The Way of the Shaman [06] Shaman's Revenge

by Vasily Mahanenko

  “That wasn’t a question. That was a statement. Pursuant to section 244, item 2, the characteristics of any item acquired for money shall not be altered by the Corporation in a unilateral manner.”

  “I repeat, I am not authorized to make such decisions. My job is to inform you that there are no TOS violations associated with owning the Tears.”

  “In that case, thank you. I’d like to speak to someone who has the authority to discuss this matter. All the best—I no longer require the assistance of a Herald.”

  Ehkiller took a sip from his mug, allowing the Herald time to leave, and then asked:

  “Why’d you come to me?”

  “Because Phoenix is the only clan in Malabar that could be interested in such items. Sure, Etamzilat or Undigit would also be happy to purchase a couple Tears, but I don’t want to spread them among the clans. I don’t feel like making everyone stronger—one faction’s good enough for me.”

  “So why don’t you use them yourself?”

  “For what? To let the top-10 clans poach all my players as soon as I’ve given them the Tears? As if! The recent happenings were quite enough for me, thank you. There’s nothing more valuable in Barliona than gold.”

  “You’ve changed, Mahan,” said Ehkiller, with a slight dose of mockery and even condescension in his voice. “The Shaman I knew before didn’t need money.”

  “The Shaman you knew was handily and quite cynically destroyed by your own Phoenix clan. I’m a product of your actions. So enjoy.”

  “What do you want?”

  “I have 29 Tears. Considering the bonuses that the Tear grants, I think a billion gold per Tear should be the right price.”

  I don’t know myself where I came up with this number. I should have probably gone no higher than five hundred million, but for some reason, a half-billion turned into a cool billion. Something in Ehkiller’s look told me that he was ready to spend that much, as long as I pushed him right. And importantly, I wouldn’t do this now. Now my job was to sell the goods, which is basically what I was doing.

  “Too much time in this game is harmful to one’s health,” said Ehkiller, letting me know that my offer was unacceptable.

  “Well if we were to speak honestly, I don’t care who I sell the crystals to,” I shrugged, demonstrating my complete detachment from the current situation. “Either Phoenix or the Smoldering Pine from the Celestial.” At my mention of the clan from the other continent, Ehkiller narrowed his eyes, as if he was trying to burn a hole in me. “My goal is as simple as a cork—the opportunity to earn a bunch of money had presented itself, and I’d like to use it to the utmost. Therefore—a billion per Tear. If I don’t hear an answer from you by tomorrow, I’ll be reaching out to the Celestials. And then to Astrum. I imagine I’ll have no trouble finding other willing buyers.”

  “You’re playing with fire, Mahan. What do you think will happen to your Tears if I speak to the Corporation about them? Such items should not exist in this game.”

  “I acquired them fair and square. If someone wants to change something, then the laws of our world remain as before. I’ll fight for my billions. Perhaps I’ll be able to earn even more if I hold an open auction.”

  “I need time to think things over. I’ll let you know in two days. Can you wait that long?”

  “Sure. We’ll meet here in two days. Oh, I forgot to mention! If you do decide to buy the Tears, then I’ll need to give them personally to whoever’s going to equip them. Only I can give them to someone. Such is the right of their first owner. Later!”

  Nodding my farewell, I teleported to Altameda, sat down in my rocking chair and clenched my fists from joy. Killer was mine! Either I don’t know the head of Phoenix at all, or tomorrow I’ll be twenty-nine billion richer! When everything’s over, I’ll need to give Donotpunnik and his gang their cut. Even if they hadn’t mentioned money, I figure it’ll be fair that way. This is their plan; I’m merely the one doing the work.

  The next two days flashed by in a blink of an eye. My mood was so ideal that even Hellfire’s and Donotpunnik’s scowling mugs—when they showed up again at Altameda—had no effect on it. It turned out that the Lord of Shadow had saddled them with a debuff after all, and now their base stats were cut by half for the next month. Naturally I was very sorry that I’d messed up their plans, improvising as I was wont to do, and I agreed that, again naturally, Ehkiller might not agree to the deal I had offered and that a billion could really have been too steep a price—and yet when Donotpunnik grudgingly held out two scrolls of Armageddon, my good mood returned. Phoenix wouldn’t get away from us this time.

  And then the two days were up and at long last the awaited moment arrived:

  “Mahan, this is Ehkiller. I agree to your terms. Let’s make the deal…”

  Chapter Twelve. Epiphany

  “Our partnership is beginning to cost me more and more,” smiled Ehkiller, sending me the contract with his signature. Mr. Kristowski had spent three days studying the document in detail, consulting with lawyers and economists, until it became clear that the contract was completely solid. Phoenix would take a loan of twenty-nine billion gold from the Bank of Barliona and transfer it to my account. Not my clan’s account—mine. Here Ehkiller was unshakable—his pride forbade him from buying the Tears from another clan. From a player was okay, however. In my view there was no difference. I could easily transfer the money from my account wherever and whenever I felt like it.

  “Looks that way, doesn’t it?” I replied in the same tone, placing my digital signature onto the document. That’s it! Now I could hand the Tears to Phoenix—it was too late to renege on the payment. The contract had been registered and transmitted to all the relevant agencies.

  The five days between my meeting with Ehkiller and our little signature ceremony had been quite strange. An inexplicable euphoria had filled me from my head to my toes, demanding constant activity. I ran around all of Anhurs, helped Mr. Kristowski manage the clan, held several clan meetings, promoted several of my players recommended by my manager to Officers, met with three prospective Raid Leaders and held discussions with them and other potential Raiders. I had so much energy that I didn’t even pop out to reality the entire time—I was simply too busy. Perhaps the enormous amount of money rearing on the horizon had completely rerouted the energetic flows of my organism. I was interested in everything, I wanted to learn everything, participate in everything and meanwhile my brain utterly refused to consider any negative thoughts. The roles that Donotpunnik and Hellfire were playing? Why who cares when a careless and leisurely life lies just ahead…

  “When do you want to transfer the Tears?” Ehkiller inquired.

  “Right this instant if you like,” I replied impatiently. I still couldn’t sit still, so I preferred to deal with the transfer of the Tears as soon as possible.

  “Okay,” the Mage agreed. “Do you need to prepare somehow to do it?”

  “No, I only need the players who’ll be receiving them. Nothing complicated about it.”

  “In that case, I invite you to my castle. I’m sure you’ve never paid us a visit before…”

  Evolett, Hellfire, Fiona, Pwner, Ehkiller himself and another twenty-three living legends of this world…Had I found myself in such company three or even two years ago, I’d probably just turn into one of the lovely statues that decorated this castle. They were all great warriors in their own right. They were unflappable warriors. They were warriors who knew how to slay mobs and clear Dungeons like no one else on our continent. It was true that in PvP, not one of them would stand a chance against Plinto, but the majesty of these players lay elsewhere. The First Kills!

  The players approaching me one after another received their Tears and as they did so their faces, perhaps with the exceptions of Hellfire and Ehkiller, became frozen masks. During the first minute of the ceremony, the hall was filled with noise and hubbub from those who had not yet received their Tears. Yet, by the time I’d handed the Tear to the third person, th
e cacophony had died down and given way to a deathly silence, punctuated only be me rummaging in my bag.

  “One Tear left,” I turned to Ehkiller, asking him whom I was to give it to. Anastaria had not been among the present and I knew very well who the last Tear was for, but I decided to toss the ball into Phoenix’s court. Let them deal with their problems themselves.

  “You will have to transfer it in there.” Ehkiller gestured me towards a small door behind the throne. His personal office. Shrugging my shoulders in puzzlement and surprised by such odd secrecy, I headed into the office. Anastaria wanted to have a chat one on one? Well, let’s have a chat then.

  You are giving a Tear of Harrashess to another player who does not have a Crastil. Do you wish to bind and activate the crystal?

  Yes!

  “Leave us, Feanor,” Anastaria said to the Paladin who had just received the last Tear I had. The player’s face had become a mask of shock at the unexpected gift, yet Phoenix’s newest Raider found the wherewithal to nod and leave the office.

  “You didn’t take the Tear,” I remarked, playing Captain Obvious.

  “Have you decided to exact your revenge through money?” Anastaria asked, drilling me with her look.

  “Have you decided to seize the moral high-ground about my wanting to make some money?” I didn’t feel like being in her debt and replied along the same principle that she herself had taught me. A question for a question.

  “Bankrupting someone and profiting from them are utterly different things! I should’ve destroyed you and your clan entirely.”

  “History doesn’t deal with the subjunctive mood very well,” I grinned. “Should have. Could have. You didn’t. It’s me who did what I did, and I don’t regret it. Yes, I helped make twenty-nine players of Phoenix the gods of Barliona. But I also ensured my clan’s future for the rest of eternity. I guess my price was too low since Ehkiller agreed to it in a mere two days. I should have quoted two billion per Tear and pumped your clan dry. As they say, the payment makes the debt pretty.”

  “Have you signed the contract?” Mirida wrote in the clan chat.

  “Yes.”

  “Wonderful!”

  “I made a mistake,” Anastaria said with unvarnished hate in her voice. “I should have destroyed you completely. Without mercy. Without leaving anything. You think you won? You think that the friends that have helped you hide will save you? Don’t be naïve. It’s much easier for me to come to terms with Donotpunnik and work with him to dump you where you should be—in the sewage system. Enjoy the money, Mahan. Go to the Dating House, buy yourself an Imitator, have your way with it. ‘Cause as of tomorrow, I’m dealing with you for real!”

  “That’s why you invited me here?” I raised an eyebrow. “To tell me what a bad person I am for daring to earn money from your clan? You know, Stacey, I always considered you intelligent, but now the person I’m talking to is a loser. You’ve already lost. Take that as a given fact.”

  “WHAT?!” screamed Anastaria, jumping to her feet. At first I thought that her reaction had been caused by my words, but her next phrase revealed that it was something much more serious: “WHAT DID YOU DO TO THE TEARS?”

  Donotpunnik had moved to the next step of his plan!

  “I, uh…I’m not sure I know what you’re talking about,” I said, even though I couldn’t help but grin. The Phoenix castle would acquire twenty-nine new sculptures today. Too bad Anastaria wouldn’t be among them.

  “Mahan, what the hell?” Plinto asked in the clan chat. “The Tear’s altered its description and even the Patriarch’s tooth has no effect on it! I can’t move at all, like not even a muscle…”

  “Mahan! What. Have. You. Done. To. The Tears?!” Anastaria continued to yell, advancing on me like grizzly.

  “It’s looking like we won’t be able to hold a productive dialog here, so all the best.” I didn’t feel like bickering, so I opened the Harbinger’s Blink input, entered Altameda’s coordinates and teleported back to my castle. When Anastaria’s enraged it’s better to stay out of her way. Even if I’d never seen her quite that angry, I could imagine perfectly well how that scene would play out.

  “You won’t get away from me so easily!” Anastaria yelled at me telepathically, and I was forced to reject a summons from her. “What have you done with the Tears, Mahan?!”

  “Clutzer, this is Mahan. I have some business for you.” Blocking Anastaria’s messages (Stacey had taught me how to do this too), I got in touch with the Rogue. “Do you have a Paladin at the moment?”

  While Clutzer was figuring out why I needed one and whom he could sacrifice, I smiled to myself—the destruction of the Phoenix clan had been set in motion. The attack was proceeding on all fronts.

  * * *

  “Fire at will!” Someone yelled as soon as I emerged from the portal. Lightning bolts, arrows and even axes and swords came flying from all directions—traps activated under my feet—and yet the welcoming party’s revelry all came to nothing. The bubble around me was doing its job.

  “The Creator has appeared!” the black angel said triumphantly, kneeling before me.

  “The time has come to pass the Original Key!” echoed the white angel, likewise kneeling and offering me a small silver key. “It is yours from now unto eternity!”

  The lightning bolts kept zapping me from all sides, but now, instead of the bubble which had expired, they were bouncing off a new shield cast by the angels. It looked like the developers really wanted to make sure that the key would be given to whoever had created the Chess Set and opened the Tomb, since this is the first time I’ve seen NPCs temporarily protect one player from another. The local residents of Barliona don’t typically get involved in player interactions, deeming them unimportant.

  “The Entrance is open!” As soon as I took the key, the angels stood up, looked somewhere above my head, forcing me to turn and see an enormous crowd of players who were trying to kill me. Phoenix had really splurged on security. There were at least two hundred high-level warriors here, who were all now trying to destroy me as hard as they could. I don’t know what the angels did, but a moment later the area before the entrance to the Tomb was empty. All of the players had been destroyed!

  “We are no longer needed here. Only you shall complete the Tomb with the ‘Original’ status! Only you shall have access to the Salva! May the Creator live forever!”

  Two bright stars, the angels soared into the sky and dissolved in its blue expanse. The job was done! Phoenix had received the Tears, Barliona had heard the word Salva spoken, I had received the status I needed and Ehkiller still owed me twenty-nine billion gold. The court that I would have to petition about his debt (since Phoenix would surely refuse to pay now) wouldn’t care that the Tears’ properties had changed. The contract stood and the contract had to be discharged. Please be so kind as to pay Mahan the money you owe him under the law.

  The only upsetting thing was how fast the Tears had been activated. We could have given Phoenix a few days to feel like gods—the blow would have been all the greater. But if Donotpunnik decided it was better now, then he had his reasons. The important thing was that I’d accomplished what I wanted—my revenge against Anastaria and her clan had succeeded.

  As I exited to reality, I felt like a hero coming home. Once again the feeling of triumph that had filled me the last five days returned to me and I wanted to scream and embrace the entire world in my happiness. I had no desire to return to Barliona, so I decided to do what I did best—create.

  Anastaria once told me that the real masterpieces of Jewelry happened when the creator was ears-deep in his emotions. Even if she had meant in Barliona, I felt like trying it in reality. I had a Jeweler’s toolkit and a ton of time. My future looked promising, so why not make something beautiful?

  Heaving the enormous toolkit onto my lap, I opened the lid and sighed with disappointment—during my last fit of creation I had used up all my copper wire. Looking around my room and finding not a single ring on my
floor—I guess the maid had picked them all up—I decided to see how well the casting furnace worked. If I don’t have wire, I can make some myself right now! Aren’t I a Jeweler?

  No sooner said than done! The Jeweler’s toolkit moved to the table while I began reading the instructions. All right, what do we have here?

  “Light the burner and carefully bring the flame to the furnace…” That’s clear enough. First I have to melt the copper to make the wire out of. Then I can extrude it just like in Barliona.

  “Place several pieces of metal into the crucible and…” That’s the preparation instructions. This is clear enough too.

  “Heat the metal until it reaches a liquid state and then carefully pour it into…” This is much more interesting. The flame in the furnace was so intense that the copper melted in a matter of moments. There were several molds in the toolkit for pouring the melted metal into, starting from wire and ending with some kind of square, but I chose the one of the ring. Let this be my first cast (instead of wire-wrapped) creation. The important thing was to carefully pour the copper into the mold, without spilling any of it onto the table. That’s it! Now I can work on the gem—since we’re dealing with a cast ring here, a gem is mandatory. This ruby looks very attractive. I’ll use it.

  I’ll use a prong setting, so I have to cut the gem into the shape of a round, multi-faceted ruby. Ugh—okay I can’t work with this Jeweler’s toolkit. I need Design Mode. Enter! Hello, familiar darkness—it’s been a while. Okay, I’ll project the ruby in Design Mode along with the ring I just cast. Polish a facet here and another here. Make an adjustment here and unite it with the original. Excellent! What’s with the ring? Hmm…It didn’t come out too great—it’s much harder to cast rings than wrap them from wire. I don’t need such a crooked, ugly ring. I’ll throw it out and start from scratch using a projection.