This is a strange statement by Wade, who doesn't understand why people take their avatars to virtual sporting games. Maybe for the same reason they virtually hug, dance, and watch movies together in chatrooms--all things Wade has Parzival do—because this is how their new reality operates. We mean, what else are they going to do?

Wade competes not only with Aech, but with himself, driving himself to do things on his own. There's a subtle hint in this sentence that asking Aech for help would mean Wade would have to reveal information that only he's privileged to, something he isn't willing to do at this early, highly competitive stage of the game.

The lich is also Halliday's "perverted form of immortality" because it was programmed by him and kind of acts like him. It's like a self-designed zombie.