Angor’s hands which were hidden under his robe clenched into fists.
“Now, gimme your card.”
Angor handed his profile card to the old man while trying not to punch him.
After checking Angor’s information, the old man suddenly inspected Angor up and down with a strange expression.
Even under his robe, Angor still felt all uncomfortable.
Something told him that this old man was not anyone ordinary. Angor sensed something powerful coming from the old man’s gaze.
“Ho, ho.” The braided old timer chuckled. “I thought you looked familiar. So it’s you!”
“You know me, sir?”
“Not personally. But I know your name. That little Melantha girl was quite fond of you.”
Melantha was the high director of Sky Tower. If he could call her “little girl”… this old pervert had to be someone important.
Angor was thinking though. Did all these managers and important person in the tower have nothing better to do? Why are they all doing lottery jobs?
As Angor thought about his question, the old man already confirmed his profile card on the alchemy machine and handed it back.
“Are you sure you want to pick a lottery now?” The old man picked up the lottery box and shook it, making its content clattering. “You hear? There aren’t many participants here. Since Melantha spoke so highly of you, I can tell you a little secret: the lottery pool only has thirteen choices now. Eight of the fighters were in the ranking list.”
The old man pointed to something posted on the wall behind him. It was a chart showing the rankings of participants in Level 13.
Here, the ranking list determined the places of participants according to their match points instead of their strengths.
The chart contained the names of 50 participants who held the most points on this level. Match points did not really determine their skill levels, but being able to earn more points could still prove something.
According to the list, the top place now held 197 points, the second held 154, and the third, 99… The last one had 47 points.
Angor frowned a little after reading the chart.
As he remembered, participants only needed 45 points to reach the next level. All of these people had enough points, but they chose to stay here.
“People all have similar levels of strengths in the last three levels, so they don’t really need to move on. When someone gets his name on the list, he can receive a certain amount of merit points each month. Moving to the next level means eliminating your current points, so you see, they all stayed,” the old man explained.
“I understand now.”
“Do you see what I meant now? Most of the ones waiting in the lottery pool are on the ranking list.” The elder smiled. “That weapon of yours isn’t likely to help you get through these guys.”
“Thank you for your kindness, Mister. But I still want to join,” Angor spoke.
“Suit yourself then.” The old man handed the lottery box to Angor.
Angor reached a hand inside. Just like the old man said, there were few balls in the box.
He took out a random one with the number “000539” on it.
A line quickly showed up on the transparent screen in front of the old man: [Baron Milk VS Wasteland Warrior]
“Tsk, tough luck, you. It’s a ranked one,” The old man shook his head.
Wasteland Warrior, No. 37, 69 match points.
In Dave’s data, Wasteland Warrior was described as a level-2 Bloodline apprentice who had fused the blood of an Earthen Salamander into his body. To Angor, this one sounded like someone with good defense. The ordinary crossbow bolts probably would not work.
“I can schedule more opponents, right? I’ll keep going,” Angor spoke.
“You sure about it?”
“I am.”
The old man did not comment. He stared at Angor’s determined expression and grew really curious. He already scanned Angor’s body using a special spell, and he did not find anything particular aside from that alchemy weapon on the boy’s wrist. So… how could this Baron Milk be so confident?
“Alright then. I’m looking forward to your… method.” The old man concluded that this boy was simply looking to die. He would not have spoken to Angor at all if Sunders was not behind this. “Pick another one then. Melantha said you must wait five minutes between matches. But there are just too few matches in the queue, so that rule doesn’t work here. Come tomorrow morning, and I’ll arrange your matches. Now, draw another opponent.”
The elder gave Angor the lottery box again.
Match two: [Baron Milk VS Twilight of Night]
Another participant on the ranking list. No. 41, 61 match points.
Angor thought about Dave’s data. This one was a level-2 Bloodline apprentice as well, but the exact type of blood was unknown. The only thing he knew was that Twilight of Night was someone extremely fast.
Fast, huh? Angor sneered in his mind. Faster than Toby? Not likely.
“I’m continuing,” Angor spoke again.
The old man squinted his eyes and shook his head. “You have zero points now. Granting you two chances is already a bonus. Earn some points first if you want to queue up for more matches.”
Angor understood. People’s points were only transferred between each other. The Sky Tower would not allow him to join further matches if he lost the first one and caused his points to go below zero.
Also, if he was killed in the first match, his second opponent would gain a victory and points for free.
This was unfair to everyone else in Sky Tower.
Thinking about this, Angor nodded and accepted the situation.
“I might sound bothersome, but I’ve to remind you again. Don’t die.”
… Or I’m going to have a really hard time telling Sunders about it , the old man mumbled the second half of his speech inside his mind.
“Thank you kindly, Mister.”
“Don’t call me that, the name’s Baroque.”
…
People called the last three levels in Sky Tower as “Levels of Death”. It meant that everyone who wished to triumph in the end had to go through three deadly paths.
Angor, however, only had to get past two levels. His goal was to reach the top level instead of beating it. Thus, he did not have to join more matches in the last level. In other words, he was only going to fight against opponents in Levels 13 and 14.
There were only two levels left, so Angor believed he could finally reveal his other secret tricks.
During his days of challenge, he also practiced all kinds of teamwork with Toby. Now it was time to release his bird!