Finding a Body (The Dark Herbalist Book #4) LitRPG series

by Michael Atamanov

  Finding a Body

  a novel

  by Michael Atamanov

  Dark Herbalist

  Book#4

  Magic Dome Books

  Finding a Body

  Dark Herbalist, Book # 4

  Copyright © M. Atamanov 2018

  Cover Art © V. Manyukhin 2018

  English translation copyright © Andrew Schmitt 2018

  Editor: Zach Lewis

  Published by Magic Dome Books, 2018

  All Rights Reserved

  ISBN: 978-80-7619-008-5

  This book is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This book may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each recipient. If you're reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then please return to the shop and purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author.

  This book is entirely a work of fiction

  Any correlation with real people or events is coincidental.

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  Table of Contents:

  A Change of Mind

  Day One. Housekeeping

  Day One. Talking with my Sister

  Day Two. New Opportunities, New Problems

  Day Two. Evil Gets Rich

  Day Three. A Rout in the Night

  Day Three. Old Friends

  Day Three. When the Sovereign is Angry

  Day Three. The Lars Massacre

  Day Four. A Piece of the Puzzle

  Day Four. Talking with the President

  Day Four. Becoming Mortal

  Day Four. Calm before the Storm

  Day Five and Six. Final Preparations

  Two Battles. Two Peaces

  About the Author

  A Change of Mind

  MY GAME SESSION abruptly ended with a message saying my character was suspended. The screen went black and I was unceremoniously ejected from Boundless Realm .

  No real surprise though. I might have known it was coming. After breaking clear instructions from the president of the corporation and warning Taisha the NPC Thief to run, something like this was practically inevitable. But what would happen next? Lying in the darkness of the virtual reality capsule, I was counting down the seconds until it unlocked and trying to anticipate the consequences of my disobedience. I had probably already been fired from the Boundless Realm Corporation and that, most likely, would not be the end of it. Nevertheless, I was deeply ambivalent to anything they might do to me. Reprimands, dressing down, termination or even a permanent ban from the game didn’t seem that bad. I had just learned I was dead!!! There was no other way to interpret the video I’d just seen. That was my funeral! So, in comparison with my death in the real world, every other issue seemed utterly miniscule and didn’t even merit attention.

  Death. Digitization. It was disturbing to think I was not alive. What body my mind had been written into? They probably had an android made up to look like me, very believable with a practically indistinguishably lifelike face and realistic expressions. The body most likely even imitated human breathing and heart-beat. Before entering the game, I looked myself in the mirror and didn’t see anything out of the ordinary, so the robot theory seemed plausible. And if the Boundless Realm Corporation had expended lots of time and resources creating a new body for me, I was probably now their property. And that would mean I would not be allowed to leave the building, particularly with the round-the-clock surveillance.

  The capsule gave a beep, and I heard the latch mechanism click, meaning my capsule was now unlocked. I forcefully threw back the top, but was in no hurry to climb out and pull the sensor suit and its cobweb of wires off my body. Instead, I patted myself down and looked skeptically at my arms and legs from every angle. Then I tore the bandage off my chest and just stared at my stitches. I even plucked a few hairs from my head and examined them up close. Much to my disbelief, I didn’t notice even a slight hint my body may have been synthetic! Everything looked just as it always had. Also, when I pinched myself and pulled out those hairs, it stung just the same as ever. What was happening? Either android technology had reached nigh unthinkable perfection or... I was mistaken and somehow this was my real body! But then how to interpret the video of my funeral?

  Without reaching a conclusion, I dragged myself out of the capsule and quickly got dressed, expecting someone from the corporation shortly. I had no doubt that one of their ilk would be dropping by after my flagrant disobedience. Well, let them come. It would give me a convenient opportunity to ask some nagging questions and demand clear answers.

  And before five minutes had passed, the lock of my office door gave a quiet click and in the doorway I saw... Andrei Soloviev, head of In-Game Security for the Boundless Realm Corporation. Just my luck... I was hoping to see President Thomas Heywood or my direct superior, director of Special Projects Max Tohner. I was mentally prepared for a meeting with one or even both of them. I had drawn up a plan so they couldn’t twist their way out of truthful answers. But I was in no way prepared to face this security goon, and that threw me off. And there was good reason. Andrei Soloviev had always made me feel unwitting, unrelenting and just animalistic fear. Every time I looked at him, I saw a person with many years in the special forces, a man who had taken life more than once. His movements were precise and sparing, his gaze tenacious and intent, but most importantly he had the eyes of a self-confident predator! Soloviev saw everyone around him as potential opponents. I had no doubt he was always calculating the fastest and most efficient way to kill me, just in case.

  And there was another reason I couldn’t accept him. See, when I got stabbed and was losing consciousness, I heard a voice saying, “Timothy’s lost a lot of blood!!! He’s dying!!!” And I just couldn’t shake the feeling that voice belonged to Andrei. I was as sure as I could be under the circumstances.

  “Hrm, well Timothy you’ve just made everyone’s job a lot harder...” he began in a judgmental tone, firing his opening salvo and locking the door tight behind him. “Honestly, no one was expecting that. And that’s why they sent me here. Now, we’re going to have a relaxed chat and get to the bottom of what made you hurt us back there.”

  Relaxed? Is that what they called this? My heart started pounding in fear. It was so hard I was afraid I’d break a rib. The extreme panic made my blood pressure shoot up so high I could feel my veins pulsating in my temples. I took a
step back, stumbled and not so much sat as plopped back in a soft deep chair. The ghoulish man gave a snort and immediately took the next chair over without asking. Then he leaned in my direction, looking like he was ready to jump me.

  Despite his judgmental tone, clear dismay and even vaguely threatening manner, I started gradually calming down and my spirits started to rise. If leadership considered the Taisha situation hopeless, I would have lost all value, and they wouldn’t have sent anyone to talk with me. But they had sent someone and he was being relatively nice. That inspired optimism. Andrei Soloviev was not talking so I started, hoping to seize the initiative:

  “I understand why the president is upset right now. But when we talked, Thomas Heywood was under the impression that the NPC Thief had paid someone to kill me in the real world and even used Boundless Realm currency to do so. He managed to convince me of that, so I agreed to help. But it turned out Taisha wasn’t behind my attempted murder! I looked at all her financial logs and didn’t see any expenditures that could have possibly gone toward a hitman. And meanwhile fifty thousand coins is a ton of money. It would be impossible to hide such expenses!”

  “Oh, Timothy, Timothy...” he said, shaking his head in reproach. “You’re so naïve, and so wrong! I have spent four whole years tracking down fraudsters who sell game money and virtual treasures for real world cash. And I could tell you at least a hundred ways of hiding large expenditures in the financial logs. But that isn’t even the issue. It makes no difference whether Taisha paid that man off or not. You work for the Boundless Realm Corporation and our president gave you clear instructions to capture the virtual entity. So, why didn’t you do your job?”

  What a tricky question! Regardless of my answer, it assumed I was at fault. What was more, I saw a little listening device in Andrei’s right ear, which meant our chat was not confidential. And that meant I had to deny the very possibility of my guilt without answering the question head on:

  “What are you talking about? I did my job! I am a lead tester for the corporation, and my job is to find and study untested paths, unusual situations and strange creatures in Boundless Realm . And it just so happens the NPC Thief Taisha is a strange creature I’m trying to learn more about. I am the only person who has earned the beautiful goblin lady’s trust, but everything went wrong on the square in front of the castle. She noticed it was a trap and would never have entered the special server that holds the castle of the Dark Sovereign. So my choice was either let Taisha go or never have the chance to catch her again, because that plan was already shot. Think for yourself, if I started lying to my NPC companion so flagrantly, I would immediately shatter her trust in me. And earning it took such a long painstaking effort. The only way out was to tell Taisha the truth and strengthen our bond. This way she still thinks of me as a friend she can rely on and open up to. Unlike, by the way, employees of this corporation...”

  Incomprehension and surprise showed on the face of the generally stern and emotionless Soloviev. Seemingly, the mysterious eavesdroppers had questions, because Andrei froze and listened to his earphone. Then he asked me to clear up what I meant when I said the corporation was untrustworthy. I was eager to explain:

  “The video clip Taisha sent me. I’ll have you know it showed my funeral. You don’t have anything to tell me about that?”

  He froze for a second with his mouth ajar, then started guffawing. And he laughed long and loud, he even had tears well up in his eyes.

  “Oh, Timothy, Timothy...” Andrei Soloviev started explaining through his laughter. “We had that clip made and sent to your NPC girlfriend to confuse her and have her open up to your character in the game. Who could have guessed it would fool you too?! I mean seriously, I really want to know. What have you dreamed up now? Some kind of voodoo, reanimation of a corpse, black magic? Or maybe the advancement of modern medicine, a successful brain transplant?”

  I felt awkward and ashamed at all his mockery. Andrei then laughed it off, turned more serious and explained:

  “Well Timothy, I’m afraid I have to disappoint you. There was no magic, and no modern medical marvel. The explanation is a lot more banal. It was a clip of someone else’s funeral. The video came from the burial of the universally respected Inessa Tyle, Vice President of the Boundless Realm Corporation. You see, she passed away three days ago and was buried yesterday at the Tyle family burial ground. Many of our employees and players came to pay their respects to the remarkable woman. Without her, our company wouldn’t exist, much less Boundless Realm .”

  * * *

  I WAS SITTING in the chair, my arms crossed and my face red in embarrassment. I had never felt like such an idiot in my life! I had gotten this whole story into my head about digitization, androids, a synthetic body. And it was all made out of whole cloth. For some reason, the simplest possible explanation just escaped me! And there was another reason to worry. I felt like a jackass. I just couldn’t believe I’d missed the funeral and my last chance to pay my respects to Inessa Tyle. I was sincerely sorrowful about her passing. After all, the now former vice president had always treated me like a human being, both during the Great Hunt for my wyvern, and when I found missing items in Fenrir’s Cursed Regalia. I mean sure, I had a good reason to miss the burial. I was seriously injured and had spent all that time on an operating table. But very few knew I’d been attacked, so obviously a few people would be unhappy with me, even offended. Kira would be foremost among them, thinking I’d just skipped her dear grandmother’s funeral with no good reason. And after she did so much for me!

  Meanwhile, Andrei Soloviev, after giving me time to come to my senses and think over what had happened, continued:

  “Now on to the present. I’m afraid that, for the time being, you are forbidden from leaving this room or communicating with the outside world. And don’t look so judgmental. It wasn’t up to me, it came from much higher up in the company.”

  “Is it because Taisha hacked into the security cameras?” I asked, reminded of what the president had told me.

  “Among other things. That mysterious being, which our specialists suspect is an artificial intelligence, has definitely gained access to our security cameras. And we cannot turn them off or we risk arousing suspicion or spooking Taisha. And our board of directors is desperate to get their hands on her. But that is still not the main reason. It’s just that you, Timothy, were made Dark Sovereign just five minutes ago. Your Amra is now at the head of a horde of monsters that threatens all Boundless Realm . We spent a whole five months working on this major patch, and now this terrifying new figure must enter the world to lead his legion of monsters. We’ve brought thousands of workers into this. There is very serious money at stake, and no one wants to even possibly threaten one of the most important events in the history of Boundless Realm . Leadership is counting on you and cannot afford having you distracted in this difficult time, or just dropping off our radar. So you’ll have to be patient, and that shouldn’t be too hard given the comfortable conditions we’ve arranged for you here.”

  “And how long do I have to be patient?” I asked, wanting to bring some clarity into this and know my exact term of imprisonment in this, albeit golden cage.

  Andrei Soloviev answered that he didn’t have a clear notion. He placed a hand to his ear, listened for a long time, then told me a week and a half.

  “In ten days there will be a big meeting for our directors and co-owners to discuss the results of the new patch. The corporation has invested heavily in the Dark Sovereign event. Ads for the new expansion to the most popular game ever will be shown on every central news channel in the world. I won’t hide it, they were working on a ghoulish NPC with advanced troop management algorithms to play the Dark Sovereign. It was supposed to be equal in power to the gods of Boundless Realm . But when you showed up in such a distant and hard-to-reach location, it was a surprise both for the marketers and the Global Modeling Department, which worked on the patch. Fortunately, the algorithms are very flexible and eas
ily adapt to change, so the army of monsters has already accepted you as its commander and, overall, the substitution shouldn’t cause any problems. What’s more, a living person was deemed more interesting than a soulless computer program, so consider your promotion to Dark Sovereign approved. Congratulations!”

  I mechanically squeezed his outstretched hand, although I didn’t yet see any reason to be glad. Staying cooped up in this room for a whole ten days... Not the greatest perspective. And for what, really? The corporation expected me to crawl out of my skin and work basically round-the-clock as their main antagonist, but where was the fun in it for me? As if reading my mind, Andrei Soloviev replied:

  “Timothy, now listen close because this concerns you directly! At the upcoming board of directors meeting, we’ll be hearing Inessa Tyle’s last will and testament. No one knows for sure exactly what it says. But she told me several times she wanted to divide her stocks in the Boundless Realm Corporation among the most famous and successful players so they can determine the future of Boundless Realm . She planned to name some players herself, and then let the board of directors put together the rest of the list. Your name will be going around at the meeting due to the big Dark Sovereign event, so take full advantage of that opportunity! We’re talking about a thirty-three percent stake in the biggest corporation on the planet, and that’s enough money for not only you to live in the lap of luxury. This could make your whole family rich for seven generations! You have a real chance to prove yourself, and you need to take it as seriously as possible! And remember Timothy, you’ve only got ten days!”

  * * *

  ANDREI SOLOVIEV left a while earlier, but I was still sitting in the armchair and thinking over what I’d heard. It was good that the directors of the corporation appreciated my effort and decided not to punish me for disobedience. It was great that my big-eared Goblin Herbalist’s suspension had been lifted, giving me the chance to prove myself and play the role of Dark Sovereign. I was now joining the ranks of players who defined the political world of Boundless Realm , and that was of course thrilling. What was more, there was a huge shiny reward beckoning in the distance, driving me to work harder and harder. But there had to be something they weren’t telling me. I could just feel it in my skin. It was as if the promise of a stake in the company was that much-vaunted carrot hanging right in front of my face, but it was still unreachable. Like I was some naïve donkey stubbornly keeping up the chase, wasting his effort for nothing and working himself to the bone.