Быть Гладу и Хладу / There will be Hunger and Cold: 14. Что подумал и чего желал сказать по этому поводу Илья, почтенный Рюк так и не узнал, потому что землянин был очень хорошо воспитан.

14. What Ilya thought and what he wanted to say about this, the venerable Ryuk never found out, because the earthling was very well-mannered.

Camrad_RIP 02.10.25 в 16:00

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Camrad_RIP 02.10.25 в 15:59

Ilya closes his eyes, takes a deep breath, exhales meditatively, and solemnly clicks the mouse on the desired icon. Out loud, he recites the words in a no less solemn and slightly ominous tone, like an Occultist activating a lyrically enhanced combat talent. Indeed, his words sound like a spell, and in a way, they even are one.

Camrad_RIP 02.10.25 в 16:01

"Work, work, move over to Fedot!" The final part of the "spell" coincides with the clearly distinguishable beep of his computer, and a second later, someone else's computer beeps, having received the sent message, even though Ilya did not hear this sound due to the distance – the opposite end of the floor, as it were.
T.N.

Camrad_RIP 05.10.25 в 15:29

But a minute and a half later, he heard hurried footsteps and saw the door to their office swing open with a kick, revealing the face of the aforementioned Fedot, which was somewhat stained, judging by the colour, with what appeared to be synthetic mustard. His gaze expressed both anger and resentment towards the whole world and some kind of desperate hope for the best.

Camrad_RIP 05.10.25 в 15:30

"Hey, fuck! What the fuck!?" The man wiping sauce from his face almost threw the container with his office lunch, still clutched in his hands, at me, his gaze full of resentment and indignation. "What the fuck are you doing, you fucking witch doctor? It's not my responsibility, you've got your resolution!"

Camrad_RIP 05.10.25 в 15:43

"Mate, it was your surname that was directly mentioned there. I checked the transfer history." Ilya parries, closing the windows and turning off the computer, trying not to yawn in the process and completely ignoring the hint about his fascination with the matters of the Broken, which have long since become the talk of the town. "If you changed the load distribution order and deleted the document number linked to your account, that doesn't mean the rest of us are idiots, too."

Camrad_RIP 05.10.25 в 16:19

The stupid hacker, who had lost his last chance to pass on work with almost overdue documents to the neighbouring department, tried to appeal to conscience, honour and corporate solidarity, but it wasn't even Ilya who screw him, but the entire office as a whole. as no one wanted to lose a percentage of their monthly bonus because of someone else's stupidity. To be fair, if that document had been lost in the flow of paperwork and they had stamped the acceptance notice on it, they would have had to actually work on it. Or raise a fuss, calling in the system administrators, who would have to dig deep into the logs, which would result in the bonus being taken away from two offices at once.

Camrad_RIP 05.10.25 в 16:21

Unfortunately for Fedot Sklevishkin, no, it's not a joke, that's really his name, incoming documents were reviewed not by drooling, dozing Maxim, nor even by perpetually dreamy Sonya, but by the ever-focused Ilya, who quickly asked himself and the system a question, received an answer, and complained to Gosha. Gosha smiled slyly with a mean little smile and ordered the document to be held until the end of the working day, and only then returned with a note about the erroneous distribution, so that it would not be tempting. Formally, this was also a violation of the employment contract, and the cunning boss decided to dump the dirty work of retaliation on his subordinate, while he himself did nothing and did not do anything to anyone. But Ilya's desire to do something bad to a colleague he had never met before, except for encounters in a crowd, was by no means formal.

Camrad_RIP 05.10.25 в 16:34

And so, having finished his day's work, he dutifully sat on the Forum until the end, and only at the very end cast a terrifying spell, sending the poor asshole off to unpaid overtime. Because you can't be a dumb asshole unless you want to suffer, of course. However, the real trouble comes when the asshole colleague turns out to be not dumb, but, damn it, smart and cunning.

Camrad_RIP 03.10.25 в 08:59

Like, for example, the leader of a very young and just-developing community, not even four years old yet. He successfully betrayed his subordinates and comrades, literally sacrificing them with a buff in the middle of a nearly cleared lacuna. And yet he managed to reach the second Step, moving from a simple Warlock of the classic "Ardor" build to a full-fledged Igniter. All the experts considered it too early. This would backfire later, as he'd start looking for a transition to the third rank. Underdeveloped talents, minimal essence accumulation, and the banal "dirty" method of essentially stuffing himself with other people's Vessels. Even if he doesn't catch a desync, and he won't, he calculated everything correctly, the bastard, using the axis of the lacuna as a filter; some talents will be completely burned out, others will lose points, and further progress is guaranteed to be curtailed.

Camrad_RIP 03.10.25 в 10:02

Yeah, that's right, but right now he's still a Two, albeit a hundred times weaker than a standard one, but capable of doing what only a Second Step could. Meanwhile, the group that had involuntarily reinforced their leader lost their lives, their gear, and would likely be hunted by the natives. That fiery asshole isn't a fool, is he? He knew, the bastard, that they'd dislike him and try to get revenge somehow, so he had to make arrangements with some local forces beforehand to have as many of his useless comrades as possible battered.

Camrad_RIP 03.10.25 в 10:05

It goes without saying that no one knew his real name. Twins's face was disfigured by a hideous burn, the result of his compensatory talent, "Branded with Flame," and all the information his comrades had known about him turned out to be false. Social media accounts, instant messaging profiles, and the disclaimers about owning a small diner on the border with the Korean agglomeration sector. So trust a seemingly trusted comrade, right? According to his fellow victims, they'd noticed certain traits of a real jerk before, but out of everyone in the community, he was the only one who managed to secure a good place in society, establish connections with the local authorities, and categorically thwarted any attempts by his comrades to integrate themselves into the local power structure without his involvement.

Camrad_RIP 03.10.25 в 10:09

From Ilya's perspective, these weren't even red flags, but, damn, "Bloody Dawn" in its active phase and fully deployed, right at point-blank range. But no, no one suspected this until the very end. Or rather, they suspected that the asshole would again try to take most of the loot for himself and would be the first to feed himself from the axis of the lacuna. In other words, they foresaw typical assholeness, not truly legendary assholeness. Clearly, the four confirmed testimonies from earthlings on the Forum, and a couple more from extraterrestrial divers who couldn't report back in the Earth sector, caused quite a stir in the community.

Camrad_RIP 03.10.25 в 10:25

Not because it's such a rare occurrence, although the level of ugliness is still quite remarkable, considering a fellow Earthling, but because a couple of well-known expert bloggers stumbled upon this story and hyped it up quite a bit. Now, the "4Chan community of anonymous online Sherlocks" and the "vanguard of the de-Anonization of the Order of the Reborn 2chaners," who usually hate each other, have jointly begun combing through every trace of this idiot's presence on the Forum, while also looking for matches outside of it, in the regular human network. Considering the number of AI and search algorithms deployed on this case, they might even find him, for example, by his typing style or something similar.

Camrad_RIP 03.10.25 в 10:28

They won't put him in jail, of course. The laws still have very little control over what's happening in Broken. At most, they'll express concern about mass sacrificial rituals, but they'll make his life uncomfortable. Or, as often happens, they'll allow good comrades to meet with the former leader in person. The main thing is that there are no casualties, right? However, a civil suit could still be filed; it might even be considered. De facto fraud occurred, significantly reducing the flow of essence earned by the group. They could very well impose a fine, even a hefty one, forcing them to pay, or to store and transfer the money through the Forum for the rest of their lives, where even a drop of it can't be removed by any account freezes. Their social rating could also be lowered, and the power of public censure shouldn't be underestimated either. If they seriously get around to canceling this idiot, the only thing he'll have left to do is move to Broken.

Camrad_RIP 03.10.25 в 11:03

Perhaps this is exactly what he intended to do in the first place.

Camrad_RIP 03.10.25 в 10:30

Ilya, of course, wasn't just interested in the contender for the title of Asshole of the Cycle. He's currently sixth in the poll, but if the momentum continues, he'll be fourth by morning. He skimmed through the latest news reports, responded to a few messages, downloaded a couple of new databases that had become publicly available, paid for one of the ones that won't be publicly available anytime soon due to its rare nature, and so on.

Camrad_RIP 03.10.25 в 10:32

Something truly interesting: he admired screenshots of the destroyed fourth-stage creature from the official Citadel press secretary, and also read the report on the hunt for said creature. However, it's not a hunt report, more like a thrilling epic novel in the genre of war chronicles. The abomination led over six thousand in its retinue alone, not counting the entire crowd that pressed forward, simply following the mere presence and will of the super-creature. There were almost fifty thousand full-fledged combat creatures there, no less. Screenshots from the point of view of an aerial sorcerer's summons soaring through the skies were, of course, included.

Camrad_RIP 03.10.25 в 11:07

A subtype of ghostly-air creatures, a sort of enormous hovering anglerfish, a personal name achieved through the divination talents and rituals of "The Cruel Breeze That Came with Sudden Grief," but that's if we were to express the results of the divination in the simplest and most understandable combination of letters. A very high maneuverability, strikes with classic air-type offensive magic, extremely unpleasant physical damage, and that very "fishing rod" that exerted such mental pressure that three full-fledged teams of four had to be called in at once, backing each other up, taking turns until they were caught. The fish, as was later confirmed, was not a step away, but a couple of steps away from the fifth stage, which is why one of the Citadel's five-man teams backed up their younger comrades, albeit not directly participating in the cleansing.

Camrad_RIP 03.10.25 в 11:11

Incidentally, it was never revealed who exactly was covering for him, but there were many assumptions. Even Ilya clicked his vote in the poll, although he did not place a monetary bet. It wasn't that he was stingy with his money, but he disliked casinos of any kind, couldn't even stand them. In his opinion, this crap can mess with your mind way worse than the dirtiest drugs and alcohol combined.

Camrad_RIP 05.10.25 в 17:01

He looked at the screenshot of the ghost fish corpse, which had already begun to disintegrate into ectoplasm, looked at the barely discernible dots of people around it, comparing the scale, and then once again promised himself convincingly not to even look at high-level creatures until he himself became high-level. However, he hadn't been particularly eager before, even entering this forum thread solely to read the lists of participants and the ‘logs’ of each squad's actions. From his very amateur point of view, the fours had performed, to put it mildly, not in the best way, even if they had not failed, while the MVP of the battle were the threes and twos, who had taken on the creatures' retinue, as well as the ordinary ones and twos, who had held the front against the hordes of advancing low-ranking creatures.

Camrad_RIP 05.10.25 в 17:03

But, as already mentioned, Ilya's opinion is that of an amateur, because even on Earth, surprisingly little is known about the methods of combat at the highest levels, rather disappointingly little. And this information often cannot even be bought, only obtained under a non-disclosure agreement or through another leak on the Forum. After all, the creature was described as an extremely difficult opponent, capable of imposing its own rules of combat and constantly shrouded in multiple layers of illusions, which is why it took so long to find the fish itself. It was also fortunate that it was unable to forcibly empty the Vessels of Rebirth quickly, giving time to react.

Camrad_RIP 05.10.25 в 17:10

The reaction is quite simple and well-rehearsed. As soon as contact with the group is lost or the connection starts to sound strange, and the passwords responds get mixed up or delayed, the ritual protective tattoo covering the entire back enters an active phase and burns the body to ashes. Well, or rather, it freezes it. Or it's not a tattoo, but a necklace-collar. In any case, the victim is forcibly pulled out of a pile of illusions, in which it is easy to lose oneself forever, and sent for rebirth. And twice as many people have died from such forced rebirths than from creatures in general. Well, among the ones and twos, the threes were most often able to hold out long enough to be pulled out or to escape in terror.

Camrad_RIP 05.10.25 в 17:13

Ilya couldn't help thinking that with his Trait, he could have struck gold in that battle. He wouldn't have dared to test his strength against the four creatures, but his personal retinue of related creatures would hardly have been dangerous to him. He could have wiped out the first-level fish easily. Yeah, right up until the moment when a stronger creature came along, excited by the numerous deaths of its eggs. But dream on! You can dream, no one will forbid you to dream, right?!

Camrad_RIP 05.10.25 в 17:16

"What are you thinking about, Il?" Maria's typical and sometimes annoying habit of shortening his name in the Asian manner, performed by the sincerely smiling Irina, is hardly annoying at all. "You have such a serious look on your face, you know, that I would appoint you as some kind of minister."

Camrad_RIP 05.10.25 в 17:16

Meeting him right outside his workplace, Irina, returning from the spa salon, having just finished soaking in the bath after more than forty days in the middle of a hot and dusty desert, embodied the very essence of good spirits. And why shouldn't she be in a good mood, if the cycle had gone well, the time for the problematic parting with the nomadic sectarians who had sheltered her had not yet come, and she had collected more than one drop of the essence again? No matter how much she denied it, she said she would brag about it when they met, but Ilya began to think nervously again about his cheating Trait and whether its effect would leak in the cracks between worlds.

Camrad_RIP 05.10.25 в 17:29

"About fish." Honestly, he replied, focusing on his interlocutor and smiling warmly enough to prevent the mirrors from cracking too vigorously at the sight of his smile. "And about fishing. While the latter has never appealed to me, I would gladly partake in the former right now. I hear that a delightful little restaurant has opened near the transfer block to sectors eight to sixteen, where they serve authentic fish from their own small hydrofarm. I suggest we investigate."

Camrad_RIP 05.10.25 в 17:30

"Then my treat." Ira poked him playfully but insistently in the chest, forcing Ilya to feel a slight twinge of conscience and hurt pride again, unable to admit that of the two of them, he was the rich boy, not the other way around. "Today I'm paying my tribute to FaFo, so don't you dare come between me and Fate, mortal man!"

Camrad_RIP 05.10.25 в 17:33

"I obey, Your Darkest Highness.? The inevitable answer does not prevent him from thinking that of the two of them, it is not the fiery, almost innocent Warlock who should be called ‘Darkest Highness.’ "And I obey without question."

Camrad_RIP 05.10.25 в 17:38

Unlike him, Irina's Cycle was not only fruitful but also surprisingly peaceful. The nomadic tribe following the Guiding Star treated the Warlock who had joined them with great respect. They respected her boundaries and personal space, didn't meddle with her belongings, or Irina hadn't noticed her disturbed marks, didn't try to get her drunk, and showed no desire to force her to marry a gifted breeding bull. She said she was seriously beginning to suspect that the Grave Robber, who had become her partner, was either impotent or simply more into boys. He did look at her, but more as if she were a strange-looking curiosity, a mild form of cultural dissonance syndrome.

Camrad_RIP 03.10.25 в 11:18

Well, when a Caucasian diver is thrown into a sector populated predominantly by blacks, Asians, jungle aborigines, or other ethnic groups. Or vice versa. The point is, someone's face, or ethnicity for that matter, is very disconcerting to those around them, and it's no surprise that the almost-black Bedouins look at Irina, who is snow-white by comparison, with mild surprise. Overall, aside from these glances, as well as certain aspects of nomadic life, like rubbing herself with healing, no joke, healing through pure ritual, even without theurgy, camel urine, or extremely exotic cuisine, she even lived comfortably.

Camrad_RIP 03.10.25 в 11:19

The girl was in no hurry to relax and was still paranoid, but now she was not so immersed in that paranoia. Especially after so many battles, yes. Emboldened by their easy victories in the desert, parched and unpleasantly cursed by the undead, the two gifted ones ventured deeper into some extremely interesting ruins. There, quite valuable relics of the Guiding Star cult remained untouched, but at the same time, there were almost three dozen creatures. Moreover, they did not behave as creatures in capsule virtual games should, and attacked the newcomers in a crowd, all at once, rather than only when they entered the agro zone. The only saving grace was that there were no pure casters or archers among the undead, only melee fighters, rebellious slaves led by a trio of dead warriors.

Camrad_RIP 05.10.25 в 17:41

The latter were not second-tier, but were unpleasantly high-ranked within the first tier, making them extremely inconvenient opponents for the Rober. They were too resilient to be taken down quickly, too fast to be destroyed without risk to oneself, and struck too hard to allow even glancing blows to be missed. Young Orsay-Shill's defence was much worse than his attack, and the simple ‘Grave Mantle’, which was more of a disguise and a buff to speed and mobility, would certainly not be able to handle such a load. So he didn't risk going there alone; the colourful descriptions of his now deceased father were enough for him.

Camrad_RIP 05.10.25 в 17:43

But in tandem with Irina, who could, if not destroy such weak undead creatures, then halve them, especially when they were moving in a dense crowd, without mass spells and reinforcements, they still took the risk of halving their numbers with a single blow. And they did not lose, managing to light a fire and then destroy the rest, not allowing them to surround the living or hide back in the underground passage from which they had come. Four drops of essence and two more during the journey along the desert, which was very saturated with undead. That result shows what predominantly coordinated groups of advanced communities can do, if we are talking about a regular result, of course. And it is also almost guaranteed confirmation that her contact with Ilya does add essence.

Camrad_RIP 05.10.25 в 17:53

Because what she describes is worth two, maybe three drops, even in the most optimistic forecasts, but not all six, more like one or one and a half. Yes, thirty undead are a lot, but not when only three of them are truly dangerous creatures, and the rest are just ordinary extras. Ilya would have received more, just for crossing the desert, not to mention clearing the ruins, but the fact itself clearly indicates that his Great Good is leaking. And he can't even say anything, because Irina doesn't seem to realise how much her earnings defy conventional logic. If she keeps bragging, someone might notice, and then they'll start asking awkward questions about what she's hiding and how she got it."

Camrad_RIP 05.10.25 в 17:56

There is no need to fear the authorities. At most, they will annoy you with intrusive advertising and solicitations, at least for now, but unscrupulous divers, the kind who supply criminal groups with essence, having left them themselves to enter the wider world, may well resort to radical solutions. They may even resort to trying to extract answers by force, even though this is punished mercilessly and results in very long prison sentences, sometimes without any ceremony during arrest. But Irina is not an official diver, and attacking one would cause a big fuss, which could backfire on her. Of course, Ilya is exaggerating, but he is not inventing the fact that there is danger. He is also at risk, and his prospects for development are much better than Irina's.

Camrad_RIP 05.10.25 в 17:58

"Do you think so?" She asks, slightly alarmed, and immediately bites her tongue, having already learned that Ilya only speaks when he is certain, especially about broken things. "I haven't noticed any changes in myself, not at all. And I haven't received any extra gifts... but yes, I also thought that it turned out to be really painful. So what now? I mean, should I move or something?"

Camrad_RIP 05.10.25 в 18:27

'First of all, don't panic." Ilya, as usual during discussions about the Broken, is calm as a stone carved in the shape of a boa constrictor, infecting the nervous girl with his calmness. "By trying to move, you will only surprise those around you more and raise more questions. Did you brag to your friends that there are six more drops? Fine, it happens. Just say that there weren't thirty creatures in the ruins, but fifty, and that there weren't just one set of ruins, but three or even four, all part of the same complex. You haven't posted all your adventures on the forum yet? Don't post them, make excuses in general terms, and don't specify the number of enemies destroyed. People will figure out the rest for themselves."

Camrad_RIP 05.10.25 в 18:31

Not a word of a lie, by the way, because Irina's result is good, even gorgeous, but not beyond the capabilities of a single person, only on the verge of it. Again, she is covered by a whole tribe of natives with gifted one, which she will definitely hint at. So, she is no longer such a solo player; it is easier to run with a standard pair, especially a caster-melee combo, and everyone has intense cycles. It's just that solo players are usually forced to run and hide in such cycles, rather than taking out creatures in batches and receiving their well-deserved reward. At best, they run and hide, yes, but more often than not, they encounter a new rebirth, and that's it.

Camrad_RIP 05.10.25 в 18:33

"Yeah, you calmed me down." After drinking a pretty good cocktail and looking at her half-eaten meal, her appetite for which was now completely gone, she gave Ilya a disapproving look, too. "But before that, you scared me. Thanks, of course, it's just... it all happened so suddenly..."

Camrad_RIP 05.10.25 в 18:34

"Well, your earnings still don't stand out against the backdrop of full-fledged groups belonging to experienced communities. The same Citadel dwellers won't laugh at such a windfall, but they won't admire it either, as they've been there themselves many times." The secret diver, advising the ‘secret’ diver, behaves as calmly as possible, trying hard to show her that the situation is serious but not dangerous, if she doesn't mess up. "Just keep going, and if the increase in drops doesn't slow down, be careful not to spread the word too loudly. One drop, well, two, if you get it, that's all. The rest, either take out in small portions or save for a rainy day."

Camrad_RIP 05.10.25 в 18:37

They both left the restaurant extremely satisfied and no longer allowed gloomy thoughts to spoil their evening, and then night fell, during which both of them couldn't care less about the whole Broken. Later, lying in an embrace with a warm and peacefully snoring body, Ilya thought about how his trait actually worked. Let's say it increases the flow of essence to those who are in the same squad with him. But how exactly does this part of the Mechanism work? Is it the degree of closeness of their connection that is assessed — which is very, very high between him and Irina — or something else? And would any kind of closeness work here?

Camrad_RIP 05.10.25 в 18:42

The fantasy that his abilities work best with lovers, and so he now needs to assemble a harem of warriors dwarfing Mesmericals himself, is only amusing at first glance, and even then, only for hormonally overstimulated adolescents or those mentally stuck at that age. Upon closer examination, it's simply laughable, and upon even closer inspection, downright terrifying. No, it's unlikely that his goodness operates solely and exclusively through intimacy. Rather, it operates through any connections whatsoever, and that's where uncomfortable questions begin.

Camrad_RIP 03.10.25 в 11:23

Ilya is not exactly a recluse, but most of his communication outside of work takes place online. His old friends and acquaintances have long since settled down and now get together for a beer or other reason at most once a quarter. His last love interest, apart from Irina, left his life before he became a diver, by mutual agreement. Now they exchange perfunctory greetings on holidays and such — not hostile, but not close either; they have both grown equally tired of that relationship. What remained was work, the cursed office, where Ilya was forced to maintain fairly close social contact.

Camrad_RIP 05.10.25 в 18:43

Now, an important question: what is the probability that there will be another diver among them, who will then notice a sharp increase in the incoming essence? In reality, it is not zero. Not high, but not low either. The native department consists of only fourteen souls. Statistically, there should be no other divers besides Ilya, but let FaFo not work on Earth even for pumped-up fours and fives, despite the transfer of talents, and banal bad luck has not disappeared anywhere. Suddenly, Max Kremnik turns out to be a diver, just really anonymous, not like Irina. That'll be something when he starts grabbing the essence drop by drop! Ilya will definitely start hiccupping then, yeah.

Camrad_RIP 05.10.25 в 18:44

Anyway, never mind. For now, there is no reason to suspect him, just as there is no reason for him to suspect his colleagues of being divers. There are no characteristic behavioural markers, no response from professional intuition, if you will. No, perhaps one of them was a diver in the distant past, before Gemini disappeared, but now they definitely are not. Jokes about Masha, her mother, being a high-level Storyteller in reality remain just that — jokes. He has not entered into any serious relationships with anyone else, and minor get-togethers over an invigorating drink or lunch in the cafeteria do not count.

Camrad_RIP 05.10.25 в 15:20

Maybe.

Camrad_RIP 03.10.25 в 11:24

With this somewhat calming thought, he closed his eyes and, nevertheless, allowed himself to sink into a calm and well-deserved sleep.

Camrad_RIP 03.10.25 в 11:25

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Camrad_RIP 03.10.25 в 11:24