World of the changed 3 Noa in the flesh Read online

  On the other hand, I knew exactly what I needed for Ulbaron. It was a small expansion you controlled mentally, though it also kicked in automatically when your brain went inactive. The device only had one function: it stuck you with a regeneration needle, getting rid of all other elements your body might have been injected with. It could be stocked with up to 22 syringes and met all my requirements. Needless to say, if I’d had something like that during my battle with the mercenary leader, it would have been anyone's guess who came out on top.

  Once I was done with the named items, I started working my way through the rest of Villian's junk. First came some meaningless statuettes.

  They're probably valuable, but to whom? I decided to toss them into my inventory for the time being. A few level six items came next, and I frowned — what was the mercenary doing with crap like that? Suddenly, however, it dawned on me that they’d belonged to Four. Villian had grabbed them just to make sure I couldn’t get my hands on them. But I was in no hurry to sell them regardless of the fact that I knew they were useless to me. And once I’d made sure there was nothing I could use, I started digging around the phone itself.

  Virtual storage-VTII. Description: Phone expansion. Lets you store up to 80 game items in virtual space. Ite7n materializatioji takes l second. Cost: none, is a rank reward.

  Virtual exchange-VIII. Description: Phone expansion. Lets you exchange game items for coins at 100% of their value. Cost: none, is a rank reward.

  A smile spread across my face — it was a good thing I hadn’t sold the loot right away. Getting rid of the commission was huge. Taking the opportunity, I sold everything I couldn’t use, picking up a cool 54 million coins. That's amazing!

  The contacts and store purchase history were interesting, though they didn't do much for me. And that left just two things. The first was the map. Villian had just recently stripped my phone of everything I’d taken so long to collect, so it was time to get my revenge. Five complete hexagons with detailed information about what was where, along with seven locations marked as closed — that was perfect. Those locations were where

  I was going to be heading shortly. The mercenary leader had seen a few things as it had done its dark deeds, though one thing remained the same — the Tsarter headquarters was exactly where I remembered it being. And while I’d had to figure it out from the other players’ maps, Villian’s had it marked in black and white.

  That was where I was off to next. Villian had been right about Two giving me three days to make my decision, and I really did need to maximize them. That should be enough to fly over there and see what's what. My hope was to find something so valuable the general would be willing to turn Squirrel over in exchange for it, though I also knew that each of the Tsarter fighters had their own coterie of prisoners. I needed to get them over to the safe zone.

  But even that wasn’t the most interesting find. Remembering how I’d been able to set up one of the general’s spawn, I dug deeper into the settings and checked through the messages. There weren’t many, though there was one exchange that got my heart racing.

  Lirkun Po: Boss, I found the dungeon! . None of ours were able to make it inside, so it has to be the one.

  Villian Po: Great! Send the prisoners there and have them fry to go in. We need more data.

  Lirkun Po: We tried. The prisoners died before they even got halfway through. There isn't much data — the difficulty is too high, and the prisoners just don't have the skills. I think we need a natural player

  with the right class and plenty of levels locked in.

  Villian Po: Okay, I have one like that. From what I can tell, he has the demolitions subclass. Fm not positive about his main class, though its pretty likely it’s infiltrator. Everything points to that. If it all works out, he’s going to work for us, too. We’ll have him beat the dungeon, so find a local weapon and bring it over to the base.

  Lirkun Po: Got it. Are you going to tell him about the dungeon and what happens afterward?

  Villian Po: Yes, I think so. I’m planning on making him one of us in the next release. He shows promise, though there’s a lot he needs to learn. Can you handle that?

  Lirkun Po: You know my price. Two red explosions, and I’ll teach a Shurvan.

  Villian Po: You’ll get them as soon as I’m back on base.

  Lirkun Po: Sounds good.

  Oh, wow, so Villian really did want me to join them. That also meant I had the coordinates for a mysterious dungeon that didn't show up on the map. Interesting news. But there were some nuances and consequences I didn't know about, and I had to wonder if I'd taken Villian out too quickly. Maybe I should have interrogated it before killing it... On the other hand, I did know one other creature who had the information:

  Lirkun Po. And we hadn't yet met.

  My assumption was that I could find Lirkun at the Tsarter base, which meant I needed to go there. But first, as always, I needed to get myself leveled-up. I'd long since been planning on getting all my values up to 130, though I’d never had the coins. With my new attributes and skills, that took 66,500 points, or 133 million coins. And that’s just to get everything up to level 130! It was brutally expensive.

  But I didn’t stop there. My next priority was getting everything to 160, which would mean I'd be able to get my named items up to level 40 without a problem. Although, when I checked to see wThat the damage would be there, all I could do was sit back in horror.

  To get my primary attributes up to that level, it was going to take

  196.0 free points, or 392 million coins. And, sure, I did happen to have that on hand.

  It was simpler with my secondary attributes — some of them were already up to level 150. Pushing them higher meant spending 120,000 points, or 240 million coins... That’s all...

  The cherry on top was the other attributes and skills. They w^ent for

  1.080.0 free points, or 2.2 billion coins. Where the hell am I supposed to find that many? A few seconds before, I'd been fabulously wealthy, at least, in my own eyes, though a quick calculation told me I was...tivo billion short?! And that was including wThat I had in my account.

  Emotions ran high, none of them positive.

  Whatever, screw it. I decided to boost my primary and secondary skills and attributes, also making sure I could hide from anyone with an eye out for noa. That wasn’t too expensive. I was also going to have some left over so my partner could...

  My stomach sank when I thought about Grust and his new group. He was bringing Milady and Little back to life, and they were going to need named items and enough swinges to survive. That was going to cost the same enormous amount I’d already poured into myself. Forget about them and move on with my life? I could, but...

  I hated that “but.” No, I couldn’t do it, not with Grust, at least. And that meant I wasn’t going to get anything up to level 160. Level 130 was just what I was going to have to live with.

  Turning the flying vehicle around, I headed off toward Verloven's location. My partner was there, not to mention some things I needed to take care of. A couple spare units of noa were burning a hole in my pocket — I could use them to buy something off the function. And he can have the succubus.

  “Mark, where’s everyone else?” As if reading my mind, the girl gasped and sat up, staring at me with her staggeringly beautiful eyes. A tight feeling gripped the lower half of my abdomen. And that’s just from her looking at me!

  “You saved me? You’re my hero!”

  Before I knew what was happening, Mary had stripped off everything she was wearing. That did it — I didn’t put up any resistance when her amis closed around my neck. Stroking my armor, she started whispering sweet nothings to me. My mind went blank, my problems melted away, and...

  Control lost.

  Regeneration shot. Foreign elements eliminated from

  body.

  It felt like someone had dumped a bucket of cold water over my head. The blocker syringe appeared in my hand, and Mary squealed wh
en she felt the sharp object pierce her firm behind. The motionless, naked body dropped to the floor of the flying vehicle. I could breathe again. No, I need to give her' to Verloven as soon as possible! I didn’t need any more of those adventures.

  Chapter 2

  “NOBODY’S HAPPY to see you here, Mark Derwin,” Verloven said as soon as I landed next to the gazebo. The function was obviously moping around, unhappy with all and sundry — even someone as dense as me could see that. And while Grust was nowhere to be seen, the rating told me he was definitely in the location. Milady and Little were, too. He’d brought them back to life.

  “I thought about your offer,” I said with a nod in Mary’s direction. “And I’m willing to trade her.”

  “What do you want?” The old man’s expression remained indifferent, though his glistening eyes betrayed his interest.

  “Information. Lots of information. Plus, I need to buy some things off you.”

  “There are limits to what functions can share, so I won’t be allowed to answer all the questions you might ask. Wait a second, what do you need to buy that you can’t get yourself? You already have access to level eight!”

  “I need eight green explosions,” I said, and then I grunted. Verloven’s eyes looked like two saucers.

  “What? That’s impossible! How do you even know they exist?”

  “Also, five red ones,” I continued, ignoring Verloven’s indignation. “They work past level thirty, right?”

  “Well, yes,” the function nodded dumbly. It quickly came around, however. “But that's impossible! I wouldn’t be able to give you that many even for the slave girl — neither you nor I have enough coins.”

  “I have these, however.” I showed the function my remaining noa.

  “That doesn’t do anything.” It was surprising, but the old man didn’t appear impressed. It was like I'd shown him some regular rocks instead of noa. What’s up with that?

  “What’s up is that the game values units of noa at 50 million coins.” I’d apparently asked that last question out loud. The whole coin system wasn’t something I'd ever understood, so Verloven was kind enough to explain it.

  “Nothing is free in the game; everything has its price. The system pays you for taking pictures of its units — monsters, but alive and dead. Especially the dead ones. That’s how it understands which resources it can free up, launching its standard cleanup process. In your case, since you have a level seven penalty1, the general is charged the extra amount as the initiator of the penalty. But it doesn’t just print those coins out of thin air. It... No, you’re not supposed to know that. But it goes for everything — nothing is generated for free in the game. Remember our trade? I was only able to give you named items for noa because their value was less than fifty7 million. Zelda cost much more, which was why I told you it cost two units. So, going back to your explosions, the green ones cost a hundred million. Apiece. For me to give you the eight you’re looking for, the game needs to be paid 800 million. And as much as I might like to make that happen, my location doesn’t have access to resources like that.”

  “But there are some discrepancies there,” I replied. “I get bonuses, and they’re free. It doesn’t matter how much the named item is worth — it could be a billion coins. And then I could sell it. Who pays for all that?”

  “Have you tried?” the old man asked slyly. “Go ahead — I see you have one named item bonus remaining. Pick anything worth more than twenty million, and then try to sell it. I want to see your face.” I more than ten million that you were gifted. Nobody can. The money it costs to buy those items is allotted by the creator itself, and it makes sure nobody takes advantage of the system. You won’t be able to get rich off that pile of level eight bonuses you have.”

  "But I’ve sold items...” I started, though I stopped short. Still, Verloven understood my train of thought.

  “Were they worth more than ten million?”

  All I could do was mutter that they weren’t.

  “Your slave girl really is unique. She’s incredibly valuable, just not in this release. And so, because she’s an investment in the future, if you’re willing to trade her, I’ll give you two...okay, two green explosions and the right to ask a few questions. Only, like I told you, I won’t be able to answer all of them.”

  “For example, ones about what the owner needs from Earth and what the blood it’s looking for is?”

  “I’m glad we understand each other.”

  “Deal!” I cast one last glance over at Mary’s beautiful figure, and my heart skipped a beat. Maybe, this is a mistake. If you believe what you hear, there isn’t much enjoyment you can’t get out of a succubus. Of course, they come with just as many headaches.

  “Here are your explosions.” Verloven held out two green spheres as his servants ran over to my flying vehicle and unloaded the motionless body.

  “If she isn’t human, how was she able to resurrect me?” I asked belatedly, my eyes following the procession.

  “That’s what’s special about them. They can resurrect any creature since they’re the same race as them, though that’s not what they’re most valued for...”

  “Yes, I figured that out.” It was like a weight was lifted from my shoulders when the cavalcade of servants disappeared around the corner. Without thinking much about it, I activated the explosions, making the trade irreversible.

  You used a green explosion (2).

  Valkyrie, Fang, Ulbaron, Raptor, Zelda, Fartira, and Shulma levels increased by 2 (24).

  “You’re well equipped,” Verloven said when the glow around my items died away. “But I see your weakness there.”

  “What do you mean?”

  “You can’t follow your heart, running around freeing location after location. If you were to do that, your named items would level-up too quickly. The next jump will be at level thirty. All your parameters will need to be at level 130 — are you ready for that? Do you know what the prices are up there? The number of free points you’ll need?”

  “Yes, I do,” I replied bitterly. “This isn’t my first time.”

  “Players usually pick two or three named items and develop themselves in line with their requirements to make sure they... Oh! You don’t know...”

  “I don’t know what?” I asked with a frown.

  “Coins you spend leveling yourself up don't count toward the release results. That’s why everyone tries to stick with just the amount they need to get the job done here and now. And then, they either leave their coins in their account, which doesn’t make sense, or they spend them on equipment they hide in caches, warehouses, or anywhere else. It just has to be linked to them. That's the only way coins benefit you and push you up the ranking.”

  “I couldn’t care less,” I snorted. “I need to be strong right now.”

  Verloven didn’t have an answer for that.

  “What else would you like to know about the game, Mark Derwin? Or can we wrap this up?” the old man asked, more from a sense of etiquette. Its eyes kept glancing back at its house.

  “Yes, here’s something: there are dungeons that are only for natural players. What are the nuances I should know about?”

  “I’m not even going to ask how you know that.” Verloven didn’t answer right away, though he did eventually. “Yes, dungeons like that do exist. They’re closed to aliens. Also, game items don’t work inside. Anyone who makes it in becomes the same person they were at the start of the game — no upgrades, no updates, no classes, none of that. In my releases, nobody’s beaten one, so I’m not sure what kind of reward you can expect."

  “Can personified noa go through them?”

  “Good question. Your very existence depends on the game... No, I’m not sure. If it’s really bothering you, head in and find out. Just be aware that you might die as soon as you step foot inside.”

  Got it. Either Verloven was being evasive, or it really didn’t know about the dungeons. I was going to have to find one of my old friends fr
om the Po family.

  But that was later.

  Right then, wasting no more time, I headed off to find Grust. He was by a river, where he’d set up a nice little picnic. Little was splashing around in the water — he looked happy to be back in the land of the living. The lovebirds, decorum and security thrown to the wind, were cuddling in their underwear in the shade of a tree. They looked carefree. It was like all the problems on Earth had disappeared, and I felt a heaviness inside.

  “Oh, Mark!” Grust called happily when he saw me. Milady let him go with clear reluctance. “You’re by yourself? Where’s Squirrel?”

  “Two got her,” I replied. My partner’s face darkened, though just for a couple moments.

  “Well, I got mine back,” he said, nodding toward Milady. “It’s so nice not to risk your life...”

  “And?” A sneaking suspicion took hold.

  “I was just thinking that I can’t lose them again. Not now. We’re going to have to die one way or another, and I'd like to spend our last days together. It’s safe here, we have enough coins to live like kings, and Verloven doesn’t mind. Mark, I’m sorry, but we’re going to have to go our separate ways. I’m done with generals, monsters, and all the rest of them. I’d like my last few weeks to be quiet. And with my girl.”

  “Baby, are you coming?” I heard Milady call over. She was making a point of ignoring me.

  “On my way!” Grust held out a hand. “It was fun, Mark, but I want to live for myself for a while. I’m sorry if that messes up your plans.”

  “I get it,” I replied, shaking his hand. Our group disappeared, and I was alone — physically and from the game’s perspective. But the worst part was that while I couldn’t have disagreed with him more, I completely

  understood. If I’d been able to get Squirrel back, I would have found some spot in one of my locations or there in Verloven’s, and it would have been impossible to drag me out. But it wasn’t meant to be. The damn robots had my sister.

  Grust nodded and walked away. Little yelled something over, waving and laughing loudly. The look Milady deigned to give me was anything but kind. Anyway, Grust had a kind of family, and there was no place for me in it. My partner had been replaced by an emptiness deep inside.