Continue Online (Book 1, Memories) (66 page)

Mister
Carver made things kind of difficult. Not bad, though not anything
like what I expected. That little winged guy was fast and way too
smart. It wasn’t like following a puppy dog in some quest, the
little guy lead me straight to each player or their trainer without
missing a beat.

That’s
how I figured out who to talk to later. Mister Carver was nice and
all, but he was a grump too. Being around him wasn’t any fun.

I
had too much homework to do, so I had to keep popping in and out of
the game. SweetPea, Melissa, was doing the same thing. We kept
missing each other when we logged on. Or I had been busy running
errands for some of the town’s people while she was cooking or
cleaning at one of the Inns.

Most
of the skills I picked up were kind of scattered. I got one for
[Thrown Object]
after playing makeshift basketball for an
hour. It didn’t even tie into weapons specifically, only
objects. Another skill had appeared called
[Talkative]
which
helped build reputation with the town folks. Finally, the one that
had the most potential, was
[Chemistry]
, a simple enough name
for mixing stuff together.

Then
Mister Carver ropes me in out of the blue. What was the point of
that? I wasn’t a super uber fighter or anything. Probably
because I hadn’t taken the game seriously, especially compared
to Shadow. At least Mister Carver helped me spend time with Melissa,
I wanted to cheer when he gave us that cave to spend the night in
together.

I
didn’t confess, not exactly, but Melissa didn’t run away
either. She talked, a lot, and explored. That was the first time we
really managed to be on the game at the same time. My skill,
[Mana
Sense]
, made her glow even more. I spent hours keeping it active
and watching her.

Then
we did this awesome maze. The place was sweet, colors everywhere, I
felt like I was in a Wonderland painting. Or a psychedelic playground
that was lit up by black lights. Dad, Awesome, didn’t know that
I had seen some of his old collection in the garage.

Then
we let Carver die. Dad says it happens sometimes. That NPCs pass on.
Only Mister Carver wasn’t an NPC. Yet we got a
[Legacy
Wish]
from
him, so he was part of the system somehow? I don’t think
players can give other players quests. I haven’t told dad about
this yet. I’m not sure how to break it to him. He gets kind of
excited about weird system features and turns school girl over Easter
eggs.

Melissa
didn’t like a lot of things. Dirt, untidy areas, poor hygiene,
people being too close, dogs, and more. Too much reading at once gave
her a headache. Her parents constantly made her log out to check on
things around the house. Public speaking made her tummy do flips.

She
liked Adam. Adam was a goof who didn’t make fun of her issues.
Plus his name was Awesome or was close. It was funny. Melissa would
giggle about things when no one was looking, and if anyone actually
caught her she blushed and tried to hide.

The
old man was a little different. He seemed so distracted, confused, a
lot like her grandmother did in the late afternoon. Melissa,
SweetPea, tried to be patient and hard working. She cleaned up around
the house in the real world; why not clean up a city where other
players existed?

Melissa
had thrown something at an older man who littered right in the middle
of town once. Immediately she hid behind a building corner and prayed
no one would notice. She had worked hard to clean up the city as she
traveled. This man was disrespectful.

It
helped. A little. The world gave her a trait called
[Inconspicuous]
and backed it up further with
[Hidden Threat]
. SweetPea didn’t
think she was very threatening at all. At least it made people less
likely to attack her, Awesome Jr., Adam, seemed like he wanted to go
on adventures, so she would go too, but being attacked by monsters so
real scared her.

Each
ink creature looked like something from a nightmare at first.
SweetPea couldn’t help but hide. Everyone else was so brave,
even Adam, he seemed fearless and kept searching for some way to
help. Melissa had gained a few minor spells but actually attacking
those things wasn’t in her nature. She could use the one
healing spell she learned.

Then
that big gross one appeared. Like a huge pile of squirming,
grossness. Then so many of the little ones and she had to start
kicking the tiniest ones. They were squishy and made her feel gross,
but she did it. If Adam could, if William Carver could, then she had
to at least try. Mister Carver reminded SweetPea of grandma. And he
tried so hard.

Alan
Walters, or as he was known in game, Shadow, had started off the week
strong. His training with Master was going well and the basic skills
he desired were slowly coming together. It took a lot of work to move
a skill past demonstration and into the realized stage. It was worth
the effort.

Chasing
down the cow had been a stupid quest, but Old Man Carver had been
right. When Alan killed the cow in rage and was chased off by the
owner, he somehow ended up at the front door of a retired assassin
for a Duke. It was impossible for him to know if Old Man Carver had
intended things to go that way or if it had been a happy accident.

Wednesday
evening he had earned the
[Silent Step]
trait, perfect for
sneaking through crowded areas. Thursday had garnered
[Erase
Presence]
which Alan, Shadow, planned to use in player versus
player. Friday he managed to actually sneak up on a stray wolf and
realized how Continue Online handled backstabbing. The trick, he had
found, was that attacking from the front allowed a chance to dodge.
From the back, they would be blindsided. That gave Alan all the time
he needed for connecting with a critical point.

Regardless,
Alan didn’t hold a grudge since everything worked out. Saturday
night he had agreed to Old Man Carver’s group quest. The chance
at loot and skills was amazing this early in the game. He assumed it
was an event quest. Especially once they had gotten the old NPC
talking. The trait they had gained that night by the fire was
incredible.
[Legacy Wish]
read like an overpowered ability.
Unique quest offerings, following in a hero’s footsteps, all of
it made Alan tingle in excitement.

Sunday,
Carver had died. No coming back. No plot twist. The sudden last
minute save by a giant dragon hadn’t been in time. No one
showed up to resurrect him. None of the players had skills high
enough to try. He was dead because they weren’t strong enough.
Afterward, the game felt a little too real. A little less friendly, a
little colder. Somehow that suited Alan perfectly. After all, he had
a legacy to uphold.

Afterward

Here we
are, book one is completed and out into the world. I hope everyone
enjoyed the ride on a different sort of LitRPG. What follows will be
a mishmash of thanks, release information, and heartfelt rambling.

Support for
this project came from many corners of the globe. Many fantastic
people checked into my website and promoted this story in their own
ways. My wife suffered through amazing amounts of irritation (with
me) to complete editing all the unintentional grammatical abuses.
Finally, in the years gone by, my father once read a terrible two
page story of mine and said 'I can actually see this' – and
sounded proud. Without that simple conversation the idea of writing
would have never lodged itself in my teenage brain. Every bit of
encouragement helps.

This series
is currently planned to be five novels long. Book two is titled
'Continue Online – Made' and will be released on Amazon early
2016. Book three is still in the works. If everything goes well this
series will be completely published by the end of 2016. We'll see
what challenges life puts in the way.

For those
who read my website and wonder what happened to the quotes tied to
each chapter – they were removed. This was done in part due to
worry over copyright issues and my poor understanding of the
exceptions for quoting other peoples work. They will be left on my
WordPress for those who want to see the original versions.

A few notes
about the story. William Carver, the room of trials, and this entire
book was never intended to be so long. It grew as characters were
added, small tidbits interwoven, and my imagination ran away
repeatedly.

When I
started writing in Feb 2015, I wanted to show life outside the game
system. To me, the VR and LitRPG only covers half a persons story. A
character does not exist just inside the game, nor should anyone ever
be so limited. The idea of a virtual reality game has to impact a
persons actions in reality. I hope to continue (hah) displaying that
concept throughout this series.

Thank you
for purchasing this book and reading along. If you've enjoyed the
journey so far please consider leaving a review on Amazon.com.

You may
follow further updates via
frustratedego.wordpress.com
or Twitter
@FrustratedEgo