“I knew it!” She said excitedly.

  In front of me stood a young woman of no more than 27, with neat brown hair, her face had make-up on, but only to highlight the beautiful features of her face.

  'Certainly a face that must have helped a lot in her line of work. I thought as I analyzed the reporter.

  “After seeing you appear on the OwenOwns stream, I was sure you were the game's creator!” She said excitedly as she smiled at me.

  I smiled back at her, surprised that she knew this fact. “Looks like you did your homework well before coming to interview me.”

  “Yes haha, nice to meet you, I'm Anna Dalton, reporter for MorePlayers, thank you very much for this interview opportunity.” She said as she extended her hand to me.

  Smiling politely at her, I introduced myself too. “Hi Anna, I'm Theo Brooks, the creator of Runestone. I was surprised that the person responsible for my interview is also a Player.”

  “Not everyone with the potential to be a Player decides to follow the path of a Player as their life's career.” She said as she nodded understandingly. “After I tried raiding my first dungeon I realized that the combat life wasn't for me.”

  I agreed. “I understand your view, I guess I too prefer the comfort of my home while helping Players get stronger, than battling deadly monsters every day.”

  Hearing what I said, Anna's eyes lit up. “Yeah! Not to mention that since I'm a Player, I'm better able to research the subjects I'm going to write about.”

  Looking at her with interest, then looking around us, I asked, “Is it also normal for interviews to be done in the games you're interviewing?”

  At my question she paused for a second and looked at me in doubt, until she confirmed something and replied. “No, since I'm only an F Rank Player, I can only play F Rank games, and Runestone is one of the few F Rank games that allow Players to meet in-game, my curiosity to know what an interview here would be like was responsible for my request.”

  I was a little surprised to hear that, but remembering how much Mana I spent setting up this multiplayer system, even with the help of the System that does everything perfectly even if I didn't have the knowledge to make it work perfectly, I understood why.

  “Yeah, thinking about it that way, it makes sense. If you want, Runestone will be open to you interviewing other Game Creators, of course, as long as they're willing to spend Mana to get into my game during the interview with you.” I laughed as I said this.

  Game Creators were very proud, even if doing the interview in my game was easier than meeting in person, I would still doubt that anyone would accept something like that.

  But Anna didn't think so and nodded excitedly. “Thank you very much, Theo. If the opportunity arises I'll definitely try to do it.”

  “About the interview...” She said as she closed her eyes for a few seconds, before opening them and continuing. “I've memorized the questions I'm going to ask you, is there anything you don't want me to ask, or anything you'd like to talk about during the interview?”

  Thinking about things not to ask, I had nothing in mind, but something I wanted her to ask about did exist. “Yes, you can...”

  After we had confirmed the questions and lined everything up perfectly, Anna activated the recording program for gaming videos, the same one Owen used to make his Streams, and went into professional mode while looking at the virtual camera.

  “Hi guys, I'm Anna Dalton from MorePlayers and today our interview is with one of California's most promising Game Creators, the creator of Nova Forge Academy's Rank Champion game, and a brilliant newcomer who is in the Top 5 new games in the state, the creator of Runestone, Theo Brooks!” She said as she waved at me.

  At that moment we were both sitting on two chairs in the tavern, facing the camera while a table with a Runestone board was between us.

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  Smiling at the camera, I waved to the crowd and greeted them. “Hello everyone, I'm Theo Brooks, the creator of Runestone and thank you very much for supporting my game.”

  Initially he had intended to remain 100% anonymous as I climbed the ranks, hiding behind the FrostHaven Entertainment name, but after doing some research and realizing that although this would help me not to become so well known, it would still be impossible to keep me completely hidden, considering that Game Creators were the most important and valued forces in the country, I accepted that I would have to make public appearances like this.

  Especially at times like these when I needed to appear to clarify things or attract players' attention to my game.

  “Well done Theo, even though you're a new Game Creator, your game is averaging more than 15,000 daily online Players, a shocking number for any new Game Creator! What makes your game so different from the others?” She asked with such realistic curiosity that if I didn't know she already knew the answer, I might believe she didn't know why.

  I smiled at her question and answered. “Anna, games in our world are very important for the survival of humanity, countries have already been destroyed because of dungeons that weren't cleared in time, so everyone has always seen them as opportunities to earn money, for glory, power, or out of a sense of duty to protect our world.”

  She agreed with what I said, thinking of Players she'd seen who represented each of the examples I'd given.

  Continuing, I said. “But because games were so important, people only saw them as training methods, in the same way as studying for exams at school, or training in the gym to get stronger. Even though it's so important, who says games can't just be fun? Runestone is successful because Players not only get stronger with the False Neurological Feedback I put into the game, but because Players have fun in my game and getting stronger with me isn't as bad as it is in other games.”

  With my explanation, Anna's eyes lit up as she got excited. “That's right, guys, right now we're in Runestone, the game developed by Theo, or rather FrostHaven Entertainment, Theo's company, and it's amazing. A card-based game, which for some would have no way of making Players stronger, but which uses False Neurological Feedback to compensate for this flaw. Tell me, Theo, how did you manage to implement Neurological False Feedback in an F Rank game?”

  Before I could answer, Anna looked at the camera and explained. “For those of you who don't know, False Neurological Feedback is a recent technology, developed a few months ago that has so far only been used in B Rank games or above, capable of tricking the user's brain while using the user's body's Mana to improve the Player's body or increase the maximum Mana!”

  Nodding to her, I explained. “The implementation of False Neurological Feedback was made possible thanks to an approach I call ‘Adaptive Neural Optimization’. Basically, instead of replicating the complete process of neurological stimuli that the High Rank Game Creators explained in the lectures describing Neurological False Feedback that requires absurd processing power, I created an algorithm that maps sensory response patterns using the original High Rank Neurological False Feedback algorithm as a base.”

  Hearing what I said, Anna showed interest, encouraging me to talk more about it.

  “In simpler terms, the system identifies which cards Players have used in the game and generates corresponding neurological triggers for each type of card played, causing the Player's body to develop according to the Player's style of play in Runestone.” I finished explaining.

  Hearing this, Anna smiled excitedly and complimented. “This is incredible, not just in California, but nationwide, Runestone is the only game below B Rank to use this technology in this way and I'm sure the Federation must be very pleased with you managing to do this.”

  Yes, Director Prescott also told me that the Federation was very optimistic about my development and that he would try to get good opportunities for me in the future on that basis.

  Continuing, Anna asked. “Because of Runestone's influence, other Game Creators are adopting the Battle Pass concept in their games, what do you have to say about that?”

  Pretending to think a little, I answered in a way that would appeal more to the audience. “Battle Pass came from wanting to reward players for playing, not just for winning. I wanted something that would keep them engaged and having fun while they evolved, thus making Players stronger and better able to defend themselves in dungeons.”

  “That's very noble of you, Theo.” Anna said respectfully.

  “After all, I'm still human and the games I make are for the benefit of society. People may think that Battle Pass is the only thing that Runestone has to offer, but anyone who plays my games will know that in Runestone and in future games there will be lots of fun and interesting ways to play, all with the focus on making the Players have as much fun as possible!” I said with a modest but confident smile.

  “And what would those ideas be?” She asked curiously.

  I just smiled and nodded at that question, saying nothing.

  Realizing that I wasn't going to talk about it, Anna changed the subject.

  I took advantage of the interview to try to generate as much hype as possible for Runestone and my next game, which I was pleased with.

  Anna was also respectful enough not to overstep her bounds, so I also did my best to entertain the audience during the interview.

  Which made me confident and curious to see what the public's reaction would be to watching this interview when it aired!

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