Dungeon Core Online

Chapter 83

From: BLANK

Subject: Beginning of the End

Glyax. First, BLANK would like to congratulate you on a truly spectacular boss fight. Your streams have been extremely entertaining, and it is obvious you have been putting a lot of work into your dungeon. BLANK can appreciate, and respect that. However, while your hard work has been evident, and you have been pushing yourself to keep up, there are a few things that…don't quite add up.

The lesser of the two evils is probably the rate at which you have been…discovering new things. Obviously, DCO is full of secrets and opportunities, however you seem to be stumbling across them at an impressive, almost unnatural rate. This, BLANK can only deduce, is in part due to either outside assistance, or the possibility of insider help. However, because you share this information readily on the forums and through your streams, the knowledge you are gaining from unfair or questionable means, can be forgiven.

The greater evil though, has to do with your research levels. Let's be honest, even if you were spending all of your dungeon tokens on research, your levels still couldn't hit what they have. Therefore, it is painfully obvious that you have received an unfair edge. Other's may never notice this, but know that BLANK has, and in the spirit of fair and equal gaming, has deemed you must be punished for your actions. You may think cheating is okay, but know that your ranking, your status just below BLANK, will be short lived. For the next immersion, BLANK will personally knock you down a notch.

BLANK does not lose.

James scanned the note once more, staring blankly at the words floating before him. BLANK had figured him out. Or at least, BLANK figured part of it out. James wasn't cheating, he had not sought out the unfair advantage he received, the boost to his research levels thanks to his title. However, because of his NDA, he couldn't possibly tell anyone that. Which meant he would have to suffer BLANK and any other dungeon core that realized he had an unfair advantage, of accusing him as cheating. It left a bad taste in his mouth, but he wasn't going to punish himself for it.

Of course, what really scared him, was the last part of the message. BLANK was threatening to punish him. BLANK was threatening to knock him down. But how? Not even Xander had been able to really…

"Xander!" James called out loudly as he pulled his eyes away from the message. He knew the lead developer was likely monitoring his instance of DCO in some way, so it had to be possible to grab his attention by calling for him.

And, if there was some way BLANK would be able to interact with James, Xander would have known. Plus, James felt the message from BLANK would be of some interest to Xander, given how much the developer seemed to care about his 'experiment'. James also wanted to make sure Xander saw that James had not broken the NDA, so that neither he nor Rue got punished. He was sure the developer would be looking for any excuse to get rid of James and his pixie.

Silence followed James's cry, and he floated there for a moment more, looking blankly around. After a moment, he realized Rue was being uncharacteristically quiet. As he glanced at the pixie, he saw her complexion was a shade lighter than normal, and her eyes were staring down at James's first floor. As he shifted his eyes down, he saw her original shrine, once shimmering and bright, had turned entirely black. On its surface, the smiling Rue was now grimacing, a look of pain evident across it.

"Seems for fitting for any shrine in the image of our dear Rue here, to be depicted as a Goddess of Bad Luck, wouldn't you agree James." Xander's voice held a dark chuckle as it drifted through the air. "After all, it seems she just continues to bring you misfortune." A figure appeared beside the statue, clad in long, crimson, wizard robes. James knew it was Xander, but instead of his actual visage, this time he appeared as a wise, old man. The image the game offered up of Yarx.

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"I didn't call you here to deface her shrine." James's voice held a dangerous hint of venom to it. He grew irritated when Rue messed with his dungeon, and he actually liked her. So, the fact Xander, whom he really, really disliked, was messing with his dungeon, really bothered him.

"No, I suppose you didn't." The developer waved a hand, and the shrine returned to normal. "Though truly, Rue has brought you once again misfortune." The wizard disappeared and reappeared directly beside James.

"I don't know what you-"

A recording began playing, cutting James off. "Yeah, don't want to anger the all-seeing god. But it sure could be convenient if a goddess of luck were around to help me stumble in the right direction." James cringed as the recording ended. Alright, probably not one of James's best statements.

"You aren't dumb James. And I applaud you for utilizing every means possible to move ahead in DCO. That is what a true gamer would do." Xander looked at Rue, and actually offered her what appeared to be a genuine smile.

"And honestly, Dicken racing was truly inspired." The developer chuckled, and this time it was light, hearty, completely different from the X-Ray James knew of. "I miss the simple days of Chocobo racing."

"Then-"

"Then why did I deface her shrine, and call her a Goddess of Bad luck?" Xander waved a hand, which James noticed was covered in an array of expensive jewelry. Pompous much? "Because quite honestly James, without her, and her father's connection to your parents, none of this would be going on. Hell, I'm sure you would be a top player like Z and his gang if it wasn't for your becoming a dungeon core."

"If only I were that lucky." Xander let out a heavy sigh. "But no, instead, that blasted pixie has brought this fate upon you, and now I have to put out even more fires." His snarky tone had returned.

"Maybe I should have let those bullies beat you up a bit more. You're welcome, by the way."

So, it had been Xander that reported the assault to his school officials. James wasn't quite sure how to take that but realized now wasn't the time to try and process it. He had more pressing matters to deal with. There had been a reason he had called on Xander, after all.

"I…er… thank you for that." James mumbled, managing to push his pride away for a moment to thank the developer.

"You're welcome." The old man visage smiled smugly and folded his arms. "Now, as much fun as it is messing with your troublesome pixie." He narrowed his eyes at Rue, who was quietly doing her best to not be noticed. "I'm assuming you called for me because of that letter?" He motioned towards the screen, that still held BLANK's message.

"Yes."

Xander sighed, shaking his head. "If you thought pissing me off was bad." His eyes took on an evil glint. "You're going to really regret making BLANK mad."