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 internet Cafe or going online to play more opponents. Arthur new the number one rule when facing somebody was to know you're opponent. This meant he needed to play 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 play 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 the computer. Arthur completely 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 playing soccer in his P.E class, 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 blasted the ball. The ball had completely missed its target going about ten meters above the goal.
The kids began to laugh.
"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 class. The students returned to the classroom 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 the last 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 these last 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 classmates had herd what Scarlett had said.
"What! Novis is playing 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 classroom.
"Alright everyone it's time to take your seats."
As the class began Arthur couldn't stop thinking about VSW.
"Will we get to play 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 internet 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 class began a worksheet was handed around the classroom. 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 level compared to other people in his time but he could still just barely complete what Novis was doing.
"If I help you out will you let me play 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 internet 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 internet 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 play.
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 the last 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 blank?"
"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 had come 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 placed around the hall. On each side near the boxing ring were the capsules Novis had seen in the internet cafe, but unlike the internet cafe, there was no TV screen displaying 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.