CHAPTER 7: THE EVENT BEGINS, DAY 1

The president's words encouraged all of them and made them excited, even the stubborn-looking Ryota was enthusiastic.

The event was about to start, and there were a lot of S-rankers out there, all appearing strong. However, none of the Nation rankers were fazed, except Kaito. This was his first real fighting experience with humans. The most human-like fight he ever had was with Citrak, in which he would have probably died if Drakonos hadn't intervened.

Thirty minutes passed, and the first phase of the event was about to start. Competitors were divided into 8 brackets, with Ryota, Nakamura, Kaito, and Aya in different brackets.

The crowd was excited to witness the first action of rankers in the inaugural event. Notable faces above the crowd included many world leaders.

Kaito and Aya walked together, spotting two familiar faces. They approached to see Isabella and Alex. Aya excitedly jumped on Isabella, calling her "Master," while Kaito and Alex began conversing.

"So you beat me in rank. How much have you leveled up in that Dungeon to be above most of us?" asked Alex.

"I only leveled up by 5, even though I could have died," replied Kaito.

"What do you mean you only leveled up by 5? That makes you level 10 now, right? But all of the players are more than level 20 right now. There's no way you're stronger than me at level 10. What do you mean you could have died? All of us can clear dungeons like that easily. Well, yours was a little big, but it should still have been a little tough, not life-threatening," replied Alex, surprised. His words caught the attention of Aya and Isabella.

"Well, I encountered a dragon named Drakonos, and I fought his guard named Citrak. He was unbelievably strong, and I would have probably died if Drakonos hadn't stopped us. But I still gained some skills, and I think they are strong, though I only used one. But they are all L-rank, so don't worry," explained Kaito.

A silence fell, and Isabella shouted, "You encountered the legendary dragon, Drakonos, and his ultimate guard, Citak, and all your limbs are intact!" Kaito was surprised by Isabella's sudden outburst; he thought she was a cool, composed woman.

"What's wrong? Are those two people I shouldn't meet?" replied Kaito, confused.

Isabella composed herself and said, "Well, not really. But we once raided a dungeon with the president and Aya, and we met those two. Drakonos gave us a choice to fight and win against his ultimate guard, Citrak. The president fought him and lost one of his arms. But with the help of Aya and my ability, we were able to return his arm. Then Alex and the president fought against Citrak with support from us, and we barely won. We were around level 15 on average about then."

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Kaito realized Drakonos and Citrak were actually very strong, and he could have maybe died for real if Drakonos hadn't intervened.

Alex cleared his throat and said, "Returning from that, you said you got L-ranked skills, as in Legendary?"

"Oh yes, I got about 5 skills, and it seems like 2 of them are especially made for me, and the others are just normal L-ranks," replied Kaito.

"Did you just say 5? How lucky are you? One S-rank skill comes in about 10-15 levels, and you got more than S-rank skills in 1 level," said Isabella, looking a little frustrated.

An unknown voice was heard, "Interesting... 5 L-rank skills. I would like to have them." It was Ryota.

"Hey Ryota, why do you like to listen to people's conversations?" said Aya, looking a little mad.

"Well, let's just say it's a habit of mine," replied Ryota, continuing, "Now onto the main point. You have L-rank skills. Would you trade them with me? I will give you my hands for them."

Isabella interrupted and said, "Are you out of your mind, Ryota? It's just skills. What's wrong with you?"

"Well, I like having skills, especially strong ones," said Ryota in a maniacal way.

"You really are out of your mind. Don't worry, I will set it right for you in this event," replied Isabella.

There was silence for a moment, and Aya interrupted it by saying, "Wait, does that mean you are participating in this event, Master?" excitedly.

"That's right. Alex and I came with the president as bodyguards, but we're going to participate in this event. So show me how much you have grown, Aya," said Isabella, patting Aya's head.

"Like you will ever defeat me, Isabella. I'm the only one here who can stand toe to toe with Jonny, and you lose almost instantaneously in a spar with him. Don't forget, you are a supporting player," retorted Ryota.

"Who says a supporting player can't defeat a main player? It's in the past. I didn't stand a chance against the president, and even though the president is the supporting player in your party and you are the main player, he is still stronger than you. Isn't that right, Ryota?" replied Isabella, building up tension.

"We will see." said Ryota, turning back and walking away.

Kaito was confused about the new words he heard, "Supporting player" and "Main player," and asked Alex for an explanation, but he said he would tell him when the event ended.

Ten minutes later, the event started, and Kaito was nervous for his first matchup. It was against an S-ranker from India. As the match began, the S-ranker introduced himself and started attacking Kaito. Kaito dodged the attacks easily but was reluctant to attack. People watching began calling him a 'Scaredy cat.' After some time, Kaito threw a punch at the S-ranker, and he went down for a bit but stood up again.

As the match progressed, Kaito's anxiety faded away as he dodged attacks. Finally, he decided to take the offensive and punched his opponent in the stomach. He then kicked him up high, followed him up, kicked him back down, and some smoke built up.

After the smoke cleared up, the winner of the match was decided as the S-ranker was out cold, and Kaito won. For some time, his combo was being talked about, but as the bracket rounds continued, it was normal for him to do that, and he passed easily through the bracket, topping it.

It was the same in the other brackets as the Nation level rankers won easily, while Alex and Isabella topped their bracket, and in the other two, it was A-rankers who topped them.

The event was a 3-day affair, and the first day had concluded. The second day would

continue with a round of 16, pitting the topper of the brackets against the 2nd ranked competitors, and continue until there were 4 people left.

CHAPTER END