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Information about update 1.136784: From this day on, players unofficially called "hangers" (or any other type of players who engage in torture or sophisticated murders) will be automatically disabled using new AI algorithms, followed by a fine in the form of loss of experience and deprivation of all funds. In cases of extreme violence, the account will be blocked for ten thousand years without the right to restore (for more information, see the main page of the site or on the forum). Now you can only kill players with weapons, quickly and instantly. It will not be possible to bypass the system.

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Info #2: There are five wins in the game, for which, at the end of the second global update, the winners will have the opportunity to fulfill their wish:

1. Military victory (level + experience) for solo players;

2. Economic Victory (monthly income) for guilds only;

3. Dominance (points for completing group tasks from the Vanguard) only for guilds.

4. Diplomacy (for completing individual quests from players and guilds, but no more than twice from each) for solo players and guilds.

5. Political victory (by the end of the second global update, the guild that will gain more leadership positions: lord (1), military commander (2), officer of attack squads (2), officer of protection squads (2), officer of support squads (2)) only for guilds – voting takes place once a month.

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Ronnie saw the darkness and felt his body bound by dozens of strong leather straps. Everything was rattling and shaking. After a couple of minutes, silence fell. A pleasant female voice began to tell the backstory:

The first colonists landed on Thalack about ten years ago. They explored the planet inside and out. During that time, they sent new data about soil, plants, air, weather and other things to Earth every day. A year later, they met the first conscious race with whom they could have a dialogue. They studied the local language, created a new dictionary, and learned that the average life expectancy on Thalack varies between eight and nine hundred years.

In one of the local settlements, they saw magic for the first time, as it was able to destroy many dangerous enemies and heal seriously wounded comrades. Astronaut Chris described this phenomenon as something divine, beyond the imagination of man. He also said: “It’s a new milestone. It will change life on Earth. Soon, technology will be replaced by what was previously described only in books, myths and fairy tales. Unbelievable! That's what we've been looking for so long!”

Five years later, the leadership of the Vanguard decided to send new colonists. Their mission was to transport volunteers among the locals from Thalack to Earth, where they could be investigated and understand how these creatures were able to use magic. That's when the problems started. Two days before the arrival of the new group, we received a message that a detachment of the first colonists had found a hidden endless source of magical energy. Then the connection with everyone was interrupted, all the data from the cloud space suddenly disappeared. The location of the source could not be found either. A complete collapse. Experts reported a hacker attack. Our specialists had not been able to restore anything. Several years of work turned out to be down the drain. We made a race at the very beginning…

The second group of colonists was able to restore communication on the spacecraft only before entering the planet's atmosphere. We, in turn, warned them about the danger, told them what we knew ourselves and ordered them to install radio towers on arrival and find out if everything was all right with the first group.

They successfully landed the ship fifty miles from the colony of the first settlers, in the very center of the continent. On the very first day, our scientists established communication, restored all GPS sensors and connected cameras to broadcast events around online.

On the evening of the third day, a secret division of the space forces watched as the colonist scientists fled, and hundreds of angry monsters chased them. Before they all died, they sent a final message saying that they had been betrayed, and in conclusion they added vague explanations about the connection between Earth and Thalack. The record of this tragedy had been preserved and was located in closed government data centers. From that moment one thing became clear – there was a traitor among us.

The Commander-in-chief of the army, together with Earth scientists, made an open statement to the whole world that their units were working tirelessly in order to sort out what happened as soon as possible.

Six months later, the Supreme Command of the Vanguard made a strong-willed decision to send the third, largest group of colonists, which this time included not only scientists, but also first-class military. They made up eighty percent of the entire army. Such an approach, according to the government, repeatedly increased the chances of success. They landed a new ship in a safe zone, on the shore of endless waters and founded the capital - Otron.

A year ago, a new life and a new history of people began. Perhaps they will be able to achieve what previous generations could not. Find out the mystery of the catastrophe and the mystery of the planet Thalack.

Ronnie was finally able to open his eyes. He was in a single capsule in his birthday suit. The body was without scars, wounds and scratches, the eyes were clear. The new update caused him indignation, turning into anger. The sharp knuckles crashed into the metal wall of the capsule, then into an electronic panel protected by bulletproof glass. He beat everything that appeared in front of his eyes with such fury and hatred that it made him uncomfortable. His father's words flashed through his head: “Calmness and cold thinking can make a person the deadliest weapon.” Ronnie tried to pull himself together and focused on his heartbeat. He felt warm blood flow with his finger.

Since Blake died in the game for the first time, everything that was happening now was new to him. He turned to the panoramic window and began to watch how he was flying through the cold dark expanse of space at great speed to the point of rebirth - Otron. The capsule was descending on Thalack, a dwarf planet in the center of which sprawled a vast Pangea. Ronnie tried to study the area from a height. He found the capital. It was in the southwest, hidden under heavy clouds that looked like a hundred floating ice floes on the black and blue waters of the ocean. To the north of the Otron was Elgoreombdon forest, just above the Orodrim Eoul mountain range, which, unfortunately for Ronnie, closed their location with a semicircle from the rest of the world. In all likelihood, the dungeon around which there were so many fortresses and Vanguard roadblocks was the only way further.

In the very center of Pangea there was a mountain of incredible size, no doubt larger than Everest, but it was difficult to say how many times. In the east of the continent there were lava lands dotted with volcanoes and cut off from the rest of the world by mountains, to the west of them there was another desert – three times the size of Nepril. The central part of this infernal terrain was hidden under ridges of ash clouds. To the east and south was an endless ocean. The ground there was black in places, with dirty orange spots. If the players decide to go to this place, the journey would not be easy. At nine o'clock, his gaze was riveted by a multitude of lights that connected small and large cities of an unknown people with their threads. Around Pangea there were islands and archipelagos, small, barely noticeable. The exception was a piece of land located two hours from the main continent. Another small civilization could easily had been located there. In addition, Ronnie counted about five weather anomalies scattered all over the mainland. The first three raged in the volcanic lands to the east, another one was moving towards small forest settlements one hour from Orodrim Eoul and another one broke out in the ocean.

Death had its advantages. Ronnie took a screenshot and half an hour later the capsule descended into the main building in the Renaissance corps. It was not possible to enjoy the views of Otron from a bird's-eye view because of the low rocky clouds. The capsule door opened and he stepped out into the men's locker room, where the other newly arrived players were getting dressed. But not all of them. There were also those who ran with their foot around others and shouted something. This couple did not even have time to gasp, as one high-level player knocked out both with a blow to the back of the head. Ronnie did not pay any attention to what was happening and a city uniform, bulletproof vest, combat boots, from the arsenal he chose a free Stechkin pistol with a bakelite butt holster. Rare weapon available to players above the twentieth level. The pistol had a translator of the fire mode for single and automatic. 750 rounds per minute. The magazine had a two-row arrangement, twenty rounds of 9 x 18 mm. The weapon was unlikely to save you from strong monsters, but it was just right against players at a short distance.

Ronnie came out of the locker room and moved forward along a dimly lit corridor with red fluorescent lights on the walls. Three more players were moving behind him: a girl of the fifth level, and two guys of the tenth and first. No one looked at each other. Five minutes later, Ronnie found himself in the main hall, which was fifteen hundred square meters in size. The bright white light reflected otherworldly spots on the glossy floor and blinded the eyes. The space was filled with the loud hubbub of the players of the first and second levels. They played musical instruments, chatted, had fun, did various acrobatic tricks and so on. There was an inscription on the billboard next to the arena that said about the 1 on 1 tournament in two days. The number of registered players had already exceeded the five thousand mark.

Reading on this site? This novel is published elsewhere. Support the author by seeking out the original.

Ronnie walked through the crowd and noticed interested glances at himself. Several people wrote to him in PM with a request to level-up them or give them some money for weapons. He ignored all the messages and walked away to the exit, where there were massive wooden gates fastened with metal beams and opened automatically on request. For the first time in months, Ronnie saw the capital. There were new buildings outside that he had never seen before, and a lot of players. They wandered in chaotic directions along a cobbled street made of irregularly shaped stones, bumped into each other, got to know each other, traded items collected from different parts of the explored territory of the planet, and someone even staged fist fights for everyone's amusement.

The main structure behind him looked like an enlarged Fort Knox, which since the beginning of the twenty-second century had turned into a historical military museum, where Ronnie went on an excursion with his father at the age of ten, but he still remembered his enthusiastic emotions, as if he had been there only yesterday. At the opposite end of the street were three-story houses. Behind them, about five miles away, a towering tower-type building rushed to the sky in a slender pyramid, divided into a series of decreasing floors. The work had not been completed yet. If you look closely, you can see how scaffolding made of metal beams and wooden platforms surrounded the facade of the building. The top of the tower was hidden behind a thick layer of white clouds. The customer of these structures was a Fremaho player. To the west of Ronnie was a park with Ausayula trees, their white leaves illuminating the area with a ghostly, full-moon light. The new buildings were noticeably different in their architecture: roofs in the form of glass domes, each second floor was accompanied by a long balcony with a parapet, and tall bay windows replaced the usual boring walls, there were monuments dedicated to various strong monsters from the bestiary at the entrance.

"AI."

"At your service."

"What happened to the city? I've never seen anything like this before."

"If you wish, I can recount the happenings that took place in your absence."

"Yes, please. Just build a route to the craft area to my workshop first."

"It shall be done…"

A virtual arrow appeared in the HUD, guiding Ronnie through the labyrinths of Otron. He went ahead along the winding road to the north of the capital, and the AI began the tour:

"At present, the city is developing. There were many guilds with their own architects and builders. Unlike most players, their task is to earn as much money as possible. They spend their strength and resources on construction, and then pay off the order thanks to an in-game reward and rent for renting a room. In this way, they are trying to be the first in the rating of "Economic Victory". The game's features allow players to make buildings in different styles in specially designated areas. The architect creates a project plan, selects a location on a virtual map, sends to the AI a request, and then gets permission if the location is chosen correctly and does not bother anyone. Spontaneous construction is punishable by disconnection from the network with a fine for death.

Due to the large influx of those wishing to have their own personal home or guild headquarters, Otron expanded its borders, and as a result was divided into sectors that were fenced off from each other by a stone wall. Now you are in the central part of the capital and you can observe the buildings created in accordance with the style of brick Gothic. This decision is due to the shortage of building materials of the planet. Many town-planning guilds hire merchants into their ranks, they in turn extract clay, send it to workshops, where they create red bricks from it. Initially, the players wanted to create houses from timber. Nevertheless, the bark of the trees turned out to be so strong that they could not be cut down or felled.

The endless ocean washes the south and west of Otron. Now there are abandoned docks there. Residents of the capital gave up trying to surf the waters a few months ago because of the presence of dangerous creatures in them. In the north and east of the capital there are guild headquarters, tournament arenas, shooting ranges, as well as taverns, temples of knowledge, a market, a post office and a huge meeting room. The players with their own hands created all this. There is an airport in the north-east of the capital. There you can pay 500.000 CP and choose the flight you need by plane. Aerial vehicles are controlled by AI and fly only to certain places without the possibility of course deviation. As an alternative to expensive and fast transport, you can use a train that is attacked by monsters during the journey with some probability, so be ready to fight back! You can check all the routes of Vanguard transport with me or in a special tab in the interface."

"Thanks for the information," Ronnie replied and yawned.

"You're welcome, I'm always happy to help."

Ronnie walked the last leg of the way to the sounds of construction and watched as a flock of Baraorebs – birds with red plumage on the wings and black on the body, a long beak and blue glowing eyes - flew north. Three dozen feet ahead on the alley on the right side, an elderly man began firing from a Mauser rifle at a small creature with a tiny lizard body and microscopic wings on its head. It ran away, hissed and did not let the rainbow grass out of its mouth, strewn with sharp fangs.

"Stop eating my plants, you four-legged Judas!" The man shouted in a hoarse voice.

When Ronnie came closer, the old man noticed the young tramp and nodded in greeting and asked if he wanted to come into his alchemy shop.

"No, thanks."

"The bigger the city, the more parasites there are in it."

"Are you talking about Caernogens?"

"Yes," he answered, paused and shook his head up and down, "about them."

Ronnie shrugged and walked on. It took him about twenty minutes on foot before he reached his own workshop, equipped in a small one-story room. Inside, chaos reigned: dust covered weapons machines, drills, and so on. Screws, bolts, springs were lying on the floor. Ronnie opened the window and went down to the cellar and checked the rifle parts and the amulet in the warehouse and took it and twisted it and put it on, hiding it under his clothes. When he went upstairs, he started cleaning.

A few hours later, he finally finished, all sweaty, sneezes every two minutes, his eyes were watering, in a word, he inhaled dust for a hundred years ahead. Ronnie went to the kitchen sink, washed and drank water, then opened the interface and looked at how much it would cost to re-order the missing parts for Barrett. As expected, there was enough money right back to back, but only now the realization came to his head that it would take at least a month to create a new rifle due to the fact that he would have to work alone on hard metals. It'd take too long.

Ronnie grabbed his head and started calling himself an idiot, his hand instinctively reached into his pocket for SYL. When his nerves calmed down, he opened an in-game notebook in the HDU and wrote to several guild leaders in PM, but no one answered him, although they were online. Nika, as expected, sent him to the blacklist. Another option was to spend the last money on some simple rifle, but in a solo game it was unlikely to be useful. Maybe, he thought, spend CP on an assassin from the Assassins Guild, who would find her and kill her, taking the broken Barrett. It's not a bad idea, but now, according to rumors, there are too many cheaters in their ranks. I don't want to take any chances.

Ronnie opened the stats table:

Strength 5 (+0.1 gain to the next level) - first modification.

Agility 15 (+0.2 gain to the next level) - third modification.

Reaction 3 (+0 increment to the next level) - no modification.

Magic 0 (+0 increment to the next level) - no modification.

Amount of experience 0%

It was physically painful to watch. He understood that if a miracle did not happen now, then he would have no chance of getting to the first place. Counting on other "victories" was not an option. In the "Diplomacy" rating, he was in the four thousandth place. Politicians should always be heard. Military-minded players get more and more experience every day. To come back from the fifty–third place was not an easy task, but still possible. Ronnie opened the rating and saw that WildDron, the top of the list, had already increased his up to level 27, 2.34%.

That's fucked up. I need to go with what I have to the north of the desert and hope for a secret passage.

An alert was displayed in the HUD, someone with the pseudonym Latludious sent a message to the PM:

Hi there. I read on the forum about what happened in the desert. If you are interested, then come to the Top Secret guild building, we'll help you solve your problem.

What problem?

The one that cost $20 million and had "made by Ronnie" written on its passport.

Ronnie opened the virtual auction, sorted the guns by value, and saw his broken Barrett M107A1 seller Nika at the top of the list.

Hey! Are you still there?

...

All right, come by if you're up for it. I'll be in town for another ten days.

Ronnie looked at the CP count: 3.618.261, opened the friends list. One familiar blacksmith with the nickname Doffersnoah was online. Location: capital of Otron.

Are you in the workshop? - Ronnie texted him.

It's like I'm coming out of it somewhere. What happened?

I got killed and the rifle got stolen, it's on the auction for 20 million, can you lend me 17? I'll buy it back and I'll return the money as soon as I can.

Ronnie, did you ever fall off a cliff headfirst? My workshop is worth half as much as your rifle, and with 20 million you could build a small fort and rent it out. No player is going to have that much money on hand. And who in their right mind would spend that much on a rifle? The price just ridiculous.

Shit. I can't move on without my weapon. What am I supposed to do?

If you need a good machine, I can make you a gift. But that's the only way I can help you, no offense.

Thanks for that. I'll write a little later.

Ronnie went to the only wooden chair in his room, sat down on it, propped his chin on his hand, bent over and began to think.

"AI, tell me about the Top secret guild."

"Fulfilling you request... The guild is in third place in the "Dominance" victory rating. It has twenty-three players, with the average level of eighteen. Guild leader – Vvy, level 23, 95%, 5th place in the ranking, is currently the first deputy of the alliance of players at the foot of Orodrim Eoul. His deputy and chief strategist is Latludious, but many call him "Bishop". 18 level, 17%, ranking 7843."

"Remind me, how is the guild list formed in the "Dominance" rating?"

"Guild leaders receive special tasks that require a lot of people to complete. They gather a group and go to clear the dungeons, capture and explore dangerous lands and protect the walls of the city from monster raids and so on. For completing a guild task, points are awarded. Their number forms the rating."

"Got it. Thanks."

"Always at your service."

Ronnie wrote to Latludious in private and asked why the issue could not be discussed in messages.

You'll understand, when you'll come.

OK.