Chapter 1

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Notebook. In a box.

Handbill. In a box.

A greeting card from the employees of the department. In a box.

My now ex-colleagues around me, who had signed this greeting, looked away. Or expressed their silent disapproval.

They didn't dare to say it aloud. You could get punched in the face for saying it out loud.

Of course, I shouldn't have punched the deputy director. Well, he decided to arrange an exemplary humiliation before my dismissal, we all have our weaknesses. The second most important person in our office has a weakness - to tell the plain truth. It never occurred to him that someone might not want to listen to them. It is so natural to share life experiences with those below you! It is right and reasonable.

But grabbing me by the sleeve when I got tired of talking and went to pack... He shouldn't do that, honestly. He just shouldn't.

A smirk crept onto my face. Good job he set himself up. He pulled it himself, and put his chin out himself. It made my fist itch to do it again. But don't make it worse... fuck... fuck...

Fucking deputy! I've worked at this firm longer than he has! Seven years: we celebrated our anniversary a month ago.

Uh-oh, it turns out that that nasty, disgusting Polushkin is outsourcing some of his orders. Oye-aye, a betrayal of the company's interests! Oye-aye, let’s scold the scoundrel and fire him in front of a line of sheepishly fatalistic employees.

Everyone knows that some of the orders go past the cash register. Everyone knows that every employee has their own little profit. Whether it's the general manager or the last technician - everyone! The same deputy director handles the machines, fiddles with materials, and something from his side goes. Legitimate increase in salary!

Everyone knows.

I held first place in efficiency among the employees for the second year. Even though I gave the tastiest orders to guys I knew for a percentage. For two years I had been the best and had consistently made the company a profit, which meant that I had not been kicked out because of a couple or three odd jobs a month. It wasn't for a little fiddling with my expense reports, either. It was for something else. For what? As someone who has been wearing a corporate noose for seven lousy years, I can say with confidence that even the person who actually fired me might not know this. The stars were aligned, so they kicked me out. It was deemed necessary.

Hmm... What's the folder? Gift reports? The mess: I've had it here since the last transfer. Delivery notes, lists, notes, a few flyers, two layouts, a receipt, and a data-sheet.

Oh, I remember that. We wanted to give an important client an account for a new game. He had discovered online gaming and was very into it. Yeah, but if it's here, what did we present? We did, didn't we?

Standing next to me, Vadik, an ex-Marine, a big guy dressed in an awkwardly fitting jacket with a security badge, coughed softly. I put the sheet in the box.

"That's it, Vadik, I'm done. There's nothing else of mine here. Let's go."

I took the box with my belongings and go, escorted, to the exit.

I shouldn't have punched that bitch in the face. I could use half an hour on the computer right now, and I'd have a nice severance package. Just cancel those last two orders and make some calls. I'm an idiot, what can I say?

"Vova, did you really punch Zelenets in the face?" Vadik was obviously interested.

I nodded: "What are you talking about? It was an accident. I just reached out to hug him, because we were saying goodbye, "maybe forever," and just as he was about to cry from the fullness of his feelings, he leaned toward me and accidentally bumped into my hand. I am so sorry!" My monotone voice was supposed to show how sorry I was, but the guard chuckled anyway. No one like the deputy, oh no one. At least he made people happy.

However, despite the fun, Vadik watched me carefully as I left the building, got in my car, and drove away.

At home, I settled tiredly in an armchair.

So, what do we have? Other than a bottle of Heineken and a fish sandwich red with chemicals?

I have money. The part-time job I invented five years ago, when it was clearly explained to me why such a nice guy like me had no chance to get ahead of the chief accountant's stupid nephew, brought exactly twice as much as the official, gray, black, and other salaries combined. And somehow there was no reason to spend it. So, I could, for example, spend a couple of years in a warm country. I've never been to India: maybe I should deprive myself of this annoying drawback? Sun, sand, palm trees, annoying souvenir sellers. Weed, which I don't understand. The beer I drink once a month, like now. Girls... no, no, no, no, don't do that. I haven't recovered from my divorce yet. For the past eight years. A girl is good, but it's better somewhere out of constant sight.

Conclusion - to hell with warm countries. I haven't lived in warm countries; I won't get used to them.

What else is there? The apartment was mine. And the dacha, inherited from the last relative I knew, my grandfather's quiet drunken cousin, whom I had found out about a month before he died of cirrhosis, was also mine. I didn't take out any loans, preferring to earn and pay right away.

I have a profession. As long as two people have something and I need it, I'll always figure out a way to exchange it for something I don't need. And then get paid for it. And interest. And a smack in the cheeky greedy face.

Health is there, too. The Americans are smart people, with their cult of health as applied to the corporate spirit. I went to the gym three times a week, the pool twice a week, and the health insurance... Now I have to pay for it myself, by the way. We put an "X" on the to-do list.

Money, a house, a car. What else? Oh, entertainment.

I looked around the room. There wasn't much stuff. My ex-wife in the divorce, as in the joke, waited for my business trip and took everything, up to the curtains from the windows. By the way, not her curtains, I bought them myself, even before we were married.

Then I decided to leave everything as it was. I only made repairs. That's how I live: in one room - a rack with a computer, in the second - a bed with a nightstand and a treadmill, presented at the company as the most productive employee last year. And in the kitchen - a table and two chairs. Spartan. All the men I know are jealous. Ha-ha.

Except now there's nothing to do. I'm not flattered: the ghouls to whom I've been dropping off unrecorded orders will look me in the eye and offer to come back when I have something useful for them.

A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation.

I kicked the box I had brought from work.

You couldn't even steal anything, loser. Although...

Putting the bottle down and clutching the rest of the sandwich in my teeth, I rummaged through the box. Flyer, where the hell are you?

There.

That's the account in the game. I think it's "Creators of Destiny"?

Well, well. Here it is, Creators of Destiny, an online game. Wiki link. Holy shit, thirty-two million regular users. "The game uses an original payment methodology." The original way of saying free2play? "The monthly payment limit is declared as a desire by the developers to level the odds" - yup, something like that I used to babble to my customers, too. Okay, now let's look up the most accurate and reliable information - go to Lurkmoar!

After five minutes, I briefly familiarized myself. Yes, thirty-two million in two years. "The game replicated the success of Cistern World and surpassed it." A hundred bucks a month is the official donation limit. But there is a controlled withdrawal market from the game. The original leveling system. Archetypes and multi-classes. Huge world, dynamic development, AI NPCs, complex multi-variant scenarios.

Oddly enough, the developers did not simplify their task and save on the development of the world, strengthening the PvP component of the game, so that the players themselves entertained each other. PvP was allowed, but not encouraged. Emphasis was placed on the social component - guilds, clans, groups, class bonuses, crafts, and trade.

In the game, by the way, you can legally sell game gold for real money. And a leveled character could earn by simply selling loot from monsters to the store and selling the gold immediately at the in-game auction. It was possible to sell in-game items on a special market controlled by the developers. In the article guys from Lurkmoar caustically discussed the fact that the developers of the game had a stake in every transaction, and even said that the developers themselves can saturate the market with their art. Opponents, on the other hand, cited numerous quotes about the company not interfering in any way with the relationship between the players.

After scratching my head, I put the client on the download and went to take a shower.

It didn't take long for the client to install, and soon the splash screen appeared on the monitor:

Hello, dear tester! We are glad to inform you that the game is out in the public domain, and thank you for helping us improve it! Unfortunately, with the release of the game has changed the rules of payment, and from now on the maximum available number of “rings of power" will be changed. For your help in making the game better, you will retain the "power rings" you purchased during testing. Welcome to the world of Creators of Destiny!

After hanging, this sign went out, and the character creation window opened. A test character, then. Well, yes, the account was registered two months before the release; they wanted to match it up by presenting a character "with a story". So, there are bonus points on that account now.

By the way, can the characters be sold?

Let's take a look at our account.

Hmm, "Your account is not linked to your real name. Would you like to link it?"

No, we'll wait. Bonus section. Bingo. Uh, I don't get it.

In the line "Resources available for transfer to the characters" it was "1350 lesser power rings."

I thumbed my browser to the lurkmoare article, and found the place I remembered.

Talent development requires points, which are obtained with a new level. Additionally, you can buy bonus points for real money, 1 point increase costs one "lesser power rings", or, simply put, $10, which causes an incredible butthurt at the same time and the opponents and supporters of donation.

I still don't get it. You can get ten rings in a month. The game was paid for... There! Let's see the payment history.

The story included a charge card. My corporate card. And the amount of the first payment was $3,000.

I took a quick look at my payment history. The amount was a one-time payment, and a hundred was deducted each month. Two years ago, our accountants' database crashed and there was a huge ruckus. And this payment was deducted?

I've always had faith in the power of our Accounting Department! Losing three grand in evergreen money for nothing! Proud! Even though it's not native to me anymore... But there's still the question - it's been twenty-seven months. Ten a month ... then why not two hundred and seventy?

Twenty minutes of searching in the world dumpster found out that in the first month of the open test, accounts from which were not deleted at the release of the game, you could take fifty rings for the same money.

So, by all indications, several factors came together.

First - the character was created during the test, and he accrued talent points at the old price.

The second - after the release of the game no one logged on him, and the char continued to be considered a test.

Third, the account has enough money that all this time it was paid each month as a test account.

And now compared to the others he had a bonus of eight years of development. Not bad. By the way, three hundred bucks are still on the account, and it seems to be possible to withdraw them. And in general - how much is a character with three months of paid play? Well, dear eBay, how much are the creators of destiny these days?

The first character of the hundredth level was valued at one thousand bucks. The auction began at eight hundred two days ago. That's not bad. Why is the price twice as much for the same character?

The price was different because of "Lesser power rings - 40".

Forty rings are worth eight hundred evergreens?

And I have one thousand three hundred and fifty of them!

My account is worth twenty-seven grand. M-mother... Well, let's take a closer look at all this, Vova my friend, shall we?

I watched it for three hours.

The system was simple - you had to work on skills in the game to get them up and running. Simple cooking, the ability to cook something edible that would raise your life points spent in combat, required effort that could also be spent on improving skills that were far more necessary in a game based on a fantasy world with active combat. That is, forty points, which I considered unreasonably expensive, in fact, meant that a character could save a lot of time on grinding up one of his spells or skills. And there were a lot of skills in Creators of Destiny!

Even a simple query "creators of destiny pumping" yielded hundreds of sites with different strategies of pumping, but all of them, without exception, were confined to one simple rule "one month - ten power rings! More accurately, "up to ten rings," because the "power rings" were spent on various in-game benefits, such as giving a bonus to experience. Or reputation. Or anything else - you could spend them on hundreds of different things. And the rings themselves - only ten per month.

Genius! I admired the developers' idea - of course, it was possible to play without donation, but it was always more fun. And a hundred dollars was not such a small amount, but in all these guides was seen as incredibly small, paltry, and absolutely insufficient. It was not enough, people wanted to bring the money themselves, but the evil developers did not allow it! How ugly they are!

Yeah. It turns out that my account is worth not twenty-seven thousand, but fifty thousand. Or even more. If a character with forty rings sold for a thousand eight hundred, then a char with a hundred was already worth seven grand, and the auction was still open.

There was, however, one "but". And that "but" was that these characters had already reached the hundredth level. It was at the hundredth level or multiples of it that, according to the rules of the company, one could sell his character by paying the company ten percent of the payment. But mine, which was created automatically when I first entered the world, was not even level one - zero.

And I had to think about what to do next.

I shoved the empty bottle away unhappily and collapsed in my chair.

I can sell an account now for thirty grand. It's easy. No one but me remembers it. The boss who gave me the job to pay for the game, a year ago, hit a very clumsy pole with his Audi. The accounting department reported that everything had been restored after the base crash, and they'd fuckin' agree that three grand had passed their eyes. They weren't there, that's all. So, the account is mine, and mine alone. Character not created, owner authentication not passed. Transfer login and password will take half a minute, many have decided to invest in empty accounts, putting a hundred a month on them, to resell or gift in a year, as we intended. Of course, there may be questions as to where so many empty accounts came from, but if I look, I will find an uncurious customer.

How much would it cost to pump up a character on it? And how much time will I have to spend? And do I need all this at all? The name of the owner is not specified. Put the account now on the auction, in two days to take my thirty grand and forget it.

Or not?

I'm not a kid anymore, so I'm happy to run around in a painted world waving a virtual sword. But judging by the prices of the characters, it's not just kids who play. Well, or it's the rich kids. Very, very.

Should I try it? The hundredth level, according to fan sites, is reached in six months of active play. I have three hundred in my account, which means I only need three hundred more, a computer, and six months of my unique life... which I have nothing to occupy right now anyway.

Hah, that deputy beaten up in the face just made me a gift!

I carefully closed the laptop, threw the bottles in the trash, and went to bed.

Tomorrow I'll do the game. It's not all work, you have to have fun sometimes!

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