FB: Chapter 27 – Fame

It was my 50th match. “Foxy! Foxy! Foxy!” I could hear the crowd cheering in the stands. My interview had exploded in terms of popularity with my champion run. I was the new hot and trending topic. The number of memes with my barf screenshot had taken off. Some of the best memes were quite hilarious.

When A Girl Rejects You

Oops?!

Kiss Of Death

The fact was, seeing someone puked on and then lose was highly entertaining. The woman across from me had a bow and arrow and I could tell she was nervous. “Command remove tower shield,” I took out the massive shield as one of my three items I could during the match and advanced. Unlike cosmetic clothing, actual shields wouldn’t count as hitting a person.

Also, if there was no winner in 10 minutes, there would be a warning, and the less aggressive person would get an additional warning. Then in 2 minutes the person who was the most aggressive would win. That was why you couldn’t just run away the entire time. There was no aggression meter, but people had worked out how aggression was calculated in the future, and I knew how to exploit it.

Advancing towards a person increased the aggression meter, while moving away decreased it. That meant I just needed to advance on the archer and hide behind my tower shield. She kept retreating and trying to hit me, but even if she did, damage and attacks didn’t count as aggression.

There were rare instances of people being almost dead, their opponent completely fine, but the time ran out and the more injured person won since their opponent had kept running away. Unless you could kill a person, like with my poison tactic, retreating meant just dragging the match out pointlessly and eventually losing.

There was another thunk sound as an arrow sunk into the tower shield. Anything that gave armor beyond the basic shield bracelet or provided protection would slow a person down. My clothing was just cosmetic, which meant that it didn’t do anything and was just for appearance. It also gave no real protection from damage. Most people wore a cosmetic outfit and used a bracelet as their primary form of protection so they weren’t slowed down.

But a large shield, made me slow and protected me from ranged attacks. The archer would have to retreat more than me, which meant that I would win eventually. There was a narrow gap in the shield I could peek through, so I kept the shield directed at her. The next arrow hit my shield and burst into flames, but it barely did anything.

This kind of shield was meant for an almost static defensive line. It could tank a lot of damage and was basically a portable wall. It was also the bane of archers and mages in the arena since it had bonuses against arrows and magic.

It cost 5 gold, but it was worth every coin in my opinion. It would be annoying to patch up afterwards, but I had two of them just in case I ran into multiple ranged attackers. This was just the latest attempt to figure out a way to defeat me.

WARNING: TWO MINUTES REMAIN!

I didn’t get a second warning. That meant my aggression was higher than my opponent. The archer was clearly hesitating unsure what to do as I slowly advanced. She moved forward with an arrow nocked. She was going to close the distance and was waiting until I dropped my shield to shoot me.

When she was in optimal range, I dropped the shield and dove to the side. The arrow missed me. Murk Barf. The female archer was hit in the chest, and I quickly angled up to get her in the face.

“Murk Barf! Murk Barf! Murk Barf!” The crowd watching the fight cheered. The woman was screaming and gasping on the ground. It didn’t take long for her to lose all HP. I put my tower shield back in my inventory and left the arena.

Another easy win. Just another 50 to go to get the Champion Title. I made my way to outside the Coliseum. A small area had been cordoned off by NPC guards that had been hired to manage the crowd during this live interview. “Let her through,” Rebecca called out and I entered the area. People had already begun to gather as I greeted the two hosts of ENN again.

“We are going live this time,” Fred told me.

“That is fine,” I replied. I was soon sitting in a chair.

“Command connect live ENN port,” Rebecca said. We waited for about twenty seconds before Rebecca started speaking, probably having just received a signal only she could see indicating it was a live broadcast.

“Welcome everyone to ENN. I am your informative host Rebecca.”

“And I am your sexy host Fred. We are here this afternoon to talk with the newest rising star on the hunt for a Champion title, Foxy Blight. Her signature attack, Murk Barf is already creating waves. We have managed to get her for an exclusive interview. Foxy, the most asked question is how can you use that skill?”

“Thank you, Fred, Rebecca for having me on. I am thrilled to be here. As for that skill, you just need the right support skills to make it function and a good sense of combat. Today’s last match showed that you can’t just stall it out, like that archer tried to do. You need to get in there. Once someone does that, well they will get some of the Murk,” I replied with a grin.

“Indeed. We have talked to some of your challengers, and they have said things like, ‘That skill is horrible.’ ‘How can anyone stand the smell?’ ‘It went into my mouth!’ How do you respond to such accusations?” Rebecca asked me.

“Honestly it makes me smile. Losers complain, winners win. It is just that simple. As for how disgusting the skill is. Hah! That is nothing compared to Murk Tower and the Murk Oozes. That place is vile. You thought the skill and the swamp were bad, then you don’t understand. Murk Swamp is the worst beginner zone in Exponential. But that is why the skill is also so hilarious,” I replied with a grin, that one might even describe as shit eating.

“Any hints or clues on how you make the skill practical. It has been observed you are running all epic skills,” Fred asked.

“Hmm, well I don’t like to give away too many secrets. But the trick is to have some Poison Resistance and a strong stomach,” I replied.

“Other people have tried the skill, but it activates inside of their mouth. How are you getting around that issue?” Rebecca asked.

“Oh, just some support skills. A woman has to have some mystery after all. But once I get to 100 wins, I will share that secret. Consider it something to look forward to,” I said with a smile.

“We will hold you to that. Any worries or concerns. People are going to start targeting you much more seriously for the last 50 matches?” Fred asked me.

“Not really. My build is very hard to counter. Even if someone stacked Poison Resistance skills and used three antidotes, I am ready for that. Honestly, I am hoping someone can eventually last through a single Murk Barf.”

“There are rumors that the newest Champion Cat Dance is thinking about coming here to crush you. Any response?” Rebecca asked me.

“Hmm, well, I would say bring it. And if she wants to do a Champion’s challenge, I would be game. I would even be willing to match anything she is willing to put up as the stakes. Same with the other Champions. No need to wait for the tournament, I plan to hunt them all down.”

“Bold words, it will be interesting to see if you can back them up. Any other adventures planned in the near future?” Fred asked. They both did a really good job of switching off.

“Hmm, well I do plan to boost my level before the Tournament of Champions. Get that absolute level advantage working for me, for a change,” I replied.

“You are only level 30, the current Champions are either at a very high level in the 30s or level 40. Can you really surpass them that quickly?” Rebecca asked me.

“You will just have to wait and see. But I have my ways, and it will be funny watching people scream and panic when I show up for the tournament. There will be more than just the level that is going to change. Here is an interesting fact, I am doing a rolling champions bet,” I said with a grin and a wink.

“A rolling champions bet, what is that?” Fred asked.

“Well, all my earnings from the coliseum are being bet on me getting the title of Champion and winning every match. Betting will end about two days from now once I enter my 61st match. After that all my earnings will be bet on me winning and just bet on that outcome. If I lose, well it is a lot of money,” I said. I needed more people to bet against me to raise the amount of money I would earn.

“That sounds really risky, if you lose once, all of it will be lost. What if people lay out an ambush tactic for your later matches?” Rebecca asked me.

“I hope they do and bet big on themselves to take my money and leave me in the poor house. Then I would have to sell all my secrets. Better get in those Champion bets in before the window closes after the next ten matches.” I was tailoring my answers to generate maximum rage and interest. People would pay more to buy out the fighting slots against me, which would go into my pocket. More people would show up in the stands, which meant more money in my pocket.

Then the betting would become even more intense. With all my money being rolled into a continuation bet for me, the odds were much stronger for betting against me. I wanted to take advantage of those odds and my betting to encourage more people to bet.

If I lost, I would be finished. But if I won, the payout would be legendary. I didn’t dare make any predictions ahead of time. I would look at the total amount when I won. Secretly, I was hoping for at least 50 platinum coins total.

“How daring, calling people out. I like your moxy Foxy. The current odds stand at 4.1 to 1 against you for earning the Champion title. No word on the total amount that has been bet, but it is speculated to be in excess of 10 platinum already,” he said.

While that might seem high, in reality it was quite low to what I was used to. But there wasn’t as much currency in circulation as there was in the future. But I had no doubt there would be a surge of betting after this interview. Hitting 50 wins was seen as being a serious contender for the title of Champion.

The road ahead was rough but getting that many wins showed you weren’t a joke. “Exciting. I have already put so much money on myself. No wonder why the odds are so high in my favor,” I replied. Normally the odds would run at around 1 to 1. Having anything bigger than 2 to 1 showed that there was heavy betting on one side of the equation.

People also liked to wait until the last moment before the betting was closed to see the final odds as well. I had no doubt that right before my 61st match, there would be a massive influx of betting. Stirring the pot like I was currently doing was a tactic I had seen used in the future, but it didn’t have as much as an impact as I was having right now.

Just the crowds around the interview area, showed how much of a hot topic I had become currently. With only 36 cities in the human empire and over 2,000,000 people signed up for Exponential already, getting a crowd of around 50 people taking time to listen in was nothing surprising. The coliseums and the race for people to become Champions for the tournament was currently the hottest topic at the moment.

But the real impact was online and by word of mouth. The crowds weren’t there for just me, but I was a huge attraction and going strong. I just needed to be ready for all the tricks people would try to pull to take me down on my quest for 100 wins in a row.

The various time slots were also in flux as people paid more to challenge me. So, I could be their steppingstone on the path to fame. That wasn’t going to happen, but the fact that so many were trying only meant more money in my pocket at the end of the day.