The Way of the Clan 3 (World of Valdira)

by Dem Mikhaylov

  -- The difference? For me— only the price. I want a lot, and fast— I managed, in a strained voice, trying to maintain a calm veneer— Tyrant! Come!

  I picked up the cub, who had hardly reached the fourth level, and stuck him in my bosom, where he instantly curled up and closed his eyes sleepily. Let him rest and recuperate. Then do not forget to feed him… but, who am I kidding… he’ll remind me— he’ll gobble my brand new white coat.

  -- Ros, Ros wait! Be a man!

  That’s it… I could not hold back any longer.

  -- A man? Listen, Vlas, let’s get a few things straight ok?

  -- What do you mean?

  -- I told you where I was. Said, let me check in with my old chum, my old friend, my bro. Right?

  -- Yeah?

  -- Well, it’s only been ten minutes, and my old friend had to tell people about my unique pet. That’s one thing. Did I ask that of you?

  -- Hey! I told you— only my clan members! And not even all of them!

  -- YOUR clan members— I corrected, glaring at Vlas— and not mine! I do not know them and don’t want to know! Moreover, Vlas— you gave them my location, and at the same time did not even ask me – if I wanted to communicate, to bargain with them, or even see them! That’s two!

  -- … There’s a three?

  -- Yup. I want to leave now, just walk away, and you’re putting the brakes on me for the sake of the clan’s own interests. So whose friend are you, Vlas? Mine? Or is it “clan above all,” and the rest aside?

  -- Ros! This is just a game! Pull yourself together, bro! It’s not like I’m handing you over to the real world cops. A clan… it’s like a family, Ros…

  -- Not mine! Not even distant relatives! And what I am to them is— a mercenary, a bargaining chip! And you either do not understand, or really do not want to… I want to sell the statue not for toy money, but for crisp green bills! Not cheaply, but for a maximum price! This can only be done through auction. You know it, Vlas! But instead of giving an old friend advice and help him to, once in a lifetime, earn a decent loot, you’re trying to keep me here until the arrival of some huckster, who is going to try and persuade me to sell a unique item for pennies! Right, Vlas? All for the sake of the clan, is it not?

  Vlas was silent. He stared sullenly at his feel and said nothing.

  I became silent too, angry at myself for this sudden outburst of anger. Hell. Just like in the good old days. Before that memorable trip up to the “Far North,” with my father’s organization.

  -- I’m sorry, that I’m interrupting this m-th-th… conversation— came a soft and boastful voice from behind the remnants of the farm fence.

  Vlas and I jumped like two fitful boys and stared at the newcomer.

  A tall orc wearing something that was a bit strange for his warlike race— a solid suit of velvet or suede in dark colors, a white shirt and, tied around his neck, a crimson scarf. On his fingers he word a few rings, and a thin gold chain on his wrist. His nickname— the Esteemed Korvard. Hmm… that was quite obvious.

  -- So sorry that I involuntarily overheard part of the conversation – continued the half-orc, offering a soft smile— But I am not “some huckster” and certainly am not here to offer you only “a penny” for your unique product.

  -- I didn’t mean to offend anyone— I shrugged. I do not know who was behind the mask of the half-orc, but it was definitely not a kid. Someone of serious age— maybe forty. Very solid, behaving calmly. And a mysterious character— only the thirty-fourth level.

  -- I see, that you are not ready to talk about this matter— thoughtfully nodded Korvard— Hmm… Vlas…

  -- Mmm? – Said he reluctantly, not taking his eyes away from the withered bush under his foot.

  -- Could you please leave us? If you would be so kind.

  To my surprise, Vlas obeyed. He nodded and, without looking at me, walked away. Guilty conscience?

  -- Young man… oh, I’m sorry, I did not mean to offend, but I think I am much older than you.

  -- I got what you meant.

  -- As I have mentioned already— now you are not ready to have this conversation. Nevertheless, I am very interested in buying unique figurines. May we postpone the negotiations to a later time?

  -- And in general, can we cancel them? – I sighed heavily, feeling the good humor slip away already.

  -- Why? Just do not rush the sale or exchange of the figurine. And when you decide to come back to the financial issues and get the desired price— drop me a message, and we will talk in detail. Are you alright with such a proposal?

  It was at this moment, looking at the wide smile of the half orc, that I came to one very important conclusion. And on the basis of that conclusion I made the following decision.

  -- Well— I nodded— I’ll think about the offer. Agreed?

  -- That’s good— Korvard smiled even wider— By the way— if you ever need help with the passage to a location or in performing a difficult task, several people in the Albatross clan will be happy to assist you.

  -- I’ll keep it in mind. But for now, I want to rest a bit— I refused— to me it’s now necessary to get a few hours outside of the gameplay.

  -- Of course, yes. But if you need help— just give us a call.

  -- Thank you. Many thanks. Bye.

  -- See you soon.

  -- Yeah— I said, without need, and strode towards the farm.

  I didn’t look back. I didn’t look Vlas either, who was standing nearby.

  In two minutes I was in the private room.

  Another minute later, I was already opening the hinged lid of the gaming cocoon.

  And half an hour later I was knocking on the leather padded door of the house located a block away from mine.

  The master himself answered the door. Without letting him say a word, I blurted out:

  -- Hello, Alex! Listen, are you still selling that house in the suburbs? That was left from your grandfather?

  -- Ros? Huh? House?— Alex was confused— I am renting it. Yes. Only no one wants to buy it. Too expensive as they say…

  -- Consider that you now have someone who is interested— I smiled— right at this very moment. Get dressed and let’s go. We’ll agree on the price on the way. And don’t forget to grab the keys.

  Chapter Four.

  Home, sweet new home. And the swamp again!

  The Black Baroness and Mrs. Rott

  Again, I was running out of money. No— there was money still left, but the number had decreased alarmingly. Payment of rent two months in advance, the fee for the connection of all the necessary things from my old home to my new one. Transportation of the player’s cocoon to the new location and support to reconnect it. And everywhere, hidden fees for urgency and speed. This was followed by an excursion to the supermarket, where I bought a substantial supply of food. The bundle of dollars dramatically lost weight, and became almost transparent. Bankruptcy was still far, -- but still, an unpleasant sensation.

  I rang my mother in advance, notifying her that I was allegedly moving due to a new girlfriend. My mom was happy for me, and attempted to strategically extract more information about the new companion of her long lost son, but I had gone on the defensive, and quickly rounded off the conversation. To Barbara Pavlova I told the same thing, causing both her intense interest and righteous indignation— “and what about Kira?” and “Who is this wretch? Why do I not know about her?!”. To obtain information from me, the neighbor would not hesitate to resort to torture, but fortunately, I managed to escape.

  Apart from the cocoon in my apartment, I took almost nothing. My computer, some documents and a few other things— the rented house had the benefits of a washing machine and refrigerator. All of the rest of my belongings went into a large cardboard box, with which I went outside— and, after ten minutes of waiting, caught a cab. I watched my house as it receded in the distance, cutting off my phone at the same time. Everything was cut off. Done. The operation was successful.

  We
ll, now I felt— if not a super-agent— like a spy for sure. I tried to consider the details.

  Only Alex knew my new residence, and he in turn did not know any of my old friends. The same information was known also only by the equipment support team, but they would not reveal the subject matter. The handset switched off and dissembled, parents notified, and he apartment closed and abandoned.

  Everything.

  Now I could return to Valdira.

  I closed the doors— noticing that the late grandfather must have been the paranoid sort, considering the steel bars on the windows— and drew the blackout curtains. Finishing my cold coffee, I got into the cocoon.

  Entrance.

  Hello again, dear rainbow…

  Flash.

  Since my absence, the farm had not changed at all. I looked around closely, perhaps even meticulously. There were no Albatrosses in my direct line of sight. The farmer girl was still present— idly staring at me out of the house window.

  The second thing I checked was the locked message box, and nodded to myself— there was no way I was going to take that away, not for any price.

  Already familiar with the area, I made my way toward the fence and pulled out a longer pole. Behind me sounded the reproachful tenor of the farm owner:

  -- What kind of people are coming here now, eh!? Taking stuff from the estate, and not even telling the owner...

  Grumble, grumble, old man… although…

  -- Master!

  -- What want you?

  -- Do you sell footwear which enables one to walk through the swamp and not sink?

  -- You’re describing something quite astonishing, my good man. We never heard of such a thing around her!

  Oh well…

  -- What if I could give you some gold?

  -- And again— no, where would I get something like that?

  Fie on you farmers! Maybe it’s random? For one person he’ll sell, he’ll give them to another, and for the third, a fig and butter. What a shame— the third turned out precisely to me.

  But one can’t forget my level of reputation at this location. Mine happened to be zero and zero tenths. And it turned out that because of this, he shaggy farmers completely ignored my timid requests to trade and talk. And I could not imagine any way to raise my reputation in this godforsaken hole. There are no jobs, because the only population here are two men and a single mangy mutt, who occasionally appear in the yard and then disappear. And so there wasn’t a chance in hell of getting a deal for that amazing footwear.

  I would have to conquer the swamp the hard way. And in proud isolation— I left the slightly grown Tyrant in the private rooms. Such a cub in the swamps could not help me in any way— he would drown himself. I had intended to raise the cub at least a dozen levels more before I could take him to the swamp, but now I only had one goal in mind— to quickly carry out this damn job, and get the hell out. Before the marine birds swooped in…

  But first, the most tricky and most interesting pastime— the distribution of free points into my character.

  Current Character level: 51

  Baseline characteristics:

  Strength- 16

  Intelligence-87

  Agility- 11

  Endurance- 30

  Wisdom- 27

  Available points for distribution: 100

  As they say— holy cow! So many free points had accumulated. The round figure. And if I should invest the points into a particular characteristic, my character would have changed dramatically for the better… or else, will become a total vegetable.

  In any case, I did not need to think too much— I put most of the points into intelligence. The amount of mana points I had was not just important, comrades. Without this, I would get absolutely nowhere! Without this, a total nothing! And that’s why…

  Hm… something tells me I’m getting carried away…

  For starters, I put three points in wisdom, raising it to thirty. Let’s see what happens.

  Attainment!

  You’ve achieved “Wise Man” of the first rank!

  See the table of obtained achievements in the settings of your character.

  Your reward for achievement

  +1% critical strike chance of magic.

  1.5% to reduce the mana cost of spells of any type.

  Current bonus of critical strike chance: 1%

  Current bonus to reduce mana cost of spells: 1.5%

  Hum… a good attainment, really… Let’s keep going down this path and improve intelligence to a three digit number.

  Attainment!

  You received the achievement “Egghead” of the third rank!

  See the table of obtained achievements in the settings of your character.

  Your reward for achievement

  +3% chance of identifying objects.

  100 to the amount of mana points.

  Current identification success rate: 9.2%

  Current bonus to mana amount: 225

  So… now I’m a third degree nerd. To reach the next rank of intellect I must reach the mark of 180 units. Damn… but hits will be more serious.

  And what have we got now?

  Current character level: 51

  Baseline characteristics for your character:

  Strength- 16

  Intelligence-100

  Agility- 11

  Endurance- 30

  Wisdom- 30

  Available points for distribution: 84

  Should I put it all in the mind? Right away, a degree on my chest. And wisdom? Add a bit to the endurance?

  That’s how it always is. You keep these free points and, when the time comes to spend them, you hesitate. Right. One wants everything at once. So that the character would be of the “terminator” class— incredibly strong, intelligent, and virtually indestructible. To hit your enemy with the most supreme magic, to stand there as the smoke clears, oh… dreams, dreams… but no— more like fantasies.

  Damn it all! I’m a mage, aren’t I? A mage! So there is nothing to think about at all! Nothing for force— all brain! And wisdom! Therefore, I’ll add thirty points even to the wisdom and admire the following achievement:

  Attainment!

  You’ve achieved “sage” of the second rank!

  See the table of obtained achievements in the settings for your character.

  Your reward for achievement:

  +1.5% critical strike chance of magic.

  2% to reduce the mana cost of spells of any type.

  Current bonus of critical strike chance: 2.5%

  Current bonus to reduce mana cost of magic: 3.5%

  And so another fifty points to the intellect.

  Achievements were not given, but a bit more was still left. And as if a mockery— four points sent straight to endurance.

  Heh.. that made my character into a sort of skinny, smart nerd with the rudiments of heavenly wisdom. In the swamp I’ll try to do with my own strength, without resorting to my want or lightening scrolls, and it’ll soon be clear where and what I missed.

  Damn! If it were a normal situation— I should have raised the endurance at least fifty or so points at the expense of wisdom or intelligence. But my situation was critical— it was urgently necessary to increase mana reserves. Otherwise, the navigator’s trip to the lost continent was certainly something out of my reach.

  A last look at the stats of my character:

  Baseline characteristics for the character:

  Strength-16

  Intelligence-150

  Agility-11

  Endurance-34

  Wisdom- 60

  Available points for distribution: 0

  That’s it. The table of distribution can be safely shut down. And what about the indicators for life and mana? Hmm…

  Life points: 475/475

  Mana: 965/965

  Plenty of impressive numbers. I whistled a melody, and strode forwards in the swamp with a pioneering zeal.

  I had barely walked twenty paces in the nasty
mud, sucking in at each step, pushing my way through the thickets and bushes at the border of the Ravendark swamp. And there my enthusiasm instantly faded. A moment later, my cheerful whistling ended on a sad note and died. For a very simple reason— there was something going on at the swamp, which I saw and sensed with my gut in merely a couple of seconds.

  I wasn’t here alone.

  About thirty to thirty five steps away from each other stood two players. One— dressed in leather, and decorated with a beret containing a dashing feather— walking right on the water. Looks like he was wearing the same mythical footwear the farmer was talking about. Another— in full armor— knee deep in swamp much. And it would have been nothing, if I didn’t see the fishing rods in their hands... already thrown into the musty swamp. A crazy scene…

  On the muddy greenish water, were colorful, gleaming floating objects. Right between the floats was heard a splash from the water. A face with bared yellow teeth and bulging eyes emerged from the swamp and gurgled:

  -- I’m telling you! There are no fish! No fish!!!

  “I gotta get out of here”— I whispered in my head, and at this point, all thinking stopped. Everything spun by too quickly.

  The player standing on the water like an angel threw a sparkling object over his shoulder, which sunk into the mud. A moment later, a powerful glowing bow appeared in his hands, a quiver behind his back. Several arrows fired so fast in the direction of the other “fisherman” that an assault rifle would cry bitter tears of envy. The warrior clad in armor reacted instantly— wish a splash, he collapsed into the water, letting the deadly arrows miss him. Underwater, a dark shadow swiftly darted to the still-firing “Robin Hood,” who kept firing arrow after arrow into the surface of the water. It seemed that the opponent had moved right to the character through the lake, despite the terrible weight of the armor. In this short amount of time I had just time enough to turn around and get ready to sprint back to the farm. I turned and was frozen— in the very spot where I had passed moments ago, the wet earth parted, reluctantly letting go from its sticky embrace a high figure in a muddy black suit and mask. A ninja, f-f…

  A little aside from that one rose another, completely covered under its gray cloak. My escape had been cut off. They had surrounded me, the demons!