Auntie toasts the VRMMORPG

Shortly before the match, Eddie appeared. In Flora's community hub, she could decide what her visitors were wearing, and she assigned the classical sailor uniform to him. It was a natural fit.

"Sorry, I'm cutting it close, love. Aimee was lecturing me about VR addiction." Eddie winked. "I believe she will join us soon in the Cetviwos."

Flora laughed, though she disagreed with Eddie. Aimee was too sensible to waste her time with VR.

"Then it took a while to find a free box. You have a full house! It seemed that everybody who isn't in the PVP team gathered in your lair."

While Eddie and Flora chatted, Aidan brought up the video stream. Because of the time dilation, it ran awfully slow.

"Do you know about the competition format?" Eddie asked as he joined Flora in the Jacuzzi.

Flora shook her head.

"The guys told me a bit about it while working on the sleeping boats. There are multiple events, including a tag team match. They tried to explain the rules to me, but honestly, I think we need to rely on the commentators to make sense of it."

"Uh, it will be hard listening to them. With the time dilation in effect, I have already forgotten the beginning of the sentence when they reach the end." Flora tried one of the caramelized strawberries Eddie had brought."Hmm, delicious! Should we ask Mia if she wants to do the commentating for us?"

"Sure, love! Even though that means wearing shorts. You know how teenagers are; they don't like to look at their future in its naked glory."

A call later, Mia joined them, but she refused to enter the Jacuzzi. Aidan fetched her an easy chair, and she settled down next to the tub.

The stream showed a massive stadion filled to the brink with fans. Flora was happy to be in her Jacuzzi, but a small part of her questioned how it would feel to be surrounded by a huge crowd cheering for her son.

"Why are we hiding here? That looks like fun! Next time we'll build some banners and join the party!" Eddie said.

"The audience is mostly computer-generated. 10v10 Tier 5 B-rank is popular, but not that much." Mia zoomed into the bleachers. A narrow strip in the middle of the elongated part was nearly empty. Only a sleeping guy with a Clan Riverstones shirt lay next to an armored dude who stared with glassy eyes at the field. On the strip next to it was a group of five people with a crumpled "Brooklyn Bowlers" banner and five kegs of beer. "The advantage of the stream is that you can switch between camera angles and even watch from the point of view of every player. Additionally, you can display the stats and progress according to your preference."

"Please feel free to guide us through this. I know nothing about that technology... and the competition as a whole." Flora said. "So what are the stakes? If we lose, are we out of the tournament?"

"Actually the other way around. If we lose, we will take part in a tournament." Mia laughed. "The 10v10 B league consists of 20 sections of 12 teams each. During the season, there is a round-robin in each section. The 20 worst B league teams have to fight against the 44 best teams of the C league in a tournament to keep their spot in the B league. This is the last round-robin match for us. If we get less than 10 points, we will be in the tournament."

"That sounds a lot better than what I've heard. I spoke with a guy who sounded like we will fall to the C league, for sure." Eddie said.

"The C league is pretty strong at the moment, so we could lose our spot in the B league. Nonetheless, I want to take part in the B-Challenge tournament. Our section was tough; we have a real chance of doing well. There is a hidden boon: the winner has a chance to participate in the A-Challenge tournament. The 20 best B teams, the eight worst A teams, the winner of the B-Challenge, and three wildcards compete for eight spots in the A league."

Flora's stressed brain could only follow half of it. She summarized that winning was good, but not winning might not be the end.

The teams walked in. Robby, in his Aladin costume, led the Riverstones. His golden skin shimmered in tandem with the golden ornaments decorating his body. Even though his face was relaxed, Flora knew he was in the zone. Behind him walked his fiancée, the red-haired Ressa, with her tiger Ahoncathyr. Jelonso Emba, the Fire Shield and BBQ Grillmaster, the Fire Healer, followed. Next came Nomads Home, the taciturn archer, a bored Olivandra Cascade, and the sleazy Too Biased. The group's tail end was slower because the Paladins Hoffi and Hub and the giddy Radiant Priest Zapple waved at the audience and sent kisses their way.

"They have their names displayed over their heads! That's so handy!" Flora exclaimed. Additionally, their clan, health, and mana bar hovered below the names.

"The standard configuration includes level, class, and rating," Eddie said. "Why didn't you display those as well, Mia?"

"Because it's misleading. Look at that Janitor," Mia pointed to one guy in a batticle in the lineup of the Brooklyn Bowlers." With tricks, you can manipulate your class tree to display a harmless class. There's a whole meme about 'Flee, it's a Janitor!'. Players hide their technology branch classes behind it. Lumberjack for the Survival Branch, Salesman for the Trick branch, and Butcher for the Warrior branch are three more common hiding classes. More people are afraid of Janitors than of Battlicle Drivers, so the trick lost all meaning."

Flowing Flowers to Aidan: "Can you rearrange my tree that Janitor is the root class?"

"Yes, Milady."

Eddie glanced above Flora's head and chuckled.

"I would rather be ready for anything my opponent throws at me than have false expectations about their skill set," Mia added. "Level is only important if one is in a PvP enabled zone without a level cap. There aren't many of them. If I enter one, I'll enable the level display."

"Aidan, I want the same config as Mia," Flora said and returned to watching the stream.

The Brooklyn Bowlers were six male and four female players, mostly Latin. Three wore technological gadgets, the rest were dressed fantasy style.

The twenty players bowed and then walked to the dugouts, one with the sine curve and two stones for the Riverstones and one with a bowling ball and the letters "BB" for the Brooklyn Bowlers and, of course, advertisement of their sponsors. A bowling arcade supported the Brooklyn Bowlers and a scooter manufacturer the Riverstones.

Nomads Home and a black-haired woman in a red robe remained in the middle of the field. "Camomila Te" was printed above the head of the Latina.

An arrow appeared between them and spun around until it stopped pointing at Te.

"Camomila is allowed to chose the arena. The first event is 1 versus 1, one round." Mia explained.

The field changed into a circus with a radius of 25 meters without any obstacles.

"A bad pick for Norman. He can't utilize his longer range."

The match started. Immediately, a pack of transparent dogs sprang out of Nomads' bow and sprinted to the mage.

"Whoa! What's that?" Flora exclaimed. "Ghost pets?"

"Close, Ghost Hounds. It's the signature skill of his class, Ranger of the Hunt."

Camila fired small fiery spheres in Norman's direction until the first dog reached her. Then a ring of fire billowed out with the mage in the center. The flames moved around her, licking at the dog. They ate the misty substance until nothing of the ghost hound remained.

"Not good. That is no regular Ring of Fire. She morphed it tremendously. Normally it’s an instant cast with a 10-second duration, but she seems to channel it. Not to mention that it's much more powerful than the regular version." Mia frowned. "The spell must cost quite a bit of mana. Ghost Hounds isn't cheap either. Maybe their mana capacity decides this match."

Norman shot arrows with no discernable special effect while the mage stayed with the spheres. Flora identified them as the cantrip of an elemental focus. Every 5 seconds, a new ghost hound appeared, dashed to the mage and got eaten by the fire.

"Why aren't they using other skills as well?" Flora asked.

"It isn't easy to cast two skills at the same time. But I agree, they should be able to dual cast during such steady flowing combat."

"Steady flow is too nice. Mind-numbingly boring would describe it better," Eddie interjected.

"Ranger and Mage have some skills with long cast times." Mia shrugged. "Here it comes!"

Just as a glow formed around Camomila's hand, a quick shot hit her with a bang. Then everything happened faster than Flora could follow. Arrows and flame lances crossed paths, and now two mages fired at Norman. Fiery prison bars surrounded the blond man.

Flora blinked, but she still saw two Camomilas. "What happened?"

"Nomad shot a skill-interrupting arrow because he thought the mage would cast a significant spell. But it was a trap. Somehow she conjured a clone that reflected the interrupt and landed the big spell as well. For the next few seconds, Nomad can't use his whole skill set. I'm not sure how much she managed to lock."

"I want a clone! What spell is it?" Eddie asked grinning.

"It looks like Doppelganger. That's a trick skill, though. Normally, mages have clones made out their element, so maybe Camomila's build isn't a straight mage," Mia said. "But the real downer is the Fire Prison. If he doesn't manage to escape, he'll be toast."

Flora thought that there were worse fates than being a toast, but she knew it wasn't a popular opinion.

Meanwhile, Norman slid through one of the fire bars. The prison began to shrink just as he exited. Two seconds later, it imploded. Nomad's leather armor smoked, but at least he had escaped.

"Nomad is really unlucky. Camomila counters his class. It might be due to a tactical error. Nomad and Too Biased were the only players who Robby had picked for the first event the whole season. Camomila counters both of them with that hellish Ring of Fire. The Bowlers did their homework."

"Don't speak as if the match is already over. Both have more than 80% health." Flora said but then stopped short. "Why do they have so much health left? Are they throwing cotton-wool balls?"

The two Camomilas pelted the poor Norman. Her fireballs looked sharp and hotter than Flora's. The rangers HP bar sank.

"They have stacked defense up to the soft cap of 75%. Even some damage dealers in tier 4 do it."

Flora tried to wrap her head around the idea. "Does that mean that only 25 damage gets through when I hit them with a 100 damage Fireball? Without them using any defensive skills?"

"Yes, usually even lower."

"Wow… " Eddie said. "Isn't it better to invest in your attacks if you are a damage dealer?"

"Yes, sure. The current Meta for DDs is 100 Phys Def, 100 Mag Def. You can easily get these through training. That's an OV of 32. Then you use your BaPa and your equipment to bridge the 43 point OV gap."

"Bapa?"

In the fight, Nomads Home managed to lure the mage into a trap. While she was stuck, he landed some nice hits. However, when the mage freed herself, she still had more HP than him.

"Badge Pattern. It's only available at level 100. You know the + OV you get from big achievements? If you have + 5 OV in every attribute, you get little marbles instead. You stick them into your badge for extra OV."

The air in the arena started to flicker like in a desert.

"Fire Domain!" Mia whistled. "You need level 250 fire affinity for it."

Norman was smoldering hot−literally. His green shoulder pads were even burning. Now, the decline of his HP bar visible to the naked eye. Only when the bar reached 30%, did it slow down.

"Another level 100 gimmick is finishers. Every class gets one. You can only use them if your target has less than 30% health." Mia said as the mage threw a fireball. "Watch."

The fireball started out smaller than the regular spell, and Flora wouldn't have noticed anything differently if Mia hadn't pointed it out. But with every meter of flight, it grew bigger. Like a rocket, it shot in the sky. When it fell, it was as big as him.

The ranger rolled away, but the mini sun homed into his position. The explosion tinted the entire screen red. Even the arena floor had cracked under the power of the spell. Miraculously, Normad survived but with only 15% health left.

Flora and Eddie gaped at the screen.

"Remind me to be nice to everybody above level 100, love," Eddie said, and Flora nodded.

Norman did everything he could, but the mage hunted him relentlessly. Soon the round ended with her win.

Clan Riverstones vs. Brooklyn Bowlers: 0:1.

"The boss will be up next," Mia said.