Allisium

Chapter 15

Forty thousand credits went a long way. We had equipped ourselves well, and besides, traveling to another world was not so hard with an Initium property. In case of need or danger we could return to our room whenever we wanted.

You couldn't travel to Tveirland without going through Initium first, so if you didn't have a property in Initium, going back to virtual Earth and then coming back to Tveirland would cost you a pretty penny.

Bless the Initium hotel room.

My head was steaming thinking of all the laws, tips and rules of Allsium. It was Zen who took care of all these things; The rest of us were supported by his extensive knowledge and we were learning as we advanced. That was no longer possible at that time, so we needed to know the virtuality in which we found ourselves. Although something told me that the plan for the three of us to catch up was going to fail.

Dagon worked as a cook, his hours had been reduced that week because business was not doing well, but he still lacked the drive to read up on regulations in Allsium. The big guy always said that he was a cook precisely because he had no head for other things. As for Greek... well, the Italian was a human cyclone that devastated wherever it passed, for him the rules were made to be broken, no matter what life. I didn't know exactly what he had actually done, but it was beginning to surprise me that the mob wanted him more dead than alive.

I didn't want to spend endless hours studying the Good Player's Handbook, so in the end we all decided to go to the guide when in doubt. The problem was that when we needed it, it could be too late.

Zen's void, once again, was too big for the group.

Greek claimed he was dead. No one could survive a deflagration like that, least of all him; the Italian, according to his own words, had poured half a can of gasoline on him to make sure he got what he deserved. Someone like Greek was always better to have as a friend.

We hadn't talked about Zen anymore since all that happened. It was a chapter that closed and that the three of us carried on in silent penance. He had used us for his purposes and betrayed us when we needed him most. My guts churned every time I thought that Greek had nearly died because of him. None of us would ever understand why he did it.

Zen was a past that would never be repeated.

We had already bought the travel tickets to Tveirland and the rent of a hotel room. In addition, among the thousands of Allsium Dagon online stores, he had found a smart tent that blends in with any environment. We tested it in the hotel and its results were elegant as well as comfortable, taking the colors of the room and becoming a perfect camouflage. In Greek's own opinion, it was the best shit we could have bought.

In addition to the store, Greek, our weapons and ammunition expert, surfed for days to find something manageable that could get us out of various predicaments. We realized that we couldn't use the Buster Sword we earned in the quest because it was a unique Path of the Paladin weapon, so we had to go through the corresponding Guild Source to use it.

Greek instead decided to buy a powerful, close”quarters sawed”off shotgun and a sniper rifle as well. It was the jewel in the crown: a .308 Remington 700 Police , weighing just over three kilos and costing almost two thousand credits. With that, and plenty of food and clothing already loaded in the group inventory, we were ready to travel to Tveirland. Since we still had a lot of dough left, and in case any complications arose, we decided to take twenty thousand with us and leave the rest in the safe.

"I can't wait to get off this gray planet," Dagon said, stretching. It looks as dirty as the kitchen I work in. Depresses me.

“ Va bene, va bene, ” replied Greek, “Tveirland is the last obligatory world of lawlessness. There will be no more gray if we do not want there to be.

From Tveirland things got more interesting. We would be in a position to choose the worlds we wanted to visit without first having to go through others. Of course, there were planets that unlocked the trip to others; Allsium owed a lot to video games, and that in particular was very common in the massive role”playing games that dominated entertainment at the time.

“I want to redeem the experience points now,” Greek said, cracking his knuckles, “but for that we need to pick a path. I hope Tveirland has interesting Guild Sources.

Zen would have told us everything there was to do in Tveirland by now, but instead we were met with a great silence and a wave of raised eyebrows. Until we arrived we would not know what awaited us.

Once you set foot on a planet of illegality, or at least in Initium it was like that, all locations of general interest to adventurers, such as cities, hotels to spend the night, Guild Fountains, etc., were marked on the map. In addition, when we accepted the missions, reading them on the information panel in the capital, the caves or places where we had to go to complete missions and many other secondary points of interest were automatically indicated.

The system, by default, used to help adventurers.

We could do the trip to Tveirland from our room, so it was time to say goodbye.

"Goodbye, gray world," Dagon said, bringing out his acting skills.

" Arrivederci , Initium," Greek blurted out grandly.

"Um… come on, let's go," I said without further ado.

Three seconds later we appeared in a gigantic jungle with palm trees and trees more than thirty meters high that protected us from the sun. The heat was scorching, but in that natural setting you could hear the sound of a great river and the trilling of the exotic birds that inhabited the planet.

Tveirland was light years away from the dreary, leaden world that was Initium.

"What a place!" Dagon exclaimed.

"This is why it's worth getting out of real life." Greek was also hallucinating. Just five seconds on this planet is enough not to miss Initium.

While they marveled and discovered plants and flowers of all colors, I looked at the environment like a survivor. Those trees with such wide and tall trunks were an ideal place to climb and spend the night there. Also, the weather was warm, so maybe it was worth buying some hammocks, or even making some by hand. Although in Allsium you could buy anything you wanted, so people didn't waste time creating.

As soon as we entered Tveirland we were updated on the second system of illegality. It was based on Endor , one of the planets in which the movie Star Wars: Return of the Jedi takes place .

Suddenly, without being able to have time to read what was next, a great roar was heard; It must have been an immense animal, and if it was half as big as all those around us, we could already prepare for the worst.

"Fuck," Greek said, spinning around. What was that?

"There must be a lot of dangerous animals around here," I replied. Don't let your guard down.

"The city, town, or whatever this planet has for its capital isn't too far from here," Greek explained, glancing at the map viewer. Perhaps we should visit the notice board and accept the quests rather than explore the planet.

He was right. There were general quests throughout Allsium, but unlike general quests, system”specific quests could only be completed after being read on the notice board in the capital. There would be no use hunting a dangerous animal if we later discovered that it was the target of a mission from Tveirland. They would not give us a reward and, in addition, we would have to hunt it again to complete it.

"The capital is less than a kilometer away, but at a considerable altitude," the big man reported.

"Two hundred meters above ground level?" Greek wondered somewhat shocked. mamma mia

"It's impossible to see anything from here," I said.

The trees were gigantic and prevented us from seeing beyond our noses. It was one of those moments in which the drone would have been of great help to us. We could have bought another, but decided against it because it reminded us of Zen's betrayal.

"Guys…" Dagon wanted to say.

"Well, we'll have to walk around for a while and see what happens, ragazzi . "

“Yes, take care of the plants, some of them can play a trick on us. “Zen had commented that on some planets nature itself could be the greatest enemy of adventurers. I was not willing for a simple plant to end our dream.

"Guys, I'm sorry to interrupt your conversation, but...

"What's up, ragazzone ?" Greek said. We just got here, isn't it a little early for lunch?

“It's not that!

“So what is it? Speak now, stronzo !

He didn't need to say anything. We had been feeling it for a while, but I thought it was something natural that the trunks of those huge trees vibrated and made branches and fruits fall to the ground. Maybe it wasn't so normal anymore for my chest to rumble as if I had a percussion band playing six feet from my nose.

"I wonder if that's not a fucking Tyrannosaurus rex ," Greek said, shuddering to see him rampaging and menacing on his two legs.

Later we would find out that, in addition to paying homage to the planet Endor from Star Wars , it also did so with the Jurassic Park film saga .

"Run, fools!" I blurted out without thinking twice. I had wanted to release a phrase as epic as that for a long time.

Tveirland had greeted us in the form of great maws, more than thirty feet tall, and at least eight tons of sheer aggression intermingling with a speed of thirty miles per hour. All that sum translated into a hungry Tyrannosaurus rex chasing us and destroying everything in its path, having identified us as potential prey.

"Guys, I can't take it anymore!" It couldn't be other than Dagon. Two meters tall and one hundred kilos in weight reaching its limit.

“That dinosaur weighs and measures more than you, ragazzone ! Greek blurted out, also panting. Now you can run if you don't want to be his breakfast!

We couldn't change direction, the tree trunks were huge and the dinosaur could easily predict where we were going. His height worked against us and his jaws snapped branches when he snapped. The sound when it did was shocking, so I preferred not to intuit what it could do to us.

" Vaffanculo ! " Greek yelled, as if the beast could understand him. Can't we get to a planet without getting into trouble?

"Stop complaining and think of something!" I answered while dodging plants, bushes and loose branches that fell due to the tremors caused by that prehistoric beast.

"Greek, get Dagon out of here!" I blurted out without knowing why. I had let myself be carried away by adrenaline and it was too late to rectify.

"What are you going to do, ragazzo ?" Greek asked.

"I'm going to try to mislead him," I answered, not quite sure, "but first you have to get to safety."

I stayed behind on purpose and tried to get the dinosaur's attention by making all kinds of fuss.

Greek meanwhile walked around the trunk of a gigantic tree and almost dragged Dagon with him, quite a feat considering the big guy's weight and the Italian's height.

The Tyrannosaurus rex had forgotten about them and its jaws were pointed at me. It was even more overwhelming and enormous than it seemed; their jaws dripped and puddled on the ground behind them that was completely devastated.

I needed to think, and incidentally a miracle that I didn't end up becoming his breakfast, but I didn't have time for any of that.

Before running I heard a shot and the Tyrannosaurus rex let out a terrible growl. Blood was dripping from one of his eyes and he had gone completely mad. Its head crashed against the trunks of the trees and its tail destroyed everything in its path, to the point that I had to throw myself to the ground to avoid taking a hit. If that tail reached me I was a virtually dead man.

"I plan to kill that beast," Greek said in group conversation. Otherwise it would have been impossible to hear him, I was too far away to find out anything that dinosaur was messing with. Vinci, make him offer me the other eye!

"And how the hell do you want me to do that?" He's out of control!

It would be out of control, but the smell of his moving food was enough to make him chase after me as I tried to escape.

"That, that," Greek commented, "hold in that position and I'll kill the dino."

Definitely, the Italian had lost his head. Either that, or he really was convinced that he could take out that ancient beast. The rifle he had bought was powerful, but he didn't know if it could kill the dinosaur. Perhaps emptying the magazine could, but I was not going to serve as bait to put it within range.

Another shot rang out, and again the dinosaur uttered a terrifying cry; the Rex had run out of sight. Greek had hit the other eye and the blind beast now moved on instinct. From the little he knew about this species of dinosaurs, he could do without his eyes to guide himself, since he picked up movement, and as a good predator he could perceive the smell better than anyone. In any case, sight or no sight, the beast was starving and wanted me to be its starter.

"Dude, don't make him more angry!" I blurted out.

But Greek fired again, and although the animal was bleeding profusely, it showed no sign of weakness in its movements.

"You keep running, Vinci," he replied. It has to be falling.

"Try to get to safety," Dagon advised. We are fine.

And both were good. They enjoyed the show with their buttocks raised on top of some branch while I was facing that gigantic monster.

I decided that the Tyrannosaurus rex was not going to give up its efforts to take a young adventurer like me into its mouth, so I ran towards one of the many lianas that hung in that jungle and rushed from one to another at great speed. In any movie, or even on television, it seemed very easy to do, but the vines burned my hands and my stomach turned with all the ups and downs. I went around a whole tree at full speed and couldn't find a liana to hold on to, so I fell to the ground and rolled four or five meters until I hit a trunk. Pained, I looked up and saw that I had managed to lose the beast.

"He's not following me," was the first thing I said. Hearing my voice I realized how tired he was.

"No, it doesn't," Greek replied with a laugh. Bless the day I bought this rifle, ragazzi .

"Are you okay Gunner?" asked Dagon, the only one here who cared about things as absurd as the lives of others.

“I think so. “Everything hurt, but if I could stand up it was because I had nothing serious. It seems that I have nothing broken. What happened to the Rex ?

" Tutti controllati, " answered Greek. It is on the ground and does not move. Guide yourself with the map and approach our position.

In the virtual world you could do many things simultaneously just by thinking about them, and looking at a map while walking was like watching TV and eating at the same time. I was quite far from the position of Dagon and Greek; I had run blindly to try and save my life and now I had to retrace my path to find them and the lifeless body of a Tyrannosaurus rex who thought the best time to be hungry was just as three fledglings were landing in Tveirland.

"My goodness, what a creep," hissed Greek, the proud hunter of killer dinosaurs.

He was bigger than he'd looked when he was chasing me, pure muscle with a head that alone was nearly seven feet tall, and in total maybe twelve. A nonsense that could have erased us from virtuality with just one bite. But there we were still, hunters of a mythological predator that an Italian had sewn up with .308 caliber bullets.

We immediately heard the sound of the victory song from the Final Fantasy VII video game, announcing that we had managed to complete a general mission. It wasn't registered as a planet”specific mission, otherwise we wouldn't have gotten a reward; we had to remember that the Tveirland quests were only activated and could be completed once they were read on the notice board of the hotel or the main inn. It was lucky, of course, because I wasn't going to take part in the hunt for another bug like that again.

“My mommy ! Greek exclaimed. It was a general A”class mission!

"What level did you think they could give to a mission that includes taking out a fucking psycho dinosaur?" I asked somewhat annoyed.

"Calm down, guys," Dagon said. The name of the completed quest is called “Eliminate the Tyrannosaurus rex ruling Tveirland”. We just earned extra physical skill points as a reward. It's not bad at all!

It certainly wasn't bad at all. Raising physical or path skill points required a large amount of experience. We had checked that there were missions that gave money, items and experience, but now we discovered that they also allowed you to exchange them for physical skill points.

“With all the experience we have accumulated, I sense that we could already triple the strength, speed or agility of a common human being. “It was just speculation, but it wasn't too far”fetched.

However, until we visit a Guild Fountain, and choose a path, there won't be any change in our physical abilities. What was clear was that we were going to surpass the limits of the human in the blink of an eye.

He wanted nothing more than to reach the capital of Tveirland. There the adventurers took the opportunity to stay in inns, catch up on the bulletin board, or simply take a well”deserved rest after a long day in the jungle Tveirland, a wonderful world without a doubt.

If Initium was sad and grey, the second planet of illegality was an explosion of colors dominated by the green of the tall grasses and the brown of the trunks of those large palm trees and other trees that rose up to ten meters above the ground. floor. But if the world based on Endor from Star Wars and Jurassic Park seemed interesting, knowing its base of operations was even more interesting.

It was a city located high up in the trees.

We transported ourselves with lianas and rusty hoists. The hotels and their rooms were located inside the trunk, but you could sleep out in the open for one or two nights, embracing the tropical climate while you rocked in a hammock who knew how many meters above the ground. It was always better not to look down.

Original fell short to describe a planet like Tveirland. The hotel and store clerks were scantily clad, like prehistoric loincloths that showed more than one passing by would wish to see. We learned from Greek that the lower part of the main trunk housed the black market, a place where adventurers sold rare or collector's items. There were also a large number of well”known brothels where the Italian sarcastically assured that one could get to make out even with a velociraptor.

We had neither the money nor the inclination to fall into such places, but both Dagon and I were aware of the danger that Greek held, so we decided that we would keep a good eye on him.

"Guys, let luck decide," I suggested.

It was about staying a few hours reading the information panel in which all the missions of the planet and the revelation of secondary points of interest would be detailed. Something that, by the way, would serve to collect a huge amount of information about Tveirland. And it is that not only the places where the missions could be carried out would be marked on the map, but also smaller towns where you can rest or safe areas to be able to disconnect from Allsium without taking risks.

combat mode could not be entered in the entire capital and parts of its surroundings. He imagined that any altercation would cause serious consequences for a city embedded in the trunks and branches of the tallest group of trees that existed on the planet. The fire was also prohibited, something logical considering that a simple match could cause a disaster of catastrophic levels.

"I don't feel like staying around to read the quests, ragazzi ," Greek said with a grimace.

"Don't give us those, Greek," I replied. This is important.

They both stared at me in surprise. I realized that she looked like a mother telling off her rebellious children. Someone had to do it, and Dagon and Greek certainly weren't that kind of person.

"I don't feel like spending three or four hours reading all the Tveirland missions either, but we agreed we would." I tried to keep it sounding serious. My incompetence won't get us killed on this planet, so promise me whoever gets it will take it seriously.

"You're quite right, Vinci. He only called me that Greek. I'll have eighty coffees if I have to, and I'm sure it'll take me longer than anyone else, but I swear on my honor that I'll read the notice board if I have to.

I didn't know how much honor he had left to give the Italian, but I nodded in satisfaction.

"I promise too, guys," Dagon said. The big guy didn't like to read much, let alone something he didn't fancy, but he had a lot of willpower.

During the rock”paper”scissors I had a great confrontation against Dagon, but in the end I ended up beating him by the minimum. Greek had devastated and had been saved first. Not another thing, but luck and intuition he had more than anyone.

"I'm sorry, Dagon," I said as I won and saw his rueful face.

"Oh my…" he groaned and shrugged. Well, someone has to. Have fun, guys.

He shrugged and went to sit in the hall, though he went on to visually record all the missions first. Once it was done, they could be read anywhere, and although it was not necessary to do it all at once, we had already decided that it would always be like that. It was better to have the whole map up to date before going out again and putting ourselves in danger, you never knew when we were going to need a place to stay for the night. It was Zen's idea, but treacherous as it was, he was right.

“Weeeell…” Greek whispered suspiciously. What do you want to do now, Vinci?

Dagon was already concentrating on his reading, he seemed to be looking at nothing, but in reality he was navigating the missions. It was funny that everyone around him did the same; they seemed to sleep with their eyes open.

"Then we should take inventory," I suggested. You've emptied the magazine on the rifle, and I'm not sure we've got enough bandages and medication to handle the missions on such a savage planet.

We had three heals left after Greek used one to escape from Zen and those minions. The bandages used to act as a patch and when worn they eased the pain for half an hour. However, a property or shelter, like the one we had rented for two days in Tveirland, was needed to speed up the speed of recovery and the effectiveness of healing items.

“We can buy bullets for the Beretta in the online market, but in the virtual stores of Allsium you will not find anything for the Remington, ragazzi . He was referring to the rifle with which he had killed the Rex .

"Did you buy the rifle from a black market store?" “I asked for. Buying weapons in Allsium was difficult if you didn't know where to go, but buying them online on the black market was even more difficult.

“Yes, but it only came with five four”round clips. I emptied them on that bug to save your ass,” he recalled with a shrug. Finding ammunition for the Remington is now not possible on this planet with the webshop. In Initium the online purchase and search system was not locked, but Tveirland has other rules. That is why the black market exists on this planet.

"Since when do you know that?" “I asked for.

“Since I need bullets for the rifle, stronzo .

So we had to go down to the suburbs of one of the gigantic trees on which the capital rests to buy the damned rifle bullets.

"Did you plan on all this?"

"You guys should have come downstairs if I'd had to stay and read all that bullshit on the bulletin board," he replied. It would have been nice for Dagon to let me lose, so the ragazzone would have had a chance to discover a very interesting world down here.

He said it as if in rock”paper”scissors it was easy to win or lose. I made a mental note to myself that on the next planet we would switch games.

"I think it's better if Dagon doesn't go near that kind of place," I said, not knowing if I was ready either. Greek sure was used to experiencing strange things. It's too innocent.

"I would have taught him what life is." He said with a half smile.

"The sooner we go, the sooner we'll be done."

Sighing, I went down in the elevator with the Italian. His eyes shone, perhaps because he knew he fit in there more than anywhere else. In any case, I warned him that we would buy the bullets and get out of there immediately.

No prostitutes, no collector's items and, of course, no weird experiences with velociraptors.