Jingle~ Jingle~
Abigail held the pouch of coins in her hand, which she received from Orion, and stored them inside her interface.
’I think I have enough coins now to purchase that magician’s robe. It’ll increase my mana by half and also give me protection against physical attack users.’
She thought with a satisfied look.
"Hey, miss, I’d like to have a word with you."
In that moment, she heard a voice behind her, and she rolled her eyes as she thought it was more dissatisfied. players.
She couldn’t understand the foolishness of some players blaming them for losing their money when they should’ve gambled better or just not have gambled at all.
She turned around, looking at Machary and Fang Raon, and she crossed her arms.
"What do you want?"
She asked with a not-so-friendly tone.
"We were really impressed by your showing in that match. Would you like to join our party?"
Machary asked with a smile.
"...Not interested."
Abigail brushed past him, not giving him a second glance, but then, she heard the other young man laugh.
"What the hell was that, Machary? You’re giving me the creeps. Why are you trying to recruit her like you are trying to recruit someone for a modeling gig?"
Fang Raon asked with a laugh.
"...Tch, shut up, man."
Machary scratched the back of his head, then scoffed, and said.
"You try it. I don’t think you can do better job than I can."
"Okay."
Fang Raon shrugged his shoulder, looked at Abigail, who had stopped walking, and smiled at her.
"Why don’t you want to join us?"
"...I’d rather not join people I don’t know."
Abigail said.
"Then should we get to know each other? I’ll challenge you to a match in the pit, and I bet in that fight you’ll find out quite a lot about me."
Fang Raon said with a smile.
"..."
Abigail frowned.
She thought that Fang Raon was quite charming and had that "Party Leader" charisma about him that would attract people to join him.
He knew what he was doing.
This might not be his "true self," but a facade that he was putting up to fake his confidence, but it would only mean that he was also smart.
"What will you lose by doing so? Since you are even considering this, it means that you haven’t been recruited by any guilds yet and you aren’t in any party either.
"You’ll have to find a party either way, so why don’t you give my friend a moment of your time?"
Machary said.
’...I was part of a party, but they all ditched me because they couldn’t stand my ’complaining,’ but it was their fault for making so many mistakes.’
Abigail frowned.
"Fine."
She said.
"...Don’t lose."
Machary whispered into Fang Raon’s ear, patted him on the shoulder, and headed to the spectator’s area.
Meanwhile, Fang Raon and Abigail went to register their match, and since there was already a match going on, they had to wait for it to end.
...
"...And now, we have quite an interesting match-up. We have a fighter that already has five victories and has shown her capabilities in the Combat Lounge, and a newcomer!
"Do you want to bet on newcomer, hope that you win big, or play it safe and go with the experienced fighter?"
The Master Gambler said with a smile.
In that moment, at the board, the information of the two fighters appeared, and seeing Abigail’s name, many just outright betted on her.
She had dominated all of her fights so far, so it was an easy bet.
[Abigail - Level 2 - Spellcaster (Mage) - Win Record: 5 W - 0 L]
[Fang Raon - Level 2 - Swordsman (Warrior) - Win Record: 0 W - 0 L]
"...10,000 on Abigail!"
"...15,500 on Abigail!"
The players shouted.
In that moment, Machary approached the Master Gambler, pulled out his money pouch, and placed it on the desk.
"2000 on Fang Raon, please."
At that moment, Abigail and Fang Raon entered the fighting pit. One was holding the flying grimoire, and the other had a sword and shield in hand.
"FIGHT!"
’I have the advantage of range, and he must get close to him to attack. All I have to do is stop him from doing that!’
Abigail thought, and she flipped through the pages in the grimoire and then cast a "Magic Missile" and sent it hurtling toward her opponent.
’Does Basic Parry work against magic attacks? Hmm, let’s try!’
Fang Raon swung the shield at the Magic Missile, but it didn’t get deflected and instead exploded in a burst of colorful sparks.
"Ugh!"
He flew backwards andlanded on the ground with a thud.
[-225 HP]
[HP: 235 HP]
’...That attack hit? Is he a noob, after all?’
Abigail wondered, disappointment swelling inside her, and she already regretted wasting her time with this.
"Fang Raon, you fucking idiot, you can only parry magic attacks if your Basic Parry is level 2!"
Machary shouted.
"Fuck!"
Fang Raon shouted and flipped back on his feet, and unfortunately, in a battle like this, he couldn’t use healing potions.
It was disabled.
Otherwise, players could just keep chugging healing potions until they win, and it would be pretty lame.
It would also make the fights last forever.
Fang Raon started running, and Abigail fired more Magic Missiles, but before they could hit him, he "Dodge Rolled" out of the way.
"Quicksand!"
As soon as Fang Raon started to get close, she turned the ground into quicksand, and immediately after, she cast "Earth Wall" right under her feet.
Earth Wall lifted her up from the quicksand ground and elevated her above the fighting pit.
"I expected that move!"
Fang Raon jumped towards the Earth Wall and swung his sword at her, but she saw it coming and jumped down from the wall.
She closed her grimoire, and all her magic was undone.
It meant that the ground turned back to normal and that the Earth Wall crumbled into dust.
She landed safely back on the ground and distanced herself from Fang Raon and immediately cast another Earth Wall to hide behind it.
’I guess I need to try my best!’
Fang Raon thought with a smile.
[Duelist Instinct Activated!]