Dungeon Core Online 56 Chapter 56

"Now, I'm sure you are wondering why I have called you here today." The man across from James offered him a grin and a chuckle, as if he had just made some sort of joke.

James glanced at Rue, but the human sized pixie simply sat staring at the drink in front of her. James glanced back at the man sitting across from him, completely uncertain of what was going on. Just who was this man? What exactly was going on?

"This generation will just never get my jokes." The man let out a sigh after a moment of silence and turned his attention to Rue.

"Come now Rue, you should have gotten it." The pixie didn't respond.

"Fine, what if," the man waved his hand, and a bottle appeared above Rue's drink. At the same time, James noticed the liquid within the drink changed, taking on the dark, chocolatey appearance of her hot chocolate, complete with marshmallows. The bottle above the drink, labeled Baily's, was gently poured into the beverage.

"There, to take the edge off." The man's actions may have been to 'take the edge off' but his voice took on a dangerous edge of its own. Reluctantly, Rue picked up the drink and took a sip, though her eyes now held a fiery anger.

"What do you want." James's voice held more venom than he expected, causing Rue to jump, and the man's eyes to narrow. James really didn't like the effect this guy was having on his pixie, and he could feel his anger rising.

"Come now James, is that anyway to talk to me?"

"I don't know you" James had never seen this man before in his life, assuming he was using his actual appearance.

"Ah, but you should at least know of me." The man flashed an evil smile as he took a sip from his drink. The liquid was of amber color, with a few ice cubes floating within. Whiskey.

"My name is Xander Raymondson, otherwise known as X-Ray."

X-Ray was a name James knew of. X-Ray was a name every gamer knew of. He had been THE top gamer of the world, unbeatable in any and every game he ever played. In fact, he had grown so bored of playing games, he went on to become a game developer himself. He was the head of the team that created DCO, and James had a feeling, he was the Xander Steve had referred to. Damnit Steve.

"So" James's mouth was suddenly dry, and he reached for his drink, which shared the same amber color as Xander's. However, while he was expecting the taste of hard liquor, he instead found his glass was full of apple juice. Xander was messing with, treating him like a child. James's anger returned.

"What do you want with us?"

"First, I would appreciate it if you speak to me with proper respect." Xander took another sip, eyes narrowing as he looked James up and down. "Second, I would like to discuss how we move forward from Steve's, transgression." He said the last word as if it were something foul, a rotten piece of food he had eaten.

"How is what Steve did our problem?" James's response came before his mind could reel it in, and only as Xander's eyes narrow, did James think to add, "Sir?"

"Was that so hard?" Xander sat back, playing with his glass of whiskey, smirking as James took another drink of apple juice. Meanwhile, Rue had downed her first drink, and was pouring herself another. James had a feeling they were going to be dealing with a drunk pixie very soon.

"Now, what Steve did is very much your problem. First, technically he gave you an unfair advantage. I'm sure you know pretty much everyone in the gaming community would consider that cheating."

Xander had a point. And at his comment, James could start to see the issues that could arise. DCO was a game that had real world impacts. So, if the very core of that game was cheating, even in a small sense, that could start to create some really large problems. Uh oh.

"I see you are starting to follow." Xander took another sip and waved a hand. Countless papers appeared before him, and he glanced down at them, leafing through them nonchalantly.

"Now, luckily for you, the level of cheating is minimal." Xander grabbed one of the papers, looking it over. "However, based on what this data tells me, I cannot just remove all the benefits he gave you. Unless I completely deleted you." Xander offered him a smile. "Is that alright with you?"

James felt his body go cold. It was just day two of DCO in real life, but that was close to two weeks' worth of game time. James did not want to lose all that, the gamer in him refused to accept that. Especially since he was so close to the top.

Besides, what would happen to his players? What would happen to his town, to all the people who had stopped playing their normal games, to seek out the financial and adventure opportunities that DCO offered them? There was no way he would let Xander delete him.

"That's not an option."

Xander looked at him and sighed. "Well, I tried." Xander waved his hands, and the papers disappeared.

"That's it?" Rue's sudden outburst caused James to jump. The pixie's eyes were already starting to take on their glassy glaze, and James could tell the liquor was hitting her. She was such a light weight. "Since when have you asked for anyone's permission."

Xander's eyes narrowed at the pixie, who quickly took another drink. She needed a little more liquid courage, it seemed, before she would directly confront him.

"Normally, I would have just reset the dungeon core, and written it off as a glitch, you are right." Xander's face took on a strained appearance, as his fingers drummed on the table. "However, you know just as well as I do, that this particular instance, is out of my control."

James glanced between Xander and Rue, feeling completely out of the loop. What was going on, and just how well did the pixie and the game developer know each other? Had Xander developed the AI? Was that why she was so scared of him?

"I don't know what you're talking about." Rue's face was taking on a flushed look, and she took another long drink.

Of everyone in the room, James was pretty sure he was the only one that didn't know what was going on, and he didn't like that fact. However, he was smart enough to realize, whatever was going on between Rue and Xander, was something he should probably not be a part of.

"So," he knew better, but that didn't mean he listened to himself. "What exactly is going on? How is this out of your control? You created DCO, didn't you?"

The man before him lowered his glass to the table, and clasped his hands in front of him, staring at James for a long moment.

"I did."

"So-" If it was his game, how was this outside of his control?

"—But I didn't do it alone." Xander unclasped his hands and rubbed his temple, as if massaging out an oncoming headache.

"So, who helped you?"

Xander's mouth opened and closed, and it seemed he was trying to figure out the best way to answer. However, in that time, it seemed someone else had decided to answer James's question, and before Xander could reply, Rue's voice broke the silence.

"My father."

Chapter end