Benjamin smiled as he heard the voice of the young man on the other side of the phone. "h.e.l.lo Samuel, this is Benjamin Joyce. Long time no talk, huh?" He laughed and immediately heard some moving around and rus.h.i.+ng from Samuel"s side.
Over the few times they talked and met up for information about crafting, Samuel had grown quite impressed with Benjamin and as such was always happy to talk to him, dropping everything else when he got the chance.
"Benjamin! Yeah, it"s been a really long time! How was your start into the game?" Samuel asked him excitedly, "You called your character "Eisen", right? Ari told me you"ve been pretty productive already!"
"Haha, yeah, that"s what I called myself. And you could say that, I managed to get a pretty interesting occupation and some nice t.i.tles. I"m actually a dragon"s champion, I"ll be looking for some of the other dragons soon." Benjamin chuckled, and Samuel silently listened.
"You… You"re a champion already? How did you manage to do that?"
Benjamin laughed lowly and then began explaining the situation one by one. How he tried appraising that cat on his first day in the game and then later received a quest that needed him to get all his stats up to 100, as well as all the tests that he received from the Ancient Gold Dragon Aylrentyrth.
"You see, and now I"m one after another going to see if I can find the other dragons that Ailren told me about. The next one I"m looking for is in some magic city." Benjamin explained while Samuel curiously listened, simply thinking about the story that he just heard from this old man.
"Wow, that"s all pretty insane. I figured you were going to become a champion sooner or later, but I didn"t expect it to be this soon… But I doubt you"d call me just to tell me about that. Is everything going okay in the game other than what you told me?"
"Oh, everything is going perfectly in the game, don"t worry! There are a few issues I have to deal with right now, but it"s more on a personal level with an omega friend I made. His brothers are also playing, and they seem to be messing around a bit. But as long as they aren"t doing anything horrible, I"ll just let them be." After Benjamin explained this, Samuel sighed loudly as he understood what he was talking about.
"You must mean the CryTec kids, then? I heard about that little "contest" from the CEO, so I told Ari to keep an eye on them and see what"s going on. Really though, none of them is acting normally. One of them was a scammer, but not anymore since he"s with you now. Another one bought out all the food of hole towns, causing a crisis. And the last one is going around acting like he"s the king of the world. He"s not causing much trouble so far, but he seems to be up to something. I would actually really appreciate it if you could take a look at what the latter two are up to. If you can resolve something, I"ll really owe you one." Samuel carefully explained, hiding his complaints behind the request he just gave to Benjamin, who simply laughed in response. "Sure, I"ll see what I can do. I will have a lot less time to play for a while, though, so my main focus will really be crafting. But since you mentioned that you will owe me one, I would like you to think about a favor you can do me in return. My son is an excellent computer scientist, and this is not just me saying that because he"s my child. It seems like the company he is working for isn"t doing so great, so I would like to see if there is any way you could consider him for a job." Ruthlessly, Benjamin asked for this favor, and Samuel stayed silent for a while before sighing loudly.
"I would love to do that, but I can"t just hire someone like that without knowing the extent of his qualification, despite my position."
"Of course I"m not asking you to simply hire him instantly, but maybe give him the chance for an interview or an interns.h.i.+p to start it out with so you can see how skilled he is. He does have some experience when it comes to making games as well, that"s how he made some money throughout college. And one of them was actually quite popular at the time, it was called "Minion"."
Immediately after saying the t.i.tle of that game, Samuel audibly jumped up in surprise. "M-Minion?! Your son made that? I mean, in that case I doubt it would be hard to convince the higher-ups… Just mail me your son"s contact information and I"ll talk to him about it."
"Haha, thanks, Samuel. I really appreciate it. And there"s another thing. You said I can tell you one person to start playing the game earlier as well, right? At what time would that be?" Benjamin asked curiously now that his main worry was out of the way.
"Ah, that would be in the last pre-release phase. I guess I can tell you what"s up. The next phase is going to be filled with the highest amount of players joining the game pre-release, just to introduce the world to a large amount of such "beings". They will be called "Delta" and consist of play-testers that will tell us any issues or balance problems. As for the last phase, they will be "Alpha"s, and consist of entertainers such as for example streamers or youtubers. Whoever you recommend can join in the Alpha phase then, since they can just play freely then. All the others do have a certain extent of a proffessional responsibility related to their work. Who is it you want to play?"
A light grin formed on Benjamin"s lips as he thought about the reaction of the person who he will gift this to.
"I want my grandson, Benjamin Marcus Joyce, to be able to play the game in that phase." He said with a soft smile, and Samuel seemed to be typing something up on a keyboard.
"Alright, just need the address and possible delivery time then." Samuel said quickly while continuing to type something up, and Benjamin quickly explained. "We"re having a family reunion, so he"ll be staying at my house for a few weeks, so it would be great if you could deliver it here. And we"ll be here basically all day every day with only a few exceptions, so just have it delivered around noon or at the latest late afternoon. The day doesn"t matter, just call me to let me know, maybe."
"Sure, I"ll do that. So you"ll have family over for a while and can"t play because of that? Sounds pretty nice!"
"Yeah, it is. I really haven"t seen them in a while. It"s going to become pretty busy around here again, haha." Benjamin laughed, and Samuel seemed to have some kind of idea that the old man actually like quite a lot.
"Well, if you"re interested I could give you a tour around the company. It"s just about an hour from where you live, and I"m sure your grandchildren would have fun trying out the Capsule. We have a little "Sandbox" thing set up where people can play around."
"Oh, that would be great! I"ll have to check in with everyone and see who is interested, and then I"ll let you know." Benjamin said thankfully, already hoping that his grandchildren would be excited for something like that.
"Well, anyway, I have to get going now, Benjamin. Nice talking to you again!"
"Likewise, nice talking to you again, Samuel!" Benjamin replied with a smile before hanging up.
---
Eisen woke up in his bed in the Inn and took a look around. Eight of Melissa"s Bees were currently watching from the walls while Melissa and the two "Leader" bees were sleeping on a table, and Caria was lying in Eisen"s bed together with him.
Around the same time as he did, they also woke up and looked at Eisen happily. "Good morning all of you, did you sleep well?"
Both Melissa and Caria nodded gleefully while Eisen stood up and got dressed, looking around at the other beds that were both empty. "I see, Bree and Komer both woke up already." He muttered as he grabbed his backpack and told the soldier and scout bees to hide inside it before leaving the room and locking it behind him.
In the entrance area of the inn, Eisen already found Komer waiting for him.
"Hey Eisen! Bree is already in the restaurant and ordered some food for us, you coming?" The young man asked while fixing his bright red hair while pointing along the hallway.
"Yeah, sure. By the way, Komer, I need to tell you something." Eisen said quietly while looking around to make sure none of the nearby NPCs could hear him. "From this Sunday in real life on, I won"t be playing this much for a few weeks. I will still be there at the very least every night, so don"t worry about that, but just not really that much during the day."
"Oh, is everything alright?" Komer asked with concern, and Eisen nodded immediately.
"My children and grandchildren are just visiting me for a few weeks, so I want to spend as much time as I can with them." He chuckled while starting to walk toward the restaurant situated inside the Inn.
Komer sighed loudly in response in relief, following the old man in front of him. "I see, have fun, then!" He said with a smile, and Eisen thanked him with a chuckle before remembering what he talked about with Samuel not too long ago.
"Ah, also, I think we, or at least I, should start seeing what your brothers are up to. I was asked to take a look at them by someone I know at Prime Industries." Eisen explained, while Komer started slightly freaking out.
"Wh-what? Really? So you just need to see what they"re doing?" He asked nervously, and Eisen nodded to calm him down.
"Yeah, don"t worry. I won"t fight them or anything, I just want to see what their actual plans are. Do you have any ideas where they might be?" The old man asked while entering the restaurant and looking around to see if he could find Bree, waving at her when he saw her.
Komer nodded slowly while walking toward the table together with Eisen. "Yeah, I think they might actually be here in town. It has the highest population in the whole country, so it would make sense to try and set up shop here, right? And I heard them talking about Ornier, although I didn"t really hear the context." Komer explained as the two of them sat down next to Bree, who tilted her head in confusion.
"Hm? What are you two talking about?" She asked with a smile, and Eisen began to explain while Komer began to freak out.
"Ah, you see, it seems like the Omegas also woke up with some sort of knowledge. I really don"t know where it comes from, but they knew things like their relations.h.i.+ps the moment they appeared. Komer here has two brothers, although they aren"t great people. I thought it would be a great idea to look for them and see what they are up to." Eisen said with a smile, while Komer looked at him in shock at how well he managed to handle this situation. Chuckling softly, the old man looked back at Bree who was smiling brightly.
"Oooh! Really? That"s cool! I didn"t know that! Let"s meet Komer"s brothers, yeah!" She said with a smile, leaving Komer to sigh in relief that Bree believed this so quickly. But for now, the group simply ate breakfast together.