Mostrando resultados por autor "Vasily Mahanenko" en Todas las categorías

All or nothing. Life or death. There is no third option. Neither the ancients, nor outside forces, nor Chaos itself can find any other way to preserve the integrity of the world other than to destroy Archduke Maximilian Valevsky. They send him on a mission that can only be completed under one condition—Maximilian must die. And if he doesn't fulfill this mission, everyone he holds dear will perish in his stead.

What would happen if our world turned into a computer game? It might sound tempting at first, but there's one small detail you should know: in this game, people are nothing but non-playable characters, useful only for the service they provide to the real players. Experience, development, loot, levels—none of that is for us. Our role is merely to dance to the tune of our masters, who have come to our world to turn it into a character farm and a space for their own entertainment.

Daniel Mahan, the legendary Shaman of the Barliona game world, has served his sentence in virtual reality. Eleven months of adventures and battles in exchange for eight years in prison isn't a bad trade-off. And yet Barliona refuses to relinquish its grip on the Shaman so easily, erasing the boundary between his two realities. It turns out that it's not so simple to leave the capsule - the Way must be completed....

What are you supposed to do when the whole world joins forces against you? Give up, find some hole to duck into, and beg for your life to be spared? But even despite how obvious the answer to that question might be, many an adult had been dashed on the rocks 12-year-old Tailyn Vlashich was supposed to climb. Ahead of him lay a secret laboratory belonging to the ancients; behind was a horde headed by his sworn enemy. But through it all, Tailyn had those who loved him, those who believed in him, and that support was enough to carry him to the ends of the Earth.

Not long ago, Daniel Mahan, known to everyone as Shaman Mahan, thought that he had taken his sixth and final step in the Barliona gameworld. Yet life has other ideas. The Corporation decides to resurrect the Lord of Shadow and his entire host. The Corporation's CEO personally pushes the reset button. Geranika and his Dragon of Shadow spring back to life as, meanwhile, the Corporation makes an offer the Shaman can't refuse.

The offworlders are defeated. The Lithoids have been destroyed. It seems like a long-awaited peace is about to befall Hearth, but the servants of Chaos have their own designs. They're eager to destroy the trouble-maker and control him like some kind of puppet. Once a doomed soldier, always a doomed soldier.

The law of the jungle is straightforward—all means are justified in one's pursuit of ascension. After all, it's the result that matters—not how you achieve it. And yet the end doesn't always justify the means—especially when the ascension of one requires the suffering of hundreds. The Heavens do not take kindly to such acts. And so it came to pass that the Seekers have been forced to take matters into their own hands, bringing light to places where it had never shone before. However, the Bohao Cult has turned out to be far stronger than initially thought.

Death had only ever been a small misunderstanding for the high mage. After his seventh reincarnation, he'd begun thinking of it differently, viewing it as nothing more than a slight hiccup in his plans. But he'd forgotten one thing: When those plans get in the way of those higher up the ladder, punishment is soon to follow. And one more death brought faint consolation.

What can a game clan accomplish without a castle? The answer is obvious: nothing. Therefore, the main objective of any leader in a game world is to acquire a base of operations. Finding himself in exactly this position, High Shaman Mahan, leader of the Legends of Barliona, accepts an offer from the Emperor and the Dark Lord to vanquish the army of Phantoms that has inhabited Altameda, the phantom castle.

Barliona: a virtual world jam-packed with monsters, battles - and, predictably, players. Millions of them come to Barliona, looking forward to the things they can't get in real life: elves and magic, dragons and princesses, and unforgettable combat. The game has become so popular that players now choose to spend months online without returning home. In Barliona, anything goes: You can assault fellow players, level up, become a mythical hero, a wizard, or a legendary thief.

Surviving in a tough situation is not always the best option; sometimes dying is much better than staying alive. The Academy showed Paladin Yaropolk what makes the world go round: pragmatism and personal gain. Restart was set in motion, but it only makes players more frantic. Now everyone plays only for themselves. Yaropolk faces the same dilemma: be like all of them, or keep his humanity and be known as an odd duck. Because there is only one rule in this world: kill or be killed....

Is there anything better than a quiet life? Well, there's a quiet life surrounded by people you care about, people who love you in return, of course. But Tailyn Vlashich knew nothing of the kind. His parents had died years before, the townspeople stayed well away from the god's favorite, and his guardian just wanted to be rid of him. That was the setting when Tailyn was again placed on the road to uncertainty, beset by terrifying lixes, and hounded by a harsh trainer it was impossible to please.

Modern times. Genius physicist Artyom Kuchaev found himself facing the darker side of the world we live in. Integrity is met with a laugh, the rat race instead full of people out to grab whatever they can. Where big money is on the line, no betrayal, even of loved ones, is a bridge too far. But Artyom couldn't bring himself to conform. Instead, he decided to make a change in himself if not in the world around him. His work, surroundings, country....

The virtual world of Barliona is a place of rest and entertainment - but not for everyone. It has become a survival arena for Daniel Mahan after he was sentenced to eight years in its virtual jail. Mahan has been through it all: the back-breaking work in the mines, betrayal by other prisoners, and finally, the retrial which has released him into Barliona's common world. What more could one want? Mahan could have kept a low profile and enjoyed relative freedom while serving the rest of his time.

What could be better than space adventures? Captain Surgeon knows the answer to this question - space piracy! Loot, pillage, plunder, and sell all the lucre - that's the motto of the Galactogon pirates, and Surgeon is doing his best to join their number. But what is to be done when the enigmatic Uldans do not want to leave our swashbuckler in peace and keep laying new mysteries in his path, distracting him from his main goal?

I hope that by now you've lost any illusions you had about the Selected being some kind of elite force of intelligent civilization, chosen to fight against Universal Evil. So far, the only evil I've seen is the buggy System and the lack of basic sanitary facilities while we're adventuring. Also, it would be a real stretch to describe my companions as "elite". As for all the problems that come with being Selected—well, we can handle them!

Death is not the end. Maximilian Valevsky was slain, but rune magic has returned him to this reality. There are still enemies to destroy and evil forces to expel from this world. The only question is: what will he do with the person who finally did him in? Will he forgive and forget, or take action to ensure his killer can never pull of such a trick again?

What could possibly go wrong at a Tier Zero school of ascension when all the powerful foes have been vanquished and a bonded pair of Seekers can handle any adversary-not just at their current stage of ascension, but also from the initial ranks of the next one?

The Magic Academy...an institution shrouded in mystery and secrets. People from all over the different empires want nothing more than to enroll, get their hands on the knowledge stored there, become those most respected in the world - mages. Tailyn Vlashich was one of the lucky few admitted without going through the entrance exams.

Reality is cruel. The rising level of technological development has led to a rising level of unemployment. They're laying off everybody, from teachers to technical servicemen. What's the point of holding onto a person if they can be replaced by an advanced mechanism? But what are the people to do? How are they to live? Where are they to get money from? There is only one answer - Barliona. The official government project is gathering steam, luring more and more people into its net.