Project Daily Grind (Mirror World Book #1) (13 page)

“Yes, I think I read about that somewhere.”

“It's a good job you're such a diligent reader,” he grinned. “When are you planning to celebrate?”

“How about tomorrow after work?” I said.

“Will do. Leuton has a few decent places with nice food and drink.”

“Excellent. Actually, do you mind if I invite another couple of peop- er, Horruds?”

“What, Greg and Sandra?” he smiled. “Absolutely not. They're nice kids.”

“Good,” I said with relief. “They helped me a lot in my first few days.”

“That's settled, then.”

We shook hands again.

“Talking about gear,” I returned to the subject. “I actually might do as you suggested. I'll check out the auction first and if I don't find anything good there, I'll get back to you.”

“Good decision,” he agreed. “You're not working today anymore, are you? So you can auction your Goner straight away.”

“I'm not sure I want to use the malachite runes with second-hand gear.”

“You never know, you might not have to. They do have runic items in the auction as well. If you like the prices, you might go for it even if it means the items have lower durability.”

I smiled. “I really should visit you more often. You've given me all sorts of tips already. On my own, I'm sure I'd have messed it all up.”

“Come and visit me then, don't just say it!” he jokingly threw his hands in the air. “If you find any decent runic items in good condition, I suggest you auction off the malachite runes too. Waste not, want not.”

“It actually looks pretty promising,” I murmured.

“You bet! You've left the hardest stage behind you now. And you did it in record time, I must say. Talk about workaholics.”

“That's what my brother calls me,” I said. “That's when he doesn't call me an idiot or suicide case.”

Rrhorgus guffawed. “He might be right. But you're still alive, aren't you?”

“I'm obliged to be,” I said firmly.

“Excellent,” he rubbed his hands. “Come on, accept my gifts.”

Rrhorgus has offered you a Wholehearted Gift.

Accept: Yes/No

I smiled. No need to ask me.

You've received a Wholehearted Gift!

Name: Infallible Pick

Name: A Malachite Rune of Strength, 4 pc.

Name: A Malachite Rune of Stamina, 3 pc.

We bade our goodbyes, then I walked out onto the street. A light pick snuggling in my hand, a boxful of malachite runes rattling in my bag—I was definitely making some progress! The main thing was not to get into any more trouble. And if their Pierrot kindly forgot all about me, that would be even better.

I stopped by a miniature fountain and took a lungful of virtual air. It tasted almost like the real stuff, the bastard! I opened the chat window. Greg was online—excellent.

Hi there Greg!

He replied straight away.
Howdy noob! Are you still alive?

Looks like it,
I added a smilie.

That's good news.

Whatcha doing tomorrow after work?

Nothing, why? Wassup?

Just a bit of a party for my Seasoned Digger.

No! No way! You're not a noob, you're... you’re...Way to go! Count me in!

I grinned at the flow of emoticons.
I wonder if you could invite Sandra for me. She's not on my friend list and I won't be able to see her today. I still need to go to Leuton.

No prob. She keeps asking me about you.

See you tomorrow, then!

See ya, Mr. Seasoned Noob!

Still smiling, I quit the chat. Tomorrow we'd talk about everything. Shame Sveta couldn't be with us. I missed her already. How was Christina doing?

The thoughts of my family made me double my pace. It took me fifteen minutes to get to Leuton. What a difference! I remembered my first journey. Today's trip felt more like a walk in the park rather than the perverted form of punishment I'd had on my first day. And once I got my Hardy Digger kit, it would be even better!

Guards stood watch by the town gate, talking, just like on the first day. This time no one paid any attention to me. Admittedly my Goner’s kit made me look less of a noob, even though I must have still been a sight.

First things first: I had to pop into the guild and pay my weekly dues of twenty-five gold. It gave +50 pt. to one’s Reputation with the Mine Diggers Guild. Ten such payments would earn me an Order of Recognition. Five hundred Reputation gave a player access to the guild store. For the time being, all I could get there was some Capacity Runes, but it opened up some interesting perspectives for the future. So today I was going to get my first 50 pt. Reputation. Shame you couldn't pay all of it at once: you'd shell out 250 gold and they'd present you with your brand new Order of Recognition. But Mirror World had its own rules geared up to keep players in the game for as long as possible. Which meant that if I paid my twenty-five gold every week and not a second earlier, it would take me two and a half months to earn my first Order. From there it got even more complicated. If the second step—the Order of Friendship—took you two months to achieve, the following ones—the Orders of Respect, Merit and Veneration—cost a thousand points each. Which in total meant four thousand points. A year and a half of playing! That was crazy. I had a funny feeling that this was the developers' way of sugar-coating the in-game charges.

Naturally, the guild store had all sorts of cool stuff like jewelry, cloaks, runes and tools. Then again, all of them had profession level restrictions. So it was really a Catch-22 situation. Still, as the saying goes, a journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step. Admittedly Mirror World was known for its abundance of various reputations, and every year they introduced something new. The game kept evolving. As the players' levels and demands grew, so did the game.

The Guild's reception was predictably packed with queues of zero-level workers snaking from the entrance. I joined one of them and prepared for a long wait. Still, as the novelty of the motley crowd had worn off a little, I noticed a few empty teller's windows. I took a closer look and noticed signs that said,
Seasoned Digger
,
Experienced Digger
,
Master Digger
and
Expert Digger
. Oh! That was where I was supposed to go!

I left the mass of waiting players and headed tentatively for the window that said,
Seasoned Diggers
. The players who'd a moment earlier given me looks of contempt worthy of my noobish Goner attire followed my progress with sarcastic anticipation. They probably expected the noob to venture to the window “just to ask a question“ and looked forward to my receiving a good dressing-down. I'd made my stats private, hadn't I? So no good staring at me or my Shrewd Operator like that. In all honesty, their smirks didn't add to my confidence.

A skinny ginger-haired she-dwarf was peering at me from behind the locket. She flashed me an open smile. “Greetings, Sir Olgerd! Congratulations on your new profession level!”

“So!” I was taken by surprise. “So that's how it is, then.”

“Of course,” the lady dwarf nodded her ginger head of hair. 'What did you think? We're a serious organization. By joining the Guild, you automatically put your name on our lists. This way a special program can monitor our workers' progress.”

“All right...” I managed.

“Don't worry, we have no access to your characteristics—only your profession level.”

“Well, I suppose it's good news.”

“It is,” she flashed me another smile as she nodded at the line of players. “I don't think you had time to kit yourself out?” she asked knowingly.

I shook my head. “It can wait. I decided to come here first thing. Seeing as I have a couple of matters to settle with you.”

“Which are?”

“Firstly, I need to pay my weekly dues. And secondly, I'd like to make an application for a level-appropriate instance.”

She nodded her understanding. A system message popped up,

Would you like to pay the Guild dues of 25 gold?

Yes, I would. I had forty gold on my gaming account. This was the little cache I'd made from the money I'd earned in the agate mine, to pay for elixirs and other emergencies. It was already good news that I could make do on what I earned. The rest was forwarded to the in-game bank then further into the real world.

Congratulations! You've received +50 to your Reputation with the Mine Diggers Guild!

The lady dwarf smiled at me again. “Congratulations.”

“Thanks,” I flashed back.

“Now, your instance application. Any resource preference?”

“Not really. As far as I know, prices are all more or less the same.”

She nodded, staring into the monitor on the desk in front of her. “You're going to dig, aren't you?”

“Exactly.”

She spent a minute entering the data, then turned away from her monitor. “That's it. Your application has been filed. The contract you'll make directly with the group leader. Once we receive a suitable request, we'll send you an email. Anything else I can do for you?”

“That's it. Thank you. Have a nice day.”

“It's been a pleasure. Enjoy the game!”

As I walked toward the exit, I caught a few envious glances from the zero-level players. Sorry, guys. No circus show for you today!

Now I only had to pop into Leuton City Chamber of Commerce, then I could finally log out. Actually, the auction dealings didn't require a building as all transactions were made online. I didn't yet know how exactly it was all supposed to happen but I fully intended to try it. But in order to participate in the bidding, I first had to register with the Chamber of Commerce. No idea why they called it such because in my opinion, the place was none other than a tax office. Somebody at the forum had suggested that this name would have evoked unpleasant sentiments in players. A taxman sounds a bit—how can I put it—a bit too real-world, if you know what I mean. But a “Chamber of Commerce representative“ was supposed to elicit different kinds of emotions... having said that, it was still a bit too real for comfort. Never mind. What was the point in pondering over it? I had too many other problems to worry about.

The building looked least of all what I'd expected it to be. It was a miniature Disney logo castle replete with little towers and weathercocks. It was begging you to walk in and investigate. I couldn't help smiling as I remembered the forum member's comment: this was the proverbial witch and her gingerbread house.

In we go, then! I just hoped they weren't going to fatten me up for the witch's pot.

Forty minutes later, I'd finalized all my financial affairs in this “gingerbread castle“. I'd only had to sign a tax agreement on 1% of each transaction. They’d also given me a list of resources banned from the auction and another one of various helpful—or so they thought—services they provided. As an example, the Chamber of Commerce could act as a guarantor and contract witness in case of particularly large transactions—and that's considering that Mirror World was packed with all sorts of lawyers and notary offices.

I reached the park and looked for a large enough tree. Hiding behind its broad trunk, I began to undress. This was a good place. No one was going to interfere. As I removed the last piece of my Goner’s kit and stuffed it into the bag, I discovered I was once again dressed in my decorative start-up zero-level kit.

It felt as if something invisible was pressing down on me. I had trouble breathing. The absence of the kit's characteristics showed. These things got you hooked really quickly. Never mind. This was only a temporary measure.

I had to sit down. As my back leaned against the giant tree's powerful trunk, I heaved a sigh.

I opened the auction menu. The runeless clothes would be the first to go. I was going to price them slightly lower than they were in the shop. I didn't want to risk it: I'd have to pay the tax even if I failed to sell the item. The admins always wanted their pound of flesh.

Now, the four runic items. I set the starting bid at twenty-five gold apiece. Done. I ticked the “pay tax after completing the transaction” box. All ready.

Then I began checking the auction for a Hardy Digger kit. Most of the items were quite worn-out. Not a single one had more than 50% Durability. But quite a few had runes on them. Actually... how about these gloves? They had a rune on them, too. Only minus 10 Durability but the price was way too high. No idea who would buy them. If you worked it out, you could easily see the item would still be cheaper than if you had to separately buy the rune and the item new from the shop. But me, I already had the runes, that was the problem.

After delving into it a bit more, I finally worked it out. I had to go for Durability. The next morning I'd have to buy some new gear from Rrhorgus, apply the runes to it and stop pondering over it. Still, I was curious what else they might have.