Everlast Online

Liz sighed, feeling annoyed that the spotlight had once been shined down upon her. She found herself in a troubling situation so quickly, but realised there was nothing she could do.

She wished to use this game as a means to live comfortably, live a life worth living; to give her sister everything she deserved. And to do that she would need to not only create these waves, but learn to ride them to the next one. From one opportunity to the next, Liz needed every chance she was given to make sure Piper's life was good.

"Nothing I can do then." Liz said, standing up and dusting herself down, "Just have to deal with the chaos as it comes."

There was still treasure to be collected within, oh, and alchemy equipment to recover.

Before walking into the cave, Liz took a look at Nolan's drop item. As a boss it would surely be something good.

[Bandit Safe Key (C)]

[Unlock Nolan's hidden safe. Quest Item]

[Iron Fist Ring (D)]

[Ring worn by the Iron Fist, Nolan Grimm. Grants +5 STR, +20% Physical damage when using fist-type weapons]

"The first is... a quest item." Liz said looking over her rewards, "And the second is pretty useless to me, suppose the auction could use it."

Liz did notice that despite being a quest item, the key could be traded or stolen. She knew she'd have to be a bit more careful with this one

Liz then made her way to the bandit's cave to claim whatever was inside and find Mary's stolen alchemy equipment, while looking at the [Player Auction] tab in her system. Hoping to find a rough estimate of the value of Nolan's ring; she was quite happy with what she saw.

Much of it was junk, people trying to pawn off their starter weapons by adding fake descriptions, hoping the idiots who bought it wouldn't look at the item description. Not many fell for this, but some especially idiotic ones did. 

However, there were some items worth mentioning among those that were being sold:

====

[Player Auction]

• [Skull Earring (E)] [Current: 122 Gold] <BID> [Seller: RASH]
  • [Earring created through nefarious means. Grant +3 INT. +5% Damage for dark-element attacks]

• [Brigand Axe (F)] [Current: 112 Gold] <BID> [Seller: Merl1n]
  • [Axe once wielded by a famous Brigand. +15% Physical Damage. -100 Relationship with Criminal-type NPCs]

• [Slaughterer's Blade (E+) [Starting Price: 90 Gold] <BID> [Seller: Ladysman229]
  • [Cursed weapon harbouring the hate of the man it killed. +25% Physical Damage. +<Curse Of Fulfilment>]

====

These items were the 3 most bid upon within the game at the moment, and none of them were even D-rank, Nolan's ring was much better than these 3. Liz could tell why each item was being sold: The earring was clearly intended for a mage of the dark element, the axe likely came to someone who didn't use axes and the last item had a curse. The curse being the only reason it wasn't the 1st ranked item in the auction.

If Liz were to place her ring on the auction, it would surely grant her a lot of money. Not only did it increase strength but gave a 20% attack bonus, surely there was some rich kid on here who used one of the CQC weapon types, like the gauntlets or fist guards available to warrior classes, so she did not hesitate to place the ring on sale.

====

[Iron Fist Ring (D)] [Starting: 100 Gold] [Seller: Smokey]

[Ring worn by the Iron Fist, Nolan Grimm. Grants +5 STR, +20% Physical damage when using fist-type weapons]

====

"That seems good enough." Liz said, as she closed the system and went deeper into the bandit base, not realising the chaos she had unleashed on the auction.

First people went crazy over the name Smokey, next was the item itself. No one had ever auctioned a D-rank item, most players had yet to even see one, and now the current most infamous player was just selling it on the market; how powerful must he be to sell something like this.

Players all over the world began speculating about Smokey's class, many believed he must be either a healer or a mage to give away an item that so heavily boosts strength. Meanwhile, the item itself was rapidly growing in value, it had already reached 250 gold in just an hour. 

Many rich kids played ELO and they were not too shy to spend ridiculous amounts of money to get what they wanted, so all the rich players who used fists as their primary weapon were fighting over the ring, a 20% boost was unseen, besides the cursed item, but that had its drawbacks. In their eyes, this ring would boost them just enough to put them ahead of every other player.

In other places many player were looking at the item without the intention to buy it, rather they were just wondering who this Smokey person was.

"Haha. Interesting." One man, surrounded by the corpses of goblins, laughed looking at the auction. He had the distinct qualities of a person from the New 'Asian Republic' and wielded a sword that was certainly not part of the starter gear and a set of robes that indicated he was likely a beta tester. 

In another area, a pair of women, one a large muscular woman swinging a powerful axe around; the other much smaller, dressed in the robes of a mage and casting spells, both highly attractive. They fought with perfect coordination and destroyed all the enemies they faced.

"Did you get a message from Eldest Sister?" The larger woman asked, the other shook her head.

"No, it is this peculiar player." She responded, blasting a wolf's head with a fireball.

"What's so good about her?" The larger woman scoffed, the smaller girl chuckled at the response.

"I don't know yet Little Sister." She said, allowing her younger sister to kill yet another monster, "But I suppose we will be able to tell in time."

Similar reactions were occurring around Galdrash, people felt envy or admiration. Smokey had done nothing but prove their ability over and over, gaining 2 world announcements, though only the beta testers knew exactly how difficult this was, still it was enough to gain respect among all the players. But not all the responses were good:

"Bastard. Do you insist on showing me up?" One man, dressed in flashy golden armour, grumbled "But now you've shown your hand."

"Hey! Get some of the guild members nearby to head to Barview, make sure this Smokey player knows his place."

The person in question did not know about the admiration she was garnering, nor the trouble headed her way. Instead she was looking for a set of alchemy items. 

She had been unable to locate where the bandits kept all the items they had stolen and Nolan's secret safe that she was so excited to loot.

"AARGH!" She sighed aggressively, "Why are these bandits so good at hiding their loot!?"

She had been searching for a significant amount of time, and the thing was they weren't that good. Liz was simply walking in circles but not realising.

Nolan had been quite an adept leader, instructing his crew to make the cave as confusing as possible to traverse. Therefore any invaders would be put at an immediate advantage.

"DAMN IT!" Liz screamed, becoming frustrated and hitting the wall, resulting in a clump of dirt falling onto the ground.

30 minutes later she came into another tunnel, only to see that clump on the floor. She didn't even shout, she just stared at the clump, realising what had happened.

Fed up, Liz dropped to the ground.

"Spread out and look for anything of value." She commanded the skeletons, "Guide me if you find it."

With that she waited, summoning 10 more to increase the speed. Though this only half worked as the skeletons guided her to random things that she wasn't looking for. It was only after 10 minutes she found what she wanted.

A room with 3 wooden chests in them. As Liz went towards them she stopped, considering that Nolan was smart enough to make these winding tunnels, there may be traps.

"Go open the three chests." She commanded the skeletons with her, and as she expected all 3 chests were tricked.

As they were opened 3 different traps flew from them, dangers that would have inflicted fatal damage to Liz - of course she would survive, but then she would need to resummon them later, and this saved her the trouble. Now, they were disarmed and safe to loot.

The majority of the treasure was gold coins, gaining Liz another 3 thousand in total.

In each of the 3 were the items she was looking for: A cauldron, a mortar and a set of scales:

[Mary's Cauldron (---)]

[Mary's Mortar (---)]

[Mary's Scales (---)]

With that, Liz's primary objective was cleared. All that was left was to return them to Mary, though there were other rewards as well, one per chest:

[E-rank Skill Scroll: <Heavy Slash>]

[Greatly Empower one physical attack using a sword, advanced form of <Slash (F)>. Power scales with STR and skill level. 30 Second cooldown]

Slash is one of the first skills learned by players who choose the swordsmanship class skill. Liz thought, looking over one of the items she had gotten, It's stronger than most player's skills right now, but that won't last that long, only idiots would buy this skill. So, what should I do with it? It may be best to sell it...

"AH!" Liz exclaimed, remembering [Voodooist], "I can finally use the secondary effect."

If she learns the skill, all her skeletons would be able to use it as well. This would massively increase their strength, especially considering that they all wielded swords, even if they were in poor condition. So, Liz tore the scroll and learnt the skill before turning onto the next reward she had gotten:

[Jester's Mask (E)]

[Mask worn by one who fooled the King of Drosal. +3 AGI. +Hides wearers status from anyone 5 levels lower than them]

Liz had not come across a mask yet, but weirdly it was considered an accessory instead of a hat. Liz was thankful as it would take away most of the pressure that her actions up until now have caused, but wouldn't force her to replace the witch kit she was using, losing its set effect. So long as she kept up her level, others wouldn't be able to tell who she was; a greatly useful item that Liz quickly equipped as in her earring 1 slot.

Honestly she looked even more conspicuous now than before, if before she looked like a kid dressing up as a witch, now she looked like a weird kid dressing up as a witch. Like usual, from the [Dress-Up Doll] attribute, the mask became part of her face. Now her face had a permanent smile, though her button eyes still remained and Liz began to think this would always be the case. Around her face, stuffed fabric stuck out in 3 places with small bells attached to the end of them. Elizabeth thanked God they didn't ring when she walked. 

It looked a little bit silly, especially with her witch outfit, but decided that the effects were worth the look.

The item in the final and 3rd chest was something quite useful for her right now, considering her career path going forward:

[<Regeneration Potion> Recipe (C-)]

[Recipe for the <Regeneration Potion>, a failed attempt at the <Greater Regen Potion>. Effects: Heals 5% HP per second for 3 seconds]

This was an insanely powerful recipe at this point, more than that C-rank was the highest ranked item Liz had ever seen so far. Her D-rank equipment was good but this was something else. 

It heals by a percentage! She cheered internally, This will be useful even in the higher levels!

The normal potions healed a fixed amount, but this one healed by a percentage meaning it was something that could be used at even, it made her wonder what the [Greater Regen Potion] did for this to be a failure.

It made some sense that this was the best of the items though, it had been the most dangerous trap.

The first trap shot an arrow that was still currently lodged in one of Liz's undead. The second had a 'fake out' trap, when it was opened nothing happened. It was only when Liz commanded it to bring the treasure to her that the trap was shown: The lid of the chest slammed down and crushed the skeleton's hands; this skeleton is currently still regenerating his lost hands.

The final chest could have resulted in the death of many people, when opening the 3rd chest released a pink gas that quickly flooded the entire room. It had no effect on Liz or her summons since undead lack lungs, but it still lingered and spread through much of the cave's walls for a long time. Liz found out what it was when the skeletons brought her a broken vial.

[Poison Drake Venom (A)]

[Captured and contained Poison Drake breath. Effects: -10% HP and MP per second until cured]

HAd she not been an undead, Liz would have died in 10 seconds, lacking any antidotes at all.

"Maybe it's the luck stat from my title acting already." Liz mumbled placing all of her items in her inventory, before continuing her search for Nolan's safe. 

She used the same strategy she had used to find the chests until she was led to a room with a bed and a desk covered in letters. She had asked the skeletons to lead her to 'the important' room as she didn't expect the skeletons to be smart enough to find a hidden safe. She did determine this was Nolan's room though, seeing the wanted poster of him stuck to the wall.

Seem's pretty egotistical, but it is an achievement. Liz thought, looking at the poster, considering she was the one responsible for taking him down; she wanted to know how much she would make.

'750 Dead or Alive'

"Yessss!" Liz cheered, any money was good money for her. This encounter with Nolan had been nothing but good news, she had gained useful items and a serious amount of cash. Things were looking good, but now it was time to find Nolan's safe.

Liz took the key for granted, assuming it was a regular drop to gain from beating Nolan, but it really wasn't.

The only way for this item to drop was to initiate the secret goal of the quest, to find Nolan's noble backing, but this alone wasn't necessarily easy. Liz had once again only achieved it thanks to her undead.

The goal was unlocked in 2 parts: The first requirement to uncover this was to make the bandits cautious, this was done by flaunting her undead, making the bandits find more men to attack with.

The second part was to antagonise the bandits, but specifically about their fear. This would cause the bandits to blurt out how they had nothing to fear thanks to their noble backing, this quest goal was extremely difficult to even start really. Liz found it almost entirely due to her luck.

After rummaging around for a while Liz found the safe, it was hidden in the back of the desk. Liz noticed scratch marks along the floor and had the skeletons pull the desk out, when she didn't see anything in the wall of the cave she almost told them to put it back. Thankfully, she thought to look on the desk, and low and behold there was a small keyhole.

When Liz put the key in the hole and turned, a clicking sound was heard. It came from the desk but Liz wasn't sure where from so she had to open every draw to see what the key had done.

On her 3rd draw she found that the floor of it had popped up slightly. So, Liz pulled it open, rejoicing in the 1000 gold coins she found, likely as Nolan's secret escape fund should he need it. After the gold was gone, a single envelope remained inside.

[Fancy-looking Letter (---)]

[A letter sent to Nolan Grimm, bearing the seal of a noble. Likely to be used as blackmail should the need arise. Quest Item, cannot be traded]

"Looks like I can leave then." Liz said, taking the last item she needed from the bandit's hideout, "I haven't even taken my reward from the world announcement and I'm already so fortunate, haha!"

With that, Liz made her way out of the cave, all 30 of her undead guarding her. Seeing that the letter could not be traded, but could still be lost, so she needed to be cautious.

She made her way back to Gahsten, taking out and inspecting the only tangible item she had gotten from the world announcement: <Ancestral Blood>. It was one of the known ways of gaining a race skill, but it was completely random. After receiving the blood Liz inspected both it and the [Race Skill] section of her status:

 

It was nice to know that there were multiple ways to gain more skills like her best skill: [Voodooist]. So, without any hesitation Liz drank the blood, wondering where anything she drank even went in her body.

"This..." Liz didn't know how to feel about her skill, it was another subordinate, kind of, but she could tell it was much weaker than her other ones. Though she could still see its use, having it float behind someone and attack from a blind spot; but with its low HP it likely would only get 1 chance at this. Any possibility of it being useful was mostly lost though, as the hand cost more to summon than a single warrior and it couldn't even really attack anyone.

What did cheer her up was the (0/1) section, suggesting she could summon more as the skill levelled up. That would certainly be useful.

As she floated along her broom she practised using the hand and found that it could move exactly as she willed it to. It simply took her thinking it and the hand did as she wanted, then she began realising a possible use.

Could I use it for crafting? She thought, Liz had been so caught up in combat recently that she had forgotten that there was more than just fighting in ELO.

With this, I could increase the amount of tasks I can do while doing alchemy. Can it do other things? A thought came to mind as Liz wished to test how intelligent the hand was. So she stopped controlling it directly and ordered it to pick up exactly 7 blades of grass.

If she had asked this of the skeletons they would have just stared at her, the number made it too complicated, but the hand went away and did as she asked. Bringing back exactly 7 blades of grass.

I see. So, it's not a combat unit. Liz realised what it was and began formulating a plan for this little hand. 

"Go collect any herbs you see on our way to Gahsten." The moment the order left her lips, the hand went flying by. Picking up herb after herb, it soon ran out of room in its hand, so Liz gave it another command.

"Bring them to me, so I can put it in my inventory." She said, this time though the hand didn't immediately follow the order. Liz felt she may have made a mistake for a moment before the herbs disappeared from the hand and entered her inventory.

Holy shit! She thought, before quickly giving it an order.

"Collect herbs and put them in my inventory!" Liz was excited as she had heard from beta testers that the worst part of alchemy was digging in the dirt for herbs, now she no longer had to. 

Is this what it means by 'extension of your hand'. Liz thought.

Everytime a herb entered her inventory, Liz's mana dropped slightly but it could be regenerated easily, so long as she was out of combat, but still; there was a cost for having the hand to gather supplies for her, but compared to the overall utility of her skill it was extremely useful. She also noticed that the hand couldn't exceed a certain range, always staying close to her even when herbs are right in front of it.

I suppose it does have its weaknesses then. Liz sighed, realising that no skills could be omnipotent.

Soon, Gahsten came into view. Liz dismissed all of her undead, it was coming close to dinner time in the real world so Liz quickly took care of what she had to.

She went to the guard office and claimed Nolan's bounty, she was slightly worried she would be asked for proof, of which she had none, but apparently the system was enough of a guarantee for the guards as she was handed 750 gold.

Next she found herself in Mary's shop, handing over her items.

"Thank you lady necromancer, this means so much to me!" Mary said, bowing to Liz quite deeply.

"Wait here a moment, I'll grant you the rewards I promised." With that Mary went in the back and came out with 2 sets of items, "Here, this book holds all my knowledge of being an apothecary, I'm sure with it you could become a great alchemist. This here is a kit for doing alchemy; since you have cleared out the bandits I have decided to give you a C-rank kit, instead of a D-rank kit. Please accept these rewards."

"Yes, thank you." Liz said, gratefully taking both of the items.

[C-rank Skill Scroll: <Apothecary>]

[Grants knowledge of potion making techniques, advanced skill of <Brewing (D)>. +Knowledge of potion making. +Basic HP potion recipe. +Basic MP potion recipe. +15% success rate when making potions]

[Alchemy Kit (C)]

[Kit with the necessary items to brew potions; C-rank]

When Liz learned the skill she felt a flood of knowledge rush into her head, all relating to making potions. This would certainly be a well used skill, there was just one more thing.

"Actually, there was one other thing I found in the bandit's base." Liz said, pulling out the letter with a noble seal on it. Mary's eyes went wide when she saw it, clearly she knew what it was, "What is it?"

"This makes things much more complicated." Mary said, writing something down and handing it to Liz, "Take this and go see the mayor."

Liz took the paper and agreed, looking at the item closely. She nodded and left.

Unfortunately, the mayor will have to wait. Liz thought, choosing to log out, My cute little sister is much more important than this anyway.