Inferno (Play to Live: Book # 4)
Page 20
We walked in. If this thing worked, it wasn't a good idea to make it public, especially considering that the Koreans were here. All recurrent collecting quests that allowed you to get xp time and time again were rare and quite valuable. This ability to speed-level twinks, VIPs and key chars was always in high demand.
"There!" I handed him the first jar.
He took one glance at its contents and bared his teeth with delight. Taking a swing, he smashed the jar on the flagstones. The Spore writhed in its slime like an earthworm on concrete, but Asmodeus' heavy foot cut its existence short.
Congratulations! You've received experience!
Your relationship with the Higher Demon Asmodeus has improved!
Excuse me? Where was my Ding? Where were my new levels?
Ah, bummer! I should have quit the raid, shouldn't I? I took a peek through the gate. Oh yes, everybody was looking around for the source of the unexpected freebie with a faction bonus. Shit! I got burned!
I sent a quick word to the HQ chat, Guys, I'm gonna quit for a minute. Widowmaker'll take over from me.
I quickly ticked a few boxes, promoting Widowmaker, then quit the raid and handed another jar to the demon. "There!"
Congratulations! You've received experience!
Your relationship with the Higher Demon Asmodeus has improved!
Congratulations! You've reached level 84!
Racial bonus: +1 to Intellect
Class bonus: +1 to Strength, +1 to Constitution!
5 Characteristic points available! You now have 20 available Characteristic points!
1 Talent point available! You now have 9 available Talent points!
Congratulations! You've reached level 85!
Congratulations! You've reached level 86!
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Congratulations! You've reached level 93!
Oh. Did I say windfall? Nine levels in a matter of seconds, just like that!
Did I hear you say, "hacks and cheats"? Before you repeat that, go buy yourself a portal for two hundred grand, put together a two-thousand-strong raid, then spend a day tramping about Inferno and grinding your teeth against Bundles of Nerves with their mental attacks. Then it gets easier: smoke Verenus, buddy up with Asmodeus, expose him to another pain attack and receive the quest. Easy peasy. Isn't it?
Aha, I still had nine more jars! I wouldn't even dare venture a guess!
Congratulations! You've reached level 102!
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Congratulations! You've reached level 110!
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Congratulations! You've reached level 118!
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Congratulations! You've received achievement: Who Wants to Live Forever!
You've managed to get 50 new levels without dying once!
Reward: +10000 to Fame.
Reward: the place of your death will now be marked with an indestructible silver obelisk.
Your fame has exceeded 33,000 points! You've reached Fame level 7: "Friend to Kings".
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Congratulations! You've reached level 126!
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Congratulations! You've reached level 134!
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Congratulations! You've reached level 141!
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Congratulations! You've reached level 148!
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Congratulations! You've received achievement: a Living Legend!
You've managed to get 75 new levels without dying once!
Reward: +15000 to Fame.
Reward: When you die... if you die... okay, you'll never die, but if you do, the whole world will know about it. A server message will spread the word to the farthest corners of the world. The sun will momentarily go in and even the most heartless of executioners will cry like little children.
Your Fame has exceeded 48,000 points! You've reached Fame level 8: "Princesses dream about you".
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Congratulations! You've reached level 155!
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Congratulations! You've received experience!
Your relationship with the Higher Demon Asmodeus has improved!
Congratulations! You've reached level 161!
Racial bonus: +1 to Intellect
Class bonus: +1 to Strength, +1 to Constitution!
5 Characteristic points available! You now have 405 available Characteristic points!
1 Talent point available! You now have 86 available Talent points!
I staggered with emotion, groping blindly under my backside in search of something to sit it on, thinking wistfully of my wobbly stool I'd nostalgically kept in my Super Nova office. A legend! Dreamy princesses! Friend to Kings! Level one hundred freakin' sixty-one!
I had to have myself a party later tonight, distributing all the characteristics. Just think what I'd be like! Large as life and twice as ugly.
Asmodeus grinned knowingly. His expression was much friendlier now. Avatar or not, this faction bonus had definitely worked in my favor.
"Let's go set the prisoners free," he said. "I'll show you my collection. I've never shown it to anyone before but you... I feel some strange affinity to you. Besides, that's something else I'm proud of."
The Arsenal's massive door. Racks of arms. A secret tile on the floor. A staircase leading down into the freezing cold.
The demon stepped confidently onto the weeping stone step and descended into pitch darkness. I really didn't want to slip up and tumble down like an idiot so I produced a Torch of True Flame out of my inventory and activated the brightest mode.
Shadows shrank away as the tunnel lit up with the Torch's life-bearing light. Asmodeus swung his head 180 degrees, opposite to the direction he was heading in. I nearly dropped the Torch seeing his face covered with a complex scaly pattern, his blue fangs creaking as they extended from his jaws.
Immediately he sized up the situation and shook a reproachful head, mentioning a dozen gay exorcists under his breath as he stopped his combat metamorphosis. His gaze chanced upon the Torch and he beamed like a human being at the sight of a cute kitten.
He reached out and dug his beclawed paw into the flame which danced between his talons, cuddling up to them and purring softly. Had the True Flame been born of Hell's furnace? And if it had, what was it for Asmodeus — a playful speck of light chancing on his underground dungeon? I just couldn't tell.
Warning! A spontaneous item upgrade! The item has been upgraded to:
The Baton of True Flame
Certain artifacts are capable of gaining strength over time, accumulating whatever grains of power come their way, accepting voluntary gifts or taking them by force.
Effect: Fire Jet. Damage: regulated, up to 1100 pps. Working time: varies, 11 sec. at peak load. Charge capacity: 5500 mana points. Autonomous recharge times: 55 mins.
Unicalization Effect! This Baton has been chosen as the first item of a set. In order to upgrade the item to a Staff, collect six more Torches of True Flame.
"D'you mind if you... stroke it some more?" I asked just in case.
What if it upgraded again? Or cloned itself? You couldn't have too many flame throwers. I could already see a group of raiders in shiny armor heading into the mountains carrying the heavy cylinders of my brand-new Flame Batons behind their backs. Incredible.
The demon chuckled and turned his back on me. We continued on our way by the light of the Baton which apparently still worked as a Torch too. And whereas before I'd had to max out the brightness slider, this time I'd moved it barely 10%. I had a funny feeling this thing could also double up as an air defense searchlight.
Finally, the lower level. The round hall was about sixty feet in diameter, its walls covered in ancient mosaics. Not a door in sight.
Asmodeus tapped a fancy code into the colored bits of mosaic: blue, blue, white, red, black... I lost track after that. Besides, the identification didn't stop there. A needle sprung out of the wall and with a slurping sound pierced the demon's finger. A DNA check?
Secrets and more secrets. I was more than sure that besides secret doors, he had treasures stashed under every floor tile.
Actually, wasn't it time I tried that ability of mine? I'd forgotten all about it. Was it for nothing I'd busted my hump and wiped away dragons' tears? While the demon fiddled with his complex recognition system, I activated my old and almost forgotten ability: Dragon Whisperer. So, where was this hidden gold within a thousand paces?
Yes, Max, you amaze me sometimes. You're sitting on a pile of gold — and you've chosen to stash it away!
My eyesight switched to matrix mode, highlighting all the precious metal in the area. And not just gold. They didn't seem to have any adamant, but my soldiers' mithril armor glistened a blinding purple. Silver shimmered softly while the Citadel's gold framework blinded my eyes with its light. Yes, you heard it right! Framework. The entire building was permeated with fine threads of mana channels just like those of my top golems.
All the control consoles, security systems, lighting installations, traps and mana accumulators — all of them were thirsty as hell, consuming power like there was no tomorrow. In actual fact, you could always power artifacts remotely, switching micro mana channels between them as necessary. But unfortunately, it wasn't terribly efficient, building up enormous mana losses over the years. And in the case of a castle siege, these 20% losses could make the difference between life and death.
That's why both architects and artifact makers strived to insert a fine gold thread whenever they possibly could, especially because just a 0.02 of an ounce of gold was enough to make a mile-long thread.
Asmodeus' castle was no exception. And now I could see all of its corridors, halls, artifacts, all the hidden traps and secret tunnels glisten their golden outlines before my eyes. Actually, the cellar turned out to have three secret doors. The demon was now busy by the central one. The right one led into a hall containing an altar or something equally powerful — this I could tell judging by the mana thread being almost a finger thick. And the left-hand door went into the treasury. About five tons of silver ingots, of all things. Why not gold? Was Inferno too suffering from gold shortages? Had the scammers already made it here?
"Asmodeus? I'm sorry to distract you but-"
"What now?" annoyed, he kicked the door which suddenly gave way. A heavy slab of stone creaked wearily and began sliding sideways, revealing a passage underneath.
"Hope you don't mind me asking. Why do you keep your treasure in silver? Is it to make sure no thief can carry it away?"
He wrinkled his forehead in confusion. "Which silver? We don't like it here. It burns our hands."
He was a good artist. With a wink, I pointed, "Over there behind that door lie five tons of silver. Your treasury is to the left, right in front is your collection of something or other and to the right you've got a shitload of magic, right?"
Mechanically his hand raced toward the sword on his belt. Asmodeus' eyes narrowed to slits, his glare heating my armor. "How do you... doesn't matter. Where did you say the third door was?"
Already realizing I'd just put my foot in it, I waved a finger around the supposed doorway. The golden outline of the secret castle was fading as the minute's duration of the Dragon Whisperer was expiring.
The demon began tapping the colored stones.
"One stone higher," I suggested, "and two more to the left."
Chuckling, he cast an unfriendly glare my way. Still he did as I'd said.
Strangely enough, the default password worked and so did the DNA ID. The long-forgotten door creaked happily, recognizing its master.
"Wait here," he said.
He dove into the dark passage, protracting his claws, his body covering itself with scales as he walked. Then I heard him gasp in awe.
"Lords of Hell! There's enough silver here to make a thousand swords! If only I could find a master to forge them! Will I really live to see the Silver Legion bare their swords again?"
Shit. I'd given him the treasure on a platter. I had to try and wrestle at least some of it back. "May I offer the services of my Dwarven blacksmiths? For a meager twenty percent they will do their best. Plus all the transportation and storage losses, evaporation and burning out, that sort of thing..."
Asmodeus reemerged from the treasury looking pleased as a pig. He grinned, brushing off the cobwebs, "Fifteen percent. And no 'storage losses' tricks!"
Oh, well. I'd still managed to earn a little profit. I tested the waters just in case, "How about the twenty-five percent of the treasure finder's reward?"
"Don't push it," the demon said. "Didn't I help your torch? Without me it would have taken it another hundred years to align its aura correctly. And you'll have your cut on this order too. What was it you said? Don't grab everything for yourself?
You bastard! "Oh well," I decided to tease him, "Then you don't need to know where the mithril treasury is, do you?"
Why the hell did I have to say that? Now he'd never believe it was only a joke.
"Come on, then," Asmodeus' eyes glistened as he nodded his horned head at the central door. "I might find something to exchange your mithril secret for."
Chapter Twelve
Arizona 6, a virtual reality and perma phenomenon classified research facility. The AlterWorld Division.
The Analytics and Operative Planning Department.
A fragment of internal paperwork traffic:
"Our surveillance of Puppet and other persons of his immediate entourage has allowed us to pinpoint a number of anomalies in their development. In some respects, Puppet's evolution has exceeded the results provided by both our two sub laboratories — Gamma and Epsilon — in their two years of existence. We cannot yet find an explanation to this phenomenon. Our researchers might need to gain unlimited access to Puppet in order to conduct further experiments.
The discovered anomalies include: a mass digitization of the subject's newly hired mercenaries and his extraordinary and yet inexplicable communication levels in his interactions with digitized NPCs — including the breach of their gaming algorithms and control scripts — and their joining the subject's clan.
The growing numbers of digitized children which may result in the Russian cluster's subsequent growth is a subject of our special concern. Judging by the intercepted conversations of Puppet's immediate entourage and the monitored logs from sanctioned red-light facilities, children show remarkable learning ability in acquiring certain spells and combat skills alien to their chosen character.
The Department's AI predicts that within the next twenty or thirty years, these children may grow into universal soldiers of extraordinary power. This yet unaccounted-for new factor threatens to compromise any plans we might have for bringing the future AlterWorld colonies under our control.
I strongly recommend conducting our own experiments in this domain, preferably on a larger scale. I would suggest the Boy Scout juvenile detention center as one such digitization facility. I attach the files of the hospice workers' intercepted conversations, including their comments on the "equipment malfunctions" supposedly responsible for the children's perma jump.
I would like to express my dissatisfaction with the AlterWorld Corporation's short-sighted strategy in placing the First Temple of the Dark Pantheon in the Russian zone of responsibility. I perfectly understand their initial idea of demonizing the Dark forces with the potential of starting a world war targeting the Russian cluster. Such an opportunity could have become an excellent money spinner for the corporation. However, virtual worlds have ceased to be children's toys. As a result of which, the Corporation has lost its control over AlterWorld leaving the Russians in possession of this most powerful expansion factor.
Our department has come up with a project, working title Peace, which would allow us to solve all the arising problems one at a time while removing new obstacles quite smoothly.
Here's a brief overview of the measures we propose:
1. Building up the sentiments of righteous indignation in all English-sp
eaking clusters under the pretext of the Russians using the children as a human shield and their fraternizing with the creatures of hell.
2. Calling up a liberation raid with enough participants to guarantee our breach and consequent possession of the Russian fortifications and the containment of any potential resistance. Such a raid would need between 50,000 and 100,000 players. Its proposed objectives would be as follows:
a) the destruction of the First Temple;
b) the removal of the children and their being taken into our custody. The creation of a charity fund with the motto Children are AlterWorld's Future registered with the apparent view of protecting of perma minors' rights;
c) turning Inferno into our protectorate under the control of a particular clan group;
d) once the above goals have been achieved, a special task force should be deployed to AlterWorld with the mission to capture Puppet and his entourage.
See Attachment #2 for more details, including a complete budget proposal and human expenditure.
* * *
"This is Bedlam," I whispered.
Asmodeus stood next to me, squinting his eyes like an enormous cat. He seemed to be pleased with the effect. A vast dimly-lit hall held hundreds of human shapes — standing and lying down, some walking around with their heads hung as if in a trance. Orcs, Elves, humans and goblins... so many of them, all out of their minds.
Out of their minds. You couldn't have thought of a better expression. Their souls were stuck in the castle's spatial pocket, generating mana and in many respects deciding Asmodeus' power. The demon was no match for the legendary devils of hell with their billion-strong stores of lost souls. But the sight of even this micro-circle of hell was enough to mortify anyone.
The demon shook his hands, pretending he was rolling up some non-existent sleeves. "Come on, now!" he announced happily. "Let's pick out your raiders and their respective souls. I just hope there're no mixups. You can already get the Pain Breastplate out to save time."