Danny was the first to arrive with his muscle car on the basic race track. The other racers appeared in their cars in rays of light after him. Maybe it had something to do with the order of who scheduled the race.

  Danny looked at the system on his windshield to check out his stats. The nitro icon was filled with a red color, indicating that Danny currently had the red nitro in his vehicle.

  He also opened his digital screen to the skills tab. He had mastered two new skills: Beginner’s Edge and Full Burst. He smirked. He had spent the last two days mastering them, and now they were his trump cards to win this race.

  The countdown started. Danny gripped his steering wheel tightly and revved up his muscle car. The other racers did the same with their vehicles. Danny, unlike before, looked a little excited about this race. It showed as he couldn’t stop grinning. He had a good feeling that he was going to win this race.

  Three… Two… One… Zero.

  The countdown ended, and all the cars zoomed past the checkpoint.

  Danny's eyes widened, and his jaw dropped. “What did you just say?” Danny asked, bewildered.

  “Did you have trouble hearing me? Don’t worry, I will repeat myself,” Cane said.

  “Oh, no, I think I heard you the first time,” Danny said. “What did you mean by automatically activating a skill? It’s the first time I’ve heard about this.”

  “Oh. That is something I can explain rather simply,” Cane said. “The game teaches you skills that you can master. This is done by showing you holographic steps you must follow exactly. Once that is done, those skills become acquired skills, which can be activated by calling out their names. When that is done, the vehicle itself moves in accordance with the acquired skill.”

  “Do you need me to explain further?” Cane finished.

  “I… I think I got it,” Danny said, stuttering.

  “My scans show that you are distressed. Could you tell me why?” Cane asked.

  “I’m not distressed, Cane. I’m just… surprised,” Danny answered.

  “What are you surprised about?” Cane asked.

  “These skills! I know info is hidden and sometimes bought, but… this? If something like this existed in the game, then I think it would be common knowledge!” Danny answered.

  “You are not the only one who is surprised, Danny. I am surprised that these skills are not common knowledge as well. They were hidden by code I do not recognize. The private track should also be customizable, but it isn’t—not without my interference,” Cane said.

  A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation.

  Danny suspected it before, but he was definitely sure of it now. Cane was accessing things that the developers or the company didn’t want the players to have access to. He could get in serious trouble if he and Cane continued messing with the code.

  But Danny didn’t care. He was already in trouble. His life was on the line. It literally couldn’t get any worse than it already was.

  “Hey, Cane. Let’s make a promise. No matter what we see that’s weird about this game, let’s not be surprised anymore,” Danny said.

  “I am unsure if my programming enables me to make such a promise. But I can try,” Cane said.

  “Good enough. Now, let’s see what skills I can learn,” Danny said. There were skills such as ramming, nitro skills, and steering skills.

  “There it is—drifting skills.” Danny selected the option to learn drifting skills, taking him to a page containing a list of them.

  “I would recommend learning the Beginner's Edge. It’s the easiest to learn in a short amount of time,” Cane said.

  “Alright. Beginner's Edge it is,” Danny said. He selected the Beginner’s Edge option. The digital screen disappeared, and then something amazing happened.

  A blue transparent humanoid figure encased Danny. Danny almost freaked out but managed to calm himself down. The humanoid figure really looked like an outer shell of his body.

  He didn’t feel trapped in any way. The transparent figure was constantly stepping on the pedal, but nothing happened, and grabbing the wheels.

  “Right! I’m supposed to do what it does,” Danny said. He stepped on the pedal and put his hands on the steering wheel like the humanoid hologram.

  He was traveling at full speed at one of the edges. The hologram did nothing as he got closer and closer to one of the edges. They were almost about to cross over. Then the hologram quickly pulled on the handbrake and steered in the opposite direction.

  Danny followed the hologram’s steps but was too slow. He had crossed over the dead zone, and just like before, a countdown started, and he was teleported right back to the start of the track.

  The hologram was still present, showing him what to do. “Okay. I gotta go fast.”

  Danny placed his feet on the pedal and steered just like the hologram showed him. Once again, he was about to cross over to the dead zone.

  He waited for the hologram to act, and once it did, Danny tried following its steps and once again crossed over to the dead zone. Restarting the countdown and sending him to the beginning of the track again.

  Danny didn’t give up, though. He kept following the hologram’s movement, trying to pull up the handbrake and steer away from the edge. But he always failed to keep up with the hologram’s reflexes, causing him to crash into the dead zone over and over again, which sent him to the beginning of the track each time.

  Danny banged the steering wheel out of frustration. “Would you like my advice?” Cane asked.

  “Sure, why not?” Danny answered.

  “Instead of trying to copy the hologram’s movement, how about you try acting before it acts? You already failed multiple times trying to copy its movement after it does what it does. Your subconsciousness must know when it’s about to act,” Cane suggested.

  “Hmmmmmmm,” Danny hummed, thinking of Cane’s suggestion. It did make some sense to him.

  “It’s worth a shot.” Danny stepped on the pedal and was heading towards the edge at full speed. Any moment now, the hologram would show him the steps to drift. He could feel it.

  “Now!” Danny pulled up the handbrake before the hologram had the chance to and steered away, leading to another section of the track. The muscle car screeched closer and closer to the edge but stopped a few inches before it could cross over.

  The hologram then showed Danny to step on the pedal again, which he did, entering another section of the track.

  “I DID IT!” Danny exclaimed.

  “Congratulations, Danny. Now you’ll just have to do that again for the rest of the track,” Cane said.

  “Huh?” Danny asked.