
has turned into a negative for unknown reasons.

I walk out of the alley
with her attached to me and every single player walking down the street stops
in their tracks to stare at me. Not only the men, but even the female players
give me hateful eyes.

I secretly sigh to myself.
Of course, a young man and a young woman walking out of a dark alley is
incredibly suspicious. Enough so that they will immediately jump to
conclusions.

Ignoring my surroundings,
I pass by the players without giving them any attention. With this
dangerous AI attached to my arm, I have bigger concerns anyway.

I still have some time
before the meeting, so I decide to walk around town for a while.

About ten minutes of
wandering around the city and I find what appears to be the equivalent of the
bazaar back in Iceridge. It is on the ground floor where the market stalls run
by players lined up. Most appear to be vacant but I am sure they will fill as
soon as the sun rises. Players aren’t machines, they need sleep.

The only main difference is
that instead of being in a large open space like in Iceridge, this one is set
up on a large street. The stalls line the road on both side, extending for a
good hundred meters.

Above me I see faint
lights showing through the wooden floor ten meters up. I can’t tell from down
here, but I suspect that this bazaar may continue up there. Grenton does have
four times the population of Iceridge after all.

I spot a player setting up
his stall not too far from me. He stands nearly as tall as me and has slick
black hair swept back. For some reason, this player looks incredible familiar.

“Mouse!”

I call out to the person
setting up the stall. He turns his head to look at me in surprise.

“My apologies,” he calls
out back to me, “but have we met before?”

“Of course! We used to do
a lot of business down in Iceridge. How could you forget?”

“I remember now! You are
the man that was in the hood. Yeah, you never even gave me your name you know!”

“Hahah, my name is Lost…
Hey! You have sent money into my virtual wallet before, so clearly you must
know it.”

“Doesn’t change the fact
that you never told me your name before!”

Mouse suddenly breaks out
in laughter, which I can only frown in response.

“By the way,” I cut off
his laughing with a serious tone, “what are you doing here? Aren’t you meant to
be back in Iceridge. I went to say goodbye before I fled the city, but you
weren’t there.”

“Indeed, I am from there.”
He holds up his right hand, revealing the symbol of Glace, “But as I am sure
you know, there is three times the business to be made here.”

Bringing his arms out wide
and signalling to the whole area, I recall that this guy was always one to
speak with body actions.

“But,” he continues on,
“you had to flee from there? What did you possibly do?”

“Mmm. Well, the Swords of
Light guild seemed to get a bad impression of me. Safe to say, that city was no
longer safe for me to be in or around.”

“The Swords of Light? I
haven’t heard of them.”

“Apparently they have a
pretty big name for themselves. They are quite notorious among other players so
I am surprised you haven’t.”

“Maybe I have heard of
them. I just can’t seem to recall.”

He looked at me with a
strange expression on his face. I don’t know exactly what it was, but something
seemed a little off.

“Anyway, I need some armour
crafted!” I previously had no clue who was going to repair and craft all this
‘Tattered Mouldy Leather’ for me into a much needed new piece of armour, buy I
just found the person who created my current torso armour.

“As you know, I am always
pleased to be of service. For the right price of course.” A business smile
crept onto Mouse’s face.

“I have the materials
right here. I hear it is cheaper if I produce the materials myself.” Well, I
read up on the forums that most smiths will charge less if you provide the raw
material.

I pull out my large stock
of the leather and place it in front of him. He frowns as he looks down on the
pile of rotted leather. Picking a small piece up and inspecting it, only leads
his brow to furrow further.

“It’s no good.” He speaks
as he closes his eyes and shakes his head.

“What do you mean? It is a
crafting material, from a high level monster at that!”

“It is a crafting
material, but not for any kind of quality armour. I mean, look at how frail
this material is. It also has a toxic status effect. I suspect this will create
an armour with incredibly low durability and slowly poisons you. Which would be
completely useless, and with no value.”