Player Reached the Top

by Rick Scar

  Characteristics:

  +23% skill of theft;

  +17% speed.

  Skill: “At home” (Unique), passive, you’ll be always sheltered by ordinary citizens and peasants for a night.

  Requirement: 65 level.

  Restrictions: No.”

  To choose was difficult. Either to take the 50th level and start using it in the nearest future or to take a set item with a strange passive skill and what the set could give nobody would know, until it was complete. Whether the joker's ring was able to help him to escape? Besides it was necessary to take with relation to the future sale. Having considered pros and cons, he decided to stop on the last option.

  “Good choice, Envoy. And now, for the fact that you could kill the monster even in your weak body, choose a unique skill or the next rank?”

  RAVen gave a crooked smile. The shaman threw a challenge at him. The raising of each skill did not come easily to him. The chance to find the book of skill with the rank above Journeyman was incredibly small, so it was not worth to speak about legendary. Players had to raise them by their own efforts due to frequent use, or hope for good luck.

  “I got you won’t tell me about the skill?”

  “No, I’m bored so I’d like to see you in action. Either you’ll take a pig in a poke or become slightly better here and now.”

  “Eh, Old man, I’m not gonna let you have fun, I’ll take the unique skill, I will handle the rest on my own.”

  “The Skill Book (Unique): "Without barriers".

  Active skill (Apprentice).

  Chance to move on both walls and ceiling.

  Duration: 50 seconds.

  Energy expenses: 60.

  Recharge: 3 minutes.”

  "What a swell pig in a poke! Pinky. Ha-ha. But it’s time to bowl off".

  Chapter 37. The Message of the adept.

  Next day Will saw the shaman to heal the leg of the captain and persuaded him to go for cleaning some more infected places in the forest. Gikhor's hand also was cured. The powerful magic allowed a lot.

  Though RAVen actually also did not hurry to clean the forest. Its true purpose was to level up in order to start searching for the box. He wanted to keep within three months to catch additional force in the form of smoky dog. The guy did not know how strong he would be if he grew, but there could not be simple awards in the epic chain of quests. Right?

  Therefore the next four days he and some horghs, led by Dreyrok, walked in the forest in search of those places. The captain remembered one more a place besides the found earlier cursed objects, but then they looked for a needle in the huge forest. In process of disclosure of the map an extremely frightening question crossed the rogue’s mind, whether Taargada Forest could cover the whole continent of this floor. Looking through the forum this morning, Will came across the topic where players were sharing their screenshots of the opened sites of the map from the first up to the third floor, trying to see the project scales. And it looked like there were opened 24% of the first floor, 21% of the second and 18% of the third of the total map’s area. All this was harmonious work of several million players! But Will was only one here. And, considering last weeks, he might be said to make no headway.

  But, as disappointed as he was, there was no other way therefore he was leveling while there was a good opportunity. Two days later after the murder of the bear, they found one more cursed place. It was a tree. The young man did not know its name as it was just an imagination of the developers. Having killed the infected monsters looking like toads, with the help of the crystal, he absorbed some energy from the tree trunk then he filled the crystal a little more than a half of capacity.

  “Cursed shard (Unique).

  Loaded: 109/200.”

  But they could not find anything. As a result RAVen had the 46th level and three unused points of skill. He had not spent them, keeping in his mind that receiving specialization opened new branches of development. Though the stealth also should have been leveled, reducing detection radius of more high-leveled enemies, but there was no need in it. If something happened he would be able to use points there.

  Different alchemical, mechanical and similar ingredients for crafting dropped out of the killed monsters. The total amount of the gold was two hundred forty eight coins. There were also several topazes of the fifth and sixth class for incrustation adding +10 to intelligence and +8 to agility. Two items which had dropped out of a toad and a winged dragon were 70+ level and had no value for him, so he put aside them for sale.

  When Will returned to the city, he threw off all unnecessary in his storage and headed back to the shaman. Engaging in grinding in the forest, he did not forget about the terms specified by the old man. The designated time was drawing to an end, and he hoped that five days did not mean exactly five days.

  The guards let him pass as one of them, his reputation and rumors about the monsters killed in nearby lands probably caused this.

  “Hi, old man.” Will did not remember why he began to call him so and why he reacted calmly to it.

  This time the shaman was not sitting in his favourite pose, but was at the table where there were candles and a few books being spread out. Hearing the voice, Grrakhkat turned back.

  “Oh, White raven, you in time. I just have almost stopped deciphering, even wait minutes twenty.” He was back at his work.

  Will sat on the floor and speculated how the adept had died, why he had been in the small room in the warehouse and what he had wanted to inform in the letter written by blood?

  “That’s all!” The man distracted him from thoughts and called up. “I have rewritten the text in language clear to you. But I do not absolutely understand what it is about, maybe you'll figure it out.”

  The guy took the piece of paper and scanned the message closely. “The brotherhood is in danger. The secret I have learned cost much to me. Fatally wounded, I could hide here, in the warehouse of my grandfather, in the secret room only to write about a plot against Shadow Order. Latians and Holy Land united, you, who will find this message, warn …"

  The rest could not been decoded; perhaps, his forces had drawn to a close. At last the room arrangement secret came out. But it was difficult to believe that they were constantly climbing through the window there. It was rather intended for sending post birds, than for entrance to the room. Thinking of it, he understood many details were lacking. But it was not so significant.

  “You know the will of the dead adept of Shadow.

  +2 Influence points.

  Current value of points of influence: 577.

  Task offered to you: "Messenger"

  Warn Shadow Order about the plot if they are still alive …

  Reward: unknown.

  Accept? Yes/No.”

  "It seems to get into Shadow Order is impossible. At least, not that place they were earlier. Considering that I’ve found the shrunk skeleton not the corpse, it has passed obviously more than fifteen years since he died.”

  “Thanks, Grrakhkat. I’m glad to have met you. If you need anything, I will always help. And now it’s high time for me to leave your tribe and to take up other matters.” Will gave a wave of his hand in farewell and went to the door.

  “Farewell, Envoy. If you are in these regions again, come. I will always find something for you.” The shaman smiled in reply.

  Chapter 1. A way out of being broke

  Give me the place to stand, and I shall move the earth.

  – Archimedes

  Give me enough money, and I shall move the earth and all the planets with it.

  – An unknown poor man

  Money makes the world go round. That’s the ultimate and unappealable truth. Will Thompson, the older sibling and the only son in the family, had to learn this truth too soon. People that say you can’t buy happiness with money just don’t know where to shop, and, let’s face it, most of the time turn out to be some deadbeat losers. It takes either brute force or money to have power, except brute force takes a back
seat on this one—having money means being able to buy any kind of force these days.

  Financial debt, on account of multiple unsecured loans from various banks and bad credit loan companies—not always legal, and sometimes downright shady—was suffocating both Will and his dad. The purse strings were so tight that they could only afford a candlelight dinner, without the dining part.

  Will’s father, Darius Thompson, was working his fingers to the bone and, for the most part, was away and not able to see much of his family. Will’s mom, a Russian immigrant, abandoned her family when Leah was three, leaving her brother to do all the parenting, which made the siblings very close. Against his father’s wishes, the young man dropped out of high school in pursuit of a better life for his family, and especially his little sister. He had made a crucial decision: he was going to make sure that his sister gets a proper education and pops into this dog-eat-dog world with all guns blazing. She was meant to shine bright, and he was always going to be there for her.

  Will and his dad did everything possible to send Leah to one of the best private boarding schools outside their hometown. With her smarts, she’d have no problem getting an above average GPA good enough for any college. At fourteen, she was a cut above the rest of the kids her age. Being shrewd and savvy made her one of the top students, leaving most of her classmates far behind.

  Will was a strong young man with an athletic build who, by the time he was twenty-four, had already served his country. He had been recruited into an elite Special Ops unit of the US military after some serious health screening, both physical and mental. The enlistment requirements changed in 2035, when the normal mandatory eight year commitment period had changed to five years of mandatory active duty, which meant there was a chance for a rookie to get selected for Special Forces. If there was one thing that Will had in spades, it was a great deal of personality, which he accumulated growing up. By looking in Will’s eye, his detachment commander saw something that others didn’t—an unbending will and determination. People like that are worth their weight in gold, which was why, after proper training, Will had made it onto the Hostage Rescue team.

  The money was good, which gave him some breathing room financially and let him take care of his sister’s tuition payments. Leah, in turn, knowing what price tag her education was coming with both literally and figuratively, was all about her studies. She could not afford to let her old man and brother down.

  It had been almost a year since Will left the service and found new work as a waiter in a fancy restaurant; a job that one of his army friends had hooked him up with. He could have gotten a job in law enforcement, or as a personal bodyguard, but, having spent three years negotiating with terrorists and surviving firefights, he felt it was time to put his military past behind and step off of his dangerous path. For him this could only mean one thing: his relative financial freedom was waving goodbye, promising new debt and hardship. The obscure and unknown was knocking on his door again, until one day he accidentally overheard a conversation in the restaurant he worked at.

  A couple of well-dressed guys of about the same age as Will were paying with Platinum Visa cards, emphasizing their social status and drawing a clear line between them and Will.

  From what he could hear, they were talking about a new VR game scheduled to release in six months. Will would never pay any attention to a VR-based conversation, big whoop! But the phrase “big money”, slipping out of the mouth of one of the speakers, made him immediately reconsider. It’s a good thing they were sitting at the bar, so no one noticed a concerned third-party stare.

  “I’m telling you, it’s legit. You know who my father is, right? I heard what they were talking about, every last word, man. Thank god he didn’t see me, he would have ripped my head clean off.”

  “Ha! He definitely would, your dad is insane!” Both chuckled.

  After that, they lowered their voices. It made it harder to hear them, but Will tried to follow the conversation the best he could.

  “So when is it out?”

  “Well, it’s not production ready yet. It’s in private beta, or something, but once it’s released, hundreds of millions of players from all around the world are going to want to play! Do you even understand what kind of money we’re talking here? This business is skyrocketing! They use real life money to buy virtual swords and costumes. Man, I’m so excited! I don’t even know why I’m telling you this, but just think of all the money we’ve spent on video games. They will buy anything that’s going to help them score extra cool points. Magic potions, epic threads, you name it! Real. Life. Money, bro! Those player auctions have tons of offers!”

  “Yeah, sure, but how is it any different from the games we’re playing right now?”

  “It’s completely different!”

  “I don’t get it…”

  “Everything is for sale in this game! Property, lands, kingdoms... entire empires for Chrissakes! This is the dawn of a new era of VRMMO! You could be the Mayor of a virtual town! But what’s truly awesome is that brand new game AI they’re using. You’ll never guess what that guy that my father was talking to said. He said it’s going to adapt to human behavior. But, hey, I never told you that—it’s like, totally confidential. Man, that’s going to be something else, I’m telling you!”

  “Geez, keep your pants on. It’s a game changer, I got it. There’s just one thing that I don’t get, though—what was the conversation between your dad and that other guy about?”

  “Oh, they were just discussing how they could beat the game. It’s business stuff, but in virtual reality. I didn’t get a whole lot of it, but the numbers they were saying would have blown you out of the water, bro.”

  “That serious, huh?”

  “Will!” someone yelled.

  The young man slowly turned towards the bartender, who was handing him a drink that needed to be served. He was not thinking about the drink, or those two at the bar anymore. His mind was going a million miles an hour. What he had heard was enough to make him understand that he had to get in on this. He knew there was a lot of prep work to be done, but he was beaming.

  It was a great way out of being broke.

  Chapter 2. Tips from a pro

  It’s been six months, and Will has almost lost his sleep. His dad and sister were concerned about his health, but Will insisted that he was fine, and that, soon enough, they would go on a vacation somewhere. Without saying much more, he was keeping his nose to the grindstone. The young man didn’t want to think about what would happen if the plan wasn’t going to work. If it weren’t for Curtis, an old army friend who lent Will quite a sum of money, none of the following would have happened.

  At his other job, working as a night shift security guard at a mall, Will wasted no time: he was studying the gaming world between his rounds. He was no gamer himself, but, if he was taking something seriously, nothing could stand in his way. Lack of knowledge or experience was no exception. He sifted through tons of information learning strategies, character builds, and character classes, memorizing every relevant detail. He didn’t know which of this would be useful in the game he was preparing for, so the task at hand was to learn as much as he possibly could. In reality, things could turn out to be different, which would render his effort useless, but, at least, he was doing something. The information was so abundant that one of the walls in Will’s room was slowly turning into a link chart with thumbtacks and strings attached to them. The scene was so baffling that if anyone was to see it, Will would have had a lot of explaining to do, proving he wasn’t crazy. Thankfully, his home folks were away most of the time—dad was travelling on business a lot, and his sister Leah lived on campus during the school term. Apart from everything else, Will joined several community forums for gaming geeks in a hope to find something useful among copious amounts of various links and comments.

  All that learning made no sense without practice. To fix that, Will was renting a game capsule at one of those specialized gaming centers—gaming
hubs, as they call them—every other day. Those weren’t cheap, but were a necessity, because failure was not an option. This game capsule allowed each player to create only one game character under their account which, in turn, was linked to the capsule’s serial number. Will had no idea who came up with that, but it was frustrating. For the longest time, he could not make up his mind as to which class he should pick for his character. The lady at the reception, named Angela, explained that to help players make a choice, they “offer blank accounts" with preloaded character classes of every kind to choose from. Except, these characters can’t join clans or do quests. This option was recently introduced by a series of developing companies to attract new players. This worked for the noobs as well—what are the chances a player starts anew or even stays in the game in case he doesn’t like his race or class? The abilities for each character were preset by professional gamers to a reasonable limit, so that you could explore your character’s potential prior to making your choice. It was not about clothing, weapons, or skills (you had to go with default settings there), but rather about which character are you—a tank? A healer? Or, maybe, a thief?

  Three months have passed since Will first heard about the game. He opened his eyes coming back to the reality. The snow-white interior of the capsule welcomed him back from the game in its familiar manner. He automatically opened the door and got out. It was chilly outside the capsule. The light from the ceiling, as soft as the music that was playing, coupled with a faint smell of coffee finalized the transition.

  A tanned guy, wearing shorts and a colorful t-shirt, who looked either Japanese or Korean, was quietly talking to Angela at the reception. When he saw Will, he stopped talking and smiled at him, like he was seeing an old friend. Will didn’t know the man, but he definitely saw him before.