Chapter 52: Flash Web
Professor Alberta returned shortly after with the tickets for the game. She walked up to the game and put in the first ticket to start it up. The tabletop game roared to life, the title Flash Web could be seen over it, displayed in dark letters and connected by strands of webs.
Alto noticed the Start Game function appear on it; the professor stepped aside for him to play the game.
Alto did not bother to hide the surprise he felt just from looking at it in confusion. "I don’t know how to play it. Shouldn’t you give it a try first?" He would rather watch how she played it and adapt to it. He could see the way her eyes exploded with excitement just from staring at the game, but she quickly turned her eyes away from the game and said,
"My gaming days are over. Besides, I would like to see if you can beat my high score," she said with a kick in her voice.
"I can try." Alto tried to sound a bit confident, but he had doubts that he would be able to beat a game he had only just encountered. He also had the feeling that there was a reason behind it—a reason known only to her.
Alto initiated the game. He was curious as to what type of game it was for the professor’s eyes to light up at its sight. To him, it looked old, very old, and he could tell that no one played it much. Around him, the children and adults were more engrossed in the newer games, and the section for gamers who loved Mech Galaxy Wars was packed.
As the game started, it began by giving a tutorial since he had clicked the tutorial function. The game’s display was space in its pitch black, with billions of tiny twinkling lights in the background. It reminded Alto of his dream to one day explore space. What appeared next was a mini story about helping the spider reach his home. The story of the game itself was nothing to write home about.
When the game started, a finger-sized web appeared and a circle icon at its head instructed Alto to tap, which he did. When he tapped it, the web started to grow slowly and coil in a circle. Alto’s work was to trace the web pattern and reach its endpoint for him to be awarded points. If he was too slow, the web would fade out and points would be deducted.
Alto spent his time familiarizing himself with the game and its rules. All he had to do was trace the web line from start to finish. It seemed pretty easy to him. He did not want to waste valuable time delaying the professor, so he stayed with Easy Mode Level One, which ran down to Level Five before the Hard Mode and the Insane Mode, each with five stages.