Reborn as the Vampire Prince at Server Start, I am Invincible

Chapter 159 : An Accidental Encounter

An Accidental EncounterTitles didn't matter to him; Chen Zixuan cared little whether he had one or not. What he wanted most right now was the 100,000 points reward for achieving 1,000 wins.

With that many points, he would surely sweep all the materials from the prize list. If he did, he'd probably never have to worry about materials again before reaching level 40.

A year might not be short, but it certainly wasn't long either.

For Chen Zixuan now, this was a huge temptation.

Since he was already here, he might as well try a couple of matches and see what level the other players had reached these days.

Switching off the interface before him, Chen Zixuan turned to look at Dawn's Light behind him.

"Registration's finished. Want to go a round with me?"

At these words, Dawn's Light put on a wry, exasperated smile and said, "I just barely won two games in a row. Spare me, will you?"

At the same time, he made a silent promise to himself: In the future, as long as Cecilia was online, he would definitely not come to the arena. Otherwise, if he finally managed to rack up a few hundred wins only to be matched against her, all his efforts would go up in smoke.

Of course, Chen Zixuan didn't really want to force the issue. He quickly scanned his surroundings and soon found entrances to several side halls around the main lobby. There were solo duel modes like 1v1, as well as team modes like 5v5 and 10v10.

The largest format was 50v50—fifty players versus fifty players—a standard large-scale battle.

There was no need to guess: this mode was obviously designed for the big guilds to spar.

The 1v1 hall was packed, while there were noticeably fewer people in the team battle halls. Without a second thought, Chen Zixuan decisively headed for the 1v1 lobby.

"Cecilia is about to fight in the arena—huge news!"

"Let's go, let's go! We have to see this for ourselves!"

As soon as the crowd trailing behind saw this, they hurriedly surged forward, eager to tag along.

After all, Cecilia's combat prowess was one of the most intriguing mysteries in Legend of Kaloran.

The video of her battling the spider elite monster in the depths of the swamp had already been analyzed countless times by players. But because it was filmed from too far away and the footage was blurry, no one ever found any real clues.

With such a once-in-a-lifetime chance today, nobody was going to let it slip by.

After all, Chen Zixuan's appearance today brought such a flood of information that it would probably keep many content creators busy for days to come and spark heated discussion among players worldwide.

Ignoring the horde of bothersome players behind him, Chen Zixuan approached the NPC handling registrations and chose the 1v1 ranked match mode.

"System notification: Please select a nickname or a randomly assigned system number."

A random system number?

Was this the option to hide your nickname?

After asking the NPC for clarification, Chen Zixuan understood the arena's registration rules.

When registering for the arena, players could either use their in-game nickname or have a random system number assigned to them. This was a nice touch, convenient for players like Chen Zixuan who didn't want their name visible.

Granted, with his current level of fame, hiding his nickname was almost futile. But still, it could help a bit, so Chen Zixuan didn't hesitate to let the system assign him a number automatically.

Incidentally, if the system assigned you a number, all your subsequent arena matches would display this number, much like an ID card. Others could use your number to look up your arena stats.

If a player wanted to change back to their nickname later, they'd have to pay 100 gold coins to modify it at the NPC.

"System assignment complete. Cecilia, your number is 0058. Best of luck!"

Chen Zixuan had expected the number to be long—six or seven digits maybe—but his number was only four digits, with two zeros at the front.

But it didn't matter; it was just a code. After choosing to start the match, the system began searching for an opponent with a matching level.

Ordinarily, the system wouldn't match players with a huge level gap, in the interest of fairness.

Unless there were special circumstances—such as if a player explicitly requested a PK match, or one player's level was so much higher than the average that the system couldn't find an even match.

At the moment, Chen Zixuan fell into the second category.

"System notification: A worthy opponent has been found for you. This may take about 10 seconds."

The scenery around him instantly vanished. A second later, Chen Zixuan looked around to find himself standing in a pure white space, on a roughly 100-square-meter platform.

No terrain, no environment—just a regular stage, the most basic arena battlefield.

There were still a few seconds left before the match started, so Chen Zixuan idly took out his dinner knife and fiddled with it.

Meanwhile, Yuewu heard the same system notification in her mind.

"System notification: A worthy opponent has been found for you. This may take about 10 seconds."

A flash of white light, and in the blink of an eye, she too appeared atop the empty platform.

As soon as she arrived, Yuewu quickly grabbed her staff.

Although the system would give players a few seconds to prepare after entering the stage, it always felt safer to have a weapon ready.

At the moment, the [Words of the Larkspur Staff] in Yuewu's hand was one of the sets Cecilia had crafted for her—a single piece granting over 60 magic points.

It was precisely because of this level 5 blue set, combined with her vastly superior level, that she had been unstoppable in the arena. She'd won more than 20 consecutive 1v1 matches, and even when facing assassins who directly countered her class, she'd always won with ease.

This would be her 23rd arena battle. With 22 straight wins already, a win here would bring her streak to 23—still over 970 short of her goal of 1,000.

But she was fired up. After all, the one and only legendary title in the entire server was simply too tempting.

As long as she kept up the pace, a 1,000-win streak didn't seem so far out of reach.

First Legendary Mage on the server? Yuewu was determined to claim that for herself!

However, a few seconds later, as her opponent was transported onto the stage, Yuewu froze in shock.

A... maid outfit?

That's right—the opponent who materialized before her was a soft-looking girl in a black-and-white maid outfit.

The outfit itself was already outrageous, but even more outlandish was the fact that Yuewu recognized the girl—by her hair color and face.

"Cecilia!" she blurted out, astonished.

She was genuinely shocked to run into Cecilia in a place like this.

Chen Zixuan, spotting his old acquaintance on the other side, calmly raised his hand and greeted her softly.

"Yo, what a coincidence."

Coincidence my foot... There goes my 23-win streak...

Just then, the system countdown ended, and the two players officially entered combat.

With a bitter expression, Yuewu helplessly lowered her staff. "What wind blew you here today?"

She wasn't blind to her own limitations. She'd already seen Cecilia's terror-inspiring power before. Their strength levels weren't even in the same league.

"The swordsman uncle told me."

Chen Zixuan also sheathed his dinner knife, answering truthfully.

Since they knew each other, fighting didn't seem appropriate.

"That jerk. When I get out of here, he'll have to compensate me for my loss,"

Yuewu gritted her teeth, guessing immediately—without being told—that he meant Dawn's Light.

"A loss? You've had a long win streak?"

Chen Zixuan asked.

Judging by Yuewu's reaction and what Dawn's Light had said earlier, it looked like Yuewu had racked up quite a few consecutive victories.

"Mm, 22 wins already,"

Yuewu sighed. "But it's fine. It's only been about an hour. I'll let you have this one."

A 22-win streak wasn't much of a loss anyway. If she'd been on a few hundred and then matched with Cecilia, that would truly be disastrous.

"No need. This is my first match—it's fine if I lose. You take it."

Chen Zixuan shook his head slowly, speaking softly.

He honestly didn't care about winning or losing. He was here mainly to check out the rewards and get a feel for the arena.

Of course, if his opponent had been a stranger, he'd definitely have gone all out.

"Really?"

Yuewu's eyes lit up.

She wasn't happy because she could beat Cecilia, but because it meant she could grind toward 1,000 wins sooner and claim the first legendary mage title.

"Yeah, go ahead—I won't fight back."

Just as he finished speaking, Chen Zixuan suddenly remembered a very serious matter.

Since equipping the [Rose Maid] set, plus the full-level [Maid Outfit Mastery] bonus, his current magic defense...

Was 810.

Plus, there was a 10% reduction to magic damage, and the passive effect from the [Rose Maid's White Veil]—when taking magic damage, recover 5% max HP per second for 3 seconds, cooldown: 180 seconds.

In other words, even if he just stood there without a single defensive action, with Yuewu's current stats, unless she had true damage, she wouldn't be able to scratch him.

Can you even break my defense, lol.

Yuewu could stand there and hit him all day without shaving off a single hit point.

Before he could warn her, on the other side, Yuewu enthusiastically lobbed an Ice Arrow at him.

By skill classification, mage players could be ice or fire types. Yuewu took the ice mage route, favoring crowd control, though with less burst than fire mages—a team-fighting mage.

Right now, the ice spear in Chen Zixuan's eyes looked slow in the extreme, gradually magnifying in his pupils.

With his current agility, he could have dodged it easily, but Chen Zixuan just stood there, letting the sharp ice arrow explode on him—dissolving into drifting snowflakes.

-1!

As the number floated up slowly, the atmosphere on the platform suddenly became awkward.