678 An old video

"The game that we challenged them to, was Block, Block," Mantis said, pointing at the machine.

Looking at the thing was bringing back bad memories for Dennis. He started rubbing his arms in certain places that felt a little sore, even though his injuries had happened a while ago and had long healed. It was more mentally damaging than physically.

Refusing to give up, he stubbornly tried playing the game multiple times and each time losing.

Block, Block. It was a game played using a Cylinder object that was as large and as thick as an adult male. The pole was split up into six different segments. On each segment, there were two poles that would stick outward.

There were multiple different levels of the game, and depending on what level, more segments would move at the same time, and the speed would vary. The player was to block each of these segments from hitting their body. The only parts of the body that were allowed to be hit by the incoming poles, were the area from the hands to the elbow, and the foot to the knees.

If the pole touched any other area, then the game would end. Hence the title of the game, a person was to block all the oncoming attacks.

The question was, how were the Parasites cheating on a game like this? The last time Quinn had played this, was during the Inter base military event. At the time, a group of people cheated in the past as well, using their abilities to break the machine.

However, these weren't students. They were now playing the game with seasoned Travellers who had a keen eye, if someone was using an ability, then it would be quite obvious.

"We play the game as intended, no beast gear, no abilities are allowed to be used. So it all depends on natural talent." Mantis explained. "How could we even cheat on a game like this? I think at the end of the day, the Parasites just have many talented people that belong to our faction."

Smiling and standing forward, Nate looked at the machine.

"Hey, Quinn, I know you wanted to play, but do you mind if I take this one?"

Nate was a martial artist, and he loved things like this. He knew Quinn was strong and had even shown impressive martial arts, but if it was a game of reflexes, he thought he would fare better.

"Go ahead, as long as it can solve this silly dispute," Quinn replied.

"Excellent," Mantis siad. "So the deal is, if you win this game, then we will allow your people to back out from their previous deal. If we win, then you must provide us with the credits needed to purchase the items they wished at our set price."

"And if we find that you are cheating?" Quinn asked again.

"I'm afraid that's not on the table, because we aren't cheating.

Quinn decided to leave that for now, and could perhaps use it against them for later.

The game started with Nate going first, it started at level one, which was quite easy. It was probably something Nate could have done with his eyes closed. Only the top segment of the machine moved for this one.

On the Parasites side, a small adult man named Wevil was playing. There was no surprise here as the game was easy for him. Quinn was observing carefully, Nate's blocks were confident and powerful, while Wevil's seemed more quick and smooth.

Just with the first level alone, it was hard to tell who was more skilful, but both of them were doing well.

"I remember seeing you play this game before Quinn," Sil said.

"Oh?"

"It was at the inter base tournament, didn't a video go around of you?" He asked.

"Ah yeah, luckily I didn't get caught."

Linda was listening in on the two's conversation. She was wondering why a video of a person would have gone around of someone playing a game like this. Sure there were those who enjoyed the game so much they watched professionals play.

But it sounded like they were talking about when they were still students.

The two participants carried on through the levels of the block block game until they had reached level six.

"Is Nate really doing all this with no abilities?" Dennis said with his mouth wide opened. "I guess i should get him to teach me sometime." Remembering that Dennis, and only reached level four, sometimes even performing worse, getting knocked out at level three.

Quinn preferred not participating, if he was going to catch anything the Parasites were doing, it would be from watching.

Level 6 onwards in the block block game was where it got really hard, it was starting to get to the point where professionals would be playing something like this. However, Nate concentrating to the max, had managed to clear it, lifting his hand and leg up blocking the last two strikes.

When it was Wevil's turn. The parasites were cheering him on and not a single one of them looked nervous, unlike Quinn's group. Then when it started, Quinn noticed something almost immediately.

It wasn't anything suspicious to be called cheating, but it was Wevil's movements that had suddenly changed. Up till this point, his movements had been flowing quite naturally, and now they seemed quite robotic. Still, he had managed to clear the level, which meant Nate would have to go to level 7.

'I'm glad I took over instead of Quinn; otherwise, it would have been embarrassing to have our faction leader lose to this little guy. I didn't think they would have someone so skilful.'

The game started, and again Nate was doing well, that was until the last ten seconds had come. This was where the machine would ramp up, and unfortunately, he had lifted up his shoulder blocking the pole form hitting his head, but it was still declared a loss.

Still, there was a chance they could win. If Wevil was knocked out as well, but lasted for a shorter time then Nate, he would be declared the winner.

The game started, and once again, Quinn noticed that his movements had the same feeling as in the last round, robotic. Soon, the sound of the level being complete appeared.

"Now, did any one of you spot us cheating or using an ability?" Mantis asked. "I didn't think so."

"I'm sorry," Nate said, looking disappointed. He really thought other than professionals he could have beaten anyone at a game like this.

"Don't worry, it's not your fault," Quinn said stepping forward. "You don't mind keeping the bet on, do you?"

"Sure, go right ahead," Mantis said, so confident in winning.

"Quinn, you don't have to do this," Nate mumbled.

"Let's start from level seven, there's some things I have to do," Quinn said.

The machine was repositioned, and the level was set.

"Hey, you went to military schools the same time as Quinn did, so were you at the inter base tournament?" Linda asked.

"Yeah, why?"

[Level 7 selected]

"Was there some type of video shared around about this game during that time?"

"Come to think of it, yeah, I remember it being shown to everyone everywhere. The person had done something that had never been seen before, even for professionals. It looked like rather than blocking the attacks from the machine, he was hitting it.

"It sounds simple, but if you hit a non-moving target, the machine also considers the game to be over, which meant he had to be hitting the machine so fast, as soon as it moved, that it looked like he was attacking it."

"Stop joking." Linda chuckled. "That would be impossible."

[Game begin]

"Impossible," Sil said. "Not for Quinn."

As soon as the game started, Quinn concentrated, using his ears to pick up the different segments moving, his eyes reacted as quickly as he could, snapping out his hands and legs lightning fast.

This continued on, for an entire minute. The whole time the Parasites were waiting for a game over screen, but it never appeared.

"Don't tell me?" Nate said. "That guy was Quinn?"

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