20 The Calmness Before the Storm

Bring home the victory! The female trembled in rage. Her nails that were painted with bright red nail polish curled in her palms and slowly formed into a fist. Sofia's tone successfully taunted her anger.

"Naive! Among all the squads inside this booth, right now, only your squad got zero chance of winning. Do you hear me? Zero!" the female stressed out as her face turned grim. Her members quickly approached her and gathered in front of Sofia's team who were just sitting.

"Don't look down on newbies! My squad is new but not the players that are beside me. We had been playing this game too." Joey interrupted. Thankfully, Clark was not yet beside him.

Sofia's face had turned serious. There was no trace of smile or amusement in her eyes. "There's no need to talk. We will see on the battlefield," she muttered and tucked her hair.

"Hah! How arrogant! I tell you right now, you don't need to enter the match and meet us on the battlefield! There is no difference as we will eliminate your group in the first minute of the game! Do your team a favor and just go home!" the female ranted as fumes of anger could almost be seen gushing out in her nose

Just go home! They could feel the blunt hostility of the female's tone as she spoke. Stephen comically shook his head and sighed. So much for expecting a bond of friendship from the newcomers. It would seem that they were not just assigned as opponents inside the game. They were also destined to be enemies in real life!

Claire subconsciously grabbed Sofia's arms for support. "Sof, I promise to give the first blood to that nasty girl as a gift for insulting our squad," she whispered. Her voice was full of assurance.

Sofia glanced at Claire and nodded. Claire was her first friend in the game. They had been playing as a duo before they decided to form their team. With her friend's skill, she had no doubts.

"First 40 seconds, Claire," Sofia muttered.

Claire's eyes immediately went big. Forty seconds! Sofia just directed her to eliminate the female's character within the first 40 seconds of the game!

"Ehhh..." she awkwardly smoothed her dress and smiled sheepishly. "Isn't that a bit hard to do? I need a miracle to pull that off, Sof!" Claire bit her lips as she started to imagine how to execute the first kill within the forty seconds of the game.

"It is easy. Just sneaked out on your lane and find her." Sofia replied.

"Ehh? How could it be easy? It's not like her team won't protect her!" Claire argued while countless images about the game flashed in her mind. The female was a squad leader. Her team would definitely not allow her to be slain, otherwise, a squad losing a leader, not only it would impact the morale of the members, but the squad would certainly be in an extreme disadvantage side of the match.

"They won't. They will focus on attacking us and destroying our towers. I am certain that they will ignore their defense. With so many of them, her members would be confident that none of us would charge out and counterattack. You can combine your stealth skill and teleport afterward. It's a good opportunity to catch them off-guard at the earliest possible time." Sofia instructed.

Claire sighed, finally understanding how her friend viewed their match. Sofia's analysis was also valid. Sometimes in games, players can easily grow complacent, especially when they have great advantages. They would think that their enemy is easy to beat, hence they would bully them for a little more instead of pushing to reach their final goal.

With such a mindset, they usually ignore the fact that if victory is not yet served on their plate, those on the disadvantage side may come back and overturn the entire match.

This is because, even though most online games rely on statistics, in a real-time strategic type of game, the most crucial point is the strategy and luck. The gameworld used a term called 'cancer' for this type of player. Mainly because the mindset could be compared to the disease that would make a bad impact on the team's overall performance- worst-case scenario, defeat. While those teammates who became a burden in the team were oftentimes branded as 'noobs'. Usually, those players would act like newbies, constantly feeding the enemies, and slow to react during team clashes. But such names could also overlap.

Of course, luck is included in winning. After all, it is just a game and some players have immeasurable luck in this field. Gamers sometimes can receive success or failure merely because of a chance rather than through their ability. This factor is triggered by the amount of their luck.

Joey cast a concerned look on his two teammates - Sofia and Claire. He could tell that they were both having conversations but despite the few inches in their distance, girls have their way to perform secret discussions. He could not hear what they were talking about!

"Leader, don't waste your time on these amateurs." a girl comforted the female as their group went to an empty sofa.

"You're right! We will teach them a lesson later." the female muttered as she tried to calm her emotions.

Outside the gymnasium, a rich boy was in a mess. It was his first time participating in a tournament and he didn't have any idea where he should go!

All participating squads were already settled on their booths, thus, when Clark arrived, the only queue he saw was for the audience entrance. He directly went to the door, ignoring the long line behind him.

Seeing his action, people started to voice out their complaints and grievances.

"How dare this boy walked directly on the door! Hey, go back to your line!"

"Hey! We are here first!"

"Yes, respect us! We have been waiting for our turn also."

Clark ignore the chattering criticisms and went straight to the guard stationed on the entrance door.

"Sir, you must wait for your turn. Please go back to your line. It is unfair for those who came here first," the guard did not wait for Clark to speak. Seeing that everyone had exercised patience for their queue except Clark, the guard quickly got annoyed. But, he had exercised self-restraint and still explained to Clark the situation!

Unfortunately, that was not the real situation that Clark was facing! The line was for the audience and he was a participant in the tournament!

Clark could not help but walked back and went to the last person in line. He stood there for about five minutes. The sun started to shine brightly and the heat was almost unbearable for a boy who was not fond of outdoor activity.

"I regret going here at almost the last minute. Why did my alarm clock did not wake me!?" Clark mumbled and put all the blame on his alarm clock for not being too loud when it rang. He slowly took his phone out of his pocket to seek help from his friends.

As soon as he opened his screen, the notifications of countless missed calls and messages greeted his eyes. He then realized that his phone was accidentally placed on a silent mode!

"Ohh no!" Clark slightly panicked when he saw the last message of Joey for him.

From: Squad_Joey

We are in booth 3. Just get inside and find us. If you come late, I will strangle you to death!

Clark could almost hear his wild heartbeat in panic despite the noise of his surroundings. It was overwhelming! Luckily, a delivery man stopped on the other side of the entrance and asked for a person's name.

Clark overheard Sofia's name being mentioned by the guard.

The boy did not waste his time. In full haste, he quickly dashed forward and ran towards the other door. People near his line looked at him weirdly.

"Where is he going?"

"Ahh... that's the participant's entrance. Is he going to ask for an autograph maybe?"

"Could it be that he was also a participant?"

"Ehh? I don't think so..."

The people quickly voiced their opinion as they were watching at the retreating figure of Clark going away from their line. They even laugh slightly when Clark was almost stumbled on the ground because of his awkward run!

Meanwhile, Sofia walked out of booth number 3 to received her ordered breakfast. Just as she was about to approach the delivery man, she caught sight of Clark running at full speed. The boy was like participating in a race with invisible contenders!

Her brows formed a line by the sight of Clark running towards her. "Why are running? You are not yet late." Sofia called out.

Clark finally arrived panting and gasping of air. His ragged breath was too concerning as of he would collapse in any minute. The guard and delivery man worriedly looked at him.

"Are you okay sir? Is somebody chasing you?" the finally curiously asked. Based on Clark's speed, he assumed that some thugs were probably following him.

"Ah! Hehehe... no, no, I'm okay," Clark could only laugh at his situation. He casually took an expensive handkerchief on his picket and wiped the beads of sweat on his forehead. The quick run had almost burned down all of his energy.

"Your stamina is so low, Clark. You better exercise outdoor." Sofia told him. The distance from when he run was just a few meters. But his body was almost collapsing! Noticing his rapid breathing, she handed him a bottle of water from the delivery that she just received.

"Thank you!" Sofia thanked the delivery man and the guard before she turned around. Clark immediately opened the bottle and took a big gulp.

"It's embarrassing but I almost got lost. It's my first time to be in an online tournament." Clark admitted as they walked together.

"You could have stayed in your car and called anyone so that we can pick you, rich kid." Sofia chuckled.

"I'm about to call! But when I notice the delivery man, my feet decided to run!" Clark reasoned out. Then he covered the handkerchief to his mouth after he realized what he just said! It was so childish of him to blame his feet for running!

"Hahaha, your feet really are impressive! It's all good. We will be playing on the third elimination round. Have you eaten your breakfast? I also ordered a portion of a packed meal for you." Sofia informed him. Although Clark has not yet arrived when she placed her order, the food was actually good for the five of them already.

"Hehehe, I can eat again!" Clark grinned and felt happy that Sofia had included him.

When the two arrived at their booth, all eyes darted to Clark.

"Boy! You almost had me worry that you'd be late!" Joey was the first to express his concern.

"Don't mind him. I heard that he was nervous!" Sofia casually laughed.

"No, that's not true!" Joey denied as he took his meal out from her. But a dent of red could be seen on his face.

Sofia giggled, "Hehehe, let's eat. We need full energy to get that victory."

"I was also nervous. But then, after I ran, I have forgotten to be nervous! Haha if you are nervous, you can also run, Joey!" Clark suggested while chewing his food.

"Tsk! What run? I exercise every day! My father is a basketball coach. He is very particular about building stamina in my body!" Joey scowled.

"Hey guys, we can do jogging sometimes! The five of us! It should be fun!" Claire excitedly proposed.

"Yes, we can do that! It's a good bonding and we can stay fit!" Sofia agreed.

While the group was having this conversation over their meal, the other squads secretly mocked behind them. Such conversation could be deemed as inappropriate. They are in a competition but the squad was discussing a different topic!

"They are the Chronos squad, right? Look at them! They did not even discuss the game."

"Yes, they were talking about exercise! Hehehe, How is this connected in the game later?"

"They are amateurs and this group does not know what to talk! They could even chill and eat. This squad can easily be eliminated!"

"Leave them. We can feel at ease to defeat them easily because of their ignorance."

Unbeknownst to these squads, Sofia's team had long prepared a plan for the match. They already knew what to do and what to execute. Thus, there is no need for her team to discuss the game. All they could do is to relax until it would be their turn to play.