"That match was a bit…" Derek pressed button 2 on the elevator as he eyed the wall curiously.
"This is just the opener. Don't underestimate the other players because of this single fight." Liam warned him. "On this floor, you just have to win one fight against anyone to go up."
"Almost everyone is capable of doing this except for some lifestyle players and of course, some ridiculously stupid players."
"The real fight starts on the upper floors."
"Ok, sir. I will keep that in mind."
Liam only smiled seeing that the guy had gone back to his formal tone. He didn't bother correcting him this time.
"By the way, what class are you? Why are you fighting like a brawler?"
"Ah…" Derek hesitated. Before he could give an answer, Liam could already guess what might have happened.
"Did you say that you didn't want anything from them and leave behind everything in your inventory?"
Liam laughed again and patted his shoulder. This guy was simply too straightforward for his own good!
"Ok. Let's not worry about that. For now, I will give you a set of equipment. It might not be the best but it should be good enough? At least for now."
"So what is your class?"
"Thank you, Liam. Sorry, I am being a burde-"
"Nope. We are a team now. You don't have to thank me. You don't have to apologize to me."
Derek nodded, letting out a deep breath. "I am playing as a shield warrior." He answered the other question.
"Shield warrior?" Liam was surprised. Didn't this guy use magic spells before?
"Is this what the system recommended?" He asked again, digging deeper.
"Oh that. No, sir. I actually got the recommendation for both a mage and a warrior."
"So that means you can use mana?"
"Why did you still choose to play this class then?"
"Ah, that." Derek smiled awkwardly as if he was embarrassed to speak about this.
"One of my previous guild members went with us to the training hall as soon as we logged in and he suggested that I play this class."
"I see," Liam smirked. "And this kind person said mage was a bad class?"
"Yes, he mentioned that for my body style, playing tank would suit me the most. I also felt like that so I picked this class."
"Ok." Liam nodded, but he was not done asking questions. "So what was your affinity to mana, nature, divine power, and so on. May I know?"
Derek suddenly became nervous and looked at Liam blankly. "Ah. I don't remember, sir. A, maybe B. I really don't know." He scratched his head.
"Heh. Ok. No worries. We can check it again."
Liam doubted if his affinity was that simple.
If the other person had asked him to completely ignore the mage skill tree and choose warrior, then he was definitely not saying the right thing.
But was it because of ignorance or was it because he was jealous?
It was too late now and it didn't matter. Liam sighed inwardly and wondered if he had come across anything related to magic warriors.
What was this guy's guild name again? Soul reapers?
Where was their base? Liam silently pondered, racking his brain for any clues regarding this. However, he couldn't remember anything relevant.
"Yes. We should definitely pay a visit to the training hall." He repeated his words again. Sometimes when nothing was working out, it was best to start from scratch.
In front of them, the elevator buzzed making a low noise.
One might expect the elevator to take forever considering that there were about a thousand floors but it was a magically inscribed construction.
So it didn't take too long and the elevator appeared promptly. The door opened and the two silently walked in, each engrossed in their own thoughts.
And the next instant, they arrived at the second floor.
Just like Liam had mentioned before, the second floor was a lot calmer than the first floor.
There wasn't too much crowd, though there were still a good amount of players seated around the fighting ring and gossiping amongst themselves.
There was also an ongoing fight, from the looks of it between a mage and a summoner. Liam and Derek silently walked over to the side, where the referee was sitting.
Unlike the other players who were curiously watching the fight and exchanging pointers or comments about it, the referee did not even bother looking up.
He was just sitting there with his eyes closed, clearly bored from watching the low-level fights every day.
"Sir, I want to register our team." Derek took the initiative and gave both their names to the man, who indifferently nodded. Nevertheless, he jotted down their details in the system.
Coincidentally, the match in the arena as well came to an end at the same time, with the mage cleaning winning the fight.
The crowd cheered a little and just like before, the referee stood up to announce the results, quickly calling the next players to the arena.
And once again, Derek's number was called immediately.
Ah! The big guy was surprised, but pleasantly this time.
After having experienced the battle last time, he subconsciously felt less nervous and more excited.
He clumsily climbed into the ring, wearing a set of basic armor and carrying a worn out shield and sword in his two hands.
Liam purposefully gave him this set to begin with and Derek also did not question him.
He silently gazed at his opponent this time and it was a mage. As opposed to him, the mage was decked in some colorful gear.
The crowd obviously took note of this and different people started cheering loudly.
"Pummel him down, bro!"
"Jump on top of him like undertaker!"
"Slam him down fatty!"
Liam found it funny that most of the crowd was cheering for Derek. Did they think that he was an underdog and were supporting him?
He curled his lips to reveal a big smug smile on his face as if he was a child happily showing off his new toy.
Not wasting any time, a gong sounded loud and the fight soon started and shockingly, it was Derek who made the first move.
All his previous nervousness and awkwardness had completely disappeared and he charged forward towards the mage as soon as the gong chimed.
Without giving the other person even a single opportunity to cast any kind of spell, he directly slammed the shield on the person's thin body and then thrust his sword into his throat.
He then removed the sword and thrust it a few more times, when finally enough blood spilled, his health bottomed out and the gong sounded again.
The referee stood up and announced and the entire crowd broke into applause. What a fight! Wait, this was not a fight. It was simply a one-sided massacre!
Everyone gaped at Derek in amazement while the mage ran down from the stage like a scared kitten.
When Derek was also about to get out, the referee stood up and asked him. "You need one more fight to move to the next level. Are you able to continue?"
"Um. Yes, Sir." Derek quickly nodded.
His mannerisms and behavior were so meek that no one could believe that this was the same person who had just now slaughtered someone.
Once again, the crowd began cheering for him loudly, though this time, they did it because they were simply too amazed by his skill.
Some people were even lining up near the exit already to strike up a conversation with him and see if he already belonged to a guild.
From what they had seen, the second fight wouldn't probably last that long anyway.
And they were not wrong...
Derek's second opponent was the summoner who had fought the mage and even before the match began, he was quaking in his boots.
As soon as the gong sounded, he quickly threw a trap that locked Derek in place, but Derek did not plan on taking this without retaliating back.
He threw his shield and his sword at the guy which almost flew as fast as an arrow.
Because of this the summoner couldn't focus on his summoning spell and had to move to avoid the attacks so he lost the precious second that the trap bought him.
He tried to cast after but the timing was already off. It was too late to rectify the mistake.
Before he could fully summon, Derek charged at him once again and sent him two punches with his fist.
He then bent down to pick up his sword and swung his body to land the final attack, taking away the rest of the health.
The sound of the gongs again rang loudly in the silent hall as the summoner fell down unconscious.
In just under 5 minutes, the two fights were over already!
Derek nodded with a blank face and then indifferently stepped out.
He was like a blue-collar worker clocking out at the end of the day, his face only revealing the light satisfaction of having done the work that he needed to do.
"Good job," Liam muttered. "The next floor is 3 fights, so you got the drift right? The first 100 floors are pretty straightforward. This is the easy part of the tower." He explained.
A few others near the two of them heard this and wanted to bury their faces somewhere. This was easy? Then why the hell were they all stuck here for so long?