FB: Chapter 68 – ENN Interview Drama

“Hello loyal viewers. Today we have a treat for you. A one on one interview where we ask the questions, you submitted. I am Fred, your intrepid host here at ENN,” Fred introduced himself.

“And I am Rebecca, your other host at ENN who works to uncover the truth behind all facets of the game. Today we have CEO of the Fanged Fox Corporation, Guild Leader of the Fanged Fox Guild, Grand Champion, Mistress of Mayhem, and the newest accolade, the God Player,” Rebecca said. I smiled politely, since that bitch was going to get what was coming to her after writing those articles about me.

“The last one is a bit much, but I have had quite a lot of successes,” I replied.

“Indeed, that brings the first and most asked question by our viewers. What can they do to be successful like you?” Fred asked.

“The best advice is having a combat build that has good synergy and growth potential. This includes your stats, titles, and skills. Many players just pick what they like and that is fine if you want to play at a casual level or have fun. At the competitive level and to rise to the top, every choice matters. You don’t need to math everything out, but understanding how the mechanics work in game is very important,” I answered.

“Most analysts suggest that you focus on poison and the Luck stat. What is the synergy there?” Rebecca asked.

“That is the kind of question a person who is a professional at the game should be able to instantly answer. If you can’t answer that question, then you will struggle in fights where you don’t understand what is happening,” I said with a smile. I didn’t like Rebecca, and this answer was a nice way to target her.

“It clearly involves critical hits. But you would need a tremendous number of stat points invested into Luck for that kind of build to work,” Fred said.

“Again, every skill, stat, title, and piece of equipment matters,” I replied.

“The next most asked question is about the upcoming Slice Sword Gauntlet Tournament of Champions. There are rumors circulating that you are behind this tournament and the prize. If so, why would you put up such a valuable weapon?” Rebecca asked.

“How to answer this? Let’s poll your audience, you should be able to do a flash poll. Do they want corporate answer that is expected, or do people want me to give the spicey answer?” I asked.

“Give us a moment, we are running the flash poll now. Everyone get your votes in over the next minute,” Fred said.

“Do you think you can win the tournament?” Rebecca asked.

“I did defeat the Dark Saint Gamabuturon who had over 150 levels on me,” I replied with a smirk.

“And you refuse to release any footage of that battle, except three screenshots. Many are calling it fabricated. Why not release footage of the entire fight?” Rebecca asked.

“Because it exposes key combat strategies I can employ against difficult opponents. But I will release footage of the entire battle against the Dark Saint and his last words under one condition,” I said.

“What is that?” Fred asked as I didn’t say anything and let the suspense build.

“Rebecca here just has to strip naked in the real world for a one dollar stream, like the woman she is. If people want to see this epic battle footage, please convince Rebbeca to sell out her entire body,” I said to shocked silence. This was the kind of drama that people lived for.

“And the flash poll is done. At 78% people want the spicey answer, which I am almost afraid of now,” Fred said.

“Simple. I am the best and the sword doesn’t fit my build. So, while it is valuable it is better as bait to lure Champions into the arena so I can crush them like the weaklings they are. I am almost tempted to make the tournament a Brawl, but that can wait for another day,” I explained.

“I am not some two bit whore, who will sell herself!” Rebbecca’s brain finally processed what I had said and she stood up and pointed at me.

“Just a one dollar whore like your slanderous articles. I know what you have been posting about me online. It’s your choice, give the fans a double show, or leave them disappointed. I mean ENN kept you on, even after you tried to bait me in several interviews and wrote those nasty articles. I prefer to state my intentions directly and not hide behind false words and false tits,” I declared dramatically.

“These are real!” Rebbecca yelled.

“If you protest hard enough, maybe you will even convince everyone. I will give out the stats on the prize blade if we do a flash poll on Rebbecca’s tits. Are those fake tits real?”

“Don’t you dare!” Rebbecca turned and pointed at Fred.

“Sorry, but the producers are already running the flash poll since viewer numbers are spiking,” he quickly said.

“It is a unique item. One of a kind. It increases melee damage by five hundred percent. It is unbreakable. It is quite big. And it has an innate skill, which is not tied to a skill shard. The Dark Saint actually used this blade when we fought. If you want to see it in action, Rebbecca knows what she needs to do,” I said.

“And the flash poll results are in. With 59% of the poll respondents saying that those are definitely fake tits and are not real,” Fred said, and Rebbecca let out a scream of rage. I stood up from my seat. The best part was, since this was all in Exponential, it was all fake technically. The poll was to just make a point and increase drama.

“Let me know when she whores herself out. And don’t bring her to another interview with me again. Otherwise, I will be going to another network,” I said and walked away. It wasn’t just her attempting to bait me with questions, she had written several negative articles about me as well. Talking about how I was probably an attention seeking harlot who slept her way to the top. Well, if she wanted to call me a whore, it was fair game to return the favor.

Also, this kind of tabloid drama was something the public would love. Calling another woman out in a live broadcast and calling her tits fake was as low brow as it could get without pulling each other’s hair. She would lose her job and all the respect she had as a broadcaster. If you wanted to insult me, you weren’t about to get nice interviews.

Now it was a question if ENN made her put out under the contract she signed with them. I gave it a fifty percent chance. Did I feel bad about turning a broadcast journalist into a whore, not one bit. In fact, some would call it a professional move upwards on the career ladder. At least she would be able to make money to eat.

That made me think of how Quant Z was muscling in on the prostitution and gambling racket in the Human Empire. He was doing it all legally, while recruiting experienced women to our brothels and gambling dens where he had a couple of professional gamblers working to plug all the possible exploits in various table games. Supreme Commander was also taking off as a mini-game in our town as well since people had learned that I had defeated Garren Tine, the number one NPC at the game.

Quant Z was a force of nature unto himself. Without his brilliant administrative talents, the guild wouldn’t have lasted the two months under mobilization. I wouldn’t have had the time I needed to get the skills and legendary poisons to wipe out the enemy encampment. He had somehow held everything together financially until the last moment, where I managed to reverse the entire situation.

That was why he had been given a promotion to Senior Officer of Development for his extraordinary actions in stabilizing the guild during its financial crisis and its rapid development. The title came with a bonus, which he had well-earned in my opinion.

Getting a hold of Quant Z this soon into Exponential and unleashing him was a powerful weapon that did almost as much as I had done for the Fanged Fox Guild. Every little detail was reviewed by him, he was incredibly demanding, rude, and frustrating to deal with. But he got results. In the end that was what mattered for a super-guild. Friendship and kindness were burdens I couldn’t afford to carry. Quant Z was perfect in this regard.

I returned to my office where Henry handed me a report on high level monsters. I flipped through it fairly quickly looking over the areas that had been scouted. None of them appeared to be promising. Too many different types of monsters mixed in with each other, which required a balanced approach.

But the classics were the classics for a reason. There were a couple monsters over level 100 that I could kill. It was time to descend to the bottom of the Bottomless Pit once more and kill Mega Oozes. One gold per kill wasn’t that bad and I could do it at a rapid speed.

“Purchase my public designs for a descent sphere and have one built. I will be descending into the Bottomless Pit for the next four weeks,” I said.

“That might not be a good idea. A new monster has emerged in that area, the Wall Worms. They leap out of the wall to grab onto falling objects. A lot of people copied your idea and QAI developed a countermeasure,” Henry explained. QAI had done something differently from what I remembered. It truly was adaptable.

“That means a trip through the Blink Forest to the Lucky Bunnies. That is going to be really annoying,” I muttered.

“Is there anything you wish me to prepare?” Henry asked me.

“Arrange for the purchase of three vials each of the two legendary poisons. I suspect the upcoming tournament will be a challenge. I can’t go into it half prepared and lose Slice,” I said.

“The cost will reach around thousand platinum,” he said.

“The guild owes me far more than that. I don’t have the funds currently. Make the arrangements and purchase those legendary poisons. As much as you can, but at least three vials. Since they are both refined by an Alchemist they shouldn’t go bad but confirm that. Having a bigger stockpile wouldn’t be a bad thing,” I said.

“I will travel to the Alchemists and speak with them,” he said. It was nice to have a subordinate who could handle various tasks I entrusted them with.