FB: Chapter 67 – Pressure To Advance

Winner! Standard 1v1: 620-0 Champion 1v1: 31-0 Tournament: 1-0
Please return to the platform to leave the arena.

I won another Champion level fight, taking my opponents merchandising rights. It was now considered a right of passage to go up against Foxy Blight once one became a Champion. Everyone was wondering how long I could keep my win streak going.

In the regular matches, I often gave myself a handicap, like not using Blink. I didn’t say this of course, but I held back on that skill while I fought. The people in regular matches were no match for me, and using Blink would have been overkill. Anyone who could win a lot in the coliseum arena became a Champion and I would face them there. With my regular matches randomized as much as possible, it was far less likely for someone to set a trap for me.

In fact, regular people enjoyed facing me in the arena. It was seen as a test of courage and something they could brag about. Getting to fight one on one with the best player in Exponential.

I made my way to one of the attendants in the Champion area of the coliseum. “Congratulations on your continued win streak Grand Champion Foxy Blight. How can I assist you today?”

“Any scheduled tournaments?” I asked.

“Only the Tournament of Champions that happens every four years. But as the Grand Champion, you can host a tournament yourself,” the attendant said. I had never heard of this. I knew that on rare occasions a random tournament had come up. I always assumed it was some NPCs doing something to make such a thing happen. That was something I had never dug into before. I had enough favorability for the NPC to recommend this. At least my repeated matches were good for something since I hadn’t gotten a new title. Another one of those hidden benefits from a title.

“What is required to make it an official tournament that would count for titles?” I asked.

“A combination of the prize offered and the number Champions competing. If you put up a prize, I can tell you how many Champions would be required to enter,” the attendant said. I pulled out Slice and carefully rested it against the counter.

“A unique weapon, the mega sword Slice,” I said.

“That is indeed a worthy prize. That would only require 8 Champions to compete for the tournament to be registered as an official one,” the attendant replied.

“Let’s do it then. A Gauntlet Tournament. I will enjoy sweeping away all the current Champions once more,” I said.

“Is there a name you want to give the tournament?” the attendant asked.

“Hmm. Let’s name it after the weapon itself. The Slice Sword Gauntlet Tournament of Champions,” I decided. It was a lengthy name, but it would draw attention.

“Do you want to require an entrance fee? Or any other requirements besides having the Champion title to enter?” the attendant asked.

“Make it twenty platinum since the prize is so valuable. How much of that would go to the final prize pool?” I asked.

“Half. Since all the betting fees would go to the winner for a sponsored tournament,” the attendant answered. Twenty platinum was a good amount to show that it was a serious tournament and net me some extra spending money. I wasn’t taking the other Champions lightly, but I had too high a level and combat experience to be overly worried.

“And promoting the tournament?” I asked.

“A hundred platinum,” the attendant said, and I let out a sigh and paid the money. I would easily make the money back if I won. As much as I liked to think I would win constantly, nothing was set in stone. Someone out there could come up with a better build than mine and defeat me. I had noted that more and more Champions were showing up with bandoliers in order to use consumables. My strategies were being copied.

There were 45 Champions at the moment. Most likely half of them would sign up for the Tournament. It was tempting to hold a regular tournament, but I needed to try and get the next title in the champion title track. With how many new titles I had discovered, I knew I would unlock one as long as I kept winning matches and tournaments.

With how the benefits of the champion title track lined up with the slayer title track, the next one would most likely grant me an extra title slot, which would be invaluable. Getting that extra 25% in weight reduction from an additional title was absolutely necessary for wielding Slice.

The tournament would take place in a real world month, so I had more time to prepare. The best thing would be to try and gain more levels as rapidly as possible. Unfortunately, the ants were the last edge case in terms of monsters I could easily kill in large numbers that I could think of at the moment. Even then I had needed to mobilize the entire Fanged Fox guild to block the other exits and protect my flanks

The leading players were hovering in the high forties for their level, with the wave of players behind them in the high thirties. Some people were trying to pack on levels, but the problem was that level grinding locations had a small sweet spot where the monsters were over 10 levels, but they could easily be killed. Killing monsters one by one, was not appealing to me, it was better to speed things up as much possible with cheese strategies.

I knew that my officers in the guild were securing the area near the Gorzozin Mines to have regular level boosting sessions for all members. With our beginner area near Halfenbrook Town secured and the area near the Gorzozin Mines also secured, I had created a leveling path for new members to rapidly gain levels.

Right now, I needed to think about other areas and review intelligence reports to see if I remembered any other good areas. The problem was that anything beyond level 80 just didn’t have that much information the first time around. The ants were the area my super-guild had used in the past. Returning to the guild building, there were a lot of players from the guild moving about. All of them nodded in respect towards me when they noticed me.

“Guild Leader, Nevermore Bladedance is in your office,” Henry told me.

“Did he say what he wanted?” I asked.

“No, but he is on the approved list, so he was allowed inside with the door open,” Henry said as he followed me up to my office.

“It is fine. I need intelligence reports on monsters level 100 and higher. I need to find a good grinding zone. Also put out word both internally and externally that there is a major tournament for a unique weapon. I will be participating, and I want to boost the hype around the tournament,” I said.

“My guess is you somehow arranged the tournament with your blade Slice? Do you want people to know you are sponsoring it?” Henry asked.

“That shouldn’t be the focus, but if it leaks that isn’t a concern. Pass it on to Joker Nine. We haven’t released anything juicy. Letting the spies know ahead of time will be useful,” I answered.

“I will make sure to pass that along right away,” Henry said. We arrived at my office, and I shut the door behind me.

“Sister, we were worried about you, especially dad,” Rodrick my brother, whose character name was Nevermore Bladedance said. I took my seat at my desk and grabbed the stack of paperwork out of my inbox.

“It is a stressful job. I am one of the richest people in the world, managing the most powerful guild in Exponential, while also having to remain as the best player. It would be stressful for anyone,” I said and began flipping through the paperwork. Nevermore walked over and put his hands on my desk. I let out a sigh and set the paperwork to the side and looked up at him.

“What is it Rodrick?” I asked.

“You need to take a break. The stress is wearing you down,” he said.

“That would just stress me out more,” I replied.

“Then let me help. You know you can trust me,” he said. I didn’t say anything and pulled out a sheet of paper from my desk that had an intelligence report on it. I set it down in front of him and he picked it up.

“You are spying on me?!” he said with shock and looked at me.

“I was considering you for a staff position and wanted to look at how you handled guild information that you shouldn’t have been privy to. You talked about it with your team. How can I trust you with even more sensitive information if you can’t handle something small?” I asked.

“And you trust other people, but not your brother!” he shouted.

“Didn’t you come here to suggest I not be stressed, and now you are shouting,” I replied calmly. He shut his mouth but kept glaring at me. “Four months you have been in Exponential and your progress is also lackluster. What are you? Level 18?” I asked.

“Yes, but I was working on my skills. I remember you mentioning that using experience for skills is important,” he said. I leaned back in my chair.

“If you really want to help me, then become a Champion. That’s it. Go out there, get the skills, combat ability, and level needed to become one. Then you would be qualified as a player. As for a staff position, you would hate handling paperwork all day or talking with NPCs about things that don’t interest you,” I explained. He didn’t say anything.

“That doesn’t change the fact you need to relax. Maybe call Bethany. I know you two get along great,” Rodrick said. My face turned dark at this suggestion.

“Bethany was kidnapped and tortured to death a couple of months ago to get to me. Do you have any other unhelpful suggestions?” I asked with a harsh tone.

“She is dead?” he asked again in surprise.

“Yes. It was an attempt to use her to leverage me and the Fanged Fox Corporation. Her life was not worth billions of dollars. So, she was probably tortured and killed after I refused to accept the blackmail,” I said with a stone-cold face. “That is why I have the security. That is why I am stressed Rodrick. There was an assassination attempt on my life in the real world!” He didn’t say anything.

“An attack helicopter and a kill squad! My wealth and power are more than many nations. I am one of the richest and most powerful people in the world. And you treat that like it is some game! Do you know how damn hard it is to stay number one when everyone wants to drag me down? Well, why don’t you go face a Dark Saint that is over 150 levels on you and win. Or deal with a board that seeks to cut apart the company for their own profit. Or the various factions in the guild that are scrambling for more and more power.” I was breathing heavily as I continued my rant.

“So yes. I can relax, and then we will all be dead in a ditch. You have the resources of the guild to assist you. I had to build all of this! I had to win every, single, battle. It is easy to say relax, and you want to help, but you are not qualified to even say those words to me. So, if you want to help, go become a Champion at the very least, or do something that doesn’t involve bothering me,” I shouted. Rodrick looked like he was on the verge of crying. “Dismissed guild member.”

“I-“ He tried to speak, but I cut him off.

“I said dismissed guild member. The next time you return to this office to bother me, come with some accomplishments and don’t waste my time. Now leave,” I ordered. He didn’t say anything else and turned and left. I was surprised he didn’t slam the door shut behind him.

I wanted to cry and only did so silently as my heart broke. The pressure on me was immense. I might make it look easy, but it wasn’t. Even if I wanted to take a break, I wouldn’t be able to. I couldn’t, since it would make all the previous effort I had put in pointless. I had to keep going to stay ahead of everyone else. I couldn’t afford vacations or breaks. I had to keep winning no matter what.

There was no one to share my burden with. Rodrick wasn’t that bad of player, but he was average at best. One of the countless people who were in Exponential, but didn’t amount to anything worthwhile. Just another cog in a super-guild. The only difference being was that he was the brother of Foxy Blight, the greatest player to ever exist.

People were calling me the God Player and not just as a joke. I was the epitome of success, standing above everyone else in the game in every way. From being a guild leader, financial success, and combat ability. I stood head and shoulders above everyone else. Now that I had reached such a lofty height, I couldn’t fall. The higher one rose, the greater the disaster upon their fall.

The war had pushed things to the very brink, but I had come back stronger than ever after winning. My momentum was immense. But now the usefulness of my future knowledge was running out and the stress was massively increasing.

I wept silently, thinking how it might have been better to never start up a guild in the first place. I would never let anyone see me cry, since others would only see weakness, and not the immense burden on me.