Simulation Before Return

Dalvin spent the next few hours enjoying himself more than he ever did before. Normally playing online was a mixture of fun and stress, filling him with happiness when he won and fury when he lost.

However, the fact that he was in a situation where his life could be lost at any time made him cherish the game more, and he began to chuckle even when dealing with cheaters and the like.

One thing he did notice was that his skill had almost doubled. He went from above average to almost top of the world streamer level due to his increased body coordination, superhuman reaction speed compared to other players, and his advanced motor skills.

One example of this was the fact that, for the first time since Dalvin bought this 240hz display, he could actually, literally see the frames. Above 60 fps to 144 fps it was difficult to see any real changes, but Dalvin was seeing it all right now.

Before his opponent could even start moving their mouse or joystick to aim at him, Dalvin had already seen their past, future, and present, having enough time to make tea and check his emails.

Naturally, this was an exaggeration, but the point was clear.

He was forced to stop when his account could no longer matchmake as he got too many reports of cheating from users, making Dalvin feel amused. Yes, he technically was cheating, but not in the way anyone who reported him would think.

Anyway, he appealed the claim and checked his application to many video game studios to become a junior artist. He had sent these over the course of the last few months and many had fallen into the sea of nothingness, not even getting a response.

Dalvin looked at them and shook his head, deleting many of them. One of his many ideas was to become a game developer because he could probably handle the entire art department requirements of a top-tier game by himself, not to mention the market was extremely good and would only get better in the years to come.

Indie developers were on the rise now and tolerance was high for such studios. It was also very friendly towards him because he had knowledge of this field having worked on some 2D art for smaller games, not to mention it wouldn't interfere with his program of becoming stronger, nor conflict with his current situation with the world of Tianzi.

However, remembering that his entire situation right now was precisely caused by a game, Dalvin could not help but hesitate. As such, he did not put out any ads for other team members for a game yet, wanting to wait and see first.

He checked the time and saw that it was finally past 2 in the afternoon, so he began a simulation to see how things would go upon his return.

[2.04pm. You waited for the moment of truth by deciding to pick up on an episode from a series you were watching in the past.]

[2.21pm. The episode ends, and you are left speechless by the bullshit plot twist. However, you check the time and see that you still have half an hour to go, so you open up another episode.]

[2.52pm. You paused the episode near the end and felt drained. Either you had changed in mindset too much to enjoy it or you had previously been extremely ignorant of the problems with the plot, but you could barely stomach it.]

[2.53pm. You cross-checked everything and go into position. You held everything you wanted to take over in your hands and legs, gripping it tightly so that it would not be lost in the spatial turbulence.]

[3.00pm. The moment of truth arrived as the portal formed in mid-air right in front of you, pulling you in without further ado. You kept a tight grip on everything as you traveled through the void, but your mind could not comprehend this yet, so everything seemed to occur in an instant.]

[3.01pm. You were planted face first in the muck of your familiar prison cell, causing you to retch and vomit for a while.]

[3.02pm. You checked your belongings and found that everything was accounted for, which left you pleasantly surprised, but also a little baffled. In the end, you began to set up the things you brought over while cleaning up your cell, which was your intention.]

[3.03pm. Unbeknownst to you, the jailer was standing at the end of your corridor, going through an intense mental battle. A part of him wanted to scan you and find out who you are as well as why you were able to come and go from the prison, but the anomaly part of him was strictly in adherence to the rules and would not do anything out of place.]

[3.04pm. You continued your work and even began to play music to lighten up the atmosphere, only that in the dead silent first floor, it was like a trumpet from the heavens. Whether it was the jailer or the being locked in solitary confinement at the end of the corridor, they were both left speechless by this, but could not do anything about it.]

[An hour has passed, the simulation comes to an end.]