Chapter 241: The invitation (1/2)

Rudra was just outside Ruby's room , in the dormitory corridor , when the invitation for the Japanese selection came.

He looked around to check if anyone had eyes on him , and after confirming that he would not scare some NPC needlessly , he accepted the invite.

Instantly Rudra was teleported into a massive open ground. Amongst a sea of people , everywhere he could see , there were only people , people and more people.

Some wore guild robes , while some did not , some where chatting continuously , while some calmly stood without interacting to anyone.

There was a massive screen in the centre of the open ground , on top of a small stage , where a number was being displayed , the last three digits we're changing constantly , as it showed the number of players joined.

Players joined: 20,000,125

Over 20 million players had joined , considering that Japan had a population of 140 million , this was about a seventh of the total population gathered in one location.

Amongst these millions of players , barely a few hundred would be selected for the National team , and those few would carry the hopes of the entire nation.

If anyone was not intimidated upto this point , standing here , between these millions of players , they would surely realize the competition they were going to face ahead. That this was just japan ... The world stage awaited them at the VR Olympics .

He remembered Ethan Grey's words , that were told to him after the lantern festival he had thought long and hard about it , and right now amidst his burning motivation , he felt like what Ethan said was indeed correct. He needed to pick up the persona of the real Shakuni.

Rudra was not an idiot to reveal all the cards he posessed in advance in the national selections , however for the first time in his life he felt like absolutely destroying his opposition in the national rounds , there were two main reasons for this.

1) He wanted to declare to the world that this is the strength of the guild master of the True Elites , that they should think thrice before messing with someone like the Elites.

2)He wanted to become the anchor and the beacon of hope for Japan , that every event he was in , the country could feel safe , that if Shakuni was playing there , that meant they would win.

Just like the Elites depended on him , he wanted Japan to feel secure with him out there too.

It was a tremendous responsibility to take , however Rudra was willing to shoulder it , there was nobody who could shoulder it in his past life for japan , but Rudra knew the effect a charismatic leader had on a teams morale. If his achievements could shine , then his peers would be motivated and perform as well.

And to create that impression , he needed to make a bold display of strength , he needed to be arrogant , and he needed to put money in his own stock.

Was Rudra truly the best in the world? Was winning 3 golds even possible? Was he being just a moron to dream about the impossible?

Maybe !

However , he knew first hand how hard the national selections would be , and the world stage would only be exponentially harder , yet he still beleived in himself.