I could feel the heat rising from the ground beneath my paws — a pleasant warmth that seeped into my very being. The surface of the planet was a vast, pulsating organic tissue, alive and vibrant. Low, dark clouds raced across the sky, casting a heavy shroud, only allowing brief glimpses of the heavens through scattered rifts. The sky above was dark, painted in bright neon hues, from warm pinks and oranges to cool violets and deep blues. The night overhead shimmered like a multicolored veil, obscuring the cosmos.
Three colossal moons gazed indifferently at the highway of glowing pulsating nebulae, stretched across the space like a star-dusted bridge leading to distant worlds.
On the horizon, the jagged silhouettes of volcanoes loomed, spewing streams of lava and columns of smoke into a sky torn apart by lightning. The air was thick with the familiar scents of sulfur and ash.
I continued running, my powerful legs carrying me across the living surface. It responded eagerly to every step, slightly springing and pushing me forward, amplifying my speed. My brothers ran beside me, our movements synchronized, driven by a shared impulse. Our bodies, as if sculpted from gray stone, were covered in sharp, glinting spikes that flashed with each stride. Four strong legs propelled us forward, while our long tails ending in razor-sharp blades sliced through the air behind us.
My six eyes — three on each side of my elongated, massive head — picked out the smallest details far in the distance, granting me perfect vision. A pointed crest crowned my head, framed by two rows of curved horns. I was always ready to fend off enemies. A dense, violet field of energy pulsed around my body, flickering in rhythm with the beat of my three hearts.
Around us stretched an endless network of organic structures: incubators from which new warriors were born, gene vaults storing priceless codes gathered from countless external worlds, and massive processors converting raw material into life energy. The walls and arches of these structures breathed and pulsed, filling the air with a low hum that merged with the rhythm of our run.
I could feel every member of my pack — their thoughts, their drive, their fierce desire to fulfill the mission. We were not just physically connected; we were mentally united, bound into the shared consciousness of the Swarm. This flow of collective intelligence filled me with strength and certainty; here, there was no room for doubt or fear.
A massive glowing rift came into view ahead, surrounded by swirling energy radiating every color of the spectrum. Its borders trembled like the breath of a giant, and from its center emanated thin threads of light, beckoning us forward. Organic spikes and tendrils framed the portal, forming an arch we were destined to cross.
I surged forward, feeling the pull of the rift’s energy calling to me. Wind whistled around my horns, and I could hear my brothers following, their paws pounding in an accelerating rhythm.
We were upon the Portal.
Time slowed.
Gathering all my strength, I leaped first, plunging into the radiant stream of light. A blinding white flash filled everything, and for a brief moment, I felt weightless, suspended in the infinity of space.
----------------------------------------
State Ukraine, an unnamed road near Highway M06, 130 km from Kyiv
Maksim Chernykh’s Team, August 14, 2049, 01:01 PM
“What the hell was that? Way too vivid for a dream,” Maxim thought as he abruptly opened his eyes.
The sudden wake-up left his head spinning slightly, but overall, his condition could be described as bearable. The pain in his leg had mostly subsided, though a dull, heavy ache still lingered occasionally.
Outside the window, it was already a bright, sunny day, but the truck’s windows were set to a special mode — inside, it was dim, while the outside reflected a mirrored surface, hiding everything within. The heat in the cabin had finally dissipated, and the air purifier had worked its magic, clearing the atmosphere to a comfortable level.
“Good… morning, big brother,” Alisa’s voice greeted him from behind the driver's seat. “Want a quick status update?”
“Thanks. That would be helpful.”
“You’ve been asleep for six hours and thirteen minutes. We just passed Zhytomyr and are now one hundred and thirty kilometers away from Kyiv’s Watchtowers if you take the highway. Two hundred eleven kilometers have been covered, and the average speed is thirty-four kilometers per hour. It’s only seventeen kilometers away from the exit of the Protectorate’s control zone.”
“How’s everyone else?”
“Nika is still asleep, and Dasha’s awake but lying in bed for now.”
Hearing the voices, Redhead stirred on the passenger seat and finally woke up.
“Mornin’… everyone,” she yawned, “How was your sleep, Max?”
“Weird, to be honest,” he chuckled. “Slept well, but had the strangest, most unnervingly realistic dream.”
“If you want,” Nika laughed, “I can tell you what it means later. I’m a super-duper dream interpreter, in case you didn’t know!”
“Really?”
“Of course not, just messing with you. I don’t believe in dream interpretations, tarot cards, or astrology.”
At that moment, a sudden flurry of notifications appeared in augmented reality.
//SYSTEM:
@Attention! The development of the Group/Clan creation and management module (including improved user interface) has begun.
@Integration of the Group/Clan management module with the user parameters and stats evaluation module is in progress.
If you encounter this story on Amazon, note that it's taken without permission from the author. Report it.
@Integration of the Group/Clan management module with the TACTA accounting modules is in progress, utilizing the Informatorium API.
@Attention! Completion of development requires access to the personal API keys of at least ten different users.
@Please provide user API key data [expand…]
Seeing these messages, Vasilevskaya jumped in bed, got tangled in her blanket, and predictably fell onto the floor. Fortunately, the truck’s bed was low, so the fall was more embarrassing than painful.
“Oof... damn it... yeah…” she muttered. Actually, Dasha was awake for about twenty minutes now, but she went and dived into Deep VR before even opening her eyes.
“It’s... err… I’m looking into the System’s structural changes… you know, umm, like… right now,” she started explaining from the floor, deciding it was more important to comment than to get up.
Daria quickly checked the status of the team — they were all awake, as indicated the “online” mediaglyphs beside their names in the command interface. No one was asleep; otherwise, the status would have automatically changed.
“So, listen, we’re in for some epic stuff. First, the System had analyzed a ton of data to create a player progression model — well, not players, us. To create a model of us. Yeah. It tapped into the sub-brain, pulled data flows from the CNS to the brain through the cortical grid and back, and voilà, now it knows everything about us.”
Finally freeing herself from the rebellious blanket, Daria got up, shook her head, and climbed back into bed. She grabbed her vape from under the pillow, holding it like a comfort object as she continued.
“The System created a model of the human body and implants, evaluated the parameters of our organisms, and laid it all out in a detailed model that goes from simple to complex. I’ll explain it. Let’s take Strength — a standard attribute in all LitRPGs, right? The System can evaluate the strength of each of us based on what it knows about human biology.”
“It provides some general score by comparing you to a ‘baseline standard.’ Let’s say it gives you, like, 42. Now, if you want to know what that 42 actually means, you can dive deeper into the model, down to specific muscle groups. They’re all evaluated. And now you know exactly what to train if you want to push that 42 to a 43! Cool, right?”
“Very cool,” Maksim agreed, nodding. “Sounds like the perfect fitness trainer. It’s almost a shame we didn’t come up with this earlier. Could’ve been a useful product.”
“We couldn’t have, not before,” Dasha countered, settling in more comfortably and toying with the vape box in her hands. “The System is using the expansion of the Cortical Grid installed by TACTA. I haven’t fully figured it out yet, but with this module, the amount of data we’re getting from our brains and CNS has increased exponentially. And the System was able to process all that and build the model. Or rather, it’s still working on it, tweaking it as we speak. Yeah.”
“It’s actually just the tip of the iceberg,” Alisa added. “The most interesting part is the interaction with the Informatorium via personal and group API keys. Out of the box, TACTA only gives the bare minimum — mostly the marketplace. But for us, as developers, there are far more opportunities. We can access missions, manage social groups, and even oversee Free Cities. Max, don’t you want to set up your own high-tech eco-settlement?”
“Thanks, that’s sweet of you. But I’d rather deal with our current mess before dreaming about weird stuff,” the guy replied.
“Yeah, we need to quickly find at least five more people to connect, so we can finish this iteration of development,” Dasha said confidently. “Alisa and I can work on the System while we’re on the road, right?”
“What about asking Miro?” Nika chimed in as she stood up and stretched. “He doesn’t have his own team AI yet.”
“Definitely,” Maksim agreed. “We should offer it to the Linkers as well.”
“Yep,” Alisa nodded. “And we could pitch it as something they could advertise and sell too. For a cut or two. Cause I know how it goes — you’ll get super passionate and will dive into development, but when it comes to selling it, who’s going to handle that?”
“And… and there’s more, listen!” Dasha interjected excitedly, completely ignoring the topic of commercialization. “There’s something important — it has just hit me. Well, it was kind of obvious from the start, but I figured out only now how to make it work with the equipment we’ve got.”
“Take it easy, WonderWhiz, and tell us your idea,” Maksim encouraged her. He even got out of the driver’s seat to sit next to her on the bed — Alisa was driving anyway.
“Okay, yeah. I’ll explain,” Vasilevskaya grinned, glad he had joined her. “My idea is that we should set up ‘computational nodes’ for the System’s distributed blockchain network. It’s like cryptocurrency mining, but the nodes would work on developing its Core and overall structure. I’m calling them ‘nodes’ because they can also process and validate materials received for training the System. Right now, Moira can handle it all since we don’t have many users, but later, when there are hundreds of thousands of users…”
“You’ve got some ambitious plans, I see,” Maksim said with a smile. “But are you sure you can handle a structure this complex?”
“I can handle it, I can! As long as I have a place to vape,” the sleepy, disheveled girl smiled, finally deciding to get up for good. “I’m going to wash up and brush my teeth if no one minds, okay?”
“We’ve already missed breakfast,” Alisa quipped, slipping back into her role as the caring sister and good friend. “But if anyone’s hungry, I can offer some military rations. It’ll be a full lunch.”
“Sounds good,” Maksim agreed. “And while we eat, we’ll leave the Protectorate’s control zone, get a bit farther, and find a good place to safely deactivate the stealth module.”
----------------------------------------
“No one’s here. All infrastructure is shut down. No active surveillance cameras,” Alisa reported, guiding both reconnaissance drones back toward the truck.
They had released the nimble flying machines earlier, just after leaving the Protectorate’s control zone and passing through a tunnel beneath the highway.
“Perfect, turning in now,” Maksim responded from the driver’s seat.
The truck veered off the cracked asphalt road in an industrial outskirts of a small town, heading toward the invitingly open gates of a service station for heavy-duty vehicles.
Despite the initial reconnaissance, they were ready for anything. The team entered the area fully prepared for combat, armed and in full gear. As it turned out, though, the place was completely deserted. It seemed the staff had fled days ago — most likely on Thursday, August 12th, when the invasion began.
The cabin doors opened, and Maksim with Nikola jumped out, assault rifles in hand. They swiftly scouted the premises, covering each other. Using the Big One, they peeked into closed rooms where the flying drones couldn’t reach. Empty.
[Clear. Everyone can come out but stay alert. Keep your helmets on. Alisa, send the birds on a perimeter patrol around the service station, and have one of them go higher for a good view of the town,] Maksim ordered.
[On it,] Alisa responded curtly.
“Why’s it so… empty in here?” Dasha remarked in surprise as she stepped out of the truck.
“Yeah, there is not much to loot,” Nikola added, sounding a bit disappointed.
“It’s simple,” Maksim chuckled. “Imagine yourself in a ‘starting location’ like this. What would you do?”
“Well,” Redhead looked around, thinking, “I’d grab a couple of stronger vehicles, maybe some trucks like ours. Slap on armor… Eh, no, Max, that’s not fair. That’s me, and I know where to get weapons, how to rig them on the vehicle, how to turn a civilian van into a makeshift armored car, and all that. But these were just regular workers. How would they know any of that?”
“This place is a bit too fancy for regular workers in a small, out-of-the-way town, especially on its outskirts,” Maksim replied. “And the hangar, plus what’s left of the equipment here, all top-tier brands. If they weren’t bandits themselves, they were definitely working for some.”
“They might’ve called a crafting Drone and repurposed most of the materials,” Alisa remarked as she, too, stepped out of the truck. “We have access to those as well, by the way. But that’s a conversation for later, I suppose.”
“Yeah, we’ve got more pressing matters right now,” Maksim agreed, surveying the remains of the equipment in the vast hangar. “Let’s take a short break here. I’ll disable the stealth mode and check on the truck. We should also get in touch with Miro and Lena, and most importantly, try to line up a good passing mission for us to take on. How does that sound?”