With a huff, Max exited the game pod.

  Boom! Boom! Boom!

  ...Only to be assailed by a wall of sound.

  ‘Wh–?’

  Thunderous drums, aggressive guitar, and a loud guttural roar that sounded more like it came from a demonic beast than any human being. Max grimaced and covered his ears to avoid hearing damage. Looking around, he spotted the culprit lying blithely on the couch nearby with his ptop.

  ‘What in the actual– Why is Rone bsting death metal in my living room?! No, why is he here in the first pce? When did he arrive?’

  “Rone!” Max called out.

  Max’s voice was drowned out by the loud music.

  “Rone!”

  Rone bopped his head to the beat of the song.

  “...” Max walked over behind him and shook his shoulders roughly.

  “AUEGHH!!” Rone let out an unmanly scream and jumped, nearly losing his ptop. “Gah, Max!” He quickly paused the music. “Why didn’t you call out to me?”

  “I did call out! You couldn’t hear me over the sound of your demon music. What sort of bloody voice is that anyways? It sounds like that guy went through puberty five times.”

  “Maybe he did. Anyways, why are you out of the pod? Weren’t you fighting a big battle just now? I saw a whole bunch of orcs on the stream.”

  “I got banned.”

  “...What?”

  “I got– Actually technically my account was only suspended; I’m supposed to wait for them to investigate me now. I was kicked off the game.”

  “Huhh? Investigate you? For what? What did you do?”

  “Nothing! They just suddenly booted me off saying I might be cheating.”

  “...??” Rone switched to his browser and opened the stream tab.

  [This account has been temporarily suspended on suspicion of cheating. Please check back ter (Error 208)]

  “Whaaaat?! You were banned for cheating?!” Rone’s jaw fell open.

  “That’s what I’m telling you! And it’s totally ridiculous too – I didn’t even do anything! I was just pying the game normally... I was right in the middle of talking to other streamers, as well– Ughh, how embarrassing.” Max facepalmed.

  “Other streamers? You mean Lemonade-Delt0id-Jasmine?” Rone showed an excited face and started attacking his ptop keys.

  “If ‘Delt0id’ is the guy named Rafael, then yes... Oy, why do you look happy about this? I could really get perma-banned, you know? …Hey, stop typing!”

  “You don’t understand, Virtek games can’t be hacked. DIVE equipment is designed to be impervious to reverse-engineering so the U.S. can prevent foreign countries from stealing the technology. Throughout all the company’s history, no program or capsule has ever been broken into successfully.”

  “Eh? None? Wait, but if they think I somehow did, then wouldn’t that mean...?”

  “Yep. To safeguard the technology, they’ll probably unch a SWAT raid on your house. I should leave while I still can, actually.”

  Max paled. “H-hey, don’t joke around, what if they actually do that?”

  “Don’t worry, there’s only about an eighty percent chance of it happening... Anyways, this will do wonders for your popurity!” Rone spped his shoulder. “All sorts of wonders. Get it? You’re World of Heroes’ very first hacker now! Congrats!”

  “Right...”

  Max wasn’t sure how to feel about this development.

  Sm!

  Interrupting the conversation, and before Max could settle his thoughts, the sound of a door being violently flung open was heard from the hallway, accompanied by loud, crashing footsteps.

  ‘SWAT got here this f–? Ah, never mind. It’s an inner door, so it won’t be a raid. Although… the danger level will still be high, just not for me.’

  “Oi! Who the hell was pying that infernal music?! I was on the phone with an old dy, and she hung up in fear! Don’t you idiots know I’m working right now?!”

  *Gasp* “You work on weekends?!” Rone’s eyes widened. “Sorry Ray-Ray, I had no idea!”

  “...”

  “...”

  Max gnced at Rone and shook his head. ‘To die such a pitiful and needless death – truly a tragedy.’

  “WHO ARE YOU CALLING RAY-RAY??!!” Raymond leapt over and hoisted the small man into the air. Twirling him around, he approached the side wall. “I’LL SHOW YOU RAYS!!”

  “Aaah! Wait! I’m sorry! M-mercy!”

  Max watched on as his uncle skilfully transferred Rone to one arm and started winding a window open with the other.

  “Uhh, what’s going on here?” Lina appeared from the hallway, watching the situation unfold with curious eyes.

  “Dispensation of justice.” Max replied simply, ignoring the backdrop of cries and pleas.

  A small yelp was heard across the house, followed by the sharp crack of branches breaking outside.

  “Oh... Well anyways, wanna go for a drive?"

  “A drive? So suddenly?”

  “Yes!” Lina pressed her hands together. “I want to check out the university campus before csses start for the semester. Plus, you said you would take me, remember?”

  “I did? When?”

  “At dinner 16 days ago.”

  “...”

  ‘Girls’ memories are scary...’

  “So is it a yes?”

  “...Okay, we can do that. But I’ll need to settle a few things before we go. Give me twenty minutes.”

  “Yay~! Thanks Onii-chan!”

  “Never call me that again.”

  Looking over to Rone’s ptop, Max found that Rone had already sent a short donation message to Lemonade’s stream, informing them of his suspension. And, by the looks of things, the chat had already seen it.

  —R.I.P. Gun. You will be missed

  —He left us so suddenly...

  —No longer in this world…

  —So young... and yet so cruelly taken from us!

  —One of the best :’(

  —We will not forget him

  —Truly a shot to the heart...

  —I’m sure he’s watching over us from another dimension.

  Lemonade also appeared to have seen it.

  “No, no I refuse to accept this! We will have justice for Gun!! Bring him back, whatever it takes!!!”

  Max’s eye twitched. “...I’m not dead!”

  ...

  …

  Meanwhile, the cameraman of a small news studio was counting down with his fingers. After a few seconds, the count reached zero, and his hand clutched into a fist.

  “Hey folks, welcome back to another episode of GameWatch! I’m your host, Aisha, and today, we’re joined by a special guest – a record-breaker! The first-ever pyer to reach World of Heroes’ ‘Expert’ archer css bracket, in Houston’s own backyard no less – Julius! Julius, thanks for coming on the show, tell us a bit about yourself!”

  “Haha, thanks Aisha. My name’s Julius Suluji and I’m a competitive barebow archer here in the States. Last year, I competed in the USA Archery Target Nationals and U.S. Open, so it’s fair to say I’ve seen the best barebow talents in the country with my own eyes. My practice–”

  “Barebow–? Sorry to interrupt, it’s just that many of our viewers might not know what ‘barebow’ means. Would you mind expining?”

  “Sure. ‘Barebow’ is an archery discipline which prohibits the use of mechanical attachments. So sights, stabilisers, clickers and other fancy doohickies are all out. Instead, raw, unadulterated skill and technique take their pce. It’s like removing a calcutor from someone doing math in order to showcase their true mental acuity.”

  Noticing the clear bias in his definition, Aisha couldn’t help but follow-up, “Huh, that’s strange… As far as I’m aware, barebow archery isn’t in the Olympics or the World Cup. Wouldn’t that imply that barebow is somehow inferior to the other categories?”

  “Ha! Inferior, as if that could be true. Why do you think none of those famous ‘recurve’ and ‘compound’ archers got the ‘Expert’ css before I did? Without all their gadgets, they’re like stormtroopers – can’t shoot for sh*t. I bet they tried the css test and had their arrows nd in neighbouring countries. That is, if they even managed to–”

  “Ah, so the bows in the css test had no attachments?” Aisha quickly cut him off and tried to swing him back on-topic, “Actually, now that you bring it up, I have to ask, just what is making this test so difficult that even experienced archers are having trouble with it?”

  “…Well, there are a few things. The main issue for most archers is the ck of attachments, but there’s also the transition in draw weight. The bows used in the test are warbows pulling eighty pounds, while the ones in target archery and hunting usually only pull around fifty to sixty pounds. Lots of people struggle to adjust to that change or get the shakes from bad technique, throwing off their aim. Other than that, shooting in the game is simir to real life – remarkably simir to real life, actually.”

  Julius sipped from a cup of water before continuing, “The targets in the test are quite small, about thirty-one inches in diameter – smaller than standard recurve and barebow targets of forty-eight inches. Hitting a target that size is no easy task, much less the one I shot, which was over sixty yards away. it’s hardly a wonder nobody has managed to hit the one at nearly ninety yards. Even with the help of the archer patch and levelling up, I still haven’t been able to do it.”

  “Oh! That’s right, the target you hit to become ‘Expert’ was at sixty-five yards, but there was one more after that, wasn’t there? The final target – Is there anyone you know who could hit it?”

  “Well, I could, if given enough time.” Julius paused to think for a moment. “The top fifty in the country could probably hit that sixty-five-yard target with only a few attempts. As for the st target, it’s hard to say. They train for fifty-five-yard shots with sixty-pound bows… but I think they could pull it off fairly quickly. Of course, none of them will try because of the health risks.”

  “Wait, you mean the rumour about capsule use causing neurological damage? That’s what’s preventing them from pying?”

  Julius frowned, visibly discontent over this issue. “Yes. Even if unproven, the risk to fine motor skills is a huge risk for professional archers. Only a few of the guys I know even dared to touch World of Heroes’ prequel game.”

  “I see… Well, when do you think someone will manage to hit that final target then? How long will it take?”

  “It… will probably happen within the week. The difficulty of the test has been greatly reduced since the css patch – the target distance has been decreased, three attempts are allowed per target, and a test can be taken once per day, per town. So if you fail the test once, you can just move to another town and try again until you succeed. There’s a good chance someone will hit that final target by fluke soon, but if not, I should manage to hit it myself within the week.

  Aisha’s lip curved. “Then, could we take that to mean you’re the most skilled archer pying the game right now?”

  “Haha, you could say that.” Julius grinned. “I happen to–?”

  Interrupting the program, an aide ran up to Aisha, whispering a message in her ear.

  Aisha responded in a low voice. “Huh? Really? Well if you’re sure, stick it on.”

  *Ahem* “Sorry about that. A new viral archer clip just surfaced; do you mind if we get your opinion on it?”

  “Hm? Sure, so long as it’s interesting.”

  “If what my co-worker tells me is correct, it should show a pyer with skill rivalling yours.”

  Aisha gave a signal and the clip appeared on the video wall behind the panel, buffering.

  “Oh? Is that so?”

  Julius leaned back in his seat with a dubious smile and reached for his water. Another so-called ‘prodigy’ making waves online? Ha. He’d seen enough overhyped clips by now to know that most were just clever editing, lucky shots or hoaxes, so he wasn’t particurly expectant.

  Then the footage started.

  The archer on screen – some nameless figure in beginner gear – took an arrow in a single fluid motion, nocked, fired, and split an orc’s head open while running. Julius’s posture stiffened. It was a quick draw combined with a critical hit. Impressive, sure, but hardly impossible.

  Then came the second shot.

  Before the corpse of the previous orc could even hit the ground, the archer had loosed another arrow, striking a distant orc’s forehead dead centre and obliterating it into dust.

  Julius choked on his water.

  “What.”

  The archer didn’t stop. He spun, snatching more arrows seemingly out of thin air, and turned to face more orcs behind him. Moving at abnormally fast speeds, two orcs fnked him – one to his left, and one to his right, while a third leapt down at him from a rooftop.

  Most would freeze. Most would be dead before they could even react.

  This archer didn’t hesitate.

  His arrow was in flight before the orc’s feet above could fully leave the rooftop. Red particles rained down like glitter. The orc on his right had just enough time to register what happened before an arrow punched clean through its throat. Hit while running, a choked gargle escaped its lips as it colpsed mid-sprint, skidding by harmlessly.

  The final orc let out a furious roar, closing the distance instantly. Its bde swung toward the archer’s chest–

  Step.

  Without even turning around, the archer moved a small distance forward. Almost cartoonishly, the orc missed its sword strike and, unable to halt its momentum, ploughed into a nearby building, embedding itself in the wall. An arrow swiftly followed into its back to spare it the embarrassment.

  Julius’s mouth hung open. He ran a hand through his hair, then pointed at the screen as though accusing it. “No. That’s not real. That’s CGI. That’s anime nonsense. That’s–” He watched as the archer inexplicably repeated simir movements. “"That’s… H-how? That’s real?"

  “D-does it look real to you?” Aisha was also flustered. “This person was livestreaming recently until their account was suspended for suspected cheating. What about an experienced eye – do you think he’s cheating?”

  “S-so fast.”

  “Pardon?”

  “Ah! I mean… well there’s a chance that he… no, um…”

  Julius couldn’t comprehend it. The movements looked genuine, but at that speed? It shouldn’t be possible! His technique was also very strange. It looked crude but… was somehow highly efficient? Was this really archery?

  The footage ended. Although the clip only sted thirty seconds, it felt like his entire worldview had just been ground into fine dust.

  He slumped back, staring at the screen in silent horror. Then, finally, with a mix of reverence and existential despair, he answered:

  “I have no idea.”