Leo did not get to watch Lin Mu's match at all.
By the time he was back at the spectator stands, her match was already over and the judges were giving her a grade.
Nonetheless, Leo smiled seeing how Lin Mu won and although he did not realize this himself, this was the first time where Leo felt emotional for a NPC.
" Well done" Leo said to Lin Mu when she came back to the stands, to which she smiled happily and said "Well, Thankyou, I could say the same to you as well"
The fake cousins sat beside each other and calmly watched the round of 32 proceed as many fighters appeared for the first time in this round and mostly it were the fresher top seeds who took home the victory.
Compared to the round of 64, the fights in round of 32 were more technical and were concluded faster with the deciding factor for most matches being the speed difference of the contestants.
In 9 out of 10 matches, the faster candidate won and watching it play out this way, Leo felt his stomach turn as he slowly lost hope at progressing any further.
Although he had miraculously won in the first round, he saw no chance of winning in the round of 16 as watching others battle, he realized just how slow he was in comparison.
He felt like he was playing a 90 FPS game in an old device that could support a 60 FPS frame rate at best, however, due to heating issues it was down to 45 FPS.
Let alone fight back, he could not see half of the action taking place and with such shitty gear he could not hope to continue winning much more.
" Hey, don't be too tense, relax, empty your mind" Lin Mu said calmly as she sensed her brother's anxiety.
" I know they all look difficult to beat, but you must never tire yourself mentally before a fight.
Whatever happens shall happen, but don't give them an advantage before the fight even starts" she told him as Leo took her advice to heart and nodded.
His opponents were undoubtedly strong, however, nothing changed for Leo because they were strong.
He still needed to do the best he could.
***********
( Meanwhile Luke )
[ System Notification:- Congratulations player 'SkyLion' on defeating a Level 12 'Feral Cat'.
You have gained some experience. ]
[ System Notification - Congratulations player 'SkyLion', you have advanced to level 9! ]
[ System Notification - Congratulations player 'SkyLion', you have entered the top 1 million player ranks within Terra Nova Online! ]
Three notifications flashed on Luke's screen with the last one bringing a big smile to his face.
"Top 1 million? That's what I'm talking about!" He murmured to himself as he put down his sword and tried to catch his breath after a big fight.
Over the last few hours he had been trying to raise his level non-stop and finally through great difficulty he had raised it to level 9.
" I get it now. I get it why most rankers appeared cluttered around level 10-11 when the top 10,000 rankings opened for the first time ever.
There are no high level monsters near the vicinity of a beginner town or village and to progress beyond this level cap, one needs to leave their beginner village in favor of the royal capital.
After dozens of minutes of looking around, I barely find a level 4-7 monster, killing which provides me with very less HP" Luke cursed as he realized that he had been a step behind the rankers from the start.
Today was the start of day4 on the arc ship.
Meaning that the first week evaluation was due in 3 days.
While the rankers had already made their choice on day2 to leave their beginner village and head for the royal capital or towards better hunting grounds, Luke had been playing catch-up all this time.
Now, he had to make a gamble between either sticking to his beginner village and leveling up slowly but steadily, or take a risk and leave the beginner Panjim Town in favor of the royal capital.
It would take him at least one and a half day's time to travel to the royal capital alongside a merchant caravan, giving him very little time before the first evaluation to raise his level.
'Damn it, what to do?' Luke wondered and because he could not arrive at a conclusion on his own, he decided to open the messages tab and write a message to his future guildmaster, DarkEmperor.
{ Hello guildmaster,
As you already know, I'm from the E class and the upcoming evaluation is something extremely important for me on an individual level.
It's only recently that I've discovered the limitation of leveling around the vicinity of one's beginner town and am unsure about the best future course of action to undertake.
Should I leave Panjim Town and head for the Capital?
Or should I stay put and level up until the first evaluation is over? } Luke wrote as almost immediately Cervantez replied to his message saying { head to the capital, if you leave now, there will still be enough time for you to increase levels }
Just like that, Luke felt one of his problems vanish as he purchased a ticket to the capital, riding alongside a secure merchant caravan for 1 gold coins.
It was undoubtedly a costly affair and a rip off for a merchant group to charge so much for a single passenger, however, the price of a seat was sold based on the customers desperation and Luke seemed like a customer who was desperate enough to travel to the capital even if it costed him a full gold coin.
Hence naturally, being the greedy merchants that they were, they charged him a premium for his last second decision, however, gave him a comfortable seat in return for his ride to the Capital.
—---------
/// A/N - Mass Release Chapter 2 of 5.
This bonus chapter is sponsored by patron Cervantez91. Please thank him in the comments for the same ///