Note to self, don’t get on this guy's bad side. “Excuse me… Sir?” The man turned on his heel to face Luke. “I’m looking for some… bow training… Can you help?” Luke pushed his glasses up to calm his nerves.
The man opened his arms wide and addressed the new traveler. “Welcome to the City Barracks my boy!” Luke’s gaze turned to one of utter confusion. The man chuckled before continuing. “Don’t worry, I don’t bite. My name is Captain Holtz and I’m here to help.”
“I’m sorry… I saw you with your guards a minute ago and…”
“I have to give them a hard time or they won't shape up.” He inspected Luke up and down, much the same way the previous guard did. “If I were a betting man, I would say you're a new traveler?” Luke nodded. “I’ve dealt with a lot of you as of late and have taken a liking to your lot. Most of you travelers take on a lot of tasks that free up the guards to train and stop crime. Thanks to you travelers our crime rates are the lowest they have ever been.”
That would make sense. New players would want to go on lots of quests to gain experience and to loot, thought Luke as he introduced himself to the guard captain.
“Bow training you say?” Captain Holtz pointed to an archery range on the other side of the barracks. “You’re welcome to use the various targets there. If you manage to hit a bullseye, I’ll even grant you a reward.”
Quest alert! Hitting a bullseye: Captain Holtz wants you to hit a bullseye and prove you’re a marksman. Reward: Variable. Exp: 100. Accept / Decline
Luke thanked the captain and moved toward the range. When he got there, he watched the other archers practice for a while, trying to pick up on their techniques. He noticed a lot of them, to his surprise, kept both their eyes open and on their target. When Luke was fighting the wolf, he closed an eye thinking it would be the best way to aim.
After a few minutes, he found an open target and decided to test his skills. Pulling an arrow from his quiver he loaded it on his bow, pulled back, kept both eyes on his target, and released. His shot went wide by a foot or so, clanking on the stone wall behind the target, but he was still happy with the result. The target was much farther away than the wolf was and being so close on the first try made him smile.
He repeated the process and released another arrow.
Quest alert! New born baby: 1/10
Luke grinned and reached for another arrow. He continued this activity until he shot his last arrow, only stopping occasionally to allow his stamina to regenerate.
Quest alert! New born baby: 9/10
Skill up: Short Bow, Beginner 1.
“My skill leveled up already?” Luke muttered to himself.
“Of course your skill leveled up. You’ve been at this for a while.” Captain Holtz approached.
“Beginner one already.” He seemed pleased with Luke’s progress. “That means you have a while to go, boy. Why don’t you collect your arrows and I’ll give you some pointers?”
Luke ran and collected his arrows before returning to the captain and dropped them on the ground near his feet. He grabbed one and got ready to take aim.
“You have a lot of the basics down, but you need to raise your pulling arm up more so it’s level with your face. Then rest the bow string against your cheek to better anchor yourself. Keep your eyes on your target, breath in, and release when you let your breathe out.”
Luke did everything the Captain suggested and his arrow hit the inside edge of the bullseye.
Quest alert! New born baby: 10/10. Quest complete! Reward: 150 exp.
Quest alert! Hitting a bullseye: 1/1. Quest complete! Reward: Tattered leather Gloves (common). Adds +2 to physical resistance.
Captain Holtz screamed with excitement as he gave Luke a few hearty pats on the back. The captain hit him hard enough that he lost a few hit points and staggered forward. After recovering, they both laughed together.
SYSTEM ALERT!
SYSTEM ALERT!
ALL TRAVELERS PLEASE REPORT TO THE CASTLE.
I REPEAT, ALL TRAVELERS PLEASE REPORT TO THE CASTLE.
Luke tried clearing the message but every time he closed it, it just reappeared. While he was reviewing the system message, a messenger ran up to Captain Holtz and handed him a scroll sealed with the wax stamp of a phoenix. The captain broke the seal and a look of fear crossed his face.
“Luke. I need to get to the castle immediately.” The captain’s stern and less friendly voice had returned. Luke was getting worried.
“I just received an alert to go to the castle too. Do you mind showing me the way?”
The pair of men ran as quickly as they could down the city streets toward a towering castle. When they arrived, the captain told Luke to wait out front with the other travelers as he went past the line of guards toward the entrance.
Luke, confused about what to do, started listening to the surrounding conversations.
Someone said, "they killed the king?”
“I heard travelers did it.”
“I don’t think a traveler could get past the guards and kill the king, could they?”
Citizens started arriving and an ever-growing crowd was now forming. After a few minutes, Captain Holtz reappeared and addressed the crowd.
“Hello Citizens. I have some dire news to break to you and the travelers. I don’t have all the information yet, but it appears that King Henry passed away a few moments ago.”
The crowd broke out in shouting, fear, and panic. Captain Holtz gave a subtle nod to the guards, and in unison they began to clang their spears against their shields. The loud clanging cut through the noise of the crowd and they began to simmer down.
“I have more news to share with you.” He paused to collect himself. “The queen and princess are also missing.”
The statement shattered any semblance of order Captain Holtz regained. He repeated the process with the guards to capture the crowd's attention, taking much longer to silence them a second time.
“People! People! Please let me get through my announcements. I’m offering an open quest to anyone willing to accept it. Find and return the queen and princess and we will reward you han…”
Captain Holtz froze mid-sentence, and the world seemed to freeze around him, draining of all color. The travelers were the only ones who maintained their color and movement. A semi-transparent Rob appeared next to the captain and began to address them all.
“Everyone, I have some unfortunate news to share with you.” The travelers all looked puzzled, but Rob was able to grab their attention. “There seems to have been a sophisticated attack on our servers. It appears that a hacker group managed to turn off certain safety protocols and procedures using a very sophisticated virus.”
“What safety protocols and procedures?” questioned a random traveler that Luke didn’t recognize.
“Well… primarily the ones allowing you to… well… log out…”
The travelers looked around at each other, unsure of how to process the information. After a few moments of no one replying, Rob continued.
“Basically, they locked all of your consciousness into Endless Fantasy Online. In other words, we can’t log any of you out…”
Luke noticed multiple travelers looking at system screens that he couldn’t see. He opened his own system menu by thinking ‘settings’ and a new system box came up with a variety of options, including one labeled “Log Out”. He tried to mentally click it and was only awarded with a system message.
SYSTEM ERROR!!! Some functions are currently unavailable.
Maybe I thought the wrong thing or didn’t mentally click it hard enough, Luke thought as he mentally hit the button again.
SYSTEM ERROR!!! Some functions are currently unavailable.
Panic then descended upon the crowd of travelers. Everyone started screaming at once, and several tried charging Rob, but they couldn’t move their feet.
“People, please stay calm.”
“Stay calm?! You’ve locked us into a game! My wife is expect
ing me home tonight!” screamed one of the travelers that was attempting to charge the scientist.
“I understand, I understand. This isn’t ideal.”
“Ideal? Unlock my feet and I’ll show you what’s ideal!” shouted another traveler.
“I don’t have long to address you. Freezing the world and manipulating the code like this is extremely dangerous for all of you who are currently logged in. We have moved the game’s code to a localized server and cut it off from the outside, so whoever is behind this can’t do anything else. We have a staff of hundreds working on this and are doing everything…”
“I’m going to murder you and sue Vortex Industries for everything they have. I’m going to own you when this is done!” an angry woman wearing a robe and holding a staff shouted.
Another figure of a man, this one wearing what appeared to be an expensive suit, then materialized next to Rob.
“Hello everyone. I am the corporate attorney for Vortex Industries. I was hoping you would all handle this better, but I’m here to remind you that you all signed extensive legal documents before joining our beta program. In those documents are clauses that give up your rights to any legal action in the event of something like this happening. Vortex Industries will still pay you and we’ll take care of your health needs while we work out this issue.”
The travelers got louder and louder with shouting and cursing before the attorney spoke again.
“As Rob explained, it is dangerous for us to interact with you like this. For now, we will give you time to absorb this information and contact you again as soon as we deem it safe to do so.” With that, the attorney vanished and Rob began to fade. As he faded, the world began to return to color. Luke could see him mouth the words “I’m so sorry.”
As the world regained motion and color, Captain Holtz began speaking again, but Luke didn’t wait for Captain Holtz to finish his speech. Once the bomb was dropped on the travelers they just added to the chaos and he feared violence would break out. He needed to get out of there. The only issue was that he wasn’t sure where to go or what to do next. He wasn’t even sure how to feel about the whole situation. He may be on summer break, but he still had his mom to worry about. They would have to call and tell her about it right? They would have to tell her. Luke was lost in thought so he didn’t notice the older woman until he bumped into her and her papers spilled all over the ground.
“I’m sorry.”
The woman looked frustrated but started picking up the fallen papers and he immediately started to help. He reviewed the documents as he collected them and they all appeared to be various wanted posters and quest fliers.
Luke handed over his stack of papers. “What are these?”
“These are for the job board. Anyone can take them and complete them for rewards. Are you interested?”
Luke pondered. Well, for now I could use a good distraction. “Sure.”
The woman got up and walked with Luke to the main city gate where she began sticking the fliers up on a large wooden board.
It’s my college job board all over again. This is what got me into this mess. Reviewing the fliers Luke wasn’t sure how to proceed. There were quests for gathering materials outside of town, finding a lost cat, killing a desired amount of a desired monster, and more. “Am I allowed to take more than one?” he inquired.
“Of course you are. The more you want to help, the better. Please keep in mind that you need to complete the request in the desired time limit or you will face the penalty listed,” the woman hanging fliers responded in her best customer service voice.
Luke took another look at the requests and finally settled on two. He reached out and pulled them from the board.
Quest alert! Herbs, herbs, herbs!: Gather enough medicinal herbs to make a few healing potions for the local alchemist. The alchemist wants as many herbs as she can get her hands on. Because of her high demand, there is no time limit or penalty. Herbs 0/25. Reward: 5 gold and added reputation with the local alchemist. Exp 50. Quest accepted.
Quest alert! Controlling the fox population I: The city guards want help controlling the fox population. Eliminate 10 foxes within a week. Failing to complete this quest on time will result in a loss of reputation with the city guard. Reward: 5 gold and added reputation with the city guard. Exp 150. Quest accepted.
Coral blue flames gathered at the edges of the fliers after the system messages appeared. He flinched and dropped the papers but they burned away and vanished before touching the ground.
The woman covered her mouth in a failing attempt to hide her giggling. “The flame doesn’t hurt. It just stops anyone else from taking your quest. For common quests like those we post several a day, but the magical protection system comes in handy for unique quests.”
Luke nodded and made a mental note to be careful around this board. It appears that pulling a flier off the wall automatically accepts the quest and starts a fire in his hand. He thanked the women for her help and started toward the town gate.
When he arrived, he greeted the two guards with a wave and proceeded outside.
“Wait!” shouted one of the two guards. “I don’t recognize you. So I’ll give you the same warning that I give everyone. Be careful outside, and we lock the gates come nightfall. Once the gates are locked they won’t be opened again until first light.”
“Should I get some camping gear?”
“You don’t want to be out there at night. Someone as low level as you won't survive the night out there.” the guard cautioned.
Luke thanked the guards, checked his arrow count and headed out. The contrast in environment immediately surprised him. The dark stone town had such a lack of nature compared to outside the gates. The biggest difference he noticed was the change in smell. The city didn’t have a bad smell per se but the air outside was leaps and bounds better.
Looking around, there appeared to be primarily farmland surrounding the city walls and a handful of barns. There was a packed dirt path heading out of the gate that opened up to be wide enough to fit several wagons side by side. The land was flat and Luke could see a large forest in the distance.
“I should probably head to the forest if I’m looking for herbs” he said aloud as his feet took him in that direction. As he walked, he noticed the road had paths coming off it for each of the farms and several roads leading off in various directions. He also found it odd that none of the farms appeared to have houses. Did all the farmers go into the city to sleep at night?
The road got less and less compact as he got to the forest and became more of a mud path, so Luke walked on the grass next to the road. When he got 20 feet away from the forest, a wooden post with a sign was sticking out of the side of the road. The sign read "The Howling Forest.”
Luke pushed up his glasses and an involuntary shiver came over his body, a body now covered in goosebumps. Howling probably means wolves, was the only thing going through his mind. He looked up and saw that the sun was only reaching its mid-point and it hadn’t taken long to get here. He should have most of the afternoon to explore before having to head back.
An issue popped into Luke's mind: he has no idea what a medicinal herb looks like! He bent down and looked at the nearest cluster of leaves, and a system message popped up.
Identification failed. Herbalism skill not high enough.
He plucked the leaves anyway and pocketed them. He continued to pluck all the various plants he could find as he continued deeper into the forest. His progress into the forest was slow because he stopped for every plant he could find, but he continued this until a new system message appeared.
New skill acquired: Herbalism, Beginner 0. This skill allows you to identify various plant life. At higher levels, this skill will allow you to highlight various herbs in the wild for easier collection.
Quest alert! Herbs, herbs, herbs!: 8/25
Emptying his pockets on the floor he gave all the plants another deep look.
Identification successful. Basic herb
(common). Used in crafting weak healing potions.
Identification successful. Dandelion (common). A common yellow flower.
Identification failed on the other handful of plants, so he discarded them to make room for herbs in his small pockets. Looking for herbs went quicker now that Luke knew what he was looking for, so he continued deeper into the forest.
Luke’s stomach began to rumble, which surprised him. How am I hungry? I’m still in a game and this body is just 1’s and 0’s inside a computer… He resolved to head back to the city and get some food. Besides, the sun was setting and he wouldn’t have much more time to explore anyway. On the way out of the woods he grabbed as many basic herbs as he could find. In the end, he had over twenty and as an added bonus, his herbalism skill leveled up.
He continued to walk in the shadowed forest, watching the light come in between the leafy tops of trees and just taking everything in. There were worse places he could be stuck right now, he thought as he contemplated his current position in life. He was startled out of his thoughts by five bunnies running under his feet and out of the woods.
Target practice. Luke pulled an arrow from his quiver, grabbed his bow and took aim. Following the tips Captain Holtz gave him he anchored himself, took in a breath, and while letting his breath out, he released.
Forest Bunny x1 defeated. 10 exp gained.
Yes! A huge grin crossed Luke’s face as he stood up to collect his arrow. A sharp pain suddenly shot up his leg. He let out a loud grunt while grinding his teeth and looking down. There was a fox attached to his right ankle, and several more headed his way. He panicked and started bashing the fox with the end of his bow.
He gazed to his upper left and watched as his health was slowly being depleted. He was missing at least 10%. In the bottom left of his view he noticed a combat log that made him panic more.
Endless Fantasy Online Page 3
