104 104 - Screenshots

After the group's mood improved after the awkwardness that took place at the group's first meeting with Noah, James proved to be, in fact, a big fan of Noah's. They had met a few times in Rank D matches, although now Noah had reached a high position in Rank D, because of his high winning rate on Valorwatch, which made James even more surprised.

He knew how difficult Rank D was in Valorwatch, especially when he had reached the top of the rank, something he had already done a few times, and seeing Noah manage to maintain a high win rate even after reaching the top of Rank D made James quite impressed. He had been in Rank D for so long but was unable to stay at the top of the rank for more than three days, since Noah had been staying in that position for almost a week, even risking up to reach Rank C, although he was still considered a Rank E Blessed One, which surprised everyone.

'Blessings that affect time or space are truly more powerful and versatile than others,' was what James and the other Blessed Rank D thought whenever they saw Noah in action.

Because of all this, James had ignored all the disagreements they had in the past, and whenever he met Noah in the game he made a point of greeting the 'Devil', which Noah obviously reciprocated.

"Calm down James; he said he had to go out for a walk with his monster and that he would be online soon. There are still three minutes to go; he still has time to arrive before he is considered to be late," Carlos said as he looked for a nearby chair to sit on.

They were currently in the Rank E lobby, as Carlos, Mateo, and Kevin were unable to go to the Rank D lobby to meet James and Noah.

Unlike the Rank F lobby, which was the virtual reality representation of a huge cave, the Rank E lobby was a little better. Instead of a cave, the players stayed in a poor village from the middle ages, with bars, squares, and hotels all decorated in a medieval style.

The higher the Rank, the more luxurious the place was, since the Rank D lobby had evolved into a large medieval metropolis. This kept improving until reaching Rank A, which was already something like a palace in the clouds where only the gods could go.

The Rank S lobby was still unknown. Coincidentally, all Rank S players did not livestream, so no one was ever able to see what the place was like. But they say it was something even more magnificent than the Rank A lobby.

While the four friends talked while sitting in a medieval-looking tavern, a person passed through the door of that poor tavern and went towards the group. That person had strange red skin and a long tail shaped like an arrow at the tip.

Noah didn't care what these people were doing or thinking and just sat at the table that his team members were at while saying, "Had thirty seconds before being late this time, haha."

James heard that and blew out a breath. "Damn, okay, you won the bet. I'll transfer the credits to you later."

Hearing James's response, Noah smiled slightly. He and James had made a friendly bet if Noah would be late for their next meeting. They both knew this was practically a winning bet for Noah, but it was indirectly a way for James to apologize without openly giving something to Noah in compensation, and Noah accepted with a smile on his face.

The more time he spent playing Valorwatch, the more Noah thought that these skins that players bought were cool looking. But because he was not used to spending money on games, Noah simply left that thought stuck in the back of his mind and continued playing with the free look he had made. That was until James suggested betting with in-game credits to be able to buy skins, which Noah certainly didn't refuse.

He already had some accessories that cost credit that he wanted to buy, so those credits would be a great addition to his account's inventory.

"He's really Devil Lucifer!" a player sitting at one of the nearby tables suddenly said in disbelief.

Hearing what he said, the other players looked at Noah with different looks. They believed that he was just a fan, or someone that copied the look of the famous devil, but apparently that devil was really the Lucifer who had caused so much damage in all ranks below Rank C.

Unfortunately, despite being very well known, this Devil was never seen in any public lobby of any rank. People just met him during matches, which prevented them from having a conversation with him, since he teleported practically at the moment that the match started.

Now that they were seeing this devil sitting in front of them, talking like a normal person in a public Rank E lobby, which was surprising, this was practically a golden chance for them to approach him since they had heard rumors that he was at the top of Rank D, almost rising to Rank C, which would further decrease the chance of him appearing in one of the lower rank lobby lobbies like Rank E.

"Please take a screenshot with me!" One of the players who had a skin that looked like a child with a big top hat on his head, said to Noah with a hopeful look.

Hearing what the child said, the other players immediately stood up to ask for screenshots too. After all, it would be a really cool thing to be able to brag about to their friends, especially when the devil reached even higher ranks, since they would have a screenshot with a high rank player.

With all these sudden requests, Noah was surprised. He didn't understand what was going on; why did all these people want pictures with him? He was just a normal player. He already understood that he was a little known because of the reactions of people in the games he played, but he never thought it was something at the level of someone wanting to take screenshots with him.

As he had never gone to public lobbies to do anything, which for him was a waste of time, he never had such close interaction with others in what, for him, was a game just to train the use of Blessings and have fun as you rank up and try out different tactics.

"Ehhh?… How do you- I take these screenshots with everyone?…" Noah replied to them, for the first time in a few years showing a little shyness. This was not a situation he had already gone through before, let alone something he imagined he would one day encounter. Even though he was a very confident person, being caught off guard and asked to do something he was not used to was still something he didn't know how to respond to.

The other players on his team (Carlos, James, Mateo, and Kevin) were looking at it from the side with a little envy, but mainly with pride, since that 'famous player' was on their team.

James had a Rank D Blessing, which already guaranteed him enough money for every Fortress he invaded. Carlos, Mateo, and Kevin came from families with a lot of money. The latter two were not as rich as Carlos, but there was never a lack of money, so none of them had entered this Valorwatch championship for money; their goal was actually always fame.

Seeing that Noah in front of them had already achieved the fame they wanted made the four feel the competitive blood in them run faster, giving them a lot of motivation to perfect themselves even more to be like Noah someday.

Having someone famous and powerful like Noah on the team was like killing two birds with a single stone, as they would have a great chance of achieving fame and the glory of winning a big city championship, while they would also attract a lot of attention in the championship for having a famous player on their team, which would consequently attract other people's attention to themselves alongside Noah.

Of course, this attention that Noah would attract to the group was not something that would make their lives easier in the competition, quite the contrary, in fact having Noah on the team was a big obstacle for them to win the championship. Since Noah was so well known, people had already started to develop tactics to deal with him in the game.

His Blessing was always very problematic in the games, which caused players to want to bash their heads in frustration whenever they felt an explosion of heat behind them, which clearly indicated that the hateful devil was there to take their lives before they could react, but that was only a small harm compared to the great benefits the group would receive from having such a famous player on the team.

Noah obviously didn't know about the thoughts of his teammates, which really didn't matter to him, anyhow. He didn't care that his friends wanted fame instead of money. Noah never cared about fame; he wanted the money to help with Maggy's treatment. Fame came more as a consequence of his dedication to getting stronger and having a higher rank in the game.

But this feeling, of having several people he didn't even know or even knew who they were wanting to take pictures with him, shake his hand, talk to him just because it was him, was not something that Noah disliked. Quite the contrary, to see how these people were acting with him made Noah start to see fame differently.

'Perhaps in the future I can spend more time wandering through public lobbies? It's really fun to interact with these people. I thought that fame was just a headache, but it also has its advantages. I will see with Carlos what it is like to be a streamer. After he does his live streams, who knows? Maybe I will start doing one one day too?' Noah was thinking to himself about it while taking the pictures with the players who came to talk and take screenshots with him within the virtual reality of Valorwatch.

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Please read the author's notes down here! he he :3 ↓↓↓