Mana is a recently established mega-company which mainly dealt with making astounding improvements to gaming tech. They came out of nowhere five years ago. Many speculations and investigations were done only to spring zero results.
Now they aren’t remembered for appearing out of thin air with multiple breakthroughs in games one after another. What they’re known for these days is their recent release of Mana Heimm. A fully immersive game that anyone can experience. The degree of realism achieved is said to be very high, with no one being able to differentiate whether it is a world made up of data or an authentic world.
Even the telltale sign of NPCs giving quests using the same line isn’t there. That baffles many, but people quickly got used to it and instead enjoyed the total freedom offered by the game. It isn’t limited to gamers, even the workaholics sometimes get together inside this game to further discuss their ideas.
The beautiful nature, untainted by numerous greedy corporations plundering nature for profit. The breathtaking view of the magical floating island passing by. Or even working hard enough to increase your relationship with the royalty of the world just for a chance to set foot on the floating island. Countless attractions forced everyone to escape from their hectic everyday life and enter a new magical journey.
No one clearly was interested in conducting research or even questioning how it was possible that a company with no background could successfully create this miracle. Did they somehow create a powerful Artificial Intelligence to assist them in designing this world, or did they sign a contract with a devil for advanced technology unavailable in this world? No one knew, but clearly, devil and technology just sound wrong when used together in the same sentence.
………………
Inside Mana headquarters.
Numerous lines of text and codes filled up a big screen, that was being monitored closely by a pair of employees. There were numerous massive screens all over the place. What looked like a simple task of watching the monitor looked out of place when everyone was straining their eyes, and some even sweated in the fully air-conditioned place. Suddenly the tranquil work environment was disturbed by a loud voice.
“What’s taking this so long! Don’t you realize that we’re already behind schedule for the patch update?! Hurry the hell up! Those big executives are already chewing me alive!” A man suddenly shouted after entering.
“Mr Jacob, don’t be unreasonable. You should’ve realized by now that none of us here can truly interfere with the system. All we can do is monitor the data it sends. Even then, there haven’t been any anomalies detected this week.”
SLAMMM! Mr Jacob slammed down his hand, hard at the innocent table nearby.
“This is ridiculous! Who the hell thought it would be fine to launch a game we’ve absolutely no control over! What the hell am I supposed to say in front of all those people! You do realize that there will be a public announcement, right?!”
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Shrugging his shoulder, the guy simply replied back.
“If you say it’s ridiculous, why do you even still work here? The payment is good, right? Well, just do what you are paid for Mr Jacob. All I can tell you is that the A.I. is doing all of the work for us.”
BAMMMM!!
“Shit. SHIT! It’s not like there are any problems! What’s taking the A.I so damn long to update?!”
WEE - oww- WEE - oww- WEE – oww
Sirens blared the entire room, red lights flashed, and all of the screens displayed a large blue box.
ERROR
It only stopped after making everyone inside a deaf and blind.
“Error. Anomalies detected during the release of Demon Lord. Various unknown creatures appeared along with a castle and a tomb.”
Everyone stared at each other dumbfounded. This was the first any sort of error showed up. None of them knows what to do. The awkward silence was broken easily by Mr. Jacob.
“I don't understand a single word that thing spoke. But the patch is done right? And people can play?”
“Uh, let me check for a while" says the same guy. He typed a few line of code and a lot more lines of codes showed up. Double checking on things he finally got the result.
“Yes, the patch was successful with a few anomalies showing up but it shouldn't affect anything much anyway. Player's can dive in from 9p.m. onwards.”
SMACK
“Thanks uh mister? Whatever. You saved my job and my life. I owe you one. Now if you'll excuse me, I have to deal with the press, executives and angry gamers.”
As swift as he entered the room he exited.
………
As soon as Mr Jacob showed up in front of podium, flashes of camera gone off and a lot of question were thrown.
“Mr. Jacob, as spokesman of Mana, what do you have to say about the patch update?”
“When can we play Mana again? It has been two days since the patching process started.”
“Did something went wrong on the update? Rumors said that a demon invasion will be coming in this patch.”
“Didn't Mana announced that it will take only two day for the update? Why aren't there any new announcements?”
ReeeeeeeeeeeEEEeeeEee!
Mr. Jacob apparently makes the annoying and really painful sound using the microphone to silence the crowd.
“Please, I'll answer each and every of your questions but in order please. I can't answer every question at the same time. So I will say that there aren't any problem whatsoever. It's just that all of you are a little bit impatient. The patch was successful and yes there will be demon appearing in the game. At exactly nine this evening, everyone can dive in to the Mana Heimm. Any more questions?”
“Mr Jacob, a rumor have circulated these past few days saying that the president of Mana corporation made a deal with a devil and that is why a demon will appeared in the next update?”
“Hahahaha that must be the stupidest thing I have ever heard. Miss, I don’t know what station you are from but please, this is all just a game and tell me, which online game doesn't have a devil or demon as a monster? Besides, who'd need a devil when you have superb A.I. Now then if you'll excuse me.”
Just like that he wanders off again but every people in the world was excited. Everyone was hoping that time would go faster and turn to night soon as they all couldn't wait to dive into the magical world again.