Horn followed Bravo 2 up to the first wall. He found out that his name was Steve.

"So your callsign is the same as your game id?'' Horn asked on their way up.

Chuckling to himself,

"Yup! Pretty unimaginative, I know. But it's easy since we're used to the callsigns"

"How about you? Why Horn?''

"I picked it in the first game I played when I was a kid. Back then I thought it sounded way cooler than CrimsonAssasin or LeeGoLass. I’m not of Korean descent before you ask. Now that I think about it, Horn sounds pretty dumb too'' he laughs at himself.

"But it got stuck. Most of my friends know it's me when they see the id.'' finished Horn.

At the top of the wall, the squad were looking toward the entrenched rebels with a grim look. Horn looked down towards the various rebel emplacements and blew a long whistle. 'Taking the base isn't going to be easy' he thought to himself.

"Good. Everyone's here'' Captain Thyrion announced.

"Take five. Then we move on to Phase 2''

The operation organised by the Hunter and the Planetary Defence Force, PDF were separated into three phases. Phase 1 was taking control of the walls. Phase 2 was to clear the inner emplacements. Phase 3 was to take over the factory.

However, if they could not take the factory or if they incurred casualties that were too high during stage 2, they would evacuate and level the shipyard with orbital bombardment. Nobody wanted that scenario as it would net them no loot and fewer contribution points. This is why Phase 2 had to be completed with as few casualties as possible.

"Helix, you're up. Time to blow em up''

The teams have set up a series of artillery on the wall. The plan was simple. Soften them up and then rush them. Enemy players were already setting up anti-missile batteries and artilleries of their own on the ground. Ready to make the attacker's life miserable. Their mission was to hold for a certain set of time before reinforcements from the rebels arrived. How long, Horn wasn’t sure. That’s the beauty of this game, the quests were given with just enough information to instil a sense of urgency and unpredictability.

"Horn, Bravo 2, make sure you guys take out their fire control''

"Fire and control?'' Asked a confused Horn

"I keep forgetting you guys are civilians'' the captain said as he palmed his face.

"Aim for other players manning their artillery and their spotters.

"Bravo 2 will guide you'' he instructed.

Horn laid next to Steve. He held his one and a half metre long sniper rifle. He read the small indicators projected within his scope. Wind speed, distance, humidity, and battery power were projected on the scope which Horn spent way too much money to be proud of.

Captain Thyrion looked at his watch at his wrists', only to realise it was time to begin the operation.

He took a deep breath of the musty air filled with acrid smoke. Rockets started falling on rebel positions. Sounds of high energy discharge could be heard every time Steve or Horn took a shot.

He worried for the young boys that joined his team. The realistic nature of the game accurately depicted the war-torn battlefields that he participated in. Minus the blood and gore.

He will never admit it to the boys, but he enjoyed hanging out with the boys. Their enthusiasm was infectious. They reminded him of his team when he was young. Optimistic and unscarred by the cruelty of men.

It also helped that this party of youngsters were willing to listen and learn. Unlike the other parties he met, they refused to listen to any of his advice and thought old men should stay away from games. The worst was when he ran into the 'pro players' that belonged to big gaming organisations.

Thyrion vowed to look after the boys and the girl he only saw on launch day. Helping them out if they asked. He made a mental note to keep a close eye on them after this for signs of PTSD. The realism of the game should not be underestimated. He only found one gamey element after a month of playing. Bloodless bodies would turn into light particles after three minutes if no medical aid were administered.

As the bombardment slowed down, he shouted to his team and the two boys,

"Alright boys, time to go down to that shit hole''

The bombardment could only do so much with the energy shield covering the heavier clusters of rebels.

They made their way to one denser cluster of rebels since their team had a heavy exosuit to take point.

Using Helix as a meatshield, he pushed forward while laying it thick on the rebels.

The hysterical laughter from Helix every time he tanked a heavy round made Thyrion wonder if this boy is a masochist.

Helix jumped into the trench dug in front of the bunker and started clearing the area.

"Clear'' Helix shouted over the radio after taking down two hostiles in the trench.

They jumped in and indicated for Helix to follow the trench and start pushing towards the bunker.

Gulliver followed behind Captain Thyrion who was following closely behind Helix. He shot at anything that moved towards the left while the captain took the right. He tried his best to learn what he can from the captain.

The skills he and his party picked up here greatly improve the party's combat capabilities. They even jokingly said they are now better than the hardcore pro players.

Gulliver noted that the resistance in the trench was not strong. He assumed they would fortify the position closer to the shield generator they were pushing up to.

He saw Helix making the right turn in the trench and was immediately pushed to the floor from the impact of bullets and plasma.

The captain strained to pull him back and growled,

"I told you not to take sharp corners without orders to. How many more times must I repeat to get it into that thick skull of yours?''

The rest of the crew were chuckling behind at the antics of Helix.

One of the guys with blonde hair took a quick peek at the corner.

'I think he was Leonard?' Thought Gulliver. He’s bad with names and thought Bravo 4 was a great name since it is easy to remember.

The 'alleged' Leonard' quickly return and reported,

"It's the shield generator just up ahead. I spotted two heavy gunners and another 5 with medium rifles.

"They look distorted so chances are they are protected behind a shield as well.''

The captain nodded and said,

"Like we practice, Squid Push''

Gulliver nodded, and stowed his rifle on the magnetic point on his back. He took out two round objects from his pocket in his armour, holding one in each hand.

"Smoke, ready'' he announced.

"Bravo 3, Smoke ready''

"Bravo 4, Shields ready''

"Go!'' The captain yelled after receiving confirmation from the team.

Gulliver shouted

"Smoke out!'' As he pressed the indentation at the top of the ball with his thumb and did an underhanded throw over the corner.

A loud pop and the trench was filled with pink smoke. The rebel defenders immediately start shooting blindly into the smoke.

"Pink smoke really?'' Shouted Horn through the radio as he was observing everything from a high elevation.

"Hey, we don't judge'' came another voice who Gulliver recognised as Bravo 2.

Gulliver smiled and waited for the opponent's fire to die down. He casually replied,

"Nothing wrong with the colour pink! You'll like the next one. I spent an extra 10 credits to get the colour just right''

When the spray of bullets begin to die down, Gulliver pressed his second smoke bomb and tossed it harder into the corner.

Four seconds later, a loud pop was heard. Horn cursed as the blind fire from the defenders picked up again.

"Fucking rainbow? You wasted 10 fucking credits for that bullshit? '' Horn shouted into the radio.

Gulliver just shrugged his shoulders and looked around. Everyone's shoulders were shaking from trying to hold in their laughter

"Horn, I really don't understand your issue with pink and rainbows'' Leonard said into the radio.

"I had bad memories with it'' Horn cursed. This time earning more laughter from the boys.

"They're reloading, now's the time to push captain'' Steve's voice cracked into the radio.

"Alright ladies, time to go. Bravo 4, deploy shields''

"Aye captain. Shield out''

Bravo 4 pressed hard on the button and fling the ball up the corner.

The captain counted to five and shouted at Helix to push forward.

The team followed closely behind Helix as he occasionally took some fire that the shield grenade failed to block.

A low thrum could be heard when they neared the deployed shield.

"Deploying the second shield'' shouted Bravo 4.

Captain Thyrion again counted to 5 and shouted for the team to push. Helix charged up and past the shield.

**

Dion gave out a small laugh when the rainbow smoke exploded not far from her.

'The opponents must be players. No way NPCs would deploy these hilarious smokes' she thought to herself as the order to cease fire came from the commanding NPC.

Dion found the smoke hilarious and was happy as it was weird moments like this that made the game fun.

Suddenly, a heavy exo rushed out of the smoke covered in glitter. He made it past the shield 5 metres in front of her before miniaturised rockets flew out behind him.

Plumes of rainbow exhausts were the last thing Dion saw before being sent back to the respawn zone. She wasn't even mad. In fact, she couldn't stop laughing at her ridiculous death.

"I need to find out which party this is''

***

"Really!?! Helix you too?!" Shouted an agitated Horn

"I swear I'll put this tungsten slug into the back of your head" he cursed.

Gulliver could only grin. He and Helix spent more than 50 credits on this formula. It was a pure cosmetic purchase that players would usually ignore since the credits were extremely valuable at this point in time.

But it was worth it. He was only sad that Phoenix couldn't join in the fun. Gulliver was sure she would have an even crazier idea.

He ran as hard as he can to catch up to Helix. He couldn't miss the opportunity his friend provided.

Gulliver plopped down next to crouching Captain Thyrion and immediately shot at the player that was peeking over a barricade.

He heard the signal from the captain and he rushed up to the next trench. He raised his rifle over the trench and data was immediately fed to his visor.

Opposing rebels were highlighted in red and a yellow crosshair was tracking where his rifle was pointed. Gulliver adjusted his aim, lining up the crosshair with the red silhouette and pulled the trigger.

He got confirmation from his visor of the kill and he switched to the next target.

They slowly pushed their way up to the generator console. Despite Horn's threat to shoot Helix in the head, he diligently aimed at the heavy exo trying to reinforce the generator.

Helix's exosuit was levels above others. Many Hunters classify his suit as Tier 2.5 despite the .5 ratings aren't officially available in the game.

This allowed Helix to shred the enemy heavies guarding the shield generator.

As planned, Helix sneakily crawled to the right with Captain Thyrion and Bravo 3 while the rest stayed behind to cover Helix who was drawing all the enemy attention.

After checking the maps projected on their HUD, they started flanking the opponents.

The plan was simple. They were to sneak their way past the defences to the console as Helix drew all the enemies' attention. Deactivate the shield to allow their overwatch to pick off targets while allowing the artillery team to rain on the lesser defences.

Horn gave a toothy grin when the telltale sign of a shimmering shield dissipated into the air. He immediately changed his focus to the confused defenders and started popping heads.

The additional support of the snipers tipped the balanced shootout into Helix's favour. Seeing that they were losing, the defenders tried to retreat only to be met by Gulliver, Bravo 3 and Captain Thyrion's bullets.

The remaining rebels were wiped within minutes and the shield generator secured. The rebel clusters which were supported by the shield generator were methodically bombed to oblivion.

Phase two was completed with barely a casualty rate of 50% with most of the deaths being from players.

Captain Thyrion wasn't surprised by the results since most players lack the strategic mind and skill for such a realistic firefight. The traditional holy trinity of RPGs which most players used wasn't just viable. The strategy won't work if the opponents overwhelm the tank.

'Idiots, you can't kite bullets' the Captain thought to himself. He wondered how long most players would remain stubborn.

***

Tilly squinted at the final design of her patented battery design and finally gave a satisfied smile.

"Good news?'' Jupiter walked over after seeing Tilly's smile.

"Yes, in fact it's great news! I've finally completed the optimisation. And guess how much better its capacity is compared to the ones available in the market?''

"15%?"

Tilly laughed at the guess and thought that her good friend is underestimating her capabilities.

"20. It is 20% better. I think I can squeeze even more out if I spend more time on it but I don't think it's worth the time investment''

Jupiter shook her head at the number. She thought about it for a minute before she suggested her idea to Tilly.

"That's great news! Have you thought about production? Honestly, I think we should take a loan and start our own production. The

interest rates the Galactic Bank is offering right now are quite low, at only 4%.

"I heard from my friends who were economics majors talking about the mega-corporations on Earth are slowly dipping their toes into AO. That will significantly drive up the interest rates of the Galactic Bank when more join in.

Tilly gave Jupiter a weird look.

"Aren't those economics nerds thinking too much about it? It's just a game. Besides, they can just buy credits from the credits exchange''

Jupiter clicked her tongue at Tilly. She flicked Tilly on the forehead and chastised,

"That's a very narrow thinking mindset. The economic institution here is extremely robust. The players will not have enough credits for the amount these MNCs are demanding. The current exchange rates are already extremely inflated.

"These companies are playing the long game. It is cheaper for them to take massive loans than paying an arm and a leg from the credit exchange.

"After all, the Galatic Bank function as the quasi-central bank of the galaxy and I don't think they will be too happy if the whole game is suddenly injected with a massive amount of cash''

Tilly was already losing her focus. She find Jupiter's lecture to be endearing but she was always more passionate about science. Her head jerked forward from the sudden head slap from the midget standing in front of her.

"Ow, what was that for?'' Tilly complained.

"Listen here you little shit. This is a lifetime opportunity to get rich. We can earn so much more if we produce your battery than outsourcing it to others.

"TLDR, get the fucking loan and start a production line. Let me handle the rest'' Jupiter ended with a death glare.

Nodding her head like an obedient rabbit, Tilly replied meekly,

"Yes ma'am''

"Good. I'm gonna head out for food'' said Jupiter as she headed out the door.

Tilly received a ring. The AI that Jupiter personally wrote sent her a breakdown of machinery and raw materials to purchase and the estimated price calculated pre and post-tax.

It also listed the recommended amount of loan she should take, a graph on her expected sales, the rate of return on investment, and all the economics mumbo jumbo.

Grumbling at how efficient her friend was and how she picked the wrong major at university, Tilly sat down on her console and got to work.