Grimguy looked a bit unsure over the matter.
“He was rude to you. But I am not sure if stealing from the shopkeeper would be a wise thing to do. And it’s not that convenient to keep pets. They have their own needs and wants, you know. Sometimes they don’t come when you summon them. It’s the reason why I have never taken a pet. Plus, if you steal from the shopkeeper, you might get negative karma, and that won’t be good for you. Too much negative karma and bad things would start happening to you.”
“If I get negative karma for reuniting a mother with her child, then let it be so,” I said with determination.
Grimguy grimaced, narrowing his eyes.
“You just want to take revenge. Anyway, don’t tell me later that I didn’t warn you. The black market is in the southern part of the city. Just stroll around there and someone would steal something from you in a matter of minutes. If you are lucky enough to see the thief you could tell them to stop and that you had some work for them. And in the scenario that the thief actually stops and listens to your words, you can tell them to steal from the shopkeeper for you.”
That was complicated.
But ignoring all risks, the two of us went to the black market in the south of the city.
The traders there were selling different kinds of unique goods. Magical chicken that were supposed to lay eggs of gold. Snake venom to kill enemies. Even fake gold. I didn’t understand how the authorities were allowing the market to go on. There were a few soldiers here and there, but they looked unconcerned with all that was going on, smoking large cigars.
I was a non-smoker in real life and I wondered if the cigars the people were smoking were tobacco free. I asked this to Grimguy.
“Nah,” Grimguy said. He was casting wary glances around him all the time, “you might think it’s a virtual world so there would be no such things as tobacco and other drugs that you can get addicted to. But no, the digital tobacco is only so different from its real world counterpart. Too much of smoking and taking drugs, and your health would one day suddenly drop to zero, and you would find yourself in level one. There are even some drugs that would not allow health to rise above a certain number if you abtuptly stop taking them. But people still do the drugs. It’s risky. And people are naturally attracted to risky things. Mostly addicts are seen to be perma players. You know, people with chronic illnesses in real life. Even after getting a second chance they are still doing the same thing with their lives. Some people cannot be helped.”
Just as Grimguy was speaking, I had a strange sensation in my back. I turned, and lo! It was a young thief getting a hold of my bag—My bag that contained everything that I needed to survive in the game world.
The thief’s eyes went wide.
Before I could act, he broke into a run. Grimguy and I pursued him. Grimguy stumbled and fell but I kept on my pursuit. The place was crowded so I had to push several people out of my way, and they yelled back curses at me. But there was no way I could let go of the bag.
The thief took a turn and entered an alley. It had raw sewage on the ground and the thief slipped on it. I grabbed him and snatched the bag from him. By the time both of us were done panting, Grimguy finally arrived at the scene.
“Got him?” he asked.
“Yes,” I gasped.
“There was dirt on your bag, sir,” the thief said. He was an NPC by the name of Chetan. He looked to be no more than sixteen years of age. “I just wanted to clean it.”
I couldn’t help but break into a laugh. Could there be a lie that was cheesier?
I looked at the thief. He had dark brown hair and a dirty face that he seemed to have washed last month. There were sores on his arms and legs. He was dressed in a torn shirt and pants. I would have felt pity for him, if he had not tried to steal the most valuable thing I had in the game world.
“I have a job for you,” I said.
“Please don’t hand me to the soldiers, sir,” Chetan begged. “They will beat me up and lock me in the jail for a week.”
“Listen to me first,” I said.
“Please sir, let me go. I promise I’ll never steal again.”
“Oh, just shut up and listen to me!”
Chetan kept quiet this time, looking up at me with big fearful eyes.
“Look, I have a job for you,” I told him so that a confused furrow came over his forehead, “I’ll pay you money once the job is done.”
I let go of him and he stood there, watching me and Grimguy.
“What job?” Chetan asked.
“You must steal something from a person,” I told him.
“But why me, sir?” Chetan asked.
“Because you stole my bag,” I told him, exchanging a glance with Grimguy. “I’ll pay you one hundred gold.”
A sparkle came to his eyes when I mentioned gold.
“Make it 200 and I’ll do anything you want me to,” Chetan said. Oh, the greed in the kid! One hundred was not enough for him, was it?
I grimaced and turned.
“Forget it,” I told him. “I’ll search for some other thief.”
“Okay, okay,” Chetan said, giving up his greed. “I’ll do the job for a hundred gold.”
“That’s more like it,” I said.
“What do I have to do?” Chetan asked me.
I told him the plan. Basically, I and Grimguy would create a small commotion outside the shop. When the shopkeeper came out, Chetan would sneak inside and steal the container. The whole plan depended on the shopkeeper coming out. I hoped he would.
Chetan seemed to consider the offer.
“It’s a bit risky,” he said, “I know that guy. Nobody knows his name because he is nobody’s friend. He accepts only karma points, and he is powerful. Once he got into a fight with a man who wanted to buy a pet with gold. The man was blasted out of his shop and hit the building wall on the opposite side of the road. The man died. Normally when one player kills another, the soldiers take them to prison. But that guy seems to have some kind of a deal with the soldiers and they did nothing to him. In fact the other person was taken to jail after he respawned. The soldiers said he shouldn’t have entered the shop and forced to pay the shopkeeper in a way that the shopkeeper didn’t accept.”
“Are you giving us all these details because you want us to give you more gold for the job?” Grimguy said matter-of-factly to Chetan.
“Can you raise it just a bit? Like 150 will be great,” Chetan said with a nervous smile.
I smirked.
“Fine, 150 it shall be. Now let’s go to that shopkeeper.”
Chapter 6
I landed a light punch on Grimguy so that he pretended to fall upon one of the cages containing a rare kind of bird outside the shop.
“Arrgggh!” he cried as loud as he could.
“You bastard!” I shouted.
We exchanged many curses. Normally I was not someone who cursed. But I let myself go all out now. I actually enjoyed it. The fake punches added to the fun. There were times when I hit Grimguy for real so that his health dropped just a bit so that the fight looked convincing. Soon a crowd gathered around us. Instead of stopping us, the crowd began to cheer us. Even soldiers joined the cheering. I began wondering why the game developers had created the soldiers in the first place. They couldn’t keep thieves under control, and when fights broke out they joined the cheering. They were easily the most useless NPCs around.
As more people gathered we needed to really hit ourselves so they wouldn’t know we were faking the fight. I was just beginning to tire, when the shopkeeper burst out of the shop. He looked like thunder.
“What the fuck are you all doing in front of my shop?” he yelled at everyone. “Get the fuck out of here!”
It was clear that he had a bad reputation as many of the people actually fled. But a few brave ones stayed. The fight between me and Grimguy apparently was entertainment that couldn’t be missed. From the corner of my eyes I saw Chetan sneaking into the shop. The shopkeeper came between me a
nd Grimguy, and tried to stop the two of us.
“Hey I know you!” the shopkeeper said to me with bulging eyes, “You wanted the mother!”
“I have nothing to do with you,” I barked at the shopkeeper, focussing instead on landing a punch on the face of Grimguy, who winched as blood poured out of his nose. “Let me kill that bastard.”
“You are not killing anyone in front of my shop,” the shopkeeper said. From the corner of my eyes I spotted Chetan again coming out of the shop. It was time to end the fight. The container was in his hands, covered by a cloth.
The shopkeeper pushed me. Boy, he was powerful. I stumbled many steps backwards.
I glared hard at the shopkeeper and Grimguy.
“Let me see you another day,” I told Grimguy, “I’ll behead you and play soccer with you head.”
“Fuck you!” Grimguy yelled at me, his face convulsing in intense anger. He was either a very good actor, or perhaps he was angry for real since I had actually broken his nose. So much for realism.
Turning my back to the shopkeeper and Grimguy, I pushed my way through the crowd. People booed me, wanting to see more of the fight. But my job was done. The entertainment was over.
I returned to the inn after drinking a health vial which restored my health. In a few minutes Grimguy and Chetan came to my room. I had feared that Chetan might run away with the container. Thieves couldn’t be trusted after all. But I was glad that he hadn’t.
There was a smirk pasted on Grimguy’s face.
“You shouldn’t have broken my nose,” he said, though his nose had now healed.
I scratched my head.
“Sorry man. I feared people would realise we were faking the fight.”
“Here’s your stuff,” Chetan said. Just then I realised that he was carrying not only the container but the cage containing the monkey man child. Of course, both were covered with cloth to provide protection from prying eyes. “You only asked me to bring the container. But I saw that you forgot to take the cage, and I brought it along.”
Chetan was really trying to prove that he was over delivering on the job. His face was begging for a bonus.
“Yeah, whatever,” I said. “Take 25 gold as bonus.” I gave him 175 gold and he looked elated.
Then I took out the cork of the container. Immediately a blue smoke came out of it. Very soon there was a giant monkey lady standing in front of us. She was wearing only the bare clothes that hid her essentials.
“Where is my child?” she cried.
I gave her the cage and she ripped the iron bars with her bare hands and threw the cage away. It flew and hit the wall, so that some paint came off. Nanda wouldn’t be very delighted with that.
The reunion between the mother and her child was actually quite touching. Both cried. They had certainly been kept away from each other for a long time.
“Thank you!” the mother told me. “From today on me and my son will serve you till the end of our days.”
Quest Completed!
You have reunited the mother with her child!
Rewards: 3000 gold
You have levelled up!
I experienced the exciting feeling as I levelled up. I gave half of the gold to Grimguy. Without him I would never have been able to complete the quest. Chetan looked at the gold coin marked 1500 with a longing look on his face.
“I wish NPCs could get gold for completing quests too!” he said with a disheartened voice.
I observed the kid.
“Why do you steal?” I asked him. “You have nothing to do?”
“My mother is always sick,” he said. “I don’t know of anything else to do.”
I felt a sudden wave of pity come over me. I took out a gold coin marked 1000 from my bag and gave it to him.
“What’s this for?” he asked me with disbelief.
“Just take it,” I told him, “try to start a business or something. Quit stealing. I made you steal this time just to get even with the shopkeeper.”
“I can’t thank you enough,” Chetan said. With tears in his eyes he came and hugged me. He stank, but I ignored his smell for a moment as my heart melted.
Congratulations!
You have earned 100 karma points!
Keep doing good deeds and you will be rewarded even more!
“Wow!” I said to Grimguy, “I just earned my first karma points!”
“Yes,” Grimguy said, “The first time you earn them you feel like you are at the top of the world. Actually you feel so every time since karma points are so hard to earn.”
“What are your names?” I asked the mother and her child. They definitely had names, right?
“I am Danavma,” the mother said.
“And I am Danav,” the child smiled. “Look, I can do this!” And suddenly the child ballooned in size. He just went on getting bigger and bigger, until he was larger than his own mother. Everyone in the room present except Danavma gasped in awe. Then Danav shrunk back to his original size.
“He can become big for a short period of time only,” Danavma said, “because he is still a child. Anyway, for now we must go. Whenever you need us, we will come. Just say ‘Danavma and Danav, I need you.’ And we will be in front of you in a moment.”
I nodded, and they disappeared. Chetan too went, singing a happy tune. I hoped he would do something good with the money I had given him.
“It was a good day, eh?” I said to Grimguy.
“Totally,” Grimguy replied, “Except the part where you broke my nose. It really stung, you know.”
“Oh, shut up,” I said with a chuckle. “Your nose has healed, and I have already given you your gold!”
Rohan.
Class: Multi-tasker
Race: Human
Sex: Male
Level: 3
Strength: 250
Health: 588/600
Mana: 241
Intelligence: 80
Karma: 100
Chapter 7
For the rest of the day I stayed in the inn. Tomorrow was my day of returning to the real world. And strangely, I didn’t feel like returning at all. There was little that I missed. Dev was a good companion and my fantasy novels… well, if I searched around I should find a bookstore or two in Kapilpura, right? It just had to be there.
The next day dawned fast. Despite everything I decided to pay the real world a visit. I told Grimguy and Nanda that I would be gone for a day. And then I pressed the log out button. The game world dissolved. Nanda and Grimguy faded. And for a while there was just blackness.
Then I opened my eyes, feeling the capsule around me inside which I was lying. I pushed open the capsule and sat up straight. I took off the helmet with many wires attached. I felt like I had just woken from a dream. For a moment I remained sitting, looking around and taking in the hall with all the capsules. Then I nodded to myself. I needed to return to my home.
Serena was not present in the hall this time, instead there was a middle aged man with a very nice crop of hair, wearing in a lab coat similar to that of Serena's. For a second I envied him since I was balding, but then I recalled that I had all the hair I wanted in the game world, and the envy left me. I really could live all of my fantasies in the game, couldn’t I?
I told the man that I would return the next day.
“Take your payment for the week,” he told me. He gave me twenty five hundred Gibs cash. I was elated. I couldn’t remember the last time I had held so much real money in my hands.
I went up the steps and then emerged in the blacksmith’s shop. The blacksmith was still there and he was hammering a piece of red hot iron. He looked towards me but didn’t say anything.
I took a taxi to my apartment. I cleaned up the house because it had begun to smell peculiar. I suddenly got cramps in my stomach and had to go to the toilet. It was my first call of nature in six days, and I could barely wrap my head around the thought. I took a quick bath. I had bathed that morning in the game world. But my real body hadn’t touched water
in six days.
It was only late morning. I looked at the calendar and realised that it was a holiday. I reckoned I could go to Dev’s house since he would probably not go to the hotel today. I jogged to his house since I figured my body required some exercise. That gooey fluid I had consumed before going to the game world had somehow kept my body fine, but it was an altogether different experience to move about in my own body. Here if I hurt myself or caught a disease I would have to go to the hospital. If I met with a road accident I would be dead right away. No birthstones, no respawning. I suddenly felt afraid to be in the real world.
I looked at the pedestrians on the streets and the people in the vehicles and I wondered why they hadn’t all put themselves into the game world. It was so much safer. Yes, the capsule for Prithvi Online was expensive. But safety came first, right?
I shook my head. What was I thinking? The game world was a good place. But the real world was the real world, and it was the better place for humans to be ultimately. Staying in the game world for long was messing with my head.
The jog made me quite tired by the time I reached Dev’s home. I searched for my bag, wanting to drink a health vial. Then I realised my stupidity and grimaced.
Dev’s wife, Shalini, opened the door. She was a woman in her early thirties. She had light brown skin and the most noteworthy feature about her was perhaps her sparkling teeth. There was a dazzle in her smile that was found in nobody. Perhaps it was why Dev had fallen in love with her. I had been the one who had actually encouraged him to propose to her. Dev, with his self-doubts, would have never asked her out.
“Ah, Rohan!” she said with her brilliant smile. “Come in. Dev’s inside, watching news.”
I entered the home. Their home always smelled of chocolates. Dev was spread out on a sofa, his eyes fixed on the TV. The news reporter was enthusiastically saying something.
“Hey,” Dev said to me with a forlorn smile, the reason behind which I knew a bit too well.
“So you play Prithvi Online now?” Shalini asked.
“Yes,” I replied. “It’s the best thing I have ever done.”
Perma-Death Online: A LitRPG adventure: Book 1 Page 7