He began looking for characters again.
The list refreshed in real time, names and ranks flickering as other players queued in and out. He scanned the entries out of habit — checking rank, win-loss record, the avatar class. Nothing stood out immediately. Most were either too high above him or obviously farming easy wins further down the bracket.
Then a request appeared.
He paused.
The person was C-rank, with a record of 10 wins and 6 losses.
Do I really want to fight this person? he wondered.
It wasn't that the stats were bad. Ten wins was decent. But the six losses gave him pause — not because losing was shameful, but because it told him something about how this person fought. Aggressive, probably. The kind of player who pushed hard and sometimes overextended. That could go either way.
He had been the one sending the request to people, but this time — someone had sent one to him. That was rare. He was usually the one challenging others.
So he decided to accept it.
