Cyberserk & Vampiress

Punishment for a Gnome

The new head of the Grab clan of gnomes was dissatisfied with the state of affairs in the city. Grograb took the position of the head from his descendant. The ancient gnome was outraged that the gnomes had weakened during his compelled absence. 

Baron Raven's reputation with most of the citizens has grown by several hundred points. Most families and clans now treated interesting human with confidence. 1,000 points of reputation caused Baron Raven to be Trusted.

The Grab clan was forced to take an interest in the person who freed 72 gnomes from the captivity of Castle Zangar. But the gnomes were in no hurry to trust the upstart.

"I'm not happy with the way things are going," Grograb told his subordinates. "Some foolish orcs are robbing the gnomes of their fame and their opportunity for gold! Now some humans have appeared in the city and are also a threat to the interests of the gnomes! Who is Humhum? Why haven't you been able to figure it out yet? I'll show you how a real gnome of the genus Grab conducts business!"

Gnograb sat in a chair against the wall of the clan council chamber and thought his ancestor had done wrong. Only a few of the mouse kin disrupted the flow of affairs and returned power to their ancestors. Most nations chose not to change the state of affairs. The gnome looked at his esteemed ancestor and thought that he had chosen a prey beyond his grasp. Gnograb smiled. The lesson of the unsuccessful campaign to the castle of Zangar had not gone in useful to the oldest ancestor.

The human had given control to a vampiress from the Kor clan, a decision that caused Grograb to have another fit of rage. The vampires were strong rivals. These bloodsuckers would not regain power over valuable sources of resources.

The appearance of the Epic level enchantment scroll at the auction caused anger and resentment in the Grograb clan. Only gnomes of the Grab Clan could wield this technique. Only their kind enjoyed the ability to kill werewolves in a gold mine and extract gold in it to produce gold coins.

Dan received an invitation to dinner at Grab Hall, the ancient castle of the gnomes. The young baron showed up for dinner and sat in the company of the gnomes for one evening. He received 720 reputation points and that was enough for him. He did not think about confirming the title of viscount. To have a hundred thousand reputation points with a city was unreal for a man. Such a level is achieved by decades of life and effort on behalf of Grossroads.

"Why have you not heeded my words? Gnomes have the advantage of managing their ancient economy," Grograb looked disdainfully at the unpleasant human.

"I am not versed in economic matters. I am not interested in economics or politics. I am a warrior. My good acquaintances are teachers and advisors to the young princess of the people. Why should I think of gnomes? I have cared enough for the prosperity of your clan. It gave me new problems and headaches," Dan sighed.

"I stand by my words. You must talk to the vampires. The gnomes should get all the mission rights to the three epic mines of Zangar. We don't care about the other places," the gnome suggested.

"That would cause resentment among most of the citizens," the man disagreed. "Now all citizens have equal rights to visit the epic mines. Everyone's happy and everyone's off my back. I don't want any trouble."

"I don't like you," the gnome said honestly. "You deceive me. Your acquaintance with the vile Humhum is a suspicious connection. I do not believe you. My gnomes will be able to find this foolish blacksmith."

"The man has his own business. All the blacksmiths of the city are not happy and are ready to find him to make an offer of cooperation. But I am busy with the business of the Adventurers' Guild. I don't have time to look for Humhum," Dan stood up from the table and nodded to the head of the gnomes. "I am not a gold coin. Some citizens don't like me. I'm sorry you treat me with distrust. Thank you for dinner."

After the first meeting, the man refused to visit the company of the gnomes and the Grab clan began to deprive him of his reputation and take away 1 point a day.

The gnomes of the Grab clan constantly harassed the human and prevented him from living his life in peace. This caused Dan to become frustrated.

"You are too kind and act like a peacemaker. I propose we conduct Operation Antarctica on this greedy gnome," Tom suggested.

"You can't offend the head of a great clan. There are only thirty-three great citizen organizations in Grossroads. Don't bring riot and disorder," objected Dan.

"They started the mess first! You look like a gnome prince when you walk from the Temple to Snotty Mouse's establishment. There's a crowd of gnomes wardens and spies around you," the clone decided to increase the pressure and made a strong move. "The dwarves are hurting Koreima. The unfortunate girl is forced to accept dueling challenges from insolent shortlings! She is suffering."

"Scoundrels! What's your plan?" Raven always tried to show concern for the vampiress. He was grateful to her for the order she had set up in the Zangar household.

"Operation Antarctica. Everything will be done clean and grim. You and I risk nothing. We'll punish the greedy Grograb," smiled the clone. He always had a plan for treacherous and nasty actions ready.

Dan Raven applied the Walk of Caution spell and entered the Gnome Quarter in the center of Grossroads. He was on his way to Master Grabbica's establishment. The man made his way to one of the corners and did not hesitate to crawl under the table at which the gnomes were eating. The gnomes stopped making noise and ate quietly. The head of the clan was eating in the hall. Grograb did not like to be disturbed from his quiet deliberation. He was displeased. The insolent human was not listening to his words. The cheeky vampires had put up a decent fight in the Dueling Arena. Vampires were good opponents and magic showed itself well and decently in battles with gnomes who preferred an ax and heavy armor.

Dan cast the Phantom spell. Tom appeared beside the man and immediately reached out his hand to his friend. Dan gave his most valuable ring and a good sword for a level 14 warrior. The phantom silently nodded his head and applied the cunning Coward's Mask skill. His figure changed and he turned into an unfamiliar gnome. The cunning clone had managed to find an opponent in advance who was obsessed with humiliating people. Winning the duel allowed Tom to take advantage of the insolent dwarf's appearance.

Dan shook his head and hurriedly left the establishment. The disguise skill only lasted four and a half minutes. Without the ring, the man could count on three minutes of invisibility. Dan didn't want to be present at the scene of a future attack and hurriedly left the center of the city.

Tom took his time. He waited three minutes for the Coward's Mask skill to recover. Only then did the clone take action.

The confused gnome cautiously crawled out from under the table and approached the head of the Grab clan. It was a very unpleasant and disgusting attack. You can't stop a respectable gnome from eating! But the clone cared only for the interests of Den Raven.

No one eats with a helmet on his head. It is uncomfortable and shows a distrust of the establishment of the esteemed Grabbica.

Grograbb didn't have time to comprehend anything and nearly choked on a piece of meat. A violent strike to the head with the sword caused the gnome to fall face first into the plate. The vile violator of all standards of behavior continued to beat the respected visitor. The gnomes in the establishment had no time to react! The scoundrel managed to kill the head of the clan in a few blows.

Further events caused a stunning look on the visitors' faces. The figure of Grograb had disappeared. The head of the clan had died and was now reborn in the castle of Grab. But terrible consequences ensued after Grograb's death! Many pieces of his equipment fell to the floor of the establishment! It was an incomprehensible and terrifying affair!

The citizens enjoyed the services of the Assassins' Guild. The Assassins were unpleasant characters and they were all aristocrats. Only an earl could challenge another earl to a duel. The assassin favored his victim beforehand and gained a good reputation. Then the assassin would suddenly challenge his opponent to a duel. The winner received all the experiences of the loser. The loser did not lose a level, but lost items from the inventory. Each player could duel one citizen who corresponds to the level of the aggressor once a day. Refusal of the duel leads to a drop of 1 point in the city's reputation.

Losing items from your inventory is a small loss. The experience did not matter much. But the value of experience meant the value of Fame. Aristocrats were proud of their Fame.

A citizen's equipment was the most valuable part of the item. The only death in a dungeon from a monster attack caused unpleasant consequences. For a time, the loser lost all his belongings. But the dead person's friends would always pick up valuable items and give them back to the unlucky person.

The vile gnome assassin quickly applied the skill to disguise himself and disappeared from view. He grabbed all the valuables and ran away! None of the gnomes could capture the rascal. No one expected such a disruption to the quiet life of the city.

Tom applied the shape-shifting skill and hurried out of the gnome territory in the center of the city. He had an artifact for a free visit to Zangar Castle. The clone could have moved to the castle from the scene of the crime. But it was simple and too primitive for the trickster's designs. Now the gnomes would begin making plans to defend and protect their head! Now Grograb would get his portion of humiliation.

Tom walked over to Dan and held out the ring to him.

"Brother, I don't know what we should do. This dwarf has collected many millions of experiences from his subordinates. Now you won't have to spend gold to buy experience from people for a long time," laughed Tom.

"Now I am afraid to develop these rings. I have to think and make a decision. I agree to die once. But I'm scared," Dan admitted.

"It's Grograb who should be scared," the phantom tried to reassure his friend. "He won't act so cocky now. His armor should be put up for auction! Our relationship with the dwarves is not working out. We don't need heavy armor at all."

"You distract me from my sad thoughts," Dan smiled. "Let's earn some gold. It makes me feel good to punish this strange gnome. Gnograb looks like a real solid gnome against this out-of-control alien from ancient times."

"I don't know what becomes of a level 1 citizen after death," Tom whispered. "I could try to kill the enemy forever. But I don't like that idea. It's too bad and evil."

"Don't even think about such things! You're turning into a monster! Don't ruin your postmortem," exclaimed Dan. He was frightened when he heard the idea of a clone. Creepy thoughts popped into that creature's head sometimes.

"What am I supposed to do with 84 million experience points? If I just disappear you get 25% of my accomplishments. 21 million experience points is a nice sum. But I insist on developing our artifacts," the clone sat back in his chair and prepared to convince the man to make an important decision.

"I know your position. You don't believe the dragon's threats. You think he's as stupid as the great and powerful you. We're all just ordinary users of the system and it's not up to us to decide matters of the universe," Dan shook his head. "Vampires have a special relationship with Death. Koreima was very upset when I died. The Lord of Fear's warning makes some sense."

"I'm sure there is a penalty for using someone else's experience. But I insist that the dragon exaggerates the threat. Any player can gain experience from another player. Any player can spend experience to develop himself and his initial skills. Experience has become a strange value in this world. All citizens have turned the experience into a sum of personal fame. They are constantly taking experience away from each other in the Duelist Arena. I insist on doing the fair and right deed. Do the deed and accept the responsibility! That's the way of the warrior," Tom finished.

Dan scratched his chin. He liked the clone's words. He had long ago agreed that it was impossible to live and feel some kind of strange threat.

"Now is not the time to die. If I disappear for a few hours it will raise Grograb's suspicion. That gnome is pissed off right now. Did you leave a note of warning?"

"Of course! It's all according to plan. I wrote a note that the gnomes of the city are outraged at Grograb's behavior. The son of an ancient folk should calm down and conduct business like a civilized citizen," Tom shook his head. "But it seems to me that Grograb will become even more insolent after he receives this warning. He's a little too aggressive. We're lucky we show up in the game now. It was too tense a few thousand years ago."

"Resolved! We get gold for selling the gnome's equipment. We should keep his belt. It's a nice little portable safe. I redeem the lessons from Master Kornelius. I upgrade to level 19 and we spend gold in the Tower of Mages. You learn useful information. There are many necessary spells for a solid player in this town," Dan quickly upgraded his level and looked at his character attribute panel. "Strength and Speed I'll increase evenly."

"Give me the Sanctuary ring," Tom asked. "I wonder how many levels it can go up."

Dan grinned and handed the artifact to his friend. The clone quickly equipped the ring and transferred all the experience into the artifact.

"56% increase in attributes," the phantom whistled in surprise and returned the artifact to the man.

The young man looked at the ring data.

[Sanctuary of the Lord of Fear. (Ring, Rank 7 - Epic).

Level 56 - Level 100. Developable: 84000000/89904000.

Requirements: Level 14.

Possession: Personal.

Durability: Indestructible.

The following characteristics will be adjusted according to the user level.

Strength: Increased by 56%.

Speed increased by 56%.

Intelligence increased by 56%.

Body increased by 56%.

Skill: Lord of Fear. Summons an ancient dragon that fights at your side.

Cooldown: 24 hours.

Skill: Dragon Strike. Damage increased by 300%. Cooldown: 1 minute.

Ring of Sanctuary Lord of Fear created by a dragon from his flesh and magic]

"I hope I don't turn into a sleeping handsome man and disappear from the life of the city for 106 years," Den Raven shook his head.

"We'll find out after you die," laughed Tom. "What have we got to lose?"

The young man laughed back. Koreima and Algreen would wait for his return.

"It worries me with what indignation Koreima will greet me with if I disappear for a hundred years," Raven confessed.

"Without your protection, the girl will be in trouble," the clone agreed. "But vampires have to understand that for a big chunk of gold, you have to fight all the time."

"I'm not interested in vampires. I'm interested in one vampiress," sighed the young man.