Chapter 34: Losing all hope

Scarlett knew she had no chance of beating Mac but she had one person who she might be able to rely on. That was Novis. She herself had never seen Novis play the game, but Scarlett knew Novis well. Without putting any effort into anything he was always quite good at everything. He wasn't exceptional but better than average.

Scarlett had seen Novis put more effort into the game than anything he had ever done before. So much that he even hired a professional coach. Even if Novis wasn't good at the game there was always a chance he could beat Mac. Maybe Novis style would just be awkward for him.

Novis was in the classroom busy away cleaning trying to get this one blue mark off the whiteboard.

"Why won't this bleeding mark come off, did they use a permanent marker or something?" Novis said as he wiped the bored back and forth with a rag.

"Why don't you try spitting on it," Arthur suggested.

"You are disgusting you know that?"

"In our times we spat on many things."

"Yeah well, now we have things like, cleaning liquid and soap."

After scrubbing at the same spot for five minutes Novis was about to give up. He secretly spat on the rag and went to wipe the mark off the board. To his surprise, the mark came off.

"Did I not tell you to do that a while ago?" Arthur said.

Novis stayed quiet. He didn't wish to give Arthur the pleasure of being right.

With the cleaning finished Novis got his bag and was ready to go home. He began to smile and hum a song to himself as he left the classroom. Then he heard loud footsteps in the hallway.

"Wait!" Scarlett shouted.

Scarlett was huffing and panting away like she had just done a 100-meter sprint race.

"Woah calm down, what's wrong?"

"I'm.. so. Glad..I ….found…you." Scarlett said taking a deep breath between each word.

She had sprinted from the clubroom as fast as she could. She knew Novis was on cleaning duty today so she might have just missed him if she didn't hurry.

"Novis is your coach letting you play the game yet?"

"Actually, I was going to go home and play my first game today," Novis said while smiling.

"That's great, come with me," Scarlett grabbed Novis by the wrist and started to lead him to the club room.

All the members were waiting patiently in the club room. Alex was currently sitting down in a chair. He was still unable to look anyone in the eye. But all hope was not lost. During the time Alex spent with Scarlett in the club together, he had come to learn how great she was at the game.

Her judgment skills, her fast learning pace was brilliant. Perhaps this person she would bring would be really good at the game. All Alex could do for now was hope. His future relied on this person after all.

The doors to the club room then slid open. Scarlett entered the room with a boy being led by the hand.

"Wait Scarlett, I don't even know where you're taking me."

As Alex saw the person behind Scarlett his heart sank a little. He remembered meeting this person before and if he remembered correctly the person stated he was Bronze rank five at the time. The lowest rank possible in the game.

Alex needed to stay positive though. It had been a few months since the two of them last met. Perhaps his rank had improved and was naturally talented at the game.

Scarlett dragged Novis to the centre of the room and pointed at Mac.

"This guy, I want you to play against him and beat him."

Novis looked at the huge student standing in front of him. It was hard for Novis to believe that Mac was truly 16 years old. Novis looked around the room and noticed that currently, all the members were present. He started to get nervous thinking of all the people watching him.

"Can't I just play him online at home, why does it have to be now?" Novis said.

Scarlett held Novis's hand tightly, tears started to fall down from her big round eyes.

"Novis, if you don't win this, then he said he would kick me out of the club."

Novis didn't really understand the situation he was in. After all, he had been dragged here against his will. But he did know something, Scarlett was upset. Novis liked the fact that Scarlett had enjoyed playing the game, he even whished one day Him, his brother, Scarlett and even Lucas could form a team one day.

Novis didn't understand his own feelings, but for some reason seeing Scarlett like this, made his blood boil and currently all his anger was directed at the person who caused this.

"Alright let's do this," Novis said.

Scarlett let go of Novis's hand and went back next to Alex to watch the upcoming match.

"This little runt is who I have to go up against, Fine I'll beat all your weak ass friends."

The two of them put on their VR headset and logged in using their user IDs.

<User ProNovis has entered the lobby>

Most of the members hadn't seen Novis before so they didn't know what to expect but currently all their hopes were riding on him. They didn't want a bully like Mac to be in charge of the club.

When Novis joined the lobby though, all their hopes were suddenly crushed.

"ha, ha, ha really so you're a noob, your rank is bronze five. Well, this will be a quick game."

Alex who had remained positive until this point suddenly lost all hope. Novis after all this time had still remained at bronze rank 5 meaning he hadn't gotten any better at the game.

"Just start man!" Novis shouted.

The two of them then went to the warrior selection page, where everyone was given an even bigger shock. For Novis had chosen to select a character, that had only come out that very same day.