62 Chapter 62: Cool Challenge (2/2)
Barely had I just spoken to Troy about our rankings and him receiving a couple of challenges than I received a single one of my own.
”Who is it this time?” I wondered as I opened to peer at the contents of the message. To my surprise, it was a rather familiar name.
Jie Bing.
”Isn't he ranked among the top 50?” I murmured, shocked. If I wasn't mistaken, he was ranked 47th or 48th. I could of course check the official rankings on the school's online bulletin board, but right now I was too distracted to switch the holographic windows projected from my smartphone.
Well, this wasn't the first time I fought against someone from the top 100. I managed to defeat Theodore Hammond, and achieved a draw with Craig Carlson, both of whom were from the top 100. But other than that, I hadn't faced anyone from the top 100 ever since. I did face a few people who were ranked 100+ or 200+, but I lost to them (that was where the 9 losses came from).
This challenge was intriguing to say the least.
”Are you free today?”
That was the first line of the email. Jie Bing wanted to schedule our match today, if possible. That wasn't strange – most of the top 100 students maintained their ranking by fighting matches against other students daily. They did not win all their matches – many of them had a 50% win-loss ratio – but the sheer volume of matches allowed them to slowly accrue the points to put them among the top 100. Of course this wasn't always advisable – losing to a much lower-ranked opponent would cost you a ton of MMR points. Theodore, for example, slipped down about fifty or sixty ranks after his loss to me, and he had to win about another fifteen matches before he reclaimed his spots (which of course wasn't realistic, given that he wouldn't win fifteen matches in a row, and would inevitably lose some of them in between).
That didn't stop people from trying, though.
I considered the matter for a few seconds, then made my decision. Typing a swift response, I accepted Jie Bing's challenge and agreed to his proposed timing.
The match would take place today, in the afternoon, after all our classes ended.
*
What? Were you expecting me to enter the OP (Over-Perfection, or Transcend Perfection, depending on the translation) system or something? I'm not Wang Zhong. And I was not from the cannon fodder division, and Jie Bing wasn't from the elite division. Never mind there was no mention of hero division. And no, I'm not going to launch into some lengthy info dump about great clans, people lurking and spamming the OP forums or whatever. This wasn't that kind of story.
”You came.”
Jie Bing was waiting inside his training room. Even though he was among the top 50, surprisingly enough he didn't join any of the great societies. Then again, anyone among the top 50 had the right to form their own society, and unlike the pathetic societies formed from the lower dredges of the rankings (like my Ultimate Outcast Society), they would be recognized as one of the most prestigious ones. Jie Bing's Aurora Society didn't have many members and thus couldn't compete with the likes of Black Roses Society or Holy Saints Society, but they received a significant number of resources and funds when compared to the smaller societies like Ultimate Outcast Society. Let's just say Jie Bing's rank alone was enough to earn whatever society he joined or founded a godly amount of prestige points.
Worse, Jie Bing had a victory rate of 80%, which accounted for why he was ranked so highly in our school. He had been growing rapidly since his enrollment last year, and was one of the few first-year students, alongside Alicia Violet, who could actually challenge the seniors and fight on par with them during his first year.
Compared to them, I was an embarrassment. Which was why I was perturbed about his decision to challenge me.
”Well, it would be rude to turn down the honor of dueling you,” I replied easily, masking my unease with a practiced smile. ”You're such a cool guy.”
Jie Bing raised an eyebrow at that. He probably knew I was trying to be funny. After all, Jie Bing was an ice user. Come on, if Dad and Dong Fang Yue Chu specialized in fire magic, then there was bound to be somebody who focused on ice magic, right?
Jie Bing was that somebody. And if I recalled correctly after checking up on his profile upon accepting his challenge earlier that morning, he was just coming back off an eleven-win streak. No wonder he was among the top fifty despite only being a second year student. Wow.
The ice mage regarded me coldly, and decided not to comment on my poor joke. He merely moved on to the main topic indifferently.
”I've always been interested in fighting you at least once,” he remarked, his eyes glacial and his tone frosty. ”I heard that your magic is somewhat similar to mine.”
”…huh?” I gaped at him. ”What the hell are you talking about? You do know I'm a summoner, not an elementalist, right?”
Elementalist was the type of class used to refer to mages like Jie Bing and Dong Fang Yue Chu, who specialized in casting elemental spells. Perhaps they could create and summon elemental spirits, but that relied a lot of magical energy and casting time (because it was basically summoning magic) so the vast majority of them tend not to do it, or reserve it as their trump card or finisher move. Their elemental magic mostly consisted of long-ranged spells or elemental-wreathed close range melee attacks, like Fire Punch or Ice Punch.
To my knowledge, I knew Jie Bing was not the type who summoned an ice elemental to finish off his opponents. He was known for his brutal fighting style and direct frost techniques. He usually favored close-range techniques, but he was not adverse to freezing his opponent or firing ice projectiles from a distance.
”You'll see what I mean,” Jie Bing replied indifferently, his wintry tone causing chills to run down my back. He glanced at the holographic projection of Teacher Fielding, who was once again overseeing this match. ”Shall we begin then?”