Allows you to convert secondary skill points to primary ones at a 2 to 1 ratio, with the consequent deletion of the secondary skill.
Cooldown: 3 days
Warning! In order to activate the skill, an undisturbed 12-hour period of sleep is required. Please ensure your location is safe. You are recommended to adopt a prone position.
Skill points available: 1
Accept/Decline
Oh. I’d completely forgotten that unblocking the skill would render me comatose for hours. I glanced at the clock. It was almost 3 p.m. That meant I might have to reschedule my gym session, as well as my date with Vicky. Leveling took priority.
I dialed Vicky’s number. “Hi there,” I began subtly. “How’s it goin’?”
“Hiiii!” Vicky’s cheerful voice replied. “I’m fine, thank you! How was your dinner with your parents?”
I smiled. “It was okay. A family get-together, if you know what I mean. I’m calling you about tonight...”
“Have you chosen a movie yet?”
“Not really. Actually, I meant to tell you...”
I could hear her hold her breath.
This was all wrong. It just felt wrong.
“I haven’t chosen a movie, no,” I said. “Honestly, I don’t care. Any movie will do as long as we watch it together.”
“Likewise,” she mouthed.
“I’ll come pick you up at seven.”
“Okay. I’ll be ready.”
I sat there staring at the phone. A great feeling of relief flooded over me. You should always keep your word. Especially when it concerns little children and those who fall for you. Any such disappointment is like a big black smudge tainting their colorful inner world. Who knows which unkept promises would become the last stroke which could color it black?
Also, I had to be honest with myself too. If I’d made a decision to go to the gym, I had to do it. Also, if there was one thing my jogging experience had taught me it was that starting was the hardest bit. Once you eventually did start, the rest was plain sailing. And then you’d be happy you’d done it.
I did a bit of mental calculation to see how long it would take me to pick up Vicky and take her to the nearest theater. I checked its showtimes and couldn’t believe my eyes. They were running Warcraft, of all things! I’d missed it when it was first released as I’d been lying in bed with a serious case of fever. And later, I just hadn’t had the heart to watch it on the computer screen: it felt like a sacrilege.
I suffered a chain of flashbacks. My first steps through Elwynn Forest. Me in Plaguelands, fighting Scourge. Our Illidan raids in Outland and the Northrend campaign. Azeroth, destroyed by Deathwing. The mysterious Pandaria and the Orcish Horde of Draenor. Battling demons in the Broken Isles...
Not the best choice for the first date, I know, but.. I couldn’t just delete twelve years’ worth of gaming experience from memory. I really wanted to see how they’d adapted it all for the screen.
I needed to talk to Vicky when we got to the theater. She might actually agree to see it.
I checked a few online articles and videos about how to improve Agility. Then I added those admittedly simple exercises (like standing on one foot) to my workout program. I had to do them daily, either at home or in the gym. Now that I’d upped my Stamina twice, Agility was my weakest point.
Task Status: Find out how to improve Agility
Task completed!
XP received: 20 pt.
+1% to Satisfaction
I still had some time left, so I started checking online articles about the best martial arts for street fighting. I didn’t aspire to anything more than that. All I needed was some self-defense tips. Although opinions were divided, most experts seemed to be in favor of boxing, Muay Tai and combat SAMBO[22]. The pros of boxing lay in its extreme simplicity and efficiency. Muay Tai was characterized by the combined use of all body parts and its efficiency at both long and middle range as well as in a clinch. And the fortes of combat SAMBO were in the fact that it was a complex system which had borrowed the best techniques from a great variety of martial arts, from wrestling, punching and kicking to submission locks and chokeholds.
As a total dummy, I should probably start with boxing. It wasn’t as esoteric or difficult to practice as the other two.
The moment I made that decision, I received another system message,
Task Status: Choose a martial art to level up combat skills
Task completed!
XP received: 30 pt.
+1% to Satisfaction
Excellent. I was now halfway through to my next level 8.
XP points left until the next social status level: 3410/8000
Now I could finally go to the gym.
I packed my bag, left Boris in charge of the coop and walked to the gym.
The practice came as a pleasant surprise. The same weights I’d struggled with the week before seemed very light today. My coach Alexander added a couple of small ten-pound weights to my bench press. Easy! Hey, where’re my Strength points?
“This is normal,” Alexander smiled at my enthusiasm. “This is what happens when you start training. For the first six months to a year you can expect crazy improvement. It’s quite possible to triple or even quadruple your initial results.”
Once I was done with his routine, I remembered my own: the Agility training. I headed for the room next door, filled with girls busy doing yoga and stretching exercises. Slightly embarrassed under their surprised glances, I performed the entire routine, about twenty minutes in total.
It took me another twenty minutes to take a shower, get dressed and drink a protein shake, after which I hurried straight home. Time was running short, and I still had Richie to walk in case I didn’t sleep at home tonight.
“Come on, Richie, get on with it! Chop chop!”
He wasn’t in a hurry, though. The pooch took his time sniffing every tree trunk and blade of grass in the park. Just my luck. What difference did it make to him where to do his business?
I took a picture of him and sent it to Vicky with a message,
If I’m late, it’s all his fault.
Aww, he’s so cute! she immediately texted back. Don’t hurry, we have plenty of time.
Her message was pleasantly devoid of all the pretentious emojis which was a welcome change from Yanna.
After another half-hour, having sniffed his fill of all sorts of unsavory things, Richie finally did his dirty business. I took him home, calling a taxi as I walked. At home I stuffed a couple of 5,000 ruble notes[23] into my wallet just in case and walked back downstairs.
Had I still smoked, I would have smoked a cigarette, just to add an extra touch of indulgence to this fine evening. My mood was.. how can I explain... you know, it’s like having butterflies in your stomach in anticipation of seeing someone very special.
Yagoza’s HQ pavilion was empty. I wondered how Alik was doing at his new job. Would he be able to stay in the rut of a daily working routine without relapsing?
That’s when he showed up.
Not Alik, no. The fat guy.
Chapter Twenty-One. Painting the Town Red
“Friday, Muslims don’t work. Saturday, Jews don’t work. Sunday, Christians have a day off. And on Monday, you have a revolution!”
Vladimir Zhirinovsky
FATSO DID INDEED live up to his moniker. Even his tent-size T-shirt failed to conceal his flabby belly spilling over his shorts elastic.
I momentarily tensed up. The puffy slits that he had for eyes looked very serious. I had no doubt he was heading toward me.
A yellow exclamation mark hovered over his head: he had a quest to give me.
Yeah, right. What might that be? “Lend Fatso some money for a bottle of vodka or buy him some alcohol of your choice. Reward: 5 pt. Reputation with Fatso”? Or what was it?
“Good morning, sir,” he said.
I just loved it. They’re always polite when they want something from you.
Still, tonight he
didn’t at all resemble the drunken bully I’d met the day before. He was clean shaven, his hair combed. I even caught a whiff of some cheap deodorant.
“Morning, Rus,” I said.
“I’d like to talk to you,” he faltered. “It’s Alik... he told me where to find you.”
“Oh,” I checked my phone for the taxi I’d called. It was already nearing my house. “Why?”
“Sorry, man... I’d like to apologize. And have a few words.”
“Actually, I’m just about to leave. I have an appointment.”
“Sure,” he hunched up, suddenly listless. He reminded me of a deflated balloon. “I’m sorry,” he turned round and walked back, retracing his steps.
I watched him leave. Suddenly I felt terribly sorry for him. His Vitality was below 60%. Could my rejection become the last straw in his already miserable life?
Besides, I just didn’t like having unsolved problems and unfinished situations.
“Hey,” I called after him. “What did you want to talk to me about?”
He hurried back, swinging his fat hips in a most ungainly way.
“I just wanted to apologize,” he gasped, trying to catch his breath, “for what I said to you last night. I’m sorry. I didn’t know what I was doing.”
As he continued to explain, I realized what my own mistake had been last night. It had actually been my fault all along. When I’d approached Alik like an old friend, I’d made it clear to the rest I was one of them. Fatso had apparently thought I was one of Alik’s buddies and decided to play a prank on me to “punish” me for being late to their “party”. And when I’d punched him, he’d apparently “acted on reflex”, he now explained.
The cab was already waiting for me.
“It’s all right,” I said. “No hard feelings. Anything else? Just spit it out, man, I really must be going.”
“I’m looking for a job,” he mouthed breathlessly, as if afraid that Yagoza might overhear him and condemn him for such a shameful desire. “Alik said you helped him. Could you help me too, by any chance? I have a family, you know.. I just don’t know what to do anymore...”
“What can you do?”
“Anything! I’m good with my hands, you know. I can fix anything. I’m not sure if I can lift weights though. I’ve got a bad back,” he cast me a guilty glance as if his back presented an insurmountable obstacle to his job hunt. “One thing I can do well is plumbing. That’s something I’m really good at. I won’t let you down, here’s a tooth[24]!”
A new quest box appeared in my mental view.
In the Gutter
Help your offender Ruslan “Fatso” Rimsky to find permanent employment
Rewards:
XP: 200 pt.
Reputation with Ruslan “Fatso” Rimsky, unemployed: 50 pt.
Current Reputation: Indifference 0/30
Why did I receive more XP for him than for the identical quest issued by Alik? Should I open my own recruitment agency, maybe? That was something worth considering.
I clicked Accept.
Now what could I do for him? I could check all the plumbing vacancies in town, I suppose. I could collect KIDD points on all potential employers and run them through a quick search to see which one was more likely to hire him. That couldn’t be too difficult.
“Come to see me tomorrow evening, okay?” I said. “I’ll see what I can do. I’m in number 204.”
He threw himself on me and gave me a big hug, pressing me to his soft, ample bosom. “Thank you so much, sir!”
“Nothing to thank me for yet,” I wormed out of his embrace. “See you tomorrow. And please go easy on the booze. If they give you the boot, I won’t help you again.”
“Not a drop!” he flicked his front tooth[25].
Well, well. Famous last words. Never mind. The main thing was, I could and would help him. The rest was none of my business.
As I rode the cab, I tried to work out what was happening to me. Why did I respond so eagerly to any pleas for help these days? Was it about closing quests and earning more XP points? Or did I really want to help all those people who kept crawling out of the woodwork?
I didn’t know what to say to that. What I did know was that I probably wouldn’t have bothered to help the likes of Fatso or Alik in my old pre-interface days. Or even Marina, for that matter, despite all her cuteness, as long as I viewed her as my job competition.
Did that mean that this funny gaming system was gradually changing my very philosophy? Or was it simply my knee-jerk gaming habit of accepting each and every quest that came my way?
As the cab pulled up by Vicky’s apartment block, I realized what a patent idiot I was. I’d arrived for our date empty-handed, without as little as a bunch of flowers.
I was about to make a dash for the nearest flower shop when she walked out of the front door and beamed on seeing me.
Too late. I walked toward her.
“Hi,” I gave her a peck on the cheek.
She did the same. “Hi Phil.”
“Please forgive me. I was in such a hurry I completely forgot to get you some flowers.”
“Good!” she laughed. “Imagine how I’d have looked with them. Also, my hands would have been full.”
I took a closer look at her. She was pretty in a very wholesome way. She was wearing a pair of jeans and a plain white T-shirt. No makeup. The faint shampoo scent on her long hair was the only sign she’d actually made an effort.
I needed to stop comparing her to Yanna. That wasn’t going to take me anywhere.
“Are we off, then?” she said, pointing at the cab.
I nodded. She climbed in first, I followed.
We rode in silence. I loathed wasting time on small talk but didn’t want to discuss any serious issues in front of the driver. Whatever happened between us had to stay between us. I was happy enough that she’d reached for my hand and clenched it hard. By the end of the ride, her hand was wet.
As we rode the mall escalator, we turned to each other and asked in unison,
“What would you like to watch?”
We both laughed.
“How about Warcraft?” I offered. “I used to play the game for a long time and couldn’t wait for the movie to come out..”
I began telling her why I missed the film’s release when she interrupted me,
“Phil, please. I don’t care what we watch. It’s been ages since I went to the movies. And by the way, I used to play it too. Not the one you’re telling me about but the one where you had to build houses and armies.”
“You don’t mean it! That’s it, then! Let’s go see Warcraft!”
We were lucky to buy the last two good seats, at the center of the fifth row. The only other available seats were those on the very edge and those in the front row. They weren’t the best choice for either watching a movie nor having a romantic date.
We still had a couple of minutes left so we went to the bar and bought ourselves some coke and a large popcorn to share.
I might have to jog it off tomorrow. I had a funny feeling that my Agility would improve with some weight loss.
By the time we entered the theater, the lights were already dimmed. I walked to our seats feeling like an icebreaker, trying not to push anyone and stay on my feet without spilling any of the popcorn or coke. Vicky followed in my wake.
We’d very nearly made it to our seats when the film’s credits started, white on a black background. The theater plunged into darkness. I was forced to stop. When finally the credits had finished and the bright beginning of the movie illuminated the theater, I saw that our seats had been taken by some guys drinking beer.
“Excuse me,” I said. “I’m afraid you’ve got the wrong seats.”
“Piss off,” one of them said without looking at me. “I’m watching the movie. Plenty of empty seats around. Just go and sit there.”
And who might you be? Aha. Yuri Shamanov, age: 23, a system administrator. According to his stats, his Mood was high and so was his Intere
st in me.
And what was that status bar over there?
“Excuse me,” Vicky piped up. “These are our seats!”
People in the back rows began to hush indignantly. As we’d stopped in front of somebody else’s seats, those people weren’t too happy with the situation, either.
I turned to the screen and immediately recognized the most epic of the game’s locations familiar to everyone who’d ever played it, the one with the giant orc battling the human.
“There has been a war between orcs and humans for as long as can be remembered,” Durotan’s voice said off screen.
I focused back on Yuri. The new status bar was in fact Fear. He seemed to be afraid of me.
I focused on his buddy. That one seemed to be frightened even more. They were obviously scared they’d have to vacate the seats.
All this had happened almost instantly. I heard the Yuri guy talking tipsily back at Vicky, saying something undoubtedly rude and insulting.
I activated all of my 15 Charisma points (including the 2 pt. clothes bonus).
“Listen, you idiot,” I forced myself in front of his seat, blocking the screen view.
I was seething with righteous anger, for two reasons. Firstly, I had a lady to protect. And secondly, because I was missing the opening of the movie I’d been so looking forward to seeing. “Vacate our seats now! You too!”
No idea whether it was my tone, my words or my glare, but both of them rose silently and headed sheepishly for their own seats at the end of the row.
We took our places.
For the first time in my life, I saw the orc who’d given his name to the Horde’s new home...
I liked the film a lot, mainly because I was still nostalgic. I missed Azeroth...
“Good film,” Vicky said, as if answering my unasked question.
“Thank you so much,” I said whole-heartedly.
“What’s that for now?”
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