AlterWorld

Name: Hummungus (Red Bear)

Level: 26

Strength: 80

Constitution: 50

Attack: 57-71

Speed: 10 mph

Riders: 2

Weight-carrying capacity: 1000 lbs.

Special abilities: Armor Carrier, Arms Carrier, Mule II, Transporter

The latter ability, which I'd chosen at level 25, allowed me to sit a second player on my mount: an option that became more and more important in the light of my socialization and especially my relationship with Taali. That's life for you! The process of a battle bear turning into a family couch.

Once I was sold out, I treated the guys to a di

The first auctions were now finishing. The cigarette lots went for one to two thousand gold. I only had the mass media to thank for building up the right amount of hysteria. Now, about every half-hour, another few hundred gold dropped into my account. The Admins made sure they got their cut. At least they hadn't taxed Fuckyall's bracelet. Still, I probably shouldn't abuse the trading market.

The reporters had offered me three thousand for an exclusive. That sounded quite interesting. My reply was noncommittal; I wanted them to stew in their own juices for a while.

I spent the rest of the day doing an alchemist's finicky job. I checked the ingredients to see what I could do with them and what else I might still need; then I bought up the missing bits, including a whole recipe library. Soon my camp kit included Night Vision, Absolute Vision, Fish Breath, Minor Levitation, several poisons and antidotes and even a dozen vials of attack spells—the local version of Molotov cocktails.

Finally, I received the Admins' answer. Overall, they approved the idea of an alliance and only suggested different production rates. They also promised to install smoke protection for the under-18s as the first step to the product's legalization. I forwarded everything to Dan and in another thirty minutes, received his invitation to arrive at the castle at a staff officers' luncheon: to a

I loved the postscript:

PS. BTW, do you think you could bring some cigs along? Take as many as you can. The staff officers here keep passing the smokes around like school kids which is a bit ridiculous considering our position. Tnx a bunch.

Chapter Twenty-Seven

I spent the rest of the evening lounging in bed, devouring another novel by my favorite author. My book subscription kept flooding my inbox with new titles, provided I had the time to read.

I fell asleep without even knowing it—and awoke strangely. Blade-rattling and spell-bellowing suddenly broke the still of the night. I sat up, my heart pounding, when the door swung open letting in several warriors I hadn't seen before. They went for me. I tried to jump up; my feet got caught in the blanket and I collapsed onto the thin floral rug.

Warning! Group portal activation.

Destination: Sunrise Zone of the East Castle.

The portal popped open, and I tumbled onto the portal hall's stone tiles.

"Shit," my lungs forced out the air. Crouching, I looked around. Lieutenant Brown froze next to me in an awkward pose. He had barely half life left, his health dwindling rapidly. Dozens of wounds covered his body, some obviously not good, smoking and gushing black blood. One arm dangled uselessly at his side. The Lieutenant didn't seem to notice it; his eyes were glazed over, his lips moved as he posed questions in combat chat to his men in the i

A few more fighters ran up to me and helped me to my feet. The cleric on duty was hurriedly healing the Lieutenant while my bodyguards started appearing around me in their crystal resurrection spheres. One, two, three… pause. Finally, the last one. All present and correct.

Dan burst into the hall, followed by a captain and two dozen fighters in full gear. Lieutenant Brown raised his hand to stop them.

"We don't need reinforcements. My guys are all here in their underpants, look," he nodded at the bodyguards hurriedly pulling on some simple khaki clothes someone had fetched from the guards' room. Which was logical, considering the fact that they had to be respawning here all the time so someone had to make sure they didn't walk around the castle half-naked.

Dan raised his hand, attracting his attention. "Report."

Brown waited for the captain to nod his affirmative and stood to attention. "Mercenaries, names hidden. At least four groups of three, levels slightly higher than ours, buffed up to the gills. Poisoned weapons. The two rogue groups managed to come real close before our Alex could observe them, and you know him, he's not a bad stealther himself. They engaged our guards' post in the corridor, then opened the doors on us and the guarded object. According to orders, I attempted to pull Max out. Three times they broke the spell. It's a miracle he managed to escape. My men lasted another fifteen seconds. That's it."

"Which means?"

"It's an elite team job, the best you can find, not for hire. I have a fu

Dan raised a surprised eyebrow. The Lieutenant went on, "First, the bar belongs to them. The attackers knew where we were and they seemed to know the rooms' exact layout. The whole thing was choreographed like a practice fight. Plus, the guards failed to arrive—I think they had no right of entry to the top floors as they're private property. Secondly, the speed with which they opened the guest apartment doors. I even think they pretended to be picking the locks while in fact they had full access to them to begin with. To open a third-degree protection lock in ten seconds is bordering on fantasy. But two locks…"

A rogue bodyguard nodded his agreement.

"Finally, it's just so like them. A leopard never changes its spots. In real life, these get-rich-quick Russian oligarchs never cared about anyone's feelings. They took what they wanted where they saw it, period. So here too it's their knee-jerk reaction to a new stimulus. They wanted the recipe, so they sent their henchmen to get it."

Dan turned to the captain. "Scarface, how many times do I need to ask? Give the kid to my analytics department. With this head of his, he shouldn't be ru

The captain gave him a fat finger. "I've already loaned you our Sonya from the maintenance department. For a week, you said. I've been trying to get her back for the last six months."

He turned to the lieutenant. "Good job. Nothing to say. Go to bed now, all of you. In the morning you can do a quick corpse run and pick up your stuff."

He gave a few more orders, then cast me a probing look. "I'm Ruslan," he held out his hand. "Special troops commander, Forces of Light. You sure know how to open a can of worms."

I shook the offered hand and gave him a guilty smile: like, it's not my fault I'm so popular.

Dan slapped my shoulder. "Cheer up, dude. We'll make sure you're safe. Come on now, I'll take you to the guest sector to get some sleep. I tell you what, it won't be easy for them to get to you here."