by Arthur Stone
"So, if the target is a player…"
"The player will not respawn. In fact, they'll cease to exist. And they'll find an empty shell IRL. A dead body."
"But that's impossible."
"It's possible if the player isn't a newcomer, but rather belongs to the type that spend a great deal of time inside the game, either deliberately or not. Such a player becomes a part of the game, and the game becomes a part of their consciousness. In extreme cases, the body and the mind can be separated. That's how you get those "ghosts" and other players stuck in the game without an option of getting out. The player will be erased, since the Annihilator's weapons work indiscriminately, leaving nothing behind. There'll be no mind left to return to the body."
"Why would you create something as hideous as that, anyway?"
The Old Man gave Eric a sly wink, but immediately winced and started to massage his ribcage.
"Eric, you're perfectly aware of the fact that I'm a mean-tempered old ruin. Something like this," a wrinkled hand pointed toward the capsule, "might come in handy when someone who spends too much time in the game starts to give you grief. However, it's primary purpose is to eliminate the waste. You probably get what I'm talking about…"
"Yeah, I've always wondered about how you'd make them keep their mouths shut after…"
"You probably guessed I had something up my sleeve for such a case?" The Old Man cackled slyly.
"I had my suspicions. Do any of the others know?"
"I have decided they don't necessarily have to be aware of all the details. I have told this to you, and that should do. And, yes, it turns out that the Annihilator's control panel will accept no one but me. So I'm the only one who can sic this squid onto the quarry."
"Why am I not surprised?"
"That's right, Eric. This slimy thing is a dangerous weapon."
"How soon do you intend to dispatch Rostovtsev?"
"Well, we need to find him first."
"That much is just a question of time. And it won't take long. Analysts predict his further moves based on the fact that he's a serious player now, and that the control AIs get the heebie-jeebies when they react to his actions. They claim that the result is all but guaranteed."
"But they haven't managed to accomplish anything yet…"
"They haven't."
"Find him. And have a chat with him. But don't do it like those two-bit hoodlums whose best idea was to put him in a cage. Talk to him in the proper way. His death would not be the ultimate solution to all our problems. Rostovtsev may be replace by someone just as dangerous. We need to find out absolutely everything. And if we cannot solve this by force, we can come to a settlement. What we need is some link to the party that had made Rostovtsev infiltrate the game. And we also need to know what he knows. According to the analysts, he has a much higher chance of completing this goddamn endless quest."
"Why did you show me the Annihilator if you only intend to converse?"
"Well, there are all sorts of conversations. We'll discuss our affairs—we might get into a heated dispute, or smile at one another. And then… We might introduce him to our unseemly friend. There are all kinds of challenges to be dealt with, after all…
The Old Man's smile didn't reach his eyes as he stared at the hologram depicting the monster.
Chapter 7
Thyri had given excellent directions to the place where she'd be waiting for Ros, but he still didn't manage to find her, no matter how hard he tried. The oaks were easy enough to find, but the girl was nowhere around. He tried to message her, but there was no reply. She was either far enough away for the game's communications system to have no coverage, didn't feel like answering, or still remained offline. In the latter case, Ros could forget about finding her altogether. Players with names displayed in red lettering were adept at hiding their bodies. Coupled with impressive disguise skills, even combing a given area might prove futile.
Ros took a rest on the soft grass, munched on some meat, and studied the forum, scanning the hot topics and reading the messages from Digits and Danger Babe. The former kept writing about all sorts of financial transactions, current and planned; the letter complained that she and Tangh got killed today, and it was by no means the first time since Ros's departure. However, the two of them had some good news, too—they managed to discover a new dungeon. It was a rare stroke of luck, the only explanation being that the Locked Lands opened very recently, and that the overwhelming majority of the players had considerable problems with finding access to these territories. Once Ros would complete his task, everything would change drastically, so they'd have to explore the precious cave as soon as they could, or some other player might get to it first.
They were wary of going in without Ros. They had every reason to be cautious. They ran into dangerous situations even when facing regular monsters, and every creature they would meet in the murky dungeon would be much harder to deal with.
Ros told them to keep away from the entrance, lest they attract someone's attention. He also asked them to give him an approximate list of the equipment Tangh and Danger Thing would need to complete the dungeon. In-game funds came in particularly handy when you had to beef your characters up to the max.
However, something like that cost a lot. A hell of a lot.
Then he got bored, and decided to make a present for his mysterious companion. He started to get all kinds of materials from his bag, mixing all them up in the unique Transmogrification Cube of the Craftsmen’s Guild Master from the Locked Lands. Sometimes there was no result at all; at other times, the attempt itself was successful, but the resulting item turned out to be total junk, or just unimpressive. However, Ros had managed to craft a couple of really nice items, and decided to keep at it.
The reward wasn't long in the coming.
"You create a Ring of Red Pain from the Locked Lands. Attention! You have created a unique item! It has no duplicate anywhere in the Second World! You receive a reward: +1 to Magical Transmogrification, +1 to Invention, +1 to Creator, +1 to Learner, and +1 to Arcane Knowledge. You gain a level. Points left until the next level: 917424. You can create blueprints for a new item: the Ring of Red Pain from the Locked Lands. Attention! You have created an item using ingredients no one had ever used before. Some of the properties of the following ingredients have been studied: Moss Shadowcrawler Bone. You have demonstrated real ingenuity. You receive a reward: +2 to Reason. Attention! Your Arcane Knowledge stat reaches 25. You can learn of a previously undiscovered feature of any object once daily without using or destroying it."
Ros looked about him furtively. What if some stranger decided to steal his precious at this very moment? It was a cool enough ring with a well-balanced set of stats. Any warrior would love it; tanks could wear it as well, although they wouldn't get all the benefits. It was a unique item, so he could probably make a small fortune after selling it.
He decided he would call it a day inasmuch as crafting was concerned. He'd get to it later—and without going all-out. Trying one's luck from morning till night would not be a very bright idea—it could turn bad, after all.
His friends Tangh and Danger Babe were doing the job of three players in the Locked Lands right now, sourcing the rarest materials that he could use for some serious crafting once he got back. He would buy all sorts of local ingredients at the capital, choosing the best ones, and then experiment at length with different combinations of whatever he would find.
Apart from other things, he had lots of really cool items on him that he had gotten from monsters or crafted personally. He was planning to use the help of his friend Digits to sell it quickly and for a decent price, so he reckoned he'd be able to get enough money for all those grandiose plans of his.
The first stage, that was.
"Well, hi there!" said a voice from behind.
He was so startled he nearly jumped. Then he breathed out with relief, and said, without turning around,
"Hello to you, too, Thyri. I'd rather you didn't scare m
e like that. I didn't notice you."
"Sorry. No one ever notices me… Anywhere…
The last words were uttered in a rather sad voice, but Ros decided against prying. She would share whatever she chose whenever she chose. Decent players never tried to get under someone's skin.
Although he'd be really interested in doing just that, given the opportunity. There were a few questions he would really like to get some answers to.
"So, how did it go? They didn't catch up with you, did they?"
"They haven't." I haven't even seen them once."
"That's weird. They have real good trackers. That clan is pretty powerful."
"I would not have escaped them IRL. However, the game offers plenty of opportunities for pulling wool over someone's eyes. That is to say, I appear to have turned out a little more cunning than them."
"That's great, because we may run into them again. I don't think they've left the area, so you should keep your cunning handy."
"Here are your rings."
"Thanks. Hey! You've given me an extra one!"
"It's yours now."
"It's pretty expensive; I'd hate to lose it. Thanks, but I'd rather you took it back"
Ros shrugged.
"As you wish. I hope you will at least accept the boots—I made them with you in mind; didn't want you to go barefoot."
"Are you a cobbler or something?"
"Well, I can work leather. But I wouldn't claim any great skill so far. You can see as much, anyway."
"As a matter of fact, they're better than the ones I'd left behind. Thanks. How much do I owe you?"
Ros made a dismissive gesture.
"That's nothing. You have helped me out, and I have killed you as a sign of gratitude. You could say I was doing it for my conscience; I keep getting those pangs all the time. So you shouldn't have refused the ring."
"I told you already—I'm likely to lose it, and I'd hate whoever would be around at that point to mock a silly girls with holes in her pockets."
"If you're dead, you won't hear anything. Take it already—I have to soothe my bleeding conscience."
"All right, then. Thank you."
"I have explored the game forum, and there's nothing on the Tarantulas there. That is, no one's been discussing what they'd been getting up to here so far."
"They talk to each other on their game forum. You'd have no access there."
"Yeah, I've figured out as much. Anyway, we know nothing of their current disposition. I suggest that we make a detour around the village and then head right through the forest. It has plenty of thickets, and the undead are supposed to haunt it at night. But they level at 100 at best, so we have a good chance, even if we run into a serious pack. We'll come to a valley with three rivers running across it later on. There will be nothing there but meadows and bushes. The most dangerous mobs there were foxes and rabbits. Even characters of really puny levels could use this area for leveling up—provided they were prepared to travel that far. Then we'll be crossing locations with mobs leveling around fifty or eighty—very popular for leveling up with characters like me. If you don't get your name back in the white by then, it might be best for you to avoid them. There's a bunch of red-named folks of all sorts running around, and even more players hunting them."
"What do you mean, of all sorts?"
"I mean they can be of all sorts of levels, and some of them can be real tough bastards. Also, such areas are favored by clans specializing in hunting player killers. Those wouldn't be particularly salubrious in your case right now."
"I'd need pretty high-level mobs to get my name into the white once again. There are none such here—we'd have to go back to where we'd met the first time. And we'd have to make lots of detours to avoid the Tarantulas."
"There are lots of high-level players there, and killing someone like you, with no clan and no protection, would be a sport for many of them. A lot of them get triggered by red names."
"That's right. My best chance here is to keep a low profile. I've only got a single murder to account for—there wasn't much karmic damage, so it should whiten by itself soon enough."
"How soon is soon enough?"
"Around five days."
"Well, damn…"
"What's the matter?"
"If we're lucky, we'll reach the capital a lot quicker than that. And once we get there, you'll be a magnet for PKs and PK killers alike. The location is really popular with both."
"Let's cross that bridge once we get to it."
* * *
"I will suck out your miserable souls, steeped in sin, and your bodies will be but dust strewn to the wind and falling on the filthy floor of a century-old grave!" A ghost glowing green must have decided that his words weren't enough to scare the two players bold enough to invade his domain as it rose out of the grave, and so it decided to laugh theatrically for emphasis.
"I can't remember ever seeing someone who'd wag their tongue as much," said Thyri, unperturbed. "Take a look at me and assess the difference yourself. It would take a single sneeze in your direction to turn you into a puddle of green snot."
The ghost must have not been a compete idiot. It stopped making menacing gestures with its bony hands, and took a good look at Thyri. Its face had already been rather glum, but now it became completely lugubrious. The green glow subsided considerably.
Then the ghost's attention switched to Ros, and it became a little more animated. It instantly suggested what must have seemed a mutually beneficial solution.
"Hey, big thing. Why don't you leave this worthless worm to me, and depart? I release you; go in peace, live long, and prosper. Why can't I show a little magnanimity?"
Thyri sighed.
"Why are the lot of you so thick-headed?"
Then she instantly drew her bow and shot the ghost with an arrow that lit up as she released it. The mob squeaked in horror and disappeared, leaving nothing but a green puddle of slime that looked so unappetizing that Ros felt he would forgo searching it for valuable loot this time.
At any rate, what loot could he find when the level gap between the killer and the quarry had been so great?
"You kill the Chatterbox Ghost. XP received: 107. Points left until the next level: 902439."
"The developers must have spent a long time trying to think of a name for this weirdo," said Ros mockingly.
"They sure did. The lack of any sense of humor must have been a necessary requirement and indicated as such in their CVs. They would just say the first thing that came into their heads. We're getting closer to the edge of the woods. There'll be a valley where three rivers merge into one once we cross that. I'd like to get offline for two or three hours once we get to the border. Will you wait on me?"
"I might—then again, I might not."
"Is there any chance to make sure you do it without any of that 'might not' business?"
"Thyri, had I really wanted to leave, I would have done it already, and you would never have found me."
"And yet you didn't."
"They haven't." I ran into something lately. I find it pretty weird. And you're a part of it. I'd really like to know how you had managed to find out about me and what exactly might be going on around me. I have looked into every forum topic, but there's nothing remotely similar to our case there. It may be a case of me being unique, or things like these happen so rarely that you cannot find any relevant information anywhere. Would there be anything you'd like to tell me? I am referring to the circumstances of our first encounter.
Thyri stayed silent for a few moments, turning away. Then she said in a barely audible voice,
"Ros… I have nothing to tell you."
"I get it."
"It's not that I'm hiding anything. I don't know anything myself."
"But how can something like that happen?"
"It can. The game has many oddities about it. Haven't you noticed any yourself?"
"Well… I have to admit that lots of things have happened to me… But I cannot im
agine a situation when I would walk for miles in order to wait for some perfect stranger in a wet shrub without knowing why, all of a sudden. And then I'd protect that player from an attack, and tag along like a faithful little pooch, trying to help them to the best of my ability."
"You're right, it seems unlikely enough."
"Exactly…"
"Well, I didn't start playing for entertainment.
"You were planning to make some money, weren't you?"
"What made you think that?"
"Your name is silly. Sorry, I mean, it's been generated by the game's registration algorithms. Thyrinawerria Raynayila is not a name one would choose of their own volition. Such names are usually given to players who try to minimize their expenses. You normally see such names given to worker characters with the cheapest accounts.
Ros knew all about it—his name had neither been Ros, nor even Bubble originally. It was Rostendrix Poterentax, quite a hideous mouthful, all in all. He found it a mouthful himself, so he shortened it as much as he could.
"Well, I didn't choose it."
"Thought as much."
"I told you, I didn't come here for entertainment. I was… I was placed here. Or, rather, brought here. It was necessary because of… Well, there were a few problems. IRL. I'd prefer not to discuss them…"
"I really can't believe you ended up in those bushes because of the problems you had IRL."
"Well, if it hadn't been for those problems, I wouldn't have started playing in the first place. I would… Ah, well… It doesn't matter anymore. I still don't know who I am here. I can't really find a place for myself. Nor have I really been looking for one. But I've had all sorts of stuff happen to me. It would get pretty tough at times, and real world would add to my problems. There was this one time—I still don't understand what happened then. It felt like I had fallen asleep here, in the game. And I had a dream. A dream of someone. I couldn't recollect his appearance, but I remember what he had told me. He told me lots of useful things and really helped me. When I saw him for the second time in a similar dream, I believed everything he told me. He said I should make haste toward that river and meet you, and then help you get wherever you'd be headed to. So I set out to look for you right away. That's the only thing I can tell you. You may or may not believe me, but that's the only answer I have."
