Endless Fantasy Online

by Devin Auspland

  The old man raised an eyebrow. Luke didn’t respond but his expression made the old man feel as if he understood.

  “I am here to guide you and answer any questions you may have before you fully transition. Once you are in my world, you can not return here. Are you ready to begin?”

  Luke took his finger out of his mouth, checked to ensure the bleeding had stopped, and nodded. The room then melted away and was replaced by an outdoor arena, much like the gladiator arenas of ancient Rome. Sitting on the ground was a dagger, a small sword, a bow, a handful of arrows, a shield and a variety of other basic medieval style weapons.

  “Arm yourself quickly,” stated the old man as the door on the side of the arena slowly creaked open to reveal a wolf.

  “What am I supposed to do?”, Luke asked frantically. “I thought I made it obvious with, ‘arm yourself quickly’.”

  Luke dove for the pile of weapons as he noticed the oversized grin on the old man’s face. The wolf let out an ear shattering howl.

  Wolf Howl. Weakened debuff added.

  A floating semi-transparent message box appeared in Luke’s vision as he struggled to cover his ears. Luke attempted to click the message’s “OK” button, but his hand went through the floating message box.

  “You can either focus your vision on the button to confirm it or you can mentally ‘click it.’ Imagine hitting the button with your mind.”

  Luke focused on the button and imagined pressing it. As soon as he could focus his thought on hitting it, the button clicked in and the message box disappeared.

  “You may want to grab that weapon now. The wolf looks like he’s starving.”

  Luke looked up to see the wolf slowly advancing toward him while bearing his teeth. He’s still far away, I should grab something with the appropriate range to take advantage of the distance. He grabbed the small bow on the ground and a pair of arrows. His gaze went back to the wolf while he slotted an arrow into the bow. He pulled the string back and released the arrow when he thought he had the best shot at hitting his target.

  The snarling wolf appeared ready to dodge or pounce, foam dripping from sharp fangs, and eyes locked on the arrow as Luke released. The arrow traveled about five feet before harmlessly gliding to the ground like a paper airplane. The wolf gazing briefly at it before returning its focus to Luke.

  Luke heard the old man laughing as he gritted his teeth and readied another arrow. This time he pulled the string as hard as he could and waited for the approaching wolf to get closer. Again, he released the arrow and, to the surprise of everyone, the arrow struck its desired target in its side. The wolf let out a low whimper when the arrow made contact, and Luke smiled.

  New skill acquired: Short Bow, Beginner 0. 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.

  Congratulations, you have earned your first skill. Skills, spells, and abilities can be used to aid you in your travels. There are both combat and non-combat skills. Skills will level up as you use them from level 0 to 9. Once a skill reaches level 9 and levels up, it will increase in rank. Currently there are five ranks: Beginner, Intermediate, Advanced, Master and Grand Master.

  Note: This is a one time system message.

  The new pop-up messages distracted Luke long enough for the wolf to close the distance between them and sink its teeth into his leg.

  “Ahh!” he screamed as he was pulled to the ground. Panicking, he grabbed the nearest object he could find and jammed it into the skull of the wolf.

  Critical Hit!

  Attacking weak spots on enemies will result in a Critical Hit. Critical Hits do increased damage.

  Small Forest Wolf x1 defeated. 50 exp gained.

  “This hurts! I mean really hurts!” Luke was screaming and clutching his bleeding leg.

  “Of course it hurts, you were bitten by a wolf. I thought we went over the pain thing?” The old man approached and lifted his walking stick. The stick glowed a subtle white and another pop-up box appeared in Luke’s vision.

  Old Man cast Cure Light Wounds on you, 100 HP restored.

  “I thought the pain would be dulled or something. I haven’t been bitten by a wolf before, but I imagine this is what it would feel like,” Luke spat out as he rubbed his leg.

  Looking up, he noticed three small semi-transparent bars in the upper left of his vision. The bars were red, blue, and green. He also noticed a small square box under them with an icon of a feeble looking man and a number one. When he focused his vision on the box, a small description of the icon came up.

  Weakened, 1 stack. You have been weakened and will take 10% additional damage until the status debuff expires. Expires in 6… 5…”

  This debuff could stack? What would happen if a whole wolf pack attacked me and they were all howling? Luke worried to himself as he stood and faced the old man.

  “Not the worst I’ve seen but certainly nowhere near the best. At least you chose a ranged weapon when the wolf was still far away. Shows that you aren’t totally useless.”

  New title gained: Not totally useless. This title gives you +1 agility.

  Congratulations, you have earned your first title. While you can gain as many titles as you wish, you can only have one title equipped at a time and you will only receive benefits from your equipped titled. Note: This is a one time system message.

  Luke pushed up his glasses and cleared away all the system messages. “Is there a way for me to check my character? What is agility good for?”

  “You simply need to think of your character and your sheet will appear. Since this is your first time looking at it, I will provide some additional details. If you want to see additional information in the future, just focus on a particular section of your sheet and it will reappear.” The old man waved his hand indicating Luke should give it a try.

  As Luke thought of himself and his character, a large pair of transparent windows appeared. The left showed an outline of a human with small boxes on most of the various body parts, with labels for where various pieces of equipment could be placed, a list of his attributes, and his current status. The right box showed a list of his skills.

  Name: Not totally useless Luke.

  Class: Beginner (+3 attribute points per level & +1 skill point per level)

  Primary Profession: None

  Level 1: Exp :50 Exp to next level: 950 (calculated at 1,000 x current level)

  Hit Points: 50/50 (50 base + 10 per point in Constitution)

  Mana: 50/50 (50 base + 10 per point in Intelligence)

  Mana Regen: 1/sec (.25 per point in Wisdom)

  Stamina: 35/60 (50 + 10 per point in Agility)( Stamina regenerates 5% of max per second while out of combat and 1% of max per second while in combat)

  Attributes Base (Modifier)

  Strength: 1

  Modifies damage done by melee weapons, strength based skills, your carrying capacity, and the ability to use heavy armor effectively.

  Agility: 1 (+1)

  Modifies max stamina, damage done by ranged weapons, agility based skills, stealth, travel speed, and the ability to use medium armor effectively.

  Intelligence: 1

  Modifies max mana, damage done by spells, and spell learning speed.

  Wisdom: 1

  Modifies mana regeneration and skill learning speed.

  Constitution: 1

  Modifies max hit points and resistances.

  Social: 1

  Modifies social abilities and rate of reputation gain.

  Luck: 1

  Modifies your luck and chance of finding rare or hidden items.

  Skills, Spells and Abilities

  Short Bow (Beginner 0): 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.

  According to the left screen, he was only equipped with a basic shirt and basic pants, offering him no armor value. Luke closed all the windows and faced the old man.

  The old man waved his staff around and the arena melted away, being replaced by the old man’s study. “Did you enjoy using a bow? Is that how you want to proceed in this world?”

  Luke thought hard. On one hand, he rarely played an archer in games but on the other hand, if it meant he could avoid getting bit by wolves, he was in. Luke nodded and a bow with a quiver appeared on the desk. Luke reached out and grabbed the bow. A pop-up of information appeared.

  Basic Short Bow (Common). Adds 2-3 blunt damage when used as a melee weapon.

  Basic Quiver of Arrows (Common), quantity 25. Adds 2-5 piercing damage when shot from a bow.

  “Hmm… I think I will throw you a bone. To be honest, I think you need it,” the old man gestured with his free hand.

  Quest alert! New born baby: Learn the basics of using a bow. Hit a target 10 times. Reward: Learning should be its own reward, but here is some experience. Exp: 150. Accept / Decline.

  Congratulations, you have earned your first quest. Quests are offers to perform a specific task or set of tasks for a reward. Rewards can be monetary or otherwise.

  Note: This is a one time system message.

  “Thank you. So, what’s next?” Luke looked eagerly at the old man as he accepted the quest he offered him.

  “Next you enter my world. Welcome to Endless Fantasy Online.”

  Luke’s vision went dark for a moment until large letters spelling out “Endless Fantasy Online“ came into view. A few moments later his vision blurred, and he was in the middle of a city square. Disoriented he stumbled a bit, knocking over some stacked barrels of hay.

  “Hey! Watch where you’re walking, kid.” A man who, based on his clothing and pitchfork, appeared to be a farmer picked up the hay and threw it in the back of a wagon. Looking around Luke saw a massive medieval city, castle and all. He could feel the cold breeze on his exposed arms, smell a nearby bakery’s bread being baked, and hear the flies buzzing around the farmer’s wagon.

  Pushing up his glasses, he made a firm declaration. This game is amazing! This really is the future and I can’t wait to explore this world!

  CHAPTER TWO

  Baby Steps

  The Vortex Capsule was powering down as the capsule door opened and light flooded inside. Looking out of the capsule Luke saw Rob and Judy looking expectantly at him.

  “It was amazing! It was so lifelike. Maybe sometimes too lifelike…” Luke rubbed his leg where the virtual wolf had bitten him. There was no mark, scar, or wound, but his mind could have sworn there was supposed to be one.

  Judy pulled a tablet out of the capsule and began reviewing data. “Your medical output looks great. No lingering effects and…”

  “And how was the game? I take pride in my programming. Was the wolf real enough or should I add more foam in their mouths?” Rob quickly interrupted Judy.

  “The wolf was plenty real, trust me. I can see why you kept this game under wraps. A breakthrough like this would disrupt the gaming industry. It would probably disrupt all entertainment industries.” Luke was speaking fast, stumbling over himself in excitement.

  Rob smiled from ear to ear and nodded his thanks.

  “Honestly, I just want to know how soon I can go back in?”

  Rob’s tablet, much like the one Judy stored Luke’s vitals on, came out of sleep mode and started beeping. There were warnings and messages filling the tablet’s surface. “Hmm… I’m sorry, there’s something I have to tend to. If he clears his scans, Judy, let him back in if he wants, but I want a full write up of what happens to him.”

  “Can’t you just monitor me? I mean, you knew about the wolf.” It confused Luke. Why did he have to write a report about what he experienced when it appeared they were watching everything?

  “We can see what's going on, but that's different from experiencing it firsthand. We can’t feel what you feel, smell what you smell or taste what you taste. We aren’t gods of the world. Think of us as silent observers. With players actively connected, we can’t modify the world or we would run the risk of modifying your brain waves. That's not something the top brass would even let me think about doing so the system is on full lock when even a single player is logged in. It's a safety...” The beeping coming from Rob’s tablet increased in volume and frequency. He glanced at it briefly before abruptly leaving the room.

  Judy and Luke shrugged and Judy began performing the necessary scans of Luke. Once all her scans came back showing no negative effects, Luke visited a bathroom and then quickly reentered his pod.

  He felt the same medical devices attach to him and the monitors turned on. Sleep quickly took him as he read the system message and slightly cringed at his name.

  Welcome Not totally useless Luke.

  Preparations complete.

  Log-in commencing in 3… 2… 1…

  In a few moments Luke was standing back in the medieval city square where he had logged out just a few minutes ago. The farmer's cart was gone and there seemed to be a lot of foot traffic.

  Ok. I have a bow, arrows, and a quest to learn how to use them. Looks like I have a plan. I should look for a barracks or some monsters to fight.

  Luke walked around for a bit until he found a man who appeared to be a city guard. He was wearing heavy plate armor, holding a spear, and his chest plate had a phoenix crest on it. Luke recognized the crest from all the flags around the city.

  “Excuse me. Do you know where I can find a barracks?” Luke asked politely.

  The man turned around and inspected Luke thoroughly.

  “A barracks? What do you want with the barracks?” The man’s voice was rough and aged.

  “I’m looking to get some training with my bow. I’m new around here. Aren’t you supposed to guide me or something?”

  The guard burst out laughing. “Guide you? Why should I waste my time on you?”

  Luke was down right puzzled. Isn’t this a game? he thought. Non-player characters are supposed to guide the real players. That’s always how it’s been.

  Luke waited for the guard to stop laughing before he responded. “I’m a…” He paused for a minute to remember what the old man called him. “I’m a traveler.”

  “I don’t care what you are. I’m on duty and you're bothering me.” The guard's response was curt.

  Luke pushed up his glasses and lowered his ever-reddening face.

  “Leave him alone. He’s clearly new you blockhead.” Luke raised his head to find a man, not much older than himself, wearing mismatching leather armor. He was taller than Luke and sported a buzz cut. “The name’s Thomas.” He extended his hand toward Luke for a handshake and Luke detected a hint of a southern accent.

  The two exchanged pleasantries, and the guard went on his way, happy to have the new traveler off his hands.

  “Aren’t guards and NPCs supposed to help us? This is still a game isn’t it?” Luke asked.

  “As you probably know, this game is different from anything you’ve played before. The NPCs have real personalities, history, feelings, thoughts, dreams, and aspirations. They feel as real as you or I and respond the same way,” Thomas explained.

  “How is that possible? I know games have come a long way, but that seems a little too far-fetched to be real?”

  “I asked Rob once, and he said because they are real. He said the Alpha test of this program involved scanning the minds and personalities of thousands of people and imprinting them on the NPCs. It was a way to both test their hardware and improve on the realism of the Beta.”

  Luke pondered the ramifications and possibilities of that but his head began to hurt.

  “I think I can feel a headache coming on. Would have been nice if they left that guy out of the programming.” Thomas laughed and Luke continued. “Do you mind showing me to the barracks?”

  Thomas nodded
and began walking down the street. He was kind enough to point out some important places in the city such as the inn, general goods store, the bank, and a couple specialty stores before they reached their destination.

  “Here we are, the barracks.” Thomas pointed to a tall stone building nearby.

  The barracks was located toward the city’s primary gate and was impressively more crowded than the town square. A hundred or more people were traveling in and out of the gate at any given moment. Some looked like adventurers, while others seemed to be farmers and workers.

  New friend request: Thomas, the bunny killer would like to be your friend. Accept / Decline.

  “The bunny killer?” Luke snickered.

  “Not totally useless?” Thomas snickered back.

  The two of them laughed before Luke accepted the friend request and he and Tom parted ways. Luke continued into the barracks looking for someone who could help him or someone in charge. It didn’t take long for him to find a group of guards and someone barking orders at them.

  “You maggots! I want you all running double duty. You three on the wall, and you two relieve the men at the gate and the rest of you train. You look like a bunch of worthless, inbred maggots!” The leader was wearing a more intricate set of armor and had a long rapier tucked into his belt.

  “YES CAPTAIN HOLTZ!” The men shouted in unison as they ran to their assignments.