A Slave in the Locked Lands

by Arthur Stone

  The new beasts were even taller than Tangh. They probably fed them well here.

  The pet hit them with the mass sleep skill that was, ironically enough, stolen from itself. It worked—both mobs froze. At that very moment, the sphere of light hanging above Danger Babe’s head went out. The cave grew dark, with no other light but the dim fluorescence of the moss. This wasn’t a problem for Ros, but Tangh came to a full stop before he could reach the enemy, apparently losing sight of it.

  That was dire news. He wouldn’t be able to fashion a source of light without Danger Babe.

  The pet attacked the first adversary, gave it a hearty bite on the neck, and instantly switched to the other, following orders. The “elephants” didn’t need a second invitation, and the pet’s HP bar started diminishing steadily. Ros hit them with Chaos Aura, healed his pet, and then decided to try hitting a mossy part of the cave wall with a Fireball. It was, alas, too damp to ignite a bonfire. The damp moss smoldered reluctantly, releasing acrid smoke that got into their noses.

  Nevertheless, Tangh managed to get his bearings once the fireball flared up, and used a special AoE taunt that instantly grabbed the attention of both mobs.

  There were no further difficulties. Ros healed Tangh a few times, and kept alternating Chaos Arrows with Fireballs. The mobs tried deploying paralyzing skills on the melee attackers, but that didn’t help much—there was always someone who could dispel the tank and the pet.

  “You kill the Scrum Queen Warrior. XP received: 7484. Points left until the next level: 184,399. Attention! You have found a creature that has not yet been added to the world bestiary! You receive a reward: +1 to Mental Power. You can receive the reward for discovering a new creature at the Academy of Magic.”

  “Can you make a source of light? The way Danger Babe did?”

  “I can’t.”

  “Pity. I can’t see anything at all. Just a few glowing spots.

  “That’s the moss. It’s fluorescent. Just stay put, then, I’ll manage on my own.”

  “Do you have any wood? We could make a torch.”

  “It won’t burn for long, and wood may still be useful. I’m telling you—stay put and don’t worry. I’ll manage.”

  “Night vision?”

  “Yup. Racial skill.”

  “I thought you were human. Are you a hybrid, then?”

  “It’s a long and complicated story. Hey! We’re in luck!”

  “What is it?”

  “These war dogs’ tusks are part of the loot. Their fangs, too.”

  “What is it to us?”

  “The fangs are nothing special, but I could try to use the tusks to craft bone staves. The mobs are high-level, and the material is expensive. I may come up with something decent.”

  “All right, then.” Give it a try.”

  “Let me get some more zirconium. There seems to be a lot of it here—I found two more veins before the fight. I’ll try using it in alloys, and then place them in my bag before I begin. It might be effective.”

  Ros didn’t manage to get his second piece of ore before two more “elephants” came running. Three zirconium pieces later, another pair paid them a visit. Either these funny mobs were really numerous here, or they could hear the pickaxe from afar, and felt particularly irritated by it.

  An hour and a half later, Ros’ bag contained seventeen pieces of zirconium ore and fourteen Scrum Queen warrior tusks. He decided it would be enough for a couple of attempts, so he sat down next to Tangh and started smelting the ores. Once he had a few dozen bars of pure metals and alloys, he crafted some wire and bars, and then said:

  “Danger Babe’s late.”

  “I’ve lost count of time, it’s too dark in here.”

  “Try reading the forum. At least, that’s some entertainment.”

  “I wouldn’t want to leave you here alone.”

  “How are you going to help if they attack? I manage by myself, as you can see.”

  “I sure can. Even though I can hardly believe it. You’re killing mobs more than a hundred levels above yours.”

  “If I had a stronger pet, two hundred wouldn’t be a problem, either. I’m speaking from experience.”

  “You really are something else. A tank, a healer, and DPS all in one. Compared to you, I am nothing.”

  “Don’t be so hard on yourself. Without pets, I wouldn’t have managed anything.”

  “I’ve seen my fair share of necromancers and other masters of scary critters, and theirs were a lot more low-key.”

  “There’s that. I have an advantage. My pets don’t lose levels when they die, while no one else can have a pet higher in level than its master.”

  “Why are you so different from everybody else?”

  “I have no idea. It might be a bug in the game. Or a means of compensation. My character belongs to a rare race that was originally supposed to specialize in fighting and not work. And yet, it has as many bonuses as any worker race. And those have much more modest abilities.”

  “Pets alone would be a sufficient bonus—you wouldn’t need any ohers.”

  “You might be right. I’m ready to try crafting a staff.”

  “Tusks are usually expensive. If you keep failing, save some for later.”

  “Are they more expensive than gold or zirconium?”

  “I don’t know the exact price. I’ll probably take your advice and browse the forum a bit. It’s not like I’m doing anything useful, anyway.”

  Ros started filling an empty bag with materials he thought might be useful as components for the new weapon, with two immobile bodies next to him.

  “Attention! Do you want to craft a magic staff? Yes/No.”

  “Yes.”

  “It is recommended to replace the following materials: tusk with unknown properties, fangs with unknown properties.”

  Ros ignored the warning. The result didn’t please him.

  “You have failed to craft the item.”

  He dumped the garbage, which was a bundle of expensive materials as recently as a minute ago, and gave it another try, adding some fangs and talons from other mobs.

  The result was the same.

  He only got lucky on the fifth try, following his intutition in placing one of the numerous randomly dropped and seemingly worthless trinkets together with the other stuff—a wooden figurine resembling the Scythian stelae. He wasn’t even sure why he’d decided to keep it in the first place, for he usually avoided carrying similar junk.

  “You craft a Magnificent Scrum Queen Warrior Bone Staff. Your Craftsman grows by 1. Attention! You have crafted a unique item! It has no duplicate anywhere in Second World! You receive a reward: +1 to Magical Transmogrification, +1 to Inventing, +1 to Creation, +1 to Learner. Attention! Your Learner has reached 10. Your chance of successfully using materials with unknown properties increases by 20%. Your chance of identifying items’ hidden properties increases by 20%. New auxiliary stat unlocked: Bone Carver. You gain a level. Points left until the next level: 411,752. You can craft blueprints for a new item: Magnificent Scrum Queen Warrior Bone Staff. Attention! You have crafted an item using ingredients no one had ever used before (or whose properties had never been fully revealed before). Some of the properties of the following ingredients have been studied: Scrum Queen Warrior Fangs, Moss Dweller’s Talons, Moss Dweller’s Fangs, Scrum Fangs. You have demonstrated real ingenuity. You receive a reward: +1 to Inventing, +1 to Essence of Things. Attention! This is the first time you have crafted a rare class item. You receive a reward: +1 undistributed secondary base stat point.”

  Ros spent about two minutes with a blissful smile on his face, reading the logs over and over again. To say that the bonuses were worth the materials and the efforts would be an understatement.

  A whole cornucopia of perks had just been upended right over his head.

  Then he studied his creation with great trepidation, and a minute later he didn’t know whether to laugh or cry.

  “Magnificent Scrum Queen Warrior Bon
e Staff. Item class: Rare. Magic weapon. Physical damage: 67-82 (crushing). Magic damage: 190-209. Additional stats: +22 to Intellect, +15 to Mental Power, +13 to Stamina, +11% to spellcasting speed, +3 to mana regeneration per second, 8% chance of reflecting a Sleep-related effect at the enemy. The item can be subjected to up to two stackable enchantments. The item contains four gems and one ornamental stone that can be replaced with others. Requirements: level 94, 110 Intellect. Weight: 1.61 kg. Durability: 925/925. Attention: with two or more Scrum Queen Warrior items of rare class and above in one’s inventory, the wearer receives the following bonuses: +1 to health, mana, and Vigor regeneration per second. Every additional Scrum Queen Warrior item raises the total bonus by the same amount.”

  Tangh apparently got tired of the forum quickly, and decided to return at that very moment.

  “So, how is it going, Ros?”

  “Laughing through my tears.”

  “What about?”

  “Can you see an item’s properties in the dark?”

  “If I hold it in my hands.”

  “Here, take a look.”

  Tangh erupted in a barrage of compliments almost instantly.

  “You have exceeded yourself! Rare class! And the stats are all perfect—Danger Babe will find each one of them useful. There’s a spellcasting bonus which will compensate for the chainmail’s weight. Two enchantments without any risk; also, you can use enchanted gems in it. The Lord be praised! We really needed something like this. I don’t even know what else to say. Well done indeed.”

  “I just got lucky.”

  “Wherefore the tears?”

  “Danger Babe is at 93, and the staff requires level 94.”

  “That’s rather unfortunate. But she did say there wasn’t much left. Why don’t you start tapping away with your pickaxe again? She’s here, after all, so she’ll be sharing in the XP.”

  “I don’t mind, this place is great for leveling. But she won’t be getting much—most of it will be mine. She’s not moving anywhere or doing anything, after all.”

  “It will still be tangible, Ros. Let’s get going. She is taking way too long, though. I hope everything’s OK with her.”

  “All we can do is wait. I need to check the forum and send a message to a friend.”

  * * *

  Ros had 459,927 unread messages on the forum. Duly appreciating the sheer scale of the surge of interest in him, he refreshed the page and saw the number of messages increase by 350 in a matter of seconds. He’d need a whole staff of assistants just to read through his fan mail. New messages kept arriving at a mind-boggling rate. He then saw the flashing message warning him that his forum inbox was full. If he didn’t clean up, he wouldn’t be able to receive any new messages.

  He decided to read a few out of curiosity, and wasn’t surprised to find that most of the messages fell into two groups. The former consisted of invitations to discuss a mutually beneficial partnership. Some made no promises of any great wealth whatsoever, whereas others promised suspiciously much. His first association was with the rare metal cage that he’d been confined to.

  The latter asked him blatantly about what his secret was, and urged him to share it, promising everything from a simple “thank you” to wealth and treasure unrivaled in history. All of them wanted him to reveal his hero’s secret first, though.

  He spent about an hour before finding the only message that actually interested him, having learned to use the inbox purging function in the meantime.

  “I already know everything. You sure have a knack for advertising yourself to the whole world. Don’t respond, and don’t write me. The forum is full of holes, and there’s no need for people to find out about our association. Get out of there, change everything, and look for me afterwards. Good luck, o Great Emperor of Noobs.”

  So, Digits was afraid others might see his forum messages. Ros was glad now to have removed all the earlier ones. He would delete this one, too.

  He wasn’t entirely sure that would help, though. Someone might be able to undelete them, or just establish the fact that an exchange of messages had taken place. He recollected Tangh’s misgivings about the possibility that his financial transactions might be monitored, too. Well, what was the worst that could happen? Digits could do anything with impunity. He was level zero, so no one could so much as grab him.

  On the other hand, Digits was right. Should someone manage to hack his private forum inbox, they’d be facing a formidable task. The message number limit was one million, and it would soon fill up completely.

  Anyone curious enough to snoop around would be in for a lot of work.

  Chapter 24

  Danger Babe only turned up the following morning.

  By then Ros had already lost count of the “elephants” he’d vanquished in pairs. He’d mined all the minerals in the halls, and in the first few feet of every side tunnel. He’d also crafted a few dozen staves, rings, and bracelets, some of which weren’t half bad.

  Luck seemed to favor him again.

  “Sorry, guys, I didn’t mean to take so long!” the girl started chattering as soon as she came to, lighting her sphere of light at the same time. “The apartment is OK, but it has network issues—they’ve only managed to get everything installed by morning. It’s still all covered in cables, but I didn’t even stay to clean up.”

  “Are you sure everything’s fine with you?” Tangh inquired.

  “Absolutely. I did get into a row with my stepmother, as usual. I hope she doesn’t send anyone after me—after all, I am a minor, and I cannot exactly do whatever I want.”

  “We can’t help you there. If she contacts the police, you’ll be in a lot of trouble.”

  Ros recollected his experience in dealing with the Russian law enforcement officers, and screwed up his face skeptically, but kept his mouth shut. They would cross that bridge once they got to it.

  “Oh, come on. Everything’s fine so far. I don’t think there’ll be any sudden disappearances now.”

  “What do you mean, you don’t think?”

  “Well… There may be network issues, or maybe an electric outage. Al kinds of things happen.”

  “I will pray that none of that ever comes to pass. My dear, allow me to congratulate you on a new success. You must not have noticed it yet.”

  “Say what?”

  “A new level.”

  “Hooray!” “I’m back at 94! Have you been fighting mobs all night long? Without any light? Without me?!”

  “Ros, time for you to congratulate her, too, lest her shouting attracts more guests.”

  Ros didn’t just congratulate Danger Babe—he also gave her a present.

  “Here’s a staff—it’s just right for your level. As well as a ring and a bracelet. The ring is to replace the one on your left pinky, and the bracelet’s for your right wrist. A ring, a bracelet, and a staff with five gems that I’d enchanted for Stamina, and four gems in the bracelet and the ring with a bonus to HP. Combined with the original item bonuses, your Stamina will grow by 81, and you’ll get 370 extra HP.”

  “How much do you get for a single Stamina point?” asked Tangh.

  “8 HP.”

  “So, you’ll get more than a thousand additional HP. That will make you a lot harder to kill.”

  “Wow! It’s a rare class item! Where did you get it?!”

  “Ros did his best.”

  Danger Babe shrieked, kissed him on the cheek, and instantly assumed a dejected look, the way young girls sometimes did.

  “It’s expensive. Extremely so. I cannot afford anything like it. Or can I give it back when I get my stuff?”

  “Who do you take me for?” said Ros, pretending his feelings were hurt. “I told you it was a present. Not legendary class, but it will do. Especially in our circumstances.”

  “Just you wait until we get the boss. I’m sure we’ll be swimming in legendary items,” Tangh chuckled. “It would appear that fortune favors our Ros once again. I’ve got a new helmet that was drop
ped by a mob. Also, will you look at this armor?”

  “Better than a bronze cuirass? Also dropped by a mob?”

  “A whole lot better. For level 96. That was lucky—usually they require 100 and up. The local critters are extremely tough. Now we have an almost solid tank and a high-class buffer. Then there’s Ros—he’s an unequipped noob, but I haven’t seen him die once. He also got himself two levels during the night, chasing around mobs with levels upwards of 150. The more I watch him, the more he frightens me.”