The Mask That Always Smiles

Mask Training Raven Arena is an intense and rigorous training facility designed to push you to your limits! We challenge your strength, endurance, fighting spirit, tactical thinking, and the depth of your heart.

Do you have what it takes?

We prepare you for anything.

(•ω•)

The Phoenix Arena was located near the outskirts of Berghwoodna, in a highly cursed location. It had been a very popular destination for Kai to hone his fighting expertise until it burned down, seemingly due to supernatural forces. It had been gone ever since—so much for its 'rising from the ashes.'

Two years later, a new owner built a fresh training facility in a less cursed area of Berghwoodna, right outside the Wally courtyard. The result was a superior training facility called the "Raven Arena," better than ever before. With all the latest VR environments one could ever imagine and the ultimate goal of creating the best fighters the world had ever seen, training at this luxurious arena required you to be either rich or a legendary fighter.

Because Kai was renowned as a legendary player within the game for his entertaining fights and unorthodox approach to challenges, he could train here for free. Even when he was just training, perhaps eBunnee viewers tuned in to see him and witness the unique ways he trained for upcoming fights. Today was no different, as there was a big VR fight in Mask scheduled for tomorrow.

The next day, Eliza would be with him by his side. However, due to her inadequate stats, she could not be there physically. He genuinely wanted to help her improve and reach the level required one day. She seemed to be more interested in being a cheerleader and supporting him, for which he was eternally grateful.

Seeking a stroke of good luck, Kai decided to pay a visit to the Wally statue and give it a gentle pat for some positive vibes. Every time he was near that statue, it uplifted his spirits. As he entered the courtyard and took in the scenic garden, he noticed a podium where Wally usually sat. Despite this, instead of the familiar dog statue, there was an imposing rock with a pink smiley face painted haphazardly on the front.

He saw no Wally dog statue, just a huge rock. Was this rock a good substitute? People seemed to be taking photos of it and patting the rock for good luck, so he might as well try.

A little girl came forward, tears welling up in her eyes as if she were meeting a famous singer she had idolised all her life. She excitedly exclaimed to her mother, "Look, Mum! It's Blobby! He is so cute! I want to take him home with me! Can I?"

In his thoughts, he mused, "Blobby? So, no more Wally? RIP to that."

That rock... um, Blobby. Had it truly become so beloved in such a short time? He distinctly recalled seeing Wally less than a week ago, and yet people seemed to have already moved on.

It was fascinating how anything with a high number of views on eBunnee instantly captured people's attention, regardless of what or who it was.

After patting the top of the rock, a person behind me prodded me to hurry up, so I left. I didn't feel like my morale, luck, or RNG had increased at all from the visit.

As soon as I stepped outside, an elderly woman with a mysteriously blended accent and an overwhelming amount of eyeshadow approached me. It was either a striking makeup choice or a sign that she hadn't slept in a very long time.

"Blobby's luck is temporary!" she declared.

She stared at me unflinchingly, making it feel like I was being scorned. I tried to walk away slowly.

She walked towards me and said, "Blobby no good!"

I thought she was waiting for me to say something.

"NO, Blobby! You don't need Blobby! Blobby is the wicked work of demons! Oh, yes! Blobby will drag you into a whirlpool of temptations and plunge you into the abyss of endless despair!"

The word count for 'Blobby' was getting high right now.

She yakked on, "Blobby will no bless you; you need these," as she delicately unfurled her hand, revealing multiple coloured gemstones with a smooth aesthetic.

Of course, she was trying to sell me something.

She observed me looking at an opal-coloured stone stuck under her thumb while she tried to reshuffle the stones in her hand to bring the opal gemstone into view.

One of the gems got stuck to her fingers, increasing her frustration. In her exasperation, she dropped the green stone, which shattered into tiny particles of dust upon contact with the ground. The green dust rose into the air, wafting upwards.

The elderly woman started choking visibly. Kai watched as she bent over, heaving heavily. She looked up at Kai, covered in sweat, with eyes bright red from the heavy coughing.

"Blobby muck, the green smut! Ah, the perks and downfalls of being old, my dear!" she croaked, her voice strained and garbled amidst choking gasps.

So much for being a 'good luck' stone—she was genuinely blaming the nasty cough on her age, not the noxious green smog she had just inhaled?

"Let's move over here, shall we not? Being here, not good."

A petite young girl, no older than six, walked opposite them, her tiny frame barely visible beneath the colossal weight of a rock nearly as large as she was. The sight was both astonishing and surreal. How was she so strong? Could this be some kind of illusion? Is this real life?

The girl's face lit up with joy as she exclaimed, "I finally have my very own Blobby!" Walking closely behind her were a couple, presumably her parents. Surprisingly, they observed the scene with contentment, allowing their young daughter to bear the weight of the massive rock without showing any hint of wanting to help her carry it. By the look on her face, it was quite apparent that she wanted no help.

In a world where children once revelled in the joy of carrying candy floss, balloons, or oversized fluffy toys from fairgrounds, amusement parks, and arcades, they now found the same type of bliss in carrying enormous rocks.

The child walked over to where the gemstone had just been dropped and inhaled deeply, receiving a heavy dose of the unpleasant odour it emitted. The smiling child looked at her Blobby statue, a big rock, and said, "Ewww! Yucky! Blobby just farted!"

"Now, honey, what did I tell you about blaming others for things you did?" the tall woman behind her commented.

"But I did not do it! It was Blobby!" the child protested.

"I don't smell anything," said the tall man.

But then, "Bleurgh!" both adults exclaimed, retching and collapsing to the floor.

"It's like the putrid stench of a thousand rotting fish drenched in sewage," the man managed to choke out, his voice strained.

"My eyes are burning! I need some water quickly!" cried the woman.

Kai kept his distance from the family as much as he could. Apparently, they were now selling 'Blobby' statues as souvenirs?

"So, do you want the opee, my dear? You need the opee to become a good fighter, yes?"

I had completely forgotten about this woman, 'opee'? What was this odd woman talking about? And how did she know that I was a fighter? It took a while for it to register in my mind: Ah! 'opal!' She really struggled with pronouncing big words, it seemed. At least she had stopped coughing and choking now.

"I have opee for you!"

"Please don't"

"You need opee."

"Opal!" I shouted.

"So ye be seekin' one o' me precious gems, ye say? Ah, ye have conjured a fine notion there, my dear," she cackled with a hoarse voice.

She kept pacing from left to right, consistently mirroring my every turn.

I let out a sigh. I was committed now, so I might as well just buy one and get it over with.

When she passed it over to me, I was mesmerised by the enchanting flashes of every imaginable colour. From one side, it showcased a stunning blend of vibrant blues. As I gently turned it in the sunlight, a magical transformation occurred, revealing mesmerising shades of pink, yellow, and red. Each colour danced and flickered before my eyes, resembling a breathtaking firework display in the depths of the ocean.

I thanked her and left, holding it tightly in my right hand. I readjusted some of my fingers while holding it and realised that the gemstone felt sticky.

I wasn't sure what came over me, but for a fleeting moment, I had an inexplicable desire to lick the gemstone. The elderly woman glared at me, and I quickly realised it was better not to do it. What on Earth is wrong with me? After witnessing the incident with the green, smelly gemstone, I should keep this one as far away from my face as possible—especially considering it had been held in her hands for a long period of time. I didn't feel like I was in the right frame of mind for VR today.

Many viewers on eBunnee were anticipating me and eager to watch me train, so I couldn't let them down. I didn't want to appear ungrateful for being allowed free access to the Raven Arena's facilities. I could lose this privilege if I didn't consistently do well and entertain.

The Raven Arena was not far from here; it was located right in the centre of Berghwoodna. The arena was marked by a neon-red sign displaying its name and a large blue raven logo positioned just above it. I often wished ravens were naturally blue; the colour suited them so well.

On the side of the entrance, there was a large graffiti-style canvas painting featuring cartoon characters delivering strikes and punches through the air. Their expressions depicted intense pain, as if they were striking an invisible opponent or enduring great discomfort. One of the fighters resembled Bruce Lee; his face contorted as though he had just stomped his foot on thumbtacks while experiencing constipation.

When I entered the Raven Arena, I swiped my Mask card. This card held a wealth of information about me—my stats, personality traits, the number of fights I'd won, my fighting style, and all the unique quirks that defined me. If I had a Dinglebarry attached to me, it could connect to the card, allowing me to access stored highlights of my most memorable fights and significant moments. The Dinglebarry would act as an assist in battles, recording everything from its own perspective, making it a valuable tool for strategy and reflection.

After completing a minimum of 50 fights, a macro of my fighting style was created. This macro encompassed all the actions I would typically take in various situations. For instance, if I tended to deliver a shin kick followed by a strike to the head when an opponent moved forward, the macro would faithfully mimic this sequence if someone wished to fight a digital clone of me within Mask.

The Mask card possessed an understanding of my tendencies in most situations, allowing other fighters to study and potentially devise strategies to counter my specific fighting style and techniques. It became crucial to maintain an element of unpredictability and embrace unorthodox methods.

Remember, even if I emerged victorious, the viewers despised predictable, dull, or uneventful fights.

My card granted me free entry, but typically, individuals would have to pay a substantial fee to visit here. Furthermore, I was entitled to create one Dinglebarry at no cost. The reason I didn't have one yet was that Eliza tended to be indecisive. Despite its primary purpose being a pet to assist me in battle, Eliza insisted on making it incredibly cute. I hoped we could agree on one soon. Fingers crossed.

As I swiped my card through the reader, its rapid beeping resonated with every passing second. A flurry of data about me swiftly scrolled up the screen. More beeps followed, resembling the sound of a dial-up modem connecting to the internet. Now, it made making groaning noises that made it quite uncomfortable to stand here and listen to.

Behind me, a man in shorts with no top paced up and down, clearly irritated that I was taking too long. I would have understood walking around without a top if he had a body you wanted to show off, but this hairy mess of a man had a stomach like the Michelin Man and lacked any defining physique at all.

As soon as I unintentionally glanced at his stomach, I quickly turned my head and refocused on the card-swiping machine. It needed to load approximately 20 terabytes of information about me before I could proceed.

I knew it was only a matter of time before the person behind me said something: "Are you uploading your home movie up there, you little Twilight fool? You need to hurry up! It only took that guy five seconds to swipe his card. It only takes me about 2 seconds. Do you even know what you're doing? The youth these days think we want to just stall around forever! Do you think we have nothing better to do?"

Mentioning that the system only tookfive seconds to load your 'Mask' data is not really something to brag about, especially considering it loaded a lot of data about you, including data about your 'personality' and fighting traits.

Furthermore, why is he calling me a Twilight fool? Was it because of my relationship with Eliza? They are making a Bella and Edward comparison to mock me. I really enjoyed the Twilight movies and books, so it was quite a compliment to be compared to those two. I was genuinely content with my body's appearance. While I might not have possessed a chiselled physique, I didn't feel the need to paint on some abs with body paint, and I certainly didn't want to be involved with any 'imprinting'.

With the guy behind me consuming my thoughts, I couldn't help but envision him with painted-on abs. An odd image of a space hopper imprinted with grill marks flashed through my mind, but I quickly tried to shake it off and thought of something else.

I sensed the guy behind me was about to make a comment, but before he did, I heard one last beep and the words, "Welcome, Kai! You can now enter... The Rave..." Why was it taking so long to load the remaining letters? "The Rave"? I was not in the mood for dancing. I could tell the guy behind me was about to say something by the way he was pacing. Since the prompt gave permission to proceed, I wasn't waiting another ten minutes for it to fully load the words "Raven Arena."

I strolled through the training arena and noticed a row of black-boxed VR rooms arranged in a horizontal line, each labelled with a number. As I approached, I spotted a massive rock obstructing the pathway to one of the rooms, with the room door shut. It dawned on me that it was one of those idiotic Blobby good luck rocks. The stone was too large and heavy to bring inside the VR room, so they had just haphazardly thrown it right in the middle of the pathway, making it difficult to walk past.

As I squeezed past the statue, inhaling and sucking in my stomach to create enough space, I pondered while looking at the huge rock: 'Why not?' I gave it a gentle pat as I passed by.

In one of the VR rooms, I heard someone heavily heaving.

"Oh no! Not again! Argh!" a voice exclaimed in frustration. The sound of a flush echoed through the room—though I couldn't tell if it was from the game or... something else. A moment later, a resounding splat sound was heard.

"PFFT FRAAAP BRAAAACK," the peculiar noises continued...

I kept my distance from that VR room, no matter what was happening in there. Although the rooms resembled toilets somewhat, it would be wise to exercise some common sense, especially considering they were filled with expensive VR equipment.

My eyes were watering now as a result of the guy making ghastly sounds and creating a toxic stench. I kept my head down as I strained to look up, scanning all the room numbers. In my search for an available room, my eyes were drawn to the number 25. Its perfectly balanced form made it a favourite choice when I made decisions. Should I select room number 25? Strangely enough, I consistently leaned towards either room 25 or 20 for arbitrary, superficial reasons. These two numbers usually brought me luck.

With my posture still not fully upright, I pulled open one of the doors to the black boxes. The door was overly loose, though I doubted it was due to my strength. I quickly grabbed the door before it clashed with the box's exterior, avoiding the impression of being an irritating teenager showing off and being reckless with the equipment.

Inside the large square box was a circular pad at its centre, equipped with small rails. I guessed these were to prevent people who forget they are in a simulation from walking around the arena with the headset on and bumping into giant rocks idiots have placed in the pathway. Looking at the circular pad, it appeared to be made of a very durable plastic-like material. Its shiny floor flickered and flashed multiple colours. When you stood on it, it felt like you were floating in the air. I didn't know how they achieved this, but it was quite remarkable.

After observing the rails and the flashing floor pads, it looked very much like one of those old dancing arcade machines. Maybe this was, in fact, a rave. I was tempted to start busting a few moves, but I decided it was better not to. I found myself slightly paranoid about others catching a glimpse of my actions, despite being aware that the viewers of my eBunnee account couldn't see me until I activated the VR glasses and entered the training world of Raven.

In front of the circular pad, surrounded by rails, there was a control panel with three buttons: on, off, and panic. Whatever the panic button was for, it made me panic just thinking about it. Above the control panel was a shelf that held the VR glasses. I lifted the glasses, which resembled blue polarised skiing shades. I couldn't help but think to myself: These would be the perfect fashion accessory to look trendy while walking down the streets.

As soon as I lifted the glasses, I heard a loud meowing sound. Why was a cat sound used for this? Was this just a placeholder sound they forgot to change? Or did somebody modify it? I couldn't remember hearing a sound before when using VR, especially not from a cat.

I pressed the 'on' button and watched as the floor of the circular pad gracefully opened, revealing a captivating sight: a hollowed-out, half-egg-shaped seat ascending through the opening, with the front rails also opening.

I now understood the purpose of the rails. Imagine if the rails weren't there, and this huge egg-like object ascended, hitting you right up the backside. Kai winces just thinking about it.

As I walked around and entered through the open rail, I settled into the egg seat and placed the VR glasses on my face. Clueless about how to start it, despite having used it dozens of times before, I resorted to pressing the buttons on the side of my VR glasses. I had no clue what I was pressing. I could be triggering the fire alarms, for all I knew, or ordering a set of stockings from an online retailer. My fingers danced aimlessly across the buttons, unaware of their specific functions. After a while, the front rail closed, swiftly transporting me into the captivating realm of virtual reality.

Adapting took a while for me; I slipped slightly and tried to orient myself. Now, viewers could witness my every action, so I needed to avoid embarrassing myself. Despite it being just a training simulation, it was still crucial to entertain my viewers and not make a fool of myself. Even with amazing fans and viewers, I never looked at the comments, as I found them distracting. I maintained my full focus on the task at hand, no matter what.

Upon flicking my left wrist, I could navigate through the different training areas as well as the lounge. Everyone connected to Raven's VR system was interconnected, allowing me to observe what others were doing.

Taking a quick glance in the lounge, I observed the activities happening there. It seemed like there was a party going on, with everyone wearing pink bunny ears. Regardless of their actions, they were definitely not preparing for a fight or engaging in any training.

My gaze landed on a girl who had created a Dinglebarry for VR. The Dinglebarry was a big, gouti-coloured rabbit that was almost the size of a human. Despite its substantial size, the creature exuded an air of complete harmlessness, boasting endearing bulging eyes and fluffy, oversized ears that only amplified its innate cuteness. Its appearance suggested it lacked combat prowess and would likely be ineffective in battle. This creation seemed to embody one's desire to craft something irresistibly adorable. Intriguingly, the girl had also adorned her bunny Dinglebarry with cosmetic pink bunny ears, a seemingly superfluous and redundant embellishment.

I quickly skimmed through, observing what people were doing, hoping to spot a familiar face amidst the crowd. My attention was abruptly captured by a very slim, ripped guy about to fight some yellow llamas. I closely inspected his face and wondered who he was. He looked very familiar. He was topless with ripped abs, but his face didn't quite match his physique. There was something very jarring about his appearance. Then it hit me: this was the guy I had met at the entrance who had called me the "Twilight fool"!

In "The Mask That Always Smiles" VR simulation, our digital representation was referred to as a "Mask." Strangely enough, the guy's digital Mask featured ripped, washboard abs and muscular, toned biceps—a stark contrast to his real-life appearance. His face remained unaltered, giving him the look of a poorly edited, walking Photoshop. Furthermore, obtaining these artificial enhancements for one's digital 'Mask' required a hefty sum of money. It was astonishing to witness such ego in someone who sought to project such a physique.

On the contrary, my 'Mask' accurately reflected my true self. It faithfully replicated my face, body, height, and even the shade of my eyes, albeit with a slight variation in the hue of green. I intentionally maintained these details to ensure people could easily recognise me in real life, beyond the confines of 'The Mask' or any training simulations like Raven. I admitted that I derived some satisfaction from the attention and admiration I received. However, contemplating how I wanted to be recognised outside of 'The Mask' made me realise that perhaps I was the one with the ego.

The guy had the online alias "Negative Gravity." So, was he floating or something? He did look as high as a kite. He was attacking weak yellow llamas that couldn't really fight back—where was the challenge in this? How were you supposed to improve your fighting skills if you were attacking creatures that couldn't defend themselves?

It reminded me of cowardly hunters who relentlessly pursued defenceless animals. Engaging in a one-sided hunting expedition, these hunters exploited a lopsided advantage, with the animals often unaware that they were unwitting participants in such a game. All these animals wanted was to live peacefully, yet their sanctuary was invaded by a heartless maniac shooting at them.

I couldn't watch this guy any longer. It seemed that nobody was serious about training that day.

I saw an eye in the corner of my screen, indicating that at that moment, 5,044 viewers were actively engaged in observing my every move. This left me with a blend of unease and invigorating energy.

No more stalling! I was well aware of the areas I needed to improve: Footwork, Evasion, and Speed. That's why I chose the Hyper Aqua location. The objective there was to maintain full speed on the water's surface, defying the laws of sinking. As long as I kept up my speed, sinking wouldn't be an issue. The numerous obstacles and hurdles they threw in my way would be the problem.