[Sig – 13 years]

"The bruise is still there…" Xander looks disappointed as he trails off, then looks unhappy. "I thought it'd be gone by now."

Considering today is Wednesday, the bruise being fully gone by now would be nice. It was a massive bruise which covered nearly my entire chest by the time it finished showing itself. Now, though, it's barely half the size of my fist.

He's in his wolfkin form right now, his wolf ears twitching a little this way and that, probably tracking sounds around him. We're talking via video call on our phones, and the most I can tell is that he's in his workshop, due to the stuff on the shelves behind him.

Meanwhile, I'm lounging beside the pool at the facility I did the testing at as I wait for the post-exams stuff to be taken care of. The results are already done as it's graded automatically, but they still have to file things and make arrangements based on where I tested to. It should be finished by noon, though.

"I'm hoping for tomorrow!" I tell him. "That salve you gave me works really well!"

I've complimented it every time we've talked since Aunt Rachel and I came up to the city for the testing, which has been relatively boring. There was a lot of stuff I knew on the tests, but also a lot of stuff I didn't know. It seems I didn't actually look up everything I needed for high school. Tonight's when I return to Dragon Falls, and Xander apparently has something he's doing between now and then.

Then I'll be hanging out with him. I can't wait to see him again! Just video chats has been made me want to hang out with him more. It's just not the same.

As has happened every time I've complimented the salve, Xander's cheeks turn a bit pink and he fidgets a little as he looks down.

"It's still a failure," he says. "It should've healed the bruise up within a few hours."

"Hey," I say. "I'm not gonna complain about taking longer. Without it, I'd probably still have a bigger bruise for a few more days. How much did it cost to make?"

"It's freeeeeeeeeee!" He whines.

Still refusing to tell me.

"Come on!" I say. "It's gotta be expensive! I don't wanna take advantage of you, Xander!"

"It's not taking advantage of me!" Xander says. "I made it in case any of you got hurt! And I used Greyson's stuff for it! He harvests it on his own out in the wilderness, and I'm allowed to use it if I want! And it was just a practice one! It's not even a good one! So stooooooooop!"

Wow, he's really gotten upset about me asking.

"Alright, alright," I say. "Sorry, Xander. I just… it really does feel wrong to me to get something like that for free."

"Well, it doesn't feel wrong to me to gift it to you!"

"Changing subjects," I say. "Whatcha doing later? You've got something before I get back, right?"

The thing he's got in a little bit is why he's not preparing to stream right now even though it's probably almost time to. That must be really stressing him out since the afternoon streams became a part of his schedule. Mr. Richardson was very clear to us that Xander probably has a set schedule and deviating from it stresses him out.

At least he's somewhere that helps him calm down, though I'm fairly certain not all of the stuff I can see in the background is released to the public or will be released to the public.

I really want to ask about the thing which looks like a robot dragon.

"Yeah," Xander fidgets again. "Um. I'm not supposed to say what until it happens, though. It's for Xanson Technologies. Grandpa Adrian predicted I'd want to do something and started working on something for that before I asked. But it's using tech from Xanson Technologies and I helped build the stuff for it. Greyson, too. It's using stuff he started, at any rate… and I made improvements to them. But I can't tell you what until it happens. Um… oh! I'll be posting something on my feed to let everyone know. Grandpa Adrian said I should do that even though I don't think that many people will see it."

"Xander," Adrian King says from somewhere out of view and Xander looks over to him, though keeps the camera on his face. I guess he's with his great-grandfather right now. "You have over two million followers and subscribers between on your social media. That means more than two million people will be notified."

"But only a couple thousand watch my streams."

"Well, yeah," his great-grandfather says as I try not to snicker. "Not everyone can watch at a given point in time. Some only do if the stream title or notification interests them, or the stream subject – such as baking or gaming. Most streamers don't even get a hundred viewers during a stream."

"Really?" Xander asks.

"Really," Adrian King responds. "You're actually a pretty popular streamer. Know how your dad and Katie have to do a lot of moderating because of the creeps in your chat? That's partly because of how popular you became as a streamer and uploader."

"At least-" Xander starts to say, then glances at the phone. "It seems kind of quiet at the pool."

Whatever he was about to say related to their project, didn't it? Oh, well!

"It's just me and the two lifeguards right now," I tell him. "I've been told it gets noisier after school lets out, though."

The testing facility isn't directly a school, but it hosts a lot of after-school activities for youth and early adults. It's an "advanced educational facility", which is just weird to me and I decided it doesn't matter so I tuned out when being explained what it was.

"Oh," Xander says. "And you will be back tonight?"

"Yup!" I answer. "Was thinking of doing my usual magic progress stream-oh, hold on, Aunt Rachel's coming over. She looks both amused and exasperated."

She's got a manila envelope in her hands, which means the results are probably in. Why does it seem like it has something thick in it? The results probably came in on a full sheet of paper and the thick object is smaller than that.

"Dad looks that way a lot."

I almost say "I can imagine", but catch myself before it slips out. Xander would just get confused by it and he'd probably take the explanation as an insult even though it's not.

But raising someone like Xander is probably one heck of a trip. He built the first fully-functional hoverboard just because he didn't want to learn how to ride a bike and can close Rifts like most people close a container of leftovers.

Maybe even easier than some people close containers of leftovers.

"Hi, Aunt Rachel!" I say as she reaches me.

"Talking with Xander?" She asks.

"Yeah," I answer.

"Hi, Xander," she says as I turn my phone around so Xander can see her.

"Hello, Ms. Rachel," he says. "How're you?"

"I'm doing good," she answers. "You?"

"Tired," he says. "I'm gonna try to take a nap after we stop talking since I've got more stuff to do after. But I like talking with Sig, so I stayed up for the call."

"That's nice," she says.

"Are those the results?" I turn my phone back so I can see Xander again. "Where'd I place? Did I make it to sophomore year?"

"Sophomore year?" She snorts. "Sig, you earned all of the required credits for high school and even a little into some college courses. They apparently cover a lot of the basic college courses in the testing as well, which is why it seemed as if you were getting hit with a lot of things you didn't know – it was stuff beyond the level you'd studied to."

"Wait," I say. "If I tested through all of the grades in high school, what does that mean? That I just go for the extra classes? The non-core ones?"

"No," Xander says. "Greyson did the same thing and he was marked as graduated and even got his diploma. Grandpa Adrian says that's what happen if someone proves they actually know the material for all of the core classes in grade and high school."

"There's no reason to force a kid to a desk if he's already learned the material," Adrian King says from wherever he is. "Nor if they have talents best-suited flourishing elsewhere."

"The youth school exemption for work thing?" I ask.

"The youth who qualify for that," Adrian King says. "Tend to be the sort of kids who will eventually end up studying things on their own anyway. Take Xander, for example. He struggles in a classroom but has a wealth of knowledge you'd never find in them. For the stuff he needs that he'd learn in a classroom, he often looks it up."

Xander really is insanely smart… just not in standard academics. Just to avoid having to learn how to ride a bike in order to keep up with us when we go places, he figured out how to do something magitech engineers have been working on probably since before he was even born. And he managed it in an afternoon.

Well, it was technically several days' worth of work on his part, but the fact that he can use a spell to do something like that is insane as well.

"I do have my classes still," Xander says. "And I do the packets."

"The packets aren't required," his great-grandfather tells him.

"Dad makes me if I want to skip the classes."

"That's different."

"So does this mean I'm out of school?" I ask Aunt Rachel. "If I've completed everything?"

"Yes," she answers. "As much as I'd rather still see you attending classes, it seems you've done enough to studying to meet all of the core requirements for high school. Your diploma's in here."

"If you want something for the mornings," Xander says. "And to help you keep up with the fitness part of school since you ain't gonna be running around with friends and stuff, I can teleport you to my place for my fitness classes. Dad already said it's okay."

"Did you know I was graduating?" I ask.

"No," Xander answers.

"Why did you ask him?"

"I dunno."

Xander suggested this on Sunday, back when I first told him about the trip.

Wait.

Xander suggested this on Sunday as if he knew it would happen. And he told me to look for gold on Friday and then on Saturday, I caught a magic beast with a golden pelt. These aren't the only times but they're definitely the most blatant. And didn't he think that I must have told him about picking watermelons when I hadn't? I never did ask him why he'd thought that, but looking back on it, that was odd, too.

Is Xander psychic? That would explain that, but he might be completely unaware based on how he says this stuff. That's definitely a look of innocence, not hiding something. Xander doesn't lie, either, so he genuinely doesn't know.

I'll avoiding mentioning it for now. If his great-grandfather hasn't told him, there's probably a reason for it. There's no way Adrian King doesn't know Xander's psychic.

"We'll see," I tell Xander. "Though I might, if Aunt Rachel lets me and I get restless or something."

"Okay," Xander says. "Oh, it looks like I need to do something else now. Talk to you tonight!"

"See you later!" I say.

"Bye!"

"Bye."

We end the call, and Aunt Rachel hands me the diploma from the envelope. I stare at it for a few long moments before looking at her.

"This feels unreal."

"You really are a bright kid," she chuckles. "Since you qualified to pass high school, you're able to start college as well if you'd like. Since you're a resident of this state, a simple degree is free for you. Since the school year's already started, I'd recommend waiting next semester, or even next year. If you want to start college this semester, then we can get you signed up, though you'll be starting a couple of weeks behind everyone."

"As if that's a problem," I grin at her. "I'm the smartest!"

"Don't let this get to your head," she flicks me on the forehead.

"I won't!" I say.

"If you're ready," she snorts. "Let's head home. Or do you want to swim a little more?"

"I want to try and be home for Xander's stream," I tell her. "We should have time if we leave soon."

There's internet the full trip back and I do have a charger pack for my phone that would last at least most of the way back so I know I could watch it, but I'd rather just watch it from my TV.

We decide to leave now, so I get changed and we head to her car. I pay attention to all of Xander's feeds just in case he begins early, but we make it back to Dragon Falls with plenty of time to spare. She may have sped a little on the way back, but I'm fairly certain everyone does on the big empty strip of road. The speed limit's already fairly high and we're outside of towns with nothing but wilderness around and at this time on a Wednesday, no one's really using the road.

As we enter town, I look at the diploma book and open it up to stare at the diploma.

This is an absolutely huge thing.

"Aunt Rachel?"

"Don't ask."

"You don't even know what I wanted to ask."

"You want to know if we can show that to your parents," she says. "And you promised that if we tested to see if you can skip grades, you'd stop trying to earn their love."

"But that was before we knew I'm smart enough to graduate high school in middle school!"

Aunt Rachel sighs but otherwise doesn't respond. A little bit later, though, I realize we aren't heading towards our house but my parents'. They should be home right now so we have the opportunity.

When Aunt Rachel parks at the curb, she looks back at me.

"Sig," she says. "I know you really want their love, but please remember that love built on achievements isn't love at all. And from what I've seen and heard about your parents… just be prepared for them to not care. Okay?"

"They'll care!" I tell her. "This isn't something just anyone can do! It'll make them see I'm worth loving!"

Aunt Rachel sighs again as I unbuckle, and I grab the diploma and get out of the car. When I reach the door, my hand doesn't quite go all the way to the door. What if she's right? No, she can't be right. My parents will definitely love me.

I take a deep breath, then knock on the door. A few moments later, my mother answers it.

"Sebastian?" She asks as my father looks over. "Shouldn't you be in school right now?"

See? She cares about me! Why else would she wonder if I'm supposed to be in school? Though she still uses that name, which is annoying.

"It's S.G.," I say. "Not Sebastian. And I went to test into a higher grade today and look!" I open up the diploma book. "I earned all of the credits from the testing to graduate high school! So I don't even need to go to school anymore. And I managed it in only the eighth grade, too!"

"Is that all?" She asks.

What does she mean, "is that all"? This is an incredibly huge achievement and that's her response? And my father just returned to watching TV, too!

"You don't-you don't care?" I ask.

"Why would we?"

Don't break down. Don't break down. Don't break down, Sig!

Fighting to not cry and to keep my breathing under control, I snap the diploma book closed and return to the car, where I toss the book to the side and buckle up, then break down. Aunt Rachel reaches back and puts a hand on my head.

She starts to say something, but my phone pings with the sound I set up specifically for Xander's direct messages to me. I try to dry my eyes off with the me of my shirt as I grab my phone. Unlocking it takes a moment from how shaky I am and… what in the world is that?

It's a picture of Xander making the goofiest face I've ever seen him make and seems completely and utterly random. The image is so goofy and random that it catches me off-guard and I start laughing.

"What?" Aunt Rachel asks, and I show her the picture. The moment she sees it, she lets out a laugh. "Why did he send you that?"

"No idea," I answer. "But it definitely made me feel better."

I quickly type up a message for him.

[Sig]: Not complaining at all as that made me laugh, but a goofy picture?

[Xander]: Grandpa Adrian said you'd probably want to try and make your parents love you and then get all depressed because they're big dummies and don't and you're a big dummy who doesn't understand he shouldn't try to earn love and I should text you something to cheer you up. Your parents are asses for making you sad. Did I cheer you up?

[Xander]: He says I shouldn't have told you what he said about being dummies.

His great-grandfather must have been keeping an eye on me because that was the most perfect timing for the picture. The second message makes me snicker a little. I'll disagree with him (well, his great-grandfather) on trying to get my parents to love me, but it's still funny that he told me the full reason without realizing he shouldn't have.

If you discover this tale on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the violation.

Then told me that he was told he shouldn't have. I wouldn't be surprised if he got told he shouldn't have said that, too.

[Sig]: You did! I've got a big smile on my face thanks

[Xander]: You're welcome. Stream is starting in about ten minutes. We're aiming for an o-clock beginning but I've got a little animation that'll play for five minutes before it.

[Sig]: I should be there when it starts!

"Go, go, go!" I tell Aunt Rachel. "Xander says it's about ten minutes to the start of stream!"

Aunt Rachel starts driving as I return to texting with Xander, though he's not able to keep going for very long as he needs to prepare for his stream. He does send me one last picture of him as a wolfkin before he stops, though.

At some point between the first picture and that one, he's changed his shirt. Rather than a usual plain long-sleeve, he's now wearing a MountainStorm Gear long-sleeve. Then that must be a picture he's sending me before he changes back so that he can change his pants, too.

When we reach the house, I head down to the basement and pull up his channel on my TV. There are a few people talking in it and only a few moments after I pull it up does Xander send a message in it.

[XTK9]: Big news coming.

That's followed by a link to another site, and he sends the message three times. He said he's streaming it but he's telling us to go to another site… called Xanson TV? Okay… that's definitely weird but I go to the site anyway.

It's a streamer page for Xanson Technologies. No chat available because of a lack of an account, so I text Aunt Rachel for help with that. The stream title is "Xanson Technologies Unveils Many New Things | Stream Starting at 1:00 PM Mountain Standard Time | 3:27.82".

That last part is an actual countdown timer that is counting down. As Aunt Rachel helps me set up an account so I can chat, others start popping into the chat, wondering what's going on. Most of them are like me – curious about this new streaming site.

Just from what I've looked at, it seems like it's intended for everyone to stream on, not just Xander and Xanson Technologies.

The animation which plays once the countdown ends is of a dragon flapping its wings while sitting on a cliff's edge. The entire thing is black and white and drawn in a rough sketch style but looks incredible. I know Xander's been practicing drawing, is this just a bunch of scenes he drew and then put together for the animation?

The stream title changed when this began, too.

Xanson Technologies Unveils Many New Things | Starting Soon! | 5:00.00 left

That's a countdown timer as well and is ticking down as time passes. It is a little odd that he's streaming when most people will be at school or work, but that doesn't seem to stop a high number of people from showing up. There are already over seven thousand viewers listed by the time the title shifts.

We manage to get my account set up with enough time for me to plop back onto my couch. A lot of people are showing up, so he must've posted the announcement to his social media as well. I check and confirm that he's got a message on there and there's one on the Xanson Technologies' page. Wait, it's also posted to their page on here.

This site has a feed like that, too. I explore it a little on my phone in the brief time before the stream fully begins and damn. It's like every major social media, video-sharing, and streaming site rolled up into one. There's a merch store?

Not only that, but it seems that people can get a live translation of the stream, according to a setting on the stream itself. That would be really useful for watching streamers from Europe, like Lexi. Or for them to watch us who speak Zrebzialan.

I follow Xander's page and notice that he's got this going on there as well, but it's marked as a "Watch Party", whatever that means. I don't have time to figure that out as the animation ends and Xander appears.

"Hello, everybody!" Xander says almost immediately after the stream begins, with what looks like server racks in the background.

The camera is probably one of his streamer orbs, and he's wearing his magitech glasses rather than regular ones just as he was earlier. His outfit is fully MountainStorm Gear, probably because that's the best outfit he could be convinced to wear for an unveiling. As he has every time I've seen him in a stream or call since Saturday, he's wearing his bravery necklace over his shirt in addition to his usual accessories.

"If you don't know who I am," Xander says. "I'm X-Xander King, Chief Magitech Engineer for Xanson Technologies. I along with one of my second-cousins Greyson, Senior Magitech Engineer, make up the entire research and development department here at Xanson Technologies.

"Today," Xander says. "We at Xanson Technologies have a lot of things to unveil! First, I'm going to address the 'rumors'," Xander actually makes air quotes for that. "That Grandpa Adrian has been secretly making offers to buy out battery divisions in other companies. It's not Grandpa Adrian – it's Xanson Technologies. We're offering them a way to avoid bankruptcy because soon, Xanson Technologies will be releasing a battery with a guaranteed ten-plus year use life at an affordable rate. Paying $10 for an eight-pack you'll go through in a year or two when using one at a time? Our AA mana battery will cost only $3 per battery while lasting over ten years. And we'll be having all standard basic battery types on both magitech and scientech energy conversions.

"If you're wondering," he continues. "'How can you do that?', then I hope you've also been wondering 'how come there's nothing about batteries for all of the tech Xanson Technologies has put out?' The answer to that last question is that they all use the Xanson Technologies' special mana batteries, though don't try breaking them out on your own, they're designed to cease working if tampered with."

Of course he put in a fail-safe, and I get the feeling this is a practiced speech so there's no way his great-grandfather doesn't know about that being stated.

"These batteries," Xander continues. "Are a specialized form of mana crystal which produces its own mana at a small rate. This removes the need to replace the mana crystal in it as the mana is used up as the batteries themselves cannot draw on more mana than it's able to produce in any given moment, making it the most advanced mana battery in the world with a long life, even while being used.

"And as I said," he says. "This is already in use in all Xanson Technologies products. That includes the new tech that's going to be in stores tomorrow. Tomorrow, a brand-new line of tech developed by Greyson and myself will be released, featuring TVs, radios, walkie-talkies, phones, tablets, laptops, PCs, monitors, and more!"

It was only a matter of time before that happened. Also, I found a translate chat feature and turned it on. There were people talking in English on there and now their messages are accompanied by a translation of it underneath (but still attached).

What the heck is this awesomeness?

"To the parents of young children out there," Xander continues. "You might feel that our new computers are a must-have for your children. Why, might you ask?" Yup, this is practiced. There's no way he'd have come up with that on his own. "Because Xanson Technologies' new computer systems can be set up to block any form of adult content from being viewed or accessed without the account accessing it being verified as eighteen-plus and verifying the current user is the same one who's on the account."

They did what now? How did they even manage that?

Xander goes into some technical aspects of this that's a little hard for me to follow, but it seems that it uses a mixture of ID and biometrics to verify the account, and then biometrics to verify the user. This would make it really hard for a kid to use their parents' account to access porn. It's hardcoded into the systems as well and while I'm not sure how they managed that, I don't doubt it.

Which means it would be really tough to crack the protections, especially since it's magitech.

"And if you're concerned about the cost of this high-tech magitech," Xander says. "Don't be! We have low-cost options starting at only $100!"

"What?" I ask aloud at that.

Only $100 for a magitech computer that's no doubt state-of-the-art? That's absolutely insane! It's hard to fine a magitech computer that's under $500! Those will no doubt be lower in quality but still.

"This creates a more affordable option for those unable or unwilling to spend a high-dollar price for this tech," Xander says. "And makes it more affordable for a parent to buy for their kids! And, of course, that also means this anti-adult content setting is more easily accessible for parents as well!"

Xander has prompts in his vision with his glasses, doesn't he?

"That's it for some of our tech announcements for today," Xander says. "But not all. The new phones we're releasing are more sophisticated that any currently on the market with every piece of it designed here at Xanson Technologies, including the screens and even the casings! Are you a klutz who keeps dropping your phone? Is your kid? Don't worry! The screens won't shatter, nor will they scratch! You also don't need fancy chemicals to clean them – just a dry cloth! And for the monster hunters out there, we've got a line for you! For one of our more elite lines, the phones have a 5,000 mana rating!"

For one of their more elite lines? That suggests there's an even more elite line. Just what the heck was his cousin making those things for? It had to have been Greyson, too, because Xander is more on the play side of magitech than the utility side.

Xander is quiet for a moment after that, his chat wondering the same thing about there being an even more resistant line of phones than that. When Xander's explaining something, he doesn't pause very much. This was definitely practiced, and his prompts probably even have a pause reminder.

"Now," Xander says. "I know a lot of you are wondering about the website this is being streamed on – about Xanson Entertainment and Xanson TV. I've seen some of y'all wondering about this site and about all of the features it has.

"Xanson Entertainment is a new brother company for Xanson Technologies designed to be a one-stop shop for all of your streaming, video-sharing, and social media needs," he says. "In addition to some other forms of content creation. You'll see behind me what looks like a small server farm, but is actually far more robust than any server farm in the world. Every server and storage drive for Xanson Entertainment has a storage capacity in the exabytes. They use state-of-the-art Xanson Technologies magitech for every part of them, allowing them to do far more than any other server currently available in the entire world."

How many gigabytes is that?

"With all of the magitech involved in them," Xander says. "In every single aspect, not just storage, that allows for us to host a wide variety of content here at Xanson Entertainment. In fact, you can upload and stream any legal content on Xanson Entertainment's media website, Xanson TV."

Whoa, whoa, whoa. There's a reason that's generally different sites.

"You're probably wondering," Xander says. "About the content moderation involving adult content. Well, on Xanson TV, adult content can only be accessed via verified accounts, set up the same way as verified accounts on computers, phones, and other such devices from Xanson Technologies. In fact, that's currently the only way it can be accessed as we're currently the only ones with the secure magitech which allows for this. And if you're wondering about ways around it… it's magitech. You ain't gonna get around it."

In other words, users can upload adult content to Xanson TV, but only if it's verified that they're 18+ years of age. At the same time, a user can access adult content on Xanson TV, but only if it's verified that they're 18+ years of age. That's actually really insanely smart.

If he's right about the magitech behind this making it impossible to get around their security measures, then that's hella good. Well, for parents wanting to restrict access to that sort of thing to their kids, anyway.

"So parents," Xander says. "Don't worry about your kids being able to view that sort of content on Xanson TV, because it simply won't be visible to them at all in the first place. That and other features makes Xanson TV the safest place for young children to watch content.

"In fact," Xander says. "This isn't just restricted to s-sexual content but even other forms of adult content you may not want your children to view. In fact, thanks to our sophisticated software, children won't be able to watch things with gore, politics, graphic violence, and more without parental consent. And if you're wondering how this is possible…"

Xander walks to the right and the camera follows him until he's in front of another server bank.

"This here," he gestures to it as he looks at the camera. "Is the 'brain' of the most sophisticated magi-artificial intelligence in the world. Of several of them, in fact. It was designed as a joint project between my second-cousin and me and is fully adaptive to its needs as well as is capable of making decisions like a person would, rather than based solely on 'if this, then that' blah blah blah."

I snicker at the "blah blah blah". He definitely altered the script there.

"However," Xander says. "It is restricted so it can't do a robot uprising or anything like that. Not that it would want to as it's designed to not, and it's even designed to be incapable of using any loopholes it finds."

I honestly cannot figure out which of those three had that idea as it seems like something all three of them would think to include. That probably means it was all three of them who wanted it.

"Anyway," Xander says. "It's fully capable of scanning a one-hour video and figuring out what age groups it's appropriate for in under a second with a high accuracy rate. This same magi-artificial intelligence setup is also capable of determining what sort of videos someone is interested in, allowing for an advanced recommendation for videos. The same goes for streams.

"Speaking of streams," Xander says. "With a more sophisticated AI, we're able to offer superior chat moderation – and the same goes for comments on videos. Not only that, but have you ever noticed that when stricter moderation settings are turned on, it ignores context and might block a message that is actually harmless? Our system is fully capable of understanding context. So if you say something like 'men are evil' or 'women are evil', it'll be blocked for sexism. If you say something like 'that is one evil man' or 'that is one evil woman', it'll understand the context behind it and know whether it's something to restrict or not based on that, and for the actual reason.

"But our AI can do so much more," Xander says. "It's been trained with dozens of how-to books and has watched hundreds of hours of lessons on art. If you're wondering 'wait, art?', that's likely because you're thinking of what's considered to be modern AI, where it looks at existing art and just draws based on that. Not ours. Ours actually learned how to do art. That's important for something, which I'll get to in a minute.

"First," he says. "You don't have to worry about this heating up the world or whatever like you would with scientech. It's magitech, magitech devices don't heat up unless either they're enchanted wrong or they're designed to. The room I'm in is a chill sixty-seven degrees and that's not for regulating their temperatures, that's because that's what I wanted it set at."

I burst out laughing when he says that. He definitely added in that line on its own.

"And, of course, this is all run through a mega-sized mana battery from Xanson Technologies," Xander says. "Allowing us to run it without needing to draw on the electrical grid, so you also don't need to worry about it taxing that in any way.

"Continuing on," Xander says. "Let's return to the topic of streaming and video-sharing. Streamers who also upload, are you tired of having to manage both? With Xanson TV, it's all bundled up in one! You also have a social media feed and chat servers you can set up through the same account! If you want to change your name on one, you change it on all, no longer needing to worry about your new name being taken on one of the platforms when available on the others!

"There's a video encoder built right into the website," he continues. "Allowing you to set up the quality you want for the stream and for the VoD – and you can even do basic editing right on the site as well! So after you stream, you can have the video already available on your other page, or you can do some edits to it and then release the edited version. There are a lot more features and nuances to that and we already have tutorials and info-guides up here on the sites for you to use!"

Would they really be able to get people to migrate over? I know it's something from the Lumaria Group, but I don't see how this will do exceptional like Xander clearly thinks it will be. I've never seen him so expressive, even if it's only lightly.

"If you're wondering about monetization between the two," Xander says. "It's all bundled together. Each side – uploading and streaming – has different requirements to meet the different tiers. If you meet the requirements for a tier on one, you're that tier on both. There are also nine tiers of content creator. Everyone starts at Tier 1, where they can have ads on their videos, have subscriptions, and receive chat cheers.

"Our ads," Xander says. "Are nonintrustive. They're all screened by Xanson Technologies AI to ensure safety and guideline following, and will be side or bottom ads on videos and streams, allowing for uninterrupted viewing experience. They're also static rather than videos, and will only pop up for a short time every now and then. The exception to this is a preroll ad on videos, a thirty-second ad which will play before you watch a video.

"Those don't affect a stream unless the streamer sets that up to," Xander says. "But to ensure a streamer doesn't be an ass to viewers and announce something major during that, prerolls only exist if you have a starting soon segment like we did for this stream. If you were here before it began, I'm sure you saw it. You're unable to turn on your own audio and video during that time and it has to be at least five minutes long – and the prerolls will no longer play starting one minute before the stream begins. This might upset some, but it's to ensure fairness to the viewers.

"That's not to say that streamers are being shafted," Xander continues. "As I mentioned, there are nine tiers to it. At Tier 1, you receive 50% of the revenue from ads, cheers, and subscriptions. That increases by 5% at each tier above, finishing at 90% at Tier 9. For merch, it's that same percent, but of the profit – so after costs like design and production.

"Yes," Xander says. "There's also merch, though I'll get to that shortly."

Yup. He's got a prompter for sure. Without one, he would've gone on about the merch right then since it came up rather than waiting until this part was done.

"In addition to those forms of revenue," Xander says. "Many content creators also receive sponsorships from companies. With Xanson TV, this is even easier than ever before. In addition to other forms of potential revenue a content creator can receive, they can access a Sponsorships tab on their dashboard. This allows them to look at potential sponsors they might be able to sign up with directly through the site. This is referring to the type where you agree to the terms and have to get so many sales through your link and other such types. This isn't referring to when a company reaches out and wants you to do small ad segments or product placement with your own links. That's different.

"And it's not like on other services," he continues. "Where they might seem reasonable but then when you try, you find out it's insanely hard to actually meet the requirements in order to get paid. That's not really fair to the content creators who put in effort and do advertising with the promise of compensation, but get nothing out of it.

"Xanson Entertainment has strict requirements for these offers," he continues. "And with the assistance of our magi-artificial intelligence systems, it'll only be sent to content creators who are likely to meet the requirements as well as who are likely to accept from that company once it's learned a little.

"Now," he says. "This system is new, so it'll take some learning time before it can fully figure out who is likely to accept and how likely someone is to complete the requirements to get paid out. The more you do, the more it'll learn about you.

"Through this system, companies are also able to reach out for other types of sponsorships, directly contacting content creators rather than just putting out a 'this is what we're offering to whoever accepts', making it easier to avoid spam mail on your business emails. You can find more information on the related page."

A link pops up on the stream, probably the link to the page he's referring to. Did his streamer orb pop that up for him? He didn't gesture so it couldn't have been him.

If I'm ever able to afford a streamer orb, I'm definitely buying one.

"Let's get back to the merch," Xander says. "I did mention a merch store. Xanson Entertainment is working with several other companies to allow content creators of all tiers to sell merch through their stores, including on-demand creation. It starts off really basic for Tier 1 content creators with simple things like round stickers, button pins, and the like. And as your content creator tier increases, so too does the range of options available. Mugs, lanyards, shaped stickers, phone cases, glasses cases, mouse pads, towels, blankets, sheets, posters, cards, plushies, and more!

"Don't have an artist?" He asks. "Well, I did mention our AIs have learned how to do art. For a reduced amount of earnings from the profit of the affected merch, you can let our AI do the art for you based on what you say you'd like. It starts at a reduction of five percent, and increases by two percent for each tier above the first – so at Tier 9, you'd normally receive 90% of the profit but if you're having our AI system do it for you, you'd receive only 69% instead, a reduction of 21%. This is to encourage to you to hire living people to do the art for you, even if they'd charge you as well."

At a certain point, the loss in earnings would probably be higher from that fee than what someone would pay to get the art made. I can just hire Aunt Rachel for any I want when I have the money for it so I don't think I'd ever use that but I'm sure some people would.

"What's more," Xander says. "If you're doing a server or team thing and you want merch for it, you can do that, too! And it can even be set up to help fund the server or team, to distribute the share between the members, both, and more."

Xander points down a little with both hands and a link pops up, this one no doubt the info page about how that works. That's… an amazing feature.

Wait. No other service like this does merch for the content creators, I don't think. At least, not on this level. And being able to monetize from the start is a major incentive for newer and smaller streamers. Both of those together is actually really huge.

That's definitely another thing they're banking on to bring people over.

"For content creators on other services," Xander continues. "We have some news for you. If you transfer over to us exclusively – including all videos you have already posted – you'll receive an extra 5% to your earnings, making it from 55% at Tier 1 all the way up to 95% at Tier 9! And this lasts for the entire time you're exclusive with us!

"Also," he says. "If you already have contracts with merch companies, many of them have already agreed to allow Xanson Entertainment's contracts for the merch they don't provide! So say you have an exclusive deal for wristbands, jackets, hoodies, and shirts with one company but you qualify for beanies through us. That merch company might have a clothing-exclusive contract with you, but they might also allow you to have the beanies in our store, too!"

Xander continues talking, but all I can think about is that they really thought this through. The more he discusses the features, the more appealing the site seems. People who do content creation on other sides can start above Tier 1 based on their stats on the other sites, though at a reduced tier. It's not stated, but the tier reduction from what their stats on the other sites would put them at is probably to account for bots. If they end up with enough views and watch time and stuff on Xanson TV, their tier will go up on its own.

In addition to all of that, they apparently even have some major streaming and movie/television companies having granted them non-exclusive rights to some of their things. Long-term.

Some of which is already available for viewing either for a small fee or with ads. There's even a note when I look, and it repeats what Xander said about the ads being noninstrusive, that'll they pop up on the side or bottom, shrinking the video slightly to display while it's up.

There's even a way for artists to showcase their work and get commissions. This really is an all-in-one content creator site, just with better moderation and the ability to host anything while still being safe for youth. Or at least, content creation in terms of the visual medium.

Once people really learn how good the site is over the next few months, I'm fairly certain people will migrate over. If enough people move over because it's safer and cleaner, it could actually cause a huge revenue loss for others. Especially if they're pulling down their content there to go exclusive here.

Sure, they'd stay afloat for awhile, but I've heard those sites are already money sinks. They lose more money than they make. And Xanson Entertainment has set up an alternative revenue stream via the merchandise.

With all of their expenses, I'm sure it'd be bad for them to suddenly lose a significant amount of the content from their sites or for a significant amount of their streamers to move away from them. Just storing content which earns them little to no money costs a lot and that's most of their content. The high-earners are a tiny percentage of what's actually stored.

It might actually bankrupt them within several years.

And Xanson Technologies can make things much more efficiently, allowing for cheaper long-term costs. That's why that server bank is so small for such a big thing, they can store an absolute crapton and probably didn't cost much more than smaller servers would.

"Oooooh!" I feel a big grin form on my face as I realize what's going on.

Xander got mad about what Carter said on Saturday, didn't he? And his great-grandfather must've already known it was going to happen once Xander found out about the conventions and how content creators are treated. Xander did mention something earlier about Adrian King already setting things up.

Whether or not it'll actually screw over other companies, they probably don't know. But his great-grandfather dotes on him like crazy for some reason so he decided to give it a try.

If they can convince enough people – especially major ones – to go exclusive with them, they might just succeed. All because a twelve-year-old got annoyed.

I don't know whether to be impressed or terrified and settle on being grateful I'm his friend and not his enemy. Not just his friend but his boyfriend, which is no doubt why he texts me not even ten minutes after the stream ends. It's a picture and a notice that he's going to try to take a nap, with him in his pajamas and wolfkin form, his bravery necklace in front of his shirt.

[Sig]: Dream of delicious cheesecake!

[Xander]: I hope I do. Bye.

Okay. Since he's going to bed and my friends are still in school for another hour, what should I do?

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