Cat's Quest

by Roman Prokofiev

  “With respect, Todris, Master-Blacksmith, I heard that you are the person who can identify unusual artifacts,” I cut right to the chase.

  “You heard right. I can… but not for free. One gold coin per artifact. Money upfront.” I gave him the coin. “Come on, what you got there?” Lets start with something simple, I thought. I handed him the thin flute of Ailinel, the elf-she-wolf.

  His sensitive fingers ran along the artifact’s wooden surface. He slowly turned the pipe around, examining it carefully.

  “The whistle of elves of Im Enoi,” he said with some disdain, “Handmade, enchanted by a weak bard—two chants. There you go.”

  That was it? I opened the flute’s stats and saw that the question marks were no longer there. Two new notations appeared instead: Crying of Ninian and Hope of Ailinel. The melodies could only be played by a player with the Music skill, which meant it was useless to me. I’d take it to the auction, just as I had planned to yesterday.

  “What else have you got there?” asked Tordis in a grumpy voice. “Come on, I don’t have much time!”

  I took out the sword. Lying on the wooden rack in bright lighting, it looked more beautiful than ever. The blue, iridescent metal of the blade sparkled with a multitude of stars, and the silver handle entwined with black leather shone bright.

  The blacksmith’s behavior was odd. He froze, as if turning stiff, and for a second, even seemed to stop breathing. It was like he had been put on hold. This lasted for about ten to fifteen seconds until the Zverg began to move. At first, he barely dared touch the sword, but then very carefully, almost reverently, he ran his fingers along the blade.

  “You know what, boy ... I can't help you,” he said, in a completely different tone voice, much softer now. “Do you have any idea what this is?”

  “If I knew, I wouldn’t be here,” I answered honestly.

  “Once a century, there comes a Star that causes the other stars to turn into shooting stars. A special alloy can be obtained, using a special technique, from the dust of stars that have fallen to the ground. They call it Star Metal. It can cut through any other weapon. It’s deadly to anything it touches, anything with flesh, and doubly so to those who are fleshless. It soaks in magic like a sponge, water. Where did you find it?”

  “In a cave in the mountains…” I replied, but the Zverg didn’t seem to hear me. It was like he was in a trance.

  “Weapons and armor from star metal were once forged in Helt Acor, in the ancient strongholds of my people... Long ago, before the Black Fast and the Age of Monsters.”

  “So, can you identify the sword’s stats?” I asked in a loud voice. Tordis was roused and handed the blade back to me.

  “The Star Metal sword, the hilt is mithril, that's all I can tell you. I don’t understand the rest of its properties, not with my mind, and it’s not my place to mess with it.”

  “How about a refund then?”

  “What? I’ve told you all I know!” the Zverg said, outraged. “Do you have any idea how much it costs to identify this sort of artifact? No!”

  “Who can…”

  “Go to the mage, the court wizard of Eyre. Of course, they won't let you in the castle, but the mage has a shop in the upper city, not far from the arena. Try there.”

  The artifact was only partially identified. The master had determined the material and the number of inlay slots, something that could already be seen with the naked eye. Now its properties looked like this:

  ?????

  Quality: ????. Material: Star Metal, mithril, ????

  ?????

  ?????

  ?????

  ?????

  ?????

  ?????

  ?????

  ?????

  ?????

  Slots: 2. (Empty) (Empty)

  The sword was clearly extraordinary. I went to the auction since I was practically there anyway and searched for items made of Star Metal. With the filter parameter applied, it returned 0 items, not a single item among 500,000 lots was made of this same material. What exactly had I found, I wondered.

  HotCat: Alex, hey there.

  AlexOrder: Hey.

  HotCat: What do you know about Star Metal?

  AlexOrder: Hum… read something about it in books. But it doesn’t really exist in the SPHERE, so don’t worry about it.

  Here we go. It doesn’t exist in the sphere, but it exists in my scabbard. Interesting…

  HotCat: Alex I know you’re probably tired of my nooby questions but tell me one more thing… How can I level up my Leadership fast?

  AlexOrder: Leadership? Hmm….

  AlexOrder: It normally grows as you command troops… you could hire an NPC and order it about…

  HotCat: I don’t have enough money. Any other options?

  AlexOrder: Lemmi think... Have you made a tattoo? There are tattoos that can increase any skill… but just by a bit…

  HotCat: Thanks ma! I’ll check it out

  AlexOrder: Good luck Cat! I’ll be in Eyre tonight. Let’s meet up… I gotta talk to you about something…

  Tattoos! Let’s find out! I saw a Tattoo shop somewhere on the square…

  The shop was inside a wooden wagon with bright, colorful ads painted on the sides. The horses stood quietly close by. Inside, it was cool and bright. The entire space was filled with the fragrant smoke of a flat brazier, on which bizarre-looking hooks and needles were being heated. The tattoo artist, skinny, dark-skinned, with a cloud of black braids silently pointed at a hefty catalog and invited me to sit down in a wooden chair which had numerous metal clips attached to handrails, and looked like it was designed to be an instrument of torture.

  A player could have up to three tattoos on their body. The first one immediately, the other two as you leveled up skills and attributes. Tattoos came in three different types: small, medium and large, and they gave you various bonuses and improvements, mostly a small bonus to attributes, skills and resistance. Some featured exotic effects such as + attractiveness for an NPC. They could change a character’s appearance, and it could be applied to any part of the body.

  I really needed to pump up “Leadership” in order to hire auction representatives, who would increase the number of lots at auction. Browsing through the catalog pages, I found the “Great Leadership Mark,” which gave +100 skill points to any skill. Like all the larger tattoos, it took up a lot of space on the body, but I had no choice! I pointed it out to the master. The tattoo artist nodded and began to blow on the coals in the brazier, heating up his tools. My eyes widened. Is it gonna hurt bad??

  You have a Great Leadership Mark.

  Your Leadership skill is increased to 100. You received 1 charisma point.

  You can lead a group of up to 10 people. You can now hire NPC characters!

  You get a first slot NPC henchman.

  +1 Charisma. That was good for a merchant. Charisma was one of their main attributes. But why did I receive it? I found out the answer to this question soon enough. In each new skills rank, for every 100 points, a player received a bonus to an attribute relevant to that skill. In case of Leadership, it would naturally be Charisma. Turns out, the second way to develop a character had everything to do with leveling up particular skills. Leveling up ranks, you increase your stats. I was sure there were other ways as well. Half an hour later, I left the wagon.

  An intricate, black tattoo stretched across my right hand, from the forearm, all the way to the chest. It was a shoulder strap in a fancy ornament of interlacing lion’s heads and shields, giving my arm the look of an engraved sleeve of knight’s armor. I was glad my clothing hid it almost completely. I now had a hundred Leadership points and could start trading right away. The tattoo cost me ten gold, and as a result, I was beyond poor. If it hadn’t been for Alex’s financial aid at the start, I would have served quite a few NPCs running around completing their quests. It looked like generosity wasn’t the NPC’s strong suite.

  It was time, now, to visit the Mage’s shop. I needed
to find out more about the mysterious sword. Besides, it was right on the way to the arena where I was heading for my daily training.

  The shop was situated in the basement of a two-story stone house was at the end of a wide staircase. Interesting light fixtures hung low from the ceiling. I spotted a large hourglass and Dorsa’s globe, lots of old books and various bottles in dusty cabinets.

  Suddenly, a large, black cat ran out from under my feet. Snorting, it turned around and meowed at me in displeasure. A pretty blonde in a green dress with white sleeves was sitting at the reception desk in the spacious, dimly lit room looking distinctly bored.

  “Good afternoon!”

  “Good afternoon,” she said, and closed the old book she was reading. “Fred! Get lost, you naughty cat!” The cat walked over to a stuffed unicorn in the corner of the room and began tearing at it with his claws producing a long mew. Hearing the angry voice of his master, he pressed his ears back and ran away.

  “Sorry, I was talking to the cat,” the girl blushed. She looked very young, no older than twenty. “What are you looking to buy? I have potions, elixirs, and magically enchanted scrolls.”

  “Well… actually, I need to identify an object, a sword. I’ve been told this shop belongs to a mage. Or is that you?”

  “Of course not,” she smiled beautifully, revealing her dimples. “I’m a relative of his. My uncle rarely ever pays a visit here. In fact, he doesn’t provide services. You may have heard, he’s Court Mage of Eyre.”

  “But I really need his help!”

  “I’m very sorry, lord HotCat. I don’t think I can help you. You can find my uncle in the castle, he’s there all the time.”

  Here we go! I would not be able to get into the castle for a long time as high levels of reputation would be required to be let in. I left the shop, deeply disappointed, and headed over to the arena, thinking it over. Two NPCs, a male and female, walked passed me holding a bouquet of roses. Beautiful flowers… Cat, you’re so dumb!

  I turned around and ran back. I had spotted a flower shop just a few blocks away. Having spent the last silver coins I had on a beautiful bunch of flowers I didn’t know the names of, I went back to the Mage’s shop, where his niece was working.

  “I told you I can’t…” she began, when she spotted me again.

  “These flowers are for the most beautiful girl in Eyre!” I said, handing the flowers over. “I just thought they’d bring a little life into the basement.”

  “If you think that’s going to work…” Of course it will! The girl accepted the flowers. Her nose wings fluttered, inhaling the scent of flowers. She looked up at me.

  “Thank you, lord HotCat. They are beautiful! Let me go get some water.”

  “I’m not sure I remember your name,” I said.

  “Oh, I’m sorry. My name is Weldy,” she said and did a curtsy with a smile.

  Your relationship with Weldy has increased by 50.

  Current value: 60 (NEUTRAL, CURIOUS)

  Wow! 50 points at once. Let’s keep going. She’s melting. Having talked to her for about five minutes, Weldy said she rarely got flowers, and ten minutes later, we were arranging a date. OMG. I’m going on a date with an NPC, what would my mother say? Then she revealed her uncle was going to stop by after the second hour of the evening guard (7pm), but, she said, he was never inclined to talk to strangers, or do anything for them. He was too important a figure for all that. Ok, let’s find out.

  Up on the arena, I spotted Hawk. I nodded to him as if he were an old friend, and he threw over a wooden sword. I was fighting much better, and he only managed to poke me a couple of dozen times. He took me to the edge of the arena and pointed at three NPCs.

  “Look, these guys are local trainers,” he said. “Try the first one, the sergeant, when you get your One-Handed Weapon up to 100.”

  “What about the other two?”

  “The second one, Captain Freene—he’s for advanced. You won’t survive more than a few seconds. The third one, lord Laort… He’s the leader of Grand Knights,” he giggled. “His speed and reaction are much higher than a human. The best of the advanced only last a few seconds.” Advanced players were the professional clan warriors, who only leveled up combat skills.

  I always saw quite a few of them at the arena. They trained, had duels, and shot from bows. A regular player had little to no chance against them. They honed their skills and reflexes to perfection. When I challenged them, they fought me for the first time, assessing my durability, but my subsequent calls were futile. They didn’t want to waste time on a noob like me. Hawk, by the way didn’t identify with them. Interestingly enough, most of them fought half-naked. As it turned out, there was a hidden skill called “Iron Skin”. It manifested when your bare body was being hit. The skill gave 0.05 to physical protection per level, and when leveling up to at least a hundred which could be done in a couple of weeks, it resulted in + 5 to physical defense. Not bad at all, just like all my stats from wearing armor now.

  On this day, besides me, another noob, Saladin, appeared on the arena. The guy had a pronounced oriental appearance, and he was new to the game, like me, and desperately trying to learn. Hawk began to train him too. He was like a sort of nanny, I thought. He knew and taught everyone. It was from duels with Saladin that I started gaining my first victories. Skills, by the way, were growing much slower than they had earlier on. I had barely managed to level twenty in One-Handed Weapon, and just a half dozen in Light Armor. According to Hawk, after my first hundred, it would get even slower, and gradually harder.

  When my planned one hundred duels were almost complete, my friends, Valkyrie and Frame, arrived at the arena. I spotted them in the distance, near the archery targets, and went up to say hello. They were also glad to see me. I watched Valkyrie for a while, skillfully shooting arrows into straw dummies. It was extremely difficult to shoot from a bow in the Sphere since it didn’t feature auto-aim. It was also very tricky, with the arrows flying parabolically, to hit the straw dummy’s head from forty steps away! I noticed that Maria had brought with her a whole quiver and two spare bundles of arrows, and a question popped into my head.

  “Listen, how often do you get new arrows?” I asked her.

  “Almost every day. I buy two or three hundred. I can’t carry any more than that with me. Why?”

  “Just curious. Where do you buy them?”

  “Mostly, at auction. You can get them from NPCs in the city, but they’re a bit more expensive.”

  “Gotcha. And are there many types of arrows? Like everyone uses different kinds?” Valkyrie smiled at my noob-like questions. She explained that there were indeed a variety of different kinds featuring different tips, arrows for different purposes, and which inflicted different kinds of damage. However, almost everyone used one type only, which did penetrating physical damage, while other were rarely ever used, and then, only when specific damage was required for certain kinds of mobs. For example, silver tips were used against the undead, fiery ones could be set on fire. These were much more expensive. Therefore, she, like most other archers, being limited by the size of the quiver, was using standard arrows, of which there appeared to be a constant lack, goddammit!

  * * *

  Outside the Mage’s shop, I waited for the mage to show for about an hour. He eventually arrived on a horse and was accompanied by a body guard. I expected to see an old, gray-haired man, but the mage turned out to be a middle-aged, fit, and serious. On his somewhat predatory narrow face, showed a graying beard. He wore no star-decorated cloak, just a light tunic, and a blue cloak with a hood.

  “Lord Mage!” The mage turned around as his bodyguard, a stocky blond warrior, stood in front of him, blocking me. I barely had a chance to comprehend what had happened, his movements were so stealthy and smooth, but in front of my nose, I could see the sharp tip of a long blade, one of the two, he carried behind his back.

  “Hang on Kron!” the mage dismissed him. “Nothing to worry about. What do you want?”
>
  “I need your help! I need to identify an artifact…”

  “I don’t take private requests,” he said, appeared to have lost interest, and having turned with his back to me, began to descend the stairs to the basement.

  “It’s a sword made of Star Metal!” Something strange happened again just then. Like the Zverg-blacksmith, the mage froze for about 15 seconds. Then he turned to me.

  “Did I hear you correctly? Did you say Star Metal?”

  “Yes, sir!”

  “Show me!” I extracted the blue sword from the slots and handed it over, pointing the handle toward the mage.

  “I’m not touching it. It’s dangerous,” the mage warned. He slowly approached, looking closely at the weapon in my hands. When he looked up at me, I saw a spark of interest in his eyes.

  “This does indeed look like Star metal,” he admitted. “The sword is enchanted. I think I can identify it for you. Yet, this is a difficult, complex work…” the mage went on.

  “It’ll cost you fifty thousand gold.”

  How much?? Fifty thousand? Is he nuts? 50,000 in game currency was about 5,000 real money. How much does this sword cost? Or is he trying to con me? Come on, Cat, haggle… try to negotiate.

  “Fifty thousand?” I said, pretending to be crushed, holding onto my heart! “Lord Mage, I don’t have that kind of money!”

  “What do I care?” The mage said, shrugging his shoulders. “I don’t work for free. This will require the Great Essence Learning Scroll. The ingredients needed to create it are very expensive.”

  “Can I be on any use to you? Perhaps, you have a task for me in exchange?”

  “A task…?” the mage pondered. “For you? In exchange for fifty thousand? I don’t think I have anything…”

  “Is there anything I can do? What can I do? Do you know anyone else, who could identify this for me, besides you, Lord Mage?”

  “I’ll think about it,” the mage replied. “I’ll see what the best course of action is. I’ll get in touch with you, player HotCat.”