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Watching KnightCrawler play my game was fun, he reminded me more of the practical joker from the cartoon than the assassin from the movie. But it looked like I caught him towards the end of his stream, because after watching for just a couple of minutes he logged off. That was fine, because when he did I decided to check the web and found a very interesting post. Tony Stark had announced he was willing to hire the person behind this revolutionary piece of tech and pay them whatever salary they wanted if they worked for him.
I wasn't really interested in money, it kind of lost its meaning when I could just will some into existence and it barely dipped into the pool of power I've collected so far. In fact it didn't even exceed my rate of energy collection. And that rate would only increase as more and more people started to trust the Oasis. When nothing bad happened and soon enough good things would start to happen to them once my plans were finished they would be kicking themselves for not trusting me sooner.
On the other hand this Tony Stark was the MCU version, I knew this because he already had his I am Iron Man moment. He might have traits from his other versions, I would only find out if I got to know him, but doing a deep dive into someone's life before meeting them would take the fun out of everything. Plus who wouldn't want to meet Tony Stark? So I decided to graciously accept his offer, skimming a bit of power off the top I found a place away from cameras before shifting into my Tet form.
If I was going to do this I still wanted to keep some separation between Tet and I. If for nothing else than some peace and quiet when Tet eventually became famous enough to be recognized. Which was kind of an inevitability at this point, I was shifting the paradigm afterall, and there were already some posts about me from the few interactions I've had in this form. After I shifted into my Tet form, which by the way looked like David Tenant in Doctor Who, not like the child from No Game No Life, I used my powers to find out where Tony was.
Luckily enough he was in his Mabiul mansion, one last flex of my powers and I was standing at his front door. "May I ask you who you are and how you arrived here in such an abrupt manner?" The British voice coming from the speaker beside the door told me that it could be no one but JARVIS asking. "Well, Mr. Stark tried to get my attention so I decided to oblige his request."
The pause that came next was telling as the AI relayed the conversation to his creator. The response came quickly as the door unlocked with an audible click, " Please come in Mr. Stark will be joining you shortly." Walking into the lavish house I looked around and was frankly disappointed, I thought as one of humanity's best and brightest Tony Stark would have better taste.
But the decor was bland, expensive no doubt, but it looked like it had never been lived in. From everything I've heard about the man I suppose that his lab would be different but I don't think I'll have the opportunity to see it today. I was a stranger and while I may have information he wanted that wasn't enough to get an invitation to his innermost sanctum. And I wasn't rude enough to just barge in.
"Well hello there, Jarvis told me we had a visitor but I have to say I was expecting someone a bit more impressive." I smirked and turned around flexing my powers to briefly change my appearance from Matt Hamel, Taylor Swift, and even Spidermonkey before turning back into David Tenant. "With powers like mine, personal appearance becomes more like clothes you wear than something carefully curated through years of ingrained habits."
The change in my appearance got little more than a raised eyebrow and I couldn't blame him. Mystique wasn't known to the general populace but anyone high up in the political landscape knew about her. Someone that could take the appearance of anyone was someone to look out for and take precautions against. After all, someone like that, without care about what effects their actions may cause could crash economies, topple governments, or just cause global chaos.
Not to mention the personal damage she could cause by turning into friends or family. "So what do you want? Cause I made that job offer while I was drunk, didn't think you would actually show up. Though if you want to you can still name your price. I'd be an idiot to give up such an opportunity." I noticed rather quickly that he had a tendency to ramble, though I wasn't sure if I made him nervous or if that was just his natural disposition.
"Sorry to disappoint but I am not looking for a job, money becomes rather meaningless when you could literally make it out of thin air. No, one of the reasons I stopped by was because you intrigue me. A man who turned his entire life around, to go from a war profiteer to a super hero, a man like that is impressive. So I wanted to come and meet such a man." Tony smirked as I stroked his ego, "So what do you think? Do I live up to your expectations?"
I shook my head, "Not yet, I think you are still in the process of changing but I do believe that one day you may reach your full potential. And on that day you will truly redeem yourself for the harm you have profited from." He frowned when I mentioned his past but instead of snark he merely nodded and I couldn't be happier, a Tony Stark that can take criticism is one on the path to redemption.
Turning around Stark walked towards his bar before pouring himself a drink and taking a sip. After he wet his pallet he turned back around, "Now then, care to explain how your app works? Because I can't make heads or tails of it. The only coding is for the actual display, there is literally nothing beyond that." Smiling I suppressed the laughter bubbling up from inside me, it wouldn't help me to laugh at his irritation.
"That's because there is no programming as you would understand it, at least beyond the screen. Your devices are merely being used as a conduit to enter my realm. Using the power generated in that realm I am able to change reality the same way you would rewrite a program on a computer." Stark stared at me in shock as he tried to understand the enormity of what I just said.
A being that is able to program reality was so far beyond his understanding it went past the caveman trying to use a smartphone analogy. I waited for his surprise to fade and when it turned into suspicion I knew he had an inkling of why I was really here. "Why are you telling me all this? I mean I guess if I was as powerful as you claim to be my own reasons for doing things could be as flimsy as yours, but you said that was one of the reasons you came here. So why are you really here?"
My smile couldn't help but widen, it looked like I had made the right choice, now everything just needed to fall into place. "I was telling the truth when I said I came to see the sort of man you were, but it wasn't just to sate my curiosity. Now that I have an inkling to the kind of man you are, I have a business proposition for you." Stark's eyes didn't exactly light up at the mention of business but he did lean a bit forward, interested in what I could offer him. And what I could possibly need from him as well.
The next few hours were spent talking with one of the most brilliant people on the planet. And it was time well spent, we didn't just talk about my proposition, we talked about the games I was planning for the future, stories from both of our pasts, I even voiced some ideas about armor designs. But all good things must come to an end and eventually we settled back down in order to iron out the details for our agreement.
"So in return for making the device I want I will help you with your little paladinium problem. Now how exactly do you want me to solve it? I could remove the problem entirely, or I could give you the information you need to solve it yourself, or I could turn you in the right direction. Your choice." I gave the man those three options as another test, only this one wasn't solely a test of his character but also a test of his trust in me.
If he chose the first option then it was both a good and a bad thing. It was awesome that he trusted me that much, but it was a bad sign that he let people in so easily. We may have gotten along rather well but we literally met a few hours ago, and in the movies Stark really had a habit of trusting the wrong people. Something we would need to work on if we ever expanded our cooperation.
The second option was a little better, as it showed he was a little more cautious. But it also told me that he was desperate for answers and the confidence he showed on the surface was just a mask. If that was true then I would really need to work on bringing that confidence up and take a close look at the people around him. That amount of masking was not healthy and had to come from somewhere, of course it could just be unresolved trauma from a multitude of sources.
However that wasn't much better as the people close to him should have seen something and if they really cared about him they would have forced their help down his throat. The third option was the best one in my opinion as it showed he was willing to trust me a little, but was still cautious enough to try and find answers himself. All while being confident enough in finding the answer himself that he wouldn't be begging for scraps.
He hadn't had his big public fight with Rhodey yet as his birthday was still a couple weeks away. So I was hopeful there was still more than enough time to pull him away from the edge. "I'll take the fourth option." Of course being Tony Stark he had to go and surprise me with this, shaking my head at his smug look I responded in the only way I could. "And pray tell, what exactly is the fourth option?"
His response had my eyes widening in shock, I had never even thought of the possibility but now that I had I couldn't help but laugh after my shock wore off. "Alright, we can do that, but just to let you know, I have no idea if that will work. I know the others will, but this is uncharted territory. Are you sure you want to do this?" If it was possible he looked even more smug than before, "Of course, I'm Tony freaking Stark. I achieve the impossible every day before I even eat breakfast."
Shaking my head again, I concentrate a bit and a crate appears on the floor between us. "There, that should be enough, I even added a few extra that you might find interesting." Tony looked absolutely gleeful and I let myself out as he practically started to tear the crate apart to get to what was inside. There were just some things that a man should never see another man do.
But once I left I realized I didn't really have anything left to do today, so I headed home and spent the rest of the day just going through the various streams that had popped up. Some were hilarious and I made sure to bookmark them so I could find them again whenever I needed a laugh, while others were very serious about exploring each game. It wasn't just Minecraft that offered streaming, it was the same for Tinker Tower and Need for Speed.
Of course there were other requirements for gaining access to the streaming ability. But I also made sure that once you gained access in one game that ability would carry over into Oasis and every other game you played. It would be rather annoying after all if you had to get an emblem in every game in order to stream as you played. So while getting the emblem was a little less based on luck with the other two games a couple players had switched from Minecraft after buying it there.
The fact that there were less players in both of the newer games combined didn't surprise me that much. For one they were new, so a lot of people hadn't even heard about them yet. There was also the fact these games were much less complicated than Minecraft, sure they blew all other games in this world out of the water. But one game focused on racing and another on waves of attacking monsters didn't really measure up to an open world sandbox.
I tried to make Need for Speed open world, and it was to an extent. But it was still focused on racing, Minecraft didn't have that limitation. So while many still liked the game more and more were drawn to the sheer breadth of possibilities offered in Minecraft. And I was fine with that, it wasn't like every game I made was going to be a blockbuster, even with the enormous advantage I had.
Eventually I planned to open some sort of design hub where people could make their own games or even add mods to already existing games. But I wanted to wait until my masterpiece came out before I added that particular aspect. It wasn't like being selfish in this instance was causing any real harm. People didn't even know it was a possibility and what they didn't know wouldn't hurt them, at least for now.
Once more I found myself at a point where thinking and making plans only strove to drive up my stress levels. So I pushed that train of thought to the side and started to get ready for bed. It was a bit early but could anyone really blame me? If you had something like I had waiting for you every time you went to sleep, would you spend the night scrolling on your phone or go to sleep as soon as possible?
For me it was no contest, so about an hour after I decided to go to bed I was once more faced with the problem of going to sleep when I was too excited to feel tired. Luckily I had a little idea while I was eating dinner and with a flex of will I used a bit of my power to cast Mystogan's sleep spell. And before I could even complete another round of counting sheep I fell into Morpheous' embrace once more.
The current advanced chapters are:
Bael Ch1
Cubed Ch1
The Titan Ch1
Free Range Ch2
The Garden Ch1
Not All Heroes Wear Capes Ch4
Grimoire Ch4
Master of Magic Ch4
Seal Smith Ch2
The Game Ch4-7
Millennium Ch3-4
Kingdom Ch 2
God of Games Ch8
Salvation Ch1
Growth Ch1
Ark Ch8-9
March Forward Ch1-2
Tinker Ch2
The Professor Ch2
A Real Gamer System Ch6-7
Mix and Match Ch1
Myths and Legends Ch4
King of Media Ch1-2
Puzzle Maker Ch4