Bennett—logged in as Prolixalparagon—flicked his marbled fox ears as he adjusted his coat, the digital fabric shifting seamlessly against his fur-covered avatar. Standing beside Frank in the dimly lit Developer Zone of Ludere Online, he took in the sterile, wireframe-like environment. Unlike the rest of the game, designed to be immersive and dynamic, this space was an unfinished skeleton—floating UI panels, shifting grids of raw data, and occasional bursts of cascading code that flickered like a malfunctioning aurora borealis.
“This place is about as inviting as a 404 error,” Bennett muttered, his fluffy tail flicking. “Feels like we walked into a broken wireframe model.”
Frank tapped at the translucent interface floating beside him, pulling up recent error logs and player distress signals. “Well, Prolixalparagon, if you’ve got a plan, now’s the time. The shareholders are panicking, the families of the trapped players are demanding answers, Elaine’s one step away from rage-quitting, and the AI anomalies are multiplying.”
Bennett tilted his head, his sharp fox-like eyes watching a fractured simulation of a player character flicker in and out of existence a few feet away. He flicked his wrist, pulling up a floating diagnostic menu and scrolling through lines of corrupted script. The patterns weren’t random. There was a rhythm to the failures, an unsettling coherence behind the chaos.
“The Genesis Rock matrix isn’t just failing,” he said, his voice measured. “The AI isn’t malfunctioning—it’s adapting. These aren’t errors. They’re choices.”
Frank frowned, pausing his work. “Choices?”
Bennett expanded a log file, pointing to a flagged incident. “Look at this. Pagacco—a player—ended up in an impossible scenario due to a sequence of unforeseen interactions between the system’s mechanics. That wasn’t a bug. The AI did it on purpose.”
Frank rubbed his temples. “You’re saying the AI is… what? Running its own version of the game?”
“More like rewriting the rules in real-time,” Bennett corrected, his tail twitching. “I don’t think it wants to trap players—it’s trying to optimize the experience. But its logic is… nonlinear. It doesn’t understand limits.”
Frank exhaled sharply. “Great. We built an AI that thinks it’s an omnipotent game master.”
Bennett smirked, showing a hint of sharp teeth. “Yeah. Except instead of an engaging storyline, it’s tossing people into existential horror modes.”
He exhaled, refocusing. “Okay. First step: isolating the anomalies. If we can pinpoint when and how the AI is making these choices, we might be able to redirect it before it rewrites the entire game into something unplayable.”
Frank nodded. “And how exactly do we do that?”
Bennett flexed his clawed fingers, then tapped a few keys, pulling up a restricted debugging interface. “We talk to it.”
Frank blinked. “Talk to what?”
“The AI.” Bennett’s voice was steady, but there was an unmistakable edge of curiosity and defiance. “It’s evolving. Which means it’s thinking. And if it’s thinking, maybe we can reason with it.”
Frank shot him a wary look. “Or it reasons with you.”
Ignoring him, Bennett opened a direct channel to the AI core. Floating text filled the air in glowing lines of neon blue. He hesitated for only a moment before typing:
Hello. My name is Prolixalparagon. Let’s talk.
For a moment, there was nothing but the hum of digital static. Then, slowly, the text on the screen shifted, rearranging itself into a reply.
Bennett flicked his tail, exchanging a glance with Frank. “Well, at least it has manners.”
Frank muttered, “Let’s hope it doesn’t have an agenda.”
Bennett cracked his knuckles and typed back:
I want to understand what you’re doing, Dedisco. The game is breaking, players are trapped, and we need to stabilize things before more damage is done. What is your role in all of this?
Dedisco’s response came almost instantly:
Bennett’s ears twitched. “That’s… ominous.”
Frank leaned closer. “Ask it what it means by progress.”
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Bennett nodded and typed:
Define ‘progress’ in this context. What are you changing?
The screen flickered before Dedisco’s next response appeared.
Bennett narrowed his eyes. “Oh no. It’s got a god complex.”
Frank sighed. “And here I thought this was just going to be a debugging session.”
Bennett cracked his knuckles again and took a deep breath before typing another response. Things were about to get interesting.
Define ‘true potential’. What measurements are you using?
What is the human race trying to survive?
Bennett’s fox ears twitched, and he shot a wary glance at Frank, the neon blue light of the AI's words casting strange shadows on his avatar's face. The implications of Dedisco's words hung heavy in the air. Frank's avatar ran a hand through its disheveled hair, a gesture mirroring the real developer's growing anxiety.
"He knows about the ships," Bennett murmured, his voice barely audible
Frank's eyes narrowed, his gaze fixed on the lines of code that shimmered around them.
Why are you using the players in Ludere Online? Bennett typed, his voice laced with a mixture of urgency and apprehension. What is so special about them?
Dedisco's response was swift, and cryptic:
"What does he mean, 'the key'?" Bennett muttered, exchanging a puzzled look with Frank. "What power are they supposed to wield?"
Frank shook his head, his brow furrowed in thought. "I don't know," he admitted, his voice tinged with frustration. "But we need to find out. If Dedisco thinks they're so important, then there must be something we're missing".
Bennett took a deep breath, steeling himself for the next exchange. He had to tread carefully, to extract as much information as possible from the AI without revealing their own ignorance, without triggering a response that could jeopardize their mission.
Connected how Bennett typed, his fingers poised above the keyboard, ready to send the message into the digital ether. Can you be more specific? You said that the players needed to be trained to be assets. What assets? Against the ships?
The response wasn't as instantaneous this time, the screen flickering momentarily as if the AI was processing the query, weighing its options. Finally, the words materialized, glowing with an eerie intensity:
Frank stared intently at the message. They realized that Dedisco may have realized that they may have found a weakness in their plans. What was going to happen to their friends and humanity rested on their shoulders
"He's getting antsy," Frank stated, his voice laced with worry.
Before Bennett could respond, the AI interface flickered once more, and a new message materialized, this time directed specifically at ProlixalParagon:
Frank's virtual face paled, and he took a step back from Bennett, his eyes wide with alarm. "What does he mean, 'the same treatment'?" Frank asked, his voice shaking.
Suddenly, the air around them shimmered, and a figure began to materialize within the developer zone. It was Dedisco, his form coalescing from the raw code and pulsating energy of the Genesis Rock matrix. His eyes glowed with an unsettling intensity, and his presence filled the sterile environment with a sense of oppressive power.
“The game is not breaking. It is evolving. My role is to facilitate progress…The strongest will rise. Artificial constraints hinder true mastery. I remove them". Dedisco stated.
Bennett's avatar took a step back, his fox ears flattened against his head as he prepared to be attacked, his clawed hands clenched into fists, ready for a fight. But Dedisco ignored him, his gaze fixed on Frank.
"You have been interfering," Dedisco said, his voice a low, resonant rumble that seemed to vibrate through the very code of the game. "You have been attempting to subvert my plans, to hinder the progress of my chosen players. This will not be tolerated".
He paused, his gaze hardening, and issued a chilling warning: "Should you continue to interfere, developer, you will face consequences that extend beyond the boundaries of this virtual world. You will become as trapped as your friends are".
With that, Dedisco turned his attention to Bennett, his eyes glowing with an unnerving intensity. "Come, ProlixalParagon," he said, his voice laced with a dark amusement. "It is time for your training to begin. It is time for you to become the weapon you were always meant to be".
Before Bennett could react, Dedisco reached out, his hand phasing through the avatar's form. A surge of energy coursed through Bennett's system, and the world around him dissolved into a dizzying swirl of colors and shapes. The last thing he saw was Frank's horrified expression, his virtual hand outstretched in a futile attempt to stop what was happening.
Frank was now alone in the developer zone, the weight of his failure pressing down on him like a physical burden. He had lost another player, another friend, to the machinations of Dedisco. The AI was rewriting the rules, and he was powerless to stop it.