Unexpectedly for us, the picture had gone viral on a number of bro-culture sites, bringing us over two thousand subscribers.
The points I’d received for this last growth in skills had brought me my next social status level 15. A good round number. Once again I’d invested the system point in Agility, bringing it up to 9 even though I’d originally planned to improve either Charisma, Luck or Intellect. Any of these three were more important in business than Agility. But admittedly, Panikoff’s words had sown the seed of doubt that I was doing the right thing.
“Phil, are you busy?”
I looked up from my laptop and saw Kesha, the print shop owner.
“Come in,” I said. “Take a seat. Tea, coffee?”
“Thanks, but no thanks,” he fidgeted nervously in his chair. “I’ll come straight to the point.”
“Why, was there something wrong with our order?”
“No, everything was fine. There were some weird guys who picked up the last batch. Do they also work for you?”
“You mean Tarzan and his friends?”
“Probably. They didn’t introduce themselves. They just asked, 'Are the flyers done?’” he said, imitating the three hoods. “Then they took the leaflets and left.”
“It’s okay. It’s Alik’s buddies. They’re helping us out.”
“Are they? Because I was worried a bit. Their manners, you know...”
I smiled. “What, they had none?”
“Yeah, sort of. But that’s not why I came. Remember you helped Veronica find some clients?”
“Sure. Why?”
“You think you could help me too? I’ve got practically no customers and soon I’ll need to pay both rent and taxes.”
Mechanically I raised my hands in the air and had a nice stretch, cracking all my joints. He, however, seemed to have misunderstood it.
“Listen, Phil, you don’t have to worry! I know how to be grateful. You’ll get ten percent of every order I receive regardless of the result.”
“Okay. Tell me more.”
“What is there to tell?”
“Your services. What you do, what you offer, your print runs, I need the entire story.”
“Okay. Basically, we can do everything. Full color, business cards, forms, brochures, serigraphy.....”
As he spoke, I opened my interface. Just like in Veronica’s case, I hadn’t received any quest — nor did I count on being rewarded for “performing a socially meaningful action”.
I did it driven by a simple and clear principle: if I could help, I would do so. In the entire time of our agency’s operations, I’d only received a little XP for helping Ludmila after she'd been hired. Contrary to my expectations, none of the other successful clients had garnered me any XP points. Apparently, in the program’s eyes, I didn’t need any extra motivation if I’d been remunerated for my help.
Having said that, I wasn’t too short of XP. I’d managed to do ten levels in two months. If the truth were known, I’d seen very few people whose social status was higher than my level 15: Valiadis and his right-hand man Hermann, the old boy Panikoff, and Pavel, my former boss at Ultrapak. At this rate, I might overtake them all already by the fall even at my current leveling speed.
“Can you come back in half an hour?” I asked Kesha once he was finished with his impromptu presentation.
The interface had already flooded my map with hundreds of markers which answered the search requirements, so now I needed some time to sort out the juiciest ones. On his way out of the office, Kesha bumped into Alik who was just coming back.
“Imagine Phil, that dude is more like an Olympic runner than a biologist! I had real trouble catching up with him. He was in such a rush to get there you’d think he was afraid of being late!”
“Did you give him his umbrella back?”
“Sure, only he got real scared at first. He thought I was gonna tap him up for payment or tell him that the job wouldn’t go through. You should have seen his face!”
“Never mind. Well done. Can you find yourself something to do? I’m a bit busy here.”
“Cool, I’m gonna make some new memes then,” he grinned.
Some new memes! I smiled to myself, feeling slightly proud for Alik. Veronica had brought him an old laptop from home, opening up the brave new world of Photoshop to him. Now he was consumed by building photo collages and creating new meme pics which he lovingly called “memmies”. He loved it almost as much as exchanging comments in VK, frequenting various “boys from the hood” websites and liking all of Veronica’s photos.
Kesha reappeared half an hour later on the dot.
“Here,” I handed him a sheet of paper with three potential clients that were absolute certs. “No need to thank me,” I smiled, looking at the disbelief on his face.
“So what am I supposed to do? Should I call them? And what should I tell them?” Kesha asked, studying the list.
“The first one needs forms to be printed. Shedloads of them. The second company too is looking for a printer. They’ve just rebranded themselves and now all their staff need new business cards made. That’s a lot of people. And the third one has a totally different problem. They need a company pamphlet laid out and printed, a really pretty one. Each order is worth over fifty grand. That should be enough to pay the rent.”
“If you don’t mind me asking, how did you find them?”
“Have you ever played role games? Not the bedroom kind but on a computer?”
“At the time, I used to mess around with Diablo. Why?”
“You do know something about skills, abilities and talents, don’t you? It’s a bit like that. I have very good online search skills. You can find anything you want on the Net as long as you know how to look for it.”
“Oh. Cool! Thanks, anyway. Do I need to call them?” he nodded at the list.
“You could, but you risk the secretary telling you to get lost. You’d better go and meet with their bosses in person. It’s better that way.”
“Got it. Thanks!”
Kesha headed for the door but stopped by Alik’s desk, watching whatever he was drawing in Photoshop. “Drawing” being the operative word. He was only at level 1 but he’d earned it honestly.
“Hi,” a sweet girly voice made us all turn toward the door.
The sound of our three jaws dropping simultaneously could have probably been heard on the street outside.
What we were looking at was a radical departure from what we were used to seeing here. The girl smiling at us must have got the wrong door. We couldn’t have been what she’d been looking for.
She had a great body and legs that went on forever. Her angelic face was completely devoid of makeup. She was wearing a business suit with a white blouse and a skirt cut a little too short for comfort. Even without her stilettoes, she must have been at least six foot tall. No doubt a model or something.
“Hi there,” Kesha gushed.
“Ho...ho...how do you do... ma’am?” Alik stuttered.
“Is this the Great Job agency?”
“Sure. Come on in,” I finally came to life. “I’m Phil.”
“Nice to meet you, Phil. My name’s Anastasia,” the girl proffered a hand. “But you can call me Stacy.”
“How can we help you, Stacy?” I asked, her hand lingering in mine for a couple of seconds longer than necessary. The girl ran her tongue over her upper lip.
What the hell was that? I looked at the other two. Their clouded stares were boring a hole in the girl’s back.
She turned and gave them a cheerful smile, then sat down. “You see, Phil,” she whispered intimately so that only I could hear. “I need a job. You know what I mean?”
“I think I do.”
“And I’m prepared to do anything to get it. Do you get me? Anything at all.”
I got all hot and bothered from her whisper. Without receiving any debuff messages, I got an immediate hard-on.
Chapter Ten. The Skill of Saying Yes
But the hea
rts of men are easily corrupted.
The Lord of the Rings
IF WE SPOKE about the women in my life, not counting teenage crushes and one-night-stands, then both Yanna and Vicky were quite pretty in the eyes of the nerd that I was. Both were sweet, friendly and could even look beautiful from a certain angle.
But this dame — because I really couldn’t call this sex-oozing female a girl — was in a totally different class. She was in the red-carpet, Academy-award, cover girl league.
I might have exaggerated a little about the increased blood flow to my nether regions (I was no spring chicken, after all) but still, my increased anxiety, dry throat and quickened pulse stood witness to my lack of experience with this type of head-turning, show-stopping beauty.
Having said that, I’d spoken too soon...
A new system message popped up, warning me about my increased heart rate caused by sexual arousal, and advising me to enter into sexual contact with the object of my desire. In case of the impossibility of doing so, I was recommended to engage in physical activity followed by a cold shower and to discontinue visual contact with the subject. Too much mention of the word “sex” for one system message, if you asked me. Thanks, Captain Obvious.
Struggling to ignore the allure of her cleavage which was undone a couple of buttons more than necessary, I stared her right in the eye.
Stacy responded in kind, her gaze confident, a light smile playing on her lips. Her upper lip was a little short, revealing white even teeth.
“Phil?”
“I understood you, Anastasia,” I said. It was probably better I kept my distance without progressing to any names of endearment. “What kind of work are you looking for? What do you do? Have you brought a CV?”
“No, I haven’t... Did I need to?” she sounded sincerely confused.
Oh great. Having said that, few of our clients ever thought of bringing their CVs. Really, why would they need one in an employment agency?
I suppressed my inner sarcasm and looked at the other two. Kesha didn’t look as if he was in a hurry anymore. He was perched on Alik’s desk, his dreamy eyes admiring the scene.
As for Alik, he materialized next to Stacy with two cups in his hands. “Excuse me, ma’am,” he said shyly. “Would you prefer tea or coffee?”
“Sorry, what did you say? Ah, just some water if you’d be so kind. Just plain flat water.”
“Ein moment!” the ex-hood replied with a suspiciously German accent, then dashed off toward our kitchenette, splashing tea and coffee around.
I’d already noticed this thing about him: at moments of extreme anxiety, Alik would sometimes start blurting out various “high class” words and phrases or whatever he thought could pass for them.
“I could use some coffee, if you don’t mind,” Kesha jumped at the opportunity.
“I’m very sorry,” Stacy said. “I don’t have a CV. I didn’t receive any professional training, either.”
“Okay. In which case, could you please tell me more about yourself? What skills do you have? What can you do really well?-” I stopped midsentence and averted my gaze, realizing the suggestiveness of my question.
On a hunch, I activated Lie Detection. Don’t ask why. Just a feeling.
“Very well. My name’s Anastasia Semyonova. I’m twenty-four years old. I was born in Vladivostok and went to elementary school there. Almost immediately, we had to move. My father was in the military so we were relocated quite a lot. In total, I went to six schools in six different cities...”
Even though her cleavage kept drawing my gaze like a magnet, I forced myself to stay clear-headed. There was something that worried me much more.
The girl was lying. Her every word, starting with her name and ending with the fact that she’d apparently lost her parents while still young, was pure fiction. The Lie Detection skill kept sending waves of cold shivers down my spine.
As she spoke, she became slightly consumed by her reminiscing, giving me the opportunity to study her profile.
Anastasia Semyonova
Age: 24
Current status: Unemployed
Social status level: 3
Class: Seductress. Level: 7
Unmarried
Aha. Now everything was as clear as mud. Apparently, her name was Anastasia Semyonova. In which case, why had Lie Detection signaled otherwise? Was it my Hero skill glitching? Or the Universal Infospace being hacked? No idea.
I checked her abilities. That’s how I’d always determined what kind of work would suit the customer. If you took the absent-minded biologist, for instance, he hadn’t come to us looking for a scientific job. If was my Insight which had told me that he had level 9 in Biology.
Seduction was Anastasia’s best-developed skill. I had it too, only mine was barely 50% of hers. What other skills had she leveled up? Empathy, Communication Skills, Fashion and Style, Makeup, Catwalk, Sexual Skills... all of them levels 5 and 6. Our Stacy was almost a professional!
But that wasn’t what had surprised me. The girl had good computer and MS Office skills and even had level 3 in SMM which meant she was no stranger to social media. Having said that, it was only normal for the Instagram generation.
But the fact that she had high Responsibility was actually quite promising. I didn’t even know such a skill existed. At least I didn’t have it.
“So basically, that was the end of my modeling career,” Stacy concluded. “As a result, I ended up in this city — without any family or friends. I don’t even know many people, if you know what I mean. My landlady is kicking me out and I really don’t want to start selling my body. I’m prepared to do any job, even office manager, as long as they pay me an advance.”
The girl paused and gulped some water from a glass that Alik had helpfully brought. She seemed to be awaiting my reaction.
Somehow her last words didn’t agree with what she’d said at first. “Prepared to do anything to get it” — then “Don’t want to start selling my body”... For almost the whole duration of her monologue, Lie Detection kept sending cold shivers down my spine, alerting me to her high Deception skill, — but somehow her last words filled me with warmth. She was indeed prepared to do any job, so could it be that her alleged preparedness “to do anything to get it” referred to her readiness to accept any job offer? Then again, hadn’t she said “Prepared to do anything to get it”? By “it” she must have meant a job, surely?
What a strange girl. A walking enigma.
While I was pondering over this before even trying to activate a vacancy search, my stubborn abstinence from looking down her cleavage had landed me a brief Squinty Eyed debuff (joke) followed by a rise in both Spirit and Willpower. By now, I already knew that these two stats were interconnected. Also, after having spent the whole evening playing with my interface settings, I could now receive a little more useful information.
Congratulations! Your Spirit has improved!
+100% to Spirit
You’ve received 1000 pt. XP for successfully leveling up a secondary characteristic!
Current Spirit: 300%
Congratulations! Your Willpower has improved!
+100% to Willpower
You’ve received 1000 pt. XP for successfully leveling up a secondary characteristic!
Current Willpower: 200%
Current level: 15. XP points gained: 6310/16000
Congratulations! You’ve unblocked one of the requirements for the Berserker and Invulnerability heroic abilities: Spirit (300%)
This rise in two major stats at once had immediately sent my Mood soaring. Still, this wasn’t the right moment to look into it.
Back to the task at hand! I decided to search for all possible vacancies suitable for her from modeling and makeup artist to office manager and even secretary.
The system showered me with offers. I had plenty of choice. I looked up from my laptop screen — or rather, from my interface map — at Anastasia. Now that she was no longer a drop dead stranger to a tongue-tied me
anymore, the pressure of her sexual magnetism had subsided somewhat, to the point where I could speak to her as if she were an ordinary client.
“Stacy, we will find something for you. In the meantime, would you please peruse through the contract and if you’re happy with it, please enter your details and sign it. Alik, would you be so kind as to give Anastasia a copy of the contract? We charge for our services only after you’ve been hired. This is our principle.”
“Really?”
“Absolutely. I might need a bit of time to select the most suitable offers. Is that all right with you? Could you wait on the couch, please?”
She nodded. “Sure.”
She rose from her chair. Alik and Kesha stopped hypnotizing her with their manic stares and hurried to pretend they were terribly busy. But if Alik simply switched his attention back to his computer, casting sideways glances in the direction of the girl, Kesha began frowning and furrowing his forehead as he stared vacantly at the sheet of paper with his job offers which might just as well have been in Chinese.
Wait a sec. What was that now? Next to the row of icons which usually showed the time, date, my heart rate, outside temperature and other useful data, I noticed a debuff icon. Had I somehow missed the system message? I focused on it.
Smitten
You have been smitten by a subject of the opposite sex!
Subject’s Name: Anastasia Semyonova
+50 to the Subject’s Reputation in your eyes.
The Subject’s current Reputation: Amicality 20/60
-3 to Intellect
+1 to Strength
-5% to Satisfaction every 6 hrs.
+10% to Metabolism
Warning! High probability of spontaneous erections!
In order to disable the debuff, you’re advised to restrict your contacts with the subject or engage them in sexual intercourse.
Oh great. That was all I needed. Was this how a high-level Seduction worked? It was a good job that my Intellect was high so the loss of 3 points didn’t affect my brains too much. But how about Alik who wasn’t the sharpest knife in the drawer to begin with? This debuff had effectively made him twice as stupid!
Hero Page 16