World of Karik: A Game of Villains 76 I Know That You…

In fact, I knew who I wanted to take along on a reconnaissance. None of our people were innocent, but there were some that I couldn't trust at all. And there were those that I thought I could rely on. Fortunately, I could now check all of that.

If I had to decide who to go with based only on the available information... Innokenty could be of help with his Iron Fists, despite our complicated relationship. Unfortunately, he was useless now. I couldn't, and didn't trust Semyon, from the beginning, which why I didn't want him to be a part of the campaign. His twisted nature could prove to be dangerous. I would definitely recruit Olga. She was calm, judicious and we had a heart-to-heart conversation back then. In the end, she collected herbs for me without objection. To be honest, if I were her, I would have already rebelled. Like Dasha did. What should I do with her? She was a nasty girl, but also a good archer. I would think about her candidature later.

I hardly knew the guys from Vlada's detachment. I was still mixing up Paul and Stas. Nikolai was too old, so we didn't have common interests. Age wasn't the best parameter to follow when choosing fighters, but I preferred people with whom I could have a common ground. Nikolai was always silent, so it was hard to imagine what was on his mind. Ambidextrous Cyril seemed to be a good option, but his malicious nature didn't inspire confidence. Yeah, I was suddenly an experienced HR specialist. Everyone here was a murderer, even if they didn't want to be one. Some of them had killed a dozen people, and I was using words like "twisted" and "old". It was really easy to get used to the circumstances.

Petrovich didn't let me pick the blacksmith, which was a bit annoying as he was a good guy, and it was not surprising that the leader appreciated him. I could understand his decision, though. The old man was about to send me into the unknown, from which I may not come back. Being a competent leader, he couldn't deprive himself of support of the powerful members. That's why he couldn't risk losing the redhead who knew a lot about this world. He was also reliable, unlike Boris, who was the first to give up when we attacked their detachment. I didn't take the girls into account as they could do nothing else but laugh and giggle; except for Lena, she could be useful.

All these thoughts were based purely on my guesses, of course.

And here comes my first victim.

"Sergey!" I called the guy who I had barely spoken to before.

He jumped in surprise as if I had scared him.

"Don't be afraid," I winced. "You're good at handling a crossbow, aren't you?"

I was a real Captain Obvious, asking a question I already knew the answer to. I just wanted to have a talk with him and see his reaction.

"I am," the guy shyly replied. "It's my specialty. I would like to master it..."

"Don't belittle yourself," I interrupted. "You must be good at hunting. Better than others."

He got braver and lifted his gaze. While the crossbowman was telling me about his skills, I was attentively reading his data.

Sergey Nosov

Level 10
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Age: 43 days

Skill: ranged combat (crossbow)

Additional skill: Accurate Shot

Vulnerability: Heavy armor reduces the main skill's effectiveness.

There it was. Their vulnerabilities were added to other characteristics. This would come very useful when fighting enemies and make coming up with tactics much easier. I will take into account Sergey's abilities. I politely said that I was busy and moved on, interrupting his long story and leaving him guessing what I actually wanted from him.

Despite the fact that I already knew who I definitely wouldn't take with me, I had to check everybody. Getting information was more important than the campaign. Boris, who was specialized in wielding a mace, had an ability called Rush Attack, and a vulnerability Reduced Vision Radius. In fact, the guy was almost blind when using his hurricane attack. Although he could break through a strong defense, he was open to blows.

Dasha had Instant Reaction that allowed her to dodge strong, but inaccurate blows. However, she paid for that with increased damage as her endurance was reduced in favor of dexterity. Almost all of the descriptions so far were only about combat skills, so I was disappointed. I hoped that I would discover a couple of other people's secrets.

Then I came across Olga. As a long-range fighter, she could use the so-called Archer Pose. From the short description of the skill I got that our business lady shot more accurately and caused more damage when sniping although she was nearly useless using any other weapon. The system read, "Using a non-primary weapon reduces the effectiveness of the attack by 50%."

Nikolai, a man over forty years old, who obviously used to listen to country music in his former life, could fall into a sort of berserk mode and deal monstrous damage. The skill was called Blind Rage, but I liked "berserk" better. In fact, his vulnerability was quite predictable: a great reduction in speed and a decrease in health points. As they say, the bigger they are, the harder they fall. It looked menacing, but he couldn't cause a lot of damage without special abilities, but he could try raising his dexterity and combo attacks accordingly.

Chapter end