On one side of the table sat several people wearing bespoke suits and with severe frowns on their faces, while on the other side sat several people from the Observation Team, wearing mostly hoodies, shirts, and in one case, a rather colorful Hawaiian shirt.
Despite the ridiculousness of the situation, nobody mentioned the clothing worn by the team. Even if any other time, half the meeting time would be spent commenting on the bespoke suits and why they insisted on wearing them for internal meetings.
“What’s the situation?”
“We found them.” Came the report from the Observation Team.
“Action plan?”
“Observe and see what they do.”
“What about the person who leaked it?” asked one of the men wearing a suit.
“We are feeding them some more information to see how far the issue goes.”
“Anything they can use?”
The egghead shook his head. “No. Nothing actionable, just things we can follow.”
“Good.”
The man at the head of the table also nodded before speaking up.
“What are our expectations?”
“In what manner, sir?” came a hesitant question.
“Losses man! Losses!” exclaimed the man angrily.
The people from the Observation Team and the suit team exchanged glances, nonverbally trying to select who would report on this issue. Finally, after a few seconds, one of the people on the Observation Team lost the battle – while also winning several favors and a nice bottle of alcohol – and spoke up.
“In the real world, we expect a few points of drop, but if the projections are correct, then we can gain those points back in short order while also successfully sending the message that management wanted.”
The man listened to the report, nodding occasionally. “And in the game?”
Another glance battle, but the man who did the previous report simply nodded, accepting the responsibility, and continued to speak.
“Well, sir, we expect complete fucking chaos.”
That took the man back as his eyes flew wide open at the choice of words.
“Pardon?”
“Well, sir, you may have not played a lot of games,” he continued, after waiting for the man to nod. “But, based on…well, empirical data, the players are going to freak out. Like a lot.”
“Can PR help?”
The eggheads exchanged a glance, then the first man continued, not even waiting for the others to make him. “We would need a sacrificial lamb. Whoever goes out on that stage will lose all credibility in the eyes of our players.”
“What about corrective actions in the game?”
This time, the man grimaced. “We’re not sure. Our economists have been hard at work to figure out a proper response, but even with Selena’s help, it’ll be a tough cookie…”
The man leaned back in his seat, eyes closed, visibly thinking.
The rest of the room simply waited for the final word.
Then, after a few minutes, the man opened his eyes and began speaking.
“Right! Let’s go with the patsy play for PR and work on the corrective action. However, before we implement it, I want to see the hard numbers.” He grinned a little. “After all, a little chaos is healthy for the game…”
The man on the other end of the table, nursing an extra strong coffee, let out an exasperated and exhausted sigh.
‘This is why we can’t have nice things…’
“Well, there is crazy and there is this…” he commented as he watched the giant screen in the room.
The rest of the people sitting behind computers, screens, and other devices either nodded or voiced their agreement. He took another sip of his coffee from his mug, made by his daughter, showing a small stick-figure girl riding on a pretty good rendition of Lucky.
Super adorable…
However, none of that helped with his growing headache.
He understood that the upper management wanted to generate news about the game, but he and his team worked fucking hard on the game and now they wanted to inject extra chaos just because it would generate more clicks?
Weren’t they having enough trouble with that fucker running around and doing his fucking things?
No, of course not. Let’s have them deal with people panicking because of falling gold prices, rioting, and general tomfoolery.
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“Selena!”
The AI’s digital avatar instantly appeared on a nearby device, looking at him with a sympathetic gaze.
“Yes, sir? How may I help you today?” she asked sweetly.
‘We really lucked out with her…’ he mused. Most AIs were rather surly, but Selena was pretty happy-go-lucky if one didn’t count her sass and occasional shenanigans.
“How is the first item on the priority list going?”
Selena sent him a look, and he heroically ignored the snickering behind his back.
“Well, sir, Operation Is The Fucker Cheating still hasn’t had any results.”
“Darn… and the rest of the list?” he asked.
“Well, we made sure to move around a few assets as well as adding a few fake gold mines here and there while also starting a few quests. That allowed us to place the perpetrators’ characters in scenes which would lead NPCs to the proper conclusions.”
“And the market?”
“Recovering. Apparently, somebody had released an analysis about the situation and encouraged people to buy cheap and wait for the game to recover…” she replied with a mischievous smile on her face.
Hearing that and seeing the look on her face, he couldn’t help but freeze. Mechanically turning his head away, looking at the bigger scene where he watched as one of the members of the team was observing a Bronze-rated player after following up on a report, he waited for a few moments before asking his question.
“Was it him?”
“Oh wow, sir, you managed to figure it out without any hint!” Selena exclaimed while showing the digital avatar clapping her hands together while she grinned at him.
Once again ignoring how people were exchanging money as somebody with a bookie visor was writing on a whiteboard he didn’t officially know existed, he let out a very long sigh and took another sip.
Then another, as the first one didn’t help.
“How…much…money…did…the fucker…make?” he asked while clenching his teeth together.
Selena just let out a giggle. “None so far. They’re waiting for the price to recover.”
“Do your best to estimate… I know you did the math, you damn AI!” he grumbled.
Selene just giggled again and vanished from the screen only for a simple document replacing her beautiful digital head, showcasing the estimated earnings for the AFK guild and specifically for the fucker.
She even helpfully labeled the fucker's column with a hand giving the bird…
He looked at it, then looked away and back again. “Damn… I’m kinda jealous…”
Sadly, as he went for another sip, he realized his coffee was gone.
Placing the mug on the nearest flat surface, he called out to the room.
“All right people! I want to see how people react to our actions! Get me eyes on the quests Selena mentioned!”
Instantly, the entire room jumped into action. “Yes, sir!”
“And somebody get me more coffee!”
“Uh, sir, that’s your seventh one today…”
“I don’t care…”
Behind him, he once again had to ignore the mutterings.
“Huh, maybe he’ll reach the legendary ten mugs.”
“Hold me, I’m scared!”
He could feel his left eye twitching.
“Get back to work!”
For once, he was enjoying himself. They were currently collecting footage for the next marketing project and the people over there had some rather specific requests so the entire team, with the help of Selena, and dozens of algorithms were combing through footage from all over the world of Magic Unknown to satisfy the PR machine.
While he was doing that, he was stealthily watching footage of Lucky playing around on his third monitor, making sure to cut out the more impressive parts. Then he would sanitize the videos and later show them to his daughter.
However, his good mood didn’t last long as Selena appeared on the same screen where Lucky was chasing after a rather big stick.
“Guess what happened?” she asked cheerfully.
He froze upon hearing those words and almost automatically he reached for his trusty mug, only to realize that he was forbidden to touch coffee after his last bender.
Instead, his hand curled into a fist, his gnawed-on nails digging into his palm.
“What happened, Selena?”
Instead of answering, the AI just grinned and the sound of fanfare sounded from the speakers in the room, scaring half the room to death. Based on the sounds of crashing, several people actually fell out of their chairs.
“Somebody started the Portia quests!”
“Oh, no…”
“Oh, yes!”
“Please tell me it’s not…”
“I’m afraid I can’t do that, sir…”
“I thought we arranged enough distractions to make sure he didn’t reach it!” he yelled while furiously clicking through his computer files looking for specific ones.
Selena nodded. “Yes, we did. But get this! He ignored them! Isn’t that amazing?”
He sent his strongest withering glare at the AI and continued to look through the systems connected to the game.
“Where is he in the quest?”
“At the beginning escort mission!”
“Increase the difficulty! I want that fucker dead!”
Selena sent him a disappointed look. “I’m afraid that’s against the rules, sir.”
“Then increase the difficulty to insane! I want him to work for it. I’m not handing over the Portia project to that fucker!”
“The best I can do is hard difficulty…”
He was about to argue with the AI when he had a genius idea.
“Wait! What kind of monsters are there?”
“Crazed elementals that were driven mad by the dimensional energies when they were torn away from their home planes.”
“Scrap that!”
“And what should we replace them with?” Selna asked curiously.
He finally gave up on his computer and called out. “Jane!”
“Yeah, boss?” came the yell from somewhere within the room.
“Did you finish that project you were talking about?”
“The new monsters?”
“Yeah, those!”
“Last week!” came the glorious answer.
“Good! Upload it to the main server!”
Finished with his ‘conversation’ he turned back to Selena and waited until the AI managed to take a look at the files.
“Well, what do you think?”
The AI just giggled. “Very well, sir. New monster with increased difficulty. However, I must warn you that the increased difficulty means that the rewards are also going to be increased.”
“Ugh…what’s the reward?”
“Well for our person it’s personal tutelage from the NPC if they survive,” she explained. “Proper education not just throwing a skill book at him and being done.”
“That’s bad, right?” he mumbled.
“Statistically speaking it doesn’t matter, sir,” came the supremely helpful comment from the AI. “Either he finishes the quest without our interference and starts the Portia project properly or finishes it on hard difficulty and does the same but with more rewards.”
“No chance of the fucker failing?” he asked with a glare.
Sadly, Selena just continued to laugh. “I’m sorry, but previous data points suggest unless we plan to place unfair and frankly illegal roadblocks in his way, then he will be successful.”
He looked around and leaned closer to the screen. “What if we… don’t tell anyone about those illegal things?” he asked in a whisper while sending several winks at the AI.
As he waited for an answer, he heard a noise behind him. He whirled around his chair and saw Jane standing there with a rolled-up stack of documents. Which she instantly used to whack him in the head.
"Ouch!"
“Bad boss. No,” she declared. Then she turned to the monitor with a smile. “Was that enough, AI overlady?”
Selena just nodded. “Yes, thank you, Jane.”
“What?”
“Please don’t try to do illegal things, sir.”
“You never let me have fun…”
“I like my job, so I’m just making sure I’ll still have it next week,” came the dry reply from the AI.
“Hehehehe…” he laughed awkwardly. “But we can still do the new monster thing?”
“Yes, I did some simulation and the monster would fit right in. Plus, this way we don’t have to torture those poor elementals. They have enough trouble with the summoners using them as explosives…”
“Right those people. How is the situation?”
“Well, there is a civil war in Brightgarden,” replied Selena.
“Well, that’s not good… Show me the situation.”
Soon, he was immersed in the intricacies of elemental summoners versus rangers wars that have been ravaging Brightgarden, the fucker temporarily forgotten.
However, that didn’t stop people from updating the betting board…
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Titles:
Magical Items:
[Ring of Minor Health Regeneration: A small ring, made from subpar materials, with a low-quality magical gem. As long as the gem holds mana, it aids with health regeneration. Can hold 100 Mana Points, and regenerates 10 Health Points for every point of mana consumed. Current Mana: 100/100.]
[High-quality Troll Leather Armor: Created by a journeyman crafter employed by your own company. They worked extra hard to make sure to return your goodwill. Excellent quality, given the materials and the crafter. Enchanted to decrease the sound it makes during movement, as well as has increased durability. Thanks to the substance it was impregnated with the troll leather it lacks its customary weakness to fire.]
*Not actually bottomless.]
Quests:
Active quests:
[Just walk in there!]
[Prove yourself!]
Finished quests:
[Monster Parade!]
[Topping the tree!]
[Reap what you sow!]
[Seaside opportunity]
[Another seaside opportunity]
[The booty of mystery!]
[Demonic demonstration!]
[The Test of the Survivor!]
[To the city you go!]
[Eternal Vigilance!]
[Returning Champion]
[Volatile Valley]
Skills:
Mana Skills:
[Mana Body: Level 7/100 (21%) (Passive) Your mana permeates your body, enhancing and improving it. The better your control of your mana is, and the more mana you have, the bigger the effect is. For every 100 Mana Points, it grants you 1 Base Health gain. For every skill level, it increases the Health Regeneration by 0,1.]
[Mana Shield: Level 99 (99%) Using mana, you can form a simple shell around yourself, which decreases the damage you take. Damage decrease depends on the amount of mana invested. For every unit of Mana invested in the spell, the shield will protect you from 9,9 (physical) damage.]
[A/N: Currently: WIS: 50 / MAG: 50 = 1 --> +2 Mana Regeneration per skill level]
Neutral Mage skills:
Elemental Mage Skills:
Wind Mage skills:
[Wind Blade III: Level 9/10 (99%) (Active) A spell that allows you to launch a blade of wind. The cutting power and speed of the blade are increased. You have greater control over its movement after creation. Allows you to slightly control its path after launching the wind blade.]
[Wind Blade Storm: Level 6/10 (7%) (Active) A spell that unleashes a storm of wind blades around you. The damage of the released Wind Blades depends on the Wind Blade spell and your mastery over it.]
[Wind Bullet III: Level 9/10 (99%) A spell that allows you to launch a bullet made of concentrated wind. You have excellent control over the projectile’s speed, size, and path.]
[Wind Explosion: Level 3/10 (21%) A spell that allows you to create a singular bullet of wind mana, and then fire it, which will, upon impact, detonate. The strength of the detonation depends on the amount of wind mana channeled into the bullet and your mastery over the Wind Bullet spell!]
[Wind Movement: 39/100 (19%) (Active) You can use your mastery over wind to move in any direction you wish. Your movement speed is increased significantly. This speed boost is increased by 1% for each skill level.]
[Wind Edge III: Level 9/10 (99%) (Passive) A spell that allows you to enhance the edge of any bladed weapon you wield with the wind. Thanks to the spell, the speed of your strikes will greatly increase. The power and reach of the blade will be greatly increased further.]
[Wind Affinity: Level 61/100 (17%) (Passive) You have a good affinity for the wind. Beings born of the wind will be more favorable to you. The cost of the Wind-type spells and skills is reduced and their power is increased by 0,5% for each skill level.]
- Wind Flurry
- Wind Bullet Barrage
- Healing Wind
- Wind Jump
- Wind Drill
- Wind Blade I-III
- Wind Blade Storm
- Wind Bullet I-III
- Wind Explosion
- Wind Movement
- Wind Edge I-III!
Utility skills:
Companion skills:
Shadow skills:
(Shadow Cloak triggers this benefit.)]
[Shadow Affinity: Level 30/100 (14%) (Passive) You have a good affinity with the shadows. Beings born of the shadows will be more favorable to you. The cost of the Shadow-type spells and skills is reduced and their power is increased by 0,5% for each skill level.]
Physical skills:
[Basic Armor Mastery: Level 91/100 (6%) (Passive) You learned the basics of wearing armor. Decreases the Stamina consumption slightly while wearing any kind of armor.]
[Clean Armor: Level MAX (MAX%) (Passive) Your mana got used to a certain spell, so the waste mana radiating from you will, over time, permeate and clean your armor.]
[Resistant Armor: Level 5/5 (MAX%) (Passive) Thanks to your practice, you can fully utilize everything that your armor provides, granting you increased resistance against the environment. Grants 2% increased environmental resistance per skill level. Environmental resistance protects against environmental effects only.]
[Durable Armor: Level 0/5 (0%) (Passive) You learned how to roll with the punches. This includes knowing when your armor can take a hit and when it can’t. Increased durability for any armor you wear from incoming damage from non-environmental sources.]
[Epic Breathing Technique: Level 9/10 (99%) (Passive) You breathe, and the world breathes with you. You move along your own rhythm. Decreases stamina consumption even more during any activity and further increases stamina regeneration when not in a fight. Gain +2 Stamina Regeneration for every skill level.]
[Tranquil Heart: Level 11/100 (54%) (Passive) Your heart beats to the same rhythm as your body. It’s efficient and harmonious. You have an even easier time resisting mind-altering effects and a portion of of those effects are reflected back to the source. The portion is 1% per skill level. You also radiate an aura of tranquility that confers the resistance portion of the skill to your allies near you.]
[Flow: Level 77/100 (9%) (Passive) Thanks to being a natural sensor, you can read the flow of the mana. Increases your stability and the bonuses any movement or martial art skill provides by 1% per level in the skill.]
[Focused Flow: Level 5/5 (MAX%) (Passive) When focusing on any enemy beyond what is normal, your ability to read their flow becomes clearer and more precise.]
[Controlled Flow: Level 5/5 (MAX%) (Passive) Your read of the flow is more controlled, allowing you to see the flow much better. Increases the flow visibility by 20% for every skill level.]
[Immersed Flow: Level 0/5 (0%) (Passive) When you start reading the flow a counter starts. After every ten seconds, the effect of the Flow skill increases by 1% for each skill level. Maximum 600 seconds.]
Parry: Level 24/100 (13%) (Passive) Decreases the stamina consumption of defensive weapon movements. It allows you to more efficiently and accurately parry incoming attacks. Decreases the damage of the blocked attack by 0,5% for each skill level at the moment of blocking.]
Resistance skills:
General skills:
[Dwarven Language: Level 5/10 (1%) (Passive) You managed to learn the basics of the Dwarven language.]
[Elven Language: Level 7/10 (8%) (Passive) You managed to learn the basics of the Elven language.]
[Dark Elven Language: Level 5/10 (1%) (Passive) You managed to learn the basics of the Dark Elven language.]
[Sarkan Language: Level 3/10 (42%) (Passive) You managed to learn the basics of the Sarkan language.]
Crafting skills:
Pet skills:
[Strong Jaw: Level Max (Passive) The jaw of the wolf is strengthened.]
[Lucky Aura: Level Max (Passive) Those who are in the same party as the wolf receive a buff to their luck. It depends on their luck how big the increase is.]