Breakthrough Quest (1)

The family reunion had ended without any issues. Although Lennon did get some light scolding from his parents as they didn't see him for most of the reunion, everything was fine afterwards, he got to keep his monthly allowance.

The day after the reunion, Lennon logged into Tisit, to find himself still in Epader in beginner's clothing.

- Tabs, what rank did you reach in the colosseum?

Lennon shot Tabsi a message, Tabsi was the type of person who would lose track of time in the colosseum because she was such a battle junkie.

After a few minutes, a reply came in.

- I got to the numbers, rank 54 for now.

- Wow, that's pretty quick, I thought it would take you at least two days.

- Yeah, I ended up playing through the night

The numbers, it's basically just another term for being on the leaderboard. The colosseum leaderboard shows the top one hundred players, nicknamed the numbers. This nickname was introduced so that they weren't confused with the rankers. The colosseum leaderboard was similar to the levels leaderboard, with one exception.

All players will be registered on the colosseum leaderboard, you may choose to remain anonymous, but only your name will be hidden. Your win streak and rank experience will both be shown, though some people also choose to show stuff like their K/D and win loss ratio. Tabsi had chosen to remain anonymous and only show what's necessary, mainly due to Lennon's nagging.

In the colosseum, you weren't defined by your stat points, but by your percentage. Whenever you checked your colosseum stats, it would usually tell you what percentage of players you were part of. For example, the top 3.1% or the top 0.6%. After getting into the numbers, it will show a ranking instead. Back in Tisixa, Tabsi was obviously rank #1, but competition would get a lot tougher in Tisit.

- Did you buy anything with your points?

- No, I've been saving them up for now.

- Alright, you should keep saving them up, there isn't anything particularly good in the shop yet

- Are you going to hunt hidden bosses again?

- No, I'm going to give the colosseum a crack as well

- Alright, hurry up and get into the numbers so we can duel properly.

- I'll kick your ass when the time comes

- You wish

–--

Lennon equipped his main equipment and teleported back to the Yor Empire, then entered the colosseum not as a spectator this time, but as a challenger.

'Feels good to be back'

The dirt floor of the colosseum was currently holding up hundreds of players, most of them were looking at something in front of them. The 'thing' is obviously their system window, they might be reviewing past clips, waiting for an opponent or just pretending in order to fit in.

<Welcome to the Colosseum>

<The tutorial will now commence>

"Skip"

<You have skipped the tutorial>

<Would you like to play a 'casual' match or a 'ranked' match>

"Ranked please"

<You have selected 'ranked', you will now begin your 5 placement matches>

Every time a new player plays ranked, they must first play against five different people. Depending on how well you do in these matches, you get placed at different ranks from the start. It's just a method for the system to determine how good you are. But the maximum rank you can start in is Diamond, no matter how good you are.

You will always play your first match against a Bronze ranked player, who is a player of the lowest rank. If you lose, you will continue duelling Bronze ranked players, but the stats of those players will lower. If you win, you will duel someone of a higher rank.

<Queueing bronze-ranked match>

<Your opponent is 'RangerU'>

<Your opponent has a 2 win streak>

Lennon looked at his opponent, who was holding daggers in both hands. Which meant that their class is probably something related to the assassin class.

<The duel will begin in 3 seconds>

<The duel will begin in 2 seconds>

<The duel will begin in 1 second>

<The duel has begun!>

Lennon wasn't actually wielding his book this time, because that would be too obvious. Though there are a couple players who fight with books due to the clip of the fight against the lizardman, they do little to no damage. Instead, Lennon was wielding a greatsword like he did in Tisixa, and it was a weapon dropped from a hidden boss.

<Elastic Claymore>

- Created with the silk of the strongest spiders, it is both flexible and sturdy

- Grants 5 Strength and 2 Agility

- Consuming 50 MP, the greatsword is able to change into a 'whip' form. While in the whip form, the blade of the sword will separate into different parts, connected by a sturdy rope of string. The sword will then be able to be swung like a whip, dealing AoE damage.

The match started off with both players rushing at each other, the assassin soon disappeared as Lennon kept running to the centre.

"Whip form"

The blade of the mighty greatsword suddenly became disconnected as Lennon swung it into a seemingly random space. Suddenly, the assassin was knocked against the walls of the arena.

<You have won the duel>

Lennon was transported back to the arena. The reason he swung seemingly randomly and hit the assassin is because the assassin was inexperienced. After using a skill and becoming invisible, his footsteps were painfully obvious as he kicked up the dirt in the arena.

<Queueing silver-ranked match>

<Your opponent is 'Momerck'>

Lennon continued winning duels left and right, and eventually got placed in the highest class you can be placed in off placement matches. The duels weren't too exciting as most of his opponents were one-shot due to the difference in stat points.

<Your placement matches have concluded>

<You have been placed into the 'Diamond' rank>

<You have a 5 win streak>

<The colosseum store has been opened>

'Alright, another couple hours and I should be in the numbers'

---

Thank you for the power stones Project_reader and jjjujjj!