Interlude XIV
Biprism Interactive Control Tower I
“She is just too powerful, and shareholders are demanding that we increase her difficulties.” Charles Rainquist, CFO for Biprism, and current owner of one massive headache declared.
Chuckles.
At that Prince Lee stated, the Director of Character Development, just laughed at the commands coming to him.
“I mean it, she is able to do too much. She is changing core fundamental components of the world and our shareholders are getting nervous.” Charles stated.
“Oh I know. They see this poor untitled and seemingly uncontrollable wild card and feel that by constraining her, they will be able to have leverage over her.” Prince began. “That the longer they have this unyielding pressure over her, the more she will be forced to comply with the standard growth rate of power for others and conform to their will if she wants to exhibit anything close to the level of success she has currently, that about right?”
“Exactly,” Charles stated, “now do it. Set her to the maximum difficulty and let’s see if we can go about resetting some of these things she has unleashed on the world.”
More laughter.
This time Prince openly mocked the CFO, then when it looked like Charles was about to snap at the lead developer, and arguably one of the most capable members of the staff on hand. By all accounts Prince had somehow survived the rigors and was now had the right as one of the few programmers that the AIs would allow to alter the balancing mechanics of the game world that had been started so long ago.
“Let me guess, some rich retirees who were looking to live a fancy afterlife with BiPrism are now calling foul at the level of power that a seeming commoner has in their world?” Prince asked.
Charles wavered from side to side, before ultimately answering truthfully, or at least as truthfully as he could. “Hypothetically, your theory would seem to hold some merit.”
At that Prince could only nod, this was good as it meant that Charles had not gotten to the point where he openly lied to Prince’s face. This meant that their relationship still had a few strands of trust left and as such, he decided to answer truthfully.
“Well, know that she came in under what had to be the hardest set of restrictions available. That the world itself has come up with newer and more stringent containment variables for all magic class holders, thanks to her. Also, I should note that despite all of these constant restraints, the world is unable to contain both her and her Guild Master. That for the first time, the AIs that govern the world have effectively wiped their hands clean of the duo and have effectively marked them as one-life deities.”
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“One life deities?” Charles asked.
“Yes, these are now considered to be unique bosses of the world that their mere existence could alter, manipulate, or revamp the world space around them.” Prince noted.
“Yes, that is another thing, what the Midnight Hunters have done out in their own World’s End, we need to have that same effect done for a few wealthier individuals elsewhere.” Charles stated.
More laughter.
“You act as if the world wants the Blight to eventually go away?” Prince stated.
“They do, in fact they are apparently tired of that as a plot device and would like to have another.” Charles stated.
Shaking his head.
At this, Prince could only shake his head. “You miss the world’s reason for the Blight, it is a device signifying that life is finite. That despite how powerful you are, or how amazing your afterlife will be, that death will come and eventually claim you.”
“Yes, that was the noted motif, and one that seemed to be doing well as a motivator. But now that the Midnight Hunters have effectively rid themselves and the world of this problem, it is old and we would like to go in a new direction.” Charles stated.
“You do realize that the Midnight Hunters have not gotten rid of the problem, right? That the only reason why they seem to be able to handle the location they are in is due to one deity class being, right?” Prince stated.
“Again, this was also part of my mandatory updates for you. You need to reign her in. Lower her powers, take away a few if needed, but she is too powerful.”
“And again, I say that you are not listening. She came in under the harshest of restraints. Each and every time she is hit with newer restraints, not only does she end up bypassing those restraints, she ends up reworking them to gain even more of an advantage. Meanwhile, those that come into her vicinity are forced to be subject to the same difficulties as she is.”
“What does that mean?”
At this Prince just sighed and shook his head.
“It means, that those students she is training. They are subject to her own difficulty levels.”
“Well this is good, as I can report this up to the shareholders.”
Hearing that Prince could only shake his head. As he understood that now that the Midnight Hunters had officially settled down and claimed a plot of real estate as their own, others were looking to make a move on the plot of land.
“You don’t get it. This means that when she is not around, those people that have lived and trained under her, the very same ones who are learning to cast under such difficult conditions. By the time they leave, their abilities and capabilities will be far superior to any other mages.” Prince said, trying to clarify.
“So, by us having a constant state and area of increased scrutiny around the subject, we are inadvertently making it so those that train under her to cast in similar conditions are going to have an easier time when they are no longer in her presence?” Charles asked, trying to make sure he understood the comments.
“Exactly, these restraints that were meant to break the Midnight Hunters are actually serving to ultimately make them the most magically advanced fighting force in the world.” Prince stated.
“Okay, I am not going to bring this up, unless asked about directly, as that is a whole can of worms that I do not wish to open.” Charles stated, then going through his mental list he continued. “So let me make sure I’ve got this correct. We can safely say that we have the harshest restrictions around Dr. Cassiopeia Spiritlight at all times. That just being near her would cause both her and others around her to be subjected to the same higher difficulty of casting.”
At that Charles paused, as he seemed to come to a note he made. “Any word on the deletion of powers?”
At that Prince just shook his head, “normally we might have been able to at least see her powers, but there is an issue, when trying to access her records.”
“Issue?”
“Yes, it appears that someone either tried to delete parts of her records and failed, or part of her coding was lost entirely.” Prince stated.
“What does that mean?”
“It means that, even if we wanted to try to delete parts of her records, as we would for most others. Her records are not able to be altered.” Prince stated, as he then pulled up the commands for Dr. Spiritlight, and then pulled up the coding for her son Trenton Spiritlight, to show the difference between the two. Under Cass’s blocks was just an empty husk that had no code or lines of data. Then under Trenton’s there were lines and boxes of codes that were currently all enabled, but could easily be disabled if anyone so chose.
“You are telling me that we have an entity going around without any source coding? How is that even possible?” Charles asked.
At that Prince just shrugged, “I don’t know for certain, but I do have a theory.”
“A theory?”
“Yes.”
“Well let’s hear it.”
“You see, I think…”