VRMMO - Breach

Chapter III

“Mind if I join your party?”

Simon shrugged, “Sure, I don’t see the problem as to why not.” The face she showed was so begging. Was she expecting instant rejection? Certainly, he wouldn’t do that. On the contrary, the more good players he surrounds himself with, the better his chances of success.

Alice sighed as she leaned back in her chair. Her stressed limbs finally relaxed. That's it, Alice! she yelled joyfully in her mind. Even though she thought her actions were unnoticeable, Simon chuckled at those antics.

The pink-haired girl just returned to life. A few seconds ago, her face was pale like a vampire’s. Thank God her complexion has returned to normal.

“I have a rest day tomorrow, so I don't know where to spend it...”

Simon formed an understanding expression, “Oh, yeah, yeah. I understand.” He was actually laughing at the poor girl internally while just pretending. Never once did he see the girl as obvious. He had to admit it was fun.

But always, something good has to end. The mini headphones in his ears became lively again as The Doc started speaking,

[Simon, I found a lot of stuff. Should I tell you now? Or I can wait a few more hours.] He was obviously taunting the operative. Simon said nothing else, just his eyebrows twitched at the joking tone of his colleague.

Somehow, he had to get out of this situation. He looked down at his phone to check on the clock... It was pretty late.

“It’s getting quite late already; are you walking?” Simon asked the girl. Alice nodded while drinking the coffee. Having a car in this massive city was a luxury; not everyone had one. The government was limiting them because of the traffic.

“Should I call the taxi for you?”

“No, no! I live close by. It’s unnecessary.”

With no intention of pressuring the girl, Simon nodded. But escorting her was for the best. As a matter of fact, the Neon District was never a secure location, especially for young women like Alice. After they were done with the coffee, he insisted on escorting her to her place. She agreed, and so they both left the cafe after Simon paid for their coffee.

Alice asked a lot of useless questions on their way; it was not to seem awkward, but did exactly that. Simon patiently answered them. What option did he have in this situation when he himself insisted on escorting?

He understood that he was special, unlike other men in this place. It made sense why the girl was interested in him, but it would have been better if Alice had spoken more confidently.

The pink-haired girl acted like this only near him. How would she work in the Playland Club otherwise? Every employee, aside from janitors, needs some social skills. Hopefully, it'd be different the next day. Simon didn’t need a person in his circle who couldn’t talk properly.

“Thanks for today, Simon.” The girl smiled as she went inside her apartment building.

Simon waved... and waved until she disappeared from his sight. He clicked on the mini-headphone and called back his helper, The Doc. In a matter of seconds, his voice rang out in his ears. Of course, it started with another taunt.

[Are you done with your special affairs, an undercover operative of one of the most secretive organizations of this country?]

“Doc, do you want me to remind you of that one time when we made you look for the documents of a porn actress?”

[You already did. I hate you…]

Simon shook his head, “Forget about now, tell me what you could dig out.”

[Hm, I had dug out quite a lot of information about your guy Pyro. At the moment, he is just a student in tenth grade but has apparently already applied for the cadet school.]

That wasn’t odd for teenagers these days; the city-states like Axis needed capable people, and education in the military lyceums was free. It was just like university, but with a job guarantee — although many avoided this option because of their parents' influence.

[His mother and father died ten years ago due to the… You don't need me to say it loudly, do you?]

No, certainly not. Just a thought about that day was a terrifying memory for the inhabitants of the Axis. Many lost their families there. That's why a lot of people suddenly became very motivated to join the military or the police. Perhaps, so was young Pyro.

The government spent a lot of money that came from foreign countries on the military, thus arming this nation to the teeth. It works well... It's just those same foreign countries that create the problems. That's why discrimination exists here.

"I understand his reasons now. He is similar to many..."

[Let's not dwell on the past; we have to fix what we have now. Don't alter your mission to fixing the mess.]

"Don't worry, I plan on playing with Pyro so I can attract the attention of Playland Club's management. He is just sixteen but has already caught their attention once. Actually, I was really lucky to find him. With him, everything will progress much faster."

He had no desire to harm the sixteen-year-old boy. Just why was The Doc always assuming that he was going to hurt someone? This was a question that bothered Simon for quite some time.

"And then, if I get my hand into their business, we'll track down the money we are looking for."

[Not "if", you must do that hundred percent. No excuses will be tolerated.]

That was partly because there was yet to be a situation where excuses had to be used. It sounds magical, but SSSA hasn’t failed once in its purpose. There was a hundred percent success rate on every mission they did so far.

They are feared and respected because of that. They are sort of a symbol for the citizens of Axis. It was funny how they even get exposed, because those who they save, record them to post on social media.

Those Axis citizens… They are pretty crazy sometimes. In their units, they laughed their asses off at those debates with foreigners on social media.

The story was such, once there was a top list made with the highest rates of crime in different countries. The first place was taken by Axis, and the citizens of Axis couldn't stay away from the comment sections. They started commenting.

[Anonymous User: "Yeah baby!!!! Axis is always number one <3!"]

This was the funniest comment made there, but it wasn't the end. More foreigners soon joined, and it became their slander. They understood the kids were just joking.

SSSA was slandered, but in a good way. Foreigners all said that the Axis would drop down to second soon, and their countries would take first place. It could be said that they were suffering from success. Moments like these were a great way to distract themselves from their stressful jobs.

[Are you there?]

Simon snapped, "Yes, I am. I just remembered that one moment with the First Place."

[Haha...that one was a good one.] The Doc burst into laughter so loudly that the headphones began to hurt Simon’s ears. Seriously, it was like he was under gunfire, and the shots were fired right next to him.

*Swing* *Slam*

The van's engine was started by Simon after he settled into the driver's seat and pressed a button. As an SSSA agent, he had a means of transportation. The Doc asked him why he didn’t drive the girl,

He answered with, “It was just a few hundred meters.”

There was also another reason for that; this van had quite a bit of stuff inside. Ammunition, armor, and weapons. In case there was an emergency, he had to be ready to respond in an appropriate manner. Imagine threatening this guy... Your fate will be sealed the moment you have an urge to do that.

“Doc, I’ll be disconnecting.”

Support the author by searching for the original publication of this novel.

[Aye, see ya later.]

Simon slumped back with his head over the driver's seat and sighed. He could feel it. Tomorrow would be a tiring day. He didn’t like sitting in one spot for hours; his ass hurt quite literally. But he must complete the mission.

With this, Simon pressed on the pedal and drove into the short lanes of the Neon District. It’s unlikely that he will be able to sleep for a few more hours,

He drank pretty strong coffee...

…

*Brrrtttttt*

*Rustle*

The clock alarm went off and forced Simon to wake up from his peaceful dream. He looked at his phone. It was seven in the morning. Usually, he’d be on his legs already, but today he could afford this kind of luxury.

It’s a shame that he didn’t have someone to tidy his bed sheets. He had to do it himself. “If you want to do great deeds, start with the simplest things.” Tidying the bed sheets is one of the simplest things, and he did it. His personal record for tidying his bed was thirty-four seconds.

“Dang it.”

Unfortunately, it was well over forty this time. He lost practice from those sleepless nights for sure.

The next thing the operative did was to take a morning shower and have a nice breakfast prepared by him as well. He left his apartment charged with energy for today’s intense... gaming processes. The young man arrived in front of the Playland Club without any problems. The traffic was normal; no violent cases were detected; the beginning of this day was peaceful.

There was the sun shining through the cloudy sky, and the overall temperature wasn’t that bad. It was actually warm. The Playland Club was open and he entered using his registered card. There weren’t many people at the moment. It’s natural in the morning...

Yeah, it was the morning. Pyro was probably at school while Alice was still sleeping from yesterday’s late arrival at her home. What the hell am I going to do? Thought Simon.

Simon looked around. There was nobody playing; either they were chilling at the mini restaurant or sitting in front of the large screen watching some gaming world news.

[What’s up, gamers from all around the world? Today we arrive with another mind-blowing information to share with you.] The person on a large screen said, as the people around the TV perked up, including Simon.

[Remember the recent update in the Breach? The developers received a lot of criticism regarding the shortage of available missions and their ease. People wanted more content...

Well, apparently all this criticism was for literally nothing.]

Simon had no idea what the man was talking about, but he got the gist of it. Those gamers had a better understanding of the situation, and seeing their excited expressions cleared something up for him. The man had something big to announce.

[Five players from the group "Divine" had accidentally discovered the new massive mission. The mission apparently starts at the bottom of a fifty-floor high building in White Shark's Den.]

The screen switched from the man to a game and displayed the building he was talking about. The fifty-floor high building actually resembled a great white shark with its shape and colors.

[To activate the mission, you need a party of five players exactly. Not more, nor less. All the players must have at least passed level fifty difficulty missions.]

Now that was a woah for the audience. Simon's ears were bombarded by the loud, exciting voices of people around him. Those nerds were so amazed by the announcement of a new mission in the game.

[From what we know, a few more famous groups attempted to clear the mission after the "Divines". They couldn't clear it entirely, but we are at least sure of one thing.

This mission is extremely hard, even for professionals.]

The murmurs spread across the room as more people arrived at the front of the screen and joined the discussion. Simon listened to those 'experts' in this sphere and learned quite a bit.

"Level fifty missions... that doesn't seem too tough. But if the Divines couldn't pass the mission, it must have had something more."

"Just those smaller missions are tough, and they need to be there in your achievements to determine your worth. Of course, it will be tough inside. It doesn't necessarily mean that it will be a level fifty mission just like others."

Simon couldn’t remember if his mission, which he did with Pyro, was even close to level fifty. Hejust said that the mission was easy. So how were those people classifying these levels with the numbers, was unknown to him.

He went ahead to ask one of the gamers about it. Seeing the tall, menacing figure in front of them, obviously, everyone would have to spill the beans.

Level fifty just means the level of bot that at least once appears on the mission. Usually, those missions are classified as “It’s Hard”. The funny developers even here found a way to make Simon laugh, because apparently next to it there is another text. “That’s what she said.”

Now, what if level fifty on that mission is the level of every bot that appears on the mission? So, those bots were just fifty levels ahead of him? Simon knew he wouldn’t be able to do anything there with these levels. Without investing the received attribute points, those levels were useless…

Hell, Pyro alone was at the fifty-eighth level and extremely powerful. Imagine if the entirety of that mission was filled with level fifty bots. That’d be an unbelievable thing to handle. In light of how sophisticated AIs are today.

Without Pyro, his knowledge was pretty limited. He had to wait for his arrival and try to max out his character in every possible way. When they are ready, then Simon can attempt to complete that mission and gain recognition.

“Anybody up for that mission?”

After the broadcast ended, everyone became restless to try the new mission. They ran over to their set-ups and dived into the game right away. Simon shrugged. He had nothing to do, probably for the next few hours. So he sat down on the couch and highlighted shows on the giant screen.

And always, as the boys do when they get bored, Simon grabbed his phone and started doing useless things. For example, checking if there were any messages. The last ones were from his new acquaintances.

[Alice Madden: “Thanks for the coffee and good night <3” - Sent Today at 02:11 AM.]

Of course, he hasn’t even replied. He always regretted not checking his notifications on time, because they could also... cause quite a lot of problems. Simon learned that from experience. By scrolling down to the old notifications, he could see them.

“Fuh…”

He put the phone away and calmed himself with deep breaths. Simon massaged his temples, and he calmed down.

“Hello, Simon. Good morning. ”

Simon looked next to him and saw a pink-haired greeting him. Alice? This early after yesterday’s cafe visit? That was wei-... No, the girl had eyebags under her eyes. She most likely hadn’t slept for an entire night and had just left her home this morning.

“Good morning to you as well, Alice. You don’t seem to have had a great sleep yesterday.”

Alice nodded, “Yeah, the coffee was really strong, and I couldn’t sleep. What about you? Did you have a good sleep?”

“Somehow, I forced myself to close my eyes.” Simon nodded, as Alice took a seat next to him on a couch.

“That’s good. So, are we going to play together with Pyro today?”

“Yeah, I was waiting for the two of you to arrive.”

Alice facepalmed, “For both of us? Pyro is still in the school, and he won’t be out for the next five hours.” This made Simon scratch his head awkwardly. Well, he knew that, but still planned to wait.

“Then what should we do?”

“We can go and play some rounds in the Arcade Mode?”

Simon agreed, and so both went to the available setups to dive into the game. Alice asked to meet him in the Playland lobby, so after logging into his account on the computer, Simon put on the headgear and entered Breach.

{Connect to Playland Lobby}

*Click*

Now loaded as his character, Deadropper, Simon pressed the third option in his selection and entered the lobby. His avatar in blue pixels formed in a crowded place where everyone was trying to form a team.

Now, where was Alice in this massed place? He forgot to ask for her username in the game, but she knows his. So it shouldn't be a problem for her to find him.

"Simon!"

It was true, Simon's avatar was very recognizable. It was him in reality, but with armor donned. And there she was, Alice with her avatar. It was a woman, with long platinum hair and stretched clothes that greatly complimented her shape. On top of her head was a text.

{Username: PlatinumAlice

Level: 77 (8765 exp left to advance to Lvl 78)

Arcade Stage: #4

Time played: 458 Hours}

Simon was baffled by this. These were quite the statistics for someone who jokingly said that she was skilled. It was all true all along, and she had a total playtime of five hundred hours. That was a lot. No doubt, she achieved so much.

"Alice, I didn't know you liked this game so much." Simon commented that because of the playtime.

"Tehee…"

This wasn't bad at all; quite the opposite, if Alice was also a good player. Simon can potentially acquire more from both Pyro and Alice.

"Alright, I'm not great at game mechanics and stuff, but I'm skilled at playing against other players. Pyro will help you with levels later. We can play some arcade games for now." Alice said and sent Simon the party request.

{Do you want to accept the party invite from the player "PlatinumAlice"?}

{Yes} {No}

Simon accepted the party request, and Alice’s username showed up in the up-left corner of his vision along with her health bar.

{You've accepted PlatinumAlice's party invitation.}

Simon and Alice were ready to rumble in the Arcade Mode together, and the girl was really impatient about playing with the boy, so she instantly switched the game modes, dragging her party member with her.