The battle ended with the sight of a tank’s burning rubble, a large hole in its rear. As the smoke started to fade, Anton could see its once fearsome silhouette, now nothing more than a destroyed piece of scrap metal. Its once mighty barrel now dangled off the turret.
“Is everyone alright?” Anton asked through the voice chat.
‘The truck’s flipped over.’
‘I’m fine.’
‘We’re good as well. Damn, that’s one cool show. It’s a shame you two can’t see it.’
‘Yeah, yeah, we’re stuck here, we know.’
Voices filled the voice chat. Kayla started reversing the LAV, which survived the attack, away from the crater. Anton used the screen to check for damages. Several in-game damages had been detected by the system, the damage to the turret being the most notable.
To put it simply, it's gone. The entire turret disappeared.
The outer armor had also been damaged, along with some sensors and cameras. Anton checked the predicted costs for the damages.
Anton rechecked the quest screen, showing that it had been completed, with the rewards listed on the bottom part of the screen. PvP quests tend to give more than NPC quests, due to how dangerous they were. Kayla moved the damaged LAV into an open position, away from the remains of the tank. Kayla opened the door, waiting for Ronald and Cecily.
Curious, Anton got out of the LAV and saw the four people approaching. He moved away from the door and approached the tank’s remains, the smell of ash filling the air. Small, white flames danced near the tank’s rear, right below the hole that had been torn into the tank’s rear.
Being one of the most powerful spells, Light Pierce could easily break all elements, with the exception of physical weapons that had deflection abilities. No matter how thick armor or magic shield the enemy had, it could penetrate through. A spell hard to use, truly an interesting spell, used by an AI no less. For the first time, Anton saw the usage of such a powerful spell. He regretted the fact that he couldn’t see the spell in action thanks to the thick smoke, but he couldn’t do anything about it.
Kayla moved the LAV beside him, the driver’s hatch opened.
“Ready to go, or need some flowers?” she asked.
“I’m getting on.”
“Eh? So no flowers?”
Anton ignored her and went to the rear of the LAV. With everyone on board, they moved away and back to Mitte.
* ••
“Thank you so much! I, I can’t tell how much I appreciate your help!” the person said. They gathered in Mitte Adventure Terminal, which served as respawn points and quest locations. The rest of the group gathered around the person, Anton leaned back on the orange wall, orange being the color theme for this building, standing at the corner of the building.
There weren’t many players inside. Those who came, tend to come for the terminal’s quest system. Like the PvP quest, many quests could be found in the world with varying difficulty, but for newer players, they tend to rely on quests from the terminal. A group of four came and went to one of the quest booths. Anton couldn’t see what they were doing from his position, but it must have something to do with quests. Maybe they were about to accept one, maybe they just finished one, or maybe they were just looking through.
What they actually did had little to do with him, however. He continued observing them, as a way to pass the boredom. The four then turned around and headed off. They went into a car parked in front of the terminal’s lobby and then drove off. Anton glanced toward the group of seven, Kayla among them. They hadn’t finished speaking, smiles on their faces.
Could you even afford the repair costs?
Anton asked internally. Repairing vehicles, especially armored ones, cost a lot of money. His Tarup 57 was the only one that survived, and even then he faced a huge bill, not counting the bill required for the damaged pickup. When totaled, the rewards were just barely enough to break even.
And all that with their vehicle surviving. Anton didn’t understand how they could smile like that. Unlike him, they probably didn’t have unlimited money.
“Kids sure do grow fast, eh?”
Anton heard a heavy voice coming from beside him. He looked toward it. A large man stood in the corner, half of his body covered by shadows. He had short white hair and wore a tuxedo with round glasses covering his black eyes.
Is he a villain? Don’t say…
“You’re not that tank driver, are you?”
“No, of course not. Why would I attack random NPCs?” he asked, his voice filled with what Anton felt like genuine curiosity.
“So what they face is a tank, eh?”
“... Mind explaining who you are?”
“Oh, sorry. I assume you are not curious about my real name, but my in-game name is Barnum. I’m Ronald's biological father,” the man said. He had a weird sense of calmness around him, as if all he did was watch over the world.
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“Ronald sent me a message, asking me if I can play. He’s facing a great enemy. I was at work, unfortunately, but I’m glad I didn’t come,” he explained calmly.
“Kids need to be given a chance to grow.”
“He’s a high schooler?” Anton asked out of curiosity.
“No, a middle schooler. He and his friends are from the basketball team. They have a match tomorrow, so they decided to take it easy.”
Which part of that quest could be considered taking it easy?
“Well… good luck.”
“Thank you. I’ll tell them your wishes. As to you, I assume you’re the person in a mini tank that assisted them?” Barnum asked. The word ‘mini tank’ caused Anton to pause for a moment, wondering what it meant.
“Oh, yeah. It’s called a LAV, though.”
“Yes. When he first saw you, he described your vehicle as a mini tank. He later corrected his words, however.”
“So… what are you here for?”
“I was hoping to watch the epic battle between them, but as it turned out, I was too late.”
Very late.
Anton didn’t get why this person even talked to him in the first place. How did he know that Anton participated in the battle? Was it because he stood there alone, while the other seven surrounded the NPC? Did he mistake Anton for an AI companion?
Anton didn’t bother correcting or asking him about it, though. He noticed a virtual screen appearing in front of him, detailing the results of the battle, the rewards, and the experience he had received. He looked toward the seven, noticing them turning around, walking toward him.
“Dad!”
“Hey, kiddo. Good work out there,” Barnum said, petting Ronald’s head.
“I’m not a child anymore!” Ronald retorted, but despite his words, he didn’t pull himself anyway.
“You kids ready to return?” he asked, addressing the other children.
Anton glanced toward Kayla and walked away.
“Let’s go,” Anton whispered when he passed Kayla.
“Okay. Everyone, we’ll be going on our way,” Kayla said to the six.
“Ah, can we add friends?” Ronald asked.
“Sure.”
Kayla’s words caused Anton to stop. He exhaled silently, turned around, and waited for the friend requests to pop up. Since AI companions couldn’t add friends, only three requests popped up.
Well, adding friend contacts wouldn’t hurt, Anton thought as he accepted all of the requests. Anton then looked back to the group. Seeing the six eyes on him, all from children with similar size as himself, he let out a thin smile.
“See you later,” he said with a soft voice.
“Yeah, see you all later!” Kayla repeated his words, in a much louder voice. The six along with Barnum waved toward them as Anton and Kayla headed out of the terminal. They left the building and got back into the Tarup 57.
“Where to now?” Kayla asked as she got into the driver’s seat.
“The repair station.”
“... Yeah, where after that?”
“Let’s just get this repaired first,” Anton answered as he sank himself into his seat.
“Actually, can you get this repaired while I grab lunch?”
“Sure. Just leave it to me.”
“Okay.”
Anton closed his eyes and left the game.
* ••
Kayla drove the LAV down the narrow streets of Mitte, her head peeking out of the driver’s hatch. The Tarup 57 had periscopes that provided a very limited view of the outside world. Cameras on the left, right, and front of the vehicle assisted the periscopes, providing a limited view through a screen on the driver’s console, behind the steering wheel.
The left camera malfunctioned, providing a blurry image of its surroundings, while the right one outright didn’t work. Kayla didn’t complain, her hands on the wheel as she carefully navigated the asphalt streets. The air felt cold and fresh, thanks to the city’s altitude. She went past the airport, following the same route the taxi driver took them earlier. She noticed a cafe sitting on the side of the road, a magnificent view beyond it. She marked it in her mind for later.
She continued going down, heading for the Rodley headquarters. Rodley headquarters offered a cheaper option for repairs compared to other vehicle repair spots in Mitte. It didn’t take her long to reach the stretch of road linking the city and the building. She looked to the right, seeing the spot where the NPC once parked, the dark red sedan no longer there. She continued deeper, eventually reaching the Rodley headquarters. She brought the LAV to the vehicle repair station and pulled it to a stop.
Since Anton asked her to repair the vehicles, special funds had been transferred to her, which she used to pay for the repairs. It took fifteen minutes to restore all the LAV’s systems. The repairs returned the Five-Seven to its former glory, just like when it first came off the assembly line.
Well, it is new, just taken on a battle on its first day. She hopped off the front hatch and went outside. She did a quick check around the vehicle. She wanted to make sure they were ready to set off the second Anton returned to this world. Once everything was done, she reentered, albeit this time from the rear door. She made her way to the driver’s seat, noticing Anton’s limp body resting on the seat. She kneels beside his body, looking at his face.
She let out a smile before turning back toward the driver’s seat. She then reversed the vehicle out of the lot and made her way back toward the cafe. She kept the hatch open, giving her a better view of the road, the fresh air hitting her virtual skin. It didn’t take long for her to arrive safely at the cafe. She parked the large vehicle in the parking lot, crawled up from the front hatch, and took her place on top of the turret, gazing at the distant mountains.
* ••
Once Anton returned to the game, he noticed the LAV in a parked position. He stretched his body and felt his limbs. He then got out of his seat and went to the driver’s seat, noticing Kayla no longer there. He crawled out through the opened hatch. He pushed the hatch further back, giving him more space to crawl. It was still pretty hard. It took him some effort before he could escape from underneath it.
“Ah, you’re back,” Kayla asked from the turret. Anton went up and sat above the Five-Seven’s metal body, the turret didn’t have any more space available.
“Beautiful, isn’t it?”
“Yeah…” Anton looked at the direction Kayla looked at. A neighboring mountain stood proudly in the distance, captivating the eyes of those who saw it.
“So, where are we going?” Kayla asked as she got off the turret and stood on Anton’s side. Anton looked toward the wooden building that sat right next to them.
“Want some hot chocolate?” He asked. Kayla’s eyes lit up the second she heard those words.
“Yes, please!”