Project Daily Grind (Mirror World Book #1)

by Alexey Osadchuk

  I sighed and closed my eyes. For several minutes nothing else happened. Then I began receiving messages,

  Success! You’ve unzipped and installed The Der Swyor Clan app suite.

  Success! You’ve installed the Ancient Map of the Der Swyor Clan’s Trade Routes.

  Success! You’ve installed the List of the Legendary Elders of the Der Swyor Clan.

  Success! You’ve installed the Floor Plan of the Twilight Citadel property of the Der Swyor Clan!

  Success! The app has been activated and synchronized with the game engine.

  Enjoy the game!

  Mirror World Administration

  The message was followed by a small postscript,

  That’s it, noob! You sort it out!

  At this point I think I’d stopped breathing. I was trying to take in some air and couldn’t. It felt as if I’d received an almighty whack to my solar plexus. Everything had started so well! My plan had seemed to be working. My Mellenville start had proven easier than I’d expected. My chance encounter with the little boy had been followed by a chain of very decent reputation tasks.

  Apparently, by pulling the ball out of the fountain, I’d triggered some complex quest which had already resulted in some very pleasant bonuses I wouldn’t have even dreamed of otherwise—at least not for the next few weeks.

  I was already ahead of the schedule I’d set up for myself. That was good news. But what had caused it? Could it be the omnipresent Andrew “Pierrot” Petrov again, the wayward programmer? Was he indeed so powerful that he could have arranged my meeting with the six-year-old NPC right in the middle of the game’s capital city? Honestly, I had my doubts. The market girl who’d sold me the feather—yes, definitely. But as for little Tommy… he didn’t seem to fit into this jigsaw puzzle. Let’s think again.

  But what if Tommy had been attracted to me by my 95 Trust points? Then again, why not? It wasn’t too unlikely. My level of Trust must have drawn the boy to me. After all, all these Mirror Souls were little else but bits of binary codes. Granted, they were complicated to the point of being perfect, but codes nonetheless. The “boy” must have analyzed dozens of bystanders until his choice fell on the most suitable candidate: myself and my Trust levels. Which could only mean one thing.

  It meant that the “souls” of the game’s NPCs mirrored the players’ stats. We could affect their behavior. Or rather, their algorithms chose the right behavioral patterns by analyzing our stats. Had the said algorithm located another player by the fountain whose levels of Trust had been just one point higher, I could have kissed all this Reputation good-bye.

  But why Trust? Why not Courage or whatever? In any case, I had a theory. Now I had to check it by daily practice.

  Okay. That had reassured me a bit. Now I had to sit down and give it all a good think through. It didn’t look as if I was going to get any sleep. I had to look into it. What new surprises did this nutty programmer have in store for me? What was he trying to achieve, anyway? What was the point of his messages?

  So: where do we start? The List of Legendary Elders? Good idea. I could study the maps later. So what do you want from me, Mr. Pierrot?

  Predictably, the Legendary Elders app didn’t contain any of those lengthy stories of ancient races, bygone days and other useless trivia. It was concise and to the point. The writing style admittedly tried to imitate the game’s general tone, but the whole app consisted of just one page of several laconic paragraphs.

  Having finished reading, I sat motionless for a long time, lost in thought. The thing that Pierrot was driving me to didn’t sound nutty at all. On the contrary: I was beginning to understand that my brother must have omitted some very valuable detail. Not even omitted really: it must have been something he’d forgotten or simply ignored.

  Never mind. I’d think about it later. I needed to study the text again.

  From the dawn of time, the Ennans’ society had been governed by councils of Elders. The great Der Swyor Clan wasn’t an exception. In order to acquire harmony and balance, Ennans could only be ruled by those whose achievements in their respective occupations knew no rivals. Only acclaimed experts were eligible for seats on the Council.

  In doing so, the entire Ennan society looked up to the Legendary Elders of Der Swyor—the most powerful clan Under the Mountain.

  Master Satis was the wisest of the wise. He went down in the annals of history as the Greatest Lord of Force.

  Master Axe the Terrible. Which Ennan child hasn’t heard the legends of this Slayer of a Thousand Monsters? Master Axe is the epitome of courage and valor!

  Honorable Master Grilby, the crafting pioneer. It was him who uncovered the Power of Stone and sampled the greatness of Isilird, the heavenly steel. And it was he who managed to combine these two unruly elements!

  Good Master Adkhur whom posterity hailed as the patron of the Younger Race.

  These are the names of Ennans who will live forever in the hearts of all folk Under the Mountain!

  That made four of them. Now what had Mr. Pierrot wanted to say by that? Why would I need to know? What was the significance of this information? Never mind. Let’s open the trade routes map and see what it has to offer.

  It didn’t take me long to work out why I needed the information about some long-departed Legendary Elders. It turned out simple. Their former dwellings were flagged on the map. Curiouser and curiouser...

  With a sigh I sat back. If I wasn’t mistaken, my programmer patron was nudging me in the right direction. I double-checked the map. Two of the Elders, Grilby and Adkhur, were located in the so-called Lands of Light. The others were in No-Man’s Lands. And so was the Twilight Citadel, the seat of the Der Swyor Clan—and I was the lucky owner of its floor plan. To be precise, it was situated in the very heart of the neutral zone. As I opened the plan, I already knew what I was about to see.

  Of course. The Throne Room, the Armory, the Treasury... the works.

  An experienced player would have already been dancing a jig, celebrating these new opportunities. But not I. It didn’t feel good.

  Your load might prove too much for me to bear, Mr. Andrew “Pierrot” Petrov.

  I had this gut feeling I might have bitten more than I could chew. Or rather, that someone might chew on me instead. What was that King Solomon had said about much wisdom breeding much grief? I knew of course this wasn’t what he’d meant but somehow it seemed pertinent to my situation too.

  I dreaded to even think about someone like Shantarsky getting hold of this kind of information. The intel Pierrot had shared with me must have been truly unique—and valuable.

  A faint flicker of doubt stirred in my heart. Should I have followed Dmitry’s advice and chosen another char? No. Too late. My time was running short. Or rather, Christina’s time was. It was all my own fault. Why, oh why had I had to download this wretched app? Then again, I should have already known that whenever Pierrot wanted to slip me something on the sly, he always succeeded.

  Wait, I said to myself. This wasn’t the way to go about it. Firstly, I needed to calm down. Secondly, nothing had happened yet. I was still safely in my room, snug as a bug in a rug.

  I had to get a grip and think it over. The situation called for a good ponder. My paranoia seemed to be getting out of hand. It wasn’t good. It prevented me from thinking clearly. And that might result in me making mistakes.

  So what had actually happened? Currently I was in possession of important intel about some bountiful area. I also shouldn’t forget about the decidedly rare artifact tucked away in my bag. True, its stats were unknown. Lastly, I also had my Operator. What could this all mean? It might mean, firstly, that Pierrot wasn’t as nutty as everyone believed him to be. And secondly, that we just might have mutual interests in all this. Both of us seemed to be interested in my char’s development. Don’t ask me why though I already had a couple of ideas. And as for my next move... I might need to see a few people in the morning.

  Chapter Twenty-Eight

 
Greetings, Olgerd!

  This is Mellenville administration terminal #572.

  Would you like to check the available Reputation Quests?

  Yes, please.

  It was 7 a.m. and I was already busy pestering the administration terminal for quests. First thing that morning, a system message had happily informed me of my 30 pt. Reputation. Things were looking up.

  You have the following Reputation Quests available:

  Daily Reputation Quests: 3

  Weekly Reputation Quests: 2

  Monthly Reputation Quests: 1

  Display all: Yes/No

  No. You couldn’t hurry these things. I decided to open them one by one, starting with the dailies.

  The terminal paused, thinking, then generated three new quests,

  Seek out Mattais the Guards’ Captain and do what he asks of you.

  Reward: +5 to your Reputation with Mellenville

  Seek out Valdemar the Notary and do what he asks of you.

  Reward: +5 to your Reputation with Mellenville

  Seek out Litius the Scribe and do what he asks of you.

  Reward: +5 to your Reputation with Mellenville

  All three were as alike as... as three peas in a pod. Each offered the reward of 5 pt. Reputation: fifteen in total, provided I completed them. Most likely, the quests were of the “go fetch” kind, involving lots of running around. Predictably so.

  Right. Let’s open the weeklies. Strangely, it took the terminal less thinking to produce them,

  Seek out Vertetio the Alchemist and bring him 50 Swamp Mushrooms.

  Reward: +25 to your Reputation with Mellenville

  Seek out Theodore the Pharmacist and bring him 50 blades of Blue Grass.

  Reward: +25 to your Reputation with Mellenville

  Two farming quests, good. These weren’t as time-consuming but might prove quite costly. They would fetch me 50 pt. Reputation in total.

  Let’s have a look at the monthly quests, then. The terminal zoned out, thinking, then offered,

  Seek out Nikanor the Lawyer. Objective: to sign a short-term work contract with him and complete any tasks he might have for you for a month.

  Reward: +750 to your Reputation with Mellenville.

  Oh. I had a funny feeling I knew now what those two, Brand and Tyx, had been doing guarding the inn. They must have been busy completing their monthly quests.

  Almost eight hundred Reputation for a month’s work for some yet unknown NPC. It looked like the game developers were bent on keeping the players busy.

  In my case, my motivation was perfectly clear: I was here to get a loan from the bank. But what was forcing other players to diligently complete Reputation quests? Why did they do it? Were they desperate to get a loan too, all of them? Unlikely. Then what would it be?

  Very well. Just another question without answer... yet.

  I had one last quest left: the repeatable one. I opened it.

  The terminal zoned out for a good five minutes. Come on, buddy, find me something nice. You’re a good machine, I know it. Make it worth my while, please.

  My pleas must have worked as the machine happily offered,

  Go to the Maragar Citadel. Objective: seek out Captain Gard and offer him your services defending the Maragar Pass from the powers of the Dark. Become a Citadel guard!

  Duration: 90 days.

  Reward: +2500 to a guard’s Reputation with Mellenville every 30 days.

  Warning! In order to complete the quest, you will have to temporarily lodge in the Maragar Citadel barracks. Those players already registered in Mellenville retain their right to receive their daily 30-pt. bonus to Reputation.

  Warning! The quest must be completed in full. The failure to do so will result in losing all points already earned.

  Warning! In order to receive a new quest, a player must complete the previous one.

  Very nice, thank you very much! What’s that for a quest? Becoming a Citadel guard? Just something I had in mind... not.

  The fact was, the terminal didn’t care what account type I had. I’d wanted a quest, so it had issued me one. I’d love to know how it expected me to defend the Citadel from the powers of the Dark. Was I supposed to brandish my pick? Could I defend anything at all with my account type?

  The forums abounded with all sorts of information about the place. It was the so-called “front line of the Powers of Light”. The Citadel’s gate opened onto the wild lands of the neutral zone. No-Man’s Lands.

  From what I’d heard, the Citadel’s walls were stormed daily by monsters. Only very well-trained warriors chose to go there. Every now and again it was attacked by players of the Dark—top levels normally. They came there craving blood, seeking to level up Valor and Fury. Citadel was one nasty place, I tell you. But it looked as if it might need some regular Grinders too.

  Actually... did they have mines there? I opened the map. Oh. Lady Mel, my very own employer, seemed to own some land in the vicinity of the Citadel. Very well, let’s have a look. What did we have here… mines, mines… where are they… Got it! Emerald fields! Two of them!

  I closed the map and shook my head. Not a good idea. This Citadel was hell. Definitely not the right place for the likes of me. Forget it, Olgerd. Just forget it.

  I did some more math. If I stayed in Mellenville proper and completed all the required quests, I’d still have about 1400 pt. Reputation a month. And I shouldn’t forget that I might come across more of these surprise quests every month. How many little boys were there in this city who liked to play by its fountains? What if one of them needed to save a kitten from a tree?

  The difference between the two schemes was 1100 points. In the course of the previous morning alone I’d already earned 400. What was the point in risking my butt on the front line? No. If the truth were known, something didn’t feel right. It just didn’t. What if my yesterday’s success was a glitch, pure and simple? A bug, as Tyx had suggested? That raised another question: why would level-100 players choose to guard some useless little inn instead of joining the battle on the Citadel’s walls?

  This was difficult to fathom. Too many things to consider. One thing for sure: I shouldn’t jump the gun. What was it the Roman Emperor Octavianus Augustus a.k.a. Julius Caesar had said? “Make haste slowly”. That was exactly what I had to do: make haste slowly. To continue Mr. Octavianus’ quotation analogy, my idea was not to repeat the mistake of that fisherman who tried to fish with a hook of gold.

  For a start, I had to accept all quests apart from the last one. Then we’d see. Let’s check the resources first.

  I opened the auction and entered Swamp Mushrooms into the Search box. What did we have here? Hundreds of offers, all of them in bundles of 50. Oh-kay. It looked as if the quest kept coming up time and time again. Not good news for Dmitry who used to tell me that every quest was unique in Mellenville.

  The prices were more or less the same. I didn’t notice any drastic disparity.

  The blades of blue grass and the swamp mushrooms cost me fifty-five gold in total. The weekly quests would come to about two hundred. And that was the best-case scenario.

  By 5 p.m., I’d finished all the errands, having earned 65 points. I’d also signed a contract with Nikanor and even completed two of his tasks. The lawyer had turned out to be a grumbling old bastard constantly unhappy about something. Actually, what did it matter? I’d met worse humans. And he wasn’t human even—just some miserable NPC.

  I hadn’t come across any more surprise quests though. Most likely, what had happened on my first day in town must have indeed been a glitch. All the NPCs I’d come across today were extremely friendly with me—but that was the extent of it.

  The portal station met me with a bustling noise. My emerald fields awaited me. Once I was back in Verdaille, I’d have to buy some sandwiches for a quick snack on my way to work. I still had my quota to meet. Last night, my skill level had reached 109. The game developers had reacted by upping the ante to 270: the level necessary to becom
e a Master Digger. With a little help from my Operator, I might do it within a week. No idea what I would’ve done without it.

  While I queued for the ticket, I opened the Map of the Der Swyor Clan’s Trade Routes. The Elders Grilby and Adkhur lived in the lands controlled by the forces of Light. The former, “the crafting pioneer”, had his residence in the Gray Cliffs. The other one—the patron of some “younger race” or whoever he was—lived in the Woods of Lirtia. Judging by the map, both locations were quite close to the capital. Even Verdaille was further than that. I’d have to check the ticket prices.

  By then, I was first in the queue. I “greeted” the terminal, then entered:

  Gray Cliffs

  So! Not bad. The jump to the settlement nearest to the location would cost me ten gold. Same as Verdaille, basically. I checked the Woods of Lirtia. Same story, the distance slightly greater.

  So, Sir Olgerd, what do you think? Should you pay a visit to the crafting pioneer? Now was just as good a time as any. Should I make haste slowly? I still had enough time to do my quota in the mine. The jumps were going to cost me, but I just hoped it was worth it. I was almost sure that Master Grilby was an NPC created by my hyperactive patron programmer.

  That decided it, then. I had to go and visit him.

  Malburg turned out to be a neat quiet town. I had once been on a business trip to a one-horse Spanish settlement clinging to the foot of a mountain. That’s exactly what Malburg looked like. The effect was identical: the Cliffs were still at least a half-hour brisk walk away but they seemed to be rising up just behind the town wall.

  I set my satnav to Gray Cliffs and walked out of Malburg toward their darkening range. The guards by the town gate greeted me respectfully, their curious stares following me. Apparently, the mine diggers of my caliber were a rare sight here. Then again, what did they care where this experienced Dwarf prospector was heading?