Frontier Online

Learn to Use Part 25

Ronny nodded, not fully certain Ryan's plan would work. The Titan eased back in his chair and closed his eyes to wait. In the meantime, Ronny couldn't help but ruminate on how his night went.

A few minutes of silence pass between the pair before Ronny couldn't stand it anymore.

"So, you play Frontier Online, right? I mean, that's why I delivered one of Mon-Tech's capsules to your place." Ronny put his feet on the floor and leaned forward, intent on starting a conversation.

Ryan blinked. The giant was awake, thinking when the teen interrupted him.

"Yeah. Did I die once...maybe twice already?" Ryan wasn't sure what happened after John yanked him out of the game.

Did my avatar just fall limp or something?

"What town did you start in?" Ronny was full of questions tonight and every night. The teen just wanted to know.

"Grotto, in the Kingdom of-"

"Aard! I started there too!" Ronny went to celebrate knowing someone in the same town before he remembered what he saw earlier. Ryan was currently out of the game indefinitely.

"Seriously?"

The blond teen nodded vigorously.

"Then why are you out here instead of in the game?" Ryan found it unbelievable that someone would willingly log out on launch night.

Ronny scratched his cheek awkwardly, "Ah, well, I...well, I got lucky and found this tomb, right?" Ryan nodded for the teen to keep going.

"Well, I got screwed. On my way back to the tomb, someone from Shining Star followed me. Pretty soon, the guild's members were all over me, demanding the answer to the tomb entrance's puzzle." Ronny rubbed at his nose, looking down at the black rug on the floor.

Ryan tried to say something, but Ronny forged ahead.

"It's kind of ironic, you know? When I started the game, I was gifted a Talent called Rabbit's Foot. It was supposed to make me lucky," The teen wiped at his nose again, and Ryan noticed how emotional the teen was becoming.

Ryan wondered what a Talent was. Maybe I got Paragon instead of a Talent? Is Paragon the Talent? It's pretty busted, if it is.

"I found the tomb and managed to get in. The puzzle really wasn't that hard. Then that fucking guild spawn camped me back to level one! The town became a freaking cage!" Ronny held himself and started to rock in his seat.

Ryan leaned forward a bit, shoving down the pain as he watched the shaking teen.

"Er...I-I was born in one of the Intelligen Gene camps. Every day it was experimenting and tests. Gene therapies meant to enhance my vision, hand-eye coordination, and brain cell elasticity stunted my growth." The teen couldn't look up from the ground.

Ryan couldn't think of a single thing to say except, "I'm sorry." It was lame, and the Titan knew it.

Ronny continued like he hadn't heard, "So when they caged me in the town, hunting me down three times until I was level one again," the teen hung his head even further, "So I gave them the answer to the tomb's door."

The blond went on to describe how Shining Star never let up. The guild continued to hunt the teen now to ensure he never made it back to the tomb before Spectre claimed the Inheritance.

"I logged out to get away from the feeling...the feeling that I was in a cage." Ronny shrugged and finally looked up at the Titan again, "That's when I overheard the noise coming from your room, and here we are."