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    Announcement: Please check the glossary/characters auxiliary chapter for updated concept art!


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    August 17, 2013


    The fall university semester was starting in a week, but there was much more buzz going around the City of Austin unrted to schools or students.


    Passenger flights and cross-country vehicles arrived in droves to experience the weekend of entertainment at the ''City of Tomorrow''.


    Professional War Online fans who lived around Texas were thrilled to attend a live match without needing to travel too far.


    A local news reporter was live on air, broadcast on TVworks and Instagram Live as she said, "Good day, everyone. It''s the perfect weekend for the show as four APL teams would be kicking off the APL Season 4peting to win a bonus of 10 million Bitcash and a portion of the season battle pass profits for their efforts at the sold-out DKR Texas Memorial Stadium with over 100,000 people in attendance. Saturday will feature a best of three matches between Evil Geniuses and Cloud9 with performances in between by Post Malone, Kacey Musgraves, and for the finale, Bruno Mars. While on Sunday, Prime Alliance willpete against their regional rival, FaZe n, with Hailee Steinfeld, BTS, and Ariana Grande gracing us with their musical presence."


    The reporter''s co-anchor showed their audience the many different locations to visit while in the city, such as The Crystal Pce, Future Tech Avenue, the Tech Campus, and the national parks in the surrounding areas.


    Most tickets were affordable for the masses with discounts for Future Tech employees, but wealthier patrons could pay more for better seating amodations and privileges within The Texas Longhorn''s stadium.


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    Oliver, the Future Studios program director, meticulously organized the massive event, as he''d done during the past APL Grand Finals.


    They''d set up a wide format projection screen behind the main stage for video effects while the production team scattered an intricate light disy around the open-air stadium.


    Vince wanted to host the best stadium event Austin had ever seen, with appearances of local personalities like Tom Fury and Randall Stevens.


    Naturally, the stadium event will be live-streamed for free on Instagram and Twitch for fans worldwide, as any other show Future Studios produced.


    Vince and Hailee attended the Saturday noon training session while waiting for the event to start in the early evening.


    The young CEO''s Flyganded on the AV pad as they returned from the Fury Gym. Vince noticed an SFV engine revving loudly as they disembarked and asked Hailee to follow him for a moment.


    They walked towards the ss vehicle garages adjacent to his home and found a familiar person inside the orange hypercar.


    He was a young 18-year-old Caucasian-American man and the local racing phenom representing the United States in Form 1.


    Vince amicably said, "Randall, long time no see. I expected you''d be with your team before the event started. Driving an F1 car inside the stadium isn''t the easiest thing to do."


    Randall sincerely replied, "The race season got me busy, but I''m d to be back home for the weekend before the Belgium Grand Prix next week. So who''s this lovelydy?"


    Hailee blushed as she said, "My name is Hailee, and it''s a pleasure to meet you, Randall. My brother is your biggest fan."


    The young F1 driver took thepliment graciously and replied, "Nice to meet you. Get me a shirt or a helmet, and I''ll dly sign it for your brother."


    Hailee appreciated the kind gesture and said, "Perfect! I''ll let him knowter. Thanks, Randall!"


    They entered the manor and walked towards the living room where Kyle, Jessica, Sarah, Rick, Tom, Jaden, and Alice watched an APL news show discussing the uing games.


    Fortis was in town for the matches but too busy with his team to hang out with his cousin and others at the Dalton Manor due to his responsibilities as a team captain.


    Randall politely introduced himself to the unfamiliar faces before sitting down on thefortable sofa.


    The projector disyed the Arena Daily News broadcast with the two regr hosts describing the first best of three matches happening in a few hours.


    The woman animatedly said, "Cloud9 had always ced within the top three teams in North American APL, but the recently formed Evil Geniuses roster signed a potential star yer from Canada."


    Her show hostpanion added, "Their new yer, Arteezy, had been dominating the Arena rankeddder the past year while attending high school. EG signed him for a whopping $80 million contract for two years during his birthday. He''d never yed the open-world MMO aspect of War Online and spent thousands of hours only in Arena. Season 4 is bing more interesting by the second!"


    The news show disyed an image of the young phenom Arena yer. Vince remembered him from his past life and thought, [Arteezy was amazing at DotA 2 but never really achieved the des deserving of his skill. Let''s see how you do in the APL.]


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    After a few hours, when evening arrived, Vince''s entourage took off on the Flyga, followed by his typical FAV-1 escort.


    Hailee looked out of her window as they approached the University of Texas campus and found long lines of people patiently waiting to enter the venue.


    One thousand FS operators secured the area using Dragonflies and other Future Tech devices as standard protocol with more stand-by at the FS Barracks in emergencies.


    The Texas Memorial Stadium was open-air like most other American football arenas, allowing the AVs tond near the VIP box from above.


    The locals among the 100,000 audience members recognized the Future Tech CEO''s personal Flyga and cheered as they disembarked the AV.


    The spotlight trailed Vince''s entourage as hometown heroes, Tom Fury and Randall Stevens, waved to their adoring Austin fans.


    The event was about to start in ten minutes, so they found the best seats before Randall left and reunited with his F1 team detachment for the demonstration.


    All the lights turned off, leaving only the starry night sky shining a little throughout the open stadium.


    The silence was broken by an iconic voice hosting the event familiar to everyone who lived in Texas, Matthew McConaughey.


    The beloved local actor said, "Alright, alright, alright. Before we begin, I''d like everyone in this stadium to show Austin and everyone watching from home some love!"


    Nobody would dare not follow Matthew''s instructions as they shouted, pped, and cheered with excitement.


    Even the broadcast and livestream viewers felt the hype and passion through their TVs and other electronic devices.


    Matthew slowly said, "Let''s hear from our special guest, our very own, Randall Stevens!"


    The spotlight focused on a Future Tech F1 car while revving the hybrid freevalve engine that reliably produces 1,200 horsepower.


    Randall drove around the stadium a few times for the fans before performing donuts and allowing the engine to sing in its own way.


    Matthew McConaughey returned to the stage and presented the first musical act of the night, a rising Texan hip-hop artist, Post Malone.


    Posty performed two songs, "White Iverson" and "Too Young" from his uing Future Studios album.


    Oliver prepared specific background videos and effects coborating with the technical staff, adding another entertaining element to the musical numbers.


    Kyle introduced the highly-anticipated match between EG and Cloud9 on the main stage as the yers walked into the gaming booths.


    A few of the passionate fans chanted Arteezy''s name, cheering for the young gun on his first match in the APL.


    He yed a simr archetype with Chatan from Clear Sky, focusing on dealing damage and winning team fights from the backlines, though a bit more aggressive.


    The main characters entered the Arena, and the Cloud9 yers couldn''t help themselves fromughing at Arteezy''s avatar dressed with the most basic items.


    The Arena mode automatically bnces all items used by yers, so it didn''t matter if you had fancy armor or weapons. Yet most pro yers spend plenty of their winnings buying the most aesthetically pleasing outfits for personal branding.


    Fortis was famous for his blue and gold armor, for example. Arteezy didn''t care because he never yed the War Online MMORPG anyway and had no use for expensive and appealing gear.


    Arteezy was known on his livestream to switch up weapons and traits before his ranked games to practice more techniques, and he chose dual-swords for the first match.


    The gamementators in the stadium understood that some of the audience members may not be familiar with War Online Arena and exined the basic concepts inyman''s terms for everyone''s enjoyment.


    The early few minutes of the game went smoothly for Cloud9 as their sideners bullied the enemy team. Arteezy kept up his dominance in the middlene and transitioned to roaming as soon as he unlocked the trait ultimate ability.


    He moved around the arena too effectively as the Cloud9 support yers were always a few seconds toote in saving their teammates.


    Taking the lead in the early game wasn''t enough for Cloud9 as they lost the first game of the best of three disappointingly.


    The EG yers left their booths and reveled in the cheers of fans in the tens of thousands before the next musical artist began performing.