Trial by fire.

Violet gazed down at the newest group of challengers with a smile. This is what she’d been searching for. An endless series of opponents to fight and temper herself against. Each fight bringing her skills closer and closer to perfection.

“One of you?” The man at the head of the group frowned as he saw Violet walk forward. “This is a team match. We specifically requested to challenge for four spots. You do know that if you lose, we’ll automatically get your four spots right?”

Violet flicked her hand and almost instantly her rapier appeared in her palm. She didn’t need to speak to send a clear message to the group that she wanted to fight.

“Haa.” The man shook his head in pity. “Fine. Have it your way.”

The four players spread out and Violet scanned them all as they brought out their weapons.

One magic user.

One archer.

Two swordsmen.

They seemed confident in their skills but in her eyes; They were nothing compared to some of the others that had challenged her team. Each of them had created a distance from one another so that they could avoid blocking each other’s line of sight and the two front-liners were quickly closing in on her. The one closest to her raised his sword and brought it down straight into her head.

Only to hit thin air.

Violet had already disappeared as she darted forward, quickly leaving the two close-ranged fighters behind as she appeared in front of the magic user.

-77

“Giga bl-”

-77

The magic user’s eyes widened in surprise as a rapier stabbed into her body repeatedly. She hadn’t even been able to get out a single spell before her body collapsed onto the ground, limp and lifeless.

“Oh shit.” The archer swore as Violet turned her head towards him and he gazed into her bloodthirsty eyes.

They were telling him that she was coming for him next.

-77

-77

“Fir-” The archer’s voice cut off as Violet seemed to move like a blur and he felt steel stabbing into him.

The two swordsmen broke out in chills as they saw their archer turning into a corpse. The girl that had bounded towards him was looking at them with disappointment in her eyes. She hadn’t even broken a sweat before killing two of their team members.

The two warriors shot each other a glance and nodded as they came up with a plan…

… A few seconds later Violet smiled as the final body hit the ground and she gained a small portion of experience.

It wasn’t enough to make up for a lack of farming but enough that the fight wasn’t completely time-wasting. She knew that it had been taken directly out of her challenger’s experience points as a price for their loss. And she could even see a glowing white light on the ground where the final player had died.

“I didn’t even need to be here.” A shadow warped by her side and Violet smiled as Attracting revealed himself to her.

The other team hadn’t even noticed him moving inside the arena the entire time. She didn’t blame them; She could barely spot him even when she was actively looking for him. Behind him, she could see something slithering in the darkness and she shuddered. She didn’t know when he’d done it but somehow the priest seemed to have acquired quite a powerful follower. She hadn’t seen it in action yet but she didn’t doubt it was horrifyingly strong.

Attracting noticed her looking over his shoulder and grinned. “It’s no corruptor, but it’ll do.” He turned to look at the corpses and the items they’d left behind. “Are you enjoying this?”

He went over to pick up the items as they talked. All the loot was gold coins as per the challenge fee. If the challengers lost their fight, then they also lost a substantial amount of gold. Violet and Attracting rushed to pick it up and quickly get back into position. They didn’t have much time before the next challenge. Technically, they didn’t have to spend all of their time fighting but Violet insisted on it.

She was having the time of her life.

“I guess I shouldn’t even have asked.” Attracting chuckled as he saw her content expression. “You know you don’t have to fight all of them. Vengeance is dying from boredom over there.”

Attracting looked up at the stands where a large man with an equally large sword was tapping his feet impatiently. Violet waved at him and he gave her a thumbs up. He’d clearly been watching the fight from the beginning to the end.

“Fine, fine.” Violet had already taken on five challenging teams today alone. “I can’t believe they’re just throwing all this money into our laps.”

“Yeah, well, we’re prime targets. Though the word is getting out that we’re not as easy to hit as the other cities.” Attracting’s smile grew wider at those words.

“Damn it.” Violet sighed, she liked the constant challenges.

She was still trying to regain the feelings she’d had from when she fought against TidalWave. Every fight she went through seemed to get her closer to an opponent that would provide her with the same feeling of satisfaction and challenge. She also improved herself as she went along, but she could feel it in her heart that TidalWave was improving just as quickly.

“Finally!” Vengeance teleported into the arena the moment Attracting sent him the request. “You took on four people each time, right?” He turned to Violet. “Then I guess I’ll have to aim for five!”

“Haha.” Violet laughed at his excitement. “Just try not to lose us our spots.”

“I’ll make sure he won’t.” Attracting disappeared back into the shadows as he spoke, and soon they could barely see him. “But we’ve got a lot more people lining up to fight us.”

Violet could respect the system they’d set up. Each team that held a participation spot had to accept a minimum of four challenges a day. The only exception was if there weren’t that many challenges issued. If they simply logged out for a week and didn’t bother to fight anyone, the city would kick them off the team and they’d have to challenge whoever won the right to the new spot. Each challenger had to have reached a certain level threshold which continued to rise every week and the challengers would pay a fairly hefty sum of gold coins and even give up a part of their experience if they lost. It was the system’s way of weeding out the participants that weren’t serious.

Once you lost a challenge, you couldn't issue another to any city team for another two weeks.

It was enough gold that teams could only afford to fight once or twice before running out. So unless they were rich and dumb Attracting knew that few fought every two weeks. In fact, most of the participating 49 teams hadn’t received enough challenges to fit their daily quota. A lot of potential participants preferred to wait until the final few weeks so that they could practice and train as much as possible without the constant worry of being challenged or supplanted.

For Violet and her team, their challenges were far more frequent. The reason for that being that they were the team that came dead last in the placement matches. They had been barraged by players trying to challenge them and they had accepted every single one of them. Most of them were players that thought they’d gain their fifteen minutes of fame by being a city representative until someone stronger came along and kicked them out. These were the weaker ones that Violet encountered.

The stronger ones were the ones genuinely interested in the strategic side of representing Taehra.

‘It all worked out how you promised.’ Violet set her eyes on Attracting’s blurry figure as a teleport spell sent her back to the Underground farming area she’d been in before accepting the challenges.

The moment new players challenged her the wizards of the city would offer their services to teleport her into the Taehra arena, so she didn’t have to stick around all day inside the city waiting for challengers. This also meant that her friends could teleport into the battle and take part in it on her behalf. The only risk was that she would lose her spot if her team lost the fight. But Attracting never seemed to let them fight more than they could chew.

She had to admit, Attracting definitely lived up to his side of the bargain. He’d promised her an endless stream of opponents to fight and now she had that. He’d also promised her and the team a shot at the toughest opponents they could find.

In four months, she intended to cash in on that promise.

The five lowest-ranking teams in the placement match competition had been given a single power by Hein Haster as a means for them to ‘catch up’ in the second part of the tournament.

Each and every single one of those teams could choose their opponents for the first round of the tournament. Whether they avoided the top ranking teams or even intentionally confronted them, they were to be given first pick of opponents.

It was quite a tempting power to have.

‘He seems kind. But I bet he knew what he was doing.’ Violet smirked as she remembered the man’s expression and words.

He’d acted as though he was giving the lowest-ranked teams a favour, but he had only sealed their doom from the moment he’d made the announcement. Each of the five lowest-ranked cities given the power to choose had been charged by a hoard of eager challengers.

Most of the original players weren’t even there after a single day.

She’d even heard that some players had sold their spots instead of trying to fight the masses head-on. For the first three months, each player could voluntarily give up their spot to another player if both players reached the required level threshold. This was apparently so that everyone could get their affairs in order or decide whether they really wanted to participate. However, the mandatory four challenges per day meant that even if an unskilled player bought their way into the team and avoided most of the players, someone who was actually skilled would soon supplant them.

But all of that meant nothing to Violet and her team.

Attracting had told them outright the moment Hein made the announcement that if they wanted to, he would abandon the city team spot so that they could train and come back in a few months to challenge the city again. Every single member of the team had outright rejected the suggestion.

If they lost out it would be because they lost a match, not because they had run away. Violet could tell that Attracting was expecting them to respond that way. He hadn’t even flinched at their decision and had instead brought out a series of plans on how they would train. Each using the challengers to hone their skills.

‘Ah man.’ Violet looked around and saw that there were a few players milling about her surroundings.

She had spent so much time accepting challenges that other players had caught up to her areas.

“Okay.”

She brought her rapier out and ran towards the nearest mob.

“Time to leave these guys in the dust.”

****

Violet stretched her arms out and yawned the moment she exited the virtual reality capsule.

It was a relaxing experience.

She grabbed her crutches and began to make her way downstairs. She didn’t care if her mother or dad were there, she still had to eat.

“Oh, you’re up.” A cold voice called out to her the moment she made it down the last step.

“Hi.” Violet turned to see her mother in a lovely black dress, putting on a couple of lavish earrings to complete a very elegant and expensive-looking ensemble.

Clearly her mother was going out and hadn’t bothered to mention it to her.

Violet’s mother saw her staring. “I’m entertaining some very important guests at dinner tonight.”

‘Ah.’ Violet knew those words.

They were code for ‘make yourself scarce and unseeable.’

“Here?”

Violet looked around at the dirty kitchen and the small pile of beer cans her dad had left lying around. It didn’t seem like the ideal place to hold a dinner party.

“No.” Violet’s mother sniffed in disdain at the sight of the kitchen. “Damn drunkard left a hell of a mess. We’ll be going out today.”

*Knock* *Knock*

“That’s probably them now.” Violet’s mother raised her hand towards her and gestured for her to move back upstairs. “Get back to your room now. We’ll be talking downstairs for a bit, the usual pow wow.”

“Are you going to open this door or do I have to break it down myself?” A playful female voice broke through to them as the knocking continued.

‘Huh?’ Violet could faintly remember hearing that voice somewhere.

But she couldn’t quite put her finger on it.

“Excuse me?” Violet’s mother checked through the door’s peephole with a flourish, “What do you think you’re...Patty?”

Her mother unlocked the door hesitantly but tried to block the entrance with her body so that nobody could get through.

Violet gaped as a gaudily dressed woman covered in a jacket and raincoat bounded past her mother’s guard and squeezed a load of water out of her raincoat and onto the carpet. “Daedrie honey! Show a little love to your big sis and give me a hug.”

“Don’t-” Violet’s mother tried to take a step back as the newcomer swept her in a bear hug, water dripping off of her and onto Daedrie’s dress. “Ugh. God damn it Patty you can’t just walk in here soaking wet and dripping all over my floor.”

“Oh good, you have got eyes.” Violet’s eyes grew wide as the newcomer took off her soaked raincoat and jacket and passed them onto her mother, who looked like she was going to explode or run away, possibly both. “It’s pouring out there. Be a darl and put those away for me, please."

Daedrie looked in shock at the clothes dripping over her ensemble. “I-”

“Thanks, dear.” Patricia pushed Daedrie to the side and with a smile turned towards Violet, who’d forgotten to hide in time. “Ah, and you must be Violet! Gosh, it’s been years if it’s been a day.”

‘Ah.’ Violet tried to move back as she suddenly felt like a tornado had set its sight on her. “Who are you?”

Patricia stopped in her tracks as she saw Violet’s confused expression, and then she swerved back to Daedrie who was soaking wet and still holding the soggy clothes. “Good lord Daedrie, you didn’t tell her about me? What were you thinking.”

“I was thinking-”

“Of course!” Patricia immediately interrupted her sister and Violet smothered a laugh. “You have no idea what we’re talking about. I’m your dear aunt. But you can call me Patty. All the family does.”

“Family?” Violet choked the single word out.

‘My mum has a sister?’

“Obviously I inherited the good looks of the family.” Patricia flicked her hair back with a cheeky smile and Violet couldn’t help but laugh. “Oh gosh it’s been so long.” She lowered her hands until they were a few centimeters apart. “You were about this big when I last time I held you.” She scanned Violet from top to bottom and grinned. “I could probably still carry you if I wanted to. Oh my, where are my manners.”

Patricia stepped up to Violet until they were both staring at each other in the eyes and lifted her hand out. “Patricia. Delighted to meet you.”

Violet looked at the outstretched hand and then to her mother whose head was getting lower further by the second. She had guilt written all over her face. Confusion and surprise were spreading through Violet’s body as she saw the jovial woman in front of her waiting patiently for a handshake.

“I have an aunt?”

****

“Oh my! Oh no! This won’t do at all.”

Violet watched her aunt moving like a busy mosquito across her room as she examined every little thing that Violet hadn't tied down. Somehow she’d convinced Violet to bring out all of her photos. Violet didn’t even know how to say no to the woman, every single second seemed to be swept up into oblivion as Patricia went from one thing to the next.

“Dear, you have absolutely no pictures of yourself around here. I can’t possibly catch up with you if I don’t even know what I missed out on.” Patricia hummed happily as she poked through Violet’s desk and side table.

“Oh ho.” Her eyes sparkled as she found herself staring at the virtual reality capsule. “Well, isn’t this a beauty?” She turned to Violet. “I don’t like it.”

“Excuse me?” Violet felt her temper flare up slightly as her capsule was insulted.

She spent more time in there than she did in her bed.

“Old cars are beauties too but I don’t use one to get around. You need the latest model.” Patricia slapped her hand against the capsule. “I know a guy. Several actually.” She winked at Violet. “I’ll get one shipped in this week. Top of the range. No more little delays between those pesky brainwaves and the device.”

“Excuse me?” Violet’s expression turned softer as she registered the words her ‘aunt’ was firing off at her.

The woman had the vocal capacity of a mini-gun and the attention span of a goldfish.

“Oh yes, yes. You need the best stuff if you’re going to be playing.” Patricia turned to Violet with a twinkle in her eyes. “Oh but I’m probably confusing the hell out of you now. I do tend to ramble on when I’m excited.”

“Yeah. I can tell.” Violet didn’t know what to say to the woman. “So where do we start? Um, hi. I’m Violet.”

At her words, Patricia let out a large guffaw and grinned, “We don’t need to start that far down dear. Let’s start in the middle. A very good place to start if I do say so myself. Here, take a look at this.”

Patricia patted down her pockets until she found what she was looking for. A large phone that was encrusted in sparkling glitter and other objects.

‘Hang on.’ Violet’s eyes widened as she saw the phone.

If she looked past the glitter and other stuff ruining it, this was the kind of device that cost a couple of thousand dollars. It was top of the line stuff, brand new as well.

‘Holy crap.’

“Yes, yes. It’s all very shiny and nice. But more importantly, I received a very interesting video a couple of days ago.” Patrice passed it to Violet. “I don’t know the sender, but I’m glad they brought this to my attention.”

Violet kept her mouth zipped as she took the phone.

She hadn’t even known she had an aunt and now a single video had convinced the woman to visit?

If she'd had an aunt, why did she allow Violet to live under such horrible conditions?

She looked at the search page her aunt had opened up and she let out a breath of air. It was the battle between herself and TidalWave. The placement match had caused quite a stir in the online community, and debates as to which of the two players was better was rampant.

Violet didn’t even have to play the video to know what it looked like. She could see it all in her mind. Every single frame and second of the fight. Every movement memorised because she had gone through them a hundred times, searching for a weakness in his defenses she could exploit.

“Oh yes.” Patricia’s voice turned deeper and Violet looked up to see her leaning in closely. “I recognise that look. We all get it, you know, when we find ourselves wanting to improve. That incessant need to reach the top. The best trait in the family if you ask me. Your grandfather passed it on to me, and I see somehow it skipped your mother and went straight to you.”

“Eh?” Violet tilted her head in confusion. “A single video let you know I exist?” Violet decided to tackle one confusing issue at a time. “How did you even know that was me if you haven’t seen me since I was a baby?”

“Well it was obvious,” Patricia smiled. “Do you know that you’re the spitting image of your mother when she was younger?” She let out a chuckle at Violet’s expression. “Before all the plastic surgery of course. My god I almost had a heart attack from shock when I saw you. I thought your stuffy old mother had finally gone insane and started playing video games.”

Violet felt like a cold hand had squeezed her heart through her chest at those words. She didn’t want to be associated at all with her mother.

“Oh come now, she’s still your mother.” Patricia’s smile slipped a bit as she saw Violet’s reaction. “Besides, you didn’t even change your name. Little Violet will always be Violet I suppose.”

Patricia laughed gaily and clapped her hands together. “Well now, that’s all in the past. But let’s talk about the future. Tell me, do you know why I’m suddenly coming out of thin air to greet you?”

Violet paused as hurricane Patricia took a break and stared at her expectantly. “Because… you saw me playing the game and really wanted to come and say hi?”

“Good lord no.” Patricia shot down her guess immediately. “I’ve always wanted to say hi to you. Your mother just kept getting in the way, and I suppose family does have to respect family.”

“They do?” Violet couldn’t imagine her mother following those rules.

That woman definitely didn’t respect her family. Violet hadn’t even known her aunt existed until now. She wasn’t even sure that this was the only sibling her mother had.

‘Oh god, what if I have cousins?’ Violet was starting to feel a little overwhelmed.

“Relax, relax.” Patricia smiled gently and slowed down her pace as she saw Violet’s emotions roiling over her face. “What I’m trying to say is that I have finally found a reason to barge my way in here and get to know you. But make no mistake little Violet” Patricia took a deep breath and Violet could tell she was deadly serious. “I have always wanted to see you. You are a precious family member after all.”

“Oh. Thank you.” Violet could tell her aunt meant every word. “But then, why did you come now?”

“Oh that. Haa” Patricia let out a deep breath. “I’m actually here to extend an invitation. Of course, I wanted to be the one to come and pick you up, but the only reason I’m here despite your mother’s wishes is that she got overruled.”

“Overruled?”

As far as she knew her mother was just an ordinary socialite. But suddenly Violet was starting to doubt the facts that she knew.

“Oh.” Patricia’s words finally registered to Violet. “What invitation?”

“Why dear, I thought you’d never ask.”

Patricia’s grin widened.

“Tell me, how would you like to meet your grandfather?”

****

Greiche Financial.

Andrew stared at the two words he’d typed into the search engine with a smile. It was one of the biggest companies in the world, with international branches and more employees than anyone could count. If he asked anyone in the financial industry what success was, they would point to Greiche Financial. It was prestigious, reputable and had a long history. It was said that to be born as part of the family that owned Greiche would set you up for a hundred lifetimes.

And the family that owned it was Violet’s.

Andrew had taken a lot of careful precautions to get that video to Violet’s aunt. It wasn’t easy to contact her without alerting anyone to his identity. He had gone through so many loops that he was certain that nobody could trace the message back to him. Even if it was harmless he didn’t really want to be caught up in something bigger than he could handle.

He’d actually made his decision to send the video the moment he saw TidalWave and Violet’s fight. At first he had wrestled with the idea of not sending the video at all, in fact, he even considered simply allowing the natural course of events to happen, with Violet not discovering the secret of her family’s origin for another three years.

In his previous life, it had been their introduction into her life that had sent her into a spiral of complacency that had eventually resulted in her losing her top spot in Zodiac Online. TidalWave was definitely strong, but he had never motivated himself enough to beat Violet in her prime. Only once she’d slipped up in the comfort of her new and lavish lifestyle did he have a real chance. But Andrew had sent the video even at the risk of losing Violet as a teammate.

After all, he wasn’t a monster who only cared about results.

Violet’s living situation had caused a giant uproar when it had been revealed in his time. The top player of Zodiac Online was living with an abusive mother and alcoholic father. It was no wonder she wanted to spend all of her time playing a video game, she wasn’t even allowed to leave the house most days if her mother didn’t want her to. Internet news sites had reported on the situation, that was how big Zodiac Online had become even in its early years.

And that’s how Violet’s family discovered the horrid conditions she’d been living in.

“Haa. God damn it.” Andrew couldn’t help but feel sad at the fact that he could just have sabotaged his chances of having one of the strongest players in the game on his side.

He trusted the other three players with all his heart, they were all close friends or strong players in the past. But she was special even among them. They could defend the team spot until the competition. She guaranteed that they could win the entire thing.

Greiche Financial was a huge company, but it was the family behind it that was influential. The owner, Howard Greiche, had inherited it in his youth, a single, struggling company that nobody wanted to piss on, let alone support. But with his iron will and undying determination, he had raised it from the ground up and made it the giant it was today. In fact, there was only really one stain in the entire history of Greiche.

Daedrie Greiche. Even before she’d had Violet, she’d been a horrible person. Andrew didn’t know the exact details, but someone had kicked her out of the family. And in return, she demanded that they have nothing to do with her again. She had even changed her name so that nobody would recognise her any more.

However, once the family heard about Violet’s situation they had interfered no matter what Daedrie wanted. They were content to leave the girl alone if it meant not causing issues that could hurt her. After all, family squabbles could get messy. But that had been under the assumption that she was living in a loving home.

Luckily, Andrew had only needed to send the video. Greiche Financial was one of the first companies to invest heavily in Zodiac Online and they had been watching everything progress with satisfaction. Of course, the main family didn’t watch the game personally. That was why he had to send the video to one of them himself. But the fact that they’d now uncovered that one of their family members was skilled enough to frighten professionals had gotten them interested, and their information gathering skills had made them aware of Violet’s living conditions within a couple of days.

“Okay.” Andrew turned back to his computer with a smile. “Let’s see who I want on the team.”

If he couldn’t have Violet, he would still try and find someone suitably skilled. He racked his brain for names as he opened up the official game forums. Then a single blinking red notification caught his attention.

Someone had sent a message to Attracting.

‘Hmm?’

Andrew opened the message and his eyes widened.

[Hello Attracting. This is an official invitation to come and join me, Howard Greiche, at a party being hosted in celebration of our returning family member, Violet Greiche. I do hope you’ll join us. We’ve been very interested in your progress in Zodiac Online. So I believe we have much to talk about. Please find the details attached to this message.]

And underneath it was a single line.

[Ps. Thank you for sending us that video.]

'Hmm.' Andrew didn't know what to make of the message.

For all his knowledge, all his confidence and his strategies, Greiche was a giant far beyond him. They were a titan in the real world, and the people that ran it were all monsters. If this had been his previous life, then he would never have a single hope of running into any of them. But now things were different.

This was something he hadn’t planned.