Mikhail Atamanov dark herbalist 3. Dark herbalist. Save your wings

Mikhail Atamanov

Dark Herbalist

Tester game scenarios

Have you ever played Boundless World? - the interview began with the most uncomfortable question for me.

In the corporation’s requirements for applicants, this point was stated unambiguously: “Never played our game before.” I suspect that if I had answered differently, my interview would have ended at the very first point.

Have you played other popular online games, uh... Timur? - the middle-aged HR employee interviewing me, clearly tired at the end of the working day, finally deigned to look at my resume and read the name off the screen.

Yes, sure. For six years he was very active in the Kingdoms of Might and Magic.

Hung up... - my interlocutor didn’t seem to like the slang term; the man wrinkled his forehead with displeasure. - And what were your successes in a competitive game? What were you able to achieve, Timur?

Should I tell the truth? Or should you not give this away to a complete stranger? I decided to take a chance:

For five years I completely supported myself through the game. Not a luxury yacht and a villa on a tropical island, of course, but it was enough for bread and college tuition.

Why “of course not a yacht”? - My interlocutor suddenly laughed. - Top players of the “Boundless World” can afford more in real life than just an ocean yacht. However, as far as I know, KMM does not allow the withdrawal of game money. Do you want to say anything about this, Timur?

Still, I was mistaken, there’s no point in talking about it. All? Will they send me home now? But the interlocutor unexpectedly did not insist on an answer and asked a completely different question:

Why did you leave KMM? Although, okay, let’s skip this question of the survey, since the answer is clear - online has fallen, players have flown to the more realistic and interesting “Boundless World”, there is no longer enough money.

I just nodded silently, since there really wasn’t even anything to add. Long gone are the days when our clan gathered five and even seven thousand players in PVP - raids on foreign territory or on superbosses. Yesterday, to storm the enemy castle, we barely scraped together fifteen players, three of whom were week-old noobs. And at the same time we... took the castle! The only defender still remaining in the enemy clan, it seemed, was even glad to get rid of this burden and, wishing us a pleasant game, tried to sell us his account at the same time, since he was going to leave for the “Boundless World”.

Then I finally decided that it was time to make a living out of a dying game that couldn’t stand the competition. It was an incredible pity for the investment game project a lot of money - once, to treat my sister, I had to sell the apartment I inherited after the death of my parents, and I invested a significant part of the money in virtual land near one of the capitals of the “Kingdoms”. Then the daily online of the Kingdoms of Might and Magic was growing, the number of players was increasing every day, and the acquisition seemed to me profitable investment capital. Who could have imagined that literally two weeks after that risky purchase, the unknown company “Boundless World” would launch its game servers? And that this new company in just three years will become the largest and richest corporation on the planet, drawing terribly into its realistic world hundreds of millions of gamers from all over the world? Now the cost of my virtual real estate in the “Kingdoms” has fallen so much that it would not even justify the time spent on its implementation.

The HR employee delved into reading my resume for a couple of minutes, and then looked up at me and said with a smile:

A paladin is a human of level three hundred and ten, an archer is a drow of two hundred and seventy, a mage is a half-elf of one hundred and ninety... Not bad, not bad, of course. Timur, have you been informed that in the “Boundless World” a player can only have one character, and it is impossible to change or delete him? This is the only way to achieve the proper level of fusion and empathy in order to perceive game world as a full-fledged reality.

I just nodded silently. How could you not know... It was this feature of the “Boundless World” that confused me most from the very moment I saw an advertisement online about available vacancies for testers. The fact is that I already tried to play “Boundless World”. But this happened more than three years ago, the project was then still at the stage of open beta testing and seemed to me very, very “raw”. There was no training, no guides or game tips at that time. The drawing of the area where I ended up turned out to be only schematic; no “charming, alluring horizons and colorful, magically realistic sunsets,” as modern advertising posters say, existed at that time in the “Boundless World.”

Yes, I played for only about seven minutes - I created a barbarian of the first level, took a two-handed ax, left the nubo location and right near the village I came face to face with bats - vampires of the seventieth level. They drained me in a second, I had to wait a whole hour for resurrection at the respawn point, and therefore I spat on such an imbalance and deleted the raw, unfinished product. Now I really hoped that that unsuccessful attempt would not in any way affect my ability to work as a “game script tester,” as the vacancy offered by the corporation was officially called.

Well, Timur, gaming experience you really have it, there are no health problems, and your behavior seems quite adequate to me. “I don’t see any formal obstacles to working in our corporation,” the man smiled at me again, handed me an electronic tablet with some kind of survey questionnaire and directed me towards a small hall where testing and subsequent instruction were to take place.

I walked into the hall, took out my phone and, pretending to be photographed against the backdrop of a colorful advertising poster with a blue water dragon, sent a message:

« The interview was successful"

Almost instantly the phone vibrated barely noticeably and the answer came:

« Report initial conditions and don't rush. I'll try the forums"

And now I was sitting in a chair and on the screen of a tablet given to me by a corporate employee, I placed checkmarks in the fields, answering numerous questions about health, marital status, criminal records and bad habits. In the second part of the questionnaire, the questions turned out to be of a completely different type, clearly aimed at finding the most similar development path for the game character.

Next to me, other applicants were diligently toiling away - mostly the same young guys and girls, although there were also older and even older ones. I quickly built up an idea for myself about the assembled team. Students expelled for absenteeism and poor academic performance, laid off office workers, bankrupt brokers, hopeless gamblers, pensioners desperate to find a normal job... To summarize, around me sat losers who had not found themselves in real life - this is how I would characterize those gathered.

I did not consider myself a failure, although I was ready to agree that I fit very organically into the assembled team - I was already twenty-two years old, but had no job, no permanent girlfriend, no money, not even my own home. And it’s not even clear what I’m missing? The intelligence seems to be there, I graduated with honors from college with a degree in research chemistry. I know how to conduct a conversation, nature has not deprived me of an attractive appearance for girls, and my gymnastics classes were not in vain. I easily met girls, but for some reason all my girlfriends sooner or later left for other guys. And if they found out that I had a disabled younger sister in my care, then the moment of separation happened immediately. It was a shame, but I would never agree to trade my little sister for these painted dolls.

My sister Valeria was eleven when a hijacker trying to get away from the police crashed into the flyer driven by her father at full speed. In the collision and subsequent fall of the broken car from a thirty-meter height, the mother and father died, and the younger sister lost both legs and received multiple fractures and injuries. And although the police found my father not guilty of the accident, this did not make it any easier - in order to pay for Lerka’s treatment and other expenses, I had to sell the inherited apartment in a good area of ​​the metropolis.

For my sister, I replaced not only my parents, but also my friends, psychologists and the rest of the world. The most difficult thing was immediately after the accident - the crippled Valeria did not see the point in her existence, she more than once asked me to get her a strong sleeping pill in order to fall asleep forever. I tried my best to dissuade my sister from suicide and day after day I found new incentives for her to live. At first, walks outside were such small joys. We lived near the central park, and it was nice there. But after, due to lack of money, we were forced to move from the center of the metropolis to the outskirts, the walks stopped at the request of Lerka herself - it was unbearably painful for my sister to endure the ridicule of the neighboring children, who teased and threw stones at the crippled girl.

Did you call? - I knocked politely and walked into the wide open doors of my new boss’s office. At the same time, I slowed down for a second, reading the copper plate with the name of the owner of the office, which a worker was just screwing onto the front door:

Max Turner. Director of Special Projects

This is the fourth director in this position in a month. Indeed, a damn place. Although the new head of the special projects department did not look doomed at all and, on the contrary, demonstrated confidence, solidity and power with his whole appearance. When I appeared, he nodded meagerly and pointed to the guest chair.

By the way, this is not at all how I imagined my new boss after the night conversation with the Guardian. Then at night, based on the voice and behavior of the luminous winged figure, I assumed that the Guardian was being played by a fairly young man, almost my age. But in the immensely wide director’s chair, left over from the fat man Mark Tobius, sat a medium-sized fifty-year-old man with noticeable gray in his once dark brown hair and a huge receding hairline almost to the back of his head. I was also struck by his eyes - whitish, cold, with a very light iris. Some are not human, but rather snake or fish.

You already know my name,” Max Turner nodded towards the front door with a sign, “I know yours too.” So let's get straight to the point. Timur, what character class are you playing?

Goblin Herbalist,” I answered in surprise, not understanding such ignorance of the director.

How can he not know this?! After all, he met me in the “Boundless World”, saw my big-eared Amra with his own eyes and probably considered the race, profession and level displayed above the character! Have you really forgotten? But, as it turned out, it was not ignorance or forgetfulness that caused this question.

That's right, you have a Herbalist, not a Pirate, not a Wolf Rider or a Master of Beasts! Meanwhile, Herbal Science is the most flawed and neglected of all your skills! You haven’t even received your first specialization in it yet, although your character has already reached level forty! This is a complete disgrace! The corporation hired you to do a specific job - to show our users all the advantages of playing as the Goblin Herbalist. You are doing anything other than doing your immediate work!!!

With each new phrase, the boss kept raising his voice, and at the end of his accusatory speech he even started shouting. I tried to justify myself, smilingly reminding the director about the big hunt for my Amra and the need to constantly run away, which is why I was somewhat uninterested in collecting herbs.

But it would be better if I remained silent...

The boss was extremely sensitive to my inappropriate cheerfulness, as well as to my subordinate’s attempt to contradict him. A whole stream of reproaches and abuse, mixed with choice obscenities, poured down on me. I was accused of disrespect for elders, insubordination, boorish behavior, negligent attitude towards work and almost betraying the interests of the Boundless World corporation. Only at the very end of his angry monologue did Max Turner calm down a little and rightly remark in a more or less normal tone:

Timur, there hasn’t been a big hunt for you for several days now. But you missed several work shifts, and for ten whole hours of the last gaming session your goblin hasn’t even gained a single level in Herbal Science! And there was no character development either. You just flew for fun over the desert at night and had fun instead of working.

I really had nothing to object to those last words. Having upgraded the Royal Forest Wyvern to the point where it could support the weight of a small rider, I really forgot about everything else and just enjoyed the flight while my line of orcs dragged through the Great Desert. But besides the aimlessly lost gaming session, there were plenty of accusations. I was in shock and didn’t even know how to behave in this situation.

It's been a while since I've been so annoyed. Perhaps the last time I received such a scolding was about ten years ago from the school principal for skipping the final annual work in algebra without a good reason. Then I was really poorly prepared for an important test, and therefore decided to cheat and skip the test, citing a sharp pain in my chest.

Then I was only ten years old, and I naively assumed that they would simply let me go home, and then I could write this test in a day or two, having already learned examples from my classmates and found the correct answers to them in a calm home environment. However, everything went wrong - my clumsy attempt at simulation was quickly discovered by the ambulance doctors who arrived, and instead of getting maximum scores for the test, I received a call to the angry school principal...

But then, ten years ago, I at least guessed in advance that the school principal would not say anything good to me, and I was mentally prepared for a stream of harsh emotional phrases. Now the new director of special projects of the Boundless World corporation took me by surprise with his overly emotional criticism. I didn’t know how to behave in this situation - whether to show my boss submission and agreement with his accusations. Or, on the contrary, express to this boor’s face everything that I think about such methods of communication with subordinates and write a letter of resignation right there in the office.

In the end, life does not revolve around the Boundless World corporation alone. I'll find another job with more adequate management. And the half a million credits I earned on a big hunt allowed me to look into the future with optimism and not worry about being fired. But I still did not rush into such an irreversible decision. The boss had already spoken out, let off steam and became more adequate, and he actually said the right things.

In addition, I noticed that the boss looked tired and did not get enough sleep, and apparently this was where all the roots of his excessive irritability came from. Surely Max Turner today received an emotional “whipping” from his superiors to give him the proper zeal in his new place and therefore broadcast his anger to his subordinates.

However, I still expected a completely different assessment of my game. After all, Amra kept the beautiful flying mount, acquired a unique mythical dog for the Gray Pack, escaped from a big chase and generally acted in an interesting and non-trivial way, since my videos were a huge success among the audience. Taking advantage of a pause in the director’s flow of phrases, I reminded him of my successes.

However, the authorities had a completely different point of view on this matter:

Timur, I don’t see any merit of yours in this sudden popularity. You just got lucky once with getting a unique forest wyvern. I don’t know all the details of what happened, but I heard rumors that not everything was clean with that quest that made you famous, and the director of special projects was removed precisely because of that murky story. And then you just went with the flow, and the popularity of your videos among viewers was caused not at all by your brilliant acting, but by the banal interest of the players in the valuable trophy of a great hunt. Soon your fleeting glory will pass, and a bare remnant will remain - a wretched Goblin Herbalist who has not revealed his professional skills at all.

I wanted to object and even opened my mouth, intending to speak out, but still remained silent and lowered my head. Perhaps, in this case, I was ready to agree with the director. Max Turner continued:

If you were an ordinary player, no one would say a word to you about poor skill leveling. But you are an employee of the Boundless World corporation, and everyone knows about it! You must serve as an example for others, show the advantages of playing as a Herbalist, reveal the potential of this path and, at a minimum, not be inferior to other colleagues in the profession. Now the situation is simply terrible. For level forty herbalist players, the average Herbalism skill level is approximately forty-two to forty-three. You only have the fifteenth... This, dare I say it, is a disgrace for an employee of the game developer corporation. How long does it take you to correct the backlog? Is a week enough?

Fantastic novel by Mikhail Atamanov “Dark Herbalist. Save Your Wings" continues the story of the adventures of Timur, who simultaneously lives in reality and in virtual space. The writer develops storyline, reading becomes more and more interesting. Interesting moves and unusual techniques have been added here. The author will take readers on a sea voyage, which will bring a wave of new impressions. The book combines the game world and real life, descriptions of the main character’s work, the structure of the game and leveling up his character within it.

It would seem that Timur’s life is wonderful - he does what he loves and gets good money for it. All his life he dreamed of being a tester for a popular network game, and now is also its player at the same time. In the game, he is a goblin herbalist named Amra. He started, of course, small. But now he is not some ordinary hero, he is skillful and talented and knows well how to use cunning in the fight against an enemy who is many times superior in strength. He noticeably stands out from others, seems too successful and lucky. And this is not always to his advantage. But Amra knows how to decide complex tasks, find non-standard solutions even in the most confusing situations and knows who to turn to for help if needed.

The work was published in 2017 by Eksmo Publishing House. The book is part of the "LitRPG" series. On our website you can download the book "Dark Herbalist. Save Your Wings" in fb2, rtf, epub, pdf, txt format or read online. The book's rating is 3.57 out of 5. Here, before reading, you can also turn to reviews from readers who are already familiar with the book and find out their opinion. In our partner's online store you can buy and read the book in paper form.

What is it like for the little flop-eared Goblin Herbalist to play the role of the Dark Lord, the main antagonist for hundreds of millions of players of the “Boundless World”? What is it like to find yourself in the role of the leader of cannibal giants, cyclops, wights and other terrible creatures who don’t care about their little, humble ruler?

Our hero did not want such an unenviable fate, but there is no turning back, we have to pull the burden and live up to the role of the terrible leader of countless hordes threatening the entire “Endless World”. But as the game progresses, our hero understands more and more clearly that the world is much more complicated than it seems at first glance, and he is just a pawn in someone else’s game. And a lot depends on whether he will be able to understand everything that is happening in the short time allotted. Even your own life.

Excerpt

— I wonder, big-eared, why someone decides for you which provinces the Dark Lord should attack? - Mavka asked a completely logical question, but I just shrugged my shoulders, since I myself still had no idea how my army was controlled.
Behind the tall gates there was a long corridor leading to the interior of the gloomy castle. Somewhere to the right and left of the main passage there were branches ending in locked doors; on our way we also encountered spiral staircases going somewhere into the dark depths of the dungeons. There were no windows, no lamps, or other sources of illumination, so I even had to activate Night Vision in order to at least not bump into the walls of my new home. Fortunately, the forest nymph soon activated a magical lamp above her, and walking became easier.
— It’s a little gloomy here. And it’s deserted - there are no paintings on the walls, no sculptures, no knightly armor arranged,” expressed the general opinion of Shrek’s Illegitimate Son, looking at the boring, monotonous passages with a sour expression on his face. — This is not at all how I imagined medieval castles.
“Yes, the interior definitely needs to be changed,” I agreed with my friend, skeptically examining the cold bare stone of the walls and the damp, sometimes moldy floor. — In dark corridors, at least torches on the walls would not hurt, but in the halls it is better to hang normal chandeliers with hundreds of candles. You will need to look at the Boundless World forum to see how this is done. There should be a detailed manual for arranging castles in the game.
- Don’t bother yourself with such nonsense, brother! You now have thousands of subordinates who need to be occupied with something so that they do not suffer from idleness and do not squabble among themselves. So instruct them to put their lord’s castle in order. By the way, it looks like we have arrived...
The corridor really ended with tall metal doors made of bronze darkened by time. Unlike all the previous doors we had seen, this one was not locked. With a disgusting creak, the heavy doors gave in to pressure, and we entered the huge throne room. Here, too, it turned out to be a bit empty and damp, but there was at least a source of illumination - next to the truly cyclopean size of the black throne designed for a giant, a smooth crystal ball mounted on a massive bronze tripod with a meter in diameter shone brightly. All three of us came closer, as if spellbound, looking at this unprecedented miracle.
Eye of the Dark Lord (a tool for controlling subjects).
The surface of the magic ball displayed the area in front of my palace. I saw the troops of minotaurs, rugarou and other subjects still lined up in a square. But the perfectly even ranks of fighters were no longer there - the wild-looking monsters were tired of standing still and began to scatter, some of them completely put down their weapons and sat down on the paving stones of the square. The commanders were still trying to maintain the discipline of the savage army, but they were doing it worse and worse.
I looked at my army as if from a bird's eye view, and therefore the figures of my subjects were too small. Then, with the movement of my fingers, as if stretching the image on a tablet, I tried to zoom in on the picture and even shuddered when it happened, and from the crystal ball the face of a vile zombie, disfigured by decay, stared at me almost point-blank.
Quickly moving the disgusting picture, I suddenly saw Princess Chaini-Shu surrounded by other rugarou. The last representative of the line of rulers of the White Lily clan bent down and, carefully holding a wooden ladle of water with her clawed paws, gave water to the still unrecovered regent Uvari-Dor-Shu, who was lying on a stretcher. That brutal duel with me was very difficult for the druid rugar; the wounds inflicted by the wolf’s claws and fangs healed extremely slowly. On the druid’s body one could see fresh, barely healed scars, but the bones broken in many places had not yet healed, which did not yet allow the regent to walk.
I wonder, is it possible to communicate with your subjects through this ball? I carefully touched the image of the furry princess and said:
- Chiney-Shoo, I need you in the castle now!
The big-eared girl, looking like a sweet domestic dog, shuddered in surprise and dropped the carved wooden ladle, splashing water on both the wounded druid and everyone around her. I also saw how the rugaru and the rest of the fighters sitting on the stones suddenly jumped up and hurried to take their places in the ranks again. It seems that I slightly miscalculated the volume of my voice, and the command of the Dark Lord was heard not only by Chiney-Shu, but also by all the fighters in the square. Nothing, the main thing is that they heard. I managed to communicate with my subjects through the Eye of the Dark Lord!