The match was finally over. Olivier felt satisfied with his match but he knew he should not be satisfied with it.
After all, it had not been a real match and the opponent had given up too soon. It was more of a luck-based victory than a skilled one.
"Fuck. I do not feel satisfied with this win at all. Those bastards decided to run away at the last second, denying us our points. They were too afraid that their rankings would fall so they quit before that could happen."
Mirai sounded annoyed when she closed her game. She also smacked her hand on the table and the loud noise attracted the team's attention.
"Let it go, Mirai. A win is a win anyway and it will reflect in our team records. Besides, your performance was good today."
Isaac pointed out with a calm face. He seemed to be going over some last-minute changes in his build before he closed the server down.
Olivier also made sure to change the controls back to the ones Ezra had been using before. He was not sure he would be able to play on such a trash account again.
How Ezra managed to do it and play with locals was still a mystery to Olivier.
"Fuck my performance. I did not get any of the extra rewards for the first kill or most kills because our opponent decided to run away. I am not happy about today."
While Mirai and Isaac were talking, Olivier was focused on his game. He had not expected anyone to talk to him. So, he was surprised when someone did try to talk with him.
And it was the most unexpected person in the group - Terry Boot. The young leader had a complicated expression on his face as he looked Olivier up and down.
"This was not your first-time playing Echoes, right kid? You were far too good and knowledgeable about this game to not have played before."
Terry asked Olivier with a straight face. Ezra looked surprised behind Olivier but that had to be expected. She was not able to spot anything resembling 'experience' when Olivier played in front of her.
Rather, he had looked a little clumsy to her.
"Yeah, not my first time. But the controls and the skill points of Senior Ezra's account were weird. It took me too long to get used to them. Senior, please use your skill points and increase your stats. Also, please level up your natural talent as well."
Olivier had promised himself he would not interfere in this matter. He did not need to press Ezra to make her understand what he wanted from her. But Olivier was not able to hold himself back in the end.
Ezra's account was one of the worst he had ever played with. And once the dam was open, it was difficult to close it once more.
"H-Huh? What do you mean? My account is fully optimized and ready to go. That was why I asked someone else to level it up for me. I am not sure what you are talking about."
Ezra seemed clueless about her pending skill points. Olivier did not have any choice but to open her inventory and then open the 'special' section. There, her unused skill points were displayed.
"Senior, look here. You have so many skill points pending right now. You need to use them all before they go to waste. What kind of character do you want? Fast? Defensive? Attacking? Versatile?"
Olivier asked the question as he hovered over different skills on the tree. He looked back at his senior but Ezra looked confused.
"No, wait! Stop! Give me some time to think it over. I was never told that I will have to think this much if I joined the esports club."
Ezra's head seemed to be aching. She was clutching her temple and looked at her screen again. But she was still not able to tell the difference between different skills.
She knew she will have to read through the skill tree once or twice to know what things did.
"You take your time Ezra. you have the whole night to think things over. Anyway, the next qualifiers are not until a month, so you have time. Olivier, do you have your account? If not, then you can use mine for now. I will also get the school to set up an extra PC for you tomorrow."
Somehow, Senior Terry was becoming more and more reliable by the second. He was quickly rising in the rankings for Olivier.
"I have an account but it is not leveled up all the way. Please help me out if you can with the base game."
Olivier requested and Terry nodded. They exchanged UID for the game and Terry send him a friend request before logging off.
"Alright, folks, that is enough for today. I will see you all tomorrow during the club hours. Oh, Olivier, come with me. Your sister is hitching a ride with me back home as well so you will have to accompany us the way back home."
Mirai called Olivier out in the middle of the club. Everyone looked at the pair in front of them with suspicious eyes.
"Oh, you both are heading back home together, huh? Do you know each other or something?"
Clement dared to ask this of Olivier. It was easier for him to ask Olivier because they were the same age. But Olivier did not feel as if they were close enough with each other to joke around.
"Clement, stop digging around to get dirt on me. I am friends with his cousin so I am giving them a ride back home for reasons. It is not a story worth telling so leave it."'
Somehow, Mirai's words managed to convey that this was a story Clement should not dig into. And Clement got the message for the same as well.
Olivier remained quiet throughout the whole exchange but he was curious about Mirai now. Why did she choose to respond to Clements's useless allegations?
...
Unfortunately, Olivier never got to ask around. Natasha was waiting for them at the parking lot already and quickly got into the car as soon as it was unlocked.
Once everyone was inside and settled, Mirai drove them off home.
Olivier was excited to go back to his room and level up his account. But then he entered the main hallway and saw Mr. Stanford's familiar face. His teacher was already there and he had books ready in front of him.
"Ah, so nice of you to join us, Olivier. And I can see that Natasha is here as well. Why don't you both take a seat and we shall get to work?"
It had not even been a minute since Olivier had stepped into this house, and he was already being forced to study. Somehow, it felt scripted. Even Natasha sighed and gave in to her fate.
She sat down in front of Mr. Stanford first, but the elder was not satisfied. He looked toward Olivier, asking the youngest to take a seat as well.
And under all that pressure, Olivier did not feel as if he had a choice. He sat down and began his assignments. He continued it until he was finished and then bolted out of the room.
The study session had eaten away at his whole afternoon.
School let off at 2:00 PM, club activities by 4:00 and Olivier had been home by 04:15. It was about 07:45 by the time he got off studying.
In a way, his whole day was already over.
That was if one did not consider Olivier's nightly routine.
As a gamer, Olivier had trained himself in the supreme art of being able to work on the minimum amount of sleep. He did not want to brag, but he was once capable of operating at 4 hours of sleep every day.
But that was before he regressed. Now, it was time for Olivier to start his routine over again.
After a quick and tense dinner, Olivier returned to his room and started his gaming grind. It was an easy thing to do and Olivier soon lost himself in the rhythm of the game.
By the time he finished, it was already 02:00 AM. Olivier's eyes refused to keep themselves open any longer.
'Let us take a short nap and then continue again. I am about to hit my exp goal for today.'
That was what Olivier had been planning. But as soon as his head hit the pillow, he was out like the light.
But the alarm woke him up too soon. He looked at the annoying alarm, only to see that it was already 7:00 AM.
Olivier's five hours of sleep hardly felt enough but he had to force himself to wake up now. The school would start in an hour and Olivier needed to get ready.
He had no energy in his body to operate but Olivier still washed himself and changed his clothes. He somehow dragged himself toward the dining table and ate breakfast.
He did not notice the looks of concern his behavior was landing him with. Everything was too tiresome to bother.
He quickly walked up to the front door, before realizing that he had no way to get to school without Natasha by his side.
"Wait for me, kid. I do not think we should allow you to go to school. Are you sick? You look sick but your body temperature feels fine to me."
Natasha touched Olivier's face and Olivier felt irritated. He knew he had no right to feel irritated because of such a small thing, but he was not able to stop himself. It was just too much for him today.
"Yup, you do not have a fever. So, did you stay up all night gaming or something? I can see that your state is like Mirai. But let me warn you - do not do this too often or my parents would take your PC away. They are strict like that and if they feel the need to do something, they would do it no matter what."
Natasha pointed out and Olivier's brain reminded him that it was a possibility.
His brother had taken away his PC once in his previous life. It had been a major source of their in-fighting and caused Olivier to consider leaving home.
But this time, things seemed to be not as easy as before. There were more opportunities but also a bigger market for this game. And Olivier's age would be a hindrance to him for two more years at least.
'Ugh, I cannot believe I have to say this. But I guess I need to start going to bed early for some time now. I cannot afford to have my PC taken away.'
Olivier's tired brain caused him to agree to go to sleep early. His lack of reaction caused Natasha to be worried about him.
But they both threw unnecessary thoughts out of their head as soon as Mirai arrived to take them to school.
Since she was the only adult here, she was also the only one legally allowed to drive.
"Get in losers. It is time to go to school."
Natasha had a pained expression as she got into the car. Her muttering of 'just two more months' did not go unnoticed by anyone. But no one egged her on or replied to her words.
Soon, the school day began and it was over too fast.
It was time for the E-sports club again and Olivier's ringing brain finally stopped trying to kill him. He was able to think straight again and it was enough for him to notice the new PC in the room.
It looked better than any other they had and Olivier quickly opened it to enter his account information. He was finally in the game and this game had never run smoother in his current life.
The sudden jump in the game's quality caused Olivier to become emotional. The culprit behind his current state was his lack of sleep. But Olivier also needed to calm down.
"Sheesh, I did not know you would find your gift to be so amazing."
Terry spoke up as he entered the room. And Olivier was suddenly glad for his presence.