The Ancients World

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~~~(POV: Hailey Adamo)~~~

~~~(Location: The City Of Jaerey, The Kingdom Of Laasir, The Islands Of Haestar)~~~

~~~(Time: 9:48 PM)~~~

Marcus and I are sharing an Inn room at the most expensive place in Jaerey. Since Rianna couldn't afford a room here, I spotted her the money. She said she'd pay me back, but I doubt that'll happen at any point in the near future.

My little brother is currently fiddling around in his Player Interface. He said that he was going to look into more information about Jaerey and The Laasir Kingdom.

I taught him that he can use The Auction House tab to find Lore Scrolls and Lore Books about the Kingdom we're in. As well as the chain of islands we're currently a part of.

There is something that I want to talk to Marcus about, and it's about the upcoming tryouts in a few days. Now that we know how PVP battles work, we'll need to work out a plan in case we're forced to fight someone using the leveled-out combat rules.

I'm hoping General Daenal Roane doesn't make Players fight like that during the tryouts or the tournament. If he's looking to see how much help someone will be for the quest, true power combat is the only option he has.

But not necessarily in this case. Since tryouts can be used to see if people are competent fighters, that can be the leveled-out combat for all the Players. Then, when the tournament starts. He will likely make it true power combat to see who will be most effective during the quest.

The Ruins Of Tasdir are the place everyone is going that passes the tryouts. We'll figure out the exact details of the tryouts in a few days. All we know right now is it'll require at least 1 victory to join the Players going on the quest.

Meaning there will be multiple fights for individual Players. This is different from a tournament cause there is no structure. In the tournament, you'll advance after a win. In the tryouts, you'll be matched up with someone at random.

"What do you think we can learn with a Book on The Laasir Kingdom? It's worth about 25 gold."

Marcus interrupts my thoughts and brings my attention back to what he's doing. It's not like what I'm thinking about is important or anything.

I'll have to talk to him about a plan after we're done learning more about where we're at and how we can use that information to our advantage.

The bed I'm on gently moves as I lean up and look toward Marcus, who is on the other bed. He's waiting for my response. I wouldn't know much about Lore Scrolls or Lore Books. Cera would know more. I kinda just want to go off the price.

Cera would be up at this time where he's at. It'll be early morning for him.

"Hold on, and let me ask Cera. If there is anyone that knows Lore, it's him."

Before I can open my Player Interface and head to my Friend's List. Marcus reminds me of a frustrating fact.

"Cera won't answer you. He's got you on silent, remember?"

Another one of the downsides that I have to deal with when I'm dealing with Cera. Whenever it's time to talk, it's always on his terms and no one else's. I suppose the benefits of having him as my brother outweigh the downsides, but it gets very annoying.

Some would argue I'm the annoying one. However, it's all about perspective. You can hate all you want, but that doesn't change the fact I exist.

"Well, what do you suggest we do?"

Since Marcus is in the mood to shoot down ideas, maybe he'll come up with better ones. I watch him as my little brother takes on a thinking expression, and then closes the Player Interface.

"That's something we can deal with at a later time. For now, I think we should plan out our next move in regard to the tryouts and tournament."

That's what I was going to bring up. Way to take my leading idea right out of my mouth, you little shit.

"Okay, I'm thinking the tryouts are going to be leveled-out combat. And the tournament is going to be true power combat. It's the only logical way I can see General Daenal Roane doing this. Other than making both true power combat."

Instead of bitching and moaning about what just happened, I gloss over it and get straight down to business.

"I'm in agreement with you on that. But what if it's a group tryout and group tournament? What if it's a mixture of singles and groups? I'm not willing to commit to a plan for the entire thing without all the information."

He's being extra difficult, just like Cera would be. But he's not wrong. We can't assume anything. General Daenal Roane hasn't announced anything about the tryouts or tournaments. It would be idiotic to assume anything for certain.

"So what are we supposed to plan for?"

Shooting down possible paths to take is easy. I want him to identify one for a change.

"We need to prepare for the chance we get put against each other."

Oh.

That's something I hadn't even thought about.

"Do we fight each other seriously? Does one of us forfeit? What if one of us gets matched up against Rianna?"

That's right.

It's not like we can't be matched against each other. And out of the two of us, I don't know who would win. We're both the same tier and close in level. But he's got tremendous ranged attacks against me. A Duelist Class doesn't match well against a Mage Class.

He takes my silence as acceptance that this is the real problem at hand. I have a simple solution for this conundrum.

"That's easy. You give up."

I'm not going to forfeit against my little brother. No way in hell am I doing that. I wouldn't do it with Cera, and I'm sure as shit not doing it with Marcus.

I have my pride.

He sighs and leans back against the wall of his bed.

"Why did I know you were going to say that? Hmm... Maybe if that does happen, we could convince General Daenal Roane not to let us fight."

He's a bigger person than me for letting what I just did slide. That, or his youth, is allowing him to let go of things easier. I know that when he's older, he's going to take that as Cera or I would.

"Should we talk with General Daenal Roane tomorrow?"

My question is a simple one. It's something that we considered before but dropped at the notion we'd be giving up an advantage. However, given recent discussions, it's probably better if we try to avoid these bad situations altogether.

"There is the problem about General Daenal Roane being a hardass and a prideful man. He'll probably want us to prove our worth regardless of the rarity of our Class Grades."

His counterpoints always ruin any ideas that I have. But that's not the case in this situation. The worse that can happen is he'll say no, and we have to be in the tryouts and participate in the tournament anyways.

"Okay, we're at an impasse... Should we flip a coin for it or something?"

It's not the most intelligent way to solve a split like this. But it's one of the oldest ways of doing so.

Marcus pulls out a gold coin from his Inventory and shows both sides. Gold automatically transforms in your Inventory to match the Mint of the Kingdom or Empire you're in. It's incredibly convenient and one of the quality-of-life things I've come to like.

"Call it."

Before I know it, he's flipping the coin.

"Tails."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

A/N: Below this line, I'll be keeping Cera's player information. That way, I won't have to place it into the story above anymore. It takes about 180 words up.

[Slayer (Zern) Lvl.237][Tier-4]

[Exp: 72/100%]

[Title: The Son of Arch-Angel Michael (Hidden)]

[Stats] [Strength - 7095][Endurance - 7045][Dexterity - 7215][Speed - 8240][Focus - 19,660]

[Mana aura control: 6/100%]

[Health: 76,560,000,000/76,560,000,000] [Mana: 216,600,000,000/216,600,000,000]

[Stat Points: 440] [Armor rating: 500]

[Inventory] [Dice of Wayland (Divine)] [The Witness (Legendary Sword)] [Fenrir's Whistle (Divine)] [Camping gear] [Fishing poles 2x] [Festival Garbs 2x] [4x EXP Boosts] [Princess Saliandra's Panties (Black Lace)] [Desert Warrior Nomad Set (Rare)]

[Passive Perks]

[Inheritor of the Sword] [Son of Heaven] [Slayer of Evil] [Holy Willow Trees Savior] [Finder of Legends] [The Divine who has Legend] [Destined for Greatness] [Dungeon Diver] [An Overachiever]

[Active Skills]

[Heaven's light Lvl.74 325/7400] [Protected by Heaven Lvl.74 225/7400] [Slash Lvl.92 4600/21000] [Parry Lvl.68 85/6800] [Double Strike N/A] [Kingslayer N/A] [Raging Machine N/A] [Winged Glory] [Angelic Flight] [Divine Pressure Exertion] [Divinity Pulse] [Controlled Fun] [Aspect of Transportation (Legendary)]