Chapter 21: The Five Of Them
"Uhm…"
Red's former teammates shared the same looks when they heard the question. They eyed Red, unsure of what to answer.
Red's forehead furrowed. He crossed his arms and waited for an answer, but he heard none.
Solar, who couldn't bear the silence, interrupted the talk. It was fortunate that they already arrived on the second floor.
"Go inside now, guys! I'll talk to the keeper here." Solar smiled as she slightly forced Red and the others to enter the glass door using her arms.
As if it was a sign, the rest of them nodded aggressively. They pulled Red inside the internet cafe without uttering any single word.
They hoped that Red would forget his initial question.
"Woah!"
Stepping inside the internet cafe, their eyes widened after seeing the inside.
Different from the restaurant on the 1st floor, the Internet cafe looked massive with its modern design. The inside was filled with the color white, starting from the sound-proofed walls, to the tables and finally to the computers.
The internet cafe has high-end computers, enabling the customers to enjoy any game with satisfaction. The gaming chairs were also comfortable to sit on for hours. And the headset of each table was pleasant to the ears.
"This Internet cafe is surely high-end!" Eric exclaimed out loud, being the first one to react.
"Woah! This is even better than our bootcamp back then." Jules followed, gladdened by it.
It was even better since he learned that they could order some food while playing.
"I know, right? Even better than my gaming setup in the house." Cj's eyes were adorned in amusement as he looked around.
Red also silently nodded, agreeing with all their words.
"Let's look for available chairs." Red instructed after seeing that there were a lot of people inside.
As they strolled around, Red and the others could only find available seats at the back side of the internet cafe. They were worried for a little bit since the cafe looked packed in front.
Red, Cj, Eric, and Jules sat side by side. Jules volunteered to be at the end of the table. His reason was that ordering food would be easier for him that way.
On the other hand, there was an empty seat between Red and Cj for Solar.
As they took a seat, the 4 of them waited patiently for Solar. They behaved properly and didn't do weird things or interact with other people.
"Oh. They're there!" Hearing a voice from the opposite side, their eyes flew to Solar, who had been looking for them.
Solar, after seeing her friends, immediately walked towards them. Following her was a guy in eyeglasses.
"These 5 computers," Solar pointed out the computer before Red until Jules.
The keeper silently nodded. He first went in front of Red's computer and inserted a small card on the computer's system unit.
In just a second, the computer's screen opened up.
The keeper did that 4 more times before leaving them all alone.
Red waited for the computer to open up completely before opening multiple tabs. The screen's initial background contained a lot of popular computer games, Rise of Dawn being one of them.
He put the mouse's cursor on top of it and clicked it.
"Look at Cj flexing to us that he's still in Legend," Eric's voice sounded against the mic.
"Look up on me, peasant," Cj replied after hearing Eric's praises.
It didn't sound like praise, but in his ears, it was one.
"Just wait for a month, and I'll be at the same rank as you," Eric answered, determined to catch up on Cj's ranks.
It seemed like the time he usually spent at the gym would need to decrease slightly from now on.
Eric made a sour expression on his face as he looked at his rank. It was only Grandmaster. The same with Red, Eric also stopped playing the game months after they disbanded.
"TeamMatch?" Red asked for their confirmation before clicking the <Game Modes> button.
"Yes, Brother Red!"
"Yup," Solar answered beside her.
Solar smiled as she eyed her adventurer, Bright Sun. Unlike Cj and Red, Solar didn't change her name in the game. She wanted to keep her identity and the memories that came together with it.
That was also the reason why she gained a lot of followers on Slitch, the livestream app that gamers use. Her identity as a former member of Blazing Faze helped as some people recognized her after a while.
"Alright," Red replied as he clicked on the button to activate the matchmaking. A timer in the middle of their screen played as they waited for the match.
As the countdown timer ticked away, the anticipation hung thick in the air.
"This is taking so long," Cj pointed out, reading the time in the middle of his screen.
'2:38.'
Taking a deep breath, Cj went to his account's settings and changed his adventurer's clothes while waiting. His adventurer, Wild Can, was a fighter.
"Jules, support me in the jungle later," Eric uttered, tapping Jules back.
Jules nodded as he gave Eric a big thumbs up. That wasn't a problem at all to him.
Red took a deep breath when five minutes had passed, and yet, they still hadn't found a match. They were still in the lobby, waiting for the matchmaking.
Red's fingers went over the keyboard with a practiced precision.
[Ding!]
[Teleporting…]
[Map: Aurora Peaks]
"Woah! Finally!"
All of them rejoiced after hearing the robotic voice of a woman.
The players' adventurers were teleported in the middle of a bridge. Their surroundings were mountains, covered in snow.
Red and the other adventurer were displayed on the top side, while their opponents were at the bottom.
In the game lobby, they were given a 2-minute timer. They need to select 6 skills that they would like to have on the battlefield. A limitation of 3 basic skills, 2 medium-level skills, and 1 High-level skill were followed by all the players.
"Hmm..." Red carefully chose 6 skills among his 55 available skills.
When he was done choosing, he clicked the <Ready> button and waited for the rest of his teammates to be ready.
Gifts
-- Gift
received Weekly Power Status
-- Power
Ranking 
-- Power
stone