Only the fanatics know the whole truth. I did not know anything. I was so lazy that even the bits of information about Bastiongrad seemed unnecessary, and the colorful booklet that I held in my hands caused me nausea. My head was full. All my thoughts were directed to the lost continent, the Silver Legend and divine hell. I was not very interested in what the glorious narrow stone streets of an ancient city were, and that every third window was of a beautiful stained-glass.
And there was no time to look around - following Malice, I swept through a series of majestic museum halls, paying no attention to the exhibits and trying not to touch the ancient giants propping up the high ceilings. Glory to the gods, they were only statues.
"Right here," Malice said raspy voice.
“What should I do?” I inquired.
“Nothing. Just drop the coins and seeds in her hem, and then kiss her right hand. Her right hand, not the other.”
“I am not dumb.”
“Sorry, protocol. There were already cases. Players are different, Ros. Some are so ... amazing in nature that I begin to consider myself one of the wisest inhabitants of Valdira. And I am not talking about characteristics of the character.”
“Clear .... So, drop the seeds and coins into the hem.”
“Without the bag. Mixed. You counted it, right? Is there everything correct? Not a single coin can be unaccounted for!”
“Yes, I counted four times already!”
"Then go."
"Okay," I answered, and stepped toward the translucent statue of a greenish strange stone.
A girl. Young, not even twenty, judging by the cleverly carved smiling face. The statue was of a man's height, sitting Turkish style on a small square elevation pedestal, wearing a long skirt with a rich gilt fringe carelessly thrown over her clearly visible legs. The left hand was brought to her mouth, and in her fingers was a black gleaming pebble carved in the form of a seed - an exact copy of what we brought with us from the field of large sunflowers. The right hand was directed forwards, the index finger pointing to something. In her ear, gold earring gleamed in the form of a horseshoe.”
Lifting the canvas bag, I cautiously poured the sunflower seeds and gold coins mixed together into the girl’s skirt. I waited a second, and then bent down and kissed the fingers of her right hand. I stepped back.
After a second the game system notified me, quite inconspicuously, that I received two percent of mana for eternity. And with no explanation or warning. If I had not expected something this, I might not have noticed the increase.
"It worked," I told Malice.
“Good.”
“And if I had not gone through the blue portal on the field with sunflowers before?”
"It would not work."
“And how did you know about this connection? About the chain of bonuses?”
“Experience, you can say. A scrap here, a fragment there, a series of tests and a ton of optimism. The secret was obtained in due time by the Architects. They first learned about it. Well, shall we go on? Does your schedule allow?”
“Yes,” I nodded. “For the sake of this business, I am ready. But still, in an hour's time, I will be busy doing other things. Do not think me completely insolent - just have some things that are really important.”
“Got it. Well ... that is normal. I do not have more than ninety-three minutes left.”
“And then?”
“And then I have some business. Come on.”
“Come on. By the way, who is this girl?”
“A legend. A mercenary. It is a long story soaked with tragedy. A mercenary who agreed to defend approaches to the southern gate for a fee of gold coins and seeds. She sat with her legs crossed, eating seeds from her native land, and scorched the enemies in tens of hundreds. Battle magic. She died. And still, her name is unknown. Books say that if you stand in front of the statue and pronounce her name, something will happen .... And what exactly is unknown. But maybe it’ll be something good. Or maybe not.... It's Valdira. You cannot guess in advance.”
“Oka-a-a-ay,” I said. “And why not have Orbit try, for example?”
“Do you think you're the only one who is so clever? Everyone is interested in what the statue of the girl wizard would give! The Baroness asked him in a family way. Others tried. We offered him things. Starting with a golden magic fish, and then all sorts of things in a row! And the other clan members did the same. But the bald bastard was not interested, you see.”
“Not a fact that he would have managed.”
“It is not a fact. But he often does manage. He just rarely agrees.”
"Does he like magic goldfish? For breakfast?”
“For his wall! He collected them. Fish, relatively simple ones to extremely rare ones, hanging on the walls of the rows of his aquariums. But the bald guy got sick of it, and he let them all go! That is, he took and threw away a couple of dozen suitcases full of money! Oh…. Listen, Ros, are you at least okay?”
“In terms of what?”
“Well, Orbit keeps hanging with you and your company. Even got some animals. Story of the day! He even talks to his sister now.”
“We are normal!” I snapped. Then I thought for a while and added, "Almost."
But the wizard did not listen to me. Walking beside me, he muttered:
“Could there have been a plan with the goldfish? Hardly! I am all puzzled. There were a lot of fish. Hanging there and gathering dust. I mean, I do not care…
"Hey," I said, but Malice fell into a trance, and did not hear me, continuing to mumble.
“There were a lot of fish. On December 31st, he released them all at once, if you can call the process of throwing a huge glass pot swarming with goldfish a release. He threw them from a giant catapult right into the sea. Many of the fish were probably surprised.”
"Hey," I repeated.
“And he let them out on a day when hundreds of red sleights flew through the sky, when Amreetas clad in red raincoats and hats shed gifts from bottomless bags. Everyone raised their hands, smiled, and received two or three gifts— a trifle, but it was pleasant. A tradition. And then the fish flew into the ocean.”
"Oh," I said, sinking to the floor of the museum.
"It's just one case,” Malice looked at me. “But Santa's sleigh and the bottomless bags with gifts were never found again.... Or they were found later, no one told us. So I think ... perhaps that was related?”
"Did the Amreetas then ... take off?” I asked.
“Yeah. When the sleigh suddenly disappeared from under their asses .... By the way! The sledges were harnessed by a dozen flying deer! Which, in the world Valdira, were not found again ... in the usual locations, anyway.”
"If only in the Devil's Zoo."
“Yeah. But it was a coincidence, probably, yes?”
“Probably.”
“That's what I think .... but you’re aware, of course, that goldfishes here have a good share of divine magic?”
“Maybe Orbit was interested in exactly what the angels who had fallen from the sky would say if they lost their sleigh,” I shrugged my shoulders. “Since the fishes have divine magic, and the sleigh uses divine magic to fly. I do not know.”
“So ask Orbit,” said Malice, stopping abruptly.
“What the angels who fell from the sky said? You already seem to know.”
“Well, no. Ask about the stone girl,” the wizard said, and I immediately realized something.
That is what one of the coolest war wizards in the world of Valdira really wants to know. That is what he wants to find out - what exactly does the statue of the girl give? The options cannot be counted, but since she was a sorceress, since she already gives one bonus tied to magic casting, her name may give something even more special, something almost unique - in the event that no one else knows about the secret. Or an extremely limited number of persons.
“If I somehow learn the secret by myself, I will share it with you,” I promised, after a brief reflection.
&nbs
p; “Come on, Ros. No offense, okay? I told you about our bald genius. I repeat - he is attached to you guys, he is in it with you. He helps you out, right? So ask him as a friend. And do not look at me like that! I am not trying to find out secrets. Ask him for help. No one will be insulted.”
“I am looking at you normally,” I said. “Anger, are you still living with anything else? Besides magic?”
“What are you talking about?”
“The tales you spin. About New Year, related to magic. You speak of yourself as a mage, but you know the legend about the deceased military sorceress-girl with her sunflower seeds. You are angry about the crystal pots with mana that Whisper has. Secrets you want to learn are not personal, but only those that are related to magic. You ask Orbit about these secrets - associated with mana, magic and mages.”
“You are so attentive…”
“Once I lived in a place where there were a lot of books, but I could not read all of them— they were painfully mind-breaking And I had to reread every sentence. You know - it turned out that I missed a lot when I read only to kill time. So now, I am trying to listen carefully. I do not like to diagnose people. And I look at you with respect - it is clear to me why the Baroness behaves this way to you, and why she was so surprised and enraged when your spell failed. There, in the Outland. I promise - if by some miracle I learn a clue about this girl, then I will tell you. But I will not ask Orbit.”
“Are you feeling greedy?”
“Yes,” I answered directly. “But not of the resources of the elf. You want too much from him. Help with this, help with that, unravel this and that. I would have long ago started to send you away and say that I am not “int-terested.” He began to do it. And not because he is a freak. Because you screwed him. If a person has a glimpse of genius - you need to download it as soon as you can. Right? You tell your Baroness - if she does not stop picking on her brother and does not forbid others to do so, very soon he will send her to hell too. Or he will lead the analytical department of the Architects, for whom he will develop a brilliant plan "How to erase the Sleepless from Valdira's face in two nights and one quarter of an hour.”
“You’re insane…”
“Uh-huh,” I nodded. “I have started to speak. And before, I was silent and only looked. Malice, have you grown up in a normal family? I do not need your address. Just say - in normal or not?”
“Yes. Only my mother was a little tough, but so what?”
“Me too. I cannot hide who I am from the Sleepless. So ... Papa wanted a lot from me. So much, that the best days for me were those when my father was away at sea. Remember, and pass it to the Baroness— when people demand too much from you, you go against them. Out of spite. Against them. Just leave Orbit alone. And do not send anyone to talk to him. Otherwise you'll be playing with the coming of Armageddon. What were you like as a child? Do you think that the elf will not understand who is actually asking him to reveal the secret of the sunflower seeds?”
“You really are insane.”
“So now we’ve sorted out the matter of the elf. Now about this meeting and the agreement - let the Baroness come. I will tell her myself. But you can also work as a transmitter between us.”
“Hell no! I will curse you with the spell of the Ancients!”
"She knows my city. As well as the old address. Let the bird fly overseas to see me. But before that, I will have her give me a list of her contacts, and the date of her arrival. And I will call her. And get some lawyers. As for the fee — it will work out, but I like to round up, not down, and I always walk big. But you'll tell her everything later. We still need to look somewhere else, do not we, to raise my mana?”
“Let's go. See how I am helping you? Telling you secrets.”
"I see," I agreed. ”Malice, and if I were not Great Navigator ... would you spend time on me now?"
“Hmm …"
"We would not even be acquainted now," I summed up. "You just follow the orders of the harsh mummy leader, who kicked you in the magic ass and sent you to help the nagging Rosgard, incidentally telling you to bring the news about our meeting. You're like Darth Vader sent by Emperor Palpatine to confuse my young Padawan mind.”
“You are really, really insane!”
“Right. You brought me here… let’s go already.”
"Come on ... hell ... do not call me Darth Vader anymore! But that about the Baroness… it's funny .... Say something else about her …"
“Her breasts are small …."
“Huh?”
“Well, you asked me to say something, and I did. Where will we raise the mana next?”
“Here's the scroll. What, really, in real life is her breasts are small?”
“Uh, yes. Where are we going?”
“H-h-a-a-a…”
“There is no such place.”
“Smoking Crater. Smokrat, as we say.”
“Got it. I am going.
“And the intelligence is accurate?”
"About Smokrat?"
“No, no, what's the use of Smokrat? I am asking you about …."
The flash cut off the ending of Malice’s phrase and carried me away. But I already knew what he wanted to clarify. If there was only enough to talk about…
The next round our journey took us to the edge of an abyss, which was filled with thick, greenish-blue smoke or steam. The diameter of the crater reached two kilometers. It was almost round in shape, and along the edges were huge hillocks of earth, rock, and debris the size of a house. The depth of the crater was over three kilometers.
Although calling this place a crater was somewhat erroneous. Nothing had fallen here from heaven. Not the slightest pebble had collapsed. In times immemorial there was a monstrous explosion. The cataclysm was so terrible that all the towns and villages in the district were destroyed at a distance of one hundred kilometers, and the entire forest fell. The rivers changed, the streams dried up and hid under the earth.
What had exploded?
It happened a long time ago, according to legend— the incident happened at a depth of thirteen kilometers, a level that was now flooded, and which had then belonged to the famous alchemist Tainoborod, who had perished there with an army of assistants, equipment, a library, a collection of ingredients, and much more.
We had not yet gotten to the bottom. Now, the Smoking Crater is the largest place for production of a wide variety of elixirs in Valdira, if you do not take into account the race of achilots and their underwater settlements. Hundreds of alchemists of different ranks lived in Smokrat. Here, everything was sold and loaded into deep wagons, or into the bags on the backs of huge animals.
Overall, Smokrat is the largest of the land-based points of alchemical production. And also the largest in terms of the number of teachers working in this field.
That is, for Brave Svetlushka, this is a most sacred and most important place. If he wants to grow to the max in his chosen profession, then this place cannot be avoided.
The players bought licenses from local authorities, armed themselves with picks, hammers, chisels, lamps and other equipment. And they began to dig. And they would come across various objects— remains, clothes, weapons, incomprehensible crystals, scrolls with incantations or recipes, strange contraptions.
They can find rare and valuable things — like, for example, the crystal pot of mana. But for the most part they are various trifles that allow you to earn the cost price.
And it is impossible to blow up things here— you almost cannot use magic, since the authorities do not want explosions or sizzling acid streams under their feet. And the items could get damaged. Therefore, you have to dig in the old fashioned way.
You can talk a lot about Smokrat. A whole volume can be written about this unusual place. Particularly distinguished is the fact that, according to legend, immediately after the monstrous explosion happened, the fabric of the world itself broke open some demonic gates. Now they had to be constantly kept shut with magic. But they could not be completely c
losed, and sometimes, very terrible creatures broke through them. So life here was not dull.
And all were waiting with bated breath for when the most stubborn of the diggers would reach the depths where the laboratories of Tainoborod once existed.
These thoughts flashed through my mind on the way up, not down - up a giant rod of polished copper, rising from the crater floor about three hundred meters. To get to it, it was first necessary to descend into the crater in one of the creaking, wooden cages to a depth of three kilometers. Then we walked along a narrow stone bridge to the base of the lightning rod, stepping among a lot of wires, coils, lenses, crystals and other good. Workers and alchemists were busy everywhere. Here we paid twenty gold rubles - for the ride in the next elevator. And we were raised to the heights of three thousand three hundred and thirty-three meters, thirty-three centimeters and three millimeters .... Yep. Here, when the cart was level, Malice gestured to a thick wall portion of the rod. On the studded copper could be seen two deep melted handprints.
“Come on, suicide bomber,” sighed Malice, and went to the very edge of the lift, fenced in only on the side. The opposite side was completely open… “Remember the scroll. And I will see you in the evening.”
- Aha - I nodded, stepped forward resolutely and put my hands in the cool copper.
Attention!
This action is irreversible!
Are you sure?
Yes/No
I am sure ...
SH-SH-SH-R-R-A-A-AHHH!
As soon as the blinding white flash dissipated, I found that I was looking at the platform of the lift from a distance of about twenty meters, and that the distance was increasing. Yes, I had been struck by lightning. And yes, I was thrown back. I was falling three more kilometers, three hundred and thirty-three meters and so on .... A worriedly flashing scale showed that I had taken exactly three hits of life.
The message indicated that I was from the unlucky category- I added one percent of mana for good, and forever took away three percent of life. Bad luck…
The Way of the Clan 7 Page 23