Chapter 39 - Doing Your Research!

<p>"I don't know if I should praise you or throw a fit about this," Eniyala says after looking through all the new information on my Statscreen for several minutes. I raise my nose up with a hint of arrogance. "Feel free to do both."<br/><br/> A stomp on my toes brings my nose down immediately, my face scrunching up along with it in pain as I keel over to favor my foot. "That's not the type of fit I meant," I groan quietly.<br/><br/> "Careful what you ask for, then," she replies, swiping the screens away from her. She stands, stretching a bit. The dark circles are back under her eyes, unsurprisingly, but she looks like she always does otherwise. The sound of her heart beating in my ear suddenly floats to the top of my brain, and I kick it back out before my face can grow any redder. <br/><br/> Brrrr-ring!<br/><br/> My embarrassing moment is suddenly salvaged by the ringing of both of our Manaphones. I am still knelt on the floor, but Eniyala pulls out hers to check the message.<br/><br/> Her thin brows furrow as she reads, before her lips finally part to speak. "They released the first 50 matches, and the other 75 will be out next morning. Matches will start tomorrow afternoon."<br/><br/> I perk up instantly, grabbing my phone to double check. 'Shit.'<br/><br/> The first match in stadium one was Eniyala's, and the first in stadium four was mine.<br/><br/> "We're openers?" I wonder, a headache already forming.<br/><br/> I read on, checking the times for our matches. "Right at midday, huh… I don't think that's enough time to level up to prepare while saving enough time to make sure my body's perfectly ready to go for the fight."<br/><br/> I continue trying to calculate the best way to get stronger with little time — it's already evening — and Eniyala keeps scrolling through her phone. "Maybe you should try researching your opponent first. You can either be up against a well-known new Adventurer and plan for them, although they'll likely be pretty strong, or an unknown like us, who usually aren't strong, but you can't really predict what they might bring. Of course, a brawny idiot like you will probably just brute-force his way through it, but I have to take a different approach."<br/><br/> I look up to see her typing and scrolling furiously, looking for any morsel of information. 'She is pretty smart,' I think. Trusting in my party leader's intellect, I swipe over to my match again. An awkward photo of my face sits next to the name "Lewhk." And my opponent was what I could only describe as what looked like a complete nerd.<br/><br/> His large blocky glasses sit heavily on his small nose, and behind them overly enlarged navy blue eyes glare out of the screen. Even though the picture only shows the shoulders and above, it's clear he's only got marginally more meat on him than Christy did. His hair is a wild bedraggled mess of silver, covering his forehead and ears completely.<br/><br/> "He must be a Mage," I say quietly to myself. Eniyala is used to my muttering at this point, and ignores it as she continues her own research. "Name, name…"<br/><br/> Right under the photo, I find his name. Roderrick Plaineti. Heading over to the MainLine, I type in his name and hit search. <br/><br/> "I guess I got the well-known Adventurer," I say as numerous search results pop up. I scroll through the page, tapping on one line of words. The Line splits off, before opening a new page. "No matter what world I'm in, I guess a reporter's gotta report," I note, seeing how the article that a Mr. Yuong Peo wrote is quite extended. <br/><br/> I start to read. After all, the more there is to read, the more information I can gain. <br/><br/>{Roderrick Plaineti is well-known throughout Peino as one of the three prodigies of the Plaineti family. Like his two older brothers, he specializes in a less popular Class - a Brawler.}<br/><br/> I laugh out loud, earning a look from Eniyala. "What?" she asks disinterestedly.<br/><br/> "This dude is a brawler, of all things." I show her the picture, still laughing. Contrary to my reaction, her eyes widen minimally. <br/><br/> "You're probably screwed," she says, turning back to her phone. Startled, I stare at her for another moment before turning back to read more. 'If even a country bumpkin knows him, isn't that kind of bad?'<br/><br/> As if she can read my mind, Eniyala flicks a pebble-sized fireball at my forehead, leaving a small scorch mark. "Ow! Hey!"<br/><br/> She snorts. "Don't look at me like that," she says, turning her back to me. "You had a weird look on your face, like you were thinking about how much of a hermit I am."<br/><br/> Well, she wasn't far off.<br/><br/> Reading on, I frown. <br/><br/>{Although he hasn't built up as much reputation as his elder siblings, he still shows much promise at only 16 years old. He is already Level 24, which is still inside the under 25 tournament in Galeise. Remember folks, even if you're Level 25 and hit a Level Up, you stay in your bracket, and every finalist often levels up two or three times with each tournament. As such, Roderrick is a high seed and has a high potential to win the tournament! His first match is against an unknown who recently defeated the newly created Prospect's family's very own Duelist genius, Lillock Prospect.}<br/><br/> I blinked. I hadn't expected to earn my own little feature in the post, but here I was. <br/><br/> The article detailed some of my fight before switching attention back to Roderrick, stating how he was usually a true brawler, and often just ran straight into a fistfight. <br/><br/>{This first fight will be one to remember. Who will win; the straightforward magical fisticuffs specialist or the newbie who outperformed the dexterous Lillock Prospect? Lillock himself has donated over a million Gold just to speed up the process by a day, so we will see tomorrow folks!}<br/><br/> "Well, that explains why he was so uppity about his cash," I mutter, remembering the slimy bastard who had earned me a few million Gold to hold. He must have spent the money before I came, so that he didn't have it to give it once I arrived. "Crafty bitch."<br/><br/> On the bright side, I knew my opponent's style, and it was an incredibly simple one at that. I just had to figure out the best way for my current Level to compete with him.<br/><br/> Soon, an extremely simple plan begins to formulate in my brain, and I grin. <br/><br/> I check the time quickly, seeing that I had a little under 17 hours before my match. "If I give eight hours to sleep and another hour before the match… I have seven hours to train, delegating an hour for recovery…"<br/><br/> "Well, are we going or do you plan on muttering all night?" <br/><br/> I look up to see Eniyala's even stare studying me. "What?"<br/><br/> "You're going to go Level Up, aren't you? I'm coming with you."<br/><br/> I stare back at her for a moment, before I burst out laughing. "You're right, as always," I reply, hopping up to my feet, stretching out my back before cracking all of my fingers one by one. "So? Let's go."<br/><br/> "Just follow my lead, dumbass," she says blankly as we head once again to the outer gates of the city.<br/><br/>* * *<br/><br/> Ding!<br/><br/>(Level Up!)<br/><br/> "…Ahhh… Annaaaa… Ah-neh-lize."<br/><br/>(Cunning Goblin Corpse)<br/>(Contains: Analyze Skillbook, Crude Hammer)<br/><br/> "…Aah… I… I see…"<br/><br/> The minotaur held its throat gingerly as he began to test out the new language flooding his brain. The stronger he became, the smarter he felt, and his body almost felt ready to storm the disgusting town nearby. He had already killed one arrogant young boy who had wandered into the forest; he had scalped the dark hair off the disgusting creature and hung it to his hip, and slung the large shield onto his back. <br/><br/> Not like he would need it, but he sure did like keeping his trophies.<br/><br/> A harsh laugh burst from the minotaur's mouth for the first time.<br/><br/> "Ahahahahaha!"<br/><br/> His strong killing intent scared off all the wildlife and beasts around him, except for one creature. <br/><br/> A boar with a back that nearly reaches the top of the trees stalks slowly towards the monster, in clear provocation. The minotaur points his large branch at the snout of the Boar, still laughing.<br/><br/> "Bring it!"</p>