Chapter 16

Note: I haven't posted anything in a while, I hope there's still someone who wants to read this, hahaha.

Anyway, I had some health problems, the day after I posted the last chapter, I ended up staying in hospital for two weeks.

A few days before I left the hospital, a rainy season hit my state, flooding several cities. I don't think it's been 50 or 60 years since something like that happened.

Fortunately, it didn't affect me directly, but some family friends ended up losing everything, so I simply didn't have the time or desire to write anything.

But things are better, but I'm still pretty busy, so I've decided that I'll write what I can during the week, and post everything on Sunday, anyway, enjoy the chapter.

.......

Walking slowly down a cobbled street, my skin covered in ash, holding two blades, I looked around impressed.

"I can hardly believe it took me five years to do all this."

"It was a great job... but Alex... is it okay to leave them there?"

I sighed 

As soon as I arrive at a small harbor, I look over and see everyone gathered on a small beach beside it, Mom, Jade, Melissa, are lying on a beach chair sunbathing, while Dad is swimming.

Taking off my Kratos skin, I go over to them, this is starting to get ridiculous, last year I finished the whole structure of the town of Antenas, I was so excited that I invited everyone to come and see it.

What I hadn't imagined was that Mom would buy four Full Drive glasses and use the little beach as a place for vacation and relaxation.

She said that as she works a lot, having a private beach was incredible, even if it was in virtual reality. I was very innocent thinking that she would only visit a few times, in all my excitement testing the Full Drive, I didn't even realize that she was already feeling at home.

But what I didn't realize was that she would come here every day, and that Melissa and her father would also come along, and when Jade found out, she also bought a pair of glasses and started coming along.

I have to admit, this might be a bit of my fault, the first time Mom talked about coming to the beach to spend some time, I liked the idea, so I created a little beach house, plus I spent some money adding and enhancing the senses within this world.

It only took me a month to implement taste, smell and touch, I was so excited creating and testing everything in Full Drive, feeling like a God, I ended up creating various foods and drinks, also adding the effects of alcohol.

So, before I knew it, I'd lost my little beach, and as I didn't want to ruin their fun, I just left it at that, and went to work elsewhere in the world.

Over the last year, I've basically just been creating the animal life in the world, which may be imperceptible or even useless in God of War, but all that work is saved with Luna, so when I create my next games, I won't need to do all that work again.

As I approach the beach, I can see some npc bringing the girls snacks and drinks.

"You've got to be kidding."

(╬ ಠ益ಠ)

"Oh?! Alex, you've finally decided to come and spend some time with your beloved, beautiful mother."

Sigh 

"Don't you get tired of coming here every day?"

"How could I? You know there are basically no beaches in this world, to enjoy a place like this, we'd have to spend a fortune, and besides, your father and I can't leave the planet for a few decades."

"All right, then I'll put this beach on a world of its own."

"What?! But I like this place, the city structure is so beautiful."

"Yes, Aunt Cath's right, walking around the city, and seeing these npc's you're creating is fun."

"Haaa, ok, but at least stop messing around with their settings, it's a lot of work."

Two months ago, I finished creating the animals in the world, and started creating the npc, what I didn't expect, was that after finishing the first npcs, the very next day, I would see my family lying like dried fish, with all the npc I created serving them as servants.

Mom even made one of the npc soldiers take off his shirt and put grapes in her mouth.

"Haha, why are you so serious, Luna helped me fiddle with a few things to make it more comfortable.

Here, have some roast beef."

Arrgg, I can't believe it, there's no talking to her when she just treats me like a child throwing a tantrum, so I took the meat and vented my anger on her.

(Yummy, I really did a good job of reproducing the flavor).

.........

Pov Catharina Lockhart 

.........

My son is definitely a genius, he's always been clever, but at some point, he really started to surprise me.

In the beginning we took part in some duels, and Alex always had good fighting instincts, that was obvious considering he's my son.

But when he started making movies, playing old instruments, and creating a virtual world from scratch, all by himself, I couldn't help but get suspicious.

I thought he might be learning this from someone, so I searched his background, but found nothing, used some programs to see if he was downloading content from the study chamber, but also found nothing.

It seems that my son is a real genius, but I can't let him do whatever he wants without supervision. So I decided I needed to be closer to him, I needed to make sure he didn't do anything silly.

"Alex, when is the last season of that cartoon coming out?"

"Huh? Avatar? I don't know, I've been busy lately, and there's also school, so it might be a few months."

"Months? Aren't you being a bit lazy!!! I want to see how that bald boy is going to stop the war."

Melissa, hearing this, jumped up and ran over to Alex.

"Brother, first you need to finish my Dragon Ball."

"Dragon Ball? From that chubby kid?"

"Yeah, he's the best."

I just looked at her and lay down to get a massage, I'm not going to argue with a child, after all this children's cartoon was made for her anyway.

In recent years Alex has made several animated films, all very good, even some animation companies have come after him, but Alex says he has no interest, so he continues to do these things just for fun, or to get compliments from Melissa.

"What about you, Jade? Don't you want him to finish any?"

"I actually prefer the movies, but Alex could make a few faster."

"Aren't you three listening?! I just told you I'm busy."

"Really? Then why are you sitting here, eating virtual barbecue?"

"....."

"....."

"....."

........

Pov Jadelyn West 

........

These last few years have been a lot of fun, ever since Alex and I became friends, I can even say that Aunt Cath and Uncle Mark consider me family.

After Grandma bought a house near them, I come over almost every day to play with Alex and Meli, I've also been learning to play the guitar, and I always accompany Alex to Grandma Maria's store.

I've changed my image of myself as an artist a little, after I saw Alex playing and singing that day in the store, I couldn't get the image out of my head.

Maybe I can do the same as him, but on a stage, maybe one day I can stir people's emotions like I saw him do.

"What's wrong, Jade? Aren't you going to play with Meli at the Flying Nimbus?"

"Hmm?! Ah, yes, yes, I will."

I got up from my chair and ran over to a yellow cloud floating near the water.

"I still don't know how you think about these things, who thinks about flying on a cloud?"

"That's because my brother is amazing, there's no brother more amazing than mine"

Melissa said this with a smile on her face, but Alex just squeezed his eyes shut.

"It won't work, the next season of Dragon Ball won't be out for a few months."

"Tsh"

"Did you click your tongue?!"

"Eh?! Me?! Not me, come on Jade, let's play"

Meli pulled me into the cloud and took off, I can't help but laugh at these strange brothers, but I like them more and more.

......

Pov Alexandre Lockhart 

......

After playing with everyone for a while, they finally decided to leave, normally continuing to work with everyone here wouldn't be a big problem, but I want to start creating Kratos' monsters and attacks.

It's going to be a bit gory, so I'd better not show it to Mom, at least not yet.

It should take me a few more years to finish everything, mainly because I'm not just doing things for God of War, I want to take advantage of this time when I don't have many responsibilities, to get some things ready for the future.

The animals, the AI of the NPCs, and various other details that I'll be able to use in other games in the future.

Arriving at a small training camp, I began to develop Kratos' blade techniques, I need them to be almost instinctive, like a hack and slash game, the player needs to use the skill with a single thought.

The techniques need to be fast, violent and brutal, the player must feel like an invincible warrior on the battlefield, and that's the hardest part to do.

One of the main characteristics of God of War is the sensation that the game manages to convey, making the player feel that he really is the strongest warrior of mankind, and that's why he was chosen as the champion of the gods.

But at the same time, the enemies are getting stronger and harder to kill, making the player understand that even though he's so strong, this is a challenge from the gods and won't be easily overcome.

If the player doesn't understand the mechanics of the game, they'll die easily, and in order to convey these feelings, I'll need to perfectly balance the abilities of Kratos and the monsters.

Without even realizing it, the hours go by until Luna warns me of the time, and hearing this I feel a little upset, but I need to go to bed early tonight.

"The effects of the normal attacks are already good, now all you need to do is polish them up and they'll look great."

Leaving the Full Drive, I washed up and went into the living room to wait for dinner, Dad and Melissa were watching a movie, I didn't pay much attention, it was just another war movie.

After dinner, I went to bed, and I couldn't help but be indignant.

"Damn it, the weekend went by too fast, there's school tomorrow"

I tossed and turned, unable to sleep.

"I wish I could punch people in the face who say they miss school."

......

After waking up, I washed up, did my exercises, had breakfast, then waited for a while in front of the house with Melissa.

Before long, a floating car approached us, if some people from my time could see this car they would have a geeky orgasm.

The car looks like it's made of some kind of polished metal, it's impossible to see any openings, it's impossible to see where the door is just by looking, but as soon as the car stopped, a small black line appeared, and with a small sound of decompression, a door opened.

[ I couldn't quite explain what the car looked like, hahaha, I'll try to find a picture].

As soon as the door opened, Melissa jumped inside.

"Good morning Jade, good morning Grandma!!!"

I just sighed, how does she have so much energy in the morning? I looked at Jade who was still fighting sleep.

"Good morning"

"Hehe, good morning kids, excited for school?"

"Yesss"

"No"

"No"

"Haha, you should enjoy this time at school, you'll miss it in the future."

I can't help but roll my eyes, but I'm also a little curious, usually it's Monica who takes us to school, but today it's Jade's grandmother.

"Grandma, where's Aunt Monica?"

Before I could ask, Melissa was quicker.

"Monica has some work to do, and as I have to sort out some things at the barracks, I'll take you, or don't you want to go with Grandma?"

The two of them started joking around, I was just distracted by the holographic bracelet, while Jade was still in an almost losing fight against sleep.

It really amazes me how she can be so lazy, I'm sure Grandma Alice trains her in the morning, yet she looks like a zombie, like her head slowly falling off, only to get up scared, and once again slowly fall asleep.

........

We soon approach the school, I've been studying here for 3 years now but I'm still amazed at how incredible this place is, sometimes I even doubt that everything is made with technology and not magic.

This place is full of huge buildings, even some 'floating islands' - who made them? How does it work? Why did they spend so much on something like this? I don't know, but it's incredible.

This place is like a college, as all children receive their basic education at home, and when they get to school, they have to choose a path of study.

I've chosen Design, AI, Programming and Music. I can only choose these for now, but when I turn 25 I'll be able to choose three other areas of study.

Unfortunately the 'floating islands' are for the technology course, but I can wander around there when I'm not in class.

As soon as we arrived, Melissa and I got out of the car, but Grandma Alice almost had to throw Jade out.

Looking at Grandma bent over in the front seat, trying to wake up Jade in the back seat, I couldn't help but stare at her body.

Slightly curly black hair, bright green eyes, a well-trained body, big breasts, a slim waist, a firm round ass, she looks about 35 to 40, just a beauty.

It's exactly the kind of woman I would have liked to try to conquer in my past life, (even though I would probably have been rejected), but now, even at thirteen, my body hasn't changed a bit since the day I regained my memories, so I can only enjoy the view.

( Shit, damn pre-adolescent body.)

Pulling my shirt down slightly, I said goodbye and ran into the classroom.

After calming down a bit, I let out a sigh, spending my teenage years in the past was bad enough, but now with life expectancy so long, this will last until I'm 60, just thinking about it makes me want to break something.

"The date has finally come, we have five years to start producing something."

"Haha, you're late, I already started my project last month."

"Blah, it's only a month, I've already thought of the perfect battle, I've even chosen the general who's going to be my protagonist."

When I'm almost to the room, I can hear some of my colleagues talking, a little curious, I open the door and go to talk to them.

"Hey Alex, you already have a project, don't you? So let's partner up, can we present together?"

"What? No!!! Alex, if you want to do a duo, it'd better be with me."

"Hey, hey, wait!!! What are you talking about?"

"Haven't you heard? The game designer competition has been announced, I'll show you."

"Quiet, everyone log on, let's start class."

"Tss, I'll show you at break."

Sighing slightly, I go to my desk, put on my glasses and enter Full Drive.

The first few times, the classes were interesting, but as time went by, it just got boring, this is a design class, focused on games.

Initially, it was very interesting to learn about all the types of AI, equipment and systems that exist and can help with design.

But the annoying thing is that basically everything seems to be designed to create big dead universes where you can easily do space battles.

The professor even said that if you want to create a fighting game, the best thing to do is to have the ring on a spaceship, so you can create unique and randomized scenarios.

If the player wanted a different scenario, they could just make the ship go to some random planet, changing the scenario, but the players wouldn't be able to leave or control the ship, and it would just be a visual effect, but at the same time, it would give the impression that the designers had put a lot of effort into the game.

I can't tell you how disappointing all this is, in the past this kind of thing was commonplace, but the reason for doing it was a lack of technology, but now it's simply laziness and a lack of creativity.

But it's not all useless, learning to deal with these technologies is incredibly useful.

.......

At lunchtime, I sat at a table with Melissa, Jade, Ed, Fred and Camila, this is basically our little group of friends, Ed and Fred are my colleagues, crazy game fans and history buffs.

Camila is a colleague of Jade's from her singing lessons, so she's always around. 

"So what's this competition you were talking about?"

Hearing my question, Jade was the first to ask.

"Competition? What competition? Is it singing or dancing?"

Fred rolled his eyes.

"Why would it be one of those? We're talking about the game designer competition, Alex and I are going to team up, our game is going to be the best."

"Huh?! Since when are you helping my brother? I've never seen you on our beach."

"Beach? What beach?"

"Stop talking nonsense and tell me about this competition soon."

"Okay, okay, I'll send it to you, you're getting grumpier by the minute, you sound like an old man."

ಠ_ಠ Tsh

I looked at the holographic bracelet and saw an ad.

{ GAMER DESIGNER COMPETITION

THE UNIVERSE IN THE PALM OF YOUR HAND 

Have you ever dreamed of creating games? Have you ever thought of reproducing the greatest battles in history? Have you ever thought about your name being known by trillions of fans?

THIS IS YOUR CHANCE!!!!!

Come and sign up for the BIGGEST game designer competition in history, send in your game by January 3, 210, and take home the PRIZE OF 500,000 CREDITS}.

The whole ad is colorful and full of flashing lights, reminding me of those suspicious ads from the past.

{ You've won a great prize click here and see}. Or {There are horny women near you, click here to find them}.

If this ad didn't have the government logo on it, I'd never click on it - the Trojan horse that nearly destroyed my computer a week ago was lesson enough.

"This competition takes place once every 20 years, and everyone who has managed to win has become super famous.

The last winner became so popular that he even married Carina Belo, you lucky bastard."

Ed spoke with such envy that I could almost see her leaving his body 

"Carina?!"

"Huh?! What kind of stupid face is that? I even gave you a playlist of her songs as a present, sigh, Carina the Heavenly Comet, she's the greatest singer of our time."

Jade gave me a disdainful look.

(I don't think I'd better mention that I haven't even opened her messages).

"Haha, yes, yes, I must have forgotten. But this competition sounds interesting, maybe I'll sign up."

Fred immediately looked at me.

"Sign up as a duo, right?"

"I don't remember having a son your age, don't even think about getting on my back."

"Haha"

"Haha"

"Haha"

"Haha, Fred, it's no use, only talented people like us can work together, right Alex?"

Looking at Ed, Camila couldn't help but say dismissively.

"I'm not even in the conversation, and I'm embarrassed."