End Online: Volume 1 (8 page)

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.”

“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.

I couldn’t believe it.
This was worlds better than what people had posted on the internet. The
fighting prowess plus two was possibly the greatest benefactor giving a larger
than normal stamina bar.

The physical prowess skill
was said to be the only skill that provided you with fighting prowess, giving
you
fifty stamina
while at level one enabling you
to use the sacred arts with any weapon you were proficient with.

I headed out towards the
east gate out of Iceridge the next morning, setting up a simple bed in my
locker and sleeping the three hours it took for night to pass. I may not have
any money for potions and the like but I was just excited to have my first
quest. There was a journal you could open through the main menu that had all
your current and past quests recorded along with the progress, although it
wrote itself like tale of how you completed it.

As fascinating as it was
surely enough at the top of page one, there was “Vengeance of the Centurion”
along with the conversation between me and him at accepting the quest and an
incomplete status below it.

To the east it was very
similar to the city’s north. The only difference was that out here the trees
were less dense and on the horizon I could see some considerable sized hills
with high mountain peaks behind them. There were also a lot more wolves out here
and fewer players, especially considering that the current time in real life is
after dinner this will be the busiest time of the day on the server.

Two wolves caught sniff of
my scent and all of a sudden came recklessly charging at me. Striking them both
a heavy blow while dashing through their charge, I was a little surprised at
how fast I was
,
I even took off forty percent of their
health in a single attack.

After dealing with the
centurion for the two weeks these wolves just seemed too slow and predictable.
I made short work of most of the wolves on my travels to the mountains
where the great white wolf was supposed to dwell in the deepest part of a cave.

Gaining three levels
getting to the mountain range and then another three just spent wandering around
looking for this cave I reached level seven quite easily, my advanced military
arts had grown to skill level five and aggravation had raised another level as
well. My max health has gained sixty seven points and stamina is at a hundred
and thirteen, the advanced military arts however had to have the greatest
effect on me getting stronger.

I found the cave a short walk
up the base of a mountain, dimly lit by random glowing ores in the
walls. It was easy to disclose that it was the correct one considering the
large abundance of grey wolves inside. Unfortunately for them however my
standard attack will now take off more than half their health so two strikes is
all it takes to kill one.

I also learned a sacred
art call Triple Thrust that used
fifteen stamina,
stabbing twice quickly with one weapon and followed by a more powerful thrust
from the other. This killed wolves in one
strike,
however my stamina didn’t regenerate anywhere near fast enough to consider
using it often.

With the snow ending just
inside the cave, there was practically only one path, occasionally it had a
fork in the tunnel but one would usually end abruptly in a dead end. I managed
to make use of my aggravation skill by standing close enough until one or two
received the “aggro” status and broke off from the pack to attack me, but
occasionally more would come. At one point I had six with enough intent to kill
me they rivalled the centurion. Most of my stamina and half of my health later
I was stuck trying to catch my breath but lucky enough to have survived.

Ten minutes of
recklessly charging into fights brought me to a massive open
cavern. Inside the stunning sight there was green grass all over the
field, apple trees decorating the scenery and created a canopy that blocked
most of the view of the ceiling. I could hear a waterfall reverberating
somewhere on the other end of the cavern, and from above multiple holes in
the ceiling provided a warm light that glowed down through the foliage,
lighting up the area like a spring morning. It was like entering an entirely
new world.

Suddenly a wolf howl
reverberated through the cavern strong enough that I felt the ground
vibrate. What followed was a wolf coming out of the trees, apart from the pure
white fur it had razor sharp claws, electric blue eyes and a snarl on its face
revealing its teeth and saliva. Let’s not forget that the most terrifying thing
about this wolf was its stature, standing one and a half times taller
than me.

I had eighty percent
health and around sixty percent stamina left as the great white wolf initiated
combat, as to whether my aggravation works on a boss monster is impossible
to tell at the moment but I was curious.

All distracting thoughts
left my mind with the speed the boss class wolf closed the distance and with
one swipe of its claws sent me flying across the cavern and into a tree. What
an incredible attack, not only was my health knocked below fifty percent but an
icon on my vision flashed showing that I was dazed and couldn’t move.

The wolf knew I was
incapable of movement and took its time in turning and approaching me. It was
only a few steps away from me when the effect disappeared, and before I
suffered another potentially fatal blow I jumped as hard as I could into the
branches of the tree above me. Moving across a few trees my agility really
showed its value, especially considering I nearly fell down a few times as
my hands were occupied holding onto the short swords and couldn’t hold onto any
branches, all I could do was balance.

Meanwhile underneath the
great white wolf was tracking my movements and following underneath me, I was
personally a little afraid I wasn’t high enough and it would simply jump up and
swat
me down. Managing to recover ten percent of my
health and the entirety of my stamina, I launched myself down at the wolf,
catching it unaware and sinking my two blades into the top of its head. Landing
on the ground and following by pulling one hand backwards into the position to
activating triple strike, aiming at the exposed stomach it revealed when it
reared up on its hind legs from my initial attack.

My mind had completely
entered the zone, I rolled out of the way after my skill finished just in case
and put some distance between us. It was considerably more wary of me now that
I’m a genuine threat to it, I did just instantly take off forty percent of its
health with two perfect critical strikes in vulnerable areas. I also had to be
wary, the wolf would strike unexpectedly in a combination of multiple ways, and
while managing to prevent most of the damage by evading sideways or backwards,
a clean hit would take off more than half my remaining health.