Auntie toasts the VRMMORPG

"What kind of event is a 4v4 Relay?" Flora asked.

"Two people start, as soon as one of them dies, the next teammate replaces them. So, the first person may wipe out the opposing team. One point for each killed opponent is on the table. In this event, healers shine."

Robby must have thought the same because Zapple, the blue-haired Radiant Priest, started the Riverstones lineup. His opponent was a stout woman in a black and green medium mech-suit, Plaga Sobreti.

While Flora knew about half the spells Zapple used, she had no clue what Plaga's deal was. She closed in on the healer now and then and snapped her whip a lot, but Flora saw no visual impact.

The health of both combatants sank very slowly. After a minute of the fight, they were still at 90%, but Zapple's mana was only 60%, even though he had used Relight and Pray for mana. Little symbols had appeared next to his bars. When there were one dozen, Flora zoomed in. She recognized two, poisoned and contaminated.

"Plaga uses debuffs. I recognized Witch spells, prayers, and commands. She must have quite the peculiar tree, mixing magic with technology." Mia said.

Flora raised her eyebrows. "I think it's totally reasonable to wear a mech-suit and use magic and prayers."

"No, it's not if you aren't going for metal magic. That's at least the common wisdom. The amount of affinities she has to train is too much. Nonetheless, it seems to be working for her. I would love to see her levels. With the boxes training, Zapple should have resisted more of them if they were really underdeveloped."

"Do you think I should focus on one branch?" Flora asked. She saw parallels between Plaga's playstyle and her own. "Please, give me your honest opinion as my consultant."

"I believe that you should find a coherent playstyle. Something you like, something you are good in and with components that are together bigger than apart. But you have time until level 100 to do that. From then on, level only the parts that elevate that playstyle."

"Sounds like a plan." Flora nodded. "Level 100 is far away; I can experiment till then."

Eddie laughed. "Zapple turned it around! Oh, that boy. He transferred all the debuffs to Plaga. Sorry to interrupt your consultation, dear. If you want to know my two cents, just have fun. We are too old to power-game."

"No, you may be too old. I'm just the right age to prove to those youngsters how awesome toasters are… no, I mean, how awesome power-gamey I am!" Flora exclaimed. Silently she added: 'And that I don't have to go into a retirement home.'

"You can't achieve the reaction times of the youngsters," Eddie said.

"My AIs can. I let them react, or I think of something and find a way around it. You are right with the reaction time−not only that but the entire fighting thingy from perception over decision to reaction. I did improve my melee game, but that's easy starting from close to zero. However, I believe I will plateau lower than specialists. Should I give up on it or max out my own limited capabilities. Hmm, much food for thought…"

Plaga's HP finally started to fall, but Zapple's mana ran out first.

When he was defeated, Too Biased replaced him. The Black Guard tore with his two daggers into the mech-suit operator. Still, she managed to load him up with half a dozen debuffs, so he perished under the barrage of her substitute, a batticle driver with one drone.

"That's the team leader," Mia said. His name was DonTippo Bucktown, and his batticle had was similar to Long3rds, three-legged and with heavy guns.

For the Riverstones, Olivia came up next. The healer and the batticle fought until the dogfight depleted her mana.

Last and definitely least, the Paladin Hoffi arrived in the arena. Soon afterward, he perished as well.

Clan Riverstones vs. Brooklyn Bowlers: 6:6.

"Wow, our lead melted fast," Eddie said. Flora could only nod.

"The last event is the 10v10 match−5 points for winning, 1 point each for the best healer, tank, and DD, 1 point for the MVP, and 1 point for accomplishing an optional objective," Mia explained. "If the team has equal points, the competition goes to the winner of the 10v10. I'm very interested in what kind of strategy Robby chooses."

"What do you mean by strategy?"

"Whether he will play for the win or if he just tries to get the 4 points we need to stay in the B league."

Flora raised her brows. She had already forgotten about that dilemma. Her first instinct was that they should play it safe, but could they reach the other goals risk-free? Probably not. "What would you suggest?"

"It depends on the map." Mia had her eyes on the screen. As the arena filled with water, her mouth twitched. "Robby's hunch was right; it's Perl Reef, an underwater map. Now, I'm happy that I didn't partake because my batticle has only shitty underwater mods."

"Do you think you could have made a difference?" Flora asked. No challenge was in her tone, just curiosity.

"The rounds went well for us. If I had joined, I would have replaced Hoffi in the team and Norman at the 1v1. I'm not confident to say that I would have defeated Camomila for sure, but I would have bet on me. However, that would have freed up Norman for the 4v4 Relay. With him, we would have killed one more guy. So the difference would be 1-2 points. If Hoffi had been assigned to the 1v1, we still had one more point." Mia shrugged. "Hindsight is 20/20. We are lucky enough that Team Fire pulled through. They had a bad matchup; rogues are mage killers. Nonetheless, they pulled it off."

"What do you suggest Robby should do on this map?" Eddie asked while he zoomed around the area. Glowing Shells as big as sandboxes lay on the ocean bed, sharks circling them like watchdogs.

"The primary objective is to get pearls from the clams. The team, which gets more, wins the match. The mission for the additional points isn't fixed. I only know of two possible options: Kill the most sharks and kill the ship's kobold." Mia zoomed onto a shipwreck in one corner of the map. "If it's the first, we better go for the win. You have to kill the sharks to get the pearls anyway. If it's the second option, Robby has to assign 3-5 guys just to kill the boss. The rest could harass the Brooklyn Bowlers. It might be possible to get the 4 points."

"I would try to win the match. Losing will attempting to Rock and Rule is better than losing with some damage mitigation tactic." Eddie said.

Both teams had entered the water and floated on the surface. Immediately, Flora enlargened the batticles.

"Neat!" She exclaimed. The Brooklyn Bowlers had replaced the feet with propellers. With three legs, the batticles should have high mobility. "What is your underwater mod like? Can you show it to me in the future?"

"Sure, I just have some jets on the shoes. They need 5 Mana Regeneration per minute just for normal movement. That means I have less MR/min to push into the rest of the batticle, which makes me weaker overall."

Flora tensed up when she saw the message. Still, she didn't know what decision she should root for. "How are our chances of winning?"

"Slim. The Brooklyn Bowlers have two units: Squad Tech with the three batticles, some drones and two mech-suit operators, and Squad Rogue. They can tackle two clams simultaneously. We have three units in our team, Team Light, that’s all the Radiance Practitioners: Robby, Hub, and Zapple, and Team Fire with Tigressa, Jelonso Emba, and BBQ Grillmaster and the rest who don't have synergy. Additionally, Team Fire's power is diminished because of the water." The signal to start the match interrupted Mia's explanation.

The players dove down to the ground. Immediately, Team Light and Too Biased split up and swam to the shipwreck.

"There is no honor to choose the path of defeat even if the goal is golden," Flora said, then cringed about her own sentences. She was still not at her best. "Uhm, I mean, I approve of Robby's decision. Getting the four bonus points is the sensible thing to do."

Eddie chuckled. "I liked the first expression better." He cleared his throat, then raised his fists. "The fire of youth shall burn brightly even in the abyss of sure vanquishment!"

Mia pretended to be in another room and deaf simultaneously. At least Flora interpreted her frozen figure staring unblinkingly at the screen this way.

Squad Techno started on the first shell. As soon as Long3rd attacked it, three sharks zeroed in on him. As sharks went, they weren't too bad—just your regular four-meter long monsters with too many teeth and a mean outlook at life.

A second batticle, 9Pin King, joined Long3rd and sprayed the monsters with a greenish substance. While Squad Techno engaged the sharks, Mia configured the display. She had split the screen into four sections: One for the curated stream the system provided, one for Team Light, one for the rest of the Riverstones, and one empty. In the latter, Mia moved the camera around, scanning the underwater landscape.

"I can't find Squat Rogue." She said.

"I bet they'll appear right behind Team Fire," Eddie said. He was right. As the Riverstones closed in on Squad Techno, Squad Rogue counter ambushed them.

Flora tore her eyes away from the fire and special effects festival that ensued and looked at Robby's window. It shone lighter than a lamp store. All the Radiant Practitioners had their auras activated. Instead of the usual subtle gleam, their auras glowed full lighthouse. With all the light, the wreck's narrow cabins didn't seem spooky at all, not even when a translucent kobold in pirate gear appeared out of the rotting wood floor.

Eddie cooed. "Can I adopt him?"

"Humanoid mobs can't be tamed, but there are instances where they have volunteered as companions," Mia said.

"Flora and Mia, you are on my team! Where do I register for 10v10 PvP?" Eddie rubbed his hands, grinning like the mad man he was.

"The feature will open when you get to level 100." Mia took the wind out of his sails, and Eddie sobbed.

"We have to level up prontisimo! Rapido, rapido!"

"We'll get there, dear." Flora petted his hand.

Meanwhile, Team Fire got their butts handed to them. First, Hoffie died, then Olivia. The rest fought on, but it wasn't looking good.

"Wow, so early, and we lost already 1/5 of our team," Flora said, concerned. "Is that the end?"

"No, they'll respawn after one minute," Mia explained to Flora's relief.

Team Fire managed to kill one of the rogues and now fought four versus four. Ressa and Norman were relatively healthy, but Ahoncartyr, Emba, and BBQ were down to 30% HP whereas the rogues had their full health.

Just 100 meters away from them, Squad Techno captured their first pearl. They moved on to the next shells and another school of sharks.

Flora was impressed by the underwater fighting. Magic and ranged attacks worked fine, but the melee fighter had to adapt their fighting style. Hoffi and Emba used their swords only to stab, and the rogues hugged their victims to get leverage out of their slices. Ahoncathyr had the most problems, but you couldn't fault a cat for being bad at diving.

In the next few minutes, the roles stayed the same: Team Light battled the kobold, Squad Techno collected pearls, Hoffi died a lot, and the rest of both teams fought each other. Then the kobold died. A tiny symbol appeared next to the HP Bars of all the Riverstones, accompanied by a red glow around their bodies.

"Defeating the ship's kobold gave our team a damage buff. It runs for five minutes."

Flora pressed her thumbs for good luck.

Robby and his companions swam to a closed clam and engaged the sharks.

"Hmm…" Mia said.

"What?"

"We've got one point down; now we have to get three more. Best Healer, Tank, DPS, or MVP. I don't know if competing in the clam race is the right way to do it." Mia shrugged. "Maybe it is? Damage against the sharks is counting, too."

"What is an envy-pee?" Flora asked. The image in her head was disgusting, but it shouldn't be possible with the disabled bladder. And why would the game reward people who peed themselves out of envy? Or maybe the player who receives this prize is so awesome that everybody else peed themselves in envy?

"M-V-P. Most valued player." Mia said with a straight face, while Eddie nearly drowned laughing.

"I was pretty close with my interpretation!"