Chapter 19- Gifted Ranking

Arthur could hear confused noises all around him as everyone read the name of this new feature. Nobody knew what it meant for a good few seconds until they read what it had to offer.

[The Gifted Ranking is a ranking system, created for the sole purpose of ranking all the Gifted players. The ranking is based on the points they gather from doing quests, killing monsters, and doing general actions the game deems 'Important'. The ranking will be based on a global player base and on a server-to-server base.]

Reading through that, Arthur raised his eyebrows. "A ranking of all players? That came out of nowhere. But, I guess that makes some sense considering the fact that it's an online game. Still, why four hours after the game started, why not when it launched?" 

It seemed as if the developers were waiting for something to happen before they triggered this feature. But, what was that thing? Arthur couldn't tell. 

"A ranking?! Now that's what I'm talking about!" One player said with a smile.

"I'm aiming for that top spot, baby!!" Another added excitedly.

In a matter of seconds, the confusion turned into a rather positive reaction and Arthur knew the reason for that very well. People naturally like competition, and having a ranking-based system alleviates that competition to a whole new level.

Even more than that, those who are at the top spot not only will gain worldwide recognition, it will perhaps turn them into the richest, most powerful individuals in the world, even beyond the level of actors and singers. This ranking was instantly proving to be perhaps the most crucial addition to the game.

[Each player will be given the choice of revealing their names on the leaderboard now. Please keep in mind that this option is completely up to the player and nobody can alter or affect that choice. The player can also change the option and reveal or hide their name as they wish.]

"With this message alone, they dodged a billion lawsuits." Arthur laughed to himself. "Even they're scared of the backlash some idiots will hail down on them."

[Ding!]

[Would you like to show your name on the leaderboard?]

[Accept.] [Refuse.]

"Now, what should I do about this?" Sitting down in the middle of the road, Arthur rubbed his chin. "There are two ways here, either I go the full protagonist route and hide my name, or go the more reckless route and become some kind of celebrity. That is if I will even show up in the rankings in the first place which is probably impossible." He muttered.

It was clear from the very moment Arthur read the notification that he had no business trying to even compete with the top-notch players slowly rising up. He was just having fun and doing whatever he wanted. Competition was never something he wanted.

"In that case, revealing my name shouldn't be a problem. But…" He muttered. "I really don't want to risk it. Even if I'm in the top 10000, that's still a fraction of the player base which will make me a celebrity either way. There is no way I'm going to ruin my life just for that."

Whether it was recognition or love, Arthur had none in his life and he had no plans to gain any. He just wanted to keep to himself and have a lot of fun while he can. In that case, the answer was very clear to him.

He had no reason to show his name, for now. 

'Well, I can change that anytime I want so it isn't that risky of a choice. Refuse.' He thought to himself.

[Ding!]

[Thank you for your cooperation.]

[Time left before ranking revealing: 01:00. Please choose before the time runs out or the default choice will be to reveal your name.]

Seeing that, all the players immediately started choosing. Looking around him, Arthur could easily tell who was going to reveal their name and who wasn't.

'Anyone that looks like they're edgy and mysterious, they're going to hide their names and anyone that wants to become some kind of celebrity, they're going to reveal their name. The funny part is, none of their choices will ever matter just like how mine will never matter either.'

Everyone around him, for the most part, had astronomically low chances of truly reaching the top. That is one for every hundred million people or so.

'Oh well, maybe our hero will appear from this very village. I'm going to ask for an autograph from them if that's the case.' Arthur shrugged as he looked at the sky, waiting for the time to run out.

Eventually, a minute passed and the notification rang in his head. Everyone went completely silent as anticipation grew in their hearts. For a second, it felt like the entire world had stopped for this very sudden moment.

"Ok, let's see if I'm anywhere near the top 10 or even 100 thousand. I hope it's not too low or I will be a little sad." He muttered with a smile as looked at the notification.

In front of him, a large leaderboard appeared out of nowhere. At the top, it had two options 'Global Ranking' and 'Server Ranking'. Arthur couldn't see his ranking yet so he decided to tap on the server option first.

That was when a large list of names appeared. Each column had the player's username, rank, class, and points. Right at the bottom of it, outside the ranking itself, he saw his name.

"Ok, Player Arthur… Mhm, ranking…" His eyes fell on the number. "Good, I'm number 3. That's not bad. I actually expected something lo-"

At that moment, Arthur's brain froze as he stared at the rank silently. His breath stopped completely as if he was frozen in time. His expression was so stunned it appeared comical.

"Rank 1? Rank… 1?" Blinking, he rubbed his eyes to try and see if he was hallucinating. However, he could see it very clearly. Next to his name, he had the number 1 and at the very top of the leaderboard, his name was colored with a bright blue color, indicating that he was indeed above everyone else.

When all of that sunk in, Arthur inhaled a long breath. "WHAT THE FUCK?!!" 

His scream caught everyone by surprise as they looked at him. That snapped Arthur out of his shocked state and made him cough.

'Why the hell am I number 1?! This makes no sense! I'm even 500 points above the second place! How did that even happen?! I just killed a deer, three wolves, and three dipshits, how is that a thousand points?! Is this game on drugs?!''

Looking at his points, Arthur had 998 points while the second place had 498 points. That made absolutely no sense to him since he didn't think whatever he had done in the past 4 hours would be worth that many points.

But, the truth was there, right in front of him and he had to accept it. 'What do I even call this?! What the hell do I even do?! I'm being turned into a protagonist by some bored god or something! I don't really want that! Goddamit, is it that hard to understand?!'

Arthur clenched his teeth in frustration. "Curse you, unknown power! I won't let you screw me over with these cheap tricks!"

As he was insulting whatever was turning his life around, he tapped on the 'Global Ranking' to see where he was there.

"Please don't be anywhere near the top 10, please!" At this point, all of his assumptions that his rank would be in the thousands had vanished like mist. His only hope for salvation was to not be the number one in the Global ranking.

Just the idea of being number one amongst billions of other players was terrifying to him. But, with a hesitant feeling, he looked at his name.

However, unfortunately for him, things weren't going as he wanted, at all.

(A//N: Support The Book! Mhm!!)