[EggyDominion: What the fuck did I just watch? Who turned the AI screening off. Get this doctored shit off my screen.]

[SpellSeeker: You saw the same thing I just saw? This is fucking ridiculous]

[FinchTheDiddler: When the hell did he get this strong? Where did those mechs come from?]

[EggyDominion: Is that a curse from the great SpellSeeker I see? My oh my.]

[SpellSeeker: Fuck you. I have no idea where they came from. Maybe that outage we suffered? But it looks like it incorporates those blood blades]

[EpicPelvis: This fucker doesn’t share any of the stats of his equipment with us. For all we know it’s just another pair of blood blades that look the same, or just another item that can manipulate blood.]

[SpellSeeker: At this point, can you even complain? He’s right to be arrogant. Don’t think I didn’t see that bullshit slave contract you tried to send him]

[EpicPelvis: What the fuck are you talking about? I am a business man who sees opportunities, that is all.]

[SpellSeeker: Yeah? And is that why you cancelled your contract with the Third Rankers from Zone XXX?]

[FinchTheDiddler: Why are they still censoring the Zone like they didn’t put it on blast already? Two-faced fucks]

[EpicPelvis: {Epic Pelvis has fucked the chat and forced it into slow mode}]

[EpicPelvis: You’re welcome. I gave you all the best opportunity to make money. Didn’t I tell you to bet on him making it past arc one?]

[FinchTheDiddler: Dude. You know we can see your past messages, right? You were freaking out two seconds ago.]

[EpicPelvis: {Epic Pelvis has fucked the chat and deleted the logs}]

[EggyDominion: I don’t know what you’re talking about]

[SpellSeeker: Typical.]

[EggyDominion: Shouldn’t you be more concerned about the fact SpellSeeker knows what contracts you’re trying to send in?]

[EpicPelvis: Don’t worry about me.]

[FinchTheDiddler: I don’t think they’re worried about you. I think they’re just instigating]

[EggyDominion: ;D]

[EpicPelvis: Anyway, you should all be thanking me, like I said. A nice, tidy 20% of your profits will do.]

[SpellSeeker: We also saw you cash out.]

[EpicPelvis: {Epic Pelvis has fucked the chat and muted SpellSeeker}]

[SpellSeeker: {SpellSeeker has cast a spell and unmuted themselves}]

[SpellSeeker: I hope that was worth it. I know that cost you a pretty penny. I, for one, have some winnings to spend so I can troll a little bit.]

A spam wall of emojis flooded the chat.

[EpicPelvis: Hahaha, laugh it up, it’s so funny. It’ll be less funny when you guys realize what’s happening behind the scenes right now. I didn’t cash out because of the Volthari, though it was a good reason.] 𝓯𝓻𝒆𝙚𝒘𝓮𝙗𝓷𝒐𝓿𝙚𝒍.𝙘𝓸𝙢

[EggyDominion: What’s happening?]

[EpicPelvis: I won’t be talking with people who don’t share their good wealth after getting such a good tip from me, you ungrateful bastards.]

[SpellSeeker: Oh shut up and just speak. We know you love the sound of your own voice.]

[FinchTheDiddler: We’re typing here SpellSeeker]

[SpellSeeker: Oh man, watch out, we’ve got a genius over here. It’s a figure of speech, retard]

[EggyDominion: Damn, SpellSeeker is riding the gambler’s high right now. That definitely won’t come back to bite them. Stonks only go up, ofc]

[SpellSeeker: Shut up]

[EpicPelvis: I have it on good authority that an Assistant Producer is about to get yeeted]

[FinchTheDiddler: So what?]

[EpicPelvis: Well, you poors might not know, but becoming a Producer is very difficult, getting rid of one is even harder]

[SpellSeeker: The Genesis Games are woven into the fabric of the universe itself. It’s existed as long as time itself as far as we know. Becoming a Producer is basically like getting background dev access to the laws of physics. It’s not only very expensive to give someone those controls, but taking them away is very, very involved]

[EpicPelvis: Exactly right. But there are a few ways to force it, most of which involve integrating the Producer even more into the Genesis Games rather than doing the opposite.]

[EggyDominion: Meaning? Also, how are you not getting muted for this already]

[SpellSeeker: Probably because Grey is an anomaly. They’ve carved out special permissions for him that have loosened the modding protocols. Right about now, we could get away with saying a lot we shouldn’t be able to. Even coordinating the bet should have been impossible.]

[EpicPelvis: Meaning that Producer is probably about to become a pawn of the Genesis Games, and there’ll probably be some pretty nice rewards for slaughtering him as well.]

[FinchTheDiddler: Holy shit, they’re going to make the Producer a BOSS? That’s so fucked up... where’s the stream so I can avoid it?]

[EpicPelvis: HAHAHA. You won’t have to go anywhere. Something tells me that before that Producer is hunted down by the higher Races, he’s going to want revenge against the reason he’s in here in the first place.]

[EggyDominion: Fuck me. MY MONEY!]

[EpicPelvis: {Epic Pelvis has fucked the chat with a wall of emojis}]

[SpellSeeker: That’s a nice little theory and all. But A) the Genesis Games takes place in a battlefield practically the size of a star system. This method doesn’t guarantee location and placement. For all you know they could never meet. And B) it seems that someone doesn’t know as much as they think they do about the Volthari]

[EpicPelvis: Oh, nonono, you would be wrong. I know quite a lot about the Volthari. Elemental Races tend to be exceptionally rare and have difficult birthing cycles, so they take every member of their race as incredibly valuable. Even if none cared enough to target Zone 234 before this, the moment that recap episode is played, Grey is cooked.]

[SpellSeeker: Yes, yes, yes. True enough. But I think you’re forgetting one pretty important thing about what else might have caused elemental races to be very protective of their own.]

[EpicPelvis: ... shit.]

[SpellSeeker: :)]

**

A droplet of rain fell on Grey’s face. He closed his eyes as it poured in even faster, quickly becoming a deluge.

But all Grey felt was the soothing cadence and the gentle chill. This sort of rain was exactly what he needed right now.

His eyes suddenly snapped open as he looked up to see a seed of blue lightning hovering above him.

’The fuck is that.’