How is that possible? I'm tearing my ass apart here, while some newbie has fifty time more health than me. And she's at level eleven. What happens at level twelve?

Activating psionics, I tried to find out how Zinovia was able to achieve such results. The results were... complicated. By now, there were already a thousand people in her Age of Glory guild. And all of these players were plowing from morning till night to provide the best clothing and spells to the guild's 25 core strike force. Five fives formed a full raid, which could wipe out any dungeon. In the beginning, the 'meat' sacrificed themselves to boost the elite, but now the 25 pulled everyone else along to help farm the bosses.

As for the outrageous performance and damage numbers, this was the result of following a precise plan made before the game began. Zinovia Reinhardt and her 'minions' had chosen the element of Fire, which meant that achieving the desired result was a clear and relatively quick process. Right now my opponent wore all gold and diamond quality clothing, plus she had the best talismans and amulets that could be obtained at level 11.

The worst part was that the Age of Glory guild wasn't the strongest at all, but was in the mid-tier ranks. It turned out that while I was playing in the sandbox, the strongest players had already managed to get very far ahead. In fact, the guilds were now competing to see who could first form a full raid of level 12 players, and then get the equipment to gather at least five level 13 players.

Level 13 was essentially the ceiling that could be reached with game knowledge and help from the guild. On the first and second servers, players were stuck at this limit, and only a few dozen people could reach level 14. Only six 'geniuses' reached level 15: two on the first server and four on the second. Now the guilds were using all of their 'secret knowledge' to reach 'basic level 13' as quickly as possible. If someone managed to get an advantage, he could literally crush the opponents, depriving them of the resource base for development.

I got all this information not only from the game computers, but also from the secret records that the most 'advanced' players of the server had. In fact, all these plans were part of the information system, so I could easily read them. Only the plans that were kept only in the heads of their authors passed me by.

While I pondered about all these 'lofty matters,' the raid of the Age of Glory moved away. They moved through the cave, successively slaughtering one elite monster after another. Considering the strength of the enemies, I required a cunning plan. How could one man with a crooked build kill 25 men, two of whom were invulnerable and could kill him with one hit?

My mushrooms were a great way to do 'burst' damage. Except they had one big flaw. All mushrooms always attack the closest target. So the first victim would always take all of the damage, even if he was torn to shreds as a result. But the next person after him could no longer worry, because all the way to the place where his predecessor died would be safe. Basically, my damage is enough to slaughter half of the raid in a minute. But that's only if no one attacks me during that minute. Chances of that are practically nonexistent. Even invisibility doesn't help me much, because the Heaven Conquering Sword could see invisible people and 'jump' to their opponents. In case Zinovia jumps to me, I'll be blown to a bloody paste.

While I was sitting there, thinking how I could catch my enemies more cleverly, fortune jumped into my hands. Another member of the Age of Glory guild arrived and started whispering about something with Zinovia, after which she and her 'lover' ran off after the 'messenger'. From their conversation, it became clear that another raid of this guild is wandering nearby, and they encountered a rare boss, from which must surely fall something valuable. But since the boss was too strong, it was decided to call in the guild's most advanced players. Well, as the saying goes, the beast runs after the catcher.

After waiting five minutes for Zinovia to start beating the boss with the second group, I went to the nearby monsters. Quickly running beside them, I 'snagged' them behind me. Although I was under invisibility, the local monsters saw me perfectly, which could not be said for the members of the raid, who were so engrossed in the battle with their opponent that they did not even notice how two more elite monsters burst into the crowd directly to them.

The calm and quiet course of the battle was replaced by chaos and panicked screams. At this point, I added my mushrooms, blocking the players' escape routes. Just as they were about to scatter, the most cowardly ones fell into my traps and died. Of course, at that moment the players noticed me, but they couldn't do anything about it, because at the very last moment I jumped up and ran away.

There were curses and shouts of 'it's Cheater' coming from behind me, but I didn't pay any attention to them. As I'd hoped, when Zinovia heard someone attacking her raid, she stopped beating the boss and rushed to the rescue. The path between the two raids was a wide corridor that didn't have many branches. But I managed to hide behind a rock so carefully that she and a couple of her escorts simply hadn't noticed me when they ran past.

I moved at full speed toward the second raid, which I did the same trick with. I didn't even have to work hard, because a couple of the monsters were following me. What's more, I got to the raid when the elite boss had very little health left. So I made a jump when I got to the group of mages and healers, and landed just behind the boss. And when most of the players were distracted by the 'reinforcements' that had arrived I leaped up to the boss and struck several hits with my spear. As a result, the monster died, and I, as the one who had struck the last hit, 'had the honor' of collecting all the loot.

After this trick of the ears, I rushed to the side, and a second later I was blinked away from my pursuers. Two players chased after me, while the rest tried to stop the two monsters to save as many lives as possible. After about fifty meters, I slowed down sharply, blinked back, and attacked the two pursuers. Since I was actively using foresight, the fight ended very quickly and I won unconditionally.

After that I simply rushed away, intending to flee the scene before Zinovia Reinhardt arrived after me. In general, this whole 'sabotage' plan was good. Very good. But there was one thing I hadn't considered. Zinovia was running much faster than I could. Even the constant use of teleports didn't help me get away from her. There were only a few seconds left before my pursuers would see me, after which my death would be inevitable. The difference in our strengths was too great.

Since I used not only my eyesight but also my psionics to find an escape route, I was able to spot a narrow and deep crevice in the floor of the cave. Now we were in a corridor where there were no monsters. Moreover, it could have been considered a dead end, or rather a long and wide hall with many uneven terrain, obstacles, pillars, and so on. If I were up against only one enemy, I could just hide in his blind spot. But since there were several enemies, the only thing left to do was to play hide-and-seek and cram into a crevice where no one would see me.

And that's exactly the kind of crevice I found. Even when I got close to it, it was hard to see that it was not just a small depression, but a gap a couple of meters deep. I slipped into the hiding place and moved forward through the crevice to find a more secluded spot. My pursuers were already breathing down my neck. They had managed to catch up to me, and were now looking around carefully, trying to figure out where I was hiding.

After walking a dozen meters, I suddenly encountered a strange anomaly. If I didn't look closely, it just looked like a shadow falling on the wall from above. But when I got closer, it was clear that it was a piece of 'darkness' that had absorbed part of the wall. And an examination of the place with psionics showed that it was a portal leading to some unknown place. Since I had no time to think about it, I simply stepped into the portal, hiding in the darkness. At worst, I would just die. I was running from Zinovia purely for the sake of sport.

After walking through the darkness, I found myself... in the darkness. From my sense of touch, I was now in a narrow, winding passageway. But my vision was completely gone, and the map wasn't working. Luckily, I could scan information directly from the world around me, so I just walked forward without even worrying about groping for directions.

At first, I just walked through a narrow passageway. Then there appeared branches in it. Then there were gaps in the floor and traps. Gradually, there were more and more traps, and even a person with eyesight would find it difficult to get through. But I passed most of the obstacles by a trivial jump. After all, I knew in advance where to jump.

Finally, after five minutes, I arrived at the hall, carved into the monolithic thickness of the stone. The hall was empty, except for a black figure standing at the far end of it. Focusing on it, I was surprised to recognize the very ghost of the Dark Lord I had freed not so long ago. As I approached closer, the ghost responded to my approach with a speech.

“Did you come here to make fun of me? To poke me in the moment of my defeat?”

“What do you mean?” - I asked as I walked around the ghost.

He was standing with his back to the entrance, and in front of his face there was a sphere of otherworldly light, shimmering with multicolored lights. I didn't notice it at first, because the light coming from that sphere was very dim.

“This is the memory of the moment of my defeat by the followers of the Elemental Gods. If you want to know how it really was, look!”

The ghost stepped aside and pointed to the orb with his hand. I approached it, looked inside, and noticed some movement. The closer I got, the more apparent it became. Eventually I had to literally stick my head inside the sphere, after which I found myself watching a 'movie'. I could look around, but I could not choose my point of view. However, I was primarily concerned with the events around me, and the unknown observer was in the middle of them, so I was able to see everything that was going on around me in detail.

In front of me, I saw the scene of an eight-man hunt against one. The prey was a man in black robes and a mask, throwing clots of darkness and waving some object that, with a great deal of imagination, could be called a battle scythe. In fact, it was a strange array of blades, but in the hands of this individual it was a deadly and dangerous weapon that was extremely difficult to resist.

The prey was surrounded from all sides by eight... humanoids. There was a dwarf, an elf, a stone troll, some kind of feathered wonder, an anthropomorphic tree that came alive, a werewolf in intermediate form, and two almost human. Overall, a complete panopticon of toleracists. They circled around the Dark Lord quite skillfully, trying to harass him with weapons or magic. But all their attempts to attack were either blocked or shielded by the enemy, or simply missed their targets.

But here the 'wonder in feathers' used some kind of spell that dramatically slowed the figure in black. The mage immediately paid for his success and flew away, losing more than half his life. But the other attackers took full advantage of this moment of weakness. The gnome leaped up and plunged his spear into the Dark Lord's belly. He grabbed the spear with one hand and tried to strike the dwarf with the other, but his arm was caught by a long whip, which was struck by a female human.

There was a brief moment of hesitation, and the dwarf used it to cast some kind of spell. A glowing rainbow beam emerged from his left hand and struck the Dark Lord's chest. And a split second later, the six other attackers emitted the same rays. Only the feathered warrior lay on the ground, pretending that he could not get up. The battle came to a halt. The seven attackers aimed their beams of light at one victim, and the victim froze, unable to move a finger. A few seconds later events took a somewhat unexpected turn.

A corner of a large cubic diamond protruded from the dwarf's chest, tearing through the gold armor. Judging by the short man's twisted face, it wasn't what he'd expected from the spell. The diamond exploded from the dwarf's chest like an Alien larva, and his mutilated corpse fell to the ground, staring up at the sky with frozen eyes. A second later, the same fate befell the other six attackers. The only difference was the appearance of the crystals that fell out of their chests. The elf had a sapphire, the 'tree' had an emerald, the werewolf had a ruby, the woman had a yellow topaz, and the last man had a blue aquamarine.

But the most unusual thing was the troll's heart. A very ordinary piece of granite fell out of his chest, no different in appearance from the rest of his body. All seven of the attackers fell to the ground as lifeless dolls, decomposing quickly into a pile of tripe. The Dark Lord suffered the same fate. The troll surprised me again. His body had disintegrated into a pile of debris, but his 'brain' had fallen out of his head, looking like hundreds of large diamonds melded together. Honestly, out of all the crystals the spell had spawned, none could compare in beauty to the troll's brain.

After the eight humanoids had lost their lives, a warrior in feathers approached the battle site. A sneering smile played across his face, indicating that everything had gone exactly as he had intended.

“Ah-ah-ah, dear allies, what an unexpected ending. But don't worry, your heroic death will not be forgotten. As long as I rule this world, its entire population will know you as heroes who sacrificed their lives to slay the immortal Dark Lord.”

With those words, the warrior stretched out his hand, and seven crystals flew into the air, circling above his palm. A few seconds later, they disappeared one by one into the 'dimensional pocket. But I noticed that the 'great swindler' didn't take the troll's heart, but his brain, which looked far more beautiful. Moreover, after the troll's body had collapsed into pieces, it was impossible to distinguish his 'heart' from the rest of the garbage. That's why the 'wonder in feathers' confused the brain with the crystal in which part of the Dark Lord's soul was imprisoned.

That was the end of the 'movie,' and I once again found myself in the room next to the ghost, woven from darkness.

“That's it” - I muttered, digesting the information.

Now I did not just see a fascinating cartoon. I was able to examine the names of all Evil Seeds, and use psionics to pull out all the information about where these quest items are, and how they can be obtained.

“So, what's your opinion about this event?” - The ghost inquired.

“All of you have been viciously fucked.” - I made a pretty obvious point.

“Us? Who, us?” - The shadow of the Dark Lord asked in amazement.

“You, meaning you and the seven idiots who sacrificed themselves to seal your soul.”

“What? But... how? It couldn't be...”

“Could-could.” - I interrupted the babbling of the NPC. – “Tell me, what have you decided about my offer?”

“What offer?” - The ghost, whose picture of the world and thousand-year-old hatred had just cracked and shattered, stared at me incomprehensibly.

“Will you be my faithful slave, or the next step in my ascent to the top of the world?”

“What? How dare you? Do you even know who I am?”

“You are the powerless shadow of a long-dead Dark Lord. It is too late for you to dream of power and might. All you can do is cry out for vengeance and hope for a peaceful repose. I can fulfill those wishes of yours. But if you dare to oppose my power, you will face oblivion and abyss.”

Of course, the threats and promises were so-so, but the NPC took the bait.

“Revenge! Yes, I want revenge! I'll do anything for it.”

“Good.” - I nodded. – “When the time comes, I'll release the pieces of your soul and destroy whoever is responsible for your death.”

Immediately a message appeared in the game interface.

***'You have received a unique quest 'Rebellious Spirit'. Destroy all the Seeds of Evil and kill the Lord of Heaven. Reward: hidden.***

Hehe, it worked! I now have an official quest to 'restore the broken honor and establish justice'. Just having this quest alone is already capable of activating hidden quest chains that will allow me to reach the Evil Seeds. Well, I'm finished here. Now, I can go back and see if my pursuers have had enough of looking for me.

Leaving the ghost hovering and muttering to himself, I returned to the darkness-filled corridor that led me back to the caves. Alas, my hopes of Zinovia going off on her own had dissipated like the morning fog. Apparently, she had noticed me during the chase after all, so she was now sure that I was hiding somewhere nearby. Luckily, she hadn't ordered all her subordinates to look for me, and the only people who were looking for me now were Zinovia Reinhardt and her sidekick, the Sword that Conquered Heaven. Unfortunately, Sword had the ability to see invisible men, so I had to think of a way to kill him if I wanted to escape.

However, what's there to think about? My mushrooms can deal 36,000 damage when fully charged. Sword only had 26,000 health. Also, his profession was Destroyer-Assassin, so he didn't have much protection. Meanwhile, I had no chance of doing anything to Zinovia. She was a Fanatic Sniper, so she combined high health, high defense, and huge short-term damage. In a long fight her damage was only slightly above average for her level of equipment, but in a one-on-one confrontation she could kill an enemy within a second from almost a hundred meters away.

As I sat in the crevice, I used my psionics to observe the actions of my two enemies. Pretty quickly it became clear that the Assassin is constantly snooping around, looking for me, and the Sniper is sitting on a high rock, waiting to kill me with a single shot. Also, they were both invisible all the time, so without my cheating abilities I wouldn't even know that there was an ambush against me.