1. Grinding
"Please go out on a date with me."
Matteo stood just outside the school seeing one of his classmates confess his love to his crush, he rolled his eyes at the sore sight. "Oh, Leo you fool. What good will it do publicly displaying your feelings when the probability of having them reciprocated is zero?"
The other students there watched in silence at the hand display. The girl being addressed shrugged and looked down at his friend in disgust, "Look here plastic bag, it I had to choose between you and a horse I would choose the horse."
The students before the school entrance started to snicker. Matteo stood there indifferently clutching to his bag handle. Leo was his only friend in the school, he was confident, playful and also a gamer. Above all else he had a few screw loose.
"Wait a minute Carol, why did you pick a horse over me?" Leo asked with a righteous voice, it was one of his best qualities and also a stupid one. His nonchalant attitude was one of the few things that made Matteo smile.
Carol rolled her eyes and hissed before walking away. Many exchanged glances at Leo before walking away. Matteo walked next to him and game him a light nudge.
"Let's get going Leo." Matteo said and left for the school gate.
Leo groaned inwardly before following his friend, his mood lightened shortly after. "So how was my proposal."
"Flawed", Matteo said with disinterest as they walked side by side down the road.
Leo chuckled as he looked at his friend. "Two, what about Miranda Claymore?"
Matteo did not respond.
He did not really care about confessing to his crush like an idiot the way Leo did, he had more important things on his mind.
Through the month he had been grinding on the beta version of a new game called Neon Solaris. It was the one of newest games with the most advanced graphics and gameplay. Only a few players were able to sign up to test it.
Matteo joinwd in the fun and really loved the game, when the beta version shot down a few weeks back it was all he could think about. No other game have him the same feeling as Neon Solaris and he was sure that the one hundred game testers felt the same.
The game was estimated to reach a global level popularity just from it's gameplay. After the beta testing was completed all videos and trends of the game stayed up for a week before vanishing without a trace. May gamers suspected that this was done to avoid some details getting leaked or because some changes had to be made.
On the day summer break began was when the game would be finally launching, many beloved the target audience to be younger children in the country. And best of all it was free, who would pass off such an advanced game when it was free.
Dark bags could be seen under Matteo's eyes, he had spend all his time perfecting his game skills and timing, planning strategies for when he would next login into the game.
Leo his friend was also one of the original game testers and was a serious gamer but compared to Matteo he was still lacking.
"At least you could have told her how you feel about her before we go but it's you, you're always a blockhead." Leo joked.
Matteo did not think of his crush than a mere distraction. "The game launches by seven, don't fall asleep."
Leo nodded and smiled lightly. "Okay boss, it's good to see you excited."
After he got home that day Matteo quickly had a shower, looking at himself in the mirror he was thinking and pale. A victim of poor nutrition, his mother always managed to force him to eat healthy whenever she was around but that wasn't enough to change his state.
His hair was usually messy but he never bothered. He got to his gaming chair as soon as he was done and slipped his gaming headsets over his head. Soon he was grinding again on one of the games he frequently played, after the warm up he looked at the time. It was still twenty minutes before the game would be launched globally and he had to wait.
Waiting for him was a boring thing, he tapped his feet on the ground impatiently as he chewed from the bag of chips he had in hand. He took out his phone and looked at his channel, messages started to pop up one after another one stop and he read them. He rarely had time to follow up on his fans conversation unless they were known gamers.
RED HAWK: HEY YOU THERE, NOBLE ZERO?
ONLYMAGE 16: IM SURE HE'S JUST TOO EXCITED TO START THE GAME, I HEAR ITS GONNA BE WILDER THAN THE BETA VERSION
LEO IS TOO HANDSOME: WELL YOU MIGHT NOT KNOW, MAYBE HE'S HAD A BRUTAL HEARTBREAK FROM A GIRL HE PROPOSED TO TODAY
IAMNOT: THE CRAZY FAN IS BACK
ONLYMAGE 16: IT IS GONNA BE WILD, I HEAR NOBLE ZERO RANKED 1ST IN THE BETA VERSION. HE'S A LEGENDS, I WONDER IF SOMEONE CAN LINK ME UP WITH HIM
LEO IS TOO HANDSOME: ACTUALLY I KNOW HIM... INTIMATELY!
JUST_BOB: AND HERE HE GOES AGAIN WITH HIS INSANE THEORIES
Matteo smiled at his friend causing trouble again on his feed. Just then the time hit seven and Matteo moved with practiced speed and hit the download button on the game, in some parts of the world the site crashed because of the massive number of downloads at a time but Matteo knew his site could take it.
Besides he had a strong internet to get the game as soon as possible. Soon he had the game installed in his PC, he smiled as he saw the glass screen loading before him.
He waited a bit for the gaming data to appear and after a few minutes it was completed. He leaned closer to the screen as a question popped up.
PLAYER: WOULD YOU LIKE TO START THE GAME?
Y/N
"You don't have to ask me twice." He said with a smile as he clicked his mouse on the yes.
The screen of of the PC shot out and enveloped him, a second later it went off and Matteo was gone.