End Online: Volume 1
Page 10
“Haah.. There is no helping it.” Handing over more gold pieces, a bid farewell to the face of some noble or king that was pressed onto them.
At least I received all the equipment that I need to make use of the skill, it was useless equipped if I didn’t use it. I need to make as much progress as possible and start earning some proper money, apples generated a little bit of income however it was hardly a considerable amount and I don’t know for how long it would sustain me.
I also need to get more skills so the church is my next stop. Secretly I hope I run into the guide with a new player.
About a hundred thousand people from my city played End Online, and the number just kept on growing. Right now an astonishing one in ten people from the city of Taile play this game.
I climb the steps up to the church and approach its front doors. It occurs to me that I don’t even know how to purchase new skills. I simply know that it is done here.
The doors to the church refuse to budge as I attempt to heave them open and even crash myself into them, these doors must be a one way exit for the new and revived players.
Off to me left I spot what appears to be an outdoor confessional box, a small wooden box with an entrance on either side but only one of those was open. I enter inside and sit down in the cramped space, as the voice of an elderly gentleman addresses me.
“Welcome adventurer, to the place where you can define your destiny by yourself as you strive to become stronger. Under the light of the sun goddess Verde, speak your name.”
“My name is... Lost.”
There is a brief pause on the other end, but the old man replies before I get a chance to ponder it.
“I see... It appears to be a name full of much wisdom.”
Wisdom? What a perplexing word he has attached to my name.
“As a follower of the sun, a devotee of the Radiant Church. Allow me to hear what it is you wish for.”
He is really throwing out some pretty words, and minced them together quite well. Being lost in thought I take a moment before noticing the window that appeared in my view, a full list of all basic skill I can purchase with my levels.
The amount of skills to choose from was immense, scrolling down all the way to the bottom the must be at least a few hundred. Some more useful than others, like various weapon type proficiencies, passive stat boosters, and crafting skills. However there are apparently useless ones such as “‘Ghost Telemetry’ – The ability to converse with ghosts” which while being incredibly tempting to have for some fun, it is completely against my goals of making money.
I have learned even more that it is very possible to learn skills from NPC’s, they react in accordance to your words and have their own personalities compared to speaking predetermined lines. How I would obtain something like ‘Ghost Telemetry’ from them however was completely beyond me though.
My first goal is to be able to attack from a distance, the best way to do this would be either a bow or magic. If I choose a bow it would be quite difficult and expensive to buy arrows or even make them, you need both ‘Smithing’ and ‘Craftmanship’ to make arrows and using three skill slots just to effectively use a bow would be pointless.
Arrows also cannot be retrieved, which threw a blanket over my temptation.
Magic also is not my forte, in all the previous games I played I could not bring myself to be dependent on it. Not that I disliked it, I simply have difficulty battling with it.
My eyes spot a particular skill that I may be able to use for distance fighting. Pressing on it, a pop up appeared in front of the skills list.
You have bought 'Throw' for 1 Level!
You have empty skill slots so this skill will be automatically equipped.
Throw (SLvl 1, 0%) -Active
The ability to accurately throw weapons as an attack, unlike most projectiles thrown weapons can be retrieved and used again.
SLvl 1:
- Thrown weapon damage 0.7 X weapon damage
- A critical hit will do 3 X damage, requires high dexterity
- +5 Dexterity.
It should be a good skill for me, and a thrown weapon is supposed to do more damage than a bow. Browsing through the list what I need is skills related to speed and combat, which I currently specialize in.
Choosing from the list, I did go with two skills that should help my throw skill, ‘Smithing’, and ‘Mining’, but the rest were skills to make my speed build even stronger.
You have bought 'Smithing' for 1 Levels!
You have empty skill slots so this skill will be automatically equipped.
Smithing (SLvl 1, 0%) -Active
Through understanding metal you can use it to craft weapons and armour, with a higher proficiency you can create more complex weapons with different materials.
Requires a forge, hammer and anvil.
SLvl 1:
- Able to refine basic metals
- Able to craft weapons and armour out of basic metals
You have bought 'Mining' for 2 Levels!
You have empty skill slots so this skill will be automatically equipped.
Mining (SLvl 1, 0%) -Active
You always have had an affinity with the pick, by swinging it at a wall you feel joy whenever a new vein of ores or crystals is discovered.
Requires a pick.
SLvl 1:
- Capable of digging through the earth in search or ores and gems
- Has a 1.2X chance of finding ores and gems
- Mining speed 1.0X
You have bought 'Speed Up' for 3 Levels!
You have empty skill slots so this skill will be automatically equipped.
Speed Up (SLvl 1, 0%) -Passive
Your years as a child were spent running away from bullies, as a result your body is trained in speed and can move faster.
SLvl 1:
- Movement speed +5%
- Agility + 5
You have bought 'Hunter's Eyes' for 3 Levels!
You have empty skill slots so this skill will be automatically equipped.
Hunter's Eyes (SLvl 1, 0%) -Passive
In the wilderness only two kinds of beast survive, the strong, and the wary. You are of the wary kind, your eyes are capable of picking up the slightest movements and see better in the dark.
SLvl 1:
- Can see further the more proficient the skill
- Can use the sacred art 'Perceptual Sight'
'Perceptual Sight'
Through the power of your eyes you can view the world at slower pace to capture a beasts movements. Becomes stronger as you gain more experience with 'Hunter's Eyes'.
WARNING: This does not speed you up, your movements will become slower, exactly as everyone else.
- Last for 60 seconds
- Can be used twice a day
Despite spending fourteen of my levels I now had a full list of skills, I was currently level seventeen and my entire fortune consists of five gold and thirty silver coins.
Now with a full set of skills, next I need to regain my spent levels and make some money. Tomorrow I will have to do another raid for apples in the great white wolf’s den.
Leaving the confession box, I walk away from the church before logging off.
I didn’t notice it at the time but the other side of the confessional box opened while I was walking off. What appeared from the door was the anxious face of a short old man, the Guide.
Chapter 5 – Companion of Loyalty
Logging out of End Online and returning to my locker, I decide it is about time to redecorate the place. Right now it is the dreary all white, not a speck of colour in sight.
Opening the ‘Locker Design’ menu the entire console surprisingly came off the wall and moved around with me.
First selecting the ‘Walls’ button I create some lines along the ground for walls to grow out of, extending all the way to the ceiling. My Locker now has three rooms, each with a single door in between them. First there is a reasonable sized kitchen, enoug
h to fit everything in but not much bigger. A fridge, most of the cupboards and cooking appliances are on the bench top at the far end and in the middle is another bench that can either be used for preparing food, or as a dinner table.
Next is a large living room, same setup as before but the living room now was about thirty percent of my locker space. Due to it being so empty I place some bookshelves along one wall and even while being empty I could surely generate some books, just hopefully I won’t have to buy them. I also add in another two couches on the sides of the table and a television on a cabinet at the far end of the room.
Finally, well, I couldn’t think of anything for the final room, so at the moment it is basically sealed off space, leaving me sixty percent of my locker to model at a later date.
Next was to change the hospital like atmosphere, it is possible to personally shape each and every aspect of your locker but I’m not the creative type so I decide to go straight to the ‘Theme’ option.
Trialling a few different themes, each time I select one the typical virtual reality fog takes over my vision and slowly dissipates to reveal the new look. I am astonished every time by the amount of change that takes place just from selecting a theme. Some dropped out the walls and ceiling, replacing walls with short stone walls as all of a sudden I was in the middle of a lush garden. Obviously I couldn’t leave the confines of the locker and explore, but it was simply amazing. There was another one theme that changed my entire locker into a sky island.
Finally I try a theme called ‘China3′. The fog clears and any thoughts of choosing a different theme completely disappear.
A light brown polished wood floor, the doors replaced with intricate arches created with wooden patterns. The room emanates a warm yellow hue coming from rectangular box like paper lights lining the roof, even the furniture had changed to suit the theme, short legged two seater couches with seats stitched in the most luxurious leather.
The coffee machine on the now mahogany table is the only thing stayed the same.
The kitchen as well changed beyond description, the style of this place seemed to belong in some far eastern country, but the theme has such a strange name that I don’t recognize where.
I feel that a few quick final adjustments in the living room are needed, considering the floors have all turned into polished wood which is quite cold I manipulate the console still following me around and place a large rug underneath, the rug has simple yet soft yellow honeycomb design with a deep maroon lining throughout it.
I also install a window and some black out curtains onto the blank wall, selecting to look through at an image of the city of Taile. With the curtains open the sunset shines in through the window of what must be a high rise hotel in the central business district.
Placing the console on a wall in the living room, I sit down on the couch and operate the coffee machine to fill my cup. With no milk or sugar what came out was coffee that is quite bitter, but sitting in this silent room sipping this black coffee was incredibly peaceful on my mind.
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Logging off it is late afternoon, the sun striking the city skyline on the horizon.
I decide I will run by the forums on the wiki for End, the majority of users went there to discuss and read up on the latest news across the continent. I myself am no different of course.
There are a large bunch of threads about class skills and those telling others how to get certain ones, however all the replies to those threads revolved around them being fake, destroying any credibility.
The most surprising however was the section in the forum for advertising weapons, armour and certain high level crafting materials that you have set up for sale for real money and the location of them. Most of them are placed by the merchants themselves, considering a well known merchant is more like to have players directly asking them to fence their goods.
I was shocked to see a thread about the apples that go on sale from time to time in Iceridge. A lot of discussion was directing hatred at the fact that they are not available at all times, but more people spoke about how delicious they were, incomparable to anything else.
The biggest surprise came when I see Gladox has already reached level 160, it is incredible how this guy can level so fast. I also read past a few threads started by the other players racing to have the highest level and how they plan to bring Gladox down, most of them involving unimaginative and repeated actions of violence.
Filled with new determination to get stronger, I have a quick dinner and return online.
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Passing through my new locker feels somewhat uncomfortable at first, almost as if I am trespassing in somebody else’s home, but I should adjust to it with a little time.
The snowy city of Iceridge takes over my vision, I may not feel the temperature through my cloak but the sudden change in atmosphere sends a few shivers through my body.
My goals right now are to collect more apples and regain the levels I spent on my skills. Naturally I will have to get my skills stronger too, more so than just simply gaining levels.
A trip to the great white wolf’s den for apples proved to be as difficult as always, one drift of my scent and the wolf entered its ‘invincible’ mode that didn’t leave me a single opportunity to attack.
This time the wolf was prepared to prevent me reaching the trees, the result becoming a dance with the wolf’s razor sharp claws.
As caught in the moment as I am, I can’t help but notice the little notification in the corner of my vision stating that agility has increased by one point.
Either I was already incredibly close to increasing the stat or dodging the attacks of an enemy that can move faster than you is extremely good training, if it was the latter this could be some incredibly useful information. My higher my agility stat, the faster I will be.
With training through conventional means you can usually only train strength and agility to around fifty before you get to a point where they stop improving, dexterity is about thirty. After that they will slowly improve through fighting monsters but there isn’t any well known method of improving them faster, fortunately I discovered the weight training with the slow effect. Right now with the boosts from my skills, my agility is a massive one hundred and twenty three.
My speed is easily on par with the high level players, if not beyond them. My other stats thought are roughly average for a mid level player.
Occasionally, like right now the great white wolf will activate its extreme speed technique, launching an unavoidable attack. Well, that used to be the case, but I have figured a way to avoid the high speed attacks. I activate ‘Perceptual Sight’ causing the world around me to slow down, even the wolf and its attack.
There are two problems however, with my ‘Hunter’s Eyes’ skill at level 3 the effect was so minimal the attack was still a blur. Secondly with my enhanced vision I am slowed down proportionally. All I manage to do in using the skill is to get a slightly slower view of the incoming claws, like the moments before death if it wasn’t so exaggerated.
The wolf’s attack hits dead centre in my chest, I have only gained back a single level so being level 18 and suffering a critical strike from a boss class monster removes seventy percent of my health.
Fortunately for me the strike knocks sends my body about ten meters away, right underneath some trees. The wolf, being incredibly intelligent itself, understands the situation and attempts to move in order to prevent me from escaping but it is already too late. This time the attack didn’t daze me so I was up and inside the foliage before the wolf was even half way here.
In a vent of frustration, the wolf struck one of the nearby trees, sending powerful vibrations through it and causing most of the apples to fall down. It stood still and is looking at the fallen fruit, almost as if it is bewildered.
It then approached the tree I was in attempted to do the same trick on the tree to cause me
to fall out. It could have worked, it did make my footing unstable after all, but I was already safely in another tree by the time there was any danger.
Repeating this is was a bit of cat and mouse of the wolf striking trees and me moving to safer trees. I collected what apples I could whilst I was moving around but thanks to the wolf about a third of what I would normally collect was scattered all over the ground.
I will cut my losses this time, making a break for the exit with just under a hundred apples. Once I become stronger that wolf won’t know what happened, I almost give a mad laugh as I make my escape.
I don’t know about all over the continent but these apple trees regrow their fruit every three days in real life after it is picked. Judging by that time constriction I need to level up ‘Hunter’s Eyes’ in three days enough to at least avoid major damage from the wolf. Fortunately I am able to use ‘Perceptual Sight’ twice a day in game, meaning I get to use it six times per day in real lift, a total of eighteen times before my next encounter with the great white wolf, plenty of practice.
And so for the next three days of real life I hardly slept, grinding with wolves and not only reaching level twenty three but also ‘Hunter’s Eyes’ and ‘Speed Up’ grew exceptionally quick.
Name: Lost
Health: 284/307
Stamina: 161/161
Lvl: 23
Lvl UP: 87%
Str: 48 +6
Agi: 110 +16
Dex: 42 +14
Int: 9
Mnd: 29
Lck: 16
Fame/Infamy: 0
Alighnment: +0
God: -
Beleif: 0
Equipped Skills:
Aggravation (SLvl 24, 13%)
Advanced Military Arts (SLvl 22, 64%)