(World of Valdira 01) The Way of the Clan

by Dem Mikhaylov

  - It’s easy. As you said – like Neanderthals with sticks. Model an average Joe with an inclination to a physio. The very tournament is not difficult… I’d rather say special. You’ll cope with it without any combat skills. The main point here is not to screw BEFORE the tournament, above all too much depends on particular conditions that you have to meet almost in a special order. So have you decided to idle around the Cradle for two days indeed? Hrm… well… then good luck, Ros… gard.

  At that point we finished the incomprehensible talk but I kept sitting on the bed staring at the wall and squeezing a silent receiver in my sweaty hand. Two days! In the Cradle! What shall I do there? Ok, I’ll work out. Besides, I’ll have time to get to know why it’s prohibited to quarrel with the saloonkeeper. Curiosity is an evergreen striving!

  Entrance.

  The world of Valdira welcomes you!

  A brand new character met me at exactly the same place where I had left him – he was sitting just a stone’s throw from the Springhead (exit) staring at the space in front of him blindly. Nothing had changed around him as well. The former girl that had been so enthusiastic about the vividness of the virtual world had disappeared somewhere long ago. But instead of her three male individuals came into view looking around businesslike. Too businesslike! They didn’t look like beginners at all – those guys were definitely experienced they knew way around.

  - Hey, guy! – greeted me one of them cheerfully. – Come on! Join us! I know this game from A to Z! You’ll get home free with us! An absolute drive with minimal breaks!

  I was about to open my mouth and to tell the well-wisher to get lost when he continued his speech giving a glowing description of my promising future:

  - First you’ll swing a stick as everybody. But when we save some money, you’ll become a healer or a buffer! I mean a physician, you see. Got it? Join our party! Let’s go! We gonna roll from the Cradle, there is nothing to feast on!

  - It’s time to go… - grumbled I gloomly while standing up and dusting down my torn panty.

  - What?

  - Get lost, I said – growled I – I won’t join your party, I won’t become a healer. Got it?

  - Oh, boy, calm down! Join us, Rosgard! – the hanger-on wasn’t going to get off my back, he had already managed to read my nickname. But I shrugged him off carelessly, turned my back on and walked away.

  They may look for other patsies. I hate such creeps who are waiting for new-comers at the gate to baffle them! They persuade them to join their party, bring through several quests at a gallop, force unnecessary class or craft on this poor soul and increase their levels very quickly at his expense. They are increasing their levels until the very moment the crazy guy realizes that it’s not his line to be a healer or a buffer that he has always dreamt about becoming a warrior or at least a shaman…

  - Oh my God! Goodness gracious! – a compassionate female wail diverted me from my thoughts, I raised my head and faced a corpulent red-cheeked housewife looking at me over a board fence. – What clothes are on you, good man!

  - Good afternoon, madam – I smiled subconsciously keeping in mind Gosha’s strange warning not to quarrel with the saloonkeeper. This lady is certainly not a saloonkeeper but still she is a NPC. She can be his wife or a lover…

  I knew what should have come next and the uptown lady didn’t let me down:

  - Oh my, look at your pants! They look a mess! And so does the torn shirt… where have you been wandering, poor wretch?.. Let me see… you’re bound for the city square, aren’t you? Oh my, you’re going there looking like this, aren’t you? Watch out! Our guards don’t welcome shag-rags! You’ll get into prison faster than flesh in the pan… for warning purposes!

  - So it goes, auntie! – a big smile as sweet as honey spread over my face. – All that is mine with me all the time! I have this shirt and these pants only. Misfortune happens.

  - It’s not misfortune at all! – the lady flung her arms up – You can mend your clothes, can’t you? It’s not a hard work to lend you a needle, I suppose!

  - Thank you so much, auntie! But I don’t know what to do with a needle. Can you help a poor wanderer? I’ll pay for your work and for your kindness!

  - I cannot but help you! It won’t take me long, I’m sure, - replied the uptown lady quickly opening the gate for me. – Take off your shirt. I’ll mend it in a moment. Come in, you’re not going to get naked outside, aren’t you?

  The first non-obligatory quest has started and it has been progressing. An approving message in a sky-blue frame flared in front of my eyes:

  A character’s look plays a big part in the world of Valdira!

  ‘Guess, I know it’ – I chuckled in my mind and went into the yard. None of important NPCs will give you a quest if you look like a beggar. They won’t even talk to you. Only here in the Cradle you can get some toleration on such things. ‘Locals’ are well-matched – kind and friendly here.

  The square yard looked more than cozy – swept clean, some flowering garden-beds sided by stones and a couple of vegetable patches a bit aside. There was a nice wooden table covered by a top scraped down to shine white and a couple of low benches in the middle of the yard. There was a wooden curb of the well grown into the ground in the corner and a bucket with a rope tied on its tug nearby.

  The total cared-for look was spoiled a bit by six withered trees aligning along the inner side of the fence. Rather thick trunks with the diameter of an adult’s thigh, dried branches and boughs protruding in different sides decorated by deserted birds’ nests. The bark had blackened and then nasty shreds were hanging from it. So here is my quest…

  Without waiting for reminder I slipped my knapsack off on the bench, pulled my shirt that started bulging at the seams over my head and took off my pants. I was standing almost naked, only my reins were covered by a clean white piece of textile that actually looked like a diaper. It’s one more aesthetic concession – your underwear never gets dirty. Even if you fall down in a muddy pool and roll there like a swine this analogue of underpants will stay in full radiance of snowy white cleanness contrasting with your body splashed with mud dramatically. It’s checked for sure – one day I had to cross a small bog while fulfilling a quest on searching peculiar plants. Having come back I realized that my gear was totally draggled, stinking bog goo was flowing down my body, but the diaper, ironically, amazed by its blinding whiteness of fresh snow.

  To crown it all, the diaper could boast two more super abilities: it was impossible to eliminate it and only I could take off that patch of wiper covering my conservation area. The latter rule was brought in following several incidents when stronger gamers undressed other gamers naked and forced them to parade along streets like that. Serious punitive sanctions were slapped to those inventors, the victims got consolation bonuses as for diapers and female tank tops, only their owners could take them off. Anyway there had never been any rapists in the game. If your cocoon fixes a fact of an attempted rape of another gamer or NPC, it will kick you off the game immediately. Forever. Besides, your character will be deleted. But if it’s by mutual agreement – no problems. Enjoy it and orgasmize.

  Oh, by the way! I nearly forgot to mention it! You’ll never have a chance to lose your diaper – all you need is to command and a snow-white piece of textile will materialize on your hips by itself. Such a wonderful super thing that every gamer possesses.

  Besides, where has the friendly hostess disappeared? Here am I standing almost naked and castaway in the middle of the yard…

  - Oh, well done, honey! I’ll mend all your stuff in jig time and tidy it as well, - jabbered the hostess having left home, she was holding a needle and a white thread passed through it in front of her. – It looks like you’ve offered to help me around the house… It would be very nice! You know, I’m single, how can I do it alone without a man in the house!

  - I’ll help you, good woman – I tried to show a half-bow fighting my desire to cover the bloody diaper by my hands. – What can
I do for you?

  - Can you see those trees? – responded the hostess immediately while pointing out at ugly withered trunks by the needle. – What a trouble with these trees! About fifteen years ago I remember planting young oaklings, they hit the stride at once and I couldn’t stop enjoying them! They both shadowed and gave acorns for my darling piggies, but then one day somebody must have put a hex on them – and my dear oaklings dried out overnight… what a pain! I’m just a weak woman, I can’t swing an axe, can I? And you’re such a nice sturdy! What broad shoulders you’ve got! Fell one tree a bit and kick it down, won’t you? I’ll chop all the boughs away myself somehow. If you help me, I’ll remember your kindness all my lifetime.

  - Why not? I’ll be happy to help a good person, - I decided to live the part. – Give me an axe, auntie!

  A pleased smile spread over the hostess’s face, she melted away into the house again and soon appeared carrying an axe. It was a usual axe with a rather long wooden handle. The iron gone through coarse forging was nipped by rust but the polished metal of the blade edge was shining. Stretching my hands I accepted the axe and felt its significant weight at once – you bet! Considering my boast, I mean my attribute of strength that was equal to one, it was natural.

  Fighting to hold the axe in suspension I stomped towards the end left tree – I had already felled it once and, guess what, it grew up again and withered up again. On my way I shut an iridescent message that had popped up in front of my eyes:

  Congratulations! You’ve got your first quest! Achievement!

  You’ve got an achievement of the first rank ‘Helping Hand’!

  The achievement table is available in your character’s setting.

  Your award for this achievement: plus 0.1% to your chance of subject identification.

  The current chance of successful identification: 0.3%

  I shut the next message too:

  You’ve got the quest ‘To help with work around the household’!

  Help a single female to fell withered trees in her yard as best as you can.

  Minimum quest requirements: to fell and kick down at least one tree.

  Award: your clothes will be mended (repaired) to let you look tidier.

  I nearly raised the axe over my head awkwardly and then got frozen in such a clumsy pose looking like the Tin Woodman.

  Just a second…

  Lowering the axe I opened the table on the character’s skills quickly and stared at the line stupidly:

  Subject Identification: 0.3%

  I’ve gained two tenths of the percentage point due to one point of wisdom and intelligence, one more tenth has come from my achievement. Last time nothing like that happened. Certainly I got achievements in the same way, but they never awarded me any bonuses. The only conclusion could come to my mind – the diamond account class helped again presenting me tiny but still a bonus. It’s intriguing…

  I whistled with amazement and shut my dashboard, then raised the axe again and dropped its blade down on the cast-iron oak trunk. The axe just left a hardly notable incision on the darkened and humped bark and bounced back cheerfully nearly hitting my leg while the handle almost wiggled out of my hands. The fun has started…

  The low fence couldn’t conceal what was happening in the yard. And since the arch of the gates through which new gamers were coming in was nearby, I wasn’t suffering from loneliness. New gamers dragging past me were gazing in some confusion at the feebling in a white diaper who was dropping an axe at the barely shaking tree again and again. The majority just passed without wishing to spend their precious time on socializing with me. But some of them stopped nearby, watched me for about a minute and gave unasked advice like:

  - Swing up higher!

  - You’re hitting at a wrong angle…

  - Hey, you’ll never fell this tree! It’s beyond your scope.

  - You’d better find a saw! Nobody will use an axe for that!

  Making sure I wasn’t going to follow their unasked advice they left but I continued felling the bloody tree that actually wasn’t going to fall down. In fact it wasn’t likely to fall down – the best I had achieved for all that time was the fourth of the trunk that I managed to cut through but it was me who was ready to drop. Huffing and puffing I lowered the axe and closed my eyes waiting for recovery – since my stamina was only the figure of one, I got tired very quickly and the scale became alarming red. One more purpose-driven gamer running past me couldn’t resist stopping for a while and leaning his chest against the fence muttered in a low voice:

  - Hey, bro! Stop that lollygagging! I know this quest – the only award you’ll get is carelessly mended clothes. I’ve surfed the forums recently, read… shortly speaking there is one ‘yummy’ quest in the Cradle. It consists of two parts and they charge thirty copper coins for it! That will be enough to buy new clothes in the shop nearby. Come with me!

  - Thank you for advice, man – I nodded – But as I’ve started, I have to finish it.

  - Whatever – the stranger shrugged his shoulders and hurried away without looking at me anymore. He must have thought I’m a devotee who doesn’t want to miss any available quest, no matter that they are almost unprofitable. I wasn’t going to explain to that do-gooder that I was locked in the Cradle for two days and that I was just killing my time there! Bloody Gosha!

  - Are you tired, good joe? – inquired the hostess of the house. – Did it wear you out? Would you like to have a drink of cold water?

  - I’d love to, auntie – I croaked gratefully and came unstuck from the trunk.

  I really wanted it – pure water was able to accelerate strength recovery twice and could partially eliminate hunger. I hadn’t had time to get hungry yet but it was a good idea to recover my strength. Eh… it would be nice to have my favourite Crashshot’s flask at my hand filled with the peculiar potion recovering strength … But I can only dream about it now…

  Having drained half of the jug with such cold water that it was even aching my teeth, I recovered enough to take the axe again and continue biting into the dry wood as solid as stone millimeter by millimeter. What strength you need to cut stone by a pickaxe! I started feeling sympathy towards poor miners.

  Bang, bang, bang… Snappy hit sounds blurred into an endless monotonous caravan. At the next hit a long chip flew off and stuck into my cheek. I swore, checked my status and didn’t get surprised at all as I saw the loss of some life points. It was not significant but nevertheless it was the loss.

  Life points: 67/70 Mana: 15/15

  Great! Two more hours and I will make myself dead. Actually I had expected it – last time when I felled the tree there were only forty life points left.

  The first encouraging moment happened when I managed to reach the core of the trunk of the poor tree. The tree shuddered heavily and started crackling unmistakably after a peculiar strong hit by the axe that I contributed the rest of all my strength into. A short message popped up in front of my eyes:

  Your strength has increased by 1 point.

  Your stamina has increased by 1 point.

  Finally… last time I achieved the increase of the attributes a bit earlier. Or does it seem to me because of my fatigue?

  To celebrate that event I dried up the water left in the jar, wiped my mouth off by the back of my hand and proceeded to the quest with double efforts – with double strength literally speaking as I used to have only one point of strength, then that attribute was equal to two points. The weight of attack went up too – stripped of fine words, hit points. And the increased stamina wouldn’t let me get tired so quickly. So and my life pointes raised a bit as well. Without stopping my work I spread the menu and pinched up my basic attributes on the screen:

  Character’s Basic Attributes

  Strength – 2

  Intelligence – 1

  Agility – 1

  Stamina – 2

  Wisdom – 1

  Now it wasn’t so miserable – if only not to compare that mediocrity with my
late Crashshot.

  One more hour passed when the tree creaked, cracking wood crackled, it swayed heavily and finally collapsed on the ground followed by the crack of breaking branches. He oak was defeated. I fixed my first enemy in that game but the fighting was long and exhausting despite the fact that the oak didn’t hit back. Although… after checking my life balance I found out that the wooden stump had hit back and not half – only thirty life points were left from eighty.

  The work is done. I lowered the weapon wearily and leaned against the handle while estimating the information popped up in front of my eyes:

  You got a new profession – a lumberman.

  The lumberman’s skills have increased up to 1. Total: 1.

  Your stamina has increased by 1 point.

  - There you are! Thanks a lot. You made yourself really useful! – responded the wide-awake hostess who was watching the process of mutilating her tree. – Thank you! I’ve already mended your shabby clothes, I’ve mended every holes and sewed all tears in patches. Check them!

  Two years ago I did exactly what she said – took my clothes mended properly, returned her the axe and said a careless good-bye to the hostess. The quest had been completed successfully.

  But I didn’t rush to take my clothes that time. Because I had loads of time.

  - Just a moment, auntie – a sickly smile appeared on my face when I was making a step towards the felled trunk and picking up the axe which seemed much lighter. – There is so much work to do left.

  - Oh the good heavens must have sent you to me! – the uptown lady has got the lay of the land at once. – Well, I’ll treat you a hearty lunch as a thank you for your help! Would you like to have it?

  - I’d love to! Thanks a lot!

  - Agreed! – nodded the lady putting my clothes folded neatly away on the bench and wandered forth the house – I’ll go to light the fire! The lunch will be splendidly delicious for sure!

  My quest continued.

  Looking at the bright blue sky, I wiped sweat off my face and moved on fighting with the enemy defeated but still standing to its guns. I had to chop away all boughs and branches and then cut them small. And to crown it all I had to store all that stuff somewhere in a corner.