Rise Online: Return of the Legendary Player

'How can anyone do that? I don't even believe that anyone among the top 10 players in the country could beat me like that, so how could this strange boy do it?' After thinking about it, Ashley shivered.

At that moment, she also thought of another possibility. A rumor had surfaced on the webnet a few months ago that a hacker had created cheat software for Dagger Dispute, and in her mind that was the only thing that could 100% stop her from making any points.

Logically, she began to think that Klaus had used this cheating software and was quickly convinced of it. No other thing could explain him having evolved so much in a few minutes since she had seen him playing the training mode. Humans simply couldn't function like that. And even if someone could do that, she couldn't believe that that someone was this random boy who approached her on the train.

"So, I win, huh?" Klaus said with a smile at her. Winning a date with such a pretty girl so easily should definitely be a record.

"You used some Hack, so it's not worth it." Ashley said angrily, crossing her arms.

Klaus was a little surprised. "Hack?"

"Stop pretending. You blocked all my points, that just sounds like cheating. If it wasn't a was a Hack, how did you do that?" She clenched her eyes as she looked at him.

Klaus sighed mournfully. "I just moved my fingers as fast as I could. If you don't believe me, we can go another match." He said.

"There's no point in that. You installed a Hack on my cell phone while you were in your seat. No matter how many times we play, the result will always be favorable for you." She bit her lips dismissively.

"Then why don't you check the files on your cell phone? That way you can check for yourself if there is any Hack software installed." Raising both hands, Klaus stated with a debauched smile.

"I don't know how the Hack works or where it is hidden."

"So, is it enough that you test the device yourself by playing an online match or do you have a better idea?"

"Yes, I have a better idea. I will use computer software to scan the files later. If you pass the NIST test today, we can play again and if you can beat me again, I will believe you didn't cheat and I will keep my promise." Ashley declared with confidence. She faithfully believed that Klaus used some kind of cheating software.

"Fine. Next time, I'll win the same way, without letting you score any points." Klaus smiled once again and got up from his seat, without even asking her name.

Klaus didn't bother her anymore and returned to his seat. The train was already not far from Woodbury and he should arrive in a few minutes, so Klaus went back to fiddling with his cell phone to make the time pass faster.

Although Ashley was a pretty girl, Emma was prettier. And in the past Klaus used to date a lot of beautiful women, like the daughters of Chun Park's friends and the daughters of some of the bosses he once had. So he was not in love with Ashley, he just thought she looked cute and an interesting girl with her immodest manner.

Ashley was in no mood to play anymore, but before she closed the Dagger Dispute app, she looked at her match history and saw that Klaus hadn't just played the practice mode. He had played ten matches online in total while she thought he was playing against the practice bot. She was instantly angry when she saw the losses, only her anger vanished in a few moments because she saw that Klaus had won the same amount of matches that he had lost. In the scoreboard of these matches, she could see that his progress was not sudden as she had expected, but gradual.

That being the case, she thought:

'Was I wrong and he didn't use any cheating?' When she thought she should get up and go to him to apologize for the mess she had caused, she looked back and no longer saw Klaus in his seat.

His luggage was gone too, and only then did she realize that the train had already stopped at the Woodbury station. She got up, picked up her luggage, and took a luxury car to the test site, which was a little way from the station.

Meanwhile, Klaus had already rushed to the nearest cab stand, which was two hundred meters from the station. Carrying his luggage loosely over his right shoulder as he ran, he got into the first cab he saw and asked it to take him to the NIST building.

The old taxi driver at the wheel nodded, pulled the parking brake, and ran as fast as he could. It was already two o'clock in the afternoon, so they only had fifteen minutes to reach the test site.

Luckily, the taxi driver was skilled, experienced, and understood the situation Klaus was in, so he used several shortcuts to get there as fast as he could. However, when they approached the estate where the test was to take place, which was further away from the town than Klaus had imagined, they found a huge line of cars on the road. Among the many cars were local police cars, press cars, curious citizens and participants from various parts of the state.

There was only nine minutes of delay tolerance left for Klaus to arrive at the building. He had no time to wait for the traffic to flow.

So Klaus gave the taxi driver the full fare, thanked him, picked up his luggage, and got out of the car to run to the NIST building so as not to miss his chance.

It was still winter, and the parallel parts of the road were covered with snow, but Klaus was not defeated, and when he finally finished crossing the forest through which the road cut, he saw that after all the NIST building was not just a building, but a huge property that resembled an old castle.

The various sturdy buildings on the estate, made of gray stone bricks, looked extremely imposing. There were long fields to the sides, streets within the estate itself, a large lake bordering the left side, and much forest surrounding the entire site. All the buildings were so vast and huge that the estate itself looked like another town almost the same size as Woodbury.

At this moment, Klaus remembered that Michael had told him that in the past there had been a nationally famous military academy in Woodbury. So, he immediately matched the information and concluded that this place that now belonged to NIST, used to be this military academy from the past.

Luckily, Klaus was fast and managed to arrive two minutes before the gates closed.

*

Klaus was confident from the start that for him passing the test would not be much of a challenge. Since in high school he had no friends and had to work harder than any of his classmates to make up for his recurrent absences with good grades, he was also someone who was intelligent, as well as physically and psychologically strong.

As soon as the tests began, the more than ten thousand candidates from all over New York State were separated into groups of one hundred people, making a total of one hundred groups.

The group to which Klaus was assigned was the Omega Group, and the first test was a standard running speed test. Using treadmills that gradually increased in speed and terrain difficulty, each of the candidates was monitored by a staff member in a white coat as they ran. These employees were live analyzing the data provided by the machines on their holographic tablets. It was more technology than Klaus had seen in recent months.

After the treadmill test, it was time for the strength test. First Klaus had to punch a strength measuring machine and then he lifted the maximum weight he could on a supine machine, which was 150 pounds. Even with Klaus controlling his strength in these tests, he got enough points to be above all the other candidates in the selection process, but when he saw the analyzer's eyes widening, he pretended he couldn't handle the weight and so was only in the top twenty-five.

Then there were ten more different types of tests. Sight, hearing, diction, circuit running, and even swimming were all tested.

Klaus knew enough of humanity to know that people don't usually like those at the top, and since his goal was to do differently from high school, that is, to have a friendly relationship with at least some of his classmates, he held back a bit to stay high enough above the other candidates.

Despite this, Klaus' archery performance was in the top ten, even though he had never used it outside of Rise Online, most people had never even touched a bow, let alone know how to aim and shoot with one.

And after a few more unusual tests, such as climbing and reflex, finally the quiz began.

...

Edited by: DrHitsuji

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