When they met, Nick looked at the sinner's face with surprise.

"Dan, how many hours did you sleep in the last 24 hours?"

"I haven't slept in two days. And I'm very tired, but I've managed to do a lot. Sorry, Nick, I barely collected any trophies. I only picked what was in the open. But I did it! I've changed my specialty from 'Rune Expert' to 'Master of Runes'. I a.s.sembled a full set of runes. It's a small set of runes, there are only 120 runes, but it's a full set. I couldn't stop, there was no time to sleep."

"On your way home, do you have enough strength?"

"I feel good. Let's go to the castle. Tell me about your adventures. I'll tell you about my discoveries when we all gather at the same table."

They went to the castle, and Nick told the sinner about the Spider Dungeon and the Spider Queen. Dan apologized for not being able to join the group. Nick laughed and said they should get different experiences from the game. It was interesting and difficult to pa.s.s the dungeon without the skills of an inquisitor.

At the castle, Dan said h.e.l.lo to Anna and gave her a stock of herbs he had found in the witch's house. Anna kissed him and ran away to her lab. Dan went to the blacksmith's place. He had a question for the dwarf and he wanted an answer immediately.

Turin was working, but he put his hammer aside to say h.e.l.lo to Dan:

"Greetings, aren't you in any new trouble?"

"h.e.l.lo, Turin, my armor needs no repair. I've met unusual people and unusual places, as always. Master Turin, I have one important question to ask you."

Dan came close to the pus and asked in a quiet voice:

"Visste du lenge at spillere dukker opp i din verden?"

The dwarf froze and was silent for a few seconds. Then he answered quietly:

"Seven years. Father of the mountains told our priests about the appearance of players in the world seven years ago."

"Thank you, Turin. I learned the main thing."

"Du har lært mye," smiled a dwarf.

"I learned a lot, you're right, but I want to learn more. But I talked to a wise man and I realized I should be more careful when interfering in other people's affairs."

"And that's something you need to learn a lot about. It's a shame you can't get that skill, Master Dan."

Dan laughed and left the smithy. He wanted to sleep, and he really wanted to sleep in a normal bed, on a clean sheet, under a normal blanket. He hugged Velida and apologized honestly:

"Velida, feed my cat. I want to sleep more than eat. Please make a meat pie for dinner."

"I'll make a fish pie with a special recipe, Sir Dan," smiled the owner of the kitchen.

Dan went into his room, got undressed and fell asleep as soon as he fell on the bed.

He slept until late at night. When he woke up, he got a message from p.u.s.s.y. The cat broke into his head with vivid images of delicious food that wasn't being given to her because the stupid master was sleeping!

Dan quickly washed his face and went down to the dining room. The women began to set the table, and the men sat there talking about the mine.

Turin didn't insist but said it was time to start working at the mine. A small group of mining dwarves would be able to mine a small part of the ore. Iron and copper isn't the main thing. A batch of Adran's ore is needed by the players.

"You have begun to fight strong monsters. I can reinforce your armor. The defense will almost double. I won't hide it, it will be a pleasure to discover new facets of my skills," said the dwarf.

"The mine is safe, but the road to it is dangerous. Wolves live in the forest, we don't kill animals on purpose. We'll have to spend a lot of time guarding the dwarves," said Nick.

Turin laughed:

"Master Nick, do you really think 12 experienced gnome masters would scare a pack of wolves?"

Dan looked at Turin's level and laughed. The dwarf was level 37! The best masters will go to develop a mine with a valuable breed that will eat any wolf in the local forest.

"Nick, there'll be level 40 dwarves, they're not afraid to meet animals. All I care about is secrecy."

"You know the dwarf language, Master Dan. The contract will be strict and reliable," said Turin.

Nick waved his hand and agreed that if the gnomes agree to do business quietly and in secret from the attention of others. But he needs to meet the dwarf and negotiate the terms of the income sharing well. Turin said he had no right to enter into a contract of this level, he was not a merchant, and he was a blacksmith. They've decided to make time and go to Dor.

Then everyone ate and told each other their news.

Anna complained to everyone. That she didn't have the skills of an herbalist to identify some of the plants that Dan brought in. He was surprised and said that he hadn't seen any unknown herbs. She didn't believe it and took some root out of her dress pocket and gave it to Dan:

"What is that root? I can't see its name or its properties."

Dan took the root and looked at it. Then he shrugged his shoulders and said:

"The root of the Swampy Golden-Eyed Jug. It's a rare type. Sorry, but I can't say more. I'm no expert in alchemy."

"It's more than that! I don't understand. You have the skill to recognize evil, but the ingredient cannot be evil or good. It can't be cursed. How could you know its name? Thank you for that, I can work with him now."

"I have discovered the skill of the 'Eye of Wisdom'. I can see the levels of the inhabitants of this world, the beasts, and many things and phenomena," confessed Dan.

"He also became the Master of the Runes!"

The words of Nick, who gave away the secret of the sinner, silenced everyone. The gnomes were the first to react. They got up and bowed to the player, then sat down at the table and continued eating. Anna was silent and thought about the important question. Nick did not feel guilty. They wanted to discuss this issue during the general meeting, but the guys had already written him a message: "We are in a wh.o.r.ehouse! We're happy. We'll be back tomorrow afternoon."

Dinner continued in a calmer atmosphere.

After dinner, Anna called Dan to the lab where he could help her and identify the rest of the unknown material. Dan called her properties and a brief description of the different ingredients. She listened carefully and even took notes in her book. When they finished the work, she stopped Dan:

"Dan, there's an important case. It's about me and Nick. Did I get it right that your skill in runes is a new rank in the specialty?"

"Yeah, now I can start cautious experiments with runes. It's possible to combine the runes with a certain effect. Protection, damage enhancement, enhances strength, protection against magic. It's small and simple to start with."

"I'm interested in something else. You once talked about... That you could create a Vow for the clan. A magical oath that will have power."

Dan sat down in his chair and confessed:

"Now I can do it. But it requires careful and careful drafting of the oath. And think carefully about the consequences of breaking the oath. I a.s.sure you, this case is serious and dangerous. In this world, an oath is not a toy."

Anna smiled such a happy smile that Dan felt weird. He felt very good for a moment. He felt truly alive and full of the pure joy of existence.

"Girls learn the words of one important vow early on. Will you help me arrange a wedding with Nick?"

Dan hadn't thought about using runes magic like that. He was a little scared. And he felt uncomfortable. And Nick wasn't in the lab. The situation went beyond a simple conversation.

"Does Nick know?"

"Nick wants it," smiled at Anna.

"Aren't you kidding me?"

"I'm going to fry your b.a.l.l.s now. I can do that. I know the initial level of fire magic," said Anna. "How can I joke and cheat about that?"

"I'm sorry, this is all sudden. Are you sure about the text? I'm not taking responsibility for your relations.h.i.+p. It's none of my business. I can help, but it's your business now. Getting married... wedding... until the day you die."

Anna corrected his words:

"Until death do us part."

Dan closed his eyes and shut up, he was a little jealous of Nick and Anna for the first time, jealous of this relations.h.i.+p. Then he looked into her eyes, which did not lose a spark of laughter even during such a serious conversation, and said:

"I know how to perform the ceremony. Don't worry about it. It'll be real. I know how ancient immortal hunters made and bound their vows. You can talk to Nick any way you want. I can help you now, it's no problem."

"We'll wait for everyone. We'll be pleased to please the boys with such an event."

"Then Nick should run into town to meet the boys. Bachelor party!"

"Fiery magic," said Anna strictly and threw a finger at the sinner. "Without your stupid bachelor parties and wh.o.r.es from the wh.o.r.ehouse, we can do it."

Dan said good night to her and went to take his notes. He took notes on the clan history, added to the bestiary and the Hyde of the player. Then he sat down by the fireplace and read the books that Nick had bought in town. Dan learned the history of this world, its characteristics and made important conclusions.

*

When Alexander and John returned to the castle, they told the latest city news. The main news was the news about the Phoenix clan. Michael and a group of top players went to the sewers to complete a very important quest. There were some dangerous places in town. In the depths of the sewers some places led to the dungeons with very dangerous monsters. Michael decided to test his new skills, tested and took the quest to destroy the monster, which was an old terrible fairy tale in the city. In the end, the whole group died a few tens of times, until the players realized that they were not strong enough to defeat the dungeon boss. Unfortunately, the city quests clan had a time limit. The Phoenix clan had lost its reputation. John said the clan wasn't feeling well. Most players were dissatisfied with the actions of the battle group. There were 32 people in the Phoenix clan and everyone was able to face the danger of peace when pa.s.sing the survival test. Players came to town in different ways and found that for a comfortable life is not necessary to play in the heroes of the sword and magic. It is enough to perform quests of the locals and gain a reputation to get new quests. Most players did not spend points of Glory on their development.

When Michael asked the players to restore the reputation of the clan and share their personal points of Glory, his words caused indignation among the peaceful players. Everyone knew that the players were special people to the locals and were treated with respect. No one wanted to share their reputation and suffer for others' mistakes.

"Gandalf is a student of the Guild of Mages, but he develops the magic of fire. It's a powerful, but not the best weapon in the dungeon. It's dangerous to play with fire in an enclosed s.p.a.ce. Ron has refused to partic.i.p.ate in the quest. He said Michael needed to hire an experienced priest's man to act as a healer for the players. The clan hired a priest. The priest is dead. That was the clan's biggest problem. They must pay in gold for the death of a priest, bring a donation to the temple. Tom flatly refused to partic.i.p.ate in such operations in the future. He works with the Warrior Guild and has his own company of trusted partners. He is the leader of a small group of local warriors. Valerie and Alan are busy developing in the city. Michael's in sadness, Leo smiles and goes to the sewers alone, extracts trophies and saves gold. He took the clan's debt for the death of a priest," said Alexander.

"This handsome cheater! He's not a paladin, he's the favorite of all the beauties in town. A silent knight with a mysterious and tender smile with pockets full of gold, he has many fans," said John outraged loudly.

Everyone saw that a.s.sa.s.sin was joking. But the stories about the city clan didn't look funny.

When everyone had lunch, the players gathered for a meeting on an important issue in the Council Chamber.

Nick sat in the main chair and said it was time to listen to a report from their librarian and a big fan of surprises and unexpected discoveries. Ranger nodded at Dan and sat down. Dan got up and started the story.

He told the story of how he killed the witch. He talked about meeting a strange warlock. He talked about finding a cemetery of ancient hunters. Eventually, he confessed that he had become the Master of Runes and was ready to work for the clan.

"You are ready to make a magical runes oath for the members of the clan," said Alexander.

"Yes, I can do that. We must write the text of the oath with care and attention. Each player takes the oath individually, I testify and fix it in front of the whole world," said Dan.

"And a violation can be punished as the killing of players? There are good penalties," smiled John.

"Scarier, Johnny boy, we'll give a scarier penalty! I don't care about the other players, I'm willing to kill if I have to protect your lives. But I will not forgive your betrayal. There's no point in an immortal life if there are no loyal friends around," said Alexander.

"Dan, do you think we can do this? I'm afraid it'll interfere with the game process. And the punishment for such acts will come from the administration," asked Nick.

The sinner smiled and said quietly:

"We don't do anything wrong. An oath of loyalty is a solid and worthy cause. As a last resort, the game will blame the whole responsibility on me. I'm already a violator of the game rules we don't understand, I'll take an oath, all this work will not work without me."

"You have a strange point of view. Are you sure you won't get a surprise achievement and the right to be our 'Warden'? A lot of responsibility comes with a lot of power," said Alexander.

"I have interfered twice in the game process and the clan has not been punished for the mistakes of the offender. A blacksmith can create weapons, but he does not create his own responsibility for the possible deaths of innocents at the hands of a swordsman. We are all equal leaders in the clan. Any change like leaders.h.i.+p is a matter of clan politics. I have only become an expert in the special craft of this world," replied Dan.

Everybody agreed to put together the text of the vows and hold a ceremony of swearing an oath to the clan. Everyone was ready to take personal responsibility for this action.

But this meeting didn't end there. Dan asked everyone to listen to him carefully. His words revealed unpleasant things to the players and made them think about life.

"Nick, you have to, you owe an important operation in town. I studied the history of this Order of Monster Fighters. I'm sure we need to restore the full Order. We have 12 different cla.s.ses of specialists. I met the mention of the Hunter's Circle. The general sense is clear to me. Our clan is not taking full advantage of its position. We must restore the Hunter's Circle. Now we have Warrior, a.s.sa.s.sin, Scout and Magician. I'm afraid I can no longer be considered the Inquisitor. Nick, get us eight new players in town! They must be players of special character. I'd hate to shackle others with our oath of loyalty to the clan."

All listened with interest to the important message of the sinner. Nick sat frowning and tapping on the table with his fingers. Then he began his report:

"I have three good candidates for the clan. You will laugh, but we may have a good Thief. There's a rather interesting man there, I helped him join the Killer Guild. He works for us and is ready to join the clan. There's an honest guy who's just in no hurry to make a choice. He's quietly acc.u.mulating points of glory and can get in the Soldier's way. He's got great potential. But he doesn't like Michael as a boss. He goes to the sewers alone. He can't fit into Michael's group. His name is Richard. There's this one girl, Emma's very good, an archer. Anna, you know her. What do you think?"

"She's kind. And by the way, she can help with the clan recruitment. She's no good as a Scientist, but she could be a clan Craftsman. She's a dressmaker, she promised to sew me the mantle of a magician when I became a Master. She owes me one. And I remember Richard. He's strong but proud, he never asked for my help. But he thanked me honestly for my support. He shared his trophies with me, I always enhanced his protection."

"It's a pity Jim went off on a free quest, I thought he was a reliable and intelligent man," said John.

Nick began to make conclusions:

"We can now do a good job in that direction. We can take advantage of the problems in the Phoenix clan. But I don't like the general mood of the players. We really need Leo. He's a nice guy and a great knight. Michael is a special case and even though he's a soldier, I'm not ready to have this man close to our secrets so quickly. Samantha, our common acquaintance wants to be a scientist, but she's in another league."

"She's in a different sport at all," laughed John.

"The hardest part for us is finding three loyal players who will follow the path of the Spirit. Who can turn a blind eye to the presence of Sinner Dan in our clan," summed up Nick.

Alexander made an unexpected offer:

"Finding players on the path of the Spirit is the most difficult moment. But we can lure all newcomers to the rapid rise in levels. Dan, we can visit the dead in this cemetery of hunters, right? You're saying there are a few thousand monsters. Our Anna is stronger, and there are left scrolls with a powerful spell. We can go down carefully on the ropes to the area where she can see many skeletons and everyone will be happy!"

Dan frowned and objected:

"I wouldn't recommend doing that. The fact is, an army of dead men guards this cemetery. I saw a lot of bones under my feet and it was the vampire's bones. Jaws with distorted fangs, I knew right away. There were several battles between skeletons and vampires. It's hard for me to admit it. But I have a strange sympathy for these skeletons. They're mostly upraised hunters of monsters. I've seen a terrible fight. Once, a few level 20 skeletons caught my attention. They got together in a group and started knocking their weapons on their bones. Then two skeletons came out into the empty s.p.a.ce in the center and started fighting among themselves. I came closer and looked at the fight. Good masters, they worked with swords as well as Stefan. It was a creepy and beautiful sight. The most amazing thing happened at the end of the fight. When the winner cut off the skull of the loser, the skeleton of the winner flashed in a flash of green light and changed its level! They had a duel and as a result the winner gained experience for his victory. He took two levels and became the skeleton of level 22. After the battle, a group of dead parted, as usual, wandering around the cemetery. I saw the loser's sword on the ground. It's time to pick up trophies! I came up, and at that moment magic began. The bones of the deceased skeleton moved and began to gather in the skeleton. And then the skull rolled to the body and joined the body and this loser stood up. But he was no longer 20, but 16 levels! They're developing in this cemetery, they're getting ready to do some duty. I'm not sure what's important! I thought about the operation involving Anna myself. This is a chance to raise the levels! But I'm telling you my honest opinion. Don't touch those skeletons! They guard a very important place."

"How could the immortal antique hunters even die? That's the most confusing thing," shouted John.

"I'm not telling you anything," said Dan. "I've already realized that sometimes with my stories, I'm a hindrance to your development. Nick, confirm what I'm saying."

"Guys, I remind you of the importance of being a librarian. Dan is writing the history of our clan. He gets bonuses for it! But don't think he's the only one who can get bonuses from it. I repeat, find the time and read his notes! It's a great exercise for developing intelligence and spirit."

"I know about it, and I'm reading Dan's notes, I'm curious about all the tricky news he's got," said John.

"For reading the description of this news on your own, you get a plus to the characteristics. And words don't give you anything," said Anna.

"Words are cheap, whiskey costs money," added Alexander. "Anna, beautiful, can you make whiskey in the lab?"

"This is for Velida, she has a recipe for a strong dwarf drink," laughed the sorceress.

Everyone smiled. Velida abruptly refused to make the gnome drink for the players. No persuasion helped. She said that the gnome drink acts almost like poison on people.

The meeting ended in an unexpected event for the warrior and the a.s.sa.s.sin. Nick got up and invited everyone to the wedding ceremony.

John and Alexander couldn't believe it.

"It was worth leaving you for one day. And you've done so many things here," resented John.

"Dan, you're the one who's going to perform the ceremony with the groom and bride's vows based on your runes magic, aren't you? It's a great test of your abilities," laughed Alexander.

Players and a family of dwarves have gathered on the roof of the main tower. The day was already climbing towards the evening, but it was bright enough. The weather was not pleasant, as always it rained quietly, and the sun was hidden behind the clouds. Turin shone with joy and said that his relative could make rings for the partners. The dwarf himself did not work with precious metals.

There were enough places on the roof. Nick and Anna stood under the clan's flag and prepared to take their vows. Dan took a blank piece of paper and an ink pen out of the inventory. The players were interested to see how the Master of Runes worked.

It looked simple and clear.

Nick was the first one to say the words of the oath out loud:

"I, Nick, take you, Anna, to be my wife, to have and to hold, from this day forward, for better, for worse, for richer, for poorer, in sickness and in health, until death do us part. In this world, in the presence of the G.o.ds of this world, I make this vow."

Anna swore after Nick, changing the words a little to make them sound on the bride's side.

Dan would write down their words on paper. n.o.body saw what he was writing there, but everyone knew he was probably making a recording with mysterious magical runes.

Dan finished writing and handed out a page of vows to the players. Nick and Anna stretched out their hands, and the leaf was held with three hands for a moment. And then it flashed! He just disappeared in a flash of light and there was nothing left of the vowed leaf. n.o.body noticed how the two rays of light slipped to the hands of the couple.

Only the partic.i.p.ants in the ceremony received a message from the game. Dan smiled and shook his head, then admitted he got +1 to the spirit.

Anna and Nick's reaction was more vivid. Anna squealed with delight and hugged her husband. Nick was pleased and happy, too. He showed his hand to John and reported funny:

"A Ring of Love! + 1 to all the characteristics and + 1 to Luck! And 12 more points of Glory as the first bride among the players."

Anna added her portion to the rings' description:

"Teleport to Nick! The Ring of Love allows you to move to your beloved. Once in 24 hours."

"Instant teleport to the beloved," whispered John. "Guys, this is awesome."

Alexander shook Nick's hand and kissed Anna's hand. He turned to Dan and said in a hard voice:

"You'll have the text of your vows to our Clan, Dan. Now we're going to have a celebration, but tomorrow morning we're all going to do a good job."

"And somebody's got to do a good job all night. Don't let the recon down, brother," laughed John.

Dan warned the joker with one phrase:

"The magic of fire is a terrible power, brother. Don't joke with Anna, remember about The magic of fire."