<u>[Xander – 12 years]</u>


    "I''m sorry, sir."


    Russell and I just left the room I''m using while here, and his parents and Trey are in the living room of the suite.


    "For what?" Trey looks at me when I apologize. "Why do you look so mopey?"


    I don''t remember what that means, but asking isn''t important right now because I really messed up and broke the rules.


    "Russell and I fell asleep while talking," I tell him. "And I didn''t get permission for a sleepover. And you said I''m not allowed to have solo sleepovers with anyone I''m dating until I''m at least fourteen years old and have been dating them at least six months. So I was a really bad boy. I''m sorry. I didn''t mean to be bad!"


    I don''t know why he has that rule, but he put it in place so it''s got to be really, really, really important.


    "You''re not in trouble," Trey tells me.


    "But I broke the rules!" I say. "And on the first day that we were dating, too! That was Very Bad! I''m sorry! I''ll take whatever punishment you give me as long as it''s not painful! Please don''t beat me!"


    "Once again," Trey says. "You''re not in trouble. And once again, I''m never going to beat you as a punishment. Grounding you will be how it happens, if you ever get punished."


    "Why aren''t I in trouble?" I ask. "I broke the rules!"


    "Because it was clear it wasn''t intentional," Trey tells me. "An accidental violation like that isn''t worthy of punishment. The two of you were sleeping in a sitting position with Mr. Leviathan across your laps, neither of you changed into sleepwear and you were still wearing your glasses."


    "But I still broke the rules," I say. "And bad boys get punished!"


    "It was an accident," Trey tells me. "Do you want to get punished?"


    "I don''t!


    "Then why are you insisting that you deserve to get punished?"


    "Because I broke the rules!"


    "Xander," Trey sighs. "Look me in the eyes. Thank you. You accidentally broke the rules. It was a very minor thing, too. That''s not deserving of punishment. Okay?"


    "But it''s still breaking the rules!"


    "Did you get into trouble for running in the house when my parents were watching you?"


    "They haven''t watched me since."


    "That''s… unrelated," he snorts. "Just promise you''ll try to not do that again in the future, okay? That''s all you have to do."


    "That''s all?" I ask.


    "That''s all."


    "Um… okay," I say. "I promise I''ll try not to do solo sleepovers with Russell again until after I''m old enough for it while dating, and I promise I''ll try to remember to get permission for sleepovers in the future."


    "There," Trey says. "That''s all."


    No one says anything for a few moments, but I have a few questions and I''m not sure if I can ask them or not.


    "Xander?"


    "Yes, Trey?"


    "What do you want to ask?"


    I guess it''s okay to ask.


    "I was sleeping with my glasses on?" I ask. "But I woke up and they were on one of the nightstands."


    "I took them off of you," he says. "Just in case you moved around in your sleep and bent or broke them."


    "Oh," I say. "Thanks. I enchanted them so they''ll be extra-durable, but it probably would''ve poked me hard if I did move around. And I guess I did? You said we were sitting up with Mr. Leviathan across our laps?"


    That was how we were talking.


    "Yes," Trey answers.


    "Huh," I say. "We woke up hugging Mr. Leviathan between us."


    "Excuse me," Mrs. Jackson says. "What is ''Mr. Leviathan''?"


    She seems concerned for some reason. I pull off my backpack and open it up, then start to pull out Mr. Leviathan. Her eyes widen as she sees him.


    "I like sleeping while hugging him," I tell her. "He''s very comfortable most of the time."


    I push Mr. Leviathan back into my backpack, which I then zip back up and pull back on.


    "I''m really not in trouble?" I ask Trey.


    "No, Xander, you''re not," he says. "It was an accident and something minor. Let''s get going, we need to make sure we''re at the location in time to set up for the demonstration, and pick up breakfast on the way."


    "Okay."


    Russell gets ready to go, then the five of us leave, Trey taking me and Russell''s parents taking him. On our way to Autumn Vale, we stop at a donut place to pick up the order of donuts Trey placed for us. It''s a big order since a lot of people are meeting us there, and we pick up milk and orange juice at a shop on the way, kept cold in a cooler which produces its old cold within via magic. There''s also coffee for people who drink that, in a warmer which uses magic to keep it warm.


    That smells really strong and I''m glad it''s in the bed of the truck and not in the cab with Trey and me.


    We arrive at the location at about nine in the morning, the drive itself taking awhile since even though Autumn Vale and Autumn Hills are neighbors, they''re still very big areas with a lot of hills and curves to navigate. None of the other people I invited are here yet, but I''m not surprised by that since we did show up a bit earlier than the others were told to.


    The property for the live gaming zone itself is about one square mile, and includes ruins at the edge of town and some grassy areas outside of it. All of it has been sectioned off, stone brick walls built around it. There are traces of magic on the blocks, so I think it was used to build them.


    S.G., Carter, and Tate show up a few minutes after we do and join us in eating the donuts while I work on some stuff on my development laptop. They and Russell start goofing around, so I do my best to ignore them while I work. Carter shows up another boy from his grade – I sent him a text earlier and asked him to bring a friend he trusts if he could – but I forget his name after he walks off.


    Luke, Parker, and Tyler show up with the parents who came out here next and join in on the games the other boys are playing. A few minutes after that, Connor, Sam, and Isaac shows up, which results in S.G. letting out some loud shouts and tackling them before the play resumes.


    That looks like a lot of fun, but they''re also tackling each other a lot so I don''t think I''d enjoy it that much. It''s better for me to just focus on what I''m working on.


    All of the other boys are wearing shorts and either short-sleeved or sleeveless shirts, while I''m wearing black MountainStorm Gear pants and a dark green long-sleeved with some neon-green markings. They''ll all probably be more comfortable in those outfits for running around in during the demonstration, but it makes me feel like I''m standing out by not dressing the same.


    Mr. Milton and a few other employees from Dream Best Entertainment show up next, followed by Grandpa Adrian and a few of his employees.


    "Is there anything you need to do to set up?" Mr. Milton asks me after Grandpa Adrian shows up and everyone is introduced. "I presume that''s why you wanted to be here early?"


    "Yeah," I nod. "Sorry if that''s a problem. I need to give the system an outline of what''s the playing field. Is it the entire walled-off area?"


    "It is," he answers. "Though we can use a smaller area for the demonstration if you''d like. We bought a larger zone so that there can be more variation during play. The areas that are already reinforced and ready for play are marked out with fencing."


    "Okay," I pull a binder out of my backpack. "Here''s some information about what I''m doing and how things work. Grandpa Adrian told me it''d be best to give this to you before starting things. To mark out a zone, I first use a bot that scans the entire area to create a map. That then creates a map, which you can then make outlines on.


    "That''s only for one version of the game," I add. "For if the game is setting up things at specific locations, since it needs to know where to limit those to. If it''s just the zombie shooter – no location-based events – then you don''t need to do that."


    "Do you have a scanner bot?" He asks.


    "Yeah," I place a hand on a metal orb one foot in diameter, its shell a medium-dark green. "This is it, but I didn''t want to send it off without asking first. What it''ll do is scan an overhead view of the entire area, then you mark out on the admin program the zones to restrict things to. Then, the game will restrict all location-based events and spawns to within there. May I please send it off? I can show you on the screens here."


    One of the setup things I did was connect a second laptop to some monitors Grandpa Adrian brought. This laptop isn''t my magitech development one but one my great-grandpa also brought. This will better show that it''s not just my laptop that''s able to handle the program, it just needs to be a device capable of connecting to magitech AR systems and running the base of a game.


    Or something like that. I''m not that great at explaining things like this. That''s more of Greyson''s area of expertise, I think. Understanding what I make is a lot easier than actually putting it into words for me.


    "Go ahead," Mr. Milton says, and I open up the admin menu for the game''s program and tell it to send the orb off.


    Using the laptop, I direct the orb to fly over the zone, and a map of it starts forming on the screens. It takes less than ten minutes to receive a full aerial view of the zone, then I show Mr. Milton and some of the others how to create zones.


    "If you create a zone like this," Mr. Milton points at a screen, drawing a finger down. "Where it''s mostly avoiding buildings but intersects some how would the program handle that for the game? Since you''d be able to leave the zone?"


    "The game will have a marking similar to police tape in your vision," I explain. "Marking the play area''s boundaries. If you cross it, you''ll be notified that no actions taken beyond it will affect your game."


    "Can it be set up to penalize a player for going out of the zone?"


    To penalize the player?


    "I haven''t set it up to do that," I tell him. "But depending on the desired penalties, I can program it to."


    "Something like restricting their ability to play for a few minutes after they enter the zone again," he says. "So that if someone is playing in a smaller zone in the larger area, they can''t just leave it to go around and get a better position, or to hide out of bounds."


    "Oh, yeah, I can set it up to do that," I say. "Or dock points for one where you''re being scored. I was basing the program on a game I watched others play, and they didn''t really have to deal with that. Give me, like, five minutes and I can set that up."


    I quickly program the game to issue penalties for exiting the designated zone.


    "Did you just adjust the program right here?" One of the other employees asks.


    "Yeah," I answer. "It''s not that hard if you understand the runes, and it''s just a small difference from other features that already exist, such as losing HP or the time when you''re waiting for the game to begin. Since I haven''t had time to test it, I''m not sure if there will be bugs, but it was already explained and accepted there might be some during the demonstration. My understanding is that you''re looking more for how well it works as a gaming device than the actual programming of the game itself. Or was I wrong?"


    "You weren''t," Mr. Milton answers. "That''s what we''re looking for."


    "Okay," I say. "Anyway, it''s almost ten now, and everything is almost set up. I can see some fencing in the aerial view… do you want the zone to match that for the testing?"


    It looks to be a space about a thousand feet at its widest and seven hundred at its narrowest, but it''s not a rectangle, with the fence following the roads and turning here and there.


    "Yes," Mr. Milton answers. "How do you separate it?"


    "You enter the ''edit play zone'' mode with this button," I say. "Then take your stylus and draw the zone. It''s okay to have wobbly lines. If you want them straight, then once you finish, you can tap this button and it''ll straighten the lines. Then you review to see if the lines are right and if not, you can click this button and it''ll let you drag the lines a little. And now, the zones are set! Okay, so I think that means it''s time for us to get the other boys over here and start the streams that are going to be going."


    Grandpa Adrian calls for everyone to gather up, and S.G., Carter, and I start our streams with Starting Soon screens, so that we can all get ready while our viewers arrive. It seems we can even set the streams up to say that we''re with other streamers, so we tag each other for that so everyone knows.


    "Oh, um," I say. "I didn''t ask, but does everyone here want to play the game? I wanted an even number even though evens are evil because it makes it easier to split things up a little."


    The other boys all say they''re interested, so I guess I''m fine for that.


    "Okay," I swap my glasses for my streaming glasses. "Then let''s officially start the streams. The first camera is that one. Everyone ready? Okay. Here we go. Hi, everyone! I''m Xa-Xander, and today, I''m here in Autumn Vale with S.G. and Carter, along with a bunch of others."


    "Hi!" S.G. waves.


    "Hey, guys!" Carter waves.


    "Today," I say. "We''re doing something a little bit different. We''re at a location owned by Dream Best Entertainment, where we''ll be demonstrating an augment reality set I''ve developed and playing a game on it.


    "In fact," I point at my glasses. "These glasses – which I was wearing during my Tuesday stream – are augmented reality glasses! They''ve been designed to have multiple features, including gaming and streaming. On Tuesday, I was using them to read chat and the recipe, which is why no one saw me looking at one and how I was able to react to chat without having screens up all over to show me what you were all saying regardless of my position."Stolen content alert: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences.


    I swipe and tap a couple of times with my hands.


    "And this is some of what I''m seeing now," I say. "The streaming function of the glasses doesn''t show things like my channel dashboard when showing what I''m viewing to chat, but I can see some of its options here, which you can''t. You can see, however, that I have chat called up in my vision right here, and a few other options. If I sign in or out of something, you also won''t see the login or password. And now, I''m going to give S.G. and Carter ones so they can sign in and shift over if they''d like."


    Once they have their glasses, I teach them how to sign in to their channels with the glasses and even how to move the different features around, allowing them to place chat wherever they''d like.


    "Now that we streamers are set up," I say. "It''s time for everyone else! You''ll note that the glasses come in three colors of lens tinting: green, blue, and purple. There are also only four of each, and S.G., Carter, and I each have a different one. This is useful for team play, and the glasses will automatically designate teams based on the color of them. Connor, Sam, and Isaac, you three join Carter on the purple team. Luke, Parker, and Tyler, you join S.G. on the blue team. Everyone else, you join me on the green team."


    Everyone grabs their glasses and pulls them on. I do have more than those, but I only set out enough for each of us boys.


    "Okay," I say. "You''ll all notice that there are a few different functions, including signing in to a streamer account, a practice mode for practicing shooting, and the game. Only someone actively streaming can view chat during a game, and only their own. Also, the glasses are designed to block metagaming, so if someone is saying something that''s happening on another stream for the same game group, it won''t show up on the glasses. No cheating allowed!"


    The others all snicker a little at that.


    "Hey, Xander?" Russell asks, and I look at him. "I just noticed that there''s a ''chores'' mode."


    "Huh?" I look at my menu. "Oh. Whoops. That was something I was messing about with yesterday, I must''ve uploaded it to same chip I put the game on. These glasses are all connected to a master device, which is that block connected to the laptop via cable. There''s a gaming card that was inserted into it, and that''s what determines the game available on the glasses. That was an accident."


    "How does the chores mode work?" He asks.


    "Oh," I say. "Um… so parents can designate chores through it. And when wearing the glasses and have it set to chores mode, you can do the chore, then check the program, and it''ll let you know if you missed anything. But it won''t get on you for something like ''you missed a few specks of dust'' or ''missed a tiny spot while wiping down the table''. Only an abusive fuckwad would require one hundred percent perfection for cleaning chores for their kid. It''s a home, not a laboratory or hospital. The parents can also use the program to see if their kid''s done their chores while the parent''s at work or something.


    "And if they want," I continue. "They can assign point values to the chores, and even mark ''optional'' chores. So like if a parent normally does their kid''s laundry, but the kid starts being old enough they can start doing their own, they can set up laundry as an optional chore. And with the points… I know not all parents pay kids for doing chores, or reward the kids, but it could be used for doing that. Like, you get a point for taking the trash out when it''s full, or two points for doing the dishes, or a point for cleaning the floors. But only once per day, or per three days, or per week, depending on how often the parent sets the chore itself to be required.


    "Then once the kid earns enough points," I say. "They could get a reward, or it could be what determines how much their allowance is for that allowance period. The reward could be something like the parents do the chores for a day, or a movie night where the kid makes all the movie choices, or a game night where the kid makes all the game choices, or the kid getting to play video games for longer than allowed, or getting to stay up later than allowed, or a sleepover, or getting to eat a cheesecake at midnight… whatever the parents and kid agrees on."


    "That sounds pretty neat," Russell says.


    "Would it be useful for other things?" Carter asks. "You said it can tell if something is cleaned or not, right? So does that mean it could be used somewhere like a ranch not as chores but as more of a checklist to make sure everything got done?"


    "Yeah," I nod. "Maybe with some tweaks to the program? It''s only got basic chores in it right now, like cleaning and laundry and trash, but Greyson''s database probably has stuff for ranches."


    "That''s cool," Carter grins.


    "That wasn''t supposed to be on that game card," I say. "It was supposed to be on a separate one. Whoops. The program''s not complete yet. We''re here… for the game."


    I look at the other boys for a few moments, the eleven of them watching me with anticipation and eagerness now. At least, that''s what I think those faces are. It''s also what it feels like to me, for some reason.


    That part confuses me, so it''s better to move on than try to figure it out. I''m doing a demonstration and a stream, not a confusion session.


    "The game itself," I say. "Is a mixture of a zombie shooter, first-person shooter, and laser tag. There are a few different modes I have set up for it. All mode names are a work in progress and simply placeholders at the moment until I come up with better ones.


    "The first mode," I continue. "Is called ''zombie clear mode''. All players have to try and take down as many zombies as they can within the time limit set by the one running the game, which can be set on the laptop there since it''s connected to the controller device."


    "Console," S.G. says.


    "Huh?"


    "The proper term is probably ''console''," he tells me. "That''s what gaming systems are generally called. At least, I think that''s the closest for this."


    "Oh," I say. "Okay. So yeah, the time limit is set on the computer connected to the console, though if someone has admin on their glasses, they can also set the time limit, which I can like this. If everyone will direct their attention to that screen there, I''ll show on it how to set the time limit using my glasses."


    I open up my admin menu, select Zombie Clear Mode, and then set the timer to twenty minutes.


    "We''ll do twenty minutes for the first game," I say. "On to some of the stuff about the game. Everyone has an HP meter and an MP meter. Don''t use actual spells, they won''t do anything for the game. Instead, you can either say the name of the spell you want to cast or select it from the choices in your vision, then point your hand like this."


    I open up testing mode real quick and demonstrate each of the three spells that are given as choices: [Flame Missile], which shoots a missile of flames, [Barrier], which creates a barrier in front of me, and [Heal], which restores 10 HP. They cost 5 MP, 10 MP, and 25 MP, respectively, and I start with 100 HP and MP as my capacity.


    All of them are magivirtual, of course, so there''s no effect in the real world. The first two, however, do affect the magivirtual zombies in the testing mode, with the first causing a massive amount of damage to the target one and the second preventing a zombie from reaching me.


    "In a game at or under fifteen minutes in duration," I say. "You''ll gain 10 HP and MP each time you gain a Level, which you get from gaining enough Experience Points, which you get for killing zombies, and your Constitution and Magic will go up by 0.5 each time. Constitution reduces how much in-game HP you lose from an attack from the zombies, while Magic improves the power of your spells. Your in-game spells, I mean."


    "So it takes two Levels to gain a point into them?" Connor asks.


    "Yeah," I answer. "But the formula for Experience and Levels is different, and I think you should be able to reach Level 10 by the end of fifteen minutes, if you kill enough. I might have to tweak the numbers a bit."


    "What about for games longer than fifteen minutes?" Sam asks. "You said that''s just for ones at or under, right?"


    "Yeah," I nod. "For games longer than fifteen minutes, you gain 10 HP and MP every time you gain a Level, and two Stat Points. They can boost your HP or MP by 10 or your Constitution or Magic by 1.


    "As for recovering HP and MP," I say. "You''ll passively regain 1 HP and MP every three seconds, but crouching down will improve that after ten seconds, making it every second instead, up until you stop crouching. Other than those and the [Heal] spell, there are no recovery methods."


    What should I cover next?


    "What about sound?" Luke asks just as I''m about to continue. "There aren''t any earpieces, right?"


    I click my tongue twice.


    "Can you hear me?"


    "Whoa!" He jumps. "Xander, that''s cool, but the rest of us can''t use magic like that!"


    "That''s the set," I point at my glasses. "They have earpieces and mics in them. Clicking your tongue twice turns it on or off for ''team mode'', which is everyone on your current team. We''re all on one team right now, so you''re all hearing it."


    I click my tongue twice.


    "You can also double-tap right here," I double-tap on a spot behind my ears. "And it''ll do the same thing. If you press and hold instead, you can send a message to a specific teammate by saying their in-game name. Um… oh, right, I didn''t show you how to set an in-game name, that''s why if you call up the Team List, it just has ''Xander'', then a bunch of ''Player'' with a numbers."


    I teach them all how to do that, then I think we''re ready to start the game.


    "Once the game has begun," I say. "Magivirtual zombies will appear within your vision within the play zone, as long as you''re wearing the glasses. Then, you''ll be able to start killing them for points. We can spread out or stay in groups. Remember: this match is a full-team match, not an individual match or split into teams. Everyone got it?"


    "Yes!" "Got it!" "Yeah!" "Ready to go!"


    A bunch of different responses come in, but they all mean the same thing, so I look over at Mr. Milton.


    "On Page 7 of the binder," I tell him. "It''ll describe how to begin the game. You can do so from the laptop there."


    Trey told me that it wouldn''t be a bad idea to include Mr. Milton and the other employees in the demonstration, and I think this is what he meant.


    Mr. Milton looks in the binder, then goes to the laptop and does something on it before looking at me.


    "Ready when you are," he says. "Do you not have weapons for this? Or is the combat fully reliant on the spells?"


    "Oh, right!" I exclaim, then hurry over to my backpack and start pulling the augmented reality guns out and setting them on the table where the glasses had been. "Everyone, you can get one bigger gun and one handgun. For the game purposes, they have special anti-zombie bullets. The bigger guns are automatic, while the smaller ones are not. Holding the trigger won''t make more magivirtual bullets appear, you have to pull it again and again."


    "Is that a spatial expansion on the backpack?" Tate asks.


    "Yeah," I answer. "I put it on there the other day so I can fit more stuff in it. I''ve got desserts for after the demonstration in here, too. Anyway, the guns are currently set to unlimited mode. I wasn''t really sure on how to do reloads, so I just set it to unlimited mode. A future version will probably have it require MP to fire bullets, but I''ll need to tweak the MP capacity to deal with that.


    "Regarding the guns," I say. "The AR glasses will register any which are designed for the same set. So you can grab any gun from this set and the system will acknowledge it and let you shoot magivirtual bullets with it. That means you can just grab any big gun and handgun for your weapon. You''ll also note that the handguns have holsters for fixing onto your belts, and the big ones have straps to wear across your body."


    Once I finish putting out enough guns for us, the other boys grab their pairs, then I grab ones for me. Mr. Milton tells us he''ll start the game once we''ve entered the play zone, and an employee opens up the door for us to enter.


    I hope I didn''t fuck things up too bad.


    <hr>


    <u> [Sig – 13 years]</u>


    These glasses are insane! Nothing in my vision is intrusive and I really can move things around to adjust the HUD as I please. I want to play with it more, but it''s time for us to begin the match.


    Just as Mr. Milton announces he''s hit Start Match, a message pops up in the HUD.


    <table>


    <tbody>


    <tr>


    <td style="width: 100%; text-align: center" colspan="2">Clear Zombies Mode has Begun!</td>


    </tr>


    <tr>


    <td style="width: 50%">Time Limit:</td>


    <td style="width: 50%">20 minutes</td>


    </tr>


    <tr>


    <td style="width: 50%">Conclusion Time:</td>


    <td style="width: 50%">10:28 AM 7/15/2023</td>


    </tr>


    </tbody>


    </table>


    "Whoa!" I exclaim. "It even tells us the time that the game ends!"


    There''s a clock within my view already, and there''s now a timer counting down from twenty minutes. There are also a lot of zombies suddenly appearing around us. Not swarming us, but scattered throughout the ruins.


    "Let''s kill zombies!" I pump a fist up into the air.


    "What''s the plan?" Bo, the friend that Tate and Carter invited when Xander said he wanted another kid here, asks. "Group hunting?"


    Bo has brown hair and blue eyes, and much like Tate and Carter, he''s lean and fit and a pretty decent mage. He works on another magic beast ranch, but with a different breed than what Tate''s and Carter''s families raise. I''ve met him a couple of times in the past, but he wasn''t really friends with Tate and Carter before.


    Seems that changed, since he''s the one they immediately thought to ask at Xander''s request. He''s pretty cool, so I don''t mind. The more, the merrier!


    "Some of us can do groups," Luke says. "Xander, how difficult is this?"


    "Um…" Xander thinks for a few moments. "Well, I tested it by myself on Thursday and could mostly handle things, so we probably don''t need groups? The rate of zombie spawn does increase the more players there are, but it shouldn''t be too much more than what we can handle. That''s just mostly so that people don''t get left out."


    "Alright," I look at my team. "Why don''t we do this? We work alone at first but stay near enough to others. If we get comfortable with the spawn rates, we can split up or go alone. If not, then we can group up. I wanna try and beat Carter''s count for zombies."


    "You''re on!" Carter exclaims.


    Everyone except Xander agrees to this strategy, while Xander just accepts it. I try to ask if he wants something else, but he shakes his head.


    "I don''t really know much about gaming," he says. "The rest of you are probably better gamers than me. If that sounds like a good idea to all of you, then I''ll go with it."


    "Okay!" I say. "Want me to stick with you instead, in case you need help?"


    "You''re okay," Xander says.


    That''s not a yes or no, that''s an evasion of the answer. That means he does want me to stick with him, but doesn''t want to say it.


    "I''ll stick with you," Russell tells him before looking at me. "You go have fun."


    "Alright," I say. "Come on, Carter!"


    Carter and I take off, shooting our way through the zombies that we come across. They look super realistic to me, as if they''re an actual part of this world, and I can''t see any rendering delay.


    "Right?" Carter asks when I say that. "If it weren''t for the HP indicators on them, I honestly wouldn''t be able to tell."


    A "magivirtual" bullet, as Xander would call it, suddenly hits the head of a zombie I was getting ready to shoot, sniping it in an instant.


    "I''ve been looking for any indication of one," Luke says as I look over and shoot at him, the bullet not doing any damage.


    I had a feeling Xander didn''t include friendly fire for this mode, but wanted to shoot him anyway for sniping my kill.


    "And?" Carter asks.


    "Nothing," Luke answers. "Damn, can Xander do this. I''ve tried AR before and it couldn''t keep up with speed. Quickly moving things would cause some lag, things wouldn''t render properly for a moment before correcting… you know I''m a lightning mage, right?"


    "Of course!" I tell him. "You''re one of my inspirations for learning magic! After hearing about that fight with the elemental and how you beat it down-"


    "It was a draw," Luke interrupts. "It withdrew after I threw, like, one attack. And I don''t think the attack really did much, it decided to withdraw. Seven o''clock."


    I turn and start shooting the zombies that are approaching. Every three minutes, we encounter a group of about twenty of them, and that''s the only time Carter and I aren''t competing to steal each other''s kills. Luke as well, it seems, since he''s joined us even if we''re on different teams.


    "That''s still cool!" I say. "I doubt I''d even survive a hug from one and you threw down with one!"


    "That''s not-" Luke starts, then lets out an exasperated groan, causing Carter and me to snicker. "Anyway. My mind is like, way faster than your guys'' because of my lightning magic. Sure, I''m still thirteen, but I can think at more than ten times the speed you do. I process information at the same boosted rate. All because of my lightning magic. And I haven''t noticed any delays. It really is seamless."


    "That''s incredible!" I shoot a zombie that Luke was about to spot. "Ha! Got ya! I never struck Xander as the kind of guy to want to make something like this, and he''s made it super well! I mean, I knew he was making a zombie shooter, but I didn''t realize he''d made the AR set, too!"


    He''d just said that he was making AR stuff and a zombie shooter game, so I''d assumed it was just the game. It wasn''t until we got here that I learned he made the set, too.


    "Wait, you didn''t know?" Luke asks.


    "Know what?" I ask.


    "Xander doesn''t understand gaming," Luke snickers. "But he knows you guys like playing laser tags and zombie shooter games. He understands laser tag well enough. So he figured he''d combine the two so he could play with you."


    Xander invented a higher-level AR magitech just so he could play zombie shooters with us? Why does that surprise me? He built a freaking hoverboard just so he could stay with us while we''re riding our bikes!


    "Wait!" Carter exclaims. "That''s why Xander got uncomfortable on Sunday, when we were talking about AR! I''d mentioned the tech wasn''t there yet! He was trying to avoid mentioning that he was building something! I''d told him that I''d looked into AR for my videos. He probably thought I''d try and get him to give me some for free!"


    "Oooh!" I say. "Yeah, he did switch back after you said that, didn''t he? Well, whatever! This is pretty cool! Do you think there are zombie mages? I wanna fight a zombie mage!"


    We go back to trying to outdo each other, with Luke disappearing on us. He''s a lot stronger and faster than even Carter, who I struggle to keep up with when he''s not deliberately hanging back near me. We see Tate and Bo a few times as well, the two of them doing their best to beat the other''s zombie counts.


    Right when the timer is up, all of the zombies vanish.


    <table>


    <tbody>


    <tr>


    <td style="width: 99.2263%; text-align: center">Game End! Please Return to the Starting Zone!</td>


    </tr>


    </tbody>


    </table>


    Once we reach the entrance to the gaming zone, Xander sends everyone the score totals. I ranked last, with some of the non-mages with their slower and weaker bodies all being pretty high up. I even hit Level 17 during this, so I thought that meant I''d place pretty high. Based on the kill counts, I was only three kills behind Carter, too!


    "Wait, Xander?" I ask as I realize that he ranked first… and is Level 21. "How did you get such a high score? Like, it''s cool you did and all, but that''s really surprising!"


    "Oh," Xander says. "I think I messed up the program. Everyone got way too high of Levels, too. And we kept getting swarmed with zombies. I''ll have to look, but I think I accidentally set it to spawn bigger and more hordes if people are sticking too close to each other, not just based on the total group size. Russell, Connor, Parker, and I were grouped together and we were getting a horde of fifty or more every minute and a half. That''s not supposed to be dependent on how many people are together. And the timer wasn''t supposed to decrease. Let me check the code real quick."


    Xander pulls off his AR glasses and summons his normal ones to put on, then checks something on his personal laptop. Judging by the intense furrowing of his brow and tight pursing of his lips, something is definitely odd.


    "Yeah," he says. "Fixing it now. I think I accidentally adjusted those parameters when changing the spawn count based on the total group size."


    He removes the game card from the console and a notice pops up in my vision saying the game card has been removed and I will be unable to play the game until it''s placed back in. The card gets inserted into something he plugs into his laptop, and thirty seconds later, he''s putting the game card back into the console.


    "That fast?" Mr. Milton asks.


    "Hm?" Xander looks at him. "What do you mean?"


    "You were able to change it that fast?"


    "It''s just moving runes around," Xander closes his laptop, then swaps back into his AR glasses. "Okay, so that was the single-group play mode. There are a few others that are possible, including with teams that compete to kill the most zombies, defending a location against a zombie onslaught, attempting to reach a certain point while taking down the zombies, and then one that''s more like laser tag, where you''re trying to score points by shooting others. For the first of those…"