Chapter 82 - Average Weekday

"So, that thing you were excited for yesterday, how did that go?" Donovan asked with some lingering curiosity.

"It went really well." Arthur said while letting out a slight chuckle, "I'm going to have to give some context before I tell you what I did."

For the drive home, Arthur began briefly explaining relevant mechanics and details first, such as how NPC interaction worked, and the behaviour of Kyle, alongside his own history with the NPC he used as a target. He then described in detail the elaborate plan that he had put into motion, both the tricking him into getting arrested and then framing him for murder.

"Oh that poor kid." Donovan was a little concerned at what he was hearing, but it was still pretty funny to hear. "Like father, like son."

They eventually arrived home, Arthur thanked Donovan before entering his house. He ran up to his room and took care of his plants before turning his computer on and checking if his friends were online.

It seemed that Quinn and Holly were currently online, but Acai and Maria more than likely had not made it home yet. He sent a message in their group chat asking what they were up to, and he received a message from Quinn saying that they had just finished a game and were taking a short break.

Arthur received a message from Maria with the address and time, and an extra note that informed him there wasn't a strict dress code. That last part was something Arthur appreciated, he found that dress codes were obnoxious, and he disliked black tie events in particular.

Arthur joined the voice chat, and a few minutes later Maria joined too and began talking with Holly. Acai hadn't joined yet, but he sent a message in chat telling everyone that he'd be on sometime later. Eventually Arthur's father and sister came home and he left the call to go have dinner with them.

"So, Donovan told me you accepted an invitation for a tea party." Arthur's father spoke up, but his questioning carried a slight teasing tone. "Did a lovely lady finally catch your interest?"

"Aww, is our little Art all grown up now?" Anna joined in with the teasing. "Who's the lucky girl?"

"No, nothing like that." Arthur made sure to keep a straight face to not give either of them any satisfaction. "I've made a few friends at the facility, and one asked us to join their family's tea party. I didn't see a reason to refuse."

"Oh? That's a first." His father's face lit up with surprise, but he didn't ask any more questions. Anna also lost interest pretty quickly when she saw that Arthur wasn't reacting with embarrassment like he used to do when she teased him about girls.

Dinner had ended, and after cleaning up after himself, Arthur made his way back up to his room. When he checked to see who was still around, he noticed that Quinn had gone to play another game, Maria and Holly were playing together and Acai wasn't on yet. Instead of playing games or watching videos, he decided to instead work through his workout routine, hoping that by the time he finished, everyone would have returned.

As he was completing the last few reps of his workout, he received a couple notifications on his phone that told him Acai had finally returned. It seemed they would be able to fit in a couple games as a five-man party.

As they played through the games, Arthur started asking Holly and Quinn a few probing questions about what they planned on doing within New Genesis. One of the major points he was curious about was their intended play style or build.

Arthur's group consisted of three melee damage types as of the moment, he was wondering if either of them planned on playing ranged or magic classes. Even if they decided on the spot, Arthur knew that it was highly likely they would change their opinion once they got in game, so he didn't want to try force them into choosing a role. Instead he made sure to specify that they should choose what sounded fun and that they were comfortable using.

From the sounds of it, Quinn wanted to play more of a support role, and when Arthur told him he could be a tank and healer at the same time he seemed ecstatic. Whereas Holly thought of using a whip or a bow, but also wanted to use magic. She settled on the idea of a magic archer in her head, but was also still thinking about using a whip, at least as a side weapon.

The group played a few games before bringing the session to an end. Arthur started performing his bedtime routine while reading the group chat on his phone. He made his way into bed and began reading until he started falling asleep.

The next morning, Arthur didn't bother logging in just yet. Instead he did his morning routine and threw on some clothes that were acceptable to wear in the laboratory, alongside his credentials that he had to use within the lab, before leaving the house. He entered the laboratory through the garden and upon entering the lab, he made his way straight towards the special elevator that would lead to the floor he wanted. 

Arthur grabbed his keycard and swiped it against the elevator's call panel, causing the panel to flash green, followed by a white number appearing on the panel that quickly got smaller as the elevator approached. When the number stopped counting down, the elevator doors opened moments later, Arthur entered the elevator.

"One passenger detected, Master Arthur Holmes, identity confirmed... Where would you like to go?" A robotic voice spoke out as the elevator door closed.

"Operator, bring me to the virtual reality floor please." Arthur ordered, causing the elevator to respond with a confirmation before it started moving quickly.

When he reached the virtual reality floor, he was reintroduced to familiar long hallways that featured nothing but a white paint job and cobalt blue stripes. He made his way through the hallways devoid of any life, turning down several corners and ignoring several doors, until he found a room that was labelled as the developer's office.

After opening the door into the office, Arthur was greeted with the sight of what looked to be a normal office room. There were several desks around the place that were covered with personal effects, and each desk had a minimum of two monitors each, with several having three or even four monitor, which Arthur found to be a bit excessive.

There were a couple people currently in the office that were slamming away at their computers while appearing to be busy. Arthur's eyes locked onto one person in particular, one of the developers that worked as a project manager. That person had been there during the lab accident and recently almost suffered a grievous accident had it not been for Arthur's quick reaction time and his currently unexplained foresight ability.

Arthur walked into the room and approached the product manager, who at the time seemed like he was really invested in what he was currently working on, to the point that he didn't even notice Arthur approach.

Arthur didn't want to interrupt the guy's momentum, so he just sat beside him until he broke out of his current working mindset. It didn't take long for the developer to hit a snag, snapping him out of the trance, when he turned around to start pacing around the room, he noticed Arthur sitting right next to him. 

"Oh my go--, how long have you been sitting there?" The developer asked while holding a hand over his chest.

"Only about seven minutes." Arthur responded while checking his watch, "I wanted to talk about a concern I had with the beta."

The developer heard him out, Arthur began talking about the various incidents that had happened in-game relating to the player LordKyle. He brought up issues such as the mass player killing that happened around the beginner village and the forced recruitment into LordKyle's group at the risk of violence, and he pointed out a few of his concerns in regards to player enjoyment because of the issues mentioned.

The developer began explaining that they had similar concerns, especially in regards to new players. And that they were currently working on a few methods of protecting the new players and dissuading similar actions from occurring again.

Arthur seemed satisfied with the direction the developers decided to take, he thanked the developer for his time and left him to get back to his work. Arthur made his way through the barren hallways once more, and back through the special elevator, as he returned home.

After quickly switching back into comfortable clothes, he turned his computer on and continued his day. After a few hours, everyone had finally come online and they resumed their winning streak once more.

The next few days played out in a similar fashion. He woke up and did his morning routine, followed by watering his plants, then working out, and finally logging onto his computer and playing games for most of the day with his friends.

This loop had been broken much faster than expected as neither of the girls logged in on Wednesday. The same thing happened on Thursday and then Friday finally came but it didn't seem like the girls were going to log in today either.

That was until Maria sent a message into the group chat at the last minute saying that she was looking forward to seeing everyone at the tea party later that day.