After that very amazing speech from the man, the voice spoke again to start the actual tournament.
[Thank you Lord Nestern for your amazing words. Now, ladies and gentlemen, for the first stage of the tournament, we have a very special test that has never been held before in all of the previous years.]
So, hearing that a new test was created, anticipation and also nervousness is a given considering the fact that they are the first people in history to try it.
'They really want to impress our little king over there.' Acht thought sarcastically. They were really trying hard so that Nestern wouldn't die out of boredom or leave in the middle of the competition.
[Now, please calm down and listen carefully. Our first test is…The Endless Maze!]
"The Endless Maze?" Someone muttered along with many others with a confused look. They never heard of such a thing so they waited for the man to further explain.
[As the name suggests. Our contestants will be teleported to a random part of a maze we created especially for this tournament. The goal of this maze is simple…You have to reach the center of the maze in the quickest time possible. The first 100 to reach it win and move to the next stage. The rest shall be disqualified.]
'Isn't this too easy?' Most of them thought for a moment before their naive way of thinking shattered into millions of pieces.
[Many of you will think it's simple. But, this maze is by no means a normal maze. Traps, monsters, and all other kinds of obstacles fill this place and they were specially made to make it even harder for all of you. Also, seeing how this is a race, confrontations between contestants is a given. The only rule is that there are no rules.]
The voice spoke as his words kept shocking the people like a streak of lightning bolts. They had never expected this kind of race at all.
They were basically saying 'do whatever you want in there and no one will judge you.'
It was such an absurd idea for a prestigious tournament like this one.
As they were about to start complaining about this stupidity, the voice spoke first to make things clearer.
[But, fear not, this doesn't mean that killing and doing anything illegal is allowed. Look at your ring fingers. Each one of you should have a ring in their hand. That ring is akin to your emergency button, if you feel like you can't continue or your life is threatened, you just have to think of the word 'Surrender' and you will be immediately teleported out of the maze.]
Then, to put an end to any kind of protest, the voice continued after a moment of silence.
Acht looked at his ring finger and saw what the man was talking about. It was a ring he was given when he reached the arena and showed his card. It was made of plain silver with black words decorating it. He could sense some kind of weird soul force coming from it that he couldn't quite understand. It had something to do with the space magic that these people somehow could use so he couldn't get it that easily.
'Lost elements are indeed a weird mystery.' He wondered.
[Not only that but, if it senses any dangerous threat that you won't be able to dodge or evade no matter what you did, it will teleport you 20 meters away from that exact place. You only have that function once. If that case happens again, you will be teleported out of the maze and you disqualify]
Then, the voice went completely silent again to let the people digest the information properly. His words made them sigh in relief since they were now sure that their lives are not in danger in this maze and they also aren't going to be potentially threatened by any anomaly that slipped into the competition.
'This test isn't fair for all people but it's good enough as a first stage to eliminate as many people as possible in the shortest amount of time' Acht thought as he watched the reactions of all people around him silently. It seemed that they didn't see the glaring hole in this test that could give an advantage to some contestants over the others.
"Anyway, it's not gonna be that hard I guess. I can't seem to sense any threat from any one of these people around me. Most of them are weak anyway." Acht muttered.
"...Acht…" Tania suddenly spoke to him as she pulled the hem of his shirt.
"Hm?"
"Me…you…team…" she muttered with her usual cute face.
"Hmm, but what if we don't find each other?"
"No…me…you…team.." she muttered again with an almost forceful tone.
"Fine, if we meet somehow in the maze, we can team up. Good luck." He said casually.
Then, as if the world was suddenly changing, the platform they were standing on started going down, deeper into the ground. It was akin to one massive elevator. Gasps of surprise could be heard everywhere as everyone instinctively looked.
They saw how the sky was getting farther and farther away from them and the voice of the man resounded again.
[You will now be teleported to the maze. Give it your best since everyone will be watching you on live TV. Good luck to all of you!]
Those were the last words they heard before a blinding light took over the place and they all fell into a state of trance that made them feel paralyzed for a good 20 seconds.
When they woke up, the scenery had already changed completely. The tournament has officially started!
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