THREE

- Yes. Not without it, Alex agreed with his lips pursed. - But think about it. If luck smiles, then in one raid, albeit through the checkpoints of the corporation, you can earn up to forty thousand credits.

I froze when I heard this amount. Forty thousand credits. Quite a lot. Twelve such raids and, consider it, a debt as never before. Just to fit in the allotted two weeks.

I felt the warmth spilling in my chest. My situation doesn't seem to be entirely hopeless

"That's if I'm lucky," Alex added, seeing the fire of excitement in my eyes. - Usually they get two or three thousand for a raid - but also not bad, albeit at the risk of life.

Two or three thousand? Little. And yet better than nothing. In general, even if you receive so much, then in a couple of weeks you can give part of the money to Yuji and try to convince him to increase the term. Of course, in this case, he will put me on the counter, and I will have to pay not only the amount of debt, but also interest, but this is better than being killed. Yes, a trip to the rift is also associated with the risk of death, but as the old saying goes: "Of the two evils, we must choose the lesser." It's better to try than just sit flat and wait for the executioners from Yuji to come.

- Well, since you don't want to be a "player"?

- A player? I asked.

- Well, yes. Tunnelers through the rift get into a world similar to the game, so we conventionally call them "players".

I scratched my chin thoughtfully. We have to agree, there's just one oddity. Why does Alex care so much, why does he call so much? It seems that the corporation pays him for each new resource involved in the extraction of resources from the fault.

- I agree, but there is one oddity. Why are you trying so hard to pull into the rift?

- Oh, do you want to know what reason I have to encourage you to do this? Alex smiled slyly. - Well, I didn't want to make a secret out of it and I was going to tell you honestly, as well as help increase the profits from the raids by a factor of two.

- How's that? I asked, already guessing that they were trying to drag me into another murky scheme.

- Very simple. As you may have heard, the entrance to the fault is one. But there are several exits and at each there is a checkpoint of the corporation. They buy up all the goods they get. They record and send them to corporate warehouses, and then sell them on the stock exchange in the real world. So, I suggest you go through my checkpoint and hand over everything you find to me.

- Are you involved with the black market? I guessed it.

- Quiet! You what? Even the walls have ears," he hissed, leaning closely, causing his face to block the entire view. - But you're right. We will sell goods through the black market. There, prices are the same as on official exchanges, only here there is no intermediary in the form of a corporation, which takes most of the profits.

I don't have much choice. I can't make half a million anywhere, so apparently I'll have to risk my head and let Alex drag me into his adventure.

- Okay. I agree.

"That's great," Alex said rather with a clap.

Suddenly, there was a squeak of a call in his room.

- Oh my gosh, lunch is over. Okay. In short, go into the rift, I'll contact you as you go through the initialization procedure. Here is the address of the network route and the exact location of the fault. That's it, let's not linger, I'm waiting for you, there and I will tell you the details.

I nodded, but to the blank image, as a moment before it had blinked and Alex was gone. Looking at the obtained coordinates, I first turned my gaze to the capsule, and then to the plate. The pasta had not yet cooled down, and my stomach was growling again. I felt like the lump in my throat was gone. Apparently, the emergence of hope for a successful outcome still inspired me. The sticky horror that had previously lurked in the soul is gone. So, sighing, I quickly ate the pasta – who knows when else there will be a chance to eat, and how much time I will spend in the capsule.

With these thoughts I walked over to the capsule, it opened with a hiss, I slowly lay inside, feeling my heart speed up the run.

With these thoughts I walked over to the capsule, it opened with a hiss, I slowly lay inside, feeling my heart speed up the run.

A shining tunnel appeared before the eye, similar to a kind of hyper-transition from old science fiction films, through which, allegedly, spaceships traveled between systems.

I mentally imagined the address of the site. The system was counting information from the brain, and after a moment I was grabbed by an invisible hand and pulled forward. An unusual feeling always arises while traveling on a V-network. It seems as if the wind whistles in the ears, even the skin seems to feel the resistance of air. To the right and left, sometimes small signs similar to shop signs sweep by – different sites that are located along the same route.

The hallway in front of my eyes swung and then I saw a fault. It is located right in the wall of the tunnel. A huge black sinkhole, as if giant hands just grabbed the fabric of the net and tore it apart, forming a passage. In the depths of the blackness, like sparks, stars flash and go out, or maybe it is some kind of glossy darkness itself, and because of the glowing corridor it seems as if something is shining in it. The edges of the fault appear to be melted, leaky. Feeling a slight excitement, I touched the darkness. It feels like the hand is sinking into something viscous, like resin, but cold as jelly.

Loading my hand, I was a little frightened and jerked it back. The darkness of the rift reluctantly released her, it felt like I was trying to pull her out of the swamp.

- First time? A voice rang out from the left.

I flinched and looked around. A bearded middle-aged man, dressed in a well-worn oiled T-shirt and shabby pants, froze nearby. Looks like some kind of auto mechanic.

He confidently stepped towards the fault and then plunged sharply into it. Darkness swayed like a water surface and closed behind man. Clenching my fingers into fists, I frowned and stepped inside.

For a few moments nothing happened, then I decided to open my eyes. There is darkness all around me, but not so impenetrable that I can't see anything, no – my arms and legs are perfectly distinguishable.

Suddenly, a sign appeared in front of me:

Welcome.

Choose your appearance.

A light came on on the right. Squinting my eyes, I saw myself: a medium-sized and physique guy, with short black hair and bright green eyes. I wouldn't say I'm handsome, but I'm not a freak either – an ordinary average guy of twenty-five years. I'm wearing a dark brown leather jacket, dark blue jeans and white sneakers.

- And? I asked in the dark. - I choose.

The light enveloped my doppelgänger and he disappeared. Is that all? What about the setup? Maybe I'm dumbed down somewhere? Okay, I don't care, I didn't come here for a few hours to tune my physiognomy.

Choose an elementary class: warrior, assassin, shooter, mage.

Hmm, but this one is more specific. Elementary school? Is there an advanced one here? Yes, really similar to the classic MMORPGs, I remember in Alion online there was something similar. So, what to choose? Given that death in this world is tantamount to death in real life, it is dangerous to take a melee class, although, of course, to fight with a sword and a shield, or a two-handed sword, or an axe, famously cutting monsters is cool, but I do not want to put myself in danger. So, it is better to choose an arrow or a magician. So, the archer is usually fast and agile, that is, controlling him, you need to have a good reaction, accurately hit the target, because a shot on a tangent will practically not cause damage. On the other hand, the magician has the opposite - even if he only touches the spell, the damage will still be frail.

With these reflections, I poked at the "magician" icon.

Choose a subclass: healer, battle mage.