"Hey Mirai, have you already got all the PCs set up? Wasn't that a little faster than usual?"
The senior in the lead asked as he walked over to a seat and took it. He did not even pay attention or notice Olivier standing just behind him. The senior quietly opened the game, only to see the change in settings.
"Hey, did you do something to the settings? Somehow, the game feels like it is running more smoothly than before. But how did you open the side menu to…"
The senior was in the middle of his question when Olivier reached out to press the combination that allowed the settings to open.
His sudden action caused his senior to jump up in fright and clutch his heart tightly.
"Oh god! What the hell happened? Where did you come from?"
The senior tried to calm down his racing heart but nothing seemed to be working. Its heart refused to calm down even after he registered this new presence in front of him.
"Hey Terry, are you alright?"
The only female in the group apart from Mirai asked Terry as she hurriedly approached him.
"Do I look like I am alright Ezra? I feel like I just ran a marathon. I never want to experience something like that again. Hey kid, who are you?"
Terry asked with an annoyed voice. Now everyone was looking at Olivier with a curious expression on their faces.
The last unknown member, Isaac also stepped forward to have a better look at Olivier's face. It was so much pressure for Olivier to hold still and let everyone else look at him.
In the end, Clement decided to break the tense silence and begin introductions all around.
"Senior, Terry, Senior Isaac, Senior Ezra, let me introduce you to our new member. This is Olivier Williams. I know, what a coincidence that he is named that, right? He was interested so I brought him along."
Clement sounded proud of his doing. And his seniors also looked at him with satisfied expressions on their faces.
"You did good, Clement. Now we have a little assurance for the next year as well once our captain, Terry graduates. We will not have to close as a club."
Ezra slapped Clement on his back and it caused Clement to lose his balance and fall forward.
Luckily, he managed to catch himself in time but it had been a near thing for him to fall and break his nose.
"Senior, be a little careful with your strength. You are stronger than a normal human, you know."
Clement complained and everyone laughed at his words.
Meanwhile, Olivier used this time to sit down on the vacant PC adjacent to Terry. He would not vacant his seat until he was forcefully made to. He wanted to play a decent game as well.
"Alright, with this good news, we also have some bad news. We only have 5 PCs and 6 members now. So, we will have to take turns. Should we make the newbie sit out for today? I doubt he knows the basics."
Isaac proposed this and Olivier instantly found himself disliking Isaac.
What right did the elder have to judge Olivier's skill level? It was not like Isaac had seen Olivier play in an official match.
"I think we should allow the newbie to play today. We do not want to scare him away, right? Besides, I played with him once and I can assure you that the kid knows what he is doing."
Isaac backed down once Mirai took charge. He did not even protest his words being contradicted openly.
Olivier had a feeling that Isaac was a pushover once you got to know him.
"But if we are allowing the newbie to play, who will be the one to sit out today? I am sure as heck not going to sit out and I do not think Terry is in any mood to sit out as well."
Ezra pointed out with a calm voice. Now things were getting awkward.
"I can sit out this time. I am a healer so I do not need much training. You can have today's session."
Clement pointed out as he stepped back. Olivier could see that Clement did not want to step down from practice but he was willing to compromise for this team.
He was a good player but Olivier was not sure if he wanted to play without a healer.
He also did not want to play a healer in today's match. He did not know enough about others' play styles to adapt to them on the go.
Olivier was unlike his student Rikka, the genius healer who could adapt to any situation. And he was not the only one who wanted to have a healer on the team.
"I do not think we should play without a healer. Especially since we are playing ranked mode today. I guess I will lend my account to the kid for today. Kid, you do know how to play tank position, right?"
Ezra asked as she logged in to her account on Olivier's computer.
Olivier had not played tank a lot but he did know who to play tank position for the most part. He had participated in dungeon raids and competed against his students as a tank before.
", I do know how to play it. But I might require a match or two to make myself comfortable with the skill tree."
Olivier was already moving his unit around and looking at the controls. There were a few things he will need to change.
"H-Hey, do not mess with my settings. It took me a long time to get them to my liking and to adapt to them. Don't you dare change them?"
Ezra threatened with a scared voice when she noticed Olivier opening the menu.
Olivier ignored her and changed a few things anyway. He wanted to be comfortable while playing.
"Hey, I said not to change the settings. Did you not hear me?"
Ezra smacked the desk adjacent to Olivier to gain his attention. And this time, Olivier just sighed and decided to give Ezra an answer.
"Do not worry. I will change your settings back to normal before I log off. You will not have any problem playing once I log off."
Olivier assured Ezra and she had to back down. The damage had been done anyway and her account settling had been changed.
Once that was settled down, Olivier cued up for the game with this new team.
He had no idea how this team played or what classes the other members even were. But his hands itched to play Echoes once more.
He could not hold back his excitement.
[MATCH READY IN 3…2…1…GO]
Olivier's screen was filled with white light before it all faded away. When his screen cleared up, he was in the middle of the map. It was quite a neutral territory to be placed in but it was not bad position-wise.
"Hey kid, you need to head back and regroup. I do not have a lot of offensive skills you can use at first so you will need to rely on the team for initial level-up."
Ezra warned Olivier as she surveyed their current position. She was used to her situation but she was not sure if Olivier would be able to adapt.
"Senior Ezra, do you have no offensive skills at your current level? I remember that every class gets one by default but have you leveled it up even a little?"
The initial skills could be leveled up till lvl 15 before they stopped being upgradeable. These were the only skills that required skill points except your basic character stats.
But Olivier was not sure how leveled up this tank's initial skill was.
"Wait, there is something like that? I do not know much about it because I bought a pre-leveled-up account from someone. So, I have no idea what you are talking about."
Ezra's answer took Olivier aback. He knew that her character's stats were lower than they were supposed to be, but it was also entirely possible that she never spent her skill points.
'I guess I will have to check this after the match. For now, I need to concentrate on this match.'
Since Ezra had no idea what her initial skill level was, Olivier could only assume it was '1' and go from there. That means he will need to spend a lot of time and effort farming.
"Hey, does anyone here have an exp-sharing skill from any special event? I will need help from you."
Olivier asked this question but no one answered him. It was more likely that no one knew what he was he was talking about right now.
It made Olivier sigh tiredly. But he is also not going to give up in this match. At least, not yet.
He looked at his map, only to notice his luck. There were a lot of basic, lvl 1 monsters nearby. He only needed to kill a total of 10 monsters to gain a useful skill.
"Alright, I can do this. I have located the win-con for this match."
It seemed like both teams were too bush farming to pay attention to what the other was doing. That was the only reason Olivier was able to pull off his ridiculous plan.
"H-Hey, what are you doing? You are a tank, not a DPS. There is no need for you to farm right now."
Olivier ignored Ezra's complaints.
Usually, a tank did not need to farm in a high-ranking game. But this was not a high-ranking game. This was a ladder game where anything could happen.
Not only that, but Olivier had a plan right now. He wanted to get a streaking going. If he was able to get a streak going, then he will be able to gain additional points and buy skills.
Somehow, he was able to kill his 10 monsters all on his own and unlocked his shop.
"Hey, I know you are doing good and all, but can you play as a team right now? You are a tank and you need to support your team."
Ezra requested Olivier as she watched this match turn from a hopeful one to a disaster. But Olivier was fine with what was happening in the game. Somehow, the game state had not gone past what he had expected.
"Calm down. Our whole team is scattered right now so I cannot just choose to go to someone. I will need to level up a little more if we want to get the main boss. It is worth the most exp."
Now, Echoes is a game about capturing the opponent team's territory. It had nothing to do with monster killing except exp gaining.
But bosses were a different class of disaster. They were beasts that gave a lot of exp and could turn the tide of a game in an instant.
If you did not have a sure game by the time the boss came around, then the game was still up for a toss.
And as a tank, Olivier's task was simple - to aggro the boss and lead it toward his team.
"You are right. But are you sure you know what you are doing? I still think you should find Terry and have him carry you."
Ezra pointed out as she looked at the current team map.
Terry was already past lvl 15 while leveling up. He seemed to have a lot of offensive skills but almost no defense. Terry's health was already in the red.
Their healer, Clement, was already hedging toward Terry to heal him and gain some exp. Meanwhile, both Isaac and Mirai were busy doing their own thing.
"I am lucky I did not encounter an enemy until now. But I should start finding my teammates."
Olivier resigned to his fate. Just as he was about to go back, the message that turned everything around flashed across the screen.
[First blood had been drawn. Opponent player killed by teammate 'Shadow Mist']
Shadow Mist was the assassin controlled by Mirai. It seemed like Mirai had drawn the first blood of this match.
Things were about to get even more hectic than before and Olivier knew for certain that the other team was not going to take this kill while lying down.
They would either come after him - the tank. Or they would go after the healer. Both were a possibility at this point. And Olivier had no idea which mode his opponent would go with.