She Rules the Dungeon

The moment Grace and Michelle heard that Otta wanted to introduce them to someone, they cleared their schedule to make the meeting possible. The quiet red-head has never introduced them to anyone before. Could it be a man?

Otta groaned at her friends' one-tracked mind. Richard was in every definition a man but he wasn't what they thought he was. The red-head wasn't given the chance to explain herself before her friends agreed quickly before shrieking in excitement and cutting the line.

Just two days earlier, the raid dungeon was launched. It was very well received and there were more positive reviews than negative. The haters were also slowly losing their voices. Richard had holed himself up, working on improving Five Lives' world mechanics. Otta was excited and decided to go all out, redesigning the way guests and reward functions work. To encourage adventurers to commit long-term, Otta decided to introduce untradeable perk items for adventurers who participate in her events. The first event was to introduce the new fishing and farming instance. Fishing is a replacement for beginner health potions, costing no in-game money at all. Farming was a replacement for beginner mana potions that was also free for adventurers who didn't want to spend the credits they earned and save them up for other uses or cash them out.

Richard thought that it was a brilliant addition to the dungeon games. They split their respective jobs. Otta was to create the fishing and farming dungeon spaces while Richard worked on the programming aspect.

"I'm also thinking about introducing an exclusive fishing and farming dungeon instance for all allied guilds with Five Lives."

Richard raised a brow. He'd never heard of guilds allying themselves with any dungeon makers. "What do you mean?"

Otta grinned. She was greatly inspired by Richard's personal grocery delivery arrangement and wanted to bring this concept to Five Lives to secure a regular number of adventurers. Dr Whitestone has expressed that PJP was interested to be Five Lives' main scientist guild partner who will absorb all R&D cost and provide support for the dungeon development. Otta was thrilled but Richard couldn't be bothered. He simply told her to bill them his equipment cost and grocery bills.

Dr Whitestone was slightly surprised that Otta didn't request for more but after a short explanation about Richard's addition, he chuckled and told them to focus on developing Five Lives.

"Remember the deal with Raymond? I'm considering offering adventurer guilds perks for allying with Five Lives. They will receive customised feature dungeons for all guild members participating in our dungeon and be the first to try out future quests and dungeons before the official launch. We need feedback and bug testers to save our time. Grace will be our tester during the development phase if things go well during the meet-up next week. However, alpha stage testing should be left to the guilds. We have too many things to work on after all."

Richard paused and looked away from the screen. "It's a good idea but do you think they would be interested?"

Otta grinned and gave him a thumbs up. "Don't worry. At the very least, we already have one guild who will agree to it. Grace's guild had called her back some time ago to discuss a possible collaboration with Five Lives after seeing her live stream when Five Lives first debut."

Richard hummed in approval. Teaming up with Otta was definitely a right decision. There was never a boring day whenever he was with her. The timid girl seemed to come up with the strangest ideas. Some of them were interesting and he couldn't wait to work on them. However, others were simply bizarre and he didn't want to encourage them. For example, Otta brought up the idea of adding a witching hour event daily between certain hours like three to five in the morning to give players random buff effects to help them hunt more efficiently. Richard thought the random buff effects idea was refreshing but he didn't think encouraging others to follow their unhealthy lifestyle was advisable. Besides, most maintenance works were done during those hours to avoid disappointing the adventurers who'd reserved the day for their dungeon.

They discussed many other features such as a player trade dungeon, a PVP dungeon and the quest storyline's ending.

"By right, all main storylines have a definite ending. Telesia's main quest will be over after the war is stopped and peace is returned to the land. Typically in an RPG game, the game ends once the main quest is completed. However, because this is a dungeon, life continues. An adventurer should not end their adventure simply because they saved the day. There are many things waiting to be seen and explored like the farmer who might have discovered a unique fruit or a rumour of a graveyard that only appears on during a certain condition. We can create many side quests to keep Five Lives going. Not to mention, events and collectables. The attachment to a game will never die so we don't have to worry about it."

"I thought you were against PVP action..." Richard mused as Otta rambled on and scribbled into her list of things to do. The small piece of paper was covered in more ink than blank spaces and the programmer wondered if Otta could read what she wrote.

"I am. However, there is only so much an adventurer could pit their skills against. For all the artificial intelligence in the world, dungeon fights are predictable. Humans are the ones with the ability to evolve and constantly surprise. Of course, to encourage adventurers to go against someone else to improve their skills, I intend to reward them."

"Credits again?" Richard getting bored of the idea that money runs their dungeons. If you wanted better equipment, use credits. If you needed healing potions, use money. If you wanted perks, use money. Everything was controlled by money and it didn't sit right with Richard.

Otta nodded. "For now. I want to include a reward system of tokens or something like a second currency special to only adventurers who participate in the weekly PVP ranking tournament. They should be able to exchange it with special consumables or collectables after accumulating a certain number."

Richard nodded. A second currency sounded good but it posed a new set of problems. "What kind of collectables do you intend to introduce? If the perks aren't good enough, not many will be interested to particpate."

Otta grinned and mischief sparkled in her eyes. "Remember how we only introduced the fishing and farming instances? Public members have to share and fight for space as well as resources for farms and fishing. Private fishing and farming instances will require a monthly subscription. Guild controlled instances are managed by guilds. However, all of these could only provide beginner to intermediate potions. They are unable to provide high to legendary grade potions or potions with special effects. What if the prize for the PVP tokens include a lab deed that allows adventurers to own a private lab to create their own potions as long as they have the materials and recipes? Recipes could be bought from the token shop or exchanged after hidden or special quest completion."

Richard choked on his espresso. That was a huge project coming up but he was excited. Otta really knew how to captivate her audience. Even though Five Lives was recreating the definition of a dungeon, Richard thought that it was a brilliant move. RPG and MMORPG had always been rigid. By introducing the concept into dungeons that could give adventurers a full control of their actions and decisions, that last wall has been broken. PJP would definitely not let Otta go if they heard this. It was a whole new realm to understanding humans, not just the flight or fight instincts.

"Sadly, I don't know if I can successfully introduce the market dungeon..." Otta sighed.

"Why?" Richard was surprised. There weren't many things Otta wasn't confident about. She was always very self-assured even when it came to the craziest ideas. "If you're worried about the scams that might occur during player trades, I can control that from the system. Nothing escapes me. We can always change the dungeon properties and boundaries."

Otta shook her head. She had faith in Richard's legendary programming skills but this wasn't about making it possible. "Do you think the government will allow dungeon trading? We're talking about trading using currencies that can be converted to money. It's almost similar to buying a digital product or service. We're a dungeon business, not a trading business."

Richard nodded. That was tricky indeed. With the new concept dungeons launched to counter the protests of dungeon manipulation, it was quite ambiguous to what was allowed and disallowed. Otta's dungeon concept of introducing RPG features was something out of the ordinary. PVP dungeons that allowed betting were also not considered ordinary using the old dungeon standards.

"I guess we'll have to discuss this further in future. However, it's a great idea. I just need to review all the items in the library and recategorise them into tradeable or untradeable items. To prevent market fluctuation and monopoly of any single items we could also put a price floor and ceiling into place if necessary. However, I'm worried that adventurers will become more reliant on armour with status boost instead of actual skills to earn money. PJP won't be able to collect data if they do not participate with the sense of danger at the back of their minds."

That problem had long been anticipated by Otta. She shuffled around in search for her sketchpad. There were several measures she'd come up with to prevent such things.

"Here it is!" the red-head grinned happily as she pulled out the sketchpad buried under a pile of clothes. The apartment had gotten a little messy after Richard's stay but neither of them had the spare energy to comment or do anything about it.

"I have some ideas to prevent that from happening. You did mention that you can add functions to analyse player behaviours during dungeons. I think we can put that system to use for players on PJP's disappointment list. Armour and skills are meant to aid, not be relied on completely. For adventurers who do not risk anything, we'll teach them the meaning of putting their lives on the line. It may sound unfair but I think it's completely justified."

Richard squinted at the page. There were some rough scribbles and a poorly drawn diagram that he couldn't understand. Thankfully, Otta was kind enough to explain them in detail.

"I call the first method "Operation Surge". This happens when the system detects a player on PJP's disappointment list entering the dungeon. During the dungeon play, if the player has not shown improvement after the first half of the boss fight, a blood moon will occur."

"Blood moon?"

Otta grinned. She loved horror and thrillers. The blood moon was taken from a supernatural phenomenon and many who were caught in a blood moon wouldn't escape.

"The dungeon sky will suddenly darken and a red moon will appear. When that happens, the player is given a chance to take the boos out within ten seconds. Naturally, that is impossible. According to the storyline, monsters will be driven insane and given a frenzied status that will increase all status by two hundred percent and lose rationality. Given the circumstances, what do you think will happen to the player?"

Richard blinked and then grinned evilly. He knew that Otta was brilliant but this plan was a display of something darker he never expected. "You're not triggering their fight or flight instincts in the face of death, you're triggering the death card. Don't you think that's a little unfair if it happens all the time?"

Otta tutted. "That's why we have the next plan. I dub it "Operation Black Cat"! It's simple. When the system detects an adventurer in PJP's disappointment list in a dungeon, their equipment will unluckily break upon contact with a monster. Armour and weapons will become useless so they'll have to learn how to fight without their aid. Of course, we'll announce this to be a random feature to also encourage adventurers to check out the blacksmith more frequently. Armour will receive damage that will reduce efficiency for regular players but it wouldn't break immediately during a dungeon. It can be repaired free of charge by completing a quest and gaining the blacksmith's favour. How's this for sabotage?"

Richard chuckled. Otta had an adorable side to her occasionally and this was one of those times. "Pretty good. However, they could easily buy spare weapons and armour. What are you going to do then?"

Otta sighed. "I didn't want to introduce this method but if they force my hand, I'm afraid we might have to resort to force. I hereby introduce the ultimatum. Meet "Operation Princess"!"

Richard deadpanned at Otta's naming sense. He knew that he was bad but Otta was worse. Sometimes he questioned if the name Otta was chosen by herself. It didn't make a lot of sense and the programmer wanted to hire someone specialised in coming up with non-crappy names that the public won't cringe at.

"This doesn't apply only in dungeons, it can happen anywhere in Five Lives! A player will be randomly kidnapped and teleported by Telesia for a secret mission. Telesia is unable to descend to the mortal world and requires the adventurer to retrieve a bracelet that she dropped. The bracelet has fallen into King Kalon's old castle ruins and it is full of traps and monsters. Not even Seer Reina's followers could retrieve it. The quest only ends when the adventurer successfully retrieves the bracelet. Even death is not an option as the adventurer will respawn automatically in the last safe space area in their progress. How's this? Surely they will develop their flight or fight instincts. All equipment, items and skills will be locked by the system upon teleportation due to a 'magic field surrounding the ruins'. I have not decided on the secret dungeon boss yet but it will definitely put the adventurer in danger. If they log out, their progress will be saved and resumed the next time they log in."

Richard grimaced. "That's evil... but I think it'll work as long as the adventurer does not hire someone else to clear the mission using his account."

Otta shrugged. "It's not a problem. The PJP disappointment list may contain their names after a review in a few month's time if they show no improvement. We can use any of these three methods to squeeze some results out. I can come up with a lot more methods if none of these work."

Richard shuddered. He was glad that he chose to be a dungeon creator instead of an adventurer. He didn't know if it was possible for adventurers to develop dungeon phobia and he didn't want to find out.

It was four in the afternoon and Richard yawned. Otta saw the large yawn and looked at the clock. "Oh my! It's already four... we should get some sleep."

Richard nodded sleepily and saved his work progress. Ever since they started working together, the sleep cycle had evolved. Both Otta and Richard discovered that they had nocturnal tendencies and redesigned their schedule to work more efficiently. Richard preferred to sleep twice a day. He'd sleep once at around three or four in the afternoon, wake up for dinner and work through the night until about six in the morning before sleeping again only to wake up for lunch. Who needs breakfast anyway? Otta, on the other hand, slept at around four or five in the afternoon all the way until midnight daily. She was always the one to prepare their meals and receive parcels or calls since Richard was mostly out of it. Initially, it was difficult to catch the timing that Richard woke up to discuss about her ideas but gradually, they fell into a comfortable although slightly odd routine. Life had never been better.

***

"You must be Richard," Michelle smiled and Grace grinned cheekily at Otta who blushed.

"You're such a lucky girl... how did you snare such a cutey?" Grace teased and Otta's face exploded into a bright shade of red.

Richard was as cool as a cucumber and bowed. "I'm Richard Clarkson, Otta's partner for Five Lives."

Michelle was slightly confused but after some explanation from Grace who knew a little about the programmer, understanding dawned on her.

"I see. I'm supposing that the purpose of our meeting isn't for some announcement that Otta is dating you?"

Richard's eyebrow twitched. Michelle was exactly the kind of person he hated to deal with. He wasn't good at socialising and preferred to get down to business immediately instead of spending time probing around the bush. Hence, he decided on the most logical course of action and ignored her question.

"I'm glad that the both of you could make it. Otta and I have been discussing about officially registering Five Lives as a business. However, with the rate of growth that Five Lives is currently facing, it is impossible for the two of us to manage every aspect of the business. As such, we are asking for your help."

Grace perked up immediately. Her guild has been pestering her to arrange a meeting with Otta about a special partnership but Grace has been holding them off. She wanted to discuss it with Otta before arranging anything. "What can we possibly help with? I know nothing about dungeon making and Michelle doesn't know much about dungeons at all. She's a socialite and not an adventurer."

Otta smiled. "Exactly. Grace, we require a dungeon development tester as well as a spokesperson to represent out interest during meetings with adventurer guild partners. I've talked about it with Richard and we decided to open up an alliance with guilds who are willing to commit adventurers into supporting Five Lives."

She then turned to Michelle who looked slightly confused. "Michelle, I know you don't exactly like the dungeons. However, I don't know anyone else who could help us. You're good at talking and we need someone to help manage our business platforms. There have been many mails coming in from people who are interested in collaborating with Five Lives, hate comments, magazine requesting for an exclusive interview etc... Richard and I haven't been able to handle them well. If it's not too much trouble, could you become the public face and voice for Five Lives?"

The beautiful woman put a finger to her lip as she considered Otta's words. There were too many uncertain factors to the proposal and Michelle couldn't agree to it immediately unlike Grace.

"How will this work Otta? I'm not speaking as a friend now but as a potential partner of Five Lives. Do you want to register Five Lives as a business with yourself as an owner and the rest of us as employees or are you registering Five Lives as a partnership between the four of us?"

The red-head straightened up. When Michelle was serious, she was known to be a very shrewd businesswoman behind her beautiful and friendly face. "I'm going to register Richard and I as partners. I do not want to burden you or Grace with the possibility of financial debts. As for the terms of employment, it can be discussed. I will not register any of you as full-time employees as Grace has a guild and Michelle, you have a business of your own. However, for formality's sake, you will be paid minimal wages and hired as freelancers under a contract term."

Michelle raised a brow. "It's not convincing at all. Your proposal has no merits for me."

Otta wasn't disheartened even when Grace looked worried and Richard stiffened up. She simply smiled at Michelle. "Of course, if you're talking about the privileges and wages or even promotion potential, there are no merits. However, Five Lives will be featured in Dungeons Weekly magazine next month as the winner of the rookie award. There will be a four-page interview as well as a request for a representative of Five Lives on their front cover. If you agree, I will announce that Five Lives is officially engaging Night Monarch as our PR representative. You, as the owner of Night Monarch, can choose anyone to represent us."

There was a long silence as Otta and Michelle continued to keep up their business smiles. Then, Michelle was the first to crack. "Only the rookie award in Dungeons Weekly?"

Otta grinned. "That's one of the many mails that I've received. I didn't read the rest as there were simply too many. However, Gaming Maniac, Adventurers' Guild, PJP Journals, World Trending and Jabbernick Publications have made some sort of offer."

Michelle relaxed and rolled her eyes. "How irresponsible for you. How will you ever convince anyone to work for you with such vague information? I swear, if your mailbox is as messy as your apartment, Five Lives is going to collapse from the inside. How can such a promising business fail in basic administrative matters?"

"I take it that you're interested?"

Michelle scoffed. "There's nobody else who will be willing to take on such a shitty job. Be thankful that I have some spare time to manage all these for you. As for that miserable monthly wage, save it. Instead, I demand that you give me a treat as grand as this on a monthly basis."

Grace grinned widely and slung an arm around Michelle. "I guess we'll have to call Otta 'boss' from now on."

Otta became flustered at that. Richard secretly took a picture of an awkward Otta as she turned scarlet under the merciless teasings of her unofficial employees.

"Alright! Thanks for the treat boss!" Grace announced and Otta's jaw fell when the waiter came with their bill.

"You pay too! You're my partner!"

"What? No way!" Richard refused. "I'm broke!"

"So am I!" Otta argued and Grace nudged Michelle, giving her the look. Michelle only smirk. "One year."

Grace frowned and stared at the squabbling duo. "Six months. They live together, you know?"

Michelle didn't change her mind. "One year. I'm placing a bet of two chicken drumsticks."

Grace swallowed. That was more than she could afford. "One lamb roast at Sherlott's and an ice-cream buffet."

Michelle smirked. "Deal."

Meanwhile, Otta and Richard continued to fight over who was paying the bill, oblivious to the bet that just occurred.