Family Reunion (3)

As the group was entering the restaurant, Lennon sneaked away and blended into the crowd.

"Well that was easier than expected"

After that, he casually walked down the streets of Epader.

'What should I do now?'

"Hey Lennon, why you tryna sneak away?"

He turned around to see Josh staring right at him with a serious expression.

"Ah, uh, I wasn't, I just got lost you know? It's a pretty big kingdom afterall"

Josh kept staring at him, before suddenly laughing.

"I know you sneaked away because you hate crowds, I didn't really want to be there either, how about we go together?"

In truth, although Josh spent quite a lot of money organising the event, it was so that he could sneak away and do some grinding. He didn't feel like talking to a bunch of relatives he barely knew, at least not when he could be grinding levels instead.

"Yeah sure, you can show me around since I'm pretty new to this"

"You got it!"

'Great, now I have to tag along with this extravert'

Lennon's plans of a peaceful day was ruined as Josh patted him on the back with a smile.

"C'mon, I'll show you how great my magic is, we'll go hunt some monsters!"

"Uhh, Josh? I know I've never told you this before, but I'm actually really scared of monsters, so could we do something else?"

The reason Lennon wished to avoid monsters, is because hunting monsters is extremely unpredictable. This is especially true when you're trying to act as a newbie. If a monster somehow got past Josh and hit Lennon, it would be weird if Lennon didn't get one-shot. But Lennon obviously wouldn't get one-shot and he didn't wish for Josh to be suspicious of him.

"Ah, I guess that won't work then."

'Phew, now just go back to the reunion and leave me alone'

"I know! You can watch me fight in the colosseum!"

'Do you not get that you just need to fuck off?!'

"Ah, that sounds like a great idea!"

Hearing Josh's response, Lennon was quite frustrated, but he couldn't really refuse. The colosseum is just an arena where players can battle, though the real colosseum isn't an arena. The real colosseum is a place where players can challenge one another, as well as fight random people to polish their skills. The actual fight takes place in a separate dimension where the players are teleported to.

Like many PC games, there are casual matches and ranked matches. Ranked matches will pit you against an opponent of similar rank, the person who wins will gain experience for their rank while the loser loses experience. In Tisit, there are seven ranks in total:

Bronze -> Silver -> Gold -> Diamond -> Platinum -> Master -> Grandmaster

When you win a match in a ranked duel, you gain arena points, which you can exchange for special items only obtainable from the arena.

Lennon and Josh took a teleportation circle to the colosseum in the Yoh Empire. There are colosseums in every major kingdom, and each is interconnected with each other, the Yoh Empire was just the closest one to them.

"Alright, I'll play a couple ranked matches, I made it so you can view my matches live!"

Several duels occur at once, so the duels can't be fought in the actual colosseum. For this reason, to watch a duel, the person who is duelling is able to either livestream to viewers or record a private stream just for their friends and people of their choosing.

"You know, I'm in master, which is the second highest rank! And there are barely any grandmasters, so it can technically be considered the highest rank."

Josh bragged proudly to Lennon about his rank, but Lennon couldn't care less.

'I guess I'll just watch a couple rounds for fun, let's see how good he really is'

"Alright, I'm going to queue now! Be prepared for an epic battle!"

"I'm looking forward to it"

–

'Alright, time to show my cousin what I'm made of'

<Queuing master-ranked match>

<Opponent found, transporting to arena>

<Your opponent is 'Anonymous'>

<Your opponent has a 67 win streak>

'What? 67 win streak? That's impossible!'

Josh was flabbergasted as he thought this, he then looked at his opponent on the other side of the arena. His opponent was wearing a pure white mask, as well as a pair of heavy-looking gauntlets.

<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!>

As soon as the duel began, the opponent rushed towards Josh as he started to cast a spell.

<Bind>

It was a basic spell for magicians, which immobilises the target for three seconds and buys time for them to cast spells. The <Bind> spell is a homing spell and would always hit the opponent.

But the enemy was extremely calm, the spell shot out from Josh's staff in the form of a beam of light and shot towards his opponent.

<Accelerate>

Suddenly, the opponent's speed increased, dodging the spell and heading straight for Josh.

'How naive, the spell always hits its target, I'll use this chance to cast a heavy spell'

<Crimson Fireball>

It was a skill with a 5 second cast time and did quite a lot of damage, he watched as <Bind> turned around and was about to hit his opponent. Although his opponent was also nearly at where he was, the spell was right on their tail.

'Huh?'

His opponent was about to be hit by the spell, but the enemy suddenly performed some weird movement and rushed towards Josh once again.

<You have been hit by the skill [<Bind>]>

<You will be paralysed for 3 seconds>

'What?'

<Yeti's Claws>

<Thousand Jabs>

Suddenly, waves of punches of ice plummeted Josh, who was unable to move. A Wizard, or any type of magician class is basically a glass cannon. They have high firepower but extremely low defence, which make them vulnerable. As such, they usually stay at the back of a raid team, protected by others.

<You have lost the duel>

<You have lost 32 rank experience>

–

Lennon watched as Josh walked out the colosseum, he was visibly frustrated, but he wasn't the type of person that would rage quit.

'Well, he didn't even have a fighting chance against Tabsi, the battle ended before it even began.