Vance began to read out the string. It was different from the one Arthur had. It was longer. NU-M-LEGACY-STATIC-OVERRIDE-999 .

He scrambled to his desk, the hardwood floor cold against his bare feet. He typed furiously, bringing up the dashboard.

"You have got to be kidding me," Arthur whispered.

To unlock the full potential of Net Uptime Monitor, a license key is required. The license key is a unique code provided by the software vendor, which activates the software and allows users to access all its features. The license key is usually provided with the software purchase and can be used to activate the software on a single machine.

Arthur typed it with trembling fingers. He copied the string. He pasted it into the config file.

Arthur stared. He had entered the license key five years ago. It was lifetime. It was ironclad.

Arthur heard the sound of a chair scraping against a wooden floor. Then, the clacking of a mechanical keyboard. "The algorithm used a simple seed based on the date of purchase. It’s offline-generateable."

TRIAL PERIOD EXPIRED. LIMIT: 5 NODES.

UNLIMITED NODES. STATUS: CRITICAL MONITORING ENABLED.