"New Paths" by Roman Zlotnikov, summary Automatic translate

This book continues the story of a post-apocalyptic war veteran, set in 2022. The protagonist stops surviving alone and gains the status of a global force, hired by heads of state to train elite units and purge megacities. Skip, who returned to his younger body from a lost future, has already saved Moscow and St. Petersburg, and is now spreading his experience to other continents, attempting to prepare humanity for the inevitable increase in complexity of the System.

This work is the second book in the Apocalypse Now series, following the novel Apocalypse Now: Return and preceding the text Unthinkable Scenarios.

Events begin with Skip flying to Germany on a government plane. German politicians, including former Chancellor Angela Merkel, have appealed to Russia for assistance. The German counter-terrorism special forces unit GSG 9 suffers colossal losses in their attempts to clear Cologne of monsters. Skip takes command with aplomb. He forces Wolfgang’s squad to discard their firearms and switch to swords. At first, the Germans are skeptical of the young man. Later, he single-handedly dismembers a pack of monsters with the "Flow of Planes" and "Spikes" spells. After this, the special forces recognize him as a true sensei.

Training is carried out through blood and pain. The mentor allows the soldiers to sustain grievous wounds to develop survival reflexes. For example, the soldier Gunther loses an arm in a fight with a "Trickster" monster, after which Skip heals him with his enhanced magic, reattaching the severed limb. The training is interrupted by bureaucratic sabotage. A certain official named Scholz attempts to arrest Skip for abuse of power right at the base in Sankt Augustin. The mage simply throws the official out the window and then goes AWOL, exterminating monsters in Düsseldorf. The German government quickly realizes its mistake, officially apologizes, and restores the mage’s full powers. The mentor demonstrates to the special forces a method for forced training: absorbing the "hearts" of high-level creatures.

Returning to Moscow, the hero learns of a new threat. A self-proclaimed prophet has appeared in Cairo, leveling up at an abnormally rapid rate. Reaching level fifteen will trigger a global Gate surge, for which Earth is not yet ready. Skip flies to Egypt alone, parachuting from several kilometers above using his Levitation and Shift skills. In the Al-Manyal Palace, he discovers a shocking truth. The cultist and his retinue are collaborating with monsters. The creatures communicate with humans telepathically, transmitting commands like "Kill!" or "Servant…" to their brains. The mage calmly kills the traitors and engages in a fierce battle with a horde of monsters, barely managing to escape thanks to his shields and the Pecheneg machine gun.

Word of the invincible Russian detachment spreads across the world. Skip’s private military company receives a contract from the Japanese government to clear the Keihin metropolitan area and train local forces. The Japanese send the Emir of Qatar’s private jet to pick up the team. In Tokyo, the group is met by thirteen-year-old Emperor Hisahito and General Izutsu. While reconnoitering the outskirts of the capital, the young monarch secretly escapes from his residence, finds Skip, and begs him to take him on as an apprentice. The mage agrees, choosing to ignore political expediency.

The Emperor’s training becomes one of the most dramatic episodes. Skip takes the boy to central Tokyo, forcing him to fight common monsters to the death. During one battle, a creature tears out a chunk of Hisahito’s spine. The hero miraculously brings the teenager back from the brink of death with two hundred casts of the "cure" spell. The boy demonstrates incredible resilience, reaches level ten, and opens a system shop. Together, they infiltrate the imperial treasury, where the mentor kills five level twenty-nine monsters with a single blow. Hisahito takes the divine artifact — the sword Kusanagi no Tsurugi. Grateful Japan waives any experience taxes and offers Russia an unprecedented treaty of friendship.

Events are unfolding in Indonesia at the same time. Skip’s associates — Rada, Morana, Avdeich, and Kuznets — are training local special forces in Jakarta. Local politicians from a radical movement attempt to send the trained cadets to stage an armed coup. The instructors brutally suppress the rebellion, killing the ringleaders. This provokes an armed standoff with the Indonesian army, which uses Leopard 2 tanks and helicopters. The unit’s leader is forced to intervene remotely and demand that the Indonesian president stop the violence. The situation is resolved by a televised address from the local commander-in-chief, but a sour taste remains. Local elites continue to wrangle power even in the face of total annihilation.

The hero’s personal life takes a dramatic turn. Morana, with whom he was hopelessly in love back in his past future, confesses her love. She was formerly the decrepit old woman Matryona, but thanks to magic, she regained the body of a young girl. A passionate romance blossoms between them. The lover moves into the luxurious apartments of the Moscow Hotel, located right next to the Kremlin. His comrades Avdeich and Kuznets are actively mastering the craft of crafting. They manage to create a unique protective material from monster hides. Evgeny Yuryevich, the head of scientific analysis, helps Skip systematize his knowledge of the System, proving that players’ physical parameters have hidden limits tied to their current Gate level.

Global tensions are rising. An anomalous monster appears in Lagos, killing the best Russian players based at the Victoria Island base. The creature attacks with clots of paralyzing slime, using microportals for ranged attacks. The hero flies to Africa. In a brutal battle, he sustains knee and arm injuries, barely managing to escape to Tin Kan Island. After analyzing the enemy’s tactics, the mage sells his accumulated stats to level up his "Scanner" skill to tenth. The spell transforms into "Spatial Sensation" with magical perception at a range of up to seven kilometers. Returning to Lagos, the fighter easily tracks the hidden creature through its portals and destroys the enemy with sniper fire from an OC-44 rifle and spells.

Analysts offer Skip two development paths: improve his "magical affinity" for personal power, or upgrade his "portal" class to eventually open a passage to the monsters’ homeworld, Strshansrashh. Scientists are certain that passive defense will sooner or later lead to defeat, and humanity will be forced to take the war to enemy territory.

For seventeen days, Earth lives in agonizing anticipation. Every morning, survivors wonder when the calm will end. During this period, Russian bases train tens of thousands of new players from military academy cadets and volunteers. Skip absorbs the hearts of slain contactees, breaks the third evolutionary limit, and cements his status as the most powerful being on the planet. He earns the system achievement "Unique III."

The book ends with the wail of sirens over Moscow. Gates around the world simultaneously shift to level two. In Ryazan, an officer nicknamed the Captain and young paratrooper cadets take up defensive positions before the shimmering green mirror of the portal on Vysokovoltnaya Street. Level thirty monsters begin to infiltrate Earth, heralding the beginning of a brutal new phase of the war for survival.