Carly's approximation of the Free-For-All concluding on Monday turned out to be spot on. The first event finishing just after 1.00 pm, she felt sympathy for those unlucky bastards not to be drawn sooner. 'Ha, better them than me,' she also thought.

On Tuesday another message was distributed to all those who were selected or successful in reaching the second round.

General Announcement - Final Event Information

If you are receiving this message, you have either been selected or successfully qualified to compete in the final pre-launch event. Congratulations!

The Loop Elimination Event will be an exceptional, once ever, event. Used to allocate your in world Unique Identification Number (UIN) in order of performance. Further, there will be rewards for the top achievements of the event.

Here is the prize breakdown:

Overall First - UIN 0 - Early access, Special Cumulative Reward, and Bonus Life Points

Beta Testers ( Legacy Items will be World Adapted)

1 - 10,000,000 Life Points & 3 Legacy Items

2 - 8,000,000 Life Points & 2 Legacy Items

3 - 6,000,000 Life Points & 1 Legacy Item

4 - 4,000,000 Life Points & 1 Legacy Item

5 - 3,000,000 Life Points & 1 Legacy Item

6 - 2,000,000 Life Points & 1 Legacy Item

7-10 - 1,000,000 Life Points & 1 Legacy Item

11-24 - 1,000,000 Life Points or 1 Legacy Item

Martial Trainees (all tradable)

1 - 10,000,000 Life Points & 5 Personal Boosts

2 - 9,000,000 Life Points & 4 Personal Boosts

3 - 8,000,000 Life Points & 4 Personal Boosts

4 - 7,000,000 Life Points & 3 Personal Boosts

5 - 6,000,000 Life Points & 3 Personal Boosts

6 - 5,000,000 Life Points & 3 Personal Boosts

7-10 - 4,000,000 Life Points & 2 Personal Boosts

11-20 - 3,000,000 Life Points & 2 Personal Boosts

21-40 - 2,000,000 Life Points & 1 Personal Boost

41-100 - 1,000,000 Life Points or 1 Personal Boost

All other participants 200,000 Life Points

All FFA eliminated participants 100,000 Life Points

This is truly a once in a lifetime, generous, suite of rewards. PURG has negotiated with the world governments on your behalf.

In this exceptional Loop Elimination Event, all participants attendance will be required at the Secondary Stadium in the Hub, prior to 8:00 am, Monday 18/11/2120.

All eliminated martial trainees will be required at the Main Stadium, prior to 8:00 am, Monday 18/11/2120.

There will be a short presentation before the commencement of the Loop Elimination Event.

PURG Liason Team

Carly practiced in the morning running the Loop at a high difficulty to keep her mind and body as sharp as she possibly could. In the afternoon for the first few days after getting back from the first event, she prowled over the information gained by talking to Mal-Chin.

When she was satisfied with her labors, she sought him out again to ask some more questions gathering more information from Mal-Chin's knowledge and experiences. In return, she helped him become slightly better in combat, though she did not think he had any talent what so ever. He could at least sidestep some attacks now, and read the predictability of mobs far better than before.

Eventually, the inevitable day came round.

* * *

The alarm buzzed, Carly immediately sat up whacking the switch hard, killing the sound. This was it; she thought as she got out of bed and began to twist and stretch, working out her bodies kinks from a slightly restless sleep. 'Better than the last event,' she reassured herself.

Opening the curtains to look outside, it was another perfect morning, a few random clouds, sun shining, mild temperature, birds calling their morning song. They were always perfect; it was the most boring thing you would never want the misfortune of experiencing, year in, year out, it was always the same. She just could not be bothered updating her TME to give herself crap weather, TME life was bad enough, unbearable if not for the presence of her Anne and Roy.

She felt both excitement and nerves for the day ahead. Heading to the bathroom, she splashed water onto her face, in an attempt to clear the sleep fog away.

Moving downstairs for breakfast, Carly greeted the two AI. Roy was busy working the stove, Anne was sitting at the table.

“Good morning Carly,” Anne noticed her first as Roy swung around.

“Sleep well?” he inquired before returning to the sausages, bacon, and eggs, the scent of breakfast permeated the room.

“Bit rough,” Carly admitted as she moved to sit in her regular spot providing a view out the dining room window looking across the farm to the horse paddock and barn. Sighing loudly at the view, she said. "With some skill and some luck I won't be living in farming paradise for a few days."

"We know how much you will miss all this, don't go too loopy while away from here," Roy joked.

Carly rolled her eyes. "Really?" She inquired to Roy. "That was terrible, worse even."

“Nervous?” Anne asked.

Anne stood up grabbing the tea towel for her hands as she pulled the bread from the oven. It smelt fantastic, as always with their country cooking.

“Some, it's the anticipation of today. I have done the training, and I believe in my self. I just...” shaking her head she considered her feelings. “I am just very excited; I want this so much. I am going to kick arse today.”

“Good to hear,” Anne replied enthusiastically, she sat back at the table, bread sliced, buttered and in front of Carly already. Roy came over with the pan and dropped two perfectly cooked eggs onto the bread, adding sausage and bacon placed to the side before dropping the pan in the sink and returning to sit down next to Anne.

They spoke in unison. “Enjoy the meal!” Carly got stuck into the delicious breakfast.

Just over ten minutes later Carly released a sigh of contentment while placing her knife and fork down on the now empty plate. Roy and Anne had sat silently watching the whole time. “Thank you,” Carly said to the two AI.

Both smiled warmly back at her. “You have 1-hour 24-minutes before you need to port,” Anne informed Carly. “Take your time to get ready. Enjoy this; you have most definitely earned the right to compete. So much hard work and you move so beautifully. Do your best. We are sure you will be, exceptional.”

Carly nodded, the words made her heart beat just a little bit faster, and her stomach tighten at the same time. “All right, I am taking a shower now.”

Carly proceeded to get ready, taking a long hot shower to warm up her bodies muscles. After drying off, she looked at her self in the mirror. "Freedom seems close to the beast behind the glass in the zoo..." She beared her teeth at her reflection. "And despite all my rage, I am still just a rat in a cage..."[1] she sang to herself, releasing just a sliver of the resentment she always felt. After looking at herself for a minute more in the mirror, she gradually dropped her face into its neutral position. "Can you ever be saved," she whisper-sang solemnly.

"If only you were a rat, you would be considerably more significant than the unnoticed thing you are."

She dried her hair, running a comb through it, none of this was needed, she could be instantly groomed with a simple mental activation. It was the movement that was important, going through the motions was soothing. Finishing with her teeth, she headed to her wardrobe and pulled out her combat clothing. Aerobic compression shorts under a form-fitting pair of shorts and top that were dark and darker gray, function over form, nondescript was her path of least attention. Although, it showed off her athletic body. Too much, for her liking, although it was necessary to allow for full range of motion during combat, fight without impediment. She selected her combat boots for today. This wasn't a conventional martial competition. There were no rules mentioned, so Carly went for utility. The boots were sturdy yet soft and flexible at the ankle, lacing up the front then buckling over the laces. That done, she headed downstairs once more. Roy and Anne were waiting, sitting at the dining table. On it was a heavy backpack that was looking somewhat swollen. “What's this,” Carly asked, pointing at the bag.

Roy and Anne looked at each other then back at Carly. “This is our strategic contribution to victory. Food and water to keep you going for ten days. Its all highly nutritious and the bottom three layers are stored in the high-quality preserve packs. We think it will save time rather than having to forage, prepare and cook food yourself,” Anne explained.

“Ten days? Wow, you two are optimistic,” Carly said.

“If your still not done when the food is gone, there is a flint and some twine at the very bottom,” Roy nodded at the bag.

“If the beta person you helped out is as bad as you have claimed, then it may begin easier for those less skilled in combat. I think it is better to be over prepared and have too much food and water than not enough and loose because of such circumstance,” Anne said.

This novel's true home is a different platform. Support the author by finding it there.

“Thanks, you two,” rounding the table, Carly hugged them both for a good long moment. “Well, time to go,” Carly pulled back from the embrace. She turned and headed through the front door while lugging the cumbersome backpack on. Walking around the side of the house, she appeared in front of her portal shed.

The shed separated from the house by 10m was a single level structure. Three meters wide by eight meters long, with three meter high walls with a Gambrel style roofline. It created a miniature mirror of the full-size barn across from it, the traditional red barn.

Opening the single door, she looked to the far end, where the only light source was coming. The egg-shaped dull red diffusion of light. With the exposed trusses there was just enough room for the 3.2-meter tall portal. Walking in and moving to the right of the portal was a digital biometric which she activated with her palm data. Once accepted a menu appeared.

Portal Destinations: [Hub] [Medical] [Martial Instruction] [General Training] [Bio-Mechanical Analysis] [Dueling Grounds]

Selecting the Hub option, the light of the portal brightened then changed colour to green. Carly stepped into the light, the perception of her senses lurched, weightless, a total lack of sound, her eyesight whited out. A moment later there was an ear pressure pop, senses exploded back into being buffeted by sight and sound. She stood atop a platform, behind her was an egg-shaped diffusion of light switching from green to red. The platform was three meters by eight meters long just like the barn and stood 1 meter above the surrounding area.

The Hub was the inside of a giant hemisphere structure. To her left and right were a hundred platforms precisely the same as the one she stood upon. Each with a portal, glowing egg-shaped diffusion of light switching between red and green, representative of old-time traffic signals and the coming and going of people. Stepping off the platform activated the portal protocol, changing the portal back to a green state. Another person stepped through moments later, on and on the process continued. Over a 600 people could enter or exit within a minute, without anyone hurrying.

The massive floating sign high up in the center of the Hub. Its message visible from any angle as though looking straight at it.

[7:28 am]

[Ranking Event participants traverse to the Secondary Arena immediately, access will close at 8:00 am]

[All other trainees can spectate at the Primary Arena]

It took Carly slightly over seven minutes to arrive at the foot of the stairs leading to the Secondary Arena. The domineering entry to the arena was identical to its bigger Main arena. Destiny was before her, taking a deep breath and shrugging the backpack to a more comfortable position and began climbing the stairs with many of her fellow trainees, competitors she corrected mentally. As she neared the top, Carly's eye line brought into view the entry lines for access into the arena. There were ten NPC's monitoring the entrance. Beside each one was a palm activated panel which would light up green allowing entry or red denying it to each person attempting to pass through without approval. There were the 10,000 successful martial trainees victorious from the first event. Then the 2,364 beta testers and finally 3,297 top ladder ranked martial trainees. These were the ones that were eliminated during the first event. From those numbers it was easy to see most matches targeted the highest ranked people to eliminate them first, opening doors that under other circumstance, would have been closed to many.

The queues flowed quickly as the 15,661 candidates vying for the top-ranked prizes, placed a hand on the palm panel to gain entrance into the stadium. No panels lit up red while Carly was entering. No one wanted to get their ass kicked by these NPC's, they were invulnerable to damage and could one shot everyone.

Though Carly was still twenty minutes early, she was in fact, one of the stragglers. All the 'good spots' near the front of the stage and podium were occupied. She was going to hang out the back, anonymous anyway. So it suited her to be as far away from the bullshit ceremony as was reasonably possible, without drawing attention.

Carly shuffled along a row of seats, quite high up in the stand. There was only a couple of people seated nearby, which made for an easier traversal with a heavy backpack. Taking it off, she sat down with the bag placed on the seat beside her. Closing her eyes, she settled into waiting for the event to commence.

* * *

At precisely 8.00am, managers and high ranking staff along with board members of Powered Unlimited Reality Group (PURG) began walking out of an enclosed area taking their positions at the back of the five tiers of seating. These corporates of the digital and electronic industries were followed by dignitaries from the countries who had portions of their populous already signed up to enter the new world on launch. These dignitaries were included the oversight committee for the bestowal of special privilege we, as employees of PURG were about to compete.

Finally, the directors of PURG appeared and sat in the middle of the front row. The last one out being, Mr. PURG himself, Richard Isaccs Shrodastower. He slowly walked towards the podium waiting for the dignitaries and corporate guests to settle in.

"International dignitaries, board members, honored guests, PURG employees," his speech began, and Carly's jaw gradually tightened. It was a long speech listing then examining each of the many significant problems afflicting the world. It pointed out the many opportunities squandered by past government leaving the world in its present unstable predicament. "...they chose to maintain pacifying governance. 'We are trying, but there are many difficulties,' those governments argued. 'We are setting new attainable targets. We have a new global agreement on the table. We need to keep a focus on jobs. These measures will ease the austerity burden. Our economy simply can not meet the new and unreasonable global targets and maintain economic growth and current employment levels. We need to undertake a new research whitepaper to account for emerging technology that may alleviate the current problem.' All the international negotiation, all the rhetoric laid out to the populous, and decade upon decade of continuous failure. What a terrible gift that was given, to we the inheritors of the failed non-action governance of the past. Compounded over generations to the global crisis our world currently wallows within.

'This shit head sure is laying it on the governments. Not that I disagree, but it's not like your innocent of the same, closest fucker. I know a whole technology acquisition full of inactioned skeletons that you're guilty of, bastard. There is one sitting right in front of you, and you don't even know it.'

Moving on Isaccs, as Ross referred to him, started tooting his own trumpet of achievement. The advances his company made. The problems his company provided solutions to, the profitability of his business model. The inherent good his company did as a responsible entity of the corporate world.

She gradually clenched her jaw more and more while listening to the self-adulation.

'I hate you!'

"I truly believe, I was put here to make a great contribution, toward helping the world, we find ourselves in..."

'Stroke that ego... FUCKER!'

Her lips drew back further and further into a genuinely frightening facial expression. If she wasn't sitting up the back of the stadium or someone had looked over, that person would be thinking Carly was now pulling off Miss Psychotic, 2120.

'SLIMY, SLEAZY, KENIVING, SCUM!'

"...At PURG, we care, we care about our investors, we care about our staff, we care about the world. We choose to make our contribution willingly, to benefit all including the planet. Because we do care and understand that making such contribution isn't our right, it is also our responsibility."

'CARE? YOU DIDN'T CARE ABOUT US!

WE WERE ABANDONED!

DISCARDED LIKE TRASH!

YOU PIECE OF SHIT!'

With considerable effort, Carly's facial expressions gradually toned back down into a more passive countenance. Her breathing slowed, not making the whistling sound as she angrily breathed through her teeth.

'I am going to savior taking what your responsibility owes, fucker!'

With deep slower breaths, Carly sort to center herself, she had never met the 'banes of her existence' personally, seeing them, even from a distance was difficult.

'More deep breaths, slow your heart rate, settle down, let it go. That agro shit, will not help me. Calm; calm; calm.

I am a smooth river rock in a gentle, flowing brook, smooth, passive, the water cooling me while the sun warms me. I am the rock, and the rock is passive. I am calm; I am calm; I am calm.

I am a smooth river rock...'

Carly repeated the mantra letting the ceremonial crap flow over her, tuning out the words. It was nothing she needed to concern herself with, only the event, only her actions mattered. They were insignificant at this moment.

* * *

[1] The Smashing Pumpkins - Bullet with Butterfly Wings