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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 you laughing? There are mobs for a hundred and dangerous, they hang poison.

- How did it happen that the initial loca and mobs are for a hundred?

- Just along the border of the desert, the border of Lemrado ends. And, since the desert is not included in the territory of the state, there are other conditions.

            I left for more cocktails, and when I arrived, the guys already had a new topic on the agenda.

- Imagine, an event has begun to protect the state from the undead. Analysts of the top clans sharply went through all the information and decided that it was best to meet the enemy on the walls of the next city, which would be attacked later. Having calculated which city would be attacked, the clans dragged a bunch of people and began to prepare traps. Loners went to try their luck in an attempt to recapture the city, but soon gave up this business, even high-level players died there, and after a couple of attempts, loss of experience and some thing, they came to the conclusion that this was unrealistic, and top analysts were right. And now imagine the situation, the clans are waiting for the enemy, and then there is a global notification that the event is over. Everyone abruptly jumps on the mounts and jumps to the city with the undead, but it is not there, only a bunch of corpses and loot. They, of course, organized a collection of loot, but were unhappy, that the event ended so quickly and without their participation. They searched for the guilty, but they did not find such. As a result, now they are tearing and tossing, a couple of clans even declared war on each other, they were very offended. 

- Some kind of nonsense, probably, one of the tops decided not to share and closed the event, the same Phoenixes have enough strength for this.

            It was interesting to hear about these events, it is especially important for me that no one can connect the event with me. Or there could be problems. But I didn’t want to participate in this conversation, I can say something wrong, I don’t have access to the forum. Therefore, I said goodbye to the guys and went to the shops, we need to stock up and hit the road.

            To begin with, I went to the alchemist and bought potions for all occasions. Ten to restore health, ten to mana, three night vision, five purification from poison.

            The magic scroll shop was next, and here I took five scrolls of levitation, in case I get into quicksand, and seven scrolls of comfort, which build a comfortable temperature around you for ten hours. 

            I didn’t find anything else interesting, so I went to the shop of an ordinary merchant. I bought a flask of increased volume from him, immediately filled it with fresh water. Then I bought food for ten days, who knows how long I will have to stay there.

            Nothing else kept me in the city, which means that it was worth leaving immediately. Leaving the city, I called for a camel and set off towards the baking sun. During the journey, he once again thanked himself for the purchase of a camel, he walked through the desert and did not feel any discomfort from the scorching sun. Interesting, but only when I was among the sand dunes, I realized how much I was still worried. Where am I going? Why am I going? What will it give me? But, on reflection, he drove away these fears from himself. Where I'm going, I know, I have a mark on the map, I'm going to study, and will give me this knowledge, so I need to pick up snot and move on.

            In general, traveling through the desert is a rather boring thing. The only thing that pleased me was that the resistance to temperature rose by two percent and became nine instead of seven. 

            Luckily, I was never attacked during the trip. And in the evening I drove up to the rock. The rock itself is low, about ten meters high, and right at the foot of the cave, closed by a gate made of some wood unknown to me. Knocked, silence, waited a bit, knocked a second time. This time the gates opened, and a middle-aged man in a monastic cassock appeared before me. The pose in which he met me was relaxed, as if he had just drank tea, and then the postman came to him with his favorite newspaper, that's just his eyes ... I was cold from his eyes, he looked at me like a corpse. I was brought out of tetanus by his voice, the voice of military officers, even, calm, with metallic notes. 

- Why did you come?

“Master Lionel sent me. Here are the documents he handed over.

- Wait.

            With these words, he slammed the door in front of me. He stood for a minute, ten minutes, an hour. Silence behind the door. Well, you can't get rid of me that easily. I didn't spend a lot of time getting here through all sorts of obstacles in order to score my chance because of the bureaucracy. Here the sun went down, and it became sharply colder, apparently, resistance not only to heat, but also to cold, will pump me here. 

            That night I did not sleep, I sat up all night, studying the area, the silence was very ambiguous. In the morning the door opened and I was finally invited inside. The austerity of the situation was amazing, there was nothing remarkable here, we passed by the cells, in which there were only wooden couches. It took a long time to walk until we ran into another door, opening it, the monk went inside and called me, there was already more furniture and not only furniture. Another monk was sitting at a table in the center of the room, sorting through some papers. After a couple of minutes he spoke:

- Do you know that studying with us can drive you crazy?

- Yes.

- Do you renounce claims towards the Scorpios in case something happens to you?

- Yes.

            In fact, such questions strained a little, but the secretary, as I called him to myself, continued. 

- Training is divided into several stages, after each you can leave the training, saving your progress, but you will not be able to return. You can give up during the stage and lose progress, it will be impossible to return. During the training, you can die, and even for you immortals, this will be a wasted chance with the loss of everything you have achieved. If everything is clear, read the document and put your hand on it.

            The document formally formalized the renunciation of claims on any topic. It's dark, but you have to try. I press my palm, the document is illuminated by light, and that's it. 

            “You have begun training in the Black Scorpion clan, may luck be with you, you will need it! Access to inventory is closed during training. Chat is closed. You can leave the game for no more than 4 hours a day, or a failure is automatically counted"

            I did not have time to finish reading, as they took me by the elbows and led me along some dark corridor. It's so dark that I can't see anything at all, we walked for about fifteen minutes with different turns and, according to my feelings, we were going down. At one point, they threw me on the floor and poured some kind of liquid into my eyes, it felt like acid. Since I no longer felt the eyes and could not see. They immediately grabbed me by the arms and dragged me again, dragged me for about ten minutes, or maybe an hour. I can not say for sure, because all this time I was tormented by wild pain. When they arrived, some liquid was poured into my mouth and pushed forward. It was far to fly, in any case, I flew for five seconds. Just before landing, I was levitated for a split second, just to keep me from crashing. This pleases, in any case, they are not going to kill me, but all this bullshit with violence such as psychological pressure.

            I found myself on a stone floor, I could not see anything, so I sat down to get used to the situation a little. After about an hour, the pain subsided, and I went to look for a way out of here. Gently, on all fours, he began to move straight until he hit the wall, carefully stood up and, feeling the space in front of him, moved to the right. It took about twenty minutes before it hit me. I've been walking in circles! I was thrown into a well as high as a nine-story building without eyes, equipment or communications. The realization of his own helplessness so crippled his strength that he stupidly slid down the wall and, curled up, fell into an uneasy sleep.