Smile of Enthusiasm

[You have been challenged to a duel. Do you want to accept? YES/NO (Warning: level disparity is too high.)]

Klaus Park looked at the warning screen with a bored expression, as everyone on the edge of the arena screamed with excitement. Before making up his mind, Klaus Park looked at Elfire Waylan and asked,

"What the hell is a real duel?"

Elfire's confident smile grew even wider hearing that question. "As a noble, I will be responsible for explaining to this honorable citizen what a real duel is!" said the man in glorious armor, opening his arms to the viewers. "My dear, real duels are life and death duels! The loser dies and the winner conquers all that is at stake! In that case, if you beat me in this duel, Berni Coyle's debts will be forgiven by the nobles, and I will die with the honor of a noble knight!"

'What a show, huh...' Klaus Park thought with his eyes closed as he watched Elfire Waylan speak with such excitement.

Klaus Park understood that the boy was just an NPC, but Elfire Waylan's acting and over-reactions were even more caricature than the characters in the dating games Klaus played as a child. 

"Alright, I accept your challenge." snorted the novice and clicked YES on the system warning screen. 'I wonder if there's a really such a big difference in level between the two of us? Of course, there is, I'm level 1. Also, if I get the chance to test the game's combat so quickly, why would I wait until I'm level 3 to be able to fight monsters?' He judged.

For Klaus Park, it was better to start with a real battle than to practice swordplay in order to level up and experience something similar. Klaus was also interested in trying out other things from Rise Online, but the game's combat was still the one thing that caught his attention since he saw the combat videos on the internet. 

However, not in his wildest dream would Kluas Park think that the duel would draw so much attention. Within minutes, there were nearly a hundred people around the entire Training Center arena.

"Will a rookie really fight a high-level NPC and it is a Noble Waylan? Well, it won't be funny~."

"Has he even received a Class yet?"

"I believe he is level 1 yet, so he doesn't. I saw him in Spawn Square and he was looking like a confused child, it's probably just a kid Haha!"

"I'm going to do a live of it! The rest of the world needs to see this!"

"Oh, gosh~, this is definitely going to become a meme..."

Of course, all the viewers were convinced that the duel already had an obvious winner, however, the situation was so unusual that they were eager to see which one it would be. the outcome of all this, after all the whole context, was part of a History Event. These types of events can change the course of characters, families, cities, or the entire history of the Rise Online world, meaning having a newcomer meddling in this was, at the very least, comical for some and worrying for others. 

The Training Center instructor helped Klaus Park don the basic leather armor and offered Klaus Park his own sword to use in combat. 

By the look of Berni Coyle, Klaus could tell he was apprehensive and feeling guilty. This fascinated the novice, who had never seen such a minute level of detail, expressions, and emotions in an artificial intelligence character. 

"Don't worry, I'll beat him." Klaus Park decreed with confidence.

At that moment, Berni Coyle noticed that he couldn't hide his concern and put a fake smile on his face. "Hehe! Don't try too hard to die for me, we met today, I would feel guilty..."

Klaus Park walked over and placed his right hand on Berni Coyle's right shoulder. "Hmm! Don't think so negatively just because I'm a noob." 

Berni Coyle looked at Klaus Park upon hearing these words and noticed that the expression on Klaus Park's face had changed. If before Klaus Park seemed a serious and balanced man, now the wide smile of enthusiasm plastered on his face completely transformed the whole first impression that Berni Coyle had of Klaus Park, as if he had turned into someone else.

The truth behind this sudden change in personality was that Klaus Park was starting to feel a warm energy that was gradually taking over the Training Center. The people's looks, the clatter of voices, it all felt like he was playing a face-to-face championship after so long, but the feeling was also different in many ways, as if he was experiencing the feeling of pressure for the first time in his life, and Klaus Park loved feeling a competitive pressure, it boosted him.

[The Duel between Elfire Waylan and Kaizen will begin in...]

Although Elfire Waylan was confident that he had the full capacity to defeat an ordinary-looking citizen, Klaus Park's disturbing smile and his confident gaze were making him hesitant for the battle, at least a little.

[3, 2, 1... Duel Initiated!] 

When the large system screen flying over the arena ran out of time, Elfire Waylan quickly slammed his sword into the ground, knelt down, stretched both hands forward, and screamed as he hit on the ground: 

"<Electric Dispersion>!" 

'What is it? Is it magic?' Klaus Park wondered. This was the first time he'd seen anyone act like this since in PVP battle videos no one shouted the spells' names.

Confirming Klaus Park's suspicions, a blinding wave of pulsing electricity shot out of Elfire Waylan's arms and onto the ground, which formed a sharp electrical surge.

'Anyway, if there's electricity in the name of the spell, he probably wants to use the ground to propagate the force of it, so I just need to jump?'

Almost instinctively, Klaus Park jumped on the electric wave as it approached, and just after that, he saw Elfire Waylan's face pale. Klaus Park's jump wasn't very high, but his decision was definitely quick enough to silence the entire arena, after all, it wasn't normal for a level 1 rookie to have the reaction time needed to dodge a level 15 skill so naturally.