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The [Challenger's Arena] was a 'game zone' located deep within the commercial zone of the Vermillion City, and while it might seem hard to discover at first, Emilia knew that everyone would learn about it sooner or later through various quests.
All they needed to do was go to the underground floor of the casino, and look for a staircase that led them further down. Sharing this 'secret' now would not only earn her plenty of goodwill, but would also enable her to 'boost' her reputation and popularity, as well as prove her 'skill'!
The moment they stepped into the new floor, a charming yet petite young lady with her hair styled into two big buns greeted them with a smile."Welcome, challengers! Since this is your first time here, allow me to introduce you to the rules of the Challenger's Arena!"
Even with her strange statement, no one could guess that this was Emilia's first time here as well, and everyone simply assumed that the behavior of the NPC must have been based on the existence of her teammates.
After all, if she'd never been there before, how could she know of its existence?
"We have three different challenges that you can choose from, namely the [Warrior's Challenge], the [Ranger's Challenge], and the [Adventurer's Challenge]. You can only pick one challenge every thirty days, based on which you will be given a score."
The 'guide lady' smiled. "Everyone has to 'invest' one gold coin or more to attempt the challenge, which will be added to the [Loot Box] of the arena. And at the end of each month, the top rankers will get a part of the [Loot Box] as their rewards, after which their scores will be reset to zero."
Looking at their somewhat strange expressions, she coughed. "Of course, that is not to say that you won't get anything now if you manage to do well. As long as someone manages to score within the top one thousand ranks, they'll get a full refund of their 'investment'. And if they manage to get within the top hundred, it will be another ten gold coins added on top!"
Usually, 'newbies' should already be incredibly excited at this point, not knowing that these ranks were 'global', and not easy to achieve at all. But after Emilia mentioned 'ten thousand' gold, the guide lady's words didn't make any waves in their hearts at all.
Some of Emilia's viewers even scoffed in disdain. "These NPCs are really annoying! Blabbering on and on about little things…"
"Bragging about just ten gold coins like that, just what does she think of our Crimson Witches? Mention the top prize already!"
"The 'people' in this game are really stupid and short-sighted. If there was any way to donate directly in-game currency, I'd send over a hundred thousand just to give her a good slap."
Of course, this statement quickly made a few people mock the guy for being a chicken and a liar, having never even donated a single penny to the stream before.
Feeling both enraged and humiliated, the poor man could only swipe his credit card to show the bunch of 'nobodies' who they were messing with.
[Mr. Dingleberry has donated 1,000,000 bits!]
The disdain was immediately replaced with praise and awe. Every 'hundred bits' was worth one dollar, after all. Even if there was a discount on large purchases, someone who could casually throw such an amount was definitely a 'whale'!
"Wowowow, this is a true fan of our Emilia!"
"It's a pity that she never checks the stream, or she'd definitely take a request!"
"Who knows, maybe she can do that later?"
Mr. Dingleberry couldn't help but puff out his chest in pride.
Although he couldn't be considered filthy rich, ten thousand dollars was really nothing worth mentioning in his eyes. How could these peasants possibly compare?
Of course, despite now being one of Emilia's 'Top Fans' on this particular streaming platform, he actually didn't care for the girl much.
She was a bit more pleasing to the eye than most, but the reason he was really watching her stream was not to admire her figure, but to observe the game itself.
Even if he was skeptical about Darryl's claims, he had to admit that the bait thrown by the guy was really worthy of a genius. Of course, if it really turned out to be a lie… Mr. Dingleberry would personally ensure that this 'genius' would never get off scot-free.
Meanwhile, the 'guide lady' within the game had already informed everyone of the rest of the rewards, unlikely as she believed it was for anyone to be able to obtain them.
The top ten prize was an additional five hundred gold coins, while the reward for being ranked 'first' was ten thousand gold, as Emilia had previously claimed.
Unfortunately, unlike what everyone assumed at first, the first 'player' to attempt the 'challenge' wouldn't automatically be ranked first.
"Ehh??? There are already thousands of people on the ranking list?!"
"Who the hell is [Lord of Thunder] supposed to be, anyway...?"
Of course, some of the smarter people had already figured out the situation while everyone was still fussing in confusion.
Although Emilia and the rest of her teammates were usually very careful not to open their inventories and status panels while 'streaming', they didn't care so much about exposing their 'maps'. And with the sharp-eyed viewers having seen the thing multiple times, they obviously knew that the 'region' the 'Crimson Witches' were currently in belonged to the [Fire Kingdom].
It might be a bit of a stretch, but with such a 'setting', it was easy to assume that there would also be a [Water Kingdom], an [Earth Kingdom], and so on. And obviously, each of them must also have some kings or lords.
This [Lord of Thunder] probably belonged to the [Thunder Kingdom], and was most likely its leading figure.
Of course, since they could deduce this much, it didn't take long for everyone to realize that the numerous names in the list must be from other 'locals' within the game.
"Sheesh, I was almost scared silly, thinking that there were thousands of 'crouching tigers and hidden dragons' who got ahead of the 'Crimson Witches', and just didn't let anyone know!"
"Ahaha… if there was really anyone who managed to achieve such a thing, how could they not brag about it?"
"Not everyone is an attention whore like Emilia, you know?"
"Hey, take that back!"
Of course, while her 'audience' was busy trying to drown each other in spit, Emilia herself was happily explaining her 'game plan' to the rest of her teammates.
Thirty days within the game translated to a little over two weeks in the real world, after all. Although they could always 'learn by themselves' and 'try again', Emilia knew very well what the value of time was.
A few hundred gold coins wouldn't mean much to them a few months later, after all, but at this moment when they were lacking both equipment and resources, every single coin could be considered incredibly useful.
"Based on the guide lady's description, I think Sylvia, Danielle, and Crystal should all go for the [Ranger's Challenge], while Nico and Robin can try the [Adventurer's Challenge]. Meanwhile, I'll go give the [Warrior's Challenge] a try." Emilia grinned. "What do you think?"
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