She Rules the Dungeon

Richard woke up as usual. Otta was still asleep and he didn't have the heart to wake her up after pulling an all-nighter. Breakfast was a sandwich that Otta prepared last night. Everything was progressing smoothly. After their rookie award, Five Lives had gained a wider fan base and more adventurers are beginning to spread the word around. Michelle had been a great help when it came to dealing with the questions and comments some adventurers had. Richard didn't know how that lady did it; it must be sorcery. Grace had started coming over once every two days to test something. Currently, the partners were working on improving the flight mechanics.

After grabbing a bite from the kitchen, Richard turned on his laptop and logged into his creator account. His digital assistant alerted him that he had eight mails, one marked as urgent from Dr Whitestone and twenty-five articles related to the latest technology waiting for him to read. Richard decided to take a look at the good scientist's mail. Dr Whitestone hardly marked anything as urgent in the mail. He usually called them if there was an urgent matter to discuss. The last time a mail was marked as urgent, it was because Richard had forgotten to submit his latest dungeon draft before launching it live. It was a warning mail from PJP and the programmer had to write a two-page long apology.

Richard scanned the contents of the mail briefly and blinked. The words eluded him the first time, the caffeine not doing its job yet. However once the coffee kicked in, Richard choked on his saliva. This was terrible news!

"Otta... Oi Otta! Wake up! We're in trouble now!"

Richard pulled the blankets off the sleeping woman mercilessly, sending her tumbling all the way to the hard floor. Otta gave a startled yelp when she hit the ground butt first. It was the first time she'd been so rudely awakened and she scrambled to get away the piercing chill of the floor. Where was the damn blanket when you needed it?

"Otta! Get up, we have to discuss."

The red-head glared at Richard. She'd only gone to bed about two hours before having stayed all the way until eight that morning. The whole night, she'd worked on revising the wings and the animation of flying. Richard was there with her till about five in the morning before he went to sleep. It was now slightly past ten in the morning and the man who slept so well before her had the nerve to disturb her... what was so important that couldn't wait?

"You better have a good reason for waking me up two hours into my first good sleep in three days or you'll find yourself kicked out of my apartment..."

Richard nodded. "I'll prepare the coffee, you get freshened. It's more important than anything else, If Dr Whitestone's information is accurate, Five Lives could be in danger."

That got Otta's attention. She didn't question Richard further and went to the bathroom while he readied her coffee.

***

"I'm so sorry!" Dr Whitestone cried. Otta and Richard booked the fastest ride to PJP's headquarters. Dr Whitestone was sitting beside another man who introduced himself as Alvin from the Ministry of Dungeon Technology. The partners of Five Lives didn't know what to say or how to react to the news. Truth be told, there was hardly anything they could do over spilt milk or in this case, spilt information and technology.

Alvin remained silent the whole time. Otta didn't know what to do so she turned to Richard who was equally silent. All those sleepless nights spent on perfecting the new dungeons and improving the dungeon experience just completely robbed from underneath their noses. Otta couldn't blame the government. Roomscape was a fairly new software that was still under fine tuning. However, that didn't mean she wasn't upset.

It was as if someone had stolen her baby and told her that her baby still belonged to her in their family registry but was being raised by someone else instead of her. The government wasn't doing anything about it either and called it fair play since the baby belonged to her legally. Alvin remained unmoved even after delivering the news and Dr Whitestone looked incredibly guilty. Otta couldn't lash out in front of that stone-faced man because the good scientist was really apologetic about the fiasco. Richard appeared cool on the outside and matched Alvin's cold stare with his own. However, Otta wasn't fooled into thinking that her partner was unaffected. After working together for a good amount of time, Otta was fairly acquainted with Richard's expressions. From what she saw, Richard was livid.

"Could I just reconfirm my understanding of the situation, Alvin..." Richard started out and Otta froze. That voice was only used when Richard was close to destroying the laptop. The red-head only wished that her partner would wait till there were no cameras in the vicinity to pummel the poor government official into the pavement.

Alvin didn't give any indication that he wanted Richard to stop so Richard continued. "You're telling us that Five Lives' custom programs and personalised library is open for all to access, copy and use in Roomscape? The programs that we worked so hard on with trial and errors, invested in and invented?"

Alvin didn't react to the sarcasm dripping in Richard's voice. He simply nodded as if acknowledging a common fact that didn't concern him. Perhaps in his eyes, it really didn't matter. However to Richard and Otta, it was a different story. To PJP who had supported them, it was a blatant act of betrayal. There wasn't a more shameless case of plagiarism in the entire history of mankind. The fact that the government allowed this sort of act made Dr Whitestone both regretful towards the young entrepreneurs and spiteful towards the government. Alvin didn't seem to want to comment about the actions the government will take to rectify the situation or compensate for the loses. Richard wondered if he would be arrested for hacking the government archives and exposing them using the media.

Otta shuddered. She wasn't sure what was going through Richard's head but that smirk sent shivers down her spine. That was the face of a man when he was plotting murder. Well, not murder but something evil for sure. Otta wouldn't put it past her partner to condemn someone to eternal hell. With his gift, he very well might create a personal hell on Earth for each of his enemies, starting with Alvin.

Alvin was calm. The poker face never cracked. Instead of denying it, he simply replied that under the clause and contract signed by dungeon creators using Roomscape, such things could occur and the government would be in no way responsible. Every dungeon creator who used Roomscape agree to bear the responsibility of such losses and not hold the government liable. Dr Whitestone couldn't refute it as there was such a term in the contract that Otta signed. He had checked it twice and even brought it to a law practitioner in hopes of finding a loophole. However, the government had covered all bases and this loss couldn't be recovered. It was useless to fight against the government about this and PJP's higher-ups were willing to throw the scientist to break the terrible news to their most valued dungeon creator partners.

Otta felt sorry for Dr Whitestone. It was unfortunate for them that their opponent was the government. She should have known better than to lay all her cards on the table and put all her ideas in one basket. Now that Five Lives' code and ideas were stolen, she could only apologise to Richard who'd been working so hard to make them come true.

While Otta and Dr Whitestone seemed to have given up, Richard still had the fire in him to fight. If this was how the government wanted to play, Richard would entertain them and beat them in their own game. Since others were allowed to copy their ideas and code without getting away with consequences, Richard can do the same. Moreover, those codes were left open for all to utilise once it is included in Roomscape. Richard would like to see how many dungeon creators can copy a code that isn't in common language. Roomscape was an excellent sandbox for creators. The only downside was that all libraries could be shared and there were no encryption functions. Richard didn't think that the government would make such a novice mistake. He'd thought too highly about the developers sitting in the government labs and it was a mistake that he wouldn't repeat again.

"I understand, Alvin. As the government representative would you dare claim that any measures of protection against plagiarism taken by dungeon creators against their rivals will be considered justified as long as it is within the means of Roomscape's capabilities?"

Alvin frowned. Richard's question was valid and ordinarily, he would've agreed. However, he knew a thing or two about the programer's background. Richard Clarkson was considered a genius in his field. He was the brain behind Roomscape before it happened and agreeing to such terms can be dangerous. Alvin didn't reply immediately as he thought of the best way to get out of this. The government wanted no part to play with the dungeon creators and their petty politics. The only thing they were interested in was money and supporting the science guilds. PJP was a fairly big player that they've upset, there was no telling what PJP would do if Richard decides to strike back. Given his skills, Richard could very well take control of Roomscape's system and ban all other dungeon creators from accessing it. Alvin didn't want to think of the consequences of agreeing with such a vague statement. Hacking Roomscape wasn't part of the contract and it wasn't considered a crime if Richard didn't steal any data from anyone. It was a tricky situation.

"Could you be more specific about what you mean? How far do your measures of protection go?"

Richard smirked. He had the upper hand and even though Otta and Dr Whitestone didn't know what he was up to, they saw a small flicker of hope before them.

"According to the contract, dungeon creators are not required to report their development to the government for approval. All approvals will be taken care of by the creator's respective scientist guild partners. I believe I am not obliged to answer your questions."

"The government manages Roomscape. Any changes to the software made by an unapproved party must be made known to the government. I think I deserve the right to know your precautionary measures."

Richard rolled his eyes. "The government does indeed reserve the right to know if anyone is meddling with Roomscape's mainframe program. However, the government does not possess the right to meddle with how the creators use Roomscape. Under the data protection act and privacy policy of Roomscape, creators reserve the right to keep their data separate from the software. That means I don't have to necessarily use Roomscape to create my dungeons. I only need an administrator's account on Roomscape to qualify as a creator. The publishing of my dungeon goes through my scientist guild partner. I see no need for the government to interfere with how I design my dungeons."

Alvin swallowed. Richard was hinting at not using Roomscape to design his dungeons. Although nothing about that was stated in the contract, the government wanted to monopolise the new dungeon creations thus introducing Roomscape. It would be problematic for Richard to create another dungeon creator software to compete with them.

"The government doesn't approve of any dungeon creating software for new dungeons other than Roomscape. I hope you can understand this and stick to the contract."

Richard glared at Alvin. He was about to tear the man's throat out when Otta grabbed Richard's arm. The programmer was annoyed that Otta tried to stop him but was taken aback when he saw that sparkle in her eyes. Did she have an idea?

"Sorry Alvin. I think my partner here is too heated up. It isn't easy for us to accept what you are saying after suffering such a heavy loss. Could we have some time alone to discuss? We'll be back."

Alvin couldn't say anything to stop them because Dr Whitestone interrupted him. Otta gave the good scientist a thumbs-up as she pulled Richard out of the room. They hijacked an empty meeting room that was soundproof. Richard checked the room for cameras and bugs before giving Otta the all-clear sign.

"What do you have in mind? If you didn't stop me I would've smashed his face into his skull."

Otta grinned. "I would've done the same but with a baseball bat. Your idea was brilliant. I think I know what we can do. The government basically wants to protect their image and keep Roomscape as the only mean for new dungeon creators to enter the market. It's mean but if we can't work out of the box, we can always work in it."

"Hacking the government warrants life-sentence imprisonment."

Otta deadpanned. Richard was a genius but he had his dumb moments. This was one of them. "Nobody is asking you to hack. You know the flaws of Roomscape. You know how it works in and out. Why can't you do the reverse of hacking then? It should be easy for you right? The government will be unable to say "I prohibit anyone from encrypting their programs in our broken library system" or something along that line. I doubt many dungeon creators hire programers and even if they did, can anyone beat you?"

Richard blinked. He thought that Otta had a crazy counterattack plan when she forcefully dragged him out. He never expected for Otta to take the blow and play defensive. "Are you telling me to take it lying down that those fools have stolen our ideas and used it without receiving any consequence? Do you know the position we are in? Despite winning rookie award, they've stolen more than half our customer base and charging them dirt cheap prices for the same thing we slaved on for WEEKS!"

Otta was intimidated by Richard's fury. His words stung but she stood firm. "What do you think Five Lives is? With you and I combined, do you think those filthy cheaters can climb over us? Don't underestimate Five Lives! So what if they've stolen our programs and sold it for trash? So what if we lost our customer base? So what if we have competition? It's only a matter of time! Are you simply going to give up because someone else copied what was ours? Aren't you going to show them what the difference between a genius and an amateur is? You brag about your skills so much. Isn't this the time to be showing what you can really do? Anybody can create dungeons with flying skills. Anyone can copy the RPG concept. Anyone can replicate multiplayer raids and storylines. "

She grabbed him by the collar of his shirt and looked into his obsidian eyes. "Five Lives is more than all that. It's only possible because of my dreams and your ability to make them come true. I've not even made five percent of my dreams come true. Don't you dare back out on me now just because some losers decide to exploit the system and hide behind the filthy government! I'm going to make you work so hard, you better be prepared."

Richard was stunned. The world that Otta saw, he wanted to see it too. At that very moment, he knew that it was the right decision to lend Otta his skills. The way her passion burned was exactly what Richard needed. All those years of being used made him jaded. He hid away behind a blanket of indifference and buried himself in the swamp of hopelessness. Otta's passion burned that blanket away. There was no denying that his greatest joy in years was spending time bantering with this woman about her ideas. Her determination was enough to carry the both of them out of this dark woods and Richard decided that he would believe in her. He had nothing more to lose.

"I'm just a useless programer. Are you sure you want to continue trusting me? Our programs could be stolen all over again. We can't fight the government."

Otta wanted to cry. For Richard to look so empty, it pained her. He was a genius! Without him, none of the things Five Lives was now would be possible. Why didn't he have more faith in himself?

"It doesn't matter. I need you. If we can't fight the government, we just need to outrun them. You're my partner in this. If you leave now, Five Lives will surely die. I can't make my dreams come true. I don't know anything about programming. Without you, I will start implementing things like Player Killing festivals and Kill Streak buffs in the arena."

Richard laughed. Leave it to Otta to come up with one of history's worst ideas ever.

"I'll make everybody eat chicken shaped cakes to recover in the dungeons and only allow uniform armour to be sold by the blacksmith!"

"I get it! I'll stay so please promise me you won't ever do that... it's horrible to even imagine it. How do you survive with that kind of common sense?"

Otta smiled and shrugged. "Raymond brings food so I'll be fine for a while. The app you installed on my phone is still tied to your bank account after all."

Richard rolled his eyes. "Remind me to change it when we get back. Seriously, what would you do without me?"

Otta was glad that Richard was back. Government or not, they would overcome this. Dr Whitestone was behind them after all. Five Lives wouldn't die so easily, PJP wouldn't allow it. Otta had a plan. A plan that required all the help she could get. Those cheap imitators wouldn't be getting away with it.

"I'll probably starve to death and never be able to eat fried chicken again. All jokes aside, I'll be depending on you a lot now more than ever... partner."

"Same to you. Let's aim for the top, I need to give the government a taste of humiliation to get even for what happened."

Otta gasped. "How could you?! We're partners... shouldn't my dream of eating fried chicken come first?"

Richard patted her head and snorted. "Dream on. Now get your lazy ass over, we got a government representative to flay."

The red-head grinned and elbowed him playfully. The power duo was back and Alvin was in for a nasty surprise.