End Online: Volume 1

by D Wolfin

Eager to use my legs again I head back to my room and plug into virtual reality. Before logging in as Lost I decided to look through the options of customizing my locker, the amount of detail you could delve into was enormous. Without playing around with the features of the locker so much I just placed a white sofa and coffee table in the centre. A few cups and a simple coffee machine on the table, I planned to come back and try some later.

  Logging into End Online my locker dispersed into mist, reforming into the world around me exactly where I logged out at the church.

  Travelling back into the main courtyard of Iceridge I couldn’t hear anyone talking about me anymore, but that was probably because all the players from last night are now logged off. I head south towards the central keep where the barracks was described to be located.

  I passed through a lot of areas where there where houses had signs for selling and renting, can’t say there won’t be people playing as real estate tycoons given the opportunities to purchase a property and start renting it out. Although there seemed to be more residences for sale than for rent.

  Eventually I arrived at was looked similar to but not quite a coliseum. I passed by stone monuments of soldiers with their names etched under their feet and through the front door. A regal receptionist wearing a white soldier uniform, blond hair tied up in a bun, and plain rectangular glasses was filling out paperwork behind a desk at the end of an otherwise empty room.

  She looked up at me as I got closer and was straight to the point.

  “What do you think you’re doing in this place? This is not some tourist destination.”

  “Forgive me. I have come seeking to become stronger.” I was as polite as I could have possibly been short of prostrating myself.

  “Not my problem. I don’t like you, something about you seems off, and you are not someone I would even consider trustworthy.” Curse this aggravation skill! “But, I am required to follow regulation regardless. Read and fill out this form then pass through the door to my left, heading down the corridor until you reach the training ground. Centurion Markus will be your instructor.”

  I don’t know who I should thank for this opportunity, but the effect of my aggravation skill seems to be useless in this place.

  The receptionist turned over a safety and guidelines form that all I really had to do was fill in my name and sign underneath. While reading all about any resulted death in the training arena was not the fault or responsibility of the Iceridge Military Forces, IMF for short, another player entered the barracks and filled out a form as well.

  One glance left me dumbstruck. Blonde. Or should I say golden hair that was neither long nor short, but completely straight. Bright blue eyes, height wise a head taller than me, a solid build and face that looked like he fought for the weak and elderly. This man next to me was the re-incarnation of Prince Charming!

  He didn’t even read the paper that was given to him, just signed it and walked towards the training ground without paying anything else attention. I was right behind him in leaving the reception. This guy may be wearing the same beginner gear as me but what an overpowering aura he gave off, the difference between the two of us was astronomical.

  We walked into a square training ground thirty meters wide and about fifty long. There were a few players around lined up and striking training dummies which all the snow had fallen off and were lying around them. I couldn’t however quite understand how there was no snow anywhere else on the field, it was all hard packed dirt.

  The biggest man I had ever seen approached us and eyed us up and down. He had close shaved hair, four scars lined diagonally down his face obviously from an animal, and thick brass plate armour all the way up to the top of his neck.

  Turning to Prince Charming next to me he addressed him first.

  “You, what’s your name? You look like a promising trainee.” With a slight nod of his head it was exactly one of the lines the internet informed me he would say, it differed a bit depending on the size of the person he was addressing, but none seemed all too bad.

  “Sir Laurence, it is a pleasure to meet you centurion!” With a loud voice that turned a few heads he even straightened his back even further while saying it. Also what was with that name? He is clearly going for the heroic knight type of person.

  “Hmm, go grab some equipment from the racks over there,” the centurion nodded towards about 4 racks of weapons and shields in the corner of the field, “show me what you have by striking a practice dummy one hundred times.”

  With an arm across his waist, he gave a curt bow responding, “As you wish it to be, I shall do,” picking up a steel long sword and kite shield he moved to an empty position in the middle of the field and began diligently striking the dummy from various angles and directions.

  The centurion turned to face me and just looked down at me without speaking a word. A vein across his temple all of a sudden seemed to burst and he shouted.

  “Well! Aren’t you going to speak maggot!?” I was dumbstruck, that was just far too overbearing.

  “…” I couldn’t even find my voice, I started sweating profusely from my forehead and felt myself go red from embarrassment.

  “WEAK!” Basically screaming this time, everyone had stopped what they were doing and looked in my direction. Even Prince Charming had turned to face me with what looked like pity on his face, no, that bastard is gloating!

  “Go! Equipment! Practice Dummy! Strike! Four hundred times!” This guy wasn’t even using proper sentences anymore! Plus I had to do four times the work as his new favourite student over there! Nonetheless I ran to obey his orders, inspecting the rack for what weapon I thought would suit me best.

  Considering my aggravation skill that has once again proven its inconvenience, what I need is to be able to run away when every enemy decides my death is the most valuable thing. And I’m going to have to be able to run fast.

  I grab a short sword about the length of my forearm that should allow me to be more agile. Looking at the shields even the smallest one would limit my movement, so I pick up another short sword the exact same as the first one.

  I’m the only person now striking dummies who does not have a shield and everyone keeps giving me strange glances,

  “What’s with that delinquent? He is just going to die without a shield. He must be a complete noob if he doesn’t know that common sense.”

  “Yeah but there are plenty of people who don’t use shields, it’s just harder to play.”

  “I suppose, I wouldn’t want to party and block for him though, those weapons are too small and he wouldn’t do enough damage with them.”

  “How did this guy manage to make the centurion that mad? I’ve never seen or heard of anything like it”

  Sorry, but with my aggravation skill I don’t think anyone would be able to be my blocker, the enemy would get aggro at me and do everything in its power to attack me and nobody else. It would in fact make me a fantastic blocker, but being a primary blocker would make it near impossible for me to play solo, plus it is an area of effect taunt skill that appears to have an effective radius of around twenty meters.

  Ignoring their discussion between themselves, I continued to strike the practice dummy at a decent pace leaving red lines where I stabbed and slashed, even if they disappeared relatively quickly. It is the same with monsters, this is not only to prevent any gore complaints and issues, but if the server had to calculate it all, it could potentially be too much.

  A couple of times a small notification of text appeared in my vision informing me of stats that have increased, mainly strength and dexterity.

  After two hundred strikes something jabbed into my back. It didn’t hurt much, kind of like a pinching, but it took of a single health point. Glancing over my shoulder I saw the centurion squatting down and holding a bare blade in his hand, jabbing me with the hilt.

  “Move it! If you were any slower and I will die of old age! NOW. STRIKE. FASTER!” This is unbelievable, a hundred of these jabs and I will
be dead, how can this guy be so heartless!

  I picked up the pace and started swinging faster, my agility rose once and a few others as well. After another hundred strikes I had lost forty health points, I only had sixty left and the fatigue of getting weaker was setting in, making the swords weigh down in my hands.

  The centurion then started jabbing me faster, taking my health down quicker than he was before, the pinching had now turned into what was feeling like someone punching me in the back. Everyone else had long since finished yet this failure wasn’t even paying attention to anyone else, only intent on tormenting me.

  “TOO SLOW! You’re going to die like this!” Of course I am while you’re attacking me with that sword! All the other trainees had long finished their task and were sitting around watching, somewhere even placing bets on whether I would finish or die first.

  Faster! Faster! I need to go faster! I could no longer put any strength in my swings I simply focused on making the blades connect with the target. My agility and dexterity took over as the primary stats being increased.

  My health started to flash red and the weapons were like lead in my hands, but I couldn’t give up here! I had lost count but after practically throwing the weight of the swords at the target the attacks on my back stopped and the centurion stood up. Left with four health points, it occurred to me that this task would have been impossible with a sword and shield. I would not have been able to strike the target fast enough.

  “Hmph, barely a pass,” He had quietened down a bit at least, “looks like you need something to relieve the fatigue.” Is he starting to like me more now that I passed his test?

  “LAPS! AROUND THE FIELD! TWENTY!” Of course not. I’m not even frustrated right now, I had a feeling things wouldn’t end there. But to be back to not using proper sentences was even beyond me.

  Most of the onlookers were stunned, some were even laughing, there were two girls mixed in that were giggling a bit at my misfortune. The centurion told them not to sit around finally and sent them to do five laps around the field but that was light work for everyone still at full health.

  Meanwhile my legs were becoming one with the ground as I continued to run as hard as I could to prevent the centurion from chasing me with his sword hilt or something else that would quickly result in my death.

  Once ten laps had been completed a felt a dark premonition and darted forward slightly faster, sure enough something hit the wall right where I was. This man was standing in the middle of the field sure enough had picked up some small rocks, the evil grin on his face showed me how much he was enjoying it.

  My health had recovered to twenty percent and my agility however had risen a decent amount, I was quick enough to out run the projectiles heading my way. The rest of the trainees appeared to have left already, all of them already bored of watching my torture.

  At five laps left something connected with the side of my head, shaving of two health points and dazing me slightly. The evil grin on the centurion had deepened at his satisfaction of finally landing one.

  His accuracy only got better from then on and each hit fatigued me more and made it harder to run. Trying to anticipate the rocks I did rolls, faints and occasionally I would momentarily stop in my tracks to allow a rock to pass in front of me.

  Diving at the very end of the last lap, I avoided two final rocks and heard the devil clicking his tongue. Sorry, but I’m not giving up yet, I will keep going just to spite you! The day ended after that and he told me to be back at sunrise the next morning.

  Night time in the game is incredibly dark, you can barely see anything if you don’t have a torch or any other form of light, the moon gave off light but not enough to be able to fight properly. Luckily the city is well lit with street lamps lining all the streets, so moving around in town was relatively easy.

  You will also get tired in the game if you have been playing for too long, it is possible to sleep overnight in game and you will also gain rest in real life equivalent to what you slept. Apparently while sleeping in game the VL goes into a semi-hibernation state and allows you to properly rest until morning in the game comes and it re-activates. There is nothing that can replace food however, even eating in game and getting the feeling of being full will not give your body the necessities to live.

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

  I opted to leave the game and return to reality, I had no money to rest at an inn anyway. Sure enough Joelle and Shari were home and making a mess in the kitchen.

  “You two, what do you think you are doing?”

  “We were hungry and wanted something to eat,” Shari had a silly little grin on her face as she has half climbed into the food cupboard.

  “The food stock is running a little low. Let’s go buy some stuff for dinner and the next few days’ worth of meals.”

  “Okay, let’s go then! Can I cook tonight?” Joelle put on the sweetest smile as she asked hoping to have attempt two in the kitchen.

  “Sorry, but after last time I am more inclined to do it myself for now, I will start teaching you soon though,” It was just the other night that she smoked out the kitchen, I think it is best for her to wait and reflect on where she went wrong before trying again.

  They were both pouting a bit as we left to go to the supermarket. We were really lucky that there was one so close by, it saves us a lot of trouble in travelling.

  Dinner was spaghetti bolognese, due to it being cheap, quick to make and one of the girls’ favourites. We also bought more ingredients for various dinners, lunches and other snacks as well.

  After cleaning up the girls were playing some board game in the living room as I headed back to End Online just before the sun began to rise in its skies. The entirety of the day was once again completely gruelling for me, even worse I had to witness to praises from the centurion being showered all over Prince Charming. Unsurprisingly the two girls in the group seemed to be a little fond of him, but most of the other players sent looks of scorn his way.

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

  Two weeks of dodging the centurion’s life goal of ending mine, my stats had raised considerably, particularly my agility. Not to mention being around the centurion was apparently also a fantastic way to train up my aggravation skill, it had really risen exponentially.

  Aggravation (SLvl 9, 87%) -Passive

  People you interact with will naturally be more hostile to

  you and monsters will also be more inclined to attack you.

  SLvl 9:

  - 18% less intimacy with NPC's.

  - 17% chance every 30sec nearby monsters will get the 'Agro'

  status towards you for 2min.

  - This ability is Soul Bound, cannot be unequipped.

  Everyone who I had begun with had finished their training a week ago, but I was forced to continue as more players signed up and began doing the training. This place was surprisingly popular, and so was I, the guy that the centurion hates.

  After the latest day of training the centurion told me to follow him, a little confused I ended up in a small audience chamber where he put a hand on my shoulder and sat me down at a the only table in the room, congratulating me for all the hard work I had put in. It all seemed a bit surreal to me at the time considering the complete change of attitude he had with me.

  “Congratulations, trainee, today you graduate a stronger person that when you came here,” his voice was low and soft, I wonder if he’s broken

  “I’m not quite sure how express my thanks, you have done so much for me,” its true, after everything I had to endure my stats had rose considerably and I had developed a personal fighting style using two short swords.

  “Well, I didn’t particularly like to you start with, just looking at you made me want to throw your corpse into a prison cell to rot,” he was completely serious and we both knew it, “But, you showed you mettle and proved me wrong, the training I gave you is more than any normal trainee would do. Its
rewards are reflected in the skills and techniques”

  “There was no way I could possibly not stay until the end, and now I’m truly glad I did.”

  “Good, because there is another matter I would like to trouble you with,” Not even a chance to accept or not he just continued anyway, “As you can see my faced was scarred from an attack in the past. It was done by the great white wolf, believed to be a spawn of Fenrir himself. Thanks to my duties here as a defender of this city I am no longer able to leave and seek my vengeance. Thus I would like you to do it on my behalf and bring me back the its hide.”

  Quest: Slay the great white wolf

  Centurion Markus has requested you avenge the scar on his face by slaying the beast that caused it, the great white wolf.

  The creature is said to live in a mountain cave east of the city.

  Failure or refusal will cause Centurion Markus to consider you even weaker than a maggot and will never train you again.

  Grade: Orange

  “Very well, I will slay this wolf for you and bring back its body.” This should be a great way to test out my new strength at the very least, not that I didn’t want to refuse it so he never speaks to me again.

  “GOOD! You may keep your training weapons and your new skills with you to complete this task!” I think this guy is just naturally loud. Anyway, I now not only gained some proper weapons but at the same time I received a notification I had gained a new skill. Dismissing it and opening my character status what I could not hide my shock. I didn’t receive the standard military arts skill. What was in the place it should be, was a skill a step above it.

  Advanced Military Arts (SLvl 1, 0%) -Active

  You have completed the training course at Iceridge Military Academy showing your determination in the face of death itself, learning a higher proficiency of short swords.

  SLvl 1:

  - Fighting Prowess + 2

  - Short sword proficiency.

  - Short sword damage bonus 1.1 X base damage.