"So, what brought this on?" White inquired.

"Brought what on?" I replied, readying my sword. I already knew what he was going to say, but I wanted to give myself some thinking room for the battle that's about to come.

"This... PvP match." 

We were in the Training Hall, occupying one of the training rooms. Each room was an instanced room, so I knew nothing was going to get into our way of fighting. I just needed a little time to survey my surroundings. As long as I could do that, I might have a chance to use the structure of the building to my advantage.

"I just wanted to know who's stronger."

"Oh, do you?" He replied, "It's a bit unfair since I'm a little higher level than you, though."

"Speaking of which, how the hell are you level twelve already?" He was right. He was already two levels higher than the last time that I saw him. I didn't know how he could level that fast, was he even human?

"I'll tell you if you win against me," White smirked. He was laying back on one of the pedestals of the training room.

I chuckled, "Stop trolling dude."

"Im serious."

I shook my head. If he was really gonna tell me, then I really had to win this battle.

"You good to start?" I asked.

"Yup." He replied. 

A notification quickly appeared before me. It was a PvP notification, so I quickly accepted it. There were thirty seconds of wait time before the match started upon clicking the accept interface, so I had to use this chance to prepare my skill rotations and get a feel for the combat area. 

White immediately switched from a resting stance to a battle stance. Slowing down his breathing, he quickly pulled out one of his daggers and draws away from the distance between us. He didn't want to get close towards me. He would definitely lose in close one-on-one combat without any preparation.

20s

"Is this your first 1v1?" White claimed.

"You mean in this game, or in general?"

"In this game, obviously." He chided, "I know you're good at PvP in general."

"You do?" I shook my head, "From where."

15s

"You're Aaron, right?" 

"Who knows," I replied.

"It's obvious, though."

"Is it?" I asked, "How?"

He smiles.

"Did Ace tell you?" 

"No, people tend to know immediately when you don't change the way you look."

"Oh..." I chucked in response, "I guess you're right."

10s

I got into a battle stance as well. My shield was situated at the front with my sword ready at my side. In PvP fights, you have to not only understand your opponent's movement but also their skills. This matchup was unknown to me, so all I could really do was play it safe and start understanding his moveset before going on the offensive.

5s

"If I win, tell me why you quit the scene."

"Sure, if you're actually serious about the bet."

Battle Start!

A dagger was suddenly flung at me with quick speed. Noticing the arching pattern, I reacted immediately, quickly blocking the attack with my shield. My reaction was just in time because I took no damage from the incoming attack.

Clang. The dagger bounced off my shield and skidded toward the nearby ground. Averting my eyes towards it, the dagger quickly faded and dematerialized. That was a mistake though, because as soon as I looked back to face my opponent; White disappeared completely.

Ah, shit. 

Where did he go? My eyes darted around the room. There were no hiding spaces in the training room, so it must've been a skill. Maybe it was a camouflage skill? If so, I had to reduce his directions of attack. Quickly repositioning and hugging my back against one of the pedestals, I activate my 【Iron Defense】. I looked around for any signs of movement. I couldn't find anything, but I could hear a faint patter of steps. 

"Gotcha." 

White suddenly materialized to my side, his dagger brandished and ready for attack. His dagger watered a bright blue and left after trails as it was heading towards my body. My eyes widened, surprised how he closed the distance so suddenly. I managed to block one of his attacks, but the other connects. He was just too quick. Retaliating, I activate my 【Cross Slash】 hoping to get some damage on him.

Both of my hits land, dealing significant damage to him. White tenses up, withdrawing his distance from me. I needed to follow up with another skill. Readying my shield, I go in the animation of activating my 【Shield Bash】, but White realizes this pronto and does a jumping backstep. My ability misses, and White was able to throw another dagger towards me while in mid-air. 

I managed to block the incoming projectile with my shield. My timing was a bit late, so I took a bit more damage than I should have. I couldn't have time to catch my breath, because suddenly three small knives were coming straight at me with their blue streaks. Panicking, I skew one of the knives off trajectory with my sword, but the other two lands a clean hit in my right lumbar.

Damage values floated atop my head.

I couldn't stay still, I had to be moving around. If I stood still, he would have too much space to perform actions. Maybe a rush-down approach was the way to go. Activating 【Shield Charge】, I close the distance between us. White notices this and tries to back off, but I manage to hit him smack with my shield.

Implementing a spinning slash, my 【Tornado Slash】activates without my knowledge, seemingly linking my actions with my skills. I didn't have time to be amazed, because White was already preparing to counterattack.  

Preparing one of his daggers, he slashes them towards me. Sidestepping them, I notice that he was close to a pedestal. White misses his attack, and he realizes he's put himself in a bad position. Knowing this, I immediately activate 【Shield Bash】and butt him towards the pedestal.

A loud thud could be heard, along with a small swirly icon appearing above his head. I knew he was stunned, so this was my chance!

Briskly deactivated 【Iron Defense】, I immediately surge my sword towards his heart. I didn't know if prioritizing certain body parts affected the amount of damage you did, but I had a free shot so I couldn't use it to waste. The ability 【Lunge】activates and he gets dealt a huge blow. The ability didn't critically strike, but his health was reduced to nearly half.

I couldn't move my body afterward, so that gave time for White to retreat back and gain distance away from me. I didn't have any skills left off cooldown to use, so I had to wait it out and play a bit safer. 

"Good trade," White said.

"Thanks." I nodded.

"Your movements are too slow, however." He rebuked.

"Are you trying to get in my head?" I questioned.

"Maybe."

White raised one of his hands and snapped his fingers. He must have activated an ability because he suddenly disappeared once again. I knew the same situation was going to repeat itself, but I couldn't afford to stand still another time.

Racking my brain, I needed to come up with a scenario where I could get some counterplay in. I must've thought about it for too long though because three small daggers were thrown at my face soon right after. 

Raising my shield to block the incoming projectiles, I felt a sharp pain at my side. I had blocked the thrown knives, but White suddenly emerged beside me in a flash, one of his daggers digging deep inside my skin. I was alarmed at his agile speed, so I swung my sword at him aimlessly in the moment, trying my hardest to hit him. Where was his speed coming from?

My attacks missed their mark, and I felt another sharp pain. This time, towards my back. White's twin daggers penetrated my epidermis, going all the way through. White somehow managed to get behind me in such a quick moment to land a decisive blow. I tried to retaliate but to no avail. My body wouldn't move!

Two icons appeared above my head. A swirly one, and a blood drop icon. I didn't have to waste time thinking about what those meant, because I knew immediately. Not only was I stunned, but I was also bleeding. Fuck.

I wasn't in a good situation. I would be constantly losing health per second, and because I wasn't able to reactivate 【Iron Defense】in time, I was dealt more damage than I should have. Things weren't looking good for me. What should I do?

Trying to salvage the situation, I try activating one of my skills. It didn't matter which one, I just needed to get him off me to buy time. White seemed to understand what I was thinking because he immediately kicked me in my kneecap as soon as the stun effect wore off. 

Falling to one knee, my actions staggered to a halt. He's reading all of my movements. He must've known about my skills, how else would he know to go in? A swift flurry of attacks gets launched towards my direction, but I couldn't do anything to stop it. White; using both of his daggers this time, pummels me with sharp stabs and long slashes in quick succession.

My health bar falls quickly, but before he could finish me off; I go for a last attempt 【Shield Bash】. Swinging my arm, I try to land the hit with my shield. I needed to stun him now or I would most definitely die. The ability misses, but at least I managed to stop him from finishing me off.

White reverses away, but not without throwing three small knives at me another time. I wasn't in any position to stop them, so my health ticks even lower towards zero. I was around fifteen percent health, while he was still at a high fifty. If I was going to win this battle, then I couldn't afford to make any more mistakes.

His cooldowns were so low, though! This felt somewhat unfair.

I knew that this was my last chance to fight, but he disappeared once again, his body vanished in smoke. I was prepared this time, however. I knew that when he activated his 【Stealth】 ability, you could still hear him. I also knew that he had a low defense rating, so I just needed to burst him down in quick succession to win.

Taking a deep breath, I reactivate 【Iron Defense】 and stood still. I needed to make as little noise as possible so I could hear him clearly. Closing my eyes, I concentrate on listening to the surrounding sounds. A small creaking of wooden boards could be heard, and a slight pitter-patter of footsteps.

There he was!

I opened my eyes, spinning my body around and performing spinning slash. It looked like I knicked White because he was immediately de-cloaked and got slightly knocked back. 

"Tch," White said frustratingly.

This was my chance. Using my body to lunge myself towards him, I manage to land clean hits on him. Rotating all of my skills, White was knocked back further, stunned towards a wall, and then pummeled with various shield attacks. His health was decreasing lower and lower, but I wasn't in a position to keep attacking without paying heed.

Pulling his body upwards, he manages to climb the wall and somersault behind me. I react in time, jumping out of the way of the daggers he was going to throw. The daggers hit the rough wooden floor, and a muted clink could be heard. I was slowly getting used to his attack patterns, so it was only a matter of time before I could read his movements. 

His health was in the thirty percentage range; still high enough for him to play risky. I had to make use of my 【Iron Defense】 only at certain intervals of attack, but I couldn't quite get used to activating the ability instinctively yet. White lunged at me, his attacks becoming more responsive than normal. 

Using both of his daggers, he sends repeated attacks towards me. We exchange blow for blow, both of us taking quite a bit of damage. This wasn't good, however, because I was at a lower health pool than his. If this kept up then I couldn't sustain more damage than he could.

My only chance was to stun-lock him and wait for my cooldowns to be active again.  I didn't have the energy to do so, nevertheless, because I wasn't paying as close attention to my stamina bar as I would've liked. It was low, but that also meant White was as well. He was an assassin though, so was his stamina higher than mine?

Several cuts emerged around my body, but not enough to take me down. Going on the retreat, I activate 【Shield Bash】 and draw distance away from him. He starts to cloak once again, but I take a gamble at this point. I immediately throw my sword at his location, trying to cancel the ability. White widens his eyes as the sword penetrates his upper right shoulder, de-cloaking him.

Throwing my only weapon of attack might've been suicide, but it seemed I was right about one thing. The sword dematerialized from his shoulder, and re-appeared right next to me; inside its scabbard. It appeared to be that if you're far enough away from your weapon, it will come back to you. That's why White could've thrown the dagger at me at the beginning of the fight. I knew it wasn't a skill, because there was no after trails indicating so. 

White returned the favor, throwing a dagger of his own. Instead of blocking it with my shield, I just dodged around it normally. I couldn't block my vision of White, because he might be able to use that to his advantage. I knew he had just used his 【Stealth】 ability, so there was only one thing for him to do.

He charged at me, but this time I was completely equipped to handle the engagement. Dodging his initial attack, I used the same technique he used on me. Kicking him in his kneecaps, he fell to the ground. This let me land clean hits on him, lowering his health to ten percent. I was so close!

Using all of my abilities, I try to finish him off. White got up quickly from the ground, but not before I could use 【Shield Bash】to halt him. He wavered back, and the stun effect was being applied. I only had one second to react, so I used the only ability I had that was right for the job. If this attack failed, then I was surely dead. It was all or nothing!

Positioning myself closer to him, I yell and activate the only ability in my arsenal that would kill him. I drew back my arm and pointed my sword directly at his chest. 

"Take this!" I screeched, moving my whole body to deliver the final blow.

White smiles wickedly, and my triumphant energy suddenly turns into a growing sense of fear. Before I could finish him off, I get interrupted by someone; or rather, something.

Suddenly, a dagger protruded outwards from my chest, stopping all of my motion. Shit, I was so close! I looked behind me, trying to figure out the source of the attack. Was there someone else in the match that I didn't see? Was he hiding the whole time just to stop me? There couldn't be! This was a one on one match, it shouldn't have mattered even if there was someone else. 

"What did you do?!" I grit my teeth.

"You know the perks of having a higher level?" White smirked, "You get access to more abilities."

He was right! Why didn't I think of it before? Not only did having a higher level give him more base stats, but there was a chance that he could've learned a new ability from last time. There was a copy of White behind me, clouded in darkness and shadow. It must've been an ability that let him create a clone of himself! 

"That's unfair!" I said, but I didn't believe my own words. It was my mistake. 

White only shrugged in response, slitting my throat; ending the duel. My health reached zero, and the battle was done. It was his win. 

"That was a good fight," I said, laying on the ground.

"Yup." White agreed, laying back upon a pedestal.

"I don't have to tell you about my life story, do I?" 

"Nah man. I was just kidding about that. You don't have to."

"What if we trade stories then?" I inquired.

"Like what?"

"Tell me how you leveled so fast, and I'll exchange it for why I left the scene."

"Hmm." White thought for a moment, "You first, though."

"What?" I blurted, "But you're the one that wanted to know!"

"Didn't you lose first, though?" White chuckled.

"Only because you cheated."

"Suuure." 

"It's true, dude!"

"Sucks to suck."

We both paused and stopped talking, but soon both of us were laughing quite quickly afterward. 

"Alright, I guess I'll tell it then."

I got up from the ground, getting closer to White. He gave me some space to lean on the pedestal, so I could tell the story closer to him.

"You know the context, right?"

"Yeah man." White nodded, "Biggest tournament that Conviction Online held in the world. Billions of dollars in cash prizes, huge sponsors from tech companies all the way to news organizations. It was one of those tournaments with the highest competition from around the world. I couldn't blame the press when a rookie team won the grand finals. Shit was mad as fuck. "

"You can say that again."

"Why'd you retire though? You had everything man. It doesn't make sense. A good team, tons of sponsor deals, and your fame skyrocketed in the course of a week. People were calling you the Forgotten King or something after you retired." 

"Wait, really?" I asked incredulously, "When was this?"

"In the forum boards, dude." White said, "Everyone was talking about it."

"Im guessing you play the game too, then," I said.

"Yeah man, I was rank three Assasin class on the leaderboards in the Korean server." 

"What?" I tilted my head, that was news to me! "Why haven't I ever heard of you?" 

"Yea you have, I didn't go by the name White though." 

"What did you go as?" 

"Seonghwan."

"Seriously?!" My eyes widened, "You mean the guy that did a 1 vs 40 in that Global Guild Raid?"

"That's me."

"Dude, I remember that." I replied, "Everyone was calling Assasin a broken class for like a month."

"Yea, there were so many rumors that I was cheating as well."

"Well, no shit." I laughed, "It's what you get for soloing an entire guild."

"I mean, that's nothing compared to you. You got a team of nobodies and won Worlds."

I sighed, "Yea, I guess."

White tilted his head, "I guess?"

"I made a mistake. "

"How so?" 

"I put too much of a weighting on someone's talent and not enough of their personality. I was naive back then, I thought that talent was the only thing that made a good team, but I realize that having a good heart is also matters."

"I see." White said, "I kind of get you."

"The team wasn't on good standards." I explained, "Getting a good team required getting them from multiple backgrounds. Sure, it was good to have diversity, but communication was being held back to it's fullest potential when you have players that weren't fluent in English."

"Im guessing they didn't get along?"

"At first they did. But, when you only respect someone's skill; it's hard to maintain that respect when you're faced with better players. We would win our early matches just with skill alone, but as we got higher into the tournament, several outbreaks started happening about the team composition we were running and the mistakes we were making and stuff."

"That's rough, man." White said, "So, what happened? How did you solve it?"

"We just worked harder. We scrimmed more, we took fewer breaks, we took more time out of our days." I said, "It costed me, though. Although the team listened through the very end, they started resenting me for putting them through so much work. They didn't have time to spend with their girlfriends, their families, or even just take a day to watch TV or chill." 

"But, it's worth it though, right?" White asked, "You won the tournament!"

"We did, but not really."

White frowned, "What do you mean, not really?"

"The last game was rigged. It was win-traded."

It took a moment for White to understand the words I was saying, but as soon as he did. His whole expression changed from intrigue to complete shock. It was like a truck hit him in the face.

"WHAT!?" He bellowed, "No fucking way!"

"Yup." I replied, "Our team mentality was completely broken in the semi-finals. If it wasn't for me, we would've definitely lost the semi-finals. That's why when our team received an offer from the opposing team to split earnings, the company that hired me was quick to jump on the offer."

"Surely you must've had said no, right?"

"I tried to convince them, but they wouldn't budge. I couldn't blame them either, even they started noticing how fucked our team morale was. The enemy team was also a titan to be reckoned with. They had all-star players. Each of the members were ace players; each with monumental achievements behind their belts. There was no way we were going to win."

"So you really had no choice, then."

"Yea, my choices were pretty limited. At one point though, I was also relieved. I felt shit for winning the tournament using dirty tactics, but with that much amount of money, it was hard to stick to your morales. Their company had taken underground bets favoring towards us as well. Who wouldn't love a comeback story, right? The enemy team would win more money-losing the match than actually winning."

"Is that why you left then?"

"Yea, I couldn't stand it." I replied, "We won the match because the enemy team threw it. We split the prize 50/50, but of course, they got more money in the end doing underground bets. I was going to get fired anyway; there was no way the team would let me continue on their roster. The players had all filed complaints against me. I got offers from other companies after leaving, but I knew if I stayed in the scene any longer, I had a high chance of getting completely lynched by my own teammates." 

"Even though you basically carried them throughout the tournament?"

"They were shit people, anyways." I answered, "Some of them were ok, but it as all about the clout for them. They didn't care about the integrity of the game nor the other teammates. Just their fame and their money."

"I feel you, man." White said, patting my shoulder, "It's ok, just start one from scratch here." 

"I was planning on, anyways." I chuckled, "This time, I'll do it right."

"Sounds like a plan." White said, "Hit me up if you do, though. I'm interested in joining it."

"You?" I said, surprised, "Seriously?"

"Yea, why not." He replied, "I can't make my own anyways."

"Really, why not?"

He paused for a moment, "I guess it's my time to keep up my end of the deal."

"You mean the level thing?"

"Yup."

"And?" I asked, "Spill the beans."

"You know how there were rumors of a beta test for the game?"

"Yea." I replied, "But they're just rumors, no?"

He raised one eyebrow at me.

"Yea, ok." I replied dejectedly, "Didn't think so."

"I got to test the first fifty levels of content for the game. That meant I learned about all of the towns, most of the quests, most of the things that made the game tick."

"How were you selected, then?"

"They got a bunch of players from Conviction Online. They didn't get the top players, because that would be too noticeable, so they just got relatively high players in several regions." 

"So you were one of them?"

"Yes." He said, "We had certain requirements though. During the live release of the game, we couldn't make guilds of our own, we couldn't party with other beta testers, and we couldn't be in the same guild with them. At least for the first year."

 "Isn't that a bit cheating though, since you know most things about the game already?"

"Nah, dude!" White exclaimed, "This isn't even close to the endgame content. We were also required to provide guides in the forums as new content came out, so it's fair." 

"So how did you get to level twelve so fast?" 

"Two things. Professions and farming spots." 

"Keep going," I said, intrigued.

"So, there are two professions that are really good for the early game. Herbalism and Potioncrafiting. I got a friend along with me to learn those professions as soon as the game started." White explained, "There's a potion that gives you 2x EXP rate for one hour. You can only make one a week, but the materials to craft it wasn't hard."

"I get it."

"So, I spent the first hour of the game farming herbs for my friend while he was focusing on leveling his Potioncrafting. You needed to be level five in Potioncrafting to make the potion. It wasn't hard to achieve, but you had to make potion after potion to increase your Potioncrafting level."

"Ah, so that's why you needed to gather a bunch of herbs for him?"

"Exactly!" White exclaimed, "While he was busy raising his Potioncrafting, I would farm all the herbs that he needed to lower the time it took for him to make the EXP potion. It was an even trade because he could sell the leftover potions that he didn't need in the marketplace, and I would get my EXP potion in return."

 "Tell your friend to make me one!" I said.

"Nope, only once a week remember?" White replied, "You would have to learn to make it yourself."

"Can you help me, then?"

Yea, I can give you the coordinates for good spots to collect herbs. The rest is up to you."

"Sounds good," I reply.

"Alright then," White said, standing up, "Since our information has been exchanged, I'll catch you later."

"No problem," I give a nod, "Thanks for the 1v1, it taught me a bunch."

"Pleasures mine." White replied, "Just hit me up when you make that guild, I might also have a friend that's interested. She's better than me in terms of skill level. She was rank two Assasin in the Korean leaderboards in Conviction."

"She?"

"Yea, she's pretty good." White said, "She's unfriendly to people she hasn't known, but if you get on her good side, she's nice."

"Hopefully she's not as mean as my previous teammates." I jokingly said.

"I don't think anyone can be that bad!" White laughed, "She's one of those japanese thingies. What do you call them?"

"Yanderes?" 

"No no, the other one."

"Tsunderes?"

"Yea, that one."

"Oh." I said, "Thank god."

White quickly waved me goodbye, leaving the training room. I laid back on the pedestal a while longer, thinking about what had transpired. That fight taught me a lot that I didn't know about the game. Since it was a friendly one verse one scenario, It didn't cost me anything for losing. I got a notification from White a bit later showing me the coordinates of the location to get the materials EXP potion, but I wanted to stay in the dojo a bit longer.

I stood up and promptly got some training dummies onto the arena. Looks like it was time for me to do a bit of extra training. 

Wintertime

Hey guys! If you enjoyed the chapter, then please spend time to write a quick review, or just rate the story. It means a lot, and it helps get my story more noticed. Thank you guys for keeping up with the story!

I also made a discussion thread for this latest chapters and any upcoming chapters, if you guys are interested in voicing anything you want. 
https://forum.scribblehub.com/threads/arclight-online-artwork-and-discussion.875/#post-15030

Release schedule: Two more chapters will be released later today or tomorrow, and then it's a new chapter every four to five days. 

Whenever I want to, fuck it.