(Leo's POV)
[ System Notification :- Congratulations player 'TheBoss' for defeating player 'La Su' and winning the second rankers event for the guardians! ]
[ System Notification :- Congratulations player 'TheBoss' for defeating 1514 rankers in total directly during this event ]
[ System Notification :- Congratulations to player 'TheBoss' for defeating 177 rankers indirectly during this event ]
[ System Notification :- Converting all direct and indirect kills to levels…. ]
[ System Notification :- Congratulations to player 'TheBoss' for gaining a total of 202 levels! ]
Leo nearly fainted from viewing the stream of notifications that appeared before him.
202 levels? That was too much!
For the first 100 rankers he killed, he gained 50 levels, then he had to kill 200 more for the next 50, then 400 more for the next 50 and finally 800 more for the next, and somehow all the other indirect kills only amounted to a mere 2 levels in gains.
However, despite the indirect kills being nearly useless the overall gain of 202 levels was massive!
Had he not won it all and stayed alive till the end, he would have ended up losing half his rewards and only gain 101 levels instead, however, because he made it till the end and survived he gained a full 202.
'It's over…. The rest of the rankers can never hope to catch up-to me in the next year even if I don't play the game as much….' Leo thought, as he realized that this was a defining moment in his career as a ranker.
With this win, gone were the days where he would need to worry about others surpassing him, as there was simply no-one in the game who could rival him anymore.
"Well this sure does give me some mental peace–" he mumbled, however, before he could get comfortable and fall to the floor to regain his stamina and enjoy his win, yet another system notification rocked his screen.
[ System Notification :- All status ailments have been removed. Player has been returned to peak condition ]
[ System Notification :- Summoning the other guardians to receive treasures ]
Right as Leo thought that he could finally rest, he felt strength returning to his body as his stamina, mp and hp all returned to their peak status.
'Agh this feels good….' he thought as his vision returned back to normal and his body felt energized enough to move again.
Thankfully, the other guardians were only summoned after his physical strength had returned to its peak, as the first thing that the other guardians noticed when they arrived was how 'TheBoss' looked powerful and domineering once again.
"You? How are you back to full strength, weren't you wobbling just a minute ago?" PinkLotus asked, her voice trembling with disbelief as she did not know about the fact that the system had healed Leo.
Alongside her, Cervantez and Andheri looked a bit surprised too, however, Leo only chuckled in amusement looking at their confusion, but never offered to say the truth.
Instead, he only deepened their confusion as he said "Who said I was wobbling? Who said those rankers harmed a hair on my head because they had the ability to do so?
Everything was orchestrated by me from start to finish…. If you think you've seen my full strength already, you need to think again.
I have moves I have not even revealed yet"
When Leo said this phrase, it made PinkLotus involuntarily tremble as she started to spin stories in her head that weren't even true.
She thought that 'TheBoss' had the means to heal himself and restore his stamina like a paladin from the start, however, he just never used it because he wanted to conceal his strength.
'I thought he was at his limit, but could he really have defeated all 10,000 rankers alone?' PinkLotus wondered, as her gaze towards Leo became even more respectful.
She had no idea that he had only survived by the skin of his teeth, however, because of the brave act he put on, she mistook him to be stronger than he already was.
"Congratulations on the win, Boss, you really fought a legendary battle today" said Luke, as unlike the rest he smiled and offered his congratulations to Leo.
"Yeah congratulations…. Your performance today was something else" Andheri followed, as he felt weird not saying something about it.
"I'm impressed, although I already knew what you were capable of—" Cervantez said, as although he did not say congratulations, the meaning behind his words was the same.
What he meant to say was that Leo had exceeded even his own grand expectations of him, and that he was stunned, however, his phrasing of the same was terrible.
"Will you fight me someday?" Asked PinkLotus, as at this point she could no longer hold in her urge to not spar with Leo.
At the start of this event she still felt a bit reserved and did not wish to approach him, however, by now all that reservation had melted.
His performance today had shown her just how vast the gap was between them both and she could no longer ignorantly believe that she was the strongest solo player in the game.
She expectantly looked at Leo, her pupils widening as she tried to look as cute as possible, almost reflexively.
As a kid, this was her go-to look when she wanted to get something from her father, however, after growing up she had never used it again.
Today, almost unknowingly she began showing that look to a stranger, however, before she even realized what she was doing, the strange man rejected her.
"Sorry, I don't fight weak opponents" The Boss said, his voice cold, as he did not give a single thought of consideration to PinkLotus's request.
"What?" PinkLotus said, surprised, as she had never been rejected this coldly before, however, she was not the only one to say "What?" As Cervantez and Andheri did the same.
"Why won't you fight her…. It's just a spar?" Asked Andheri like a true simp, while Cervantez bit his tongue and forced himself to stay quiet after he let the first 'What?' accidentally slip.
If 'TheBoss' did not want to spar with PinkLotus, he could not force him to do so, however, it still burnt him in his heart to see the woman he liked to be rejected so coldly.