"POT THE CUE BALL. BREAK THE SEAL."

He took a breath. He pulled the cue back. And then, feeling like the world’s biggest idiot, he closed his eyes.

That’s where he found the post.

He opened the game. He joined a 5k coin match against a random opponent—a level 70 player with a golden legendary cue. The table was standard: solids vs. stripes, break to Rohan.

The shards of glass on the floor glowed faintly, and from each tiny fragment, a red line emerged—not on a screen, but on the real floor, the real walls, the real ceiling. They converged at Rohan's feet, forming a single, perfect trajectory.