Chapitre 23: CHAPTER 23 [Good intentions]
The plain wasn't exactly lifeless. As I went, I occasionally did my part to check any potential overpopulation in the local fauna, bashing gophers and snakes over the head with my mace. I even finished off an emaciated goblin who had somehow found his way there. That proved a handy distraction, as the distance between the castle and the woods turned out to be much farther than I thought at first. It actually took me about two hours to cover it. A bit of an optical illusion there.
The sun had already crested its peak, and on I walked.
Though, to be honest, I was enjoying myself and looking forward to dipping my feet in the cool stream that I was sure would be there. A digital pleasure, of course, but one that certainly seemed real enough.
I entered the wood and strained my ears to listen for the sound of running water. However, instead, I heard a woman's cry coming from the bushes a couple meters away from me, "Hey, stop it! Please, don't!"
I pulled out my mace and ran toward the sound.
While I may not be the most virtuous guy out there, and I don't recommend trying to play on any kind of civil responsibility I might feel, I can't stand it when people insult or hit women or children. And it sounded like that was exactly what was happening.
Two leaps later, I was into the bushes and saw a rather unpleasant picture lay out before me—a Level 23 player named Gvegory was using his curved saber to chop up some kind of ghastly creature, obviously female. It scrunched up its monkey-like face, burst into tears, and screamed, "Please don't! I'm begging you!"
Gvegory was unmoved and in the process of raising his Saber, obviously intending to chop off the poor creature's arm.
"Hey, what are you, some kind of monster?" I asked him.
He wheeled his whole body around wolfishly and brandished his saber. "Who are you? What do you care?" he yelled.
"Doesn't matter," I answered. "Why are you bothering her? She isn't aggressive, she didn't attack you. You'll cut off her arm, and she still won't do anything to you. Look at her; she didn't exactly win the lottery as it is. Look at the poor thing cowering there, and you're going all maniac on her."
"What do you care? I'll cut what I want to cut."
"It doesn't matter to me, it's just crazy..."
"It's crazy? She's just code! Only code!" Gvegory was nearly howling.
"So, she's just code," I answered as evenly as I could.
"She still cries. She's hurting. You aren't some kind of wild animal, so just let her go."
"And if I don't?"
"Come on, we're talking like a couple fifth-graders. Let's just go. You can head over to that forest, and you'll find everything you need there. Boars, goblins, even some kind of monster with its own name. And then at night, the skeletons come out! You can grind them into little pieces all you want."
"Listen, you and your human rights," snarled Gvegory. "I'll decide who I kill when. You don't stick your nose in how I play the game. And if you do, I'll report you to the admin."
"Help me! I don't want to die again," the creature whispered to me, seeing Gvegory's narrowed eyes and raised saber.
I really didn't want to be a PKer, since that came with penalties, besides, well... But I also didn't want to leave even that miserable little piece of code with that psychopath. It was time for some mind games…
"Did you cut her, too?" I asked in a lofty voice.
"Cut who?" Gvegory more choked out the words than said them.
"The one who wouldn't put out. I guess you were the only one she turned down, right?"
"Shut up, you bitch!" He turned, his eyes rolled back, and a string of drool leaked from his mouth.
Oh, wow, he's really crazy. This guy needs some big medics to take him to a hospital in a straightjacket. Straight to Dr. Kaschenko. Well, I was right.
"I'll cut all of you!!" screamed Gvegory. "All of you! You, and this piece of trash, and that piece of trash!"
And with that, he thrust his saber at me. We were still standing pretty far apart, so he missed by a wide margin, but the game counted his attempt as a player-on-player attack. I could kill him with a clear conscience.
Gvegory squealed, closed the distance, and tried to land a downward blow. But I was no helpless crea-ture, so I dodged and buried my mace in his right side. His next cut was blocked by my shield and swiped away the arm holding the saber to open his chest—an opportunity I took full advantage of by smashing it with all my strength. The power of the strike sent him tumbling backward, and I quickly jumped in and landed another blow, this time to the head. That was enough to finish him off.
You unlocked Killer Punisher, Level 1.
To get it, punish 29 more players who have killed other players.
Reward:
+1 to strength
+0.1% damage done by all weapon types
To see similar messages, go to the Action section of the attribute window.
Gvegory turned into a shadow that then completely disappeared. That was the first time I saw what happened to players when they died.
"Wow, seriously a psychopath," I muttered. "He's a danger to society, and now he's going to go slit someone's throat in the real world."
I was stunned. I'd been told that many people who weren't right in the head played video games to act out their desires rather than inflict them on the actual public. But to meet someone like that myself…
I found the "Contact Administrator" button in the panel, copied the conversation I had with the mutant to the message, added some comments of my own, as well as a request to pass it and Gvegory's personal information on to law enforcement, and clicked "Send." Obviously, I didn't expect them to do anything—they had a hands-off policy, and they were big into protecting personal information... Still, if he'd been able to, he would have killed me, and he wouldn't have cared if it were the real world or the virtual one.
I didn't help things by provoking him. If he decided to log out of the game then, he'd go pick up an axe and head for the street, or, God forbid, some kind of firearm. I was getting frantic.
Thank you for your message. Your information was reviewed under article 14.6 of the Agreement Between the Player and the Company and sent to law enforcement officials along with the place of residence listed by the player at registration.
Well, now I just had to hope that the psychopath had listed his actual city. But good job by Radeon. It was smart of them to put a clause like that in the agreement. I wondered what else was in it, seeing as how I didn't read it before agreeing to the whole thing—like 99.9 percent of the other players in the game. I would have to go back and read it.
A sob from my left reminded me of the miserable creature over there. She was still sitting on the ground where I first saw her. Her wounds, however, were beginning to close—she was an NPC, after all—that and the fact that the game had a humane policy against causing psychological trauma.
"Here," I said, tossing her an apple from my bag.
"Eat it, you'll feel better."
She caught the rosy piece of fruit and gazed at me with enormous green eyes that looked out of place in her wrinkled, ape-like face.
At the same time, I went over to the remains of Gvegory.
I couldn't decide if I should collect his things or leave them lying there. "Whatever, all's fair in love and war," I said, adding my voice to marauders of all times and peoples, and reached out my hand.
He didn't really have much. The saber was just average, and everything else was blue or even colorless.
In a word, nothing.
A ding told me that I had a new message. What a surprise!
"I'm going to find you. I'll find you here in the game, and I'll find you in real life. And you'll die a slow death! I hate you!"
I was really starting to get a following. That was already the third person to promise me a fun rest of my life—in just a couple days. Sticking around for a couple more weeks would accumulate enough for a whole new clan created just to hate me.
Gvegory's letter didn't bother me in the least. It made me feel better, in fact. First, it meant that he hadn't logged out, grabbed a knife, and started slashing everyone he could find with it. Second, let him hate me. What did it matter? If he found me, we'd see who was better. So far, I was up 1-0. And after the army, nothing in real life scared me. Except a shovel.
And churches still put the fear of God into me…
"Why?" the creature's voice rang out quietly, if distinctly. "Why did you stand up for me?"
~ ~ ~
État de l’alimentation hebdomadaire
-- Classement
Power Stone 
-- Power
stone