Chapter 8: PVP Match (1)
'Rise of the Darkness' was a well-known worldwide computer game. It fell under the category of massively multiplayer online role-playing game (MMORPG). It had a comprehensive character customisation system where players were able to define their characters' personalities, depending on their responses in the game's storyline as well as unforeseeable future events. In addition, players are welcomed to create unique characters and dress them up however they want, with endless customisation designs.
Other than that, players dived into the world of never-ending adventure as they experienced joy and glory from obtaining hard-earned treasures, as well as an emotional ride through the story quest they had encountered.
In this game, players had a variety of characters' classes to choose from before they proceed onto the first story quest. The character's classes are as the following; Berserker, Fighter, Mage, Support, Assassin, Gunslinger, Archer and lastly, Lancer. However, this game does not have limitations on the characters and it allowed the players to comfortably build their characters as to how they like.
Ajax paid for an extra hour on the front desk for the computer rental. The same lazy man looked at Ajax and spotted a big wet spot on his clothes. He then looked over to the group of teenagers who were snickering silently behind Ajax and then back to him.
"What did they do? Harassing you to play?" He questioned as he keyed into the computer. Ajax let out a hum, not wanting to speak of his predicament. Luckily, he did not question him further before handing over the card. As Ajax was about to take the card from his hand, the man's grip on the card had tightened and Ajax looked at the other party with a raised eyebrow.
"Play only if you can win. Don't play, just 'cuz they got to your head. These kids are immature and it's not the first time they did this," warned the man before letting go of the card and minding his own business.
Ajax knew he was just being a nice guy who was looking after his customers. However, he had accepted the challenge and he could not back out from it. His pride was on the line. He then calmly walked back to his seat with the teenagers followed in tow. 'It's not like I'll lose to them anyways.'
When everyone was in their respective seats, out of the corner of Ajax's eyes, he saw Zane was ushering someone who was completely out of his view. Ajax stole a quick glance at them, just to see a timid-looking-teenager walking up to Zane.
Amongst everyone in the clique, he was the shortest and quietest in the clique. He had never spoken a word and he was seen hanging at the back. It was as if he was forced to follow Zane and his friends around. His raven black hair was neatly styled backwards and he had dark blue spectacles hanging at the bridge of his nose. His physique was better than average and his skin was lightly tanned, as if he was a part of a sports club.
The quiet teenager took something out of his pocket and he was hesitant in handing over the card, in which Zane had forcefully ripped it out of his hand. The latter was then harshly commanded to get back to his seat by Zane himself, which the timid-looking-teenager did as he was told. Afterwards, Zane turned to Ajax with a creepy smile as he flashed the memory card before him, "Ready to lose?"
Ajax swiftly swiped the card from Zane's fingertips expertly, in which the teenager had a dumbfounded expression when the card was easily taken away from him. This time, Ajax never bothered hiding his smirk, "You might wanna ask yourself that before directing that question to me."
Zane cursed under his breath before the two of them proceeded to slot in the card into the desktop and started the game. The start-up load did not take long before they arrived at the character menu. In the character menu, there was only one character available for him to use and it was an Assassin class character named Laxus. There were other empty slots and it meant that he could create new ones if he wanted. Ajax felt his suspicion before he decided to check the character's statistics. Upon viewing the character's statistics, Ajax finally understood why the timid-looking-teenager was reluctant to hand over the memory card. This assassin character had a low-level build and not only was he lacking in power, his health bar and defence were low as well.
This game card was a fraud and he would automatically lose in the match if he were to play the assassin character. His eyes glanced over to Zane's monitor and spotted a collection of high powered characters. Despite both of the characters to be the same level, Zane's character build was obviously better than what Ajax's character has.
Ajax wanted to voice out the unfairness, but he knew better than to argue with these immatures. After all, a game was just a game.
"—Just like any other games, characters have their own weaknesses and strengths. Remember to always check their skill description. You can never know how useful they might be to you one day."
Ajax was never a gamer. However, in his past life as Ariel, he had watched his colleagues playing video games together whenever they had completed their mission. It was their past time together and even though Ajax refused to play, he had always been watching them silently at the corner. Whatever conversation they had regarding the game, he heard as his knowledge about gaming deepened. However, it was all theory-wise and it was time to put it to practical use.
He looked into the inventory of the character and fortunately, there were still a few available sets he could use. He read its description carefully before equipping the following sets that he thought were useful. He then read up on the skill contents and skimmed through it.
"—It's fine if your character has the worst build, just take note of its combos and chained attacks. They always make up for what you lagged behind."
He memorised which button was meant for which, taking mental note of the passive as well as the active buffs of the character before proceeding to log in with that character with a smile.
'Thanks, Ace and your crazy love for games. Time for me to put on a show they can never forget.'
Zane, on the other hand, who had been silently watching him, had actually been expecting him to complain about the fraud gaming account but the complaint never came. Instead, he witnessed Ajax carefully changing the character's gears and checking its statistics. He even smiled at the end, as if he was satisfied with the outcome that could make him win. However, Zane knew it was impossible for him to win since he had made sure the account did not have good quality gears in the inventory Ajax could equip the character with.
Zane almost shivered in excitement at the mere thought of Ajax being dense as he was going to fight with a bad character build against Zane's strongest one. Furthermore, Zane was planning to hold an open player-versus-player (PVP) match just to humiliate him even further without telling him. Everyone around the world could watch them battle and laugh at Ajax's misery at the same time.
'Let's see if you can smile after this.' Zane smirked as he logged in with his strongest character; a Berserker class character named Slength. Slength was a well-known character in the game as it was placed in top 40 rankings of the strongest in the Berserker class and in the gold tier for arena.
Zane prepared a room for the battle before inviting Ajax over to it. His other friends were invited in as well, however they were placed in the spectator views. Unbeknownst to Ajax, many random players came into the spectating room as well. They scrolled through Ajax's character build and almost died from laughter upon witnessing the character's poor build. Comments bubbles started to pop out and only Ajax did not know what had taken place.
[Omg! Is the player seriously going to fight with such low stats??]
// Player Genesis bets 800 gold coins on Player Slength //
[GGWP! It's his early funeral HAHAHA!]
// Player dEaThSuRgEoN bets 1200 gold coins on player Slength //
[I can't believe a noob is going to fight our top 40 rank Berserker class: Slength!]
// Player F1R3F1$T bets 500 gold coins on player Slength //
Zane, who had been scrolling through the comment section, snickered aloud, in which Ajax looked at him in question. They were waiting for the countdown as both of them accepted the match.
[Countdown]
[5]
"Are you seriously not going to back out?" asked Zane.
[4]
Ajax shrugged his shoulders, "Nope, I guess. I wanna see what the game is all about."
[3]
Zane snapped his head to Ajax, "You hadn't played this game before?!'
[2]
"Why would you care if I had played this game before or not? I have accepted the terms. So long as I win, you'll apologise, right?" Ajax glanced at him with a small smirk.
[1]
Zane clenched his teeth, "Your funeral and as if I'll ever apologise to you."
[Start!]
Zane's character; Berserker class character named Slength, immediately rushed forward and aimed Ajax's character with its mighty long sword. Unfortunately, Ajax's character; Assassin class character named Laxus, had successfully parried the attack, saving himself from that takedown charge. It all happened so fast that even the game chats were blowing up.
[Wait! Wait! Wait! WHAT?! How did that happen?!]
[Wtf…]
[He can parry?! With just a low-build character?!]
Zane gritted his teeth so hard, upon witnessing the impossibility.
'I will be sure to end you right here, right now.'