Chapter 261 Round two... Part-1.
??In this knockout-type tournament, Rio has to win six consecutive matches if he wants to im the title of champion.
His first match ended in an overwhelming victory against Arner, which increased his poprity even further.
In bars and clubs all over the world, people have started to ce bets on his name.
Although this tournament built a solid reputation for him, Rio didn''t care much about it.
This reputation will undoubtedly benefit him in the future, giving him priority when conquering dungeons, but for Rio, being popr didn''t hold much interest.
Many popr awakeners in this world have a massive fan following, and some of them even sell ''Merch'' to their fans to earn extra money.
Having a fan base basically secures your retirement.
You can sit back and sell some random ''Merch'' to your fans, earning enough money to live a peaceful life after retirement.
While sipping tea as usual, Rio nced at his smartphone screen and watched the videos of various participants to improve his own knowledge.
Although none of the strong participants used their hidden trump cards, it was still a good idea to prepare ahead of time by researching their abilities.
A battle junkie like Rio always prepares for battle a lot; nowadays, his best way to pass time is to watch other people''s fights and improve his own knowledge.
''Oh, so Lia won her first match with ease too, as expected of her…''
Rio didn''t get to see Lia''s match in person because none of the participants could leave the waiting area, but he watched it on his smartphone.
''But they did say that all of the eliminated candidates cane and watch the ''finals'' in person…''
The final match of this tournament will likely be a big hit, so all candidates were allowed to watch it directly from the audience seats.
However, they are unable to exit the waiting area until they engage inbat or face elimination.
Rio scrolled through the videos and saw Link and Liam''s matches, too.
Both of them faced strong opponents, as none of the candidates who made it here are weak, but still, both of them won easily.
Link''s match was even more one-sided; he beat his opponent unconscious with three punches, and his match didn''t evenst more than a minute.
Seeing Link''s overwhelming show of power, Rio shook his head and got up from the couch to gaze at the horizon from his room window.
''The main problem is…. will I have the courage to injure Lia?''
Even during the ''group survival event'', Rio rarely attacked Lia, instead mostly evading her attacks.
But things are a bit different now.
If he purposely doesn''t attack her, then she will mistake it for a sign of mockery.
She will think that Rio looks down on her and believes she can''t withstand his attacks.
Rio doesn''t feel like raising his sword against her; it''s as if his sword loses its lethality and refuses toe out of its sheath.
''Have I be too soft?''
Rio nced at his trembling palm and clenched his fist to stop that strange feeling.
Just when Rio was still contemting in his mind, the gigantic hologram appeared in the middle of his room, and the roulette started.
[Ding! Congrattions on passing the first round yesterday!]
[Congrattions! Your Match has been fixed!]
[Rio sh vs. Fade Crest]
[Timing: 10:00 A.M.]
[Please get ready and make sure to arrive on time!]
Seeing the name of the opponent, Rio''s dead fish-like eyes narrowed in an instant, and a slight tinge of excitement returned to his ''hollow'' eyes.
A rare smirk appeared on his expressionless face, and the temperature in the room became cold in an instant.
"Got you…"
…
Waiting Area, Fade''s room.
*crack!*
The ss of water fell from Fade''s hand and broke into many pieces after hitting the floor.
But Fade didn''t have the time to bother with that right now.
His eyes were filled with fear as he looked at his next matchup.
[Congrattions! Your Match has been fixed!]
[Rio sh vs. Fade Crest]
[Timing: 10:00 A.M.]
[Please get ready and make sure to arrive on time!]
"Congrattions my a*s! How did I end up being paired with that guy!? Sh*t!"
It''s been more than a year since the day when Rio caused Fade''s ''system'' to crash, and ever since that day, Fade has be extra careful.
He has stopped using ''appraisal'' on random people out of fear that something simr might happen again.
No one understood the importance of the system more than he did; without it, he would be nothing today.
He wouldn''t have even made it past the midterm exams if he hadn''t had this systemst year.
Originally, Fade should have already been a peak A-ranker around this time, but due to Rio''s continued stealing activities, Fade has lost a lot of his opportunities over the past year.
Nearly all major opportunities like ''True Immunity'', ''limitless talent'', etc. were all stolen by Rio; thus, his progress has been hindered by a lot.
In the original plotline, the main reason behind his extremely fast progress was the ''limitless talent'', but now that it has been taken by Rio, Fade has to collect a massive amount of ''Exp'' to improve his talent manually.
No one in this world can improve their talent manually like he can, but even an amazing ''cheat'' has its own limitations.
The higher rank Fade bes, the more ''Exp'' he would need, and the ''Exp'' needed to improve ''talent'' is a hundred times higher each time he tries to improve it.
Initially, he didn''t need to waste exp on improving his talent due to its ''limitless'' nature, but now that he needs to umte an incredibly high amount of exp, his progress has significantly slowed down.
It may seem like a disadvantage, but truthfully speaking, Fade has enjoyed a lot of advantages too.
Even though he has to collect a lot of Exp, at least he has the assurance that he is improving slowly; others don''t have the same advantages.
Even without limitless talent, Fade can theoretically get stronger and stronger without any limits at all.
By utilizing his system, he can also transcend the realm of SS.
(If you were confused about why Fade was progressing so slowly despite having a system, then this was the answer…)
Over the past year, Fade has been through many life-
threatening situations, but he has made it out of them with the help of his amazing luck.
The only time he ever ran out of ''luck'' was when he met the ''Anomaly'' called Rio sh.
Using the ''apraisal'' on Rio resulted in significant damage to his soul and the system that resided within it.
After that event, Fade took three months to fully heal his soul, and he suffered from continuous ''nightmares'' for those three months.
Due to those three months of continuous nightmares, Fade has a massive repulsion for Rio''s name.
He always tries to avoid interacting with Rio the most.
This is also the reason he never argued with Rio during any of the missions they undertook.
He only bothered Link and Liam because he wasn''t particrly afraid of them, but Rio was a different story.
And now that he has to suddenly go against Rio and fight him fair and square, he feels immense nervousness.
Fade clenched his fist and tried to calm down his tensed nerves.
''No, I don''t have anything to fear;st time I was not even a C-
ranker when he struck the ''system'', but now I am a B-ranker… I just need to refrain from using appraisals on him, and everything will be fine…''
It''s not that Fade hasn''t thought of defeating Rio in the past year; it''s just that he hasn''t been as strong as Rio all this time.
Rio''s progress is nearly as fast as Link''s, and catching up to him is a really difficult task.
Fade has to spend an immense amount of ''Exp'' to learn a skill, but Rio can easily surpass him due to how amazing his talent is.
This is the difference between a ''cheat'' and a ''genuine talent''.
[The more you ''cheat'' the world, the more wed your ''existence'' bes… and those who ''cheat'' their own ''self'' have the greatest ''ws''…] (Source: Trust me bro.)
Suppressing his own nervousness, Fade shook his head and got ready to fight.
He grabbed his wand and defensive items and walked towards the arena with a calm look on his face.
(Yeah, he didn''t return Kira''s wand after he borrowed it from her during the ''final exams'' to fight with Liam…)
''No matter what, I must ovee this fear today! If I don''t pay this humiliation a million-fold back, then I will have no face in the world!''
As he entered the stadium grounds through the tunnel, thementator raised the enthusiasm of the audience.
*And now! The first match of the second day is about to start! Grab your popcorn, people! We are going to witness yet another amazing battle!*
*This time, both of the opponents are from the same team! Let''s see if the two of them will be able to go all out against each other, despite being teammates!*
Others didn''t know about the interpersonal rtionships between Fade and his teammates.
Thus, they assumed that Fade and Rio were actually friends; nothing is more exciting to watch than two friends fighting with each other on this battlefield.
The audience was thrilled and started to yell loudly to cheer them both on.
But Fade was not in the mood to smile right now.
After all, a monster called Rio was staring right into his very ''existence'' right now.
From Fade''s point of view, Rio seemed like a major viin.
…
…
Author''s notes.
Yo! It''s your beloved author here!
Finally, we get to see a fight between these two! This is such a rare moment that I feel excited while writing it.
Question of the day.
Were you also surprised to see this matchup?
1. Yes
2. No
By the way, don''t forget to use those power stones and also leave a review if you like the story. Comment your opinion about the chapter. Your support is my motivation.