Chapter 19.) All For One, Free For All

Inorin quickly rushed to the portal to teleport back to the Communications Tower on floor 1 in order to avoid being asked any questions about the skills he used during the raid. He was rewarded $103,500 for the raid so he had more than enough money to teleport back.

Koeda was following closely behind him, neither one of them saying a word. Meanwhile Souei was being surrounded by almost everyone that took part in the raid.

"Koeda go help Souei out and bring him back to the hostel with you, I'm going ahead."

"Okay I'll meet you there then." She replied as she walked off

Inorin paid the small fee then was teleported to the hostel. He had to once again pay for another room but it wasn't a problem for him. He got his room key and quickly went to his room, he wanted to let his character rest for a little bit before he had to get moving again when Koeda and Souei arrived.

But the moment he laid down he got a DM from Koeda asking what room he was in. He quickly got up and stepped into the hallway to see them looking lost.

"Hey listen…" He said after letting them in

"Souei I didn't know you had that kind of strength, I guess you don't have to fight Koeda after all, you've proved yourself."

"Thanks, I'm glad I don't have to fight anymore, she would've been kind of a pain to deal with."

"He would've lost anyway." Koeda jumps in to say

"I wouldn't be so sure. I could probably still give you a run for your money."

"Sounds like a challenge, maybe you two should fight after all. Rest a little then we'll figure this out, I'm signing out for a bit."

They both nodded as Inorin went to lay on the bed.

Once he laid down, he put his character in Rest Mode and proceeded to log out.

Placing your character in Rest Mode significantly expedites the recovery of all their stats. Health recovery kicks in the quickest, next skill cooldowns are reset from lowest cast cost to highest. And finally Karma recovery starts.

Immediately after waking up from the game, he checked the time then grabbed his Tee Goggles as he saw there was a message pinging.

It was his mom checking in on him and letting him know not to go to school when it started back in 2 weeks. She informed him of a new school currently being coded which was specifically made for training future Esports players.

This is why the creator of the game was considered such a high priority in Japan and a few other countries. And also for this reason schools exclusively catered towards the game were made since good money could pretty easily be made.

Vander's mom said she automatically got him enrolled due to her essentially being Ender's bodyguard and secretary before he went into a coma.

He would attend this school along with every other child of someone who worked on the game as well when it opens up soon.

Vander couldn't hide his excitement, he quickly got some food and hurried back into the game.

Outside the walls of the City of New Beginnings:

"Alright you two will fight here, it's both open but also surrounded by trees. Perfect for both of your playstyles."

Koeda and Souei didn't hesitate to pull out their weapons, they both immediately started poking each other with their weapons. Soon after, they went into a light spar, repeatedly throwing and blocking attacks. Neither one of them actually getting hit or even throwing strong enough attacks to deal any real damage.

Inorin simply stood there watching as a confused bystander.

"What could've happened in that short time I was logged out for these two to actually interact with one another like this? I thought Koeda hated Souei, she has never even acknowledged him even once." He said to himself

Inorin's thinking was abruptly interrupted when Souei accidentally slashed Koeda's arm, Koeda jumped back and thus their play sparring ended.

*Fire Style: Destruction Wave* Koeda quickly retaliated, spewing a giant wave of fire from her mouth at Souei, and mistakenly Inorin as well.

"Hey woah wait- wait calm down… it was just an accident!" Souei exclaimed

Souei quickly used his spear extension to plant himself just outside the vertical range of the fire

Inorin on the other hand just stood there, directly in the line of fire.

When the fire finally subsided he was still standing there with his arms crossed and not a single scratch or burn on him.

"Sorry Rin, I didn't mean to hit you too but I couldn't risk letting him get away."

"He ended up getting away anyways though."

"Yeah I got away but you didn't, so how are you still unscathed." Souei questions while dropping off his spear

"A little skill I picked up called Blue Aura, protects me from Karma-based magic until it takes too much damage. Actually that one Wave did a pretty decent amount of damage to it.…"

"So since you've damaged me, you also put me in this fight." He says as he creates some distance

"Woah hold on that's unfair! Now I have to worry about not just Koeda but you too at the same time."

"Deal with it! You would've lost to just me anyway." Koeda interrupts

"You're right Souei… then how's about both of you come at me. Yeah enough talking, let's do this."

Inorin pulled out one dagger and proceeded to charge at Koeda, he knew she would try to get out of his line of sight quickly. Now she was stuck and forced into hand to hand combat.

Souei could see her retreating with every blocked swing so he decided to jump in and help.

He stuck his spear between the two of them and forced them both to jump back to avoid it.

He jumped in front of Inorin, blocking his view of Koeda and she immediately took that chance to disappear. Souei was fine with fighting on his own because he had a reach advantage between the two of them.

He started by taking short pokes and slightly extending his range when Inorin dodged to keep him from closing the distance.

This didn't work however, Inorin quickly caught on and grabbed onto the spear the second Souei shifted his hand positions to compensate for the longer shaft.

They got in a tug-a-war fighting for the spear until a kunai aimed at Inorin's hand forced him to let go.

He caught the kunai and threw it back in the direction it came from.

Their distance was now reset and they were right back to where they started.

Inorin threw his dagger at Souei and quickly switched to his twin axes while chasing after it.

Souei managed to both dodge the dagger and block the axe lunge simultaneously but he was forced into taking to defense.

A wave of water flooded in as the two of them were in a back and forth.

Souei once again used his spear extension to get out of the way but Inorin was seemingly swept away by the current.