“You think you four have what it takes to challenge me?” he called out with amusement. They flinched as he pulled out a paper and wrote down his conditions.

-

Challenge: One Vs. Four - Elimination

Starting Resources: Team Equivalent

Races Available: Any

Time Limit: None

Stakes: Four hundred Rank spread amongst team members.

Limitations: None

Handicaps: None

-

He finished writing out the conditions of the challenge and he tossed it forward onto the ground, “Check it.”

One of the lead’s lackeys walked forward and grinned, passing it about for the others to see. Xavier sat down on a bench that was on the side of the building for those that still smoked- the area smelled musky. He took a deep sigh before reaching into his pocket, pulling out a pack, lit a cigarette with a snap of his fingers, and placed it against his lips. He sat there casually, arm resting against the bench’s back with one leg crossed over the other.

“I’m waiting guys. Places to be, things to do, and whatnot,” he said as he flicked ash in their direction.

“Arrogant prick,” the lead muttered, though was still hesitant to accept. A hundred Rank per person was no small laughing matter. “Fine, we accept.”

The same guy that had taken the paper walked back over with it, handing it to Xavier, and then they all walked back to where they had stood and sat. Xavier looked at the cigarette with a frown and then flicked it away.

“Burn,” he said in another tongue.

Next thing he knew, he was in the pre-Game with all the available races in a catalog in front of him.

“Welcome back Master X,” the joyful voice of his AI companion echoed out. “You’re back a lot sooner than you said you’d be.”

“Complications and whatnot,” he said as he waved his hand dismissively. A glint of amusement flashed through his eyes before he asked out casually, “You saw the Game, right?”

“I also saw the participants and their Ranks. Are they…” the voice didn’t finish her question as she didn’t like to be rude, but X, as he was known in this world, laughed out.

“I don’t think they’re mentally slow, just ignorant.”

“Oh, okay. What do you think, Master X? With four times the resources, you can do a lot of fun stuff! Maybe the Kobolds- oh no, you have to do the Kor’Tar!”

“I just used the Kor’Tar against Gerald. Seems kinda lame to do the same thing twice on the same day. What about the Moledox?” Tinkling laughter was the only response.

After X had selected all of his options and tech paths, he dropped down in his Avatar and waited patiently for the Game to begin. The timer that hung in the sky, initially counting down from ten minutes, only had two minutes left.

“Etna, you know what happens when we win, right?”

“What are you- Oh my god!” The voice resounded out within his head, damn near screaming.

“Yep, today’s the day.” His Rank was fifty-one ninety-three and this game would push that up the ladder to below five thousand. That was the make-it-or-break-it limit for real Gamers. The world truly opened up at that point.

“Eeee, now we have to try really hard!”

“Right, I almost feel bad for them, but at least they gave us a nice boost.” X talked as though he had already won.

The counter ticked down quickly until the sky lit up, signaling the beginning of the Game.

“Etna, advance Dig to five with all our study points and then summon ten workers. Have them dig about five-hundred feet, relocate our Command Point and then fill in over it. When they finish, resource collection, swarm breeding, and then select the Iron Gut and Adaptation mutations. I’m going out.”

“X, why do you always talk like I’m a newbie? I’m not a dummy!” Etna’s voice whined in his ears.

His Avatar jumped forward and began rapidly digging into the soil underfoot. Everything he’d set in motion should be completed by the time he finished what he needed to accomplish. He closed his eyes and let his Earth-Sense spread out in every which way.

Hours, or what felt like it, passed as he tunneled forward, the Game's magic dilated time to an incredible degree.

He set out with information collection as his primary goal and sabotage as his secondary. Most low-Ranked players wouldn’t expect a preemptive strike from an Avatar.

Earth-Sense felt vibrations from above and he exploded outward before the foe could respond. His sharp claws and teeth quickly mauled the group of blue-clothed humans with gathering tools, not a single warrior among the ranks. They fell quickly and he returned to the soil before anything else could record his presence. The gatherers hadn’t the time to truly comprehend what attacked them before dying, so his stealth sabotage would work a few more times.

It was ill-advised to send out gatherers with no protection, even if that did slow down gathering speeds. He attacked two more groups, another of the blue-cloth and one of red-cloth. That meant he’d found two of his enemies, but there was no sign of the third and fourth. He dug underneath one of the human’s outpost to see how much progress they had made and had to stop from laughing.

“Fools.”

His priority became finding the other two players, but he had no luck until he approached a mountain. There he found Wolves and Goblins working in tandem.

“Well, that’s no fun.” Wolves and Goblins could work together with great effect. They could compound bonuses and become rather obnoxious to kill, but they didn’t have the skills or resources to come close to fighting off X.

With that information, he returned to his now-underground base and looked around happily. Earth-Sense allowed for locating minerals and resources underground, finding prey aboveground, and easily locating sources of water.

“Etna, report.” By now he’d been gone nearly eight hours and had enough information to move forward more efficiently.

“Yes! Every worker has upgraded into a copper or bronze. We have two iron warriors and one steel. I populated and made a deposit center for more resources, made a fridge for meat and water, and had a hunting party collect several hundred pounds of meat. Also, the workers created an underground stream.” She reported back quickly, ticking off each object from a clipboard that didn’t actually exist.

“Okay, here’s what we’re gonna do. There are two human settlements some distance away that we can take quickly, but there are Goblins and Wolves working in unison. I’m split between wiping out the humans and taking over their Command Points or crippling the Goblins and Wolves. What do you think?”

“Is that a serious question?” Etna asked.

“No- do we have enough to unlock the Hero tree?” He could look, but he was busy stabilizing their underground tunnels. The workers were quick at expansion, but he directed them about to ensure there were no spontaneous cave-ins.

“More than enough. You could even work on the General tree.”

“Is there an obsidian deposit nearby?”

“Not as far as we could find. Steel’s the best we’re gonna have for some time.”

He walked over to the deposit center and saw a bar of steel, “Damn. Here’s what we’re gonna do. Immediately, upgrade Adaptation and Iron Gut to max, and then start allocating points into Weaponized Body. Then, grant the steel warrior Heroic. I’m gonna take him after eating this steel to assassinate the human Avatars. Send six workers after me, with two weaker warriors. We don’t want any wurms to gobble them up without contest.”

The steel crunched in his maw, tasting slightly better than cardboard. His body grew and he felt protrusions from his back, a tingling sensation spread throughout his body. His claws, made for digging, had grown several inches. Sharp blades protruded from his skin and adorned his wrists, elbows, and ankles. His toenails were now sharp enough to easily puncture human flesh.

“Winning this Race makes me happy, even to this day.”

“You always seem to enjoy all the Races you play, Master X. You should probably stop admiring yourself and leave soon.”