Chapter 28

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"Seven, eight - exhale. Take a break, and again - hands slowly upward, one-and-two-and, stretch, inhale, stand on tiptoes, hands smoothly to shoulders - three-and, four-and. Exhale."

The course of exercises that I did in the morning instead of the usual push-ups and squats seemed to be oversimplified. Very simple movements, minimum exertion, nothing like my usual warm-up, but still I felt that I was warming up, and without any drastic movements or jumps.

"Now kneel down, like this." Exercise continued. Twenty minutes, shower, shave, breakfast.

Thoughts of yesterday's completion of the quest would not go away in my mind.

What do the classes that never opened heroics have in common? Complexity.

And what does a player do when he realizes that a class is too hard? He looks for a group. "Creators" focus on the group, on society, and the help of friends, while I, on the contrary, play in the style of "lone ranger" to the point of not revealing the nickname.

Maybe that's the point. Classes are weak so they bought a boost or looked for help in the guild. That's why they flew past the quests of the initial zones too quickly. Heroic is known to get by doing a long chain, and what's a chain without a starter quest? Then everything becomes clear ... although, it can not be that no one has not noticed anything, especially at the beginning of the game when everyone was actively looking for hidden quests and generally studied the world trying to get even the smallest superiority.

I once again called up the list of known paladin scenario quests.

First: "Salvation of the Soul of the Warrior" - the evil has enslaved the soul of a warrior from that army that once went after its leader. Starts at level thirtieth, and the soul is summoned if the conditions in the dungeons from the thirtieth to the fortieth level are met. Put a tick, I need to check what kind of dungeons and how they relate to the plot of the quest. The reward for the liberation of the soul - a magical essence, increases the effect of paladin abilities when applied to a shield or sword. Does not disappear when used, and can be applied to different items, but the recharge is fifteen days, the lifespan of a normal weapon when actively used.

"Search for a Document" - are known to search for a book, a note, a tombstone inscription, and so on. A copy is taken and carried to the temple, and joyful NPC gives a reward - usually a one-time increase in faith.

"Battle with the Renegade" - one of the ministers betrays the temple, the traitor must be found and punished. The reward is a point of faith, sometimes armor with good stats and the flag "for paladins only".

And the last - "Search for a New". Performed less than a hundred times, as it requires finding a new dungeon. That is a new dungeon that has never been completed by anyone. After obtaining the achievement the paladin returns to the temple, reports, and gets a huge pile of reputation and a new rank. Now, this already looks like a stepping stone to the heroic class, but none of those who completed it got the next quest.

I sighed.

Well, okay, Vova: still, no matter how much you drag this moment out, you have to decide what to do about the Virt bug. Yesterday I used it once, but it instantly did three times as much damage as my hardest hit. What would a normal person do? Contacted game support, reported it, and received deep moral satisfaction. Do you believe that? Rather use as much as he could, and then sell the secret in real life.

The top guilds use modules all the time. Can it be that their players are so inquisitive?

"Comp, search. The words "creators of destiny", "account ban", "virt", "modules"."

Permanent account ban to all players of the top guild Avader. The use of the ability to put several items of equipment on a character in one slot. Revealed on the second day of use.

Purge the accounts of three hundred players who learned how to bypass monsters in dungeons, going straight to the bosses. All were visitors to the same forum, and the exploit was discovered on the third day.

Permaban, purge, removal, blacklisting, even criminal prosecution - for selling items created by a specific spell while using a virt. The most recent news was seven months ago. The longest use of the bug is five days. Well, there's no way that I alone guessed to check how virtual weapons behave when confronted with virtual armor! At high levels of the day without a fight between two players, would have long understood!

Contacting support means attracting attention to the account. Checking the logs, taking an interest in my progression, and hello, in the best-case scenario - zeroing of the character's parameters. They probably won't touch the rings left on my account, but it's still unpleasant.

Not to report? So if I were the developers, I would put a tracker on every such use of the "undocumented ability to penetrate any armor" and check the smart guys.

It's a fork, though. Why did I do that in the first place? I was saving the exorcism in case Jago decided to kill me. Then I would have stunned him and gone into melee while Gdag and Alric held the boar. But why didn't I spend the arrows? Save it? Yesterday it seemed like a good idea to get the mercenary to play on our side until the end, preventing him from failing the quest... though yes, without his help the three of us wouldn't have been able to take down the boar.

Okay, I'll try to solve the game problem with game methods.

After calling back, I checked with the courier about the delivery time for the second glove. I missed it yesterday, so I ordered delivery in the evening. Oh, they're cashing in on me, aren't they? Never mind, I'll get mine. What should I do in the meantime? Maybe watch a movie?

I took the glasses, twirled them in my hands, then put them on.

Seven years ago augmented reality glasses appeared. They not only show a virtual monitor but also impose a picture on the real space. However, not too much, without being connected to a computer. Three years ago the first models came out, scanning and displaying emotions and tracking the movement of larger objects, albeit weakly. So in a year or two, my virt could be scrapped.

"Comp, fire in the glasses."

This tale has been unlawfully lifted without the author's consent. Report any appearances on Amazon.

The room lit up, lights flickered, curtains flickered, and the wallpaper got covered in scattered specks of sparks.

There is no smoke, although it is present in the training videos. Useful thing, mandatory for fire safety drills. I myself pushed it in the company. In schools, it shows very clearly how to act, how low the smoke is, and how quickly seemingly non-combustible objects catch fire.

All of this is an illusion, though. It seems real to us, but somewhere deep down, we believe more and more in the illusory nature of everything around us. Maybe the reason for the popularity of all these games is immersion in a fairy tale. Ten years one megaproject after another failed, even began to think that the era of online RPGs was gone, but then the glasses appeared, and like mushrooms popular games began to appear at once; the same "CoDs", for example, initially stood out only for the function "full use of emotions and socialization of your character", there is even no function of setting the character image - takes the real face and slightly corrected for the game race. It's much better than the real thing.

So, indeed, soon half of the population will go to the illusionary worlds. And the other half will work to feed the first half.

"Comp, the launch of the Creators of Destiny!"

While the second glove is being brought in, I'll have time to deal with the routine.

Before I entered the sanctuary, I hesitated. If I'm wrong, then... I'll start looking for a real job, not just sending out a dozen resumes. There's nothing to be afraid of, we must act!

The priest at the altar turned and renewed the blessing of the temple without reminder.

"Good morning, Brother Paladin. A new day, new feats?"

"It's more of a new hassle." Now, since you clearly have the function of teaching the rookies, you must fit right in. "Tell me, brother, can one who walks under Her luminous hand be dishonest?"

"It's a complicated question. No one is infallible, sometimes there are difficult situations and difficult choices. It all depends on the degree of unrighteousness and whether or not you set foot on that path again."

"That's how. That's pretty much what I thought. Well, the way implies a choice, doesn't it?"

"Yes, Brother Paladin. The main thing is not to make a mistake or persist on the wrong path."

I bowed and went out. If you put aside the wraps, the noobs are told not to use known bugs. But you don't have to report it either. Well, the ritual act of washing one's hands is done - the player found out about the bug, the player asked the tutorial, and the player no longer used the bug. I'm in the wrong position for a bug buster, hurry up slowly. And what's the rush? So I'll consider that the conscience is soothed.

Back in the barracks, I took up drawing, trying to strike a balance between speed and precision in making the scrolls. In twenty minutes, I got two sixth-level blessing scrolls and one fifth-level blessing.

I got out in the real world, looked at the article on "masterpieces," and wondered. If you don't use a tablet, you can only get something exceptional by using expensive reagents, such as "silk paper," which is made by artisan weavers and gives a plus of eight percent to skill. The chance, if the article was to be believed, was in the neighborhood of three percent. I could more or less plan the rank of a masterpiece by selecting the ingredients. On the other hand, it cost me nothing, and the yield was still the same three or four percent. Until spells of rank three or higher were available, it was not profitable for me to use expensive reagents; no one needed such scrolls at such a price.

By the way, what do I have on my chart for spells?

In the Crypts is one, captured. Misty Field, which has already been, - a random choice, that is, you have to guess. There each monster is unique. Slow Streams tract - "Fog Mark" of the first rank, reduces the defense of the target. Destroyed Temple - "Canopy of Darkness" of the first rank, good shield against any light or elemental spell. Lasts only ten seconds, though. The Negrin Catacombs are a great set! Fire Ray, Mana Shield, Soul Exchange, and even a rank two Inferno. But I'm not quite there yet. It's a shame.

I decided that for now, I would use the capture on any monster I could find in the Mist Field, just to see if I could get lucky. And at level twenty I'd try to go somewhere to expand my arsenal. I pump, judging by the past three days, two and a half times slower than a normal player, even with all the modules and buffs, so that time can be spent on filling the book of spells, which also affects the quality of the character.

I was just finishing handing over the scrolls to the Khramm when the doorbell rang. The courier, a young boy in his twenties, clearly recognized my harness and squinted at the scabbard while I checked the delivery, but said nothing. The left glove had a shield connector, which made it look like I had one big module on my arm. When I put it on, I held my hands together in Gendo gesture and hunched over.

"Excellent!" Oh, I don't look like it, oh! But still, now the arsenal of emotions is wider. And I don't have to throw my sword into its scabbard now and then to take the loot or heal myself.

It took half an hour to practice and record the new and old commands. So, with so many commands, my game will be like dancing. By the way, can also do macros on the poses in the virtual. For example, when I sat down - automatically triggers the "camp" skill. I wonder if there are boot modules? I was engaged in the third-grade dance, so why not use it? All night long in the arena paladin tap dancer!

Jokes aside, when I left the room I went to the dummy pillars and spent almost an hour on different combinations. It was better to be clumsy here than to miss in a fight. At the same time, I diversified my arsenal by recording five versions of the "jump with a blow of the shield" and putting a free choice of options. I flashed an idea somewhere that if I used the move in different ways, it would get pumped faster. But, according to my calculations, even in the best case I can expect to learn such a technique not earlier the fiftieth, but rather the seventieth level. Well, there's no hurry...

After eating lunch (I couldn't resist trying the synchronization in the barracks - it worked, and the plate appeared on the table), I was beginning to think about where to go next, but immediately, calling myself bad words, I rushed to the closet.

Back in the crypts, I had configured myself to move all the contents of my equipment into the closet when I removed it. Now I dragged the plate I'd found back and headed quickly to the sanctuary.

A priest was ministering to a small crowd of beginners. Not only did the priests and paladins start the game in the temple, but the multiclasses were given new skills they had bought, blessings were handed out, and quests and tasks ended. Tense job the man had. At last, he sighed with hidden relief.

"Brother, excuse me, I ask your advice again."

The priest immediately turned to me with a smile:

"Of course, if it's within my power."

"Yesterday we were clearing the forest on the mission of the Forest Guardian Council. Evil was defeated but among its remains, I found this." Calling up the trade menu, I showed the plate. "It seems to be a piece of our brother's armor. How could it be a piece of the evil beast's hide?"

In front of the priest, the image of the plate glowed in the air.

Yes... it's a piece of armor. The old armor of one of those warriors who once went after the Healer who had just found her powers. Apparently, the creature had ravaged an ancient tomb.

The hidden class quest to report on the Fall of Evil is completed.

You received experience - 10% of the level.

Reputation increased by 20

It's a shame. The monster was level thirty-five, so I could have saved the plate, but there is no point in regret...

"The Temple collects pieces of old armor: they happen to bear the glow of Her power. I can offer you a reward for it." The priest looked at me questioningly.

Reward? What should a normal paladin do?

If the Temple needs it, take it. I am fortunately a good craftsman and can trade my scrolls for the armor I need. Let it be a gift.

The priest nodded, and the plate disappeared from my inventory.

Unfortunately, this time there was no notification of the hidden quest. It's okay, it's still not bad. It's a shame it's not a quest scenario.

After the customary salute to the altar, I headed for the exit.

"Brother Paladin, may I give you some advice?"

I turned around.

"I will accept it gladly, brother."

"If the creature has ravaged the old tomb, perhaps there is more to be found? It's worth checking, and if not to find more armor, at least to bury the bones of our fellow believers."

The task received is to find out the ways of Evil.

Find out where the remains of ancient warriors are buried.

Nodding to the priest, I turned toward the exit and could barely keep from shrieking in satisfaction. This is clearly a class quest, and clearly a continuation of the chain with the plate! It's nice when the calculations are confirmed!

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