Learning progress: You have reached teacher 11 of 12 (+2 optional teachers)
“Welcome, recruit,” the old man said, and the space turned into a training range, as so many times before. “I will teach you how to use the armor. Now harken to my wisdom…”
The class armor turned out to be a rather curious thing. First, an additional button appeared in the character attributes; clicking on it enabled me to set properties for helmet and cloak: it was possible to make them invisible to others and practically weightless for me. For example, even with a closed visor the player could easily use elixirs and food without having to be exposed to ambient dangers. Once the visor was down, an additional green outline of my character appeared. My left hand was glowing red. Absence of the hand, and therefore the glove, made the armor incomplete. Leaving the visor down, I adjusted the helmet, making it invisible, and returned to the game world: the armor teacher categorically refused to talk about any topics not related to armor.
However, I managed to get him to talk a little. Even though class armor is the player’s only clothes, it can be and even needs to be renewed whenever possible. There were over twenty armor sets for Paladins alone, from the initial one provided before sending one to the Academy, to Charleston armor – he was one of the greatest armor makers of the modern era. The teacher didn’t even bother mentioning the cost of this armor, just hinted that all the money I had currently would not buy me even the privilege of making an appointment to talk to that master.
However, there were some variations: less famous armor smiths also could make either complete sets or individual plates, providing protection against various type of damage. Some craftsmen put antigravity devices on their armor that would enable you to fly sometimes, but one enhancement particularly popular among players was inertia neutralizers: they made it possible to survive even if you fell off a skyscraper. The operating principle was simple: if a player with energy defense was falling on the ground, for example, from a great height, the force of impact would be distributed and transformed into an impulse dissipated on the other side of the shield, protecting the player from damage and preventing him from being squished flat. Inertia neutralizers, just like the armor itself, came in different types and needed to be continuously improved, because as soon as stagnation occurs the player would not be protected anymore.
“I have a question.” Even though training with the teacher lasted only a moment, by the time I returned to the Academy and looked around, the battle was over. Sakhray was stretching, as always; Dolgunata was shaking off the grass that had stuck to her dress, and the defenders of the training location were dead‒ to reappear in an hour. “Before we proceed to the last of the mandatory teachers, I would like to find a local trader. I am sure there is one in the wastelands somewhere. I need to buy some elixirs.”
“That’s a reasonable thought, only there’s one thing‒ we’ll need to fight for the trader. We have a mixed group, so everyone will attack us: Lights, Darks, Neutrals… Are you prepared for that?”
“As far as I see it, we don’t have a choice‒ without the elixirs I can’t really do much after the next teacher in the Academy.”
Nata didn’t ask why in hell I was planning to stay in the Academy after finishing the training with the last mandatory teacher: she was thinking again as to whether she’d be able to beat the necromancer or not. What were Zangar’s advantages? First of all, his speed and physical qualities. In this respect he exceeded a normal human by several times. The presence of his artifact used as a weapon‒ his attack ability must surely be leveled up to the point where he could pierce my 2nd level defense with one blow. His necromancer abilities that eat through the shield like rust. The presence of Marinar, who would support her partner to the last. Extreme experience: fights that he had won while he was still just a minion. By all accounts, it would not be a good idea to tackle Zangar, but for one thing: I have a case open on him. There was no point pronouncing him guilty and sentencing him to death: Dolgunata’s example showed that if there is not a force capable of executing the sentence, it was a stupid one to begin with. We needed to think up something new, something that would enable us to best the necromancer. For example, he could be deemed guilty and the punishment within the Academy would be taking away his speed. Or the abilities he received there. Then it would be worth risking it. But still, first of all I needed to clarify one issue...
“Nata, I have another question. The fact that you are helping me now – is this something that Zangar requested, or no? I stared the girl in the eye. “If not, call the Game to be your witness that you are either acting of your own free will or following Archibald’s orders to complete some task he gave you of which you never told me. It’s important for me to know that nothing ties you to the necromancer."
“The more I know you, the more I understand why the teacher was interested in you,” Dolgunata smiled. “You are right: I am fulfilling a task from Archibald. As for you, I had special instructions. I have nothing to do with Zangar, his plans and quests; on the contrary, I’d be happy to screw over this three hundred-year-old upstart. May the Game kill me if I am not saying the truth.” For an instant a bright outline appeared around the druid, confirming that the girl was telling the truth.
It took us about twenty minutes to reach the trader, avoiding unneeded encounters. There were some groups of players we saw from time to time, but Sakhray and Dolgunata changed direction sharply and kept moving without a stop. I hung on to the druid’s neck and thought of one thing only: for this crazy run to be over soon. Despite the protection, the sensation of constant jolting was hard on me. Because I was clinging to Sakhray’s body, I missed the point of arrival. I just felt at some point that the jolts had stopped and I was lying on the ground, while a massive fight was underway just a couple of meters off. The druid had run at full tilt into a group of riders on the backs of green reptiles, dealing fear and chaos all around. Dolgunata made the entangling plants grow again, and that’s when I joined Sakhray, hitting right and left with my artifact. The reptilians’ teeth and the blows of the riders’ spears helplessly slid off my protection, only increasing the great drive of the battle. I was enjoying the feeling of the killing! I liked looking at the reptiles’ heads turning into bloody mess, at the riders torn limb from limb, at my enemies stomped by their own as they were falling… Fear, chaos, terror… Even though I was using my attack ability liberally, the Energy didn’t drop even a little. Experience started flowing like a river, and by the time I was out of breath and put my hands on my knees, trying to get it back, not a single enemy was left around. They had all left this world, having showered me with five additional levels.
“W‒what do you need?” squeaked a little leprechaun who looked exactly like Teart. Clutching the ground, the trader was afraid even to breathe.
“Goods. Amulets. Things!” I waved my hand wildly, still unable to calm down. The adrenalin was rushing in my veins and instead of calmly continuing the dialogue it made me want to jump, run and fly.
“But you are not Light ones…,” the leprechaun started, when the spikes of my Book of Knowledge flashed right under his nose.
“Are we now Light enough?” I asked menacingly of the trader, who swallowed, and then his face broke into a broad smile:
“How could I not notice right away?! Welcome to the shop of Tardal the Restless!”
The space around us habitually faded to turn into a small room stacked with different shelves. The leprechaun, wearing green velvet, took his place behind the counter and gave a surprised whistle: within the shop he had access to information on the visitors’ available funds.
“In what could I interest such esteemed customers?” The trader was just about dancing with impatience, wanting to pocket my savings as fast as possible.
“Double extender of personal inventory, three hundred Energy elixirs.” I got down to business right away. Casting a look at Dolgunata, I added: “For each of us. I need an amulet for protection against mental attack,
scrolls with curses, slowdowns and other heart‒warming functional things that would make it possible to beat a strong opponent. We need items that enhance protection, attack and level of available Energy. We need an Energy accumulator for Dark ones. We need plates for the armor to counteract a necromancer’s abilities. We need scrolls or objects that would burn up the enemy’s Energy‒ I am sure there must be something like that. Now tell me, what of the above do you have?”
With each word the leprechaun’s eyes became bigger and bigger, as if the objects I had named were as rare as Hermes’ flying sandals or Thor’s hammer. Swallowing convulsively, the leprechaun squeaked:
“It’s not allowed in the Academy…”
“But right now we are not in the Academy, are we?” Dolgunata came to my aid. “In addition to Yaropolk’s list, we would like to have twenty, and better thirty, Molotov cocktails, amulets for viscous space, a source of Light, time traps and Black Death.”
The trader blanched:
“Black Death is prohibited! Using it is punished by the Game!”
“I know. That’s exactly why we need it!”
“Yari doesn’t have enough granises for all of that.” The trader wasn’t about to give up, when Sakhray interjected:
“Even if we were to pool our funds?”
I looked at the druid. So that meant that not only did Dolgunata have a certain stash of granises, but her brother was also‒to put it mildly‒ not so very poor by the terms of NPCs!
“I don’t have Black Death,” the leprechaun looked really pitiful. His ears drooped, his face turned grey, and even his top hat sagged, indicating extreme astonishment.
“We could take a ‘Widow’s Kiss’ instead,” Dolgunata suggested. I didn’t know any of these names, so I decided to trust the druid’s experience in killing strong opponents. Archibald’s personal training must be worth something. May he rot in hell, blasted pussy.
“Yes!” as soon as we suggested an alternative, the trader beamed again. “’Widow’s Kiss’ should work just fine! As it happens, well, entirely by chance of course, I just have one! Well, let me think… Here’s what I can suggest…
We bargained for a long time; Sakhray showed a most amazing affinity for that. The druid fought for each hundredth of a granis, looking over the offered items with the thoroughness of an incorruptible quality inspector. Finally we agreed on fourteen granises and a half – Sakhray paid four of those. As soon as the granises disappeared into the cash box, the space around us shimmered and we were in the midst of the reptilians we had just recently killed, the trader’s protectors. The only advantage of our current situation was that they sort of stopped noticing us. After we gained access to the trader we acquired a form of immunity to them: they didn’t care about us anymore.
“This is for you.” Dolgunata handed me five bottles of Molotov. “Careful, there’s napalm inside. Even though Zangar will have a shield, it’s unlikely that he received temperature regulation at the Academy. I’ll do the main hit, but if I am killed start throwing those at him yourself. Put the amulets on right away‒ oh, and the accumulator as well: you need to get used to working with altered parameters. We have the last teacher coming up soon; stay with him for a few years, learn to transfer Energy. Will you put the armor plates on yourself, or do you need help?”
“No, I can do it, if I figure out how they work,” I nodded, attaching additional protection against both physical and magical damage. From now on even if someone were to pierce my shield they’d have a run for their money trying to get through the armor. That was a decided advantage.
In general, the visit to the trader left me in a state of euphoria. The amulets I bought enhanced defense and attack properties of the artifact by five units and the level of Energy soared to unprecedented heights: 500 units. According to the druid, the amulet the trader sold us was too simple, but there was no way he could have had a different one: it’s mostly the players themselves that would be selling stuff like that. So we got one of the cheapest and most common ones. There were no scrolls with curses – things like that simply did not exist; however, we bought two Dark Will Wands each carrying five charges. Each charge would reduce the enemy’s Energy level by 20%, ignoring any armor, so Zangar would get two respawns guaranteed. As for the Black Death…
“It’s a banned scroll,” Dolgunata clarified. “It enables you to destroy, through one respawn, either ten percent of your opponent’s levels or 10 levels if your opponent’s level is less than a hundred. The one who uses the scroll will also be sent to respawn and lose either five percent of his levels, or five levels. Black Death is also called the weapon of last resort... When you have nothing to lose, you hang this thing on your enemy and at the first respawn he drops quite a few levels. The Widow’s Kiss works according to a similar principle, only instead of ten percent it eats up only four levels from the enemy and two from the one who activates the scroll. It’s one of the favorite methods of headhunters when they are given a task to eliminate someone. Don’t worry, Sakhray will work on activation. It’s not a problem for him: he is initiated. While Zangar is not. That’s what we can and must use. The most important thing is to drive the necromancer down to the 4th level. That’s exactly why we need viscous space amulets and time traps. There’s no other way to best him.”
“What do you think‒ has Zangar already visited the trader?” I asked Nata. “If he’s been here, he must have also bought lots of useful stuff.”
“Hm…” Dolgunata went still for a moment. “That’s a good question! You are known for those, aren’t you…? I have no idea… We found this trader when we were running to save Marinar, so we didn’t stop. Whether Zangar stopped here on the way back...”
“Ok, let’s ask at the source. Sir,” I turned to the leprechaun, who had lost all interest in us. “Could you alleviate my doubts‒ did one Zangar, a necromancer, come to shop with you?”
There was a pause. While a lot of stunned eyes were staring at me‒ from Dolgunata and Sakhray to the leprechaun and the reptiles and their riders, who suddenly noticed my presence and were staring in surprise like I was the 8th Wonder of the World. Judging from the reaction, my question had been really inappropriate.
“Yari…,” Dolgunata started, but then the leprechaun interrupted her:
“How could you?! How could you think that I would tell anyone who comes to me and what they buy?! It’s one of the most closely guarded…”
“Two granises,” there was nothing I could do rather than insist. As soon as I stated the price, the trader choked on his own drool. “Two granises for simple information as to whether Zangar visited you or not. Another two when you tell us what he bought. All in all, four granises, basically, just so. From the kindness of my heart. So, I’ll repeat the question – did Zangar, a necromancer, come shopping here and what did he buy?”
“Actually, in the main world that’s a punishable offense,” Dolgunata grumbled, as she was studying the list of Zangar’s purchases. For the sake of four granises the leprechaun gave some ground and asked us to help him to deal with the cash register. He suspected that it was chewing up receipts. Silently swallowing the information, that, as it turned out, even the traders in the Game had cash registers, we inspected the device, and, while the leprechaun was demonstratively looking at his goods, we looked through the list of purchases over the last few days. “This is prohibited!”
“You keep teasing me about my lack of knowledge about the Game, yet you are acting like a small child,” I said in surprise, having copied all the information I needed, and moving away from the register. “Are you not familiar with such concepts as ‘bribery’ and ‘corruption’?” You lived on Earth – there’s nothing worthwhile that happens there without these two words. Until you grease the palm of the right person, you get nowhere. Besides, fighting it is futile. Those who protest against bribery the loudest are, in the majority of cases, simply those who charge more."
“The Game nips those things in the bud.” Dolgunata still resiste
d, expecting some kind of a righteous blow to hit the leprechaun. There was none. Neither was there a case initiated on information disclosure – the Game did not find a transgression in the trader’s actions, and I was not going to initiate a case. What was happening was, in my view, a common occurrence. Well, in general I was against corruption, but once the situation affected me personally, my conscience turned a blind eye. Double standards at their best. I wondered if it would be possible to bring a case against a Judge for not initiating a case? It would be useful to read up on this once I had some free time.
“So then, Zangar enhanced protection for Marinar, increased Energy for himself and for her as well bringing it to 500, and replenished his stock of elixirs quite a bit. So he’s not lacking for Energy now,” I concluded my review of the necromancer’s purchases. “But why did he not buy anything for attack or defense?”
“Because everything that’s on sale here are just child’s toys compared to what he’ll get from his teacher once he returns,” Nata clarified. These amulets are so basic that that dog didn’t even bother to look in their direction. For him they are nothing. He considers that no one could touch him in the Academy, so he decided not to waste extra granises You are the one playing a millionaire’s son; for the majority of players losing four granises is like losing half a life! But the information is very interesting. We won’t be able to kill the necromancer just so now…”
“Don’t forget that he’ll also get some kind of trick from the Chancellor.” I reminded her of that unpleasant thing. “In any case, it’s worth trying, and then… You can take Marinar under control, can’t you?”
The Beginning (Dark Paladin Book #1) LitRPG Series Page 45