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I perched myself on a bench in the shade of a large tree and tried to calm down. I was done with the shopping. Now all I had to do was distribute the additional skills.
Thirty points was desperately not enough, but I hoped this was only the beginning. Let's do it, then.
I invested 20 pt. into the True Heroes Take Devious Routes skill. The catchy phrase belonged to a Soviet-era song lyricist Vadim Korostylev who‘d apparently been poking fun at the so-called Homo Sovieticus behavioral patterns. I had no idea who'd created my character but he definitely had a good sense of humor.
Done it!
Congratulations! You've received +20 to your additional skill! Name of skill: True Heroes Take Devious Routes
Congratulations! You've received +10 to your additional skill! Name of skill: Shrewd Operator
I took stock of my mental exercise. My chances of raising my skill level by collecting twenty rocks had increased to 10%. Also, collecting 100 resources improved my chances of adding one point to Shrewd Operator 40%. I just hoped that this estimate would be worth the effort. That was it. I had no reserve points left.
Now, mining. The previous night I'd read in one of the forums that there were five zero-level minerals: aquamarine, turquoise, agate, granite and marble. Lord Shantar's mines mainly specialized in the two latter ones. Loaded individuals were quick to find their place in the gaming world. Demand and supply walked hand in hand, as Shantarsky surely knew. All he'd done, he'd created a low-scale mining business as his personal retirement fund.
Still, neither granite nor marble suited me. They were too heavy. Only the Horrud-like races could do this kind of work. The lightest mineral was turquoise, followed by aquamarine and agate as a close third. Those were the minerals used by zero-level crafters: jewelers, sculptors, blacksmiths, alchemists and such. Nothing was wasted. The game developers had taken good care of that.
The market dictated its own terms. A thousand points of marble cost more or less the same as a thousand turquoise—a tad more even. But as for demand... If both granite and marble were bought by the thousand, things like turquoise, agate and aquamarine were sold by the hundred, if not less. Which was why everyone considered me either a noob or an idiot—a suicide case even—whenever I mentioned my contract.
Still, this noob had a plan. The noob was about to take the devious route. They knew nothing of my additional characteristics. I'd kept them to myself. I just didn't appreciate people's stares focusing on me.
My plan was both simple and potentially damaging—to my health first and foremost. I decided to gamble on quick skill leveling which directly depended on the quantity of minerals farmed. Being the lightest of the lot, turquoise fitted my plan perfectly. Yes, I was in for quite a bit of running and weight lifting and I was quite prepared to gulp my share of energy-boosting elixirs if it helped me improve the skill. Once I made the first level, I could count on higher earnings.
This was my plan. Very soon I was going to find out if it had any weak points.
As I rummaged through the maps of Shantar, I decided to download the Satnav app, after all. I paid the three gold and clicked Install. The app dutifully analyzed the precious few maps I had and came up with the following message,
Would you like to install the Voyager bot?
I leafed through the user's guide. All you had to do was enter your itinerary, then the bot would take over your char and take him there saving the maximum of energy by using “low calorie” elixirs. Some sort of auto pilot, basically.
I downloaded that too. The app kept showering me with more offers but I paid no heed to those. I only had thirty gold left in my pocket.
I opened the maps. Now. The Marble Mines... The Granite Mines... More marble... and again... and some granite... Aha, finally some agate! But where were the turquoise and aquamarine?
Oh. No results found? And the aquamarine? Same? How strange. I tried the agate and the search results came back with the name of a mine. What, only one? It must have been a glitch.
Never mind. Whatever. Once I got to the mine, I'd see for myself. Off we go, then.
The route has been calculated.
Would you like to activate the Voyager bot?
Yes, please.
Choose the mode.
I chose Economy mode that didn't call for any boosts or stopovers.
Time en route: 30 min.
Accept: Yes/No
I was all set.
My body made a smooth turn around and began walking rather energetically. The feeling was strange: it was still me walking, as if someone invisible was pulling—or rather, pushing—me forward. I decided to test it and tried to stop myself. It worked. Excellent. I leaned forward and touched my toes. Not a problem. I stood up, listening to my body. Thirty seconds later, it resumed its progress. So! Not bad at all!
It hadn't taken me long to get to the mine. As I traveled, I used the time to study the app's menu and found lots of useful features. Good. I was finding my way around. And the best part was still to come!
I came across many miners walking in the opposite direction returning from work. All zero levels, they plodded along, exchanging unenthusiastic comments. I noticed one guy being carried along, so badly had he overdone it. Mainly beefcake races, but I also saw a few punier types, all sporting every possible kind of tool and gear.
My kit brought smiles to their faces. Someone pointed their finger at me; I could hear a few jokes and jibes coming from the crowd. I must have looked a sight. It was a good job I'd changed the stats settings to “private“, otherwise I'd have spent the rest of the day answering their questions.
I reached a place where the route forked. Much to my relief, the bot turned right, leaving me alone on the road. It felt too empty—even the trail had overgrown as if no one had used it for a long time. Behind it, I glimpsed a few cliff tops.
After ten more minutes, I finally stood by the entrance to a mine. The place looked as if it had been really busy once—a long long time ago. Apparently, there used to be quite a demand for agate for a while. The entrance was littered with rock debris and rotting old trolleys. A row of derelict workers' barracks could be seen behind them, black with age.
Oh. The place gave you that spooky feeling. The cave's dark mouth breathed damp and cold.
Never mind. One can get used to anything. Still, knowing how it worked would be useful.
I opened the info portal. So... Mines, yes... Farming... Got it!
According to the user's guide, a worker was supposed to sign on in a terminal that was located near the mine somewhere. Right... All I could see was an apparatus that looked a bit like a parking meter. What if I tried to approach it?
I stopped within an arm's reach of the terminal. After a short pause, it sprang to life.
Greetings, Olgerd!
This is Mine Terminal #12.
Levels: 0 to 35
Resource: Agate
Press Confirm to begin farming.
I'd failed to locate turquoise. Ditto for aquamarine. I had no time to go search for them now, either. I'd been in the game for several hours already and I hadn't even started working yet.
I heaved a sigh. Confirm.