The rankings showed the top ten to everyone, and at the bottom was the individual position, which was only shown to the player who was looking at the message.
Ambrose saw his own ranking at the bottom of the leaderboard.
[11. Ambrose – Points: 11,567]
“Eleventh…” Ambrose staggered in shock and had to lean on the wall to keep him standing. He never expected this kind of result, but after seeing the number, he also had a bitter taste in his mouth.
He was one spot away from reaching the top ten, which definitely had the greatest rewards. The top ten players would also receive fame, which would help them in the future.
‘It’s fine. Eleventh place is still spectacular!’ Ambrose smiled and became very excited for his rewards.
At that moment, message after message appeared in his vision. He couldn’t even see the street and surrounding people anymore as there were simply too many messages.
***
[LEVEL UP!]
[Level 5 -> 6]
[LEVEL UP!]
[Level 6 -> 7]
[LEVEL UP!]
[Level 7 -> 8]
[LEVEL UP!]
[Level 8 -> 9]
[LEVEL UP!]
[Level 9 -> 10]
[LEVEL UP!]
[Level 10 -> 11]
[LEVEL UP!]
[Level 11 -> 12]
[1500 silvers Rewarded!]
[Teleportation Pearl (1 use) Rewarded!]
[Skill Scroll Rewarded!]
[Dojo Key Rewarded!]
***
Ambrose looked blankly at the messages and had to take a seat on the sidewalk to soak it all in. After a few minutes, he clenched his fists and let out a silent cheer for himself. He was extremely thrilled!
‘Skill Scroll! Teleportation Pearl! 1500 silvers! Amazing!’ Ambrose touched his chest in an attempt to calm his turbulent heart. He then took a look at the last message and frowned. ‘Dojo Key? Could that be what I am thinking of?’
He inhaled a cold breath.
‘Dojo Key might allow me to have my own dojo. T-that is insane!’ Ambrose laughed at him, but to bystanders, he looked like he had gone mad. ‘But still, the top ten rewards must be miles better. I am feeling envious, but this is still good.
‘Also, I am now level 12! Since I hadn’t used previous stat points, I must have 80 stat points that I can now assign!’
Ambrose took a deep breath and stood up. He pulled out his dojo key to see what kind of key it was. It was a silver brass key with the symbol of a dojo on it.
At that moment, the key started suddenly glowing, and it entirely filled Ambrose’s vision. The next time he opened his eyes, he was standing in front of a wooden gate and a dilapidated dojo. The yard was messy with growing weeds.
The key flew out of Ambrose’s hand, entered the hole in the gate, and turned clockwise. The gate creaked open, showing the empty yard and dojo.
Ambrose stepped forth, and the key flew back into his grasp. He tossed it into his inventory and entered the dojo. The floorboards had cracks, and the pillars keeping the ceiling up were worn out.
It looked like the dojo could fall at any time.
But Ambrose smiled while looking around. He then saw stairs going to the second floor of the dojo. He immediately went there, and on top of the stairs there were wooden doors without locks.
Ambrose pushed it open and saw a dusty room with an old-looking bed and an empty bookshelf.
[Do you want to assign this room as your spawn spot?]
[Y/N]
‘I can make this my spawn spot?’ Ambrose looked around the dusty room and didn’t even hesitate as he pressed yes. He felt something enter his body before disappearing. He now felt connected to the room.
“Funnily enough, this is the first place that I own, haha.” Ambrose sat on the bed and felt it shake under him. The whole place was crude to look at, but to him, it looked brilliant. 𝑜𝓋𝒩xt.𝒞𝑂𝗆
“I guess I can now train my swordsmanship in peace.” Ambrose laid on the bed and stretched his limbs with a peaceful look. “Interface.”
After opening his interface, he looked at his stat points with an amazed expression. He didn’t even have this many points to spend at the start of the game.
“What should I spend on…” Ambrose first looked at his experience points.
[XP: 200/450]
“Before, every level had a 25 XP increase, but it shouldn’t be this high if this is the case now. So, the amount XP needed for each level up has bigger increase now…”
He then refocused on his stats and thought deeply.
“Strength. I will put more in it. I think my Kill skill would be more dangerous with greater strength.
“Charm… This can be so useful to get quests if it works like that, but I am still not confident. But I will add more to it. I hope I am not wrong.
“Intelligence. Sure, a little bit more is fine.
“Luck. Hmm, I noticed that I dropped a wooden sword, which was rather lucky that I didn’t drop my shortsword. So luck could also influence that. I might as well add a little bit more.
“Agility. Kill needs more speed, but I don’t plan on relying on agility too much, so a little bit more.
“Vitality is fine. After leveling up so much, my HP is now staggering 85.
“Dexterity, definitely. Kill needs it.
“Stamina; Kill needs it too.”
Ambrose rubbed his chin and nodded firmly. He began assigning the stats without any hesitation, and the interface soon looked like this.
***
[Name: Ambrose]
[Level: 12]
[Class: Swordsman]
[Title: ]
[XP: 200/450]
[HP: 85/85]
[SP: 0]
[Silver: 1500]
[STR: 25]
[CHA: 20]
[INT: 10]
[LUC: 10]
[AGI: 10]
[VIT: 20]
[DEX: 35]
[STA: 30]
***
“I put 15 points on strength, 10 on charm, 2 on intelligence, 4 on luck, 9 on agility, none on vitality, 20 on dexterity, and 15 on stamina.”
Ambrose was very satisfied with it and then closed the interface. The 1500 silvers were still vivid in his memory, and he wasn’t sure where to spend them all.
“1500 steaming buns sounds like a good investment.” He chuckled after making a joke and then opened his inventory. He took out the skill scroll and teleportation pearl.
“Teleportation pearl sounds amazing, but only for one use.” Ambrose frowned. “I am not sure if I should use it even if I am about to die. I can always recover from dying, but this seems very precious. I could sell it, but I kind of want to keep it for now.”
He put it back in his inventory and then looked at the skill scroll. “Hmm, let’s try if I can make another skill.
He looked at the blank, empty scroll and concentrated on creating the skill.
Ambrose stood silently in the dusty room while the sky above Amaterasu turned dark.
However, after trying everything, he couldn’t create a skill.
“Why is it now difficult?” Ambrose pinched on his glabella and put the scroll back in the inventory, giving up for now.
“Is anyone here!”
A booming sound came from downstairs.
“What the hell?” Ambrose frowned and left the room, then reached the dojo’s main room, which was often used by masters of the dojo to teach their students about the principles of swordsmanship.
At the entrance of the dojo, there was a bushy-browed man with five goons behind him. He didn’t look like a pleasant person and hadn’t come here to simply say hey.
“Who are you?” Ambrose asked with a frown.
“I am Ken from Reverse Tiger Blade Dojo. Your dojo is in our territory; therefore, I am here to challenge your dojo!” Ken pulled out his shortsword. However, he was strangely holding it in a reverse grip, which wasn’t commonly seen.
“In your territory?” Ambrose rolled his eyes. ‘Great.’
“If you defeat me, we will allow you to stay here if you pay us a fee of 1000 silvers monthly. However, if you lose, you must leave this city immediately!”
“So, even if I win, I will lose.” Ambrose clicked his tongue and pulled out his shortsword. “I won’t be paying you anything.”
“You have no choice!” Ken shouted and lunged forward. “You don’t want to make enemies out of us!”