8 New Opportunities and New Problems (2/2)
'Punishment' [2/10]
Available with 0 point characteristics and 0 point skills.
*
The improvement of skills began when the system reminded him of the need to fight monsters. Dan couldn't improve the 'Cognition of Evil' skill. This skill group required a battle with monsters!
Dan developed the class skill 'Autodafe' to its maximum. Monster control and maximum enemy weakening is the most important thing for him now. Is he dependent on other players? Fine, then they should help Dan in combat. It's Dan's business to control and debuff the enemy. And no vampirism will help him survive six minutes of combat. Now all he has to do is get four strikes from a strong enemy to go on a rebirth. Pitiful crumbs of compensation won't help!
But increasing strength with 'Spiritual Power' is a reliable and useful skill.
Dan hopes that the monster in the Court area will be available for damage from his partners.
He liked 'Punishment' for its versatility, but increasing damage and protection is great.
Dan was in the early stages of character development. It's important to take care of his survival.
Dan wonders how all this will work in battle. He remembered the possibility of using Cursed Items. Terrible moment, terrible perspectives. The game for Dan will be a constant challenge to his luck.
His body was floating on waves of euphoria from the elevated characteristics, thoughts lazily confused in the head.
And what happens if Dan comes to the village now? Kicked out in disgrace? Dan wants to shout.
Half the kingdoms for the information book on this damn game!
The euphoria blew up, Dan hit the floor with a glove shackled in steel and got up slowly. Dan liked the bracelets, they were comfortable, his fingers could move freely. He didn't feel any decrease in insensitivity.
He wanted to take a walk around the castle. What if he got lucky and found a new stash?
And Dan also decided that from now on, he should spend his Glory on his development. He has nothing to gain a reputation with the locals, the Inquisitor is a dangerous monster for everyone. Everybody has their sins, everybody hides skeletons in hiding places, and everybody doesn't like the Inquisition.
But this question should be discussed with Michael.
Dan wandered from room to room. In random places, the player tapped into walls and pressed on ledges that seemed suspicious to him. Until Dan was unlucky.
The only thing that seemed strange to him was the floor that contained the cabinets. Something on this floor was wrong, and he couldn't figure out what it was.
Dan went down to the yard and invited Jim to help. The new smith was already forging something with a small hammer. Not knowing how to properly explain his problem, Dan just asked Jim to come in one strange place.
They walked into the Castle, went up to the floor with the cabinets, Jim was staring at Dan questioningly. Dan started talking:
\”Jim, you're an engineer, right?\”
\”Yes. I was an engineer,\” he said quietly.
\”You know the schemes and plans and you can imagine them in your head, can't you?\”
\”What's your idea?\” he asked.
\”The idea is that every space in this Preceptorium is used to its maximum. I carefully measured the width and length of the tower and all the rooms in it. I know for a fact that the tower has a hidden room! The area of all rooms do not equal the area of the tower.\”
\”Do you think there's another room just because the builders didn't use the entire useful volume of this floor?\”
\”By all accounts, this was home to a warrior order, Jim, and the military is known for its practicality.\”
\”Well, if there's such a room, it can only be between cabinets,\” his hand patted on the corridor wall. \”Are you going to smash the wall?\”
\”I'm not going to smash the wall. If the room isn't buried, there's got to be a mechanism that opens the stash. You're an engineer, so if you had to build a stash here, where would you put the key?\”
\”I'm not an architect. We took out the rotten bookcases, no torch bindings in the cabinets. Have you looked at the walls?\”
\”I even tapped the walls.\”
\”The walls are almost a foot wide, you're tapping up your ass. I'll take the central cabinet, you take the extreme. We need to push those walls that seem smoother or more convex. Dan, let's check this out fast, Turin gave me a lot of jobs.\”
\”He gave you an assignment?\”
\”I am now a blacksmith as an Apprentice. Our system for leveling is much more sophisticated than the fighters. There's a whole list of materials to master, from simple to complex. Even Mifril and Adamantium are on the list, and there are many other metals we don't know.\”
Players had begun a detailed study of the walls. Dan managed to check half the stones. He didn't find any discovery.
Suddenly there was a deaf knock and a loud rattle from the cabinet Jim was in. Dan ran to the sound of his room. In the room, he saw a massive table moved, and a surprised Jim standing where it used to be. There was an entrance in the wall that was a yard wide.
\”I had a 'See the Hidden',\” told Jim happily.
\”I'm very happy for you. Was the mechanism under the table?\”
\”Yeah, there are two masonry stones on the floor a bit wider than the others if you step on them.\”
\”Okay, let's see what we found.\”
\”You'll be watching alone. I can't get off the rocks, and then the stash starts to close right away. You get in there and look.\”
As Dan approached the opening, he whistled respectfully.
\”Very good mechanics. First, the stove goes deep into the wall, and then it slides to the left, into a special opening. But the most important thing is that I can't see the details of the mechanism moving this plate.\”
\”What is it?\” he asked.
\”It's a very small room. In the center of the room is a stone pedestal, like a table. There are three objects on the table.
A sword in the sheath. A piece of black stone. And a thick book in a black cover with chains.\”
\”Dan, don't play with my brains! Read the description of the objects, not what you see!\”
Dan moved forward, but I froze, stopped by a system message.
*
[Attention! You are approaching the cursed objects.
Attention! You can't identify these objects. You need a skill or an Identification Scroll.
Attention!!! A cursed object can have a destructive effect on your character. Under the influence of the course, you may lose your class and become a Monster]
*
Dan quickly jumped back into the room.
\”Close that door!\”
Jim jumped to the window and froze, looking at the slowly closing hole.
\”What was it?\” he asked in a quiet hoarse voice.
\”There are cursed objects. Says that identification is required. But if you put your greedy hands on them, your personage will turn into a Monster!\”
\”And why did the old knights keep that stuff in the castle?\”
\”I don't know. We put the table back and wait for Michael.\”
Suddenly, a wild guess came over Dan:
\”Jim, do you remember that funny werewolf with the name of your known player?\”
\”That's a nightmare turn. It looks like he found something cursed and dangerous. Then why wasn't this object on his body?\”
\”Could he have had a lair in a couple of days?\”
\”Dan! Every normal person will find a place that's safe and secure. Even if you've become a cursed monster, you always have a lair.\”
That's the end of the discussion. Nobody wanted to talk about the cursed things and the cursed monster that was killed.
They put the table back.
Dan was impressed by the discovery and realized that he needed a walk in the open air.
Jim went to the blacksmiths. Dan sat down by the well and opened the group status to see if the others had made up their mind about the classes.
There were some changes to the menu. Now it looked like a Clan theme. You could enter a picture of a clan's coat of arms.
Dan saw a line of empty little windows to match the skills.
The system wrote that to use a skill, you have to make a certain gesture or say the word activation. The first time randomly, then your activator attached to a particular skill and change the \”trigger\” was impossible. He did not think about the activators of skills.
Dan's thoughts were busy deciding how deep the ass he fell into was.
The Inquisitor class is adapted to interact with the cursed objects of this world.
Dan bound to be asked to deal with these nasty things. But he didn't want to get to know them any closer! The memories of a werewolf fight came back to mind. Maybe, he turned into a monster some other way. Maybe a witch spelled it on him. Stupid and nonsense! Here, the witches eat new players for breakfast. They torture them to the last drop of blood.
Problems... a strange life where big changes, both good and bad, happen quickly.
Anyway, the cursed objects in the Castle are none of my businesses! The ancient experienced and wise Knights and Inquisitors have hidden the shit in a hiding place. Finding the stash is no problem. And we're not going deep into the damned trap. We're not exactly brain-dead hardcore players!
Or are we?