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Although it took a little longer than they expected, when the results of Emilia's challenge were finally displayed on the big screen at the arena's entrance, most people had to wonder if there had still been some error in 'calculation' somewhere.
After all, while Emilia's performance had no doubt been incredibly exciting, the scores that Sylvia and Crystal received were only enough to place them in the seventy to eighty thousandth rank range. Even if they couldn't compare with Emilia, the disparity between them couldn't be that great.
But even after holding their breath for a while, the scores on the screen didn't fluctuate, and people finally had to believe that what they were seeing was indeed final.
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[Emilia, Elf Ranger, Level 13], has withdrawn from the [Warrior's Challenge]!
—Death Penalty: 0
—Surrender Penalty: -100 Points
—Injuries Sustained: 58 [-580 Points]
Grading Difficulty: Max. Each consecutive opponent was at least 25% to ???% stronger than the previous one.
-Grade 1 Score: 10 Points
Max Buff
-Grade 2 Score: 50 Points
100% Buff
-Grade 3 Score: 100 Points
100% Buff
-Grade 4 Score: 200 Points
50% Buff
-Grade 5 Score: 300 Points
33% Buff
-Grade 6 Score: 400 Points
25% Buff
-Grade 7 Score: 500 Points
40% Buff
-Grade 8 Score: 700 Points
50% Buff
-Grade 9 Score: 1,000 Points
Max Buff
-Grade 10 Score: 5,000 Points
Dancing with Death Bonus: 270 Points
Butterfly's Wings: 280 Points
Thirst of Blood: 390 Points
Brilliance: 420 Points
Final Bonus Score: 1,360 Points
Dominance Bonus: 2,480 Points
[Final Score: 11,420 Points]
Elf Warrior Emilia, Level 13, is now ranked [969] based on her score in the [Warrior's Challenge].
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While everyone else was still gawking in shock, Emilia was already smiling happily at the reward notifications that only she could see. 'Nice! Not only did I get my gold coin back, but my reputation in all the kingdoms is now automatically boosted by twenty points!'
While it might not sound like much, it wouldn't take long for people to realize just how difficult it was to raise their reputation from zero in certain regions, and a universal boost to the reputation was no joke.
Of course, Emilia was fully aware of the fact that she would lose this 'boost' the moment she was kicked out of the top thousand by other players, so she didn't dare to be too complacent just yet.
What she needed to do now was make the most out of her advantages before others started catching up, and that's exactly what Emilia planned to do.
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After the hero's 'leaks' of Arcadia's incredible effects on the human body, it had naturally attracted a lot of 'high level' attention from all over the world, and even the most skeptical of them all didn't dare to take it lightly anymore.
While the actual impact of these 'effects' may not be enough to shake the foundation of the societal system that they thrived upon, that didn't mean it could be ignored.
The world had been at peace for a long time already, and many volatile elements had been waiting at the edge of their seats, just waiting for an opportunity to strike. And if the effects of Arcadia could disturb the sense of belonging in enough people… that spark would be enough to set off a raging inferno that could engulf them all.
Of course, while the weak may perish in agony from such changes, the strong would only use that fire to mold themselves into an even stronger version of themselves, and that was exactly what many were looking forward to.
That being said, the top-level people would naturally never personally involve themselves with something so uncertain and nonsensical. That's what their underlings were for, after all.
They only needed to keep an eye on all the major changes, and decide on their next course of action based on that.
Obviously, although most of their attention was focused on controlling their people and the like, it was impossible for them to not learn of Emilia's challenge results.
Of the hundreds of people remaining in her live stream, there were quite a few 'spies' after all.
"Based on the analysis of multiple experts, the two girls Sylvia and Crystal both performed 'very well', and comparing their scores with 'Emilia', it becomes obvious that her performance was not only outstanding, but alarming." A middle-aged man presented the data to his leaders, his serious tone making it almost impossible for people to realize that he was talking about events that happened in a game. "No matter how skilled or lucky she might be, thirteen out of seventeen of them are certain that she must know some 'trick' or 'secret' about the game to be able to so consistently perform so well."
The men and women around the round table went through the documents and data presented to them one by one, and many of them couldn't help but frown.
Although Emilia's name had become moderately 'famous' in certain circles, mostly because of her face, it had clearly not been enough to catch the eye of these people in power. And for most of them, it was their first time looking at her face carefully.
One of the older males with a long white beard coughed. "Has anyone considered that she might have only gotten lucky once, and then things naturally snowballed for her from there? There's no need to take an insignificant little girl so seriously."
Several of them discussed it calmly, and many agreed that it was possible.
After all, they'd all experienced at least one instance where a tiny initial difference led to overwhelmingly different results later down the road.
In fact, many of them had already concluded in their hearts that the reason this 'presenter' was so intent on getting his hands on 'Emilia' must be because he wanted a new 'toy'.
The white-bearded man smiled. "Instead… should we not focus our efforts on acquiring the 'equipment' that produced those so-called 'superhumans' first? Even if this 'game' really has the ability to change people, and those things are nothing special, it won't hurt to get our hands on them anyway."
In the end, the elderly man's words won the approval of a majority of the decision-makers, and a lady in a blue cheongsam motioned for the middle-aged man who made the presentation to sit down.
"Our World Welfare Directive Council does not need to fear a single girl, and should focus on more important things first."
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