The Immortal Player

After their photoshoot, all of them went down to the mall to have their dinner.

Along the way, they encountered several players from the Oran Gutan Guild who were also wearing their Guild Uniform that was colored yellow and white.

It was only to be expected that they have some information about the ARES Guild since it was technically the main guild of Armaz Electronics Inc. And although they were opposing teams that were participating in the competition, they were still under one company. So, the two teams were friendly to each other.

Some of the members of the Oran Gutan Guild waved towards them, while some simply smiled and nodded to greet them as they pass each other

On the other hand, Pedro and everyone else simply nodded in response and made a friendly gesture.

At this moment, Mathew—who was walking beside Pedro, asked, "This place is sure filled with players under the same gaming organization. Won't this create rumors and attract the media later on?"

Pedro simply smirked in response and said, "Even so… This is still an exclusive mall under the same management with the hotel. It would be difficult for the media to enter if they wanted to report a piece of news or something inside this establishment."

"If only the Game Devs would announce the event… We don't need to hide the information from the media outlets like this." Mathew sighed in response.

"Who said that we need to hide the information about the event?" Pedro asked.

"Isn't it confidential?" Mathew asked as he raised his brows in response.

Pedro simply shook his head in response and said, "It is not… We just don't want the information about us being participants in the event to leak before we could even leave for China. It would put a lot of pressure on our players to represent the country… And there might be annoying flies that would buzz around—asking or demanding for complicated stuff!"

"I understand what you mean… It's just a bit odd for me because I think that it would be a good opportunity for our gaming organizations to earn some publicity and eventually more sponsorships." Mathew nodded in response whilst forcing out a smile. "That said… As a player, I can't help but admit that a peaceful environment is what I prefer. We could really just focus on playing the game."

Mathew paused for a second as they encounter another group of players from the Oran Gutan Guild, who waved towards them. Mathew simply nodded towards them in response and said, "Anyway... It's so peaceful that the players from Oran Gutan Guild have a lot of free time."

"This…" Pedro could only force out a smile in response and said, "When I checked on them after arriving here in the hotel, it seems like Wey held a 'Development Competition' amongst the top 100 players of their guild. The top 50 would be the ones selected to join the trip to China."

"That many?" Mathew asked in astonishment.

Pedro simply nodded in response and said, "Apparently, yes… Aunt approved the budget for Wey's decision for some reason. So, I can say that it's probably legit. That said… This move of Wey is to probably increase the potential combination of players that he could use to avoid being countered by enemies, and consequently be able to save their 'big plans' when they are against us, or when they reach the championships."

"It looks like they are also serious about winning this competition?" Mathew said with a smirk on his face.

"Well…" Pedro smirked in response. Then, he said, "They are free to try…"

Pedro and everyone else ate their dinner as the players they encountered from the Oran Gutan Guild had returned to their gaming camp in the same hotel.

At this moment, Weyron was coincidentally roaming around checking every player about their progress in their training and character development.

"How was dinner you lazy bugs?" Weyron asked with a smile to the three players that just came out of the elevator.

"Better than your cooking, guild leader!" One of the three men chuckled in response and was followed by the laughter of the two men with him.

"Aish…" Weyron raised his hand—seemingly wanted to hit them with his tablet. But he lowered his hands and simply sighed in the next second while saying, "Just because the three of you are in the top 30, it does not mean that all of you can just take it easy 'till the competition. The enemies would be from all over the world. So, don't take them lightly!"

"Relax, guild leader!" One of the three men said in response. Then, he added, "We just got in at the Kingdom and were able to bid some good weapons, equipment, and skills in the Auction Area! If we are able to win the bid, the three of us might become the Ace of our guild!"

Weyron could only shake his head and sigh in response. He knew that Pedro was even able to freely go in and out of the Tarala Kingdom. And by that mere fact, there was already a huge chance that the 'great' items were already bought by him, leaving only the 'trash' items behind.

However, before Weyron could even scold them about it, one of the three men curiously asked, "By the way guild leader. We just saw the players from the main guild. Are there really only nine members of the main guild? I mean… Three of them were even girls, and I doubt that they were even good in VR Games."

Another one of the three men nodded in response and said, "Yeah! Yeah! They were too beautiful and young to be Pro Players!"

Weyron could only force out a smile in response and said, "Don't say that in front of them!"

"Huh? Why is that so guild leader?"

Weyron gestured one towards them while saying, "One of those three girls can single-handedly eliminate everyone in our guild, in the game… And the other two were not half bad either! Whatever is the case… Adding even a single player in the main guild would not make that much difference! So… You better train your asses off just to survive even a single strike from any of them!"

Weyron slapped the shoulders of the three men—pushing them hopelessly back into their room. The three men could only force out a smile in response—not knowing whether to believe their guild leader or not.

On the other hand, a beautiful girl—seemingly in her mid-20s, approached Weyron after coming out from a nearby room and asked, "Is the main guild that terrifying, guild leader?"

"Without a doubt, Meen!" Weyron said as he took another deep sigh.

"Even with me around?" Meen asked with a curious look. Then, she added, saying, "I can also kill a lot of players, you know!"

Weyron shook his head in response and said, "Still… I would rather fight you than any of the players in the main guild. That's how terrifying they can be."

"Then, aren't you saying that there's no hope in winning against them? Why bother to participate in the even if that was the case?" Meen asked.

"It's not like we're completely hopeless…" Weyron said. "I still have some trump cards up my sleeves, so you don't need to worry."

Meen simply smiled in response and said, "I see… Then, shall we resume with the checking of the progress in the development of the top thirty?"

"Let's go…" Weyron said coldly in response.

…

Back to the ARES Guild, after their dinner together, they went back to their respective rooms and went into training.

Aldo and Loren proceeded slower than everyone else, but they did not show any signs of surrender or giving in. They worked their hardest which was rewarded by personal coaching by Ragas and Clara while everyone else was either resting or were starting their next sets.

The next night, the information about the exhibition games was released. The media [news outlet] were all over the said exhibition games because it was also the mark of the official opening of the game. And the trailer video that the Game Developers used to announce the said event went trending worldwide.

At this moment, everyone in the ARES Guild was gathered in the meeting room. They had just finished their training inside the game and were about to check the said trailer video together.

Mathew closed the lights as the room was illuminated by the bright light that the hologram projector emitted.

Then, Pedro tapped on his tabled that was connected to the hologram projector—consequently playing the said trailer video.

"Evil constantly propagates and attacks our lands…" The narrator said as the monsters attacking villages and NPCs were displayed. "The young… The old… Even the strong ones were not spared from their terror!"

At this moment, the first players who were fighting monsters were displayed in the projector as the narrator continues saying, "But hope... is not lost! A few brave men took the courage to stand and fight against the forces of evil… Protecting people and eliminating the threats in our land!"

Then, the video went dark as the narrator said, "In this fight against the evil forces... There is only one question we ask… Are you brave enough to be one of these Heroes?"

At this moment, several participating guilds were displayed, including the ARES Guild and the Oran Gutan Guild, with a player representative and their Guild or Gaming Organization Logo behind them.

Lony was the player representative for the ARES Guild—with the crossed arms and a piercing glare pose that was taken in their photoshoot yesterday.

As for the Oran Gutan Guild, their player representative was the beautiful Meen—with a scary but elegant glare. While their guild logo was a face of a monkey that has a mischievous smile.

If not for the fact that there were other participating teams that also had beautiful players as their representatives, the Oran Gutan Guild would have probably gained the most attention in this video trailer.

The screen went black for a few seconds before the logo of the game slowly appeared ['Bearth Online'], while the narrator is saying, "There's only one way to find out… Take your courage and fight in the World of Bearth! Who knows… You might be the next destined Hero!"

The trailer video ended as everyone shivered in excitement. Only after a few seconds did Roval, Talia, and Lony erupted like an extremely happy child.

On the other hand, Mathew simply smiled as he turned the lights back on in the room.

"Holy sh1t, Lony! You're freaking so cool! That video is now trending all over the world! You are now a freaking celebrity! Can I have your autograph?" Roval mocked Lony in an extremely happy manner.

Lony and everyone else simply laughed in response. Then, a few seconds later, Lony calmed down and said, "No wonder I kept getting messages in the game earlier! It's a good thing that we were in training at that time, and I had disabled the spam messages beforehand. Hahahaha!"

Talia raised her hand in response and ecstatically asked, "Elder Brothers! Elder Sisters! Can I take a picture with all of us? I want to post it in my PicBook [A social media platform for sharing Pictures.] and brag that I am a member of the guild to my classmates and friends! Pweease…"

No one could resist the request of the youngest member of their guild, thus, even Pedro could only nod in response that made Talia jump out of joy.

"Yey!" She shouted happily as she instructed everyone to head on one side of the table—opposite to where she set up her phone.

After taking several pictures, Lony, Roval, and Loren asked Talia to share the photos with them so that they can also post the pictures to their PicBook—to brag to their friends and classmates too.

Of course, Roval, Talia, and Loren also had a picture with Lony—who is probably now a celebrity worldwide.

Inevitably, their posts garnered a lot of envious comments from their classmates and friends. In fact, even they themselves become popular after their acquaintances learned that they were a part of a gaming organization that would participate in the first simulated battle competition of Bearth Online.