"31:12? We are so close to sub 31!" exclaimed the paladin. This was an excellent time considering the resources they invested in.
"Let's quickly go out and check our new rank!" said the priest. The rest of the team quickly nodded, everyone was excited to see their new rank.
Everyone quickly went out of the painting and turned around to look at the new ranking but to their surprise, their rank actually decreased! They went from 29th to 35th.
With a quick look, they immediately noticed that everyone's time went down. The other guilds were naturally alerted when they saw the Fleeting Clouds Sect start to madly attack the ranking of the Graveyard of Longsoul and so, they also decided to participate.
As a result, the city's record was now held by the Fleeting Clouds Sect at 29:17. This was almost 2 minutes below the previous record and it was held by the Fleeting Clouds Sect. The second place now belonged to the Gem Family at a time of 29:20 while the Stone Defenders held the 3rd place at 29:21.
When Li Wei looked at the records, he could not help but sigh. He and his team gave their all but, they were still more than two minutes away from the record. Although they were from the same guild, there was a sense of competition between the families.
What really upset Li Wei was that both parties' players were at level 12-13. There were no big differences between their parties and yet, Wang Chong's party was two minutes ahead. Li Wei did not think he was inferior in any way to the others.
What he did not know, was that the lead parties of each family were given special items like the Explosive Potion to clear the Time Attack more quickly. However, the guilds were clearly not rich enough to afford enough items for all the parties and so, they prioritize their lead parties.
Naturally, they did not go all out yet. Their aim was only to find the correct spot to group the undead monsters to use the Explosive Potions more effectively. Furthermore, the lead parties also enjoyed a nice meal at the Prosperity Hall before the event.
Although items like explosive potions could deal lots of damage in an area. They were only effective in theory. Gathering the skeletons and zombies to a certain area would take time while randomly using explosive potions was out of question due to the extravagant cost. While it was true that they would benefit from holding the record, no guild would be willing to do so if they had to spend fortunes to do so, especially since there were two other Time Attacks that had completely different settings. Besides, they were well aware that the record was only temporary. It would not be long before they all reach level 15 and attempt the record again.
Also, apart from exp, the Time Attacks did not give anything, at least for now. The higher-ups knew the nature of the game and were aware of the rewards they would obtain. But now was not the time to go all out. Only upon reaching level 15 could they attempt to set their record in stone.
"Sigh... The competition is really fierce! But at least, the sect now holds the record!" Said Cai Jing with a hint of disappointment in his eyes.
"What should we do now? We can't enter the Graveyard of Longsoul again," asked the ranger.
"You can all go home! Today's gathering was only for the graveyard of Longsoul. Although we can enter the other two Time Attacks, they are harder than they look; Alyssa's Lair houses a variety of spiders and most of them are venomous. We will require a lot of antidotes to successfully clear it. As for the Island of Desolation, your mana slowly depletes naturally in there. It is impossible to clear it without a stock of Mana Potions. With its current state, the sect cannot afford everyone's consumables. We can call it a day," declared Cai Jing.
Hearing that, Li Wei nodded to his team before leaving. While he did not mind the guild's activity and hunting with Cai Jing and the rest, there was something he wanted to try: The Colosseum.
Upon seeing Li Wei's action, Cai Jing immediately twitched but did not say anything. Inside, he was hoping that Li Wei would stay to hunt with them. Since he was planning to go to the dungeon, the more player they had, the safer they would be, but it was Li Wei's rights to go now that the activity was over.
The last time he went there, it was for custom battles with the guild but now, he was aiming at the Ranked Battles. It was a necessity if he wanted to obtain the Moon Stone. Although he now had enough money to purchase every material for his ring, there was no way he was going to spend all of it on just 1 equipment. He had already made that mistake at Little Root Town and regretted wasting more than 30 gold on middle-grade iron ores afterward.
Li Wei did not go to the Colosseum immediately. He now had some gold and it was time to upgrade his equipment. Grade 0 equipment were meant to be used for levels 1-10, now that he was level 12, it was time to go to Grade 1 equipment which were meant for levels 11-20.
Li Wei quietly wandered into the city, looking at the different shops. He carefully looked at the different equipment but unfortunately, he was not able to find what he wanted. None of the equipment seemed to have skills associated with them.
So far, the only Grade 1 equipment he saw having skills associated with them were rings. He spent a whole hour looking at the different shops but did not find what he wanted. The shopkeepers naturally noticed him and flagged him as a possible thief since he was touching every item to obtain their information.
Li Wei was disappointed but still, he bought new arm guards and pants costing him about 60 gold. It was a high price for two Grade 1 equipment, but they were also top-tier giving Li Wei one strength and 1 vitality on top of some armor.
Following that, he went to a blacksmith and bought new swords. Although his swords were already Grade 1, they were of low quality. After all, Carlos just ranked up when he made this sword and as for the other, it was obtained from the Tower of Heroes and despite being the 11th floor reward, it only lasted for 1 week before becoming underpowered.
After a few minutes of discussing the price, Li Wei finally went out with two brand new swords. More importantly, although they were still called long swords, they were twin swords which were identical, and both were top-tier Grade 1 weapons.
[Long Sword](Grade 1)
Damage: 16-19
Effect: +10% damage against monsters
Li Wei was very satisfied with his new equipment, especially the bonus effect of his new weapons. They were extremely good considering that he spent most of his time farming monsters.
Now fully prepared, Li Wei went for a quick meal before taking the direction of the Colosseum. The receptionist warmly greeted him as he noticed Li Wei and politely pointed out and explained the procedures.
Li Wei swiped his identity crystal since he was going for a ranked battle. It was a way to keep track of everyone's rank and a way to avoid cheating. He did as he was told and was then led to a lobby.
It was a waiting room to give him some time to prepare for the fight. All players were given up to 20 minutes in the lobby. They could naturally declare that they are ready and if both parties agreed, the fight would then start immediately.
The lobby was very simple consisting only of a bench and a floating screen. On the screen, was what looked like a roulette. It was constantly spinning and after 10 seconds, it finally stopped onto an illegible symbol. A few seconds later, a name appeared: "Wine Robber". It was the name of his opponent. At the same time, a profile page appeared, displaying some information about Wine Robber.
He was a level 12 rogue and just like Li Wei, it was his first time fighting a Ranked Battle. Li Wei silently read the profile, but it did not take long before he pressed the button declaring that he was ready for the fight.
There was not much information about Wine Robber since it was his first time here. Normally, some footage of previous fights at the Colosseum would be provided in the profile.
5 minutes went by and Li Wei was bored. It did not seem like Wine Robber would accept to fight early and so, sat on the bench and leaned against the wall.
"20 minutes is way too long! 10 minutes should be enough!" said Li Wei. He was depressed, would he have to wait 20 minutes before each Ranked Battle? That was so much time lost where he could have been hunting.
However, he was quickly rewarded for his patience as Wine Robber finally declared that he was ready with 10 minutes left on the countdown. A voice was quickly heard in the lobby, informing Li Wei of his opponent's decision and he was immediately teleported to the Colosseum.
As he opened his eyes, Li Wei found himself standing in a puddle of water. Around him, were several pillars and statues. "Mmmm. So this is the Water temple? It looks like something from ancient Greece," said Li Wei to himself.
He naturally prepared himself before coming to the Ranked Battle and knew the circumstances. In Ranked Battles, the map of the fight was randomly chosen by the system. There were dozens of maps available depending on the size of the parties and this time, Li Wei had rolled the Water Temple.
All the maps were unique in their own way, but all followed the same principles: easy to play, hard to master. The Water Temple was way more complex than it looked. Players could just treat it as a normal arena. However, it also had additional components that only true masters would use like an underground pool!
Li Wei did not see Wine Robber as he spawned and around him was a thin layer of light preventing him from moving out of a small radius.
A voice was quickly heard, informing the fighters that they were about to begin. And following that, a countdown began:
[3]
[2]
[1]
[Begin]
The light instantly vanished and Li Wei found himself free to move again. While he could not see Wine Robber, he already knew where his spawning point was since it was always the same and so, he rushed in that direction.
"Splash Splash"
The Water Temple really deserved its name. There was no way for Li Wei to be more discreet with all the water around him. But that was also the case for Wine Robber. For each step they made, loud splashes would be heard. The latter was after all a rogue and heavily depended on sneak attacks and Stealth. But now, his greatest strength was nullified by the map.
Wine Robber could only blame his own luck as he drew his daggers and went to hide behind a statue. His plan was simple. If he did not move at all, then his opponent would not be able to find him and he would be able to strike at the right time.
"Splash Splash!"
Li Wei kept rushing towards the other spawning point. Fortunately, the map was small and he only took 1 minute to find the spawning point but Wine Robber was nowhere to be seen.
Li Wei was surprised but he quickly calmed himself and stopped moving. He quietly listened to his surroundings hoping to hear some splashes, but he heard nothing.
"Mmm, he is probably hiding in stealth somewhere," said Li Wei to himself as he started to explore the map. Aside from the flowing water, he could not hear anything.
One minute went by but he still could not find Wine Robber, but he did not leave the area. Li Wei was certain that Wine Robber was nearby or else, he would have heard splashes when he arrived. He became extremely careful.
On top of a particular statue, Wine Robber was silently observing Li Wei. The statue, he was hiding on, had a jar placed on his shoulder from which water was flowing out. This was why he chose that particular statue; Wine Robber was taking advantage of the sound of the flow of water to hide his own movements.
He became excited as he saw Li Wei slowly approach his statue, but he remained calm and did not stare for too long at Li Wei. But he could not contain that excitement for too long.
After a few seconds, Li Wei finally got into range of Wine Robber's attack. The latter was planning to take advantage of his height and jump onto the poor Li Wei.
With his two daggers drawn, he immediately jumped towards Li Wei, activating his [Cut throat]. He chose the very moment Li Wei was looking in the opposite direction and so, his back was facing Wine Robber. The latter grinned, victory was his! Even though [Cut throat] would not be able to instantly kill Li Wei, he was certain that his prey would be too surprised to react.
Li Wei was attentively looking around him. He made sure to not always look in a single direction and occasionally look behind him. He was quite annoyed, it has already been five minutes since the duel started but he was not able to see a glimpse of Wine Robber yet.
Duels were limited to a maximum of 30 minutes and if both parties were still standing by the end of this time, then the duel would be considered a draw. Although a draw was better than a defeat, it was not a victory and so, it would break the win streak. It was just his first match, but Li Wei was wondering if there would be shameless individuals who would use that tactic in the future.
While Li Wei was watching his environment, he suddenly noticed something and immediately rolled to the side.
"Damn it!" shouted Wine Robber as he saw his prey suddenly evade his attack. However, he did not have time to do anything as Li Wei immediately charged when he landed.
Daggers and sword violently struck each other as sparks flew out of the blades.
"How did you know?" asked Wine Robber as he tried to strike his opponent's leg.
"Oh? I simply saw it?" answered Li Wei as he activated Gliding Steps to easily avoid the strike and counterattack. It was clear that Wine Robber was not a great fighter. His movements were full of openings and Li Wei easily capitalized on that.
"I was clearly behind you! It's impossible unless you have eyes behind your head!" declared Wine Robber.
"Yes, I did not see you. What I saw was your shadow," answered Li Wei. He was not lying, what he noticed was a black figure suddenly move on the ground and move towards his own shadow. From his positioning, he immediately deduced that something was moving at high speed towards him and immediately reacted.
"My shadow?" asked Wine Robber with a confused expression. But Li Wei did not give him time to digest this information and violently swung his swords.
Wine Robber immediately tried to escape using [Stealth] but unfortunately, there was water everywhere and although his body became transparent and his shadow disappeared, there were clearly two holes in the puddle of water.
Li Wei would naturally not miss this detail. Wine Robber's Stealth was quickly broken. He tried to defend himself but it was in vain. Not only was Li Wei, a warrior that was better than rogues for melee combat, he also had the weapon and skill advantage.
"Let's test the Gliding Steps in this environment!" said Li Wei to himself as he violently swung his sword towards Wine Robber.
As he activated his skill to go around his opponent; to his surprise, the water did not affect his movement in any way.
A loud "Cling" resonated as Li Wei's sword met Wine Robber's dagger. The latter was in a very dangerous situation, his HP was steadily decreasing at an alarming rate.
He jumped backward and tried to run away. But there was no way Li Wei would allow that to happen.
Blades met again and again, and it did not last long before Wine Robber's HP reached 1