Unexpected Friend
'Phantom God' was angered when he heard the 'challenge' of Daniel.
"So you're saying I'm an impostor?" The fake Phantom God said with anger that he shouted.
"No, you're not. I'm saying you're the real Phantom God!" Daniel smiled at the man.
The sarcasm. The fake Phantom God can't handle the sarcasm, and immediately blew his top.
"You're just a goddamn garbage collector!" The man said with hatred filling his eyes, and heart.
"Yeah. And I collect people garbage like you." Daniel said coolly. This guy was just too much of an idiot, giving him every chance to flame him. "Oh wait, did I say 'garbage like you?' I'm very sorry to the garbage that is compared to you."
To Daniel, this was just too easy.
"You!!" The man was shut down. He couldn't even talk back!
"What? Me? Oh, you're talking to me? Sorry, but I cannot understand the barks of a dog." Daniel said with a smile.
When the spectators heard this, they were stunned.
This guy's flaming was highly professional! What the hell? From the start till now, 'Phantom God' didn't even have the chance to retaliate!
Every single insult that he threw was returned to him!
"Holy sh*t!" Some even cursed because of their astonishment on the scene happening in front of them.
'Phantom God' being left in the dust for trash talking? This was unprecedented!
"You dare talk to me, the 'Phantom God', like this? Let's duel if you have the guts!" The guy said.
Finally, this was the moment that Daniel was waiting for!
"Did I hear the barks of a dog? It's so loud. Security guard, how can you let a dog come inside the building?" Daniel pretended to call out to the security guard.
He was just adding oil to the flame!
"You still dare to talk back to me!? You're just all talk!" The impostor tried to salvage his own dignity by challenging Daniel, the real 'Phantom God', in a duel.
"Sorry, but I don't lower myself to the level of dogs like you. Oh, wait, dogs are an understatement to the likes of you, you're more of like..." Daniel thought for a moment. "A fly hanging around sh*t! Yeah, that sounds right."
Daniel nodded continuously as if he just thought something awesome.
The spectators tried to hold their laughter, but couldn't. Damn brother! You're too good at flaming!
"You!" The impostor's face was so red that he looked like tomato paste.
"Okay, this is enough." Daniel said. "I accept your challenge. Do you want to do it with this game?"
Daniel smirked.
"Finally! Let's see how you'll talk once I beat you!" The impostor heaved a sigh of relief. Any more loss of his face, and he'll really die of anger!
Although Daniel was supposed to be a dignified gamer who's at the top of the gaming world, his actions just now weren't. Well, nobody knows his real identity anyways, why not show his flaming prowess for now?
"Let's meet at the Battle Arena of the Guardian's Space Den!" The impostor smiled mockingly at Daniel, as if he already won.
Why did he think he already won? Because this guy also had 100 points in his combat examination! And how? Because he also got a copy of the game earlier than these guys, like Hundred Kills, his bro Kyle!
He already played it for hours, and was long used to the controls.
...
The commotion finally died down, and the beta testing room was silent once again. The players all sat down, and found the Battle Arena.
"Kyle, where's the battle arena?" Daniel asked.
"Follow me."
In the game, two characters can be seen walking side to side. They then walked to an entrance, on the space den, and the characters 'Battle Arena' were clearly shown.
After stepping on the battle arena, Daniel had a notification on how the arena works.
There were betting stations for those who wins, one can bet a minimum of 100 Universal Currency (UC) and no maximum. All players start with 1,000 UC after graduating the Universal Guardians University.
There's also rankings on the battle arena. One can go up the rankings by accumulating Arena Tokens, the higher one's amount of Arena Tokens, the higher one's ranking is. There's also divisions according to Guardian Rank, which is different from one's battle arena rank.
Guardian Ranks are the divisions of ranking of the Universal Guardians world. One's Guardian Rank composes of one's level, equipment, skill, monster kills, and missions completed. The ranks are F, E, D, C, B, A, S, SS, SSS, and lastly Z. Each Guardian Rank is divided into three subdivisions, which are +, None, and - (Ex: A-, A, A+).
To progress up the Guardian Rank ladder, one must take the Guardian Rank Examination, and pass.
On the Battle Arena, each Guardian Rank has a corresponding ranking list. For example, on rank F-, which is currently all the new players' ranks, it has a separate ranking to F Rank, and F+ Rank, and other ranks.
Of course, there's also the Overall Battle Rankings, which encompasses everything, from Z+ all to the bottom level of F-.
There's also a similar system on Steel Tempest, and the Universal Guardians' ranking system is most likely based on Steel Tempest's.
Upon stepping, he saw a Handprint Verification Machine (HVM), which registers his identity as a combatant in the battle arena. He then pressed the button to interact with the HVM.
After the processes are done, Daniel then made his character enter the battle arena.
After a while, he saw 'Phantom God' as a player's ign, and walked towards him.
'Phantom God's' character was a Dragonosapien, which has a variety of skills as a half-human, half-dragon species. Dragonosapiens have the racial skills of Enhanced Physiology (Increases all physical stats by an increment of 10 per 5 levels), Fire and Thermal Immunity, Dragon's Tail (Acts as a third arm), Fiery Breath, and Dragon Wings (Allows flight, only unlocked after becoming Level 10 to remove unfair low level advantage). The three special skills were Dragon's Roar which stuns all enemies in a 10 meter radius for 2 seconds, Dragon Eyes, which grants True Sight and Night Vision at a cost of Energy, and Weaponized Tail, which allows a Dragonosapien to utilize energy to allow molding of one's tail into different weapons.
Daniel can't deduce anything about his opponent's special skill, but he knows that this guy is a Martial Artist, which uses fists and utilizes Energy to fight, because the guy is weaponless!
From this information, Daniel can already deduce his opponent's stats.
This is the so-called Stat Deduction Scan! A heavenly ability that many high-leveled gamers from all over the world utilizes with the information at hand!
From his Stat Deduction Scan, he can see that the opponent has higher overall strength, wisdom, and energy! With his opponent's physical ability advantage, Daniel is at a disadvantage, except for his higher agility stat, and extremely high burst damage!
Daniel knew that this guy was no newbie, but is still mediocre in the eyes of many!
Daniel already formulated a plan.
While using his Stat Deduction Scan, 'Phantom God' began to type.
"We'll do the best of three, we will pick a random map each time, so to ensure fairness. Is that okay?"
"Of course." Daniel typed back.
A notification then appeared in front of him.
"Player 'Phantom God' has challenged you. Do you accept?"
Daniel didn't hesitate to click yes.
Row of information appeared in front of him. The stats of his opponent, race, specialization, and class was all listed.
"Huh..." Daniel's Stat Deduction Scan was only 75% accurate every time with enough evidence, and this time, it was correct.
Even so, Daniel already formulated a plan.
They were then led to a map selection screen. As the one being challenged, Daniel has the advantage of picking a map, but of course, he chose random.
The first map was in the Dragonosapien's homeland! In this map, any Dragonosapien has two times the strength!
"So unlucky." The people who watched sighed.
"Hehehehe, this grandfather of yours is pretty lucky." The impersonator said to himself with a satisfied grin.
However, Daniel's expression was still the same. He didn't care even if he was at a disadvantage!
The two were then teleported to a map. The map was just plains, but all they can see is desert!
It was extremely hot!
"Are you prepared to die now?" The impostor typed.
"Sorry, but I didn't know that dogs can type! I'm pretty surprised. And no, I'm not the one going to die." Daniel typed casually, not forgetting to flame the opponent!
The moment that the impostor initiated a flame war with Daniel, he was already bound to lose the psychological warfare! And that's what actually happened!
The fraud gritted his teeth. "I'll show you the power of someone who obtained 100 points on his combat examination, a Dragonosapien who's at his homeland, and true skills!"
"3." A countdown was initiated.
"2."
"1. Fight!"
Daniel immediately created a Dagger of Darkness, activated his Lightning Dagger.
Meanwhile, the impersonator rushed towards Desolate Sky without hesitation. It was just a mere assassin without an ambush, what can it do to him?
But this underestimation is the one that would cause the death of this impersonator!
Daniel executed Abrupt Burst!
Desolate Sky immediately disappeared from the sight of 'Phantom God' and appeared at his back!
His health was instantly reduced by 10%!
Daniel quickly made his character turn around, and activated Lightning Stab, and stabbed at the Dragonosapien!
Every assassin, if attacking behind, every skill, and attack would have an additional 100% attack damage!
And because of this, the Lightning Stab's additional damage was 200%!
Plus it was executed with two daggers!
This extremely specific combination of stats, race, and special skill made Imagonum Assassins extremely terrifying, and Daniel is the first one who discovered this!
And that's without activating the Racial Skill: Darkness Cloaking!
The poor Dragonosapien had his health reduced already by over 25%, and not even 10 seconds have passed!
The Dragonosapien turned around, and activated his Level 1 skill, Black Cleaver!
Daniel immediately executed the basic movement skill back flip, and dodged the Black Cleaver.
The people who watched Daniel play was astonished. Damn! What kind of inhuman reaction does this guy have to be able to execute back flip immediately?
But of course, this feat was easy for Daniel, who actually has inhuman reactions!
The cool down for Abrupt Burst was done once again, and Daniel executed it!
The Dragonosapien's health was once again reduced by 10%, which is now below 60%!
Daniel then executed basic attacks of the game, he kicked the poor Dragonosapien's back, which made him stumble, and Daniel then executed a basic stab!
All assassins had the passive of dealing twice the damage when performing a back stab, which Daniel just did!
And just like that, the Dragonosapien's health was reduced below 50%!
The fake was panicking at this moment, and executed Dragon's Roar! He actually chose Dragon's Roar! Which is an anti-assassin skill, and is definitely a skill that destroys many tanks as well!
It's too overpowered!
Daniel didn't panic though, as it was just two seconds. Although these two seconds was enough to almost kill his character, it was definitely not enough to kill him! Plus, once he was attacked, he would immediately get out of his dazed state!
Unless the fake can do a combo that doesn't allow his character to recover, he can end this battle with him winning!
Plus, he can prevent this combo from happening by counterattacking!
The fake sneered, and executed another Black Cleaver!
Daniel's health was immediately reduced to 50%!
The crowd who was watching sighed, it has ended. Although 'Phantom God's' health is already below 50%, Desolate Sky's health is also 50%!
Daniel was knocked back, and was removed from his stunned state. He instantly performed a back flip to prevent further damage, and recover in an instant.
"Truly idiotic." Daniel sighed.
The cooldown for Abrupt Burst was once again finished, and he executed it again! The Dragonosapien's health was already below 40%!
Daniel then executed another Lightning Stab, and further reduced the Dragonosapien's health to 15%! And this time, the paralyzed effect was activated!
The fake's character fell, and can't moved!
Chance! The watchful eyes of the crowd said in their hearts!
Daniel, then repeatedly stabbed the poor target in his back, always activating the passive ability of an assassin!
With Desolate Sky's agility, his attack speed was nothing to scoff at! And as the poor opponent's paralyzation state wore off, his health was already reduced to 5%.
The opponent had his Dragon's Roar ready at this moment. Of course, Daniel knew this, and just before the opponent's paralyzation state wore off, he already stopped his attacks and moved away!
And the moment that the fake activated his Dragon's Roar, Desolate Sky was already out of its range by just a small margin!
The crowd was stunned!
The player playing Desolate Sky's sense of timing, and skill was extremely high! Everybody knew that! But some people felt it was just luck. And some spectators also felt that something was amiss. They were stunned because they couldn't see why Desolate Sky was unaffected by the Dragon's Roar!
The fake 'Phantom God' smiled when he activated his Dragon's Roar, but of course, his eyes widened when he saw Desolate Sky not affected by the Dragon's Roar!
As the player playing the Dragonosapien, he didn't notice that Daniel was already out of range! But because Daniel was only out of range by such a microscopic margin, he absolutely didn't notice, and even the crowd didn't notice this, and were as shocked as 'Phantom God'!
And at this moment, the Abrupt Burst's cool down was already done!
But 'Phantom God's' calm face regained its color, and sneered. He just needed to time his Black Cleaver the moment that Desolate Sky was in front of him, and this game would be done!
Daniel executed Abrupt Burst, but he immediately halted the skill!
The moment that Daniel executed Abrupt Burst, 'Phantom God' already executed Black Cleaver!
'Phantom God' didn't foresee that Desolate Sky would halt the Abrupt Burst!
"Sh*t!" The impostor knew that he made a crucial mistake!
Daniel faintly smiled before his hands flew on the keyboard and executed a dash!
In an instant, Desolate Sky was in front of 'Phantom God's' character, and because Black Cleaver was just executed, the character can't move!
"Goodbye." Daniel silently muttered.
He then executed a Lightning Stab, and killed 'Phantom God'!
The surrounding spectators were all shocked. Damn! The player playing Desolate Sky had such skill!
"Cheater!" The impostor immediately shouted. "Cheater!"
"Oho." Daniel was amused by the fake's reaction. "I thought you were 'Phantom God'? You can't even fight a weak assassin like my character? And just because I beat you, you already say I'm a cheater?"
Daniel smiled at him. "You even had the homeland advantage, yet you can't beat me. So this is the 'Phantom God', huh?"
Daniel's ridiculing was so cruel that the fake almost spewed blood from his mouth.
Daniel's thinking was true though! He had the homeland advantage, which enhances 'Phantom God's' strength by more than twice, and still can't beat this player?
"One more round!" Since the impostor can't beat Daniel in a fight of words, and can't refute his logic, he just issued the next round!
"Fine." Daniel calmly said.
Daniel got an F- Arena Token, and was immediately placed at the top of the leaderboard of the F- Division of the Battle Arena.
Seconds later, another round was initiated. The fighters were none other than Desolate Sky, and 'Phantom God'!
And actually, this time, the map was in the Fields of Darkness!
A map on the home planet of Imagonums!
"Sigh, goodbye Phantom God!" Many people said in their hearts.
At this time, every single one of the people on the beta testing room knew that 'Phantom God' was just an impostor!
Why? Because he can't even win with such an unfair advantage!
And now that it was the Imagonum's planet, the other side now had the advantage! How can the warrior win?
"Heh." Daniel smirked.
In the game, Daniel immediately used his Racial Skill: Darkness Cloaking.
And in just a matter of 10 seconds, Daniel won!
'Phantom God' didn't even touch a single strand of hair of the Imagonum Assassin!
"So this is the skill of Phantom God, huh?" Daniel ridiculed the impostor.
"I'm going to report you!" The impersonator said as if Daniel cheated.
At this moment, as if answering to the fake's prayers, the door to the beta testing room was opened!
"Calling for beta tester Daniel with the player name Desolate Sky!" A girl's voice sounded out.
"The CEO of Inferno Entertainment, and the lead developer of Universal Guardians is looking for you!" The girl said.
"Here!" Daniel immediately stood up from his chair, and raised his hand.
"Come with me." The girl calmly said.
The fraud immediately rejoiced in his heart, thinking that this Desolate Sky, or Daniel, or whatever was in huge trouble!
"Hahahaha!" Laughter reverberated throughout the room. And this laughter came from the impostor. "The developer knew that you cheated!"
Daniel looked back at the fraud and gave him a calm gaze that sent chills on his spine. He shut his mouth after this, and just silently went back to playing Universal Guardians.
That was not the look of a regular human being! That was the look of a psychopathic killer!
Daniel's thinking was different though! He only threw a casual, indifferent gaze! Yet the other party misunderstood him for being a psychopathic killer! If he knew of the other party's thoughts by now, he would have laughed his ass off so hard!
"Ummm..." At this moment, another voice sounded out. Daniel and the girl looked back, and saw it was Kyle! "Can I come?"
"No, you cannot, the CEO--" Just before the girl finished her statement, her earpiece emitted a sound.
She murmured something, before turning back to Kyle. "Are you a friend of Daniel?"
"Yes!" Kyle replied.
"Okay, you may come." The girl said before turning around.
Kyle left his computer, and strode towards Kyle, and the girl.
They were led to an elevator.
...
The dignified CEO was watching a scene on the built-in computer on his desk, and was surprised to see the name 'Desolate Sky!' He observed if it was truly the guy he was looking for, and confirmed that it was him!
"It is him!" The CEO said. He then took an earpiece out of his drawer, and issued an order to his secretary, which is to call Daniel to his office.
The scene on the screen shifted back to the camera on the Beta Testing Room, and the secretary called out to Daniel.
A couple moments later, Daniel's good friend, Kyle asked if he can come.
He then interrupted his secretary by talking on the earpiece. "If that is Daniel's friend, let him come. If not, then don't!"
"Yes, sir!" The secretary received his orders.
Moments later, the elevator in front of him opened.
Just as the elevator opened, the CEO stood up from his chair, performed a parkour stunt, and ran towards the elevator.
When the elevator opened, he saw Daniel, and hugged him!
"Ummm...." Daniel awkwardly said. "I'm not into gay people..."
The CEO let go of Daniel, and laughed!
"Damn, Daniel, you actually forgot about me?" The CEO asked.
"Wait..." Daniel looked at the guy in front of him, and suddenly, memories poured in his mind!
It was his old pal, Vince Ocampo!
"Vince!" Daniel called out.
"You finally remembered!" Vince laughed as he said. "When I heard that Phantom God was here, I was suspicious, but when I saw your name, Desolate Sky, I immediately knew that you were definitely here!"
"Come, come, let's go seat." Vince said.
But when Kyle heard this, he was surprised. He wasn't stupid, by the words of this CEO, he knew that Daniel and Vince were friends!
And analyzing everything, he knew that Daniel was Phantom God!
"You're Phantom God!?" Kyle asked in surprise and with a wide mouth.
"I guess it's time for you to know. Come, let's go have a seat and I'll tell you the story." Daniel sighed, and said.
It was finally time to let Kyle know that he was the real Phantom God!