13 The First Hero

Two months have passed. Five Lives Saga has always been in the spotlight of attention. It didn't matter if it was good or bad, attention was attention and Otta didn't give the media any break. Every week, new developments were announced and launched as part of their strategy to raise the bar for their competitors. Richard was crude enough to issue a public challenge to their rivals stating that he would hire anyone who could successfully replicate their dungeons. So far, nobody has stepped up to the challenge.

Black Penguin was Otta's greatest form of support. They've managed to complete five out of eight raid dungeons till date and have contributed much to the dungeon guide. Grace was the main writer for the Dungeon Weekly Magazine featuring her experience as a beta tester for Five Lives Saga. Otta allowed her to say whatever she wanted because Grace hasn't unlocked any of the secret classes. She did mention in one of the interviews that there were powerful secret classes that could be unlocked by special circumstances although she didn't know the requirements to do so. Adventurers have been going crazy about the secret classes and with the ascending and transcending features, many have risen from the ashes to rechallenge the Gods over and over again.

Of the many promising adventurers, only one stood out. His name was Khan. Nobody knew how he looked because he always wore a mask and all details about this person was not available to the public. His skills were top notch and his name was always among the top three in every dungeon he cleared. Many adventurers have used his record as a benchmark and in the dungeon worlds, a name began to circulate. They called this mysterious skilled adventurer Khan the First Hero. Urban legend has it that he could possibly clear a raid dungeon on his own. Many guilds have tried to contact him and recruit him but Khan refused all offers, insisting that he was a soloist. Khan was the only person who managed to max out all ten available class characters in five worlds. His achievement shook the dungeon world when he announced that he received a unique title called "Hero".

"Hero" was a title given to a player who'd met the following requirements.

1. Visited all five worlds.

2. Maxed out ten characters from ten different classes.

3. Completed World Saga Quest Stage 1.

Many envied Khan's accomplishments. It was difficult to meet the criteria as many players are specialists who prefer a certain adventurer class over another. For example, a ranged adventurer expert will find it hard to switch to a melee adventurer's job class. Also, the pathway to travel to all five worlds isn't easy to understand. Even Black Penguin hasn't fully documented the complete transcending guide for players who wish to move to a new world. Khan refused to share how he did it in such a short period of time. The World Quest was also difficult to complete. Although it is merely the first stage, it required the adventurer to travel between worlds to retrieve items or pass a message. Without a good understanding of the world travel paths, it was difficult to complete it. Many adventurers have given up on it and focussed more on the main world's quest instead.

The benefits of receiving the Hero title was worth the trouble. For many veteran adventurers, after ascending and transcending many times, the number of bonus skills taken along with their progress reset were numerous. There was a barrier against improving after a certain stage. However, after Khan received the Hero title, many begin to see the silver lining.

With that title, adventurers were given special dungeons to train in. It was called "Tower of Trials" which allowed an adventurer to challenge every dungeon they've unlocked on harder difficulties. Of course, the reward for completing higher difficulty dungeons were unique rare items that can be used for a later development as announced by Richard and Otta. Many wanted their hands on these unique items because they knew how Otta worked. She never disappointed anyone with her new releases. Along with unique item drops, Hero adventurers get to earn more. Khan didn't say much about the Tower of Trials. He only mentioned that he died multiple times challenging the third floor on the easiest mode possible and hasn't found a way to clear it yet. That caused a huge stir and it was exactly what Otta wanted.

***

"You're really mean... using our informant to bait our customers..."

Otta huffed. Even though she knew Richard said that teasingly, she was still offended. How could none of the adventurers show interest in her World Quest?! Do they know how difficult it was? Didn't they want to experience what it was like to walk the path of a God?!

"So much for the mods and add-ons! If these losers didn't dare challenge a path completely foreign to them after all the fighting I did with the government on the boundaries of a dungeon, they don't deserve to be called adventurers! Why don't they retire and become farmers?"

Richard chuckled. Seeing the red-head so frustrated has become one of his favourite past times. "In case you've forgotten, some of them have become dungeon farmers to make a living. I can't believe the government approved of your idea to allow in dungeon adventurer trading."

Otta smirked. With Venus' help to convince some crucial political players, it was easy to get the approval. Adventurers were now more than lab rats for scientists to gather data from their brain waves while running in circles in a simulated world. With Five Lives' rebirth, they were able to lead more than one life. It was inspiring to see the physically disabled find a new purpose in their lives. Otta heard about it from Grace who heard it from another writer from Dungeon Weekly. Many new adventurer guilds are forming and they're not following the conventional adventuring code. They called themselves the crafting guild, the merchant guilds, the information guilds, the runner guilds and there were some interesting ones like alchemy, physically disabled and librarian guilds.

Basically, adventurer guilds were becoming more diverse with Five Lives Saga topping the charts everywhere. Otta was thrilled about the change but there were people who hated it. From what Otta last heard, her scientist classmate - Adam, has founded an alchemist adventurer guild. The red-head didn't know better to laugh or cry. Adam wasn't one to abuse his power but when he did, he showed no mercy. He named the guild Telesia's Mercy and was one of the biggest alchemist guilds in existence. He sold many potions and inventions to adventurers for a good profit and Otta was tempted to invite him as a business partner to become part of Five Lives Saga's development team. However, she knew better than to introduce him to Richard. They wouldn't get along very well with Adam's snobbish attitude and condescending tone.

All the chaos aside, Otta was considering if they should proceed with the crazier things. Khan's Hero title wasn't the only gift she prepared. The loyalists hadn't received anything good yet and Otta was going to rectify that.

"I think we should give our loyalists some perks for staying with us during our darkest period. I'm considering introducing adventurer owned dungeon houses. Of course, it would be unfair if our loyalist were given houses for free. Hence, I'm going to give them a two-week trial coupon for the houses. What do you say?"

Richard smirked. "Moving into real estates now, are we? Think about it logically, what kind of purpose does such a house serve for adventurers? I don't think there are any benefits for them to buy one."

Otta tutted. "Of course not. Although it may seem like a cosmetic, do you know what houses have that dungeons don't?"

Richard raised a brow. There were many things to point out but the main difference had to be the level of comfort and sense of security. "A bed and some private time?"

Otta rolled her eyes. Seriously. How can Richard be so crude? Do all men think with their southern brains?

"They can do that in the comforts of their real homes. No, I'm not talking about that although if they have such interests, they could. I'm talking about kitchens. Remember how we were talking about making private farms and fishing dungeons for allied guilds? We introduced labs recently and people are all over potion making. It's time to stop the potion monopoly with some good old-fashioned cooking. And before you ask, cooking is going to be a skill like fishing and farming that can be carried over to different worlds and through ascending and transcending processes."

Richard sighed. "Must you really introduce private properties? You could simply introduce the skill and add in campfire cooking options. There's no real need for an entire private dungeon to be created."

Otta pouted. "Of course there is something else coming up. I'm thinking of changing the respawn point of all players to their player homes once they get it. Also, they can easily travel between worlds without transcending after they get the Hero title."

Richard perked up at once. "That's a great idea! But wouldn't it feel like cheating since you don't have to sacrifice anything after clearing World Quest Stage One?"

Otta grinned. "If they thought Stage One was tough, they should try Stage Two. Khan was struggling with the Tower of Trials. I wonder if he knows that there is Stage Two that was meant to help him become better before challenging the Gods."

Richard hummed. "Well, that portion is still under progress so we have not launched it. Besides, Tower of Trials is still in the prototype phase with only sixty-five floors completed. I wonder what they would say if they knew how lazy we were."

The red-head laughed. It was true that sometimes they got ahead of themselves. Being shorthanded wasn't fun at all. Speaking of which...

"Have you interviewed the applicants I shortlisted?"

Richard froze. "Sorry."

Otta couldn't even be mad at that. Honestly, she had forgotten about it until they touched on the topic. Grace has been too busy with the guild and magazine to remind her about it and so Otta did everything she could to procrastinate, sit on the job and wipe it from her memory. They had a business with practically nobody working under them. It's a true miracle how they were able to continuously churn out updates for the past few weeks.

"It's alright. I think we should start clearing our schedule to start interviewing our future employees. If we're going to launch the expansion pack and second stage of World Quest, we're going to need all the expertise we can get. I'm thinking of officially approaching our partners and explaining their benefits as well."

Richard nodded. He wasn't very good at dealing with people and wondered if she would make him sit through every interview.

"Don't give me that look... I'm not going to ask you to sit through everything. Your task is to fish out the programmers only. I'll take care of the rest together with Michelle and Cameron. Relax!"

After hearing her explanation, Richard let out the breath he'd been holding. Truth be told, nothing scared him more than meeting psychopaths. Michelle had told him many horror stories about such people. They're called maniacs and are in the category of "overly obsessed people" which he wanted to stay far away from. According to Michelle, Otta had her fair share of maniac encounters and stalkers while they were back in school. It wasn't very hard to imagine some bad doucher sizing up on the red-head. She was very quiet and timid looking after all. However, Richard was thankful that Otta wasn't weak like how she appeared. She was able to handle them easily and the programmer was more than happy to wash his hands of anything that didn't concern him.

"Thanks. So when do we start? We still have quite the workload at the moment."

Otta whipped out her phone to check the schedule. It was packed to the brim and after staring at the screen for twenty seconds, she threw the phone down.

"How about next Monday? I'm sure everything else can wait. Even if it couldn't, we should be able to pick it back up fairly easily. Besides, Neuf can help you out on the things that need to be done."

Richard groaned. Talking to Neuf sapped his energy. However, he had to admit that the young man was good at what he did. He saved Richard a few times and spared him the hours of torture trying to debug a five thousand line long code. If he can live through that hyperactive self-proclaimed apprentice of his, he should be able to live through anything short of maniacs.

"Next Monday it is..." Richard groaned and Otta grinned. She couldn't wait to let Grace and Michelle know the news.