The Birth

by Paul Kite

  “Good afternoon, my Lady,” an administrator bowed politely, as soon as Verlain came into the restaurant, “You're expected in one of the rooms.”

  The girl had specifically come about twenty minutes early, as she had wanted to look around the new place, she’d been curious. But her acquaintances had already come, so Verlain had to follow the administrator.

  “Come in,” the dark elf opened the door decorated with carved runes, which perfectly fit into the design of the restaurant. As they were walking, the girl was examining the interior and mentally admiring the work of those who had created and decorated ‘Klaytay’.

  The light in the room was dimmed nearly enough to make it dark, but she saw a large, round table in the center, and five simple, but at the same time quite comfortable, padded chairs around it. Anax was sitting in one of the chairs. He was one of the strongest combat magicians among the players, and was almost level 200, to be more precise, he was level 196. The second figure was a strange creature wearing a spacious, black robe with a hood that completely covered its head.

  “Please, take a seat, Lady Kiera,” Anax said. “And don’t worry,” he continued, seeing the surprise and indignation on her face. “The security for private conversations and secret affairs is the best in ‘Klaytay’. Except, of course, the ones in the specific institutions of the Free Lands, but I wouldn’t like to visit those.”

  “As you wish, Arthur,” the girl sat down on one of the chairs opposite her interlocutor. - “Will you introduce me to your friend?” Verlain asked, trying to hide her surprise, because she had made a request for available information about the character and the system, for some reason, had responded with an Error”, as if he didn’t exist, and that was impossible in the game!

  The man first looked inquiringly at his partner, then, after his nod, began to talk, “Livion, a magician, level 287...”

  “Not exactly a magician,” the creature interrupted him suddenly, in a creaky, completely emotionless voice. “Damned necromancer. The race is a raven.”

  “Raven?” the girl narrowed her eyes thoughtfully–there was something very familiar in that name, she’d heard it somewhere, very long ago.

  “Hm. You seem to know this word, Lady Kiera Cartman?” The creature grinned. “The project “Collapse” was created by your mother, the Duchess of Skanura, five years ago. It was for the consideration of the unified government. ‘Life’ Corporation offered the basis for creating virtual prisons in the world of Noria, which had just begun to develop.

  * * *

  I struck with my sword, the drow blocked it and immediately hit back. I moved slightly to the left, and the enemy's blade passed an inch from my side. And at that moment, I finally managed to hit him from a completely unexpected direction.

  You have inflicted physical damage (+ critical damage) 120 points.

  Excellent! If I land some more hits, especially if they are critical, Urosal will stop the training.

  But this time, luck wasn’t on my side. We again exchanged strikes, and the elf, in some inexplicable manner, conducted a series of successful attacks. The damage I received was bad, so the life bar became red. The protection collar activated, and I was back in the training room.

  I’d spent three days in this damned arena. Fifty fights! This had been the fifty-first. And only today am I finally able to win at least a few fights. But if I take part in one or two more fights, I will lose consciousness from the heap of debuffs I have.

  Urosal gave me the usual set of potions for quick recovery. It was a pity they didn’t remove debuffs. And they negatively influenced my attack speed, HP, endurance and other parameters up until a certain point, after which the character was disconnected, or in my case–just lost consciousness for a good number of hours. But there were also pros–during this time, the system had taken pity on my pain and, in addition to the small, l anticipated characteristic improvements, had given me a pretty interesting achievement–‘Within a step from death’, reducing a bit of the incoming damage. But getting this achievement costs too much. To endure the pain and not die is only good for players who are masochists! And on top of that, to get the first level, it had taken ‘only’ twenty-five instances of me nearly dying. How many will I need for the second one?

  But suddenly, my thoughts were interrupted by a fierce, loud ringing of bells, as if it were the alarm! What kind of new alert does the system have for me now? Oh, that's it!

  At that moment, to the surrounding NPCs, Urosal and several other drow, I looked like a frozen statue. However, I didn’t want to postpone such an opportunity or even somehow miss it. And the NPCs could go to hell!

  Attention!

  You have spent a lot of time training, pursuing your chosen goal. Your path was long and difficult. You’ve paved your way with blood and pain. And the Gods have noticed your zeal! Despite the fact that you are a human, they have decided to reward you with the skills and abilities of the race of the Dark elves, that you’ve studied so hard.

  The class "Shadow" is available for you to choose.

  Accept Refuse?

  Remember, the rejection of the Gods’ gift can lead to irreversible and unpleasant consequences for you.

  Of course, accept!!!

  Choose five class skills from all the ones available to you at the moment.

  Error! Because the slave collar ‘Ansr-run’ is in use, access to skills is denied!

  That was it. All that was left to do was to sigh sorrowfully. But... Some other game system messages appeared. I heard the alarm again.

  You are influenced by the divine power of Vegor, the patron of the Dark elves. The magic of the Gods is stronger than the magic of those who created the slave collar ‘Ansr-run’. Access to characteristics, skills, and specialties is allowed for 10 minutes. The time around you is stopped for that same period.

  And then, for the first time since I’d entered the game, my personal mailbox rang, reporting a received letter.

  Later, no time for that now, I ignored the letter. Although it was very curious, how could I have received it if the mail is inactive? A mistake again?

  First of all, I opened all the skills available to me, thanking in my heart the strange God of the drow with all the words I could offer. I had at least five. Although, up to the fiftieth level, only three skills are given to someone to choose from, when receiving a class. And three skills can be studied later, if someone agrees to become your teacher, as it is a difficult and tedious business for both. One more thing, how has Vegor ( for whom the highest-rank AI in the pyramid is responsible for) not only been able to turn off the collar for some time, but also change the game system itself? What for? And why such attention to me only? Isn’t it easier to disconnect me from the game? Or is this what he can’t do? And if so, why? I have only questions, and it doesn’t matter whether they are the correct ones or not, there will still be no answers!

  ‘Vampirism’-I'll take it immediately! And I don't care that it's an active skill, and if I get free, it will be difficult to modify it, because only the Shadow class has this opportunity. “Will the drow teach me?” is a rhetorical question. I doubt it, most likely, they will begin the hunt.

  I take ‘Double strike’ without hesitation.

  ‘Paired weapons’ will be useful to me. From now on, I'll have a chance, if Urosal allows it, to use two blades in the arena. I think he'll agree to let me.

  Basically, I don't need ‘Shadow’, ‘Spurt’, or ‘Invisibility’. Only a drow can teach me how to use ‘Shadow’. But, I can find teachers almost anywhere to help me master ‘Spurt’ and ‘Invisibility.’ These are standard skills for the shadow classes. By the way, Shadow is a very interesting skill that allows you to become a shadow of the enemy, regardless of his level, to be an exact copy of them, while not losing your own skills and abilities. I should think it over. I'll postpone the decision for a while. I have some time to reflect on it.

  I could have used “Throwing knives and daggers” earlier, but I don't need it
right now. So, what else do I have?

  ‘‘Silent death’ is the very first stab in the enemy's back. If he hasn’t noticed you, it deals critical damage, for the amount of 200% to 400%, depending on the level of the skill. This applies to any blades available to you.’ This description makes me happy. None of the shadow classes has such a skill, as far as I remember. There are similar ones, but they have less critical damage. I'll mark it down for myself, if there's nothing more worthwhile.

  ‘Smoke’ is a skill associated with alchemy. It opens the possibility of creating various smoke bombs, ranging from simple, which interfere with someone’s vision, to complex ones, the smoke of which will apply poison debuffs.

  ‘Bleeding’ is disgusting, and so is ‘Poisoning.’ Both skills are passive. The first affects the enemy and he slowly loses HP. ‘Bleeding’ can be stopped by using a special flask, if the player has time to drink it during the battle, or he needs to use the magic of complete purification. ‘Poisoning’ acts on the same principle as ‘Bleeding,’ only the poisons are applied to the blade of the weapon. I choose ‘Bleeding.’

  That's it, I don't have any more available skills. Coming back to ‘Shadow’ and ‘Silent death.’ Which is better? For the future? ‘Shadow’ clearly outweighs the other on my imaginary scales.

  Well, what are my characteristics now?

  Name: Kraven

  Level: 2

  Race: human

  Class: Shadow

  Clan: none

  Guild: none

  The characteristics of the character:

  Basic:

  Power-10

  Dexterity-16

  Intelligence-20

  Secondary:

  Life-100

  Endurance-160

  Mana-20

  Free points for distribution: 0

  Skills: none

  Class skills: Vampirism–1 Double strike–1, Paired Weapons–1, Bleeding–1, Shadow–1

  Specialties: none

  Achievements: Within a step from death-1

  Sensitivity: 70%

  It was a good achievement for a level two, wasn't it? Especially when you consider the fact that not long ago my strength had been 4, agility had been 7, and intelligence had had only 1 point. As I have already mentioned, the system improved a player's characteristics at its discretion. And I had been jumping, running and fighting a lot, these past three days.

  But now my passive class skills would improve with every training session in which I acted as a punching bag. If I understood the principle behind the operation of the educational platform correctly, I wasn’t going to get the level and all the skills of my opponent after entering the arena, well, except for the usual ones.

  Then I remembered the letter. But as soon as I opened my mail and the "Inbox" tab, it closed by itself, and I was abruptly thrown back into the virtual world. I hadn’t had the time to read it or recognize the name of the addressee; I only managed to see the subject of the letter, consisting of a single phrase: “I'm Sorry.” Who was the letter from?

  “Kraven, Kraven!” Urosal was sitting opposite me and trying to catch my attention, “Your rest is over, it's time to go back into the arena.”

  “With pleasure!” I smiled wryly.

  I needed more training and upgrades for my skills and levels! I would somehow endure the pain, I’d begun to get used to it a little.

  “Can I have one more sword?” I managed to puzzle the dark elf with the sudden question.

  The drow looked at me, confused, as if he were thinking, What sword? What is this man up to?

  Yesterday, before going to bed, he’d pestered me with some strange questions about my past life, family, abilities, and skills. But he’d had to leave because he hadn't gotten the answers to his questions. To be more precise, he didn’t get the answers he’d hoped for. I never understood why he needed that information.

  And now I’d begun to change, and even asked a second sword and grinned, knowing perfectly well what was waiting for me in the arena. Of course, the drow was puzzled.

  * * *

  “Master!” In the evening of the fourth day since the beginning of the execution of Hontar’s order, Urosal rushed into his teacher’s bedroom, interrupting his supper before going to bed. “Master! I’ve found something!” The principal began to talk excitedly about the man named Kraven.

  The dark elf could hardly understand anything. The young drow hurried to share what he had seen. Although he wasn’t really young, being about two hundred years old.

  “Once again, please. I will help you,” Hontar snapped his fingers, drawing the drow’s attention, as he was still mumbling something hurriedly. “Has he won five times in a row?”

  “Yes, master! I’d decided to train only younger principles in the last five fights. And the man dealt with them without any effort. Moreover, yesterday, he demanded a second sword, although I didn’t give it any special importance. And today, he fought with a pair of blades all day. And I hadn’t noticed at first that his training level was much higher than that of those against whom I’d sent him, in spite of the number of his losses in the training arena. But that’s impossible!”

  “So, he is a noble, but for some reason, he’s trying to hide it,” Master Hontar said thoughtfully.” What’re you up to, Zorkhan? Why do you need this strange man?”

  Chapter 8

  A s soon as I woke up, my breakfast was brought to me. It was not brought by a slave, as usual, but, for some reason, by Urosal himself, instead. Most likely, he would again begin to ask questions about my past. If I only had this very past he kept asking me about. I'm a player, not an NPC! I don’t know my story, even if it is interesting and fascinating, as much as all the game characters’ stories. I know, my appearance appears to be something unusual, but, alas… I will probably never learn about it. I haven’t lost my mind enough yet, to tell them that I am a player!

  “Eat quickly and follow me. Master Hontar wants to see you,” Urosal hurried me.

  Wow! What does he want? If the senior principle hasn’t succeeded, then the teacher will deal with me personally, and maybe it will involve more than just talking? However, physical torture is not necessary at all, as I have a collar.

  “I'm not going anywhere!” I jumped up, throwing the plates aside. “Try to force me!”

  Revealing a blade, Urosal jumped away from me to the door. He has excellent reflexes! Still, how could an unarmed slave be dangerous?

  “You will go,” the drow hissed irritably. “Master’s orders are not disobeyed.” The drow put his sword in its sheath irritably and took out the collar’s key.

  The word-command was spoken and I was twisted by wild, unbearable pain.

  “Bastards!” I spat out blood, crouching on the floor.

  “Stay like that for five minutes,” the drow grinned. “I think you’ll like it.”

  I didn’t know what kind of system it was, but the collar did not let me lose consciousness. And if for the first few minutes I writhed in pain, gritting my teeth, then I almost howled with the ever-increasing, terrible sensations that came after. My whole body seemed to be tearing apart. And then I felt the fire, occasionally replaced by a terrible cold.

  Five minutes? Oh no! I suffered and suffered for ages!

  Suddenly, everything stopped. My breathing was hard and loud. I felt like a burned, then iced and shredded corpse. But I knew that I was safe and sound. After all, this was just a game, just virtual reality.

  A game?! What are these NPCs doing? They shouldn’t be so cruel. Okay, I do not have the opportunities of normal players–to press the ‘logout’ or to request help, but did the developers program all this during the creation of the game? Or is it the initiative of AIs, ruling the world of Noria? Of their desire to make the game world more real, alive and real. I don’t like all this! Some things that I knew about my father’s game have changed beyond recognition.

  “Again?” The drow leaned over me.

  “No,” I whispered. “Let’s go
to the Master.”

  I got up with difficulty and followed Urosal.

  The dark elf led me to a large, spacious office. Hontar sat on an armchair by the wide, high window and was reading a book thoughtfully.

  “Master!” the senior principle bowed slightly and let me come in.

  Hontar put the book on the windowsill and came up to him.

  “The key,” he demanded. “Now, leave us. If I need you, I'll call for you.”

  When the young drow left, the master came close to me and, holding the collar key right in front of my eyes, said, “You know what this is, human?”

  “Yes!” I answered as calmly as possible. “The key to the Ansr-run, my collar.”

  “Oh! You even know what this thing is called. What else do you know about the collar and its functions?” The drow narrowed his eyes. “Except what you have experienced for yourself. Do you know that I can just order you to die?”

  He can?! And the system hadn’t told me this when the collar was put on me! Is this a new function of the Ansr-run? Since when have the things in game started having such features?

  “I want to know who you are!” the drow growled out, grabbing my throat with his free hand.

  “Master,” the cabinet door suddenly opened, and an excited Urosal appeared on the doorstep, “Zorkhan's back!”

  “Erkh-vun! Sirvah ze hior tial mirs kater! Sarht garsh!” Hontar threw me aside like a rag doll, “Where is he now?”

  “He's looking for you, master. As soon as he appeared in Noar-Rahor, he asked about Kraven, and someone told him that you'd taken him away.” The drow retreated a few steps back, as he didn't want to feel the wrath of his teacher, “But he doesn't know where you are.”

  “Oll larkan ahk! How annoying!” Hontar angrily hit the wall (a stone wall!) leaving a decent dent in it. “If he gets near, try to distract him as much as you can.”