The update to beta is taxing, to say the least. Ren and Impulse have no idea why it's so hard for Grian when Xisuma never seemed to have this much trouble, but they chalk it up to earlier versions being less stable and harder to get in place.
Grian lets them hold this misconception. It gives them hope, that maybe as updates progress he won't be so worn out. Maybe next time he won't immediately fall into a bed and take advantage of his newly-regained ability to sleep. Maybe he won't need days to recover from fighting the code.
Because that's what he's doing, even if they don't know it. Fighting the code of a world that does not recognize him as someone with authorization to mess with it.
Grian isn't managing updates and tweaking the world code from a front-end access point like an admin screen, though he's working on patching together a substitute control panel for himself; he has to sneak in the back door and work with raw code output not intended for human eyes.
Every change is a challenge to interpret, even before accounting for the exhausting process of forcing the world to recognize him as an admin however temporarily, or the anxious rush to complete his work before it revokes his access, or the dull but ever-present ache of changing his own code, however slightly, while he's active and aware.
And he does have to change his code to start the process. He can't access the world code without admin status, which leaves him in a never-ending loop—he can't change the world to give himself admin status unless he already has admin status.
But every world has a default access point. It's meant for automatic programs that are set and left by admins, but in effect it creates an empty ID with permission to change the world. All he has to do to gain access is alter his own code to make the world see him as that shell user, and he can do as he pleases until his information reverts to default.
(He only made the mistake of leaving out an automatic off switch once. Now it's a guessing game to figure out how much time he'll actually need.)
It's not as simple as he makes it sound, of course. Most people don't know about the shell's existence at all, unless they are or have been a world's primary admin. Of those who know, not many would willingly change their own code to make use of it—most don't need to in the first place, being able to access the world as intended, and there's too much risk involved in editing player code for most things to be worth it.
But luckily for them all, this isn't Grian's first time updating a world without admin status. That's not a stretch of time he enjoys thinking about, but the skill and experience it's given him is what lets him help his friends.
