The Archiverse world series

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CHAPTER: "Girls Just Wanna Survive"

Build, laugh, craft, and—wait, are those glowing trees?

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🛠️ Blue-Ranked Camp - Temporary Craft Circle

A few miles east of the forest's center, nestled in a clearing surrounded by mossy roots and blooming violet fungus, a group of four blue-ranked girls worked together, half-heartedly crafting while half-seriously joking about death.

> "If we die, I want my loot to explode into sparkles," said Mina, the self-proclaimed quarter-leader and alchemist. She adjusted her thick gloves, currently glowing faintly with powdered Vita.

> "Nah, I want mine to scream 'YOU FOOLS!' before vanishing," laughed Reza, a flame-using melee specialist with a chipped wooden sword and wild purple hair tied in a lazy side-knot.

> "I just don't wanna be eliminated by a tree," groaned Kiera, the bowgirl, sanding a newly crafted quiver. "At least let me go down to a boss fight or—"

> "—Zack Erebus," chimed in the fourth girl, Tamsyn, an illusion mage with a pink-trimmed robe and a twine choker around her neck. She grinned. "Y'know. Silent, deadly, and morally ambiguous."

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💬 The Zack Talk

The group froze for a second… then collectively snorted.

> "Okay, but seriously," Mina said, lowering her crafting knife. "Is anyone else terrified of him but also like… impressed?"

> "He didn't even blink when he eliminated that sword guy in the Ruby Game," Reza added. "Straight up void-walked him into oblivion."

> "He doesn't yell," Tamsyn whispered dramatically. "He just appears. Like—no music, no flex, no buildup. Silent anger. Worse than angry anger."

> "Bro's a walking passive-aggressive murder poem," Kiera said, earning wheezing laughter.

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🌳 And Then… the Forest Changes

As they laughed, the wind shifted.

The light changed.

The trees, just ahead, grew stranger—smooth-barked, iridescent, bioluminescent in faint golden hues. A breeze passed through that smelled like honey and moss.

> "Yo… what's with the trees?" Mina asked, standing up.

They all turned.

Just beyond the ridgeline: the Enchanted Forest.

But not just any part.

The Golden Apple Grove.

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🍏 The Sacred Zone

Tamsyn squinted. "That tree—does it have… fruit?"

Reza stepped closer, lowering her flame torch. "It's… glowing. And kinda levitating?"

One apple hovered gently in the air, just a few inches from the branch. Golden, pulsing with slow light. The air grew warmer, the ground softer. Every tree stood with unblinking silence.

> "Is this one of those 'forbidden fruit' things?" Kiera muttered.

> "We're literally in the middle of a Hunger Games level," Mina whispered. "Nothing good comes easy."

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⚠️ They're Being Watched…

From the trees above, something moved.

Not a beast. Not a player.

A flicker of gold.

A whisper of reality-warping breath.

One of the hidden fairy watchers opened a single eye from inside a trunk—curious.

> "They're not supposed to be here yet," it murmured.

> "But fate is curious…"

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👀 Tamsyn Reaches for the Apple

Tamsyn slowly raised her hand toward the golden apple.

The other three watched—nervous but spellbound.

She hesitated. Her fingers barely brushed the surface.

Then—

A rustle.

A ripple in the air.

And a distant voice—no louder than wind—floated through the forest like a curse:

> "Don't take it."

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CHAPTER: "The Weight of Shadows"

The strongest ones don't always start strong. Some are just tired of being broken.

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🌲 Forest Clearing – Post Amber Retrieval

A soft hush settled over the forest floor.

The lizard-marked amber glowed in Nico's hand, and the group took a moment to breathe. The tension of recent combat had faded—but a new heaviness hung in the air.

Oliver, thoughtful as ever, glanced sideways at Zack.

> "Zack… can I ask you something?"

His voice wasn't probing. Just curious. Honest.

Zack paused mid-step. Turned. His expression unreadable, as always.

> "Why did you become a Player?"

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🧍‍♂️ Zack's Story Begins

The question lingered. Nico even stopped fidgeting with the amber, surprised Oliver went there.

Zack exhaled. Just once. Quiet.

Then he spoke.

> "I didn't fit anywhere. Not really."

He sat down on a moss-covered root, arms resting loosely on his knees, face neutral—like he was just stating a report, not a memory.

> "We lost our house. Mortgaged. My dad blamed me. Everything, really. He wasn't wrong either."

> "I was just… a mess. Failed middle school. I smelled bad. I tried to clean myself, over and over, but…"

He trailed off.

Oliver and Nico didn't interrupt.

> "Some kids were rude. Some were worried. Either way… I was the 'weird kid.' Quiet. Didn't smile. Didn't get it."

> "Mom tried. She always defended me. But that just made Dad angrier. Said I was weak."

Zack looked down at his gloved hands.

> "Maybe I was."

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🚶 The Wanderer Phase

> "At 14, I left. Just left. Started wandering."

> "Didn't want to bother anyone. I stayed away from crowds. Cities. Even safe villages."

> "Then… the Black Tortoise found me."

Oliver flinched, eyes narrowing beneath his white mask.

> The Black Tortoise… he remembered that.

> He had seen it, once… when he was six. When he came to this world. But he never told anyone.

> Until now.

> "Wait," Oliver said quietly. "You were chosen?"

Zack nodded once. "I became a Player that night. I didn't even know what that meant yet. Just knew… I finally had something."

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⚫ The Darkness Element — A Gift of Identity

> "The darkness element saved me."

Zack looked up at the canopy, voice soft now.

> "It erased the smell. Let me feel invisible, but in control. People feared it. Respected it."

> "And for once, I wasn't a burden."

Oliver blinked. "You… chose darkness?"

> "It chose me. But yeah. I didn't fight it."

Zack chuckled faintly, more a breath than a laugh.

> "It helps me sense everything. Smells, shifts in pressure, false sound. I never stink anymore. Just… smell like the world."

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❤️ Do You Hate People?

Oliver asked, more gently now:

> "Do you hate people?"

Zack didn't answer at first.

Then—

> "No. I just… don't want to bother them."

> "I remember how uncomfortable people were around me. It's easier being quiet. Distant. Then no one gets hurt."

Nico finally spoke, his voice low.

> "You're still here though. You still fight for others."

Zack nodded faintly.

> "Because I remember what it's like when no one fights for you."

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🐢 The Shared Thread

Oliver said nothing.

But a part of him burned now—a quiet memory, long buried. A tortoise made of shadows and starlight. The moment he became something more than human.

Maybe fate had chosen Zack.

But maybe… it had chosen them both.

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CHAPTER: "Unwritten Potential"

Some beings awaken. Others become.

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🕶️ Yarrow Watches from the Pines

High above the illuminated trees, far from the noise of knives and flames, Yarrow adjusted his black sunglasses with a single precise gesture. The wind did not rustle his suit. The leaves around him seemed to move only after he had already chosen to walk between them.

He observed through a subtle thread of observation magic — not spying, but recording, monitoring, measuring. His expression, as always, calm. Polished.

Beneath the calm, however…

> Intrigue.

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⚫ Zack Erebus: Human, But Not Entirely

Zack Erebus.

A human.

Born of no elemental root. No hidden flame like a goblin. No ancestral fire like an ogre. No flowing blood of oceans like merfolk. Not even the carved stone heritage of dwarves.

> Just a human.

Yet…

> "He possesses darkness, not as a user," Yarrow murmured to himself, "but as a… reflection."

Darkness and light were the only elements humans could contain in their soul-seed — but even then, most barely scraped the surface. Zack, however, did not carry it like a borrowed tool.

He breathed it.

Lived in it.

Moved through it.

Yarrow had seen darkness users before. But not one whose resonance with the void was so deep it bordered on natural spiritual integration.

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🌌 The Dark Spirit Theory

Yarrow clicked the tip of his pen against a floating parchment rune.

> "If his spiritualism awakens…"

"He may become a Dark Spirit Human."

A mortal possessing both a body and a shadow-born spiritual self.

It would make him like the Dark Spirit Djinns — ageless, hovering between the physical and the spiritual, able to slip through walls, fly, manipulate umbrakinesis as if weaving with fingers of the soul.

Not an illusionist.

Not a fighter.

But a formless force with a face.

> "Still," Yarrow mused, watching the thread glow dimly as Zack moved through a clearing. "He is far from that reach. His soul is still… shackled."

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👣 Following Others – The Unlikely Path

What intrigued Yarrow more wasn't the darkness.

It was Zack's direction.

He wasn't avoiding people anymore.

He wasn't wandering.

> He was walking beside Oliver and Nico.

Talking. Following.

Choosing to remain among the living.

That alone was…

> "Rare," Yarrow whispered, smoothing his gloves.

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🔒 A Locked Future

> "He is not yet a Dark Spirit."

"But he is no longer just human either."

In his notes, Yarrow wrote one word.

> "Cusp."

And then folded the parchment into a black rune-lock, hiding it from the world.

The Games would continue.

But Zack Erebus?

He was becoming more than a player.

> He was becoming something the system hadn't quite predicted… but was quietly preparing for.

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CHAPTER: "The Orchard Beyond Reason"

When myth becomes real, the smart ones remember to count their steps.

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🌳 They Finally Arrive

The mist split open before them—not torn, not parted—but folded back as if the forest itself recognized them.

Zack stepped through first, silent and sharp-eyed.

Nico followed, tail swishing with unhidden excitement.

Oliver lingered at the threshold, letting his gloved fingers brush the odd curve of a glowing root.

Then, they stepped fully into the Enchanted Forest Core.

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🍏 The Golden Orchard

They stood before it at last.

The Golden Apple Grove.

Dozens—no, hundreds—of radiant fruits dangled from translucent, silver-trunked trees. The light wasn't sunlight. It was something deeper. Something older. The apples pulsed faintly—like a heartbeat woven in golden silk.

Each one radiated high-tier buffs:

Strength

Speed

Fire Immunity

Regeneration

And more…

It was real.

> "We're here," Oliver muttered, almost in disbelief.

> "Finally," Zack replied calmly, though his gaze never stopped scanning.

Nico, meanwhile, grinned like a fox in a chicken pen.

> "How many can we take?" Nico asked, practically bouncing.

> "Twenty each. Hard limit," Zack replied flatly. "System tracks excess and punishes."

> "Tch," Nico muttered. "Always with the rules…"

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🟡 Amber in Hand

Oliver reached into his pack and pulled out the glowing lizard-marked amber Zack had acquired earlier.

He handed it to Zack.

> "You earned this. Let's finish this level already—we've been stuck in these woods for hours."

Zack accepted it wordlessly. The amber glowed faintly in his palm, reacting to the golden apple grove. The system around them shimmered—a soft click confirming they were in the final zone.

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🕰️ Time Pressure

Oliver looked toward the canopy, uneasy.

> "Riven's probably wondering where we are by now."

> "Or worse," Nico said. "He thinks we bailed on him."

> "Or got eliminated," Zack added. "We'll head back soon."

But none of them moved just yet.

Even Zack, ever composed, took a moment to feel the stillness of the grove.

There was power here.

A stillness older than war.

Older than gods.

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🎯 Final Task?

Just then, a faint breeze twisted the leaves.

A glyph appeared on one of the tree trunks, shimmering with elegant spiral runes.

[Final Objective: Each Player Must Obtain 1 Apple.]

[Do Not Take More Than 20.]

[Leaving Without Completing the Ritual Will Result in Stat Lockout for the Next Trial.]

Zack narrowed his eyes.

> "It's not over yet."

> "Of course not," Nico groaned. "They always hide a twist."

Oliver said nothing, but his eyes darted through the grove—wondering if the test was really about the apples…

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🧭 Meanwhile… Back at Camp

Far away, beneath a starlit dusk, Riven stood atop a stone watch-post near the camp.

His wool-blue hair tousled in the wind, smirk gone, eyes narrowed.

> "Where are they…"

Behind him, Hale Eryndor tapped a chalk rune into a map.

> "They've gone dark. Either they're deep in the core—or something's blocking signals."

Riven's eyes flashed.

> "If they're in the Grove… they better not die on me."

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CHAPTER: "The Orchard Beyond Reason"

When myth becomes real, the smart ones remember to count their steps.

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🌳 They Finally Arrive

The mist split open before them—not torn, not parted—but folded back as if the forest itself recognized them.

Zack stepped through first, silent and sharp-eyed.

Nico followed, tail swishing with unhidden excitement.

Oliver lingered at the threshold, letting his gloved fingers brush the odd curve of a glowing root.

Then, they stepped fully into the Enchanted Forest Core.

---

🍏 The Golden Orchard

They stood before it at last.

The Golden Apple Grove.

Dozens—no, hundreds—of radiant fruits dangled from translucent, silver-trunked trees. The light wasn't sunlight. It was something deeper. Something older. The apples pulsed faintly—like a heartbeat woven in golden silk.

Each one radiated high-tier buffs:

Strength

Speed

Fire Immunity

Regeneration

And more…

It was real.

> "We're here," Oliver muttered, almost in disbelief.

> "Finally," Zack replied calmly, though his gaze never stopped scanning.

Nico, meanwhile, grinned like a fox in a chicken pen.

> "How many can we take?" Nico asked, practically bouncing.

> "Twenty each. Hard limit," Zack replied flatly. "System tracks excess and punishes."

> "Tch," Nico muttered. "Always with the rules…"

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🟡 Amber in Hand

Oliver reached into his pack and pulled out the glowing lizard-marked amber Zack had acquired earlier.

He handed it to Zack.

> "You earned this. Let's finish this level already—we've been stuck in these woods for hours."

Zack accepted it wordlessly. The amber glowed faintly in his palm, reacting to the golden apple grove. The system around them shimmered—a soft click confirming they were in the final zone.

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🕰️ Time Pressure

Oliver looked toward the canopy, uneasy.

> "Riven's probably wondering where we are by now."

> "Or worse," Nico said. "He thinks we bailed on him."

> "Or got eliminated," Zack added. "We'll head back soon."

But none of them moved just yet.

Even Zack, ever composed, took a moment to feel the stillness of the grove.

There was power here.

A stillness older than war.

Older than gods.

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🎯 Final Task?

Just then, a faint breeze twisted the leaves.

A glyph appeared on one of the tree trunks, shimmering with elegant spiral runes.

[Final Objective: Each Player Must Obtain 1 Apple.]

[Do Not Take More Than 20.]

[Leaving Without Completing the Ritual Will Result in Stat Lockout for the Next Trial.]

Zack narrowed his eyes.

> "It's not over yet."

> "Of course not," Nico groaned. "They always hide a twist."

Oliver said nothing, but his eyes darted through the grove—wondering if the test was really about the apples…

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🧭 Meanwhile… Back at Camp

Far away, beneath a starlit dusk, Riven stood atop a stone watch-post near the camp.

His wool-blue hair tousled in the wind, smirk gone, eyes narrowed.

> "Where are they…"

Behind him, Hale Eryndor tapped a chalk rune into a map.

> "They've gone dark. Either they're deep in the core—or something's blocking signals."

Riven's eyes flashed.

> "If they're in the Grove… they better not die on me."

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CHAPTER: "The Dwarfstone Gears Begin to Turn"

Not all battles are won with swords—some begin with a headcount.

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🪓 Dwarven Region Perimeter – Camp Six

The scent of freshly mined earth mixed with warm steel and cold smoke. Hammering echoed across the ridgelines as stone towers began to rise. Blueprints glowed on enchanted parchment. Wooden scaffolds bent with purpose.

Hale Eryndor, the analytical mind behind the Great Plan, stood at the heart of it all — surrounded by Travelers, builders, and volunteers. His fingers moved like a cartographer crossed with a conductor, gesturing at floating interface runes as he coordinated construction, waterline mapping, and energy distribution channels all at once.

> "We'll need fifteen more Vita channels routed around the outer circle," Hale muttered to a nearby dwarf engineer. "And we reinforce with living stone — I'm not gambling against the next elemental surge."

The dwarves nodded sharply. They didn't question Hale. No one did.

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⏳ Riven Watches the Clock

Perched above the structured chaos, Riven stood on the watchstone near the eastern balcony. His black cloak drifted with the wind, and his arms were folded as he scanned the horizon.

> 5 hours.

> Too long.

> Too quiet.

> Where the hell are they?

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🗡️ Combat Drills Nearby

Just below the watchstone tower, Aurelia Dawnmere swung a thick iron longsword against a dummy rigged with soft-armor plates. Each strike echoed, clean and deliberate, sparks flying from the reinforced edge.

> "Still missing, huh?" she said casually between swings, sweat glinting off her brow.

> "They'll show. Probably." Smash.

"Unless Nico blew something up." Smash.

Riven didn't respond.

In the shade of the adjacent tent, Goldie, the semi-spiritual catkin girl with yellow-pink fur, curled in a nap. A soft purr rose from her chest. She shifted slightly, hugging a travel pillow, completely unbothered by the chaos.

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🧹 Enter Garrick

A comically out-of-place broom swished loudly as Garrick Ironhart, half-dwarf and full sarcasm, swept the central stone hall.

> "I'm not sayin' I carry this whole base on my shoulders," Garrick muttered. "But I am the only one fighting the real enemy—dirt."

Riven finally turned.

> "Garrick."

> "Sir Dirtmaster reporting—yes?"

> "Gather the volunteer scouts. Travelers too. Get a search party ready. Oliver and the others are overdue."

Garrick blinked.

Then—straightened up with a grin. "On it."

The broom was tossed aside like a warhorn.

> "Let's ride, you lazy ghosts!" he shouted toward the bunkhouse. "We're movin' out!"

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🧭 Meanwhile… in the Enchanted Forest

Far away, in the golden stillness of the forest core, Zack, Oliver, and Nico stood before the ritual tree.

Completely unaware that rescue teams were about to mobilize—

—because they might already be too late.

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CHAPTER: "The Oracle Root"

Where the leaves whisper eternity, even the dead must answer.

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🌳 Before the Heartwood

After hours through endless trees and whispers of fairies, the grove finally changed. The air shifted—cooler, sharper, older.

It wasn't just the golden apples anymore.

It was the Tree.

Massive and ancient beyond understanding, its bark was carved in impossible spirals. Its roots sprawled across a marble-like altar of greenstone. And at its center—

—a face carved from the trunk itself, but pulsing faintly, almost breathing.

Eyes that had no pupils. A mouth that did not move—yet it spoke.

Its voice came through the leaves and wind, layered with age.

> "Three seekers, one thread of fate. You may not pass unless you answer… the riddle of bone and spirit."

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🧠 The Riddle Begins

All three stood still. Even Nico's flames dimmed.

Zack stepped forward calmly, expression unreadable.

Oliver blinked behind his mask.

Nico whispered, "Oh, no. I hate riddles."

Then the tree spoke again, slow and thunderous:

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> "I speak without breath, yet my words are not wind.

I lie in the tomb, yet I rise without skin.

You may carry me, though I cannot be held.

I remember the dead, but I walk with the living.

What am I?"

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🤯 The Weight of the Riddle

The forest fell completely still.

Even the nearby glowing apples dimmed.

Zack's eyes narrowed. "It's not just a word puzzle," he murmured. "It's conceptual."

> "No breath but speaks. No skin but rises. Lies in the tomb. Carried without being held. Remembers the dead…"

Oliver whispered, "That's… a soul?"

Nico snapped his fingers. "No—wait! It's a spirit!"

> "Spirit and soul aren't the same," Zack said calmly. "One is memory. One is being."

All three boys stared at the face in the bark. It watched with infinite patience.

Zack finally spoke:

> "The answer is… a memory."

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🌬️ The Oracle Answers

The winds surged.

Leaves swirled into glowing glyphs.

The face in the tree closed its wooden eyes. Then slowly opened again.

> "Correct."

Roots unfurled from the altar, revealing a path of glowing greenstone leading into a hidden hollow at the base of the tree.

> "You may each take one golden apple. The rest, the forest shall keep. May your memories endure."

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🍎 Each Takes One

Zack walked forward first, choosing the apple glowing with faint violet haze — likely linked to resistance and insight.

Nico took one with a flame sigil — for haste, combustion, and speed.

Oliver stood last. The apple before him was plain. Faintly pulsing. But when he touched it — he felt a warm vibration across his spiritual thread. It would not just boost him.

It would remember him.

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🧭 And So They Walked On

The trial was passed.

The forest stirred.

But none of them noticed the eyes watching from the shadows, nor the presence deep beneath the roots, awakened by Zack's presence—something that had slumbered since the Old Wars.

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