CHAPTER 103: INFORMATION

As per usual, dinner of rich people smelled like heaven and looked like a royal banquet, as always. By this point, I was used to being spoiled with four-course meals every night, and knew which spoon to use, but it still felt weird to sit down at the same table as Eirlys and Hailie like I belonged here while I didn’t.

I stared at my food patiently, waiting until after the butlers and maids (Hi Anshur) had finished pouring wine and clearing soup appetizers plates before bringing up what I’d been holding back.

"So, uh... Eirlys? I’ve burnt through my resources and had been running after nothing for five days now. No sign of the Null Shepherd anywhere on my end, at least I couldn’t recreate it, and no exploits on my mind I could use to get it working again, basically nothing came up. Did you find anything on your end, Eirlys?"

Eirlys set her knife and fork down carefully, her wandering eyes set on mine while I was too focused on a strand of white hair that stuck on her boobs. The heiress’ expression tightening as if she’d just bitten into something sour.

"...Actually, yes, I found something... But be warned that it makes no sense."

She leaned forward slightly, lowering her voice despite it being just us three and some helpers that probably didn’t care about gaming.

"Someone in my father’s development team coded the Null Shepherd into the VR version with an... astronomically small chance of spawning, despite the fact that we removed all spawning conditions. But I can’t figure out the said condition."

Eirlys exhaled sharply,.

"I’ve been digging through millions of lines with only one trusted colleague, on an encrypted system, just to keep things airtight. Even though I have authorization, that did not mean I can let my private investigatation leak the company’s codings."

"Couldn’t you trace down the coder? Each one would get a section of their own, right? Or am I understanding workflow wrong?" I raised my brows. "Basically... He or she added like a one-in-a-billion encounter?"

"Try a trillion," she muttered, "And that’s the hard part, I don’t know where the in the source code did they add that part, I tried using Ctrl F to search for phrases they might use but come up empty handed so far... Even if I traced down where the part of the code is, I couldn’t guarantee finding who wrote it, considering how files regarding NPCs, Mobs, Shops and whatnot are quite open to the 1000-man team."

Before I could fully wrap my head around all that gibberish nonsense, Hailie chimed in, almost too casually as she spooned mashed potatoes onto her plate.

"Did you try cross-referencing the imported NPC behavior libraries from the PC version?"

...

I froze.

’Did she just...?’ I thought.

Eirlys was going to answer as if she didn’t hear what I heard, but she must’ve noticed my eyes popping out of my eye sockets, and my jaw hanging open so wide I must’ve looked like a broken marionette, so she stopped and let me speak.

"W–Wait, Hailie. You... you understand coding?"

"Yah!" Hailie tilted her head innocently, "Why wouldn’t I?"

I slowly put my fork down.

"Because I’ve always assumed you were, uh- What’s the word... an airhead? Is that an offensive remark? No, but like... you’re book-smart, history-smart, political theory-smart, Not game development-smart!"

"That’s generalization and unfounded assumptions, Cory." Hailie giggled with her four fingers in front of her mouth.

Eirlys was snickering on the side, Hailie, meanwhile, started beaming like I’d just complimented her cooking.

"I’ve had a lot of tutors since I was six, um... That’s 18 years ago already?" she said, bright as sunshine. "Every subject you can imagine, ah... math, history, physics, game design, law, economics. I’m 21 now, so that’s... almost two decades of tutoring by the best, I’m really lucky to have the opportunities!"

"That’s my little angel," Eirlys smiled so bright it showed her teeth, "She’s probably qualified for a few Bachelor’s degrees, maybe a Master somewhere in Art History."

"That’s impressive... Damn." I nearly dropped my cup. "You... you are like a walking library?"

"Taadaa~" Hailie gave me this weird answer of pride. "It’s all just theory though, I don’t have any working experience or um... Proof of knowledge’s practicality appliance."

"We tried to get her into normal school once, you know. Too shy, she preferred tutors, I’m just glad that she made friends..." Eirlys leaned back, smirking. "That’s my father’s greatest wish."

"Preferred?" I muttered. "Or trained until she dominates the world?"

Eirlys chuckled again but turned serious as she remarked Hailie’s suggestion from before.

"Cross-referencing the original library and the currently used and imported one to check for tamperment is a clever idea, Hailie. I’ll do that tonight, thank you."

Hailie just smiled as if it were the most normal suggestion in the world, then moved on to chattier things: Her new party.

She told us how tomorrow they’d farm all day (3 hours total), then the next day she’ll tackle a small and easy wasp dungeon east of a farming town called Cherry Town, her eyes sparkled as she laid out the team’s plan to level up without getting bored of grinding the same place over and over again for weeks.

Meanwhile, my brain flashed back to what I’d seen on Tweak... If her "party" was those 4 people, with her being 5, then it was most definitely a disaster waiting to happen.

Hailie was the healer. Rina, that massive ranger, was ranged DPS. Marc, the short guy with the sword, was melee DPS, because a tank at this level shouldn’t use a longsword without a shield. Pearl was another ranged DPS based on what I saw of him in the raid. And Mei, with her witch hat, was almost certainly another ranged DPS.

One healer plus three glass cannons with bows and spells plus one sword guy.

That ain’t no party, that’s the suicide squad, they bound to be fucked the moment they step foot into a dungeon without proper tanks and buffs.

But I couldn’t tell Hailie that I watched the stream and could monitor her, so, I casually leaned on my elbow, sighing.

"So what’s your party composition exactly?"

"There’s me, there’s my friend Marc and Rina from the old party, then we found Mei and Pearl, the pair of twins that was at the court trial, do you remember them, Cory?." Hailie answered innocently, almost proud, "I’m a Priest, Marc’s a Fighter, Rina’s Ranger, Pearl’s Mage but I think Mei’s a Sorcerer!"

"... Oh for the love of..." I facepalmed. "Hahhh..."

Eirlys burst into laughter as Hailie looked confused when she blinked between us.

The meal wrapped up with desserts and tea, and just as I was about to excuse myself, Hailie turned to Eirlys.

"Can I talk to you after dinner, sis? Just for a minute!"

That pulled my attention, but I was smart enough to not try and snoop, these people has kept me fed, clothed, and sheltered, they weren’t the kind of people you eavesdrop on... Especially with Anshur right behind me as I ate dinner.

So I just leaned back, sipping my tea, while curiosity itched at the back of my skull.