101 Avatars
5. The Rival Protagonist, Kaiser Dewantara
That morning, just the day after the incident with Avatar Mantis, I set my foot towards the breakfast place. My mind is still muddled with the chatter we had with Brother Bomber yesterday.
“There are certainly many things that make you curious about where the avatars came from, how the avatars after the night of the Hoho disaster game, and so on. You can ask Professor Indro and Professor Melisa yourself tomorrow afternoon,” at least that's what Brother Bomber told us.
I also sat at the dinner table. Apparently, she had been waiting for me at Sis Syifa's dining table while looking at me cynically.
“Adrian, remember, Bomber's current status is a fugitive that the police are looking for. No one should know that we're involved with him. Although there are rumors circulating about the involvement of a policewoman and her sister with Bomber on social media, fortunately, at the time of yesterday's incident, no one really remembers the face of Big Brother or you at the scene. So be sure to keep the secret yesterday. Understood?!”
Syifa's sister really stressed to me to close the meeting about yesterday's incident. And of course including the truth that I am the Avatar of Arjuna, must be completely kept secret from the public.
“I understand Brother. As per the promise with Brother Bomber yesterday, I will pick up Brother at work at around four in the afternoon to be together to the address given by him.” My answer to Syifa.
Honestly, I'm a little disappointed in that. Even after the heroic events that we did by defeating the Avatar Mantis, let alone praise as a hero, I and Brother Bomber were treated as criminals. However, I tried not to think too much about it because the most important thing for me was the safety of my brother as well as the peaceful atmosphere in which we lived.
That morning, I left for college early because that day I had three courses where the first course started at 7:30. I went to college like on a normal day. However, when I arrived at my faculty building, what I saw was precisely the scene that made my heart even more claustrophobic.
Nafisah was alone together with a man with a fun-loving look joking accompanied by laughter. A tall man with an ideal posture and with a charming look as well. Truly the ideal boyfriend for a woman as beautiful as Nafisah. However, I cannot accept this. I didn't want to give up on that love before I even had a chance to fight. I really hate the figure of the man who was with Nafisah.
“Eeeeh? What is it with this genius disciple in our generation? What do you see so seriously?” Suddenly, one of my classmates in the department shocked me from behind. It's Bobi.
“Ah, Nafisah huh? Adrian really likes her because she is very beautiful.” Looks like one of my other class friends came in from behind. He's Zenri.
“Ah, it turns out that guy is yes. I don't think you need to worry, Adrian. Their relationship is not what you think it is. They might just be discussing their research project.”
“Research project?” I asked with curiosity about the words of Bobi.
“You don't know? Nafisah is currently running a joint research project with Professor Melisa, a lecturer in the Android Chemistry department. Meanwhile, the man next to him is Kaiser Dewantara, a first-year S2 student in our department, Virtual Physics, who helped with their research project.”
Bobi seemed to be pressing his chin, a habit he always does when he is thinking about something, before he continues his speech.
“If not wrong, they consist of 9 people under Professor Melisa, two people each from the second, third, and fourth generation of Android Chemistry, plus 1 person from the first generation namely Nafisah, who is the first, as well as 2 people from S2 students majoring in Virtual Physics.” Continue Bobi.
Bobi Kasandro's. One of my friends who was most familiar with me in the Virtual Physics department. Someone who is very talented in gathering information. All the actual information from all corners of the campus always did not escape his attention. Truly an excellent information seeker. He is also the type of person who always makes logical decisions.
“Is it really like that, Bobi? Even though they're a research project, don't they look too close? Some say that one of the reasons someone can fall in love is because of the frequent meeting. It does not rule out the possibility of cinlok happening as long as they do joint research. There are 9 of them, right? Then why is it that only Nafisah and Kaiser's sister seem alone there?”
“But wait. Hmmmm. Based on my analysis of the way they interact, their chances of liking each other are almost nonexistent. You still have a chance, Adrian.” Zenri added to me with a smile.
Adesastra Zenri. One of my other friends who was closest to me in the department. He is a type of chatty who is always vocal at every time we gather together. His presence in a society always makes the association feel more alive with his endless chatter.
However, he is the type of person who is very good at self-control. He always knows what is worth saying and what is not. In short, he was very good at filtering his words and never once did he give up speech even though he was a very chatty person. Even with his chatty character, Zenri is said to be a trustworthy person in keeping secrets.
“Zenri, do you think so too? That guy doesn't fit Nafisah at all, does he? I'm a better fit with Nafisah than that guy over there right?” I said to the two of them looking miserable.
I saw that the two of them were silent after hearing that remark with looks of disgust.
“I didn't say that anyway, but it's true you have a chance, Adrian. Spirit!” Zenri told me hesitantly.
“As long as you apply the right tricks in your approach with it tapinya yes, Adrian.” Add Bobi to me.
“But wait a minute, Kaiser Dewantara? That name sounds familiar to my ears.” I ask them both again.
“Of course the name is not foreign to you anyway because he is a very famous person in the department of Virtual Physics. You see, in the golden age of Hoho games before the disaster occurred, he was dubbed as the greatest ranker in Hoho Game by using Avatar Healer.”
Why did I forget that name? Kaiser Dewantara's. Ranker for Avatar Series Number 8 in Hoho Game, Avatar Healer. The avatar is dubbed as a loser avatar even with a small serial number because of its ability that is prominent only in the field of healing, but the avatar itself only had this type of attack in the form of threads of tree branches and leaf shots.
In short, the loser avatar. The avatar was so weak in attack ability that almost everyone who used the avatar always lost the fight, except for one person, Kaiser Dewantara.
About 6 years ago, about a year before the Hoho game disaster, he suddenly submitted a challenge letter to 7 Rankers with series-numbered avatars smaller than his Avatar Healer.
However, only 4 Rankers met the challenge letter, namely rankers for Avatar Number 2, Raging Fire, Avatar Number 3, Poison Merchant, Avatar Number 5, Volt, and Avatar Number 6, respectively, Mecha.
No one expected, using Avatar Number 8, Avatar Healer, who was judged weak by all these people, Kaiser Dewantara was able to achieve consecutive victories, defeating the four Rankers who accepted the challenge.
After that incident, the four rankers repeatedly submitted a letter of challenge to him. Kaiser Dewantara always accepts the challenge and always manages to beat them. He also sometimes received challenge letters from rankers with avatar serial numbers larger than him and even from non-ranker players, but as expected, none of them could defeat him.
Until the Hoho game disaster, he managed to maintain his unbeaten record in every official game until he became a legend in the game Hoho.