Free Avalon Rebirth by Mitchell T. Jacobs Page A

I have a job in the real world that I need to keep up with, so unless I can really start getting paid here…”
    “What's the prize payouts?” Erika asked.
    “For the D-rank? It's ten thousand per team member if you come in first place. It scales down to five thousand for second place, one thousand for third and so on.”
    “And there's major tournaments every three months, so the most you can make at the D-rank is about a forty thousand a year,” Taji said. “If you come in first every time. That's not a lot, and not very secure.”
    “No, but if you climb up into the C-ranks you start to be able to make a lot more. There you get a five thousand dollar payout just for taking part in the tournament.”
    “Yeah, but that's going to take a while to get to that level, isn't it?” Taji asked. “And there's others that are spending most of their time training for it. I can't. I have too many bills and debts to pay.”
    Darin looked over at Erika. “What about you?”
    “What about me?”
    “Is this going to make it tough for you to keep up with your job?”
    She shrugged. “Eh, not like I like it that much anyhow. Waitressing doesn't exactly pay that well.”
    “Better than nothing,” Taji pointed out.
    “Oh, I'm not saying that I hate my job, but if something better comes along then I have no problems dropping it. Of course, I have to pay rent, so I'd like to have some savings before I just walk away...”
    Leah spoke up. “If we can qualify this is the perfect opportunity to get into the scene. Right around this time of year they're going through the reseeding.”
    “Where they figure out the ranks, right?” Erika asked.
    “They're always keeping track of them. Placement in the tournaments does matter. But this is the time it matters the most.”
    “Would you mind explaining? I haven't seen much of these ones before. And when I did the rules always seemed to be really confusing.”
    “Sure thing. So in this tournament, everyone who participates gets assigned a point value to represent their strength. They take into account the amount of skill points you possess and what kind of abilities you take. Then the teams are put into a pool where they go through a one huge match against everyone else. Teams get points for the kills they make, and the highest scoring teams are put into the tournament bracket.”
    “I remember it being complete chaos the times my teams participated,” Taji said.
    “It is, at least for the teams that are trying to break in. The top ranked teams get an automatic bid for the tournament bracket, so they don't have to bother going through the mess. But the winning team in the tournament is ranked number one.”
    “And that's the key to it,” Darin said, picking up where she left off. “The top team in a bracket can challenge the lowest ranked team in the next division. If they beat them then they take their spot. Or more precisely, they switch spots.”
    “So we'd go up to C-rank and the team we beat would go back down to D-rank?” Erika asked.
    “Yeah, that's right.”
    “Huh, that's sounds pretty sucky for the losers.”
    Leah agreed somewhat, but it was one of the harsh realities of Avalon Online. The success stories, the top teams and the glamour took center stage, but for every major player there were teams that would always be stuck in the middling ranks, teams that could never get traction or would gradually lose their touch and fall out of contention. Even when they were at the top Leah had recognized it. Success and failure were divided by a thin line, and they could cross it at a moment's notice.
    And there were two ways that could influence a team. It could put a huge amount of pressure on them, forcing the players to constantly look over their shoulders at anyone that might be catching up to them. Leah knew that plenty of teams in the bottom of their respective divisions had to live in fear that someone below them would take their spot, possibly bumping them down to