Survival Quest (The Way of the Shaman: Book #1) Read online

  What was Mr. Johnson's proposal? For a modest fee he proposed to put all the prisoners inside his capsules and send them to special locations within Barliona, where they would spend their time in useful activities, like resource gathering. The Government liked the idea and a year-long experiment involving such a virtual prison led to them buying all the rights to Barliona and appointing Johnson General Director of a new state corporation. All the necessary laws were passed for securing the status of a state-run game for Barliona and the Government itself acted as a guarantor of the game currency, facilitating its free exchange for real money. This was followed by an advertising campaign and funds started to flow into the game. Virtually anyone who was dissatisfied with his life ran to Barliona in order to cheat the government and earn money on quests, resource gathering and killing mobs, and so live without a care. Such naive little children. The completed quests produced game money, which could be easily exchanged for real money — that was clear enough. However, any action within the game also demanded some sort of payment, however little. If you wanted to stop in an inn, you paid, if you wanted to get something, you paid, and so on. One of the most important inventions for draining money out of the players were the Banks.

  One of the core rules in Barliona states that when a character dies the player loses fifty percent of all the cash he had on him. At the next death he lost another fifty, and so on. Of course, if a character was killed by a mob, after reviving in a couple of hours he could always go to his place of death and pick up the lost money, which would be lying on the ground. Unless it was picked up by another player first. But usually players did not die from mobs, but at the hands of other players, who made it their goal to make money on such kills. Such players had many penalties imposed on them: it was permitted to kill them for eight hours after they themselves had attempted to make a kill; killing a PK (player killer) came with a reward, which could be collected from any representative of the authorities; a PK gained no experience for eight hours after the killing and so on; but nevertheless there existed players who liked killing others, even if only inside a virtual world. This is why the Banks emerged. If a player gained some money, he could put it in a Bank for storage. A one-off payment gave you a card to be used with an account that no-one else was able to access. Keeping such an account cost 0.1% of the total money deposited, which was paid to the Bank on a monthly basis. It might not seem like much, but even one thousandth of Barliona's total turnover is an enormous amount of money, which is why the Corporation would never close down the PvP (Player versus Player) mode of play.

  The Corporation's next step for making profit was selling off the results of the prisoner's work to the main game world. Arbitrary generation of resources by the Corporation was prosecuted under the law and special committees kept a close watch to ensure it didn't happen. However the sale of resources obtained by people serving a sentence was a totally different story: such resources were validated by real work. In general everyone has been happy and satisfied with this arrangement for the past fifteen years, ever since Barliona was officially given the status of a state game. The gamers enjoyed a high quality game, the Corporation received unthinkable amounts of money while continuously improving their creation, and the prisoners stayed in special locations and gathered resources. At the present time about 25% of total Earth's population over 14 years of age plays Barliona and this number increases every year. The only limitation imposed on the characters was that until a player turned 18 he or she had no way of using the PvP mode - either as a victim or as a hunter. The Game was very strict in enforcing this.

  One more fact about the prisoners serving time in Barliona should be brought to light. It is a fact of some importance. Around seven years after the launch of Barliona a gang of delinquents beat up and raped a girl by the name of Elena. Her surname was Johnson and her father's name Peter. She was the daughter of the Corporation's director. She and her friends had the poor judgment to go for a ride in one of the rough areas of the city, which still housed those who disagreed with the introduction of imitators and who had no intention of logging into Barliona. As it always happens in such cases, they suddenly ran out of gas.

  Naturally, the perpetrators were found almost immediately and Johnson himself intervened in the trial. No, he did not even bother to arrange a capsule accident. He did something else. Following the trial a law was passed that regulated the turning on of the prisoners' sensory stimulators. The capsules initially came with special filters that regulated the level of sensations, but these were completely removed for those who attacked Johnson's daughter. I don't know what the observed results of this were, but in about a year's time the law was extended and now all prisoners served their sentences with their sensory filters disabled. The rate of crime fell sharply and there were hardly any repeat offenders. The prospect of having to gather resources with disabled sensory filters was a very effective crime deterrent.

  So there you have it. I will now tell you a little about what I was given.

  Character race: Human. It was the first race created in the game and the only race that has no additional bonuses except faster reputation gain with the NPCs (Non-Player-Characters). They don't have the ability to generate a stone skin, like the dwarves, nor do they have sharp vision and extra proficiencies with bows, like the elves. Only reputation. The Shaman class was also one of the weakest classes in Barliona. It is universal, allowing you both to do damage and to heal, but in one-on-one combat it lost out to virtually all other classes. The summoning of the Spirits just took too long. My skill specialization of Jeweler also had little going for it: in Barliona only the richest people could afford to spend time on perfecting this skill. All the things made by Jewelers — adornments, rings, necklaces, decorative objects — could be easily bought from NPC traders. The Jeweler's main useful skill, the cutting of precious stones, was not worth the effort that had to be spent on it. Precious stones are worth a lot, but in order to obtain the materials to make them, you had to spend months mining and processing ores. And even if some were obtained, the chance that the stone would spoil during the cutting process was very high. Of course it was possible to train in other skills, which were virtually endless in number, but it came with a serious restriction: none of the additional professions could exceed the primary one by more than ten points. It was a stupid limitation, but nothing could be done about it.

  Another downside was that my Hunter, whom I had spent several years building, and in whom I invested quite a lot of money, was to be deleted, because only one character at a time was permitted in Barliona. After you were set free you could keep the character played during imprisonment and to continue playing it, but many could not find the strength to do this. It was psychologically difficult. As far as the Hunter was concerned, all the items and money that he earned would either be handed over to me after eight years of swinging the pick, or, should some miracle happen, after I am permitted to leave the mines for the main gameworld. Sometimes criminals are released, most probably by mistake, from resource gathering to spend the rest of their sentence in the main game, after they hand over 30% of the money that they earned to the Government. Otherwise there are no limitations – you can develop, level up and get to know people as you like. The only sign that a player is a prisoner is a red headband, which various quest-giving NPCs tend to dislike and which could only be removed if you pay one million gold to the Treasury. In other words – it cannot be removed.

  And the worst thing of all was that Marina never appeared. She didn’t turn up at the trial or at my home, while I waited for the conclusion of the investigation. It was as if she vanished. Was the eight years of my sentence worth such a frivolous girl? I think not.

  “Well, in you jump!" laughed the technician as he put me into the capsule. Everyone’s a comedian. With one voice all the newspapers in the city called me ‘Sewage System Killer’, probably the mildest nickname I was given during this time. The main thing was for this name not to stick with me while in p
rison. Lightning flashed before my eyes and for a while I was unconscious.

  “Attention! Barliona entry through prison capsule TK3.687PZ-13008/LT12 in progress.” The cold metallic voice, whose message was repeated with a running line of unpleasant white text, sent a chill down my spine and I immediately came to myself. The voice, devoid of any emotion, made you feel uncomfortable. This was done on purpose: I knew that a voice could be soft and have a calming effect. “The initial parameters have been set and cannot be changed. Gender: Male. Race: Human. Class: Shaman. Appearance: identical to the subject. The scanning of the subject has been completed. The synchronization of the physical data with the features of the chosen race has been implemented. Physical data has been set. Starting location has been chosen. Place of confinement – the Pryke Copper Mine. Purpose of confinement: the harvesting of Copper Ore. Character generation has commenced.”

  In the initial loading window I was looking at myself wearing a striped robe with number 193 753 482. It would appear that quite a few prisoners have gone through Barliona in the last 15 years. The robe was supplemented with prisoner’s trousers and boots, whose total value could be seen in their striped pattern. Even the boots were stripy, at which I couldn’t help smiling. I looked like some sort of a zebra. One could say that I was dressed at the height of fashion. The pick in my hand completed the bleak picture of ‘Myself’, making it clear what I would be doing in the coming years. Only the pick wasn’t stripy, something to be thankful for, at least.

  “Enter a name. Attention: a prisoner’s name cannot be composite.”

  Well, the technician did cheer me up after all. He did that by giving me, for some unknown reason, the opportunity to choose my own name. The gaming name in Barliona was provisionally unique: in the same gaming environment you could meet three hundred ‘Bunnys’, a hundred ‘Kitties’ and endless numbers of ‘Pwners’, but the uniqueness was guaranteed by a composite word. For example you could easily see Pwner the Great and Pwner the Charming next to each other, but there were no two Pwner the Great's in Barliona. However, prisoners were not allowed to pick a composite name for themselves, because usually these were generated automatically. But if they deleted my Hunter...

  “Mahan,” I said, setting all my hopes on the fact that the name of my Hunter, who was taken from me, was already deleted from the system but not yet picked by anyone else. So what if I liked to play with this name? That's what I've become use to, despite the fact that it was just a surname. Moreover, my hunter’s name had only one component, and I bought it from another player for almost ten thousand gold and had no wish to see all that money go to waste.

  “Choice accepted. Welcome to the world of Barliona, Mahan. Users connecting from prison capsules have no access to the introductory training area. You will be transferred directly to the Pryke Copper Mine. We wish you a pleasant game.”

  There was a flash of lightning and the world around me filled with colors. Though for some reason among these colors grey predominated.

  Chapter 2

  The Pryke Mine. The Beginning

  The Pryke Mine lay before me in all its beauty. Great rocky cliffs, about 100 meters high, rose along the whole boundary of the mine. Their tops hung over it, forming a cap around the perimeter. Like the roof of a stadium, an association flashed in my head. No amount of effort would allow you to scale such a wall, although the scattered ledges seemed to dare you to try. 'Interesting,' I thought, 'I wonder if the mine is surrounded by mountains or goes deep inside the earth?' I should ask someone, in case the idea of digging a hole out of here catches on. Another thought was just as interesting: is this mine even connected to the main world or is it in a separate location within the server memory? I could dig a hole and end up nowhere. At first glance the mine itself comprised quite a pleasant-looking valley approximately several kilometers in length and about a kilometer wide, with a somewhat uneven surface. The valley was divided up in two parts: the first, about 300 meters long, contained wooden buildings, one of which I immediately recognized as the smithy. For now the other structures remained a mystery, but were most probably barracks for the prisoners. The second part of the valley was separated by an unimposing wooden fence, which had grown lop-sided and rickety in places. The shouts of prisoners and sounds of mining picks were ringing from that side of the mine. So, this is where I'll be working. The place where I stood allowed only limited visibility because the view was obscured by an enormous cloud of grey dust. It was strange: I could see the dust, but could not feel it at all. It was probably just a graphic effect imposed on this location to give it a more authentic look.

  Not far from where I appeared and at some distance from the other buildings stood a house that sported the sign ‘Welcome to the Pryke Copper Mine.” Right, so this is the local administration office, housing some intimidating official who had the power to grant me access to the main gameworld.

  Yes, access to the main gameworld. Just before I was placed in the capsule I looked up the contents of Article 78 Section 24, cited by the judge when speaking about the possibility of entering the gameworld. I somehow missed this part before, while I was preparing myself. Reading this even lifted my spirits somewhat. The text stated: “If the prisoner earns Respect with the guards at the place of confinement, he or she may be given the opportunity of being transferred to the main gameworld.” It contained a lot of other text that stated that for the first six months you would have to live in a special colony, even if you earned Respect on the second day of your imprisonment and that 30% of all the earned money would have to be paid to the Corporation upon leaving the mine. There was something else, which I didn't recall, but the main thing was that I had a chance of getting transferred to the main gameworld.

  So my chief aim in the near future was to earn Respect and to get the person in charge of the mine to like me. Or the other way round: get liked and gain Respect. It didn’t really matter as long as it resulted in me leaving the mine. Great, I've spent just a few minutes here and I'm already making plans on how to leave.

  Now I just need to figure out what I have to work, play and, in general, live with in the next eight years. I had to have a good look at my character, his stats (statistics) and description. When I was getting ready for prison I would never have imagined that they’d give me a Shaman, because all the forums said that prisoners usually get assigned either Warriors or Rogues. So these were the classes I read up on, pretty much becoming an expert in them. Not a single bastard wrote on any of the forums that a prisoner could be given a spell-casting class. Blast! I don’t even know how to cast spells and figuring this out by myself will be very difficult.

  I brought the window with the character description before my eyes:

  Racial bonus: reputation gain with all factions is increased by 10%

  What 'fantastic' stats. My virtual heart began to ache when I compared this Shaman with my level 87 Hunter. He looked so wretched next to my former character. Sigh…

  Energy. The biggest headache for all the prisoners. In the main gameworld even if Energy fell all the way to zero, the character simply suddenly stopped and rested for several minutes, waiting for it to recover, and then continued to carry out the player's commands. But they say that here things are not so simple. As Energy is lost, you get tired for real and your Hit Points slowly diminish. A sudden fall in Energy could even lead to character death. I would have to test this parameter in more detail, since I paid little attention to it with my Hunter.

  Stamina. It determines the number of Hit Points in the ratio of 1:10; the higher the Stamina, the slower the rate of Energy loss. What the ratio was in this case I didn't really remember, but was aware it existed. I must level up my Stamina as much as I can, as this is important for survival.

  Strength. This is the main stat necessary for mining ore. I didn't know what influence it might have on the ore itself, I found nothing about it in the manuals. This parameter also influences the strength of my physical attack. Because I'm not a melee fighter, t
he calculation is quite simple: Physical Damage = Strength + Weapon Damage. No modifiers. I'll have to do without, I guess.

  Agility. Ehh... Something I knew so well when I was playing my Hunter, but now I don't even know what to do with it. In my case Agility did little else than determine the dodge chance and the critical strike chance. So if I don't engage in melee combat, this stat will remain useless for me.

  Intellect. This is what Hunters, Warriors, Rogues and several other classes lack. In place of this statistic they use Rage. Intellect determines the amount of mana in the ratio of 1:10 and the rate of its regeneration, although the exact formula slipped my memory. Intellect also determines the strength of my magical attacks. Here we have a modifier: Magic Damage = 3 x Intellect. I had no idea how it all worked, despite having seen Shamans in action, as they banged their Tambourines, danced and chanted some sort of songs. There must be a reason they do that.

  Not selected. So here is that stumbling block, which makes virtually all the players rant about Barliona. They rant, but continue playing. Yeah, they keep burning their fingers, grumble, but still go for the cookies. In Barliona with the four main stats, which were fairly standard for all games, each player was allowed to pick additional four. What is more, they were not chosen from a set list, but you had to perform certain actions that would lead to the system allowing you to pick a particular stat. For instance, when I played the Hunter, I needed Marksmanship, in order to be sure of hitting the opponent and having a chance of dealing him triple damage. But then I knew beforehand that I would need this stat and spent some time hitting the training dummy until the system allowed me to select Marksmanship. Only four additional stats could be chosen, so picking them needed serious thinking. Of course it was possible to remove an undesirable stat, despite the system saying it could not be removed. But this could only be done personally by the Emperor and gaining an audience with him was often out of question for an ordinary player. Even if you managed to obtain an audience, the privilege of removing a stat cost around 20 thousand gold, so players wrote angry messages on the forums and threatened to leave the game. But after some time they usually simply deleted the old poorly calibrated character and rolled a new one. The game called and beckoned.