by Arthur Stone
“So one of your quests is to bring other players here.”
“Yes. In due time. And if you stop bothering me, that will happen faster. If you help me, even faster.”
“How could I help you? My purpose is to attack players, not help them. I have no compassion, no generosity.”
“You know many things, Evil, and I need information. Especially now.”
“What is it you need to know?”
“There’s something I need to figure out with my abilities. My level 0 and level 1 abilities are fine. But level 3 gave me nothing. No abilities at all. Instead, the game gave me the chance to reset all of my old skills and select skills from another race. I could choose to keep my old abilities instead, but the game promised they would cause me trouble. They are unfinished, after all. Perhaps my current abilities give me little help, but it’s better than nothing. I’m alone here and must grasp at any and all straws I can. Maybe you know a way I can keep my old abilities without encountering problems with new ones.”
“Foolish mortal. The game is reacting to you already. It is not only adjusting the environment but also devising adjustments for you. For your character. Since your abilities are not finished, it is offering to help you with completed abilities as a substitute.”
“What do I do?”
“There is one option I see. But there are no guarantees it will turn out well. Your situation is extremely abnormal. Outside the cases the game was built to manage. Perhaps you will get lucky, but you are just as lucky to get a useless skill, as the game implied.”
“What’s this option?”
“Look at the level 1 ability selection screen. I assume it’s active since the game has suggested you make a new choice.”
“It’s active, yes. But the choice is made. Stream of Regeneration. No other options.”
“Select it again.”
“Why?”
“You’ll get the ability a second time. A level 3 ability to fill your level 3 slot.”
“Why would I want two Streams of Regeneration? Can I heal with both hands at once or something?”
“The door may be open, but I still feel like I’m talking to a brick wall. You must learn to be less stupid. The game will not allow two identical abilities. It will immediately substitute a new ability in for your level 3 ability.”
“So what do I gain? What if it gives me some trash ability?”
“There is one nuance here. The game is not prepared for you to make such a non-standard choice. My logic module suggests that the standard resolution will not function. So an ability with opposite mechanics will replace it. Probably.”
“What?”
“What does your ability do?”
“Restores the target’s hit points. A typical weak healing spell.”
“So what is the opposite?”
“The target loses hit points?”
“You do have a brain! When you want to. Sadly, that is a rare occurrence.”
“So instead of a healing spell, I’ll get a combat spell.”
“Yes, there is a chance that is what will happen. Also, you have chosen an option that aligns with Light, which creates an interesting possibility.”
“Which?
“The finished game has four schools of magic: Elemental Magic, Light Magic, Dark Magic, and Chaos Magic. Light Magic has no attacking abilities. These mages can slow down opponents, put them to sleep, or paralyze them, but they cannot drain a single hit point from them. If this works, you will be the first Light Mage who can. And there is currently no Resist Light Magic spell or buff in the world of X. Since Light Magic deals no damage, it simply did not make sense to create Resist Light Magic. In addition, Light Mages land almost every hit, even on powerful opponents—a bonus to balance out their incompetence at dealing damage. You will be less incompetent than they. Though still incompetent. After all, these are low-level skills. Weaker than the usual ones.”
“I understand. So if I do as you suggest, I may receive a Light Magic combat skill. What if your plan doesn’t work?”
“How should I know? The system has to give you something, so you will not end up with an empty slot. It has significantly more resources than I do, so I cannot simulate its actions. But you are too weak and progressing slowly. It is unlikely that they have added you to the anti-cheating progress monitoring list. Decisions regarding your character are likely being controlled by a weak AI assigned thousands of losers like you. Perhaps it is even weaker than I am and monitors KPIs without the bandwidth to consider specific circumstances. Therefore I am nearly certain that my prediction will prove correct.”
“Where will a Light Magic combat spell come from, when such a thing doesn’t even exist yet?”
“From the same place everything else comes from. Old development work. Initially nearly twenty magic schools were planned. But when the release schedule was accelerated, most of them were abandoned. However, they are still present in the code. When the game needs to satisfy an exception as a matter of urgency, it can use material from discarded items. And this is certainly an exception.”
“Ancient Evil, I’m going to take your advice.”
Dark opened the ability screen and chose Stream of Regeneration a second time.
Note: You have chosen an additional race ability: Stream of Regeneration. The Ethrians are a race that has not chosen their path. They remained balanced between light and dark, and there the void consumed them. All of the Ethrian race abilities are contradictions and can include both light and darkness. Stream of Regeneration is no exception. It can only be used when its wielder is on the precipice, between life and death.
Ability Description: A single target receives a continual stream of healing. The strength of the healing is determined by the healer.
Mana Cost: one mana point per health point regenerated.
Can be used on self, on other players, and on NPCs, including monsters.
Note: You have selected an ability that you have already learned! You cannot learn it again. No alternate ability exists in the current scope. Automatic ability correction activated... Complete.
Note: Your chosen ability has been corrected. You have selected a race ability: Onslaught of Light. The Ethrians are a race that has not chosen their path. They remained balanced between light and dark, and there the void consumed them. All of the Ethrian race abilities are contradictions and can include both light and darkness. Onslaught of Light is no exception. It can only be used when its wielder is on the precipice, between life and death.
Effect: one target loses a stream of health at a speed determined by the wielder of the ability. Range: up to 5 meters.
Mana cost: 1 Mana per 1 Health drained.
Can be used on self, on other players, and on NPCs, including monsters. Cannot be used when your health is full.
Ancient Evil was curious. “Well? What happened?”
“You were right. I received a combat ability that belongs to Light Magic. I can even use it to kill myself. It’s weak, to be sure—it can only kill small creatures, and only at close range. I can only use it when I’m hurt, too.”
“Are you dissatisfied?”
“No, this is fine! It’s a start ability, after all. What could I expect? Something that would lay a hesh’ell queen flat in one blast?”
“Ungrateful, puny mortal, just tell me whether I helped you or not!”
“Yes. Thank you for the help.”
“Does this hasten the moment when you will open the door for other players to enter Ethria.”
“I hope so. In fact, it is very likely.”
“Then I will not trouble your sleep today,” Ancient Evil said cheerfully. “But I will return tomorrow, after sundown. You may have other questions for me, after all. I will not promise that I can answer them all, but I will not hold back. Probably.”
“Thank you again. I’ll leave the door open. Talking this way is more pleasant, don’t you think?”
The cloud of darkness dissipated as the red fire ey
es blinked out, but a faint whisper stayed behind. “You could even talk to me outside. No need to fear me any longer. I am no longer interested in your destruction. You are doing something that aids me, and though the Ancient Evil is indeed evil, he is also a pragmatist.”
Note: You have successfully influenced a high-level being! The stance of the high-level being Ancient Evil of Ethria towards you has changed from Aggressive to Neutral.
+2000 Charisma progress points.
You have discovered the high-level being Ancient Evil of Ethria. Level: variable. Base XP: variable. Note: This is an autonomous high-level being! Individual Base XP: variable. Health: variable. Mana: variable. Stamina: variable. Aggression: 100% aggressive in the Lost Necropolis of Ethria. In other locations, aggression is variable. Note: This creature is bound to the location Lost Necropolis of Ethria. Magic abilities: variable. Poison level: unknown. Chance of high-level loot: variable. General description: a variable magic creature with a high level of free will. Depending on the situation, it may act as a common mob or as an NPC with a high Intellect.
No player in the history of X has encountered the Ancient Evil of Ethria! You receive +10000 Knowledge progress points. Bonus: +7 levels to any base skill, +5 levels to any craft skill. The Chancellery of the Inquisition or the Magistrate of the Order of Knowledge may present you with a reward for adding creatures you have discovered from your personal bestiary to the league archives. Congratulations! Keep discovering new things to unlock more generous rewards!
Note: You have discovered your first high-level being! +2000 Perception progress points.
Dark had positively resolved his start ability problem.
He had received an ability that dealt magic damage. It was weak, but the forums said he would now have an easier time grinding his Magic Accuracy. Despite its name Magic Accuracy didn’t just affect the chance of a spell hitting. It was connected to other factors as well, including the chance of dealing an ability’s maximum magic damage. Now at least one of his magic skills that was formerly difficult to pump would break away from the others.
That was an excellent achievement on its own. And then the Ancient Evil had stopped plotting his death.
Not that Dark had been overly worried. If the being had kept coming, kept howling, kept knocking, Dark would have put his head under his pillow and slept on.
But it turned out that changing the disposition of a being like Ancient Evil gave a nice boost to Charisma. That stat had been camping at 0 before Dark had put precious distributable points into it in order to level up. Now, in a single sweep, it was at 13.
The same had happened to his Perception, which he had also had difficulty leveling up naturally.
The discovery of the Ancient Evil and the Knowledge was beyond Dark’s dreams as far as skill levels went. He didn’t know what to do with Knowledge, of course, but its number was an impressive 48. Now only his Stealth was greater—Kim’s thugs had pushed it up to 100.
What a strange day. A long, tedious day for his nerves.
Dark at last rose and closed the door before heading upstairs.
An interesting thought hit him on the stairwell. That rat he had fought on his first day inside, where had it come from? There might be a rat spawner here in the building. He didn’t want to be woken up in the middle of the night by overgrown rodent teeth.
But even that bloody imagination would not keep him up.
It really had been an exhausting day.
Chapter 33
Dungeon Dealings
Total stat levels: 26.
Character level: 4.
Mastery level: 0.
Note: Personal victory! Hesh’ell Queen killed! Improved mob. Level 6. Location sensation level: 20%. Personal sensation level...
Dark crouched over the carcass and frowned. That hadn’t turned out as he had hoped. He had shifted slightly during the last battle, stepping over the invisible line between locations and triggering a drop in sensation level. It was only a 10% reduction, in both pain and pleasure, but it resulted in a modest reduction in experience.
And modest differences could really add up.
It had been fifteen days since he had escaped Kim’s clutches. Even there he had realized how screwed his character really was, but all he could do was grit his teeth. Two weeks later, he had become an optimist.
Yesterday, he had spent yet another whole day working with his tools, furnace, ore, and ingots. The raw materials were nearly up, though he had destroyed a number of his ugly crafts, which refunded some of their materials to him. Now Dark had a small arsenal of primitive and common items meant for his exact level, not a single level higher.
This was the way to maximum stat growth: reduce damage input, increase damage output. And work on your skills, of course.
Dark had slaughtered bugs the whole day before that, clearing out another hesh’ell swarm. Today, he destroyed a similar swarm, but much more quickly. The sun had just past the highest point in the sky. Plenty of time left to search the groves for another buzzing horde and slaughter it before dark.
Not that he had to rush back—Ancient Evil was no longer pining for his death. And if Dark happened to encounter another evil being, perhaps that would be for the better.
One death wasn’t so bad. He might be able to win that creature over later, as well.
And earn a fresh new cornucopia of bonuses.
Still, rather than seek a new swarm, he turned back to the mine.
Not to the tower, that was now only for sleeping. And for storing things in the chest.
No, he was heading to the mine itself.
It was time for him to begin using it. The sun would stay up long enough for him to give a new profession a shot.
* * *
The world of X had eight crafting specializations. To reach the first craft skill level, players had to bump each craft skill up to 1, similar to the base stats system and character levels. So far, he had only made progress on two: Smithing and Carpentry. He had no idea how to pump the rest, or at least how to pump them easily.
With one exception: mining. Two professional skills were connected to this craft skill: Ore Master and Knowledge of Stones and Gems. The first skill was obvious: mine raw materials which could be smelted into metal. The terminology of the second confused him. Gems were stones. Was the focus on precious stones, then, or were regular stones also included? Perhaps the developers had just been too rushed to be precise. Or there had been some other snag. The forums were unable to answer his question.
Still, the process seemed simple enough to Dark. Mine ore and stone to boost both professional skills and thus Mining as a whole.
Craft skills had to be worked on, like it or not. That was the only way to increase his Mastery Level. Mastery Level was yet another separate level connected not to main stats but to professional skills. The higher his Mastery Level, the easier it was to do any work, and the more realistic his chances of creating an item with improved stats. In addition, Dark had already melted down all of the metallurgical raw materials from the warehouse. Ten percent of the ingots and ore rocks were left, if that. Unless he solved this shortage, his progress would stop, and he would be unable to produce new metal weapons. Copper was, sadly, a low-level raw material, considered too weak for weapons, as it was in the real world. Exterminating mobs for days quickly depleted his arsenal.
Dark threw his sack of various goods looted from hesh’ells into the tower and dropped off some of his armor. He collected an empty backpack, a copper pickax, and a primitive candle. That was enough equipment for a miner just starting out, judging by the forums.
Now he approached the arched stone entrance for the first time ever. Here, the ancient miners had accessed the riches of the depths. He noticed nothing of particular interest about the entrance at first. A big barrel attracted some interest, but alas, it was empty. He glanced at the ground and saw some tracks, barely visible, between the wooden rails which had carried mine carts.
Something living h
ad apparently been through here, and fairly recently. But it had been long enough that he could not tell what kind of tracks they were. It seemed the being must not have been overly large.
Comments on the forum, and the sparse beginners’ guides, had taught Dark that mines and quarries were not exactly the safest places in this world. Some inhabitants of the underground were immensely hostile. Fights between players frequently broke out, as well. Valuable resources attracted all types, and clans were willing to go to out-and-out war over them. In either case, a lone peaceful worker had a high chance of getting sent to respawn. Usually only those unable to spend real money to get in-game resources spent time mining. So they were vulnerable, easy to harm without consequence.
Dark was not afraid. Nor was he naked and barefoot as before. And this was just a copper mine, the place to find a low-level resource. If mobs were here, they would be low level as appropriate.
He should be able to handle them.
Or not. Dark had set up a new respawn point in the grove behind the ruins of the waterwheel. A noticeable boulder about his height was located there. If anything happened to him, he’d respawn close by.
I should move my respawn point to the tower, though. That way he wouldn’t have to move far to reach safety and his things.
A few dozen steps into the tunnel, he stopped to light his lamp. His flint was as good as a match. Even without it, he could have managed in this world. The skeleton and his torch had proved that, on that unforgettably long night.
It turned out that his unpretentious lamp gave as much light as an electric flashlight. Following the same tracks still positioned between the cart track rails, he pressed on. It was the easiest place to walk in, too. One step to the left or to the right, and movement would become more difficult. Those areas were covered with rocks of various sizes. Perhaps they had fallen from the walls or the arch as time had passed.