"Finally, freedom. I could feel my brain melting from all the studying I did."
Clement stretched his body as the final class for the day finally ended. It was time to head to the gaming club and focus on Echoes.
Olivier was happy as well, but he was less dramatic about it than Clement. He picked up his bag and packed it in record time. Then the duo was off to do their club activity.
The room was empty for now since it took seniors more time to finish things up and come down here. Olivier quickly opened his PC and logged into the game.
As expected, his inbox was filled with incoming requests for p-vs-p and Olivier did his best to ignore them all. It was not worth looking through.
A lot of people got rejection notices for their requests and it caused a rumor to circulate in the community about 'Controller' and his cowardness. People also talked about how he might not be as good as everyone said he was.
There was no record of his gameplay except the small snip of fight they all saw from the Winded gliding competition.
Some of these comments made their way to public chat as well. Olivier saw them and then chose to ignore them. He knew that the news of him rejecting everyone would blow over soon.
He continued his farming with Clement's help. But this time, he did it in a safe area so that no one could challenge him for a p-vs-p. He also closed his friend request box so that the annoying notifications do not keep showing up for him.
"Wow, you sure are famous now. How knew that your fighting clip will blow up like that? You can start your streaming channel now."
Clement jokes but envy covered his words.
The sudden shift in tone caused Olivier to pause in his combo and look at Clement.
"I was just joking. You do not have to do anything if you do not want to. Ahhh, look out. You are about to die."
Clement's words were greatly exaggerated. Because Olivier had stopped moving and killing the beasts, his avatar was being smacked left and right by the said monsters.
At most, Olivier would lose 60% of his HP struggling to break free. So, he will still have enough to take care of these monsters afterward.
"Hey guys, what is going on? Are you farming for the event? Wait for us and we shall join you."
The seniors arrived as well and quickly logged in. Their team of two went to six and they quickly cleared the level.
These small monsters were getting boring now. Olivier needed something more challenging and stimulating to get his blood pumping.
"Hey, the boss mini-raid event is coming up. Have you all joined a guild yet?"
Terry asked the question once he stopped moving his avatar.
Out of everyone in the group, he was the most passionate and curious about this game. So, he did whatever it took to be updated with the game. He had even joined the bet guild available so that he got the best cut of loot and bonus.
"I did join my guild but I am super casual with their events. If there is an event, then they did not pin me about it."
Mirai explained. And she seemed to be the only one else who was in a guild.
Olivier would have loved to join a guild and reap all the benefits of one. But he was still underdeveloped and just hit the requirements to join one.
"Oh, that is unfortunate. But this is a good event that is coming up. It will yield a lot of drops as well as exp for your weapons and equipment. I would advise you to take care of your affairs and join a guild soon. Olivier, do you want to join me? I am sure you will be able to pass their test."
Terry's offer was tempting. Olivier did want to join a good guild but most of the good ones were filled.
And oftentimes, you needed to have insider help if you wanted to join a famous guild or a top-rated one.
"Hey, that is not fair. Why would you not ask anyone else to join your guild as well? Which guild are you even in…wow, that is a sub-branch of 'Champions' right? Isn't that guild in the top 100 overall?"
Clement sounded jealous as soon as he looked at the list. Olivier could see the desire to shine brightly in Clement's eyes.
"Oh, come on Clement. I would love to invite you to my guild but there is a threshold when it comes to who could join us. The account needs to be less than a month old and none of you except Olivier have that covered. You can always make a new account and apply."
Clement's annoyed expression slacked into one of disgust.
"Hey, I worked hard to level my account up. There is no way I am going to restart from the beginning, even for a good account. I will find a guild that will take me as I am."
Clement's proclamation caused everyone else to chuckle. Even Olivier could feel his heart beating faster and faster in his chest.
It had been far too long since he had felt like this. This excitement at trying something new was what he had missed a long time ago.
"Hey kid, just be on your PC in the evening. I will send you a message and introduce you to our team leader."
Terry assured Olivier of this.
It was not like Olivier was worried about being left behind by his Terry and not being able to join a famous guild. He was sure that he would be able to get selected for any guild he applied for.
But it would be nice to have someone cover for him during difficult times.
"Alright. I will remain online when you message me. I am interested to join the guild as well."
The rest of the gaming session passed in relative peace. Olivier hit his threshold and then it was time to head home.
Since it was his first day of tuition after getting hit in the head, Mr. Stanford almost did not let him go.
His tutor wanted to revisit anything and everything he could remember. Olivier was barely able to make it without losing his head from all the studying.
But as soon as his PC started, the headache went away and Olivier felt fresher. He was also able to focus on his game,
He farmed for about half an hour before he received the message from Terry.
[It is time]
There were only two toward that summarized his message but Olivier got that Terry wanted to say immediately.
He hurried over to the location marked on the map and found Terry with a mage. They seemed to be in quite a deep conversation and Olivier send Terry a message to tell him that he had arrived.
[Ah, so you are finally here Olivier? Boss Xiao, this is the kid I was talking to you about. He is Olivier and he is 14 years old. I am sure he will be an asset to our guild.]
Olivier tried not to feel flattered as soon as he read the message. Terry sure had some grand things to say about him.
The mage walked toward Olivier and observed him from head to toe.
There was an almost disapproving glare in his eyes but he refused to make any comment outright.
[Hmm, so this is the kid you had such high praises for? We shall see how good he is once we perform the test.]
Olivier had a feeling that the mage was not impressed with him.
The criticism seemed aimed more at his gear than Olivier himself as a player.
'Ah, he is one of those players. Yeah, this is not going to be an easy challenge for me to win.'
A gear can enhance a player's performance by a lot. But it could not change your abilities as a player.
That was what Olivier believed when he played a game. But he was also aware that not everyone thought the same as him and prioritized skills above all.
[Boss, I told you he was new. There is no way he would have top-class equipment at this stage. You can at least look at his skills, right?]
Terry seemed to be negotiating hard for Olivier's sake but the mage seemed uninterested in the outcome.
[Fine. Since you are insisting so much, then I shall look at this rookie's skills. He will have to follow me into a dungeon and prove his worth. Is that alright with you?]
The mage asked Terry and Terry looked at Olivier.
Olivier just shrugged, agreeing with anything. He was confident in his abilities after all.
[We are ready.]
Terry typed and Olivier watched the mage avatar walk away to open a dungeon. It was a high-level dungeon and it was way past Olivier's current level. It was suicidal to challenge it when he was 10 levels below.
But Olivier was ready for this challenge. If the boss wanted to try him, then Olivier would show him what he was made of.