( Cervantez's POV )
Cervantez thought long and hard about how 'Leo Skyshard' suddenly shot up through the ranks becoming the second ranked player and somehow he could not digest this sudden rise at all.
In his past life, he had never seen Leo Skyshard becoming a prominent player…. Having never entered the top200 rankings, much less the top2.
However, in his past life he did remember a player named 'SkyMerchant' who did suddenly shoot up through the ranks around this time.
Albeit not top2, that player was also decently placed in the rankings, especially considering how he was not a fighter class player but rather a rare trader class player.
Players belonging to the Trader and Craftsmanship classes typically leveled up through major quests, rather than by accumulating experience from defeating monsters.
These players usually received experience in lump sums upon completing specific milestone quests, rather than daily monster killing, with the milestone quests looking like-
- Forging 100 epic-ranked items for a +10 level increase.
- Completing 100 item trades for a +2 level increase.
Over time, the requirements and rewards of these quests escalated, progressing from 100 items to 1,000 and then to 10,000, with corresponding increases in level rewards.
And hence for such players, consistency and dedication were more crucial than brief moments of brilliance.
For Cervantez, if Leo also turned out to be a 'Trader' class player who had just completed a major milestone quest, resulting in a level boost of 30-50 levels, then his sudden rise could be acceptable as although he was ranked number two now, it might take him another year or so to complete another major milestone, potentially causing him to drop in the level rankings over time.
'Interesting….. SkyLion….SkyMerchant…. I was a fool to not spot the similarity-' Cervantez thought, as he decided to confront Leo at once about the speculation in his head.
Cervantez assumed that Leo would be staying back at his dorm to avoid the mess of showing up to work and decided to confront him there, as setting sector D as his destination he began riding on his arc-ship internal transport vessel, with the intention of confronting Leo about his secrets.
**********
( Sector D, Leo's dorm )
Leo felt bored alone back at the dorm, as he tried to distract himself from the loneliness by focusing on sketching in his art book.
With his mind being cluttered by a thousand different problems, he found his shading to be not as precise and beautiful as usual as he could not wholeheartedly enjoy the drawing he was making either.
"Such a shit day…." He murmured to himself, cringing and curling himself into a ball, as he regretted choosing his second gaming name as 'Leo Skyshard'.
"What was I even thinking? Now I have to deal with all this unwanted mess as well-" He said, as he genuinely felt like slapping himself over this matter.
*Knock* *Knock*
*Ding Dong*
Suddenly, he was jolted back to reality from the realm of regret when he heard a soft knock on his door which was followed by a door bell.
Immediately, the sound of the doorbell caused his heart to race a little, as on the arc ship, rarely did he ever have any visitors and especially never during active work hours.
"Who is it?" Leo said loudly after walking up to the door, as an answer of "It's me… Cervantez" came from the other side.
"Nobody's home…. Come back later-" Leo said shamelessly, not wanting to talk to the DarkSky guild master, however, as Cervantez refused to budge and kept knocking, Leo eventually let him in.
"Tiny…." Cervantez said, scanning Leo's apartment, as instantly his attitude annoyed Leo who popped a vein.
"Oh yeah? What brings your majesty to this tiny and humble abode today…. Please don't make yourself at ho-
Nevermind, you're a kind host even though you're a pain to talk to. So yeah, welcome in. Do make yourself at home" Leo said, as he was about to taunt Cervantez and make him feel unwelcomed when he suddenly realized that Cervantez always treated him and Luke with kindness whenever they visited his home in sector S, and hence immediately altered his sentence.
Although he had some personal beef with Cervantez, he did acknowledge the fact that the guy was solid overall and a gentleman in mannerisms.
While Leo did dislike him, he couldn't hate the guy as in the end, Cervantez was indeed a class act.
"My apologies if the 'Tiny' comment offended you…. It was merely an observation, however, I can see how it may have been inconsiderate of me to say something like that-" Cervantez said, as Leo shook his head in dismay.
The guy sounded so genuine in his apology and hence even if Leo tried to be mad at him, he couldn't help but stay mad as he offered Cervantez a seat in the living room lounge.
"So… what brings you here today?" Leo asked Cervantez, who looked back towards him with a satisfied smile on his face.
"I think you know why I am here…." Cervantez said, as Leo shrugged his shoulders in response.
It was actually pretty obvious why he was here, however, Leo did not wish to clarify anything about his sudden rise.
"Look, if you're here to ask me about the secret to my sudden rise, I'm going to have to politely declined you….. what I do in the game is my business, I'm not a part of your guild and although I appreciate the relationship between you and my brother, I still won't reveal my cards to you-" Leo said, as Cervantez shook his head in denial.
"I'm not here to ask you about your sudden rise….I'm not interested in the secrets of the Trader class-" Cervantez said, as Leo's eyes widened in surprise.
He had not yet revealed to anyone that his ID 'Leo Skyshard' was a merchant by profession and hence Cervantez guessing it correctly sent goosebumps down his spine.
"I am right…. Ain't I? Hahahaha- it makes sense, everything makes sense" Cervantez said as a satisfied smile spread on his face.
He had a rough theory that the player 'Sky Merchant' in his past life could be Leo, because of the similarity to the name 'Sky Lion', however, he wasn't sure about it up till now.
However, Leo's surprised reaction told him everything that he needed to know as looking at his reptilian skin and constricted pupils, Cervantez felt sure that he had indeed guessed correctly.
"How did you know?" Leo asked, his initial surprise turning into a frown, as Cervantez's gleeful smile spread even wider.
"It's pretty obvious actually, only a trader class or craftsman class player suddenly gains 30 to 50 levels when they complete a major quest.
Because unless you killed a mythical dragon or something, which is highly unlikely, I don't think you can gain so many levels at once as a fighter class player.
So my assumption was based on my understanding of the mechanics of the game" Cervantez said, as Leo's eyes widened in surprise once again.
Cervantez was indeed a master of Terra Nova Online when it came to understanding game mechanics, as the sort of insights he derived from random events was far beyond what the average player could think of.
"Well…. You're right, I'm a merchant" Leo admitted, as he found no point in lying to Cervantez about his player class when it was something that was bound to be revealed with time anyways.
"Hahahaha, so that's why you did not want to join the DarkSky guild, because although you picked up dagger skills, you're not actually a fighter…. Everything makes sense now-" Cervantez said, as he derived his own reasoning for why Leo did not wish to join the DarkSky Guild, as Leo maintained a straight face as Cervantez deluded himself.
"Well, I think this is for the best…. I needed a reliable merchant to partner with in the next phase of my plan anyways, and you will do nicely-" Cervantez said, as Leo raised an eyebrow to his words, but still nodded his head.
At this point, he was willing to add as many reliable trading partners as he could and if the DarkSky guild wanted to partner up with him, then it was something he was ready to do, as even though he did not trust Cervantez completely, he had faith that his brother would not let him be cheated.
"I'll make you a deal…. I'll give you the exclusive rights to my Barony's silver trade, which will be worth millions of gold coins every month. However, in return you have to do me one favor-" Cervantez said, as he offered Leo a big incentive, however, there seemed to be an equally big caveat attached to it.
"Oh yeah? And what do you want in return?" Leo asked, as Cervantez cracked his neck and looked Leo dead in the eyes.
"I want 'TheBoss'. I know you have a special relationship with him…."
—------
/// A/N - My apologies if the editing of this chapter is patchy. I don't have access to my laptop today and had to write this chapter in a hurry.
I will surely fix it later…. But my sincerest apologies for the patchy quality today. ///