Fred Fosswell smiled as he circulated through the gaming tables. Things were going better than he thought they would. The groups were giving his system a workout from the looks of things.

He still needed to check out the Duel battleground he had set up at the other end of the hall, but the roleplaying groups seemed to be doing fine. If the tables were bigger, he could show the whole setting for them. Still, the display of their local environments seemed enough for a demonstration.

The cards seemed to be working as prompts like they should. He expected that part to be refined better. Twenty cards as a goal seemed to be too much for casual play. He might need to cut goals down to five or ten for one night. He needed to ask the groups when things were over.

A three day convention like this was okay but a long haul. A one night show would be too short for twenty cards.

Fosswell took another look at the gaming tables before heading down to the Duel setup. This was the start of the RAILS system after all. He had added the other applications as he went along.

One of the duelists went down under a storm of magic spells. The landscape changed under his whims as he pummeled his enemy under his barrage. The victim of the display groaned as his playing piece came apart.

The surviving mage went down next from an unknown assailant that wasn't anywhere close to him. The player was aghast as the head of his playing piece came apart from one spell.

Fosswell asked for a replay of the kill. The section broke off from the rest of the battleground for him and the two dead players. They watched as the second kill was done via laser bullet from across the map.

“He sniped me from nine hundred yards with a cannon,” said the second player. “I can't believe it.”

“I think he set the system's first world record,” said Fosswell. “I certainly have never heard of anything like it.”

“I guess that's one way to get into the record book,” said the first player. He grinned at the other player.

“Dude, I have never seen anything like that,” said the second player. “Let's see if Steve is still in. He and Clocky will have to carry us until the end of the battle.”

“Have fun, guys,” said Fosswell. He started around the table.

The player with the rifle was standing on the other side of the table. He had picked a spot driven upward by two other duelists. He scanned the battlefield with the rifle for more prey.

Fosswell called up the build with his tablet. He didn't want the table to give him a look when everyone else could see what he was interested in. He read the scan and scratched his head.

The rifleman had placed Eagle Eye on the rifle to give him a better view of everything when he focused on it. Then he had bought all the killer distance spells he could, minimum armor, and a self help. This was a duelist who didn't plan to get up close to his targets.

It was a fine strategy with the most serious flaw being if someone did get close to him and he missed his shot, his armor would not stop any of the summonings, return fire spells, or elemental shapings that would come his way.

This text was taken from Royal Road. Help the author by reading the original version there.

He might try to buy a close weapon from the vendor box if he had enough rubies secured from his kills. That would be good for him once things got within arm's reach.

The player said something into his headset mike. The piece lined up a shot and fired at a target running toward a wall broken in half. The shot missed as the target dropped behind cover.

That was bad for him. If he got too close, he would lose the fight because he didn't have a short range option. If he didn't break off, he might be overwhelmed by the other player's own skills.

The player Fosswell was watching took aim at the other player's cover. He punched hole after hole into the stone. Molten bricks sprayed the pinned playing piece, reducing its health. The rifleman walked to where he could get a clear shot and put down his opponent for good.

Fosswell made a note to check on the fragility of the battleground. He hadn't thought someone would shoot through an obstacle like that.

The rifleman loaded up his power supply, reloading his rifle from what he took from the other playing piece. He discarded most spells, but did pick up a buzz gun. He holstered that to his belt and looked around for his next victim.

Fosswell wondered how good he was with a buzz gun. Most players in the test runs hated the weapon with a passion.

More duelists dropped in to replace the ones that had fallen. Players were cycled through twice and the second time they were killed, they were out. They had to make due with the one spell they were gifted until they had enough to select their own spells for use.

Fosswell knew that made some of them sitting ducks the way the map was put together. That was the luck of the draw. If they dropped down on each other, the player with the fastest reflexes had the best chance of winning.

It also meant ground based forces with long range options could knock returning duelists out of the air with the right combinations of spells.

The rifleman was no exception. As soon as his piece was alerted, he shot at the targets drifting down through the simulated air. Playing pieces vanished with the number of their standing appearing and vanishing right after them.

A five hundred man playing field had dropped to thirty on the field and four hundred more waiting for their chance to be the top seed.

Any still surviving players the first night would be able to start the next day in the same exact order they had been waiting to go before the hall shut down.

A commander of elemental birds attacked several a duelists as he ran for cover behind a hill brought up as a wall. A divot appeared where his head should have been. He dropped down to let his birds do their work.

The rifleman stood outside of the edge of the battle and took aim. He needed to kill some of these to weed out the field. Helping the elementalist controller might be teaming, but it was the only way he could win against the numerical advantage in front of him.

Fosswell almost smiled as the rifleman used the terrain thrown up by the earlier duels to pick off his targets one by one. Some of them had already been killed once. Their deaths allowed others in line to launch their pieces on the field to gather strength and try out their skills against the old hands and new players alike.

How long would it be before the other duelists decided to go for the rifleman and ignore each other? Fosswell had seen that in other games, but sometimes it didn't work out because the threat was better than all the other duelists combined.

He doubted the player was that good, but he had been surprised before. People would sometimes do anything to win.

The rifleman rose in rank, gathering resources. He added what he could find to the buzz gun. He made sure to keep it in the short to medium range so he had something he could use if someone got inside his long range offense.

The rifleman backed up as the other duelists tried to converge on his shooting stand. He didn't try to take shots as he was busy dodging long range ice and flames and exploding butterflies. He found a spot where he could lie behind a cover and prop up his long gun. He fired down in the crowd. Some of them went down under his blasts. Some went down when their erstwhile teammates turned on them and finished the job when they were just wounded.

The rifleman disengaged from the conflict, taking shots at any duelists who tried to come at him. He made his way to a set up of rocks forming a peak above the battleground.

He needed to take a breather before he went back to the fight. He needed range and power to fuel his spells against his enemies.

Fosswell approved of the tactic.