1 Book II. Prologue

Vladimir Arkonov

Vladimir had been sitting at the computer for a long time, but nothing could be done. The analysis still showed a destabilization of consciousness within the fully functioning object.

However, this was not a breakdown phenomenon but was something else. What it was, however… well, it was quite difficult to understand. The system had analyzed the Sergey's actions and could not come to a final conclusion about the reasons that had led to such a serious change.

But Natasha had found interesting entries in Sergey's personal computer—the password to which he had given to his supervisor six months ago.

"I have already spent a lot of time in Reynea, and this world is still a mystery to me. I do not understand how Vladimir Seltovich's team was able to create it.

It seems that this world is no less real than ours. But, try as I might, it is com-pletely unclear to me how they were able to achieve this. Many questions arise regarding the modeling of the behavior of living organisms at all levels ..."

"It took several months of in-depth research on in-game interactions, and I found out some very interesting facts. A number of creatures possess magic that is not peculiar to them, which is in no way explained by the program code or documentation.

Reynea lives by itself and in every way opposes the intervention of its develop-ers, as if it has a mind of its own. Although ... the idea, of course, is not from a scientific level ..."

"I began to explore the phenomenon of failure. I got acquainted with a dozen of the most different players who were locked in this world. Despite the fact that their bodies were disconnected from the capsules, and they are now being investigated by specialists in the field of medicine, they lead a completely normal life within the game.

It's just that many of them miss their relatives, because not all their relatives decided to plunge into the game to meet with them.

And all this is despite the fact that the company provides free access to close relatives so that they can meet with their family members who have been left in such a difficult situation. I do not understand some people. However, this is not part of my duties ..."

"One of those who went into disruption had a strong divine impact, which led to very interesting results. There was even a response from the body. It seems that there is an opportunity to regain the consciousness of the gods of this world who broke away with the help of the power of the world—although it sounds strange, of course ..."

"For some reason, the gods don't want anything to do with me. Some were afraid of me, and in the eyes of others I noticed anger and hatred. Others still were frankly scared. And for some reason, they referred to me as a 'watching one'. I do not understand ..."

"We managed to find something strange. The world itself responded to my research. It seems that the global intelligence of the game has evolved so much that it was capable of something much larger than had been originally be programmed into it. That's both an amazing and incredible thing!

I must investigate this in more detail. Artificial intelligence told me to articu-late clearly what I want to know, and then it will give me the opportunity to com-prehend the answer to my own questions.

I don't know what that means, but it sounds very curious. This world has be-come so interesting to me that I believe in its reality. I have so many questions that no one can answer, which makes it hard to concentrate on any particular one. Well, no matter, I think, hope, that I will succeed ..."

"There is nothing more. What do you think about it?" Natasha asked.

"Sergey turned out to be much smarter than I originally assumed," Vladimir responded. "And, it seems, he got himself into serious trouble. Now I have to find him there, in that world, and think what to do next."

"Vladimir, something strange is happening," said the android girl, anxiously, pointing toward the monitor.

"What the? …" The researcher was looking at the monitor and could not believe his eyes. The consciousness has just stabilized, and all indicators had returned to their normal positions.

"An unknown impact has been detected," the system reported.

"Oh, these unique classes." Vladimir sighed. "Their impact on the world is completely unpredictable—as well as their appearance."

"Didn't you create a random distributor to select the people who would get unique classes?" Natasha asked.

"No. That was all just said for the press's benefit," answered the researcher, leaning back in his chair and taking a deep breath. He continued, "In reality, Reynea itself creates these classes according to some incomprehensible principle, and the land itself determines the people who get those classes. I have a number of assumptions, but I cannot tell anyone about them. Even you."

"You are always like this. The most interesting things always pass me by." The android girl rolled her eyes and pouted her lips, and Vladimir once again thought that it would be necessary to forbid her from communicating with whoever she picked up something like that from.

***

Yaroslav and Denis.

Yaroslav and Denis were sitting in the dining room on the fifty-fourth floor, because that was where they always cooked—especially tasty meat. The impressive view from the window contributed to the creation of their great mood. The two employees had been discussing their future actions for several days already, but still they could not come up with something worthwhile.

"I have already told you," Denis said. "It is necessary to do Sergey's research. His guesses and the assumptions about the phenomenon of failure and a number of results are very unusual."

"What's the difference? Fuck his results and their apparent interestingness." Yaroslav hit the table. "We need to become famous! And only his research will help us achieve this."

"You do not understand them, and neither do I," the tired employee said before sighing. "Without proper understanding, we will only expose ourselves in the worst possible way. And who are we to disobey our boss? Moreover, Vladimir is closely monitoring everything."

"Oh yeah?" The plump employee grinned. "Even this?" He held up a weighty folder.

"That is the part of the results of the study that focus on the phenomenon of failure." Denis's eyes widened. "But how? Did you take them from the lab? But Vladimir has forbidden us from going there and taking anything out. He is going to know about this."

"He won't know." Yaroslav waved his hand. "I cleaned all the logs, and I replaced everything very carefully. Besides he does not know about this folder, because Sergey spoke about this study only to us."

"But you understand what we have in our hands, don't you?" Denis asked, and seeing that his friend did not quite understand him, he explained, "This is the part of the key that will allow those who have failed to return to our world. But I'm not sure that without Sergey we can achieve anything with this data."

"We'll think something up. If we recall a number of records about our boss, there were a lot of guesses about it. Our work will just be to check some of them out."

"Still, it's not good to steal research like this."

"Oh, come on." Yaroslav exhaled in frustration. "When did you become such a goody two shoes? Wasn't it you who helped me to arrange a happy life for my boss?"

"Be quiet, idiot." Denis's irritation was clear. "And don't even dare remind me of that."

"Or what? Are you going to send me to another world or turn me into a vegetable?" The plump employee grinned again. "It will not work, because you know that I took precautions for such case, so we are in the same boat until the end."

***

Krin.

The meeting had been planned in advance, and the place had been prepared so that it would have been impossible to overhear or even see the speakers. Two people walked through a dark forest, two days away from the capital of the Erenvar Empire.

"Krin, you were absolutely right. Someone from the highest circles is deeply immersed in the slave trade," said the secret agent to the old man in a dark coat and a black hat with a feather. "And, it seems, they have formed an organization of very important persons which are respected across many countries.

"The reasonable ones disappear everywhere, and it is certainly kidnapping. However, everything is arranged in such a way that in some places these incidents are classified as murders, and elsewhere they are called accidents or something else, so it is rather difficult to connect all these incidents together.

Until now, I'm not sure that many of them have anything to do with our problem. But the fact remains a fact—the reasonable ones are being kidnapped."

"I have a number of assumptions about who it may be, but there is no direct evidence yet," said the old man. "Their teams seem to work in several directions all at once. The slaves for underground arenas, the slaves for high persons, as well as working slaves. With the latter, I know where the main stream goes."

"Most likely, to the guild of wanderers called the Nuclear Head."

"That's true. They are doing something incomprehensible that needs to be investigated more thoroughly," said the head of the secret office of Erenvar. "I still have to figure out the arenas, but in the second direction we need to set the wanderers to work, prepare worthy rewards, and find candidates for their implementation. Oh, and don't be greedy."

"Alright." The secret agent nodded. "Several worthy wanderers work with us who can investigate these incidents as soon as possible."

"There is one more thing worth paying attention to," the old man said, carefully looking at the agent. "The nobility began to give preference to wandering slaves who are not able to return to their world."

"But why should they?"

"Who knows? Perhaps they are pleased to look down on those who have recently been doing the same to them?"