Rise Online: Return of the Legendary Player

—  Rise Online Headquarters of the Hónghé Group, Los Angeles. —

Charles Richards was nervous. He was the lead developer of the world's most popular game, Rise Online, a VRMMORPG with millions of players worldwide. He was about to pitch his new expansion idea to the executives of Hónghé Group, the Chinese giant that had bought his company two years ago.

He walked into the conference room at Rise Online's Los Angeles headquarters accompanied by his secretary, Hollie Rees, a blonde, blue-eyed woman who was always supportive and dedicated to his work.

The room in question was large and bright, with white walls and a gray carpet. On the wall opposite the door was a large logo of the Hónghé Group, a red six-pointed star. On the wall to the right of the door was a panoramic window with a view of the city. On the wall to the left of the door was a cabinet with various trophies and awards that Charles Richards himself had received in recent years thanks to his research. In the center of the room was an oval metal table with black leather upholstered chairs. On the table were several holographic plaques.

Although he was not the most social of men, Charles Richards greeted all the executives present with a forced smile and sat down at the edge of the oval table. In front of him sat Kaia Luna, Rise Online's Continental Finance Manager. She was a middle-aged woman of European descent with long, light hair and a stern expression. She was wearing a white suit and a white blouse.

Next to Kaia was Emerson Rodrigues, the Foreign Investment Coordinator and one of her biggest provocateurs. He was a tall, dark Brazilian with a sarcastic smile and an arrogant attitude with his cute accent. He was wearing a full black suit.

"Good morning, Mr. Richards," Kaia said in a cold tone. "We look forward to the agenda for today's meeting. We hope you have followed our instructions and made the necessary changes to solve the problems that have arisen."

"Good morning, Ms. Luna," Charles replied, trying to sound confident. "Yes, I have followed your instructions and will submit the necessary changes. But I must also maintain the essence of the game and respect for the players."

"That's good to hear. By the way, you should have listened to your secretary when she warned you about our biggest problem. After all, you are the creator of Rise Online, and you should be careful what you create," Emerson said in a honeyed voice.

Charles clearly did not like what Emerson was saying. He knew Emerson was being sarcastic.

"I have no objection to accepting your suggestions," Charles said firmly. "I just want to do what is best for the game and the players. Besides, I trust that Odin is perfectly capable of making most of the changes that are really needed."

"Sure, sure," Emerson said with a fake smile.

Kaia interrupted the exchange of barbs between the two men and asked Charles to start the meeting. Charles looked to his side where Hollie Rees was standing and nodded.

The secretary smiled briefly and clicked the tablet in her hand, turning on a large projector in the center of the meeting table.

"Contrary to what most of you were probably expecting, today we will not be discussing the new update of events that Charles is developing. There are three main issues I want to talk about." She raised her left hand and held up a finger. "The first agenda will be about a secret meeting that took place among the top European players last year. This only came to our attention a week ago." Then she raised another finger. "The second agenda will be the special program our company is working on. We will provide details on its progress."

"And the third agenda?" Another manager inquired.

"It will be about the last unique class that has been created so far. That's right, the Psych Class."

There was a hush in the meeting room. Everyone in the room was surprised and intrigued by the agenda Hollie had announced. They knew that Rise Online was on fire behind the scenes, but they hadn't expected so many alarming things.

"A secret meeting between the biggest European players?" asked Kaia, frowning. "What were they planning?"

"We don't know for sure, but we have some evidence that it's true. The meeting took place at the O2 Arena during the Evolved launch event, right under our noses. They were all members and leaders of powerful and influential guilds, such as the Water Wolves, the Makros, and even the Valkyrie Force.

"These three guilds are among the top ten in Europe," Emerson said in a worried voice. "They have hundreds of players and virtually unlimited resources now that they have so many evolved. What are they doing meeting in secret? Trading items?"

"We're not sure," Hollie continued. "Maybe they want to start something independent. I don't know."

"We need to find out what they are up to. Kaia said.

"We're working on it, but it's not easy. They are very cautious and use various methods of encryption and camouflage to communicate. We need more time and resources to investigate them."

"Time and resources we don't have," Emerson said with a tone of defiance. "We need to focus on our expansion and our Chinese market. That is our priority."

"We can't ignore this threat," said Charles, entering the discussion. "All of these guilds have gained influence inside and outside of Rise Online. If they are up to something that could damage the reputation of the game, they could do great harm to our community. We must protect our work and our players."

"And how do you suggest we do that?" asked Emerson with irony. "You want to go into the game and face them in person?"

Charles was silent for a moment. He knew that Emerson was trying to provoke him, but he also knew that he was partially right. He was the head developer of Rise Online, but he rarely entered the game as a player. He preferred to stay behind the scenes and monitor the system. He had neither a powerful account nor a strong guild to back him up. However, he felt a special connection to the game he had created. He knew every detail of the virtual world, every great hidden secret. He wanted to see his game grow and prosper.

He looked to Hollie for support. She smiled faintly and nodded.

"Maybe I'll do just that," Charles said with determination. "Maybe I'll get into the game and take on those guilds myself."

There was a murmur in the meeting room. Some were impressed by Charles' courage, others were incredulous at his folly.

"Or I'll get a player to do it for me." Charles said, looking at Hollie. "The third staff would be the psych class player, right? There was an error with him that almost melted some of Odin's processors because the player is getting stronger faster than we expected. In that case, what do you think about us mixing business with pleasure?" He asked, now looking at everyone.

Most of the people present didn't even understand what he meant, but Kaia and Emerson did, as well as Hollie Rees.

"But sir..."

"What's that saying again, 'The enemy of my enemy is my friend'? I'm sure it's something like that. Let's use the Psych Class Carrier to take on the Evolved in the future."

Emerson slammed his hand down on the table and pointed a finger at Charles. "That's what I'm talking about! This is the kind of courage I expect from you!" He had a smile on his face.

...

Edited by: DrHitsuji

If you want to see original illustrations of Rise Online characters, consider helping me on pa treon: Pa treon.com/NandoFalske

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https://discord.gg/bpqq9u4gS8

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