Meanwhile in the realm that had captured everyone's attention the man behind it all was laughing at some of the antics people had gotten up to. A bunch of people had found their first village but only a couple were able to afford the live streaming emblem. A couple Silver coins might not be expensive but it certainly isn't cheap either. Because I wanted the game to be bigger than Minecraft and Terraria I had redesigned the money system. Now it went from 100 bronze coins to a bronze bar, 10 bronze bars equaled a silver coin, after silver came gold and platinum, and the final currency was ten platinum bars for a gem. It would look like the emerald in Minecraft but it would shift between colors like the aurora borealis. I couldn't use an emerald because gems were useful in Terraria and I wanted that to carry over. But I made it a little harder to actually use them by having each player mine gem fragments that needed to be combined.
Kind of like collecting multiple ores that then have to be smelted into ingots before you could use them to make almost anything. But I'm getting off topic, the people I was watching had some pretty hilarious moments. They would definitely be acting very differently if they actually knew someone was watching, but that was one of the advantages of being me. I wasn't going to take it too far but watching Minecraft's funniest moments was an opportunity I couldn't pass up. There were people that freaked out way more than Ned had when they met their first monster, luckily so far no one had passed out or anything. The monsters were not exactly realistic with their blocky shape, but there were a few people that took the flight option in fight or flight only to trip or run into a tree. There was also a lot of screaming, it was hilarious to watch a man with a baritone voice suddenly discover his talent for soprano.
I think he actually stopped screaming so quickly because he was surprised by his hidden talent. But everyone that was startled badly by various creatures rose up afterwards to fight back, some definitely more eager than others but even the most hesitant still fought. It was encouraging to see people facing their fears with only a little hesitation. People were just too curious to explore this new world to leave just yet, it was something I was actually worried about. What if people would rather stay in this world than to go back to the real one? It hadn't occurred to me before so I didn't put in any safeguards, that would be something I would have to add the next time I fell asleep. While the app I made could access the realms I limited it to just observing I couldn't make any changes while I was awake. "Oh?" I was surprised as a notification turned up on my phone, it looked like the first player starting to gather as much information as they could.
One of the benefits of my abilities was that I didn't actually have to program anything. I knew how but I wasn't great at it and programming this world would have not only taken much longer it also would not have turned out so well. An advantage was how I designed the villagers to be as real as possible, I didn't even have to spend a ridiculous amount of time on each one. Like the question bot on the app it learned from all the people interacting within the realm and by now they had all learned a lot. With all the people interacting with the villagers, not to mention all the questions being answered by the bot, anyone would have a hard time telling that they were not actually humans. At least the ones that looked human, some of the NPCs looked a little different from baseline humans. Another attempt at getting the common man used to people that looked different from them, cough… bigots… cough.
Most of the people playing had taken a second look but they just brushed it off, a few had scowled and some had even smiled before going over to interact with them. No one had outright been hateful so far but I'm pretty sure that was just because all the racists thought this was a mutant power and therefore wouldn't use it. No real loss for me, if their opinions kept my realm free from bigotry then that was ok with me. But it did remind me to put in some protections just in case any of them joined the realm and started to make a fuss. All and all a good start, but even though people were interacting with the villagers most of them weren't really engaging with them. Except for one person, she had the tag of Widow over her head and had bright red hair, and now that I knew what world I was in, or at least which multiverse, I was pretty confident I knew who she was.
The infamous Black Widow had joined my game. When I checked how long she had been in the game I was surprised that she was part of the first group of people that joined, just a minute or two after Ned. And man she has been doing well for herself too, so far she killed a ton of monsters with no problems and collected tons of different kinds of loot, practically filling up her inventory. Some of which were monster drops like gunpowder from the creepers or slime from the various colors of slimes. But she also had different kinds of wood, a bunch of plants, and seeds that could grow into various fruits and vegetables. I was not expecting the plants as they were really only really useful in dyes right now, but later in that game when potions come into play they would have more use. She also had some dirt and sand, the sand would be helpful to make glass but the dirt, not so much.
It was a lot harder to build those one block towers when you were in the game yourself so it didn't have much use other than that. I may have neglected to add some of the more ridiculous items from Terraria like the dirt bomb. But Widow wasn't selling any of it, not that she really needed the money from all the monsters she killed. Instead she was asking questions to each villager she came across, and she got some pretty useful information out of it too. Like learning from the Clothier how to add enchantments to her clothes. I reworked the armor system entirely as I didn't like the armor and cosmetic slots in Terraria and I heard about a pretty cool mod for minecraft that I worked into the game. Basically if you had armor and clothes you could sacrifice the armor to enchant your clothes with a sort of shield that had the same protection. The only downside was that it would wear down faster than actual armor would if you did that.
She also talked to the Blacksmith and Jeweler about the different valuable materials in the game. Of course she talked to the Banker as well, she just didn't sell him anything after learning about the different levels of currency. But after talking to a few more NPCs she asked a few too many questions the Fisherman didn't know the answer to and got a surprise for her efforts. "Well, why don't you ask the Elder? He knows pretty much everything." If this was an anime her eyes would have lit up in interest, "Really? Where can I find the Elder?" The young Fisherman pointed at a building that was a little larger than the rest of the houses, "You can usually find him in his office this time of day. But you should hurry or you might miss him, he usually goes on a walk around this time of day. And it's harder to track him down when he's on one of his walks."
Widow nodded and thanked the Fisherman before walking purposefully towards the building he pointed out. She knew this was a good chance to learn more about this world, and that was the entire reason she was here. This new realm may be interesting but her superiors were freaking out over the major breach it caused and the sheer power it displayed. After people first noticed the various programs it did not take long for them to understand the scope of the breach. The fact that someone could do such a thing was frightening for people that were used to holding all the power. It didn't help that they could not stop people from entering this realm and taking the benefits for themselves. Access to the realms was everywhere and people all over the world were giving into their curiosity. So they had to find out if this was dangerous or valuable.
If it was a danger then it would take massive coordination between nations to fight against whatever was behind this. Many were unsure if they even could fight this, no one knew where the program came from, it just appeared. If it was valuable then they needed to know how to get ahead of everyone else. Because if there was no danger then they could already see multiple ways to use this to their advantage. They didn't get where they were today by sitting on their ass while opportunity knocks. But when they hacked into one of the apps, all they found was the necessary code to display the first two options. There was no hint of how a person's consciousness could enter while their body slumbered. All this combined caused a lot of self important men to demand answers. So dozens of agents were sent into Oasis to observe every aspect of the hub.
The building housing the portal to Minecraft was found relatively quickly and a few agents were dispatched. Some were tasked to learn whatever they could about the various objects inside the building while others were ordered to step through the portal. When Widow stepped up to the door and knocked she was once again impressed by the realism. She could even hear some shuffling from beyond the door, "One moment please." It did not take long before the door creaked open and a blocky character smiled at Widow. The man standing in front of her was dressed in blue pants, black shoes, and a green shirt. Due to the blockiness of the whole world not much could be determined about the materials used. The man himself had olive green eyes, light brown hair that streaked with strands of grey, and a healthy tan. "Hello, I don't believe we have had the pleasure of meeting. How may I help you?"
The smile from his face did not fall and he tilted his head to the side after asking his question. While the NPCs in the game learned from the people around them I had shaped the foundations their personalities would grow into. The Elder was meant to help players with any questions they may have, but I didn't give him all the answers of course. I didn't want the players to become reliant on him, he was only able to give out helpful insights that would help players past particular roadblocks. He was filled with knowledge of how to start out and interesting tidbits about the various goals you could work towards. He would also match the progress the player made in the game, he would break his information into pre hard mode and post hard mode. Widow returned the Elder's smile, she noticed quickly that the NPC's would react differently depending how you treated them.
"I am new around here and I was wondering if I could ask you some questions." He nodded and stepped back before gesturing for her to enter, "It would be my pleasure. Would you like to sit?" He guided them into a sitting room with a couple of chairs and tables with some bookcases stacked against the walls. After taking the seat, Widow thought for a moment before asking her first question, "What is the purpose of this place?" The Elder tilted his head in confusion, "I do not understand, shouldn't the purpose be obvious? This realm exists so you may enjoy it and have fun. Whether that is simply exploring new landscapes, building beautiful structures, or fighting powerful monsters you can do so in this place." The pixels that made up Widow's eyes narrowed in suspicion, "But what does your creator get out of it? No one does anything for free."
The Widow did not know it but the Elder had alerted Alex to the questions being asked, it was something Alex had put in to let him know whenever someone may ask certain questions. Normally the Elder would only be able to give information based on the game but Alex knew that a lot of people would not be satisfied by that. Their need for control would push them to try and find answers and he did not want them to push too far. So he gave them what they wanted and decided to answer almost any question they may have. Neither the Elder or Widow knew that Alex was already watching so he was able to take over immediately. The Elder, now controlled by Alex, smiled "I guess you could say I get something out of this." The answers he gave immediately put the Widow on guard, the way he said that told her that she was no longer speaking with the Elder but whoever created this game.
Alex was not actually in the game but by using one of the functions of the app he was able to answer her questions himself. Basically the app was scanning his body to match his body language and project his voice into the game. He didn't have to use this function as he was sure many people would start to ask these questions in the future but this was a special case. Both because of who she was and who she was undoubtedly asking questions for. Credit where it is due, Widow did not let her nervousness show "So you are the one behind all of this? Who are you? What are you? And what do you get out of this?" The Elder tilted his head in thought, "Well that is a bit hard to explain, but basically you can think of this realm as a power plant, and all the people in it are fuel rods. They have all this untapped potential and this realm gives me the ability to tap into it."
She interrupted, "Are the people playing in this realm being hurt by whatever you are taking from them?" I shook my head, "No, the energy I am taking from them is something they naturally give off by just being here. And if I didn't use it then it would either dissipate or someone else would take it." She nodded and moved on, "So you made this place to give yourself more power?" The Elder shook his head, "Yes and No. Yes I can tap into the power stores for myself and I probably will do so, but why stop there? You are thinking on too small of a scale, if I store the power from 100 people for a year I could give half of them the strength of Captain America." Widow's avatar paled and I admired the work I had put into this game, Minecraft games from my old world could not compare to what I had done here. And I had barely gotten started.
"As for my name, well you can call me Tet. And for what I am, well I don't really know what you would call me. An Outsider or Beyonder maybe, but I don't think you're familiar with that term yet." Widow snapped out of her shock when I gave her my name and ignored my ramblings of what I was as it didn't make sense to her before she asked her next question. "Then what do you plan to do with your abilities?" The Elder shook his head again, this time in exasperation, "I know your superiors will not believe me but I plan to make this world a better place. I have a lot of plans for the future so do keep an eye out for what comes next." I winked at her and then shut down the program, the Elder relaxed a little in his chair, "Do you have any other questions young lady?"
That was the last thing I heard from their conversation as I switched to watching another player while Widow continued to ask questions about my intentions. As fun as it was interacting with a 'main character' I was getting kind of bored at her predictable questions. Once she realized 'Tet' was no longer inhabiting the Elder's body she changed to ask questions about the game. They talked for a few hours about the dangers in this world, the different materials she could collect and even interesting places to explore. When she was finally done she left the game with a thought and immediately reported to her boss, the badass himself, Nick Fury. As soon as she stood in his office he barked out an order, "Report Romanoff." She nodded and allowed herself a little smirk, judging by the paperwork on his desk his meeting with her was not going to make his day any better.
And he always went on the most educational tirades whenever he blew his top, any rookie agents nearby were sure to learn a few new ways to swear. She had even learned a few things over the years from his rants, and that was impressive. "Well sir." The way she started the report had him look up from his desk and send a glare that would have made a Navy SEAL wet their pants. But she continued her report without flinching, "When I entered the game called Minecraft I spent a considerable amount of time exploring until I found a village. During that time I ran into various creatures, some of which I could identify, Skeletons, Zombies, Giant Spiders, and Slimes. The ones that I couldn't I later learned were called Creepers, Endermen, and Demon Eyes. I also made sure to collect various samples for the different terrains I trekked through."
"By the time I made it to the village I made it to level 23 and collected about 7 silver. There were a few chests I found that from exploring shallow caves that had items as well as coins in them, added up they were even more profitable than hunting monsters. After I made it to the village I went around asking questions to the various people inhabiting the village. They all seemed intelligent but each one was only knowledgeable about a certain subject, and if you asked something out of their area of expertise they would tell you who would know. The Fisherman for instance would not know how to make ingots but the Blacksmith did. It was when I was talking to the Fisherman that I discovered if you ask too many questions outside of their purview they will direct you to the Elder." If Fury was a normal man he would have perked up at that but all that got past his super spy poker face was a very slight widening of his eye.
Natasha smirked as she had been burying the lead just so she could get a reaction out of him. Fury's eye narrowed back into a glare and she ignored it before continuing with her report, "When I made contact with the Elder I was only able to ask two questions before his body language drastically shifted." At this point her annoyance could not help but leak out, usually she had no trouble reading people but the blocky nature of the world kept her from discerning anything but the most obvious of tells. Luckily a person getting possessed was something that could not be hidden, everything from the way he sat in his chair to what could be read from the expression changed. "Apparently my questions had caught the attention of the creator of the realm and he decided to grace me with his presence." Now Fury was practically salivating at the chance to know more about whoever made this mess, of course for him that meant leaning less than an inch forward in his chair.
"I wasn't able to learn much, mostly due to the pixelation, but apparently his name is Tet and he called himself an Outsider or Beyonder. He also implied we may have already run into someone like him or we may do so in the future. Apparently he made his realm as some sort of powersource and each person that uses it is like a well he can draw from. He claimed that the power he took would not harm anyone in his realm, that we naturally emitted this power and if he did not use it then it would either dissipate or someone else would claim it. He also claimed not to hoard all this power for himself but to share it with others as well. He made a point of telling me that he would be able to turn half the people in the game into Captain America within a year's time." Fury sat back in his chair and she stopped speaking for a moment, "Could you tell if he was lying?"
She shook her head, "No. All I could tell from his facial expression and posture was that he was comfortable and amused. He also told me that he was far from done and to keep an eye out in the future for what was coming next." Her expression turned into a scowl as her annoyance for the pixelation in that world flared up. Fury thought for a moment longer before giving her the signal to continue with her report. "After telling me all that the Elder's body language shifted again, I tried asking some questions about his purpose but all I got were non answers. So I went back to asking about the game instead, I learned quite a lot. For instance there are monsters that are specific to certain terrains, like the jungle have hornets and the oceans and rivers have jellyfish. There is also an area that I did not come across called the corruption, it has special monsters of its own and is more dangerous than almost any other area."
"In this area if you kill enough of different kinds of monsters it would summon a kind of boss monster, depending on the specific type of monster you killed. There are other boss monsters that you can summon in different ways. He even told me about a hell dimension you can get to by building a portal out of a rare material from deep underground. There was a lot more basic information about the game but those were the most interesting tidbits." Once she finished speaking Fury dismissed her to write up a complete report that went into more detail about what she learned. This world might be like a game but he had a feeling this was going to be a big part of people's lives in the future. Judging from the other reports he had gotten they wouldn't be able to shut it down or even find the person responsible anytime soon. So the best they could do was learn all they could and prepare for anything that may come their way.
He was not looking forward to hearing from the council again once Natasha's resort made its way to them. The fact that Tet could make half the planet into super soldiers was not going to go over well, and the warning he gave about more coming in the future suggested that was far from his limit. Fury's scowl deepened as he tried to burn the paperwork on his desk from the sheer force of his glare. If he ever found the person responsible he would shoot them just for the amount of paperwork he had to do because of this mess. He'd do them a favor and aim for a flesh wound. But then thoughts of even more random people getting powers bounced around in his skull as he dreaded the possible chaos, and the paperwork it would generate. And Fury decided to take out both kneecaps instead if Tet followed through with his promise.
Not knowing that at this moment the source of his anger was having a blast watching more people enjoy his game. It was at that moment that halfway across the world a third person was informed of a perplexing program that showed up on all of the Scactom's computers. Apparently it couldn't be removed, the bald woman currently listening to the acolyte sent to inform her gave a smile and her response was much different than most leaders around the world. "Well that is certainly interesting." She then stood and walked out of the room, making her the third person with significant influence to discover the aspect of their world. None of them knew it yet but this would change the world forever, but whether that change would be for good has yet to be seen.