Chapter 217 Ranking System Lyrian exited the room without uttering another word to the peculiar individual. His growing frustration stemmed from his inability to fuse Yin and Yang within those confines, a task he had been eager to accomplish promptly. With no progress possible, he resolved to move to the room next door.
Upon stepping into Alten and Leon's quarters, he quickly discerned the striking resemblance to his own. Alten and Leon sat perched on their respective beds, engrossed in conversation. As Lyrian entered, their attention was immediately drawn to him.
"Oh? You're back faster than we anticipated," Alten quipped.
Lyrian responded with a smirk, "Were you expecting me?"
To which Leon chimed in, "Not really, but we hadn't started using the BF modules yet. Now that you're here, we might as well begin."
With this, the three of them placed their BF modules to the side of the room, all lined up next to each other. A fingerprint scanner on the side of the smaller modules allowed them to expand in size instantly. They all entered and decided to figure things out inside. The experience was similar for Lyrian, and before long, he found himself back inside the infinite white expanse.
The same game options appeared in front of him, and instead of 'Play as guest,' this time, he selected 'Create an account.' As soon as he clicked it, an entire panel full of information and blank slots appeared in front of him. In the time it took to appear, all the information was filled out automatically somehow. Now, all he had to do was put his name at the bottom.
"Hmm... what should I put for my name?" Lyrian pondered. He wasn't sure whether to stay anonymous or not. Would it benefit him to hide his strongest powers, such as Garmr? He had already shown Zuuc to Draco but still hadn't revealed any of his actual power.
'I... don't want to be held back,' he thought to himself. 'Right now, I want to go all out. And if I reveal my real self, I don't know if I can do that. So, for now, I will stay anonymous.'
With that decision, he joined the world as a character named 'Zero.' Lyrian wasn't that good at coming up with names. As soon as he joined, he tested something he had been questioning for a bit. Sitting down, he tried to use Gale. However, he gained 0 mana after an entire minute of cultivation. He assumed you couldn't cultivate in the BF module for that reason, but it was still worth a shot. sᴇaʀᴄh thᴇ N0vᴇlFirᴇ.ɴet website on Gøøglᴇ to access chapters of nøvels early and in the highest quality.
"This thing is for training, right?" He said to himself, trying to think of a way to fight or duel other players. That's when he remembered the voice in the room.
"Maybe it's voice-activated... menu!" He said slightly louder into the room, and a gray screen suddenly appeared in front of him. He grinned slightly. The options on the menu were as follows:
┏━━━Battle Forge Menu━━━┓
[Join random room]
[Join specific room (enter room code here)]
[Join ranked PVP]
┗━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━┛
"Ah... that's convenient." Lyrian hovered his finger near the ranked option but stopped just before making contact with the screen.
"Alten and Leon wanted to practice... but if they find this screen, I'm sure they will understand how PVP is the greatest way to practice anyway," he said as he made his choice. As soon as he clicked the option, the panel disappeared.
"You have joined a new room. Waiting for the opponent to join. Estimated time is 20 seconds," the voice from the heavens spoke again. It sounded slightly female-like and wasn't robotic like Gear. Lyrian looked around, but he didn't notice that he had joined a new room since everything was just white after all.
"Wait..." Lyrian suddenly realized something slightly horrific. "How am I going to be anonymous if I look the same as I do in real life!?" He hadn't considered that whatsoever.
At that exact moment, a figure began appearing on the other side of the room about 20 meters away from him.
"Opponent found. Begin match," the voice said as the kid who joined the room looked around, then faced Lyrian.
"What the?" he exclaimed, seeing his shirtless opponent's head wrapped in his own shirt. Lyrian made sure to give himself enough vision to see. The kid who joined had a username above his head that read "DashGod," and just as his name suggested, he wasted no time and began to run toward Lyrian at a quick pace. He leaned his body forward to give himself more momentum as he ran.
"Wait!" Lyrian suddenly shouted, prompting the boy to stop. However, DashGod didn't seem to care as he continued running.
"Che! I guess climbing the low ranks is really as easy as they say... how did I get ranked with such a wimp!" He smiled to himself. Suddenly, his body felt a powerful force of impending doom wash over him. He widened his eyes in that split second, accidentally taking in a deep breath in the form of a gasp. It was scary, that feeling of death on your doorstep, mere feet away. He immediately stopped and instead dashed backward a few feet.
"What the heck..." He whispered to himself under his breath as he stared at the clothed, shirtless, weirdo. Lyrian had, of course, used his killing intent to stop the boy.
"I told you to wait," Lyrian said, to which the boy quickly replied.
"What do you want!?"
Lyrian was relieved to hear this. "I want to know one thing before I commit to this game." Lyrian paused, allowing DashGod to take his words in. "How does the ranking system work? Explain it to me as simply as you can."
On hearing this, DashGod raised an eyebrow. "Huh?" He seemed bewildered. "That's why you wanted me to stop?"
'What an idiot... who is this guy!?' he allowed himself to relax.
"Simply as I can, huh? Fine. You fight people, and your Rank Points get increased when you win. 20, 50, 100, 250, 600, 1000; these are the different points at which you rank up. Every time you rank up, you fight people of a higher rank, so it's harder. There are also win rates and stuff, but enough of that for now. You can learn about it in the menu, you fool."
DashGod readied himself to run forward once again, this time more wary than before.
"One more thing... does my score here affect me in the academy in any way?"
Lyrian wanted to know this since it had to do with his decision to stay anonymous. He still wasn't fully sure if he wanted to or not.
"Yeah, it does," DashGod replied. For Lyrian, this wasn't looking like good news.
"If your rank is high enough, you get to join the BF team of your year. If it's high, you get to join the official school team."
This info was better than what Lyrian had anticipated.
'Ah... so as long as I don't want to join that team, then my identity can stay anonymous with no problem.' He thought to himself as DashGod suddenly began to run forward.
"Thinking, huh? This isn't a place for that!" He said, seeming confident, but also slightly confused about that spiritual energy that he had felt earlier. Seeing that his opponent was now fully committing, Lyrian decided that it was also time for him to fight.
As the thought of training crossed his mind, he couldn't help but feel a surge of excitement building within him. His eyes widened, and a mischievous grin slowly crept onto his face as he fixated his gaze on DashGod's approaching figure. Swiftly, he honed his skills, channeling Enhancement first into his feet, and then into his right hand, propelling himself forward like a coiled spring suddenly released.
In the blink of an eye, DashGod found himself suspended in mid-air, Lyrian's grip like an unyielding vise around his neck. Desperation surged through DashGod as he clawed, pulled, and thrashed his legs frantically, but it was futile against the relentless hold of Lyrian's Enhanced hand.
Then, as if a switch had been flipped, DashGod's struggles ceased, his body going limp in unconsciousness. The announcement from the Battle Forge voice cut through the tension, declaring Lyrian as the victor with a resounding "Winner! Zero!" Lyrian's earlier grin transformed into a hearty laugh, echoing through the training arena.
"Hahaha!" he exclaimed, his laughter filled with exhilaration. "What an incredible way to train!"
Lyrian had always been drawn to the thrill of training and combat. It wasn't just about becoming stronger; there was something inherently satisfying about it. The rush of adrenaline coursing through his veins left him feeling invigorated, and the prospect of facing more challenges from different opponents filled him with excitement.
He relished the idea of repeating this experience over and over, honing his abilities and adapting to new tactics. The knowledge that he would be continually tested and pushed to his limits filled him with an insatiable eagerness for the battles yet to come.