Unlucky?Player

"It's an honor to have you back Mister Reed, since the last time you've been here, there have been quite a large number of events that have taken place, not in the world of Genesis, but in reality as well," the news reporter asked Reed as he adjusted himself on the seat.

"Are you perhaps talking about the tournament?" Reed asked just to confirm what the reporter was getting at, took a sip of the freshly squeezed mixed fruit juice, and placed the glass back down.

"Yes of course, and to be more specific- Player Night and NotYourTypicalMage, not only have they chosen to reveal their identities, their performance was overwhelming. Both of them have displayed skills and techniques that were far too advanced for the average level of Genesis, of course, at this point, it's a given that they aren't your everyday players,"

"First off, I would like to say, we at KYOJIN do everything we can to protect the identity and anonymity of our users, it is actually one of our biggest branches, and a good part of our resources go into this branch. Moving on, the skills displayed by them are all abilities that they earned themselves, I've said this before as well, but Player Night just does what he wants, and succeeds, trying hard is unfortunately not in his dictionary, mainly because there hasn't been a time where he had to,"

Before the reporter could reply or speak up, Reed quickly corrected what he said and continued, "Ah wait! There has, there actually has been a time where Player Night put in a lot of effort, and the rewards he received for that were announced all over the world," Reed smiled as he proved his point.

"You mean him gaining nearly 100 levels….at once…?" the reporter asked after taking a gulp and realizing what happens if the best player actually tried hard.

"Yes, and I'm here to tell you, the public, that it wasn't a glitch or a bug. ATHENA, the supercomputer, makes no such mistake. We've run multiple loops and tests, and it's been confirmed that such a thing isn't possible, so I can tell you once again. Not a Glitch. All skill no glitch,"

"Ppplease shed some light on the leveling up topic!! How is it possible that he managed to level up so much in a single shot??" the reporter's voice was filled with nervousness.

"Shed some light? Why would I do that? I'm sure I just mentioned how important the user's privacy is to us. Unless Night directly asks us or gives us permission to speak about it, there is no way you'll be hearing anything from KYOJIN, or from me. Besides, I'm sure it is already known to the public, there was quite literally a world announcement that took place, so I'm not sure why you're asking me again?" Reed responded, he was a little sick of people blaming and accusing KYOJIN of showing partiality.

It was true that Kenny and Reed had an unhealthy obsession with Night, and these days even Nate, but no matter the situation, they would never bend the game to support either one of them, it was simply the core principle behind the construction of the game. If they were to go against their very own foundation then things would only continue to get worse.

"N-noo no…it's just that it's a little hard to believe that completing a trial gives you nearly 100 levels…."

"Hmmm I understand why it's hard to believe," Reed tried to mask his expression. The truth was that as he watched the screen and saw Night ascend, he too was confused and happy at the same time. He immediately began throwing all kinds of questions towards Kenny who simply responded with, "What did I tell you about asking me such questions?"

"But the entire design behind the Phantom Trials was to give the players who complete them, what they truly need. And by the looks of it, Player Night really required the levels and stats. So if the system judges you to need a 100 levels and you're performance in the trials is exquisite, then sure, you can take the levels, not to forget, he cleared the trials in the hardcore mode. For those of you who don't know what that means, let me explain,"

"Before entering the Trials, an elder or anyone in charge there will hand you a red crystal that helps you return from the trials, the entire point of this is to give you another chance if you fail to clear it. If you were to die, you'd simply spawn back inside with the level deduction penalty, so the only way to get out of there is with the help of the crystal. Hardcore mode is when a player voluntarily chooses to not take the crystal, leaving them only one option of escape, which is to clear the Trials. Imagine he died a hundred times, the level deduction penalty would've nearly taken him back to level 1,"

"....."

"....."

Nobody in the room said anything, even the reporter as a fellow player, understood how harsh the conditions of getting the same reward as Night were. The risks were far too much, and the reward….as enticing as it seemed, gaining 100 levels was obviously harder than losing 100. Perhaps only those who were truly courageous would attempt such a thing.

"So? Do you guys still think he doesn't deserve the 100 levels? Actually, since we're on this topic, let's clear all the misconceptions. I'm not sure if he'll like this, but that's a risk I'm willing to take. Player Night is not someone who was fed with a golden spoon, he's not a snotty little brat. I'm sure the majority of you guys think he had a different start than the rest of you guys, but I can tell you, right here right now, he had the worst start in the game. Compared to every player ever, he started with things taken away from him, not things given to him. He managed to reach the level he did only thanks to his hard work and personality,"

Reed continued his rant on live television as he tiptoed around the information he had about Night, he couldn't afford to leak anything he wasn't supposed to, especially not after what he just said. Even what he said now, there was a chance that it was something that Night didn't want anyone to know. Fortunately for him, Luke wasn't that bothered by things, he rarely cared about such micro details.

Meanwhile a little later, Greece Delphi, Luke sat down on the ground with Aurora passed out on his lap, the students went back to training, only under the premise that Luke sensed defiance. While Aurora was knocked out cold, Luke looked at her face from time to time.

'This dumb bitvh…..' He thought as he recalled how far she had pushed herself. He watched her sleep peacefully, it wasn't in a creepy manner but every now and then he would sneak glances at her, her rich red hair brushed against his thigh every time she moved a little.

He moved aside all the strands of hair that rested on her face and just for a second, he couldn't help but look into her eyes. Her golden eyes that defied logic, like a dragon cutting through the clouds, it was a contraption meant to trap everyone that dared to look into them.

Unbeknownst to him, the blood rushed through his skin and flooded his cheeks, his chiseled face and deep purple eyes paired with his ocean-like hair, made him look rather cute. It was the first time he found himself blushing just from looking at someone for a second. 

Naturally, Luke had no idea how hard he was blushing, he found Aurora's beauty far too enchanting to care about himself. The only reason he chose to let Aurora pass out here, was because there was a good chance that people might misunderstand the situation, and paired with Luke being a new face, it would be unnecessarily risky.

He was purely focused on her eyes, those were her best features according to him. He imagined her sitting down and looking at him, with the sun shining behind her, complementing her every feature, especially her hair. Even as someone who didn't care about others looking at him, Luke felt flustered just by the thought of Aurora catching his eyes. For the first time ever, he felt nervous around a girl.

"Senior Luke…" a student's voice called out breaking him away from his "interesting" vision. Luke immediately shot back and straightened his posture.

"Ahem….I thought I told all of you guys to come together. Why are you here…" he asked trying to pretend as if nothing happened.

"AH yes….I just wanted to tell you that there are guards outside the stadium looking for Young Miss…."

"Is that so? Thank you, you can go back now and do five more rounds of everything I asked you to do,"

"...A-alright….." The student replied and returned as he dragged his feet back to doing what he was asked.