It's All You

Blake taunted with his eyes wide open in a crazed manner.

At this moment, he was not the one that was embarrassed. Axel was the one who initiated this conflict, and he was also the one that has lost the bet. It would be quite interesting to see Axel being humiliated in front of this crowd.

If he attacked him, then that would be even better as Blake would have a reason to fight.

It's true that he was about to leave without making a scene yet Axel keeps pushing the line, and he has had enough. If he backed away now and apologize then he would really feel like a bitch and this encounter will be put into one of his regret bins.

Like in the real world, he would have a just reason to beat Axel if he was attacked first.

As long as Axel attacks first, then anything he does will be justifiable.

That's why he was taunting Axel with his arms spread to the side, he wanted Axel to be angry, he wanted Axel to attack him first, and he wanted Axel to start a fight so he could beat him up for treating him like a pushover.

Even though he was a visitor here, he doesn't want to be looked down upon.

Under the increasing pressure from the embarrassment of him needing to fulfill his part of the bet, Axel would definitely be angry and would rather fight him instead of actually kissing Issaiah's foot which would shatter his image.

In a moment, Blake is confident that Axel would attack him.

Feeling slightly hesitant seeing Blake's expression that seems to be eager to fight instead of being scared of a fight, Axel took a step back yet his eyes catches sight of his two goons behind seeing him with raised eyebrows.

Gritting his teeth, Axel stopped himself and glared back at Blake.

"Is that what you really want, little guy? Okay then, I, Axel Milam challenge you to a duel!"

Upon hearing this, Blake's eyes flash excitedly, 'He did it!'

A moment later.

Blake is now walking in a hall of the armory that leads to the testing field that the armory has for people that wanted to test the items displayed here first before buying them, it's a place for customers to try out the armor and weapons.

Some of them have effects and skills, and the customers usually wanted to test them first.

Buying an item with a broken enhancement would be very annoying.

Walking beside him was Issaiah, anxious about the fight. He feels obligated to see this to the end, he was the one that brings trouble to Blake so he was not going to leave him alone in this difficult situation.

"Why didn't you just apologize and leave? Axel is not weak" Issaiah said with a sigh.

Upon hearing this, Blake gave him a slight side glance before he replied nonchalantly, "If we're genuinely wrong then I don't mind apologizing. But he's obviously screwing with us, and I'm not going to apologize"

"Maybe because you're acting meek like this that he likes bullying you" he added.

Issaiah kept his mouth shut after that, knowing full well what Blake said is probably true.

Acting like a pushover due to the fact that he came from a weaker guild is definitely the reason he was picked on a lot by Axel and his goons, yet he was not that strong to be confident, unlike Blake that seems to be confident in himself.

While Issaiah was silent in thought, Blake was amazed by his expression.

'Woah... he doesn't look like an NPC at all, he's talking like a real person. Even his expression seems to actually indicate that he's really thinking, cool' Blake thought in amazement, this game is out of the world.

In the moment of silence, Blake then forced out a question, "Do you know how he fights?"

Pointing at Axel who is walking in front of him, he asked Issaiah for information. Since the information menu only provides the name and level, he doesn't really know what kind of person he was dealing with.

Knowing how Axel fights would definitely help him before the duel.

Upon hearing this Issaiah snapped out of his daze, "Axel is a Citrine-rank adventurer, he has quite a standing in his guild since he has the Berserker Class. On top of being able to take a hit, he would also get stronger as the battle continues. It's generally horrifying to fight him, you need to beat him before he gets strong enough to beat you"

"Berserker Class? Huh, I should've known" Blake mused with a light smile.

Despite fretting over whether Axel would be a troublesome fighter that might prove to be a difficult opponent to him, turns out he was overthinking for nothing. Berserker Class, albeit very strong, is not a problem to him.

It's not a class that focuses on speed, and thus no threat to him.

Even though Axel might also experience an increase in speed when his HP drops lower, the increase would be higher on the strength stat. Blake is not worried, especially now that he can use his Nocturnal Blood Sight skill effectively.

At this current moment, Blake has the advantage in his high HP and speed.

If he would imagine a person to beat him, then that person would be someone with a higher speed and experience than him. Without adequate speed, there's no way Axel can beat him except if he's able to catch Blake off guard.

Under the stress of his anger, he shouldn't be able to do that though.

"Finish this fodder quickly so you can hunt that DollBill04 guy" Salana said nonchalantly.

Listening to Salana's nonchalant yet authoritative voice, Blake could only roll his eyes as her attention is solely fixed on finishing the Persona Quest. But on the other hand, this also shows that she was confident in Blake's skills to defeat Axel.

Considering he escaped the Domain of the Calm Sleepers, this should be nothing for him.

"What's a Citrine-rank adventurer? How many ranks are there?" Blake asked.

Since he was about to join a guild if there's one that catches his eye, then he should know more about how the adventurers work, "Citrine-rank is the second rank of adventurers. In total, there are seven ranks for adventurers, which are Quartzite, Citrine, Jadeite, Amethyst, Sapphire, Ruby, and Diamond"

'Not that high then, this should be a breeze' Blake thought, nodding to himself confidently.

From this exchange, he also finds an interesting fact about NPCs.

It seems NPCs are still programmed to explain the things inside of this world as they should to the players. Issaiah didn't find him weird at all for not knowing the adventurer's rank, so his assumption is possible.

But it's not fixed, maybe Issaiah is the only one that didn't find him weird.

About five minutes later, Blake and Axel face each other.

Scanning the place, it seems a fight between customers is not the first time happening here. The staff of the armory has already prepared the place by drawing a rectangle on the sand to mark the arena of their fight.

Stretching his body, Blake looks at Axel with an unwavering gaze.

"Remember the rules, fight until one of you is not able to fight or concede, and no killing"

A white-bearded old man wearing a long brown robe said from the side, he seems to be the manager of the place, and he would also act as the referee for this battle between Blake and Axel to alleviate their problem.

Upon hearing this, Axel then said with a grin, "If it's an accidental death, it's fine right...?"

"Yes, if it's an accident then none of you will bear any responsibility. But I hope that it wouldn't come to that case" the white-bearded old man said with his frail voice, knowing exactly what Axel is trying to imply.

Glancing at Blake with a grin, Axel expected him to be scared by what he was implying.

Seeing that Blake is putting his head down, the grin on Axel's face spreads even wider as he chuckled mockingly, 'Nowhere to run or stop this now, kid. I'm going to teach you to not be arrogant in front of me!'

Contrary to what he was thinking, Blake is in a different crisis right now.

[Player MoonDespoiler is engaging in a duel with Axel Milam!]

[Privileged Player's Quest has been initiated!]

[Privileged Quest (PK) - Duel]

Win the one-on-one duel against Axel fair and square.

Rewards: 10 Privileged Points

"Salana, what am I seeing right now? What's this Privileged Quest and Privileged Points that I will get?" Blake asked in surprise, this is the first time that a Privileged Quest has appeared before him.

Looking a this, Salana then smiled, "It will be triggered every time you duel with someone"

"As you are the PK Privileged Player, anything related to killing a player and fighting a one-on-one fight will have a chance to trigger the Privileged Quest where you will then gain access to Privileged Points. You can spend it in the Privileged Shop to exchange for a wide range of items" she explained clearly.

Blake puts his head down when he heard this, a sudden battle intent riled inside of him.

Glancing over to Salana slightly, he then asked with a troubled and forced smile, "Is it just me, or does it feel like being a Privileged Player also affected me internally? If it didn't, then why do I feel excitement welling inside of me?"

Upon hearing this, Salana widened her eyes, stunned by the question.

It was something that she had not expected, yet this put a sweet teasing smile that made her somewhat more beautiful to appear on her face, "No, it's not the Limited PK VR Helmet talking. This is all you, Blake..."

Meanwhile, Axel chooses a huge saber as his chosen weapon.

Still feeling confident seeing that Blake is trembling on his stand, he glanced and saw Blake taking a regular sword from the side before going into his battle stance with his sword on the side with a darkened expression.

Responding to this, Axel also did the same and went into his battle stance.

"On the count of three, your fight will start!"

"1..."

"2..."

"3!"

"Start!"

Immediately after the white-bearded old man announced the start of the fight, Axel wanted to dash in first to get the upper hand. Yet his body stopped, almost paralyzed when he saw Blake slowly raise his gaze and expose his excited smile, looking like a maniac.

The moment the battle started, Blake's entire demeanor changed almost instantly.

At first, he still has this aloof feeling to him that he portrayed earlier, even when he acted up against Axel he still retains this aloofness. But at this moment, that aloofness has turned into a fierce air instead.

Axel now realized that Blake wasn't afraid from the start.

Earlier when he saw Blake's body tremble he for sure thought that Blake was afraid, but turns out it was a false signal. It seems Blake was trembling in excitement instead rather than being scared.

While he was surprised, Blake's body slowly was engulfed by blackness.

Under the onlookers' gazes as well as Axel's who started to become nervous, Blake's body was swallowed by a dark energy before out of nowhere, a heavy and sturdy punch dug into Axel's stomach violently.

"Haarggh!!" Axel grunted, blood drizzling down the side of his mouth.

Looking down, he finds Blake is already in front of him.

"Don't let me down now, Axel. Show me the power of Citrine-rank Adventurer will you?"