The Gene of the Ancients (Rogue Merchant Book #2): LitRPG Series Read online

  “A location is not a file. It cannot be overwritten. All changes are irreversible. Only via rollback...”

  “I know that myself, dammit! But there are no logs. And then, there is a curious connection... Remember the imba sword story? You know, the one with a player who got banned and then unbanned?”

  “Yeah. They talked about him at a meeting. But we’re controlling him, aren’t we?”

  “Right. So, the Order’s NPC began to stir after his arrival. The faction leader is acting strangely. Quests are unblocked, rewards are available, reputation can exceed Friendly. As for background, it’s the Seven Brothers, Seven Swords, save the world, blah blah blah...”

  “Looks like a hidden chain of super quests got triggered. Is it continental?”

  “More than that. The task is marked as hidden in the quest log. We can’t trace their conversations because of the citadel’s super defense.”

  “Have you tried putting a ‘shadow’ there? Sending an invisible spy?”

  “Protection from rank eight is way beyond that! Even gods couldn’t enter. It’s a hell of a place. I have to say, it really doesn’t look like procedural generation. It’s like they created that location manually.”

  “Shoot. What a mess. What are you going to do?”

  “We’re the little guys. Let the bosses think. It’s what they’re getting paid for.”

  * * *

  Do you wish to activate a Diamond account?

  Yes.

  Attention: for your convenience, you will be transported into a special location, where your personal manager will explain all the advantages of Diamond subscription!

  I looked around in surprise. Around me, white space stretched out without end. Muted light streamed from every direction, and my feet touched a slightly bouncy surface.

  Please select your personal manager!

  A virtual interface full of straight lines of photos appeared in front of me. For a minute, I stared thoughtfully into square portraits of no-nonsense young men and pretty girls and finally settled on one of them, a playfully smiling, Asian-looking brunette.

  Please wait. 29…28…27…

  After thirty seconds — how prompt! — the girl materialized next to me. She was delicately-built, a head shorter than me, and had a graceful figure, black bangs, piercing blue eyes, and a pink bud of a mouth. All in all, a typical Russian-Japanese half-blood; children of mixed marriages were always exquisitely beautiful.

  “Hello! My name is Akiru Sokolovskaya. I will be your personal manager. Thank you for choosing me! How may I address you?”

  “Oleg.”

  “Nice to meet you, Oleg! We are happy that you chose the Diamond subscription! I am prepared to tell you all the advantages of this status and answer any of your questions! Shall we continue talking here, or do you wish to change the scenery?” the girl offered in a soft tone.

  “Umm...what do you mean, change the scenery?” I was confused.

  Instead of responding, Akiru quickly changed the decorations around us a few times.

  A forest, birds singing, a rocky trail under our feet, sky shining through pine tops, a blue inlet among narrow gorges.

  A spacious study, a black-and-white meeting room, high tech, trendy modern furniture.

  A coastline with a gorgeous view of the sea, the tide crashing against the shore, warm setting sun.

  “Err...what about the last one? With the sea.”

  “This one?” A cool fresh breeze blew against my face, and effervescent waves washed over the yellow sand of the beach. In the distance, I heard seagulls crying.

  We walked around the marble balustrade. The girl was telling me all about the bonuses provided to me by the Diamond account, while I made mental notes of their usefulness to me.

  All right, then.

  Priority customer support. All problems and complaints reviewed in an hour. A personal manager available anytime. For me, that was more of a drawback than an advantage; still, where would I be safer than in the limelight?

  Complete anonymity of my character’s in-game statistics at the auction and even in the kill rating. My nickname, my equipment, the world I inhabited — everything could be hidden if I wished so. That was a priceless option. I don’t have to tell you what anonymity means in trade and in war. That was something I would activate straight away, no questions asked.

  Minimum transaction fee both for in-game and real currency. In practice, it meant that I could buy/sell/trade Sphere gold for the lowest prices. That offer made sense for the Diamond account, intended for major donators. The idea was, “buy more, everything’s cheaper for you.”

  There was also a premium language pack: something like a plugin that automatically translated the speech of every player, allowing me to communicate with people of any nationality. Funny enough, this plugin translated all Earth languages, but didn’t do anything with Sphere’s invented languages, such as Kann-Elo, the First Speech, and Abyssal. I wondered why.

  The other bonuses didn’t matter to me much. I could start discussions in the closed sections of the official forum, create characters of all playable races, including non-human and magical, like minotaurs, void creatures, or demons, and enter all worlds, even those partially forbidden from being visited by players. And... what? How was it possible?

  “Yes,” Akiru confirmed. “That’s right. You can create a second character. You are not limited to the ‘one capsule — one player — one character’ rule. Even more, your second character may be of another gender, if you request it.”

  I didn’t say anything, trying to keep myself from smiling. That was quite sensational. So not every female avatar was a girl in real life? It had been known to happen in old MMORPG back in the early days of VR, somewhere around twenty years ago. Later, on the pretext of potential damage to the mind, playing characters of another gender was forbidden in total immersion projects.

  Damn. Playing two accounts by turn was pretty cool. I didn’t have time to develop the second character, of course, but an anonymous alt was priceless when it came to trading. With each minute, I loved the Diamond status even more.

  The girl, boasting a great enunciation, continued listing the options of VIP service, renting and buying high-class houses, but I stopped her with one question.

  “Of course, Oleg!” Akiru gave me a dazzling smile. “I wanted to save the administration’s gift for last, but if you insist...”

  A player could pick from a wide range of possible gifts. The girl demonstrated a variety of valuable items, one look at which made my mouth water. There were items that could only be obtained in-game only by farming elite dungeons hundreds of times, and even then, getting them wasn’t guaranteed; a set of Armageddon scrolls; an epic scalable five-item set; gemstones with any enchantment... An embarrassment of riches. I could pick gifts worth a thousand points that had been automatically added to my account upon the activation of the Diamond subscription.

  “I recommend you check out the mounts and pets,” Akiru went on. “The phoenix, the protodragon, and the cave giant are the most popular. Or maybe you would like to visit the Astral Plane? The list of gifts also includes blueprints of flying ships! In the docks of Forgeworlds, you might find — “

  “I would like to get another thing,” I interrupted the manager. “A legendary item.”

  “A legendary item? Well, that’s possible, too, upon request,” Akiru said, looking upset. “But only one. It’s worth a thousand points. What item would you like?”

  It was the Magister who had given me that idea. If not for him, I would have spent hours rummaging through the catalog without the slightest inkling that I could get something not listed there. That option was glossed over — after all, those items’ abilities were way too powerful, sometimes bordering on cheat-level.

  “The Soulbinding Stone,” I said.

  For a few seconds, Akiru grew silent, as if contacting someone.

  “I sent the request. Unfortunately, currently, we don’t have this item availabl
e. We can buy it for you at the auction, but that takes time. Would you like to wait a few days?”

  “Yes, of course. By all means.”

  “All right. One more thing, Oleg,” Akiru said, smiling sweetly. “One of my colleagues would like to talk to you. Do you mind sparing him a few minutes?”

  I was alarmed. Interesting... Was that one of Lana’s underlings, who wanted to discuss the commercial? But I thought that this business had been over and done with. Or...

  A man materialized next to us. He was Japanese, short of stature, and thin, resembling a teenager. Still, he was my age. He had short black hair and trendy “invisible” glasses.

  “My name is Yoshito Yamato,” he said, shaking my hand. He had a very firm grip. “You may call me just Yoshito.”

  “Ohayo, Yoshito. My name’s Oleg. Yo-ro-shi-ku.”

  The Japanese nodded in respect and smiled, welcoming my pathetic attempts to observe the traditions of his people.

  “I’ll leave you to it,” Akiru said with another smile. “Oleg, I am always available to assist you. I’ll be happy to help. Goodbye!”

  She disappeared, leaving the two of us together. Yoshito leaned against the marble railing and stared me right in the eyes. He seemed exhausted as if he was sick or never got enough sleep.

  “Oleg, I’m from the developers’ team.” The admin didn’t waste any time. “We have questions about your sword. Could you help us?”

  I did my best to look unfazed and keep my emotions to myself, even if my heart almost jumped out of my chest. Had the admins got to the bottom of things? Had I been discovered? Nope, unlikely. If that had happened, I would be talking to security goons, not to a developer inside the VR world. Cool down, Cat. Keep your face straight.

  “Well, I could try. If you promise not to block my account anymore.”

  “It was a mistake. I apologize once again,” said the Japanese, his expression inscrutable. “We have taken care of it. I trust you received a fitting compensation?”

  “Yes, thank you. So what’s the issue?”

  “Your sword. You see, it is a legacy item from the old developer team. Currently, we are trying to figure out the purpose of these items. There are seven of them, and two have turned up, both times causing unpredictable changes in the game mechanics.”

  “Well, I don’t think I can help you with that. I don’t know much about it myself.”

  “Tell me about the properties of the sword. Could you show me a screenshot of the properties?”

  I paused to think and arrived at a decision. I would use the favorite method of our politicians: half-truth. Ninety percent truth, ten percent lie, the best option.

  “I’d love to, but the sword is pretty weird,” I said, shrugging. “All affixes are hidden. I don’t know how they work. I tried identifying it, but it’s no use. They all trigger randomly — True Fire damage, the Fiery Lightning, Soul Eater. I got a quest from the Magister of the Order — “

  “Yes, we know that,” Yamato interrupted me. “By the way, what about the Magister? Did he complete your quest? Give you another one?”

  “Those are all interesting questions! I’m sorry, but aren’t you an admin? You must see it yourself,” I tried to showcase my surprise. “Look at the logs, for God’s sake.”

  “It’s not that simple,” Yoshito replied. “Oleg, we suspect that your sword and other items of the Seven are used to implement some kind of hidden global scenario that we inherited from the previous developers. Please, keep us in the loop.”

  “All right. Anything else?”

  “I have to warn you, your sword is a pretty unpleasant thing. I would say it’s imbalanced, but there’s balance, and then there’s Balance. In Sphere, your sword broke a universal law. Its appearance caused a faction war in Dorsa. If you continue using it to, say, farm elite dungeons, it won’t end well, if you catch my drift.”

  “I don’t. Are you suggesting I keep it under lock and key?”

  “No, Oleg. It’s your in-game property that you’ve acquired without violating the User Agreement. We have no right to tell you how to use it. Just remember what it might lead to. For instance, reckless abuse of Soul Eaters caused one of the worlds to be completely destroyed. It’s gone, do you get it? There were other precedents, too.”

  The Japanese was perfectly polite, but his manners gave him away. He was clearly a boss, seeing as how accustomed he was to pressuring others. A hard man who wasn’t used to taking no for an answer. Yoshito Yamato? I would have to browse the Net for information about his standing in the Sphere of Worlds corp. Still, it looked like they didn’t have any real leverage against me. All he could do was ask, and that frustrated the hell out of him. OK. Time to say goodbye; it seemed unlikely that I would be able to learn anything else there.

  “I hear you. Sorry, but I really need to log off.”

  “Thank you for listening to me, Oleg. Have a nice day. Think about my words.”

  * * *

  After taking the recipe and activating the Diamond subscription, like a dutiful student, I visited the Magister — to report and get the latest instructions.

  “Two things, HotCat!” Balabanov told me in the end.

  “The first is your sword. Don’t push your luck, it’s not omnipotent. It’s just a Key endowed with certain properties to save its bearer in the world of procedural generation. You’ve already screwed up by swinging it left and right — without much success, I would add. Be careful. Use it only when you absolutely need to.”

  “The second thing is Svechkin. He’s located in the world of Dagorrath, on the Isle of Madness. It’s part of the Netherworld, a world partially closed to visitation. When you find it, watch out. Contact me as soon as possible.”

  “And lastly, the admins. They have no idea how Sphere works. We’ll throw them off the scent. Do they think it’s a well-hidden global scenario? Let them.”

  You are offered a quest: Seven Brothers.

  Attention: the quest type is hidden!

  Seven brothers have long since drifted away across the far worlds of Sphere. Locate them, find their weapons, and assemble the brothers, and the world will once again tremble before your might.

  Completion time and the number of participants: unlimited.

  Quest reward: hidden (varies).

  Current progress: 2/7

  What a day. First the Magister and his fortress, then activating the Diamond account, talking to admins... My business with the Order was concluded, and I received the necessary instructions. I was about to use a Soul Stone to teleport to the place I was bound to — my room in the Eyrian inn that had become my second home — when a personal message blinked in the chat.

  Tao: You have my stuff.

  The dreaded Tao deigned to talk to me! I scratched my head, thinking. I sure didn’t want to get another powerful enemy. Fine, I’ll be a polite kitty.

  HotCat: So what? My inner hamster says it’s called loot.

  Tao: I want to buy it back. How much?

  HotCat: Hmm... Actually, I wasn’t going to sell it.

  Tao: Trust me, you don’t want to mess with me. Or do you want to be sent to resp point until you drop my things?

  HotCat: Threats...but for some reason, I’m not scared.

  Tao: Watcher, it would be better for us to reach an understanding. I’m asking you politely. Selling looted stuff back is good form in Sphere.

  Actually, Tao was right. There was an unwritten rule: things dropped during PvP were offered to the owner if it was a good fight, a fair one. A good fight...but the struggle between the Watchers and HELL was far from it at this point. I wasn’t going to give Tao his stuff — or rather I was, but I wanted to stall first.

  HotCat: I’ve already deposited everything into the clan warehouse. Talk to the clan leaders.

  Tao fell silent. It was shaky ground, but I was 99% sure that after Komtur’s backstabbing, the proud Japanese wouldn’t ask him for anything, especially stooping to begging for stuff.

  HotCat: ?
<
br />   Tao: That’s not an option. Can you get it back?

  HotCat: I could try. I got it, I’ll contact you if I’m successful.

  Tao: One more question.

  Tao: Who was the second one? The hooded man with an axe, he dealt true fire damage, just like your sword. He wasn’t shown in the kill list. Why?

  HotCat: I’m afraid such questions aren’t free.

  Tao: You want money for this information? So be it. How much?

  I grinned. The fish took the bait.

  HotCat: Money is dust. I offer you a simple deal, a favor for an answer.