by Pavel Kornev
Critical hit! Damage: 28
Enemy stunned!
Weapon destroyed!
The mage fell to the ground, choking on his own blood. I bent down over him meaning to finish him off, but then the paladin showed his extraordinary capabilities. He threw his shield to the side, gripped his sword with both hands, raising it over his head and a blinding bolt of lightning fell from the skies. The ghouls were thrown in every direction and I was paralyzed.
Sky Sword: defenses failed!
Stamina: 0/41
I lay curled up on the ground, unable to move my hands or feet as the paladin ignored the ghouls and headed straight towards me. The player had suffered much in his battle with the undead as his armor was dented and splattered with blood, so the paladin walked slowly and heavily. The slot in his helmet shone with a dark fire. The warrior gathered his strength for a moment, gripped the longsword with both hands again and had already started to raise it above his head when the Deathgrip ability icon appeared in front of my eyes.
The unconscious spellcaster was easy prey and it was no problem to suck the Stamina out of him. The paralysis set me free, so I got up and punched through the throat of the spellcaster with my fist.
An instant later the sword fell from up above and the long blade took off my head with a single strike. Everything spun in front of my eyes as it rolled along the ground!
The usual darkness engulfed me immediately.
3
DARKNESS, LOOSE EARTH and tree roots. Tree roots?
I crawled out of the shallow grave and was surprised to find myself in the bushes at the edge of the meadow where I had thrown that irritating skull instead of the cave.
The stone skull had appeared in my hand again too. Was it really responsible for the location where I was resurrected? I didn’t waste time thinking about this mystery because the sun was already rising and my skin started to smoke under its bright light. I had to hide in the thick shadow under the canopy of the oak. Once I was there I opened the game log and couldn’t help growling happily.
You’ve gained a level!
The game mechanics didn’t just give me XP for killing the healer; it also gave me the XP for the archers that had been torn apart by ghouls as if I was the master of the pack, so my level immediately jumped from two to five! I quickly invested the three free attribute points in Intelligence and admired the results.
Plague-ridden Corpse, Undead. Level 5
Strength: 18
Agility: 3
Constitution: 23
Intelligence: 5
Perception: 5
Health: 115
Stamina: 102
Energy: 25
Damage: 1-4
Wow! I was no longer a Walking Corpse, I was a Plague-ridden Corpse and my Deathgrip now sucked the life out of the victims along with the Stamina! A new skill called “Aura of Fear” appeared as well. However, the greatest changes were to my appearance. The bloating had disappeared, the leaking pustules had dried out and were partially replaced with cadaveric spots. The Perception penalty from sunlight was reduced by five percent but the main thing was that my fingers were no longer like sausages that had been boiled too long and they could now bend properly.
The change from the Walking Corpse category to the ranks of the Plague-ridden Corpses really made me happy, but I also started to feel hunger. It was not in-game — I had the impression that this was the way that my brain was letting me know that my real body needed food.
Alas, there was nothing I could do about it now. Or could I? My Intelligence was sufficient to speak now. So what was I waiting for?
After hiding the mysterious skull among the roots of the oak I went towards the nearest alleyway, but I still lost several points of Health and a third of my Stamina no matter how much I tried to keep to the shadows because of the rays of sunlight burning my skin.
I even thought of getting a cloak, but I didn’t take the idea seriously. If I managed to talk to some player I wouldn’t need it anymore.
However, I didn’t come across any players for some reason. I only came across a lovely looking elf in green clothing that hugged her shapely body like a second skin by the gates of the park.
Eladriel Emeraldvine, elf. Druid, Level 8
I spread my hands in front of me and quickly stammered, “I’m not going to hurt you! I’m a player too and I need help!”
There was no more howling and incomprehensible moaning. I said exactly what I meant to say. The problem was that I said it in some unknown language!
Throaty sounds, short phrases and unfamiliar intonations. If I wasn’t dead already, my hair would have stood on end.
The elf reacted immediately. She threw a green sphere at me and gripped her battle staff with both hands.
Growing Thorns: defenses failed!
Damage taken: 2... 4... 8...
A rough-looking warrior jumped out from somewhere to the side, raised his club and shouted, “Leave it to me!” to the elf.
“Go away!”
I decided against getting into a hopeless battle and jumped into the bushes, but I fell and started to convulse after taking two steps. There was no pain, but something alien was growing inside me. My swollen skin burst and the spiky shoots of a thorn bush started to rupture outwards.
Damage taken: 64
You have been killed!
Earth, tough oak roots and the whisper of leaves above my head.
I was reborn in the forest this time, right in the place where I had hidden the skull. When I got out of the grave I shuddered as I remembered the thorns piercing my insides and decided to find a more reliable shelter. Thankfully, the wind had brought clouds from somewhere and it was overcast. The first place that came to mind was the abandoned cemetery, so that was where I went, taking the skull along. The question that kept coming to my mind along the way was, “What went wrong?”
Why did I speak gibberish instead of normal words? What was that language? Why did I start speaking it? A lack of Intelligence was definitely not the issue.
I WAS DISTRACTED from my uneasy thoughts by loud shouts and the ring of steel. I carefully moved out onto the edge of the forest and immediately understood that I shouldn’t look for shelter in the abandoned graveyard. Half a dozen players were methodically clearing it of ghouls, checking one grave after another. The undead couldn’t put up a worthy fight against humans in the light of the sun. Their cries kept ringing out.
“This one’s mine!”
“Don’t touch it!”
“Leave it to me!”
“Get lost, noob!”
The newbies were trying to beat each other, shouting and swearing. None of them noticed the lone undead creature in the bushes. I retreated, but then a red dot suddenly appeared on the map. One of the players had managed to get a pet and the little cur ran straight towards me, barking furiously.
There was no point in counting on hiding from a dog in the forest so I had to run to the swamp. The bark soon quietened down, but I had suddenly reached the river, surprising even myself. I was forced to walk along the bank.
The sun that shone through the cloud was burning away Stamina at a fearsome pace. Even though I could have gone under the water and waited for the coming of darkness, I didn’t want to waste time for nothing. When a riverside hill appeared ahead with some sort of ruins on its bald top I immediately headed there to find shelter from the burning rays.
I barely managed to walk up it. I thought that I’d just remain lying there on the slope, but no, I managed to curl up in the shadow of a ruined wall. I sat there awhile, waiting for my Stamina to be restored and set off to examine the ruins.
There was a broken gate in the wall on the side of the river, but as soon as I stepped through it, a stone slab sank under my foot and an unpleasant metallic creak rank out. “A trap!” rushed through my head, as a log hanging on chains swung towards me, hammered into my chest and threw me off the hill. After immediately losing half of my Health, I fell into the water with
a great splash and went to the bottom like a stone.
I spent a while struggling around in the silt, but then I calmed down, gathered my strength and crawled out onto the shore, covered in weed and ooze. I couldn’t believe my eyes — the river had washed away the slope, the earth had fallen off and revealed a rough stone of laid walls. To add to it, there was even a black hole in the wall.
Knee deep in the mud, I burst through the cattails and entered the comfortable dimness and gloom of the dungeon. It turned out to be spacious and empty inside, apart from a steel-bound chest with a great padlock hanging on it. A stairway was nearby, but the way up was blocked by collapsed walls while the lower level had been flooded by the river, with the slimy steps descending into the dark water.
A small and dark niche was by the side of the stairway with a smaller wooden chest inside. It turned out to be unlocked, so I immediately opened it, becoming the owner of a dozen gold coins, an unidentified magic bracelet, a worn-out chainmail hauberk and a rusty knife which caused 1-2 points of damage.
There were many holes in the hauberk and it was not too good at protecting from stabbing or blunt weapons, but I put it on without hesitation. At least it was armor of some sort!
Next, I hid the enchanted skull in a pile of stones and tried to use the knife to pick the lock on the large chest with no success. I walked around the dungeon again but I couldn’t find any hidden passages so I returned to the hole in the wall. It was starting to rain outside, so I decided to use the bad weather to get out into the forest.
I didn’t need much more experience to reach the next level, and the more I would skill up my Plague-ridden Corpse the more chances I’d have to survive... Survive a conversation with yet another player.
There was a sandbank overgrown with cattails by the slope and I used it to reach the already familiar swamp to gather fifty points of experience slicing up the snakes that lived there with my knife. The map soon burned with numerous red dots, so I had to get away from the poisonous creatures which were infuriated by my intrusion. Snake venom had no effect on me, but every bite took away one or two points of Health, which didn’t restore by itself, unlike Stamina.
So how could I heal? To hell with it, anyway.
Maintaining some distance from the graveyard, I went deeper into the forest and came across a rabid fox almost immediately. The predator jumped to the attack and fiercely bit into my leg.
I bared my teeth, grabbed the fox by the scruff of its neck and activated the Deathgrip.
Energy: -11 [14/25]
Health: +11 [34/115]
Stamina: +11 [102/102]
Now I was healed.
After spending another eleven units of energy I killed the fox and kept going. The XP I received for killing the animal was not enough to get to level 6, but I came across no more minor forest creatures and I gave the bear I saw a wide berth. It could have easily torn one of the undead to pieces.
It started to rain harder and darkness started to fall. The Perception penalty went away but the distance I could see still decreased to one and a half dozen paces. I got out of the thick forest into one of the alleyways and literally walked into a sorcerer.
The tall, thin and pale Necromancer immediately cast a battle spell at me, but the stone ball powerlessly burst into ghostly shards without causing me any harm.
Command Undead: Immunity
“Stop!” I shouted when the level 9 necromancer raised his staff with a menacing steel hook on the end. “Wait!”
“A talking undead?” the necromancer asked with surprise, but didn’t lower his weapon. “What do you want, creature?”
The necromancer and I were speaking the strange throaty language but still understood each other perfectly. He understood me and I understood him!
What could I say which wouldn’t scare away the player and provoke him to attack? Everything got mixed up inside my head and I blurted out the first thing that came into my mind.
“A quest!”
The quest generation menu immediately opened. The necromancer put the staff behind his back and graciously agreed to hear me out.
“Speak, creature!”
I wasted no time and put up the maximum reward of ten gold that I could afford and asked him to bring a hooded cloak, footwear, trousers, gloves and a morning star. I could have also transferred ten percent of the experience I had collected but I didn’t think that it was a good idea.
Ten gold was a more than generous reward for this junk.
The necromancer didn’t seem to think so, however. He frowned and hesitated until I quickly moved one of the sliders changing the single quest into a series of three tasks.
The necromancer surrendered and waved his hand dismissively.
“You’ve persuaded me, dead one. Wait here.”
Garth Deathblade has accepted your quest!
The sorcerer left and I closed the system message and hid in the bushes. Waiting for the necromancer in the alleyway would have put me in danger of coming across other players and I had no desire to die and fail to find Garth.
I wasn’t sure that anyone else could understand me, as necromancers were not a popular class among the players at all. When would I end up meeting another necromancer?
This was why I didn’t tell him my sad story immediately. People visit virtual worlds to relax and they don’t need anyone else’s problems. Garth may have believed the dead man and wouldn’t have refused help, but he could also tell me to go somewhere very far away.
A quest was something else entirely. Quests were sacred.
THE NECROMANCER RETURNED when the rain had calmed and the wind started to gradually blow the clouds away from the city. After giving him his reward, I immediately dressed in a black robe of rough black cloth and put the hood over my head.
My Perception penalty decreased to ten percent.
“What next?” Garth asked hurriedly, staring at me intently with the red eyes of an albino.
The necromancer’s white hair flew in the wind and he looked rather unfriendly.
I decided that I shouldn’t test the sorcerer’s patience and set up the objectives of the second task.
Quest: Deliver a message.
Reward: Help in the game.
“Help?” Garth sneered. “What could you help me with?”
“Command Undead,” I replied and clarified, “How many ghouls are you able to take control of at a time, necromancer?”
The sorcerer thought for a moment.
“Four or five. If I do them all at the same time. So what?”
“I’ll collect five ghouls in one place. You’ll be able to clear any dungeon around here with that sort of support.”
The necromancer looked doubtful. He would usually be barely able to rely on taking control of more than one of the undead, so my offer did interest him in some ways.
“What sort of message?” Garth asked at last. “And who do I need to deliver it to?”
“It won’t take much time. Do you agree?”
Garth Deathblade has accepted your task!
Garth Deathblade is your temporary ally.
That was right — the marker that showed the position of the necromancer on the map glowed green.
“So what is the message?” the necromancer repeated impatiently. “Get a move on! Time is money!”
Time really was valued as much as money in virtual reality, so I immediately wrote my message with a knife on the wet earth. I first wrote down the email address of my attorney and then added in English, “I have got stuck in the game. I can’t get out. Tell the admins that the program has been hacked.”
“What the hell?” Garth swore as he watched my actions.
“Take a screenshot,” I demanded, “and send it to this email address.”
“I don’t like it,” the white-haired necromancer shook his head. “It’s some sort of setup!”
“Just send the letter!”
“I ‘ll have to quit the game!”
“You don’t have to
do it right now,” I replied, feeling like I had to agree to this inconvenient concession.
“Well, if it’s like that... All right, I’ll do it...” Garth decided reluctantly. “Now take me to the ghouls!”
“Let’s go, necromancer...”
TO MY GREAT RELIEF, there was no one by the abandoned graveyard apart from the crickets singing in the grass and the larks circling in the clear sky. Steam rose from the wet earth and it became hot, but I didn’t lower my hood — the thick fabric offered great protection from sunburn. Even my Stamina didn’t get depleted any longer and the penalty was limited to the loss of sixty percent of my Perception.
“Wait for me behind the gate, necromancer,” I demanded, as I entered the graveyard and started to lure the ghouls by hammering the gravestones with my morning star.
The denizens of the graveyard hadn’t yet completely regenerated from the previous clearance so I had to go through a couple of dozen graves until I’d gathered the required number of undead.
“Everything’s ready, necromancer!” I shouted.
As soon as the necromancer appeared in the gates, the fanged monstrosities went on the attack, with a bone sphere sent to meet them. When it hit the first ghoul the spell exploded and burst into half a dozen pieces. One of them hit me, making my eyes go blurred for a moment, but my eyesight was instantly restored.
Command Undead: Immunity
The ghouls had no such protection from enslavement so all of them fell under the control of the sorcerer.
Wait. The necromancer captured all but one of them! The beast with its blue-black hide roared fiercely and jumped upon Garth. He only managed to use his staff to block the attack aimed at his head at the last moment.
A second later I was by his side, slamming the ghoul with my morning star. The spiky ball smashed into its back with the power of a cannonball and immediately took away fifty points of Health. My Stamina only slightly decreased and I immediately changed to a two-handed grip and bashed the creature on the head as it turned around.
