Speed Is King

“Triple S? Even with the two Ancient Gorillas which “somehow” decided to take a stroll in the very area of the battle almost a hundred kilometers from their location?” Game Master Gerald Justice raised a questioning eyebrow at Game Master Seraphin Burns.

She merely chuckled and shook her head. “Trust me, you don’t want to dig into the why behind the two Ancient Gorillas. Leave it alone. It’s beyond our pay grade.”

*-*-*-*-*-*-*

“Hee hee hee! Our plan worked!” Void Walker giggled happily as she reclined on her luxurious sofa back in the Diamond VIP room.

“YOUR plan worked.” Monkey King glared at Void Walker. “If anyone questions us about it, you better say I was an unwilling accomplice and forced to participate in your hare-brained scheme under pain of death.”

“Hahahaha! Stop being such a morose old monkey. No one would question us! How could they, when they didn’t even know that we did anything? I executed those Void Passages perfectly!” Void Walker boasted arrogantly.

*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*

“She executed those Void Passages like a blithering 3 year old baby! I should have her whipped for her incompetence!” A nerdy but ancient looking Void Walker grumbled loudly.

A powerful looking young elven mage looked at the nerdy Void Walker with undisguised amusement. That he could blatantly ignore the fact that his granddaughter just broke a major Gaming Commission rule by interfering in the game was truly amazing to him.

However what truly tickled him to no end and almost blew his mind was the fact that the nerdy Void Walker, who was the current Director of Discipline in the Gaming Commission, was actually in a management meeting with ALL of the Board of Directors when he made his comment about whipping his granddaughter.

And NO ONE protested.

Even the Void Walker’s enemies within the room couldn’t be bothered to pursue the matter of his granddaughter conveying several critical messages that allowed Elliot to survive. They were aiming for bigger fish, and pursuing such a technicality risked an open conflict with the Void Walker, and they weren’t ready for that yet.

Everyone else merely smiled politely.

Talk about fairness!

“But who would have dared to react any other way?” The young mage thought wryly to himself.

The nerdy Void Walker was the Patriarch of one of the strongest Void Walker Clans in the known Universe. And if that wasn’t enough to allow him to do anything he wants, even in the hallowed halls of the Gaming Commission, then his next “achievement” definitely was.

He was also the grandfather of the “blithering 3 year old baby” who was the source of all the consternation that had wracked the entire Board for the past few hours.

That particular 3 year old baby’s “Diamond Boon” had somehow turned back time for 350 full days for Game World Planet Earth and displayed a power that eclipsed even some of the old fogeys in that very room.

It was one thing to turn back time for a few hours, as befitting a proper and reasonable Diamond Boon. But that “blithering 3 year old baby” had broken record after record by somehow allowing her players to roll ridiculously long Reverse Time Walks.

In a previous Game, her sponsored player had rolled a 2-week Reverse Time Walk, won the entire game easily and caused the greatest upset in the history of gambling. And of course, made the Gaming Commission their largest profit in the history of gambling as well. (Which was also probably another huge reason why the Board of Directors treated the old Void Walker so respectfully and with such a large tolerance for his beloved granddaughter’s harmless “antics”.)

The entire universe had erupted in protest, of course. But that didn’t last very long. The Gaming Commission had immediately made all the information and internal communications of the Game public.

The protesters had scoured everything and found no trace of foul play. Even the Diamond Boon granted by the Void Walker had passed all the required high level security triple checks.

The 2-week long Reverse Time Walk was declared an anomaly and the furor had died down after the Gaming Commission’s best efforts.

However, as if mocking the Gaming Commission and their attempts to lead a quiet but highly profitable life, the “blithering 3 year old’s” latest Diamond Boon had actually produced a randomized Reverse Time Walk value of 350 days!

Even powerful adult Void Walkers would have trouble doing that on an entire game world. And somehow, this little Void Walker girl had managed to do it within the Power Parameters of a ridiculously small Diamond Boon!

How in all of the heavens did she manage to do that?

But irregardless of how she did it, the uproar had already begun, and it was definitely on track to be the most controversial and largest one yet.

“Now that the little issue with the cheating Game Master has been resolved, I believe we should go back to discuss the main issue at hand.” The powerful young elven mage spoke up smoothly.

“Yes. Back to the main issue. Many gamblers are demanding their money back, claiming that we are running an inside job to fix this particular game. Although this is merely a small game planet, and a full refund would not even register as a blip in our revenue, we cannot afford the damage to our reputation. I say we release our records publicly once more to shut them up.” A stocky dwarf in an ornately decorated mithril armor rumbled in a deep voice.

“No. I disagree.” An exquisitely beautiful woman in dazzling golden armor shook her head lightly. “We’ve shown them our records when they complained once before. And we have proven our innocence despite their gravest misgivings. To show them our records once more this time would prove to be an extremely dangerous act. How long till they start demanding for us to release ALL of our records? I say we get to the root of the problem first.”

“Oh? What do you think is the root of the problem, Director Goldwing?” The young elven mage asked the beautiful woman politely.