My joy didn’t last long. When I tried to slip my left arm into a sleeve, something checked the motion. It seemed as though there was an invisible wall. I tried to put the jacket on a few more times, but all my attempts were to no avail.
A thought crossed my mind. I had the T-shirt on. Should I take it off before donning the jacket? For many video games I’d played forbade the player to wear one piece of armor over another. Though I had a feeling that the fabric T-shirt wasn’t deemed to be armor, I decided to check this out anyway.
Peeling off the T-shirt, I took the biker jacket once again and tried to slip my arm into one sleeve. It wouldn’t go. I had no trouble just holding the jacket in my hands, yet once I tried to put it on, some invisible force prevented me from doing so.
I got dressed in the T-shirt again and gave the matter some thought. Leaving the biker armor set behind was out of the question. Rare items lived up to their name. One could seldom find them. When I would find another rare item was anybody’s guess. Still, carrying the biker armor set in my hands wouldn’t be all that shrewd of me either. Unfortunately, my bag was too small to accommodate it as well.
Sure I might be able to find more spacious bag later on, but it was impossible to tell how long it would take for me to level up to 7. Whatever trouble might happen. For instance, I might get slain by PKs one again who then would surely filch the biker armor set off me.
I couldn’t put the armor on for the time being, nor could I carry it along with me all the time for fear of losing it. What else could I do? I honestly didn’t have much choice. So I decided to deposit the biker in a Resurrection Pod and keep it in there until I got level 7. Then I’d just have to head for the nearest Resurrection Pod to retrieve the armor. Maybe I’d even be able to obtain a motorbike by that time.
I got excited once again. Now I just had to carry the armor over to the required place. I hadn’t gotten far away from the Resurrection Pod I’d been revived in, no farther than three hundred or so yards. It’d take me a minute or so to retrace my steps. Yet even in such a short span might happen just about anything. So I best to hurry before some player showed up.
I was about to take off when my gaze fell on the pile of the loot. There were still lots of useful items. Some of them were even lit up in green color. Should I linger on a tad longer to pick up these things? But the thought instantly reminded me of the outcome of my actions that had resulted in me getting whacked at the hand of the sniper. My greed had cost me my life last time. Although I was certain no sniper had me in their scope at the moment, I’d better not to take any chances in case some trigger-happy player with a grenade launcher turned up.
So I picked up just a pistol lit up in green color and without examining its stats, whirled around and headed to where the Resurrection Pod was, tucking the pistol into my waistband on the run. Soon I reached the building, got inside, and dashed toward the pod. It took me mere seconds to deposit the biker armor set in it. This done, I even let out a sigh of relief. Nailed it!
Having remembered that I’d picked up the pistol, I withdrew it and looked at its stats appeared in my HUD.
> Name: Screamer
> Weapon type: Pistol
> Rarity: Uncommon (green)
> The player’s required level: 5
> Damage: 60
> Accuracy: 55
> Fire rate: 450
> Magazine size: 15
> Elemental damage: None
Just to make sure I couldn’t discharge the pistol, I tried to squeeze the trigger. Nothing happened. No gunshot followed. So what do I do with the pistol? It was small enough to be put in the bag. On the other hand, this pretty good weapon would be lost if I got killed again. So I chose to deposit it in the pod as well. I would arm myself with it when reached the level 5.
Exited the building. The street was still devoid of any sounds. I headed toward the spot where I’d found the biker armor set. Once I made it to the place, I got aware that nothing had changed here while I’d been absent. All the loot still lay where it’d been at. I noticed an uncommon, “green”, level 8 shotgun and its scabbard. I paid them no heed and shifted my attention toward other things. There were a few ingredients, drop leg holster, and ammo. I strapped the holster around my right thigh, gathered all the handgun cartridges as well as ingredients, and then set out.
I delved into all trash cans I came across on my way. In one of them, I found a weapon matching my current level.
> Name: Conqueror
> Weapon type: Pistol
> Rarity: Common (white)
> The player’s required level: 2
> Damage: 25
> Accuracy: 40
> Fire rate: 500
> Magazine size: 10
> Elemental damage: None
The corners of my mouth turned up in a slight smirk. The common, “white”, level 2 pistol was too lousy to be labeled Conqueror.
Holstering the handgun, I moved on. After some wandering around, I happened to get to a familiar place, the huge shopping mall. Yet I wasn’t eager to enter it. Coming to a stop, I musingly stared at the mall. Should I get in there? I’d already gotten myself murdered twice in that building, first by the player named Kilgour with a bunch of battle robots and then by the twosome wearing skull balaclavas.
After pondering on the matter awhile, I decided to take this chance. If I got lucky, cruel PKs wouldn’t be in the mall right now.
It was quiet inside. Doing my best to produce as less noise as possible, I warily picked my way forward through various debris. Glass shards crunching under my soles seemed to be as loud as gunshots in the otherwise total silence. After some time, I found a dead player. Or more specifically, the body itself was long since gone, only pool of blood and a pile of loot left. There were metal body armor, an assault rifle, and a “white”, common, pistol, yet I left all of those untouched. But I gathered up pistol cartridges, all right.
I looked inside all of the boutiques. Faint gleams of light caught my attention every now and then. Those were ingredients or items of the common rarity. Inside the sporting goods store was a big duffel bag. I put all my stuff into it. As for my small bag, I ditched it.
As I scoured the mall, I found more and more items dropped off players having been slain during the night. Guessed it was just by a sheer fluke that I managed to find all the loot before anyone else did. After a short while, I found another nice article of clothing.
> Name: Fabric gloves
> Armor type: Outerwear
> Rarity: Uncommon (green)
> The player’s required level: 2
> State: 150/150
> Physical resistance: 10
> Fire resistance: 10
> Frost resistance: 10
> Corrosive resistance: 5
> Electrocute resistance: 5
In spite of its name, the gloves looked more like elastic boxing hand wraps than anything else. They wrapped my forearms from the wrists up to the elbows. I remembered that I’d already found such gloves the day before.
Then I found light armor.
> Name: Ballistic vest
> Armor type: Light
> Rarity: Uncommon (green)
> The player’s required level: 2
> State: 220/250
> Physical resistance: 25
> Fire resistance: 15
> Frost resistance: 20
> Corrosive resistance: 5
> Electrocute resistance: 15
After putting it on, I continued with my combing the shopping mall. There were tons of loot. “White” items no longer caught my attention. Now I was looking only for “green”, uncommon, stuff. Yet armor suitable for a level 2 warlock was pretty scarce. More often than not, I found items for the other classes or items with the too high level requirement. So far, I secured only two articles of clothing appropriate for my character, the Fabric gloves and Ballistic vest. All the other items I stuffed into the duffel bag w
ere for higher-leveled players.
I wasn’t sure whether I should bother to pick up and carry over all the stuff I couldn’t put on at the moment. I’d already found the awesome biker leather armor set waiting for me to level up to 7. So was there any point in gathering other armor? In the end, I figured that due to the game being quite harsh and violent, it wouldn’t do me harm to collect spare armor. On the contrary, I might benefit from it.
Soon afterward, my duffel bag got overstuffed and awfully heavy. My pace was reduced to a crawl. A message popped up in the log:
> You’re overloaded!
So I was forced to get rid of some items. Once “You’re overloaded!” message disappeared, my movement speed got back to normal. I contemplated for a spell and decided it was time to return to the Resurrection Pod to have all my stuff deposited in it. After splitting the mall, I set off. Nothing nasty befell me on my way back.
Still, I was disappointed to find out that none of the items I’d carried over could be deposited in the pod. It weirded me out. I commenced fumbling with the pod’s control panel, trying to figure out what was wrong. After some tapping on the screen, I opened a tab with a user’s guide of sorts and went over it to learn that a pod had the limited space. It could hold only one armor set, one weapon of any sort, and a few other small items, such as ingredients or first aid kits.
So all those items I’d carried over here couldn’t be deposited it the pod unless I removed the biker armor set from the pod. Which I surely wasn’t going to do.
I pondered over it for a short while. What to do? The duffel bag was stuffed with lots of goodies. I wasn’t intent on ditching them. But carrying them along all the time wasn’t wise either. If only I could stash them away somewhere–– An idea came into my mind. Yet before I could think it through, something happened.
A needle-thin laser beam shot through the window the Resurrection Pod sat by, a small green dot settling on my chest. I quickly looked up to see two players in the street. One of them, a big burly guy with a mop of shaggy hair, wore tattered clothes. His brawny arms hung loosely at his beefy sides.
> Name: Bigman
> Level: 7
By his side stood a smaller player. It was him who’d zeroed in on my chest with an assault rifle fitted with a laser sight.
> Name: Crayne
> Level: 10
“Don’t move, lad,” He said when our eyes met. “Or else I’ll get you peppered.”
I didn’t budge.
“Aright, lad, now get out of there and come over here but do it slow. Real slow.”
I sized the situation I’d found myself in up. I’d recently been killed by Kilgour who has level 7 then. So it was no use trying to defeat those two guys. Thus, I didn’t have much of a choice. I’d either surrender or die. Simple as that.
Crayne didn’t like my hesitation.
“Look, lad, you best ditch whatever you’ve got on your mind right now,” He said, his index finger caressing the trigger. “You’re only level 2 so my piece can rip you to shreds in no time.”
“Okay, I’m leaving,” I grumbled and turned around to head for the entrance door.
Crayne realized I was going to leave the building through the door, but he wasn’t all that keen on letting me out of sight even for a few moments.
“No!” He said quickly. “Climb out the window.”
I was forced to submit to his demand. While climbing out, I tried to figure out what they wanted from me. They would’ve murdered me already had they wanted to. Were they muggers? I doubted that. Bigman and Crayne were level 7 and 10 respectively. So what reason would they have needed my low-level stuff for? If they actually just wanted to take my stuff off me, why didn’t they open fire on me yet? Why would they need me alive?
Still, all these questions occupied my mind not for long. I was well aware that there was no point in figuring the players’ intentions out, for I would learn it before long.
After I finally got out of the building, I headed toward the players who intently watched me approaching them.
Chapter two
I came to a stop a couple of steps away from the twosome. Crayne kept his eye on me. His assault rifle was still aimed at me.
Bigman observed me as well but with a bored expression on his face. Moreover, he looked uninterested in what was happening in front of him right now for some reason. Or he might just have been deep in thought, reflecting on some subject or something.
His ragged clothes barely covered his big sturdy frame. He carried a huge and seemingly heavy backpack on his back. It struck me as surprising that Bigman was unarmed. Yet he surely had to have his weapon stowed away in the backpack. More to the point, I could tell beyond a shadow of a doubt that Bigman could easily take me down with his bare hands.
Regarding the big guy, I noticed something curious. He had a strip of metal wrapped around his neck. What the heck was that? Some kind of adornment boosting the player’s stats or something?
Crayne shifted slightly all of a sudden, which made me switch my attention toward him. To my sincere amazement, he lowered his gun and grinned crookedly.
“I’m sorry for having freaked you out,” He uttered amiably. “As you know, it’s no crime to be twice as vigilant in this game. But I’ve got no nothing against you, so there’s no need to get your panties in a bunch. Chill out, bud.”
“Whaddya want?” I wanted to know, still on full alert.
“I see you got a pretty large bag,” He replied. “Lots of goodies in there, huh?”
My body tightened instantly. It didn’t go unnoticed by the player.
“Geez. Relax, man,” Crayne said pronto. “Like I said, I ain’t gonna mug you or something.”
I simply clammed up regarding the player suspiciously.
“From your level, you’re still a newbie. You’ve only recently started to play, haven’t you?”
“Yep,” I responded curtly.
“Look at my nickname. What color is it?”
“White.”
“Right. The same as yours. Do you know what that means? You kill players, your nickname gets gradually red. First, it gets somewhat reddish, then it gets more and more darker with each killing on your part. So as you see, my nickname is purely white. I haven’t killed other players and ain’t gonna start now,” Crayne grinned all of a sudden and added. “I mean, I’ve never killed white-nicknamed players. But some PK has sustained much harm at the hands of me. Killing PKs doesn’t change your nickname’s color, by the way.”
Now I remembered something. Turned my head and took another look at Bigman. The nickname above his head was brightly red.
“What about your pal? Isn’t he a PK?”
A lupine grin spread across Crayne’s face.
“Don’t mind him. Just treat him as nothing. This prick’s totally harmless now.”
Bigman clenched his surprisingly large fists in anger. He said nothing, yet a furious expression on his face gave him away. Seemed as though he barely held back his wrath. I took a step backward unintentionally and asked, “If he ain’t your friend, why does he tag along?”
“All right, if you’re so curious then listen,” Crayne began. “Long story short. This big guy here is a PK. He’s been working weaker players over on end. Including me. He’s been slaying me a few times a day. I had to play discreetly so as not to run into him. And then I struck up a friendship with some other players who had also been killed by him. So one day we teamed up to ambush Bigman. We managed to immobilize him for a few seconds, which was enough for us to put a slave collar on him. Sure we could’ve killed him while he was frozen, but then this whole situation would’ve been returned to its former state. After reviving, Bigman would’ve started to hunt us down again. He had level 14 back then while each of us had only level 7 or so. It would’ve been impossible to get him trapped once again. Like they say, opportunity knocks but once. So that’s why I came up with the slave collar plan.”
&nbs
p; As he told me this story, Crayne had this shit-eating grin spread across his face, which annoyed me a great deal. Obviously, he was awfully pleased with himself for having gotten even with the PK.
“Truth be told,” Crayne continued. “Wearing the slave collar made him even angrier. He tried to kill me a couple of times. He even nearly managed to pull it off once. Like I said, he had level 14 back then. Each dying caused him to lose experience points and his level to drop. Now he’s weaker than me and no longer trying to charge at me.”
Eventually, Crayne shut up. I looked at the slave collar around Bigman’s neck. I wasn’t very keen on listening to Crayne’s smug blabbering, yet I had to learn more about slave collars. So I posed the question, “What exactly does this thing do?”
“You’ve never encountered such a thing, huh?” Crayne grinned. “Watch out for these things. If someone once put one of those on you, you’ll have to become his or her obedient slave. Now have a look at this,” Crayne raised his left hand to reveal something along the lines of a metal bracelet looped around his wrist. “See this button? When pushed, it sends a surge of electric power through his body. It can electrocute him within a few seconds. He can’t get away from me. If he walks farther than a hundred yards away from me, then he’ll be getting electric damage. With having the collar on, upon death he revives not inside a Resurrection Pod but at my side. The same goes for exiting the game. He can quit the game whenever he wants to, but after reconnecting to the game, he always appears at my side. Also, he can’t take the collar off on his own. If he tries to do it, he’ll be getting electric damage. So he’s stuck to me and has to comply with my orders. As you see, he’s bearing my stuff now.”
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