26***The Eternal Ruler

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Outside Star-Orb Gaming Headquarters

Star-Orb Gaming Industries headquarters, a building one would find to be in the dead center of the heart of Gassissauga, a massive skyscraper towering over all else, authority seething from its form, as if it had long asserted its dominance as the alpha of the buildings!

Before this construct that even birds avoided as if out of respect, one vehicle - a full black Rolls-Royce Sweptail - drove up and parked in front of the building. The moment it drove into its spot, a young man dressed as what can only be described as and elegant bus boy, speed across the stretch of empty asphalt between him and the vehicle.

"Good Morning Mr. President. Allow me to get your bags." His face was composed, neutral, strictly professional, only a small bead of unnaturally present sweat (as the morning was rather chilly considering it's summer time) and the slight shake of his hand as he reached to open the door for the person he was taking to, gave away how nervous he actually was.

The figure saw these signs and ignored them. He couldn't remember seeing this particular boy around so he must be new. And he looked young, about 18 at best. This remarkable display of control was worthy of acknowledgement, and was was paid with such. The figure nodded to the boy's direction, and proceeded to step out of the car and walk to the front door while another man, clad like the first walked to the vehicle and hoped in to park it. The figure ran a hand through his short, black, pompadour-styled hair to straighten it up a bit, and fixed up his bronze coloured jacket and blue tie before stepping in. His gait was relaxed, confident, and the epitome of authority. He moved like he owned the place, and why wouldn't he. He did, after all own the place.

It was well into the morning at the time so the traffic on the first floor was low, but the few that were there immediately stopped what they were doing to bow and say good morning to him, before quietly and quickly resuming what they were doing.

"Good morning Mr. President." a woman carrying a box of files greeted, and after a nod as greeting, she sped off to most likely the record room.

"Good morning Sir." another woman behind a desk said as she stood and bowed before going back to work after the greeting was returned.

"Good morning Mr. President sir!" a man in delivery attire addressed him as he rolled a trolley pass him.

"Good morning sir President." the receptionists behind the front desk greeted with a bow as he headed to a glass elevator.

A woman in a white blouse and blue pencil skirt with matching 3 inch heels, a tablet and stylus in hand, fell in stride with him and walked with him into the elevator.

"Good morning Mr. Parker." She greeted after pressing a floor number and standing beside the figure.

"Good morning Angetta. And didn't I say you could call me by my first name?" he asked her. His facial features didn't change with that question, but she could tell which expression he was feeling. It wasn't anything like anger or flirtatiousness, but rather some slight disappointment. She turned her head at the man, a little irked that she will be doing this argument again.

"For the last time, Mr. President, I am your assistant. It would be unprofessional for me to call you by your first name in a business setting." She said to him in a firm voice.

"And as I've said before, that is all the more reason for us to become better acquaintances. You are the person controlling my schedule, my meetings, and you take care of any business I'm too busy to do. In my opinion, having a good relationship with your boss would be ideal in business like circumstances." his speech was calm, relaxed, and unrushed. He had no intention of forcing her to call him by his first name. He just doesn't see the use of a person he's spent five years of his life with by his side, yet she treats him no differently than when they first. That only makes for an uncomfortable workspace. Especially considering how much they know of each other.

"*sigh* I already call you by your last name instead of Mr. President. Isn't that enough of a compromise?" she said while stopping herself from massaging her brow. This excuse is one that she's used for the past three years now, and is usually a signal that there are more important things to be done at the moment. Else, this would have continued until they reached his office.

He got the hint and decided to shelve this conversation for probably the thousandth time!

"Fair enough." he replied, "So, what's on the agenda?" he asked, though he knows most of it already, as they passed Game Floor #7. This skyscraper has almost 100 stories and about 70 of them are dedicated to gaming, specifically BMO gaming! The other floors go to game designing, tech development, test rooms, and a few breakroom floors!

"Game Floors 57, 36, and 60 have malfunctioning problems and are currently undergoing refitting." She started, "The delver group that was sent to the Toxic Caverns in Area34 found a rare weapon. The groups sent to the Wind Archipelago in Area27, the Flower Field in Area37, and the Snowy River in Area41 have found hidden areas in them, with the one in the Flower Field already cleared and the other two currently being cleared." Parker nodded in response.

"The members you have summoned are waiting in your office in game, though Miss Myria said she wouldn't be able to make it and instead asked for a briefing on the proceedings for later. The rookie recruitment for Project CTK is progressing nicely. Also, Mr. Rowe has something to report to you pertaining that. And, Miss Denson requests a meeting with you in game at your earliest convenience." Mr. Parker raised an eyebrow at the fact that his is assistant willingly called one of his associates by their first name, and she refused to look at him, a small blush showing up around her neck.

"Very well, thank you Angetta." He said as the elevator came to a stop and the doors opened.

"How are your kids by the way?" He asked casually.

"They're doing fine. They say that they want to come back up here again. Though Mary doesn't seem too happy about it." She replied like clockwork as they stepped out of the elevator. This has been their routine ever since she had to take all three of her children with her to work one day about 3 years ago.

"How's she anyway. She's a teenager now right? Growing without a father must be hard on her." Only slight concern showed in his voice, like they were taking about the weather being bad or something, but Angetta knew he was truly worried about them. She chuckled a little to herself at that.

"She'll manage. We'll manage." She replied. Not much emotion could be read from her tone, so Mr. Parker just nodded.

They walked through one door into a room with a desk and a few waiting chairs, a helmet sitting on the desk. The woman broke off her and got seated in the chair behind the desk. She then put the gear on and reclined her chair.

"I'll meet you at the Guild Hall Mr. Parker." She said before starting up the terminal and going to sleep.

Mr. Parker loosened up his tie as he walked to the door at the opposite end of the room and opened it to find his find a figure hunched in his office chair.

"Hey Phenn!!! How've you been?" The figure greeted as he stood up straight, his 6' 1" almost matching Parker's 6' 2". He had long, natural green hair and was wearing a long-sleeved, white dress shirt a size too large with a palm tree pattern on it, paired with bright orange pants and black shoes to match!!! The colour combination was so intense, Parker was feeling sick just looking at it!

"How did you even walk up here in that disaster?" he asked as he walked to one of five specialized gaming chairs at a corner of the room. He took off his jacket and hung it on a hook beside his chair.

"Hmm? Oh this? Looks dashing doesn't it?!" The figure said while striking a pose. Parker looked at him seriously for a few seconds before responding, "Burn them." he said as he took a seat.

"Sure, right after you burn that name of yours!" He shot back, flipping him the bird while sticking out his tongue.

"Doran..." Parker said in a warning tone. He might be his closest friend, and even he has to admit that his name, Phenn, was cringe content to say the least, but he hates people poking fun at it!

"What? It's not like it isn't! Your probably the most powerful man in the world right now. You must be able to do better than that!"

"Doran, what do you want." Parker, or Phenn at this point, said those words normally, and it would have sounded that way to anyone else in the room if there were others. But to the receiver of the words, namely Doran, a slight undertone was in the message that said that if he wanted to continue writing his death certificate, he could continue talking! This promptly shut him up.

'Geeze, his control over his killing intent is as impressive as always.' Denson thought to himself.

"I found something interesting." He started as Phenn reclined his chair and put on his terminal.

"Hmm? And what's that?" He asked as he shifted around a bit to get comfortable.

"When I was at the recruiting booth in Hobside Village, I found a kid that did something unusual." he continued as he got himself settled in a chair opposite to Phenn.

"And that would be?"

"He walked into my Protect and bounced right off of it." This got an eyebrow raise out of Phenn. Protect is a low level barrier skill that robs an object's or an attack's momentum. Though low leveled, if your Barrier Mastery is high enough, you could stop things moving as fast a hyper jet dead in their tracks!!! If the speed is too high for you to drop to zero, the object would simply pass through at a slower pace. Bouncing off of it is just by walking into it is nigh impossible.... unless.....

"What weapons did he have?" Phenn asked, gears turning in his head.

"He didn't equip them, so I'm not sure. But are you thinking what I'm thinking?" Denson had a serious look on his face.

"If what your implying is true, then that brat is starting to make his move. Terminal!" Phenn called out.

Yes, Mr. Parker.

Terminal is an AI that he had made to take care of miscellaneous functions in game.

"Check world wide servers, private servers, and remote servers for players with rare achievements. Also, look for any odd cases that occurred between now and a few months ago!" He ordered.

Affirmative

"Well, see you in game, were already almost late as is." Doran said before logging in.

"Oh yeah! One more thing before I jump! He has white hair!"

Avatar Dangroff Has Logged On

This gave him pause but only for a second.

'Little brat! Don't think that I'll let this go down just because you're the GM!' He thought to himself as he logged on.

Avatar Parker Has Logged On

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