Chapter 19

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You've raised the level!

Well, here we are at sixteen. How does it sing, "I will do anything for my sweet sixteen"? May Sweet Paladin. Yeah.

"Loot."

There was only a handful of silver in the remaining pile from the two-headed boss. Goodbye, sacrifice to the patroness twice a day! The freebie was over, leaving me with a pretty good reputation. At last, I could rest!

Menus, Character Profiles.

Here's the strange thing - almost all of the game commands I duplicate the voice orders, and the menu never got used to calling through the microphone, only by hand. So, eight free development points...

Secondary characteristics began to show up after the fifteenth level. I had to figure everything out again. You can only increase them during the game - there is no armor or spells with these parameters, so it all depends on the player. Attention, for example, is the bonus that increases the chance of passing any skill with an increase in rank. You can develop either by increasing the rank of trading skills or special in-game training, arranged in the form of chains of tasks. As a vicious cheater, I have a level of about average tracer proficiency... which has already helped me find novice thieves who train on the same noobs as themselves.

Livability is analogous to endurance. A treadmill, and only a treadmill. Rumor has it that starting from twenty units you practically stop succumbing to the effects of poisons and diseases. I was not able to find any verified information.

Wisdom and might come from the use of crafts. Wisdom is for alchemy, enchantment, and other herbalism, i.e. quiet and peaceful activities, while might is for wielding hammers, axes, and other weighty things. In my mind, of course, for a paladin, might, which affects the strength of the attack, is more important. Wisdom only gives me a little mana. I've already got three points in two weeks, so it's a freebie, it pumps up when I'm drawing.

But the accuracy disappointed me. It affects the chance of landing critical hits and, more importantly, the chance of overcoming the defense to the point of complete ignoring. I'll probably have to buy the bow module because it's a really tasty bonus.

What would I spend eight points on? All parameter is needed. Soon to go to general locations, there I will be a formation warrior, a half-tank. So it's an HP necessity. On the other hand, the inventory is long overdue to expand, and for this will have to invest in dexterity unnecessary to me. Then again, I need mana... Oh-ho-ho, I'm always short of something.

Okay, let's make it two for strength, two for dexterity, and two for intelligence.

Vlad, a rookie of the temple guard.

Class: Paladin of Amala the Healer, level 16.

General Parameters:

Life - 588

Mana - 149

General stats:

Strength - 37

Endurance - 25

Dexterity - 20

Intelligence - 18

Free points - 0

Class stats:

Faith - 2

Reputation - 110

Class Characteristics:

Attack - 46

Magic - 18

Defense - 33

Experience modification - 50%

Secondary Characteristics:

Awareness - 20

Vitality - 2

Accuracy - 0

Wisdom - 19

Might - 4

With level fifteen I learned a new spell, Exorcism of Evil. It's a versatile thing, like most paladin spells, and accordingly exorcises evil once every two minutes. If the target is evil, it stuns for five seconds, temporarily removes some protection, increasing the damage, and removes one of the available positive effects. If the target is good, it clears any negative effects and increases resistance to evil enemies' attacks for ten seconds (tested on two zombies - incomplete immunity, but close enough). The favorite combo was "exorcism", followed by a jump with a shield kick, with some luck knocking over a stunned enemy, and a finishing "strike of faith" - sometimes a level fifteen zombie would immediately fall apart. Too bad it was only once every two minutes. That's okay, I'll get to the 200th, get the sixth or seventh "exorcism" rank, and I'll hit once every minute!

You might be reading a stolen copy. Visit Royal Road for the authentic version.

If I don't go crazy in the process.

Two rounds of crypts a day was a serious challenge, even considering my height in level. Six hours of strenuous waiting a day was exhausting to the point of passing out. In the morning, draw scroll stock, then to the crypt, a kilometer walk there, two hours of jumping and punching there, a kilometer back to the temple with a bone, lunch, and another hour of scrolls (I already see it in my dream!), on the track, stomp-stomp to the crypt, bam-bam zombie in the head, stomp-stomp to the temple. And, if there was strength left, do one or two "messenger" quests from the townsfolk to raise my reputation.

And I still have to clean the house, cook food, watch the news, and listen to the training course. I'm exhausted. But greed is a wicked thing, always pushing me. I've already got one up of faith, and if I stay here until the seventeenth, I might get another. I want it very much.

Or screw it? Friday, I can go once. Tough choice. But I definitely won't go a third time. I tried it once, and I won't do it again.

And why am I not a book hero? I wish I were just a guy who started playing virtual gaming! Of course, there would be a chance to buy some kind of "full immersion cocoon", or suddenly it turned out that as a child I had studied very secret martial arts with an ancient master, and therefore to kill a raid boss alone - just a piece of cake for me! Otherwise, what kind of life do I have? Fifth-grade track and field? Probably, the skillful author would have easily made a story about how I've found unthinkable opportunities to develop speed, would begin to rise sharply in levels by sending tasks, and monsters would wear out running to total exhaustion and finish with a favorite penknife.

Where could I find a smarter author to portray my life at its best?

I decided to return home by the hunting trail, looking around the woods for pork. One day another pig gave me a good piece of meat, and the meat could improve my reputation with one of the temple's clergy if I understood his moans about the temple kitchen correctly. And he did not want to accept store-bought meat as a gift - he needed wild, the gourmet!

That's okay, I'll get the game. It's good that the reputation earned from one NPC applies to all the others!

"Good, we finally met!"

Bad.

There was a half-orc standing on the road. The same one who teaches losers so dashingly. I think I'm about to be killed.

"Listen, you freaking temple guy, you owe me!"

The man has a good life, everyone owes him.

"And if you have to, you owe me fifty gold pieces for the stolen map. Every day. Or you won't be able to leave town, suck it?"

It's hard to deal with idiots.

"What if I erase my character? Or go offline for a month? Are you going to continue watching over me?"

With a growl, the half-orc drew his sword. Damn, I just enchanted my armor this morning. And I have six gold pieces of money with me. He'll beat it out of me.

"You want to be a "tomato"? Is it okay if they don't let you out of the zone? It's a noob town. There are guards on all the roads. It's gonna be a pain in the ass to run from the cemetery."

"I don't give a shit. I'll buy another one. But you'll remember for the rest of your life that..."

I didn't listen anymore. Jump!

My sword whistled behind me, and my field of vision went red. Shit, a level hundred character against a level sixteen noob - I had less than a third of my hits left! From a simple blow, with no skills whatsoever. My legs, my legs, carry... my wallet and inventory away!

Fingers in the ring, the character ran. I looked at the side monitor - the half-orc was slowly catching up. Yeah, he had more dexterity. What about me? I've got a treadmill!

"Activate a treadmill."

Leading Vlad down the path with the help of the manipulator, I jumped on the rumbling machine. Faster, faster! It was finally possible to let go of the manual control and start running on my own.

"Increase the speed! More!"

I wish the trainer wouldn't fail because I'm going to smash myself on the wall as a pancake!

There was a rumbling noise behind me, and then some swearing. I guess I guessed right, and the half-orc was a multi-fighter with some specific skills. He'd be good enough to swing a two-handed sword in a duel, but he wouldn't be much good at chasing or fighting from afar, and he doesn't have much to throw. It's kind of like that.

The monitor showed that the enemy was a dozen meters behind, slowly reducing the distance.

"Increase the speed!"

The treadmill rumbled. I couldn't squeeze out anymore, and it was still at least a minute's run to town.

I reached back with my gloved hand as I run. The Creators didn't have an auto-targeting spell system, and I couldn't turn around to aim more accurately.

"Arrow."

"It goes a little to the right. Correction. The shot."

"Arrow! Arrow! Arrow! Arrow!"

"Damn cheater! I'll kill you!"

No problem. Catch up first! I can run fifty meters in seven seconds of deceleration from the "Ice Arrow" scroll! The enemy on the monitor slowed sharply, but I, on the contrary, sped up. Seven seconds decided the matter, and we entered the gates of the city almost simultaneously. The guards had taken up arms, but when they recognized me, they calmed down. Hail the high reputation! Glory to the repeated quests and my diligence!

"You bastard! I'll be waiting! You don't leave town, I'll kill you until you remove your char!"

I kept running.

"You'll see, you bastard! You'll be crying and begging! Remember, you can't get away with a hundred bucks now, get your money ready!"

And I keep running. But not so fast anymore. Here are the gates of the temple, the city is not really that big.

"And remember my words..."

The sound cut off as I walked through the gate. And for some reason, he didn't follow me through.

It was only at the door of the room that I jumped out of the way. Home, sweet home.

It's funny, but now I have no use for either trade skills or virtual martial arts. But the ability to run really saved me. Thanks to the coach of the track and field section of the children's school number seven hundred and thirteen! Maybe I should really try to exhaust the mobs by running.

Sword to the rack, loot to the closet.

All, farewell, the Crypts of Loehr. That "righteous avenger" will be waiting there. Let's get to the next part of the plan. But that's Monday.

"Hello, Andrew. How's your offer for the summer house? Yeah, what do I owe you? Done! I'm having a sweet... oh, even so? Okey-dokey, I'm already looking forward to it! Is Vitya going to bring his kids? Yeah, I'll help, no problem! Let me go to the grocery store and come to you. Bye."

Let the indefatigable avenger wait at the temple exit, while I attend to more interesting things.

"Comp, stop working. Guard mode until Monday."

Come on, Vova, let's go breathe clean air!

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