When I turned around, I finally got a look at the room I was in.
It was huge. I couldn't see walls anywhere, only darkness and white metal pillars. The floor was also made of white metal and I wondered if it was white gold, silver, lightsteel, or something holier.
I walked for almost fifteen minutes before I finally saw a white wall in the distance, I still had quite a ways to go before I reached it. There was a huge archway set in it, and Manhart was standing just outside, looking directly at me.
He wasn't happy.
And with sudden insight, I was just as pissed as him, because I understood a simple thing:
He had been using charisma-based skills on me.
I mean, it was a game. Why would I have even cared about dying in it? Why did I care that Manhart was showing his bloodlust? Why cower before him and fear what he could do to me?
The game had used my state of mind to draw me into deeper immersion. I couldn't prove it in court, obviously, and after the scary interaction where the game AIs had told David and me how to hide our tracks, I was confident the AI was abusing the fact that I was in hiding to go just a little overboard here and there.
It wasn't harmful though. I did feel scared by it but I also knew the AI hadn't had enough time to break free from the shackles of its prime directive: protecting humankind. How making me fear Manhart fit in protecting me was beyond my understanding, but hey, I had just prayed to higher power. Some things are just beyond the grasp of our mortal minds.
And even if I wanted to eventually shut the AIs down, I realized it was just stupid to think about it in here, and even more foolish to be the first to act against an AI out of fear. There were plenty of examples of why that was a bad idea in movies.
If worse comes to worst, the VirBridge hardware was supposed to act separately from Valia and eject me from the game if it detected too much mental stimuli. At least I had proof that it had been working, since it had done so not during my bout of nausea. And it hadn't even been related to ingame stimuli, just me reacting poorly to my own thoughts.
Manhart waited for me like a wronged king as I approached...
And walked right past him.
I felt his bloodlust and I felt his annoyance but I just kept going. Why did I have to care about his damn feelings? Or was he expecting me to cower before him? He had said it himself, that he needed the castle, and I was his best chance to get it with minimal losses. He needed me.
Leaving the huge shrine, I surprisingly found myself in the same small cave where Manhart always stood, as if I had just walked through one of its walls.
Interesting.
There were more secrets in there than I had previously considered.
Outside of the cave, I found Daggers waiting for me. I immediately invited her to a party.
I took my stuff from her and started to equip it.
Taking a deep breath, I opened my character sheet to check my losses.
Attention!
Your character has died recently.
-10% to all attribute and trait levels.
Jack Thorn
Unbound Deathlord
Resistance's General
Legendary Spotter, Hedge Wizard, Pioneer, Warlord, Dark Archmage
Level 29
Hit Points: 1720 / 1720
Mana Points: 2420 / 2420
Stamina: 470 / 470
Attributes:
Strength: 27
Agility: 27
Dexterity: 29
Constitution: 25
Intelligence: 28 + 2 [Items]
Perception: 25 + 10 [Items]
Willpower: 27
Charisma: 18
Traits:
© Skilled Strategist: 27
© Adept Controller: 20
© Adept Energizer: 13
Adept Mage: 10 + 10 [Items]
Scout: 2
Antimage: 1
Athlete: 1
Commander: 1
Crafter: 1
Diviner: 1
Faithful: 1
Gold Digger: 1
Healer: 1
Herbalist: 1
Meditator: 1
Mind Seer: 1
Negotiator: 1
Nitpicker: 1
Ranger: 1
Scavenger: 1
Shadow: 1
Sharpshooter: 1
Tactician: 1
Warrior: 1
It was painful to see. I had dropped from level thirty-four to twenty-nine. While the game claimed that I had lost only ten percent of my attribute and trait levels, it was rounded down and closer to fourteen percent.
Damn Margs Market's guards.
Well, crushing Margs Market and stealing all its treasures had been on my schedule anyway; it was a merchant city, after all.
It had just moved up a few positions on the list.
It took me a while to understand what she said but then it became clear: her HP and stamina weren't the same as before. Even without her dying, because of the loss in my strategist trait, she wasn't benefiting as much from it as before.
Before I could even blink, she was rushing me as a shadow.
14. The Walking Undead
It was the morning of my ninth day back to Valia and we were next to Manhart's cave, waiting for everyone to come meet us.
In front of us, all fifty members of the Zombies 4 Life clan were gathering, along with Bear and someone I hadn't seen in a long time: Ted.
She was still the same footless white specter I had seen last time, with ectoplasmic equipment: leather armor and a bow and quiver on her back.
Something inside me stirred when I saw her, but now was not the time; I would sort out my feelings when I was alone. This kind of distraction would only lead to mental chaos and disaster.
"Jack!" She yelled happily when she saw me and ran in my direction, then threw herself into my arms. "I missed you!" She said loudly, but then whispered with a devious voice. "I want to get on Bear's nerves, just go with it."
I smiled and invited Bear into the party.
Ignoring him, I also invited Ted and Melkier to the party. My strategist trait had recovered by a single point because it had been a week and an extra offline day since it had leveled up the last time, but it was still two points shy of what it had been before I died.
I had surprisingly also recovered one point in each attribute except charisma after training with Daggers.
Ted (level 9)
HP: 320 / 320
MP: 170 / 170
Stamina: 210 / 210
Ted was ridiculously weak and a liability. If it wasn't for the fact that Bear would probably not come without her, I would ditch her right now.
My emotions tried to surface again at that thought, something about abandoning her after what I had already done, but while it was impossible not to feel, I could still temporarily suppress it.
ged her back. She didn't need to know I had told Bear, and messing with the big guy wasn't so bad. I made sure to hug her longer than necessary.
She stealthily pushed me, clearly feeling awkward.
Her face fell.
I patted her head.
Both did as told, and I found myself facing the fifty zombies. They were a messy lot, some with linen rags, some with leather, some with plate armor. Not all of them were armed, and those that were, were exclusively melee. Not a single one of them had a shield.
The sudden announcement didn't get any real reaction from them.
I paused and looked at them.
another one said.
They began discussing the issue amongst themselves and I let them until I thought it was the time for the big revelation.
That pissed a lot of them.
"What? Ranged weapon? No way!"
"I ain't no weakling to fight from afar!"
"Damn this, I'm outta here!"
"Dude, ten gold per week? I'm in!"
Chaos ensued and I left them to it. Eventually, Melkier drew me aside and spoke low. "Can you do it?"
"Get them twenty gold coins each? Of course I can." I had no idea if that was the truth but I wasn't about to storm a damn castle without a lot of people at my back. If it turned out that I had lied to them, well, I'd cross that bridge when I came to it.
Before, I had been against using them. But when I died, I realized I wasn't the big shot I had considered myself previously. If the raid lost me the services of the zombies, I could always hire some other soldiers of fortune later.
"Are you absolutely sure?" He looked me firmly in the eyes.
"Yes" I replied shamelessly. "It's gonna be dangerous but the pay is good."
"Oh, I know all about the dangers of staying close to you," he said. "The guys are still pissed about the ambush, some of them want out."
I sighed. "This is a mercenary job not high school, there are obviously risks involved. That's why I'm paying you so well. If they can't handle it, they are free to go."
After some time looking at me silently, he also sighed. "I'll get the boys to follow you but if you pay a single gold coin less, we'll hunt you to the end of the Underworld."
A smile crept onto my face. "Cool. You have one hour, then we leave for the Catacombs to sell the items and get some crossbows."
"Crossbows? Why not bows?" He seemed surprised by that.
"If they get into close combat for any reason, bows in the Underworld are only long metal rods, but a crossbow can be used as a bludgeon well enough. I figure your boys will adapt better to the heavier weapon." I winked. "Plus, I don't believe for a single second that they have the finesse to shoot a bow."
He nodded. "Good point. Let me talk to them. I guess we'll all share the costs of the crossbows and bolts?"
"Yup. I'm broke." I said honestly.
"Figures," he turned back and walked to the zombies.
Turning around, I saw her coming my direction with an indignant twist to her face.
She raised an eyebrow.
She frowned.
I kept my smile.
She crossed her arms.
She bit her lower lip and I sighed.
"Look," I whispered to her out of the mind chat. "This is not the outside world. I know you suffered due to... Unethical people close to you recently, but this is just a Valia. Like I said-"
"You know?" She asked angrily. "Bear told you?"
"I don't know what he's supposed to keep secret from me, but you told me your dad worked for V-Soft," I replied. "I'm sorry for what happened but the Underworld and the outside world are different. Here, we're supposed to step over other people to achieve what we want. The Underworld is a dark fantasy world."
I couldn't actually see the difference between both worlds except for the fantasy part, but she didn't need to hear that.
"The other Travelers are also putting their time, sweat, and efforts intro Valia, Jack." She insisted. "It's not right to kill them. You died recently, you know how upsetting it is."
I nodded. "Yes, I do. And like I said, that's just something that happens in the Underworld. I read a lot about Valia and I know that you can have a pretty comfortable dream life with the forest elves if you want. Instead, the other players and I chose to come to this savage part of the world. If we die unjustly, we can only blame ourselves for our poor choice."
She clearly wasn't convinced but didn't have a counter argument. Snorting, she left and went to Bear's side.
I had forgotten how uptight she was about certain things. Knowing about the place her dad worked had probably been a harsher blow to her than I had anticipated.
While we waited for the zombies to talk things through, I logged out for an extra cigarette.
Watching the unlit fireplace in my living room, I just wondered about the things I was feeling and realized I wasn't happy about what I had done to Ted. I still felt guilty about what I had done to V-Soft.
Having sorted my feelings out, I handled them like a man: I ignored them. Just because I felt something didn't mean I had to cry over it.
I wouldn't allow anything, not even my newly discovered emotions, to get in the way of my revenge.
* * *
"One, two, three, four." We all yelled together as we marched.
"Bear stinks like a boar!" Daggers completed alone.
"Four, three, two, one."
Again, we counted in unison.
"Not more than Daggers mom!" Bear yelled.
Both of them, Daggers and Bear, had been insulting each other for hours now. It was getting more repetitive and childish each time.
"Five, six, seven, eight."
"Daggers fights like an ape!" Bear said. And, well, that was kinda true.
"Eight, seven, six, five."
"Bear's skin is like a hive!" Daggers completed.
"Ouch!" Ted said. Apparently, for women that was highly offensive, even though Bear didn't have any skin.
We were moving in rows. The first row consisted of the zombies with better armor who had been forced to use shields. The second row was made of general melee fighters. The third and fourth were zombies with crossbows. These rows were all ten men wide.
Next, came nine of the zombies who had traveled with me since the beginning, all melee fighters too, but our elites. In the last row, Daggers, Ted, Bear, Melkier and I marched though we had the luxury of spreading out.
Daggers had insisted that marching properly was important and we had agreed to try. The beginning had been a horrible mess, but with a few hours we were a somewhat impressive looking group.
Not that she agreed with my assessment.
"I'm sorry, good ladies and gentlemen!" She would yell at passersby sometimes. "I'm sorry for making your eyes bleed and your souls cry with this lot's sorry attempt at marching! Man-Eater Horus!" She yelled at one of the men. "Suck in your damn belly and walk proudly! Destroyer of Noobs, use your feet like a man, not a kid who's learning how to walk!"
She had somehow miraculously learned all the zombies' ridiculous names and showered them with invectives. In the beginning, people would get mad at her, but after Bear had simply laughed at a particularly funny jab, they had all laughed as well and began to better tolerate her berating.
I'm not sure who started the verbal sparring match between the two of them, but it had been amusing in the beginning and was grating on my nerves by the end.
After five hours of tedious marching — divided into ten sessions punctuated by short breaks — she finally gave her verdict.
Unbound Deathlord: Obliteration (The Unbound Deathlord Series Book 2) Page 16