"I see they touched up your face a bit, Timothy," the guard smiled happily. "We got here just in time. Can you stand?"
I shrugged my shoulders tentatively and tried to stand. I was leaning slightly to the right, but all in all, I needed no support. I could stand normally. The Security Service guard extended me a bag of my things: telephone, keyring, and ID card.
"Go to the stairs. There, you'll be met and brought to a safe location. You don't need to see what's gonna happen here," said Kira's bodyguard, turning away from me, letting me know that the conversation was over.
I took one last look around the apartment that nearly became the site of my death. All the glass was broken, and the door had been broken away together with the jamb. On the floor, there was a fallen butterfly knife. It looked like the old gangster's head was busted in — there was a dark black spot of blood spreading out on the back of his gray-haired head. Jane was lying with her hands tied behind her back moving her lips without a sound — she was seemingly praying to herself. My boss didn't react at all when I left.
Near the elevators and stairs, I met Kira. Instead of the fashionable dresses I was used to seeing my girlfriend wear, she was now wearing a dark leather suit, on top of which she had a light armor plate. Every time I tried to start a conversation, Kira just grumbled:
"Not here. We can talk in the car."
This time, we were riding in a big armored limousine with darkened windows. Kira told the driver the address, then took a seat next to me.
"How did you find out that I was in danger?" I finally asked.
"From a clue your sister gave me. Today, I visited Valeria in the clinic, and she said that you were supposed to be at a housewarming party for the new director of your department at six, and that she'd invited all of her underlings. To be honest, I was surprised. Six PM is high work time for testers, so who would ever schedule a party then?! Not long after, your sister got a call from a tester by the name of Leon. He wanted to find out how she was doing, and get some clarifications on his character's skills. I asked Valeria to ask him about the party and found out that Leon had no idea about it."
Kira took a heavy sigh, then gave a bitter chuckle and continued:
"After that, I called in to work and asked all my colleagues if the special projects testers were all at work. As it turned out, the whole department was there, and had no idea there might have been a company event in half an hour. But the head of the department had, in fact, left work early..."
Kira came up closer to me. The girl's lips were quivering, and tears were welling up in her eyes. I embraced the beautiful redhead, who looked so soft and funny when upset and kissed her tear-soaked cheeks and nose a few times. But still Kira wouldn't calm down. Bawling uncontrollably and swallowing her words with salty tears, she tried to say her fill quickly:
"Just look at it from my perspective: I heard about a young girl leaving early from work and inviting my man to her place at the same time. I expected to see a completely predictable scene. I was just shaking in rage. So, I used my position at work to send the security service out to check up on what was going on at your little 'work party.' They planted listening bugs and video cameras on the windows, and set up an observation point in an empty apartment in the opposite building. From there, they had a good view, and I was getting ready to look with a heavy heart. But nothing was happening the way I expected..."
I'll admit, during the drive, I was occupied by Kira's story and was not watching the road. So, I was surprised when the driver stopped the car next to my building. Kira and I embraced as we walked through the vestibule and, once in the elevator, she said:
"I know I wasn't behaving properly, being suspicious and having you followed. I don't want you to hold that against me. So Timothy, I promise to fulfill any wish you can dream up!"
"What do you mean 'any?'" I smiled, turning Kira's face toward mine and looking the girl right in the eyes.
"Just that, 'any,'" KIra confirmed, blushing with unexpected intensity.
I waited out a short pause, observing with interest as the girl's cheeks filled up with crimson. I truly do not know what wish she had in mind, but my wish couldn't have been simpler:
"Promise you'll never spy on me again!"
"Ok, I promise..." Kira confirmed, after which she added with reproach: "I'll admit, Timothy, I was expecting a wish of a totally different nature... More personal. Adult. Intimate even..."
It became clear that I had slightly disappointed my girlfriend by not catching her mood in time. But I tried to rectify matters immediately:
"Do we really need to wish out loud to be together?"
I opened the door, took one key off the ring and immediately put it in Kira's hand. After that, I invited my girlfriend in with a gesture. Kira closed the door behind her and said, unzipping her leather suit, getting out of it in the entryway:
"Timothy, you promised your sister you'd be in Boundless Realm at exactly nine. We've got an hour and a half. Let's not waste even a minute! This time is precious!"
Epilogue
HUNGER. THIRST. No, I'd even say: THIRST!!! The whole world was painted in red tones. My big-eared goblin was unable to think about anything other than the immediate need to drink fresh hot blood. Amra absolutely would not obey my orders and was rushing off into the darkness, where his nostrils sensed the presences of a living creature. MEAT!!! I saw a little jerboa or rat, didn’t make a difference. After grabbing the quivering creature, my goblin vampire sunk his fangs into the flesh of his victim. Just what I needed!!!
Sating the Thirst: 3/30
The world started to revert to a customary gray night-time shade. My control over my character returned. A step from myself, I saw Taisha, terrified and holding a live rat in her outstretched hands, but prepared to leap back at a moment’s notice.
"Everything is fine, Taisha, I've come back to my senses! Thank you!"
Nevertheless, I took the second rat from the goblin girl's hands and drank all its blood, increasing my Sating the Thirst bar by three more points.
"If you want, there is more living food here," said Taisha, pointing at a whole pile of half-strangled little creatures near the entrance to the tent. "VIXEN has been collecting them for you. She doesn't trust me — she hisses and spits poison if I get near the heap. In fact, it’s time to throw out the ones at the bottom of the pile. They’re starting to stink pretty bad..."
"Where'd you get the tent?" I asked, looking interestedly at the sewn pelts stretched over the wooden frame.
"I ordered the orcs to build it in the place where you left Boundless Realm. After all, I didn't know what time of day you'd return, and in the day, it's pretty sunny here..."
"A reasonable precaution. Thank you for the care," I praised my NPC companion. "Wait up... What orcs?"
"Our orcs from White Shark, silly. Who else?" Taisha walked up to the tent door and raised the flap, pointing me to the orc camp around the pond. "When you showed me how to send messages, I immediately sent a messenger to Ziabash Hardy. I described the situation to him, and showed him the place on the map. Yesterday evening, they arrived — three hundred soldiers, Shaman Ghuu, and the little boy Johnny with them. And that tent over there is for the dwarves that came this morning. Gnum Spiteful is still limping, but she's on crutches. And she brought ten soldiers from the royal guard with her. I didn't call them here, they found out about you on their own. From what I understood, it’s a contingent of Vanessa's relatives, sent to accompany the limping girl and make sure the Dwarf Mechanic met her captain without incident."
Dang... I stood, my mouth hanging open in surprise. I was trying not to even think about the fact that NPC's were not supposed to be able to use magical messengers. I was surprised by something else entirely — my crew had come this whole way to help out their captain! That must have meant I wasn't such a bad leader. After all, they'd come for me.
And then, as if I didn't have enough other impressions from my return to Boundless Realm, into the tent came
a huge terrifying shaggy creature of a camouflage gray-and-black coloration. I only didn't squeal in fear because, at that very moment, I looked at the mini-map and noticed that the monster marker was blue — ally.
Fimbulthul Élivágar Guardian
Level-57 Mythical Hound (unique creature)
The strange color of the mythical hound's fur was explained by the Gray Pack settings, in which I had chosen a camouflage pattern for all members of the Gray Pack. The coloration clearly didn't agree with Fimbulthul, though. The mythical hound looked much cooler with snow white fur. But as for the beast's appetite, everything was just fine — without the slightest degree of hesitation, the overgrown dog went straight for the pile of dead animals and started wolfing them all down, both the living and obviously decaying ones.
Valerianna Quickfoot then appeared in the tent. Tears were streaming down the wood nymph's face. I was first afraid for my sister's wellbeing, but she just waved off my concern and answered that she had a different reason.
"I've been sorting through my inbox, and I'm just blubbering away, unable to stop. Such a huge plethora of players in Boundless Realm, I'm now finding out, care about me! So many words of warmth! They're all wishing that I get well soon, expressing a willingness to help, inviting me to clans... Four have even proposed," the mavka giggled, displaying her sharp teeth. But then, she shuddered in fear, having just then turned to see the source of the satisfied munching sounds, the Mythical Hound.
I was glad for my sister. A good amount of messages had also fallen on me, but I hadn't yet gotten around to sorting through them. But then I realized something: where were all the enemies?! I asked that question aloud.
"Wyvern hunters did come, and quite a few of them, but only on the first day," Taisha told me. "The Legion of Steel stopped them up top at the start of the path. Some were killed, others scared off, but none of the enemies were allowed to get down here. After that, they all went somewhere else and, the next day, the Legion of Steel also left."
What does all that mean? Where'd they all go? Why didn't any of the pursuers stay here to wait for me? I probably would have kept busting my brains over this problem for a long time, but then, down from the night sky directly to my tent flew the glowing winged figure of the Keeper. With a barely visible gesture, he moved Taisha and Valerianna aside, after which he covered us both with a canopy of silence.
"You entered the game, finally. And I see that you're surprised," the angelic figure chuckled.
"Indeed I am," I said, not trying to deny it. "I entered the game expecting a slaughter. I thought I would see hordes of players here, thirsting to kill me, but for some reason no one wants my head. Strange."
The glowing opaque figure laughed happily and lowered down to the earth, his wings folded up compact behind his back.
"You must not have read the news on the Boundless Realm forum. After your video about the tragedy with your sister and your readiness to sacrifice yourself to fulfill your promise to the participants of the great hunt, the corporation was flooded with a wave of messages from the players. Of course, the opinions expressed were varied, but the overwhelming majority were in your support. The players demanded justice — after all, no one had caught your goblin. You had skillfully avoided all your many pursuers, so it wouldn't have been fair to take your mount away. The board of directors had a talk and officially announced that you had successfully passed and would be made an official tester for the Boundless Realm Corporation. Your Royal Forest Wyvern can be kept but still, selling it will be categorically forbidden, because you still didn't hold out to the end of the hunt."
Not believing my ears, I asked the Keeper to repeat his last sentence and the glowing angel confirmed with a smile that VIXEN had again become a normal mount, and would no longer drop if I died.
So, what did this all mean? I got to keep my pretty, and no one would ever be able to take her from me? That was the best outcome I could have hoped for! I mean, I wasn't planning to sell VIXEN even before but, now, I didn’t even have to justify that fact.
"Such a compromise decision was completely acceptable to the players, and the fuss immediately quieted down. What's more, they found a very timely replacement with the Silver Dragonfly..."
Here, the Keeper went gloomy and told me that he knew what had happened between Jane and I. After that, he totally dumbfounded me.
"By the way, this is my last shift as Keeper. Starting tomorrow, I'm being promoted — I'll be taking the vacated seat of the director of special projects."
I didn't grasp what the Keeper had said right away, but it soon reached me that I was now talking with my future boss. It must have been reflected somehow on my face, though, because the Keeper laughed:
"There are whispers in the corporation that the position is cursed. After all, it's seen three directors in just two weeks. But I'm not superstitious. All the same, I decided I should personally get to know you given that, in some way or another, you served as the reason for the last three directors of special projects getting fired. Timothy, I expect to see you in my office tomorrow to discuss your future plans. It seems to me, given that the corporation has already announced your official hiring as corporate tester, we should play that up — I should assign you some bone-rattling mission, now that you’ve earned the famous flying mount. Something that lots of other players have broken their necks trying to do. For example, you could map out Dragon Ridge, track down the Master of the Swamps, or find a path to the Land of Gloom... Alright, we can talk later. But now, go meet your flying snake!"
Then, I heard the flapping of wide wings in the night sky, and near the entrance to the tent, VIXEN landed. I could hardly recognize my beauty, she'd grown so much! She was now level twenty-eight! Almost seven meters long!
By the time she was on the ground, the Keeper was nowhere to be found — the opaque figure dissolved without a trace into thin air, taking his magic canopy with him. Taking an incredulous look at Fimbulthul, who had already managed to eat up all the food stores, and was now looking around for something else to eat, the wyvern set her new prey before me.
Level-14 Steppe Chamois
What a present! I embraced my huntress, then pulled the half-strangled body into the tent in a business-like manner and closed the flap so no one would be disgusted by the unpleasant spectacle.
Achievement unlocked: Taste tester (41/1000)
Racial ability improved: Taste for Blood (Gives +1% to all damage dealt for each unique creature killed with Vampire Bite. Current bonus: 24%)
Great! As soon as I opened the tent flap again, the Mythical Hound popped inside and ate the rest of the chamois. I guess he was a bit of a glutton!
To my surprise, the wyvern hadn't flown away while I was gone, and was waiting patiently for me lying belly-down on the stones with her short legs drawn up. Was she offering to let me climb up on her back?
Seeing that I was hesitating for some reason, the Royal Forest Wyvern unfurled a wing and lowered it to the earth, offering me an even more convenient way up. I had no doubts remaining — VIXEN was allowing me to sit on her back. What could I say? My beauty, I've been waiting for this moment for so long!
As soon as my Goblin Herbalist had sat down, VIXEN gave her wide leathery wings a flap, immediately gaining a significant altitude. My big-eared little goblin was clutching fearfully onto outgrowths on the scales of the flying snake. As soon as my initial instinctive fear passed, I shouted out in elation. Finally! I can fly!
All of Boundless Realm was spread out at my feet now. Dragon Ridge? The Domain of Swamps? Land of Gloom? No problem — I'll fly there and see it all first-hand! All the far-off dark recesses were now within my grasp. Millions of unknown locations lured me with their mysteries and treasures. My funny little big-eared goblin smiled a happy smile from ear to ear. Now, the real games could begin!
End of Book Two
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