Extension

by Vladislav Kamenskiy

  “You are walking down the road now as are we,” Trix disagreed. “So what's the difference between us?”

  “Well, at least I can worry,” Alex remembered what they were speaking about recently.

  “Does this feeling help you during the battle?” Rina asked.

  “More like the opposite,” Alex admitted honestly.

  “So what’s the advantage of it?” Trix asked interestedly.

  “Well, let's forget about anxiety,” Alex thought for a couple of seconds. “Well, for example, what do you usually do?”

  “I am a free assassin,” Trix said proudly. - And I fight for the person who pays more than the others.”

  “And I came from the world where everyone is free and has the right to choose the job,” Alex parried.

  “Can you always choose what to do?” Trix specified.

  “Not exactly,” Alex had an unpleasant feeling of the similarity of their situations. “I don’t always choose a job, but I always can spend the money I earn on whatever I want. And I spend my free time for pleasure.”

  “I like my job,” said Rina. “And I do not get tired of it.”

  “As I understand, you spend half of your time at work that you don’t like and another time you relax.” Trix said. “But then it’s stupid to say that your situation is better than ours. We do what we love all the time.”

  “But I have freedom of choice,” Alex recalled a phrase from a movie. “I can always stop doing what I don’t like.”

  “Why do you need freedom of choice if you don’t use it? Trix asked confusedly.

  “All your phrases and actions are similar,” Alex didn’t want to lose an argument to a computer character.

  “But if you like what you do, why should you change something?” Trix marveled. “And what are you doing here if you like your “real” life and it’s so diversified?”

  “I don’t know how I got here,” Alex answered gloomily, and he also thought that the past couple of years of his life were boring and monotonous. Rest at the seaside and short-lasting love stories added variety to his life, but, in general, each new day was not very different from the previous one.

  “Do you still want to complete the task?” Trix asked hopefully.

  “Even more than initially.” Alex thought that something interesting happened in his life finally. “By the way, why don’t you carry out tasks without me if you like it so much?”

  “Is it possible?” Trix stopped for a second because of an unexpected question.

  “I can think and act unconventionally,” Alex was satisfied with a girls’ total embarrassment. “Do you now understand why we are different?”

  “Can we do the same?” Trix asked.

  “I don’t know,” Alex shrugged his shoulders. “I suggest forgetting about this question now and dealing with those guys.” He pointed at three men standing far away.

  “Let’s call them out in a fair fight,” Trix offered.

  “We will start firing at them,” Rina shook her staff dangerously. “And when they come closer, Alex will kill them in close combat.”

  “I’m here not for a long time, but I’ve already understood something.” Alex said tricky. “They are computer characters, so they will act as they are programmed. Firstly, they will try to tell me something.”

  “But they…” Trix wanted to say something, but Alex interrupted her.

  “Shut up and watch me go.” Alex winced and continued explaining his plan. “I will come and cut them without starting a dialogue. Then we will go through their pockets and return to the public house with trophies.” And he cheerfully walked to the three men.

  “They're aggressive,” Rina said, when Alex walked away from them a bit. “And they will attack him as soon as he comes closer to them.”

  “Let's go after him and help,” Trix suggested.

  “The tenant ordered to wait here,” Rina said.

  “He said that we should think outside the box,” Trix remembered. “If they kill him, we won’t be able to carry out missions. And I like doing it, so I will come and help him.” Trix take the arrow out of the quiver and followed Alex slowly.

  “I’m looking for the robbers,” Alex cheerfully shouted to the thugs sitting there. Three bearded men, who wore old and rusty armor, jumped up and rushed at him, holding rusty daggers in their hands.

  “Oh...” He didn’t have time for conversations.

  At the third level Alex became quite a good swordsman and he can easily fight with one enemy. It’s more than likely that he can fight even two enemies. But there were three of them and by hard adventure he ordered the assistants to wait far away.

  Alex threw back the first robber and blocked the second. He remembered about the third one only when he felt movement behind his back.

  Now that’s will be the end of the game for me, he thought.

  Then the robber leaned on his back. Alex was scared and then surprised because he didn’t feel the dagger. Instead, he just felt something heavy on his back. He jumped aside and saw a bearded man crawling to the ground with two arrows sticking out of his back.

  “Girls, help!” Alex shouted belatedly and approached the other two thugs again.

  “Change the position.” Trix shouted. She couldn’t shoot a arrow because Alex enclosed robbers. And they seeing the archer and realizing what was happening, didn’t give him enough room to maneuver and slowly pressed Alex to Trix.

  “Damn it!” Alex started losing steam. He realized that in a few minutes he will lose the game and then a fireball flew into the left opponent. The robber turned around, trying to see where the new danger had come from and it allowed Alex to kill him with a quick lunge. He dealt with the third one in five seconds and realized that he was full of power again.

  “You’ve received Level Four. Basic characteristics are upgraded.” The voice in his head said.

  “You could have helped earlier,” Alex mumbled petulantly.

  “You said you could do it yourself,” Rina, who came up first, reminded him.

  “Okay,” Alex waved his hand. “Let's start gathering trophies.”

  While going through the pockets of the dead robbers, Alex discovered twenty gold coins, a bill of debt and three green stones.

  “What is it?” He showed one of the stones to the girls.

  “Emerald,” Trix answered quickly. “The price of one such stone is 100 coins.”

  “Excellent!” Alex was happy to hear it. “Now I can buy a good weapon. Let’s go back to the public house to return the bill and receive our reward.”

  Chapter 3

  “We’re good!” Alex was in good spirits. He himself, almost himself, have fought three thugs, so he has money to buy bewitched sword. “What do you think?”

  “Will we choose this task again or look for something more difficult?” Trix asked.

  “Again?” Alex asked confusedly. “We have already killed these robbers and can receive a reward.”

  “If we return to public house before nightfall, thugs will come alive in the morning, and we can complete this mission again.” Rina explained.

  “Will we receive a new level and lots of money again?” Alex has already come up with a new plan how to upgrade and earn money.

  “Each time we take the same task, the reward becomes poorer.” Trix buried his hopes.

  “Well, let’s leave it,” Alex was dissatisfied. “Can we complete missions at night?”

  “Night missions are quite difficult.” Rina warned him.

  “But they are more interesting, and we will get more money.” Trix parried.

  “I will tell you what,” Alex thought for a minute and continued. “We will give the bill of debt back, find out all the requirements of the quest and then decide what to do.”

  “Do you mean that we will make a decision together?” Trix asked with a blank stare.

  “Oh, I forget that you are not real.” Alex explained. “Of course, I will make the decision.”

  “It’s obvious
that you decide everything,” Trix agreed. “But that’s not because we are not real. That’s because you are our tenant,” she added quickly.

  “I thought that I’ve proved your artificial nature in our last conversation.” Alex was surprised.

  “You have proved that you can find creative solutions.” Trix disagreed. “But you have also showed that this ability has both advantages and disadvantages.”

  “So maybe it is easier to act in the same way all the time and have a guaranteed result?” Rina interfered with their conversation.

  “It makes harm sometimes because I don’t always make the right decisions,” Alex admitted unwillingly, and he thought that the last couple of years of his life he has adhered to this principle and this made him angry. “But now I know what to do,” Alex said angrily. “We will take the night quest and go through it. And then you will finally understand that creative solutions are beneficial if you do everything right.”

  “I'm all for it,” Trix answered happily.

  “We like carrying out tasks,” Rina agreed with her mate.

  “We will return to this conversation after successfully completed mission.” Alex was tired of convincing girls. “By the way, when does the night come?”

  “It starts in 10 minutes and lasts 12 hours.” Trix answered quickly.

  “Hurry up.” Alex said businesslike. “We may get there by nightfall.”

  The sun had already gone down when they came to the public house. Alex noted that despite the nighttime, a huge moon lighted quite well, so they didn’t need any additional light. He felt like that was the sunset of cloudy day, because there was not the total darkness of the night. The torches were burning on both sides of the door. They were there to not only light, but even more to show the nightfall. Alex didn’t notice any changes inside the public house, except, perhaps, the same torches on the walls.

  “Here is your bill,” Alex didn’t waste time and immediately passed the task.

  “Take your money.” Tradesman was also brief and gave him a small bag.

  “40 coins,” Alex mumbled, having counted the money. “In total we have 85 coins and 3 emeralds.” Alex slowly approached the bar counter.

  “Would you like to buy or sell something?” The barman came to Alex. It looked like he is also a weapon dealer here.

  “That blue sword,” Alex pointed at the weapon, which he had liked last time. “Take this, please,” Alex have him three emeralds.

  “The sword is bewitched and it doubles your power,” tradesman took the sword off the wall skillfully.

  “So beautiful.” It came out involuntarily. The sword was made from blue metal, its handle was stained with black leather and ends with small round counter weight.

  “Please.” Barman skillfully put the sword into the sheath in a sling and gave it to Alex. “Sling is made in such a way that you can wear it both on the belt and behind the back.”

  “I’ll deal with it,” Alex mumbled. Firstly, he put the sling on the belt, but after taking some steps, he understood that it’s uncomfortable. The sword was swinging and kicking his leg, so he rehung it to the back.

  "I don’t understand,” Alex tried to pull the sword out, but he didn’t manage to do it. Maybe it’s because of the belt, Alex thought. Then he put off sling and sheath and tried again. “Damn it!” Alex shouted and stared at the barman angrily. “What’s wrong?”

  “To use this sword you should be at least at Level Five.” The barman explained the situation.

  “Son of a bitch!” Alex yelled furiously. “Why cannot you sell me anything without deceiving me?”

  “I can buy your sword for 150 gold coins.” Barman answered calmly.

  “Screw you!” Alex hung the sword behind his back again and walked up to his assistants who were waiting near the door.

  "Have you bought a new weapon?” Trix wondered.

  “Something like that,” Alex answered gloomily.

  “Will you buy something for us?” Rina asked. “We will be much more useful with a good weapon.”

  “After completing the next mission.” Alex promised. “Now let’s go and find out how difficult night quests are.”

  “Do you want to take a task?” Somebody sitting at the next table said.

  “Perhaps,” Alex came closer and saw a strong, middle-aged man who wore simply cut caftan. “Tell me more about it.” Alex said in front of the man, assistants stood behind his back.

  “I’m the chief of the village located nearby.” The man got down to the point immediately. “Zombie started getting out of the tomb and scaring people at the graveyard at night.”

  “What should we do? How much will you pay?” Alex asked businesslike.

  “Six emeralds.” Chief answered quickly.

  “How many zombies are there? What is their level?” Alex wanted to consider all the pros and cons, suspiciously big reward embarrassed him.

  “There is only one Level Five zombie.” Chief looked at Alex hopefully.

  “We will deal with this.” Alex took the map with a mark. “Girls, we have a new task.” And he walked up to the door.

  “What will we do?” Trix was behind his back all the time, but she still asked on the same scheme.

  “We’re going to complete new mission.” Alex explained. “As arranged.”

  “Let’s call them out in a fair fight,” Trix offered as usual.

  “I’m not sure that this gentle zombie will agree to fight.” Alex smiled ironically.

  “We can attack suddenly.” Rina suggested.

  “This idea is much better, but no.” Alex remembered the first battle and continued. “We will get there, take a look around and then agree what to do.” Alex decided.

  They had been walking through the woods for some minutes, and then they found themselves on the edge of the small village. There was a dozen of low houses, enclosed by low fences. Lights were on in almost every house, and they saw people inside. Some chimneys were smoking.

  “It looks like an ordinary village.” Alex marveled. “I never would have thought that it’s only imitation.”

  “I assure you that if you go into any of the houses you will see people doing their own business,” Trix protested. “You can talk or even have dinner with them.”

  “That will not convince me,” Alex said. "I suggest focusing on the task and returning to our favorite argument after completing the quest."

  “I do not argue, I just try to ...“ Trix didn’t have time to finish the sentence.

  “Later!” Alex interrupted her. “What is more, we have already arrived.

  There was a cemetery by the village. A fence made from high metal rods enclosed it, and a small gate with a handle was an entrance. The cemetery was small, crosses were leaning and the tombstones were cracked. The zombie was roaming staggeringly nearby. It was a man of average height and age. His clothes were torn a long time ago and the remaining bagged shreds covered the body only partly. White eyes without pupils were looking towards mindlessly and the movements were jumpy and leisurely. Alex noticed that zombie's left leg was broken and the bone was sticking out. The dead man, limping on his left leg, leisurely wandered around the cemetery and sometimes made muffled sounds.

  “He’s obviously slow,” Alex said thoughtfully. “I don’t see any problems with him, those three robbers looked much more dangerous. The only question is how to kill him. He is obviously already dead and it isn’t clear what to do,” Alex was quite confused.

  “Each character has its own vitality rate.” Trix explained. “As a result of damage caused by magic or weapon, this rate decreases and when it’s over, the character dies.”

  “So we will beat him until we kill him?” Alex asked.

  “Yes.” Trix nodded.

  “Let’s come in.” Alex decided and headed for the gate. He turned the handle and the small door opened smoothly. When they came in, the gate closed itself.

  “Why have you closed the door?” Alex looked at Rina, who was the last to get in. />
  “It closed itself.” Rina shrugged her shoulders.

  Alex came closer to it and saw that there isn’t a handle on their side, only a keyhole. He tried to open the door, but the lock snapped and it was impossible to reach the handle. «Well, we’ll deal with it later.” Alex was slightly worried about being locked in such a place. “I go to the zombie. Help me if you see something goes wrong.” And he slowly went to the center of graveyard where the zombie was roaming.

  When he came closer, he saw that there is a small key on zombie’s neck. “We won’t leave this cemetery until we kill him,” Alex realized and, taking his old chippie sword with both hands, he sneaked up and attached. It seemed that the sword hit the rock and bounced off. As a result, Alex got out of balance.

  “Uuughh,” zombie made a grumpy sound, turned to Alex and suddenly tried to grab him with the right hand.

  “Oh, shit.” Alex dodged at the last moment and tried to beat his arm with a sword. The sword bounced off again as if it hit a stone, so Alex completely lost balance, fell and rolled on the ground.

  “Girls, help!” Alex shouted. He stood up quickly, leaning on a concrete gravestone, and saw that zombie didn’t waste the time and had already got really close to him.

  “Ughhhhrrr,” zombie wheezed and tried to grab Alex with both hands not giving him a chance to escape.

  “Shit!” Alex decided not to block zombie’s attack with a sword. He pushed off from the tombstone and tried to get back but stumbled on a stone and rolled on the ground again. The world was spinning before his eyes and small rocks hit him. Alex managed to stop quickly, having stuck the sword into the ground. He jumped up and looked around. Zombie was hugging a stone plate, near which Alex was just a few seconds ago. But that stone was nothing but the name, it was totally cracked and the top was broken off.

  “You are strong enough,” Alex looked at zombie differently. He threw away the rest of the tombstone and started moving towards Alex. “What should I do now?” Alex was confused. And then something flew by like a bat out of hell and hit the zombie.