Chapter 49

Sorry, I couldn't post yesterday.

......…

Alex woke up in the morning and quickly finished his morning routine.

"I thought I'd have a hangover after drinking for the first time, but I guess I underestimated my body."

While they were talking yesterday, it didn't take long for Mark to hand Alex a few beers while saying, "If you already have the skills to earn more money than me, I guess you can have a beer."

Alex laughed remembering that, his dad was sometimes weird, but he was definitely a fun guy to drink with.

Shaking his head, he called Luna and asked her to send a file to Daniel. The competition would soon be over, and he wanted to use this moment to do a bit of promotion. His idea was very simple: he would create a trailer for his future projects.

With everything done, he went to have breakfast. Alex headed to school to start his structural programming classes and see how his employees, Ed and Fred, were doing with the tasks he had given them. These past few days had been great, and Alex was very happy with how things were going.

He could have been even happier if he knew that the message he sent to Emilia was causing a small storm on the DreamHeart website. Since Undertale and God of War had been quite successful, Luna had created two exclusive pages for fans to chat.

At first, they just exchanged some curiosities about the games, but as the days went by, more and more people joined and started various discussions. Slowly, the audience began to split.

The Undertale page was completely taken over by kids, and it was rare to see anyone over 90 there.

Meanwhile, the God of War page was usually filled with slightly older people, from teenagers to young adults, talking and discussing the mysteries of the game.

But last night, the Undertale page hit a record number of visits, reaching 18 billion hits in less than 12 hours, and the reason was a post by Emilia the Golden.

[Hello, I need your help. Today I was at a party and somehow managed to get in touch with Alexandre (Don't ask how.). Yes, THE Alex.

I was with some friends, and we had the chance to ask him a question, and obviously, we asked about W.D. Gaster. We were really excited, thinking we might get some answers, but... well, he sent this message.

(File.xlw)

At first, we thought the message was sent by mistake or was some kind of weird joke, but after a while, we started to realize there might be a hidden message in it. But since we're not sure, I thought I'd post it here and see if you guys can find anything.]

As soon as this post appeared, it quickly started to attract attention, and within a few hours, millions of responses came in. Many people began to theorize and analyze every sentence of the message. In no time, some solid theories started to take shape.

"This way of speaking sounds a lot like Sans."

"Yeah, he talks about how it's not polite to talk about who's listening, which is the same thing W.D. Gaster's followers say."

"True, but he also says they're accusing him of something he didn't do."

"It's obvious he's lying. Throughout the game, he keeps many secrets. I doubt he'd reveal what he knows about W.D. Gaster."

"I also think he's lying, but there's one sentence that seems suspicious. 'You can't kill everyone just to get a different ending.' It implies there's an ending we haven't discovered yet."

"The only way to find out is to test it. I'll try to see what happens if I kill everyone."

"I think I'll wait for someone else to test it. My heart can't take killing them."

"To this day, I have nightmares about Toriel dying. TRAUMA."

"To this day, I cry in the shower."

The entire page was filled with people sharing their theories or just reading about them and going into the game to test them. Meanwhile, many streamers started receiving messages about a new ending in Undertale.

Alice, who had finished the game twice, was watching some videos with her audience when suddenly she received a super chat.

[The Ant God sent 5,000 meteors.]

[Alice, they say a new ending has been found in Undertale. You just have to kill everyone.]

"????"

Alice looked at the message, confused.

"Haven't I already done everything possible in the game? Why is there a new ending... and killing everyone... I don't want to go through that again."

She had already killed Toriel by accident, and now they want her to kill all the characters. What am I, a monster?

"This seems fun, let's go back to the game."

"I always thought we hadn't found all the answers. This new ending must have the missing pieces."

"Yeah, yeah, let's do a massacre."

"You sickos, leave my Undyne alone."

Seeing the chat's excitement, Alice sighed.

"Are you sure? Don't come crying to me later."

[The Ant God sent 10,000 meteors.]

[Come on, I bet it's nothing major. It probably just changes some dialogues... I think.]

Seeing this huge number of gifts, Alice's eyes lit up.

"Alright, let's do this new ending. I bet it's not a big deal."

[N/A: For those who don't remember, Alice is a streamer who played Detroit: Become Human and Undertale.]

.......

After a day of classes, Alex came home completely exhausted. As soon as he collapsed on the couch, Catharina appeared with an energy drink and some snacks.

"What happened?! Were the classes that bad?"

"Yes, very bad... I was already doing basic programming, but these new classes are so hard that my head feels like it wants to jump off my neck and run away."

"Hahaha, it seems even you have your struggles."

Catharina laughed and hugged Alex's head, ruffling his hair while covering his face with kisses.

"Ahhh, Mom... okay, okay, that's enough. I'm fine. *Sigh* You know, I think I forgot to mention, but the competition finale is at the end of the month, and the awards ceremony will be on the capital planet."

"And you're telling me this now?"

"Haha, I forgot, but don't worry, they'll cover the travel expenses."

*Sigh.*

"Alright, I'll talk to your dad, but probably only one of us will be able to go with you."

The two talked for a while longer, then Alex went to take a shower and rest a bit before dinner. Entering his virtual space, Alex wanted to play a little.

He opened the competition website and started browsing slowly. He saw that among the competitors, God of War was at the top, but the second place caught his attention.

The game's cover was a hand spinning a planet on its finger. The title, "The World in Your Hands," was quite interesting, and the synopsis was very simple.

[After an accident, you must ensure the survival of everyone on an uninhabitable world. Will you take the future into your hands, or be devoured by the unknown?]

"William Freeman, his last game was actually interesting. Let's see what you have for me."

As soon as he started the game, Alex saw a scene where a spaceship is attacked and crashes on an uninhabitable planet. He had seen this kind of scene many times before, so he wasn't too surprised.

But as he kept playing, Alex became more and more impressed. This game was a great mix of Harvest Moon, Age of Empires, and various simulators.

He needed clothes for the survivors, so he had to hunt and gather skins. He needed to plant, so he had to find seeds, and for that, he had to explore this world with anti-gravity bikes.

The game seems complex but is very simple: all the difficult things are made easier to avoid making the game monotonous. The skins are delivered to the survivors, and in no time, they become clothes. The same goes for the hunted meat, which is sent directly to the camp.

The spaceship also has all kinds of technology that were broken but can be repaired with the right items. Moreover, when you reach a certain level of stability, Chapter 1 ends, and after a small time skip, you're already managing a small village, then a town, and so on until you can control the entire planet.

"This game is really relaxing. This William guy is really good. It would be great if I could get someone like him for the company."

.....

While all this was happening, on the capital planet, at the top of one of the city's largest skyscrapers, a man who looked relatively old was sitting, looking at a group of nervous people.

"So, what can you tell me?"

The man's voice sounded hoarse and authoritative. With a sigh, a man who seemed to be in his middle age, wearing a company uniform, stepped forward and spoke with a tone full of defeat and a hint of admiration.

"I'll be honest, sir, God of War is truly something unique. We've analyzed the entire game, and I must say, the story of this world is simply incredible."

The boy didn't just create a few creatures and monsters; he actually built a functional society and a world that follows its own rules. 

Every monster has its biology explained, its methods of reproduction or creation—some are cursed beings, others mythological beasts, and others created by magic. 

With all the in-game texts, we can easily understand how the world was born, how it functions, and how societies were formed… it's truly unique. 

We also studied other things he's done, but none are as well-structured as this. This was a truly marvelous world-building effort… I… I think it will be difficult for us to create something like this from scratch in just 3 years." 

As the middle-aged man finished speaking, an uncomfortable silence fell over the room. It was as if a weight had settled on everyone's shoulders. 

*Tap.* 

*Tap.* 

*Tap.* 

The old man slowly tapped his fingers on the table. He glanced at a holographic screen floating above the table, displaying the player count for *God of War*. 

974 billion. 

"This game wasn't funded by any corporation. It didn't have a massive team working tirelessly on it. It didn't have billions of credits spent on marketing. And yet, this game nearly hit 1 trillion players in a week." 

Everyone felt uneasy hearing these words, but there wasn't much to say. Seeing the silence, the old man continued. 

"A 21-year-old kid made this game alone in 3 or 4 years… But you're telling me that a team of designers, whom I pay exorbitant salaries, can't? 

What am I supposed to think?!" 

With a heavy sigh, the middle-aged man simply shook his head and spoke plainly. 

"I'm sorry, sir, but we really can't do it… Maybe if we use AI to help, it would be possible, but we'd need to use his game's story as a base… If we had more time, though, I can guarantee we could do it without needing AI." 

The man had a serious look on his face. He truly couldn't do it in just 3 years, but if they had at least 10 years or more, he was confident they could create a world equal to or even better than Alexandre's. 

Now, with a reference like *God of War*, the entire team was full of inspiration. Plenty of good ideas had already emerged, but trying to create something like this takes time, even with a large team. 

The old man remained silent for a while. He looked at the insane player count and felt a sharp pain in his heart, knowing that this game was free. 

"What a colossal waste… Alright, Milton, you have 5 years to make a game like this. Use whatever you need, just make sure you don't get caught by copyright laws." 

"Sir, I don't think that's necessary. If we have time…" 

"Enough. This conversation is over. You may all leave." 

Sighing again, Milton left with his colleagues. There wasn't much to say. Even if 5 years was too short, maybe they could pull it off. He tried to psych himself up, even though he knew the task was nearly impossible. But if the kid could do it, why couldn't they? 

What Milton didn't know was that Alex didn't make *God of War* in just 3 years for the competition. It took him 13 years to create the game, and that's considering he already had the entire story and world of the game in his memory. 

But since neither he nor anyone else in the industry knew this, thousands of major gaming companies were about to throw billions of credits down the drain. 

And Alex, the reason behind all of this, was driving a futuristic tractor while sowing a field. 

"Hahaha, I feel like I'm playing one of those weird simulators again."