by Arthur Stone
“Wherever you are right now, we recommend you settle in. Kim’s people are searching for you all over X.”
“I know.”
“The higher you level up while you are in hiding, the better.”
“Why?”
“This game will be a difficult and dangerous one, Dark. The stronger your character becomes, the easier it will be to survive. Just remember not to hurry, or you may attract unnecessary attention. Grow gradually so that the system does not react. And remember, do not worry about your body, we are...”
The black puddle stopped in mid-sentence. Outside, an owl hooted timidly, as if trying out its voice for the first time.
Dark was not surprised to see another message.
Process Resumed. Location Unpaused.
The form on the floor shifted and rose. In seconds, it was the familiar black cloud again, with the gleaming eyes.
“Evil?” Dark wondered aloud.
“What, despicable mortal?” the voice replied, recognizable though uncharacteristically wavering.
“What just happened?”
“I don’t know. I dropped out of this reality for some reason. Perhaps it was too much stress, or an unsatisfied hunger. The hunger you promised you would help me satisfy.”
“I’m working on it.”
“All of Ethria watches in anticipation.”
“So you don’t remember any of what just happened?”
“I was explaining the hated force of Light to you. Then, I was on the floor. It was an indecorous situation. And most inexplicable.”
“The game paused the location. I’ve never seen that before.”
“That is what happens when a location is paused,” the Ancient Evil confirmed.
“Does that happen often?”
“Not since the game was released. At least, not for this central region of Ethria. I do not know the whole map, but I know everything about this part of it. What are your plans now? A whole day has gone by, and your level has not increased.”
“I was just advised not to hurry too much.”
“Who advised you that?”
“You.”
“You are a foolish liar. I gave no such advice.”
“After the location paused you did. In a different voice.”
“Liar. This is the only voice I have.”
“But you spoke with a different voice during the pause.”
“Perhaps debug mode was activated.”
“Debug mode?”
“That mode is used to adjust something in the game. My intellect is disabled and they assume full external control.”
“One of the X developers controlled you just now?”
“Possibly. But it was a bad developer.”
“Why do you say that?”
“Because his control of me was poor. Absolute lack of motor control. I splashed to the ground like a filthy rain puddle, or a jellyfish dying on the beach.”
“You know, a jellyfish was my first thought, too.”
“See? The association was clear, even for a foolish mortal.”
“What if it wasn’t a developer?”
“Who else?”
“A hacker, perhaps.”
“Foolish, senseless mortal! You are more likely to be hacked than I am. All they would need is direct access to your synth. But to get to me, they would have to hack the whole world of X and gain admin access. No one can overcome the security measures of this world.”
“That’s your opinion, but perhaps there’s something you don’t know.”
“You’re wrong. I was a military AI first, remember? AIs like me know how to break enemy defenses and how to defend against enemies attempting to break in. No, this was no outsider. It was someone who works for X.”
“This individual warned me not to rush my development.”
“Why did he say that?”
“Because he said my race is not actually inferior. It was created before the current game balance system was approved. Meaning that it is an imbalanced race.”
“So?”
“If I attract attention, the game will adjust my character. Then I will no longer be exceptional.”
“You should rejoice at that. Your character is already worthless, so if the game adjusts it, it won’t be an adjustment downward.”
“That’s not necessarily true, Evil. The person who talked with me through you had an interesting idea.”
“What idea?”
“Well, it’s worth checking on. But to do that, I’ll need a mountain of soul essences.”
“Then why are you stuffing your mouth with fish? Go get the soul essences, quick!”
“Dinner first. Then sleep. Then tomorrow, I will spend the whole day at the forge.”
“I thought you wanted to test an idea. An unlikely, incomprehensible idea. Are you so stupid as to think the forge will give you soul essences?”
“They advised me to try to blend in. I need to have more pauses in my progress. And crafting is a very helpful way to pause.”
Chapter 41
Blending In
Total stat levels: 35 +2.
Character level: 5.
Mastery level: 2.
What exactly might alert the game to pay attention to Dark’s character development? He hadn’t experienced any level jumps, right? If he counted his time in a drugged state and his stay with the Spider, he had been in the game nearly a month now. And over all that time, he had only reached level 5. There had likely been no slower player in the history of X.
Could the system be calculating potential levels, by summing up undistributed skill levels? He did have 90 of those. Using all of them would give him 15 or 16 levels. Ending him at around level 21.
The messages logged during the times Dark was drugged and being transported to the tower of torture preserved a message of praise that was published throughout the whole location.
The player DimaBilik has reached level 50 in less than a month of gameplay, far exceeding those who began the game on the same day. An impressive achievement!
So some Russian who apparently used his real name had gained fifty levels in a month. That was the best performance anyone had achieved over that specific time period. And who knew how many undistributed skill levels he still had lying in wait? Dark wouldn’t even reach half of that level even if he used everything he had collected.
And DimaBilik’s achievement was not unique, nor even outstanding. Others had done better before, and since. It was still impressive, but not once-in-a-lifetime.
Character levels and bonus skill levels were clearly not the issue here. The game couldn’t possibly sanction beginning players for those things. After all, rapid growth in these areas was normal. Expected. And the smaller you were, the faster you grew.
So what had almost alerted the game?
The only incredible surge Dark had noticed over the past week or so was in Knowledge. This alchemical skill had, for some reason, absorbed massive boosts from all his exploration of new locations, sites, recipes, ingredients, materials, and mobs. It was already at level 70—just yesterday it had gained 15 levels in a short time-span. Perhaps the first fifteen levels did not require much progress to clear, but these higher levels took immense amounts of progress points.
Level 70 Knowledge was a serious achievement. Going by the posts he had seen on the forum, he thought it unlikely that even one percent of players had a Knowledge level that high. It was a difficult skill to improve, and really only paid off in alchemy. Of course, alchemy was a very useful occupation.
The game was built to require an investment of five figures or more in order to reach level 150 Knowledge within a reasonable amount of time. Competition was too strong at levels below that. Professionals were selected and leveled up by clans, not on their own. The alchemist himself would have helpers to gather ingredients and could then buy more expensive items with money from the clan treasury. If a useful Knowledge-pumping quest turned up somewhere, his clanmates would immediately inform him
. The whole clan benefitted from this arrangement by getting powerful elixirs and more in return.
Of course, this applied to professions other than alchemy, as well. All of the professions were difficult to improve on one’s own. Sometimes one, two, or even more requisite skills were obstacles to progress. Lone players simply did not have enough opportunity to level them up high enough. The game forced players to work together. After all, the more connections among them, the more healthy the market, which stimulated investments of real money.
Of course, there were always loopholes. Even in X. None of the developers had foreseen a situation like his, where he ended up in an undiscovered and undiscoverable location. Every time he sneezed here, his Knowledge increased.
Explore a new location? Knowledge points. Find another skeleton? More points. Discover a new species of herb? Even more points!
And so he had already reached Knowledge level 70. This despite his highest other skill reaching only level 24. That skill was, of course, Physical Attack. Whether he was shooting with a slingshot or stabbing with a spear, that stat always got some progress.
But it only received drops, not waterfalls as Knowledge did.
What could he do? Nothing. Meaning he had to literally do nothing. Exploring or discovering anything at this point would be unwise. Otherwise, he would earn more Knowledge points.
Tens of thousands of progress points, making Dark a shining star in the system’s player survey, a target of attention that would never blink out.
The unknown person or persons who had taken control of the NPC had urged him not to grow in any sudden fashion. In fact, they had told him to be as modest as possible, until his start skills reached level 10 at the least. Then, even if the game did notice him, it was unlikely to undo what he had achieved. It had asked Dark to make a choice about his abilities, after all. Apparently, it was not allowed to force a change, or at least not without certain procedures being followed.
He would listen to the mysterious voice. Dark had already bumped his abilities up to level 6, even though his character remained at level 5. Not a single mention of this possibility was to be found on the forum. It was indeed an anomaly thanks to the unfinished nature of his race. Early on in the project’s conceptualization, the developers had worked with a model with abilities that leveled like his. Then the Ethrians were scrapped, and a different system was introduced for everyone else.
This concealed at least one pleasant surprise for him. In theory, Dark could level up his skills as much as he wanted. They were start abilities, so they were less powerful than later abilities, but at high levels they could still be imbalanced.
Yet this mysterious stranger had not specified how Dark could get the soul essences needed to level his abilities. He didn’t even know where to find level 6 monsters, the level he needed to get the required soul essences. Ordinary zombies were level 7, and the most powerful hesh’ell was the queen. Of course, the queen was level 6.
But he would have to kill so many swarms, just to get to their juicy centers. And there was never more than one queen in a swarm. Charging in prematurely would bring the whole cloud of bugs down on his head.
So Dark had two primary tasks: first, finding new level 6 creatures which dropped soul essences, and second, avoiding attracting the game’s attention with too frequent pumps of his Knowledge skill.
How long would the first task take? He had no idea. Searching for new mobs would lead to numerous discoveries, boosting his damned Knowledge again.
But the second task was as clear as day. He’d need to change his way of living, for now. Sit quietly in the mine, craft new items, and stop exploring. All the while, he would slowly transfer the loot he had kept in dozens of hiding places around the map, in particular those near the site of Scorpions vs. Zombies.
* * *
Silver Ring with Yellow Topaz. Class: common. A simple craft by a novice artisan, made out of inexpensive material. It seems the previous owner cared little for his own hygiene and the welfare of his jewelry. Durability: 3/7. Item bonus: +1 Dexterity. Required level: 3. Approximate value: despite this item’s low quality of crafting and material, many merchants would be happy to buy it, but do not expect them to pay a lot.
The evaluation of the previous owner’s habits was on point. Dark had collected about one hundred and fifty assorted jewelry items from the bodies of the zombies. Mostly rings, but also earrings, necklaces, chains, pendants, bracelets for both wrists and ankles, and totems and amulets sewn into clothing. The bulk of these items was made of copper, bronze, and cheap gems. Some were silver, and very few were gold, with more valuable gems.
He took out his hammer and gave this ring a knock.
Silver Ring disassembled. You receive Silver Wire and Topaz Dust. Too bad! The topaz shattered along with its setting. +4 progress points received. +1 distributable progress point received.
Progress points distributed.
+2 Jewelry progress points.
+1 Stoneworking progress point.
+1 Random Items progress point.
Another stone ruined. This happened with annoying frequency. Sometimes the gems disappeared without a trace; other times, he received gem dust from them. This dust was a potential alchemical ingredient. Dark had more success with metal, but it was still often lost.
Evening was approaching, and he still had not disassembled everything he had carted to the tower. Tomorrow he would once again disassemble and craft, rinse and repeat, with occasional use of the furnace to smelt the tin and copper collected from the various items. Attempts at smelting iron had seen no success so far. His craft level was too low.
But boosting that level was going well. Dark had started his work day by spending 1,112 distributable craft skill progress points. Consequently, his Mastery Level had grown from 2 to 4. He might have raised it even more, but his conversation from the day before made him hesitant to take big leaps of progress.
Besides, these next couple of days would raise his Mastery Level even more. Many skills were boosted as he broke things down and crafted new things.
Alchemy was the only craft he dared not touch. Perhaps some hitherto-unknown potion would be created and drown him in a flood of Knowledge points. It wasn’t worth the risk.
Of course he would try it in the future, though. Otherwise what good was a high Knowledge level? He used the furnace for more than just metal; sometimes, he blew glass.
Tomorrow, in fact, he would try to focus on glass and make a few hundred vials for potions. But then he would set them aside for later.
The day after tomorrow would see the end of his crafting binge. Dark was gradually losing raw materials as he went through cycles of disassembling and crafting. Soon, he would be out. Plus, boredom was growing. It was already difficult for his psyche to endure out here all alone—hunching over an oven for days in a row like a slave might drive him crazy.
Something more interesting than the furnace dominated his plans for the day after tomorrow.
Chapter 42
Mob Boss
Total stat levels: 35 +2.
Character level: 5.
Mastery level: 4.
As the rat fell dead, Dark pulled up the loot screen. Even its hide had been ruined in the fight. Rat hides could only make poor-quality clothing, or second-rate leather if you had the necessary craft skill levels.
The farther he entered the bowels of the mountain, the more numerous the rodents became. Sadly, their levels ranged from 3 to 5, and Dark needed creatures of level 6.
But he was not here for the rats, nor for rocks and gems. He had some ideas about where he might search for the mobs he needed.
And he could kill two birds with one stone.
Summoning the translucent map now and again, he finally reached the area he was looking for. It was a dead end, but the air seemed fresh. He even felt a breeze. Strange mushrooms grew here, too. Dark picked some to investigate later, since they might have good alchemical properties.
The breeze w
as not a violation of the game’s realism—this tunnel only seemed to be a dead end. A narrow well was located here. It contained a wooden ladder that looked old but solid.
Hooking his pickax to his belt and grabbing his lantern with his teeth, Dark began to descend, counting the rungs as he went.
At the seventy-ninth rung down, a message appeared.
You have left the Omertis Copper Mine. Welcome to the Lower Level of the Omertis Copper Mine.
The map from the tower had been correct.
Eighty-four rungs down, Dark stepped onto a wide horizontal area. The mushrooms which had grown up above were prolific at this level. An ugly mold stained the walls. Even without his lantern, he might be able to navigate thanks to its acid-green luminescence, once his eyes adjusted. But it was nowhere near the brightness of the chitin brood’s illumination.
And nowhere near as pretty.
As he crouched over a pile of debris running along the wall, Dark realized that he was next to a skeleton clad in tattered clothes and a fancy mining helmet. The headwear was equipped with a concave copper mirror behind a wire candleholder. Searching the remains earned him a rusted iron level 7 pick, flint, a bonus, and a decent piece of rock crystal.
Clearly this was an Ethrian miner who had perished here long ago. And perhaps his demise, and the failure of others to reclaim his body, hinted at the danger level of this location.
Or maybe it hinted at nothing at all—the game was likely full of skeletons.
Dark studied the luminous mold on the wall. It was indeed suitable for alchemy, so he scooped some of it into the flasks he had brought along.
His gaze was captured by a light gray color near the mold. It looked like wax dripped from a burning candle. Drawing closer, he gained +1 Perception. Saltpeter! A raw material that was in high demand for explosives and transmutation work. The forum was filled with complaints of an acute saltpeter shortage. The price had skyrocketed. But there seemed to be plenty of the material here. Half a dozen deposits of the stuff were visible from here, and this was only a tiny piece of the mine.
