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BECAUSE THE DRYAD was clearly going to be taking her time, the crew members gradually dispersed to get back to their business. But I asked the Meleyephatian Gunner to wait for me in the state room a couple minutes. Then I hurried to the bridge to talk with the pilots and rejuvenated Navigator. The main question now was: where to fly? Going to the Trillian Taikhirhh-O-Tsykh system didn’t make sense anymore. We didn’t have the Meleyephatian Spies to shelter in neutral territory anymore. We could take a break at any other midpoint on our way to the H9045/WE star system, where my two ancient combat drones awaited. Unfortunately, it was not possible to make it there in just one jump – the distance was too great and we would need a stopover point.
“How about the H5540/A system?” the Navigator opened the star map and pointed at a dim light-gray dot. “It’s halfway to our destination and in a belt of weakened hyperspace, which is very convenient. It will bring down our flight time considerably. Furthermore, the system is uninhabitable. If I understand correctly, that is a plus right now.”
Yes, having no one see us at our midpoint was a big fat plus. First of all, we had no reason to demonstrate our flight vector (and it was possible to approximately determine someone’s destination from their midway point). Second, I needed to keep in mind that I was now an official enemy of the Meleyephatian Horde. And there would always be someone willing to sell me out to the Meleyephatians if they saw my starship.
The pilots started preparing the frigate for a hyperspace jump. I meanwhile returned to the state room. Kisly alone was next to the empty chest and his wife, endlessly repeating barely audibly: “Please just don’t change into some ugly crocodile.” Also in the room were Ayni the Translator and the Meleyephatian Gunner.
I asked the Translator to stay because I wanted to start studying the language of the Meleyephatian Horde. And so Eeeezzz 777 spoke his native language, while Gerd Ayni translated it into Miyelonian for her captain. First of all, I wanted to know how the Gunner came to know about the rare Precursor artifacts. I mean, I understood that my new crew member had spent a long time serving as a mercenary under the legendary Planet Devouress of Betelgeuse, but was he really close enough with Kung Eesssa for her to entrust him with her personal secrets?
Gerd Ayni then translated the Meleyephatian’s chirring:
“No, of course not. I was a normal soldier back then at a modest level one hundred or one-oh-five. But I just so happened to be present for a trade deal involving just such an artifact. Our shuttle flew to the client with me in the Gunner’s seat. Kung Eesssa told us all to keep an eye on her and keep our weapons drawn. It was a top secret meeting and took place in the cryochamber of a factory, which I found very strange and suspicious. The individual she was meeting was a Cleopian aristocrat, who was giving her the payment for capturing him a star system and brutally murdering all pretenders to his throne until they couldn’t respawn. And he paid our commander with a chest just like this one. But it was full and had sixteen of the unprepossessing little stones. First I thought Eesssa would be outraged – we spilled blood and lost six cruisers in those battles. But our reward was basically somebody’s garbage. However, the commander knew perfectly well what it was, and had seemingly requested it specifically.”
Astrolinguistics skill increased to level ninety-eight!
The Meleyephatian walked over to the open chest and pointed a claw at the empty row:
“There are supposed to be four white stones here. When unfrozen, they start to shine gold. They each give +8 statistic points just like when a character is promoted to Gerd. Kung Eesssa immediately had all four of them brought to a warm room nearby and gulped them down.”
Wow! Plus thirty-two statistic points! And she probably ended up with much more, considering the extra bonus point for every two invested after a statistic hit twenty. That was... it just knocked the wind right out of me. Even the slowest-witted being in the Universe could eat a couple of those and bring their Intelligence up high enough to go toe-to-toe with the brightest scientist. The weak could gain super strength. The clumsy could become fantastically graceful. You could take a combat character and pump up their Constitution so much that their hitpoints would be off the charts, their regeneration would instantly heal wounds, and their defense against physical damage would allow them to take a massive number of blows and hits without any armor necessary.
And meanwhile, the Meleyephatian continued his story:
“The next row contained four dark-gray stones. They lit up red when activated, and gave two level-ups a piece.”
“That’s all???” I couldn’t hold back the surprised exclamation.
After how imba the other Precursor artifacts were – instantaneous rejuvenation, the ability to change appearance, or an extra eight statistic points – two levels seemed like a very modest reward.
“Oh, Captain Gnat! Don’t be offended, but you’re still too low-level to appreciate the value. You’re at ninety-eight, so you’re still levelling-up once every ten days. Maybe even more. But just imagine how hard it will be for me to get from 163 to 164! It will take a quarter tong at the very least! And you have to make sure not to die that whole time, otherwise your progress bar will zero out! And some players are level two hundred, or even higher! Just imagine how hard it is for them! Many players would give an arm and a leg for a double level-up without hesitation!”
Uhh... To my eye, the Meleyephatian’s example was not convincing. To a space spider like him, the difference between seven and eight arms wasn’t be all that much. But a human, with half as many appendages, would be much more sensitive to losing arms or legs. But I understood what he was driving at overall and was even prepared to concede that Eeeezzz 777 may have been right. There is a certain category of high-level player that would pay generously to make quick progress.
“And for the record, the Planet Devouress of Betelgeuse was able to recoup all her lost starships and pay all her many mercenaries with the proceeds from just two of the stones.”
“So where did the Cleopian aristocrat even get these uncanny artifacts?” Gerd Ayni asked, not merely translating for me, herself also interested in the topic.
“How should I know?” The Gunner asked in surprise. “Found it somewhere. Bought it. Inherited it. At any rate, the Cleopian kept calling the stones ‘forbidden,’ and said ‘the game that bends reality despises them and strives to delete them.’“
Astrolinguistics skill increased to level ninety-nine!
These Meleyephatians had a very strange language. I didn’t think I’d ever be able to speak it. The human throat just wasn’t made for such trills, whistles and clicks. But sure, I could understand when they spoke. I had already figured out a couple simple words of Meleyephatian in fact, like “I,” “you,” “Gnat,” “stone,” and another odd few.
“I also seem to recall one mysterious sentence from the conversation with the Cleopian. And what made it stick in my memory was that it was bizarre and hard to parse. That the stones were created before the war of ancient races by the Prime Precursor as a counterweight to the ‘Relict Hierarchs, who had crossed all bounds and altered the rules of the game, bending all realities to their will.’“
I asked the Gunner the name of this Cleopian aristocrat, who seemed to know a surprising amount about the affairs of ancient races. As it turned out, his name was “Prince Edeyya-U, ruler of Serpea-III and its inhabited rings.” I’d have to make a note of that. And sure, many years had passed (somewhere around thirty tongs, as the Meleyephatian told me). But who could say how long Cleopians lived? Maybe the savvy Prince was still alive and perhaps even well. Eeeezzz 777 for example had been kicking for three hundred years already, and would now live to see three hundred more.
“So, what ever became of the Planet Devouress of Betelgeuse?” came another question from my orange Miyelonian friend.
“It isn’t clear, the story gets all muddled... Kung Eesssa always concealed the location of her virt pod from everyone. And it’s no surprise. The Planet Devouress of Betelgeuse had made more enemies than anyone alive at that point, so the commander’s caution was easy to understand. But one of her Meleyephatian officers noticed that Kung Eesssa left the game and spent quite a long time in the real world. And people were keeping very close track of that sort of thing back then. Memories of the attempt to decapitate the Meleyephatian Horde were still too fresh. Rumors started flying. There were attempts to locate her virt pod. And after that, Kung Eesssa just disappeared.”
“Was she perhaps afraid for her life in the real world and, in order to throw them off the scent, used one of the stones to change appearance?” the Miyelonian suggested.
I started tittering, surprised at Ayni’s slow-wit. Anyone could have guessed what he was hinting at. Someone who’d suffered from the actions of a Morphian should have been first to realize where the Planet Devouress of Betelgeuse went!
“Perhaps the widely despised war leader was found and killed IRL. Or maybe Kung Eesssa didn’t need the ancient Precursor artifact to change her appearance and avoid pursuit,” the Meleyephatian cautiously guessed. “But that’s just speculation. And no one can check now.”
By the way... that was actually a very intriguing line of thought. Two hundred years ago, the wise Vaa was put into anabiosis. And she said none of her Morphian friends or clones had such crazy combat characteristics as the one who killed the incarnation of the Miyelonian Great First Female. But now I was hearing from the old Gunner that there was an old “Meleyephatian” war leader who invested a huge number of statistic points into her character one hundred ten years ago. That could not have been a coincidence. Especially given that there were not many Morphians left, potentially just two: Vaa and Fox.
* * *
THE TONE OF THE THRUSTERS changed – Tamara the Paladin had entered hyperspace. It was going to take eight ummi to reach Taikhirhh -o-Tsykh, forty-four hours in earth time. So there was plenty of time to get some relaxation. Nevertheless, I was in no rush to let my crew take leave.
“Mandatory practice for the whole crew! Two hours of Endurance and Strength training. We had athletic training devices installed in the frigate for that very purpose. Then start training shooting and reaction time! Not with real combat weapons, of course. We got pistols and rifles that shoot light and a set of targets to go with them. There’s a ‘firing range’ in the empty cargo hold. And finally, we’ll all be sparring both with and without melee weapons!”
I was afraid my team might grumble, but there was not even a hint of it. Either my authority was already high enough for them not to dispute captain’s orders, or my team was thinking back to the results of our recent battles, which could not be called anything other than shameless, and they were trying to remedy the situation.
Wow! I finally saw Vasha and Basha Tushihh’s true strength. Both of the giant twin Geckho brothers could bench press a half-ton barbell! It impressed everyone. Vasha then even broke the strength meter. But as for Endurance, Kisly knew no equal. Our Machinegunner could run at twice his carry weight for longer than anyone else, even outdoing his direct superior Gerd T’yu-Pan. I was not distinguished by my physical prowess, losing out to almost everyone in most exercises, but I still trained honestly, not even thinking of slacking off. And my Authority not only didn’t suffer (which I was slightly afraid of), it in fact went up!
Authority increased to 82!
Shooting. Here first place by a long shot was shared between Gerd Minn-O La-Fin and Destroying Angel. My wayedda’s hit percentage was a bit lower than the two-time Olympic biathlon champion from my world, but the Princess was the only one to also detect all threats and avoid taking any hits from the active targets. In group exercises the same two, reinforced by Grim Reaper dominated all the other teams.
I raised my Sharpshooter to 48, Rifles to 63 and Targeting to 47, but that wasn’t even the most important thing. I finally saw the germ of what I wanted my team to become. They were working together professionally, delegating functions, helping one another and using the strong sides of their classes to their advantage. They were using different tactics for every battle, moving fast, linking shields together, focusing on the same targets, using suppressing fire and shooting blind, using targeting markers and paralyzing enemies. The contours of a more intellectual, cohesive fighting style were starting to reveal themselves. Everyone knew their role and position, and tactics were instantly adapted to any change in situation.
And finally, sparring. Here I confess I stayed out of the fray, referencing my superior position. But it wasn’t because I was afraid to lose. I just learned that there is no reason for me to fight without using magic. It was like playing suicide chess with one hand tied behind my back, and there was no benefit in terms of levelling. But if I just let loose, with my Intelligence figure, I had a 100% chance of taking anyone on my team under control, possibly even two or three at a time. So I adopted the role of arbiter, making sure everyone followed the rules and empowered to stop the fight instantly if a participant’s life was at risk.
Gunner Eeeezzz 777’s performance was a highlight. At a certain point, the experienced veteran took on the role of trainer and, asking for a pause in the battle, walked into the center of the circle and started explaining the best way to take down players of every race. Miyelonian pain points and deadly close combat moves that took advantage of them. Taking down tall and beefy Geckho. How to quickly dispatch a Trillian. How to kill a Cleopian both instantly and silently. How to paralyze an Esthete with a loud scream. Seven ways of dealing a lethal blow to a human. The right way to stun and strangle a Jarg so it won’t self-destruct. How to put a Meleyephatian into shock with pain in order to block the nervous system and stop them from using their psionic abilities.
The mercenary who once worked for the Planet Devouress of Betelgeuse clearly had vast experience in killing players. And I even saw some familiar elements in the series of moves he demonstrated. Fox had used techniques like that when killing the incarnation of the Great First Female of the Miyelonians and disemboweling the Geckho troops from Uraz Tukhsh’s team.
“Captain, Nefertiti snapped out of it!” a message over the loudspeaker came from Dmitry Zheltov, who was keeping watch. Yes, our main pilot was missing the training session, remaining as the sole person on the bridge.
“Only Kisly come with! Everyone else keep training!” I ordered, and hurried to the state room.
I was baffled. Where were the changes? Nefertiti was still the same as ever, an NPC Dryad. All I could see was that her hair had changed from black to swamp green, but even her hairstyle was the same. Did we seriously just waste a unique Precursor artifact on dyeing an NPC Dryad’s hair? By the looks of things, yes! Reminds me of the old Russian saying, “using a microscope to hammer in nails.” In fact, I suppose we had just outdone it and found an even more irrational application for an even more intricate and valuable object. If a Journalist ever found out about this, we’d be the laughingstock of the whole galaxy! Although... maybe we should publicize the fact ourselves. After all, it would bring up our Fame. On the other hand, my Authority was sure to take a hit. And it would be big...
“Captain, my wife’s class also changed,” Kisly said.
Oh yeah, I didn’t notice that right away. The level-68 Artisan was now a level-68 Jeweler. Okay then, she could sculpt beads out of clay and weave ornamental vases out of cane now, or... Wait! Some information suddenly sprang to mind. The Human-3 Faction sometimes used to trade “magic” rings and bracelets with the Centaurs of the Antiquity Faction, but we never figured out where they were getting them. What if Dryads, or more like their Jewelers were the ones making them?
I dug around in my inventory and took out the silver band of an ancient Precursor signet that dropped from a dead Meleyephatian Spy. I added to it a unique rare large and flawless pearl given to me by Phylira.
“Can you combine these two things?” I asked Nefertiti with a bit of worry, asking the question again mentally.
The Dryad took the items and clicked her tongue in delight as she looked over the astonishing pearl. The band also earned the Jeweler’s approval. But Nefertiti didn’t do anything with the rare items, simply held them in her hands and kept mum.
I asked again. Zero reaction. Finally I decided to meet gazes with the NPC Dryad and I was flooded with a wave of thoughts:
“You finally figured it out! You’re a bit slow, eh?! You people are just so dimwitted. And very strange. You forced me to eat a unique, rare and most importantly very powerful stone which I could have turned into a magical item with extremely powerful properties. And then you just left me there. I was asking for help, too. I was totally lost and had no idea how to get out of those alien bodies. And you just walked away, laughing at my impotence!”
I felt a prick of shame. Yes, we had basically given a baby a smartphone, but we never even tried explaining how to use it. And after that, we simply left the Dryad alone in her calamity and walked off to different parts of the starship.
“I figured out how to get back to my normal body all on my own. I just made myself a bit prettier. Be honest, do you like it? This silver band carries the remnants of old magic, by the way. Leng Gnat, should I leave its properties as they are? Or do you need it enchanted some other way?”
“What properties does the band carry now?” I asked aloud again, doubling my question mentally.
Kisly, standing next to me, immediately shuddered and began to fuss:
“Captain, do you understand her?! Can the Dryad really understand spoken language? Why hasn’t she said anything all this time???”
Nefertiti had no reaction to her husband’s spray of questions. I see. So she doesn’t understand spoken Russian, just direct transmission of thoughts. Nefertiti then answered my question:
“Leng Gnat, it gives a boost to... Respect? Esteem? I’ve forgotten the arcane word for it.”
“Authority?” I suggested and the Dryad lit up:
“Yes! Authority. The higher quality the stone it carries, the more powerful the signet’s effect. A pearl like this can give an Authority boost of...” the Dryad splayed the five fingers of her right hand, spent a long time looking at them, then put one down. “This many!”
Psionic skill increased to level one hundred seven!
Mysticism skill increased to level fifty-one!
I led a quick gaze over the pop-up system messages and mentally returned to the topic of discussion, thinking over the NPC Jeweler’s offer. A +4 boost to Authority? That would make a nice little ring. I’m sure some politician would love to have it before an election. But what good was it to me? I’d also understand if the boost was somehow critical for me. You know, if it would get me up to the next status or something. But now...
Based on my reaction, the Dryad Jeweler guessed that I was not particularly interested.
“I could also change it to a different magical enchantment. It would give a boost of this much as well,” the Dryad again showed me her right hand, “but it would be hard and cost a lot. A whole lot!”
“I need to improve my Intelligence. How to explain it? Uhh... Brains. Mind. I want to be smarter. Can you do that?”
“It will cost an insane amount,” the Jeweler warned.
In reply, I asked her to tell me precisely what constituted an “insane amount” in her conception. The Dryad pointed to Kisly:
“The very best armor that exists for my husband. And for me, a bar of gold that weighs the same as I do. And a separate room here on the flying boat. And in it a kiln and jeweler’s implements. Then I’ll have to strive, train and hone my abilities. But if I have all that, I will be able to make a signet to finally make you smart!”
