Interlude - II

Ben hadn't even managed to think about a valid inquiry that he would like to learn about when clamours of people's complaints came to his ears.

"What do you mean I can't have more than one attempt?" said a round guy, growling at the transparent system window.

"Only sixty-four characters?" stammered another guy. "Man, I can't even describe how infuriated I'm with this game."

There was no lack of complaints like those.

Ben returned to his system window. With only one attempt allowed, he knew he had to ask a relevantly important question, although he wasn't optimistic about receiving an answer.

"Something I like to know?" Ben muttered, pondering his choices. Complaints? He had some, but he suspected thousands of others would take care of them.

With that thought, Ben typed something relevant to his plans.

He typed: How will the beta influence the rest of the game?

Ben would have liked to express his concern with more description, but the character limit rendered him unable to express his inquiry completely.

Ben crept closer to the plaza, easily recognising the difference between Apotheosis and Avalon. Although they have heightened their graphics generation every year since its launch, it still fell short of what Ben faced in Apotheosis Online.

Apotheosis Online was exactly like talking to somebody in person, whereas Avalon Online made it seem like he was on a video call. Well, better than that, a holo call.

Ben searched in the crowds, looking for any prolific character from the gaming world. He found some famous avatars of mid-range pro players on the forefront of the plaza, but nobody on the level of Ulysses, whom he met on the very first day of beta. He guessed big players like them didn't have time to attend every press conference, even when it was relevant to their future.

The pro players ranked in their famous virtual skin just behind the tens of journalists, all waiting eagerly for the conference to start.

That reminded Ben. The time was already up, but there was no sign of the director.

Ben had to wait there for a few more minutes until lights flickered next to the obelisk podium in the centre of the plaza as a tall figure manifested under the gazes of the mass.

The newcomer wasn't in an overly flaunting virtual skin like most of the avatars present in the plaza. It was simply a tall, handsome man in his early thirties with blond hair. He was in simple shorts with a floral shirt draped over his shoulders, swaying along the wind as if he was still on a beach.

A clamour of cheers and accusations broke into the scene as Stephen Archer rested his drink onto the podium, facing the crowd. He let the crowd shriek for a few more moments before he gestured into thin air with his fingers, as if lowering the volume.

In the next moment, all the cheers, accusations, and curses were silenced. No matter how hard they worked their brains and vocal cords, the system didn't let even a low whimper out of their mouths.

Ben exhaled. This was power. Evidently, a blatant use of it, but still showed who was in control.

"Thanks, everyone, for your silence," the director said shamelessly, with a grin on his lips. A system window flashed in front of him as Stephen surfed through the relevant parts of it.

"Wow, I thought there will be some praise, and thanks in your query for the opportunity we presented to you," Stephen said brazenly, "but you lots are the most ungrateful bunch I ever had to address."

The crowd would have broken into another uproar if they weren't muted. While Ben had his fair share of criticisms, he simply stood there with a frown, waiting for events to unfold.

"I reckoned you'll complain about the mute after you get out of here as well," Stephen said, addressing the crowds, just as accusing as the gamers were. "Aye, you must be wondering what would it take for them to fire me, eh? Tsk, anyway, getting back to business. Oh, the mute won't be lifted until I'm out of here, so don't bother."

Stephen surfed through the system page, his eyebrows arching at what he read.

"I'll be answering your most requested queries," the director said, his voice flowing easily into the completely stilled plaza. "47% of you complained about no adjustments to the pain sensations.

"I guess that's a valid issue in the beginning. Sadly, we can't do anything about it. If it is really unbearable for you, I'm sorry that you can only log out from the game."

Stephen shrugged, as if that was enough to calm the crowd about their pain problems.

"As it was stated in the terms and conditions, none of us have any power in the Apotheosis Project after the beta was released, meaning there won't be any change until the beta ends. Also, I would like you to give up hope for any drastic changes later as well. You cannot even imagine the amount of effort we have to put in to get where we're now.

"If you want to be optimistic, then go on. The future is unpredictable. We just have to wait and see what the future of the game holds."

Stephen moved to the next relevant query for the gamers. "The next issue is more relevant to all of you than the first. A good 32.7% of you asked what's after you're eliminated from the beta."

The entire crowd's concentration focused on the sole figure in the middle of the plaza. Even though the game barely went online for two days, there was no shortage of eliminations; that was how hard the game was.

Ben figured anyone could get eliminated if their luck was on the wrong side. Also, another thing to note here was that the game hadn't let them customise their avatar even a little.

The advantages were already tilted towards ‌pro players, but this change put another restriction on the not-so-physically fit players.

For example, if you're fat and slow in the real world, you'd be exactly the same in the game as well until you gained enough evolution gems to rectify your state.

It didn't seem fair to those unsuited candidates. Then again, fairness seemed to have little to do with Apotheosis Online.

"Those that have been eliminated, fear not," Stephen's voice reverberated throughout the plaza, clearly, "you have another chance."

______

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