Endless Fantasy Online

by Devin Auspland

  “Umm… Hello?” Luke called out to the man working outside the carpenter’s shop.

  A short round man, who was putting the finishing touches on a chair, looked in his direction. “How can I help you, son?”

  The man had a thick accent that Luke didn’t recognize and was having trouble understanding. “Uhh, I came to buy a simple bed, a chair and a desk. Nothing fancy, just something serviceable and cheap.”

  “Cheap implies poor workmanship. Dwarfs don’t do poor workmanship.” The man approached Luke.

  “I didn’t mean to imply anything. I just don’t have a lot of spare coins at the moment. All of your wares look excellent and top-notch.” he backpedaled.

  The dwarf gave him a stink eye.

  “How much for these pieces?” Look pointed to an ornate chair and desk.

  “Hrmpf.” The dwarf grunted and put his hammer and chisel down. “Follow me.” Luke was lead inside the cluttered shop and told to wait while the dwarf grabbed a couple of pieces of furniture from the back of the shop.

  When he returned, he had a small desk over one shoulder and a stool in the other. Both pieces looked well made but simple. There weren’t any carvings, symbols, designs or woodworking techniques present. They looked like something Luke would have come up with back home if he was pressed to build his own furniture, only sturdier and professionally built.

  “Those are perfect,” Luke gestured at the furniture.

  “I have a bed in the back that matches, but you must buy your own mattress. Since this is my new apprentice’s work, I won’t charge you much. How does… 25 gold sound?”

  Having already insulted the dwarf, he decided against bartering and accepted the deal. “That sounds like a great deal. Do you know the shop ‘Rose Alchemy’? Would you mind bringing the furniture there?”

  “Yeah, I know the place. I have some deliveries to make later in the day. I can bring them by then.” the dwarf said as he was cleaning filth off his hands with a rag.

  Luke handed over half the contents of his coin purse and spent another ten gold on his way back to the shop on a mattress and pillow. He paid extra for a feather mattress because just the thought of sleeping on straw again made his back hurt. Returning to the shop, he deposited the rest of his gold into the register and began moving crates into the back room. By the time he had the place cleared out, the carpenter had delivered his furniture and Luke arranged it to his liking.

  It was now dark outside, and he was exhausted from a day of lifting heavy boxes and running around. He grabbed a few pieces of fruit and lay in bed, taking in his hard work and new room. When his eyes passed his desk, he saw the class item box the King awarded him and he shot up to a sitting position in his bed. I’m an idiot! I need to choose my class!

  He opened his menu and reviewed his choices again. He eliminated them in his head until it left him with archer, apprentice mage and ranger. Archer would make me a ranged killing machine, but I would be a one-trick pony. If I became a mage, I could learn a ton of spells but I would have to give up my bow. He continued thinking through his options until his choice became clear.

  As he hit the Ranger class with anticipation, the system presented him with multiple system messages.

  Ranger Class acquired. You have been awarded +1 agility, +1 intelligence and an Elemental Shot skill.

  New skill acquired: Water Shot (Beginner 0): Infuses your arrow with water. When shot it will fire off like a water jet and do increased water affinity damage. Cost: 25 + x mana. Effect: Increases arrow travel rate by 10% and adds 1x water damage where x = skill level. Range: Touch arrow.

  Luke reviewed the new skill in awe. This skill is amazing! It's a huge drain on my mana, but adding 10 damage to my attack almost triples my current damage output! Leaping from bed, he walked over to his desk and grabbed the class box.

  Rare Class Item Box (Rare). When opened, this box will award you one rare item associated with your current class. Current class: Ranger. Open? Yes No

  Luke hit yes, and the box popped open with a burst of white light. Sitting on his small desk was what appeared to be a ram’s horn. The horn was slightly larger than his hand and was tinted green at the horn’s large circular base. He picked the horn up for closer examination.

  Identification failed. OVERRIDE: Quest reward.

  Beast Summoning Shofar (Rare). Blowing into the shofar will summon a random animal companion of at least rare level rarity. The summoned companion will automatically become bound to the summoner.

  Contemplating whether or not he should add taking care of an animal to his growing list of responsibilities, he set the horn back on the desk. Growing up, Luke wasn’t allowed to have a cat or dog because his mother was allergic to them. Even if she wasn’t, he was always working to help pay bills and never had time to take care of a pet. This could be my only chance at owning a pet, he thought as he picked the item back up. Shrugging his shoulders, he put the item up to his mouth and blew into it.

  The shofar produced a deep, consistent bass sound. When he was done blowing, he pulled his mouth away and cracks started forming up the shofar’s base as it began to burn hot in his hand. He released his grip on the horn but it stayed floating in midair. A small orb of white light came into existence at the item’s center and it began to expand. It expanded until it was the size of a basketball and then slowly descended, touching down on the wood floor.

  A roulette-like wheel appeared above the orb. The wheel had ten wedges on it and an arrow at the top, pointed to one wedge. Each wedge was outlined in silver except for two that were gold. As he examined the wedges, he noticed that each contained a pure black silhouette of something he couldn’t make out. After a few seconds, the wheel started spinning as though an invisible hand had just launched it into motion. Ticking sounds kept ringing out every time the arrow passed over a new choice until the wheel started to slow.

  Tick. Tick. Tick.. Tick… Tick…… Tick……… Ding!

  The wheel stopped on one of the golden choices and then it began to melt. The molten wheel oozed into the white orb of light, mixing in with it and turning it gold. After the orb was completely gold, it began to take the shape of the silhouette that was inside the spinning wheel’s selection. When it was complete, rays of golden light shot out of its center before fading and revealing a small gray wolf pup.

  Animal companion acquired: Baby Alpha Wolf (Epic). The beast will follow your commands to the best of its ability but will not follow commands that brings itself harm for no reason.

  New skill acquired: Resurrect Companion, Class Skill. Resurrects your animal companion if they have unfortunately died. Allowing your animal companion to die will negatively affect your relationship, and they may choose to break their bond with you. Cost: 100% max mana. Effect: Channel this spell for 10 seconds to resurrect your animal companion at full health. Cooldown: 24 hours. Range: Self.

  New skill acquired: Beast Mastery, Beginner 0. You have bonded with a beast and taken a baby step in befriending the animal kingdom. Improving this skill will increase your bond with your animal companion and increase their proficiency in battle. This skill also scales based on your social attribute. Effect: +1% animal companion’s attributes.

  Luke was happy that he got something of such high rarity and that he acquired new skills, but he had a sour expression on his face. Why did it have to be a wolf? Is the game purposefully mocking me? he thought as he sat cross-legged on the floor.

  “Hi there little guy. What’s your name?” He reached his hand out in his best attempt to appear non-threatening. When his hand touched the baby alpha wolf, a prompt came up.

  Please name your new animal companion.

  “Oh, you don’t have a name yet.” The animal licked his outstretched hand before crawling into Luke’s lap and staring up at him. He began to slowly pet the beast, and the wolf began to push its head against Luke’s hand. As he was petting him, he noticed that the wolf had sporadic sky blue spots in its fur. They were almost unnoticeable unless y
ou were up close or knew to look for them.

  “Hmm… I suppose you don’t want the name Wolfy or Spots? Heck, I don’t want you to have those names. Hmm..” The wolf leaped out of his lap and bent over, sticking its butt in the air before starting to growl at Luke’s half-eaten apple on the floor.

  “Are you hunting an apple?” He started laughing and grabbed the round green prey. Biting off a piece, he placed it on the floor in front of the unnamed pup. Luke watched to see how the wolf would respond. It approached the piece of apple with caution but began sniffing it when he got near. When the wolf determined it wasn’t a threat, he put the whole thing in his mouth and started chomping.

  Luke smiled and put another bite on the floor. “I think I got a good name for you little guy.” Luke entered the name Ringo into the prompt before confirming his choice.

  1,000 Reputation Gained with Ringo.

  New Status: Best Friends.

  Ringo looked up at Luke and barked his approval before letting out a long yawn. Luke stood, picked up Ringo and moved to his bed. While he was getting comfortable again, Ringo walked toward Luke and lay directly on his chest.

  Before drifting off to sleep Luke pulled up his character sheet and noticed he had a lot of unallocated skill and attribute points. Still unsure what skills were the best, he saved his skill points and assigned his attributes points. When he was done he reviewed his character sheet for the first time in a while.

  Name: Luke, Wolfsbane.

  Class: Ranger

  Primary Profession: Herbalist

  Animal Companion: Ringo (Alpha Wolf Pup)

  Level 3: Exp 1380 Exp to next level: 1620

  Hit Points: 70/70

  Mana: 110/110

  Mana Regen: 1.75/sec

  Stamina: 90/90

  Physical Resistance: +0

  Elemental Resistance: Water +10, Earth +10

  Attributes Base (Modifier)

  Strength: 1

  Agility: 5

  Intelligence: 4 (+3)

  Wisdom: 2 (+2)

  Constitution: 3

  Social: 4

  Luck: 1

  Skills, Spells and Abilities

  Short Bow (Beginner 4): Basic knowledge on how to use a short bow. Increasing this skill will increase the damage dealt with a short bow. This is a passive skill and requires no activation. Effect: Adds 1+x% short bow damage where x = skill level.

  Herbalism (Beginner 8): This skill allows you to identify various plant life.

  First Aid (Beginner 0): Basic knowledge on how to apply basic first aid and use basic bandages. Increasing this skill will increase your knowledge of first aid techniques and increase the speed at which you can apply this skill.

  Nature’s Regrowth (Beginner 2): Harness the power of nature to speed up the natural healing and growth speed of the target. Cost: 3x mana. Effect: Heal for 1x every 5 seconds for 15 seconds where x = skill level. Cooldown: 60 seconds. Range: 10 feet.

  Alchemy (Beginner 1): Knowledge of basic reagent combinations. Increasing this skill will increase your knowledge of alchemy and increase your chances of combining new reagents successfully. Effect: Add x% chance that a new combination will be successful where x = skill level.

  Bartering (Beginner 2): Trading is a craft, and you have taken the first steps in learning that craft. You will receive small bonuses when attempting to barter. Effect: +x% bartering results where x = skill level.

  Sneak (Beginner 0): While others try to be honest and fair, you sneak around in the dark, looking for opportunities to strike. What are you really doing hiding in those bushes? Cost: 1 stamina per second. Effect: +x% chance to sneak and +1x% chance to perform a sneak attack when attacking while hidden, where x = skill level.

  Water Shot (Beginner 0): Infuses your arrow with water. When shot it will fire off like a water jet and do increased water affinity damage. Cost: 25 + x mana. Effect: Increases arrow travel rate by 10% and adds 1x water damage where x = skill level. Cooldown: 60 seconds. Range: Touch arrow.

  Resurrect Companion (Class Skill): Resurrects your animal companion if they have unfortunately died. Allowing your animal companion to die will negatively affect your relationship and they may choose to break their bond with you. Cost: 100% max mana. Effect: Channel this spell for 10 seconds to resurrect your animal companion at full health. Cooldown: 24 hours. Range: Self.

  Beast Mastery (Beginner 0): You have bonded with a beast and taken a baby step in befriending the animal kingdom. Improving this skill will increase your bond with your animal companion and increase their proficiency in battle. This skill also scales based on your social attribute. Effect: +2% animal companion’s attributes.

  He put a few of his points into social to help him run the shop and to help Ringo survive. He was rewarded when he noticed beast mastery now gave an extra percentage to Ringo’s stats. He split the rest of his points into agility and intelligence as those were the main attributes for his ranger class.

  As his new found excitement started to falter, his previous exhaustion crept back. Soon after reviewing his character sheet, he blew out the few candles near his bed and fell asleep.

  Luke awoke to a scratching noise the next morning. When he rubbed his eyes awake, he saw Ringo scratching his claws against one of the bedposts. He must have been doing it for some time as the bed post had dozens of new indentations.

  “Hey! Stop that.” Ringo leaped back and lay on his stomach, pointing his head down in shame. “At least I didn’t buy nice furniture,” he mumbled under his breath before getting out of bed.

  He got dressed and headed for the greenhouse, Ringo following closely behind him. When he opened the back door, Ringo ran out and quickly relieved himself. Luke gathered some herbs that were stored in the greenhouse and watered the remaining plants. He gave Ringo his fair share of water in a saucer when filling the watering can. Returning to the shop he noticed the sun was still down and went to work on his alchemy for a bit before heading off and meeting the others.

  The sun soon began to rise, so he gathered the things he needed for the day, eager to try his new spells. Before opening the door, he looked back at Ringo following him. Luke contemplated what to do with his furry companion. He was supposed to bond with the animal and use it in battle but he hesitated at the thought of bringing a baby wolf along while hunting more of its kind.

  “Ringo.” The young cub looked up and cocked its head to the side. “You don’t understand what I’m saying do you…” Ringo’s head cocked the other direction. “I think you should stay here. It's not safe for you yet.” He began backing up toward the door while stretching his arms out to perform a staying motion. He tossed out some apple slices on the floor and opened the door behind him. He opened it just wide enough for him to slither through, shutting it behind him. He heard light scratching and whimpering sounds from behind the door. It hurt him to leave his new pal behind, but ultimately it was for the best.

  The shop wasn’t far from the city gate, and he quickly spotted his party looking over the job board. Running up to them he waved and gave a warm good morning to the group.

  “So what quests are we doing today?” He inquired.

  “I think we should grab the same three for now. Controlling fox and wolf populations and the pelts quest. Killing while advancing in the forest should take us most of the day and give us enough time to make it back,” Penny commented.

  “Ok.” Luke looked all around the board before spotting the fliers that hosted the quests he needed and ripping them down. “If it's ok with you guys, I need to gather a bunch of herbs as we go.”

  “As long as you don’t slow us down, I don’t care how you spend your time in between fights,” Backtab commented.

  “My agility is high enough that I can catch up to…” the growing sound of barking in the distance interrupted him. Looking around, he spotted the now familiar gray site of Ringo charging toward him. When Ringo got to him he leaped up but since Luke wasn’t expecting it, Ringo fell backwards after bouncing off his
knees. “Ringo! Are you ok?” Leaning down, Luke scooped the rambunctious animal into an arm.

  “Oh… my… god… HE IS ADORABLE!” Penny bumped Luke and forced Ringo into her arms. “You are the cutest thing I have ever seen! I could just eat you up!”

  “Umm… please don’t?” He responded dryly.

  Nanoc and Backstab just watched in confusion as Penny acted like most adults do around young babies. She made goo-goo noises and spoke in a baby voice.

  “That kind of looks like a…” Backstab’s vision went distant, signifying he was looking at a game screen that no one else could see. “That is an alpha wolf! That thing’s dad, or brother, or cousin, or whatever just killed me!” He was pointing an accusatory finger at Ringo while grabbing a dagger in his other hand.

  “I think Backstab is just wondering what you’re doing with a wolf alpha cub?” Nanoc joined the conversation to try and defuse things.

  “He’s my animal companion.” Luke tried brushing past the threats to Ringo’s life. “I got him from the King’s quest reward after I picked my class.”

  “You picked your class?” Penny finally looked up from her new best friend.

  “Yeah. I went with Ranger. It’s a mixture of magic and bow skills. I even got a cool new attack spell I want to try out.”

  “Wait, you choose ranger and got a familiar from the King’s box? Now I feel like I got cheated by only getting a life stealing axe.” Nanoc lifted his axe in display.