When Konrad came to his senses, twelve Stalkers celebrated around a huge campfire.
Including the Wolves' leader. His friend, Dmitry. Walther from the rail depot, and—
Only the spirits knew who else.
All gathered in the Garbage.
Shit. That meant he must have had a terminal radiation sickness by now, but—
"Look who's awake," Yuri hollered, shoving a bottle in his face. "The Hero of Garbage is back."
Who the what now?!
"That ain't the most flattering title to give," Konrad complained, rubbing his eyes.
But, well, if he thought about it, being the Duke of Halaima wasn't that much different, either.
What exactly did he do to deserve this one, though?
"Hey. Nope. No more booze for him," Dmitry rushed in to shield him with his body, arms held out wide and fierce. "That bottle of vodka was too much already. He can't hold his liquor."
"One bottle?" Konrad muttered. "Come on, I only took one sip."
So why exactly was his head trying to split apart?
The sky was dark, and he could see the stars.
His gear was in a neat pile at his feet, and everyone seemed to be having a blast.
"How long was I out anyway?" Konrad asked, trying to orient himself.
"Oh? Only about two hours," Yuri claimed, taking a long sip of the booze. "But I'm willing to bet you don't remember much from before that, either. Hahahe. No sober man is that brave."
The Captain rolled his eyes, pushing him away.
"If you mean reckless and suicidal, I agree. But pal, you sure had some crazy luck out there."
Reckless? Luck?
All Konrad remembered was drinking a bit and falling on his face.
But now that it came to that, he was almost too afraid to ask.
"W-what did I do, then?"
Yuri, the tinier he was, the louder his holler sounded.
"Oh boy, you performed one miracle after the other," he yelled, slamming Konrad in the back.
Shit. Did he oust himself as a sorcerer from another world again?!
He swore never to drink. Ever. Not one sip.
Even if his mana pool seemed to be full for some reason.
But that meant he couldn't have cast any spells, right? At least, not serious ones. He shot a pleading glance at Dmitry, and even the Captain seemed to struggle holding back a laugh.
"Where do I even start?" he asked, scratching his stubble.
The story that unfolded was nothing short of insane—at least from their points of view.
But as far as Konrad could piece the puzzle together, his afternoon went as follows.
First, after he fell on his face, he jumped up and sprinted towards the farthest garbage pile. Yuri's men tried to stop him, but they couldn't catch up before he returned with a Bubble.
A freaking Bubble, right off the bat.
And Konrad wasn't done yet.
He took a swig from the vodka and climbed another hill at random, bringing down a Crystal.
This repeated three more times until he bagged three Sponges as well, and emptied the bottle.
"That's when you pointed at the back of the valley and said, 'There's another artifact, let me get it.' From the freaking cluster of Wortex anomalies. And you came back with a Stone Blood."
That was the lowest-tier version of the healing artifacts.
But it was still healing. And he got one?!
"Then, you had a great idea," Yuri added, his eyes already clouded from the booze. "Said you left twelve dog corpses before the Garbage, and that we should throw them into the anomalies."
"Oh no," Konrad massaged his temples, hoping he'd wake from this nonsense soon.
But as impossible as it sounded, he was already awake.
"You helped us chase off the bandits from the checkpoint, carried over the carcasses, and—"
In the end, those volatile anomalies shredded ten of the corpses, but two remained inside.
Over time, they became invisible, which meant they'd become artifacts, too.
How did Konrad organize all that, while so drunk he couldn't remember anything?!
"You said we should throw the bandits in as well, haha," the leader noted. "But the guys at the rail depot had already cremated their bodies, so, hah, tough luck there."
"Ugh, thank fuck," Konrad moaned, ready to throw up again. "And then?"
Dmitry shrugged, appearing to be somewhat under the influence, too.
"Then, you said we have to wait a few hours for the artifacts to mature, and passed out."
So he didn't cast any spell to blow his cover. What a huge relief.
But the Captain's tone was a bit annoyed.
"So? When are you going to give me that Crystal?" he asked, his feet tapping an impatient rhythm on the ground. "And you said you'd sell the Sponges to these guys, too."
"Um, sure," Konrad muttered, even if he didn't remember. "You mean they're still on me?"
Tapping himself down, he did find all five anti-rad artifacts under his jacket.
And they were so cold, he didn't know how he hadn't frozen to death yet.
"Yeah. Cuz' you muttered something 'bout helping to recharge," Dmitry noted. "And then, started climbing another pile of garbage without searching it or anything."
Oh.
So that's how he recharged his mana?!
That was odd, but also genius.
Following his own logic, it was obvious now.
He piled up so many artifacts that they sucked away more radiation than what was already there. In a sense, he opened a tear in the fabric of the Zone, and through that—
Mana poured into his vast pool.
Reaching out towards his sword—hidden in the guitar case—the blade was overflowing, too.
Konrad always tried to be productive, but man.
Being drunk made him a hundred times better at it.
"Anyway, yeah," Yuri butted in. "We won't take those for free. You'll get a nice, looted detector. My personal secure container. Some cash. And I'll upload every secret pass to your PDA, too."
"Wow, yeah," Konrad muttered, taken aback. "I won't say no to those."
Did that mean they wouldn't have to go back to Sidorovich?!
Glancing at his little device, he noticed that all the Stalkers nearby turned green as well.
So they became friends. Nice.
"You still need some better protective gear, but you'll get those from the Bartender," Yuri said. "I also shared the coordinates and the shortest safe route to the 100 Rads Bar. Tell 'em I sent ya."
Konrad blinked.
"A bar in the Zone?" Or did he mishear it?
Not that these stalkers needed any special place to get wasted by the looks of it.
"Yes. Think of it as a haven for the elite," the leader explained. "It's a half-ruined settlement. But it's also one of the farthest pockets with no anomalies inside the Zone. You can go from there."
Right. So this place was where Stalkers got their rite of passage, and that's where the elite went.
Following his map, it was about 2-3 miles beyond the rail depot.
"And as for the info I can give you about Strelok," Yuri cleared his throat. "Well, if you feel like you're sober enough to listen, I have a long story to tell."
Sober wasn't the best word to describe himself.
But if nothing else, Konrad was eager.
And, as it seemed, he also became a holder of another title he was never going to use.