“Disaster!” Jane muttered to herself as she scanned the information feeds. According to Mother Watch, the Intersys General—sixth all around fame leader, number one in military strategy, combat simulations, and logistics—the Almighty Unconquerable himself had just paid ten million fame to take part in the Earth Medieval Fantasy Roleplaying Game competition. Ten million fame! What kind of character could he have possibly purchased? She’d invested everything she had, ten thousand fame for a third tier character, and now he had paid ten million? It was an unmitigated disaster.

“Mother,” she subvocalized. “Please place my EMFRPG character on the exchange board. Asking price twelve thousand fame. Please add a note that it comes paired with a one-of-a-kind exotic currently listed on the exchange for fifteen thousand.”

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Jane switched to the exchange board, and scrolled through the listings. What in Mother’s name was happening? The exchange board was filled with EMFRPG listings. And every single one of them had appeared within the last hour. “Disaster upon disaster!”

“Mother!” she called out. “Please change my asking price to nine thousand fame.”

A one thousand fame loss… It was an energy well she might never crawl out of—assuming she could sell the character at all. With everyone unloading their characters at the same time, the prices would drop through the floor.

“Mother…” Manipulators trembling, she braced herself against the walls of her hab and willed her systems back into equilibrium. “Please lower my asking price again. Eight thousand fame. And add a non-negotiable marker. I can’t afford to go any lower.”