“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.

I am so happy and thankful for all the genuine support I received in this Novel. I'm just going to take a few days or weeks of pause to make edits in the published chapters.


I'm estimating that it'll take me maybe 2 weeks to finish my editing, but it could possibly shorter.


Feel free to drop down a comment if you wanted to be a part of the story hehehe, maybe I can add you as a character in this story.


Anyways, I'll drop a like or reply in your comment if ever you wanted to be a part of this Novel okay?


Taking a pause for improvements