by Paul Kite
After all, a living brain was used for the bio-network, even if it was taken out of the skull of the specimens and frozen. The management considered it necessary to detain Livion. However, his isolation had completely different reasons! The man was too persistent in promising to tell the world about all the dangers of the little-studied virtual worlds created on the basis of quantum technologies, super intelligent AI, grown on biocrystals, and the completely unknown effect of neurothereses on the human brain. The scientist insisted that the owners of the ‘Life’ corporation be reasonable and delay the project for a while until he figured it all out. They didn’t, but instead sent him away to the virtual reality he himself developed.
Still, it was impossible to remove or eliminate such a figure from the playing field. The name of a professor with a doctoral degree was well known in society, and sooner or later someone would definitely get to the bottom of things. There were always enough journalists, and the high mortality rate among them didn’t reduce the number of people who wanted to achieve fame on the back of a high-profile case. In this case, it was possible to tell the legend about how an old, tired man finally decided to enjoy the world in whose creation he participated directly. The corporation highly appreciated the work of an elderly person! The great scientist was tired and wanted to relax before his time in this mortal body ended.
The global media had covered his departure into the newly opened virtual reality called ‘The Realm of Noria’. Of course, the old man learned the details of the events from Arthur, because the scientist himself was already lying in a capsule. Livion wanted to hear the speeches of the heads of the unified government and see the video they created. Their story was that the great scientist said goodbye to his followers and rare students, who naturally confirmed this legend. The public didn’t suspect anything and no one guessed that shortly before the performance, the security agencies firmly warned people not to voice their true thoughts and assumptions. Well, those people who guessed the truth were either silent, or came under the attention of the security services. However, no one could get other information except that the professor was actually in a capsule, in a special institution and under the watchful supervision of doctors and physicians.
“Bastards!” Livion grumbled. “They locked me in this diabolical prison!”
The necromancer soon calmed down. After all, he couldn’t change the past and he should focus on the present.
The main question that bothered him was — who stole his safe? How many players and NPCs could execute such a task? After all, the NPCs who installed the safe in Livion’s office promised him that this safe was the most secure and reliable! The necromancer would like to meet with them and have a frank discussion! It was impossible, he himself sent them to the other world to keep the secret. And the NPCs, alas, unlike the players, didn’t respawn. So, Livion needed to find the contractor. However, he had already guessed who he, or most likely she, could be!
I wish Arthur would come back! He hasn’t been in the game since that day Lady Kiera caused a scandal.
“Uh, that bitch!” the wizard swore.
As far as Livion could know, Arthur wasn’t at home, either! Well, at least he launched that server and part of the documentation about ‘Life’ Corporation and its true owners would soon reach the most influential news sites and companies. However, a couple of dozens of smaller ‘predators’ would also get ‘a tasty morsel’. Some of the documents were encrypted, but those who decided to risk would be able to hack them easily. Livion knew that some of them would do a lot for the sake of sensation! It was important that at least one of the websites publish a part of the decrypted documents, and then the rest would pick up this hot news.
Arthur did his job well, Livion kept thinking.
“Heck! In addition to contracts with guilds to search for a certain Kraven, there were many valuable bills, invoices, lists of artifacts, cards in the safe. And money! A lot of money.”
“Bad luck!” Livion rose from the chair. “I think it’s time to show myself! Stop hiding like a hermit!”
The wizard was well aware that he had little chance to return the safe and at least some of the papers. But it was important for the necromancer to punish the stupid NPCs and players who’d forgotten that it wasn’t allowed to steal from the most powerful ravan necromancer! He didn’t care that he ventured to open up and attract the attention of top gaming clans and guilds. They didn’t have enough strength and willpower to confront him!
Livion regretted he missed the opportunity to use Lady Kiera in his plans. The necromancer had a plan B.
Kraven, the only son of the technical director of ‘Life’ Corporation, was like himself locked up in this game for unknown reasons. As soon as the elf found the young man, he would immediately lead him wherever Livion wanted to go. Finally, the light elf told about the possibility of transferring players to a certain area, from which there was no way out. This applied to any character. The necromancer even managed to carry out one brutal experiment, with the help of Dazrael, the former master of the Shadows, sending one of the new players to this area. Arthur then found out that the 29-year-old man didn’t leave the game after the due date. When his relatives dragged him out of the capsule, it turned out that his body and brain were functional, but his mind wasn’t right. It was scary. It turned out that those who are sent to this truly strange place really lost their mind, in the truest sense of the word.
The necromancer didn’t doubt that Dazrael would definitely find Kraven! The light elf told him about the tags.
Going down to the basement, Livion quickly put a dozen artifacts of scrolls and potions into the inventory, and then activated a portal to one of the cities in the Dark Forest.
* * *
The dark elf standing by the narrow open window was very old. His wrinkled, dryish skin and his eyes, which looked like a reflection of an abyss, revealed both his age and his strength and power. After all, he was one of the most ancient denizens of the Realm of Noria. He was Derolighler of the guild ‘Elghinn Dal Veldrin’. Derolighler was a title of lord, that became a proper name. The elf himself didn’t remember his real name, which was lost to centuries.
Zorkhan, the most famous Shadow master of the whole world and Derolighler’s main assistant for more than a thousand years, was standing behind him.
“Kraven and Wizard Lsaeros left Harith-Hodor island on the Captain Kirk’s ship, a man from the old Nazhar family — Corazal,” Zorkhan reported like a pupil, his head bowed.
“But instead of landing on the shores of the Dark Forest or the kingdom of Nazhar, in the village where Dazrael was to wait for him, they went further to the Wastelands of the Orcs. The light elf didn’t return to any of the secret or official guild offices, for unknown reasons.”
“Have you figured out where is Dazrael now?” Derolighler asked softly. “Why isn’t he answering my calls?”
“He’s thrown the amulet of the call …” Zorkhan was silent for a moment, “in the sea.”
“Saira vire kogah tare silth!” the dark elf swore and turned to his subordinate. “Isn’t he your most praised and the best student in the entire era?! He betrayed you - his teacher, and the whole guild of Shadows at the crucial moment!”
“I suspect that this has something to do with an immortal named Livion,” Zorkhan began to make excuses lowering his head.
“This... surkh again! Derolighler gritted his teeth. “This is not the first time he stuck his nose in our affairs. Why is this immortal still here? Why didn’t you send him to Treskri Zakath?”
“Livion is the last surviving member of the ravan race. He’s very strong and extremely powerful! We tried... but lost two squads of our best warriors,” the master of the Shadows said bitterly. “Then Livion simply disappeared, until recently, when Kraven appeared.”
“Then I’ll personally deal with Livion! If I can’t rely on my people, I’ll have to do it myself.”
The drow, who was standing at a distance, shivered fearfully from
the harshness and rage of the head of the guild’s voice.
Derolighler was merciless in his anger, Zorkhan knew this perfectly well. At that moment, he wanted to be somewhere far away from his master, preferably in the ocean at the other end of the world.
“Well, I …” Zorkhan wanted to warn the head of the guild that he still didn’t know where the necromancer was hiding, but was stopped by a sharp gesture.
“I’ll find him myself!” Derolighler knew what his assistant wanted to say. “Tell me about the wizard and Kraven, the descendant of the sinrims. The man has a collar Ansr-ran, why didn’t you use it?”
“It turns out they blocked it as soon as they ran away from the Ardal monastery, pursued by the monks.”
“Can it be done?” Derolighler scrutinized him with his piercing eyes.
“No…” the Master of Shadows began.
“No?!” the drow’s wrinkled hand twitched, like he wanted to grab his unfortunate assistant by the throat, his nails lengthened turning into long sharp claws, but Derolighler managed to restrain himself, clenching his fist.
“Why did you say ‘No’?”
“I didn’t think the wizard, who was weak, would be capable of that,” the master of the Shadows hastened to tell the old drow the other bad news, recoiling in fright.
“Now you know,” Derolighler decided not to risk the life of the loyal master of the Shadows, and went back to the window. He restrained himself this time, but he was on the verge of killing his subordinate.
“Use all our connections among the orcs. Find Lsaeros and Kraven! Be sure to find out how the wizard managed to block Ansr-run.”
“Yes, my Lord,” Zorkhan hastily left Derolighler’s office.
Soon a large detachment of Shadows left Liar-Rahor, the main residence of the guild ‘Elghinn Dal Veldrin’, and headed for the nearest portal in the capital of the Dark Forest. From there, they traveled to the oases in the Wastelands of the Orcs, breaking into groups of five elves, with the direct assistance of teleporter wizards.
Derolighler guessed why Lsaeros decided to betray them. The wizard himself decided to learn all the secrets of the race of twilight elves, sinrims, and their heritage. Obviously, Lsaeros went to the Wastelands for a reason — one of the eight divine sources of purest magical energy was there, and it could restore the power he lost in Ardal’s dungeons.
Chapter 34
“No, no,” unexpectedly, a familiar voice came from somewhere. “Not yet!”
Hundreds of thousands of needles dug into my body, and I cried out in shock. All the characteristics that were cut by the debuff, the bars of life, stamina, and mana frantically galloped back and forth, recovering completely, then dropping again to a measly one percent. Then... a dull, throbbing pain grew in my chest, it grew with each heartbeat, spreading further and further through the cells of my body. I writhed and shouted from unbearable suffering, wishing I was dead! However, the game found the best way out. I finally passed out...
When I woke up and barely opened my eyes, I realized that I was still lying there, near the divine source. My characteristics remained at one percent of the initial maximum; at least this would last for only twenty-four hours, and not forever. The magic source didn’t like my daggers much. By the way, the system signaled something to me, but I decided I would check the messages later. At first, I had to understand what had happened, and why the wizard had knocked me out.
I was looking around, searching for him, because he had to be somewhere here. There was sand, more sand, water...
Hmm, there he is!
Lsaeros was sitting in... what the hell?... a cozy, small armchair and seemed to be dozing — his eyes were closed, his breathing was even.
Where did he get it from? Is there a merchant with a shop somewhere? This makes no sense.
“Stay still for a while, don’t get up too quickly,” the wizard said as if he knew what I felt. There wasn’t much time left before the divine curse would take effect. It takes about two hours.
“I probably shouldn’t have tried to remove all these negative effects,” Lsaeros said apologetically. “When I realized that my intervention was causing you pain, I had to deprive you of consciousness.”
Heck! Than you, great wizard, for your ‘incredible kindness’. I wanted to lash out at him, but... I managed to stay calm.
It turned out that I had been lying for twenty-two hours on the sand, and the wizard had been there all along and was guarding my valuable person so that the local inhabitants would not devour me... I almost wished they had devoured me! That would have solved the problems with the Shadow guild, the wizard and all those hunters who were after me.
By the way, how did Lsaeros find out about the curse-debuff? Why did he try to improve my trimmed characteristics?
The questions mounted, but only in my mind, as I didn’t intend to ask them quite yet. I lay there and pondered my fate.
“Kraven?” the wizard called my name.
“Yes,” I decided to respond. I had nowhere to go, unless I buried myself in the sand, so why shouldn’t I?
“How does it feel to be... immortal?” the most unexpected question raised a panic wave in my mind.
No, it was not a wave, it was more like... a tsunami!
I fought the urge that flashed through my mind to use my best skill — ‘Shadow’ and try to escape. The wizard was at the peak of his power, but I had a huge number of divine debuffs. As soon as I reincarnated, Lsaeros would immediately begin to act. It was unlikely that he would give me a minute or even thirty seconds to analyze dozens of my skills and abilities... So yes, there was no sense to risk it. Apparently, he needed me right here and now — alive, but not somewhere far away — at the rebirth point. I could use a skill that allowed me to copy my opponent completely, but the wizard would immobilize me again and knock me out. The levels and skills I would get from him wouldn’t help me, because I would have no time to use them. He did know everything about himself, but it would take me a while to study my possibilities.
Moreover, I had already guessed why Lsaeros needed me! He somehow realized that I was a player, and that meant he also learned I was a descendant of sinrims.
“It depends on the type of immortality,” I chuckled, having decided to talk to the wizard.
“Are you different from the rest?” Lsaeros raised his eyebrow in surprise.
“Actually, yes,” I answered shortly, grinning.
The wizard thought deeply, looking at me now and again.
“You are different,” Lsaeros summed up his thoughts. “You can’t leave this world at any time, unlike the rest of your... kind. You don’t refer to us as ‘NPCs’. You don’t look down on us, as if we weren’t human... intelligent beings,” the wizard corrected himself, remembering the many races inhabiting the Realm of Noria, “… but weak-willed puppets. You are the wrong kind of immortal,” he looked at me disapprovingly and kept silent.
“I am an ordinary guy, but I was very ‘lucky’. I was especially ‘fortunate’ to get that slave collar.” I remembered the Ansr-run.
“I understand your irony,” the wizard nodded. “But don’t forget that slavery also gave you a lot. You wouldn’t have become the warrior you now are. Believe me, you would have no equal if you trained for six months!”
“Why did nobody ask me if I needed this?!” I was grinding my teeth. “After all, when I had at least some choice, I grabbed the single thread of hope that later helped me survive and kept me sane in this damned drow training camp.”
“What did you expect? This world looks kind, sympathetic and safe from the ‘other’ side. Player can leave the game at any time or wait for help from the same immortal creatures. But…” Lsaeros paused, “now you know how cruel the world is from ‘this’ side, and how different it is from the life you are used to.”
“Yeah, you’re absolutely right!” I confirmed. “I felt that on my own skin. So I don’t want it anymore, you know... Well, we found out that it’s not always good to be immorta
l.” I decided to end this part of the conversation and move on to the most important thing. “Now tell me what do you want from me?”
“You must help me open the passage in the barrier,” the wizard readily gave the answer that I expected.
“Is that all?”
“That’s all,” the wizard said. “To tell you the truth, I didn’t intend to indulge the desires of master Zorkhan and Derolighler of the Shadow guild at all.”
“But after I help you do this, they’ll send people after me,” I said.
“Why not come with me to the Cursed Lands?” Lsaeros suggested. “No one will ever find you there.”
“I can’t,” I closed my eyes and sighed.
“Would you like to return to the real world? I can help you,” the wizard said. “If you promise me that before leaving the Realm of Noria, we will perform a ritual at the barrier of Ilian.”
“I’m afraid it won’t help,” I answered sincerely.
I really thought it was useless. After all, I wasn’t so stupid as to refuse the help of a powerful wizard. Well, if only he was a player, I would have agreed right away. I had to pass on the news to my father through someone I trusted completely. But, alas...
“Well, then there is another opportunity,” the wizard smiled enigmatically. “I’ll give you the portal key to my secret refuge, no one but me knows where it is. Anyway, I won’t be back in at least ten years. You can hide there from almost any danger! However, soon you will see everything yourself. In any case, we will have to pass through there on our way to the barrier.”
Lasaeros didn’t doubt that I would agree. Well, I did! Getting a shelter at my disposal was a tempting offer. Taking into account the wizard’s means, I had no doubt that it was fully equipped.
