Rise Online: Return of the Legendary Player

The New York building of the National Institute of Standards and Technology was not on the islands of the state, but in a quieter town called Woodbury.

Woodbury had less than a hundred thousand inhabitants, so this was a small town whose main municipal attraction was only an outlet. However, this changed on January 5, 2028. All eyes in New York State were focused on Woodbury, in fact, not only the state, but also the international media. New York State had the most densely populated city in the United States and one of the most famous cities in the entire world, New York City, the economic hub of the old and new age.

Thinking this way, it was obvious that Woodbury would receive more attention than the other 49 states and the federal district.

The local Woodbury press was excited about the special attention, and they all jumped in their cars to rush in front of the NIST building, as did much of the state's press.

However, for Kaizen things would not be as easy as taking an expressway with a car and getting to the indicated location in just over two hours.

First, he would need to take a train from Long Island to downtown and then take a train to Woodbury. All of this would take approximately four hours of travel time to get there and four hours of travel time to get back from Woodbury. An eight-hour trip in total.

Still, Kaizen was in no hurry. The time for the selection process was set for 2 pm in the afternoon with a 15 minute tolerance for lateness. Since he woke up early, he left shortly after 8 a.m. from home.

Michael Park offered Klaus the car keys to use the family car that day so that he would not have to leave so early or risk being late, but Klaus refused, saying that a two-hour drive would tire him for the test. Then, Michael offered to take him, but Klaus rejected that too, saying that by train would be better because then he wouldn't have the burden on his conscience of making his father miss work or keep him waiting.

So Michael had to accept and wished his son good luck by dropping him off at the train station.

Kaizen could have a car for himself and could pay an app driver to drive him to Woodbury, only he simply did not want both of these things, as both cost too much money. Even after earning two million dollars, he did not believe that he had changed his life and that he should start living his life in a different way, not least because he no longer had 99% of that money.

His world view, that is, his view of things around him, had not changed because of the money he earned.

When he took the train to the center, he acted as he always did. He sat down and remained quiet, not looking at anyone around him very closely. Gradually the train became crowded, for it was a Wednesday morning, and when he saw an old woman get into the car, he got up and gave up his seat to her as was the right thing to do.

After he arrived downtown, he took another train, this time the one that would take him straight to Woodbury. Luckily, even in the morning this was not a train that was usually crowded, and Kaizen was thankful for this, as he could sit for the whole trip.

Deep down, although Klaus' life had changed drastically after he met Rise Online, he hadn't changed much. His essence was still that of a young man seeking the best for his family, and the only thing that had really changed after he had earned so much money was that he was now wondering where he fit into the world, since up until that stage of his life he hadn't thought much about it, and he was traveling for four hours just to be able to take the first step towards finding the answer to that.

While he was thinking about all this, he looked out the window at the cities through which the train was passing. It had been a long time since he had last made a trip like this, so much so that he didn't even remember that the trains had other looks on the inside than the classic metal stamping and rat smell.

The train he was traveling on had leather seats and large glass windows to look out over the landscape. Thanks to this, he could see when the train passed through stunning snowy landscapes, such as national parks, the frozen Hudson River and other white forests. It was like a trip on a tourist train, and since it was Wednesday, the train was practically empty except for a few old tourists and a girl who was on a couple of seats to the left of it.

This girl had long black hair, rosy skin, plump lips, and thin facial features. She was undoubtedly beautiful. However, Kaizen was more interested in something else.

In her hands was a state-of-the-art cell phone with the ability to produce holograms, and Klaus could see because of this ability that she was playing something.

In this holographic game there was a table divided into 36 squares, and at seemingly random times points appeared in one of the spaces on the table.

The woman seemed to be striving to click as fast as she could on these dots and every time she touched these dots, the square under the dot she clicked appeared filled. She seemed to be very good at this game, because her long, beautiful fingers hit the dots with dazzling speed.

What Klaus didn't understand was how this game worked exactly, what the goal in this case was.

In addition to the dots appearing on the chart, there was also the holographic image of a palm, which was hitting the nearby dots as if trying to be faster than the girl in hitting the dots.

Klaus watched for a while and vaguely understood how the game worked, but he was still curious.

After she finished the round with a celebratory smile, the girl saw Klaus looking at her and gave him a cold look.

At the same time, Klaus was impressed by how beautiful her eyes were, which were green like the leaves of tropical trees. At that moment he realized that the girl was really stunning. She looked about his age, or maybe a little older. Wearing dark clothes like the ones Klaus used to wear, she had a cute face like a porcelain doll with red lips and black hair.

The girl saw Klaus still staring at her and turned of her own accord to face forward, continuing the game. Every day she went through this, many people stared at her everywhere she went and she was no longer surprised when it happened.

Klaus was bored, so he stood up, walked over to stand next to the girl and said with a smile:

"Are you also going for the NIST test?"

The girl, a little surprised, turned and looked at Klaus. "Are you going to take the test too?"

"Yes, I am. Listen, what is this game you are playing?" He sat down next to her and continued the conversation.

The girl had no choice but to turn a little and look at Klaus. Suddenly, her lips moved, forming a cunning smile and she said:

"How would you like to find out by playing against me? If you can win, I might even go out with you sometime."

She took into consideration that all the young people using the webnet knew Disputa Dagger, especially a candidate for the government's special program. That being the case, she thought that Klaus was just saying this to get her attention or to make conversation, an attempt to flirt with her like hundreds of other people had tried.

"So, if I win, are you willing to go out with me for real?" Kaizen looked at her in surprise, not believing she was serious.

He was trying to get over Emma a little, mostly because he believed that she didn't think of him the same way he thought of her, but that was being harder than he expected and maybe going out with someone else might make things better. And this girl in front of him had a cute face and a nice body. Her legs were long and her breasts were accentuated by her thin waist. She was a very beautiful girl indeed.

She was still a bit young like Klaus, but in a few years, once she became a grown woman, she would be as attractive as Emma. It wasn't every day that he could get a date with a girl like this just by beating her in a random game.

"Sure, Ashley Cox always keeps her word, you can ask anyone who knows me." Ashley smiled wryly.

She knew she had the same level of professionals in Dagger Dispute and was definitely within the top one hundred national players. Not even many active professional players had the confidence to challenge her for fear of losing, so she figured that a random stranger like Klaus had no chance of beating her.

"If that's the case, fine. Let's start now." Klaus felt he wouldn't lose anything, at least by trying to get a date with a pretty girl. Usually, he didn't have many opportunities like that now that he only lived playing Rise Online.

...

Edited by: DrHitsuji

If you want to see original illustrations of Rise Online characters, consider helping me on pa treon: Pa treon.com/NandoFalske

More character images in:

https://discord.gg/bpqq9u4gS8

Like it? Add to library!

Don't forget to vote with Powerstone to support the book if you like it...