The Beginning (Dark Paladin Book #1) LitRPG Series

by Vasily Mahanenko

  “It seems so,” I found the right notes in the Book and compared the three pictures. They were in fact different as if someone was using the same principle to describe various objects, phenomena or rules… RECIPES! I felt as though hit by lightning: these must have been recipes for professions!

  “But this is wonderful!” the leprechaun said gladly, as soon as I shared my guess. He even started rubbing his hands, anticipating some loot. “If we get out of the Academy, what if it turns out that there is something worthwhile among those recipes? Now, in the beginning, they are quite likely to be commonly accessible, but the deeper we advance…”

  “Partnership? I proposed immediately. “You will travel around the forest, working on the path for development that you selected; we’ll be at the bottom organizing access to the teachers. Once we finish the Academy, we’ll share equally all the profits from the recipes.”

  “This doesn’t seem to be a very equal partnership.” Teart grinned. “I’d be working, risking an encounter with the guards, while you’d be strolling down there along convenient passages, and then we share the profits half and half? 90:10, in my view, would be the best proportion.”

  “Why do you say it’s not equal?” I was actually thinking that leprechaun was right: at this stage of negotiations my position looked extremely weak. But I did have something to offer him! “In exchange I could share some information. For example, how to obtain initiation within the Academy. Interested?”

  Judging by how round the leprechaun’s eyes became, he was more than simply interested.

  “I would like to point out right away,” I continued, to make sure there were no unnecessary questions, “that I was going to tell this to you, Refor and Dirion in any case. You are not initiated. I learnt this from the previous teacher, and there never seemed to have been a chance to talk. Once we are done with the upcoming teacher and find a decent site, I’ll tell you the ropes then.

  “Em… Then I don’t understand the point of your offer.”

  “That’s what I’m saying: I’ll share information with you. Various bits of information, not just about initiation. Besides, you need a device to record the recipes you find. You have mentioned yourself that after 24 hours the video is transferred into some long-term storage and it is not clear whether it’s possible to call it up from there or not. Downloading information is one of the properties of my artifact, so there’ll be no problem with that.”

  “80:20,” the stubborn leprechaun wasn’t going to give up.” What will I do with information about the Academy in the general world?”

  This red-bearded one was no fool!

  “Not just about the Academy. For example, do you know how to gain access to the Temple of Knowledge? Since you are a Searcher, this information would be useful for you.

  Before they finish the Academy recruits cannot enter …,” Teart started, but faltered, seeing my smile.

  “Three times!” I announced, anticipating his question. "Of which one time was already in the Academy, before I chased away Dolgunata. I understood the principle based on which you would be let in there. I could share it. This has nothing to do with class‒ that was my own research. Interested?”

  “Damn you! 70:30! Yari, you are doing exactly nothing to obtain the recipes! I have to do it all, you are just acting as a storage facility! Have you no shame?!”

  “Fine, 70:30.” I agreed to the leprechaun’s conditions. “Then let’s agree that it will apply to everything that you find in the Academy and offer for sale. Recipes, symbols, pictures and other trash. Agreed?”

  “Are you sure you’re a Judge?” Teart looked at me with interest as soon as the Game confirmed our agreement. We did not even have to say any extra words: saying “I agree” by both parties generated a line in the book stating the conditions of the deal. Something suggested to me that breaking this agreement would not be a beneficial thing to do altogether. The Game would not forget it. Even though if fact it couldn’t care less. It would be more correct to say that the Judge would not forgive it. Particularly such an interested Judge as myself.

  “It’s just that you seem so much like a profiteer! Just like my uncle … Oh, what the heck is this now?”

  “What are you talking about now?” I frowned, since the leprechaun’s eyes suddenly glazed over.

  “It’s offering to me that I should confirm some kind of status, I have no clue what that is and what I am supposed to confirm," Teart said, confused and surprised.” Do you know what it’s talking about?”

  “Freeze!” I ordered, forcing myself to breathe calmly. “Don’t click on anything and listen carefully!”

  It took me a few minutes to describe to the leprechaun in detail the principle for turning into an initiated player. It turned out that Teart had selected trade as his specialty. In his own world that was pretty much the only thing everyone did, so it would be silly to expect a different specialty from a treasure-hunter. Our bargaining triggered the initiation process, and as soon as the Game determined that Teart had achieved conditions beneficial for himself, suggested that he confirm his trader status. Which is what the leprechaun joyfully did.

  “What took you so long? Where’s the leprechaun?” Logir started questioning as soon as I came back to the group. Teart set off looking for more trash piles.

  “He is fine. Guys, we are going to take an unplanned break. It’s time we have a talk and get to know each other better.”

  “It can’t be done after the training session?” Logir growled impatiently. “You’ve said yourself that the mages will become used to our tactics and then it will be harder to survive. It wouldn’t matter to Monster, Sartal or myself‒ we’ll make it somehow‒ but the four of you would be as good as dead.”

  “The two of us, by now,” I quipped‒and could not suppress a smile, seeing their long faces‒ “Teart and I have become initiated players. That’s why we need to take a break here and now. It’s time to protect ourselves.”

  Skinny silent Dirion, who tried to be quiet as a lamb, had chosen a breastplate as an artifact; the first property he added was additional protection against magic. Dirion came from a world called Viels, where humans were an extremely unpopular race. Viels was ruled by elves. Dirion learnt about the Game only when an elf Paladin showed up at his door and literally dragged him off for training, killing all his family in passing. He was trained by the book, and so back at the Citadel Dirion had decided to become a keeper working at the library. Knowledge in and of itself did not interest Dirion; he was attracted to the quiet and regular life within the library behind the Citadel walls. As a specialty the teacher had suggested “Librarian”, so Dirion gladly agreed. That was a rare coincidence of the specialty and chosen path for development.

  Sartal, a reptilian, came from the world named Versal. Sartal’s father was one of the Paladins’ minions, but had never made it to the full initiation to become a player. Sartal was luckier: the Paladins killed an Assassin, and that enabled them to turn a minion into a player. Sartal’s father was the lucky one, but he transferred the privilege to his son. Sartal completed full training for a minion, choosing being a fighter as his path of development. There were skirmishes between classes pretty much continuously; the fighters would be the ones to end up in the front lines first. To Sartal it seemed interesting, exciting and agitating; he even chose the specialty to fit: melee fighter. Now, that he had seen death and horrors firsthand, the erstwhile confidence of his choice had faded.

  The homeland for Refor, who was a catorian, was a desert inhospitable world called Bubastis. After saying the name of the world Refor stared quizzically at me and Monstrichello, as if the name was supposed to tell us something; however, the dumb expression plainly revealed on our faces saddened the catorian. As it turned out, Bubastis was a city in ancient Egypt; it had been named after the felines. Catorians had set up pretty decent relations with the ancient Egyptians and even ruled them for a while. Bast, who was the goddess of joy, merriment and love, female beauty, fertility and
the hearth, and was depicted as a cat or woman with a feline head, was no more than an ordinary catorian player. After yet another war between the players, catorians cut off all relations with Earth; therefore the locals only remembered them as gods. As for Refor himself, in his own tribe he had been a long-lived respected old man. Having survived all his wives and even children, the catorian had been doing to die in peace, when he was suddenly selected by the Game as a Paladin. As he had been involved in wine-making his entire life, Refor planned to not give up his favorite occupation in the Game; hence, he had chosen crafts as the path of development. He had not received a specialty yet: at the hidden teacher’s location he trained in defensive capabilities; however, he was planning to take something that would have to do with production. The catorian’s artifact was a saber, because in the catorian’s opinion a cutting weapon was the most suitable for cutting back vines. And in addition it turned out to be useful in the Academy as well.

  As for Logir, everything turned out to be not as simple as I had thought at first. The femorc had been sent off to the Academy as a headhunter, but the more familiar she became with her future occupation, the less she was enthralled with it. Killing players because the Game desired it turned out to be an unbearable burden for Logir; that was confirmed by the situation with Nartalim. Headhunters were not supposed to have attachments. The Game would always force you to choose between your feelings and your duty; the femorc failed that test. Despite her race, Logir since childhood had been enchanted with elves, who were, in essence, blood enemies of her race. At Zagransh, which was the femorc’s home world, there were no living elves any more even among the NPCs; for that reason meeting Nartalim was a joy for the girl. Then when the elf began to allow her to admire him, showing more attention to Logir than to others, the girl completely lost her head. But then I came and ruined everything… In her mind Logir understood that it would never have worked out between Nartalim and herself, but at the bottom of her heart she was still mad at me. A headhunter was not supposed to feel those emotions, so Logir was confused and couldn’t figure out her place within the Game. She didn’t even select a specialty after training in the general principles of the Game. It looked like I’d have to talk to her again‒this time one on one‒ without unwanted ears around.

  As for Monstrichello, I knew much more about him than he did himself, except perhaps his specialty and artifact properties. Here Monster surprised me by how well-thought-out his choice was. As he was immune to all magic, Monstrichello added to his shield additional protection against non-magical damage: poison, cold and inertia. As for his specialty, Monstrichello became a crusader, a Paladin without fear and beyond reproach, who hurries to help the dispossessed and those who have lost the roof over their heads. According to the pleased wardrobe-boy, this specialty fit like no other with his desire to be a tank.

  Then it was my turn to tell the team about myself, Teart and the method of achieving initiation. Dirion and Refor listened practically glued to the spot: an ephemeral chance to pass through the Academy and leave with the team was turning into a real possibility to stay alive and unscathed right before their eyes. That immediately brought up the question of how to make the game inquire about the status of these two, but I already had an answer to that. Dirion wanted to become a Librarian and Refor a Craftsman. So what would fit really well for both? The players frowned, not understanding where I was going with that, so I had to tell them about the recipes and my agreement with Teart. One player could keep the recipes, and the other study them.

  We had to take another break and lead the group to the recipe found by Teart.

  “Oh! What are you doing here?” the leprechaun exclaimed in surprise as he literally fell on top of us, but then stopped, seeing funny faces of the Paladins shining with joy, and asked excitedly: “Did it work for them too? We’ll all return home?!”

  In response there were joyful screams, hugs, thanks, assurances of eternal friendship and other corny stuff that eats up time worse than computer games. Only Dirion was able to receive initiation, since Refor had not yet selected a specialty, but at least we understood the algorithm for making a true player out of the catorian. We just needed to find a teacher who would teach him his specialty. As a result, by the time we reached the teacher of attack capabilities, all the players we had killed earlier, as well as the mages and Dolgunata, should have respawned already. I needed no crystal ball to state with certainty that the only thing they would want was righteous revenge. So we needed to be careful.

  “Damn that!” Monstrichello whispered, surveying the clearing from the height of four meters. “What, dey're gonna kill us for real? Damn bastards!”

  The clearing was still crowded with players. The Book of Knowledge obligingly pointed out that these were the same players who had been here an hour ago. Only now there were mages among them, interrogating those present. We could not hear every word, but the overall concept was clear: the mages, using the universally understood curse language, expressed interest as to why the players had not attacked us immediately once we appeared in the pass. Because that’s precisely what their arrangement had been!

  “Beautiful picture, isn’t it?” A voice came from behind us, that I had both dreamed of and dreaded hearing.

  I had known that Dolgunata would find us sooner or later, but hadn't counted on it happening so fast. Were we really so predictable?

  “If I were to just push you down into the clearing, the player named Yaropolk would be blotted out of the Game forever. You owe me, Paladin! And I came to recover my debt!”

  “You have problems with seeing reality?” I quipped, taking a few steps towards Monstrichello. In case a skirmish started he would cover me. “If anyone here owes something to someone, then you owe me.”

  “What do you think will happen if half of you were to be sent to a respawn point?” Dolgunata was obviously in the mood for only hearing herself. The panther’s tail whipped her sides angrily, her claws were out, and the entire appearance of the dark cat indicated that she was ready to attack us at any moment. Dangerous, scary, and crazy — I was not sure that we’d be able to contain her. Last time the surprise factor had worked in our favor, while now we were completely within the druid’s power. “Half of you will survive, you’re too hard to kill but still I’d be able to take a few with me. I am not afraid of respawn. While you’re together, you’re strong, but as soon as you become separated the fairy tale called “Paladins” will be over. Shall we dance?”

  “Monster, catch her on your shield!” Understanding that it was pointless to talk any further, I started organizing people. Instead of cutting us down one by one, the druid wanted to talk and show how tough she was. Too bad for her! We weren’t sons of blanks either! “Logir on the right, Refor on the left, the rest get behind the tank. Want to dance?” I addressed the last question to the druid. “No problem. Ladies’ choice dance, the ladies invite the gentlemen!”

  No lightning rod would have been able to stop the black lightning that rushed towards us. Dolgunata’s leap was so powerful and fast, that Monstrichello, Logir and Refor flew in different directions like bowling pins. I wanted to yell to the thrown players “Quick, to the beam!” but Dolgunata flew through the air and with all her mass – which was significant – crashed into me, toppling me to the ground, knocking the wind out of me, and then plopped on top of me with her full weight. The panther must have weighed a couple of hundred kilos, so I could neither move nor even breathe!

  “Just try to move – and he’ll die!” Dolgunata roared.

  “He’s initiated, stupid!” Logir returned and that calmed me down somewhat. The players were able to get on their feet and return to the lifeline beam within ten seconds. At least the guards weren’t going to show up.

  “It’s impossible to pass initiation within the Academy!” Dolgunata snorted. “What he mistook for initiation was no more than confirmation of specialty and path for development. As soon as Yari is dropped to level 1, the Game will offer him a ch
oice: either lose confirmation and respawn once more, or die forever with his head proudly raised, clutching his development path. The result will be the same: the mages will wait for him to respawn and then kill him. What‒you think no one has ever before thought that it would be possible to pass initiation within the Academy? You think you’re unique? If it were so simple, at least half of the thirty thousand players would’ve come back to the main world. So stand still and be quiet, and I’ll do the talking.”

  “You’re already talking,” I rasped, by some miracle drawing a bit of air. There was not much discomfort from not breathing, thanks to the Game; however, the mechanics of making sounds stayed the same: it required air. Which I didn’t have.

  “You can’t imagine, Yari, what pleasure it would be to gouge out your eyes,” the panther growled bloodthirstily, her claw screeching on my armor. “But you owe me, so first I’ll collect my debt!”

  “I owe you nothing!” I rasped with the last bits of air, but then was crushed to the beam with finality.

  “Listen to me carefully,” Dolgunata addressed the Paladins. “The mages issued an ultimatum to practically all the players: either they or the Paladins. It’s not hard to guess what everyone chose: you have seen that at the clearing. Now each teacher’s location as well as each respawn point is controlled not only by mages, but by ordinary players, too. Everyone wants experience and granises. Yes, for your heads the mages promised a reward of whole granises! That’s why I am here. That’s not a good idea, Logir. I will still have enough time to kill him.

  “What do you want?” the femorc asked.

  “To receive my due.”

  “I don’t understand you …”

  “Yari promised me a granis if I help you all to complete the Academy. I want to receive it.”

  “What in hell do you think you are?” I thought that I had run out of air, however, the druid’s claim must have forced me to locate some extra reserves and express my resentment.