He sat cross-legged on the floor, back against the bed, laptop propped on the same dented cardboard box. His gym bag lay nearby, still zipped, still damp. The room smelled like iron and effort. On screen: a Revetien tournament replay, full resolution. Stadium lights pulsing. Crowd noise
filling the room like weather.
The announcer's voice hit like a wall:
AND THAT'S THE FINAL STRIKE
look at that execution, that precision, that evolution
THIS. IS. RE-VET-IEN!!
Digital fireworks. Confetti. Towering 3D skill trees spinning beside each player's username, every node glowing different builds, different passives, different shapes. No two players the same.
And yet. One name. One crown. Marshal leaned closer.
Navi's voice came from the speaker, soft and precise: "Marshal. That's Nova Elian Voss. He's back."
"Yeah," Marshal said. "I saw."
"Surgery recovery was projected at six months. He came back in two. First match back that's the one you're watching."
Marshal said nothing. Kept watching.
"And number two," Navi continued. She sent the card without being asked.
PLAYER CARD REVETIEN: ASCENT LINK
Tag: ECLIPSE
Real Name: Ren Takahashi
Age: 24
Country: Japan
Rank: #2 (Global)
Playstyle: Counter-read / Adaptive defence
Note: Has never lost a rematch.
Marshal read it once. Went back to the screen.
"Navi. What does the game actually do? Mechanically. How does it build your skill pool?"
"Over a thousand skills available," she said. "Approximately seven hundred adapt based on
personal data past experiences, physical feedback, psychological profile. The remaining three hundred are procedurally randomised. No two players receive the same build."
"So, it doesn't give your abilities."
"Correct."
"It reflects who you already are."
"That's one way to put it."
He looked at the greyed-out download button. Still locked. Still waiting.
"You can't run it until you sync," Navi said. "You know that."
"I know."
"You're going back in three days."
"I know."
On screen, Nova's name still glowed at the top of the leaderboard. A man who came back four months early, wrist rebuilt and walked straight back into the top three like he'd never left.
Navi's voice was quieter now. Almost careful.
"Marshal."
"Yeah."
"What do you think it found in you? When it tried to sync?"
He didn't answer. The question sat in his chest in a way he didn't know what to do with. Not because he didn't have an answer but because he was afraid the answer was nothing. He watched the replay loop back to the start the arena filling with light, the countdown, Nova dropping into his opening stance like a man who already knew he was going to win.
The cursor hovered over the download button.
Still grey.
Not yet.
Then his Pulse notification lit up.
The profile picture. The username. Four months of grey silence, and now this a green dot
blinking like nothing had happened.
VinceX Incoming call
Marshal stared at it for exactly two seconds. Then picked up.
"YOOOOOOOOOO MAN " The voice hit like a flash grenade. "SORRY FOR THE LATE CALL DUDE, I MISSED YOU SO MUCH "
"Vince."
"WHAT HAPPENED WAS I HAD A POWER CUT AND MY PC GOT EXPLODED AND I NEEDED TO WAIT LIKE THREE MONTHS TO REPAIR AND THEN ANOTHER MONTH TO REBUILD EVERYTHING AND I EVEN FORGOT TO MESSAGE YOU ON MY PHONE
THAT LEVEL OF SCARED AND BUSY MAN I AM SO SORRY "
"Vince."
"I SHOULD HAVE "
"Vince. Chill."
A pause.
"…chill?"
"Calm the fuck down. Breathe."
Another pause. Then, smaller: "…okay."
Marshal leaned back. "How are you now?"
"I'm good, I'm good no wait, how are you? I'm the one who disappeared "
"Vince."
"Yeah?"
"It's okay. Happens sometimes." A beat. "I'm doing good."
"You sure? Because I checked your Arena stats and bro you were going insane in season two "
"I'm sure."
"Okay good. Because I have big news. You ready?"
"Go."
"Alright so " Vince took an audible breath, the kind people take before announcing something
they've been holding for weeks. "I got a girlfriend." A pause. "Finally."
Marshal blinked.
That's it? Four months of radio silence. PC explosion. Emotional reunion. And the big news is… girlfriend?
"Cool," Marshal said.
"Congrats."
"You don't sound excited."
"I am excited. Congrats, Vince. Really."
"You don't believe who it is though."
Marshal picked up a pen off the floor. Spun it. "Okay. Who is it."
"She's a top five player in Revetien. Global. The game's been out three years, full AI-adaptive
tech, and she is world top five. And she's a massive streamer. Like actually massive. And Marshal "
his voice went reverent "she looks so good."
"Okay who is she though."
"Search ArkZero."
Marshal was already typing.
ArkZero. Rank five global. Real name Mira Lune. Stream average: two hundred thousand concurrent. And Vince Vince whose PC just exploded is her boyfriend.
"…holy damn," Marshal said.
"RIGHT?"
"How did you even how did that happen?"
"So, I joined her stream, right? Just to watch. And we got talking in the chat and then in DMs and
then on Pulse and then " he paused for drama "I proposed to her on her livestream. Directly. In front of like eighty thousand people."
"You what "
"And she said yes. On stream. It's still up. The clip has four million views."
Four million views. Eighty thousand people watched Vince the Vince, who once lost a 1v1
because he sneezed mid-shot get a top-five ranked pro player to say yes to him on a
livestream. Four. Million. Views.
"Man," Marshal said. Slowly. Carefully. "You're so lucky. I can't even "
"Ngl," Vince said, and Marshal could hear him grinning.
"Congrats, man. Genuinely. That's yeah. That's big."
"Okay your turn. Anything new with you?"
"Not really. Been busy with gym shifts. Boss runs. The usual."
"You try Revetien yet?"
"I try."
"BRO just download it already "
"I said I try, Vince."
In approximately three days. After a sync attempt. That has already failed three times. And after the CEO of the company personally told me to come back. But sure. I try. Marshal said to himself
"Okay okay. Maybe in two days?"
"Maybe."
"Okay. Good." A pause. Then, quieter: "I really did miss you, man."
"I know," Marshal said. "Me too."
And also, your girlfriend is top five global, and I am sitting here with a greyed-out download button and a player tag that says Helios and I have never been more motivated in my life.
He didn't say that part out loud.
Later that night, he opened the laptop and checked the Mind Vault site one more time. Same login screen. Same greyed-out button. Same silence.
"You can't download it," he muttered.
Three days.
Two more to go.
He wasn't a player yet.
But damn it.
He was going to be one.