Pantheon Online

[A player has reached Tier 1! Everyone will now be logged out for one natural day. An announcement will soon be made on the Game portal.]

Colt cursed under his breath as he was forcefully ejected from the game, coming to in his game capsule. His thoughts were a mess as the notification still rang in his ears as he clambered out and dried off the remains of the liquid. 'Who the hell reached Tier 1!' 

He did not even bother to get changed as he rushed to his computer and booted it up. The holo screen appeared rather quickly as he began clicking frantically as he navigated his way to the rankings page. A deep frown crossed his face as he quickly discovered his own name.

Rank 99: Exile

'What the hell!' His eyes dashed frantically across the surrounding names, but he did not recognise any of them. 'How did I fall down in the rankings?' 

Of course, he knew how, but he could not understand it. As far as he was concerned, his growth had been rapid. If anything, he had been expecting to go up quite a bit. It meant that ninety-seven other players were closer to Tier 1 than he was while one player had successfully crossed that boundary already. 

Colt frowned as he scrolled to the top ten players. 'I should have known...' He let out a long groan as he read the name of the number one player.

Rank 1: Arthur Tier 1 Level: *

Colt slammed a fist on the table as he glared at the name. 'Why did you have to come back? If Camelot didn't have you, this would be so much easier!' His eyes flickered to the other names on the list.

Rank 10: Morgana Level 9

Rank 9: Parthus Level 9

Rank 8: Redbeard Level 9

Rank 7: Mordread Level 9

Rank 6: Aeri Level 9

Rank 5: Vas Level 9

Rank 4: Noslin Level 9

Rank 3: Merlin Level 9

Rank 2: Warclaw Level 9

Colt struck the desk several more times as he read the list. Camelot was dominating the top ten, but that was not his only concern! 'How the hell did Aeri manage to get ahead of me!' Of course, the only explanation was that she had absorbed an orb or two. However, were these orbs that she had stashed away, or had something happened after they had left the gates?

He could only curse at how fast she had reacted to the results of her Pantheon's defeat. Now, he could only hope that the rest of her Pantheon had not recovered, and she had taken this step to protect herself from him. The next part that annoyed him was seeing that Parthus had slipped into the top ten as well. 

He was beginning to feel a headache starting as one by one his enemies leapt further ahead of him. Although he did feel some satisfaction to see that both Mordread and Morgana had also slipped down the rankings.

'Everyone in the top ten is Level 9... So it's safe to assume that Level 10 is the threshold to advancing...' Colt tried to calm down as he read the list again. 'So why are they hiding Arthur's Level?'

That detail was bugging him to no end. Logically speaking, there was no reason for them to do something like that. 'They're definitely hiding something about Tier 1!' The only issue was what they were hiding. He did not like being in the dark, and Arthur's advancement would give the whole of Camelot an edge if there were prerequisites to meet.

'Forget it... It's not like I can do anything about it.' Colt let out a long sigh as he leaned back in his chair. 'I have to focus on what we'll do now... Everyone has to get stronger but there are still so many problems. The Civil War, The war with Sommerdan and I still haven't been able to confirm how the mobs have reacted to the decision made during the Council...'

'I wonder if Harik will be able to return home during this time... If he can, I'll need to focus on that Quest.' Colt's eyes flashed as he realised another important matter. 'Damn it! I didn't get the chance to warn Ania that I'd be gone again! At least it's only a day this time... It's not like anything can happen with that amount of time, right?'

He let out a sigh as the screen flashed to notify him that the developers had made an announcement. As he clicked on it to see what they had to say, David Warsaw's familiar face appeared on the screen. Colt listened carefully to David's polite introduction, hoping to hear a hidden hint as to what was going on. But David was on point and did not elaborate in any way as to how Arthur had reached Tier 1.

"I know you all must be eager to jump straight back into the game. But I have one last thing to announce." David smiled at the camera playfully as he cleared his throat. "Now that Tier 1 has been reached we have gathered enough data concerning the skill level of every player currently in the game. So I can now announce that the Open Beta is officially over!"

Colt's eyes went wide as comments flooded in underneath the video. But David seemed set on ignoring them. Most people just wanted to know how it would affect them. Naturally, Colt was one of these people.

"These Beta versions were strict to discover the level that all of you pros play at before releasing the game to the public. However, this does not mean that just anyone can join. For you amongst the general public who have been angry that we have locked this game to the pros, I say this... Here's your chance!" David grinned sadistically before he continued. "You can now access the game from your capsule but there's a condition. You won't enter the game properly unless you can beat the skill challenge we have set..."