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by Vladislav Kamenskiy




  Have you ever found yourself in a wrong place, not in that one you expected to be? You go on the wrong floor and cannot find your office on the first working day; you get off on the wrong station and find yourself in the completely unfamiliar neighborhood. What would you feel then? Would you be embarrassed or anxious? And what if there also is a large, bearded man, who threatens to kill you with an ax?

  “Guests are not welcome here.” The bearded man was slowly coming closer to Alexander. He was pulling along the big double-edged ax touching the stone flooring of the public house.

  “I’m just a technician.” Told Alexander with broken scared voice.

  “You bet I’ll come and get you,” said the bearded man coming closer and closer.

  “I want to contact technical support.” This phrase have always helped Alexander but didn’t work this time.

  “Face me in a fair fight,” the bearded man grabbed the ax with both hands. “Do or die.”

  “Please, stop,” said Alexander distractedly, and he only saw that the man smiled and brought up an ax. He was so scared that he couldn’t even move. In a moment, he dealt a fatal blow and the world went out.”

  Chapter 1

  Alexander is 25, he is of average height, has light brown hair, a bit of belly is easy to see even through the clothes. Grey eyes make his dull image even more boring. As you see, his appearance is just normal. He was educated as a electrician and then started working at the factory. After a year of hard and low-paid job, Alex understood that such a life is not for him and decided to look for better place. In a couple of months he got a response to his CV and after an interview he was hired by a big internet company in the server department. Then after a month course and one training week he became a well-paid worker, his salary was three times more than on the previous job. Alex moved out of parents’ place into a rental flat. He goes to the sport pub or club to watch football with friends every weekends. He spends every summer at the seaside. He doesn’t have a girlfriend but sometimes he has relationships without any obligations. He just has a stable and normal life.

  “I received the assignment on block 112,” Alexander looked at the young trainee Ivan. “Grab a bag with tools and lets go.” Firstly, he did not want to take a trainee, but then he remembered how he himself was looking for a job a while ago and decided not to play hooky and to teach and explain the essence of the work.

  “I am ready,” redheaded and energetic Ivan said cheerfully.

  “Needed clock is fifteen minutes’ walk from us, it’s located in the last sector, so I’ll give you a short tour of the office premises,” Alexander looked at the trainee appraisingly, then nodded favorably and went to fix the failure.

  “What about your schedule?” Ivan caught up with Alexander and tried to ask more about the peculiarities of the future work.

  “Two working days, then two days-off. Two workers are always on duty,” Alexander answered quickly.

  “So we are workmates now?” Ivan asked cheerfully.

  “Yes, we are partners for the next two weeks, then I have a vacation,” Alexander answered.

  “Great! How are you going to spend it?” The trainee asked with interest. “Will you be at seaside or stay here with your friends?”

  “I’m fed up with the seas,” Alexander admitted unwillingly. “I think mountains are calling me.”

  “Oh, it’s extreme and unusual. But I am a homebody,” Ivan admitted. “I like to sit at the computer and play various online games.”

  “I also play on the console sometimes,” Alexander replied automatically. He kept thinking that he should choose a place for the upcoming vacation quickly.”

  “You do not understand, I play RPG,” Ivan said. “You choose your character and fight with monsters. The more monsters you kill, the stronger your character will become, then will have new abilities, and you can get a new weapon by doing different tasks. Over time the character becomes strong enough and can fight not only with computer monsters, but also with the other players’ characters.”

  “And why do you like I it?” Alexander wasn’t interested and he asked just to make a conversation.

  “You are exploring a new world,” Ivan began to explain excitingly. “Complete a lot of interesting tasks, find new friends or fight with enemies. I am a 57th level magician. What is more, I play on the server maintained by our company!”

  “Then we need to fix the malfunction as soon as possible, perhaps the fate of the whole computer world depends on it,” Alex joked. “And this is Block 114.”

  “Come on,” Ivan said with a little offense. “Why is it called 114?”

  Alexander didn’t listen to the trainee. Who ever listens to them? He was all thinking about his vacation. Then he opened the panel board and started fixing the cable. He saw that panel lights were on, so the block is not off-the-line and even the number is not the same… Then the light flash appeared.

  “Welcome you, traveler. I see you are a newcomer here, that’s why I will give you this dagger and some useful advice.” An old man in grey hooded mantle said and gave him a small roll of paper.

  “Where am I? Who are you?” Alex asked confusedly and automatically took the roll.

  “If you walk along the road, you will find a public house, but I advise you to go to the forest first and kill some hares with a dagger to upgrade your level.” The old man ignored Alex’s question.

  “I’m not going to kill any hares,” Alex answered angrily. He didn’t understand anything what the man said. “Can I make a call in your public house?”

  “Public house is the beginning of the journey”, the man answered.

  Alex realized that the man would tell him nothing useful and went along the road. He remembered how he woke up in the morning, had a cup of coffee, arrived at work, met a newcomer, they went to fix a malfunction and touched the energized block. Well, maybe I am away on vacation and I have some memory lapse because of electric shock, so I cannot remember how I have got there. Passing the path along a small forest, he came out to the one-storey building with a large sign: Public House. Alex opened the door under the sign, entered the building and somebody killed him in a few minutes.

  Chapter 2

  “Welcome you, traveler. I hasten to inform you that you had used your last health points,” the old man said calmly.

  “I’d like to get out of the game,” Alex demanded and looked around. He was again at the foot of a high mountain where the road to the forest began. The old man stood at the same place near the road giving his speech.

  “If you walk along the road, you will find a public house, but I advise you to go to the forest first and kill some hares with a dagger to upgrade your level.” Alex knew this phrase already.

  “I’d better go and die again to get out of this stupid game,” Alex said angrily.

  “Undignified death is not the best choice. And if you manage to complete all missions, you will get a great award.” The old man said.

  What if there are no memory lapses? The electric shock was so hard that they couldn’t bring me to life, so my consciousness was transferred to this game. And he imagined himself on the hospital bed, wrapped with wires and tubes. Or he may be one of the analyzers of next generation games.

  “Well, okay, give me a dagger and I’ll try to complete some missions,” Alex demanded.

  “You can get a dagger only once. Now you can find it at the place of your death.” Alex wasn’t happy to hear such an answer.

  “But how can I complete the first task then!?” Alex shouted confusedly.

  “Hurry up, traveler. Time is running out.” The old man said and disappeared.

  «Fuck you! Fuck all of you!” Alex yelled furiously.

  He had been yelling for some minutes and then calmed down.
He definitely didn’t want to die, although some minutes ago he thought this was the best choice. But how could he get a weapon?

  Alex came closer to the Public House and hesitantly stopped in front of the door. He didn’t manage to come up with a good idea.

  “Think quickly,” Alex shouted angrily to himself. “Hurry up!”

  I will enter the room, pick up my knife and run out from there. After this I will kill some hares as the old man advised. Then I will come back here and fight the bearded man. Thinking so Alex ran into the public house.

  The public house was full of people again. Alex saw his dead body nearly. He was shocked and just stupidly stared at his own corpse. He was also surprised to note that his beer belly disappeared and his arms became muscular.

  “Guests are not welcome here.” He heard familiar phrase.

  This voice brought Alex to consciousness and, having found a dagger, he grabbed it quickly. He looked around briefly and realized that all visitors ignored him. Only the bearded man was coming closer dangerously.

  It looks like he always reacts the same to my actions. I can take advantage of this.

  “You bet I’ll come and ...” Alex didn’t give him a chance to continue the dialogue. He jumped to the bearded man and stabbed him into the stomach.

  “Your level has been upgraded from first to third,” said a gender-neutral voice in Alex’s head. “Basic characteristics are upgraded (strength, agility, survivability) to the second level. The third level opens the choice of character: Warrior, Magician, Alchemist.”

  “What does warrior mean?” Alex asked embarrassedly.

  “You have made your choice. Now you are a Warrior,” voice considered Alex's question as an answer and continued. “Infighting or outfighting?”

  “Infighting,” now Alex thought and answered, having known that he already has an infighting weapon.

  “The knowledge has been sent, the characteristics of the character have been changed in accordance with your choice,” the voice notified.

  Alex suddenly realized that he had become stronger and faster. He also remembered his numerous sword trainings. He definitely couldn’t say that now he knew all the tricks, but he could easily use basic stabs and defense posture.

  “Not bad,” Alex was satisfied with his new figure. He clenched his fist. “So, what’s next?” Nobody paid attention to his question, although the public house was crowded. Alex listened to the conversation between two elder men, who were sitting near the door.

  “The robbers attacked,” one of them complained. “They have stolen all goods.”

  “We need to find somebody, who will deal with them,” another man said. “We will pay him a lot of money.”

  “The robbers attacked...”

  Looks like computer characters’ dialogues are not very diversified. Alex somehow remembered his gatherings with friends in pub. Andrew was always complaining about his wife and Mike was praising his favorite football team. “I don’t have to think about it now,” Alex mumbled and attentively examined the bearded men’s body. He found a small bag with gold coins on his belt, took his ax and went to the bar counter.

  “Would you like to sell, buy or hire an assistant?” Bald, pot-bellied barman smiled to Alex. “I may buy your ax.”

  “How much will you pay for it?” Alex handed him his trophy.

  “Twenty five gold coins, here you go,” barman gave him money, then he skillfully picked up an ax and hang it up on the wall behind him. “Would you like to choose a new weapon?” The wall behind him was completely hung up with various infighting weapons.

  “I'm an infighting warrior,” Alex said thoughtfully, looking at the huge selection of death-doing pieces of hardware. There were both ordinary swords, axes, and also more exotic pikes with noses of various shapes and lengths. “I’d like to buy that sword,” Alex pointed to the glowing in a blue light blade.

  “The sword is bewitched,” the barman began to talk about the advantages of weapon. “It increases the power characteristic by a couple of points, it costs 300 gold coins.”

  “I don’t have that much,” said Alex disappointedly, counting the coins. Alex had only 45 coins. He glanced at the wall behind the barman and thought that the ax, which he had recently sold was not so bad and he should buy it back.

  “This one, please,” he pointed at the ax.

  “Fifty coins,” the barman claimed arrogantly.

  “But you paid me 25 coins for it just a few minutes ago!” Alex resented.

  “Prices go up,” barman said coolly.

  «Do you have something cheaper?” Alex asked gloomily.

  “Three items,” barman pointed at unpresentable javelin, rusty basket hilted sword and short chippie sword. “10 gold coins for each one.”

  “Well, I’ll buy a sword,” deceived Alex took the purchased weapon. “What were you talking about hiring an assistant?” Alex remembered the phrase of the sly tradesman.

  “Warriors of different professions and classes are on the right side.” Barman waved with a right hand. “You can hire no more than two assistants at the same time.”

  “And I can choose a task and earn money on the left side,” Alex guessed.

  “You’re absolutely right!” Barman nodded.

  Alex carefully looked around the right side. There were both men and women sitting at the tables and striking with the variety of their clothes and items. Some of them were dressed in heavy armor and had big two-handed swords or huge axes. Others worn chain mail or even leather jackets and had light one-handed swords or bows. There were also some guys dressed in colorful trench coats and held staffs in their hands. He also saw people in really strange clothes covered with lots of bottles of different shape and size.

  “You can hire a warrior, a magician or an alchemist,” the barman said.

  “Will you give me some more advice?” Alex asked thoughtfully, but he didn’t wait for an answer.

  “Of course!” The barman said as if he had just remembered something important. “Do not hire two assistants of the same class.”

  Alex briefly looked around the right side and walked up to the knight sitting near him.

  “How much does it cost to hire you?” Alex asked timidly.

  “I’m a Level Five melee warrior, my name is Torvard. My price is 40 coins.” He answered in a gruff bass voice.

  “Too expensive,” Alex mumbled unhappily.

  An old man in a blue trench coat and with a black staff was sitting at the next table. Alex asked him the same question.

  “I’m Enin, a Level Eight battle Magician. My price is 60 gold coins.” Alex shook his head, meaning “no” and thought that it turned out to be more difficult than he had expected.

  While walking along the right side of the public house Alex understood something. There are three professions: Magician, Warrior and Alchemist. Warriors can be infighting and outfighting, magicians can be healers or battle magicians. He didn’t find out anything about types of Alchemists but it wasn’t the main question at that moment. He didn’t have enough money to hire at least one assistant. Suddenly Alex saw a young pretty girl sitting near the wall, she had light brown hair and eyes of the same color. The girl was slim and fit, but not only this attracted him. She wore light leather jacket and held only a wooden bow.

  “I’m an outfighting warrior Trix, Level Three. My price is 10 gold coins.” Alex nodded happily because of the relevant price. He counted coins quickly as if there were lots of other tenants, and gave them to the girl.

  “I’m ready to follow you,” she said in ringing voice.

  “Great!” Alex understood that while choosing an assistant he should pay attention to those who are young and simply armed. Now he knew how to look for an assistant. Another young person attracted his attention. She had blonde hair, blue eyes and womanly figure with well-marked breast. She wore red trench coat and held a small staff.

  “I’m Rina, a battle Magician, Level Three. My price is 10 gold coins.” Her voice was deeper a
nd a little veiled.

  “Take it, please.” Alex handed coins to her. “Follow me, girls. Let’s carry out missions.” Alex headed for the exit, where two tradesmen were still sitting and complaining one to another about robbers.

  “I’m ready to help you,” Alex looked at tradesmen who stopped speaking.

  “You have to kill the leader of the gang and bring us the bill of debt he took from us,” one of the tradesmen said quickly. “Bring us them and you will get 100 gold coins. Here is a map.” Another tradesman held out a small roll.

  “We'll do it,” Alex said cheerfully, taking a roll of paper. “Girls, follow me!” Alex said with a commanding tone and left the public house.

  Leaving the dull room Alex rolled out the map and hemmed. The map showed the public house in the center and four roads divaricating in different compass points. The dotted line stretched from the public house along the eastern path and ended with a small red cross.

  “Well, do you worry?” - Alex was very worried, but didn’t want the girls to see it. Even if they are not real.

  “I don't understand what you mean,” Trix looked at Alex confusedly.

  “We will be bold warriors,” Rina replied irrelevantly.

  “I sometimes forget that you are unreal.” Alex said disappointedly. “Let’s go, I’ll explain you everything on the way,” and he went to the indicated location slowly.

  “We’re just like you.” Trix caught up with him and went on his right.

  “We also carry out tasks and get a reward for it.” Rina went on the left side.

  “Yes, we will carry out the task together and then divide the reward equally,” Alex agreed. “But this does not mean that you are the same as me. You are in a much worse situation.”

 

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