Love is War

Chapter 44

“Hey,” Nora called onto me once we connected on the audio call which she invited me when I accepted her friend request. My eyes and brain are still not tired so playing a couple of rounds will not harm me. I can say that she is a skilled gamer, that’s why I am expecting her to be in my elo in this battle royale game that we are playing.

“Is that game released yet?” I asked her.

“What game?” I asked back.

“That battle royale game, Escape from Gulag,” I answered. Well, I enjoyed that game, and I want to play it too right now.

“I think a few months more, before the official release,” she said and my hopes were turned down. I guess we will play the games that I am playing. It has a huge player base, so I there is a high chance of her playing the same game as I do.

“That’s sad,” I replied. “So, what do you want to play?” I asked, because I can adapt fast in every game I play once I know the basics, in case she chooses a game unknown to me and it’s not fun if only I knows the game and it’s tiring teaching someone the mechanics of the game.

“Hmmm,” she hummed thinking of something and I just rested my back on my chair while waiting for her response. I scrolled on my music app to find the playlist that suits my mood today. I choose a playlist that has lo-fi songs, because I will not try hard in this game and I will just try to enjoy and chill. “Maybe the Operation Code D,” she finally had chosen a game.

It is a co-op zombie game and the horde is controlled by the coded AI in the game but the special infecteds are controlled by the enemy players. So pretty much it is a player vs player game, the survivors must reach the safe house and the enemies’ goal is to prevent the survivors from reaching the safe point and they must kill them all before they do.

A great pick, if you ask me, I enjoyed this game but I don’t have any friends that likes to play this game, because they say it was too “scary” for them. I gotta admit that it was indeed scary and intense as the abilities of the special infecteds in this game are really fearsome.

“You in?” she asked me again and I am taken back to reality. I spaced out for a second there and I am sorry for that.

“Yes, that’s a great game,” I responded immediately.

“You have it installed?” she asked me again.

“Yes, that’s one of my favorite games,” I answered her and showing her how enthusiastic I am towards this game.

“Can I call you Kou?” she asked permission to call me in that name. She took the second syllable in my name which is Reikou, usually like John and Kuro they will call me Rei as my nickname, because it is convenient.

“Okay,” I gave her the permission because that is a change of pace in my life, someone calling me by another name is a unique experience.

“Then call me Lyn,” she said and I much prefer Nora as I wanted to say, the letter R, but I am too shy to speak up. Nora Lyn, then I’ll call her Lyn because it is convenient too. Warfreak101, I didn’t imagine that I am seeing her all along. I wish I should have known a long time ago. “What’s your IGN?” she asked, she logged in already? So fast.

“Wait,” I said and I quickly typed my email and password in the log in section with my noisy mechanical keyboard. I pressed enter once everything is written. The games loads and there a mini cinematic played as the introduction of the game. I pressed the Esc button so I can skip this and I am directed into the main menu where multiple options are shown.

“I created a lobby,” she informed me and this pressures me because it makes me feel like that, I am making her waiting which is not good, right?

“It’s #5110 and RakeKou,” I gave her the information that she need so that she can add me in this game and we can start the game. “Okay I received your invitation request,” I informed her and I pressed the accept button and I am taken to the lobby that she created.

Since we are in the same lobby in the pre-matchmaking, I am pretty sure that we are on the same side, whatever the game decides to put us into. What made this game to be more enjoyable, that this hasn’t any ranking system only levels. The devs are wise to not put that in the game because it gets rids of the try hard players in this community and that means fewer toxic players.

Even if someone is noob, that person can just take their time learning the game while having fun and the thrill that it showcases. That’s why I made this my breather game, a breather game is a term that I made up, that means that whenever I felt burned out, I can refill my energy by playing this game, because it restores the excitement and thrill of playing more competitive game.

“So, how’s the card that you had won?” she asked me and I can’t tell her.

“It’s great it’s like as the commercial says,” I lied to her but partially true because the card is in my computer right now.

“I see, good for you, I am enjoying my new custom rig right now,” she said and I remembered the price that she had won for being the 2nd placer in the whole competition. She got that for free, and I think that the store never intended to give away prices to us, but after the whole competition and how it impacted their community maybe that’s when they changed their mind. That’s my only guess but I know how businessmen think. They need to keep that hype alive and after for a long time their store’s name will always be remembered by the gaming community.

“That’s good to know, and that horror game that we played that time is an excellent game and that gave me the scare of my life,” I said to her and she became quiet for a second. “D- did I say something wrong?” of course, what a foolish question, I just make her remember her defeat. Great job me! I am also sorry at the same time, I just wanted to start a going conversation with her.

“N- no, I just took a sip in my water bottle,” she excused and I doubt that. I can’t see her so I doubt everything she says right now when I am feeling like this. My social energy is too low despite of my status.

“Oh,” that’s what I said and I am now hesitating to start a new conversation with her, because I fear that I might say something wrong again that she won’t like.

“So...” this time she is the one that is trying to start a conversation and I think that this is better this way, because this is the first time that we had talk to each other. “Speaking of that game,” she started. “It was very scary,” she remarked.

“Agree,” I agreed to her and I don’t want to say anything because I still regret the thing that I had said earlier.

“Will you buy it?” she asked me and based on experience in that game, it’s enjoyable and scary but the improvements that I have suggested to them because the behavior of their AI is very predictable. I can easily avoid the enemy because of that.

“It depends if they made some changes,” I answered honestly because I don’t want to lie so less conflicts, except for my identity.

“Changes?” she asked.

“The game has so much potential for improvement,” I replied.

“It’s challenging already with escalating difficulty in game,” she responded and this is becoming a great conversation between us. I need to be more careful with my words this time.

“The codes embedded inside their AI are predictable though,” I said. “That’s why I avoided them effectively,” I told her the reason.

“They appear in random places, and they had a lot of damage and the main goal of the game is hard to achieve,” she pointed out the features of the game which I agree.

“If you observed carefully during the first 10 minutes of the game before it became harder for us to continue, you can see that they appear in same places over time and they have the same route path,” I started to explain what I did. “Then after the 10 minutes, I noticed that they still appear in the same places and take the same route but faster and amp statistics,” I added. “That’s what I did before escaping,” I said. “The only time their behavior changed is when I opened the door,” I finished with my observations about the game.

“Woah,” she exclaimed. “I am impressed with what you did,” she complimented me and I felt flattered because of that praise that I just received. “But what made me wondering is how different your attitude is right now,” she remarked and I felt embarrassed with that. “I never thought that you are going to add me nor reply with my message,” she said. “Remember when we talked in the game that time,” she pointed out and I...

“I am nervous,” that came out in my mouth suddenly.

“What?” she asked in disbelief.

“The crowd made me nervous and talking to other people that time made me socially awkward,” I explained.

“I never thought the great anonymous is like that,” she remarked. “So that’s why,” she added.

Match Found.

“Oh, that was a longer wait than we expected,” she said and we both pressed the accept button which took us to the loading menu and we are on the survivor’s side.

“Good luck have fun!” she said.

“Like wise,” I responded to her and we proceed to play and enjoy the game.