It was an odd feeling. Knowing that I'd spent so much time attempting to find Halliday's Easter Egg, and now not only was the hunt over, but I had won. I had inherited Halliday's billions, owned GSS and The OASIS. And now despite everything else...I still had the biggest decision to make so far. After all, I had the power to make it. Me and only me, not even Og had access to the button. But I did. So the question became very very simple, and still one of the toughest ones I would ever have to make. Should I push it? Should I shut The OASIS down?
"I just don't know. Og was right you know, The OASIS became a place to hide. To run away from all the problems I've caused. Maybe the world would be a better place if it was just gone?" I looked across at Samantha, and she looked back at me before she answered me.
"That was then. That was the old way. But...you can do better. We can do better. All four of us, together. Look what we've done so far, Wade." I could tell that she wanted to help, but she understood that this was a decision I had to make alone. It was my responsibility. And yet I understood that even with all of that being true...Samantha was right too. I had the ability to make it better. After all, in less than two years we had managed to make the world a much better place. The first change that I made to The OASIS was a present, addressed to Samantha. I made it so that thirty-five percent of all profits made by GSS would be donated to the Art3mis Trust.
Samantha had established the trust six weeks after Halliday's Hunt came to an end. She had loosely based it on a charity foundation that existed in the early 2010's named Build-A-Better-Tomorrow before it went bankrupt. In the time since then the trust had raised over $50 million Credits in donations alone, earning another $75 million credits from the GSS funds. Now I know what you're probably thinking, but no. I didn't start charging a fee for The OASIS. It was still free, and more so than before. Now, everyone above the age of five was supplied a basic OASIS console, and the GSS still made most of it's funds from transport fees. The rest was made from profits earned by player channels.
Because of The Trust, for the first time in two decades the world was rising in quality, rather than declining. Similarily world hunger rates were falling as The Art3mis Trust's main goal to feed everyone world wide was starting to realize itself. Six months ago they would begin construction on their first international HQ, due to finish construction four months from now. It wasn't just me either, Aech was now set for life, so all of her winnings in pvp tournaments and arenas were donated to Art3mis's trust. Aech also designed an entirely new mode of transportation within The OASIS designed for players like me. Players that didn't have funds to travel throughout it.
Of course, it had limits, and still had a price tag. One Hundred credits, which was a reasonable price now that low level characters could easily make that much fighting the kobolds that had since been placed on the spawn planet, and once they had it they could travel throughout that first sector. Limits of course, the vehicle ran on a unique source of fuel: Crystal H. Crystal H was enough fuel to allow one to travel from the spawn planet and the twelve planets closest to it before it would run out. If an H-Form Ship ran out of fuel, it had the feature to automatically travel back to spawn free of charge. If your avatar was enlisted in a school in The OASIS, it could also auto travel there, free of charge. Refueling Crystal H cost fifty credits and had to be done at spawn, limiting the travel to low level avatars. The farthest it traveled was to a level 10 planet, which made it easy to earn enough credits to buy a proper ship.
Shoto did several things with his cut, the first being to design an entire planet as a memorial to Daito, with the transport fee being absolutely nothing, with the condition that you could only to and from spawn from the location. It was rumored that he hid several easter eggs on the planet, most having something or another to do with Daito and the things he enjoyed doing, and that should you complete one of those easter eggs you were given an artifact. Rumored, but no one had been able to prove it, or find any hint of the supposed easter eggs. When asked about it, Shoto had no statement to give. After the creation of the planet he moved on to do what many called "Cleaning up The OASIS" which in reality was traveling through the entirety of The OASIS searching for any sign of The Sux0rz and removing it. After the assault on Anorak Castle, most of The Sixers were dead and those that weren't rarely got on. A few did though, and people didn't like that. So they started hunting them down, destroying any bases or settlements or planets or anything that was related to them.
When he wasn't doing that, he had a trust entitled DaiSho's Trust that worked hand-in-hand with the Art3mis Trust to provide food, clothes, and shelter for all citizens of Japan; with plans to build a Chinese HQ in the upcoming spring. Much of it's funding was received from donations as well, with the rest being made from a line of unique Japanese-Culture-based artifacts being twice annually auctioned off within The OASIS. Those auctions would become some of the biggest events in The OASIS.
"You're right. The OASIS has done a lot of things that were less than perfect, but now...now we can turn it into something good. Just look at what you and Shoto have done so far." She seemed a little pleased with that statement, before I let out a sigh and spoke again. "I've decided. The OASIS stays online...and I have big plans for an expansion...but, Ill need your help. Yours and Shoto's and Aech's too."
"You've always got my help, you know that. Shoto and Aech'll definitely be up for it too." She stood up then, offering me a hand. I took it and stood up beside her, we had a lot to do. "I'll go see if I can't get the others. What about you?"
"I'll be in The OASIS, in Sector X. Meet me there with the others." Sector X was a developer Sector that usually only Og and Halliday would have access to. When I won, I gained access to it, and I gave the others access almost immediately afterwards. "Let's get started then. We've got a long ways to go from here."
Ever since I'd won Halliday's Hunt, the website for The OASIS had changed from the scoreboard to an image of The Elite Four, which was the name by which our avatars had come to be known after the assault, standing side by side with our arms crossed. Every few seconds our avatars would look at one another, with Castle Anorak in the background, a golden light seeping out of an elegant gate behind us. To one side of us stood Halliday's avatar looking very satisfied as he looked at us, no longer wearing his wizard robes. Our avatars were dressed as they were during the assault, with the exception of my own avatar, whom was dressed in Anorak's wizard robes, a quarter spinning eternally in my hand.
The day that I decided to start working on an expansion though...that changed. The title became 'Enter The OASIS, in The Form of...Rebirth.' In this new screen, Aech's avatar now stood atop an H-Form Ship hovering above an arena, his avatar grinning and making a "come at me" motion every few seconds. Shoto's avatar stood at the front of a grand temple built on top of a mountain, his arms crossed with a unique sword stuck into the ground beside him as he stared down the side of the mountain as if waiting for someone. Mine and Art3mis's avatar stood back-to-back with one another my avatar no longer wearing Anorak's robes yet still spinning the quarter in my hand, with a wicked grin. Art3mis's avatar was smirking as if she knew something no one else did, and every few seconds she'd glance at my avatar, sigh and roll her eyes and then continue looping like that.
The website would stay that way for the next three years, even after The Rebirth expansion was launched. And then, with no warning it changed. Suddenly the website was filled with a scoreboard once more, spots two through ten being taken by The Elite Four with 0000000 points. The first spot showed a picture of an avatar with the name Queen Cereza directly beside it with 10,000 points. Art3mis's avatar and my own avatar stood leaning against the left side of the scoreboard, both now wearing that know-it-all grin and Aech and Shoto's avatar wearing the same grin whilst leaning against the right side of the scoreboard.
Finally, three years after the launch of The Rebirth Expansion...someone had discovered the first clue of my own Easter Egg Hunt.