Cat's Quest

by Roman Prokofiev

  A half hour later, a young man (me) left the auction building in brand-new, leather armor, a long sword stuck behind his belt, a dagger in his boot, and a huge traveler’s shoulder bag slung over the shoulder. The picture was completed by a light spangenhelm, a helmet trimmed with sturdy leather on two inter-connected, steel strips.

  After I had acquired the stuff, my stats did not look bad, though they gravitated more towards Agility, whereas Charisma was considered the predominant merchant’s attribute. That’s ok, I’ll catch up! It’s just for awhile.

  DURABILITY: 3

  STAMINA: 4

  CONSTITUTION: 3

  AGILITY: 8

  INTELLECT: 1

  CHARISMA: 4

  LUCK: 1

  FREE ATTRIBUTES: 2

  I didn’t have enough money or skill-points to buy anything more decent. In total, I spent around 60 gold on my clothes, trying to pick the best of what was available. They were still merely a prop, but that was about to change. Next, I went to the bank that was proudly called Golden Hamster.

  The thrifty rodent on the bank sign appeared on the back of all the coins of the Sphere of Worlds. I had read that the Hamster belonged to the game administration that had the monopoly on all commodity-money transactions in the Sphere of Worlds. Every city, even in the wastelands of the Sphere’s void, featured at least one branch. It was a very serious establishment indeed.

  Inside, the building was much larger than it appeared outside. Everything was decorated as if in a medieval setting—ink pots, goose feathers, scrolls with wax seals, stout bearded gnomes in gold torques sitting behind massive wooden tables with a businesslike look and going through the piles of written paper. The following services were offered:

  Paid storage of money and player goods—items and money could potentially be stolen from the tavern, but not from the bank.

  Travel checks—this was like transferring money to a card account for those who didn’t want to carry a large amount of gold on them. The checks were accepted at the auction and by NPC-merchants, and the funds were debited directly from the player’s account. It seemed very convenient ... even a hundred gold would make a bag hefty to carry, to say nothing of what it would be if you needed, let’s say a million. It was handy for the players too, given the likelihood of losing their items.

  Currency exchange—this was the long-anticipated tab enabling you to cash out gaming currency into the real world.

  Alex was right, the exchange fee really was 10%. The mechanics of the transaction were simple. You could create a lot with the amount you wanted to sell or purchase and then wait for those willing to buy or sell. I checked out the statistics—the last 24-hour turnover amounted to more than one hundred thousand terro, and that, as I understood it, was in the world of Dorsa alone. Not bad at all! Gold, the Dorsa’s currency, could also be exchanged here for other strange currencies featured in the other worlds of the Sphere.

  Loans—the game allowed players to sink into debt! Well, I might need some money, eventually. However, the fat black-bearded man only shook his head.

  “I can't help you, Mr. Cat,” he said. “Unfortunately, your current status and reputation is not sufficient for our bank to issue you a loan. Not a single copper coin! Come back later when you’ve leveled up.”

  “What if I paid for the account? What if I had ‘silver’ status?” I asked, refusing to give up.

  “I don't understand your gibberish, my lord,” the dwarf said frowning. “However, what I can tell you is that we usually give one hundred gold to our new customers. 20% monthly interest on a standard loan contract.”

  I realized having a free account meant nobody would ever give me a loan. Having politely said goodbye, I left the bank. The last place on my list was the mysterious Mercenary Guild.

  Inside it looked like most taverns do—a rectangular room filled with long tables and benches. A large flight of stairs was located at the farther end of the room, opposite the entrance. There were multiple NPCs of both genders and all races, armored and mostly armed. There were players there, too. I walked up to the local reception desk, a bar counter, behind which stood a young female NPC who looked bored.

  “Do you wish to pick a henchman, sir?” she said, looking over at me. A henchman? Hum. Without going into details, I touched the scroll bringing up the interface with a long list of names. Here, you could hire an NPC or a whole group for help. However, the feature wasn’t yet available to me, since I lacked the necessary Leadership skill. The NPCs levels and classes varied widely and hiring them cost serious money. Prices started at one hundred and fifty gold per day. It could, however, turn out to be extremely useful if, for example, a group required a healer in order to pass a dungeon. One could easily get hired here. Having leveled up Leadership, a player could hire a whole team and walk with them, killing everyone. How neat that would be?

  “Looking to hire?” A hoarse voice behind me asked. I turned around and behind me saw an orc. Hefty, two heads taller than me, blue-skinned with a black braid on a bald skull, his fangs were the size of my little finger. Behind his back was a huge serrated ax. A true monster! I even backed away a bit.

  “I’m available! Gruumsh The Strong!” The orc was looking at me with hope in his eyes. “I’m sick and tired of being here. Gruumsh hasn't killed anyone in a long time!”

  “No buddy! I’m not looking for anyone now,” I said and handed the list back to the girl. The orc’s eye filled with sadness. He turned and started walking away. I felt sorry for him. Interestingly, every NPC in the Guild were so-called players’ pawns.

  You could acquire a permanent henchman in the SPHERE by fulfilling a set of conditions. The players often sent the “pawns,” which were no longer of any use to them to the Mercenaries Guild, as if they were renting them out to other players. That was quite handy since NPCs could continue to level up while bringing in some money. I wondered what the NPCs thought of it, given their completely autonomous identity.

  Time passed quickly, and it was now almost noon. Following Alex’s advice, I headed towards the arena located in the Upper Quarter and gazed at the interesting architecture around me as I walked. Dan-na-Eyre, with its maze of narrow streets, steep tiled roofs and small balconies covered with flowers resembled the ancient cities of Western Europe. The ground floors of the houses were built of stone while the second floors were wooden. The glass in the tiny, narrow, window-holes reflected the sun. There were thick, massive doors that could probably withstand every kind of ramming.

  The city itself grew up around the castle of Eyre, located on a hill, surrounded by streets. As I walked up to it, I could see the castle better. From far away, I made out the pointed spires of slender towers, and dual-tailed, yellow and green banners with the Eyre coat of arms waving in the wind.

  The quarter located close to the castle, seemed to be the most fashionable and swankiest part of the city. The large, rich estates were surrounded by greenery and gardens, most of which housed statues and small fountains. I filled my flask with water in one and quenched my thirst. I could feel I was running low on energy. I looked at the white-stone temples that were unfamiliar to me, and the luxurious two-story taverns. Even the NPCs walking around were wearing expensive-looking clothes.

  The arena was located near the city guard barracks and looked like a small stadium. Inside, there was a tournament field, a racing area with various targets and wooden dummies, and a round sandy arena surrounded by pedestal seats for spectators. Many NPCs and players were busy training their skills, I noticed both full plate armored knights and half-naked figures fighting with sticks.

  Here we go. Let’s start! I walked onto the field, found a free mannequin, picked up a wooden training sword and began classes.

  Your One-Handed Weapon skill has been upgraded to 15.

  I was sweating like crazy, fighting the mannequin. It was a boring activity, and the skill took forever to improve. I was beginning to feel desperate when someone approached me.

  “Noob?”
a tall man with a bare torso asked me. In his hands, he held a wooden sword, much like the one I had.

  “I’ve been watching you mess around…” he went on. “Trying to improve One-Handed Weapon skill? Don’t you know it grows faster during combats?”

  “I heard up to 50 that’s the way to go…”

  “There’s a better way. Let’s get to the arena. I’ll help you. By the way, I am Hawk, like the bird, you know.” He threw in without turning to look at me. I followed him into the arena.

  Player Hawk is calling you to a duel! Do you agree? The duel begins ... 3 ... 2...1!

  “I see you really are a noob,” Hawk said, after throwing me on my back into the sand. His blows were terrifyingly fast and strong. I simply didn’t have enough time to react. One good thing was that every time he missed, my Light Armor skill grew.

  “Don’t worry, you’re gonna make a great warrior. Let’s start with the basics. I will hit slowly, and you will try to parry.” He spent almost an entire hour teaching me the correct grip, parrying, and blocking techniques. There were tons of little nuances, and no way a noob could become a master in a short time.

  “Your clothing and items don’t really matter here,” he went on, “what matters most is your skill!”

  “I’ve gotta go feed my… cat,” he laughed, looking at me. “See you later, Cat. Try practicing with some of the others, too.”

  “How can I find you?”

  “I’m here every day.”

  “Thanks!” I shouted as he walked away.

  Fighting in the Sphere was essentially pseudo-historical fencing. Besides the skill level and the number of attributes, personal skill was very important. Critical strikes (such as to the head, throat, or heart) could instantly kill even a high-level character. The injuries realistically resulted in various deprivations to mobility or losing the ability to use certain body parts. Yes, a leveled-up player’s attack was definitely faster and stronger, with a number of special moves, however, in theory, a competent, “handy” noob with a developed personal skill, was fully capable of winning the battle, even with an experienced, yet clumsy player. Of course, this would be difficult, given all the gear, but the possibility existed, nonetheless.

  Eventually, looking at my statistics, I realized that I’d had over a hundred duels that day. I tried fighting with everyone in the arena… and lost to everyone. Some called me names, like stupid noob, some laughed, and some declined my duel requests after the first duel. Others continued to accept calls and beat me over and over again. In some fights, it seemed to me that I was holding resistance quite stubbornly. By evening, I was more confident, and was able to parry my opponents’ blows easily, even though they would have sent me to knockout previously. I realized, I was improving. It was becoming harder for my opponents to get me, although for an experienced, player-swordsman, it was not difficult at all.

  Your Light Armor skill has increased to 74.

  Your One-Handed Weapon skill has increased to 61.

  Your Athletics skill has increased to 23.

  Six hours with a few breaks on the arena resulted in one hundred and fifty skill points. The goal was achieved. I had reached the stats required to put on the purchased items. I was now benefiting from the stats bonuses which was good; my character was on the way to developing.

  Leaving the arena, I made myself a promise. I would go there every day for an hour! I would keep on training. It was very useful. And no, not for an hour! I would make sure I had at least twenty to thirty duels a day until I had learned to fight well.

  At that time, the game clock showed 6 PM. I had spent an entire day in the game. It was time to get out, rest, and have dinner.

  CHAPTER 5 VALKYRIE AND FLAME

  An interesting conversation took place over dinner. Alena, who always sat opposite me, rested her chin on her wrist and watched me eat. Unlike most girls nowadays, she was a true believer in the concept that a wife should feed her husband. She always cooked for me. This notion was becoming increasingly obsolete with the advancement of modern “smart” kitchen appliances and 3D food printers. Alena would not even look at the dinners that came out of our 3D printer.

  “Are you ok, dear?” she asked me suddenly. “You’ve been spending way too much time in that thing…” She pointed in the direction of the room where I kept my capsule.

  “You’ve been in there for two days. I’m starting to feel ignored.” I pondered what my answer was going to be. I could have told her the truth… that I had lost COSMOS, fought with a colleague, and was unclear of the prospects before me now. But knowing my wife, I decided not to. She would freak out, start to panic. She would worry and come up with silly solutions like, finding a real job which was the last thing I wanted. After all, I was the breadwinner, a man of my word. I had to protect my woman. I thought she would be better off remaining under a veil of ignorance. I would figure everything out.

  “I’m figuring out this new game, new market…” It was almost a lie. “It’s a very popular MMO. Quite complex, so it takes a lot of time to get the hang of everything.”

  “And how long are you going to continue spending days on end in there? The May vacation will be here soon. You promised we’d go to England!” Darn! I did! I forgot all about it. We had been dreaming of visiting good old sinking Britain, wanted to check out London, the sunken city that completely went underwater more than a decade ago. It was still possible, on a clear, sunny day, to spot the silhouette of famous Tower Bridge deep underwater. Yet, given the current situation, the trip wasn’t something that could happen any time soon.

  “I’m afraid we’re not going to be able to go, babe,” I sighed. “I’ve got a new project, SPHERE, and we’ve invested all our money in it. We’ll have to wait a bit.” Alena sighed, but clever and understanding as she was, she said nothing. I would never have married anyone else.

  “I knew it,” she added sadly. “What are we doing on the vacation then?”

  “I think I’ll have to work,” I adopted a confused expression. “I’ll try and come up with a day or two so we can go somewhere.”

  “I know what your punishment is going to be!” she said and smiled. “We’re going to my parents!”

  I wanted to moan, but resistance was futile. I couldn’t exactly say I got along well with my in-laws. Her mom was ok; it was her father that hated me. You know, retired soldiers didn’t really exist… He was extremely bossy and liked to order everyone around. He would always look at me suspiciously as if not really believing his daughter could ever have married someone like me. He struggled to figure out what it was exactly that I did for a living. Like I said, I didn’t get along with my father-in-law.

  “Ok babe,” I agreed. “We’ll go see them.”

  *****

  Having returned to the tavern, I saw Karn. The innkeeper looked worried.

  “Cat! You were asking about work this morning.” He cut right to the chase. “Today, I got a visit from lord Rian, the fabric merchant. A wagon full of goods went missing, and he is looking for someone to help find it.” His shop, Cloth, linen, and cotton was a few blocks down. Here it comes. Another quest! It was simple but came in handy.

  Rian the merchant turned out to be a stocky, chubby, older gentleman with a little thin, gray hair left on his temples and the back of his head. He appeared to be nervous and sweaty, rubbing his bald head with an elegant white handkerchief. He told me that the wagon with the fabrics should have come in yesterday. He was extremely worried about his goods, and even more so, about the fate of the female driver and her assistant, who were accompanying the goods. The roads in this part of the world were safe and the merchant could not imagine what could have gone wrong.

  You have been offered a group quest: Search for the Missing Wagon.

  Find the missing wagon. Find out the fate of the people accompanying it.

  Reward: XP, money (varies)

  WARNING: This is a task for a group of 3 players.

  A group quest? I was pleased that I could ac
cess the internet forum within the game. I went on the SPHERE’s forum, and into the quest section. I was looking for the quest description. I had to understand how to handle it, and why a group was required. I wanted to know all the quest nuances and pitfalls. I got stuck reading all the info. Alex had told me that every quest was randomly generated for each player individually. But I couldn’t believe that this was the case to such a degree! Searching keywords like ‘missing wagon,’ or just ‘wagon returned’ threw up over five hundred links, where players described various quests that had been assigned to them. The mobs, NPCs, conditions, quest-givers—everything case was unique. I read a few descriptions. One player had the wagon attacked by a bunch of goblins. Another encountered a vicious griffin. The third was hijacked and hidden by people close to the owner. There were robbers, cults members, rivals and competitors, witches, and even a dragon. There had to be a dragon! One player was talking about a funny occasion when the NPC himself had hidden the wagon, staging the entire incident as an attempt to get the insurance money from the Dwarfs Bank. It really was something. My quest could be anything, and I was yet to experience it. Having pondered a little longer, I sent a message to the guys I met earlier that morning.

  HotCat: Hey what’s up?

  Flame: Hey! We just got killed. Failed our quest.

  HotCat: I’ve got something for all of us. I’ve been assigned a group quest. Wanna help?

  Flame: We’re resting now. Let’s meet in ten minutes by the tavern?

  Ten minutes later, my friends were outside the tavern: him, the almost square-shaped, red-haired dwarf accompanied by his tall companion, a beautiful Elf who was twice his height. They looked rather comical together, given the fact that they were married in real life. Flame hummed in approval and punched me slightly in the stomach testing my new armor. We created a group chat where I sent the link to the quest.