Three days before the challenge ended, all hell broke loose. The previously calm façade of the group challenge crumbled as all of the participants began their mad race for points.
For the last three and a half weeks, there had been almost no duels other than the occasional forced one like Seth and his friends had experienced. Now, duels were not just common, but they were the only thing going on. Within the first couple hours of the day, normal matches were long forgotten and the main hall was constantly buzzing with activity. This phenomenon was not a surprise to anyone though, as the ladder told everyone all they needed to know.
1. Princess Caladenia, The Radiance Court (121,050)
2. Ruler of the Inferno, Remus (118,720)
3. Galdir Ruminold, Believer in Love (110,110)
4. Eminence (105,000)
5. Path of the Endless (103,980)
6. Nigel The Redeemer (98,560)
No matter how hard or impressively the top six had fought for over three weeks, none of them had even come close to getting the second best prize, much less the top reward. This last-ditch effort meant everyone was putting their points on the line to get a better prize. Even Drake and the others declared a temporary suspension of taking matches together so they could rack up points against the other participants. This meant Seth was alone in the main hall, watching all the commotion from his spot in the corner of the room. No one had approached him yet, but this wasn’t a surprise as Seth had purposefully activated one of his abilities and restrained his energy underneath his skin.
Specter State:
-When activated, Specter State erases detection from all senses, including lower rank detection
abilities. (Only applies to abilities lower ranked than the lowest attribute of the user)
It didn’t take much to shirk their attention, as everyone was too busy to notice him anyway.
As the minutes passed, Seth watched numerous names rise and fall from the leaderboard. People whom had sat on the bottom of the leaderboard for weeks were finally rising through the ranks seemingly at the surprise of those losing to them. Seems there were a couple snakes hiding in the basket. Seth thought humorously. It didn’t come as much of a surprise to him because that had been one of his first ideas for strategy when the challenge started. He had only discarded the idea because of the fact he had wanted to fight and get stronger rather than watch and wait for the chance to steal points from others.
Even if he had ditched that plan originally, that didn’t mean Seth couldn’t use it now. He continued to watch the others talk and declare challenges while he simultaneously had multiple videos up of various duels going on. Using his enhanced mental capacity gained from tiering up, Seth mentally noted a variety of participants that he could safely challenge and win. His goal was to combine the information he had already gained over the course of the challenge and the new developments to make a list of those he could steal some last minute points from. His main targets were those that showed any sign of greed or desperation during the duels. Seth was well aware that those looking to make large gains at the end were also those who would be most likely to accept any duel set before them.
Seth luckily didn’t have this problem, as he currently had a rather safe amount of points totaling 79,360. His regiment had allowed him to pull away from his teammates to an extent, as he was now in twenty-third place while they sat in the mid-thirties. With around seventy participants total, Seth had to guess there were around ten who had been biding their time at the bottom, while the rest were either of lower power, or non-combat types. His eyes continued to flick from the console in front of him, to the large leaderboard in the middle of the room. He noted with interest that the top six did not move in points or placement like the majority of other participants. It seemed anyone outside of the top six did not share this patience and were constantly changing just like the rest of the board.
Hours passed and yet Seth did not waver from his position. Ranks were gained and lost just as points began to pile up or drain away. Large triumphs and devastating losses became commonplace with new names appearing and disappearing within the course of a few minutes. Seth himself watched his rank drop several places one second before jumping up the next. But as time passed, it became more and more clear that names were beginning to pile up at the bottom of the leaderboard. The snakes made themselves known by taking high risk high reward challenges against foolhardy participants who only judged their opponent based off their point value. Eventually, those who lost their points acted out in desperation and dove back into normal matches, trying to gain some number of points to gamble with again.
The initial craze seemed to be dying off after only half a day. Those that were victorious in their duels reveled in their gains while those who were defeated went back to the reliable monster matches. Duels were still frequent but nowhere near as constant as they were before.
Now that Seth had a good collection of information gained from waiting, he clicked off the match replays to once more look at the rankings. First and foremost, Seth noticed that the gap between the top six and the rest of the participants had closed considerably. Beforehand, the top eight participants were relatively close, with the sixth spot changing every so often. Now, the distance of points from the eighth and nineth place ranks were less than 10,000.
This story has been stolen from Royal Road. If you read it on Amazon, please report it
It was dangerous for those at the top, as the growing point pool for the higher ranks were threatening to take their spots for the bonus event at the end. This was mostly only true for sixth and fifth place though, as the gap in points began to scale heavily after them. This meant that the top four point earners were mostly safe unless someone in the top ten decided to fight another high ranker. This was not likely to happen though because the participants with the most points were smart enough not to risk their fortunes like that. Nothing was certain however, so Seth didn’t hedge any bets.
Finally, he checked his friends rankings as well as his own.
11. Son of Gaia (86,500)
.
20. Undecided (79,360)
.
27. Drake Lothrin (75,120)
28. Blair (74,970)
.
36. Licht Suzrin (66,660)
Seth was happy to find him and his friends places improve while Ty actually went down a spot. It seemed Licht didn’t have the same luck as the others, but that was to be expected due to his support type role. Overall, his comrades were successful in catching up to him without losing their points, which was all that mattered. Seth was looking forward to rejoining them soon in Drake’s room as they had talked about hours ago. He had a feeling none of the duels that really mattered had taken place yet, and he wanted to make sure they were aware.
As he finally got up from his console to leave, a voice stopped him in his tracks.
“So you’re really not going to take a duel, how boring.”
The voice tugged at his memory slightly, so Seth couldn’t help but turn around. The man standing behind him was actually not familiar at all, with his smooth coppery hair and eyes. He looked older than any of the participants he had seen so far, but that wasn’t exactly hard to accomplish. Seth guessed him to be in his mid-twenties due to his matured face and sharp jawline.
“Do I know you?” He questioned with an impassive expression.
The fact the man was lounging on the wall right behind where Seth had been sitting did not miss his attention. The man’s eyes shined with humor as he absently adjusted the dark suit he was wearing.
“It makes sense you don’t recognize me. Last time we talked, you didn’t even look at me, did you? It’s no matter, my name is Galdir Ruminold.”
Seth mind finally connected the dots as he really looked at the man that he had previously dismissed a few weeks ago. His energy concealment was beyond anything Seth had seen the entirety of his time in The Incubator. No wonder I didn’t sense him standing there. He was Galdir Ruminold, or the man currently in third place on the challenge point leaderboard. Seth had no idea why the man was talking to him, much less why he tried weeks ago.
“Doesn’t ring a bell. Is there something I can help you with, or do you just want to enjoy the pleasure of my company?”
Galdir’s easygoing smile grew. “So you still enjoy teetering on the edge between a polite conversation and incoherent gibberish, I see. That’s fine, I don’t mean to steal much of your time. I just wanted to extend my congratulations! I have been watching your matches quite closely and can see just how far you have come since entering the group challenge.”
Seth gave the man an odd look before taking a step backward. “Hey man, I know you believe in love and all that, but I don’t swing that way.” Galdir’s brow scrunched in confusion and he was visibly at a loss for words. “Wha-” Seth quickly cut him off with a raise of his hand.
“I truly apologize for giving you the wrong impression. I just… I’m just not ready for that kind of experimentation.”
He confessed with a skittish expression. Seth turned and ran from the hall, leaving behind a very lost fourth tier royal.
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“Is there a reason you are roaming the halls like a lost puppy?”
Galdir erased the troubled expression from his face and straightened out his suit before turning to the newcomer.
“Oh, it’s just you Cali.” His posture slackened and the troubled expression returned as he recognized his friend.
Caladenia crossed her slim arms over her chest as a spark of humor danced in her stormy gray eyes. “I guess that means it didn’t go well with Mr. Undecided again.” She hypothesized.
Galir gave her a tired nod and threw his hands out to the side. “I just don’t get it! Why did he think I was coming onto him? I’m surprised he knew that I was interested in men, but I wasn’t even flirting.”
Caladenia twisted a strand of her silver hair between her fingers. “Yet again you were caught up in what he said rather than what he meant. What did I say about understanding the difference between fiction and reality. He was clearly trying to get you off your balance to weasel out of the conversation. I thought we talked about ignoring him when he starts talking about things unrelated to the conversation.” She admonished him. Galdir continued to flail around his hands in exasperation.
“I know, I know! That’s why I specifically mentioned that I am aware of such a tactic to show him that I will not allow him to fool me again.”
The twenty-year-old woman couldn’t help cracking a smile at his outburst.
“You’re about as socially intelligent as a plum, Galdir. Tell me again why you even want to talk to this guy? I’ve watched at least one match of every person here, and the only thing interesting about that boy is his relationship with those three dragon descendants. His weapon might have a tier jumping aspect but that isn’t unheard of. Everyone in The Incubator has a slew of tricks up their sleeves, one sub-par ability like that won’t get him anywhere. It takes a whole set of abilities working together with a mix of technique and strategy to achieve just the basic requirement of surviving this place. I’ll bet he won’t even live through the next higher difficulty dimension.” She claimed. Galdir finally calmed down for the moment, and his hands slipped back into his pockets.
“You might be right Cali. He has advanced considerably since starting the group challenge, but nothing about him really seems special. I don’t know though. When I tasted his aura during the beginning of the challenge, I felt something the others didn’t have. Every time I feel around for that odd taste, I always find it slip out from under my grip like a svythelan eel.”
Caladenia’s eyes narrowed slightly at his explanation and the smile faded from her lips.
“Well, I wouldn’t bet against your aura analysis, knowing your family. Perhaps I should take a stir around in his energy, it’s not like he’s proficient enough in energy manipulation to sense me anyway.” She said. Galdir noticed the slight change in her aura.
“Actually, I think you were correct. There isn’t anything interesting about him.” He shortly left soon after, leaving Caladenia alone in the hall.
“Oh Galir, you really do need to work on your social skills. You’re practically an open book.” She muttered with a new ember of interest burning in her eyes.