Karna was not the only one having a sleepless night. Across the globe , buisnessmen , politicians and countless players were undergoing the same emotions.

Everyone had their own personal interest in mind , and although the common public did not know the complete picture behind the VR Olympics , they knew that it was a very important event.

Moreover with the popularity of Omega and the overall masses playing the game on day to day basis , the hype for the first ever world games was incredible.

The fact was only heightened because both dark and light faction players would be seen under the same banner for the first time ever since the game's origin , and probably for sometime as well.

Heated debates rose on the forums as speculations , predictions and betting was rampant.

After many pleads by the world media , it was decided that a group of announcers would be allowed in the VR games , for the purpose of commentary and pre and post match interviews.

For the benefit of the world , the selected personall were asked to share content globally and not for the specific channel they worked for. The chosen mode of communication was English , but the AI would translate it to any chosen language.

Meanwhile the camera work was to be done by the AI itself , which would always ensure best angles and high quality stream. Which would be available for free across the globe.

For all intents and purposes this was the biggest event in eSports history . A lot of pressure was put on the competitors who now had the national pride resting on their shoulders.

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( Virtual world , Purplehaze city )

The next day Rudra logged into the game , one hour before the opening ceremony summons.

As he sat alone in the conference room , he really missed Ruby , he wanted to see her face , he wanted to see her smile , as that was all the goodluck he needed .

He reminisced about the chat they had in this very room , and smiled at the bitter - sweet memories. Gradually the sadness in his eyes was replaced with a flaming determination. He remembered his goals , he remembered his path. To complete those goals , the VR Olympics would take him a long way.

Knowing that staying in the room alone for too long would only mess his mind up . He decided to join the guild members in the guild hall.

The atmosphere in the guild hall was cheery as usual with the jokes and comments flying about the coming Olympics and the expected performance of the members.

When Rudra came , he was instantly greeted warmly by his colleagues. Not soo fatty kalash anymore , gave his buddy a wink. While Karna gave him a big smile.

Ever since fatty started loosing weight , he became a much more confident version of himself. Than he was in the past. And had recently even got a slightly healthy girlfriend.

It was a huge change for the man , who was now brimming with self confidence. The hunger to proove himself in the VR Olympics was strong inside him.

He confessed to Rudra that after winning he wanted to say in the interview about how he missed his girlfriend.

Rudra supported his buddy 100% . He was happy with his change , but sometimes he missed the old clumsy fatty a little.

Karna looked incredibly sharp today , Rudra gauged that the guy was at his 100% , Rudra was happy with this change , amongst everyone that needed growth , Karna was the most crutial one for the guild.

Karna was the vice guild master , and even though he was respected and an invaluable member of the guild , he was not yet the complete one man army guild leader that Rudra remembered him to be. Hopefully , the VR Olympics would change that.

Rudra chatted for yume and Neatwit for a while as well , the team events did not start untill 7 days later hence , they still had time before their team event. The national battleground was on the very last day of the VR Olympics , and if Rudra's medal calculations were correct , it would come down to that event to decide the top 5.

Rudra did not want to think about that event , soo early , especially when tommorow , day 1 was the beat the clock event , and day 3 was the start of one v one fight , which would be concluded on day 4.

The team events could wait till after that. Right now his focus was on his individual events first. But before all that , he was firstly the flag bearer for japan in the vr Olympics , marching at the head of the enterouge , with the Japanese flag held high.

The opening ceremony was in just a few hours. Rudra was more interested in confirming the rosters of the other countries . As no country revealed their full rosters as of yet.

Information was king in this world , and without information on your opponent, you are already one step behind in the fight. For rudra accurate information was paramount and Japan had underwhelmed him in that area. It was not completely their fault. The security around the sensitive information was too tight to obtain.

Even Japanese officials , only had a single stream ongoing of the selections in a isolated secret bunker. The location was such that it was not connected to any wifi or internet or anything hackable. It was a safe house with only a input relay .

If they were soo cautious themselves it was no wonder that other countries were too. However , Rudra already knew roughly the participants of each event , now all he wanted was to confirm his speculations by actually seeing the squads.

As he was thinking this , a notification suddenly popped in his game screen .

It was a gold and black notification , that caught the eye instantly , which read. You have been invited to the VR OLYMPICS opening ceremony , you have 2 mins to accept the invitation , else you will be forcefully teleported when the timer runs 0.

Rudra looked around the guild hall , and gave the players that met his eye a nod. Then pressed accept invite.

He was teleported into the grand , the only , and what will be considered a legendary gathering spot in the future.. The ceremonial hall of the VR Olympics , the Virtual collosseum arena.