The Way of the Clan 2 (World of Valdira)

by Dem Mikhaylov

  ‘You should have visited your ill friend,’ Gosha grumbled , ‘Or at least sent a string bag with flowers and oranges. Or sour apples.’

  ‘I didn’t have time,’ I didn’t agree with the accusation. ‘I was hiding Keira.’

  ‘Oh, yes. But you did have time to buzz with the old friends in a restaurant, so no problem. But to visit a friend in the hospital… ‘I was hiding Keira...’ By the way, thank you. For me and for Keira. Since I owe you a good bonus!’

  ‘Don’t worry about that, Gosh, I didn’t do it because of money.’

  ‘I know. Okay, we’ll discuss it later. Now about Keira. Today in the afternoon, maximum tomorrow morning she will leave you. We’ve sorted out all the problems, scrolled their balls counterclockwise. So be patient a little longer…’

  ‘Actually I’m calling you to ask about another thing,’ I chuckled glancing at the door of the room where Keira was sleeping. ‘It’s about…’

  ‘Do you need money?’

  ‘Yup, but game money not "real". And not only money. I'm sorry for bothering you, but damn I really need it.’

  ‘Stop messing around, Ros. What exactly do you want?’

  ‘At least a hundred of gold coins as pocket money and a dozen of scrolls from Algora to any location and back,’ I blurted out in one fell swoop, and even squinted because of my own impudence ‘Well, and if there is some armor for a combat mage of the twentieth level. Not epic, of course, I'll be happy.’

  ‘For the twentieth?’ the banker's voice sounded disappointed. ‘Have you crawled up to the twentieth and that’s all?’

  ‘No, a little higher. Up to the twenty-third.’

  ‘There is small choice in rotten apples. Okay... by the way Keira is not leveling up at all. So, you want a bag of gold, a number of ports and equipment for the twentieth level mage. Well, I’ll do everything, don’t worry. When will you appear the game and where?’

  ‘Right now. In Selen village. It's nearby the…’

  ‘We’ll find it,’ Gosha interrupted me. Then started sniffing in the phone obviously thinking about something and finally added, ‘Enter Valdira in about twenty-thirty minutes and wait at the respawn location. I'll arrange everything, and send you a free clan-mate. He will give you an investment package, so to say.’

  ‘Thank you, Gosha!’ I was delighted.

  ‘It's my pleasure. We are doing common business,’ Gosha grumbled ‘But, please, start accelerating. If you understand that you can’t do it, tell me. I’ll send you to the clan location for leveling up.

  ‘Got it.’

  ‘Ok, Ros, I must go now. Too many things to sort out.’

  ‘Go? You are in the hospital, aren’t you?’

  ‘Yes, I am. It’s a turn of phrase.’

  ‘Ok! Thank you again and get well soon!’

  ‘See you.’

  The mobile clicked and the connection was broken.

  I didn’t want to wait for half an hour. Otherwise, I I couldn’t survive that headache. Burning my lips I drank up the coffee, poured some more water quickly and after visiting the bathroom, climbed into the cocoon.

  And now I was feeling bliss, sitting on a wooden bench in the shade of a mighty oak, and from time to time glancing at the stone disk of the respawn location recessed in the ground.

  I saw the needed "investor" at once. As well as the entire village. Sure, such monsters as two hundred and fourteenth-level gamers were rare guests in this province. Especially a real Amazon riding a huge black bull. She was naked except for a few tiny scraps of spotty skin on the private parts of her body and a lot of jewelry. I didn’t noticed any weapon.

  After "parking" her pet right at the bench, she jumped off quickly, stared at me and nodded, satisfied, ‘Hi, Rosgard. Are you waiting for me?’

  ‘Yes, I guess,’ I nodded uncertainly ‘Are you a free clan-mate that Gosha was talking about?

  ‘Free? Nope, I’m very busy! I’ve been pulled from Misty Jungle where I am guarding loggers. Take it! I must go, until beasts kill all my workers. Trade.’

  I barely had time to activate the item transmission window when the amazon, by the way, her name was Blinding Dawn, hurried me impatiently, ‘Come on, come on! Agree!’

  ‘I agreed,‘ I said, pressing the confirmation icon. Tinkle. And I became the owner of something. I didn’t know what I received because everything happened too fast.

  ‘That’s all! Good luck, baby Rosie!’ the amazon waved good-bye, easily jumping on the back of the black monster.

  ‘Take care, Aunt Dawn,’ I shouted at the back of the rapidly retreating bull. Like a living and horned torpedo that you’d better never meet.

  ‘Is she your aunt?’ a slack-jawed girl - nineteenth-level gamer squeaked, sitting on a nearby bench.

  ‘Well, not the uncle, that’s for sure,’ I shrugged and walked away from the park. I needed an isolated place.

  ‘Wait, stranger Rosgard!’

  I turned and looked questioningly at the village guard dashing towards me. Two other guards were pursuing the amazon.

  ‘Do you know her? Is she your friend?’ the guard stretched his hand in the direction of the receding cloud of dust. The bull peeled out as if it was a Ferrari.

  ‘I’ve never seen her before,’ I have refuted the charges and walked away. I doubt that the guards will be able to catch up the offender who didn’t ask for permission to enter the village. Besides, she's just playing catch-up with the guards. Once she gets bored, she will use the teleport scroll. Misty Jungle is far away to get there by bull.

  Moving in a fairly deserted corner, I looked into my bag. And whistled in amazement.

  Fifteen teleport scrolls allowing to travel around the continent with an empty graph for the destination. Enter any location, and you’ll go there immediately.

  Five hundred gold coins. Yes... when I checked a second time, it appeared that there was no error. My cash balance increased by exactly five hundred heavy gold coins.

  "Fireball" scrolls of the highest rank – five pieces. I had already studied the spell of the first rank providing "flaming coal."

  "Diamond studs" scroll of the highest rank – two pieces.

  “Rotten swamp" scroll of the highest rank – three pieces.

  "Hailstone" scroll of the highest rank one piece.

  Phew...

  "But clothes?! Where are the clothes?!” the dissatisfied hamster sitting inside me screamed shrilly. “They stole the clothes that Gosha promised. I will destroy all of you... "

  "Husk!" I shushed him mentally closing the bag by the hands shaking because of greed.

  Before I had to chance to analyze the situation, the announcement about a message from Blinding Dawn flashed with a slight jingle in front of my eyes.

  Baby, sorry! I completely forgot! We don’t have any outfit for your level in the small clan vault. And I don’t have time for shopping. You better do it yourself. I gave you money and some scrolls. I’m sure you’ll do it!’

  "You don’t have it in your small vault?" the hamster started grumbling again. "What’s the problem? Look into a big vault? Read out the entire list!"

  But I wrote something quite different in response:

  Got it. Thank you again, Dawn. Good luck in Misty Jungle!

  Without thinking, I took out a teleport scroll from the bag and, swiping my finger over the empty box, whispered, ‘Algora.’

  Without waiting for the rainbow iridescence and outbreaks I closed my eyes, and when I raised my eyelids, I was standing on a busy city street.

  Hello, Algora, I am back to your eternal feast of life.

  I had no time for admiring and, throwing the bag over my shoulder, I quickly oriented and turned into a narrow lane that connected two parallel streets. Just ten minutes on foot, and I found myself at the gates of the magic guild. It's time to upgrade the ranks of the spells I have, maybe I’ll have some other goodies.

  I made about thirty steps deeper into the alley, when I heard a muffled voice, ‘Hey... Rosgard, wait a
minute!’

  I stopped abruptly, turned my head around, but I could not see anything apart from stone walls. Did it seem to me? Did Hangover find me in Valdira and even lead to an auditory hallucination?

  ‘Look down, look down!’

  I looked at my feet and found myself standing on an iron grate of drain, nearly stepping on someone's dirty fingers squeezing the iron rods.

  ‘Yuh...’ I blurted leaping back ‘What the hell...’

  ‘Don’t go away, Rosgard! Help me! Please!’

  ‘Who are you?’ I asked from a safe distance. ‘Are you a “local"?’

  ‘What are you talking about? If you mean class, I'm a thief... thief-to-be.’

  ‘It means you’re a gamer,’ I exhaled with relief taking a step forward.

  I really thought that a werewolf was going to come out of the drain.

  Leaning over the bars, I peered into the gloomy half-hidden owner of the dirty fingers and read the information. Indeed, a gamer. Sixteenth level. His nickname was peacefully blinking green. Sneakman. What?

  ‘Sneakman?’ I sounded hesitant being afraid to make a mistake.

  ‘Yeah! I'm a thief, sneaking back and forth. Hence the name,’ the dirty creature boasted trying to raise his body higher. ‘I’ve been hanging here for two hours, but nobody passes here. One gamer emerged, I gave him a finger waving and shouted, but he ran away for some reason.

  ‘I can guess why! Hmm...’

  ‘Help me, huh?

  ‘How?’

  ‘Move the grid! I’ll pull it from the bottom, but I’ve tried it but I’m not strong enough. There is a well under the grid, I hardly got on it. The walls are very slippery, I fell down four times until I managed to reach the grid. So now I’m hanging here...’

  Carefully examining the grid, I threw up my hands in frustration, ‘Sorry, bro! Even two guys won’t raise it.’

  ‘Why?’

  ‘The grid is walled in the stone,’ I said, ‘tightly. No chance. How did you get there?’

  ‘I fell in a few days ago...’ Sneakman uttered darkly.

  ‘A few days ago?! Have you been in the drain for several days?!’

  ’Yeah... That's a shit! Damn, damn! Such bad luck! Fuf... Calm down, Sneakman, calm down, don’t give up, bro, hold on... Oh! Rosgard! Listen! Can you kill me! I'm at the surface, so I’ll be sent to the city respawn location! One murder and I will be free!’

  ‘This is a peaceful area. Fights between gamers are impossible. I won’t be able to hit you. But they color me because of the attempted attack. And how do you think I can kill you? There are only three fingers out... Sorry, bro! Are you a beginner?’

  ‘Yeah...’

  ‘Look for another way out, bro,’ I advised compassionately. ‘The drain is very big, there must be a lot of exits. But never go deeper, they say, there is something nasty crawling...’

  ‘Yes, I’ve already known about that! I’ve seen such a... shit!’

  ‘Study the map on the forum, ask some questions, ask for for help. Somebody will definitely show you the way out.’

  Something... mumbled or muttered, I don’t even know how to describe the sound and, interrupting my lecture, I asked in surprise, ‘What are you doing?’

  ‘Yes, it is not me. It’s Crawler, he is hungry again. Crawler, hush! Okay, thank you, Rosgard. If not for you, I would have tried to move the grid. I didn’t know that it was walled! I'll go. Ah! Listen! Do you have any food? And maybe a jar. Not for free, sure, I can buy. I found here two dozens of coppers. And what about shoes? Have you got any? Mine just broke apart because of acid pools.’

  ‘Just a second,’ I said inspecting my bag. ‘Well... I haven’t got much food, but I can give you all. Hopefully, it will be possible through the grid as his fingers are sticking out. Open trade! And keep your money!’

  Quickly checking my stocks, I "threw" into the trade window all my healing potions, a few pieces of meat that have already begun deteriorating. I took off my slightly worn boots and added them. Then thought a little and stuffed there the entire set for cooking over fire with a flask. I have got money, I can buy everything I’ll need.

  ‘Accept!’

  Twinkle. Sneakman’s happy voice confirmed the success of the transaction, ‘It worked out! Thank you so much!’ the dirty fingers squeezing the bars opened, and the gamer disappeared into the darkness with a long cry.

  ‘Good luck!’ I shouted into the drain well and scratching my head thoughtfully, walked on, stepping barefoot on the cobblestones.

  Yup, what a shit can happen…

  Well, certainly I could give him a teleport scroll, but... I’ll find the way out without it. After having wandered for a couple of hours, well, maybe a little longer, and then he will definitely find the way out.

  Giving a stranger extremely expensive teleport scrolls is too much.

  Besides, he hasn’t asked me for a scroll...

  He is Sneakman... so he’ll find the way out. I don’t have to worry about him!

  A magician sitting behind the green door wasn’t impressed by my look.

  He glanced at my bare feet, then opened his thick tome on the correct page unmistakably, and said briefly,

  ‘Touch the edge of the sheet!’

  As soon as I did it, the old man nuzzled the page and carefully studied the runes that appeared, then chuckled with content.

  ‘Very well, young man, very well,’ and then added firmly, ‘but it could be better. "The call of snake"… you studied it enough to master the second rank, but for "thorny hedge" and "sticky vine"... there is nothing to rejoice about. Do you want to upgrade the "call" to the second rank?

  ‘Yes, I do, dear teacher,’ II said hurriedly.

  ‘Five gold coins.’

  ‘Here you are.

  ‘Touch the sheet again.’

  The spell pictogram depicting a tiny snake shimmered softly and changed the image showing a more well-fed snake instead of small one. Good-bye, snake with funny beady eyes and hello, serpent.

  Achievement!

  You've got the achievement "Natural Magician" of the third rank!

  See the table of the obtained achievements in the settings of your character.

  Your reward for the achievement + 0.6% to the strength and duration of any spell of the given class.

  Current bonus: +1%

  ‘You’ve mastered two spells of natural magic of the second rank, and made another step to becoming a master magician, young man,’ the old wizard croaked kindly, squinting at the greenish page tome, where a new line appeared. ‘And you can learn a useful skill. I can suggest you "Nature power” of the second rank, "Understanding Nature" or "Merging with nature".

  ‘What does "Merging with nature” give, noble teacher?’

  ‘This skill will increase your chances of creating a successful natural magic spell on any terrain and it will also provide some resistance to the same magic if it is used against you. In addition, you are more likely to be able to find medical plants.’

  ‘Then I’ll choose the "Nature Power" of the second rank.

  ‘Good choice, young man! Only a bad magician does not seek destructional force of his spells... but don’t forget about protection.

  So I didn’t understand whether he scolded me and complimented...

  ‘You are to pay ten gold coins for the improvement of skills rank called "Nature Power".’

  ‘Oh, sure.’

  After paying I touched the sheet of paper again and happily stared at an informational message:

  You have successfully studied the skill "Nature Power" of the second rank.

  Damage from natural magic spells has increased by 4% (total 7%)

  Duration of spells of natural magic has increased by 4% (total 7%)

  Well, I’ve got all goodies possible here, it's time leave.

  While visiting the elemental magician I’ve upgraded two spells to the second rank. "Glowing Coal" has become a "Flaming" with little chance of burning the enemy and increased damage. "Ic
e pin" turned into "ice shard".

  And immediately I received two achievements:

  Achievement!

  You’ve got the achievement "Elemental Mage" of the second rank!

  See the table of the obtained achievements in the settings of your character.

  Your reward for the achievement: + 0.3% to the strength and duration of any spell of the given class.

  Current bonus: + 0.4%

  And...

  Achievement!

  You’ve got the achievement "Elemental Mage" of the third rank!

  See the table of the achievements obtained in the settings of your character.

  Your reward for reaching + 0.6% to the strength and duration of any spell of the given class.

  Current bonus: +1%

  Accordingly, the magician invited me to select several available skills and I opted for the "Elemental power” increasing its to the second rank at once. This skill is similar to "Nature Power". It increases the damage and duration of elemental spells.

  To my deep regret, I was offered no "generic" skills to reduce the mana expenses or to increase the number of mana points. So I had nothing to do but finish my upgrade as a mage.

  In total I spent thirty gold coins at the Elemental Department, that made my wallet considerably lighter.

  After falling out into the fresh air, I smiled happily. It's nice to feel rich. And it’s nice to know that I can go to a shop and buy almost any outfit – for my lowl level, of course.

  Walking to the central square of Algora, I contributed free points of characteristics, all without an exception into intelligence.

  The character’s current level: 23.

  Basic characteristics of the character:

  Strength - 16

  Intelligence - 60

  Agility -11

  Stamina- 17

  Wisdom - 17

  Available contribution points: 0

  As soon as the intelligence reached sixty points, I received a long-awaited achievement.

  Achievement!

  You’ve got the achievement "Egghead" of the second rank!

  See the table of the obtained achievements in the settings of your character.

  Your reward for the achievement:

  +1.5% to the chance to identify objects.