Everlast Online

Liz woke up, laying on her sofa bed to the smell of food.

Slightly disoriented, she thought over the events of the day. Multiple day cycles had passed in ELO, but only one had passed in the real world; yet she had achieved so much. She had generated 2 world announcements and started a mythic world quest, which she had no idea how to progress, and gained an extremely powerful class. 

"You're finally awake?" Liz heard Piper ask, "Just in time, dinner's ready."

Liz got up and headed to the dinner table where she would eat with her sister.

"ELO is amazing Pip." Liz said, shovelling food into her mouth, "When I get enough money, after we move outta this dump, I'll get you a console so we can play together, promise."

"As long as you're having fun." Piper said, she didn't care too much about Liz making money, sure she didn't want to die, but inside she loathed herself for what she cost her sister. Seeing Liz now able to have fun did nothing but brighten Piper's life.

"I'll fix this bullshit for you." Liz said, being scolded for her language by Piper. The pair talked and enjoyed themselves like when they were younger, Liz chose not to log back on until later so she could spend time with Piper, seeing this as more important than the game.

They talked about many things, school, Piper's friends, the game. Piper brought up that her friends had talked about it, having played it before school started, and although she had forgotten there was apparently some player making huge impacts already.

Liz and Piper laughed and talked until it was time to sleep, being Thursday Piper had school the next day.

When this happened, Liz took the time to enter ELO once more; taking advantage of how the Voyage Visor could substitute playing with sleeping as it refreshed the energy of the body, though they did recommend actual sleep every few days to refresh the mind, but even then you could do so in the game if you wanted. It was truly a marvellous technology.

When Liz's eyes opened again, she found herself in front of Mary's store, she first took the paper she received out of her inventory and inspected it.

[Letter of Introduction (E)]

[Letter that allows player: <Smokey> to meet the Mayor of Gahsten]

"Pretty simple, guess I know what I'm doing then." Liz said walking towards the biggest house in the town. She did wonder who Mary was that she could give this item, but decided it was simply game logic.

She was stopped by the guards, but when she showed them the letter she was let right in. 

Liz was led to a room with a set of fancy sofas and a clean, white table in the middle. Soon, the door of the room opened and a fat man in fancy clothes with a red face and a handlebar moustache walked in, followed by a maid and a man in armour.

Liz rose to her feet, assuming it would be rude to not do so, and gave the man a small bow.

"It is an honour to meet you, Lord Mayor." She added in the greeting at the last moment, but if the nobles of Galdrash were as self-absorbed as the upper class of Earth then it would surely help her in whatever she was sent here to do.

"Hmph, yes. You may take a seat. But one should take their hats and masks off inside." He said, collapsing onto his own sofa.

"Apologies Milord, but the hat and mask are part of my racial features and cannot be removed." Liz responded, taking the time to sit down opposite the mayor; eyeing the guard who was standing behind him while the maid served some refreshments.

"*Sigh* Very well. What is it you wished to see me about?" The mayor asked in a dismissive tone; as if he was above the whole ordeal. Liz used the identification that players received to see the man's name before replying.

[Baronette Rayone Bairling (25) (NPC)]

"Well, Lord Bairling. It is regarding something I discovered when exterminating the barview bandits, led by Nolan Grimm." As Liz said that she noticed a shocked expression spread across the guard's face for a fraction of a second, before it returned to its neutral state, "I have the letter and a letter of introduction from Mary the Apothecary."

Liz pulled out both, handing the one Mary wrote to the mayor first. The mayor looked over the letter, his eyes widening at parts and Liz could hear him occasionally mutter something before he put the piece of paper back on the table, he looked up at Liz.

"You are a necromancer?" The mayor put emphasis on 'you', implying he didn't believe this, Liz nodded and so the mayor continued, "Judging from your appearance will not be enough, I will need you to demonstrate some kind of ability."

"Do you wish for me to summon an undead, Lord Bairling?" Liz asked, trying to be as polite and respectful as possible to the arrogant man in front of her.

"Yes, I believe that will be enough." He responded, sitting back in his chair and giving a taunting look to Liz, he clearly didn't believe her.

"Very well." Liz said, raising her hand and activating [Summon: Skeleton Warrior], a black magic circle appeared on the floor and from it a 2 metre tall skeleton wielding a sword appeared. The guard's hand went to his sword and the maid trembled slightly. Rayone looked shocked as his gaze moved from the skeleton to Liz, back and forth until his face eventually straightened out and he tried to regain some of his dignity.

"Ahem... That will be all, thank you." Liz smirked internally and dismissed the skeleton before turning to the baronet.

In ELO baronet was the second lowest noble title, just above knighthoods. While they were permitted to own lands, the title was not hereditary and Liz knew this; hence why she had been acting so respectful. Baronet's tend to have inferiority complexes as they were seen as 'fake nobility', so by pretending she respected the mayor, the situation would be more favourable for her. Even calling him 'lord' was part of this, as technically, baronet's were not lord's; normally one would refer to the mayor as Sir Bairling. With her strength shown, Liz knew she had the upper hand.

"As you wish, your lordship." Liz said, sitting back slightly, "Now then, may we proceed with the recovered letter?"

The baronet nodded, picking up the letter Liz found within the bandit's base. Even before he read it Rayone recognised the seal, as a member of the upper class, even as a fake one, how could he not. But he did everything he could to not let it show.

Rayone read through the letter, his dread and shock growing as he did so; if what he was reading was true, something big was coming for the Kingdom of Vradora. (A/N: I haven't said since it wasn't relevant but Liz started in the Vradora kingdom)

Liz was simply waiting, she had not bothered to read the letter, but judging from how the baronette's face was changing it, despite his efforts to mask this, it couldn't be good.

"Edward. Go and bring the truth seeker." The mayor turned to his guard with a serious expression, causing the guard to take a step back.

"Are you sure mayor, that is an extremely valuable item. To waste a use in this situat-" The guard began to protest, but the mayor shut him up.

"Do as I say!" He yelled, "This is beyond important!"

With that the guard rushed out of the room and Liz noticed sweat forming on the mayor's brow, this turned into a bigger deal than she had expected.

The guard soon returned with a large greenish orb on a stand, Liz felt the colour was ominous so used her identification on it.

[Truth Seeker Orb (B)]

[Powerful artefact used to determine the truth. Users must place their hand on the orb and answer a question, if the user is dishonest they will receive a curse that marks their soul (Player will suffer 50% reduction to all stats). <4> uses remaining]

Holy shit! Liz thought seeing the consequence of the orb, How is this just a B ranked item!?

"This is a truth seeker orb." The baronet started, staring directly at Liz, "It will allow me to determine if you are lying and if you do it will offer a severe punishment. This is your only chance to admit you have lied and walk away, should you be certain you are being truthful I invite you to use the orb: Did you tamper with, or fake the contents of this letter?"

The baronet asked, holding up the letter in his hands, the one Liz found in the bandit's lair.

"I did not tamper with or fake the contents of that letter." Liz said, the baronet became increasingly more worried. He asked Liz to place her hand on the orb and Liz did so.

Again he asked: "Did you tamper with, or fake the contents of this letter?"

Liz answered the same as before, understanding the consequences of lying here.

"Where did you find this letter?" The baronet asked, with Liz's hand still touching the orb.

"I found the letter, hidden in a secret locked part of Nolan Grimm's desk." Liz said, the mayor went pale and fell down into his chair, mumbling about how bad this was. Liz removed her hand from the orb and looked at the mayor quizzically, even the stoic guard Edward was confused.

"Are you okay Lord Bairling?" Liz asked carefully. Being talked to seemed to fling the baronet out of his trance like state and he began frantically writing another letter, he slipped the paper from the bandit's base into the envelope and sealed it shut with black wax.

"Miss Smokey, I need you to take this letter to Marquess Barview." The mayor said urgently, forcing the letter onto the girl. Liz was wondering how he knew her name as she had not yet told him or Mary, but dismissed it as she took the letter, and another that was quickly drafted up as another letter of introduction. As she took the second item a quest appeared for her:

[You have been offered the Delivery Quest: <Letter to the Marquess>] [Letter to the Marquess (F↔???)] [Plot: You have received a request to deliver a letter to Marquess Barview, a mundane and easy task; yet the Baronette acts with such anxiety you suspect something greater is at play] [Goal: <Deliver item: [Important Letter] to the Marquess (0/1)>] [Reward: <+100 Gold>, <+50 Rep>, <???>] [Failure: <-100 Rep>, <???>] [Accept: Y/N] [«WARNING» Not accepting may majorly reduce relationship with: <Baronet Rayone Bairling>]

Liz read the plot of the quest and felt shocked, sure she knew the baronet was acting weird but it was not like he had done anything too abnormal, he was pale and rushed, but that was it, he could simply have been tired and needed to do work. Liz began to wonder if quests, and perhaps even identification could grow in the amount of knowledge they provided based on what the player knew, it seemed that way to her. 

This was the first time she had seen a quest with an undetermined rank so that made her feel uneasy as well, it suggests there were dangers present that were not talked about, especially when the upper boundary was hidden, still, Liz was enticed.

Liz accepted the quest and got up to leave, but not without bowing to the heavily sweating baronet. When she had left the premises she took the time to check the items she had received. One was simply a letter of introduction to the Marquess of Barview, the same as the one for Gahsten only at the A-rank instead of E; the next further implied something was abnormal about the quest:

[Important Letter (---)]

[A letter written to the Marquess of Barview. You are unaware of its contents, yet highly suspicious. Quest item, cannot be traded]

All it did was further the idea that the quest was weird, it was also another item that couldn't be traded but could be lost from her inventory; say if she died or a thief used a skill. Everything felt strange so Liz took the quest despite the low rewards.

It's not like I can do much about the other one anyway. Liz thought, looking over her world quest, The only clues I have about the journals is that they probably have something to do with the undead, just judging from the class I got and the location.

Liz let out a sigh and began to leave the city. She wanted to try out alchemy but decided her new quest was more important.

The moment she left the gates her [Puppet Hand] skill was activated and summoned, she figured since it was less threatening it could be shown in front of the guards without issue, and she was correct as neither of the men guarding the gate seemed to even care. Liz got onto her broom and began making her way down the path towards Barview, her hand looking for materials for alchemy as she commanded, floating around rapidly in order to gather everything she wanted from the grass.

Before she could leave the view of the city and summon her undead for protection, Liz felt that someone was following her; being used to the feeling as a woman living in the slums of City-Z. She subtly turned her head to see 2 men following behind her, one with a sword, the other with a morningstar.

The swordsman was a human, clearly of asian descent, with black hair and small facial features, he walked with grace indicating he was definitely a member of the upper class.

The larger man was not human, rather he seemed to be some kind of beastman. Liz couldn't tell exactly what type but knew some of the available beastman options in the character creation menu, still he looked nothing like them so Liz didn't know what he was.

Weird choice of weapon, Liz thought, trying to leave the vicinity of the city. She had seen how Edward the guard had reacted to a single undead and did not want the whole military force of Gahsten to come down on her when they saw all 30 of them nearby; even if they were moving away.

She sped up, as did her tail, until the city was no longer in view and then stopped; waiting for the men to catch up.

"OI!" The larger man with a morning star yelled aggressively. He swaggered over to her, like he owned the world and looked down at Liz as she sat on her broom. For a moment he just stared at her but then he frowned slightly. Liz began controlling her hand manually and had it come nearby, prepared to attack. When Liz used identification on the 2 she understood why the big one had frowned, he tried to identify her.

[Crash (13) (PC)]

[Brant (14) (PC)] (A/N: PC meaning player character, as opposed to NPC, meaning non-player character)

They were 5 levels below her and therefore couldn't see her information, as limited as that may be. The larger man took a step back - giving Liz more space - before puffing out his chest arrogantly and speaking.

"Ahem! I am Crash, a senior member of the legendary guild, Golden Radiance." He boasted, looking incredibly smug, the swordsman remained silent, "I'm sure you've heard of us."

"Yeah the guy with the gaudy sounding name was the leader of your party earlier." Liz said bluntly, "Didn't know people had formed guilds in this game yet though."

Apparently this was the wrong thing to say as, if Liz looked closely, she could see a vein bulging on the larger man's head, though she only really cared about how realistic the graphics of this game were, not that she had upset him. The man growled slightly with the swordsmen calming him down by placing his hand on his arm, clearly he was used to his partner's short temper.

"Anyway..." He said through gritted teeth, beyond angry that the girl in front of him was acting like she didn't know his guild and had made fun of the guild leader, though she really didn't, "We are currently looking for a player called smokey, and you look like you might know where to find him, considering you're wearing a witch set that he had gotten."

"Oh, the spooky witch set?" Liz asked, pointing to her clothes. Crash was rather sexist and refused to believe a woman was capable of showing up his guild, therefore he figured Smokey had just given or sold his reward to this small girl.

"Yes, can you point us in the direction of the man who you got it from." His smile was faltering slightly, the conversation was going on longer than it had to; Crash thinking the girl was mocking him.

"I got it as a reward." Liz said, she had figured, based on 'crash's' disposition, that they were not looking for her for good reasons, but felt if she lied it would only cause worse problems later on.

Better to nip this in the bud now. She decided.

"I'm smokey." Liz finally said, floating backwards slightly to distance herself from the pair.

Crash almost lost it. His fragile male ego refused to believe a woman could be better than him, not only had she gotten 2 world announcements, but he also couldn't identify her; meaning she had a powerful ability he didn't have. But before he could start yelling, Brant took over. 

With his partner trembling in rage he took a step forward towards Liz.

"Apologies miss but we will need some proof of that." Liz was becoming a little annoyed at how much she was being asked for proof.

I mean it's only happened 2 times, She thought, But it's weird it happened twice.

Liz let out a sigh and moved her mask from active to vanity, as she did so Brant's eyes opened in shock. Liz quickly put her mask back on properly and spoke:

"Is that enough?" Liz had an annoyed tone, not only were they preventing her from doing her quest but they were constantly trying to see her status, she felt this was annoying.

You already failed once, why keep trying. She grumbled internally, It feels invasive.

"I see." Brant finally spoke, not liking the disrespectful tone of Liz's voice. While not as volatile as Crash, he too was extremely prideful about not only his skill, but also his affiliation; yet this girl was being quite rude to them.

"Well, we are here to offer you a place in Golden Radiance as an Outer member of the guild." Brant spoke with a smile so fake even a blind man would notice, "Due to your achievements we are willing to allow you to skip the first guild rank of ‘Initiate member’."

"Why would I do that?" Liz asked, becoming increasingly agitated; living in the slums taught her to sense scams from miles off. Her tone was not appreciated by either of the pair. Crash looked as if he was about to explode with how red he had become. 

"What we are offering you is an extremely coveted position." Brant took a step forward, his sword being pulled slightly out of its sheathe to become even more threatening, "I suggest you take the time to consider our leader's generous offer. You wouldn't want to make us into enemies."

Liz glared at the pair, she knew exactly what was happening. This arrogant leader of theirs was going to force Liz into a position where he could control her, she wasn't going to let that happen."

"Fuck off." She said, looking directly at Brant, even he could no longer control himself and decided to do as their guild leader asked, should 'Smokey' not cooperate. Unfortunately, in his anger he did not notice what was approaching him. The swordsman was smacked right in the face with a bolt of mana and stumbled back as Liz took distance from the pair.

"YOU BITCH" Crash rushed at Liz as well, wanting to kill her so badly, unfortunately he was also met with a [Mana Bolt] stopping his charge as it slammed into his knee. 

[Mana Bolt] was not a very powerful skill, but it had points in which it excelled: Speed. It was incredibly fast and as a low tier spell it cost minimal mana to use. The pair finally realised what was happening when a floating, wooden hand came into view near Liz's head.

"Is that your race skill or something!" Crash laughed, looking at the floating hand and not knowing of any skill like that he figured it was racial in nature. Even after being repelled by an attack, he did not for a moment consider Liz to be a serious threat. Brant was much more cautious.

"It's one of them." Liz said bluntly, she wanted to get this over with. With the level and numbers difference it would not be a difficult fight, she was rather hoping it would push her to the next level and net her the next class skill. The only concern was summoning in time, her skill was not exactly the fastest. Luckily she had her bonus hand for that.

"Even with two race skills, Golden Radiance will ensure your time in this game is miserable." Brant said, fully pulling his sword from its casing and preparing to fight; what he didn't expect was that Liz didn't even consider them a threat at all.

"I doubt it." She said as 2 black circles appeared at the same time, Brant and Crash were used to fighting so wasted no time in trying to kill her. They were not gentlemanly enough to allow her to finish whatever she was doing, but were greatly shocked as 2 skeletons blocked their path.

They protected me without orders... Liz thought, seeing her summons improve, Wait a minute! I can only summon 1 at a time, so how are there 2?

Liz looked over to her hand as she began considering the possibilities.

Did it summon them? She thought, But the cost is exactly the same as if I had used the skill twice, the voodooist skill says it should cost extra. It also says my own capacity is at 2, logically it should have its own capacity. No, wait!

As her 2 enemies were pushed away thanks to their shock, Liz rushed to pull up her skill menu:

[Puppet Hand (1) (C): Use mana to summon a floating hand you can control and manipulate. It is an extension of your hand (1/1)]

'Extension of your hand'! She realised what had happened, It is literally an extension of my own hands! I should have realised it's not a summoning skill, it's a multicast support-type skill!

Liz almost salivated at the discovery, she did not understand how such a powerful ability was only C rank. Judging from how it designated a capacity, as it levelled she would be able to use multiple of these hands. Liz was extremely excited.

How the hell is a summoner so strong? How the hell is she a summoner already? Thoughts ran through Brant's mind as he was pushed back by a 2 metre tall skeleton that had appeared from nowhere, looking over he became even more baffled as Crash was in the same situation.

Not only is she a summoner, but she has 2 summons? Brant's mind was in shambles, a state that only worsened as he saw the distinct light of a skill on his foe's sword.

Brant was a beta tester so he knew the most notorious weakness of subordinate-type classes; they were incredibly weak with their initial skill. This was made worse because most of them were advanced type classes so gaining more levels and skills by that point was quite difficult, yet this level 19 player was not only a summoner, but she had more than one and they could use skills.

Brant could accept the hand as a racial skill, but these undead definitely weren't. He did not understand how she had gotten this strong!

Liz quickly stopped celebrating after seeing Brant dodge her skeleton's [Heavy Slash] skill, she really only used it to see what the extra cost for non-mana using abilities was:

It seems the cooldown doubles. She said, seeing when she could use the skill again.

Crash was dealing significant damage against his enemy and Liz wanted to end this quickly, so she decided to do what must be done: [Summon: Skeleton Warrior]

With that 2 more warriors appeared, and 2 more after that. Seeing her enemies faces was amazing, Liz laughed heartily as she watched both men die, though not before saying:

"I guess we're enemies now." Her grin was clear on her face, even through the mask, "Though this was likely inevitable."

With that, many things happened. Liz rose to level 20, [Puppet Hand] gained a level from all the casting it did; and a long standing grudge was now built as messages went from Brant and Crash to Mr. Golden Monarch.

And Liz was right really.

Conflict was, and is: Inevitable.