(World of Valdira 01) The Way of the Clan (3 page)

The cheapest ‘wooden’ account subscription cost sixty-five bucks sharp. A rather expensive entertainment. Generally I have achieved what I wanted – and I can pay for one more week right now. The whole seven days of pure bliss in the world of Valdira. Damn it… I could have kept my favorite bow, I should have thought twice. But… at that moment a wicked idea came to my mind – if I find some bloody twenty-three dollars I will be able to pay for two weeks of the game! The whole two weeks! I’ve got enough food in my fridge… Tempting, isn’t it? But I didn’t want to borrow the money. On the other hand I didn’t need much. Where can I get the required amount? Definitely I can’t rely on my relatives. The same problem with the neighbors. Actually I don’t get on well with them but for the ground floor lodger named Vasily, a neat-handed hard worker and an ex-ironpumper. Actually he used to be… but then his wife broke up with him, he took up drinking alcohol and his neat hands turned into alcoholic’s trembling chelae… He’d rather borrow from me than lend as soon as he catches sight of me. It won’t work… So…

Having used my brain for a couple of minutes I forced myself to get up from the paddy bed of the cocoon and stretched to the single-bedside-table where I kept a shoe-box stuffed with separate pieces of paper, well-thumbed business-cards and other waste. Putting out everything on the neat bed I started digging into the paper pile until I fished out a piece of paper with a crookedly written mobile phone number and a short name – Gosha.

Gosha lived in a premium-class twelve- storeyed block of flats opposite me and always had some money at hand and the most important point was that he was also Valdira’s gamer. But not just a simple player… he was really an extra-class gamer. His ultimately boosted character with hugely expensive gear was three times cooler than mine. Besides, Gosha was a quite important person in one of the top combat clans possessing their own castle, lands and even villages. This guy can understand me. We are of the same age – we are both twenty-four and we even had a couple of drinks together. Although we weren’t friends – actually we had quite different range of interests and his social status was much higher. I stretched for the phone, dialed Gosha’s number hastily praying he was home. He had to be there – he’s married and I was calling him in the evening. The phone beeped three times, then I heard the click and Gosha’s annoyed voice:

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Hello?

Done!

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Gosha, hey! It’s Ros calling. Erm.. Rostislav.

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Ah! Hi there, Ros. I’m a bit busy now. Can you call me back later? I’m going to immerse.

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It won’t take you long, Gosh! – I snapped out fast. -  You know… I’ve got a problem… Can you lend me a few bucks? Only twenty-eight dollars. To be more exact, twenty-seven dollars and ninety-nine cents.

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How much? Twenty-seven and ninety-nine? – snorted Gosha. – Boy oh boy! Why such a sum?

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I fall short for two-week subscription, - admitted I. – My firm… well, it went belly-up. Boss zoomed off somewhere without paying the bills. I am unemployed so far.

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No problems. Do you prefer cash or e-money?

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E-money’s much better –said I delightfully. – Thanks, Gosha! I’ll pay you back in a month!

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Don’t worry – responded Gosha firmly. – Ok, I’ll credit you now. Tell me your wallet number. I’m at the computer at the moment.

It was the second time for the last half an hour when I pattered my wallet number and became silent listening simultaneously to the cracking in the phone and to the computer behind me. Soon I’ll hear a merry jingle announcing the arrival of twenty-eight dollars. Then in a couple of minutes I’ll send the total amount to my account and… my favorite game, welcome me again!

The computer jingle didn’t come but I heard Gosha’s voice in the phone instead. And that time I could identify certain abstraction in it.

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Ros, know what… Are you free now?

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What do you mean?

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Have you got some time now? About an hour.

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Sure – I was surprised. – I’m unemployed, you know. I just wanted to immerse like you.

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You’ll have time for that, - Gosha persuaded me. – So then come to me. At the entrance say that Gosha invited you, the security will see you safely to my door. But hurry up! PDQ, ok?

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Ok… Gosha, what about my dollars? If you don’t have the sum at the disposal, can you lend me ten dollars?

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Ros, stop this bullshit! Come to my place! I need to talk to you! Are you coming?

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Yeah, I’ll be there in five minutes. – I heard short beeps in the phone.

I scratched the back of my head thoughtfully, took a hoodie from the coat closet while approaching the door. It will suit my wrinkled pants and a vest that used to be white perfectly. I wondered what Gosha had decided to discuss with me so suddenly.

Damn, my timer’s ticking there… I’ll have to hurry up.  

Chapter 2

An offer hard to refuse

The security wasn’t impressed by my appearance at all, that’s for sure. But none of the fireplugs sitting in the lounge said anything about it. I was phlegmatically listened to, then taken to the appropriate door the utmost carefully and handed to Gosha who emerged from the apartment.

Gosha seemed to have become even heftier since our last meeting about two months ago. His upper-arms were pushing XXXL loose T-shirt apart. Let alone his shoulder humps. How does he have time for everything? Work, wife, gym plus an active life in Valdira… If I were him, I would have given up something from this list long ago. However, I actually did it – I am unemployed and a new job isn’t going to appear soon, as for sport… what does this mysterious word mean, can you remind me?

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Hi there – grumbled Gosha to the security guard, then grasped my shoulder and pushed into his apartment… I’d better say ‘into his premium-class mansion’. I looked around the rich interior of the lounge. ‘He lives a luxury life’ I came to the conclusion.

The door clicked locking. And I was pulled farther and farther into the depths of the infinite apartment. We stopped in a small corner room only apparently functioned as a study. There was a powerful even at first sight computer and Valdira cocoon nearby. A bunch of cables as thick as my wrist extended to the wall, all the gamers called it an umbilical cord tenderly, no other names for it. And it’s justified since they have got the same purpose. There is power supply from the main electric net, switch to the battery to resist the electricity blackout in the house and, sure, a network cable to ensure the direct connection to Valdira game server inside that umbilical cord plus something else. That’s a real umbilical cord. A gamer is a new-born baby or an embryo, a padded-bed cocoon replaces him the womb, as for Valdira it plays the part of a mother brilliantly.

I was pushed into a leather arm-chair and a thick glass tumbler full of pure whisky appeared in my hand. Gosha managed to do it in two tiny minutes. I seemed to understand why he had time for everything and could combine many tasks. If he came to my place, we would be still hovering in the hall.

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Cheers! – Gosha clanked his tumbler at mine and sank into the chair opposite me. – To us!

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Yup… - I nodded at him while bringing the tumbler to my mouth. – To us.

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Now let’s get down to business. So, you’re unemployed.

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Right. The firm is a total bankrupt.

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Great!

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What?! – I couldn’t understand Gosha’s euphoria. – What makes you so delighted?

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It’s the fact that you’ve got plenty of free time now that we can invest into decent things and make some cash for beer. And you’ll be able to pay your rent.

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Gosha, you’re offering me a job, aren’t you? – I raised my eyebrows in surprise. – You know I’m…

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I don’t give a damn what you are! – interrupted me the swole. – Yes, you can say so – I’ve got a job for you. Actually it’s a wow-job you have never even dreamt about. I wanna you immerge into Valdira and stay there as long as possible. How about it?

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What do you mean?..

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What do I mean? – Gosha was about to lose his temper and started doubting my intelligence capability.

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Anyway I play as frequently as I can. Why shall I get money for that?

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Now you’ll play according to my rules, - Gosha grinned, he was pleased with himself and took another gulp of straight whisky.

He might be drunk… But you’d never know looking at him.

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If you don’t mind – added Gosha – So what about it?

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Gosh! Please, stop that what-about-it! – I couldn’t stand such pressure and also took a big gulp. I felt a little buzzed. – Give me detail, what do you want? Can you hear yourself? It’s nonsense!

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Hrmp… - thinking for a while Gosha agreed. – You’re absolutely right. Ok, listen carefully, I gonna explain it step by step.

I nodded without uttering a word. Gosha continued speaking:

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First, I’ll pay your Valdira two-month account of the highest diamond class. Work will last two months as well give or take a couple of weeks. Hush, Ros! Just listen!

I closed my mouth dropped opened with an effort and nodded again proving that I was listening.

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Second I’ll tip you some pocket money. For grub, drinks, your dig rent and other small pleasures of life. To make it short – I gonna pay you salary. Say… one and a half thousand bucks per month. If you take my offer, I’ll pay you some money right now.

Making sure I turned into a speechless mummy Gosha continued:

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That’s all for bonuses. Third, as I’ve already said you’ll play according to my rules. To be more exact your quest is to help one gamer succeed in two objectives.

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Erm…

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What? Did you catch everything?

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Gosha, can you imagine how much dough do you need to pay for a two-month diamond account?

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Do you wanna teach me to count? – said the owner of the luxurious apartment sarcastically, I dried up.

In contrast to me Gosha was like a salted Jewish banker. By the way he is really in banking. Something connected with investment…

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Is that all?

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No way. And now the last thing… You’ll have to delete your current game account and create a new bare one. Now that’s all.

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Delete?! Gosha, you know how much effort I put into my Crashshot! – I jumped up nearly spattering my whisky. – We can just update my wooden account to a diamond one, can’t we?

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No, we can’t, - snapped he and drank his whisky at a gulp. – Why aren’t you drinking?

I sipped half a glass blindly but I didn’t taste whisky at all. Shall I kill Crashshot? I’ve spent so many months on his development… I’ve survived a lot together with him… he’s my alter ego. No matter what class your account is, you are permitted to have only one character. No doubles. If you want to have another character – delete the first and start your game from the very beginning. That’s the company’s policy. Besides it is rather impacted by the cocoon and personal settings than by the game rules. Something connected with psychic step-by-step adaptation and a new body adjustment. That’s the reason why you can’t run around as a cool warrior – half-ork for about an hour and then suddenly jump into the body of a graceful and slow mage – drow. You can lose your marbles then. Besides, you can’t play for the opposite sex at all.

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Ros, please, believe me, I understand what you feel, - said Gosha sympathetically all at once. – But no other way. You’ll have to delete.

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But why? Well, I see – you want me to help one of the gamers complete his mission. But my Crashshot has been advanced, I’ve got some good gear – it can function as a reliable background to help. What for shall I delete and then start from the very beginning?