Chapter 42

*RING, RING, RING

The sound of my mortal enemy echoed throughout the room, its persistence unmatched, like an insistent nagging that refuses to be ignored. The sound cuts through the tranquility of my dreams, disrupting the peace with its relentless, high-pitched insistence.

I stopped the alarm and went back to sleep... not! Wake up Kat, you have a big day today! You can't be late!

My inner voice rebelled, urging me to get up this instant.

After hyping myself up to fight my drowsiness, I won the hard-fought battle... barely.

I immediately went to the shower to get my blood pumping. While thinking about the meaning of life while soaking myself in the satisfying rain of warm water droplets, my thoughts went to why I was tired in the first place. I shouldn't have stayed up all night analyzing replays and taken heed of Liz's reminder to just rest and take it easy. It's not entirely my fault, as I sometimes get quickly absorbed in something I put my mind to, which is both a blessing and a curse in its own right. It's not all that bad, though, as my findings might help us gain advantages in the later qualifier matches. Not that we desperately need it for now, but you can never be sure.

After finishing my shower, I did the morning tribulations that I always do before important matches but made sure to set the alarm this time to remind me when the match was about to start.

A whole while later contemplating and relaxing my mind, my alarm rang, spurring me to go into action. I immediately logged into my CoA account to meet with my team.

My consciousness faded abruptly, then changed into the cozy and simple picturesque inn room where I last logged out of my account.

Inn rooms are mainly used for storing materials and resting places for players since whatever materials you store in the room can be brought out wherever the inn you go. It is a convenient function for players who have little vitality to carry their items like myself.

I did not have to wait for a while before a system notification popped up at the edge of my vision.

Game Master John invited you to a private lobby. Would You like to Accept? Y/N

"I accept," I murmured as I was again transported to the official tournament lobby.

I instinctively scanned the room.

The air is scented with a delicate, invigorating fragrance, a function that costs a lot of in-game currency, creating an atmosphere of sophistication and luxury. Sculptural works of art adorn the space, seamlessly integrated into the lobby's design. The lobby is dotted with plush seating areas where players are expected to relax and crimson-red chairs that seem to have been designed for maximum comfort and style.

In the middle, standing with perfect professionalism, was GM John, who gave me a friendly smile and a small nod of acknowledgment as I arrived. On our side is Liz and Renz, while on the other side is our enemy team, Icebreakers. I have already analyzed their gameplay, and it is pretty generic. They focus on capitalizing on their strong ranged ice mages, along with two knights protecting each mage for a 2-2-0 composition. They have a glaring weakness against fire-based attacks but were lucky enough not to face an enemy that specializes in those, thus surviving till now. I'm not worried, though, as they are nowhere skilled enough to even have a chance at us, and I bet Chu can even solo two of their members easily.

I glanced at my own team sitting opposite our enemies. They seem to be in high spirits, especially Renz. Did something good happen to him?

As I walked towards them, I immediately noticed something different.

"…Renz, you got a new weapon?"

"Oh, you noticed? It's a rare drop from an uncharted abyss dungeon! If you must know, its name is 'Spear of the Forgotten King,' my cute and perfect sister gave it to me just yesterday," he smiled proudly.

"I see..."

No impossible. The personality difference is so high that he and the one I'm thinking of cannot possibly be related.

"May I know your sister's name?" I asked just to be sure.

He eyed me warily. "You're being weird today. You never ask anything personal about us. What's the matter? You nervous about the match or something?"

"Just answer the question."

"Tsk! Fine, if you must know, her name is Clarissa, and she is the cutest and kindest sister any brother could ever wish for!" he bragged as if his sister were his most prized treasure.

"Hmm... I see," I nodded slowly.

It must be a different Clarissa. I denied reality.

I mean, someone as brash and rude as him definitely cannot, in my life, even have the minuscule possibility of being related by even a single drop of blood to the angel I know, being her sibling moreso.

Let's just not think about it anymore. Out of sight, out of mind.

Liz, who has been listening to our conversation butted in.

"So Rissa is your sister! I thought it was a different Clarissa as the name is quite common, who would have thought? You should see how cute her VR avatar is Rence!"

"What do you mean?"

"I meant that we were the ones who helped her acquire that weapon! What a perfect coincidence right Kat?"

I nodded. "A coincidence indeed."

"What? They you guys are... then this means..." he pondered for a moment before looking at me with an unreadable expression.

A couple of seconds of his uncomfortable stare later, which felt longer than it was supposed to be, Chu arrived. Nice! Saved by our Resident edge lord's timing for once! Good job being late again, Chu! Plus, social credit points for you this time!

"Seems like all the members of both teams are here! If you guys are all ready, let us begin the match as we have a long day ahead of us. Without further ado, the day two of the qualifiers for the U20 tournament, first round! Team Paradigm vs Team Icebreakers, Begin!" GM John announced.

"We need to talk later after this match, Novo."

It was the first time I saw him look this scary. It almost made me instinctively gulp. It's a good thing I can control my expressions pretty well, so I switched to innocent mode with a hint of confusion.

"S-sure, but for now, let's focus on the match." I redirected as we teleported to the battlefield.

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

All five of our 2nd day qualifiers matches went extremely well. Renz was in high spirits throughout the whole event, likely due to the weapon he got from Clarissa. Honestly, if Clarissa gave me a gift like that, I would be filled with determination, too. Liz and Chu also played their role perfectly, as always, giving us five wins and only a single match left before we passed the second day of elimination.

The talk Renz and I had was much more challenging than the matches, to be honest. He asked me so many things. It's a good thing I kept my calm and acted innocently and pretended that I had no ulterior motives in helping Clarissa, not that I need to pretend, by the way, as my friendship with her is tried and true, not fueled by any individual interest whatsoever! Therefore, I barely passed his 'test.'

We are currently resting in a lobby made by Liz, waiting for our next match as we have finished early. We are waiting for the news of whoever wins the fight in our bracket to be our next opponent.

An announcement came, and we learned that our opponent would be Team Summit Peak, our very own e-sports club team. Not that I'm surprised, though, as it is within my expectations.

"Yes! Looks like they won! Seems that we are fighting them after all! Can't wait for the next match!" Liz stated excitedly, a far cry from her attitude during the first match of the qualifiers.

"As long as I have this weapon, I'm unbeatable!" Renz bragged.

How lucky to have a gift from Clarissa! I'm so jealous right now!

Chu, for his part, just scoffed at him. It did not seem to ruin Renz's good mood, though, as he was in high morale today and ignored him.

"Yeah! We will win this as well. Our team is unbeatable!" Liz cheered.

It is good to have a bit of a back attitude towards the match, Although I have one problem.

Underestimating your opponents is also a no-go, especially the one we are about to face now. They might have a shot against us if we were not careful.

They are skilled but not nearly as skilled as us, although there is one advantage they have over us. They have good strategies.

I watched some of their matches when I was prepping for the second day to look for any team we might have difficulties facing. They have the most likely chance of beating us as they win most of their matches through sheer tactical maneuvers. One thing I'm more afraid of than a skilled player is a player like my former teammate Tactical, who can dismantle someone's gameplay little by little, making them unable to play the game entirely while dancing at the palm of his hands.

"May I ask you guys something?"

My query got me curious gazes from my team as I was never the type to do a pep talk before matches.

"Go on, Kat, what do you want to know? We will answer it the best we can," Liz smiled encouragingly.

"Have any of you guys watched their matches?"

"I watched one of their matches to support them, but that's about it."

"None at all. It doesn't matter though. We won't lose anyway with my sister's support!"

"No."

I sighed that these guys are so irresponsible.

"Listen, we might be okay with our current team play for now because we overpower the enemies through sheer skills, but in the long run, we need some tactical plays to have a higher chance of winning. Also, our enemy this time is different; they have good strategies and robust team plays."

Sure, we could probably just brute force our win again, but I don't like to take chances. Our opponents made it this far in the qualifiers, so underestimating them would be a huge mistake I am not willing to make. Tactical would scold me if I did.

"You mean they have a chance against us?"

"Anyone can win against an opponent if the enemy underestimates them enough. Remember what happened to Jarde, right?" I reminded Renz.

He and Liz nodded emphatically while Chu gave me a curious stare at that as he likely had not yet seen the video of my fight with Jarde as it was strictly classified only to our guild. Dust made it that way to prevent crucial information from our guild from leaking by using legal methods and copyright infringement so that any and all information shared within the guild will stay inside the group. Some may still ignore it and just leak info but seldom do that due to the legalities and the risk of a court battle. They are also probably afraid to get on Dust's bad side, which I can kind of understand. That woman is just so scary.

"Hmm, I guess, but we're not underestimating them, are we? We're always giving it our all, whoever enemy we face!" Liz reasoned.

"Not doing basic due diligence or even preparing for an opponent you are about to have a battle with is also a form of underestimation. Do you even know what their most used formation is, what type of play they usually go with, or what orb they prioritize getting?"

"Urk! Y-you have a point. But we have you, though?" Pausing for a moment, she continued. "...You do have a counterplay for them, right?"

I smiled.

"I'm glad you asked."