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If you like this book, please consider buying it:

Mirror World, Book 1: Project Daily Grind

Mirror World, Book 2: The Citadel

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“This girl, she put up her tent right here, see. Then she brought you in. And once you were gone, she packed up and left, and that was the last we saw of her.”

That was all I’d managed to find out about the scavenger girl. The place where her tent used to stand had already been taken by a ginger-haired farmer selling agricultural tools. His neighbor, a square-shouldered Dwand, kept telling and retelling me the story of the girl “packing up her stuff and disappearing”.

He squinted knowingly. “Has she ripped you off?”

“Not really, no,” I muttered. “I can’t really tell you what it was.”

He raised his eyebrows. “Women!”

For the second time I left the market with mixed feelings. I had zero intel. Her motives were clear as mud. I had my suspicions but I tried not to even think about them. Time would tell. Basically, I had to keep my eyes peeled. Preferably grow another pair in the back of my head.

As I walked past a large shop window, I couldn’t help seeing my reflection. It made me cringe.

I opened the map. Immediately I saw something I could use. Lyton’s Tonsorium. I looked the word up. Apparently, it stood for a barber’s shop. Excellent. Time to sort myself out.

At first I thought that the satnav had brought me to the local branch of the Red Cross. The benches in front of it were packed with shaggy individuals. The only things missing were soup canteens in their filthy knobbly hands and streaks of gravy dripping from their thick beards.

I was about to turn round and leave when a neatly dressed dwarf appeared in the doorway, his own beard trimmed and plaited. His hair was nicely styled. Dandy being the operative word.

Immediately one of the shaggy characters ducked into the doorway past him. So that’s what it was! I seemed to have come to the right place. If this dwarf used to look as scraggly as the others did, this was the place for me.

When I took another look at them, I noticed that judging by their clothes, most of the queuing customers were Seasoned Grinders—although their professions differed, of course.

I took my place in line, perching myself on one of the benches. The virtual sun warmed my body. I threw my hands behind my head and closed my eyes. Even so I could sense several pairs of eyes staring at me. The Reflection kit was a statement in itself. My hair might be a mess—no more than theirs, actually—but at least I was dressed to the nines.

I decided to put the unexpected pause to good use. I opened the action tab and auctioned off the remaining items from my Hardy Digger kit. Reserve: fifty gold. Bid deadline: twenty-four hours. I didn’t think I’d have any problem flogging them. Every item had a malachite rune installed. Their Durability wasn’t as good as that of new ones but still quite decent. In any case, any of the runes cost fifty gold in its own right.

A hand touched my shoulder, followed by an impatient voice, “Are you getting your hair cut or what?”

“Yeah, sure,” I hurried to reply as I ducked into the shop’s doorway.

I expected to see a standard barber’s layout but this was nothing of the kind. A small room harbored a small table and two chairs: one for the owner, the other for his clients.

The barber was an Alven guy. It didn’t surprise me in the slightest. This particular race stood out from other Mirror World denizens through its finesse and style. I focused on his name tag: Lyton.

Without saying a word, he pointed to one of the chairs. His slanted green eyes stared at me, impassive. “What would you like?”

“What can you offer?” I countered his question, making myself comfortable.

“Eh?” he sounded surprised. “Won’t you ask me to “just give it a trim” or to “tidy up the sides”?

“Oh, no,” I said. “You’re the king here. It’s up to you to decide.”

His eyes lit up. The guy seemed to be fed up with mediocrity. I just hoped I wouldn’t regret my decision.

The already familiar transparent screen rose between us.

“I’d like you to remove your hat and sit up straight,” the barber said. “Please don’t move. It’s only a second. I’m taking a screenshot... that’s it! All done. You can breathe now.”

I saw myself on the screen—or rather, a picture of myself.

“The engine will now generate several images and you’ll be asked to choose one,” Lyton explained, beaming. “All I’ll have to do is process it.”

In less than a minute, I heard a soft ping. The screen filled with... er, with myself. Sort of. Lots of me, depicted in all kinds of colors and styles.

“You can browse through it now,” the barber suggested, adding a background to the images. “You have a few minutes.”

“Thanks,” I mumbled.

Firstly, I discarded everything too loud. The pink, acid green and other psychedelic versions of me went straight into the Recycle Bin. They were followed by all the hipster types, even though admittedly I liked the one with the Mohawk. He looked formidable but... I still had to go to the bank. Delete.

I spent the next five minutes leafing through the catalogue until I realized that I needed to follow my plan and blend in with the crowd. Right. I opened the picture of an Ennan wearing classic Dwarven hair. This was what I needed.

“All done,” I said.

The barber hurried to switch off the background. The impression of insulted incomprehension froze on his face.

“So that’s what you want,” he mumbled. “Standard issue. You shouldn’t have wasted all that time.”

“You need to understand,” I began, “you might have already noticed that I belong to one of the dead races. I’m trying to avoid the limelight. How would you feel if you were walking down the street and every five minutes someone stopped you and asked you about your stats, abilities and other trivia? Every day. I can see it in your face that you know how it feels. So what would you do? Exactly. You’d go to an expert stylist.”

I know, I know. I’d turned the whole thing on its head and flattered the boy shamelessly in the process. But you wouldn’t expect me to tell him the whole truth, would you?

My arguments seemed to have worked. Once again the barber’s eyes lit up with enthusiasm as he began to fine-tune the chosen image. He spent the next five minutes perfecting the screenshot.

“D’you like it?” he finally asked.

“Excellent.”

I seriously liked what he’d done. A dwarf stared back at me from the screenshot—a dwarf with an Ennan’s eyes. I thought I even detected a hint of reproach in his stare.

Come on man, cool it, I said to him mentally. This is only a temporary measure. Once we did a bit more leveling, we’d be strong enough to wear what the heck we want. Traditional Mayan dress, if you want to.

My beard had been trimmed and plaited into several braids, each ending in a tiny steel cylinder covered in fine ornamental script. My hair was brushed back, some of it tied into the semblance of a ponytail.

“No one will tell you from an Experienced dwarven Digger,” the barber commented. “Are you choosing this one?”

I nodded eagerly.

“That’ll be five gold with the matrix and virtual makeover. Payment upfront,” he said.

I nodded again.

“I would ask you to sit up straight and be still,” he said.

Gently he pushed the screen in my direction. A 3-D copy of my head left the screen and floated toward me.

A message materialized,

Would you like to install a new image?

Price: five gold

Accept: Yes/No

I accepted.

Your avatar has been updated with a new image.

Effect: +5 to Trust

Duration: 7 days

“All done,” Lyton summed up, then added bitterly, “What a shame no one will see this coiffe in a mine.”

Gingerly I felt my face. “They will. I’m going to Mellenville first.”

Lyton sat up. “That changes everything! How long are you going to stay there?”

“I’ll have to live there, I’m afraid,” I said, “but I’ll be working here.”

He threw his hands up in excitement, “Aren’t you the lucky one! Would you like me to enter your matrix into our database?”

I tensed. “What for?”

“What do you mean, what for? Once your seven days have expired, you’ll have to come back to me. This way we’ll have your image already created and set up. Updating it will only take a moment.”

“Aha. I see.”

“You might want to focus on leveling up your reputation with Mellenville, am I right?”

“You are. Why?”

He smiled. “I just happen to know that certain characteristics although utterly useless for mining somehow work wonders in the capital. I mean Winsomeness, Tranquility, Endearment, Inspiration and the like.”

I rubbed my forehead. “That’s weird. The forums don’t mention anything of the kind.”

He snorted. “You bet! There’re no guidebooks on Mellenville. I’m pretty sure the developers have something to do with it. One thing I do know, though: if a characteristic exists, it means it can affect something.”

“How am I supposed to level them up, then?”

He shrugged. “Lots of ways. Jazzing up your clothes might work. Alternatively, having your hair cut like you’ve just done can do the trick too. Basically, giving your char a makeover in whichever way you can think of.”

Pensively I rose from the chair. “Thanks for the tip.”

“My pleasure. So are we saving your matrix?”

“Why not,” I replied. “It’s not gonna hurt, is it?”

He chuckled bitterly. “I don’t think so. Good luck!”

I walked out onto the street and temporarily zoned out, thinking. So that’s how it was, then? By having my hair cut, I’d accidentally found out that looks were an important detail in Mirror World. I had indeed read about all the places where they could glam you up, but I’d believed it to be a useless whim.

“Jazzing up one’s clothes,” I repeated. “How’s one supposed to do that?”

I decided against going back to the barber’s. I wasn’t going to waste my time standing in line again simply to pose one last question to the owner. I might try another way.

I opened the map and activated the search. Got it! Oh wow. So many of them! Alice the Seamstress, Alanis’ Tailored Suits, Liseanne’s Fashion House and so on, and so forth—at least fifteen search results. No, enough for today. I was too tired. First the market, then the shops and now fashion houses? I don’t think so!

I headed for the portal.

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Buy Mirror World:

Mirror World, Book 1: Project Daily Grind

Mirror World, Book 2: The Citadel - release August 10, 2016

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