“Now, Maxim,” I said. “Here’s what we’re going to do.”
His eyes widened. He hadn’t told me his name, had he?
I plucked up whatever courage I had — whatever Yanna might think of my non-existent cojones — and continued to speak in a level voice,
“Four of these five-thousand notes are fakes,” I said. “That’s a rip-off of twenty thousand rubles[6]. Even though I’m already selling it at thirty thousand below its market price. Do you agree with me?”
“I didn’t know...” he began.
“Of course you didn’t. So you won’t mind if I call the police.”
“Please... please don’t!”
That’s when I knew for sure he’d known about the fakes all along. An honest person would have been surprised at my discovery, probably upset but hardly scared of the police. Still, I already knew from his profile that he was a petty crook. Apparently, even the likes of him enjoyed a good gaming computer.
“In that case,” I said, “We’ll make an agreement. You’re buying the computer for the price we agreed upon-”
“Yes, of course!”
“And that’s not all,” I took in a big gulp of air, braced myself and tried to add some weight to my words. “You’re going to compensate me for my emotional suffering induced by your little scheme for the same money as you tried to rip me off.”
He zoned out, making some mental calculations. “It’s a lot of money for me,” he finally said. “How about we scrap compensation? I have two little girls, Tania and Masha. My wife is nursing the third...”
He wasn’t stuttering anymore, was he? Did he feel safe already? Never mind. I knew how to make him nervous.
“You’re not married,” I said. “You don’t have children, either. All right, I’ve had enough of this. I’m calling the police.”
“I don’t have so much money on me! I can go and fetch it if you-”
“I don’t think so. I even think you’ve got enough money on you. You just want to get out of here, don’t you? In which case I just might tell you what I know about you. Your name is Max Travkin, twenty-four, and you have a serious gambling problem. You bet on sports, don’t you? You’re also a convicted felon.”
Trrrrrr! Trrrrrr! That was Boris who’d unsheathed her long-untrimmed claws and began clawing the couch with a dreadful ripping sound.
No idea whether it was her claws, Richie’s fangs or my high Charisma figures but Max dialed a number on his phone and spoke to someone, asking them to bring the money.
I looked out the window. A young guy got out of a car parked next to the playground and headed for my house. I paused, weighing up the risks, then decided to play it safe.
“Alik!” I called out of the window. “Alik!”
Hearing my voice, Alik woke up and sprang from his bench in the pavilion, looking around himself. Finally he saw me.
“Mind coming up for a second?” I shouted. “I’m at number 204! Eighth floor!”
“I’m on my way!” he shouted back.
Soon I heard the sound of the elevator doors opening on the landing outside. The doorbell rang.
I motioned Max to follow me and went to answer the door. The guy from the car stood outside. Alik hovered behind his back, scratching his belly under his wife beater vest.
“Whassup, Phil?” he asked. “Problems?”
“Nah. Come in. Need to talk.”
The guy from the car (Rustam Abdullaev, age 19, social status: student) looked around anxiously. Alik shouldered him out of his way and walked in.
I turned to the student. “So, Rustam? You’ve got the money?”
The student looked askance at Max who nodded his affirmation.
“Here,” he handed me the bank notes.
“Excellent. To the left!” I slammed the door in his face and counted the money. “That’s right. Forty grand as agreed. The computer is yours. Alik, come to the kitchen, man, let’s have lunch together. You like pasta Navy style?[7]”
Alik perked up. “I like pasta in any shape or form. Especially Navy style.”
I helped Max collect the cables and pack them into a plastic bag, adding the headset, the Kargath Bladefist mouse pad and the multi-button gaming mouse for good measure.
“Chin up, man,” I said, opening the door. “You’ll still get a good profit on it. See you.”
Max handed the heavy 50-pound desktop tower to his student partner. The student staggered toward the elevator with Max in his wake lugging the monitor and the plastic bag.
They climbed into the cabin. The elevator doors closed.
How strange. I wasn’t at all sorry to see the last of my trusty old PC. When I’d bought it a year and a half ago, I was happy as the proverbial pig. Its out-of-this-world settings turned any game into a breeze even with maxed-out graphics. No more slide shows on a raid! I remembered an old PC I used to have, when I’d force myself to look down at the floor whenever the graphics card lagged, trying to visualize all the colorful paraphernalia of VFX emitted by a couple of dozen wizards, warlocks, shamans, paladins, priests and other such spell-casting folk.
And now I wasn’t even upset. Later I might buy myself a laptop. In the meantime it wouldn’t do me any harm to stay computer free for a while.
Why would I even need it? I had cutting-edge twenty-second century wetware uploaded to my brain!
Also, it made the task of moving house much easier. I didn’t have to lug a 50-pound monster around anymore.
I slid the wad of money into my pocket. Good riddance.
Immediately, a new message popped up.
Congratulations! You’ve received a new skill level!
Skill name: Vending
Current level: 5
XP received: 500
500 XP per level — was it a lot? I needed the XP status bar really badly now. I was desperate to find out how much I had left till next level.
Task Status: Finance my new start in life
Task completed!
XP received: 20 pt.
+5% to Satisfaction
I lingered, reveling in the moment. I wouldn’t mind more of the same.
Actually, things had worked out really well. The prompt sale, the fact that I hadn’t been ripped off, even my leveling of Vending just in time for my first day working as a sales rep... was I really sure I’d invested the extra point into Strength and not Luck?
Finally, I awoke from my reverie. I had Alik to take care of. I walked into the kitchen.
He’d already poured the pasta and the sauce into the large heavy skillet my mother-in-law had rejected, and was busy warming it up.
We ate in silence. Alik shoveled mouthfuls of pasta into his mouth with one hand using the other to soak up oil from the skillet with a piece of bread. After a while, he leaned against the back of his chair and emitted a contented sigh. “Phew...”
“Have you had enough?”
He pricked up his ears. “Why? Have you got something else?”
“Only tea and cookies.”
“Why didn’t you say so! Cookies and tea, far out! You don’t have any milk, by any chance?”
“Why, do you like milk with your tea?”
“Of course!” Alik sprang back to his feet, eager to put the kettle on, but I forced him back down.
“You’re my guest,” I said. “I’ll make the tea now. Only I don’t have any milk. Sorry about that.”
We drank our tea to the accompaniment of his army stories and tales of his failed wedding. In the end, I laid four bank notes of five grand each on the table in front of him — the “compensation” I’d received from sneaky Max.
“It’s twenty grand,” I said. “Take it. You pay it back when you can. If you can.”
I didn’t count on him paying it back to me. Easy come, easy go. But to him it could make all the difference.
He stared at the money in disbelief, afraid of even touching it. “Are you serious?”
“Of course. I can’t help you find a job so I thought I’d do t
his instead. And now I’m really sorry but I have things to do...”
“He’s sorry!” Alik roared, springing to his feet and giving me a crushing hug.
Your Reputation with Romuald “Alik” Zhukov has improved!
Current Reputation: Respect 10/120
Another message followed the first one,
You’ve received +1 to Charisma!
Current Charisma: 13
You’ve received 1000 pt. XP for successfully leveling up a main characteristic!
Oh wow. I hadn’t expected that at all. How cool was that? I must have done something truly special today if the game system had decided to shower me with enough XP to make the next Charisma level.
My improved Reputation must have had something to do with it too. And the mysterious stat booster.
Strangely enough, I was happier now than I’d ever been playing the Game. Which was understandable. These stats would be with me for life. I wasn’t going to lose them as a result of some stupid system update.
I saw Alik to the door. He shook my hand long and hard before leaving. Finally, I closed the door behind him.
And then, bang.
Hidden quest alert: A Friend in Need. Quest completed!
XP received: 300
+15% to Satisfaction
It felt so good I could barely stand on my feet. It only lasted a couple of seconds — but my brain had already processed this pleasure fix and was craving more of the same.
I really needed to capitalize on my lucky streak. Time to find myself a new home.
I started checking the classified ads, marking down those that sounded interesting and copying the owners’ phone numbers. I wasn’t in the mood to go and view them now. Not quite yet. I still had time to move out.
Today, I had work clothes to buy, workout gear to choose and a decent gym to locate. I still had to finish the book I’d been reading, give the TV to Yanna’s father, walk Richie... how was I supposed to do all that in one day? If my workday started at 8 a.m., I’d have to get up at six — five even, if I wanted to fit some running in. Which meant I had to be in bed by 10 p.m.
I set some money aside, enough to rent a new place and last me until my first paycheck. “Boris, I leave you in charge!” I said, getting ready to go out to the mall. “Richie, you’re the security guard tonight.”
The two were already lying within a couple feet of each other, following me with their gazes. Apparently, they’d come to some sort of compromise.
Richie had gained quite a bit of weight. Very soon his greedy chops wouldn’t fit on my smartphone screen. All this time, he’d kept finishing off Boris’ food and never stopped begging. Whenever I sat down to eat, he was there looking at me with those miserable eyes as if saying, “Please spare a scrap for a hungry old mutt...” Thanks to my generous offerings — but hopefully not only thanks to them — my Reputation with him had already risen to Reverence.
I took a minibus to the mall. As I rode, I tried to identify everything my gaze chanced upon: cars and passers-by, cats, birds and inanimate objects. It served two purposes, leveling Insight and adding to my people database. You never knew when it might come in handy.
I spent some quality time in boutiques, looking for clothes with decent stat bonuses. I lingered next to an expensive business suit by one of the famous makes. The full set gave you +6 to Charisma as well as considerable bonuses to Communication Skills, Vending, Seduction and Leadership.
The price tag was absolutely exorbitant. I could, in fact, go back home and use the money I’d set aside, but then what? What was I supposed to do afterward, seductive, charismatic and broke? Chat up single ladies in sleazy bars hoping to find a place to crash for the night?
In the perfume store, I couldn’t help myself any longer. I bought some aftershave offering +1 to both Charisma and Seduction. Very befitting, considering my newly-acquired debuff. Having said that, the tasks I’d completed had more than made up for its downsides.
I finally bought a track suit and matching running shoes by a well-known brand name. The set gave +1 to all physical stats as well as Charisma. Okay, +1 to Agility or even Stamina I could understand, but Strength? How on earth would wearing this undoubtedly functional set of gear make me stronger? Apart from its cooling and self-ventilating properties, did it also affect my self-confidence or motivation? No idea.
I also bought two nice shirts for work, a pair of light summer pants and a belt. Their bonuses were negligible — same package of Charisma, Vending and Communication Skills — but combined with my own stats, even these crumbs began to add up.
I also took a chance to stock up on socks and underwear.
As I continued shopping around, I’d made a remarkable discovery. In the long run, there was no difference in stats between mass market items and expensive brand names. What did make a difference was how the item looked on me. The same shirt in two different sizes could either add or detract Charisma points. Which was logical, really. Could anyone look charismatic in a shirt three sizes too big? As a clown yeah, maybe. Then again, a clown was supposed to be funny. Or sad. Or cute. Was there even such a thing as a charismatic clown? Probably not. Unless your name was Vladimir Zhirinovsky[8].
Also, it went without saying that clothes stats had to match the wearer’s identity. This wasn’t a game. The bonuses coming with a mini skirt wouldn’t do a male owner any favors.
Finally I left the mall. The system paused, making sure I was done with my purchases, then rewarded me with 10 XP and +2% to Satisfaction for completing the task.
I took a minibus home, once again trying to ID everything in sight. Yanna’s dad had already called me asking when he could come to collect the proverbial Idiot Box. We agreed to meet up at my place a bit later. I still had to pop into the gym to buy a membership. I was itching to close the task and start leveling up as early as next morning.
The gym membership turned out to be more expensive than I’d thought. Still, it included a free trial and a consultation with a coach. Also, I could always pay on a pay-per-visit basis without having to shell out for a monthly plan. Which was probably a better option if I failed to find a new place in the same neighborhood.
Despite this minor hiccup, the system duly closed the task, rewarding me with 10 XP. No Satisfaction bonuses this time.
I came back home just in time. My father-in-law was already waiting in front of my apartment. Richie behind the door was barking in short weighty bursts, very believably impersonating Gandalf’s You... Shall... Not... Pass!
Yanna’s father was a regular hard-working guy, balding and on the brink of retirement. You could always count on him to join you for a drink and a heart-to-heart. Whenever Yanna and I had had a falling out, I sensed his silent support behind my back. As a fellow man, he understood me — but as a father, he was obliged to take his daughter’s side. He just loved her too much and didn’t seem to mind his wife’s bossing ways. Also, he wanted grandchildren. Shame it hadn’t quite worked out.
“Ah, Phil,” he said, noticing me.
I shook his proffered hand. “Hi, Mr. Orlov.”
“I’m sorry it came to this.”
“So am I,” I said, opening the door.
For a brief moment, I meant it. I was sorry it had had to come to this. Really.
I unplugged the TV from the cable, lifted it from its stand and helped Mr. Orlov to wrap it in a blanket and tie it up with a piece of string. He was a provident guy. I would never have thought of bringing that sort of thing along.
I helped him to carry the TV to the elevator and pressed the button.
Entering the elevator, he shrugged sort of apologetically. “Don’t get mad at them. Women! I’ll see you around.”
I took Richie out for a quick walk, then cooked a humble bachelor’s dinner of jacket potatoes and meatballs with some sliced cucumbers on the side. Now the apartment looked completely empty. I only had the dog and the cat to keep me company. Both were with me now in the kitchen.
As I cooked the meatba
lls, I curiously studied the stats on each of them. What a shame I couldn’t see their contents! Were they really “beef, 50%, pork, 35%” as the packaging claimed?
Just I’d finished cooking them, I was blinded with an abundance of new messages. Bang! Bang! Bang!
Congratulations! You’ve received a new skill level!
Skill name: Cooking
Current level: 3
XP received: 500
You’ve received a new system skill level!
Skill name: Insight
Current level: 2
XP received: 1000
You’ve unblocked new emotional characteristics!
Emotional characteristics available: Mood, Spirit, Willpower, Confidence
Task Status: Level up Insight
Task completed!
XP received: 200 pt.
+15% to Satisfaction
Would you like to see the skill’s full details?
Just as I heaved a gasp of ecstasy, a new buff message appeared,
Happiness I
Your Satisfaction levels have exceeded 100%!
+50% to Vigor
+1 to all main characteristics
Duration: as long as Satisfaction levels exceed 100%
Now I began to understand what people felt when they said they could fly with joy. I’d never experienced anything like that — not after my first sex, not even when I’d attained my highest WoW achievements. Even when Yanna and I had begun dating, it hadn’t felt like this despite me being madly and happily in love.
The excitement had completely put me off my food. I munched mechanically on my meatballs simply to avoid getting the Hunger debuff.
As I ate, I studied the detailed description for Insight II.
Insight II
Skill type: Passive
- Allows you to receive advanced information about your characteristics and skills, including XP, characteristic, and skill progress bars
- Allows you to register and enter the following additional secondary characteristics: Mood, Spirit, Willpower, Confidence, and Self-Control
Restart (Level Up Book #1) LitRPG Series Page 15
