Готовый перевод Настучать в бубен / Hit the tambourine: Глава 13-3

* * *

The young man returned to his body in a good mood and without any accumulated fatigue. Even the reserve wasn't fully spent, and his head wasn't too sore from the very difficult task of microcontrolling many separate groups of spirits. The System was giving off the equivalent of a flicker, indicating that he had managed to earn at least a new level, but that didn't seem to be all. It felt good and calm, as it always did after you had managed to do a nasty thing to someone who had once seriously offended you with impunity. Yes, Stepan grew up a kind and sympathetic boy, often ready to help just like that, sometimes even to his own detriment, from which his kindness, sometimes, tried to abuse. But as he grew up to be a kind boy, so he turned out to be, to an even greater extent, a vindictive, even vindictive, sometimes even writing down, if there was no hope for memory. And at such moments, when he paid the bills with another asshole, he was always covered with a warm and tender wave of peace.
Злопамятный

He intended to study the system's message flood, as had become tradition, a little later, when he reached home and settled into a proper bed. After leisurely packing, dressing, and disbanding his entourage, giving away the remnants of the fee that had eaten up almost the entire night, he returned to the house at dawn, sitting on the porch for a while, gazing at the sun and meditating, replenishing his strength and reserve. There was a small bag of nuts waiting for him in the house, which he ate in his thoughts, and then Meld fetched breakfast, having been told by the shaman not to disturb him and to let him sleep, drowning himself in his girlfriend. Only after he had satisfied his hunger and put himself in order, Stepan closed the window with the summoned spirit, which plunged the house into darkness, lay down on the bed, and began to look at the vengeful adventure.

Received: "methods of undercover work"; increased intuitive understanding of actions in undercover activities; increased likelihood of acquiring knowledge and properties of the spy and undercover use branch of the gift.

The acquired talent is added to the overall Player status.

Stepan had time to be pleasantly surprised at the fact that he had received such a useful thing for himself personally, both now and in the future, and then he was flooded with knowledge. It was not like the principle of the mastery of combat calls, not reflexes, and tricks, but knowledge, standard within the framework of the System, but at the same time very deeply interacting with reflexes, too, which made it involuntarily similar to the mentioned tricks. He was glad to have made contact with a couple of entities, what kind of entities hide energy trails? Now he knew not a couple of them, and the entities themselves were of a larger caliber, all the necessary offerings and methods of dialog were also present in the information block. Hiding traces, aura, spirit, interference with mass or targeted search charms, methods of extracting information about who is looking for you - an extremely rich list of interesting approaches to his gift.

Charms and suggestions began to reveal themselves in a useful way. Synergy opened up not so much new ways to brainwash and instill feelings, as methods to do it unnoticed by the victim and those who would then see the victim every day. Creating double and triple agents, false identities, even for oneself, to simply not remember compromising information and readily swear that one knows nothing about something. Interception of control over other people's influences, the ability to leave their corrections to the work of another master brainwasher, so that the always faithful bed slave suddenly sticks a needle in her master's eye during intercourse. Distorting vows and contracts, gradually removing them, or imposing additional penalties on an unsuspecting victim, followed by a final blow. Creation of a lair, not only as a place of power, but as a shelter, one-time or long-term, for now, or in conservation, so that one can come there decades later.

Techniques for surviving in the wilderness, concealing oneself from prowling trackers, throwing them off the trail, and confusing tracks. Tactics for ambushing hunters or avoiding ambushes, whether in the wilderness or an urban environment. The most suitable spirits for the entourage during an operation to kidnap a hostage, seize a document, or extract information of a certain nature. A very serious block of work with bypassing traps within curses or opening monolithic defense arrays on their own. Escape or battle in the spirit world, tracking shamans through the spirit world and the real world, the difference in approach to the same tracking, only for classical mages, druids, witches, priestesses, or cultists of demon worship. Methods to figure out the wanted individual if they are trying to hide, ways to determine the strengths and weaknesses of the chosen target.

Gathering information about personal, social and organizational vulnerabilities, gathering dirt through dream spirits or mental tricksters. Battle rituals and powerful rituals in the city limits or other monitored locations, ways to conduct them unnoticed and hidden from search. Techniques for fighting in the same conditions, to finish everything as quickly as possible, raise a minimum of noise. Hiding their aura or disguising it as someone else's with the help of correctly called spirits, which should be put on himself, like an invisible coat. In the darkest cases, you can also put on someone else's aura by sacrificing the recipient to the desired spirit and then allowing the spirit to cover you.

He came out of the trance in the middle of the day, rolled over onto his other side, scratched his ass, congratulated himself on becoming, if not an elite James Bond, at least a larval stage of Jason Bourne, and then went for a bath. His body was sweating as if it had been wrung out again, I was ungodly thirsty, and a pack of jackals had shit in his mouth. After the first portion of joy, Stepan takes another update. This time, according to the system, he did not commit the deed. It's obvious - to compare the complexity and risk of that insane marathon of killing aggressive spirits before they kill him, yes with the past almost entirely according to plan operation to cause grievous justice.... well, that's improper, to say the least.

The scale is incomparable.

So the system congratulated the guy on the fact that instead of "deed" he had done "act", which is probably good too, although he wondered what the ranking of these, in fact, hidden quests was. System Help, as it is not difficult to guess, on this topic was silent, like a partisan at the interrogation in the Gestapo, and a mute partisan at that.

A meaningful act has been accomplished!

For the accomplished revenge against an influential and noble enemy who wished your death, for the scope and targeting of this revenge, for a comprehensive approach to it, and for the care shown, a corresponding reward is provided!

Received: increase a random meta-skill by one point; two development points to a random meta-skill from a yet-to-be-discovered meta-skill.

Additional reward from Liarat si Merrinal, Lady of Gifts and Gift-giver, loyal servant of Innelas Innelay: one random property of advanced or elite type.

This time the reward was considerably more moderate, but Stepan didn't have any mortal risk or anything like that, even on the contrary, everything went as he wanted. He prepared, reconnoitered the situation, adjusted plans under the new data, silently and without pathos battles fulfilled what he had planned, and then left, hiding all possible traces. Not badly, by the way, hiding, as new knowledge suggested. It could have been better, but he didn't make any stupid mistakes, only a few little things, some of which could even be corrected a little later, for his comfort.

This kind of pumping was to the shaman's liking, but to do something like this regularly, looking for and cleaning up all sorts of lairs of warlocks.... no, he didn't want to do that. He remembered all too well how he had been flooded with those images of the last hours of the gutted young man's life. Stepan did not regret what he had done. He didn't think he had overdone justice - if only on a scale that might attract attention - he wasn't going to have nightmare dreams about the faces of the dead men who came to him, just as he hadn't seen them before, after a fight with brigands or a group sent after him. But to engage in such activities regularly would definitely lead to mental disabilities, not to mention the fact that no one had promised him that he would be rewarded for every single moral and mental freak. On the contrary: he didn't just extinguish a random necromancer, or rather, blow him up with fireworks, he was avenging an attempt to harm him personally.

This is without even touching on such a small detail as the presence of practically all such ghouls (sometimes not only figurative) have quite real patrons and those who benefit from their practices. Those who use their services, and do not give a damn, despite all the immorality and even lawlessness. If Stepan goes out on the warpath and starts tearing the nostrils and stopping the hearts of such people, he has every chance of success, the first couple of times, let it be ten times, let it be even twenty because he will grow and develop. But then real pros will come after him, who can't be deceived or led astray, they will come and start asking uncomfortable questions. Stepan, taking into account the speed of his development, will be able to answer some of them, but the war with the whole world is doomed to failure ... if started at the current level.

He wasn't a fan of killing, even killing those who deserved something worse than death in a good way, but he didn't dislike the idea. And when he reached the rank of High Shaman, consolidated his power and position, and gained legend and patrons, he might revisit the idea. Even then, he could hardly punish every injustice in the world, punish every dishonorable scoundrel, if only because then he would have to start with the local rulers and work his way down the chain. No, he's not idealistic enough to try to help everyone for free and to make sure that no one goes away offended except the bad guys, among whom no one goes away either.(*) But to eradicate the abomination of small things, like such freaks as Rumorias was, or better yet, to take some territory under his patronage, to get a job there as a "court magician", and then legally demand from those around him to observe the laws of the world, God, conscience and honor, and whoever refuses, the terrible spirit will bite his balls off.

Such a dream, which is more properly called a wet dream, but he can actually reach the level of power when it will be cheaper for even complete assholes, who do not want to change anything in their way of life, to go along with it than to try to strike an insolent upstart (which will not prevent them from trying to strike him). Yes, these are clearly very long-range plans. They are triggered by the moment, by meeting the dirty underside of this world. He can change his mind a thousand times, or find a better goal, but why not dream, since no one is charging for those dreams?

Stepan clenched his teeth as the gift from the Autogoddess, given for his deed, began to melt itself into the shaman's essence. This time the main sensations were concentrated as if in blood vessels and parts of thin bodies responsible for those vessels, as well as in the loins, which were burning not painful, but very intense heat while the veins and arteries flowed the same intense and even pleasant cold. He endured it all in silence, not even blinking - because he kept his eyes closed from the beginning - and when he opened those eyes and began to analyze the truly powerful property, although not reaching in value to the Shroud and Transformation, as well as not increasing the characteristics. He was not even surprised and angry. He was just tired already. He didn't have enough fervor in his ass even for another indignation, no spicy seasoning would help.

The property was called "heritage in blood and spirit", somewhat strengthening the connection with the spheres, but even at a minimum not comparable to the proper marks, as well as markedly improving the already good health, as well as longevity. Another plus thirty years of youth, although for him, with his characteristics and the possibility of if not buying himself legal and not bloody alchemy, then establishing contracts with the right spirits, it has long been not so useful. The main, and perhaps the main, function of the property was to provide power not for himself, but for his offspring, even if without the ability to pass on the system to his children and grandchildren. The power was what mattered. Magical gift and the potential for its development, which any of his offspring, accidental or not, will be at the level at which such a descendant will become an adept only if he will make conscious efforts in an attempt to remain mediocre, and even then it will not work. A minimum of a master, with minimal support and the presence of minimal resources, on bare talent and intuitive understanding of magic. If we are talking about systematic and confident development there is the road to the magisters or higher.

If we are talking about the fact the child's mother will also turn out to be not so simple, things are even more fun. Because the child will take the best features of the parents' gift, increasing the potential in these directions, the child is guaranteed to have this potential fifty percent higher than that of the mother and (or) father. All in all, not a trait, but some kind of a breeding bull's license, no other way. Stepan would not call this gift completely unnecessary. In the future, such a gift could certainly come in handy, no doubt, but now it was just dead weight. And, well, not quite dead, he could sacrifice his semen to the spirits. Now it's a very cool reagent. It had been before, as well as any gifted with a bright aura, but now it was like liquid gold or even platinum!

In general, just as Stepan didn't think of doing such things before, he doesn't plan to do it now, no, no, thank you, Big Milf, but he'll pass, it's not that kind of upbringing, the problem is not in you, but in him, and all that.

There would be another reason not to take off the Shroud but this property, fortunately, wasn't shown in the aura, only with a really deep scan, which just a glance can not spend. No, some witchcraft practices can help you find or recognize strong blood. There are the right spirits, which when planted in the eyes or other parts of the body, will recognize the strength in the blood and compatibility with members of the family, but these are tolerable problems. Who in their right mind would walk down the street with such a specific spirit, witchcraft, or classic scanning weave, checking every passerby for suitability to leave offspring?
Ха-Ха.

Absolutely, no one!

And this is even good. It is almost impossible to hide such a property normally with a shroud for the same reason it is not shown in the aura - the wrong type of modification, too deep and at the same time distributed level, it can not be taken out in a separate aura node and then masked. It remains either to look for very unusual ways to hide his "Chosenness", which can only attract even more attention, or just not bother, because to get under the right and properly skillfully executed scanning ... No, even Stepan's luck, which allowed him to pull out the only one of a hundred tickets on the exam, which he had not learned perfectly, had limits of logic and common sense.

To the study of meta-skills the young man moved in a somewhat lyrical and melancholic mood, so that neither to be upset nor to be surprised, but to rejoice.... it was the only way to rejoice! Again the normal System, by the will of gracious admins and despite the intrigues of the Autogoddess, increased not frozen at two "lecherous development", but at the system clock. For the first time, Stepan was just happy that it wasn't the skill from Milf Goddess that had increased, but the not-quite-complete uselessness of the clock was a pleasant surprise. Now he realized that the note in the help that even seemingly useless meta-skills were no longer useless at high levels was completely true.

After increasing the level of "temporal awareness III", once a day, for a period of five seconds, you could speed up your subjective perception of time tenfold. You can't move faster, but you can think or send images to your spirits, that's fine, that's possible, that's good. It would seem that it was not such an outstanding thing, although it was also very useful. Stepan himself knew how to accelerate consciousness and thinking, especially if out of the body, and special spirits, which will help to achieve the same effect exist, and he even knows how to call them, what offerings to buy in the system store. But the pumped clock was not classical magic and did not belong to it, being a manifestation of power that is higher than the local gods. That's why the acceleration from the system acted independently, it didn't require either mana or calls, it didn't stress the reserve and brains, and also, most importantly, it was compatible with any other ways to accelerate this very perception.

It multiplied.

"If I were a Warrior, I would agree to chew off my own arm for such a gift." Stepan declared mundanely and calmly, feeling very strange at the same time. "If only because if I were a Warrior, my arm would regenerate. Probably. Or not."

The young man concentrated on the Status again, finding a new line there. The meta-skills, unlike everything else, were added immediately and automatically, as they did not burden either the mind, the subtle bodies, or the conscience. The System did not fail this time either, and only the received gift already on the second level was not too inferior to the watch, even slightly superior to it. The meta-skill called "Reserve Renewal II" at the first level could instantly replenish the magic reserve once a decade even after it was completely depleted, and this replenishment was not traumatic and completely harmless. At the second level, the waiting time was reduced from ten days to five, and the number of refresh charges became two. However if applied within an hour, one after the other, the second application would replenish only three-quarters of that reserve.

It was a trick for a battle mage, adventurer, and risky guy, who was always in the epicenter of events, who quite estimates the probability of being among the enemies with an empty reserve as high, and therefore reinsures himself. Stepan did not consider himself an adventurer. He planned to stay as far away from the center of events as possible and for him, this modification is much less useful, but he was not going to give it up. It was a situational thing, but it could be used during calls, in case of sudden problems in the world of spirits, and even when captured, under the pumping out of the reserve, to fatally surprise the captor. The young man had already seen those situations or summons in which the use of this meta-skill was not only justified but also damn advantageous.

If only those of dark or simply evil spirits, which always try the shaman for strength, if they see an opportunity: to drain the reserve for the call and the offering, to wait until the creature begins to get insolent, since the exhausted shaman will not oppose it, and the protective circle and tear can be, and then quickly restore themselves and with a nice smile to ask to be more modest in requests, or the shaman will take offense. A shaman is a very vulnerable creature, airy and romantic, you can not offend him, and he starts to cry. To offend a little shaman is almost like offending a catgirl, and who should you be to offend catgirls, really?

Stepan assessed his meta-skills, and the System probably rated his condition as satisfactory for the last part of today's feast. He had managed to understand the image about getting to the twentieth level, which was not surprising, given the small amount of experience he had to gain before the breakthrough. If not for the "act", he had every chance to take the twenty-first level, or at least get more than two-thirds closer to it. As in the last promotion multiple of ten, this time the received talent point could be spent exclusively on properties, and elite to the extreme, tasty to salivation and screams of the inner munchkin. And, just like last time, the Autogoddess gave one additional property from herself as a gift, and it was at the same rank of power and strength.

The aura twisted again. But now the sensation was different, unlike any he'd felt before. It was like he was being shaken, like a lump of clumped salt or powdered sugar, forcing him to crumble again into fine crumbs, powder, bits, and pieces, each of which was buffeted by a breeze, touched by tiny feathers. It was, as always, not painful, not even as intense as expected, but still a memorable experience, ten out of ten to never repeat. However, after looking at the result of these non-tortures, Stepan immediately changed his opinion, immediately wanting more and more, twice as much.

The property of "patchwork spiritual echo" had a very strange nature, which Stepan felt very well at the moment of aura transformation. It was as if the spirit was disintegrating into small dust shreds, without losing its integrity or vulnerability, but taking advantage of the fact that these shreds could now be shifted in one way or another and in an appropriate order. This property could be considered the favorite child of both the shroud and transformation because synergized with both properties, it is just fiercely mad. Stepan assimilated the new understanding for a long time, diligently, persistently even, understanding every moment more and more, and slowly began to realize that the Autogoddess really gave a thing. He almost forced himself to thank her, through gritted teeth and in a whisper, but still he held himself back.

First of all, we are talking about a new level of disguise, the ability to not just hide by the Shroud his gift or parts of it, but in general to change the aura as desired, pretending to be a completely different person. Combined with the newly acquired agent methods, Stepan almost had a puppyish excitement from the manifesting prospects. But expanding the functionality of the Shroud is still bullshit on the background of a deeper type of disguise. More recently, Stepan lamented about the impossibility of hiding his traces in the spirit world. experienced clairvoyants or masters of reading the subtle shades of auric imprints could still get on his trail. Now... well, it's gotten many times harder for them, if not by an order of magnitude, though the latter is very optimistic. Or, on the contrary, he was the one who was still being modest. That patchwork, constantly as if shaking from changes and reorganizations, the structure is in fact false, its spirit is still static. This trembling - it is like an analog of pulse or breathing, a natural process, harmless to the shaman, not affecting the deep basis of subtle bodies.

But such a process disrupts the very adjustment to the imprints, each of the traces left by him is different in some way. It is impossible to find a similarity and trace the scheme, to create an accurate map of the aura and subtle body, to prepare a personal blow or particularly clever charms against a particular individual. Disguise, protection, and hell knows what else, especially if he does not leave anywhere hair, saliva, blood, and other body particles, because they contain the body and spiritual connection with him. It will be the very bridge that will help to pass this protection without notice. However, taking into account the method of battle so like Stepan somewhere out there, sitting in a fortified totem stronghold ... Here and explanations are unnecessary because it is the imprints and search on them Stepan should be afraid, with such tactics. You can't take the imprint off him unless he comes to voluntarily surrender after standing in a magic scanning circle for a couple of days while his patchwork echoes are deciphered.

Everything is clear with the disguise pluses. Next, it's about working with spiritual transformation. A lot of things have improved here. It became easier to manipulate his limbs, to morph them, to change their properties, even the volume of these tentacles, pincers, and wings grew but all the same things gave him other things, simpler, like spiritual operation. What's important here is the way the mechanics of the Autogoddess's system, which complemented the system, outsmarted itself in its attempts to mold him into the perfect shamanic brainwasher. Since the system was clearly modified for Stepan's namesake, from the point of view of this modification, this property should have been used to manipulate the rest of the properties and, in particular, the marks of the spiritual spheres.

For example, let's say Stepan Fatty, who for some reason chose the shamanic class instead of the THAT class, has a bunch of marks to strengthen his authority in front of charming spirits, and he needs to save his fat - if he doesn't want to lose weight and get prettier instead of cosplaying ugly bastards - ass from being penetrated by, let's say, a bandit's spear. He can take all these amplifying marks, and shift them towards the regular mark of the higher spheres. After that, the reinforced mark would temporarily become stronger, as if it had been invested with additional talents from those very marks that had become a reinforcing factor. Roughly speaking, it was an attempt to make the brainwasher a more combative individual or to strengthen some of the facets of the charms at the expense of the rest.

But in the performance of Stepan, who was not so fat, the result was quite the opposite. He could take the same improved mark of passion, merge it with the mark of roots, strengthen it, and then add the mark of spheres to it, creating a megastructure. This is also difficult, and requires not so much reserve as concentration, complicating the subsequent dialog, because part of that concentration will be eaten up by attempts to hold the enhanced mark. But it would be possible to summon even those spirits that would otherwise behave very unseemly if they came. The fearful beast that had given him the oak leaf would not be under contract, but he could at least count on the fact that, when the leaf was activated, he would either not be eaten, or would be eaten last, giving him a chance to buy himself off.

In fact, this gift opened up some interesting tactics, like the ability to take a large number of properties of the "mark someone" subtype and then manipulate them, shuffling and amplifying them without having to increase the ranks of those marks. Of course, this tactic has limits: merging three different marks while amplifying one is difficult, but possible. Repeat that with a dozen? You will tear yourself into the spiritual analog of the British flag, too much has to be changed and remade, the shreds risk not to bear the load, to become shreds not in the reflection-perception, but in the real state of a whole and indivisible spiritual body. And still, the possibility of throwing a couple of improvements into the same mark of spheres at the expense of the marks of roots and passions just surprisingly raises Stepan's mood, because HE CAN MAKE THE CHARMS WORK, damn it!

The list of bonuses was rounded off with the increase in characteristics, which went unnoticed against the background of the basic transformation: a unit to Spirit, Sensitivity, and Control. It would be necessary to evaluate everything he had received in the next few days, during the new tests, but even now he could say that it made him much stronger. He also noticed that the previous elite trait had only two characteristics, while the new one had three, which was a trend.

In a good way, Stepan should have fallen asleep, but he couldn't sleep at all, his body was throbbing with energy, and he wanted to roll mountains or at least move a table. And also he was literally burning a free point, the desire to put it in and become even better, even stronger, even cooler ... Well, he just wanted to be honest with himself, he just wanted to finish the transformation quickly and didn't want to waste another day lying in bed. As the day drew towards evening, Stepan bathed again and drank ice-cold water without fear of catching a cold thanks to his doubled Constitution, and then sat down to choose his options.

Just like last time, his eyes were scattered, his sense of beauty was failing along with his sense of proportion, and his inner munchkin demanded to sell his ass and kidney to Great Milf and beg her for at least one more gift of the same kind, or better two, or even to pawn his balls along with his ass. How about the ability to work with the dimensionality of distance on a level that was completely unattainable before? So that you could not only transfer the totem through the right spirit but also jump. Stepan even now could do that, but with risk, heavy and preferably relying on his glade of wonders, and after modification, he would be able to make such transitions in the same way as he used to go to the neighboring city. Yes, a problem, you have to buy a ticket and wait for the bus, but nothing extraordinary. Or, maybe, the great isekai would like the opportunity to talk to elder spirits before the time, a kind of improvement of spiritual dialog to the level that you begin to understand even those spirits that are still out of your league, and they will understand you? Of course, understanding doesn't mean agreement or at least non-aggression, but he could call the elder spirits earlier due to his markings and knowledge, and with the new gift of the Autogoddess, even more so. The main thing is to reach an agreement, so that they understand what was said, and hear the proposal. The price isekai with the system store will be able to pay.

The ability to make the body partially or completely phantom, giving it more spirit than body properties, was of great use. The very transition into a different form, the path to the ability to go to the world of spheres with the whole body, only much earlier and with the emphasis not on experience and knowledge, but on the property of aura and spirit. In general, even with such advantages, you should not float on the spheres without a reliable guard, because part of the skills of the supreme shaman does not mean that you have his power and ability. As a bonus, almost complete invulnerability to physical damage and the ability to become invisible without active magic, just going deeper into your own phantomness.

He was delighted by the property that opened up the possibility of working with the spiritual reflection of Reality in an extremely flexible way, which was closer to witchcraft than to shamanism, but could be used to make totems, amulets, area effects, or even to give a shit the properties and spirit of gold so that it would also be perceived as gold in magical rituals. There are types of calls, where the value of the offering is also important, for example, drown a hundred kilograms of silver in the sea, and your expedition will not meet serious storms, or slaughter a herd of sacrificial bulls, getting a guaranteed harvest for the next ten years, even if the neighbors will not harvest a grain. With such spirits, you can buy a ton of manure, one gold coin, and then make the spiritual reflection of shit to take the form of a mountain of gold coins and - pop! Do great things. Just remember that the stronger the spirit, the more demanding, intelligent, and attentive it is, the more likely it is to see what such "gold" really is. This will hardly add kindness and forgiveness to the deceived essence.

However, Stepan put all these options aside for one reason or another, choosing the one he had dreamed of so much during the preparation for the Rural Vengeance operation. The property was called "multiplicity of spiritual awareness" and it just fit perfectly with Stepan's current plans for his further development. He had noticed, during his visit to Fantrel, that when battling a crowd of creatures in his place of power he sometimes lacked the time and concentration to give the right commands to the right spirits. The same battle with the spirits would have gone much easier if he had been able to change tactics in time and not let Sacker and Whiskers put him in a zugzwang, but he didn't have time, he didn't have the reaction and the time.

This property raised the Spirit by two units, and by one Control, but in essence, it simply changed the spiritual body so the shaman could realize himself as one-many. This property is common to many elder spirits and virtually all higher spirits. It is not the parallel stream, - or streams, - of consciousness so beloved in Earth fantasy, nor did it create mind-controlled schizophrenia, no. It was simply that the shaman was getting the ability to think the same thoughts but in different directions, simultaneously but separately. And, when it came to controlling large masses of spiritual subjects, giving them different goals and checking that those goals were fulfilled - that was the best feature given.

There were disadvantages as well. The first of which was that in the meat body, before becoming supreme and re-shaping the spirit, this property became either less effective or overheated the brains during active afterburner. Also, this spirit modification did not allow multiple contracts to be made at once, one had to certify duties after a pause. Calling up old contracts and managing them was fine, pulling out small spirits directly and forcing them to do something without a contract was no problem either, but when it came to complex and multifaceted deals and offerings, there was a stoppage. Each mark on the spirit is very individual, and the contract, any of them, is that mark, so to impose two of them at once will not work, they will merge into one, causing headaches and injury to the spirit of the shaman and bewilderment, and even anger, the spirits. Well, or conclude a contract with all of them at once, a single contract for all the summoned and contracted, it is also possible, but there are their pitfalls.

Stepan closed his eyes, put in a free point, and sank into a trance. This time the modification was not only in his aura or spirit, but also in his head. Colors flashed before his eyes that could not be under the human sky, thoughts slowed to a complete stop, then rushed dog pack, and not in time, but it was over. The sensations were... uh, they were. The shaman got to his feet and washed his sweaty body again, trying to figure out what he was. It wasn't bad, it wasn't the very thing he had feared and the lack of which the system's certificate had convinced him of. It really wasn't a controlled schizophrenia, a mind divided into independent streams or an additional personality. He was the same as before, just had time consciousness a little more, not simultaneously parallel, but connected, as if the separate calls and orders to the spirits, on the contrary, merged into one, making them easier to manage. For several hours, having already had time to wait for the deep night, the young man played with a lot of small entities, called directly or taken out of the cells of the necklace, feeling them all incredibly full, transmitting dozens of different commands and almost making the little scoundrels dance a synchronized ballet and cheerful can-can. Okay, whatever, that's exactly what he made them do before he finally got tired and went to bed.

Before closing his eyes, he checked the last of the status messages that had come in, also a very pleasant:

Ten units in the "Spirit" characteristic are achieved. One characteristic bonus point is gained. The next bonus point will be unlocked when twenty-five units in the "Spirit" characteristic are obtained.

"No, that's tomorrow, I'm done for the day," Stepan said to himself, removing the forgotten spirit, which was dutifully hanging in front of the window, not letting the moonlight into the house, covering himself with a blanket and closing his eyes. "Most likely I will raise the Spirit, the main directions are tied to it, and for the second sensitivity, but tomorrow, all tomorrow, tomorrow, tom...."

Dreams came very quickly to the exhausted by the events of the night and the subsequent day of raking the rewards, as always, delighting with crazy images and absurd situations. A huge snowman as tall as a five-story building, armed with a buckshot gun that fired hybrids of small xenomorphs and cats, fought off a walking robot of the "Ordinary WH40k Titan" class, on which shawarma stores and souvenir stores were set up. A dragonfly with the face of Dobby from Harry Potter knocked on the window of a sorority house where a naked foam party was being held, handed out flyers offering to sign up to work at a meatpacking plant as meat, and took great offense when her flyers weren't taken. A huge blueberry pie the size of a mountain was slowly falling on the metropolis, very slowly, at a rate of a couple of centimeters per minute, and the people were saved by a group of fat regulars at McDonald's, eating the pie faster than it could crush the civilian population.

Some dreams were clearer, some were blurry, some showed an unconnected series of images, while in others there was an event line. Not otherwise, from excessive contact with the images sent by the Autogoddess, which come with her gifts, some of the dreams were obscene. It wasn't even about Dobby the dragonfly climbing onto the naked party with flyers from the meat processing plant.

A beautiful and tastefully furnished room, with two armchairs, in one of which a half-elf was sitting relaxed. He is vaguely familiar as if seen somewhere in a dream, but in which there is a strange falseness and a vague affinity. In the second chair sits a graceful and beautiful elf with raven-winged hair in a tight and tantalizing dress. She says something nice and fascinating, measuredly and with a clearly defined rhythm of pauses, then asserting, then asking, then clarifying, and the half-breed only nods and agrees, occasionally answering some questions. All his attention is fixed on the bare feet of his interlocutor, who put one foot on the other, wiggling her bare limb up and down, up and down, like a metronome. On the softly carpeted floor between the armchairs lies a lone sandal, dropped by the long-eared beauty, but the half-breed's gaze is fully focused on the same ever-moving piece. Behind him stands a beautiful and busty catgirl with red hair, equally red ears, and a fluffy tail, and she too is focused on her own, paying no attention to anything else. She stares at her tail, swaying in front of her face, and her pupils shift continuously after its movements, as if there was nothing for her but the tail as if there was nothing for the boy but the elf and her bare feet.

Some kind of office, richly decorated, but obviously not often used, as if it were intended for secret negotiations. A tall and very beautiful woman of about thirty-five, with dark red hair braided into a complicated and openwork hairdo, lushly-breasted, attractive, beautiful, and yet full of authority and the habit of commanding, speaks strictly and deliberately, with a kind of frighteningly calm menace. She says that she is risking a lot, but the one she is addressing is risking even more, says that she is not the one who is being hunted, and it is she is willing to lend a hand in exchange for cooperation and, importantly, respect and obedience, recognizing her right to command in return for the benefit and shelter provided. If her interlocutor is not satisfied with something, he is always free to go wherever he wishes, but without all she has provided him. The threat is clear, perfectly delineated, and therefore as visible as possible. However, it is spoiled by the fact that the woman is completely naked, lying on her desk, with her long legs behind her head and her hands rubbing the dark cherry nipples on her full breasts. And her first demand, in response to the recognition of her authority, was to shut up and never dare to refuse her if she wished to give her interlocutor and "subordinate" a powerful and dominating blowjob.

A darkened room upholstered in scarlet fabric, dimly burning sparks of smoky aromatic sticks, semi-darkness, and soft glow of illuminating crystals. A massage table, massage paraphernalia, fragrant oils, and the deft work of strong fingers of a couple of masseuses. Miniature and doll-like Asian women who look like mestizo Chinese and Filipino women are clearly passionate about their work. They are both very short, fragile, and touchingly vulnerable in their nudity, but apart from their intimate crotches adorned with intimate haircuts and small breasts with large dark brown nipples, one can see strong and trained bodies, smooth and confident movements and considerable skill in their massage science. They knead their client and chirp incessantly, chatting about something of their own, seemingly seeing no reason to listen to answers. If only one of them asks, the second will answer, the first will agree, the first will agree, and the second will confirm, assure, and repeat, which is extremely amusing in combination with their less-than-perfect knowledge of Confederate dialect, which makes it impossible to listen to them. Here is a young man lying on the bed, - seemingly familiar, already seen somewhere in the mirror - and he does not listen, only enjoys the four-handed massage. At some moment he is turned over, not resisting, and one of the Asian women starts caressing his cock with her strong palms and fingers, hard, fast, demanding, while the other one continues to say something, naming his shoulders and neck, before climbing onto the table and sitting on the client's face, who has lost track of time.

All three scenes seem to have flashed simultaneously in three parallel moments as if they were dreamt in the same second, but each occurred at a different moment. It appeared to the sleeping mind of the shaman that he was about to grasp some important truth, to understand something necessary to him personally, revealing the answers to those questions he had not even asked yet. That answer was so close that he almost managed to touch it. Still, he woke up from the weight that seemed to squeeze his soul, opened his eyes for a moment, and immediately fell into a new dream in which Michael Jackson fought with Morgan Freeman for the right to punch the face of Soton, who had invaded the Earth at the head of his legions. When he awoke in the morning, he retained very little memory of his dreams that night, only noting that when he found himself in a normal city, he could look for a good place to relieve the tension.

Until then, he will have enough “regular fucking” with a fucking totem clearing, which by the end of winter will need to be completely re-equipped with new skills and knowledge. The only comment in response to a new batch of mad visions and crazy colorful dreams has already become traditional for each awakening appeal to oneself, shown with habitual yawning:

"Holy admins, what nonsense!" The yawning young man, who was already thinking about investing the unexpected free unit of characteristics and another expected one, honestly received for the level, threw the dream out of his head faster than he had time to wash his face.

The development, testing of his own limits, new contracts, testing of the received properties and knowledge, numerous experiments with dangerous entities, as well as cooking Kirik's wife, a golden woman, whose name and face he still did not recognize. The world of magic, charms, spirits, and all sorts of anti-scientific by earthly standards bullshit lay ahead of him, and the unwilling isekai caught himself thinking that today was probably the first day when he didn't even try to pretend, for the sake of self-deception, that he wasn't happy about his new position and his newfound gift. He was finally getting used to his new role, his new powers, and his new world.

Maybe it can be made a little better.

THE STATUS OF STEPAN "NORMAL" AT THE END OF CHAPTER THIRTEEN:

Name: Stepan

Level: 20

Class: Shaman

Characteristics: (free: 2)

Talents (free): 0

Constitution: 2

Sensitivity: 9

Power: 6

Control: 5

Source: 5

Spirit: 12

Resistance: 1

Knowledge acquired: speaking and writing: Free Cities, academic Neirat, Island Kingdom; advanced developed call practice; advanced fundamentals of spiritual dialog; wilderness hermit; advanced basics of working with healing spirits; advanced basics of casting shamanic charms (GIFT); advanced basic techniques of dream-inducing and dream correction (GIFT); the advanced basic practice of combat calls; advanced basic techniques of interaction with magical sources; advanced basic techniques of countering curses: basic fundamentals of fast call; the advanced basic practice of spiritual operation; the mastery of a martial call; basics of spiritual haggling and contract agreements with otherworldly entities; the advanced basic practice of remote control of spiritual entities; basic methods of teaching magical sciences; basic methods of tantric practices; basic methods of territorial influences; basics of work with totems; basic techniques of building defensive formations; advanced techniques of spiritual wandering; advanced basic skills of spiritual conflict outside the physical body; advanced developed techniques of suggestive influences based on shamanism (GIFT); methods of undercover work

Minor knowledge: contract with an elder spirit: Sleepwalker (GIFT); contract with the elder spirits: The Shroud of Touch and the Creator of Decisions (GIFT); a contract with a strong spirit: The Eater of Diseases; defense by distortion of the anteroom of the spheres;

Obtained properties: blessings of health and long life; toughness of spirit; resilience of subtle bodies; small mark of spiritual spheres: spiritual shroud of higher auric concealment (GIFT); flexible transformation of the spiritual body; marking of fallen leaves and black roots; a tantric spiritual hearth; recognition of creators of passions and weavers of feelings (GIFT); heritage in blood and spirit (GIFT); patchwork spiritual echo (GIFT); plurality of spiritual awareness

System modifiers: peaceful development III; issuance of system assignments III; lecherous development II (GIFT); access to system purchases III; small system endowment of characteristics; temporal awareness II; reserve renewal II

Special: Blessing of Liarat si Merrinal, Lady of Gifts and Giver of Gifts, loyal servant of Innelas Innelay: likely to grant additional talents as you level up; grant specific System quests with increased rewards; Mark of Destinies: Singha, daughter of Maega, and Maega, daughter of Maedra; hidden effects

Here's some more lore, literally two lines of it, concerning the types of deeds and their gradation: act - deeds - accomplishment - feat, this is roughly how this scale looks like. To describe in detail is too spoilerish, and unnecessary - you personally have already seen two examples of such awards to compare the difficulties of obtaining them, risks, and degrees of reward. The evaluation of a committed action always goes on the scales of danger for the character and the importance of the deed for the character, as well as on the scale of what has been done. That is, you can do a feat on the first level, killing a young dragon with a bare ass, but if the player is already pumped up and his ass is not bare, then you have to kill an adult dragon. And if the player has already pumped himself up to the magister, then you have to kill a dragon pack with the support of the lizardmen army.

For an act, you are rewarded with free or invested talents and material rewards, for a deed you add characteristics, both invested and free, from one to three, for an accomplishment you get all of the above, plus you may get an elite property like those given for multiples of ten levels, for a feat you get all the same, but much more plus the probability of something outrageous - the rarest and absent in the catalog knowledge, big or small, property, meta-skill, "special" modification and so on. An Autogoddess can add a lot more or less from herself, plus she has a much easier time getting something from the "special" section. And yes, it's Milf that can count as an act or deed something that Stepan would spit venom for.

That's it.

Внимание! Этот перевод, возможно, ещё не готов.
Его статус: идёт перевод

Переведено на Нотабеноиде
http://notabenoid.org/book/86785/574219

Переводчики: Camrad_RIP