Dubai, Qatar, Terra

The virtual sun hung low over the city, casting long golden lines across the smooth glass towers and white pavement.

Liam and his friends walked down the boulevard toward a car dealership district ahead. Their footsteps echoed faintly in the emptiness of Terra's digital Dubai.

Kristopher glanced around and whistled in a low tone. "You know, if I didn't know better, I'd think we're in the real Dubai."

"Same," Harper said, with his eyes scanning the lifelike street. "It's the quiet that's getting to me. There are no cars or people. I've only seen a couple birds fly past. It's like the world ended, and we're the only ones left."

"Still spooky, though. Can't lie," Alex muttered.

Matt chuckled but nodded in agreement. "Spooky or not, this is nuts. The details in the game are insane."

He looked over at Liam. "Alright, genius, I gotta ask—how the hell did you make something like this? Be honest, man, this is impossible. Like, impossible impossible."

"You have been saying that since the first video of Lucid came out," Liam smiled.

"Because it's true!" Matt laughed. "No one's ever done this before. The realism, the light refraction, the sound, the way your footsteps echo differently depending on what kind of floor you're walking on—this is next-level stuff."

Alex jumped in immediately. "Yeah, yeah, I get it's impressive. But let's be real. If you're talking about difficulty, Eternal Realms has to take the crown."

Matt turned to him. "You're crazy. That's pure fantasy; it's creative, sure, but you're not recreating an entire planet that mirrors real life down to the grain of sand."

Alex shook his head. "No. You don't get it. Eternal Realms isn't just fantasy — it's worldbuilding on an impossible scale. You've got empires and possibly every other things a fantasy game would have. And all of them have to interact logically. That's way harder than copying the real world."

Matt frowned, gesturing around. "Copying? Bro, this isn't copying. This is replicating reality — and reality isn't easy to simulate. Every reflection, every shadow, every sensory detail reacts dynamically. You think that's simple?"

Alex smirked. "At least Liam had a baseline to work with here. Earth already exists. Eternal Realms had to be built from zero. It's pure imagination."

"Yeah," Matt shot back, "but imagination doesn't have physics engines and wind patterns!"

Their voices grew louder as they argued, both animated, both convinced. Harper was laughing under his breath, while Kristopher just sighed. "Here we go again."

"Let's just ask him," Matt finally said, throwing his hands up. "Liam's literally the creator. He knows which one's hardest."

They all turned toward him. Even Harper and Kristopher, who had been pretending not to care, was clearly curious.

Liam looked amused. He kept walking, quiet for a moment before finally saying, "You both make good points. But it's not that simple."

"So which is it?" Matt frowned.

"None of them top each other. Each game had its own kind of difficulty," Liam replied.

"Lame answer," Matt muttered.

Liam chuckled. "Alright then, let me put it like this—if I had to rank them from easiest to hardest to create, Children Arena would be at the bottom. Then come the sports games."

"Wait, what?" Alex blinked. "Sports games?"

"Yeah," Liam said. "They're complex, but they're predictable. Rules, systems, limited variables. Easy to balance compared to the rest."

He gestured around them as they walked. "Terra is the flagship game for the device. It mirrors the real world, shows what humanity already is. Eternal Realms shows what humanity dreams of—fantasy, creation, mythology, gods and monsters. And Starfall Dominion shows what humanity is becoming—a sci-fi evolution of Eternal Realms, but stretched across galaxies."

The boys were quiet now, listening carefully to what Liam was saying.

"Each one has depth," Liam continued. "They're not games anymore; they're worlds. Layers stacked on layers. But the hardest of all to exist—" he paused, looking at the horizon where the golden sky met the ocean, before completing what he was saying—"would be Genesis."

That caught everyone off guard.

"Genesis?" Kristopher asked. "You mean the sandbox one?"

Liam nodded. "Yeah. Every player gets their own sandbox, and each one can span as wide as a solar system—or even a galaxy."

Matt blinked in surprise. "Wait, a galaxy? You mean players can actually build entire galaxies?"

"Exactly," Liam said calmly. "It's the ultimate sandbox. Players can create worlds, civilizations, races, and even their own world laws. It's creation without limitation. And the sandboxes can interact with each other."

They stopped walking without realizing it.

"So basically… Genesis is god mode for gamers," Harper let out a slow whistle.

"Pretty much," Liam said.

"I don't even want to imagine how much data that needs," Alex said, as he rubbed his temple.

"Trust me, don't even try to imagine it. The data each game needs and would need in the future is just massive," Liam said.

"Crazy. Everything you have built is at least 20 years ahead of what humanity can ever achieve," Kristopher said.

Kristopher shook his head, saying. "Man, I still can't wrap my head around it. You made all this, and you still manage to sleep at night?"

"Barely," Liam said with a smirk.

Matt grinned. "That's what worries me."

Liam raised an eyebrow. "Worries you?"

Matt crossed his arms dramatically. "Yeah. You're out here creating game worlds, civilizations, galaxies… When are you gonna create a girlfriend?"

Liam blinked, momentarily taken aback — then chuckled softly. "Are you in a relationship, Matt?"

Matt hesitated. "Uh… no?"

Liam gave him a look that said everything without saying a word.

The others burst into laughter again.

"Touché," Harper said, still grinning.

"Okay, okay, I walked right into that one," Matt groaned, dragging a hand down his face.

The group's laughter echoed down the empty digital boulevard as they continued walking. The quiet city around them felt less eerie now—laughter had a way of making even the emptiest world feel alive.

After a few more minutes, they reached the car dealership district. They could see rows of showrooms, with the sunlight reflecting on them.

The name on the sign above the nearest one read: "AURION MOTORWORKS."

The glass doors opened automatically as they approached. The boys walked inside and they froze.

There were cars everywhere. They looked sleek, aerodynamic, and completely unlike anything from the real world. No brands, no badges, no emblems. Just pure design, with curves, edges, and bodywork that looked part mechanical, part art.

"Holy crap," Matt muttered.

These don't look like anything I've ever seen," Kristopher said, as he walked slowly toward a black coupe with metallic blue streaks. "

"They're not supposed to," Liam said. "Every vehicle in Terra is original. The system designs them procedurally, based on aesthetics and performance models."

"Procedurally?" Alex muttered. "So the cars design themselves?"

"Pretty much," Liam said. "You'll never find the same car twice."

"Nice. Each car's a one-of-a-kind. NFT bros would lose their minds over this," Harper said.

The group spread out through the showroom, peeking into cockpits and checking specs that glowed faintly on floating displays beside each car.

Harper opened the door of a low, silver roadster. The seat adjusted itself instantly to his size.

"Okay, this one's mine," he said, with a grin.

"You can have your pretty little silver one. This one's screaming my name," Matt said, leaning against a scarlet hypercar with wing-like doors.

"I'll take this beast." Kristopher pointed at a matte-black SUV that looked like it belonged in a sci-fi movie.

"Of course you will," Harper said. "You've got tank energy."

The others laughed.

At this point, the boys were already acting like kids in a candy store.

After nearly half an hour of walking around, testing interiors, comparing performance stats, and mocking each other's taste in color, they finally made their picks.

Liam paid at the counter—or rather, through the floating holo-menu that appeared when he waved his hand.

"Five vehicles, premium specs," the system confirmed. "Total: $100."

"Wait, only a hundred?" Kristopher blinked.

"Yeah. It shouldn't cost this much but because they are luxury cars and I bought the specs for each, tuning them to their limits, it cost real world money," Liam explained.

"Wow. Amazing," Matt smiled brightly like a kid that just got a new toy.

They exited the dealership, each stepping into their chosen car. The doors closed smoothly with a satisfying click.

When Liam started the engine, his car's dashboard came alive as the engine roared to life.

The others revved theirs in response, the sound of five engines filling the quiet streets of Dubai.

Matt grinned through the open window of his car. "Alright, boss. Street race, downtown. First one past the Marina Bridge wins."

Liam smirked, hands on the wheel. "You sure you want to challenge the guy who built the game?"

Matt winked. "That's exactly why."

Liam chuckled. "You'll regret that."

The next moment, the light turned green and the cars shot forward.

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