F or the entire time remaining until the event, even while dining with Leah and meeting with Kingmaker and Koshie, Raven seemed withdrawn and spoke little. His sister and friends were puzzled, but when they asked questions, he just smiled sheepishly and changed the subject.

However, he still communicated the important information to the two Rollin’ Dice members who were captivated by his new arm. Even Koshie’s statue-like face showed excitement as he stared at the transparent limb with gleaming threads. They spent several minutes trying to find out more, but finally gave up and circled back to the main subject.

“So? What’s your plan?” Kingmaker sounded genuinely concerned that the space crack could put an end to their conquest. “You play on God-knows-which Floor. Opening the passages is getting more and more complicated. I could send you a pile of There and Back Again scrolls, but the chance that they’ll work is near zero. And they’re our best bet.”

“I don’t have one. Not yet. I’m here to warn you about the danger coming from these cracks. I told you what happened with mine.”

What he didn’t tell him was the prize he got for it or about his little trip. He’d rather not share that weird encounter, aware that no one would probably believe him. Perhaps only the Columbus Club — but he’d rather stay clear of them.

“So all we can do is wait for it to kill us, hoping for a miracle?”

“This world is very, very big. There’s always a chance you come across something helpful. Although you’d stand a much better chance by sending me the scrolls,” Raven replied, curving his lips in a thin smile.

He hadn’t told them about the Swords of Nine Gates either; that was one of the things he’d rather keep secret.

Bidding the two farewell, he logged off, leaving Kingmaker and Koshie deep in thought.

After that, he had a talk with Sarah and another Age of Ascension employee that resulted in a signed contract and him granting them the right to use the video material he’d record during the event.

Feeling peckish, he checked the time and took a five-minute stroll to the nearest café, thinking of his recent conversation with Leah.

She had already reached level fifty and was currently working toward her specialization. As far as he could tell, she was doing well, despite dying seven times while on her mission. Knowing Ascension’s secrets, he made no comments about it. Leah had to endure pain so that she’d learn to protect herself in his absence.

In a year or two, the truth will come out. And it’ll end the world as we know it.

Stopping in his tracks, he rubbed his face and looked up at the sky and distant stars, thinking that he could no longer postpone his mental development. And that meant a new doze of agonizing pain.

“But first, the event. I need more Influence Points.”

Clenching his fist, he remembered the mysterious store’s merchandise. He’d buy all of it if he had enough Points.

***

Two minutes remained before midnight and the beginning of the event. Every owner of the new series of capsules was eagerly awaiting to receive a message. No one knew what the event would be like, which only made it more exciting. On any of the four Floors and higher, players stood with their eyes fixed on the clock.

Raven was in the game, too. Standing next to the witches’ laboratory, he counted the remaining seconds.

23:59:55

...

23:59:59

...

00:00:00

WOOSH!

Everyone eligible to join the event saw a scroll enveloped in blue flames appear before them.

Attention! A special event has begun: Heroic Influence

Activate the scroll to accept the challenge.

The event goals will be available after the registration period.

Time left: 5 minutes

Attention! If you do not activate the scroll within 5 minutes, it will disappear and you will no longer be able to join the event.

Hundreds of thousands of players across the world of Ascension activated their scrolls simultaneously, disappearing into the flashes of opening teleports.

Raven took one last glance into his inventory filled with potions and scrolls he had gotten from the witches several minutes earlier. Making sure he had done his best to prepare, he activated the scroll.

Go to the challenge site?

Yes/No

The scroll lit up and crumbled to dust, enveloping Raven in magic. Before he could prepare for teleportation, he found himself surrounded by a crowd of other players.

They stood on an elevated platform — apparently the flat top of a mountain, one of the dozen that could be seen in the distance. Even without using Binoculars, he could see other crowds atop them.

The players who stood next to the edge could see nothing but clouds when looking down, so they were probably pretty high up.

Everyone was looking around, watching as the flashes of light brought in more participants. Comparing the other players’ gear with what they had seen on the forums, they chose their victims, teammates, or just estimated the strength of their rivals.

Many of the stronger participants preferred to conceal their information, but the Columbus Club members were recognizable because of their recent spectacular presentation. Apart from them, there were others who showed off their strength on purpose.

In the crowds, one could see a few players who were no weaker than the TOP-500 but whose names weren’t on the ranking list.

Raven had also concealed himself by wearing the Monster Mask he had looted from Adept Tjar.

MONSTER MASK

Conceals the wearer’s face and all information about them.

This mask looked like the muzzle of an Explosive Lion, one of the mobs he had killed at the Lairat Lab. When looking in his direction, everyone saw just the animal’s head, and a cloud of darkness hiding his trademark serpent hair.

An event of this scale and importance couldn’t escape the media’s attention. According to the capsule manufacturer, only six percent of players had been able to afford the newest model. That meant one hundred and forty million people being eligible to participate — and almost three billion left out.

Shortly after the event’s announcement, no channel had been approved to stream the event, causing public outrage. The three billion players who couldn’t participate couldn’t accept being denied even a stream.

Skydome, as usual, had made no comments. The protests had gradually subsided, and the channels, which would rather not confront the devs of the generation’s most-wanted game directly, had come up with a different strategy.

Purchasing the new equipment for their reporters who joined in as regular players, they waited for the event to begin to get the videos and post them on their channels.

Five minutes passed quickly for some and like an eternity for others when the mountain shook and thunder pierced the sky. Many staggered and took out their weapons, and those who stood at the edge barely avoided falling over.

“WHAT IS POWER?” A thundering male voice fixed everyone to the spot. Those who tried to move were pierced with agonizing pain, even if their sensitivity level was only at fifty percent. The pain seemed to come in with the air they were breathing.

The voice went on, indifferent to their suffering.

“THE ABILITY TO STAY FOCUSED AT THE MOMENT OF LIFE AND DEATH? A CHARACTER UNBENDING TO MISERY AND PAIN? OR IS IT MERELY BRUTE FORCE, CRUSHING THE STRONGEST METAL LIKE PAPER? IS IT A CURSE OR A BLESSING? DO YOU NEED IT TO DEFEND THE WEAK OR TO OPPRESS THEM?”

When the dust settled, the players could see a twelve-foot-tall statue of a man resting both hands on a short staff. This stone image emitted an aura of serenity, but its eyes seemed full of pain.

“EVERYONE WILL GIVE A DIFFERENT ANSWER, BUT WHO WILL BE RIGHT AT THE END OF THE DAY?”

The statue’s lips didn’t move, but no one had any doubt that it was the source of the thundering voice.

Suddenly, the statue stirred into motion. The man’s right hand tossed the staff up. Hovering in the air, it began to whirl at a crazy speed, spewing small black balls, each about two inches in diameter. There were so many of them that they briefly eclipsed the sun.

“Hey! Look! Over there!” a voice came from the edge. Casting a glance in that direction, Raven saw the same thing happening on every other platform, except that the color of the scattered balls was different: green, violet, or yellow.

It took him several heartbeats to remember the lake and something similar happening after he had solved its mystery.

Ten names fished out from the depths of time. Is that them?

Taking out his Binoculars, he looked toward the Violet Mountain.

His heart missed a beat as he recognized the statue of a woman twirling a dagger on her fingertip, spewing forth violet spheres. The distance was large, but not large enough to prevent him from recognizing a very familiar face.

Zal’Sscar.

Removing the Binoculars, he looked over his shoulder at the statue closest to him.

So that’s what Czars looked like.

He remembered all heroes’ names and preferred weapons pretty well, so he immediately identified this one. But just as he was about to look at the other statues, the sound of a gong came and everything stopped. The colorful spheres had long disappeared into the chasm hidden by the clouds.

Each statue was enveloped in a ray of light coming from the sky, and each player received a message.

Attention! Collect as many Influence Spheres as you can and bring them to a hero’s statue.

+ 10 Influence Points for each Influence Sphere matching the hero’s color

+ 5 Influence Points for each Influence Sphere that does not match the hero’s color

Every 100 Influence Spheres brought to the matching statue will activate a Level 1 Challenge. The reward will depend entirely on you.

Every 200 Influence Spheres brought to the matching statue will double your reward and activate a Level 2 Challenge. The challenge reward will depend entirely on you.

Every 300 Influence Spheres brought to the matching statue will triple your reward and activate a Level 3 Challenge. The challenge reward will depend entirely on you.

...

Every 1,000 Influence Spheres brought to the matching statue will increase your reward tenfold and activate a Level 10 Challenge. The challenge reward will depend entirely on you.

Every 5,000 Influence Spheres brought to any statue will grant a teleport scroll to a random tablet’s location.

Every 10,000 Influence Spheres brought to any statue will grant a random heroic skill.

...

By killing another player, you will automatically collect all the Influence Spheres in their possession.

By dying, you will lose all the Influence Spheres in your possession.

Hero Colors:

Ariadne — Green

Sak’Harel — Orange

Tohsilia — White

Demonic Lord Zal’Sscar — Violet

Pandora — Yellow

Baral’Dag — Blue

Ahennia — Pink

Czars — Black

Wagraf — Red

Darrau the Messenger — Gray

What the fuck?!

Raven stood frozen in shock for a little while but then he shook it off and rushed toward the edge of the platform. He had no time to waste. Looking over, he smiled broadly.

“Now that’s what I’m talking about!”