Colt watched the timer carefully, as it was almost time to reconnect to the game. His eyes scanned the forums for any new information, but it was just full of people's theories about Tier 1. 'There's no mention of being able to wield your element at Tier 1...' Colt hummed as he read the different theories. 'It means that everyone who knows that isn't sharing the information.'

He agreed with this approach. If someone spilt the beans, then it would be harder to catch people off guard when he reached that stage. He knew that it was a race against time now. If Aeri reached Tier 1 before he did, then he was certain that she would make his Pantheon pay for their stunt.

He navigated to their Pantheon page where the first video had been uploaded. Above the video player was his Pantheon's emblem, with Ragnarok written in runic symbols below. He had watched it himself and he had to admit that the editors did a great job. Nothing that they wanted to keep secret had been added to the footage.

Of course, Colt had received the answer to his worries concerning Donna when he watched their own video. Surprisingly, the footage also contained scenes from their followers. 'I still can't believe Bjorn killed her Oracle...' However, this just gave him something new to worry about. Although Donna had been banned, she would be among those who could return to the game. 'What if she comes back under a different name? How could I deal with that?' His eyes moved to the view counter as he considered that problem.

Surprisingly, the video had already gained a lot of views as people shared it all over the internet. This was due to how they had used their enemies' numbers against them to quickly kill a lot of them. It got tongues wagging as people started discussing different ideas to try something similar.

He could only sigh at the comments section. 'It seems I've started something. We might need to be more careful in the future so we don't fall prey to these plans.' Colt shook his head slowly as he looked at the requests to join his Pantheon from different players. He took his time to send out a mass email to the majority of them that stated that they were not accepting members at this time.

While those that piqued his interest received one that stated they would be the first to be considered during their next recruitment. Naturally, he had no idea when that would be. He would have to increase the Pantheon's Tier first to find out what effects it would have. Out of curiosity, he navigated to Camelot's page. He had refrained from doing this so far but he wanted to see for himself how they were dealing with the game. When he clicked on the video, he received a surprising message. 

[You are a current member of a different Pantheon. This video is currently unavailable to you.]

Colt frowned as he read the message. 'Damn! They never mentioned this!' He cursed under his breath as he thought of how he could gain information. But even if someone else told him, it would be second-hand information. There was the risk that they would miss key details or not understand just how amazing or poor some of their actions would be.

'I guess this is just another method to help protect us from each other...' Colt sighed as he admired the developers' wisdom on this matter. The edited footage would keep their secrets, the delay would make it impossible to use the videos to target other Pantheons and hearing information second hand was unlikely to tell them what they really needed.

The minutes slowly ticked by as he absentmindedly scrolled through the forums yet again. Apparently, a number of people had already passed the test that the developers put in place for the masses to have a chance to join in the game. 'The competition is bound to heat up with so many new pros and unknowns joining. Hopefully, I won't have to deal with another batch like Winter and Midas.

This was his main concern for now. As he would no longer have a way to deal with them outside of using force. To be honest, he doubted anyone would be stupid enough to challenge him now if they stumbled upon Korden or Eraldsfen. The risk of angering his Pantheon as new players were just too great.

Even if they had Divine protection, there was no way they could expect to last long once they ascended. Colt continued to make his plans for when he rejoined the game. 'The first step is to warn Ania about the possibility of more gods appearing. Then I need to focus on helping Harik for my Quest and support the others in grinding for mobs.'

A deep frown crossed his face as he considered the other, more long-term things he had to take care of. 'I haven't been back to the shop in a while... I definitely need to check out the next floor. Maybe there'll be a clue to the next piece of The First Flame.' Colt paused for a moment, as the timer only had a few minutes left. As he headed towards his capsule and got changed into the gaming suit, another thing crossed his mind. 

'Then there's the Autosphere... With our numbers and levels now, maybe we can further explore those ruins...' He felt like the idea had some merit as he lay down and waited for the capsule to start up. 'Either way... Things are bound to become chaotic. Maybe I'll have Clay lead the others out grinding while I take care of Harik's Quest. Hopefully, he's already returned.' Colt let out a long sigh as the machine booted up to correspond with the timer.

Either way, he could not wait to get stuck back in. 'Hopefully, we can find some sponsors soon. I can't keep doing this unless I earn something from it.' In all of his excitement, he had forgotten about his real-life problems. 'We'll just have to do something amazing to attract them to our videos...'

THE END... OF VOLUME 1: BETA TEST

SEE YOU NEXT CHAPTER FOR VOLUME 2: ADVENT OF THE NEW GODS