"I hope I didn't make you guys wait?" I said apologetically as Elizabeth saw me approaching.

 

 

If I had known they were already here I would've come a bit earlier. I spent my time at the library while waiting for the allotted time since I didn't want to stand in the main gate building for minutes just waiting awkwardly.

 

 

"Ohh no no! We just arrived earlier than expected." Elizabeth vehemently protested

 

 

That makes sense. It was only 3:25 the last time I checked.

 

 

"I can't believe you managed to recruit another member this fast." Said the familiar boy.

 

 

"Well, considering Liz, it is not entirely unexpected." responded a calm feminine voice.

 

 

"Ohh I forgot to introduce you guys. Katherine, these are my friends. We all come from the same high school."

 

 

She introduced them to me one by one careful to not overwhelm me.

 

 

"This is Lenna my best friend"

 

 

Lenna is shorter than me. She had long brown hair with a side bun and a homely face. She seemed laid back and greeted me with an acknowledging smile.

 

 

 

"This is Beny the support of our team."

 

 

The guy named Beny is a shy-looking boy with glasses and short-cut hair. He's kind of cute, like a little puppy you would want to protect. Protect from whom though? That is the question.

 

 

"H-Hello." The meek boy greeted.

 

 

"A pleasure," I replied disarmingly.

 

 

"This one is Romel." She pointed to the guy from earlier in our first class that she was bickering with.

 

 

"Nice to meet you, Katherine, I heard about you from Liz. Don't worry I'm pretty skilled. If you have me on your team, I'll be sure to carry you." He boasted while thumping his fist against his chest for added effect.

 

 

Are you a gorilla trying to show off or something? I asked deep in my mind.

 

 

Although he sure seems confident in his skills. Is he really that good? The question popped into my mind while remembering his earlier statement concerning Zetta.

 

 

"Nice to meet you too," I replied politely while giving him an acknowledging nod.

 

 

"The chubby guy over there is Raynolds".

 

 

A portly guy a little bit shorter than me with a short cut wavy hair greeted me with a friendly smile.

 

 

"Nice to meet you, Miss Katherine."

His plump figure is quite a contrast to his gentle demeanor.

 

 

I pondered for a moment before asking. "Don't we have too many players?"

 

 

In CoA, a team match only consists of 4 players for both sides totaling 8 players in-game. The team composition varies depending on the team but the most popular and well-balanced one is the 2 supports and 2 carries comp. Carries are usually Champions that lean towards a more damage-oriented build. They mainly deal damage in order to eliminate the enemy team. Supports however have many variations. They can be healers, crowd controllers, tanks, buffers, and debuffers, among others. Their main purpose is to support their carries into dishing out as much damage or hindering the enemy team in doing so.

 

 

"Ohh it's ok, Lenna doesn't really play and is only here to watch our game. And Raynold said he wants you to be able to join so he won't be playing."

 

 

"Anything for you Miss Katherine," Raynold said with a gentlemanly smile.

 

 

I forcefully smiled at him and just nodded, I mean I don't really know how to reply to that.

 

 

Elizabeth for her part walked beside me with her face nearing my ears "Just ignore him, he's weird like that whenever he sees a beautiful face." Elizabeth whispered conspiringly.

 

 

"I-I..... see," I said taken aback by the compliment

 

 

So, he's a real-life example of a simp huh?

 

 

"June said his team was already there waiting for us. Ready to go?" Elizabeth asked me.

 

 

"Okay, lead the way then," I spoke politely.

 

 

To be honest, I have mixed feelings about this. This would be my first game in a long while, more than 2 years to be exact. Thankfully I still played single-player VR games as a pastime so hopefully, my skills haven't rusted that much.

 

--------------------------

While chatting on the way,

We arrived at the VR cafe after a 5-minute walk. It was a modern commercial building with a slick and futuristic design.

 

 

 

Going inside, the interior of the VR cafe was dark, almost unlighted except for green, blue, and red lines in the walls and ceilings lighting the place for the enhanced ambiance. There are also hundreds of VR pods that my eye can see and most of those are occupied. I noticed the staff also sanitizing the pod after a user finished playing which is a plus.

 

 

There are also plenty of televisions that hang on the ceiling that replay professional games, mainly of CoA but also a few other games that I do not recognize. It is my first time playing in VR cafes but with the atmosphere that they have, I cannot refute its appeal. During all of my inner musings, Elizabeth already approached the counter.

 

 

"Hey, Anna! Is June already here?" Elizabeth asked the lady manning the counter.

 

 

She had lots of mini computer screens surrounding her with CCTV footage playing. You can see almost all of the VR pods in the place if you look at those screens.

 

 

 

"Ohh Liz welcome, he's already waiting for you guys on the 3rd floor. You can find your reserved pods there if you go into the room on your right side after taking the stairs. The pods are 315 to 318." The lady politely explained

 

 

"Thanks! Let's go guys." Elizabeth enthusiastically led us upstairs into a huge room where I saw another batch of about 20 VR pods each with ample space with each other. There are plenty of other customers aside from us. Near the unused VR pods, we saw a man waiting for us in the corner of the room.

 

 

"Took you long enough. I thought your team chickened out Liz."

 

 

A guy in his late 20s with a clean-shaven head, who would not look out of place in a gym with his huge build, taunted Elizabeth.

 

 

 

"We got here as early as we could, June. Unlike you, we have classes you know? And who's afraid of who? We destroyed you in our last betting match."

 

 

"You were just lucky back then. We improved our team play the last time we fought so don't expect it to go your way. And we have a new player joining us today." June said smugly.

 

 

"Is all your team already here?" she asked

 

 

"They're already playing, they got bored waiting for you guys to show up. Anyways, same as last time?"

 

 

"No bets today, only a normal match. We're also playing with a new teammate from our university." She signaled to me.

 

 

"Ohh, already forced another member to join your team? Well, it's no surprise considering your nosy personality." June teased while glancing at me as if wanting me to confirm.

 

 

"Hmph I am not THAT meddlesome........right?" Elizabeth looked at me pleadingly.

 

 

"You are though." I shrugged nonchalantly.

 

 

June burst out in laughter while Elizabeth pouted.

 

 

"Hahaha well let's just play with no bets. But the loser still has to pay for the VR pod usage."

 

 

"Fine, just don't regret it after we beat you guys." Elizabeth conceded

 

 

After finalizing the stakes, June left for his VR pod.

 

 

"D-don't we get to warm up first?" Beny chimed after June left.

 

 

"Don't be too scared. The enemy will be barely enough as a warm-up." Romel reassured us.

 

 

Elizabeth, who seemed used to his overconfidence ordered them to proceed. "You guys go create a lobby, I'll just lend Katherine one of my accounts."

 

 

We each took a VR pod of our own, and I took the farthest one, pod 318. As I opened the pod, I felt a sense of nostalgia coursing through me. It has been a while.... too long since I last played CoA.

 

 

"Add me on VR chat and I'll send you the username and password to one of my accounts. I already told you my info, right?" I nodded and she continued.

 

 

"Also don't think about winning or losing. Focus on the game and have fun." She smiled brightly.

 

 

What a kind person, I needed the reassurance with me being already this nervous about playing. Well, I doubt we will lose anyway considering that they already beat the enemy team in their last bout. I'm not that weak that my joining them would drag the team down....... even if I haven't played in a while......probably.

 

 

"Are you sure it's ok for me to use your account?" I felt conflicted.

 

 

"Of course! I don't really use it that much since I always play carry. You know how to play support right?"

 

 

I nodded.

 

 

I haven't actually played support since I mainly play carry but I've fought plenty of them enough times to know all their strengths and weaknesses and the do's and don'ts when playing it.

 

 

"And don't worry, we have the same height and body size so you won't feel much dissonance when playing my character."

 

 

What she was referring to is the real body vs VR body dissonance.

It happens when the proportions of your body are completely different from the body of the avatar you made. This makes your movement awkward and laggy, making it impossible for you to play at your best. This is why all the guides you would see for beginners, most of them will strongly suggest the use of the full body scan when creating a character. This will make your avatar as coordinated as possible with your original body. Of course, this still doesn't stop a lot of guys from creating a female character and regretting it later on in higher levels of gameplay. Honestly, I can't understand why they would place themselves in such a huge disadvantage.

 

 

"Then I'll log in now." I stepped inside the open pod and then pressed the button for it to close. The smell of detergent permeated my senses. I can see the VR pod was well-sanitized and regularly maintained. Seconds later a robotic female voice resounded through the pod.

 

 

*Please put on the nerve gear.*

 

 

Obliging, I grabbed the nerve gear placed in the middle of the pod. This is the main feature of the VR pod, the nerve gear. The nerve gear sends fake electromagnetic signals to your head at a frequency unique to the brain. Then the nerve gear produces artificial waves to stimulate the brain to provide artificial senses for the virtual reality that you experience.... or something like that, I'm not a neurologist so don't know the complete details but that's the gist of what I read in passing interest.

 

 

Though I sometimes have the irrational fear that there is some kind of overblown conspiracy device that will fry your brain to mush if you die on a game thanks to an anime I watched when I was younger. But the VR pod had been studied and cleared of any dangers and there are no reported cases of anyone's brain getting fried so that helps a bit in assuaging my irrational fear.

 

 

 

 

 

All my senses suddenly became empty in a split second then came back anew like they were never gone. I immediately find myself in a space with planets beautifully and artistically aligned. It must be the VR background. It can be changed depending on the user's preference like the background of a desktop computer.

 

 

"Show all apps," I called.

 

 

A list of cubes suddenly appeared in front of me and I immediately regretted it. It was numerous. Different games, social media outlets, networks, and many other things I did not recognize. There were over 50 apps installed here. My VR pod only has about 20 apps and I don't even use half of them. I guess I'll just have to use the search menu as opposed to opening the app manually.

 

 

"Search and Open VR messenger." The VR acknowledged my command and opened the messenger. I sent a PM to the account that Elizabeth told me about earlier and after a short while, a sudden red ping lingered at the edge of my vision. It was Elizabeth accepting my friend request. Along with a message for the username and password of her account. I memorized both then proceeded to open Champions of Andartha.

 

 

I was teleported to a relaxing plain with the statue of a goddess who I presume was Andartha in front of me. The statue's eyes were closed and you could feel the majesty oozing out from its demeanor. A statue so perfectly out of this world that no matter how many times I see it, I always feel a sense of awe and reverence.

 

 

After that was the account prompt from the game. I immediately input the username and password of Elizabeth's secondary account or Smurf as they like to call it. What greeted me was a character with an IGN of Beth. It has Elizabeth's body proportions geared with a cleric-type robe and her beautiful facial features.

 

 

So, she even used the face scan to copy her face to her 3D avatar. I don't think I dare to do that, since if it were me, I'll customize my looks. Body scan I can somewhat live with, but a face scan is a whole different topic. Strangers seeing a realistic 3D version of my face even in an online game feels wrong to me. Though she did say that she streams so I guess it's not an issue for her. I guess streamers are built differently in confidence factor huh?

 

I hit the 'Start' button.

 

 

The smell of fresh air suddenly filled my nasal senses and the hustle and bustle of the town flooded my view. As I walked around, a sense of nostalgia suddenly ran through me. If I'm not mistaken this is the port town of Melos. A town that can be accessed in the later stages of the game. Considering this account is max level, it makes a lot of sense she would be here. This town brings a lot of memories. This was one of the towns where my sister had a quest that was too hard for her involving a certain skilled NPC. In the end, I was the one who completed the quest by beating the NPC for her.........my sister. My heart suddenly dropped.

 

 

 

 

 

I dismissed the notification. Calm down. I took a breath and tried to calm myself. I forced all the thoughts outside my head and cleared my mind. I need a distraction.

 

 

I looked at my inventory. She has a purple set with a purple weapon. Pretty good actually. The strength of a set is linked to its rarity. White is normal, Blue is rare, Purple is epic, gold is mythic, and red has the highest grade of legendary. Pro players usually have all legend gears and weapons but you won't know unless they show you their gears. But for a pro player, showing your gear is a huge taboo cause if it was somehow leaked, their enemy will surely know their strengths and weaknesses based on their stat build and resistances.

 

 

Her weapon is called Staff of Resolute Thorns. It increases the effects of healing skills. It also has a weapon skill. Weapon skills are what makes getting a higher-tier weapon more important than an armor set. Some weapon skills can even change the tide of battle if used correctly. High-tier weapons are just that strong. It is the main reason why a good blacksmith is needed in any pro team.

 

 

Thorn burst: Conjures small thorns that impede the enemy's movements.

 

Cooldown: 21 seconds.

Cost: 50 mp

 

 

Quite potent but not comparable to red weapons. Still has a fast cooldown for a purple though and it doesn't need to be channeled.

 

 

I then took a look at her stats.

 

 

It is..... quite a strange build, and that is me being considerate. It's a hybrid of dex and int. It is like she wanted to be a support mage but then decided being a DPS carry is better and changed stats priority mid-game. In short, it is completely trash! No wonder she made another account, this must have been her 1st one since it is full of newbie mistakes. While it may not matter that much for casual players, this type of build would be disastrous when you play on a competitive level. That is probably why she easily lent it to me...... give me back my gratitude!

 

 

Well let's look at the bright side, it suits me fine with me being a DPS carry player back then. I won't have that much damage as a full DPS-oriented build but I can still use support skills, so in other words, a Jack-of-all-trades kind of character without any speciality.

 

 

I checked the settings. The auto translator is on but the voice changer option is off. It seems that she likes to use her real voice quite often even in the game. Streamers really are built differently.

 

 

While customizing the settings to my preference a sudden notification popped up.

 

 

 

 

I accepted the invitation.

 

 

 

 

"Yes"

 

*zfff*

 

I teleported. In an instant, my vision became blurry. A second later, what greeted me was an image of a picturesque cute girl (the same face as my current avatar) with a set akin to a decorative royal knight, clearly player-crafted if I were to judge by its style.

 

 

 

Looking around, I saw an enormous round table that could fit more than 10 people and still have plenty of room to spare. The room was Victorian-style with lavish accessories and designs. I instantly recall that this was the lobby match.

 

 

Seated on our side of the table is the knightly beauty Lizbeth, (who I'm certain is Elizabeth) KingRomel,(Definitely Romel), and Ozz (Benny by the rule of elimination). On the other side are our opponents. On the right side is GigaChad (June probably based on his muscular body type), and 2 other people I am not acquainted with who are currently...... flirting in their own little world. Get a room you two! Even their in-game name, Dan<3Kay and Kay<3Dan is getting on my nerves.

 

 

"Is my character, ok? No dissonance whatsoever?" Elizabeth broke me out of my musings.

 

 

"I was feeling perfectly fine when I walked around town earlier. Except maybe for the chest area. How do you walk with these things."

 

 

I groped my own enlarged breast as if to prove my point. Feels soft actually. I might actually get used to this. Wait a second, is this considered sexual harassment or something?

 

 

"It's not that bad! But still, looking at my 3D-designed facial features and having a conversation with me at that is kinda..... unnerving."

 

 

That is why you should not readily lend your account to just anyone. Hope this will be a lesson for her. What if I was actually a creepy sexual harassing stalker, which I'm not of course, then this would not end well for her?

 

 

"I don't see the problem though, your face looks pleasing to the eye."

 

 

"Hehehe thanks." She said proudly.

 

 

Tsk, not the reaction I was hoping for. I was hoping she would be caught off guard and act bashfully cute or something.

 

 

"How long is your last member going to make us wait!?"

 

 

All of the attention suddenly turned towards Romel.

 

 

"Patience, we also waited for you guys to arrive you know? Our last member is just finishing a dungeon, he will be here soon." GigaChad (Nope, I'll just call him June) replied.

 

 

"He's in the middle of defeating a dungeon when we were supposed to have a match? Those things take too long to finish." Romel whined.

 

 

"Not for him though, he's pretty skilled," June explained.

 

In the corner of my eye, I saw Elizabeth narrowing her eyes. "Who exactly is your last player?" She inquired.

 

 

They looked pretty confident and reassured that they would win, their ace player must be really good for them to have this much positivity.

 

 

"I suppose there is no harm in telling you now. Our last player is Chu." June said proudly.

 

 

"You managed to poach him?! I thought he only played 1v1!"

Elizabeth exclaimed.

 

 

"I worked around it. I have my own methods." June said smugly.

 

 

"T-that's unfair, isn't it? Chu is a ranker" Benny worriedly said.

 

 

"Really now? It's just a normal match where the loser pays for the winner's VR time cost and not a high-stakes betting game. And don't tell me you guys forgot your captain is also a ranker." June said as he looked at Elizabeth as if proving a point.

 

 

Well, that was quite shocking. I didn't expect Elizabeth to be a ranker.

 

 

In CoA, there are 2 separate leaderboards for rankers. One is the team rank and the other is the 1v1 rank. Given that, for a player to have a ranker title, they need to be at the top one thousand players in either team matches or 1v1 leaderboards ranking at the end of a PVP season, which regularly calibrates every 2 months.

 

 

"Don't tell me you're chickening out this late in the game? It's not like it's a betting match either. We just need a little practice in our teamplay by fighting another ranker." June taunted.

 

 

"No, we'll continue the match." Elizabeth finalized.

 

 

"Good, then let's wait for a bit, he PM'ed me that he's almost done with the dungeon."

 

 

"Who is this Chu?" I whispered to Elizabeth next to me.

 

 

"Chu Xiaolong is a 1v1 ranker. A well-known player around here. I heard he always plays 1v1 betting matches in this VR cafe and that he has not lost even once in a 1v1 scenario." After pondering for a bit, Elizabeth continued. "As I recall, he is also a Chinese second year studying at our university."

 

 

"That is.... honestly impressive."

 

 

Those ranking leaderboards are filled with pro and tier 2 pro players and for him to place in the top one thousand on 1v1 while taking into account CoA's massive player base is an incredible feat.

 

 

"Don't worry too much though! Doesn't matter if we lose as long as we have fun!" Elizabeth reassured me with a broad smile.

 

 

I pondered on what Elizabeth said. Losing was no fun for me back then. The past me would probably say that winning is what makes matches fun and that celebrating after winning is 'fun'. Now though, I'm not really quite sure if I'm as driven toward winning matches as I was in my younger self.

 

 

"Uh-huh."

 

I just nodded. Each has their own way of enjoyment and I wouldn't want to put a damper on her enthusiasm.

 

Just then another player arrived via teleportation. He is wearing a set you would expect from a Taoist with a Longbow attached to his back and a pair of small butterfly swords to his waist. Looking at his in-game name, it reads NumbaWan. I gotta give him credit, even his name feels like he works hard to become number one in CoA, very admirable. A little bit off in the spelling department but you can't blame him, English is not his native language I suppose... or he just wants more social credit points, I won't judge.

 

 

"Finally, you're here! Good to go Chu?" June asked his teammate.

 

 

"Let's just finish this fast, I have something more important to do later."

 

 

Wow, how edgy.

 

 

"I see...... You can start whenever. My team is also ready." Elizabeth chimed in.

 

 

"Ok! Time for our revenge match!" June pressed something unseen to me then a timer started counting down.

 

 

The game starts in 3.... 2..... 1....!

 

 

---------------------------------

-Lenna's PoV-

 

 

 

I have always watched Liz's streams. When she plays PVP she sometimes explains the rules to her new viewers that are not all too familiar with team PVP. From what I can summarize from all the times I watched her, the basics of team PVP is that there are 3 main objective points on the map.

 

 

The orb is located in the topmost part of the map or the 'Top Orb' for in-game slang. The 'Middle Orb' is located in the very middle of the game map. And lastly, the 'Bottom Orb' which is perfectly self-explanatory by now.

 

 

The main objective of a team match is to capture three of the Orbs. There are three winning conditions.

 

 

First is when a team captures ALL THREE of the capture Orbs, specifically the TOP, MID, and BOT orbs.

 

The team to capture all three of them instantly wins regardless of the players' statuses.

 

 

The second is when a team is wiped out. If your team managed to kill all of the enemy players, you win the game. Conversely, if your team gets wiped out, you of course lose the game.

 

 

The third is when the time runs out. After 50 minutes, the team with the most captured objectives wins the match. If your team, for example, captured 2 Orbs, and the other team has only 1 you win the game after the time runs out. If however in a very rare case, both have one orb each or no orbs at all, the game ends in a draw.

 

 

That's only the basics of what I know. There are a whole lot of specifics I don't really understand for now though. While I was pondering, Raynold's sudden voice caught my attention

 

 

"Didn't expect a 1v1 ranker to be in June's team" Raynold said while looking at one of the TV screens for viewers of matches in the VR cafe.

 

 

We are currently in a lobby made specifically for viewers, here you can order while watching one of the games or gaming related news. The manager knew in advance that Liz's team would be having a match against June's so he set it so others could also watch the match. As I recall, Liz was fairly popular here hence this match acts as an attraction which doubles as an advertisement for this VR cafe since this cafe is popular for betting matches of CoA players.

 

 

 

"A ranker?" I asked.

 

 

"Chu Xiaolong, ign NambaWan. He is ranked 921 in the global 1v1 matches leaderboard."

 

 

"He's that good!? I remember that Liz is only ranked 970 though, does that mean he's better than Liz?"

 

 

I heard from her stream that she is ranked 970. Even those like me who don't play CoA know that it is an amazing achievement.

 

 

"Yes, Liz is ranked 970 in team ranked matches in the last season but that doesn't mean she's weaker than Chu. There's a big difference between a team and 1v1 matches. Teamplay, coordination, synergy, and strategy are crucial in team matches while raw technical skills and predicting your opponent's moves are needed for 1v1 battles. So I wouldn't be so sure that the enemy has the advantage."

 

 

I also think that way. Liz always says in her stream that she mostly plays team matches because she enjoys it so much more compared to 1v1. But whenever her viewers convinced her to play 1v1 ranked matches via donation or persuasion, I haven't seen her lose a single time.

 

 

"It's quite hard to believe though that Liz can play on even ground with male players." I mused.

 

 

"Hmm, I think it's not that out of the norm. There has been a debate going on that female players have the advantage vs male players in CoA."

 

 

"Oh Really?" That got me interested.

 

 

He gave me an affirming nod while continuing his explanation."You see, female players have the advantage over males in terms of flexibility and balance due to their innate body type and lower center of gravity making them more proficient in dodging. Considering the importance of dodging in PVP matches, it's a huge advantage. While males do have the advantage of strength and robustness in real life, it doesn't apply to VR games like CoA because all you have to do is increase your stats and get good gear to offset the advantage. It might even be a demerit since the larger you are, the easier it is for you to take a hit."

 

 

"But if that's true, why is the pro scene still dominated by male players?"

 

 

"In my opinion, it is more of a mindset kind of thing. Men are generally more competitive than women. There are always exceptions though, have you heard of Yuusha 'the Untouchable'?"

 

 

"Hmmm, I think I heard of her. Liz always says she's her inspiration in playing CoA."

 

 

If I recall correctly, she was the ace of Team Paragon, the first-ever team to win the Andartha Cup tournament.

 

 

"Liz and most female players started playing CoA because of her. The publicity team of CoA advertised the highlights of their final matches to promote the game to the female player base, which was a brilliant move on their part. One could argue that she had a big impact on the drastic increase of the CoA player base throughout the years. Some of her diehard fans even argue that she is the greatest player of all time. Considering her iconic 1v3 at the very first Andartha Cup finals I wouldn't be too surprised people think that way." he enthusiastically added.

 

 

"But, she's not in the pro scene now, right?" I inquired.

 

 

Raynolds had a solemn look as he shook his head. "She suddenly quit playing, no one knows why. Even her former teammates have no clue as to what happened to her. The CoA community doesn't even know what she looks like since the first Andartha Cup was an online tournament, not the Lan event with a huge venue with all the publicity that we see today."

 

 

Huh, that's too bad, I would've loved to root for her if she was playing in the pro league.

 

 

"So.....who do you think will win?" I asked Raynold.

 

 

"Hard to tell. It will basically go down on who will have more impact in the matches, Liz or Chu."

 

 

As Raynold was entertaining my questions, one of the TV screens counted down. It was showing the team of Liz vs the team of June about to start their match.

 

 

"Ohh oh, it's starting!"

 

 

Each team is then transported to the rear ends of the map, signaling the start of the anticipated battle.