Three years ago, the gaming community was dry and filled with terrible and poorly designed games, all of them following the same worn-out and tired formula. The greedy companies that made these games were to blame. However, game creation and production were expensive endeavours in themselves, and no company was willing to gamble when producing a game.
About three years ago, a strange game named Codex mysteriously arrived. It wasn't just enigmatic but innovative as well. The game was set in a futuristic world shrouded in layers of mystery; several routes were encouraged, giving the players agency. The best part was the skill creation system; any ability that was imagined by the player could be created using an inbuilt programming language. The more creative a player was, the better.
Of course they were generic skills tailored to the game, but the joy of making your own personal skill exceeded that of using the former. Making skills was so difficult that only about 10% of the one million players made skills and only 1% made true skills.
The game ranked its players based on the clear time and death rate of each player. The top ten of this ranking were not to be taken lightly. To the point that they were hailed as geniuses. Today the game's DLC was set to be released. Noah mused.
It was 9:30 in the night, and the launch would commence any minute now. Noah stared at the countdown on his monitor, his heart beating in anticipation.
He adjusted his glasses on his nose bridge, tapping his fingers on his keyboard. "5, 4, 3, 2, 1 initialising data... Data initialisation failed. The computer screen read.
"Huh". Noah squinted his eyes in confusion.
After trying and retrying for a few minutes, he tapped at his screen, clearly frustrated.
He sighed "I have class tomorrow anyway," he said, stretching his arms up in the air.
Noah stood up and walked to his bed, which was opposite to his PC. He yawned slowly and sunk into his bed, immediately falling asleep.
In the middle of the night, Noah began twisting and turning. Frequent flashes of blue light an image of a gigantic pillar chained to the ground, various symbols etched on the pillar on one of them read, Codex.
Noah rolled out of his bed and fell to the floor. With a thud, he was finally awake. 7:30am he finally got out of his room. He was headed to his lecture hall, and as he walked, he scrolled through his phone. Several YouTubers had commented on the apparent "dlc failure.".
"So it's not just me." Noah deduced.
Noah arrived in his lecture room by 8:00 sharp. Surprisingly, class hadn't begun yet. Noah took a seat in the middle row, scrolling through his social media feed. It was filled with outraged fans cursing at the developers with all their might.
He smiled slightly and put away his phone, preparing for his class. As he patiently waited, he overheard two people talking behind him.
"You know Christopher Hanson, that Codex player; he was found dead in his apartment."
"Yeah, I read about that in an article. The police claim it's suicide."
"Apparently a heart attack."
"Hehe, some people even think he killed himself because of that dlc. People on social media are brutal."
Noah turned his head in their direction. He silently listened to the shocking news. It was shocking because Chris was ranked No. 10 as of last year. He was a well-known YouTuber in the gaming community; his death was definitely abrupt.
Noah returned to his lodge a bit earlier than usual; one of his lectures was cancelled.His lecturer was unavailable. He sat on his gaming chair.
After finishing a study session, he just wanted to relax a bit, recalling the news about Chris Hanson's death. He dug through some news articles confirming what he heard.
After 30 minutes of reading, he furrowed his brows, an intense fear washing over him. "Codex players ranked 8 and 7 found dead in their apartments." The news headlines read.
"The same cause of death as Chris; this may not be as simple as suicide." Noah muttered.
"What does that mean for me? I am ranked No. 3? Am I going to be found dead as well?" Noah gulped down his saliva.
Recalled that strange dream he had. "Codex". He muttered, squinting his eyes.
"Ominous." Noah adjusted his glasses.
Noah searched for the developers account on social media. The game was published under the alias of Joshua Preston. He began messaging the developer; however, there was no response.
"As expected, however, I have other means." Noah voiced maintaining his composure.
Coding is an essential part of Codex. In high school, I had no motivation until I discovered this game. I have been practicing for three years, 150 playthroughs and 15 true skills. I am also studying computer engineering. Hacking is just an extension of this accumulated skill.
"I need more information." Noah spat out
Today he attempts to hack Codex in search of any connection to Joshua. For about three hours, Noah dug through every article mentioning Joshua Preston. He would first attempt to decrypt Joshua Preston's password by uncovering any sensitive statement that he may have uttered.
If all else failed, he would have to crack the game in search of any connection to Joshua Preston.
Ring! Ring! Ring!
Noah glanced at his phone. "It's mom; what could she want?" Elior questioned. He was already plagued with exhaustion.
"Good evening, mom. I hope everything is alright.". Noah enquired cheerfully.
"Thank you for asking Noah; everything is great. I called you today because me and your dad are worried about you." Noah's mom replied with her voice even.
"We know you played that game and you are a high ranker; we want you to come home until all this blows over." She continued speaking.
"Don't worry, Mom, I'm fine; there's plenty of security in my apartment. Nothing is going to happen." Noah reiterated.
"But still, won't it be safer at home?" Noah's mom continued her voice shaking.
"I'll be fine, mom; don't worry some much." Noah chuckled
"Thanks for calling mom; I have got to study. I'll call you back, okay, bye." Noah hung up the call. His smile froze, and he focused his attention on the computer.
Noah rubbed his eyes; he knew that something wasn't right, but he wasn't getting his parents mixed up in this. He had to protect his parents; after all, they were the only people pushing him; he couldn't bear to lose them.
He continued working until it was 7:00, but he wasn't even close to breaking the encryption. Although he had discovered a few anomalies about the game.
The Joshua Preston was truly an enigma. He had no relation or past connections apart from his game that solidified his existence. During interviews, he always wore a mask to hide his face. Almost like a ghost.
The most unsettling detail was the situation of the first testers of the game. had mysteriously vanished one after the other a few months after the game launched.
Noah needed a nap; he couldn't keep it up any longer. His gaze was growing hazy.
Thud!
His head slammed against his desk. His mind sinking into a timeless void, cold and silent. Suddenly, Noah found himself again in that moonlit palace; at the heart of it stood the pillar that dwarfed everything and the ominous blue fog that enveloped the entire expanse.
The words etched on the pillar glowed with an ethereal hue. Suddenly the pillar began trembling. The fog stirred with it, shattering the dream sequence into fragments of light.
Noah raised his head in shock. It was already dark out side.
"What time is it?" Noah muttered.
It was already 11:00; I have been asleep for 4 hours!. Noah shook, "I am out of time; I'll have to speed up my plans." Noah jolted awake.
He would hack the game directly this time. Noah began the decrypting process determined to get a location, name, or anything. Just to get a hold of the developer.
It was 3:00am in the morning, and dark circles were forming under Noah's eyes.
Ping!
Noah's phone began buzzing. Breaking news: "The ranker known as 'Claygamer' just died of a heart attack while streaming live."
Noah blood fell cold. I have to uncover this problem as soon as possible. He continued reading. "Other rankers associated with the game Codex should report to the nearest police station for protection."
"He died on stream; this doesn't look like the work of an assassin; most of these players don't even live on the same continent." Noah pondered his hands trembling; he clenched his fists and sighed.
"Clay Gamer is ranked No. 5; I am running out of time." Noah muttered
He redoubled his efforts in cracking the game. Around 5:00 am in the morning, Noah discovered a particular string of code. It read "60.34, 230.67."
"Hmm, what could this be?" Noah was puzzled.
"Good grief." Noah rubbed on his eyes.
"They could be anything from measurements to temperature readings; however, they are no units, so they are most likely coordinates." Noah analysed the data meticulously.
He stretched his hands in the air and yawned. Noah immediately got up and walked into his bathroom and washed up. He dressed quickly and walked out the door with his phone in hand, sprinting at top speed.
A few minutes after Noah left his room. His PC turned on and began counting down. "Time till Data Extraction : 09:59:59".