Chapter 22: Results In The Arena

"Oh yeah, I didn't ask before, what was the passing mark again?"

[1 out of ten successful attempts]

"Wait, I could have just been able to pass since a few weeks ago?"

[Yes.]

"Why didn't you tell me?"

[Because you sound so determined to get a score that is near ten.]

"Oh right. "

Realizing this, he now understood what happened. And thought he wasted so much time.

[But think of it on the bright side, master.]

"What is it?" Comforting him, the AI assistant continued.

[If you didn't practice well enough, you could have lost. Isn't that great that you worked hard?]

"Uh, yeah, I guess you're right."

[That's right, you should hold your head high and face your new opponents with pride.]

"Your right. Alright, then let's go for another match."

After that, Jayven fought two more times. And unlike before, where he one-shot his enemy, this time he had multiple exchanges with those two new fights.

And like the first one, they disdained him for having the name Unyeilding in it.

"Die, die you bastard."

'Why are they so hell-bent on defeating me? Although confused, he still continued the battle, and before long he caught his opponent.'

But not wanting to give up, he yelled as he tried to perform his next attack.

"For the goddess! Ugh."

But he wasn't able to execute it because Jayven delivered a devastating blow to his opponent, knocking him out with it and finishing the battle.

Then his AI assistant, Orb, came, as the rewards were still being calculated.

[Master, the alarm you had set had already finished ringing earlier.]

"Oh, I see, so I need to end this now, huh? Alright, then after we receive the rewards, I will log out."

After the rewards were finished calculating, he exited the Aether Realm and rested right back up.

~~~~~~~~~A Certain Discussion In The Aether Realm~~~~~~~~~~

[The first few fights were quite good.]

[Those are just newbies; what's so good about that?]

[But isn't that amazing—three consecutive wins, all flawless victories.  He might be the real deal.]

[Nah, that's too early to judge.]

[It's true that you can't judge a person by just meeting them a few times, after all.]

[But didn't Unyielding also joined the game late and gradually build up wins and reach the high stage of the game?]

[Oh yeah, there's a chance.]

[I won't believe any hearsay unless the goddess has spoken.]

[I second that.]

[I do as well.]

[They are here again.]

[Too bad she is busy with her new album; she would have come to judge if this guy is the real deal or not.]

[Yeah, But I am looking forward to it.]

[Me too.]

The thread then deviated to talk about a certain Idol's Busy schedule and how excited they are about her next album.

---------------------------------

In the next few days, Jayven continued his fight, and this time it was his tenth match and could possibly be his tenth consecutive win.

"I am quite glad that I have this VR device. Thank you, Grandpa Zed."

[The opponent has been selected; please be on standby.] An AI different from Orb gave Jayven notice of his next opponent.

"Let's do this. Excited," Jayven tried to calm himself down, But it was clear to his eyes how eager he was for the next match.

[Master, after some careful calculations, it is now certain that you have performed ten times the technique's effect, solidifying your state at the 5th level of mana guidance.]

"If all goes well, then we'll see how much I improve in this next fight."

The match was then prepared, but unlike the first nine matches, the opponent didn't seem to be concerned about his name at all and was fully focused on the fight.

'This is the first time I am going to fight without those annoying comments from my opponent.'

[Ready Fight!] The AI Judge Then Started the Match after confirming that they were ready.

But as the Judge finished giving his signal, Jayven was sent flying by the enemy.

"kuh. kohoh." Gaining his balance, he was shocked by the speed of his enemy.

"As expected, you didn't focus much on footwork. How pathetic." This was the first word from his enemy that he finally uttered.

But instead of feeling humiliated, Jayven grinned. 'This is it; all the fights were one-sided since earlier I hadn't had a proper match.'

In the previous game, all players relied so much on their stats to win, and even the tournament only had a handful of good players. Now this is what I was looking for.

Jayven started to crouch down. And seeing this, the enemy instantly understood his mistake.

With a dash, Jayven vanished into thin air, and with a sonic-like speed of sound, he struck his opponent, making him take many steps back.

"I see, so instead of not having a movement technique, the previous fights you had fought before didn't need one, huh?"

"That's right, so I was a little complacent. After all, I am already familiar with these two techniques, so it would be a waste not to use them."

"Well, I will also get a little serious." He then pulled out a sword. Seeing this, Jayven also took out a knife, seeing that it was the only weapon he was familiar with.

The fight then continued. They exchanged attacks that are unorthodox in fashion.

Blade clashing, legs kicking, and grappling, along with their fists exchanging blows.

"Huu, to think you could do this much even with your level of skills"

His opponent then somehow gave out a somewhat amused and proud expression.

"Huh?" This confused Jayven. After all, he doesn't know the person, and surely he doesn't know him as well.

"Well, then let's see if you can survive this."

"Waving his sword, he created a circle made up of mana, and following that, cold winds were blown around their stage."

"What?" Jayventhen saw the stage frozen, but worse of all, he felt suffocated as the air thinned out.

So this is one of those realistic functions in the Aether realm to think breathing could be this hard in game. HAaaa

He felt like losing consciousness, but then, out of nowhere, warning signs kept popping out telling him to quit. And just as he was about to press it, his opponent suddenly spoke.

"Heh, so that's the extent of what you can do. I guess that name is just for show, then."

Hearing that made Jayven's mind go blank.

"Well, let me end this for you before it damages your brain nerves."

But as he was about to make a move, he suddenly felt a presence.

"Huh?"

With a bang, he blocked Jayven's incoming attack. Surprised when he looked at what he had in hand.

"I see, so you used your technique to break the ice. Nice move."

But Jayven didn't respond, as if he didn't hear what he said. And with all his might, he attacked his opponent.

"So you're not in the mood to talk, huh? That's fine with me. Following that, he also attacked Jayven."

The Two continued their fight little by little. The little wounds kept on accumulating on Jayven's body, and not long after, his arms were cut.

"AHhhhh!" He yelled from the pain, but at the same time he still attacked, catching his opponent off guard by grabbing his arm and slamming him.

"Ugh." But catching himself midair, he landed on his feet. Following that, he cut his other arm.

But as if not feeling the pain, Jayven used his footwork to get closer to him, using his mouth instead to grab and slam him.

And not wanting that to happen, the opponent swiftly cut his own arm, making his bite useless.

"This is a bit humiliating, but good job; this is where it all ends. And with another swift motion, he moved at Jayven's back, cutting him down, which ended the fight."

[Defeat rewards are being calculated.]

"Haaa, that was one heck of a fight.I just came here to see you. But I guess you're the real deal."

"Huh?" Jayven exited the stage, currently confused by what he meant. 

'What does he mean by the real deal?'

[Welcome back, master. Although you have suffered a gruesome defeat, please don't let it bother you, for there are more chances to improve. After all, failure is the mother of success.]

"Ah, yeah, you're right." Although he is still confused about what happened, he still heeds Orb's advice.

'But to think I would lose my temper just because he made fun of my made-up name—I guess being insulted and making fun of this name is different, huh? But for now, I learned that there are still those that are beyond my reach, and fighting gave me a lot of benefits.'

He reflected on his fight and felt he had grown more powerful than before. Although confused, he thought it was attributed to the fight earlier.

'I gained something from it. But it was still a mentally taxing fight.' "Orb, I'll be taking a long nap for now."

[Yes. Have a good rest, master]

"You to orb Good night."

With that, he exited the Virtual world and took a long, good rest after the hard battle he had just faced.