She could see that her classmates were at least as bored as she was, a few sneaking peeks at their Cores under their desk or distractedly taking notes or doodling. Eliza wasn’t sure she saw the point of typical high school classrooms in this day and age. Most public schools lacked the resources to assign a teacher to each classroom, and so the staff remotely taught several classes at once – the teachers stationed at a central school building or working from home.
The result was a perpetual dumbing down of the material. How could a single teacher answer questions for a few hundred students or reasonably convey that information? This was exactly why her parents forced her into after-school preparatory classes. Usually, the class sizes were much smaller, and the teachers had more training and experience.
Eliza’s thoughts were interrupted as a faint chime sounded through the classroom, and the surface of her desk rippled and contorted, a quiz question projected across the table. It looked like a simple question about mitosis, and her finger tapped the right answer automatically. She hadn’t really been listening to the lecture, but biology was part of her extracurricular courses, and she had the elementary stuff down cold.
I thought this was supposed to be a college-level class, she thought tiredly. She just needed to suffer through. She only had a few more months until graduation.
“Hmm, I can see that a number of you aren’t getting the material,” the instructor said, a frown plastered across his face as he reviewed the incoming quiz results. Eliza looked up at the screen and saw that nearly 60% of the class had answered the question incorrectly. She couldn’t help but glance at her classmates with an incredulous expression.
“Class A23,” the instructor said, tapping at his console. A small light on the camera at the front of the classroom flickered to life. “Robert, could you please describe the five phases of mitosis for the class. The camera focused on a student sitting beside Eliza, his face suddenly filling the screen.
Robert flushed under the sudden scrutiny, his face practically glowing as he realized he was being put on the spot in front of hundreds of other students. “Umm. Prophase, promeaphase… err… meta…” he trailed off, looking confused.
“Hmm, I can see that you didn’t do the reading last night,” the instructor said with a frown. Eliza heard a small ding, and a “-10” appeared on Robert’s desk, indicating that the instructor had reduced his score for that class period – on top of the fact that he must have gotten the quiz question wrong.
“Okay, let’s try this again,” the instructor continued, rubbing at his eyes tiredly. The screen shifted, and now Eliza’s face was on the screen, blinking owlishly and adjusting her glasses self-consciously as she realized she was in the hot seat. “Same question. Name the five phases of mitosis.”
Eliza had no wish to have her face projected on screen any longer than it needed to be, and she murmured the answer quickly, her eyes focused on her desk. “Prophase, prometaphase, metaphase, anaphase, and telophase.”
“Correct! Good job,” the teacher said, before moving on to the lecture. “Now let’s talk about common mutations that frequently appear during cellular reproduction. This can result in something referred to as microevolution…”
Eliza’s attention was focused on her desk, keeping her eyes down. A small gold star appeared on the screen, signaling that she had earned some bonus credit for answering a question on the spot. Yet she also didn’t miss the glare that Robert gave her or the muttering of the girls behind her.
Great.
She had answered the question to get out of the spotlight, only to irritate her classmates by showing them up. Not for the first time, she wondered why her parents even made her go to class instead of handling her schoolwork from home. She vaguely remembered them yammering on about the need for socialization – although Eliza had long ago resigned herself to the fact that she absolutely sucked at talking to other people.
With a sigh, she went back to what she did best – keeping her head down and avoiding attention. She made it through the rest of the day that way, occasionally snapping to attention to answer a quiz question, but mostly just letting her thoughts wander. They naturally ended up on AO. She was curious to see how well her traps were performing in-game, and she expected that Evan would be finished with her new weapons soon. Maybe she could head into Falcon’s Hook when she got back in-game to check on the engineer’s progress before venturing back out to the forest to check on her traps.
A bell interrupted her wandering thoughts once more, and Eliza glanced at the clock. She just had PE and then she was done – she could go home until she had to repeat this tedious experience again tomorrow. She grabbed her bag and headed for the door with the other students, quickly making her way to the other side of campus. Dozens of other teenagers made a similar trek, although they spoke loudly and joked with each other.
Eliza just kept her head down, changing uncomfortably into her gym clothes and then heading for the track field. PE was one of the few classes that actually required in-person supervision – although she had heard that some schools now handled the process with drones. As a result, their PE instructor was already in the field when her students arrived.
The woman barely acknowledged the teenagers as they approached, looking up from her Core for only a brief moment and waving a hand at the circular track. “Today we’re going to run some laps… or just walk if that’s too painful for you. You just need to make the circuit ten times,” she explained and then immediately turned her attention back to the small screen hovering above her wrist.
Eliza sighed. Thank god for public education. With this sort of enthusiasm, it’s no wonder that this school is performing so poorly in the city rankings.
There was nothing she could do about it, however – except trudge around the circular track with the other students. A few teens decided to be proactive and actually worked up the energy to run, but the vast majority simply broke up into smaller groups and chatted with their friends while they made their laps.
As usual, Eliza trudged along by herself. After the second lap, she began getting bored. There was only so much pointless nonsense a person could take during the course of the day, and she was hitting her limit. Actually, that was a lie. She had passed her limit hours ago.
“I’m already level fifty,” one of the girls ahead of Eliza bragged to her friend. “I went with earth magic and archery. I can bind a target and then pick them off from a distance. It makes farming pretty easy.”
“Not a bad strategy,” one of the guys beside her replied with a nod. “I tried the fighter route for a while, but the melee combat in AO is a little… ridiculous? Who wants to fight a dragon face to face? I mean, it sounds cool on paper, but in reality, it’s insane. I end up using my fire magic more than I swing my sword now.”
“What? Poor little Joshy can’t handle getting stabbed?” the first girl teased with a smile.
“You know I don’t swing that way, Rebecca,” he replied with a laugh.
“Where are you guys playing now?” another guy asked. “I’ve been staying close to Vaerwald since I’m a mage class, but the leveling is difficult. There are just too many players around the mage city, and the fields are usually picked clean.”
“The game started me along the eastern coast,” Josh explained. “It took some time to get my old guildmates together, but we’ve set up shop near Falcon’s Hook.”
Eliza’s eyes widened slightly in surprise. She hadn’t realized that some of her classmates were in the same area as her. From what she had read online, Falcon’s Hook was a bit of a backwater compared to most of the in-game cities.
“How are the mobs in that area?” Rebecca asked.
Josh winced slightly. “Not bad if you have a group. We usually hunt wolf packs in the nearby forest. You just have to keep an eye out for the bears. It usually takes a couple of players to take one down. I think the game treats them like some sort of elite creature.”
“Yeah, I notice that the difficulty sp
ikes weirdly. It doesn’t seem to be based entirely on the creature’s level,” Rebeca added. “Like I can take out the imps around Vaerwald without any trouble, but then there’ll just be a golem out of nowhere that wrecks me.” The rest of the group nodded in agreement.
Eliza couldn’t help but frown as she listened to their conversation. The bears were tough, but did they normally require a group of players? That couldn’t be right. Granted Eliza had only managed to take out the first one by climbing a tree and using potions. The second one had also just sort of keeled over and let her wail on it with her Ice Bolt, but it seemed possible to solo one if you used some sort of crowd control ability first – like her poison.
“One of the guys in my guild claims he farms out in the forest solo, but I think he’s like level 60 already,” Josh continued, shaking his head. “If it weren’t for the forced logouts, he probably would have starved to death already. I’m not sure it’s really possible for the rest of us scrubs.”
“I-I’ve killed a bear solo,” Eliza said, speaking up shyly from behind the group. The other teenagers glanced back at her, incredulous expressions lingering on their faces. “I’m actually in Falcon’s Hook too.”
Josh snorted. “No way. What class?”
“Umm, water mage,” Eliza said quietly.
“That’s just BS then,” Rebecca said matter-of-factly. “Even with higher-level ice spells, that would be a struggle and the cast times are ridiculous. That’s why most water mages go healing or need a tank for support.”
Josh shrugged. “I dunno. She might have managed to one shot it from a distance. What level are you?” he asked, directing his question at Eliza.
“Level 27, I think,” she said quietly.
Josh just stared at her for a long moment. “Nevermind. I’m going to have to go with Rebecca on this one. That sounds impossible. You’re barely higher than the lower-level bears near the edge of the forest. Maybe another player had already injured it?”
Eliza bit her lip, not sure if she really wanted to explain that she had actually climbed a tree while running for her life. Or that she had poisoned the second bear. If they already didn’t believe her, then she expected that they might think she was crazy with that sort of explanation.
“See? Look at her face. I told you she was making it up,” Rebecca said, interpreting Eliza’s hesitation as a sign that she was lying. “Why don’t we take a seat in the shade? The teacher isn’t even watching us.” The other students nodded, and they started walking toward the bleachers standing along the side of the field.
“I’m not…” Eliza began quietly, but the other students had already started walking away, and they didn’t hear her.
A hollow weight settled in her stomach. She shouldn’t be surprised that they didn’t believe her. What was she thinking butting into their conversation? After the scene in class earlier, she should have known better than to open her mouth. It always seemed to end terribly.
Then she hesitated. Was she really in the wrong here, though? It wasn’t her fault that her classmates couldn’t solo the bears by themselves and she had now done it twice. She had also figured out how to weaponize her Obscuring Mist and brew poisons in-game. Sure, she wasn’t as high a level as them, but she had come a long way!
Her irritation only continued to grow as she made her slow laps around the track. It was one thing for the other students to ignore or resent her – she was used to that. But no one could refute her performance in the classroom, and she took pride in that. That’s probably why Rebecca’s words stung so much, and why Eliza couldn’t help but glare at the group of other students as she passed them each time.
She would show them. Once she had her new weapons, she planned to take out the Silver Stag and complete the Hippie’s quest. Then no one would be able to question her abilities in-game.
Chapter 18 - Murderous
When Eliza finally made it home from school, she immediately ran up to her room and donned her headset. Moments later, she was standing in Alma’s garden, sunlight streaming through the leaves of the multi-colored plants around her and droplets of dew hovering on their leaves. In contrast to the austere environment of her school and the harsh fluorescent lighting, the garden was refreshing – and a welcome relief. She felt more at peace here – more than anywhere else in her life.
However, her momentary respite was interrupted as a series of notifications appeared in front of her in an endless stream. Eliza’s eyes widened as she surveyed the notices, her mind wheeling in confusion.
x12 Level Up!
You have (95) undistributed stat points.
x5 Skill Rank Up: Cold Grasp
Skill Level: Beginner Level 6
Effect 1: Increases radius by 6%
x3 Skill Rank Up: Poisons
Skill Level: Beginner Level 4
Effect: 4% chance to add a second random poison effect.
x1 Skill Rank Up: Herbalism
Skill Level: Beginner Level 10
Effect: Allows the player to harvest more difficult or dangerous plants. 5% chance for double ingredients.
x1 Skill Rank Up: Alchemy
Skill Level: Intermediate Level 2
Effect 1: Increases success chance of crafting potions and potion potency by 12%.
Effect 2: Reduces ingredient consumption by 2%.
“How is this possible?” she murmured to herself.
Eliza had no idea what to make of this. It had to be a mistake. How could she have leveled twelve times while logged out? Yet, as her eyes skimmed the notifications, she also noticed how much her Cold Grasp spell had improved. Had her traps killed a bunch of creatures in the forest? That seemed like a possible explanation, although she was surprised that she had gotten credit for the kills while logged out at Alma’s compound.
Maybe the distance didn’t matter if they were her traps?
She shook her head. It did her no good to stand there in the garden guessing. She needed to follow through with her plan. She should go visit Evan and then check on her traps. That was the only way she was going to figure out what had happened.
Eliza started making her way toward Falcon’s Hook, following the small trail leading away from Alma’s cottage until it met up with the main road. As she neared town, the number of players on the road increased dramatically – with the usual crowd making the long trek back to town after hunting in the nearby forests.
Eliza usually kept her head down to avoid drawing attention, not making eye contact or sparing much attention to the other people around her. However, she couldn’t help but notice that the players looked more disheveled than usual. Their armor was torn and bloodied, and their faces were haggard.
“Come on, Amanda,” a player said from behind Eliza. “You need to hurry up so that we can regroup with Scott and Justin when they respawn and head back to the forest.”
“What’s the point?” the girl muttered dejectedly. “You saw that poor excuse for a battle. We had those four wolves cornered and then half our team just dies? What were those spikes that came out of the ground?”
Eliza could feel a hollow weight settle in her stomach as she listened to their conversation and she risked a furtive glance over her shoulder. Amanda was clearly a mage, her green robes torn and stained with blood. Her shoulders were drooped dejectedly as she trudged forward. The man beside her didn’t look any better – his leather armor was ripped, and the sheath at his waist was empty.
“I don’t know,” he said. “I just don’t know. I thought I saw some sort of debuff before they died. My combat log showed they were taking damage even after those spikes appeared, but it just says unidentified damage – whatever that means.”
“This game was hard enough before our groupmates randomly died for no reason. Is this a bug or something?” the girl groused.
A few other players nearby were paying close attention to this conversation. A gruff older man, his face covered in a thick silver stubble, spoke up, “Wait, you guys lost some teammates to some sort of
ice spikes?”
“Yeah,” Amanda replied. “Took out two team members in about 10 seconds. We barely managed to run away from the wolves…”
“The same thing happened to us,” the man said with a frown and gestured at his teammates. “We’re actually going back to town for the respawns too. I don’t think it’s a bug, though…” he murmured, trailing off in thought. “I’ve played for a while now, and I haven’t noticed a single glitch or bug.”
“Me either,” another player chimed in. The conversation had now drawn the attention of most of the surrounding players and NPCs. “But we encountered the ice spikes too.”
Eliza’s heart was beating rapidly in her chest, and she couldn’t help but shrink in on herself, studiously avoiding looking at any of the players around her and speeding up her pace slightly. She was starting to suspect that her newfound levels might have had a different source than just wild animals.
“So, what does this mean?” Amanda asked, her eyes widening as the conversation continued. “If it’s not a bug, then what? There weren’t random ice spikes a few days ago.”
Her teammate ran a frustrated hand through his hair. “Well, there’s one obvious answer. If it isn’t a bug – and I’m not saying that isn’t a possibility – then it could be another player or NPC.”
“You know, the spikes did sort of resemble the Cold Grasp spell that water mages have,” another player chimed in.
“Sure, but that spell doesn’t usually apply a damage over time effect,” the older man said, his voice sounding distracted. “Our teammates didn’t die to the spikes, they died from the DOT. They were taking damage long after we got them free, we just didn’t catch it in time. Cold Grasp also needs to be cast. We didn’t find anyone in the nearby woods.”
“Maybe one of the PK guilds figured out a clever way to hunt low-level players?” Amanda asked, bitterness tinging her voice. “I wouldn’t put it past some of them.”
Awaken Online (Book 3.5): Apathy Page 13