[ Congratulations on reaching level 100! Do you wish to announce your achievement globally? ]
[ Yes/ No ]
Cervantez stared at this screen blankly, before pressing the ‘Yes’ button after much internal debate.
In his mind, uptil now ‘TheBoss’ was a revered figure, a mythical genius unlike any other. However, now he felt like that untouchable aura was crumbling, as Cervantez began doubting his credibility.
[ Global Announcement : Congratulations to the player ‘DarkEmperor’ for becoming the first player in the game to reach level 100! ]
A global announcement reflected in front of the screens of every player in Terra Nova, however along with it came a wave of unnecessary noise.
When one opened the Global Level Rankings, ‘TheBoss’ was displayed to be at level 105, having achieved this accolade a day before Cervantez, then how could ‘DarkEmperor’ be the first to get to 100?
This was a question that even Cervantez was not sure about.
Back then, there was a global announcement being made about him and the skill slot award had gone away with it, which only made understanding the truth even more difficult for Cervantez who could not wrap his head around what all this mess meant.
And he wasn’t the only one who could not either…
The global chat servers were a mess as well with all sorts of conspiracy theories popping up on them.
‘ How can ‘DarkEmperor’ be the first to reach level 100, when we were talking about ‘TheBoss’ reaching it a day ago? I mean, is the system tripping?’.
‘ I think, ‘TheBoss’ was the first player to reach level100, but he did not publicize his achievement, whereas the showoff DarkEmperor did’.
‘ I think this confirms it, ‘TheBoss’ is a fraud. His ranking on the leaderboard is a fake! It’s either padded up to be displayed as higher than what it really is, or his account is fake entirely’.
‘ I think ‘TheBoss’ may be an administrator account, like that of someone who is beyond a normal player, maybe that’s why he was not included in the announcement?’
‘ I don’t understand? Can the global rankings be hacked? Can false data really be displayed?’.
Questions began arising about Leo and his legitimacy as his identity as an ‘Actor’ fell under threat.
*************
( Meanwhile Leo )
[ Global Announcement : Congratulations to the player ‘DarkEmperor’ for becoming the first player in the game to reach level 100! ]
As Leo saw the global announcement, the first words that came out of his mouth were ‘Shit’. As he understood that he was screwed.
“Fucking DarkEmperor, why the fuck do you keep levelling up like a madman you freak, get a life man” he cursed, feeling absolutely livid at the fact that someone reached level100 before him as a majority of his time was being taken by the skills that he was perfecting.
However, the bigger problem for Leo was not that someone reached level100, it was that because of his global announcement, his real identity was at a threat of being exposed.
With trembling fingers, he opened the global chat, and immediately he saw a buzz of posts that called him out as a fraud as Leo felt his heart beating faster.
‘Is this it? Is this how I die?’ is what he wondered, as his heart almost jumped out of his chest and into his mouth when a system notification suddenly popped up in front of him.
[ System Notification – An emergency quest has been issued! ]
[ Quest Notification – Save your identity!
Quest Description- Due to an unprecedented situation arising, your identity as the supreme player is under threat.
Within the next 100 days dispel all doubts regarding your legitimacy and restore public confidence in your skills as the number one player!
Quest Rewards- You will unlock an additional skill slot.
Failure Conditions – Failure to convincingly dispel all doubts/ Falling 20 levels behind your displayed level on the leaderboard.
Failure Penalty – Death ]
An emergency quest was issued for Leo which basically told him that if he did not convincingly put all the rumors surrounding his position as a true supreme player to bed in the next 100 days, he would literally die-
To top it all off, he also needed to always be within 20 levels of his displayed level on the leaderboards as failure to do so would lead to his death as well.
It was a horrendous situation, considering he still had to train hard and learn the last of Ben’s three core moves, which would arguably be the hardest of them all.
He could not slack off on that training either as failure to complete that quest would make him lose out on lots of MP that he desperately needed to bring his mother here.
” I’m fucked, I’m completely fucked” he said in despair as he realised that he had 100 days to live at best and even less at the worst.
If Cervantez kept leveling at the speed he was, Leo was bound to die in the coming week as the gap between them was bound to widen beyond the manageable range.
If by some miracle that did not happen, even then, Leo had no idea how to convincingly dispel all the doubts regarding his competency as either way he felt like his death was confirmed in 100 days time.
” Damn you Cervantez….. I knew I should have strangled you when I had the chance!
I swear I’m beating the shit out of you if we ever meet face to face again” Leo said in agitation as he meant every single word coming out of his mouth.
‘The tournament…. That’s in about 2.5 months from now isn’t it?
If perhaps I win it…. Maybe I can dispel the rumors surrounding me?’ Leo wondered, as after a lot of thinking, the only major event that could help him clear his name convincingly, seemed to be the Grand tournament.