End Online: Volume 4 by D. Wolfin Page B

you wish to sell goods,
please wait until then.”
    ‘Tch, that’s still
four days away. I suppose I do have a high enough strength stat that I could
carry more items.’
    I ignore the NPCs reaction
to my intimidating aura and the extra ten points of infamy. My mood is too good
after hearing from my two precious little sisters to be brought down by that.
    Following his directions,
we walk down the hard packed dirt road and quickly arrive at a two story
building with a sign hanging over the door indicating this is the inn. Given
how quickly we got here, I decide that walking from one end of this small town
to the other will only take about ten minutes.
    “This place…” I frown upon
looking at the inn.
    The ‘Joy Inn’ sign is
hanging diagonally by a single chain. The building has multiple broken windows
and a lot of the timber posts supporting the walls and roof have begun to rot.
The paint has faded and the atmosphere exuded by the building is the complete
opposite of ‘Joy’.
    There is also the low
moaning sound coming from the building that should only be the wind, but send a
cold shiver up my spine nonetheless.
    “I-I saw it! There was
d-definitely a ghost in that window over there!” Verde suddenly shouts.
    “Well, it’s important to
try new things at least once, right?” I cheerily try to persuade the others.
    Fen, at the very least,
appears to be on my side.
    “Actually, I have been
running rather short on gold lately,” Mason turns away from me. “It will be
better if I save my money and, as much as I don’t want to, sleep outside
tonight.”
    “This town is f-full of
men that keep staring at me,” says Verde, biting her bottom lip. “I can’t
possibly sleep in a place full of people like this. But I promise, it has
absolutely nothing to do with this inn…” Her voice trails off as she hurries
off in the direction Mason went.
    “My lady! I will protect
you! Allow me to be your shield.” Before I even have the chance to respond or
register what is happening, the prince goes charging after Verde.
    “…” Matrix simply says
nothing, running his hardest to catch up with everyone else.
    ‘Unbelievable! What
kind of team are you!?’  I feel a
twitch of irritation rise and cause me to release a small amount of dragon’s
bloodlust.
    The sudden change in
atmosphere causes the few NPC’s in the surrounding to quickly flee, leaving
behind only two players with confused looks on their faces.
    “Well Fen, looks like it
is just you and me.”
    The wolf girl nods her
head slightly and pulls herself slightly closer to me. I walk into the inn with
determination, telling myself that the others are missing out. Looking over my
shoulder in the hopes of being able to give a smug glance at the rest of the
party, the only players in my line of sight are strangers. They look surprised
as I walk into the inn, but I pay them no mind.
    ***************************************************
    “Lost,” Mason says
timidly, “How was your night in the inn?”
    “It was great!” I respond
sarcastically.
    Despite saying how good it
was, the red rings around my eyes speak otherwise. I did not get a single wink
of sleep and the entire night is a memory I wish I didn’t have. It also made me
realize how fully lifelike this game can be.
    The only positive side is
that after three hours of being in that haunted place, I did manage to receive
a new skill.
    Haunting(Slvl 1, 0%) - Active
    You can deceive the target and cause them to perceive the sound
of your voice to be originating from directly behind them.
Only works on a target within 50m and with a direct line of sight.
    Slvl 1:
      Speak from directly behind the target for up to 0.5sec.
  10% chance of paralysing the target for 2sec.
  Cannot be reused for 60sec after use.
    At the first skill level,
I can only manage to get out one syllable in that half second, but the duration
should increase as I raise my skill level. I vowed to use this skill on the
rest of