The bank was not far from the market, it took me a mere minute to walk in, and the banker himself, who recognized me, greeted me aloud. His broad smile showed I was welcome.

Knowing these NPCs are hardcore AIs, I should not be so surprised that they recognize me. Whilst they look perfectly normal, as everyday people do, and that makes me treat them as humans, they are not; they have those silicone minds that never forget.

I sighed.

“Lady Lara, I haven’t seen you for a long time. How are you?”

I went straight to the heart:

“Fine, thanks. I need to pick up some money from my account.”

He answered whilst knitting his hands together over his round belly:

“How much would you need, my lady?”

“Let's say 200.”

He was a bit surprised - “So much?” - then recovered instantly - “But sure lady, sure, just a moment.”

He clapped his hands, and a young boy appeared:

“Prepare 200 gold for Lady Lara, but hurry.”

He clapped his hands again.

I saw the boy excited at the news to handle so much gold. As a high-level char, I had lots and lots of money. Of course, they were not used with so much here in this small beginner's town, where one silver was much, but if I had to fix my armour, that would cost me a fortune. Hopefully, I can find a competent smith, if need be, here around. Speaking of money, maybe I should go later farm in the end game chapters when I am finished with Spartacius. I'll do that if I'll have the time...

"Planning to buy some property, my lady? there are some..."

I shooked my head, cutting him short:

"No, no, just to have some pocket money!"

"Oh!"

The boy disappeared, and the banker turned to me and continued:

“You know, Lady Lara, some properties are cheap now, as a giant lynx is making the woods unsure. All those farms around the woods are available for a bargain. Maybe you could help us address the issue?"

He sighed and then came closer to me, taking a more conspirational tone:

"But this is not our biggest problem; word goes that the Silver Town has been destroyed!”

“Destroyed? Mephisto’s hordes took the Silver Town? This cannot be possible….”

Wait a minute, I played Mephi some time ago, and the Silver Town always remained a human bastion. It is a key magical and strategical power node. Something must be wrong... Did they let the story go so random? Did they change it completely?

“No, nobody could tell who did it. A great magic storm covered the town and the surroundings, something terrible did happen there!”

He approached me even further and whispered in my ear:

“It was several days ago. Word is that a dark sorcerer did it. A powerful dark sorcerer commanded hellfire over the town, but the few spawns who saw him, and lived to tell it, said that he was not wearing Mephisto's coat of arms. All spawns inside the town died, transformed to ashes. Can you imagine that? All. All of them! He was seen coming out of the town, and nobody was found living in the town after that. There are no bones strewn there; they found no blood, just dust and ashes. But the houses are intact, most of them still stand, and the shops still display their goods for sale, but nobody is there to sell and buy. Now everybody is afraid to go to the Silver Town.”

I haven’t said a word, surprised by the news. OK, so they changed the story. Who could be the dark sorcerer? What character got this new role? He continued; obviously, his text was longer:

“He is no spawn like us. Maybe he is a God of the Abyss. Manchua the priest says so. He says the gates of the Abyss have been opened, and the Abyss' Horde is now with us. I do not know if that can be true, but word goes there are more alike between us, looking like us, but they are no spawns, lady, they are no spawns! Demons! Bringing destruction just for their fun! Be careful, lady, be very careful.”

Meanwhile, the young boy came, and the banker took two steps back and started to talk about business as usual as if afraid he could be heard by the boy. I took my money and left. I felt excited and a little scared: the game was becoming weird. Cool idea to come and play Mephi; I hope I will not be disappointed with how the story develops. Can it be that they added a direct role for the Gods in the game? Would it not make it too complex? A God fighting humans? Why? Was Mephi not good enough? What is this Abyss' Horde? Demons?

I chuckled: I think there was a great players' guild called the Abyss' Horde or something like that at the time I was looking for a guild to join, but that must be a funny coincidence. Markus has kept Cala out of any player's guild; the only guild she participated in was the assassin's guild, an NPC-controlled guild where players could join.

He did that for faster levelling, I suppose.

I went back to the market to meet Alice, but she was not there, to my surprise.

I tried to check my user interface, but I could not activate it. Fuck, maybe there is a new way to do it?

It should run in compatibility mode with previous versions, but it does not. This must be a bug. This was a setback from my enthusiasm for the upgrade. Yeah, nice dialogue and pictures and so on, but it has to work. How should I set anything, update info about characters, or even log out without the visual interface? I'll check with Spartacius when he comes back; no use getting angry now; these things are usually solved fast. I just need to keep cool for some time until it is solved. When I entered the game, I remember there was a list of features and updates, but who reads the garbage? Only when I have to… Yeah, this is why I hate playing just after updates. Oh well...