Pantheon Online

Colt's mind reeled as he thought about it. 'Is this why they were eager to kick me out? To prepare for the new game?' Colt's frown grew deeper as he considered that possibility. 'Arthur has come out of retirement...' 

He had mixed feelings about seeing their names on the list. 'They're the only reason I can think of for the team's growth during the game.' Colt knew that Arthur was a monster. After all, he was the first generation team captain that he had replaced. Although he hated to admit it, he was unsure whether he would be Arthur's match. Merlin was even more concerning. He had retired before Colt had joined Camelot. He played the part of Arthur's strategist.

He had never met Merlin, but the stories that Arthur had told him of how Merlin's strategies had overturned certain defeats into resounding victories had left a deep impression on him. 'Why are they getting involved with Pantheon?' Colt guessed that the executives had asked them for help. The team's reputation was on the line after he failed to secure Mayhem's last championship. 

Not only that, but they were pioneering a new game. They were probably acting as Mordread's advisors. After all, sending a newly promoted team captain into a brand new game was never a good move. However, Arthur and Merlin's combined experience as leaders would compensate for Mordread's shortcomings. 

'Things just got more complicated...' Colt let out a long sigh as he wondered if he would come across them in-game. At this point, his computer beeped. A new icon was added to the bar of Pantheon's official site. 'Hm?' It seemed that the developer's had added a function for offline messaging. As long as you knew someone's gamertag you could send them a message.

Colt raised his eyebrow when he saw the senders of two different messages. One was from Clay, while the other was from Aeri. Naturally, Aeri's message was full of threats and how he had better prepare for death as soon as they came back online. Colt could only shake his head at this message. It was already a given that Aeri's spell would kill him as soon as he rejoined the game.

His attention then turned to Clay's message. 

[Hey! Congrats on making the top 100! The boys and I were surprised to see it! Listen, we've had a little chat. Honestly, we'd like for you to join our team. Let's face it, solo players won't do well in this environment. We've been thinking of expanding our team anyway. Us small groups won't be much better off than solo players anyway. We can talk about the specifics once the game restarts. See you in a couple of days!]

Colt leaned back in his chair as he thought about Clay's offer. 'I'm going to need a team anyway. Maybe it's not a bad idea. They didn't hesitate to fight Kaleidoscope during the ambush...' Colt hummed to himself as he figured that he may have found a reliable team already. Plus, creating a Pantheon channel would most likely be more profitable than a solo channel. 

'But will they be fine with fighting it out with Camelot?' Colt's eyes narrowed as he reread the message. Someone was bound to find out who he was eventually. There was no way he could hide it forever. 'If these guys followed Mayhem's pro scene at all they're bound to recognise my real name and face...'

Mayhem's championships had been held via livestream from an arena where every player had assembled. Anyone who had watched them would recognise him easily. Especially since it had been the most watched game tournament for years now. 'If I'm going to do this, it's better to be honest with them from the start. Otherwise I'll be dragging them into my own problems and that could cause friction between us.' 

Colt tried to guess how it would go if he revealed himself to these guys. 'Maybe I should get an NDA drafted for them beforehand... Though, they might not appreciate that...' Colt chuckled to himself as he thought about that. These days a legally binding NDA could be done online within minutes for a small fee. It was the best thing he could think of to protect himself for now. 

Otherwise, if they rejected him once they found out who he was, they could sell the information on to the teams that would be interested in targeting him. Colt quickly navigated the web to get what he was looking for. He input his own parameters such as not revealing that his real name was associated with his new gamertag. Once that was done he sent a message back to Clay.

[Clay, if you're serious about this we need to talk before the game comes back online. Here's a link to a conference call if you and the guys can join it. Just a heads up... There's an NDA that you all have to sign before you get connected.]

Colt sighed he waited on the video call. None of them would get through if even one person did not sign the contract. Nobody would take such a contract lightly these days. Breaking an NDA in this day and age basically got you blacklisted from many things. Especially beta tests of games. Colt began to wonder if they would join when nearly half an hour had passed. 

'Maybe the NDA scared them off...' Colt sighed as he prepared to shut down the video chat. That was when his screen split into six parts. One of them reflected his own image while the other five were black. The word 'Connecting...' could be read on each one of them. Colt took a deep breath and leaned back. 'They all accepted it...'

The five other screens flickered to life and revealed five guys with serious expressions on their faces. Their gamertags appeared in the top left of their own screens so that they could identify each other. One by one, the faces of Clay and the others froze in shock. Until Leggy pointed at his screen with wide eyes...

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