Working 9 to 5

Even though the crowd was silent for the previous recordings, they seemed even more engrossed in this one. Obviously it was because of Noelle.

Even Kai could admit that she was attractive, that fact only helped to draw the attention of near everyone present. In fact, so far everyone in the top ten could be considered attractive.

Well... shit.

Kai sighed wistfully as he glanced around and watched the crowd around him. If only they knew what Noelle would say if she saw them all like this.

However, some people around Kai also turned to look at him.

Not for a good reason though, just that he was also on the massive screen.

The first scene that the angel had decided to show was when Noelle had saved Kai when Umbra and the other wolf had attacked him.

It showed her fighting against one of the wolves, but for some reason, it didn't show Kai again after that. It didn't show him in the background taming Umbra, in fact, it cut the clip before Umbra got the final hit on the wolf attacking Noelle, making it look like Noelle herself had gotten the kill.

One of the men to the left of Kai, a large guy wearing a set of weak looking leather armour, turned to Kai and snickered.

"Nice performance, did you swap clothes with her or something considering you're the one in the dress?"

Kai had long gotten used to the strange glances from other humans he got in the Dome when he wore the tunic Failure had gifted him. Sure it did kind of look like a dress, but it was an efficient dress, and Kai would always choose efficiency over appearance. Anyone who didn't was an idiot, who would choose a weak set of armour that looked cool over a strong set of armour that looked weird?

Honestly, some people thought they were all that after this whole tutorial thing. They kill a few things, gain a few levels and suddenly they're above anyone else. You definitely shouldn't judge a book by its cover, especially in this sort of situation.

Actually, now that Kai thought about it, wasn't he basically doing the same thing?

Eh, I'm sure it will be fine.

So Kai rolled his eyes and turned his head to the man for a moment and said:

"Screw off."

Kai knew he would be able to beat that man in a fight, it would be really easy actually, especially if he were to make use of all his upgrades and empower himself with Soul Flame. That guy was just overcompemsating after all.

The man's arms bulged as his eyes widened. It seemed like he wasn't happy that some teenager was talking to him like that.

However, just as the man was about to speak up, Kai felt a presence press down on him as a cold sweat started to form on his brow.

Glancing up, Kai saw the angel in all her heavenly glory. However, even though she was wearing a blindfold, Kai could tell she was looking at them.

Both Kai and the cocky man remained silent after that as the next clip appeared on the large screen, scared of drawing the gaze of the angel again.

For the next few minutes, it showed Noelle's fights against Wa'rak, it even showed all the ones she lost, but still focused mainly on the ones she won.

A soft smile was on the angel's lips as she watched along, almost as if she was more pleased with this performance than the previous ones.

Seems like Noelle will be a cash cow for her.

After her fights with Wa'rak, the clip changed and glossed over her fight with the large gorilla like abomination much like Kai and Wa'rak had fought before.

Then, it showed her nearly getting killed by a sneak attack from Rashik.

Even Kai was in awe with how quickly Noelle reacted. She then retaliated and after they glanced over at Kai in his fused form and exchanged a few words, which had been censored for whatever reason. They swiftly began their fight after that.

Noelle's sword started to glow after she said three words, which were also censored, seemed like the angel really liked censoring things, and after she broke some strange looking bead over the top of it.

Noelle and Rashik kept up their brutal clash, both of then getting more and more tired with every passing second.

Rashik himself was incredibly overgeared. All of his equipment looked to be of a pretty high rarity.

That didn't deter Noelle though.

By the end, Rashik was on his knees with what looked to be some sort of poison flowing through his veins. He opened his mouth, a panicked expression on his face.

He was pleading for his life.

Noelle simply dropped her scimitar on the ground and said something which the camera didn't pick up.

And Rashik picked up the scimitar and stabbed himself, ending his own life.

Kai's eyes widened as a shiver ran down his spine. Noelle could do that? Does that mean she could have made him kill himself when they were together in the white room?

Thank god that Kai was a good person.

The clip ended right as Noelle fell to her knees.

"Wonderful, how truly wonderful! That performance shows the mental strength of this fine participant, how she never gave up after suffering losses and pushed through to grow stronger.

And while I won't get into it, that final duel concluded a big part of her life that had lasted over eleven years. That is true perseverance."

No one could refute that.

"As for her reward, she will receive a ten percent bonus to her point total and an item that compliments her fighting style."

The applause in the crowd was even louder than previously, considering that Noelle was the first to get a ten percent bonus.

Honestly, it looked like the angel was playing favourites with Noelle.

Still, Kai just smiled and clapped, happy for Noelle. He was even happy enough that he simply just ignored the annoying man to his left who was sneering at him.

"Now, onto our number seven spot!"

The screen changed and so did the environment. Gone was the Forest of Ethania, now it was replaced by a vast mountain range.

Some of the mountain peaks were covered in heavy snow, while some where covered in ash and looked like dangerous volcanoes, there was even some that had viscious storms taking place on top of them, lightning striking the land every couple of seconds. There was also some mountains that looked calm and peaceful.

At least, they would have been considered that if not for the fact that there was something moving under the surface of the grassy mountains that resembled the veins of a gargantuan beast.

The video focused on one man in particular, a kind of overweight nerd looking guy wearing glasses and a red robe that covered his whole body.

Like the guy in ninth place, this guy also had a staff in has hand.

The angel showed various clips of the guy, from him nuking a camp of goblins using some overpowered fireball spell to freezing some ogres and melting them with some weaker fireballs.

However, Kai couldn't help but cringe at the sight. Because after every battle, the nerd would always say some cringy line.

Like, after nuking that goblin camp he had said 'suffer in the fiery inferno of my wrath' and after freezing those ogres he had said 'let your blood freeze as your heart runs cold'.

Yeah, the dude was an extremely dedicated larper, there was no doubt about that.

Still, even if it was a pain to watch his highlights, Kai had to admit the nerd was strong.

Nothing could compare to him when it came to magical power. His spells were in a league of their own compared to the other participants that showed up at different points in these highlights.

But that just meant that the nerd got too big for his own boots.

At the very end of the tutorial, the nerd mage scaled one of the volcanic mountains after hearing that there was a dragon living inside it.

As for why the nerd wanted to fight a literal dragon, who knew, but Kai knew that it was an extremely idiotic move.

However, the nerd underestimated how long it would take to climb the mountain considering he wasn't in the best of shape, so by the time he reached the top there was only one minute left in the tutorial.

"Foul dragon! Show yourself and face me, then I shall rescue the helpless maiden you have in your clutches. Then we shall wed and she will-"

The audio promptly cut off there for reasons Kai could understand. Looking up, Kai caught a glimpse of a look of disgust on the angel's face before she composed herself and just continued the clip without any audio.

The nerd never stood a chance.

A gargantuan red tail shot out of the volcano and descended upon the nerd, not even hearing him out any longer.

The nerd tried to freeze it, but the spell was useless against the pure strength of the dragon.

And just as the tail was about to crush the nerd, the tutorial ended and he was teleported out.

"Hmph! If not for the tutorial ending I would have slain the foul beast. Tis a shame that I never got to meet the maiden I would have rescued."

Kai cringed as he heard a voice to his right. Turning his head, he saw that the nerd had actually been pretty close to him.

The angel turned to look down at him and grimaced for a split second before it was a replaced by a smile.

She completetly ignored what he said.

"As for his reward, he will get a five percent bonus to his total points and a multi-affinity upgrade item."

A look of outrage appeared on the nerd's face at the fact that eight place had gotten a ten percent bonus while he, seventh place, had gotten a five percent.

He quickly calmed himself when the angel turned her head to face him. Even when she was absolutely disgusted by him and obviously did not like him, even when her aura was pressing down on him, he chose not to speak because he was scared of speaking to women rather than the fact she could kill him with a click of her fingers.

The Host sighed.

"Onto sixth place."

Sixth place was nothing special but Kai could see the value that they had.

It was a cute blonde girl who never actually fought anyone but rather healed the wounds of everyone fought.

Her magic was actually quite potent for a low level healer, she even manged to regenerate someone's arm at one point, even thought it took a couple of hours.

However, that wasn't why she was ranked so high.

The blonde cleric was also able to buff people. Her buffs included a speed boost, a strength boost and a boost to someone's Mana and Health recovery.

Overall, she was a just a very strong support. She could heal and buff, but then again, what more could you want?

The angel smiled as another round of applause rang out in the crowd, only the nerd didn't clap along because no one had clapped for him.

"As for her reward, she will receive a five percent boost to her point total, an advanced potion kit and a healer based item."

The cleric was the first person to get three rewards, and a reward that wasn't directly based on her class. What the potions would do, only she and the angel would know.

But now, things were going to get serious. The Host smiled excitedly as she pointed to the ginormous screen once more.

"Now, we move onto the top five!"