Готовый перевод Ведомый / Follower: 8.

9.

* * *

Igor woke up. His mood was, if not excellent, then good. He slept pleasantly and softly, but when he opened his eyes, he saw the classic "unknown ceiling". He could just climb into a huge combat humanoid robot, save the world, kill a walking giant shit mastering unscientific tricks with controlling force fields along the way. Oh, stop. He was already doing it, only without the mecha, exclusively on his own. Stupid thoughts did not prevent him from getting up from the couch, assessing the outerwear folded next to him, and the fact that he was wearing only boxer shorts and a warm T-shirt. It seemed that yesterday, after the ritual, he was not just knocked out, but completely knocked out to hell, if he did not have enough strength even to crawl to his apartment. The young man sincerely hoped he did not snore, otherwise, it would be awkward.

"Are you awake? Then get up and go have breakfast, we have a lot to discuss." Elizaveta Albertovna looked into the living room, already fully dressed in home pants and a sweatshirt, and she moved freely, as if she had not been wounded in the side, so that it was unclear whether she would survive until the morning. "Food delivery has become much more expensive, but it is still work, so we will not have breakfast with just an empty coffee. Bread and salt, young man."

Igor did not argue. He waited until the woman's head disappeared behind the door, then quickly got dressed and stomped into the kitchen. Elizaveta Albertovna's apartment was originally a two-bedroom apartment and was later connected to a neighboring one-bedroom apartment, so there was enough space here. The kitchen was large, light, and cold. The radiators barely heated, and the water in the tap clearly did not flow at full pressure. However, fresh and still hot croissants were not cooked here, but delivered. They ate in silence, shooting each other wary glances, keeping their thoughts to themselves. The guy did not know what Elizaveta Albertovna was thinking, and he simply took a wait-and-see attitude, because he had nothing to say, only to offer cooperation, but he was sure the woman herself wanted the same.

"Okay, the silence has dragged on, so I'll start first." Her voice is still a little hoarse, and there is too little color on her face. She has not fully recovered. "My condition is not ideal now, but it does not threaten my health. I would ask you to perform your ritual again, but later, closer to the evening. Just then, the last fragments of those temporary Vessels will be absorbed and dissolved. Now, about the reward for the hero. I will say right away that I am not going to skimp, so I am ready to thank you financially for any reasonable amount. You know the code to the safe. But, I believe, it is much more important for us to discuss the prospects for further action. We both know each other, you grew up before my eyes, and I am quite willing to help Lyudmila's son on his thorny path in life. Given our, um, new realities, it would not be superfluous to begin to overcome the challenges of difficult changes together."

The official language in her speech was a little confusing, but even a small child could get the gist of it, so Igor could only nod in agreement. Having a person you can trust with your back and who you know for sure won't stab you in the back is an important and very necessary step in leveling up. Without a party, he's not a super-specialist, just a loner, well-protected, but doomed to die. Ideally, of course, he'd introduce Elizaveta Albertovna to Vas-Vas and Evgene, then there would be four of them, and it would be much easier to fight. He'd just like to find out the opinion of Evgene and Elizaveta Albertovna herself, and also find the combat bum, or at least his remains.

"Well, I wouldn't mind some cash. My own reserves are getting low." He answers carefully, calculating how much to ask for and how much of what he asks for will be given. "As for joint development, I'm all for it. My class, that is, the Lot, is not very good in direct combat, but it perfectly complements other people's attacks. I can strengthen the defense and attack of allies, and also, if I bother, add a temporary Vessel with an additional effect. Well, you've already seen and experienced the latter. I don't want to impose myself, but if we want to work together, it would be nice to know what you can do yourself."

Judging by her facial expression, she wasn't offended. She simply nodded in a businesslike manner and began to explain. It turned out that Elizaveta Albertovna was even less fortunate than Igor in terms of combat power, because where he was a support character, she was a pure sensor with a bit of weakening control. She had told him this yesterday, but now she explained it in more detail. Well, not the strongest archetype, yes, but still better than its absence. At least by having her own three Vessels, on which you can hang a combat Shine, for example.

Igor also cautiously shared the fact that he has contact with at least one allied and fairly reliable Exalted, and at the same time, with a little more doubt, told about the effect of one of his Gifts. The one that accelerates the development of Tablets not only for him, but for his allies. She will notice it anyway, and sooner rather than later. In turn, Elizabeth told about her Gifts, one of which added an additional Patch and thus gave her a good potential for expanding her arsenal. Igor, for example, even envied a little, since only three abilities were clearly not enough to effectively build a build. But he is not the one to complain about bad Gifts, because his couple plays for the long haul, and the further along the Steps the fatter the profit and the more satisfying the buns.

"In general, I will not hide the fact that I started talking about the Patches for a reason." Her tone is businesslike and calm. It is always like that with her, which involuntarily calms and sets the young man up for a businesslike approach. "If you have a Lantern, preferably a Dim one, I will gladly buy it. I do not deny that you have every reason not to want to give up such a valuable trophy, saving it for subsequent resale or for yourself, who will open a new Patch in the future, but I will try to properly compensate for the expenses."

Igor involuntarily thought, following with his gaze the hand of Elizaveta Albertovna, who was running her fingers along the collar of her sweatshirt, as if she was about to move her palm down, outlining her lush chest... blushing and looking away, he met her calm and confident gaze, slightly embarrassed at this. And having met her, he finished his thought and began to get up from the table, pushing back his chair.

"No problem. I'll just go down and bring it." He says, trying to get a display of emotion, not satisfaction or gratitude, but mild surprise and even a little shock, which he greeted with a cheerful and carefree smile. "Which option do you prefer - a Bone or a Spirit? I have both. Consider it my payment for this breakfast."

Elizabeth looked at him in bewilderment, then at her own hands, as if trying to find something in them, and then massaged her temples a little tiredly. The young man had the strange impression that something in their conversation had gone wrong and that she was a little confused. Well, how confused? Confused and pulled herself together, because she wouldn't be a lawyer with a huge fee if it were easy to throw her off track for a long time.

"O-o-o-okay, I didn't expect that." He doesn't know what was more in her tone, gratitude or some disapproval. "I was ready to bargain, to present arguments, different payment types... You are generous, Igor, very generous. But here's what I'll tell you, my partner. Be careful with this generosity. I am grateful to you and your actions benefit me, but try to understand a simple truth in the future and now. And it lies in the fact that you gave me a considerable value for nothing, which can hardly be valued in money. I am not against your gift, no, but... try to value this gift as much as I do. Otherwise, I even feel awkward somehow, I admit."

Igor only chuckled, receiving a slight shadow of reproach in response in a stern look, which made him choke on a laugh, promising, they say, not to give anything without bargaining next time, even to her personally, always demanding payment in return. The woman only nodded patronizingly, as if to say, the boy has learned his lesson, well done, take a candy from the vase. The candies, by the way, were delicious, chocolate with caramel, melting in the mouth. Grabbing another handful of goodies, he went down to the empty apartment, pulling out a Spirit Lantern from a hiding place. Why spirit? According to Elizaveta Albertovna, in the last battle, she acutely realized the need for a more complete combat skill, so she concentrated her efforts on acquiring it.

Igor intended to undergo the evolution of not only the Step, which had reached a thousand, but also two of the three Tablets, which had reached the coveted hundred after the skirmish with the rag creature. He also wrote to Evgeny, in a roundabout way, proposing a further alliance with another individual, but had not yet received an answer. After talking a little more with Elizaveta Albertovna, drinking some very tasty tea with basil, and politely declining the offer to undergo a breakthrough in development in her apartment, he returned to his mansion. The woman also intended to undergo the acceptance of the Tablet, but first, she needed to go to the city on her own business. The young man would have offered her his shroud for camouflage, but, alas, it had become attached only to him, and transferring it into the wrong hands would not play a role. For her, the polyhedron would remain a cold and useless piece of incomprehensible matter, nothing more.

Left to himself, he cheerfully whistling a catchy tune, prepared a platform for increasing understanding, lay down on his back, and then turned his attention to his essence. A brief moment, during which he manages to cast an internal glance at all the existing scales.

Minor Protective Charm: 99/100

Minor Combat Shine: 99/100

Light Touch of Primordial Powers: Grant Fragile Chalice and Bodily Might: 69/100

A brief moment when something ephemeral, frozen on the edge of consciousness, suddenly shifts a little further.

Minor Protective Charm: 100/100

It is similar and unlike the previous evolution, first of all because the acquisition of the effect for a hundred units of the scale was incredibly easy, even easier than the previous one, as if it should have happened a long time ago, but he was just stalling for time. But after, after something else, something more important began. The Tablet, which had reached the limit of a hundred units of knowledge, seemed to vibrate. Its poorly lubricated gears began to grind. The essence of the Charm, the desire to protect and shield oneself from something, from evil, from danger, from the world itself, at that moment became much clearer, much more distinct. Igor suddenly began to realize the sacrament, the wondrous mystery of the primordial Knowledge that formed the Tablet.

As if the scale filled with Knowledge is burning in a fire, his experiments, combinations, and constant attempts to slightly expand the boundaries of the effective use of the Tablet are ablaze in it. These hundred units of the scale are burning and shining, giving that very "light" that the Lantern used to produce. Giving, allowing to see more and to step there, beyond the Tablet, where the endless Spiral spins, where the drops of Rain that pours upwards are ablaze, where the cold abomination of the Other Side is trying to devour the roots of the eternal and endless Tree, and evil ancient fairies are jumping from one drop to another, eating not the worlds promised to the cold lake, but those who inhabit them. This light is supplemented by the radiance that his Gift emits, simplifying, simplifying the step forward by an order of magnitude. Simplifying and then allowing this step to be taken.

Protection that separates Igor and the world, which makes it a small world inside a larger world. The essence is the thirst for solitude and inviolability, the protection of a warm hearth and strong walls. A small world, the basis of which is a person and his idea of ​​himself, a simple concept, but even more reliable, deep, like the Abyss itself, inseparable from him and inseparable from him. Igor opens his eyes, looking at the ceiling with empty pupils that have shrunk into small dots, looks, but sees something completely different, sees and, finally, understands.

Tablet: Closed Protective Charm

Understanding: 0/100

Foundation: Spirit

Brightness: Shining

Effect (Dim): Creates a protective layer of stable energy that passively protects against minor physical harm, but can burn out in a single burst, reflecting a single significant physical harm, or lesser energy harm. Applied to oneself or a target, depleting one of the Vessels for ten minutes, or for half that time if applied to oneself. Lasts a little over two hours, and cannot be applied to a target more than once.

Effect (dim): allows you to apply an additional protection on top of the first, up to three layers, where each subsequent layer of the protection is activated immediately after the destruction of the previous one, taking on the remains of the attack, as well as shuffling and changing the order of the applied protections. At the moment of the protection's disintegration, it additionally absorbs a significant attack impulse, disintegrating along with the attack. Allows you to adjust the Charm's protection, significantly increasing protection from the selected type of physical or energy damage, at the cost of some weakening of all other types of resistance. Lasts a little over three hours, and the countdown exists only for the top layer of protections. The cost of Vessels and their restoration remained unchanged.

Effect (dim): increases the number of layers of protection to five, allowing them to arbitrarily and automatically swap places with each other, exposing the one that is best suited to reflect a specific type of aggressive impact to attack. Each layer of protection can grant one moment of near-absolute invulnerability at the moment of disintegration, absorbing any one-time attack and returning part of it to the one who dealt the blow that destroyed the protection. Allows protections to be placed on inanimate objects, but the effectiveness of the protection in this case is equal to about a third of the total power. Expands the range of Charm settings, allowing it to be adapted even to very exotic types of attacks, without weakening the overall defense, but only strengthening the specified resistance. Lasts a little over three hours, and the time countdown exists only for the top layer of the protection. The cost of Vessels and their restoration remains unchanged.

Effect (shining): allows you to cast a charm effect in the form of a closed figure, covering a whole group of targets and a certain area around it at once, while putting in one additional Vessel. Allows you to cast a charm on a territory under the same conditions, if it is outlined by walls, natural barriers, or just a drawn line. Basic and advanced closed charm cuts off the energy, information, and etheric background, significantly hiding the target from scanning effects, mystical search, and some other effects. When casting a charm on yourself, only one Vessel is emptied; repeated casting of charm layers does not empty new Vessels, as long as at least one of the charms is standing. When casting a charm on another target again, there is a high, but not guaranteed, chance to cast the next layer of the charm without emptying the Vessel. A charm cast on oneself does not dissipate over time; protections cast on other targets dissipate after approximately twenty hours, while the time count only applies to the top layer of the protection.

Effect (shining): [will be revealed upon mastering 75 units of understanding]

Effect (shining): [will be revealed upon mastering 85 units of understanding]

Effect (shining): [will be revealed upon full understanding of the Tablet]

// Protect me, guard me, keep me, save me, don't leave me...

To say that Igor was pleasantly surprised would be a considerable understatement. He had, of course, expected explosive growth with each subsequent disclosure of the effect, but not to this extent. The actual double breakthrough turned an already extremely dangerous ability into a real imba, dammit! Thanks to the third reinforcement, he was now able to accept armor-piercing shots from a tank on the protection without any problems at all, simply because after a couple of shots, the tank would smash itself against his active, so to speak, defense. The ability to strengthen inanimate targets was not so useful, but, obviously, this effect was necessary for the evolution into the shining version. And there was also an automatic and active defense, which shuffled the protections in the most advantageous way for Igor in passive mode, thanks to which even the most sudden blow would be accepted by the layer of defense that best resists this blow. Or resists it at least somehow. As for the flexibility of settings and filters, of course, we will have to check it further, because there is work there from here until summer, but he is already in pleasant anticipation.

But where he was delighted with the third effect of dim brightness, even the first of the shining effects left some kind of joyful hysteria, no less. He doesn't care about the ability to strengthen the territory or cover the whole group. He doesn't care about the general strengthening of the protection, thanks to which he, as it seemed reasonable, could stop being afraid of small arms in general. He doesn't even care about the ability to camouflage himself and others without using a Shroud. And to camouflage not only from the standard illumination of the spiral, which reacts to the power of the Other Side, but also from full-fledged scanning abilities! he doesn't care anyway. Something else is important - the layers of protection stopped falling off Igor on their own, and he can now protect himself almost endlessly, if he has enough concentration for constant activation of the protection.

The Vessel needs to be emptied only to the very first layer, and then... with the current level of protection, with the ability to not waste Vessels on new and new layers of protection... damn, he can literally walk under artillery fire, a minefield and burning ground at the same time and not scratch his ear! One layer gone? So who cares, he will instantly restore it for free! The difference in power between the Dim and Shining grades of the Tablet turned out to be simply incomparable. For a moment, he even felt sorry that he had not initially accepted the completely fading Tablet. However, from the depths of his soul, there immediately came an understanding, a clear awareness that he was wrong. Because yes, the Tablets that are developed from scratch undoubtedly have many side effects that make them more flexible and more individually tuned to the Exalted. But such Tablets are still noticeably, by about thirty percent, if you decipher the images, weaker than the original Tablet of equal brightness.

So it is possible and necessary to increase the existing brightness, but when choosing between a brighter and a less bright Lantern, it is better to use a brighter one. Because the resulting Tablet of the initially shining grade will be noticeably stronger and more conceptual, if you like, than grown from low brightness. The acquisition of individual effects for such a bright Tablet is a matter of time. They will simply be initially indicated in the primary description, or become something like self-evident effects. For example, even if he received his closed Charm already at shining brightness, he would still be able to carry out flexible adjustments and impose its effects on inanimate targets, just these skills would be included in the "starter package".

Against the background of such strengthening, the desire to undergo a similar evolution for the second spirit Tablet became almost unbearable. Igor had to force himself to get up, drink some water, and stretch a little before lying on the mattress in the middle of the floor again. It was cold, by the way, because the batteries had successfully lost the rest of their heat during his voyage in the Empyrean of Mysteries. The heating in the city failed. But every story has a beginning and an end. His preparation had them too. Without trying to explore the new properties of the Charm, he knew that he would be stuck for at least a couple of days. The young man lay down and began to work on the Shine, already anticipating new joys. And also experiencing jitters, because even though he had overcome this obstacle without much effort, and not only completed the comprehension of the Tablet, but also led it through a full-fledged evolution, but that was then. It was necessary to repeat it for an encore. In case of a mistake, he understood, the Tablet would remain in a Dim state, just with a third additional effect.

In theory, confirmed by vague images of the help, this is not an absolute failure, quite the opposite. Under normal conditions, you usually close the Tablet to the limit, then look for a way to develop it to a new rank. You look for suitable prey or something like that, you look for some secrets, or accumulate Knowledge in order to reconfigure your ability to something new. It's just that he, as the possessor of two very high-quality synergistic Gifts, which one was tempted to call cheating, got a little greedy. And if we're being honest, he got greedy not "a little", but really greedy.

Tablet: Shine of Combat Unity

Understanding: 0/100

Foundation: Spirit

Brightness: Shining

Effect (dim): Creates a stable aura of the Light Aspect around the target, passively reducing negative effects and area effects, and strengthening every hit or offensive action of the target with the used Aspect. Cast on self or target, draining one of the Vessels for ten minutes, automatically blocking one of the Vessels of either the wearer of the effect or its creator. The effect is powered by the blocked vessel and cannot be dispelled simply by the passage of time as long as the creator of the effect and the target remain conscious.

Effect (Dim): Allows you to easily channel the Aspect of Light's aura through a ranged weapon or attack with pure Aspect energy at close range. The buff applied by Shine now protects not only from negative effects, but also from physical or energy-altered poisons, allows you to do without breathing, and cleanses your body of diseases. Allows you to instantly break the Shine effect on yourself or a target, releasing a greatly increased amount of Shine at once, damaging selected targets or everything in the area, at the cost of emptying the Vessel that supports the effect for about an hour and a half.

Effect (Dim): Allows you to put a charge of Shine into inanimate targets or terrain, feeding the effect from your Vessel, and also use these targets as attack concentrators to release Shine. Considerably increases the purity of the Aspect of Light, due to which the Shine acquires the features of a weakening field of the contagious type, causing more harm and inconvenience to the enemy, the longer they remain in the Shine's control zone. Allows you to accumulate and concentrate the penetrating power of Shine in one point, putting the ultimate attack impulse into the specified point. Once per planetary day, it allows you to release Shine without emptying the Vessel, but instantly replenishing it.

Effect (Shining): Unites all targets under the effect of Radiance into a linked formation, where each target mutually strengthens resistance and weakens any negative effects on each other. The effect of Shine on enemy targets can cause the effect of burning out the force in the enemy's Vessels, if any, or burn out the subtle bodies and the inside of the physical body, if there are no Vessels capable of preventing this. Tablets and abilities of the Lot of targets under the effect of Shine stop damaging each other until the creator of Shine wishes to overcome this effect. When releasing a charge of Shine, there is a chance to release forces in other Vessels charged with Shine, but only the Vessel that was first in the chain will be emptied. Once per planetary day, the release of Shine will not empty the Vessel, but, on the contrary, restore the charges of the Vessels of all targets under the effect of Shine.

Effect (Shining): [will be revealed at 75 units of understanding]

Effect (Shining): [will be revealed at 85 units of understanding]

Effect (shining): [will be revealed upon full understanding of the Tablet]

//"We will become your Light, and your loyal Sword, you only need to tell us who will be the Executioner..."

This time, it was somewhat more difficult to come to his senses, since the breakthrough to the shining rank itself was noticeably harder, either because this Tablet had lagged behind the first for a long time, or because of the excitement before the start of the process and the constant fear of making a mistake. Whatever it was, he managed, and this time, taking into account the experience gained, he was able to optimize his actions and not waste the reserve of potential burning in the fire on erroneous decisions. The updated and re-soldered Tablet into something new also promised him exceptionally good things, even if most of the tricks were revealed only when working in a group. On the other hand, was he not so diligently looking for a group for himself, having already done a lot to assemble it? Yeah.

Okay, screw it all.

The dim breakthrough allowed him to create unique mines-charges-grenades, which could be detonated remotely. From the very beginning of the understanding scale, he could sense those he had blessed. It is not hard to guess that he would also sense some kind of stone from a great distance. How great is still unclear. Until now, he could sense hamsters or Borislav Gennadyevich from the next block, even if he felt them gradually weaker. Now, after the double reinforcement, he assumed that he would be able to detonate his charge even from the other end of the city, if not the country. No less important was the fact that first the Dim, and then the Shining effect turned the Shine from a simple reinforcement into a kind of debuff, a gradually building curse, which is effective primarily against creatures, but individuals carrying Vessels in themselves will also feel bad.

Burning out energy and destroying Vessels, damn it!

He felt a dual nature in these images. It was both a forced emptying of them, preventing them from replenishing their charges, but also a complete destruction of the Vessel in general, if you hit it hard enough. Without any theories, although it would still be worth checking again, he was sure he could make the Exalted human again. To a greater extent. Still, even without the Vessels, such an individual would still have a spiral, a Lot, Patches, and Tablets. However, this did not mean there was no way to damage the remaining parts of someone else's Exaltation, finally making the future imba mortal. Or, rather, killing him with a huge number of injuries.

At one point, Igor felt even less inclined to get involved with the authorities, any, absolutely any. Because if he had the ability to burn out superpowers, then they had them too, or would get them sooner or later. And knowing the humanity, kindness, and concern for the rights of the civilian population in the minds and hearts of the ruling ghouls... in general, they would definitely use such a practice against anyone who wasn't directly loyal. Well, either get ready to strike a pose, demonstrate loyalty, and lick ass, then you too will be spared and, perhaps, you won't be facing the wall, but will be on the firing squad. At first. Before it was time to shoot those who had shot the previous ones. Well, he didn’t see the version in which such a force, making even a just beginning Exalted One a walking tank, would be left to an unreliable element outside of a huge collar. He simply hadn't seen one.

Igor did not consider himself a teenage maximalist, but preferred to evaluate the world from the point of view of an experienced pessimist, extremely rarely being disappointed in the chosen point of view. And he did not want to kiss the asses of spherical ghouls in a vacuum so that he would be allowed to live and serve, no matter to whom. He did not want to, not after he had lived through so much, so many times almost died for the sake of his strength, so much shit had been seen. So no, no way. Until they grabbed him by the ass and pointed the barrel of a tank gun at said ass, he would prefer to play the "secret hero-rebel" rather than the "state hero-lieutenant". He very much remembered that blond guy in a uniform, whom Mamalygin was dragging along with him, and whom he covered with his last words then in the yard, as if it was the guy who was to blame for the fact that communication with the next Exalted One had been reduced to a massacre.

No, he could have been to blame, but Igor did not want to have such a boss over him, or any boss at all, unless he chose this boss himself.

Of the remaining effects, the most useful, probably the most useful, was the ability to quickly recharge Vessels by releasing Shine to oneself or the entire possible group. This is very useful. Since it literally multiplies the combat potential, not even twice, but more. The rest still requires a well-coordinated team, even the ability to concentrate all the power of the Shine in one attack point-formation. Evgeny and his lightning immediately came to mind. If he can pour all the power of the Vessel attached to the radiance into this lightning, then it will be possible to simply tear apart not only walls, but also heavy armored vehicles. Well, not tear apart, but burn through.

The young man drank some water, looked out at the gradually gathering evening outside the window, realizing that he had spent almost the entire day on his exaltation, then quickly ate a hastily prepared salad with ham, and moved on to the very last task for the day. He decided to raise the Step in the same place, and he decided very timely, because the protective film created by the mark was almost exhausted, and very soon he would have to start losing the accumulated power. The Step scale was not about understanding. The basis there was that same rainbow mist, the power of the Other Side accumulated by the Exalting One and purified by the world itself, the literal quintessence of "exp" as such.

He knew how to act. This knowledge was close to instincts, like a newborn child taking its first breath, uttering its first cry, like you start to swim or stay afloat, you just have to suppress the initial panic. This time, the concentrator of change is not the Patches covered by the Tablets, but the basis of his Lot, the core of the received specialization concentrated along the spine. Again, the collected potential burns in a smokeless fire, the rainbow mist burns and spreads around, and the young man understands that if he does not cope now, then he will have to dial the entire scale of a thousand divisions again. Physical characteristics, body improvements will remain in place, but the filling of the scale will become zero, and it will be necessary to fill it from the very start for a step through the Step. Threads of fog that flow along the spine like red-hot iron burn, burn, burn, heat up, turn into golden drops.

It's not pain, even though it hurt like hell at some point.

This is not bliss, even if the fiery agony seems pleasant.

Breaking through the viscous and durable barrier, which seemed to wrap him in a layer of vacuum packaging, Igor feels how some of those golden drops of hot metal flow down to his chest, fall into the Spiral, forming, melting into two scorching lumps, driving away the cold abomination of the Inside Out with their heat. Two new Vessels fall into place. It began to circle in the orbit of the spiral, and the guy is glad that he thought of destroying the fragile Vessels of ritual amplification in advance, otherwise, something unpredictable could have happened now. Another moment, and the first cycle of falling into the spiral is over, both Vessels flare up with unbearable heat, seeming to burn out the insides to the very bones, finally standing in place and now he not only feels their presence, but can also control them, use them in any of his Tablets.

Additional Vessels formed: 2 (total: 7)

The pain is comparable to agony and ecstasy at once. It is impossible to describe. It mixes the despair of death and the joy of a new birth, as if Igor decided to cosplay a mythical phoenix and be reborn in flames. What fucking genre is he playing here? Urban horror with elements of RealRPG or three-times-fucking cultivation in the best traditions of jade rods? Anger at himself, at the environment, at the whole situation as a whole helped him not to lose himself in the raging sensations, to stick to the goal set for himself. The red-hot gold of his transformation flows up his spine, reaching his head and penetrating into his eye sockets, which burst into tears at the same second, as if industrial onion slicing was combined with a marathon of watching Hachiko.

There is red-hot gold in his eyes, but they do not burn. They seem to be melting, a certain structure is formed in them, in the pupils, directed by the Lot itself, the most natural. Like a tree on which a new leaf must grow, it cannot help but grow while the tree is alive and still growing. This change, this modification, is inextricably linked with the very essence of the Exaltation. Without it, further development is not impossible, but considerably hampered. Its absence is not the norm, but a deviation, and he, fortunately, is quite normal, devoid of harmful deviations. Again, the images of the status sheet suggest what he understands without them, they formalize shaky feelings and inspirations into clear words, a short and clear description, which he so lacks.

Essence Modification Received (First Stage): Reader's Eyes I

Now he will be able, so the same instinct tells him, to see the Step and Rank of each Exalted. Unless their essence is deliberately hidden, and there is no need to try hard to conceal it, his Charm and the activated Shroud will do the trick. This is not even a scanner, but a way to recognize each other, show yourself, and see the one you are looking at. Because this is not a unique feature of Igor, no. Any Exalted who has stepped from Step Zero to Step One receives exactly the same Essence Modification. This same modification will allow him to see the Step and Rank not only of his colleagues, but also of all sorts of creatures that will not hide their presence. Only many of them, here is not a hint through images, here Igor himself guesses, will definitely try to hide themselves from such a trick. And it will be necessary to either increase the rank of the Modification, rely on the intuition of the Other Side, or simply on intuition.

And the last drops of gold, and not a small number of them, are concentrated in the spine, preparing to occupy one of the vertebrae, to become the basis of the second Modification. Because the first of them is obligatory and standard for everyone who reaches one or another Step, like some kind of growing-up process. The second is based on the very essence of the Lot, and each Lot has its options. He saw these options for a moment, for one instant, just as he saw the infinity of options for choosing the Tablet when he pierced the Patch and lit the Lantern. It is difficult for a young man to realize everything at once, but he saw several options, the closest, the most suitable for his Lot, Step, and Rank. And he singled out among them the one that was the most dazzlingly shining, the most correct here and now.

One might say it was critical to his plans.

Essence Modification (First Facet of the Lot) Received: Binding Thread I

This is the support and foundation of the Standard Bearer’s Lot, without which he will not be able to use a considerable part of his strengths, while no one will prevent the enemy from putting pressure on his weaker sides. These threads, ephemeral and unreal, he can stretch to the participants of his "group", in fact forming this group. Thanks to this, he will always know their location and the filling of the Vessels, until they want to break the connection. Through these threads, he will be able to direct his blessings blindly, and not like now, overcoming enormous difficulties and knowing exactly where the target is. And the threads will also help distribute the streams of rainbow mist, divide them equally, add exp to the one lagging, or subtract from the one who broke ahead. Again, only until those in the connection want to break the thread.

The last drops of red-hot gold solidified, took their final form, and stopped bubbling, stopped threatening to burn not the accumulated mist, but the very essence of the young idiot who tried to break through. In fairness, he did not walk along the edge, but just approached it, stood for a while at a safe distance, and then went on. Because he had a couple of amazingly powerful Gifts, because without them he would be crippled or burn from the inside, unable to hold so much red-hot gold, having too little rainbow mist in reserve, which burns instead of the Exalting One at the moment of the breakthrough. And all because he had to first increase the Step, and then the brightness of the Tablet, damn it! Yes, first going through the evolution of the Tablets, he received some advantages, in particular, the breakthrough of the Tablets was easier.

But.

But!

The higher the Step within the Rank, the harder it is to break through the Tablets to new boundaries of brightness. The higher the brightness of the Tablets, the harder it will be to break through to new Steps. Most likely, the normal and correct solution to this problem would be to first raise the Step to the limit, moving to a new Rank. And already at the zero or first Step of the new Rank, go through the increase of the Tablets, which will no longer be too developed for the Rank. Actually, someone without his Gifts could only do this because it is impossible to just understand the Tablet to a hundred units of the scale without reaching the first Step. It is simply unrealistic, it does not happen. His super-awesome Gifts, although they did not ruin the young man, complicated his life with the lack of clear manuals. The instincts implanted by the Lot itself are designed for a standard Exalting One, without his features. In the future, he should take this factor into account and not rush to increase the brightness of his Tablets, well, except for the ritual. He will be able to make the ritual Shining even with the current handicap, but both spiritual abilities can be tried to cognize up to a hundred, but not to step over two boundaries at once, as he stupidly did.

With a tired puff, the young man gets to his feet and begins to warm up, making himself some tea. For the umpteenth time in the last few days, he is struck by the silence outside the window, as if the city really does freeze as night falls. I wonder if it was his imagination, or if the red shadow of Borislav Gennadyevich, who can now be considered the most powerful cat on planet Earth, flashed in the window. It would be funny if he became an analogue of some archmage! Even greater humor is hidden in the very fact that new sparkling spheres can be knocked out of the creatures, which makes ordinary people novice Exalted. If things continue like this, if the spread of the filth of the Inside Out does not go beyond the city, then the city itself will turn into a mixture of the Chernobyl Zone from Stalker, a new Klondike, and a protected nature reserve. This is an actual opportunity to put the creation of superhumans on stream. Unstable, dependent on the volumes of extracted raw materials, still hanging under the sword of Damocles of the ticking doomsday timer, but a conveyor.

For a moment, the young man imagined a world in which wars and espionage were conducted using not only all the wonders of modern industry and science, but also the wonders of the Tablets. He shuddered involuntarily from what he saw and went to get dressed, heading upstairs to visit. Elizaveta Albertovna was probably already tired of waiting for him, and she should brag about her new ability. If she did manage to get the combat Tablet, then this would change a great deal in their further development. Again, he would need to offer to contact her with a thread in order to fully activate the property of the Gift to help in the knowledge of not only Igor, but also his comrades.

The door to the entrance creaked open, looking like the mouth of an ancient monster - someone had stolen the light bulb in the entrance again.

The very likely end of the world, the coming changes, and the arrival of the Ыystem, cataclysms and unrest - all this is decay, because some things, unfortunately, remain truly eternal.

* * *

"You can consider it a mixture of sleep and paralysis." There is serious satisfaction in the voice of the very tired Elizaveta Albertovna, and not just fatigue. "I could weaken, slow down, or force someone to lose consciousness before, but not so well. Here... this Tablet was created specifically for attack and combat. Although not without its flaws, this trick is extremely good, I admit and brag. Among the weak points, I can point out deactivation upon receiving serious damage, and among the strong points - partial ignoring of standard defenses."

They were sitting at a coffee table, drinking some illegal amounts of coffee with cream, having already managed to brag about their new skills to each other, as well as to bind themselves with a new Modification. Igor now felt the position and condition of his comrade incredibly clearly and was sure that he would be able to cast a protection on her at any moment. Direct contact was not needed. The woman allowed herself to be covered with all five layers of protection. Now listening to herself appraisingly, analyzing the blessing she had received. He did not strengthen her with Shine yet, at her request. She wanted to first deal with the protection before analyzing the strengthening of the attack.

"I'm still sure you'll be able to practice a new trick on me, just like the others, too." He says, shrugging, and he doesn't even lie or make himself out to be an icon of self-sacrifice, being confident in his defense. "At the current rank, my protection will easily deflect a direct blow. Any blow. No offense, but... I just can't describe this difference between a Dim and a Shining rank. I feel omnipotent, and understand that it's dangerous, but I still feel it. I hope I don't get too cocky."

In response, there was only a sarcastic look from behind the cup of coffee covering her face, as well as a disapproving shake of the head. Apparently, his self-confidence, although it did not offend the woman still on Step Zero, was quite irritating. And he even understood her, because he would have been irritated in her place, too.

"Still, I would first test it on hamsters, as you did before." The thoughtfulness in her tone clearly shifted towards his own opinion, replacing the categorical denial. "But... okay, I'll hit. Once. And I'll try not to hit with full force. Then again, at the current progress of understanding, this blow is not so strong. But watch yourself more carefully, I don't want to cause harm."

Such care even warmed his soul a little, so he assured her that he would be extremely collected and careful absolutely sincere. The first attack turned out to be the most effective because partial ignoring of protection, apparently, was the main property of the attacking effect. The protection worked, but not completely, despite the difference in strength. Literally, a drop passed through it, just a little, but Igor felt how the world around him accelerated and became incredibly fast. The clock hand accelerated when the minute hand began to move so as to fit in a couple of seconds, but, after another moment, the radiance worked, tearing off the haze that covered the mind.

A very strange thing, which really was not a dream or paralysis, but a distortion of subjective time and self-awareness in the time flow. He did not think slower, but in fact, before dropping the attack, he froze for almost five seconds. From his point of view, he instantly dropped the effect, but in fact, Igor froze, paused, while the rest of the world moved at the same speed. And this was not a change in the time flow or a direct blow to the energy body, but rather a game with subjectivity. Probably, without realizing it, Elizaveta Albertovna managed to bring the Lot, initially unadapted to combat, to the line of attack on the mind and perception. Abilities are as insidious as they are dangerous. If the same Evgeny had such talents, Igor would never have decided to ally with him, even if it was situational.

Having spent some time convincing the woman of his health, well-being, and absence of permanent injuries, he began to adjust the protection to the new conditions. And he adjusted it, because there was something in this attack from the tricks of that creature in the stall, or the scream of the corpse creature mutilated by the vivisectionist in the abandoned building. There was something to work with, and he repelled the new attack in literally a second, even less. A slight pause and a hitch. That was the result, that was the price of the spent full charge of the Vessel. Only Elizaveta Albertovna was not upset or disappointed, but almost beamed with happiness, looking at Igor with an unreadable, but positive, mainly look.

"Three points, Igor! Three! In just two attempts!" She couldn’t even sit still, starting to walk around the room in circles and gesticulating wildly. "I tried so hard! I lived by a timer, every minute, even in the middle of the night, I would wake up to use the Tablet on the rollback! And then... oh my God, or what are we supposed to believe now, this is just something! Igor, I’m sorry, but I won’t leave you alone for the next few days under any circumstances. This is just... just a wonderful, the best, the perfect turn of events!"

And then she hugged him, impulsively and obviously emotionally, pressing the otherwise short young man into her lush and soft chest. He didn’t even moan in protest, although he was not a fan of sudden tactile contact, but simply froze like a rabbit in front of a boa constrictor, until she pulled away, and he was ready to swear that she, too, flashed a look of embarrassment at her own emotions. Her! Damn, Elizaveta Albertovna, who even at work was called exclusively by epithets synonymous with the phrase “Reinforced Concrete Bitch”! The young man somehow immediately felt that if he now commented on this moment with some funny pun, he had every chance of flying out the window. Of course, this would not hurt him, but it was still not very pleasant.

"Well. Well. It's almost morning, today is my day off, and the company has practically switched to a remote format. And to be honest, they've closed it down and taken everything and everyone out of the city." The businesslike, as if nothing had happened, voicing of plans seemed to help not only her, but Igor as well, to get ready. "I'll suggest you move your laptop here, while practicing the new effects of your Tablets. Joint practice, so to speak. I don't want to impose myself, but I feel a strong desire to quickly begin to reap the fruits of your Gift, since it has proven so effective."

Igor silently considered the prospects of spending time in a locked and dark apartment, where there was no one anyway, not even a response from Evgenу, and therefore agreed without a shadow of a doubt, dragging himself along with the charger and sitting down on a separate chair. In fact, they spent the entire day like this, occasionally interrupting for conversations, while he tested new configurations of the Protection and Shine on Elizaveta Albertovna, and she, in turn, cast her attacks on him over and over again. He managed to sort out the pause in thoughts quite quickly, even though the woman tried very hard to adjust the effect to his protection and push as much of that effect as possible under the protection. Suffice it to say that by the end of the session, he was able to reduce the pause from half a second to a third, at the same time gaining two units of understanding on the again empty scale.

Elizabeth was consoled by the fact that the new Tablet had reached twelve units of knowledge, and that was only because she alternated it with two others. According to her, the first of them was pure sensorics, the side effect of which was the effect on the sensations, balance, and consciousness of the target. The protection weakly took this crap, but the Shine burned it to zero even before it started to ache in the temples. The second was an analogue of some kind of stealth, only it was imposed not on itself, but on the target, tearing Elizabeth out of the victim's quick memory. This crap could not be considered dangerous in battle at all, because Igor was sure that even without the active protection and shine, simply concentrating on Elizabeth would be enough to not lose the caster from the focus of attention. Well, what else can he say? Not everyone is lucky with the chosen Lot, some have to get by. Fortunately, now she has Igor and his shine. In a sense, the Shine is like the Tablet, not the shine of his magnificent and brilliant personality.

By the way, under the effect of the shine, her abilities became much stronger, but did not have any effect at all, just zero. True, when they, carefully and with overcautions, decided to cut off the blocking of the friendly fire, as well as remove the shine from Igor, the attack of the "mental pause" knocked Igor out for several minutes. And even then, these several minutes were precisely minutes because Elizaveta Albertovna woke him up and shook him awake, being quite worried about his health. Her slap on the back of the head was heavy, as was her hand. Even though the protection absorbed the damage, the very fact of striking destroyed the pause and brought him to consciousness. It was a bit of a shame for his protection, but it was an enhanced attack, reinforced by the effect of Shining Brightness, which brought the pause into the same league as the Protective Charm.

But in general, it was an alarm bell, since the world itself reminded Igor that his protection was by no means absolute. It's not that he didn't know it, since the very first creature he encountered, which the candy seller had turned into, had successfully confused him despite the amulet. But of course, he wanted absolute protection, a cheat for invulnerability to control, an endless supply of ammunition, and a phone number to always order pizza. By the way, they actually ordered pizza, continuing their experiments. The attack with an enhanced blow with the active glow turned out to be not so effective, disabling Igor for two and a half seconds, and two conditional combat abilities, even with the glow pumping, did not have much effect. For sensory overload and reverse stealth, by the way, Elizaveta Albertovna refused to use the disabled friendly fire mode. The description-images said that this thing can harm the brain, and the brain is not flesh, they cannot be healed by a ritual.

"Listen, Elizaveta Albertovna..." Having chewed a piece of amazingly tasty pizza, once again wishing all the best to the courier who delivered it, albeit for a huge overpayment, Igor asked himself a very interesting question, which he could have thought of earlier if he had not been so focused on upgrading his own Tablets. "What if you are approaching your abilities incorrectly? The Lot itself in general?"

"Hm? Please explain in more detail, young man." The woman, distracted from filling out some text form and having set another reverse stealth on the timer, looked at him with some curiosity. "I don't quite follow your train of thought."

"Well, look. You have three active abilities and one ritual one." He involuntarily stops his hand reaching for the food, remembering that it is impolite to speak with a full mouth. "It all seems to fit together, and they are all tied to weakening and sensorics, yes. But! Note that three of the four Tablets hit the brain in one way or another. Yes, it doesn’t work very well in combat, but what if these Tablets are used not in combat but, say, from an ambush? Track down the target, hit, put to sleep, deliver God knows where, while keeping them in an inadequate state. You know, all the Exalted I know, not that I know many, will hardly be able to resist if their cerebellum is damaged, their inner ear has gone out of the chat, and all that. And there you can deepen these tricks, right up to working as an interrogation master, for example. Um... You have a strange face now, Elizaveta Albertovna."

She did have an unreadable expression on her face, in which he noticed both slight anxiety and at the same time considerable surprise and even, but this is not certain, affection towards him. Like, this boy said something stupid, but at the same time, a smart stupidity, so it is unclear how to react. Thoughtfully nodding to something and thinking in the process, the woman folded her hands under her chest, involuntarily forcing a sideways glance at her, at how she slightly raised and lowered them, and then repeated, again and again, up and down, up and down, up and down...

"...no, of course not, why should I suspect you of anything? You haven't done anything bad to me yet, and I trust you." He tries to carry on the conversation without glancing too sideways at those lush breasts under the layer of fabric, at the way she seems to be deliberately lifting them, lowering them, up and down, up and down. "No, I didn't suspect you of anything, I didn't even think about it, what's wrong with you? Huh? Okay, I'm really tired and I can doze off a little. Fine, I won't remember this moment. Your Lot is exactly what you said, there's no need to look for hidden meanings. Yes, I won't think about it, and if I do, I'll see your big, soft..."

Igor yawns extremely widely, waking up from the sound of keys on the keyboard, nodding in response to the gaze of the intently typing Elizaveta Albertovna, a little embarrassed that he managed to pass out right in the chair. Having quickly restored the removed Charm and Shine, he is already ready to start casting new and new protections on the woman again, trying to achieve a more or less constant chance of triggering a free imposition. Igor successfully learned to increase this chance, knew exactly how to distort the sacrament passing through the Tablet, but the result, having increased to about a third of the impositions, did not improve. Although he has been doing this for only a few hours, not even a day has passed since the beginning of the training! There will still be time to master everything possible. And some of what is impossible, too.

The evening came into its own, and his comrade politely asked to leave the training, wanting to take a shower. Igor was about to leave for his apartment, because asking to take a shower in someone else's house... well, it's not that he was against such a deepening of their relationship, but he preferred not to be so intrusive. Damn, at least go and visit an adult site to relieve the tension! Because it will not work to pick up a girl in a club since all the clubs are closed, and you can hardly find people on the streets after sunset. If you do not count all sorts of hungry babes, they will be glad to meet him, especially at first, but then they will not be glad. Or they will not. He hoped not to catch star fever, otherwise, he somehow began to feel too cool.

The guy was about to leave, literally putting on his shoes at the door, when the doorbell rang. He opened it reflexively, for which he immediately gave himself a mental slap on the back of the head, because you never know who rang there, he could have missed a new visit from Mamalygin or his colleague. So, having opened the door, he stared into the face of some indistinct man, and the man himself stared at Igor, as it seemed to the young man, displeased and slightly mockingly, even ominously. In the uneven light of the blinking light bulb, it seemed to the guy that something was deeply wrong with this visitor. But his instinct for the Other Side did not twitch, and therefore, he could not immediately decide what exactly he did not like and caused such alarm. An alarm that he did not show, already opening his mouth in order to politely ask about the purpose of the visit, but he was beaten to it:

"You weren't supposed to be here." The character's voice was somehow slurred, as if his throat was clogged with mucus from a runny nose and he hadn't coughed up properly. "Is she here?"

"First of all, please introduce yourself," Igor answered politely but firmly, with an uncharacteristic harshness, even bordering on outright rudeness, because he liked this guy less and less, and not out of jealousy, but simply because he didn't like him. "I'm seeing you for the first time."

//"It'll be funny if it turns out to be Elizaveta's current boyfriend and I screw up her personal life," he thought in a moment of common sense and logic, but it was too late to take his words back. "Because now, when she's in the shower and I'm here in her apartment, there's no way to prove otherwise."

"And the last one too." The man, who seemed increasingly strange, grinned in a completely unpleasant way, and then added in an indifferent tone. "I'm just a courier. I deliver pictures. Not to you, but to her. But enough for both of you."

And with these words, he tore his slightly shabby down jacket, under which there was no other clothing. And it wasn't the down jacket that he tore, but his flesh, because he wasn't wearing any clothing. Only his body, which was covered with an amazingly realistic drawing, was the pinnacle of mastery in the body paint genre. And yes, he didn't lie, the bastard, because from under the flesh torn like a fucking door, ahead of the stench of the Other Side that rushed ahead of everything, came precisely the drawings.

Damn paintings, one of which he had seen just recently.

And this evening started so well!

* * *

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

Переведено на Нотабеноиде
http://notabenoid.org/book/87876/586928

Переводчики: Camrad_RIP