The Gene of the Ancients (Rogue Merchant Book #2): LitRPG Series by Roman Prokofiev (top books to read TXT) 📕

If not for him, I would have spent hours rummaging through the catalog without the slightest inkling that I could get something not listed there. That option was glossed over — after all, those items’ abilities were way too powerful, sometimes bordering on cheat-level.

“The Soulbinding Stone,” I said.

For a few seconds, Akiru grew silent, as if contacting someone.

“I sent the request. Unfortunately, currently, we don’t have this item available. We can buy it for you at the auction, but that takes time. Would you like to wait a few days?”

“Yes, of course. By all means.”

“All right. One more thing, Oleg,” Akiru said, smiling sweetly. “One of my colleagues would like to talk to you. Do you mind sparing him a few minutes?”

I was alarmed. Interesting... Was that one of Lana’s underlings, who wanted to discuss the commercial? But I thought that this business had been over and done with. Or...

A man materialized next to us. He was Japanese, short of stature, and thin, resembling a teenager. Still, he was my age. He had short black hair and trendy “invisible” glasses.

“My name is Yoshito Yamato,” he said, shaking my hand. He had a very firm grip. “You may call me just Yoshito.”

“Ohayo, Yoshito. My name’s Oleg. Yo-ro-shi-ku.”

The Japanese nodded in respect and smiled, welcoming my pathetic attempts to observe the traditions of his people.

“I’ll leave you to it,” Akiru said with another smile. “Oleg, I am always available to assist you. I’ll be happy to help. Goodbye!”

She disappeared, leaving the two of us together. Yoshito leaned against the marble railing and stared me right in the eyes. He seemed exhausted as if he was sick or never got enough sleep.

“Oleg, I’m from the developers’ team.” The admin didn’t waste any time. “We have questions about your sword. Could you help us?”

I did my best to look unfazed and keep my emotions to myself, even if my heart almost jumped out of my chest. Had the admins got to the bottom of things? Had I been discovered? Nope, unlikely. If that had happened, I would be talking to security goons, not to a developer inside the VR world. Cool down, Cat. Keep your face straight.

“Well, I could try. If you promise not to block my account anymore.”

“It was a mistake. I apologize once again,” said the Japanese, his expression inscrutable. “We have taken care of it. I trust you received a fitting compensation?”

“Yes, thank you. So what’s the issue?”

“Your sword. You see, it is a legacy item from the old developer team. Currently, we are trying to figure out the purpose of these items. There are seven of them, and two have turned up, both times causing unpredictable changes in the game mechanics.”

“Well, I don’t think I can help you with that. I don’t know much about it myself.”

“Tell me about the properties of the sword. Could you show me a screenshot of the properties?”

I paused to think and arrived at a decision. I would use the favorite method of our politicians: half-truth. Ninety percent truth, ten percent lie, the best option.

“I’d love to, but the sword is pretty weird,” I said, shrugging. “All affixes are hidden. I don’t know how they work. I tried identifying it, but it’s no use. They all trigger randomly — True Fire damage, the Fiery Lightning, Soul Eater. I got a quest from the Magister of the Order — “

“Yes, we know that,” Yamato interrupted me. “By the way, what about the Magister? Did he complete your quest? Give you another one?”

“Those are all interesting questions! I’m sorry, but aren’t you an admin? You must see it yourself,” I tried to showcase my surprise. “Look at the logs, for God’s sake.”

“It’s not that simple,” Yoshito replied. “Oleg, we suspect that your sword and other items of the Seven are used to implement some kind of hidden global scenario that we inherited from the previous developers. Please, keep us in the loop.”

“All right. Anything else?”

“I have to warn you, your sword is a pretty unpleasant thing. I would say it’s imbalanced, but there’s balance, and then there’s Balance. In Sphere, your sword broke a universal law. Its appearance caused a faction war in Dorsa. If you continue using it to, say, farm elite dungeons, it won’t end well, if you catch my drift.”

“I don’t. Are you suggesting I keep it under lock and key?”

“No, Oleg. It’s your in-game property that you’ve acquired without violating the User Agreement. We have no right to tell you how to use it. Just remember what it might lead to. For instance, reckless abuse of Soul Eaters caused one of the worlds to be completely destroyed. It’s gone, do you get it? There were other precedents, too.”

The Japanese was perfectly polite, but his manners gave him away. He was clearly a boss, seeing as how accustomed he was to pressuring others. A hard man who wasn’t used to taking no for an answer. Yoshito Yamato? I would have to browse the Net for information about his standing in the Sphere of Worlds corp. Still, it looked like they didn’t have any real leverage against me. All he could do was ask, and that frustrated the hell out of him. OK. Time to say goodbye; it seemed unlikely that I would be able to learn anything else there.

“I hear you. Sorry, but I really need to log off.”

“Thank you for listening to me, Oleg. Have a nice day. Think about my words.”

* * *

 

After taking the recipe and activating the Diamond subscription, like a dutiful student, I visited the Magister — to report and get the latest instructions.

“Two things, HotCat!” Balabanov told me in the end.

“The first is your sword. Don’t push your luck, it’s not omnipotent. It’s just a Key endowed with certain properties to