Chapter 7: Lightning Track
"It's time to go." Daniel looked at his watch, and finished off his coffee. He then quickly went to the comfort room to relieve himself before going out of the coffee shop.
He then went back to his car, and checked his phone, and entered the address he was supposed to go to.
After that, he drove to the address.
...
At a very high building, that was modern looking, a large company sign could be seen.
It was Inferno Entertainment! The nemesis of Blizzard Entertainment!
Such a naming scheme... Although Inferno Entertainment could be said to be the rival of Blizzard Entertainment, but that was only in name.
Because Blizzard Entertainment's games have reached international, while Inferno Entertainment's games were covert, and wasn't well-known at all.
In front of the Inferno Entertainment's building, there were two muscular bodyguards, and just outside the front door is an 18-year-old youth that was pretty handsome.
He had a large body, and was pretty athletic. He wore regular jeans, and a plain white t-shirt. He had messy hair, and wore glasses. Although he did not look that handsome, he was still above average, and coupled with his body, he was pretty attractive to girls.
And the name of this man was Kyle. Kyle Torres!
"It's 9:59 AM... He's actually punctual, and would arrive at 10..." Kyle muttered to himself.
"9..."
...
"3..."
"2..." Just as Kyle said two, a sports car could be seen from a distance.
"1.... And he's here!" The moment Kyle finished his sentence, the sports car stopped in front of the Inferno Entertainment building.
Such terrifying calculative skills, and was so exact. Or maybe it was just his own knowledge of his brother. Or maybe a little bit of both, who knows?
Daniel got out of the sports car. He was wearing sunglasses , and wore a black polo t-shirt. He also wore black jeans, with expensive looking rubber shoes.
"Kyle!" Daniel shouted delightedly.
"Daniel! My man!" Kyle started to walk towards Daniel. They then hugged each other, you know, the bro hug without any feelings of romance whatsoever. "Just got the car?"
"Yeah." Daniel patted the car. "This is the first time I got this baby out of my own home."
"Nice one, man!" Kyle said. "How about your parents, will they be coming home soon?"
The sudden question made Daniel stiffen. He did not say anything to anyone this past few years, only his relatives, and the school staff knows that Daniel is an orphan during his teenager years.
Daniel asked the matter regarding to his parents to be kept a secret by the school, and also his relatives. He wanted to live independently, and he actually succeeded!
Thus, nobody knows his true background, and only knew the facade that Daniel kept.
Daniel knew this was not the time, and he silently promised Kyle that he will tell his whole life story to him some day. Definitely some day, in the near future.
"I don't think they're coming back for the time being." Daniel recovered from his stiffness and immediately said with an indifferent expression and voice.
"Oh, let's go in then!" Kyle said.
The two went inside the Inferno Entertainment.
...
32nd floor, the floor where the beta testing for Universal Guardians was held.
"Are you sure that this new game would interest me?" Daniel said with a doubtful face.
"Of course! I've already tried it for myself!" Kyle said full of confidence.
However, if he knew that Daniel was Phantom God, perhaps he would think otherwise.
And what Inferno Entertainment also didn't know is that Daniel was also Phantom God! If they knew that they managed to catch such a big fish to beta test for them, perhaps they would all die of happiness and excitement.
"IDs please?" A guard stood before the door of the beta testing room.
Daniel and Kyle handed their ids that classified them as beta testers, and was granted access of the room.
In the room, there were rows of computers, and the beta testers were granted free time to play Inferno Entertainment games or anything else they wanted to do on the computers until the beta testing starts.
There's over a hundred computers, while there's only 25 of them.
Daniel and Kyle found two empty seats and started to do things they wanted to do.
Daniel found a game called 'Lightning Track.'
"Huh, a racing game."
He initiated the game and was shocked to see the graphics.
"Goodness! How come I've never heard of this?" Daniel said inwardly.
A game with such good graphics, how come someone like Daniel never heard of it?
Daniel pressed play.
...
15 minutes later, Daniel was enjoying the Lightning Track game.
Basically, Lightning Track is a racing game for pc with technologically advanced cars that you build yourself.
It's not levels, but a game played with real players!
It's like a moba (1), but a racing game instead. In other words, it's like Mario Kart, but much better in the graphics department, and is on pc.
The game also features perfect freedom on the customization of cars, and you even have to create the parts by yourself.
The best part? It is free! When Daniel searched for Lightning Track on Google, he saw that it was free!
However, there are still payables, or items, or boosts that can be bought, giving unfair advantage for players. Of course, Daniel never bought things like those when playing games, except for items that doesn't boost you, and only affects aesthetic or looks of the game.
There was only a tutorial for the controls, then afterwards, it already makes you play against players worldwide.
Such an good racing game actually escaped the eyes and ears of Daniel, a hardcore gamer?
What the hell!
At this moment, Daniel was playing a match on a map called Thunderstorm. It's a map full of traps, and time and time again, lightning strikes. It was a danger zone in the world where Lightning Track was based on, but it was the main track of Lightning Track, and a naturally-occurring race track!
In other words, Thunderstorm is a something the environment created! Well, in the world of Lightning Track anyways.
Of course, Daniel was pit against players that has the same rank as him, beginner.
In Lightning Track, there were also ranking systems, like the ones on League of Legends.
Beginner, Proficient, Experienced, Veteran, Master, Grand Master, Elemental League, Deity League, and, finally, Racing God. Each rank is divided in 5 ranks, and you have to gain 100 Lightning Bolts to gain qualifications for a series, much like League of Legends, with the exception of Elemental League, Deity League, and Racing God.
In Elemental League, there was Earth League, Water League, Wind League, Fire League, and Lightning League. Each League was divided in 3 Ranks, and you need to gain 10 Stars instead of Lightning Bolts to progress each league.
After Elemental League, one will have the qualifications to step onto the Deity League. The Deity League was divided into Minor Deity, Major Deity, and Racing Deity. You also need 10 stars for each league before qualifying for a series to progress.
After becoming a Racing Deity, one is already at the very peak of the mountain, overlooking against 99% of the players. After becoming a Racing Deity, one will be able to accumulate trophies. There are three types of trophies, Lightning Trophy, Thunder Trophy, and Rain Trophy. Lightning Trophy is equivalent to 100 points, Thunder Trophy is equivalent to 50 points, and Rain Trophy is equivalent to 25 points. They are acquired by gaining 1st, 2nd, or 3rd place in a race.
You may also lose the highest type of trophy you have if you become last place, for example, a player has 3 Lightning Trophies, 20 Thunder Trophies, and 0 Rain Trophies, upon becoming last place, one will lose a Lightning Trophy.
The best of the best has over a hundred Lightning Trophies already, and the number of their Lightning Trophies are significantly more than their Thunder and Rain Trophies.
These players are called Racing Gods.
They are the ones who are at the very peak, if one has reached Racing Deity, then one may have climbed Mount Everest, and was at the peak, overlooking all humans. But Racing Gods have reached the heavens, and was also overlooking those who climbed Mount Everest!
The competition is very fierce, and there can only be 100 Racing Gods at a given time. The very top, the first place, already had over a thousand Lightning Trophies, over a hundred Thunder Trophies, and tens of Rain Trophies!
But how did this game become famous? Because of the addition of skills, and the customization behind the game!
The skills part is extremely crucial to a game, a single skill may disrupt a player's momentum if they were hit. There were three types of skills, Acceleration Skills, Attack Skills, and Defense Skills.
Each player can only equip three skills at a time, and has no cool downs, but one needs to get a Skill Orb in a game before using a skill, not to mention, one can only have five Skill Orbs at a given time in a game.
The most surprising thing abut Lightning Track is that a player or their cars have hit points or HP!
It doesn't follow the conventional racing rules of just disruption by throwing a turtle shell, or something at the player, but you need to hit a specific weak point, or damage their cars to the point that they die!
Each car has 1,000 hit points each, and cannot be increased no matter what. Some Attack Skills can destroy these cars in an instant, which are extremely rare, but of course, players only use Attack Skills at the last hit, since there was guns in the game after all!
Daniel currently had the most basic skills in game, the Accel Burst, Thunder Sphere, and Lightning Missile!
And, unsurprisingly, Daniel was at first.
His in-game name was of shockingly not Phantom God, but Desolate Sky instead!
Why? Because he doesn't want his identity to be found out! Not yet, anyways.
In the gaming world, nobody doesn't know of the name Phantom God, and nobody ever tried to get this name from the hands of this mysterious player. As such, there was an unspoken rule to never occupy the in-game name of Phantom God, which resounds all throughout the world, in-case this enigmatic expert joins a new game!
This was the privilege that only Daniel, and a few other veterans that can be counted on hand, enjoys!
The Thunderstorm map was pretty long, and is 5 kilometers in-game distance. It loops around a circle, and in the very center of the Thunderstorm map was a large hurricane.
It was raining, and Daniel's beginner's car racing in the rain.
He knew of the dangers of the Thunderstorm map as it was not his first time playing in this map, and playing a game. Every passing minute, a lightning bolt would suddenly try to strike him and the other players down!
There's 10 players each game.
Daniel was far ahead by a margin of two laps against the other players! If the top Racing God of Lightning Track were to see how Daniel was playing right now, he wouldn't think that he just played the game 15 minutes ago!
In fact, the top Racing God knew that it was almost impossible to achieve this feat when you're only a beginner. He knew that because when he was a beginner he also couldn't do it! Even when he played when he became extremely good, at most, he could only surpass players by a full lap ahead!
Unless he was to create another account, and smurf (2), he wouldn't be able to do what Daniel was doing!
Of course, if that player knew that Daniel was Phantom God, then he would surely know that it is only expected that he would be this good!
Daniel reached the last player, and brutally fired his guns at him!
Ruthless! Although Daniel was two laps ahead, he was still this ruthless! Although he knew that he was fighting against total beginners, it never hurts to be too cautious!
As the player didn't know how to dodge, Daniel quickly destroyed that guy with his laser guns!
"This is pretty fun." There was a trace of a laid back smile on his face.
Of course, unexpected things can also happen. Although he knew that he was two laps ahead the second player, he actually only thought so!
Actually, even if he knew, he could care less, it's not like his current ign was Phantom God.
That's why he can lose this game even if he wanted to. But of course, his pride doesn't let him lose!
He was only two laps ahead against the third placer, and not the second placer! The second placer quickly caught up to him, and fired at him.
The Thunderstorm (not the map) Zone was just ahead, and Daniel was surprised that the second placer actually caught up to him.
"I guess this is what high-level players called smurfing, huh?" Daniel smiled.
Daniel pushed a button on the keyboard to turn the guns backwards. And the screen was now split into two!
The backside view, and the front view!
Only experienced players would dare do this, but Daniel actually attempted to do it!
Daniel fired at the second placer.
The second placer was already good at this game in the first place, and dodged the bullets. The player playing it smirked. "Beginner. Idiotic beginner. Daring to go against me? Courting death!"
The player also fired his guns, but Daniel stopped firing, and also dodged each bullet. Not a single bullet touched, nor grazed his car!
Meanwhile, Daniel found an opening, and fired his guns again!
The sound of lasers colliding with metal can be heard.
"Damn, is this also an expert?" The player playing the second placer cursed. He was unfortunate enough to also meet someone who smurfs, and someone who has a higher skill level than him!
He tried to dodge, but he just can't get rid of the 'expert's' bullets. The 'expert' in front of him predicted his every move!
"Goddammit!" The player shouted.
As for Daniel, he was still smiling. Predicting the path of a dodging player is part of many game's needed skill set, for example, skill shots on League of Legends.
Daniel already mastered the art of predicting long ago!
Just before the second placer's hit points went below 400, they entered the Thunderstorm Zone!
"Lucky..." The second placer muttered to himself, but suddenly, a Lightning Missile appeared and shot his car down! He died!
He won't respawn until a minute, which allows the 'expert' in front of him to widen the gap by at least a lap if no mishaps were to happen!
"F*cking..." The second placer sighed to himself.
Eventually, after 10 laps, Daniel won. The game lasted for 44 minutes. A racing game actually lasted for a good 44 minutes! And that was just a single match! It was too long, but that was the allure of this game, it was long and the results are hard to predict!
"How come I've never heard of this..." Daniel wondered to himself again. "It's a good game, I might download it later."
It was currently exactly 11:00 AM.
"Attention Beta Testers!" Suddenly, a voice can be heard in the front part of the beta testing area.
There was a raised platform on the front, and a woman appeared there. "Please cease what you're currently doing, as we will begin the beta testing in a short while."
"Finally!" Daniel exclaimed quietly.
Kyle, who was beside him, suddenly spoke, and said, "Bro, this is what we're waiting! I promise you, this is the best rpg I have ever played!"
"Okay, okay." Daniel said with an indifferent face.
Although he was pretty indifferent, he thought that he was in for a treat, because Lightning Track is such a good game!
However, he didn't let his expectations for the game to overtake his emotions, since he was still unsure if this Universal Guardians game is really such a good game. It might not suit his taste, but who knows?
"Hey, Kyle, have you played Lightning Track?" Daniel asked.
"Yes, such a good game developed by this company." Kyle said. "I'm one of the Racing Gods! I even stream it sometimes. Why?"
"It's just that, I've never heard of it..." Daniel said, still with no changes on his expression.
"Really?" Kyle laughed. "You don't watch my streams, don't you?"
"To be honest, I don't watch anyone's streams, nor videos." Daniel earnestly said. It was true, he never watch things like those as he always spends his time playing!
"Even Phantom God?" Kyle said with a hint of surprise contained in his voice.
"I am Phantom God." Daniel said.
This simple sentence caught the attention of many even if Daniel said it quietly. Some angrily stared at Daniel and Kyle before laughing, and sitting down again. Some also shot Daniel angry stares.
"Stop joking brother!" Kyle said with a serious face. "Phantom God is known worldwide, it's impossible!"
Daniel did not say anything anymore, and just smiled.
"It can't be that it really is you?" Kyle asked.
Daniel didn't answer him, and paid no attention to Kyle. He will tell all about him at a later date.
"Beta testing, will start... Now!" The girl in front said. "Please open the only folder on the 'Downloads' folder of your computer."
"Now, please input this password to open the lock on it." The girl said a password that allowed them to unlock the folder and access its content.
"Now launch the game, and enjoy!" The girl sweetly said. The girl was pretty gorgeous, and many was attracted by this action of hers, except for a select few, even his brother, Kyle, was affected, and stared at her for a long time before finally starting the game.
"What was the password again?" Kyle said. Clearly, he just stared at the girl on stage, and did not listen.
Daniel nonchalantly said the password to him, before also opening the Universal Guardians.
It's time to beta test!
...
1. MOBA - An abbreviation for Multiplayer Online Battle Arena
2. Smurf - A term for experienced players finding a way to
Weekly Power Status
-- Power
Ranking 
-- Power
stone