I nodded, giving a tortured smile. If my immediate superior was giving such transparent hints, then I must not have seen that email with my own eyes. Although, Veronica was a low-down bitch, of course!
"And now, with the introductory part over, let's talk about some other information..." Jane smiled cunningly. "Are you interested?"
"If it doesn't break corporate rules, yes," I answered carefully and repeated my initial question on how much this might run me. The girl shook her head:
"No, I'm not interested in money right now, Timothy. I am not experiencing a particular need for it. With time, I'm hoping to be made director, which would solve all my financial issues."
I couldn't believe my ears. Jane, who had been complaining to me just two or three days earlier about a personal financial crisis, was now claiming that she didn't need money? Hmm...
"Did you take Veronica for a lot by promising to erase the compromising email?" I suggested, and the smile on Jane's face was extinguished.
"Hey, I never told you about that! And if Veronica let it slip, it's none of your concern, Timothy." The acting department head stood sharply from her armchair, pulled down her hiked-up dress and started walking through the office. "All I really wanted was to invite you to my housewarming party. Not now, of course — I've still gotta get the apartment cleaned up and put all the new furniture in it. It'll be in a few days. I'll tell you when. I’m planning to invite all the members of our department, but you most of all, Timothy. After all, you're the one who found me a decent place to live."
Jane managed to embarrass me. In this case, I considered her selfish for no good reason at all. The new acting director had completely natural and understandable motives — getting to know her employees better, and bringing the team closer together with a shared activity. I promised I would attend her party.
"Alright then," Jane replied, growing calm. "And now, listen. Veronica really did come to me half an hour ago. She was wondering about two issues, both directly concerning you. First, what is the chance for the wyvern-controlling amulet to drop. Second: would the amulet drop if it wasn't the Dryad Dancer herself making the strike, but an NPC under her control."
"What thankless garbage!" tore itself from me along with a few entirely unprintable words.
"From your perspective, yes. But her Dryad Dancer is acting entirely in the bounds of the game mechanics, so the Boundless Realm Corporation will not be taking any action, and never could. And of course, that is true. The corporation's lawyers confirmed that there are no obstacles keeping our testers from participating in the great hunt."
Level-Up
IT HAPPENED at nine thirty. I was standing at the electrobus stop fighting back sleep and preparing to go home and get some rest when I suddenly heard a familiar beeping sound indicating a bank balance change. I got my phone out of my pocket, put the most recent message on screen... and spent a long time batting my eyelids and counting the zeros in the total, not believing my eyes.
It was a deposit for two hundred forty thousand credits. No, it must have been an error. I could not accept the reality of it.
PINCH ME!!! NO, BETTER GIVE ME A GOOD SLAP SO I WAKE UP!!! TWO HUNDRED FORTY THOUSAND CREDITS!!!
But despite that, it didn't look to be an error — the money was from the same corporate account that sent me my other transfers. In the notes section, it was written: "Your percentage for the amulets." Does this mean I'm rich now?! No, of course I had always hoped this day might come. And actually, that was exactly why I'd applied to be a tester for Boundless Realm in the first place. But hoping and dreaming was one thing, and seeing that money in my account was another. I could not fully believe in the reality of what had happened, to be honest!
The electrobus I wanted closed its doors right before my nose and drove off. I was standing fighting hard against the desire to scream my lungs out and release my pent-up emotions. Not a trace remained of my former sleepiness. How could I think of sleep with a world of endless possibilities revolving under my feet? Two hundred forty thousand! That was... my breath was taken, my thoughts scattered.
Where to start? An apartment? Although that wasn't so necessary now — we'd just gotten set up and Val was totally fine with our new place. A car? But for that, I'd have to first take lessons and get my license... Clothes, furniture, all the other necessities of life — that was all nothing, I could get that later.
Legs for my sister! That was exactly it!!! In the very best clinic, pay for the very best prosthetic specialists, who would implant electrodes into the paralyzed girl to reach her nerve endings and make her a pair of fully obedient biotic legs. The process was not fast, and could take a few months to heal and acclimatize, but then my sister could walk on her legs again!
I'd give Val the gift today. She'd asked for a virtual reality capsule, and that’s just what she’d get. And I’d make sure it was the very best one out there! I opened a search engine on my phone and looked it up. Yes, I was interested in the very newest and most modern models. I found them. Sixty-two thousand credits, and with delivery and installation included. For that kind of money, you’d have to hope so. What's the hold up? I'll go buy her one now.
I searched again for a route to the store on public transportation. I was probably the only person in the world who took an electrobus with two transfers to buy a virtual reality capsule for sixty-two thousand credits. Oh well, though. My sister would be happy. She'd earned this!
* * *
I woke up at five in the evening. And it was all on my own with no alarm clock. It had been a long time since something like that had happened to me. My sister hadn't yet returned from her big shopping outing with Kira, so she didn't know about my surprise for her yet.
The big virtual reality capsule, shimmering with silvery-blue lacquer, was at the wall of her bedroom. I purposely asked for it to be positioned as low as possible, so my sister could comfortably crawl into it from her wheelchair. All the cables were already attached, and the sensor suit had been tested and sized for Valeria's body. The service center workers had already checked all the settings at midday. All the equipment was completely ready to use.
It was six o'clock, and my sister had left home at eleven thirty. How long could one really spend in such shops? I'd already begun to worry slightly, and called Val. My sister answered me with an unhappy and annoyed voice:
"What do you want, Timothy? I'm doing fine. I'm in a cosmetic shop right now getting some work done. Kira's with me. I remember that I had to be in Boundless Realm by seven thirty. I'll be home in an hour and a half. I won't be late."
My sister hung up. I then paced pensively through the apartment. I warmed up the lunch Kira had made in the microwave, and ate with gusto. Going to work without seeing my sister first and giving her the gift was something I had no plans of doing. I had to wait. I crawled onto the Boundless Realm forums. The most discussed news was the new advertising clip about Amra the pirate and the night battle.
The wyvern hunters were being rewarded with all kinds of unflattering names for losing the battle with such a colossal initial advantage in level and number... I just laughed, reading the replies of some "boarding-operation specialists" who couldn't even get their thoughts onto the forum cohesively. For some reason, I was sure that these "professionals" would have done no better than that crew of screw-ups. Nevertheless, they considered themselves to have the right to give advice and teachings to others. What could I say? As the famous poet Rustaveli once said: "Every man imagines himself a strategist, watching a battle from the sidelines."
There was no information about new meetings between any players and White Shark or Princess Amelia. Nevertheless, that put me on edge. How were my ships doing? Would they manage to reach the harbor of New Tortuga in peace? And then a genius idea came to mind of how to see the situation on my bireme right now — Veronica had been planning to stream the adventures of her Dryad Dancer live today! Even if it was for money, ten credits per day didn't seem like a serious obstacle to me n
ow.
Finding Angelica Wayward's channel was no challenge. Paying for it and turning it on all the less so. I had to confirm my age to register, as the stream was in the 18+ category. But I naturally overcame the age barrier with ease and, leaning back into the living room couch with a glass of whisky in hand, I prepared to watch the video on the big in-screen wall.
Angelica Wayward's channel had seven and a half thousand viewers. Not bad! And every one of them was paying ten credits a day for the right to watch. Seventy-five thousand per day! Two million credits a month! And by the way, the viewers could leave their comments and desires for the player, which ran across the bottom of the screen from the right, and Veronica saw them.
Veronica preferred her streams not to be "first person" but with the camera behind her back so the dryad herself was constantly in frame. By the way, my conception of what the dryad would look like was way off base. In the in-game race guide, the dryad looked like a half-plant-half-woman with a rough woody bark instead of normal skin and with little branches and outgrowths coming out of the body in random places, covered with flowers and leaves.
Veronica had significantly improved upon the standard dryad model. Her character was a long-legged woman with an exaggerated figure. She had snow white ruffled hair and ash-gray skin smattered with whimsical tattoos of malachite green stems and leaves. The dryad really wasn't wearing any clothing, and even the loincloth by default on all new characters was nowhere to be seen. But at that, the Dryad Dancer had plenty of things on: long emerald earrings, and rings with expensive gems on her fingers, a braided gold belt and gold bracelets on her wrists and ankles.
The simplistic amulet in the shape of a green wyvern on a bronze chain looked badly out of place when compared with the dryad's other accoutrements. Nevertheless, the girl decided this would be the necklace for her, and not something fancier. I suspected that many of the accessories had magical properties, as I saw bright sparkles come periodically from inside the expensive stones, and washed-out colorful halos around the bracelets.
By the way, the Dryad Dancer had leveled up to 38 today. Say what you will, but Veronica was a talented player. I recognized the surroundings right away — Veronica was in my captains' chambers cursing, airing her dirty laundry to someone.
"No, fatty, that's not how it's gonna be. You need to understand: I can't play normally or make any plans until I know the complete situation on the ship. Where's that pretty little redheaded thief? I ordered the crew to go through the whole ship. They checked every room five times, but no one's seen her since morning!"
"I already told you, the dinghy's in place, and all the sailors assure me that Taisha hasn't left the ship. It's just that she's the captain's pet, so when he exits the game, she disappears. As soon as the Goblin Herbalist enters Boundless Realm, Taisha will show up," came a voice that must have belonged to Shrekson Bastard.
"Oh yeah? Just yesterday, I saw that overly curious bot in the game while her master was out. His beasts disappeared, yes. The rest of the goblins also. But that thief was following me all day and spying on me. I'm telling you, she stole my wallet yesterday, not thieves in the port! Where else would she have gotten the dough to buy that jar of expensive cosmetics?!"
Angelica turned around, and the familiar shelf came into view, crammed with all kinds of vials, vessels and bottles. The Dryad Dancer walked up closer and took the intricately adorned red vial.
"Maybe it belongs to Valerianna? Or maybe Amra bought it for his NPC girlfriend?" the Ogre suggested.
"Valerianna practically never comes to the captain's chambers. I already asked the orcs that. Mmm... It smells good. Gift to the First Lady in Waiting... Pretty name. Sounds very exclusive. See, Amra buys these awesome gifts, even for NPC's! He even purposely put it next to mine to annoy me. When will you give me something like this?"
"What about the emerald necklace I bought you?"
"Ha! That three-thousand-coin trinket? No, no. I'll never wear that abomination. The wyvern medallion is better — let Amra fear me! But you still haven't answered the question I asked you ten minutes ago: are you ready to follow me through fire and water? Time for thinking is up. I want an answer."
Angelica Wayward sharply turned and I finally saw the Ogre Fortifier. Absolutely naked, he was lying on the bed staring thoughtfully at the ceiling. A wave of enthusiasm swept over the messages running across the bottom of the screen — many were suggesting the dryad make love with the titan again. But Angelica ignored the viewers' wishes and threw herself at the Ogre Fortifier with more complaints:
"Why are you staying cooped up? It's time to finally choose what's worth more to you: playing with me and reaching new heights, or vegetating in minor roles with the big-eared pipsqueak?"
Pipsqueak? My indignation caused me to even spill the whisky from my glass. She just had to bring height into it! The Dryad Dancer was just a couple centimeters taller than my Goblin Herbalist in the first place, and was herself a total midget compared to the ogre!
The ogre, meanwhile, answered that he had made his choice long ago both in real life and in the game. So, he was prepared to follow his girlfriend through fire and water. He extended his huge paws, trying to pull the naked girl to him, but the dancer skillfully slipped out of his awkward embrace:
"Then that's great. Get dressed and come up on deck. We'll see the port soon. We have to act!"
As soon as the door closed behind Shrekson, the Dryad Dancer dashed to the perfume shelf, took a generous scoop of the thick pink cream with her clawed palm and spread it on her neck, temples and armpits. Over the girl's head, there appeared a red criminal marker — the computer took this action as theft. Angelica pushed the nearly empty container away, placing it behind the other jars with the words:
"And no one can prove a thing! That vile toad is about to learn what it really means to have something taken away!"
I gulped down the rest of my whisky and, the glass set on the table, clapped my hands together a few times. Angelica had just put my thoughts into words. I'd never have put it better myself!
Stealing the property made the viewers glad. Their elated comments were just piling in. I first didn't understand the reason for such stormy glee, but quickly realized from the messages running past that Angelica Wayward had earlier declared that she strictly followed three principles that were stated clearly in the description of her channel. One: she would never kill anyone. Two: she would never steal anything. And three: she was in fact playing a dancer, and not a wayward nympho who’d gone off the rails. So, though there would occasionally be sex scenes, the viewers should not count on watching the Dryad Dancer throw herself at anything alive.
But now that her first moral precept had fallen, there was a storm of acrid and joyful comments marking the occasion. I was also glad, but for a different reason. After setting my phone's countdown timer for five minutes, I sat back in the couch and waited for the continuation of the show.
The dryad's appearance on deck was met with a storm of glee from the pirates. The fearsome orcs bowed their heads low before her, some just fell down in a full bow or laid right down on the deck, so the Dryad Dancer could walk over their backs. Angelica Wayward accepted the admiration of the crowd with favor, sending air kisses in all directions and smiling to everyone.
"Lights on the horizon, madam," the lookout boy directed the dryad's attention. "New Tortuga."
The dryad extended a hand demandingly and Johnny humbly handed her the spyglass. The girl twisted the lens and spent a long time looking at the far-off port.
"There's so many ships there..." she stated thoughtfully, after which she turned to the Ogre Fortifier. "No more pussyfooting around. We'll be in port soon. The time has come for us to take the reins. Amra said something about six PM, but it's already five thirty. He should appear in Boundless Realm at any minute. I'll manage the herbalist myself, but you're gonna have to neutralize the mavka. As soon as Valerianna Quickfoot enters the game, just walk up to her and snap her neck while sh
e's loading up and not expecting you to attack. Can you do that?"
"It just seems so despicable..." Shrekson said in hesitation. "It looks too much like treachery. How will I look my friends in the eye after this?"
"Now you've found something to worry about! Leaving your family for a young lover, and abandoning three young daughters seems much more treacherous to me. Nevertheless, you did that cynically and with full awareness. In comparison with that, getting hold of a valuable prize in a virtual game, and thus distancing yourself from some self-assured gapers is nothing."
I looked at the timer. The poison hadn't yet taken affect, but nevertheless, Angelica Wayward had stomped the pride and ego of her companion so deep into the mud that I was left marveling. But Leon kept quiet, frowning gloomily and squeezing his huge fists. Would the giant really just swallow such offensive words from his girlfriend? But still, I didn't manage to figure that out — the timer gave a beep and it was as if Angelica Wayward was replaced with someone different. Her face twisted with rage, poking the Ogre with her clawed finger. The Dryad Dancer said quietly:
"You've disappointed me again, Leon. You promised to follow me through fire and water, but you can’t even carry out my first order without falling into a stupor. You might have realized long ago that I am not okay with such unconfident grunting — not yes, not no. I need my partner to agree with me absolutely and without speaking, obeying all my orders. I wish we’d never met. I should have found a more decisive companion or just done it all on my own. We're done. I don't need you anymore. Kill him!"
Ten pirate sabers immediately came down on the Ogre Fortifier, and the titan collapsed, bathing the boards of the deck in his blood.
Experience received: 270 Exp.
Achievement unlocked: Player killer (1)
Stay on the Wing Page 28
