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2022-10-28 19:03:20I didn't get far, it just got so dark that I couldn't see the road, but luckily the timer reset and I was able to set up camp here. The night flew by instantly, although it seems that lately I’ve only been doing what I’m sleeping, but moral fatigue is an evil thing to throw it off, there’s not always enough sleep, it’s worth going through, overcoming, and then the spirit will be freed.
In the morning, after a quick bite of the rest of the provisions, I went on. On the nearest lands, the undead did not even smell, for the attack they were driven from all over the area, and the robbers did not have time to migrate to these places. Therefore, there was nothing to fear, and I could afford to relax and just admire the surrounding views. And there was something to admire: to the left of the road a pure birch forest, to the right a field with cornflowers on the horizon, merging with the sky of the purest blue color.
The task for today was far from heroic. I need to get to the inn, sort out my inventory, refresh my provisions and prepare for my stay with the scorpions, what might be waiting for me there, I have no idea, so it's worth being safe.
While I was making plans, nature began to change dramatically. Here the trees have ended, the steppe has gone. The main color changed from green to yellow, the only thing that remained unchanged was the sky. The sky was still the same blue and clear, which could not but rejoice, a clear sky gives hope for a brighter future.
By evening I was already in the town, standing near the desert, in this area the temperature had risen sharply. Despite the fact that I stayed in the same country, the architecture has changed and acquired oriental shades. The city, for the most part, was made of white stone houses with domed roofs, narrow streets and palm trees.
Not far from the city, the players hunted lizards, the level of both hunters and lizards was no higher than the fifteenth, which means that this is a low-level location. While admiring the scenery, I noticed something was wrong, on the side of the road in front of the entrance to the city, three stuck to the girl. He recalled the camel, slipped into invis and ran to the place of the showdown. Approaching them at a distance of ten meters, he heard a conversation:
You don't seem to understand. This is our location, and here everyone pays us if they want to farm. So drive the gold and get out of here.
- But I really don’t have any, I only have ten coppers.
- So, now you are flying to rep, and in the evening you owe not one gold, but two, and if you don’t bring it, you can not enter the game. You will have many deaths, so many that you will go crazy. You understood?
While they were crucifying, I analyzed their Persians, three aggro with red nicknames of the fortieth level. Level 7 girl. Of course, she can't do anything to them. Therefore, I cut infrasound and issue:
- I have another suggestion.
It was funny to watch how they bravely turn around, and when they see the level, they droop. They didn’t even try to fish, with such a difference as ours, their chances tend to be negative. And although this is not entirely true, they do not need to know that my actual stat level is sixty-eight.
- You throw off a hundred gold¹ and get out of this loki, otherwise I will reset you and take the gold with gear.
But we don't have that many.
I put them on the black list and I see long faces, they received alerts about this.
- Let's have as much as we can.
Threw off fifty gold. For the initial loki, a lot of money, but it won’t work.
"I'll be here in fifteen minutes with the rest of the money." Bring what you have. The one who will not be in fifteen minutes will regret much more.
With these words I take off the heads of two and, without throwing off the inertia of movement, I bring out a double blow to the chest of the third, he hangs on the swords for several seconds and falls like a carcass. I collect loot from them. And I turn to the girl.
- Don't worry, we'll teach them a lesson. I doubt that after this day they will remain in the location.
Thank you, no one would stop to help.
I don't like aggro, I really don't. So no thanks. Now wait, we need to set up a trap plan.
He called a group of nearby farming players.
- Guys, I pay five gold each for the info. You need to throw a group of Malvina and disperse to all exits from the city. If you see someone from the list leaving the city, unsubscribe to the chat. Don't ask for trouble, don't shine on nicknames. Let's hurry, we don't have much time.
The guys, seeing the nicknames of their offenders, fell off point by point, like racing horses. Ten minutes later, the last observer reported that the point was occupied. A quarter of an hour passed, there were no aggressors, but they did not leave the city either. A friendly trinity appeared twenty minutes later with joyful cries that they had collected.
- You late. You have fifteen minutes.
With these words, they again set off for rep². Well, let's wait a little more. I collected the loot again, putting it in a separate bag. Now they also dropped a dozen gold coins. This time they arrived in fifteen minutes, thirty seconds and turned in two fifty coins and one forty.
- There is not enough.
- But you knocked them out, you have them.
- The penalty is increased to one hundred and fifty coins. There will be another such jamb, I will increase the fine again. Fifteen minutes.
And again rep for our friends. And again they lost part of the gear. During this hour, they lost almost all the equipment. This time they came on time and brought everything. Finally, having sent them to rep, I collected the last loot and, taking Malvina, went to the hotel, where we agreed to meet with our safety team, which, fortunately, was not needed. I really didn't want to run after them.
We arrived at the hotel earlier than the others. Therefore, he ordered a table and, leaving Malvina to wait for the order and the company, went to rent a room. This time I decided to reconsider my opinion about a private room. You can break into a private house, but not into a private room. And since I have acquired things of great value, I don’t think it’s rational to store them anywhere else. Besides, when traveling, I can access the room from any hotel and inn.
Therefore, the choice approached thoroughly. I took three rooms. One small bedroom, furnished in brown and white. A calm atmosphere will allow you to relax, and it will be possible to have a better rest, I took a bed, a bedside table and a soft carpet from the furniture. I don't need anything else in the bedroom. The next room is an office, there is already most of it. For starters, a comfortable secretary table, a bookcase, a mini-bar, a fireplace with an automatically updated woodpile, a couple of comfortable chairs at the table and in front of the fireplace, a mini-table for the second chair, a large world map that is automatically updated when buying maps or personal exploration of the area. And the third big one is a warehouse with convenient shelving and cabinets of various formats. It cost me one gold a day. Paid for ten years in advance. Let it be, it's easier
When I finished with the room, the guys were already packed. I sat down at their table, it turns out that they were waiting for me and did not touch the food. I invited them to join the meal and immediately gave the promised money, I do not like to be indebted. After the meal, he said goodbye to everyone except Malvina, and without prying eyes gave her the gold taken from the Agres and their gear. Her gratitude knew no bounds. In fact, such outpourings are embarrassing, so I quickly rushed off to the magic academy. There he ordered an artifact that can identify things without an appraiser. Luckily it wasn't as rare as I thought, just expensive, very expensive, but the anonymity was worth it. Having paid off twenty-five thousand gold for the benefit of the development of magic, I went to the guild of cartographers. Fortunately, despite the late hour, the guild was opened and with pleasure for five thousand gold provided me with a complete map of Lemrado and a partial map of the Black Sands Desert. Partial because it has never been fully explored.
The last thing left to do is go to the bank, where he deposited sixty-nine thousand gold into the account. Now I have only a round sum on hand, I was going to keep it separately.
Tonight, business in the city was over. Therefore, I went to the room, I still have to audit and place things in the warehouse. First of all, he threw gold into the chest, exactly one hundred thousand. The next were the armor knocked out of the engravers. Thanks to the crystal, their characteristics became known:
"Shield of Fortitude. Shield from the Fortitude Set, the set includes: shield, helmet, cuirass. The minimum level to use is 250.
Requirements:
Strength - 300
Physique - 300
Bonuses:
Strength + 150
Physique + 150
Armor + 300
When defending in place, the effect of armor + 30%. When wearing a full set, the effect increases to 40%.”
"Helmet of Fortitude. Helmet from the Fortitude Set, the set includes: shield, helmet, cuirass. The minimum level to use is 250.
Requirements:
Strength - 300
Physique - 300
Bonuses:
Strength + 100
Physique + 100
Armor + 250
When defending in place, the effect of armor + 30%. When wearing a full set, the effect increases to 40%.”
"Cirass of Fortitude. Breastplate from the Fortitude Set, the set includes: shield, helmet, cuirass. The minimum level to use is 250.
Requirements:
Strength - 300
Physique - 300
Bonuses:
Strength + 400
Physique + 400
Armor + 100
HP regeneration + 10 HP per second
When defending in place, the regeneration effect is 30 HP per second. When wearing a full set, the effect increases to 50 HP per second.
Next is the heart of the lich. After checking with an artifact, a description appeared.
“The heart of a lich is a reservoir of magical energy with a volume of 10,000,000 units. Self-fill capability: +50,000 units per hour. Fullness: 5 550 000.
The two wands turned out to be twin brothers:
"Level Limit: 100
Minimum specifications:
Intelligence - 150
Wisdom - 150
Intelligence Bonus - 125
Fires lightning that deals damage - intelligence * 3. Limit - 10 lightning per hour.
The staves turned out to be not finished products, but blanks, very high-quality blanks made of precious woods with inlaid stones, but there was no magic outline in them, so this is a potential weapon with any characteristics and bonuses.
But the misericord pleased.
"The Misericord of Mercy. Legendary, indestructible item. Misericord, made by special order of a knight-errant. Parameters: Strength +10% of the hero's strength. Instantly kills a downed enemy who accepts defeat. 100% chance to ignore armor on mercy hit."
Of course, you don’t use it in a regular battle, but one day it can be very useful. So I immediately added it to my outfit.
Further scrolls, with scrolls of fireballs and firefighters, there were no problems. I just counted them and put them in the closet, they turned out to be forty and thirty-two, respectively. But the scrolls from the tubes had to be checked.
There were five of them in total.
The first scroll of learning the teleportation skill. It was used immediately, although it requires a lot of mana, but strategic movement on the battlefield is extremely important.
“The unique skill teleportation rank 1 has been studied. The hero instantly moves to a distance of 10 meters. Cooldown: 60 minutes. Cost to activate: 500 mana.
I wonder why unique? And not understanding the dirty trick, I decided to postpone this knowledge for later.
Two scrolls with the skill of a meteor that falls from the sky at an angle of forty-five degrees and rolls in the direction of fall. At the landing site with a radius of one hundred meters, it dealt damage of one million units and, when pumped in, dealt another fifty thousand over a distance of five hundred meters.
An extremely powerful scroll, but only for mages. Activation required 100,000 mana.
Two more Tsunami scrolls. A wave ten meters high rose and moved in the indicated direction for five kilometers, causing damage of five hundred thousand to everyone along the way. The restrictions were that the beginning of the tsunami must be taken from the water and all the same one hundred thousand mana to activate.
The last thing left in the inventory is books and elite alcohol.
"Fifty-litre cask of 200-year-old wine."
"A 50-litre barrel of 200-year-old whiskey."
I left the kegs in the vault, what to do with whiskey, I didn't know yet, I don't like whiskey. But I'll keep the wine for myself, but for later, when there is something to celebrate.
The books took their place in the office. So I started building the library.
It took almost three hours to sort the items, and finished after midnight. I spent another half an hour putting everything in its place and making a list, it will come in handy when there are more items.
Fortunately, this work is over. It’s not mine, I’m more tired than from training, but order is a necessary thing. Judging by the map, tomorrow or the day after tomorrow I will reach the goal of my journey, which means I need to get a good sleep before leaving.
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I got up early in the morning, inspired by the proximity of the goal, ran downstairs, ordered breakfast, had a quick snack and went shopping on my last journey. I just didn’t take into account that it was still early, and all the shops were closed. I had to go back to the tavern, ordered something like a cocktail and mentally began to think about the shopping list. In such a blissfully thoughtful state, a bunch of yesterday's comrades-in-arms found me. The guys talked and accepted Malvina into their group, now they swing together. With absolutely no hesitation, they dropped down at my table with their breakfast and greeted me in chorus. And so it happened together with them that I already opened my mouth, because of which they burst out laughing. Laughing, Malvina took on the role of negotiator:We hope we didn't disturb you. We went to swing and decided to go for a bite to eat, and here you are.- Yes, I, in general, do not mind. Where are you going? To the desert?- Are
Top Game 61
- The world welcomes you! said a beautiful, deep female voice.It was the first thing I heard when I woke up, while I was in space, at least that's how I imagined it: the surrounding blackness, which seemed voluminous and endless, distant winking stars, a scattering of luminous gas clouds - this is a bewitching sight but it didn't last long at all. The world around me began to spin, and I ended up in a room. Small, with an area of three meters by two, but bright. Large window, white ceiling and apparently whitewashed, log walls and wooden floor, surprisingly smooth. The furniture included good quality chairs and a table. On one of these chairs sat a man, he was offhand about thirty years old, well-built brunette, direct look, proud profile, you look like from the cover of a magazine.“Good afternoon, Mark Viktorovich,” he began, “you probably don’t feel at ease, let me explain everything. My name is Nikifor Ivanovich Gromov. I am a representative of the Mir company. How are you feel
Top Game 62
I really liked this way of posing the question, although I assumed that it would be difficult. For starters, Sergei sent me for a jog around the village; it was funny to look at the faces of other players: since this is a starting village, and the game does not imply the creation of a new character, it can be said with confidence that there are only beginners, maximum instructed by experienced friends. And besides, these incomprehensibly elongated faces, they say, what for this moron rushes about like mad, and without any business, but waved their hand - they went to beat the rabbits of the first level in order to quickly raise the level and get out of the boring initial loka. It was hard to run, the energy squandered just instantly. For her speedy recovery, Sergei ordered to drink water at the beginning of the day, and after dinner he gave a glass of milk, and I ran, already pouring milk as fuel,At about four o'clock in the afternoon, when milk began to flow from the ears and stamin
Top Game 63
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Top Game 64
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Top Game 65
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Top Game 66
The sun broke through the window, a ray ran along the ceiling, closet and jumped on my face. I sneezed like a cat and woke up. It’s healthy to sleep, I was tired yesterday not like a child, but, remembering the events of the past day, I smiled, and a wonderful mood swept over me. My level has skyrocketed, and the surrounding locations have become small for me, which does not relieve me of the obligation to train. Therefore, in order not to waste time, I went to the hunters' guild, took the task for ponytails, fortunately, the players do not like wolves, and ran. Yes, yes, he ran. Today's workout consists of a non-stop jog with wolf tail cutting along the way. I just ran out to the edge of the forest, jumped on the first two wolves and, without even throwing off my daggers, looted without looking, throwing everything into my inventory. A few words must also be said about inventory. Inventory is a spatial pocket,Around lunchtime, when my stamina was approaching zero, I returned to the
Top Game 67
And here is the morning, what colors the day. After having a snack, I immediately went to the Mages Guild to insert an air blade into swords. It activated in the same way, with the power of thought, and consumed twenty mana per release of the blade and dealt one hundred damage at the first level. It looked like looking through very clear glass. There were spells that were stronger, much stronger, for example, the fiery blade dealt two hundred and fifty damage at the first level, while it had a chance to hang a dot of burning. But I bet on secrecy, I hope I will not lose. Then he tied the swords to himself, in total it took six thousand gold pieces. The amount is huge, but saving on weapons is such a thankless task. The furniture is still not completed, so I decided to start by going through the mentors, learn a couple of crafts, for example, cooking, then you will need a seamstress, a blacksmith, a herbalist, an alchemist. You can pick up a whole bunch of them, but you ca
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Four hours, this, of course, is not a complete rest, but at least it turned out to freshen up a little, otherwise, in fact, a day on your feet fogs up your mind. He called Dmitry, found out which of those present was more respected, and on his advice he called three more. I need people who can be senior in my absence, and for this I need to explain what I want from them and what the plan is all the same. I had a conversation with Dmitry, because I know him better.- So what did you think, Mirage?- A little about the situation: the streets are clogged with undead, I did not find the living from the word at all. Apparently we are the only ones in this city. Now about the main thing: while reading a book about the undead, I found an interesting fact - after death, the bodies of the undead are burned, as they burn well, like an oiled rag. There are thousands of bodies here, outside the walls of the city they lie in a dense ring to the very walls, and in the city itself, although not so m
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76
The further path was marked by the passage of a dozen more traps. And finally, in front of me is the wall of the secret passage. The hope of getting out outside the city was not destined to come true, gently opening the sash, I slipped out in invisibility right behind the zombies. Moreover, the zombies stood in a tight wall, shoulder to shoulder, and so far as the gaze spread. In order to inspect everything, I carefully climbed the wall to the roof, fortunately, my stealth skills have already taken a big step forward, and I'm not talking about the level of invisibility, but about understanding how to put a foot, how to move silently, which side to enter , so as not to impersonate any third-party factor.The view from the roof amazed me. All the streets were densely packed with standing zombies, they stood everywhere, on every free heel of space, all the floors of each of the buildings were occupied, where there was an exit to the roof, they stood on the roof, and all this without a si
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We were very lucky - by the time the undead broke into the city, we had blocked all the passages and windows, remade the chimney, closed the fresh masonry with oak shields, and collected firewood and supplies. And, most importantly, while working, people gained the determination to fight, now there was no crying, but only quiet and calm conversations. The people who showed their leadership qualities during the work organized the sorting of supplies without mention. The breakthrough occurred in the evening, at which time the parapet¹ of the bodies reached the top of the wall, and an avalanche of undead flowed into the city. We could not watch everything, I wanted to go out in invisibility for reconnaissance, but there are so many undead that they will trample the invisible. Therefore, one had to sit and listen to the growling, the beat of thousands of feet shaking the ground, and the screams of people. I really wanted to help them, but there was no such opportunity, our she
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Finally a city. The transition turned out to be tiring, so I decided to rest in the city for a day. The town is small, but located on an important trade road, so many caravans stop here all the time. The walls are not high, but thick enough, they are more from robbers than enemies from abroad. I decided to stay at the Prancing Pony Hotel, which is run by a young couple with a young son. I liked the hotel with a simple but interesting style. When I went inside, I was amazed: a simple house on the outside, unremarkable from the rest, inside looked like a marvelous garden. All the walls were covered with vines and, remarkably, with bunches of grapes. At the entrance, a security guard stopped me and warned that it was possible to pick grapes, but only visitors to the establishment, and as much as they need for food now, cannot take grapes with them to their room and take them out of the hotel. A reasonable rule of thumb is to ensure that there is eno
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73
It seems that the job is done, but it's too early to relax. The first desire was to wake up all the slaves, but after a little thought, I decided that it was better to leave this matter until the morning. Firstly, it is difficult to predict the reaction of people to a man in black who appeared out of nowhere and soaked fifty people. And if this appearance is also at night, but by the light of fires, uuuu. So we clear the leader's tent from the corpse and climb there on the bainki. The morning is wiser than the evening, although it is not clear why, the evening is older, which means that he has more experience. As soon as he fell into bed, he immediately jumped from a sharp cry right above his ear. This is the same girl who was with the leader, I was in the middle of a fight and forgot about the poor fellow, and she sits there, shaking, apparently, she hid here all day, and I accidentally lay down on her. And once such an incident happened, you need to calm down. To begin with, I took
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72
The day was beautiful, today I had to drive through a pine forest. The sun broke through the tent of branches, playing like bunnies in the morning dew. The camel, to which I never bothered to give a name, easily walked along the coniferous carpet, breathing easily and naturally. Today I was going to make a decent push and leave most of the trip behind me. The road ran easily, from the soul poured out of nowhere a pop-up song: “You are a sailor, I am a sailor. You are a fisherman, I am a fisherman. You are on land, I am on the sea. We will never meet." Further, for the life of me, I don’t remember, but I sang these four lines for probably an hour, until a branch from a fallen tree flew over me. It was so unexpected that I choked on a sailor, and then, by inertia, it turned out that I was a crack. I didn't think about it, didn't think about it. I am sitting, thinking about the intricacies of fate and the love of a sailor and a quack, and what should she do, poor fellow,
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71
I woke up to the accompaniment of a downpour, the rain charged like a bucket, and, judging by the sky, this is for the whole day. The mood has dropped sharply, like it or not, but you have to shuffle under the downpour, the time spent in this location is limited. I reluctantly had breakfast and took food for the road, and why didn’t I do this before? Fucking romantic. Hunt him, you see, serve, uuu, how angry I am. Okay, depressed, and that's enough, it's time to go. He called his hunchbacked horse, jumped up and rushed towards adventure, that is, he trudged along where the map ordered. In the whole situation, one thing was pleasing - the road remained strong, the camel's hooves did not fall into the mud, so we were going fast enough. The whole day passed in silence, I was already used to the rain knocking on the hood, and the next day was just as wet and cloudy. So a week passed, during all this time only once a horseman came across, and even that one, judging by the form, the messeng
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70
Lunch was almost here, and in order not to remain hungry, I decided to go hunting. Yes, I understand perfectly well that there are crackers, but who wants to eat them? So go ahead! Into the forest! And don't look at me like that, I'm on the hunt, the environment will not suffer. There was a pleasant coolness in the forest, the birds were singing, somewhere not far away I heard the roar of deer. The deer attracted me, calling the camel away, I went into the shade and began to creep up to the place where I heard the roar. I had to walk long enough, almost an hour, and when I did find them, I fell asleep, stepping on a branch, so I had to catch up. Perhaps it was worth spitting on this matter, but I had already bitten the bit and did not want to leave without game, although I spent several hours on it. It seems to have overtaken, deer stood in a tight circle in a clearing and ate grass. I’m not going to make such an oversight anymore, so I tried to foresee everything: branches, wind,
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69
Early in the morning, so as not to waste time, I got up, had breakfast and went to Master Loiniel. The master got up early, so he was not afraid to wake him up. It must be said that the sleeping city is beautiful: dawn rose in the east, its red rays illuminated the spire of the town hall, touched the magic dome of the academy and sparkled in it with a riot of colors. It was like a miniature aurora borealis, under which a soundless salute exploded. This celebration of the eyes did not last long, about five minutes, the sun came out, and everything took on its colors. Immediately, the magic lanterns along the streets went out, a rooster crowed somewhere, and I realized that I had been standing with my mouth open all this time. Coming to his senses, he moved on. Loiniel, as usual, was standing on the porch, is he sleeping here, or what? After greeting, he told me to open the map, on which he indicated the purpose of my visit. He also handed over a tube of papers for the Scorpions. Thanki
