Chapter 2

As Neo Stepped out from the portal he found himself in another room, full of smaller portals. Each had the name of a country next to it.

"Hm, I guess I should head into the Valka Land portal? But wait, Jodsand? I have never heard of such a country before."

Neo found this incredibly odd- He had spent countless hours researching the strategists and general of every relevant country of the past three thousand years. Yet, he had never heard of a "Jodsand", never mind any of its strategists.

perhaps it was a low ranked, irrelevant country, then. But then, why was there a special portal for it? He thought about it as he stepped through the portal with china's name next to it. A bright light flashed, and Baron fell unconscious.

....

"Ah .... What happened? " Neo muttered as he slowly rose from the bed he had been sleeping on.

"Where am I?" He looked around in confusion until his sight locked onto another youth in the room, who was sitting on their bed. How long had he been waiting?

"Finally, took you long enough." The youth exclaimed in a dissatisfied voice. He fell backward onto his bed only to jump onto the floor.

"Hello Neo. As the standard, I'll give you five minutes to ask questions. After that, I'll conduct some tests to determine whether you are capable enough to remain here. So. I there anything you want to know?"

Neo started with the simplest of questions. "Who are you?"

"I am Yue Fei, one of the elders of the community."

" Greeting elders, may I ask where I am?"

" You are in the Valka Land community on plane four."

"At least I am in the right place. How do I get back to Earth? The counter worker I had a chance to return but she did not mention how." Yue Fei shook his head.

"Ah, so that's your goal? Unfortunately, you had to win the Death Match Tournament to receive that privilege. It might be best to set your sights on an easier target. Although our Valka Land community is quite strong, within the top three powers on plane four, we have never won that tournament."

" Not once? How many tournaments have there been? How often do they run the tournament?" Neo asked, disappointed.

" A tournament is held once every thousand years, and there have only been thirteen. The next one is in 455 years."

" If I win the tournament will I be able to return to the moment I died?"

" Not the exact moment, but I have heard you can be brought back somewhere on the timeline a few months after you had died no matter how long you spent on this planet. I have been here for over a thousand years. Here I will give a piece of bonus information. If you belong to any strong factions like our Valka's, then you have the added privilege of not needing to eat. Unless you want to."

"You haven't needed to eat in over a thousand years?" Neo exclaimed in disbelief.

" Alright, time's up. It's time to have a match, now. Be warned though, if you don't perform up to our standards, I am going to have to kick you out of here. You'll be left to fend for yourself out on the streets." He beckoned towards Baron as he briskly left the room.

Neo mused for a second, then got up and followed in the youth's steps. After a brief period of walking, the two reached a door and there seemed to be a great deal of noise coming from the other side.

The two paused outside the door, then Yue Fei turned towards Baron.

"Your name is Neo, right? Welcome to the strategy room." He pushed open the door without waiting for a response.

"Let me show you what happens inside." Once they entered Neo was shocked, this room contained some of the most model-worthy, beautiful people he had ever seen.

"Haha." Yue Fei laughed. "Not used to seeing so many attractive people?"

"No," Neo admitted.

"You'll get used to it. Everyone in the afterlife looks more or less like a model. Anyway, come over here and put on this headset." Yue Fei handed Neo a helmet of sorts.

" What is this? And I still have some questions." Neo quickly said as he held the helmet-like object with confusion.

" I will answer more of your questions if you can beat me." Yue Fei said. He put the helmet on and somehow disappeared from the room. Neo sighed, then put the helmet on his head as well.

....

Neo's field of view quickly changed and instantly distorted to become something similar to a game interface.

Yue Fei's voice sounded in his head. " Since this is your first game, I will go easy on you. In front of you, you should see an interface. Just pick a mode, location, and how many troops each of us gets to command."

" Alright, just give me a second," Neo said as he examined the interface.

He pressed the "Mode" option and a list of names popped up. Naval Battle(1), Air Battle(1), Trench Warfare (1), Guerrilla Warfare, Walled City Siege (ancient)... the incredible list of options continued on and on.

"Ooh, I'll pick walled city siege. I have studied that aspect of warfare quite a bit." He told Yue Fei. "Walled City Siege, hey? I am also quite good at that. Now, you have to decide if you want to be the defending side or attacking side."

" I think I shall go..." Neo paused to think. "...On the attacking side." He pressed the attack button.

"Oh? I didn't peg you as an aggressive guy. Interesting. Now, let me explain the basics of this game before you get any further. This is what you would call a simulation match. The two of us will head to our respective sites and have one day to prepare a battle plan to fight the other.

"This is no ordinary simulation, though. This simulation is the closest you can get to a real-life war without actually killing anyone. The generals or strategists of each army will lead each army. There are a few ways to win. You can force the enemy to surrender, rout their soldiers, complete a determined objective or kill the enemy strategist."

"One last thing, since the simulation is extremely realistic, you'll have close attention to your army's situation. You will have to maintain your soldiers' morale, their energy, and anything else that may affect their performance on the battlefield. Good luck."