End Online: Volume 5

by D Wolfin

  The top is more shocking. I don’t even know if I can call it a top. It is practically a swimsuit top made from a brown hemp similar to the skirt.

  Clothing sells on the online auction quite well to female players who are trying to make a fashion statement, but the prices are only a fraction of what a player will pay for a new weapon or armor. I will at least offer this clothing to Fen to see if she likes it before choosing to sell it.

  The sceptre is a truly rare find. The value of such a weapon that allows the wielder to easily join a religion is unimaginable. And this is a completely unique religion too. My arms tremble slightly when I hold it, anticipating what it could sell for.

  Everyone else is highly pleased with their rewards as well, each person taking a long time to look over their items, inspecting some of them more than once in excitement.

  With everyone caught up in examining their items, I return mine to my inventory and move over to the inscriptions on the walls. Each symbol is a picture that seems to depict something. I try piecing words together for each symbol that would best describe it, but that is completely useless in trying to understand it.

  The harder I try to understand the ancient language, the more interested I get. It is not something I have previously been interested in, but once I saw it in the game, I haven’t been able to stop thinking about it.

  After another hour, I am still lost in thought as we leave the dungeon. Fen’s mood also seems to have improved with her completely forgetting all anger upon my return. I rest against her silently as everyone begins talking, but I completely miss the start of the conversation.

  “Lost? Haha, you’re completely absent again, I see. Are you okay? Did you get enough rest last night?” Mason asks with a hint of worry in his voice.

  “Sorry! I was just lost in thought. What were you saying?”

  “We are trying to decide where to go next. Mikhail and his party don’t seem to mind, I want to travel south to investigate Mikhail’s ‘rumor’. What about you?”

  I look around at several other pyramids I can see, and consider having a look through them. I suspect each one is a different dungeon.

  Giving it some thought, I finally decide to go with Mason’s idea, “We will head south. We can’t spend forever around these pyramids which are more than likely similar to one another. I’m curious as to what this something is that is toward the south, but I am tired and have some personal matters to attend to, how about we leave tomorrow?”

  Mason chuckles lightly and nods his head. Mikhail’s party logs off immediately after deciding on a time. The rest of our party sticks around for a while as they see me approach Fen. I already told them about the clothing I got from the boss rewards, but haven’t shown them yet. I mentally curse at them to hurry up and log off as I know they are waiting for a show.

  When I offer the clothing to Fen, she stares at it intently, unsure what to do. Looking between me and back at the clothing she grabs with her teeth and disappears over a dune nearby.

  Ten minutes pass and she still hasn’t come back. I begin to wonder if something happened just as she walks over the dune in her human form.

  Pure white hair extending just beyond her shoulders in a wild manner and an extremely flushed face are the first things I notice. A brown skirt with several small rubies and a corded belt covers her waist and upper thighs, but her slender legs still gracefully carry her over the sand one step at a time. A small navel is revealed above the skirt along with a lot of skin lacking a single blemish.

  Her chest… is covered by her hands as she tries to hold the top against her breasts. A pair of strings hang down from the side of the top, showing that it is not tied at her back.

  “I can’t… tie it…” Fen says with her crystal clear voice, shyly turning around to expose her entire bare back to me.

  My face turns as red as a burning ember by this point. I hastily turn my head to glare at the others. Everyone is staring at us wide-eyed, lost for words. Upon seeing me look at them, they awkwardly look elsewhere, pretending to maintain conversations between themselves as if they didn’t see anything.

  ‘If you’re going to pretend, then stop glancing over here every two seconds!’ I want to shout out at them.

  Awkwardly, with shaking hands and and my face completely red, I tie the back of Fen’s top as quickly as possible.

  The wolf girl turns around bashfully, wrapping her arms around me and pressing her body to mine. At this very moment, I have a strong urge to unequip my armor.

  I hear the noise of several people clearing their throats behind me, but when I turn around with my fists clenched, everyone has already logged off.

  Chapter 33: Sphinx

  -Hollis-

  It’s late. I’m feeling strange and uncomfortable in my wheelchair after so many hours running through the sand in End Online. I reflexively attempt to curl and stretch my toes, but nothing happens except to inject some bitterness in with my discomfort.

  After a brief meal and attending to personal hygiene, I turn on my computer. After an agonizingly slow start up, I open a popular search engine and input a single word: university.

  The site automatically searches based on my location and prioritizes the local universities. By local, I mean the entire east section of the city I live in, Taile. I open up the top result on the web page, Saint Peter’s University.

  As with all universities, it is privately owned so there is no funding or subsidies. A select few may get scholarships and fee reductions granted by the school board, but that is impossible for someone of my social standing.

  Navigating through the pages available, I find the current list of courses offered. Saint Peter’s University has an extensive list of options available. Science, art, medicine, and many other options are available if you can afford it.

  The cost of each course is in the tens of thousands of dollars, some even nearing a hundred thousand dollars. I can’t afford the tuition fees, and the campus is located in the Middle District, three districts above me. Equal opportunity still exists in the current day and age, but I’m sure the school board will find some excuse to reject my application.

  Returning back to the search page, I look through the next three universities only to find they are similar to the first. By the seventh search result, I finally find something that looks promising.

  Cambridge University, located in the Downtown District and charging very reasonable course fees. The only downside is that it doesn’t offer many of the more sophisticated courses that the more prestigious universities do.

  Fortunately, it still offers the only course I am interested in: Philology and Semiotics. This is the study of ancient languages and the usage of pictures as language. The two-year course costs a total of thirteen thousand dollars. The price and thoughts of job placement after course completion make me hesitant to proceed. An expensive piece of paper will look pretty on the wall, but a respectable job will help me get my sisters back from my aunt.

  Bringing up a new page on my browser, I search for work relating to the study of ancient languages. To my surprise, there are several companies searching for experienced people to help decipher texts in many of the ancient ruins throughout the world. Apparently they will hire redundantly as each person will often translate old texts differently.

  Returning to my application, I press the ‘Sign Up’ button. The next class begins in January, which happens to be four months away from now. I fill out all of my personal details, but I also have to pay a twenty percent deposit upon signing up. The loss of money is a bitter one, but I cannot turn back now that I have found what I want.

  Another benefit is the option to do the majority of the course via correspondence, allowing me to not strain myself by trying to wheel to school every day. All lectures are recorded, so I can watch them from the comfort of my own home.

  My bank account is currently running extremely low on funds, but if my application to Cambridge University is rejected, the deposit will automatically get r
efunded.

  Once the money has been paid, a confirmation email is sent to me with my application details. I look everything over then close the page.

  “Arghhhh!” I place my hands over my face and shout. “Why did I have to sign up now?! The course starts in four more months and now I have no money! The student loan system is completely corrupt with massive interest rates so I don’t want that! What am I going to do?!”

  I was completely lost in the moment and only now do I realize I should have waited until I had more money. Either way, I still have to pay a minimum of fifty percent by the beginning of the course regardless of when I sign up. However, if I had waited another month, I would have had the opportunity to sell a couple more items from End Online through the auction house.

  My phone beeps, so I lower my hand from my face to check it. On the phone, the screen is lit up with a message from Markus Forz, also known as Sir Laurence.

  End Forums - Mason published a video.

  The message is short and abrupt. I fail to understand why he cares to inform me that Mason uploaded another video. He has plenty of them uploaded already so that is nothing new.

  ‘Perhaps it is a surprisingly good video,’ I muse as I log on to the End Forums.

  I am wide eyed with shock as I see Mason’s video on the front page of the site. The title is, ‘A new raid found – Sunken Rock, Mermaid’s Lair’. The post has an astonishing number of comments and views, so much that I cannot believe it.

  A little nervously, I load the video and let it start playing. Everything from entering the dungeon to encountering the first group of mermaids are as I remember. Then, just as I recall, the lustful effect of the mermaid’s glare takes hold on most of our party members. Everyone awkwardly turns and faces the nearest player, approaching steadily.

  Several long and passionate kisses take place soon after. While some of the people are not under the effect and are fighting back at those with glazed eyes, kisses are inevitable. The mermaid’s charm attack caused us much pain and suffering before we realized it can only affect you if you look them in the eye.

  There are other monsters in the raid that we encountered later, but I don’t watch that far. With an expression of shame, I scroll down the page and inspect the comments.

  GoldHound | What an incredible raid. Such a shame they didn't have any more players or we might have been able to get to see further in the raid.

  Viore | What a dangerous raid! As a female, I vow to never enter that raid!

  Jayolus | I know this party. Where is Fen, our goddess?!

  HumbleFollo | Jayolus, you're right! I want to see Fen!

  SolemnSword | Where is this raid!? I have three girls in my party. I must take them to try out this raid! *Wink*

  Viore | SolemnSword, that's wrong, your party now has two girls. Goodbye!

  Kimbal | I am more interested in who this other party is. We all know Lost and his party, I even had the opportunity to see them while they were still in Swordbreak after the Royal Summer Tournament. But who are these other weak idiots who are trying to use our stars to raise their popularity?

  TooCold | Kimbal, I don't know who they are, but I don't think we should be calling them weak. They aren't as strong as Lost's party(+new guy?), but they seem pretty strong compared to us mortals! They are most likely from some big guild.

  The comments continue in an endless stream. The video has been posted for a couple of hours and there are thousands of comments and tens of thousands of views.

  I now know why Sir Laurence informed me of Mason’s post. It is something which should never have been posted and we will need to give him a stern talking to. I would ask him to remove the video, but it has been up long enough now that it would only result in someone replacing it with a copy they made.

  Trying to ignore that, I focus on other recent threads. Titles such as ‘Gladox: Level 470 Confirmed!’, ‘New area/dungeon found!’, ‘Epic grade class skill discovered’ flood the forum. It is mostly rubbish and gossip though. All the useful information is over at the section of the website where you must pay for information.

  Nothing else catches my eye. I double check Mason’s account and all the videos he has posted. A small sense of relief comes over me when I realize that there is a lot that he hasn’t posted, but I still think he could be a little more selective.

  As it is already late, I am extremely tired and craving sleep. Resting on my bed, I rapidly lose consciousness.

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

  Logged back into End Online, Sir Laurence and I look at each other gloomily.

  “He’s not here.” The shining knight’s face darkens as he looks around for Mason.

  I look at him with a similar expression. “Perhaps he knows that we know about the video?”

  “Then he will never log on.”

  Before I realize it, Fen is standing next to me. She is looking at my face with curiosity. Glancing at her causes me to forget some of my more depressing thoughts and blush slightly. Seeing her wear such a revealing top only reminds me of the time I saw her dress pulled down, exposing her forbidden fruit.

  Just at this moment, two people log on near us. Glaring at the figures materializing, I expect it to be Mason and Matrix. Surprisingly, it is only Verde and CaptainGordon coincidentally logging in at the same time. They both look at Sir Laurence and I and ask what’s wrong. CaptainGordon shamelessly laughs when we explain the situation while Verde appears to be considerably angry.

  Shortly after, Mikhail and his party log in. While everyone is conversing with each other and minding their own business, Verde comes up to Sir Laurence and I.

  She plays with her thumbs and avoids looking us in the eye. “Sir Laurence, Lost, can I please umm, have a word with you?”

  Unsure how to respond, I casually nod my head. Prince Charming spouts off a cliche line with ‘my lady’ attached.

  Following Verde, we leave CaptainGordon behind to draw the saber he never uses and futily polish it. Fen attempts to follow us, but I suspect this isn’t something she needs to hear so I ask her to stay behind. She doesn’t take too kindly to that, staring daggers at me, but still stays behind.

  Once we are far enough away from the group to avoid prying ears, Verde says gently, “Umm, there’s something I want to discuss with you two.”

  Neither of us say a word, waiting for her to continue.

  “I don’t know if you were aware, but for some reason I suffered a form of amnesia. Thankfully that is over now. My parents forced me to continue playing the game in hopes of helping me recall my memories and also locate the source of the amnesia.”

  “My lady, we were aware. We tried to discuss past experiences with you that might trigger some memories.”

  “I am aware of that now. They made me feel like I was forgetting something, but I couldn’t figure out what.”

  I feel like something is amiss and can’t help but ask, “Umm, I am glad you have got your memories back, but why are you telling us now?”

  “Ever since it happened, my father has been watching over me in the game and I have not had the chance to bring it up without him knowing. He and my mother are currently out at an important meeting so I can talk without them prying.”

  “Is this something your parents can’t know about?”

  “Sort of. He is simply too overbearing and often causes more trouble than it is worth. Also, I don’t want him to know about the kiss.”

  Sir Laurence turns serious and he looks at me before turning back to Verde, “The kiss from the raid?”

  “Yes, it was such a shock that I remembered the first time it happened. After that, everything came back to me.”

  Sir Laurence’s face becomes ugly to behold and is giving off an enormous amount of bloodlust, “Excuse me my lady, I suddenly remembered something important I wanted speak with CaptainGordon about.”

  “W-wait!” Verde calls out as the knight turns and is about to leave. “I want to speak with the two of y
ou about this. I-I have already forgotten about what happened previously.”

  Verde doesn’t mean she has literally forgotten about it, but moved on and no longer worries. Sir Laurence stops, sighing before turning back around. He seems calmer, but his gaze still causes the hairs on the back of my neck to rise.

  “What is done has been done,” Sir Laurence’s serious voice resound in my head and mine alone, “You should know that Verde in real life comes from somewhere extremely high up. Practically the top, in fact. I’m not saying don’t overstep your bounds, but the people around her will never stay silent.”

  I am taken aback by his words, and a little unsure as how to respond. I don’t have any particular feeling for her in that regard, so it isn’t a problem. I want to explain that it was nothing intimate, but Verde speaks before I have the chance to reply to his private message.

  “We have been through quite a lot together, the three of us… and that wolf!” Verde continues speaking. “The cause of my condition was indeed from the game. It terrifies me to the point I want to log off and never play again!”

  “My lady, what do you mean your memory loss was caused by the game? The VL is supposed to be one of the safest pieces of hardware available. I don’t understand how it could malfunction and cause mental damage.”

  As he says that, I recall all the times that I got a headache from using ‘Peripheral Sight’ and wonder if it could be a problem with the hardware. If it is, it is a serious fault that the creators of the device and this game need to know about.

  “It wasn’t a fault with the hardware. When my memory returned I was so afraid. That wolf girl. S-she’s not normal. This was all caused by her back in Grenton!”

  As Verde recounts her story of what happened in Grenton up to the point Fen grabbed her head, causing mind-splitting pain and unconsciousness, I am shocked time and time again. All of this happened from the girl next to me and I never had a clue. I don’t know what I should think about Fen after learning what she is capable of.