Project Daily Grind (Mirror World Book #1) (8 page)

“Only if you tell me if the catalog download is free.”

“Absolutely. Here.”

I confirmed its installation and was about to leave when my eye chanced on a neat row of wooden boxes on one of the shelves. “What's that you've got there?”

The vendor turned to look. He chuckled in confirmation of his own thoughts, headed for the shelves and began rummaging through them. Soon he was back with a beautifully carved brown box.

He opened it, showing me ten green tablets the size of a five-year-old child's palm, each about a finger thick. The material looked like stone. A few pictograms were carved at their centers—whether runes or hieroglyphics, I couldn't tell.

“The Malachite Runes,” Rrhorgus said. “They boost items' characteristics. Not the most popular thing among Mine Diggers. By themselves they're indestructible, but once applied to an item, in case of its destruction they disappear as well. A costly toy, let me tell you. These ones over here are from fifty gold up.”

I focused on one of the tablets.

Name: Malachite Rune of Strength

Effect: +10 to Strength

Level restriction: Seasoned Mine Digger

That was worth having. “How many of them can you use?” I asked.

He grinned, seeing my interest. “One per item... the problem is, you'll never make it to Seasoned in these here mines. Wait a sec.”

He disappeared in his storeroom and stayed there for a good ten minutes. He reemerged all sweaty, his right sleeve covered in dust, a piece of cobweb clinging to his left shoulder. Had it not been for his gray skin tone, I'd have thought he had turned crimson from the effort.

“Here,” he said victoriously, setting a dusty wooden box onto the counter. “I thought I wouldn't find it. This is a relic, heh!”

He wiped the box clean with his sleeve. “Yet another beta testing sample. You can't imagine how much of this junk has gone through my hands. Look,” he opened the lid. Four gray—or rather, earth-colored—runes lay at the bottom of the box.

“Zero-level Clay Runes,” he grinned. “I don't think anyone still has any of these anymore. They're ancient. The admins got rid of them at an early stage as no one used them. But I stashed them away... just in case.”

“Why did no one use them?”

“Why would they? The zero-level gear has a week's durability. Once the item's broken, the rune's gone with it. And they're fifteen gold each. Seasoned Diggers don't need clay: they can afford the malachite ones. No idea why the admins decided to get rid of them. Wouldn't it have been easier to simply drop the price? Never mind.”

“I beg your pardon, sir,” my voice began to shake, “Do you think these runes might fit my gear?”

“That's exactly what I'm driving at,” he said. “I've never in my life seen anyone install runes on zero-level items. It's actually the first time I see a Goner’s kit in the flesh, if you know what I mean. All thanks to you—a player who thinks out of the box.”

I forced a skittish grin, unable to take my eyes off the clay tablets. Three runes of +3 to Strength each and one of +7 to Stamina. This was a treasure trove! Installing these runes would have considerably boosted my gear stats—without leaving me out of pocket, either. If my items were indestructible, the runes too would last me an eternity! If only they fit!

“So what do you think? Would you like to try them?”

I gave a nervous nod.

“Do you have the money?” the Dwand double-checked. “Once a rune is installed, it can't be removed.”

“I do have the money,” I reassured him. “If it works, I'll buy all four of them.”

“Let's do it, then,” he said. “Take a rune. The system will ask you to choose an item you'd like to use it on. After that, you know what to do. God bless!”

I reached out and picked up a clay tablet. Was it indeed warm or was it my imagination?

The rune began to glow.

Name: Clay Rune of Strength.

Effect: +3 to Strength

Restrictions: None

Choose the item you would like to install the rune on.
 

I chose the shirt.

Congratulations! You've received +3 to Strength!

The rune crumbled in my hands and disappeared without a trace. A complex earth-color sign appeared on my shirt above my heart.

“I got it!” I raised my hands, celebrating.

Strangely enough, Rrhorgus seemed to be celebrating with me.

I hurried to shell out sixty gold and installed the remaining runes. This was how my stats looked now:

Speed: 19

Strength: 18

Stamina: 10

My Energy bar had grown to 240. Excellent. All wasn't as bad as I'd thought. I compared my finished kit to the Speedo and was pleasantly surprised. I had 10 pt. less Speed but 3 pt. more Strength and 2 pt. more Stamina. So even without a bonus my kit was nothing to sniff at.

On Rrhorgus’ advice I also purchased a 10-slot leather belt to stash away elixirs. It also had 30 pt. Durability. We spent the next quarter of an hour chatting. I bade him a warm farewell and walked out of the shop. Hope gave me wings.

Chapter Eight

I
perched myself on a bench in the shade of a large tree and tried to calm down. I was done with the shopping. Now all I had to do was distribute the additional skills.

Thirty points was desperately not enough, but I hoped this was only the beginning. Let's do it, then.

I invested 20 pt. into the True Heroes Take Devious Routes skill. The catchy phrase belonged to a Soviet-era song lyricist Vadim Korostylev who‘d apparently been poking fun at the so-called
Homo Sovieticus
behavioral patterns. I had no idea who'd created my character but he definitely had a good sense of humor.

Done it!

Congratulations! You've received +20 to your additional skill! Name of skill: True Heroes Take Devious Routes

Congratulations! You've received +10 to your additional skill! Name of skill: Shrewd Operator

I took stock of my mental exercise. My chances of raising my skill level by collecting twenty rocks had increased to 10%. Also, collecting 100 resources improved my chances of adding one point to Shrewd Operator 40%. I just hoped that this estimate would be worth the effort. That was it. I had no reserve points left.

Now, mining. The previous night I'd read in one of the forums that there were five zero-level minerals: aquamarine, turquoise, agate, granite and marble. Lord Shantar's mines mainly specialized in the two latter ones. Loaded individuals were quick to find their place in the gaming world. Demand and supply walked hand in hand, as Shantarsky surely knew. All he'd done, he'd created a low-scale mining business as his personal retirement fund.

Still, neither granite nor marble suited me. They were too heavy. Only the Horrud-like races could do this kind of work. The lightest mineral was turquoise, followed by aquamarine and agate as a close third. Those were the minerals used by zero-level crafters: jewelers, sculptors, blacksmiths, alchemists and such. Nothing was wasted. The game developers had taken good care of that.

The market dictated its own terms. A thousand points of marble cost more or less the same as a thousand turquoise—a tad more even. But as for demand... If both granite and marble were bought by the thousand, things like turquoise, agate and aquamarine were sold by the hundred, if not less. Which was why everyone considered me either a noob or an idiot—a suicide case even—whenever I mentioned my contract.

Still, this noob had a plan. The noob was about to take the devious route. They knew nothing of my additional characteristics. I'd kept them to myself. I just didn't appreciate people's stares focusing on me.

My plan was both simple and potentially damaging—to my health first and foremost. I decided to gamble on quick skill leveling which directly depended on the quantity of minerals farmed. Being the lightest of the lot, turquoise fitted my plan perfectly. Yes, I was in for quite a bit of running and weight lifting and I was quite prepared to gulp my share of energy-boosting elixirs if it helped me improve the skill. Once I made the first level, I could count on higher earnings.

This was my plan. Very soon I was going to find out if it had any weak points.

As I rummaged through the maps of Shantar, I decided to download the Satnav app, after all. I paid the three gold and clicked
Install
. The app dutifully analyzed the precious few maps I had and came up with the following message,

Would you like to install the Voyager bot?

I leafed through the user's guide. All you had to do was enter your itinerary, then the bot would take over your char and take him there saving the maximum of energy by using “low calorie” elixirs. Some sort of auto pilot, basically.

I downloaded that too. The app kept showering me with more offers but I paid no heed to those. I only had thirty gold left in my pocket.

I opened the maps. Now. The Marble Mines... The Granite Mines... More marble... and again... and some granite... Aha, finally some agate! But where were the turquoise and aquamarine?

Oh.
No results found
? And the aquamarine? Same? How strange. I tried the agate and the search results came back with the name of a mine. What, only one? It must have been a glitch.

Never mind. Whatever. Once I got to the mine, I'd see for myself. Off we go, then.

The route has been calculated.

Would you like to activate the Voyager bot?

Yes, please.

Choose the mode.

I chose Economy mode that didn't call for any boosts or stopovers.

Time en route: 30 min.

Accept: Yes/No

I was all set.

My body made a smooth turn around and began walking rather energetically. The feeling was strange: it was still me walking, as if someone invisible was pulling—or rather, pushing—me forward. I decided to test it and tried to stop myself. It worked. Excellent. I leaned forward and touched my toes. Not a problem. I stood up, listening to my body. Thirty seconds later, it resumed its progress. So! Not bad at all!

It hadn't taken me long to get to the mine. As I traveled, I used the time to study the app's menu and found lots of useful features. Good. I was finding my way around. And the best part was still to come!

I came across many miners walking in the opposite direction returning from work. All zero levels, they plodded along, exchanging unenthusiastic comments. I noticed one guy being carried along, so badly had he overdone it. Mainly beefcake races, but I also saw a few punier types, all sporting every possible kind of tool and gear.

My kit brought smiles to their faces. Someone pointed their finger at me; I could hear a few jokes and jibes coming from the crowd. I must have looked a sight. It was a good job I'd changed the stats settings to “private“, otherwise I'd have spent the rest of the day answering their questions.

I reached a place where the route forked. Much to my relief, the bot turned right, leaving me alone on the road. It felt too empty—even the trail had overgrown as if no one had used it for a long time. Behind it, I glimpsed a few cliff tops.

After ten more minutes, I finally stood by the entrance to a mine. The place looked as if it had been really busy once—a long long time ago. Apparently, there used to be quite a demand for agate for a while. The entrance was littered with rock debris and rotting old trolleys. A row of derelict workers' barracks could be seen behind them, black with age.

Oh. The place gave you that spooky feeling. The cave's dark mouth breathed damp and cold.

Never mind. One can get used to anything. Still, knowing how it worked would be useful.

I opened the info portal. So... Mines, yes... Farming... Got it!

According to the user's guide, a worker was supposed to sign on in a terminal that was located near the mine somewhere. Right... All I could see was an apparatus that looked a bit like a parking meter. What if I tried to approach it?

I stopped within an arm's reach of the terminal. After a short pause, it sprang to life.

Greetings, Olgerd!

This is Mine Terminal #12.

Levels: 0 to 35

Resource: Agate

Press Confirm to begin farming.

I'd failed to locate turquoise. Ditto for aquamarine. I had no time to go search for them now, either. I'd been in the game for several hours already and I hadn't even started working yet.

I heaved a sigh.
Confirm.