The First Opponent

Dom and Alba were already booting up the simulator and setting up the next environment for my combat training. Rei mentioned he’d managed to catch a short nap and was ready to stay up all night practicing.

Before I stepped into the ring, Luna introduced me to Lorenzo, the team’s strategic leader, the one who would guide me in developing combat methods to defeat my three opponents in the Games.

“Inertia, this is Lorenzo, an old friend of mine. He used to live in old Italy but moved to Kera even before Una declared itself a State,” Luna said, motioning for Lorenzo to come closer.

Lorenzo was about one meter seventy tall, with black hair, olive skin, prescription glasses that framed his brown eyes, and a short, neatly trimmed beard.

“Pleasure to meet you, Inertia. I’ll be your guide and instructor for the next two days. I never imagined I would live to see a human from the twenty-first century,” he said, adjusting his glasses as he studied me.

“The pleasure is mine. Thank you in advance for your help,” I replied.

“All right, I’ve been summoned by the council and need to leave now, but I’ll be back before your departure for Nowy. Alba will help you with your new suit, and if you need anything, contact me. You are my priority now,” Luna said, bidding me farewell as she handed me a black oval device.

“Throw this hard against the ground, and I’ll be instantly teleported to wherever you are,” she explained. Then she left with another man who had been waiting by the door.

“Come on, Inertia, let’s test your new phone case first,” Alba called, inviting me up the stairs to the ring.

Dom was in charge of the simulator controls, seated in the booth above the stands, farther from us. From there, as I understood it, he could configure the entire simulator and set the fight either against system-controlled robots or in manual mode, where he had full control.

I climbed the stairs and, as soon as I stepped into the inner part of the ring, the environment changed completely. It now resembled the courtyard of a traditional Japanese castle.

It felt as if I were really there. The breeze on my skin, the sunlight on my face—everything was almost indistinguishable from reality.

“Alba, I didn’t notice these details the first time I was here. Does this simulator actually transport us somewhere, or does it just recreate reality?” I asked, amazed by the quality of what I was seeing.

“You’re partly right. All the simulated environments were originally mapped from real locations, so everything captured that day can now be reproduced here exactly. It’s simulated, but at one point it was real,” she replied.

“All right, let’s begin. First, I need you to take out your phone,” she continued.

I pulled it from the right pocket of my combat suit and held it in my hand.

“Now, look at the center of the phone’s protective case. On both sides there’s a concave section, and at the bottom, a button. Put the phone back in your pocket and press the inner button with your thumb.”

“Got it.” I placed it back in my pocket and withdrew my hand. Then, as if practicing it for real, I slid my right hand inside again, found the concave part with my thumb, and pressed it.

As soon as I did, the phone began rotating and sliding up my arm as if following a magnetic track toward the back of my neck. It climbed along the inside of my forearm, rotated to the back of my arm, reached my shoulder, and locked into place.

It locked into place, but nothing transformed at that moment.

“Is that how it’s supposed to be?” I asked her.

“Completely. The combat activation has to be handled by Rei. Luna redesigned the phone’s protective case and created this rotation system so your phone wouldn’t be visible during fights. Of course, they’ll slow down the recordings to try to spot the object, but even then, the triangular shape will camouflage it well,” she replied.

“Understood. I preselected Telo’s skin for training, but if you’d like, I can switch it to mimic your next opponent. How should we proceed?” Rei asked.

This time Lorenzo answered from outside the ring. I couldn’t see him, but I heard his voice.

“First, we’ll test the functions of your current suit. After that, we’ll move on to your special Mimicry ability. We need to analyze and verify each of your systems before we can begin training Rei’s combat skills.”

“Agreed,” Rei replied.

“Luna isn’t here to oversee the biological aspects for future research, but since this is urgent, I’ll handle what I can observe externally. So the first step is activating the new phone case with the preset skin,” Lorenzo explained.

“I’ll count to three, then Rei can start the combat,” Alba said. “One… two… three!”

We stood in silence, waiting for something to happen — yet nothing did.

“What happened, Rei? Couldn’t you activate it?” I asked.

“The combat start button isn’t available. Just a moment,” he replied. “Apparently, I can’t initiate combat without an opponent. The instructions say the combat system was designed specifically for Inertia’s defense.”

“So there’s a manual? Can you show us?” Lorenzo asked.

Rei explained that new rules and clarifications had been gradually added with each update, but he read aloud everything listed in the app’s FAQ.

“Dom, I need you to simulate an opponent for us,” Lorenzo requested.

“Okay, I’ll start one in manual combat mode,” Dom replied.

A minute later, a gigantic golem made of volcanic rock emerged in the middle of the courtyard. Its right arm morphed into a blazing hammer, and without hesitation Dom brought it down in a furious strike right beside me.

One of the conditions for the button to activate was adrenaline coursing through my veins. It didn’t take long. Rei pressed the button, and I felt a powerful jolt in my cervical spine. Despite my fear, it wasn’t painful, and within seconds I lost control of my body.

Even as control slipped away, I could feel the transformation. The sensation in my limbs was like cracking a joint — you feel it, you hear it, but there’s no pain.

Rei had pre-selected and activated Telo’s skin, and so it was. I now stood two meters tall, looking down at Alba on the ground, while the golem loomed even higher above me.

“Incredible!” I heard Lorenzo’s voice, brimming with amazement, before he burst out laughing like a madman.

“How do you feel, Inertia?!” Alba shouted from below.

I think she had forgotten that I was imprisoned within my own body.

“I hope she’s okay,” Rei answered in my place.

“All right. Phase one went well. Now we’ll test Mimicry and then move on to Rei’s trials,” Lorenzo announced.

We spent the entire day testing skins, equipment, and practicing physical combat so Rei could fine-tune the control parameters in the Versus app.

By the end of the day, Rei felt ready, and we wrapped up the session.

We began the second day of training earlier to ensure everything would run smoothly for what was to come.

Once inside the simulator, Lorenzo called us over.

“Let’s start the day with some information about your first opponent, Fanger.”

End of Report 31