Soon, the system randomly assigned Drako Yau his next opponent.
“Windstrider.”
“Woah…” The name had apparently stirred up the crowd.
Windstrider, a Level 21 ranger, was a well-known reaper in the Arena. Similar to Wai Kiu, he frequented the Arena as well. However, he also managed to keep up with his levels, which was one of the reasons why his ranking was higher than Wai Kiu. Due to his exquisite technique and control, it was rumoured that he was already an elite gamer in other games before switching over.
Those who were anticipating Drako Yau’s next win couldn’t help but frown. They thought thirty-eight wins was already a spectacular feat, yet the masked man didn’t settle for that and pushed his luck even further? It would be a massive blow to him if he lost.
Meanwhile, others who were hoping to see him fall couldn’t wait to gloat about it. Did he really think he’ll face newbies all the time?
----------------------------------------
“Guild master, Mask showed up again.” The player who was in charge of gathering intel and news in the game reported to Chau Yu.
Chau Yu acknowledged his report with a ‘Hm’ and said with a confused look, “What’s he up to this time?”
After hesitating briefly, the player answered, “He’s fighting in the Arena in Solo Casual mode. It’s his thirty-eighth consecutive win now.”
Chau Yu patted his chair’s handle with his feather fan lightly. “What is he trying to do this time… Gather attention? No… it isn’t like him to be in the spotlight, but he’s gathered everyone’s attention regardless. In that case… he’s forced to do it?”
Chau Yu’s eyes lit up; he seemed to have seen through his masked nemesis. “He’s working on a quest! One that requires him to get consecutive wins!”
The player who reported the news dropped his jaws. “There’s such a quest?”
“The quest is really difficult to clear. If it requires Mask who loves to keep a low profile to draw so much attention, he won’t do it unless it gives extraordinary rewards, or… What level is he now?”
“It’s hidden, but I followed your orders and investigated him in detail. He should be wearing the Level 20 Skeleton King set, so he’s likely to have reached Level 20. However, his skills didn’t seem to have changed greatly. I’m not sure if he’s hiding it or…”
Chau Yu was sure about it at that point. “He’s working on his class progression quest! Order all the guys who hang around the Arena all day long to enter Solo Casual matches. We must put an end to his win streak and stop him from finishing his class progression quest.”
The player replied somewhat awkwardly, “But… tens of thousands of players play Solo Casual. The chance of matching Mask is extremely low…”
“It’s better than sitting here doing nothing.” Chau Yu was resolute with his order.
He then sat there with his guild member who was in charge of gathering intel as they watched the 3D holographic projection before them. Many players had already found Drako Yau’s pit and were spectating him, some even live streaming it online. The two of them became one of the many spectators.
This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.
----------------------------------------
In the Arena, both parties could see how many people were spectating their match.
Windstrider was awestruck to find 60,000 people spectating his match. It was an insanely high spectator count—even famous Arena veterans didn’t get so many spectators when they fought in Ranked.
Whenever the spectator count reached five digits in Ranked, both parties would receive broadcast fees in the form of gold coins, which could then be exchanged for real life currency. It was practically a proper source of income.
Windstrider was your average white collar whose life was all about work. Still, he was persistent when it came to gaming; there was something he sought from it. While he was a confident person, he wasn’t so prideful to think that 60,000 people were spectating the match because of him.
“So it’s him…” Windstrider listened to the system’s one minute countdown and gazed at the masked man at the opposite of the pit through the translucent barrier. He hopped right into the Arena after logging in, so he was oblivious to Drako Yau’s thirty-eight match win streak.
Windstrider took in a deep breath and let it out as he unholstered his hunting rifle from his back. Rangers could use two types of weapons, longbows and hunting rifles. The former had high attack speed and quick cast speed, while the latter had greater range, greater damage, and higher critical hit chance.
Ever since Windstrider started playing the game, he had never gone all out—because no opponent was worth using his full strength until now.
Perhaps now was the moment.
----------------------------------------
“Five, four, three, two, one,” the system’s emotionless voice announced, “begin!”
Drako Yau dashed past the translucent barrier and charged straight at the guy who held a hunting rifle. He had no intention of gathering intel from his opponent; anyone who stood before him was an enemy.
Windstrider had the same thought in mind. He steadied his rifle and fired two shots at the masked man who rushed at him.
Double Shot!
It was the most basic skill of the hunter class, but it was also a powerful skill in battle: short cooldown, quick cast speed, no post-skill recovery time, and can stiffen the enemy briefly.
While its damage wasn’t high, it was still higher than basic attacks. Double Shot was a melee player’s nightmare in battle thanks to its cooldown of several seconds.
It was especially so for warriors. Warriors would enter a charging state when using Dash which could be interrupted by certain attacks. Basic attacks couldn’t stop their charge, but the brief stiffness caused by Double Shot could.
Dash had a cooldown of three seconds. However, that was enough for a precise ranger to land a Double Shot on a charging warrior to stop his charge and make him wait until Dash was available again. Before a warrior could reach a ranger and engage in melee combat, he was no more than a live target.
Of course, Drako Yau didn’t have the Dash skill and simply ran. Still, his movement speed was by no means slow because he had invested a good amount of skill points into Wandering after giving it some thought.
“Wandering: It is the fate of wanderers to wander around. Increases movement speed by 1%.”
Drako Yau was now Level 20, meaning he had twenty skill points plus a few more he had gotten from quests. He invested one point into Might which maxed out at Level 1, the passive skill which increased his basic attack damage by ten per cent. Next, he invested fifteen points into Spear Mastery, increasing his spear-type weapon damage by fifteen per cent.
As for the nine remaining skill points, he invested them all into Wandering, giving him a nine per cent passive movement speed buff. He wasn’t as quick as a warrior who used Dash, but he was running faster than most players nonetheless.
Drako Yau saw the incoming Double Shot and immediately moved to evade it. However, Windstrider was no ordinary player either—his two shots didn’t travel in the same trajectory. After he fired the first shot, he flicked his rifle in anticipation of where Drako Yau would move to evade his shot.
“Oh?” Drako Yau was a bit surprised and became vigilant about his opponent.
Windstrider couldn’t care less and followed up with his next attack—Heart-Piercing Shot.
----------------------------------------
Priest
Description: A class progression of the cleric class, priests symbolise mercy and care.
Skill type: Priests further hone their light magic to improve their healing capabilities. As wielders of light magic, they support their allies from the rear with heals and buffs that take their allies to the next level.
Skill tree: Healing skills, Buff skills.
Weapon type: Long staff.
Class progression: ???