Battle Pods (I)

Seunghyuk just stood there silently looking at his family ring with unknown origins, but Yumi broke the silence like usual and asked again, "What are you, Seunghyuk! How is all this even possible!"

"To be honest, I really don't know..." Seunghyuk simply stated as his eyes looked at Yumi but his mind wandered off elsewhere again, "I think my System's just faulty or something. I don't think you have to worry too much about me, Yumi."

"Call me noona! Why did you forget again?" Yumi jumped forward and hugged Seunghyuk from the front, using her Seduction skill to no avail, but she only just realised that Seunghyuk was still not wearing a top and she quickly retracted her arms again, "Yup, I'm okay..I'm fine...I just touch you too much Seunghyuk...Ahem! Ju...Just put on your shirt!"

Seunghyuk watched as Yumi's face burnt red and started to think about how good-looking and how built he really is. Seunghyuk grabbed his shirt on the floor and slipped it over his head, then he picked up his jacket and tied it like a belt around his waist. When Seunghyuk was finished, he looked at Yumi who was still looking away like bats shying away from sunlight.

"Okay...So...So you've worn your shirt already. Great!" Yumi sounded like she had gone through an arduous journey as she wiped the perspiration on her forehead off with the back of her hand, "Well, you asked me about any problems the company is facing right now. We don't exactly have one before, but now that you're here, there is one."

"I think I know what you're talking about," Seunghyuk said sternly as he looked at Yumi's worried expression, "It's about the other members, right? There might be people who think I'm not fit to lead a company."

Yumi nodded and sighed deeply as she similarly put on her so-called "work clothes" back on again after she tested the machines one by one, "Okay, let me explain, yeah? Only those who are rescued in the Obelisk before will have some sort of respect towards you as a leader, however, the rest would think you're just some inferior copy of Kim Seongwon. I know that sounds harsh but it's the cold, hard truth no one wants to hear. I remember telling you that I've checked on your information before when ordered by Kim Seongwon to, and I'm sure your family isn't exactly filthy rich or has any connections with important people. Therefore, unlike Kim Seongwon, you have to win the members trust and respect from them by using only your ability."

Seunghyuk nodded gravely and asked Yumi, "Is there anything I could do to improve the situation? How much more time do I have until I definitely have to appear in front of the members formally?"

"I would say at best 2 days, and I'm not sure if this would help, but all of our members here are also provided with a Battle Pod. I'm not sure if you've heard of them before. Have you?" Yumi asked and Seunghyuk nodded lightly and Yumi continued explaining when she got her answer from Seunghyuk, "Well, just to elaborate on, a Battle Pod is a pod where Conquerors use in order to send their physically-mental selves into a virtual world where Conquerors are pitted against each other in battles. The Battle Pod registers a Conqueror's body stats, so it's almost like one is fighting in an actual battle."

Seunghyuk walked forward silently to take a closer look at the Battle Pod. It was large in size and had many sensing pads stuck to the bottom of the pod, connecting it to a main device that was labelled "Main System". The pod stands at about a 75 degree angle from the ground and had a reinforced glass door that covers the inside. When Yumi realised Seunghyuk was concentrating in silence again, she then stopped talking and rushed to the table at the side to get a fresh bottle of water as she drank almost half the bottle at one go. She must have been very thirsty from all that talking from the Ground Floor till here.

"Well, many Conquerors, especially members in our company, Legendclad, will tend to hide their names and ranks...so, you technically won't be able to see if they are Bronze members, Silver members or Gold members," Yumi continued to explain and placed the uncapped bottle of water done on the table, "Yeah, so in summary, just use the Battle Pod here to have a fight with the members here. No one will know who you are, and in most cases, you would not know who anybody is as well, unless there are people who put their names and ranks there. Yup, remember, you only have 2 days!"

Yumi held up two of her fingers and pouted her lips, walking forward with a childish, mad expression hung on her face. Seunghyuk raised an eyebrow looking at Yumi's act, but he just grabbed on to Yumi's two fingers.

"Noted, noona..."

Yumi immediately pressed the side button on the Battle Pod and the reinforced glass door slid open, while she turned around abruptly, dashing off. She shouted loudly back that she would have her breakfast first but as she ran out of the Technology and Equipments Room, followed by the Leader's Room with her face hinted with a heavy shade of pink.

"Enough of teasing noona, I should just try using the Battle Pod, although training like this wouldn't give that much of a stat-point increase, it's better than nothing now," Seunghyuk hopped into the Battle Pod and closed his eyes, willing himself into a state of consciousness even when his eyes were shut, than the sensing pads on the Battle Pod started to vibrate and Seunghyuk's mind was transported to a blank, black room, "So where am I now? Also, can I call in System here? System?"

"I am here and yes, I am able to be summoned here as well. Also, this is the space in the Battle Pod, you are currently waiting for a battle match."

"You have also received a Progressive Conqueror System Mission. Your Auto-Receive automatically accepted the mission given."

"Mission II: Battle Pod, Better Than Not

In total:

Win 3 Matches (Rewards: 1 Beginner Statpack)

Win 5 Matches (Rewards: 1 Beginner Statpack)

Win 10 Matches (Rewards: 1 Beginner Statpack and a 1-star Skill Upgrade Point)

Win 15 Matches: (Rewards: 1 Common Statpack)

Win 20 Matches: (Rewards: 1 Common Statpack and a random skill)"

"And let me just say that who wouldn't want free missions with rewards? I definitely want them," Seunghyuk said happily as he waited for his battle match, but he need not wait for long as his opponent appeared in the space, "System: Use Eye of Detection."

Conqueror's Name: Han Taejin (Male)

Conqueror's Rank(Legendclad): Bronze

Conqueror's Level: 3

Strength: 7

Agility: 7

Defense: 6

MP: 7

Skills: Steps Of Haste(1 out of 5 stars)

Aerial Strike (1 out of 5 stars)

Vine Bind (1 out of 5 stars)

"I don't know who ya' might be but ya' will be my 4th win today!" The Bronze member, Han Taejin provoked Seunghyuk fiercely but Seunghyuk only thought about how being able to see one's stats is really useful and that the hiding of information would be useless as Seunghyuk had the Eye of Detection, "Hey! Ya' mute? Ya' know ya' can talk here, right?"

"I know perfectly well. Therefore, shall we start? Seunghyuk asked but the Bronze member just leapt out like a panther running through the night, hoping to catch Seunghyuk off guard but he just raised a hand and smacked the Conqueror done to the ground, "Listen to people before they finish, will you?"

"Damn ya' strong! And that gets me excited!" The Bronze member, Taejin, announced as he dashed forward once again, using his skill Steps Of Haste to increase his speed, but yet again he was send falling to the ground by Seunghyuk's fist to his shoulder, "Argh! You're probably a Silver-ranked member or higher, but I won't lose now!"

Taejin was said to be quite strong as a Bronze member as well, with stats close to Seunghyuk in terms of quantity, not power as Seunghyuk's stats are a little peculiar with the increase. Taejin hopped backwards to put some distance between Seunghyuk and him, then he seemed to summon something with his peculiar hand actions. Seunghyuk immediately realised it was his skill Aerial Strike and rolled out of the area where he was standing in, avoiding the crashing rockets and missiles barely, missing them by a hair.

"I don't know how ya' avoided that! Ya' definitely have a quick reaction time!" Taejin was wanting heavily as he used his last resort which Seunghyukalready expected long before since he was able to read Taejin's information, "Let's see if ya' can still avoid this!"

Vines appeared out of nowhere and swiftly wrapped themselves around Seunghyuk's body and tightened, seemingly immobilising Seunghyuk's movements. Taejin chuckled to himself as he stepped forward, preparing to take the chance of Seunghyuk being trapped to punch Seunghyuk until he was announced victorious. However careful Taejin was, he never expected Seunghyuk to have the control of fire.

"These vines are quite sturdy, but unfortunately, my fire counters your vines quite well," Seunghyuk had used 2 mana points to cast fire all over his body to burst the vines around his body open forcefully, then he used up another 2 mana points to summon a ball of fire in his hands, "I'm shall take this win, thank you."

The ball of fire bounced out of Seunghyuk's hand and hit the ground, burning up and rising instantaneously into a pillar of fierce, red fire that charged at Taejin at an insane speed, which instantly burned him into ash. Taejin's character vanished from the battle space and Seunghyuk was announced victorious.

"Well, that was a good fight," Seunghyuk said out loud and a message popped up right in front of his face, which startled him, "What is this? Oh, this message is sent from the Bronze member, Taejin. I didn't know you could send messages here."

Seunghyuk read the message as it stated: I enjoyed that fight thoroughly. Although I lost in the end, I learnt quite a lot though that fight. You seemed quite experienced, can I request you accept my friend request?"

Seunghyuk smiled to himself as he did not expect to see such a hardworking yet well-mannered member under Kim Seongwon previously.

"Well, I'm just going to accept your request..." Seunghyuk said and he accepted the request, waiting for his next battle to be arranged.