Hao knew after this gaming session here, Rayan would be more persistent in bringing his friends over.
"Ok, we have enough to operate all of the stations here," Hao stood in the middle of the corridor, looking at everyone.
He, Cher, Hil, Rayan, the team Hil brought under the leadership of a youth named Mark, John, and Ibra made it ten. "We will each play here. If you have anything to ask about then come and find me."
"Wait…" just before he would take a step further, Cher stopped him.
"What?" He looked puzzled and she seemed to be a little embarrassed before getting over her feelings.
"I want to play with you."
"In a team?" Hao raised an eyebrow, "this isn't accessible in that pre release version. Besides, we all will be randomly appointed across the map."
"It's not that… I just wanted to see you play."
"Yes boss, I didn't get enough from that single fight," Hil also jumped and said. Soon everyone else joined these two girls, leaving Hao helpless.
"Ok, come in and wait for me inside," Hao shrugged as he left. He had to go back and open the game for all the students in the dorm. As he went to the students, Cher led everyone inside his room.
Hao didn't take as long as everyone expected. He just roamed the rooms fast, entered the code he memorised, and avoided any unneeded conversations.
He even visited E and his gang in the former's room. They didn't say much to him as he decided they weren't worth the trouble.
Inside his room, and as everyone was going to watch, he asked the boys to move the desk slightly to the centre of the room.
They went and brought their seats, and he went out to bring that keyboard with the stick, the one he used before at the stage.
"Pretty much attached to such a stick aren't you?" Cher rolled up her eyes the moment she saw the keyboard.
"I'm a loyal guy, I can't let my beloved stick in other hands, right?"
"Sounds… Weird," Hil couldn't help but look away while Cher only chuckled.
"He is just a dirty boy with a dirty mind," Cher said and Hao could only sigh.
"I'm innocent here, it's you with the big dirty brains."
"Pat," she patted him weakly on the head, "start playing and stop talking," she said in a bossy tone that was totally fake.
"Yes ma'am," Hao followed her little act here, opened the game and started logging in using the name he created.
He didn't need to enter any password. After all, the game access was linked to the images taken by the camera at the beginning.
So no one would ever be able to access any account others created, even if they sat on their opened game accounts.
The little audience here moved and sat behind Hao. They looked in full attention and watched him play. From time to time, they would whisper among themselves, stand to get a better vision of something he was doing, and few started taking notes.
Just watching Hao move around and fight those white rat monsters in the map was like a new experience for them.
He never backed down. Any monster he met would lose the advantage from the first hit. Hao wasn't just repeating a single tactic. He kept shifting the skills, sometimes even starting with a run or a jump.
Hao was wielded with vast fighting experience more than anyone else here. So his decisions were always on the spot, not making a single mistake so far.
That wasn't because he was a god, but the foes he met weren't that strong… Yet.
"What do we have here?" He kept playing at such a pace for a straight hour. No one ever felt the passage of time. But at this moment, a new change appeared.
"Is that… a player?" it was John who even stood and came closer to the screen, trying to make sure of what he saw.
"It's indeed one," Hao nodded. "Let's go and say hi then."
"Can we chat here like any normal game or what?" Rayan asked as he got the feeling this also might be a different story for this pre-release version of the game.
"We can talk directly through any mic," Hao said as he let his champ step closer from the player up front. The other player also noticed him and moved in his direction. "But between us, we don't use words to greet each other."
Hao's words landed then a fight broke out intensely from the start.
The two champs ran at each other when the distance was just ten metres apart. The two were the same class, swordsmen, and were at the same level, level one. And the two seemed to have the same mindset.
Using swords to greet each other.
Their gears were the same, the stats were identical, and the skills were one. In other words, the upper hand here would be only decided by each player's true skills.
"He is… Good!" Hil from the side couldn't help but comment in amazement about that foe. Everyone else nodded in agreement.
The two champs were moving around like they were making a dance. Each skill used was mostly avoided by the other foe.
"Damn! That one is really slippery!" Rayan couldn't control himself as he grabbed the arms of his seat, "I never played against such a foe, ever before!"
"Our little Hao isn't that bad either," Cher was the only one here who once played at a world class stage. Despite it being a long time ago, her keen eyes didn't lose their touch, able to see how better Hao was over his foe.
During the past minute, they used all of their skills and auto attacks. Yet Hao managed to hit his enemy five times while the other player only managed to land his attacks twice.
The difference wasn't only in such numbers. Out of the five attacks Hao landed, three belonged to his skills. As for his enemy, one was a skill and the other was an auto attack.
In brief, the health point bar of twenty points of the two champs showed a great disparity here at the end of the first minute.
Hao's champ didn't lose more than one fourth of his champ health points. The other player lost more than three quarters of his champ health points.
"Are you going to kill him?" Cher asked from the side, while others were only watching while sitting on the edge of their seats.
Just this one minute of fight was enough to show them the real strength of this game. Hao fought against many monsters so far, but none of these fights stirred adrenaline in their veins like this one.
"It's just a greeting," Hao and the player broke out almost at the same time. They stood twenty metres apart, doing nothing but looking at each other.
"Give me that headphone," Hao pointed at the side where a brand new headphone was there. It also came as a part of the station. "Hey dude, you are really fierce," Hao said and his words carried a ton of mockery.
"Stop making fun of me. Which pro team do you belong to?"
"Isn't it rude to ask the winner for such a thing and not introduce yourself first?" Hao calmly said and that player paused for a second.
"I'm from Europe, Germany to be precise," he said, "where are you from?"
"The states," Hao didn't give much more than what that player gave.
"Won't you tell me your name?"
"Won't say to someone so weak as you," Hao controlled his champ and moved closer to that player. The player was one second late as he tried to evade the attack, but it was too late for that.
"Just go back and work on your micro, you lack big in that regard," Hao gave such an advice, not out of pure will but to mock his enemy and teach those around about what made him win here.
[Congratulations! You killed a player!]
[You gained twenty points of experience]
[You gained one item from his inventory]
[You gained white rat claw material]
[There is no gears to take one as a loot]
[Congratulations! You levelled up!]
[You gained two stat points to add as you feel like]
"Only two? That's too low!" Ibra spoke for the first time since coming here.
He was such an introverted person, rarely speaks out his mind, rarely got impressed by anything or anyone.
But just the performance Hao showed just now made him really impressed. For someone who used to excel at shooting games, he knew how hard it was to fight this battle against Hao.
"It's just a test period," Hao shrugged, "besides stats aren't everything. The most important thing to take care of is your skill level and your gears."
"Aha, I see," Ibra nodded.
"Why was he that good?" Mark pointed at the dead body that was slowly fading away, "is he an exception?"
"Exception?!" Hao raised an eyebrow when he heard that. He knew that anyone entering this game right now was part of a pro team. That meant all of these players were pros, with few exceptions like his gang.
"No, all of them will be as tough as this dude," Hao decided to tell them the facts here without much explanation. "Just use this chance to train. Playing against such strong foes is very beneficial to all of you."
"If we can even stand against them for a few attacks," Hil bitterly laughed, and everyone could relate to what she was feeling right now.
"Don't look at it like that," Hao noticed the change in the atmosphere, "everyone started from zero. Consider this as a good chance to train and get to know the real strength of this game."
"Don't tell me the real game will be filled with all these geniuses!" Rayan said in annoyance. After all it wasn't a good thing for any gamer to meet much better ones in any game.
Instead of the desire to fight, they might develop frustration and helplessness.
"The game will be filled with idiots," Hao stopped playing, turned his seat around to face their dejected faces, "but we don't aim to just be good. We need to be on the same level or even better than that dude."
"I don't know man," Rayan shook his head, "but I think you'll be the only one who can reach this level."
"Why not try your best and join me then?" Hao felt it might have been too early to show them such a fight, "I reached there already, and I know the path."
"As if we can train to become better," Hil sighed, "we tried and failed."
"Didn't it cross your mind before that you were training wrong?" Hao didn't accept such excuse, "in my world, I know the right path, the right things to do, as I was at your place and reached to mine on my own effort."
"..."
They looked up at him in doubt and disbelief. "Don't think too much about it. The first step to progress is to know where you stand from the goal you want to reach," Hao pointed at the direction of the side rooms, "go now and vent your frustration over monsters."
"What if we met players?" John asked.
"Fight," Hao said as if this was something simple.
"But we'll die!"
"You won't lose anything but useless material," Hao pointed at the screen without shifting his eyes away from them. Then he moved his finger to his head, "but in here, you'll gain it big. Go and start playing, your training starts now for real."
As he said it, he stood up, led them all to their rooms and started the game for them. He knew they might have taken a blow to their confidence when they watched the real pro level game just now.
But if they didn't stand up from this, they wouldn't deserve to be in his team. Rising up was easy for skilled gamers, but dealing with falls like these was the most essential skill that would determine who would be a real pro or go into oblivion.