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

by Vasily Mahanenko

  Suddenly Kart started to tremble, fell on his bed and became surrounded by a faint glow. This didn't last long and soon Kart sat up and turned to me, looking rather pleased.

  "Ah, I know why I like you," he smiled. "We've not had anyone new at the mine for over half a year. With you I started to increase my skill again, since no-one at the mine would listen to me for free."

  "For free?"

  "What did you think? People in here catch on pretty fast when making extra cash is involved. It’s me rather than them who has the need to tell them something. And they have to be actually listening too. So that's how many try to make money out of me."

  "If it's no secret, what are your other stats? You've probably already picked all four by now."

  "Me? By now my Chattiness is up to level 19. Amiability is at level 8 – another must-have. Everyone's levelling in it, so I've joined the club. I increased Smithing to level 4, but then stopped. To be a Smith you need a large amount of ore and I spend virtually all of mine on the daily quota. I've reached level 10 in Mining, and it's not getting any higher, thankfully, since my Informing is at zero. This way I have to hand in 100 pieces of ore a day. Ah yes, Smithing is not a stat, but a profession. As for my other stats I have three levels in Marksmanship and nine in Endurance. Now I rather regret picking them. There are no real opponents at the mine, only Rats, and chasing them around is a nightmare. Even though you do get additional reputation for each tail, the amount of time you spend trying to hit one of them is ridiculous. And it's your pick that you have to throw at the Rat, because nothing else generates aggro with it. I tried throwing a bowl, a copper ingot, even a boot - all of it goes through the Rat as if it wasn't there. Throwing the pick is another world of trouble, since it often flies out of your section. And what if it hits someone walking by? Then I would be done for in the blink of an eye. So I just mind my own business and don't touch the Rats. Although my hands are just itching to go after them, to put it mildly. So much free reputation running around right under your nose, but you can't touch it. And I have just a little to go until Respect status too."

  "But why would you be 'done for' right away? You'll be thrown back to level one, all your stats will turn to zero and you'll start levelling up again. What's the problem?"

  "The problem is that the Game remembers the parameters of each person playing it. When a prisoner levels up his skills, he receives pleasure and he wants more and more. But when he dies, he loses all the points gained in skills and professions and won’t get a new dose of pleasure until he reaches their level at the time of his death. For example, if I die, that's it. I'll never again feel the sensation I just felt from levelling up in Chattiness. Of course, I'll keep trying for a few more months and then just fade away. I'll be gripped by apathy. We already had people like that, so I had plenty of chances to observe this. When someone falls into apathy, he stops working and gets transferred somewhere else. That's the way the cookie crumbles.

  "I read that the habit of gaining pleasure gives rise to Addiction among the prisoners, which on release is treated in rehabilitation centers. Everyone gets sent there once they finish their terms — it's compulsory. This is also the reason why those who regain their freedom do everything they can to avoid going back to Barliona: they will be given the same class, same profession and all the same stats, but the system would remember the last time they levelled up at the mines. You can create and delete three hundred characters, the system would still remember that you were in a prison. They would start at the first level, but in order to receive pleasure, they would have to bring all their stats and professions to their old level again. And this is very difficult. Many totally lose it, scream and attack other players or succumb to apathy. And again, they disappear from the mine. This is why ex-cons spend nearly all their time in Barliona continuing to develop the characters they had as prisoners, to avoid going back as prisoners and starting from scratch. And Meanness allows them to find their place in Barliona.”

  "How do you manage to avoid being set up by Bat and the others? After all, you are one of the highest level players at the mine. Level 11, right? Someone can gain several levels in one go if you die."

  "It's simple. I managed to increase my reputation with the mine guards to Friendly and when someone tried to play me again, the governor gathered everyone and said that he would be very upset if anything happened to me. So it's been three months now since anyone touched me. Anyway, I've lost track of time chatting with you. We should go or we'll miss the food."

  "Wait, one last thing. I discovered that I can cast healing spells, but that I can only heal someone else, not myself. Would you mind it if I healed you in the morning and in the evening? Only do me a favor: don't laugh, because the whole healing bit looks ridiculous."

  "No problem, it might even be interesting: in all my time here no-one tried to heal me, most tend to want to do the opposite. Also, I've never seen a Shaman's kamlanie, so it should be interesting to watch."

  I summoned the Spirits of Healing twice for Kart and, depleting my mana reserves, saw the now familiar message.

  +20% to Intellect. Total: 50%

  Your Hit Points have been reduced by 2. Total: 38 of 40.

  What's this?

  Attention, you have healed another player. You have unlocked a new stat: Healing. The higher your level in Healing, the less mana you need for healing spells and the spells themselves become more powerful. There is a chance for the spell to be cast again without mana.

  Do you accept? Attention, you will not be able to discard an accepted stat once you activate it.

  No, I had no desire whatsoever to become a healer, either in the mine or outside it. No thanks.

  "Oooh..." said Kart, when a light wind from my spell ruffled his hair. “You know, it's ticklish and invigorating... Well, let's do it: as soon as your mana recharges, heal me. You dance pretty well too," Kart could not help smiling.

  The morning meal acquainted me with a new type of dirty trick — putting sand in the food. Kart's prophesies came true. How did I miss the moment when Bat came up to me and, pretending to stumble, poured a handful of sand into my bowl?

  "Oh, how clumsy of me... You're not going to eat that, right? Give me your plate, I'll bring you a new portion," Bat was a picture of concern.

  "No, thank you. I'll go myself. Thanks for the offer," Bat's showy friendliness seemed suspicious to me.

  "No, no, that would be no trouble. Let me make it up to you. It wasn't nice what I did yesterday. It's just you were asking such a high price for the skins, so I acted on impulse. So, truce?”

  "Truce, Bat."

  "Truce."

  "But I'll go and get the food myself, all the same."

  When I came to where they handed out food, I showed the guard my food with sand and wanted to ask him for a new portion when I heard:

  "Beat it! Each prisoner gets two portions a day: in the morning and in the evening, if he meets his quota. You've already had your first. The fact that you got sand into it is your problem. Eat it as-is."

  So if I handed my plate to Bat... What a jackass...

  Turning around I saw Bat smiling and shrugging, as if to say 'Ah well... didn't get you this time. But there will be others.' I'm gonna kill that scumbag.

  The sand gave the food an unforgettable taste. I could eat it, but it was disgusting...

  Attention: you have eaten a spoiled product: Buff gained: Energy loss reduced by 25%. Duration - 12 hours. You received a negative effect: The speed of skill gain reduced by 50%. Duration - 12 hours.

  No, I’ll torment him first, give him a good kicking and then kill him...

  My section looked the same: ore veins, dust and Rats sneaking around. Rats were a good thing. I could do with extra Intellect and reputation.

  Striking the vein without the added strength was noticeably harder. Even though I had level 3 in Mining, when the message telling me that my Energy had fallen to 30 appeared, as much as 40% of the vein's durability remained. This was bad
, very bad. Never mind, tomorrow I’ll be more careful. Before going to fetch the water I hunted down two Rats (+2 Rat pelts, meat and tails), first 'healing' each of them (+10% Intellect, +8 Experience, +10% Strength, +10% Stamina). Truth be told, the second Rat nearly had me when I missed it with my pick. I only had 3 Hit Points left after the fight. But that's fine: after getting some water, I finished the first vein (6 pieces of ore, +1 Experience, +5% Strength, +19% Mining, +2% Stamina). I still had 50 Energy remaining, so before starting on the second vein, I decided to show the Rats who was boss around here. The next Rat (+5 Intellect) gave me what I'd been waiting for so long.

  Experience gained: +4 Experience, points remaining until next level: 75

  Skill increase:

  +5% to Strength. Total: 100%. Strength increased by 1. Total: 2.

  +5% to Stamina. Total: 57%

  And that's when it hit me. My whole body was filled with warmth, and it struck my head as if I just drunk a bottle of vodka, I started to shiver - it felt like being immersed in ecstasy. Overwhelmed by these sensations, I fell to my knees and groaned uncontrollably. So that's what the Holy Grail feels like....

  Nothing else interesting happened until the end of the day. I downed 6 more Rats, bringing the day's total to 9 (+30% Intellect, +30% Stamina, +30% Strength) and crushed 6 veins (36 pieces of ore, +30% Strength, +113% Mining, +12% Stamina). Right, tomorrow I'll have to hand in 40 ore pieces. But that's fine, if I don't mess up with the food again. Also tomorrow I should raise my Intellect and Stamina to the second level, so the coming day was looking very promising.

  In the evening I witnessed another set up. When the food was handed out Bat came up to one of the prisoners and saying “Hello, sweetie”, started to grope him vigorously. The prisoner, more than surprised by Bat’s behavior, pushed him away and showered him with choice swearwords. But he happened to push Bat in the direction of the Smithy, where picks were leaning against the wall. Pointing upwards. Bat fell on them and screamed at the top of his voice, his Health Bar was reduced by about 20 percent and the prisoner that pushed him fell and disappeared in about a minute, leaving a pile of gold pieces in his place. The governor turned up, watched the hologram of the incident, glanced over Bat, who was looking pleased with himself, turned around and left without a word, Bat gathered the pile of coins and walked away, with a prisoner entourage in tow. So, that’s how dirty tricks are played in our mine… Slick bastards!

  That's how things went on for four days. I healed Kart, killed nine Rats a day, after dancing for them, worked at the veins, and every day raised my reputation with the guards by 19 points through selling the surplus and Rat tails to Rine. I was now very careful with anyone standing close to me, so nothing bad happened to me during this time and no-one attempted to get all huggy. What really cheered me up was that I gradually began to save up money. It wasn’t that much – only coming to 22 silver in the five days – but it was a start. If I get money things will start looking up for me. These thoughts filled my head each day as I left for work in the mine. What other good things happened in these four days? I’ve increased my Strength to level 4, my Intellect to level 3 and my Stamina to level 6, so I was on top of things as far as levelling was concerned. Around 50 Rat skins collected in my bag, but I was in no hurry to sell them – who knows what materials I might need for Jewelcraft? What if I needed a skin after I sold them all? I had to unlock my profession first and then decide what to do next.

  Today was a significant day for me: I decided to see what Rine had for sale, so, after handing in the quota and selling the rest, I waited until Rine was less busy. What if I managed to get my hands on something useful? Didn't I have plans for a change of clothes? I did. And plans should be carried out.

  "Good evening, Rine," I began, as I walked up to the dwarf. The vital necessity of making progress towards the status of Friendly with the mine staff only reinforced my habit of being polite to NPCs, which I developed over the years of playing in Barliona. After all, they could give you a quest or give you a trade discount or do something otherwise nice or useful. You never know with NPCs.

  "And to you. You've done your quota and sold me everything else, so what can I do for you?" asked Rine, somewhat surprised.

  "Well, I've saved up some money and decided to have a look what such a remarkable dwarf might have for sale. Maybe I'll buy something."

  "Oh, in that case — my door is always open!" So, it looked like Rine was quite a salesman too. "Take a look: I have scrolls for various professions, 10 silver each, but you still have to pay me 20 more silver for unlocking a profession. I have all kinds of scrolls: Cooking, Leatherworking, Smithing and Jewelcraft. I've got any profession you want! All only 10 silver apiece too. How many would you like?"

  "None, I'll stick to something more essential for now. An outfit or a new pick, for instance. The pick that you gave me is a bit of a pain to work."

  "Yes, of course I have some picks. Quite a selection, to suit any taste, color or smell... Well, maybe not smell. Anyway, take a look," Rine began displaying different picks. "Here's one dealing 11 damage; this one does 12 and that one does 13..."

  Rine showed me 10 picks in total, all with different levels of damage... If I understood things correctly, the higher the damage, the faster you destroy the vein, so I should choose the one with the highest – and still stay within my means, of course.

  "Is 20 damage the maximum for your picks? Do you have anything higher?" I continued to test the water with the dwarf.

  "Of course I do, but there's no way you can afford it. I can show it to you, if you like," Rine rummaged in his bag and took out another pick. He turned it over briefly in his hands and then handed it to me.

  Well I'll be... If only I had a pick like this from the start, I'd have finished off all the veins around here!

  Miner Rine's Pick. Damage: 25. +1 Mining. Energy loss when mining ore is reduced by 10%. Item class: Uncommon. Level restrictions: none.

  I was all but drooling.

  "And how much is this baby?" was all I managed to utter.

  "Like I said, you don't have enough money for it. It costs 30 gold and you won't scrape together even one yet."

  "You're right, Rine, such a pick is beyond me for now. All right, how much for a simpler one, with 20 damage?"

  "That's easy enough, it comes to 10 gold," said Rine, looking at me slyly.

  "Rine! This is daylight robbery! For a pick that does only double the damage of the one I already have you are asking 10 gold?"

  "What did you expect? You'll work twice as fast with this pick. If you don't want it, don't take it, no-one's forcing you," Alt was spot on when he said that the moment you touched the subject of money the dwarf transformed into someone you didn't really want to deal with. What a shark.

  "Rine, this is too much. Let's see the one with 15 damage. It can't cost that much.

  "Of course not. It's just 3 gold. I'm practically giving it away for free here."

  "And what can you sell me for 20 silver?" I could see that it was pointless to approach Rine with so little money.

  "For 20 silver I can only offer you a pick with 12 damage. That's it. Here you go," Rine was about to hand me one of the picks.

  "Hold it, Rine. Just hold on. Let's say I take the pick with 15 damage for 20 silver, but will tell you straight away that I'll start saving up for the pick worth 30 gold. And then buy it off you for 40. For me it's simply a must-have. You don't have much to lose: you give me a discount now and make extra profit later and I'll have obligation to you which I'll be fulfilling. I'll save up the needed sum in two months' time. Also, when I buy the pick for 40 gold, I'll return the one with 15 damage to you for free. What do you say?" I quickly blurted out, surprising even myself.

  "Obligation, you say? And what if you fail to meet it?" the dwarf looked thoughtful.

  "It's not like you're risking anything. If I don't keep my promise, you can take this pick back in two months' time and start selling everything to me at a triple cost and
buying things from me at half the price."

  The dwarf seemed to be thinking it over, weighing up the pros and cons, scratching his chin and mumbling something under his breath. I stood there, keeping my fingers crossed that he would agree. It would be very good to speed up my work by one and a half times. With that earning 40 gold in two months looked quite possible.

  "All right, take it," Rine gave up, and gave me the pick with 15 damage. "And hand your money over here."

  Skill increase:

  +1 to Trade. Total: 2

  Item acquired: Miner's pick: Damage: 15

  Hurriedly giving Rine the money, in case he changed his mind, I went off and sat by the wall of the smithy. That's it, now I can take it easy for a bit. I wonder if Rine would have agreed to give me the pick with +1 to Mining right away? Hells, I should have asked for it in the first place. Bad move on my part, a real miss. What's that? I noticed that another timer had became attached to me in the meantime and took a closer look at it.

  Obligation to Rine. To provide 40 gold to Rine in order to buy a pick. Duration expires in: 60 days.

  No forgetting this, even if I wanted to — the system will bring it up and remind me.

  There was nothing else to do, so I leant back on the wall and closed my eyes: 'Soon I will gain a second level. My reputation is growing slowly but surely, so I'm moving in the right direction. I should make an estimate of how soon I could leave the mine. I get 19 Reputation every day. At the moment I already have 99 of the 1000 needed for the status of Friendly, so that's fifty more days of work ahead of me. Altogether, that's not too bad. But then to get from Friendly to Respect I'll have to gain 3000 points, which is 160 more days. This means that in just over half a year I should be in the main gameworld. It's strange that Kart mentioned only one prisoner who left the mine. If gaining reputation is so simple, why is no-one here doing it? Or does everyone really like this place? I have to ask Kart about this.'