by Arthur Stone
“No doubt about it...”
“Right. If you shoot a quasi without good reason, you do take a Humanity reduction. It’s not as serious when the victim is a quasi, but it’s still a reduction. Sometimes, you get penalized without even knowing why. The System just nails you however it wants.”
“So throw these balls away! Eating them makes you either die or turn into a monster!”
“Well, to keep yourself from dying, you just have to wait between pearls. And you can lose your quasi characteristics, by the way. It takes several respawns. The exact number depends on your current level and some unknown System algorithm. Over time, you return to normal. There are other ways to revert your appearance, too, but they are all difficult or costly, or both. Best not to risk it. If you’re lucky enough to get multiple pearls, give it some time between them. Three days is best.”
“I don’t care if I can probably avoid death and monsterdom. I don’t want to risk it at all. Or do pearls have some kind of benefit?”
“You’re kidding me, right? Rocky, who would ever want to swallow a pearl unless it offered something genuinely valuable? Pearls can pump your Talent Rank, and that’s really hard to do without them. They pump your Willpower, too, which is great. And most importantly, they can give you new gifts, and those are priceless.”
“I feel like I’m hearing a lecture on advanced quantum mechanics. In Chinese.”
“Shoot. Let me figure out how to explain. You’ve seen me unlock locks, right?”
“Yeah. I even saw a pistol fly towards my hand. I was surprised it didn’t say ‘hello’ when it came.”
“That’s telekinesis. I haven’t developed it much, and it’s a struggle for me to use, but it’s a gift. All immunes have supernatural gifts.”
“I haven’t noticed any gifts.”
“Because you’re basically a zero. You have to get to level ten to get your first one. Then you get another one at level thirty. They say the next one comes at level sixty, but I’ve never seen anyone get that far. It’s insanely difficult, if not impossible. Gifts come in all kind. Some are useful, others are a little useful, and others are useless. A few are even harmful. A useful gift can really improve your life and help you better survive. Imagine having weapons and armor that nothing can take away from you. Or imagine being able to see enemies in bushes, behind trees, and in buildings half a mile away. There are lots of abilities, and ordinary pumping gets you two and only two of them by level thirty. Which is why pearls are so valuable.”
“To hell with that. Why take the risk? So I could end up with a ‘gift’ that’s completely worthless?”
“Right. My first gift was being able to stretch out my hand and command a bird to land on my finger. And it doesn’t even work with every bird.”
“And that’s worth risking getting poisoned?”
“Of course,” said Kitty without hesitation. “But this is all pretty theoretical. Getting pearls is absurdly difficult. You’ve seen the kinds of creatures that hold them.”
“There’s one thing I don’t get. I ate three portions of poison in one sitting. Why didn’t I become a monster? Because I died immediately?”
“I doubt it. Death alone doesn’t cancel the effects of pearls. But I can’t figure it out either. Maybe it’s newbie’s immunity.”
“What’s that?”
“Newbies are never dropped in the worst clusters, or near the razers. The System protects them from the very worst parts of the world. But that protection doesn’t last long. During their first couple of days here, a newbie has a hard time encountering any serious problems.”
“I wouldn’t quite put it that way.”
“All of your deaths were because of lack of knowledge and experience. Someday you’ll realize how protected you were when you were a zero. Maybe you can’t become a quasi during those first couple of days, either. Or...”
Kitty stopped and closed her eyes, deep in thought. Then she jerked awake, smiled widely, and stammered, “Holy shit, I’ve got it.”
“Got what? Remembered something you forgot?”
“I have the answer!” The girl smiled widely, showing teeth Rocky had never even seen before. “I know that secret. Wow, this is my first time on that one. Awesome!”
“I still don’t understand.”
“Haven’t you read the text that shows before you revive?”
“‘Survive, Search, Learn Secret, Help, Ask Correct Question.’ Yeah, that’s burned into my memory. Easy to do when so few memories are there to take up space.”
“Rocky, when the founders came here, the only things they knew were what those bits of text told them.”
“The founders. You mean the first immunes?”
“Right.”
“The only thing they knew was what the dormitory text told them? Man, I sympathize with them. That’s nothing but a life of confusion and pain.”
“Well, at the beginning there was more in the messages. Otherwise there’s no way we would have figured out how to make lifejuice, for example. But then they started telling us less and less. Now it’s just tiny hints. Well, I mean, it was just tiny hints at the beginning. Now it’s just nothing at all, really. Everyone has to learn by trial and error. Search for things, lose things, find things. The immunes gradually found more and more knowledge, and for each piece of knowledge they find, the System ‘thanks’ them. It’s like a prize for uncovering a secret or solving a mystery that no one understood before.”
“And you just discovered a secret?”
“You betcha. During early immunity, a newbie who hasn’t boosted any of their stats yet is protected from transforming into a quasi. That’s what the message said.”
“And now you get a prize? What thanks did you get?”
“Let’s just say I got a boost. I won’t say what it was, but I’m as happy as a stuffed cat after a meal.”
“Based on your explanation before, am I right that people in parties, like us, share almost everything they receive?”
“Right. Our party sucks, though, since our level difference is so massive. You and I both don’t get much experience. The System penalizes us for the vast difference between us. Pretty big penalty, too.”
“Did you get anything for the tank I just shot down outside?”
“Yeah, a little.”
“Well, I didn’t get anything just now.”
“I guess the System decided you had nothing to do with the accomplishment, Rocky. These things are handled on a case-by-case basis.”
“I see. But there’s something else I still don’t get. What’s up with my shooting? That’s what you wanted to figure out.”
“I have figured that out. It’s obvious now.”
“Not to me.”
Kitty looked around her, as if she was going to steal something small and wanted to make sure no one was watching. Then she leaned down so far, her chin was nearly touching the table. She whispered, “You’re a cheater.”
“What? What does that mean?”
“You don’t know what a cheater is? Are you kidding?”
“I’m serious.”
“You’ve broken the System.”
“OK, that just confuses me more.”
“The System isn’t perfect, Rocky. It can’t watch over absolutely everything. It doesn’t know every eventuality. We don’t know who made it, or why, but it works well. That can’t be denied. But the System’s creators simply couldn’t foresee everything, since some situations are just difficult to predict. Impossible to predict, even. Such as your situation.”
“What about my situation is impossible?”
“You know how much a pearl is worth?”
“No idea.”
“A lot. Look, this special immunity for newbies lasts three days, at most. Do you know how many chances they get, during that time, of getting their hands on a pearl? Basically zero. They’re all morons, after all. They spend those early days rushing headlong into respawn. Usually they don’t even find out about spores or l
ifejuice during that time. They’re hopeless. But some manage to kill some infecteds—just weaker ones, of course—instantly pumping their base stats up to one. As soon as that happens, their immunity disappears. Next, pearls come in several colors. You consumed a complete set of them, as it happens. Three colors in all. Even if it’s not a color set, three pearls is a real treasure. Eating them in the proper fashion earns you a ton of bonuses. Did you get anything when you came to after that?”
“Some strange text appeared. I don’t remember the details. But it ended with a Luck boost. A big Luck boost.”
“Don’t worry about that. Luck is worthless. But the first time you take a pearl, it should give you an ability. A gift. That’s guaranteed. But there’s a law in this world that says immunes cannot get supernatural abilities until they reach level ten. So, put yourself in the System’s shoes. It cannot make you a quasi because of your newbie immunity. But it must reward you. And it must reward you massively. You just took three pearls. A triple dose of all three colors. Normally, you’d have to stretch that out over a week. So what is it supposed to do?”
“I’m not a System, so I wouldn’t know.”
“It didn’t know, either. At least, not at first. It probably updated its rules because of you, but you slipped through before the changes took effect. So you accidentally found a loophole. A bug, even. The System had to give you something, but what could it give you? You didn’t have any gifts, nor the ability to receive them, but the rules of rewards had to be upheld. So, what is different about you? Tell me.”
“What do you mean?”
“You have a problem with your knee, Rocky, and the system compensated you with a bonus to your shooting ability. The poor System—man, I even kind of feel sorry for it—found no other way. So it took all of the reward owed you from the three pearls and dumped it into your compensation. Usually your compensation bonus can’t be pumped, but your unusual situation became an exception. A pearl is a powerful thing, and three at once is unfathomable. Now a single Accuracy point for you is like ten or twenty points to an ordinary immune. Maybe more.”
“There’s one thing I don’t get.”
“What?”
“That guy who asked me to bring him the pearls. He must have known the risks, right? So why did he ask me to give him all three at once?”
Kitty shrugged. “Maybe he didn’t think there would be more than one in there. Or maybe he was having trouble thinking at all. You said he was already a corpse, so what could you expect from his sense of reason? The man was likely in shock, or agonizing pain, and unable to think straight. So forget about that. You found a vulnerability in the System, and now you might just be the best marksman on the Continent. Shoot, I’m even ashamed that I ever called you a moron.”
She said this without the slightest hint of remorse, but Rocky wasn’t about to quibble about her sincerity or lack thereof. “Maybe I just got lucky with those hits.”
“Five hits on a helicopter pilot from a heavy rifle while standing, unsupported? No. No one has that kind of luck. With the biter, maybe, but with the chopper, don’t be ridiculous.”
“Sounds like quite a valuable prize I got.”
“Yeah. Only a complete moron could ever get so lucky. Hah, sorry, but I’m right this time.”
“Alright, well, let me think all of that over. For now, though, what is all of this?” Rocky pointed at all the trophies on the table, pulled from the biter’s sporesac. “Are they like pearls? Just with other kinds of bonuses?”
“Everything is useful for something. Even the webbing you tossed out into the mud has a use. These ones here are peas. They pump your Willpower. That’s the only base stat that can be pumped by taking something, by the way, without performing certain successful actions in battle. The yellow ones are the least valuable, but still worth more than spores. Don’t count on stable prices though. They vary from place to place. Peas need to be dissolved like spores, but in vinegar, not alcohol.”
“Oh, well too bad we don’t have any vinegar around.” He winked at her exasperated sigh. “What about these grain-looking things? Local hemp seeds?”
“Every played any games? On a computer or console, I mean?”
“Maybe, sure, but I don’t remember.”
“These give you buffs. Temporary boosts. The System selects a random base stat and gives you a ten to fifty percent bonus in that stat for any amount of time between one hour and fifteen.”
“I’m guessing the bonus and the time are also random?”
“You got it. This thing that looks like a hazelnut is called, well, a nut. It also gives you a buff, but to an auxiliary stat. Besides that, it works just like the other one.”
“That one’s called a nut, and this one’s called what, a kernel?”
“Bingo.”
“And this is... a star?”
“Right.”
“It is more valuable than all the rest?”
“What makes you think that?”
“You looked at it weird, and then moved it aside from all the rest.”
“It is valuable, yet. But this is the weakest kind of star. Stars boost the max levels of your meters. If you dissolve this one in alcohol, for example—just like I did with that spore—and drink it, one of your meter max levels will go up from one to five points. That’s great to pump your spore balance meter, for example. Do that enough and you can go a long time without needing spores, saving you from the kind of predicament we were just in.”
“So maybe my Luck does mean something.”
“We got lucky, yes. But we could have gotten unlucky, too. Just as likely. For you though, Rocky, there’s not much useful here. Your abilities aren’t unlocked yet. You’re not much different from a low-level digi in that regard. But, you know, I didn’t even help you kill that thing. So this is your loot. Sell it later, or consume it yourself once you’re strong enough. Just share the spores with me, alright? Or I’m done for.”
“The hell I’m taking all of this, Kitty. Who do you think I am?”
“What do you mean?”
“You know what.”
“No, I don’t.”
“Uh-huh, sure. I mean, if you were in my shoes, you would have been fair and shared. I didn’t know you had such a low opinion of me.”
“I’m not in your shoes. No need to go around comparing the two of us. We are completely different people. Never forget that. And remember, I live on my own. I promised to help you, and I will, but that’s all I promised. If you don’t want to take it all, we can split it. I certainly won’t object to that. But keep in mind that soon you’ll have to make your own way, without my help. By the way, it’s time to start thinking about moving on from this place. We’ve been found once; we can be found again. We need to find a new spot.”
“Where should we go?”
“This town is old. Even in the real world, it was dying. Most of the houses abandoned, people living far from each other. We need to pick one that stands far enough out from the others. But we can’t stay here. I don’t know how that biter found us, but if he could, other infecteds can, too. Let’s go right now, while the weather is bad. The rain should wash our tracks away well enough.”
Chapter 21
Life Five: The Founder Without Morals
The village was, indeed, far from its heyday. Rocky hobbled along the road, examining four houses as he went. There was no real difference between them. They were cookie cutter houses. The same old supplies in each, mostly miserable in quality. No delicacies. The food was just as simple as it had been in their home. In one hut, the refrigerator door was slightly ajar, and it smelled so badly that it felt like the air was eating his eyes out. In another house, the window and frame had been pulled out whole, and the massacre inside had left nothing but a pile of gnawed human bones.
His knee was still torturing him. Soon, he had to give up searching houses so he had enough strength to move to their new location. They had enough food from the old place, and Kitty was no help wi
th the search. She still hadn’t begun to walk unassisted—and was still just as heavy to carry as before. Not that she needed to lose weight. If she did, she might just win a world record or something. Rocky was still ashamed that he had botched the first day of their acquaintance so badly. It was impossible to blame his blunder on the girl’s cunning garment and layers of mud.
The only advantage the new place had over the old was the kerosene stove in the kitchen. Rocky’s powers of deduction concluded that kerosene was very likely required for its operation. But after fussing around with it, he managed to get it running on ordinary gasoline, which he had siphoned from the tank of the old car sitting nearby.
This feat improved life dramatically. Tea, coffee, and a watery soup thickened with canned fish were suddenly on the menu. Hot food really hit the spot for the travelers, and it slowed the decline of their Pleasure levels—then even began to slowly increase them. He learned that Pleasure was actually a very useful number. If you kept it near maximum, you received regular random increments to a whole set of randomly selected stats. The longer you kept this going, the more bonuses you got.
As he reflected on this, he began feeling like a cyborg or a character from The Sims—and began analyzing the world around for mistakes, errors made by the artist who designed it. If Kitty was right—and it seemed she usually was—all of these numbers an immune had played a big role in their life. Mostly in their chances of survival. Even an apparently fragile person could possess extraordinary strength, or a heavy person could move fast as lightning and jump over tall obstacles—and those were just the visually obvious examples.
The stat and meter system was worth further study. Otherwise, he’d always be a moron.
Hot food and drink were good, but otherwise there was nothing nice about the new place. Of course, the girl made Rocky do all of the same things to this house that he had done to the last. So around every room he limped, making sure no crafty or disabled ghouls were lurking about, and then securing the house with whatever traps and hazards he could improvise.