[Come on. Are you seriously going to ignore me? That just fuels my desire to know about you more.]
This time, the message was short and more to the point. This was the calmest message Olivier had gotten in a while from this person.
And this was also the fifth account this person had tried to send a message from. Olivier had blocked four different accounts made by this man but the sender was persistent in contacting Olivier.
[Just leave me alone. I do not want to 'get to know you' any more than I already have]
Olivier replied and then realized what a huge mistake he made. He had not wanted to say anything back but his impulsive nature had jumped ahead of his caution.
[Hey, you replied to me. So, does that mean we are friends now? I knew no one could resist my charms. I am the protagonist of this world after all.]
Olivier felt his heart sink once he realized that this man was a weirdo. He had just replied to a weirdo who seemed obsessed with him.
"Shit, where is the block button. I need to block this madman before he does anything else."
Olivier panicked and quickly hit the block button. He also accidentally left his party in haste and everyone was startled by his action.
"Olivier, what the hell? We are so close to the boss. Why would you disband the party now?"
Clement asked in a devastated voice. But Olivier could not even bring himself to feel sorry for the other teen.
Not when he had a possible madman after him in the game. This was terrible news for his gaming life.
"Sorry, I was startled by something. You guys can continue to play the game for now. I think I want to head back home now."
Olivier was not surprised when no one asked him why he was hedging home early. It was almost time to close the club room anyway.
He quickly left the school but Olivier's mind was still half into his game. And even when he reached home and opened his PC, Olivier was hesitant to open the game.
He was afraid that he would be jumped by someone as soon as he opened the game.
Thankfully, nothing of that sort happened and Olivier was able to play peacefully for a whole hour.
He was dungeons to gain Exp when Olivier received an in-game message from Terry.
[it is time for the meeting. Meet me at XXX place on the game map. Boss Xiao and I are waiting here for you with the supreme guild leader.]
Olivier stopped clearing his dungeon as soon as he got the message. And then he heard over to the mentioned place on the map.
Olivier spotted Terry's berserker out in the open and Boss Xiao's mage as well. But the other two people at the party were new.
One was a lvl 70 sword master and the other was a lvl 90 summoner.
[Kid, you finally made it. Big boss, here is the kid I told you about. See, I told you he was level 40]
Olivier paused as soon as he reached the party.
Somehow, he knew that the summoner, the big boss, did not believe his skills. But Olivier's attention was on the sword master more than the summoner.
There was something about the eerie silence combined with the looks of the avatar and the curiosity it showed.
[So big boss, who is this person with you? You never told me you were bringing anyone along with you]
Xiao asked in the group chat. The big boss seemed to be at a loss for worse at first. Olivier could tell this because of the delay in reply and typing speed.
[Ignore this person. He was someone I could not…refuse but we do not need to pay attention to him. I am more interested in the kids you told me about.]
Olivier had a feeling this 'big boss' was the actual guild leader of Champions. And if that was the case, then this was a good opportunity to show off his skills.
But for some reason, the silent sword master made Olivier hesitate to do anything. That avatar had not stopped looking at him.
[Hey kid, come and show the big boss what you can do…why are you not a part of our guild yet? Have you not accepted the request? What are you waiting for???]
Boss Xiao noticed this only when he tried to send a private invite to Olivier for the arena.
[Oh, I forgot. It was somewhat of a tense day for me]
Olivier's excuse was genuine but it did not sound genuine to anyone else. They did not know the harassment he was going through, getting chased after by a stalker.
The big boss was annoyed at this development, but he hid his disappointment by changing the subject.
[Anyway, since we have come this far, let us go all out. How about a 3-vs-3 match? I think that should be enough to prove this kid's potential]
Olivier tensed up at the sudden demand.
He did want to prove his potential and get into a good team, but this progression was too fast. Chances were, even if he did get selected here, he would be stuck in a pit of rookies and trainees.
Olivier needed to do something impressive.
[Boss, wait. We still do not have 6 people to play a 3-vs-3. We need one more person for our teams]
Terry reminded everyone but that seemed not to be a problem.
[Huh? Let us not worry about it. I can just grab someone from our guild. That should solve our problem]
The big boss seemed to have plans for Olivier already. And for some reason, Olivier did not want to go along with them.
He would rather prefer to have someone neutral on his side in this match except Terry.
[Hey, I am online again. One of my people told me where you were. Remain there, I am coming. I will be there in 5…4…3…2…1…]
Of course, when things were bad, they could always take a turn for the worse.
"Hello everyone. I am here, your friendly neighbourhood healer. Did you all miss me?"
The healer was behind all the messages Olivier had gotten until now. And unlike everyone else, the healer also did not have himself on mute.
His sudden presence startled everyone in the group.
"I saw your world chat since I was keeping an eye on it. Well, I am my people were. It is very annoying how fast they pass by if you are not on the right channel. Anyway, I heard that you need another player for your teams. I, the legendary Aqua, shall help you out."
If Olivier had any doubts if this was the same person harassing him or not, they all melted away at that intro.
If possible, Olivier wanted to deny having Aqua play a match with them. Especially if the man kept his mic open all the time.
But the ultimate decision was not in his hand.
[Ah, the streamer Aqua. I know who he is. Let me check something…and yup. He is the streamer. He has also got decent skills so I think it will be alright to let him play]
These were the first words the unknown sword master had said in the chat. Somehow, Olivier knew this was going to be a tough match for him to endure.
[Alright, if you say so. We are all going to unmute our mic once we are in the match anyway so we might as well allow a streamer to join. If anyone has a problem, then say it now.]
The big boss sounds firm. But Olivier had a feeling he had allowed the healer to join only because the sword master has asked him to.
This meant that the sword master was important enough for the big boss to listen to. And there were only a few people Olivier knew who could make a guild leader bow their head like this.
'As far as I know, the only famous sword master in Champions is Allen. But surely a pro player does not have enough time to come and check out an unknown player from the lower ranks. What kind of coincidence would that be?'
Olivier tried to assure himself. But more than anything, he did not want to face a pro player with his shitty set-up.
If his lack of adaptability would not kill him, the lag in his inputs surely will.
[So, no one has any complaints about this arrangement? Good. I will send you an invite to the queue now. It will randomly assign teams so be careful. I will set the team level at 70 so that everyone has equal stars.]
[Boss wait. Won't it be disadvantageous for Controller? He is only lvl 40…]
Terry tried to reason but the invites had already been sent and accepted. Olivier sighed as he braced himself for a tough game.
He was the only one under-leveled so he would have to do a lot of grinding in the early game.