Jack got the sleep he needed and deserved at that point. Only waking up an hour later was free for all. He got fresh, ate a bit, and did the regular stuff. Even a light workout will make sure you don't get stiff when fighting in the arena. Or so he had assumed, at least.

Just when ten minutes were left, he checked all his weapons, making sure they were of good quality. It would take only half an hour to fix them, and he would rather spend money than have them break mid-battle. His swords were good, and so were his shoes. His hammer, he wasn't sure honestly. It wasn't made out of adamantite, but whatever it was made out of didn't even scratch, so he bothered wondering.

He has $20,000 in merits as of now; he could spend some if he wanted to, but what would he even buy? But since he had some time left, it never hurt to check out the merit shop. As he was scrolling by, his eyes locked onto something. On the top of the shop was a surprise mystery gift box for $5,000. But what attracted him was not the price or the name of the mystery box, but rather its name.

[JACKPOT ROULETTE

chance to win anything between an inferior grade and an advanced grade item.]

Jack has spent around a month or two inside this system by now, but he was still unaware of how these item rankings worked. He'd only ever seen inferior or intermediate, so seeing an ascended one brought his curiosity forward, but back to the name. Not only did it have his name on it, but it was also related to gambling, so why the hell not?

He bought it without thinking anymore. It did hurt to see his balance drop from 20 to 15k, but it was going to be worth it. It was so going to be worth it, he thought to himself as the mystery box appeared in front of him. He sighed and touched the box as it unwrapped and turned into a white ball of light before taking shape. It took the shape of a coin with a Jokers face on one side, and on the other side was a J. He tried to use his skill identification on it, but was met with a surprise.

This story has been taken without authorization. Report any sightings.

[The target is multiple ranks beyond the user's skill level.]

He did not know his skill came with this kind of condition, but he assumed there had to be some drawback at least. It seems like this was the drawback. But multiple ranks above him means it was higher than intermediate; I mean, that was just a given with his trait as he looked at the coin and tossed it, putting it in his pocket. He had no idea what it did for now, but he'll find out sooner or later.

Anyway, the time for single matches to begin was running out, so he held onto his swords and took a deep breath.

[Single matches for Batch J will now begin.]

[The leaderboard rankings will be disclosed after the match ends. Your rank depends on the number of opponents defeated, use of skill, and overall evaluation so far.]

[Do your best].

Those were the last words Jack heard as he found himself being teleported suddenly. He didn't resist; he knew he just had to get it over with, but since this was going to be the final, there was no need to hold back anymore. After this, they are going to reveal the real rankings either way, so why bother holding back anymore? He looked around himself and saw where he had been teleported.

. He opened his eyes inside an invisible barrier, which no matter what he did, he couldn't even scratch. Eventually, he just gave up and looked around. He found himself standing inside a square arena, which was completely flat. It was hovering in the air, completely unbothered by everything else. As he looked around himself, he saw an audience sitting around the arena. Who the fuck were these people? Just then he spotted Duke of Hands something? Whatever his name was, the guy was sitting in the audience. After recognizing a few more faces, he realized these were the people who didn't make it in. That almost made him chuckle a bit. Was he really going to be that heartless and make all the people he beat up so far watch he was holding back?

"Absolutely," he said to himself as a smile widened on his face as he looked around. There were 9 more people in the arena except him, so each bqtch had 10 people, it seemed. Only one would come out on top in this battle, and there was no way he was going to lose now as he took a deep breath. Suddenly, all the barriers around him and his opponents dropped, and a loud voice roared through everywhere at once.

[Begin]