The news that the clan had completed the required quest was welcomed with joy. But everyone understood that the main reason for the good mood was the opportunity to visit the city.

Everyone understood that there are many interesting and important things in the city for a successful life. Everyone wanted to visit Dor.

Dan and the scout visited a less pleasant place. They thoroughly examined the werewolf's lair and were able to bring some trophies.

Nick got the most important trophies. He had the skill of Ripper. It's a skill he'd love to learn from the village's hunters. Now he could use a special knife to obtain special trophies from the body of a dead beast or monster. As a merchant, Nick knew that local alchemy uses animal and monster organs. And he was happy to replenish his stock. Ripe Skills allowed him to save valuable ingredients for a very long time.

Nick ripped the bodies off of werewolves. John was guarding the place. Dan had a thorough inspection of the lair. He couldn't find the cursed artifacts and it calmed him down. He's been thinking lately that dangerous cursed artifacts are lurking everywhere in this world.

Michael visited the village and talked to the head of the caravan security. They agreed on a date for the trip to Dor. Michael heard some rather unpleasant news from the head of security.

The destruction of the village by the dead three days from the city is quite common! It won't cause any alarm or reaction in the city. It's the border of the civilized world. There is a special service in the city that accepts applications for resettlement in a dangerous area.

Locals who wanted rapid enrichment were taking risks. Everyone knew how dangerous it was to live surround by wild animals and magical monsters. But also everyone knew that killing these monsters could yield valuable prey. And a caravan of traders would come to the village of hunters and buy trophies.

In the clan, this news triggered an interesting reaction. Many players were now calmer about the words of the Inquisitor and his attitude towards the locals. Hunters are people who risk their lives for enrichment. Taking responsibility for their lives, worrying about their safety is a waste of time and emotional stress.

Every man for himself. The clan is the clan, the locals are the locals. Players have realized that they are ordinary prey hunters who have the opportunity to revive after death. Michael expressed the important idea that immortality is the envy of the local world. And everyone has to be careful in the city. The city is full of surprises and dangers. People understand it very well.

But the most unexpected reaction was Stefan's words:

"One must always be careful with the dead. They're not trusted in the city."

At first, no one understood what we were talking about. Stefan explained. That the dead are magical creatures. They've always lived in this world. They live in the city! They serve as ordinary living people. But you can't trust them. They are dead. And it says it all. The city's dead are watched closely by the local Spirituals.

Players have once again realized that they have entered a world full of surprises and surprises.

An atmosphere of hope and a sense of new perspectives for development prevailed in the castle.

Dan was about to go hunting. Now he had to kill twice as many monsters. He needs to develop on his own and help his pet become a strong animal.

The Inquisitor entered the blacksmith shop. He gave the dwarf armor to fix it.

Turin worked hard. He liked the new life. These strange hunters brought in a lot of income. They were immortal! That means they weren't afraid of dying, they weren't afraid of taking risks and they hunted a lot. They needed a good smith. One who would fix the armor and the weapons. And Turin was happy with his new life.

Dan nodded the dwarf:

"Turin, sorry to bother you, did you fix at least part of my armor?"

"I fixed your mask."

"Thank you for that, as well."

"Thank you. Sir Dan."

The dwarf stopped the Inquisitor, who took the mask and was about to leave the blacksmith.

"Wait, Dan, we need to talk."

"Okay, I'm listening."

The dwarf put his hammer aside and came closer to the Inquisitor. He scratched his beard and said quietly:

"I and Velida are not going to Dor. We will stay with you. We don't have to go to the city. We have nothing to do there."

Dan was surprised.

"I thought you'd be interested in just resting in town. To visit friends and associates."

"We visit Dor twice a year. We go on special occasions. That doesn't concern you. It's about the dwarves. But I have important words to say to you."

Turin looked into Dan's eyes and said very quietly:

"We'll stay in the castle with you. With you and Sir Nick and Sir John."

The Inquisitor knew at once that the dwarf knew about the conspiracy! But how?

"Turin, I don't know what you're talking about."

"Dan, do you know how old I am? No, you don't. I've seen 173 winters."

Dan was amazed. He didn't think about that sort of thing. Now he's been told the news of the unusual and incredible. Then he thought it was a world of wonder and magic. Dwarves live long, elves live even more. Nothing is surprising about it.

The dwarf smiled:

"You can't hide your face under a mask all the time. They can't hide in invisibility all the time. You can keep your secrets from each other, but to me you're like children. Don't be sad, for a wise dwarf, many people are like unwise children. I read your decision on your faces. And I will tell you an important thing. I will be with you. I have my reasons. What's important to you is that you have a blacksmith at your castle. Jim will stay in town."

"Jim stays in town," Dan was surprised. "But you're his teacher!"

The dwarf stroked his beard and explained:

"You don't understand the basics of our craftsmanship. I'm just going to say one thing. A learner who learns from one master will never be a real master. I learned from 12 masters before becoming a master myself. Jim is an extraordinary man, like all of you. He's managed to understand my mastery enough. He cannot stay in the castle. You call this "development". Two real master blacksmiths are working in Dor. I gave Jim letters of recommendation. He must learn from new masters."

"Your words are understandable and explain a lot. I understand Jim. As for me and the scouts. You see, Turin, we don't want a clan scandal. But we can't be like the others. We have disagreements... to say the truth, misunderstandings, and different views of life. We don't want disagreements and fights and scandals."

"Sir Michael is not a hunter. Sir Michael is not exactly a hunter. I understand. That's enough words. Go and kill the monsters. Talk to the scouts. And don't let them count on my goodwill! You and I have our own business. You know what I'm talking about."

"Okay, Turin. I'll make the boys happy with the news that a great blacksmith and his wonderful wife, a craftswoman to make a delicious dinner and just a wonderful woman will live in the castle."

Dan went out into the courtyard, put on a mask and came up to John:

"John, close the gate behind me. I'm going hunting, I have to take care of my cat."

"Okay, brother. Soon our babies will be ready to fight alongside us shoulder to shoulder," John winked.

"Shoulder to shoulder," agreed to the Inquisitor.

"Wait, Dan! I found something interesting. Nick knows. But we didn't say anything to Michael. I found a strange mine. It was in the system message," he leaned closer to the Inquisitor and whispered. "Cursed mine. I ran away right away. It's one of the dungeons on our land. I noticed two skeletons there. The little ones, level 5. Ordinary, not warriors. But you understand, all that has to do with the 'cursed' is your business. I can walk you, and I can give you a map on which I drew the way to the mine."

"Come with me," said Dan.

"It's a safe road. Take the map. Nick said you have to walk a lot on your own, you have to explore the surrounding area yourself. That way, you'll have the ability to explore. You're a disgusting tracker, you need to learn."

Dan agreed with him. That approach had its advantages. A researcher's skill will always come in handy.

He took the map and went to explore the mysterious 'Cursed Mine'.

Dan checked the map and quietly walked along the wide path that looped through the forest. Pussy was running next to him. Sometimes she'd run to the side, and then Dan's start to worry about her. He didn't want to see the animals again, but that fidget could provoke someone to attack. Dan didn't like to fight in the woods. An unexpected blow from the enemy could have come from either side. Behind every tree, the enemy could hide. He didn't feel safe even with his damn sword in his hand. The forest kept a lot of danger.

The Inquisitor was constantly calling his pet to himself. He would send a signal to the cat, demanding that it return to its master. Sometimes he would just activate an icon with the cat and it would disappear somewhere in the distance. Then he would activate the icon and the cat would appear at his feet. She wasn't angry at the master for distracting her from undoubtedly important cat business.

He walked for a long time. One time, a wolf jumped out at him.

*

Wolf

Level: 5

Type: normal

Life: 2100

*

The Inquisitor has once again envied Nick's skills. This pathfinder instantly determined all the characteristics of forest dwellers. Nick found time every day and described in detail to the Inquisitor of the animals he met to update the information in Bestiary.

An ordinary wolf was biting 750 damage.

Dan was no longer worried about such damage, he had 4800 life points. He had 700 protection points.

He never got the exact formula to calculate the defense in this game. The monsters were doing different amounts of damage. The damage depended on the type of armor. Heavy armor took 90% of the physical damage.

A normal wolf could do about 760 damage. But each animal had its own skills. The wolf could cause Bleeding and then the player would lose 750 health points in 1 minute! And no armor helped. Level 5 wolf could bite steel! These are the rules of this game. The forest wolf of level 5 was a formidable opponent.

Dan was helped by the fact that many animals did not attack at once. They gave themselves away first. This unreasonableness had its nobility in it.

The Inquisitor heard the growling, stopped and prepared for battle. A sword instantly appeared in his hands.

*

Tarrok

Type: unique. Linked to Dan's character

Attention! Cursed artifact! The influence on the gameplay 10%

Damage: 1600-2400 [Critical damage: 4400-7200]

Durability: Indestructible

Weight: 3 pounds

Combat skill:

"Cutting the Void" Increases the chance to ignore the enemy's armor and class abilities. Cooldown 120 seconds. [10/10]

"Drinking Life." 4% of the damage done in HP restores health. [10/10]

*

The Inquisitor has smiled, his strength has added 610 points of damage. He could have killed that wolf with one blow! Even without causing critical damage.

Given his fully developed 'Tough Will' skill, which translates 5% of the incoming damage into health, Dan wasn't worried.

He was just annoyed by the need to stop on the road.

Pussy whispered loudly, she hit herself with her tail on the sides and slightly fell to the ground. Dan realized she was ready to use her teeth and claws at any moment.

What a brave, stupid cat.

Dan jumped up to the animal in a quick jump and struck a quick, simple blow from above.

*

[You have dealt 2,600 points of damage]

[Got 105 experience points]

*

The cat jumped up to the chopped wolf and grabbed its teeth in the bleeding wound.

"You're crazy, you greedy animal!"We don't have time to eat meat. Let's go."

Pussy looked at the master with an earshot. What a stupid master! But she only took one bite of this delicious fresh meat and ran after the Inquisitor.

Dan put the sword in the inventory.

The special features of the game made it possible to arm yourself in an instant. But Stefan was already teaching the guys how to move with the weapon that was in the sheath. In this world, weapons showed human status. Almost every man was armed.

It was a rather unpleasant surprise, but carrying a weapon was very uncomfortable. The sheaths kept you from moving freely. Every warrior learned the science of sword possession. Possession in all circumstances, in battle and in a peaceful life.

The Inquisitor was not worried about the convention. He didn't care about local opinion. He preferred to hide the cursed sword in his inventory. In case of a sudden attack, he could answer with his fist. His battle gloves of Wrath caused enough damage.

Once they stopped at the shore of a small river, ate, drank water and went on.

The terrain was changing. The forest was becoming rarer. Trees did not become smaller, they began to stand at a greater distance from each other.

They saw the beginning of the mountains. Stone ledges began to meet on the way, they had already seen the beginning of the mountains.

Dan felt like he was enjoying it. The mountains are a dangerous place, but he liked them.

They reached a place that gave away a man's work. On the surface of the rocky ground were flat rows of dumps of empty rock.

Dan realized that the mine was already close by. He stopped when he saw the entrance to the mine.

It was dark at the beginning of the tunnel in the rock. Skeletal figures were clearly visible against the darkness. They stood out in the gray of the bones.

*

[Attention! The location of the 'Cursed Mine' has been detected. Location type: Dungeon.

Attention! Temporary revival point detected. Do you wish to make a binding? Yes/No]

*

Dan looked at his status. He's already had two rebirth points. Basic and temporary.

He thought about it. The new temporary point can erase the old one that was in the cemetery. But then he smiled, where he had to spend enough time. It's going to be a long hunt. He knew that the dungeon would be long, there were different monsters and different levels.

He agreed to link it to a new time point. Then he laughed. Now he had three rebirth points in status. Interesting things! How many points did this pair of tricksters have accumulated? Nick and John have been exploring the area for a long time. We'll have to talk to Nick about it.

But this conversation will be tonight. There's a fight waiting for him now.

Dan sat down and stroked the cat on the head:

"You're not going to behave badly, are you, Pussy? I'm going to be very busy, and you don't have to distract me. Be careful and stay behind me."

An ordinary pet was different from a damn pet. Unlike werewolves wolfing, the cat didn't require a binding to the point of rebirth. She was already dead once. That's when the icon with the pet turned grey and Dan found out that the pet could only be summoned after 24 hours. But the cat's death upset him.

He gladly looked at the state of his beauty.

*

Pussy

Master: Dan [Phoenix Clan]

Type: pet

Level: 5

Experience: 9274/15000

Strength: 5

Dexterity: 5

Intellect: 5

Endurance: 5 [HP: 1500]

*

The cat looked at him and pretended not to care about the master's care. She can protect her own interests. She'll help her master.

Pussy knew that now they would beat and bite nasty and bad bones. She didn't like them. The bones smelled disgusting. But she endured a nasty smell. She learned to distinguish the nasty bones from the nasty meat by their smell, so she could warn her master of the danger in time. She had a lot to do and a lot to worry about. Master so stupid!

Dan pulled out his sword and the cat snorted it. She didn't like that piece of iron. It was dangerous, but the master didn't understand it.

Dan had a sad smile:

"I understand you, I don't trust this bastard myself."

"I'm not asking for trust, I want equality! I don't want to be a simple servant. I've seen ancient times, I'm a keeper of knowledge and secrets you can't imagine."

"Yes, I agree, you are a very wise and cunning bastard. We're going to have a lot of work to do now," said the Inquisitor and went towards the skeletons.

The usual level 5 skeletons. It's boring, but somebody has to do this job.

The inquisitor used to turn off the visibility of information about the damage done and received so as not to be distracted during the battle. In the woods, he was a little worried. And here everything seemed clear and simple. There's a tunnel and there are enemies in front of it. And he saw the information about the strength and weakness of these enemies very well.

Dan ran to the entrance of the mine. He blew up two skeletons with three strikes. He stopped and collected the trophies. The usual copper coins.

Then he went into the tunnel and realized he had to pull out the torch. And he also realized that it's not always comfortable to be alone in the dungeon.

He lit the torch and went forward with a sword in his right hand.

The dungeon was clean. Moss was growing on the walls. There were no corpses that had decayed. There was no sign of car rails. The local dwarves must have been carrying empty rock out of the mines in special bags. We should give them an idea of how to improve the mines. On the other hand, they can take out the empty rock with the help of small horses. The tunnel was wide, a few steps wide. But the tunnel was only slightly taller than a man. Dan could reach the ceiling with a torch.

When he noticed another monster, he would throw the torch to the ground and quickly kill the enemy.

Then he met a spider. The spider was big, dark gray, it was barely visible against the rocks. Pussy helped him, she loudly and threateningly meowed and an image appeared in his head, which he immediately recognized.

Spider!

Dan stopped and got ready for battle. He had no idea of the local spiders' abilities.

Suddenly, the system pleased him with a message:

*

Underground Spider

Type: normal

Level: 11

Life: 6000

Damage 700-1100

Several species of giant spiders live in dungeons. The forces of Evil have changed them, and now many of the spiders are actively seeking to feed on humans. These creatures are very poisonous and tend to have a lethal bite. Despite their defense, they often run when they are attacked, starting to use the spider web to slow down the enemy.

Attention! Spiders recover 50% faster than ordinary monsters.

*

Great news! It worked! 'Cognition of Evil'! The Inquisitor smiled. You can not escape from me, and the threat of a deadly poisonous bite is not afraid of him. Nick bought a good stock of antibodies and shared them with everyone.

'Autodafe'. And Dan smiled again. The skill effect was a good illumination of the battlefield. In the dark of the dungeons, he could use it.

The spider snarled his chew and crawled to the Inquisitor. But the man was not standing still. Three strokes, maybe two strokes are enough.

He hit the spider's head, took a sideways step and struck a second blow.

The spider squealed loudly and tried to jump away from the enemy, but it only made him worse. The Inquisitor caught up with the victim with one jump and finished with the last fatal blow.

Dan stopped and listened carefully. But no monsters were in a hurry to attack.

The trophies made him happy. Even without any animal-cutting skills, he got a little leather bag. The spider poison was an ingredient in alchemy. 3 silver rials and a dagger with a poisoning effect. Good prey. Three strikes and three rials in the inventory. It's a good place to live.

"If you have a wonderful ally like me on your side!"

The sword's smug voice didn't spoil the Inquisitor's mood.

300 experience is not bad, 15 more spiders and Pussy gets a new level.

And the three have continued to sweep the dungeon.

Underground, Dan was once again glad to have an assistant. The cat was good support. It noticed opponents long before they showed up. The darkness didn't stop her. Dan admired this moment of magic when he could see through his partner's eyes. When he got a picture from Pussy, he could even read information about monsters! It was amazing.

Several times he'd stop and pull out his notebook. There were signs on the walls of the dungeon. And not all the symbols were unique to him. Could it have been the gnome language? Dan was carefully and precisely drawing unknown symbols. He understood the meaning of most of the inscriptions. They were brief characteristics of the different rocks that were mined in this mine.

There was good quality iron here, there were places with copper.

The player's card was very helpful. He could navigate well in the dungeon. All the passed way was marked on his map. Dan knew what he could do later on to put the map on paper. The economy would come in handy.

He had already realized that this mine had to be cleared of monsters and then perhaps it could be used for income! They'll definitely talk to Nick and Turin about it.

He didn't know how much time he spent in the dungeon, but the monsters met often. He killed them quickly, and when the cat took the next level, Dan decided to come back.

They all missed hours!

The cursed game didn't allow them to navigate through time,

Turin said there are watches in this world. This expensive thing could only be afforded by the aristocrats. Ordinary residents were guided by the sun, which was barely visible behind the eternal canopy of clouds.

Dan was coming home and thought that soon he would miss the presence of new associates. He would look forward to their return from the city.

They'll bring him the watch!