Cyberserk

Chapter 8 - Buying Armor

Alcohol is the engine of progress! Dan Raven shook his head.

"I understand," whispered the young man. "I don't want to taste this stupid beer. We have to check the armor. We're not going straight out to kill skeleton warriors. But we need to get used to the weight of the armor! It's classic ancient warrior training."

"Appreciate my significance. As part of the Game, I am an Information Service Specialist who is willing to give free advice. Players have learned by experience. The weight of the armor doesn't matter when the armor is equipped on the player's body. 

Buy a sword and take it in your hand. You will feel the heaviness and weight of the weapon. But that's no reason for real fatigue. I can swing a sword to infinity and feel no fatigue. 1 point Endurance is enough in humans for a dozen minutes of endless combat with the sword in hand. 

A full set of armor consists of nine items and weighs about 100 kilograms. But you won't feel this weight when you put the armor on. You have to get used to the way the armor is limiting your freedom of movement. This point is very important! That's why you have to buy armor and get used to fighting in full armor."

"And what did you learn about defense?" asked Dan.

"Each piece of level 1 simple armor gives 1 point of defense. The player can get 9 points of defense. That gives confidence in a fight with the dead. But there's a huge problem," Tom shook his head. "A fighter gets brazen and starts to feel completely invincible. An inexperienced player can get into a dangerous situation. Five dead men can jump on a player and knock him to the ground. Hitting five zombies does 10-12 points of damage. You will take damage. Zombies won't let you get up. Every 1 point of defense saves your health. But each point of damage reduces your armor durability. You can't lose your head. You can't rush and underestimate those stupid zombies!"

"Great. I didn't get the main part of that. This Game is digitally supported, it has to do with calculations. How does the durability of the equipment decrease? What are the exact numbers? That's what we have to find out," Dan said.

Phantom took the sword out of his inventory and threw it on the table.

"The durability is 24 points reduced to 1 point. That sword could break at any moment! We have no way to repair the sword and restore its durability. With this sword, I killed 7200 monsters in 6 hours. It is impossible to calculate the exact number of blows I took on the dead. But the approximate value of strength loss is clear. 

The sword loses 0.0033 durabilities when it destroys one monster. This is excellent information. Losing one sword per 24 hours of combat is great! You won't be able to fight without a break. You have enough of such a sword for three days of intense fighting. The game is complex and it requires constant attention to your equipment. You have to watch for durability and buy new weapons in time," Tom said. 

"Let's look at armor and new swords," Dan agreed.

After examining the merchandise in the store, the partners discovered a strange thing. All of the initial weapons did the same little damage. All weapons did between 2 and 7 points of damage.

There was a huge variety of different vintage weapons in the store! But Dan didn't see any weapons for level 2!

"What a strange and silly offering of merchandise. Where are the swords for the level 2 player? Why do all the swords do the same damage?" Raven didn't understand this game.

"It's simple. You have to choose your playing style and your fighting style. If you start playing with a two-handed sword you'll start to have a special experience and get a special lesson out of your duels. Handling an ax is a whole different school of martial arts. The spear is a very special form of martial arts.

It's important to get used to the specifics of your choices and start developing mastery," Tom replied. "It's all clear with level 2 weapons. It's like with skills. Until you get to level 2 you can't see the new offerings in the store. You can't see level 2 magic skills if you're a level 1 newbie."

"What are your suggestions for armor choices?" Dan considered different kinds of helmets.

"I suggest you don't start mastering heavy armor. You and I should avoid the attention of other players. Medium armor is the normal choice. This armor has normal mobility and medium defense in the future," Tom suggested.

"I don't like the heavy lats either. They look nice and solid but I don't want to limit my movements. Let's shop!" Raven began buying two sets of medium armor each.

Tom chose himself a set of a strange oriental style. The phantom had strange respect and sympathy for the style of Japanese warriors.

Dan quickly equipped himself in armor that had a more familiar look for a European.

A complete set of armor consisted of nine pieces. A cuirass, a helmet, two shoulder pads with protection up to the hands, two greaves. Gloves and boots made up one set of two pieces. The ninth part of the armor was the shield. The partners decided not to buy shields and armed themselves with a short dagger in the second hand.

Tom remarked with a serious expression on his face that the dagger was excellent. Now Dan won't be eating like a barbarian pig! With the dagger, he could show manners and look like a respectable player. 

The chainmail cuirass weighted 21 kg, durability of 30, and cost 90 experience points.

A Norman helmet with a nose guard weighted 3 kg, durability of 10, and was worth 35 experience points.

One-shoulder pad weighed 8 kg, durability of 15, and was worth 120 experience points.

A single of greaves weighted 10 kg, a strength of 20, and was worth 50 experience points.

The boots weighed 16 kg, durability of 15, and were worth 100 experience points.

Gloves had a weight of 4 kg, the durability was 75, and was worth 50 experience points.

The total weight of the set was 80 kilograms! The total defense was 8 points.

"Now I understand why there are no weapons in the loot!" Dan felt a strange sense of delight as he put on the ancient warrior's armor. He crouched down and waved his arms. The armor felt like a thick leather jacket. They restrained movement but it was an acceptable sacrifice. "A player cannot carry more than ten items. They can be sold to the store, though. We should check it out!"

A few seconds later the young man was spitting with frustration.

"Greedy vile creeps! You have stolen all our advances in science and technology! And now you're brazenly scamming people with your store," Dan resented. "The merchandise is ten times underpriced. I paid 50 experience points for the gloves and these bastards agree to buy them for only five experience points! Nasty robbers." 

"Don't complain, develop your merchant talent," laughed Tom who looked very unusual. A strange samurai helmet completely covered his face with a very fearsome mask. "You can kill a zombie in a couple of seconds and get 33 experience points."

Okay, let's go kill a zombie," Dan jumped up and down in his seat.

The young man had a very strange feeling. He couldn't understand what had happened to him. 

Tom had killed several thousand dead people. The clone's impressions formed a special foundation of confidence and awareness of his powers in Dan's mind. He didn't feel like a master swordsman. The phantom fought simply and quickly. He did not care about the elegance of his movements. Tom was like a robot trying to destroy as many monsters as possible.

Dan Raven checked the attribute panel.

[Character: Dan (Human)

Affiliated Location: Earth 

Title: None

Profession: None 

Level: 1. Experience: 26549/500. Level 7 is available.]

"Let's give me a level upgrade," Dan asked. "Just once! We have all the skill books. I don't know what to do with them. I don't know how to trade. Acquiring the talent of a merchant is not something I want to do. The books are low weight but they have no value to us now. Goods are very cheap. I don't understand your cruel terms."

"My terms are fine, Dan. You have to at least equal the level of these weak dead men for a couple of days. The main problem isn't the l**t for profit and gaining as much experience as possible. The main problem is in your head! You won't become an experienced warrior if you don't take weak opponents seriously now," Tom said.

Dan Raven shook his head respectfully. He drew his sword and swung the weapon several times.

"I am serious. I remember the nasty stench from those bastards. Let's go finish off a couple of these freaks," the player said.