100 Questions

7

Hunger hit sharply, as did thirst. Almost swept off my feet. It is understandable - for two days there is nothing but mushrooms.

But it didn't matter. I knew that it was not far to the settlement of people. Somehow I managed to recognize the clearing where I first appeared. She loomed ahead like a wondrous mirage. Only a knife stuck in my belt, and a slight increase in performance proved that I didn’t just disappear for a couple of days.

Rare Skill Integrity: Having chosen your path, you will not forgive yourself if you turn off it. The decisions made bind hands, not allowing to break the promise to themselves or others.

Attention! Due to your unique stupidity, you have blocked two skills and risk even more. To drop the Integrity skill, force yourself to break a promise.

Empathy Skill (Initial, Passive): You attach importance not only to your own emotions, but also to those of others. You are able to feel the echoes of someone else's mood with all the inconveniences that follow from this. Enjoy the sensual side of life!

I trudged along without thinking about anything. It's hard to turn your head on when your body is about to shut down. But we must go ... We must ...

Crossed the clearing. I pushed through the bushes, feeling the pricks of the branches and their biting blows. Fell out of the bushes, almost tripping over a small boulder.

The setting sun seemed to be falling on the settlement that X was talking about. I covered my eyes with the visor of my hand, trying to see at least something. But the stomach, suffering from emptiness, forced to continue walking. Stumbling almost out of the blue, I made my way to the nearest path. I forced myself to go on, although my legs are already buzzing and I really want to collapse into the cozy embrace of dust.

- Wait, who's coming? - barked from somewhere in front.

- You be quiet. Another hero is weaving.

- What a frozen he is.

- Tired, you see, walking through the bushes. That's what froze the guy. Hey!

I was slapped roughly on the shoulder. I stopped, staggered. Resist. He looked up from the dusty road.

- Wow, what do you have with Zenks? Some strange. Who will you be?

- Games... Hero. Sixty-seven thousand, six hundred ... - I muttered on autopilot.

- Oh, yes, that's all, he chattered his fairy tale. Let him go, guys, this scientist is also hurt! Let him take a breath ... Narrow-eyed ... Like some kind of mutant, have you seen it?

I approached the gate.

Well really! Would you like to enter the Artilosh settlement, hero 67665?

The word "hero" sounded with particular mockery. But I didn't pay attention.

- Yes...

It went dark before my eyes. An inscription appeared:

Large settlements, dungeons and other unique locations are automatically updated habitats for NPCs and monsters. To go to such places, you need to confirm your intentions and comply with a number of conditions ...

What a number of conditions - and did not know. A street appeared before my eyes. Filled with people, it was noisy and spoke in different ways. I would have been surprised that nothing could be heard outside the gate, but I was too exhausted.

The first steps along the street of the settlement.

Congratulations! You have finally reached your first settlement.

As a reward, you get one experience point.

Concentrate on getting quests and self-development.

Yeah... Self-development... The only thing I can develop in myself is a hungry ulcer.

Somewhere along the way, several men came out.

- Hey, cutie-muzzle! Where did you draw from? And why so rotten? wash you?

I didn't have time to answer. I felt someone's strong hands grab my elbows. Everything swam before my eyes.

An unexpected wave of cold made her scream. I opened my eyes and found myself in a horse trough. Due to thinness, I was completely in the water.

Someone next to him began to laugh, his laughter was picked up by others.

But I didn't care. I dipped my face into the water, sucking it up greedily. Sip by sip. I didn’t feel much better, only my head cleared up a bit.

- Wow, - I answered, - thank you, brothers. They helped the traveler get drunk. And bring it to the feeder?

- You? Yes, with pleasure!

Some stocky guy grabbed me by the breasts and threw me to the ground, in the dust of the road.

- Eat, don't choke!

The friendly laughter began to fade away.

- How unfriendly you are, - I muttered with a grin. - They didn't even give a kick.

- And be glad you didn't weigh it down, - another unfamiliar voice, and it sounded not much more friendly. - I would have to fight, and these guys are still the strongest in the district. Yes, and you are clearly not in the best condition. Where did you crawl out like this, you bastard?

I met the sympathetic look of brown eyes. A good-natured-looking man with a mustache leaned towards me, holding out his hand. I weakly beat her off, rising from the ground on my own.

- Proud, huh? the stranger chuckled. - Well, look, no matter how pride plays a bad joke.

- Not proud, just men's hands are not my taste - with a semblance of a smile, I went on.

- Where are you crawling so eagerly? Judging by the clothes, you are new, because there is no money.

“First, I need to sleep,” I mumbled, trying to look with my eyes for a suitable place for my mortal bones.

- Wait to sleep! I was grabbed by the shoulder. - Let's go, I'll feed the malech, and you'll sleep there.

- But what are you ... will not be left behind in any way? .. - I grumbled, settling on the ground.

Darkness fell before my eyes. And the already tired haze lit up:

You have lost consciousness! Avoid extreme exhaustion and develop your Stamina and Survival to endure critical conditions more easily.

***

“Your power is not good at all. Troika? This is how you had to live to be so emaciated? - all the same familiar barbel was clearly not going to leave me in silence.

But as long as there is a full bowl in front of me, everything suits me. Almost all. I still didn't like that while I was passed out, this inquisitive big guy stuck his nose in my Diary.

- And where did you get these abilities? Survival - I understand. What about Empathy? Eloquence? You came out of the forest, with whom did you empathize eloquently? And what is Snake Toss? I have never seen this skill and the description is blocked for me.

- Show? I asked sharply, looking seriously at the barbel and pointing the spoon at him.

- Okay, okay, I get it. Eat calmly, let's talk. Don't stress like that. Well, I'm a local guilder, I don't wish you harm ...

It wasn't until the bowl of rabbit stew was empty that I leaned back in my chair, folded my hands over my stomach, and nodded.

- Now I'm listening.

- I'm listening to you. You obviously did not get bored in the forest. Of the nearest settlements - only elven and ours. With whom did you develop diplomatic skills?

I twisted my face and looked contemptuously at the mustachioed one. He was confused, not understanding what caused such a reaction.

And how else to react to a person whose mustache is lush and black, his cheeks are unshaven, his figure is like a solid barrel, and his biceps on his arms bulge at the slightest tension? He clearly does not look like a pretty girl, why should I chat with him at ease about my adventures?

Are you a Hero too? I asked him.

- Of course. The NPC in this settlement does not pick up novices lying in the dust.

“Then perform a heroic deed: stop asking unnecessary questions,” I waved him off. - Better tell me what I owe you for the food.

"You owe nothing but an honest conversation," said the big man. - Don't get me wrong, I don't want to interfere in my own business. Everyone swings the way they can. One day I saw a newbie who came out of the forest with two levels of Hunt. How - I can not even imagine. He came to town for fishing line. Not for a knife, not for help. Just for the line. Are you a comedian? And in my eyes you are also a comedian, because in two days you got something that is not fashionable to swing in the forest.

I sighed. Shrugged.

- On the first night, a girl came out to my fire, she was picking mushrooms.

- Young woman? Not an elf?

Since it is difficult to come up with a half-truth to this question, I continued to pour out honest answers.

- We talked to her, she gathered mushrooms and we parted as good friends. I spent the night in the forest and returned to the city for food and water.

- In business... - the barbel shook his head. - If it was an elf, you would have been killed. And since you are alive, it means that you met a very strange drug addict. Bogumoltsami run up - it's pure masochism. After them, and vomiting, and diarrhea, and shivering can be quite strong.

“That doesn’t sound very good,” I replied skeptically. - Apparently, that's why we parted ways, she was impatient in the bushes.

The healthy man chuckled.

- For a long time, moreover. Okay, man, let's get to know each other. I am Sugar. That's how I was christened.

- Rusk? - I defiantly looked at the physique of the interlocutor.

- When I was baptized, I was completely different. Then he pumped strength - he became like a bull, - the jock winked. - And the name is very difficult to change, the System does not like it. So it's easier to take this name with humor.

- What else does the System not like? I asked dejectedly, scratching the bottom of the bowl with my spoon.

- Yes, almost everything. She is generally an evil aunt, rewards reluctantly, distributes fines with joy. One wrong step - and you will fly into the red ones.

- Red?

- Outcasts. with a negative reputation. Gain points very slowly, but easily. And they lose hard. If Rejection has exceeded ten, you can relax - You will become a recognized dick.

- Healthy. What is the difference between the Recognized and the Rejected?

- The first ones are good guys, - the barbel waved his hand vaguely, rubbed his eye. - Hence its pluses and minuses. The NPC treats them well, the better the karma, the easier it is to communicate with the locals. And they will help, and prompt, if anything. And they will let you into all settlements. But the Forsaken is the opposite. Do not let, avoid, do not want to help. If food is given, then wash it.

- Okay, by the names it was clear something like that.

- Ha, smart? Good! Rusk slammed his hand on the table. - Then more. When you die, you must be reborn somewhere. The recognized ones come to their senses in the temples of good writing. Outcasts... Thrown into the damned temples, in the depths of the dungeons. As you understand, after death you will not take a weapon with you. And now imagine how hard it is for the Outcasts to get out of the dungeons. And then also to be in wild places. The constant struggle for life. Either you. Either you.

- So it's safer to swing for the Recognized, but slower. Yes?

- Exactly. But the Recognized find their adventures. The Recognized are hunted by a variety of evil spirits. And the Outcasts, and the robbers, evil inscription in other words.

- And the evil players probably stay close to the evil NPC. Yes? I licked the spoon and leaned back on my back.