“The new meta made players faster… but it also made them lazy.”

Eddie Cruz, known in-game as Drumstickkk, was once a name every veteran in Call of Duty: VR knew — a legend from the pre–neural assist era. But real life caught up: long hours as a Power Generation Engineer, a fiancée working abroad, and burnout made him retire quietly.

Years later, Eddie logs back into the game after hearing rumors of a full neural update — and finds his old account still active. Out of curiosity (and nostalgia), he jumps into a ranked match with his classic setup: the “old meta” M4 loadout that carried him to glory.

His first opponent? A rookie eSports prodigy with perfect aim assist.

“That’s the old meta, old man.”

“I prefer the old meta, young blood.”

What starts as a comeback match turns into a war of philosophies — skill versus system, instinct versus algorithm.

As Eddie grinds through tournaments, outplays neural-linked players, and surprises the eSports world, he begins to uncover something deeper inside the VR network — echoes of his fiancée’s old data profile, long after she supposedly logged off for good.

In a digital battlefield ruled by upgrades, one man fights with memory, mastery, and a little bit of muscle memory.

— A story of skill, legacy, and love in the age of neural gaming.

Thank you for the love and support for this Novel. At first, all I am excited was updating this story and let my brain savor the progression of the story.


When I saw the announcement of the "Fan fic fiesta" competition, I was reluctant to join. I wanted to join the competition not just to participate but to win.


Last Friday, or Saturday, I am not sure what day was it when I decided to publish this Novel. I thought I wouldn't be able to update this consistently.


Originally, I wanted to register "I woke up inside my friend's video game." In the Fan Fic Fiesta. However, my brain is so in synch with shooting games recently, so, I find an excuse to skip writing that SKYRIM Fan fic novel.


But here I am, decided to write a shooting VRMMORPG Novel


I am not sure what universe I am setting it at first because I play PUBG, Valorant, COD:M and Arena Breakout.


But, I decided to stick with COD:M with a mix of concepts from PUBG, Arena Breakout and I dunno maybe Valorant.


I am so happy to see my work catching attention of readers. I was just excited to update this due to my brain feeding me lots of idea, but then I am shocked to see the readers, views and vote counts skyrocketted.


Please, keep on doing so and feel free to leave a comment, I love to engage with you readers.


Now, I am excited to update the story not just because of my overflowing ideas, but to satisfy and entertain you guys.


This is Blue Enigmaaa, thank you so much for all the support.


Hello readers!