( Leo's POV )
With four hours of gaming time still left, Leo decided that the best use of his time would be to keep playing the Dart Game, as after introspection, he felt like it was the safest game for him to keep gaining levels.
As he selected the option to play the dart game again, he was once again transported into the dart game lobby, however, the conditions this time around seemed to be different from his previous attempt.
Instead of standing 25 meters away from the target, he was now standing only 10 meters away from it, however, this time there were no powerful wind disturbances in his surroundings and there seemed to be an eerie looking mechanical cat positioned right above the dart board.
While everything else about the game remained the same, such as the points structure and the rewards payout range, the challenge this time was to hit the dart board without falling into the mechanical cat's clutches.
[ Dart Game (Stage 2) Rules :
As the player tries to hit the dart board, the mechanical cat positioned above the board will activate and try to swat the dart away from its original path.
The reflex time of the cat to swat away a dart is equal to the speed of sound.
Hence, unless the player throws a dart that achieves a speed greater than the speed of sound, evading the cat is impossible.
Good luck! ]
"Ohh... so every time I clear the dart game, the difficulty level keeps increasing. I see... so it's not an infinite level hack," Leo realized after reading the game's description as he understood that he couldn't farm the same game repeatedly.
"Well, I have wagered 7 levels on this round, so I can not afford to fail this stage.
I guess I'll just have to figure out how to beat this stupid cat–" Leo muttered to himself as he did not dare mount the game stage which would trigger the 1 minute countdown to start.
Instead, Leo patiently waited outside the main stage and thought of a strategy to potentially beat the cat.
"If the cat's movement speed is equal to that of the speed of sound then using speed is definitely not the answer because I can't throw darts at the speed of sound.
This means that the only other option I have is to rely on my skills…" Leo thought, as he tapped his chin.
"The only skill that may prove to be useful in this situation is [ Mirror World ]
I can potentially replicate the real dart, ten times, confusing the cat on where the real dart will strike.
Since the game rules don't specify that I can't use my gaming skills, it may work.
However, if the cat sees through my skill and is unaffected by the illusion that I create then I will be toast–" Leo thought, as he weighed in the risks and his options carefully.
"Welp, 7 levels on the line…. Here goes nothing–"
Eventually deciding to go with the mirror world trick, mostly because he had no other option Leo decided to make 10 identical copies of the dart as he threw them all at once in a scatter shot.
*Meow*
The cat activated the second that Leo released the darts, however, the cat too was fooled by Leo's illusion as it went after a dagger that did not exist in reality, swiping off nothing but pure air.
*BAM*
+100 points.
The real dagger hit dead center on the board, helping Leo score +100 points.
"Booyah baby! I got this in the bag…." Leo thought, as he believed that he had successfully cracked the code to beating the cat.
"From this short range of 10 meters there is no way in hell I'll miss my real throw…" Leo muttered to himself, as he felt his stomach bubble in anticipation of a 10x reward.
"Alright, the second one!"
*BAM*
+100 points.
Just like the first throw, Leo's second throw also hit the dead center on the board helping him score +100 points as the cat went after the wrong dart yet again.
"Ooo yeah! I can smell it! I can smell them gains….. +70 levels, here I come!" Leo said in joy, as he took the third and final shot.
*Block*
To his absolute dismay, instead of swatting the wrong dart away, the clever cat covered the center of the board with its paw, simply not allowing Leo to hit dead center as the dart was planted into its mechanical palm instead.
+0.
[ System Notification - Congratulations player 'Leo Skyshard' on scoring +200 points on ( stage 2 ) of the dart game.
Calculating rewards….. ]
[ System Notification - Reward calculation complete!
Wagered levels = 7
Reward multiplier = 4X
You have gained + 28 levels! ]
Leo looked at the rewards screen and felt his heart plummet inside his chest.
Although+28 levels reward was great, it was a far cry from +70, as Leo felt like he had been robbed of +42 levels.
"NOOOO MY 42 LEVELS….." Leo cursed, as he was sent back to the lobby, looking depressed for the first time ever.
"This game is a scam…. They scammed me!" Leo cursed, as the loli bartender giggled at his misery.
"Have you suffered bad fortune sir? Would you like to forget about it with a nice cold drink?" The loli offered, however, once again Leo put his hand up in protest.
"Please…. Leave me alone! I have suffered a great setback, please let me grieve in peace–" Leo said, as he sat back and counted just how many months it took one to gain 42 levels.
For an average hardworking player, this was about a year's worth of leveling if they were already level 100+ and even for Leo this was at least 6 months worth of work.
The setback was gutting, however with these +28 levels, Leo's total gains now stood at a whopping +75 levels in this event, making it enough for him to leap past the 200 level threshold within the game and become thrice the level of the global average at 65.