( Leo's POV )
Leo was stunned when someone applied a choke-hold on his neck out of the blue, however, thankfully the enemy's level was not too high.
With his strength Leo was able to counter the move and throw the enemy away, however, a weaker man would have easily died.
*THUD*
As the enemy crashed against the dustbin, Leo got the opportunity to look at his face.
'Huh? Isn't that the stinky old man?' Leo thought, as he immediately recognised his opponent to be none other than Jacob Skyshard, his absentee father.
"Trying to kill me? You're out of your depth–" Leo said with contempt as he closed in on his father, his fists balled.
At first Leo wanted to hit his father square on the jaw, however, like a trained boxer, Jacob defended his face expertly, putting up a proper guard.
Leo could foresee that if he tried to hit the old man in the face it would actually backfire against him as it opened him to a jab and hence he attacked his abdomen instead.
*PUI*
Leo expected his father to fall on his knees winded when his punch connected, however, just before his punch connected, his father pulled his stomach within and started to move his hips backwards to soften the blue.
Naturally, it wasn't enough to mitigate the impact as Leo connected hard, it was still enough for him to not take critical damage, as he managed to stay standing on his feet.
'What the fuck? This old man has crazy reflexes' Leo thought, as the more he fought against his father the more he realized that his father was a fundamentally flawless opponent.
Despite the level gap between them being over 150 levels, the old man was able to block his punches and exploit his openings to attempt a counter, in what was a very high level of combat.
Had the difference between them been less than 50 levels, Leo could have lost this fight, however, as things stood he won without breaking a sweat.
[ System Notification :- Congratulations player 'TheBoss' for killing player 'Ghost' ( Level 143 ) in one vs one combat.
Since the opponent attacked you first, you will not be penalized with infamy points ]
As Leo finally ended Jacobs life, he realized that he was panting profusely.
Despite the large level gap between them, fighting against Jacob felt like a spar against Ben and Leo had to be on his toes to win.
"I had master Ben to teach me how to fight….. but who taught that old bastard to be so stealthy and powerful?
He's definitely not simple…. Level 143 and he is already so ferocious, if he becomes a top ranker won't he be stronger than myself and Luke?" Leo murmured to himself, as he felt a chill run down his spine.
While the newbies had a 6 month double EXP period which helped them gain levels faster, it also meant that the newbies could not waste this time to learn proper skills, since practicing skills would make them lose out on precious leveling time.
However, Jacob was not only quite high leveled for a newbie, but he was exceptionally skilled too.
It took Leo months worth of intense training under Ben to become this proficient in combat and Ben was already the number one Assassin in the Empire.
To say that there was no better teacher than Ben Faulkner in the Empire was not an understatement, yet Jacob Skyshard seemed to be this formidable on his own.
"That guy is definitely fishy…. He must have been a thug back on Earth, because there is no way he has learnt how to fight so skilfully after arriving at Terra Nova.
I must keep my gentle mother away from this monster…." Leo muttered to himself, as he quickly changed his clothes and prepared to enter his mother's bakery under the 'Leo Skyshard' identity.
**********
( Meanwhile Jacob )
[ System Notification :- You have been killed by player 'TheBoss' ( Lv ???? ) ]
[ System Notification :- You have lost 2 levels upon your death.
Respawning in 5…4…3…2…1 ]
As Jacob respawned back in Thumba city he couldn't help but feel his arms shake with anger.
" I– I lost a fight?" He wondered, as he grit his teeth and replayed the sequence of events that had just happened.
The fight between himself and 'TheBoss' was definitely a battle between experts, as although the opponent was stronger and faster than him, his skills were no joke either.
He was clearly not as experienced as Jacob in combat, but even as a newbie, his skills and reflexes were top-notch.
"So that was the strength of the number one player….. not bad. It seems like I'm still a far cry from the rankers.
In the end I could not even land a single hit on my opponent–" Jacob muttered to himself, as he looked towards the sky and etched this indignation into his heart.
"The Boss…. What were you doing behind my wife's bakery? Was it really a coincidence that I met you here?" Jacob muttered, as according to his information, 'TheBoss' was supposed to be in the Eastern Duchy and Jacob's senses as a special ops told him that it was too coincidental that he found such a bigshot in a dark alley.
"Well…. Someday I will pay you back for this humiliation…. I promise" Jacob said, as he shook off the loss and let out a big sigh.
He had already lost two levels today and if he did not wish to go back to level zero he quickly needed to kill a player and meet with his wife and son at the bakery.
"Crap, I should hurry or else Elena will be upset" Jacob muttered to himself as he hurriedly found a player to kill so that he could be on his way to the bakery.
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/// A/N - Guys, I have commissioned the original character art artist to help create 5 more character arts.
Comment down below which 5 characters you want illustrated next? Since I will go with the popular vote. ///