I sincerely believe that in the life of every person there is the MOST IMPORTANT DAY for which a person was born. The moment of truth that removes all doubts and determines the destiny of a person in our world. Someone on this day is destined to accomplish a feat. Someone to lose heart and remain in the memory of contemporaries as a miserable coward. Someone to make a great scientific discovery or find the love of a lifetime. Someone to commit a betrayal or a vile offense, which all the rest of him, even the most good deeds, will no longer be able to justify.

Today is such a day for me. I prepared for it for a long time, doubted and several times I was even ready to abandon my plan, but in the end I decided to do it. Now it’s too late to retreat, and no matter how it all ended, I knew for sure that I would forever go down in the history of this virtual world, and my name (or rather the name of my character Shadow Kane) would be heard by three hundred million players for a long time to come and billions of Shattered Empire Online NPCs.

The fifth anniversary tournament of alliances in the Valley of the Tombs impressed with its scope and pomp. Along the worn-out slabs of the ancient pavement, under the roar of crowded stands and the howl of trumpets of the orchestra of ogre giants, the most powerful and famous players of the Shattered Empire Online passed in front of the audience in a parade march. One hundred and twenty-eight teams that successfully passed through the sieve of the qualifying competitions represented the most powerful and wealthy alliances of RIO. One and a half thousand of the most successful players, trying to outdo each other with insanely expensive equipment, NPC servants of rare races and the most incredible pets.

The ruler of the gaming state, the immortal Legendary Lich of the seven hundredth level, with a raised bone hand, greeted the troops passing by his tribune. At the side of the Undead King were his retinue, advisors and numerous fearsome NPC guards, vassal lords, as well as the most important of the invited guests - representatives of the Shattered Empire developer company and some selected leaders of famous clans.

I was sitting in the black robes of an Assassin on the opposite platform for ordinary players, scaring peaceful neighbors with my criminal status, declared a high bounty on my head and a sinister reputation as one of the most notorious killers of the Shattered Empire Online. In the cities of most of the other kingdoms of my character, the local NPC guards would not let me in for a kilometer, but I had neutral relations with the Kingdom of the Dead Ruler. In addition, in recent days, my character has completed several quests to improve his reputation with the local authorities and personally with the dead sovereign, so there was no reason not to let Shadow Kane to the party at the NPC guards, especially since I honestly paid for the ticket to the podium.

Out of the corner of my eye, I noticed how the players pointed at me to their neighbors and whispered, some took screenshots of the screen as a keepsake to capture themselves next to the player from the top hundred rating. It amused me, but I tried not to be distracted and watched the passing teams and this exhibition of vanity.

Here is the reliable “Silver Barrier”, as always, one of the oldest and most experienced combat alliances, whose team has already participated in the main PvP tournament for the fifth year and always made it to the top places. The deadly and unprincipled "Krogh's Mercenaries", ready to tear anyone who the customer points to, even yesterday's allies, for money. The indomitable "Network Amazons" who accept only women into their mighty alliance and successfully fight off countless lawsuits in the real world, defending the right not to take men, transgender people and all kinds of "identifying women" into the alliance. Behind the Amazons marched the champions of last year's Underworld Brigade 2050 tournament in full force, led by their permanent leader, the halfling hobbit Grim Mort, a level 410 Necromancer, to date, the highest-level player of RIO. According to rumors, three dozen clans belonging to the alliance he created plowed day and night for the equipment of Grim Mort, and the full set of armor of this halfling cost as much as an orbital space station in the real world.

I looked away from the parade participants and looked at the set countdown timer showing the burning time of the fuse in the underground tunnel under the stone slabs. Another six minutes and thirty-two seconds… Long. The first of the teams participating in the alliance parade will already have time to leave the affected area. But this is not scary, so many trophies were already expected that all five hundred cells of the bank vault would be filled to capacity. Surviving an explosion of such an amount of dragon bile is almost impossible, since players have no resistances from magical dark flame, and occasionally items with resistance to dark flame found in the game were not particularly popular, and still did not provide one hundred percent protection against this very rare type of damage. .

Meanwhile, my attention was drawn to the words of a huge luminous angel-like being in the VIP stands, commenting on the parade and broadcasting to the many players gathered in the stands and millions of viewers watching the online broadcast. The mark in the form of a golden eight-pointed star above the angel's head indicated that this was at least one of the game's administrators, and possibly even one of the directors of the company that created the game. The host was now talking about how the long and difficult process of negotiating a merger with the popular Korean MMORPG Heaven's Blades has finally been completed, and the agreement has been signed by both parties. Both games will unite their magical colorful worlds within a month, which will bring the updated and expanded "Empire Shattered Online" to the absolute first place in the world in terms of the number of players.

The leader's words were greeted with great enthusiasm by the spectators and parade participants, and drowned in a hubbub of joyful cries and applause. I, too, sincerely rejoiced along with the others. Rumors about such an association have been circulating for a long time, at least for a year. For Shattered Empire Online, allying with a popular Asian game was a way not only to get forty million new users, but also to add vast game territories and fill the sluggish East Asian prime time. However, there has been no visible progress towards unification over the year, and the rumors have remained just unconfirmed rumors to this day. And finally, this information was officially confirmed.

Cool! Really cool! In a month in RIO it will become even more interesting! Completely new territories, unfamiliar quests, dangerous monsters and hitherto unseen in-game artifacts. I was already impatient to meet the best Asian fighters in a single virtual world and measure their strength with them. And in terms of specialized items and skills for all sorts of Assassins, Asians have always been considered recognized masters, so for my Shadow Kane, new exciting prospects for development and strengthening opened up.

The host started to talk about the upcoming big update of the game, which will include important changes to the game mechanics for the ability to pair two different online games, but his speech was interrupted in the most rude way.

The pavement suddenly swelled, after which the entire space between the stands sank into a sea of ​​fire. The explosion came a little earlier than planned, and I barely had time to turn away so as not to be blinded by the brightest flash. The magical barrier installed by the administrators before the start of the parade held back the blast wave, preventing the sea of ​​fire from flooding into the stands and the bed of the dead king, but even the barrier did not save me from the terrible roar that caused a thirty-second stun of my character.

And then the unexpected began.

ATTENTION!!! In the Kingdom of the Dead Ruler, your character has been declared a criminal! Guard NPCs will attack you at every opportunity!

Reached three hundred and seventy-first character level!

Received three hundred and seventy-second character level!

Reached three hundred and seventy-third character level!

Achievement "Hero Killer"

Congratulations, your human assassin character Shadow Kane is one of the top 50 players in Shattered Empire Online!

Game messages continued to pour in, but I had already come to my senses and began to act. Urgently activate the Invulnerability Amulet, which gives seven seconds of immunity to any damage! On the spectator stand, a step away from me, a huge level 450 Skeleton Warrior appeared with a flaming two-handed sword in his hands, one of the guards accompanying the dead king everywhere. I don’t know if this formidable skeleton could have hurt me or not, but at the last moment I disappeared from under the blow, because I activated the previously prepared Shadow Portal scroll. Shadow Kane disappeared from the spectator stand and appeared in the very epicenter of the raging fire.

The impenetrable magic barrier, as planned by the organizers, was supposed to prevent the audience from approaching the participants in the alliance parade, however, I set the exit point from the portal in advance, even before the construction of the magic barrier, so the magic barrier did not stop me.

Nothing could be seen because of the blindingly bright flame, only game messages about new levels received floated before my eyes. Six seconds of invulnerability... Five... I'm good enough! I activated the next of my stockpiled magic scrolls, this time collecting all the loot within a 300 pace radius. And right after it, another scroll sending the collected trophies to a remote safe storage.

There is! The main work is done!!! But now it would be good to get out of this hellfire, since death in Shattered Empire Online is very unpleasant and leads to a significant loss of character experience. In addition, the effect of increasing the drop chance due to the spell I cast on the pavement slabs continued to work, so in the event of death, my character could lose many of the very valuable items of equipment obtained with such difficulty.

Three seconds of invulnerability... It's time to use another prepared teleportation scroll, this time moving me very far from the scene, generally to another kingdom of the "Empire Divided". And suddenly, a step away from me, a silhouette of a large dark skeleton appeared from a wave of fire. Dead King himself!!! It is not clear how the ruler managed to overcome the magical barrier and be transported here, but I definitely did not expect to meet such a strong creature a step away from me. And either the Ancient Lich of the seven hundredth level had immunity to the dark flame, or somehow managed to protect himself from the damage that was fatal to others, but the flame did not hurt him at all.

- You?! - despite the effect of deafness, I heard, or perhaps read this question from the movement of the jaws of the skeleton.

It seems that the ruler was seriously angry and already began to raise his famous staff, which kills even dragons, intending to severely punish the player who disrupted the parade in his state. It doesn't matter, I managed to get away. The last second of invulnerability... Hurry up and open the portal, well, hurry up... And I did it! The portal's life-saving cocoon opened and the screen darkened as expected before loading another game location.

Ha! Everything worked out! In a couple of minutes I will be in the bank vault to get acquainted with the list of expensive loot that has fallen. I will immediately put up the most valuable things for auction in order to pay off Signor Gabriele and not be listed as debtors and dangerous Italian. I'll sort out the rest of the loot later, when the hype subsides a bit. Some of the things will come in handy for my character, I’ll sell others, and I’ll convert game gold into real money through the same signor Gaby, there, for any reason, an amount with a very large number of zeros will come out. And even though all alliances are now looking for Shadow Kane, the elusive Assassin will get lost in the vast virtual world so that he will never be found, my character could show a master class to any other player in matters of changing appearance and avoiding chases!

But something in the game location takes a long time to load ... Usually, when teleporting, even over such long distances, the picture loaded much faster. And then a bright red inscription appeared on the black screen:

YOUR CHARACTER IS PERMANENTLY BLOCKED FOR GREAT VIOLATION OF THE GAME RULES!!!

After that, I was forcibly thrown out of the game into the real world.

***

- What? Am I banned? Are you kidding me?! - my cry, heard in the night, I suspect, woke up all the neighbors in the high-rise building.

I ripped the expensive visor off my head, which served as a virtual reality helmet for me, and angrily threw it against the wall with all my might, causing the fragile equipment to shatter into pieces of plastic, glass and electronic circuit boards. It can not be! There must be some mistake! After all, I did not use any prohibited mods, did not violate the game mechanics, all my actions took place in strict accordance with the Shattered Empire Online software algorithms. Yes, I just sent several hundred high-level players to the spawn points at once, but the game mechanics quite legally allowed me to do this!

Moreover, before the operation, I even asked the game admins a question, in which I was interested in the possible consequences for using a powerful spell with a large area effect inside a safe city zone. The admins then officially answered me that such an action is highly undesirable and will seriously reduce the player's reputation, as well as worsen his relationship with the city and even the whole kingdom. Within the framework of the kingdom, the character will be declared a criminal, NPC guards will pursue him in cities, and other players will also be able to attack with impunity. In general, nothing fundamentally new, this has happened more than once with my Shadow Kane.

Just in case, given the seriousness of the planned action and the short time to withdraw, I even pawned barrels of expensive dragon bile in a gnome bank as security for a trade deal. According to the laws of the game, the barrels no longer formally belonged to me, so the experience for using them as a weapon had to drip (or rather flow like a full-flowing river) to the NPC-dwarf with whom I signed the contract. So I thought to get a few seconds of a head start, because right up to the moment of attracting the fallen out other people's things with the magic scroll of Shadow Kane, it could not be considered a criminal, and the NPC guards would have ignored me. Apparently, I was still wrong in my assumptions, since I immediately received the status of a criminal, and my character began to receive experience for the death of players. But this does not change the main thing! I did not violate the rules of the game and acted within the framework of the game mechanics! But instead of the well-deserved experience, which was enough for the character to get many new levels, and a whole sea of ​​valuable loot, I got a permanent ban?! It's not fair!!!

I lay face up on the bed, trying to catch my breath and calm down. My heart was pounding in my chest, I was shaking with indignation and resentment. He turned his head to the desktop computer monitor, but even there, on a black background, the bright red inscription “Your character is permanently banned for gross violation of the game rules” sparkled. Yes, your mother! How so?!

With a trembling hand, he reached for the crutch attached to the bed, leaned on it and stood up. Yes, when others didn't see it, I did use a crutch. My right leg sometimes let me down, especially when I got up after several hours in a prone position, I could stumble out of the blue and even fall. I did not consider myself a cripple at all, although active sports like football were certainly not for me. Put a knee prosthesis, as Gleb advised me? It would be nice, but what kind of shisha ?! The prosthesis was expensive, but I had good money left if for two weeks of an economical life. And already, in fact, at my disposal a huge multimillion-dollar jackpot, which I really counted on, at the last moment was unexpectedly pulled out of my hands.

Walking over to the computer, I carefully sat down in a chair and went to the Shattered Empire Online website. With fingers trembling with excitement, I filled out a form for contacting customer support. I've had a chance to communicate with their employees before, because earlier, the losers defeated by me wrote complaints about my character. So I had a rough idea of ​​what and how to write, what arguments in my favor to give and what points of the game rules to refer to.

MMORPG "Empire Divided Online" is a game with an age rating of 18+, sharpened on battles and revealing the strongest, so killing players in it is an ordinary and even necessary thing. Users love the game precisely for adrenaline and unpredictability, for a very lively atmosphere and the shadow of death constantly hovering somewhere nearby, which does not allow players to get bored and rest on their laurels. Moreover, my character is Assassin by class, and killing other players is his main job. And how to kill - whether with a dagger in the back, in a duel in the arena or, as it is now, undermining barrels with an explosive mixture under the participants in the parade of the strongest alliances - this is the tenth thing. I honestly play my difficult role as Assassin and help maintain the atmosphere of a harsh and tough adult game. Sure,

Received an automatic response “your appeal will be considered in the near future” and leaned back in his chair. Hope it works. Otherwise ... I was even afraid to imagine what would happen otherwise. Five years of playing down the drain. Assassin of the tall 373rd… or whatever he became at the last moment of the level with which I actually became related and in which I invested so much effort, time and money. I put my soul into Shadow Kane, did not sleep at night, used every free minute to level up my character. Yes, I can say that all the last years I lived for the sake of this game!

While the tech support case was being considered, I hobbled into the kitchen and put on the kettle. Four o'clock at night. But I used to live like this, playing late and even at night, and then using breaks at work, trips in transport or moments of calm for rest. In most kingdoms of Empire Divided Online, daylight hours coincided with Western European or American prime time, since most of the players lived in these time zones, and the world was built for the convenience of users. In particular, the Valley of the Tombs "lived" in Central American time. I myself lived in Moscow, and therefore for me the peak of America's activity fell on the dead of night. But I've never experienced much inconvenience when playing at night, and now, when I lost my job,

Of course, there were also territories in the game that were "sharpened" for Eastern European, Ural, Siberian and East Asian time zones - "Endless Taiga", for example, or "Black Dwarf Mines". Over the years of the game, I have visited there, but in these kingdoms it turned out not to be so crowded and not so ... "driven", or something. There is less work for the Assassin, it is difficult to find worthy opponents for battles, there are few interesting quests, and the market for in-game items is frankly poor. Therefore, I preferred other territories.

***

The city outside the window slept peacefully, people did not even guess what passions and emotions were raging in my small rented apartment. I couldn't find a place for myself, walking around the kitchen with a mug of hot tea and anxiously waiting for an answer to my appeal.

Well, they can't do that to me! I planned this operation for a long time, spent so much time and effort on preparations, put so much real money into the game to purchase the necessary rare ingredients and items. Just one scroll from the temple of the God of Theft, which temporarily increases the chance of loot falling out within a radius of a thousand steps from the place of activation, cost me so much strength and nerves! I even had to join the Thieves Guild and go through a long chain of difficult quests to get the much coveted spell scroll. What about the remote loot collection scroll? Such rare things do not lie on the road, and it was not easy to get such a rarity. And five barrels of dragon bile? After all, I risked everything by turning to such a powerful and dangerous intermediary as Signor Gaby. And the tunnel under the temple square of the Valley of the Tombs? It was required to dig it imperceptibly both for the city NPC guards and for living players. I spent two weeks digging sand and chiseling stones, and then pushing heavy barrels of explosive mixture through a narrow tunnel, risking burning in dragon fire every second! And now, when all my plans came true, and the production was supposed to recoup all my efforts and expenses a hundredfold, I was suddenly banned?!

The signal of a letter in the mail crackled, and I hurried to the computer. Valid from the game's customer service. Mentally wishing myself luck and crossing my fingers for good luck, I clicked on the letter icon, revealing the contents.

Your request has been reviewed. There were no grounds for removing the permanent blocking of the account, the decision was made fairly. You violated paragraphs 5.22, 5.28 and 7.11.4 of the game rules of the Shattered Empire Online multiplayer game, which you signed and agreed to comply with before starting the game. What's more, your character has already been warned four times before against actions aimed at chasing other players in safe areas and interfering with normal play. The decision to block is final and not subject to appeal. Your character (Human Assassin Shadow Kane #000134089) will be deleted within twenty-four hours. We also inform you that your social ID has been blacklisted and you are prohibited from creating new characters in the Shattered Empire Online game.

The world swam before my eyes, and I sank to the floor exhausted. My appeal has been denied. It's all over... No, of course I filed a second appeal against the decision of the game admins, I even copied the admins' answer regarding the possibility of using area spells in the city, although I already understood that the second appeal would also be rejected.

Actually, that's what happened...