72: Chapter 72, ranked 2nd in combat power, Allen.

Allen, the 2nd ranked in combat power, rushed to the Training Tower immediately after his Resurrection.

For the past four days, he had set aside his ongoing quests and monster grinding, ignoring even the "Golden Dungeon" discovered by his own guild, to devote himself entirely to conquering the 70th floor of the Training Tower.

"Just you wait, Leonhardt, I'm coming."

Allen muttered to himself as he arrived at the entrance of the Training Tower.

"The Eternal Second" — this was Allen's most famous and most loathed nickname.

Having consistently held the number one spot in every game he had ever played, he found it completely unacceptable to be ranked "second."

"The first place is remembered by everyone, while the second place is ignored by all." — While exaggerated, this statement was essentially true.

If Leonhardt's popularity was 100, Allen's was merely 5 or 6.

The humiliating nickname and the overwhelming gap in popularity made Allen feel the deepest sense of inferiority, despite being in the position closest to Leonhardt.

Allen wasn't delusional; he had long admitted that he couldn't surpass Leonhardt in the combat power rankings, but he firmly believed that he could "crush Leonhardt in a personal duel" because his Mythic skill, "Innate Domain," could guarantee victory.

Leonhardt "could use all weapons," but the cost was that he "could not use any attack skills," which was his greatest weakness.

As long as he used the "Innate Domain" skill to apply the "No Basic Attacks" rule, he could completely seal Leonhardt's attacks.

Although this wouldn't count as defeating Leonhardt directly, Allen was desperate to defeat him in any way possible and let the public know.

But the problem was that he neither knew how to meet Leonhardt nor how to get him to accept a duel.

"Damn, how does a newbie get to duel Leonhardt? Ridiculous."

When he heard that the newcomer Fu Hao, who had become Leonhardt's opponent by virtue of being a 'Legendary Disciple,' had actually conquered the 70th floor of the Training Tower and revealed that the 71st floor contained a "Leonhardt Mimic," Allen couldn't sit still.

"If I miss this chance, I might never be able to beat Leonhardt."

Now that Leonhardt had also become a Legendary Disciple and obtained a new class, even if he managed to secure a duel, he might not win.

But the "Leonhardt" on the 71st floor was in his state before becoming a Legendary Disciple, so the situation was different.

"Today, I must conquer the 70th floor and defeat Leonhardt!"

Allen made up his mind, took a deep breath, and stepped into the 70th floor of the Training Tower; he would never let anyone else take the glory of "defeating Leonhardt for the first time," especially not a newbie who had been playing for less than two months.

Fortunately, the experience from his four previous attempts came in handy.

[Conquered Training Tower 70th Floor]

[Clear Time: 10 minutes]

[Clear Ranking: -]

"Arghhhhh!"

Allen, who had narrowly dodged the flying swords 10 minutes earlier and cleared the floor by the skin of his teeth, let out a cheer.

Although he gained a large amount of experience points, the 96-hour ban from the game caused by his four deaths made the reward seem insignificant; for Allen, the glory of defeating Leonhardt was the greatest reward.

"I have to thank Fu Hao."

Initially, he had hated this newcomer who was considered Leonhardt's opponent, but now, only gratitude remained.

"I will complete your revenge for you."

Before entering the 71st floor, Allen made his final preparations: he sealed away all the magic skills and scrolls he might habitually use and equipped accessories focused on "Maximum Mana Bonus."

Just as he was setting the "Innate Domain" skill, he suddenly hesitated: "Shouldn't I be able to win without using Innate Domain?"

This was a consumable skill with only one use left, and he wanted to save it as much as possible.

"Forget it, don't gamble."

"Innate Domain."

[Please enter a rule to expand the Innate Domain]

[Remaining uses: 1]

"Prohibit the use of basic attacks."

[Are you sure you want to set 'Prohibit the use of basic attacks'?]

"Confirm."

[Innate Domain activation started, remaining activation time: 59 seconds...]

[Other skills cannot be used while Innate Domain is active]

"Now it's foolproof."

Allen stared at the timer, and while waiting, he began to fantasize about the scene after his victory:

"The video title will be 'Leonhardt's First Defeat'; after uploading it, reporters will definitely beg for interviews, so I need to clear my schedule... I should tell my guild members first, I've been ignoring their private messages for four days..."

As he imagined the more respectful gazes of his guild members, the activation time of the Innate Domain drew near.

3 seconds... 2 seconds... 1 second...

Allen gripped his weapon tightly and walked through the portal.

[Innate Domain activated]

[Entering Training Tower 71st Floor]

[Generating 'Mimic']

"Prepare to die, Leonhar... dt?"

The figure in the center of the map was not Leonhardt, but a handsome, sharp-featured man with black hair—though not quite as good-looking as Leonhardt, the face was familiar.

Allen froze for a moment, then noticed the rocks flying toward him at high speed, and finally realized:

"Fu Hao, you @#!#$@%!"

[Received 34,660 points of damage from Fu Hao] × 10

[Died. Log-in prohibited for 24 hours]

[Consumed 'Amulet' item, avoiding experience point loss]

"The Eternal Second" Allen, whose ambition to tear off his humiliating label was completely crushed by Fu Hao's "Earth Shatter."

["Newbie, Defeats the Strongest. (+105,220 comments)"]

["Deep Analysis of Leonhardt's Stats (+65,039 comments)"]

["Deep Analysis of Fu Hao's Stats (+72,591 comments)"]

["Fu Hao, Viewership Surpasses 1.89 Million (+58,001 comments)"]

["Leonhardt vs. Fu Hao Rematch Analysis (+96,298 comments)"]

Operations team employee Peng Yuzhen looked at the community homepage and exclaimed: "Team Leader! The reaction is too exaggerated! All the headlines and trending posts are about Leonhardt and Fu Hao!"

"The inquiries here are also exaggerated."

"What inquiries?"

"The advertising endorsement inquiries for Goldie; the transformation version is too cute, and showing it when the audience was at its peak was an absolute hit."

The business opportunities were attracted by Goldie, but the profits went into Fu Hao's pocket—even if the advertising revenue was high, it couldn't compare to a fraction of what Fu Hao squandered.

The next day, with 12 hours left until the penalty for "The Strongest 1 Second" expired, Fu Hao logged into the "otherworld" early and used a teleportation gem to travel to the capital of the Kalis Empire.

His current level was 261, far exceeding his original target of level 250—the reason for setting level 250 as the target was simple: one could only enter the combat power rankings above level 250.

The combat power ranking was not just for showing off: making the list granted titles and achievements, and breaking through specific rankings could unlock more special benefits.

Therefore, "pausing all quests upon reaching level 250 and heading to the Kalis Empire to register for the combat power ranking" was already common knowledge in the game.

"What rank will I get?"

Although he had defeated Leonhardt using "The Strongest 1 Second" and "Ten Consecutive Slashes," there was still a gap between the two when only calculating "standard offensive and defensive data."

If judged by "1-second burst," perhaps no one could match Fu Hao, but the combat power ranking was based on "attribute weight" rather than actual combat simulation, so it clearly didn't use 1 second as the standard.

"I should be able to make the top 100, right?"

The huge stone tablet in the capital square was engraved with the top 10: 1st place Leonhardt, 2nd place Allen, 3rd place Cliff, 4th place Zeus, 5th place Olmaster, 6th place Yukina, 7th place Pegasus, 8th place Romance, 9th place Richie, 10th place Mecca.

From Leonhardt to Mecca, these were all names familiar to veteran players who had been playing since the server opened.

"One day, my name will appear here." Fu Hao clenched his fist.

He set his livestream title to "Combat Power Ranking Reveal," and within just 30 minutes of starting the broadcast, 1 million viewers had flooded in.

Knowing that delay would cause viewers to leave, Fu Hao didn't wait any longer and touched the stone tablet: [Do you want to register your combat power ranking information? It cannot be canceled after registration, and subsequent growth information will be automatically updated.]

- "Nervous."

- "Definitely not 1st."

- "He already defeated Leonhardt, isn't he 1st?"

- "That wasn't the real Leonhardt!"

- "Predicting at least top 20."

- "Register when you're max level!"

The viewers knew that Fu Hao relied on "The Strongest 1 Second" and "10 Consecutive Critical Hits" to defeat Leonhardt, so their expectations for his ranking were not high.

"Register!"