The soft glow inside the cabin faded. The virtual interface in front of See You Tomorrow flickered to life.
Following the basic prompts, he clicked Quick Match. The system hummed quietly. A moment later, the matchmaking results popped up:
[Map: Tival (Classic Battle)]
[Faction: Tival Defense Force (Defending Side)]
[Mode: Standard Attack/Defense (Solo)]
[Loading...]
Tival.
The name didn't ring any bells. Defending side? Whatever. He was just keeping his promise to his mom, trying out this thing that was supposed to be "really emotionally powerful."
He closed his eyes, bracing himself for the chaos and noise he figured was coming.
But the artillery fire and screaming never came.
As the loading bar crept toward the end and his vision started to shift, something strange happened in the upper left corner of his view.
A deep blue panel appeared silently, spreading like ink in water. It definitely wasn't part of the normal interface.
The panel looked nothing like the rest of the game's dark industrial design. Geometric lines shifted across its surface in deep blue—almost purple. Flickering runes he didn't recognize covered it. Data streams rippled along the edges as if alive.
At the center sat a symbol with no text and no explanation. Just a minimalist but strangely beautiful design: a raven's eye that looked made of starlight and mystery. A Möbius strip pattern endlessly rotated in its pupil.
Below the "eye," a single line of text formed from the flowing data, almost like a prophecy:
[The Lord of Change... is watching this battle...]
The text lasted maybe two seconds. Then the whole panel dissolved into the loading screen as if it had never been there.
See You Tomorrow barely had time to process what he'd seen. He'd only caught the word "watching" and that strange raven eye.
He paused for a second but didn't dwell on it. Probably some game effect. Maybe an event notification? He didn't really care.
The emptiness inside him muffled everything, even his curiosity, until almost nothing remained.
---
His vision snapped open.
He spawned at a supply point behind the third defensive line in the southern district.
Crumbling concrete fortifications surrounded him. Rusted metal pipes jutted from broken walls. The smell of gunpowder and rust hung in the air. Distant artillery rumbled. Everything matched the trailers he'd seen earlier, but actually being here felt different. The ground vibrated under his boots. He breathed in the acrid air. That sense of presence made his heart skip.
Too real. So real it didn't feel like a game, but more like some brutal documentary.
He looked down at the rough dark gray rebel uniform he was wearing. Other players and AI soldiers moved around him. Some sprinted past. Others crouched behind cover checking their weapons.
The system prompted him to pick a starting class.
He glanced at the four icons and barely thinking about it, clicked the one with a wrench and gear. Engineer. No particular reason. It just seemed fine. It wouldn't require charging the front lines.
The moment he confirmed, he found himself holding a beat-up laser carbine and a basic toolkit.
Then a figure spawned a few feet away.
A player with the ID User114514 had apparently chosen Assault. The second he materialized, he started complaining in squad chat: "Goddammit! Tival again? I want the new map! I want Adeptus Mechanicus! This matchmaking is complete garbage!"
User114514 rolled his shoulders and checked his equipment with practiced ease. Then he scanned his teammates. His eyes landed on See You Tomorrow pretty quickly.
Among experienced players, See You Tomorrow's character looked completely out of place.
Instead of finding cover or checking the situation, he just stood in the open. That carbine—light even for an Engineer—hung on his back. He was quiet, head tilted slightly up.
He seemed to be watching stray rounds arc across the sky. His profile in the virtual light carried a calm that was completely wrong for the tense pre-battle atmosphere. Almost detached.
More than that, his appearance looked especially young and scrawny. He looked underage.
User114514's brow furrowed. Seriously? Even hardcore games brutal enough to drive away grown adults had kids playing now? Where the hell were this kid's parents? Could he even find the safety on that laser rifle? Was he about to cry the second things got hot, or just die immediately?
After a second's hesitation, User114514 walked over anyway. He wasn't exactly the helpful type, but watching this kid stand there like a target was annoying. The kid would probably get hit by a random shot any second now.
"Hey," he switched on local voice chat, his words slightly muffled through the faceplate. "Kid."
See You Tomorrow turned at the sound. His eyes behind the faceplate calmly met User114514's.
"You know how to play this thing?" User114514 asked. His tone fell somewhere between bored and resigned, like a veteran making sure the new player wasn't completely clueless.
See You Tomorrow shook his head. The motion was light and natural. No newbie jitters or try-hard energy. Just a simple acknowledgment that no, he didn't know.
User114514 sighed internally. Figures.
"Alright, simple version," he said, pulling up the squad interface and sending See You Tomorrow a team invite.
"We're squadded up now. Stick with me. Don't wander off. This game kills you fast, but it's also kind of interesting. I've run through maybe a dozen matches, so I know the ropes. I'll show you what's what."
By "show you what's what," he mostly meant keep you from dying too fast and looking stupid. Maybe teach you the basics along the way. After all, on a brutal map like Tival, an inexperienced Engineer wouldn't last long.
See You Tomorrow looked at the team invite, then at User114514's character. The face was hidden behind a faceplate, but the stance screamed competence. Still no expression. He just quietly clicked "Accept."
Squad formed. Next to User114514's name, a small "See You Tomorrow" appeared.
"Alright," User114514 raised his rifle, jerking his chin toward the gap in the defensive line ahead where gunfire was getting heavier.
"Stay close. Do what I tell you. Repair when I say repair. Hit the dirt when I say hit the dirt. No questions. Priority one is staying alive. Everything else comes after."
With that, he crouched low and moved toward the firing line in a practiced tactical stance.
See You Tomorrow watched him go. Then he looked down at the tools and gun in his hands. He hesitated for half a second, then stepped forward and followed. His movements were a little awkward, but steady.
He didn't know what the Lord of Change's gaze meant. He had no idea what kind of brutal hell waited for him up ahead.
He was just keeping a promise. Stepping into a world of blood and fire built from data but somehow incredibly real.
And his mentor was this guy with the ridiculous username. Someone who seemed impatient but was, for some reason, strangely reliable.
User114514.
۞۞۞۞
~ Push the story forward with your Power Stones