The second day of the competition was finally here. Only the top 32 teams from the previous day were allowed entry into the venue and Olivier was one of those participants.
Currently, he was trying to calm himself down before his first match of the day. He was not nervous about playing a game, but he was nervous about the people who were watching the match.
Not only had the scouts from different gaming clubs come to watch today's match, but Lucas Lee had also decided to attend today's exhibition match.
His former student looked worse than he had even looked today. There were dark circles under his eyes as well as a lack of attentiveness in his eyes. Olivier was sure that the press and publicity department was having a bad time with him.
'What the hell happened to Lucas? First, he decides to stay in the club and now he has been reduced to this state. Is he even alright?'
If possible, Olivier wanted to walk over to Lucas and ask him all these questions. Lucas had been like his own child so Olivier was worried about him.
But his present situation made things a lot more difficult for Olivier.
"Hey, stop getting lost in thoughts. Our opponent for the first round has been selected already. We need to set up our accounts."
Mirai placed a hand on Olivier's shoulder and it snapped him out of his daze. He suddenly remembered where he was and what he had been doing.
"O-Oh, it is already time for our match? Sorry, I was just a little lost in my thoughts there. So, which PC is supposed to be mine?"
Olivier asked as he walked over to the team. Ezra had a sour look on her face but she had finally made it to the match today.
But according to the rules, she would not be able to participate since she had missed the first day. She could only watch from the sidelines now.
"You better not lose your matches, Olivier. I am watching you."
Ezra finally spoke. She still sounded bitter about losing her place but it had been her fault. She had also not given any solid reason for missing the match so no one could feel sorry for her.
In the end, Olivier decided to ignore Ezra's sour words for the time being and walk over to his PC.
He did not notice a pair of eyes looking at him and widening in shock. Lucas Lee had finally noticed the familiar face walking toward the PC on the other side of the room.
......….
Lucas had no idea what he was doing in this competition venue for the second day in a row. He did not need to be here, but the management had asked him to be there.
The pro player would rather be home, sinking into depression and trying to figure out what happened to his teacher. How did Olivier William, the one who scouted Lucas out and taught him so much, be dead?
To think that his teacher had just been there and they had even fought about the championship loss. Lucas had wanted to have a deep talk with his teacher once the ceremony was over.
But his teacher had died and that talk was no longer possible to have.
Lucas had started having nightmares front that day onwards. Sleep had been difficult to get but his skills had improved. Maybe because Lucas spent all his time playing games to escape this reality.
"Lucas, look sharp. The least you can do is to pay attention to these competing kids. They have worked hard to be here."
His manager reminded Lucas but he was not in the mood to do so. But still, he decided to oblige his manager and look at the competing children.
And his heart skipped a beat when his eyes fell on a familiar face. Lucas was sure this was a hallucination, but he still could not help himself from taking a step forward and then another.
Lucas had almost broken off into a run and gripped that familiar face. But his manager managed to stop him in time.
"Hey, what do you think you are doing? You ended to maintain your image here. Can you not see how many press members there are around us? Do not cause a scandal."
His manager whispered in Lucas's ear but Lucas's attention was on the kid setting up his PC.
"Hey manager, look at that kid. Doesn't he look like my teacher?"
Lucas pointed the kid out to his manager. His manager looked even more annoyed now but Lucas was unwilling to back down.
He needed to know that this was a hallucination and nothing else. Maybe if he was reassured that he was not right in the head, these illusions would stop haunting him.
"What are you talking about Lucas Lee? Have you finally lost it? A kid who looks like your teacher? Are you sure you are not seeing…Holy! You were right. I am seeing this but I cannot believe this."
Lucas was ready to hear rejection, but his manager suddenly look up in shock. It seemed like Lucas was not hallucinating this time.
There was a kid who looked exactly like his teacher in this club.
"Hey, did Mr. Olivier have a wife or a kid? I do not think he mentioned them ever. And his report did not say he was married either."
Lucas's manager asked this question but he was opening his phone to check anyway. He even sent a message to Mr. Maxamillion Bard, the chairman of his guild. Everyone knew that the chairman had been the closest person to Olivier.
"I do not think he was. I mean, he spent so much time in the gaming room. When would he ever have the time for his family?"
Lucas asked and his manager agreed with him. This kid likely had nothing to do with Mr. Olivier. But the resemblance could not be denied.
"Hey manager, do you mind if I go ahead and watch that match? I have a feeling we are about to witness something amazing."
The manager sighed but he knew he could not stop Lucas from doing what he wanted anyway.
Besides, the manager was curious now as well. Mr. Olivier was the most well-known and well-respected person in the Echoes community. Not many casual players knew about him, but anyone remotely serious about this game knew of Mr. Olivier.
If this kid had decent skills to match, then picking him up for the shock value would be enough for any club. It was a prime opportunity to make a good investment.
......…
Olivier quickly set up the controls for his account and tried the configurations. After making some adjustments to his control settings, it was time to start the match.
Unlike previous rounds, the top 32 were different.
Since there were fewer matches to play, it was decided that there would be an individual round, a duo round, and a team round.
Of course, the one who went up first for the individual round was Terry, their team leader.
On the other side, the one who stepped up was also the leader. It was a showdown between big shots.
The first match was between a berserker and a mage. Olivier was not happy with this match-up since it was heavily against their side.
A berserker was a short-distance unit while a mage was a long-distant one. The mage would be able to win if he maintained the appropriate distance not to be hit by Terry's avatar.
"Shit, this is bad. But we cannot change our participant right now."
Terry sounded upset and for good reasons. He knew he had been countered perfectly. He was somewhat famous in the local community and he had won the last locals.
"Calm down Terry. Things like these happen. You do not have to win this round since we do have two more left."
"Y-Yeah. Isaac and Olivier would win the next round easily. They are good with what they do."
Somehow, Terry did not look happy with this outcome. And Clement also realized that it was not a good idea to count on Olivier that much.
After all, Olivier was still under-leveled and did not have all his skill points invested. He would be at a disadvantage.
"Well, if we lose here then we will just work harder for the next competition. You do not need to stress it out."
Olivier assured Terry and the older finally sighed.
"Can you all at least believe in me a little? I will try my best to win this round."
The team looked at Terry with sheepish smiles. He tried not to take it to heart but it was tough when he knew no one believed in him.
His opponent heard this conversation and decided to send Terry a smirk.
"Try not to take this loss too personally. There was not much you could have done in the first place against such a draw."
Terry felt his temper snap. Now even his opponent was pitying him? He was not going to take it lying down.
Soon, the two avatars loaded into the map and Terry was dropped into a more advantageous position.
Since this was a one-vs-one, both their avatars were set to level 100 and they will have to duke it out. There was limited space to hide and there were no power-ups you could pick.
It was a pure match of skills.
Terry quickly used his knowledge of the game terrain and managed to catch the mage off guard. He had fought enough mages to know their blind spots well.
"What the…where did you come from. Shit, my advantage is gone."
The mage tried to create some distance between himself and Terry's berserker. But Terry just followed him with even more vigor.
In the end, the mage was not even able to drop Terry's bar down to half before he was killed off. And it was all because of the initial advantage.
"Tsk, you just got lucky this time. If you had not managed to catch me off guard, this match would have had a very different outcome."
Terry's opponent complained as he sourly shook Terry's hand.
"Hmm, then I guess I am 'lucky' I practiced this map enough to know how to operate under its restrictions. Maybe next time, you will get 'lucky' with your practice as well and learn how maps work."
Terry's opponent gritted his teeth when he heard those words. He knew he was being made fun of, but he could not deny those words either.
With this, the first match of the first round was over and Olivier's team had managed to score a point.
"Wow, captain. You managed to win this match…. I mean, I never doubted your skills anyway. Your victory was assured since the start."
Clement showered Terry with praises as he came back. Most of the people in front of him refused to look at him because of reasons.
"Stop trying to flatter me. I know you people had no confidence in me until now. But it is your turn now. Win the next duo fight so that we can advance early."
Both Isaac and Olivier nodded. The match before had fired up their drive to win as well. Olivier was especially excited because it would be his official 2-vs-2.
And he did have a solid class as his partner.
Both sides loaded up their avatars and it was a match between Mage and shooter vs assassin and summoner.
All the selected classes were long-ranged fighters but the first duo was more stable in terms of options.
"Isaac, let us go after the summoner first. It will be annoying if too many familiars spawn before we can continue the match."
Olivier suggested and Isaac was on board with this plan. He was ready to take out any opponent and he did trust Olivier's judgement.
The map loaded in and both sides were thrown in. And then, as Olivier had planned, both he and Isaac went after the summoner first. And it was over before the match even started.