paranoianovel Chapter 379: Leaderboard
Chapter 379: Leaderboard
At first, Thalion had believed that he was quite close, but his hopes were immediately crushed the moment he saw the first few places.1. First Daugther of the Hive - 19,030 Points
2. Prince Vorathis of the Vorakai - 18,200 Points
3. Zargaz Chosen of Tenebrice - 17,950 Points
4. Eric Chosen of Solarion - 17,490 Points
5. Maeve Chosen of Morgana - 17,450 Points
6. Second Daughter of the Hive - 17,130 Points
7. Felix Chosen of Eryndor - 16,870 Points
8. Calen - 16,230 Points
9. Ethan Chosen of Aeta - 14,870 Points
10. Elara Chosen of Isis - 14,660 Points
Almost twenty thousand points was insane. Thalion had gone above and beyond in the last stage, and this one had been going very well too, but it had only placed him a bit over nine thousand five hundred points. The crystal he had taken from the reef would only count at the end of the stage. Still, he was so far off from the top. The hundredth position had eleven thousand points, and from there it got even tighter.
Thalion had dropped down to the two hundred and ninety-fifth position on the leaderboard since the last time he had checked. It would be essential that this stage went very well for him—while horribly for everyone else.
The First Daughter was still in the top position, and the prince had risen again. Since he had started checking the leaderboard, those two had always been on top, which was very impressive. Zargaz, the Chosen of Tenebrice, who had dropped out of the last top five, was back in third place. He had probably just been unlucky in one stage or so to drop out. Eric was also holding on very well in fourth place. He had been in the top five of the last leaderboard too, if Thalion wasn’t mistaken.
Now came many new names. It seemed that the Chosen of Morgana had reached fifth place. Thalion had no idea if all the trial takers were from Earth, considering the high entrance fee of one thousand five hundred years of lifetime. Still, even if they weren’t from Earth, they were likely from a nearby planet, which meant that they would encounter each other sooner or later.
The Chosen of Morgana was especially interesting because she most likely possessed great knowledge about blood curses and how to improve them. Then there was the question of what was happening in Integrated Space. Evelyn had told him last time that the Spider Queen was engaging Morgana in battle. What would happen if Morgana died? And how long did battles between gods last? Thalion had no idea. It could be seconds or years, if not longer.
Next came the Second Daughter of the Hive, which showed just how powerful those termites truly were. Thalion wondered how many other termites had joined the system event. He scrolled down and found no other termite in the top five hundred of the leaderboard. It could be that they were all funneling their wealth into the two strongest. Thalion tried not to make guesses when it came to those termites. Until now, they had broken all conventions.
In seventh place was Felix, Chosen of Eryndor. Eryndor was the god who had blessed Sylas, which meant that even though he was human, he might come hunting for Thalion. It could be that they didn’t care much for Sylas, but better to be safe.
Maybe getting the amulet wasn’t Sylas’s only reason for wanting to kill Thalion. There could still be a divine will behind it. So — better safe than sorry. In eighth position was Calen. He had no title like Thalion or most others on the leaderboard. It could be that he was one of the stronger incursion leaders, or he was simply a lackey who had been given a Chosen’s loot so he wouldn’t be displayed on the leaderboard.
The Chosen of Aeta had dropped to ninth position, which in Thalion’s opinion was very good. This was one of the Chosen who would be actively hunting him to retrieve the item Thalion had stolen from his patron. Thalion wondered if Sylas and Kael had already joined their Chosen and were helping him progress in this trial.
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In tenth position was Elara, the Chosen of Isis, who had been Evelyn’s first patron. The interesting part was that Isis was a pure healing goddess, and the rift between her and Evelyn had occurred because Isis insisted that Evelyn become a healer without any means of attack.
That made it very likely that her Chosen was also a full-blood healer, which raised the question of how she had managed to reach such a high placing on the leaderboard. She must have a strong team — that was the only explanation Thalion could come up with. A healer also seemed quite useless if she wasn’t partnered with another Chosen.
She might win easily against most strong forces, but Thalion didn’t see her winning if she and her party had to fight another Chosen. The impact of a Chosen who could basically kill everyone outright seemed too powerful. If she partnered up with another Chosen things would look different, but what were the odds she had found a Chosen willing to work with her? Not that Chosen wouldn’t want a healer at their side, but they likely didn’t need a pure healer and why would they share part of the loot? Yeah, that seemed very unlikely.
There were also a bunch of Chosen in this system event, and many of them came from New Earth carrying an agenda from their god. So far it seemed the elves wanted to conquer the planet for their gods, and it would be shocking if the other factions didn’t have similar plans. Thalion would guess that even Eric had similar commands. The biggest question was what Thalion would do back on New Earth.
So far he saw only two options: either fully focus on himself while trying to avoid the fighting, or join one faction. He kinda didn’t like the hiding part because it would leave all the good people he had known in the tutorial to fend for themselves. The problem was that Thalion wasn’t even sure if he could join a faction. Eric had standing, but the humans were bound to bond together.
This could mean that Ethan, the Chosen of Aeta, might join, or people like Kael, Sylas and Kai. Thalion definitely wasn’t more important than the Chosen. Chances were high that he would be sold out or secretly killed on the battlefield while everyone else looked the other way. Working again with Kael, Sylas and Kai wasn’t something Thalion would ever do. The moment he met them again heads would roll.
Thalion was shut out of his thoughts as he felt a powerful ripple impact his side. It was not the only one; he was hit again and again. Something powerful was fighting in that direction. Thalion couldn’t guess their strength — it would highly depend on how far away they were, something he wasn’t able to tell. Without a second thought Thalion turned and shot in the direction the ripples were coming from.
Those strong fighters should be worth a bunch of leaderboard points, and should it be a Chosen, Thalion would simply hide. Camouflage of the Depths was always active and made him almost invisible after a certain distance. It all depended on how fast Thalion was moving and on the perception of the target.
Thalion shot through the water, speeding up more and more, but even after a minute of travel he couldn’t see anything. The only thing that changed was that the ripples got stronger and stronger. A few moments later Thalion was confident that it had either been two giant beasts fighting each other or a clash of two Chosen. This was interesting, and if Thalion timed it right he might be able to kill the surviving one depending on how strong they still were after defeating the other Chosen.
In the distance Thalion spotted a bright white light that seemed to move fast like a glowworm. As he came closer the waves of power grew stronger and stronger until he located two Chosen fighting. One he remembered quite well because it was the same one he met right before the system event started. It was Eric. The other was a green-skinned man whose aura made the aura of the crippled Eclipsari feel like that of a kindly person. That was one hell of an evil aura, and even Thalion had to focus on steadying his body to avoid trembling.
Whoever the green-skinned fellow was, he definitely matched Eric. Both fighters had already activated their boosting skills, raising their auras to unprecedented levels. Eric had wings of light coming from his back that propelled him through the water, and he used some movement skill tied to his feet that let him jump in one direction. He wore white armor and held his broadsword with both hands. The swings were so powerful they would easily cut through the green-skinned man.
Thalion wondered who the green-skinned fighter was the Chosen of, because he used no armor or weapon at all. Corpses hovered in the area around the two combatants; all bore Eric’s crest somewhere on their robes. That meant the green-skinned fellow was alone and had killed Eric’s entire entourage while fighting the Chosen. That was impressive.
This situation was conflicting. What should he do? Help Eric? Wait to see how the fight played out? Helping the green guy wasn’t an option — besides, with that aura of his… Maybe Thalion could use the dead body of that guy to nurture his elemental, or enchant it further and make a special ingredient out of it?