Although Novis had his suspicions of Goldware corp, there wasn't much he could do. No one would listen to the ramblings of a kid, especially if Novis started talking about ghosts. He would be put in a madhouse before he could even finish explaining the situation.
Someone had to know something though and most likely the people at the top had something to do with it. Novis knew Tom but had none of his contact details and sending an email to the company would never work. So, for now, Novis decided he needed to put a pin in it.
Novis was only fifteen and he still had plenty of his life left to solve things. It wasn't like the fate of the world was resting on his shoulders or anything, like in the many books and manga he read.
Ever since George also entered Novis's mind Arthur spoke to him a lot less. The two of them would hang out in the dream world and spar and talk to each other. Novis wasn't able to hear them unless, he too went into the dream world.
But this didn't stop Novis from completing his normal routine, he went for a run in the morning and tried to get a personal best. Right after it was time for school.
Scarlett came up to Novis on their lunch break as usual.
"Did you manage to get the fifth person to join then?"
"Yeah it's all sorted, she's going to meet us at the VSW club after school."
Although Scarlett couldn't help but feel weird about Novis knowing another girl, she also was very happy that the club finally had a fifth member.
"Finally, it looks like we going to play as a team together," Scarlett replied.
Novis and Scarlett smiled at each other. They had both been waiting for this day. Novis enjoyed playing and getting stronger but when he played online, he didn't like talking to strangers or communicating with them much, this was actually one of the many reasons why he lost his matches even though Novis himself was a strong player.
The school bell rang and it was finally time for the club to begin. Novis went down with Scarlett to the club room. Dan and Alex were already there waiting.
"Hey everyone," Scarlett said with a bright happy face.
"Hey," Alex replied back while Dan gave a wave. "We were just talking about what Warrior would be best for Dan."
Then suddenly George perked up.
"Oh, this Dan boy has a nice body, he even has our good looks to go with it, it's a shame he is not a chosen one."
"Oh, I'm sorry you two get to live rent-free in this ugly shell of a body," Novis replied.
Novis knew Dan was special and having George just confirm it kinda hurt him a little. Novis didn't think he was bad looking but at the same time, he didn't have girls confessing to him nearly every day.
"Why don't we just let him try the one until he finds something he likes?" Scarlett replied
"Well the problem is the tournament is only a week away now, we don't have a lot of time. It would be ideal if Dan could find one he likes but he needs to learn how to use the warrior. It's best if we can pick one that best suits him and then let him get as much experience from playing that warrior as he can."
"So what one did you pick?" Novis asked.
"I decided on the hero Pugnus," Dan said.
Just then a projector displayed onto the white bored the info sheet and what the Warrior Pugnus looked like. Alex had set it up beforehand so everyone could understand their teammate's warriors better.
Pugnus was a light armoured character who used gauntlets as a weapon. The gauntlets made the arms of the warrior look three times as big compared to the rest of the body. After Alex asked Dan of all the different sports he played, he thought this warrior suited Dan the best.
Dan was good at using his hands as he had experience with boxing. The warrior was also fast on its feet. Pugnus belonged to the assassin role. It had weak defence but a high damage output and movability.
Not many beginners played with Pugnus because it used gauntlets as weapons. This meant you would have to be fearless and shorten the distance between you and your opponent.
"Great so everyone try to memorize the warrior's skills, we need to try to work together as much as possible. Now we just need our fifth member."
Right on cue as soon as Alex said those words. Ashley came through the door with her two pigtails bouncing up and down.
As soon as she saw all the other members she bowed down.
"Thank you for letting me join the team." She said as she raised her head.
"You're the new member?" Scarlett said excitedly.
Ashley gave a little nod and looked a bit like a rabbit with her two pigtails moving about in the air. Scarlett quickly rushed over to her and started squeezing her cheeks.
Scarlett was an only child and always dreamed of having a younger sibling. As soon as she saw Ashley she couldn't help herself.
"Novis why didn't you tell me you knew such a cute little sweetheart," Scarlett said while pinching Ashley cheeks softly.
Ashley was smiling, she was enjoying the attention she was getting and was happy to find that the people in the club room didn't look scary. Ashley had classmates but didn't really have anyone to call friends.
If her classmates would ask her to hang out or go watch the movies with them, Ashley would always decline, saying she needed to go home to help her father.
"What are you all doing?" Ashley asked.
"You came just at the right time," Alex said. "We were just going to choose a character for you, you've never played the game before right, let's see."
Alex started to scroll through all the warriors that were in the game, trying to find one that suited Ashley. As he was doing that George spoke up again.
"Hey Novis," George said. "let her play as me in the game, I've decided I want to train her."
"What!"