The Ancients World

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~~~(POV: Hailey Adamo)~~~

~~~(Location: The City Of Jaerey, The Kingdom Of Laasir, The Islands Of Haestar)~~~

~~~(Time: 11:30 PM)~~~

After getting some training outside the city finished and away from prying eyes, Marcus and I are back in our Inn room. Rianna is a few floors down. She's absolutely beat from the amount of training we put in. I've got a good handle on true power combat.

However, Marcus destroyed me every time we trained with leveled-out combat mode. PVP is an entirely different experience compared with PVE. That's not to say they're completely different.

They're very similar in the fact that certain PVE activities make the enemies you're fighting deal damage to you corresponding to your level. It's certainly more fun to play PVE, but I'm starting to enjoy PVP the more I practice.

The tryouts are starting two days from this point, and the tournament will be held right after that. Marcus is already on his bed and staring up at the ceiling. He'll soon be reading the Lore Books he bought from the Auction House Tab.ɴᴇᴡ ɴᴏᴠᴇʟ ᴄʜᴀᴘᴛᴇʀs ᴀʀᴇ ᴘᴜʙʟɪsʜᴇᴅ ᴏɴ Fɪre.net

It'd be around noon, where Cera is located. Sally and I have been in contact recently, and she's forgiven me for the prank that backfired.

"Do you think it's possible to take on The Ruins Of Tasdir by ourselves? I'd like to find out if a large group like General Daenal Roane is looking for is actually needed."

Marcus can speculate all he wants. But by process of elimination, it's simply not the way he's hoping it is. Greed is why I know it's not the way he describes it. A Player's last instinct is bringing help to a Dungeon, Raid, or something else.

They'll want the entire reward for themselves. Asking others for help means you have to share the reward. Hence, why it's a last resort.

"Don't waste your time or mine."

That's all I say in response to my brother, and that's when he lifts his head and looks at me challengingly. My tone indicates I'm in a bad mood, which I am. Getting beaten in anything isn't something I like.

Being beaten by my youngest brother in a PVP battle makes my blood boil even now. He sits on the edge of his bed, and the growing smile causes me to sit up too.

The smugness in his features tells me he knows exactly what he's doing, and he's not going to stop until there is no reason to keep going.

"What's the matter, sis? Your ego so fragile you can't take one loss from time to time?"

It wouldn't be so damn bad if it were just one loss. But no, he beat me 5 times in a row. I was only able to get a win in because of my speed. His fire is devastating in leveled-out combat. No matter how fast I go, I can't move through a wall of fire around him.

I stand up from my bed and walk over to smack him across the back of the head. He looks up at me with a joking smirk and releases a sigh.

"Regardless of who won more, I'm glad we got that practice in. Now we know what we're dealing with in a better way. Sadly, I don't think Rianna has a chance. Even when we were fighting in leveled-out combat she wasn't strong enough to damage either of us."

I'm inclined to agree with my shitty little brother. Rianna is going to need a lot more practice. After we get up tomorrow morning, we'll be heading back out there. I'll be practicing with Rianna one on one. She needs that attention to bring he closer in skill to the people here.

"Yeah, I'll be practicing with Rianna one on one. If you want to stay in town, you can. There won't be any time for us to practice anymore. Not that I'd want to, either."

In a show of affection, I tussle Marcus's hair to let him know that I'm not actually mad as I respond to his point made about Rianna. I think Marcus will spend some time in Jaerey. The more he knows, the better off we all are.

"I'll be heading to the Arena then. Getting more ideas about what we're up against is a good place to end this preparation we've made. The Big Guilds are here, and they're getting into The Ruins Of Tasdir whether or not we want them to."

Seems he's made up his mind. Instead of staying in the room with Marcus, I take my leave and head down to Rianna's room. As I knock on the door, a small come is given from the other side of the door. As I enter, I see Rianna by the window.

She's looking out into the city, and I make my way toward her. She turns her head to look at me and gives a half-hearted smile. She's really depressed about all this. Recognizing how weak you are is the first step to strength.

God, that was so corny. I'll leave the quotes to Cera and stick with what I know.

"Hey..."

That's the most depressed and deflated hey I've ever heard from another person. I stand by the big window with her, and even now, Players are passing by below. Jaerey is making a fortune off this.

"I can't say there isn't a lot you need to learn. But I will say this. When we're done training the next two days, you'll be able to qualify for The Ruins Of Tasdir."

No sense in making promises of great strength and dominance. But I can bring her to a level where she can win one fight. All she needs to do is win one fight, and she's in on The Ruins Of Tasdir.

"I appreciate that you're willing to go so far for me... Despite only knowing me for a couple of days too... But I'm thinking I should bow out while I've still got a chance. I don't want to be humiliated in front of an entire Arena of people..."

She's got a self-confidence problem. It makes sense. Not only is she weak. But she's a 15 to a 16-year-old teenage girl. That's a really rough time for women, I remember. I drove everyone in the house to the edge of insanity.

Especially Cera. He was the outlet for all the shit I was going through. Both good and bad. There were times I got a reaction from him. But never the ones that I wanted. Now, I feel like he's older than me. Which he technically is.

Considering he's from the future. But this entire train of thought has no relevance to this. Other than the doubt that I had when I was younger.

"I'm not your mother. I'm not your sister. I'm not going to tell you to do something. If you want to quit, that's your choice. But the worse that can happen is you fail. Which you're already prepared for. Have you thought about what it would feel like if you actually won?"

It's a little manipulative what I'm doing. But sometimes, you need that to get people to do things they need to get done.

"How come you're not scared? What if it's leveled-out combat, and you get destroyed in front of a whole Arena of people? All expecting you to be great since you're who you are."

I've already failed too much at life to be scared of some onlookers. It took me a long time to realize I wasn't cut out for certain things. Acting, modeling, and show business in general. That's more humiliating to admit than anything.

Admitting you're no good at what you want to do with your life.

"A lot of reasons, Rianna. More than I have time to talk about. But I will say this. You're going to keep failing if you don't even try to improve. It's a process, and it doesn't happen overnight."

That's something our Father taught from a young age. Working at a factory every day since you were a young man would do that to you. That's why Father is my favorite out of Mom and Dad. He tried to be the best of both worlds.

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A/N: Below this line, I'll be keeping Cera's player information. That way, I won't have to place it into the story above anymore. It takes about 180 words up.

[Slayer (Zern) Lvl.237][Tier-4]

[Exp: 72/100%]

[Title: The Son of Arch-Angel Michael (Hidden)]

[Stats] [Strength - 7095][Endurance - 7045][Dexterity - 7215][Speed - 8240][Focus - 19,660]

[Mana aura control: 6/100%]

[Health: 76,560,000,000/76,560,000,000] [Mana: 216,600,000,000/216,600,000,000]

[Stat Points: 440] [Armor rating: 500]

[Inventory] [Dice of Wayland (Divine)] [The Witness (Legendary Sword)] [Fenrir's Whistle (Divine)] [Camping gear] [Fishing poles 2x] [Festival Garbs 2x] [4x EXP Boosts] [Princess Saliandra's Panties (Black Lace)] [Desert Warrior Nomad Set (Rare)]

[Passive Perks]

[Inheritor of the Sword] [Son of Heaven] [Slayer of Evil] [Holy Willow Trees Savior] [Finder of Legends] [The Divine who has Legend] [Destined for Greatness] [Dungeon Diver] [An Overachiever]

[Active Skills]

[Heaven's light Lvl.74 325/7400] [Protected by Heaven Lvl.74 225/7400] [Slash Lvl.92 4600/21000] [Parry Lvl.68 85/6800] [Double Strike N/A] [Kingslayer N/A] [Raging Machine N/A] [Winged Glory] [Angelic Flight] [Divine Pressure Exertion] [Divinity Pulse] [Controlled Fun] [Aspect of Transportation (Legendary)]