Chapter 181: Player level: 200

Chapter 181:

"Of course I am sure," Leon said.

He said it without the slightest hesitation. There was no heat in his voice and no pride either. He said it the way he might have confirmed the time of day, and the golden woman’s eyebrows rose a little.

"Of course," she repeated.

"Yes."

"That is a very short answer for such a long claim."

"It is a short answer because I do not need a long one." Leon looked down at her, and the corner of his mouth lifted.

"You are stronger than every other S-rank in this room. That is why you can stand in front of ten people who have just been beaten into the floor, and smile."

The woman’s smile did not change.

"And if you would like to test it," Leon said, "you may try me now."

A silence fell over the chamber.

It was the kind of silence that comes after a glass has been dropped and before it hits the ground. Nobody moved.

Nobody breathed. Even the dust seemed to stop in the air, and the faint ringing that had been tapping at the edges of the room stopped as well.

"Did he..." Maelis said weakly. "Did he just say that she was stronger than all of us?"

"He did," said Ilsa.

"In front of us?"

"In front of us."

"Oh." The lightning mage looked down at his own hands. His hair hung limp around his face, and a curl of smoke still drifted from his collar. "Good. I thought I was going to have to be offended."

"Maelis!"

"I am only saying, I have been struck by my own lightning, and now a boy has said that a lady in a nightgown could do it better, and I find that I am not even angry. Is that strange?"

"It is not strange," said Seraphine. "Cause it’s true."

She had risen at last. Her coat was ruined, and her red hair had been burned to her jaw on one side, and she stood with her arms wrapped around herself as if she were cold. Her voice was thin and puzzled.

"I should be furious. A day ago, I would have burned down this tower for a tenth of that. I am the Red Empress. But I am looking at her, and I..." She trailed off.

"You do not feel insulted," Haldor Wynn said quietly.

"No."

"Nor do I."

It was true for all of them, and the strangest part was that none of them had to say it aloud.

He had only told the truth.

On the far wall, Batnac had stopped trying to hold his breath and had simply forgotten how to breathe, not like he needed to in the first place.

Leon thought of the night at the Roaring Lions.

He remembered the man who had come out of nowhere, and the way the air had changed before he spoke, as if the whole world had held its breath to listen.

He remembered the pressure that had fallen on the Aegis, which had borne everything else without a tremor, and the sky splitting open above the ruins with the stars shining through the crack.

He remembered pulling on Brave Escape and running, because there had been nothing else to do. He had not forgotten the feeling.

The woman in front of him gave off the same feeling, only softer, like the same song played on a quieter instrument, and he wanted very much to know how much quieter.

The woman had not moved. She stood with her hands clasped behind her back and her head tilted a little to one side, and she looked at the boy with her bright amber eyes as if she were reading a very interesting letter.

She was no ordinary player, which was something even a blind man could tell from the aura oozing from her.

She was actually one of the ten Heads of the Player Guild Association, one of the ten people in the world who stood above every council and every rank and every seat in every headquarters.

Thokas, the man who had torn the sky open above the Roaring Lions, was another.

She had been standing in the room since before the council gathered, and she had been watching a boy she had never met cross every line the Association had ever drawn.

"You are very confident," she said at last.

"I am."

"That is a rare thing in a child."

"I am not a child."

"No?" Her smile widened. "How old are you, then?"

Leon frowned, but didn’t respond.

The woman sighed, placing a hand on her forehead.

"Kids of today have no respect for their elders, to think you actually killed an S-rank." she muttered, turning towards Garrick’s corpse on the ground.

"You may be a kid, but this is the second S-rank you’ve killed now... and now, you’re demanding to be made SSS-rank, you sure don’t know your boundaries." she continued, clicking her tongue.

"Hehe, who cares about boundaries. I’m the strongest person here, I set those boundaries myself." he said, chuckling.

The woman simply sighed, shaking her head in pity, almost like she was looking at a lost puppy.

Leon couldn’t help but hate that look on her face, and his expression squeezed into a deep frown.

He glanced towards the notifications that had been floating in front of him since he killed Garrick, and his lips curled into a smug smirk.

[+90000EXP]

[Level up! You’re now level 17!]

[Level up rewards: +9 points allocated to each attributes, +18 points free attributes granted]

[Level up! You’re now level 18!]

[Level up rewards: +9 points allocated to each attributes, +18 points free attributes granted]

[Level up! You’re now level 19!]

[Level up rewards: +9 points allocated to each attributes, +18 points free attributes granted]

[Level up! You’re now level 20!]

[Level up rewards: +9 points allocated to each attributes, +18 points free attributes granted]

He looked towards the woman, who had a number floating above her head.

[Player Level: 200]

It was a very high number, and it was about as high as he had expected.

Leon smirked.