[Congratulations for defeating the fourteenth floor. You are awarded 2 free stat point as a reward.]
"Huh stat points? So stingy! Is it not possible to get one of those equipment with skills? Where is my dual sword style!?" said Li Wei to himself. He was a bit disappointed with the rewards but he was well aware of the value of the stat points. Stat points could only be obtained by leveling up and when he would be at a higher level, those would be very hard to obtain.
Two stat points were equivalent of giving Li Wei two additional levels.
"Allocate to dexterity"
Now, Li Wei's stats were:
Name: Seven
Race: Human
Level: 10 (142/10000)
Class: Warrior
Title: None
HP: 5/100
MP: 9/80
Strength: 14
Dexterity: 18(+2)
Vitality: 9(+1)
Intelligence: 7(+1)
Wisdom: 9
Stat Points available: 0
Skills: [Cleave], [Strengthen], [Weapon Throwing], [Howl],[Blade Draw]
Fatigue: 31%
....
[Restoring original state. Moving to the last floor.]
The usual mist once again appeared and covered the arena. The mist soon disappeared, revealing the last arena. Despite being the last one, it looked exactly like all the previous ones except for the number in Roman numerals.
When Li Wei saw the human figure emerging from the mist, he froze and let out a gasp of surprise.
"It's you! Aren't you supposed to be dead !?!" exclaimed Li Wei.
The man that came out of the mist wore a confused expression, but as soon as he saw Li Wei, he directly drew his 2 swords and charged at Li Wei. "You piece of Sh*t! You did not expect us to meet again! huh! ***"
Li Wei was taken by surprise. However, before the swords could hit Li Wei, a green barrier appeared and separated the 2 men.
[Please wait for the signal before starting to fight!]
"F***!! Hurry and give the signal so I can beat that ***"
Li Wei was still not believing what he was seeing, 'is that a bug?' thought Li Wei.
The man in front of him, swearing and swinging his blades at the green barrier was, none other than the Red Bandit Leader.
"Hurry up *** let me beat the *** out of this ***" shouted the Red Bandit Leader.
At the same time, the question came:
[Would you like to begin the last fight?]
Li Wei calmed down his breathing and drew his swords. "Is this what the commander was talking about? How I would get the opportunity to learn the dual sword style?" said Li Wei to himself. The Red Bandit Leader was now level 15, which was much higher than last time. He also had better equipment.
Li Wei frowned. He needed to focus. The Red Bandit Leader clearly held some animosity against him but he could very well use it to his advantage to learn the dual sword style.
"Start"
[Floor 15: level 15 Warrior, begin the fight in 5]
[4]
[3]
[2]
[1]
[Begin!]
[Blade Draw]. The Red Bandit immediately initiated the fight with his skill. Just like last time, he launched 2 air blades in a cross shape. But this time, they were thicker and longer.
Li Wei quickly reacted and stepped on the side while raising his swords.
However, Li Wei did not expect the Red Bandit Leader to suddenly appear in front of him, he actually covered the distance between them so quickly.
[Impale]
What Li Wei noticed first, wasn't the Red Bandit Leader, but the sharp sword that has been thrust at his chest. Li Wei tried to push it away, but in vain, "-32"
'Crap... so strong!'
But the Red Bandit Leader did not stop here. As soon as his first sword hit, he rotated onto himself and swung his sword at Li Wei's legs.
Li Wei reacted by placing his swords on his leg to parry but at the last second, the Red Bandit's sword actually changed direction and headed up towards his arm, "-21"
Li Wei felt dizzy. He was overwhelmed by the attacks and the notification logs that kept warning him that his HP was dropping. "This is so much harder than I expected."
Before Li Wei could recover, he was violently kicked in the stomach and forced to take a few steps back.
[Howl].
Li Wei activated his skill, afraid that the Red Bandit Leader would continue his combo, but the latter also used the same skill and his was stronger which pushed Li Wei further back.
[Earth Wall]
In a desperate attempt to gain a few breaths of time, Li Wei raised a wall between him and the Red Bandit Leader. However, that newly erected wall was shattered by the Red Bandit Leader's [Cleave]
"Where are you trying to hide, piece of ****" shouted the Red Bandit Leader while landing just in front of Li Wei.
His swords swung again towards Li Wei. "Cling! Clang!" This time, the blades did not change directions and were blocked by Li Wei.
But shortly after, the Red Bandit Leader shifted his body and spun again slicing Li Wei's arm.
Li Wei barely had any HP left, he looked at the Red Bandit Leader. The latter was coldly smiling. A few seconds later, two swords stabbed Li Wei, one at his chest, the other on his thigh. Immediately, a white layer covered Li Wei's body, preventing his HP from falling to zero.
'I lost, just like that... I could not even do anything,'
"What? What is that light.... ****"
The Red Bandit Leader tried to pull out the swords and stab Li Wei again, but another layer covered him, bringing him back into the mist.
"Ahhh" shouted the Red Bandit Leader with rage as he was brought back into the mist.
[You have been defeated. Restoring original state]
[You will be teleported back to the entrance in 5 seconds.]
But Li Wei did not even listen to the voice. He was reviewing the fight. For the first time, he felt weak. He could not even land one strike or defend himself. The battle had been so one-sided that it could not even be called a battle.
"I was too full of myself… It obviously would not have been easy…"
When Li Wei looked around him, he was standing in the hall just in front of the door that was the entrance of the Tower of Heroes. Many players were looking at him since he was standing in front of the door. He ignored them and immediately turned around, trying to push the door to enter the Tower of Heroes once again.
[Sorry. You have just left the Tower of Heroes. You can access the Tower of Heroes again in 1 hour]
"What? There's a cooldown to the Tower of Heroes?" exclaimed Li Wei. He never bothered to check this detail and was surprised upon seeing it.
"Wow look! The Leaderboard is being refreshed!!"
At the same time, several players exclaimed. They excitedly looking at the leaderboard and a few seconds later, all the stares were redirected towards Li Wei. Quickly, many whispers were heard, the hall became noisy. Li Wei ignored them and went to a corner of the hall. He sat down, hugging his knees and leaning his head on them.
"F***, I can't believe I was defeated so easily... How could he continue attacking so smoothly," Li Wei was silently replaying the fight in his mind, examining the movements of the Red Bandit Leader. Just watching and actually experiencing it was totally different.
...
"Excuse me! We would like to speak to you?" Li Wei suddenly heard a soft voice.
He raised his head just to find a level 9 female priest looking at him. Her name was Bright Sun.
"What is it?" answered Li Wei, though he already had an idea of what she wanted to say.
"Hello! My name is Bright Sun, I am here to invite you to join our guild, Avalanche. My elder brother is the founder of the guild. He has already created it in the open world, I will join him as soon as I leave Little Root Town."
As expected, as soon as the players saw that Li Wei's name was at the top of the leaderboard, many high ranked members of guilds came to recruit him.
'The open world? She knows someone who had already reached the open world?' exclaimed Li Wei in his heart.
"May I ask what the conditions are?" asked Li Wei.
"Of course! You are obviously very talented, so we would directly put you in our lead team..."
"Don't listen to her! A talent like you will be wasted in her guild. Come to The Horde, we will give you several benefits. You can even start as a team leader!" A tall muscular man erupted into the hall, interrupting Bright Sun and directly inviting Li Wei.
"What are you doing? You should not interrupt our conversation! " said Bright Sun with an annoyed expression.
"Miss, I am just inviting him. In the end, he is the one who will make the final choice. You are not forcing him to join you, aren't you?" answered the man as he took large strides toward Li Wei.
Both turned to look at Li Wei but at the same time, another man entered the hall attracting the gaze of everyone.
The man was actually level 10. He just entered the hall and looked at the leaderboard before frowning. That man was the former ranked 1 on the leaderboard, Skywalker.
"So you are Seven!" Skywalker approached Li Wei, "You do have a lot of talent, our guild, Exodia would also like to invite you. What do you think?" Skywalker walked towards Li Wei making a grin, pretending to be unaware of what happened on the street last night.
With all the players in the room looking at him, Li Wei remained seated and answered: "I would like to know what each guild offers first, I will then choose."
"Of course!" answered the three.
Li Wei actually did not mind joining a guild. As long as they were skilled and would not slow down his growth. Furthermore, he did not want them to continue to pester him. Quickly, each one of them gave him a contract, similar to the one he signed with Carlos.
The contracts contained all the information about the respective guilds; what they would offer, the responsibilities he would have to hold and the rules of the guilds.
"Thank you, I will like some time to read through them before answering," said Li Wei
"No problems. There is no rush, you can contact us at any time," said Bright Sun with a smile. The pretty priest quickly left the room, having completed her task.
"Mmmmm, " said Skywalker while nodding. He then turned and pushed the door to enter the Tower of Heroes.
Li Wei finally had some room to breathe but that did not last for long as other players quickly followed as soon as the 3 left to invite Li Wei to their guild. The latter simply took their contracts, saying that he needed some time to consider.
Still having to wait 40 minutes before being able to enter the Tower of Heroes, Li Wei had nothing to do and simply sat down to read the contracts. They mostly contained the basic rules, such as obeying the higher-up's decisions, not sharing internal information, etc
When it came to benefits, Avalanche, Exodia and The Horde were the most generous. The first two offered 10 gold, while the last one offered a grade 0 equipment of his choice. At this early stage, these could be considered very generous.
...
Li Wei looked at the time on his interface, he could now go back into the Tower of Heroes. He hurried up and touched the door, eager to get his revenge.
Once again, Li Wei appeared on the fifteenth floor and in front of him was the same Red Bandit Leader.
"Huh, you are back?!? Looking for another beating?" taunted the Red Bandit Leader.
Li Wei just ignored what he was saying, he needed to focus if he wanted to defeat the Red Bandit Leader. A few moments later, came the usual announcement
[Would you like to begin the last fight?]
"Yes, begin"
[Floor 15: level 15 Warrior. Begin the fight in 5]
[4]
[3]
[2]
[1]
[Begin!]
[Strengthen] At the exact same time, both sides used their skill and charged at each other. This time, Li Wei wanted to be on the offensive.
Li Wei raised his swords, [Cleave], his right sword made a horizontal swing towards the Red Bandit Leader. However, the latter ducked and easily avoided the strike, he quickly counterattacked by swinging his swords at Li Wei's leg.
[Howl], Li Wei immediately used his skill, disturbing the Red Bandit Leader's movements just enough to be able to dodge the strikes. However, just as he was making a step back,
[Impale]
A sword thrust right towards his exposed chest, "-31"
'That move again...' thought Li Wei. He had already memorised the Red Bandit Leader's skills but that did not mean he knew how to counter them.
[Howl], this time, the Red Bandit Leader followed up with his own [Howl] and swung his swords at Li Wei.
The latter kept retreating, not knowing how but he was once again forced on the defensive.
"Cling Clang!"
Swords hit each other slowly depleting the HP of the 2 fighters, but Li Wei was clearly on the losing side. The Red Bandit Leader looked very calm and confident. He was not even using his full strength, just toying with Li Wei.
Li Wei was focusing as hard as he could, trying to take the Red Bandit Leader by surprise but in vain. He took a step back and used [Cleave].
[Parry]
The Red Bandit Leader used another skill, his sword intercepted Li Wei's [Cleave] and easily pushed back the sword. The sword was pushed to the side completely exposing Li Wei and the Red Bandit Leader immediately capitalized on that, swinging his sword continuously, emptying Li Wei's HP bar.
[You have been defeated. Restoring original state]
[You will be teleported back to the entrance in 5 seconds.]
"Tsssk **** off kid," said the Red Bandit Leader while showing an expression of disdain. This time, he did not continue to attack Li Wei when he was defeated. He simply stood on the arena in an arrogant posture.
Li Wei was lying on the ground, catching his breath. Despite his effort, he was so easily defeated and the Red Bandit Leader did not even use his full strength. Li Wei felt dejected, "how did the Red Bandit defeat me so easily?"
...
An hour later, "You again? You never learn huh?"
...
"Cling Cling Cling"
[You have been defeated. Restoring original state]
[You will be teleported back to the entrance in 5 seconds.]
"Fuck.... again... It's already the 3rd time I try." For the 3rd time, Li Wei was completely overwhelmed by the Red Bandit Leader and he did not even use his full strength. There was roughly a 10 stat points difference between them and the Red Bandit Leader was more proficient in his fighting style.
Li Wei was teleported outside the Tower of Heroes once again and went back to his corner.
"...."
He was a bit depressed. He fought 3 times while he was being toyed around. The feeling of helplessness rose in his heart every time he faced the Red Bandit Leader. His constant defeats dealt a strong blow to Li Wei's confidence.
However, a few minutes later, he was still thinking about the fights when the receptionist came to the hall.
"Dear adventurers, the training center will close for the day in 20 minutes. Please leave the training center in the next 15 minutes."