Project Daily Grind (Mirror World Book #1) Read online

  I clicked Reset Settings. Wait a bit. What's that now?

  I repeated my search. Indeed, the moment I filtered search results by popularity, I got 124 search results. But the moment I removed it, the search came back with 125 results. Same thing happened when I tried to filter the search results by Strength. Why? The search filter seemed to have overlooked a race. Was it a glitch? It shouldn't be. This was a big corporation.

  So how was I supposed to find the missing race? Did they expect me to scroll through all the pages? No. There had to be a better way.

  Then I figured it. I filtered the search results by page views. Got it. I entered 0 into the page view results and waited. There! But... was this a joke?

  The picture of a puny little man appeared on the screen. He had a shaggy beard and unkempt hair. I gave him a closer look. His shoulders were narrow but his forearms were rather strong. All he needed was a sailor's uniform complete with hat and pipe to look like the epitome of a weathered seafarer.

  His complexion was tinged gray; his eyes glared at me from under his bushy eyebrows. His hands were large. Actually... it all fit. What would that ten-foot monster of a Horrud do in a narrow low-ceilinged mine? Together with the other one, the Rock Rhoggh, he was destined to farm cheap ore. And both dwarves and gnomes looked like sawn-off wardrobes with knee-long beards—way too broad around the beam to toil in narrow tunnels. Even if creatures like these had indeed existed, they must have looked different.

  Never mind. No sense in me getting so wound up. So what's your name, buddy?

  An Ennan.

  Okay. And how about your abilities?

  Additional Ability: Shrewd Operator

  Effect: +1% to your chance of raising skill level with every 20 resources farmed

  Additional Ability: True Heroes Take Devious Routes

  Effect: +2% to your chance to raise the Shrewd Operator ability 1 level with every 100 resources farmed

  Did that mean that the second ability affected the first one? In other words, I'd only have one because they were interconnected. And in terms of skill... what a shame I couldn't try it out.

  I spent at least another hour reading up on the Ennan. As if it could change anything.

  I peered into his sullen face. “What do you say, buddy? Should we try it?”

  He didn't say anything, just kept staring into space.

  I gave it some more thought and calculation. Finally, I pressed Select.

  You've chosen the profession of Mine Digger. Confirm: Yes/No.

  Yes.

  You've chosen the race of Ennan. Confirm: Yes/No.

  Yes.

  Enter the name by which you would like to be known in the game.

  Oleg.

  We're sorry. The name is already in use. Would you like to enter another name?

  Good question. A small window popped up: Ennan Name Generator. Let's try it. I entered Oleg and cringed at the results. No good... definitely no... but this one might actually work. And this one? Olgerd...

  Welcome, Olgerd! Well done!

  Right. I clicked on the bell. Time to get out of this contraption.

  Zoriana reappeared after a few minutes. “Are you all right? I was worried. I was about to check on you myself.”

  “Why?”

  “You've been sitting here for nearly four hours!”

  “No way! I thought it was thirty minutes at most.”

  “Yeah right! And you haven't even started playing yet. This was only a test module. Now I would ask you to follow me.”

  “What do you mean, I wasn't playing?”

  She gave me a funny look, then turned round and headed for the exit. I shrugged and tagged along.

  We came back to my brother's office. He sat there staring thoughtfully at the monitor. The silence was only disturbed by the quiet hum of the computer cooler and the clicking of a mouse.

  I sat in front of him waiting. They were taking themselves too seriously here. No idea what all this hype around this Mirror World was about. If you asked me, this was just a flea circus. And a very expensive one at that.

  My brother kept staring at my results. What was wrong? What could he see there?

  He rubbed his forehead. “I see, said the blind man.”

  “That's what Dad used to say. His favorite expression.”

  “It was,” he agreed without taking his eyes from the monitor. “He couldn't just say ‘I see’, he absolutely had to add ‘said the blind man’. I got the habit from him.”

  “Me too,” I said.

  He smiled bitterly. “We have a lot in common, don't you think?”

  I paused. “How's your Mom?”

  “Sick. And yours?”

  “She died seven years ago.”

  “I'm sorry.”

  We fell silent. The mouse kept clicking. The cooler switched off.

  “All done,” Dmitry finally looked up at me. “I've saved your escapades in our database. Where did you find him? I didn't even know this race existed.”

  I shrugged. “Pure chance.”

  “Never mind. Now it's only the checkup left to do and we can sign you up. That's tomorrow. Now you need to go and get some rest.”

  “What checkup?”

  “Just a few tests. It's obligatory. Government's requirement.”

  “Is it so serious?”

  “It is. There were certain problems just after the game's release,” he waved my silent question away. “It's nothing, really. That's it for today. I'll be expecting you tomorrow at nine a.m. Go and get some rest now.”

  I struggled to my feet. “Thanks, man,” I offered him my hand.

  “Don't mention it. I just hope it works out for you.”

  I smiled and nodded, then headed for the door. Things got rolling.

  I couldn't wait to share the news with my wife. All the way back to my rented apartment I imagined her eyes and her smile when she hears the news. I couldn't stop thinking about how it all was finally over. We'd be together. Sveta was bound to be happy for me and my brother getting to know each other. I was already forty; he thirty-five. We were grown-up people now. We had to understand that our parents must have had their own agendas that had nothing to do with their children.

  I couldn't wait till tomorrow. Time was an issue.

  Chapter Three

  The checkup was a joke. I received the once-over from a doctor and had to fill in a few questionnaires. Then I was taken to a gym where I was fitted up with sensors and instructed to lift weights, run and do sit-ups. I even managed to do six pull-ups. Zoriana watched my exploits closely, marking something down on a clipboard.

  Finally they released me. It took them another hour to calculate the results.

  Dmitry entered the office, beaming from ear to ear. What was he celebrating? Then again, he was probably just happy for his brother.

  “You got twenty-five points! Not bad at all. I've seen fitter people never make twenty. That’s what I call letting your head do the work!”

  “Why, does it matter?”

  “Well, for one, had you failed to make fifteen points, you'd have been disqualified.”

  “Wow. Why didn't you tell me so?”

  “I couldn't. We have very strict rules about that. The fine print. Spontaneous testing. But it doesn't matter. Everything's fine. I was sure you'd make it.”

  “Me too, sort of. And secondly?”

  “Secondly, the developers have a rule. The test points are a bonus added to the players' main characteristics. Now when you log in, apart from the standard initiation package, you'll also have these twenty-fine points. It's up to you how you're going to distribute them.”

  I shrugged. What did he expect me to say? I didn't have the slightest idea what I was getting into. Sveta had told me she'd seen their ads on TV. The thing looked legit. Then again, gone were the days when you could actually believe what they said on TV. Or should I say, you could never believe it.

  “Once you get to the Glasshouse, you'll wish you'd earned more points. Eve
ryone does. They even joke about it. One thing I can tell you, you can never have too many bonus points.”

  Again I shrugged.

  “Very well,” he said, “let's get on with it. Your account is halfway complete. All you need to do now is confirm your settings, and off you go. Next thing. The actual hiring, the signing of the contract and the distribution of tools take place in Mirror World. Here we can't influence your decision. One word of advice. Keep an eye on the in-game news. Try to deal only with established players. Find a way to join a strong clan or guild. The first day is crucial. Today you'll be logging in from here. Next time you'll already be using your employer's module. Your objective is to land a work contract in Mirror World. The longer its term, the bigger loan they'll offer you. And one last thing. Don't overexert yourself. The human mind is an unpredictable and poorly studied piece of gear. Everything you do in the game affects your body. That’s just the way it works. Remember the other thing Dad used to say?”

  “A sound mind in a sound body?”

  “Exactly. Only here it's the other way round, sort of. As long as your mind is sound, so is your body. You'll see what I mean. Good luck.”

  The GT class module resembled a horizontal sunbed. I faltered. I had this funny feeling... it looked too much like a coffin.

  “Are you okay?”

  I startled. A young guy of about twenty-five looked at me sympathetically. I lowered my eyes at his name tag, squinting.

  Andrew

  Module unit controller

  “I'm fine, thanks,” I said. “Just a bit dizzy.”

  He smiled. “It's all right. It happens. People do get last-moment jitters. And then you just can't pull them out by their ears. Please remove your clothes and take your place.”

  I did as he asked of me. The warm gelatinous bed enfolded over my body. It felt like lying in plum jelly.

  “Please don't move.”

  I froze. Andrei crowned my head with a complex-looking device. “Close your eyes.”

  I did as I was told.

  “I'm going to count to ten. One. Two. Three. Four. Five...”

  His voice began to distance.

  “Six...”

  Now I had to strain my ears to hear him.

  “Seven. Eig-”

  Silence fell, boundless and perfect. Had I just died? I was enveloped in pitch darkness. No, I couldn't have been. My thinking was perfectly clear. I tried to speak but I couldn't. I tried to turn my head after a fashion. It felt as if my body was gone.

  My glance chanced on a tiny white spot. I focused. It kept growing. Now it was the size of a tennis ball... a saucer... looming ever closer until it had grown to the size of a window.

  Closer.

  Light consumed me.

  The sound of falling water assaulted my eardrums. A fresh breeze touched my face, mixed with a veil of moisture. My body convulsed. I sensed a few pebbles under my open hand. All of a sudden I could feel them throughout my entire body.

  I pushed away from the ground and sat up.

  Jesus Christ almighty!

  Somehow they had magically transported me from their labs to this beautiful waterfall. The rocks felt warm to touch. I brushed my hand over some shrubs growing in a crevice in the cliff. This was a hundred percent real. Impossible!

  I took in a deep breath. The air was sweet. Trees rustled in the wind. I could hear birds chirruping. The waterfall rumbled away.

  I must be going mad!

  Confounding me even more, a 3D sign appeared before my eyes. I startled. The letters faded, then filled again with color.

  Welcome to Mirror World, Olgerd!

  In order to enjoy the world in its entirety, please complete your account registration.

  Would you like to complete your account registration now?

  Yes/No

  I focused on Yes.

  Congratulations! Registration complete!

  You have 15 points available!

  You have 25 bonus points available!

  This would have to wait. I wasn't in a hurry. I tried to get up and failed.

  You cannot move.

  Strength: 0

  Speed: 0

  Ah, so that's how it worked, then. I invested one point into each. My body began to obey me albeit reluctantly, as if in slow motion.

  I added another point to speed. Much better, but still too slow.

  Two more. Excellent. It wasn’t as if I needed to run around here. I tried to walk about for a bit. It felt okay.

  Now Strength. I picked up a rock small enough to close my hand around it. Good.

  How about this one the size of my head? As if! But my trade as mine digger called for some serious weight lifting.

  I added one point to Strength. I still couldn't lift the bigger rock. Another one. Yes! Perfect.

  From what I'd read the day before, I had to go easy on points. If I wanted to bring a characteristic back to zero, I was going to lose half the points I'd invested in it. So I had to give it a good think. Just imagine how many points I'd have had to invest in Cave Horrud, with his bulk? And here I'd gotten away with only a few.

  So, what did we have here?

  Strength: 3 pt.

  Speed: 4 pt.

  I had 33 points left. Not bad.

  I walked over to the water and peered at my reflection. An Ennan stared back at me. He had my face and body build by default—I made sure not to change the settings. So there we were! As large as life and twice as ugly!

  I touched the water. It was cool to touch, the kind you'd expect water to be in the mountains. How did they do it? Was it my mind with its knowledge of what water should be like, affecting my perception? Or was it some different mechanism entirely?

  I had a good eyeful of the new me. Then I checked the map. It offered a helpful view of all the nearby settlements. The largest of them, Leuton City, was about two miles away. So that’s where I decided to go.

  I marched away: first along a trail winding around cliffs, and then through a forest, turning my head this way and that like a five-year-old boy on his first trip out of town. The area was admittedly impressive. Giant ancient trees loomed overhead, threatening to squash me with their bulk. The numerous meadows were crowded with flowers of every color of the rainbow. This riot of color was astounding. And even more amazing was the world’s authenticity.

  After some ten minutes, I began to feel fatigued. My breathing became labored. My legs grew heavy. I had a splitting headache. It felt as if I’d just single-handedly unloaded a truckful of bricks. Something was going wrong.

  Aha! I saw it:

  Energy: 5/40

  Basically, a ten-minute walk had just consumed almost all of my energy. Not good.

  I perched on a large fallen tree covered in thick moss. Time to look into this. Where was it now... aha!

  Stamina

  Effect: each point gives +20 to Energy

  Let’s do some math. Ten minutes of brisk walking equaled 35 Energy. So! Apparently, walking was a luxury in this world.

  I splurged three points on Stamina. Which gave me:

  Stamina, 3

  Energy, 12/100

  Wow! Twelve already? I’d had five only a moment ago!

  I could breathe easier now, even though my legs were still heavy. Which meant that sitting still restored your Energy. Finally some good news!

  Never mind, I’d apparently have to travel in stops and starts. Yes, it would take me some time. But I couldn’t help it.

  And that’s how I continued on my way: the moment I started feeling tired, I immediately found myself a nice comfortable spot to rehabilitate.

  When I was crossing a large field, a colorful cavalcade of riders in shiny armor caught up with me. I’d just sat down to recuperate. No idea what prompted them to stop. Could be either my unkempt looks or the silent amazement in my stare. Whatever.

  The enormous head of a black horse hovered over me, glaring at me with its evil eye and quite prepared to trample me. The smiling face of a perfectly
beautiful young girl beamed at me from behind the horse’s back. Emerald eyes, golden locks, a full bosom, a rod-straight back and a perfectly shaped body.

  “Greetings, O wanderer!” she had a musical voice, strong and cheerful.

  “You shaggy dog! You should bow when you see a lady!”

  Another horse soared over me. Its rider looked utterly awesome in his head-to-toe armor.

  “Please don’t, Lord Melwas,” the girl’s voice chimed again. “Can’t you see he’s a newbie? Aren’t you, my good man?”

  She seemed to be addressing me. “I am. You’re absolutely right.”

  “I am, my lady!” the man snapped at me. “Then bow as low as you can, peasant!”

  The bully’s horse seemed about to crush me like a walnut. “Young man,” I addressed the rider, “how dare you talk to me like that!”

  His black eyes turned into slits. “Oh, I dare!” his steel-clad hand reached for his sword.

  “Melwas! Please don’t!” the musical voice assaulted my eardrums.

  “Only for you, Lady Isa,” the bully lost all interest in me and nudged his horse forward, covering me with a thick cloud of dust. I burst out coughing.

  “Thank you, my lady,” I said, trying out new forms of speech. “It’s my first day today.”

  “We’ve all had our first day here,” she flashed me a winning smile. “I can see you’re all empty. Hey, Aragorn!”

  Another rider approached. His armor was different from a knight’s traditional suit. Navy blue, it was covered in some fancy script. Beautiful.

  “Yes, my lady,” Aragorn lowered his head.

  “Please help this poor soul,” Lady Isa made a cute face.

  The dark knight smiled. Silently he reached his hand out to me.