“Steve? That does not sound very dev sounding, and isn’t this game ran by ai?”

Steve taps the terminal a few more times and rubs his chin.

“ Well, yes and no. I shall give you the short of it so to not get any of us into trouble. AI are not perfect because they are made by people. And people are not perfect so we use AI. You see, sometimes someone like me needs to tweek something or patch something or ban someone...”

The two swallowed at that and the dev continued to tap on the console.

“ You know, raids are something we added because of you Loreright. One of those last minute post release things. We never really got a chance to test it before... well you know. That party really does love unique challenges. Any who, I am not here to ban you or nerf you or anything. I mean getting through the dungeon without actually fighting anything sounds kinda fun actually and the elite workaround is unique though unintended. No, I am here actually because of your friend over there.”

The dev blindly points at Sargent.

“ You see, when we rented out the storage space for the AI, we did not account for in game assets to be accessible to the outside world. If not for the fact that it is a self made, if crude, AI using lacking public assets then I would be here for a different reason. Well, to keep it short, and believe me we would be here for hours if I did not. The higher ups found out about your taxi project. Whoever was hired to manufacture it started advertising those steampunk raptors before the first was ever made.”

The dev taps the console one more time before turning to Terrance.

“ Public records are a double edged sword. Truth be told, it is a crude first attempt. Crude but effective. So which brings me to why I am here.”

Terrance notices a system message just appeared and he immediately opens it to find a NDA and a contract locked behind it.

“I must say, rebuilding and redesigning a raptor from the ground up without an engineering degree is very impressive. Even more so when you made the compatibility between real life and in here almost 94%. What we want is the swat drones.”

Terrance read over the contract a little after reviewing and signing the NDA and quickly found it over his head.

“Military?”

The dev choked a laugh.

“You kidding? Right? Right... Well, don’t answer. The answer to your question is no, they already got better stuff. Actually, it’s the police. Take human lives out of the crosshair of criminal elements. Bomb disposial is a big one. Riot control, madman gunning someone down, you even got a counter zombie outbreak option. What is even better is your bots could potentially replace conventional vehicles. Naturally, they can traverse harsh terrain even better than horses for search and rescue operations. Though I suspect years if not decades of refinement is needed. So, take your time with the contract. But the NDA is for the contents of the contract. Which you could not open without it.”

Terrance looked at the contract a little more and grimaced.

“ I think I need a lawyer.”

The dev nods.

“ Naturally, they be under the same NDA for legal reasons. And your legal guardians if you are not of age. Hard to tell with VR sometimes. Anyways, I did a small update for your raid while I was here. Added all that lore content the AI forgot to add into the scenario. Any questions before I go, I mean any that I can answer... because I am a dev and don’t ask me for exploits ot anything like that.”

Terrance looked at the contract again before minimizing it.

“ What if I say no?”

The dev closed his eyes and sighed.

“ It would suck, but that is your legal right. Though, without an engineering degree I have no idea how far you could develop it. Even with one, the expense alone would break a small country.”

The dev then shrugs and starts heading toward the door and Amy reaches out her hand.

“Hey,.. um...”

Steve pauses and looks over his shoulder.

“No stupid questions Ms. Infobroker.”

This makes her pause and take a deep breath.

“ Does this conversation need to be under NDA?”

Steve thought about it and shook his head.

“Not really, I mean all the important stuff your dragonian friend already told you. BTW, I love his class build, heh... get it... anyways. I GTG! Dev things to do.”

-----

Steve appeared in a hottub across from a dungeon core and his partner and instantly took the martini when offered to him.

“ You know your are not suppose to snoop on the players like that.”

Steve shrugs and takes a sip.

“ Ah, shaken not stirred. Everything I said is true though. Especially that bit about you not being thorough with your lore. I would normally blame you for that, but this actually falls under Rue’s responsibilities when you are not on.”

Rue gives him the stink eye and he laughs.

“ You are a thousand years too young to have that look compared to my wife.”

Rue instantly smiled.

“ I wonder how she feels about you calling her over a thousand then?”

Steve smirked to the threat.

“ Go ahead, show her the video. She will agree you are a thousand years too young.”

Steve then looked at his nonexistent watch and gulps down his martini.

“ Well, I GTG, Peter needs told that he has work a lot earlier than we thought. I wonder what else that boy will come up with. Small dino’s that build stuff... Classic!”