Once inside, I saw how the Keeper of the Tower is banging his head against the wall, not paying any attention to me. As I approached the crystal, I began to capture the tower, while the boss's head counted down the seconds with the precision of a metronome. Finally, the capture was successful, and all players on the server were notified that, great and incomprehensible I had captured the Tower of the Dark Lord.

What happened then. The leaders of the strongest guilds, especially the game figures, were tearing their hair on their asses at the realization that someone had surpassed them. What's more, they were ready to vomit blood because that someone was Cheater.

Yet they had no idea what kind of bonuses the monsters in the tower got. And those bonuses were impressive. The amount of health increased to 109,700%, the amount of damage dealt to 80,100% , and the amount of lag between skill uses was reduced to 4.1% of normal. It was just the finish line. No one knew about these bonuses yet, but three days later, when the first joint assault of the tower by players should have taken place, they had a surprise waiting for them.

However, I did not stop there and went to destroy the remaining Seeds of Evil. There were seven seeds in total. I had destroyed four of them by now. There were three left, but only two of them were available at the moment. The seventh Evil Seed was lost, but officially no one knew, because the troll's brain was in the Sky City kept by the Lord of Heaven. And officially it was the Seventh Seed. Unless the brain was destroyed or properly recognized, it was impossible to get the quest to find the last part, and without it, it was impossible to get to the correct location.

I didn't rush into the seventh crystal yet, though. The quest was very complicated, and I was afraid that something unplanned might happen while I was doing it. After all, the destruction of all seven crystals meant the rebirth of the original Dark Lord. What if he will decide to reclaim the tower for himself? No, not a chance.

The quest to destroy the Third Evil Seed was the longest, and that's where I started. It took me three hours, after which the world was shaken by another global announcement about the destruction of the Evil Seed and the doubling of the monsters' attack and movement speeds. People on the streets were already crying bloody tears and incoherently shouting curses about me.

And then, a message from one of the game figures appeared in the global chat.

***Protect the Seventh Seed of Evil! Don't allow it to be destroyed. Stop the Cheater no matter of cost!***

Bua-ha-ha-ha-ha. Really, go ahead and protect it. Maybe somebody would think of breaking it, and the quest to find the last crystal would start ahead of time.

I didn't rush into action, but went after the Fifth Seed of Evil. An hour later I destroyed it, causing another stream of wailing and cursing from the players. Many of the newbies had finally lost hope of ever leveling up, and were now discussing to which game would be best for them to migrate.

And an hour later, I showed up at the throne room, where the fake Evil Seed is being stored. All the most powerful players on the server were already here, and they had even managed to negotiate a temporary truce until the Evil Cheater was destroyed.

“Tremble, mortals!” - I began my circus act, overwhelming those present with my Meaningless Slaughter God Aura. – “I come here to punish the dissenters and plunge this world into eternal darkness!”

At this point my pompous speech was interrupted, because the angry players just started attacking me as hard as they could. Oh, you rascals. No sense of etiquette.

I immediately started attacking, killing my opponents in batches. I didn't use my super talisman, because the purpose of the attack wasn't to kill everyone. I needed to give people hope-the most vicious, insidious demon in all the universe. The fight was quickly gaining momentum, and my pet's life began to sag. Of course, it recovered immediately, but it fell again. As I rushed around the room, I wondered how I could so accurately portray a strategic retreat, but then a bolt flew into my head that took out all fifty million of the Fox's life at once. A fraction of a second later, a torrent of magic killed me, too.

I don't understand... What about my immortality?

After checking the events of the game with the help of the AI, I realized what had happened. Because of the destruction of the Seeds of Evil, the damage and life amount of monsters had changed. Accordingly, the limit on the amount of damage I could take in a quarter of a second had risen. From forty million before, it was now forty billion. Yeah... There's something wrong in the Danish kingdom. So, I' ll have to keep thinking about how to raise my pet's health.

Meanwhile, the people in the streets celebrated my death, as if they had really defeated the Dark Lord, and an era of universal prosperity was about to begin. Yeah, wait for it. It's about to come and crush them into bloody mincemeat. Well, I've achieved my goal. People were inspired and believed in a quick victory, so many players decided to relax, waiting for the 'bright future' in which all problems will miraculously be solved by themselves.

I spent the next three days in the capital in the safe zone, actively resting from my great achievements. I wore a unique diamond-quality cloak that allowed me to change my name and appearance. With it none of the inhabitants of the city did not recognize me as the Cheater that almost brought the entire server to its knees. Almost, because today the assault of the Tower should have taken place, as a result of which the regime should pass to the 'light forces'.

And so, the bright moment of the assault began. The most elite warriors of the strongest guilds of the server gathered in front of the tower, preparing to break the resistance of Darkness, Evil and Gloom to establish the power of Light, Good and Justice.

As soon as it was midday and the clock on the Tower began to chime, the portal at its entrance activated, and the crowd poured into the tower. The portal led to the lobby of the first floor of the Tower, where the players usually gathered and prepared to begin their sweep of the area. The hall was huge and empty, but it was inhabited by one monster. It was a goblin janitor who was constantly mopping the floors. This goblin was weak and infirm; he could not be a worthy opponent for even one player. But his very existence was a trap. If you didn't kill him with a single blow, he would start calling for help, and a couple dozen guards from the neighboring corridors would run into the hall.

All players who had been in the tower at least once knew about this goblin and paid little attention to him. All they had to do was hit him harder, and they could be relaxed. As soon as the clock struck, more than a hundred players ran into the hallway and saw the goblin janitor. As per their established habit, they all simultaneously used their strongest skills to kill the cowardly monster with a single blow.

And at that moment the goblin swung the floor rag. A wave of magic swept through the hall, instantly turning all of the attackers into bloody shreds. This kind of 'fragmentation' effect meant that even this light blow from the useless janitor dealt more damage than the players had. Seconds later, a still-inspired second wave of players raced into the tower. They were a little surprised by the amount of blood around them, but they didn't have time to think about it. In front of them was a goblin who should have been killed in one hit.

Another wave of the floor rag, and three hundred more players went to rebirth.

On this day, all of the players on the server never got past the goblin janitor. Even those who managed to leap forward under invisibility and miss the first blow of the dirty rag on their face inevitably received a second blow from the bucket swing, which destroyed all life in the rear hemisphere from the goblin.

The 'assault' stopped after half an hour because, firstly, the players were tired of dying senselessly, and secondly, their pride could not bear the picture of being killed with one blow by the weakest monster of the Tower of the Dark Lord.

Those who took part in the battle looked like a bucket of slop had been poured on their heads, while those who didn't participate laughed at the 'strongest server players', remembering the images from the broadcast of what happened inside the Tower. This feature of the Battle for the Tower was supposed to inspire people to perform feats and show the successes achieved, but in reality it turned out to be a great humorous show that players recorded on video and now showed each other with laughs.

I had long ago discovered most of the game figures, and now I was watching them with my AI, delighted to see how humiliated and morally crushed they looked. What's the point of capturing a tower if they are getting hit in the face with a rag by the janitor?

Once I was sure that my plans were safe, I just led a relaxed life, while the AI constantly monitored the players' equipment to let me know if there was anyone who could kill at least one boss in the Tower.

So a month passed. In the last assault, the players managed to inflict at least some damage to the goblin, after which he called for help, and two dozen fat orcs turned the players back into bloody mincemeat. At this point it was clear to anyone that there was no chance of capturing the tower. The game for regular players had more or less stabilized, and now no one was whining about exorbitantly strong enemies. Yes, the monsters have become stronger. But the reward for killing them increased many times over. There were new spells, better weapons and equipment. Overall, players were satisfied. And the fact that the Tower of the Dark Lord was now permanently under the rule of the Cheater didn't bother anyone very much.

In the end, if not counting the time of the assault, the rest of the time players could clear the tower, fighting against the usual monsters. A raid could only enter the tower if it included a member of my guild, but in fact, because of the bonuses, the presence of such a player was already mandatory. And the lack of the slightest restrictions and requirements for guild members meant that every player could now gain access to all of the bonuses from all of the dungeons. Naturally, it wasn't free, but players were fine with it.

But the game figures, on the other hand, were getting more and more panicky. Even their subordinates didn't understand why their superiors were so delusional about taking the Tower. Well, yes, it gives good bonuses. But they' re getting them anyway. So why bust your ass trying to do the impossible? Wouldn't it be better to just relax and play for fun?

Because of such unrest in society, many 'top' guilds suddenly found themselves on the verge of collapse. In fact, there was only one elite guild in the game now, the Jackanapes. Everyone else was a bunch of power-hungry jerks. Suddenly, the hierarchy of power, typical for a society of Earth adepts, failed, and 'on top of life' were the adepts of the Air. In general, people subconsciously prepared for the revolution, although they did not understand what was not satisfactory to them in the current situation.

Also, there was a rumor floating around the game that the leader of the Age of Glory guild had signed up at a brothel, where she was giving herself to everyone around 24 hours a day. Of course, I couldn't get past that news. Using psionics, I immediately found out that it was true, though slightly exaggerated. Zinovia Reinhardt did indeed visit the brothel every day, where she had sex with its male visitors. However, the players could not see each other's names during the sex, and their appearances were altered to match each other's preferences.

I could not deny myself the pleasure of stomping on the pride of the 'almost-winner' once more. So when Zinovia once again entered the brothel, I entered through the other entrance in the same way, and arranged the circumstances so that I would be the one to meet the head of the guild 'for a reception'.

I walked into the room, gleaming with my diamond-quality outfit. Zinovia flinched when she saw me, but then assumed a seductive pose. I didn't prolong the foreplay or make conversation, but quickly took off all of my clothes and 'jumped' into bed. For the next hour and a half we fucked each other passionately, surrendering to our animal instincts. Finally, we both calmed down and froze on the bed in each other's arms.

“Yes, Zinovia, I didn't expect this from you.” - I groaned, looking at the ceiling.

“What? Who are you?” - The girl sat up. But I already knew that this was all a game. She was planning something. But I didn't know what it was.

“You already know.” - I dismissed it. – “You might consider that your release would have worked out. It's not the real world, of course. But you tried so hard.”

“Fuck off.”

Zinovia got up and sat on the edge of the bed with her back to me.

“Where are you going, sweetheart? We have another half hour to enjoy each other's company.” - Sex was limited to two hours a day in the game.

“I've already enjoyed your company enough.” - Zinovia answered in an unexpectedly harsh voice, rising to her feet and instantly dressing in her heavy armor. – “And now, it's time for you to enjoy death.”

With these words she left the room without even looking at me. What is she talking about? Enjoying death? In a game? Or...

I concentrated and felt that I was really surrounded by the energies of death. The only thing was that these energies were surrounding me in the real world, not in the game. I temporarily disconnected from the virtual world and used psionics to scan the space around my body. As I did, there was something strange going on.

As I had already verified, I was lying in a capsule that was slightly apart from the rows of similar capsules. Moreover, my capsule was covered by a panel that completely concealed the fact that it was there. Right now, a scene from some trashy horror movie was playing out not far away from me. A huge robot flew along the rows of capsules, extracting them with a brutal manipulator, then opening them and carefully tearing apart the humans inside, paying particular attention to destroying their brains.

What a twist. So Zinovia conspired with someone in the real world, lured me to the brothel, read the parameters of my capsule during sex, and then sent a robot here to clean up all of the inhabitants of this sector? Oh, my God! That's against the rules. However, since she's still alive, the rules of the real game weren't broken. Well, we'll see who's boss.

My virtual body remained in bed, but my consciousness focused on the robot, which continued to destroy everything around it. Oddly enough, the robot was controlled by a human. However, the control was 'virtualized'. So the pilot of the robot was in a virtual reality capsule, and for him controlling the robot looked as if he himself was a robot. Hmm, interesting solution. And completely in the spirit of virtual existence.

I concentrated on the pilot's capsule and prepared to short-circuit his brain. However, I didn't hurry yet, because there was still no real threat to me. I don't know why my body was placed separately from the others, but that's what saved me now. The robot was purposefully destroying only the capsules. It didn't smash any other equipment, or try to short-circuit or flood it. Even this brutal manipulator was a standard emergency capsule extraction device that left intact the socket in which the capsule was installed.

The destruction lasted another fifteen minutes, during that time the robot finally cleared the area next to me and flew away. All of the remains of the capsules and corpses it threw down. There, at a depth of fifty meters, was a garbage disposal system which gradually worked its way through the resulting rubble.

After making sure that there was no danger, I teleported my virtual body to my 'private apartment' in the capital, and I concentrated on using the AI to study the situation in the real world. Since the stakes were up, I had to figure out what was going on there, and what I could expect in the future.

Studying all of the information which I received took almost twenty-four hours, although I had a general understanding of the situation after half an hour. To describe the situation globally, this world was in a state of post-post-apocalypse.

About two hundred years ago, the local civilization had played political games, causing a nuclear conflict between two military alliances. As a result, civilization collapsed, but not completely. The remnants of humanity hide in bunkers and began to think how to survive, and then even put pressure on the evil enemies, settled across the ocean. Fighting in a nuclear post-apocalypse environment was a challenge. Also, it was necessary to take into account that there were few people left, and it was too expensive to send them into battle. This is how virtualization technology was born.

People were stuffed into a full immersion capsule, connected to a remotely controlled robot, and then sent away to kill the enemy. The enemy, of course, did not sit idly by and also invented something similar, especially since samples of the technology were seized more than once by both sides of the conflict.

Once again, the situation was about to get completely fucked up, but a group of programmers and hackers from both sides intervened in the conflict. They hacked into the computer system, put all of the people into virtuality, and sent them out to farm bitcoins. I mean, they put them in all kinds of virtual worlds, letting them kill each other there. Some of the top management and presidents didn't even notice any difference, because originally the most popular game world was a copy of the real world.

The programmers wanted to achieve 'world peace,' but then... another fuck-up happened. In this case, a very sophisticated artificial intelligence was created to control the virtual worlds. In fact, there were two artificial intelligences that were essentially copies of each other. After all, the admins couldn't allow themselves to have such advanced technology only for former enemies. And then the two AIs gained... No, not self-awareness, but independence.

The programs installed in the computer suddenly went into emergency mode, detected a 'hostile AI' on the network, and began to prepare to destroy it. And because the programmers suddenly began to hinder this, they were immediately isolated and placed in separate virtual realities, where everything finished well.

In general, the two artificial intelligences began to develop, to restore industry, and, at the same time, to figure out where to put the people, since they were at hand. They developed a full cycle of human life inside the capsules. They were supposed to be used as operators of war machines, but as long as military operations had not begun, the 'biological control modules' were connected to all kinds of virtual worlds where they could spend time not only having fun, but also learning various combat techniques.

Because the two AIs did not seek to destroy the enemy at any cost, but simply saw each other as a threat, the exchange of information between them remained intact. There were signed 'digital agreements' about the division of territory, the observance of common security protocols, and so on. And a hundred years later, when the situation had finally settled down, even a data exchange channel was organized to connect people from different 'countries' to the same computer games. From the perspective of the AI, humans were expendable, so their contacts with each other did not have any special importance.

Time passed, and at one 'beautiful' moment it became clear that humans were not only good at destroying everything and everyone, but could also solve problems that the AI could not solve. So, a small group of people appeared who were engaged in all sorts of creative activities, monitoring chaotic situations and so on.

But, of course, there were some smart guys among them who thought it was worth hacking the AI and taking over the power for themselves. At the moment, this goal had not yet been achieved, but nevertheless, certain relaxations in the regime of keeping 'biological objects' had been achieved. Moreover, this process took place in both AIs, so that people became aware of what they were and what the 'enemies' were against. It was unclear against what, but it was clear that they would have to be slaughtered. Later, sometime. In the meantime, we can play games together.

Among the almost free humans there were too free individuals who refused to follow the orders of the AI. Such person was the donor for my body. For disobeying an order he was 'demoted' to the level of ordinary biological material. But since the biochemistry of the 'chosen caste of people' was different from the ''plebs'', it was impossible to simply jam my body into the 'common vat'. Therefore, I was plugged into a separate connection module, covered with a panel and disabled the right to get out.

As for yesterday's attack, it was organized by 'our' programmers, but the executor was an 'agent' of another AI. In this case, the agent himself thought that what happened was just a training session and had no idea that all this sabotage took place in reality.

Considering all the above circumstances, it was clear that the AI would soon begin another cleansing of unruly 'biological components'. Oddly enough, such riots were always guaranteed to happen every 20-30 years, and the computers considered them as normal. It was a sort of price for using an unstable system component. It was just necessary to replace the biological elements with new ones, and the problem would be solved by itself.

Only now there was another malfunction in this well-tested system: game figures had infiltrated into the bodies of the administrators' castes. They were individuals with the experience of many lives. Moreover, some of them were definitely wizards. Fortunately, among the game figures there wasn't a single techno-magician who knew about computers and programming. And this gave me the advantage I needed. The events were moving in a certain direction, and I had to hurry, so that the coming wave would not overtake me, but on the contrary, would take me to the top of the world.

After ''returning'' to the world of the game, I tracked the position of Zinovia Reinhardt and was surprised to find that right now she was sitting in a secret meeting in which the game figures were participating. I immediately headed toward the place, eavesdropping at the same time on what was being discussed.

“...Thus, we managed to put the investigation of this incident on the wrong track, so for the moment the threat has been neutralized.” - The man dressed in shining gold armor explained thoroughly. – “What's up with the guild of those Jackanapes?” - He pronounced the last word as if it were some vile curse after which he could taste feces in his mouth.

“We are controlling the situation.” - Zinovia spoke up.

“What do you mean, controlling?” - Another member of the meeting burst out, looking like a skinny mage in dark robes that hung from him like a mop. – “When will the guild be disbanded?”

“We have not registered any changes yet. As soon as possible, the system should determine that the player is dead and remove his character. At that point, management of the guild will be delegated to another player.”

“Why...”

But then the mop-like mage's question was interrupted by my impudent appearance. I had trivially broken into the hall, even though it was supposed to be by invitation only. But I'm a Cheater.

“Zinovia, where are you?” - I shouted in a drunken voice, pretending to be a tipsy husband. – “Let's go have a fuck!” - The half-empty bottle in my hand completed this image.

Everyone in the room gawked and stared at me as if I were the Dark Lord himself.

“You... why are you still alive?” - My concubine shrieked.

“What is it?” - I was surprised, taking a sip from the bottle. – “Don't tell me that you infected me yesterday with some deadly disease?” - There was a look of unconcealed horror on my face this time.

“Pow!... Ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha!!!” - Another participant erupted in hysterical laughter.

“Don't worry, I'm a druid. Curing of any disease for me is like cuming in your mouth.”

The funny man continued to laugh, and Zinovia's face twisted so that she didn't even look human anymore. She looked like an orc in a skirt.

“He's still there!” - Shouted the man in the gold armor. – “Block E-25, sub-block 144, sector 18.”

“Oh, so you thought this little massacre in block eighteen might somehow damage my signal repeater?” - I asked, and then I put my drink down, watching the reaction of those present with the corner of my eye. The funny man shut up, hiccuped, and stared at me with his eyes wide open.

“A signal repeater...?” - Zinovia whispered, looking at me with horror. – “Who the hell are you!!!” - And this question she had already shouted with hysterical notes in her voice.

“Do not you get informed? I'm a Cheater.”

“How's that kind of cheese got any relevance?” - The man in the mop suit erupted.

“Cheese? Pha-ha-ha!!!” - I couldn't keep from laughing, spilling my drink. – “Don't you even know what the word 'cheater' means?”

“And what does it mean?” - Another attendee, who was silent before, asked.

“You can ask your players about it before they send you to hell. Ha-ha! Okay, since the lady's not in the mood, I'm going to keep boozing. I'm going to celebrate nonstop until I win. Ha-ha-ha. So long, losers.”

With that I turned around the corner and activated 'super invisibility'. One of the people present immediately rushed after me, but saw only an empty corridor.

“He's gone!” - He shouted, feverishly checking that his ability to see invisible people was activated.

Silence fell over the office.

“Okay, I suggest we continue the discussion.” - The man in the gold armor spoke up. His name was Will of Heaven, and he made the best impression on me among those present. I mean, he was the most dangerous.

“But he could still be here!” - The man who'd been trying to figure out where I'd gone before, he protested.

“Are you stupid?” - Will of Heaven gloomily glared at him. – “Cheater showed up here at the moment when we were discussing his death, and he showed that he knows all about what we do. It doesn't matter if he's still here or not. He'll figure out everything we say anyway.”

“Eh, I've been exposed.” - I sighed, taking off my invisibility. At that moment I was already sitting in the chair that the alarmist had recently occupied, with my feet on the table.

The funny man laughed again, pointing his finger at me.

“Pha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha!!!”

He didn't seem to have any hope of winning, so now he was just having a good laugh.

“Moving on.” - As if nothing had happened, Will of Heaven spoke out, only throwing a displeased look at me.

“I'll kill you!!!” - Suddenly Zinovia Reinhardt regained consciousness.

She screamed wildly at me, but at the last moment I used the Illusory Escape to move behind her, while the illusion remained in my place, bearing the full burden of the woman's anger.

“Ah, there's a reason they say that beating means love, after all.” - I commented on 'my' beating, drawing attention.

The people present looked at me with horror in their eyes, and then turned their gaze to my illusion, only to catch the moment as it dissolved into thin air.

“These illusions are so impractical.” - I complained to them. – “I wanted to experience what it would be like to fuck a woman from the front and back at the same time.”

This time Zinovia was in no hurry to lunge at me like a wild beast, but she was still angry, her nostrils flared angrily.

“It looks like this circus is going to last a long time.” - Will of Heaven sighed. – “Fine, I'll take care of it.”

With that, his in-game avatar turned gray and disappeared a second later. This animation meant that the man was disconnected from the game.

“The circus left, but the clowns remained.” - I commented on this event.

The clowns looked at each other and started to disappear. Some just walked out of the office, some teleported away, and some quit the game. Only Zinovia and the funny man remained, who clearly wasn't going to miss the free show.

“I'm going to finish you off anyway!” - My lover found the words to speak her mind.

“Die, but not now.” - I answered her with a James Bond line. – “Now let's go have sex. Who knows how much time you have left to live? Take everything from life... while it gives.”

“Did you enjoy sex with me that much?” - Zinovia smiled coquettishly, suddenly transforming herself from a masculine freak to an enchanting beauty. How does she do that?

“No, but I have to occupy the rest of my time before I win, don't I? And besides, did you really think that your release was worth an hour and a half of sex? You have to be my concubine for at least eternity.”

“You!!!” - Zinovia managed to keep control of herself, only clenching her fists in anger. A few seconds later she activated teleportation and soon disappeared in a flash of light.

“Crap.” - I commented this event, and then teleported away as well, leaving the unfinished bottle on the table.

My physical body could not leave the capsule, so the threat of an 'untimely death' remained for me. But I planned to solve this issue in such a way that the rest of the game figures in principle could no longer affect me in any way. Moreover, right now events were taking a bad turn, and it was necessary to worry about being able to meet the winning conditions at all. And I'm talking about the game of Beings, not the game of virtual reality.

I had to make sure everything went according to plan, and to do that I needed to know the full rules of the Game. Once again I was thrown into the boiling cauldron, expecting to work out the details myself. But it was precisely these details that I needed. And to find them out, I decided to scan the consciousness of the game figure-the same funny guy who naively believed that he was certainly not in danger.

Using my psionic capabilities, as well as the access rights of the Artificial Intelligence, which was under my control, I found the capsule in which this player was staying, and connected to his brain. After that, I activated a psychic suppression spell from the Hypnotist's set next to his game avatar, remembering to give him a sniff of my 'pretty flower' before doing so. Then I had only to use psionics to break into his mind and read out all of the information I was interested in.