Flashy Adventurer System : Show Off to Get Stronger!

"Haaah…That was a nice meal!"

"You've said it, boss! That lobster dish was truly heavenly! A food fit for the gods! What time is it though? Oh no! Boss!

You'll be late!"

"Ahh…Crap!"

Swiftly settling the bill and leaving a sizable tip, Shye left the seafood restaurant in a hurry.

…

"Haaah…Haaah…I thought we wouldn't make it in time…Well then, boss, show them all why you're invincible! Leave the squabbling to me!"

Going their separate ways, Seira made her way back to her seat among the crowd, while Shye returned to his ringside seat, as his match was scheduled third out of the four quarterfinal matches.

Speaking of quarterfinal matches, Shye glanced at the bluish transparent holographic screen to check the matchups.

1st-ranked Arthur Vermillion (Iron Jin) versus 10th-ranked Parme San (Wack Donalds)

3rd-ranked John Oni (Dark Sentinels) versus 6th-ranked Carl Bloodthorn (Bloodsteel)

2nd-ranked Shye Crowley (Raven's Blade) versus 7th-ranked Brooke Hayes (Sandstorm)

4th-ranked Almira Black (Hong Yun) versus 5th-ranked Lin Zi (Yudaina Yama)

'Hmm, these matches are pretty intense... except for Arthur Vermicelli's and mine. Likely due to the unofficial seedings and to build up excitement for our match...' Shye mused.

He was pretty happy with the current arrangements though, as it would help him conceal his trump cards for a grand reveal at the grand finals, hopefully translating into a shitload of system points.

'Almira Black versus Lin Zi huh…finally a battle between two rookies in the top five…' Shye thought inwardly.

Though he might not appear so, Siegfried and Maia's influence had turned him into quite the duel enthusiast himself. Thus, like everyone else in the crowd, he was eagerly anticipating the highlight match of the quarterfinals.

'Oops…dangerous…almost got sidetracked again…I must focus on my match first.'

Shye glanced at his next opponent, Brooke Hayes.

'Appraisal!'

[Name]: Brooke Hayes

[Level]: 76

[Occupation]: Adventurer (Platinum)

[Class]: Mage

[Skills]: [Blink Lv.4] [Spatial Tunnel Lv.4][Spatial Swap Lv.4] [Random Teleport Lv.4][Aqua Barrier Lv.4] [Earthen Barricade Lv.4] [Flame Wall Lv.4] [Fireball Lv.5] [Icicle Spears Lv.5] [Rock Barrage Lv.5] [Wind Cutters Lv.5] [Earthen Spikes Lv.5] [(Dark) Spectral Grab Lv.4 (Uncommon)] [(Dark) Shadow Blast Lv.4 (Uncommon)] [(Dark) Summon Wraiths Lv.3 (Rare)] [(Void)(Dark) Gravitational Drain Lv.3 (Rare)]

[Strength: 60]

[Intelligence: 190]

[Agility: 150]

[Dexterity: 80]

[Stamina: 80]

[Vitality: 110]:

[Wisdom: 60]

[Back] [Exit System]

'Oh? This woman is quite well-rounded. Although her arsenal of skills is smaller than that of Megan's from my guild, almost all of her basic skills are maxed out in addition to her uncommon and rare-tier skills being of high level. Furthermore, all of her attributes are higher than what I expected. Lastly, one of her trump cards…is the same as mine.

Seems like this will be an interesting mage versus mage match!' Shye mused as he stared at Brooke.

Naturally, such a straightforward gaze would attract the young woman's attention, prompting her to look back at him.

'Ahh…crap…' Shye inwardly cursed, thinking that he would be on the receiving end of yet another disgusted look. 'I'm not a creep, I swear…'

Surprisingly though, Brooke…momentarily narrowed her eyes and flashed a seductive smile at him soon after.

Receiving the unexpected smile…a suggestive one at that, Shye was utterly taken aback.

'This woman is dangerous…in multiple ways…'

A bit flustered, Shye looked away, eliciting a cute giggle from Brooke.

'Phew…Well, at least my next opponent wasn't a hateful bastard…' He mused as he redirected his focus on the ongoing match between Arthur Vermillion and Parme San.

As usual, Arthur's stoic, firm, and unyielding fighting style garnered awe and appreciation from the crowd.

His opponent, Parme San from Wack Donald's adventurer guild, the one who impressed Seira when the two of them watched the Wack Donalds Qualifiers, was a tall, black-haired young man who had a godly physique: big, strong, fast.

When comparing the two, although Arthur's facial aesthetics were way superior to Parme's, the former's physique appeared rather lackluster compared to the latter's.

Thus, the current match developments were truly a bit confusing as Arthur, the smaller man holding the smaller katana, unstoppably advanced at a steady pace toward Parme, the bigger man using a greatsword as a weapon.

Every time the blades of their swords clashed, it was the rookie from Wack Donalds who was blown back.

A truly rather comical sight to behold.

Still, although inferior, Parme San fought valiantly against the renowned Arthur Vermillion, fearlessly facing each of the latter's strikes head-on without backing down.

In the end, his persistence bore fruit, enabling him to inflict a superficial wound on Arthur with the assistance of a skill.

This empowered his diagonally upward slash to surpass Arthur's indomitability, shattering his unshakeable facade.

Unfortunately, suffering such a hit inwardly infuriated Arthur, hence, Parme was ruthlessly beheaded on the next exchange.

Still, brutal as his defeat might be, Parme won the hearts of the crowd, bringing honor not only to himself but also to his guild.

Overall, achieving a top 8 finish was supposed to be "good enough" for someone like him, who was merely ranked tenth.

Exiting the stage under thunderous cheers and numerous applauses, Parme looked glorious on the outside, however, only the man himself knew how disappointed he was.

He worked hard for this moment and truly believed he could win, only to be slapped by the harsh reality that true geniuses were way out of his league.

If only he wasn't matched against Arthur in the quarterfinals, he might've made it into the semi-finals, or possibly the grand finals.

Unfortunately, his dreams shattered and no one but himself cared.

After all, the world only celebrates winners.

Losers can be buried under a pile of shit and no one would care.

In fact, a few of those who cheered for him might actually be gloating at his defeat.

Joining the ranks of the fallen geniuses, there were two choices for people like Parme: Succumb to inner demons and fade into utter mediocrity, or realize the fact that inferiority was temporary and rise like a reborn phoenix.

As for Shye, he couldn't care less about such matters.

Proud sons of heaven? Fallen Geniuses? Shallow!

All he cared about was grasping at his dream of living a happy life with his loved ones, and he would stop at nothing, not even defeat, to achieve it.

Fall seven times? Stand up eight!