Ink realized himself suddenly, as happens from an occasional fright in a dream. The body twitches, the adrenal glands inject adrenaline and cortisol into the blood, the brain tries to quickly get into work and analyze the danger and take the flesh to shelter. My head was still sore, but the memory of what happened before my loss of consciousness was clear, as if there was nothing between that moment and awakening: neither sleep nor time. Click! And events sprang forward. Through the lashes between his raised eyelids, Ink saw his room. There was no superfluous in her. The rays of the Sun made their way through thin curtains.

"The light comes from the same side as during the" auction ". I slept all day and all night? "

Ink tried to get up when he heard a squeak in his mind. The energy creature twitched, emitting waves of golden radiance. Contrary to Ink a's expectations , a sphere of white energy did not hinder them. Ink's fingers trembled. The nails on the hands took on a bright green color. So familiar from the horns crowning his head. They began to grow back and sharpened slightly - not at the tips, but in the middle. The nails resembled tortoise shells, with the difference that the horn plates shifted to create a small point in the center. Judging by the itching, the same thing happened with the legs.

Another golden wave flooded the light of consciousness and the pain decreased. Ink basked in this warmth when he felt the vibrations of the thread connecting him with the mark of the demonic god of the three vortices, nested inside an energy being. It was like picking in a barely healed wound. Ink gritted his teeth, and a white space appeared in front of his eyes. It was like a dream, a vision, a mirage. At one point, two appeared before him: a woman and a blue fairy. The latter seemed familiar, but the pain in the mind itself made me growl, did not allow me to concentrate. Least of all Ink and now worried about the presence of someone in the white space in front of him. The next cry of the energy being, together with the golden wave, turned off the pain and cut off all the senses of the body. Ink did not see the room, only a white world with two creatures. The only sound was a measured crunch. Someone was devouring something.

"The sound is the same as when I was gnawing white energy ..." Ink recalled surprisingly distinctly . - This is a dream? What a strange feeling ... Hey! Can you two hear me? "

No one answered him. At some point, the conversation began on its own, but Ink did not notice the attempt to speak, they discussed it as a thing. The events themselves were like playing a recording.

"... you were mistaken," the woman said. - He did not receive an inheritance in this small world.

"Then how did Ink find out?" I knew that the gates should be near the place of our appearance, but without such an accurate clue I could not have found the main passage into the small world.

- Most likely, the legacy already belongs to the archdemon. Probably, some man long ago became the heir to the demonic god of the triple whirlwind, but after the beginning of his ascent he turned into food for someone stronger. Look at them. "The woman waved her hand and ugly clots of dirty gray substance appeared nearby. They all devoured something in space and each had a distinctive feature in the form of a colored blot on the surface. - Each of them has a label that went in addition to the legacy.

" Could Ink get rid of her?" The blue fairy asked.

" Arsi , you know why I told you to take the separation?" To chop off a small part of consciousness and accept its heritage. Nobody in the zero world is able to get rid of the mark, even of such insignificant power. After melting in the fire of origin, it will merge with the mind of the wearer and become completely inseparable. There is a risk that even the descendants of those who have accepted the divine heritage will one day generate a copy of such a parasite. It's the same as turning into slaves and spare parts of the body of the god of all children, those foolishly impatient for the free power. The power of the fire of origin can bless, but will not save, from voluntarily accepting the birth curse.

The blue fairy scaredly moved away from the lumps, which continued to eat white energy.

- Do you have to destroy part of yourself?

- Unfortunately yes. It will slow down your development a little, but the price is worth it. "The woman frowned. - Sorry. I made you risk it in vain. If I had my strength, I would be able to open any small worlds to my dear student. Although, if I hadn't been locked here, I would not have even offered to follow the dangerous path for the sake of some second-class legacies. The mirror sees everything that happens in the zero world and the small worlds attached to it, but I'm not his mistress - a prisoner, a simple spirit, forced to endure shameful transformations into images from dirty thoughts of these insignificants ... The old man made me do dirty work for him in the zero world, but I didn't even think about leaving the opportunity to check the situation in small worlds. Allegedly, he wishes his relatives fair competition. Old hypocritical bastard! Yes, in this world, almost nothing was left of his relatives. How many descendants of divine families, schools that lost the power of the offspring of great powers sent here? Do not count! If he cared for his descendants, would he have thrown it like that ?! The zero world is his homeland, but the old man simply presented it to a pack of looters. Many forces came here. They raped local women, created dynasties of magicians and organized clans in the buffer. Anyone who wants to become stronger must submit to others. He just didn't give a damn about everything. Yes, I pumped power from this planet, cleaned it and wanted to absorb it, but this is not my home. Did I have to take care of her? The old man simply stole what I had mine and threw his world more powerful, like a pack of dogs gnawed at a bone. While they were sharing badlands, he managed to hide!

The blue fairy was silent. The woman caught her breath, her face smoothed after a flash of anger. The appearance of a stranger flowed from one to another, could not freeze for a while longer than a few seconds.

- Sorry, Arsi . Over so many years of humiliation, my anger has not only not abated, but has also become stronger. You again have to listen to my complaints.

- No, teacher. I understand you. Moreover, even just listening to curses I can learn from them something new for myself about the great world, its nature and past events.

- Oh, girl. What have you learned from my tirade? Is there anything you don't know about this story? - the woman smiled sweetly. Fairy bowed her head to hide her embarrassment. At this time, the woman's eyes for a short moment became very cold, tenacious, studying. Almost immediately, she regained her former caring look. With warmth in her voice, the woman continued. "And yet, thanks for trying to cheer up."

- No, teacher. I am grateful to you. By the way, about the new ... Can you tell me about the power of the demonic god of the three vortices?

- Never mind. You cannot get this power, so there is no point in wasting time on it.

"If Ink was able to somehow get the legacy or part of it, I would like to be the first to notice it." I trust my feelings, and he certainly hid something when we exchanged skills at the fusion of consciousnesses. I did not have time to count much in his memory, only the promise of the archdemon to give him a special reward for his help - a kind of being penetrating the consciousness itself. The images were confused, it is difficult to say for sure where the truth is, and where the garbage information from the associative connections of memory.

The woman thought.

- No. It is unlikely that he was able to use it now and escape from the mark. I know what entity you are talking about. This child was supposed to get a Lyrs egg, soak it, allow it to hatch, and use it to intercept the mark in a matter of moments, so that it does not have time to take root ... If this is so, then ... No, this is completely impossible. In any case, even if he received a legacy of blood in this small world, it will be wasted. The power of the demonic god of the three vortices is the eyes of a dream. They can penetrate through space into people's dreams, look at the most secret desires. I wanted you to be able to fulfill the dreams of many people and create your own clan with it. Of ascended and reborn. That would be a good base while staying in a zero world.

"Fulfill the dreams of other people," the blue fairy frowned. - It takes too much effort.

" Arsi , you're still so naive," the woman smiled. - Fulfill a dream or make a person feel that his dream has come true. What is the difference? Consciousness will change equally in both cases. Of course, if a person encounters the truth, after some time he will suffer and the light may partially collapse, but at that moment your follower will already be one of the spirits of the buffer, and I will not let him die a final death. The mirror of the reflected world is a very complex tool, but not perfect, otherwise the old man would not imprison me in it. The power of the demonic god of the three vortices can fully belong to man only after baptism by fire of origin. The method I taught you will help to maximize the power of blood in the zero world and then discard it. No one else in the zero world, nor in the buffer, is capable of this.

"Even if Ink received the legacy, he will not be able to use it?"

- Right. This boy is a little special. "The spirit of reflection smiled proudly. - He asked me about the power to change fate, the ability to awaken blood. He really really wanted to have such power. Unfortunately, this is too complicated. I managed not to break the rules of the mirror by changing its genome. Initially, I convinced the boy to reward the weakened force field so that you could copy it to yourself, but after ... this child reminded me of my greatness. Even in prison, I remain myself - a master of divine blood. It is unfortunate that you lost your body, otherwise his achievements in the keenra would be nothing compared to yours. Even in the great world there was no magician who could compare with me in the degree of knowledge of the physical and subtle bodies. The boy's desire to receive such power ... is ridiculous. As if you can just snap your fingers and pass tens of thousands of years of experience, observing experiments, successes and failures. Ambition is good, but it's important to be aware of your abilities. When you get into the first world, do not try to shoulder too much, Arsi .

- Yes teacher! I will remember, - the eyes of the blue fairy sparkled with greed when they turned to the unsightly lumps. "If I kill them here, I will only need to find their bodies and take away the heritage, right?" After all, no one is able to remember what is happening until he returns to the white world in his subtle body. They will not be able to talk about what happened. To nobody.

"How merciless you are, Arsi !" - the woman laughed. "You cannot kill them here." The mirror of the world will not allow you. Soon, all clans will start to quarrel over a stone of power of the fifth world. The killings will go one after another. In this chaos, you will be able to destroy enemies and get a legacy.

- Teacher, I do not understand some things about investing skills in a strange sea of ​​consciousness.

- Found a new test subject?

"Yes, it didn't work out well with Ink om." He turned into a winged one, but this affected not only pure energy, but also shook the braces of his memory. He seems to have had a weak defense of the mind, but emotions have become too explosive in a zero world. Like a different person ...

"Now you understand why I told you not to remove the braces?" - the woman smiled. "Before we continue, show me the armor of the titans."

Ugly metal stripes crawled out from behind the blue fairy. They wriggled, twisted in spirals, split and joined together, enveloping part of the body of the blue fairy.

- This grain was not grown in me, so I ...

"No excuses needed." You can master it. With time.

"With metallization, it was easier ..." sighed Arsi . "I quickly created myself a stable body in a small world, although Kiass began to guess something." I had to tell him and Grank about the legacy and "demon possession." It was fun to watch them discuss the muscular winged figure of Ink a and think that it was the embodiment of a universally created creature. I was even a little proud to have created such an impressive skill. Unfortunately, I am still too far from an excellent result even in such a simple thing. I want to create the skill of changing the appearance with the addition of animal traits. This is useful in the fourth world?

"Great idea," the spirit of reflection nodded approvingly. - Whom will you change?

"The strongest of those who have inherited in small worlds," the blue fairy slyly narrowed her eyes. "Teacher, will you show him to me?"

The woman laughed briskly and waved her hand. Around appeared many hundreds of gray lumps with blot marks of different colors and shapes. Among them, one stood out strongly - resembling in shape a toad with caricatured limbs. Paws grabbed lumps of white energy and stuffed into a toothless mouth. The creature did not have eyes, but at this place was a multi-beam orange star. The label was completely unlike the amorphous blots of parasites - a clear form with sharp edges, a menacing and proud look. Not a parasite, but a great ruler. Not an ugly spot, but a proud order of the mighty power of a great world.

- What is it? - the blue fairy shyly said, looking at the likeness of a toad. The clot itself exceeded it in height and a half times, and in thickness - even more. All other label carriers looked pathetic tadpoles, barely outgrowing the stage of eggs.

"The holder of the legacy of one of the truly powerful forces," the spirit of reflection explained. "Once he was a miserable nonentity who dreamed of exaltation." He was lucky to meet the legacy. Not a fake for the sacrificial sheep, but knowledge for the successor of the great master! The remainder of consciousness does not parasitize on the carrier, but protects. This spirit had many names. Now he introduces himself as Carl de Montier.

"The ruler of Castle Goodar ?!" No wonder he bears the title of the strongest buffer creature. Teacher, other real heritage ... can I get them? This will not be an insult to you?

- Stupid. There is nothing wrong with learning from many. Now I can't give you a power worthy of your talent, why not interfere with receiving it from others? It's great if the legacy is real, but the ways to test applicants are too dangerous. These are not pathetic games for selecting parasite carriers; everything is really dangerous. I know about some worlds with legacies, however ... sending you there is like signing a death sentence. None of the powerful wants to leave a reward to the first comer. They have their own pride. How many stars and galaxies have they conquered? Mighty heroes rose from the lowest worlds, making their way to the peak of the great world. They want their heirs to multiply fame and surpass them themselves. You are talented, but this does not mean that you will be recognized as worthy in their eyes.

"Here's how ..." the blue fairy twisted. Her gaze darted around and sparkled with joy. - Look, teacher. Ink looks small, even against the background of the weakest carriers of parasites!

- Of course. After all, even for food, the sheep need to be fattened before being allowed to go under the knife. All legacies contain a way to develop power. Carriers of parasites grow quite quickly. This is another reason for my confidence in this child's lack of heritage. The woman smiled slyly. - There is no need to doubt how short time was in the small world. If he had a legacy, he would already have practiced the method of energy storage. For God's consciousness, growth takes a long time, but someone from the zero world will experience the explosive growth of stored energy even after several hours of using the technology.

"Then it is useless ..." the fairy said displeasedly. "Should I get rid of him?"

- Not at all! He talked about something with the archdemon and can still come in handy.

"Then why did you say that Glam drove him away?"

"A dog raised in care can turn its face from a piece of bread, spoil the corners of the palace, and some even think of themselves as owners, treating people feeding them as pets subordinate to their pack," the spirit of reflection extended a hand to the blue fairy, but her brush fell apart to dust. The woman put her hand back and her palm recovered. "What a pity ... I can't even touch you to cheer you up." You see, Arsi , an animal raised in caring, is too proud, but drive him out into the street and after a couple of days of beating from random passers-by ... After hunger pangs ... A dog will lick the dirt from his boots when he meets the owner to return to warm and cozy little world. You said it was nothing, - the eyes of the spirit of reflection looked at Ink, but dare to reject the signs of your location in a small world? During a joint meditation, he mentally compared you to being unable to take care of yourself with demon food? You are my student, and such neglect on his part is unacceptable! Even outside the stars, in a great world, a talent like yours is extremely rare. Girl, you lack arrogance. This is not a vice, but a natural right. People want to be slaves, they are not like gods. Do you remember idols? What are their fans like, do they not dream of receiving an order from their idol? How many of them prostrated before you in the days of glory? People only need a chance to take off the burden of responsibility and pass on to others. Soon you will be convinced of this. The boy aroused De Montier's interest, and his Castle of Goodard is a place much more terrible and dangerous for such a soft-bodied dog than just a street. Soon you can just lure him with a light whistle, and he will come running, wagging his tail.

The woman waved her hand. Before Ink's eyes, there was only a white void. There was a rhythmic crunch in my ears.

The dream went on. There was nothing but a crunch and for the first time in a long time, completely cold-blooded thoughts.