The Game Gambler

Meryl laid half-dead on the floor. She could no longer find the strength to even lift herself to help Lynd, who was screaming.

Lynd was grasping his leg. The pain was unbearable. He started to panic as he glanced at the very form of Terror.

"So this was the price for his allegiance to Seeker." Lynd thought to himself.

Seeker stood there alone. Unfazed at the harsh enemy that was before them.

The gym had a complete set of all the needed equipment that could suit the needs of a muscle freak.

After discussing their plans and bidding farewell to Charles, the three friends immediately pursued the necessary acts in order to begin their journey to richness.

Calling their parents.

They were teenagers, after all. They informed their respective parents of their late return home. Lynd had a peculiar look when he was getting an earful from her mom about how playing games would amount to nothing in the future. If she only knew that their gaming could save the world.

After a tiring talk of berating condescension from their parents, they started to immediately prepare the laptops and computers to stream their game. Seeker then initiated what came to be the harshest time for Meryl and Lynd. The trio started to workout.

As the two remained paralyzed in agony cursing Seeker and vowing to cut ties with this inhuman drillmaster, Seeker began his next set of exercises.

Seeker soon ended his routine. He was sweating profusely. His hands were visibly shaking.

"Ugh. It looks like this is the limit. Luckily I am able to block off the pain thanks to my Unbecoming instinct. But if I exerted more, I would strain my muscles." Seeker grumbled.

"I guess I have to give this a rest. Having a level one body sucks!" Seeker sat down to rest.

Lynd finally was able to ease the pain of his cramps.

"This will be our routine daily. After school, we'll continue with an hour of work out then stream a game guide."

Lynd's cramps returned. That simple statement that Seeker said was the most terrifying statement he has made so far.

Meryl wanted to just kill herself now. Why was it that a small, timid, and bookish girl was forced to do pushups, squats, and all forms of exercises that left her body broken? The evil Seeker acted like a drillmaster forcing them to continue. And tomorrow would be another grueling day with this demon-possessed friend of theirs. Oddly enough, Seeker was able to perform a workout that would surpass those who have been training for years!

"There is an old saying that says that a prophet in his hometown is not a prophet. It means that the familiarity that people have towards him would make them less likely to believe or respect him. Thankfully. I'm not a prophet. In the future, you are both dead. I'm doing you guys a favor so you can live and even have the strength to save your family. So suck it up, guys. We have more things to take care of." Seeker pointed at the laptops that were ready to be used.

Slowly, the dying pair crawled towards their assigned positions.

"Now, let's play Piercing: Bullet." Seeker looked excited.

Lynd was enlightened. Of course! If there were days of peace, then Seeker would have had completed Piercing: Bullet with him!

Three computers were booted up. Seeker turned on the computer, which he would use to play on. Meryl logged on to Seeker's account and prepared the video stream. She moved the detachable computer camera to directly view the computer screen. Another camera was mounted on the side, showing Seeker facing the screen.

"This is a weird position for the camera Zeek. Shouldn't it be facing you?" Lynd complained.

"We need it there. I need to show people that I am not cheating. Hence my hand movements and reactions must be shown in real-time. This allows us to have proof that we are actually playing the game."

"A cheat? Why would people accuse you of cheating?" Meryl asked in confusion.

"Microsecond perception and advanced motor coordination, Meryl." Seeker responded with an 'it's-so-obvious look.'

"You mean you can play the game at pro-level?" Lynd realized how suitable Seeker is at this game now.

"That would be an understatement. Adding to my already inherited skills is my memory of this game, playing this now could even make me face two or three pros at once! Do you know how long the three of us played this game in that past life? We got good at this. Although we never streamed it. You could say we were hidden experts." Seeker smiled. Lynd looked excited. As if he forgot the intense workout he just had.

"Let's have a test run to see if I still got it."

Piercing: Bullet was a third person style, hack and slash video game that became the hallmark game for testing the hands and wrist of gamer's worldwide. It boasted as one of the most challenging games created in the past decades. But here was Seeker doing what he claims to be a test run.

Lynd's eyes were wide open. In a matter of minutes, Seeker already cleared the first boss! What was even more surprising was that his character did not receive any damages or hits from the enemy. As the hack and slash genre evolved, speed became the priority. Game developers aimed to push player skills to the peak with complicated rules of blocking, evasion, and attacking. This was why Piercing: Edge, the predecessor of Piercing: Bullet, was so successful. In fact, it was so successful that it created a new generation of e-sport gamers. It solidified it's standing as one of the most anticipated e-sport game second only to the great mammoth game, Generals.

"Looks like we're good to go. Meryl, tell me if Charles has already loaded the 3000 credits to my account. And start the stream once the game is rebooted. We're about to make a lot of money. Let's hope that this stream would be my one shot to fame! Let's start! Meryl, start the stream! Lynd, use that computer for advertising this stream. Be bold. In fact, share the link at Precept Gaming's official social site. Do the same to the micro-blogging sites. I'll leave the titles to you. Be creative."

Having received the link from Meryl, Lynd started sharing the link on all related gaming sites he knew. The audacious title was sure to get the attention of Piercing fans. Since it was a live stream, its credibility would immediately be confirmed.

Seeker returned with a brand new set of clothes. He took a quick look at Meryl's streaming configurations.

"Add a donation box, enable the Gambling Den, and close the voice feature too. I'll leave chatting with you. Oh, and I'll need an extended monitor so I can look at the chat as well."

Seeker connected another monitor and attached it to Meryl's computer. Then he immediately positioned himself ready to play the game.

The live stream began. The audacious title that Lynd used "Miracle No-Hit Piercing: Bullet walkthrough" brought people in to immediately view it. Upon starting, the live stream already catered over 30 curios viewers.

"Now, I know what you are all thinking." Seeker began, and he stared on the screen.

"Is this a troll? Well, you are about to find out. First, let me show you how to clear the first stage without getting a single hit."

And Seeker delivered. The first boss was cleared faster than how he did it on his test run.

The chat room went wild! The first boss was already a hurdle that many had a hard time defeating. This was Piercing: Bullet! The harshest games that made you die a hundred times before you would get it right. And yet here was a student who took less than 24 hours to master and beat the first boss without even getting a scratch.

"And that little kiddies are how you kill a boss without getting hit!" Seeker smirked. Lynd and Meryl watched with eyes that wondered who it was before them. This wasn't their humble and low key friend, Seeker Carlean. Nor was this the nation burning, bullet-dodging friend they just met. What they had now was a natural showman.

Seeker kept responding to some of the chats as people were amazed at his quick progression. Seeker's charismatic behavior and playful use of gamer competitiveness was a hit. More and more people started viewing the stream. Some cheering for Seeker while others were accusing Seeker of hacking or cheating.

Lynd continued to advertise on the site. The comments that could be seen on the social media sites attracted more viewers as its credibility was soon verified on the net. Meryl was heated up in the chat group arguments as he defended Seeker from his haters. Seeker, on the other hand, just went on with the gameplay answering several questions thrown at him.

"Seeker! We got the 3000 credits from Dr. Charles!" Meryl joyfully reported.

Seeker smirked. Now it's time to make some money.

"How about this. In the next room is a fairly difficult area. I won't use blocks and only evade. But I'll defeat all the enemies, including the mini-boss, without getting a single hit. Anyone willing to bet? I'll set it with a buy-in of 30 credits." Seeker smirked.

The chat group was in intense discussion. A game that is skill dependent would never be perfect. Even pro-gamers in the Piercing world wouldn't dare make such a gamble.

Several people started to throw in their credits in the Gambling Den option. There were now 150 credits on the opposing table.

"Meryl set the gambling rules to divided exchange and throw 3000 credits in the Den." Seeker smiled.

Meryl and Lynd had an evil smile on their face. They knew that with Seeker's powers, a no-hit walkthrough was very possible.

When the viewers saw that there were now 3000 credits, people scrambled to throw in their share. Right now, there were only five who dared gamble. If they won, the 3000 credit would be divided equally among them.

The credits on the opposition immediately went to 1620 credits.

"Close the betting," Seeker ordered. After which he controlled his avatar to immediately rush into the room.

A lot of cries continued in the chat group. They were just about to throw in their share for the gamble.

Even though Lynd and Meryl were confident, they couldn't help but cringe at Seeker's death-defying acts. He was unable to block and would only evade. But in the end, the miracle happened right before their eyes.

A lot of viewers were cursing. Several even accused Seeker of hacking. The problem was that they could clearly see Seeker playing the game. But because they lost, they immediately made accusations of Seeker's play-calling him a fraud.

"Ok then. Let me prove to you that this is not a hack. I'll allow myself to get hit." Seeker went to a nearby enemy and allowed the enemy to hit him. He then started evading as another blow could kill him.

"As you can see, it's not hacked." Seeker smiled.

The game went on strangely as Seeker accepted any challenge from the accusations of several viewers. Seeker even followed various requests to prove his authenticity as a gamer.

"Alright. I believe I've humored you enough. At this point, I don't care what you say about my play. I already did many things you guys asked to prove my innocence." Seeker paused and started crunching his fingers.

"Alright. Next, I'm going to gamble all the credits I have, all 4620 of them. I won't block; I'll only evade, but I'll kill the next boss without getting a single hit. Meryl set buy into 50 credits." Seeker commanded with a look full of arrogance.