Survival Quest (The Way of the Shaman: Book #1) (11 page)

Do you accept? Attention, you will not be able to remove an accepted stat!

Why not? In this gameworld only NPCs hand out quests and hold all the key positions. Even our governor is an NPC. So, I think that such a stat would come in handy and I’ll still have three free stat slots.             

A new stat has been unlocked for the character: Charisma. Total:  1

“If you take off right now, you’ll still manage to get your portion of the evening rations,” said Rine, after thinking a moment and taking Kart’s ore. “The things convicts come up with – anything to avoid working,” he mumbled to himself as he headed for the smithy.

We had won! Now my plans for pulling Kart out of the hole began to look more realistic.

"Allow me to go on with my tale, Kart," I said, when Kart returned from supper, somewhat cheered up. "As I said, our handsome lad could not return the heroic might, taken by the Green Dragon, to his Friend, but he could hunt foul beasts called Rats. And the earth was strewn with the prized skins of the Rats. And so instead of going to the mines and hacking at the accursed ore veins the lad’s Friend will be working Rat skins in the coming week and making all kinds of wondrous things out of them and so gain great happiness and esteem. And the meat of those enemy Rats can probably be cooked in a deep black pot or fried over a roaring fire, to make the Friend's life even more wondrous, because he'll become a renowned Cook, respected by all."

I paused and looked at Kart. Now I liked his look much better: gone were the pair of stupefied cattle-like eyes, where it was a struggle to find even a spark of intelligence. No, the eyes looking at me now were full of renewed hope and I could see that Kart's brain was fitfully going through different possibilities for levelling up. That's right Kart: unless you want to help yourself, I won’t be able to pull you out.

"Kart, before I continue with my tale, I need to know how much money you have. Much depends on this. I only have 2 silver coins, which won't go very far."

"I have 104 gold, 25 silver and 45 copper coins," said Kart, looking in his bag. "No-one touched my money after my death, so I didn't lose anything."

"Great, then I can continue the story. And so the young lad advised his Friend not to mine veins in the near future, but to stand by the greedy Dwarf and buy surplus ore from other fellows working in the area for 11 copper coins. It shouldn't be hard to find such fellows, who'd be eager to gain some extra ever-coveted profit, since the miserly dwarf buys the ore for only 10 coins a piece. And thus, the young hero's friend will have another joy - a daily tribute and good skimmings, which he will use to develop his Smithing profession. By this time the handsome lad will have learned Jewelcraft and will take heavy Copper Ingots from his Friend in order to level up his own skills. This way they will live happily and level up ever after. And that's the end of the tale, and anyone who failed to listen well is likely to be done for pretty soon."

Attention! A new stat has become available to your character: Chattiness.
Chattiness determines your attractiveness to NPCs, ability to gain trust and also allows you to be popular with crowds. There is a chance that you will talk your opponent to sleep for a set amount of time.

Do you accept? Attention, you will not be able to remove an accepted stat!

No thanks. It's quite enough to have Kart running around with this stat.

"Well, aren’t you just the handsome lad," Kart said suddenly, giving me a sly look. "That's it! The patient will live! But do tell me, the hero's good friend, what the heck do you need me for?"

"Well, you see, Kart, my life is just so boring, so I just have to give myself something to do. After all, there is absolutely nothing else to do here. It's not like I should get back to work now. Instead let's go and find Rine. I have around 60 Rat pelts in my bag and we can start training you up in Leatherworking."

We found Rine in the Smithy. He muttered something under his breath when he saw us, but still came out to greet us, wiping his hands on the apron.

"What, just can't sleep? It's late and it's an early rise for a day of heavy work tomorrow. Or you've already got the quota for the rest of the week on your hands? Or maybe the rest of the month?"

"Lay off the sarcasm, Rine. We're here on business. We want to be trained. Kart here needs to learn Leatherworking and I need to learn Jewelcraft. We also both need to be taught Cooking."

"So, they decided to get an education," muttered the dwarf, annoyed. "You just won’t behave like all the normal prisoners — go to the mine, gather all the ore that you can, hand it over to me and be happy. Oh no — you've found yourselves some loopholes to get out of doing work. I don't like slackers, they're just..."

"Rine!" Kart and I shouted at once.

"What? ‘Rine!-Rine!’ I don't want to teach you anything until you start working properly. I don't want to and I won't."

Way to hit a roadblock. The stubborn dwarf got it into his head that we have to be put back on the righteous path. Well then - two can play at this game.

"Fine, Rine, have it your way: if you don't want to teach us, don't," I said and looked in the direction of the administration office. "Kart, what do you think? Has the governor already gone to sleep or not?"

"Who knows? What do you need him for?" asked Kart in surprise.

"What do you mean, what for? If I am not mistaken, at the mine we have, or rather had, the opportunity to learn any profession. At any time. Rine doesn't want to or simply can't teach anyone right now, so I'll go and ask the governor to teach me," I said, starting to head for the administration. Well, Rine. Your move!

"Ehh... Mahan!" shouted Rine, after I was already halfway there. "Stop! Sod you..."

I turned around and looked at the dwarf.

"What's with the shouting, Rine? It's late already, you'll wake people up," I was the very picture of surprise, but inside as pleased as the cat who got the cream.

"How can I not shout, when I have to chase those looking to be taught all around the mine? Who needs this, in the end, me or you? Come here, both of you, and I'll do some teaching. Have a look at things first. Now, let's think. The unlocking of one profession costs 20 silver coins, tools for the professions — Jeweler, Leatherworker and Cook — cost one gold each. And then there's the 10 silver for each recipe. I have 3 recipes for Jewelcraft, 4 for Leatherworking and only 2 for Cooking. This means that in total" — Rine paused to think — "I need 7 gold and 40 silver from both of you. So hand over the money and let's get to the teaching."

Skill increase:

Charisma stat increased by 1. Total: 2

"Rine, who do you take us for? Why are you hiking up the price as if you're trading on the main market square of Anhurs? Where have you seen so much being charged for teaching? Are you the Imperial University? And the tools? It's as if they are actually made of gold, the way you're asking a gold for each. They'll not fetch above 2 copper coins. However, we’re prepared to take everything for 2 gold."

"For 2 gold? Mahan, you must be kidding me. I almost broke my back dragging these tools and recipes all the way from the neighboring town, had to earn the ability to teach you losers with my own sweat and blood and you're offering me just 2 gold for all this? How can I even talk with you after this? 5 gold and not a copper less."

"Rine, this is outrageous! We break our backs here in the mine from dawn till dusk, barely see the light of day and earn mere pennies! Where would we get 5 gold? If we turn out all our pockets, spend several days standing by the barracks begging, we won't gather more than 3."

"Really? You’re the ones breaking your backs? You're the ones not seeing the light of day? Don't make me laugh! The end price is 4 gold, and that's final. That's as low as I'll go, beg as you might."

"Agreed! Kart, can you contribute some money here?" I looked at Kart, who was doing his best not to crack up laughing. "I seem to be all out right now."

Skill increase:

Trade increased by 1. Total: 3

Your reputation with the Pryke Mine Guards has increased by 10 points. You are 2780 points away from the status of Respect.

Having taken our money and clearly in better spirits, Rine went to the smithy and brought several items and pieces of paper.

"Right, let's get the teaching out of the way first," said Rine, making a series of movements with his hands.

You gained the "Cooking" profession. Current level 1.

You gained the "Jewelcraft" profession. Current level 1.

"You'll figure out how to use the professions yourselves, I'm not going to nanny you here. Now, take these, you're going to need them. You have to read the papers in order to learn the recipes."

You received an object: Jeweler's tools (Attention! Does not take up inventory bag space).

You received an object: Cooking kit (Attention! Does not take up inventory bag space).

New Jewelcraft recipe learned. Copper Wire. Total: 1 recipe.

New Jewelcraft recipe learned. Lesser Copper Ring. Total: 2 recipes.

New Jewelcraft recipe learned. Lesser Copper Chain. Total: 3 recipes.

New Cooking recipe learned. Fried Rat. Total: 1 recipes.

New Cooking recipe learned. Rat Burger. Total: 2 recipes.

"And don't forget," Rine said, looking at me, "in 59 days I'll be expecting my 40 gold."

Kart looked at me in surprise, so on the way back to the barracks I had to tell him of how I bought the pick and my obligations to Rine that came with it. After telling him, I had to spend some time refusing Kart's money, insisting that I would be able to earn the needed amount. I barely managed to decline his help, but had to promise that if I failed to save up the needed sum, I would definitely ask Kart for financial assistance. Perhaps Kart is also a dwarf and just knows how to hide it well? He grips on like a leech.

I greeted the morning with joy, but decided to find whoever thought up this damned alarm clock and tell him just how wrong he was. Very wrong. And I'll be very emphatic.

As we agreed, Kart did not go out to mine. For today his timetable would keep him busy in the smithy, where he'd be levelling up his Leatherworking profession. He said that now he was able to make a Leather jacket, trousers and boots, but that these clothes gave no bonuses other than increasing armor. Today I had to look into what rings and chains I could make with Jewelcraft. Would they also come without any additional stats? That would be a pity. But I'd get to that later, now I had to focus on the ore.

After I smashed away the day's second vein, I discovered that a stone of some kind, about the size of my fist, was lying on the ground with the ore. Strange, I had not encountered one of these before. Could it be some sort of a unique bonus? That would be nice. I should show the stone to Rine in the evening, he should know what it is.

By the end of the day I could happily boast of level 4 in Mining, 2 levels in Strength and Intellect and of 58 pieces of Copper Ore, 8 Rat skins, tails and pieces of meat. Not bad for a second day after all my stats were reset.

Immediately after handing in the quota and the Rat Tails, I decided to level up my Cooking profession, because gaining independence from the food we were handed out twice daily would have been a nice bonus. I didn’t have that much Rat Meat on me, but quite enough to explore the benefits of this profession.

I opened my cooking book and started to examine what recipes I had:

Fried Rat.

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Description: Fried Rat meat may not have a very pleasant taste, but in dire need would prevent you from dying of hunger. On use: Restores 20 Hit Points. Minimum level: 1

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Crafting requirements: minimum Cooking level 1.

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Ingredients: 1 piece of Rat Meat.

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Instruments: Cooking Kit.

Rat Burger.

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Description: Processed Rat meat. When eating, please do not think about what it is made of. On use: Restores 40 Hit Points. Minimum level: 1

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Crafting requirements: minimum Cooking level 1.

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Ingredients: 2 pieces of Rat Meat.

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Instruments: Cooking Kit.

When I started to roast the meat it stubbornly refused to come out the way it was pictured in the cookbook. It was either overdone or underdone or burned to a cinder altogether. Having used up 10 pieces this way I stopped wasting my supplies and sat down to gather my thoughts. I was clearly doing something wrong, but simply didn't understand what it was. That stingy dwarf — he could have told me how to use the professions, but no, he decided to be stubborn: you'll learn for yourselves. So now I had to try and figure this out.