The Beginning (Dark Paladin Book #1) LitRPG Series

by Vasily Mahanenko

  “Ye-ea-ah…” the creature whined, flattening himself on the ground in some semblance of a bow and making me curse internally. Until now it had seemed to me that there was no way one could fall any lower, but the mage had outdone himself. Now I felt disgusted even to look in his direction. I knew that fear of death sometimes turned some people into something like animals, but still, shouldn’t there be a border below which your pride – or education, or self-respect – wouldn’t let you fall? There must be! But apparently this very mage had nothing of the sort, or else it was so low that I felt nauseated even trying to contemplate it!

  “Show me your personal information,” I ordered him, overcoming my disgust; but the mage shook his head, talking a mile a minute:

  “I don’t know how to do it! The elders ordered me to stand here and wait till the Paladins appear, and they expressly forbade me to come up to the teacher! They said they would allow me to train with him only after twelve hours following my arrival into the Academy.”

  “Stop! Who are the elders?”

  “Initiated players and their minions. Not all mages are hunting after you; some were just told as a fact that the Paladins are evil. Those who were chosen by the Game itself, the mages don’t count as part of their circle. Please don’t kill me, please! I don’t want to die!”

  The mage became hysterical again, so I nodded to Monstrichello, who administered another mind-clearing kick, sending the player flying. Taking several deep breaths to get more oxygen in my blood and clear my brain, I looked at the sniveling mage and realized with finality: I would not be able to kill him. It’s not an enemy, it’s a piece of crap that one feels disgusted to step into. Let others kill him, or maybe the Game itself. With this approach, even if he goes through the training with this teacher, this kid won’t survive. But it’s his problem anyway.

  “How much time do you have till respawn?” I came over to the mage still sprawled on the ground. “If we let you train, you’ll up a level and replenish your Energy. You’ll get another twelve hours of life. But I want to be certain that you won’t betray us and won’t attack at a time convenient for you.”

  “Never! I’ll never betray you or attack! I don’t want to kill! I just want to survive! I don’t remember how much time has passed! I only have twelve Energy! How long will that last? Please don’t kill me, I beg you! I have nothing against Paladins, mages, and generally any living creatures! I just want to live!”

  “When they gathered you all, did they tell you why the mages should hunt the Paladins?” As soon as my decision about what to do with this kid at my feet formed in my head, I breathed easier. As if a burden had rolled off my shoulders. While the remaining Paladins finished training with the teacher, I started gathering additional information. There’s never too much of that.

  “N-no!” The mage’s eyes once again filled with tears. “We were just ordered to kill Paladins at the first opportunity and follow all orders from Dangard and Ahean. They are personal students of one of the mentors.”

  “Yari, we’re done.” Teart came up to me. “Did you already train here as well?”

  “Not yet,” I looked at the mage one last time before blotting him from my memory for good. “Don’t touch him; he’s a goner anyway.”

  “Don’t leave me here!” The kid screamed once it dawned on him that we were not planning to take him with us. “Please don’t chase me away! I beg you! I don’t want to die! Don’t abandon me!”

  “Shut the hell up!” roared Monstrichello, sending the mage flying yet again. Crashing on the ground like a broken doll and lying still, the black-robed player, however, did not disappear. Monstrichello had just knocked him out.

  “Welcome, recruit, I will now teach you to use the game interface. Stand up and harken to my wisdom!”

  Learning progress: You have reached teacher 3 of 10

  “I don’t have anything to teach you, young recruit,” the teacher delivered the “good” news to me as soon as the training clearing filled the world around us. “You have excellently figured out, without my help, how to command the game interface; you have learned not only how to open and close windows, but also to bring up properties. The visit to me was simply a formality for you. I am sorry.”

  “Oh really?!” I was taken aback clearly not expecting this turn of events. “It’s not possible that there could not be something else that I could learn about the game interface. Hidden buttons that appear only at certain times under specific conditions, properties that are not shown under the standard configuration, an option to adjust the interface for my own needs… There must be something!”

  “There is all that you have listed and more,” the old man smiled. “But it’s not part of the Academy study program. Develop your Artifact, add a property to its Interface configuration, and you will attain additional possibilities for control. Including information on them. There are no other ways to learn about it.”

  “I see..,” I drawled unhappily. “May I ask a question on an unrelated topic?”

  “You may try,” the old man was slow to respond. “If it doesn’t concern your future training, perhaps you’ll get an answer.”

  “I think it doesn’t. One of the teachers with whom I trained told me that in case I deliver a correct verdict I will receive a bonus. I did deliver a verdict; it was acknowledged as justified even though harsh, but I didn’t get any bonus from that. The question is – did they lie to me or is there something obvious that I am failing to see?”

  “It’s the latter,” the old man’s smile grew wider still. “You were awarded a bonus for the correct verdict, it’s just that you have not had a chance to use it yet. It is quite rare to have a judgment case in the Academy. Normally, even if cases arise here, they are postponed till graduation. But you not only delivered the verdict, you also ensured execution of the sentence as you stated it in the vicinity of a Headhunter. That kind of thing is rare in the Academy; so you were awarded a bonus which you confirmed.

  “Status?” I guessed what he was talking about.

  “Yes, status. From now on you are a Judge, whether you want it or not.”

  “And?..” I was looking at the old man with interest. “What does that give me?”

  “What do you think? What is initiation?”

  “Confirmation of race or class,” I frowned, as we were now talking of a very sensitive topic for me.

  “Not quite. Initiation, first of all, is a confirmation. It does not matter of what. Class. Race. Chosen path for development...”

  “So by confirming my status,..” I stood completely still, fearing to voice my thought.

  “You became an initiated player,” the teacher confirmed my guess. “Speaking in the players’ terms, your chances to complete the Academy have improved significantly. That was the bonus awarded to you for delivering an impartial verdict.”

  “Improved?” I was surprised. “Is there no guarantee that an initiated player will definitely return?”

  “In theory, that’s true. One of the Paladins, Nartalim, as far as I recall, believed that as well, it seems to me. Where is he now?”

  “He deserved that.” The mere memory of the elf made my chest tighten with anger.

  “Did he really?” The old man raised one eyebrow demonstratively. “You delivered a verdict that Nartalim betrayed his class. But tell me, Judge, are you the head of the class? Are you the one to determine what is allowed and what is not for Paladins?”

  “No,” I was taken aback at first, but immediately returned to thinking that my decision was right: “My verdict was correct. The Emperor confirmed that.

  “No one is arguing that you were right,” the old man shook his head as if he was unable to get through to me. “But you sentenced to death a player who could have been of use to the class in the future. The Paladins have several game worlds that by the standards of your world can only be described as “Hell”. Despite all the horrors, those worlds are very popular: some extremely rare minerals are mined there. You could have s
entenced Nartalim to a life in a world like that as a disobedient Paladin. He could have added value even as he was punished. But you decided to cut his life short… No one argues: the verdict was correct. The questions arise with respect to the harshness of the punishment. Did Nartalim deserve that? That’s a good question to which only you would be able to provide an answer.”

  “No!” The old man’s words could not breach my attitude to the elf. “Nartalim’s punishment was commensurate to his deeds. Death was the only appropriate punishment. One can get out of Hell.”

  That’s why you became a Dark one,” the old man said sadly, sighing heavily. “With this approach it would be hard for you to return to the Light.”

  “If the Light is turning the other cheek when anyone slaps you on the right one, then I choose Darkness. Evil must be punished; any slack would only make it stronger. This should not be allowed!”

  “It will be hard for you in your world with this approach to judgment. There is nothing else I can teach you. Farewell, Paladin…”

  “Onward!” I commanded hoarsely as soon as the space around me turned into a clearing in the midst of reinforced concrete jungle. Despite attaining level 4, talking to the teacher left its mark: my mood was totally ruined, even though I was still convinced that I had been right: Nartalim had not deserved any other sentence.

  “What shall we do with the mage?” Logir asked for instructions.

  “Drag him to the teacher and wake him up. Let’s give the kid a chance, let him learn. If we meet him later in battle, we can kill him, but no need to finish him off now. We are not mages.”

  We reached the next teacher without having to fight. No one attacked us, no one set up ambushes or other traps. As if all at once the mages in the Academy had decided that their plan to destroy the Paladins had failed and it would be better not to mess with us. But I had a more likely version of events: the two mages who had managed to get away had warned the others of our tactics, and the mages had decided to give us one teacher while they developed some more sophisticated ways to battle us. I couldn’t believe that they would just let us go like that.

  The clearing with the teacher was overflowing with players of different classes, but at first glance there were no mages nor Paladins among them. As we approached, we could hear the hum of an overcrowded space, but as soon as we stepped into the clearing, everything became quiet. The players tensed, not knowing what to expect of the newly emerged team. Imperceptibly and sort of instantly an open space formed between us and the teacher. They were letting us through, preferring not to mess with us; however, we were in no hurry to run headlong towards the teacher. The mages had taught us to be careful. The barely audible voice of the teacher floated from the other side of the clearing:

  “Welcome, recruit, I will teach you the attack capabilities of your class …”

  “There are about a hundred players here,” Logir whispered. “This teacher trains recruits in attack capabilities. If they attack us they’d crush us without bothering to ask what our name was.”

  “I agree.” I was in complete agreement with the femorc’s opinion. “Going in directly is dangerous. Let’s retreat. We’ll get to the teacher through the forest. We’ll come out behind him, and then train. It’s always better to have a safe space behind your back.”

  “We’d lose time…” Refor started, but I cut the catorian off:

  “It’s better to lose half an hour than to run into a respawn. Does anyone here know the class outfits? Who are the players here?

  “Hunters, druids, rogues, warlocks, necromancers, warriors,” Logir started listing. “I’m sure there are more, but I can’t see from here.”

  “Retreat! We’ll move through the forest. I don’t really trust anyone other than our class. By the way, that’s one more reason we have to go around: does anyone see any Paladins? So there... Teart, look for the guiding beam…”

  Half an hour later I cursed heartily for what seemed like a hundredth time, in my mind remembering unkindly myself, my own decision, and the players who crowded the clearing with the teacher. The guiding line was so winding and sometimes was so high above the ground that time streamed like sand through our fingers. There were a few times when I wanted to abandon it all and return to the clearing. At those moments the precaution seemed excessive; however, I squashed those defeatist thoughts at once and pointed out the new correct beam to the group. Dolgunata had shown me that not only mages were worthy of respect in the Academy; that meant that among a hundred players there’d be at least one ringleader, and then a massive melee would begin.

  “Yari, come here!” I heard Teart’s surprised voice from somewhere to the side. Since he, like I, had the ability to see the right way, the leprechaun was moving on the outside of the team, studying the area around. Following the interface use training, I made everyone turn on their video recording so that after they returned to the normal world we would have more comprehensive information about the Academy. Maybe now the Temple of Knowledge was capable of providing any player with any available information about the Game, but it was much more efficient to train the minions when you had a manual on hand, rather than in some other piece of virtual space. So that was exactly the manual I was going to prepare. One has to cover one's living expenses after all.

  “What’ve you got?” It took me a few minutes to figure out, using the map, where Teart was, and then reach him holding on to the beams.

  “I've got some weird shit here,” the leprechaun mumbled in bewilderment, pointing at a small pile that looked as if it were post-construction trash.”This crap keeps coming back.”

  “What keeps coming back?” I wasn’t sure I understood Teart. “The trash?”

  “Don’t look at the trash,” the leprechaun said curtly, irritated. “Look at what’s underneath!”

  Under Teart’s unfaltering stare I moved the pile of trash with my foot, but still found nothing. I looked at the Paladin in bewilderment, but he was just making impatient gestures to demand that I should keep moving the trash. I cursed the one hundredth and first time, set my foot on the guiding beam to ensure that I would avoid issues with the guards, then shoved the entire pile aside. If Teart was sure there was something under it … What was that?

  Under the trash there was a small rectangular inscription with text written in a language I did not know. The text had a caption, or at least it would be logical to suppose that the few words at the top of the rest of the text served as a caption for whatever was concealed by the unknown symbols. Part of the text was written in bolder font than the rest, as if someone wanted to attract attention to its most important parts.

  “What do you think this is?”

  “Well, it’s some kind of shit all right.” I agreed with the leprechaun’s initial assessment. “How did you find it?”

  “Well…,” Teart was hesitant, so I had to press him:

  “If you have some information regarding the Academy, we all need it to survive!”

  “No, I have nothing,” the leprechaun finally ventured. “It’s just that I was going to become a Searcher, so I, like, prowl around everywhere.

  “A Searcher?” I frowned. “Did you mean to say, an Explorer of the world?”

  “No. As the teacher told me, a Searcher is someone who discovers new worlds, new knowledge, and such like. A Searcher is something that fits my soul. Searching for treasures, troves, secret shelters… I am a leprechaun, it’s our fate to look for treasures.”

  “So the pot of gold is not a myth?” I grinned, but as Teart’s face tensed I figured that I had hit on a topic that was sensitive for him. “Never mind. So, you found a pile of trash, and it seemed suspicious to you, so you disturbed it and found this inscription?”

  “Not this one,” leprechaun exhaled with relief, seeing the conversation had moved away from his pot of gold. What a naïve one! I would need to get him talking and figure out what in those fairy tales is truth and what is fiction. But that will come later. “This is already the third pile,
and under each of them there were their own inscriptions. I can tell right away that they are different. The principle is the same: header and then text, parts of which were highlighted, but the symbols were different.

  “Did you photograph the previous inscriptions?”

  “I recorded them on video, just as you advised. Wait, I’ll give the record to you,” the leprechaun’s eyes glazed over as he started to fiddle with the internal settings.”

  “In the Academy you can’t…,” I started saying, but a system message that appeared in front of me demonstrated that I was completely ignorant of all the subtleties of the Game:

  Player Teart is offering you a trade. Accept?

  “It works!” The leprechaun rejoiced. Information exchange in my current world was set up in the manner classic for all computer games: a panel divided into two halves, with several buttons. As soon as an icon for video file appeared on Teart’s side, one of the buttons on my side became active: “Accept”. As soon as I pressed it, the Book of Knowledge beeped, signaling receipt of new portion of information. So it seems that exchange of material objects that one can hold in one's hand is performed in the normal way for the real world: from hand to hand; and exchange of intangible items such as video, through a separate set of functions. That’s convenient! But immediately it brings about other questions – why is downloading information from the Book of Knowledge for other players only available at level 15 of the “Context search” attribute? Can I not simply download it in a way similar to what Teart did? By the way, what did he do?

  “The teacher showed how to download the video,” leprechaun explained as soon as I peppered him with questions. “I knew you were an Explorer; I wanted to do something nice for you. There is a problem, however; I can’t upload someone else’s videos, and downloading my own only works for events that have occurred during the past 24 hours. After that the Game transfers them somewhere into remote backups, and downloading to other players becomes impossible. Did you receive everything?”