The Battle (31 page)

My staff officers and analysts knitted their brows as they looked over the AlterWorld maps and then went to bed. Getting ten hours of quality sleep while at war can really make a difference.

Urgent negotiations, couples spending hours together waiting for injuries and post-mortal debuffs to go away: this was the beauty of the Crypt. The life-saving beauty.

It had grown even more crowded. Even the abandoned spiral pathways of the Droid dungeon had been turned into household cellars. Crates of alcohol and vials were piled up beneath the walls. Cheeses and meats dangled from the ceiling. Chunks of pig iron started acquiring characteristics.

Cursing and the sound of clashing steel came from Station 11. The warriors, tired of resting, were trying to conquer more territory. This pastime had already turned into a sort of competition; every shift, the new Crypt occupants would try to force their way deeper down and seize another hundred feet of living space for the clan.

Every cubic foot was worth its size in gold. And I mean literally, as the First Temple’s treasury along with other valuables was being slowly transported down there. Lurch kept silent, having an aggrieved air, but security was my primary concern at that point.
What if we lose? We’ll need something to keep us going!

At least this made me feel safe: our resources were secure, and the reserve Super Nova above our heads could always be re-conquered with a little extra effort on our part. Losing this battle in no way meant losing the war.

I dined late and was barely able to stick to my moral principles when one of the best House of Pleasure girls appeared with a silver tray.

A cream of something soup, fried potatoes and a hare shish kebab; simply irresistible.

Neither her teeny tiny miniskirt, her undies peeking out or her V-neck revealing everything almost down to the nipples could surprise me. But why did she have to hand me the plates from behind my back, making her firm boobs press against me and as she breathed into my sensitive Elven ear, damn its erogenous zones?! And I knew that she knew what she was doing, that she-devil!

It’s not like I had made a vow of chastity or anything, but having fun with a girl on that narrow bed, separated from hundreds of other guys by a single curtain, was way below my moral standards.

After dinner, I tried to get some work done. Messengers began bustling about, diving into the portal like they were being ambushed by snipers. But I wasn’t worried: they had to manage time. You walk outta the Crypt for a smoke and you come back in a week.

I made sketches of a few of the defensive campaign plans that my analysts had produced. I was no tactical genius, but the combat units didn’t just come across to me as numbers, but as individual warriors and leaders with their different personalities.

The Fifth infantry was a battle-thirsty one.
Can’t have them in reserve again
,
it might be bad for their fighting spirit
.

The Copperheads had just received completely new commanders. Several officers had gotten promoted and left. The new captain faced difficulties: the ex-mercs were reluctant to obey someone hired from outside. So this unit couldn’t be put in charge of a key location.

The Third and Seventh assassin groups had busted the Shui Fong-0 wine cellar during the previous raid, and kept a thousand-pint snake wine barrel all to themselves.

This kind of conduct was punished severely but I didn’t want to lose ten good warriors. Considering that they intended to present the wine at the public table during one of their birthday parties, we let the whole thing go.

To punish the guilty, I resolved to assign them lots of degrading dirty work in the near future. Hacking up the helpless casters just wouldn’t do! We needed to cover the second wave of troops and counter subversive acts.

After correcting and finalizing the plan, it was time to add a little zest. Ready to play the trump cards, I began rattling off orders.

All siege machinery was to go to Tianlong. I knew this was a terrible risk. Should the bone fortress fall, we’d lose millions of gold in pseudo artillery. But this was our only chance to catch several of the enemy forces in the mouth of such a narrow passage. Ideal shooting conditions.

Also, we’d transport the special supplies to a well-guarded location nearby – that included the aerial bombs and Droids.

I passed my orders on to Lena who was in charge of communicating with the dragons:
they are to take to the wing and patrol the entire Valley
. I had to do this as I highly doubted that we’d somehow managed to keep our home portal coordinates in complete secrecy, having been in such a total mess the last couple of days.

Slap on that Veil of True Vision spell and keep circling the great Valley without rest as the wild massacre begins,
I thought. I gave permission to officially thank Yavanna; she had made all the surrounding lands yield gigantic thorns for our protection. Moreover, we’d had to temporarily leave a few farm locations abound with various beasts: hunting their unexpectedly pregnant females wasn’t something we were particularly fond of.

The dragons’ main goal was to spot any portal that may have popped up unexpectedly, before it was too late. The traffic capacity wasn’t so high: a hundred-twenty men per minute. If we responded quickly, the threat could be efficiently contained.

It wasn’t like we had fixed points all over the territory: our wizards weren’t that skilled. But we covered all the hidden spots and rolled out a welcome mat.

Yes, we'd hidden the Basilisk eggs in those well-concealed hollows. We had reached an agreement with their King, in which they’d guard our lands from the inside. We were also free to use them in battle up to three times, allowed to lose no more than two. Once we lost more, the mutual non-aggression pact was history.

Boy, did I have a tough time making that decision.

The King had been calling me for a while but I did not respond right away. My greedy pig wisely held me back, whispering into my ear that a Basilisk is not just a tool for crushing enemy cities but also a way to say goodbye to ten or even twenty unique artifacts.

But the growing anguish in the King’s plea and the death cry of a creature that had failed to carry out its mission helped me make up my mind.
Greed or mercy? To fill up the Seventh treasury with shiny baubles or to resurrect an ancient race? Shut up, greedy pig!

I sent a messenger to the dwarves to remind them of their allegiance and ask them to get their armored hirds up on the surface. It was time to leave the furnaces and mobilize for war.

Durin was to open the clan storehouses for the demons. Last time, the Silver Legion had permanently lost sixteen warriors. I had to make sure the fighters that Asmodeus gave me were efficient and able to survive, whether I wanted to or not.

I spend a lot of time writing diplomatic letters, using every bit of authority I’d earned on the international arena. I addressed the Chinese, Koreans, Japanese, and so many others:
join us in fighting off the Lightsies!

After hours of work, I could hardly stand up straight. I noticed in surprise that I hadn’t even touched my coffee. Rubbing my weary eyes, I made my way over to the soft bunk bed.

I couldn’t lose any more nerve cells, anxiously waiting, and the chances of making a mistake would only double the more I second-guessed myself.

Time out!

Tomorrow, the First Temple’s immunity shall fall.

Tomorrow, it’s war!

"

The Russian cluster’s lands shook under the enemy’s feet. The angered gods frowned at us from the sky. The special services clashed in a whirlwind of melee attacks. Hundreds of thousands of intelligent beings triumphantly hacked each other to bits.

This was neither a game quest nor a petty intrigue of some clusters over a rich desirable location. It was a war.

A war between civilizations, religions, and the ends of the world. The ground wept in pain. The astral beings turned away in horror. Castle towers burned and collapsed. Russian cities welcomed their allies. The enemy drew near.

Refugees flooded the Valley. The Alliance's best forces prepared to attack. Max was no longer just a clan leader. He was the Chief, the heart of the resistance. One has no choice with crowds of frightened children behind their back, with the heartbeats of thousands of trusting citizens ringing in their ears.

We don't start wars: we finish them. We line our borders with the enemy's tombstones topped with their rusty helmets. They symbolize our love for peace.

End of Book Five

From the author:

Dear reader! Thank you for your loyalty to the AlterWorld. I am glad that you’ve grown fond of Max’s story. Just like you, I want the rest of the books in the series to get published as soon as possible. But the publication process is being hampered by the expenses and the time-frames associated with translation.

The cost of translating one book ranges from $5,000 to $10,000. The translation itself takes up to 4 months.

There are currently 7 books in the series that are already written, plus additional stories. I am also working on a new LitRPG series about outer space.

In response to the readers’ demands, I am opening a crowdfunding company to raise capital for translating the rest of the books.

Link to campaign:
http://igg.me/at/rus

If we raise enough money, I will hire a second translator to speed up the process and get the books out twice as fast! The new volumes will be released every one and a half or two months! If we only raise a portion of the funds, this will in any case help shorten the waiting time between the book releases. After paying for the translation of one book, it is quite difficult for me to find another spare $7,000 in order to instantly get the next book translated. I am forced to save… which is long and painful…

There are no risks involved; the books are ALREADY written. The only issue is translating them.
Every dollar counts; it will be put to good use! A single dollar shortens the waiting time by 10 hours!

Everyone who decides to help out will receive a few wonderful volumes from the AlterWorld series as a thank-you gift: 
The Sense Of Duty,
 which recounts the story of the Doc and the hospice, and also 
The Three Bears And The Zombie Legion, 
the story of how the Inferno powers came to Earth.

Those who give $10+ will have their names printed in the Acknowledgement Section.

Those who give $30+ will receive the first book in the series with my autograph!

Those who give $60+will additionally receive 3 autographed volumes!

If you can’t afford to donate, it’s no big deal; I am still endlessly grateful to all of you for falling in love with the world I have created! Besides, there are other ways to make major contributions; you could recommend the series to your friends, write a review, or share a link to the books on Facebook or Twitter.

Thanks again for your support!

Yours truly,

Dmitriy Rus

Laith’s current stats

( complete info here:
http://d-rus.ru/wiki/
)

Real name: Max Nazarov.

Has reached top level of
Fame
:
You are a princess’s dream.
Laith’s
astral seals (marks):

• The Children of the Night
  Mark
  
• The seal of
  The Bone Dragon (Vertebra)
  
• The seal of
  The Fallen One
  
• The seal of
  Tianlong
  
• The Curse of the Sun God’s Patriarch
  
• The seal of
  Halls of Gloom
  (temporary, for one year)
  

MMORPG Glossary
[iii]

AFK

Away from keyboard

Aggro

As a verb, it refers to a hostile mob that has noticed a player and is actively trying to attack that player. As a noun, it refers to the amount of "hostility" the player has generated on the mob. In typical combat strategy, the fighter tries to take as much aggro as possible away from weaker players such as healers and mages.

Alt

Short for "alternate". It refers to the alternate character a player has from their main character. This is not a stable category as sometimes alts can outlevel mains and sometimes mains become moth-balled.

Alt Tab

The act of using the ALT+TAB keys to jump from application to application

Bind

In certain MMOs, characters are teleported back to a safe spot when they die. This spot is predetermined by the user. The act of determining the safe spot requires an explicit action by the user. That action is known as a bind. The spot is typically referred to as a bind spot.

Bind on equip

This term refers to items that become soulbound to the player after they have been equipped. In other words, the item can be traded as long as no one equips it.

Bind on pickup

This term refers to items that become soulbound to the player after it has been picked up from a monster. In other words, the item cannot be traded once a player picks it up. BoP items commonly cause looting conflicts and disputes during game-play.

Bokken sword

A wooden training sword

Buff

Temporary boost to character attribute or combat ability

Camp(ing)

The act of waiting in an area to hunt a specific mob or a specific spawn

Caster

A mage or a wizard

Char/Toon

A player or their character.

Class

Professional archetypes. In D&D games, these would be warrior, healer, rogue and mage. The most typical class types are: close-range damage, ranged damage, healing, crowd control, support.

Cleric

Typical healing class in D&D style games

Combo

A combination of hits, especially causing severe damage like paralyzing or bleeding

Corpse

In certain MMOs, a corpse appears where the player died. Sometimes all the player’s items and money are left on the corpse and the player is teleported back to their bind spot. Corpses typically will decay after a certain time proportional the character’s level.

Corpse Run

The act of retrieving your corpse after you have died. This is typically a dangerous thing because people tend to die in dangerous places rather than safe places.

Crafting

A general category of skills that allows players to manufacture objects from raw resources

Crit

"To crit" refers to landing a critical hit either with melee or spells. Effective damage is usually increased from a base of 150% to upwards of 250% with extra talents/skills/buffs.

Crowd Control

Refers to a set of spells / abilities that temporarily paralyze or stun other mobs or players. Crowd control is an important group support ability when fighting multiple mobs.

DD

Direct Damage. Used to refer to a class of spells and abilities that allow players to damage enemies from a distance. The firebolt is the archetypal DD.

DD/DPS

A character whose primary role in a group setting is to deal damage to the opponents.

Debuff

The opposite of a buff. An offensive spell cast on enemies that weakens an attribute or combat ability.

Donator

A player who invests real money into virtual gear

DoT

Damage over time. Refers to a class of spells that deals damage over a period of time. These spells typically do more damage than DD spells overall.

DpS

Damage per second. Used when figuring out weapon speed and damage.

Drow

A Dark Elf race

Druid

Hybrid class in D&D style games—part healer, part support, part fighter.

Enchanter

A mage specializing in buffs

Epic

An extremely rare item or quest. Has come to mean something exceptionally cool and hard to get.

Experience

A quantity gained when completing tasks/quests, killing mobs, or various other achievements in games. When enough experience is accrued, characters often "level up" and become more powerful.

Familiar

Same as pet

Farm(ing)

The act of accumulating currency or a specific item by repeatedly killing a mob or repeatedly performing a series of actions

Gnoll

An NPS (AI-controlled character) race of humanoid hyenas

Guilds

Semi-permanent player groups. In typical games, players must use a substantial amount of capital to start the guild.

Health/HP

A base attribute of characters

LFG

"looking for group"

Lich

A race of the undead

Loot

Currency or items that are dropped by a mob when it is defeated

Mana

A commonly-used pool of magic potential (magical analog of health points)

MMORPG

Massively-Multiplayer Online Role-Playing Game

Mob

An AI controlled monster. 'Mob' originally comes from the MUD era, where it was short for 'mobile', to differentiate monsters that would patrol a set of rooms as opposed to monsters which would stay in one place until killed.

Mount

Any riding animal from a donkey to a dragon

Newbie

A new inexperienced player

Newblette

A new and inexperienced female player

Noob

The pejorative form of newbie or an unskilled arrogant player

NPC

Non-player character (ie. controlled by AI)

Nuke

Refers to casters, to cast the highest damage spell or spell combo to effectively pull or finish of a npc. Mages usually are the most effective class in highest burst damage.

Nuker

A caster who throws a lot of damage spells on a target.

Perma

Permanent, permanently

Pet

A creature that can be summoned to help and defend a player

PK

Player Killer—a derogatory term—as in a person who primarily plays to kill other players

PK counter

Shows the number of players already killed by a PK and allows to calculate the chances of his dropping an item if killed by another player

Port

Short for teleport. Used as a noun and a verb.

Powerlevel

Same as rush. When a higher level player tries to help a lower level player level faster. Most games have mechanisms that prevent power leveling.

Pull

A standard hunting strategy where a player lures a single or a group of mobs to the group so that the group can hunt from a safe area instead of hunting in areas where new mobs may spawn.

PvP

Player vs. Player combat

Quest

A set of tasks of a player to complete

Quest item

An item needed to complete a quest

Race

Typically fantastical creations, such as Elves, Trolls and the like.

Raid

A more substantial engagement involving a large organized group of players typically set in a dungeon and involving difficult mobs

Regen

Short for regeneration (of health, mana, or other replenishable attributes)

Resist

A parameter showing one's chances to resist a spell, whether partially or completely

Respawn

A character's resurrection after being killed

Rogue

A game class used for scouting and spying

Root

Can refer to a class of abilities as well as its effect. A root spell immobilizes a target. The target is then said to be rooted. Early versions of these abilities involved references to plants, hence "root".

Rush

Same as powerlevel

Server

Due to technical reasons, each server can only support a limited amount of players. Each MMORPG typically has several servers. Players cannot interact with players on other servers.

Slot

A storage unit, especially in a player's bag

Snare

An ability which slows down a character's movement speed, but they are still capable of moving.

Solo

The act of playing alone, hunting mobs alone.

Soulbound

An item-control mechanic where an item cannot be traded. In other words, only one person can own the object and it cannot be traded. See also BoE and BoP.

Spawn

Resurrect

Stealth

A type of invisibility that lets stealth characters sneak up on others for large critical strikes or for scouting.

Stun

A typical form of crowd control ability that immobilizes an enemy

Tank

As a noun, refers to character classes that can take a lot of damage. As a verb, refers to the act of drawing aggro from mobs before other team members strike with their abilities.

TSB

Toxic Sperm Buildup

Uber

Slang form of super

Wonder Waffle

From German
Wunderwaffe
, a wonder weapon

WTB

"want to buy"

WTS

"want to sell"

Zool

Cool