June came up behind him and wrapped her arms around his waist. “What do you see when you look out there?” she asked, kissing the back of Reggie’s neck.
“Possibility,” he replied. “I can make it anything I want, and since it’s our home base, no one is allowed to take it from us. The whole rest of the galaxy can be in chaos. We could have the Star League fall apart. But right here, this planet, would be a haven for us.”
“Sounds boring,” June said, releasing Reggie and leaning back with her elbows on the balcony railing. She threw her head back with a 150-story drop below her. “Isn’t this world safe enough as it is? This universe? I want to try something dangerous.”
Reggie almost suggested that she try it in the real world, but the temptation was probably too great to overextend. Ken Bradley had let it slip that anyone who’d spent long enough in the Armored Souls universe could be replicated by AI like Reggie had. He could only hope that June got her kicks in the game world and hadn’t discovered that her ticket to paradise was one skydiving mishap away.
With a smirk, Reggie brought up the player mission generator. June furrowed her brow and watched but said nothing.
[Primary Objective: Windsurf on Tullus VI]
“What?” June scoffed. “That’s not a real mission.”
Reggie shot her a mischievous grin. “You should see the reward I’ve set up for it.”
SPECIAL ANNOUNCEMENT
The news popped up in Reggie’s field of view just as he was getting across his suggestive promise for his afternoon outing with June.
But she was already popping open a UI window, fingers tapping at nothing in midair.
Reggie scrolled to the bottom of his news inbox.
“Armored Souls is pleased to announce that at midnight, server time, the galactic map will be locked. ‘Why?’ you ask? Because tomorrow marks day 1 of the First Annual Valhalla West Ragnarok Showdown. Form your teams. Compete for prizes including the limited edition Valkyrie-medium juggernaut.”
There was a link at the bottom to the specs on the Valkyrie.
“I want one,” June said flatly. “It’s a Phoenix that packs firepower like a Titan.”
“Seems a little overpowered,” Reggie said dubiously. There was no way Valhalla West was going to allow more than a handful of those into the galaxy. “Does this mean windsurfing is out?”
June’s grin was fierce. “Call the others. We’ve got a tournament to prep for!”
Tech References
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About the Author
Xavier P. Hunter was born at the dawn of the video game age. He grew up with a game controller in his hand, moving from Atari joystick through PS4 controller the way a hermit crab outgrows its shell. His little league was RBI Baseball, his first date was Princess Zelda, and his first unpaid internship was leading raids in World of Warcraft. He lives in a world of pixels and frame rates, coming out infrequently to eat and that sort of thing.
Most of his writing is done while patches download or when servers are down for maintenance.
Like most superheroes, he operates in meat space under an assumed name.
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Wounded Legion_a mech LitRPG novel Page 26