How do you trigger a solo-que gamer?
Give them shitty teammates.
That was what Aleph did. He manipulated the game's matchmaking system to first give Silverwolf rubbish teammates—the kind who got to Challenger's through piloting.
What came next was absolute cinema. Her trash teammates keep dying one after another, causing her to lose six consecutive times. Coupled with his spam emotes and trash talks, one would doubt whether the said gamer is still sane at this moment.
When that anger reaches a boiling point, one becomes prone to doing irrational things.
"...Got you."
Silverwolf's smug and victorious smile was reflected on the screen.
Beep-!
In the midst of tracking down Aleph's real address, a 'meme' was sent to Silverwolf's side.
Before she knew it…
"Huh..?!"
Her gaze contained a mix of disbelief and shock.
[Your game accounts have been locked.]
Pressing anything did not work. Her terminal has been locked to the home screen, with her wallpaper changed to mimic ransomwares.
Just then, a call went to her other "free" terminal. She answered it silently and heard a man's voice on the opposite side.
"How many Jexchests did you buy? Damn, you got most of the skins. Even the Steve Go Kart! Just how many times did you top-up?"
"Tch. It's a mistake calling me—"
"Oh. That's where you are wrong." The man responded with a confident voice. "Today, you are hacked. Three days later, I will use your accounts to announce it. Stopping me is a matter of ability… but can you stop me from messing with your online reputation?"
"You..!"
Just thinking about it made Silverwolf grit her teeth. Her reputation as a Stellaron Hunter, especially a talented 'hacker' who clashed against a Genius Society member, will be in shambles.
From here, it was easy to see that the person who targeted her was no ordinary foe.
"I am curious about your group. How about meeting up with me personally?"
"..."
"If you can beat me, my things are all yours."
She did not mind the final sentence. Silverwolf was deep in thought, thinking about this hacker's intentions.
She has a vague feeling she—no, they are being targeted. Hacking into her game accounts is but one of the ways to lure them out.
With the IPC's current astronomical bounty, a lot of people attempted to do this already.
All of them returned with failure, with some even losing their lives.
"Alright, how about this? If you can guess my identity, I will give you a gift. After all…"
The voice on the other side deliberately cut off his voice. It happened that an agile black cat had appeared out of nowhere.
"...you have an interesting black cat."
"..!"
A slight chill went to her spine. The unserious voice felt creepy all of a sudden.
As if hearing his words, the black cat closed its eyes and licked its paws.
Moments later, it opened its eyes along with a nod.
"...Where should we meet?"
*****
"Fishing a Bronya here wasn't that bad."
Aleph was joking with himself. If he willed it, he could accomplish his current goals on parallel Earth right now. Yet, he did not.
He was waiting for people to come to him out of their own initiative. Part of him wants to see the choices they will make. Another part thinks that everything is already under his control; as such, playing around is an option.
"...No."
He shook his head at the latter thought. It was similar to his thoughts prior to becoming an Aeon. A side of him starts to become arrogant with his current standing. After all, he is now comparable to the oldest Aeons.
The creation of the Spirit World merely did not create a special base of sorts. It also increased the weight of his 'existence'.
Whenever people think of the white cosmic clouds, they think of the Aeon of Perpetuity who caused all of that. The shooting stars with seven different colors reached numerous planets.
The moment he opens the entrance to the Spirit World, Aleph vaguely feels he would start receiving another upgrade.
On top of his authorities…
"Right. What about that guy?"
Aleph's attention was mainly in three places: Earth, Xianzhou, and the Nascent… no, Return to Void (Nothingness) avatar. It was the sixth level, the one after Hua and Senti's current realm.
Its energy level was insane. It was also starting to touch the threshold of 'conceptual control'. What came next was Dao Unity (Hedao), followed by Mahayana. Aleph used [Error], now [Lord of the Mysteries], to deduce the relevant knowledge up to the Dao Unity Realm.
'If I can combine both the Five Supers and the Great Dao… Tsk, tsk.'
This brings his thoughts back to Han Xiao.
It has been a year and a half since Aleph woke up. More than ten months had passed since their last transaction. Not once did Han Xiao show up again. Despite his frequent visits to the Sanctum, he did not see any of his traces.
'He's cooking something big…'
Aleph had a reason why he willingly gave that helpful information to him. If Han Xiao makes use of it, Aleph could see how he succeeded.
In that regard, Han Xiao's experience of carrying an entire universe with him worked wonders. It was something Aleph hadn't experienced yet.
Yet.
Without any useful findings and Silverwolf's meetup occurring a few days later, he switched his attention back to Xianzhou.
"Hm…"
Aleph did not make full use of his absurd sensory capabilities. He 'played' as a human whenever he was with Hua and Senti.
As such, the girl lying atop his chest did not warrant suspicions. He thought it was Senti who crawled up to his bed.
After all, the vision he saw regarding the two's cooperation to get atop his bed suggested the inevitable.
When Aleph opened his eyes, however, he was greeted by a completely different girl.
"Huh."
"Hmn…"
"No way."
Aleph could not believe what he had been seeing.
It was a petite girl not taller than 160 centimeters. Her signature gray hair, styled into drills, was recognizable no matter where it was. The small "duck" made faces of complete comfort as she rubbed her face against his chest.
Her intricate white coat covered some of the metallic plates she wore. Some of these plates went uncovered, however. Her lower half was covered by her knee-length gray skirt. Her legs remained steady between Aleph's legs.
'How uncomfortable was it to dress up like this..?'
Aleph's thoughts wandered aimlessly. His gaze was caught by the two black metallic horns on her head. Her drills were seemingly held up by it.
"...Metatron."
The moment Aleph called out 'her' name, the girl's eyes opened instantly.
"Can you explain everything?"
"Response."
The Ultimate Skill's familiar voice greeted his ears.
"I have done as you wished."
Aleph fished two different Bronyas today.