Now, after the destruction of the Seeds of Evil, the entire game mechanics were 'shaking'. New chains of quests were activated because of the change in the strength of the monsters, the rewards for existing quests and the loot from the bosses were changed, in general, the game gradually changed in accordance with the algorithms included in it. And here it 'came out' another missed vulnerability by the developers. Although the game itself had many levels of protection, new modules of the game logic were being loaded into it, protected by a single digital signature, which was not very difficult for me tampering with. Plus, I could hack the AI that was monitoring me and tweak its program a little bit to make it work better.

The approach I used was simple and elementary. One of the service packs included not only a description of new game features, but also a piece of executable code that allowed me to 'optimize' the AI. In fact, this code was all about how the information on game events should be analyzed. From the perspective of the system developers, such code could not really do much damage, because it only allowed the calculation of additional informational descriptions of objects, which couldn't change the rules of the game mechanics in any way.

However, this program contained a slightly unobvious solution. I had experience in directly influencing computer systems with my mind. In fact, the intelligent replicators I created were computers that used quantum cells to receive information from the human soul. Such technology did not exist in this world, but there were physical random number generators that worked on quantum effects, on which I had already learned to influence. This new program allowed the rigid computer logic of decision-making to depend on 'random' values.

In a normal situation, this would simply mean that such program would produce completely random calculation results of no practical value. But since the quantum fluctuation generators were under my control, I could use them not just to set random quantities to the computer, but I could fully determine the entire logic of its calculations. In this case, I did not write a single line of code, but only used existing programs, just combining them in a non-standard way.

As a result, I had a 'legitimate' possibility to control the work of the AI and control its decisions. My power over the computer at this point was enormous, but I used it minimally so as not to attract attention. To any outside observer, the decisions made by the captured AI should look only slightly strange, but perfectly logical and natural, fully complying with all the rules of the game.

After a while, after analyzing the game rules and the limits to which I could manipulate them, I came up with a 'cheating' scheme that was supposed to be available only to me. I wanted to empower only myself, not anyone else who could figure out the right trick with their ears. I could not naively assume that other game figures could not interfere with the game computer.

After gathering the Divine Essence of Water, I went to one of the shards of the elemental world of Water. This virtual world was retrieved from the archive that I had recently tweaked. The world looked like a large field covered with many colorful flowers. Among the usual grass there were flowers, berries, low shrubs, and so on.

I gave an order to the Fox, and he drove me in the direction I'd chosen. In about five minutes we arrived in a clearing overgrown with unimpressive white flowers. In a second a huge cobra appeared in front of me, which opened its hood and hissed angrily. At the same moment an unspeakable fear gripped me. Although I was sort of a half-spiritual being, the fear was so powerful that it completely paralyzed my ability to act and even think. The only way to experience that level of fear would be if electrodes were stuck directly into my brain. In fact, that's exactly what they did to all the players in this game.

After a few seconds, the fear subsided, and I was able to return to the perception of 'reality. While I was 'in a coma', my pet attacked the snake, and then the effects of the snake's skill ceased on me. Great, that's what I needed.

The unspeakable horror I had just experienced was the result of two in-game skills. The first was a simple skill that instills fear in opponents. Its effect was rather weak, and most players would simply ignore it. But this skill was accompanied by a 'debuff', the source of which were the flowers growing around them. The scent of those flowers completely nullified the resistance to the mental effects of control, and then intensified those effects a thousand times. As a result, a person would experience emotions against which he could not, in principle, guard himself from. Moreover, all NPCs and monsters subjected to this effect also behaved as if they were sentient beings.

I had just experienced the power of my future 'ultimatum weapon' on my own skin. My scolopendra was not affected by it, because the flowers growing on it gave him immunity to psychic influence. Immunity was not resistance. It could not be 'reduced. It either existed or it was non-existent. Because of this, my pet didn't even notice the cobra attack and just ate it up in five bites.

I dismounted from my 'car' and began to use my druid skills to gather the seeds of the herbs I needed. There were a lot of plants growing in this world, so I was able to pick up another chain of substitutions right there, which resulted in two 'hallucinogenic flowerbeds' settling on my pet's body.

Having finished this step of my plan, I moved on to the second. This one was a little simpler. I had to 'beat' the book out of the next boss with a Hypnotist spell that made people around me wish they would die. In the original, this spell was simply meant to slightly dull the desire of opponents to survive. Make them feel a little depressed. But what it would do as a result of that enhancement, I had yet to find out. But not personally, because I would be wary of testing it on myself. Fear was enough for me.

Getting the right talisman was not easy, but in the end it was just a matter of spending the right amount of time. As a result, I got a spell that permanently cast depression on all enemies within fifty meters. At the same time, it also sent a slight breeze blowing from me in different directions. This spell was used by the Destroyers to increase the range of the flames, but since it was too weak, any mage could use it.

And the last element of this talisman was the spreading of smells, the source of which had to be specified when used. It was another 'useless' ninja skill that allowed all sorts of sabotage necessary to pass special quests. I adapted this spell to my needs, turning it into a bomb of epic proportions.

I charged and equipped the talisman and moved to the nearest dungeon. Once inside, I let the Fox run forward at full speed while activating my Ultimate Ability. The combination of skills I'd invented didn't let me down. All of the monsters around me suddenly... started trying to kill themselves. They banged their heads against the floor and walls, gnawed out their insides, twisted their heads.

Although from the point of view of game mechanics these actions could not harm anyone, it was only an external manifestation of the effect of the spell. But from the game's point of view, at that moment all opponents received damage equal to their health reserve. It was the same 'cheat' that I had implemented in the AI. If NPCs want to commit suicide, they always have that option.

After I dashed through the dungeon, I immediately set a new record for passing it. I spent exactly the amount of time it took for the scolopendra to race from the entrance to the final boss hall. It was a cheat. No, it was a super cheat. Just a pure and blatant mockery of common sense, which at the same time was in full compliance with the game rules.

The next step was to take the Level 15 exam. Everything there was elementary: come, see, win. After the boss died 'from heartbreak', I got level 15 and another global message that Cheater had done something there first on the server. In this case, that I got level 15. No privacy whatsoever. As soon as I fart, the global chat immediately says: Cheater was the first on the server to fart.

Well, now it's time to take over the Tower of the Dark Lord. Bwa-ha-ha-ha-ha!!! Now I will be the Dark Lord of this world!

I did not put off taking the tower for long. All I needed was a more detailed study of the tower's floor plan in order to think of the best possible trajectory to move. After all, the result depended on an extra second. When I reached the tower, I immediately entered it and activated my 'Killyourself' skill. I rushed to the first level boss, and all the surrounding monsters began to kill themselves.

In fact, the cleanup of the tower could not even be called a battle now. It was more like sanitation. A kind of cockroach extermination. You don't expect a sanitation officer to go to war with cockroaches, do you? He'd just blow the gas and then go about his business. That's the same way I would blow gas and rush onward without stopping. First floor, second floor, tenth floor, fifteenth floor. On the sixteenth floor I slowed down a little, but my worries were in vain. The local inhabitants were dying just like everyone else.

Finally, I reached the final hall of the twentieth floor and stopped in front of the entrance for a few seconds. I heard muffled bangs immediately from the boss room.

Bam! Bam! Bam! Bam! Bam! Bam!