System Screens

In Rise Online, it's common for groups to get together to hunt monsters and complete quests, and it was precisely these two things that Emma M. Nielsen had in mind when she logged into the game that Friday night. However, her plans were derailed by a message that appeared in the corner of her screen as soon as she logged in. Patiently, she opened the message, and a chat with a player expanded in front of her.

[Dathan: Hey, Blood Lily! I thought you wouldn't log in tonight.

Blood Lily: The appointment I had was quicker than expected.

Dathan: So, you'll like the news... By the way, do you have a teleport crystal for the Starting City of Holinda?

Blood Lily: Yes, I think I have. Why?

Dathan: I was watching a live stream, and the streamer said there is a Story Mission at the Training Center about to start.

Blood Lily: Meet me in front of the Training Facility.]

Story Quests are extremely rare events, especially those previously announced. Generally, any player's actions can affect the path they follow, and during normal quests, the lives of NPCs are also included in the range of possible consequences, but Story Quests acted on a higher scale, even involving entire worlds.

When Emma M. Nilsen arrived in front of the Training Center building, someone was already waiting for her, that someone was Dathan.

Dathan was a classic male swordsman, but his body was lean, and his stature was shorter than most men in Rise Online. He almost looked like the protagonist of a girls manga; after all, his big eyes were piercing, his straight brown hair swung wildly with the slightest gust of wind, and every feature of his face was thin.

"Captain, I'm here!" Dathan nodded to the intensely red-haired woman who had just climbed the stairs leading to the Training Center.

Blood Lily, Emma M. Nielsen's nickname, had an appearance that stood out from the other players in Rise Online. The hallmark of Blood Lily's avatar was her long red cape with gold accents on the collar. The armor of this stunningly beautiful woman was also very striking; in a matte black tone the components seemed light and thin, but according to reports from players who have already faced the Blood Lily this armor was practically impassible, being considered of Holy level, the highest rank of items in Rise Online.

"Have you been waiting here for a long time?" Blood Lily asked Dathan as he approached him.

"It's okay. I arrived just half an hour ago. Come on, I've been told that someone has already interfered with the History Quest!"

The red-haired woman was disappointed that someone had acted faster than her. Still, she didn't blame the person but herself for agreeing to Dathan's invitation without a previously prepared teleportation crystal for Holinda, which she had to buy from the Rise Online marketplace.

As the two veteran players entered the Training Center, Blood Lily and Dathan noticed that the place was strangely crowded. Indeed, this was expected after a streamer had reported about the event; however, people were euphoric and screamed as if they were watching a championship battle.

Blood Lily looked to the center of the arena and noticed that the reason for the energy of that crowd was the battle between two men. At first, she didn't understand why people were so excited about that fight and thought about leaving immediately since the mission was already claimed, but soon Klaus Park changed her mind.

Holding the sword firmly and attacking with a lot of focus, Elfire Waylan should be able to defeat most players who were at his level. His armor set light and resistant gave him the security to attack without taking so many risks. However, Elfire Waylan wasn't even finding gaps to move around, with Klaus Park pushing him with fast and powerful attacks.

Although it was the first time Klaus Park had fought using a real sword in his entire life, he felt somewhat familiar with the weapon.

The feeling wasn't that different from holding a practice sword, and the tips on how to attack that Berni Coyle gave him certainly helped him a lot. Klaus Park knew he had to balance his body weight well using his legs and that his hands had to be steady so he didn't miss the shot.

As Klaus Park attacked as fast as he could, forcing Elfire Waylan to defend, a system screen appeared in the upper right corner of his vision, but he didn't care about that at the moment and focused on delivering more and more hits.

No doubt Elfire Waylan was in shock. The noble boy had never seen such offensive and fast fencing with his own eyes. He was used to opponents who respected and feared him, so that clumsy novice was his natural enemy.

All players and NPCs who watched the battle also thought at first that the brutality of Klaus Park swinging his sword was the main factor dominating the opponent, but when the battle passed ten minutes, no one could believe the rookie's feat.

"How is this guy keeping up this pace for so long!? How much PR does he have!?"

"Is he really level 1? How many Agility points are developers giving newbies these days?"

"This guy is a machine!"

"At this rate, he's really not going to win..." said Blood Lily to Dathan, with a serious face.

Dathan looked at the Blood Lily and asked, "Really? That's a shame, but he's still impressive. How much PR should he have to achieve agility and stamina at level 1?"

"You're right to care about his PR, but that's not the most important thing in this battle. It's the decision-making." explained Blood Lily, leaning against the iron wall of the upper stands.

"Are you trying to say that the reason he attacks so fast isn't because of his reflexes and natural agility?" Dathan couldn't see Rise Online's factors on a competitive level.

"The rookie looks so fast because he's already memorized Elfire Waylan's simple swordsmanship pattern, so the rookie can pressure the NPC by abusing his speed. However, Rise Online is a game that generally rewards effort more than natural talent, so a level 1 cannot beat someone at level 25, no matter how many times he tries."

In fact, Klaus Park had already noticed that he wouldn't be able to kill Elfire Waylan, but losing wasn't in his plans either, and while he was swinging his sword, the system screens popped in the upper right corner of his screen saying:

[You gained +10 EXP.]

[You gained +11 EXP.]

[You gained +7 EXP.]

...

Edited by: DrHitsuji

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