Jasper adjusted his tie as he got into the car. "I hate wearing these things. It feels like a leash." He grumbled.

Martin rolled his eyes, though Jasper couldn't help but notice that he had gone for the developer look, where he was sporting a blazer over an ironic and nerdy T-shirt, meaning that the big man wasn't wearing a tie.

Riez was more than happy to weigh in on the conversation. "Tell me if you need anything. I could probably get you a real leash." She said it in the same cheerful tone she always seemed to use.

Jasper just shook his head and turned his attention back to Martin. "Can you be the Deep Dive guide for the demo? Having you on the system would be great to help the suites get into the world." Martin just nodded, so Jasper continued, "Did you set up multiplayer or just single-player?"

Martin was about to respond when Riez butted in. "Technically, you are one of the suites."

That was technically true. Jasper wore a dark blue suit that made him look quite good if he had to say so himself. However, the last time he wore it was at a wedding, though not his own. He was sure he still had rice in his pockets from that occasion.

Jasper adjusted his glasses and was about to answer when he realised he wasn't wearing any. Martin was quick to answer Jasper's question before the car ride would end up with a bickering back and forth.

"I set up two stations, each single player. We might want more, but for now, that will have to be done. And yeah, I can help those unfamiliar with the system. I am thinking 10 minutes max per person... so that would be two hours or so in the world, and then reset the instance."

Jasper nodded in approval, though he still asked questions to which he already knew the answers, just to double and triple-check that everything was as it should be.

Arriving at Weird World Computing Headquarters this time around was slightly different. Not only did Jasper see a literal red carpet had been rolled out at the entrance, but Riez also dropped them off at the main entrance instead of taking them into the garage.

A couple of company directors, who Jasper and Martin had never seen before, were greeting people. The developers got the same treatment as everyone else: a firm handshake and some quick small talk as if they were working in the building on a daily basis.

Jasper moved to the assembly hall, seeing that there were a lot of people already gathering at various tables that had been set up. People were talking around the deep dive setup, making Martin groan.

"Security will have to escort me from the premises if any suites have touched the setup." The man said more to himself than anyone else.

Jasper left his colleague to punch some people from management while he moved to the scene.

"Jasper! Man, am I glad to see you! How has your stay been? Have Riez been treating you well? Did you see the city?" The voice came from a man who was in a bright purple suit with the Weird World Computing logo embroidered on his breast pocket.

His greying hair had been slicked back, and his teeth had been visibly whitened. It was in sharp contrast to the fake tan he had exposed his skin to, as it was just a shade too dark, making it look like leather. Jasper didn't recognise him at all.

Still, the developer decided to be polite. "Good, a pleasure to meet you."

The man smiled. "Good! Good! Frank Costanza. Head of event planning. I will be the director for today. You will get on as the first speaker, though that will be after we have bid everyone welcome."

Jasper nodded and talked with Frank as everyone found a place to sit. Frank seemed like an enthusiastic man who was easy to talk to. He oozed that natural charisma. Jasper couldn't help but think of his appearance as metaphorical ankle weights for his charisma, allowing the man to overcome people's first impression. However, it was more likely that he thought he looked good.

A couple of people were already trying out the Deep Dive setup that Martin was administrating, but it was quickly cut off when Frank took the stage.

What followed was four straight hours of welcome speeches. First, Frank talked for half an hour. Then Rachel Misfour, the CEO of Weird World Computing, spoke for an hour, which was followed up by half an hour from not just the CTO but the CFO, CCO, CHRO and CAO, all wanted to talk about their specific fields and thank everyone for joining.

The narrative has been illicitly obtained; should you discover it on Amazon, report the violation.

Jasper's head was spinning, as they had essentially all said the same thing, that they wanted more synergy and growth in the company with the hopes of leading the way for a brighter future.

Jasper had no idea what some of their titles actually were. He knew that the CEO was the company's leader, and the CTO, Chief Technology Officer, was the one that Jasper reported to... well, he reported to a manager who reported to the CTO. Then there was the Chief Finance Officer, or CFO, though Jasper had no idea what the difference between them and the CEO was. The CHRO made sense as well, HR being one of the more prominent departments in the company, but the rest were not roles Jasper knew anything about.

Finally, it was his turn to present. He walked onto the stage with a microphone in one hand and a clicker to control his slide in the other, only to see a crowd of bored faces barely paying attention. A lot of them even had their phones or laptops out.

"Hi everyone! So glad to see all of you. I am Jasper Lauritsen, and I am technically the lead developer of the Nordic branch. I say technically since, for those of you who don't know, we are only two people... We work hard, but it makes for boring office parties."

A dull laughter came from the crowd. None of them really found the joke funny, but it was more of an acknowledgement that it was an attempt at humour.

"We are usually working on the worlds that you get handed over. You can all get a tour of the latest world we have created, the world of Kalish, over at my colleague, Martin"

Jasper pointed to the back of the room and enjoyed the discomfort on his friend's face as everyone turned to look at him.

"We have done something unique this time. We have gamified our work. We set up some fairly basic systems that are more akin to editing tools. Then, we limited these tools with a resource we call Energy. There are other elements to this, but the short version is that we are planting the seeds of chaos the AI can work from while making the experience more fun for us."

Jasper took in the crowd. Most had turned off their phones, but some were still on their laptops.

"Before we talk about how we have managed to half the development time for the world thanks to this method, I would like to talk a bit about the world. I would like to talk about the gods."

That seemed to grab the attention of the entire crowd, and Jasper redoubled his efforts to keep them engaged. Not every presentation would be talking about divine matters, after all.

"We entered the world as the first gods, creating our characters and wandering around the world looking for bugs. This led us to creating a very unique world that will be done at the end of the month."

Jasper didn't mention that he had been using company equipment to have a getaway with his wife. That was probably something best left unsaid.

"The world itself is based around a faction system with associated gods. Each god also represents some kind of ascension type. I will go over them quickly so you know what I mean. Kelllwan, yes, three Ls, is the most straightforward. Representing Law and Order, he was elevated by the system for his virtuous heart... at least based on the system logs we have found. In reality, he was elevated by the system so people would have a 'good' god to worship. Not a lot of those around."

The slide of the elongated dwarf displayed him from Jasper's view when the developer had travelled to the god's plane and had to unleash one of the Ur-spells. Kelllwan was in mid-air, about to bring his hammer down on the viewer.

"Next, we have his opposite, Raffael Moordet. While, of course, elevated to divine status to provide an evil counterpart to Kelllwan, Raffael Moordet struck a deal with the archdemon of hatred. However, the deal had a loophole of some kind, and the mortal managed to achieve godhood through trickery, becoming the god of lies and deceit. This is in sharp contrast to our next god."

The slide of Raffael Moordet was him standing over Jasmine, clearly having a monologue.

"Daikia. This is, by the world's lore, the first god. This is wrong. We will get to the first NPC god later. However, it is worth noting that she also made a bargain, this time with darkness itself. Apparently, the contract was so dense and overwhelming that when it was written on her skin, it turned her skin black."

Martin could see a couple of people in the crowd's Public Relations and Communications whisper to each other, furiously taking notes. He would have to talk with Jasper about that later.

"She is apparently the strongest god, but here we see a bargain struck with powers beyond mortal comprehension that elevates them to godhood. Now let us go to the true first god."

The slide of the drow woman in a regal white outfit was quickly replaced with the next god.

"Orlek. The god of orks and strength. Now, why isn't he remembered as the true first god? Probably because the orks are very big on oral tradition and are not taken seriously by the other races. However, Orlek achieved godhood when he killed... well, me. An achievement the AI thought so significant that it elevated the brutish ork to godhood."

The image of Orlek stepping out of the portal when Celeste confronted him after she had converted Spif and Spaf was replaced with the next god.

"To mellow out Orlek, we have Esselaia. The goddess is the embodiment of peace. She obtained her powers through communication with the world... with a little help from our developers, but nevertheless through harmony."

The image of Esselaia surrounded by dragons, power streaming into her from the Tree of Life, was replaced with an image of the multi-limbed and iterative version of Ewen.

"Last but not least, we have Ewen. Someone who achieved godhood through their own merit. Done through magic, this elf is our god of... well, some of you clever people might have guessed it already... magic. So all in all, we have various ways that the gods have been created, making a high fantasy setting with various plotlines to draw from."

From that point, Jasper talked about temperature, seeds, and chaos in the AI system and how the process had been optimised. At the same time, the gamified elements provided a shift to the mindset with which they approached development.