Showing results by author "Vasily Mahanenko" in All Categories

Maximilian is the last of the noble Valevsky lineage. His entire family was put to death for an alleged attempt on the powerful Duke of Odoevsky, who had his eye set on the Valevsky's land. The young man managed to avoid execution, but not punishment. From here on out, he's condemned to life as a doomed soldier. The front line in the fight against the dark god Skron's mutated creatures. "Do or die"—that's the doomer motto that has been drilled into the last of the Valevsky's head. The Duke took everything from him but his honor and a thirst for revenge.

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.

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.

A product of the latest technologies, Barliona is a virtual world brimming with fun and entertainment. The government has become the guarantor for the in-game currency, allowing its free circulation. As a result the population floods Barliona in pursuit of easy money. It doesn't take long for the game developers to discover a source of free labor: real-world prison convicts. While their bodies are locked in special auto-maintenance virtual capsules, the prisoners' minds are released into Barliona's virtual mines.

I was the greatest mage of chaos of my time, spending sixty years defending the world from rift creatures. If there was a mission—I completed it. If there was an enemy—I destroyed them. I was loyal to the Empire to my bone, until it decided to wipe out the Chaos clan and every last one of its members.

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.

What can be better than attending a magic academy? New friends, new knowledge, new emotions. All you have to do is study, close rifts, and not think too much of anything else. I also had two students, who needed my time and experience, which took a lot of my time. No time to get into any trouble, right? Wrong! Especially when you are a chaos mage and an entire squad of assassins is hunting you down. They even took the place of some of the best students at the magic academy just to get closer to me. Let them try! A chaos warrior never runs from trouble!

Mahan's ready for new adventures - just as the gaming world of Barliona thought it was about to reenter its old comfortable rut. The winds of the Dark Forest have finally died down; Altameda has recognized its new owner while Geranika is nursing new schemes of global destruction. Would Mahan be happy with this predictable old life? We think not!

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.

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....

Every so often, reality shatters all our expectations. The Bohao Cult's top brass have proven far too formidable an opponent for the Seekers to crush with a single strike. Our heroes are in dire need of new strength, new knowledge, and new techniques. But where should they begin their search for those? The cultists have sealed off all access to the Primordial Soul and started a relentless hunt for House Bao. Tensions ride terrifyingly high while Zander and Vyllea are once again forced to do the impossible.

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.

The dark "doomed soldier" Max, formerly Baron Maximilian Valevsky, has committed an act of heroism. The emperor wants to personally reward him, and a meeting with the leader of the empire means only one thing: Max will regain his former name. But the mysterious forces circling the throne of the Zarask Empire have their own opinions about how best to utilize Max and his abilities. Their task is simple: bend our hero to their will and force him to do their bidding. But will Max agree to dance like a marionette with someone else pulling the strings?

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?

There are whole anthologies of stories out there about what humankind does when a game enters their world. But what about when they're living in one where a game arrived thousands of years before? What if they're the survivors of a bloody struggle, having fought for and earned their place on the planet? Tailyn Vlashich was a young nobody far away from all those grander issues. All he cared about was one thing: making his way through a harsh world where the emperor, evil foes, and an impartial god held sway.

Hi, my name's Max and I'm one of the Selected. What's the first thing that pops into your head when you read those words? A great hero, chosen from among all the billions of people on Earth? A lucky man who has ended up on an unknown world and gained superpowers? An explorer of new worlds who has discovered his destiny? Well, that's all true, but there is one but . . . Actually, if I'm honest, there are a whole load of buts. And there are rules. And the first rule of the Selected is: "Try not to die. It is expensive and impractical."

World of the Changed completely modified human consciousness. The incredible graphics that worked even on the simplest of phones. The intuitive interface that made the game accessible for absolutely anyone. The aggressive marketing campaign that put news about the game on every TV, every phone, every tablet. By the time the launch was a few days away, an entire army of fans was out there waiting for just one thing: Hour X. That was what the mysterious developers were calling the release time.

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.

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.