n

n

nWhile the terrain had been terrible, their opponents had not been strong. Moving around the large rock formation a group of five melee focused and three mages were quickly seen. None of them in proper armor, nor having decent weapons. The fight earned their group only 1 point, and had ended with one charge.

nIn this and the coming fights, everyone tried to experiment with how they fought, and also tried to come up with names for how someone equipped themselves and fought. The system's classification far too broad and making it hard for them to communicate with each other. Especially when they tried explaining who they were aiming for.

nComing back from the arena everyone felt quite disappointed at the lack of points gained, so they quickly queue up again. An hour later they had only managed to gain another eight points, everyone feeling slightly irritated at the random matchups. While the matches were easy, that also meant the rewards were meager.

n

"I don't think continuing to try and grind points like this is at all effective. While I don't feel we will lose to a weaker team, if it does happen our entire day's work will be down the drain.

" Zyviss complained as they finished their last match.

nAll the fights had happened in different areas, though by the end those they had been starting to repeat. Or rather it was also a forest, grassland, or even dessert. While the specific location seemed to still differ, they had seemingly gone through the different options already.

n

"But we have to try and rack up enough points to land in a decent rank.

" Elizabeth countered, also not liking how slow it was to gain points. For the most part, they really used the last matches just to get used to what to expect later on.

n

"Why don't we call it for now, most of us also want to try the individual matches.

" Therdul added,

"As Zyviss said, there is a massive chance of losing all our points if we push on, simply to push on.

"

nSighing Elizabeth agreed, she was the only one in the group who had no interest in the individual matches. As such as everyone left she started trying to recollect and work through what had happened today.

nBack in his own virtual space, Eldrian looked around and sighed. Getting points was simply too random, to really gain a large amount would mean fully devoting all their time to the team matches.

nIt would be better to only mildly participate this week to gain some points, and then dive in fully next week when teams at least start becoming sorted. Which should lessen the chance of gaining only 1 point for a victory. Though it should also heighten the chances of losing.

nThis problem did not hold as strongly with individual matches, due to the point count gainable and losable being much more balanced with only two peoples Tier difference being considered.

nCalling the interface and clicking on individual matches, only the one category Eldrian had signed up for appeared. While before there had been nearly a hundred different ones, as he thought of this he suddenly regretted not signing up for the magic individual fights.

nWith a sigh, he queued up and almost immediately was teleported into an arena. The area he appeared in being a simple field with waist-high grass.

n

"Oh, an elf!

" A voice exclaimed, turning around Eldrian saw an elderly man with gray in his beard. Though if this reflected reality or was just the man's personal touch on his avatar was unknown.

n

"Seems these matches are less chaotic than the team matches,

" Eldrian said as he looked the man up and down. Currently, this man had no spear in hand, though he did have some type of leather armor covering his chest. This being the only armor he had.

n

"Certainly, there people just rush in to fight. Glad you didn't do that.

" The man said with a slight smile.

"I'm Zylric, I hope our fight will be fun.

"

n

"Haru,

" Eldrain returned the greeting,

"Do you know how magic is limited?

"

n

"Ah yes, it isn't really. It's just if you use it the system will detect it and you will lose automatically.

" Zylric replied.

n

"Interesting, where are you from in the game?

" Eldrian asked, finding the man's demeanor quite strange. He had not expected to end up conversing with his opponent. Though with the day still being long he didn't care about wasting some time talking.

n

"Inglas, if you would believe it. Crazy what happened there, I can't believe the developers would let us start in a kingdom on the brink of collapse.

"

n

"What!? I haven't heard anything about that kingdom in so long.

" Eldrian was simply blown away. The last he could remember was that the players had been trapped in their spawn city, unable to even more out without being killed.

n

"It was strange when the city fell and we died, I thought we'd end up being resurrected and killed endlessly. Instead, we resurrected in another city.

"

n

"Right, I vaguely remember that too,

" Eldrian replied as that piece of information came back to him. Hearing this though he became excited about their match. Certain that this man must have gone through a great deal of fighting if he was from there.

n

"After that most players gave up, especially when our new city was also surrounded.

"

n

"But you didn't?

" Eldrian questioned.

n

"No, I like the mayhem and chaos. I felt right at home. It allowed me to truly hone my skills, though my tier and level are ** due to that.

"

nWhat the? Eldrian did not know how to respond to that.

n

"Right enough talk, let's fight.

" The man said, pulling out a fully metal spear from thin air. The spear glittered slightly in the sun, its shaft black with dark red patterns gilded through it. The spearhead like an abyss hungry for blood.

nEldrian responding in kind by pulling out his completely wooden spear, Aoidos. He could not help but feel like his spear was nothing in comparison, even knowing it was a Tier 3 spear. It was simply too basic, especially compared to Zylric's.

nSeeing Eldrian ready, Zylric charged forward. His spear aiming straight for Eldrian's heart. Jumping back and pushing the thrust aside Eldrian hoped to counter. Instead, he had to retreat again as the man's foot came for his stomach.

nStruggle to make enough distance for himself to use his spear, Eldrian could not understand this man's fighting style. While using a spear, he kept getting into close range. Often using his spear with only one hand and his other aiming for Eldrian or his spear. Resulting in him only capable of wild swings, which he used to pressure Eldrian to where his fist was waiting.

nAs Eldrian dodged a wild swing from Zylric, he wished to use magic and end it in one. Needing to fight his instincts of doing so. Instead, he regripped his spear and swung it with all his might. His reckless action resulting in Zylric getting a punch in on his stomach, but the shaft of Aoidos pushing Zylric away and giving him the space he needed.

n

"Impressive, now let's get serious,

" Zylric smirked as he brought another spear out of thin air. This one much shorter than the first, only around a meter long.

nSeeing the second spear Eldrian failed to understand Zylric even more. First, he neglected the range of his spear for close combat, now he pulled another. Spears lost a great deal of their nimbleness if used with one hand, yet instead of gaining the upper hand from this action, Eldrian felt even more on edge.

nThe man would wildly attack with his black spear, using the other in any opening Eldrian showed. At first, only shallow cuts landed as Eldrian was forced to dance to not end up cut by the first, or pierced by the other.

nFinally, Eldrian failed in dodging. The short spear sticking into his side and the other soon following. With a wild stroke, Zylric thrust it into Eldrian's chest and smiled.

nWaking with a start Eldrian looked around and calmed down as he found himself back in his virtual home. The death was one of the most disturbing to himself thus far. It had felt like he was fighting Vivian or even Old Sword. No matter what he did it changed nothing.

nNear the end Eldrian almost cast Forst Needle out of instinct, fighting this instinct had been the reason why he had failed to dodge that thrust.

nLuckily he had no points so the loss meant little, though he still could not understand the style that man had used. Eldrian felt it was more a style dagger users would make use of, yet somehow the man had made it work with spears.

nSo strange, I wonder if there are many like him. Eldrian thought surprised that there was someone so much better than him. He had truly thought he would rule the spear matches too, now he realized how much not using magic limited him.

n