Chapter 57: Rhayne’s Statement
Max was surprised that he only took an hour of practice to increase his Arcane Bolt to advance level.
[Your Arcane Bolt proficiency level increased.
[Arcane Bolt (Advanced)] — a high-density projectile with strong penetration and reduced delay.
Damage: 110 attack
Mana Cost: 15 mana points
Casting Time: 1.8 seconds]
He was delighted of the changes of the Arcane Bolt. The mana cost might have increased by one mana point, but the casting time was significantly reduced, and the damage was greatly elevated.
With the advance level of his passive skills, he could still increase the Arcane Bolt to advance level, but time was of the essence.
The need to also balance his other active skills’ proficiency required his attention.
He proceeded to increase his mana shield and surprisingly, before the system warned him of his pod’s time limit, he breakthrough to the advance level.
[Your Mana Shield proficiency level increased.
[Mana Shield (Advanced)] — a dense barrier with strong resistance to physical and magical attacks.
Durability: 100 defense
Mana Cost: 16 mana points (+1.5 mana points/sec)
Casting Time: 1.5 seconds]
Like the Arcane Bolt, the changes brought immense joy to him.
When he logged out, it was currently 6 am in the morning, and he was whistling in bliss.
He left the pod with a clear joy spread across his face. Enzo was deeply immersed in studying, so he was vexed that Max startled him by whistling. His hair stood on ends as he thought he became a character in a horror movie.
Enzo gazed at Max, frowning. "Stop scaring me, Brother."
Max was surprised. He hastily apologized and proceeded to the bed, rolling around in ecstasy.
Suddenly, he was struck with drowsiness, seemingly inviting him to sleep as soon as possible. Max understood that he had broken his body clock again.
Max glanced at his brother and wondered why he wasn’t forcefully waken up by him.
But he understood that Enzo was busy in his school and Enzo trusted him to whatever he was doing.
Max was glad that he had a brother like him. Unknowingly, he fell asleep and his instant snore vexed Enzo greatly.
...
Max didn’t consume the sleep compression pack since there was no need to do so. His body also needed a complete rest. There was no need for his immediate attention into the game and he could rest without problem.
Furthermore, he’d just be training for a month inside the game, which translate into two weeks in real-life time. He had sufficient time to stabilize his foundation before setting off to the capital city.
Max had also decided to eliminate the demons outside of the village once he reached the limit of his training and if Archmage Arlen wasn’t yet ready to travel.
Max woke up, cook for himself, and ate heartily.
It was already March 6, 2028. Six days after Apocalypse Online emerged. He was already at D-rank and was far ahead by any players in terms of level.
He couldn’t be prouder to himself.
Before, I was still doing some errands just to level up to 10 and obtain my first class advancement. He chuckled just recalling his previous self.
After he finished eating, he exercised for an hour. He felt his body stiff after laying down in the pod for twelve hours straight and sleeping for eight hours straight.
He exhausted himself in exercising and cooled down for sometime by sitting in the chair.
Left with nothing to do, he finally opened his phone and scrolled in the social media. He furrowed his eyebrows when he read all the hate directed to him.
Rhayne Sterling had also released a statement, containing the narrative of what transpired during her time in the party.
She was surprisingly unbiased—praising Max’s ability to lead a party, pointing out flaws and helped her improve them. When Max read it, even he began admiring himself.
Max’s hatred to Rhayne soften, but when he read the last part, where Rhayne seemed to fail restraining herself, Max loathed her even more.
Rhayne actually twisted the narrative on the last part, focusing on her point of view alone. She, at first, described how incredible Max and his party of NPCs, fighting against a huge slime, as she claimed, with concentrated demonic energy around in the surrounding.
She admitted that if she joined in the fight, she’d be demonize and the battle would end faster as she’d be burdening the party’s support.
She then claimed that Max, despite already being aware that defeating the boss at the current level was quite impossible and require higher level to survive from the concentrated demonic energy, decided to risk because he was partying with NPCs.
She also added what Max’s response to her attempt to stop them.
Worst, Rhayne wrote that he said this, "Her mother doesn’t care if she die. It’s only just to sacrifice herself to defeat the demon."
Max was so infuriated reading that he clenched his phone tightly.
He was only subconsciously restraining his grip from breaking it entirely.
He was fuming in anger.
He closed his eyes, took a deep breath, and opened them again.
He continued reading and Rhayne also narrated how he despicably killed her. She did not even include the part where she blamed him first before Max was compelled to silence her mouth.
Rhayne then warned the players of the pain synchronization being a hundred percent when attacking different players.
She claimed that Max was definitely aware of such feature and yet continued to kill her without remorse.
Rhayne concluded her statement, saying that there was something wrong with him, as he treated the game too seriously.
There were commenters saying it was normal, especially if Max was a gaming maniac.
There were others who believed it was entirely wrong to act so addicted into the game, warning others, especially children, not to become like him.
As Max continued reading, he received a notification from the Aethernova.
He set the Aethernova as a main priority for receiving notification.
The Aethernova sent a message to him...
===
A/N: Thanks for reading! Don’t forget to show your supports by giving golden tickets, powerstones, gifts, and reviews! It means a lot since this is participating for WSA.
