Cyberserk

Chapter 20 - Developing the Ring

Dan Raven ran fast through the tunnel and didn't think about his allies. He stopped when he was out of breath. There was no one nearby. The twilight of the tunnel and the glowing moss on the walls surrounded the player. The silence did not calm the sense of danger of this scary place.

Dan looked around. No one was running toward him in the dark. He was alone.

The player summoned the phantom. He knew at once that the old clone was dead. The feeling of the pain of the dying phantom made the player tremble as he fled. He felt no pain when he received the memories and experiences of the old clone. It was a disgusting feeling, like watching unpleasant scenes in a movie.

Dan had experienced more than a hundred deaths of his partner. He hadn't been able to get used to the unpleasant feeling of destroying a phantom. There in the Queen's cave, it was all too intense and fast. He was recovering mana to summon Tom and had no time to regret in a flood of negative emotions. The player constantly felt intense fear and tension from the near presence of the most dangerous creature. He saw the new clone die in a few seconds of an unequal combat. He managed to come to terms with the moments of negative emotion.

Now Dan Raven stood in the semi-darkness of the cave and shook his head.

"These guys are really brave. I thought they'd run after you," Tom said quietly. "I guess now we don't have to worry about where to hide the corpse."

"I agree," whispered Dan. "That thing's bound to eat him. I'll buy you the stuff now."

"Go ahead. And call these dudes in. Just don't buy them a beer," laughed the clone.

Dan handed the clone the boots. It was weird, but he bought the armor in order. The player bought the boots first, then the greaves, the cuirass, and the shoulder pads. He bought the gloves and helmet last. Dan was grateful to Tom that the clone didn't annoy him with his scary helmet mask. The clone often took the helmet off and held it in his hand when talking to a human. In a quiet and safe place, the phantom would move the helmet to his inventory.

Tom quickly put on his armor and armed himself. He looked around. The phantom's whispers sounded natural in this semi-darkness.

"I think the spiders have been revived along with the Queen. It's a good thing if we get more trophies. If you summon hobbits we can guard your sleep. With helpers like that, spiders aren't a problem."

"I can't summon hobbits. The skill hasn't been restored yet. I need to move the skill symbol to the quick access panel," Dan said.

"Go to bed. Don't spare the experience and buy yourself a mattress at the store. I distinctly remember there being mattresses. A mattress stuffed with fresh straw! Those bastards make fun of the players," chuckled the clone.

"Yes, I saw the mattress. I agree with you. The creators of the Game are bastards and scum. We've already killed two people. This isn't right. Now I'll buy a mattress and if I don't fall asleep I'll call the hobbits. You wake me in case of danger," muttered the player.

He was tired. He'd had enough worries. Dan wrinkled his nose as he searched for the necessary goods. Then he bought a mattress and collapsed on it without removing his body armor.

Dan Raven fell asleep. The phantom put on his helmet and prepared to defend his friend's sleep with the sword in hand.

***

Phantom was not soft on the weaknesses of man. He woke his partner six hours later. 

"Get up mortal, it's no time to sleep," laughed the clone. "It's time to have fun. While you were asleep there were no spiders or soldiers. I'm tired of being bored."

"You impossible bastard," muttered Dan. He blinked his eyes and thought this nasty new world was bearable. The new living conditions had their advantages.

The player ran aside and satisfied his morning needs. Then he bought a bottle of water and handed it to the clone. The phantom poured the water into the hands of Dan, who washed his face and bought himself breakfast. Then he sat down against the wall and began to eat. Phantom didn't miss the opportunity to spoil his partner's appetite. 

"Would you care for a walk to the Queen's? With the help of the hobbits we'll manage a little faster," Tom winked at the man.

"No! That's a silly wish! We've got the military on our tail!" Dan squinted his right eye and said in a calmer tone. "I'm pretty sure that such a great trophy only comes out the first time after the first boss kill. All games have this rule. And the danger from the military squad's attention stresses me out. We need to prepare for an unpleasant encounter."

"I'm ready to take on an unpleasant conversation. The main thing, in this case, is not to lie. I'll say we saw a man we didn't know. Then we passed by. Where is this stranger now? I don't know. I'm willing to repeat that truth to the face of any investigator," Tom said seriously.

"It was the power of that guy that scared me," Dan confessed. "If the military suspected anything, they'd find us. And you can't get rid of them that easily. We're lucky we ran into a loner who's up to some bad plan."

"Remember my attacks on the Spider Queen? She's a small boss. She's a complete semblance of me. We're the perfect creatures of the game!" Tom pounded his fist on his chest. "When you started the game you had all attributes equal to 1. But agree that the best government secret agents and the best Special Forces fighters entered the game with you. These guys had 1 point in all attributes. But I'm sure many could compete with me in endurance and the ability to kill level 1 dumb zombies. You are weak as a kitten. You have a long way to go to perfect your body."

"And I put the 4 points into Intelligence! I hate mages," Dan wrinkled his nose.

"Hey, show a little sympathy. I'm a creature of magic," Tom asked. He looked intently at his partner. "You have enough experience to upgrade the ring. Drain the experience into developing our preciousness."

"Why?" Raven didn't understand the point of developing an epic artifact.

"Look ahead! Look far ahead," Tom shook his finger in front of his partner's nose. "We have a chance to develop the ring. Experience is nothing. With hobbits, we'll shoot mountains of experience. And by the way, the experience of killing the greedy military man was yours! Developing the ring improves many attributes! The ring improves attributes! 14% of 5 points of Intelligence is an increase of 0.6 points. But a 20% increase of 5 Intelligence points is already a free 1 point to your Intelligence. That's 10 mana points!"

Dan scratched his chin. He didn't like the mage style of play. But magic provided great options for enhancing and varying his sword attacks. He wanted to start trying out new swordsmanship skills. Now he didn't have to fear that he suddenly didn't have enough mana for an emergency phantom summoning. 

"I'm afraid the ring will change the requirement for the wearer. Aren't you afraid that a level 6 ring will change the description and require me to be a level 6 and a level 6 Intelligence?"

"That's impossible! The artifact has unchangeable properties and requirements. The description lists the characteristics that will change when you level up the ring. Go for it. Delight our precious!" Tom liked to call the ring by its funny name.

Dan Raven opened the attributes panel.

[Character: Dan (Human)

Affiliated Location: Earth 

Title: None

Profession: None 

Level: 7. 17081/22700 Level 9 is available.

Attributes: Strength 2, Speed 1, Intelligence 5, Body 2. 

Free Attribute Points: 0

HP: 200/200

MP: 50/50

Weapon Mastery & Skill: Weapon Mastery: 3. Magic skill: 5. Expand Skills.

Free Skill Points: 6

Profession Talent: None

Achievement: Boss Killer Rank 1] 

Then Dan looked at the description of the ring.

[My Precious. (Ring, Rank 6 - Epic.)

Level 5 - Level 100. Developed: 0/14200.

Requirements: Level 5. Mind 5] 

"What a greedy precious," the player shook his head. "We won't have any experience left at all."

"Sell the daggers at the store. You don't need them. You don't want to waste time on our lovely Queen," grinned the clone.

"You're a genius. The daggers should be sold," rejoiced Dan.

Raven quickly upgraded the ring and experienced no new changes from the new artifact. He was glad to see that the clone was right. A level 5 player could equip a level 6 ring. 

Tom frowned an eyebrow and shook his head.

"That changes too much, brother. Levels are nothing. Attributes rules!" Tom put on his helmet and his voice sounded like a solemn promise. "We'll use the ability to attack higher level monsters and make adequate strikes. We have hobbits. We will gain experience and develop the ring. And it will give us Mighty Power to rule them all."

"For a start, we'll buy a couple of new torches and go outside of this shitty dungeon," Dan grinned.