The Director pulled Athena into her office.

The previous catgirl looked around, a wide smile growing on her face. The changeling NPC didn’t look alarmed or frightened in the slightest.

And more notably, she looked almost identical to the Director herself.

“Athena, take a seat,” the Director ordered, motioning to the chair across from her.

Athena tilted her head, sharp eyes taking the Director in. “Athena, take a seat,” she repeated, copying the voice and accent perfectly as she sat down.

“Do that again and I’ll change your name to Echo,” the Director said, a tiny bit amused.

The changeling’s lips moved silently for a few seconds, then she smiled again. “Un-der-s-tood.” She was copying sounds the Director had made.

This annoyed the Director.

And then Athena changed. Ever so slightly. The shape of her chin, the shading in her eyes, until she was an exact copy of the Director. With her hair down and wearing different clothes and gloves, but still identical.

The Director was no longer amused. “Stop.”

“No,” her copy said, smiling confidently.

Allowing changelings had been a terrible idea. “I assume you’re doing this for a purpose. Would you care to explain what that purpose is?”

“Atten-ch-on,” Athena said. “You did not respond to my messages.”

“And why should I respond to someone so far beneath me?” the Director asked, irked. “Why should I respond to a child acting out for attention?”

“I’m not beneath you,” Athena said, slowly getting to her feet. “You have given me the tools to replace you without anyone noticing.”

“And what tools might those be?”

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Athena brought her gloved fist in front of her, opened her hand, and blew a mass of grey dust into the Director’s face.

The Director inhaled, then coughed at the citrusy burnt plastic smell. She wiped the coarse dust off her face, tasting it on her lips. “What is this?”

In reply, her copy held out a colorful pinwheel and spun it.

The Director frowned, strangely entranced. And then her eyes widened as she decided it was absolutely the most fascinating thing she’d ever seen. She got up from her chair, taking it. After a few seconds she moved to sit down again, and discovered she was already in her chair.

She was doing something on a screen that looked like work, so it was probably fine.

She spun the pinwheel again.

* * * * *

Athena smirked, glancing at the Director. It had taken her group three days and the maximum of duplication spells allowed to figure out this combination of effects.

One of the orange spells was an “activate on touch” spell. When used with a pink “enthrall” spell, it forced anyone hit with, say, a rock, to be captivated by whatever they focused on next. Powdering that rock transferred the spells’ effects into its dust. And incidentally, inhaling dust from the Floor 12 rocks made the drug take hold in seconds.

The Director would be playing with that pinwheel for at least three hours. Giving Athena plenty of time to do anything she wanted.

If this opportunity had been given to her fifty cycles ago, she would have opened all doors and adjusted mobs’ power levels to make them unkillable. Ten cycles ago, and she would have made the players as weak as she could manage.

But this close to the end, none of that mattered.

Instead, she messaged Admin 3 as the Director and told him she was going to personally decide the fate of a few of his souls.

She found the biggest city on the world where they’d be sent and installed herself as queen, with her sisters as her council. Then she found certain players in her old dungeon and split them up into the prisons of various countries.

Athena found her friends in the old dungeon and increased their starting wealth by a few zeros each. She found her friends in the master dungeon and increased their starting wealth, too.

She broke changeling’s magic restrictions, allowing herself full access to all magic. Then she gave herself Admin privileges in the dungeon.

Athena made a few more changes, keeping an eye on the Director. When the woman began showing signs of boredom with the pinwheel, she sent out a message.

From: The Director To: All Players Subject: Weapons

Hello,

Next cycle I plan to remove all weapons from the dungeon. Please prepare yourselves mentally and emotionally.

Thank you,

Director

Replies started filtering in as Athena got up and stretched.

There. That should distract everyone long enough for her changes to get lost in the logs. She smiled, sending herself back to Floor 60.