Locals may attack Travelers for their tokens, and thus will gain rewards. These rewards will be based on the total amount of [Great Cleansing] markers received. Rewards will not be provided until the ongoing server wide event is completed.
Travelers are expected to do what they need to in order to gather markers.
Warning! Upon death, all your [Great Cleansing] tokens will be transferred to the person who defeated you. No tokens are given for the murder of Locals, only for Travelers.
Attention!
[Save Yourself] enabled! Travelers wishing to retain their character information during this event may choose to report to [Haven Valley] and step into the [Stairway to Another World]. People doing so will be unable to rejoin Continue Online until the event is completed.
Restrictions: The total number of Travelers who can use this is currently limited to one person every thirty minutes. This time is measured within Continue Online’s world.
Warning: If two Travelers stand in the beam at a time, neither person will be able to use [Save Yourself] until one is removed.
“What a bunch of idiots,” a teenage male muttered. He had spent the last six weeks trudging through swamplands in search of stashed items.
Technically the quest he had been on was marked incomplete. That meant a smart man like Requiem might be able to find his way back and finish turning the place inside out for loot. There had been unused weapons, armor, and a few skill books. They should all be in the secret room. At least, Requiem hoped they were.
Two months of reality had not been sufficient to recover enough stat points. Luckily Requiem knew the rules of this game. He had been playing since beta after all.
“Anyone in a town will become fair game now. There’s no way those dumb NPC guards can control this without a plan,” he said.
Two months in reality turned into eight in-game. With his house paid off, the bills and eating got far easier. Still, the habit of playing Continue Online from dawn until the late hours of the night hadn’t faded.
“Those combat nuts are probably already trying to carve each other up. Luckily we’re well away from that.” Requiem’s shoes squished. These boots were terrible compared to the old ones.
“I wish you’d shut up,” a giant red-skinned man said.
Requiem Mass turned to look at his traveling companion. The large red creature had tried to kill him at least four times before the Traveler struck a deal with him. Protection by a powerful creature in exchange for a simple video game soul was a huge gain. His name was Wraith, and apparently the demonic NPC was his old familiar’s brother.
He didn’t dare try to abuse this one into performing better. Spite had been smaller, much weaker, and easier to manage. Wraith was none of those things. Requiem had nearly died multiple times from trying to stay out of the demon’s hands.
“You know the deal,” Requiem Mass said to the giant humanoid.
The creature’s wings were hooked together in the front like a cloak. Two bull-like horns adorned his otherwise hairless head. “Oh, I have every intention of honoring our arrangement. One year, then your pitiful soul is mine. You have less than four months left.”
“Assuming we live through this event,” Requiem grumbled. His second play through the game was no less driven, but also less stressful. He missed the challenge of beating cutting-edge content and unlocking quests no one else had even found.
“The Voices have witnessed our deal. I will get revenge for my dead brother in this world, or the next.”
Requiem shuddered briefly. At least one person in the world knew of the connection between his game character and the real man who lived in a mobile home. Wraith didn’t seem to be connected to the person who had taken away years of in-game work and paid off his home. The possibility they were connected had occurred to Requiem.
“Sorry, Traveler souls are beyond you,” the Traveler said without much conviction. His ability as a player hadn’t diminished, but his former reckless confidence had started to transform into wariness.
“Are you sure?” the large creature asked.
Unlike Spite, Wraith was a full-fledged [Greater Red Demon]. He was larger by far and similar to a walking volcano of fire. [Really Big Brother] only further increased the monster’s stature.
“I am. Once we’re done recovering my gear, then we’ll head to the next quest.” Requiem felt perfectly satisfied having the large Rank Twenty-Five minion guarding him for this hike. He held up a small rolled up tube. “That guy who gave me this quest will pay big, and I’m going to get every penny I can out of him.”
The large monster ignored Requiem’s plotting and turned its head westward. A setting sun sat highlighted above the grimy fog that hung around them. His pointed ears twitched forward, looking more like wolf features than any human being’s.
“Perhaps we’ll get to watch you die sooner than later,” Wraith said.
A crunch of sound made Requiem’s head turn in the same direction. Some kind of creature, or person, was stalking them through the swampland. They had come so far; being sent back to a [Bind] now would count against his [Three Strike Rule] and remove days of work.
“You have to protect me. It’s part of our deal.”
“Not at the expense of my own life. That was also part of the deal.” The large monster was technically an [Unbound Entity], despite their contract. Death even once would be the end of his life.
Luckily, Wraith was far more powerful and intelligent than his younger brother had been. It was part of what had spurned this deal. Rather than continuing to let such a weak human slip out of his grasp, Wraith had made a deal.
“More of your kind has found us,” Wraith said. “What is it about you that causes them to feel such ire that they need to chase you, even to this desolate region?”
“I have that effect on people,” the dark-haired teenager said.
“How fortunate for me that you attract a never-ending supply of foolish people. I’ll go enjoy myself then.”
The [Greater Red Demon]’s wings unclasped from the front and swung wide. Tree branches were knocked away without regard. The strength of a Rank Twenty-Five was monstrous. Requiem measured his traveling companion on the same level as Freakinstain’s Cliffy. Only the big guy was faster and smarter, without the obvious weakness of a magic spell being channeled into it.
“Bring me back some shoes!” he shouted to Wraith’s fading form.
Screams came forth from the woods as Travelers were abruptly torn in two.
Among the [Greater Red Demon]’s abilities was an [Invisibility] skill. It served well in situations like this one. Wraith didn’t bring back boots, but then, Requiem had never truly expected him to.
Quest Group: [Valhalla Knights]
Task: [The Peace Keep]
Total: 715 active members
Details: Your guild has been charged with maintaining a civil environment in and around [Haven Valley]. This includes working with Locals of all walks of life. Points are tallied at the end of each week.
Primary Goal:
Creation of defensive structures
Bonus points will be provided for:
Alliances made
Monsters defeated
Locals kept alive
Total territory kept peaceful
Points will be removed for:
Local and Traveler death within defended area
[Haven Valley] had several roads leading to it. One of them had been destroyed by the colossal [World Eater] that Shazam, among others, had fought off. After a few weeks, the ground closed up, leaving behind a scarred landscape where no plants grew.
Along the path out of town was a small army of Travelers. Armed escorts from [Valhalla Knights] were moving a train of players up into the hills. These people wished to exchange two of their deaths for gold and other items before using [Save Yourself] in town.
Not everyone played Continue Online to battle or experience grand events. Some people simply wanted a place to learn new skills or l
ive in another world. Some used the game’s high-speed time compression to have vacations or hang out with loved ones for longer.
“Come on! Anyone wishing to exchange deaths for gold needs to do so over here!” A bald man with sharp teeth was waving his arms to direct traffic. That seemed to be his lot in life lately. Urgot missed dungeon-crawling with his guild.
“This is such a bullshit job, Urgot,” another man said. He carried a large spear with an absurdly ineffective topping. Gaston thought the weapon looked cool despite its imbalanced nature.
“It’s not our problem. Our job is to keep the deaths outside the border, remember?” Urgot sighed. He turned slightly toward a fading sun and tried to soak in the last few rays.
“We should just kill them and take the tokens on our own,” Gaston grumbled.
“No, this way we keep all the player killers out there, fighting over tokens. Plus, our guild gets a cut of the sales from those cashing out, and our guild doesn’t lose points for killing them ourselves.” The other man, Urgot, looked almost like a crocodile in human form. He kept his lips carefully pulled down to hide sharpened teeth. “It’s bad enough Trillium created this three-strike system. There’s been a whole group of people trying to kill players upon logging in.”
People kept marching. Some were coming down from the mountain pass, having already died or not found a sale. Many players had shown interest in selling a death for goodies. Others held on in hopes that prices would be driven up. No one knew how long the event would go on, so finding the best point between sales and risk was difficult.
“Yeah, but that League of Shadows guild took care of them, right?”
Urgot marched farther up while Gaston went back down into the valley. Downhill was his favorite part of the entire journey. On the way back, he would try to get those who’d recently resurrected from the [Bind] point to gamble away their gains.
Urgot had five players behind him. They were from all walks of life. A nervous elderly couple was marching ahead of the younger people. The pair looked almost eager to get this over with.
Another guild member of [Valhalla Knights] was at the top. He pointed out locations to the newcomers. “Come on! Post your selling price here! A record of all prior sales is listed here! No refunds!”
Urgot waved at the thin man trying to direct traffic. Behind him were a few small buildings being used as sacrificial floors for anyone who successfully agreed on a deal.
“Tell me these guys don’t creep you out a little,” Alucard whispered to Urgot. “Letting themselves go through death for gold?”
Most people in [Valhalla Knights] had killed other Travelers. Once a person started raiding or fighting over rare monsters, murder happened. Urgot wasn’t blind enough to call it defense or claim it was justified. People wanted what they wanted. But the entire situation, where people lined up asking to be slaughtered, was on another level of disturbing.
“God, yes. The whole process is sickening. I don’t even know where the player killers go afterward.”
“Between you and me, I’ve been feeding names to those League of Shadows people,” Alucard whispered to his guild mate. The two generally got along, and most of the time they trusted each other.
“Gaston and I were just talking about them. I think they’re just as creepy. I walked into a room of seven people named Shadow, and they all stared at me until I left.”
“It’s the all-black clothes, plus they’re an entire army of sneakers. I mean, how many rogues do we have in our guild? Twenty? They’ve got, like, fifty or something.” Alucard started counting on his fingers. Not because he needed them to get past the number four, but because the man had been drinking while up here waiting. Babysitting people was boring.
“Keep moving! Keep in line. Don’t touch the constructs!” Urgot shouted at various people.
Travelers looked at him and narrowed their eyes. The buyers roaming past various sellers were unaffected.
“You’ve heard the rumors, right? That their leader is working with Hermes and our Sword Princess? Don’t you find that weird?”
The two of them didn’t have much to do but wait for people to want an escort back. Their guild had brought over dozens of giant constructs that were made by crafting specialists. Each one could easily handle a Rank Ten player. Most of the people coming up here trying to sell their deaths weren’t Rank Ten in anything, much less real fighters.
“Nope,” the bald man said. He didn’t have the spare time to find it weird. Unlike Alucard, Urgot had a real life to handle. That meant working, commuting, and if he was lucky, spending downtime in the shared ARC unit.
“Come on. That Hermes dude comes out of nowhere, gets trained by her firsthand, then she spends another month escorting him around.” Alucard threw up his hands. He wasn’t the first person in their guild to find the whole situation strange.
Most people knew that Shazam rarely talked to anyone. Even her guild messages were curt. She rarely gave orders and operated mostly as a figurehead to [Valhalla Knights]. Despite their detached association, the guild as a whole had mourned her absence and assumed her dead until the woman returned.
“Then this Hermes guy shows up again, teleports into a standoff, protects one Princess, holds the other hostage, and manages to stop the war.” Alucard started fidgeting. When Urgot didn’t answer, he typed in guild chat, which the bald Traveler had turned off.
Anyone in [Valhalla Knights] could communicate through their guild chat system. It operated a lot like any other chat room on the Internet. The only catch was a slight delay had been built in to cause people farther away to get the news slower.
“Yeah, look, even SniperX agrees. It’s the same guy. People saw him all over the map delivering letters. Then he kills that legendary NPC, Commander Strongarm, and gets sent to jail by the father of those two princesses.” The thin man’s rant had started to run out of steam.
“What, you don’t believe in coincidences?” Urgot asked after it became apparent Alucard had stopped. The bald man’s body moved a bit slower now that the sun had started setting.
“I’m just saying, the guy’s gotta be on one hell of a quest chain. ‘Cus I ain’t seen nothing like that,” the thinner member of [Valhalla Knights] said.
“Well, they’re both Ultimate Edition users, and we know they get stuff the rest of us don’t,” said the bald one. He carefully ran his fingers over his skin. More than once he had scratched only to find out that doing so hurt terribly. “I’m starting to think I should cash out and go play another game until this is over.”
“Well, if you want to sell your tokens, I’ll happily kill you myself.”
“I may. There’s this woman I went on a date with. She learned I played and just shut down. Maybe if I took a month or two off, I could have a chance with her.”
“Maybe, unless you file your teeth in reality too,” Alucard said. “Ain’t no girl gonna kiss a mug like that.”
Urgot pulled his lips tight and said nothing.
Quest Group: Bearers of the [Legacy Wish]
Total: 5 active members
Details: Your group has been charged with recovering any items created by the first three Travelers to this world. If these items exist, their discovery may assist Locals in surviving their trip to the other side of the beam of light in [Haven Valley].
In addition, an increased number of people will be able to use the skill [Save Yourself] at one time. The exact total will depend on how many pieces are found, then brought together. Locals and Travelers without the [Legacy Wish] and holding on to the [Gateway Key] will be unable to complete this task.
But perhaps the search is in vain.
Total pieces recovered: 1
Session Eighty-Nine
Honeymoon Period
Nearly a month of real life had passed. My days were divided between delivering handwritten letters left behind by Mother, repairs for Trillium, and my new wife, Xin. She was the best part.
Xin hadn’t taken my last name as part o
f the wedding. We had no legal documentation tied to her existence that I was aware of. Her body didn’t even exist in reality. The short Asian woman had wholly transferred to the digital world, minus the ashes under my bed.
We were currently playing Continue Online, headed toward our next destination. Our path had taken longer than it needed to because we kept getting distracted by new experiences together. We stood at the precipice of the latest right now.
“Here we are,” I said to my new wife.
“Are you ready for what’s next?” she said with soft-sounding words.
“No.” My mouth felt dry as I looked in her direction. “I’ve never done anything like this before.”
I could fight giant monsters and [Blink] around midair. Free-falling from insane heights into my Hermes game avatar posed little worry. Wrestling slobbering wolves felt like just another day. What Xin asked me to do now was borderline insanity.
“Trust me, you’ll like it.” Xin’s hips swayed as she walked away and wrapped straps of leather about her waist.
The dry spot in my throat refused to clear after multiple gulps. “Are you sure you want to do this?” I tried to back out at the last minute. “What if you get hurt?”
“Don’t be silly. This isn’t enough to hurt me.” She laughed at my worry, and I got depressed for a moment. “Of course, if you really can’t stand the thought, then I’ll do it without you.”
My head hung. I was being done in by my own worry. It felt like a reoccurring theme. I had worked so hard to be with her again, and the idea of letting such a simple request get between us for even a moment bothered me.
“Or you could just do it,” she said while raising her eyebrows.
Our adventures in reality had been much the same way. Xin talked me into all kinds of situations I wouldn’t try on my own. She was the adventurous one, especially in private. In front of a crowd, the woman deferred to me. I hadn’t understood at first, but the way she acted turned out to be cultural, at least according to Xin.
“Fine.” I wasn’t going to let her do this alone. Besides which, the sight of her being strapped into bits of leather and tight clothes was a great motivator.
Continue Online (Part 5, Together) Page 2