Chapter 81

James stared hard at the screen before him, his tentacle hovering over the submit button. As much as he loved the attention he was getting, this part of the process still had him uneasy. If there was anything years of gaming had taught him, forum topics almost always went off topic quickly. And, based upon how his dungeon already seemed to be a massive random joke at times… he was certain his AMA was about to digress rather quickly as well. Oh well. He had promised them an AMA after all. Plus, the sooner he got this out of the way, the sooner he could complete his Rank Up.

"Is that really the best title you could think of?" Rue was glancing at his forum post, her disappointment evident. "After your hilarious stream name, this, this is the best you can do?" The heavy sigh that followed as she folded her arms drove her point home.

"Look." James rubbed a tentacle across his orb. She was right, his heart wasn't in it right now. The excitement of the stream, the epic raid battle, all of that had been energizing. Now though, this AMA almost felt like work, and it was keeping him from things he actually wanted to do. "I'm doing the best I can here."

The pixie shook her head. "I call bullshit." She waved her hand, and the title of the AMA, Glyax's Random Dungeon AMA, disappeared.

"But-"

"No buts." Her eyes narrowed. "You either do this right, or you let me take over. I'm sure the dungeons would love to have a chat with me." The way she grinned implied she would love having a chat with them too. James's mind, and jealousy, told him he did not want his pixie interacting on his behalf with all the other dungeon cores. Who knew what trouble she would get the two of them into… or how many dungeon cores would begin pestering him if they thought he was a girl. Especially a flirty girl.

"Fiiiiinnnneeeee." James selected the now blank title and closed his eye. What would be an appropriate name for his AMA? What would really work for his dungeon? What would work for him?

[Insert Randomly Generated Witty Title Here] AMA- Now with Glyax

"Better?" It wasn't much better in James's eye, but it was really the best he could think of right now. Even he needed a mental break every now and then. Besides, it definitely fit with a meme that floated around on the internet still. And, considering his dungeon was literally randomly generated…

"Not really, but I'll let it pass." Rue floated over to the publish button and pushed it. The moment she did, the post appeared on the forum, and almost instantly, questions began flowing in. Just how many people had been waiting for this post? How many people…

*/TM - First

*/Stormy - First

*/ExodiaOP- First

**/ExodiaOP- Damnit

*/FelWeatherFriend- Where did your T-Rex get that Top Hat?

*/HBirdy- Does Charles The Dicken have any more works, er, skills, planned?

*/SMugledPuggle- What is Olivia's number? She's hot!

*/Dimitri69 - Can you milk a mad cow?- and…. There we go. There's the trolling.

The list continued on faster than James could keep up, and so he decided, for the next hour, he would diligently do his best to answer as many of the questions as he could. Then, when that hour was up, he would let them continue amongst themselves, while he got back to work. Some of the other cores seemed to be growing relaxed, but James still had a mission, he wanted to get the top spot. But first…work.

"Let's see…" he knew he didn't need to respond to every topic, but there were ones he felt would be wrong not to, and some that just seemed like fun to respond to.

*/FelWeatherFriend- Where did your T-Rex get that Top Hat?

**/Glyax- There was an upgrade listed for the Terminus titled Like A Sir. It increased his intelligence, and apparently gave him a top hat. It is also the reason why I have Philosoraptors now, as well as their monocle upgrades.

***/FelWeatherFriend- Are there any other possible accessory related upgrades for your dinos?

****/Glyax- A couple. Though a few I don't quite get. There is an upgrade for my Break-i-asarus called Tree Stars, which appears to give it a ranged attack….but I'm not sure how I feel about that.

*****/Shadoweaver- You need to unlock those Mother f***ng tree stars Gly, trust me.

"And, onto the next one." James closed out of that thread, as it then began devolving into pictures of a dinosaur eating a leaf that did look like a star, and various other memes and comments. He didn't have time for that. He briefly informed HBirdy that he wasn't quite sure how to upgrade his world boss just yet, but would keep him informed, and at the same time, explained to BMAN, that world bosses unlocked when his Event, Instance, and Boss research levels all hit 5. He had been slightly hesitant to reveal his research levels to the other dungeon cores, but no one seemed to notice his seemed higher than should be possible at the moment.

*/Some BS Deity - Have you had tea with Sir Rexington Yet?

"Is…is that even possible?" James motioned towards the question and watched as Rue read it over. After a pause, the pixie, to his surprise, shook her head yes.

"Mhmm. Because of the level of AI that exists within the Terminus, you and I can interact with him in your original dungeon layout. Same with your Demonic Farmer once his intelligence peaks and his AI becomes fully sentient. As well as the other future bosses, and even some NPCs, as you develop. The game developers wanted to establish a form of social interaction outside of just the core/pixie trope or forum chats, for all dungeon cores. Something about helping maintain the sanity of the core players and making them not feel isolated within the game.

Huh. James quickly responded, adding a new task to his ever-growing mental checklist of things to do.

**/Glyax- We have not yet, as it seems he had a prior engagement with a raid party. We will plan one later.

***/Some BS Deity- Don't forget the Hatter when you do!