Mythran's Master Of All

Every member of the public that was hanging around the various online outlets, the main game website, Ren's fan site, the show's web site, and the message boards, were all surprised when the game was suddenly back online right after Ren's press release. No one logged in, however. Most of them read and followed the links in the release and read about what he did, then watched the attached video of Ren talking defiantly to the tech guys about them breaking the game and that he was tired of them doing it.

They all shared the same thoughts and feelings. Even the people that didn't particularly care about Ren, or liked him for that matter, had to agree with his sentiment. They didn't like it when developers interfered with players and their gaming experience, especially since this was the second time that the game had essentially crashed.

A good portion of them flooded Sid Tec with calls to confirm that the press release was accurate. This went on for only a minute, until every person registered in the game received an automatic notice that the game was online and active once again. Texts and emails were sent out by Vasalor to ensure that everyone was aware that his creation had been fixed and that they were welcome to do as much adventuring as they wanted.

*

“No fucking way!” Gloria exclaimed when her computer and phone lit up with both the press release and then the notice from the game. “What the hell is... no, that... how did he...” She spouted almost incoherently as she typed and checked for herself that the game was back online. She couldn't believe that right after she had sent an apology to Stella about the way she had acted, that her situation had essentially changed from bleak emptiness to happy prosperity.

Gloria shook her head at the ridiculous thought, especially since she didn't know if she still had a job to go back to, and saw for herself than not only was the game back online, the strength of the signal had also increased. She read and watched the press release again, and her eyes had a hard time accepting what she saw. Her brain just wasn't letting her make the connection between Ren and changing the programming of the game to fix it.

“How the hell did he learn how to do that?” Gloria asked out loud and picked up her cell phone. She brought up her conversation with Stella, and what she had said now had a much deeper meaning. “She knew he was doing this, but...”

When Gloria thought about the timing, she had to go back to the message boards and checked the time on the first post that mentioned getting a notice and then kicked out of the game.

“It doesn't make sense!” Gloria exclaimed, then took a breath to calm down. Unless he's been working on it for a long time and hadn't told anyone about it. She thought rationally. I wonder how long...

Gloria typed up a message to Stella and sent it, without dithering over if she should or not.

*

“Well, well.” Stella said and chuckled at the terse and almost rude message from Gloria about Ren's programming skills and her disbelief that he could have done anything to change the game. “I wonder if I should...” She smiled and picked up the house phone and dialed the office downstairs. “Hi, Elise. Sorry for bothering you. I just thought you might be able to help me with something.”

*

Gloria sat and stared at her phone anxiously as she waited for some kind of response from Stella, then she received an email. She ignored her computer for several moments, then Stella sent her a text that told her to check her email. Gloria put her cell phone down and opened her email program, then clicked on the message from Elise. What she saw stunned her.

On her screen was a big block of computer code, and inside that code was an old programmer's trick using comment lines. When shown in a certain configuration, the comments would spell out the programmer's name for anyone that was smart enough to look for it.

R E N was spelled out in large letters right in front of her face.

“Son of a bitch.” Gloria said and laughed.

*

The tech department and Edward Torren waited for the minute that was left, and right at the designated time that Elise had specified, everything seemed to return to normal. Most of the phones stopped ringing and everyone relaxed.

“What the hell is this?” The programmer that was monitoring everything asked loudly, and everyone walked over to him.

“What is it?” Edward asked.

“A popup with documents attached.” The programmer said. “We're being allowed to work on future updates; but, they have to be submitted for review before they'll be implemented!”

“Excuse me?” Edward leaned in to look at the notice and read it. “What in the... where did this come from?”

“Inside the servers.” The programmer said.

“Hey, my terminal works!” One of the others said and started typing. “Everything seems to be there and working.”

“Try uploading something.” Edward said.

“Like what?”

“Add a picture or a new item.” One of the others said.

“Where should I...”

“It doesn't matter you idiot.” Someone else said. “It's just a test.”

“Oh.” He said, and added a picture of a car in a frame, then hung it on the outside of a building for everyone to see, then submitted it.

“That's a bit obvious.” One of them said as they started to wait, then a popup appeared almost immediately.