The Way of the Clan 9

by Dem Mikhaylov

  …

  The information turned out to be fascinating — Malice knew how to tell a story.

  In the first hour Sleepless managed to hide the news that the second entrance to the dungeon was open and accessible to everyone. And during these sixty minutes, they managed to clear many valuable corridors and dead ends of all things valuable. Then, “alien” players appeared in the dungeon, wanting to snatch a piece of the delicious pie. This started a fierce race reminiscent of the Great Voyage in miniature. But this time, several small foreign groups managed to emerge as leaders — in this monstrous intertwining of corridors and flooded lakes it was easy to find a shorter loophole. Now, more than three hundred players had descended ever lower into An Gdar, and with every step they had more and more advantages. Following the first wave went the rest — there were many players on the islands, and everyone wanted to visit the unknown dungeon. Another incantation of the Ancients was still hidden there, somewhere very deep — each of the clans looked for it, hoping that they would be lucky. Malice was not allowed to go too deep— otherwise he would not have managed to get out before the evening tournament, where taking part was mandatory for him. This greatly troubled the fanatical magician, but he did not go against the will of the Baroness, which was to “rest and prepare.”

  Back in the dungeon, new horrible monsters appeared — the players themselves. Some of them rogues with high theft skills. It was easy for them to do what they did the best in the darkness of the caves. Sometimes the other players did not immediately know about the theft — the curses began to be heard much later, when the adventurer realized that a powerful potion they had found, or some other rare loot, had disappeared from his bag. In the dungeon, the professionals took everything.

  There was also the underwater cemetery, which caused all the Achilots to squeals in rapture and reverence. The fact was that one more mountain rested in the underwater part of the tide of Tidal Death, almost entirely consisting of entangled ships of different epochs and styles. Somewhere inside this pile was the third entrance to the dungeon. But the labyrinth of the tide ships themselves was of great interest — objects inside the holds and cabins turned out to be valuable and many in number. Weapons, armor, chests, caskets, jars and bottles. And everything else, including spare parts for ships. The monsters were predatory fish, mollusks, crabs, electric eels and other carnivorous creatures.

  And when the first sphere with divine rage was discovered in the mud, the situation was even more intense. The breakthrough of Anrull’s rage left much behind him — the black-green cloud descended slowly under the water, sliding down the cliff to the bottom and threatening to cover the Mountain of Dead Ships with its deadly magical veil.

  Therefore, everyone was in a hurry — half an hour ago, their haste led to the awakening of a huge carnivorous octopus. After that, for the next quarter of an hour, everyone dove for treasure. Describing what happened, Malice gesticulated so vividly and rolled his eyes, comparing everything with a game that was unknown to me— that I did not ask him to specify.

  And right now there was another fierce battle happening, one in which several clans participated at once. The battle was against the Patron of An Gdar — a gigantic electric necro-eel, a monstrous thing a couple of hundred meters long, beating lightning in all directions and an energy ray from the mouth. It was ridiculous — tanks died from a single blow of the ray. Some survived, but their strength decreased like a piece of ice in the sun. Judging by the appearance of the giant snake, he had died a long time ago, but came back to life thanks to the dark divine energy of Anrull.

  “If only we had stumbled upon it,” I puffed out my lip.

  “That would result in something similar to a boa constrictor swallowing an elephant. Or a mammoth. Like in the famous picture.”

  “M?”

  “It does not matter. In essence — your underground adventures would end there and then.”

  “I agree. We were lucky.”

  “Okay. Show me the characteristics of the character.”

  I did not show the window of magic spells, but I did not hide the rest. Almost all my inferiority was spotlighted in the curious gaze of the tutor. He cracked his fingers thoughtfully, estimated the number of free levels, and let out a long sigh:

  “Almost…”

  “Almost?”

  “Almost there. Well, not nearly — but we progressed well, and the general procedure for the following actions has long been worked out.”

  “Are you kidding?”

  “No. I make rough calculations. First, the base was the damned outfit. Then your character class. Then add this to the effects of your collected mana. We add some beverages to them, which you will drink on the last day. And when you are all dressed and you have drunk, you will be covered with special aura of amplification. And forty helping mages. In full force. Immediately I warn you — as soon as you activate the main spell, you can be killed immediately after — the kickback. Too many energy flows will be crossed in you — plus elixirs. In addition to all of the above, one special artifact of mass action will be activated on the deck, and it will not only help you, but all other classes of characters based on their mana. There is another big trump up our sleeve, but it is better not to use it at all. It will be too expensive. To spend such a trump card for the sake of a single activation of the spell … But, even if we do not take a trump card into account — we have made good progress. Skills, achievements, effects, cursed objects, the basis of the character, support mages. All this will form a single ram, which will throw you to the tops of mana. We’re almost there.

  “Nice,” relief came as a warm wave.

  “Do not get too excited,” warned the mentor. “Do not forget — during the campaign you can die. And if so your levels will drop dramatically. Try not to die, Ros. And frankly, we need a “margin of safety. So that even in case of multiple deaths you do not lose the opportunity to cast the spell.”

  “I will do my best,” I assured him. “And there were still many gladiatorial fights ahead. Did you say something about my specialization?”

  “We carried out several hundreds of tasks of varying complexity, issued by one local inhabitant with a harsh Nordic appearance and a fine gray beard.”

  “So what?”

  “He is the new head of the local Guild of Mages. The Ring of Peace has been risen for a long time, Ros, and we and other clans do everything to revive the local infrastructure as soon as possible. We are conducting emergency renovation. Players unearthed a hefty hill, inside of which are found the ruins of a powerful building with five towers.”

  “The construction is visible from afar,” I agreed, looking in the direction where there had been a few notable hills and slides yesterday morning. Now, several towers and spires stretched toward the sky. There were players scurrying around, chopping, dragging, digging.

  “Yeah. Hardly some players dug it up — than the others began to immediately renovate. We have closed holes in the walls, reinstalled the roof, cleaned up the garbage, cleared the walls, even painted paintings and created sculptures. What the old man wanted — that was what we did. The Ring of the World Guild has been restored. The work is almost finished. And the Sleepless received a very high reputation with this. I played a big role in this. Firstly, I performed at least twenty very complex assignments, and secondly, I won a friendly duel of mage- against- mage.

  “Did you defeat the head of the Guild of Mages?” I was amazed. “Wow!”

  “I am a battle mage with a lot of experience, Ros,” Malice shrugged his shoulders, recognizing the praise. “But it was difficult. The old man used unfamiliar spells. I went around the arena like a wounded dog. And wizards should not do this. But I did. Then we had an excellent battle. There was a canvas painted about it for future generations. You can go and see it if you want— the picture is already hanging in the main hall of the Guild. The painting is called “Friendly conversation of equals”. I insisted on it.”

  “Congratulations,”
I said sincerely. “I really congratulate you. Another touch to the legend — you earned it. But why were you telling me all this?”

  “During the conversation, I found out something very interesting,” sighed Malice. “This is classified info, but — in the future in Valdira there will be two new magic classes. One combat class and one social class. Soon it will be possible to go to the Guild of Mages officially. The mage said that the locals had ships that could go forward in completely calm waters. Like a catamaran.”

  “What do I have to do with this?”

  “And you can become a living engine for such a catamaran,” the wizard spread his hands. “You can actually become both the engine and the battery at once. Two in one. The engine is the spell. The battery is your mana. This ship requires a mana burst every minute, so you cannot use the elixirs, of course. And that was why the natives have special mages with huge reserves of mana, sitting on their decks, drinking coconut milk and leading the catamaran. And they are led by others— with the help of an ordinary steering wheel or an oar. In general, this works only on ships built from a special tree growing on these and neighboring islands. I was sure that, in the near future, this gaming profession will become very popular. Small freight, combat and courier ships of this class will always be in demand. I think there will be special races — they will move at very high speeds. And in the present … if you go to this class, which was possible — I have already explained, and the head of the Guild will help. Your mana reserve will double. And you do not have to worry about casting the spell to remove the energy field from Zar’Graad.”

  “But? After all, there must be some unpleasant “but”.”

  “If you turn into a catamaran engine, although the class will be called something else, your magic damage will be cut almost completely. And also, at times, the pause between the use of spells of any type increases. You will not be able to shoot fireballs and ice shards from your hands, Ros. You will be able to do this only once a minute, after which you will have to take a newspaper and enjoy reading in the next sixty-one hundred seconds. Unlike the mage path, the new option is completely social. Brutal battles will no longer be for you.”

  “Meat. That is what I will become, is what you are saying. To put it bluntly, I will turn into a very fat and very dead pig. A piece of fatty meat.”

  “Yes,” admitted Malice, looking me in the eyes. “You will be a piece of meat that can be fried to a crisp crust by any enemy — if there are no friends around. You cannot defend yourself, you cannot protect a comrade-in-arms, you cannot even heal him — with healing magic there is the same trouble as with the combat mage. But you are guaranteed to be able to complete the work of the Great Navigator.”

  “Yeah … awesome prospects.”

  “Decide, Ros. If you agree, we will immediately look at the light to the local head of the Guild of Magicians, and drink a couple of glasses of red wine. You will get rid of the old class and get a new one. Then you will return to your business.”

  “To your business? After that, I cannot even leave the peace zone — on the Wings of War, any weak monster will turn me into a chop.”

  “You already will be a chop,” corrected Malice. “You will only need pepper, salt and herbs, and to be fried slowly, over low heat. This is the price. A new gaming class is a huge canvas filled to the brim with joyfully gurgling azure mana. And as for another achievement — you will be the first to receive this game class. Maybe the achievement will add a couple more percent to your mana. And forever.”

  “Hmm ...”

  “Decide, Ros. Do you want to remove the veil from Zar’Graad? Well — here is a great opportunity to dramatically increase your chances of success.”

  Then Malice stopped speaking — and, with his hands folded over his chest, waited for my answer. Well, I had something to answer. And what was there to think about? I did not even think.

  “No.”

  “Do you refuse?” Malice’s expression did not change. It seemed that he was not even upset that I refused such a generous offer to increase mana, instantly and forever. And so, perhaps he knew that I would refuse.”

  “I refuse.”

  “Are you sure?”

  “Absolutely. You yourself understand. I will not get rid of my teeth to increase the volume of my belly.”

  “This is a good comparison, my friend,” the magician sighed. “Only you could have thought of such a thing. You remember that we will always protect you, and your family and friends? You do, right?

  “I remember,” I nodded. “No, Malice. I am sorry. I will have to suffer a little more with you. One day, the Baroness gave a very interesting comparison of the Great Navi with the primitive wife. I remember this comparison. And I am not going to become it. And if they deprive me of my fangs … have you ever seen a movie where a beauty, screaming with terror, clings to the muscular shoulder of a hero who is ready to protect her from danger at the cost of his life?”

  “A million of them. Pretty women and characters from movie to movie are changing, but the essence remains.”

  “So — I also saw a lot of such films. And every time I thought — the hero can suddenly take off. What if he does not want to protect this squealing fool from snakes, crocodiles, zombies or mutants? What will happen to the beauty then?”

  “They’ll kill her or eat her. Or both. But in these movies — the hero was cool, he was beautiful. Each had its own role.”

  “Exactly!” I lifted a finger. “That is it! Each had its own role. My role now is a stubborn and impudent guy with his own quirks and choices. And I am definitely not going to become a helpless squealing beauty. Do you know why?”

  “Because you are a man?”

  “And that, too. But also because after the brutal hero rescues the beauty, he often raises her in his arms, enters into the bedroom, where he casually throws on the bed and … should I continue?”

  “I am not a child, I understand.”

  “Well, good then. That’s why I do not want to become a living engine of a catamaran, a trimaran, a quartetoran, or even a decadent. I do not want to squeal behind the hero’s shoulder and beg him to protect me — because then I cannot stand for myself anymore. And do not forget, Malice — I have a daughter. You will protect Roska, too, right?”

  “I tell you, we will protect her.”

  “And Kirea?”

  “Of course.”

  “And if I suddenly disagree with you? Will you also protect my daughter?”

  “Why should we quarrel, Ros? Do not invent things.”

  “I am not making this up. I am stating a fact. If that happens, I can still do some work myself. If I turn into a magical propeller, I will be worth nothing. Malice, I will say it honestly and directly — I believe very few people completely. Such people can be counted on the fingers of one hand. Therefore, I will remain as I was — a wild, amusing beast with small but sharp fangs. I will continue to spoil everyone’s nerves to try to make my fangs bigger and even sharper. And I will take up your free time, so you can spend it on my development. But later, after the tour, I will try to repay you for your trouble.”

  “I understand you, Ros. Everything is said correctly, and I have no objections — I myself understand that, after our journey, you do not want to remain incapacitated. I myself was a combat magician and understand the essence of the proposal — I, in essence, castrate you, because bulls without eggs quickly gain meat and fat. You decided to remain a man, and not turn into a squealing beauty. Okay. But if that is so, Ros, if our special trump card does not work, if you lose fifty levels or more … if you cannot, at the right moment, cast the unique spell— and cast it immediately, on one word of the Baroness, then in the same instant you will have to pass the magic to whom you will be told to pass it to. And without any complaints, Ros. Because I just offered you a quick and easy way to collect the entire amount of necessary mana. You did not want to. The Sleepless suggested— you refused.” He put a hand on my shoulder.

  “It was
already negotiated,” I yanked my shoulder away. “Even before sailing. And all this was spelled out in the contract.”

  “I know. But in the same place it was written that we would do everything to raise your level to the right volume of mana. And the Baroness promised you that. And I. And we found such a solution, a whole fucking building was rebuilt for the sake of this opportunity, but you refused. So now no claims, even the smallest, will be accepted. Right?”

  “Yes. And you did not restore the building of the Guild for me. And it was not only you.”

  “These are trifles.”

  “No, not trifles. The facts are simple — you had a chance to get rid of the headache about the amount of my mana. And you tried. I refused. The migraine returned. Endure it.”

  “I like to endure,” the magician raised his hand in reconciliation. “And I see only good from you. And I receive such material gifts from you — such that the Baroness does not give me once a year. You repay good with good, Ros. And you try to return it doubly. I appreciate it. But I am not a free gray wolf, Ros. I am a dog. This I say so that there is no ambiguity between us. Nothing personal.”

  “Yes,” I nodded. “Nothing personal. Let us drink a glass?”

  “Let us drink. And then prepare for the next event. So what did you learn about ancient magic? If it is a secret?”

  “Ask the elf.”

  “No … I will rather bear it and learn from you. By the way, keep it.”

  “What?”

  “The potion obtained after one of my assignments for a 40% increase in the amount of experience gained from killing monsters. My thanks for the bottle of mana. And yet— you’re going to go fishing with your daughter and Kirea?”

  “Yeah.”

  “Look at the Rings map. Do you see this place? Brown coastal boulders, and then a little sand.”

  “So what?”

  “At sunset, near those stones and sand, a special fish appears — as I was told in secret by the head of the Guild of Mages. What kind of fish is unknown. No one had yet managed to catch it. I thought — what if your daughter does it?”