Only when I had finished describing my short fight with the bugs and death at the hands of a paladin girl, the chief said thoughtfully:

- Gerd Tamara can be understood, she was on edge last night, her nerves were definitely frayed. Not only was she herself sent for rebirth twice, but her entire “Second Legion” fell down at least once, repelling such a powerful and concentrated attack of the Dark Faction. But most importantly, during the night events, the Dark Faction captured two fighters of its legion. Tamara is especially worried about this.

“But can the deliberate and prudent murder of a member of your faction be justified by the shattered nerves of this… Gerda?” Or Gerd? What is more correct? Women's surnames do not seem to bow. Gerd?

The fat man looked at me strangely and shook his head reproachfully:

– It’s immediately obvious, Komar, that you are still inexperienced and know practically nothing about the game that distorts reality... “Gerd” is not a surname at all. This is not a title or a military rank, but… how should I put it… more like some kind of achievement or rank. In the ancient proto-language, words from which are often used in the game that distorts reality, "gerd" means something between "worthy" and "exalted". This is an achievement that cannot be bought or obtained by voting. It automatically appears in front of the name of the player who managed to become recognizable and noticeable among the rest of the faction.

Are there higher ranks? I immediately became interested. “The Geckho diplomat called the head of the Dome lang, I think.

– Yes, “lang” is the next rank of the player. It means "viceroy", "faction leader" or, if you want a slightly more accurate translation: "owner of the fortress." Then comes "kung", or "leader of many bands" in the language of the ancients. Further, only "krong", but this is already the highest rank in the hierarchy. So, there is a clear game rule: "gerd" in its status is disproportionately higher than ordinary players and is not at all obliged to report to them for their actions. For you, "gerd" is like...

Tyulenev hesitated and thought, choosing a suitable comparison, and I suggested:

“As a member of the Geckho race?”

- Exactly! Great comparison! Exactly! That is, you are not always obliged to obey the overlord, but you are always obliged to respect him and not enter into conflict, since in any conflict between a person and a gekho, the gekho will always be right. Same with Tamara. She killed you, which means she considered it right, and now she is not at all obliged to justify or apologize to you.

Somewhat strange logic, but I realized that it is useless to argue here - the rules are the rules.

“But at least I can find out the reason for her behavior?” After all, I need to understand what I did wrong, so as not to repeat this mistake later!

The fat man was silent for a while, then I suggested that I look in the mirror.

- Your eyes! Humans don't have eyes like that. But the glowing eyes are a kind of hallmark of the mages of the Dark Faction, their special distinction. Our most cunning and insidious enemy, to whom Tamara has accumulated many old accounts. But our leader of the "Second Legion" is a real pain in the enemy's ass. Still, she is the only one who is able to use magic at all in our entire H3 faction! I can assume that, meeting you on the way to the arsenal and seeing your glowing eyes, Tamara suggested a trap and acted intuitively.

- But after all, both the night duty officer and today's courier boy also saw my eyes, and at the same time they reacted normally!

The fat man laughed merrily and turned the monitor screen towards me:

"That's what you think, Mosquito!" Here, look at your personal file. Messages for you. Today, two hours thirty minutes in the morning. A signal from the night attendant to check you for possible work for the enemies. And the second message, six o'clock ten in the morning. This is from the young man who woke you up. Asks the Security Service to test you for magical abilities. What were you thinking about when you created your character? Ask the quartermaster to give you sunglasses today, so as not to embarrass the people so much.

I had no objections, I only asked to answer how many players with a higher status would be around me, so that I would mentally prepare in advance and not fall under their hot hand.

- In our faction, only three players have the status of "gerd". This is the commander of the "First Legion" Sniper level 88 Igor Tarasov, a professional military man and the most pumped player of our faction. You already know the commander of the "Second Legion" Paladin level 78 Tamara. And the head of the complex of scientific laboratories, Scientist of the 77th level, Valentin Ustinov. All.

Just three? Great. I remember the names of these three, but with the rest you can behave naturally. In the meantime, it brightened sharply outside the window - numerous searchlights turned on under the Dome, the local light day began. Tyulenev also drew attention to the coming morning, but reacted somewhat strangely to it, curtaining the window with a thick curtain.

“A habit,” he commented on his actions. – After all, I was brought here under the Dome in the fifth stage of diabetes, the most terrible first type. The doctors gave me two weeks of life at the most, but rather the time was running out by the clock. Even my retina was already destroyed, the light brought unbearable suffering. But, like many here under the Dome, I was saved by this very game that distorts reality. A healthy character in the game is a healthy body in real life. And my diabetes quickly passed, and my vision returned, but I still can’t stand the bright light ...

I remained silent, taking note of the important information. It turns out that many here under the Dome are former terminally ill people who were cured because of the game. Surely, after all, that bald fifteen-year-old boy who woke me up in the morning also ended up here underground for a reason. Meanwhile, Tyulenev calmed down and finally returned to the main topic of our conversation.

– I do not see crime in your actions, Komar. You acted out of noble motives and, even if you acted somewhat chaotically and unsystematically, but on the whole correctly. Yes, you entered the game without asking, but these are more questions for the guards of the Corn, who allowed you to do this ahead of time. You didn’t learn the labyrinth, but still you passed it within the allotted time, and the winners are not judged. Yes, it was possible to throw twenty kilograms of payload with you into the virtual world, but in this case, I suspect, you would not have had time to get out of the labyrinth.

Here I was ready to fully agree with the boss - even without additional load, my endurance went to zero, and only six seconds of time remained. And if I had more bales and boxes for twenty kilograms, then I definitely would not have had time. The HR manager continued:

- Your only serious "cant", as I said, is the wrong choice of profession. But it's not all that hopeless, if you think about it. You have two slots left for the skills you need. Take Mineralogy without fail, and pump this skill as a priority along with Scanning. Consider this an official order. You will work as an assistant to our only Geologist, otherwise old Mikhalych will not have time to climb and explore all the rocks and hills on the territory of our faction in ten years. As for the electronic scanner for you... well, I saw such a device in a Geckho-based hardware store. I don’t remember how much it cost - we have a severe shortage of gekho currency, so we buy from them only the most necessary things. But let your dream be in this game - to accumulate enough funds and buy a scanner for yourself, so as not to be a Geologist's assistant.

I was very late for the morning introductory lecture by Ivan Lozovsky, though through no fault of my own. At first, for a long time I could not find the quartermaster, to whom Tyulenev sent me. Then the quartermaster, like a turtle, slowly searched for me in a huge warehouse sets of casual and sports clothes, change of underwear, shoes and everything else that was supposed to be a newcomer under the Dome.

Only at ten minutes to eight, late for as much as fifty minutes, I quietly slipped into the dark hall and, crouching, made my way to the nearest free chair from the entrance. The speaker, enthusiastically commenting on some table on the big screen, did not even seem to notice my presence.

“The lecturer has already told us about your yesterday's misadventures,” my neighbor in the hall unexpectedly whispered to me, and I was surprised to recognize Irishka from the First Honey in her. - You were even cited as an example of how not to play.

- And what did he say there? - I was surprised not so much at my unexpected fame, but at the fact that my actions were assessed negatively, and all the newcomers were told about it.

Irishka, not even trying to hide the ridicule, retold the instructive story told by the lecturer. The fact that yesterday one of the newcomers entered the game without equipment and weapons, did not orient himself at all on the terrain and wandered incomprehensibly where, where he would inevitably be devoured by local insects, but one of the normal players shot him simply out of pity, so as not to suffer ... Strange, to put it mildly, interpretation of events. But I didn’t argue or try to prove something - let the newcomers believe in this bike, there will be more order in the faction, but it won’t decrease from me.

Kirill, will you show me your eyes? – barely audibly asked Irishka. - They said that they have become absolutely incredible with you.

Why not? I took off the dark glasses I had received from the quartermaster. My neighbor did not recoil, but froze and looked at me with pupils dilated from amazement, in which the blue flame was reflected.

- It looks creepy ... - the girl admitted, - but at the same time it is beautiful and even charming. You can drown in those eyes. When I enter the game, I'll try to make the same ones in the character's appearance editor. If you don't like it, I'll cancel and return it as it was.

Neighbors in the hall began to look around and hiss with displeasure - extraneous conversation prevented them from listening to the introductory information. I put on my glasses again and focused on the speech of our faction's diplomat. Ivan Lozovsky has just finished another part of his speech, dedicated, as far as I understand, to the history of the development of the colony of the Human-3 faction in a game that distorts reality.

Unfortunately, I missed most of this story, but the very end was also very informative. The diplomat spoke about the recent bias towards fighters and the lack of players who would be able to work in scientific laboratories, understand blueprints and equipment samples obtained from neighbors, and design new equipment and weapons based on the knowledge gained. That is why the leadership of the faction filed a request to attract about fifty students of technical universities to the Dome. The class of the character being created in the game, as a rule, was close to what this person did in real life. Therefore, Ivan Lozovsky expressed confidence that already today several dozen new scientists, designers and technicians would join the ranks of our faction and help it with their knowledge and skills.

Well, that's cleared up all the ins and outs of yesterday's story with the expulsion of student gamers. Indeed, the alarming situation with aggressive neighbors in the game led to the fact that in order to protect the territories, experienced military personnel with real experience in military operations in the hot spots of the planet were required in large numbers. There were already enough of them in our faction, and they managed to call the best of the best under the dome. But even if such born fighters manage to get the skills “Designer”, “Chemist” or “Physicist”, then they will be useful in laboratories, like from a goat's milk - they have neither basic knowledge about the subject, nor the proper mathematical apparatus, no high Intelligence. Such work required a completely different "source material", and the leaders of the Dome decided to invite senior students, graduate students and young scientists.

I examined the young specialists sitting in the hall. They all listened attentively to the speaker, afraid to miss even a word. Sincere, completely unfeigned enthusiasm and a desire to plunge into work as soon as possible were read on their faces. I got the impression that almost everyone around me were volunteers who signed the contract knowingly, without any blackmail and pressure from the police. All the more surprising against their background looked our small group of expelled gamer students. For some reason, we were also needed, but I still did not understand the reason.

I was distracted from my thoughts as the speaker brought up a new picture on the screen. Some kind of honeycomb, the hexagons of which were painted in different colors. Ivan Lozovsky straightened the microphone fixed at the gate and continued his speech:

– So, we figured out the classes and skills of the characters. Discussed motivation and reward for your hard work. We learned the history of our faction and briefly described our neighbors. It's time to talk about geography.

The picture of the honeycomb has been zoomed in, now it has become clearly visible that these are really hexagons superimposed on a topographic map with forests, rivers and swamps. Ivan Lozovsky commented:

“We learned from the Geckho, and later came to the same conclusion ourselves, that the entire territory of the planet in the game that distorts reality is divided into regular hexagons with a side of about nine kilometers. Such a hexagonal cell is called differently: hex, hexagon, honeycomb, although the term “node”, taken from some computer game, has recently taken root. So, such nodes are a kind of mosaic elements covering the entire surface of the planet. Any faction in the game must own at least one node, each with an area of ​​​​210 square kilometers - this is quite enough to build an initial base and organize the production of the very minimum necessary for the survival of the colony.

– Tell me, can a faction own several such nodes? - yesterday's bespectacled man again climbed with questions to the speaker.

However, the diplomat reacted quite normally today and immediately began to answer: