Blake could not sleep and could not enter the game, either. He would need all twenty-four hours tomorrow. In addition, he knew nothing at all: how long the dungeon was, how strong the monsters were and what traps they might encounter on the way. The Doppelgänger’s image and Maenad’s message did not leave his head. He went to the kitchen, brewed herbal tea, added honey and spices. For the first time, his thoughts were not about his father.

In the kitchen, Blake lay down on the sofa, turned on the TV - just to break the silence - and started the computer and expanded the screen and went to the Guns and Magic website. There, on the forum, he found a list of registered players and chose the nickname “Maenad”, opened her profile. The last time she was online was 18 hours ago. He pressed the private button. A dialog box had opened, a warning in red letters at the top: the rules of the game forbid you to discuss insiders related to the gameplay after death. Blake pondered whether to write to her. He sat and thought, and time passed. Nothing came to mind. Everything felt off, everything felt wrong.

The news started on TV. A black woman with a slender figure, an elongated head shape and a serious, emotionless expression was sitting and looking at the camera at the table. As soon as the music stopped, she spoke: «Channel One Federal News here. I’m Shinel Rocker, and we begin with breaking news. Part of the data of the Ministry of Defense got leaked to the network. They contain information about extraterrestrial soil types, thousands of DNA samples that do not match with anything on earth. The scandal is taking threatening turns. A hacker group called APT76 claims that the data is updated every day in enormous volumes. What are the government higher-ups hiding? Is the planet NSR-318556A really not destroyed? Or is something else being hidden from us? The discovery of a new habitable planet? About that in our report today...»

“Fucking politics again,” Blake swore.

He changed to a music channel. There the program played classical music on a modern cover.

“Much better.”

On the forum, a player with the nickname Kasantes published the first guide to using magic. He attracted the attention of millions of players. The secret of using spells turned out to be not so trivial.

Magic is our imagination, a creative subconscious process. You’ve probably heard of people who have the skill of controlling sleep, or as it is also called “lucid dreaming”. They can create their own world, creatures, plot, and so on. The use and manipulation of magic is essentially the same: the same parts of the brain are involved. But this is if we talk about the attacking specialisation, which should have a primary source. Spells do not appear out of nothing, so magicians always carry with them things of those elements that are not so easy to find: fire and water.

According to Kasantes manual, magic has many specialisations (besides the attack), from those known to him: darkness (a.k.a. necromancy, curses), light (so far it was the most difficult element), amplification magic (the simplest type, available from a parameter of 1 and often used in tandem with the close combat skills), defence (domes, fields and other similar spells). To understand how it all works, people should explore and try to understand the world better. He also mentioned of the possibility of finding books or detailed manuals that will answer all questions in the wilds of the forest or in the abandoned ruins. Blake remembered the book he had found in the desert and thought about it and looked at his watch: 03:41.

Vvy set the meetup for 7:00 in the morning. I wonder who the replacements are.

For the next hour, he wandered around the house with his own Barrett on his shoulder, then went to the loggia and smoked. Drowsiness, as if with small weights, lowered his eyelids and caused lethargy, but as soon as he went to bed, a rush of vigor would appear out of nowhere.

“Fuck it...”

Loading…

Info #77: There is no such thing as a class in Guns and Magic. You can use melee by boosting your strength, agility, and reaction, and in addition, raise your magic parameter by one for boosting spells.

Still loading…

Info #78: The current date on Thalack: September 13, 1.325.788.

We’re about to start…

Info #79: Besides the human civilization of the Vanguard, there are other civilizations present on Thalack.

Loading completed. Welcome to the world of Guns and Magic! #1 VRMMORGP*.

*According to the independent gaming magazine Flashes on 04/09/2311.

Ronnie opened his eyes. He was in the soldiers’ barracks on an uncomfortable bunk bed with a mattress as solid as a stone. Unfamiliar names appeared in the group—Yleen (rank: Lord) and Illyseh (rank: support squads officer). Data about levels and parameters were hidden. Both were online.

Ronnie went outside and breathed in the fresh mountain air, filled with the aromas of flowers, pine needles, and rain. He raised his head and saw how in the sky, dense hilly clouds formed a funnel, through which shone the moon’s dark blue light, coloring everything it touched: trees, houses, people, mountains. It was the first time Ronnie had seen something like this. The beauty of the ghostly night bewitched him.

A few minutes later he came down from heaven to earth, when one player pushed him and was already apologizing, when he suddenly changed his face and spat at Ronnie’s feet and said: “They write the truth on the forum. You have a devil’s eyes. Get the hell out of here. The scavenger of Otron is not welcome in this fortress.”

Ronnie opened the HUD, selected this player and clicked the “Duel” option in the functions and said:

“Show me you can do more than just mumble.”

The guy from the Top Secret guild snapped and rejected the call and walked away. Ronnie sniffed and turned around and looked at the ugly three-story barracks with bars on the windows behind him. And at the players who rolled concrete balls to the cannons on the main square. And towards a small alley where the leaders of the groups were getting teams to go into the forest in search of outlandish food and leveling up. Now all these people were looking sideways in his direction and whispering and sharing their vision of what had happened in the capital.

Ronnie ignored everything and opened his stats window:

Strength 5.7 - first modification.

Agility 16.7 - third modification.

This content has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

Reaction 3.6 - zero modification.

Magic 0 - no modification.

Current experience 43%

No abnormalities.

Everything is going back to normal, he thought and went to the monster research laboratory, where he released Barahu from the cage. Scientists in the next office were loudly sharing rumors and arguing about something. The mere mention of Elgoreombdon caused Ronnie to gag, and judging by the growl of the wolfhound, so did it. Both went outside. The sniper adjusted his rifle and turned towards Orodrim Eoul. The Gothic outlines of the mountains stretched for a thousand miles into the distance and went beyond the horizon. Incredible greatness.

Ronnie opened the map and saw Yleen heading towards him. He sniffed loudly and winked at Barahu. They walked together in the opposite direction, not paying attention to anything or anyone around. For many players, don’t need a reason to vent their anger. One called Ronnie a rat, the second said he needed to be more grateful, the third ordered him to work for him, but when he saw the barrel of the Barrett an inch from his eye, he instantly disappeared from sight. After a couple dozen minutes, Ronnie once again plunged into the depths of his subconscious and began walking in circles around the Tough Rise guild building. The wolfhound’s barking brought him to his senses, and they changed their route and headed to the park area. There were too many players resting there. They were calmer. All local.

“Let’s go for a walk around the perimeter,” Ronnie told the dog. It wagged its tail in response.

Close to the entrance to the local library, Ronnie saw an information stand surrounded by glass. There was an A3 paper on it, with written information at the very top that the fortress of Varnasosto belonged to the Tough rise guild. A little lower, there were reports on the construction progress, how the walls were stretched from edge to edge of a small plateau, how the council house, airport, barracks, entertainment centers, parks, alleys, meeting halls were built. A proper city. Everything was painted in gold and white colors. Referring to the words of the chief architect Craftirev, he wanted this place to emit a divine glow, even at night.

Ronnie walked along the wall and the observation towers, where the lookouts were sitting at their post and, judging by their hunched and bored appearance, were reading the forum or the news. When the green dot on the map denoting Yleen was far enough away, he went to the wall and stood in the gap between the merlons and looked into the distance and did not notice how someone crept up to him from behind and patted him on the shoulder. Ronnie turned around and saw Illyseh - support squads officer. Barahu lay down on all fours and snored.

“It’s a beautiful view,” said the old man. “I come here from time to time.”

Ronnie did not answer, and Illyseh continued:

“I heard the locals are unhappy with your presence.”

“When did Top Secret people become local for you?”

“You got me. Why did you come into the game so early? Insomnia, huh? Yeah. Me too,” Illyseh paused, and then continued, “an excellent weapon.”

“Good armor,” Ronnie replied.

“Yes. You’re right. Most of all, I like the effect that no one can wear it, even after my death. Your Barrett has already been in the wrong hands, as I heard.”

“It’s in my hands now. No one else will get it.”

The clouds drifted away to the north. The starry sky cleared. Ronnie saw a shooting star fly through the dark space, followed by another one and one more. Then his gaze dropped. There, on a hilly plain, stood one tree away from everything, surrounded by low grass that the wind was shaking from side to side.

“Would you like to join our guild?”

“No.”

“Why not?”

Ronnie kept his eyes on the horizon. He felt free and calm, and Illyseh’s drawling voice lulled him to sleep. The sniper adjusted his rifle, scratched the stubble on his cheek with his fingers and said:

“Because those who are chasing authority are corrupt, people who are worth nothing. They can’t be trusted.”

Illyseh smiled, took off his helmet. The conversation amused the old man.

“You want to be the first on the list of murderers. You’re even more suspicious than us.”

“I didn’t say I was an exception.”

“So, there is no difference between us?”

“There is. You all pretend to be nice. I don’t need it.”

Illyseh became more serious. He walked up to the battlements on Ronnie’s left and looked at the starry sky with him and said even more slowly and quietly:

“It all makes sense to me now.”

“What makes sense?”

“Why you avoid talking to Yleen.”

“Why is that?”

Illyseh appeared as an extremely cold-blooded person who did not know the word “irritation” to Ronnie. The sniper turned towards the officer, leaned his shoulder on the merlon and slightly bowed his head, crossing his arms over his chest.

“It’s clear that the higher a person’s rank, the higher your rejection of him.”

“But I’m talking to you,” Ronnie replied, studying his behavior.

“There is no choice. I caught you myself.”

“There is. I just like that you don’t ask: ‘What was in the forest?’”

“What was there?”

“See you tomorrow.”

Illyseh broke into a malicious smile.

“Think about my offer.”

“There’s nothing to think about,” Ronnie replied, meandering down the stone stairs.

***

Vvy returned to the game and went beyond the fortress of Varnasosto towards the empty lands at the foot of the ridge of Orodrim Eoul. There he met with players hiding their own appearance under long black robes. There were five of them in total. A girl with silver hair came up to him and said:

“I remind you we cannot accept more than two orders. Are you sure of your decision? After signing this contract, there will be no way back.”

“I’m sure,” Vvy replied. “What are your next steps?”

She laughed.

“The less you know, the less suspicious you look.”

Vvy signed an electronic contract and said:

“They don’t trust us. Make sure that no one is following you.”

“The same goes for you.”

He nodded goodbye and left.

***

Latludious returned to the game, right after Vvy left. He set off in the direction of the research laboratory, passing a hundred players running between the keeps, all sweating, out of breath, but taking strength from somewhere, as if there was a magical source of stamina recovery nearby.

“What a game,” said one, stopping a couple of yards from the Bishop. “I pay money to carry the kernels for ten hours in a row.”

“Can you shut up already?” The second one shouted at him. “We do this to prepare for the battle. Something’s up in the forest.”

“I forgot to ask you, dumbass, what I should do.”

In the east, the magician saw Gra, who was giving orders left and right. Latludious did not stop, although he admitted to himself that this procession amused him. He went inside the laboratory and walked down a small corridor to the closed sector and presented a pass; there he descended a long spiral staircase and entered the office number two.

“Any results?”

The scientists turned in his direction. They were men in their forties, dressed in white and black robes with the Top Secret inscription in blue letters and strange glasses, something similar to goggles.

“You delivered the objects too late. While we were testing their blood for mutagens, the first one went mad and ate the second one alive.”

Latludious glanced at the baby Alrawn, who was banging its head against the thick protective glass of the aquarium, with small holes for air.

“When did it happen?”

“About an hour after you handed them over.”

The magician pondered and said in lowered tones:

“It turns out the time the curse needs to transform the creature is about eight hours. Is there nothing else we can do with them?”

“We’ll observe the reaction. You claimed that those who were struck by the curse become controlled by the head monster, right? Look,” the scientist flicked his finger on the glass, in front of the bird’s face. It became more desperate and rushed and screamed with more vigor. “Do you think this looks like the behavior of someone who is being controlled?”

“Our sniper claims that after the death of the head monster, they are guided only by the killing instincts.”

“That’s right, but you wrote in the report that Maenad sacrificed herself at about one o’clock in the afternoon, right? Burned down both totems and the forest…”

“Are you leading to the fact that the curse logically should have been interrupted, but it was not?”

“Yes.”

I should have noticed it back in the forest, but... Latludious thought, and then answered. “It turns out there is no escape from it.”

“Or something in this entire story is fishy.”

Latludious looked him straight in the eye and looked at the scientist’s nickname—Xad.

“What do you think is fishy here?”

“There are many possibilities. Maybe someone is fooling you, or maybe the fact that your ways of solving the issue turned out to be at a primitive level.”

“You’re cocky, Xad, if you say it to my face.”

“That’s why Vvy hired me,” he smiled and corrected the goggles.

“What kind of method is not primitive?”

“Have you heard anything about light magic?”