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Inside the castle, Shredder blocked Donatello's flying kick with a guard, then countered with the long staff in his other hand, slamming it into the nearly-dead turtle's head.
Donatello went down.
Next, Shredder relentlessly pursued the struggling Leonardo. The turtle didn't last more than a minute before Shredder's flying kick made him see stars. He fell to the ground.
Dead.
"Ugh, I still couldn't beat him." Cole slumped back in his chair. "Shredder in this sixth level is so broken."
"He really is broken," Mike nodded.
"If his normal form in the sixth level is already this ridiculous, I can't imagine how strong his ultimate form in the eighth level will be." Cole felt a headache just thinking about it.
Mike, however, didn't seem concerned. "No matter how strong he is, countless people have already beaten him. We just aren't skilled enough yet. We've seen plenty of guides on how to beat him—now we just need to practice the characters until we're proficient."
"So, are we playing again?" Cole asked.
"There isn't much time left, is there?" Mike checked his watch. "Just a few minutes. I'm not playing anymore. I'll just browse the Forum."
Cole nodded.
At that moment, several children who had been watching from behind quickly leaned over. The first one asked, "Are you guys getting off the console?"
Mike turned his head. They were several kids around ten years old.
Although they were children, Mike still answered politely. "Yes, there are a few minutes left. If you want to get on, tell the owner quickly..." He paused. "But wait—can you even get on the console?"
"Of course I can't get on the console." The leading child spoke in an oddly mature tone. "I mean, I want to discuss something with you two. Don't get off the console yet. Let us use your account directly. I'll pay for five hours, and I'll give each of you fifty copper coins as a reward. How about that?"
Oh.
Mike and Cole understood immediately.
For some unknown reason, the Illusionist had set a rule that children under twelve were not allowed to play games. Even if kids deliberately entered an older age during registration, it was useless. Somehow, the Illusionist would immediately discover them and ban their accounts.
The detection system was primarily based on facial recognition, though some managed to slip through. And some players over twelve who looked too young got banned by mistake—there were moderators called "Stick Figure Testers" who oversaw the whole process.
This led to many children being full of resentment but unable to do anything about it. Most could only watch enviously as others played games.
Children without money just watched.
But children from wealthier families found solutions.
Almost simultaneously, young masters from all over the world had discovered a method: either have their servants log in with their faces and then play on that account, or wait in the console hall for others to finish playing and negotiate to use their accounts.
The children in front of them were clearly the latter type.
Currently, as consoles became more widespread, the cost of playing had dropped from the initial terrifying price of one or two silver marks per hour. It had now fallen to one silver mark for five hours—making it acceptable for young men like Mike and Cole, who were saving up to buy their own console, to occasionally play in the public halls again.
Why not make money if it's there for the taking?
Mike was about to nod in agreement when Cole spoke up.
"Kid, fifty copper coins for my account is fine. But my brother's account has over a dozen games, you know." As he spoke, he used Mike's controls to open the "My Games" interface.
The children's heads immediately clustered together.
"Wow, it's true! There are over ten games!"
"But there's no Dragonspire New Century. They all say that game is fun and relatively simple."
"No Super Street Fighter either..."
"But it has Snow Bros and Squirrel War."
The leading boy seemed very satisfied to see so many games available. "So, what do you mean?"
"What else could I mean?" Cole said in a deep voice. "You need to pay more."
In the end, the child paid an extra twenty copper coins to Mike, and Cole took ten copper coins from that as his cut.
Both brothers and the children were very satisfied.
"Oh, by the way," Mike said kindly before leaving, "if you want to play Super Street Fighter, you can play it now. The Illusionist made the game semi-free, which means you can't play ranked or matchmaking. But you can still enter the same room and battle each other if you're nearby."
"Alright!" The leading child pulled out two magic crystals from his pocket and placed them on the two consoles to prevent running out of power mid-game. That would be a crying shame.
Since neither of their accounts had game coins loaded, they naturally weren't afraid of the children buying games recklessly. So the two brothers casually lent their accounts to the kids, then turned and left for home.
Stepping out of the noisy console hall and breathing the "fresh" air outside, Cole asked, "Mike, are you still buying a console?"
Mike nodded. "Of course I am. The price has dropped to 17.6 gold coins. When we get our salaries at New Year's and ask our parents for a little more, it should be enough."
Cole nodded.
The two brothers had used their connections to get jobs at a Cloudboar farm. The work was tiring and dirty, but the income was good—2.3 gold coins a month. By the time school started on January 1st next year, they would have at least 6 gold coins saved between them. Then, if they asked their parents for some money, the two brothers would have enough to buy a console together.
"Cole, did you check the Forum just now?" Mike said suddenly. "Our Holy Light Academy senior, Garlos's Holy Sword, became the first person to clear Knight of Light. He's on the First Clear Hero List again."
Cole's face lit up. "Garlos's Holy Sword? Really? That's great!" He pumped his fist. "It's good that Knight of Light wasn't first cleared by someone else. As long as it's someone from our Lion Kingdom, I'm happy."
"Of course it's true. That's Garlos's Holy Sword, after all. He already occupies four spots on the First Clear Hero List, right?"
"The Nightmare Difficulty first clear of Super Street Fighter and the first fighting champion, plus the first clears of Dragonspire New Century and now Knight of Light..." Cole counted on his fingers. "That's indeed four. He's really amazing." He shook his head in admiration. "I remember people on the Forum saying that Knight of Light is very difficult—much harder than Dragonspire New Century. We haven't even heard of anyone in our school clearing the Normal difficulty, yet Garlos's Holy Sword has already cleared Expert." He sighed wistfully. "And Artoria is so beautiful."
"That's right, it's much harder." Mike's voice was full of yearning. "Senior Garlos's Holy Sword is not only the strongest in the entire grade, but he's also so good at playing games."
Cole smirked. "You're on your way to becoming his follower."
"That would require an opportunity."
"If Garlos also gets the first clear for The Punisher, what kind of reaction do you think the Shadow Reach Empire people will have?"
Mike grinned. "I don't know, but I think it should be very interesting. At least we people of the Lion Kingdom will find it very interesting."
The two brothers chuckled together.
"I hope Garlos works hard," Cole said, "so that the people of our Lion Kingdom can have a happy holiday."
"Do you think it's okay for the two of us to ask our parents for money during the holiday when they're in a good mood?"
"I think it's possible," Cole replied. "At least when they hit us, they won't hit too hard... after all, it's a big holiday..."
The two brothers walked further and further away, their laughter fading into the evening air.