By the time Leo took a lap around the mountain once, it was time for him to logout of the game and this was an especially important logout because today was going to be the day where the first evaluation results were going to be compiled and declared.
Leo had no idea at what point in the day the results would be declared, whether they would be compiled before work or after, however, he hoped they would be compiled before work started.
If everything went well, Leo and Luke would be promoted from Sector E to D and today would be their last day staying in the shitty small apartment.
With his name still on the top of the leaderboard by a fair margin, Leo felt that his promotion was all but guaranteed but he feared for Luke.
With the uprising encouraging players to kill other players and NPC to level up, there was no saying what would be the safe level to be in the top10% who would be promoted, however, Leo hoped that both himself and Luke would make the cut.
***********
( Real world )
As Leo logged out, he took a look at the small living quarters that he currently lived in and let out a deep sigh.
There was no window in his small apartment, no attached bathroom, no compartments.
There was one door and two sleeping mats with plugs to plug-in one's VR headset but that was it.
It was more like a jail cell than an apartment and Leo wanted out of this hell hole at any cost.
Luke logged out a few minutes after Leo, his face clouded in worry as he took a look at Leo and shook his head.
" What level are you at?" He asked Leo who cautiously replied "17".
" I think you're good at 17, I'm at 13, I even bought a potion, healed up and tried to level up again, however, I was too weak to go past the second door…. 13 is what I could reach" Luke said as he rambled on about his own attempt to level up, but Leo did not follow.
Without having the proper context about the iron circuit, Leo had no idea what Luke was talking about and hence Leo only nodded and pretended to follow what Luke was saying.
" Don't worry, I think 13 is a fair level" Leo said as he tried to keep Luke's spirits high.
" It doesn't matter, even if I don't make it, you should get out if you do. I'll join you when the next evaluation happens" Luke said as Leo instantly shut him off.
" I'm going nowhere without you-, either we both make it, or neither of us does" Leo said as Luke crossed his fingers and awaited the result.
[ ShipWide Announcement:- Today marks the day7 of our journey and as disclosed previously, today the performance of all players shall be evaluated, with the best performing individuals from each section being promoted and the worst performing individuals from each section being demoted.
The evaluation will roughly take 5 minutes to complete, at the end of which your bracelet color will depict your new sector.
If your bracelet color is 'White' it means you will be a part of the S tier.
If your bracelet color is 'Emerald Green' it means you will be a part of the 'A' tier.
If your bracelet color is 'Sapphire Blue' it means you will be a part of 'B' tier.
If your bracelet color is 'Mustard Yellow' it means you will be a part of 'C' tier.
If your bracelet color is 'Ruby Red' it means you will be part of 'D' tier.
And
If your bracelet color is 'Jail Orange' it means you will be part of 'E' tier. ]
The announcement said, as Luke, Leo, and everyone on the ship probably looked at the color of their bracelet with anticipation.
The individuals who lived in sector E were already living in the rock bottom, there was no demotion for them so the worst case scenario for Sector E individuals was that they would not receive any promotion.
However, for those living in the higher sectors, the fear of demotion was unreal.
Those above the B tier were happy as they were and just wanted to maintain their social standing even if it did not improve as what they feared the most was a demotion.
[ ShipWide Announcement:- Those who will change residences will be given today off from work as they will be briefed about their new duties on the arc ship.
Once the evaluation is complete, they will be given two hours to relocate to their new quarters ]
About a minute after the first announcement was made, a second announcement was made which increased the anxiety of everyone on the ship several fold.
The wait for the results was excruciating as every second seemed to pass too slowly for those who were awaiting a promotion.
Luke felt his heart rate skyrocket as a thousand different scenarios crossed his mind.
On one hand, he imagined a life with better accommodation, better resources, better food, a more humane job and on the other he imagined his life being the same and even Leo not being by his side.
With how volatile and hostile sector E was, Luke desperately wanted to escape it, however, his gamble to move to the city had not really paid off as much as he wanted it to.
His personal comfort zone was also around level 16-17 where he would have felt confident of making the cut, however, at 13 he could only hope that him showing up for work and doing it earnestly would help him get an edge over those who did not work hard in real life as that coupled with his above average level could maybe propel him into the top10%.
[ ShipWide Announcement:- Calculation complete….. Displaying results now ]
As soon as the announcement was made, Luke and Leo peeked at the color of their bracelets with their hearts racing out of their chests.
Leo smiled when he noticed that his bracelet was shining with a bright red hue, but before celebrating he took a look at Luke's.