《Virtual Sword God!》 Author Note Author Note The author here, I''m writing here to tell you this story is a Hikaru no go meets League of legends type story. A couple of people have said that the story is too simr to Hikaru no go. I have edited and changed the first few chapters to make it less simr to Hikaru no go. the story follows a simr path to no go at the beginning but from chapter fifteen onwards takes a different path. This is a story about a young boy who has never had the interest in anything until he finds love for a VRMOBA called Virtual sword warriors and he has the best goddam teacher in the world. Happy reading and I hope you enjoy the story! Chapter 1: Legendary Sword Chapter 1: Legendary Sword The sun was high in the sky without a cloud in sight. It was a rare sight to see a day as beautiful as this one and while most kids would be outside ying in the park or hanging out with their friends, one in particr had been set a task. Novis had been asked to clear his Grandfather''s dojo. It was a sword dojo that hadn''t had customers for a long time now and his grandfather was far too old to teach. No one had any interest in learning real sword skills these days. They were far too busy ying games. Who could me them? With today''s technology, VRgames were more realistic than ever. Practising with a wooden sword in a dojo felt unreal now to many. Novis was currently in the dojo sorting various items into boxes. Novis was an ordinary boy with no outstanding features about him. He had short ck hair and was the average size for a fifteen-year-old boy his age. Like every fifteen-year-old boy, he struggled with money. Too young to get a day job and his parents weren''t the rich type to spoil him. So when his grandfather offered him some pocket money in exchange for some help, he couldn''t refuse. The dojo was currently overfilled with junk leaving hardly any space to move. His grandfather took this as a chance to clear the house as well and had ced everything he didn''t want in the dojo. Novis'' good friend Scarlett had just entered the dojo carrying another box from the main house. "Phew, I think that''s thest box. Your grampa said if there''s anything you want you can keep it." She said while wiping the sweat from her forehead. Scarlett had long curly red hair. She was a kind girl who had known Novis since they were kids, so she had always found it hard to say no to him. Novis was currently going through all the boxes his grandfather had left in the dojo to see if there was anything valuable. Digging through one of therger boxes, he started to pull out dirty old vases, magazine papers and all sorts of other rubbish. "Is there really nothing good here?" Novis thought while inspecting a dirty old cup in his hand. Scarlett was currently walking around the dojo looking at the pictures up on the wall of Novis'' grandfather. There were many captured moments of his grandpa at prestigiouspetitions and amidst intense fights. "Did your grampa ever teach you how to fight with a sword?" Scarlett inquired. "No, I never found it interesting. What''s the point if we don''t use them in wars anyway and no one uses a real sword nowadays. I kinda always saw it as a useless skill to have." Scarlett continued to wander around the room until she spotted a meter-long sword on a stand at the back that piqued her interest. She walked over towards the sword to get a closer look wondering if it was real. "Is this real?" Scarlett asked. Novis stood up from where he was and walked over to where Scarlett was at the back of the dojo. "Oh you mean this thing? My grandfather said it''s meant to be some legendary sword with the spirit of a dragon inside that''s supposedly protected our family from dangers for generations." "That''s kinda cool you know." "And obviously a lie. Hey, do you think we can sell it?" "I don''t think your grampa would sell something that important." "Didn''t he say to you anything in this dojo? Well the sword is in this dojo, right?" Novis went to pick up the sword. His arm gave in a bit as it was heavier than he''d expected. He then peered down the edges of the sword with one eye. The edges still looked razor-sharp. He wanted to run his finger down along the edge to see if it would cut him but decided it was best not to. "It seems to still be in good condition. I think I can sell this for some good money," Novis said. "Are you sure you should really do that?" "It will be fine. Besides, I need the money now that my allowance got cut. It was just a little prank can people not take a joke anymore?" Novis grumbled. "The teacher ran out of the room crying. I think maybe you went a little too far" Scarlett pointed out. Novis flipped over the sword and noticed an engraving of a dragon. Suddenly, the dragon mark started to glow a bright blue colour. "What''s with this sword? It''s glowing" Novis said in bewilderment. Scarlett went to have a closer look at what Novis was talking about. "What do you mean? I can''t see anything glowing." Novis pointed on a section of the sword near the hilt. "Can''t you see? Here the dragon mark...it''s glowing." No matter how hard Scarlett tried to look, she still couldn''t see what Novis was pointing at. "I don''t even see the dragon mark you''re talking about." "Here!" "I don''t see anything." "Are you blind! Right here!" "You can see the mark?" A mysterious voice said. The voice sounded as if it came from a middle-aged man who was sitting on a toilet. "That''s what I''ve been saying the whole..." Novis stopped himself mid-sentence, realising that the voice hadn''te from Scarlett. Novis heard the voice again. "Can you hear me young boy?" Novis turned his head around to see where the voice wasing from thinking that someone might have entered the room. "I knew it. You can hear me!" The voice confirmed. "Scarlett, do you know where that voice ising from?" Novis said while looking behind a pile of boxes hoping to find someone hiding. "First the sword is glowing and now you can hear someone. You haven''t got heatstroke, have you?" "No Scarlett seriously I could hear a voice." "Oh I know, it''s one of your pranks again. Well I''m not buying it this time" Scarlett huffed as she stormed out of the dojo. Novis was known for pulling pranks and Scarlett was a favourite target of his, only this time Novis wasn''t joking. He felt like the boy who cried wolf. "The world has given me a second chance. I must thank the heavens above." As the voice said these words, Novis realised that the source of the voice seemed to being from the sword he was holding. As he brought the sword towards his face, Novis expected he might see someone inside it. Then it started to shine brightly. The light emanating from the sword was so strong, it had temporarily blinded Novis causing him to drop the sword on the floor. Briefly, all Novis could see was white but within a few moments his eyesight had returned to normal. What Novis saw in front of him left him speechless. Directly above the sword was a transparent smokey figure floating in thin air. The figure was the most handsome man Novis hadid his eyes on. Shiny blonde hair, chiselled face, all while wearing knightly silver armour. He looked like a prince from a fairy tale. "Please don''t kill me!" Novis pleaded as he fell to his knees begging the mysterious floating figure. The spirit started to slowly walk towards Novis. "My time hase and you shall help me on my journey." As the spirit spoke these words, a white mist began to envelop Novis. His heart began to pound harder and sweat trickled down his face. The white mist started to enter through Novis'' body through his nose, mouth, ears, wherever there was a hole. Novis could do nothing to prevent its infiltration of his body. When the mist hadpletely entered Novis'' body, his eyesight began to blur and vision went ck. Scarlett was patiently waiting outside the dojo for Novis toe out and apologise but when hearing themotioning from inside, she resigned herself to check and see if Novis was okay. "Novis is everything okay..." She said as she peeked her head into the dojo. As she made her way into the dojo, she spotted Novis copsed on the floor. He wasn''t moving a muscle. She frantically ran over to Novis'' side and began to shake him. "Novis wake up! Are you okay?" Novis managed to slightly regain consciousness but his mind felt muddled. "Who are you? Where did that spirit go?" "You and I are now one." The spirit responded. Chapter 2: Who are you? Chapter 2: Who are you? The next day at Montem middle school, the ss was about to begin. The history teacher Mr. White stood at the front of the ss holding a stack of papers in his hand. "Remember finals areing up soon, so today we''re going to do a mock test." One of the students in the ss stood up and screamed. "No way!" Novis had woken up from the scream, but his eyes were only half open and his mind all jumbled. "My head is all messed up still. There''s no way I can take this stupid test," Novis muttered while staring at the nk test paper. "Maybe I can help?" The spirit asked. Novis jumped up from his seat causing his chair to fall to the ground. The teacher and other students gave him the death stare. "Sorry about that." Novis nervously smiled and quickly sat back down in his chair. "Are you still scared of me?" The spirit inquired. "Just go away!" Novis shouted, again causing everyone to again stare at him. "Is there something wrong Novis?" Mr. White asked, the irritation on his face apparent. Scarlett raised her hand and said, "Novis said that he is being haunted by a ghost, sir." "One of your silly pranks again boy? You better not cause another disturbance in ss again or you''re out of here." Novis cursed under his breath and began nning his revenge on Scarlett for this humiliation. One of the students sitting next to Novis leaned over to whisper to him and said, "Hey, is it a sexy girl ghost or one of those creepy old dudes?" Mr. White furiously banged his pen on the whiteboard. "What did I say about interrupting the ss?" he eximed. The veins on Mr. White''s head looked like they were about to pop any second now. Novis then lifted the cor of his shirt up towards his mouth and begin to whisper. "I told you not to talk to me! This is my mind, not yours." "But I..." "Did I ask you to speak to me?" "No" The spirit replied in a soft quiet voice. Seeing the spirit in its dejected state, Novis began to feel sorry for it. He decided there was no harm in speaking to it. "What''s your name?" Novis asked. "Arthur." "That''s an old name. So who are you?" "I was a knight for the king of Avrion." "He really is like those princes from fairy tales." Novis thought to himself. "It was my duty to serve the king and act as his champion. I battled with other knights from other kingdoms nearly every day. One day, I was tasked to duel a knight from another kingdom. During the fight, I suddenly felt ill." "What happened?" "I was poisoned, betrayed by someone from my kingdom. When I lost the duel, I was unable to pass on to the other side. I had yet toplete my final wish." "So if you''re dead, does that mean you''re a ghost?" Sweat started to run down the side of Novis'' cheek. "Yes. After I died, my spirit attached itself to my sword. I don''t know how long had passed by but it was many years until my sword came into the possession of a young boy. My sword had been passed by many people but it was the first time someone could hear my voice." "Was this boy like me?" "The child was interested in swordsmanship so he allowed me to be his teacher. He became a well-renowned knight, but died at the young age of 25 due to a sickness." "So why are you still around? Why are you haunting me?" "I have yet to achieve my dreammy dream of creating a sword style that is unbeatable." "I hate to be the bearer of bad news but people don''t fight with swords in this era." "That''s ludicrous! How would people fend for themselves if they were attacked?" "Look I don''t know how old you are, but people haven''t used swords for like a 1000 years. We have technology now, things like nuclear bombs and guns." Suddenly Novis felt his body being taken over and stood up in the middle of the ss. "What are you doing!" "I need to see if what you say is true. A life without swordsI cannot believe it." As Novis and Arthur were fighting for control over Novis'' body, he began to walk out of the ssroom in a robotic manner. "What are you doing? Sit down Novis." "Sorry sir, I need to go to the bathroom." Novis'' mind was feeling tired. It was as if his brain was having a tug of war match and eventually, his mind had lost. Now Arthur had full control of Novis'' body and started to roam the school halls. "Where are we now?" "Why should I even tell you? Give me my body back!" "If there is no way for me to use the sword there is no purpose of me being here." "Okay okay look, fine I''ll try to find a way so you can fight with your sword again, just give me my body back." "You promise?" "You have my word." Although truthfully Novis was just saying anything he could to get his body back, Arthur believed that Novis would keep his word. A knight''s word was their honour. As soon as Novis had regained control of his body back, he rushed to the toilet to ssh some water on his face. He couldn''t believe that everything was happening right now. If Arthur was able to take control of his body like that whenever he wanted then Novis could do nothing about it. He had no choice but to keep Arthur happy and find some way for him to use his sword again. Scarlett had noticed that Novis was acting strangely. She was worried he might have gone crazy. After all, she had seen Novis repeatedly talk to himself while staring over his left shoulder. As Novis sat back in his seat to continue ss, he started to think about ways he could keep Arthur happy. Then he overheard two students talking about a popr game. "Hey did you see that VSW gamest night between team Psychic and Aqua?" "Yeah, Zion carried the whole team. His skills are out of this world!" The students were talking about a game called Virtual Sword Warrior or VSW. It was currently the most popr game out on the market and had been for thest ten years. Esports had be a worldwide phenomenon but still hadn''t overtaken traditional sports in poprity until the introduction of virtual reality. In thest decade, virtual reality had advanced to the point where only the mind was needed to fully control a character. VR changed the gaming world making Esports mainstream. It had be so popr it even had its own Esports Olympics that attracted more viewers than the standard Olympics. "Why didn''t I think of it before? We can y a VR Game." Arthur started to feel a rush of blood go to his brain. "I don''t know who this VR is but I will defeat him." Novis pped his forehead realizing this was going to be harder then he thought. Chapter 3: Virtual Sword Warriors Chapter 3: Virtual Sword Warriors While walking back home Novis tried his best to exin to Arthur what the concept of a VR Game was. Thankfully Arthur was a quick learner and caught on quickly. "So by wearing this device, it sends me to an illusionary world. I can then fight in this illusionary world with no consequences of getting hurt. That''s amazing! how does it work?" "Just think of it as magic and to be honest, I don''t know much about this myself, so we''re going to ask my little brother, he ys these type of games all the time." Novis was one of the very few people who never spent his time ying games. It was a rare thing in this day and age but his brother was theplete opposite. As soon as he got home from school he would go online. When Novis arrived home luckily his brother Bill was in the kitchen getting a snack from the fridge. One of the very few times Novis would see him. Bill had just closed the fridge and had a load of snacks held between his arms. "Oh hey Novis, are you feeling better I heard about yesterday?" "Yeah I''m fine as you can see, actually I wanted to ask you, how about me and you y a game together? if I beat you how about you give me your allowance this week?" Bill''s eyes started to sparkle, his heart started to pound. He had always wished that he could have a brother that was interested in games. It was fun for Bill to y with people online but ying with close friends or family was just a different feeling altogether. "A game! really! you mean you know how to y now!" Bill quickly ran up the stairs and shouted: "What are you waiting fore on let''s y!" Bills room was filled with posters of characters from VSW he even had some pictures of some pro yers. If he wasn''t ying a game he would be watching a pro match. On top of Bill''s bed were two VR headsets. Bill had a second when for his friends when they would sometimese over to y. Bill went to grab one of the VR headsets. The headset covered the back of your head and eyes. When using the headset you needed to lie down simr to how you would sleep. You could use it in a seat but unless you had afy one you woulde out of the game sore all over. "We can y as much as you want Novis. here this one for you." Bill handed me a ck VR headset, the one he kept for himself was red. Bill let Novis lie on the bed while he went to sit on his gaming chair which was also red and ck. The chair was able to recline back to the point where you were lying down, so it was near enough the same as a bed. "So should we go online or do you want to warm up One vs One first?" Bill asked. "How about we just y one game between me and you." "Only one game!" Arthur Shouted. "Didn''t I tell you not to speak unless I was talking to you?" Novis said out loud. Bill was looking at Novis with puppy dog-like eyes. Bill had thought he had done something wrong. Seeing this Novis quickly went to correct himself. "Sorry, I didn''t mean you I was just thinking about something that happened today at school don''t worry, Let''s just y." "What game did you learn to y?" Novis didn''t know much about games so he only knew the most popr one, when asked this question he replied with the first thing that came to his mind. "Err...Virtual sword warriors." "Great, that''s my favourite. So you want me to give you my allowance if you win, I''m strong you know?" "How strong are you?" Bill started to smile, he had been waiting for this day to show off to his family. His aim was one day to be a pro after all. "I''m currently ranked diamond five for this season." Bill was expecting his brother to go crazy but Novis had no clue what Bill was talking about and just smiled back at him. Bill felt like his heart had been torn in two. "Sigh, I guess your still a noob after all. There are currently seven divisions in VSW, bronze, silver, gold, tinum, diamond, master and God. These division are then split into five subdivisions. For example, if we take bronze, you can be bronze 5 which is the lowest or bronze 1 which is the highest. I''m currently Diamond five meaning I''m better than around 98% of the people who y the game." Novis didn''t understand most of what Bill had said, but he understood thest part clearly. If he was better then 98% of people who yed the game then he had to be good. He knew his brother was good but didn''t realise how good. Novis was starting to have second thought''s about ying against his brother. "Hey Arthur, do you think you can beat him?" "As long as it is a match involving the sword there are very few who can beat me." Arthurs confidence had made Novis feel a bit better. "You might need to help me a little I''ve only yed this game a few times." "Don''t worry, when we enter the game I''ll make a party chat, that way even though we''re not on the same team we can still talk to each other." "Alright let''s go." The two of them then proceeded to put on their VR headgear. A few momentster there mind was transported inside the game. Suddenly Novis found himself in a blue open space. He looked the same as he did before entering the game wearing his school uniform. Novis said looking around the blue room. "Arthur are you there?" Arthur appeared in his spirit form next to Novis. "Yes of course." Novis was worried that when he entered the game perhaps Arthur would be left behind in the real world. it was a surprise to Novis that he could still even see Arthur in the virtual world. "So what do we do now?" Novis asked A notification screen suddenly popped up in front of Novis. "Arthur I''ll let you chose, what would you like to call yourself?" "Arthur" "It''s taken. You need toe up with something unique, you never know maybe one day the whole world will know this name." "Try Pendragon." Chapter 4: First Match Chapter 4: First Match Although Novis hadn''t yed many games it didn''t mean he was clueless with technology. So he understood how to use the interface in the machine. Arthur meanwhile was amazed that everything that Novis had told him was true. They had entered a different world in seconds. Novis epted the party invention. Straight away a hollow human-shaped body appeared next to Novis. Slowly from the feet up, the hollow body started to fill in with features from the feet to the head. The hollow body turned out to be Bill. Bill turned to Novis, Novis was sweating a little thinking that bill might have been able to see Arthur. "So shall we get started." Novis felt the pressure leave his body, it didn''t seem like Bill could see Arthur he didn''t know what to say if he could. A screen appeared in front of billy, he then started to use his hands and fingers to navigate something. He was going to fast for Novis to see anything. "Okay, the match is ready. when we get in the game we''ll meet down the middle path." Novis still didn''t know what Bill was talking about but decided he didn''t want to ask any more question in case Bill would catch on. Suddenly a big giant three appeared in the blue room in front of them. As soon as the number counted down to one the blue scenery started to change. Simr to when Bill had appeared, the blue started to make a wireframe of different objects. Then the objects quickly started to fill in. The sight had Arthur amazed as he saw constructions being built in seconds. Arthur thought this truly did have to be some sought of magic. The game''s map had finished being built. A castle had been generated on one side of the Map where Arthur and Novis stood, opposite the castle around a 1000 meters stood another castle. In between the two castles was a forest. The forest waspletely covered in trees apart from three separate paths. One of the paths was down the middle while the other two were on the left and right. Down the paths themselves above the trees stood four big towers. Before Novis could begin another screen appeared in front of him. In front of Novis were a hundred facial images of different characters he could select. As Novis hovered over one of the characters with his finger a mini hologram would appear showing the character doing some attacks. Novis''s finger currently hovered over a muscr man holding a chain and ball. "That one looks like a strong opponent, is that who we get to fight?" Arthur asked. "No, we need to pick which character we''re going to be." Something had caught Novis eye while looking at the character screen. "Hey, Arthur doesn''t this guy look like you." One of the characters was the spitting image of Arthur himself. The blonde hair, the chiselled face, even the armour set looked simr. ck base colour with a gold trim. The weapon he held was a long sword that was the same size as the one found in the attic. "Yes, pick him," Arthur said. Novis was disappointed in Arthurs response hoping that he would say something or be more curious why there was a character that looked like him in a game. Novis selected the character and his body started to transform. His limbs grew slightly longer his muscles toned up, and his clothes changed into Knightley armour. He no longer looked like a 15-year-old schoolboy. "Alright, let''s do this," Novis said nervously. Novis and Arthur had practised a few times switching control of Novis''s body. It wasn''t hard, all he had to do was rx as if he was trying to sleep. The truth was Arthur had the ability to take control of Novis''s body whenever he felt like. Arthur told Novis to rx to make the feeling less ufortable for him. Arthur had the experience of this with his first host, so he knew what to do. Even though Novis was no longer in control of the body, he was still able to see everything that Arthur was doing. While Arthur and Novis were busy switching bodies an army of ten men suddenly appeared wearing red shashes. They wore no armour and only held a small sword in one hand. Arthur looked to his left and right and could see that another group of ten people had appeared on each side. "I think there on our side, just focus on fighting the one that stands out," Novis said. Authur grunted in response. "I think Bill said to meet in the middle, so we should take this path." Arthur followed Novis orders and quickly Ran down the middle, While going down the path they passed two towers. Arthur stopped for a while to check them out but there didn''t seem to be a way to enter them so they carried on moving. When Arthur had passed the second tower he could see the army of red sashes shing with an army of blue sashes. "They''re evenly matched," Arthur said. "I think it''s designed that way." "I must help them." Arthur quickly drew his sword and went over to the battle scene. As soon as he reached the battlefield the Blue sash army started to focus their attention on him. A man swung his de towards Arthur''s body. Arthur simply parried the strike away and stabbed the man in the chest. In one hit the man had burst into a thousand blue particles. Arthur had no time to figure out what had happened to the man, for another one was quickly approaching him but Aruther made quick work of him, attacking him before he could react. All ten of the blue sash army had been defeated while two of the red sash were still on the field. They quickly carried on walking towards the castle. "I think we have to get their castle g or something," Novis said, unsure of what was needed to be done. Arthur decided to walk in front of the two men, whishing to protect them. Arthur still found it hard to believe that these things weren''t real people. As the group walked forward they were now twenty meters away from the third tower. Suddenly a giant iron ball shot out from the tower. It was too fast for Arthur to react. The giant iron ball mmed into Arthur sending him flying through the air about ten feet backwards. Arthur was now lying on the ground in between the two towers. While Arthur felt no pain he was struggling to move his body. Just as he was starting to get up, a shadow quickly jumped out of the forest onto the pathway. The shadow was now directly in front of Arthur. The shadow was a human, he wore ck clothing with leather armour all around his body. In his hands, he held two daggers that were now directly in Arthur''s stomach. Chapter 5: Learn the basics Chapter 5: Learn the basics When the match ended Novis and Arthur quickly switched control of Novis''s body. Novis had been sent to back to the blue lobby room and quickly quit the VR console. As Novis was taking off his VR helmet, Novis found it hard to directly look at Bill''s face. Novis had thought that Arthur would have at leaststed longer, perhaps even beat his brother. Bill had just taken off his headset and was looking at Novis. "You didn''t have to lie to me, bro." "Was it that obvious?" "Everyone when they first y run''s towards those towers, there practically a one-shot kill. You''d have to be an idiot to do it a second time." Novis didn''t know what to say, of course, he was embarrassed by the whole situation but he was more upset that his little brother was disappointed in him. Bill wheeled his chair over towards his desk and opened a drawer. He took out a small piece of paper and handed it to Novis. "What this?" Novis asked. "it''s a leaflet for VSW lessons. It''s mostly full of old people but it will really help you out with learning all the basics, plus everyone there is a beginner who you can practice with." Novis took the leaflet and put it in his pocket. "Thanks." "When you learn the rulese back and we can y again," Bill said with a smile. As Novis was leaving the room Bill had a question he wanted to ask before he left. "Novis, you''re not in the Kendo club at school or something right?" "No, I''ve never held a sword in my life." "Yeah, I can tell." As Novis left the room Bill was thinking back to the game they had just yed. While in the Game Bill had hidden in the forest so he could have a look at Novis''s skills in the game. What he saw surprised Bill, When Novis was fighting he wasn''t using any of the game''s skills, he had defeated the soldiers just by attacking with his own body. The soldiers in the game were programmed as real knights with a decent amount of sword skill. For apletely new yer to defeat them without the help of the games skill system was unheard of. The only way this could happen is if you had real-life experience. This was why Bill had asked Novis about joining any clubs. The thought of this made Bill happy, perhaps one day they would be able to y high ranking games together. Novis had left his brother''s room and went to his own which was directly opposite. Unlike Bill''s room, Novis''s room waspletely bare. It was hard to imagine it was a teenage boys room. There was nothing in there that showed Novis had an interest of anything, no posters no toys or sports equipment. All There was, was a guitar in the corner of the room that had been gathering dust. Novis went to lie down on his bed. "I thought you said you were one of the best." Arthur knew he had disappointed Novis, after all, they could feel each other''s feelings. "I''m sorry, the tower caught me off guard. After checking out the first two I didn''t think the third one would do anything, also they seemed to be a slight dy in my movements." The two of them remained silent for a few moments until Novis said. "Hey Arthur, Why do you think I was allowed to hear your voice, I have no interest in swords." "That''s what I would like to know too," Arthur replied. Novis started to rummage through his pocket and picked out the leaflet. "Learn the basics, huh, I guess I could go and take one ss." The next day Novis had decided to go to the location that was pointed out on the leaflet. The location was in a shopping mall on the 4th floor. Outside the sign read VSW Training centre. As soon as Novis entered the training centre a strange smell had wafted into his nose, it wasn''t a bad smell but one he had recognised. It smelt exactly like his grandparent''s house. Looking around the Novis could see that the clientele was mostly people over fifty. The actual training centre itself was impressive. In the front, of the room, they had a huge 100-inch disy with around fifty seats in front of it. In the back of the room, there were around forty VR headsets simr to one bill had. The Vr headsets were paired in couples on a table, each table also had a Tv screen and a gaming chair. Novis looked at the people in the back and could see they were having a match. The game was being disyed on the TV screen at their table. As Novis was standing there in awe a middle-aged man wearing sses and a suit came up to him. "Are you here for some lesson''s?" The man asked. "Yeah, I''m here for the beginner ss." "Great, it''s rare to see someone your age in here, but I promise you you''ll have a lot of fun, the beginner ss starts in fifteen minutes if you''d like you can take a seat in front of the disy now." Novis did as the man instructed and waited for the ss to start. While he was waiting several more people hade in and sat down. Before the ss had started all the seats had eventually been filled up. Novis was conflicted in what to feel, he was amazed by how many new people were trying to learn the game like him, but was worried for he was the youngest one there. As the ss began the 100-inch screen turned on and disyed the logo for VSW. The middle-aged man who had met Novis at the beginning walked in front of the screen. "Hello everyone, My name is Paul Snert, I am currently a Profesional VSW yer and in today''s lessons I''m going to teach you about the basics of VSW." Chapter 6: A Professinal Chapter 6: A Professinal Scarlett was bored and had decided to go visit Novis for the weekend. She thought perhaps they could go watch a movie together or go to the park. As she approached Novis''s house she rang the doorbell. A beautiful woman in her mid-30s answered the door. "Scarlett, nice to see you." The women said. "Hi there Mrs Talen, is Novis here?" "hmm..." Mrs Talen said with a frown on her face "Is something wrong, did Novis faint again," Scarlett said in a panic. "Sorry, he went to the VSW training centre, I think he said he was taking sses or something, I don''t know what''s gotten into that boy." "What!" Scarlett was wondering what had happened to Novis. ever since he fainted in the dojo he had been acting strange. Novis was never the type to be interested in games, so what made him want to take a VR ss all of a sudden. ****** Paul started by telling everyone about the history of VSW and why it had be so popr. VSW Concentrated on realism, it did it''s best to try to make the environment feel as authentic as possible. If an attack made in VSW would kill you in the real world, then it would also kill you in VSW. Unlike many other games, you only got one life in VSW. This made VSW incrediblypetitive causing professionals to push their skills to their limit. VSW was currently the worlds number one Esport and was watched by 80% of households around the world. The screen behind paul then started to disy images of the game while he would exin the basic rules. There were two popr ways that VSW was yed, either a solo match or a team match. The solo match would consist of two Warriors against each other. The game ended when either your opponent was defeated or you captured the g from the enemies base. Solo matches were more used as practice, the main attraction of VSW was the team matches. Each team consisted of five yers who would start at their base. A red team and a blue team. Each base was located on opposite ends of the battlefield. The whole map was covered in forestnd apart from 3 paths that lead to the other teams base. These were named middle, top and bottomne. At the base which was a castle, there would be 3 towers, one in front of each path. Further down thene, there would be another tower down each of the paths. This was the same on both teams. The towers were set up to attack the first enemy within 20 meters. The goal was to use the ten soldiers as meat shields to block the attack of the towers. Once the ten soldiers died, another then would spawn down that path. Eventually allowing you to take down all the towers and capture the enemies g. The Team matches were what made VSW so popr, there were a lot of different strategies professional teams would use to win. While the solo matches would more focus on two warriors trying to defeat each other, most of the time no one would bother trying to capture the g in a solo match. Novis was beginning to find all the information interesting but knew there was a lot more to learn. Arthur also was listening to every word paul spoke. "Novis, ask him why can''t we go through the forest and simply take the g?" Arthur said. Novis raised his hand and asked the question. "Good question, a lot of people chose to go through the forest but there is a problem once you reach the base of the castle. The three towers blocking each path are just close enough to still be able to hit you." There were a few more questions that paul answered but after while he stopped and said, "The best way to learn is through actual practice, I encourage you all to use the VR headset''s behind you, watch a few games of others even." As the session ended people quickly went to the back of the room to start a few matches of their own. Novis looked around the room releasing that nearly everyone had already found a partner. Paul spotted that novice hadn''t approached anyone and started to walk towards him. "You''re a beginner right, what''s your name?" Paul asked. "It''s Novis, Yeah I don''t know anything?" "What made you want to y VSW?" Novis put a finger towards his forward, honestly, he wasn''t really interested in VSW and was doing it for Arthur. So Novis decided to give an answer he thought paul would want to hear. "To be a professional." Paul looked at Novis, he thought the boy looked like he was still in school. Most kids his age would have already been ying the game. Yet for some reason, Novis was here in his beginner ss. Novis''s response interested him and he wanted to know more about the boy. "Why don''t we y a game?" Paul asked. As Novis was taking a moment to think, Arthur interrupted him. "Is he strong?" Arthur asked. "Well, he''s a professional." "I kept hearing this word, what is a Professinal?" "A professional means he makes a living ying the game." Adrenaline started to pump through Arthurs body as he thought he was about to face a strong opponent, someone who dedicated his whole life to a craft simr to his had to be strong but then Novis said something unexpected. "Hey, Arthur do you mind if y this one." Arthur was surprised at what Novis had asked him. he had worried about the boy. He knew that Novis had no hobbies or interests. Arthur was the type that thought everyone should have a goal in their life. "Sure, as long as there be plenty of opportunities for me in the future." Novis and Paul then went to one of the free tables at the back, each of them then started to put on their VR headset. "Ready," Paul said. "Ready" Chapter 7: A Bully Chapter 7: A Bully As soon as Novis and Paul entered the game. Paul could tell that Novis was an actual beginner. Novis was quite clumsy with controlling the character and seemed to have no skill with using the sword. Paul was a little disappointed as he felt that Novis was somehow special in some way. Novis was currently using the same character that Arthur had used that was named Dragonyer. While Paul had selected a character that was light in armour and held a rapier named Quick Syinc. The two of them had met in the middle and Paul was politely showing Novis how to use skills. Paul and Novis walked to the side of the middle path, allowing the soldiers to freely fight each other. As long as the two of them didn''t get involved it would always be a stalemate between the NPCs. Paul started to demonstrate sword skills to Novis. "Skills are in the game to make it easier for new yers, each character has a set of attacks that are suited towards them. You can use the system to select the skill and it will force your body to make that movement. Once you get good enough you will be able to use the skills without the systems help. "So why do you need to bother learning sword skills, can''t you just rely on the system." Paul began to demonstrate the skills. The first time he disyed attacks using the system. Each time he went from one skill to the next they would be a slight pause. Then paul demonstrated the same skills without using the system. "Can you tell the difference?" Paul asked "The second one was a lot faster, but not by much." "In the pro world every little second count, let me show you something else." Paul then started to move differently than before, he had demonstrated a different attack, a new attack that Novis hadn''t seen before. "If you learn how to use your weapon and character you can even make your own skills. Many pros study the great swordsman of the past and even practice outside of the game." Novis couldn''t tell why but his heart began to beat louder and faster, thest attack paul had shown him was wless. It looked so clean so smooth. Paul and Novis then quickly exited out of the game and were back in the training centre. "I hope you can stay and watch some of our usual''s y." Paul then left and started talking to other people. Novis began to walk around the training centre looking at other peoples screen and seeing how they yed the game. As he was scanning the room he saw a small crowd of people gathered at one table. Novis thought that the person must be skilful for people to gather, so he decided to go over. As Novis got closer he could hear the crowd of people talking to each other. "Berny''s at it again." "I can''t believe he''s bullying the poor newbie." "There''s another person we won''t ever see again. As Novis got closer he could eventually see the screen, Two characters were currently locked inbat in the middle. One of the fighters was clearly overwhelming the other, but not finishing him off. Arthur was starting to feel his blood boil as he watched the game. One opponent was clearly better than the other. but rather than killing him or teaching him, he was just in bullying his opponent. "Novis, we have to challenge that man to a duel once he has finished that game," Arthur said. "Huh, are you even sure you can beat him?" Ever since Arthur had lost against his brother, Novis was afraid that Arthur wasn''t as strong as he thought he was. Arthur was meant to be a great swordsman of the past but maybe modern sword skills were just too advanced, to old of a fighting style. humans had always evolved, even in sports new records were constantly being beat. "I can not stand and let this man do this any longer, we must teach him a lesson." The two had finally finished their game. As the two were taking off their helmets their expression where poler opposites. One was a fat man with blonde hair who had a huge grin on his face. While the other was an old woman who looked depressed. "Maybe you should go back to knitting, you old sod." The fat man said. The old women looked as if she was on the verge of tears. "Novis now is the time." As Novis was looking at therge man, he wanted to do something but was too afraid of losing. No one had acted up andined about this mans behaviour and the simple reason why was because he was stronger than the rest of us. "What are you all looking at clear off if you''re not going to y against me." The crowd of people quickly separated and went to do their own thing. "Why didn''t you challenge him?" Arthur asked. "And embarrass myself like with my brother, no thanks it''s best to just ignore people like that anyway." "That''s not true Novis, if no one does anything about that behaviour then the man will think he has done nothing wrong, he will continue to act out like that." Novis knew what Arthur was saying was right but he was too afraid of what would happen if Arthur was to lose in front of everyone. Paul was looking at the whole situation and could see that Novis was upset. Paul wanted to teach therge man a lesson but knew it would mean nothing. The man would simply say it was unfair because paul was a pro while he was just a casual yer. Paul went up to Novis hoping to give him some words of encouragement. Paul ced his hand on Novis shoulder and said, "One day someone will teach him a lesson, in fact, I think hees here because he can''t beat anyone but new yers, work hard and maybe you can be the one to do that for me." Novis could tell Paul was trying tofort him so he gave a smile back, just the something popped into Novis mind a question he had wanted to ask but forget to mention while they were in the game together. "Oh teacher, I was meant to ask, have you ever heard of a swordsman named Arthur Pendragon?" Chapter 8: The best in the world Chapter 8: The best in the world "Oh teacher, I was meant to ask, have you ever heard of a swordsman named Arthur Pendragon?" Novis had asked Paul this question thinking that if Arthur was truly a great swordsman, then surely a pro yer who studied swordsmanship would have heard of him before. Paul thought for a while before giving his answer. "I''m sorry to say this but I don''t think I have, does he have something to do with VSW?" "No don''t worry, just something I heard about from a friend. I''ll see you next week." Novis said as we waved goodbye. While Paul was standing there an old man who had overheard their conversation came and stood next to paul by pauls side. The two of them watched Novis as he ran off and waved goodbye. "Arthur Pendragon, now that''s a name I haven''t heard in a while. Perhaps there aren''t many people alive who even remember the name." The old man said. "Who was he?" Paul asked. "A man who had created legends, there are too many stories to count about him that it was hard for people to tell truth from myth. but as the years passed many seemed to forget about his name." As Paul was listening to the old man speak he wondered, why on earth would someone as young as Novis know the name of Arthur. A person even he had never heard of before. His interest again slightly grew in the young boy. ****** A week had passed and Novis had decided to visit the training centre again. Arthur wouldn''t give up on pestering Novis asking him if they were to go to the training centre again. He had even asked if this time he could face Paul. Novis had told him it would be best not too, a professional like that could probably tell the difference in their two ying styles and abilities. The truth was even if Arthur hadn''t asked Novice, Novis had nned to go to the training centre again anyway. He had grown a slight interest in the game after seeing paul''s disy of skills. Before entering the training centre Novis felt his throat was a little dry so he decided to go to the vending machine just ced outside. Novis selected his drink and the beverage dropped down. "The machinery you have now is amazing, does this work via magic as well. "Yeah, magic is very useful in today''s society we use it in nearly anything." Novis felt a little bad lying to Arthur but it was hard to exin how something worked when even he had little knowledge of it himself. It made Novis realise how lucky he really was to grow up with all this technology that was made by other people. Novis was stood outside enjoying his drink when he could see a screen disying a game of VSW. It was a team game and one of the teams had just lost four of their yers. Thest man on the team was currently surrounded by three other characters. Novis was sure that the man had no chance. He had just seen the other three people kill the man''s teammates and they looked just as skilful as paul at least. The next scene surprised him and Arthur both. As the foes came towards him he dealt with each of them with a single strike, turning the game around and winning it for his team. "Wow, that must have been a professional game, I wonder how strong he is?" Novis said. "Very strong," Arthur replied. Arthur didn''t say much, but it was the first time he had seen someone fight who even he didn''t know if he could defeat. Novis was still finding it hard to trust Arthur, but even though he was aplete beginner even he knew someone had to be skilful to take on three people at once. "I wonder if I can do that one day?" A person who was watching the match had heard what Novis had said. "Are you joking, don''t you know who he is?" Novis didn''t reply for fear of embarrassing himself. The man sighed. "He''s Justin bell, the number one yer in the world. Currently ranked 1st in the god tier. If you could do what he just did I''d be bowing down to you asking you to teach me." "If I can beat him, perhaps I can achieve my goal," Arthur said. "Try beating my brother first." Novis entered the training centre and went to the front desk to register. While at the front desk he bumped into a familiar face. The fat man who had bullied the old women. Novis was frowning at the man but didn''t realise what he was doing. "What are you looking at kid?" Novis didn''t say anything he was afraid that he might say something so offensive that the man would hit him. He simply bit his lip and walked back out of the training centre. Novis hated these people the most, if he was older and stronger he properly would have hit the man but he would be the only one getting in trouble if that was to happen. In a way society currently had no true way to deal with bullies. If you were to go to the police they wouldn''t take the thing seriously. People may not realise it but adults also bully and get bullied it''s not just something that happened in school. Someone needed to do something about it Novis thought. "Novis, you promised me I would get to fight today," Arthurined. "I know, I know but what am I meant to do now, that man ruined my mood. I don''t want to go back in there." Just then the man who was talking to them before approached Novis. Hey if you''re looking for a ce to y, there''s an inte cafe nearby for VSW yers. "Seriously," "Yeah a lot of people can''t afford to buy there own VR headset, so they use an inte cafe, it''s a good ce to train and practice as well." "What do you think Arthur?" "As long as I get to fight today, I don''t mind who I''m up against." Novis took out his phone and said "Do you mind sending me the address?" Chapter 9: VSW Cafe Chapter 9: VSW Cafe After receiving the information of where the VSW inte cafe was, Novis along with Arthur quickly made their way to the location. The inte cafe wasn''t too far from the training centre. It took around fifteen minutes in total to arrive. The cafe was located on a busy high street on top of a regr coffee shop. It was easy to spot because a big sign was hanging on the outside with the VSW logo. The room was slightly different from the training centre but about the same size. Inside were multiple desks with VR sets and a Tv, the same set up as the training centre. What was different though was at the back of the room were capsules. The capsules allowed your whole body to fit into the machine. The machines were high end and were mainly used by the pros because they gave minimal dy. When Novis entered the room he was surprised at how packed it was, there were hardly any spaces avable. A cute girl was standing at the front desk, she had brown hair tied up in a ponytail. As she saw Novis enter she smiled. "Hello, wee!" She said. Novis was still looking at all the people ying VSW and didn''t hear her. He noticed that most of the people at the cafe were middleaged men and women. Novis was a bit upset by this, after seeing the training centre he was hoping that they would be more people his age in an inte cafe. He guessed most people were like his brother and preferred to y at home. As Novis began walking towards the ying area the girl called out to him again. "Excuse me, you need to write your name down here, is it your first time here?" Novis snapped out of his daze and realised the girl was speaking to him. "Yeah, is anyone allowed to y VSW here?" The girl handed Novis a tablet so he could fill in his information and register as a member. "Yeah, just fill in your details on this." Novis finished filling in the details and handed the tablet back to the girl. "Oh you forgot to fill in your rank, what rank are you?" Novis thought for a bit, he came here for Arthur, not himself, and he didn''t really know where to ce Arthur. He had only seen him fight so little. But he had to be better then average Novis thought. "I''ve never really yed I don''t have a rank at the moment." The girl behind the desk started tough. "So you haven''t even had your cement games yet, the yers here might be a little too advanced for you but you still free to try." Novis didn''t n to y himself today, so he didn''t mind who he yed against if he lost it didn''t matter as he wasn''t nning toe back here again. As Novis was looking at the ying area in the cafe he spotted someone that was the same age as him. "Hey, that''s the first kid I''ve seen in here!" Novis shouted while pointing at the person. The kid was sitting on his own at a desk nearby the front. He had slick ck hair that was neatlybed back. He was wearing a in neat tidy uniform as well. The Kid''s appearance screamed upper ss. The kid pointed at himself and said "huh, do you mean me?" Novis looked back at the girl. "Is it okay if I y with him." Novis felt morefortable facing someone his own age. It was morefortable for him and Novis assumed that the Kid''s wouldn''t be as hard to beat as the adults. The women seemed a bit nervous at Novis enthusiasm. "Well...that kid is.." Before she could finish answering the kid stood up and started to walk towards Novis. "You''re looking for someone to y with, right? sure I''ll be happy to y you." Now that the kid was stood up, Novis could see that the kid was slightly taller than him. He had ck shiny shoes that Novis was sure to cost a fortune. The women tried to interrupt. "but Lucas, this kid hasn''t..." Novis was too excited and started to speak again. "It''s so lucky to see another kid in here, it''s so much better than ying some old geezer." "Come on let''s go pick one of the desks and have a one on one, My name is Lucas." "I''m Novis, fifteen years old you?" "Oh, we''re the same age." As the two started to walk off the women called out. "Hey, wait you haven''t paid yet." "Crap I forgot to bring some money." Novis thought to himself. "It''s okay Sophie, I can cover him this time." "Thank''s Lucas I promise I''ll pay you back next time." The two of them proceeded to sit down at the desk, before they started Lucas asked, "So how good are you?" "Honestly I''m not sure." After watching others y the game for a while he realised that his brother was the one who was exceptional at the game there probably wasn''t a lot of people who were at his level but still didn''t know where to ce Arthur at. "Not sure, well would you like to y a solo game or a team game?" Lucas asked. Novis was confused because he could only see the two of them at the desk how would they y a team game. "What do you mean? are you going to ask others to join us?" "You can set the system up so we can y with bots, that way we don''t need anyone else." "I''ve only ever yed a solo game, so let''s just stick with that." Lucas was surprised there weren''t many who hadn''t yed team games. There were a few people who would decide to specialize in solo matches but there weren''t many. "A solo game it is then." There were many people around who were listening in on the two talking, they were shocked at what they had just heard. "He''s going to y a solo game against Lucas." "That kid must be strong." The two put on their Vr headsets and entered the game. Once they had entered the game Novis had given control of his body over to Arthur. Arthur selected the same character as thest time while Lucas had selected A samurai looking character, the character had barely any armour on but had a long sharp katana sword. Novis realised that it was the same character that the number one yer in the world used, Justin bell. "Try not to embarrass me likest time," Novis said to Arthur. "Don''t worry, now I know the rules, nothing will get in my way." Chapter 10: A lesson Chapter 10: A lesson Lucas and Novis were currently in the game lobby together, The inte cafe was designed so if you were ying at the same table it would automatically put you in a lobby and voice chat. Arthur was currently at the blue base testing out his character. He was swinging his sword adjusting between the dy of his mind and sword. "I can still feel it a little, but I think I''ve gotten the timing down." "Would you hurry up, Lucas probably thinks we got lost or something," Novis said. Lucas was currently waiting down the middlene for Novis to appear, it had been ten minutes and still, there was no sign of him. "Hey, Novis is everything okay?" "Sorry, I was just practising," Arthur replied. "Wow, he really must be a beginner then." Lucas thought to himself. Arthur quickly went down the middle path and saw Lucas there waiting for him. Since Lucas thought Novis was aplete beginner he decided that he was just going to practice and teach Novis a few things. The two of them quickly met in the middle and began to sh swords with each other. "I thought he was a beginner, but he''s attacking me in difficult ces." Lucas thought to himself. They continued attacking each other with no winner in sight, neither of them had been injured. Lucas then realised something was odd. He knew the character Novis was ying well, yet he hadn''t used a single skill from that character. That meant only one thing, everything he was doing now was without the help of the system. It was his actual sword skill. Lucas decided that he would no longer take it easy on his opponent and was attacking with everything he had. But even though Lucas was using his full strength Arthur was still able to deflect every attack. "My moves, there having no effect on him." Lucas was starting to sweat, suddenly, the tables had turned. Now Arthur was on the offensive, it had made Lucas realise that this whole time his opponent was just being defensive. He had never made a strike of his own. After every strike Arthur would pause slightly, originally Lucas thought this was because Novis was using the character skills but now that he knew he wasn''t, it could mean only one thing. His opponent was testing him, each strike that Arthur made was designed to make Lucas think. This sent a shiver down Lucas''s spine. The opponent he was currently facing was someone who stood much higher level than him. ****** The bell to the Cafe door sound chimed, a middle-aged man was walking through the door. "Good afternoon," Sophie said. "Is Lucas here, I''m here for my lesson." the man said. "He''s ying against a school kid at the moment," Sophie said while smiling. "I heard he decided not to join a pro team this year?" "Yeah, he said he wanted to be stronger first, even though we all know he''s already plenty strong." As the man was signing in on the tablet he said, "Justin bell must not be happy with his son, not going pro this year again." As Sophie and the middle-aged man were speaking she noticed that Novis was on his way out. "Oh, are you all done then?" Sophie asked. "I guess it''s still too early for me to y against people I''m still a bit slow so the match took a while. I''m all tired now." Sophie went underneath her desk and pulled a leaflet out cing it on the counter. "I think you should check this out, it''s happening this week." Novis picked up the leaflet from the table. "A Children''s VGW tournament." "There will be a lot of kids from all over the country attending." Novice decided to take the leaflet and started to leave the shop. "Thanks for everything today." "Pleasee again." The middle-aged man looked at the kid as he walked off. "Is that the kid that went up against Lucas, give him another 20 years maybe." "Yeah, he was a strange kid," Sophie said while chuckling to her self. As the old man looked at the ying area he could see that everyone had gathered around one screen. "I wonder what''s going on there?" The people were in an uproar about something. The screen at the table was still disying the ending results of the match. Everyone standing there couldn''t believe their eyes. "Did you lose Lucas!" "That''s impossible." "He had to have given him a handicap right?" "When I was looking earlier the kid was swinging his sword about as if he had never yed before." "That has to be impossible, we know that Lucas is basically a pro." "How long did the match take?" The crowd started to look at the information that was disyed on the screen, the match took around 30 minutes. This was rare for a solo match. A team match would often take anywhere between 30 minutes to two hours depending on how much stronger one team waspared to the other. But a solo match, people didn''t bother with the strategy of taking the other base''s g, nearly everyone yed it as a one on one fight. The crowd could clearly see that Lucas had lost because his character had died. If the match had taken 30 minutes it must have meant the fight was close between the two of them. "It took 30 minutes, that means the fight was quite close, maybe Lucas was just having an off day." Lucas heard this and thought he wished he was having an off day. Maybe then he would have some sort of excuse about how he lost, but he knew that the person he had just faced was many levels higher than his own. Arthur hadn''t even used his full strength against him. Sophie came rushing over after hearing all the customers chatting to each other. "Did he really beat you, Lucas? but that can''t be true the kid didn''t even have a rank." Lucas thought that had to be impossible, he had clearly fought against someone who was born to use the sword. The opponent he had faced was aplete monster. Chapter 11: You are weak Chapter 11: You are weak Arthur''s interest began to grow in the game. He was fascinated by all the different characters and sword fighting styles. Arthur would constantly bug Novis about going to the inte Cafe or going online to y more opponents. Arthur new the number one rule when facing somebody was to know you''re opponent. This meant he needed to y against several different characters and fighting styles. There were problems though, Novis was only fifteen years old, it meant he had to spend most of his time at school or doing homework, only giving him free time on the weekends. He could y online but he didn''t have his own VR headset and didn''t want to bug his brother. So what he decided to do was, while Novis would study or do his homework, he would let Arthur watch matches on theputer. Arthurpletely focused on the screen and quickly had memorized the basic skills of all the characters. He was absorbing all the information like a sponge. ******* The next day at school Novis was ying ser in his P.E ss, he currently had possession of the ball. There were two defenders in front of him. He then skillfully dribbled the ball past the first person, when the second defender approached him he rolled the ball up his leg and kicked it with the back of the heel, causing the ball to go in the air, above the defender. Now all that was left was Novis and the Goalkeeper. Novis went to take the shot, he swung his leg back and sted the ball. The ball hadpletely missed its target going about ten meters above the goal. The kids began tough. "You''ll always be just better than average, I swear you''re like this with every sport. Arthur was watching Novis the whole time. "It seems like Novis is quite athletic, it''s a shame that he hasn''t found the right thing for him." Arthur thought to himself. As the P.E lesson ended it was time for the next ss. The students returned to the ssroom waiting for their next lesson. Scarlett was looking over at Novis with a concerned look on her face. She had thought that Novis had been acting strangely in thest few days. He had always been an odd child but now he seemed to be on the borderline of crazy. Even now it seemed like Novis was talking to an imaginary person. Scarlett walked up to Novis who was lying at his desk. "Hey Novis, are you okay, you''ve been acting strange thesest few days?" "Yeah, I just have a lot of things going on these day''s." "Do you mean like Joining the VSW training centre." "How did you know?" A couple of Novis ssmates had herd what Scarlett had said. "What! Novis is ying VSW now?" "Isn''t he well known for having never touched a game before." As everyone was making fun of Novis, the teacher entered the ssroom. "Alright everyone it''s time to take your seats." As the ss began Arthur couldn''t stop thinking about VSW. "Will we get to y soon?" Arthur asked. "I understand you''re crazy about swordsmanship but you sure are weaker then I thought." "What do you mean?" "My brother might be an expectation but it took you thirty minutes to beat that kid at the inte Cafe." Novis didn''t say much but he was disappointed in Arthur, someone who had dedicated their life to the sword found it difficult to beat a fifteen-year-old, it was very hard to believe. As the ss began a worksheet was handed around the ssroom. The current subject was Maths, and Novis hated Maths. "Hey Arthur, you''re an adult, do you think you could help me out with this?" Arthur looked at the sheet. Arthur had been raised in a good family in the past so he had a high education levelpared to other people in his time but he could still just barelyplete what Novis was doing. "If I help you out will you let me y VSW this weekend?" Novis was starting to find it embarrassing that every time he let Arthur fight he wouldn''t perform so well. At the inte cafe he had even said that he was probably pretty good, then went on to just beat a school kid. It was embarrassing for him. So he didn''t feel like returning to the inte cafe anytime soon. The training centre was pointless for Arthur because Arthur wasn''t really a beginner. So Novis would take the time to actually y. Novis then remembered something, he reached into his pocket and pulled out the leaflet that was given to him by Sophie. "How about this, I know it''s only a children''s VSW tournament but we can always just watch instead?" Arthur thought for a while, surely he wanted to be interested in fighting children but thest opponent he had thought was impressive. He couldn''t believe a kid of that age had mastered the sword already. "Okay, it''s a deal," Arthur said. The teacher had walked around the room and noticed that Novis still hadn''t filled in a single answer on his worksheet. "Novis, why is your worksheet nk?" "Oh, I promise I''ll start it right away." That Sunday the two of them had arrived at the VSW tournament. It was a huge hall packed with Children and parents. The children were between the ages of 10 - 18. It was an amazing sight to see so many people fit in one room. Novis and Arthur jaws nearly hit the floor at what they were seeing. The tournament was a one on one battle style. Many pro''s hade to the event to scout a new member for their team. But what had amazed the both of them was in the hall they weren''t using the standard VR headset gear. They were eight arenas the size of a boxing ring ced around the hall. On each side near the boxing ring were the capsules Novis had seen in the inte cafe, but unlike the inte cafe, there was no TV screen disying the fight. The fight was being projected into the boxing ring like a hologram. The characters were so detailed it was as if they were actually there in the ring fighting. Two people would select their characters then their holograms would appear in the ring. A countdown timer would start and the two would go at it with each other. It was a true one on one fight just demonstrating their sword skills. The sight of this, the atmosphere of the crowd surrounding the ring and cheering, it all gave Novis goosebumps. Chapter 12: Advice not needed Chapter 12: Advice not needed Novis was looking at the mass of people in the hall, many of them were watching the fight around the arenas. You could tell apart the contestants from the audience because the contestants had a white sticker across with a number on them. Simr to marathon runners. Some of the contestants were even off to the side practising with wooden or blunt swords. "Look at all the people ying, Some of them are even younger than me," Novis said while staring at what looked like a ten year old swinging his sword. A match had just finished and two numbers were called out over the speaker. Then two people who were watching the match climbed into the capsules starting a brand new game against each other. The system they had was quick and efficient and wasted no time. Novis looked around and was surprised to see a lot of adults at a VGW tournament for kids. The adults were even more nervous than the kids. "Hey, Arthur don''t you think all of this is incredible?" "Yes, there are so many children here. I can see it in there eyes. These children have the same passion to improve their sword skills as I did. With this, it gives me hope to believe that swordsmanship will always exist in one way or another." Novis started to look around moving his head side by side as if he was looking for someone. "Hey, I wonder if Lucas joined this event, I can''t see him anywhere." Novis kept bumping into people as he was walking around. "There are too many people, there''s no way I could find him even if he was here." Arthur wasn''t paying attention to what Novis was doing but was watching one of the matches take ce in a ring nearby. "The person in red is in trouble, he''s looking for a chance to counter when he should be using speed against his opponent," Arthur said. Novis went over the ring to look at the game, Each character had a different coloured sash, one wearing red the other wearing blue. This was implemented in case the contestants picked the same character. Novis could see what Arthur was talking about, the person in red was only blocking. As if he was waiting for the perfect opportunity to counter. The character in blue was using a powerhouse character, it focused mainly on attack power. These type of characters were slow so it was best to counter them with speed. "Red is going to lose if he keeps waiting for a counter, he needs to use his speed." Novis was simply just repeating what Arthur had said. A woman who was also watching the match had overhead Novis. "Did you just say my son was going to lose!" She went and grabbed Novis by his shirt. "I was just talking to myself, I''m sorry." As the two were arguing Red ended up losing, he never got a chance to counterattack. The women started to shake Novis harder. "See you jinxed my son, how is he meant to get noticed now!" Security had quicklye over to try to calm down the situation but the mother was screaming saying her son deserved a second chance. Just then, a man in a suit appeared, he had blonde hair that was split parting and was wearing sses. The venue security went over to the man and bowed down to him. "Sorry, the situation has gotten a little out of hand Mr Lally." Mrlly put his hands on the security guards shoulder and lifted him back to a normal standing position. "Don''t worry about it, I will handle this, can you tell me what happened?" "The mother is demanding a rematch, saying that this boy had swayed the results of the match due to his words." "What did he say?" The mother then interrupted the security guard. "He said my boy was going to lose! that he was stupid." Novis was getting annoyed he didn''t mind getting punished but not for something he didn''t do or say. "That''s a lie, I said if he needed to stop looking for a counter and use his speed." Mr Lally then went up to one of the capsules. He stood there for a moment and pressed a few buttons. Then the two holograms. The same two characters that were fighting were doing it again. It was a rey the match that had just happened. As Mr Lally was watching the match he hade to the same conclusion as Novis, that the red sash needed to stop looking for a counter and focus on speed. Mr Lally thought it was unusual for a kid to have that much insight from just watching a game, only pros or top tier yers like himself could do something like that. Mr Lally then walked up to the mother. "It looks like to me what the boy said was correct. If the boy had taken his advice then perhaps he would have won. Even though in this type of event the contestant can hear the crowd on the outside, if this boy tried to intentionally give bad advice I still doubt your son would have heard him over all the cheers and screaming. Maybe even your outburst at the side of the arena had put him off." The woman knew the man standing in front of her held a high position at the tournament, if he didn''t agree to the rematch then there was nothing she could do. She also didn''t want to offend a pro yer. The pro Comunity all knew each other well and it might spoil her son''s chances in the future. After themotion was over the woman and her son had rushed away from the scene to avoid any further embarrassment. Mr Lally then went and approached Novis. "Are you part of the tournament as well?" "No, I just came here to watch." My Lally thought it was a shame, he wanted to see the boy disy his skills in the arena. He had a hunch that something was special about this kid. "Do you minding with me?" Mrlly asked. Chapter 13: One day Chapter 13: One day Novis hadn''t realised it but he had caused quite amotion in the hall. Many people were talking about how a spectator got taken to the back due to his advice he gave that ruined a match. An adult man and a kid with ck hair named Alex were discussing the rumours they had heard. "I wonder what the kid said to cause such amotion like that?" Alex said. "I''m not sure since I wasn''t watching the game, but it''s hard to believe advice from a kid could do anything to sway the match. It could just be a coincidence." the man said. "True if someone was that good his name would be known to all of us by now." Alex was thinking if hisment really could affect the match that much, then he must be someone special. If they were to meet in the future Alex was sure to want the kid on his team. ***** Mr Lally had left the Novis with the security guards as he still had to attend the floor. The security guards escorted Novis to an office located in the back. Novis was currently apologising to an old man who was the owner and organizer of the whole event. "I''m very sorry for what I said, I didn''t realise that they could hear us while they were in the capsule." The capsule they were using were state of the art technology. While their physical body was trapped in the capsule. All their senses had been transferred to the game character in the ring. Meaning that they could hear everything. The capsule was even designed to dull down pain when being struck by a weapon. Being stabbed by a sword only felt like a small pinch. This was something the VR headsets couldn''t offer. The Vr headsets allowed you to control the character with your mind and hear but that was it. You weren''t able to feel what you were touching or pain when struck. The old man looked Novis up and down, it was hard to tell by Novis''s expression whether he truly knew what he had done was wrong. "There are many children who take this tournament seriously. They are a lot of scouts hear for professional teams who are looking for the next Gem, and you could have ruined that kid''s chance." Novis had put his two hands together as if he was praying to the old man. While the old man was looking at Novis, in the end, a kid was a kid, there wasn''t much he could do. "You''re free to go now, just don''t do it again." Novis was relived he was worried that he might get banned or cklisted from future events. He didn''t stick around much longer in case they decide to change his mind and left the room. "Sigh, what a day." The old man said. "What did he even do?" "He made ament that would have affected the games results, we have a recording of the match if you would like to see?" ******** Novis had a big grin on his face as he was walking down the hallway away from the office. He had gotten away with just a warning and a telling off. "I didn''t realise how serious this tournament was for these kids, it''s just a game." Just then Novis but into a solid object, it was so hard that it caused him to fall over backwards andnd on his bottom. When Novis had looked at what he had hit he noticed it was a person. "I''m sorry I wasn''t paying attention," Novis said. The man was directly looking down at Novis, his eyes felt as if they could see right through him. The man himself felt like he was three times the size of a regr person but Novis knew that was impossible. Novis was frozen just by the man''s immense pressure. The man continued to walk past him and said "Be more careful next time..." "That man who was he, I felt like i couldn''t breathe just from looking at him, What about you Arthur?" Arthur was too focused on the man to have heard Novis''s words. Arthur could tell just from looking at this person that he was the best in the world. The one who was currently ranked Number one Justin bell. ***** Justin had just entered the office when he saw everyone had gathered around a screen. Mr Lally, the old man and a couple of the judges. "It sounds like there was some trouble on the arena floor." "Oh Sir Justin,e over and have a look at this recording." Mr Lally had restarted to the recording for Justin to see. "even a pro would find it difficult to give the right advice for these two fighters, perhaps even watch the fight several times. Yet a young boy who was spectating made the right judjement, stating that the one in red should focus on speed instead of waiting to counter." Mr Lally said. One of the judges shared his opinion too. "For a child to make an urate assessment like this, i didn''t think they would be anyone so young who could do this apart from your son Lucas." Mrlly looked at the old man. "And you didn''t even get the kids name before he left. He didn''te in as a participant so we don''t know his name." Justin put his hand on Mrlly to calm him down. "We shouldn''t worry too much." Justin then walked over towards the recording being yed. He too had made the same Judgment as the kid. For someone to know these characters weaknesses and strengths they would have to have studied swordsmanship for hours on end. They had to know the move set of every character in the game. It wasn''t something someone could do in a week or so. "If he truly is that strong, then he will appear in front of us pros one day and make a name for himself in the Esports scene." Chapter 14: Becoming a pro Chapter 14: Bing a pro It was currently a Sunny Sunday afternoon. The VSW cafe was busy and full of people as usual. Lucas, however, was sat on one table on his own in the corner. The bell chimed as a middle-aged man walked through the doors. "Hi Sophie, is Lucas in today?" "He is.. but as you can see." Sophie then looked over to the direction Lucas was in. Lucas Currently had his eyes glued to the screen watching a certain match. "He''s been like that ever since he lost that game, he''s been watching the same match over and over again," Sophie said. "I heard it was a kid the same age as him, and it was pretty close between the two of them." Lucas kept pausing the battle, watching every move that Novis had made in the game. When he decided to strike, how his foot moved, how he reacted to his attacks. He came to the conclusion that a child his age couldn''t be that good. He wasn''t just as good as a pro, he was better than most. Lucas gritted his teeth. "Novis, I need to find you." Sophie had approached Lucas with the old man standing behind her. "Lucas, Mr way would like to y with you in a match if you can?" Lucas didn''t even bother looking at the man or Sophie and replied, "I''m sorry but I''m waiting for someone." Lucas didn''t know anything about the boy apart from his first name and his age. So the only thing he could do was sit there and wait. "Are you waiting for that child?" Sophie asked. Lucas remained silent. "Oh, I just remembered I gave him a flyer to that children''s VSW tournament." "Are you talking about the one today." The colour suddenly returned to Lucas''s face. "Yeah, he didn''t seem too interested but you never know he might have gone." Lucas straight away jumped up from his seat and started to run towards the exit. "Lucas wait!" As Lucas was leaving the shop he turned around and shouted, "Sophie if hees back to the shop, make sure you make him stay!" Sophie was lost for words. She had never seen Lucas act like this. The whole time he had been at the inte cafe he always acted in a calm and professional manner. It was sometimes hard for her to even believe he was a child. "Lucas, he''s kinda changed hasn''t he." The man smiled. "Well of course he has, it''s the first time he''s ever had a rival." ***** Novis was currently walking down the street to head to the subway station that was not too far from the centre where the tournament was held. He wasn''t in the best of moods. "So stupid, I can''t believe we got kicked out like that!." "It is your fault," Arthur said. "If you had kept your mouth shut it would have been fine." "I was simply speaking to myself, what are you a parrot that repeats everything it hears." "Who are you calling a parrot, you big stupid ghost." The two of them were arguing back on forth on the street. Many people who passed by could only see a boy shouting at the air. They could only think that Novis was crazy and chose to stay away from him. As the two were arguing Novis heard someone shout out his name. "Novis!" As Novis turned around he could see a boy standing just outside the exit of the subway station. "Lucas?" Lucas was panting hard and was out of breath, he had run without stopping to get to the tournament as quickly as possible. Novis recognised Lucas and was quite happy to see him. "Hey, Lucas, what''s up why do you look so worn out?" Suddenly Lucas felt a bit embarrassed. He had finally met Novis but didn''t know what to say. "Oh, um.." "So, were you not in the tournament?" "No, what about you?" "Me, I just came to watch a few games but then my ns got ruined," Novis said while looking over his shoulder at Arthur. Novis then started to get excited. "It was amazing in there, I''ve never seen anything like it. Did you know they had real holograms fighting and they can hear everything? there were so many kids, some even younger than me." Lucas slightly frowned at Novis''s words. "You''ve never seen anything like that before. do you mind if I look at your hands?" Novis opened the palm of his right hand. "You mean this thing, why do you need to look at.." As soon as Novis had raised his hand Lucas was already rubbing his fingers across it, looking to see if he could find any bumps. If what Novis was saying was true, that he hadn''t yed the game much before, then Lucas thought Novis must have trained with the sword outside of the game. This would leave several calluses and bumps on his hands and fingers. But when Lucas went to check Novis''s hands, he could feel nothing. It was as if Novis had never held a sword in his life before. "Novis, are you going to be a pro?" "PRO!" Novisughed out loud, he had never thought about bing pro in his life before. He hadn''t even yed the game much himself. When Novis eventually stoppedughing he asked, "Are you nning to be a pro?" "I am." Novis noticed that Lucas had a serious look on his face. "Do pros make a lot of money?" "Most don''t and struggle to barely make a living but if you''re in the top, the money is in the millions." Novis''s eyes started to shine with gold, he never knew that ying a game could make you so rich. "Perhaps I will be a pro, win a few tournaments here and there." Lucas was starting to get annoyed, Novis wasn''t the person he thought he was. He couldn''t believe someone this skilful at the game treated it as a joke. Arthur was shaking his head at Novis in the background. "You have no right to be a pro!" Lucas shouted. Novis didn''t know what he had said to make Lucas this mad. Lucas continued to shout "Do you realize how hard it is to be a pro, I''ve seen many people put in hours and hours of work to only fail at thest hurdle. To sacrifice friends and family just to be a part of this world!" Novis remained silent, he was taking in everything he had just heard. Then Lucas held out his hand and said."y another game with me right now!" Novis didn''t know what to say or do. The person who Lucas wanted to fight wasn''t actually him it was Arthur. Novis felt like he had no right to decide. Lucas thought he couldn''t have lost to someone who treats the game like this. The inky reason he lostst time was because he thought Novis was a beginner but this time he would be ready and go all out from the beginning. Novis turned to look at Arthur. "Let''s do it." Arthur replied. Chapter 15: Round 2 Chapter 15: Round 2 Lucas quickly grabbed Novis by his hand dragging him along to the subway station. The two of them boarded on the train as they headed back to the inte cafe. Lucas had now distanced himself a little away from Novis, realising what he had done in the heat of the moment. While riding the train Lucas couldn''t help but mumble to himself. He was currently nning every situation that he might encounter when he faced Novis. An imaginary battle started to y out in Lucas''s head. Novis saw this and thought Lucas was extremely angry at him for some reason. "I had just made an off-handedment, it was just a joke and he gets all annoyed." Novis thought to himself. "That was not just a joke to him," Arthur said. "Of course it was a joke, even with your help Arthur, of course, we couldn''t be a pro, you barely managed to beat himst time. It took you thirty minutes to finally win. If we went up against a pro yer I don''t even think we couldst a minute." "Novis, I wasn''t fighting seriously in the match against him, I wouldn''t y seriously against a child. I was teaching him." "What do you mean?" "In that match, I purposely fought in a way that would make him learn. Make him think about his moves more, work on his defence, let him know of his strengths and weaknesses." "Oh, so you are stronger than him, well he is just a kid after all so it''s expected that you as an adult should be better." Arthur then looked towards Lucas who was standing on his own. "You''re wrong about him Novis, he isn''t just any regr old child. When fighting him I could tell he was special. It was why I wanted to train him. When he grows up he will be one of the best yers in the world." Novis was shocked by hearing Arthur''s words, wasn''t Lucas just a regr kid who enjoyed the game. But he had talked about wanting to be pro. Novis and Arthur hadn''t yed against many people so it was hard for Novis to gauge what Arthur true strength was. When he fought against his brother Bill he still hadn''t learnt the rules and got attacked by the tower. The two of them hadn''t actually fought. If they were to fight now Novis wondered who would win. Novis had all thoughts now running through his mind, he himself still didn''t know enough about swordsmanship to tell how strong someone was by watching them. Novis had no clue that all the opponents that he had seen fight so far, were monsters. Novis and Lucas left the subway and went over to the VSW inte cafe. As the two of them walked through the door Sophie was surprised to see Lucas back so early, she also noticed that he managed to bring Novis back with him. As Lucas walked past the front counter he simply said to her. "We will take the VR capsule machines at the back." Last time the two of them fought they used the standard Vr headset this time Lucas didn''t want anything getting in there way, so he wanted to use the capsules. While the two of them walked to the back of the room many people had noticed Lucas and the kid next to him. "That kid isn''t he..." "Yeah, he''s the one who beat Lucas." "What Lucas was beat!" "Yeah, I remember himing in." Before they had even reached the capsules at the back, a crowd had gathered around the screen. Novis looked at the crowd of people and felt nervous. His heart was pounding faster. "Wait, hang on!" Novis said. "Please Novis, Let''s start." As Lucas said that he proceeded to get into the capsule on his side. Novis thought how could he not get nervous with all these people watching him. But it wasn''t that, Lucas was just far too focused on the match that he didn''t even notice anyone else around him. "Novis switch with me now," Arthur said. The two of them switched bodies. Arthur looked towards Lucas one time just before entering the capsule. Lucas could suddenly feel a huge amount of pressureing from Novis, he didn''t know what happened but it felt as if Novis had be an entirely different person. Novis entered the capsule and the two of them started the game. The crowd around them was getting excited, one of the kids was the son of the number one yer in the world Justin bell. A person who they had all fought when they first came to the inte cafe. They knew how strong Lucas was, he was already good enough to be a pro. But now opposite Lucas was another Kid who had beaten the so-called genius. The crowd would not miss a single second of this battle. The two of them entered the game and selected their characters, Arthur had selected Dragonyer who he had been using the whole time so far. While Lucas selected Mu Samu, a samurai looking character. It was the same character that his father Justin bell specialised in. In the cafe, the people were talking about their character selection styles. "So the kid selected Dragonyer, it''s a well-bnced character that can cover all basis, but because of that, it doesn''t have any particr strengths either, making it unpopr with the pro yers. It''s a low tier pick. I find it hard picturing him winning with that character." A man said. "I agree, you never know though, Lucas picked Mu Samu, a character who focuses on strong attacks but doesn''t leave much room for defence. If you miss an attack it leaves your opponent with a big opening to strike back. You have to be really skilful and dodge right after. It looks like Lucas is serious, he''s ying his main character." Arthur and Lucas wasted no time in meeting down the middlene. The two of them were going to duke it out. No fancy tricks, no tactics. It was going to be a straight-up sword fight between the two of them. Chapter 16: Stop Chasing Chapter 16: Stop Chasing Arthur was standing by his second tower down the middlene, while Lucas was stood by his. A distance of about 80 meters of ground stood in between them. To left and right of the path was the forest. In the middle, the NPCs were fighting, locked in a stalemate. As one knight would die wearing a red sash a blue knight would die wearing a blue sash. As soon as the ten of each army had died they would be reced with another ten. The two of them stood just staring at each other from the other side of the path. "What are they doing, they''ve been standing like that for five minutes." A man said watching the game. Arthur was giving Lucas all the time he needed to prepare for this fight, while Lucas was picturing one more time how he wanted the fight to go. He wasn''t nning to lose likest time. Finally, Lucas made the first moveing forward towards Arthur. At the same time, Arthur decided to match and meet him in the middle. Lucas drew his long katana de and struck straight down. Arthur simply flowed the path of the sword as it came down and used his sword to alter it''s the path to the side making the strike avoid him. Lucas continued attacking him aggressively putting his full energy into every strike, afraid that if he put any less in he would be defeated. The two of them continued like this for five minutes with Lucas attacking and Arthur blocking. The crowd outside were getting excited. "Wow, could you attack continually like that for five minutes." "Of course not, I would be worn out by now." "Lucas is amazing!" VSW was known for its realism, as you attack more with your character in the game, it would take a toll on your mind. You could feel the tiredness of the characters being reflected back onto your body. It was a true game that tested your will power, mental capacity, reaction time and skill. To everyone on the outside, it looked like Lucas was dominating the match and all Arthur could do was block. Lucas was the only one getting more and more nervous as the match went on. "Why don''t you attack back, you did the same thingst time!" Lucas shouted. Lucas was baiting him, he had watched the fight between him and Novis over a hundred times. He felt that Novis excelled at blocking but was weak at attacking, that was where he would counter and win the game. Then, like a sh of lightning Arthur swung his sword and sliced Lucas''s body in half. Lucas was sweating but then realised that his body waspletely fine. To everyone outside Lucas had just suddenly stopped attacking for no reason. But Lucas was sure his body had just been sliced in half. Lucas decided to ignore what just happened, all he knew right now was that he was fine, he went to attack Arthur again. But then the same thing happened, Lucas felt like Arthur had attacked him and cut him in half. Lucas''s body was now shaking, he couldn''t believe what had happened. His mind was on the verge of breaking, in his head he had just died twice but for some reason, he was standing there alive. "I can''t go on....." The system suddenly dered that the game had ended. Lucas had no will to continue the fight any longer. He knew he had lost. "Huh what''s going on, did Lucas give up already, but Arthur didn''t even do anything yet?" Novis thought. To everyone who was watching the match from the outside and to Arthur on the inside, they had no idea what was going on. They couldn''t understand why Lucas had quit when he was doing so well. Arthur and Novis switched control of their bodies as they left their capsules. The whole time Novis was unable to see Lucas face for Lucas had his head down facing the floor, while his hands were tightly gripped into a fist. "What happened Arthur, I don''t understand, did you beat him that bad?" The room was silent, no one knew what to say to Lucas and Lucas just stood there with his head down. "Lucas, don''t be down, you were amazing all your attacks so powerful and strong, and every attack I could feel the power behind them." Novis tried to cheer Lucas up but the words were just going through him. Novis didn''t know if there was anything else he could do, he thought perhaps it was best for him to just leave and give Lucas the time and space to heal. "Alright, I''m going to go now." But before Novis could leave Arthur wanted to say something. "Novis is it okay if I take control quickly?" Arthur then said to Lucas "Stop trying to chase the person in front, instead be your own person and surpass him." Novis then had left the shop. For some reason, thest words that Arthur had spoken had managed to reach him. Lucas could only think of one thing when he heard those words, his father. When Lucas was younger he had always admired his father, he was the best yer in the world. He tried everything he could to catch up to where his father was right now to the point where he even used the same character. Lucas understood what Arthur was trying to say to him, he was saying that he was not his father. This whole time Lucas''s fighting style had just been a cheap imitation of his fathers. For as long as he could remember he had always been chasing that big back of his. Lucas himself had always carried the burden of being the number one''s son. What Lucas needed to do was not try to imitate his father, but to surpass him. Lucas felt like there was this giant invisible wall in front of him and he never knew how to bring it down, but the answer had just appeared in front of him. Chapter 17: Something special Chapter 17: Something special Novis and Scarlett were currently on the school roof eating their lunch together. It was a nice day out so they decided to break from their routine and get some fresh air. Novis currently hadn''t touched any of his food and left it on the bench next to Scarlett. Scarlett couldn''t help but worry about him. Novis had gone to the edge of the roof and was looking through the fence that surrounded the roof. He noticed that many of the clubs were busy practising. There were people ying football, baseball, rugby all sorts. "They look like they''re having so much fun, I wish I could be as passionate about something like that," Novis said to himself. Scarlett could see that Novis just wasn''t himself today, she put down her food and walked over to be with Novis on the fence. "Novis, you need to tell me what''s up, you''re acting strange, I mean you always did act strange but not like this, you seem lost." Novis thought whether he should tell Scarlett about everything that happened, including Arthur but was afraid that she would just think he was crazier. But what Scarlett had said was right, Novis did feel lost and he didn''t know why. "I recently yed a VSW match with a kid that was my age, he was just... so passionate about the game. He loved the game and had a goal of bing pro. When I saw him I started to realise that I have nothing." Scarlett could see this was troubling Novis. Novis had changed in thest few weeks, he used to just live his life day by day not worrying about anything. "Novis, a lot of kids our age are the same as you, we''re only fifteen, not everyone knows what they want to do yet. Heck, I don''t even know what I want to do. Look, all I know is you''ve been different ever since you started ying VSW, I''ve never seen you act like this, maybe this is your thing, why don''t you give it a try." Arthur thought Novis was lucky to have a friend like Scarlett, she was a smart girl who understood him better then Novis himself. Scarlett then pped Novis on the back. "Ow, what was that for," Novis shouted. "I just had a brilliant idea, I''lle with you to that VR training centre next week. Then I can see how great this game you''re talking about is. Hey, maybe we can be pro''s together." "Be a pro huh..." ***** When school finished Novis decided to go straight home, there was one other person in his life that he knew that also wanted to be pro. That was his little brother Bill. Novis knocked on Bill''s door a couple of times but there was no answer, so he decided to go in anyway. When Novice entered the room Bill had his VR headset on and was sitting in his gaming chair, which was to be expected. Bill was only 12 year''s old so he didn''t think his brother would be doing other things, well at least he hoped not, so he knew it wasn''t too risky entering his room. Novice sat on Bill''s bed and waited for him to finish a game. "I said go top, why isn''t anyone here, I''m going to get ganked." Bill shouted. Novis had never seen his brother curse and get angry so much. then he realised that Bill too was just truly passionate about the game. Bill had finished the game and started to take his headset off, his face was sweating a little from the headset and getting riled up too much. Bill was mumbling words to himself that Novis didn''t really understand. "Reporting me for being toxic, I''ll show you who''s toxic." Bill then spotted Novis sitting on his bed. "Novis, what are you doing here?" Bill''s face started to go red a little wondering how long Novis had been in the room. "You should have said something, I can still hear a little with the VR headset on you know?" The VR headset was not like the capsule, it didn''t iste you from the outside world so you could still hear someone calling to you, just like you were sleeping. "Hey Bill, do you think I could be a pro." Bill was struggling to believe the words that hade out of Novis''s mouth but he could tell Novis facial expression was serious. He had never seen his brother serious at anything before. "Well, if you try now you''ve entered the game prettyte. Most people your age have been ying the game for years, but it''s not impossible if you had a good coach it would speed up the learning process but a good coach cost a lot of money. Only kids like Lucas bell could afford that." "Wait! you know Lucas bell!" "You mean who hasn''t, he''s the son of Justin bell, the number one yer in the world, the kid is only fifteen and practically a pro already." After watching Lucas y so passionately and talk about bing a pro like that, Novis had a feeling he was good but didn''t realise just how good. Then he looked over to Arthur who was floating above his shoulder. Arthur had practically humiliated Lucas causing him to quit the game before he could even attack. Just how strong was Arthur. Bill then went and picked up the ck VR headset he had. "Here take this," Bill said as he handed over the VR headset. "If you want to get good at the game, then you need to y more right? I know you don''t have the money to buy one and you spent your allowance on useless things. So think of this as an early birthday present." Novis could start to feel lumps go down his throat. Novis and Bill didn''t talk much, they never had simr interests so they didn''t hang out often unless their parents forced them too. He never knew his brother was this kind. "But why?" "Bro, I''ve never seen you serious about anything and you know what, you''ve done pretty well so far. For the first time in your life, you seem serious about this. You might just be something special." Chapter 18: New ID Chapter 18: New ID Novis was currently in his room setting up the VR headset. He had plugged it into a socket near his bed so that way he could lie down and y, unlike his brother who had a gaming chair that was able to recline back. Before putting on his headset Novis was struggling toe up with a new ID name. Currently, he had the ID name Pendragon but wanted to leave that for whenever Arthur wanted to y. But today novice wanted to give it a go at a few games. Bill suggested to him that he should first y his cement games. The cement games were the first ten matches of the game you ever yed online. Based on how well you did in these ten games it would then give you rank from Bronze to gold. This was designed for yers who had never yed the game before, the system would be able to ess your skills based on these matches and put you in the appropriate rank. Bill suggested Novis do this as soon as possible that way when he yed in the future he would be ying with people of the same skill. Novis wanted to keep his battles and Arthur battles separate, now that he knew how strong Arthur was it would only mess up his actual ranking if he let him y on his ount. Luckily yers were allowed to create as many ounts as they wanted, but that ount was linked to their fingerprint meaning only Novis could use them. The system was set up so people wouldn''t be able to do something called boosting. In the past, people would pay others to rank up their characters in a game. Meaning if their true skill level was bronze they could pay someone to rank them up to gold. This way they could show off to their friends and seem like a better yer than they actually were. All though this may seem harmless to most. VSW was a team game, meaning if you were to y a game and you had five gold yers vs 4 and 1 bronze, it would upset the bnce. Novis had finally decided a name for himself, this was his journey to be a pro yer, he didn''t know if it was possible for him but he was going to try. His name given to him by his parents "Novis" was simr to the word novice, which suited him at this point and time. Since he wanted to be a pro he put the two together. Novis was about to start his first-team game, he didn''t know why but his hands were mmy and he could hear the sound of his heartbeat. Before he could start a match there were some details he needed to fill. Novis had never seen thise up before but he knew a little about it thanks to his lessons at the VR training centre. He had only seen Arthur fight in the middlene, so he decided to select the one he had most experience with. Also in the lessons, it stated that a normal format at the beginning of a game went two people on top, one down the middle and two people on the bottom. Novis didn''t want to have the pressure of a new teammate relying on him either, he wanted to see what he could do on his own. This was the hard part for Novis, he wanted to be different from Arthur. when he yed with the Warrior Dragonyer against his teacher paul before, it felt awkward to him. He wanted to use these games to find the right character for him. Virtual sword warriors was a melee VRMOBA game, they only had characters that used melee weapons. There was no magic involved. Novis had made notes of all the characters he had seen y so far. (Arthur) Dragonyer uses a long sword (Paul) Quick Sync uses a rapier (Justin bell and Lucas) Mu Samu Katana He had seen a few other characters y but hadn''t watched them long enough to know what they wanted to do. Looking at these three Novis didn''t think any of these suited his style. You didn''t always have to y the same character in VSW but Paul made it a point that it would be good to main one first. Novis decided to just select randomly to see what he was dealt with, maybe fate would find his character for him. As soon as the match was found Novis was transported into the game world. He was currently stood in front of a castle but this time there were four other yers with him. There were two girls and two boys, one of the boys was ying as Mu Samu same as Lucas, the other by seemed to be ying a character that used a spear. One of the girls held a sword and shield, the shield was the same length as her body and just as wide. While the other girl was an archer. It was the first time Novis had seen an Archer so he couldn''t help but stare. "What are you looking at perv!" The girl shouted. Novis quickly tuned away realising he was staring at her, the character''s armour didn''t cover much skin either so it was normal to assume. "He''s probably a dirty old man." She said just loud enough so he could hear. The Mu Samu warrior came towards me and said "Hey, are you a smurf?" "A smurf? whats a smurf?" The man''s pped his forehead. "Oh no, we got a noob guy''s, Just try not to die." A smurf was a high ranking character that yed in low ranking games, they would create an alternate ount and lose their first ten matches to get a low ranking. The reason why the man had though Novis was one was due to his name. A lot of pro yers when using an Alt ount would put the word pro in front of their ID. While in the game all yers were able to see each other''s ID tags float above their head. After that, the man left to go top with the spear wielder and the two girls went bottom. That left me with the middlene. Novis was nervous and couldn''t stop shaking. That''s when he suddenly realised that he felt a lot taller than usual and in his hands, he held a giant hammer that was bigger than himself. "How the heck am I meant to use this thing to fight!" Chapter 19: Placment Matches Chapter 19: cment Matches Novis started to curse himself at his bad luck. If he had a sword then at least he would have been able to do something. Right now he held a hammer in his hand that was slightly bigger then himself and even his current character was around 8 feet tall. The current character Novis was ying as was named Krang. A character who focused on pure strength with his attacks. He also wore heavy armour and had high vitality. Novis had no clue what he was meant to do. As the knights spawned in Novis quickly moved together with them to the middle. That''s when he realised that his character was incredibly slow. The knights quickly ran up ahead of him passing the two towers and shing with the blue knights. By the time Novis had already reached his tower, his opponent had already defeated all of his red knights. The opponent was a female and was using the same character Pual was using called Quick Sync. She held a small rapier in her right hand and made quick work of the red knights. It would take a while for the red knights to spawn at the base and reach the second tower that Novice was at, so he was currently all on his own. Quick Sync was currently charging forward at the Red tower (Novis''s tower) with the blue knights in front. The tower shot out a cannonball turning the knight leading the charge into blue sparkles. Novis didn''t want to leave his tower, he was afraid of fighting Quick Sync and her knights while he was on his own. What he didn''t realise was how long it took for the tower to reload between each shot. Before the red tower could take a second shot. The four blue knights and Quick Sync had destroyed it. "What are you even doing, how could you lose the tower that fasts?" one of his teammatesined. Novis didn''t have time to reply as he was engaged inbat. Quick Sync could tell this person was a noob based on his actions and tactics, so she decided to go for the kill. Novis attempted to swing his hammer at her but she would easily just step to the side each time. "Ahh, what do I do she''s too fast, how do I even hit her with this thing." "Use your Skills Novis" Arthur shouted. Quick Sync had made a few cuts on Novis''s body but nothing fatal as the armour was too hard for her to pierce. If it was to carry on like this it was only a matter of time before Novis would lose. Novis decided to use the system to cast the first skill. In an instant, his body was taken over by the system. He lifted the hammer in the air and mmed it in the ground causing a crater to form on the floor. The four blue knights had been defeated and turned into sparkles but there was no sight of Quick Sync. Suddenly Novis felt a sharp pain in his back. Quick Sync had managed to dodge the strike and go around him. This attack was a fatal blow, unlike the others. "Missing top," his teammate said. "Missing bottom" another voice was heard. Novice had heard his teammates say this but didn''t have a clue what it meant. Novis saw Quick Sync in front of him and decided to cast another skill. This time he swung his giant hammer from the side. When Novis thought the attack was about to be sessful a big ng noise could be heard. *ng! Novis looked at the end of his hammer. A giant shield had blocked his attack. It was another Warrior. The warrior put their shield away and standing behind the shield were three Warriors including Quick Sync. Just then Novis had realised what his teammates meant by saying "missing top" and "missing bottom". It meant that they could no longer see a Warrior. Now with the fight three against one Novis stood no chance and was quickly defeated. Once his character had died. Novis was free to roam around the map as if he was a ghost. "Hey, I guess this is how you feel?" Novis said to Arthur. The match quickly ended After Novis death, the blue team gathered all their members in the middle and stormed the Red castle quickly capturing the g. Novis was frustrated at the loss. He realised that a team game was very differentpared to a solo match. Communication was important between the yers and he had a lot to learn from the tactics. Thest thing was he needed to find a character that suited him. The size frame of Krang was just too muchpared to his size frame in real life. This just made it feel awkward for Novice when he tried to move the Warrior. Sure he could put in the hours and get used to the Warrior but Novis wanted to find the right Warrior for him. Novis carried on ying VSW all night eventually finishing his ten cement matches. Unfortunately for him, each one had ended in a loss. It wasn''t all just down to Novis but it didn''t help that Novis had yed a different character each time he started a new game. Every match Novis was busy trying to figure out how to use the Warrior just as much as he was trying to figure out the game. With the ten cement matches over it was time for him to be awarded a rank. It was the lowest rank possible in the game. Of course, this was to be expected, the game had yearly seasons where everyone would have to y there ten cement games again. The rankings would be dictated by what cement they gotst year. Novis though waspletely new at the game. So the game had matched him with equally new, or low ranked people for his cement matches. Due to him losing all ten matches this was the only rank he deserved. Novis couldn''t help but think maybe his decision to try to go pro was a wrong one. Chapter 20: Turning point Chapter 20: Turning point Bill was currently standing outside of Novis''s door, he wanted to ask what Novis''s game Id was so perhaps they could y online together in the future. Thest time they had yed, it was a local match on the same Wifi so there was no need for him to have his brothers ID. As he was just about to knock on the door he could hear his brother shouting. "What the hell, am I really that unlucky, You watched the matches right you have to tell me what I''m doing wrong!" "What do you mean!" "Does he have someone in there with him but I can''t hear anyone else?" Bill thought perhaps Scarlett hade around while he was ying a game so he didn''t notice. Bill liked Scarlett a lot. he always wondered why his brother and she hadn''t gotten together. If the two of them was an item then he would have even more people to y with bill thought. Bill knocked on the door and said. "Hey, Novis is it okay if Ie on." "Yeah go on ahead. " As Bill entered the room he started to look around but couldn''t see anyone but Novis. "I thought I heard you talking to someone?" Novis had been talking to Arthur earlier and realised that Bill must have heard him. "No, I was justining to myself, you know me." He said with a nervous smile. "I came here to ask for your online ID." "Oh yeah, it''s ProNovis." There was no need to enter the VR headset to add each other. There were many applications on the phone orputer you could use. This way you could send messages to your friends or keep track of what they were doing whenever you wanted to. "You do know everyone going to think you''re a smurf with a name like that?" Bill said. "People kept asking me that, I don''t even know what it means." Bill went on to exin to Novis what a smurf was and how many pro yers or high tier yers had second ounts with names like that. Just as Bill had added Novis he could see Noivs yer ID with a little Bronze emblem and the number five next to it. "You got B5 you must have lost all your games." Novis avoided eye contact and didn''t say anything. "You mean you lost all ten games, well at least if you y now you can y with people just like you." It was gettingte for both of them so it was time for them to rest, after all, they both had school to attend the next day still. When Bill returned to his room he was interested in watching the matches that Novis had taken part in. As long as I was within thest 24 hours and they were on your friendslist you could watch a rey of the games. You can then further save the rey and watch it whenever you want. Bill went through each of Novis''s games one by one, after watching all ten games he came to the conclusion that Novis was just unlucky. Novis had done badly in the first few games because he was still getting used to the team aspect. Then Novis started to make some good decision in the middle games but the other yers were just better and stronger than his team. For thest few games though it seemed Novis decided to try to listen to his teammates. This was were his true downfall was, in high tier games it was important to work as a team andmunication was important but in low tier games, this would hinder youpletely. people who thought they knew what they were doing didn''t, it was best to just make decisions on your own to turn the tide of the game. Back in Novis''s room, Novis was also looking at the game he yed, all he could see in his eyes was the huge skill difference between him and Arthur. he thought that f Arthur had yed those games he would have won them all. "Arthur, how did you get so strong?" "From a young age, I was forced to fight to put food on the table. Eventually, a knight saw me and said I had potential recruiting me into his army. The knight who recruited me became my teacher, my teacher was obsessed with the sword. His beautiful fighting style had me memorised. He had a dream to create a sword style that was unbeatable sadly he died and passed this task on to me. Originally I wanted to justplete the task for my saviour but I guess his obsession became my obsession." "What about the sword do you know why you were trapped inside it." Arthur had a sad look on his face before he answered. "That is a tale for another time." Novis thought about what Arthur had said it was different in the past were sword fighting wasmon. He had been forced into itter learning to love it. Novis wanted to say this was the reason why he couldn''t get better but that wasn''t true. At the tournament, his brother and even Lucas all had a strong passion for the sword. Novis couldn''t help but think did he have the same drive as them to get better. Some people yed the game for money, some yed for fame and some just for fun wanting it to be their jobs but Novis didn''t have a reason like that. After seeing so many strong opponents y his desire was simple, he just wanted to be strong. "Arthur, can you teach me how to be strong." Arthur smiled "I thought you would never ask." Arthur could slowly see that Novis was getting interested in the world of swords and fighting but he didn''t want to push him and frighten him away. He had to wait until Novis was ready to ask and wanted to learn on his own. This was the turning point. Chapter 21: Sweet dreams Chapter 21: Sweet dreams Novis slowly closed his eyes to sleep for the day. As he slowly drifted into a deep sleep a big in green field came into his mind. The grass was cleanly cut and it seemed to carry on endlessly without an end in sight. It was beautiful yet not at the same time. There was no other life, no nts, no animals, just the view of the grass field and blue sky. It was a strange dream Novis thought as he looked around. Most dreams were kind of haze but this was as clear as day, it felt almost real. He bent down to feel the des of grass run through his fingers. As he knelt back up again suddenly there was something he could see that wasn''t there before. It was a man holding a long sword stuck in the ground. The man looked like a prince from a fairy tale. So handsome and strong. Novis hade to know this man quite well, it was Arthur. "I''m even having dreams about you now." Novis thought. Novis started to move closer to Arthur as he looked at him, he couldn''t help to think, why hadn''t he been given some of the genes that Arthur had. Novis wasn''t ugly by anyone''s standard but when next to Arthur it made him look average. "Why couldn''t I be as handsome as you," Novis said. "Rx, you''re only young, you never know what will happen in the future," Arthur said as he lifted his sword out of the ground. "Right it''s time for training." Novis was suddenly spooked out about how real Arthur seemed currently in front of him. "Training, what do you mean training this is a dream right?" Novis started to pinch himself just to double-check and as he did, he felt no pain. This only confused him even further. "Don''t look so confused, I am a part of your mind and decided to create this space in your subconscious. This way we can train even in your sleep." Novis was still finding it hard to believe, but it was true that the two of them did share minds. He always wondered what happened to Arthur while he was asleep. Had he always been there, or was he in this space that he created? Then a thought came to Novis mind, had Arthur seen his dreams? Novis face started to turn red. "Don''t worry, I haven''t seen any of your dreams. While you sleep I spend my time here." Arthur said while looking at the blue sky. Novis couldn''t help but think that Arthur looked incredibly lonely. "Why do we need to train here, will it even help?" Novis asked. "Although there will be no physical difference, you are able to gain experience and skill. You are years behind everyone else in fighting and this is how you will catch up to them. You will have more time than anybody else to train." Arthur then proceeded to get in a fighting stance with his sword. "Wait! I don''t have a weapon!" "It''s your mind Novis, make one!" Arthur then quickly started to run over towards Novis. Novis was panicking, what did Arthur mean by making one? As Authur got closer to Novis closed his eyes and started to imagine a sword simr to Arthur then suddenly it appeared in his hands. "Good!" Arthur shouted. "Now lesson one, Survive." Arthur went to strike Novis on his head, Novis lifted the sword and was able to block in time. Straight after Arthur was on Novis again, attack after attack. Arthur was attacking with just enough speed and strength so Novis was able to block. Gradually he would begin to increase the speed and power. The first thing that Novis needed to learn was how to block and defend himself. When in a fight the most important thing is to survive. Novis felt helpless against Arthur''s attacks, he knew Arthur wasn''t using his full strength or he would have been dead by now. But Novis didn''t even know what would happen if he were to die, After all, it was only a dream right? Novis was too afraid to find out so he did his best at blocking all the attacksing at him. He wanted to try to strike back, look for an opening but found none. Arthur would allow Novis to take breaks in between. Arthur would then analyze and give pointers to Novis telling him what he had done wrong and what he should do. Novis understood but when he attempted what Arthur was telling him his body just couldn''t keep up. After a total of five hours of training wereplete Arthur stopped and said, "Alright, it''s time for you to wake up." "What do you mean it''s time for me to wake up?" Arthur then quickly dashed towards Novis and threw another strike with his sword. But this one was different from all the others before, Novis didn''t even have the chance to move his de in time. The strike connected and as soon as it hit Novis, his eyes opened up. Suddenly, Novis could see a white ceiling above. He had woken up and was in his bedroom. After all the training Novis thought he would feel sore but he felt nothing. It felt like he had just woken up as usual. As Novis went to look outside he noticed that the sun had hardly risen, there was a grey dull light outside. "Huh, what time is it?" "It is 5:00 Am, every day from now on before school you shall run 5 kilometres" Novis eyes were about to pop out from his skull "5:00 Am are you crazy, what''s the point, the game characters have their own stamina anyway." "Novis, the game characters are limited, but if your true body surpasses that, then you will be able to do things you have never done before. Your stamina will be greater in the game, you will have a body that is your own to use." Novis didn''t have a clue what Arthur was talking about and was beginning to regret asking Arthur to train him but then an image of Lucas game into his mind. How determined he was to win that game. If Novis wanted to catch up to them, then he needed to do everything in his power. Novis put on his clothes and was ready to run. Chapter 22: VSW Club Chapter 22: VSW Club Novis''s body was dripping sweat all over. he was Panting hard trying to get oxygen inside his body and doing anything he could to not throw up. Novis wasn''t bad at sport but he wasn''t good enough to just go out and do a 5k run out of nowhere. Eventually, Novis ended uppleting the 5k run a lot slower then Arthur had expected but Arthur could see he had given it a good try. Novis had run around his block and when he finally arrived back at home the sun had already risen. With no rest in between, it was time for Novis to go to school. Unfortunately for Novis, the first ss of the day was PE. Novis was currently outside on the football field. He felt like he was ready to copse at any moment. Although he didn''t feel tired, it was a strange feeling to feel like you had been up all day. As Novis was standing still someone had booted the ball towards him, the ball wasing at a fast speed directly for his face. "Watch out!" someone shouted. The ball looked like it was certainly going to hit his face, then suddenly Novis reacted quickly punching the ball away. The sound of a whistle blue. "Free kick to the red team." the teacher said. "Hey, you idiot it''s football, not dodge ball." Novis had been practising with Arthur many hours on blocking his attacks. When the ball came towards him it was just an instinct for him to hit it away. With P.Eing to an end his next ss started, Novis got through it as usual and it was finally break time. Scarlett had been watching Novis and he seemed down today not as energised, so she decided to go over and cheer try to cheer him up. "You seem a bit tired today, what''s up?" She said "Oh, Arthur had me run 5k today." Scarlett looked a bit confused. "Arthur, who''s Arthur you don''t know anyone called Arthur?" It was a slip of the tongue from Novis, he was just so worn out he blurted what was on his mind. "Oh, he''s my coach for VSW game." "You got a coach, wow you really are taking this thing seriously, speaking of the game I''ve been watching videos on the game I can''t wait to y. Alex said I coulde by the clubroom today and y, you cane with us if you want?" "Alex who''s Alex?" "He''s the leader of the schools VSW club. When he heard I was interested in the game he invited me along." Straight away Novis then answered, "Yeah, I''lle with you, my coach says I can''t y but it might be good to check out the club." After ss finished the two of them went to the VSW club room. As they entered the room they were surprised at how many people were there. There was a total of ten Vr headsets just enough for two teams to y, but there were around 50 students packed into one room. The ones who weren''t ying a game were busy either watching the match or watching other matches on theputer. Alex was at the back of the ss when he spotted Scarlett enter the room. He waved over to her and started to walk towards her. "Hey, you made it." He said. "And I see you also brought a friend." "Yes, he was the one I was telling you about, he introduced me to the game in the first ce." Novis had recognised Alex straight away, he was a short guy with ck hair and sses. The reason why Novis knew who he was though was because everyone at the school knew him. He was the schools little genius. He had the highest grades in the whole school and often went to represent the school in many differentpetitions. Novis was surprised someone who was so smart was the captain of the VSW Club. "Nice to meet you, the names Novis." The two of them shook hands then Alex asked "So I know Scarlett has never yed before, but what about you Novis what''s your rank?" Novisughed nervously before giving an answer, "I only just started ying I''m Bronze five at the moment." Alex was a little disappointed, the school VSW tournament wasing up soon and he was looking for strong yers to join the team. When he heard Novis rank his interest in him was suddenly lost. "Well if you want to join, it''s reallypetitive here." Novis could tell straight away that he was trying to tell Novis that he wasn''t needed. He knew his rank was low. His aim wasn''t to join the club in the first ce. Arthur had told him he wasn''t allowed to y another game until he said so. "Don''t worry I''m not here to join, I just came here with Scarlett,e to think of it, Ipletely forgot I promised to go help out my grandfather today." With that excuse, Novis quickly left the two of them and started to head back. Novis had initiallye out just to make sure this Alex guy wasn''t some creep. Upon looking at him he felt like he had nothing to worry about. "Hey, Arthur I''m better looking than him right?" Novis asked Arthur shook his head. "You kids, is that what you were really worried about? You know if you like her you should just ask." Novis face went a little red. "Shut up, who said I liked her! she just a good friend, I don''t want her to end up with some creep." Novis might have forgotten but due to both of their minds being linked, both of them could feel each other''s emotions. He knew when Novis was feeling angry, sad, or happy and so did Novis. Arthur had felt the feeling of love before so he knew straight away that Novis''s feelings for Scarlett were beyond that of a friend. With that all said and done, Novis went over to his grandfather''s dojo. It was time to find a weapon. Chapter 23: Picking a weapon Chapter 23: Picking a weapon Novis was currently in his Grandfathers dojo. Arthur had asked him to gather as many weapons his grandfather owned as possible. His grandfather was an avid collector of weapons it was how he ended up with Arthur''s sword in the first ce. On the dojo floor, there wereid out at least thirty different types of weapons from all over the world. Short swords, Scimitars even weapons Novis had never seen before. "So remind me why I need to do this again?" Novis asked "Every human being in the world is different. Just because I use a long sword doesn''t mean the longsword is best for you. I too went through the same thing and tried many weapons until I had finally found the perfect fit." "But why don''t we just do this in the game?" "We need to improve your real-life stamina and strength. Remember what Paul said that a pro can even create his own skills. The VR system seems to be very unique. It will give you the base stamina and strength of the character in the game but if your own skills surpass that, then that is also tranted into the game." With the exnation over Novis was left to pick a weapon, after selecting a weapon Arthur would then take control of the Novis''s body and demonstrate how to use it. Novis would then attempt to replicate those moves. They tried a number of different things, daggers, maces, Viking swords and so on but so far nothing felt right to Novis. The only one he feltfortable with was the long sword the same as the one Arthur used. "Perhaps it''s because you have only used this weapon before, Although I don''t think it is a bad choice I still think we can do better." Then Novis manged spot an odd looking weapon at the back. "What about this thing?" The weapon Novis was looking like was simr to a Kusarigama, where it would have a sickle tied to a chain. This one was slightly different, there where two curved des and they werepletely attached by a three-meter chain. "This is a difficult weapon to use, the chain makes the weapon heavier so you need to swing it to gain momentum but it also allows for long-distance attacking and good for blocking ranged attacks." Arthur then took over Novis''s body and started to demonstrate. Arthur started by swinging the chain side to side and started to show some fancy attacks. Throwing the chain outwards bringing it back in but after about 5 minutes Arthur was covered in sweat and returned the body to Novis. "Crapping hell my arm''s feel like lead what happened," Novis said while panting. "Your body is currently not strong enough to wield something like that." After the two of them took a break Novis attempted a few of the simpler moves that Arthur had shown him. In about ten seconds Novis had swung the de and almost ended up getting his own nose off. "I think it''s best to practice with this in the dream space, this way there will be no damage done." After going through every weapon, there were a total of four weapon''s that Novis liked best. The long sword that Arthur currently used, a set of short swords for duel wielding, A war scythe which was a spear type weapon with a curved de on the end and finally the Chain sword. Although the game had characters that used a spear, dual swords and a long sword. There were currently no characters that used the chain sword. Arthur suggested that Novis practised with all four of these weapons even though the chain sword wasn''t in the game. It was a good weapon to use to gain some basic strength and stamina. For the next four day''s the two of them would train with each weapon in the dream world. The dream world was handy for a few reasons. All Novis needed to do was picture the weapon in his mind and it would appear. Because he had already handled each weapon he had a good idea of what it weighed and looked like so it was almost as good as the real thing. In the dream world, Novis didn''t have the fear of getting hurt by the weapon and seriously damaging himself. He could try each weapon without worry. If he was to die in the dream world his body would simply wake him up. Although he tried to avoid this as much as possible because it would take him a while to fall back asleep again. For the first week, Arthur only focused on teaching Novis how to block with each weapon. Once Novis got used to a certain speed and intensity, Arthur would up it by a level. After blocking, Arthur had shown Novis basic skills in how to use each weapon. Once he had learnt these basic skills he could practice them in his grandfather''s dojo. Each day repeated with a certain routine. A run in the morning, training in the afternoon and then training in the dream world. It was tiring at first and there were many times when Novis wanted to give up. But every time he wanted to an image of Lucas popped up in his head. After one of Novis''s afternoon training session wereplete Arthur and Novis were currently in his room. This was the period where Novis would usually have his free time and get to rest watch tv shows whatever he wanted to do. "Hey Arthur, I know you said I couldn''t y the game but there''s no harm in you ying. Plus that way I can see how you fight." Arthur thought what Novis had said made sense. Arthur currently hadn''t had much desire to fight because he was having fun teaching Novis. Arthur thought about it for a while and decided it would indeed be a good experience for Novis to watch an experienced fighter. "I think that''s a good idea." Novis went and grabbed the VR headset and went to lie down on his bed. Chapter 24: Fanbase Chapter 24: Fanbase Arthur had selected his usual character Dragonyer. Not only did Dragon yer look like him, but he also used the same type of weapon. Dragonyer was the perfect fit for Arthur. The first game had started, he entered the game with the four other yers on his team. The other four were all friends and currently grouped up in a party chat. When they say who their fifth member was, they all couldn''t help but moan. "Why did he have to pick a low tier one?" One of them said Although there were around 100 Warriors to chose from in the game. In truth, the pro yers only used about 20 of them. These were deemed as high tier picks. People who wanted to be good at the game naturally followed and tried to imitate them. Dragonyer was a character who wasn''t even selected between mid-tier yers, it really was the bottom of the barrel pick. Dragonyer was just a warrior who was okay at everything. In a team game, you wanted different characters to specialise in different things. Because of the warrior Arthur chose, the team decided to do their own thing without involving Arthur. Two of them went to the topne and two of them went to the bottomne. Leaving Arthur the middlene. Of course, Arthur could have chosen to still go top or bottom but he preferred to do his own thing. As Arthur arrived in the middlene, so did the red and blue knights but there was no sight of another warrior there. Arthur made quick work of the blue knights defeating each one in a single strike. He knew this time to allow his knights to go in front of him so they could take the initial cannon shot from the tower. As he was waiting for his knights to reach the tower. Arthur sensed something behind him. Currently, on the blue team, a warrior named Interfector was hiding in the forest. Interfector was the same character that Bill had used. It was an assassin character that used two daggers. The warrior was most useful when it was hidden and it was important for it to get the first strike. As soon as Arthur had turned his back and let the knight''s lead the front. Interfector leapt out of the forest aiming for Arthurs back. Interfector was fast and was sure to strike first but ever since Arthur died the first time, he was always extra cautions. As the dagger was about to pierce his back Arthur spun and knocked one of the daggers out of Interfectors hand. Before the Interfector could do anything else, Arthur had already sliced him in half. Suddenly, Notification screens started to pop up. The red team members looked at each other, thinking it was incredibly fast for someone to have already taken down a tower, as well as get the first kill. They could see on their map that the middle tower was the one taken, meaning it wasn''t any of them. Since they hadn''t seen Arthur fight, they assumed he must have got lucky and was fighting against a noob. "Hey, do you want to go help out the other teammates?" Novis asked Arthur. Arthur thought about it for a while then said, "I think it''s best if we leave them be if they wanted to work together they can always speak to me and ask. Also, we might get the chance to show you how to fight in a situation where you are outnumbered." Arthur decided to wait patiently for the other teammates. As long as he did nothing in the middlene, the knights would always fight each other to a draw. Of course, he couldn''t guarantee that his teammates would lose. The two people at bottom had managed to kill one member of the blue team but then both of them ended up dying. While top fared even worse, both of them had died without giving any damage to the other team. "Dammit!" One of the guys said, "Why didn''t that Pendragone to help us after he defeated mid, it would have been three against two." Now that all members of the Red team had died apart from Arthur. They had no choice but to watch him for the rest of the game. Although they weren''t cheering for Arthur to win, they were more spiteful that he didn''te to help them and was wishing to see him lose. Arthur knew he was thest one left, the other team would now group up ande face him. As Arthur waited he could finally see the blue team arrive. The three members on the blue team didn''t even bother to hide and came right at him. "Watch carefully now," Arthur said before dashing towards them. "haha, this is what you deserve for not helping us out." One of the red team said. The person leading the charge was arge warrior with heavy armour and a shield, a tank as they called it. Behind him was a female warrior who held two short des and further in the back was a man with a bow. As Arthur saw this, he thought the team worked well together. The formation they were using meant they had some experience. No wonder his red teammates had failed. As the tank came towards him, Arthur avoided his direct charge swerving around him. These warriors were slow and would take a long time to kill. Next was the person who was duel wielding des. Although strong in attack they were weak in defence. As the duel wielder came towards him Arthur stabbed at her. She held up both of her des to block the attack but the long sword was heavier and more powerful flinging her in the air backwards. Arthur true aim was the archer in the back, this whole time he had made sure to stay in the line of fire of his teammates. This way the Archer had no opportunity to attack. The Duel wielder was currently being flung in the direction of the archer. The Archer had no choice to move out of the way. The problem with archers were they bad up close. The archer looked around wondering were Arthur had gone. Arthur had used the duel welder''s body as a blind spot to swerve around and appear behind the archer. Arthur quickly stabbed the Archer, causing him to burst into blue particles. Arthur then went to stab down on the duel wielder who was still on the ground. Now there was only one opponent left. The tank. The tank roared in anger but it was useless. The Tanks strikes were simply avoided or blocked and Arthur would strike back 4 times for every one of the tanks. Eventually, the tank had been hurt too bad and he too had burst into blue particles. The four people watching had their mouths wide open. They couldn''t help but think that what they had just witnessed was the act of a pro yer. The only thing was they had never heard of the ID Pendragon before. They could only assume it was a pro ying on their smurf ount. As Arthur went to start a new game, the four of them went to watch Arthurs next match. Unknown to Arthur he was slowly building a fanbase. Chapter 25: A Challenge Chapter 25: A Challenge Anyone was able to watch another person game as long as they knew their ID. The only exception to this is if you had your settings changed to block this. The systems default setting allowed anyone to watch other games. Without Arthur and Novis''s knowledge, they currently had four people watching their next match. They had seen what Arthur had done and wanted to know if he was truly a pro. If this turned out true it would be a great experience for them to watch how one ys first hand. If you watched someone using the VR headset you were free to roam around the map like a ghost and see more detail. Compared to watching the game at aputer screen you would be forced to view it at almost a top-down view where you didn''t really get to see or learn much. Arthur went into his next four games dominating each match. Although not as impressive as the first game every opponent he went against he skillfully dealt with them. After every game more and more people where interested inn who the ID Pendragon belonged to. From each game, a couple more spectators would join in on watching Arthurs next match. For spectators, the game created a lobby so people were free to chat about, and currently, everyone watching was talking about Pendragon. "This person has to be a pro." "How is he so skilful with Dragonyer, is there a pro that uses Dragonyer?" "Come on, he''s not that good he''s probably diamond at best, he just hasn''t faced anyone strong enough yet." "Well, I hope we can see him face someone strong then." In the next match though the audiences wishes woulde true. Arthur was currently on his 8th cement game having won every game so far. The system was designed to match you with harder opponents as you kept winning your cement games. Arthur selected his character and went to the middlene as usual. The middlene was usually left for one person and as long as he went first many people didn''t care. In hisst few games, he had also yed top and bottom but people justined saying why didn''t he pick another character to support them. So Arthur had decided that he would pick the middlein most of the time when he yed. When Arthur arrived at the centre of the map he could see a spear type warrior. The speer type warrior was named Xin Mao who was an ancient Chinese warrior who used a spear. The warrior was dressed in ck and gold armour and was currently waiting by his tower. Arthur went forward to deal with the blue team''s knights. He had adopted this strategy because he wanted his games to finish as soon as possible. As soon as he was done with these cement games he knew he could improve his rank and face stronger opponents. As Arthur went to strike the blue knight closest to him, his de was deflected away. When Arthur looked up, Xin Mao had closed the distance between them and used his spear to knock the sword away. Xin Mao didn''t stop there, he then began to release a flurry of attacks. Arthur managed to deflect them all away but got a few scrapes here and there. The audience who was watching found it too fast too keep up. Arthur then eventually backed up to his tower. "What''s wrong?" Novis asked "This man is strong." "Do you think he''s one of those smurfs that my brother talked about?" "Most likely, this match won''t be an easy one," Arthur said while smiling. The two of them met in the centre again. Xin Mao would use his spear to keep the distance between them not allowing Arthur to get closer. Every time Arthur tried to move in to strike, Xin Mao would use his spear to block his way. The people who were watching the match noticed something about the Xin Mao yer. "Hey, I think I recognise that ID." "Yeah I do too, I watch him online all the time it''s the pro Xin Mao yer, Hastam Grey" "isn''t his Id xHastamx" "Yeah but this is his smurf, he''s famous online because he uses this ount a lot to show new yers how to rank up." "looks like we''ll find out if Pendragon is a pro after all." The ID Hastam was currently using was called RealHastam, as people had thought, this was the pro yer Hastam and right now he was currently live streaming the match to thousands of people online. Everyone currently watching the fight thought Arthur was in a pinch, all he could do so far was avoid the spear strikes without closing the distance between the two. They had currently been fighting back on fourth for fifteen minutes now and Arthur had finally found a way to win. As Arthur was avoiding Hastam attacks he was slowly moving towards the knights down the middlene. Hastam was so focused on killing Arthur in front of him, he didn''t realise what Arthur was trying to do. Then when Hastem went to stab Arthur, Arthur moved to the side causing the spear to hit one of his red knights. There was a slight dy between the time when the knights would burst into particles. Arthur used this to his advantage stepping on the tip of the spear and stomping it to the ground. Arthur then quickly ran on top of the spear slicing the mans head clean off. Hastam then bust into blue particles. "What!" Arthur thought to himself. Everyone who was watching was just as confused as Arthur. When Arthur turned around he realised that the blue team''s teammates had captured his castles g causing his team to lose. "I guess there is still a lot for me to learn," Arthur said to himself. The audience was currently silenced. Even though the red team had lost, they were more focused on the fight between Arthur and Hastem. They couldn''t believe a famous pro had lost a one on one duel like that. ***** Hastem had quit out of the game and left his VR headset. He then went and ended the stream abruptly. He was currently in his room lying on his bed. "What''s wrong why are you so angry?" Hastem said. "I can''t believe he would use his own men like that." "It''s only a game, they''re not real," Hastem replied. If someone was to walk in on Hastem now, they would think he was mad. No one was currently in his room, apart from him. But in Hastem''s eyes, he could see a floating ghost-like figure next to him. The figure looked almost identical to the spear user Xin mao he was using in the game. "Look''s like things are starting to get interesting." Hastam smiled. Chapter 26: Dragonslayer Chapter 26: Dragonyer Unknown to Arthur and Novis, they had currently caused a stir in the onlinemunity. People were constantly making guesses at who the ID Pendragon belonged to. Many thought it was an already exiting pro while others thought it might be someone up-anding from a University team. Many of these theories were shut down because of one reason. The Warrior Pendragon had used was Dragonyer. Until this point, no one had considered Dragonyer as a top tier pick. None of the pros wasted there time trying to y the character. **** Meanwhile, in Novis''s room, both of them were unaware of the stir they had caused. "I still have a lot to learn," Arthur said. Arthur was disappointed for two reasons. One was the fact that he had to sacrifice one of his men in order to beat his enemy. The second reason was that he had lost the battle. He was too focused on the one on one duel that he forgot about everything else. "You can''t win them all," Novis said. After that Arthur decided to y two more games finishing his cement matches. At the end of everything, Arthur achieved the rank of Gold 5. Gold 1 was the highest someone could obtain if they had never yed the game before. If Arthur hadn''t lost that one game then he too would have been gold 1. The next day was a weekend day. The sun was bright outside and it was time for him to go to his weekly VSW sses at the training centre. Novis was currently standing outside his house waiting for Scarlett. Today was the day that they had both agreed to go to the centre together. Scarlett suddenly appeared wearing a beautiful red summer dress. Novis couldn''t help but blush at the sight of her. "Are you ready?" She said. The two of them then set off towards the training centre. The lesson paul was giving today was a bit past theplete beginner''s phase, this was fine for Scarlett because Alex had taught her the basics. Scarlett and Novis were pretty much on the same level when it came to rules of the game. In fact, Scarlett probably knew a bit more since she was a fast learner. Paul was currently talking about different positions and roles in the game. "There are a few different roles for characters in the game, you have your high damage dealers, an example of this is your assassin type characters. Then you have your Tanks, these fellows have high defence and a lot of HP, a must on all teams. Your long-range members such as archers and finally roamers, these fellows are bnced and go around helping teammates." As soon as the lesson was over Scarlett came up to Novis and asked, "So what role do you y in the game Novis?" Novis thought about it for a while, he hadn''t yed much so he was more imagining what role Arthur yed but he didn''t really fit any of the roles either. Arthur yed more like a solo warrior, he could finish some characters in one move, but wouldn''t say his attacks were powerful. Arthur was well bnced but hardly ever went around helping people. "I guess you could say a Romer but I don''t usually get the chance to go around and help people," Novis replied. "What about you?" Novis asked. "When Alex showed me the game there was the coolest character ever, she looked like an elf who was dressed fully in green and had beautiful silver hair." "So what does she do again?" "Oh yeah, I was meant to say she was an archer." Paul then came over the two of us and asked, "Hey I know, why don''t you two team up and y a game." Novis looked towards Arthur who just shook his head. "I''m sorry, my coach has told me not to y any games until I get better physically." "What an old way of teaching." Paul said, "Oh well there''s no harm in watching others y." While Novis and Scarlett were walking around Noivs began to notice something on their screens. There were currently a lot more people ying the warrior Dragonyer all of a sudden. He only noticed it because before he hardly saw anyone ying with him. Many people chose popr characters like Mu Samu. As a man walked past the two of them Novis couldn''t help but ask. "Hey, what''s with everyone ying Dragonyer at the moment?" "You mean you haven''t heard, there''s currently a new pro who uses him in ways nobody thought was possible before, he''s the new craze at the moment." The old man said then carried on walking off. "Perhaps this person''s better than you Arthur," Novis said. "I would also like to meet this person one day." Unknown to both of them, the person they were talking about was Arthur. Novis stayed with Scarlett for a while and watched her y a few games. She was surprisingly good at using the archer character. Novis had only seen her y team games but she great at supporting characters from the back when in thene. Novis was actually slightly jealous at how well she had done. After the training session was over the two of them said their goodbyes and split ways. It was now time for Novis to head to the dojo to furtherplete his training. In the next few weeks, Novis trained like a madman he couldn''t believe all these people around him who were the same age or younger were so good at the game. Novis trained During the day and In his dream at night. Arthur had now changed the focus of his training to attacks. The aim was for Novis to do his best to leave a scratch on Arthur. And after a month Novis finally managed to cause a small Scratch. Novis was currently panting heavily and out of breath. he was in the dream world and had just seeded in scratching Arthur on the arm. "Can I finally y the game now?" Novis asked. "Not just yet, we need to find you some real opponents first." Novis was confused by what Arthur meant by real. Chapter 27: Real battle Chapter 27: Real battle After finally being able to leave a scratch on Arthur, Novis thought he would finally be able to y the game again. Sure, he still had a long way to go and a lot to learn but he should have been good enough against bronze yers at least. Instead, Arthur told him he needed to face real-life opponents first. Whenever Novis would question Arthur what he meant by this, Arthur would simply say he would let him know when the time was right. Novis had currently just finished school and was heading to his grandfather''s dojo. He took the same path every day and he was currently walking down a street in a quiet neighbourhood. As Novis was walking home he noticed what looked like a businessman walking down the street. He had big sses and ck hair. The man was holding aptop briefcase and also wearing a watch that looked like it was worth a fair bit of money. It was rare to see someone like him be in a quiet neighbourhood like this one. His grandpa didn''t live in a rich part of town. In fact, his grandpa started the dojo in order to get kids off the street and focus on something else instead. Novis was starting to get worried as he watched the man. Currently behind the man were four men with their hoods up. Novis was afraid that they might be out to rob the man. Suddenly another man appeared in front of the businessman. "Sorry, sir do you know what the time is?" The man asked. "Sure." The man then looked down to look at his watch, at the same time the man pushed him into the alleyway. The group of four that was following from behind quickly went down the alleyway as well. It was as Novis had expected. The man was currently getting robbed. It was amon technique for robbers to get a single person to approach someone and ask them a simple question to catch them off guard. (Note be careful guys this actually happened to me the Author). Novis saw the situation and immediately took out his phone to call the police. "Wait a second Novis, this is what I have been waiting for," Arthur said. Novis paused for a second wondering what Arthur was talking about. "After this, our basic training will beplete, I want you to save that man and defeat those five men." "This is the real-life situation you were talking about!" Novis shouted. One of the men down the alleyway heard Novis but when he turned to only see a kid, hepletely ignored him and carried on. Arthur then simply nodded. "But how? I don''t even have a weapon and their adults." "Just go find a stick, look if it gets out of hand, I will take control of your body and deal with the situation myself." Novis thought for a while, He did indeed trust Arthur but was wondering if he himself could actually do it. Then he saw the businessman take a punch to the stomach. Novis had made up his mind and quickly went off looking for a sturdy enough stick. Novis then went to a nearby tree to look for a stick. e on, stickstick..stick..oh, that looks good enough." Novis went to the ground and picked up a meter and a half stick. Novis then quickly ran back to the alleyway where hest saw the businessman. As Novis made it back to the alleyway he could see the businessman on the floor covered in small marks and bruises. They were roughing him up trying to get his pin number for his card from him. But the businessman wouldn''t let up. Novis knew the best thing to do was attack first. Novis went with a stab towards one of the men''s stomach. It sessfully hit him right in the centre causing the wind to be thrown out of him. The man fell to his knees, Novis knew he needed to finish him off so he whacked between the man''s kneck and head knocking him out. The other four seeing this came charging at him. Luckily the alley was narrow only allowing two of them to fit through at a time. The first man threw a fist, Novis responded with a kick to his knee then striking his stick upwards at the chin. The strike was so powerful it caused his brain to knock against his skull. The man next to him jumped with a kick, but it was slow. For thest month, Novis had been blocking attacks from one of the best swordsmen in the world. He fought every day as if his life was on the line. Morning night and even in his dreams. Novis moved out of the way of the kick and whacked him at the back of the head. There were only two more men left. One of them ran away in fear while a yellow steam followed him, while the other pulled out a 4-inch knife. "Just go kid, it''s not worth risking your life over." The businessman said. Novis wasn''t afraid though. Perhaps because he felt more fear when Arthur was attacking him with a de in the dream world. He had experienced getting cut and even dying multiple times. Although there was no pain, it changed something in his mind. The man lunged forward with his small de. Novis simply whacked the man''s wrist causing him to drop the de. Then repeatedly whacked the man leg''s so he could no longer move. Some of the men where currently moaning on the floor in pain, while some had beenpletely knocked out. "You did good Novis," Arthur said. Novis was surprised by the results. With only Arthur as his opponent, it was hard for him to tell if he had actually been getting any better or not. The businessman started to get up "Thank you, you saved me." Just then a female''s voice could be heard from the street connected to the alleyway. "What are you doing to those poor people, you think just cause you''re stronger than them you can bully them!" Chapter 28: No style Chapter 28: No style As Novis turned around, he could see what looked like a girl in a school uniform charging at him. The girl was currently holding a wooden sword. Unlike Novis stick, this was a real wooden sword used for sporting events. "Huh, is sheing at me?" "I''ll teach you never to bully people again!" the girl shouted as she brought her sword down on Novis''s head. Novis had been through simr situations with Arthur many times, he acted on pure instinct. As the de came down Novis parried it away throwing the charging girl off bnce. Then Novis went for a strike of his own. Now releasing what his body was doing Novis managed to stop at thest second with the stick inches away from the girl''s face. The businessman got up and came in between the two of them. "Wait, wait this is a misunderstanding." "Wait a minute don''t I know you from somewhere." The girl said. The man then bowed down to the girl, "Yes miss Ashley, we met a while back at your father''s ce." As the man was bowing down talking to the girl. Novis finally managed to get a good look at her. She was a bit shorter than himself and had brown hair in the shape of pigtails. She was currently wearing the same school uniform as Novis. "That''s odd, I don''t think I''ve ever seen her before." Novis thought to himself. Novis was right, Ashley was currently in the year below Novis so the two of them had never interacted with each other before this day. As the man finished exining what happened to the girl, she quickly ran over to Novis and started bowing down to him. "I''m so sorry for what happened," Ashley said, her face was a little red from the embarrassment. "Don''t worry about it." Novis too was a little red thinking the girl looked a little cute. After the girl left them be the police hade over and arrested the four men. The men screamed saying that Novis had injured them like this but the police couldn''t believe a mere fifteen-year-old could do this sort of thing. The men also had a past record so they were quickly cuffed and sent away. The businessman then handed Novis a business card "The name is Tom Dane, I wish to repay you for this favour. If you send me your address perhaps, I could return the favour to you somehow." Tom said with a smile. As Novis looked at the business card he noticed the VSW logo on it. It also stated that this man was a developer. "You work for VSW!" Novis shouted. "So, you know of us, well it''s hard to find a kid who hasn''t." Novis quickly handed the man his parents address. And the man smiled. As the two of them were about to part ways from each other. They realised that they were both heading off in the same direction. "Do you live this way?" Tom asked "No, but I''m heading to my Grandfathers dojo which is just up ahead." The man was suddenly startled. "May I ask, the name of your grandfathers'' dojo." "Sure, it''s the Talen Dojo, it specialises in weapons but it''s closed down now." Upon hearing this news Tom was upset. Tom was a developer for the Game VSW, he travelled to many ces around the world for research on the game. He would often visit different dojos and martial arts halls for inspiration when creating a new character. While he was in this town, he wanted to check out the Talen dojo but it was said for him to hear it had closed down. "That was actually my destination. I had no clue it had closed down." Tom thought for a while then suggested, "do you mind if I stille and have a look?" Tom thought he might still be able to find something by watching his grandfather fight or even find a unique weapon. Novis saw no harm as long as his grandfather agreed to it. The two of them carried on walking until they eventually reached his grandfather''s dojo. The dojo was a bit run down since there were no students. There was no need to waste money on renovation costs. As Novis and Tom entered the dojo, Tom was surprised to see the inside was so clean, it looked almost brand new. "Didn''t you say it was closed, why is it so nice in here." "There are no students but I still train in here." In truth, Arthur was the one that made Novis clean the ce. Arthur wanted to discipline Novis, he wanted him to respect the dojo and weapons he was using and this would make him look after things and appreciate it more. Tom was intrigued, He had seen Novis fight against the four men and thought he was indeed skilful with the stick. As Tom was looking around the dojo, he noticed there were currently four different weapons out on a rack. The long sword, two short swords, a spear and the chain sword. "Which one of these do you practice with?" "Actually, I like all four of them so I practice with them equally at the moment," Novis said while rubbing his head. He was slightly embarrassed and thought perhaps Tom didn''t think he took it seriously because he couldn''t focus on one weapon. "Do you mind showing me a few things?" "I was going to train anyway, so you can watch if you like?" This was the first time someone was interested in something Novis wanted to do. Novis thought this was perhaps the same feeling that Arthur felt when he started teaching him. Novis then demonstrated the skills he had learnt with each weapon one by one. After an hour and half of hard work, Novis was now drenched in sweat. Tom had been sitting at the side watching intently the whole time. Although he had seen people more skilful then Novis with weapons in his time. Novis had a certain charm when using all four of them. Tom came to the same conclusion as Novis. All four of the weapons suited him, there was not one that Novis was better with or worse. Tom was also really interested in the chain sword, he had never seen such a unique weapon before. While looking at Novis, Tom hade up with a brilliant idea. Chapter 29: A Gift Chapter 29: A Gift After the training session was done. Tom thanked Novis for allowing him to see him train. He gave manypliments to the young Novis. Just as Tom was about to leave, he stopped by the door and asked, "That long sword of yours, do you know where your grandpa got it from?" "I''m not sure, to be honest, all I know is it''s been in my family for generations now. If you want to buy it my grandfather would say no. I already tried to sell it." "It would be a waste to sell something as precious as that. Look after it well Novis." Tom smiled and then waved Novis goodbye. "He was a bit strange, wasn''t he?" As Tom walked off Arthur couldn''t help but stare at him. "Is something wrong Arthur?" Arthur suddenly snapped out of it and replied "It''s fine I''m just thinking too much. Let''s get some rest." Arthur didn''t say anything to Novis because he wasn''t sure himself. But he had a feeling that when Tom was watching Novis practise he was also looking straight at him. But so far it was impossible for other humans to see him. Arthur just thought it was a coincidence. That was until Tom talked about the sword. Maybe Novis didn''t think anything of it but the man clearly knew the sword was special. Could Tom see him after all? Arthur thought to himself. A week had passed since the incident between Tom and Novis, Although Arthur now allowed Novis to y the game. Novis still hadn''t touched a VR machine. Novis was simply too afraid of what might happen. He didn''t even know if his real-life skills would trante to the game. As Novis was resting in his room, he heard the doorbell go downstairs. Novis mum answered the door and two delivery men were standing outside with a huge Van parked on the street. "Is this the resident of Novis Talen?" "A yes that''s my son, his upstairs." "Novis! You have a delivery." Novis was slightly confused, he didn''t remember ordering anything. But he didn''t mind getting free stuff if someone had put his name down by ident. Novis rushed down the stairs as his mother signed a few papers. "What is it mum?" "These men said they have a delivery for you, they just went back to the van to go and get it." Novis''s mum then handed Novis a piece of paper with the details. Novis was surprised to see who it was sent from. It was from Tom. Novis thought this must be Tom''s thank you gift for saving him. Novi''s eyes started to sparkle as he wondered what on earth it could be. As Novis was watching the delivery men get out of the van he got even more excited. They were currently carrying a huge box the size of a sofa. "Wow! What on earth is it, it''s huge!" Novis shouted. Bill then came down the stairs wondering what all the fuss was about. "What''s going on?" Billy said rubbing his eyes. Just then the two men came in holding therge box. "Where would you like this?" "My rooms upstairs, the first one on the left." The two men quickly went up the stairs and put the package next to Novis''s bed. Luckily for Novis, his room was just big enough to fit the thing in. It was good that his room was empty of things in the first ce. "What is it?" bill asked. "I don''t know?" Novis replied. The two men then started to unpack the box and assemble the device. As soon as bill saw what it was, his eyes grew twice the size and started to sparkle. "You got given a Goldware capsule!" Bill shouted. "What''s that?" Novis knew what a capsule was but Bill seemed incredibly excited. "This isn''t just any capsule, this is from Goldware corp, the samepany that makes the VSW game. It''s a top of the line capsule that cost a fortune. Only the top of the top pros have this." Once Novis knew how much it was worth, he too was amazed. He couldn''t believe that Tom really did stay true to his word. The two men finished assembling the capsule and left the room. Bill quickly couldn''t help but admire the capsule. It had a smooth modern design. White in colour with a golden trim outline. The inside of the capsules was insted with the softest materials known to earth. Bill Sniffed in the Air around the capsule, then quickly turned towards Novice. "What the hell did you do to get something like this?" Novisughed nervously "I just helped some random guy who was the developer of the game, he said he would return the favour but I didn''t expect this." "You must have saved a 1000 orphan kids or something to get this!" Novis could see Bill''s excitement "Why don''t you have a go?" "Really!" Bill didn''t have to be asked twice. He quickly got into the capsule and booted up a game. The capsule really was state of the art technology. As Bill was ying the game a hologram projector would shoot out from the capsule, allowing Novis to see everything that Bill was doing. After fifteen minutes Bill had won the game and the capsule cover started to slide off. Bill got out of the capsule. He was silent the whole time while he walked towards Novis''s door. Just before leaving he looked at Novis. "Bro, you better get good at the game, otherwise that thing is just wasted on you." Bill then quickly closed the door and left. "So are you going to y a game?" Arthur asked. "Not just yet, hey I know why don''t you y a game, maybe then it will get me into the mood." Arthur didn''t say anything but was slightly worried for Novis, He thought that Novis would be itching to y a game. But Novis still kept up with his training every day so he was wondering what was holding him back. If Arthur could y a few games and light a fire back in him, then he was happy too. "Sure, let''s give it a shot." As Novis entered the capsule. He felt his whole body sink into it. It was much better than any bed he had ever felt. When he logged on as pendragon he was surprised at what he was seeing. There was currently hundreds and hundreds of friend request online. "What is all this?!" Chapter 30: Xin Mao Chapter 30: Xin Mao As Novis entered the game lobby he was bombarded with a 100 + friend request. "What are all these?" he said. Novis had only gone online once using the ID pendragon, it was hard for him to think of an exnation for this. After a while of thinking, one of Paul''s lessons came to mind. He had heard of something like this before. Were lower-ranked yers would try to add better yers in hopes they could team up and help them win games. It was a way for weak people to rank up higher on the game. Novis came to the conclusion that people must have seen Arthur get a gold rank on his first try, then tried to add him. Novis wasn''t interested in the onlinemunity of the game. He never watched any matches outside of his lessons either. The only thing Novis was concerned about was getting strong at the game. He wanted to see how good he could get if he finally dedicated his mind to something like Lucas had. So Novis amazingly managed to avoid all news and talk of the ID pendragon at the time. Since it had been a couple of months since Pendragon had yed, many people forgot about it. The fanfare died down and the search for the pro-Pendragon with it. The friend request was from the time Novis hadst yed. Novis found the notifications annoying and began to go through each of them one by one, declining them until he came across one he recognised. "Hey, Arthur do you remember this guy Realhastam?" "Ah yes, the powerful spear user, has he asked for another match?" "I don''t know, he''s asked to be our friend." Novis thought about it for a while, Arthur had said the man was strong and had even lost the game to him. It was impossible for this guy to be adding Arthur just for the sake of ranking up together. Novis epted the invite in the hope that he could see another duel between the two. Before Novis didn''t know much about fighting so he couldn''t learn much. But now he had a basic understanding there was much he could learn from a fight between two strong opponents. Hastam was currently rxing on his bed reading a book. He had just finished a stream and was done ying VSW for the day. Suddenly, his phone chimed. As Hastam picked up his phone he was surprised at the message he had received. "Hey Xin, do you remember that swordsmen you met a while back? He just epted our friend request." Xin Mao was an ancient spirit from china. One day Hastam went on a trip to China, he was visiting an ancient city that they had recently discovered underground. China had just opened it up for tourist to see and Hastam was one of Lucky first to win a trip to see it. Inside the temple lied an ancient red spear with a carving of a me on the side. As Hastam got closer suddenly white mist started to surround him and when Hastam came too, he could see the spirit known as Xin Mao. Xin Mao had no clue why he had been summoned when he met Hastam, many people before him hade and seen the spear but there was no reaction. Hastam was the only person able to see the me carving on the spear. Allowing Xin Mao to be summoned and enter Hastam body. Xin thought for a while about what to do with the unknown warrior. Even though he won the matchst time he had lost the battle. "Let''s go online send him a party invite," Xin said. Xin didn''t want to fight Arthur just yet. He was hoping that by ying a few matches with him he would learn Arthur''s sword skills and a way to beat him. Novis then received the request for a party invite. "What do you want to do?" Novis asked "Let''s do it." They epted the invite and the two of them entered a lobby together. Novis had now given control of his body to Arthur. But on the other side, Hastam was the one currently ying not Xin. "Hey so why don''t we y in ane together lets both go bot," Hastam said. The two of them didn''t talk much, as they weren''t really friends. They had only met twice and thest time they had fought each other. The two of them entered a game and went bottom together. Hastem picked the character, Xin Mao, while Arthur picked Dragonyer. Hastem would lead while Arthur acted as a supporting character, in between games they would switch roles. The two of them won all of their games and a couple of people began to recognise them. "Hey isn''t that the pro Hastam." "Yeah, but who''s he ying with, that guy is just as good." As the two of them continued to y, Arthur began to notice something different about Hastem. His attack style and patterns werepletely different from thest time they had fought. Hastam was still very skilful but the style felt different. Unknown to Arthur, the was because Hastam was the one currently ying and not Xin Mao. Hastam himself was also a very skilful yer. Hastam was already a pro yer before even meeting Xin Mao. The two of them often switch ces when fighting. This time Xin had asked Hastam to y this way Xin could observe Arthur. Arthur learnt a lot while ying with Hastam, Different tactics of the game. The way opponents would usually act. It was a learning experience for Arthur. He even found out that there were healing supplies you could use at the base. After five matches with each other Hastam eventually called it a day and went offline. Arthur and Novis too had called it a day and decided to go offline. "So did you find out anything about him?" Hastam asked. "No, the opponents were far too week, we need to wait for him to rank up before we try again." Hastam smurf ount and Arthur were currently ranked gold, this was a good rank for most of the poption but nowhere near the levels of pro. Arthur would have to y several more matches before he would be able to face strong opponents. As Novis was getting out of the capsule his bedroom door mmed open. It was Bill and he wouldn''t stop fidgeting about. "Hey, Novis! Have you seen they just announced a new warrioring to VSW." "Oh, that''s good and all but did you really have the barge into my room like that." "Sorry bro, it''s just that the new character. He kind of looks like you." Chapter 31: Heros Puer Chapter 31: Heros Puer Novis and Bill decided to head into bills room. Although Novis had aptop where they could see the information about the character. Bill''s room was just a lot nicer. He had a 30-inch monitor and gaming equipment in his room. Novis and bill were currently on the VSW website, where they often released new information about patch changes, bug fixes and all sorts and today they had a big announcement. A new character was being added to the game. Bill was currently looking at the character model and just as he said, it looked like Novis. To be more precise, it looked like an aged Novis. The warrior looked to be around mid-twenties. The face structure was more masculine then Novis''s and had a few wrinkles here and there but everything else was nearly exactly the same. The hairstyle, the facial features. It was as if they had scanned Novis''s face and used an ageing app on him. "See, Didn''t I tell you, freaky right." Novis couldn''t help but think he knew who was behind this. It had to be Tom. Tom had stated he was a developer for the game and he often went to dojos looking for inspiration for new characters. It couldn''t be a coincidence that he had seen Novisst week and a new character that looked like him was now in the game. Although some people would be upset if someone used the facial features in a game without permission. Novis thought it was actually cool. He thought his character looked kind of a badass. The character was currently wearing a sleeveless fur hoodie. The main colour was red with a ck trim and ck fur. The hoodie was unzipped so it could show the characters abs. The red and ck theme continued with the trousers and boots. "So cool!" Novis said out loud. "He might look cool but your charactersme, he''s called Heros puer, it says in the bio it means "hero boy" in Latin." Novis shook his head and wished Tom had better naming sense. If he was going to copy his facial features, he could have even used his name or even asked for his advice. "What weapons does he use?" Novis asked. "See, the wholemunity is in an uproar about this." Bill scrolled down to the weapon section. "This is the first time in VSW history that they have done something like this. The character has four different weapons. One of them is called chain sword, the other is a spear, dual swords and a long sword." Novis was confused. What was so bad about having multiple weapons. he himself used multiple weapons. Surely in a game, this would be advantageous as you could use the different weapons for different scenarios." "What''s wrong with that?" "Well at first nce people thought he was going to be overpowered because of how many weapons he could use. He''s practically four characters in one, but here''s the catch. The character has no skills. His skills are him changing between weapons." 90 per cent of the poption who yed the game relied on using the games skill system. There were only a few who controlled the character themselves. These few were often the pros of the game. With this decision alone it would alienate most of the user''s yer base. Novis understood this and said "So, it''s a character for the pros?" "No one is sure who the character is for. A pro usually can only use one weapon. Even if they studied weapon skills in real life no one would bother to learn four different weapons, it''s just unpractical. So they might as well use another Warrior who specializes in that weapon." Novis couldn''t help but think that maybe Tom had created this character for him. And Novis was spot on. After Tom had seen Novis disy his skills using all four of his weapons he thought he could do something to change up the VSW pro scene. The game had been dominated for years by the same type of warriors and the same pros. But when watching Novis use all those weapons, he thought that this Kid was special. He wanted to create a character just for him that would disturb the pro scene. This was Tom''s true thank you gift for saving him. The capsule was a bonus that would allow Novis to use the full extent of his skills. With the capsule, they would be near to no dy, so Novis could show his true skill. "Can I try him out now?" Novis asked excitedly. "The character isn''t out till next week, but you can download the character and use him in a virtual space before hees out. You just can''t use him in any games." Novis quickly left bills room and jumped into his capsule. Without realising it himself, this is what he had been waiting for. When ying with Dragonyer he always felt off. It was Arthurs character, not his. All he could do was be a worse version of Arthur but Novis didn''t want that. He wanted to y the game his way with his style and now he could. He waited for the character download toplete and when it was finally done, he went to the games practice lobby. The practice lobby was just an open white space where you could switch between Warriors whenever you liked. There were no enemies in the space but it was a chance for people to use the Warriors before ying them in an actual game. The worst thing someone could do was join a game without ever using a character before. Simr to what Novis did the first time he yed with the hammer Warrior Krang. Novis selected the Warrior Heros Puer and his body started to change. His limbs got slightly longer his facial structure changed and his clothes changed. Suddenly he was the warrior named Heros Puer. Novis started off with the chain de. It took him a while to get used to the warrior''s strength but after a few minutes, he had adjusted and could use it just as good as in the dream world. Then he switched to the long sword, he had already used this multiple times and it came naturally to him. The duel des were next. They felt light in his hands and his speed was even slightly faster andstly the spear. Novis tried to imitate some of the moves Hastam had done and to Arthurs surprise, they looked quite good. This was it! Novis thought. This was his character and he wouldn''t y the game with anyone else till the character came out. Chapter 32: Battle for Leadership Chapter 32: Battle for Leadership A week had passed since the announcement of the new character Heros Puer. As Bill predicted, many people hadined online about the character. They didn''t understand why thepany would create a character who had no skills. Even the pros of the game were confused. Many experts predicted that the Warriors release would flop and would end up in the low tier pile with many of the others. Novis woke up and was more excited than ever, as today was going to be the first day where he would y the new character. He hadn''t touched the game in months, with days and nights of endless training, today he was going to break his long-running streak. Unfortunately for him, today was a school day, so Novis would have to wait until he got home from school. While Novis was at school he couldn''t focus on any of his lessons, for he only had one thing on his mind. This only made the day go even slower for Novis. The bell finally rang signalling it was the end of school. Novis picked up his bag and started to rush out towards the door, when suddenly a hand blocked his way from the door. He looked up and it was Mr White. "I believe you are forgetting something Novis?" Mr White said while pointing at the whitebored. On the whiteboard was Novis''s name with a few other Kids names. Today he was on cleaning duty with other students. The ss would switch between students weekly on who would clean the ssroom at the end of the day and today was Novis''s turn. Novis put his bag down and began cleaning, He had waited this long so a little longer wouldn''t hurt. Meanwhile, in the VSW Club, an argument was taking ce. The members have currently huddled around in a circle. Scarlett was also in the circle as she had now be a regr member of the club. Two people currently stood on opposite ends of each other inside the circle. One of them was the club leader Alex who had invited Scarlett to join the club. The other one was Mac. Mac was a third-year student. He was a big bald-headed muscle head around six foot tall. The two of them were currently discussing who should be the leader of the club. Usually, third-year students where selected as leaders but the VSW club was different. The club members had decided to vote for Alex. Many of them had been bullied by Mac and Alex was known for his smart tactics. But there were a few people who disagreed with this decision and thought the strongest VSW yer should be the leader. Alex was currently ranked Silver five in the game while Mac was ranked Silver one. "I currently hold the highest rank in this school so I should be leader, not some weak ass like you!" Mac said. Alex remained silent; he didn''t like confrontation. He didn''t even know how he got into this situation in the first ce. Scarlett knew Alex''s personality. She was getting angry at Mac and said, "We all had a vote and chose Alex as our leader; besides it doesn''t matter how strong you are, it''s a team game." "Who asked you." Mac said, "You know what you are right, it is a team game, and as this school''s strongest yer I want to have the right to fight for the leader''s position. If that doesn''t happen, I''m quitting the club and you can go to the tournament without me." The Towns local VSW tournament for schools wasing up soon and they needed Mac. Like he had said he was a big part of the team as he was the strongest yer. Many members thought that there was no harm in letting mac be the leader as long as they could get a good position in the tournament. "Fine. I''ll fight you." Alex could feel the pressure and had to give in. If it was his fault that their best yer had left the team. Many others would start to leave and they would have no chance in the tournament. Although Alex could just lose the game on purpose to Mac. Alex wasn''t like that. He truly loved the game and wanted to put Mac in his ce. Many others including him had been pushed around by Mac while in school but in the game it was different. Where skill, reaction time and strategy were taken into ount, Alex could change the situation around. As the two of them put on their VR headsets the game began to project on the wall of the room. The members set this up so they could see the oue of the game. Alex selected the Warrior dio. dio was a roman soldier who used a short sword and a round circr shield. Mac Selected the character Krang. Krang was the same character that Novis had used the first time he had yed the game. An eight-foot Viking who used a giant Hammer bigger than himself as a weapon. The Game started and the two of them went down the middlene. Alex was faster and ran towards the centre forest as quick as he could. Mac was slow but was in no rush. Alex had memorized all of Karang skills but wasn''t confident in countering them. At least this way he would be able to tell when Mac was using a skill and react to it. He waited for Mac to reach the middle, as soon as his back was turned, he rushed in for an attack. Mac had already expected this when he saw that Alex was not by his tower. Mac was already casting a skill. As Mac lifted his hammer into the air Alex jumped back a few steps. The hammer smashed against the ground but no harm hade to Alex. Alex then dashed in with a few shes towards Mac''s back. Mac cast another skill swinging his hammer in a circle causing his body to spin. Alex didn''t have time to jump back so he raised his shield. But the shield was far too weak and Mac''s hammer was far too strong, causing the shield to smash out of Alex''s hand. Mac''s hammer continued spinning as was on course to smash into Alex''s head. Alex didn''t do something he would lose the match. Chapter 33: Club leader Chapter 33: Club leader Alex was in trouble, if he didn''t do anything fast the hammers course of direction was going to impale him right in the head. Alex was currently wishing that he had spent more time ying the game. Alex was known throughout the whole school as the boy genius. The person who got the number one test results, in the whole school. The truth was, Alex did all that because he loved VSW. Alex''s parents were both well-known doctors and they wished for Alex to follow in their footsteps. Alex didn''t know what he wanted to do so he found it hard to put any passion into studying. One day on the T.V the Esports world cup was showing. Two of the best Pro teams in the world were facing off against each other and the game they were ying, was VSW. The tactics, the action, the tears after winning the game. Alex fell in love with it all and wanted to experience the same feeling the people on Tv were feeling. When Alex expressed his wishes to his parents, they were dead set against it. Even though many people made a living ying Esports it was still only a select few. Simr to how if someone wanted to be a singer or musician. Alex parents wouldn''t allow him to touch a game for a while but seeing his interest rise, his parents thought of a way they could exploit his passion in the game. They came up with a deal. If Alex was to get the number one position on the school test, then his parents would let him do what he wanted. They even said they would support him by buying him any equipment he needed. Alex studied harder than he had ever studied before and eventually got the number one spot. His parents kept their promise and bought him a VR headset. But a condition was still set in ce. If his scores were to worsen then they would no longer allow him to y the game. This left Alex with very little time to actually y the game. Despite everything that got in Alex''s way he managed to be the leader of the VSW club as well the number one spot on the school rankings. If Alex wanted to change his parent''s mind about bing a pro VSW yer. He would have to show them it was truly possible. He couldn''t lose against Mac like this. Alex rolled on the ground towards his shield, avoiding the hammer swing. He picked his shield up off the ground and waited for the right moment. When he saw an opening, he cast the skill "shield barge". The system took care of the rest for Alex. His warrior dio put the round shield in front of his face and made his body aspact as possible. Suddenly he shot off like a bullet towards the spinning Mac. Alex managed to get just the right timing to hit Mac in between the swings and knock his body of bnce. The audience supporting Alex cheered. "Could you do that?" "It had to be luck, No way someone could time that." But Alex did in fact time it. Any spare time he had outside of the game he would be studying the different Warriors. He knew the timing and skills of nearly every warrior in the game. Just like when he studied for exams. He studied twice as hard on the game. Although Alex was able to stop Mac''s attack. The warrior was simply too heavy and just stumbled. "Good, I would hate for me to win that easy," Mac said. Alex was afraid he wouldn''t get a chance like this again. He went in with a flurry of attacks. Mac made sure to keep his body facing forward against his opponent. He knew what Alex was trying to do. The warrior Krang''s weak point was his back. The heavy armour was too thick to be prated by Alex''s small de. But the back was open. Alex was getting frustrated, He knew what he needed to do to win, but he didn''t have the skills to do it. The system only gave each character four different skills and none of them would help him in a situation like this. His real skills with the sword were basic and not strong enough to get Mac in the position he wanted. Alex continued attacking hoping an opportunity might eventually show itself. But it never did. And in Alex inexperience, his character had quickly be worn out. He was exhausted. Mac saw this opportunity and cast the skill "hammer throw". The hammer went flying through the air at a lightning-fast speed. Alex went to dodge but his legs would no longer listen to him. *Bang As the hammer made contact with Alex''s body, he burst into a me of blue particles. The members who were supporting Alex were silent. While Mac''s goons were cheering away. The members couldn''t help but feel proud of Alex. They knew he had tried everything he could. Alex was never good at one on one battles. He excelled at team matches where tactics were involved. Their hopes were raised a little when they saw Alex perform the shield barge but the result was as expected. The two of them took off their VR headsets. Mac was smiling with Joy while Alex couldn''t look anyone in the eye, he felt like he had let them down. For some reason, Alex felt like he could no longer move. Scarlett quickly came over and helped Alex back into the crowd. "Look at that, he even needs a girl to help him." Mac and his goons started tough. "Shut up, you already won, why do you have to be like this." "He should have never been the leader in the first ce, only the strongest should be the leader. I''ll be happy to let anyone take my ce as long as they can beat me. Maybe you want to have a go?" Scarlett bit her lip, she had only been ying the game for a short while and mainly as range character. She knew she stood no chance against Mac. "If there is no one here that can beat me, then as the leader of the VSW club my firstmand is that you two are banned from the club." Alex felt as if lightning had just struck his heart. Tears started to roll down his face. He had spent all his time in the club room with his friends with the aim of bing a pro. He wanted to prove to his family he could do it by winning this tournament. If he was to be kicked out of the club there was no chance he could do that. Scarlett then turned and faced Mac. The height difference between the two lookedical. But Scarlett''s face was dead serious. "All I need to do is find someone in this school that can beat you right?" Scarlett said. "Exactly, easy right?" "Fine, you just wait right here." Chapter 34: Losing all hope Chapter 34: Losing all hope Scarlett knew she had no chance of beating Mac but she had one person who she might be able to rely on. That was Novis. She herself had never seen Novis y the game, but Scarlett knew Novis well. Without putting any effort into anything he was always quite good at everything. He wasn''t exceptional but better than average. Scarlett had seen Novis put more effort into the game than anything he had ever done before. So much that he even hired a professional coach. Even if Novis wasn''t good at the game there was always a chance he could beat Mac. Maybe Novis style would just be awkward for him. Novis was in the ssroom busy away cleaning trying to get this one blue mark off the whiteboard. "Why won''t this bleeding marke off, did they use a permanent marker or something?" Novis said as he wiped the bored back and forth with a rag. "Why don''t you try spitting on it," Arthur suggested. "You are disgusting you know that?" "In our times we spat on many things." "Yeah well, now we have things like, cleaning liquid and soap." After scrubbing at the same spot for five minutes Novis was about to give up. He secretly spat on the rag and went to wipe the mark off the board. To his surprise, the mark came off. "Did I not tell you to do that a while ago?" Arthur said. Novis stayed quiet. He didn''t wish to give Arthur the pleasure of being right. With the cleaning finished Novis got his bag and was ready to go home. He began to smile and hum a song to himself as he left the ssroom. Then he heard loud footsteps in the hallway. "Wait!" Scarlett shouted. Scarlett was huffing and panting away like she had just done a 100-meter sprint race. "Woah calm down, what''s wrong?" "I''m.. so. d..I .foundyou." Scarlett said taking a deep breath between each word. She had sprinted from the clubroom as fast as she could. She knew Novis was on cleaning duty today so she might have just missed him if she didn''t hurry. "Novis is your coach letting you y the game yet?" "Actually, I was going to go home and y my first game today," Novis said while smiling. "That''s great,e with me," Scarlett grabbed Novis by the wrist and started to lead him to the club room. All the members were waiting patiently in the club room. Alex was currently sitting down in a chair. He was still unable to look anyone in the eye. But all hope was not lost. During the time Alex spent with Scarlett in the club together, he hade to learn how great she was at the game. Her judgment skills, her fast learning pace was brilliant. Perhaps this person she would bring would be really good at the game. All Alex could do for now was hope. His future relied on this person after all. The doors to the club room then slid open. Scarlett entered the room with a boy being led by the hand. "Wait Scarlett, I don''t even know where you''re taking me." As Alex saw the person behind Scarlett his heart sank a little. He remembered meeting this person before and if he remembered correctly the person stated he was Bronze rank five at the time. The lowest rank possible in the game. Alex needed to stay positive though. It had been a few months since the two of themst met. Perhaps his rank had improved and was naturally talented at the game. Scarlett dragged Novis to the centre of the room and pointed at Mac. "This guy, I want you to y against him and beat him." Novis looked at the huge student standing in front of him. It was hard for Novis to believe that Mac was truly 16 years old. Novis looked around the room and noticed that currently, all the members were present. He started to get nervous thinking of all the people watching him. "Can''t I just y him online at home, why does it have to be now?" Novis said. Scarlett held Novis''s hand tightly, tears started to fall down from her big round eyes. "Novis, if you don''t win this, then he said he would kick me out of the club." Novis didn''t really understand the situation he was in. After all, he had been dragged here against his will. But he did know something, Scarlett was upset. Novis liked the fact that Scarlett had enjoyed ying the game, he even whished one day Him, his brother, Scarlett and even Lucas could form a team one day. Novis didn''t understand his own feelings, but for some reason seeing Scarlett like this, made his blood boil and currently all his anger was directed at the person who caused this. "Alright let''s do this," Novis said. Scarlett let go of Novis''s hand and went back next to Alex to watch the uing match. "This little runt is who I have to go up against, Fine I''ll beat all your weak ass friends." The two of them put on their VR headset and logged in using their user IDs. Most of the members hadn''t seen Novis before so they didn''t know what to expect but currently all their hopes were riding on him. They didn''t want a bully like Mac to be in charge of the club. When Novis joined the lobby though, all their hopes were suddenly crushed. "ha, ha, ha really so you''re a noob, your rank is bronze five. Well, this will be a quick game." Alex who had remained positive until this point suddenly lost all hope. Novis after all this time had still remained at bronze rank 5 meaning he hadn''t gotten any better at the game. "Just start man!" Novis shouted. The two of them then went to the warrior selection page, where everyone was given an even bigger shock. For Novis had chosen to select a character, that had onlye out that very same day. Chapter 35: Blue sparks Chapter 35: Blue sparks Scarlett was slightly confused as to why everyone reacted the way they did when they saw the warrior Novis chose. She understood the disappointment when seeing his rank but she knew he hadn''t been ying the game. When looking at Alex she could tell something was seriously wrong. "What''s the problem with Novis''s warrior?" Scarlett asked. "It doesn''t make sense, does your friend really want to win this game? The warrior only came out today. No one has had a chance to y with him in a game yet and that''s not the only problem. Maybe your friend doesn''t know but the warrior has no skills. All it can do is change between weapons. Experts have gone so far to criticize it as a garbage release character. Scarlett suddenly understood. She knew how useful the systems skills where. Scarlett had never held a bow and arrow in her life before. Without the systems skills, she would have never been able to shoot an arrow as urately as she did. Not only that, Novis had even selected a new character that he couldn''t have had a lot of experience with. "Novis you numbskull, pick someone else!" Scarlett shouted "Shut up, I know what I''m doing," Novis replied. No matter what Scarlett said Novis was going to choose his warrior. He had been waiting for this moment for so long. "Silver 1 huh, I guess this is a good chance to see how much I''ve improved." Novis thought to himself. The game started, Mac chose the Warrior Krang, while Novis chose Heros Puer. The two of them entered the game. The people supporting Novis were praying, hoping for some sort of a miracle. While the goons supporting mac were chilled and rxed, half of them wasn''t even looking at the screen thinking they already knew the oue. As Novis entered the game he took in the whole atmosphere. He was looking around at the scenery. Unlike the capsule, the VR headset didn''t simte smells but Novis could imagine it, he could smell the area around him. He hadn''t yed the game in months and this time it felt like a whole new experience for him. He was truly appreciating the Game for the first time. "What is he doing, why isn''t he moving?" Alex asked. Alex was getting more and more worried as he watched Novis. It looked like he had never touched the game before, never mind being rank bronze 5. Scarlett began tough. "Well, he hasn''t yed the game in a while so he''s just getting used to it." Alex was starting to think Scarlett was insane. What made her think that Novis stood a chance? Just when he thought he couldn''t be shocked anymore he found out something new. Krang was confident in beating Novis, he didn''t use any cheap moves and decided to just head straight to the centre of the map and wait for Novis. Eventually, Novis arrived at the centre of the map. Novis was currently holding the two chain swords in his hands. "Do you even know how to use those things," Mac said. Everyone watching was thinking the same thing. They had never seen such a strange weapon before. They all imagined themselves in Novis situation where they were given a weapon to use but had no skills to use it with. They all had one thought, Novis was doomed. "These things you mean, sure!" Novis started spinning the chain sword in two circles then ran towards Mac. "Even I could do that!" Mac said. Mac came forward and jumped in the air performing the skill Hammer smash but the hammer smash wasn''t even close to touching Novis. Mac thought Novis would run in and use the chain de simr to two swords. Novis, however, stayed a good five feet away. "You want to see how to use these then?" Novis said. Novis then proceeded to swing the de out while holding the other half in his hand. The chain would swing out like a snake bite. The attacks came out fast shing against Mac''s armour and hammer. Several sparks started to flicker as the two made an impact. Mac was overwhelmed and couldn''t move forward. He was doing his best to make sure the de didn''t touch his face. Everyone watching Novis''s attack could only think one thing. Beautiful, the chain de swinging through the air looked so beautiful, simr to those ribbon dancers at the Olympics. The problem was Krang''s armour was far too think. There was no opening attacking this way. Although Novis''s stamina had improved he knew he would tire out before Mac this way. Novis then selected to change to the long sword and rushed forward towards Mac. The longsword was known for its damage output and would be strong enough to cause some damage. Mac saw Novis rushing towards him with the long sword and used his skill Hammer swing. Mac started to spin around in circles with his hammer. Alex was starting to get worried, Novis looked impressive with the chain sword but it didn''t do much damage. The weapon was too weak to prate the armour. The hammer was spinning to fast for Novis to get close with his long sword. Novis then quickly changed to the spear and threw it towards Mac stopping his momentum, then quickly changed to the duel swords. If Hammer swing was interrupted the character would be stumbled and dizzy for a few seconds. Novis wasn''t going to let this chance go. The members couldn''t believe what they were looking at, Novis was switching between weapons so fast and was able to use each one. Using the duel swords Novis unleashed a flurry of attacks on Mac, slowly chipping away at his armour and causing scratches all over. Mac hade out of his daze and started to lift his hammer in the air for another smash attack. As the hammer came down Novis spun to avoid the strike. During the spin, he switched to his chain sword. He swung the sword around Mac''s body and hammer tangling them up, both ends of the chain sword were stuck firmly in the ground. Mac would only be restrained for a few seconds before he pulled the de and chain out of the ground but this was all that Novis needed. He changed to the long sword and pierced Mac straight through his head. Mac burst int blue sparks. The whole room went silent. Alex couldn''t believe what he had just seen. Scarlett standing next to him couldn''t hold in her smile and Mac''s goons who weren''t paying attention to the game, suddenly realised everyone had stopped speaking. As they looked at the screen it said. Chapter 36: School Legend Chapter 36: School Legend Everyone who was watching was amazed at what Novis had done. They just saw aplete stranger take down the strongest yer in school. But there was only one person who had realised Novis''s true skill. That was Alex. The warrior that Novis was using currently had no skills. The others understood that of course but didn''t really understand what that meant. Everything that Novis had done in the game was through his own ability. He controlled the Warriors body as if it was his own and he made it all look natural. This meant Novis was able to do these things to some extent in real life. Alex''s heart started to beat louder. He was excited that a yer this strong was in his school. He needed to do everything he could to get Novis to join the school team. Novis and Mac exited out of the VR headset. Novis was pleased with what he had done. In truth, he could have beaten Mac using any of the weapons but he wanted to try switching between all the weapons. Once he saw the warrior Mac chose Novis started to rx. He knew from ying as the warrior Krang before, that he was slow. This allowed him to use Mac as a practice target and switch between each of the weapons. Mac stood there in silence with his goons. Novis had gone over to were Scarlett and Alex were. The members of the school team couldn''t stop showering Novis with praises. "You were amazing man." "How did you even know how to use that chain thingy?" "No way are you bronze 5 you have to be a smurf who''s at least gold." Novis had never been the centre of attention before in his life. He didn''t know how to deal with it. As everyone was praising Novis performance Mac was staring at Novis''s back intently. Mac couldn''t believe that someone so irrelevant, so puny, had upstaged him. All the congrattions Novis was getting should have been him. Mac started to be ovee with anger. Then suddenly, Mac gripped his fist and rushed over towards Novis. "You may be able to beat me in the game, but you''re nothing in real life," Mac shouted as he threw his fist towards Novis. "Novis switch with me!" Arthur shouted. Without thinking about it Novis switched control over to Arthur. Although Novis had improved a lot, he had only practised fighting with a weapon. He had no experience with hand to handbat. In this scenario, he was hoping Arthur would be able to do something. Arthur turned around and saw the fisting towards him. It was slow and easy to avoid, but if he avoided the punch there was a chance it would hit Scarlett and Alex who stood behind him. Arthur then went towards the fist and grabbed Mac''s wrist. Then Arthur barged his body into Mac''s and used his hip to throw Mac over him and onto the ground. Mac''s five goons quickly followed behind him charging forward. But it was all too easy for Arthur. As punches and kicks came towards him, he would simply tap them away or make minimal movement avoiding the strikes. Then quickly would hit them back in vital spots. The five people quickly fell to the ground and weren''t getting back up any time soon. Once again, the whole room fell silent. Until someone shouted, "That was amazing!" The whole room then went into a cheer. Arthur stood in the centre of his victims like a diator who had just been dered a champion. It reminded Arthur of when he used to battle in the arena back in his time. Seeing Scarlett approach Novis Arthur switched back control. Novis looked at the people on the floor in pain. "What have I done." Novis then quickly bolted out towards the door and ran away. Alex had to know who Novis was, how did someone so strong go unknown throughout the school for so long. Not only was he powerful in the game but he was also strong enough to take out the top dog. He turned to the one person who knew him best. "Howe Novis is so strong?" Alex asked Scarlett. "I don''t know, I''ve never seen him do something like that before. I mean, his grandfather owns a dojo and all but I thought he never went." Alex thought that must be it. The reason why he was so skilful in the game, why he could use the weapons and how he fought all those people just now. It would make sense if Novis had practised martial arts from a young age. This just got Alex more excited. Alex would never have thought that Novis had actually only started practising a few months ago. As Novis was making his way home he couldn''t help but worry about the situation. "What do I do, I might get expelled, worse what about if theye back with more people." "rx will you, I dealt with them properly." "Really you think so? Did you have to hurt them so badly!" "They needed to be shown that you were far above them in power. That you could deal with them anytime you wanted. That''s what I did." ***** Once the events of the match were over the members quickly split and decided to head home but that didn''t stop them from spreading the news of what had just happened. The members who had seen the fight messaged the friends their ssmates about the feat that took ce in the VSW club room. "Did you hear about the kid called Novis, I heard he fought thirty guys all at once." "I heard it was 40" "People are exaggerating I heard it was ten but they all got sent to the hospital with broken bones." Rumours began to spread about Novis and he was starting to be a local legend at his school. Mac heard these rumours and they only fueled his anger more. he thought back to what had happened. He had never been so humiliated in his life like that. He would have never suspected someone half his size would be able to throw him to the ground. After that, he didn''t see the rest but when he came too, he clearly saw his friends on the ground. What he was even more surprised about, that there was actually someone who wasn''t afraid of him. There were two reasons why no one chose to mess with Mac. Mac was well known as a bully throughout the school. Many of the teachers knew this too. Mac was unrivalled when he came to strength, he was bigger than most of the kids and stronger. But whenever Mac would get in trouble, they would simply ignore it. The reason for this was simple. Mac''s father. Mac''s father was the leader of a well-known gangster group in the town No one dared to mess with them. Not even the police. Mac was currently in his father''s office downtown. His father was sitting down in an office chair smoking a cigar. Mac''s father looked frightening. He was even bigger than mac himself by a foot and had a scar 4 inches down his face that went over his right eye. After hearing Mac''s story, his father stood up and put his hand on Mac''s shoulder. "Don''t worry, I''ll teach this kid that no one messes with the Ruman family. Chapter 37: Running Boy! Chapter 37: Running Boy! Novis''s ns changed from what he had originally intended to do today. He didn''t go to his grandfather''s dojo. He didn''t go and y VSW, he was currently just lying in his room thinking about his match with Mac. Novis was wondering what he would do if he was to face a different type of opponent. Mac was an easy win for him due to the slow Warrior he chose. It was hard for Novis to tell if he was actually strong. This led Novis thinking about a fight between him and Lucas. Lucas was someone who the same ages as Novis but Lucas wanted to be a pro. If Novis could beat someone like him, then he could truly say that he was strong. Novis thought back to the fight between Arthur and Lucas. When Arthur won the fight back then, Arthur didn''t even disy much skill. Lucas was frozen and Arthur eventually defeated him with a single strike. There was only one person who had a good grasp on both of them and that was Arthur. "Do you think I did well today?" Novis asked. "Of course you did, you won the fight without getting a scratch on you," Arthur replied Then Novis paused for a while before asking his next question. "Then, out of me and Lucas who do you think would win?" "Lucas" Arthur answered straight away. Novis didn''t know why but the fact that Arthur had answered straight away like that hurt him a bit. Novis had been training non-stop to get stronger. Of course, he hadn''t been ying as long as Lucas had but he couldn''t imagine anyone else his age putting in as much effort as he had done. "Why do you say that?" "You still have a long way to go Novis, your strength is still weak, your decision making is poor and you still don''t have the fighting experience. Although you have trained with me for a long time now and I guarantee it would be enough to defeat most people out there, Lucas is a different animal like a dragon." Hearing Arthur praise Lucas like that really did sting Novis. He too wished that Arthur would say these words about him. Although Arthur didn''t say this to Novis, Arthur had a different thought about the two. If he were topare the two of them today to animals and beasts, while Lucas was a headstrong fierce dragon, he would say Novis was a bird. But in the future that bird would grow up to be a fierce phoenix. Each time Arthur trained with Novis he felt like Novis was an entirely different person. His improvement was monstrous. It would only be a matter of time before Novis evolved from that little bird, into a fiery raging phoenix. Arthur decided that Novis deserved a good rest tonight and would not bother him inside his dreams. Arthur was really proud of Novis. Novis now wanted to get stronger on his own and had a goal. Arthur felt like if he said anything, then perhaps Novis would be satisfied with how far he hade. ***** It was currently five in the morning the next day, the sky was a murky grey with hints of blue as Dan waited for the sun to rise. Dan was a student at Montem middle school and also the leader of the track team. He was known as a pretty boy by most of the girls and even had his own dedicated fan club. But Dan didn''t care about any of that. Dan had a pure passion for running. He was the best long-distance runner that Montem middle school had ever seen. He had beaten all the students with ease once he had joined the school club, but dan whished for more. He was saddened by theck ofpetition and was hoping there would be a rival out there that could beat him. One day when Dan was out running, he spotted a small boy with a simr frame to himself running outside in the same neighbourhood as his. It was rare for Dan to see someone close to him in age running at this time of day. Dan wasn''t sure if this was a one-time event so he decided to run in the same spot the next day. Again, Dan saw the same boy out for a run. Dan thought that this boy must have the same amount of passion for running as he did. For every day this week, he had seen the boy go out for a run. Today was the day that Dan would approach the boy and get himself a true rival. Novis was currently getting ready for his routine 5k run that he did every morning, Novis struggled with it at first but after running every morning for thest three months it became part of his daily routine and he couldn''t go a day without doing it. Today Novis wanted to try something different though, Novis wanted to get stronger and that meant he needed to train harder. Novis set the running app on his phone and he was going to try set a personal best today. Novis set off running at a faster pace as usual. As he reached the corner of the street Dan could see Novis running towards him. Dan went out to step out to introduce himself but Novis was too focused and kept running at a face-paced speedpletely ignoring Dan. "Okay, you want to y it like that then huh?" Dan had made up his own impression of Novis and thought Novis wouldn''t speak to anyone he didn''t consider a rival. Him running at this pace was a challenge. Dan set off following Novis closely behind. Dan was impressed at the pace Novis was running at but thought there was no way he would be able to keep it up. Then the 1k mark came up, then the 2K and the 3k. Novis didn''t drop the pace not even a little. Dan heart started to beat louder but not from the running, it was from excitement. For the first time in his life, he was running his hardest with Novis. When both of them finally had reached the 5k mark they came to a stop. Novis and Dan were both panting hard andpletely out of breath. Although Dan was tired, he thought this might be the only chance he would get to introduce himself. Novis could see someone approaching him and as he looked up it was a face he recognised well. The two of them attended the same school and there wasn''t a person who didn''t know who Dan was, he was well-loved between the girls and hated by most of the boys. "You.is. Beautiful." Dan said. Dan was so out of breath that the words that were meant to be spoken out of his mouth came out wrong. What he was meant to say was. Your running is beautiful. Novis took this quite literally. "I don''t know how to politely say this but, I don''t like sausages." Dan hearing these words out of his mouth was confused. Why was the boy talking about sasuges? Then a thought came to his mind, perhaps Novis was trying to engage in the art of small talk. "I love sausages," Dan said with a huge smile. Although Novis didn''t care for the love between two men. He himself was not interested. Then he noticed that Dan was sweating and panting. Dan must have been running after him this whole time he thought. Novis was starting to get worried that Dan was a big-time stalker. "I have to get going to school otherwise I''ll bete sorry," Novis said as he quickly took off. Even though Novis was so beaten down from running he mustered up all his strength so he could getaway. As Dan watched Novis run away, he had one thought, he must truly love running. Author Note: Hi everyone, I am currently living in china where we have the Corna virus outbreak going on, because of this I have been stuck at my GF parents'' house for thest few weeks. Finally, I will be able to go back home. Because of this, I will be travelling for the next two days. During this time, I will write more chapters. so you guys can continue enjoying the content I will post one chapter a day. Thenter will post the 6 extra chapters for hitting that 800 Stone goal. Let''s go for 900 Stones this week! Chapter 38: Need you Chapter 38: Need you After Novis had finished his run, he quickly got changed into his school uniform and started heading to school. Hoping that he wouldn''t bump into Dan again. Dan wasn''t in the same sses as him anyway and didn''t hang around with the same crowd as Novis. They hardly ever saw each other around school much so it was unlikely that the two would meet. As he walked through the school gates though, he felt like many eyes were watching him, more than usual. As soon as Novis would look in the direction of someone, they would quickly turn away and start to whisper. Novis went to look at his phone to see the reflection of himself. He wondered if his hair was sticking up or he had toothpaste across his mouth but there was nothing. "What is with everyone today?" Information spread fast in this day and age. With the use of the inte, mobile phones and onlinemunity''s news could spread in a matter of hours and in this case it did. Almost everyone had heard of the news that Novis had taken down Mac and his goons, who was the head honcho at the school. The reason why the news spread even faster though was because no one could believe it. Novis was nearly half the size of Mac and younger. Novis had finally reached his ssroom and thought to himself, "finally some people who will treat him normally." Novis could hear the lively chatter of his ssmates through the door. Novis smiled and slid the door open but as soon as he did, the room fell silent. Everyone looked at Novis then tried to avoid eye contact while keeping quiet. Novis was on the verge of exploding, everything that happened to him today had been so strange, first with Dan, now this. "What is going on here!" Novis shouted. A girl at the front flinched at Novis shouting and started to scream "please don''t hurt me, I''m sorry please." She cried. Just then Scarlett walked through the door and could see Novis and the girl crying. "What did you do Novis?" Scarlett said as she walked over. "How could you make a girl cry." Then she pped him on the head. Everyone in the room heart started to pound a little faster. They just saw someone p the new honcho of the school. They were frightened of how he would react. Rumours head spread that Novis was a psychopath that took down 30 men and broke their bones. "What was that for, I didn''t do anything. Everyone has been treating me so weirdtely." Then it suddenly hit Scarlett. She too had heard of the rumours about Novis, even more so than others. Many of Scarlett''s friends had messaged her telling her to stay way clear of Novis. Scarlett then quickly pulled Novis out of the room. She told him the most likely reason why everyone was acting like this, Suddenly to Novis it all made sense. The gazing eyes, the whispering, the fear. Novis couldn''t help but me Arthur for the situation he had put him in. "I wouldn''t worry about it too much, the club members saw what you did and I''m sure this whole thing will blow over quickly. Oh, I forgot to ask, after school Alex said he wanted to meet you in the VSW room." Novis wondered why Alex would want to meet him. Novis didn''t think badly of Alex but the first time they met Alex seemed disinterested in him. "I think he just wants to thank you for yesterday," Scarlett exined. Novis agreed and decided to head back into the ssroom. After seeing Novis and Scarlett act normally with each other the other students soon realised that Novis was the same old person he always had been. They started to think of themselves as stupid for believing the rumours. How could someone take on 30 people at once? The ss quickly went back to its normal self. The bell rang and it was time for Novis to move to his next ss. As he was walking down the hallway, he heard someone calling out to him. "Hey you, runner boy, wait up!" As Novis looked up he could see a blonde-haired pretty boy running over towards him. Novis instinctively ran away. The boy next to Dan stopped him from running after Novis. "You know that kid?" He asked. "You mean runner boy, not yet but we share the same love together," Dan said. Dan''s friend Tom always knew Dan said things in the strangest ways. If he didn''t know him so well then perhaps he would have thought of Dan differently as others did. "Well, that kid is bad news." Tom then proceeded to tell Dan the details of the event that had urred in the VSW club room yesterday. Dan wasn''t stupid and thought the tails had to be exaggerated but It made him think of Novis even more Highley. Clearly, he was someone who was a sportsman. "So, he''s in the VSW club huh?" Dan said with a smile. As sses finished Scarlett and Novis decided to head to the club room together. As they opened the doors, they could see Alex talking to another student. The student held a piece of paper in his hand and was handing it to Alex. "I''m sorry!" The student said as he ran out of the room leaving the piece of paper behind. "What was that all about?" Scarlett asked. Alex sighed before answering "Another club member resigning." "Is it that bad?" Alex didn''t say anything but simply nodded. Alex then came over to Novis and bowed down to him. "Thank you for everything you did yesterday. Thanks to you I was able to stay as the club leader. I''ll cut to the chase though. I didn''t call you here today to just thank you. If possible, I want you to Join the VSW club." "ME!" Novice said pointing to himself Alex nodded. "More importantly, I want you to join our team and participate in the local tournament." Novis thought about it for a while. Even though he would have loved to y the game with others in a tournament, it was far too serious for him. He remembered the events of thest tournament. Everyone there was trying so hard to be a pro. Novis yed the game because he enjoyed learning sword skills. The satisfaction and feeling of growing stronger were what drove him. It was as if he had be addicted to improving himself. He didn''t think it was fair to the other students who had the dream of bing a pro. "Thank you for the offer, but I have to decline it wouldn''t be fair on the other club members," Novis said. Scarlett and Alex then looked at each other. Scarlett then said, "The problem is Novis, were the only members the VSW club have." Chapter 39: Elo Hell Chapter 39: Elo Hell Novis was confused by what he had just heard. Just the other day he had seen the club roompletely packed. VSW was the most popr game in the world and the club had at least 50 members, but right now Alex and Scarlett were telling him they were the only members left. "You saw the person leave right now, didn''t you? everyone has beening to me nonstop to quit." Alex exined. "Do you know why?" Novis asked. Alex clenched his fist before answering "It''s Mac, he''s threatening everyone who is in the club or anyone who wants to join." Novis felt bad, Scarlett had exined what was happening in the club. If Novis had never helped out in the first ce then perhaps they still could have gone to the tournament. Mac clearly held a grudge against him and Scarlett and was punishing the club for it. "Even if I was to join, including Scarlett that only makes three of us. We still wouldn''t be able to join the tournament." Alex remained silent. He knew Novis was right. Even if he could convince Novis to join the team would there be anyone else willing to join? There were very few people who would be willing to go against Mac and his gang. Although Novis would have liked to help there was nothing he could do. Arthur had already beaten Mac. Another beating wasn''t going to do anything. With no other option left, Novis decided to leave the two of them and head home. Alex currently felt so useless, his eyes started to water up. His dream was slowly fading away in front of him and there was nothing he could do. "Don''t worry Alex, I''m sure we will be able to find someone. I''ll talk to my friends. Even if theirplete beginners I''m sure we can do something to train them up in time." Scarlett said. Just then, the clubrooms doors slid open and in walked a tall athletic blonde boy. It was Dan. "Hi is this the VSW club room?" Dan asked. Alex and Scarlett looked at each other and smiled. **** Novis''s mind was distracted by the situation at the VSW club. If perhaps he was stronger then he could guarantee the protection of the other students. He could do this with the help of Arthur but it felt wrong of him to rely on Arthurs help every time. When Novis arrived home, he went straight into his gaming capsule to y a few games. He had this pent-up energy that he needed to release. As he went online, he selected the warrior Heros puer. Novis wanted to see how far he hade and hoped he would be able to improve his ranking. Novis went ahead and selected the middle position. He wanted to focus on one on one battles to improve his fighting abilities. The first game went well. Novis defeated his opponent only using the Chain de but his opponent was far too weak for him to learn anything. He carried on pushing forward with his red army until eventually reaching the blue base and capturing the g. Novis thought at this rate, he would be out of the bronze rankings in no time and people would no longer be able to look down on him. The next match, again Novice selected mid, this time he decided to use the dual des. Every game he wanted to practice using a different weapon to improve himself in battle. This game was simr to thest. Novis easily defeated his opponent. But as soon as he did, he heard his teammates urging him toe back to the base as soon as possible. Before Novis could reach his base, the enemy team had captured the g. Novis thought there was nothing he could do and was just unlucky that he had bad teammates. Then the next match a simr thing happened. As soon as Novis was about to defeat his opponent, the yer ran away behind his tower. Novis would then push forward and the yer woulde back all healed up. The person would keep repeating this until Novice heard the system message. Novis was starting to get annoyed, Novis continued to y the game but the matches ended up in the same pattern. Every time he would win a game, he would lose two games never allowing him to rank up. Novis was getting frustrated, he would always overpower the person in mid but still would keep losing his games. Novis left the capsule and tried to think about what went wrong. "Arthur do you know what I''m doing wrong?" "Hmm. It seems like to me your focus on the opponent in front of you and not on the whole game." "But I''m doing the same thing you did aren''t I." "Yes, but it seems like the teammates I would y with had a better understanding of the game. They reacted the battlefield well and gave instructions well. The yers you are ying with are inexperienced, perhaps they need guidance." Novis thought about what Arthur said, but Arthur wasn''t able to help him much because when he yed the game the yers, he yed along with were more skilful due to their rank being in gold. He needed the help of someone who had gone through the ranks before. From a lowly bronze tier to a high tier. Then it hit him, there was a person who had done that exact thing before. He was even living under the same roof as himself, his brother Bill. Novis quickly stormed into his brother''s room. Novis exined to Bill that he had a problem ranking up but didn''t think it was his skill level. The two of them then decided to watch Novis''s games together. "To be honest you''re not doing anything wrong, eventually you should rank up like this." "What do you mean?" "Well look at it this way, if both teams are ying with random yers and there in the same rank as you. If you yed 1000 games then it should eventually even out to a 50/50-win rate. If you truly don''t belong in that tier range, then your skill level will tip the tables. How good you are will decide how often you win your matches. All you need is a higher win rate than 50% to rank up." Novis understood what his brother meant. That if he was truly good at the game then eventually, he would rank up causing the bnce between the teams to tip. But Novis wanted to get stronger, currently, he was ying against incredibly week people and wouldn''t be able to y with stronger people for a while. Bill saw that Novis didn''t like his answer. "There is another way, y with someone experienced. They can call the shots for you and tell your team what to do. If I was in your games, I would be bossing all the useless people around. The problem with Bronze 5 is that it''s the lowest rank possible. Meaning there really is a big difference in people''s skill level down there. There might be people who deserve to be ranked even lower than that but they can''t get any lower. We call this elo hell." "But I haven''t yed the game for long, I don''t really know how to get out of this elo hell?" "Then y with someone who does." "Can I y with you?" "Unfortunately, our ranks are too far apart, you can only team up with people two whole ranks higher than you. If you''re in bronze you can y with a silver or gold at best." Novis had gotten his answer but still didn''t really know what he could do to improve his win rate. Arthur wasn''t the best at tactics he was only good at coaching a fight. Just as Novis was about to leave the room, his brother called out to him. "Hey bro, if you really think you got better, how about a one on one," Bill asked. ________________________________ Gaming terms. Elo Hell: Is a term used by yers when they are unable to rank up, due to bad yers causing you to lose the game. Chapter 40: Brothers Passion Chapter 40: Brothers Passion Dan went asking around about where the VSW club room was, after hearing about the news from Tom about Novis, he had a good idea where to look first. If a fight broke out between them in the game room, he must be a member he mistakenly thought. Finally, he had tracked down the VSW club but when he entered it waspletely empty apart from a female and male student. Dan knew the VSW club was the most popr club in school, so he thought he must have gotten the wrong ce. "Hi is this the VSW club?" he asked. As soon as Dan entered the room Scarlett and Alex went into the recruitment mode. Scarlett quickly grabbed a chair so Dan could sit down and Alex brought over a ss of water. "Are you looking to register to the VSW club, the application only takes a couple of minutes, we can do it right now," Alex said already handing Dan an application form. "Actually, I was hoping I could meet Novis here?" Dan replied. "Oh Yes, Novis is our Ace yer, the star of the VSW club." Scarlett then pulled Alex over to one side and whispered. "What are you saying, Novis never agreed to join." "Well, he said it was because we didn''t have enough members right, so I see no harm. If we can get two more people, then Novis will join us, if not then no harm is done." Dan was currently thinking about how he could get Novis to join the running club and leave the VSW club but if he was already there Ace then there wasn''t much chance he would leave. "What do you say about joining the VSW club then?" Alex asked with a huge grin on his face. Dan thought about it for a while. He had long gotten bored of the running club since there was no longer anypetition. He had thought about switching to the football club or the basket ball club for a while now. Dan was someone who excelled at physical sports and whenever he felt like he had perfected it. He would move onto the next thing. After switching clubs for so long, he never found someone who he couldn''t beat. For the first time, he had met Novis who was great at running, excelled at martial arts and now was apparently the Ace of the VSW club. Dan had a naturally gifted body and never thought about using it for things like VR games before. "Okay, sign me up." Alex wasted no time in helping dan sign up. They had finally found their third member. "So how long have you yed VSW for Dan asked." "Me, never," Dan smiled back. Alex couldn''t help but think that the world was testing him. Novis and Bill had currently just started a game of their own in VSW. Bill selected the assassin Warrior Interfector who''s two main weapons were daggers. While Novis selected Heros Puer, and was currently using the chain de. Due to its long-range and dexterity in attacks, it was a good way to see how opponents would react. Then Novis could choose the next weapon best to deal with his opponent. Novis headed down the midne as normal. When he reached the centre of the map, Bill was nowhere to be seen, but Novis was expecting this. It was the same tactic that Bill had usedst time but this time Novis was ready. He waited and waited until eventually, a message appeared. "Dammit, he didn''te down to mid" Novis shouted. Novis then decided to take the quickest route possible to top and that was through the woods. There were only two ways you a yer could go from one tower to another. Directly through the forest or back through the pathway to the start, where the 3 paths originated from. Unlike other games, there was no middle path going horizontally across the map. Only three vertical paths leading to the enemy base. The rest of the map was covered by forest. Novis was currently running through the forest as fast as he could to meet up with Bill. Novis had fought against other warriors in the forest before, so he wasn''t afraid of an ambush by Bill. The leaves were a dead giveaway of someone''s position. The best they could do was use the trees as a cover or hide. But what Novis didn''t know was that Bill had a passive skill called silent boots. This was a skill that allowed Bill to walk through the forest silently as if he was walking on Air. Bill saw his target in front of him and started following, as soon as Novis was clear, he used the skill Spin throw. Out of Bills right hand came out three dart-like needles. The first needle caught Novis directly in the leg, sending shooting pain through his body. Novis knew that wouldn''t be the end of the attacks. He started spinning his chain de in two circles and swinging them all over his body like a fan. The next two needles bounced off as soon as they touched the chain de. Now Novis knew what direction Bill was In. Novis moved over to the direction of the needles but Bill wasn''t there. Novis thought if he stayed still then he might hear Bill moving about. Nothing, not even a whisper. Bill was currently hiding up behind one of the trees smiling. He was amazed that his brother managed to block the two needles. Although they didn''t do a lot of damage, whenever he would use this tactic in a game, they would almost always hit his opponent. The aim was to make the yer bleed so you could use their blood to track them. Bill''s warrior was best used in the forest and was meant for sneak attacks and one-shot kills. The best thing for Bill to do was to keep attacking from a distance and carry on moving in the forest. But what Bill wanted to do now more than ever, was see how much his brother had improved. Fighting his Assassin like instincts, Bill then jumped down from the tree and went in for the attack. Chapter 41: Teaching Chapter 41: Teaching Bill went in fast and light with his two daggers in hand. Novis readied his chain de and went to swing it at Bill but the de got stuck in one of the trees. As Bill got closer, Novis had no choice but switch to a different weapon. Novis then switched to the spear and threw it directly at Bill running towards him to stop his advance. With every decision, Bill couldn''t help but praise his brother. Unfortunately for Novis, Bill was not an average yer. Bill jumped up in the air avoiding the spear ready to pounce down on Novis but Novis was ready and switched to the dual des. As Bill came down with the daggers Novis held up his des in response. To two shed in mid-air. Bill then Jumped back a few steps, quickly moved in again. This time aiming for Novis''s head. But Novis had been training to avoid strikes with Arthur this whole time and Arthurs strikes were a lot faster than Bills. Novis ducked down and avoided the attack, he could now see Bills stomach wide open. Novis went to select his spear to stab Bill in the stomach. As Novis cast the skill though, nothing happened. Bill then went to stab down on Novis''s head, Novis managed to roll away. Novis was slightly confused why the spear hadn''te to his hand. Then when he looked around the forest, he could see his spear was still in the ground. Bill cast Spin throw and three needles shot out of his Arm. Novis could see the needles this time and hit each one of the needles away. Bill wasn''t expecting this, the needles were thin and small making it nearly impossible to block. With his chain sword stuck in the tree, he was sure Novis wouldn''t have been able to block it. His n was to strike as soon as one of the needles made an impact. As Novis would flinch, he would finish him with the daggers. Now seeing that none were sessful, Bill needed to retreat. He stepped back just enough to avoid the strike of the two short swords but what wasing at him wasn''t a short sword, it was the long sword. The long swords reach was longer and managed to slice bills face in half, causing a burst of blue particles to appear. Bill wasn''t used to a warrior that could switch weapons, he had calcted the distance between him and the short sword and didn''t expect Novis to be able to use all four weapons so well. He was proud of his brother. All though most would expect Novis to be over the moon with the result, he wasn''t. He had an odd feeling about the game that he couldn''t quite shake off. Almost as if he was upset with his performance. Novis took of his VR headset and so did Bill. Although Bill originally took off his headset smiling, when he saw his brother''s expression he quickly stopped. Novis stood up and just walked back to his room without saying a word like his mind was focused on something. "Did he find out already?" Bill thought to himself. As Novis went back to his room he turned on hisptop and started re watching the game. Arthur was watching Novis watch the game over and over and couldn''t help but think that Novis was growing fast. Without the need for him to say anything, Novis had already caught on to what his brother was trying to do. Novis finally stopped watching the match and smiled. "I guess I still have a lot to learn about the game." "Did you figure it out?" Arthur asked. Novis nodded. Bill was trying to teach Novis. The attack on the top tower forcing him to run through the forest. The fact that each warrior had different skills and was better fighting in different environments. His chain de was practically useless with all the trees in the way. If Bill could, he would have loved to start the game from scratch and made a smurf ount to help his brother. Bill knew better than anyone thought that you couldn''t learn to y the game that way. When the difference in level and experience is too big, the person just ends up relying on you and never learns anything themselves. Bill thought the best way he could teach his brother was by ying against him. Although Bill didn''t y in his usual way the one thing Bill didn''t count on, was losing the fight. If Bill was to guess Novis fighting ability alone on Rank he would currently put him at Gold 1. Novis was thinking about his warrior Heros puer. It was a unique warrior in the game that allowed you to switch weapons but this came with setbacks as well. Novis hadn''t faced an opponent where he needed to use multiple weapons at one time before. He didn''t know all the rules for his warrior''s albites. What happens when he isn''t holding a weapon? Can he use more than one weapon at one time? Novis realised that he hadn''t learnt anything to do with the game and was just relying on his pure fighting skills. His brother had shown him how someone''s knowledge in the game could bridge that gap. If Novis wanted to get better and stronger at the game, he couldn''t just be good at fighting he also needed to learn the game. Novis went into his capsule and started another match straight away. He didn''t care this time about winning or losing. All he wanted to do now was improve himself. After ying five more games he ended up winning two and losing three. But Novis didn''t care about the result. For in those five games he had gained a vast amount of knowledge. In one of the matches, Novis threw his spear towards his enemy. The other warrior avoided the spear and it stayed stuck in the ground. Novis then selected his chain de and tried to switch back to the spear. The system simply wouldn''t allow it. What he found out was if holding another weapon and he touched another weapon that was his, It would then burst into blue particles. only then could he switch back to that weapon again. This also meant, he couldn''t hold more than two weapons at once. He wouldn''t be able to hold a spear in one hand and a long sword in the other. If he was holding the spear and selected to change to the longsword it would just disappear. In the next match, Novis tried using these inbination, he managed to trap a warrior simr to how he had trapped Mac with the chain sword. Then changed to his spear and threw it directly at the man''s shoulder. Finally changing to his long sword and lobbing the man''s head off. His experiment was a sess, as long as He didn''t touch any of his weapons while they were out they wouldn''t burst and disappear. Novis felt a lot more confident in his skills and knowledge of the warrior. He wanted to test it out on a few one on one battles. Then a thought came to him, there was a ce where you could do that. You didn''t y online so it didn''t matter what Rank you were. Novis thought it was finally time for him to head back to the VSW inte caf again. Chapter 42: A strange voice Chapter 42: A strange voice VGS 42 Ever Since Lucas had been defeated by Arthur, Lucas had been troubled with finding a new warrior to y. Lucas had spent nearly his entire life ying the warrior Mu Samu. He knew all of the warrior''s strengths its weakness and every little quirk about the warrior. Starting with a new warrior was simr to starting from scratch for a pro. After the fight with Arthur, he realised that he had just been following in his father''s footsteps by ying the same Warrior. The fighting style, the y style, it was all just imitations of his father. Not only that, it was a worse version of his father. Lucas needed to find a warrior that fit him just right and even then, it would take him a while before he could learn all the quirks and skills of the warrior. Lucas had been testing different warriors for weeks but still hadn''t found one he liked. One day, when Lucas was walking home from school, he decided to drop by the VSW inte caf. If someone had an idea of what warrior was best suited for him, then he thought Novis would be the best person to ask. Everyday Lucas went to visit the inte caf but Novis was never there. After the 6th visit to the caf, he eventually decided that he couldn''t rely on anyone else''s help and needed to do things on his own. Lucas was hoping that he would be able to find a new Warrior in time for the schoolpetition. Before leaving the inte caf, Lucas asked Sophie to deliver a message. "Hey Sophie, if you see that Novis kid again can you tell him, I''ll be waiting for him at the local school tournament. And this time, I won''t lose." Sophie agreed to pass on the message. She could see that Lucas had changed. Before it felt like he needed to meet his father''s expectations but now Lucas was doing things for himself. Lucas had finally arrived home. He lived in a huge mansion that had everything a kid could ever dream off. And more importantly, he had all thetest Goldware corp equipment to y the VSW game with. Of course, this was all because of who Lucas''s father was, Justin bell. Currently the number one yer on the ranking board. Lucas went into his room and hopped into his Capsule straight away. He was currently testing out his 20th warrior in the game. after a few matches with the warrior, Lucas popped out of the capsule and shook his head. "Not this one either, I''m running out of time." The tournament was due to start in two weeks and Lucas felt like he would need at least a week to learn the Warrior before entering into a tournament. Lucas went online to look at the list of warriors. There were many different types that held all sorts of weapons. Mu Samu used a katana de so Lucas wanted to stick to something simr. He didn''t want to change to a ranged character or a tank. He liked ying as a high damage dealer as these characters could easily change the flow of the game. As Lucas was looking at the characters, he spotted a few weapons that interested him. There was a character that used gauntlets, one used a giant scythe and one even held a de in his mouth. (a reference to my other series Reincarnated into a human?). As Lucas was looking at the character information and skill sheet of one of the characters, he suddenly heard a small whisper. "C.m.e.r" At first, Lucas couldn''t quite hear the words and just ignored it for something else. But slowly the whisper became clearer. "Come..here.....to.me.." The voice was a soft gentle female voice. Lucas was worried he had yed the game for too long and his mind was ying tricks on him. He was currently the only one in his house apart from a few servants here and there. "Comehere.." "Hello, is anyone there!" Lucas shouted. A maid then opened the door. "Is anything wrong sir?" "Did you say something?" "No sir, no one has been outside this room but me." "Sorry to bother you, let me know if you see anything." "Only you can hear me" The voice whispered. Lucas tried looking around his room to see if he could spot anyone but after searching around every corner of the room, there was nothing. "I''m not here.. Come find me." Lucas could nowhere the voice as if it was directly speaking in his mind. "What do you want?" "Find me. Help me and I will help you." Lucas curiosity got the better of him but he wasn''t stupid. He went to his cupboard and grabbed a katana de that his father gifted him for his twelve birthday. Lucas often trained with the sword as his father encouraged him to learn how to use the weapon in real life, to help him with the game. If someone had broken into the house, the thief was the one that needed to worry not Lucas. Lucas left his room and started to follow the direction of the voice. As he left the maid saw him holding the de in his hand. "Sir, if there is anything you need, I''m happy to get it for you." "Don''t worry I''m going to train for the night before I go to sleep. Why don''t you take a rest?" Lucas said as he smiled. Lucas had always treated the maids and servants as his own family members. They had looked after him since he was young, more so than his own parents who were never at home. The servants also treated Lucas as a family. Lucas walked around the mansion while the voice-guided him. If Lucas went in the wrong direction, it would say so. The mansion was like a maze. There were rooms inside of rooms and even ces Lucas had never been to before. Finally, after thirty minutes of walking around, he had eventually reached a huge double door. The double door was located in his father''s training room in the basement. The training room was a huge empty space with many weapons mounted on the wall. They were also sword markings and even marks of blood all over. Lucas could tell just from looking, how hard his father trained. As Lucas approached the double door the voice said. "I''m in here, please help me." Lucas tried opening the door but it was locked. Clearly, this meant it wasn''t some type of criminal who had broken into the house. Lucas then started to wonder what was truly behind the door. Although Lucas didn''t have a key. The lock wasn''t strong enough to keep him from cutting it open with his de. Lucas hesitated for a moment. Then eventually decided to go in. Chapter 43: My body Chapter 43: My body Lucas readied his katana de. It was so sharp that with enough strength, it would be able to cut through most things. Especially a small lock like this. Lucas swung his de and the lock fell to the ground. When he opened the doors, he was surprised to see it was just a regr storage room. It was full of all sorts of different things but mainly it contained packages and weapons. As Lucas went looking around the room, he could see that a lot of the packages were from Goldware corp. An odd thought came to his mind. The house already contained a storage room, what was the need to have a second one that was locked up and kept away. His father had always been a private person. The only thing he ever talked about with Lucas was to do with VSW. As soon as Lucas had entered the storage room the voice seemed to stop calling out to him. "Hello, where are you? Are you still there?" There was no answer from the voice but Lucas was still interested in the storage room. As he walked around, he spotted something that drew his attention. In the back of the storage room, there was a coffin-like box. For some reason, the box was drawing him in closer. When he finally reached the box, he realised that it actually was a coffin. Lucas looked around the coffin to see if there were any signs of it saying who was inside. He didn''t want to disturb the dead, who knows what would happen if he did. As he looked around the wooden box, he noticed some writing near the bottom. Lucas wiped the dust away and he could see the logo and words written on it. Goldware Corp. Lucas was unaware of Goldware being in the coffin making business. They had only invested in VR technology and Games to his knowledge. But these dayspanies had shares in all sorts of things. Lucas started to walk away from the coffin but as he did it seemed something was calling him toe back. Lucas decided there was no harm in taking a peep. If it was a dead body, he would just quickly close the lid and pray. Lucas started to shift the lid of the coffin but it was too heavy. Lucas realised he needed to give it a big push, so he did. In doing so the coffin Lid shoved right off and fell to the floor. A cloud of dust rose up and Lucas began to cough as he inhaled the dust. As the dust settled, eventually he could see whatid inside. It wasn''t a body like Lucas had expected. Instead, it was a scythe. The scythe de was made out of purple metal that Lucas had never seen before. The handle was a long solid pole which was obsidian ck. "It''s beautiful," Lucas said. Lucas thought to himself that the scythe looked oddly familiar to him, then it hit him. The reason why it felt familiar. He had seen the exact same type of scythe just a few moments ago. As he was browsing the warriors on VSW he saw one holding this exact weapon. It was the warrior known as Mortem. As Lucas went in to take a closer look at the scythe, he noticed something on the handle. There was carving on it that looked like a snake. As Lucas brushed his hand over the carving, it began to glow a bright purple colour. As the light got brighter Lucas stepped a few feet ck. The whole scythe began to glow then suddenly, a beautiful woman seemed to appear from the scythe. The women had long ck hair. She was wearing an armour set that showed off her curves and long legs. While wearing a hooded ck robe. Lucas was stunned, a sprit had just appeared out of the weapon but not just any spirit. Lucas recognised that the spirit looked almost identical to the warrior in VSW he was looking at just a moment ago. VSW was multi-gendered, meaning if you selected a female character but was a male ying, it would turn you into a male version of that character but every character had a base design that they advertised on their website. And what Lucas was looking at right now was an exact replica of her. "Thank you for finally freeing me." The women said. Lucas was too shocked to say anything back to her. Mortem started to swirl around the boy and look him up and down. "Your body seems strong; I will be borrowing it from you." A white mist started to spread and gather around Lucas. The mist then slowly started to enter his body, as it did, his body ended up copsing on the floor. When Lucas opened his eyes, he was in a ce he had never seen before. The sky was a dark purple, the ground had no sign of life and there wasn''t anything else for miles. All he could see was the female warrior who stood in front of him. "Where are we, tell me where we are Mortem!" Lucas shouted. "This is a part of my mind, you see I''ve been trapped in here for far too long, waiting for someone toe along who could break the seal. And finally, you came along." "If I helped you, then why did you bring me here?" "Do I really need to answer, my body was lost long ago and I need a new one. It''s now your turn to be trapped here." "But you said you''d help me?" "Did your parents never teach you that people lie." Mortem then started spinning her death scythe around and dashed forward towards Lucas. Lucas looked down and realised that his sword was gone. Wherever he was, he was currently no longer in his mansion. As Mortem got closer Lucas began to panic. He closed his eyes and thought about the first thing that came into his mind. Then when he opened his eyes again, he could see the scytheing down on his head. He lifted his hands out of instinct to block. *ng The sound of two metal objects hitting each other was heard. Lucas could see his katana de in his hand. "I won''t die so easy!" Lucas shouted. Chapter 44: Take over Chapter 44: Take over Although Lucas didn''t have any idea of what was happening and where he was right now. He did know one thing, that Mortem was trying to kill him. As soon as the two of their weapons collided, Lucas knew that his strength was far weaker. He parried away to scythe as a head-on collision wasn''t favourable for him. "Looks like you''re not so useless after all." Mortem said before rushing in swinging. Lucas knew he couldn''t win in a battle of strength, so all he could do right now was dodge the oing attacks and wait for an opportunity to strike back. With each dodge, Lucas was looking for the right moment to strike but it seemed like it would nevere. The scythe was a lot longer than Lucas''s katana de. Lucas had no choice but to keep his distance. With each swing, Mortem wasughing. She hadn''t had so much fun in a while. Eventually, after avoiding countless strikes from Mortem, Lucas was starting to feel tired. Mortem didn''t look like she had a sweat on her. Lucas then decided, if he couldn''t find an opportunity, he would just have to make one. When the next strike came down instead of a dodge, he parried the scythe away. Most of the scythe weight was located towards the metal head. As long as he parried the head away the weight would cause Mortem to be thrown off bnce. Lucas saw this was his chance and charged in after the parry but then, Mortem choked up on the scythe''s handle bringing her hand closer to the head. This moved the de of the scythe towards both of them. Lucas saw this and tried to dodge at thest second, the tip of the scythe still managed to hit him, slicing at his ear. His ear had now fallen to the ground. Lucas quickly jumped back to regain hisposure. He lifted his hand to were his ear was and it had indeed been cut off. The strange thing was though, there was no pain. Lucas knew the effects of adrenaline well and how it could sometimes cause your body to feel nothing. But this was a different feeling, he felt absolutely nothing, almost as if it was a dream. "Your skills are impressive," Mortem said, "it''s too bad you know nothing of energy though. If you did it might have been a closer fight." Suddenly Lucas started to feel pressure emitting from Mortem''s body. Her de and body had the appearance of purple mesing off it. Lucas rubbed his eyes to check if he was imagining things. But the mes were still there almost faint like. Lucas thought about a time when he had experienced the same feeling before. It was when he fought Arthur that one time. It was the exact same feeling only Mortems felt more sinister. Mortem dashed forward closing the distance between the two of them in seconds. An image shed in Lucas''s head of being sliced in half by the scythe. Then he realised it was exactly the same as Arthur. If he didn''t move now, he really would be sliced in half. The fear and pressure made his body feel like it weighed a thousand tons but Lucas knew if he didn''t do anything he would die right here. As the scythe drew closer to his face, he managed to pull back just a few inches allowing it to skim his nose. Lucas was expecting a follow-up attack but it never came. Instead, Mortem just stood there in silence, then she asked. "Someone like you shouldn''t have been able to move, you must have experienced sword energy before?" "I don''t know about this sword energy thing you''re talking about, but I felt something like that before and it was a lot stronger than yours." Mortem then charged forward again "If you want to lie about something like that, then make it more believable." Now Mortem was attacking Lucas with the same pressure as before but with each and every strike. Lucas managed to move to avoid most of it but still getting hurt and cut in the process. Eventually, after 5 minutes of full-on attacks, Lucas was covered bloody in scars and torn limbs. His de had been shattered and he could barely stand on his feet. "Looks like your time is up." Mortem then shed her de splitting Lucas''s Bodypletely in two. Back in the storage room. Lucas wasid outpletely copsed on the floor. Slowly his fingers started to move, then he could feel all his muscles start to work. He lifted himself off the ground and start to touch himself all over. "It worked," He said whileughing. "The world will finally learn the wrath of Mortem." Lucas''s body had been taken over by Mortem. She now hadplete control of everything. Meanwhile, Lucas started to open his eyes again, as he did, he saw the same purple sky and the groundless dirt field with no life. It was the same ce he had just fought Mortem. "What happened, didn''t I die, why am I still here." As Lucas looked around, he could see arge white circle made of mist. Lucas walked over to the mist and it eventually started to clear, slowly an image started to appear. Lucas''s jaw dropped; he was currently looking at himself moving about back in the storage room but that was impossible because he was right here. He then thought back to the fight. Mortem had said that she wanted to use his body. Did this mean she seeded? Lucas without hesitation decided to jump through the mist portal. Once he did his body started to reshape and form. Eventually, he appeared back in the storage room. While looking around he could see his own body standing there, moving. "Get out of my body!" Lucas shouted. Mortem turned around and could see Lucas floating about. "Your body, why don''t you go ahead and try to take it back then?" Lucas had no clue what to do. He had no idea what situation he was in. And as he looked at himself, he could see he was slightly transparent. It led him to believe that he had turned into a ghost and he might have truly died after all. If that was true though why could Lucas see Mortem moving about in his body? He was truly scared that he might never be able to get back his body again. Chapter 45: See you there! Chapter 45: See you there! Novis was currently on his way to VSW inte caf. He was actually hoping that he might run into someone he was familiar with, Lucas. After hearing the from Arthur about how great Lucas was, Novis wanted to find out himself. Now that Novis knew a bit more about fighting, he was hoping he could learn a thing or two. Perhaps even beat Lucas and prove Arthur wrong. He entered the VSW caf and saw Sophie standing at the counter. As soon as Sophie saw Novis enter, she straightened her back and her eyes lit up. "You''re here? I thought you''d nevere back again. It''s been so long." "Hi there" Novis replied. "do you know if that Lucas kid is here?" Sophie started tough. "Figures, the second Lucas stopsing here to find you, youe here to try to find him." "Lucas was trying to find me?" Novis had no idea why Lucas was looking for him. Thest time they had seen each other Arthur had beaten him pretty bad. Novis felt horrible about the whole situation. At the time he didn''t know how strong Arthur or Lucas was and didn''t have a clue what was going on. Novis didn''t go look for him in case Lucas wanted another rematch. Novis was afraid that if the two of them fought and Novis was, well aplete novice, then Lucas would think he wasn''t trying and going easy on him. Where as if he fought him now, he could me it on the fact that he was trying out a new Warrior and didn''t know the warrior had no skills. "He hasn''t been in here for a while now, but thest time he came here he told me that if I saw you, he wanted me to pass on a message." "What was his message?" "That he would be waiting for you at the local VSW school tournament." Novis heart sank a bit. Lucas obviously saw Novis as a rival of his, but it wasn''t actually Novis he wanted to fight. It was Arthur. It made Novis haveplex feelings. Novis was wondering why he felt this way. Then he realised, the attention that Lucas was giving Arthur, he wanted it. He wanted someone to one day think that he too was a person they wanted to beat. Arthur was a great swordsman who had been long forgotten by the people. It was sad to think that someone as great as Arthur could be forgotten about. But what did this mean for everyone esle? people were forgotten about nearly every day once they had died. After meeting Arthur, Novis thought about this a lot. During his short life span, he now wanted to do something that everyone remembered him by. Originally, he just wanted to get stronger. Now that he was strong, just how much stronger would he have to get to achieve his goal, he thought. As Novis started to walk back out of the shop, Sophie called out to him. "Hey, didn''t youe here to y?" "I''m kinda not in the mood anymore." "Come on, you came all this way, didn''t you? I''ll even let you y for the first hour for free." Novis then looked at Arthur, he realised he had been so busy with himself, that Arthur hadn''t yed in a while." "Do you want to y?" Arthur enjoyed teaching Novis and watching him grow. He felt like there was no longer any need to nag Novis into ying the game. But he wouldn''t let this opportunity slip, as he was always looking for an opportunity to improve his sword skills and not get rusty. "Sure" Arthur replied. Novis went over to a desk and started up the VR headset. Before logging into the game he changed the setting on the machine so it wouldn''t disy his match in public. This meant that the people in the shop weren''t able to watch the matches he was in. He chose to do this because he was currently ying with Arthur''s ID and not his own. Novis thought that if people saw the difference in the two ranks, they would question him and criticize him for being a smurf. Novis saw many people online being harassed and bullied for smurfing. They were seen as a type of bully themselves. A high-ranking yer destroying the bnce in a low rankings game just for fun. Although Hastam was also a Smurf, themunity seemed to never give him any trouble over it because his videos were meant for educational purposes and showing other users how to y. With Novis now logged in as Pendragon, the two of them switched control and currently Arthur was using Novis''s body. Arthur could feel that Novis''s body had improved greatly, he was a lot stronger and had more stamina than before. This was good because when ying games Arthur also used Novis''s body. The stronger Novis''s body got then the more Arthur could use his true strength. As soon as Arthur entered a game, multiple notifications started to pop up on people devices from all over the globe. Ever since the appearance of the ID Pendragon had appeared twice, Arthur now had been a cult following. Several users had set up systems to tell them when the ID pendragon would reappear. There were even video channels with videos of his matches that had thousands of views. Although the ID pendragon wasn''t known to the whole world, It was slowly growing each time Pendragon would y a game. The next three games Arthur had dominated as usual. Arthur was keen to get the matches over and done with as he wanted to rank up to fight strong opponents. It was rare for him to run into a smurf like Hastam at gold. After winning the three games he finally ranked up to tinum five. There were currently hundreds of people watching Arthur y live. As he ranked up they were discussing how Arthur would do in tinum. "He''s clearly a pro yer, he will be a god-tier yer in no time." "I know but no one is admitting it to be their ount. don''t you think they would have done so by now?" "I think he''s just being overhyped at the moment. Hastam was just unlucky that day. I mean look at his decision making he''s probably diamond at best" Some users didn''t believe Arthur could make it all the way to the top tier of God. Their reason for this was no one had ever done it before with the trash Warrior Dragonyer. Arthur yed another three games in tinum and quickly ranked up to tinum 4. He had won these games just as easy as he had one thest. Novis watched Arthur y and was still amazed every time he saw him fight, he wondered how long it would take him until one day he would eventually be able to fight Arthur on even ground. Chapter 46: New member Chapter 46: New member With the weekend over it was time for Novis to head back to school. He had been flip-flopping over the decision whether or not he should join the VSW club. After hearing about Lucas, he decided that this might be his only chance to fight against Lucas. While Novis was hoping to approach Scarlett and ask about joining, she was the one who had actually approached him. "Novis, about the VSW club, we found a new member so if you join it now it means we only need one more person to be able to enter the tournament. Are you sure you still don''t want to join?" Scarlett asked. This was great for Novis. Novis was originally thinking of a way of approaching the VSW club and was afraid they might reject him if they had found enough members. But it looks like there were still struggling due to the fear of Mac. "Yeah I thought about it for a while, and I think I want to join the VSW club." Scarletts face lit up with joy, she went back to her seat and shouted "I''ll see you there after school." Novis was excited about going to the VSW club, he couldn''t help but wonder who the new member was. Novis wondered if he was strong and if he was, he would have loved to face him in a one on one battle. As sses finished it was time for the students to go to their clubrooms. Scarlett already left a little earlier while Novis had a few things he needed to clear up before leaving. On the way to the club room down the hall, Novis spotted Mac''s goons waiting just outside the hall on the way to the VSW club room. As soon as Novis saw them he hid around the corner to get a better look. "What are they doing here, are they waiting for me?" Novis thought that they might havee here to take revenge on him but it had already been two weeks. If they wanted to, why did they wait this long? Novis waited a little longer to see if they would eventually walk away. Then from the other side of the hallway, another student appeared. The five students that were affiliated with Mac smiled and turned as soon as they saw the person. The person was a tall pretty blond boy, it was Dan. "We told youst week, if we saw you here again, we would teach a lesson, and yet here you are?" One of the goons said. Novis was too far away to see who it was that they were talking too, the men''s bodies were mostly blocking his view as well. "And didn''t I tell you guys why does it matter to you what club I joined." Dan replied Novis overheard the man and thought it must have been the new club member. This was bad, what Alex and Scarlett said was true. Mac really was putting pressure on all the students who decided to join or were in the VSW club. They didn''t bother with Scarlett and Alex because the club needed five members to operate in the first ce. It was better to let them suffer in the club thinking that they might have a chance. Dan with the other five students started to walk off in a different direction then the club room. Novis was worried that the goons might do something to the new member. After he decided to join the club he needed five members otherwise they wouldn''t be able to join the tournament. Novis stayed a good distance away from them, so he wouldn''t get spotted. Eventually, Dan and the other students arrived at the school''s roof. As soon as the door closed Novis went to open the door slightly so he could take a little peek at what was going on. "You brought this on yourself!" One of the men said as he charged towards Dan with a punch. This was what Novis was afraid off, they really were here to force the student out of the club. Novis quickly pushed the door open and leapt out to where Dan was. By the time Novis got there though, the man was already on the floor. Dan was the one standing there perfectly fine. Dan saw Novis standing there still, he was shocked that he had finally met Novis in a ce like this. "Oh, hey there Novis," Dan said while smiling and waving. "Get him!" The other goons shouted. Quickly all four of the students rushed towards Dan. Another person threw a fist at Dan''s face but then Dan simply parried the fist away and countered with a Jab to the face. The student fell to the floor. The next one also took a swing at Dan, but then Dan ducked and rolled underneath the punch and gave a hook right to the man''s temple. He wasn''t getting up any time soon. Although Dan was doing well so far, four people at once were simply too much. Before Dan could react to the third person, he had been tackled and sent to the ground. "Looks like you know a bit of boxing, but it''s useless when you''re on the ground." The man had Dan''s arm pinned under the weight of his knees. Dan tried to struggle free but it was useless. The man then threw a punch towards Dan on the ground but before it could hit, a kick came out of nowhere right on the man''s face. Novis had managed toe over in time after defeating the other person and helped Dan before it was toote. Novis offered his hand and lifted Dan up. Dan''s eyes started to sparkle, he thought he was right that Novis was a special person. The two of them were fated to meet. As Dan stared at Novis intently a shiver ran down his spine. Remembering there first time they had met. "We finally meet again," Dan said. Novis was polite and smiled back. Just then Novis phone started to ring, as he picked it out of his pocket, he saw that it was Scarlett calling him. "Oh, hey Scar, what up?" "Where are you, we''ve been waiting here half an hour and there''s a problem, the new guy didn''t show up today. I''m afraid that something might have happened to him." "Calm down, we''ll be down there in a minute. The new guys with me." Chapter 47: A Fifth member Chapter 47: A Fifth member On the way to the club room. Dan had told Novis about why he had run after him the first time. How he was impressed with his running and originally wanted him to join the running team. After realising the misunderstanding between the two. Dan went bright red as he was embarrassed by the situation. "Why on earth would you think that?" Dan asked. "Well there were rumours you know, I heard that you had never epted a girl''s confession, so even some of the girls think you might be..." Dan quickly interrupted Novis before he could finish. "That''s only because I don''t care about those things right now. I don''t have the time to focus on girls and it wouldn''t be fair on them." "Why join the VSW club then?" "I''ve been hopping from club to club for a while now, but none of them interested me. After hearing that you had joined the VSW club I thought about it for a while and thought it would be interesting." Dan decided to leave out the part of joining because he was chasing after Novis. Novis already had strange thoughts about Dan, and Dan didn''t want toe across as an even bigger weirdo. "So where did you learn to fight like that?" Novis asked. Novis was really interested, after watching Dan fight even Arthur said that Dan was impressive. Arthur said that Dan had a body gifted to him by the gods. A person who was born with a body to do sport. "I used to be in the boxing club, but my parents didn''t like me being in a sport where I could get hurt." Novis started to learn a lot about Dan. He found out about all the clubs and feats he had achieved, and all the medals he earned. Hearing all this Novis started to feel a bit down. In all this time Dan had already achieved so much and both of them were the same age. While Novis had done nothing so far. There was not one medal or trophy in his room for anything. He was never top of his ss at anything he was always just above average. The two of them finally reached the club room and Scarlett and Alex were over the moon to see both of them in the room. Scarlett ran over and lifted Dan''s arm. "What happened to you?" Dan''s fist was scuffed and red from punching barehanded. Novis was a bit upset that Scarlett hadpletely ignored him and ran over to Dan. She was even holding his arm. "Of course, who wouldn''t fall for that pretty boy," Novis said in his head. Scarlett quickly went over to grab the first aid kit and started tending to Dan''s hand. "What happened to you guys?" Alex asked, "Is everything okay?" We exined how Mac''s goons were outside waiting for Dan and how we handled the situation on the roof. Alex mmed his fist at the table next to him. "Dam that Mac." Scarlett had finished tending to Dan''s hand and came over tofort Alex. Novis was thinking that Scarlett had been tending for everyone but him. Perhaps he should have banged his head on the wall on the way over here. Then maybe she could tend to his needs too. "How are we meant to find a fifth member if Mac beats up everyone who joins?" Alexined. The group thought together for a while on what they could do. They needed to find someone who wasn''t afraid of Mac and his gang. Someone like Dan who could handle himself in tough situations. The problem was it was rare to find someone like Dan. Anyone who was in a club already wouldn''t bother risking or joining a club like there''s. Unless they owed them a favour. Then a thought came to Novis''s mind. "I think I have an idea on who our fifth member can be, just leave it to me." With the incident on the roof, the four of them had no time to y any matches together. All the clubs had already finished and they decided to head home. Novis stopped by his grandpa''s dojo to focus on training. He was currently learning from Arthur how to make his strikes stronger. Novis realised while watching Arthur that he defeated his opponents in one strike. The game had a standard attack strength per warrior but somehow Arthur was able to surpass that. Not only that, he was doing that while using Novis''s body. Which meant in theory Novis should be able to do the same. Whenever Novis would fight someone it would take him a few shes even with the same longsword. When Novis asked Arthur about this, he said this was something he couldn''t exin. He had been shown it by his master a long time ago and one day he eventually understood. All Novis could do was watch Arthur and try to replicate him. After a few hours of training, Novis was beat, and decided to head home. Novis felt like he had made no progress in his training for a while now, he was currently at a standstill. His basic stamina and strength were increasing every day. He had even bought some weights to use at his grandfather''s dojo and although it helped, it wasn''t bringing him closer to Arthurs level. All he could do was continue to watch Arthur. "Hey, do you want to y again. I feel like I need to watch you more closely." Arthur was pleased and happy to show Novis as many times as he wanted. Novis hoped into the capsule and switched with Arthur. As soon as Arthur logged into the game many of his fans logged in to watch him y once more. "It''s him, he''s finally online again." "It looks like he''s ying a lot more now." "Is it just me or is he getting better." Some of the people online had noticed that Arthur swings and attacks were getting faster. They couldn''t believe someone so good was actually getting even better at the game. The reason for this was Novis. When Novis first yed the game, Arthur had to rely on the warrior''s stats given to him. This was a limit for Arthur. The warrior''s stats were set quite low. This was done on purpose in the hope that real athletes would be attracted to the game. Now Novis body had surpassed that of the warrior in the game Arthur was able to disy more and more of his abilities online. Arthur entered his first match and started his rampage. Chapter 48: God like skills Chapter 48: God like skills Arthur noticed while ying a few games in tinum, that the difference in skill would always jump up once they reached a new division. From gold to tinum yers started to utilise their skills a lot better and work as a team more. There wasn''t much difference in the subdivisions though. This might be due to the fact that the teams were bnced out between yers from tinum 5 and tinum 1. What this meant for Arthur though, was there now wasn''t many chances for him to fight one on one. As the enemy team would group up and support each other more often. He might get a small scuffle in mid but when the yer knew he was too weak, he would sacrifice the tower early on and join up with teammates. The audience watching the ID Pendragon wanted to see how he would deal with this new situation. If he was truly a pro yer, he would be able tomand the other yers to an easy win. Pro yers weren''t only good at fighting but they needed to be good at tactics also, when to move in and when to fall back. The first few matches Arthur''s team came out as the victor but it was the same a before, Arthur would beat his opponent and then go wandering around the map finishing the others off. But the audience wanted to see more. As Arthur started his next tinum game, he went down the middlene but his opponent wasn''t there. Suddenly one of his teammates started shouting at him. "Hey, Pendragon there all at the bottomne, we need your help as soon as possible." There was currently a battle between 4 yers on the red team and 5 on the blue team. In a battle where the yers were evenly matched a single yer made a huge difference. Currently, four from the red and blue team were locked in a melee battle. This left the blue''s teams archer to roam free. It didn''t take long for the archer to turn the tides in the battle. Everyone wondered what Pendragon would do. Arthur decided he would simply walk back to his team''s base and wait for the enemy there. "Why did he do that?" "Do you think he thinks he can take them all out on his own?" "No way! these yers are in tinum, not bronze or silver, who does he think he is Justin bell?" With the archer on the blue team free, they came out as the victors of the battle with just a few scratches here and there. They quickly continued charging forward hoping to kill thest yer or take the enemies g. When the blue team took out the second tower leading them to the castle, they were surprised to see thest yer standing there. The archer quickly drew their bow and used the skill spinning arrow. The arrow shot out and spun to make it move even faster. The arrows weren''t intended to hurt Arthur but for him to use his parry skill. Once Arthur would use his parry skill, the other team members would move in not giving him enough time to react. The arrow came spinning towards Arthur''s face, the other team was ready to move in any second now. "Come on, block it." One of the blue team members whispered. A higher ranked yer would most likely just take the shot in a less fatal ce. Either the shoulder or the leg, this way they could continue on fighting. But most people seeing the arrowe towards their face would use the block skill. As the arrow came forward Arthur lifted his sword and sliced it directly in half. Causing it to splinter into two pieces and miss him. He then bent down and dashed forward stabbing the man closest to him. The man was big and could be used as a shield to block the other attacks. Arthur dug the sword deeper into the man until he burst into blue particles. The next person closest got a single sh to the face, the next a spin and slice to the head, then the one after a stab through the chin for the fourth person. Arthur simply moved to fast and was always in the sight of the blue team''s teammates for the archer to attack. Finally, now that the archer was the only one left, they could attack. They shot their arrow and Arthur simply just threw his sword at the archer. Slicing the arrow and piercing the archers head. The onlinemunity went crazy! "Did you just see that he took out five yers in one go!" "Not just that they were all tinum yers." "How did he cut that arrow in half, there''s no skill that does that right?" "Does that mean he can do that in real life, impossible!" "Yeah if he can do that in real life, I''ll eat a book." "He must be a hacked character." "Yeah or an Ai yer or something." Arthur''s feat was so impressive that some believed it wasn''t possible for a human. A lot of yers suspected that Arthur may be a hacker, But Arthur''s fans that had been with him from day one had defended these usations saying he has always been this skilful. After a few more games Arthur managed to finally rank up to tinum 1, he was only a little away from diamond which would bring his rank to the same as Bill. Novis and Arthur went to sleep and continued to train in the dream world. What the two of them didn''t know was currently everyone was talking about the ID Pendragon. After the fight, a video was uploaded of Arthurs impressive feat. Slicing the arrow in half and the killing of 5 tinum yers versus one. There were two videos titled. "VSW yer slices arrow in half is it possible?" and "5 V 1 tinum match, god-like skills!" Both of these videos went viral overnight bringing in millions of views. The video had be so popr that many people thought the video was fake or the person in it had managed to hack the system. Eventually, Goldware corp had to put out a statement iming that everything done in the video was real. To stop people of using that their game was able to be hacked. And eventually, this video got the attention of the pro yers. Chapter 49: Jelly Chapter 49: Jelly Pro teams were going wild over the sensation Pendragon. Every team was looking to scout the ID Pendragon but there was a big problem. No one knew who pendragon was. They had even put out a bounty for anyone who had any information about Pendragon. Currently, in a pro team named Nano, a particr yer was getting bugged about this more than anyone else. That yer was Hastam. He was the only pro yer to have ever yed against Pendragon and also yed with him. Hastam''s phone wouldn''t stop ringing all day and even his own management team hade to him. "You have to y with that guy again and invite him over." "But I don''t even know the guy and he''s hardly online." "I don''t care, if we get him on the team then maybe we can finally win the championship." Hastam was just as interested in the yer just as much as everyone else. The next time he would see Pendragon online he would try to ask to meet him in person. Hastam had a strong interest in the one who was able to defeat his spirit, Xin Mao. **** The morning sun was starting to rise and it was time for Novis to go out on his routine run. He had been practising in the dream world harder than ever, after seeing how easily Arthur had dealt with the five people. The main thing that allowed Arthur to do that was his strength and with his skill. Even if Novis was able to replicate the same moves as Arthur that day, he wouldn''t have been able to defeat each one in one attack. Novis wanted to learn how to do this before facing against Lucas in the tournament. But before that, he had an even bigger problem to solve. He needed to find a fifth member, otherwise, they would be no tournament for him to enter in the first ce. At lunch break, Scarlett hade over to Novis. "Hey so we were thinking of practising together today in the club room, we''ll have one random person from online but I still think it''s good to practice. Do you want toe?" Scarlett asked. "Actually, today I was going to try to find our fifth member, so I won''t be able to make it today." "Oh good, do you want me toe along?" "I''m not even sure if she''ll say yes, to be honest, I don''t even know her that well." Scarlett started to feel her blood slightly boil. Did she just hear Novis say "She"? In all this time Scarlett had been with Novis she had never seen Novis with another girl. Even talk to another girl. Scarlett didn''t know why but she was suddenly in a bad mood. "Fine go by yourself!" She said as she strutted off walking. "What''s wrong with her?" Novis asked. Arthur couldn''t help but think how nice it was to be young again. "Hey what''s that smile about!" As soon as sses ended. Novis decided to leave as soon as possible at the head to the year below. The school was split into three separate floors for each year group. You had the 1st-year group which were 14 years of age, the second-year group which were 15, andstly the third-year group that was 16. Mac was in the third-year group so he was a floor above while Novis was in the second year group. Novis was currently heading to the floor below him. There were only 5 sses in each year group and each ss was next to each other. Novis looked through each window to see if he could spot the person he was looking for. Finally, when he had reached the third ssroom, he had spotted her. The girl had two pigtails tied up and was carrying a meter and a half box on her back. It had been a while since he saw her but her appearance was still the same. When Novis met Dan, he was reminded of her. They needed someone who wasn''t going to be afraid of Mac and his gang, and his first memory of meeting the girl Ashley was a memorable one. She had just seen Novis surrounded by five men on the floor and without hesitation, she dived right in to attack him. This girl was clearly fearless. Novis also had another reason for picking her. Dan had been in many sports club including the boxing club, his fighting skills in real life should be able to help him in the game just as it did himself. If they were to get someone new at the game that hardly yed it. It would be best to find someone who already had fighting experience in real life. Novis waited by the door until the girl was ready to leave. As she just walked out the door Novis greeted her. "Hi there." The girl turned around and recognised Novis straight away. "it''s you" Ashley bowed down "I''m so sorry aboutst time." "Don''t worry about it" Novis smiled back, "Actually I came here to ask you a favour, are you free?" "I have to head to my father''s dojo as soon as possible." "Well, I could walk back with you if you don''t mind?" Ashley thought about it for a while. She wasn''t afraid if Novis was a creep, usually, she would be able to beat them up with her sword. Ashley wasn''t a normal girl; she had been trained in kendo by her father since the age of five. This was why she was surprised when Novis was able to block her attack at that time. Then a new thought entered her mind. Her father had been hammering on to her about getting new members to join the dojo. To the point where he even gave her leaflets to hand out at school. Ashley knew that these days there weren''t many who bothered learning a martial art and just stuck to Games. But Novis was clearly skilled so if she took him to the dojo maybe her father would be proud that not only had she found him a student but a hopeful one. "Sure, Let''s go together." Chapter 50: Kendo Chapter 50: Kendo As Ashley and Novis both walked to her father''s dojo, the two of them started to talk to each other. Novis was interested in Ashley''s background because it was rare for a family to own a dojo in a country like Ennd, and even more rare now with the introduction of VR games. Ashley''s mother was originally from Ennd at went over to Japan to be an English teacher, that was where her two parents met. Her father was originally a kendo instructor in Japan. When they got married, they decided to move back to Ennd and open up a dojo here. At first, many students came and the business was sessful but simr to Novis''s grandfather''s dojo, when the introduction of fully immersive VR headsets came out, slowly the students started to fade away. Esports use to never be popr for western countries like Ennd. The simple reason for this was they were bad at it. They were dominated by Asian countries such as China, Korea and Japan. But due to there more naturally bigger body frame they seeded at athletic sports such as boxing. This all changed when the introduction of Full VR came out. Although their reaction speed wasn''t as fast as their Asianpetitors, their natural body bridged the gap allowing Ennd and other western countries to be a truepetitor in Esports. After learning a lot about Ashley, Novis finally gathered the courage to ask her the question. "The reason why I came with you today, is because I wanted to ask if you could join the VSW club." Suddenly, Ashley''s eyes lit up. "That''s that game with all the sword fighting right?" Novis could see suddenly she was very interested, but she talked like she had never yed before. "Yeah, I think there''s even a warrior that uses a weapon simr to your bamboo one, so you interested?" Ashley''s face started to drop. "I''m sorry, I wish I could but my father is really strict about these things. He thinks ying games is a waste of time and I should just focus practising in the dojo." Novis understood where her father wasing from. A lot of the older generation still believed that ying a game was useless. It wasn''t until the introduction of the Esports Olympics that people started to change their views. But still, peopleined. What was the point of watching someone y when you could do it yourself? They would say. Yet they didn''t understand it was the same thing as the so-called sports they enjoyed watching. What was the point of watching someone y football or basketball if you could y it yourself? The simple fact is humans enjoyed watching people preform incredible things that they themselves could never do. It was good to watch the best. But Novis could see that Ashley was really interested in ying games, perhaps Ashley was just too afraid to talk to her father. "Well it doesn''t have to be all the time, why don''t I go talk to your father and try to convince him." Ashley sighed. "You can try but it''s pretty useless, he only listens to people who are stronger than him." Novis thought about it for a while, He would have loved to go up against a veteran such as Ashley''s father. His current sword skills were good enough against the yers in the game but this was different. Ashley''s father was practically a professional at just fighting. Worst-case scenario if Novis was in a pinch he could rely on Arthur. Novis looked over to Arthur. "Don''t worry I''m pretty strong myself." Ashley smiled, thinking Novis was just putting on a show for her. Novis was a nice boy but she knew how stubborn her father was. She would have yed the game long ago if it was not for him. "I hope you''re not thinking of relying on me," Arthur said. "What you mean I can''t, you helped me before." "I helped you before because there was a chance that other''s including you could be hurt. If you and her father are nning to duel I will not interfere. You want to get stronger right?" Novis nodded. "Then this will be a good experience for you. If her father is as strong as she says he is, then it will be a chance for you to evolve. The more desperate the situation the quicker you will get better." Novis didn''t want to use Arthur but in his mind, there was always that back up of having him. He desperately needed Ashley to join, he couldn''t think of anyone else who could. Now that his back up was gone Novis confidence fell a little. After walking down the road for a good fifteen minutes they eventually arrived at Ashley''s house. It was a big Japanese style house that stood out in the whole neighbourhood. There was a big sign out front that said: "Kendo lessons avable now, Huge discounte in for details." The house was split into two halves all on one floor. The front of the house was where the dojo was ced while the back was the living area. The house was designed this way so people walking by would be attracted by students practising ande inside. Novis and Ashley walked up to the dojo and slid the double doors open. After taking off their shoes they were in a wooden stylerge hall. Currently, four students were practising against each other wearing their standard Kendo gear. 3 of them were on the bigger side while the other one was average weight and height. There was one thing that martial arts halls and dojo were still good for and that was losing weight. Although the VR headset took your physical attributes into ount, in the game, you where still controlling the game with your mind. No amount of ying the game would physically improve your body. Thetest capsule though, like Novis''s, massaged your body while ying to stop your muscles from deteriorating but that was the best it could do. "Where is my father?" Ashley asked as she walked in. The students all turned and bowed down to her. That''s when a loud voice could be hearding from behind the dojo. "Is that my daughter I can hear!" Suddenly, two doors slid form the other side of the room, and a six-foot five grizzly bear looking man walked through the door. Novis gulped in fear of thinking he would have to face a man like this. "Who said the Japanese had small bodies." Novis thought to himself. Chapter 51: Daiki the tree Chapter 51: Daiki the tree Ashley''s Dad was named Daiki, it meant arge tree in Japanese and just looking at the man it suited him well, he was a veryrge muscr man. He didn''t look like your average Japanese businessman; he didn''t even look like a swordsman. The man had muscles on top of muscles, it seemed like he was going to enter the world''s strongest manpetition not teach people Kendo. Just the sight of the man, made Novis feel incredibly small. "Oh, what''s this, did you finally bring me a new student," Daiki asked as he came over towards Ashley. The students bowed to Daiki as he walked past. "Actually, I''m here to ask about" Before Novis could finish his sentence, Daiki started to touch Novis''s body all over. "Oh, these are some good foundation muscles, how''s your stamina? have you used a sword before?" Daiki was nonstop with the question that Novis eyes were starting to spin. There had been some people who were interested in the dojo before but got put off by Daiki''s passion. There wasn''t much Ashley could do when her father got like this. Even if she was to say anything it would go in one ear and out of the other. Novis didn''t know when but in the middle of all the questions, he was suddenly in an official Kendo suit. The kendo gear was heavy, it had a padded chest piece and a grated helmet so you could still see through it. "Now let''s see if you''re any good, Bene over here," Daiki said. One of the overweight students started to move forward and stood on the opposite end of Novis. "Ben here is one of our newest student''s but he has power behind his strikes, the first one to hit the opponent three times anywhere on the body or head is the winner." "What is going on, this wasn''t meant to happen, I was just going to talk to her father," Novis said to Arthur. "Why don''t we just use this as a training opportunity, for now, you can''t always just fight against me." Novis agreed there was no rush and this was better than having to fight the old man himself. Maybe the old man would listen to Novis if he was just strong. Novis couldn''t imagine much people being stronger than Ashley''s dad. Ashley sighed; she knew that something like this would happen but was afraid if she told Novis he would run away. She to hoped that maybe somehow Novis would be able to convince her father. It was a long shot but for some reason, she had hope when she looked at Novis. "I''ll be the ref," Ashley said. Ashley went over and grabbed a white g. The students and Daiki were currently sitting on the floor by the sidelines watching the match. Ashley then stood between Novis and Ben. There were a good five meters away from each other. Novis grabbed the bamboo sword tightly. It was a simr length to the long sword he used. Novis looked to the floor and judged the distance to the ground. "5 meters, one leap and with arm length, he should be able to reach me, but then there will be no power, he has to dash in." Arthur was pleased that Novis was going through everything he had taught him. "The toes, their tense, he''s nervous. As soon as the g goes down, he''ll jump in for the attack. Weight too strong to be knocked over by one blow, need to deal with him as quickly as possible." Novis continued to mumble to himself. Daiki could here Novis mumbling to himself but not any of the words he was speaking. He could see that Novis had a good body but Daiki wanted someone headstrong and fearless. Mumbling was usually the sign of nerves, a way for people to calm down. Suddenly, Daiki''s hope for Novis had diminished. Ashley swung the g down and the fight began. Just as Novis had predicted Ben went in straight for an attack to the head. "Come on move Novis, move," Ashley said to himself. Novis hadn''t reacted to the attack which made Ashley nervous. The sword came down closer to Novis''s head and at thest second Novis moved to the side and ducked down. "Move at thest second to bring the opponent as close as possible to you." Then Novis swung his de at the belly. *Wack The impact was so fast and powerful the sound echoed throughout the room. Ben was winded and coughed out some spit, even though he was wearing armour. Then Novis from the other side whacked the stomach again. The pain was too much for Ben. The second hit made him drop to his knees and as Ben was falling down Novis went for an overhead strike to Ben''s head. As the sword came down when it was just about to hit. A giant hand reached out and grabbed the bamboo de. Novis couldn''t move, his sword hadpletely stopped. Ben then fell to his knees as he tried to breathe in Air. Novis looked to the man holding the de and realised it was Daiki. "You already won, there is no need to hurt the man any further." Novis had recently been training his strength. He had been obsessed with performing the same sort of attacks that Arthur produced. Although he was never sessful, Novis''s strikes got a lot stronger. It was hard for Novis to tell because he never had anyone to hit against but this was currently the result of his training. Daiki blood was pumping harder than before, he was wrong about the boy. "It looks like you brought me a strong one Ashley, I didn''t realise you already knew how to use a sword." Novis thought if the man gave him a chance to answer he probably would have found out. "let''s see how good you are, I want you to face my best student." Novis was then expecting the man who was skinnypared to the other three toe forward. Instead, Ashley went away and started to put on the gear. "Don''t hold back boy just cause she''s a girl. This girl is a tiger." Novis looked over to where Ashley was standing. It felt like he could feel mesing over her body. She was intense. Ashley was no longer the kind cute little girl who wanted to y games. If Novis didn''t take this fight seriously, he would lose. Chapter 52: Power of a strike Chapter 52: Power of a strike Arthur could feel the pressure emitting from Ashley''s body. Although Arthur said he wouldn''t help Novis. Novis was still considered his student and Arthur had his own pride on the line as a teacher. "Novis this will be your toughest battle yet, so far you have only fought hooligans who have no experience fighting but this girl right in front of you has been training with the sword every day for thest 10 years." Novis didn''t need Arthur to say anything, just from looking at Ashley he could tell she was different from the others. One of the students was currently looking after Ben. His helmet was now off and his face regained colour slightly. Another student took Ashley''s ce and was currently holding the white g between the two contestants. "Show him the strength of our family''s kendo style!" Daiki shouted. Ashley thought what would happen if she purposely lost, it might give Novis a greater chance for him to convince her father. But their two reasons why she couldn''t. Her father was skilled and had the eyes of an eagle. If she performed anything during the match that was slightly off, he would be able to tell. The second reason though, was she could tell from thest fight that Novis was strong. The warrior inside her didn''t want to lose. "ReadyandGO!" The student dropped down the g and Ashley came dashing in. With a jump in her step, she attacked quickly. The attack was fast so Novis knew he wouldn''t be able to dodge. He blocked the strike then swung back at Ashley but as he did Ashley jumped backwards. As soon as Ashleys''s feet touched the ground she jumped back in again for an attack. If Novis hadn''t practised so much with Arthur, he would have been a goner by now. Ashley continued to jump in for an attack and jump backwards. Novis would swing in between but would always miss. Novis currently whished he was in VSW right now. He wasn''t as skilled as Arthur with the sword but what Novis did have was the use of other weapons. If it was in the game Novis could attack Ashley from a distance using the chain sword and thene at her with his dual sword''s. But that wasn''t an option right now, so he needed to think of something else. So far in the match, neither of the two had scored a point on each other. Daiki was impressed. He didn''t think Novis would be this skilful at blocking. Daiki predicted that Novis must have had at least the same amount of training as his daughter. This was simply not true. The reason for Novis amazing growth was the dream world and the game. In both of these scenarios, Novis was able to fight with a simtion of his life on the line. Humans, when pushed to the edge with their life at risk, learnt the quickest. It had activated something in Novis''s brain. The problem with the kendo dojo, they were always safe behind the gear. Even if they were hit, they knew major damage wouldn''te to them. There was no risk apart from the fear of losing. Ashley''s arms were starting to get tired. Her frame was smaller than Novis''s and she didn''t have as much strength. After seeing what happened to Ben, she knew she couldn''t take a strike head-on. That left her with the only option of dashing in and out. This had worked in the past but not on Novis. "Dam it! She''s so fast, I can''t hit her." Novis said in his mind. "Calm down Novis, think about your strengths and her weaknesses," Arthur said. Novis now stopped attacking back and focused only on blocking. As he did this he would breathe in slowly, calming him down. Novis started to look at Ashley''s body, to see if there was anything wrong. They had been fighting for a while now and neither of them was getting tired. Then he spotted something. "Her hands, they''re shaking, Is she nervous? No that can''t be she''s probably thought hundreds of battles so what could it be?" Then it hit him. Her hands were hurt. The repeated strikes against Novis bamboo de was starting to hurt her hands. Her muscles had tensed up and were currently filled withctic acid. The only reason she was still currently holding the de right now was because of her determination to win. Ashley dashed in forward again but this time instead of blocking, Novis went to attack the bamboo sword. *Whack The impact was hard and it swung Ashley hand out to the side. Her face twitched in pain but she knew she had to hold on. She jumped back again avoiding Novis''s strike. She was in pain but if she didn''t go back in it would give Novis the momentum. She dashed in again for another Strike and again Novis whacked the bamboo de again. This time her hands could no longer take it and were forced to let go off the bamboo sword. With no sword in Ashley''s hand, Novis was dered the winner. Daiki didn''t say anything, he went over to his daughter and looked at her hands. They currently raw red with rip marks from holding onto the de. "You did, well," Daiki said as he took of Ashley''s helmet. She was currently covered in sweat and her eyes were slightly teary. This was the first time she had lost to an opponent that wasn''t her dad. Daiki then stood up and started walking over towards the direction that Novis was in. "I''m impressed boy, clearly you have fought before. No one would be able to stay that calm and be able to perform at a level you had today if they hadn''t." Novis was nervous, he had beaten Ashley because he relied on the strength of his attacks. in terms of skill with the sword, Ashley might have even been better, but in the end, her female body and the fact that she was a year younger and still growing, just couldn''t handle the constant attacks and Novis''s strength. But if he was to face Daiki, there was no way he could use his strength to win. Daiki picked up his daughter''s sword off the ground and went into a fighting position. Chapter 53: Another world of strong fighters Chapter 53: Another world of strong fighters Novis body was starting to shiver as Daiki stood in front of him. Not because he was scared but just because of the pressureing off the man''s body. The fire inside of Ashley could bepared to a lighter, while Daiki looked as if he had a whole mountain behind him lit in mes. Daiki was doing this on purpose. Ordinary people wouldn''t be able to feel anything from Daiki. They would just see a man standing there with his bamboo sword. The fact that Novis was visibly sweating from the sight of him, just got Daiki even more excited. Daiki was currently not wearing any kendo gear on. He just had a martial arts outfit on him. He didn''t need it, especially against a kid like Novis. Daiki started to put sword energy into his sword, and just then when he was about to attack, Novis jumped to the side. Everyone watching was confused. They thought perhaps Novis had tried to prejudge Daiki''s attack and moved too early. Daiki hadn''t even moved a finger yet. But Novis''s action just now gave Daiki the biggest smile he ever had. What the others didn''t know, was Daiki had put sword energy into his sword and was ready to attack. What Novis saw was an image of the sword energy hitting him and him being sliced in half. This was the same thing that Arthur had done to Lucas the first time they fought. In the dream world, Arthur attacked using sword energy many times against Novis. Novis didn''t know this but this sword energy was also the reason why Arthur was able to beat his opponents in one strike. What Novis had been trying to learn this whole time was this thing called sword energy. Although sword energy strengthened your attacks and de, it had a downside. The energy itself would strike where the user wanted it to before the de actually struck. If you were facing an opponent who senses where very preceptive, then they would be able to feel this energy before the de moved. Daiki needed to make sure, that it wasn''t just a fluke. This time he gathered his sword energy and went for a horizontal sh, towards Novis''s head. Novis then ducked down as he saw the image of the swording for his head. The students at the side started tough. "Ha look at him he''s so scared of the teacher." "Teacher hasn''t even moved, but he''s moving around like a chicken." "Shut up!" Ashley said. "You guys don''t understand anything do you? Look at fathers face." The students turned to look and were surprised at what they could see. Right now, Daiki looked the happiest they had ever seen him in his life. The only time they had seen Daiki happy was when a new student had joined, but this smile far surpassed that. Novis was sweating badly. He had just seen himself sliced by the bamboo sword twice now. His heart was beating loud and fast and felt like it woulde out of his throat any second. "What is happening, I''m sure he attacked just now." The difference between Daiki and Arthur was when Arthur used sword energy he would usually still attack with the sword. Novis saw these images but thought it was just him picturing the scenario before it was happening. A skill someone learnt when learning the sword. Now Novis realised that Daiki and Arthur must have been doing the same thing. Daiki was no longer in a fighting pose which made Novis finally rx a little. "Boy who''s your teacher?" Daiki asked. Daiki thought for Novis to be able to feel sword energy, he must have seen it before. His teacher would have to be a grandmaster and would love to meet the man. Daiki himself had only learnt sword energy for his master who developed the skill to fight in the world war. There were not many people who were alive today who would now about sword energy. "I don''t have a teacher. I learnt everything from ying a game." "A game?" Daiki thought that this was impossible. This was the n Novis hade up with. If he could demonstrate how helpful the game was to his sword skills. Then maybe he would allow Ashley to y the game. "That''s impossible!" Daiki shouted. "Don''t lie to me boy, how did you see my attacks just now." Novis could see Daiki wasn''t going to just take the simple exnation that it was from a game, he had toe up with something fast. "In the game, there are many strong warriors that I face every day. A lot of them are just as skilled as Ashley and even better than me. One day I met someone online who was powerful and preformed something simr to what you had just done. He agreed to be my teacher and ys with me frequently." Daiki stood there silent. He didn''t know much about games but even he had seen the Esports Olympics. He remembered seeing a match with Justin Bell and thought the man was very impressive. But Daiki thought that was just due to the games preprogramed skills. He didn''t know that pro yers actually used their own fighting styles and methods. "This teacher of yours, can I meet him?" "I have only met him in the game and not seen him in real life?" Daiki was silent again while thinking. "Novis, give that man my game ID, I would very much like to face him if possible," Arthur asked. Arthur having watched Daiki knew Novis was no match for him. This was an opponent who was on Xin Mao and Arthurs level. If he could, Arthur wanted to fight him. "If you want, I think my master would be happy to meet you in the game?" Daiki had never yed a VR game before so he didn''t even have a headset but he was very interested in meeting Novis''s teacher. "When I get the chance, contact my daughter, she will help me meet with your teacher." Now Novis thought this was his chance. "Actually, that is the reason why I havee here today, I''m currently in a team at my school club. Your daughter is very talented and we hoping she could join the team?" Everything Novis had done up to this point was for this moment. Chapter 54: Legendary Bamboo Chapter 54: Legendary Bamboo Novis was nervous, the look Daiki was currently giving him was the same as if he had just asked for his daughter''s hand in marriage. No one watching from the outside would think all Novis did, was ask if Ashley could y a video game with him. Daiki then looked at his daughter, Ashley had a look on her face like she was hoping for her Dad to give the right answer. Daiki let out a big old sigh. "It seems I have been stubborn on you for no reason," Daiki said. "If the boy can grow this strong ying games, then I see no reason why my daughter can''t." The biggest smile started to appear on Ashley''s face. this made Daiki''s heart melt. He felt like he had wronged his daughter. Originally Daiki never nned to teach his daughter Kendo but when she grew up, she naturally started to grow an interest in her father''s job. Daiki seeing this and her talent for the sword started to get carried away. He thought he was doing what she wanted but now he could see that he wasn''t. Ashley then ran other to Novis and gave him a big hug, squeezing him as tight as she could. "You''re the best, thank you so much!" Ashley said while her hands were wrapped around Novis''s midsection. Novis face started to shine bright red and was getting slightly hotter. "It''s okay don''t worry about it." Then Novis managed to catch a glimpse of Daiki looking at him. His eyes were burning with a desire to murder Novis all of a sudden. Novis gently moved away from Ashley. As Ashley turned around, she ran up to her father and gave him a big hug and kiss too. "Thank you, dad." She said as she kissed him on the cheek. The kiss seemed to calm down Daiki''s rage. Daiki then remembered that he wanted to ask Novis something. "Before you go, there''s one thing I want you to do," Daiki said. "Can youe with me?" With Daiki already agreeing to let Ashley y, Novis was wondering what would he still need him for? but Novis was too afraid to get on Daiki''s bad side and agreed to follow. The students were told to resume training while Ashley and Novis followed Daiki into the main house. After walking through many rooms Daiki eventually stopped outside a room with a in ck door. "This room is my father''s praying room. I''ve never been allowed in here before." Ashley whispered. Daiki took out a key and unlocked the door. He stepped in first then gave a hand signal for the other two to follow him in afterwards. The room wasn''t very big but it didn''t need to be. There was a single table with a bunch photos on top of it. Just in front of the photos were incense sticks and food offerings. Behind the photos was a bamboo sword framed up on the wall. Daiki Knelt down and started to pray at the photos. Ashley and Novis followed Daiki''s actions, making sure not to disrespect anyone. "These people here are photos of the people I most cared about," Daiki said. "And that includes myte teacher." Daiki then stood up and walked over to the bamboo sword hanging on the wall. "This sword was my teachers and he was given this by his teachers. It has been passed down for many generations now and I too nned to give it to my daughter." Daiki stared at the sword for a while before continuing. "The bamboo sword was made from the legendary 1000-year-old bamboo shoot. It is said that on top of mount Fuji were nothing is meant to grow, there is a single patch of Bamboo. No mes, no wind, no ice can damage it. One day the mountain was covered in lightning strikes and a particr strike managed to hit a piece of bamboo, causing it to fall. This I what you see here today." Daiki said as he took the sword of the wall. Daiki then went over and handed the sword to Novice. Novis was flustered "What you''re giving it to me? But this isn''t right it, Ashley should be the one to receive it not me." Novis could see that Ashley was stunned by what she had just heard from her father. She knew about the sword but had never even seen it before today and suddenly he was handing it to Novis, who he had just met for the first time, it didn''t make any sense. "Calm down." Daiki said, "I''m not giving it to you, I just want you to take a look." Suddenly, Novis heart started to beat slower. He wanted to get along with Ashley and he felt like if he was to receive something so precious, then she would resent him for it. Novis happily took the sword from Daiki''s hand. Novis didn''t know much about Bamboo swords. Just a few minutes ago was the first time he had ever held one but this one did feel special. It was as if certain energy was emitting from it. "Do you feel anything boy?" Daiki asked. "It feels strong," Novis said as he continued to inspect the sword. Daiki was suddenly a little disappointed. It was as if he was expecting something to happen. Then Novis felt a marking near the hilt of the bamboo sword. As he turned it around, he could see the carving of a dragon. Not only that though, but it was also exactly the same carving that was on the sword that Arthur came from. "Sir, do you know what this marking is?" Novis asked Daiki. Daiki looked at where Novis was pointing but he couldn''t see anything. "What are you talking about boy?" "Right here, there''s an image of a dragon that''s been carved inside." Ashley then stood, up "Let me take a look. My dad''s eyes are probably getting old. When Ashley went to look at the carving, she couldn''t see anything either. "Uhh, where is it?" Ashley asked thinking that Novis might have gone crazy. "Right here, can''t any of you see it?" Novis then had an odd feeling of deja vu happen to him. As if he had experienced this exact same scenario before. It hit him. When he first met Arthur, Scarlett wasn''t able to see the carving either. Just what did this mean? ***** Hi, guys here there is a discord link where artwork and any questions you have can be answered. Also, we can build amunity, y games together ect.. https://discord.gg/huTJG43 Chapter 55: Deja vu Chapter 55: Deja vu Novis was currently having serious shbacks to the first time he had met Arthur. The dragon carving that no one could see. An old ancient mystic weapon. Everything was the same. Any second now Novis thought he would start to hear a strange voice again. "You can see the crest?" A strange voice said. Novis suddenly dropped the bamboo sword letting it fall to the ground. "What''s wrong with you?" Ashley asked. Novis face couldn''t hide how surprised he was. He thought there was no way this could be happening again. What were the chances of him finding two ancient spirits residing in weapons? Worst yet, why could no one else hear them but him. "You can hear me, can''t you?" "No, no this can''t be happening again!" Novis said out loud with his hands covering his ears. Novis was starting to think maybe he was just a crazy person. That these spirits were just figments of his imagination. Or someone with split personalities. Why else could no one hear them but him. "What are you talking about Novis?" Ashley asked starting to feel worried for him. Daiki then picked up the sword from the ground and smiled. "You can hear him, can''t you?" Novis slowly lifted his hands off his ears and started to look at Daiki. Did Daiki just say what Novis thought he said? "Judging by your reaction, you can. I was right, you are a special boy indeed." "Old man, you can hear him too," Novis said excitedly, realising now that he couldn''t be crazy. "I wish I could, but no matter how many times I would speak to the sword, I never once heard it." Daiki would routinelye into the praying room every day hoping that one day he would hear the sword but not once did it ever respond. "My words were never heard then?" the bamboo sprit said. The bamboo spirit had replied to Daiki many times but Daiki was never able to hear his answers. The spirit felt sad for Daiki. "How did you know about the spirit inside the sword then?" Novis asked. "My teacher could hear the words of the spirit, he said it taught him everything he knew about Kendo. I trusted my teacher''s words and he told me to find someone who could hear the spirit inside. And until now you are the first person, I have met who could hear the words of the spirit." Ashley was shocked to hear the wordsing out of her father''s mouth. She had never heard him speak of any of this before. Daiki knew that if he told anyone he would sound like a madman, so he kept this secret deep down. Even he had doubts sometimes weather a spirit truly exited inside the sword. But Daiki could feel that the sword had strong energy residing inside it, but beyond that, there was nothing else. When Ashley gained interest in kendo at the young age of five. Daiki was exited and let Ashley hold the spirit sword but just like him, there was no reaction. Ashley was too young to remember this experience and at the time she thought she was just holding a regr bamboo training sword, like every other one. Suddenly, the sword started to shake in Daiki''s hand. Daiki ced the sword down on the ground. "Finally, my time hase, I have found a chosen one. I''m sorry about this but I must take space in a part of your mind for a while." White mist started to appear from the sword and out came a dashing brown-haired middle-aged man. The man wore an old-style Kendo outfit made of bronze rather than leather but what surprised Novis most of all was the man looked like a westerner. Novis had expected an Asian person to appear from the sword but instead, the man looked more like a knight from ancient times. Novis slightly stepped back as he looked at the spirit floating in front of him. Ashley and Daiki could see by Novis''s reaction something was happening but when the two of them looked towards the sword they could see nothing. Daiki knew something was happening as the atmosphere of the whole room suddenly felt heavier than before. "Boy, is everything okay?" Novis couldn''t hear Daiki shout though, he was too focused on the spirit in front of him. "I''m sorry about this." The spirit said as it dashed forward towards Novis''s body. The spirit got closer to Novis''s body and just as it was about to enter, Novis closed his eyes. The next thing he heard was the sound of two metal objects colliding with each other. *ng. "I''m afraid this boy''s mind is already upied," Arthur said. Arthur sword suddenly shed against the bamboo sprit''s weapon. The bamboo spirit held a thick metal rod with a point on the end. It was a simr shape to the Sword''s they used in Kendo. It wasn''t sharp but had good durability and weight behind it. The sh of the two spirits weapons started to send shockwaves in the room. Even Ashley and Daiki could feel these. "What on earth is happening!" Ashley shouted. "It''s my spirit, it''s fighting against the bamboo''s one," Novis shouted. Daiki couldn''t believe it; the boy had his own spirit. Now, he understood why the boy was so strong for his age. The teacher he talked about must have been his own spirit. The two spirits'' weapons were still held up against each other. The bamboo spirit had its eyes currently focused on Novis. This was his chance to finally be free and then this man in front of him had stopped him. How was this possible though? The spirit was unable to interact with physical objects. He could escape from the bamboo sword but would only be able to move ten meters away from it. So, what was stopping him right now? When the spirit went to invade Novis mind. His instinct was telling him something wasing. If it wasn''t for that he would have never been able to block in time. The bamboo sprit then looked up at the person who had stopped him. "Arthur?" The spirit said. Chapter 56: Dragon Knights Chapter 56: Dragon Knights The bamboo spirit started to tear up at the sight of the person in front of him. Emotions started to pile up inside his throat but he held them back. The spirit then quickly knelt down on one knee and had his head down looking at the floor. "I, George, sub-leader of the Dragon Knights, give my respect to the leader." Novis didn''t understand what was happening and stood still stunned watching the two spirits interact. While Ashley and Daiki could feel the pressure from the room disappear but was afraid to interrupt what was going on. Arthur himself was also confused "You may stand." George stood up and continued to stare at Arthur. He couldn''t believe that he was really there stood in front of him "I''m sorry, if I knew it was you, I would have ever attacked in the first ce," George said. Arthur held up his hand to signal George to stop talking then replied. "It seems you recognise me, but I''m afraid I don''t recognise you." George was clearly saddened by Arthurs words but understood it had been a long time. "I will be happy to exin but I am not able to remain outside of the bamboo sword for much longer. My body needs to reside inside of a human." George said as he looked over at Novis. "Hey, why does it have to be inside of me!" Novis shouted pointing at himself. "I already have one spirit inside of me, why can''t you go inside of her!" Novis pointed towards Ashely. Ashley was flustered. "Hey I don''t know what you''re talking about, but you can''t just use my body without permission." Ashley and Daiki were unable to hear what the spirits were talking about, so all they could hear was what Novis had said. Daiki quickly came over towards Ashley "Ashley do you not understand, this is great. The spirit is a master swordsman if this is possible, he can teach you. You can master what I could not!" It seemed as if Daiki was going to start jumping up and down form Joy any second now. George shook his head. "It is simply not possible, I tried speaking out to the girl when she was younger, she did not hear me. It simply means she is not a chosen one. We spirits can only reside in the body of ones that can hear us or that can see the marking on the de." Novis repeated the information that George had given to the other two. Daiki couldn''t help but feel slightly depressed. Novis had given him hope time and time again but all Novis had given him so far was bad news. Arthur then turned to look at Novis. "It seems we don''t have a choice, I''m sorry but Novis would you allow this man to enter your mind?" Although Arthur didn''t recognise the man, he had an odd feeling that he felt familiar somehow, the truth was Arthur knew there was a big gap in his memory. When he first met Novis, Arthur had told him a lie. Something believable at the time but this was only because Arthur didn''t know anything himself. "It''s not like I could stop you anyway," Novisined. Arthur then quickly disappeared and went back inside Novis''s subconsciousness. Then George started to turn into a white mist. The mist started to enter through Novis''s holes. Yes every single one of them! Novis head started to ring and then slowly he started to fall on the ground and his vision slowly went to ck. When Novis opened his eyes again he could see Ashley by his side caring for him. "What happened?" Novis asked. "You passed out, don''t worry it hasn''t been long, only around five minutes. We didn''t want to move you." Ashley replied. After a few minutes of rest, Novis exined to Daiki about everything that took ce. How the bamboo spirit now resided inside him. Ashley heard all of this and was finding it hard to believe. If it wasn''t for her father taking the whole thing so seriously, she would have thought Novis was a crazy person. Daiki was upset but knew there was nothing he could do. Instead, he was now happier than ever to allow Ashley to y the game with him. In fact, he even encouraged Ashley to spend as much time with Novis as possible in the hope that the spirit would be able to teach her through Novis. Just as Novis was about to leave Daiki stopped him at the door to hand him something. "Here take it," Daiki said as he handed him the bamboo sword. "I really can''t," Novis said. Daiki shook his head. "You must, this sword belongs to you now," Daiki said as he smiled. Novis knew no matter what he said Daiki had already made up his mind. Ashley and Daiki waved goodbye as Novis headed back to his grandfather''s dojo. "You brought home a good man," Daiki said. "You must marry him in the future." Ashley started to blush. "What are you talking about, you''re crazy. Both of you are. Talking about a stupid ghost." Ashley replied as she stormed off back into the house. After heading back to his grandfather''s dojo Novis ced his bamboo sword next to the sword that Arthur hade from. Since Novis had passed out he hadn''t heard Arthur or George say a word. Novis thought the two of them must be talking to each other about something and managed to block him out. Novis decided to do his own investigation in the meantime. Novis picked up and inspected both weapons and as he thought the two of them had the exact same engraving of a dragon but just looking at these two things didn''t tell him anything. The information Novis knew so far was, Arthur came out form a sword which had an engraving of a dragon. George hade out of a bamboo sword that had an engraving of a dragon. The two of them knew each other. And for some reason, he was the only one that could hear and see them. Novis struggled to fall asleep that night as he had many questions on his mind. When he eventually did, he was in a familiar ce. Arthurs dream world, only this time George and Arthur were standing together. The two of them saw Novis enter and George stepped forward, "Novis right?" George said. "Arthur has asked me to tell you everything I know." Chapter 57: Goldware Corp Chapter 57: Goldware Corp Novis was currently in the dream world talking with Arthur and George. George said that the two of them had been talking to each other trying to gather what information they both knew. It turns out Arthur didn''t remember much of anything apart from his sword skills and his name. After they had finished talking, they thought it was only right to tell Novis since they were currently upying his mind. George had exined, that he and Arthur use to belong to a band of knights called the Dragon knights and that Arthur was their leader. The next few things Novis heard from George''s mouth Novis couldn''t believe. George had told Novis that the Dragon knights were legendary. That they had been sent on tasks throughout thend to exterminate creatures Novis had only heard about in fairy tales. They fought goblins, demons and even dragons. Novis found the whole thing crazy. The two of the people Novis was talking to sounded and looked like humans but the world George was describing was one that he did not recognise. But the whole situation for Novis so far had been crazy. Arthur had confirmed some of the things George was saying so it had to be true. "Do you know how you ended up in the weapons?" Novis asked. "Sadly, neither of us remember how it happened. While in the weapons our bodies remained dormant as if we are in a sleeping state. I was able toe out from the sword from time to time but it would take a huge amount of energy. When I would feel a person''s presence I would try to see if they could hear me." "What about Daiki''s teacher." "He was the first of many that finally seeded. When I came out, I could tell a lot of time had passed, the whole world looked different. With nothing else to do, I decided to help the man sharpen his skills. As the man got older, I could feel his body weaken and as he passed away, I was returned back to the bamboo sword." "Are there others then, if you two are here then perhaps the other members of the dragon knights are here?" "This is something I wish to confirm myself. Until this day I thought I was the only one until I met Arthur. This is why I wanted to talk to you Novis. I wish for you to help me find the others in any way possible. I know it might be an impossible task and I don''t expect you to go out of your way but just if you tried a little, I would be truly grateful." Although Novis didn''t mind helping them he was worried about what would happen if he did find them. Would they all enter his mind like Arthur and George? Were they expecting to just stay in his head until Novis grew old and passed away? George could see the concerned look on Novis''s face. "If we find more people then maybe one of the members remembers how we came to be in the weapons in the first ce. They might be able to help you get rid of us." Novis was starting to enjoy Arthur''spany. Arthur had given him something to finally be interested in but at the same time, it felt strange to have someone watching everything you were doing. While Novis didn''t want Arthur to disappear, he at least wanted him out of his head. "I will try," Novis said. It was a lot for a boy Novis''s age to take in but at the same time, there was nothing he could do about it. George then picked up his metal kendo sword. "Arthur tells me he''s been teaching you, let''s see what you got." Before Novis could answer George was already dashing in towards Novis. This was at a speed even greater than Arthur produced. Luckily for Novis the distance between the two of them was great, so Novis had enough time to prepare his duel des. Just like with the fight against Ashley, George would charge in and out like a fencer. And each strike Novis produced back, would miss. "Come on, you need to be faster than that!" George shouted. Novis then switched to the chain swords and started swinging it at him. George was simply just too fast managing to move at the right time to avoid the chain swords attacks. "Too slow." George then dashed in at the right moment avoiding both of the chain swords and pierced Novis right in the chest. "ARghh!" Novis shouted as he woke up in his room. His heart was still beating loudly form the adrenaline. Even though he felt no pain it was a horrible feeling to die in your dream and get woken up by it. Novis looked outside to see the sun was starting to rise. After fighting against George. Novis realised that it was useless for him to just focus on strength. What was the point of having all that power if you weren''t able to hit your opponent? "Don''t be disheartened Novis, Arthur tells me he has only been training you for a short while. To be honest, I''m impressed." George said. This made Novis feel slightly better but not much. At the end of the day, Novis was unable to even touch George and lost quickly. After fighting with George Novis noticed something. George looked oddly familiar to him but of course, Novis had never met George before so why would he think that? Novis went and turned on hisptop to go to the official VSW website. He was currently browsing through all the characters they had in the game. "Stop right there!" George shouted. Novis''s mouse currently hovered over one of the warriors, the warrior George told him to stop on was the Interfector, the assassin character Bill yed as. "Arthur don''t you know who that is! It''s john!" George shouted. Arthur had no memory of any of the dragon knights, unlike George. The three of them continued to look through the website. George recognised two other warriors as well as a character that looked identical to himself. This meant in total there were five people in the game that was from the same world as Arthur and George. This was where Novis had recognised George from, it was the game. And George recognising others only confirmed Novis''s suspicion. The game had something to do with the spirits. Meaning Goldware corp, was hiding something. Chapter 58: The Right Warrior Chapter 58: The Right Warrior Although Novis had his suspicions of Goldware corp, there wasn''t much he could do. No one would listen to the ramblings of a kid, especially if Novis started talking about ghosts. He would be put in a madhouse before he could even finish exining the situation. Someone had to know something though and most likely the people at the top had something to do with it. Novis knew Tom but had none of his contact details and sending an email to thepany would never work. So, for now, Novis decided he needed to put a pin in it. Novis was only fifteen and he still had plenty of his life left to solve things. It wasn''t like the fate of the world was resting on his shoulders or anything, like in the many books and manga he read. Ever since George also entered Novis''s mind Arthur spoke to him a lot less. The two of them would hang out in the dream world and spar and talk to each other. Novis wasn''t able to hear them unless, he too went into the dream world. But this didn''t stop Novis frompleting his normal routine, he went for a run in the morning and tried to get a personal best. Right after it was time for school. Scarlett came up to Novis on their lunch break as usual. "Did you manage to get the fifth person to join then?" "Yeah it''s all sorted, she''s going to meet us at the VSW club after school." Although Scarlett couldn''t help but feel weird about Novis knowing another girl, she also was very happy that the club finally had a fifth member. "Finally, it looks like we going to y as a team together," Scarlett replied. Novis and Scarlett smiled at each other. They had both been waiting for this day. Novis enjoyed ying and getting stronger but when he yed online, he didn''t like talking to strangers ormunicating with them much, this was actually one of the many reasons why he lost his matches even though Novis himself was a strong yer. The school bell rang and it was finally time for the club to begin. Novis went down with Scarlett to the club room. Dan and Alex were already there waiting. "Hey everyone," Scarlett said with a bright happy face. "Hey," Alex replied back while Dan gave a wave. "We were just talking about what Warrior would be best for Dan." Then suddenly George perked up. "Oh, this Dan boy has a nice body, he even has our good looks to go with it, it''s a shame he is not a chosen one." "Oh, I''m sorry you two get to live rent-free in this ugly shell of a body," Novis replied. Novis knew Dan was special and having George just confirm it kinda hurt him a little. Novis didn''t think he was bad looking but at the same time, he didn''t have girls confessing to him nearly every day. "Why don''t we just let him try the one until he finds something he likes?" Scarlett replied "Well the problem is the tournament is only a week away now, we don''t have a lot of time. It would be ideal if Dan could find one he likes but he needs to learn how to use the warrior. It''s best if we can pick one that best suits him and then let him get as much experience from ying that warrior as he can." "So what one did you pick?" Novis asked. "I decided on the hero Pugnus," Dan said. Just then a projector disyed onto the white bored the info sheet and what the Warrior Pugnus looked like. Alex had set it up beforehand so everyone could understand their teammate''s warriors better. Pugnus was a light armoured character who used gauntlets as a weapon. The gauntlets made the arms of the warrior look three times as bigpared to the rest of the body. After Alex asked Dan of all the different sports he yed, he thought this warrior suited Dan the best. Dan was good at using his hands as he had experience with boxing. The warrior was also fast on its feet. Pugnus belonged to the assassin role. It had weak defence but a high damage output and movability. Not many beginners yed with Pugnus because it used gauntlets as weapons. This meant you would have to be fearless and shorten the distance between you and your opponent. "Great so everyone try to memorize the warrior''s skills, we need to try to work together as much as possible. Now we just need our fifth member." Right on cue as soon as Alex said those words. Ashley came through the door with her two pigtails bouncing up and down. As soon as she saw all the other members she bowed down. "Thank you for letting me join the team." She said as she raised her head. "You''re the new member?" Scarlett said excitedly. Ashley gave a little nod and looked a bit like a rabbit with her two pigtails moving about in the air. Scarlett quickly rushed over to her and started squeezing her cheeks. Scarlett was an only child and always dreamed of having a younger sibling. As soon as she saw Ashley she couldn''t help herself. "Novis why didn''t you tell me you knew such a cute little sweetheart," Scarlett said while pinching Ashley cheeks softly. Ashley was smiling, she was enjoying the attention she was getting and was happy to find that the people in the club room didn''t look scary. Ashley had ssmates but didn''t really have anyone to call friends. If her ssmates would ask her to hang out or go watch the movies with them, Ashley would always decline, saying she needed to go home to help her father. "What are you all doing?" Ashley asked. "You came just at the right time," Alex said. "We were just going to choose a character for you, you''ve never yed the game before right, let''s see." Alex started to scroll through all the warriors that were in the game, trying to find one that suited Ashley. As he was doing that George spoke up again. "Hey Novis," George said. "let her y as me in the game, I''ve decided I want to train her." "What!" Chapter 59: Team Roles Chapter 59: Team Roles Novis was confused by what he had just heard George say. How was George going to teach Ashley? Geroge had already said it was impossible for him to reside inside of her. "Of course, I''m going to need your help with that," Gorge said as if he knew what Novis was thinking. Novis suddenly realised that George wanted to use his body to teach Ashley. Originally Novis was going to outright refuse Georges request. It was a weird feeling when Novis gave up his body to one of the spirits. When he did his mind would be sent to the dream world. Novi could escape this dream world and roam around as a spirit but wouldn''t be able to move far away from his original body. Novis always had this fear that he might not get his body back, luckily Arthur always did but if he didn''t Novis didn''t have a clue how he would get his body back in the first ce. There was also another reason, Novis already was receiving training from Arthur. If he helped George it meant more of his time would be used up to teach Ashley. Novis then looked over at Scarlett. He also didn''t want a particr person to get the wrong idea if he was giving Ashley a lot of his attention but then Novis changed his mind. He saw how skilled George was. If George wanted to teach Ashley how to fight then maybe Novis would also be able to learn a thing or two from watching. Novis then raised his hand. "Yes Novis, do you want to say something." "I think I have a suggestion on who Ashley should y as. I think she should y as the warrior Raidum." "Ah, that might be perfect for her." Alex quickly went and selected the warrior Raidum, suddenly on screen was a digital version of George. "What a dashing man, if I do say so myself," George said. "Raidum a counter hitter. The warrior needs to have a good sense of timing of when to dodge attacks and hit back. The only problem is this warrior is usually difficult for beginners due to the sense of timing with skills." Alex exined. "I wouldn''t worry about that, Ashley most likely won''t need to use skills. She''s even better than me with a sword." Alex thought if what Novis was saying was true, then they might have a true chance at this tournament. Alex had seen Novis fight and he currently used a warrior that had no skills. Novis had no reason to lie about Ashley so she must have been as good as Novis said she was. "So, what are we waiting for, Let''s get ying!" Scarlett said. "Yes, but before that, we have one thing to discuss." "What''s that?" "Everyone''s roles." Alex then changed the screens slide to disy the map of the game. "We all know there are threenes in the game, we need to decide what best for everyone because there''s one major problem we don''t have as a team. Do you know what that is?" Everyone was silent until Scarlett finally replied. "We don''t have a tank." Tanks were an important part of the game. They were warriors who were able to take a high amount of damage. It was best to think of them as a shield for the team. If you had a strong shield then your damage dealers could do all the work. "This is why I''vee up with a new strategy for us in the game. I will take the mid position; this will be the best spot for me to see which side needs supporting and will be able to get a clearer view of the map. In the bottomne, I want the two girls to work together. Scarlett being the ranged and Ashley being the melee." Then Alex turned towards Novis and Dan. "You two have the most important roles in the game. Dan you''re going to y as a supporting character. Your role will be to roam around in the forest area and see if anyone needs any help. I want you to run in quick and fast helping out eachne as best as you can. If anyone is injured you need to use those legs of yours to go back to base and bring us some medical supplies." "Got it!" Dan replied. "What this means for you Novis, is you will be at the top on your own. The normal formation that most teams y at the beginning is two top, one mid and two bottoms. This means that you will most of the time have to fight two yers. Now Dan will be there to support you sometimes but that isn''t the aim." Alex then went to put his hand on Novis shoulder. "I''m going to be relying on your strength for this one, Dan will be there to turn the tides in Mid and bottom making it 3 vs 1 or 2 vs 1. I want you to hold the two at the top for as long as you can." "Does everyone understand." Everyone nodded in response and was ready to finally y the game. They all put on their VR headsets and finally logged in as a party together. After forming a squad, they went online to search for a game. They quickly got matched with another team and the game started to generate around the, The five of them suddenly appeared at the red base next to their castle. "Wow, this is amazing!" Ashley shouted while she was swinging her weapon around. Ashley looked like a female version of George which was a strange sight for Novis to see. He couldn''t help butugh. Dan too was punching the air getting used to the feeling of ying in a different body. "Okay, so everyone member the n," Alex asked. George was looking around taking in the virtual world but then his eyes couldn''t help but stare at Scarlett. "It''s strange, Sarah looks like she''s there but she''s not," George said in a sad voice. The reason George was staring at Scarlett was because she was ying as the warrior Lilly Lil. It was one of the knights who originally belonged to the dragon knight squad. George understood that the world they had entered was not real but seeing his fellow teammate who he hadn''t seen for years just made him feel so sad. Novis could feel George''s feelings and it was hurting him too. Arthur never had these same feelings because he couldn''t remember any of the Dragon knight squad. Then a giant war horn sound yed signalling it was time for the game to start. Ten knights spawned and started to head down eachne. Everyone else then followed Alex''smand and marched straight down their respectivene. Finally, at longst, they were ying their first game as a team. Chapter 60: Problems as a Team Chapter 60: Problems as a Team The first few games as a team didn''t go as nned. Alex had expected for the first few games not to go well but not this bad. They had two new people on the team that weren''t used to ying before and even Scarlett and Novis were just a little better than beginners. The first few games losses could be put down to not understanding how to use skills or warriors but after that, the team was still managing to lose. Scarlett and Ashley were put at the bottomne. Although Ashley was a strong fighter she had always fought alone. While she was engaged inbat with the enemy, she kept getting in the way of Scarlett shot making it hard for Scarlett to support her properly. There was also the use of the ten knights down thene. The second a warrior attacked another warrior the NPC nights would switch their target to the enemy warrior, this meant suddenly it became a 12 vs 1 situation. And even if Ashley was strong, there was no way she could deal with that. Although Alex had expected for instances like this to happen. This was the reason why he ced Dan in the forest. At the right time while the enemy team was distracted, Dan would be able to charge in and help, then run to the next person who needed help, Either Novis or himself. The problem for Dan was the forest was toorge and hard to navigate, Dan had gotten lost multiple times in the game, unable to help anyone. The only two people that managed to do well in the game so far was Novis and Alex. Alex down in the middlene did well managing to stall or even being better than the enemy sometimes but Alex wasn''t the best at one on one fights. He put himself in the middle position so he could help either side when he could. If the opponent was overpowering him in mid, that was when he would call Dan over to help. The problem was by the time Dan would get there Alex himself would already have lost. Novis was doing well. Most of the time Novis manged to hold off two against one but Novis still wasn''t strong enough to defeat his opponents in just a few strikes. It made it difficult for him because as soon as he would injure one. The other would cover for him and head back to base to heal. Leaving Novis in an endless loop of fighting. Eventually, Novis would be able to overpower and beat them but by then the rest of his team had been annihted and most of his towers taken. Eventually, after ying 10 games together, they had lost every single one as a team. The group decided to take a break from the game and was currently outside of the VR headset in the VSW club. "Dam it, why don''t those guys fight me one on one" Ashleyined. "Won''t it be better if we switch positions, maybe Ashley should go mid, she''s good at one on one fights. Then you can go bottom with me and Dan and Novis at the top?" Scarlett asked looking over at Alex. "It sounds good now and we might win a few games that way, but if we just perfect this strategy I know we can make it far in the tournament." What Scarlett said made sense and would be what most teams would do. But Alex knew that the opponents they would be ying against in the tournament were strong. Stronger than a bunch of newbies who had only been ying for a week. This was the strategy that he hade up with to give them a chance of winning this tournament. Then unexpectedly Novis was the one to speak first. "I think Alex is right, it''s a good strategy, we just need to give a few tips to the others. Dan, you need to study the map. When you go around try leave markings on the trees as you go past. This will allow you to know where you''ve been and which direction to go in. Ashley, you''re strong but your rushing in too much, you need to let the knights head in first. When you see the right moment then attack. Scarlett, Dan''s not the only one that can use the forest. If people are blocking your way then move and don''t stay still, after every shot with the bow move so the enemy doesn''t know your position." Everyone stood there in silence. They thought Novis had been too busy dealing with the two people on top to be able to see what everyone was doing. Novis was never the type to study ore up with a strategy so Scarlett was wondering where all of this hade from. Alex was also stunned, Novis had given a perfect analysis of what they needed to do while they were in the game. Alex would havee to the same conclusion but would have had to watch the games back beforementing on anything. Of course, the words spoken weren''t from Novis himself. These words were spoken by Arthur and George and Novis was just currently repeating them. But with Novis''s wise words the team took a quick break and decided to log back into the game. ***** Meanwhile, Mac had been watching the VSW club closely, he had heard the news of a fifth member joining and was going to do something about their new member Ashley. Until he looked at the team''s match history. They had lost every game so far. Mac thought it might be best to just leave them be and let them get humiliated in the tournament in the first ce. Every day after school Novis and the group would y 10 matches together. The team continued to y games and there was an improvement but still not enough for the team to win a game. They had lost so many games that currently every one of them was ranked Bronze 5 apart from Alex but even he got demoted from silver into Bronze 1. When the team felt like they were just about to give up. They yed one more game and to their surprise, the victory screen appeared. They had won perfectly. Everything fitted in so well. They had won their first game with no one dying. Finally, they were ready for the tournament that would start in just two days. Chapter 61: Sign up Chapter 61: Sign up With the long week finally over the weekend had just arrived. Today was a very special day for the members of the VSW club. Although there was no school today, the VSW club was asked to send two representatives to head over to Westgate school. Westgate school was a private school and the most prestigious school in town. All schools in the surrounding area who wished to participate in the VSW tournament had to be at the school by midday today. Westgate school was chosen because it had a huge hall as well as being in the centre of town. The tournament was your standard A vs B bracket. Each team would face off against each other until eventually the winners of A bracket went up against the Winners of B bracket. Montem which was the school Novis attended, decided to send their club leader Alex and Scarlett since they were the sensible ones of the group. Today they would be registering and picking lots to decide who they would face in the first round. Alex and Scarlett had just arrived at the school and Scarlett couldn''t help but stare at the giant tall buildings. "Wow, have you seen this, it''s like a castle," Scarlett said. "Well for the money you have to pay to get in here, I wouldn''t expect any less," Alex said Alex''s parents had originally wanted Alex to go to Westgate school, but even with both of his parents being doctors they too couldn''t afford the crazy prices at Westgate school. Alex and Scarlett continued to walk around and could see many different school uniforms. The county their school in wasn''t very big but it looked like every school in the area had sent someone to participate in the tournament. Just walking in the entrance alone Scarlett counted at least 30 different uniforms. The two of them followed the signs around school heading from one giant hall to an even bigger giant hall. Until eventually, they reached the registration room. The room was full of kids the same age as Scarlett and Alex talking to each other about the VSW game. At the back of the hall, there was a woman sat down with a tablet and sign at the front that said the words "Registration." "Hi are you two here to register for the Berkshire tournament?" Berkshire was the county that their town resided in. The winner from this tournament would go on to fight the other County''s eventually be the countries nationwide champions. Of course, people didn''t really care about this, because you didn''t get anything from it. What the students cared about was the resume that came with winning the tournament. If you wanted to get into a good university that trained professionals then a good resume was needed. "Yes, we''re here from Montem." The women smiled and handed Alex a tablet. "Just fill in the details and Ranks of the other yers on your team and hand the tablet back to me when you''re done." Alex gulped at the women''s words. "Um, there isn''t a minimum required rank is there?" "No don''t worry about that, we''re using the information to decide the top-seeded teams. We gather the ranks of all the yers and then decide the rank of the team. The top teams will be seeded so they don''t need to y as many games. This way the first few matches against schools won''t be so one-sided." Alex''s heart calmed down a bit after hearing that, overall it was good news. Some tournaments required everyone to be of a certain level to keep itpetitive but in school tournaments, this wasn''t usually the case. The new information she gave also meant that their school wouldn''t be facing the top teams until theter rounds giving them more time to practice. Alex finished handing in the information and handed the tablet back to Women at the desk. The women quickly doubled checked all the information on the tablet and as she did her face dropped. "Are you sure you want to enter the tournament this year, there''s a lot of strongpetitors this year." The women said with a smile on her face. Alex knew straight away why the women had acted like this. The team didn''t have time to y any games after their one win. Alex instead insisted that the team watched the one game that they won over and over again to see what they had gotten right. This meant currently every single member on the team was Bronze rank, the lowest rank in the game. "Yes, I''m sure," Alex said with a smile back. After finishing their registration, they were led further into another room. This room was filled with seats and arge screen. It looked like a huge cinema. The 60 or so students who were registered for the tournament were currently sat in the front two-row seats. As Alex went to sit down, he overheard the other students talking about something. "Hey did you hear that Lucas bell is taking part in the tournament this year!" "What! how is that fair, I thought he never took part in tournaments like these." "Well, there are rumours going around that a kid from one of the schools beat him and he''s here to get revenge." "Does that mean there''s someone here who as strong as Lucas." Scarlett had overheard the two kids talking as well but she had no idea who this Lucas person was. "This Lucas they keep talking about, is he good?" Alex sighed. "Good is an understatement, Lucas is just as good as a pro and he''s the son of the number one yer in the world Justin bell. Usually, he doesn''t bother with school tournaments like these as any university would be happy to ept him onto the team. If we have to face a monster like him were in big trouble and if the rumours are true that someone beat him, then it means this year there are two monsters we need to look out for." *ACHOOO! Novis sneezed out loud. "There must be someone talking behind my back." Chapter 62: Push yourself Chapter 62: Push yourself While Lucas and Scarlett were busy registering their team for the tournament. Novis had invited Ashley over to his grandfather''s dojo at the request of George. The two of them were holding wooden kendo swords and stood opposite from each other. Ashley had brought her own sword from home, while Novis was using the one that George had originally emerged from. Novis had just told Ashley that George was the one who actually invited her. "You''re telling me, that this Ghost that my father was talking about wants to teach me? I thought you said it couldn''t go inside my body?" Ashley asked. "It can''t, instead I''m going to let George use my body and teach you." "He can do that?" Ashley said still sceptical about the whole ghost thing being real. Novis thought it was pointless trying to exin and better to just show her. He closed his eyes and went into a sleep-like state, while doing so George started to take over Novis''s body. "Are you George now?" Although Ashley couldn''t see anything happening, the air felt slightly different around Novis''s body. "Why don''t we spar a little and you find out?" Novis or George it didn''t matter to Ashley. The person right in front of her was annoying her with their cocky attitude. She didn''t believe this crazy ghost thing in the first ce and thought Novis might just be ying a trick on her right now. As she went in for the attack George stepped out of the away and countered back, hitting her three times. Ashley didn''t see what happened but she clearly had three faint marks on her leather armour piece. "Do you believe me now?" George said. "Yeah right, you were just holding backst time, weren''t you?" Ashley said as she went in for another attack. This time, when Ashley went in to attack, before she could even see anything happen, her bamboo sword was snapped in half. "It looks like your senses still aren''t good enough, what I just used there was sword energy." Ashley was at a loss for words. Clearly, the fifteen-year-old boy stood in front of her was no longer Novis. It was a grandmaster. "What are we meant to do now?" Ashley shouted noticing that the only sword she brought with her had been snapped in half. Georgeughed. "Don''t worry you can just use a regr sword." Ashley followed George''s words but didn''t understand what George was going to do. With the use of sword energy, he could actually make his wooden de harder. Or more precisely the wooden sword would be covered with energy, meaning when the two swords touched, her de wouldn''t actually be touching his wooden sword, just his energy. Novis was watching the spar between the two of them and he was starting to get excited. "So, it''s called sword energy?" Novis thought to himself. Arthur was a good teacher but he wasn''t the best at exining things. His way of teaching was by showing. Suddenly, while Novis was outside watching the match in spirit form. He felt someone grab his arm and pull him back into Novis''s body. When Novis got the time to look around he noticed he was in the dream world. The person who had dragged him there was Arthur himself. "You didn''t think you would get some rest now, did you? While there training outside, we shall train in here." **** Dan was currently in a rough part of town. The south side of downtown near the harbour. The area had gotten so bad that the police had decided to give up on it and give the territory to the local gangs. As long as they didn''t disturb the public and left things between themselves, then they wouldn''t have any problems. They had an understanding. As Dan walked through the streets there were graffiti markings of the local gangs on the walls, side of buildings, everywhere. People couldn''t stop eyeballing Dan as he walked past. Dan looked freshpared to everyone there and was clearly a person out of ce. Eventually, Dan had reached the outside of an abandoned warehouse. He was stood just outside two big metal doors, on the doors was a graffiti mark of a ck wolf. They were two people stood just outside wearing a bandana covering their mouths and holding metal pipes in their hands. "I''m here to see Kyle?" The man looked him up and down. "Go away kid, this ce is for Noir members only." Dan then lifted up his shirt to reveal a ck wolf tattoo just above his crotch. The two members looked at each other and then opened the door. As Dan entered the abandoned warehouse there were around 40 people inside. in the centre of the warehouse was a crowd of people who had formed a circle. As Dan got closer, he could see two people fighting. Both of the men were topless and had a tattoo mark of a ck wolf on their body. One of the men was bald while the other had long blonde hair up to his waist. Each man looked in top condition with their abs and muscles bulging. The bald man went for a wild swing, but the blonde man dodged and gave three uppercuts lightning fast to the bald man''s stomach. The bald man had spiting out of his mouth as he was trying to gasp in for air. While the bald man was frozen still, the blonde man pulled his arm back and smashed the bald man''s face, blood went flying out from the man''s nose onto some of the audience members Before the bald man''s body copsed to the floor a few of the audience members managed to catch him and take him away. The rest started to chant and cheer. "Kyle! Kyle! Kyle!" Dan was currently in the ck wolf gang''s territory known as Noir. Noir was a well-known gang in the area but not because of their brutality or anything like that. They were known for running the biggest underground fighting ring. Bare-knuckle fighting. No padded equipment, no nothing. There was just one rule, to win with just your fist. When Dan was ying the VSW game he hated using the character''s skills. Dan had always relied on his body for sporting events and he wanted to do the same in the game. But after watching Ashley and Novis fight he knew he had a lot of catching up to do. A lot of people thought Dan was naturally gifted at everything, and all though that may be true for his body that wasn''t the reason why he always performed better than others. Whenever he tried something new or was interested in something, he went at it at a 100%. This time was no different. If Dan wanted to avoid using his skills in the game, he needed to be a better fighter and he knew just the right person to ask. The blonde man Kyle, was currently wiping the sweat off from his face. The crowd quickly collected the earnings from bets and started to disperse. As they did one person stood there still, staring at Kyle. It was Dan. The blond man''s eyes opened wide when he saw Dan standing there. "Well, well, it''s been a long time, hasn''t it? What brought you here, Brother?" Kyle suddenly smiled. Chapter 63: Breaking Free Chapter 63: Breaking Free Back at Westgate school Alex and Scarlett were currently sitting in their seats waiting for their school number to be called up. On stage was a giant ss oval ball, inside were even smaller yellow balls with a number written on it. Air would be shot into the ss ball causing the balls to move and bounce around. One of the teachers at Westgate school would pull out two balls and these would be the two teams facing each other in the tournament. In total four seeded teams would bypass the first rounds. One of the seeded teams was Westgate school themselves. This year they were the favourites to win the tournament because Lucas had decided to take part. Alex couldn''t help but feel nervous about the whole thing. His legs wouldn''t stop moving up and down. He needed to do well in the tournament to show his parents that there was some sort of future in VSW for him. The women on stage had a microphone in hand and before drawing out balls she had an announcement to make. "Tonight, we have a special guest today that will be deciding the fate of your schools, please wee to the stage, Lucas bell!" The crowd started to whisper to each other as they saw Lucas walk onto the stage. "So, he really is joining the tournament this year." "Well, there goes our chances." Lucas slowly walked onto the stage and stopped just by the giant ss oval ball. Lucas started to scout the room as if he was looking for something. "looks like the one I''m looking for isn''t here, what a waste of time." Currently, Mortem was in control of Lucas''s body. As soon as she stepped into the outside, she recognised that the world was different from her own. The sky was blue, life was prosperous and there were living beings overpopted everywhere. It was not like her home at all. She had experienced something simr to this a long time ago but her memories were fuzzy and there was no telling how much time had passed. Even if it was the same world clearly it was a different period. Using her abilities, she extracted as much information as she could from Lucas''s mind. Lucas tried resisting of course but it was useless. She quickly learnt the way the current world she was in worked and even saw images of Lucas''s fight with Arthur. Arthur had disyed fighting abilities that were truly impressive, they were clearly beyond the capabilities of humans that belonged to this world. Her bloodlust wanted her to face strong opponents and perhaps finding this Arthur would give her answers, so she went looking for this so-called Novis person. Lucas was currently in spirit form next to his own body. He two was looking around the arena looking for Novis. He had originally joined this tournament hoping to face Novis but now he wanted someone who could just beat Mortem. Lucas had his own theory, every day when Mortem would go to sleep her spirit would be transferred to the dream world. There Lucas was able to battle her but every time he would lose. When Lucas had first met Moretem she had brought him to the dream world and he had lost. When he did, he also lost control of his body. He thought that maybe by beating Mortem in the dream world he would get a chance to take back his body. Every spare minute Lucas had he would practise his skills in the dream world. He decided to practise with the same weapon as Mortem, the scythe. He needed to know everything about the weapon to beat her and the best way was to use the weapon himself. But all his efforts so far were in vain. All Lucas could do was continue to practice every day until the day he beat Mortem. Scarlett while looking at Lucas couldn''t help but have this uneasy feeling about him. The look in Lucas''s eyes sent a shiver down her spine. The drawing started with Lucas pulling out two balls from the machine. The two teams were disyed on therge cinema-like screen behind him. The screen showed the schools name and all the participants for that team with the user ID, right next to the yer''s ID were their ranks. All the teams that had been disyed so far had no yers higher than tinum rank. Meaning most likely if a yer had a diamond rank or higher in their team, they would be considered too strong and would be seeded. Finally, Lucas pulled at a number 12, and number 23. The announcer girl on stage started speaking. "And here we have, Number 12 Eton Vs number 23 Montem." The huge screen again disyed the two team''s yer ID''s with all the yers and ranks right next to them. As the information on the screen was disyed the room was filled withughter. "Do you see that? The whole team is bronze, there''s not even one yer higher than that." "Why did they even bother entering the tournament?" "Eton are so lucky, it''s practically a free win for them." Alex could feel the stares and looks that everyone gave him. He couldn''t help but feel small and weak as he tried curling up. Scarlett put her hand on Alex''s back. "Don''t worry about them, your n is perfect, we''ll show them. All of them." Scarlett''s words manged to cheer Alex up a bit. He expected this reaction and it only worked out in their favour. The enemy team seeing them this way meant they would only let their guard down giving them more chances. As the Screen disyed the yer ID''s Lucas managed to catch the name of one. "ProNovis, that can''t be can it? Isn''t that Novis." He thought to himself. Lucas''s heart started to pound harder. He wanted to fight Novis more than anything in this tournament but there was one person getting in his way. With all the teams registered and opponents decided, it was time for them to go back home and prepare for the first match that would be happening tomorrow. Alex had one day remaining to gather as much information as he possibly could to get his team ready. Chapter 64: Eton VSW Chapter 64: Eton VSW After the meeting at Westgate school had finished, Alex and Scarlett decided to head back to the school. Now that they knew what team they were going up against, Alex was able to watch Videos of theirst few games to gather information. Alex hoped onto aputer and started to scribble down some notes. Scarlett would watch with him while supplying Alex with drinks and snacks to keep him energized. Alex was noting down the teams ranks what Warriors the enemy team used and even their ying style. It wasmon for the stronger teams to have a VSW coach who would do these types of things for you but Montem was never a strong enough school that they bothered to assign a coach to them. Meanwhile, at Eton school who were Montem school''s opponents, their coach and team were busy studying Hershal school. Who would most likely be their next opponents after beating Montem. The Eton team members and coach looked at the match history of Alex and his group. After they found that they had lost so many games and they were still in bronze, they thought it was a waste of time concentrating on Montem and decided to focus on the games ahead. Finally, after two hours of researching, the enemy team Alex was done. Their biggest problem at the moment was going to be topne. The enemy team was currently made up of 4 silver yers and one gold. The one gold yer would often y in the topne. Which would mean Novis would have to do his best to face a gold and silver yer at the same time. Alex took out his phone and sent a text out to all the club members asking them toe back to school so they could strategize. *Ding Ashley was currently dripping in sweat, as she heard her phone go off, she decided to take a look. "Um George, is it okay if I speak to Novis for a second?" "Novis seems to be busy himself, you can ask me." "Well, Alex wants us to go back for a strategy meeting." "Just tell him you and Novis are busy together at the moment." Ashley quickly wrote down the exact words that George had told her to say and she hit the send button. Ashley was keen to learn more from George and didn''t really want to head back to school herself. *Ding "What is wrong with everyone," Alex shouted. "Did they reply back?" Scarlett asked. Alex picked up the phone and showed Scarlett the first reply he got which was form, Dan. "Sorry, can''t man busy." Then Alex showed the test from Ashley. "Me and Novis are busy together, sorry." "Can you believe them? we have the match tomorrow." "Yeah" Scarlett mind was currently running wild at what the text between Novis and Ashley meant. She didn''t even know that the two of them were currently together. There was nothing Alex could do without his team, so he decided to continue his research for the match tomorrow. The next day the VSW club members were to meet at school at 9:00 am in the morning, the bus would then take them to Eton school. The first-round matches were done in school and for Montem''s first match it was an away game. Alex lifted his hand to look at his watch. The time was ten to nine. His foot was nervously tapping the ground. "Where are they, we''re going to bete." "Don''t worry they''ll be here," Scarlett replied but even she was getting worried. Then suddenly, from the pathway, she could see Novis, Ashley and Dan running towards the bus. Ashley had trained at Novis''s ce the whole night and decided to stay over. While they were on their way running to school, they managed to meet Dan on the way. Finally, the three of them had arrived just outside the bus. Alex took a good look at all three of them and was ready to give them a verbal pounding. But when he saw the state of them, he decided not to. Novis and Ashley had huge ck bags under their eyes and both of them had crazy bed hair. Ashley had been training with George nonstop and when she finally got to rest, she overslept and dint have time to get ready. Although Novis trained in the dream world where he didn''t get tired. George had been using his body to train Ashley, when George gave his body back to Novis, Novis could feel muscle sores in ces he didn''t think were possible. Even Dan didn''t look a 100 per cent himself. Usually, Dan had this healthy glow about him, but his face looked like he was going to be sick any second. Unknown to the rest fo them, Dan was currently hiding multiple bruise marks underneath his stomach. They all hopped onto the bus and headed for Eton school. On the journey, their Alex started reading out all the information he had on the enemy team but the others were simply too tired to listen. Alex then stood up and started to speak in a gentle tone. "I can tell all of guys worked hard just by looking at you. I know we''re strong enough to win. I''ll leave the fighting to you guys and just leave the strategy to me." The rest smiled back at Alex. The others also knew Alex had been doing his own thing for the team. They could see that Alex was tired himself. He had been up all night studying and thinking of what to do against the enemy team. The bus had arrived at Eton and they were greeted by Eton''s VSW Coach. He was a middle-aged man with a thick beard. "Follow me please." The group followed the coach through the school field to the gym. On the way, their a few of the girls had noticed Dan walking by and started to whisper. Dan smiled and gave the girls a wave, the girls faces quickly turned red and they ran away. "Seriously," Novis thought. "He''s half as good looking as he usually is and still his getting this much attention." The group had finally reached the Gym. Eton''s VSW club members were already standing there waiting. Many of them looked bored as if it was an everyday chore that they had to do. In the middle of the Gym where ten VR headsets and seats faced opposite each other. And to the side of the Gym, a giant projector was disying the game. A few of the Eton students were inside the gym to watch the game but there weren''t many as they heard that the opponent, they were facing was weak so a lot of students weren''t interested. Everyone put on their VR headsets and logged into the game ready to fight. Chapter 65: Quick Screen Chapter 65: Quick Screen The game started with both teams selecting their warriors. The AI system on the VR headset had set the camera to free mode, this way the camera would automatically disy the situation where the most action was happening onto the projector outside. This allowed the Eton students in the Gym to see what was happening in-game. "Did you see the Montem Team''s Rank?" "Yeah, their best yer was in bronze one, this is going to be a ughter-fest." Each person went down therene as nned out by Alex and what they had been practising this whole time. While Dan was told to stay in the top half of the forest near Novis as he was the most likely person to need support first. As Novis entered hisne by his tower he could see the enemy warrior who was currently ying as Mu Samu. "These Justin Bell wannabees," Novis said. "Why does everyone love to y that warrior so much?" Novis was a bit upset that the warrior that was designed after him and the one he was currently using, virtually no one yed as. He took it as a slight insult to himself since the character looked like him. Thoughts ran through his mind that if they made a character based on Dan, perhaps it would automatically be popr. Alex could hear Novis on the team chat and replied back. "Be careful Novis, that Justin bell wannabee is the strongest yer on their team. His gold rank 5 so stronger than Mac was." "Alright, Alex but I only see one person at top, didn''t you say there is usually two?" Then Alex''s mind went through all the matches he had watched Eton y. They were several times when they had used this exact same tactic. "Be careful Novis, one of them is hiding out in the forest, an Archer most likely. Dan, head to the top and find the archer as soon as possible." With Alex''s wise words, Novis switched to the chain de. Swinging his de in a circle would allow him to block any attacksing from the forest to his right. Currently, the ten red and blue knights were battling each other. The Mu Samu yer was stood behind his army waiting for his archer to take a shot. The problem was Novis was currently swinging his chain de covering his whole body. While with the other chain de, he would attack the knights one by one. Slowly the momentum was shifting to red knights and pushing the blue knights back. "What''s wrong, why aren''t you firing at him?" "I was waiting for him to stop swinging that stupid chain thing around." "Just start shooting, he''s only a bronze I can deal with him after." Although Eton was sure of their win, their yers didn''t get their ranks by being stupid. They were still ying as serious as they would any game. Just because the Mu Samu yer saw a bronze yer in front of him, he wasn''t going to take him on one on one, when he could take him on two on one. The blue yer shot an arrow and as he expected it managed to hit the chain de causing the arrow to fall to the ground. At the same time, the Mu Samu yer dashed forward with a sh attack. Novis managed to roll away but as soon as he did arrows woulde out at him from the forest. All Novis could do at the moment was dodge the two attacks. Novis looked impressive, he was able to dodge attacks while knocking arrows away. Right now, his mind waspletely focused. "Dan how much longer are you going to be?" Novis asked. Dan was currently running through the forest as fast as he could not slowing down for anything. He would punch or doge tree branches that were in his way. He knew he was close to Novis''s position and was too focused to answer. "Dan!" Novis shouted hoping to get a response. It was a lot harder than Novis originally thought it was going to be, being tied down by two people. Both of them seemed to work in perfect sync attacking near enough at the same time. Not giving Novis any opportunity to strike back. If he did, he would just leave himself open to one yer or the other. Then suddenly, the arrows stopped firing. "What''s going on why did you stop." The Mu Samu yer shouted. Novis straight away knew what had happened and aimed his two chain swords at Mu Samu''s katana de. The two chain swords wrapped around the de and arm of the yer. Then out of the forest came Dan running out as fast as he could. Dan jumped up in the air and punched the Mu Samu yer in the face. The Mu Samu yer tried to move but he was locked and held down by Novis. "What is this monstrous strength, I can''t move my arms." Hit, after hit, Dan punched the yer in the face, until finally, he had burst into blue mes. "I guess it''s up to the rest of my team now." The Mu Samu yer thought but when he had burst into blue mes a notification screen appeared. "How is that possible, what happened?" Currently, outside the Gym, the few students that bothered to turn up were talking about the monster on Montem''s team. The yer that everyone was talking about was Ashley. "Did you see that?" "She took down three silver yers so easy." "Who knew they were hiding someone like that, she can''t be a bronze, she has to be a smurf." "Did you see that other guy; he took out two of our team''s yers." Even Dan had received some recognition. Novis, on the other hand, was just as confused as the enemy team about what happened. He had originally thought after defeating the two at the top he would have to go to the rest of the team to help. But when they defeated the Mu Samu yer the victory screen appeared right in front of him. Both teams took off their VR headsets and bowed to each other. The group was extremely happy with the win but they didn''t want to show it on their faces. So, the team quickly left the Gym and headed back towards the bus. As soon as they did the Mu Samu yer went up to his team. "What happened, how did we lose?" The rest of the yers were all looking towards one person as she walked out of the gym "It was her; she beat all three of us. It was so quick I couldn''t even see anything." Chapter 66: Montems Monsters Chapter 66: Montem''s Monsters As the team began to walk back to the school bus, the news quickly spread that Eton had lost. The students couldn''t believe it. Their school wasn''t one of the best teams but there were one of the stronger ones in thepetition. Many of the students had heard they were going up against a weak bronze team. Never in their wildest dreams could they imagine that their school would have been knocked out in the first round. Information had spread around that the Eton team had been wiped outpletely by two individuals on Montem''s team. Those two yers were Dan and Ashley. When Novis got on the bus Scarlett and Alex begin to shout their heart outs they couldn''t hold in their happiness any longer. "We did it guys, we really did it" Alex shouted. "Ashley, I can''t believe how amazing you were," Scarlett said as she gave Ashley a big hug. "It was nothing," Ashley replied, trying to keep it cool, but secretly she was enjoying being in the limelight. Novis and Dan were still the most confused out of everyone. While walking back they heard the Eton students talking about Ashley and Dan. Novis could understand a little about Dan but because they were busy fighting, they had no clue what happened in the rest of the match. "What happened? Can someone exin to me how we won?" Novis asked. Alex then realised that Novis and Dan hadpletely no idea and started to exin. "Oh, I guess you two guys didn''t see anything." As Alex began to exin, currently at Eton high the Mu Samu gold ranked yer was going through the same thing. He had no idea how their team had lost to a bunch of Bronze yers. The coach made the whole team watch the match back. After watching the recording of the game, he quickly understood what had happened. While Novis was busy dealing with the two at top and Dan was running through the forest, Ashley and Scarlett were facing off the two in the bottomne. They were facing off against a simr pair to themselves, a melee sword user who used duel des and an archer Warrior. Alex had given Ashley precise instructions as she was walking into herne. Alex had told Ashley that there was a 90 percent chance that the person would use their thrust skill the moment he got in range. With this information and with Ashley''s warrior being a counter type, it helped her greatly. Just as Alex had said, as soon as the yer got in range of Ashley he used the thrust skill, Ashley dodged the attack and hit him back three times in the blink of an eye. Ashley training with George was focused on speed. Ashley already had the speed but just didn''t know how to use it and this is what George had shown her. The man quickly burst into blue mes. Alex had further given Scarlett instructions saying that the archer liked to stay near the tower. Alex had instructed Scarlett to go through the forest and be aggressive from the get-go. Forcing the archer to move from theirfort zone, away from the tower. Ashley made quick work again of the archer. All of this had happened in the first few moments of the game. Because of how the camera in the game worked, everything Ashley was doing was being disyed on the projector in the gym and they had just seen two of their yers get taken out by Ashley in an instant. Ashley and Scarlett then both moved quickly to mid. Alex was ying it safe staying behind his knights and knew that Ashley and Scarlett wereing to help him. As soon as his teammates where close Alex started to go in aggressive against the enemy warrior. The enemy warrior was struggling while fighting Alex but that was because Alex was just focusing on surviving. Ashley and Scarlett then quickly came and took out the third member. The screen then quickly switched to Dan who had ambushed the archer in the forest. The archer had heard Dan''s footsteps but Dan had moved in so fast the archer didn''t have time to prepare his bow. Before the Archer could even pull out his dagger he had already burst into blue mes. They then further saw Dan punch their Ace yer Mu Samu to death. What this meant was the audience had only seen Ashley and Dan fight. The video of the fight quickly spread throughout Eton and Ahsley had quickly be known as the Monster of Montem. While the students where calling Ashley the Monster of Montem, the coach and the Mu Samu yer had a different opinion. When Mu Samu fought Novis, Novis acted like he knew someone was already in the forest ready to attack him, not only that but Novis was able to fend off two strong yers at once. Something that at his current level he would never be able to do. The coach had also realised that the enemy team had clearly studied them hard. It seemed like the girl Ashley was waiting for something and even the attacks on mid seemed like they were all nned out. The coach and Mu Samu thought that Novis and whoever had gathered information on their team were the true monsters of Montem. With Novis caught up on the whole situation he realised quickly that Alex was the main reason for their easy win. Although he was a bit disappointed that he himself didn''t get to shine in the limelight. ***** Meanwhile, Mac was currently in his father''s office at theputer screen. Mac had just witnessed Montem VSW club win their match against Eton. "Dammit, I knew I should have done something about that team." Mac had expected the team to lose after witnessing therest few games but now that they had won, he was angrier than ever. Mac''s father Bob then came into the room. "If you want to take them down son, you need to get their weak spot first." Bob then put a photo down on the table. It was a photo of Scarlett. Chapter 67: Cut out Chapter 67: Cut out Once the bus had taken the team back to school, they all got off and said their goodbyes. It was still the weekend and each member was exhausted. Although they didn''t physically do anything the nerves and tension tired them out greatly. When Novis finally arrived home, he went straight into the fridge to grab a snack and bite to eat. Novis grabbed as many items as he could hold to take into his room. Like he was about to go hibernating for the winter. "I''ll let it slide this time but, in the future, you really need to eat the right food in order to allow your body to grow properly," Arthur said. George was shaking his head as he looked at Novis. "Look you guys, it''s been a tough night and I think I deserve this after a hard-earned victory." "Didn''t Ashley do all the work?" George said. "As expected from a student of mine." "Whatever," Novis said as he closed the fridge. Novis was happy that Ashley had done well but was upset that no one was praising him for his part in the match. He was an important part of the team but it felt like no one realised that. "Hey bro," Bill said as he entered the kitchen. Novis and Bill hadn''t seen each other for a full-on week and a half. Bill spent every spare second he had ying the game or going to school. So, unless Novis or Bill wanted to speak to each other there were no instances where they would see each other. Incept when they would bump into each other to get food like this. Although Bill this time had actually purposelye down after hearing Novis enter through the front door. "How did your match go today? it was the tournament right, against Eton?" Novis started to smile. "Of course, thanks to me, our team managed to pull out an easy victory." "What are you serious, isn''t Eton quite a strong school? One of my friends older brother goes there and he''s on the team, I think he said he was a gold rank or something." Novis then realised that the brother he was talking about had to be the opponent he faced on top. "Ah, I went against a gold yer and silver yer on top, maybe it was the same guy?" "You faced two people on your own? A gold and silver. I know you got a lot better at the game but you do know I can watch the match to see if you''re lying?" "We can watch the game?" Novis and Bill then went into Bill''s room and logged on to the VSW website. They had a section on the website that disyed all the games going on for the tournament in every country in the world. When they finally narrowed it down to the county and country that Novis school was in they could see the match result. The matches in the tournament were yed locally on the school''s system rather than online. This meant that no matter how many games were won in the tournament, it wouldn''t affect your rank online. This was set up because in the tournament some schools would have yers that were diamond, while maybe others on their team were only silver. While online tried to keep you ying against an even ying field and people of a simr skill level, the school tournament was different. It was designed to just find out who was the strongest school regardless of the skill gap between yers. As Novis had said Bill could see that Montem had beaten Eton, and not only had they beaten Eton, Bill was shocked that the result of the game was 5 0. Meaning five yers were left alive on Montem''s side while none were left alive on Eton''s side. Right next to the result it had a little y video button so they could watch the match. As the two of them watched the video together Novis soon realised that he wasn''t in the video at all. The video recording was the exact same recording that was disyed in the Gym. The recording only showed details of the most action-packed scenes during the game. Which meant there was none of Novis. "Bro, why where you bragging when it was your team that carried you? "What is this crap! The stupid video doesn''t even show anything I did. I promise you I was the one who had the most important job." Bill continued to watch the video and was impressed by Ashley''s skill defeating three opponents so quickly and also the strategy used by Dan going through the forest. Bill hade to the conclusion that the team must have had a good strategist to be able to sync everything together and he knew that person wasn''t Novis. As they continued to watch the video Novis shouted "Stop! Right here." The video had stopped at the point where Dan was in the air ready to punch the Mu Samu yer. "I know it was a good surprise attack and nice speed but why did you yell and tell me to stop?" Bill asked. "Can''t you see? Look closer right here." Novis said as he pointed towards the Mu Samu de. The camera only showed Part of Mu Samu de and mostly showed Dan in the air so it was very hard to make out. "Are you talking about those weird bumps on his sword." Bill could see what Novis was talking about but was enjoying teasing his brother. "That was me, it was my chain de. I wrapped them around his sword. It was the only reason why Dan could even beat him up in the first ce was because I had him held down." Bill gave Novis a straight face look. Which nearly drove Novis crazy. Novis then went storming out of the room mumbling to himself. As soon as Novis had left the room Bill started tough. "I know you did well brother, it''s a shame the video cut youpletely out of the shot but if you continue improving fast like this soon everyone will know your name." Novis entered his room in a bad mood. He couldn''t believe that the cameras showed nothing but the other fighters. Even Alex and Scarlett got a little limelight when Ashley defeated the enemy team but it was as if the camera was allergic to him. Doing everything it could to cut him out of the picture. As Novisid down on his bed to calm down. George''s spirit floated in front of him. "What do you want?" Novis said as he wasn''t in the mood for George jokes. "Novis, did you know your brother is a chosen one?" "What did you say?" Chapter 68: Your Blood Chapter 68: Your Blood For a second Novis thought he might have miss heard what gorge had said. "What did you say?" "Well it''s only a theory of course but I''m pretty sure, after all, he is rted to you, so why not?" The thought had never crossed his mind before but if it was true his brother was also a chosen one, then did that mean his whole family was. Then why didn''t his grandfather who originally owned the sword hear Arthur? Most important of all, didn''t that mean his brother was able to hear and see Arthur this whole time. "Does that mean my brother can hear both of you?" "I''m not sure but honestly I don''t think it works like that. When we were in the weapons, we had to use our energy to call out to the person. It was almost as if we were projecting our words into your mind. And as for you being able to see me. You already had Arthur. Maybe your brother will be able to see us if one of us is a part of him?" Novis was trying to think if there was any way he could test out this theory of George''s without having the need for his brother to experience what he had gone through. His brother was only 12 years old and Novis didn''t want him to go through the same experience he had. He was already enjoying his life and he didn''t need a spirit to ruin it and ask him to go looking for his other ghost friends. "Well do you want me to give it a try?" Although Novis wanted to say yes as it might have opened up a clue to why only he could hear and be possessed by them, in the end, Novis decided against it. "I''m sorry George but I don''t want my brother to be a part of this." Novis had expected George toin and argue his case but George simply shook his head and understood. George was already inside Novis''s mind and he even had Arthur forpany. There was currently no need for him to move to another host. "There might be another way?" Arthur suddenly said. "The weapons, of them had the sign of a dragon engraved into the weapon. I believe you were also the only person able to see the mark. If you bring the weapon to your brother and he can see it, then that would mean he is a chosen one." Novis nodded and agreed. He thought this would be the best idea and wouldn''t spook his brother out. The only problem was it waste at the moment and his weapons were at his grandfather''s dojo. He would just have to bring the weapons to his brothers another day. Novis was beat and didn''t really have much to do for the rest of the day, so he decided to ask Arthur if he wanted to y VSW. George was shocked when he realised that Novis let Arthur y the game. "What you mean you let Arthur y online!" George''s eyes lit up. Novis knew straight away that George wanted to have a go, Novis looked towards Arthur for a response. "Let him y, all he''s done this whole time is fight against me. Besides, it will be good for you to watch someone else of high skill fight for a change. "Fine, but I''m not making him another ID, he''ll just have to y on your ount." Novis went into his capsule and logged in online as the yer ID Pendragon and at the same time notifications went off all around the world. Ever since the two videos went viral fromst time, more and more people were currently following the ID Pendragon. Even Novis''s brother Bill received a notification about the mysterious yer Pendragon. Novis had long reached the maximum friend request limit and decided to just ignore them for now, every time he would clear the list he would just get more. The fan base was excited to see what games Pendragon would y today. "He''s finally online, how can he be so good if he ys so little?" "idiot it''s probably an Alt ount." "Yeah but did you see the bounty the pros teams put out looking for him, no one has any idea who he is still." "Yeah a pro team appeared at my university the other day, they were looking at all the yers who yed with the Warrior Dragonyer but they were all rubbish." Just when they were all excited to see the usual Pendragon disy his amazing skill using the warrior Dragonyer, something strange happened. "What!!!" "Did you just see that?!" "Do you think it was an ident!" "This is the first time he''s done this!" The onlinemunity and even the pro teams currently watching Pendragon went crazy at what they had just seen, for the first time ever he had selected a different warrior. Of course, the reason for this was because instead of Arthur ying, this time Gorge was ying instead. Gorge logged into the game and selected the warrior that looked like him and the same one that Ashley used called Raidum. Usually, pro yers focused on one warrior. They would y as other warriors sometimes to learn their weaknesses and strengths but it was important to learn everything you could about your warrior and this took years. Everyone had already naturally assumed that Pendragon was a Pro yer and to y a warrior that was as bad as Dragonyer that well, he had to have yed him for years. Now they were seeing him y someone else they couldn''t help but think it was either an ident or he was just testing something out. But this too sounded unreasonable because Pendragon was currently on a huge win streak and to risk losing that win streak by trying out a new warrior was a crazy thought to some. As George entered the game, he felt alive looking at the forest and the castle behind him. He gave a few swings with the sword and his body responded straight away. Unlike with Arthur, the first time Arthur yed was using the VR headset where there was a bit of dy but this time, they were using the capsule. George then heard the noise of swords shing which brought back memories for him. He gripped his sword and moved forward. "Let''s do this!" Chapter 69: Virtual Sword God! Chapter 69: Virtual Sword God! As soon as George heard the sound of swords shing against each other, he had immediately gone into battle mode. He had seen Novis y the game many times so unlike Arthur''s first time ying, George knew the dangers of towers and the map well. "Do you think he''ll die straight away?" "Yeah most likely, I mean if it was bronze or silver most pros could probably beat them with any warrior but not in tinum." What they saw Goerge do next quickly changed there opinion. They saw George run down thene and he didn''t stop moving forward. He ran straight past his red knights and the enemy''s blue knights going towards the enemy warrior. "Is he going to feed the other team." "I can''t watch this, what happened to him?" A lot of people online started to idolize Pendragon and became true diehard fans of him but a feeder was something that was unforgivable. Feeders were yers that allowed themselves to be killed by the enemy team for free. They would often do this to either ruin other peoples games or when they had an argument with a yer on their team hoping to ruin their experience. The warrior on the enemy team also assumed that George was giving him a free kill as he was running straight towards him. When his sword was in range he activated his stab skill. At thest second, George managed to stop moving, his body waspletely still, causing the stab to miss. The tip of the warrior''s de looked as if it was touching Georges''s nose. Before the warrior could do anything else he had already burst into a pile of blue particles. "How the hell did he stop with all that momentum?" "Not only that, did you see how close the sword was to him? He must also have been able to tell the exact distance." "Stop talking a load of horse poo, no human could calcte the distance of something so urately." As George continued to go around the map though George had disyed this many times with different opponents and continued to carry his team to victory. George had grown up learning fencing his whole life. In his world, it was a sport yed with real weapons where your life was on the line. George quickly learnt to grasp the distance and length of weapons, in order to just avoid a strike and then quickly strike back. There have been some theories around the world that the sport Kendo originated form fencing. Novis was enjoying the show George was putting on. It looked more beautiful then Arthur''s style of fighting. Arthur was overall just strong and powerful and did unbelievable things you could never dream off. But George, it looked like he was almost dancing. Stopping at the right time then quickly moving in. After winning many Games the ount Pendragon had finally ranked up and was currently in Diamond 5. As usual, whenever the ID Pendragon came online it caused a stir through the onlinemunity. "Was that a different person using the same ID." "That''s impossible, the system only allowers the same person to ess that ID." "So you''re saying he really is that skilful with two different warriors. It looked like I was watching a different person." "This man is a god, he is a God of the virtual world." "I wouldn''t go that far." As users continued to talk about the ID Pendragon a new name started to circte. He became known as the Virtual sword god. New clips were uploaded online making aparison of when he yed as the warrior Dragonyer and when he yed Radium. People wondered if the virtual sword god was good with any other weapons or warriors and the pro teams were even more pressured to try to find this user. Hastam had also been watching Pendragon along with his spirit Xin Mao and they were both impressed by what they had seen. Xin Mao was almost a hundred per cent certain that it was another person. The whole fighting style feltpletely different but Hastam knew that wasn''t possible. Then a thought came to his mind, could this person be like him? If so then that would exin a lot. If one of the yers had a spirit like him then it would exin the two different fighting styles. Of course, Hastam didn''t know about the existence of other spirits but if he had one then why couldn''t there be other people with one. Hastam then decided to send the ID Pendragon a message. Novis was currently resting in his room watching some Tv shows before he went to bed. Something he just hadn''t done in a long time. Suddenly, he heard his phone go off. Novis looked at his phone and it was a message from the VSW system saying he had received a message from Hastam. Hastam was currently the only person that Novis had epted as a friend while using the ID Pendragon. The message read: "Hey, I saw your matches today really cool, hoping we could be friends, where are you from?" Novis looked at the message and remembered that Hastam was the skilful spear user that even Arthur had trouble against. One of the weapons Novis used himself was currently a spear, he thought it might be a good idea to get to know this person better and perhaps in the future, he could teach him a few things. "Thank you, I''m, from Ennd what about you?" Hastam was surprised to get a response. There had been many teams that had gone looking for this yer and even put rewards for finding out who he was. He didn''t expect it would as easy as just messaging him. "Ennd huh, I''m from Germany not too far from there, I''m actually nning on going to Ennd soon. Maybe you can show me some cool ces when I get there?" Hastam wasn''t lying, he had a friendly match with another pro team from Ennd and right now Hastam was dying to meet the face behind the person who yed as the ID Pendragon. "I don''t think my mum would like it if I went around the country with a stranger. Maybe when I''m older though that would be cool." Hastam hands were shaking. If Pendragon was a pro yer or yed for a university there weren''t many that still lived with their family. Not only that he was talking as if he was still a child under his parent''s control. "How old are you?" "15," Novis replied. Of course, Novis saw no reason to hide his age, this was a stranger on the inte that he probably would never meet in real life and what could someone do with his age. There were millions of 15-year-olds. Hastam had now realised why the pros were struggling so much to find this person. He wasn''t ying for a pro team or in a university as others thought. He was still just a kid in school. Hastam decided he would keep this secret to himself until the day he met Pendragon in person Chapter 70: Monster Chapter 70: Monster With the long weekend over, it was now the start of a new week and with the start of a new week, meant it was time for everyone to head back to school. Novis woke up early to start his regr run. For thest week, he had gotten used to meeting Dan on his morning runs and the two of them would often run together before heading to school. Only this time, there was no site of Dan. "Maybe he decided to take a break for once." When Novis finally finished his run and arrived back at his house, he was surprised to see someone waiting there for him. "Oh, I didn''t realise you got up so early," Scarlett said as she smiled. "I was thinking we could head off to school together, it''s been a while after all." "Sure," Novis said happily. "Let me just wipe myself and get changed quickly." As Novis was getting changed, he realised that it really had been a while since it was just him and Scarlett. Before Novis started ying VSW they used to hang around each other pretty much every day. That included going to school anding back. But these day''s Scarlett would hang out with Alex at the VSW club while Novis would go to his grandfather''s dojo to train. While the two of them started walking to school there was an awkward silence between the two of them. Until Scarlett finally said, "Ashley and the others are so amazing don''t you think?" "What do you mean?" "Well without them, I don''t think we would have been able to beat Eton." Judging by what Scarlett had said, Novis didn''t seem to be included in the others part which annoyed him a little. But just as Novis was about to say something when he looked over at Scarlett, he noticed she looked a little sad. "You know Novis, the feeling of winning was so great and I want to feel it again but next time I want to feel like I actually helped the team." "Now''s your chance." A voice whispered in Novis head. When Novis looked at Scarlett again, he noticed George in spirit form right next to Scarlett. His lips where purled back making a kissing gesture. Novis was so embarrassed and annoyed his face went bright red. George''s kissing faces and noises were just annoying him more and more until eventually, Novis snapped and tried wafting George away. For a brief second, Novis had forgotten George was a ghost and his hand went right through George and identally hit Scarlett in the face. "Did you tell him to do that?" Arthur asked "Of course not," George replied back. Scarlett looked towards Novis while her hand was on her face where she had been pped. The p wasn''t painful but it had clearly annoyed Scarlett. "What is wrong with you?" She said. "I''m sorry, there was this really annoying fly," Novis said as he stared at George. "And itnded right on you, I forgot your face was there." The two of them continued to walk to school but for the whole trip, they remained in silence. When the two of them reached the school gates, a group of people started toe over as soon as they saw Novis and Scarlett. It was a group of five made up of two boys and three girls that belonged to the same year. "Scarlett" One of the girls shouted as she walked over. "I can''t believe you guy''s beat Eton." "What you already know about that?" "What do you mean, the whole school already knows, we''ve always had a weak team and Eton was quite a strong one. Even the teachers have hopes that maybe the VSW club can get somewhere this time." As VSW was currently the number one Esport in the world, schools had always aimed to do well in the local tournaments but Montem would often get past the first round or so and then get knocked out immediately after. "Hey, can I ask you something?" One of the boys said with his eyes lit up. "Can we meet the monster?" "The monster, who''s that?" "Oh, I thought you would be close to her since you''re on the same team, I think her real name was Ashley something." Novis and Scarlett then both looked at each other. It turns out that nearly the whole school did indeed know about their victory over Eton that happened yesterday. Not only that but the video had been passed around between students of their victory and with the video being passed around there was one thing in particr that stuck out to them. That was Ashley. VSW was a popr game and most kids in school yed. When they saw Ashley take on three opponents like that in a sh there was only one word they could think of. Monster. The nickname spread throughout the school and multiple people approached Novis and Scarlett throughout the day asking if they could meet her. Novis thought it was crazy. Ashley was currently getting more attention than he did, when he took down the school leader Mac. It seemed like everyone had long forgotten his heroic deeds in school. Not only that everyone was afraid of him while everyone was currently praising Ashley. When the school bell rang Scarlett and Novis decided to head down to the VSW club together. When they got there though there was a huge crowd stood just outside the VSW club. "You don''t think that''s for Ashley, do you?" Scarlett asked. The two of them got closer and as soon as the students recognised that it was the other VSW members, they let them through into the club room. As they had expected the room was currently packed with people inside asking Ashley all sorts of questions. "How did you get so good at the game?" "Is it because you practise kendo." "How far do you think you can take the team this year?" In the end, Alex got fed up, that he had to kick everyone out of the room. Finally, silence was heard. The only people left in the club room was, Alex, Ashley, Scarlett and Novis. "Huh, where''s Dan?" Scarlett asked. "I''m not sure," Alex replied. "I''ll send him a text now." *ding "Oh, he says he''s sorry but he won''t be able to make it today." Novis couldn''t help but shake this bad feeling he had. After not seeing Dan in the morning and not seeing him now. He just hoped that nothing bad had happened to him. Chapter 71: Little black cub Chapter 71: Little ck cub Alex was currently standing in the front of the ssroom with a piece of paper in his hand while everyone else was sat down on chairs. Alex was scratching his head as if he was struggling with what to do. "To be honest, I was kind of hoping that everyone would be here today," Alex said as he put the sheet down on the table in front of him. "This here is information on our opponent next week for the VSW tournament." Alex kept stopping between his speeches as if he was struggling to make a decision, until finally. "Alright, I guess you guys can go home and rest for the day, after all, it was only yesterday we had the match. We''ll try to regroup tomorrow with Dan and go through this then." A big smile appeared on Ashley''s face. "Actually, it''s probably for the best, I''m pretty worn out for the day, I''ve been getting questions non stop." "Looks like you''re the ace of our team," Alex said. Ashley quickly blushed and put her head down. Although she had been hearing nice things all day, it was weird to hear it from Alex the club leader. The group then parted ways as they each went to do their own thing, on their day of rest. ****** Meanwhile, Dan was currently in the abandoned warehouse on the south side of town. A crowd of 200 people plus had gathered inside and had formed their own little ring. The crowd was full of delinquents and gang members but there was also the odd man in a suit mixed in as well. The crowd was bigger than usual tonight, as there was a special event that had been announced by the gang Noir. A man with a ck wolf tattoo on his shoulder was currently going through the crowd collecting betting money. Once the money had been handed over to Kyle, Noir''s leader. The man quickly went back into the centre of the ring. "Ladies and gentleman, finally the match you have been waiting for, we have a fan favourite that hasn''t been seen in the ring for a long time, you all know him as the little ck cub!" Dan then entered the ring from the crowd with his shirt off. His rock-hard abs and muscles from years of ying top-level sports were on full disy. With only his hands wrapped up by cloth to give his hands as little protection as possible while giving out the most damage. As soon as Dan had entered the ring, he had been greeted with wolf whistles and howling of all sorts from the crowd. Many of the women were just imagining what they could do with him if they got their hands-on Dan. "I haven''t seen him before, who''s the pretty boy?" A girl asked from the crowd. "Oh, right you''ve only been watching these events for a month or so now. That kid is the younger brother of the leader of Noir. He had his first fight here when he was only 12 years old." "That''s crazy, they made a kid fight in these things." "What''s even crazier was the kid, back then it seemed like the kid would do anything to win. Biting the other contestants, hitting them in their week spots. He had gained quite a following with the crowd." "So, what happened then?" "Of course, a kid is just a kid after all. Apparently, some big shot from the Ruman family paid a lot of money to see the kid go up against a real opponent. A full-on Professional fighter. It was clearly a fight just for show. The kid was good but at the end of the day, he was only a kid. On the day of the fight, he never showed up again until today that is." Although many of the contestants didn''t know that Dan was still a kid in school. His body had grown quicker than other boys his age. And his body was defiantly not that of a regr fifteen-year-old. Many would be shocked if they found out the current boy, they were looking at was still in school. "And his opponent today, will be the up anding Green frog. He jumps he leaps, currently undefeated with 4 wins under his battle, please wee him to the stage." The green frog entered the stage with a giant green mohawk on his head, as he did the crowd started to boo. The green frog was an unpopr fighter as he often licked his opponents while fighting them and spitting on them after already winning the fight. The crowd was more excited to see how much the little ck cub had improved. "Fight!" As soon as the man said that, he stepped back into the crowd of people. The green frog then leapt with his arms wide open trying to grab his opponent. Dan had recently been ying the game a lot in his spare time and although he didn''t win in his games, he hardly ever lost in a one on one fight. "Too slow." Dan had seen many different yers fight and he paid special attention to Ashley in their game against Eton. He was obsessed with her speed with the sword and realised that he needed to be just as fast if not faster if he was going to use his fist in a sword fight. As the Green frog went for a grab, Dan ducked down avoiding the grab and using the power in his legs sprung up with an uppercut. His fist made an impact in the perfect ce, hitting directly on the chin. The green frog''s eyes were already spinning, but Dan wasn''t finished yet, he didn''t want to give the green frog a chance to recover and hit him with a right fist before his feet could evennd on the ground. The crowd was silenced for a few seconds, then everyone burst into cheers. Dan went over to the crowd where a man was currently holding his shirt. He took it off the man and quickly put it on. Kyle then walked over towards Dan. "Impressive looks like you have only gotten better." Kyle then handed Dan a pile of cash tied up with an stic band. "Your winnings of course." Dan took the money and started to walk away. "Before you go," Kyle said. "I''ve received another offer from the Ruman family, you can''t run away from this one Dan." Dan gave a thumbs-up as he continued to walk away. Chapter 72: A Family Chapter 72: A Family With Alex giving the team a day off, everyone decided to go do their own thing. Scarlett decided to go home and spend the day with her family. Ashley was keen to go back to her father and show him the things she had learned from George and Novis was heading to his grandfather''s dojo to grab the two spirit weapons. Scarlett was currently at home just staring nkly out the window. Whenever she wanted to think, she would sit in her front room and look outside the window and watch the outside world. She was currently thinking about how she would be able to be more helpful to the team. Ashley and Dan were already strong fighters before ying the game and that helped them out greatly. Novis had learnt to fight from a coach and had improved quickly. When she saw him fight Mac that one time he felt like apletely new person. And Alex. Scarlett had the most respect for Alex she knew how hard he worked more than anyone. She also understood how much of an impact his information had made in the game. Scarlett had thought about learning archery to improve her skills but when she went to the archery club to practice, it was nearly impossible for her to hit the target. Even if she put the time into learning archery it wouldn''t have made her a good enough archerpared to what the skills gave her in the game. So, she quickly gave up on that idea. All these things were on Scarlett''s mind and that''s why she was currently staring outside her window. As she was, she noticed a tall blonde boy walking outside. It was Dan. After learning that Dan wasn''ting to the club today, she went to check with his homeroom teacher about Dan''s whereabouts. His homeroom teacher had told her that he was sick today but Scarlett was looking at Dan and he lookedpletely fine. Then Scarlett started to notice something. While Dan was walking, he seemed to keep looking at his hand as if he was checking something. Scarlett''s curiosity got the better of her and she decided to leave her out her front door and go check up with Dan. "Hey Dan, Is everything okay?" Scarlett asked. Dan turned around and was surprised to see Scarlett on the pathway behind him. "Oh, it''s you, Scarlett, what are you doing here?" Dan said as he quickly put his right hand behind his back. "I live in this neighbourhood dummy; my house is just there." Scarlett pointed at the house nearby. "Are you trying to hide something from me?" Scarlett was even more curious now, as the hand Dan had been looking at while he was walking, was suddenly hidden behind his back. "Hey, is that Novis behind you!?" Scarlett shouted. As Dan turned around to check behind him Scarlett went to grab his hand to see what he was hiding. As soon as she did, Dan let out a big groan. "Ouch, please be gentle," Dan said with puppy dog eyes. Although Scarlett wasn''t a part of Dan''s fan club, looking at him now she couldn''t help but think Dan was good looking. Scarlett then went to look at Dan''s hand and could see big red marks around the knuckles. The hand was slightly swollen and had a few blood splotches underneath the skin. "Did you get into another fight? Was it Mac and his gang again because if it was, we need to do something about them." Scarlett said looking at his hand. "I just got into a fight with my brother, nothing serious don''t worry." Dan''s hand was injured from fighting bare knuckled against the green frog. Although his hands were wrapped up, that still didn''t stop him from hurting his knuckles, only from not damaging his wrist. "Come here," Scarlett said as she led Dan by the arm to her house. Dan was currently sitting in the living room sofa in Scarlett''s house. While Scarlett went to look for a first aid kit. Dan couldn''t help but snoop around as it was the first time he had been in someone else''s house. Dan''s eyes were then drawn to a picture frame. It was a family picture with Scarlett as a child and her mother and father smiling while they were both holding her up. "Family huh, must be nice." Dan thought. Scarlett then came back from the kitchen with an ice pack and some medication. She then ced the icepack on the swollen part of Dan''s knuckles. "You need to keep it on for about twenty minutes, then take it off and get another er. Also, try to keep your hand up as well. It will stop the blood from going to your hand and take two of these to reduce the swelling." Scarlett was then looking very closely at Dan''s hand checking to see if there were any serious injuries or not. Dan couldn''t help but feel amazed by Scarlett right now. Dan was practically a stranger but two times now she hade to help him as soon as she saw he was hurt. He had never had someone treat him this nicely before. There were many girls and men who would approach Dan with fake smiles but Dan knew that every one of them wanted something out of him. Either a date so they could show him off to their friends or wanting him to join the sports team. Dan thought Scarlett was different. As Scarlett was busy checking Dan''s hand she started speaking. "My mum is a nurse so I naturally learnt these things. Novis used to get hurt all the time as a kid. He was so adventures climbing trees, rooftops and always managed to get hurt. Our family is close to each other so my mother would often go and treat him for small things like this." As Dan sat there listening to Scarlett speak, he noticed that she seemed to sound happier whenever she talked about Novis. He realised that Novis was a really special person to her. "You really like Novis don''t you?" "What makes you say that?" Scarlett said with a bright red face. "Thanks for all this." Dan then got up from the seat and was ready to leave Scarlett''s house. As Dan left through the front door Scarlett called out to him. "Dan if you need anything, we can always help. Me, Novis, Alex, we can do something about it." Dan smiled and continued to walk off, he realised that the people at the VSW club were all really nice and he had grown to like them a lot over the past few weeks. Whatever he did, he promised himself he wouldn''t let them get involved with his business. Chapter 73: Hershal Chapter 73: Hershal Hershal was a school that was known as a grammar school. These schools prided themselves on giving the students the best results in the country without having the need to pay private tuition. And Hershel was one of the best grammar schools. To get into a grammar school at the age of 13 students were required to take a test. Depending on their test results students would be told if they were allowed to enter into Hershel or not. The problem was these tests weren''t your normal maths or English tests. Most of the tests were puzzles or problem-solving skills. The worded questions gave you scenarios to which you had a multiple-choice answer. An example of one of the questions would be. A Teacher is currently disciplining a student in school, the teacher goes a step too far and ps the kid around the face. What would you do? 1. Tell the teacher that''s wrong and try to help the kid. 2. Do nothing and let the scenario y out? 3. Tell another teacher or head of staff what happened in ss. 4. Tell your parents once you got home and let them deal with it, after all they''re the adult. All these questions were to determine if you were the right student for their school. Hershel wasn''t as big as Westgate as they didn''t have the same private funding from rich parents but the school was in top shape. It looked as if the building hadn''t been touched and was kept clean by robots. Currently, in the Hershal''s VSW club room there were five students 3 male and 2 female and the teacher was at the front of the ss. The students all had the uniform straightened perfectly as if they all had a form of OCD. Every one of them was sat in their seats with their back up straight and they even all had simr styles. All short cut hair for the boys and women all hair no longer than their cor bone. The teacher standing at the front of the room was no different. The teacher Damien was also the coach for Hershal''s VSW team. They had just finished watching a video of their performance in thest round of the VSW team. The team had a wless victory winning 5-0 against the enemy team in the first round but the teacher was still going through all the mistakes that they had made. Once they had finished the teacher changed the screen to disy the match between Eton and Montem. "As you can see our expected opponent Eton lost to an unknown team Montem," Damian said. The video continued to y until it had finally finished. "You can see, there were two yers in particr that had an outstanding performance, my guess is that they registered using smurf ounts to catch the enemy teams off guard. As you can see the rest of the team is nothing special. Although we have no footage of the man at the top, we can assume he is average like the archer at bottom and the person at mid also disyed nothing too special." While Damien was exining, Frank who was the leader of the team had a different opinion. He too had done his own studying of the Eton team and knew that the yers at the top where the best two yers on the team. It was clear to Frank that the team had a good strategist who had done his research. And Montems strategist had to be confident enough in the person''s skills at the top to put him there. Frank thought it was the wrong decision for the coach to put their focus on the two people mainly shown in the video. But Frank didn''t raise his concerns for one simple reason. In Hershal, you never went against the teacher no matter what happened. ***** Novis had just been at his grandfather''s dojo and went to fetch out the bamboo sword and long sword that both Arthur and George had originallye from. Novis took a look at both of them to make sure that he could still see the dragon engraved towards the hilt of each weapon and as he had expected they were still there. Once he grabbed both weapons, he put them in a long ck bag and rushed back home. As soon as he got in, he wanted to speak to his brother straight away but before he could go up the stairs, his mother had caught himing in through the front door. "Hey Novis, oh what''s in the bag you got there?" "They''re just some stuff from grandpas ce, he said I could keep them, so I want to put them on disy on my wall." As Novis said that he suddenly had a thought. Maybe his mother would be able to see the markings? Novis quickly rummaged through his back and brought out the wooden bamboo sword. He didn''t want his mother seeing the longsword thinking he was doing something dangerous. "Mum, do you think you could take a look at this bamboo sword? When I showed it to Scarlett, she said she could see a dragon near the bottom of it but I couldn''t see anything. I think she might just be ying tricks on me though." Novis''s mum took the bamboo sword from Novis and started to look around, she looked long and hard and couldn''t see anything at all on it. "I think Scarlett just decided to get some payback on you for once, there''s nothing on that sword but the wood it was made from." Novis smiled "Thanks mum." Then Novis quickly Ran up the stairs. This confirmed that not all family members rted to Novis could see the marking, his mother was a part of his grandfather''s side so would also exin why his grandfather could never hear or see it either. Novis patiently stood outside Bill''s door waiting for one of his games to finish. Novis could always tell when Bill was ying a game or not as Bill would shout and curse through the door. When the shouting had stopped, it that was the time for Novis to enter. Finally, the room seemed to have quietened down and Novis entered Bill''s room. Chapter 74: Spirit User Chapter 74: Spirit User Bill had just finished ying a game of VSW. He was currently in the middle of his promotion games. A promotion urred when you were in the top sub division and had reached a 100 points. In Bill''s case, Bill was a Diamond rank 1 yer. For each game won, you earned a set amount of points and the same was for each game you lost. The more games you won in a row, the more points you would gain. This was why Noivs was able to rank up the ID Pendragon so fast. The system assumes that if you keep winning your games, that you are too high ranked and give you more points. This is to get your ranking higher, as soon as possible. Bill was ying his promotion games to go from Diamond 1 tier to Master 5. In the promotion games, there were five matches in total and you needed to win 3 out of 5 of those games to move up. Bill had just lost his final 5th game meaning once again; he was unable to move up from diamond to master. Bill had just finished cursing out loud and decided to sit in his chair to calm down a bit. That was when he saw Novise into his room. "Oh, hey bro, need help with anything?" Bill asked. Looking at his brother getting all excited and ask so many questions about the game, always cheered Bill up. It reminded him why he fell in love with the game in the first ce. Novis then went into his ck bag and threw the bamboo sword over to Bill. Bill caught the bamboo sword easily. Bill had always had good reflexes and was quite decent at sports at his school. Many clubs offered him to join but of course, Bill turned them all down. "Why you give me this crummy old thing?" "Do you notice anything on it? Like a marking or something?" Novis said as he looked over his shoulder at George and Arthur who were also watching intently. "Other than the fact it''s old, although this marking on the bottom of the dragon looks kinda cool," Bill said as he threw the bamboo sword back to Novis. "It looks like my theory was correct," George said with a smug look on his face. Just to make sure Novis also brought out the longsword and walked over to Bill in his chair. "Whoah, did you take that from grandpas" "Yeah, he let me have it as a gift for clearing out his dojo, any way you see right here." Novis pointed towards the bottom part of the de near the hilt. "Don''t you think the markings look the same?" "Yeah what about it? Are you trying to test my eyesight or something?" "No, no, it''s just I got the bamboo sword from a friend and wanted a second opinion whether the markings looked the same, maybe they''re rted?" "Can you hear me?" George suddenly said. This time when he said these words, he was projecting his word''s outwards rather than inside Novis''s mind. "Huh, Novis did you hear that?" "It''s probably from your headset," Novis answered nervously. As Bill went to put on the headset, he did indeed here his friends asking him where he was and if he wanted to y another game. "I''ll leave you be, for now, thanks for your help." Novis quickly left Bill''s room with both the weapons and rushed back into his own. "What the hell did you do that for George!" Novis shouted. "Well, we needed to be a 100 percent sure." "I guess nothing happened." What Novis was more concerned about was what did this mean? Was his family the only ones that were able to see and receive spirits. If that was true, then Novis would need to do one more test. To see if his father was able to see the markings too. Then that would exin if it truly was a family-rted thing. Unfortunately for him, his father was currently away on a business trip in China and they didn''t know when he was due to return but even if his father could see the markings why was his family able to harbour these spirits from another world? The whole thing was starting to give Novis a headache. He was never good at solving puzzles and clearly, at the moment he didn''t have all the pieces either. For the moment Novis wanted to forget about the whole thing and the best thing for that was to y a few games. Novis then hopped into the rxing soft capsule and as he did, the capsule appeared with a message. When Novis looked at the two user names there was a slight difference between the two. Next to the username, Pendragon was a little mail sign. The mail sign currently said 99+. This sign currently meant that he had 99+ notifications to do with the ID pendragon. Novis had been ignoring them for the longest time now because he had been too busy but he had always wanted to get rid of them. Novis was the type of person that wouldn''t allow his messages or emails to have a red dot or a number on them. Every message had to be read. Novis then logged in as Pendragon, not to y with the ID but to clear all the notifications. When Novis went through the friend request''s he needed to scroll through all of the names to get down to the bottom to hit decline to all. Novis would decide to change his settings after clearing his messages to auto decline once he had cleared these names. As Novis was scrolling through all the messages he saw a name that stuck out to him. It was a strange username to have and it was almost as if it was a question but not just any question. A question that only Novis would know about. Novis thought that it was most likely a coincidence but maybe there was a chance that someone had seen Arthur and George y and recognised there fighting style. Another sprit user, who could only think of this method to get in contact with him. It was a shot in the dark but Novis wanted answers more than anything so he decided to select Yes to the friend request. Then quickly declined all the others. A few secondster Novis received a private message from the very same user. Chapter 75: Spying Chapter 75: Spying Novis almost got a message instantly after epting the user''s friend request. He didn''t know why but he could feel butterflies in his stomach before even opening the message. "Why am I so nervous all of a sudden?" In the end, Novis managed to shake off his nerves and open the message from the unknown user. The message contained only one sentence. "What faction do you belong to?" This was unexpected for Novis. Novis thought the message would go along the lines of, do you have a spirit or do you believe in ghosts or even just a simple greeting. Novis thought about what faction could possibly mean. George and Arthur were both reading the messages along with Novis. "Do you know what they mean?" Novis asked. Arthur had no clue at this point since he still hadn''t regained much of his memory. "Perhaps they are talking about our knight team" George replied "Do you think they are a member of the dragon knights?" "I honestly have no clue, we could just be talking to a person rather than a spirit or could even be a normal user just asking for your team name," George said. "Why don''t we ask them if they''re a member of the dragon knights?" Novis sent the message and almost instantly got a reply back. "I am not part of the dragon knights but do know of them. Spirits are real and I have one, if you do too then you will know I''m not crazy. I wish to meet you in person so we can talk about this together." Georges interest slightly diminished once he found out that they were not a member of the dragon knights but Novis''s rose. He had been looking for someone else who could alsomunicate with spirits this whole time that wasn''t apart of his family and the current answer was right in front of him. The only thing that was stopping Novis form agreeing to meet up with this person was that they were a total stranger. ***** Meanwhile somewhere in Goldware corp headquarters. Tom was currently in one of the development rooms. There were rows and rows ofputers and workers at eachputer. Each worker was wearing a headset and looked like they were monitoring something. Tom was walking around the room when one of his employees took off their headset and shouted. "Tom I have something!" Tom quickly rushed over and was looking over the employee''s shoulder at the screen. "That tracker that you ced in that boy''s capsule, well it looks like we finally got what we were looking for." The screen was currently disying all the chat history between Novis and this unknown user. Not only that they had info on every time Novis had used the capsule, even the fact that he was the user Pendragon. "Do we know where these messages areing from?" Tom asked. "Not yet, the user is masking his IP making it hard to pinpoint an urate location, based on that though we can probably say it''s most likely them." Tom didn''t have a happy look on his face once he heard this information. Tom had put a tracking device in Novis''s capsule as a safety precaution, he had hoped that something like this wouldn''t have happened. Tom never wanted to drag a 15-year-old kid into thepany''s affairs like this. "Can we confirm what spirit currently resides in the boy," Tom asked. The employee then started to shuffle through a pile of papers until he eventually picked one out. On the top left-hand corner was a picture of the weapon that Novis''s grandfather owned, as well as a picture of Dragonyer from the VSW game. "Judging by the description you gave us and the match history of the yer, the most likely spirit is Arthur Pendragon." Although the employee also had information on the game George had yed, it wasn''t enough information for them to guess that there was also another spirit inside of Novis. The spirit could have just been skilful with both weapons. Unlike Xin Mao, the employee wasn''t a weapons expert who could tell the difference between two fighting styles. Tom then took the piece of paper out of the employee''s hand and started to read the info sheet that they had on Arthur. There was one thing that stuck out to him as he read the sheet of paper. "It says here power level unknown?" Tom pointed out. "That''s because we currently have no information on that spirit. It seems like all the information about him was lost at some point. We only have the basic facts." This was a problem for Tom, without knowing how strong the spirit was. Tom didn''t know how much help Novis would need or how well he would fare against when fighting the enemy. "Update me on every bit of their conversation. I want to know when and where these two will meet." "Yes, boss." Tom couldn''t help but have a worried look on his face. "What an unlucky boy." Tom thought. Back in the room, Novis was still deciding on whether or not he should meet this person. Novis kept pacing up and down his room trying to make a decision. "What''s the big deal," George said, "If it''s a bad person let me or Arthur take over and deal with it." "What if they have a spirit stronger then you two?" "Have you met anyone stronger than us yet?" Although what George said was true, it didn''t mean there wasn''t someone out there who was stronger than them. "What if they bring a gun?" "I don''t know what this gun is, but is it stronger than a dragon?" That question made Novis think for a bit. Arthur and George weren''t from this world. They were from a world that sounded like a fantasy to him. He hadn''t even seen the extent of Arthur''s and George''s full strength. If the spirits were able to roam free in this world, would modern technology be able to make a stand against them? After going back on forth in his head Novis finally made a decision. He would meet up with this spirit user in a safe public ce, that way the person was unlikely to do him any harm. Novis sent a message agreeing to meet the user but only once he had finished participating in the tournament. Chapter 76: New Tactic Chapter 76: New Tactic All the VSW Club members were currently in the club room. Dan was able toe to school this time and everyone had made it after getting a good night''s rest. Ashley was still being bothered by the majority of the school and even had her own fan club that nearly rivalled Dan''s. Thankfully the Fan club worked in the VSW club''s favour. The members agreed that Ashley was owned by no one and she was her own person. They should all be able to just enjoy Ashley''s presence and her incredible fighting skills. The club members would often stand outside the VSW club and take it turns to make sure that no one came inside and harass the team. More than anything they wanted Ashley to be able to perform her best in the next uing match. Alex had handed out a piece of paper to each of the members. It gave them the basic information about Hershal, such as their performance in thest tournament and what their current ranking was for each yer in their team. Alex gave everyone a little time to read the information before asking his question. "What do you guy''s notice about the information I just handed you?" "They''re all silver Rank." Novis said, "Yet they seem to be able to have beaten every team theye up against in the past, apart from the seeded teams." "Exactly, Hershal as individuals aren''t very strong but their teamwork is. They''re a team that focuses on grouping up and covering each other''s back." Alex then went to y the video on the school projector behind him. It showed Hershal''sst match that they yed, where they won their Game 5-0. Before the match had even started Hershal did something that was strangepared to most teams. Each yer had selected a warrior with a sword and shield. Usually, you would want a bnced team to give you a wide variety of tactics but Hershal was different. The match started off by showing the two people fighting mid. When the fight was just getting interesting between the two, the yer from the opposite team seemed to be pushing forward as he was winning the fight. Then suddenly out of nowhere, four yers had jumped out of the surrounding forest and defeated the first yer. From there, they quickly pushed down the mid-tower and went onto the second tower down the middlene near the base. This left the other team no choice but to also group and head down to middle together. But now the fight was currently 4 vs 5. Making it easy for Hershel to gain the advantage. When a team was down by a yer they would often stay by the tower. The tower''s firepower had enough strength to make up for theck of a yer. The problem was the range was limited and eventually, a team would be able to move their NPC knight''s forward blocking the tower shots. Not only that but Hershal seemed to be a team that took no risks. There were no risky moves and Hershel would only attack when they were sure they wouldn''t get hit by the tower. Usually, a team that was winning was more likely to make mistakes as they took the lead but that never happened. When they fought, they used two different formations. When attacking as a team they formed an arrow-like formation and defending was almost like a turtle. It was impressive to watch as the Hershel team looked almost like a dance group. As they were all so synced up with each other. Eventually, one of the other team members got fed up and tried a risky y, nking around the back and attacking them. Hershal made quick work of the stray yer and it was the end of the match from there. "What do you think?" Alex said. "They''re kinda like robots?" Ashley replied, "Are all their games like this?" "Yes, they always group up and not once do they leave formation." Scarlett then raised her hand. "What about the games they lost, how did they lose?" "That''s a really good question. As Novis pointed out earlier, there is not a single yer higher than silver on their team. In truth, all of them on their own are less than average yers. A diamond yer is able to do something called poking. Where they can wear the enemy team down without getting hurt themselves. It''s something only the very best yers can do, usually, when a team tries this tactic, they make a mistake and Hershal takes advantage of that but the difference between a good and bad yer is they don''t make many mistakes. Now we have a team of yers that have just started ying the game. We make mistakes all the time." Ashley Dan and Novis were nervouslyughing at this statement, as they knew when they were practisingst time, they would often do stupid silly things. Sometimes they would get to close to the tower without realising it, or hit their own yer when grouping up. Honestly, the team was still a mess and it was kind of a miracle they were able to pull off what they had done against Eton. "I''m guessing you have a n?" Dan asked. "Dan you are bing my favourite person, of course I do. We''re going to take advantage of the fact that Hershal likes to group up and going to use a tactic called, Split pushing." The other members each looked at each other to check if anyone knew what Alex was talking about, even Scarlett didn''t know what spilt pushing was. The projector then switched to a map of VSW. "As you know, there are three pathways you can take to the enemy base in VSW. As I stated before Hershal likes to group up as a five and go down one of these pathway''s together, let''s use mid as an example. This means that the top path and bottom path arepletely free of yers. While we''re keeping them busy one of you will be attacking the towers as fast as you can." "And who will that be?" Scarlett asked. Alex said nothing but just stared right back at Scarlett. "ME!" She said as she pointed at herself. Chapter 77: Split Pushing Chapter 77: Split Pushing Scarlett was just staring back at Alex in disbelief. She had no clue that Alex would spring something on her like this. Although she didn''t know what split pushing was, she still knew from Alex''s tone, that he had given her an important role. "Err Scarlett" Alex said as he waved his hand in front of her face. "Are you there, is everything okay?" Scarlett suddenly snapped out of it. "Sorry." "You look like I asked you to fight one on one with a tiger or something, don''t worry your job is the easy part." After hearing these words Scarlett suddenly calmed down a bit. Alex then continued to exin. "We know that Hershel likes to group up and fight as one unit. Honestly, if it''s us five vs them five I don''t think we have a chance of winning this match. That''s why instead of going for a Wipeout (when a team kills all the other team''s yers.) will go for a capture win instead. (when a team captures the g at the enemy''s team base). While the four of us are locked inbat with Hershel, we will try our best to keep them there for as long as possible, while you Scarlett will push either the top or bottomne." "Do you think it''s a good n?" Novis asked George and Arthur. "It''s a risky n," Arthur replied. "The four of you will have to work hard but not only that. Alex is relying on Hershel stubbornness to work as a group. If they figure out that Scarlett is the weak one in the group all they need to do is send one yer to deal with her." After hearing this, Novis raised his hand to ask a question. "Why don''t we send me instead to do the split pushing." "Hershal team consists of sword and shield warriors, this is the worst matchup for archers as they can easily block iing shots. We will need our strongest and most effective members to hold Hershal off for as long as possible." Scarlett was a little saddened by what Alex had said. She felt like she was just being tossed to the side because she wouldn''t be effective in the team fight. Alex saw this and came up to Scarlett. "Don''t get me wrong Scarlett we need you. Will try our best to hold them but you have the most important job of us all." Scarlett smiled back as she was reassured but at the same time now, she felt an immense amount of pressure on her shoulders. "Well, what are we waiting for? It''s time to y some practice games." The VSW Club then entered in the VR headsets to practise their split pushing idea. The team straight away came across a number of different problems. It was rare for a team to group up so early on in a game like Hershel. They needed a match that would simte what they would face against Hershal. The team tried many tactics to try baiting the team to group together but it didn''t really work, all there testing and messing around made the team lose game after game. There were a few wins here and there of course but they came from a Wipeout rather than a g capture. "Dammit, this isn''t working!" Alex said as he was getting frustrated over the whole thing. "Maybe we can''t get them to group up but why don''t we try manning them one on one?" Dan suggested. "We do it all the time in Football. Each person selects someone on the team and they cover them, try to not kill or be killed by the opponent while we let Scarlett push up ahead?" "It''s a good idea but you''re missing an important detail out," Alex replied. "With Scarlett pushing they''ll be four of us, meaning one of us will have to take on two." Novis then raised his hand. "I''ll do it, I did it before, I know it will be a bit harder since I have to stop them from going back to base but I want to get better." The team looked at each other and nodded. Although the whole school thought Dan or Ashley was the strongest members of the team. The VSW members thought differently. After ying many games with Novis they were amazed at his skill. So far in all the matches, they had yed where they were trying to dy their opponent without killing them. Novis was the only one to seed. The only reason why they lost most of the games was because they were trying to keep the enemy busy for as long as possible without killing them. Then when each member would die Noivs would be left to face 5 on 1. Over the next few days, the team tried the man on man tactic with Novis taking on two yers. Although it wasn''t the perfect simtion for their fight against Hershel, it was the next best thing. The problem was Novis now had to deal with two people and make sure they didn''t leave his side. When a tower was destroyed on your team a message would appear notifying everyone. So while Scarlett was destroying towers the team''s first instinct would be to go back to their base. This was where the hard part came in for Novis. He needed to do his best to stop the team from running back and killing Scarlett. It was hard at first as Novis would often let one slip out of his sight. It was easy for a yer to just run into the forest once Novis was engaged with another. But after match after match, the team eventually got a capture win. Scarlett''s face was so happy, she herself was having a tough time. She had toe up with the best way to allow the NPC knights to help her take down the tower. At first, her tactics were slow but then game by game she got faster and faster at it. The team was confident in this new strategy, they yed a few more games and they started to get a nice 50/50-win rate in their games. Finally, the weekend hade and it was time for the match between Hershal and Montem. Chapter 78: Missing? Chapter 78: Missing? Finally, it was the day of the match between Eton and Montem. Each one of the VSW members had woken up early today. As they all had trouble sleeping and couldn''t help but feel nervous. It was an important day for them that would determine whether all the hard work they had put in would pay off. Today''s match would take ce at Montem school so the members didn''t need to wake up early but they chose to anyway. The match didn''t begin until just after lunch at 1:00 Pm but Alex had asked the team to meet at the school at 9:00 AM. It was important for the team to be prepared as possible. The more time they had to y the scenario in their head, the less nervous each member would feel. Alex knew this and thought it would be better than the members just staying home all day waiting for the match. As Novis went to leave the house, Bill managed to catch him just at the door. "Good luck in today''s match bro, take them down." Novis gave a thumbs up and ran off towards school. **** As Alex was grabbing a piece of bread from the kitchen for breakfast his Mum had entered the room. "Don''t you think your spending too much time with this game thing." "Mum, we made a promise as long as my grades are good, you would let me do what I want." After saying that Alex quickly put the piece of bread in his mouth and left to head to school. **** Dan was currently surrounded by a bunch of kids between the ages of 5 and 10 with all sorts of different hair colours. They were tugging on his shirt and hanging on to his legs screaming at him. "Take us with you big bro." "Yeah, we want to cheer for you." "Don''t you guys have homework to do or something," Dan said. Then a beautiful brown-haired women with round sses game over to take the kids off Dan one by one. "Now, now everyone, we can watch the game at home. It''s important that we don''t distract your big brother, isn''t that right?" All the kids then Nodded in response. "Thanks, ire," Dan said. An older kid who was at the back of the room with red spikey hair then said. "Will be watching Dan, you better beat them for all of us." Dan nodded then rushed off to head to school. ***** It was 9:00 o''clock and just as they had nned each of the members had met up at the school gates. Scarlett was the only one who was running a little behind. As they walked through the school each of the team members couldn''t believe what they were looking at. The school was currently filled with students even though it was a weekend, not only that but several people had banners supporting Montem''s VSW club. "This is amazing, are they all here for us!" Novis said. Alex was then looking carefully at all the words written on the banners. "Take a look again Novis." Novis looked at the banners again then suddenly got depressed. He noticed that none of the banners were actually supporting the VSW club as a group. They were all either banners for Ashley using her nickname monster or Dan. As soon as the students saw the VSW club members they would wish them good luck on the uing match. The time was currently 9:15 and Scarlett was still currently nowhere to be seen. "Where is she?" Novis asked. "I don''t know but I''m sure I told her the right time, why don''t you try calling her?" Alex replied. Novis then took out his phone and gave Scarlett a ring. The phone went straight to voicemail. "That''s strange, maybe she forgot to charge it." "Is she usuallyte?" Dan asked. "Who Scarlett?" Novis replied. "Almost never, she''s the type of person who thinks getting there on time iste. And being there 15 minutes early is the correct time." "Did something happen to her?" Ashley said now with a concerned look on her face. "Maybe she just overslept," Novis said. "I know, I''ll quickly run back and see if she just slept in. She might have just gotten no sleep yesterday." Novis then quickly ran out of the school and back to his neighbourhood. Novis and Scarlett didn''t live too far from school. A normal walk would take between 15 to 20 minutes so with Novis running he would be able to half that time, if not even more. After running back, he finally arrived at the outside of Scarlett''s house. Novis approached the door and rang the doorbell. After a few minutes, a middle-aged red haired woman answered the door. "Oh, Novis what are you doing here? don''t you have a big game today or something? I''m sure Scarlett told me this morning." "Yes, Mrs Springett, I was just wondering if Scarlett had left already or if she was still busy sleeping?" "Scarlett, she left at 8:30 this morning, didn''t you see her?" Novis thenughed nervously. "I must have just missed her then, sorry to bother you." Novis didn''t want to worry Scarlett''s mum over nothing. He wasn''t sure yet what had happened to Scarlett and if he made a big deal over it he would feel truly bad. Novis then quickly ran to school hoping that Scarlett had arrived by now. Novis then came rushing into the VSW club room. Novis looked around to see if Scarlett was there, but everyone but Scarlett could be seen. "So, did you find her?" Alex asked. "No, her mum said Scarlett left at 8:30 this morning." Everyone then suddenly had a sick feeling in their stomach. Scarlett wasn''t the type to back out or run away. She often encouraged others. If Scarlett had already left then something must have happened to her. "We still have time," Dan said. "Why don''t we split up and see if anyone saw her this morning." Each of the team members then split up to look for their missing team member hoping nothing bad had happened. Chapter 79: Fire vs Fire Chapter 79: Fire vs Fire Each member of the VSW club were currently running around all over the school. Any student they met they would ask if they had either seen Scarlett around school, or at least knew of her whereabouts. With each student, they asked though, they were getting more and more worried about her. As no one seemed to have a clue where she was. Novis went back to the VSW room were Dan and Alex where. As soon as Novis opened the door they looked at him with hope in their eyes but when they saw Novis shake his head the atmosphere was quickly gloomy again. "Should we call the police?" Alex asked. "It looks like we might have to," Novis said. Just then though Ashley came storming into the room. "Guys! I found something. A girl said this morning when she was walking to school, she saw Scarlett get stopped buy a couple grown men and some teenagers." "I think we really should call the police," Alex said. Novis thought the whole thing was a bit strange though, why would a bunch of grown men and teenagers take her. Scarlett didn''te from a rich family so it couldn''t have been for money and Novis and Scarlett didn''t live in a rough area where these sorts of things happened. Meaning someone had gone out of their way to meet Scarlett this morning. Dan also found the whole thing strange. The others didn''t know this, but Dan knew about the police in the local area well. Most of them were working for the local gangs. If one of the bigger gangs were involved in this then the police would do nothing about it. "Before we call the police let me try something first," Dan said. Dan then went outside of the VSW club room where nobody would be able to hear him. Finally, when he was far away enough from the others Dan made a call. **** At the Noir gangs base on the south side of town in an abandoned warehouse. A man''s phone started to ring. The man picked up and looked at his phone, "Oh, this is rare, he never calls me," Kyle said as he answered the phone. "I''m listening." "I need your help, more specifically I need Noir''s help." "Well, now that you''re a member of Noir again, of course, we will be happy to help. What do you need?" Dan then told Kyle the description of the men that Ashley had given and also gave a description of Scarlett. After hearing the details from Dan, Kyle put his men straight to work. They immediately hit the streets and started to ask the local and other gang members if they could find out any information. Dan was tapping his foot away waiting for a call back. He knew the Noir gang was big and well known in the town. It was impossible for something like this to escape their ears but for some reason, Dan just had this sick feeling in his stomach. Then suddenly his phone rang. Dan answered immediately. "It''s not good news, I would give up on the girl," Kyle said. Dan couldn''t believe what he was hearing. Noir was one of the biggest gang''s in the town and his brother, the leader was telling him to give up. "What are you talking about, what happened!" Dan shouted. "It''s the Ruman family, we can''t get involved with them again." Dan felt like his heart had sunk deep into his chest. Dan had a deep history with the Ruman family and even now they were hurting his friends. "Please can''t you help!" Dan begged. "Do it as a favour, aren''t we brothers!" "Your favour was used up the first time you left the gang, I''m sorry Dan!" "Then please just tell me one thing, where are they?" "If you go Dan, you might note back alive I can''t do that again." "Please just tell me." Kyle sighed and gave Dan the address hoping that he would eventually calm down and chose not to go. Perhaps this might have been true if it was any other student but it was Scarlett. Dan had grown fond of Scarlett and she was someone who didn''t deserve to be put into the middle of everything. Meanwhile, Novis and the others were patiently waiting in the club room for Dan toe back. Alex couldn''t stop pacing up and down the room while he was waiting. "Can you please stop that!" Ashley said, "It''s annoying." "I can''t just stay still it feels like we''re doing nothing." Novis too felt frustrated but he couldn''t just go running all around the town himself. He would never be able to find her. "Hey Novis, isn''t that Dan outside?" George said. Novis then went up to the ssroom window where George was pointing. "It is him!" Novis said surprised. Dan was currently running outside the front of the school like he was in a rush to go somewhere. "It looks like he found something,e on!" Novis said as he ran out of the room. Ashley grabbed her trusty bamboo sword which was in a long ck case and followed Novis and as she did, she noticed that Alex hadn''t followed them. She quickly turned back. "Are you noting?" "You guys get Scarlett, I''ll stay here in case shees back. Besides I need to inform Hershel if you guys don''t make it back on time." "Got it!" Ashley said as she took off running after Novis. Novis was a fast runner and Ashley wasn''t bad herself. Although they were quite a distance away from Dan, they were able to see him in the distance. Dan wasn''t running his hardest because he knew there was a high chance that he would have to fight his way in to save Scarlett. He needed to save as much of his energy as possible. As they continued to follow Dan, they noticed that they had entered the south side of town. It was the crummy part of town with many abandoned buildings and homeless people. It was a ce that their parents had told them to avoid. Novis didn''t stop for a second though, thinking about how his best friend could be in a ce like this. Eventually. Dan stopped just outside an abandoned apartment. "He stopped," Ashley said. Dan stood outside looking at the apartment building. "I promise I''ll save you Scarlett." Chapter 80: Danger Stranger Chapter 80: Danger Stranger When Scarlett woke up this morning, she was more nervous then she had ever been before. She often got nervous before exam days or assessments and public performances but nothing like this. The reason for this was that Scarlett knew that today''s game relied on her more than anything. She was fine when the oue would only affect her but not when it was affecting her teammates and good friends. Because of this, when Scarlett was walking to school, she was walking slower than usual, plodding along step by step with her head down to the ground. She kept going through the games they had yed and was just imagining the game between them and Hershal. As she was walking, she suddenly felt her body hit a solid object. As she looked up from the ground, she noticed that it wasn''t an object or wall but arge human being. "Sorry about that, I wasn''t looking where I was going," Scarlett said as she backed away from therge unfriendly looking man. But when she backed up, suddenly she felt her back hit another object. When she turned around there was another man of a simr size to the man in front of her. Scarlett gulped now realising that these men were probably after her. She looked around to see if there was anyone she could call out to for help. But it was early in the morning and a weekend so most people were still sleeping inside. Then she noticed two teenage boys around the same age as her start to walk over. Scarlett then waved to get the two boys attention hoping they would be able to see her and call for help. She didn''t want to make any noise, in fear that they would do something the second she did. The wave seemed to have worked, as the two boys started toe over in her direction. When they had finally reached where she was one of therge men turned around and looked at the boy. "Is this the right girl?" The man said. "Yeah, she''s the one." The boy replied back. Scarlett was shocked by what just had happened. The two boys and two men were working together. When she took a closer look at the boy, she seemed to recognise him from somewhere. Then it hit her. The boy was there that day Novis fought against Mac. In fact, it was one fo the boys that ended up getting beaten by Novis himself. With no choice left Scarlett decided to let out a scream in hoping someone would hear her. But before she could, the man had put his hand around her mouth, a few secondster a ck car with tinted windows arrived and he threw Scarlett inside. The others followed inside and the car quickly went screeching away. Scarlett was now currently in an unknown building. They had ced a bag over her head on the whole ride here so she didn''t know where she was. Scarlett was absolutely petrified and couldn''t help to think of the old gangster movies she used to watch. She surely thought she was going to die. When they lifted the ck bag off her head she noticed she was in a rundown room. All of the decorations had been torn down and there was no sign of furniture, just bricks and dirt. Scarlett tried moving but quickly realised she was unable to. She had been tied down to a chair with her hand behind her back. "Please, I don''t know what I did but just let me go home to my parents." Scarlett cried. "I promise I won''t tell anyone what happened." Currently in the room was the tworge men that had kidnapped Scarlett. Two of Mac''s friends that also went to the same school as Scarlett and at the back of the room was a tanned Asian man with long hair up to his cor bone. The Asian man''s name was Tony and he was a fighter that had been hired by the Ruman family. He had worked for them for years. Helping them out now and again, these included things such as, disputes between gangs and illegal fighting arenas but never on something like this. Looking at the situation Tony couldn''t help but feel sick about the whole thing. "She''s just a young girl, do we really need to do this," Tony said as he looked at Scarlett crying and begging. One of the big men then went up to Scarlett and pulled out a small 4-inch kitchen knife and ced it on Scarlett''s neck. "You, not another word otherwise this goes into you, you understand." Scarlett was paralysed with fear and too scared to say anything. "Nod if you understand." The man said. Scarlett quickly nodded her head up and down. Tony watching the whole situation was furious. He was fine with beating up other gangsters. Most of the time they deserved it but what could a kid like her do that was so bad. The man looked up and could see Tony staring at him. "Rx would you," the man said. "the orders are to make sure she stays here until evening, then we will send her on her way back home." Tony didn''t like it and he especially didn''t like the man''s attitude. Just then a man came running into the room. He looked panicked. "Boss, there is someone here! He''s beating up our men one by one, we need help." "Who the hell hase to attack us at a time like this, do they have a death wish going up against our family." "It''s just a single person sir, he has blonde hair and is wearing the same school uniform, I don''t think he''s from any of the local gangs." "You''re having so much trouble from a school kid!" the man shouted. Scarlett hearing the description of the person could only think of one person who woulde out and help her. It had to be Dan but Scarlett could never imagine Dan taking on this many people on his own. Why didn''t he call the police she thought? "The boy must be one of your friends." The man said as he turned and looked at Scarlett. "Tell all the remaining men toe to gather in this room. Will give him a big surprise once he''s here." Chapter 81: Blood Rush Chapter 81: Blood Rush On the south side of town, Dan was currently stood outside an abandoned apartment block. The ce was quieter and emptier than usual. Usually, the ce would be filled with homeless or gang members. All this was a sign to Dan that he was in the right ce. Most likely the Ruman family when they upied the building, forced the homeless and other gang members to scurry out of here, if they didn''t listen, they would be in for a world of hurt. Dan stood just outside and looked at the building, he didn''t have a clue how many members were inside and who was inside. If anyone recognised him as being part of the Noir gang then it would cause trouble for the two gangs. Luckily for Dan, it wasn''tmon knowledge that he was a member, otherwise, Kyle wouldn''t even think about giving Dan the location of the building. Dan hesitated for a slight moment before heading into the building, but then he suddenly heard the voice of Scarlett screaming from the top floor. Dan couldn''t wait any longer and rushed into the building. As he ran inside the crummy building Dan spotted three men in front of him near the staircase leading up. "Hey, who are you!" The man shouted. But Dan was sprinting now at full force and the next second he had already closed the distance between them. Dan gave a solid punch as hard as he could to the first person, usually, he would hold back for fear of breaking his wrist or knuckles but the rage inside him made him forget about everything. Dan didn''t think twice after hitting the first person, he then leapt on to the second one straight after. Pinning the man''s arms to the ground with his knees. Dan then punched left, right, left, right continuously until the man was unconscious. The third person who had just witnessed the whole thing, ran up the stairs in fear to warn the others of what just happened. **** Meanwhile, just outside of the apartment block Novis and Ashley had finally caught up with Dan and saw him enter the building. "She must be inside," Ashley said. "Looks like it," Novis replied as he started to look at his surroundings now realising where he was. "Come on then let''s go!" Ashley said. "Wait, don''t you realise where we are, it''s the south side of town and not just that, we''re in gang territory." "So, your saying we should leave her in there?" "No, I''m not saying that but we don''t know how many people are in there, we need a weapon." Ashley then through her long ck bag onto the ground and pulled out her trusty kendo sword. "Will this do?" "That''s what you were carrying around this whole time?" Novis then started to look around the building to see if there was anything he could find as he went looking for a weapon he started to talk to George and Arthur. "George, Arthur, I know you want me to grow and I''ve never asked for your help before, but if there''s the chance Scarlett or any of us get hurt, will you take over and help them?" "Did you even have to ask?" Arthur replied. "Yeah, do you think were devils or something," George said. Novis smiled back at them as he found a long meter and a half pipe. He picked it up and gave it a few swings. The bnce was a bit off as the weight distribution was differentpared to a sword but it would have to do for now. Every second spent, meant Dan and Scarlett were in danger. "Hurry up Novis," Ashley shouted as she stood at the entrance of the apartment. Novis quickly ran over to Ashley and they both entered the building together. It was arge building and they had no clue where Scarlett or Dan would be. Many of the rooms didn''t have doors or windows so they could just walk past and see if anyone was inside. When they eventually got to the staircase, they saw two people knocked out on the floor. One didn''t look too bad but the other''s face was bloody and looked like their nose had been broken. "Do you think it was Dan?" Ashley asked. "It has to be,e on let''s go." **** On the top floor of the apartment building in a singlerge room. Therge leader Rob, had gathered all of his men to guard the one room. He did this as soon as he heard the news from one of his men''s mouth that a kid hade from the same school as the girl. The room was full with about 15 men all armed with different types of weapons, bats, machetes, brass knuckles baseball bats. They weren''t going to go easy on the person just because it was a school kid. Tony, on the other hand, continued to stay at the back of the group and was leaned against the wall. He was disgusted with the people in front of him but he knew he had a debt to pay with the Ruman family, so for now, he had to do as he was told. Suddenly, footsteps could be hearding down from the hallway. "Looks like he''s finally here?" Rob said with a smile as he looked back at Scarlett. The men grabbed their weapons tightly and started tough. "Scarlett! Scarlett!" Dan shouted as he ran down the hallway. Scarlett recognised the voice straight away and it was as she feared. It was from Dan. "Runaway Dan! There waiting here for you." But Dan''s mind was too distracted to hear the words of Scarlett and instead he just heard her voice and ran straight in the direction of the room Scarlett was in. When he stepped inside it was toote for him. Dan stood there with 15 people in front of him, but his legs weren''t shaking, he didn''t want to run away. Instead, he just stared at Scarlett who was in the seat with tears dropping from her face. "YOU BASTARDS!" Dan shouted as he charged in. Please read this story on the official source, Webnovel, Mangatoon and Tapas. Chapter 82: Scum Chapter 82: Scum Although Dan had charged into the group of people recklessly, that didn''t mean he had no n. He could clearly see that many of them had weapons on them. The ones with sharp objects like knives or machetes mainly stayed at the back of the group. It was fine attacking other gang members with these type of weapons as the police didn''t really care for gangs killing gangs but it was different if a student was involved. Dan knew this and knew; he didn''t have to worry about them so much. The person closest to him was arge man with a baseball bat. When Dan got close the man gave a wide swing. This was simr to a hook in boxing, Dan ducked avoiding the bat''s strike and barged into the man with his shoulder. Dan then used all the strength of his legs to push the man back as far as he could. The idea would be that Dan would use the man as cover from the other gang members while reaching for Scarlett and getting her out of there quickly. But therge man was stronger than Dan thought. It was differentpared to fighting kids. The barge managed to move the man back a few steps but that was all. Dan saw this and straight away changed his tactic giving a hook to his side. The strike was so powerful it caused the man to fall over. "A liver blow!" Tony said as he was surprised at Dan''s skills. The next person to the right of Dan gave a strike with a stick but just like in the VSW games, Dan parried the stick to the side with the palm of his hand then threw a strong right counterblow. But while Dan''s back was turned, he was hit from behind by a stick. Dan stumbled but didn''t fall over. He knew he couldn''t, he was the only one able to save Scarlett right now. Dan then spun around and gave a back fist. The fight continued on like this, with Dan hitting one person and getting a hit back. After a while, Dan''s entire body was covered in bruises. Tony watching the whole thing was amazed that Dan was still able to stand up. Tony then got off from the back wall and started to walk over towards where Dan was. "A boy like you doesn''t deserve to be beaten by scum like this," Tony said. As soon as Tony moved forward, the other gang members stepped back to let him through. Dan''s vision was blurry so he couldn''t see very well but when he looked up, now he could only see one person in front of him. Dan didn''t know how many people he had taken out or how much damage he had caused to the gang members. His mind was the only thing that kept him going and now that he could only see one person in front of him, he thought he had a true chance to save Scarlett. Tony motioned Dan toe forward with his fingers and that''s exactly what Dan did. Dan threw a jab at Tony''s head but the attack was too slow, Tony then used both of his hands to grab Dan just behind the neck and pulled his body forward, as he did, Tony lifted his knee hitting Dan directly in the face. Dan''s head flung backwards in the air along with his body. Just before his head hit the hard-solid ground Tony managed to catch him and ced him on the ground peacefully. Dan waspletely knocked out. Tony was a professional Muay Thai fighter from Thand. He had been hired by the Ruman family and had been working with them for thest ten years or so. Tony had only decided to intervene because he didn''t want someone as skilful at fighting as Dan, to end his carrier or life here. Tony knew that Dan was too strong for these members, their attacks were too weak to knock out someone as strong-willed as Dan, so then he decided there was only one thing he could do to save Dan and that was to knock him out himself in one blow. In the end, the fifteen gang members that were in the room had been brought down to 10. This number included Tony and Rob. It was impressive for a boy Dan''s age and not only that but Dan waspletely on his own. Scarlett having witnessed everything that happened couldn''t stop crying. She not only feared for her own life but now also Dan who wasn''t moving on the floor. "What do you us to do with him boss?" One of the gang members closest to Dan said to Rob. "Put him on his front." The two men did as they were told andid Dan on the ground on his belly, with his two hands spread out. "Judging by your tears, it seems we were right. You really do know this person." Rob said. "Well, it''s time we show you what happens to anyone who messes with the Ruman family." Rob then signalled to one of the men holding a knife to go over to Dan. The man walked over as he already knew what Rob was going to order. "Cut off the boy''s fingers." Scarlett crying got even louder. "NoNO PLEASE!" The man pulled out his knife and ced it just above Dan''s little finger. Tony eyes were starting to fill Red with Anger. He hadn''t expected Rob to act this extreme but Tony was now too far from the boy to stop anything. Rob then nodded signalling the man to do it. The man moved his de slightly causing the skin to draw blood, Scarlett couldn''t witness it anymore and closed her eyes. Then suddenly, she heard a scream but it didn''t sound like Dan''s voice, it was unfamiliar to her. As she opened her eyes again, she saw Novis standing directly above Dan and the man with the knife had been knocked out and was lying on the floor. Novis looked at Scarlett and Dan and there was a rage inside him that just wouldn''t calm down. "WHAT THE F!CK DID YOU DO TO MY FRIENDS!" Chapter 83: My Honor Chapter 83: My Honor There was silence in the room for a moment as everyone turned to look at the Novis who had just entered the room. Everyone was too focused on Dan in the middle and didn''t hear Novis and Ashley running down the hallway. As soon as Novis saw Dan being held down by someone, without thinking he charged in and whacked the man on the head. Novis''s hands were shaking but not from fear, it was anger. Novis looked and could see Scarlett tied up and Dan beaten to the point where he was almost unrecognisable. The group of men in the room started tough. "When did this building turn into a school ground, what''s with all these school kids around here," Rob asked. Everyone stood there and was unresponsive. "What the hell are you guys standing around for! Get them!" The men charged at Novis together but Novis didn''t move or run away. "George, Arthur, remember what I said outside, well forget about it, because I want to hurt these guys with my own two hands." George and Arthur had gone through simr things in their past life before, they knew the rage inside of Novis. "Go get them boy!" George said. Then without thinking about it, Novis whacked the man''s face closest to him with his iron pipe. Teeth and blood scattered across the room as the man fell to the ground. Another man close to Novis wasing at him from behind but Novis wasn''t worried for he had a trusted partner. "Ahhh!" Ashley shouted as she hit the man on the head. "1, 2, 3, Dodge!" Ashley said again as she hit the man three times on the head, before jumping back and attacking the next person. The two of them were unstoppable. The men were just street thugs and had never fought against fighters such as these. The problem when fighting in a group was even with greater numbers, at most 3 people could attack you at the same time. Otherwise, you would just end up getting in the way of each other. Ashley and Novis were giving good back up to each other so they didn''t end up getting a scratch on them. Dan not only had no weapons when he fought but he waspletely on his own. It was almost impossible for him toe out unscathed. Rob was currently watching the whole thing in anger. He couldn''t believe the Ruman gang was being handled by a couple of school kids. He watched his gang members get taken out one by one until eventually, there were only two people left. Rob and Tony. Dan was passed out on the floor for a little while but the sound of groaning managed to wake him up. As he slowly opened his eyes, he could see Novis and Ashley standing there but not only that. They weren''t surrounded by anybody like he was. When he looked around Dan noticed that all the gang members had been defeated apart from Tony and Rob. "I knew you were something special," Dan said. Novis turned around and noticed that Dan had regained consciousness and was lifting himself off the ground. "You just stay there Dan, I promise will get back to school soon, then we go back to ying together." Dan smiled, he liked the thought of them going back to school and winning the tournament together but then Dan noticed that Tony was still standing. Although the fight between them was brief, Dan could tell Tony was a professional fighter. "What are you waiting for!" Rob said as he looked at Tony. "go get them, that''s what the family pays you for." Tony then looked Rob straight in the eye and said "If you know who I am, then you know I agreed with your boss that I have a set of rules, and one of those rules is no children." Rob wanted to kill Tony they''re and then but knew that the boss favoured him for some reason. "Just let us go," Ashley said. "Who do you think you are to boss me around, little girl." Novis then stepped forward. "Either let us go or you''re next." Novis pointed his iron pipe at Rob. They couldn''t be reckless right now, because Rob was currently standing right next to Scarlett. Novis was afraid that if he tried making a move now that he would use Scarlett as a hostage so the best thing, he could think of was to intimidate him. Rob then startedughing. "HA, I can see the look on your faces, you guys think you''ve won haven''t you." Rob said as he felt down his shirt. "let me tell you, there''s a reason why we''re gang members." Tony noticed what Rob was doing and immediately. Tony stepped forward but as he did, he heard the clocking sound of a Gun. The gun was now right in his face. "Why don''t you go back to your wall, Tony?" Rob said while holding the gun at Tony''s face. Tony was a skilled fighter but there was no chance for him to go up against something like a gun. It was impossible for a human to do. Tony did as he was told and backed up back to the wall. Rob then pointed his Gun towards Ashley and Novis. "All you guys had to do, was lose the goddam game and all of this would have been over!" "Game! You did all this because of a game!" Novis shouted Rob then shifted the direction of the gun directly at Novis. "I think you forgetting who has the power right now boy." Novis was nervous of course, anyone would be if they had a gun pointed at them. It was the first time Novis had witnessed one in person and it was pointed right at him. "George do you remember when we talked about guns and dragons." "Is what this man is holding, the gun you speak off?" "Well, I think this might be the time we find out about whether guns or dragons are stronger." Chapter 84: Early Chapter 84: Early Back at Montem, Alex was waiting outside the school gate nervously. He was continuously looking down both sides of the streets hoping that he would see his teammates any second now. "I hope they''re okay." Alex then lifted his hand to look at his watch, the time was currently 11:00Am, the match was due to begin in around 2 hours. Just then, Alex started to hear the sound of arge vehicleing down the road. It was a school area so normal cars drove quite slowly and didn''t make a lot of sound. "It couldn''t be, they shouldn''t be here for at least another hour." Alex thought. As he looked to his right where the sound wasing from, he could see arge bus off in the distance. The bus eventually stopped just outside the school and on the side of the bus read. Hershal grammar school. Hershal had arrived a good two hours before the match was scheduled to start. The montem students wanted to get a good look at the Hershal team so they had gathered around the front entrance of the school. The bus door opened and out came the coach followed by the 5 yers on the Hershal team. The coach was currently wearing a suit and looked like awyer who was representing the team. As the kids got off the bus they got off in a single file. Instead ofughing or cracking jokes with each other, they stood still in front of the bus in hight order. The coach approached the school gate first and started to speak to the students in front of him. "I would like to speak to the coach of Montem''s VSW club and ask if we can perhaps start the match a little earlier." The girl that was stood directly in front of the coach answered back. "We don''t have a VSW coach but the captain of the team is standing right there if you want to speak to him." The girl said as she pointed at Alex. Alex gulped at the situation in front of him. **** Back at the abandoned warehouse, Rob was still holding the students at gunpoint. Rob was beginning to sweat and look increasingly nervous. "I can see the look on your faces," Rob shouted, "Your all looking down on me aren''t you!" Novis could tell it was a bad situation. Rob was clearly bing more agitated and didn''t seem like a person that was all there. If they stayed here longer that was a good chance that Rob would end up shooting one of them. "So do you think you can beat a gun?" Noivs asked. George and Arthur had asked Novis to give as much detail about what a gun was as possible. They needed to have a good understanding of what a gun was to be able to know if they could beat it or not. Novis had exined that a solid metal object woulde shooting out of the gun when he pressed the trigger. A speed that was so fast the human eye wouldn''t be able to keep up with it. Not only that but if he pressed the trigger again, immediately another solid object woulde out of it. Novis didn''t know a lot about guns so he had no idea how many bullets the type of gun Rob was holding had. "There were many magical beasts in our world that could shoot out objects at an incredible speed, of course, we knights went through intensive training to be able to block and defend against these objects," George answered. "So that means you can?" Novis said sounding hopeful at George''s words. "I''ll be honest Novis, I don''t know, I have never seen or gone up against a gun so I can''t say a 100 percent for sure. What I can tell you if that thing is truly as fast as you say it is. Then the only chance we have at blocking it, is if the gun is shot at us. If it is shot at anyone else in the room the chances of blocking the shot are reduced." Novis head was starting to hurt, he needed to make a decision and fast. If he let Rob shoot at one of his friends then that meant there was a lower chance that George or Arthur could stop the bullet, on the other hand, if Rob shot at him there was a higher chance of stopping the bullet but Novis could die. He always thought if a situation like this happened, he could be a hero and would easily sacrifice himself for others but in reality, the chance of dying was a fearful thing. While Novis was busy making up his mind on what to do, Rob was getting more and more agitated, he looked at his men who were badly beaten on the floor. "That''s it!" Rob shouted, "I''ve decided one of you isn''t leaving here alive." Rob then took the gun and ced it against Scarlett''s temple. Scarlett''s eyes widened and tears were flowing out as she stared at Novis. "George, Arthur, I''ve decided, take over me now." As soon as Novis said the words, Arthur had taken over Novis''s body. George had decided that Arthur would give them the best chance to block the bullet. Arthur started to walk over towards Scarlett and Rob. "What a pathetic person, putting children in a situation like this, people like you should burn in hell," Arthur said. Rob now went to point his gun at Arthur who was walking at him. "You think I''m joking, don''t you? take another step and I''ll pull the trigger." Ashley, Dan, Scarlett and Tony watching Novis walk forward thought he had gone mad. Just seconds ago, Novis was like them, frightened and scared of what could happen at any second but it was as if Novis suddenly changed. His body had this aura of confidence and even the tone in his voice has changed. "Try it," Arthur replied. Arthur then stepped forward with his pipe in hand and... *BANG The sound of the gun going off could be heard. Shortly after the sound of the gun, screams could be hearding from the girls. Please read this story at its original source, Webnovel, Tapas or Mangatoon. This helps support the author. Chapter 85: Little captain Chapter 85: Little captain Back at Montem school in front of the school gate, there was a small group of people. Hershal had just arrived at the school two hours earlier than expected and the students of Montem were excited to see who their opponents were going to be. The coach from Hershal stepped forward and walked over towards Alex. The presence of the man was suffocating. Just by looking at the man Alex thought if he said one wrong thing, that the man would eat him alive for it. When the Coach arrived, Alex was surprised to see the coach offering his hand for a shake. "Nice to meet you, the names Burney." Alex looked at Burney''s hand before shaking it, as well as Hershel''s team who were still stood in a line behind him. "Alex," Alex said as he shook the man''s hand. "I was hoping that we might be able to start the match earlier than nned, you see our students are very busy." This was what Alex was afraid of. The fact that Hershal arrived two hours before the scheduled time most likely meant they had nned to start the game early. Alex didn''t know this but this was actually all deliberately nned by Burney. He wanted to put pressure on the enemy team by doing something unexpected and if Novis and the rest where there, Alex would have most likely said yes anyway. "I''m afraid the rest of our team members haven''t arrived yet so that''s not possible." Burney kissed his teeth making a tutting sound. Burney thought that Montem would have taken this match and tournament more seriously. What yers would turn up just as the game was about to start. "I can''t believe how unprofessional you guys are but if that is how it is, then so be it. Guide us to the match hall please so we can prepare ourselves." Alex didn''t like the man''s tone of voice or attitude. He could clearly see that Burney felt like him and his school were above them. Alex then led the Hershel team to the school Gym. The Montem students were surprised that the VSW members of the Hershel team were the only ones to get off the bus. Usually, when ying an away game, they would at least bring some supporters to cheer them on. Montem didn''t have any when they went to Eton but that was because of Mac as well as the fact that everyone thought they were going to lose. Burney had made this decision though because he didn''t want anything distracting his team. They needed to perform the same no matter if they had people cheering them on or not. Finally, Alex and the Hershal team had arrived at the school Gym. The other students had kindly set up the VR headsets and projector for them and there were already many students in the gym waiting for the match to start. "You can practice in here until the game starts if you want," Alex said. In truth Alex himself had wanted to practice a few more times before the match had started, it was always good to y a warm-up game before heading off into the real thing but then the incident with Scarlett happened. "Thank you, we shall take you up on that offer." The Hershel team started to put on their VR headsets as the coach instructed them to. The n was to y a game or two before the uing match. Alex wanted to stay to see if the Hershel team had made any changes even though that was unlikely. In every game that Alex had watched of theirs, they stuck to an almost simr routine. Alex thought it was insane. If a team was to lose the tournament every year, then usually they would need to change their tactic but not Hershal for some reason. Alex then started to leave the gym as he wanted to wait by the gate for his teammates but just as he was about to leave Burney called out to him. "Oh, by the way, I''ll be checking the time, if your team is evente by a minute the rules state that it is an automatic win for us." Alex turned around with his fist clenched hard, if he could, he would have punched the arrogant coach in the face by now. Just before Alex left the gym though he said hisst few words. "Don''t worry, they''ll be here and when they doe, we''ll kick your arse and your team with it." Alex then quickly left the gym room. "Did you hear what Alex just said?" "Yeah, he sounded so goddam badass, was he always like this?" "No, he was always a little bookworm." The students of Montem couldn''t believe what they had hearde from the mouth of their shy little VSW captain. It raised the morale of the school greatly. At the next turn down the hallway away from the sight of everyone else. Alex lent up against the wall and had his handheld on his chest. He could feel his heart was beating incredibly fast. Alex himself couldn''t believe what he had just done. For some reason, Burney had just hit a nerve with Alex. While Alex was currently busy waiting outside for Novis and the others, the rest of the school slowly started to gather in the Gym as the time for the match was drawing closer and closer. The school''s morale started off high and hopeful, that was until they saw Hershal''s practice games. Hershal had yed 3 practise games while waiting for Montems team and in those three games, they had one each match at a lightning speed. Not only that but they hadn''t lost a single yer. The Montem students had witnessed their amazing teamwork and their unique defensive style of y for the first time. While watching the match they could only think of one word for the team. "Strong." Nearly all the students who were watching the match had yed VSW themselves but they had never gone against something like this. Chapter 86: Gun VS Sword Chapter 86: Gun VS Sword The sound of the Bullet leaving the gun rang out through the room. The girls closed their eyes as they were too afraid to see what had happened to Novis. "What was he thinking going up against a gun," They thought. The only people who were able to witness what Novis had done were Tony, Dan and Rob himself. As soon as Arthur took a step forward, Rob had pulled the trigger, the bullet flew out and almost at the exact same time, Arthur swung the metal pipe but something was strange. There was no ng sound of metal going against metal as one would expect. Instead, the bullet simply dropped right in front of Arthur. The bullet then rolled across the ground and moved towards Rob. Rob was unable toprehend what had just happened. It was the first time something like this had happened to him. He could understand if he had simply missed the shot, even if the bullet had hit the pipe. But what everyone had witnessed was supernatural. Arthur had swung the pipe just before the bullet had even reached him, causing the bullet to fall mid air. "I don''t know what you did but it won''t work again!" Rob shouted as he pulled the trigger multiple times. Every time Rob pulled the trigger Arthur would swing in response and before the bullets could even reach him, they would fall to the ground. This was because Arthur was using sword energy. Sword energy was almost like an invisible force and it worked that way too. Arthur would swing the pipe to create a wave of sword energy that would stop the bullet in its tracks. It was simple, the energy created from Arthur''s swing was far greater than the energy created from the bullet. Eventually, Rob pulled the trigger once more and all that could be heard was the sound of clicking. He had run out of bullets. Rob then looked to his left were Scarlett was in her chair and pulled out the knife he had earlier. Arthur and George could see what Rob was nning. "Switch!" George shouted. Instantly Arthur and George had switched ces and a secondter before Rob could even reach Scarlett, George had leapt across the room and was inches away from Rob''s face. George wasn''t going to hold back and decided to hit Rob from the chin up with the pipe, with just enough force so he wouldn''t die but might have other serious implications. As soon as Rob''s body hit the floor and was knocked out, George gave control back to Novis. "Wait there''s one more," Novis said looking at Tony who was leaning against the wall. "Don''t worry, I have a feeling he isn''t going to do anything to you guys." Ashley then quickly moved over to Scarlett and helped untie her from the chair. Ashley was surprised that Tony wasn''t moving from where he was. In truth, Tony was reying in his head what he had just seen Novis do. He couldn''t believe that a human being was actually able to stop bullets. It was clear that even if Tony wanted to stop them from leaving, he wouldn''t be able to. "What do we do about these people, should we go to the police?" Ashley asked. Scarlett was currently trying to unsettle her nerves and take in everything that had just happened to her. "You guys just go." Tony said, "I will take care of this, just make sure she''s okay and tell her I''m sorry." Ashley didn''t care for the man''s apology. Clearly, he was a bad person to be even in this type of business in the first ce but all she knew was he was letting them leave and so they did. The four of them were finally outside the abandoned apartment building, Novis was currently holding and helping Dan up while Ashley was doing the same for Scarlett. "I''m okay now," Scarlett said as she allowed Ashley to let go of her. "Me too," Dan said. Clearly, Dan was not okay, he had bruise marks all over, his left eye was swollen and his lip was all busted up but Novis knew he just didn''t want him to worry. "What''s the time?" Ashley asked. Novis pulled out his phone and said. "12:30." "We only have 30 minutes until the game starts, we have to hurry," Scarlett replied. "Are you crazy!" Ashley said, "You should be at home resting after that and Dan should be going to the hospital." Novis didn''t want to quit the match but Knew Ashley was right. Their health right now was more important than a game. "Do you know why they kidnapped me?" Scarlett asked. "They said they were from the Ruman family, that''s Mac''sst name." "You mean he did all this because he didn''t want us to y." Novis had an idea but was hoping that it wasn''t true, while Dan actually felt some relief lift from his shoulders. He hadn''t put the two together until now. Dan thought the Ruman family had kidnapped Scarlett because it had something to do with him. Not because of an incident that happened even before he had joined the VSW club. Of course, he had heard Novis had taken down a Bully that apparently had a dad as a big shot gangster but never thought it would be the Ruman family. "That''s why we have to win this game and show them!" Scarlett said. *** Back at Montem''s school Gym, the Hershal team were now busy waiting for Montem''s team. Alex had decided to wait inside the Gym instead now that the time was drawing closer. The Gym was packed full of Montem''s students who were all whispering away, asking about the whereabouts of their two team aces Dan and Ashley. The current time was 12:50. "It looks like your team isn''t going to show up, looks like we won''t be experiencing that ass-kicking after all." Burney said Alex gritted his teeth as he wanted to say something. Burney had been giving off sly remarks this whole time. Just when Alex was about to open his mouth the door Gym slid open. "Did we make it?" Novis said with the rest of the team stood behind him. Alex smiled back and said "You made it." Chapter 87: 5 seconds Chapter 87: 5 seconds When the VSW club members had arrived into the Gym, the Montem fan clubs immediately cheered upon seeing their members but the cheers stopped quickly and turned into whispers and gossip as they saw the state of the team. "OMG what happened to Dan?" "Is this why they werete?" "Even Scarlett and Ashley look a bit strange." Dan was still bruised up all over and he even had markings on his face that were impossible to hide. While Ashley and Scarlett had looked like they had just run a Marathon. The only one that looked half decent was Novis but most of the students didn''t pay any attention to him in the first ce. "Coming at thest second and in a state like that, how unprofessional," Burney said as he looked at the Montem team. Alex too was wondering what on earth happened to the four of them. He wanted to ask them but now was not the time. The four members had just made it and the game was due to start any second now. With no time left, the two teams immediately put on their headset and it was started the game. Frank who was the leader of the VSW club for Hershal gave one good look at Dan just before he put on his headset. He couldn''t imagine what the team had gone through to get like that, yet still want to y the game. Unlike the coach who thought Montem wasn''t taking this match very seriously, Frank thought that this team truly cared about this game for some reason and it went beyond just wanting to win. Both teams logged into the game and selected their warriors. Montem chose the same warriors as they didst time while Hershal all chose the same warrior called Iron grid. It was a fairly well-built warrior who used a shield that was as big as the warrior. In their dominant hand, they would hold a single-handed sword. yers were allowed to select the same warriors in the game but teams rarely did this. There were counters to every type of warrior and if you knew a team would select a single warrior, you would be able to select a counter. But this was how Hershal had always yed and their unique formations made it difficult even if ying with a counter. Each warriors armour was tinted a different colour for the yers to differentiate between each warrior. Burney had done all he could. The rules stated that he was not allowed to give advice once the match had started. Coaches had a special role. In theter rounds of the tournament, matches became a best out of three. This was where a coach would shine. After watching a game and seeing how the enemy team yed, they would then be able to step in and advice their yers best but at the start of the tournament games were a simple one-round match. "Alright everyone, remember the n, right? on my signal that''s when we start," Alex said looking at Scarlett. Each of them then went into the respectedne as normal. Although Alex knew that Hershal would team up as a group of five, he didn''t know whichne they would choose. This was the only thing that Hershel changed on the regr and there was no way for him to predict. This time instead of having Dan roaming around in the forest he was instructed to go top with Novis, while Ashley and Scarlett went bot leaving Alex with mid. "Hey, do you think they can win?" A student from Montem asked watching the game. "I don''t know, I thought Alex might have had a n but it looks like they''re ying the game like normal." The students were worried, every game they had watched Hershal y ended up with the enemy team losing and they had done the same thing that Montem was doing now. Each of the NPC knights in thenes were busy fighting each other. Alex had instructed the team to stay as closer as they could to their second tower. This way there were less likely to die if they were ambushed by the enemy team. Hershal was doing the exact same thing on their side with their yers until. In topne suddenly their yers went missing. "Alex top is missing," Novis reported. "Same here at bottom," Scarlett said. "That means thereing Mid, guyse here as quick as you can!" Alex shouted. Usually, if the enemy warrior left theirne, the yers would use this as an advantage and take down the tower in front of them. The problem with this was, while they were busy taking down the tower Hershel would have five people storming through mid. By the time they would head back, most of their team had died and they no longer had any towers down mid. Alex was hugging as close to the tower as he could while waiting for his teammates toe, then he saw the four yers of Hershale together. Just like in the videos he had watched they had formed an arrow formation dealing with the NPC knights in an instant. "Come on where are you guys." Alex thought. In their practice games, they realised it was important for the team to protect the second tower for as long as possible. If they did this it would give enough time for Scarlett to reach the enemy base. If they lost the second tower quickly, they would usually lose their games. Dan, Novis, and Ashley were currently running through the forest as fast as they could. They had done this multiple times before and knew the best route to get to the second tower in time but as they were running a message appeared. Alex was only able to hold off the 5 members of the Hershal team for a brief second, before he had to get out of there and run back. Unlike their practise matches, Hershal was far more coordinated allowing them to take out the tower in an instant. Alex knew if he had stayed, he would have been dead. Scarlett too had seen the message and gripped her bow tightly. "We have to win!" Chapter 88: Protect the tower Chapter 88: Protect the tower Once the message had appeared stating that their tower had been destroyed, the Montem team members knew they were in trouble. It was incredibly fast and something like this had never happened in their practice games before. "Change destination to the first tower now!" Alex shouted to his teammates. The others followed Alexmands and straight away changed their destination. The team knew they needed to do everything they could to protect the first tower from being taken down. There was currently only one tower down the middlene that was stopping Hershal from reaching their teams g. Scarlett who stayed at the bottomne was doing her best to take down the enemy team''s tower but she was all on her own. Range warriors also dealt less damage than melee warriors making it take a lot longer for her to defeat the enemy knights as well as take down the tower. As Novis and Dan were running through the forest as quick as they could, Dan suddenly started to slow down. Novis noticed that Dan was no longer running by his side. When he turned around, he could see Dan kneeling on the ground. "What''s wrong Dan?" "It''s my head, it''s ringing, just go on without me for now, I''ll catch up in a bit," The students who were watching from the outside had also seen Dan stop all of a sudden. "Hey, do you know what''s wrong with Dan?" "My guess is it would be his injuries he got before entering the game, you saw how bust up he was. Although the game gives you a new body, that doesn''t mean your body in real life is magically healed, he can still feel everything." What Dan didn''t know was he was currently suffering from a form of mild concussion. Ashley was right when she stated that Dan should have gone to the hospital but of course, Dan wasn''t going to let this stop him. Dan had been getting frequent pains on the way over to school but didn''t want to worry anyone and decided to power through. The problem was the VR headset required your mind to be in top condition to use it properly and now Dan was starting to feel his body pains and head injuries on his warrior in the game. Alex had finally backed up to the first tower which was just in front of their team''s castle and g. He turned to look at the Hershal teaming towards him. The second wave of NPC knights spawned and went directly towards them but again Hershal arrow-like formation made quick work of the knights. They would hold their shields directly in front of them leaving no gap between them. When the knights attacked, they would block with the shield and then all attack at the same time dealing with NPC in a couple of strikes. Now Alex was alone once again by the tower. The enemy knights moved forward first. The tower shot out a cannon taking out three of them. Alex went to deal with the rest making sure to be careful and not overextend. He knew if he took one step out of his towers range Hershal would pounce on him. "Dammit, will we have to give up this tower too, was my strategy wrong?" Alex asked himself as he fought one of the knights closest. Once Alex had defeated thest knight on the enemy team. Ten more would spawn and using them as cover, that was when Hershal would attack. Alex knights had already been defeated and there were 30 seconds between the spawning of each teams NPC knights. Alex waited by his tower and so did Hershal standing just outside the towers range. There was also another tactic that Hershal could have done. One of them could choose to take the damage from the tower while the others went in to attack Alex but Hershal didn''t y this way and didn''t take any risks. They waited for their ten NPC knights toe forward and when the tower took its first shot. They moved in. Alex knew he needed to dy them as long as he could so that''s what he would do. He went to attack the remaining knights who had surrounded the tower knowing that Hershel wasing to attack him but as they charged forward a young girl came storming out of the forest. It was Ashley. Ashley was the fastest out of the other three. Novis had been slightly dyed by Dan while Ashley ran at full force. A lot of Ashley''s training with George was focused on speed. More specifically about training the power in your toes to push off as fast as you could. Ashley hadn''t realised it but the training with George had increased her speed greatly. Although she didn''t have the monstrous stamina or strength that Novis had, this was her unique trait. Frank the leader of team Hershal, as soon as he saw Ashley shouted out amand. "Defensive formation now." The team quickly changed from an arrow formation to an oval shape with their shields. It almost imitated that of a turtle. Ashley saw nowhere to strike but tried her best to anyway. Attacking one of the shields in front of her. Her strike was powerful but when making contact with the shields it was useless. As soon as Ashley made contact with one of the shields Frank gave anothermand. "Push!" At the same time, all five yers pushed their shield forward and stepped forward causing their shield to bash into Ashley and her weapon. This caused her to slightly lose bnce and as she was caught off bnce Hershal moved their shields away and went for the attack. Frank was the closest to her and his de was a few inches away from her. "This is what our coach was afraid of?" The Montem students watching from outside where silent. They didn''t know how to react, not only where Montem going to lose but they were going to lose in a humiliating way not taking out a single member of the Hershal team. Just before Franks sword could cut Ashley though, a chain came shooting out of the forest and wrapped around Frank''s sword. "Ashley''s not the only monster of Montem," Novis said. Chapter 89: Going wrong Chapter 89: Going wrong Novis had managed to make it through the forest just in time to see Frank, just inches away from Ashley with his de. Novis knew he had to act immediately and swung out his chain sword wrapping it around Franks weapon. All of sudden Frank felt like his arm was being pulled by a tow truck. Frank tried his best to pull his hand forward but it wasn''t budging an inch. "Just what kind of monstrous strength does he have?" Frank thought. Then Novis pulled on the chain harder pulling Frank towards him and at the same time Novis swung his second chain de at Frank. Novis wanted to get rid of one of the members as soon as possible. Alex had told them they were perfect as a team but when they yed against the better teams, as soon as they lost one of their yers it would all fall apart. But Novis''s second chain de bounced back as another Hershel team member came in blocking the attack with their shield. Then another yer whacked his sword against the chain sending a vibration down the chain to Novis''s body. The attack was surprisingly strong and Novis knew if he didn''t let go his weapon would break. Once that happened, he would no longer be able to use the weapon for that whole game. It was one of the downsides of the chain de. Sword weapons in VSW were made with equal durability. When one sword hit another the system designed it so they both wouldn''t break. This was also true for Novis''s sword part of his chain sword weapon but not for the chain links themselves. The chain sword was considered a ranged weapon and in order to nerf the weapon a little, they decided to make the chains have weaker durability. It was still able to block weaker attacks just fine such as arrows and daggers but when it came to a physical attack on the chain itself that was different. While Novis was still holding onto the chain sword he quickly used his skill to switch the chain de out for his duel des. Causing his chain de to go back in his inventory. Ashley had now regained her footing and so did Novis. At the same time, the two of them went in for an attack. "Defensive formation." Once again, the whole team went to their turtle-like shape not leaving an inch of space for Novis or Ashley to attack. "How can that be fair? Can''t any team just all select shield warriors and do that?" One of the Montem studentsined. "Fair, of course, it''s fair, do you know how hard it is to pull something off like that? Each member of Hershal has to be able to move in sync with each other and not allow for a single mistake. If one person is behind in the formation then a team can take advantage of that. I can''t imagine the hours they must have put in to practice a formation like this." "Attack the knights!" Alex shouted. Novis and Ashley fell back to the tower where the NPC knights were attacking. They quickly dealt with each one of them. For now, Hershal stood outside of the towers range and would wait until their NPC knights would arrive for their next attack. "Where''s Dan?" Alex asked. "He''s hurt so he''s running a bit behind." "Hurt what do you mean hurt?" Alex didn''t understand as all of Hershal team members were currently here. Then Alex thought back to the appearance of Dan when he first entered the room. He suddenly understood. This was bad not only was Hershel stronger than Alex had anticipated, but it also seemed like everything was going wrong for their team at the moment. Finally, the 10 NPC knights from Hershal and Montem arrived. Hershal changed to their attack formation destroying the ten enemy Knights in an instant, allowing their Knights to move forward. Now they were in attack formation. "I''ll deal with the knights attacking the tower, you two deal with the Hershal team," Alex instructed. It was a big task but Alex knew they needed to protect the tower, but what this meant was Ashley and Novis had to go against 5 members at once. The Hershal team moved forward in their arrow-like formation with their shields in front of them. Novis and Ashley charged forward attacking trying to stop their momentum but it was useless. As they would attack one person, one would block and then the other would attack. Their timing was perfect. This contained on for a while and slowly without realising it. The Hershal team had surrounded Novis and Ashley in a circle. Now there was no way for the two of them to escape. This also left little room for the two of them to dodge which was how they were avoiding most of their strikes by now. Novis went in to attack and when he jumped back to avoid the strike, he found the sword of the enemy scratching his chest. "If we don''t get out of here, we''re going to lose!" Novis shouted. Just then Dan came running through the forest hitting one of Hershal teams'' members from behind, causing a break in their circle formation. Giving a chance for Novis and Ashley to break free. "Defensive formation," Frank shouted And in an instant, they were back in their turtle-like shell. Dan was about to rush in and attack but Ashley quickly stopped him. "Don''t it''s useless while they''re like that." Dan nodded in response. The truth was Dan wanted to rush in there and try to finish them as quickly as possible. Dan knew that he couldn''tst much longer as the pain was only getting worse, not better. Dan knew if the fight continued on, he wouldn''t be able to continue to y. Finally, Scarlett was able to destroy the first tower of the Hershal team and was currently moving on forward to the second tower. Chapter 90: Stop them! Chapter 90: Stop them! Scarlett had been doing her best to take down the towers as fast as she could. Slowly she was starting to be more urate with her hits taking down the NPC knights with a couple of arrows each, as she would hit the head more often. Finally, she had taken down the first tower and quickly started to move onto the next. "Phew!" Scarlett said as she checked the status screen. She could see that all of her teammates were still alive which was a good sign. ***** With the Hershel team temporary stunned by the message that appeared, it gave the chance for the Montem team to regroup. The knights had all been defeated and the tower was no longer in danger. The Hershel team was waiting on Frank''smand on what they should do next. Alex knew that Hershal had two choices. They could choose to continue fighting five against four and capture the g before Ashley reached their g, or they could go back as a group to protect their tower. In all the games Alex had watched so far, Hershal yed with confidence. It wasn''t like nobody had ever done this strategy before. But they always chose to fight it out 5 vs 4 if this situation arrived. Alex was hoping Hershal would do this exact thing as this would give them the most time to hold off Hershal, while Scarlett pushed forward. The Hershel team stood still momentarily, then Frank gave themand. "Fall back, protect the tower." Alex''s eyes felt like they were about to pop out of his head as he saw the Hershal team retreat back. This was an unexpected move that they had never done before, so why do it today? Frank knew he had two choices and if it was any other game, he would have chosen to attack but there was something telling him to be cautious. After watching the match with Eton and feeling Novis''s power in person. Frank had a feeling that the team in front of him, wouldn''t be as easy to deal with as everyone else thought. As Alex saw Hershel retreat, he needed to make a decision fast. Originally, Alex hoped they would be able to stay by their tower. When a team was a yer down the tower acted as a good defence, it was almost as if you had a fifth yer on your team. But if Alex and the team went to stop Hershal from advancing, then it would truly be a 4 vs 5 situation. "What do we do?" Ashley said looking at Alex. Alex readied his shield and sword and shouted. "Attack, don''t let them get to Scarlett no matter what!" The Hershel team was suddenly surprised when they heard the sound of footsteps from behind them. As they turned around, they could see a spear flying through the sky Infront of them. Frank was the quickest to react lifting up his shield just in time deflecting the spear. Montem needed to be aggressive and full-on with their attack. Otherwise, the Hershel team would be able to just run away and hide behind their tower. If the Hershal team managed to retreat back in enough to get into range of their tower, then it would be all over for Montem. The battle was fierce, Novis constantly would switch between his duel des and chain de. The chain de would often be used to stop Hershal from retreating. Every time they would slightly fall back, Novis was able to attack with his chain de, using its range. Alex would help to deflect attacks that were targeted at Novis. As Hershal could straight away see Novis was a problem target. Ashley was also doing well manging to attack fearlessly and avoid the strikes but she was sweating heavily and didn''t know how much longer she could keep it up. On the other hand, Dan was struggling the most. It was important for him to get up close and personal to the warriors he was fighting. The problem was Dan''s reaction time seemed to be slower than usual. Causing him to get a few scratches here and there. While the Hershal team were busy fighting, Frank the leader was assessing the situation. After watching everyone fight for a while, Frank determined that If they wanted to retreat, they needed to get rid of Novis first. The order for retreat was cancelled. "Forget about the fist user, deal with the chain guy!" Frank shouted. Frank new once they got rid of Novis the whole match would be over. Suddenly, there where three people on Novis instead of two. Novis had managed to fend off two well so far but three was a bit too much. Frank decided that he alone would be enough to deal with Dan and Alex. Although Frank was only a sliver yer, he knew how to y defensively. He was able to use his body and shield and attack at just the right time. This way Novis was unable to receive backup from his teammates. Novis was doing the best he could to fend off the three attacks with his duel des but he was constantly getting pushed back. Finally, one of the Hershel team managed to knock Novis off bnce with their shield. At the same time, Dan was watching the whole thing from the side. Frank had been doing a good job from stopping them from giving Novis any support but Dan also knew that currently, he was useless to the team. Dan charged forward without care for himself. Frank saw this and went for a sh strike against Dan''s stomach but Alex too had been watching Frank closely and managed to figure out his attack patterns. "shield block!" At the same time as the strike, Alex dashed forward using his shield block skill causing Frank''s sword to bounce off. Dan continued to run over to Novis as fast as he could. Novis could now see one of the team''s swords in front of him ready to pierce his head. "Dammit! Are we really going to lose, after everything we''ve been through?" Just before the sword was able to reach Novis. A body had jumped in front of him causing the sword to hit the body instead. A secondter and the body had burst into a bunch of blue particles. Dan had been killed. Chapter 91: Should I stay or should I go Chapter 91: Should I stay or should I go Outside of the game, inside the school gym. Dan had just exited out of his VR headset. He was free to stay in the game and watch from the ghost view but Dan felt ufortable wearing the VR headset. As Dan took off his VR helmet, he could see the coach of the Hershal team smiling. He had a smug look on his face as if his team had already won. "You really think we have no chance of winning, don''t you?" Dan said. "Imend your captain for trying such a brave tactic but it is clear to anyone who has won this game." The Montem students didn''t like Burney either but they knew that it was unlikely that Montem could now make aeback. They were already struggling even with Dan. "Let me ask you something, do you have a yer on your team that can stop bullets?" Burney thought Dan was perhaps speaking metaphorically but even then, he had no clue what the boy was talking about. After saying those words Dan decided to walk off and join the Montem students that were supporting his team. A group of girls came up to Dan each holding sters, bandages, towels and all sorts. "Dan you should go to the hospital, or at least the nurse''s office, let me take you there?" A girl asked. Dan looked back at the projector and his teammates. The screen was currently showing Scarlett shooting arrows as fast as she could to take down the next tower. "I can''t go yet, I need to see the end of this game." **** As soon as Alex saw Dan burst into blue mes, he knew the whole game was in jeopardy. The team was already having a tough time dealing with four of them against five and now they had three. "Fall back!" Alex shouted. Alex had made the tough decision to regroup and head back to their tower. He had no choice; their team was flustered. What Alex didn''t expect though was while they were retreating, the Hershal team had decided to follow them. In Alex''s mind, the correct choice would have been to leave them three and head back to stop Scarlett. Did their team really look that weak? Alex thought. Alex clenched his sword even harder, he was angry at himself for not being a better yer. If he was more skilful then perhaps, they wouldn''t have had to rely on a tactic such as this. But Alex was not the only angry one, Novis was also filled with rage. If Dan hadn''t stopped that blow, he would have been the one to burst into blue mes. On the run back, Novis picked up the spear of the ground that he threw earlier and then switched back to his duel des. The duel des were one of the lightest weapons in Novis possession, so it allowed Novis to move a little faster. Alex and the others had finally reached their tower and when they turned around, they could see Hershel right on their tale. "What do we do now?" Ashley asked as she was sweating even more than before. Ashley was clearly not used to having prolonged battles. Even when she thought in kendo, the matches were over extremely quickpared to this. George watching the whole thing made note of this. Alex was silent for a while but he knew he needed to think of something fast, as the next wave of NPC knights wereing forward. "We have no choice, we stick to the n." The two teams then battled it out. Montem was struggling but they hung in there. Luckily for them, Hershal was a bit too cautious. They were very careful to make sure not one of their yers would get hurt. Staying by the tower also helped and Alex, as he was starting to see patterns in their formation. In a way, Hershal''s fighting style was very predictable. When fighting a team you usually had different ystyles but each yer in Hershel fought the same. This allowed Alex to give instructions to Novis and Ashley of when to go in and when to fall back. Using this strategy, the fighting suddenly became easier. The team was doing something simr to kiting, where they would attack then quickly after, fall back. "Dammit were wasting too much time!" Frank said. "Should we go back and go after the girl?" One of the Hershel members suggested. Frank was busy thinking, it seemed like they were so close to beating the Montem team but whenever they thought they were winning, Montem would run back behind the tower. Frank could tell that their captain was special. He was able to assess the situation and makemands on the go. Something that Frank himself as a captain should also be able to do. Frank was worried that even if they went as a group to attack Scarlett, that Alex would be able to easily inform her and she would be able to hide in the forest. Then the Montem team would be able to attack elsewhere, while they were busy chasing Scarlett. But right now, Hershal had Montem on a tight rope, where the team couldn''t help out Scarlett or move. The coach had told them to always move as a unit but Frank feared that they may lose this game. "You guy''s stay here, I will go after the girl!" After saying that, Frank himself quickly left his team and decided to chase after Scarlett. "Alex, did you see that?" Novis said. "Yeah, but for now let''s stay put." "But what if he gets Scarlett!" "Just trust her." The 3 members were now fighting against the four remaining Hershel members. The fight was going even more smoothly now than before. Their formation was starting to crumble as their leader Frank left. But it was still a tough battle as now the Hershal team were focusing more on defence. It was as if the roles were reversed and now Hershal was buying time for Frank to deal with Scarlett, then he woulde back and help them out. Novis could see that dealing with the remaining Hershel yers would take some time. Perhaps too much time. Novis was unsure of what to do, whether he should go and help Scarlett or stay with the others. Chapter 92: Fall Tower Fall Chapter 92: Fall Tower Fall The fight between the Montem and Hershal down the middlene was now going well for Montem. Without the coordination from Frank, the Hershal team were a little rough when they were making their decisions. Not only that they needed to adjust some of their formations without having the fifth member there. This was something that the Hershel team had never practised before, so they were trying their best as they yed on. All these things put together made if much easier for the Montem team to now put up a good fight. The problem was even though they were now fighting well, the Hershal team was also still doing well. It was practically a stalemate between the two teams. As time went on Novis was only getting more nervous about Frank who went to chase after Scarlett. Although Alex had told Novis to stay, Novis couldn''t help but feel like it was the wrong decision. Alex was sure though that if Novis left to go chase after Frank, he and Ashley wouldn''tst very long against the Hershel team. Their best chance at winning was to trust that Scarlett would be able to destroy the tower and capture the g before Frank would reach her. Novis couldn''t wait any longer, he had made his decision, he was going to go chase after Frank. George could see that Novis had made up his mind but before Novis would leave, he asked him to ry a little bit of information to Ashley. "Ashley," Novis said. "This is from George, concentrate on your breathing, rx breathe out with every strike. You''re holding your breath for too long which is making you tire faster." Then before running off Novis looked at Ashley. "And this is from me, I''m counting on you." Ashley didn''t know what Novis meant by that but before she could even ask, Novis went off running after Frank. Alex wanted to shout out at Novis but knew he wouldn''t listen anyway. Novis entered the forest, so he was able to go around the Hershal team. The Hershel team had decided to leave Novis alone. Now that it was two against four, they believed they had a better chance of winning the game. All they needed to do was defeat the two people in front of them and capture the g inside the castle. The Hershel team went in for the attack thinking they could finish them off quickly but to their surprise, Ashley was now fighting even better than before. Her strikes were stronger and she seemed to be making fewer mistakes as if her mind was clear. Ashley had taken George''s advice and was imagining herself being back in her father''s dojo. With the environment of the field and the multiple opponents, Ashley was panicking a little and she didn''t even realise it. This was causing her to tire out far more quickly than she usually would. Although Ashley was now fighting better it was still 4 vs 2 and Alex was nowhere near as skilled as Ashley. Alex had managed to avoid a sword strike by moving to the side but as he did another strike came at him stabbing him in the thigh. Alex was temporarily stunned, although the pain was dramatically reduced in the game, to make it feel more realistic the game would try to predict how someone would react in real life. The wound was fatal so the Game temporarily stunned Alex. Even though it was for a brief second, it was enough time for the second yer to attack. Ashley could see Alex was in trouble but could also see an opening when the yer attacked. She dashed forward striking the attacking yer directly in the heart, causing him to burst into blue particles with one strike. As she turned around though she could see the two yers that she was facing had followed her and not only that but they had already taken out Alex. Now it was a three VS one situation. **** Novis was currently running as fast as he could to get to the tower but he had left a few minutes before Frank did. There was no way he would get there before Frank even if Novis was a fast runner. All he could do was hope that Scarlett would survive long enough for him to get there in time. Scarlett was busy concentrating on taking down the second tower. Messages would constantly appear telling her of either the death of her or the enemy team''s teammates but Scarlett chose to ignore them all. It would only make her lose focus and she currently only had one mission. The second tower was heavily damaged as rubble was starting to fall off. This was a design from the game meaning the tower only had a little bit of health left before it would be destroyed. She continually fired arrow after arrow hoping any second now the tower would fall. Then suddenly, she heard the nking of metal armour running up from behind her. As she turned her head to nce over her shoulder, she could see Frank running at her. Frank was running quite slow as he had his shield out in front of him. The weight of the shield and sword slowed him down but he knew it was best to keep his shield out especially against a ranged character. Scarlett''s natural instinct was to turn around and shoot an arrow at the enemy running in front of her but she knew it would be useless. Despite her urges, she carried on shooting at the tower. "Is she not going to attack?" Frank carried on charging forward and when he was in striking range he struck with his sword. Scarlett was carefully listening to Franks footsteps and as soon as she heard his feet stop, she activated her roll skill. Avoiding the strike and moving out of the way. She took out her bow and shot another arrow at the tower ignoring Frank, no matter what happened to her, she was going to take down this tower. Chapter 93: Monster once more Chapter 93: Monster once more Currently, inside the Montem School Gym, the crowd was silent. Everyone was too worried about what was going to happen to the Montem team. In fact, many students had left the hall after witnessing Alex''s death. They simply thought there was no way for the Montem team to have aeback and it was a waste of time for them to stay any longer. Their hope of reaching the quarter-finals for the first time in years was suddenly lost. Meanwhile, inside the VSW game, Ashley hadn''t given up hope. Not only was Novis relying on her but her whole team was relying on her. She was going to defend the tower as long as possible. Now that her breathing was under control her mind was more rxed. She could see the right moments of when to go in. Ashley would attack the Hershel team at just the right time and then dodge back avoiding their strikes, as their des would miss her face only by a few inches. The Hershel team members were confused, all of sudden it seemed much more difficult to deal with her. This was agitating them and the Hershal team were rushing things. They were now being much more aggressive with their attacks and instead of waiting for the right opportunity like they had been doing, they were now trying to force one. Of course, this just caused Hershal to be sloppy and make more mistakes but to the outside viewers, all they could see was Ashley doing an amazing job. "You can do it Monster!" Someone shouted from the crowd. It was a boy who had a hairband tied around his head with the words "I", then a heart shape, "monster". He was the person who had started Ashley''s fan club after witnessing her match with Eton. As Ashley continued to fend off the three members, the crowd outside were only getting impressed more. Seeing this Ashley''s fan club and the school started chanting together. "MONSTER!, MONSTER!, MONSTER!" The noise was so loud from the crowd, that the chant could be heard through the VR headsets. "What is going on outside." One of the Hershel members asked. While the Hershal members could hear the noise, Ashley was too focused to notice anything. Right now, her mind waspletely focused on one thing, surviving. Even though Hershal were open for an attack right now, she wouldn''t go in for the attack. She would only attack to either stop their charge on the tower or when she needed to survive. At the topne, Scarlett was currently in a crisis of her own, going up against Frank. She knew that if she was to face him, it was unlikely for her to win. So her best bet was to keep on dodging Frank''s attacks, while still attacking the tower. So far, she was sessful. The archer contained a roll skill that would cause her warrior to leap and roll away from the enemy. Right now, Scarlett''s attention was super focused as she needed to time the skill perfectly with Franks attack. If she didn''t, she would be hit and injured making the rolling skill far less effective. Frank was getting frustrated, he felt like he was a cat chasing a mouse around. "Wasn''t she meant to be one of the weakest yers? Isn''t that why they sent her at top?" Frank was using a charge skill which gave him extra Montem to move forward and then strike. He then noticed that Scarlett was matching up her skill with his. This time, when Frank went forward to attack, he decided to do a normal strike instead of a skill. As he had nned Scarlett fell for his trick performing her roll skill to getaway. As soon as Scarlett got up, Frank then used his charge skill to catch up to where she was. When Scarlett got up from casting her skill, she could see Frank right in front of her. There was no time for her to cast another roll skill. Instead, she pulled out a single small dagger that ranged characters carried on them. The problem was there were no set skills for the character to use with the dagger. All her skills where archery based. When Frank came in for the attack, she tried her best to block. Out of instinct, she managed to block the first strike with the dagger but it was too powerful, causing Scarlett to drop her dagger to the ground. Frank then bashed his shield into Scarlett causing her to fall to the floor. "Finally!" Frank said as he went to stab Scarlett. As Frank''s de went down to pierce Scarlett, he felt something wrap around his left leg. Suddenly, a strong force pulled his leg causing him to fall over. This gave Scarlett a small window of opportunity to roll her body, causing the de to strike the ground instead. Frank turned around and could see Novis holding onto the chain. "You, how did you get here so fast!" Novis had arrived just in time but as soon as he saw Frank attacking Scarlett, a rage started to build up inside of Novis. Novis was reminded of when Rob had pulled the gun on her. How weak and useless he felt, how he could do nothing back then and had to rely on Arthur. He wanted to be the one to hurt Rob but never got the chance. Right now, all his anger that he had built up for Rob, was reced to Frank. As soon as he saw Frank trying to hurt Scarlett it just reminded him of the whole thing again. Novis didn''t say anything and started pulling on the chain de with all his strength. Frank''s body was being dragged across the floor at great speed, he needed to do something fast. Frank lifted up his shield and mmed it on the chain that was attached to his leg, sess, the chain had broken. "Novis you need to calm down," Arthur said. "It''s useless," George replied, "the boy is too angry to hear you." Arthur knew that when most people were angry and fought, they would make terrible decisions. They couldn''t think straight. You needed to look at your opponent and predict what they would do, instead of just focusing on hurting the person. But this wasn''t the case with everybody and just maybe, Novis was one of those types of people. Chapter 94: Beserker Chapter 94: Beserker The crowd in the gym was as loud as ever, they continued to chant "Monster, Monster." They couldn''t believe what they were seeing, something that they had only seen from videos online was happening right in front of them. A single person was manging to fend off three people at once. The students didn''t care right now if their team had lost because they were all proud to have someone as strong as Ashley on their team. The video was focusing on Ashley as she continuously fended off strikes from three people. Although Ashley was doing well, she was still struggling. Ashley was finding it hard to deal with the three members from Hershel. This was because each member was using a shield. The three shields made it easy for them to block Ashley''s attacks. There wasn''t much skill required on Hershal''s end. All they needed to do was cover themselves with theirrge shields and eventually, Ashley would tire herself out. They knew this and Ashley knew this as well. All she could do was hope Novis finished off Frank quickly. Meanwhile back in the topne. Novis''s body was still boiling with Rage. He had even forgotten that he was in the game. Without thinking about it Novis switched to his longsword and charged in at Frank head-on. "Come at me!" Frank said. Although Frank was only a sliver yer, he was the best solo yer out of his team members. His true skill was that of a high tier gold yer but had stayed in the sliver ranks because he only yed games with his team. Although Frank thought Novis was stronger than his actual rank, there was no way he thought he could lose. Novis immediately gave a hard swing with his long sword and at the same time, Frank used his charge skill. The charge skill rushed him forward with his shield in front. Frank was nning to knock Novis back and then attack him with his de. But when Novis''s sword made an impact against the shield, Frank was the one that was sent a few steps back. "How is this possible?" Novis then continued to attack at Frank''s shield with the longsword. Each strike caused Frank to move back further and further. Out of Panic, Frank went to attack back with his sword swinging randomly. The attack didn''t even give Novis any trouble as he simply dodged the sword by stepping to the side. Novis then kicked Frank''s wrist causing him to drop the sword. Frank now only had his shield as a weapon. Novis switched to his spear weapon and continually attacked at Frank''s feet. Frank had no choice but to continue to move back. If he ced his shield down then Novis would attack him from the side. Novis continued poking at Frank''s feet and then suddenly Frank felt something up against his back. He could no longer move. He didn''t have time to turn and look at what it was, as Novis was already striking at him. Frank ducked down and dropped the shield causing Novis''s spear to hit the tree. Frank then crawled out of there and immediately Ran away from Novis. But Novis wasn''t going to let Frank get away. Novis then switched to his duel des and chased Frank down eventually catching up to him. When Novis was in striking distance, instead of striking Frank with his de, Novis decided to pull Frank using the back of his suit of armour and threw him to the ground. Novis then stood directly above Frank and stared into his eyes. Frank felt like he was looking at an insane person. What had he done to make someone stare at him like that, Frank thought? George and Arthur had carefully been watching Novis and were analysing him. The Novis they were seeing right now was apletely different personpared to when they were practising. His strikes were a lot more powerful; his speed was faster and even his decision making was urate. "Arthur, you don''t think he''s a Berserker, do you?" "I think that would be the only way to exin it," Arthur replied. A Berserker was a type of warrior who got stronger using two different methods. Either from the rage inside their bodies or from the damage they had taken. Right now, Novis had disyed the characteristics of a true Berserker known in Arthur and George''s world. "Don''t ever try to hurt my friends again," Novis said as he slowly dug his sword into Frank''s stomach. Finally, Frank had burst into blue mes but at the same time Novis too had received a notification. The outside screen was focused on Ashley as Ashley was facing the three members at the exact time Frank and Novis was battling. Ashley had used up every little bit of energy she had left. Even with proper breathing control, she would still tire out eventually and she knew she wasing to her end. As ast-ditch effort instead of defending Ashley decided to go on the attack. She ignored two of the Hershel members and went straight for one of them, manging to strike just before the yer could defend with his shield. As the Hershel member burst into blue particles, Ashley too had been stabbed twice from behind by the other two members. At the same time, Ashley had died, Frank had died. The Montem students watching from outside had no clue what was happening at top since they were too focused on Ashley''s battle. Once they had seen Ashley die, they thought it was all over. The two Hershel members then quickly destroyed the second tower and ran towards the castle as they were confident in their victory. Suddenly a notification screen appeared in front of them and on the outside video disy. The video was Showing Scarlett holding up the blue g in her hand and the disy read. The crowd couldn''t believe it. They didn''t have a clue what had just happened, only a few seconds ago they all thought they had lost and now they were seeing Scarlett hold up the enemy g. The silence onlysted a few moments as everyone burst into loud cheers. Chapter 95: Kicked off the Team Chapter 95: Kicked off the Team The Montem students continued to cheer as they saw their team leave their VR headsets. Many of the screams were directed towards Scarlett and Ashley. Dan and Alex had died early on in the game and much of what Novis had done wasn''t seen on camera. This meant that all the attention was currently on the girls of the team. Novis couldn''t help but notice that not a single cheer was for his name. He was slightly depressed and Alex could see this standing by his side. "Am I just that unpopr?" Novis thought. "If it makes you feel any better, I don''t think anyone is calling my name either," Alex said as he ced his hand on Novis''s back. Novis smiled back, he wasn''t upset for long, how could he be after they had won such a tough battle. "You''re right, let''s enjoy this," Novis said as the rest of the team continued to wave at the students to thank them for their support. On Hershal''s end, each member had exited their VR headset in disbelief. Many of the Hershal members were still wondering how they had lost. Of course, Frank new the reason better than anyone. But what Frank was dreading more than anything, was speaking to the coach. The Hershel team quickly lined up in a single file line in height order in front of the coach and bowed down. "We are sorry for the loss!" The Hershel team said in sync. The Montem students and the VSW club members started to go silent as they watched the Hershel members. "Disappointed!" Burny shouted. "How could you guys lose to a bunch of nobodies?" Burney walked up and down in front of the team members and then stopped just in front of Frank. "And you, you decided to leave the team and act on your own, do you think you''re too good for this team or something? because of you, we lost." "I''m..." Before Frank could even say anything, the coach had lifted his hand and gave a big smack across Frank''s face. The p had echoed through the gym hall and the few people that were speaking were nowpletely silent. Burney stood there staring at Frank. "I want you to quit from this school, dropped out, I don''t want to see you on this team ever again." Frank clenched his fist hard. Had he really made a wrong decision? If he hadn''t gone after Scarlett then there was no chance, they would have gotten through. The only mistake that Frank had made was underestimating Novis. "I think this is unfair, I believe the coach himself has made a wrong decision," Frank said with determination in his eyes. The other Hershal members didn''t react but inside they couldn''t believe that Frank was talking back to the coach. "How dare you, you''re just a child!" Burney shouted as he lifted his hand to prepare for another p. This one seemed like it would be more powerful than thest. As Burney''s hand moved towards Frank''s face. Frank closed his eyes to prepare for the worst. A few seconds had passed but nothing had happened. "Wasn''t I about to get hit?" Frank thought. When he opened his eyes, he could see Burney''s hand being held mid-air only a few inches away from his face. "What do you think you are doing?" Novis said as he held on to Burny''s hand. As soon as Novis saw Burney p Frank, he knew something was wrong, he couldn''t just stand by and do nothing. So, when he saw that Burney was preparing a second p Novis had moved over in an instant. "Let go of my hand, how dare you hold a teacher''s hand!" "How Dare me, How dare you! How could you even think about hitting a student, look around you." Burney then looked around the room and could see that all of the students currently had their mobile phones out and were filming the whole situation. "Go ahead and film like anyone would do anything. Do you know why?" Burney then went and whispered in Novis''s ear. "Because he''s my son." Novis was so stunned by what he had just heard, that his grip had loosened against Burny''s wrist. Burney then continued to walk off as the Hershal team followed him out of the gym. Just before everyone left, Frank turned around and mouthed the words "Thank you" to Novis. "Wow that was crazy did you see that?" "I heard the rumours but never expected to see something like that." The students continued to chatter about what just happened but that onlysted a short while. Their attention soon shifted to the two female members of the VSW team. "We did it, we''re finally in the quarter-finals thanks to them." "Did you see how amazing Ashley was?" "Yeah, and I didn''t expect Scarlett to be able to be so sneaky, didn''t a Hershel team member go after her, how did she survive?" The day was over and the kids of Montem couldn''t wait to go online and brag about their victory against Hershal. Before many schools might have considered Montem''s win against Eton a fluke but now that they had even beaten Hershal, a semi-final regr. It was clear that the Montem team this year was no fluke. Dan had decided to get a check-up with the school nurse who said he was fine and just needed to rest for a few days and make sure he didn''t do anything too strenuous on his body. While everyone else decided to head home. Novis had finally arrived home and when he entered the front door his brother was there to greet him. "Congrattions, I saw you win your game against Hershel," Bill said with a smile. Novis''s eyes lit up. "Really, how did I look taking on their captain Frank, were there some cool shots of me." Bill was too afraid to say anything to his brother, so he decided to just take him to theputer and show him instead. The two of them watched the reply together and Novis body started shaking. "Bro are you okay?" Bill asked. "WHY! WHY! WHY!" Novis shouted. After watching the video together, he realised that it hadpletely skipped out his fight with Frank, to concentrate on Ashley''s fight with the three members of Hershel. Would Novis ever get the recognition he deserved? Chapter 96: Tick Media Chapter 96: Tick Media VSW was currently the most popr Esport in the world. It was nearly impossible to go on the inte or turn on the TV without hearing about some type of news that happened to surround the game. Of course, most of the media consumed these days were done on the inte through live broadcast and many TV stations had caught on and slowly made inte Channels of their own. This also included a particr news channel named Tick. Tick like everyone else covered the big games in the sport. The professional matches and world cups. They would even cover university teams as many of the yers would be scouted into professional teams. Of course, the scene waspetitive, not only was every Tv station covering these things already but they also had topete with inte personality stars. Year after Year their ratings would drop as they struggled. Tick had to do something and decided to go for a gap in the market and cover school games. They wouldn''t cover every game but only thest few matches of tournaments and so on. Their n worked as their ratings had improved and there was no one topete against. They got even more popr when writing specific articles about certain yers. They even wrote about how good Hastam was in a tournament before he turned pro. Hastam also repeatedly promoted the TV broadcaster in his live streams. Currently in the Tick office building, a scruffy looking middle-aged man with a beard was lying head down on his desk. This man''s name was Josh and he worked as a reporter for Tick. His job was to go to scout the matches in person and give livementary. He was also the man who discovered Hastam. while watching Hastam y a match Josh knew he was special. During the live broadcast, Josh kept talking about how special this person would be in the future and it turns out he was right. After that Day Josh had a following of his own and they were all waiting for him to spot the next big person. Josh was in charge of covering news for the Berkshire district and currently had four sheets of paper on his desk. Each paper was information on the four most likely candidates to be in the semi-finals this year. Westgate, Baylis, Eastwood and Hershal. Josh let out a big sigh as he looked at the information on the four teams. "Looks like the only special one out of all of them is Lucas from Westgate but that''s so boring!" he yelled out loud. It was already obvious to everyone that Lucas was good, after all, he was the son of number one yer in the world. People were already following him and knew he was good. In fact, most people thought Lucas wouldn''t have bothered with a small tournament like this and continued to practise with pros. Lucas didn''t interest Josh a single bit. He didn''t want to give attention to a superstar he wanted to find hidden Gems. Diamond in the ruffs that would disrupt the pro scene but it looked like this year he just wasn''t going to get that. Just then a woman wearing a short office skirt and zer top came over to Josh''s desk. She had big round sses and her hair was tied back. Her name was Cindy and she worked as Josh''s partner. She was new to Tick so they decided to assign her to a long time veteran on the field so she could see how he worked. Cindy then handed Josh a piece of paper. "What''s this?" Josh asked. "It''s all the info I could find on Montem." Josh paused for a second as he was trying to process why Cindy would hand him information about another school. He thought perhaps she had made a mistake as she was still new and handed him a team of another district. Cindy saw the strange look that Josh was giving her and started to exin. "I guess you didn''t hear? Hershal lost their match." Finally, Josh understood why Cindy had handed him the piece of paper but he couldn''t believe what he had just heard. Hershal had managed to enter the semi-finals of the tournament every year without fail. When looking at the tournament bracket, Josh was sure that Hershel wouldn''t meet anyone troublesome until the semi-finals and Cindy was telling him that they had lost before even entering the quarter-finals. Josh started to p his cheeks. It was a technique of his that he did to wake himself up. He then took the piece of paper out of Cindy''s hand and started reading immediately. At this point, Cindy decided to stay by Josh''s side and watch him. She had never seen Josh act like this in all the time she had been shadowing him. She was beginning to think that Josh had only gotten lucky a few times but for the first time ever, he seemed focused. "How is this possible" Josh said, "four of them arepletely brand-new yers to the game and their all bronzes." After reading over the information Josh immediately went to watch Montem''s games. Once he finished watching the games, he watched them, again and again, trying to figure out how on earth Montem was able to beat such strong teams withplete noobs. He wanted to do more research into their lives. This meant he would need to meet every member in person. He hadn''t been this excited in a long time. "Is there anyone in particr you''re interested in?" Cindy asked. Josh lifted up two fingers. "There are two people to look out for on this team. The first one is whoever their captain is, I suspect it is this Alex person. He is the only one who has experience in the gamepared to the others. From the games alone you can tell the captain has done his research but the sad thing is he doesn''t have this star quality. He didn''t do anything special in the games to make him stand out so his skill will go unnoticed." "I think I know who you''re going to say the second person is." Cindy had been watching the matches along with Josh and there was one person who stood out to her. Josh then pointed at a yer on the screen. "Her, this girl Ashley is going to be my diamond." Chapter 97: Test Results Chapter 97: Test Results The next day, was the start of school for all the students. The news of Hershal''s defeat had even spread to the students who didn''t bothering to watch the game. It caused the online video to be passed around the whole school. This, of course, led to the creation of a third fan club for Scarlett. The VSW club now had a pretty big following in school but there were generally three supporting camps. Dan''s was mainly filled with girls who had been following him since he yed sports. No matter what Dan did they would follow and support him. The newest camp was Scarlett''s. Scarlett without even realising it was quite popr around the school already. Not as someone who was overly beautiful or good at anything but because she treated everyone the same and nicely. Whenever you needed help, she would always say yes. Now that they had seen her trying hard in the game, it caused many people to turn into hardcore followers. And finally, Ashley''s following which was the biggest out of the three. Ashley was only a first-year student and hadn''t talked to many people before. She was always the quiet type and always went home but after seeing her two amazing matches in both games, students couldn''t help but admire her skill. It also led to her father''s dojo gaining poprity which made Daiki very happy. He didn''t regret letting his daughter y the game a single bit. Sadly though, this made Novis and Alex feel a little left out of the whole thing. While the situation truly annoyed Novis, he knew he couldn''t be mad at his teammates. While Alex couldn''t be sad for long as he wasing closer and closer to his goal. At the start of the day, all the students in the school were asked to meet in the gym for an assembly. No one had any idea what this was for. Everyone was currently sat in the stands staring at the principal. The principal was a female named Young, although she looked very old. She was currently holding a microphone in her hand and once everyone was seated and settled she started to speak. "Everyone, first I would like to invite the VSW club members toe up here with me." Suddenly, everyone turned to look at the members who were sitting down. They all felt embarrassed as they got up to join the principal. The students cheered out their names as they walked past. "As you all know our team has been Sessful in entering the quarter-finals, this is a first for Montem school." Mrs Young then pressed a little device that she held in her hand and the video of their match started to y on a projector behind them. If a single student hadn''t already seen the video, they had defiantly seen the video now. After congratting the team and finishing the assembly with some announcements, the students were told to go back to ss apart from the members of the VSW team. Once everyone had left Mrs Young came up to them to make an announcement. "I''ve got some great news for you guys. The mediapany Tick are sending their reporters toe to school tomorrow and interview you. Now I don''t need to tell you, you need to represent the school well." Noivs felt a bit annoyed by the principal''sments but didn''t say anything. The school hadn''t supported the VSW club in the slightest, they hadn''t even given them a coach. All of their sess so far had nothing to do with the school, it was all because of Alex and the school was trying to take all the attention. When Novis got to speak to the reporters he would be sure to tell them everything. Even though Novis knew he wasn''t getting the recognition he deserved, he felt like Alex was missing out on most of it and didn''t even seem to care. The team went back to their sses and the bell Rang signalling it was time for the end of the day but before they were free to head home or head to their club sses, the students were given their termly test results. Before the teacher had given Novis his test back, Novis was silently praying. When he opened his eyes he shouted. "YES!" Scarlett quickly came over to see what Novis was all excited about. "What did you get?" Novis lifted up his piece of paper to show the score of 44. Scarlett''s face quickly dropped. "How on earth could you be so happy about a score like that?" "Hey a pass is a pass, if I studied, I know I could do better, this is what I got just from listening in a ss all day." Scarlett sighed. She herself had gotten an 82. The school''s results went like so. Anything above 40 was considered a pass, then each grade bracket would go up in tens. 50, 60, 70 and then finally anything past an 80 was the top score you could get. Even if a person got 92 it would still count as the same grade a someone who got an 82. "I wonder what the others got?" Novis said staring at his score. Ashley had received a 55. She wasn''t much better than Novis, as she was always too busy training in the dojo and never had any time to study. Dan got 78. Dan was just one of those types of people that were naturally gifted at everything. If he studied maybe he would have got an even higher score. And finally, there was Alex''s score. When Alex received his test paper his body wouldn''t stop shaking. His eyes were fixated on the number in the top. When everyone had left the ssroom to go home or to their club. Alex had stayed sitting down in his chair staring at his paper. He had gotten a score of 86. Now most people getting a score like this would have been over the moon but not Alex. This was bad. Alex was dreading going home to his parents, as it might be thest time, he was able to y VSW ever again. Chapter 98: Final words Chapter 98: Final words All of the club members were currently in the VSW club room apart from Alex. Each one of them was discussing the results they got for the test that term. Everyone was surprised by Novis''s test results being the lowest out of the four of them and surprised that Dan was quite clever. "Hey so what do you think Alex got?" Ashley asked. "Oh right, you''re only a first-year so you don''t know do you?" Scarlett replied. "The thing is Alex gets the number one spot in school all the time without fail. "Wow his that good, maybe I should ask him to tutor me some time." "Speaking of Alex, where is he, shouldn''t he be here by now," Dan said. Just then, every single one of them received a message on their phone. "Oh, it looks like Alex isn''ting today," Scarlett said as she read the message on her phone. "That''s strange he didn''t say anything earlier, maybe something happened?" "Well, what do you want to do?" Novis asked. Scarlett thought for a while before replying. "Maybe it''s best if we just take a break for today, we all have that interview tomorrow from Tick so think about what you want to say to them. We can''t make the team look bad." Everyone nodded and then started to head home. Of course, Alex was already on his way home but he was walking back slower than ever. Alex''s mind was upied with what he would say to his parents when he saw them. After walking slowly for a good 20 minutes he had finally arrived home. Alex took a big deep breath before going in. "I''m home!" Alex shouted as he usually did when he stepped through the front door. Alex then took off his shoes before going into the kitchen where his mum would usually be at this time of day preparing dinner. Due to both of his parents working as doctors, they were quite strict with their schedule, everything happened at a perfect time and Alex could predict where his parents would be, or what they would be doing because of this. "How was school?" His mum asked as she just finished putting something in the oven. Alex put on a brave face before replying. "It was great, I got called up in front of the school today to congratte me." "Oh really, was it because of your grades!" His mum said excitedly. "No, it was actually because we entered the quarter-finals of the VSW tournament I was in." His mum didn''t reply as her excitement quickly went away. "You remember the tournament I was talking about" Alex continued but there was no interest from her as usual. Alex then put his bag down on the table and took out his test result. He stared at the score once again and took a gulp this time before speaking. "That reminds me." His mum said, "Weren''t you meant to get your test results back today?" As his mum turned around, she could see that Alex already had it held out in his hand. She took the piece of paper gently before looking at it and just like Alex, she couldn''t stop staring at the number in the corner. Alex stood there in silence with his head down to the ground, He wasn''t able to look his mother in the eye. Suddenly, his mother started to move without saying a word, she had left the kitchen and went straight upstairs. "What is she doing?" Alex wondered. When his mother finished doing what she was doing upstairs, Alex could see his mothering downstairs with his VR headset held in her hand. She then went straight outside with it. Alex rushed to his mother and shouted. "Wait what are you doing!" His mother was now stood by the bin and threw the VR headset down into it. "We had a deal, Alex!" His mum shouted. "You would only be allowed to y the game as long as you kept up your grades." Alex''s mum then walked back into the house and grabbed the test result once more and shoved the paper in Alex''s face. "What is this, you said your grades wouldn''t drop, one or two points I can understand but you always got above 90 until you entered this tournament." "butbut.." Alex didn''t know what to say, he could see his mother''s anger was just getting worse and worse. She had already gotten rid of the VR headset but he knew there was something else she had to say. "You are no longer allowed to y that silly game of yours, you will quit that club and be home 20 minutes after school finishes. If you are not home by then the door will be locked and you can live outside for all I care." Tears started to fill Alex''s eyes. So many tears that Alex was unable to see a single thing. Due to all the research Alex had put into the team''s games, Alex had less and less time to study. Originally it wouldn''t have been so much of a problem but he was ying withpletely new yers. Alex had taken more time than he usually would to show the others how to y and implement the strategies they needed to win. Alex was hoping by giving his mother the good news about the game that she would change her opinion about it but that didn''t happen. As usual, shepletely ignored any aplishments Alex had made unless it was to do with his studies. "Why Why..." Alex managed to say, "I worked so hard, why can''t you let me do what I want. I''m not a doll, I''m not something you own!" Alex shouted back. His mother then lifted her hand and pped Alex across the face. "I raised you, I carried you in my belly for 9 months. Me and your father work night and day to put food on the table for you and this is how you treat us back. Will that game of yours ever be able to put food on the table?" Alex was just in too much shock to reply back and ran into his room. He shut the door behind him and sat on his bed with his quilt over his head, rocking backwards and forwards whishing all the bad thoughts away. Chapter 99: One member down Chapter 99: One member down The next day when Scarlett woke up, she noticed that her phone had several messages left on it that had been sent while she was asleep. "Alex?" Scarlett said. "I wonder what he wanted sote." The message read: "Scarlett, if you cane to school early and meet me in the club room, I have some important news." Scarlett didn''t know what the news was but the fact that Alex didn''t say what it was over text, meant it had to be important enough to be said in person. Scarlett then threw on her clothes and got to school as soon as possible. Alex had been patiently waiting inside the clubroom for a while now, he had gotten to school early before sses had even started, preparing what he wanted to say. In the end, he just didn''t know how to break the news to the rest of the team. His heart couldn''t take it. He managed to gather up the courage to tell Scarlett, who he felt closest with. When Scarlett had arrived, she immediately saw a mark across Alex''s face. "Your face! What happened." Scarlett said as she rushed over. "It''s nothing don''t worry." Alex lifted his hand to stop Scarlett from seeing the mark on his face. Once Scarlett had calmed down, he took a deep breath before saying what he needed to say. "I need to quit the club!" Scarlett''s eyes nearly popped out of her skull. She knew more than anyone how much the club meant to him. Before Scarlett could ask why, Alex continued. "My grades have been dropping and I have no more time for silly games. I have to start focusing on my studies and think about my future." Alex was looking down at the ground. He wasn''t able to look Scarlett in the eyes while speaking. Every word he had said was just a repeat of what his mother had said to him at some point. "I''m sorry," Alex said as stormed out of the room. Scarlett thought she might have been imagining things but she was sure she could see tearsing from his eyes. The ss had started and Scarlett''s mind was full about what to tell the others. She was sure that this wasn''t Alex decision but it was somehow influenced by someone else. Even when Mac was bullying him and others, Alex had never quit the game but now all of sudden he wanted to focus on his studies? Scarlett wasn''t buying it one bit and wanted to get to the bottom of it. Although Scarlett''s mind was soon focused on something else as the teacher had an announcement to make. "Now, before we start ss, I have a new student that will be joining our ss today." Suddenly, the room was filled with the boys all praying one thing. "Please be a girl please be a girl." George was watching the situation from Novis''s point of view. "These boys are really thirsty aren''t they." The door slid wide open and in stepped a boy with incredibly short hair, his uniform didn''t have a mark on it and his clothes had every crease ironed out. "My name is Frank Burney, I used to go to Hershal Grammer school but I have now transferred to your school. I hope you will all look after me." Novis immediately dropped the pen he was holding. His mouth remained wide open. Was this a dream? Novis thought. When Frank spotted he was in the same ss as Scarlett and Novis he gave them a quick wave. "Oh, it seems like you already know some of your fellow ssmates. Novis!" the teacher called out. Novis quickly snapped out of it and replied. "Yes." "I''ll leave you in charge of showing Frank around the school. If he needs anything you need to help him the best you can, understand?" "Yes, sir." "Well, anything other than studies that is." The ss started tough but Novis didn''t care, he was still wondering if he was in a dream or not. sses throughout the day continued as normal, apart from the fact that Frank continued to follow Novis around everywhere including when he went to the toilet. When it was finally time for the end of the day Novis quickly said goodbye to Frank and rushed off to head to the VSW club. Novis didn''t think Frank was a bad person but felt awkward. Just a couple of days ago Novis felt like he had a real strong grudge against Frank. Novis patiently waited in the VSW club room as the members arrived one by one. "Huh, where''s Alex?" Ashely asked. "He''s always here before all of us." "About that," Ashley said. Scarlett then proceeded to tell the rest of the club members what Alex had told her this morning. Novis then mmed his fist against the table. "No that''s not possible, that guy, I know him, he loves the game. No way would he quit!" "I think the same as well but what can we do?" Scarlett replied. "Maybe someone''s behind this, like Mac or something," Ashley said. "No, trust me, I would know about it if that was true," Dan replied. Ever since the incident with Scarlett. Dan had asked his brother to keep a close eye on the Ruman family for him and to inform him as soon as possible if anything happened. Right now, it seemed like the Ruman family had their own problems they were dealing with. Scarlett then stood up from her seat. "Look, I want to convince Alex toe back to the team just as much as everyone else, but the important thing is we have a match next week and we have to think about what to do if Alex can''te back." "But who would be able to fill the gap in our team?" Ashley asked, "Especially one as big as Alex''s, we can''t just get anyone." Just then the VSW club room doors swung wide open. "Err hello, is this were the VSW club is?" Frank said. Chapter 100: A New leader Chapter 100: A New leader Novis could see as soon as Frank had stepped through the doors, there was a smile on Scarlett''s face like she had a brilliant idea. Novis pulled Scarlett to one side and whispered in her ear. "You can''t be thinking of inviting him?" "What choice do we have?" Scarlett replied, "Besides he''s the perfect fit right? He was captain of the Hershal team before and he''s yed the game for a long time. Me, you and everyone else in this room don''t even add up to a year''s worth of experience." Scarlett then quickly stood up and brushed her back as if she was fixing her self up before approaching Frank. "Frank, are you here to join the VSW club?" Frank looked around the room before he gave Scarlett an answer. "Actually, I was kinda looking for Alex." Scarlett then exined the situation with Alex to Frank. "Are you serious, how could that be?" Frank said. Frank had originallye to the VSW club in hopes that Alex would be his mentor. Although Frank was the captain of the VSW team, he never felt like one. He was always told to follow a strict n that was prepared beforehand and he was only allowed to issue simplemands now and then. Frank having looked at Montems past games had done a bit of research and noticed how amazing Alex was. The way Montem yed against Eton waspletely differentpared to how they yed against his team Hershal. "So we''re kinda down a yer at the moment and we were thinking" Scarlett said. "Me!" Frank pointed at himself. "But I just joined the school, won''t the other members have something against that?" "You''re looking at all the members right here," Dan said "Seriously." Frank didn''t know about the situation with the VSW club since he had just joined the school. Usually, schools would be filled with members and only the very best would be able to join the team. Suddenly, Montem''s ranking slowly started to make sense. Frank felt like somebody had suddenly given him a second chance, as if it was his destiny to lead this new team. "I''ll do it!" Frank said while he posed and looked up towards the ceiling. "What is he doing?" Novis whispered to Dan. "Maybe we should find someone else." "Right!" Frank shouted, "Let'' get practising right away, we''re only a week away until the game." Frank had naturally taken the role as a leader even though that wasn''t the others intention, they only wanted Frank to fill in the missing space and Scarlett even thought she would get a chance to lead the team. But Frank was so overpowering it was hard for them to say no. Frank stood at the front of the ssroom pacing backwards and forwards while the other members were currently sat down in a row. "Question 1!" Frank said, "First things first, we must look at the games of our next opponent. Does anybody know who that is?" Novis looked at Dan, who then looked at Ashley, who then looked at Scarlett, who finally looked back at Frank and smiled. Frank ced the palm of his hand on his forehead and started shaking his head. "How did you guys even get this far?" "Well, usually Alex would tell us these sorts of things," Ashley replied "Okay, why don''t we just y a game together and see what we can do." Once they were all in the game, Frank purposely chose to not give any of the members anymands to see what they would do on their own. The team started well in the first phase on the game, which was called thening phase. In this phase of the game, teams would usually spilt up their yers and spread them between the three paths to the enemies team tower. This was called thening phase. Once the first tower had been taken down most teams would then start grouping up more often. This was where the chaos started. The team had no sense of danger ormunication. Once Ashley and Scarlett had taken the tower at bottom. They carried on pushing forward to the next tower. The enemy team immediately grouped up and surrounded them finishing them in an instant. Even if Frank called for help from the others, Novis and Dan were too busy trying to destroy the tower in theirne instead of helping out the team. After losing the one game, Frank felt like he had seen enough. "Look why don''t you guy''s head home for the day and I''ll trye up with something tomorrow," Frank said. Suddenly, Scarlett caught the time on the wall. "Oh no, we have to hurry back!" "What''s wrong?" Novis asked. "Remember the school said we were going to be interviewed by Tick today, well the principal said they would be at our homes at five, it''s already 4, we got to go!" Everyone immediately rushed out of the room to head back home leaving Frank on his own to think about what had just happened. "How did you do it, Alex?" Frank was now even more impressed with Alex. It was clear his team was full of new yers but somehow, he managed to use everyone''s strengths. Frank went to sit at a desk that was stationed at the front of the ssroom. As he sat down, he noticed there was a piece of paper sticking out of the draw. Frank''s OCD got the better of him and he needed to put it back in the draw properly. When Frank opened the draw he noticed that it was filled with notes. "What in the..." There were sheets and sheets of Notes about Eton and not only that but about Hershel as well. Alex had gone into so much detail about each team and what they would do. Frank could also see that Alex had even written out detailed ns and had sess rates of each strategy. Reading each word started to make Frank''s heartache. He couldn''t imagine the hours Alex must have put into researching. "There''s no way you would quit this game over nothing, I need to find out what''s going on." Chapter 101: First Interview Chapter 101: First Interview Josh and Cindy had received information from the school about the club members addresses. They currently had just arrived in the small town. "So who do you think we should go see first?" Cindy asked. "let''s not waste any time, let go see this Ashley first. I want to spend the most time with her and the ce sounds interesting." Josh replied After following their sat nav and driving around town, they had finally arrived just outside Daiki''s dojo. When entering the dojo, they could instantly hear the sound of multiple people chanting. "1, 2, 3 Huh" "Again!" A loud man''s voice said. "1, 2, 3, huh!" "Wow, that''s rare?" Cindy said looking at all the students training. "Most Dojos are pretty empty these days but this one seems to be thriving." There were around 20 students who were busy practising kendo just outside the actual training hall. It was a nice day and Daiki liked to train outside when he could. Daiki had just spotted the reporters and immediately told the students to continue practising as he went to greet the two. "How can I help; we currently have a big promotion going on for summer lessons if you''re interested?" "Thank you for the offer but we''re here to speak about your daughter," Josh replied. Daiki then invited them inside the dojo where the three of them sat on the floor across a table. Josh had informed Daiki why they were here visiting today and Daiki started tough. "Ha, Ha, Ha I''m sorry I thought you two were looking to join the kendo club, Ashley will be home any second now you''re free to stay here and wait for her." Josh took a sip from the tea Daiki had prepared for him while Cindy had taken out herptop to write notes in. "Well if you don''t mind, can we ask you some questions?" "Sure, go ahead." "We noticed that Ashley hasn''t been ying the game for very long, most kids these days y games from a young age. Do you know why she suddenly started ying the game?" "That would be because of the boy called Novis, I suppose I never did get to thank him for everything he''s done for me. It''s because of him that this dojo is thriving and my daughter is as happy as she has ever been." Josh had seen that one of the team members on the Montem Team was called Novis but nothing about him stood out, Josh was wondering if Daiki was speaking about the same person or not. "What do you mean by that?" Cindy asked. "You see, one day the boy came to my dojo asking if Ashley could y a game with him. Of course, Ashley was my sweetheart but she was also my best student ever, she had no time to y games but he proved to me he was special and made my little girl so famous that I get students every day asking to join the dojo." Just then Ashley came busting through the Dojo doors. "Sorry I''mte dad, these people from Tick media should be arriving any second now." Ashley paused midsentence as she saw her father was already sitting down talking to two people in formal clothes. They had to be from Tick. Ashley quickly made her father leave as she was worried he might have said something embarrassing. Now Ashley was alone with the two members from Tick. Josh asked Ashley simple questions such as how long had she been ying the game and whether she thought her Kendo had really helped her in the game. The answers they got were expected but Ashley kept bringing up the name of this Novis person during the conversation. Before Josh and Cindy left, they had one more question to ask. "Your father already told me about when Novis asked you to join the club but what I want to ask is how you and Novis first met?" Ashley''s face started to go bright red as her memories started toe back. "I actually saw Novis had just beaten up a bunch of adults in an alleyway, I thought he was bullying them and suddenly attacked him. Turns out he was actually protecting someone." Josh and Cindy said their goodbyes and headed back to their car to head to the next destination. "So what do you think, is she everything you thought she would be?" Cindy asked. "More so, she has the background of a star as well. She studied Kendo her whole life and suddenly started ying VSW. She had a dad that was dead set against her ying the game but found out it was very beneficial to her. This is the kind of thing Esports needs right now. Esports is extremely popr but has always had trouble enticing the older generation and she could be the star that takes us out of this." Although Josh didn''t say anything yet, he was also slowly starting to gain an interest in this Novis person as well. While Cindy was driving to his next destination Josh rewatched the matches between Montem and the other schools once again to see if he could spot anything. But nothing particr seemed to stand out. In fact, the only thing that did stand out to him was how little screen time Novis actually got in the game. It was amazing how a person could avoid the camera so much. This led Josh down another path as he started to search up Novis''s game ID instead, called ProNovis. Josh had just started to watch the game and noticed that Novis was ying as the warrior Heros puer. A warrior who was widely discredited as being one of the worst warriors in the game for having no skills. Now, why would he choose to y this warrior? Josh thought. Before Josh could begin to watch the video though, they had already arrived at their next destination. "Were here," Cindy said. "Huh wait are sure we''re at the right address?" Josh said as he looked at the building they had stopped just outside. "Yeah, that''s what it says, ck tree orphanage." Chapter 102: Interview 2 Chapter 102: Interview 2 Before exiting their vehicle, Cindy and Josh doubled checked that they were at the right ce and sure enough the address the school had given them, was the Orphanage. The Orphanage was arge single floor building. When the two of them entered the front gate, they were greeted with a bunch of kids between the ages of 5 and 10, who outside ying. "Ah, it''s an Adult." One of the little girls pointed. "Someone go call ire, we have visitors." "Nice to meet you, little girl," Josh said as he bent down to match the kid''s eye level. "Were looking for a boy named Dan, does he live here?" "You hear to see big brother?" The girl said. "are you going to take him away." Suddenly the girl''s smile had turned into a frown. "No don''t worry about that, we just here to ask him some questions." Just then tall women in her mid-twenties named ire came out from the building. "Come on kids y''s times over. it''s time for dinner let''s go head inside." "Yay!" the kids cheered and immediately started running indoors. Josh and Cindy had quickly exined that they hade from Tick and they were here for an interview because of Dan. "Oh, you''re in luck he literally just came back." ire started to lead the way and the three of them went inside the orphanage. There were broken toys scattered everywhere and all of the equipment looked worn down. "Sorry about the mess, I''m the only one working here at the moment." "Can''t you get any help, that''s a lot of people for one person," Cindy said. "Unfortunately, the government cut our public funding a long time ago. Originally, they wanted to close this ce down but I was an orphan here myself. So when they needed help, I took up the mantle." "It can''t be cheap to feed everyone, how do you get the money, what about school supplies?" "One of the kids who used to be an orphan here regrly sends us checks, that gives us just enough to keep going." ire said, "Now that I think about it, Dan and that person were really close." Finally, they had arrived just outside of Dan''s room. ire gave a knock before opening the door. The room was small it was just big enough to fit a desk and a single bed. Dan was currently in the middle of getting changed into his school uniform and when they opened the door, Dan had just taken his top off. "Sorry Dan!" ire said with her face all red and she immediately shut the door. "I think I''m going to head off, Dan will let you know when he''s ready," ire said as she quickly scurried away. "Did you see the boy''s body?" Cindy asked. "I didn''t know you were interested in kids." Cindy''s cheeks started to burn. "No! I didn''t mean it in that way. For a 16-year-old his body was in prime shape. I don''t know many 16-year-olds who look like that." Just then Dan opened the door and invited the two inside. They asked Dan simr questions to Ashley and found out that Dan had joined many clubs before eventually joining the VSW club. It also exined why Dan was physically in top condition. The fact that Dan always outperformed everyone in physical sports made Josh think why the sudden change to a game. "Dan, what made you want to y VSW?" "Oh, that''s an easy one, it was actually because of my teammate Novis." Novis again Josh thought. "I grew bored with being the best at all these sports and one day when I spotted Novis, I knew he was someone special. Someone who could give me realpetition. The only thing I didn''t expect was he was better than me in every single aspect." Cindy couldn''t believe what Dan was saying. She had done research into Dan and found out he wasn''t just good at other sports, he was exceptional. Many other schools wanted to hijack Dan and add them onto their team but Dan refused each and every one of them. But when Cindy looked at the files for Novis, he had never even joined a club before the VSW club, not only that but it was twice now that Novis was getting praise from his two teammates. "What did you mean he was better than you?" Cindy asked. "Let''s just say he does things that are impossible." After ending the interview, Josh and Cindy waved goodbye to the kids and headed back into their car. Cindy could see that Josh had a concerned look on his face. "What are you thinking about?" "Don''t you think it''s strange that the Montem team is made up ofplete newbies. VSW is the most popr game in the world right now and every school usually has at least around 50 members. I looked atst year files and the only member that is still on the team fromst year is Alex. Don''t you think it''s a little strange?" "Where do you want to go next then?" "Before we find out about this Novis person I think it''s best if we get some answers, why don''t we head to the team captains house next, Alex." After driving around town for a while they suddenly entered a nicer part of town. These houses were a lotrger than regr houses but not big enough to be called mansions. The two of them stopped just outside one of the nicer houses which had a gate outside leading up to it. Josh pressed the buzzer by the side and waited for an answer. "Hello, how can I help?" A woman''s voice said on the speaker. "Hi their mam, we''re here form Tick media and wanted to ask your son Alex a few questions before his uing match in the VSW tournament." "Are you people talking about that silly game again! I already informed the school that my son shall be taking part in no such thing and now they''re sending people to my house to do interviews. Now if you would kindly turn back around and leave that would be greatly appreciated." "What do we do now?" Cindy asked. Just then Josh spotted a young boy climbing out of his bedroom window. "I think we can wait." Chapter 103: Interview 3 Chapter 103: Interview 3 Alex started to climb down from his bedroom window carefully. His room was ced on the top left-hand corner on the second floor. So luckily for him, as soon as he climbed out of the window he was already on the roof of the house. Walking slowly making sure not to fall over, Alex eventually made it to a ledge where he could drop down to the next part of the roof just above his garage. And finally, he was then close enough to the ground to hang from the roof of the garage and drop down onto the floor. He then immediately dashed forward and headed to the gate. "You''re Alex I assume?" Josh asked. "Sorry about this but I wanted to get my own words in." "Won''t your mother be upset if she finds out you snuck out?" Cindy asked. "What the worst she could do," Alex replied, "She''s already taken everything I care about away from me." He mumbled. Josh could see the sorrow in Alex''s eyes. He had heard of this in the past before when gaming was only popr with a certain generation but that was years ago. Now it was quite normal for people to have a career rted to games and parents were more understanding. But Josh also knew it wasn''t his ce to interfere with other family matters. "I won''t keep you here for long then, my main question is why is the current VSW team is full of yers who haven''t been ying the game for long. Surely they can''t have ack of members?" Alex then went on to exin the situation with Mac and also talked about how Novis was the one to beat him and in a way saved the club but because of that Mac had threatened students from entering the club. "It sounds like to me Novis wasn''t really too interested in the game, do you know what made him join the club?" Josh asked. "Hmm.. I don''t too much of the details, the most likely person to know the answer to that is Scarlett. She''s closest to Novis and was the one who brought him to the club." Just before Josh and Cindy were about to walk off Josh had onest question. "Now that you are no longer on the team, are you worried about them losing the next game?" Alex lifted his head and smiled. "You know every time I think Novis makes a crazy suggestion I try to stop him, he doesn''t listen and does his own thing anyway but somehow we end up winning. I guess all I can say is I believe in my team." Josh smiled back at Alex before heading back to his car. "It''s a shame the boy has quit the game, he seemed to be really passionate," Cindy said "I wouldn''t worry too much, did you hear what he said at the end?" "What?" "He said, I believe in my team. He still considers it his team, meaning he hasn''t given up yet. I don''t think this is thest we will see of him." Josh and Cindy then entered their car and drove off to the next destination. Novis and Scarlett actually lived on the same street so they didn''t have to go anywhere else after this. Josh had asked Cindy to stop by Scarlett''s house first. Josh felt like he was slowly unlocking the sess of Montem''s team. They were all a special group of kids but the most interesting one now was Novis. Before going to Novis''s ce he wanted to gather all the pieces. Finally, they had arrived just outside Scarlett''s house. Josh rang the doorbell and could hear a women''s voice from behind the door. "Oh they''re here!" A woman said excitedly. The door opened and Scarlett''s mother was standing there in the most formal attire she had from her closet. It was the clothes that she would wear whenever she was going for a job interview. "Pleasee in, we have been waiting for you." Scarlett''s mother said. Scarlett''s mother led the two to the living room where snacks had been prepared and left out on the table and Scarlett was sitting in a seat patiently. Scarlett was in her best outfit as well that her mother had chosen for her. A dress that she hadst worn on a wedding night. "Do you mind if I take a photo of you three and post it on my social media?" Scarlett''s mother asked. "Err sure," Josh said. Scarlett was sat in the middle while the two from Tick media stood by her side. Scarlett''s face was bright Red and all she wanted to do was crawl in a hole. "Say Cheeze!" "Mum, you can go now," Scarlett said. Scarlett''s mother then quickly left the room with the biggest grin on her face. "Wow, almost theplete opposite to where we''ve just been," Cindy said. "Are you talking about Alex?" Scarlett asked. Josh and Cindy then looked at each other before giving Scarlett an answer. In the end, they decided that Scarlett deserved to know what was going on with her teammate and told her everything that Alex had said and what had happened before. "So that''s why he decided to quit the club, it now is starting to make sense." Once they had gotten introductions out of the way, they started to ask Scarlett the same questions as they had asked the others, and once again Scarlett had said she started ying the game because of Novis. Everything seemed to link to the boy in some way or another. "Scarlett, do you know why Novis suddenly wanted to join the tournament?" "Now that you mention it, he never really said but there was this one time." Scarlett said. "one time when Novis mentioned the name of another yer." Josh was starting to get excited at the idea of a possible rival, it would only make his broadcast and shows more interesting. "Do you remember the name?" "I think it was Lucas something." Josh''s heart had skipped a beat. Chapter 104: Interview 5 Chapter 104: Interview 5 Josh had asked Scarlett for more details on why Novis had mentioned this Lucas person but Scarlett didn''t really know much more so Lucas had to leave it there. Josh couldn''t stop thinking about why had Novis mentioned Lucas''s name. Of course, it was normal for kids to look up to Lucas, after all, he was at a professional level and was the same age as them but Novis had only just started to y the game. The idea of a rivalry between the two caused the adrenaline to rush straight to Josh''s head but of course, he knew this was most likely just a dream. Before leaving Scarlett''s house, her mother had asked for one more photo with all of them in it this time. She immediately uploaded it on to her social media page and wrote about how amazing her daughter was. Although Scarlett found it embarrassing, after hearing about Alex''s situation, she couldn''t be prouder to have a supportive mother. When Josh and Cindy got back to the car, Cindy took in a deep breath. "What is up with this team, it''s just story after story. We could write a whole article on just one of these kids." Cindy said. "Yes and I will be sure to," Josh replied, "If this team keeps on winning and ends up winning the English Championship, then everyone will learn of their story." The two of them got in the car and only drove a few blocks up the street, until they eventually stopped outside Novis''s house. Josh stood outside and looked at the house for a second as if he praying for a big lead in a story. When Josh and Cindy knocked on the door, to their surprise a young boy who looked to be around 12 years old answered the door. "Hey, are you here for my bro?" Bill asked. "I believe so, were here to speak to Novis," Josh replied "You don''t want to do that, he''s boring why don''t you do a report on me, I''m only 12 yet I''m a diamond yer." Bill said, "I''ll even let you have the interview on the house before I be famous." Although Josh was slightly impressed that Bill was a diamond yer at his age it still didn''t mean much. VSW had an average of around 400 million yers online a day. That meant even if Bill was a diamond yer and in the top one percent, that there were still 4 million yers like him out there. Pro yers were just that special. A lot of peopleined about pro yers'' wages and saying they earnt a ridiculous amount for just ying a game but these were the best in the world. It wasn''t easy to be a pro yer. It wasn''t something that you could just study hard and be good at. Just then, Novis started to head down the stairs as he heard the door knock a while ago but no one call his name. "Bill what the hell are you doing!" Novis shouted, "Stop annoying them and get out of here." Bill kissed at his teeth before scurrying off upstairs but before he did, he had onest word to say to Josh and Cindy. "You will regret turning down the interview of the great billybill remember that ID name." "What a unique character," Cindy said. Finally, Josh and Cindy were able to set their eyes on the person they had heard so much about. However, now that they were looking at him the excitement in their hearts seemed to die down a little. Every member they had met before had some sort of charm to them but when looking at Novis they felt he looked kind of ordinary. "Is it okay if we ask you some questions?" Josh asked. "Sure, why don''t we" Novis looked to the living room where his mother was too busy watching her favorite tv program, he didn''t want to disturb her. Then he looked at the kitchen which was currently a mess because it was Novis day to clean the dishes and he had been putting it off for a while. If the reporters saw that Novis would have died from embarrassment. That left only one ce where Novis didn''t mind showing them, which was his bedroom. "Why don''t we head upstairs. " Novis said. The three of them headed into Novis''s room together. Josh and Cindy had done aplete 180 after seeing Novis and wasn''t expecting much from him after seeing him but their minds once againpletely changed once they had entered his room. "Feel free to sit on the bed or stand if you like," Novis said but as he turned to look at the other two, he could see their jaws wide open as they stared at something in his room. "Is that thetest capsule from Goldware corp?" Cindy asked as she rushed over to check the capsule. "I think so, I''m not really sure, I don''t know much about these things," Novis replied. Novis went to sit on his chair while the other two were admiring the capsule. It brought back memories for Novis of when his brother had first seen the capsule. He hadpletely forgotten it was something special and he didn''t really know the true value of it. Josh couldn''t believe how a regr kid had a professional capsule like this. Josh looked around the mostly bare room. It didn''t look like Novis came from a rich family and even if he did, few would still be able to afford something like this. Especially for someone who had just yed the game. Judging by Novis''s reaction as well, it seemed like he didn''t know it''s true worth. "Novis, you don''t know why we''re so amazed by this do you?" Josh asked. "Do you know how much this thing is worth? This thing alone is probably worth more than your house!" Novis started to immediately cough as he was choking on his spit. He couldn''t believe the words that he had just heard. "Dam you Tom, why couldn''t you have just given me cash instead." "Tom? You wouldn''t happen to be talking about Tom Dane? Who works for Goldware corp are you?" Chapter 105: Final interview Chapter 105: Final interview Josh was just getting surprise after surprise, after meeting the boy. Novis had just told him the story of how he and Tom had met and usually a story as strange as this, he wouldn''t believe. The fact that Novis had one of these capsules, it had to be the only exnation. "You are quite a lucky boy aren''t you?" Cindy said. Although Novis didn''t agree with what Cindy said, he didn''t say it out loud. Novis had worked incredibly hard and if he hadn''t learned how to fight he would have never got himself involved in a situation like that. "I suppose we should start the interview," Josh said. The three of them sat down and Cindy had brought out herptop to take notes on. Josh wanted to start with the usual questions before aking the stuff he was really interested in but the very first question he had asked Novis revealed what he wanted to hear already. "Novis, it says here that you haven''t been ying the game for long, what made you suddenly want to join the VSW club at your school?" Josh asked. Novis thought about his answer for a while, there was nothing to hide so he answered honestly. "One day when I went to this local VSW caf, I met someone the same age as me. I saw them y a game with one of my friends and I couldn''t believe how skilled he was but that wasn''t what attracted me. It was his dedication to the game, the amount of passion he had to truly be a professional in this thing. When I looked at him, I thought, I wonder if I could be like that?" When Novis had finished answering Josh''s question, the room had gone silent for a little while. Novis suddenly felt embarrassed by his answer as no one was saying anything. "Did I say something wrong?" Novis asked. "No, no don''t worry." Josh and Cindy were silenced by Novis''s answer. When he spoke, they could really feel his emotions behind his words. It was as if a lost person was speaking and they wanted to listen to every word he said. It was just unexpected for them. "Okay, my next question. This person you saw ying the game, was it Lucas?" "Wow, how did you know?" "Your friend Scarlett told us," Cindy said. Suddenly, Josh started to remember a rumour that started to circte around a while ago. About how a kid the same age as Lucas had beaten him in a match, how there were two monsters to watch out for in this tournament. This couldn''t be him, could it? Josh''s heart started to beat harder at the thought. "Would you call him a rival then?" Novis then started tough, which surprised Josh. "You could say that but I would have to say it''s very one-sided. It''s more me chasing after him, I''m nowhere near at his level." "ording to Arthur anyway," Novis thought Novis thought this because of the words Arthur had once said about Lucas being like a dragonpared to him. Josh thought for a second, he had found something. His gut was screaming that there was something deeper hidden behind this. "Did you ever y against Lucas yourself?" Again, Novis paused before answering. "No, but one day I hope to." Novis answered like this because it was technically true. Novis wasn''t the one who fought him but it was Arthur. Once they had finished asking questions, they exited the room and went to say goodbye but before Josh left the room, he wanted to tell Novis one thing. "Novis, it looks like we''ll get to see a match between you two soon." "What do you mean?" Novis asked. "If you win the quarter-finals, your next match will be against Westgate in the semi-finals." Now Novis''s heart was suddenly beating faster. Novis had been waiting for this moment, a moment to prove that all his hard work actually meant something. "I''ll make sure I''ll be there." Josh and Cindy then headed back to the car and were finally ready to go home as they had all the information they needed. "You ready to head back out of this town then?" Cindy asked. "There''s one ce I want to drop by first, let''s head to that inte caf were Novis met Lucas, maybe I can get a few details myself." Before heading back home, the two of them decided to look for the inte caf that Novis had described. Eventually, they arrived just outside and entered the caf together. "Wee to the best VSW inte caf in town!" Sophie said with a smile as she stood behind the counter. Josh then handed a little card to Sophie showing that the two of them were from Tick media. "Oh my! What brings you two here to this little VSW caf?" "We heard that Lucas frequents this ce a lot, is that true?" Josh asked "Ah, yes, well it used to be. Lucas used toe here on a weekly basis and help train people in his spare time but to be honest with you he hasn''t been here in months. Now that I think about it, it all started when he met that kid?" Suddenly, both Cindy and Josh were very interested in what Sophie was talking about. "Would you mind describing to me what happened?" Sophie then went on to exin everything that had happened. About how when Novis first came Lucas and him had a match, which Lucas had lost but not only once but twice. That was when Lucas started to change. "How is this possible, the person she described without a doubt is Novis," Cindy said. "Why would he not tell us about that?" Josh knew he was onto something and this was something huge. Two uing rivals at the pro level getting ready for a face-off. This was an unbelievable story. The only problem was if Josh wrote an article now people would think he was a mad man. After all, Novis had done nothing spectacr in thest few games. Even Josh would find it hard to believe that Novis was at the same level as Lucas. Josh could only hope for one thing, that in Montem''s next match, Novis would do something unbelievable that would bring all the attention to him. Chapter 106: To Silver Chapter 106: To Silver The next day school started as usual for everyone but instead of their mind being focused on the lessons they were taking like they should have been, everyone couldn''t stop thinking about the VSW game. When each of them joined the club they never had expected they could get so far but finally, they were in the quarter-finals. Each of them had gone from being unknown in their school to superstars. Once lessons for the day had finished, each of the members went to the club room as usual. Each of them was busy sharing the experience that they had with Tick media but what caught their attention most was what Scarlett had to say. Scarlett had exined to the group about what had happened when Tick media had shown up at Alex''s house. "So it wasn''t his decision after all," Ashley said with a sad look on her face. "Can''t we do something about this?" Novis asked, "What if we all go talk to his parents or something." "I really don''t think that would work," Scarlett replied, "From the sounds of it, they wouldn''t even let Tick media in the house. I doubt she would even bother speaking to a bunch of kids like us." The team remained silent for a while as they were trying their best toe up with a solution until eventually, Frank broke the silence. "I''ll do it," Frank said. "Huh, but how?" Scarlett asked. "You guys don''t have to worry about that, just leave it to me!" Frank pointed at himself proudly. The team was happy that Frank offered his help but they weren''t very hopeful about him being able to do anything. "Other than that guys, we have to start practicing for the uing game," Frank said, "I''m not going to lie to you all, I have a n to get Alex to join the team again but it''s not a 100 percent, I would say it''s 70 percent at best but that means we have to start to prepare to y the game without him." Although each of them felt really bad for Alex, what Frank was saying was right. At the moment, Novis wanted to go through to the next round more than anyone else on the team. After learning about who their opponents would be in the next round after this, a fire was lit in Noivs''s belly. "What the n then?" Dan asked. "The first thing we need to do is look at the next team you will be facing." Frank then pressed a button on the controller in his hand to turn on the projector behind him. "Woo, Woo Boys school." "You wouldn''t have a fan club their Dan," Novis said out loud. Dan had no clue what Novis was talking about, in fact, Dan was even oblivious to the fan club he had at school. He had just thought a lot of the girls liked being nice to him. "You know there are some boys in his club as well." Scarlett said, "If I was to take a guess, I would say he would be just as popr there." Suddenly the two girls Scarlett, and Ashley started to blush at the thought of a romance between Dan and another boy. "Why are girls like this?" Novis thought. Frank then continued to speak. "Woo woo is an all-boys school and unlike other schools, they''re really not known for anything other than being good at the game." "What do you mean?" Dan asked. "It would be better if I showed you all, this is thest match they had." Frank yed the video and the rest of the team watched in silence. The match continued until eventually, a victory screen had appeared. "So what do you think?" Frank asked. "It was kinda boring." Novis said, "I mean they were good but it felt like nothing happened." "Good, Woo woo, is a team that is just simply good at the game. They have no fancy tricks or tactics, no star yer, every yer just has good knowledge and understanding of the game. If you can see each one of their yers won theirne and took the enemy tower. From there, they grouped and took another tower. Before the other team could react, they were already taking the top tower until eventually, they won the game taking the enemies g." "So won''t this game be easy? we just have to be better than them." Ashley said. "No your wrong," Scarlett replied, "In reality, this will probably be our hardest game ever." "Scarlett is correct," Frank said, "You guys simply put, are horrible at the game, you have no use ofmunication, you don''t know how to use your NPC knights or anything. You managed to survive this far all because of Alex. He was able to micromanage and tell you all that to do but I''m sorry to say, I''m not Alex. I don''t have confidence in my abilities to tell you all what to do while ying the game myself. Meaning we''re just going to have to get better at the game." Frank then changed the projector to disy a different slide he had prepared. On the screen was a round silver medal. "Does anyone know what this is?" "Oh, isn''t that the medal you get for reaching silver," Ashley said excitedly. "Correct, our n is to y the game until we get into silver. The longer we stay in bronze, the worse our bad habits will affect us." "Wouldn''t it be better if we just tried to overpower them?" Dan asked. "I''m pretty confident in our individual skills." "Okay let me ask you, who do you think is the strongest yer on your team," Frank asked. At the same time, everyone in the room turned to look at Novis. Frank was actually quite surprised at this, he too thought Novis was the strongest but epted the team to pick Ashley. "Novis, how about we y a one vs one and see who wins?" Chapter 107: Learning the real game Chapter 107: Learning the real game Novis had agreed to y Frank in a 1v1 game. Novis was quite confident in winning after all. Thest time they had battled Novis had beaten him without getting a scratch on him. So he didn''t think it would be hard to do the same. The two of them entered the game and selected their characters while the others watched from outside. "let''s do this!" Novis said. Arthur and George didn''t want to say anything, it seemed like Frank was confident for a reason. The two of them just saw this as a chance for Novis to learn from. Novis went to the middlene as usual and so did Frank. Frank waited patiently for the NPC knights to do battle with each other and so did Novis. The two of them continued to wait and wait until eventually, Novis had run out of patience. Novis went forward and started to fight with the NPC knights but at that time so did Frank. Frank watched carefully as Novis fought with the NPC knights and waited just at the right time to block one of Novis''s attacks. The NPC knights target quickly switched from the other NPC knights to Novis and all started to attack him at once. Novis was able to dodge some of the attacks but in the end, got hit a few times. Novis eventually dealt with the NPC knights and then wanted to go after Frank. But when Novis looked up, Frank was already by his tower waiting for the next wave of Knights. Frank kept on repeating this process using the NPC knights to his advantage. "Okay I understand now, we can stop the game," Novis said. The two of them ended the game there and exited the VR headset. "Well I hope you guys understand a bit more about the game now," Frank said, "What I did there was just a taster of what Woo Woo will do to you, they are a lot more skilled at using the NPCs to their advantage. They understand every aspect of the game as they have been ying for years." The team pped at Frank''s amazement and felt somehow they might be able to pull it off. They continued to y game after game but it was just a repeat ofst time. They tried implementing the things Frank taught them but it was useless. What Frank didn''t realize was that it was nearly impossible to teach someone something that would usually take years, in just a weak. After losing match after match from ying online, the teams high suddenly went to a low. "Cheer up guys!" Frank said. "We still have time until the game, I know we can do it." The team gave a slight smile in response but it was impossible for them to be in a good mood after the losing match after match. After everyone had left the room, Frank sat there on his own once again. "It looks like we''re going to have to rely on you once again, I just can''t do it." ***** On the way, home from school Novis was currently thinking about the games Arthur and George yed. Whenever they yed online, they never bothered implementing using the knights on their team. "Howe you guy never seems to struggle fighting multiple opponents?" Novis asked. "That''s a tricky one Novis," George replied, "We fought on many battlefields in the past where a stray arrow or a sword coulde out of nowhere. Our senses are always on high alert and it took years after years to perfect." Arthur continued to nod at George''s words. "Again it seemed like it alles down to experience, Is there anything I can do?" Novis asked. Novis felt like although Frank was trying his best. The strategy of simply getting better at the game wasn''t going to work. Before when doing new things with Alex, it was always focused on one thing. The team felt like they were making progress towards some type of goal but right now it felt like they were going back to square one. So Novis came up with his own answer. He simply needed to be like Arthur and George, too strong and skillful with his weapons, no matter how many enemies came at him, he could deal with them in some way. "There is one thing I can think of, In fact, I and Arthur were talking about it after yourst Game." Novis was suddenly surprised, he had actually expected the two of them to tell him there were no shortcuts, to work hard like they usually did. "Have you ever heard the term, Berserker?" George asked. "hmm, I think maybe a couple of times in some games but I don''t really know what it means." "Well in our world it was a term used to describe a specific type of fighter. You see, when people fight their mind goes into different states, as you know not every person is exactly the same. Some people perform better when their situation gets tougher or some people perform better when their mind is clear and calm. This state allows you to perform to the best of your abilities. You don''t think about what you are going to do, you just react." "So what does this have to do with me?" "Well Novis, if you remember yourst fight with Frank, you were extremely enraged at that time. So angry that mine and Arthurs words couldn''t be heard but when we watched you fight, you were performing better than we had ever seen you perform before. That is what we call a berserker, a person who gets stronger the angrier he is or the more hurt he is. You seem to fall into the first category." "Really wow, I never knew. That''s great then, teach me how to go into this berserker mode then." "That is kinda the problem, we don''t really know how. This whole thing is on you." Novis felt like the next few days ahead of him would be truly difficult. Chapter 108: Small world Chapter 108: Small world When Novis eventually arrived at his house, he was preparing his VR capsule for Arthur to y a few games. The three of them discussed what would be the best way for Novis to learn how to use his Berserker mode. They decided the best way they could train him was in the dream world while he was sleeping. Novis didn''t like forcing himself to sleep as it felt like a waste of his day and he didn''t want to wake up randomly at three in the morning and ruin his sleep pattern. So instead, what they decided to do was watch Arthur y a few games. It was important for them to not only show Novis how to enter his berserker mode but when was the right time to use it as well. It wasn''t always good to rely on your instincts, so you needed to find a bnce between thinking and instinct battling. "The virtual sword god is back online!" "Quick everyone log in." "I wonder which warrior he will y as today?" As usual, whenever Arthur logged in, it caused a stir everywhere. The big mediapanies such as Tick even kept a close eye on him and this time Josh and Cindy were also watching him. "It amazing how they still haven''t found out who this person is?" Cindy asked. "It''s strange because he doesn''t even y many games and there isn''t a pro out there who ys in the same style," Josh replied. "Why go to all this trouble to keep your identity secret. Doesn''t he want fame and fortune?" "It could be a girl you know?" Cindy said. Novis and Arthur switched control of their bodies and logged into the game. Now that Arthur was ranked diamond, the games took a little longer to match-make as their where fewer people in that tier. The higher ranked you were meant the fewer people there would be. This meant that often the very top tier yers yed with each other on a regr basis. Especially at the god tier. Only two tiers away from Diamond. Finally, a match had been found and Arthur logged into the game but then suddenly, Novis had noticed something. One of the names of the other yers he recognized almost instantly. "Billybill" It was his brother''s ID. Bill was also in diamond and also a fan of the Virtual sword god. As soon as he got the notification that Virtual sword god was online, Bill did his best to time when to try to find a game. He had hoped that they would eventually be put in the same game together and to his luck, the very first game he yed they were put together. When everyone''s warrior had loaded into the game, there was a minute timer before the game started. This allowed yers to test out their warrior''s skills or to even talk to their teams about strategy before the game started. Bill then immediately went towards Arthur and started to speak. "Hi.. me.. youfriend.." Bill said nervously, "I''m sorry I''m so nervous." This was a first for Novis. Novis had never seen his brother act like this. Usually, his brother was the cocky type and always bragged about being in diamond. Novis then thought about why on earth had his brother decided to approach Arthur. It couldn''t have been a coincidence. Then Novis thought about how Bill alwaysined he was stuck in Diamond and couldn''t move up to master. Perhaps Bill was looking for a partner to y games with and help him rank up. The other yers were carefully watching Arthur''s reaction. They too knew they were ying with the infamous Virtual sword god but were too shy to go up and ask. It was well known that Pendragon didn''t ept friend invites as well. "What do you want me to do?" Arthur asked. "Just add him, my little bro helped me out this time so we can help him out as well," Novis replied. "Sure, let''s be friends," Arthur said out loud. Bill''s heart felt like it was going to escape from his chest it was beating so hard. The others behind him also couldn''t believe what they had heard. The only known person on Pendragons friend list was Hastam but Hastam was at least a pro yer so it made sense. This Billybill was just an unknown diamond yer so why say yes to him? The others then immediately rushed forward and started shouting at Arthur. "Please ept my friend request?" "Me too, Me too!" "I''m your biggest fan." Novis and Arthur didn''t know what to make of the whole thing, why was suddenly everyone wanting to add him? This was indeed strange. Novis had decided that he would have to ask his brother outside of the capsule once the game had finished. The countdown timer for the game had started and the NPC knights had spawned into the game. Arthur quickly left the others and went to head down hisne. Their purpose for today was not to make friends but to show Novis how to fight. The others were saddened by this but quickly got into their positions well Bill. Of course, the news of the Virtual sword god epting a friend request instantly spread. Not only was his name being spread but now also the name of Billybill. People immediately started to look into Billybill but soon found out that he was nothing special. But back at Tick media, Josh couldn''t help but think he had heard the name somewhere. It was at the tip of his tongue but he just couldn''t think of it. When he looked over to Cindy, he noticed that she had her thinking face on as well. Why was it that both of them felt like they had heard that name somewhere before, Josh thought. Then it suddenly hit him. It was very recently when they had gone to Novis''s house. When they knocked at Novis''s door a young boy had answered who was his brother. Before leaving to go upstairs Bill had shouted. "You will regret turning down the interview of the great Billybill remember that ID name." "What a small world we live in." Josh thought. **** Special thank to RABBITICOL for the gift. Gifts are an extra way you can reward me for my hard work. They really encourage me to continue writing my story thank you. Chapter 109: Teaching the world Chapter 109: Teaching the world The match had begun and Arthur had already run down to the middlene. It was the position he called beforehand and no one on the team argued with him. Although Bill was a bit upset he wouldn''t see the legendary Sword God''s skills in person, he was still over the moon about him epting his friend request. This time though, Arthur suddenly stopped by his tower instead of moving forward like he usually did. "Huh, what''s he doing?" "He''s just standing there, did something happen?" The viewers watching online were currently confused. Arthur had been on a winning streak so far and not just any winning streak, he had been dominating hisst few games. This was because Authur and George wanted to rank up as fast a possible so they could find more difficult opponents to face. But today was different. Arthur didn''t want to rush things, he wanted to carefully exin everything he did. Once all his NPC knights had been defeated, only then did he make his move. "Now watch carefully Novis," Arthur said as he rushed into the middle of the knights. "It is important to n your moves beforehand, right now I''m thinking ten steps ahead," Arthur said as he shed each Knight in one go. "I picture in my head of all the possible scenarios that might happen, sword fighting is simr to a game of chess." Suddenly an attack from the diamond yer came from behind one of the NPC knights but Arthur was able to parry it away and ce his de at his opponent''s Neck. The man stood absolutely still knowing that any slight movement would mean his death. "But at the same time, something unexpected can happen." Then from the side of the forest, an arrow came flying out towards Arther. Arthur did nothing until thest second when the arrow was within the range of his sword and sliced it down. "I''m the type of Warrior who performs better when his calm. When my senses are at its maximum. The only problem with this is sometimes you can get what I call tunnel vision." Arthur exined. Arthur then took his sword away from the man and started to walk back to his tower. "Let''s try this again shall we?" Arthur said. "This time Novis I will only use my instincts and not n ahead." "What is he doing?" Someone online wrote. "Why did he let him live, I don''t understand." Arthur then waited until the enemy NPC knights had returned and waited for them to defeat his knights once again. This time Arthur stepped slightly in front of his tower and instead of attacking the NPC knights one by one, he waited until he was surrounded. "When you don''t n sometimes you can be put into tricky situations, you have no time to think and must act." The NPC knights and the enemy Warrior started to attack Arthur together. Arthur carefully avoided each strike by either moving parrying and attacking whenever he got the chance. It was a lot more masterful then before and it looked almost like Arthur was dancing between all the knights. Then another arrow came shooting from the forest and at the same time the enemy warrior swung his sword down in front of him. "Oh no, this is the first time I''ve seen him in trouble!" "Well, he shouldn''t have been messing around so much in the first ce." "Maybe diamond was too much for him." As the arrow came forward and the sword struck down, Authur ducked and swept kicked the Warriors leg''s causing him to fall over. Arthur then immediately spun and caught the arrow with his bare hands before quickly lodging it into the Warrior''s throat on the ground. "No time to think, Just act." Arthur said, "It''s important to not only know how to activate your different modes but when to use them as well. If I thought ahead I would have never gotten myself in such a tricky situation in the first ce. I had already predicted that there would be a teammate hiding nearby and nned my attack on the NPC knights." After exining everything in detail to Novis, Arthur decided to go roaming around the map. His team was losing badly as the enemy team had grouped up often while Arthur was busy teaching. But Arthur wasn''t worried, he just saw it as more opportunities to teach Novis. With each enemy he met, he would first deal with them in a certain way and let them live. Then he would fight them once again and kill them the second time. The onlinemunity could only guess as to why Arthur was doing this. "He''s toying with them." "Yeah, he has to be, showing them how many levels he is above them and how he can finish them off at any time." "That''s just cruel." Eventually, Arthur had also Arrived at Bill''sne and had done the same. Bill decided to just stand back and watch as it looked like Arthur didn''t need any help at all. While the onlymunity thought Arthur was simply toying with them all. Hastam, Bill, and a few others watching at the time had a different opinion. "What do you think?" Hastam asked his spirit Xin Mao. "It''s almost as if he''s teaching someone." Xin Mao replied. "I thought the exact same thing but who is he teaching?" Eventually, the game ended and now it was George''s turn to show Novis how he fought. This time when they logged into a game they switched warriors. When George yed he did a simr thing to Arthur only his style was very different. George seemed to perform better when he was put in high adrenaline situations. He performed best when he needed to most. After finishing the two games they thought Novis had seen enough and it was time to put the theory into practice. Although the onlinemunity was slightly disappointed that nothing too extravagant happened this timepared to the others, the pros around the world had a different feeling. They felt like they had been sent an individual message from the virtual sword god. A challenge almost saying this is how I fight. Try to beat me. It lit a fire inside of the pros and they were racing to see who would be the first one to beat the Virtual sword god! **** Special thanks to Abhijith_Ramesh for the gift. Gifts are a way to reward the author for their hard work but if you''re not able to gift then help me out with some stones. Chapter 110: They Need you Chapter 110: They Need you Once school had finished for the day, Frank decided to head home as soon as possible to initiate his n. He had an idea and was hoping he would be able to convince Alex toe back to Montem''s VSW club. Frank went through his wardrobe and fished out his now old Hershel uniform. "I hope this will work." After putting on the Hershal uniform and getting Alex''s home address from Scarlett, he was ready to start his n. He was now standing just outside of Alex''s house in front of the gate. He took a deep breath before pressing the buzzer. "Hello, how can I help?" Alex''s mother said. "Hi there, I''m a friend of Alex''s from Hershal, He said he needed some help tutoring him so I decided toe by and help him," Frank said as he held up his books and pens to the camera on the buzzer. Alex''s mother immediately recognized the uniform that Frank was wearing and was very pleased. Hershel had a good reputation as it was a grammar school. A lot of grammar schools got the best results in the country when it came to academic studies. "Oh yes please,e in,e in." Alex''s mother said excitedly. Then the next second the double-gated doors started to open immediately. When Frank entered the house Alex''s mother was right there to greet him. "I''m so happy my son stopped ying that silly game and now is starting to focus on his studies again." "Ah yes of course," Frank replied. Frank felt a little awkward lying to someone''s parents like this but when the thought of his new teammates relying on him came into his head, he stuck with it. Alex''s mother went up the stairs to call Alex. When Alex was informed a friend hade to visit him, he had no idea who it was. Even if a friend dide to visit him his mother would most of the time just tell them Alex was too busy. When Alex came down the stairs and saw Frank he was really surprised. Alex didn''t even know that Frank had joined Montem school. After finding out he could no longer y the game anymore Alex had been in his own bubble. He didn''t want to hear about VSW anymore and all he could do was study to help him forget about the pain. After bringing the two of them some snacks Alex''s mother left the two of them alone so they could study in Alex''s room. "What are you doing here Frank, I and you are hardly friends?" Alex asked. "I''m here because your friends need you more than ever." Frank then went on to exin to Alex how he had joined Montem''s VSW team and how he had taken the role of a leader there but it wasn''t going so well. "Why does it matter to me, I''m no longer part of that team," Alex said. "Look Alex, the whole team and everyone knows that wasn''t your decision, I saw your notes on Hershal and Eton, no one would go into that much detail and just quit the game because of studies." Alex didn''t know what to say, his throat was starting to choke up and the words he wanted to say wouldn''te out. "I know what it''s like to have a controlling family." Frank said, "My father, after we lost that came stayed true to his words and kicked me out of the Hershal team, he said he never wanted to see me y a game again, and if he did, he would take me out of Hershal school as well. So do you know what I did?" Alex shook his head. "I decided to give my old man the middle finger and walked right out of that door, my parents split up a while ago and decided to go live with my mother. Originally, they thought it was best I stay with my farther to get a better education and I agreed so I went to live with my father and do you know what I learned from all this. That it is my life Alex, not theirs. They may think they own you and can do what they want but they can''t, you are your own person." Frank said as he pushed his finger into Alex''s chest. Alex could no longer hold it in and tears started to run down his face. "But I can''t, they said they would kick me out of the house." "Do you really think they would," Frank replied, "The reason your parents are being so harsh on you on the first ce is that they want you to live a good life, they want what''s best for you, but sometimes parents get blinded by this. They don''t know how happy this game makes you and you need to show them that." Frank then stood up as he was prepared to leave the house but he had one more thing to say. "They need you Alex, if you don''t help them in some way they''re going to lose their next game. I tried filling your shoes and it was impossible." With hisst words said, Frank left Alex''s house and started to head back home. "I just hope that was enough to convince you." Frank thought Alex left his living room and went up to his room. Although all his VR equipment had been taken away, Alex still had hisputer to do research for studies and help with his school work. So far he had done his best to avoid Everything rted to VSW, after all, he just wanted to forget about it. Then when Alex hopped on to hisputer to continue his studies, he noticed the date in the bottom right-hand corner. "There''s only four more days before the match between Woo Woo and Montem. Although I can''t join you guys in the next game. Maybe I can help you." Alex immediately went onto the VSW''s websites and started to watch Woo Woo''s previous games. He watched match after match and started to scribble down notes like a madmaning up with the best way for the Montem team to win. **** Special thanks to Camden_Procter, Travis_Holstine, and MULTICS for the gifts. These gifts help me continue writing the story and possibly in the future right full time. Thank you, everyone, for the kind wordsst chapter as well. Chapter 111: Finding out the Truth Chapter 111: Finding out the Truth After watching Arthur and George y a few games, Noivs logged out of the VR headset and was a little pumped up to start his own training. But before he did, he had a lingering question mark in his head. When they were ying the game his Brother immediately asked to be friends with Arthur but not only that, everyone else in the game as well. It was a weird feeling but almost as if he was a celebrity. The only thing he could do was ask Bill why everyone had acted so strangely in his games. When Novis left his room and entered the hallway, he immediately could hear Bill screaming from his room. "YES!, YES, I can''t believe it, he added me, him. He chooses me out of everyone." Bill''s excitement was over the moon and so were his friends. Everyone who knew Bill had already found out that he had be a friend of the Virtual sword god and were constantly sending him messages. Not only that but even media and pro teams started to send him messages as well. This was all to get closer to finding out just who this virtual sword god person was. So far there were only two known people on his friend list, Hastam, and Bill. Suddenly Bill heard a knock at his door. "Hey, Bill can Ie in?" Novis asked. "Go ahead!" Bill Replied. Bill went to sit back in his chair and started to take deep breaths. If Novis was to see him in this type of state, Bill would feel embarrassed, whenever he talked to his brother, Bill wanted his brother to have this cool image of him. "What was all the shouting about?" Novis asked. "Oh, that." Bill said with a smug smile, "You will never believe what happened but the Virtual sword god epted my friend request." "err congrattions I guess," Novis replied. Bill felt a little down by Novis''s reaction, he was hoping that now he had yed VSW for a while, he would be caught up with the VSWmunity a bit more but clearly, by his reaction, he didn''t have a clue. "Oh geez, you don''t even know who he is do you?" Bill said, "Come here." Novis then went over to Bill''s side and the two of them were currently looking at Bill''sputer screen. Bill immediately went online to show the video footage that had been shared of the so-called virtual sword god. "So is he a really good yer or something?" Novis asked "Just watch." The clip Bill was showing Noivs was of the 5 vs 1 situation, it was one of the first videos that started to spread the virtual sword god''s name. As soon as Novis started watching the clip he recognized it immediately. "It can''t be" Then Novis looked at the username and sure enough, it was the ID Pendragon. "Just how famous is this guy exactly?" Novis asked. "Can''t you see the views." Novis started counting the number of zeros at the end of the video, "6..7..8.. IT''S got over a hundred million views." Bill then started to tell Novis about what was happening with themunity. How the pro teams had put out a bounty to find out who the Virtual sword god was and everything else about him. Novis couldn''t believe what he had just heard. Just by ying a few games as Arthur and George, he had be a superstar without realizing it. Suddenly everything started to make sense to Novis, the multiple friend requests, the reason why Hastam had messaged him and everything else strange that was going on. "Bro.. are you okay, you haven''t said a word in like thest five minutes?" Bill asked "Yeah, I think I''m going to go sleep for a bit." Slowly Noivs started to head back to his room and finallyid down on his bed. Novis didn''t feel too different after all, the attention that he was getting wasn''t actually for him but for Arthur and George, he was just a shell but what really shocked Novis was the fact that this was all happening without him knowing about it. If he had told one person that he had another user ID named Pendragon, then his whole life would have changed. He would have been scouted by pro''s and everybody would be wanting to see Arthur''s amazing skills. The thought of what could have happened started to depress Novis a bit. The sound of a superstar lifestyle sounded great but it wasn''t due to his work, it was due to Arthurs and Georges. "Did we do something wrong Novis?" Arthur asked. "No it''s not your guy''s fault, you just wanted to practice your sword skills, I guess I just never really knew how amazing you two were." Novis said, "It feels like I''ve been taking advantage of having you two by my side for so long and at the same time I haven''t really done anything about it. I bet most people would kill to be taught sword skills from you two and here I am being taught by both of you and haven''t really gotten anywhere." George and Arthur''s hearts started to warm up by Novis''s words. "Novis trust me when I say this but you are not a bad student," Arthur said. "Although you may have your ws, you have worked harder and progressed faster than anyone I have ever seen." Although Novis felt better after hearing Arthur''s words, he thought Arthur was just saying that to make him feel better. But the truth was Arthur wasn''t lying. Novis had progressed at an incredibly fast rate and Arthur couldn''t wait to see the day when Novis was at the same level as him. Perhaps surpass him one day. With all said and done, the day was gettingte and it was time for Novis to go to sleep. However, for most people, this would be a time of rest. For Novis, it was time for work. It was time for him to train in the dream world and learn how to use his Berserker mode. **** Chapter 112: Getting Angry Chapter 112: Getting Angry Novis wasid t out on his bed, slowly closing his eyes. For some reason, he had trouble sleeping more than usual today. Most likely due to all the excitement he had. He couldn''t stop thinking about everything that had happened and the new skill he was going to learn. After struggling to sleep for 30 minutes, eventually, he had finally shut his eyes. He was once again in the open green field with the slightly tall grass and clear blue skies. It was a peaceful ce and Novis wondered if it was a ce that originally belonged in Arthur''s world, he thought about bringing it up but Novis was always too shy to ask. Standing in front of him was Arthur and George who both had their weapons ready held in their hands. "How are we going to do this then?" Novis asked. "I think it should be simple right, we just have to make you angry," George said with a sinister smile. Suddenly, Before Novis could even react the two of them started to attack Novis out of nowhere. Novis dodged the first two attacks and then thought of his duel swords making them appear in his hands. "What the hell are you doing! " Novis shouted. "That''s it Novis get angrier!" George said as he started tough like a madman going to attack Novis. Again, Novis managed to block George''s strike but then both of his hands were tied up and he was unable to block Arthurs, causing him to be hit. Of course, Arthur and George were holding back with their speed and power just enough so Novis would feel over pressured. They continued to do this to Novis hoping they would be able to spark something out of him but after doing this for over an hour it seemed like they were no results. "Stop it," Novis said, "it''s clearly not working." George and Arthur put their swords away. "Your right? Dam I really thought this would work." George said, "What about you Arthur, do you have any other ideas?" Arthur thought about it for a while before answering. "it seems like Novis is not the type of Berserker to get stronger by getting hurt or angry when in battle." Arthur then started to walk closer towards Novis as he looked through his memories. "Novis, when you were fighting Frank why did you act like that?" "Why, well he was trying to hurt Scarlett of course." Then Novis realized just thinking about that suddenly was making him a little mad. "Was there anything else though?" Arthur asked. "It was because of what had just happened." Novis replied, "I saw Scarlett nearly getting hurt again,st time I couldn''t do anything but I didn''t want that it to happen again. I wanted to use everything I could to protect her." "That''s it!" Geroge shouted. "That feeling you have right now Novis you need to remember it, that feeling you had back then when you wanted to protect Scarlett, that is your emotional trigger, your anger." Novis started to close his eyes and started to think back about the gun being pointed at Scarlett''s head, all the feelings he felt at that time. As he continued to think about it his blood started to boil. *whack. "What did you do that for?" Novis said rubbing the back of his head. While Novis was busy building up his rage, George had gone to hit Novis expecting him to react. "Well, it''s useless if you get angry and you can''t move. What''s the point of that." George replied. The three of them continued their training now knowing what Novis''s trigger was, the problem was Novis was fighting worse than before. While in the middle of the fight he was far too busy thinking about how to get angry. The thoughts were distracting him causing him to make all sorts of mistakes. "I think we should stop there for today," Arthur said. "but" Although Novis wanted to contest, he knew he was getting nowhere. Novis was able to get angry when he thought about his friends getting hurt but it was hard for him to just flick a switch. Especially when in the middle of a fight. Like Arthur and George, Novis needed to be able to flick his berserker mode like a switch. Usually, Novis wouldn''t worry about it too much but they were running out of time, and there the match was only a few days away. **** The next day Novis couldn''t stop thinking about how to get angry. He started thinking about how he wished he was a big green giant in times like these. That man always seemed to be able to get angry. sses had finished for the day and it was time to head to the VSW club. The only problem was Novis was so stuck in his thoughts of trying to get angry, he didn''t hear his name being called out from behind. "NovisNovisNOVIS!" Scarlett shouted. "WHAT!" Novis shouted back. "What the hell, no need to shout like that?" Scarlett said. "Come on we need to go to the VSW club." "Sorry I was too busy trying to get angry." Although Scarlett wanted to find out what the hell Novis was going on about, she had learned long ago that Novis did strange things and decided to just leave it. The two of them finally headed back to the VSW room and everyone had already gathered. "What wrong Frank, shouldn''t we start practicing?" Ashley asked. The whole time while the other members wherein the Clubroom, Frank couldn''t help himself but continuously stare at the door as if he was waiting for someone toe in at any moment. "It''s nothing don''t worry about it,e on we need to practice," Frank said as each member put their VR headsets on. "Looks like my talk didn''t work after all." Frank thought. The team entered a game and put their VR headsets on. Once the game had started the Club room door swung open and Alex entered the room. In his hand was a notepad and pen and he was prepared to write everything down he saw in the games. He wasn''t going to let his team lose without putting up a fight. Chapter 113: Only hope lost Chapter 113: Only hope lost The games the VSW club yed that day, didn''t go as well as nned. Novis was far too distracted trying to go into Berserker mode while the others were busy learning the game. It was hard to learn new tactics in a game when VSW gave no extra lives. In other games, if you died once, you would respawn meaning you could try the tactic again and again, but in VSW you only got one life. If they practiced something new in the game, their opponents would take advantage of this and kill them. Then the whole team was a yer down and would most likely result in a loss. This was the exact thing that continued to happen to the Montem VSW club. "Alright guys, I think its time we take a break," Frank said as he took off his VR headset. He looked at the VSW clubroom''s door once again and was saddened to see that Alex hadn''te in. It was clear to Frank that if the team was to Face Woo Woo in the next couple of days, they would lose. That day, the rest of the VSW team headed home depressed. Not only did it feel like they were making no progress but they felt like something was missing from the team without Alex being there. Frank was good at taking charge and motivating the team but he used many terms that they just didn''t understand. Such as Missing, Gank ect.. These terms were just too much for the team to handle in such a short amount of time. The only person who seemed to be making any sought of progress was Scarlett, as she was doing her own research out of the game. Alex had actually been there for most of the team''s training sessions secretly in the back. He understood what Frank was trying to do and knew he needed toe up with a new n. Alex took his notes with him and left just before the team finished theirst game. Now that Alex was at home and in his room, he took out the notes from the Woo Woo games he had watched. Alex looked over both of their notes and started to try to form the perfect strategy that would give them the best chance of winning. Alex worked through the night as he could see the Team needed his help more than ever, eventually falling asleep at his desk. His Mum had entered the room to make sure Alex had gone to sleep and she noticed Alex had fallen asleep with his head in a pile of books. "look at him studying so hard." Alex''s mum said as she walked over to Alex. Alex''s mum slowly lifted Alex from his chair andid him on the bed before kissing him on the forehead goodnight. But just before she left the room, she had decided to head over to Alex''s desk to put his books away. That''s when her eye caught something. She started to read through the notes and quickly realized that they weren''t about studying but they were all about that VSW game. Her hands couldn''t stop shaking as she lifted the book into the air. "When will he learn!" She said as she took all of Alex''s books and ripped them up on the spot one by one before tossing them in the trash. The sun had risen for the next day and the light shining through Alex''s curtains was hitting him in the face. He woke up slowly as he realized that he had ended up in his own bed somehow. Alex rubbed his eyes as he got out of bed and started to head to his desk. "Finally, I can be of help to the others, there was just one more thing I needed to check before giving the notes to Frank." Alex thought. Then when Alex had reached his desk, he noticed his notebooks and notes were missing. "I''m sure I put them here yesterday!" Alex said. Alex proceeded to search through all the draws in his desks, under his bed, anywhere in his room but nothing could be found. Then a thought came to his head, his mother. If she had seen the notes, she defiantly wouldn''t have let him keep them. Alex quickly went to check the trash can and as he thought, all of his notes had been ripped apart and thrown away. Alex''s heart sank as well with the hopes of the Montem team ever winning the quarter-finals. Over the next few days, the Montem team continued to practice and with each day drawing closer, Frank''s hopes of Alexing back to the team were lost. "I thought you were stronger than that Alex." Frank thought. With no progress being made with the team, it was now thest day before the VSW match. The team practiced as they usually did and there was little sess. They had finally won a few games but in the end, their target of hitting silver was never achieved. This was something any team should have been able to achieve who had managed to get to the Quarterfinals. The teams they would now be going up against were at least gold level and above and they wouldn''t make the same mistakes as bronze tier yers. All though it wasn''t all bad news for the Montem team because for the first time ever. Novis was able to sessfully activate his berserker mode in a game. When the team started their game, they had lost Scarlett and Ashley fast. But Novis managed to reverse the situation in thetter part of the game, in the grouping stage. Novis had activated his berserker mode and took down three yers all on his own. It was an amazing sight but the others could only think that it was a one time fluke. Unknowing to them, that Novis had been trying to do this exact thing this whole time. Novis was finally ready for his name to be known and shared with the whole world. He wouldn''t be outshined in the next game. **** Special thanks to Camden_Procter for the gifts. These really help me on my author Journey. Chapter 114: Quater finals Chapter 114: Quater finals The weekend had arrived and finally, it was time for the Quarterfinals in the Berkshire county tournament. Most kids were excited about the event, those who wouldn''t be able to watch the match live, went online to their favourite broadcasters who would be streaming the match. This, of course, included Tick media, who had sent out there two reporters Josh and Cindy tomentate on one of the matches happening today between Montem and Woo Woo. But there was one kid who wasn''t having the time of his life and was sitting in his room sulking. That was Alex. After finding out about how his mother had destroyed all the notes he had written on the uing match, Alex felt defeated. He felt like every time he would try to escape the bubble he was in; his mother woulde in his way and block him. In simple terms, he had given up. After that day, he never returned to the VSW club room again. He just wanted to do everything he could to forget about the VSW game. Alex continued toy still on his bed, when he heard his phone vibrate several times. He went to his phone and he had received a separate message from each of the VSW members. "We will win this one for you, Alex." "You''re still our leader." "I know you will be cheering us on." "Are youing to watch today?" Most of thements he had gotten from the team were positive and it made him hate the fact that he couldn''t y the game even more. Alex sunk his head into a pillow and started to scream. Then his phone vibrated once more. "I didn''t realise you were a coward." This message was from Frank. Alex stared at the message hard, for some reason this message had really gotten to him in a different waypared to the other messages. He thought back to how Frank had even been hit by his own parents but still continued to do what he loved. Then another message appeared. "Ask yourself, did you really give it everything you had to y the game?" Frank was right, Alex thought. what was stopping him right now? His mother, had he really given it everything he could to get out of the situation he was in. The simple answer was no. Alex then opened his bedroom window and started to descend. He was going to be there for his team no matter what. **** Back at Montem, the school had organized several busses to take the students who were supporting the team to the venue the VSW club would be ying at today. Because it was a quarter-final match, the game wasn''t going to be held at the schools like usual. But instead, they were going to use one of the professional stadiums that the pros usually yed at. It was a big event for Montem and they were happy to pay for a few busses for the students. The whole team and most of the school were now on their way to the venue. While on the bus, Scarlett kept peeking her head up as if she was looking for someone. "Hey did you see Alex on any of the other buses?" She asked. Novis was seated next to Scarlett while Dan and Ashley sat in the seat behind them. Frank was sat to the right of them with the teacher. "No, I guess he didn''te today," Novis replied. "Don''t worry about it Scarlett," Ashley said in a soft voice. "I bet you he''s supporting us from home right now." Just then though, a student started to yell about something on the bus. "Hey everyone, check out Tick media''s broadcast, there talking about our school!" the boy said excitedly. Everyone then started to take out their phones and immediately went onto Tick media''s stream. Josh and Cindy where being disyed in the bottom hand right corner while the main focus of the screen was inside the stadium. It was arge Dome-shaped indoor stadium that could fit a total of 50 thousand people inside. In the centre of the arena was something simr to a football pitch and VR capsules at either end. Just above the pitch was huge disys that faced off in each direction. "Wow, it looks amazing!" Novis said. The stadium was able to create a holographic disy of the actual game on the field to the outside viewers. This way it would feel more realistic to everyone watching. While the TV disys above would be able to highlight the important part of the games. "Hey, they''re talking about us," Ashley said. After showing a few scenes of the stadium, the camera then focused on Josh and Cindy who each held a mike in their hand as they were doing thementary for the game. "We have a question from one of our viewers here." Cindy said, "They would like to know who do you think is the real danger on the Montem team. A team that seemed to havee out of nowhere and managed to make it to the quarter-finals." Just then the chat started to be filled with people writing out the word "Monster." There were also a few trashments here and there from the Woo Woo supporters but the spam of the word Monster became obvious. Josh started tough. "I can see that a lot of people are talking about the person known as Monster," Josh said. Ashley''s face started to turn bright red as the eyes on the bus started to look at her. "I do indeed think she is a yer to look out for, her Kendo skills she learnt outside of the game have proven to be very useful but there''s also one more person, a dark horse I would say. If Woo Woo underestimates this person and this team, I think they will be in for a real shock today." "And who would that be?" Cindy asked. "I think the yer known as Novis will be the most dangerous." While watching the broadcast, Novis was just as confused as everyone else on the bus. *** Special thanks to AsuraNineThoughts, and Easton_Sewell , for the gifts. The really help and support the author so thank you. Chapter 115: A New Feeling Chapter 115: A New Feeling After hearing what Josh had said about Novis being a dark horse on the Montem team, the students started to think back to previous games. But as they looked through their memory banks, not one noticeable memory of Novis being there came up. "Novis, did he do anything special in thest games?" "Not that I can remember, I don''t think I even saw him in the match highlights." "Then why is Josh talking about Novis?" Novis started to lift the jacket he was wearing to cover his face and slowly started to sink into his seat as everyone on the bus started to talk about him. Of course, Novis wanted attention but not like this. This wasn''t good or bad attention, it felt like the type of attention you got for being the teacher''s pet. The people on the bus were talking about him for the wrong reasons he felt like. "Don''t worry about them Novis," Scarlett said, "We know more than anyone how special you are to the team." "Thanks, Scar," Novis said with a smile Although Novis had felt fine for most of the trip, suddenly he felt like he had butterflies in his stomach. Josh had just stated he was a person to look out for and now people would pay attention to him. If he didn''t do anything in this game then he would be mocked for time toe. And the thought of his brother finding out and watching the game, he knew his brother would never let him forget about this moment. However, not only were the Montem students watching the broadcast, so were the Woo Woo students and supporters. After the mention of Novis, they immediately went to do some research on him and found his yer ID. Soon the chat started to fill up with Woo Woo supporters. "What the, this guy is still in Bronze." "Duh, didn''t you realise their whole team is in bronze." "How did they get this far." "Easy win for Woo Woo." "Josh has clearly lost it; he no longer has the talent to scout out future yers." Although Josh could see all the negativements it didn''t affect him one bit. He had confidence that Novis would show something to them in this game. With the open live field, the camera wouldn''t be able to avoid Novi''s actions. This confidence was all because Josh had information about Novis that the rest of the world didn''t. He had beaten the best yer in the world''s son, Lucas. But little did he know that Novis wasn''t the actual one to beat him, but it was Arthur. The broadcast continued and Josh and Cindy started to talk about the other teams. The excitement died down on the bus a little and after another thirty minutes of driving, they had finally reached the stadium. "Whoa! I''ve never been in a stadium before." Novis said staring at therge Oval building from the outside. "It reminds me of the coliseums we used to have in my world," Arthur said. "Yes a battle of honour and skill, it seems even in this world people still can enjoy the thrill of watching a live match," George said. Arthur and George were excited and truly wished that they could be the ones fighting in the stadium today, this had brought back memories of their world and made them a little said. But when they looked at Novis and the others smile on their faces, that sadness quickly went away. "It is time for a new generation," Arthur said. Everyone had got off the bus and started to head into the stadium, the Woo Woo busses had already arrived and were patiently waiting inside. When they finally entered through the front doors and into the reception area though, they were surprised to see many people there that didn''t belong to the school. Not only had studentse to support the two teams but kids from other schools, parents and even there brothers and sisters hade to watch the game. "Hey!" A boy shouted. Novis immediately turned around to look as he recognised the voice. "Bill? What are you doing here?" Novis said as he saw Bill run off towards him. "I came here to watch the match with some of my friends, you didn''t think I''d miss my big bro''s live debut on the professional stage," Bill said, "I have to admit I''m jealous but I know in the future the path I''m going to create will be ten times more grand," Bill said as he started tough. "Thanks, I guess," Novis replied. "Anyway, I''m going to head back to my friends, just do me a favour don''t embarrass me," Bill said as he ran off. "What a cute brother," Ashley said. "Yeah, he can get annoying at times, but that''s what brothers do." Hearing the words from Novis''s mouth had brought a memory to Dan, and he started smiling to himself. The students were then split up. The Montem team and supporters went to sit into the stadium seats, while the VSW team was escorted by an official who worked for Goldware corp. The man escorting the team didn''t say much other than follow me. He was quite intimidating with his ck suit and ck sunsses as if he was some type of secret agent. Novis and the others started to walk through a long tunnel and just at the end, the stadium floor could be seen. As they got closer and closer to the exit, each one of them could feel their heart beating louder and louder. Then when they exited into the bright light and onto the stadium floor the crowd started to cheer. For the first time in his life, Novis felt appreciated for something he had done. He felt like he was worth something. Even though the stadium was only 1/10 of capacity, the cheers still resonated in their hearts. This was a feeling that Novis could get addicted to. **** Special thanks to AsuraNineThoughts for the gift it really helps me on my author Journey. Chapter 116: Final words Chapter 116: Final words Inside the stadium the cheers were loud. Novis could see his brother and friends while Scarlett and the others could see their parents in the stand. Even Daiki had managed toe as well who was held up a big sign saying "I love you, Ashley!" and on the back of the sign was an advert of the dojo. The stadium also had a special section for all the reporters who were currently doing live streams are writing up reviews for their websites. Tick was one of the very few who were actually live streaming the game to the world. This was the niche target audience after all at this level. While the over reporters would just watch the game and write a report upter. Most of them were interns at an even biggerpany hoping to one day get promoted to be able to write a report on the pro yers. Just then a tall girl came into the stands wearing round sses. It was ire from the orphanage and behind her was also a bunch of kids who hade to support Dan as well. "Look there he is!" A little girl said, "Dan, win the game for us!" As Dan turned around to look behind him, he was surprised to see who hade, he didn''t even mention to ire that today was the quarter-finals and they had all decided toe today to surprise him. Dan smiled and gave a wave back. "Your family?" Noivs asked. "Yeah, I have a big family to look after," Dan said. The Montem VSW team continued to be led by the man in the suit until they had eventually reached the five capsules. The capsules being used were the same that Novis had in his room. Each yer stood by one capsule and was to wait for the Woo Woo team. That''s when they could suddenly hear cheers far louder than Montems. The Woo Woo teams five yers had entered and immediately the Woo Woo school started to go into a chant. They had about three times the number of supporters of Montem and quickly the cheers for Montem were being drowned out. Woo Woo were regrs in these stages so they had gotten a following from people outside their school as well. That''s when Novis noticed something, most of the people in the Woo Woo stadium stands were girls. Novis found this strange because the information they had been told, was that Woo Woo was an all boy''s school. Just then though as the Woo Woo boys came closer, he could understand. Each of the boys had long legs and a muscr build. They wore thetest fashion and the hair was all done up neatly. They looked like a newly formed K pop group. The Woo Woo boys waved to the crowd as they entered the stadium floor, their actions felt natural as if they had done this 100 of times before. Novis didn''t know why but he suddenly had the urge to win the game even more. Even the boy''s on the Montem team started cheering louder. "Take them out!" "Scratch out their eyes!" "Jealousy is truly a strong feeling." George thought. Dan started tough at the Montem boys. "I guess they really want us to win." When Novis looked at Dan he thought right now Dan suited more to be on the Woo Woo team. His looks definitely suited them. Finally, both teams had reached the stage and each yer was standing by their capsule. The field in the centre started to light up. Then slowly wireframes started to be built and the map from the game was slowly emerging in front of their eyes. "It looks just like the game," Ashley said. It really did look like the game, the two castles, the forest, everything had been generated, all that''s was left now were the NPC knights and the warriors themselves. "This is no time to get distracted." Frank said, "This game is like any other, we have to win this game." "WAIT!" A boy shouted at the top of his lungs. Usually, the chatter between the people in the crowds would be too hard for the others to be heard but for some reason, that voice had gotten through to his team. Because this whole time the team were waiting for him. As the group turned, they could see Alex in the stands at the lowest level. In his hand, he held a piece of paper. They were the new notes he had written the day before. Right now, they were crunched up in his hands as he knew it was already toote. Alex thought of all the things he wanted to say to his team. He wanted to help win this game, no not only that but he wanted to be in this game. Maybe if he hadn''t hesitated, maybe if he had left a little earlier, he could have been there and given them advice but right now there was nothing he could do. Alex looked at the ground and scrunched up the piece of paper in his hand even more. "Kick their asses for me!!! And we''ll get to the final together, I promise!" Alex yelled while tears came out through his eyes. The Montem team members then turned around looking at the arena with their back towards Alex. "I guess you can''t forgive me after all, I don''t me you," Alex said to himself. "It looks like he came," Novis said. "I didn''t doubt he would for a second," Scarlett replied. "Yeah but he''s toote, what''s the use ofing now." Frank said, "Oh well, I guess I can keep your spotfy for one game." Just then the whole Montem team lifted their hands, and gave a thumbs up. Showing them that they had managed to hear Alex''s words loud and clear. "Each yer then headed into their capsule. Their minds were synced into the game and their warriors selected. The disy on the big screens above was turned on and the countdown had begun. "The match will start in 32.1Let''s go!!" **** Special thanks to _Kaitlin_ just, AsuraNineThoughts, and side_ace for the gifts, they really help me out of my journey to bing an author. Chapter 117: Quater finals begin Chapter 117: Quater finals begin Just as everyone had entered the game and the warriors were being loaded up. Alex was trying to find a seat in the stands. As he turned around, he noticed how many people had actuallye to support Novis and the others. The thought of his parents never being there to support him one day made him feel said. That''s when he heard a young boys voice call out to him. "Hey, your Alex right?" Said Bill, "Come sit with us." Bill was currently sitting with two of his friends in the front row of the stadium. They were a couple of kids the same age as him that he yed with quite frequently. Alex walked over and sat in the spare seat with them. "How did you know my name?" Alex said. "You''re the captain of the VSW team right, I''m Novis''s brother Bill. Of course, I would recognise you, you seemed like the only yer who knows how to y the game on the team." Although Alex was being praised by a 12-year-old, he still felt good about it. "I wanted to ask you something." Bill said, "I''ve been looking at Woo Woo and Montem''s past games and I''ll be honest, it doesn''t look like they can win this. Before they relied on strategies I''m guessing where made by you, but now that you aren''t in the game. So I wanted to ask you what do you think they need to do to win?" Alex was pretty amazed. To be able to tell this much just from watching a few matches meant he had to be a high-level yer in the game. Unlike his Brother Novis. Of course, Alex hade up with a n but honestly, it wasn''t a very good one. "You said you were Novis''s brother, right?" Alex asked, "The truth is I couldn''t find a way for Montem to win this game either. The level difference in experience is just too big. There no way to trainplete beginners in the game to be a certain standard overnight." "So are you saying Montem will lose?" "No." Alex said. "There is one way and that''s Novis. In every game, so far Novis has made vast improvements game after game and judging by his pattern, he will also improve in this one. I would have centred a strategy focusing around protecting Novis, while he does the brute of the damage. It''s a risky move because the whole came is relying on one yer but I see no other way of them winning." When Bill heard these words, he felt proud of his brother. He thought back to his one on one match he had with his brother a while ago. His brother had shown amazing skills and if he had improved even more since then. There was a high chance Alex''s strategy would work. **** Inside the VSW game, each team had decided to progress as usual. Dan and Novis were in the topne. Frank proceeded down mid, while Scarlett and Ashley went to the bottom. "Remember to y it safe," Frank ordered. "If you make a single mistake, they will take advantage of it." Novis took a deep breath as he waited for his NPC knights to reach hisne. He had to focus, remember all the feelings of the past. Remember that exact moment he activated his Berserker mode and use it at the right time. Out came the enemy team in the topne. One of the warriors wielded a mace and shield while the other held out a crossbow. The crossbow shot out faster than your bow and was more urate. But the distance was shorter and it took a little longer to reload. Novis stood out in front while Dan yed it safe behind him. Novis would stand in front of the NPC knights and block out the shots from the crossbow user using his chain de, while Dan would be busy dealing with the knights. The topne was a stalemate and the Woo Woo team were just waiting for one of them to make a mistake. In the middlene, Frank was up against the warrior Krang, the heavy hammer user. Slow in attacks but powerful. While Frank was using his shielded warrior. Frank was being extra cautious making sure he didn''t get to close to Krang. Although Frank wasn''t taking any damage being extra cautious, it came with a price. Krang was able to finish off more Knights then Frank causing his knights to push back and reach the tower. All Frank could do was sit there and watch his tower crumble away. Frank knew he had to do something. The man in front of him was clearly the better yer but if he didn''t take action their tower would be lost. Then the same would just happen again to the next tower, then finally they would lose the game with Woo Woo taking the g. Although it was a risky move. Frank decided to go in and attack once Krang hade into range with the tower. Krang then quickly used his hammer spin to spin away and started heading back towards his own tower. This was Frank''s chance, after the Spin skill had been used, the warrior Krang became slightly sluggish in movements. Frank decided to charge in and drew his de. Then he dashed forward and went with a stab. Suddenly from the right of the forest. An arrow came sting out hitting Frank in the leg. Krang turned around and Frank could see a smile on his face. "This is going to be an easy win." The Woo Woo yer said. As he lifted his hammer and mmed it down onto Frank. Blue particles had split everywhere. Frank was to used to ying with Hershel. If a yer didn''t see a warrior in theirne they would usually inform their teammate by saying missing but because Frank received no such thing, he assumed it was safe. < Red team yer has died > The one person who had died on their team, was the only one who knew what he was doing. **** Special thanks to BabyAspirin , Josefina_Chen, M_the_Fluffy, AsuraNineThoughts, and Misty_Heart For the gifts. I really appreciate it and they help continue working hard every day. Chapter 118: Diffrence in experience Chapter 118: Diffrence in experience Inside the virtual reality game, Scarlett and Ashley were at the bottomne, facing off against the two boys. One of them was an archer type like Scarlett. While the other warrior held to scimitar des. When the two met and locked inbat, the Woo Woo yers were surprised by how strong Ashley actually was. She was not only able to attack well but knew the right time to dodge the arrow shots and attack at the same time. This caused pressure for the Woo Woo team and the girls managed to push them back to their tower. But while they were retreating, Scarlett managed to get a shot in hitting the Woo Woo''s Archer''s leg. The crowd outside seeing this cheered in response. The Woo Woo archer then decided to head back to their castle to get some first aid supplies. The game had a basic first Aid kit that could only be used at the castle. The main reason for heading back would be to take painkillers. This would allow your warrior to fight through the pain and y as if they weren''t injured but their health points would still take a hit. An example of this would be this very case. The Woo Woo yer took an arrow to the leg. Once the arrow had been pulled out it caused the Warrior to have a slight limp and made him move slower around the map but it was not a fatal blow and didn''t do much damage. In this situation it would be ideal for the yer to head back to the castle to take the painkillers, allowing them to walk and run like normal again. While the Woo Woo archer headed back to the castle, it meant they only had one yer defending their tower. Ashley and Scarlett were getting excited and so was the crowd outside. They continued to push forward and were slowly taking down the tower. Some time had passed and any second now, the Archer woulde back. "Be on the lookout." Scarlett said, "The archer coulde back any second now, if theye behind us, we''re going to be trapped." Some more time had passed and that was when Scarlett had realised her mistake. "Oh no!" < Red team yer has been defeated > Instead of going back to the bottomne. The Woo Woo team yer had decided to go through the forest and wait for the right time to attack Frank. Initially, the Woo Woo yers were surprised by how skilful the Montem yers were. They were meant to be Bronze yers but they all fought on the gold level. However, unlike the teams before them, Woo Woo had done their research. Woo Woo had watched Montem''s games and quickly found out why they were all bronze yers. They didn''t know how to y the game, they were just good fighters. Back at topne, Novis and Dan had just received the notification. "Crap they got Frank," Novis said. "What do we do, should we go mid and protect the tower?" Just as Novis had said those words, the two yers on Woo Woo''s team had moved into the forest. "I think they''re going for the mid-tower, we should follow them," Novis said. "But what if they''re going bottom to group up against the girls?" Dan asked. "Maybe just one of us go mid then." "And if all five of theme out, we''ll be dead in seconds." There were too many choices, too many things the Woo Woo team could do and they had grown to ustomed to relying on Alex to make all the decisions. Just now were they realising how important it was to make the right call. In the end, Novis and Dan decided to head to mid together. They had already lost one yer, if they split up now, they felt like it would only be harder for them to make aeback. When the two of them had reached the middlene, There was no one to be seen which meant that they had decided to get rid of Scarlett and Ashley at the bottom. "Come on let''s pick up the pace," Novis said. The two of them were a little behind the others and knew they wouldn''t reach their teammates in time but were hoping they couldst long enough for Novis and Dan to get there. Dan was running slightly ahead of Novis through the forest and that''s when Novis spotted somethinge out from the corner of his eye. Novis flung out his chain de and managed to just knock out the arrow in the air before it hit Dan. More arrows started to fly out from their right side, Novis started swinging his two-chain des in a circr motion creating a shield-like effect. "Keep running Dan, they need you." Novis said. Dan didn''t hesitate and continued to run while Noivs would deal with the Archer. Back at the bottomne, even though Ashley and Scarlett were close to taking the tower after the announcement of Frank''s death, Scarlett felt like it was best for them to y it safe. The two of them decided to head back and stay close to their tower. That''s when Krang the hammer wielder hade through the forest to help out their duel scimitar warrior. "We need to take one of them down before the others get here," Ashley said. "But it too risky," Scarlett replied. "But when their whole team gets here, we''ll be dead before Dan and Novis even make it." Ashley replied, "Scarlett trust me." Scarlett had no choice, after all, Ashley was right and so many times before she had been able to pull through for them. Ashley moved slightly forward and started tobat the hammer user Krang. Her fast movements made it easier for her to cause multiple wounds. While Scarlett made sure to keep the Scimitar user a distance away with her arrows. They only needed to continue this up for a few more moments and then the two teams would even up the ying field. The Krang user was getting fed up and started to use his spin skill to spin away. It was hard for Ashley to get close when this skill was being used as there was a high chance of her getting hurt. So she decided to move forward and chase Krang, waiting for his skill to end. Finally, the skill had ended and Ashley Leapt in for the final blow, that''s when a crossbow came shooting out from the side and hit Ashley dead in the chest. Ashley had been cautious waiting for the Bow and arrow yer, she was confident in her skills at dodging any arrow that woulde out at her. But this wasn''t a regr arrow, it hade from a crossbow which was faster. Something Ashley hadn''t experienced before. This was the difference in experience between the two teams. *** Special thanks to DJG_Corp, _Kaitlin_ just, and BabyAspirin for the gifts. They really encourage me to make the best story I can. Chapter 119: One left Chapter 119: One left Although the arrow had managed to hit Ashley in the chest, she wasn''t out of the game yet. The warrior she was using wore a chest te and the arrow had only managed to pierce a few inches into her skin, permitting her to continue the fight. However, the impact still caused Ashley to slightly flinch, giving the Krang user enough time to regain his senses from his spin skill. He lifted his giant hammer and swung it directly at the young Kendo expert. She could see the hammer and managed to lift her hands in time to block the blow. Yet, the blow was too strong, and Ashley''s hands were pushed towards her chest, which further pushed the arrow further into her chest, eventually piercing her heart. Stumbling back, the young girl fell to the floor and looked at her petrified teammate behind her. "I''m sor" But before Ashley could finish her sentence, she had burst into blue particles leaving the game. Up to this point, the cheers outside for the Montem Team were strong. "The Monster!" was continually being chanted out as Ashley had the upper hand. "You see that, if you want skills like her,e to my kendo club!" Daiki shouted out, holding up his sign. Yet suddenly the chanting came to a halt, as the spectators struggled toprehend what had happened to their champion. The arrow hitting Ashley in the chest and then the hammer further nailing into her chest had also hammered close her coffin in the space of seconds. "Oh no, they took out the monster." "There''s no way we can win now." "We might as well pack up our bags and go home, the streak was fun while itsted but there was no way we could get to the finals." "I don''t know, I thought maybe we could actually win it this year." Alex''s entire form was shaking from hearing the words from his ssmates. He couldn''t believe how they so quickly lost hope. Of course, their chance of winning had significantly reduced, but it wasn''t 0 percent. As long as the Montem team hadn''t given up, the match wasn''t over. And there was one boy in particr who hadn''t even considered giving up. In the forest, Novis was currently upied taking down Woowoo''s archer. The ranger warrior was good at making shots and moved to new cover every time he fired, making it hard for Novis to locate him. Although Novis wasn''t getting hurt, he was being held back. Whenever he would move forward an arrow woulde in his path. "Juste out and fight me, coward!" Novis shouted. The beserkwr was furious at what was happening. The second yer had died on their team and Novis was stuck here dealing with a useless archer. That''s when Novis realised this wasn''t a time for him to get angry, he needed to focus. Novis closed his eyes. Listened out to the archer''s footsteps. "Did he give up?" The archer saw Novis standing still, his chain des now had stopped being swung. Unsure of His opponent''s intentions, yet confident in his abilities, the archer decided to move closer. This was his time to finish Novis off. Back at the bottomne, now that Ashley had been taken care of, Scarlett was all on her own against the three members of Woo Woo. The crossbow user no longer needed to hide and hade out of the forest with his teammate the shield and mace user. Scarlett stayed by her tower as long as she could firing her arrows at the NPC knights, but she knew all she was doing was buying time. Soon there would be too many, and the four Woo Woo yers would take out the tower in nearly an instant. And as she predicted, the Woo Woo members started attacking the tower, and it near-instantaneously started to crumble. "Are we really going to lose the game like this?" Scarlett prepared her bow and was ready to fire an Arrow aiming at one of the warriors this time. If she was going to die or lose a tower she at least wanted to cause some damage. She lined up her arrow at the biggest target the Krang yer. Pulled back the strig and just as she was about to let go. Dan hade out of the forest and pulled her in. "what are you doing?" Scarlett said. "Come on, forget about the tower, they''ve already taken it." Dan said, "What we need to do is go help Novis take out that Archer then we cane backter." Scarlett was so focused on protecting the tower that she wasn''t looking at the bigger ying field. Lucky for them, Dan still had a clear mind. The two of them ran through the forest and hurried to where Novis was. A few momentster and the red team tower had been destroyed. But instead of going for the next one like they usually would they decided to give chance to Dan and Scarlett who had entered the forest. *** Inside the forest, Novis could hear the Archer creeping up closer to him but the archer was cautious and wouldn''t get close enough. Even if Novis could tell where he was there wasn''t much he could. That''s when he came up with a n unsure whether it would work or not. Novis suddenly started running but not in the direction of the bottomne. But Novis was heading back to the middlene. If Novis started attacking their middle tower then the Archer would hopefully follow. The archer seeing this would most likely tail Novis and follow him and that was Novis n. As Novis dashed towards the mid-tower swinging his chain de''s The archer started to follow as Novis excited. Novis continued to move towards his tower and was waiting until they would no longer be in the forest where the Archer had the advantage. "I''m a genius," Novis said. However, after running through the forest Novis started to notice something. He could no longer hear the footsteps of the archer behind him. "Is he hiding again?" What Novis didn''t realise was that the Woo Woo team were a top-notch team when it came tomunication. They could see that Dan and Scarlett had run into the forest to help Novis, that''s when they had informed the Archer to turn back, that way they could block Scarlett and Dan''s escape path. Just then another two notification screens had appeared. < Red team yer has died > < Red Team yer has died > **** Special thanks to Abhijith_Ramesh, and also Updog for editing the Chapter. The gifts really help and I hope you can continue to support me through this story. Chapter 120: Turning into a Warrior Chapter 120: Turning into a Warrior The Woo Woo team was hot on Dan and Scarlett''s tail as they fled rapidly through the forest. Leaves and mottled brown shed bye as Dan traced the paths through he had practised countless times before, whereas Scarlett found herself struggling to follow where Dan had stepped. The Woo Woo yers, on the other hand, had much more experience and were easily able to use this to their advantage, rapidly catching up. Dan had two options, to continue moving forward and help out assist Novis, or to stick with Scarlett. In the end, despite this just being a game, he just couldn''tmit himself to leave Scarlett behind. "Come on Scarlett, we can do this," Dan said as he held out his hand. Scarlett took Dan''s hand and pushed herself harder to keep up with her ally. Dan had decided that it was best for them to head deeper into their half of the map where their own towers would be, rather than head for the mid-tower that was closest to Novis. This route was technically shorter as well, because they would be in the range of there towers quicker. Dan darted around trunks and hastily stepped over roots, find focused on maintaining speed before he was rapidly jarred back into battle, as an arrow mmed into the ground some feet behind him. Secondster, another arrow slightly faster than thest came from a different direction. Dan barely managed to lift his gauntlets in time to deflect the arrow. Yet when he put his hand down, he could see the Woo Woo yers had already caught up to him. They were pinned. Even if they did run, both the ranged yers would be able to constantly attack them while their back was turned. Dan decided there was no choice for them but to fight back. Dan headed straight for the single archer yer. If he was going to die then he would at least take down one of them with him. The archer was taken aback seeing Dan''s suicidal charge. The archer readied his bow but he was too slow. Dan threw his fist out as hard as he could. However, the sound of metal was heard as he thrust out his gauntlet. When Dan looked in front of him, all he could see was a shield. The Woo Woo yers had regrouped, sending two yers to back up their archer, while the other two came from the other direction pincering Dan and Scarlett. The shield wielder smiled and proceeded to duck down, revealing arge hammer, which proceeded to send Dan flying several feet away into a tree. The wounded warrior struggled to get up, slowly rising to his feet. Yet momentster, an arrow came shooting out, piercing his leg. Dan then staggered back down to the floor. "It''s over for your team." The Krang yer stated. At the same time, Scarlett''s screams could be heard from behind. She had been injured buy the duel scimitar yer, her bow and arrow had been taken, and she was now being led over to Dan while the yers held back both of her hands. "What are you doing?" Dan groaned, "Just get rid of us." "Don''t worry, I will." The Krang yer said, grinning as he walked up to Scarlett. He lifted his hammer back, charging up his skill, then mmed it down upon her, bursting the archer into blue particles. Dan couldn''t help but close his eyes as he saw Scarlett''s frightened face as the hammer fell down on her. The Krang yer then sauntered back over to where Dan was. "I want to thank your team for making me look so good. If it wasn''t for you guys then I would have never had an opportunity like this." The Krang yer then swung his hammer once again and as soon as it hit Dan, he too burst into blue particles. "What should we do now?" the archer asked. "Should we take the tower and win the game?" "No!" the Krang yer replied, "I''m going for the Penta kill." This game was being broadcasted online where some universities and Pro teams were looking for the next big yers. Getting a Penta kill was something unheard of in this stage of the game, as teams who had made it this far were usually of equal level. If the Woo Woo yer managed to get a Penta kill, it would increase his fame and chances of getting scouted. This was a chance he wouldn''t let go. The outside arena consisted of two exceedingly different sides. While the Woo Woo supporters were cheering from the top of their lungs, The Montem team had already epted defeat. Many of the students who hade to support Montem had already decided to pack up their things and leave the arena. They felt like it was impossible for their team to win and staying only made them feel more disheartened. Leaving early would also allow them to beat the rush once the game had finished. In the end, only a few of the Montem team supporters remained along with the yers'' family members. Even Josh was feeling down. He was hoping that the Montem team would be able to win. Even though he knew it was unlikely, he thought they might be able to pull something off like they had in theirst games. He had even prepared to reveal big news to the world once the Montem team had won, causing a stir. But his information was useless now. "Looks like Josh''s underdog is still in the game." "I guess Josh really has lost his skill, he actually convinced me that this was going to be a close game." "How long do you think he willst? "Ten seconds. Max." "The Montem team didn''t even take out one person." The onlinemunity was full of criticism for Tick, iming that they had hyped up the game for the sake of views. "I guess I was wrong," Josh muttered with his head held down. But Cindy was busy looking on the Monitor, the big screen above, which was focused on Novis. "I''m not too sure, It doesn''t look like he''s given up yet to me," Cindy said. Novis was standing by his tower, breathing in slowly. "Are you ready for this Novis?" Arthur asked. "Yeah!" Novis replied. "Good, it is the time of war, on the battlefield, there were many times where we were outnumbered. Now your life is now on the line, it''s you or them. To thest breath. "To thest breath!" Novis shouted louder. "They killed all your friends, even Scarlett who you had known your whole life, and now it''s time to make them pay." "Isn''t that a bit too much?" George whispered to Arthur. "No, Novis needs to feel like everything that happened was real. It''s the only way he can draw that anger out of him. Facing against five opponents is tough. Especially five skilled opponents like these. He''s going to need to draw out every little bit of power he has." Suddenly, the expression on Novis face had changed. He was no longer the naive boy he once was when he had started the game. He was now a real warrior on the battlefield. **** Special thanks to AsuraNineThoughts for the gifts and Updog who is helping edit the chapters. You can check out his novel if you like called Legacy Of The Godhand Chapter 121: Turn around Chapter 121: Turn around The Woo Woo team was confident, there wasn''t a doubt in their mind that they had already won the game. They had dealt with all the other yers easily, even the so-called "Monster of Montem." "Come to think of it, isn''t thest yer that special underdog Josh was talking about on his stream this morning?" A Woo Woo yer mused. "Yeah, turns out it was all a load of hype, when I get my Penta Kill Josh and all the other reporters will be writing about me, Dillian the hammer, the next big thing." "Do you know anyone who calls him that?" One of the Woo Woo yers whispered. "I think he gave that nickname to himself, it''s kind ofme." The Five Woo Woo yers had decided to group up and head to the mid-tower together. Although they could have sent one or two yers to push and win the game, they wanted to travel together so they could get Dillian his Penta kill. After all, it only took one slip up for a yer to kill another, and if that happened then all of Din''s hard work would be lost. When the Woo Woo yers had arrived at mid, Novis was nowhere to be seen. They had just exited the forest and where in the middle of the path. The NPC knights on their side had been pushed up and the Red Knights were by their tower. "He must have just been here, otherwise the knights wouldn''t have pushed up this far." As they looked around to see if there were any more signs, the crossbow yer had spotted something near the other tower. He walked towards it and realized it looked like a spear stuck in the ground. "What the hell is this doing here, I''ve never seen this before in the game?" As the crossbow yer looked up, he suddenly could see two chain de''s heading in his direction but it was too fast for him to react. The chain de''s hooked into the yer and in an instant, he was dragged past the spear. At the same time, the red tower shot out a cannon and it was a direct hit on the crossbow yer. < Blue team yer has been defeated > The group turned around and could see Novis was charging towards them. It was unexpected for the Woo Woo team. Although they were together they weren''t too worried if one of their yers went slightly apart from them. If a fight was to break out, they were confident that they coulde to help their teammate in time. Therefore surprise was rapidly etched into the faces of every member Woo Woo''s team at the sudden death. Even Novis was slightl surprised at the effectiveness of the tactic he employed, utilizing his spear as a marker for the range of the tower. As long as an enemy stepped past that line the tower would react and fire. Novis hadn''t actually expected one of the Woo Woo yers to split away. All he did then was safely hide behind his own tower. Some students from the Montem side had already gotten out of their seats and turned when they heard the announcement. "Hey look, Novis killed one of the Enemy team yers!" "What really? It must have been a suicide attack or something." Although not all of the students turned back to watch the game, some of them did and they were happy about their decision for what they had seen next. Novis needed to keep this momentum and the surprise of being aggressive was working. Novis then ran past the spear swinging one of his chain des in a circr motion. The archer fired an arrow at Novis but it just bounced off the chains. "What you doing? Get him!" Dillian shouted. Dillian''s Warrior slowlybored towards Novis'' figure, while their fastest yer, the dual scimitar wielder, dashed past at their solitary opponent. In response, Novis used his other chain de to wrap around the spear behind him. He lifted the spear with his chain and swung it at full force heading right for the shielded Woo Woo yer who stood behind the duel wielder. The force was stronger than usual, as it had the added momentum of the chain, acting simr to a whip. The shield user, seeing the spear heading straight for him, managed to lift his shield just in time. Yet the whip-like momentum crashed into his frame, knocking him back off of his feet, slmming him to the ground. "Switch!" Novis shouted as the Duel wielder sprinted towards him. Now in Novis'' hands, the Chain de had been reced with his own set of duel des. The Woo Woo yer attacked with a rapid series of blows but Novis was able to dodge and block every attack. The sole remaining Montem member bided his tie until a break in his opponentsbos, beginning his own retaliatory string of attacks. "This guy, does he not get tired!" The Woo Woo yer thought. Not only that but the Woo Woo yer''s hands were feeling numb. Each strike was shockingly powerful. He had never experienced something like this before, where each warrior was given a base stat. However, Novis''s strength currently surpassed that of the system, as long as you were able to perform such feats in the real world, the system would allow it to happen in the virtual world too. The base stats were just to allow those who weren''t physical fit and younger yers to have a chance at the game. Of course, there were very few yers who were able to surpass the stats given to the warriors. Novis then knocked both of the scimitars away as the yer''s hands couldn''t take the blows anymore and stabbed him in the chest with both of his des lifting his body up in the air. "B-b- but how?" The yer stammered out before he burst into blue particles. As Novis'' attention was taken by the mans'' death, Dillian''s hammer rapidly swung towards him, thundering through the air. Novis managed to raise his des in time to adsorb some of the impact, yet his body was sent crashing away. Novis quicklynded on his feet and dashed towards his tower where he knew he was safe. "Damn it, how did everything get messed up so fast!" Dillian said as he lifted up his fellow yer from the ground. "Come on, this one yer is going to ruin our chances for us!" Dillian shouted. Outside the arena, there was silence from both sides of the teams. Neither of them knew how to react, everything that happened seemed impossible to them. "Only three more to go," Novis stated, as a long sword appeared in his hands. Chapter 122: Novis is known Chapter 122: Novis is known Some of the reporters watching the game had missed what had just happened. After witnessing what they thought was the sure defeat of Montem, they had already turned their attention to the other quarterfinal matches going on at the same time, hoping to get more information from their games. But due to Cindy''s words, Josh had never stopped watching. He saw Novis''s skilful y and suddenly the match had just gotten a lot more interesting. "Whoah," Bill said. "Is this what you were talking about how Novis improves in every game." Alex was silenced himself, of course, Novis had done things like face, multiple opponents, at once before but never against opponents as this level. "Yeah But I never expected him to improve this much." Back in the VR game, Novis was going through his weapons. His spear was over the other side of the tower and his duel des had been knocked away, leaving him only with his chain des and Long sword. Looking at the other three on the other side, there was still the shield user, The hammer user, andstly the archer. Out of the three, the easiest to take out first would be the archer. "Stay close guys, we can''t mess up again," Dillian said, "He only got us by surprise." "Do you want me to go first." The shield user said. "No, if you attack him there''s a chance you could steel my Penta." Although the Woo Woo yer wanted to contest against Din''s decision. When Din got like this is was impossible for him to listen. The Shield user had a bad feeling and thought if they wanted to win this game, they had to forget about getting the Penta kill. As Novis looked at the three Woo Woo yers he started to think back to what Arthur had said. These three people had killed all his friends. They were on a battlefield and he needed to get revenge. The anger had gotten to him and Novis could no longer hold himself back and he immediately charged in against the three. "No, what is he doing the idiot. A student from the crowd said. "Just when it looked like we might have been able to do something, why is he doing such a risky move?" "Maybe those two kills went to his head?" The Archer shot out an arrow this time thinking it would hit Novis now he didn''t have his chain de out but Novis waited for the right moment and just struck the arrow knocking it away. He then moved his body to block the Archers line of sight. Every time the archer moved Novis would move with him, this way the archer was unable to attack, if he did there was a high chance of hitting his teammate. Din then came forward smashing his hammer down, but it was far too slow. Novis jumped back at the right moment and let the hammer hit the ground and at the same time Novis used the hammer as a foothold and jumped up shing his de cutting the krang''s yers face. The shield User was now directly in front of Novis. The two were in an awkward position as they were too close to each other to swing their weapons. That''s when Novis lifted his leg and kicked the shield causing the yer to stagger back a few steps, then Novis followed up with a powerful overhead strike with his sword. "What the heck, how is this person''s attack so strong!" The two strong blows had once again caused the shield user to fall to the ground. But like a turtle, the shield user kept his shield up covering his body. Novis then walked on top of the shield and lept over to the Archer. Now Novis was in the air there was no way or him to dodge an arrow. The archer aimed carefully and shot an arrow but Novis was prepared to take a blow. Novis switched his long sword back to the chain des. Then twisted his body so the shoulder took the hit. The arrow dug into his shoulder avoiding a fatal blow. Novisnded just over where the archer was standing. However, Novis''s chains had managed to wrap around the Archer''s neck choking him. Novis then pulled harder on the chains. "You deserve every bit of pain!" Novis shouted. "What the hell, has he gone mad." The shield yer said. Finally, after another hard pull, the Archer had burst into blue particles. For some reason, the shield user felt fear after watching how his teammate was dealt with. Even though it was only a game the way his teammate had died felt cruel almost. As soon as the shield user got up, Novis whacked him hard with the long sword causing his shield to be flung to the side. What the shield user didn''t know, was Din was also attacking at that same moment and what Novis had done was on purpose. The shield and the hammer collided at the same time and caused the shield user''s shield to be knocked away. Novis then dashed in and stabbed him right in the stomach. Although rather than disappointment, the shield user felt satisfied that he would now no longer be in the game. Dillian was now fuming with rage. He couldn''t believe one unknown yer was able to take out their whole team like this. With his rage blinding him Din decided to activate his hammer spin skill. His body started to spin in circles. A skill Din thought was unstoppable. Novis then switched to his chain de and swung it around Din, With Dillian spinning and both chain des around him. Novis was able to tangle him up and put his spinning to a stop. Novis then threw both ends of the des into the ground and now Din was tangled up. Without saying any words Novis swung his longsword and lobbed Din''s head off in one swing. Everything that Novis had done had been recorded on the big screen. From the beginning to the end. Not only had the Montem students seen everything but the Woo Woo supporters as well. And even the people who were watching the live broadcast. For the first time ever, the world had learnt of the yer known as Novis. **** Special thanks to Isaac_Lopez_1420, DarkShadow_DS, and AsuraNineThoughts for the gift''s you guys are what help me to continue writing. Chapter 123: Rivals Chapter 123: Rivals < Blue team has been eliminated > For a moment both sides of the crowd were silenced as they were shocked at what had just happened. That''s when both teams exited from their VR capsules and went out to the arena floor. "Did we really just win?" Ashley said. "Novis you crazy guy, you did it again," Dan said as he looked at Novis. "I knew you were strong," Frank thought, "but not that strong." The yers then soon noticed that the whole crowd was quiet. The cheers they were expecting where unheard of, but that''s when a young boy screamed at the top of his lungs. "You did it, Bro, you really showed the world who you are!" Bill shouted. And soon after the whole of Montem side started to go out into a cheer. Even the Woo Woo supporters couldn''t help but start pping at the performance that they had just seen. An as if Novis''s body had taken control over him, he lifted both of his hands into the air and the crowd began to cheer louder. Meanwhile up above in the reporter''s section, multiple people were starting to scramble up information on Montem and the unknown yer known as Novis. They had already written drafts up on Woo Woo for their victory and now their reports were useless. They had never expected a total upset to happen and didn''t even bother doing a detailed screening of the Montem team. All except Tick that was. They had quickly published information on Montem and made it public. The press release had information about what was said in the interviews, how Dan was fighting for his orphanage and Ashley was a kendo yer. They had even written about Alex being the number one genius in school, even though he hadn''t yed in the game But there was one person whose information hadn''t been released and that was Novis, his section had remained nk. All it said was to find out about the truth of who Novis is, tune into the live stream now. And it had worked, the information of the Upset had quickly spread online to the other schools and the local area. Even those that hadn''t watched the game had decided to tune it to hear about how Montem was able to cause an upset against Woo Woo. On Tick''s live stream the chat was moving like crazy. "Hey did Montem really beat Woo Woo?" "Not just that but it was one yer, this Novis guy took out thest five of them on his own and got a Penta." "Ha, ha stop lying." "He''s not lying I''m at the arena now, we all saw it in person." "Seriously!" "Yeah, I saw it too, who is this Novis I never heard of him before?" "The information they released on their website says nothing about him." "Guy''s, I think Josh is going to talk about it now." Now that the game had finished, the live stream focused on Josh and Cindy who were sitting on two chairs each with a microphone in their hand. The live stream went through the highlights of the game which first showed how Woo Woo dominated the first half and had killed all of Montem''s yers. It then went on to the second half of the game where it showed Novis defeating all of the Woo Woo team. "Josh I can see many people online are amazed how you were able to call it before the game, saying that Novis was the yer the Woo Woo team needed to watch out for." said Cindy "Just who is this Novis person and how did youe to know of this information?" "Well because of my hard information-digging I managed to find out something about Novis that the others didn''t know about and when I did there wasn''t a doubt in my mind that Montem would win this game." Of course, this was a lie, after watching the Montem team get taken out one by one and watching the previous games of Montems, Josh had at one point lost all hope for the Montem team. But he said this because the next bit of information Josh was going to tell them was going to be even more shocking than the upset. And would create huge amounts of traffic for their next live stream. "For you see, Novis had already aplished a great feat that no one his age has aplished before, in a one on one duel he managed to defeat Lucas Bell." The chat went even crazier as the information was revealed. "Wait so the rumours were true, Lucas lost to a kid the same age as him and they were in this tournament?" "It must be, it all makes sense now, that person was Novis." "Why didn''t know one know about this earlier?" "Hey, don''t you guys realise what this means, if Westgate wins their next game then the two of them will have a faceoff in the semi-finals." "My hands are shaking just thinking about it." Cindy then took over from Josh and started to speak about tomorrow''s game. "Of course, Lucas is known to be just as good as pro yers and aims to go pro next year. It came as a huge surprise to us all when we found out he decided to enter this tournament. Many people thought it would be a waste of time for him." "Yes and know I think we know why he entered?" Josh replied. "Yes indeed, and as long as Westgate win their Quarterfinal match tomorrow, we will be able to see a face-off against these two yers." With the match over and done with, the Montem went back to their supporters and was weed with cheers and praise and Novis for once was the centre of attention. So much so that Novis was unable to move and was getting asked questions non-stop. At first most of the questions were about the game he had just yed but slowly the questions changed. "Hey is it true that you beat Lucas in a one on one fight?" "Huh who told you that?" Novis asked. "It''s all over the inte, I don''t think there''s a person in our county that doesn''t know about it." Novis immediately grabbed out his phone and started to look up what was said about him. "What the hell, I told him I lost, did he dig up this info about me?" Although Novis was annoyed he wasn''t annoyed for long, there was nothing he could do about it now and as long as Westgate won their game the two of them would face off in the next match. "I did my part Lucas, now it''s your turn to do yours." **** Special thanks to yogoboi and AsuraNineThoughts for the gifts they really help me out by supporting my work. Chapter 124: You can play Chapter 124: You can y After the game had concluded, it was time for each of the Montem yers to go home and get some well deserved rest, especially Novis. The effort expended in the match paled next to how difficult it was answering so many questions in post. Now he actually felt a little bad having looked at Ashley and Dan, wishing he would be in their shoes. Novis was currently with his little brother Bill who was walking down the street, reinacting the fight with Woo Woo. "Then you screamed and charged at them with that chain thingy and chucked that spear and they were all dead and then you won and everyone was like whoa." Bill rapidly narrated while acting out each scene. "I know Bill, I was the one who was there." Novis said with his face a little red. "Hey Bro, why didn''t you tell me you beat Lucas in a one on one?" Bill asked, "Wait more so, when did this happen and how? Like I know you''re good at the game now but the time frame doesn''t match up, even if you faced Lucas a month ago I could never imagine you beating him." "It''s not what you think," Novis replied," Me and Lucas met up in an inte caf and he agreed to teach me a few things. It was a practice game where he was showing me things and he let me kill him as a teaching thing. I guess Tick decided to use this information just to hype up the next match." "Oh, that actually makes a lot of sense, a lot of mediapanies will do these type of things." Novis then went to check his phone. A video of the match between Woo Woo was uploaded online and the highlights all contained scenes of Novis. He watched the video again and again, thinking back to the game. The video had around 60,000 views which was viral for a local county tournament between schools. Everyone in his town and the surrounding towns would have watched it. But it wasn''t like he would get stopped in the street for it, after all, the warrior character''s face that was shown not Novis'' actual face and even though he was famous, it was still no where near the level of Virtual God famous. Arthur''s videos had millions of views and were shared worldwide on a muchrger scale. One day Novis hoped he would be up there with him. **** Most of the Montem team had gone home with their parents or friends who hade to watch the game, but there was one yer who remained on his won and that was Alex. He stood just outside the gate of his house nervously. His Mum had to have found out already that he had gone missing from the house and she was without a doubt furious. As Alex went to check his phone he could see 23 missed call''s and several texts from her. It had only made him more nervous but he had made up his mind with what he had to do. Alex Rang the buzzer and waited for it to answer. "Mum it''s me." Alex said. The speaker remained silent as the gates swung open. When Alex cautiously opened the door he was immediately greeted with a big hug. "Oh my god where were you, I thought something had happened to you. Why didn''t you answer your phone? I was about to call the police!" She said in a worried voice. This was a surprise to Alex, he had expected her to rip him apart for sneaking out. "Mum we need to talk." Alex stated as he gently pushed his mother away. "I''m ying VSW, and before you say anything ,this is not a request. I''m telling you. You can take my things away you can try force me to study but I love that game too much and it makes me so happy. Even if I did study, once I left home I would only be going back to the game. I went to the game today and everyone''s family and friends were there to support them. All except you. I was alone, I felt sad; now I don''t expect you to support me, but I just don''t want you to get in my way either." Alex''s mother thought about it for a while. For some reason, her mood was different from usual. Perhaps because she had been so worried that something had happened to her son that she realized what she was doing was more damaging than helpful to her son. "Alex, When you started to y the game when you were younger you always told me that VSW was your dream. I kept thinking to myself it''s only a phase, he will get out of it. I was just trying to get all your distractions away for you." She continued, "you know I had a dream once too. I wanted to be a dancer but my parents forced me to study and in the end, I followed in their footsteps to be a doctor as well. I thanked my parents for giving me a good job and I thought you would do the same as well. But a little bit of me always wondered would I have been able to make it as a dancer?" Tears then started to fill Alex''s mother''s eyes. "I''m sorry son." She said as she gave Alex another big hug. "Just try to make your dreame true." **** Back at Novis'' house he had finally arrived home and was rxing on his bed in his room. Any second now Novis felt like he would fall asleep even though it was only 7:00 PM. "Tomorrow is Lucas''s match huh." Novis said. "I wonder how much that boy has improved." Said Arthur. " I believe it will be a good match between you two." "Do you really mean it?" Noivs asked. "Yes I do." Arthur replied, "You have grown a lot Novis, more then you think." Just then Novis phone buzzed. He had turned his phone on silent as he had been getting several messages from the VSW messaging service asking for friend request after the game. However, as Novis looked at his phone it wasn''t a message for his ount but was a message for Arthur''s id "Pendragon." The message read: "Hey long time no speak, it''s Hastam here. Just writing to let you know next week I will be heading to Ennd to be a guestmentator on a semifinals match. I was hoping maybe we could meet up, or I could even get you tickets to watch the match? Let me know what you are thinking." ***** Special thanks to AsuraNineThoughts again for the gifts and Updog for editing. Chapter 125: Slip up Chapter 125: Slip up After reading the message that Hastam had sent. Novis quickly realised that he had reviled something to Hastam that the rest of the world didn''t know. Before Novis knew about Arthur being a bid deal to the VSWmunity, while logged in as Pendragon he had stated that he still went to school. Novis was worried that if this information was reviled, he would ever be able to live a normal life. Novis didn''t mind the fame but he hated the idea of being famous for something he never did. If he ever did join pro teams sure he could live a luxury life but it would never be because of his efforts. However, Novis had sent that message to Hastam about a month ago, yet there hadn''t been any other messages and the world still had no idea where this mysterious yer was. Form the information Novis could gather they were still searching several university teams around the world, after releasing it wasn''t any of the current pros. With nothing left to lose, Novis thought he would go ahead and ask Hastam himself. "Hey I was just wondering but why did you decide to not tell everyone that I was still in school. Surely you could have gotten the bounty for helping find me that everyone is talking about?" Hastam was actually expecting Novis to send something like this sooner but never did. Hastam then came to the conclusion that Novis must have just been a naive boy in school. Not knowing what the information would have done to him. But the truth was Novis had no idea of his fame at the time. "The bounty, I don''t need money like that I''m already a pro yer. Besides, when I realised you were a schoolboy, I decided that it would be best for you to grow and go at your own pace. Not many people can handle bing a pro and continuing practising at a young age." This actually wasn''t true. Although Hastam felt this way slightly, the truth was when he watched Noivs y the game where George took over for one match and then Arthur the next, Hastam had a theory of his own. That one of these people were the real yer while the other might have been a spirit like Hastam had. What Hastam didn''t know was that Novis had two spirits. But Hastam was in no rush to solve this mystery of his and it was only something he was curious about. When he went to Ennd he would try to meet with the boy. Reading the message, Novis felt like Hastam was a nice guy. Novis wouldn''t go out of his way to meet Hastam but if he was offering him free tickets to a VSW event. Novis felt like why not. He would be surrounded by plenty of people in a public area and Hastam was a well-known public figure. it was also the chance for him to watch some other yers. "You''re a nice guy Hastam, thank you for keeping my secret. I would love to get tickets to the VSW tournament you mentioned as long as it doesn''t conflict with my schedule. And hopefully, we can meet up and you can give me some tips." "That''s good to hear, I look forward to seeing you. I''ll send over the tickets now, don''t worry if you can''te you can give them to a friend or something, just send me your email address and I''ll send them over." After waiting for a few moments, Novis had received an email for a couple of tickets and he spotted something straight away. On the top right-hand corner, it said the tickets were for the Berkshire semi tournament match next Saturday. The same match where Novis''s game was to take ce. Novis realised that everything he said so far was a terrible mistake. It was fine Hastam knowing he was Pendragon, after all, it didn''t mean the two of them were going to y a match against each other and even if Hastam wanted to, it would be fine, Novis would just switch out with Arthur. But if Hastam knew who Noivs was and then saw him ying in the game. Surely Hastam a pro yer would question Novis about his skills. Why was he worse than when he yed online? It wasn''t exactly like Novis could tell Hastam the truth and say, "Hey I have a spirit that''s really good at using swords." With that, Novis had no choice but to lie, he felt kind of bad after how Hastam had treated him but there was nothing he could do. "Hey, unfortunately, it looks like I got something going on that weekend, maybe next time." "Ahh that''s too bad, if you can''t catch the event live in person tune in on Tick, I will be acting as a guestmentator on their tform." For a brief moment, Novis felt like his hard was thumbing incredibly loud. Keeping a secret as big as this was crazy and hard and it was truly a shame he wasn''t able to share this with anyone. Novis wondered if he was the only person in the world going through something like this now. **** The next day the Montem team had decided to meet up at Alex''s house to watch the match live. Alex had the biggest house out of all of them as well as the biggest T.V Screen. The six of them were all sitting inside the living room on a single long sofa. In front of them was a table with several snacks and the TV screen was disying Tick media''s live broadcast. "Hey, are you sure your mum is all okay with this now?" Frank asked. "Yeah, ever since we had a talk, she had aplete turnaround. It''s like I don''t even know who she is anymore. She returned all my things and is even supporting me now. I''m happy I can finally y with all you guys again." "Well I''m d to, I don''t know how you managed to take this kind of team so far but there going to need your help in the next game." Just then the crowd on the TV screen cheered as the members of the Westgate team walked in. "Look Novis, is that the Lucas kid you were talking about." As Novis looked at the screen and the camera gave a close up of Lucas, he felt like something had changed. The expression on his face used to be that of determination but the expression Lucas carried now, he didn''t know what it was. "I wonder how much better you''ve got," Novis said. **** Special thanks to Abhijith_Ramesh and AsuraNineThoughts for the gifts and supporting my work. Chapter 126: A skill not from this world Chapter 126: A skill not from this world Lucas had no idea how many days had gone past since Mortem had taken over his body. Although Lucas was able to leave the dream world he was currently in, each time he left it and saw his body being controlled by someone else, he hated it. Rather than spending his time looking at someone control his body, Lucas had spent every second training. The dream world had remained the same as when he had first arrived. A dead wastnd with no life, rivers made ofva and the purple sky above. It was hard to keep track of a ce like this when it always seemed like it was night time. However, there was one thing that kept Lucas going. Each night when Mortem would go to sleep. Her real form or spirit would enter the dream world. Lucas took this as an opportunity to challenge her nearly every single day. Although Lucas lost each and every single time, he was slowly learning. He had changed from his Katana de that he once used and had started using the Scythe simr to Mortem. If he wanted to beat her, he needed to learn everything about how she moved and attacked and through habit, Lucas was getting the hang of using the scythe. All he needed was a little more time and soon he felt like he would get his body back. **** Inside Alex''s house, the group were ready to watch the game and were getting excited, but they noticed that the atmosphere in the arena had changed as soon as Lucas had entered the room. The cheers were louder than any they had ever received and it was a bit overwhelming. "Hey so, who exactly is this Lucas person, is he good?" Ashley asked. "Good is an understatement," Alex replied, "Not only is he already at the professional level but he''s also the son of the number one yer in the world. Some say even if he was to y against the pro''s now, he would be able to at least join a mid-tier team." "Seriously he''s that good." Ashley replied, "I guess Westgate have this one in the bag." "Not exactly," Alex replied. "Although Westgate are the favourites to win the tournament this year, that wasn''t always the case. The team there going up against are Eastwood, they won the county tournamentst year and were the favourites to win." "Wait they wonst year!" Scarlett said, "Then what changed why is Westgate suddenly the favourites." "That''s because of the very person you guys are all looking at now. A lot of people didn''t expect Lucas to enter the tournament. Lucas was already treated like a pro and ying in a match like this one would only be seen as bullying. So as soon as Lucas had joined Westgate, they had be the favourites. That''s why all the news surrounding Novis spread like wildfire, it finally makes sense if Lucas wanted to take revenge why he would enter the tournament." After finding out about Novis beating Lucas, Novis had told them all the same thing he had said to Bill. That it was a teaching game and it actually held no importance. It was easy for them to believe after all the media always seemed to blow things out of proportion. "Now pay attention guys." Alex said, "This is the first time we will be seeing Lucas y in this tournament, So far he hadn''t entered any games." Each team was allowed a total of three substrate yers. In the Finals and pro games. Matches were a best out of three. During each game, teams were allowed to substitute as many yers as they wanted for strategy. As the game was about to begin, everyone was focused. All the attention was focused on one person and that was Lucas. Even Josh and Cindy couldn''t help but constantly talk about him. Finally, the match had started and each person had selected the warrior but what they saw hadpletely shocked them. "Can you believe this? It looks like Lucas has changed his choice of warrior." Josh reported. "Yes, results have shown during all his time he has stuck to the same warrior his father yed, named Mu samu. Why do you think the sudden change?" Cindy asked. "I''m not too sure myself but maybe it has something to do with the rumoured loss. To be honest, I have always felt that Lucas was just a good imitation of his father, he didn''t have his own style. I will be interested to see how Lucas will perform with this new warrior." The match had started and Lucas immediately headed to his position in mid. He was going up against Eastwood''s best yer who used the Mu samu warrior. He was Eastwood''s captain and was currently ranked diamond, the highest-ranked yer besides Lucas in the tournament. "Now this will be interesting to see," Josh said, "It couldn''t have been too long since Lucas has changed warriors, so he shouldn''t have had much time to adjust to all the quirks of his warrior. While Luke, Eastwood''s captain has managed to ride up the ranks only using Mu samu." "Yes, looks like this will be an interesting fight to see, and I wouldn''t say Lucas will win this one easy," Cindy added. As Mortem reached the centre of the map, she could see her opponent in front of her. "It looks like this match is being broadcasted to the outside world." Mortem said, "Perhaps I should send a message to anyone out there." Mortem then slowly walked to the centre where the two teams NPC knights were battling it out. Meanwhile, Luke was being cautious making sure to stay just out of distance behind his knights. "To anyone out there who is a part of Snake Bite, this is my message to you all." Mortem then lifted her scythe into the air and swung it out sending a strong force of sword energy. The people watching live on screen and at home didn''t have a clue what had just happened, because, with a single swing, they had seen Lucas take out all twenty of the NPC Knights including his own. Arthur watching the match and had one thought. "It was a skill not from this world." **** Special thanks to AsuraNineThoughts, for the constant gifts it really helps me out. Chapter 127: No rival of mine Chapter 127: No rival of mine Inside one of Goldware corp''s IT rooms, there was currently a room filled with around fifty employees. Each one would be monitoring a match that they deemed as suspicious. "Hey Tom, I think we have something going on in the Berkshire tournament." An employee said. "Berkshire tournament, isn''t that where Novis is?" Tom said, "Disy the match on the big screen and rewind it a few and show me what you found." Just then on therge monitor at the back of the room, it was now disying the match between Westgate and Eastwood. Then it had just shown what Mortem had done to do NPC knights in the game. "What, how is that possible?" An employee said, "Is it a bug in the game?" "No, I think we have found ourselves a spirit." Tom said, "Check who''s ying right now." "It''s Lucas bell." As soon as Tom heard the name he nearly stumbled back and fell over. "If Justin found out he''ll kill us, what do we do now?" Tom thought. ***** Inside the match, Luke had just witnessed the devastating massacre that Lucas had performed. "This is not possible, it''s inhuman not even the pros can do something like this." Then it seemed like Luke had lost all reasoning, he no longer felt like he was in a game but instead, he now felt fear. He dropped his sword and turned his back running towards his tower, his instinct was telling him he wanted to live. But before Luke had even taken a few steps, he heard a voice whisper into his ear. "Where do you think you''re going?" Mortem said. And the next second Lucas head had been sliced off and burst into blue particles. "Now this is kinda fun, but it''s a shame there is no blood." "What the hell, how did Lucas get so much better!" Novis shouted, "That''s impossible, there''s no way I canpete with that." The others hearing Novis''s words felt the same way. What they had just witnessed, no matter what kind of strategy they hade up with, they couldn''t face against something like this. However, Arthur decided to keep what he had learnt a secret from Novis. "Shouldn''t we tell the boy?" George asked. "No, we need to wait and see how Novis reacts, perhaps now that he thinks Lucas is so far ahead it will be another turning point for him in his training. If it doesn''t have a positive impact and the boy gets disheartened, then we can tell him." The fight inside the game continued, with Mortem know exploring around the map, she first headed to the topne, where the other yers were locked inbat. "Lucas fall back, we can handle this ourselves." The Westgate yers said but Mortem ignored their words and instead went forward and attacked his own yers. "What the hell are you doing, we''re on the same team!" The Westgate yer shouted. Then Mortem started to break out into augh, "I only work for one group and that''s not you." She said. Then the two East wood yers charged forward, using her scythe she hooked on of her own yers by the shoulder and dragged him in front of the opponent''s blow. The Westgate yer burst into blue particles and at the same time, she swung her scythe dealing with the East wood yer. Now that the remaining Westgate yer knew Lucas was serious about attacking them, he decided to change his target to Lucas. The crowd watching from outside was just wondering what the hell was happening in this crazy game. "Is Lucas just trying to show off?" "I never thought he was this type of person, wasn''t he shy and well mannered." "But look he''s really taking on all four of them." With the remaining two yers charging at her, Mortem grabbed her Scythe and swung just at the right time, slicing both of their bodies in half from the waist. "Too easy, now I''m getting bored." But just as Mortem said that the game had ended as the two Westgate yers at bottom had managed to deal with the two Eastwood yers. After watching the event live, the crowd could only remember how easily Lucas had dealt with the enemy and his own teammates. With the scythe, it was like they were witnessing a grim reaper harvesting souls and nothing was going to get in his way. As soon as the two teams exited from the pods. The two Westgate teammates that had been killed came rushing over to Lucas. "Hey what the hell was that for! I know your meant to be some pro''s son but that doesn''t mean you can do what you want." As the yer walked up to Lucas, he tried grabbing his cor but before he even could. Mortem grabbed the boy''s wrist and twisted him holding him to the ground. "Don''t touch me with your filthy hands, understand." Mortem said, the boy nodded in response, "Good because next time it won''t just be in the game." Mortem whispered to the boy. After letting the boy go, Mortem naturally waved to the crowd and in response, they started to cheer. "Just like my own world, no matter how I act, the strong get this type of response." She said. And what she said was true. The crowd was more excited than ever after witnessing Lucas''s disy of dominance. He had defeated four yers at once and it was quite clear to them, he could have dealt with anyone on either side of the team. Josh and Cindy who were currently doing their live broadcast, rushed to the arena floor to do an interview. "That was an amazing game that we just witnessed but we havee down here to ask one question mainly. After winning this match all our online viewers are going crazy about the semi-final game next week. Where you will face off against your old Rival Novis." Cindy asked. Then the expression on Mortem''s face changed. "Rival? did you not just see my power, on this, there is no rival that can face me." Chapter 128: Nine Levels Chapter 128: Nine Levels After the game had finished the group remained deep in their own thoughts. They didn''t know what to think and had never felt this way after watching a game. All of them had one thought on their mind, "How do we win against that?" Novis had always set his goal at Lucas, when he saw him ying against Arthur at the time, he really didn''t know how special Lucas was. Even to this day he still didn''t but the things that Novis did know about Lucas made him fall in love with the game. Lucas was the same age as Novis, it felt like Lucas was a goal he could achieve and for the first time, Novis felt true passioning from Lucas about the game. In a way, Novis wanted to feel the same way Lucas felt about the game and it finally felt like he did. With the match ended, everyone decided to head home. As soon as everyone had left the room Alex immediately got to work. "I wasn''t there for youst time, But I can help this time." Alex thought. He started to watch the matches not only between Westgate and Eastwood but even the past matches of Westgate over and over again. He could tell just from the atmosphere in the room that everyone felt hopeless. Being the captain and team leader, it was Alex''s job toe up with a n that would bring hope to the team. After hours and hours of research though, Alex hade up with a final percentage of Montem beating the current Westgate team. On the bottom of the piece of paper held in Alex''s hands, was the number three percent. The main problem was Lucas. Alex only had information of Lucas from one game, but even in that game, he had shown enough skill to clearly show he was above everyone else. Lucas was a new personpared to matches that were avable to watch online, so that information was useless. Not only that but the rest of the Westgate team were veteran yers, and although Alex didn''t want to admit it, every one of them would be able to outy the members on his team. With calctions of luck and improvement from his team yers, three percent was the highest number Alex coulde up with. While everyone else had decided to head home, Novis, on the other hand, decided to head to his grandfather''s dojo. Heid out each of the weapons on the floor and looked at them carefully deep in thought. "The thing that Lucas did today, that was the so-called sword energy, right?" Novis asked. "Yes, I believe so." George replied. "Can you guys exin a bit more about sword energy, if I want to beat Lucas I need to learn everything I can about it?" Novis asked. George looked towards Arthur and smiled. "It looks like you were right about the boy, he hasn''t given up." "To put it into simple terms there are nine levels of sword energy." George began to exin. "Now there have been a few people that you have seen or met before that has been able to perform sword energy in the real world. Hastam and Daki would be two examples of these, both of them are only at the first level though." "What really, only the first level!" Novis said, he couldn''t believe that such strong and powerful yers were only at the first level. "Then what about Lucas, what level would he be at?" "I''m not too sure since I have only seen him through video, but to be able to perform something like that, I would say he was at least at the 3rd level." "How is that possible though? He only fought with Arthur not too long ago." "That we are not sure of ourselves," George replied. "You see, sword energy is not something you can just learn as we have stated before, there have been some studies into it from our world and it seems like it also has something to do with the body as well. The stronger your body is then the stronger the sword energy you can perform. For example, I am able to at least perform sword energy at Level five, however, when I use your body Novis at most I can only perform Level one." "And Arthur, how strong is he?" Novis asked. "Arthur can go up to the highest level, level nine." George replied. Novis was stunned, he knew Arthur was strong and had even seen Arthur do incredible things. But ording to George, the two of them could do even more things as long as Novis''s body got stronger. It truly did remind him that the two of them were from another world. **** While Novis was busy learning about sword energy, on the way home, Dan decided to stop by the supermarket. He wanted to treat everyone to a nice meal when he got home at the orphanage. After all, they had gone through so much effort to see his game the other day. While in the supermarket though, Dan couldn''t help but think about what he had seen Lucas do. "There are so many monsters out in the world." Dan thought. Before Dan would have considered himself special, better than most in the world and people had always said he was blessed with a good body and skills born to do sport with but after meeting Novis and seeing Lucas, Dan wasn''t sure anymore how blessed he was. But even he could see that Novis was far behind Lucas. If the team wanted to get better in the future, they couldn''t rely on Novis like they did thest game. They themselves needed to do something and help Novis. But how, how could Dan get stronger he thought? As Dan was going through the meat aisle, he saw a streak that was discounted on sale. It was thest one on the shelf. As he went out to grab it though. Another hand at the same time had grabbed it too. "Oh sorry, was you going for it? You go right ahead." A man''s voice said. "Thank you, you are so kind," Dan said as he took the steak of the shelf. When he looked up to thank the man, he was surprised to see who it was. "Huh, it''s you." The man said. It had been a while since they both had seen each other but thest time they had met they had made quite an impression. The man was Tony, the guard who worked for the Ruman family. Tony felt a bit awkward because thest time they had met. Tony had beaten Dan to the ground, although Tony did it to for Dan''s own good. He was afraid Dan hadn''t seen it that way. Although Dan held no grudges about what had happened, he remembered it was because of him, they could leave with Scarlett. Not only that he felt like the answers to his question had appeared right in his face. Chapter 129: A good cook Chapter 129: A good cook At first, there was an awkward atmosphere between the two but Dan quickly cleared the air by making small talk and friendly conversation. Dan harboured no grudges and could see that Tony felt awkward. After talking for a bit in the supermarket Tony started to feel a little morefortable. "That''s a lot of food you got in your basket there?" Said tony. "Yeah, I have a big family and I''m going to cook for them tonight," Dan said. Tony looking at the food must have thought Dan had at least a small army to feed, there was enough food in his basket to feed a regr family for weeks. Looking at the pile of food and thinking of a way to make it up to Dan, Tony hade up with an idea. "Hey I know, I''m a pretty good chief if I do say so myself, how about Ie over and help you cook," Tony asked. Dan thought about it for a while, the truth was Dan was nning to find a way he could keep in contact with Tony. After fighting with Tony thest time, Dan realised that he was out of his league. The question Dan had been asking himself how to get stronger hade to him and he wanted Tony to teach him how to fight. "Yeah sure, why not." Dan smiled back. "Well, I hope they like Thai food." The two of them walked together until they had finally reached the outside of the orphanage. "Wait a minute you live here!" Tony said surprised. "Yeah, like I said it''s a big family." As the two of them entered the orphanage. Hayley was busy ying with most of the kids in the y area. The ce was messy as usual, the two of them took off their shoes and headed for the kitchen. That''s when Hayley spotted them through the hallway. "Oh, why didn''t tell me you were going to bring a friend over?" Hayley asked. "Look at me I''m a mess." "Don''t worry about it, you are one of the prettiest girls I have seen in my life," Tony said. Hayley blushed in response. Tony and Hayley were both young adults and looked the same age, in a way they both suited each other. "Don''t get any smart ideas, she''s too good for a gangster like you," Dan said. As the two entered the kitchen they both started to prepare dinner. Tony was surprised at how good Dan''s cooking skills were and at the same time, Dan was surprised at Tony''s. "I cook for the kids all the time." Dan said as if he could read Tony''s mind, "Anything that helps lessen the load on Hayley. She''s always busy and were shorthanded. From the look of things, you''re not too bad yourself." "Thanks, when I grew up in Thand, I had to cook for myself, I had no Family." Dan looking at Tony realised that everyone had their own story and of course Tony''s would be aplicated one. Tony seemed like a nice guy but for some reason, he was working for the Ruman family. After making dinner together the two of them sat down with the kids. There were ten children in total and two teens just a few years younger than Dan himself. The table was lively with everyone eating andughing. Tony and Hayley seemed to be getting along well together as well. As dinner finished Tony offered to help get the dishes and immediately started washing them without being asked. "What a nice man." Hayley said, "You can bring him more often." She giggled. "Not you too, I already told him to not get any ideas." Once the young kids were put to sleep, Dan and Tony went outside to the back garden. It was arge garden with all sorts of toys scattered around. The two of them sat in silence for a while looking at the night stars until Tony was the first to speak. "You have a nice family here, Now I know what powers you to keep going." Said Tony. "You know I never wanted to hurt you and your friends. I grew up in Thand with no family, no food, starving. The only thing I could to earn money was fight. So I started to pick up Muay Thai but in the end, even the money from that wasn''t enough." Tony then stood up and started to shadow box. He threw kicks, knees and punches at lightning-fast speeds. "It got to the point where I earned more money from losing my fights than winning. I would be asked to lose on purpose. Gangs would bet against me and all sorts of things would happen. One day a rival gang found out about the rigging, and in return, I was given to them. Then somewhere along the line, I was finally sold to the Ruman family. I worked as a guard for them for years and I was treated nicely by them but whatever happened I had one rule. No kids." "That day I really didn''t know that was going to." Tony started to choke up. Dan then stood up and ced his hand on Tony''s shoulder. He could feel the sadnessing out from Tony. "It''s okay," Dan said. "But it''s not, if you had died that day, if your friend had died, her family would have been sad, your family would have been sad. Who would have cooked their meals for them, who would have been able to help Hayley with the kids? If I disappear tomorrow the world doesn''t change. There is no one who relies on me but for you it''s different." "You know you''re not the only one who''s done bad things." Dan then lifted his shirt to reveal the Noir gang''s tattoo. "This orphanage, it can no longer run on government funding. When my brother left, he decided no matter what he was going to keep this ce open. Every week he continues to send money and it''s only because of him these kids can stay here. I decided to follow him one day to see what he was doing, turns out he was the leader of his own gang but instead of looking down at him or telling him to stop, instead, I asked him how could I help. I did whatever it took to make mine and those around me lives better and I don''t regret a single day of it." "You''re a good kid," Tony said. Tony then started to stretch his legs and arms in the traditional Thai boxing style. He would do a split and then alternate his weight on one thigh and then the next. "Come on then, what are you waiting for? you didn''t call me over just to talk did you? I''ll teach you everything I know." Dan smiled back at Tony and was ready to start learning. Chapter 130: A new old Strat Chapter 130: A new old Strat The next day had arrived and that meant it was the start of the week. As usual, the team had a full week to practise and train before their big match. That day while Novis was busy walking to school, he was too focused thinking about what Arthur and George had told him. Novis knew to get to the next step and to be a match against Lucas, he needed to learn sword energy. Using Berserker mode wasn''t going to be good enough. Novis was no longercking in skill but now instead he needed something to activate in his body. Unfortunately for him, George and Arthur both said this was something they couldn''t teach Novis. When Novis asked them how they hade across sword energy for the first time, they both had given different but simr answers. In their world, they were given several quests and they were also several dangerous beasts that roamed thend. Dragons were just one of them. They said it came to them when they were in danger, a near-death experience when everything was put on the line. But how was Novis meant to simte that? This wasn''t a fantasy world where he could go out fighting people stronger than him and he never had the real fear of danger. Only once had something like that happened and that was when a gun had been pulled on him. While busy thinking about it, Novis hade up with an idea. There was one person he could ask about it. Someone who was able to use sword energy that was from the same world as Novis. And that was Ashley''s father, Daiki. While Novis was deep in thought on how to approach and ask Daiki this, he suddenly realised he had already arrived at school and when he did, in just a few seconds he was immensely swarmed by crowds of people. "Novis, Novis, did you see the Westgate game?" "Yeah, what do you think about Lucas saying he has no rival." "Is it true you beat himst time?" "How did you get so good at the game, aren''t you only a bronze Rank." At this point, Novis still was enjoying all the attention he was receiving. He had gone to a nobody to a celebrity overnight. It was every kid''s dream for this to happen. But when Novis gave out his replies the crowd quickly became disinterested. "Do you think you''re going to kick Lucas''s ass." A student asked. "Maybe, I''m not sure," Novis replied. "You beat him before though, right?" "That''s was just in a practice game, he was just teaching me." Most of the questions seemed to be centred around him facing off against Lucas and the students wanted to feel hyped but hearing Novis talk did the exact opposite. Without even realising it, Novis was losing his fanbase and by the end of the day, people had stopped asking him questions. Once school had finished for the day, that meant it was time for club activities to resume. The VSW members met up in the club room and when Novis entered everyone was present. "Whoa, what happened to you?" Novis asked looking at Dan. Dan''s face was slightly swollen from yesterday. While Tony was demonstrating a few things to him yesterday. Things had gotten heated between the two and Tony had hit Dan by ident. "Don''t worry about it, was just an ident between friends," Dan said with a smile. Once everyone was seated, Alex switched on the projector and started his presentation. "It''s nice to have you back captain," Novis said. "No offence, Frank." Novisughed nervously. "Don''t worry, he deserves it," Frank replied. "So do you have a n to beat Westgate then?" Ashley asked. "Yes, of course I do." Alex smiled faking his confidence. Alex knew he needed to stay positive but he couldn''t help but think back to the three percent number he hade up with the other day. But it was important to keep the team''s morale high. When Alex went on to the next slide, the group was surprised to see Hershal on the screen instead of Westgate. "This is how we will beat them," Alex exined. "Honestly Westgate is a better team than us in every way. If we were to go up against them in the standard two top, one mid, and two bottom formation, we would each be beaten in ournes before we could do anything. Does anyone remember how Hershal fought?" Frank raised his hand immediately. "Apart from Frank of course." "They grouped up, right? always stayed together." Scarlett replied. "Exactly, if we can''t beat them in thening phase then from the beginning we will have to force a group battle." "But won''t their power still be greater than ours, and they even have Lucas," Dan asked. "Even when we went against Hershal we weren''t strong enough to go against them five against five." "Lucas is the exact reason why this n has a chance of working." Alex said, "Judging by hisst match, Lucas is a solo yer. He isn''t a team yer. Most likely he will either act on his own or even better he won''t care if his teammates get hurt in the crossfire, just like what had happened in thest game. The current Lucas is cocky, he believes he can probably take us out all on his own but we have Novis. Of course, Novis alone won''t be enough and for this n to work we have to learn how to fight as a team. That''s why I won''t be taking part in this game." "What!" the group shouted at the same time. "But you just got permission to y," Ashley said. "I know but more than ever, I want this team to win and to give us the best chance, I can''t take part in this game. I''m sure you all know there is someone already on the team who has a lot more experience fighting as a group than me. In fact, I would even go as far as to say he is an expert at group fighting." At that moment the group turned their heads and looked towards Frank. "Huh wait, you''re talking about me." "Who else is there," Alex said. Chapter 131: Fight under the bridge Chapter 131: Fight under the bridge As the Group found out what their n was to beat the Westgate team, they were eager to start out their strategy. Frank would be ying and leading the team on the ground floor, while Alex would be watching the game closely and making micro adjustments as they yed game after game. From yingst time the team had managed to get out of bronze and into silver but were struggling to win in their games before as silver yers had better strategypared to bronze. Even if they were to group up, the yers would simply fall back and split push the othernes. So Alex hade up with a strategy. The important part when grouping up was the element of surprise. You didn''t want to reveal to the team that there would be five of you in onene. At that moment when your team were reviled, it was important that you killed that yer. Otherwise, the yer would do his best to buy as much time as possible waiting for their teammates, the same thing Montem had done against Woo Woo. It was the first game and the group were trying their best to implement their strategy. Two of Montem''s team members had entered from the right side of the forest down the middlene. While the other two had entered the left side fo the forest down the middlene. Then all that was left was for Frank to do battle down the middle path. The two were engaged inbat and the yers were patiently waiting for Frank''s signal. At the right time, Frank swirled around his opponent and barged into him with his shield, causing the yer to stumble towards the side of his tower. At that point it was time for the Montem team to act, Novis came out with his chain de and managed to hook the person perfectly. Then at the same time, an arrow came shooting out from Scarlett''s bow but as soon as Novis hooked the yer, he had pulled him towards him causing Scarlett''s arrow to miss and hit the ground. In the end, Novis managed to switch to his long sword and deal with the yer but it didn''t go as nned. The strategy was to wait for Frank to barge the yer with his shield, when the enemy was dazed then that''s when Novis would try hooking the yer and Scarlett shooting him. It was clear that they still needed some practice. But this way if they took out the first person, they would have the advantage as the game went on. The n seemed to work for the most part managing to win most of their games but there were still some hups along the way. Sometimes when their yers would enter the forest they would encounter the enemy team members in their as well, there was also the fact that teams were quick tomunicate to the yer in mid, informing them that the top and bottomne were empty, causing the middle yer to y more cautiously. Although these things didn''t affect them much currently, that was because they were only in silver. "Good practice today guys," Alex said as everyone left the Pod feeling pleased. "We need to keep going like this, it may seem easy now but you have to remember you''re still only going up against silver yers. The Westgate team have a couple of diamond yers who will be quick tomunicate, react and will be a lot tougher to deal with." Alex wanted the group to rise up through the ranks as quickly as possible, then this way they would experience more awkward situations when grouping up as a five. It was the only thing they could do for now, to y as many games as possible. The practice was over for the day and it was time for the group to split up and head home but on the way back instead of heading home. Dan had decided to go down to a nearby river. He carried a heavy bulky bag on his back and had finally arrived just underneath a bridge right next to the river. "You''re here on time," Tony said. Dan then ced the bag down and opened it to reveal some old boxing gloves and pad''s that he used to use when he was in the boxing club. "You ready for today''s practise session?" Dan said with a grin. The two of them started to practice, while Tony held out the pads Dan would follow his lead. After doing rounds of Pad work. Tony made sure to get in some sparing as well. It wouldn''t be intense sparing but more important for Dan to get a sense of timing. Knowing when to attack and not to attack. Tony was surprised by how Quick Dan was catching onto things. Sure, he had experienced with punching before being in the boxing club but Muay Thai was different. It allowed the use of kicks, knees and elbows. When kicking it was important to swing your leg out like a whip and pushing through with your hip. You also had to make sure your body wasn''t off bnce and the distances were different. The reach with a leg was a lot longer than that of an arm. The boxers Tony had fought with before when learning Muay Thai for the first time struggled for these reasons but Dan was absorbing everything like a sponge. Tony only had to show things one time for Dan to get it. "Great I think you''re ready," Tony said. "Ready? For what?" "To fight in your first official Muay Thai match of course." "What, but we''ve only practised like two times, I''ll be killed won''t I?" "Will you rx, you are doing great, we don''t have a lot of time and the quickest way for you to learn is to be thrown into the deep end against people who have fought before. From what I''ve seen here today, I''m confident you can fight toe to toe against your average Muay Thai fighter." "Alright when''s the first match?" Dan asked. "Tomorrow, same time as today only meet me at this ce," Tony said as he handed Dan a piece of paper. **** Special thanks to Darrel, AsuraNineThoughts and Seshata for the gifts, showing your support really encourages me to carry on working hard for you all. Chapter 132: Learning From experience Chapter 132: Learning From experience After the first day of training had finished for the Montem Team, instead of going home Novis quickly went to catch up with Ashley. Just as she had stepped out of the front school gates, Novis managed to tap her shoulder just in time. "Hey, do you mind if I go home with you today?" Novis asked. "What!?" Ashley said panicking and all nervous. She immediately turned around and started doing her hair up. "Why would Noivs want to go home with me? Does he like me, but big sister Scarlett and Novis seemed close, I shouldn''t get in the way of their rtionship." Ashley was currently letting her thoughts get the better of her. "Umm Ashley are you okay there?" "I''m sorry!" Ashley said with her face all bright red. "Sorry, you mean I can''t go and see your father today?" Novis said slightly confused. If Ashley''s face was already red, it just got even redder as she felt embarrassed by her thoughts. "I mean err I''m sorry for dying in the game against Woo Woo, I promise I will do better in the Westgate game," Ashley said as she bowed down. Luckily, she managed toe up with an excuse in time. "That''s okay, we''re a team, I couldn''t do any of this unless we were all in this together." The two of them smiled at each other and started to head to her Father''s dojo. Novis was nning to go visit Daiki and ask him about sword energy. He was the only person that wasn''t like Gorge or Aurthur, someone who hade from earth who was able to perform sword energy and Novis needed to find out why. After walking together for a few minutes, they had finally arrived at the dojo. There was vast improvement from thest time Novis had arrived. There was a brand new shiny sign out front. The garden had been done up and students were practising all over the ce inside and outside the dojo. "What happened here?" Noivs asked. "Ever since I started ying the VSW game, it has been really good advertisement for the dojo," Ashley replied, "It''s been crazy they all think that if they learn how to fight in real life, it will help them out in the game." Novis wasn''t so sure about that himself. The skills the warriors could produce in the game were greater than what most people were cable of doing in real life. It was only thanks to the fact that Novis was able to train in the dream world that he could improve so fast and Ashley had been training ever since she was younger. Dan had always done well at physical sports and had past experience as well. Doing some training for a few days wasn''t going to suddenly make you better at the game overnight, unless there were a special set of cases. As Novis was deep in thought a loud voice was heard shouting at him form the Dojo. "Novis my boy! What are you doing outside,e in,e in!" Daiki shouted. Daiki seemed to be happier than ever and with the business doing as well as it was, who wouldn''t be. The three of them then went inside past the Dojo hall and into the special room, where they had first found George. They were sitting at a Japanese style table on the floor. "This ce gives me the creeps," George said. "Really?" Novis replied. "Do you know how long I had to spend stuck in this room." "Boy, you don''t know how much I owe you." Daiki said, "Ever since you introduced that game to my daughter not only has she be better at fighting like you said she would, but the dojo has been doing better than ever. If there is anything I can do, then please ask." "Actually, I wanted you to teach me how to use sword energy." "Sword energy?" Daiki said looking confused, "Oh I think I know what you mean, can the spirits not pass this knowledge to you?" Novis then exined how Arthur and George had first learnt spirit energy. It wasn''t something they had a lot of theoretical knowledge on but was something they just felt when they were in extreme danger. "I can see why that is a problem, well, to be honest, I''m the same way," Daiki exined. "My teacher who learnt it from George was the one who showed me, there wasn''t a special way." "How did your teacher show you?" Novis asked. "Well, the best way to learn something is to experience it, my teacher would constantly attack me with sword energy until it was embedded into my bones." Then an idea came to his head, perhaps what worked for Daiki could also work for him. Although Arthur and George were able to use sword energy in the dream world, whenever he was hit with it, it would be an instant death, causing Novis to wake up. He actually never experienced what a head-on attack with sword energy actually felt like. Novis then clenched his fist and said. "I would like it if you could teach me the same way as your teacher did you." "Are you sure boy, it will be tough, there were days where I would spit out blood, my body would be so sore and broken down, I couldn''t move for days. The pain is not something anybody could take. The method seems almost cruel even, so cruel that I never taught my daughter such thing and would never allow her to go through such a hardship." Novis then thought back to the match where he saw Lucas fight against East wood. How a single strike of sword energy allowed him to deal with ten NPC knights in one blow. That power something he needed if he wanted to take on Lucas. "Please," Novis said. "Very well." After agreeing to Novis''s request. Daiki cleared out the Dojo hall and asked the student to practise outside for the time being. Ashley decided to stay inside the dojo and was sitting on the floor watching everything carefully. Although her father didn''t want her to learn about sword energy Ashley was greatly interested and hoped by watching the two of them, she could learn something. Daiki then grabbed a bamboo sword and chucked one over to Novis. You ready boy?" "I''m ready." Heavy energy started to enter the room and surround Daiki''s body. Although Ashley was unable to see anything, she could feel something emitting from her farther, on the other hand, Novis was able to see a faint white outline appear on Daiki''s body. Something he hadn''t seen thest time. "Now boy, the whole point of this is for you to feel what it''s like to take sword energy head-on, to face it. Whatever you do, don''t dodge this attack but try your best to take it." Although Novis could feel the power emitting from Daiki, he didn''t quite understand what he meant. If all he needed to do was stand his ground then he would grit his teeth and bear it. Then as Daiki swung his sword and the energy left it. Novis started to feel a shiver run down his spine. All the hairs on his body stood up and he could see the sword energy hitting him before it had even reached him. An image appeared in his head of the attack hitting him and splitting his body in half. He tried his best to stand his ground but when the attack was only a few inches away, he could no longer hold it and jumped causing the attack to miss. "Damn it you brat, I thought you said you were ready," Daikiined. Novis was covered in sweat, he felt like if the attack hit him, he would be done for. While Daiki, didn''t look to be in great shape either. The attack took a lot out of the old man and it was stressful for his body. "Novis, don''t worry. Me and George will protect you." Said Arthur. "We will cover your vital parts with our own energy so worry not." Novis stood up and stood his ground once more in front of Daiki. "I know it''s hard but I can only do the attack one more time today. It takes a lot of energy." Daiki said. "I''m sorry, I promise this time I won''t move," Novis said. Once again Daiki readied his sword. He gathered his energy and when he was finally ready, he attacked again sending the sword energy out of his sword. Once again, Novis could feel all the cells in his body screaming at him to run away but this time. Novis fought back against his instincts. The attacknded and Novis was able to block the strike with his bamboo sword. However, the energy continued to push Novis. To the point where his feet were lifted into the air and the next second. Novis was sent flying through the dojo walls and into the garden. Novis started to cough and spat out blood from his mouth, his vision started to go to ck, all he could see were his two spirts looking at him from above and hisst words were "You damn liars" Chapter 133: Celebrities Chapter 133: Celebrities Slowly Novis started to open his heavy eyelids, his vision was slowly returning and all he could see was a grey murky ceiling. "Where am I?" Novis said as he lifted himself off the ground. As he did though a shooting pain could be felt in his chest. He grabbed hold of it with one arm expecting a scar but nothing was there. "Slow down you''re still hurt," Ashley said. "What happened to me?" "You nearly gave me a heart attack boy, if you were out on the floor any longer I would have called an ambnce," Daiki said as he startedughing out loud. "But you did as I told, you stood your ground, how do you feel?" Novis looked around the room and noticed he was inside the dojo on the floor, the students were outside still busy practising away. Thest thing he could remember was being chucked through the As Novis looked at the Dojo door he could see the sliding panels had been bent out of ce form where his body had hit them. "Don''t worry about that boy." Daiki said, "The amount of money you have made for the dojo, I won''t go charging you for something like that." "I wouldn''t expect you to, you were the one who threw me through the thing in the first ce." Novis wanted to say out loud. As Novis tried to move, he again felt a huge pain in his chest, when he thought back to what happened he couldn''t remember much apart from the fear of being struck by the sword energy. "To be honest I''m just in a lot of pain right now." "Novis perhaps your body is not strong enough for sword energy yet," George said. Novis immediately turned his head and started to stare at George. After what just happened, when the two of them said they would protect him, Novis didn''t want to really want to take their advice anymore. "Look hear me out," George said with a nervous smile. "Form our world we know that the bodies strengthening condition is important to improve your sword energy power. I don''t think Daiki''s idea of you taking hits from the sword energy is a bad one, just right now you''re too weak to even take on a hit." "Yes, it seems like we might have focused on your conditioning and fitness too much," Arthur added. As Novis looked at himself, he could see they were right. Novis was fitter than most kids now and he had the reflexes to go with it, but he was still only 15 and was just starting to fill out. There wasn''t much muscle on his body at all. "What are they saying to you boy," Daiki asked seeing that Novis seemed to be in the middle of a conversation. All though to the outside world, it looked Novis was just moving his head around the room and nodding constantly. "They said I need a stronger body, strong enough to at least withstand the attack of your sword energy." "I definitely agree with that. When I was younger my body went through all sorts of hardships, it what gave me my lovely guns today." Daiki said as he tensed his bicep. "Well it doesn''t look like you''re in any condition to do anything today, get some rest and I''ll try to make a n for you to follow for the next few days and next time your ready will try this again." Novis thenid back down on the mats for an awhile and after a few minutes, he could move again. Although his body was sore at least he was able to make his way home on his own. After a slow and painful walk home, all Novis wanted to do was lie in his bed. He was hoping he would have made some progress with Daiki but it seemed like he had just taken a step backwards and now with his body injured who knew when he would be able to train at full strength again. As Novisid down on his bed he looked at the pod next to him, he started to remember the feeling of the pod inside. The cushions were top-notch quality and whenever he was inside, he felt like he was sleeping on clouds. So instead of lying on the bed, he decided to climb into the pod and rest his eyes. "Hey, Novis while you in here, feel free to rest but do you mind if me and Arthur y a few games?" George asked Novis was beat for the day and didn''t want to do anything but rest, thest thing he was thinking about was ying a few games but if Arthur and George wanted to y, he didn''t see a problem with that. Thest time Novis had yed with them, he had discovered the fact that the whole world was looking for this so-called virtual sword god yer and had decided to let Arthur and George take a break hoping the world would forget about them. "Yeah sure, why don''t you two y a few games." Although it had been a while since the yer ID Pendragon hade online, no one had forgotten about him. The fact that the yer only games online once in a while made it an even bigger event than usual. "It''s him!" "The virtual sword god is back!" "Quick guys start recording, can''t wait to see him get out of diamond and go up to the god tier!" "Yeah but at the rate hees online it will be months before that." Novis then switched control and allowed Arthur to y the game. Before Novis used to control most of the settings of the game and then only switch over control when actually in a match. But Arthur had seen Novis do everything so many times by now, he was able to do everything himself. When Arthur logged into the game though, Novis''s brother Bill and Hastam had been notified. They too were keeping an eye on him. In that instant, both of them had sent a party invite. "Hey I know you said we wouldn''t be able to meet, but I was thinking before Ie to Ennd I could y a few matches with you?" Hastam asked. And at the same time, his brother had sent him a message. "Thank you so much for epting my friend request. I hate to ask this but it would be an honour if I and you could y together." Bill asked. "What would you like me to do?" Arthur asked Novis. Novis didn''t want to upset his brother and at the same time, he felt bad for lying to Hastamst time about not being able to make it. In the end, Novis hade up with an idea. They had epted Hastam invite and were teleported to a blue party room. "Hey I wasn''t expecting you to ept my party invite," Hastam said. "There I a person I would like to invite, do you mind?" Arthur asked. "Sure, go ahead, a friend of yours is a friend fo mine." In truth, Hastam was dead excited about who the Virtual sword god would be inviting. If it was someone he knew it would have to be a great yer. Then when Bill had entered the room, Hatsam''s excitement quickly died down. Hastam knew who Bill was, or at least to the extent that everyone else knew who Bill was. In thest game, many people had seen Arthur ept Bill''s invite. This caused a wide search for the yer ID Billybill, when they found Bill was only a student in middle school, their hope was quickly lost and they just assumed it was a random eptance. But that''s when a thought hit Hastam. Wasn''t the virtual sword god also a student? Maybe the fact that he had epted the invite wasn''t random after all. From the reaction in the video, it seemed like Bill didn''t know who the Virtual sword god was, if the Virtual sword god was keeping his identity secret then perhaps the two knew each other in some way. When Bill entered the room, he waspletely starstruck, not only was he with his Idol, but he was also standing in front of a Pro yer. He was practically in a game with two celebrities. "I''m a huge fan of yours Hastam, I learnt a lot form your live streams," Bill said. "Thank you, it''s always nice to meet a fan, hey I know, where are you from?" Hastam asked. "Ennnn Ennd," Bill said nervously. "Oh what a nice surprise, I''m actually going to Ennd this weekend to host a game, I happen to have some free tickets, if you''re in the area maybe we can meet each other?" "That would be great!" Bill shouted. "That''s great, it''s part of the Berkshire tournament." "Wait did you say? Berkshire tournament." Bill interrupted. "That''s my county, I live in that area. My brothers in that tournament too, this is amazing!" Novis did not like where this conversation was going, not one bit. Chapter 134: Are you pro? Chapter 134: Are you pro? While Bill and Hastam were busy chatting away, Novis could feel his heartbeat thumping even louder. "How the hell did the topic of conversation change to me!" Novis thought. All he wanted to do was scream at them to stop. "Do you want me to do something?" Arthur asked. "No, if we act now, they will know something is up," Novis replied. The smile on Bill''s face was huge as he happily talked about his brother to Hastam."Oh, so your brother will be ying in the semifinals then?" Hastam asked. "Yeah and hill be facing off against Lucas bell, did you know their rumours going around that my brother actually beat him before, people can''t wait for this game." "Shut up, shut up, shut up." Novis was shouting out in his head. Learning this piece of information Hastam had a thought, it was like jigsaw pieces were going into his head. He often liked ying detective games and watching movies but something just seemed to click. Why did the Virtual sword god add Bill? Other then Hastam himself there has never been a case of this happening. He had a theory that Bill actually knew this person without realising it himself. Now Bill was also telling him that his brother had defeated Lucas before, someone even Hastam knew the name of. Hastam then nced over in the Virtual sword god''s direction. He remained therepletely motionless. "Wait a minute!" Then lightning had stuck inside his mind, and a grin appeared on his face. A student who was unable to attend the match this weekend because he had a conflicting schedule? No that wasn''t the problem, the problem was the virtual sword god himself would be in the match. That''s why he made up an excuse and had lied to him. In the middle of Bill rambling on about his brother to Hastam, Hastam started tough out loud as he felt like he had just uncovered one of the biggest secrets in the world. "Huh, did I say something funny?" Bill asked. "Oh sorry, please continue." Hastam said. Although Hastam felt like he had figured out this puzzle, he couldn''t;t be a hundred percent sure. He was just connecting pieces but everything could have just been a coincidence. But now he was even more excited to go to Ennd. "So what I was trying to say sir," Bill said acting a little nervous now. "If you think my brother is good enough, will you rmend him to a good university or even a pro team! I know he hasn''t been ying long but, I''ve never seen my brother so excited about something before. And he''s grown so quick it''s unbelievable. I know he will be something special one day." Hearing Bill talk about Novis so patiently, was heartbreaking for Novis. His brother had never shown this side to him before, but for thest fifteen minutes, all Bill had done was sung his praises to Hastam. Whenever Novis was effected by his emotions, Arthur and George could feel it too. Novis had often forgotten about this part. Having these feelings Arthur decided to act. He walked forward and ced his hand on Bill''s shoulder. "It sounds like your brother is really special, I''m positive he will make it one day," Arthur said. Suddenly, Hastam felt his whole theory was chucked away. Watching Arthur say that to Bill, he could tell the words were genuine. No one would be able to say those words about himself. "And this is why you y games and you''re not a detective," Hastam mumbled. Finally though, the time for the three of them to y had arrived. When they entered their match, the audience who were following the Virtual sword god was surprised to see Hastam. "It''s Hastam, wait does this mean that he has links to their pro team." "Maybe they have already recruited him and trying to keep it a secret from the other pro teams." "Are you crazy, reporters would have already been all over this by now if it was true. Remember the virtual sword god has yed with Hastam once before." Inside the game, it was time for the team to picknes. The two random yers they yed with also knew of Hastam and the Virtual sword god''s fame and said they were fine with wherever they wanted them to go, which made things easier. "I guess, you two can go bottom together and I will go top with him," Bill said as he pointed at one of the other yers. Then Arthur shook his head."Hastam does not need my help, he is skilful enough, if I can I would like to y with you," Arthur said. If Bill received any more surprises for the day he felt like he would pass out any second. Luckily he was actually sitting in his gaming chair. "Okay." Bill managed to croak out. Seeing this, Hastam''s mind kept going back and forth. I was clear to him that the virtual sword god was giving Bill special treatment. As the two of them went topne and the match began, Arthur made sure to stay back. The people online watching were excited to see what Arthur would do. Would he defeat all his opponents in one blow, would he take on five at once. Every time the Virtual sword god yed it felt like a special event had happened. But as the game continued on, the onlinemunity actual felt a little bored. Arthur decided to remain at the back. He allowed Bill to initiate most of the time and whenever Arthur could, he would cover him. Although at the same time. Arthur wasn''t helping him out too much. "Doesn''t this feel weird." One of the yers on the other team said. "Yeah, like whenever I want to go somewhere, or change it up, he stops us." Although it didn''t look like anything special to the people online. The pros knew what he was doing. He was zoning the enemy yers. He made it almost impossible for the yers to go where they wanted, whenever they would move, Arthur was already three steps ahead of them. Arthur wanted to create a situation where the only thing they could do to get out of it, was to attack them. Then whenever Bill just couldn''t handle it, he woulde in and help. "Is he trying to teach me?" Bill thought. This was exactly what Arthur was doing. It was very rare to just practice your fighting skills against high-level opponents. Especially in a two vs one situation. This was the perfect scenario to allow Bill to grow. After fighting for a good amount of time, Arthur would then deiced toe in and help finish them off. For the next few games, the same thing happened again and slowly the onlinemunity were also realising what Arthur was doing. "Just how, seriously, how is he able to toy with these diamond yers." "It feels like I''m watching a diamond go up against a bronze, but it''s not were in D I A M O N D." While Novis was watching the whole situation, he could see the huge smile on Bill''s face. He couldn''t help but feel sad. Novis was the older brother but never felt like he was. Bill was always there to help him when he had questions In the game. But Novis was never able to help Bill with anything. He thought that perhaps if he had started the game at the same time as Bill, or even before he might have been good enough to do what Arthur was doing now." Novis then started to think back to what Bill had said to Hastam, asking him to rmend Novis to a good university. To be honest, Novis hadn''t thought much about what he would do with the game after fighting Lucas. Lucas had and always was his current goal, and he had finally reached it. The only thing that was driving him then to continue ying was helping Arthur and George find there missingpanions but was there anything he was doing for himself. After ying a few games and winning every single one of them. The three of them had decided to return to the lobby. That''s when Hastam had approached Arthur. "I wanted to ask you a question." Hastam said, "What are you nning to do, you clearly a skilled yer but chose to y online in these meaningless games. Do you have any ns, do you not want to go Pro?" Then without realising it, Arthur had given control back to Novis, he could feel that Novis wanted to answer this question. He clenched his fist tightly and looked Hastam in the eye. "I do." What, Novis didn''t realise was Hastam was currently live streaming his game to everyone who regrly watched him and although the game had finished, it was still recording him in the Lobby with the legendary sword god. the recording had only started when they had first entered the game, so none of the beginning part of their conversation in the looby was heard. But the next day once again, information was spread all over the inte and online talking about how the virtual sword god, was nning to go pro. Chapter 135: Noir in trouble Chapter 135: Noir in trouble The news of the Virtual sword aiming to go Pro spread quickly, websites were filled with the information asking just when and what team would the Virtual sword god join. Then the next big question arrived, just what country was the Virtual sword god from? The Esports Olympics wasing up in the next two years and VSG was one of the biggest events. The addition of the Virtual sword god yer to any countries team would be an advantage. Even though they hadn''t seen how he could perform against the pros he had already be a celebrity and teams could use this to their advantage to gain poprity and sponsorships. However as usual, still no one had any ideas about the virtual sword god apart from Hastam. It seemed like Hastam was gaining some type of pleasure holding all the secrets in. He liked being the only one to know that the Virtual sword god was based in Ennd and was just a student. "Two years huh," Hastam said reading one of the articles online. "What he would be around 18 then? it will be a tough road but maybe he''ll make it in time. ***** The next day it was school as usual for the Montem team, the students and teachers seemed to bother them less knowing the big event that was happening. After all, even the school was hoping the team could bring them fame. Things that they would usually get in trouble for, like handing in homeworkte and such, were forgiven for the time being while the tournament was going on. This was a saving grace for Novis. The most important time in the day was three o''clock, this was the time that school would finish for them and club activities would start. From there every day the team had around two hours of practise time together before they split. But today as they entered the club room, something strange had happened that also had happened once before. Each member had arrived at the VSW club but one person was missing, Dan. As soon as the three o''clock bell rang Dan had sent them a message, saying he wouldn''t be able to make it to practise due to personal reasons. Scarlett had a bad feeling about this and decided to head to his homeroom ss which wasn''t far from hers and Novis''s. And it was as she had suspected, Dan hadn''t arrived at school today. Back at The VSW club room, the members were deciding what to do. "Well, if he''s busy then he''s busy, we all have our own lives outside of the game," Alex said, knowing better than anyone that outside affairs could affect them. "I will take Dan''s ce in the game, that way you guys can still get used to ying as a team." They did as Alex said and continued to practise, while Scarlett couldn''t help but have a tingling feeling that something had happened to Dan. A thought came in her head thest time this had happened, she had spotted him all injured and bruised, perhaps he was hiding something from the others that he didn''t want them to know. **** That day when Dan woke up, he got fully dressed to go to school as normal but when he looked at his phone, he had received a message from his brother Kyle. "Meet me at the bay today." It was short and simple but Dan knew that this meant it was gang business. Dan did as his brother had asked and went down to the harbour, before entering the harbour there were the two Noir members stood outside the entrance. "Wait." One of the guards said. "I''m here to see Kyle," Dan said half annoyed. "We know, he''s in a meeting right now and told you to wait outside for a little bit. You understand." The man said in a condescending tone. Although Dan was the leader''s little brother the other members didn''t see him that way. They knew him as the person who had once abandoned and left the gang. If anyone else had done this then all ties would have been cut from the gang and he would have been severely punished. A leg broken, or a few ribs, either way, they would get a beating that would cost them a trip to the hospital. However, when Dan had left there were no such consequences, many of the members thought this was unfair and now not only that but Dan was allowed back into the gang. After waiting outside the entrance for a while, the two metal doors to the warehouse opened, and out came five men dressed in neat ck suits. Dan could tell immediately these people were from another gang but didn''t recognise any of them. "Now you can go in." The man said. He entered the empty warehouse and saw the usual members inside. "Haha, long time no see," Kyle said as he walked towards him and gave a big old hug. But Dan was not in the mood. Although he was happy to see his brother, he was at a crucial point with his team and friends. He hated thinking about how they might think he either wasn''t taking it seriously enough or was deciding to do something else over practising. "What do you need me for?" Dan asked. "Before that," Kyle said as he took off his jacket and threw it to the ground. Now, all that could be seen was his upper body naked, showing off his well trained bulging abs and muscles. "Let''s see if you''ve improved fromst time." The two of them got into a fighting stance, as soon as Kyle started to charge and pulled his fist back. Dan used all his strength and swung out his leg like a whip hitting Kyle''s thigh. He tried to ignore the pain and continued going forward but then stumbled to the ground. Instead of punch Kyle had no choice but to go for a tackle. Although the two were brothers they never took an easy with each other while fighting. Usually, the fight always ended up with one of the two of them seriously getting hurt. The members watching started to gather around and were getting excited. When Kyle got close enough and was ready to tackle, Dan''s instincts kicked in and he immediately kneed Kyle in the face stopping him in his tracks. And as Dan moved to the side Kyle continued to move forward and fell to the ground. The people watching were speechless. They had just watched their strong boss who had never been defeated before, knocked out in a couple of hits. And by a boy still in secondary school at that. Even Dan himself was surprised, not only had he improved a lot from the little practice he had done with Tony but without him realising it, ying the game had helped him a lot as well. Constantly Dan was put in situations where it felt like his life was on the line and he needed to act. Just now Kyle who he had seen as a bigger and stronger foe his whole life, seemed ordinary with no weapons in his hands. The reaction time of Dan got better, and the repeated actions he had been practised with Tony went on autopilot. Kyle started to lift himself from the ground, his nose was all bloody and possibly broken, but he wasn''t angry, instead, he was smiling. "I knew one day you would surpass me," Kyle said, "You always have been a special one." After tending to Kyle''s nose, the two of them sat on top of an empty crate and started to get down to business. "I suppose I should tell you why I called you here," Kyle said. "The people that you saw leave this morning, they were from the Ruman family." At the mention of their name, blood started to boil inside of Dan. They were the same people who had kidnapped Scarlett back then. "I tried my best to dy them this whole thing but the time hase. For years they have been trying to take over the south area and we are the only thing left stopping them. If they take over Noir, they basically own the whole town. The police are already under their pay check and it will only get worse. The Orphanage, I will no longer be able to support it Dan." This whole time, the whole reason why Kyle had started the gang noir was to protect the orphanage. Kyle wasn''t a smart kid. He never got good grades and failed all his exams. The most he could do was work in a minimum wage job and stay there for the rest of his days. But he couldn''t even do that, he would often let his anger get the best of him and would cause fights at work. Job after Job he just couldn''t hold one down. So then that left him with the one thing he was good at, fighting. "Instead of a gang war that will just cause huge losses on both sides, they want a one on one fight." Kyle exined, "Dan, I want you to fight in the match." Chapter 136: Clinging match Chapter 136: Clinging match Dan could see this decision was hard for Kyle to make. He didn''t want it toe to this but if he didn''t, Ruman would control the whole town. Not only that but there was a risk of a gang war between the two. Dan started to look at the room at all the members that were currently inside, most of them were young adults who were made homeless. With nowhere to go and nothing to do, they had decided to join Noir. At first, it was just a ce of shelter for them, but little by little they started to feel like a real family that looked out for each other. "What happens if I lose?" Dan asked. "Then we have agreed to submit to the Ruman family, you know I am a man of my word. If they lose we expect them to do the same." Kyle answered. Dan could feel the pressure mounting on top of him. Last time a long ago he had been asked to fight, it was against the same Ruman family back then as well. He had backed out of it and the Noir gang suffered and ever since there had been high tension between the two gangs. Yet still, Kyle had decided not to punish him for it. Aftering back to Noir again, there was no chance he could leave the gang with no consequences a second time. The trust between the leader and the other members would have been lost. Dan took a deep breath in, he had made his decision. If either way, he might have taken a beating, then he might as well have done it trying to save the gang. "I''ll do it," Dan said. A soft smile appeared on Kyle''s face, he couldn''t exactly feel happy about it, after all, he was sending his brother into battle. "Thank you Dan. The fight is in two days on Thursday night. We will meet here." Kyle said. With the fight all set, Dan now had two reasons to concentrate more on his fighting skills. One was for the semi-final match on Saturday and now for the gang fight on Thursday. It waste in the afternoon and school had already finished, there was no point for Dan to go back so instead, he decided to head for his training spot with Tony. By the river underneath the bridge. When he arrived, Dan was an hour early before there meeting time, so instead Dan decided to some practising of his own. He started his warm-up routine with a few spins. Then went into a brisk jog. Once his body was heated and warmed up he proceeded to shadow box but as he did something felt off. He then realised something. Whenever he was in the boxing club and had a matching up, he didn''t have a problem shadow boxing. That was because he knew who his opponent was going to be. When you shadow boxed you usually had the image of the opponent in your mind, you would know there fighting style and imagine them hitting you and you hitting them back. For now, all he could do was push away to get a sweat going. "Looks like you''re all warmed up," Tony said. Tony was in what looked like a teachers P.E uniform and by his side was arge Gym bag. "Well, you ready then?" Tony asked. "Ready, for what?" "Don''t you remember, I booked a flight for today so you could practise." With everything that had happened today with Kyle, Dan hadpletely forgotten what their ns were for the day. **** The two of them walked around town until they had eventually stopped just outside of a centre. Outside was arge sign that had the words Thai kickboxing written on it. When the two of them entered, they could see the gym in full swing. At the entrance of the gym was a boxing ring, then spread around the room were several boxing bags. There were around twenty different people inside the gym each doing their own thing. Some were skipping, some were shadow boxing, two people in the ring were currently sparing and the rest were busy hitting the bags. The sight of everyone working hard brought back memories for Dan, it reminded him when he used to be in the clubs at school. They would just be as active, each of them trying to reach their dream. Although the VSW club was no different, every day the club would spend their time training without fail. The sight of the others working hard only reminded him why he was here in the first ce. As Tony walked forward with Dan behind him, the other members respectfully bowed to Tony before continuing their training. "Do you go to this gym or something?" Dan asked. "No not really, but I have been in here before." After walking past the rest of the members, Tony knocked on the door at the back of the room that was marked office. After waiting patiently an old man had appeared from the door. "Is this the kid you were talking about?" The man said as he looked Dan up and down. "Yep, he''s my new student," Tony replied. The old man then immediately started to feel Dan all over, it felt like the old man was giving Dan a massage on his body. "What a good set of muscles, he seems to be in good shape." The old man said, "All right, if he is as good as you say he is, I see him having no problem going up against Tod." "Tod get over here!" The old man shouted. Just then one of the members who was busy hitting the bag came over. Tod was a fairly dark-skinned boy who looked to be in good shape, he was eighteen years of age so a little bit older than Dan. "Tod here has only just passed his pro exam you see, but he has yet to have his first match. To get him up and running we wanted someone who could give him a challenge." Dan looked at Tod, he looked like a peaceful person but was slightlyrger than Dan himself. "Do you want me to pull my punches?" Dan asked. The old man started tough. "Don''t think it will be so easy, but just to make sure, both of you will wear the appropriate gear." Before getting into the ring the two fighters started to get ready, wearing protective gear on their shins, gloves on their hands, headgear and a gum shield in the mouth. It truly did remind him of the time he was in the boxing club. Once the two of them had entered the ring all they needed to do was wait for the bell to ring. *Ding The match had started and neither opponent rushed in, they were both cautious about what the other could do. For both of them, it was unknown territory. Dan slowly started to inch forward and then when he was in striking distance. Tod did a roundhouse kick to the face, just at the right time, Dan managed to step back and avoid the strike. "That was close," Dan said. The strike was a fast one and he could tell Tod wasn''t holding back his power. Not only that but Tod was slightly taller than him and had longer legs. Meaning his reach was greater, Dan had to figure out a way to get in on the inside. Dan again slowly startled to shuffle his way in trying to put pressure but as soon as Dan walked in too far, another kick came flying out, only this time it was towards his thigh. Dan was too slow to react and the kick managed to hit his thigh. A stinking numbing pain was sent through his body. His leg suddenly went stiff and felt like he would fall over any second. However, Dan felt like this was his chance. He gritted his teeth and ignored the pain going in for a kick of his own and it hadnded. However, Dan wasn''t done there, Dan then threw two faint punches allowing Tod to dodge them, then Tod came out with a hook of his own. Dan rolled underneath the punch and when he came back up grabbed Tod''s head with his hands around the neck. He pulled Tod''s head down and at the same time kneed him in the stomach. However, Tod was tough, he then grabbed back onto Dan''s kneck with both hands. A kneeing match had begun the two of them. They continued to knee each other in the stomach one after another, waiting for one of them to let go. Tony hadn''t actually expected for the fight tost this long, he thought if it ever came to this that Dan would give in. In the first ce, Tony wanted to show Dan that he still had a lot to learn, although he was skilful and learnt things quickly, there was something that could never be taught and that was heart. The will to keep on fighting no matter how hard it got, for people who had never fought much in their life before, this was a huge learning curve. A mind game to tell your brain it doesn''t hurt and that your opponent was hurting more than you. Tony couldn''t help but think about what a boy only at the age of 16 years had to have gone through to have a heart like this. Finally, a winner had emerged from the confrontation as one person let go and was knelt down on the floor. Covered in sweat and bruised all over, Dan stood in the ring, with his back looking bigger than ever. Chapter 137: Finding Dan Chapter 137: Finding Dan The Thai boxing gym had just witnessed the defeat of their new prospect and by a stranger at that. Once Dan had climbed out of the ring the old man was shaking with excitement. He had never seen a boy so skilful at such a young age, not for a long time, thest person he had seen that was like that was Tony himself. "Where did you find this boy, he''s great!" The old man said as he ran up to Tony. "I knew he was good Old man but I never suspected him to be this special," Tony replied. "Whatever you do, you have to get him to join the club." After patting the sweat off of Dan and giving him a few moments to cool down. Tony eventually came and sat next to Dan just on the edge of the ring. "You did a good job hanging in there, I didn''t know you had a spirit like that." Dan started to put his hand on his stomach, the strikes he had received were starting to hurt more as the adrenaline began to wear off. "Thanks," Dan replied. "Hey I''ve been speaking to the manager and he wants you to join the team. He thinks you''ll be great and really make it far." Dan then looked around the boxing club and noticed everyone working hard and training, the atmosphere was good but there was something missing and that was his teammates. ying with his friends was more enjoyable to him than achieving something great on his own. "I''m sorry but I can''t tony." "What!" Tony said surprised by Dan''s answer. "Is it because of the gang you''re in, trust me you should leave it when you can, this could be a career for you." Dan shook his head and gave Tony a smile. "It''s not that Tony, I never told you the reason why I want to get stronger did I? It''s not because of the gang. Here let me show you something." Dan said as he stood up. The two of them said their goodbyes to the manager and thanked Tod and the others for the practice match. Before Tony left, he had told the manager that Dan would think about it, hoping that in the future Dan might reconsider this as an option. Once they had left the club, Dan then took the lead and started to take Toby down the high street. "There should be one around here, they''re all over the ce these days," Dan said as he looked around and finally spotted what he was looking for. They both entered into a building that was filled with VR headsets and a couple of VR capsules in the back. It was a gaming cafe. "What are we doing in here?" Tony asked. "You showed me your world, now let me show you mine." The two of them hopped into a VR headset together, although Dan would have loved to rent out the pods to show Tony the full experience, Dan was only a student and didn''t have much money and the same could be said for Tony. Tony was bit older than Dan and VR gaming had really hit its stride a little after he had be an adult. Although VR gaming was popr even between adults, by then Tony was already fully involved in the underworld business. It was only now that Tony had reached a high enough rank that he had the free time to do what he wanted unless called upon. The two of them entered the Virtual sword warrior''s world and selected their characters. Not much thought had gone into which warrior they needed to pick, it didn''t matter too much as all Dan wanted to do was show him what the game was like, rather than fight against him. After giving Tony a tour around the map and the basics of skills and fighting, Tony understood how kids could get obsessed with games these days. The two of them thenid down on the ground and looked up at the artificial blue sky the game had created. "Wow, even the fake clouds move," Tony said. "You see, I met some friends who yed this game and this Saturday we''re going into the semi-finals. The people who we''re going against are tough. There''s this amazing yer on their team and I think we''re going to need all the help we can get." Dan then turned to Tony. "Tony, if you can I want you toe to watch me y the game this Saturday, I''ll be using everything you taught me in the match." Tony smiled. "Of course I''ll be there, as long as I''m still alive by then of course," Tony saidughing. *** The next day had arrived and in the club room, everyone was once again waiting for Dan to arrive. "It looks like he''s noting again?" Novis said. "I think we should do something, maybe follow him or something, I''m worried," Scarlett said. "Well you''re right, we only have two more days of practice after this." The group then went to look at Alex the leader for an answer. "Honestly I think you''re right. Dan has never let us down before and when Scarlett was in trouble, he was the first one to act making sure she was safe." "Hey, you don''t think it''s Mac and his family, again do you?" Ashley said. "Wait, I feel like I''m missing something?" Frank said. Frank new about the situation with the club, how no one was joining because of Mac, but he had no clue about what had happened to Scarlett at the time, it was the match just before they had gone against Hershel. "What!" Frank shouted, "So Scarlett got kidnapped and that''s why you guys were allte and even Dan, he was all bruised up." Frank suddenly started to feel frightened by the others, they were all crazy, they had been put in such a crazy situation yet still decided to y the game at the time. He started to think if the same thing had happened to him, would he have been able to have done the same? With no leads for today and school already over and done with. The group had no choice but to continue the practice as usual for the time being. They yed a few games and the results were good. Fighting as a group with Alex and Frank meant they were able to givemands easier. The group was getting the hang of it and was finding it easier to deal with their opponents. Now all they needed, was the whole team who would be ying on Saturday to be there too. **** The group had gone home for the day and had a good night''s rest, then the next day had arrived and it was now Thursday. When each of them came to school they decided to check on Dan''s ss. They waited until registration time and still, there was no sign of Dan. "Maybe something really did happen to him?" Scarlett said. "Well, I guess there''s only one person we can ask," Novis replied. During the lunch break, Ashley and Novis decided to go to try to confront Mac together. If Mac''s family really did have something to do with it then the situation might get messy. So they decided to leave the others out of it while sending there two strongest. Ashley was carrying her trusty kendo sword on her back as they walked down the third-year hallways with Novis. "There he is," Novis said as he pointed to therge senior sat at the back. The two entered the ss and started to head towards Mac. Ashley and Novis weren''t nervous though. They had both gone through so much since thest time Novis had dealt with Mac. And although Mac was muscr andrge in size, it was nothingpared to Ashley''s father Daiki. "Hey, Mac do you mind if we ask you a few things," Novis said. Mac was casually sitting back in his seat, he looked up at the two of them with his hands in his pockets and looked away trying to ignore the two of them. "Look, we really don''t want to cause any trouble. We''re just looking for our friend, do you remember Dan?" Mac had decided to continue to ignore the two of them. "Hey, you big hippo, will you stop ignoring us!" Ashley shouted. Suddenly the eyes in the room all turned to Ashley and Novis. Some of the other students had stood up from their seats and started to surround the two of them. Finally, Mac took his hand out of his pocket and lifted it out. The people who had surrounded Novis and Ashley backed off and sat in their seats. "Let me tell you something, that Dan boy of yours isn''t as innocent as you think. If you want to know where he is, when school finished head down to the south Harbour. That''s where you''ll see him." Chapter 138: What you are fighting for! Chapter 138: What you are fighting for! "Well do you think he was telling the truth?" Ashley asked. After speaking to Mac, the two of them were unsure about what to do next. Threatening Mac wouldn''t do anything and in the first ce, he might have just told them alike to get them off his back. He was the type of person who if he didn''t want to tell you anything no matter what you did, he wouldn''t tell you. But Mac did give them some information and why would he lie? It wasn''t like Mac would gain anything by making Noivs go down to the harbour for no reason, it seemed too petty and another thing had stuck out to Novis. The fact that Mac had said Dan isn''t who they thought he was. Once sses had finished for the day, Novis had made the decision to tell the others. He wanted their opinion on the matter. After hearing the news form Novis, Scarlett started to worry. She remembered seeing Dan hurt that one time and not only that. Somehow, he was the first one to arrive when Scarlett was in trouble before. She didn''t think about it much but just how did Dan know where she was? "I think Mac might be onto something," Scarlett said sounding a little concerned. "I agree, I think there I no harm going," said Alex "Although practising is important Dan''s safety is even more important. There is always the tournament next year but Dan is our friend." **** That day when Dan woke up to the sound of the rm on his phone. He immediately picked up his phone to stop the ringing, he had been up all night dreading this day. He then looked at the date once again to confirm. "Thursday." On the front screen, there was also a text from Kyle, reminding him that the fight was going on today and he should be there on time. Dan hated this feeling most, the night before a fight. It was different when he was going to y the game with Novis and the others, he got nerves but they were nerves of excitement. These nerves he somehow would have to change it into anger. He didn''t know who his opponent was yet he had to suddenly imagine himself hating and hitting the person, fighting like his life was on the line. It took a certain mentality for a person to do that and over the years Dan had slowly phased it out. But now once again he would have to go back to being called the wild dog he was when he was younger. Before heading off to school Dan did his usual morning routine, The day care was busy and everyone had woken up to get ready to school. Some of the kids were only six or seven years old so there was a lot of preparation to be done. Dan went into the kitchen and started to cut up pieces of bread while Hayley helped to dress the kids and get all their stuff ready for school. Once the pieces of bread were cut up nicely, Dan then would wrap them up and ce them into a lunch box. That''s when the sound of crying could be hearding from the living room. "Why can''t I get my own Bag, why do I have to share with Amy!" The boy cried. Hayley wiped the tears away from the boy''s face. "What''s wrong with sharing, Amy''s your sister right?" The boy nodded in response. "And you love your sister right." The boy nodded once again. "Then it''s normal to share things with the one you love, she''s just looking after it for you okay?" The boy seemed to cheer up a little after Hayley''s words. "Now remember to protect your sister right, make sure no one bullies her." The little boy nodded and then hurried away to walk to school with his sister. When they walked off Dan noticed, that they weren''t the only one''s sharing bags and many of them had old and tattered clothes. Looking at the kids walk off into the distance, reminded Dan what he was fighting for. The only thing that was keeping this orphanage running was Hayley and the moneying from Noir. Even now they were just barely hanging in there. "I''ll make this a better ce." Before heading to the harbour Dan decided to head to the bridge onest time before his match today. The match waster in the afternoon but Dan felt like he had no time for school at the moment. Once the match and fight were over, then Dan could concentrate on the game with the others again, of course, if they let him back. If Novis and the others didn''t want him on the team after leaving them for a few days, then Dan totally understood that. But when Dan arrived at the bridge, he was surprised to see Tony there. "Hey, shouldn''t you be in school?" Tony said looking at Dan. "I got an important thing I have to deal with today," Dan said. Tony continued to throw out kicks and punches in the air. He was busy shadowboxing away and Dan was always amazed when watching him. "Do you always train here?" Dan asked. "Yeah, I like this spot, not many peoplee down here, and you can hear the sound of the river echoing under the bridge. It''s my escape zone." Dan then decided to join Tony side by side and started to do his own shadow boxing. Dan still had no idea who his opponent would be for today, so it was hard for him to picture someone in his head. Then suddenly as he was fighting an image did appear in his head, and it was Tony who was by his side. Dan then started to wonder what it would be like to fight Tony once again, had he improved himself fromst time? Regardless shadowboxing with an image of Tony in his mind was great for him. He couldn''t imagine going up against an opponent who would be stronger than Tony. That''s when Tony had decided to take a break and grab a drink of water, he was carefully watching Dan at work and it seemed like he was focused more than usual today. His kicks were supper sharp, his punches were straight not sloppy like before. Tony could tell whoever the image in his head was, he was a high-ss fighter. "Well, I got some stuff to do." Tony said, "I''ll meet you here at the same time as usual if you still want to practice?" "Yeah sounds great," Dan replied. Dan stayed and shadowboxed a few more rounds before deciding to get some rest and a bite to eat. It was important to not overwork himself but at the same time, fighting was the only thing he could do to get the fight off his mind. The whole of Noir, and the orphanage was relying on him to win this fight. It was a big responsibility to have on your shoulders at the age of sixteen. Finally, it was time for Dan to head to the harbour. This time when Dan had arrived outside the warehouse, they let him right through no questions asked. The warehouse was busier than usual, it was jam-packed with people from all sorts of different gangs, there were even some who hade from other towns. Nearly half of them had already been taken over by the Ruman family and the other half had some sort of alliance with the Noir gang. Todays match determined the fate of all the people in the room today. Kyle came out to Dan and took him to the corner of the warehouse. "I''m sorry about this Dan, if you can''t do it, I''ll fight." Kyle said, "This isn''t something I should force you to do." Kyle was strong but after fighting him the other day, Dan realised how much he had grown. If the two of them were to fight half a year ago Kyle would have won the fight eight times out of ten. But now it waspletely different. Dan couldn''t even imagine himself losing. "I''ll do it, we have to, for all our brothers and sisters back at the orphanage," Dan replied. Although Dan and Kyle weren''t real brothers they were just as close, at the orphanage they shared everything with each other and at school, Kyle always looked out for not just Dan''s back but everyone''s. That was where the nickname big brother hade from. And even when he left, he never gave up that role of Big brother and continued to support the orphanage. Kyle saw them all as a real family and never once saw them any differently. "Here," Kyle said as he handed Dan a pair of MMA gloves. "Don''t want you breaking your wrists now." It was time for the fight to start and a circr ring had been formed from the crowds of people. Bets were ced with odds in favour of the fighter from the Ruman family but Dan didn''t care, he always was the underdog. A neutral gang member from another town stood in the centre of the ring. They had been brought over to make sure that both gangs agreed to the rules and wouldn''t intervene if a fight was to break out. "Now introducing from the gang Noir, the Wild Dog, Dan!" Out of the crowd of people from Noir''s side, stepped out Dan into the ring. He had his top off and was wearing shorts for flexibility and on his hands were white and gold MMA gloves that his brother Kyle had gifted him. "And now from the Ruman family, a cold-hearted man who was once a champion in his own home country, Tony the tigeerrrrrr!" Then out from the Ruman''s side, out of the crowd stepped out a familiar face. "Tony?" **** Special thanks to edboy49, _Kaitlin_ just, AsuraNineThoughts, and MacMorris_Byrd for the gifts they really help me make my dream of be a full time author true. Chapter 139: Dont Judge Chapter 139: Don''t Judge Novis and others had just entered the south side of town. It was a bad neighbourhood and they had been through this part before, only this time the whole team hade along with him. Scarlett started to rub her shoulders up and down. "This ce, it''s bringing back memories." "Oh yeah wasn''t this part of town where you go takenst time?" Ashley said. "Please don''t remind me." "What, it was here?! I just wonder what Dan is doing here?" Alex said. Alex while walking was making sure he hid behind Novis. As the kids walked through, they were getting strange looks from the people around them. Not because of their age, there were other kids the same age as them out and about on the street but they were the only ones in their uniform, which was a strange sight to see here. "You can''t me them." Frank said, "Some of them never chose this life but had no choice toe here." Frank then pointed at an old man who was rocking backwards and forwards sat on the floor. "Like take him, maybe his work had a massiveyoff of their employees, he struggled and struggled to get a new job but nothing worked out for him. In the end, his wife decided to leave him. She had always wanted a life with kids but he just wasn''t able to give it to her, and support her financially. The thing was, his wife was his childhood sweetheart, he couldn''t imagine a life without her, what little money he had left he decided to go towards drinking to forget all the pain. Finally, no money left to pay for rent and now he''s here." The group had stopped to aplete standstill while Frank had managed to ramble on. "What the hell are you on about?" Novis said. "With your imagination maybe you should be a writer," Ashley saidughing. Frank''s face started to go bright red. "Anyway, my point was that everyone has a story, if Dan is here most likely he has one as well. So whatever we see him doing let''s not be too quick to judge, okay?" What Frank had said had actually worked in calming the others down. They were worried about their friend. If he really was here why? The orphanage was located in a different location, it wasn''t part of the bad neighbourhood but somehow Frank''s story had made them think that maybe Dan had his own troubles he hadn''t shared with them. Finally, the group had arrived at the harbour. It was an old ce that was no longer used so there were just the odd ships that were being used now and then but there were still several warehouses that had been abandoned a long time ago. "Did Mac say where to go once we reached the harbour?" Scarlett asked. "No, he just said toe here at this time," Novis replied. Then arge voice was heard from behind. "It looks like you came after all." As the group turned around, they could see Mac with two of his friends standing by. "Damn it, it was an ambush," Alex said with his legs shaking like crazy. "Don''t worry we can take him on," Ashley said as she took out her kendo sword from her back. Mac then cleared his throat and spat on the ground just in front of Novis missing his foot by an inch. "Although I would love to rough you guys up, this isn''t our territory, besides were just here for the show." "The show?" The group said as they looked at each other. With Mac iming piece the group decided to follow him and his two friends around the harbour. They walked around for a while until they had eventually stopped outside of arge warehouse. "Hey, do you think maybe there''s like a group of people inside there waiting to jump out at us?" Alex whispered. "Arthur, George, you guys can travel a little away from my body while in spirit form right?" "Yeah as long as it''s not too far, it takes up a lot of energy," Gorge replied. "Do you mind checking inside the warehouse before we go in?" George then broke free form Novis''s mind and started to glide through the air. He reached therge two metal shutters and passed through, then a few momentster returned. "Well, is it an ambush?" George shook his head and had a worried look on his face. "It seems Mac was telling the truth, Dan is inside but I warn you. You are not going to like what you are about to see." As Mac walked up to the entrance of the warehouse the two guards let them through and Mac turned to face the others. "Well, are you guysing?" Mac asked. "What should we do?" Ashley said. "We go in, don''t worry I don''t think it''s an ambush." As the group walked through the doors and into the warehouse loud cheers could be heard. The room was packed with people. On the second floor above the railing people were cheering their heart out and below a crowd was forming around something. "Is it just me or does everyone here look like a criminal?" Alex said. "Would you stop stereotyping," Frank replied, but even he had to admit that everyone around looked like some mobster of a sort or a high school dropout. "Come on. let''s go see what''s happening," Novis said. As the son of the Head of the Ruman family, the gangs that were associated with the Ruman family cleared a path allowing Mac toe towards the front to watch the fight. At the same time, Mac signalled the others toe and join him. Mac wanted to see their faces as they saw their friend. When the group had finally arrived at the front of the crowd they looked into the ring in disbelief. Dan was inside the ring, his face all bruised and his nose and ears bloody, his opponent was Tony who the others had seen once before as well. "What is all this!" Scarlett shouted. "This is what your friend is really like. He''s just like me, a gang member." **** When Tony had entered the ring, it was a huge surprise for Dan, he paused and felt like his whole life hade crashing down. It was obvious when he thought about it. Dan knew that Tony worked for the Ruman family and was an incredible fighter, so this was always a possibility. On the other hand, Tony was even more surprised, but he did everything he could to not show it on his face. He knew Dan was in a gang member but didn''t know it was the one that the Ruman family had disputes with over the years. The two of them looked into each other''s eyes and then Tony took a fighting stance. "I''m going to be giving it everything I got so I expect you to do the same," Tony said. The fight had begun and Tony came dashing forward, his mind had switched and he was in battle mode. He was in the ring just like all the other fights he had before. Dan was still struck and unfocused, a kick came towards his stomach pushing him back and into the crowd. As he stumbled into the people the crowd immediately pushed him back into the arena forcing him to fight. Tony came forward once again this time a kick to the head, but Dan was ready and lifted his forearm covering the side of his head. However, the kick was powerful and still knocked Dan''s arm to the side and into his own ear. Suddenly, the whole room was swirling around him, this was bad. When getting hit just under the ear it caused the liquid inside your head to spin and now Dan''s bnce was all over the ce. Tony charged in once again this time delivering an uppercut to his face. Dan''s head flew back and blood started spurting out of his nose and from his mouth. "He''s serious." Dan thought, "I need to fight back!" Dan managed to stay on is feet and moved back a few steps now circling around the ring. He needed to recover, there was no chance he could go in like this while his head was still spinning. Tony came forward but Dan made sure to keep distance avoiding the strikes. The crowd seeing Dan running around the ring started to get frustrated and the room was being filled with boos. "We have to do something?" Scarlett cried. "He''s hurt so bad." "Are you crazy?" Alex said, "Can you not see everyone around here, just by looking you can tell this is an illegal fighting ring. Most likely some people have betted thousands on a winner. If we stopped something like this, we would be dead, targeted for the rest of our lives." "Novis what should we do?" Scarlett asked. Novis looked at the worn-out and beaten down Dan, but his eyes were still lit with fire but it was also clear the fight wasn''t going his way. "I don''t know." Novis answered. Chapter 140: The end of an era Chapter 140: The end of an era Watching one of your friends get hurt in front of you was a horrible sight and that was exactly what the VSW team was looking at now. Dan wasn''t faring well against Tony and with each hit the team cried inside wishing the fight would stop. But more frustrated then anyone was Novis, he had been training this whole time to get stronger and better at the game. But after the incident with Scarlett and the Ruman family, Novis also wished that he wouldn''t be put in another situation where he felt week again. So he had trained harder not only for the game but to also protect his friends. A part of him felt bad that he had never checked In with Dan to see if everything was okay. Novis didn''t even know why Dan was fighting at the moment and he felt like a terrible person for not finding out. And this time not even Arthur or George could help him. There were too many people around and they had connections throughout, not just this town but other cities and ces as well. To cross and anger these people would mean to be made a target for the rest of your life. Maybe Novis could deal with that but not his friends and family. "Dan, you have to win!" Novis said silently. He didn''t care what he was fighting for but if he was to get this badly hurt and not quit, it had to be important. **** Dan had just about made a recovery from the kick to the side of his face, his head was no longer spinning and he could see Tony clearly in front of him. Not once while Tony was hitting Dan, had he hesitated and his facial expression had remained unchanged. It was like a beast had set its eyes on its prey and Dan was on the food list. Tony then threw out another kick to the side but Dan jumped back once again staying light on his toes bouncing up and down. The crowd booed once again thinking Dan avoiding a confrontation was a weakness. "To be hit without getting it back," George said watching. "It''s the sign of a perfect style don''t you agree?" Novis looked and George and could see a smile on his face and he could only hope it meant good things. Dan waited again for another strike but this time he lent back avoiding the kick, then pivoting of his toes Dan dashed in with his knee forward. After a powerful kick, the opponent was always slightly off-bnced and had little time to recover. The knee hit Tony in the stomach but over the years of training his stomach was well trained and he threw a punch back Towards Dan''s face. But his hand and glove had blocked the shot. "Always keep your guard up," Dan said. "Isn''t that what you taught me." Dan threw a punch out and it hit. "No matter how hurt or how tired you are, always keep your hands up!" Dan shouted as he swung in for a huge uppercut but missed. Tony was now the one who had stepped back a few steps. "He just got faster." Tony thought, "He''s improving even in the middle of the match, you truly are a genius who is wasted here." Then Dan charged in again throwing another uppercut, but this time Tony countered with a hook. "Slip to the side and counter with a hook." Said Tony. Then Tony charged up his right hand and came out with a full-strength blow aiming to finish Dan off, and at thest moment, the blow was parried away. "And finish with a right straight," Dan answered. "I know how you fight." Both of them stepped back and were now ready, they looked at each other and knew the next attack would end the match. Although Tony was still physically fit, Dan was not. He was worn out and beat. Fighting took a different kind of energypared to other sports such as running or swimming. A huge amount of mental energy wore you out quicker and with every punch, it had the energy to try to knock your opponent behind it. At the same time, the two of them charged in off their toes and when Dan was within striking range, he threw out a roundhouse kick towards the head. Tony had seen the reaction of Dan''s legs a few seconds before he acted, the muscle twitch had given it away. He leaned back and avoided the strike, then he pivoted forward on his foot. However, when Dan''s attack missed and his footnded on the ground, he twisted his body and his other leg came over him. "A spinning kick, I don''t remember teaching him this?" At thest second, before the kick had reached Tony''s head, A smile appeared on his face. The kicknded hitting Tony perfectly and sending him down to the ground. Although Tony was still conscious, his legs would no longer listen to him and he couldn''t get off the ground. "It looks like you win," Tony said. "Ladies and gentlemen for the first time in Ruman history, the undefeated Tony the tiger had been defeated by the little ck wolf!" Cheers and groans erupted throughout the warehouse as there were those who had made a killing off the match and also those that had lost a lot of money. But the people who were cheering the loudest where the VSW members on the side line. That''s when Dan had spotted Novis and the others standing by the side. "What are you guys doing here?" Dan said holding his mouth as the pain started to return. "Why did you have to fight?" Scarlett said sniffling away. "You worried us, you worried us all." Dan looked at his teammates who themselves looked like they had gone through a battle of their own, at least an emotional one at that. Every single person hade, even Alex who Dan would have never imagined seeing in a ce like this. He smiled at them. "You guys are some good friends." While Dan was busy talking away to the others, Tony was busy watching them still sitting down on the floor recovering. The truth was, Tony was nning to give up this fight in the first ce, but before he did, he wanted to test Dan push him to his limits. There were multiple times where Tony had the opportunity to finish Dan off, but he allowed him to recover hoping he would show him more. And each time Dan came fighting back stronger and harder and thest attack, was simply too fast and powerful of a blow. It had broken through his guard and he had truly been defeated. The Dan in the future was going to be an incredible fighter and Tony knew it. "So those are the people you fight for Dan." Tony mumbled, "You have good friends." Then arge muscr man stepped into the ring, he was almost giant like nearing six and a half foot. He wore a well fitted ck suit and had arge scar that went over his right eye. Half of the crowd continued to cheer while the other half of the crowd started to go silent. Those who went silent exactly knew who the man was. He was the leader of the Ruman gang and Mac''s father. David Ruman. "Sorry about the loss," Tony said. David looked at Tony up and down, he could see that he didn''t look too damaged apart from thest blow to the head. He then opened up his suit zer and pulled out a cigar. A man from the crowd immediately came out and brought out a lighter. "Under the bridge just outside Momo''s coffee shop. Four, no four-thirty was it?" David said. Suddenly Tony''s heart started to sink, he immediately knew what David was talking about. "What is this David, you put guys on my back, I thought you said you wouldn''t do this anymore. Don''t you trust me?" David then took a single puff of his cigar before giving an answer. "No." At that moment, with his other hand without a second thought, David reached into his jacket and pulled out his Gun. *Bang *Bang *Bang Three shots went off and echoed throughout the hall. Each blow was aimed at the head and David knew what he was doing making sure Tony had died quickly. "I let you leave this world quickly as a favour. Thank you for your service to the Ruman family." Now everyone in the room had gone silent after hearing the devastating loud shots. They all had turned to look at the arena floor and that included Dan. He had been busy chatting away with his friends, he hadn''t even noticed that David had walked into the ring and everything had happened so quickly. When Dan heard the sounds, he flinched at each shot and as he turned all he could see was Tony''s lifeless body. The blood oozing out of him had reached his foot, Tony was dead. Chapter 141: Last Day Chapter 141: Last Day As Dan looked at Tony''s body on the floor, before he had realised it himself, he had fallen to his knees. The blood now soaking and flowing onto his knees. "Hey, Tony," Dan mumbled, "It''s a lie, right?" The other VSW members were too horrified to even look at the body for more than, a split second. One second there was a life, a person who would wake up tomorrow and do their usual thing but now all of that was gone in an instant. The second David had pulled out his gun and fired those shots, the official who was in the centre and members from the crowd had all pulled out their weapons. The tension was high between the gang members as someone had just died. "David, what do you think you are doing?" The referee who was stood in the centre of the ring said. He held a gun of his own in his hand and had it carefully aimed at David, while other members of the Ruman family had their guns pointed at the referee and other people around them. "This is crazy!" Alex said, "How do this many people even have guns in the first ce, I thought they were hard toe by in Ennd." Alex was frightened, a man had just died and he feared he would be next. Scarlett to stayed dead silent and remained still, the whole thing was reminding her of what had happened before. Then an unexpected voice had given themfort. "Don''t worry you little wimps, I won''t let the Ruman family hurt you and I don''t think the other side will hurt you as well," Mac said. Everyone felt this was oddly strange but, Mac had a serious tone to his voice when he spoke those words. "Will everyone rx?" David said as he put the gun away. "I''m not here to fight, Noir won the duel fair, they can keep their territory as agreed. I was just punishing one of my own, can I not do that?" "Sure you can," Kyle said as he stepped forward. "But this isn''t your territory, you can''t just do what you want. You could have waited until you got back, now get out of here!" David then snapped his fingers and two men from the crowd hurried and grabbed Tony''s body. As they started to move Tony''s body, suddenly, the realisation of what was happening had hit Dan. He saw the two men lift his body and the blood continue to drip onto the ground, a trail of blood was left behind as they took him outside. Dan clenched his fist and looked at David. "Novis, stop Dan, right now before he does something stupid!" Arthur shouted. Dan stood up from the floor, not letting David out of his sight, as he took one step forward Novis ced his hand on Dan''s shoulder. "Please Dan, not now. We can''t do this now, look around you." Novis said. As Dan looked around him, he noticed there were still members of the Ruman family leaving the warehouse. There were at least thirty members around them and each of them carried a weapon of some sort. Even if Dan was filled with rage, it would be suicide to act but still, he wanted to do something. However, what had affected him the most was when he looked at his teammates. Scarlett was shivering in fear, while Alex looked like he would faint at any moment from everything that had happened. "Come on guy''s let''s go home," Dan said forcing a smile. ***** The group didn''t ask Dan what happened that day and they never did. They felt like Dan would tell them all everything when he was ready. That day when each member got home, they couldn''t get the image of how easily someone''s life could be ended just like that. Most of them stayed locked in the rooms trying to do whatever they could to forget about today''s events. Then when Dan had arrived at the orphanage, his face had swollen up a bit from the match. He had been given an Ice pack form his brother Kyle to try to reduce the swelling down. Hayley had seen Dan enter the orphanage and go straight to his room. It wasn''t unusual for Dan toe back home beaten up. She had seen it a lot in the past, buttely, it hadn''t happened so much. Concerned for Dan, she went up to his room and pressed her ear up against the door. Inside Dan looked at his desk. On there was an envelope, he picked up the envelope and looked inside. It was the ticket for the semi-finals game. The ticket he had ordered and wanted to give to Tony this weekend. He scrunched up the ticket in his hand and an uncontroble cry was let out. The sound, the emotions, everything had been too much for him and he just couldn''t stop sobbing. He promised himself one day, he would get his revenge on the Ruman family. **** The next day had arrived and it was a Friday, thest day before the semi-final match tomorrow. Yesterday''s events allowed the VSW team to focus. They went to practice in their matches and not one person spoke of what had happened yesterday. All their attention was on the game. Dan had finally turned up to practise as well, he had let out everythingst night and needed something to concentrate on. The team had yed excellently, better than they had ever done before and finally, they had gotten out of their silver ranking and each of them had moved into gold. It was a great achievement for a team of newbies who hadn''t been ying the game for long. It was only a few weeks ago that they were all at bronze. But as soon as the group started to y matches in gold, everything started to get a lot more difficult. The grouping up method worked less. Even when Alex gave them on the spot orders. This was because the yers were just better at reacting to a situation. They made fewer mistakes and were cautious when they couldn''t see the other yers in theirne. Right now their win and loss rate was at about 50/50 in gold. And the problem was Westgate was going to be a lot better than these yers in gold. Watching the team Alex knew they hade far, but he could only count on one thing. The hope that Lucas would be a problem for his own team. It was the one thing that could turn the tide of the match. "We did great guys, each one of us has improved so much," Alex said. "I literally didn''t think we woulde this far, we have a good chance of winning tomorrow." The response wasn''t all that energetic in the room but everyone was still determined to win this game. You only had one life in this world and they wanted to make it count. "Get some good rest, ideally I would say y a couple of games before the match tomorrow as a warm-up, but don''t y too much okay? You can really overwork yourself before the big game." Said Alex. "And I will see you all tomorrow at school." As everyone went to head home, Novis had routinely been heading back with Ashley for thest few days to train with Daiki. Daiki had given Novis a workout routine to strengthen his body with a meal n and so far, Novis had been following it to thest letter but still, there was no luck in sword energy. Today the two of them stood in the Dojo once again, ready to face each other. As he looked at Daiki the thought of Tony dying popped into his head. The idea that it could have happened to anyone of them and Novis wouldn''t have been able to do anything to stop it. Daiki readied his de and swung it out filled with sword energy. Novis gritted his teeth and lifted it up. The anger fuelling his body, something started toe out. A faint light aura had covered his de. The normal human eye couldn''t see the aura but George and Arthur could. As the attack came forward, Novis blocked the attack, it was powerful and started to drag him across the floor. He gritted his teeth and started to push back and finally, the sword energy had shattered. "You did it, boy!" Daiki said exited, "All though you still can''t attack using sword energy, at least you can block an attack from it." Novis had a huge grin on his face but it didn''tst for long. Novis needed to remember this feeling he had right now. He needed it for the match tomorrow and use it at will. Otherwise, their game woulde to a quick end. "Alright!" Novis shouted. "Let''s do this Daiki, give me another one, one more time!" **** Special thanks to Samantha_Lyons_8955, WEIRD, edboy49 and AsuraNineThoughts For the gifts, they really help me on my journey to bing a full-time author. Chapter 142: A Celebrity? Chapter 142: A Celebrity? It was Friday morning and London Heathrow airport was busy as usual. But at the arrivals department of the airport, it was even busy than a regr day. Arge group fo people were lined up across along the railing, it was jam-packed and many of them held signs in their hands. They all had woken up extra early that day in hopes they would get to see a specific person. "Hey what are all these people doing here?" A person asked, "Is there a celebritying or something?" "I''m not really sure but I asked one of the people earlier they said its some professional yer from that VSW game." "Ah, I''ve seen a couple of games myself on TV, never tried it though. It looks interesting." All the people there had been tipped off that the Pro yer Hastam would be arriving today. People were live-streaming the event, they held up giant signs with Hastam''s name on it and some even had gifts. They just couldn''t wait to see him. Hastam was a rare case though between pro yers, even if you were on a Pro team it was hard to get on the same level of fame. Of course, the people who were die-hard fans of the game and aimed to be professionals would know who he is but not others. The general public would only know what team was good rather than specific yers, apart from the odd few names that went worldwide. Simr to football. The reason why Hastam had more fame then others was because he was also a famous live streamer and it was because of him many people had found out about the virtual sword god in the first ce. The flight hadnded and people were starting to walk through the arrivals area. The people were eagerly awaiting, until finally. A young man wearing dark ck shades walked through. "Ahhh it''s him, look, look!" A girl screamed. The other people waiting for their family members unaware of what was happening today were shocked by the sight. They were getting pushed left and right by the crazy fans. "Ennd, the homnd of VSW and where the Virtual sword god is from, what a nice feeling," Hastam said as he waved to the crowd of people. Security had now rushed over and made sure that no one got out of hand. Bus as Hastam stared into the crowd of people he noticed something. He slightly moved down his sunsses to get a clearer view. "Another one, why are they all here?" Hastam thought. Since he had arrived and gotten off the aerone, Hastam had seen some strange people. As he looked around, he could see others with Spirits floating by their side. "Have they alle for the same reason as me?" Hastam thought. It was a first for Hastam. He had never seen another spirit before but he always guessed that there was the possibility. When he saw his first one though he decided to stay away and not approach the person. The spirit and the person controlling it didn''t really give him friendly vibes and assuming he could see them, it meant they could probably see him as well. But all the other people with spirits seemed to have ignored him. Some looked at him and his spirit Xin for a while but quickly decided to go on their business as usual. Although Hastam was here tomentate on the match going on tomorrow, the real reason he was here was because of the Virtual sword god. Hastam had also assumed that whoever this person was, also had a spirit like him and now seeing others he was even more sure of himself. A group of men in ck suits then had arrived to collect Hastam from the airport. They were from Goldware Crop and had been in charge of arranging everything. Once escorting Hastam out of the airport they took him into a cab and drove him to a hotel. The journey took around an hour and finally they had arrived. It was a luxurious room for one person. A huge queen size bed, with an on sweet bathroom and even a separate room for the living room area and wardrobe. Goldware corp seemed to always take good care of their visitors But Hastam thought it was a bit much for someone who was only going to be here a few days. But he couldn''t feel too bad, they were a huge corporation that had the money to spend after all. "And here is your schedule for tomorrow evening." The man in a ck suit said as he handed Hastam a leaflet. "Make sure you arrive at the front desk on time and call us if there are any problems." The three men in ck suits then quickly left the room and left Hastam all to himself. He looked at the leaflet and his time schedule waspletely filled from 9 o''clock in the morning till 6 o''clock in the evening. It started with interviews form Tick. Introductions to the two teams and they even had a signing session for him to attend after. "What is this, I won''t even have time to explore or go tour around the city!" Hastamined. He then dropped off his bag and jumped on the nice rxing bed. "Hey Xin, did you know any of those spirits from earlier?" Hastam asked. "No, at least none of them were people from my world," Xin replied. "Strange right, and if you noticed, every single one of them looked like a character from the game. We''ve been looking all this time for yourrades and had nevere across a spirit. Yet today we saw at least four others with a spirit." "It just means there is a good chance that myrades really are in this world as well along with me," Xin replied. "Yeah, we will keep looking, still I wonder why they were all at the airport, they couldn''t have just arrived in Ennd like me could they, and if so for what reason?" Hastam then let out a big breath of air as he looked at his schedule again for tomorrow. "Hey the stadium actually isn''t too far from here, I think we could walk it, why don''t we go check it out?" "It does not bother me," Xin replied. Hastam then opened up his suitcase which contained a ck wig with straight hair that went down to the cor bone. He ced the sunsses back on his eyes and was ready to go outside. His level of fame now was to the point where if he walked outside, someone was bound to spot him and when that happened, it just caused a chain reaction of other peopleing over. He decided to not disguise himself at the airport because he felt like he owed something to his fans. They had taken the time out of there day toe and see him and the least he could do was wave and talk to a few of them. Rather than just hide behind the wig and walk past them. Hastam then started to walk outside while following the GPS location he had inputted on his phone. The stadium was only ten minutes walk from where he was staying. When he had finally arrived at the stadium, before entering he decided to hop in a nearby convenience store to grab a few snacks. He never did like aerone food and was starving after the flight. After grabbing some crisps and ice cream Hastam had stepped outside and nearly dropped the ice cream out of his hand. He quickly went back into the convenience store and started to look from a distance. "They''re here too!" Hastam said. Out of the stadium front entrance door, three men and one female, had all walked out together. Each one of them a different age and all had different styles of clothing. It was an odd group to see walk together but what had caught Hastam''s attention was the spirits above them. They were the same group of people that Hastam had seen at the airport. "If there here, did they reallye for the match tomorrow?" Hastam said. After making sure he wasn''t seen by the others and waiting for them to disappear from his sight. Hastam decided to enter the stadium. The stadium wasrge in size and it was the first time Hastam had been to one in Ennd. The seating area looked like it could hold around 50,000 people and Hastam was getting excited just thinking of the people watching him y. "Remember it''s the kids that will be ying here, not you," Xin said. Hastam then walked out from the seating area onto the stage floor. He looked around before jumping over the barrier and it didn''t seem like anyone was inside. There was security ced on the outside of the arena but Hastam had a special pass that let him go in anyway. He walked up to the VR pods and started to run his hand along the side. Every venue around the world seemed to have its own style of doing things and Hastam had never yed a game in Ennd but in two years the Esports Olympics were to be held here. As Hastam started to think about his own career and what the future held, a voice from behind called out to him. "Who are you!" the boy shouted. Hastam turned around to see who was there. "Wait aren''t you Lucas?!" but hovering above Lucas, was not a spirit from the game like the others but Lucas himself. **** Special thanks to AsuraNineThoughts, edboy49 and Samantha_Lyons_8955 for the gifts they really help me focus on writing and my dream of bing a full time author. Chapter 143: Hastam VS Lucas Chapter 143: Hastam VS Lucas When Hastam had heard the young voice and turned around. He was surprised to see who had called out to him. It was the young boy who he was meant to meet tomorrow in the tournament. Lucas bell. Lucas strangely had arge square like object wrapped up in cloth on his back. It almost looked like he was carrying a guitar or musical instrument behind him. But what surprised Hastam more than anything, was the fact that there was a spirit floating by the boy''s side, not only that but the spirit currently floating by Lucas''s body, was Lucas himself. "Is the spirit currently in control?" Hastam thought. Lucas who had been trapped this whole time and had decided there was nothing he could do for now. He needed to wait for the right moment, any second now he felt like a breakthrough wasing and that was when he would challenge Mortem to a duel. But as Lucas looked at the person in front of him, Lucas recognised that the man to had a spirit. However, he wasn''t surprised by this, for just a few moments ago he had met four other people with spirits too. When Mortem looked at Xin and Hastam. He could feel a strange feeling surge through his and Mortem''s body. It wasn''t like when she had met the others, and a smile appeared on her face. "Run, get out of here!" Lucas shouted. Although Hastam didn''t know what was going on, he could see the fear in Lucas''s eyes, the dread on his face. It was the look of a prisoner. The smile on Mortem''s face grew as it reached out for the cloth-like object on its back, as the cloth fell down arge scythe was revelled, the same scythe which Mortem had emerged from. "What the, how the hell did they get that weapon in here?" Hastam thought, "What happened to the security?" However, he didn''t have much time to think. The scythe was quickly swung from the side and if he didn''t do anything, he felt like his body was going to be cut in half. Hastam then rolled down from the centre stage and onto the floor avoiding the blow. "Hey, why are you trying to kill me!?" Hastam shouted above, "You know if you kill me you will be tracked down forever." "Then I''ll just have to get rid of all those that get in my way, won''t I" Mortem replied. "This spirit is pure evil!" Xin said, "Just the killing intenting of it is making me feel sick. There is no use reasoning with something like this." Mortem then jumped down from the stage with her scythe held over her shoulder. Right now, Hastam could do nothing but run, after all, he had no weapon to fight against her with. He had never expected something like this to happen in a hundred years. Hastam regrly practised with spears and staffs back in Germany but that didn''t mean he took it out with him everywhere he went in case of an emergency. He started to back away from the stage and away from Lucas but made sure not to turn his back. And it turned out it was the right thing to do. Even though the distance between the two of them was around that of ten meters, Mortem swung out her scythe and this time, a purple energy had left the de. "Of course she could do that!" Hastam then looked around the room to see if there was anything he could use, then he spotted some construction that was going on nearby, repairs that were being made to the stage. They had built a tform using bamboo shoots instead of metal. After jumping and rolling out of the way of the purple strike. Hastam continued to dash and bolted forward towards the building work. Mortem then continuously threw out lines and lines of Dark energy towards Hastam, each missing him by an inch or so. But the dark energy wouldn''t just stop there. It continued to go forward and hit the stands, causingrge cut marks across the floors and walls. Then when Hastam was close enough he focused his mind and a red aura appeared around his hand. He swung his hand at the bamboo leg holding up one of the tforms. A cut was made, then he swung his hand once again creating his own makeshift wooden staff. "Lucas, I''ll save you!" Hastam shouted as he dashed forward now going towards Mortem. This whole time, Lucas had never thought something like this would happen. Someone who was strong and skilful enough to actually fight Mortem had arrived and someone who could see him. This whole time Lucas had been relying on his own powers to get stronger, suddenly he felt like there was hope. However, that hope was quickly lost. Mortem then held her weapon back behind her, this time for a second longer than the times before. She lifted it above her head and swung the scythe down. Hastam was ready and had already infused his own sword energy into the wooden staff. Now a red aura surrounded it. But as the dark energy had left Mortem''s de, this one was twice as big as the one''s before it. "Hastam switch!" Xin shouted. Without hesitating for a second, Hastam did as Xin asked and allowed him to take over. The red aura covering the bamboo staff was now evenrger. The dark purple energy and the red energy had collided with each other. For a moment, shockwaves were sent throughout the room as either power wasn''t winning out. But a few momentster and there was a clear winner between the two. As Xin stood his ground his feet started to slide back. The purple energy was just too strong for him. Then when he thought things couldn''t get any worse, anotherrge line of purple energy hade towards him, this time pushing him backpletely. "How much power does this person have!" Xin shouted. He continued to be pushed back by the energy until eventually, his back was against the wall and a small explosion was heard. Dust was filled in the air where Hastam''s body once was and it was hard to see anything. Lucas was stunned, he had never seen Mortem fight against him like that. Lucas always thought he was close to beating her in the dream world but after watching her fight now, he realised she was always holding back. Which also showed just how strong the opponent she was going against now was. "Don''t tell me he''s dead." Lucas thought. Although Lucas was upset about the thought of someone dying in front of his eyes, another realisation hade to him. This was all done using his body. Had he just be a murderer? Even if he eventually got his body back, would he now be chased by the police for the rest of his life? As Lucas''s mind was filled with these thoughts, the dust had settled from the walls and out from the rubble, Hastam had emerged. Blood was dripping from his head but he wasn''t too badly damaged. The red aura was not only surrounding his sword but his body as well. "I know you want to save the kid." Xin said, "But the spirit is too strong, even for me." Hastam looked into Lucas''s eyes. It was clear now that unlike him and Xin where the two of them worked together. Lucas''s body had been taken over by the spirit. Hastam didn''t like it, but Xin was stronger than himself, and if Xin could do nothing then neither could Hastam. "I''m not saying to abandon him, but toe back when we have more of a n," Xin said. "Okay." Hastam agreed. Xin then concentrated the aura into his legs and dashed towards the exit, moving at inhuman speeds. Mortem could see they had given up and there was no longer any need for her to chase them. It would only be a waste of time. Finally, when Xin was outside and far away enough from the stadium, he allowed Hastam to take control back of his body. "What was all that about?" Hastam said as he touched the wound on his head. It was still hurting and slightly bleeding a little but the injury wasn''t too bad thanks to Xin. He was able to use the same energy as that was infused into the sword, surround his body for defence. "Is that monster really going to fight in the tournament tomorrow, no way can those kids beat that thing," Hastam said. "What about the Virtual sword god?" Xin replied, "Do you not think he is a spirit as well?" "I''m not sure, but even so that spirit was a strong one, and those four from before, was Lucas''s spirit meeting with all of them, what if there nning to do something tomorrow. I have to warn them tomorrow, stop the match but how? everyone will think I''m a mad man." **** Special thanks to edboy49, Daoist513202, Doodlebug, TheLordGodHimself, and AsuraNineThoughts for the gifts they really help support me on my author journey. Chapter 144: The semi finals Chapter 144: The semi finals Inside the luxurious hotel room, Hastam was currently lying on his bed recovering from the traumatic experience. He looked at his hand and started to think back to the fight just moments ago. "Are you going to drop out ofmentating the match tomorrow?" Xin asked, "The spirit will be there again tomorrow." Before giving his answer, Hastam thought back to the look on Lucas''s face, the fear and at the same time the hope in his eyes as he saw him. "I''m going to, no I have to, I doubt they will do anything in front of all those people their tomorrow, as long as I ignore the spirit, I think it will ignore me too." Hastam replied, "But the fact that they were meeting up with other spirits really bugs me. Just like you, maybe they came from another world and it seems like they know each other, and while on our side we still only have you." Hastam then started to scroll through his phone and began to look at his friend''s list until he stopped at the user ID, Pendragon. For some reason, I have an odd feeling that he will be there tomorrow as well." Hastam then started to dial a number on his phone. "Hey, there yeah, I''m calling to inform you, when I went to the stadium earlier today the arena seemed to be a little, worn out. There were broken seats and cuts along the floor." "What!" The man shouted at the other end of the phone. ***** Atst, the weekend hade and it was finally time for the Montem team to face off against Westgate. It was early morning and before heading off to school to catch the bus. Novis was currently silently on the floor meditating. His legs were crossed and his eyes were closed. Suddenly, the faintest, smallest, spark of white aura started to surround his entire body. "I did it, I did it!" Novis shouted as he broke himself from his meditation. "Did you see, what level do you think I''m at?" "Ermm Novis, although you did use some type of sword energy, the amount was so small I wouldn''t even say it was at level one." George said, "You wouldn''t be able to fuse it into a weapon and defiantly wouldn''t be able to use it in a fight." "George is right." Said Arthur, "It''s best in today''s match just to focus on your skills, just because your opponent can use sword energy and you can''t doesn''t mean the winner has already been decided." Novis understood what the others were saying but couldn''t help think back to how Lucas was able to take out all those knights in one shot. Novis was even more amazed that Arthur was able to beat such a person and twice. But Arthur still had yet to tell Novis that most likely the person he saw that Day wasn''t Lucas, and if Arthur had to intervene in today''s game he would. On the way to school, Novis had gotten a ride from his mother and his brother was also in the car with him. Today his whole family was going toe to watch the game. Even his mother realised how much of an important event this was after the other mums and schools started to praise her son on how well he had done. Novis had wished his father was here to see him as well, but he was still busy away on some business trip. Usually, he would go away for months at a time but this time his father had been away for far longer than usual. He would have thought he was dead if it wasn''t for the video messages he sent to them once in a while, updating him on what he was doing. Novis''s dad actually worked for a gamepany himself. One less known then VSW but it still had its ownmunity. Although Novis still had no clue why his dad needed to travel for work. When he had arrived at school the rest of his teammates were already there waiting, along with six other busses. "Whoa, what''s going on here?" Novis asked as he left the car. "Oh the principal has gone mad, they have agreed to give anyone who is supporting the Montem team in today''s game a free lift to the venue." "Really but other than our ssmates and family who would bother to support us." Just then a few other cars pulled up outside of the school and the people who came out surprised all of them. In their neatly dressed uniform, several school children from the Hershel team hade out. "Daisy, Mia, Buman, Tim" Frank shouted," What are you doing here?" "We wouldn''t miss one of your matches, you''re our captain after all." A tear was brought to Frank''s eyes as he went up and hugged each and every one of them. Then suddenly, a load of screams were heard. The girls couldn''t stop pointing and staring in a certain direction. Then Novis finally noticed why. It was the boy''s form Woo Woo. The pretty boys who had that celebrity look about them. "I wouldn''t have minded if they stayed at home, to be honest," Novis said. Scarlett then barged Novis on the shoulder. "Don''t be so rude." "I''m joking, of course." After all the friends, family and supporters had gathered it was time for them to head to the stadium that they would be ying at today. It was a slightly different stadiumpared to the quarter-final ones. For this event was being advertised even on the VSW website. Although secondary school VSW games weren''t that big to the general public, the semi-finals and finals of these events still managed to gain some attention. And with Westgate private funding they were able to sponsor the event and afford a bigger stadium. After riding on the bus for a while they had finally arrived at their destination bright and early in the morning. There were three men standing at the front of the gate who worked for the goldware corporation. As Mr white, the teacher got off the bus, the men immediately came forward to inform them of something. "I''m afraid to tell you all that the arena is currently going under emergency repairs." The man said. "What!" The students shouted as they started to mumble, wondering what was happening. "Worry not, our team has been working on it sincest night and it should only be a couple more hours before it''s done. If you head into the stadium''s reception area we have decided to give everyone a free meal and a ten-pound voucher to purchase whatever they want from the gift shop aspensation." Suddenly, theints turned into hungry faces. The idea of getting things for free always brought a smile to people''s faces. When Novis and the others had walked past the guards, one of the guards lifted his hand and ced it against his earpiece. "Yes, he''s just arrived sir, our men have surrounded the building and are keeping an eye out. As everyone entered the reception area, they were surprised to see that other people had also already arrived and been waiting inside. "Do you think these are all of Westgate''s supporters?" Novis asked. "Not all of them." Alex answered, "This event actually attracts the attention of a few scouts and also reporters, some just really love the game and are here to watch of course." As Novis and the others walked past, the students and some kids from other schools started to whisper. "Hey is that him?" "Yeah, he''s the one they say beat Lucas before." "Really but he looks so ordinary." "Thanks guys, I can hear you know?" Novis said. "Just ignore them." Said Scarlett "You''ve already proven yourself in thest game, they just need to wait and see and we will do the same again in this game." As the six of them sat on their own table for breakfast, not one of them was able to eat their foodfortably. All of them were too nervous and afraid if they ate, they wouldn''t be able to keep it down. "Come on guy''s you need to eat to have the energy for today''s game." Alex said, "Besides it''s free." The team then tried their best to scoff the food down but still, there wasn''t much of an appetite. After they had finished eating Alex decided to go over a few things. Some small tweaks here and there about the game. Just then though, it seemed like anothermotion was happening in the reception area. As they turned to look, it seemed like the Westgate team had arrived as well. Each member walked in all incept for one person. "Hey, where''s Lucas?" "Is he not ying today?" "Don''t worry about Lucas." One of the Westgate yers replied. "He will be here, he has just got some business to take care off beforeing here." Just then though as everyone''s attention was focused on the Westgate team who had entered the room. Novis felt a hand on his shoulder. "Hey there." The man said. He was a man with long ck hair that went up to his cor bone and on his face was a pair of sunsses. But that''s when something stuck out to Novis and it wasn''t the strange way the man looked or how his hair was clearly a wig. But the fact that a spirit was standing by his side. *** Special thanks to TheLordGodHimself, edboy49 and AsuraNineThoughts for the gifts they really help me out on my journey of bing a full-time author. Chapter 145: Three worlds Chapter 145: Three worlds As Novis looked at the strange man he just wondered who on earth the man could be. But what interested Novis more than anything, was the fact that he had a spirit right next to him. Novis already knew that this was a possibility but still had yet to see one in person. From what Daiki had told him, his old teacher used to have George as a spirit in the past. Later they also found out that for some reason, only chosen ones were able to see and hear spirits, as long as the spirits were trying to be seen. This was found out when George had tested it out on his brother Bill. "Do you mind if we talk in private?" Hastam asked, "If you''re afraid we can go to the public coffee shop just across the road, I promise, I''m not here to hurt you." Novis hesitated for a while. In truth, he had been waiting to talk to someone about these spirits, someone he could rte to. Over thest few days, he enjoyed talking to Daiki because he didn''t feel like he was a person going mad anymore. "Novis, go ahead, you will be surprised at who it is." Arthur said, "I fought with this man once before and I will protect you." Arthur''s words didn''t make sense, they had fought him once before. Assuming that Arthur was talking about the game it must have been someone he had faced, but it was impossible to see the real person behind the screen. Novis then went and took a closer look at the spirit that was standing by Hastam''s side and noticed that it looked just lie another character in the game. However, Novis still couldn''t figure it out. But Novis trusted Arthur and agreed to go with the man. The two of them quickly snuck out of the venue and headed for a little coffee shop across the road. Everyone''s attention was too focused on the Westgate team that had just arrived. "Hey, Novis where do you think Lucas is?" Scarlett asked but as she turned around, Novis had already left. As she looked on her phone, Novis had sent her a text, saying that he was just popping across the road and would be back in time before the match would start. As the two of them entered the coffee shop, Hastam ordered two drinks and politely asked if Novis wanted anything but Novis was still feeling nervous and felt weird, so just asked for some tap water. As the two sat down Hastam took a sip of his coffee before continuing. "Ah, that''s nice, sorry to be so sudden about this." Hastam then removed his shades and took off part of his ck wig to reveal his blonde hair underneath. As soon as he had done this, everything started to make sense to Novis, it was Hastam. Even though Novis didn''t know many pros in the VSW world, Hastam was one of the very few who he knew their face and name. This was because after ying a few games with him, Novis had decided to look him up a couple of times. Hastam then quickly put the wig back on and the shades. Although they were no longer at the stadium, there was likely some people who would be in the coffee shop waiting for the game to start before entering. "I don''t want to really call you the virtual sword god, so why don''t we start off by learning each other''s names." "Wait you know I''m the virtual sword god, but how?" Hastam then pointed to the floating spirit by his side which was Arthur. "The virtual sword god uses the same warrior, a warrior that was practically unused in the game before someone made it popr. As you know I have my own spirit so I could make an educated guess. To be honest, I had an idea before, after you told me you were a school kid, everything slowly started to fit in." Hastam exined all the clues he had found along the way, and Novis had also exined how he hade across Arthur in the first ce. The two of them continued to talk about their first experience with the spirit until Novis had revealed something shocking to Hastam. "You have two spirits!" Hastam said. Just then, George too hade out from the dream world and floated by his side. When the spirits met they respectively talked to each other. "I feel like I was quite lucky toe across George, it turns out that the two of my spirits know each other." "About that." Hastam said, "So it seems like our spirits here are not from the same world, that is a shame. It seems like our search for Xin''srades continues just like yours for Arthurs." While Hastam was deep in thought, he seemed to mumble something. "Then that makes three worlds?" "What did you say?" Novis asked. "It''s not much but I was just thinking, Arthur and George, are not from this world." Hastam then pulled out his phone and went onto the VSW website. "You said these other three are from his world correct, well why are they all in the game." Hastam then continued to scroll through the list of warriors in the game before stopping at Xin. "You see Xin and hisrades seem to also be in the game, apparently these six here are people that he recognises but we still havent found anyone with their spirit yet, who knows they might not be in this world yet or still stuck inside a weapon." Hastam then continued to scroll once again until he had finallynded on another warrior. It was female with a scythe held in her hand, Mortem. "Arthur, George do you recognise her at all." Arthur and George looked at the female in the picture but had no recollection of her. "I thought as much," Hastam said as he put his phone away. "Other than you guys I have seen other spirits, that fact that Xin, or your spirits don''t recognise them means that they might be from another world. So far that makes three different worlds these spirits havee from. Then something seemed to click in Novis''s mind. "When you found Xin in that spear, did you see the mark of a dragon?" Hastam shook his head. "No, it was the mark of a me." "Maybe the markings have something to do with what world they havee from, you see George here had the exact same marking as Arthur." "What you say''s makes sense, but we can''t test your theory until we find another me marking or someone form Xin''s world." As the group sat there in deep thought, there was a big question on all of their minds why? Why were all these spirits somehow connected to the game? Gold ware corp had to know more about this but it was strange that they hadn''te out and done anything. Hastam was a big public figure, surely someone from the game would havee out and reached out to him. "If there are a hundred warriors in the game, does that mean there are a hundred spirits?" Hastam rambled. "I don''t think so, Tom one of the developers of the game based thetest warrior in the game off me. Unless I''m a spirit and don''t realise it, then it wouldn''t fit the pattern. Besides, you said there were three so far right?" Novis said, "Arthur''s group makes five, Xin''s group makes six, that makes eleven in total. Are all the rest from this third world then?" Hastam then took out his phone once again and started to look through the list of warriors and he spotted something. "You''re right, if I look carefully when the game firstunched around ten years ago, it was released with only a total of thirty warriors, and on this list, if we include the ones Arthur and Xin know that makes sixteen." "So you''ve seen other spirits, have you talked to any of them?" Novis asked. As Novis asked the question, Hastam palms started to sweat a little as he thought back to the situation. "Actually, that was the main reason I wanted to call you over, look I know your spirit is strong but I think it''s best if you drop out of this tournament. And before you say anything hear me out. If you truly love this game and want to be a pro, I can help you out with my connections. Heck, you wouldn''t even need them if you just told everyone who you were but the team you are up against one of them is possessed by an evil spirit." As Novis heard these words his heart started to thump louder and louder. The image of Lucas fighting in thest match appeared in his head. How his whole style had changed and how he suddenly was able to produce sword energy. "It''s Lucas bell. He''s been taken over." ***** Special thanks to Sts, Doodlebug, TheLordGodHimself and AsuraNineThoughts for the gifts you guys have a heart of gold. If you want to help more and help me make writing my full time job check out my ******* /JSManga Chapter 146: The middle of the day Chapter 146: The middle of the day As Novis heard the name form Hastam''s mouth, everything suddenly started to make sense. Why Lucas''s ystyle was suddenly so different and how he was able to improve so fast. "Wait what do you mean taken over?" Novis asked. Hastam then proceeded to tell Novis the events of yesterday. How when he came to the stadiumst night, Lucas wasn''t in is body but the spirit was and how they had been attacked on site. "I''m afraid that the spirit has its own goals and it has to be nning something while using Lucas''s body, I don''t know what but I saw it meeting up with the other spirits." Just then as Hastam had finished speaking his sentence, he saw something from the corner of his eye. He immediately grabbed Novis by the cor and pulled him to the ground under the table. *Crash Screams were heard all over in the coffee shop, as the shop window broke and shards of ss were scattered all over the table and shop floor. As the two lifted their heads from the table to take a peek outside, they could see Lucas standing there with four people by his side. One an elderly old man in shorts and a Hawaiian top. Another young one in a business suit. Then two females next to him, one dress in a skirt and formal wear, while the other female was in sportswear like she was just about to go running. "What happened?" Someone in the shop asked. "Did anyone see anything?" "No, it just suddenly broke, I have no clue what happened." "Maybe it was a bird?" "Seriously, these windows aren''t that cheap stuff you use at home." As Hastam looked at the group, he knew they were here for trouble. "I didn''t think they were going to attack in broad daylight, what are they crazy?" As Novis stared at the group as well, he could see Lucas''s spirit hovering by his own body. Just like Hastam had said. Then Mortem raised her hand, covered in a purple aura, she swung it once again and purple energy had left with it. "Novis switch with me now!" Arthur shouted. Novis left control over to Arthur. Before the purple energy could reach them, Arthur gathered sword energy of his own in the palm of his hand and swung it out. When the two energies collided, they both cancelled each other out shattering on impact. The look on the other group''s face was that of surprise. "Who is that warrior in that boy''s body!" The old man asked. "Maybe she''s just starting to get weak." The female in gym clothes said. "Are you kidding me, Mortem''s one of the strongest ones here and her host''s body is especially powerful, so she can produce more sword energy than anyone else right now." The old man replied. Hastam while in the cafe was slightly shocked, why had theye after him, he was fine fighting inside the game world but this was outside in the real world. Everything felt so different and he didn''t know what to do. At the time when he had seen the attack, he had just reacted on instinct. "Hastam switch with me, this is not a battle for your world," Xin asked. Hastam did as his spirit had asked and switched ces with him. "Arthur, we should get away from the public, otherwise the people around will be hurt, it seems these disgusting things don''t care for the lives of others," Xin said. "Agreed." On the way out form the cafe, the two of them could see Mops by the side. They each grabbed a mop and broke off the heads. It now looked like both of them held metal pole''s in their hand. "Hey wait, you two haven''t paid for your drinks!" The shop owner shouted. Xin then rumbled through his pockets until he pulled out a ck wallet. "Here you are," Xin said as he threw the wallet to the man before leaving. "Hey what are you doing, my driver''s license, all my credit cards are in there!" Hastamined. "We don''t have time to go through it, I did as I saw you do before and handed the man the green notes from the wallet," Xin replied. Hastam felt a headache brewing in his head, the thought of all the calls he would soon have to make. Cancelling his credit cards and getting a new driver''s licence. "Spirit troubles, don''t worry I have to deal with them to," Novis said. The two of them were now out on the street and the group was hot on their trail following behind them. The street was busy full of people walking up and down. "Is there anywhere we can go where there aren''t so many people?" Arthur asked. "Wait, you two are nning to fight? Why don''t we go to the police or something, let them solve this?" Novis said. "Novis for whatever reason it seems these group of people are chasing after you and your friend. Trust me when I say this but a few of your policemen won''t be able to restrain or do anything against these guys. I have dealt with these types of people before. If they can''t find you, then they will go after your friends, your family. We need to give them a reason to nevere after you again." Novis was scared, frightened, he thought that the only thing he had to worry about was Mac''s gang but now it seemed like everything was suddenly getting a lot moreplicated. "Fine." Novis then started to look round to see if there was anything nearby, that''s when they saw a car park nearby still under construction. Other than the workers it was going to be the ce with the least amount of people. ***** Meanwhile back at the stadium. "Sir there have been no signs of Lucas, it looks like he might not being today." An agent in ck said as he stood outside the stadium. "What did you say!" Tom shouted down the receiver. "But the match is soon to start, something must have happened." Then Tom had the strangest feeling in his stomach. If Lucas''s spirit, was Mortem like Tom thought it was, then he knew their goal and perhaps when she had arrived at the tournament and saw another spirit, she thought that they might be involved with everything. "Novis I''m sorry but you might have just been dragged into all this mess." Tom then mmed his fist down on the desk in front of him hard. "Are any of our agents back yet?" "No sir." A man said in the IT room, "They are still out recovering the remaining artefacts. Two of them have been sessful while the other four have failed." Tom then ced his hand on his head at the bad news, it seemed like everything was going wrong for him. "I''m sorry Novis, you are on your own for now." ***** Inside the reception area, the Montem VSW team was still sitting there together waiting to be called in. "Hey, where is Novis?" Dan asked. "I don''t know he''s not replying to my texts, he''s not answering his phone or anything," Scarlett replied. "You don''t think he maybe chickened out at thest second do you?" Frank said. "No way, Novis isn''t like that!" Ashley shouted, "Maybe you guys don''t know this but Noivs has been training with my dad at his dojo harder than I have ever seen him train before." Ashley started to think back at all the times she had seen Novis badly hurt. How she had seen all the bruises over his body as he was put through the hellish routine from her father. "I''m telling you now, if Novis isn''t here then something has happened." At the same time other on the other side, it seemed like Montem weren''t the only ones dealing with their own problems. "Has anyone seen Lucas, he was meant to be here by now." The teacher asked. She was an older woman and not just any old teacher but the vice-principal of the school. She personally decided she would lead the team as she felt like the VSW games was a big part of Westgate''s image. "I don''t know, he was with us on the bus, then he said he had something important to do." A team member said. "That Lucas, he''s acted so strangely ever since he joined our VSW team, I think we would have a better chance with winning without him anyway." Another member said. "Yeah, I agree." Ever since Lucas had joined the team they didn''t get along. The team had been together so long and had worked hard for the tournament but when Lucas came along and said he wanted to y, one of their good friends was immediately kicked off the team and Lucas was allowed to join. The vice-principal didn''t even care that Lucas had never turned up to a practice match or any practice games before, all she cared about was who would give her team the highest chance of winning. Then suddenly, an announcement was made in the reception area. "Attention please, we are sorry for the dy but all repairs on the arena have beenpleted. If you would please make your way to the stadium and participants follow their representatives to their assigned area to get ready for today''s match. thank you. " **** Special thanks to yogoboi, AsuraNineThoughts, Sts and Doodlebug for the gifts these really help me continue making the story and support me into bing a full-time author. Chapter 147: No Star Player Chapter 147: No Star yer An announcement had just been made, stating that the arena was finally ready. The damage that had been done during the fight between Hastam and Lucas looked like it had never even happened in the first ce. The audience members started to say goodbye to their team members showing their support as they made their way to the stands. Meanwhile two men dressed in ck suits had arrived to escort the two teams to their preparation area. "Would you please follow me to the locker room to prepare for your match." The man said. "Wait, one of our yers isn''t here yet," Scarlett said. "I''m afraid there is nothing we can do about that, the match was originally scheduled to start around two hours ago, we are unable to dy the game any further today." The man exined. "Even the online events and streams have been pushed back, do you still have enough members to participate in today''s game?" The Montem team then looked at each other. Unsure about what to do, it was clear that something had happened to Novis and they were wondering if they should just give up on the match or not. "What about Novis, shouldn''t we go look for him he, might be in trouble?" Ashley said. Out of everyone there, Alex was the person who was in two mindsets the most. He had been waiting for this day his whole life. If they at least won this tournament then it would be a good thing to put on his resume and get him into a good university that focused on Esports. This was the lowest Level tournament and most of the top-level Universities wanted an achievement like this at the bare minimum. Afterall there where several county tournaments being yed all over the country. But at the same time, Alex started to think back about what would Novis do. If Alex hadn''t turned up when he was meant to, would he have abandoned the game and searched for him? Just then though, as the group was in the middle of something, they all had received a group text. From Novis: Guy''s I''m sorry but I won''t be able to make it to the match today. I have an emergency. Good luck to you all I know you can beat Westgate, when Ie back, I expect to hear our schools name to be sted all over the inte. Alex had made his decision, he stepped forward in front of the Gold ware corp worker. "We have five yers, we will y in the game." With Alex stepping in for Novis that made their team fo five and they were still able to participate in the tournament. "We will win this game for you." As the stands where slowly filling up, at the top of the stands was a special area reserved for live TV broadcasts and Mediapanies. This time around there were a lot more peoplepared to Montem''s and Westgate''sst match and this was all because of the hype that had been built up between Novis and Lucas. Although not many had turned up for Novis, as he was still a rtively unknown name, they just knew someone who was meant to be a rival to Lucas was arriving today. At the arena floor though, from Tick media, Josh and Cindy were sitting down at a table just off to the side of the Virtual Arena. There were three seats in total and at the moment two of them were filled. Two other representatives were filming for Tick media today as Josh and Cindy had been asked tomentate on the match as experts, since they both had experience in the Secondary school gaming filed. However, they were both wondering just where on earth had Hastam gone. "Wasn''t he meant to be here by now?" Cindy asked. "Yeah it is strange, I mean he hasn''t even let us know. I''m sure they said he arrived at his hotel yesterday yet no one has seen him." Josh said. Josh was a little worried for Hastam, as Josh and Hastam both knew each other personally. After all, Josh was the first one who recognised Hastam''s talent and told the world he would be big one day. The two of them formed a rtionship after and had a strong bond. He was actually also the person that rmended Hastam for thementating today, he wanted to hear what his opinion was on Novis. To see if he could see the same sparks of fire as Josh did. But Hastam never did turn up and the two of them would have to continue thementary on their own. "Ladies and gentlemen the two teams are now ready and it is the time you have all been waiting for." The announcer said. "Introducing the first Team Montem." The crowd cheered and so did the Montem supporters as loud as they could. As they saw the members walk through the tunnel and enter the stadium floor one by one, but the cheers then quickly turned into chatter and whispers. "Hey, I don''t see Novis?" "Did something happen to him?" "Bill do you know?" His friends asked. "He was here this morning, he was in the car with me and Mum, did they rece him? No, they couldn''t have." Bill said shocked by the whole thing. "Let me try to call him." As Bill picked up his phone and tried calling his brother there was no response. He tried again but still, there was no response, no answer, no text back, or anything. "What happened bro, I thought this was the stage where you would prove to everyone how great you were." As the Montem VSW team walked up to the pods in the centre of the arena and stood by each one, even Josh was so shocked he stood up from his seat. "He''s not here, but why!" Josh said, "What could be more important than a game like this?!" Without Novis, Josh felt like the Montem team had no chance of winning. Sure, they were skilled yers but against a monster like Lucas, they needed another monster. However, the announcer moved on and went on to announce the next team. "Now introducing from the other end, the Westgate team!!!" Cheers erupted even louder than that on the Montem side, after all, there were people in the crowd who hade just to see Lucas y, but then as the Westgate team came out, they too could not see their star yer on their team. Instead of chatter and support like the other side though, the crowd interrupted into a loud roar of boos. "Where the hell is Lucas!" "I didn''t pay to just see some little kids y, did they lie about him being in the tournament?" "No, I saw him in thest game he was meant to be in this one too." The atmosphere on the Westgate side was also replicated online as well. Many people who were watching the streams started to tune out as soon as they saw Lucas would not be in the game. A few of the broadcasters who usefully didn''t cover secondary school games, also started to pack up their recording equipment and leave the stadium. They had alle in with the mind of writing a special report on Lucas Bell but now that he wasn''t going to be in the game, this was just going to be a regr county semi-final match that no one would be interested in. "Look at them!" A Westgate yer said, "They have forgotten that we were the ones that took the school this far every year even without Lucas." "Yeah we yed for three years and got to the finals nearly every single time and all they want to do is watch Lucas y." But the Westgate team didn''t let the boos and hatements distract them. Instead, they let this fuel their anger and it would be used into the game they were about to y. While Josh was sat down in thementator chair, he hadpletely forgotten the job he had been asked to do. As the contestants were entering, he was meant to be talking about the two teams'' backgrounds but Josh had prepared to talk about the two rivals Lucas and Novis. The two teams were now stood opposite each other on each end of the virtual field. It was a strange atmosphere in the stadium. One side was filled with chatter while the other continued to boo. It was hard to believe that these two teams where just about to y a semi-final match but as Josh sat back down in his seat and looked at the fire in the two teams'' eyes, he knew this game would not be a boring one. The two teams then entered into their pods and the field started to generate. It was time for the semi-final match to begin. ***** Special thanks to _Kaitlin_, Shurikyn_13, and AsuraNineThoughts for the gifts, your support means a lot and allows me to keep on writing. Chapter 148: George Troubled Chapter 148: George Troubled As the VSW match started, Bill still had this strange feeling at the back of his mind. He knew Novis wouldn''t drop out for no reason. Something big had to have happened. "Hey Mum, do you still have that tracking app you put on our phone when we were younger?" Bill asked. "Um yes but I haven''t used it for years now, you too are big boys after all." She said nervously as if she had done something guilty. "It''s okay, you know I stay at home most of the time anyway," Bill replied. "Do you mind if I take a look?" While on his mother''s phone, Bill went to the locater app, as long as Novis was carrying his phone and had it turned on, using his GPS signal it would be able to give him an idea of where he was. "What, his close by, it looks like he''s in the building next to us." The countdown had already started and the yers had now selected their warriors, but Bill didn''t care. He was here to see one person fight and one person only. "Bill where are you going?" His mother asked. "I''m just going to find Novis, I''ll be back soon, if you''re worried just give me a call." He said as he shuffled through the crowds of people and exited the stands. "How am I meant to call you if you have my phone, silly boy." ***** It was a weekend which meant there was only a skeleton crew working at the construction site. They were ordered to do the bare minimum and would appear to be working just to not get told off by their superiors. The only thing that was stopping people from entering the building site where the orange traffic cones stuck outside, while the builders were busy chatting away and ying cards in their break room. It was the perfect ce to lead the people chasing after Novis and Hastam. While the two were running, Hastam noticed he was getting multiple call''s but right now there was nothing he could do. "What wrong?" Novis asked. "I think it Josh, it must mean the tournament''s started." Novis bit down on his bottom teeth as he thought about the others. He wasn''t upset about missing the chance to y in the semifinals but instead was upset at the thought that the others might think he had abandoned them. "Arthur switch with me." The two of them switched and at the same time so did Hastam. They then snuck into the car park unseen. While they continued to run, they sent text messages informing Josh and Novis informing his friends that he wouldn''t be able to make it. It was a hard thing for him to do as he wrote the message but Novis knew right now this was important. They had now reached the bottom floor of the car park. Parts of the area were still under construction but there were no workers around. Especially since the first floor had been mostlyplete. It was an empty wide area with a few pirs now and then set apart from each other. "This ce is perfect." Now Xin and Arthur were in control and they prepared their makeshift poles in their hand from mops. As the other five had arrived each of them carried something, they smiled and started tough as they saw Xin and Arthur with their mops. The female opened her gym back and pulled out a pair of Daggers. The old man pulled out a pair of nun chucks while the suited man took out a police baton. And thest female lifted her shirt, to reveal a whip underneath. Then finally Lucas who was stood in front of the four of them, unwrapped his cloth to reveal a long dark purple scythe. "What the hell!" Novis shouted, "They all got weapons, how are you going to beat them with that crap!?" "When you be a master Novis, anything can be a weapon." "Is that true?" Hastam whispered to Xin. "I''m afraid I think Novis spirit has gone crazy, these poles will be useless," Xin replied. Then an unexpected move had urred. Instead of the group of five attacking first, Arthur was the one who charged in. He gathered his energy into the metal pole and swung it sideways. Arge white horizontal line was sent out. Each one of them was surprised by this move and all they could do was defend. They lifted up their weapons and activated their sword aura together. As the energy hit, all five of them were pushed back. "This guy, who is he?" the old man said. "Novis I must thank you." Said Arthur, "It seems your body has improved allowing me to use even more sword energy, although it''s still nowhere near my former self it is a huge improvement. Seeing Arthur''s powerful strike, suddenly Xin felt inspired. "I feel like I am on the battlefield once more." He swung his staff around like a spear gathering the red aura "Let''s do this! I will take the old man and gym girl, you take care of the other three." He said charging forward. Arthur''s target was Mortem, it was clear that she was the strongest of the group, he aimed to get rid of her in one blow. She could see himing forward and swung out her de with her full strength. Then Arthur lifted his mop up, just at the right time knocking the scythe upward. The blow was powerful and had caused Mortem to slightly stumble. "Now I have to Dash in!" With his feet firmly nted on the ground, he pushed off swinging his de to the side. However, before Arthur''s de could reach, a thin ck object hade wrapping around his sword pulling it back. "Did you forget there''s more of us." The female said as she yanked on her whip, trying to pull the mop out of Arthur''s hand. Mortem had regained herposure and lifted her scythe preparing to kill him. As the scythe went down, Arthur spun his body avoiding the blow allowing it to hit the ground. Then with his other hand free, he gathered his sword energy and swung his hand down onto the whip cutting the tip-off. "But how, with his bare hands." The female said. Then just as Arthur was about to deal with the female, a baton came down hitting him across the face. Arthur flung his head back, trying to negate most of the damage, spinning his body once again before jumping back a few steps to create some distance. Arge cut had appeared on his face from the blow, blood had been drawn. "Novis, I''m sorry, your body." "Don''t worry about it right now, just concentrate on the fight!" Novis shouted. As Novis looked at Xin, it didn''t seem like he was faring any better. Although he was able to block the nun chucks and daggers with his pole, he was unable to attack and was always on the defensive. There was no chance they could win like this. "I underestimated their strength, there''s too many of them," Arthur said. George who was currently watching the whole thing with Novis was frustrated. He wanted to help out, they were outnumbered and there was nothing he could do. "If only I could help!" Just then though a familiar voice shouted out. "Novis, what''s going on, are you here?" Bill shouted. "Huh is that, how did he find me." Bill had followed the GPS location, sneaking into the construction site. He was surprised that Novis was so close but at the same time found it strange that he would be in a ce like this. "Just what is happening bro?" However, it seemed like Novis wasn''t the only one who had heard Bill shouting. "A witness!" The female with a whip said. "I will deal with him." The female then went storming forward after the young boy. "No, my brother, we have to help him!" But before Novis had even said those words, Arthur was already running after the female, but she was fast and light on her feet. At this rate, she would reach Bill before Arthur did. "No, why did you have toe, he''s only twelve, he''s just a kid leave him alone!" Novis screamed. While Xin was busy dealing with the others, Hastam was watching the scene and couldn''t believe it. "How could these heartless people, are they really going to kill a kid." Even Lucas who was floating above Mortem felt so guilty. "This is all my fault, I''m sorry Novis for dragging you into this mess, if only I was stronger." Bill had finally spotted the two people running after him, the one in front was female with a look of pleasure on her face. As Bill saw her all he wanted to do was turn away and then behind her was his brother. "She''s going to get to him first!" Novis shouted. "No, she won''t." Gorge then went flying past in front of them in his spirit form, a speed that was unbelievable and that Novis had never seen before. Arthur then grabbed the Mop in one hand, gathered his energy and chucked it out like a javelin flying through the air. The female swung out her whip at Bill, and felt her hair sway up in front of her face as a strong gust of wind went past. Bill lifted his hand grabbing the Mop pole. The whip then came out, Bill jumped back avoiding the strike by a few inches, before diving back in and whacking her on the head, knocking the female out in one blow. "George?" **** Special thanks to IceValkyrie, and AsuraNineThoughts for the gifts they really help me continue to write these stories. Chapter 149: A Touch Chapter 149: A Touch When the intruder, Bill, had first arrived on the scene, the group immediately wanted to get rid of him. The first one to act was the female whip user going straight after him. But never did they think in a million years the intruder was a chosen one. A person who was able to harbour the power of a spirit. In order to protect Novis''s precious brother. George used all his strength to run as fast as he could. He ran straight past the enemy and immediately took control of Bill''s body. He lifted his hand and grabbed on to the pole thrown by Arthur and struck down the enemy in a single blow. Bill was now just floating outside of his body. He looked around him and could see his own body being controlled by George, and also could see Novis floating about near his. "Ahh what''s going on, am I dead?" Bill said. "Don''t panic." Said Novis, "Right now a spirit has taken over your body but I promise you, he''s a friend of mine and he''ll give you control once this is all over." Before Bill could even agree to anything though. George and Arthur were already on the move. George had dashed forward ready to help Xin. Now that he was there to fight, they were now each facing an opponent one on one and it was a lot easier. However, he wouldn''t be able to knock out another spirit so easy like he did the first one. It was only due to the element of surprise that he was able to deliver such a powerful blow at an unexpected time. Seeing the situation unfold, Bill was trying to make heads of the whole thing. Lucas''s actual spirit was also floating by his body, but it seemed to him like it was on the enemy side. Arthur was currently facing off against Mortem and the baton user. The situation was soplicated that Bill couldn''t evene up with a story inside his head why things were, the wat they were. But there was something he could count on and that was his brother. He chose to believe in his brother''s words and whatever was happening and whatever his brother was doing, it had to be the right thing. George now inside Bill''s body was currently facing off against the second female user who was wielding two daggers in her hands. "Thank you," George said. "Thanks to youing here today I have a chance to help out and protect my friends. Bill still didn''t know what was going on but he decided to give words of encouragement. "Kick her arse!" Bill shouted. It was the least he could do, was support the spirit in his body. The female came rushing forward with her daggers in her hand. She swiped first with one and quickly with the other but George was able to dodge each strike by stepping backwards at the right time. It hadn''t been long since he had entered Bill''s body and Bill was still growing. He was a little bit shorter than the others and being twelve and his muscles didn''t even have the time to fully develop yet. So George had to be careful. George continued to back up avoiding each blow until suddenly, he felt his back hit up against something. The female swung out her de once more but George managed to duck down and roll off to the side. As he looked at where he once was, he noticed his back had gone up against a pir and where the female had attacked, was now arge grove indented into the cement pir. "What the hell, those weapons are real!" Bill noticed, "And how sharp are they, they cut through the wall!" "So she''s a speed type warrior huh?" Gorge said. "If you want to fight with speed then speed it is." George dashed in hoping to go in for an attack of his own, when the female user saw this, she had prepared to dodge or block the next attack but it never came. "What was that?" The female user continued her barrage of attacks and George continued to dodge and then once again, she saw a shift in his feet indicating he was going to attack. She prepared herself for an attack again but nothing had happened. George had swung his de but purposely missed. "Are you ying with me?!" The female user said now enraged. But now George was ready. Beforemitting to a full attack George had decided to take a couple of practice swings first. He needed to know the limits of the body he was using. This wasn''t like the game or Novis where he was given a decent body for him to use. Here he was given an unfit 12-year old that stayed in his room all day. As the female came in with her daggers, George timed a swing at just the right time to stop her advance swinging downward. The blow was a sess managing to hit her forearm knocking it away. But the female user suddenly stopped her advance and looked at George with a smile. "It seems the host does not know how to use sword energy." She then concentrated and the aura that had surrounded her daggers was now spread thin around her body. George only chance of winning the fight had gone out the window. She was right, Bill''s body was not suited to perform Sword energy, it was simply too weak and now that the enemy had found out. No matter how many strikes he got in, her defence now would be too strong. "Don''t worry just stall her!" Xin said, "Once I''ve dealt with this crazy grandpa, I''ll be over there to help you too!" Meanwhile, Arthur was busy dealing with Mortem and the Baton user and he didn''t even have a weapon in his hand. He had already given it to George earlier. "Are you going to be okay Arthur?" Novis asked Arthur lifted his hands and a white aura covered both of them up to his forearms. "I will be able to protect myself, although my reach will be at a disadvantage, I will no longer need to deal with three of them. As Arthur charged in once again, this time he had decided to go for the Baton user. The weaker of the two. If he got rid of him, Arthur was confident he was stronger than Mortem in a one on one fight. The baton user and Arthur were engaged inbat. Although Arthur was powerful and more skilful, with no weapon he needed to be sure and act carefully. He avoided each swing of the weapon and swung down his own arms at the opponent. Mortem who was around the side was waiting for her opportunity to strike but something strange was happening. Every time she felt like there was an opening and was about to move in, the Baton user would block her view and stop her from advancing forward. "It can''t be, is he doing this on purpose and while fighting as well?" Mortem thought. That was exactly what Arthur was doing. While carefully nning where he was going to attack, he was able to move the baton user to where he wanted around the car park. Without even realising it, the baton user had be his own puppet with strings. Mortem was getting frustrated. Unlike in the game where she didn''t care for herrades these people were her truerades and she couldn''t get them hurt. But as this continued on for a while, she was even more amazed. If it was to happen a few times during a fight, she would call the man skilful. It was impressive, but Arthur didn''t let in a single mistake and never gave the opportunity for Mortem to enter into the fight. This was the level of a true master. Then finally the Baton user out of rage made a wild swing, this was his chance. Moving to the side he avoided the blow. He then grabbed the user''s wrist with one hand and mmed down against it with the other. The strike was so powerful that the sound of cracking could be heard. The bones of the baton user were definitely broken and he had no choice but to let go of the Baton. Using his foot, Arthur kicked the baton back up before it could reach the floor and grabbed it with his hand. "Tag out with me," Morten said as she pulled the baton user back and out of the way. But she remained cautious and didn''t move in just yet. She started to look around and could see that Xin had nearly dealt with the old man who was the weakest out of the group. One of the members was still passed out on the floor and the other was being held up by a little child. "Mimy grab Sue and get out of here!" Mortem said," We''re retreating let''s go." As soon as she said those words, they did as shemanded and stopped engaging inbat. While she herself also turned and was starting to run. That''s when Novis saw the look in Lucas''s eyes. The sadness that once again he was going to be taken away. That one look told Novis that he wasn''t involved in any of this. "No Lucas!" Novis said as he reached out his hand in his spirit form. He broke away from his body and Arthur and reached out to Lucas. At the same time, Lucas saw this and reached out back to Novis holding his hand out. Then when the two of them had touched hands, something had urred. A Powerful shockwave went our vibrating across the room. Novis and Lucas''s spirits had suddenly disappeared and Lucas''s real body had copsed to the ground. When Lucas and Novis both opened their eyes once again they were greeted with a dark purple sky. the two of them were in Mortem''s dream world. **** Special thanks to yogoboi, edboy49, and AsuraNineThoughts for the gifts you help me on my journey to bing a full time author. Chapter 150: What plan? Chapter 150: What n? As the VSW team readied themselves to start their semi-final match, each of them was nervous as they got into the pods. They were about to go into uncharted territory for their team. When practising for the uing match the team had always either yed with Lucas or Alex as their leader. There was never a time when Lucas and Alex were ying together without Novis. As they entered into the game and selected their warriors, the team had gathered in the centre just outside there castle. They had a minute to decide what to do just before the NPC knights would spawn. The big discussion on everyone mind was what their strategy would be. Before the team focused on two things, grouping up and fighting together as a team, with Novis as a focus. With the hope that when they grouped up, there was the chance that Lucas would sabotage his own teammates. But now these two things weren''t even in the game, Lucas or Novis. "Are we still going to group up like we''ve been practising?" Scarlett asked The whole team was looking on one person to make the decision for them and that was Alex, who had been guiding them the way this whole time. "We continue with the n, Dan, Ashley, you two will be our main focus point. Frank will stay upfront just ahead of you two and act as a shield. You two stay right behind him and when you see the opportunity to go in to do the most damage, do it. Scarlett will stay a little behind and I''ll protect her in front, just in case they decide to go for her instead. Everyone understand?" Everyone in the team nodded. Although they no longer had Novis nor did the other team have Lucas. Alex felt like this was still the best n. If they went in the standard formation against such a veteran team as Westgate he really couldn''t imagine winning. There were just so many tactics they could use in thene that the others just wouldn''t understand, as they were still new at the game. The NPC knights had now spawned and Frank was the one who took the centre and started to head down hisne. While doing so the group had split into two halves. Ashley and Dan, and Alex and Scarlett. These two groups went into the forest on each side staying a few feats away from thene and just far enough back to not be spotted. As Dan went past the second tower he was now located in the middle of the map. The crowd was able to see both teams'' positions while watching the match. While the other two teams were not. The crowd could see that Montem was nning for an ambush and was starting to get excited. A five vs five confrontations was always exciting to watch. The two Montem groups were in position ready to attack at any moment and Frank was letting the enemy knights push forward. He chose not to help out his own NPC knights that way the enemy team would be closer to his tower. But as the knights got closer, the Westgate yer remained at the back. staying close and near to his tower not once going in front of his NPC knights. "Missing top here, be careful." "Missing on the bottomne as well." The Westgate yers said. As soon as they had gotten into theirnes and couldn''t see the opponent, they had immediately informed their team member. Since the middlene was the only one that had an enemy warrior. The Westgate yer decided to y cautiously and wait. The longer they waited and continued to see no enemy yers the quicker they would be able to take down the top and bottom towers. "Alex, what do we do?" Scarlett asked. "He''s not moving forward, we''re only wasting time." There were two options for them, they could roam around the map as a five, going between two of thenes. Either rotating from top to mid and fight like that. But judging by how quick and cautious Westgate''s ying style was. As soon as they saw someone missing, the team wouldmunicate this and they would then stay behind the tower. Only waiting time. Or they could push as a five anyway and try to storm through the middlene rushing towards the enemy base before they reached theirs. "Let''s go attack!" Alex said. Just then all other four members hade out from the forest and into the middlene. "All five of them are here." The Westgate yer said, "You can move forward now, attack their towers." Although the Westgate team were unable to see the Montem yers in the top and bottomne. They still yed cautiously just in case they were waiting to ambush them. But now that they knew that all five of their yers where in mid, they could move forward without worry. The Westgate yer made sure to stay behind his NPC knights and just far away enough so the others couldn''t get him by surprise. He did a good job of stalling the Montem team. The weapon he used was a spear which had a chain attached to the end. Using this, he was able to throw out his spear at the Montem team while they were busy fighting against the NPC knights. Then he would pull the spear back with the chain and throw it out again. This was one of the few weapons in the game that acted as a ranged weapon as well as a melee weapon. Using this tactic of throwing the spear at just the right time, he was able to slow the Montem teams advance. However, with five of them, it was impossible for him to slow it downpletely. After pushing forward they were finally able to take down the first tower. The Westgate yer quickly rushed back and headed for his first tower just in front of his castle. < Blue team tower destroyed > Just as the team were about to celebrate their fast takedown of the tower, two more messages had appeared. < Red tower destroyed > < Red tower destroyed > ****** Meanwhile, in the car park, Lucas''s body had just suddenly copsed on the floor. Arthur was standing by his side and covered in sweat. The enemy''s group could see that their strongest member was on the floor lying still. "That man is too strong, he managed to take her out so quickly." "Come on, let''s get out of here, she''s done for." The group had instantly thought Arthur was the reason for Mortem suddenly falling to the ground. They figured he had used some special technique to get rid of her. Seeing this they decided the only thing they could do was escape with their own lives. The group quickly rushed off and originally Xin went to chase after them but he quickly stopped after he realized that George and Arthur weren''t doing the same. George looked at Arthur and could see he stood there still staring at Lucas''s body. "Arthur what''s wrong, did something happen?!" George shouted. "It''s Novis, he''s disappeared," Arthur replied. As George looked closely, he now released that Novis, the spirit was nowhere to be seen. Although Novis would also be able to travel to Arthur''s dream world if he didn''t wish to stay outside, Arthur would know if he was there or not. An odd feeling hade over Arthur, it felt like half of him had gone missing. He thought back to what had happened just moments ago. Novis had broken free from his body and went to grab Lucas but the moment the two touched hands a strong energy was felt and it caused Mortem to fall while Lucas and Novis had disappeared. Now that the spirits had gone, Xin and Hastam decided to switch ces. "Grab Lucas''s body and we''ll bring him back to the hotel with us." He said, "Maybe we can figure out something back there." Arthur then ced Lucas over his shoulder, while they all started to head back to his hotel. Lucas was now lying on the giant queen-sized bed in the hotel room. Hastam was busy pacing backwards and forwards thinking about everything Arthur had just said. "Is my Bro really missing," Bill asked. "I can''t lie to you." George said, "That''s what we''re trying to figure out." Then Hastam finally stopped pacing backwards and forwards as he thought of something. "Hey Novis was able to harbour both you and George in his body, right? Well what if the same thing happened inside of Lucas?" "You mean, that Lucas and Novis are inside Lucas''s body?" George asked. "Exactly, the two spirits wouldn''t just disappear suddenly." "Then what about the evil spirit that was controlling Lucas''s body?" Xin asked. "Well if it isn''t out here, then it must mean it''s inside with them." Hastam answered. **** Special thanks to IceValkyrie, edboy49, and yogoboi for the gifts it really helps me with my dream of bing a full time author. Chapter 151: The Dark Dream world Chapter 151: The Dark Dream world When Novis opened his eyes, he was weed with an unfamiliar scene. The sky above was dark purple. As he looked around at the ground there was no green grass or soft floor, instead just lifeless soil, no nts or life could be seen. "Where am I?" Novis said. "I''m sorry you got dragged into this, it''s all my fault." When Novis turned around to see who was speaking to him, he noticed that Lucas was there by his side. "Lucas?" "Truthfully I don''t know where this ce is, but when that spirit took over my body, each night when it went to sleep, I was ced here." "A dream world?" Novis thought. "I''m sorry I didn''t know this would happen," Lucas said. "I just touched that scythe and the next thing I know my body was taken over." Lucas began to exin the events that led up to this day to Novis. About how he was looking for a new character and he sensed something call out to him. The spirit he had discovered wanted to take control over his body so the two of them fought but Lucas was overpowered. Lucas was always able to see Mortem control his body and go around but he was never able to do a thing about it. Then when he discovered there were other spirits like Hastam, he started to gain hope. "This isn''t your fault." Novis said, "Look I need to tell you something as well." Novis in return spoke about his experience with Arthur, he exined everything to Lucas even the fact that it wasn''t him that had beaten him that day but his spirit. However, after hearing both stories they realised there was a clear difference between the two spirits. While Arthur worked together with Novis toplete their goal, Mortempletely took over Lucas''s body. "I''m surprised you managed to get so far with so little time, you must actually be pretty good at fighting then," Lucas said. After hearing that his so-called rival was actually a spirit. Lucas was a little upset. The reason he had been training so hard and wanted to get stronger before was to face off against Novis. Lucas in a way was starting to grow bored of the game. There was no one out there his age that seemed to be a match for him, of course, there were several pros out there that were better than him but they were older. If Lucas was to continue improving the way he was he would surely be a top pro. That''s why when he discovered Novis, he started to feel excitement for the game once again. "No I''m not that good, I improved so much thanks to my spirit Arthur and George as well I guess." "Is your spirit here with you now?" Novis then tried to speak to Arthur, he tried switching ces or speaking in his mind, he called out to George as well but there was no reply. It was a strange feeling, for nearly a whole year Arthur had been with him and now he was suddenly gone. It felt like a part of him was lost. "No," Novis replied. "From the looks of things and what you told me earlier, this seems to be simr to the dream world me and Arthur train in, only different." Novis then closed his eyes and started to imagine the weapons he used into his hands. While in Arthur''s mind this was how he was able to use weapons. Then when he looked down, the two chain des were in his hands. "looks like it worked." Novis was unsure if it would work, after all this wasn''t his mind or his body. "That''s a strange looking weapon?" Lucas said. Novis started tough, he felt strange as if a pro yer was inspecting him and judging him. "I can actually use a few weapons but this one is my favourite." While Lucas was trapped inside of Morten, he never witnessed the way Novis had actually fought. The only image he had in his mind of Novis was when Arthur was the one fighting. Mortem had never bothered to watch any of the matches, so he never saw any of Novis''s games. Lucas then did the same as Novis and started to imagine a weapon, suddenly arge purple battle scythe was held in his hand which looked almost identical to the one Mortem was using in the outside world. "You use a scythe now?" Novis asked. "Every night I''ve been facing her, seeing what she does and trying to learn her skills. In the end, it wasn''t enough just watching. To learn the weapon she was using, I had to try to learn to use it myself. It took a while but I finally got the hang of it." "Is she strong?" Novis asked. "Incredibly strong, for some reason, she seems stronger in here than out there." If what Arthur said was correct, then the reason for that would be because of Lucas''s body. While the spirits controlled their bodies, they were only limited to the power of the body itself. But in the dream world, there was no such limit. Arthur could perform sword energy at the same level as he could in his own world and the same with George. "Can you use sword energy?" Novis asked. "What''s that?" Lucas replied. Judging by Lucas''s answer, he had no clue what Novis was talking about, but thinking back to the match he had seen. Arthur said that the level of sword energy that had been performed in the game was that at Level 3. Which meant Lucas should have been able to perform sword energy at a simr level. But before Novis could even exin, Lightning started to strike from the dark clouds above. "What''s going on?" Novis asked. "It''s her." Lucas replied, "She''sing." Just then a powerful lightning strike hit the ground and appeared a female dressed in ck armour. She looked identical to one of the warriors in the game and in her hand she also wielded the same scythe as Novis. "You!" Mortem pointed at Novis," How dare youe into my world, because of you those spirits are waiting for me outside. I have no choice but to hide in here, I know, I''ll just have to use you as a hostage." Mortem wasted no time and rushed forward at the two. "Novis I''m the one that got you in this mess, so I will get us out of it." Lucas then charged forward with the scythe held in his hand, and as Novis looked at him he could see a faint purple aura start to surround his scythe. "He does know how to use sword energy, maybe because he learnt it himself he just didn''t know what it was called?" Novis thought. In return Mortem too covered her de in the purple aura only it was a lot thicker and stronger than Lucas''s. But Lucas wasn''t an idiot and he knew this, he could never win in a battle of strength, he needed to win using his own skill. Mortem swung out her scythe from the side but Lucas managed to block it with the pole end of his weapon. Then Mortem tied to pull the de towards herself, hoping the scythe end would slice him in half. But Lucas was ready, at the right time he used his legs and with the pole propped into the ground, to flip himself over the scythe. As soon as his feet were nted on the floor, he charged forward and swung at Mortem again. "150 times, we''ve fought a 150 times and today is the day I''m going to win." Lucas was fast and swift with his attacks, using each end of his weapon in various different ways. Sometimes he would choke up on the weapon to make it easier to control but when he wanted more power he would step back and hold onto the end of it. Novis watching Lucas was amazed, and just wondered how desperately he must have fought while in the dream world this whole time. Right now, Mortem was on the defensive and she was starting to get annoyed. The sword energy covering her sword weakened, and now instead, it also coved her entire body faintly. This time she ignored Lucas''s attack and allowed it to hit her on the shoulder and into the armour. But the attack simply bounced off. "I have to admit you are skilful, I never thought you would be this good so fast, but you are still weak." She then charged in without worry of receiving any injuries and swung her scythe form above. Lucas went to stab her with the scythe but as she charged forward and it hit her stomach, the scythe simply bent and shattered. "She never did this before," Lucas said, "Why each time I think I''m closer to being free, she seems to get stronger." Then, before the de could be swung down, two chains came out from the side and wrapped around the scythe. As the attack came downward Novis pulled as hard as he could causing the attack to stray missing Lucas and going into the ground. "We can beat her together!" Novis Shouted. Chapter 152: Tug of war Chapter 152: Tug of war Inside the hotel room, the group were deciding what to do, it had been over thirty minutes and there was still no movement from Lucas or any reaction. Although his body was still breathing and his heart was still bumping loudly. "If what you say is true, should one of us go in there and try to pull Novis back out, they might be stuck in his mind?" Hastam said. "Well, there''s always the chance that there stuck in there, or his minds gone to sleep, honestly I don''t really know," George said. "Although I would like to volunteer myself to go inside," said Arthur, "I''m afraid if I leave Novis''s body, without a spirit to control it the body could go limp, it might even stop working." "I''ll do it." Xin said, "You have the young boy to look after George so you can''t do it. If I am to leave Hastam, he can handle himself and besides I have lived for more years then I count, if I do note back out and perish, then it was worth it to see another boy live." The others decided to not say anything out of respect. They could see that Xin was doing something honourable and trying to stop him was useless. It made the most sense after all out of everyone there and Bill was still in shock about everything. "Here goes," Xin said as he detached himself as a spirit from Hastam''s body. He then ced his body on top of Lucas''s and fell on top of him. "Did it work?" Goerge said. Then suddenly, Xin came back up again. He lifted himself up and went back down again, he reached his hand into Lucas''s mind but nothing was working. "It seems whatever I try to do I just go through the boy''s body." "Perhaps it had something to do when Lucas touched Novis''s hand, maybe without realising it Lucas allowed Novis to enter his mind." Goerge said, "I''m really not sure, when there''s just one spirit it''s a lot easier for us to enter into a host, but with two, even before I was stopped by Arthur. It was only because Novis allowed it that I was able to enter his mind as well. Maybe it''s the same thing now." "Well, whatever is happening in there. I''m rooting for you big brother, I know you can do it!" Bill said. **** Inside the VSW game, the intense match was still going on. The Montem team had just taken down the first tower and in return, Westgate had taken the top and bottom tower. "What should we do?" Ashley said, "Should we turn back around and protect out towers." "No, we stick to the n." Alex said, "If we start heading back who knows if there at top or bottom, then we would have to split up and were not strong enough for that. We keep moving forward, I know we were a little slow taking down the first tower but we should be able to take down the second tower as a five quicker than they can split up." The team continued to head forward and eventually reached the tower just in front of the castle. However, the same situation happened again, the spear user was able to continue to hold off the Montem team. He knew how to use his own NPC knights and also the cannon shot from the tower perfectly to dy them as long as possible. In the end, Frank got frustrated and went in for the attack, after killing an NPC knight, he was just within arm''s reach of the spear user, he hopped forward hoping to get a hit. "No, don''t Frank!" Alex shouted. But it was already toote. The Westgate yer had stood just by the NPC as bait, knowing that Frank would try to go for him. Frank was too focused and wasn''t paying attention. He didn''t realise that none of his teams NPC knights had entered the range of the tower, which meant the tower would target him. Out came a cannonball shooting out from the tower. Frank raised his shield in time but the cannonball shot was powerful. As it hit him it sent him back through the air and caused him to drop his shield on to the ground. The damage from the tower was powerful and if it wasn''t for Frank''s ss type being a tank with arge shield, they would have taken a lot more damage than him. However, now that Frank didn''t have his shield, the spear user was ready to attack once again. He threw out his spear at Frank who was still recovering from the blow. But before the spear couldnd on him, a leg came swinging out kicking the spear away and into the ground. "Thank you Dan, I thought I was a goner." But Dan didn''t have time to help Frank up, he was focused more than ever. Before the spear user could pull the chain to collect the spear back, Dan held on to the spear with both hands. The spear user tried to pull on the chain towards him but Dan refused to let go. "Damn this guy, just let go!" He said. "Dan do you need help!" Scarlett asked. "You guys keep pushing towards the tower, I will deal with this guy," Dan said continuing to hold onto the spear. Then the NPC knights who were in that area, started to focus on Dan. His hands were tied up meaning he would be at a disadvantage especially since his warrior focused on using gauntlets to attack with. "Ha, ha, fine, don''t let go, let''s see how long you canst." As the first NPC knight got close to him and was just within range, he swung out hisg fast and hard like a whip knocking him across the floor with a single kick. The next one hade forward but Dan managed to avoid the strike, lifting himself off the ground and performing an axe kick. Before Dan would have never been able to use this as an option, of course, he knew how to kick opponents, but there was a difference when knowing when to kick, which attacks caused the most power, and how to follow up if a kick missed. Right, know Dan was using everything that Tony had taught him. He only wished tony was here to see it. "This is amazing," Josh said,mentating from outside. "As you may now the warrior Dan is using, all his skills require him to use his fists." "So what are you saying?" Cindy asked "That''s right Cindy, everything that Dan is doing know isn''t a skill in the game, he''s using his real fighting experience from the outside world in the game to fight off the knights." The side supporting Montem started to cheer as they saw them taking down the second tower. While the Westgate side had theplete opposite reaction. They continued to watch their team carry on pushing the top and bottom Lanes. As if nothing else was happening. They were busy attacking the two towers and it looked like soon they would fall. The outside crowd started to boo. "We were expecting something else from you guys!" "If Lucas was ying, he would have put on a show." "Are really scared to face these guys on a five vs five, so boring!" The crowd shouted and cursed, and it got so loud that it could be heard through the VR Pods. "Idiots," June said. "They don''t even know what we''re doing and all they do is continue to cry Lucas''s name." June was the team''s leader and the previous captain before Lucas hade along and taken his position. When Lucas had joined the team, they offered him the position of team leader. This offended June greatly after he had built up the team and had done so much for them. But still, Lucas had turned down the position of team leader and said he would onlye to matches when needed. "Hey, I think you guy''s need to turn around ande quick!" The spear user said. "They''re a little better than we thought." "What''s the status on the other tower?" June asked. "It''s about 20 percent until it''s destroyed June." "Excellent, alright we can turn back now." The tug of war match between Dan and the spear user continued until eventually. < Red team tower destroyed > Scarlet and the others were Sessful in destroying the tower. The spear user now had no choice but to let go of his spear. As he ran back towards his castle, he punched one of the NPC knights on his own team in the face and stole his sword. Although he was unable to perform any skills with it, it was still better than nothing. Now down the middlene, there was only one yer in between them and the castle. "We can do this!" Alex said with a smile on his face. ***** Special thanks to AsuraNineThoughts, and Shurikyn_13 for the gifts they really help me continue writing the story and hopes of bing a full-time author. Chapter 153: Working together Chapter 153: Working together With the second tower taken down, the team could feel victory within their grasps. There were no notifications of their own towers being destroyed, so they felt like they were now ahead. All that was left to do was defeat the person standing in front of them and raise the g. It would be Montem''s victory. Although Alex knew that Westgate wouldn''t allow them to win this easy, it was vital for them to carry on with this momentum forward. "Scarlett attack!" Alexmanded. She shot out her arrow up in the sky, and it was heading straight for the opponent. The man then looked carefully at the arrow, ready to block. "Now Ashley, go!" Alex said, But this was all a part of his n. Ashley was the fastest at striking out of all of them. With no more room for the Westgate yer to move back, he had to concentrate on getting rid of the arrows or moving to the side. Either way, he would be busy doing something. Ashley dashed forward, and just as her weapon was about to hit the man, a came flying out wrapping around her. It wrapped around her entire body and flung her to the ground. She rolled and rolled until she eventually stopped still wriggling about on the floor. "It looks like Ashley is trapped!" Josh saidmentating on the game. As you may now the Net throw is a one-time use skill from one of the warriors. It''s Tough to aim it correctly and throw it unexpectedly at your opponent. It''s a very slow-moving item andrge in size, so most of the time yers are able to dodge such a thing." "It looks like this time, Ashley''s speed was used against her, the fact that she ran straight forward allowed her to run right into that trap." Cindy said, "But the props goes to the Westgate yer who was able to time everything perfectly." Out from, the left side of the castle came out June. He had headed back down hisne as soon as he could. Deciding to go around to the front of the tower. The warrior June was ying as a warrior known as the trap master. It carried a single de and had only one basic attack skill. While all four of its other skills were rted to traps. It was a support-type warrior that was rarely seen in low-level games. Most of the time, people wanted to get all the credit by getting high kills or cool fighting videos to show off to their friends. But at the higher-level games, support characters became more frequent. They were able to greatly shift the game in one team''s favour. Ashley continued to wiggle about on the floor. Unfortunately, the type of weapon she used was a blunt one, and she was unable to cut her way out. The more she struggled, the more she seemed to be tangling herself up. Then an arrow came shooting out from the other side of the castle andnded right on her head. She had burst and gone into blue particles in an instant, it was a perfect shot. Everything had happened so fast, and Ashley was too far ahead of the others. They had no time to help her out. "Everyone regroup!" Frank shouted as he held his shield and stood in front of the others. Making sure no one else would be hit by arrows. In front of them was June, the trap master, the spear user who was now using a sword and a crossbow user who had killed Ashley. Then two more people had appeared from behind, one wielding two axes and the other a rapier. "Damn, were surrounded and now were outnumbered as well." When they thought things couldn''t get any worse. < Blue team bottom tower destroyed > < Blue team top tower destroyed > ***** Inside the dream world Novis and Lucas were still busy facing off against Mortem. Novis using his chain de had just wrapped around Mortem''s scythe and pulled it to one side, causing it to hit into the ground. For a second Lucas had given up hope as his attack had shattered his scythe. He stood there, still shocked by the whole thing. "What are you doing Lucas, move!" Novis shouted. Novis focused his mind and now in his hand was Arthur''s long sword, as Mortem raised the scythe one more time she swung it down hard on top of Lucas''s head. Then before it could reach, Novis managed to dash forward, blocking the strike from above. The two were now in a power struggle. With Novis in front of him, Lucas suddenly snapped out of it. "Novis what, I''m alive." He could see that Novis was in front of him pushing back against the scythe, but for some reason, unlike his de that had shatters Novis''s didn''t. He could see it was covered in a faint aura. "Are you just going to watch my back all day, or are you going to help me." Said Novis struggling with all his power. In Lucas''s hands, the scythe appeared once more, and he struck against Mortem''s right shoulder. However, the scythe simply bounced off. But the loss in focus gave Novis the chance to swing his sword out. Deflecting the scythe to the side. Just then, Lucas saw his opportunity to go in for a strike again and again. Still not doing much damage but distracting. Mortem tried her best to ignore Lucas and decided to head for Novis, as he seemed to be the more annoying of the two right now. She charged up the energy in her scythe and swung out a line of sword energy. Novis managed to faintly cover his sword with energy, but it wasn''t enough, knocking it out of his hands. He continued to run forward only this time he held duel des in his hands. Mortem grabbed Luca''s scythe and kicked him back to the side, sending him tumbling to the floor. She threw the scythe away before getting ready to confront Novis. The two of them continued to attack, while Novis did his best to avoid the strikes. Although Mortem strikes were stronger, she was slower with the massive scythe. Most of the weight of the weapon was at the top end, and Novis knew this would cause problems. Watching from the ground, Lucas stared in amazement at Novis''s skill. He couldn''t believe it. When he first saw Novis and had learnt that it was actually Arthur he had fought against, Lucas didn''t think much of him. He started thinking that it was his duty to protect Novis as someone weaker and less skilled than him. But watching it now he felt like an idiot. Novis didn''t need any help, and right now, he was the one helping him. Right now, this was their best chance of defeating Mortem and possibly getting control back of his body. He lifted himself off the ground and allowed for the scythe to reappear in his hand. He let all of his distractions go away, and this time he was ready. Lucas had learnt how to use sword energy by imitating Mortem. The whole time they thought he felt this energy and bit by bit, he was slowly learning how to use it. Now, as he focused his mind on his de, the sword energy grew. More significant than previously before. He no longer had the distraction he once had. While Mortem''s back was turned, she still had the aura faintly covering her back, but at the right time, Lucas lifted up his de and swung it down. It managed to break through her armour and pierce into her back. Mortem flinched at the moment, and Novis wasn''t going to let this go. He switched to the chain des once again and wrapped it around her body and sticking it into the ground, making sure if she tried moving, she would struggle. Then from behind Mortem, Lucas pulled out the scythe and prepared for another attack. While Novis switched to his long sword and did the same. "You fools, you think this will stop anything!" She said, "My friends wille for me, even if you suppress me for now you can''t make me leave this body. They wille and kill you to get to me!" She said. "So what!" Lucas said, "Bring all your friends, and I''ll take them all down one by one, this body is mine Bitch!" He swung his scythe towards the head, and at the same time, Novis did the same with his de. Both of the des covered in sword energy stronger than ever before, and when it reached her neck, the des sliced through the neck like butter. Her head fell to the floor, but no blood could be seen. Instead, slowly the head started to disappear into a purple like mist, the body began to do the same disintegrating into the wind. "We did it!" Novis said. **** Special thank to Seshata, and AsuraNineThoughts for the gifts they really help me get closer to my dream of bing a full time author. Chapter 154: Mini spirit Chapter 154: Mini spirit Inside the hotel room on the bed, Lucas''s body started rapidly shaking uncontrobly. He was bouncing up and down of the bed as if he was having some type of fit. "What''s wrong with him?" Bill asked. "I have no idea!" Hastam shouted a bit panicked at what was going on. Then the shaking started to increase, his hands banging up and down on the bed. "Maybe we should call an ambnce?" Bill suggested, but just then, a faint spirit started to appear from Lucas''s body, slowly lifting itself and detaching from the body, finally out came Novis floating in the air. "Bro! You''re alive!" "Bill, Arthur, everyone I''m d to see your safe." "I''m a bit upset, I''m part of everyone," said George. Novis immediately floated to Arthur''s side and closed his eyes. He didn''t have to do much other than try to go into his body and then a few secondster, Novis was back in control and Arthur returned to his side. He started to pat himself down all over and breathed a sigh of relief. He could now feel again, his senses had returned. "What happened in there? What about Lucas?" Hastam asked. As Novis looked at Lucas on the bed, he noticed that he was lying there still. He then decided to tell the others about what events had taken ce. How they were brought into the spirits dream world, and how it looked entirely different from Arthurs, and finally how the two of them managed to defeat the spirit. "Interesting," George said, "You see the dream world you see in Arthur''s mind is actually a little bit like what his home town looked like. Perhaps the dream world you went to was the world of the spirit." "But it looked so dead." Novis said, "There was nothing alive and off in the distance there were torn buildings and such. I couldn''t imagine what happened to such a ce." Just then, as Novis had finished exining a sound could be hearding from the bed. Small groans started and then eventually, Lucas had opened his eyes. "Where am I?" Lucas said as he looked around the unfamiliar room. Thest ce he remembered being before going to the dream world was inside the car park. "You''re in my hotel room, Novis told us all about what happened?" Hastam said. "What happened to the spirit?" Novis asked, "is it still inside?" Lucas then closed his eyes and started to feel inside himself. When closing his eyes, he could feel two energies inside his mind; each of them looked like a me. One of them was white in colour with a slight tint of purple. It used to be small but now had slightly grown, while the other,st time he had felt this energy, it used to berge. As if it engulfed his whole mind, but the power now was even smaller than his own me. "I think the spirit is still inside me, I can feel it''s energy, it''s still there." Lucas said. But when he spoke those words, he noticed that everyone in the room was staring at him oddly. "What''s wrong, is there something on my face?" Bill then pointed to just above Lucas''s shoulder. As he turned his head, he could see a tiny miniature version of Mortem. "Don''t think you have won just yet!" She said, waving her tiny scythe around. "You might have suppressed me for now, but soon my power will grow, and I will fight you once again for your body. Just you wait and see." As the tiny Mortem waved her scythe and fist about, they couldn''t believe it was the same spirit that seemed so threatening before. Right now, she seemed kinda cute. Although they needed to remember that just moments ago, she did try to kill them all with her allies. Lucas looked down at her, and all she could see was a giant head, she never realised how intimidating something bigger could be. "Go ahead and try it," Lucas said. "I''ll be waiting for you." Mist started to appear from the top of Mortem''s head and then suddenly, she vanished back into her own spot in Lucas''s mind. "Well I guess we won''t be able to ask her what''s going on then?" Hastam said. "I don''t think she would answer us anyway." George replied. Novis then pulled out his phone from his pocket and noticed the time, it had been around an hour and a half since he had left the stadium, but the game had only started about half an hour ago. "Hastam, I have to go! I need to support my friends." Novis said. "Wait, we''ll go together, I am meant to bementating after all." "And I''m guessing I should go support my teammates too," said Lucas. The three boys along with Hastam and their spirits started to head back towards the stadium, lucky for them the stadium wasn''t too far away from the hotel. As the four of them were rushing over, George had a thought on his mind. "Novis would you like me to go back into your mind, I remember before you said you didn''t want your brother involved in this." George asked. "Huh, did he really say that? I don''t mind you hanging out with me, it must be cramped in Novis''s mind after all." Bill replied. Novis thought about it for a while, Bill was only 12 years old at the moment, next year he would be entering the same school as Novis, and he would be able to look out for him. But in the meantime, while Bill was at a different school, there was nothing he could do. "After today I think it''s best if youe with me." Novis said. "Huh what but why?" Billined. "Look at the end of the day, it''s my decision," Novis said. Novis felt like he had two decision. He could either allow George to look after Bill. If a group of mysterious men or other spirits were toe again, then they might go for Bill, and at least bill would have George for protection. But Novis said no for another reason. Having a floating spirit on your side was like having a target on your back. It would soon be the summer and Bill wouldn''t be in school anyway so he would stay home most of the time. If someone was to spot George with him, they might think he was involved in whatever was going on with the spirits and attack him. But looking at his brothers saddened face he had to give in slightly. "Alright, George can stay with you until summeres, but after that, hees back with me. Deal?" Novis said. Although Bill wanted toin at the same time, he knew his brother must have his reason and would only be looking out for him. "Deal!" They had finally arrived just outside the stadium and standing outside were several security guards dressed in ck. They were all members of Gold corp. "I didn''t realise an event like this needed so much security, isn''t it just some small county tournament?" As the three of them arrived the men in ck blocked the path to the entrance. "Just wait a moment, you three." The man said. He then ced his hand up to his receiver to talk to someone on the other end. "Sir the ones you told us to look out for have arrived, and also some other kid." "And they there together?" Tom asked. "Yes, sir." "let the boys go, escort Hastam to me." The man then ced his hand down from the receiver. "You two can go in, Hastam I''m afraid my boss wants to see you." The boys then turned around to look at Hastam who looked just as confused as they did. "Don''t worry about it you guys, I''m sure it''s nothing," Hastam said, with a smile. "They probably just want to tell me off for missing thementating I was meant to do. You guys go in there and support your teams." Although Novis was still curious what Goldware corp had to do with all these spirits, right now, his teammates needed his support. The three of them went past the guards and went straight into the arena. "This way, please." The man dressed in ck said. The Goldware employees continued to lead Hastam until they eventually arrived at arge limo. Whoever wanted to see him was clearly quite high up in the chain ofmand at Goldware. "Please get in," The man said. "At the moment I''ve kinda got a problem with strangers trying to take my life and all, do you mind telling me where we''re going?" Hastam said nervously ready to dash away from the man any second now. "We know," the man said. "That''s why our boss wants to speak to you, we''ll be going to the Goldware headquarters for this one." **** Special thanks to edboy49, yogoboi, Shurikyn_13, and Seshata, for the gifts they really help me on my journey to bing a full-time author. Chapter 155: Losing Everyone Chapter 155: Losing Everyone The three boys continued to head into the stadium, and as they drew closer and closer to the arena, the sound of cheering could be heard. They were no longer participants for the event so they had no choice but to enter into the stadium as spectators. When they finally exited the tunnel, their eyes were immediately attracted to the fight that was being disyed on the screen. On the bottom left of the screen information of the match and additional details were given that users weren''t allowed to see in the game. "They''ve taken down four towers already!" Novis said. "Ah, look Novis, it looks like Ashley has been taken out of the game," Bill said. On the Blue team, it showed a small little avatar of each warrior and the Avatar that Ashely selected had a big red X going across it. "It must be June''s tactics. It looks like he decided to y this game safe, which is just like him." Lucas said. Right now, everyone in the arena eyes was either watching the big jumbo screens above, for a closer look, or down below on the virtual holographic field. And that was because right now the match had gotten to t''s most interesting point. If it wasn''t for this, perhaps the others might have noticed, Novis and Lucas, the two star yers of their teams, were stood just by the entrance. **** "Damn it!" Alex cursed loudly. Not only had they lost one of their better fighters, but they had just been notified that there two towers had been taken. Which meant there was no longer anything between the NPC knights and their base. June knew what he was doing from the very beginning, when he found out the other team had decided to group up as a five, he continued to push the twones. There was no need for them personally to destroy the towers but only to kill enough of the NPC knights on the enemy team. Not only where they now a yer down but they were under what was called a Base rush. They didn''t care about wiping out the other team''s yers, it was a match to decide who would reach the enemy team''s g first. Alex was now unfocused, he felt like everything he had nned was for nothing. This whole time he had in mind that they would be fighting against Lucas. His entire n was revolved around that single yer. He did his best to improvise at the moment, but clearly, it wasn''t working, and without his much-needed preparation, he usually would have he stood their cell shocked. "Everyone get in front of me!" Frank said, "I will cover our behind from the other two, you guys keep moving forward." At that moment, Frank could see that the group needed a leader and Alex was not fit for that role at the moment. His experience as captain for Hershal was finally starting to show as he made a calm decision. Behind the team were a dual-wielding axe yer and a rapier warrior. Frank felt confident if he was to go up against just the axe wielder on his own. He would be able to hide behind his shield most of the time. The problem was going to be the rapier user who focused on speed. Without hesitating the Westgate team moved forward and prepared to risk his life, and so did Frank, aiming to be a solid wall between them and his teammates. The axe wielder was first to charge in, he used all his strength, putting both axes as close together as possible as he swung it hard at Frank''s side. However, Frank was prepared and wielded up hisrge shield just in time. Now it was the rapier wielder''s turn. It was a female yer on the Westgate team. She tried to get around behind Frank, avoiding the shield, but Frank wouldn''t let up. He no longer felt like there would be an opportunity to attack so instead, all he was going to do was defend. If he could just be by the team a few more seconds, it would be worth it in the end. Then suddenly, something unexpected had happened, the axe user was the one who started to try to get around behind Frank. It was a surprising move, and Frank was to slow to react as he had been keeping an eye on the girl too much. Before Frank could do anything else, the axe wielder threw out of his hands, both of the axes were nted right in Frank''s back. But still, Frank stood his ground and held his shield up high, not even dropping it for second leaving no chance for the rapier user to dart forward. Then Frank felt like his foot had been caught in something, he was no longer able to move. As he looked down, he could see that a bear-like trap had been ced on the floor. June who had been watching the confrontation from far away had a smile on his face. Beforehand, he had handed one of his traps to his own yers. Telling them exactly where to ce it and how it worked. Now with Frank stuck, the Axe yer had arrived pulling his axes form Frank''s back, before shing his head off with one hard swing. While Frank was busy dealing with the two behind them. Dan had decided to charge in. The team could no longer waste any more time, they needed to get to the base before the Npc knights did. Scarlett was busy trying to distract the Crossbow user. However, every time she would fire out an arrow, the crossbow user would use her role skill to dodge and get out of the way. But she wasn''t rolling away from the shots. Instead, she was rolling closer. And before she knew it, the crossbow user was close enough to where she could reach out her hand and hit her. Scarlett tried readying her bow but it took a lot longerpared to the crossbow. Bang* One shot was all it took for Scarlett to disintegrate into the blue particles. Now all that was left on the team was Alex and Dan. Not for a second did Dan look back as he charged forward, he wanted to show Tony wherever he was, that the skills he had been taught were useful. While Alex was hesitant with every single action, he was taking. He started to second guess himself at every turn, and it only got worse as it seemed everything was going wrong. Dan had finally reached the spear yer who only wielded a sword now. This meant he was now no longer able to cast any skills and was required to use his real hand to handbat skills. The yer swung the sword at incredibly slow and sloppy. Dan could see what he was nning to do from a mile away and was able to predict his movements. After dodging the strike by slightly leaning back, Dan decided to use his hammer strike skill. This attack focused on doing internal damage. The fist came out fast and short, hitting the yer in the chest and temporary stunning him for a bit. Then using his legs, he kicked him to the face, and he had burst into blue particles. "It seems like Dan is using abination of real-life skills with game skills!" Josh said. "Yeah, I don''t believe we have ever seen Dan perform the game skills before. Our information here states that he''s only been ying the game for a couple of months. No wonder he doesn''t rely on the skills so much." Cindy exined. The Montem crowd started to cheer as the first bit of good news hade to their team. "Come on Dan, I know you can do It!" Novis said. Right, all he wished for was to be able to take part in the game, if he did, then they might have a winning chance. But right now, he felt useless as all he could do was watch from the side lines. An arrow then came shooting out towards Dan''s back. *ng However, Alex had managed to snap out of his hesitancy and decided all he could do right now was support Dan to the best of his abilities. He had drawn his shield and dived in front of the arrow using his shield bash skill at the right moment. "Coem on Dan!" Alex said, "We can do this together." Dan felt strong, he felt powered. He was confident that as long as Alex could cover him for the few mistakes, he made along the way, they could win this game. They ran forward towards the castle again and now the only person who was in front of them was the trap master. All the others were on their backs and would soon catch up though. "This is it!" Dan said, "All I need to do is beat this guy, and we''ve won." But at that moment, a smirk appeared on June''s face. "Time''s up." Chapter 156: Dealing with a loss Chapter 156: Dealing with a loss The massive screen above the arena disyed victory on one side, while on the other is disyed defeat. While one side of the stadium was up in cheers, the other end was quiet. But as they saw their team members exit out of their pods, they couldn''t help but cheer for them. "You did good guys!" Novis shouted, "You never gave up until the very end, I saw it I saw it!" Tears were now rolling down his face. Not because of the loss but because he wasn''t there when they needed him. His teammates looked back at him and smiled. "looks like the idiot was safe after all," Scarlett said. "Yeah," Ashley said, "but we didn''t get to keep our promise." As the Montem team walked towards there exit, the cheers from them got even louder. The crowd started pping and chanting out their name once more. There were even Ashley''s hardcore fans still chanting out her nickname. "We will never forget you monster!" "Yeah, you were just unlucky, we''ll stille to support every one of your games." The crowd remembered how everything that happened to this point was a dream. They never believed they could get this far, and it was only because of the Montem team in the first ce they could. And it was all thanks to the people below that they had hope and a team to cheer for. "It''s a shame we didn''t get to see the showdown we were expecting." Josh said, "But never the less, the two teams delivered an exciting match. "I couldn''t agree more," Cindy added. "Montem using their sheer brute force manged to steam there way into the semifinals but in the end, their experience just wasn''t enough." As the two teams started to exit from the arena, the attention of the crowd slowly began to turn towards Novis and Lucas, who were standing right next to each other. "Hey, isn''t that?" "Yeah, what are they doing here?" "I think we better get out of here," Lucas said. "Agreed." Novis replied, "Bill, I''ll see you at home." He said as he ran off with Lucas into the distance." **** The next day the Montem team had agreed to meet up in a coffee shop. It was a Sunday, and with no tournament for them topete in, there was no longer any need for the VSW Team to carry on practising. Like they usually did. As Novis entered the room, he could see his teammates all sitting down there with their head down depressed. Each of them had either a hot drink or soft drink in front of them. But this day, even Novis himself wasn''t feeling so good as he went to approach the gang. They greeted him and said hi as he sat down at one of the booths next to Scarlett. But after that, not much was said. Finally, Alex was the first one to break the silence. "I''m sorry everyone, it was my fault we lost, I should have made another n. I was just so sure that Lucas would y in the match that it never even urred to me that he wouldn''t." "You can''t me yourself Alex," Scarlett said, "Without you, we wouldn''t have even had an alternative strategy. They were clearly stronger than us not just in tactics but fighting skills as well. We probably wouldn''t have even been able to take a single tower." "I shouldn''t have rushed in", Ashley said. "And I should have gone forward more", Dan added. "I should have," Frank then paused for a second. "Actually, I think I did quite well in that game if I''m honest." There was an awkward silence between everyone, as Frank said those words. Although it was true, it just felt like a weird time to say such a thing. "No, no one should be ming yourselves. You all did your best" Novis said, "It was me, I should have been there, I don''t even have the chance to say I did my best because, at the end of it, I wasn''t even in the game." The VSW tournament had nearlye to an end. There was one more week until the finals would take ce. After that, there was a solid week where the winners of each county would face each other to be the countries secondary school winners. Which meant summer was just around the corner and soon they would be in their final years of school. "Well, we still have next year, we can practice over summer!" Alex said excitedly. "Yeah, most of us had hardly yed the game, and we got so far." Ashley added, "Think about what we can do next year." "This is how we should be," said Scarlett. "We shouldn''t be thinking about the loss we had, but how far we havee as a team. Next year I know we''re going to be stronger." While everyone was acting pumped up and excited as they talked about next year. There was one person who didn''t sound energetic at all. In fact, he hadn''t said a word after next year was mentioned. "Hey, Novis is something wrong?" Scarlett asked. "About next year" *** Yesterday after the VSW tournament had ended, to get away from the crowds Lucas and Novis decided to head into town. Soon the people would exit from the arena, and there was bound to be people that knew the two of them. The two were currently on the high street sat down on a bench together. "Hey, Novis what are your ns for the future?" Lucas suddenly asked. "The future?" This question had been asked more than once, and every time it got brought up, he thought he could give an answer. This time Novis was ready to answer truthfully. Before he had realised it, he had fallen in love with the game. "I want to be a pro," Novis replied. Lucas nodded his head and got off from the bench. "Good answer!" Lucas said, "I realised that so far all I had been doing was following in my father''s footsteps, I realised this when I met you. I love the game, but I wish to carve my own path and not through my father''s connections. I n to apply for Titan university in two years. There a good university but their selection process is brutal. Still, it allows those to be the very best and turn pro once they leave. I made sure to pick a ce that would be good for my development but also away from my father''s influence." Lucas then held out his hand. "Lucas, when we both fought against Mortem that day, I felt something between the two of us. As long as me and you are on a team, we can do anything together. I don''t want to fight against you, but with you. Do you want to join me?" **** That day while with his friends at the coffee shop. Novis had told his friends he was quitting the team and would no longer be taking part next year. It was a fun year, but he wanted to take his practising up to the next level with Arthur and George. He needed to not only get better at fighting but learn everything about the game if he wanted to have a chance at joining Titan university. They all smiled and understood. The team themselves felt like Novis perhaps carried to much weight on his shoulders for the team, and they realised that with the game against Westgate. Summer quickly ended, and it was the start of the new year. Bill no longer possessed by George now attended the same school as Novis. He had promptly joined the team as the fifth member and participated in the uing matches. The winners ofst year''s tournament were Westgate, but they got knocked out of the country semi-finalsst year by another team. It came as quite a shock to Novis that there were other schools out there stronger than Westgate. Of course, this had all happened without Lucas taking part. He had immediately dropped out of the tournament after gaining control back of his body. This year the Montem team managed to win the county tournament against Westgate in the final and moved on to the country tournament. However, they too were knocked out in the quarter-finals. Although they were pleased with their result, and now Alex was able to prove to his mother, he had a chance of bing pro. Novis achievements during the tournament were quickly forgotten. Even back then he was only well known in his area, but now they had forgotten everything about the ex-star yer of theMontem team. Then once again, summer had arrived. Over thest year, Novis had sent multiple messages to Hastam, but he never got a single reply back. It was the same for Lucas, and neither one of them knew what happened to him that day. He still turned up to y for his professional team games but seemed to be ying less and less as time went on. As long as Novis knew he was safe, it was enough for him. The big thing that didn''t disappear from everyone mind though was the Virtual sword god! It had been over a year since he hadst logged in online. Many were hoping he would rise to the rank of God, and take on the pros. But it never happened. Articles still to this day were being published about guesses of just who was the virtual sword god. Rumours had even gone around that he had died. Then one day, everyone who had been following him received a new notification. [Pendragon is online] The legendary inte star was back only this time, he was using a new Warrior. "What weapon is that, a chain de?" **** End of the first Arc. Thank you, everyone, who has supported me so far. Tomorrow will be the start of a new Arc. Thank you for the gifts they really help and I will see you tomorrow with a new chapter. Chapter 157: The Legend is back Chapter 157: The Legend is back So far, it had been a typical summer for most of the students. They had just finished taking their final exams, and some were nning to apply for their university. While others were moving up a grade in school. But what no one expected while out that day, was to receive a notification they hadn''t seen in an entire year. [User Pendragon is online] The online forums andmunities went wild once more. *Ding "Hey did you see, he''s back?" "Yeah, I guess he didn''t die after all." "Maybe he was in an ident or something?" "We have to tell everyone this is big news." But then something even more shocking was seen. Instead of selecting the usual two warriors, they had seen him y before. An entirely new warrior was selected. "Is that Heros Puer, I don''t know anyone that ys him." "Yeah, the pro''s said he''s quite difficult to master even for newbies, especially since the warrior has no skills. Who has the time to learn a character that hard." "Well, he can try out characters for now I guess." Because the ount Pendragon had not been active for more than a year, currently he was unranked. Every year a new season started which meant all the ranks got reset. However, based on your rankst year, when ying your first ten games to see where you would be ced, they would usually only match you with people two whole ranks below. So right now, Pendragon was only going up against gold yers. Still, everyone was excited to see the Virtual sword god back online. "Are we sure it''s him ying?" "It has to be, the Virtual machine is linked to the person by scanning their face. Sure they can make multiple ounts, but no one else can y using the ount Pendragon. What the others didn''t know was that in today''s game, it was not the usual Arthur or George; instead, it was Novis. As he entered the game, he started to look around at the scenery. "It''s been so long." "You''ve had a growth spurt in thisst year." George said. "I can hardly tell any difference between you and your warrior now." Novis now was at the age of 16 and had just finished secondary school. Before students at this age had two choices, they could either go to work or start aiming for a university. The actual university course wouldn''t start until you were 18. But they also had a preliminary University you could join for two years at age 16. Usually, universities would use these two years to grow their talent and eventually ce them into their own pro team. Although if you showed incredible talent at ages 16 and 17, at the preliminary university, you would still be able to join their team. For thest year, Novis had been training hard for this day. Taking Arthur and George''s advice, they told him to stop ying the game and try his best at experiencing danger in the real world. It was differentpared to fighting in the game or in the dream world, where there were no real risks. Although it felt real, there was no pain and no chance of dying. If Novis wanted to increase his sword energy, then he would need to experience pain and actual risk. For thest year he had been doing odd jobs helping out trying to save money, while also training his body. Once he had obtained enough money, he would buy a train ticket and travel to the nearby town and cities looking for fighting experts. One at a time, Novis would challenge these so-called experts. If he lost, he would go train harder ande back until he beat them travelling once again. Between the real-world fightingmunity even, Novis was starting to get his own name. Crazy boy. Dan was actually the one who got him in contact with most of these well-known fighters, some even only fighting on the street. They thought that perhaps the Crazy boy being so young would be able to show the world the true art of real fighting at the next Olympic games. Something that had been losing poprity ever since the introduction of the Esport Olympics. However, one day the Crazy boy stopped appearing. "Do you mind if I take mid?" Novis asked the other contestants on his team. "Yeah sure, just don''t make us lose." A person replied before another one pulled him off to the side. "Hey, don''t you know who that is? Can''t you see his yer ID?" The other person whispered. "Huh, is he famous or something, I''ve only been ying a year." "Just type in virtual sword god into PlueTube, and you will see what I''m talking about." The man who had pulled the other to the side stepped forward. "Sure please go ahead, and I hope you can carry this game for us." Novis then rushed forward into hisne without saying much to the others. The reason he was ying on Pendragon''s ount rather than his own Pronovis was because his rank had only reached silverst season. If he was to join a game at most, he would only be ying against bronze yers the weakest of weak. Novis wanted to see if his training had paid off, so he decided to use Arthur''s ount. "Now remember, no sword energy." Arthur said, "if your opponent is not using sword energy, then you are banned from using it. Relying on it will only worsen your skill." "I remember," Novis said. As he charged forward into the middlene, an arrow came flying out from the side of the forest. "An ambush already." Novis said, "Your user ID really does cause problems." Instead of going to the enemy yer stationed on the other end of the tower, Novis decided to head into the forest to deal with the ranged user first. Although he hadn''t been ying the game, he had been doing research non-stop. Watching how the pro''s yed, learning all of their tricks, and about decision making. Even though Novis was no longer on the team, he was still good friends with the VSW club, and from time to time he would ask Alex for help or his opinions on what he would do in certain situations. As Novis ran towards the forest, the user readied his bow once again. From behind, Novis could hear footsteps. The man in the centre had followed him. "What a pain." Waiting for the perfect moment, Novis kept his eye on the bow user. He drew back his string and then just as he was about to fire, Novis quickly dashed to the side and threw out his chain de wrapping around the bow user''s hand. He yanked on the chain, pulling the target slightly to the left. All of this was done with perfect timing, and at the same time, the arrow had left the bow. But what Novis was aiming for was using the attack to his own advantage. He had changed the course of the attack to aim in a specific direction. His own teammate who was behind him. The enemy had no time to react as the bow came towards him, and it hit him straight in the chest, causing him to flinch. Before he knew it, Novis was already behind the man with the spear in his hand, he plunged it into the yers back, but chose a specific spot where it wouldn''t kill the man. The game was hyper-realistic to the point where it charted all the human organs in the body. As long as he didn''t hit anything too severe, the person wouldn''t burst into blue particles. Using the spear and his own body, he pushed the teammate forward using him as a shield against the ranged user, then finally when they were close enough. Novis jumped on top of the man''s shoulders and sliced both of their heads off at the same time with the long sword. "A bit of a brute but fair enough." George said. The game continued with no more yers attacking Novis and eventually he had one his very first game. Watching the disy and unique use of items got the onlinemunity excited once again. "Did he take a year off just to learn how to y this character?" "That could be possible, maybe he went and tried to learn all these weapons to master the warrior, perhaps he''s actually really OP if you learn how to use him." "He''s a genius, how can someone y three different warriors almost perfectly. He really will upset the pro scene." The onlinemunity couldn''t stop praising the virtual sword god, some users felt he was a little rustypared to other matches in the past, but their reasoning was because he was using an entirely new warrior that he was quite unfamiliar with. There was one person who was also watching the Virtual sword god, and that Was Josh form Tick media. "That character he''s using, it reminds me of that Boy, Novis." Although many had long forgotten of the feats, Novis achieved two years ago. Josh did not, he thought one day that Novis woulde back and upset the scene next year but was surprised when he saw he was no longer on the Montem team. He couldn''t find out the reason why and was afraid he might have dropped the game altogether. Or perhaps had serious family matters. The way the Virtual sword god fought now, remind him of the Novis back then. ''If he had trained for a year, would he be this good now?'' Josh thought. No, it was impossible. The virtual sword god and Novis skills were miles apart. Perhaps one day but there was no way they were the same person. One more person was watching the match and smiled at the screen. "looks like your back Novis, and stronger than ever. See you at the pro games." Hastam said. **** Special thanks to edboy49, yogoboi, AsuraNineThoughts, and Shurikyn_13, for the gifts really help me with my goal of bing a full time author. Chapter 158: Titan Tryouts Chapter 158: Titan Tryouts It had been an entire year since Novis had yed the game and it felt good to be back in it again. His movements, his senses, everything felt more in synch with the environment. Now that his body had grown in size, it didn''t feel awkward controlling a warrior slightly bigger than him. "You have improved." Arthur said, "I am proud of you." Novis exited from the gaming pod and went over to his desk where there was a leaflet out on the table. The leaflet read: Titan university tryouts, must be 16+. ''It''s tomorrow, everything I have done so far was for this.'' Last year Lucas hade to Novis with an offer, for the two of them to try out for Titan university together. Unlike regr universities, Titan university focused on Esports, and they were well known for their university team. When Novis asked his mother if he could try out, she was actually very pleased. Novis never did get good grades at school, and she always worried about what he would do in the future. But at least now it seemed like he had a goal. **** The next day as Novis was leaving the house to go to the trial matches surprisingly, Scarlett was outside waiting for him. She gave a little smile and waved at him as he walked over. "What are you doing here?" Novis asked. "I know it''s your big day today and I was here to wish you good luck." She said as she handed over a small container to him. Novis looked at the container and noticed that they were some cookies inside. "I made them myself." "Thank you, I''ll eat them on my way there, I didn''t have breakfast this morning." The two of themughed and then there was a slight awkwardness between the two of them. "I guess if you get in, we won''t see each other as much anymore." She said. Scarlett wasn''t like Novis, she enjoyed ying the game with her friends but never nned to take it seriously. Even if she did, she knew she wasn''t good enough in the first ce. Her ce in life was not ying games. "Of course we will, you''re my best friend. I will always keep in contact with you." Said Novis, "And I think you will make a great nurse taking after your mother." ''Hey Novis, why don''t you just confess already?'' Said George. ''What do you mean?'' ''Come on, we know you like her, and you might not see her again for a while.'' ''A confident man is an attractive feature. I think you should do it'' Arthur added. It was true. When he found out that Scarlett was looking at Dan and called him handsome, Novis was getting jealous. He didn''t realise it at the time, but slowly over thest year, he realised that he had feelings for Scarlett. However, he was about to go to a different University for at least two years, maybe even longer. Even if she did say yes, it wasn''t fair on her to wait for him. But with the encouragement of his two-spirit friends, he clenched his fists. "Scarlett, there''s something I wanted to tell you..." Novis had fought hundreds of fights by now, he had even faced death with a gun and fought in another dream world but nothingpared to the horrible feeling he had right now. "Novis, it''s okay," She said, "You can tell me when youe back." Scarlett had a massive grin on her face as if she already knew what Novis was going to ask. She quickly ran back off down the street towards her house. "Just don''t forget about me okay, and text me every once in a while." She shouted. "Did she know?" However, Novis didn''t have much time to worry about that, for the selection process for Titan wasing up, and he needed to head to Westgate school as soon as possible. The university itself wasn''t located in the same county that Novis lived in, but they did do heavy recruitment. There were two ways to get into the university, either to be offered a scouting contract. They had a small team of scouts that would go to tournaments and offer them to the best yers. If offered a contract, the university tuition would bepletely paid for. Then there was the second way. Every year during the summer, they would pick a school in each county and allowed anyone toe for trials. A strict set of tests would be used to determine who would be able to join and who wouldn''t. The test didn''t care about your past achievements, they didn''t care who your family members were. They just cared about how you performed on the day. This year the trials were set to be done at Westgate school. After taking a short bus ride to Westgate, he noticed that there was already a lot of people outside. The schools were closed which meant everyone that was here, was here for the Titan trials. As he continued to walk forward, Novis must have estimated there was at least five hundred people here. He carried on looking around until he spotted Lucas, but what surprised him was, Lucas wasn''t alone. Standing next to him were three other boys he noticed as well. "What are you guys doing here?" Novis asked. "We''re here to take the trial of course," Alex said. Not only was Alex there, but Frank and Dan as well. "When we heard you were nning to join this university we thought we couldn''t let you go on your own, what would you do without us?" Dan said. "But I thought you guys already picked your universities," Novis said. "We did." Frank replied, "But there Is no harm in trying out for Titan. Remember Novis, you''re not the only one with a dream of going pro." Novis''s teammates never thought they would be able to make it into a team like Titan. If it was them from two years ago, they wouldn''t have even dared to show up at the trials. But over thest year, each of them felt confident. They had even won their county tournament. So they had to be at a decent level to get that far. "Actually Lucas, I''m surprised you didn''t get scouted by Titan university?" Alex asked. Lucas then looked around before replying. "Actually I did, a few years ago as well." Suddenly the others felt depressed that they would be taking the test next to some genius monster. "Then, why are you here?" Frank asked. "Well, as I told Novis I want to create my own path, I want to be a new person without my father''s backing. I actually changed my name. I''m no longer Lucas Bell, But Lucas Lally. I decided to take my mother''s name instead. Most people only know me because of my name and don''t really know what I look like." "Now that you mention it, you changed your hairstyle." Novis pointed out. Before Lucas always had his Hair neatly gelled back, but right now it was a curly mess. Lucas started tough. "Well, you never know, there could be some people who knows what I look like." While out on the field, everyone was waiting patiently for an announcement. There were no staff outside or officials, but the leaflet said toe to this exact ce. With nothing else to do the group decided to do some stretches to warm up. That''s when they noticed the others doing the same. "Why the need for stretching, aren''t they going to see our skills in the game?" Frank asked. "Actually, every time they have done this test, its been quite physical." Lucas replied, "There has been no VR equipment involved, and they want to see how you are in real life." Suddenly, the school speakers started to make an announcement on the outside field. "Wee all to the official Titan selection process. Today I will be the assessor of your trial." As the students looked around to see where the voice wasing from, they spotted a man on the third floor of the school building staring out of the ss window. "There are a few things that you all need to know before the test begins. First, we have confirmed that there are a total of 523 candidates participating in today''s test. Now, this isn''t an ordinary test, for you will all bepeting against each other. Out of everyone here, a maximum of Five will pass!" The students startedining and making an uproar. They knew not many of them would be selected, but only five was a crazy low amount. "Five is a best-case scenario, we may not even decide to ept any of you, or maybe just one of you will seem good enough for us. Titan aims to be the top of the top, and our students must also have the same goal. I will be observing you all carefully, so give it your all!" Chapter 159: Heart Rate Race Chapter 159: Heart Rate Race The assessor for Titan today was Biden, he was currently standing on the third floor looking out the ss windows at the contestants below. A few teachers from the Westgate school had volunteered to help, and were handing out wristwatches to each of the contestants. But he wasn''t the only one at today''s trials. Standing by his side, Was Josh form Tick media. He too was looking down at the students, and when he spotted a familiar face, a huge smile appeared. "It''s him, so he really didn''t give up," Josh said, looking at Novis. "But Titan is a tough path to take. Let''s see how far you make it." While looking at Novis, Josh also looked around him to see if there was anyone else he noticed, he could see all the boys from Montem''s VSW team. "It''s a shame that Ashley decided to focus on a career in kendo to help out her father, she would have also done well in this test," Josh said. But there was one person with them he didn''t know. It seemed like the change in hairstyle had done the trick for Lucas. Once all the students were ready and had their wristwatches were on, Biden started to speak through the speakers once again. "Now if you all look at your wrist watches you will notice a number disyed, remember that number well for that is your golden ticket." As Novis looked at his watch, he noticed he was number 23. "Those watches contain the most advanced technology on the market, but for this test, they will simply be used to measure your heart rate. If you look out to the track field, you will see one of our yers from our Titan university team." There was a young university student in a track outfit, he was currently doing stretches just in front of the 400-meter track. "There are two rules to this test. If at any point and time your heart rate reaches above 120BPM you will be out, or if our Runner here passes you on the track, then you too are out." Hearing the news, the contestant''s heart rates were already beating like crazy. Many of them were nervous, and having the pressure of the Runner just made it beat even faster. "I see." Arthur said, "The test is not just a simple fitness test. Anyone with a decent level of fitness should be able to keep running at a pace and keep their heart rate low. But they are also looking for those with a solid mind. Those who are not affected by the atmosphere or pressure." The Runner then started to gather the students on the track. He stood in front of the others by a distance of around 50 meters. In the crowd of people, each person was performing their own calming techniques, some meditating, breathing in and out, listening to music etc. "We will now be turning on the heart rate monitors." As Novis looked down, his heart rate was beating at 82, it was a lot higher than his normal resting heart rate, which proved the event was getting to him. Lucas was fearing a lot better with a resting rate of 72, and Dan had a simr score. The problem was Alex. He was currently at 90, and it seemed to be slowly rising. The race hadn''t even started yet, but it was clear the pressure was getting to him. "Number 232 Eliminated," Biden said, "Number 34 Eliminated, number 67 eliminated." The pressure was too much for some of the students, and their heart rate was out of control. As soon as the devices turned on, they went past the 120 mark, causing them to be eliminated on the spot. As Novis peaked over again at Alex, his face was now visibly sweating. And the number on his watch was rising. 101. 102. 103. Novis then Grabbed Alex by the shoulders. "Alex you need to calm down, I know you care about this, but you''ve already made it. Remember you led the team to victory for the tournament this year, you have nothing left to prove to these people." Dan too ced his hand on his other shoulder. "We''re in this together Alex, if that runner catches up to you, we''ll just run over together." Suddenly, his heart started to go down a little. "Thank''s guys I''m sorry for worrying all the time." Once the names had finished being called out, the whistle was blown, and the race had started. The Runner up ahead ran a lot faster than the others thought, and that''s when they noticed something. He didn''t have a wristwatch like them. He was free to either try sprint past them around the track or set the pace at whatever he wanted. With the whistle blown another group of contestants were eliminated as their heart rates went up. The pace was fierce, and after only a few minutes of running around, many others were soon knocked out of the race. "Just ignore the watch." Lucas said, "The more you think about it, the harder and more tired you will get, this isn''t just about physical endurance but mental as well." Out of the four of them, Alex was struggling the most puffing and panting hard. The group were now actually at the very back, as they decided to stay with Alex. Unlike the rest of the group. Alex had neverpeted in many sports. The only activities he ever did where thepulsory ones that were at school. "You guys.. don''t .. have..to stay with me." Alex managed to get out as he huffed air in and out. "Alex stop speaking, just focus on running we can do this," said Novis. The entire group had now been running for a good fifteen minutes. Many were tired, but they were a few contestants that stood out and didn''t have a sweat on them. As Josh saw Novis at the back of the group, he started to feel a little nervous as he knew what was soon toe. One of the students who had a long pointy nose was in the lead and had a smile on his face. He had yet to get a sweat on him but could see others struggling. This had given him a sudden idea. He then decided to pick up his own pace, chasing after the Runner in front. "What is he doing?" The others thought. "Shouldn''t he be saving his energy, why is he sprinting. Who knows when the Runner will stop." Pointy nose continued to run faster until eventually, he was just behind the Runner upfront. "Oh, someone actually managed to catch up with me. I guess there might be some useful ones in this bunch after all." The Runner then looked at Biden in the school, to which he nodded confirming something. "I guess it''s that time anyway." The Runner, all of a sudden he started to pick up the pace even more. He had broken free form the pointy nose, and the pointy nose tried his best to keep up but as he started running faster after the Runner. Something happened without him realizing. *BEEP "Contestant number 12 eliminated." "What!" The pointy nose shouted, "But I''m not tired, I just made a mistake, I can still run. I could outrun all these people here." The pointy noseined. "Contestant Number 12, please leave the field, or you will be escorted." The pointy nose had no choice but toply. His dream of entering Titan was over just like that. The man was quickly outrunning the group and would soon catch up to them. If the whole group didn''t pick up their pace soon, then the Runner would pass them all eliminating them. "IS that really just a yer on the Titan team?" The students said. "He seems more like a professional runner, how is he so fit." The Runner was now getting closer to the back of the group were Novis and his friends were. "Hey Novis, we might have to leave your friend!" Lucas said. "Otherwise we''ll all be knocked out." The people just in front of them could see the Runner behind them, they picked up the pace, and at the same time, a new group of announcements were made. They were too focused on the Runner behind they had forgotten about their own heart rate. "If I catch up to him, maybe I can slow him down!" Novis said. He then ran as fast as he could and at the same time would constantly stare at his wristwatch. In an instant, Novis had passed the leader of the group. "What is that person doing? Is he crazy, he''s going to set off his watch." But Novis made sure to keep an eye on his watch running just fast enough, so his heart rate stayed between 116 to 118. "The rules didn''t say anything about making the Runner slow down. If I can just reach him" Novis thought. As Josh saw Novis running faster then the others a tingling feeling was felt down his spine. How could someone run at that speed without causing their heart rate to increase, did the pressure not get to him like the others? But right now, Novis was only focused on one thing, and that was catching up to the Runner in front. However, as Novis got halfway through the track and was still a 100 meters away from the Runner in front, he was able to see him past the veryst person at the back. "Contestant 25, eliminated." Suddenly, Alex had stopped running. Chapter 160: The second trial Chapter 160: The second trial Josh had watched the whole thing from above, how Alex''s teammates had supported him nearly through the entire thing. They truly acted like a team. It was a shame that the first test was stamina rted. Someone like Alex would never survive. He had always relied on his brain powers when it came to matches. In truth, Josh felt like Alex would more suit a coach. To be a professional using your brain wasn''t enough. Nearly all the top yers were in top physical condition that passed the regr stats they gave the warriors in the game. At the same Josh felt like the first test was a little too easy for Novis and Lucas, it didn''t seem like they had broken a sweat and even towards the end of it, Novis still had enough energy to go out in a sprint. Simply put, the test was too easy for them. The whole group was currently resting at the side of the track. The first trial had beenpleted. Some were crying out tears of sadness, while others had tears of joy. "I''m sorry guys, it looks like I won''t be able toe to Titan with you after all," Alex said. "It was always a shot in the dark anyway." As he said these final words, tears started to run down his face. "Huh, why am I crying, I knew I wouldn''t make it." The thought of them not ying as a team again was what made Alex upset. He had enjoyed their time together and missed out ying with Novisst year. He was hoping just maybe, they could y together as a team again. "Alex," Novis called out to him. "Don''t worry. We will see each other. Maybe it won''t be as a team but against each other next time. Don''t give up." The tears were wiped away from Alex''s face, and now a smile had appeared. "Good luck to you all." The contestants that had been knocked out of the first trial were told to head home. It was a shame he wouldn''t be able to cheer on Novis and the others, but he understood. Now remaining on the field was around 250 contestants. It looked like nearly half had already been eliminated and it was only the first test. Fifteen minutes had passed since the first test had finished, and once again, an announcement was made. "256 candidates have passed the first test, which means it is now time for the second test to begin." Said Biden. "The next one is a simple test of will." Just then, two staff members hade out with a big bowl of sand. Underneath the bowl of sand was a me slowly heating it up. As soon as Novis saw this, he smiled. "Huh, what are you getting so happy about?" Lucas asked. "If the next test is what I think it is, then it''s going to be a walk in the park for me," Novis replied. "All of you beforeing here when registering had signed our terms and conditions, all though I doubt any of you read them. But any injuries in today''s test will not be liable by us to university. If you wish to quit before taking this next test, then that is up to you." The students gulped as they heard these words, if Biden was saying this, then the next test must be tough. "You must stick your hands into the sand pot for a total of one minute. You will have to cover it from the wrist uppletely. We will have dedicated staff on standby who have designed a special cream to put on straight after. It will cool down your hands and repair any of the damaged cells." "Are they crazy, isn''t this torture?" "So what if we can heal our hands after, we still have to go through all the pain." "Quiet!" Biden shouted. "This is a simple test of your mental strength. You must bare through the pain. No matter what happens, we will see those who wish to be pro and those who do not." The test had begun and one by one students were called up to the pot of sand. The me continued to burn brightly underneath the sand. When standing directly above it, it was impossible to tell how hot the sand would be. The first student immediately dunked both hands in and at the same time, he screamed at the top of his lungs. The student didn''tst more than ten seconds before taking them back out. The test continued with many getting eliminated and only a few passing. After watching the first student get treated, and his hands didn''t look any worse than when he first started. It allowed other students to take the plunge easier. Then out of the three of them, it was Dan''s turn first. He looked at the pot of sand and dug his hands in, and as he did, not a sound was heard. His mouth moved a little as he bared the pain, but he was the quietist contestant so far. "Contestant 83 pass." "Whoa, who was that guy?" "Yeah, it was like it didn''t affect him at all." "Pretty boy." Novis said, "Always getting the attention even here." When Dan ced his hands into the pot, images of Tony appeared. He had promised to get revenge on the Ruman family one day and if he couldn''t even go through a little pain like this. He felt like he would never be able to aplish his goal. The next to go out of the three of them was Lucas. When Lucas looked at the pot for the first time, he felt a little nervous. He was confident when it came to skill-based stuff and stamina, but how was his will power? Even he was unsure. He dived his hands into the sound and screamed like the students before him. His body was immediately telling him to take them out, and he was doing everything he could to keep them in. "Come on! Come on! How long has it been!?" Lucas yelled. But as time went on, he released that it was only the initial part that was painful. Soon the pain in his hands started to dull and finally. "Contestant 56 Pass." He immediately went to the staff member to apply the cream and nearly in an instant, his red raw hands colour was returning, and they felt cool once again. A few more students got called up with some passing and some failing, and eventually, Novis''s number was called. "Contestant 23,e up here." Novis was thest contestant to perform today''s test, and most of the others were busy chatting away or resting for the next test. The only ones paying attention to Novis was his friends and Josh. Novis, with no hesitation, ced his hands into the pot. "Wait!" The staff member said. "I didn''t ask if you were ready, I forgot to start the timer." "It''s okay, just start it," Novis said calmly as if his hands were in any pile of sand. The staff member had a strange look on his face and started the stopwatch. When he did, he started to look underneath the pot of sand to check if the fire was on. The mes were burning just as bright as before. It was the first student who seemed to have no reaction to the thing at all. When Novis saw what the test would be, he knew he would pass in an instant. When training with Daiki to learn sword energy. Daiki had made him do this on a daily basis. And when he did, there was no cooling cream to heal his hands or take away the pain. By now Novis could hardly feel anything in his hands anymore, he had done it so much. "Time, Contestant 23 Pass." "You always seem to surprise me," Josh said, looking up from above. As the others heard the staff member say pass, they looked towards the pot. They didn''t even know that another contestant was taking the test. So far nearly everyone screamed, and they would then turn to look at that moment. The reaming students were told to gather on a specific section of the field were wooden equipment was out on the floor Infront of them. When everyone had gathered, they had realised that the number of contestants had significantly lowered. This time Biden had exited out of the school and hade down himself to see all the contestants. "It seems like the tests this year were tougher then I thought." Biden said, "Or maybe it''s just the students have gotten weaker this year. Only forty of you remain." "Only forty?" "Wasn''t there around five hundred when we first started?" "I can''t believe this many people got knocked out." "I''m not surprised, I nearly passed out at thest test." Biden interrupted the chattering students and continued to speak. "We have so far tested, your stamina and speed; for this test, we will now test your technique. I hope you are all prepared." Chapter 161: Digital Weapons Chapter 161: Digital Weapons On the field in front of them, there were several types of handles on the floor. It looked like they had gathered a bunch of weapons and left nothing behind but the hilt. Then on the other side, was a square box that allowed for a fully sized adult to fit inside. "This test will test out your reflex skills." Biden then walked over to the strange-looking hilt like handles on the floor. He picked one up and tapped it on its side. Out came a beaming light of energy, almost like a hologram in the shape of a sword. "This, is a digital sword." As the contestants saw this, each of them started to get excited. "Finally, it looks like we''re going to do something actually rted to the game." They had grown sick and tired of these mental tests, or stamina test, and it looked like they were finally going to do something that imitated the game. Biden then went on to the ground and picked up a different hilt. This time when pressing the button on the side, the beam of light came out once again, only it looked like a spear. "We have a wide range of digital weapons here," Biden said. "You may choose whichever one you wish. This test will consist of two contestants. One will stand in the white box area. While the other will hold one of the digital weapons in their hand. The attacker is allowed to strike once and must try to hit the user in the box with the weapon, the person in the box must do everything they can to avoid the strike. The user in the box is unable to leave the box, if they do they lose that round. If they avoid the strike, then the person in the box wins the round. Don''t worry, the digital swords do no harm when they touch your body." Biden then demonstrated this by stabbing himself with the digital spear he had just activated. It went right through his body and started to distort a little. "The watches will make a sound if the user is hit, once one round has beenpleted then the two will swap. The two will continue to swap until a winner is found." "Wait, if we''re going against each other, doesn''t this mean that half the people here will be eliminated?" A student asked. "That is correct," Biden replied. Just then a TV screen was pulled out to the side by one of the staff members. On it arge 0 was currently disyed, Biden tapped the screen, and a bunch of random numbers started to appear. Until it finally stopped and the number 23 was shown. "Huh who''s that, I don''t know, it''s not my number?" "Hey, Novis it''s you," Dan said. "Oh yeah." Novis then walked up to the front and turned around to look at his friends behind him. ''I hope I don''t get paired up with any of my friends, I want to get through this with them together'' Novis thought. The numbers on the screen started to randomize once again, and finally, it stopped at number 6. Out came a fairlyrge man who had the body of a bodybuilder. But even with all those muscles, he had managed to past the stamina test, so the others knew they weren''t just for show. As the crowd looked at the two students, they felt like they already knew who the winner was going to be. Novis was the first to step into the white box, and it was only when he was inside, he released how small the area was. Therge student had selected his weapon and chose a digital axe something he was familiar with in the game. "Begin!" The axe was activated, and the student was slowly circling around the box. "Who even is this person, I''ve never even seen him at any of the tournaments?" Therge student thought. Then after circling around Novis long enough. He struck, Novis ducked down avoiding the axe strike but was thrown off bnce. At thest second to stop his body from hitting the ground, he ced his hand on the floor, which was just outside the white box. "Point contestant number 6." The two of them then swapped positions as therge man entered the white box. Novis looked at the list of handles and was deciding which one to pick. "Hey, do you have a digital chain de?" Novis asked. "Chain de?" Biden said, "Please use one of the weapons provided." "I guess not then, I''m just going to have to use something else." He looked at the weapons and picked up the spear with the longest reach. "You miss this, and you lose." Therge student said. "This is bad." Lucas said, "Because Novis is attacking second, now all the pressure is on him. If he misses, then he''s done for." "How is this fair then." Said Dan, "Why didn''t they let Novis go first or make it a best out of three." "Well, you could say it''s all part of Titan''s strategy to see how people react under extreme pressure. Besides if Novis had avoided the first strike, then his opponent would be feeling the very same pressure he is feeling now. But I wouldn''t worry too much, right now probably everyone here is underestimating Novis right now. Novis readied his de and stood the 3 meters distance required away from the opponent. "Begin!" As soon as Novis heard those words, he dashed forward and thrust the spear. Unlike his opponent, who chose to wait to attack. It was a good strategy as it would wear the other opponent down, thinking when or where the attack woulde from. But Novis chose to use the element of surprise. He dashed in too fast at the exact moment the words were spoken and moved the spear all in one motion. Therge student didn''t even see the de enter, and all he could hear was the sound of his watch. *Beep "Contestant 23 Point." The students watching from the side lines were slightly confused. "Did you see de touch him?" "No I just saw him run forward with the spear, and then it was in his hands." The two of them then switched positions once again. This time Novis was ready. As his opponent looked into his eyes, he didn''t feel like saying any taunts this time, he knew he needed to give everything in his next strike. "Begin." The man started to circle around him once again. He moved his axe ever so slightly using a feint, But Novis didn''t move an inch and kept his eyes on his opponent. ''Why am I feeling so scared just looking at this guy, he''s a nobody'' Therge student thought. He continued to feint but not a single time did Novis fall for it. All that was left to do was swing. It came out fast and across his body right in the centre. Once again, Novis would have to duck incredibly low to avoid the strike and lose his bnce. "I''ve won." Therge student said. Novis then bent his knees and crouched down, but it wasn''t low enough to avoid the strike. Then like a rocket, he used the strength in his legs to jump up into the air, over the digital axe. "Point Number 23." "Wow, that guy must have amazing leg power." "Did you see how high he jumped?" The two of them swapped again, and now all the pressure was on therge student. He could feel his heart beating and the sweat running down his face. ''Calm down, he''s just going to try to do the same asst time, if I know what he''s going to do then I can avoid it." Novis picked up one of the digital weapons and was ready. "Begin!" As soon as he heard those words, therge student instantly moved to the side to avoid the spear strike that wasing. But when he looked at Novis, there was no spear in his hand, this time it was a sword. "Why would you change weapons!" The student shouted in anger. The sword then shed across the man''s body diagonally, and the sound of his watch went off once again. "Winner Contestant number 23." Novis then returned to his group of friends who all weed him back. "You did great Novis," Dan said, "I can''t lie. I was a little worried about you back there." "I knew I was always going to win," Novis said,ughing nervously. "Anyway, now it''s your twos turn, don''t lose okay." The numbers on the screen started to flicker once more until it stopped at 56. "Hey Lucas that''s you, go get them!" Novis shouted as Lucas walked up to the front. ''I wonder who my opponent is going to be?'' Lucas thought as he looked at the crowd of people. The TV screen was yed once more, and the opponent was revealed, number 83. "Wait isn''t that, Dan''s number?" Chapter 162: Dan Vs Lucas Chapter 162: Dan Vs Lucas For a second Novis froze in ce as he heard the number. He looked over to his right, and down at Dan''s wristwatch and sure enough on his watch was the same number that was disyed on the TV. Number 83. "Damn it, I thought we would have been able to go to Titan together all three of us." Novis thought. "Who am I meant to root for now, why did things turn out like this?" "Number 83, Are you there!" Biden shouted, "Is there no number 83." "I''m here," Dan said as he walked forward. Even Dan was surprised by what happened. When Dan reached the box him, and Lucas looked at each other for a few moments. "What''s wrong you two, hurry up and get into your positions," Biden asked. "I''m sorry but, are we able to switch opponents, the two of us are friends I don''t think I will be able to perform my best if going up against my friend," Lucas said. "I see," Biden said with a smile on his face. "Well if you two are really friends, then I guess it''s okay if I disqualify you both together." "Wait!" Dan said. "We''ll fight against each other." Dan then walked over to the white box and got himself ready in his standard fighting position. At the end of the day. Dan didn''t really know Lucas that well. They were only mutual friends through Novis. And the one thing running through Dan''s head right now was, at least he wasn''t going up against Novis. If that situation ever did ur, he would have forfeited the match straight away and allowed Novis to go through. It was only because of him in the first ce that he came to enjoy and find out about the game. But Lucas was a different story. Right now, he was an enemy stopping him from ying on the same team as one of his best friends. As Novis watched the two of his friends get ready to face off, he didn''t know how to feel. There was no cheering and no favouritism on Novis side. He had yed with Dan for longer and felt closer, but it was because of Lucas that Novis even had a goal in the first ce. Lucas went and grabbed a digital handle, there was no scythe for him to use, but even if there was, it wasn''t the weapon he was going to select for something like this. In the end, he chose a katana digital de. The same type of weapon he used to y with. One that focused on speed. "Looks like you''re not holding back," Dan said. "Good that''s exactly how it should be!" "Begin." With the sword held by his waist, it took Lucas less than a second to do a fast draw. He cut his opponent and withdrew his weapon back in ce. Dan hadn''t even seen a single thing. *Beep "Point contestant number 56." "Whoa did you see that?" "The quick draw was like a professional swordsman." "Yeah, it was almost exactly like the skill from the warrior Mu Samu in the game, a picture-perfect replica." Of course, Lucas had yed with the warrior Mu Samu his whole life. He knew every one of the warrior''s skills and could perform each one of them in the real world, not only at the same level but even better. However, his skills were never able to match up to his father''s power and speed. As the two changed positions, Dan kept his head down to the ground. He had never faced Lucas before, and for the first time when fighting against an opponent, he felt like he had no chance of winning. He never realised how strong Lucas was until this moment. "I see," Dan said, looking at Novis. "So this is why you left the team a year ago. No wonder. We simply just weren''t good enough for you." Dan looked at the weapons on the floor, but he knew just using his fists wouldn''t work. The range was too small. Even if he didn''t know how to use a weapon, he would be better at using one. But as he looked at them, he had no clue what to choose. Then he noticed a hand was in front of him with one of the hilts. "Use this one." Novis said, "Oh Dan, don''t give up. I want to y with you too." Dan took the digital hilt and walked over to his position. Novis words had lit a fire on his belly. "I was a fool, did I really give up that easily. If Tony was here, he would tell me off." Dan activated the digital sword, and it was a long sword simr to the one Arthur used. The difference between the digital swords and real swords was in the game they had a weight behind them. While here, they did not. A spear would be a bit too awkward to use, so he decided to give him a basic sword with the longest reach. "Begin!" Dan charged forward with the sword held in his hand. He kept going forward as if he was going to barge into Lucas, but if Dan stepped into the white box, then he too would lose a point. "Where is he going to attack from. Above, the side, across." Lucas thought. Then just before his toes had reached the white Box, Dan was able to use his legs to stop in an instant and throw a sh upward. Lucas was surprised as he was sure Dan would slow down his momentum. Lucas lent back to avoid the strike, which he managed to do sessfully. "I''ve won!" He said. "Point, Contestant number 83." "Huh?" As Lucas looked down on the ground, he noticed that his heel had just reached the outside of the white box by an inch. It was time for the two of them to swap positions once again. "All this tension isn''t good for my heart," Novis said. "Your friend is strong." George said, "Unlike you and Lucas, who had the guidance of a spirit, good or bad, Dan hase a long way through his hard work and natural talent. I would have loved to see him grow under a good teacher." "He had a good teacher," Novis said thinking about Tony "This match is getting intense." "Who do you think is going to win?" "It has to be the samurai kid, but still the guts on the other guy. When watching him, I can''t help but route for the underdog." The crowd was excited seeing two powerful contestants against each other. Once again, it was Lucas''s turn. He got into the same position as before, and this time Dan paid all his attention on Lucas''s hand by his side. He was ready for the attack no matter what. "Begin." The match had started and once again, Lucas preformed a quick draw while Dan stood there motionless. *Beep "Contestant 56 point." Even though he knew where the attack wasing from, when it woulde, Dan was still unable to see the attack. The two swapped ces and Dan had decided to go with the long sword Novis had handed him once again. "If it workedst time, let''s try it again!" Dan said as he rushed forward. This time Lucas made sure his feet were nted within the box. Dan came rushing forward and stopped at thest second, this time attacking from above. Using his whole body weight but without lifting his feet off the ground. Lucas twisted and shifted around to the side,pletely avoiding the blow. "Winner contestant number 56." In the end, Lucas was just better than Dan. "Dan, I''m" Novis tried to say something, but Dan stopped him. He took off his watch and gave it back to one of the staff members. "You don''t have to apologise for anything. I knew you two were special when I first met you. Especially you, Novis. You know I wasn''t even sure if VSW was for me, this was myst shot at trying out the game as a professional." "What do you mean!" Novis asked. "It''s clear after watching you two, you have what it takes to be a professional, I just don''t, my ce is somewhere else. I think I''m going to join that Maui thai club, I got offered to be a member around a year ago. Don''t worry, Novis, this doesn''t mean we will never y again." "Dan, the next time we meet, you better be the champion." "Same to you Novis. I know you''re going to make it." Dan said as he walked off and away from the school. As he watched Dan walk-off, Novis too felt like Dan was a special person. HE knew he was going to make it in whatever he did. Lucas then ced his hand on top of Novis shoulder. "Novis we have to get into Titan, especially now, there''s only one more test to go." "Only one more test, huh, let''s do this." Chapter 163: What postion? Chapter 163: What postion? After seeing one of his closest friends fail one of the tests and drop out of the trials. Novis was now more determined than ever to seed. Now twenty students in total stood on the field. Each lined up into four different lines which had been organised by the staff members. In front of them was Biden standing tall and strong. "Everyone here has managed to prove themselves, that not only are they good or skilful in the game. But they have the standard foundations of that to be a pro." Biden said. "Now we will move on to the final test where you shall y VSW to the best of your abilities. As you can see, there are five of you in each team the perfect number of yers for a team. The rows you are in now will be your teammates for the next assessment." Just then each member started to turn their heads to look at who was on their team. Lucky for Novis and Lucas, the two of them were on the same side, but they had no clue who the other three people were. "Make sure you work hard together for whichever team wins will automatically be a member of Titan university." As Novis looked at the three other people behind him, he realised that these people could be the deciding factor of whether or not he would get into titan university. But unknown to him, they were looking at Novis and Lucas the same way. "How are we meant to y with people we don''t even know about?" Someoneined. "Yeah, we don''t even know each other positions. What if we have a team full of ranged warriors." "Yeah, or if another team is more bnced then ours." The people were shouting andining about the situation they were put in. They felt that other teams might have more of an advantage, depending on how well bnced they were. And although Novis and Lucas didn''t voice their concerns, they felt the same way. "Shut up all of you!" Biden shouted, and immediately everyone stood still and straight. His voice sounded like that of a drill sergeant and based on his threats. If you didn''t do as he said your chances of ever going to Titan would be over. "Do you really think any of you are that special. Do you think you couldn''t switch roles and y support if you had to? Or go top instead of your favourite position down mid. The truth is none of you are that special otherwise you would have been scouted by another university or us already." Those words had hit some of them hard. Many of them had yed on good teams but just weren''t good enough to be scouted. This was thest chance they had to get into one of the top universities for Esports. What Biden was saying was that they weren''t good enough to specialise in a role. But they did have an excellent foundation to build on. At the moment, no person was truly better than another. That was of course, apart from Lucas. He had been scouted many times before. But the others didn''t know who Lucas was right now and there was also Novis. An unknown who had only yed VSW officially for a year in a small county tournament. "We will be watching for any errors your team makes, and it will be noted down, good luck everyone." The group were then led inside the Westgate building. It wasrge and grand one of the biggest and best Private schools in Ennd. The paintings and decor on the wall. Novis couldn''t imagine his family ever being able to afford to send him to a school like this one. As they went through the school, they had eventually reached the gym hall. But as Novis looked at it, the thing looked more like a stadium. Surrounded by seats in all corners and in the centre was a VR field. Exactly the same as in the pro stadiums they yed at. At the end of the hall on each end, there were five dedicated VR capsules. The teams were busy getting themselves ready as they waited for further instruction form Biden. "Those of you whose watches have lit up just now will be the team leader for your team." As each member looked at their watch, they lifted it in the air to confirm. Lucas was the one who raised his hand up on Novis''s team, making him the team leader. "Well, I shouldn''t worry too much," Novis thought, "With Lucas and me on one team I doubt we''re going to lose this." "Alright, team A and D will go against each other, and team B and C will fight next understood." Bide said. Team A, was Novis and Lucas''s team, so they were to fight first. But as Novis was looking around at his opponents, he seemed to notice someone standing by their side. "Josh!" Novis said. "Hey Novis, it''s been a while." He said, waving back." Can''t talk now though, you''re game will start soon, good luck." Josh was quite well known between all the people there. Afterall Tick media covered all the secondary school matches. Which was where each school had juste from. However, what they were surprised about was how Josh knew Novis. As each of them took a long hard look at Novis, they still didn''t have a clue who he was. Before the game started and they got into their pods. There was a five minute period where each team was to discuss what roles each person would y. Lucas was the first to start the conversation as the team leader. "Well first let''s go through everyone''s positions here and what they usefully y," Lucas said. "First, I usually y mid, or I can also go solo top as a damage dealer." The person to his left wore a baseball cap and was quite small for their size. "I usually y the role of an assassin, I can go mid as well, but I prefer to roam around the map." The next person to introduce themselves was a fairly slim female. "My name is Ann, and I usefully y the role of a tank. I can go bottom or top as support." Andstly was the rtivelyrge man, with a square face. "I also y the role of a tank, but I''m happy to go in any three of thenes. I''m pretty sure I can handle myself." "Wait, so is no one hear a ranged user?" the baseball cap boy asked. They then all turned to Novis who had yet to say anything. "Don''t look at me, I usually y mid, or roam around the map. I''ve never yed a range yer in my life." "Well then, how should we decide each yer''s positions?" the girl asked. "Well, why don''t we see who is suited for what, tell us what your achievements are." The baseball cap boy said. Then one by one, each person had talked about the experience ying the game. Every single one of them had an impressive background and had all won their county tournaments in their area. Some of them didn''t get very far in the national tournament, but still, it was impressive. When Lucas exined his background, he didn''t go into too much detail, but the others seemed to give him a pass due to the fact that he was acting as captain for the team. Plus the way Lucas spoke when talking to the others seemed like he was quite knowledgeable about the game. But then it came to Novis''s turn. When he told them about where he had ced when he yed the game, they all started tough. "I''m surprised you managed to get this far?" The baseball boy said. "Well looks like its decided whose going to be our ranged person then." The girl said. "What me!" Novis pointed at himself. "But I told you already I''ve never yed as a ranged user in my life." "Don''t worry about it too much." The baseball boy said. "We can carry you. It makes sense to put the weakest person at the back. At least then you''ll be useful and can fire some arrows out. If we put you on the field, you would just die in seconds, and we would be a yer down." Novis gritted his teeth and was about to snap, but then Lucas pulled him back at thest second. "Novis calm down." Lucas said, "It''s important that we y together as a team if we want to get through this. I suspect that there are more conditions then just winning this. Remember how Biden said he would be watching our games. If we don''t show we can y as a team, then that''s it for us." As each of the yers got into their Pod, they selected their warriors, and the match had started, only for the first time ever. Novis had a bow held in his hand. "What the hell am I meant to do with this!" He shouted. Chapter 164: Last hurdle Chapter 164: Last hurdle As Novis was the only ranged yer in the game, he was to go bottom with the female yer who was ying as a tank. Lucas went mid, the other Tank went up top. While the baseball cap boy yed an assassin character and was currently roaming about in the forest. As Novis entered hisne and was making his way towards the centre, he was busy asking the others for tips. "Do any of you know how to use a bow?" Novis asked. "We trained in the basics of it, but it''s not something you can learn on the spot and urately hit someone far away. You have more chance of hitting your teammate." Arthur said. "Maybe it would just be better if you use the skills," George said. When they had finally reached theirne, the girl moved forward and started to deal with the NPC knights. While the two on the enemy team were being cautious not to go too far ahead. "Are you going to shoot the arrow or what?" she asked. When using the arrow with the skill, it was a strange feeling for Novis. A red arrow would appear in his view showing him where his arrow would hit. Once he activated the skill, all he had to do was make sure the Red arrow was towards his target. Skills without a doubt made it easier, but as Novis continued to fire arrows, he found out there was a quick disadvantage. The system always aimed for the knight''s chest. With the skill, there was no way for him to aim at certain parts of the knight. And it seemed like he wasn''t the only that had noticed this problem. The yers on the other team did as well. On the other side, they seemed to have a simr setup. One of them was a shield and sword warrior while the other was a short bow user. The short bow was a mix between a regr bow and a crossbow. It wasn''t able to shot as far as a regr bow but could shoot faster. But not as fast as a crossbow but could shoot further. "Hey, I''m telling you, that person on their team is aplete beginner. Not only is he using skills, but I haven''t seen him use any ones other than the first skill." The short bow user said. "I think you''re right?" His friend replied. "Perhaps we should start putting pressure and see what they do." It was true, Novis still hadn''t used any of the other skills, and the simple reason was he was too worried. He was unsure he would hurt his teammates, and they would put all the me on him. And if he was to test the skills to the side, the others would have caught on straight away that he was a beginner. Then when the time was right, and the NPC knights were low, that''s when they started to move forward. Novis''s teammate blocked the first blow and immediately started to back up. "I need some support here!" She shouted. Novis tried to measure and aim, but the yers kept on moving. Making it hard for Novis to set up the red arrow. "You know you can move as well!" She shouted again. "That''s it, screw this!" Novis said as he charged forward. "Is heing towards us, seriously?" **** In the middlene, Lucas opponent was being cautious. Which was a surprise, since he was an unknown yer to the others. He was doing well, staying behind his NPC knights and had yet to make a mistake. The yer who wasing up against him was a chain and ball user with medium range. Compared to Lucas''s scythe though, his was a little longer. "This person, who is he? I thought he would be weak." The chain ball user thought. As he watched Lucas y, He noticed that at just the right moment when one of his NPC knights would die. Lucas was able to use a single swing to deal with them. Lucas never got involved with fighting the NPC knights himself but could always tell when they were about to die. It wasn''t like the old games where they had health bars above their heads. In virtual sword warriors, you needed to pay close attention. Just like in a real war to see when the opponent was tired, or what wounds they had on their body. But that wasn''t the only reason why he was being cautious. Inside the forest down the middlene. The baseball cap user was waiting patiently toe forward. However, the opponent knew what he was nning to do, and the reason was, the two of them used to be on the same team in secondary school. The two of them would use the exact same strategy together when they yed. And it was for that very same reason he had suggested the same thing to his teammate. ying cautiously and moving back was part of his n, and when Lucas was close enough, an assassin leapt out from the forest and headed straight for Lucas. "Damn it, they were thinking of the same thing!" The baseball cap yer said as he leapt out from the opposite side of the forest to support Lucas. But he wouldn''t be able to reach in time. He was a lot further awaypared to the enemy team. However, that didn''t matter. For before he had even reached Lucas. Lucas propped himself up with the scythe lifting him in the air and then swung it at the assassin finishing him off in one blow. Then on the way down, he swung his scythe downward managing to slice the other yer in half. It didn''t take long, but both yers in mid had already been defeated. "Who is this guy?" *** Back at the bottomne, Novis continued to charge forward with the bow in his hand. "What are you doing, run back to the tower you noob." The female said. "I already told you, I''m not good with a bow!" Novis shouted on his way to the two enemy team members. Novis snatched one of the swords from his own NPC knight while throwing the bow and arrow onto the floor. "Just go ahead and die then!" The female warrior picked up her pace and was eventually in the safe zone, within range of the tower. But still, she was cursing at the fact that she had been put with such a terrible teammate. Outside of the game. Everyone was watching the whole thing. "What does that guy think he''s doing. If he throws the bow away, he won''t have any skills." "Yeah because of the warrior he''s chosen. Perhaps ying so long as a swordsman made him think he actually was one." They saidughing. But Josh watching the game had a serious look on his face. "Come on Novis, show us all what you learnt in those two years!" The short bow user fired an arrow directly at Novis, but as it came towards him, he deflected it with his sword hitting onto the ground. "Wait, did he just block an arrow, with no skills!" Another came shooting out, and Novis deflected again and again. "This whole thing has made me so angry!" Novis shouted. Most yers didn''t y well when they were upset and angry, but for Novis, it was different. The anger fuelled him and allowed him to rely on his senses and body more. When he was like this, he was at the top of his game. He continued to deflect arrow after arrow and then when he was close enough, he deflected an arrow while swinging his sword towards the opponent. Giving it extra power as it left his sword. He had made it change course just enough so it managed to hit his teammate in the knee dropping him to the ground. Novis continued to charge forward and mmed his whole body weight, into the shield, knocking him to the ground. The short bow user reshot another arrow still having not learned their lesson. Novis redirected it again this time, causing the arrow to fall on his teammates head. "I told you didn''t I, this whole thing would have been a lot easier if you had just let me y with who I wanted." The whole arena watching from outside were shocked, and even the female warrior started to blush a little. At that moment Novis looked kind of cool. And it was even more impressive, was that he had done the whole thing using a warrior that wasn''t even in the correct ss. After Lucas and Novis impressive disy, there was only one yer at the top. The assassin who was meant to help Lucas had gone up to the top to help and managed to deal with the yer easily. It was aplete wipeout in favour of team A making them the winners. "It looks like we will both be going to titan university after all." Chapter 165: Who do you Play? Chapter 165: Who do you y? The A team had just won their match, and that meant that they had one more game before being epted by Titan university. Novis and Lucas were just one more step away. When Novis had exited out from the capsule, he went towards Lucas to catch up with him, and see how he did ying mid. But what came as a surprise, was the three other yers on their team hade over as well. "We''re sorry." All three of them said at once. "We let the fact that our positions were higher than yoursst year get the better of us." The girl said. "It''s clear that both of you are better yers than us and we only won that match so easily because of you two." "We''re sorry again and promise to listen to both of you in the next game." The baseball cap boy said. "look no hard feelings," Said Lucas. "If I was in the same situation as you guys probably would have done the same." ''Especially if it was me from a year ago.'' Lucas thought The team then went into the stand to observe the next match. Lucas''s face was especially serious as he watched the game. Using the screen above and watching form the virtual field, you were able to get multiple views of what was happening in the game. Lucas knew the other team had been watching them so right now they both teams had an idea of what they were going up against and their team needed to do the same. Although Novis seemed to be disinterested. This side of the game Novis didn''t like. He found it fun when he didn''t know what his opponent was going to do. The tough situation it put him, and how it would make him think on the spot, he enjoyed these aspects of the game the most. While the rest of the team went to watch the other match. Novis went to the side, with the baseball cap boy to warm up. There were even a couple of wooden practise swords on the side for them to y with. The two positions that Lucas was focusing on was Mid, and the top position for these were the two positions that Lucas and Novis would be ying in the next match. The team usually sent their strongest yers into the middlene and topne. The top was usually a one on one battle for the first part with no help from the others. Unlike the bottomne, which was two on two. So it was essential for the person ying top to be of decent strength. Then there was the middlene. Thisne was one of the most important because at any point and time it could change the tide of the game, going to support the people at the top or helping the people at the bottom. Not every team had a roamer going through the forest, so this would be the other option. "Have you seen the top and mid pair before? They''re wearing the same school uniform?" Lucas asked his teammates. "I''m not sure they weren''t in the national tournament." The girl replied. Just as they were watching the game, an upset had urred. The two unknowns had gone into another gear at the same time. The yer in the middle was a rapier warrior. All of a sudden, at just the right time he was deflecting all the other yer''s attacks and attacking back at the right time. It looked like an adult going up against a child. The yer''s teammate who was at topne was a short sword and shield warrior. In a simr style to the rapier user in mid, he started to block the opponent''s attacks perfectly. Each time striking back at just the right time. The two of them had dealt with their opponents just as quickly as Novis and Lucas. "But how is this possible?" The girl said. "Team B had so many yers I heard off before, but team C, I''ve never even seen those two." "Did you not learn from our game right now, this is a ce for the best of the best. It doesn''t matter who or what ce you gotst year. Everything is about what you do now." Lucas said. The two yers on the c team then went down to help out their other yers in the bottomne, and the game quickly ended. Before the next game had begun, Team A were busy doing their stretches. Novis was the most active out of them all doing Push ups, sit-ups and Burpees. The others looked at him like a fitness maniac. "Hey don''t wear yourself out before the game." The baseball boy said. "Don''t worry, this is not even half of my normal warm-up routine. If I sit around and do nothing, I feel like I''m going stiff, especially in that pod." Novis replied. ''I heard that your physical fitness can make a difference in the game but does it really make that much of a difference?'' The baseball boy thought. The team were discussing their new positions, and this time when Novis asked to go Mid there were noints from the others. Lucas, on the other hand, had asked the team if there was any position, they would like him to fill and they immediately asked him to go top and allow the rest of the team to be dealt with by them three. They had seen the other yers fighting from Team C and knew only Novis and Lucas stood a chance. The people who they thought they would have to drag through with them to the finals. Were now carrying them. "Hey so before we y." The girl said to Novis. "I saw your sword skills earlier, so I''m guessing you y a swordsman, right? What warrior do you y?" "Heros Puer," Novis replied. "Wait, what!" She said with her mouth wide open. "Hey, seriously I don''t want us to lose this game right now. Can you please pick someone who is more useful or stop joking around?" "But I''m being serious," said Novis. "Ever since I really started ying the game, I''ve only yed as him." Just then the others had heard what Noivs had said, but they thought they must have misheard. But still, they had to ask just to make sure they weren''t hearing things. "Um, Novis, how long have you been ying this game?" The baseball boy asked. The reason why they had this suspicion is that they knew that the warrior that Novis was ying with, had only been out for two years in total. "Around two years ago," Novis replied a little embarrassed. The others didn''t know what to feel. Just when they were feeling confident in his skills, they now were unsure. After all, it could have just been a fluke what Novis had done, or even so, it might have just been the other yers being really bad. Most of them had yed the game for at least 6 years minimum, but even that was considered a short period. Finally, it was time for thest game between the two teams. Team A vs Team C. Chapter 166: Nothing special Chapter 166: Nothing special The duo that Lucas had his eye on from team C were named Milo and Ken. Milo used a sword and shield warrior, while Ken used a rapier warrior that focused more on speed. When the two teams had entered the game and reached their positions. The two of them were both surprised at who they were up against. Novis was mid, and Lucas had changed positions to top. "Isn''t that the person who yed an archerst game. They weren''t ying mid before?" Ken thought. "That might mean that their leader went top to face against Milo. I know you can do it, friend." Novis had gone mid as his usual Warrior. He felt calm and rxedpared to before. He just didn''t like the feeling of ying any of the other warriors. This felt the most natural to him, and he could switch to whatever weapons he wanted. As the first NPC knight got within range, Novis threw out his chain de slicing the knights head off. "Looks like he can use that strange weapon quite well," Ken said. There was one advantage that Novis always had when ying as his Warrior, and that was unpredictability. Nearly no one yed the Warrior he was using, and the higher up you went up thedder, the more people knew about the different warriors. They would know their counters, the other person''s skills. But Novis''s Warrior was hardly yed and had no skills. Even if you came across another person ying the same Warrior, it is unlikely they would y the same way. The team that had just lost to Lucas''s team were watching by the side line, and the two that Novis had killed were focused on mid. The two losing teams were currently sitting next to each other, and they were both rooting for the team they had lost against to win. In a way, if that team they lost against won the whole thing, they could say well at least I lost to the best. "So who do you think is going to win? I mean if you ask me it''s got to be that Duo Milo and Ken." "I have a feeling that Archer is going to shock everyone here, just wait and see." After warming up a few times using his chain de to kill the NPC knights, Novis was finally ready to go in on the attack. But what surprised Novis was that Ken was the one charging forward. Ken had watched Novis for a while now and saw how he used the chain de. He felt like he finally had a good understanding of how it was used. As he swung the chain de out, it would take a few moments for him to pull it back in. It was a medium-range weapon. This small gap would be when Ken would attack. When Novis swung out both of his chain des to kill the final two NPC knights, Ken finally dashed in. He ran straight past the chain de''s and Novis was wide open. "See what did I tell you, I knew that Ken guy would beat him. The other person was nothing special, now I wish we would have gone up against your team." Although the other person didn''t say anything, he thought differently. Something was telling him that Novis was special. With Kening towards him, Novis let go of both of the chains and allowed them to drop onto the floor. Then he moved forward and also started charging towards Ken. "Is he really going to attack me with his bare hands." Ken thought But then blue particles started to form in his hand, and eventually, it took the shape of a long sword. "What, he can do that!" Ken thought. He had no clue what Novis warrior was capable of. And in his haste to prove himself to Biden that he was a top yer. He rushed in without checking everything like he usually would. Ken was already mid-motion into his attack, and all he could do know was thrust forward with his rapier. He was confident in his speed, and his warriors ss relied on it. Somehow though, Novis managed to pivot on his right foot and move to the side, then with a single strong strike towards the belly, Ken burst into blue particles. "Did he just kill Ken in one hit, but how? I know that Warrior doesn''t have a lot of armour, but only damage dealers can produce that kind of damage. He was just using a long sword, and it was an attack to the stomach." Although Novis was banned from using sword energy in the game through trainingst year, his overall strength and improved and it was just too much for Ken. It was only a warrior who wore a simple leather piece of armour on his stomach. The outside hall had suddenly gotten very quiet. "I see," Ken said, looking from above in the ghost view. "You are just beyond everyone here." As Novis teammates received the message, even they were surprised. The game had only just started a few moments ago, and only one wave of NPC knights had been deployed. They saw how excellent Ken was so they couldn''t imagine what had happened. After seeing the message of his friend dying, Milo was more determined than ever. He was careful when moving forward and made sure to stay behind the NPC knights. He kept his shield up high making sure to block any iing attacks from Lucas. "I''m not letting you through," Milo said. "That Novis, it seems like this year he might even outshine me." Lucas said, "Well, we can''t let that happen now, can we?" Lucas started to run forward towards Milo. However, Milo was prepared and started to turtle up with his shield. When the attack came, he would use his skill shield bash at just the right time to knock the scythe away and go in for the attack. But then, like a pole vault, Lucas propped the bottom of his scythe into the ground and lunched himself over Milo. As hended, he did a 180 spin swinging his scythe behind him cutting Milo in half. The two of them had finished off their opponents easily. After that, the rest of the team was quickly dealt with. The others weren''t that special and really only won theirst game because of Milo and Ken. With Team A winning the final match it meant Lucas and Novis had done it. They were going to Titan University. Chapter 167: No Program Chapter 167: No Program The five contestants who had passed the test stood in the centre of the arena proud. The rest were told to go home, while Lucas, Novis, Baseball boy, Large man and the girl were stood out on the field. Through ying the game and getting through to the finals with them, Novis eventually learnt their names. The baseball boy was named Phil, therge man was named Bob, andstly, the female was named Yaz. "Well done!" Biden said standing in front of them with Josh by his side. "I have to say congrattions to you all. You have finally made it into the Titan university. But the truth is, all of you still have a long way to go before you are even considered for selection on the team." The five of them were then told thatter on they would be sent further information about what was to happen next. Once the school term would begin again. But just before Novis and Lucas left, Josh grabbed Novis''s sleeve. "Wait, Novis." Josh said." It''s been a while. I won''t keep you here with all this wishy-washy stuff, but I will be waiting for you to be a regr on the Titan team university. I know you will do big things." **** While the others had gone through the selection process to enter the Titan University, Scarlett was currently doing her own thing as well. She had just finished taking the entrance exam for one of the universities, as she handed in her paper at the top it read. Titan university. Although she wasn''t nning to enter the University for its esports section, she nned to do something else. She couldn''t wait to see the look on Novis face when she was standing right by his side on entrance day. Standing outside the hall, all candidates were to have an interview with a couple of members off staff. Suddenly her name was called, and she ventured inside the room. There were two teachers, one male and one female at the desk and a seat opposite for her to sit down. "Now we see you have done very well. I must say your score is above average when ites to the academic side of Titan university. Now I just have to ask, what course were you nning to aim for?" the teacher asked. "I was hoping to join your Nursing degree program," Scarlett replied with a smile on her face. The two teachers then looked at each other before giving a reply. "I''m sorry Scarlett but did you check our university out properly, our University has no such course." The next day, the group decided they would meet up for old times sake. It was the summer holidays, so they had nomitments they needed to go to at the moment. The meeting spot was the same coffee shop they had gone to when they had experienced their loss against Westgate. It had been a whole two years since they went to this ce. As Novis entered the shop, He could see Ashley, Dan, Alex and Frank all sitting at the table. Scarlett had yet to arrive. "Dan was just telling us about how tough the selection process was to get into Titan," Ashley said. "I can''t believe you actually made it!" "Thanks," Novis said with a massive grin on his face, but then when he looked at Dan and Alex sad face, he quickly remembered that they had failed. "Don''t worry about us," Dan replied. "I already signed for that gym. " "And my backup university has epted me," Alex said. "So it looks like we will see each other at some point after all." "What are you doing, Frank?" Novis asked. "I made up with my farther, and it looks like I''m going to help out the Hershel team. After our team managed to beat them easily this year, my father finally understood that the team needed a change, he was the one who actually contacted me which I was surprised about." As the group continued to talk it turns out that Frank and Dan would be going to the same University as Alex. Not with the attention of joining the team but if that were to happen then it happened. While Ashley had stopped ying the game nearly altogether. She had be the poster child of her Dojo, and it had be so popr after the two tournaments, that her father needed to expand and opened up another dojo. Ashley was busy teaching the students from one while her father taught the students from the other. "Does anyone know what happened to Scarlett?" Novis asked. "Didn''t you hear," Ashley replied. "Apparently, she got into Titan university''s entrance exam, but she didn''t realise that they didn''t have a nursing program for her to study in. Right now, she''s deciding whether to still go or not." ''Why would she choose not to go.'' Novis though. ''Wasn''t that her dream to follow in her mother''s footsteps.'' Arthur and George who were listening to the whole thing, knew straight away why. It was love. Scarlett didn''t want to be separated from Novis, and right now she needed to make a decision, was her future more important or seeing Novis. There was a clear answer, but when people were young, they often chose mistakes and picked the now option rather than theter. The group continued to talk, but it seemed like Scarlett just never showed up that day. It was rare for her to do something like this without giving any notice. Although the others also knew why Scarlett was acting the way she was. Perhaps the only one that didn''t know was Novis. On the walk home, Novis managed to spot Scarlett walking back to her house with a grocery bag in her hand. "Scarlett wait!" Novis shouted. As she turned around Novis could see she had a concerned look on her face. One who''s mind was deep with thoughts. "Tell me, why are you nning to go to Titan university if there''s no nursing program. It doesn''t make any sense." Chapter 168: Feelings Chapter 168: Feelings The two of them stood there in the street staring at each other. Unknowing how much weight Novis''s question had been weighing on her mind. Scarlett had been thinking about what to do the whole day, and thest person she wanted to see was Novis. "Ashley was the one who told me today. That you might not be doing nursing anymore. That you suddenly changed your mind but I don''t buy it. It was always your n, what changed?" Novis asked. "Is it really any of your business!" Scarlett snapped back. Novis was just telling her what she already knew. She wanted to do nursing, but more than anything, she wanted to continue having a good time with her friends. "Do you remember how I used to be uninterested in anything I tried. It all changed when I found the game, and now I''m finally doing something I like. You should do the same." Scarlett suddenly turned away and started running back towards her house. She didn''t want to hear any of it. Novis didn''t seem to understand. But how could he if she didn''t say anything? "Hey, do you think we should intervene," George asked. "It''s best if these two are honest with each other. If they need us to guide them, then this type of thing would never have worked out." **** On an unknown ce inside a nk white room, Josh and Biden were busy meeting someone. They were inside a white space known as an Augmented reality room. This room disyed Holograms to fight against, unlike the VR headset that transported your mind to the game. They were busy standing by the side as they watched what appeared to be an old man with a fisherman''s hat. The weapon n his hand he used looked a bit like a rod as well, and his clothes weren''t the best either. If someone was to spot the man on the street, they would be sure to think he was homeless. Suddenly, five holograms of knights appeared, each one looking like a different warrior from the game. The man dodged and ducked all the attacks, not allowing a single one to hit him. He then bashed one over the head with the fishing rod, while swinging out the end and wacking the other in the face. Each hit seemed to represent what the attack would do in real life. After watching him for a while, he had eventually managed to defeat all five of the holograms without getting touched. "Phew." The man said as he wiped away his sweat. "Sorry for keeping you waiting, I have to just get a practice in otherwise I just don''t feel like myself." Biden then opened up a digital disy that contained a list of names. Each one with a picture by it. "Here are all the candidates that passed the selection process around the country," Biden said. "So there are a 120 in total then?" The fish hat man said. "I suggest you look at that information carefully." Josh said, "There are especially some interesting students from the Berkshire area." The fish hat man simply wafted the screen away so it would disappear. "I don''t need it. Just because they managed to pass your selection process doesn''t mean they will do mine. Do you know how many professional yers I''ve already raised? If they don''t catch my eye, then they don''t deserve to be on the team. In these six months, I''ll have you your regrs." **** Inside her home, Scarlett was taking a nice rxing bath. After the day she had, she just needed to let all her emotions out into soaking warm feeling. Her mind had been filled with what had happened earlier in the day. As the bath finished, she walked outside and decided to go grab some ice cream. It was her favourite snack to have when her mind was full of things. "What are you doing Scarlett, if you eat that you''ll get fat, you know." Her mother said,ughing. "What do I care, he never notices me anyway." "Oh, so is this about a boy then?" She replied. "Have you decided?" Her father asked, "Whether you will go to Titan or Bimm?" Scarlett then took a big scoop of ice cream and ced it in her mouth. As she smiled, she said. "Yeah, I''ve decided to go to Bimm." Bimm university was actually the same ce the others were going to. Although it was sad that she would no longer be around Novis, she would still have Alex and the rest to talk and catch up to. "I can wait." Scarlett thought. The next Day while Novis was busy walking outside, he managed to spot Dan going for his morning Run. The two of them decided to walk side by side and talk a little bit. Without releasing it, the two of them were walking the same path as they did when they first had met. "So I saw Scarlett the other day," Dan said. "She looked pretty down, did you say something to her?" "I basically told her she shouldn''t go to Titan," Novis replied. "To do something she enjoys." "You idiot!" Dan shouted. "Don''t you understand why she wants to go to Titan?" For some reason, Dan started to feel a little angry at Novis''s words. He, himself had feelings for Scarlett but knew he could never express them. Novis was his friend, and he knew that Scarlett had her heart set for someone else. "What do you mean, isn''t it because it''s a good university?" Novis said. "Listen to me Novis, I''m telling you this now, when you go to Titan, you better remember to write to her. You better call her when she''s sad or upset. Be there when she needs someone because if you aren''t going to be there for her. Then I will." Novis thought he was going crazy for a second. He was a bit slow at interpreting what people were saying, but he was pretty sure he could understand Dan right now. Dan also had feelings for Scarlett. Chapter 169: Last Day Chapter 169: Last Day After clearly expressing his feelings for Scarlett the two of them didn''t know what to do, it was a bit awkward between the two of them. They continued to walk until they eventually needed to split paths. But just before the two of them left Novis finally managed to pluck up some courage. "You''re a good friend to have Dan, and you know what? You''re an even better rival to go up against." Dan smiled at Novis and gave him a thumbs up before he left. But although Novis had said those words, the truth was that what he was feeling inside waspletely different. Dan was every girls dream, girls came to him confessing their love for him every day. Once he had even heard Scarlett talking about how handsome Dan was. If the two of them were topete he wouldn''t stand a chance. "You''re not as bad as you think Novis." George said. "I mean, when we first met you, you were quite scrawny and short but you''ve actually changed a lot these past two years. I would even say enough to be a good match for Dan." Novis felt a little warm hearted at those words but he thought that George had just said it to cheer him up. The truth was Novis really had be quite the specimen himself after these two years. Not quite to the point of Dan''s charm but there was something about Novis that would just attract people. ***** Summer was about to end and everyone would be going to their respective university''s and schools to celebrate. For old times'' sake the original team members, Novis, Scarlett, Dan, Ashley and Alex, decided to y one more game together. They had entered the inte caf and started to search for random matches online. The five of them still weren''t that highly ranked and Alex was actually the highest ranked of them all, this season he actually managed to enter gold. The others were simply too busy with their outside activities to y the game much and Novis had been banned form ying the game for a while. The first game they had entered as a team they yed well and won with ease. Even though the five of them hadn''t yed together in a while each of them had improved individually, even Ashley had honed her skills and became better than before. The team continued to y and won game after game. And they started to gather a bit of a crowd inside the cafe, they were all staring at their screens. "Huh, is this a University team or something. There ying so well." Someone in the crowd said. Someone else responded. "Nah, can''t you see, they all look like they''re still in school." "This is their fifth win in a row and not a single one of them has died yet." The crowd murmured. They continued to y until they had eventually won their eight match in a row and by now unknown to them nearly the whole shop was watching their games. The crowd couldn''t wait for the matches to end so they could see their faces and find out who these kids are. After seeing all their skills the crowd thought these kids had to at least be part of a university team. Finally when each of them removed their helmets the people in the shop were very surprised, a lot of them didn''t have a single clue who the yers were. "Do you know who they are?" Someone in the crowd asked. "After ying like that, I was sure they would be someone impressive, maybe they''re a bunch of foreigners or something." "Hey I know, who the one in the middle is, it''s Alex from Montem, he helped them win the Berkshire finals this year, but I''m not sure about the rest of them, I don''t remember seeing them here before." The group were suddenly bombarded with questions, asking which school or university they went to and in the end they had to force their way out of there. The group finally managed to get outside, on the high street they found a round bench to sit on underneath a tree. "Looks like we still got it." Novis said. You know it''s a shame we didn''t discover the game sooner. Perhaps in another lifetime, if the five of us had met earlier we could have taken the world by storm." Each of the members smiled as they heard Novis''s words and then before they even realised it, tears started to fall down their faces. As if some miracle had urred, one by one they all started crying it wasn''t just one, but all of them, even Dan and Novis who didn''t seem to be the crying type, joined in with their tears. As Novis went to wipe his cheek he was wondering just what was happening. He looked back at them and realised none of them couldn''t stop the flow of tears either, so he decided to just cry it out without shame. "I don''t know what''s wrong with me, with us. I should be happy I''m going to Titan right?" ''You''ve made some good friends Novis.'' Aruther said. ''In the future when you look back at this moment you will realise how big of a stepping stone these people were in your live. Never forget them.'' "I won''t!" Novis cried out. "I know!" Scarlett said as she jumped up from her seat. "We all know Novis is leaving tomorrow, so why don''t we take a group photo, and do something fun afterwards" "That''s a great idea." They all agreed. Dan had approached a slightly older women and had asked her to help take the photo. Of course because Dan was the one who requested it she was more than happy to help. Just then, right in front of the inte caf where it all started for Novis. The ce where he had met Lucas, the group took a photo. "Say cheese!" The woman said. "Cheese!" They cheered. After taking the photo they continued to hang out as group as it was theirst day together. They went to have a meal at a restaurant. Sung some songs together and enjoyed theirst day together. Chapter 170: Leaving it all behind Chapter 170: Leaving it all behind It was finally the day where Lucas and Novis would experience their first day at Titan University, just as they said they would do. They had sent out instructions to each of their addresses. There wasn''t much said on it, other than for them to pack a lot of clothing as if they were going on holiday, and to meet up in front of Westgate School. Just before leaving the house, as Novis was putting on his shoes, his mother and brother hade down to see him off. "Wow. So you really got into a top university. I really can''t believe how quickly you''ve improved, even if you did have outside help," Bill said as he gave a wink. "Will you really not be back until the term finishes?" his mom asked. "Yeah, I mean that''s what they said in the letter. They must have some boarding program or something else. Anyway, this is a step closer to bing a pro yer." Novis then stood up and waved onest goodbye as he went out of the door. "Bro, show the whole world how good you are. Don''t let them bully you around!" Bill shouted. By his side, he seemed to notice that his mother was crying. "What''s wrong, mum?" Bill asked. "Oh, it''s nothing. It''s just that all you boys grow up so fast." Just outside the Westgate School, several students were outside waiting. This also included the three that had passed the test with Novis. There was Phil, the baseball hat boy, Bob, the fairlyrge man, and finally Yaz, the female tank. Just from looking at the others around them, they seemed to have gathered not only students from their area, but from all around the country. "Hey. Do you see who''s here?" Phil questioned them. "I think I know nearly every single one of them by their names." "Yeah. Also, don''t forget that only ten people can be put on the regr university team," Yaz said. Every university team was allowed to enter ten yers into tournaments. This was because games at the university and the professional level were yed best out of three. Not only that, but in the middle of each game, teams were allowed to substitute yers in. But looking at thepetition in front of them, the three felt out of ce, as if they didn''t deserve to be there. Thinking back to thest game they participated in, they had only gotten through thanks to Novis and Lucas. Just then, Novis and Lucas spotted the three standing at the far back, behind all of the others. "Oh! There they are, Novis," Lucas said as he pointed at them. "Well, you guys don''t look as confident as you did thest time we saw you," Novis said. Three buses soon pulled up onto the field after that. Not long after, an old man wearing a fisherman''s hat stepped off, with arge man with forearms bigger than his biceps standing right next to him. "Alright, everyone. It''s time to get onto the bus!" therge man shouted. The students lined up and one by one they would slowly get on. As they went on, each student was undergoing through an inspection of their belongings. It seemed like any form of entertainment, be it books or phones were being confiscated. "What thethis is worse than an airport," Novis could not help but say. Just in front of the two of them was Yaz. As therge man went through her belongings, he noticed a teddy bear and pulled it out from the bag. "And what is this?" the man asked. "That''s my teddy bear. My mother gave it to me as a gift," Yaz replied with her face glistening like the stars. "Trash, then." The man then picked up the bear and threw it onto the floor behind him. "But my mother gave me that!" Yazined in response. The anger in Lucas that was rising had reached its peak, thinking that he had had enough. In his mind, he felt like they were treating them like criminals, and not a bunch of students. "What do you think you''re doing?!" Lucas said as he pushed himself in between the man and Yaz. "Wait for your turn and wait to be called!" the man shouted angrily in response as he went forward to grab Lucas by the cor. Lucas could see all of the movements and leaned barely enough just so he could avoid the grab, but unfortunately for him, as if the hand grew all of a sudden, it managed to grab onto him and threw him down to the floor. Lucas''s feet were spread out as he tried to stabilise himself, but the force was too strong, which meant he still ended up on the floor. The other teacher with a fisherman''s hat, who had been standing by his side this whole time, had finallye forward. "Listen. All of you. In the ce you are going to, you won''t have time to think about home, or y your games. In fact, some of you will wish you never came to Titan University. But all I can say is that, those of you who stay will be the elite of the elite." After the incident with Lucas, there were no moreints. No one wanted to be embarrassed and schooled by the teacher like Lucas had been. So, everyone got on the bus without a fuss, allowing therge man to get rid of whatever they wanted. As they rode on the bus, Lucas couldn''t help but think about what had just happened as he dazedly stared out of the window. "What''s wrong?" Novis asked him. "Come on. It wasn''t that embarrassing." "Well, the teacher did go too far," Phil said, sitting just opposite from the two with Bob. "Well, I mean, it''s not like Yaz can y with the teddy, or it''s going to be a distraction or anything." "Can we just forget about the teddy?" Yaz asked them, folding her arms. "Well, you guys are lucky. I brought my Switch with me and it got taken. How am I going to look after my ind now?" Philined. But what Lucas and the others were thinking about was not their things that had been taken away. Instead, they were thinking about the movements the teacher had made when knocking Lucas over. They reyed the scene in their head, yet they still couldn''t figure out how it was done. "Well, if the teachers are as good as that, it looks like Titan university might have been the right ce for me after all." Novis had a huge grin on his face waiting for what was toe. Chapter 171: Next 6 months Chapter 171: Next 6 months The three buses had finallye to a stop, and all of the students aboard had deboarded. When they did they look around them, they noticed that in front of their eyes was the sea. Everywhere that they look at was surrounded by its bluish waves, and there were manyrge ships and ferries docked on the waters. "What are we doing at a port?" A student asked. "Are we going to do some more training in the water? But I can''t swim." "No, of course. What does that have to do with anything about the game?" Another student said. "Well, they made us do some crazy things during the assessment." The teacher who had arge forearm, known as Bune, walked up ahead with the fish-hat man teacher by his side until they finally stopped just outside of one of therge ships. "Now, before we start, I suppose I better introduce myself." The fish-hat man said. "Your first term at Titan will decide whether or not you are qualified enough to be considered for a regr position. As you know, that spot is mainly reserved for our main team, but if you perform extremely well, there is a chance that the lot of you, primarily students, may also be a part of the team." The fish-hat man then used his rod to point at Bune that was next to him. "Mr Bune and I, Fix, will be your two coaches during your first term. Now, I need you all to get on the ship behind me." "What?! are we leaving the country?!" the student shouted. "But I didn''t bring my passport." "Can they really do this without our parents'' permission?" "You guys can either get on or go home," Bune said. Although the students were reluctant to board the ship, in the end, they all had alreadye so far, so each student boarded the ship eventually. Once everyone was on, the ship sted its horn, ready to set sail. There weren''t any seats for the students. However, on the two floors of the ships, there wererge mats that had been ced. Currently, most of them were sitting down, talking in their groups of five. Most of them had gone through simr trials as Novis in ces all over the country, and had formed a bond with the people that they took it with. Right now, Novis and the others were sitting on the floor together. "Any clues on where we''re heading off to then?" Yaz asked. "If I had to guess," Lucas replied. "It can''t be in another country. Most of us didn''t bring our passports with us, so most likely it will be a privately owned ind." "An ind?" Novis asked. "What are they going to make us do there? I was sure we would be heading to the university where they had top of the line equipment and maybe, a really advanced gym or something. What''s the need to take us to an ind?" "I''m not sure, but by the looks of it and basing on the demeanour of the teachers and coaches, they''re probably really old fashioned." After hearing Lucas say those words gave him shbacks of his training with Arthur, and also Daiki over the past year. They too were quite old fashioned and had asked Novis to do everything in the real world. It was why he wasn''t allowed to y the game while training. He had climbed up mountains, run up and down hills, and hid in the wooden trees. There were times when he felt like he was in an old martial arts film. "Hey look, I think that''s the ind. " A student pointed out as he stood at the side of the ship. The students rushed over to have a look, and there was a small ind that could be seening into view. "Looks like your guess was right?" Novis said. The ship soon docked at the facade of the ind, and it was time for the students to get off. Some off them was still hoping this was all a big joke. They were away from their homes, away from their families, and now it seemed like they were away from any type of human civilisation. When they saw the boat leaving, as it headed back to where they had came from, it started to slowly sink in their minds that all of this was real. Stationed at the port where two motorbikes. The two Teacher got on and shouted, "Just follow us along, and you''ll see where you''ll be staying for a while." Hearing those words, the students were nervous of what to expect. While the students were required to walk, the teachers had it easy as they were given the pleasure to slowly ride around the ind. "Hey, did you notice?" Phil asked. "There isn''t a single shop operating around here." After walking for a good while, the teachers had finally gotten off their bikes. "Well, here we are." Fix said. "This is where all of you students will be staying for the next six months." They were stationed in what looked like a rundown mansion made of wood. It was hard to tell how old it was, but it was clear that it hadn''t been repaired for some years as nks were falling off, even some of the windows weren''t filled in. "Wait, we''re meant to stay here for six months?!" A studentined. "I thought you were one of the top universities? What type of living condition is this?" "I''m starting to think that this whole thing is a scam!" "Silence!" Bune shouted. "You students are free to leave whenever you wish. Just tell us and we''ll call for the boat toe pick you up. However, if you do that, of course, this will mean that you are no longer wee in Titan university. Your departure will cause your immediate expulsion." Fix then stepped forward. "Although the living quarters aren''t the best, I assure you this ind is filled with thetest equipment. Also, augmented fields are ced all over, allowing you to experience the game first hand with your actual bodies. A state of the art gym is positioned outside for those of you who wish to bulk up, and all your meals will be provided for you daily, free of charge. "I assure this is no scam, and once you have left this ind you will be an entirely new person." While the others were feeling a little disheartened, Novis had a smile on his face which was filled with excitement. Chapter 172: Picking Beds Chapter 172: Picking Beds The sun was starting to set outside, meaning it was nearly the end of the day. It had taken the students almost the whole day just to travel by ship to then eventually walk all the way to the dorm building. When they entered the building, the inside was nearly just as bad as the outside. Cobwebs in each corner, broken floorboards and even broken nails here and there sticking out. "Well, I feel bad whoever paid to get into this university," Novis said. Students who went through the selection process as well who were scouted by Titan university were able to attend for free. At the same time, those who chose to not do the trials, had to pay to even try to be on the Titan team. Although Lucas was able to afford such a thing, he no longer wanted to rely on his dad''s help for such things. And Novis, well he always had a n B. The capsule was a nice gift from Tom. But if he couldn''t get into Titan University, his n was to sell it to pay for his University tuition fee. He didn''t want to put the burden of his family paying for his University fees or be left with a huge loan to pay at the end of it. All the students were gathered in arge hall which doubled up as the food hall. There were rows and rows of tables set out with dinner trays set out in front. "What is this stuff?" Phil said as he looked at it. The dish seemed incredibly in. There were chicken breasts with no sauce. Some asparagus on the side and in white rice for their carbs. And for a drink, they had just water. Although Novis didn''tin one bit and dug straight in, Chiken and rice were one of his favourite foods, and best of all he was getting it for free. "Although it looks in, it''s the right amount of ratio for us," Lucas said. "It looks like they know what there doing. Even if it is packaged in an unappealing way." After eating their food, the teachers Bune and Fix went to the front of the hall to make an announcement. "Alright guys, its time for all of you to sleep for the night and get ready for the hard training happening tomorrow," Bune said. "We will be announcing your name with your room number, and I''m only going to say it once so pay attention." After calling out everyone''s room number, they realised that the group they had arrived with had been split. The same could be said for the other students as well. It seemed like the group they were with had no one they knew. They could only guess that this had been done on purpose. When going to each of their rooms. There were a set of 6 bunk beds which meant there was a total of 12 per room. Novis was one of the first to enter the room and decided to ce his bag on top of one of the Bunks. He liked being in high ces and didn''t feelfortable with someone sleeping above him. Just then he noticed that there was arge window at the back. He looked out of the window and saw arge field that seemed to be shaped simr to the game design. Only instead of a forest, this one had areas that marked where the woods would be. "Could this be one of those augmented feilds the teachers were talking about." The curiosity got the better of Novis, and he decided to head outside and check it out. There were no rules about peopleing in and out, but the teachers were just strict abouting to training in the morning on time. They wanted the students to be able to enforce their own discipline. While everyone was getting ready and taking their things out in their room, Novis seemed to be the only one outside. The filed he was on was just behind therge building that they were staying in. While looking at it, he noticed there were groves on the floor and although the area looked like dirt, from knocking and walking on top of it, he confirmed it was indeed metal. He tried to find a way to turn it on, but after trying everything he could think off, he eventually gave up. "Oh well, while I''m out here I better get some training done." Novis by now was used to working out around three times a day, and other than walking on the ind they hadn''t done much so Novis''s body felt a little stiff. He started jogging around the arena, then doing his normal full-body workout routine. Meanwhile, in the room that Novis was in, all his roommates had now arrived, and thest person to enter the room was a fairlyrge Muscr man named ke. He had short spiky blonde hair and an attitude of a yboy. As soon as he walked in, everyone could feel the confidence shinning off him. When looking around, ke noticed that there was only one bunk left. However, when he went to look at the top bunk, there was a bag on top of it. "Huh, who left their crap here!" ke shouted. Everyone in the room had no clue who it belonged to but only assumed that they had ced their bag there iming it. "You can''t just leave your crap on someone''s bed," ke said as he lifted the bag off the top bunk and chucked it onto the floor. "Hey man, shouldn''t you pick that up." Another student said. "I suggest you mind your own business if you don''t want a p in the face," ke replied. The student went on to mind his own business. In their lives, they had met people like him, who were just aggressive from the start. Just then, Novis had entered the room and could immediately see his bag on the floor. "What the hell, who threw my bag on the floor." As he looked at his bunk bed, he could see ke lying at the top. "So you''re the one who thinks they can im crap by putting stuff on the bed." ke said as he climbed down from the bunk. As the two were standing next to each other, the others could see ke towering over Novis. "What are you three years old man? If you wanted the top, you could have asked, and everyone knows if a bag on it it means someone already imed it." ke clenched his fist and quickly threw it towards Novis''s stomach. The blow was hard and caused the wind to be knocked out of him. Novis was now on both knees on the floor, trying to breathe in the air. "Youdid..not..just..do..that." Novis said, with his head full of anger. Chapter 173: Who is he? Chapter 173: Who is he? Novis''s blood was boiling. He had met some bad people in the past, such as Mac, but at least he had a reason behind what they were doing. But right now, Him and ke didn''t even know each other. And to suddenly punch someone over a petty argument, that just wasn''t right. "Novis, everyone''s watching you and remember there could be consequences for your actions," Arthur said as he could see the vein popping out of Novis''s neck. ke started tough as he saw Novis knelt over on the floor. "Look at your angry face, I''ve met hundreds of students like you. They think just because they''re good at the game they can actually fight in real life. Pathetic." "I was about to agree with Arthur, but now this guy is seriously annoying me!" George said." Kick his ass!" ke looked at Novis on the ground one more time, he started to gather a big pile of spit in his mouth before flinging it out, aiming right towards Novis''s face. "That''s it!" Novis shouted. Novis moved to the side, avoiding the spit before spear talking into ke, and grabbing hold of his legs. "What does he think he''s doing?" the students at the side said. "There''s no way he can lift that guy up. He''s like twice that person''s size." Another one said. Even ke had a simr thought, but a few momentster and ke''s head was now closer to the ceiling then before. And before he knew it, his body was now being thrown against the ground. Novis mmed him down onto the floor as hard as he could causing a few of the floorboards to be broken and ke had now beenpletely knocked out. Hearing the loud m against the floor, the others from the rooms nearby came out to check just what was all themotion about. As Lucas went and looked inside the room, he could see Novis towering over a knocked out person. "Novis!" Lucas shouted. "What did you do?" Lucas''s had a horrified look on his face. Perhaps this was the end of the journey together, and they had only just started. Novis had been called to the meeting room were two teachers where present. Fix was sitting down in his chair calmly ying with his rod while Bune was stood upright giving Novis a hard cold stare. "Do you have any idea what you just did," Bune said. "Although this is apetition, it doesn''t mean you can go forcing you''re way through to the top by knocking them out." Although most students might have been intimidated in this situation, Bune was surprised by how calm Novis seemed. "Didn''t you hear what happened from the other students," Novis replied. "Do you really think I would try taking on someone twice my size." Bune then looked Novis up and down and remembered the injured student. If he was to put a bet on the two of them and were to chose who would win, he would have bet on the other student. However Bune wasn''t stupid, he knew size wasn''t everything when it came to fighting. "You, what''s your name?" Bune asked. "Novis Talen." Novis repleid. "Alright, you''re free to go." "Seriously," Novis said, surprised. Although he had done nothing wrong and wasn''t the one who had started to fight, he was expecting at least get some sort of punishment. He was even afraid he might get expelled judging by the look on Lucas''s face. "Just get out of here before we change our mind." Novis didn''t need to be told twice and quickly headed back to his room. As soon as Novis left, Bune couldn''t help but try to remember if he had ever heard of Novis''s name before. "That kid, Do you recognise him?" Bune asked. "I mean, I recognised ke, he was meant to be one of the most solid Tank''s that ever existed yet ording to the reports he was easily taken out and lifted to the ground. "Why should I care." Fix said as he carried on ying around on the fishing rod. " He wasn''t scouted by any of the other universities nor was he good enough to get spotted by our own scouts. Everyone here is a nobody, and it''s our job to turn them into a somebody." Still, Bune thought it would be best to keep an eye on Novis for now. Someone who caused this much trouble on the first day was bound to cause moreter on. When Novis had returned to the room, he was surprised to see someone else in his bunk bed. On the bottom was quite a short boy named Robin. He had short ck hair and quite therge bushy eyebrows. When looking at the room, he also Noticed that Balke had woken up but was now on a different bedpletely. "We swapped positions so you two wouldn''t get into another argument," Robin said. "If its anything like the trials we went through, most likely our groups will determine our scores. So it''s best if we try to work together from now on." "Agreed." Novis said, holding out his hand to Robin." The names Novis." At first, Robin hesitated. Not many had heard the words exchanged between the two, so they were actually unsure how the fight started in the first ce and were wondering if both ke and Novis were troublemakers. But right now Novis seemedpletely normal. "Robin." He said as he shook Novis''s hand back. This was more what Novis had expected whening to Titan. After losing his old teammates, he wanted to create new bonds with people, not get into a fight on the first day. With that, the group went to sleep and were ready for their first day of training. It was bright and early in the morning when they could hear pots and pans nging against each other in the hallway. "Get up and out to the field!" Bune shouted as he continued to bang the pots and pans away. When they looked outside the window, they could see that the sky was still a dull grey colour. The sun hadn''t even fully risen yet. But they all did as they were told and were ready for their first day of training at Titan university. The Novel will be updated first on this website. Come back and continue reading tomorrow, everyone!