End Online: Volume 5 (4 page)

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

Matrix and I challenge the hidden tomb three more times and
defeat the sub boss on the third attempt, but fall miserably to the mundane
enemies deeper in the dungeon. Our party is far too small and not levelled high
enough to be able to go further, so I make a video out of all the footage I
have.

The video of us in the dungeon takes quite well with the viewers
and even the advertisement slot sales. It isn’t my most popular video to date,
but it is still better than my last few.

In the blink of an eye, three months pass and it becomes time
for the party to get back together. Thanks the the multiple trips back to
Swordbreak Matrix and I have had to make after death and the loss of stats each
time, I suspect everyone else’s character strength to have increased. Except
for Lost himself, as he hasn’t been playing.

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

-Lost-

The three months of study and the final exams make it feel like
only several weeks have passed, but the changing of the seasons says otherwise.

Now that I have my high school equivalency, and with high marks
at that, I am qualified to apply for a large number of further study options. I
want to go to university, but am unsure what I want to study. I spend an entire
day doing research on the internet about university courses and all the future
job opportunities.

Considering my inability to walk, it will have to be some form
of corporate or other desk job. The prospect isn’t enticing, but it is
something I must do.

“Accounting, teaching, neuroscience, art, music, law, science…”
I mumble to myself as my eyelids begin to slide shut, the boredom from reading
the content of the courses available causes me to feel extremely fatigued.

The sound of a message on my phone snaps me awake. Picking up my
phone, I see it is from Sir Laurence, or Markus Forz, as he is known in real
life.

Similar to how he is in game, Sir Laurence is very direct and
straight to the point. He has messaged me several times over the course of my
studies, and I even relied on calling him occasionally for advice with a
problem I was stuck on. He was highly knowledgeable and surprisingly helpful.

I give him a short reply, letting him know I will be on in 24
hours and for him to make sure everyone knows. At that time we can all get
together and talk about everything. He replies almost instantly with a second
equally curt message.

I spend the rest of the night refreshing my memory on the game
and the latest news in the End Forums. The forums hint that something big is
coming to the game, but contain no concrete evidence, only speculation.

I log into my locker, and Fen jumps on me before I can gather my
bearings. The collision causes me to topple over with Fen still sitting on top
of me.

“Fen, it’s only been three days since I saw you last… Is this
really necessary?”

“…Unn,” The wolf girl makes a pleased grunt, leaning forward on
me and rubbing herself against me.

My cheeks turn crimson and I feel my pulse begin to pound. My
embarrassment leaves me at a loss for words so I forcefully roll over, causing
her to end up beneath me. Taking the opportunity as her grip loosens, I stand
up and dust myself off.

Still laying on her back, the girl scowls and looks displeased.
However, her dissatisfaction soon leaves her as we both end up side by side on
the couch, me describing to her my studies, almost teaching her all the
material I learned in the process of our discussion.

Fen has a stutter with her speech that I thought was some fault
in her programming, yet she learns the things I tell her about with astonishing
ease. I can’t imagine her coding to be faulty and still have such an amazingly
rapid learning curve.

This is how all of my conversations with the girl go. I visit
two or three times a week to sit down and talk with Fen. I enjoy having someone
to talk to, and open up with. Thanks to her being an artificial program, she is
absolutely perfect. Of course, our time can only last so long before I run out
of things to talk about.

Being in a very positive mood from my recent test results, I
decide to sleep in the bed in my locker tonight. Fen is overjoyed, and she
practically drags me to the bed before following me in, wrapping her arms
around me and tightly pulling herself onto me. Two warm, soft lumps pressing
against my shoulder is my last conscious thought before I drift off into a deep
sleep.

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

“Welcome back!” Mason, Matrix, and Verde say in unison.

Sir Laurence is here as well, but he only gives me a curt nod of
his head.

I look all around the ‘Honey Tree Inn’ with wide eyes, “It feels
like everything around here has changed!”

“You simply haven’t been here for a while. Although they did
replace the tables about a month ago,” Sir Laurence also looks around, noting
several things are different.

“I’m glad you passed, Lost!” Mason says with a massive grin.
“And with such high grades too! That must have been one of the top scores in
this entire city.”

We all stayed in contact in real life, and thanks to the people
in front of me being the only friends whose phone number I have, they were the
first to hear about my test results.

“I still need to choose a course for further study, so it is not
over yet.”

“If you need any advice, I would be more than happy to try and
help!” Verde adds into the conversation with a smile that can’t be anything
other than genuine.

“I appreciate it, really! You will be the first I call if I get
stuck!”

Our conversation fills with menial and insignificant things and
lasts several hours and many ales.

“Hey,” Mason raises his hand to get everyone’s attention, “how
about we form a guild. We have five people here, which is the minimum number
needed!”

Verde frowns, “It is, but you also need 20,000 gold,
which I am sure none of us have.”

“Ah, well, perhaps we could save up for it.” Mason’s expression
becomes downcast.

“I quite like the idea. I recommend we put a little money away
each time we earn some gold so we can eventually form one. Also, I did receive
10,000 gold from winning the tournament which means we are basically half way
there,” I say, half to myself, but everyone seems to give it some thought.

Eventually, they all agree to the idea.

I just have one last question to ask, “Does anyone have any
ideas for the guild name?”

Everyone shakes their head in silence.

-Lost-

The evening grows dark and night falls on the world. Footsteps
and shouts echo in from the open doorway of the ‘Honey Tree Inn’ as players try
to find their way through the crowd or hawk goods. I see the light from glowing
torches in the room flicker as another handful of players enter the inn.

“Lost, Lost!” I am brought back to attention by Mason’s shout.
“I was just asking, where should we set off to next?”

Mason, Matrix, Verde, Sir Laurence and Fen all look across the
round, wooden table at me expectantly. I also am feeling slightly unsure of
where to go next. We have spent so long travelling, challenging multiple
dungeons and areas along the way, and have already managed to visit all three
kingdoms and their capitals.

Suddenly, an idea flashes through my mind. “Actually, there is a
quest I received that may interest you all. As you are aware, I interacted with
the dragon, Grael, when I was cornered and PKed before the tournament. After
the tournament, I gave him the strange stone tablet I got as the reward.”

Everyone apart from Sir Laurence leans forward slightly to hear
me better over the surrounding crowd. The prince, however, continues to sit
ramrod straight, maintaining his elegant poise.

“He seemed quite pleased with the tablet, and even gave me a
quest to find the other six.  Well, he forced it on me at the time and I
wasn’t permitted to turn it down, but it may be good for all of us to do! It’s
a ‘Legendary’ rated quest!”

“So, you want us to circle through the whole continent again on
some kind of treasure hunt?” Verde asks, looking much less enthusiastic
compared to before.

The fact that it is a quest of the ‘Legendary’ rarity piques the
interest of the two brothers, but even they appear to have some doubts in their
minds.

“Hardly, it is much more interesting than that,” I wickedly grin
at them as I prepare to reveal the most surprising aspect of the quest. “The
quest can’t be undertaken until the server expansion ‘The Seven Realms’ is
released. Even Grael said he suspects them to be on these other continents!”

They all listen to me non nonchalantly as I speak about the
server expansion coming and other continents. It takes them a few moments for
the words to sink in before they collectively shout.

“WHAT?!!”

The sudden yell of the party drowns out the voices of every
player in the near vicinity of our table, causing a few glances to turn our way
wondering what the commotion is about.

“Hey! It’s Lost! The winner of the Royal Summer Tournament!” One
person in the crowds shouts while pointing at me.

The entire inn goes silent as every set of eyes turns toward me.
Many are full of disbelief at first, but are soon filled with surprise and
something akin to worship.

“Lost! Lost! I can’t believe I would meet such a famous person
here!”

“W-w-would you please sign this notebook!? I-if you do, make it
out to T-TigerRaid. No, please m-make it out to Ryan Dunmore!”

“Such an attractive young man. Tell me, are you single?”

A wide variety of people crowd in around our table, trying to
get as close as possible, grab me, get my autograph, send a friend request, or
become intimate with me. It is the last of these things, when a female player
with average looks tries to force herself on me that the temperature in the
room suddenly drops.

Following the drop in temperature, spears of ice erupt from the
ground around me like a flower at the nearby players. Several people are
instantly impaled, including the flirtatious girl, and more are pushed away.
Fen also immediately moves to my side and hugs onto me while glaring at the
crowd aggressively.

“Ah, it’s Fen!! Please marry me!”

“Allow this gentle one to melt that ice cold heart of your with
his warmth!”

“Please step on me!!”

Even despite the heart chilling aura she is giving off at the
moment, many of the male players shout out jubilantly toward the wolf girl.
Several move forward and impale themselves on the ice spears with looks of
pleasure on their face.

“Oh my god, they are even more aggressive than before…” Mason
speaks from next to me, his voice a low whisper.

Swiftly turning my head around, I see the entire party has
lifeless eyes covered in shadow. Seeing other players voluntarily jumping onto
Fen’s ice spears is clearly too much for them. Even Sir Laurence is at a loss,
his devotion toward Verde completely incomparable to these fanatics.

Suddenly, a terrible foreboding overcomes me. “Fen, get rid of
the ice!”

“…No.”

The players impaled by Fen’s ice spears are constantly taking
small amounts of damage, which is a considerable amount for even high level
players, let alone this mob of fans. My past experiences have also taught me
that any player Fen kills counts as me killing them. I can’t possibly afford to
get a player killer’s status here in the middle of the busiest capital in the
game!

“Fen, do it now!” I bark at the girl, startling her.

The ice around me immediately dissolves into the air, and the
players stop taking damage. The wolf girl continues to sheepishly cling to my
arm, a hint of a smile playing on the corner of her lips.

“Everyone, we are leaving! Please make way!” I call out while
gesturing for the rest of the party to follow me.

We all stand up and start shuffling toward the door through the
crowd. They may be massive fans of my character, but at least they don’t try to
forcefully entrap us within the inn.

Outside the inn, the sky is dark with only a quarter moon
shining down. All the torches and lamps in the city light up the buildings,
pathways, and floods of people. Just like a strip of casinos, this place never
seems to quiet down.

The commotion of seeing the champion of the recent tournament is
completely isolated to the ‘Honey Tree Inn’, so none of the players in the
street approach us as the others did before. Of course, I pull my hood up and
over my head just in case.

“Y-you were saying about that quest, and that there are other continents?”
Verde stammers out while we walk through the streets.

“Ah, yes! It appears there will be a server expansion that will
include new continents. I suspect that there will probably be six new
continents added, but I am not sure how big they will be.”

Sir Laurence casually drifts sideways until he is walking
directly between Verde and I, “Considering they are called continents, at least
that is what Grael called them, I would assume that each one wouldn’t be any
smaller than any one of the current kingdoms.”

“It’s strange,” Mason says while grasping his chin in thought,
“There are 
seven
 tablets and the expansion is called
‘The 
Seven
 Realms’. Surely I’m not the only one to see the
connection. But this feels like a major quest, the kind of which usually impacts
the entire game. I just can’t see how these seven tablets could have such a
ground-breaking effect on-“

“Kyaa!! It’s Lost and the rest of his party! Oh my, Sir Laurence
is even more attractive than in the videos!” A random female player screams immediately
after recognizing us.

The sound of the wind rustling the shade cloths hanging between
the buildings on either side of the road can finally be heard as silence
overtakes the area. This is much worse than the incident at the inn only
moments ago. This time we are out in a public, crowded street.

Players start grouping around us, calling out over one another
to ask for autographs, playing advice, and information about our skills. I
struggle through the crowd as much as possible, barely making any progress at
all. My vision also fills with notifications of friend request, distracting me
time and time again. I suspect the others aren’t faring much better than me.

“There is an narrow alley off to the side. We should be able to
escape through there!” I call out through the party chat.

Everyone turns as one and spies the narrow space between two
buildings that I am talking about. I command Fen to open a pathway by pushing
the players back with walls of ice, which she happily does. A solid wall of ice
rises from the ground in a straight line toward the alley way. This wall
quickly splits in the middle, forming two walls which extend away from each
other, pushing all the players back and creating a path for us.

Small clinks can be heard from the other side of the ice wall as
players stab, cut, and bludgeon with their various weapons in an attempt to
break through. A couple of heavier attacks cause shockwaves to penetrate the
walls and small cracks appear as some of the more powerful players brandish
their swords and axes.

Time is short and Fen’s defensive wall cannot possibly hold up
against such a large crowd for long. We quickly slip into the alley one after
another and disappear into the night. By the time the crowd breaks through the
ice wall, we are long gone.

The rest of the night and early morning is spent trying to
covertly escape the city. News of our presence in the city spreads and we spend
a lot of time evading players searching the streets for us.

We finally manage to break out of the city and escape to the
south as the sun reaches its apex in the sky. Several players notice us and try
to sneakily follow, but we quickly lose them. Once we are finally free of our
pursuers we log off for two days to wait for everything to settle down.

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

I log back onto End Online five minutes prior the time we
appointed. Despite being a few minutes early, Matrix and Mason are already
online and waiting. Another ten minutes pass by as Verde and Sir Laurence show
up one after another.

“It looks like they’re gone,” I breathe out with a sigh.

Sir Laurence harrumphs and turns to me, “This is your fault!
You’re the one that won the tournament, not us!”

Despite his complaints, he does not object as we reform the
party, everyone’s stats appearing at the side of my vision again.

“As you were pointing to earlier, Mason, we need to decide where
to go next,” I sit down on a nearby rock, glancing from side to side, searching
for the origin of the sounds of players somewhere nearby.

“I wanted to bring it up earlier, but Matrix and I recently
discovered a new dungeon that we haven’t been able to clear as of yet. Shall we
go there?”

“That sounds like a plan to me! Please tell me it is far from
here?”

“Umm, no, it’s not. It is actually a little closer to the
capital than here.”

“I am sorry Mason, but I don’t think we should go. We are
currently still in the wolf’s mouth, so to speak, and we need to get as far
away from here as possible.”

“Yeah, I understand. I still really wanted to finish it with
everyone though.”

“Perhaps we can come back in the future and do it then?” I ask
the question to everyone, but look at Mason directly while asking.

“Please do, I am itching to finish it but Matrix and I are
lacking in skill to do so alone.”

“This brings us back to square one, where to travel to?”

“Actually, there is something I heard of a short while ago. I
didn’t pay too much attention to it at the time, but the discussion about the
new continents earlier has me intrigued,” Mason furrows his brows and seems to
be entering a state of deep thought. “There are rumors of a large island to the
south of this kingdom. Apparently, it is a complete wasteland, but it hasn’t
really been explored properly as of yet either. There must be dungeons and
treasure hidden all over!”

“I agree; ignoring the prospect of what treasure could be there,
a new area to explore is interesting!” Sir Laurence joins as the first person
to vote toward the new land.

One by one, we all agree to travel there.

“But Mason,” Verde ask curiously, “how exactly do we get there?”

Mason sticks his chest out in pride as he answers, “The town of
Trope, in the south of the Dalbe Kingdom, is something of a gathering point for
sailors and other ocean enthusiasts. We will surely find someone to take us!”

Coming to an agreement, I take the lead with Fen at my side as
we begin our passage south. Our journey takes us through through fetid swamps,
dark and humid forests, and open savannahs. Unfortunately, no matter where we
are, the sun is scorching hot. I also don’t know if it is just my imagination,
but the further we go the hotter it seems to get.

“What ‘ave we ‘ere, a party of six travelling through this grand
kingdom?” A man dressed in cold steel heavy armour with a large double axe
strapped to his back steps out from behind a large rock.

“I’m sorry, perhaps you are looking for someone else?” As the
person at the front of the party, I am naturally the one to respond.

“No, I not be waitin’ for anyone in particular, but I can’t help
but wonder if you be lost?”

I feel shocked at his question, his wording almost makes it
sound if I actually am Lost, not simply lost for directions. I
quickly recover and politely turn down the player.