⦑Human, human, human... Deva. Oh, there you are. But, I still need to check ⦒ Clinton walked up to the boy that his skill identified as a Deva. He tapped on the boy's shoulder.
The boy, who was playing something on his phone, turned around and looked at Clinton. He took out an earplug that he had on his right ear. "Yes?"
⦑Level 20... Not bad.⦒ Clinton stood there and look at his stats for a while.
"Um, hello? What do you want?" The boy asked once he saw Clinton just standing there.
"Oh, I wanted talk to you for a bit."
"What do you want to talk about?"
"Let's go somewhere else first."
"Let's just talk here." The boy didn't really trust Clinton, so he wanted to stay in public eyes so there would be witnesses in case Clinton tried to do something.
"I'm sure you would also like this to be kept a secret."
"What is it?" The boy was still skeptical, and was quite insistent on staying where they were.
"Let's have a private talk... Deva."
"What are you- nevermind. Let's go somewhere else, shall we?" the boy tried to feign ignorance, but he changed his mind after he heard from his system that there was pretty much no point since the other guy was also a Deva. Analysis skills weren't required to check stat a few basic stats, namely: name, level, race, age, and health. Concealment skills were required to prevent that. Analysis skills allowed an user to see more stats, but concealment skills made it so that an analysis skill of equal level could only see those 5 stats, while analysis skills of lower level than the the concealment skills couldn't see anything. Analysis skills higher level than the concealment skills can see more stats. He hadn't even bothered to buy an concealment skill, so it didn't really matter whether or not the person in front of him had an analysis skill.
They walked into a 2 story house. The boy took Clinton inside a room.
"Have a seat," the boy said. He sat down on the bed.
"Thanks," said Clinton. He pulled a chair that was next to the table and put it right in of the bed, and sat down on the chair.
"So, what is it that you want to talk about?"
"First, let me introduce myself. My name's Clinton. Nice to meet you." Clinton stretched his hand out.
"Same to you. I'm Jacklyn." The boy shook Clinton's hand.
"Since you're also a Deva, I assume that you have a system too, correct?"
"Yes, it called itself the Beta System."
"And I assume that it also told you about the contest between the different planets."
Jacklyn confirmed Clinton's words.
"Great, so, I came here because I wanted to work together. If we want to survive, it's our only option. Us humans are very suspicious, and many people probably wouldn't believe anything at first. Even if they do, there's still the government to think about. With that, we may lose behind to other planets in terms of levels, equipments, and stats. So, we need to cooperate, to help ourselves and others get stronger. Fast."
"And why should I cooperate with you?"
"You were playing some rpg games on your phone earlier, were't you? Don't you think it'll be funner to play a real life version? Plus, wouldn't you want to live in a place where your hard-work is rewarded, where efforts determine everything, unlike in real life, where talents determine everything?"
[Where efforts determine everything. That sounds ironic, coming from you.]
"You have everything right, but that doesn't explain why I have to cooperate with you. I can do things myself just fine. I'm currently the highest level user, you know?"
"Oh, really?"
"I'm already level 20, while everyone else is still around level 18 to 19."
"Level 20?" Clinton smiled. "But I'm level 25."
"That's impossible."
"Status share."
"How!?"
"You wasted a lot of time the first day, didn't you?" asked Clinton.
"Yeah, I was pretty skeptical, and I was trying to figure out a lot of things, so on the first day I was only able to level for a few hours," said Jacklyn.
"I thought so. I probably started a lot early, so I had more time than you, so that's probably why I'm higher leveled than you."
"Well, what do I get for cooperating for you?"
"What do you want?" asked Clinton.
"A weapon. A good one. If you can't do that, then give me a good item. It must be legendary tier. And I want it within 6 months."
"It's feasible," said Clinton. "So we have a deal?"
"Yes, but I don't know if you are truly strong enough to get what I want. So, beat me in a one versus one duel."
"Sure. I'm five levels ahead of you, so I won't take advantage of you. You can go and level first."
Jacklyn shook his head. "There's no need for that. We can battle just like this. Level alone isn't enough to prove anything. I said it before, remember?"
"Well, fine, but where do we fight though? This place is cramped, so it's hard to fight, and I don't really want to destroy your place."
"The backyard is a perfect pace to duel. Come on, let's go." Jacklyn stood up, walked over to the door, opened it, and walked out of the room.
"Okay." Clinton stood up, push the chair back to the table he got it from, and followed Jacklyn.
They walked out of the backdoor of the house, and walked into the backyard. Clinton looked around and realized that it was surrounded by tall fences, so they didn't have to worry about being seen by other people.
"I challenge you to a duel!" Jacklyn said.
[Ding. Jacklyn Crow challenges you to a duel. Would you like to accept? Accept/Reject]
[Please declare your acceptance of the duel.]
<...>
"I accept your challenge."
⟦Ding. Clinton has accepted Jacklyn's duel. The duel will begin shortly.⟧
Clinton and Jacklyn both got surrounded by a white light, and they disappeared and appeared in another spot, with the two of them facing each other. They also had on their equipments.
⟦Ding. The duel starts in 10 seconds. You will be unable to move until the duel begins.⟧
⟦5. 4. 3. 2. 1. Battle!⟧
<{Blink}.>
Clinton disappeared and reappeared right in front of Jacklyn.
<{Unsheathing Slice}.>
Skill: {Unsheathing Slice} (Level 5- Max) (Active Skill)
Description: Unsheathes a weapon and attacks the target with 1,000% attack speed. Damage scales with dexterity. This attack has a 99% chance to deal critical damage. If the attack hits a fatal point, deal 1,000% damage. Using non-swordlike weapons decreases the damage to 90%.
Consumption: 5 concentration per second upon preparation. 10 stamina upon use.
Cooldown: 10 minutes.
Restriction: Weapon must be in a sheath to use.
Clinton put his hand on his sword, pulled it out, and slashed Jacklyn's chest. Jacklyn's body dropped dropped down on the ground, with a surprised look on his face.
⟦Critical hit! -394⟧
⟦Clinton has slain Jacklyn. Duel has ended. Winner of the duel is Clinton.⟧
[Ding. You have won a duel. You gained 1 PvP point.]
After a few seconds, Jacklyn sat up and looked at Clinton. "What the hell was that?" he asked.
"What was what?" Clinton asked.
"What did you do?" asked Jacklyn.
"I used {Blink} to get right next to you, and then used {Unsheathing Slice}," explained Clinton.
"{Blink} I understand. But what is {Unsheathing Slice}?"
"It'll be faster if I show you. Here." Clinton showed Jacklyn the stats for the skill.
Skill: {Unsheathing Slice} (Level 1) (Active Skill)
Description: Unsheathes a weapon and attacks the target with 300% attack speed. Damage scales with dexterity. This attack has a 99% chance to deal critical damage. If the attack hits a fatal point, deal 200% damage. Using non-swordlike weapons decreases the damage to 75%.
Consumption: 2 concentration per second upon preparation. 3 stamina upon use.
Cooldown: 15 minutes.
Restriction: Weapon must be in a sheath to use.
"Why the hell is there a skill like that when we just started!?" said Jacklyn. "Well, at least it must have costed a lot of skill points, right?"
"Uh, no, it only costed 5 skill points," said Clinton.
"What- how!? That skill is broken!"
"Not really. You need to get close to the enemy first, and you might take quite a bit of damage when preparing to use the skill, and it also depends a lot on the element of surprise. It's going to be very hard to hit if people know about this skill."
"I see. Too bad it's a skill meant for swordsman. I distributed stats and brought skills meant for assassins, so I guess I can't really learn it."
"Oh, about that, there's a skill called {Ambush} that's meant for assassins. You should go check it out later. Only downside is that it costs 20 skill points, but it's much stronger than a level 2 {Unsheathing Strike}, although I'm not sure how strong a max level {Unsheathing Strike} is."
"Oh, thanks. I'll check that skill sometime."
"That said, what was your death penalty?"
"I had none. The system said that since this was a regular duel, it didn't count as a real death, so I didn't get any."
"That's nice."
"Well, yeah. Well, since you've defeated me, I guess I'll cooperate with you, then. So, what is it that you want my cooperation with?"
"Guilds. I want to create a guild. A few guilds, actually. For now, these guilds will be pretty empty, with only guild leaders, vice leaders, and elders, but when everyone is allowed, these guilds will become the planet's strongest force and backbones. These guilds will consist of some of the strongest users in this planet, and will form an alliance. I want you to be a guild leader. You'll lead one of the guilds in the alliance."
"Well, I can agree to that, but I have one condition."
"What's your condition?"
"I want you to be the guild leader. I'll only be the vice guild leader."
"Ah, about that, I'm not really good at managing people and stuff like that, so I don't think it's a good idea."
"Who cares? You'll be the guild leader, and I'll be one of the vice guild leaders, and I'll manage the people for you. You don't need to worry about anything, just try to help the guild a bit when the guild needs you."
"Well, that's fine, then."
"Oh, what's the alliance name?"
"Hmmm... Genesis Alliance."
"Genesis... the origin... a bold name. Well, do what you want," said Jacklyn. "Alright, then. I'm going to go leveling, then, if you don't have anything. Oh, and before that, here."
[Ding. Jacklyn Crow sent you a friend request. Accept/Reject?]
"Well, I'm going to grind some levels. See you," said Jacklyn.