Настучать в бубен / Hit the tambourine: Глава 2

Chapter 2

Camrad_RIP 07.03.24 в 12:40

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Camrad_RIP 07.03.24 в 13:29

It had been almost two weeks, during which Stepan had managed to take three hundred levels, confirm the status of the archmage, gather a harem of two hundred and thirty vacancies, and sing Vysotsky at the royal ball. All right, seriously, the novice shaman for this time has become quite adept at working with his class, closely approaching the second level, working without rest. A clear understanding that he needed a fat reserve if he wanted to survive the probable winter and to train, made him silently get up and do, calls, think, and, of course, improvise. Every day, from the very morning, Stepan thanked Saint Random for having had the sense to choose among the list of knowledge his hermit-survivalist, accustomed to physical labor too, otherwise it would have been sad.

Camrad_RIP 07.03.24 в 19:43

The regular call brought experience, little by little, a little at a time, but bringing him to a new level and a new talent that would make him even a little stronger and better. And no blood, overpowering, mortal risk, and pathos victories from the last forces, though excessive, as to his taste, amount of simple and understandable hard work. And how much of that labor would have been, if it weren't for the magic gift and the system that helped him learn it incredibly quickly! Much, much more.

Camrad_RIP 08.03.24 в 06:30

A call to bind to the house a rather strong watchful spirit, which could drive away snakes, mosquitoes, ticks, and other bites. At the same time, warning of the approach of something big, especially if it cannot be driven away. One more call, which bound that very Bengal fire with a pact, putting it in a stone sprinkled with Stepan's blood, which could instantly glow, as burning kindling, and simply heat, or even boil the water, in which the stone is thrown (although the spirit liked it less, still a firebrand, it is unpleasant to him such a thing even for a fee). A small amulet made of a pebble picked up by a brook, which sanitizes the water from this brook and purifies it from all sorts of crap, for the sake of which I had to cut a bird caught in a snare over this piece of smoothly washed pebbles: the spirit was aquatic, but dark and ate impure things from any liquid. A few feathers were glued with pine resin, which hid the human odor from the beast. Another pebble, not from the brook, but dug out of the ground, so as not to rub the delicate city feet when walking in fantasy shoes.

Camrad_RIP 30.03.24 в 18:42

And this was only that which was connected with a permanent stay in work, in fact a contract, while there were also regularly summoned spirits, luring prey into a snare, looking for birds' and snakes' nests, helping to clean bloodstains from clothes, preventing food from spoiling, and much, much more. Shamanism turned out to be surprisingly versatile, allowing one to find a worker for any labor. All this time Stepan diligently observed the safety technique put into his head. If there was even the slightest chance to lure something dangerous or to run into a strong spirit that would decide to offend the shaman he did not run into it. The time for serious calls, where with the spirits, strong and suitable for real combat, he should if not engage in combat, then keep in mind the risk of such a conflict, will still come, as he sorted out his affairs.

Camrad_RIP 08.03.24 в 06:33

The food supply grew full, meat was dried under the supervision of five spirits, which dried it, taking a part of the sacrificial energy from that meat, root crops were stored, among which there were some very tasty ones, fruits and berries were dried. There were also some special herbs, which the invested experience either recognized, or the trainee simply sensed magic in them, as well as all sorts of poisonous stuff, including hallucinogenic mushrooms (Stepan didn't want to become a mushroom elf, but did anyone really believe that it was just an idle joke about shamans and mushrooms? ) and some particularly poisonous herb that had to be boiled first, and a drop of the concentrate of that decoction would easily kill five people if it got into the stomach or on the mucous membranes.

Camrad_RIP 30.03.24 в 18:52

For defense, he also summoned a few spirits on one-time contracts that could strike fear and terror into wild beasts or intelligent creatures unprotected from magic. He always carried a knife and axe on his belt. The hermit's knowledge didn't give him a warrior's knack, but there was some base of cold weaponry there too, the level of a militiaman at most, not a professional guardian or soldier. However, he didn't doubt the hardness of his hand. Luckily, there were no occasions to test the skill in practice. The beasts passed by his house, and even a couple of times the wolf tracks he'd encountered didn't wrap up at all, which was good. Experience, but a wolf pack was still dangerous, even if he didn't make allowance for the magical world, or what kind of werewolves could the local woolly wolves grow into?

Camrad_RIP 30.03.24 в 18:56

Stepan even planted a small vegetable garden, where he planted the most valuable of the plants he had found, and spent two full reserves to cover the vegetable garden with ritual blanks for semi-totems, to fill the resulting circle-storage with power and to summon a spirit, which provided the vegetable garden with increased fertility and rooting of transplanted herbs. The thought that now he could work as a florist or a gardener without any magic due to his survival skills alone amused the lad, who was tired of the ritual. Gradually it became easier for him to call near the house and in the nearby woods, even if he didn't make any special moves towards creating his place of power here, but it was the shaman's practice that they became stronger the longer they strengthened their power over spirits and territory. He had no intention of becoming a local, gaining the additional power of a house but losing even more if he left it, but it was one thing to strengthen one's connection to a place, and another thing to become completely attached to it. Any reasonable spirit lord does the former, even apprentices, and he didn't want the latter, wanting to get out to the people sooner or later.

Camrad_RIP 30.03.24 в 18:59

The level increase happened without any pathos, right during the routine procedure of collecting trapped animals, which he conducted every day. To avoid the risk of getting lost in the process, the Earthman had gotten into the habit of summoning a spirit guide for a one-time contract, who not only lived in the spiritual plane but also preferred to stay in the very section of it, which was responsible for the immediate area. He told at once where the traps were full of prey, where they were broken by the very prey, and where they were just untouched - for the heart of one of the caught animals. Actually, after the completion of the call, the experience bar froze on the very edge of the edge and jumped over, having pleased the isekai with a new system message.

Camrad_RIP 30.03.24 в 19:02

Level up!

Camrad_RIP 08.03.24 в 07:01

Received one free talent point!

Camrad_RIP 08.03.24 в 07:01

"Grats me, happy level-up, comrades." Without unnecessary emotions and noise, so as not to scare half the forest and the other half not to inform about his presence nearby, he congratulated himself and went on his way. "Today I'll roast rabbit with pepper root and celebrate."

Camrad_RIP 30.03.24 в 19:05

Stepan didn't want to increase his knowledge right away. He remembered how he had been knocked out last time, so now he'd better wait for the evening, lie down in bed, and look for a suitable skill or property before going to bed. Maybe not this evening, having made a choice, first flipping through all the catalogs and thinking it over, and only then making a decision. He didn't think about saving talent points for the future. He wasn't an idiot, because his survival depended on it, but it might be too rash a decision to just pick and choose. He was just about to resume his leisurely walk along the county paths when the system flashed again with a message and a cold sweat ran down his back: another greeting from the same lady, again unheard words that made him feel unnatural lust, and another gift that he could have done without. Already expecting some useless bullshit in the style of the same hexes, Stepan was pleasantly surprised to receive quite a necessary meta-skill, which he had almost chosen earlier.

Camrad_RIP 30.03.24 в 19:10

Received: "system assignments I".

Camrad_RIP 08.03.24 в 07:02

The acquired talent is added to the overall Player status.

Camrad_RIP 08.03.24 в 07:02

This has already inspired and raised the mood, because the task, of course, can become dangerous or impossible, but there are no penalties for failure to take or fulfill the quest. He looked separately in the reference. Just if you decline a quest, you won't get a new one for a week, and if you fail to complete it, you'll get two weeks without updates, but if you do, the system will offer you a new quest three days later. Smiling an almost satisfied smile, Stepan quickly ran around the area, sometimes switching to real running, collected the loot, cut out the heart of a chipmunk (or something similar), throwing it in the direction of the hanging nearby spirit, which became visible for a moment, having previously soaked that heart with a piece of his reserve, just from a good mood.

Camrad_RIP 31.03.24 в 09:45

The rest of the work, which could be done quickly, he performed quickly, sitting in the shade near the wall of the house, pressing the recently appeared sign with the activation of the system task. And the sign squeezed in, and the task appeared, and the reward was very generous, and the task itself was not dangerous to life and health, all as lazy hitmen like. Stepan reread - well, not exactly read, more like perceived - the message ten times, then twenty, then put his face to the palm of his hand and inhaled heavily, with tearing irritation. Who would have doubted that the features of his system, customized for Stepka, would not fire now? No, it's worth admitting that the young man hadn't expected such depth of the meta-skill he'd been given, and that's why he was genuinely surprised, and to put it more bluntly, he was freaking out.

Camrad_RIP 31.03.24 в 09:47

System assignment (small): every morning for ten days to start the day with the release of semen with thoughts of the beautiful body of Liarat si Merrinal, Lord of Gifts and Giver of Gifts, faithful servant of Innelas Innelay. During each release, imagine yourself pouring into a new part of the divine body.

Camrad_RIP 30.03.24 в 20:27

Reward: one-tenth of a level scale for each release.

Camrad_RIP 30.03.24 в 20:26

In the depths of poor Stepan's soul, pride fought with wild anger at the divine lady who had sent the wrong person to the next world. Yes, he liked magic, yes, he had already begun to get used to the new realities, and even the hard daily labor in complete solitude did not cancel the true pleasure of working with real magic, which turned this work into an amazing adventure. In many ways it was not even a matter of anger or grief for the lost world of Earth, where now at least he did not have to take exams, but a simple resentment at the fact that he was not even honored with even a glance. That he'd just been given a record. No doubt, such a task would be much easier than he had expected, and the mere memory of that Big Milf was so exciting that the main problem was not to start the task without touching Stepan Junior at all. He would also like to get a new level, with such a high guarantee and without the slightest risk of skin integrity!

Camrad_RIP 31.03.24 в 09:57

It was not even his pride that won out, which he would have humbled, and not even the fear that the Autogoddess might sense such a peculiar "prayer" and realize it was not the Chosen One who was "praying" to her, but the banal understanding that he would move from the second level to the third level without such acts of self-satisfaction and self-humiliation, just continuing to do what he was doing. At first, when he was just getting settled in a new place, most of his days were consumed by attempts to provide for his everyday life and survival, and now, when the main pressure has subsided, he can call much more often, much more thoroughly. So why should he tear his heart out and suppress his flexible principles (figuratively) for the sake of something that he will take anyway, just a little later, but on his own?

Camrad_RIP 31.03.24 в 12:13

After refusing and receiving a message that he would get a new quest only in seven local days (about two hours longer than on Earth, by the way), Stepan calmed down and continued to do his business. He wanted to tell the goddess to fuck off, but the shaman's cautious mind said that the chances of being heard were not zero, and he did not intend to check the disposition of divine ladies, no matter auto or not auto. Or she would furrow her lovely eyebrows menacingly and threateningly, and then she would rearrange the ass with the face of a boorishly behaving mortal, and then he would have to live with the ass on his face.

Camrad_RIP 31.03.24 в 10:16

Characteristically, the young prodigy didn't even think about getting up to one hundred thousand five hundredth level, and then start taking revenge on all kinds of bad gods and the system in general. No, he's not a dumbass, is he? This lady, no matter how perverted she was or skillfully pretended to be, endowed him with this system. Even if he reached five-digit levels, what could he do against the owner of such power? What if she just took the system and disabled it or at least blocked it? Wiggle his eyebrows menacingly? Unless he splashes her throne with blood... or other liquids given the nature of the corset-loving woman's assignments. In general, the young man with a burning heart decided to keep his especially valuable opinion to himself, and having made a decision simply continued to work according to the plan.

Camrad_RIP 31.03.24 в 12:16

He went back to improving his talent when the sun had set, and at sunset, the shaman himself had made a few separate negotiations, paid off the reserve with those spirits who had agreed to work for him on credit, fed the strength of the guard of his house, and healed his worn-out leg. After rinsing himself in the night stream, which was not warm enough even on the hottest day, he went to bed, covered himself with a heavy and biting wool blanket, and looked at the catalog of possible choices only then. As he suspected, the indescribable variety was noticeably reduced, though not reduced to two or three choices. Most of them were either more advanced versions of existing skills or somehow related to them, but there were some completely new areas of development as well.

Camrad_RIP 31.03.24 в 12:18

It took him a long time to choose, and he made his decision the next evening, after thinking about it all day, but he chose. This choice was as utilitarian as possible, extremely clear and obvious: he simply transferred the skill "basic practice of call" to the advanced basic, closing his eyes and sinking into a trance, while years and years of distilled experience and practice were pumped into his head. There were more serious skills, a list of available rituals, spirits, contracts, agreements, and tricks that no one would tell a simple student, and the student himself could not use. There was that knowledge, which will be entrusted only to a personal and favorite pupil, and many of them even a full-fledged shaman (a la a certified adept of a classical magic school) will not disdain, many of this knowledge may be unknown to him.

Camrad_RIP 31.03.24 в 12:20

Stepan decided that he wouldn't even touch particularly juicy variants until he had also improved his skills of dialog with spirits because a too-strong and persuasive entity might have to be persuaded more tightly. Yes, he has an extremely high Spirit, as for an apprentice. He can without any knowledge, with bare talent press on contractors, taking by force where there is not enough skill, but it is still a risk. Yes, the faster way, yes, pumping will be faster. Yes, the experience will come faster, but, damn it. It is already growing at an unrealistic rate. He acquired magic less than a month ago! Why should he take risks where power can be paid for simply by time, and it's not about decades of bonded labor for a mentor with a lot of oaths afterward, but about weeks, months, maximum years to gain what others have been going to for centuries?

Camrad_RIP 31.03.24 в 12:26

Stepan loved isekai literature, he read all sorts of isekai, even frankly pornographic. Every time he looked through another "battle with victory from the last forces", he mentally asked himself a question: what happened to those heroes who were unlucky in a similar situation, who did not have enough of those last forces to win? The answer is simple - they did not write a story about them. He knew for sure, absolutely and one hundred and forty percent, that the Chosen One in this story was not him. That's why he doesn't want to make it to the point where he has to spend the very last of his strength, just like he doesn't want to defeat evil enemies in packs. He may be a pacifist. Deep down. Very deep.

Camrad_RIP 31.03.24 в 12:30

So another week passed, again opening access to system tasks. Also allowing him to accumulate a little fat, and to add a lot to the experience bar, almost catching it up to half. The increased understanding of his capabilities, and the depth of those capabilities. The free time that appeared in the assortment allowed him to confidently begin magical development, and not just survival in the wilderness with the help of shamanism. He was now calling not for work, but for himself, either replenishing the stock of contracts, tying a spirit to some stones, or simply dialoguing with these spirits. Like that guardian spirit of the brook, or at least a piece of it, really strong and the more dangerous, which he called carefully, with all due respect and pre-protecting himself. In exchange for some of his power and the partridge meat he had burned in the fire, he shared all sorts of interesting things about his part of the forest.

Camrad_RIP 31.03.24 в 12:34

For example, he managed to ask him about a large gold nugget lying under the silt down the stream, simply asking spirit if he had seen a metal similar to the one in the gold coin. He was lucky, of course, for this spirit (like all of them) thought in strange categories for him gold, river stones, and sand were all the same. He would have asked the forest master, but he was much darker in his nature, and for an attempt to meddle in his affairs he might have snapped at him, but the spirits of streams, not rivers, were often playful and complacent, and even if you made a mistake in the dialog or ritual, they would almost never attack. But Stepan still preferred not to make mistakes.

Camrad_RIP 31.03.24 в 12:36

The assignment required to conclude a dozen contracts with the spirits of air direction in a day, and in a row, and as a reward offered some microscopic increase in affinity with the air sphere and experience. Noticeably less experience than was offered for the last task, but here the memetic image "it's not much, but it's honest money" comes to mind. After accepting the assignment and postponing the work, the young man spent the entire day calling out to the wind-whirling spirits, wildly inept and windy in every sense, binding them with an agreement, and then immediately ordering them to blow away a bunch of leaves or just a sharp gust of wind to create - they are only happy to do so, and to him to complete the assignment.

Camrad_RIP 31.03.24 в 12:00

The assignment that followed the first one had to be rejected; it was about sacrificing a wolf or other predator of comparable mass, which had to be first caught, then slaughtered, and then fed its guts to the dark spirits. The experience was offered more, as well as raising affinity with the dark spheres, although also microscopic, from the ritual itself it would increase hardly more. Stepan would agree if there were wolves nearby, but to search for them all day long, with no guarantee of success, and with only a day and a half for all the preparations - the risk of failing and then sitting for three weeks without new assignments because of failure was too high. Then again, there was the risk that not just one wolf would be found, but a pack of wolves, with a leader changed by magic. Also dangerous.

Camrad_RIP 31.03.24 в 12:02

Thus, it took two and a half weeks to get to the third level, at the end of which the experience went a little slower, and not only because the experience gain decreased, although it did decrease a little, it was just a lot of work all at once. The reason for this was a rainstorm, which turned into a downpour, and a thunderstorm with a gusty wind. He had to carry all the dried meat, and dried fruits, and cover the vegetable garden from the blows of air and water elements. Then he checked it all regularly and spent his strength on it. That's how he wasted three days. But then, when everything returned to its usual course, a new message about the promotion caught up with Stepan right at the moment of his morning meditation. And the absence of an additional message from the Autogoddess with a gift made him smile.

Camrad_RIP 31.03.24 в 12:04

Level up!

Camrad_RIP 08.03.24 в 07:03

Received one free talent point!

Camrad_RIP 08.03.24 в 07:03

As planned, the second of the honestly earned talents, the young man increased the second of the most necessary skills for a shaman, bringing it to the advanced basics. It had an effect almost immediately. Communication with spirits not only became easier, but it also began to consume less time, and from that, less energy. Having the opportunity to directly push the will and more accurately transmit his plans through the call, Stepan began to carefully but confidently begin dialogues with the stronger and stronger spirits than the usual small and inferior entities, choosing to talk to those that are dangerous.

Camrad_RIP 31.03.24 в 10:06

The arsenal had expanded, and there were a few contracts that could kill with lightning and flame, but most simply attacked the aura and damaged it in the process. Whether the shamans themselves were born Malefics, which was true in many ways, or whether advanced charms, which were close to curses in essence, had an effect, or whether Stepan had awakened his grandmother's genes, but the spirits of dark orientation came to him more willingly than others. They didn't go for him directly, no, but they were much less angry and off the leash than they should have been, according to his knowledge.

Camrad_RIP 31.03.24 в 12:38

Having considered the situation, and also not wanting to go into the depths of dark magic, sincerely believing that it would be a choice of some emo-boy from ladies' fantasy or edge lord from boyish fantasy, the guy began to focus more on working with wind spirits, trying to develop affinity with the necessary sphere. Most of the rituals and calls of dark direction were quite harmless, there at most a little blood or animal some torture, but for really valuable spirits important and no less valuable payment, where quite present human sacrifice and this is just the beginning. If it was the only way to power, then it would be okay, but he has all those ways just the whole palette of the astral plane. What kind of a man would have to be to willingly choose the bloodiest, most dangerous, and despised one, just because it was a bit faster, especially while there was someone to cut?

Camrad_RIP 31.03.24 в 12:41

That's not to say that the shaman abandoned the dark paths altogether, just that he didn't plan on making it the main focus, preferring the dull but practical versatility.

Camrad_RIP 31.03.24 в 09:58

He had been a supporter of dull practicality all his life, at the expense of which he often achieved success and could consider himself almost an established man with a good job, even after barely reaching the age of eighteen. Just a lot, a lot of hard work, training, constant reading of specialized literature and willingness not to sit in one place, and to search, search, search where would be better to apply their skills. Well, and luck, of course, because there are a lot of people just like him, hard-working and dull, who have achieved nothing because of the lack of luck, all over the world, and more and more every year.

Camrad_RIP 31.03.24 в 09:58

Stepan opened the new assignment with a slight shudder, anticipating another emotional swing, and when he opened it he wanted to check himself for latent talents of a prophet or at least a fortune-teller because he had guessed. The next task was the second of those that carried the ineffable style of the very lady who would soon bore him worse than Yanin, damn him with all his shamanic potential. And, like the previous assignment, it caused a mixture of surprise, bewilderment, and the crunch of patterns breaking in his head. So much for his introduction to majestic divine entities.

Camrad_RIP 31.03.24 в 10:01

System assignment (small): for one hour, imagine the divine legs of Liarat si Merrinal, Lady of Gifts and Giver of Gifts, loyal servant of Innelas Innelay, covered in snow-white stockings and enveloped in the magical attraction of passion. At the conclusion of the hour pour out seed with the thought of covering those majestic legs with it.

Camrad_RIP 30.03.24 в 19:41

Reward: one-fourth of the level scale; a slight increase in the effectiveness of any spells; for a month you will have erotic dreams of the beautiful feet of Liarat si Merrinal, Lady of Gifts and Giver of Gifts, loyal servant of Innelas Innelay.

Camrad_RIP 30.03.24 в 19:43

Every day Stepan wants more and more to go back to Earth to find his namesake neighbor and then... No, not to beat him to a pulp, he's never been involved in bullying and doesn't plan to start, and it's a sin to feel anger at the wretched. No, just take the fat degenerate by the scruff of the neck, throw him in the bathroom, then drag him to the barber, dermatologist, stylist, speech therapist, and then kick him out on a date with a normal alive woman, threatening to burn his entire hentai collection if he embarrassed himself. He shouldn't be such an antisocial hikki. Some kind of revenge, but Stepan is a generous man, and a guy who's mired in hentai needs to be rescued, it seems, and the neighbors. Maybe, if he had done that, the Autogoddess would have found another elevator and another Chosen One, and Stepan himself would have passed the exam to the Vicar of Satan in one particular educational institution, i.e. Rodislav Gastoldovich, and would have enjoyed his vacation in peace.

Camrad_RIP 30.03.24 в 19:46

This time it was even easier to refuse because the reward was a bit more modest, he didn't need the charms anyway, and the third part of the reward would make him spend a lot of time on his morning laundry. Having given up the task, the guy yawned and went on with his development. The minor mishap with the task was perceived as an unfortunate misunderstanding rather than any trouble. In the name of the very answering machine, which so persistently sends him these tasks, that all his problems should be limited to such a scale!

Camrad_RIP 30.03.24 в 19:47

Little by little, very interesting contracts were found among the contracts, both after sorting through the available knowledge and thanks to a free search.

Camrad_RIP 08.03.24 в 07:14

The ability to look through the eyes of a flying bird, even if badly and briefly, and expensive to spend all the time, will definitely not be superfluous because such a bird can fly away for many kilometers, unlike observer spirits deprived of a material body (weak spirits, because the strong and without a body can look at the other side of the world). As well as called only on the case of the eater of gangrenous human (and only human) flesh, which may well devour all the contagion from the body, while not damaging the still healthy body and even blood cleansing. But if the kidneys are damaged, then he will eat them, and the person will die in agony, so you need to check before the call. The spirit itself did not tell him this directly, he could hardly understand the difference between dead muscle tissue or dead kidneys from necrosis, so he had to think up most of the vague and obscure images himself.

Camrad_RIP 08.03.24 в 07:18

Some spirits were also interesting, cheap to summon, and easy to control, but it was not clear how to use them at all. Like the set of three air spirits, which were not far from the smallest of their brethren that Stepan had summoned for the ten calls to the Sphere of Winds. They had no strength or power but they could create laughter, laughter, and only one single recording. An attempt to talk to them about new sounds or recording on a spiritual recorder did not meet with understanding. Stupid bastards simply did not understand how it is possible to produce any other sound that is not their favorite laughter.

Camrad_RIP 18.03.24 в 08:53

Experimenting Stepan spent the whole evening scaring the small animals by chasing the three around the house, occasionally feeding them with a drop of reserve and allowing them to make laughter in the surroundings. Childish and innocent, but at the same time very ominous due to some irregularity in the rhythm, laughter with bells, female and playful, but also ominous, giggles, as well as bassy and frankly creepy hoarse laughter of a smoky throat. The shaman even tried to find out from whom the latter had picked up this laughter, but to no avail: it was just a spirit that had once appeared in reality for a few minutes and stayed near the laughing man. It liked the experience of being in the material plane so much that it memorized the sound and was now ready to play it over and over if the power was given. In this, it might be said, the spirit found the meaning of existence that if this entity had any intelligence at all, but it had the intelligence of a cockroach, or, at the very least, that of a field mouse.

Camrad_RIP 18.03.24 в 08:55

But one more permanent contract and the spirits are almost continuously circling near the hut or sitting in an improvised house for the spirit, made of a totem carved from a piece of special wood. He carved it well, by the way, just like a miniature head from Easter Island, only wooden.

Camrad_RIP 30.03.24 в 19:40