I won the remaining nine fights of the open qualification event, all in less than thirty seconds. I made sure to be as flashy as possible with [Shadow Dash], since that was where the cheating accusations came from. If I was even more flashy with it while playing at a local competition, that should be enough proof to all the doubters.

  The only opponent who gave me a little bit of trouble was Rafisto, rank 499 on the global leaderboard and a decent dual-wielding swordsman, but he also fell when The Immortal finally procced its staggering effect.

  With my ten to zero score, I was given a date to show up for the actual tournament. September ninth, four days from now, with best of three matches to advance the single-elimination bracket. If I passed through those, the quarter finals, semi finals, and finals would all be held on September tenth, the next day, as best of fives.

  Eve and Sullivan both passed as well. I hadn’t fought them today, so I’d probably have to knock one of them out later.

  Eve spotted me trying to leave the building and walked over. “You won all ten?” she asked. “That’s crazy.”

  “Was I flashy enough?” I asked with a funny smile.

  “Well, you looked like a tired hunchback walking to the game pods,” she said, “but yeah?”

  “I mean in game,” I said. “The clips will probably spread to the forums.”

  “The whole event was livestreamed,” Eve said. She opened her phone and pulled up the stream, showing it to me. “The stream still has over two hundred thousand viewers. Your identity is definitely out there.”

  “Oh, shit,” I said. Maybe I should have worn some nicer clothes.

  Well, it’s not like Veyra will watch either way, I thought. This is just some random open qualification event. She’ll watch the flashy clips online.

  Sullivan was about to join Eve to have a word with me, when some woman in a black dress approached me with a microphone. “Assassin, Aiden, do you have a moment for a few questions?”

  Behind her, some guy was recording me with the largest camera that had ever been pointed in my direction.

  Wait, was I really this popular? I was being interviewed?

  “Sorry,” I said. “I haven’t slept in over forty hours. I need to get home.”

  I’m already way off schedule, I thought. Veyra is probably already online!

  I sneaked past the media guys and exited. The hall beyond the warm-up rooms was much more packed. I spotted at least four media stations interviewing different players and higher ups. Companies were advertising their new game pods and equipment. All around, I felt like I was inside some convention.

  The sun was setting outside, when I spotted my family right away. Anna stood at the front, waving and grinning, with mom and dad behind her. I paused, spotting dad, my good mood dropping just a little, but I walked up to them anyway. Although, I pointed my eyes at Anna instead.

  “Aiden?” Anna asked, running up to me. “How did you do that? You just…? All of a sudden, you’re beating everyone?”

  “I told you I’m going to Worlds,” I said through a yawn.

  That tiredness made her study my appearance with a stern eye. “You could have at least worn something other than sweatpants and a hoodie! You barely even waved at the audience! Did you even see us at all?”

  “I couldn’t find you, sorry,” I said. “Honestly, I was just tired today.”

  “You can’t just show up to tournaments tired!” Anna said, and continued telling me how goofy I’d looked all day, until I interrupted her.

  “I was cool on stage though, right?”

  Her head perked up. “Well… You won. Congrats.”

  “That was just the qualification round,” I said. “You’ll have to come shopping for some clothes with me before Worlds, though.”

  While we spoke, I could feel my dad’s gaze. He wasn’t angry or disappointed, but definitely not happy either. The face was just uncomfortable, like the most stubborn person in the world had lost a bet so hard even he couldn’t just argue his way through to somehow feel like he was correct.

  “Hey,” I said and nothing else.

  “Congratulations,” he said. “That was well fought. You’re advancing to the playoffs now?”

  I shrugged. “I need to show up on the ninth and beat everyone. Won’t be a problem.”

  He nodded, and I hated how reasonable his response was. He understood that I was upset at him, and he didn’t try to make things better. He just showed that he still hoped to be on my side.

  The genuine version of this novel can be found on another site. Support the author by reading it there.

  Of course my dad wanted the best for me, but I just couldn’t make up with him, knowing that he’d never trusted me to fulfill my dream. Getting this far at all had been difficult in large part thanks to his absurd rent requirements.

  So I smiled at Anna instead and listened to her berating me about how I definitely needed to shave before my next live appearance if I wanted to have any success at all with the girl I was trying to pursue. We walked to the car, and her advice continued as we entered the back seat of the car.

  Mom asked if I wanted to stay for dinner, but I requested her to just drop me off at The Cave asap, no detours.

  On the way there, I quickly checked the forums, and to my horror, I realized Eve was absolutely right. The event had been popular as hell.

  And it wasn’t just the flashy clips that got clipped. On the front page, the fifth most trending post, had a zoomed in picture of my unshaven, hoodied-up real life face for everyone to see.

  Well, crap. Veyra would definitely see that.

  At least the post itself was positive. The title was, “Aiden ‘Assassin’ Miller sets the record of fastest ever one to one official match victory.”

  “Wait, I just set a record,” I said and showed it to Anna, who reacted with shocked silence. We read some of the comments together.

  By Greenwitch, 39034 upvotes: “What have I been telling ya’ll? They’re completely legit! That’s insane.”

  Reply By Pounder16, 85901 upvotes: “Yeah, it should be safe to assume Assassin is legit. Veyra is a different question, though. She has been refusing to enter competitions.”

  Reply By Goldenowl, 19048 upvotes: “Wait, who are these two? I just woke up, and some random kid rocks up in a hoodie to stage and does that?”

  Reply By RaidBoss69, 49082 upvotes: “Calm down lol, he just fought against some noob.”

  Reply By Greenwitch, 23045 upvotes: “Sicho is still a top player lol, and he also beat Rafisto, who has played full time for years. You can’t deny that Assassin’s Shadow Dashes are completely insane. You also can’t claim he cheats anymore. He even fought most battles on different pods, so he couldn’t have just tampered with one pod.”

  Reply By Orbiter, 14591 upvotes: “Maybe he slotted an USB in or something?”

  Reply By Greenwitch, 21469 upvotes: “Official game pods don’t have USB slots. And regardless, his behavior should be easy enough to check. The whole event was livestreamed. I’m just waiting for Veyra to compete now. She will also dominate.”

  I recognized Greenwitch’s name now. He had always been defending us on the forums, and I was fairly sure I’d seen him always in the comments before the allegations as well.

  Despite all the positivity, I kept sighing at the zoomed in picture of me. I really looked like some shady drug dealer. The good thing was that I didn’t fake my face for my Wonderwind character, meaning I looked mostly the same in real life—but Anna was definitely right. I needed some new clothes and a shave.

  Regardless, we made it to The Cave soon enough. I thanked my family for the ride. Anna and my dad told me not to lose, and my mom asked if I seriously planned on still living at this “rat’s nest.”

  I told her with confidence that, yes, in fact, I was planning on staying at The Cave for a while longer. I waved and headed to my room, where I unrolled the mattress and collapsed to bed.

  ***

  “Um… Congrats,” Veyra said when we met in Rayshire the next day. Behind her, the glowing dragon statue slept on the city walls. We were both [Stealthed] from other players, but not from each other.

  She pinched the fabric of her robe, looking strangely nervous. She looked shorter than usual, posture a little lower. She glanced at me for a second, only for her eyes to wander off, then back at me.

  “Yeah, it was a bit of an embarrassing show-off, wasn’t it?” I said with a sigh.

  “No, that’s not what I meant!” Veyra said. “It was a good performance. You won’t be called a cheater again. Although… I guess I don’t need to congratulate you for defeating a bunch of mediocre New Yorkers.”

  I laughed. “I advanced, so unfortunately I’ll keep popping up on the forums. And if I make it to Worlds, then you’ll definitely see me on the forums.”

  Her face was red. What was this about?

  “Aiden…?” she said softly.

  “Yes?”

  “I’ve been, uh, thinking about your idea.”

  “My idea?”

  “Yeah, you know…”

  She must have seen I had no idea what she was talking about, so she added, “Flying to Worlds. I… might consider it.”

  I paused. Oh.

  Oh my god.

  “Really?” I asked. “That’s… awesome! I’ll really have to win this thing, then.”

  “Feel free to lose if you want to,” Veyra said. Her arms were crossed and her face pointed way off to the side. “Don’t get me wrong. I’m just considering it. It’s still the same problem. I don’t know if I can fly there yet. For me, getting to Sweden is more complex than just showing up. But I’m looking at options.”

  I didn’t know how to react. On one hand, I wanted to rejoice and hug her to death, but on the other, seeing her like that still made me nervous.

  “You could still lose to Henrift. He’s a bad matchup for you, you know.” She spoke calmly, until she snapped, “And why are you still wearing the Charm of Shadowfang! Do you know how embarrassing it is to see my guild mate on stage with a quest item?”

  “Wait,” I said, laughing. “I was still wearing that?”

  That’s what you found embarrassing, not my appearance?

  “And what’s your arcane resistance at?” Veyra asked. “It was at zero, wasn’t it? You’ll get one-shotted by Henrift’s aura if you keep using that charm.”

  She kept staring at me disapprovingly. I couldn’t help but grin.

  You gave me a hug pass, I thought, and I pulled her close, wrapping my arms around her. She was just too cute. I couldn’t not hug her. She felt warmer than usual. Or maybe it was just the chilly air.

  She stayed silent, until she calmly spoke at my chest, “Aiden, I’m trying to help you get a ticket right now…”

  “I’ll win,” I said. “If we’re flying to Worlds, I’ll make sure of that.”

  She said nothing.

  “Are you still upset?” I asked. “About me hoping to meet you in real life?”

  “I don’t think upset is the word,” she said. “I’m just really not as amazing as you think I am…”

  “Do you wear glasses?” I asked.

  That caught her off guard. She looked up at me and asked, “Glasses? I mean, I don’t see beyond ten feet without glasses. I don’t really wear them, though. What kind of question is that?”

  “You’d look really hot with glasses,” I said.

  She blinked at me. “Is that supposed to be a compliment?”

  “I’m just saying.”

  She said nothing for a while. “My appearance isn’t terrible. I just have some freckles, I guess. It’s just… I’m…”

  I waited, while imagining how she would look with freckles. Definitely hot.

  “I don’t know,” she said. “I’m a bit of a whatever. But I guess the prize pool won’t care about what I’m like in real life.”

  “Yeah, that’s the spirit.” I smiled, and I kept hugging her, until I asked, “Should we go wipe a few more guilds today?”

  20 chapters ahead on !