Survival Quest (The Way of the Shaman: Book #1)

by Vasily Mahanenko

  Skill increase:

  +10% to Intellect. Total: 10%

  Your Hit Points have been reduced by 1. Total: 29 of 40.

  The happiness that engulfed me (I found another method for levelling up!) was so great that I did not notice how something grey and incredibly fast jumped at me from behind the pile of rocks.

  Damage taken. Hit Points reduced by 4: 10 (Rat bite) — 6 (armor). Total Hit Points: 25 of 40.

  Attention! It is recommended that you turn off the detailed description of damage during fighting.

  My leg was pierced by a terrible pain. Damn Rat, have you gone completely nuts? I give you healing and life and then you attack me for it? 4 Hit Points for a bite... Blast! It could bite me to death at this rate! Forgetting my pick, I kicked the Rat with full force. Its Hit Points did not fall by much, but the Rat bounded away from me, giving me the chance to catch my breath. I grabbed the pick with both hands and prepared for the next attack. So you want war? I'll give you war!

  As a Hunter I levelled up mainly by killing mobs, so I didn't panic now and I had a clear idea of what to do with the Rat. I may not have a bow, but I do have experience, which is not so easily lost! The Rat quickly recovered from my kick and instead of biting my leg again, jumped, aiming straight for the throat. This is more or less what I expected of it. I swung the pick, caught it in mid-jump and made it fly off again. Critical hit! The Rat's body flickered and it was already a weightless rodent-shaped cloud that I sent flying; it quickly dissipated. Only my loot hit the ground in place of the Rat.

  Experience gained: +4 Experience, points remaining until next level: 94

  Skill increase:

  +20% to Strength. Total: 40%

  +5% to Agility. Total: 5%

  +10% to Stamina. Total: 20%

  That's some bonus! So many things levelling up at once and, more importantly, you get 4 Experience for one Rat. This way, if I kill at least 5 Rats and get through 5-6 Copper Veins a day, I will get around 25 Experience every day, which would mean that it would take me under a week to gain a level! The new level would bring new stat points and new stat points equals a new level. My life has a goal! But I must figure out why the Rat actually attacked me. Why did it dislike my healing so much? Does it generate aggro with mobs? I have to get someone to explain this to me.

  Picking up the items left behind by the Rat (the Rat pelt, meat and tail) I went to have a rest. Around three hours remained until the end of the working day, in which I had to finish off the third vein and, as soon as my Health recovered, 'heal' another Rat.

  In the remaining time, I managed to finish off the third vein (+5 pieces of ore, +1 Experience, +10% Strength, +5% Stamina, +50% Mining) and also complete a fourth one (+5 pieces of ore, +1 Experience, +10% Strength, +5% Stamina, +1 Mining Skill), thus increasing my Mining Profession skill to 3. Having once again felt the same euphoria upon levelling up, I made a firm decision to increase at least one stat as fast as possible, to see what kind of pleasure such an increase would bring.

  As for Rats, I only managed to kill one more. I sung the song twice, thus 'healing' the next Rat, and dispatched it fairly quickly, letting it get close to me only once (+4 Experience, +20% Intellect, +20% Strength, +5% Agility, +10% Stamina). Although, truth be told, the Rat used that one chance to the full, biting me for 10 Hit Points. I did not see any more Rats — perhaps they had all gone into hiding. That was fine; for my first day I'd done more than enough.

  The horn sounded, announcing the end of work for the day. Grabbing the heavy bag, I headed towards the exit. I joined the queue to Rine, so I could hand in my quota and sell the surplus, of which I gathered a fair amount. I also had to figure out what to do with the Rat tails. I waited my turn and poured out everything I had gathered during the day onto the table, noting Rine's surprise with pleasure.

  "Not bad work, for the first day," mumbled Rine, still surprised. "Right, 10 pieces of ore taken off as the quota. Don't forget that it will be 30 pieces tomorrow. Now, let's have a look at the rest. As I said before, I am prepared to buy the surplus ore at 10 coppers a piece; you have 12 pieces, which comes to: 2 silver and 20 copper coins. Here you go," Rine put the money on the table.

  Ah, yes. I forgot to explain about the ratio between the Copper, Silver and Gold coins. In Barliona it was 1:50, that is, 50 Copper coins made up 1 Silver, and 50 Silver made up 1 Gold (which could also be made up from some large amount of Copper, but who would change Copper for Gold?).

  "As far as your Rat loot is concerned, I would give 1 copper coin for the meat and 3 for the skins, agreed?"

  "That's not much," I said, surprising myself, because I never bargained before, not even at the market: I always paid the price that was asked.

  "Well, only because you're new around here, and because I see you also have Rat tails - we'll get around to them soon enough - I am ready to take both Rat pelts off you for 5 coins each and give you 2 for the meat. Does that suit you?"

  Suddenly I saw a message:

  A new profession has been unlocked: Trade. The higher the level in Trade, the better the price offered when selling and buying. There is some probability that traders will offer you non-standard goods.

  Your reputation with the Pryke Mine Guards increased by 1 point. Current level: Neutral. You are 999 points away from the status of Friendly.

  Skill increase:

  +10% to Trade. Total: 10%

  Of course I agree! So, levelling up in the Trade profession depends on how often I bargain. That's good to know. I'm no expert in bargaining, but I can learn if need be. I was also glad to find out that the sale of gathered resources increased reputation, even if just a little.

  I agreed and handed over the meat and was about to hand over the pelts when I was stopped by a shout:

  "Mahan, hold on!"

  I turned around in surprise. The approaching man had a striking resemblance to Salvador Dalí, with his prominent moustache, mad gaze and upturned chin...

  "Mahan, I heard that you intend to sell Rat skins to this honorable dwarf," he said, bowing in Rine's direction. But everyone in the mine knows that Batiranikaus (or simply Bat), would be exceedingly pleased to buy them off you for 15 copper coins a piece. Do we have a deal?"

  "15 coins? But this honorable dwarf," I said, mimicking his tone, "was offering to buy all my pelts for 20 copper a piece. So, since we've already come to an agreement, I am not prepared to risk damaging my relations with him for less than 25 coins," I winked at the dwarf, who was listening to our bargaining with a pleased smile.

  "25 coins! Oh gods! Weeell... all right, I'll give you 25 coins per skin: here you go," Bat agreed surprisingly quickly and handed me a silver coin. "Now hand over my skins."

  Skill increase:

  +10% to Trade. Total: 20%

  "Take them," I pointed to the Rat skins that lay on the table and turned around to Rine to move on to Rat tails, only to be interrupted by a terrible scream:

  "Guards!" Bat screamed at the top of his voice. "Guards, Mahan swindled money out of me! He's a cheat! I demand protection!"

  Immediately a crowd of prisoners formed around us, through which the overseers were trying to make their way.

  "What happened here?" one of them asked in a low bass.

  "Dear law enforcement officer! This unworthy man," Bat pointed at me, "took advantage of my foolish naivety and swindled me out of 2 silver coins."

  "Is this true?" the guard turned to me.

  "Of course not, I..."

  "He threatened Bat, I saw it myself!" a shout from the crowd interrupted me. "He said that he would kill Bat if he would not give him the money!" "Don't give him any food!" "Let him croak!" came shouts from the crowd, which put me in a state of shock, as I looked around, not getting what was going on. All the people had amiable expressions, even Bat, who stood next to me and with a totally genial and friendly gaze, shouted that I was a piece of scum that cheated him. I started to think I was going mad. What was going on here???

  "Quiet," a stern g
rowl from the overseer silenced the crowd. "Now we'll get to the truth!"

  The guard mumbled something and a hologram appeared next to him, where you could see how Bat handed over the money to me. He gave me the money and then I waved my hand in the direction of the table where the pelts were lying, but this gesture could be read as 'Get out of here", I then turned away from Bat as if saying that the conversation was over. Blast it! It really didn't look too great from outside; as if I was some dodgy racketeer. The projection disappeared and I stared at the guard in silence.

  "Here's my decision," the overseer growled once again. "Mahan immediately gives Batiranikaus back one, I repeat, ONE silver, and, because it's his first time and he's new here, the incident will be overlooked. If he is caught doing anything like this once again he will be punished by being stripped of all his skill points. I'm done here! Now everyone back to their barracks!"

  I silently gave the money back to Bat, and reached out to pick up the Rat skins, but it was no use. My hands simply passed through the skins as if they were no longer mine. That's right! I had already handed them over to Bat!

  "Thank you!" Bat said with a smile, shoving the skins into his sack. "Come to me if you get any more."

  Bat smiled once again and left, leaving me to stand next to Rine in a state of total incomprehension: how could people with such open and nice expressions, always smiling and greeting you, be so cruel and backstabbing? After all, aren't they creative people? Why do they have so much hatred for everyone? Those shouts: "Let him rot... I saw how he threatened...". Why?

  "Why are you holding up the queue?" Rine's voice pulled me out of my thoughts. "Let's deal with your Rat tails, can't abide these grey critters."

  "Yes, of course," I mumbled, feeling lost as I turned back to Rine. I need to get a grip. So what if I lost the skins: I'll be wiser next time and will hand them over personally.

  "Right, for each Rat tail I usually pay 10 copper coins. Here's your money and be on your way, the queue behind you isn't getting any shorter!

  Your reputation with the Pryke Mine Guards has increased by 4 points. Current level: Neutral. You are 995 points away from the status of Friendly.

  After getting my food, I headed for the barracks. I had no desire to talk with other prisoners today and for a long time I could not fall asleep. I turned this way and that, but the oppressive feeling of injustice I experienced just would not let go.

  "Quit spinning around or you'll drill a hole through your bed. You're keeping the rest of us up! Did something happen?" I heard Kart's voice next to me.

  I described what happened today, even getting up in the process, but Kart suddenly laughed. What now? I'm telling him of the terrible injustice of this world, but he's laughing at me! Seeing that I was about to get all indignant, Kart waved me down and, clearing his throat began to explain:

  "Well, my friend, you sure gave me a good laugh! Best I've had in a while. What can I say... ? Congratulations: you've encountered the second peculiarity of our mine, usually newcomers don't get it from the start. If I understand correctly, you still haven't grasped what's really going on here, right?" Seeing that I shook my head, Kart continued: "I will give you a couple of clues. First: today you probably levelled up in the Mining profession and got to feel what happens when you do that. Right? Right. Think about that. Second: there are myriads of stats that a character can have. Of these a fair number are non-standard, but you can pick only 4. As you know, I have the little-known stat of Chattiness — I get experience from telling everyone about everything. Get it now?"

  I felt that either I was stupid or Kart and I were speaking a different language: I simply failed to see where he was going with it. What did Chattiness, free stats, and pleasure from levelling up in a profession have to do with anything?

  "All right, I'll put you out of your misery, and it'll give me more chance to level up in any case. First of all, think about what you noticed in the morning. Though no — I'll start with the main thing. You already felt the pleasure involved from levelling up in a profession and I am sure that it was a sensation very much to your liking. This is nothing compared to levelling up in one of your stats. The pleasure from levelling up in a stat is so intense that you want more and more. And the higher the stat level, the harder it is to level up again — that's the axiom. This is why players who reach level twelve, which is the maximum level for the main stats in Pryke, disappear. I have no idea where they are sent, so no point asking me. This pleasure is the main difference between a mine for prisoners from the rest of the gameworld. The main world doesn't have this feature; after all, they play using filters, which are virtually impossible to remove. Now, about what you saw in the morning. Almost everyone in the mine walks around smiling at each other and everyone seems so nice for one simple reason - the Amiability stat. At the starter levels it gets levelled by you simply walking around and smiling at everyone, but from level 6 you actually have to believe that you like the person in front of you, that you like talking to him and smiling and so on; you shouldn't feel any falseness. That's the only way to continue gaining experience. I remember one guy who got his Amiability as far as level 32. After all, this is not one of the main stats and you can get it up as high as one hundred."

  Kart was silent for a moment, catching his breath, and then went on:

  "As far as what happened this evening is concerned... A person finds it easiest to level up in what he practiced in real world. So what comes out on top here is... It's the skill of Meanness. In our mine most are levelling up in Amiability and Meanness at the same time. So that's why everyone tries to play some low and dirty trick on someone else: you can't strike directly, but arranging something that could lead to injury is quite doable. This is why people get very inventive in thinking up newer and more effective methods for doing this. You're new here, so people will be using the simplest stuff against you, like the trick that was played on you in the evening. Gradually these will get more complex, for which fact you have my condolences. Everyone has gone through this. As one good man, who, by the way, left for the main gameworld on parole, said, you can give our mine the following motto: 'The Hypocritical Mine' or 'The Mine of Hypocrites'. So that's the way things are around here."

  Only swear words came to my mind for commenting on what Kart just said. God, what a place to end up in!

  Chapter 4

  The Pryke Mine. The First Week

  "TOO-OO-OO! BAM!

  So here we are. The second day has begun. I was having quite a dream before that interruption... There was me and there was the ore; I was mining it, but it was having none of that. It was running from me on little legs all around my section and throwing Rats at me. The Rats were dropping tails which were crawling after me. What nonsense!

  As nice as it was to lie in bed, it was time to get up — the work was calling me. I glanced at Kart, who was dressing next to me, and in the end couldn't help asking:

  "Kart, can you tell me something? You've already spent ten years here and I'm sure had all kinds of dirty tricks played on you by other prisoners. What else can I expect? I really don't want to be a 'training dummy' for those after experience gain. At the least I could snap back at them."

  "The favorite occupation of everyone levelling up in Meanness is to force someone to inflict an injury intentionally. The dirty bastard gets injured, falls down and suffers, but the person who inflicted the damage drops to the ground drained of Energy and dies in a couple of minutes. The higher the level of the person you downed like that, the more experience you get in Meanness. So many people here form groups in order to have at least some security. Bat, who you met yesterday, is the leader of the largest of these groups: his gang is made up of almost eighty people. He has the highest level in Meanness in the whole of the mine. You're new, so there's little sense in killing you straight away, but playing dirty tricks on you is easy enough."

  "Are you part of any group?"

  "Me? No, I'm not. Not interested. My goal is to serve my time and le
ave the Game forever; and those who level up in Meanness are the ones that plan to keep playing."

  "But what does this stat give you? For example, Intellect gives you mana and increases its regeneration speed. But Meanness? I don't understand why people would want to level up in it."

  "I don't know for certain, but from what others told me, in the mine Meanness is used only because it's the easiest thing to level up in: mix some sand into someone's food and you get a level. Just to give you a rough idea. But this stat mainly comes into full play outside the mine. After all, not everyone wants to become some great, dragon-slaying hero. Many choose to play the dark side of the game and become thieves and assassins. That's where this stat comes in handy. But, as I said, I don't know exactly what it gives you."

  "Right, I see. How’d you end up here? After all, you don’t get fifteen years for stealing lollipops," I asked and, seeing how Kart tensed up, I quickly explained why I needed to know this. "You see, I like to know the people that I deal with and of all the prisoners only you've been speaking normally to me so far. So that's why I decided to get to know you a bit better. Or is this subject over the line?”

  "No, it's just that I thought.... that... Well, whatever — no harm in telling you the story: in real life I was one of the inner circle of a very influential person and knew very many of his secrets. When he went bankrupt, I was given a choice: either to tell all I knew or to get sealed in a capsule for the max term of fifteen years. They could not break me outside so they shut me in here; even rewarded me with a 'suitable' profession to boot: 'Informer'... You see, if I start to level up in it then probably in six months or so I will start talking about my boss in order to increase my level... And I don't want to do that, because even though he was a bit of a rogue, he always stood up for his own people and tried to help as much as he could. So it's better if I...."