Chapter 781: Perk [GT Ranking Bonus Chapter]
And a few of these Positive Zones can only be used by one person and not a group or party that had been formed. For example, if two or more people enter a Positive Zone that is meant to give a thirty percent discount on point cost to unlock any or a specific ability, such an effect would immediately be annulled due to the presence of more than one person, rendering the benefit completely useless.
And besides, there were almost two thousand students, and the number of Positive Zones wasn’t even up to a hundred. So, despite the good news they had just received, it was as good as not receiving any news at all. After all, these Positive Zones could only be found through either sheer coincidence or pure luck, making them exceedingly rare and difficult to come across.
There were no clues or maps that led to them.
If people stumbled upon them, fine; if they didn’t, then they simply remained there, unused and undiscovered.
"And as for the Negative Zones, their effects are just as their names suggest. There can be food inside, but it would be poisonous. Of course, nothing harmful, but it has its effects regardless," AlyxAtlas began to speak on the Negative Zones. "Some, the moment you step into them, you will be cursed with things like blindness or lose your hearing. Some will immediately debit points from you for no reason, while some will show you illusions," she paused for a moment before adding, "and just like how the Positive Zones scale, the Negative Zones also scale upwards. For example, you can be locked inside a Negative Zone and won’t be allowed to leave until you wipe out everything within it, or you might encounter one with multiplied gravity," she explained.
The moment those words left her lips, the chants immediately came from the spectators in the stands.
"NEGATIVE ZONE!!!!"
"NEGATIVE ZONE!!!"
"FUCK THE POSITIVE ZONE!!!"
"POSITIVE ZONES ARE FOR PUSSIES!!!"
They all roared at the top of their lungs. At this moment, they seemed to forget about their bets as they simply wanted to watch the students venture into the Negative Zones and suffer needlessly. After all, they hadn’t come here to watch the students have an easy time through the Positive Zones. They wanted danger, uncertainty, and the possibility of disaster at every turn.
The students could only frown at this news. One moment they had been happy at the thought of the Positive Zones, and now they were being countered with Negative Zones. Clearly, whoever devised this mode of competition seemed to have thoroughly thought it out and balanced every possible advantage with a corresponding drawback.
Anyone with even a single working brain cell would arrive at the conclusion that there were likely far more Negative Zones than Positive Zones.
The chants from the crowd of spectators only made them frown more and more as they could already imagine the horrors that came with the Negative Zones and the countless unpleasant surprises hidden within them.
Asher simply shook his head with a sigh and said nothing. The name Negative Zones should be changed to Death Zones instead; that was a far more fitting name. From the description alone, they sounded like places specifically designed to ruin someone’s day.
"Now, any questions?" AlyxAtlas asked as she floated downward towards the gathered students, her eyes brimming with joy as she pointed out her microphone, waiting for anyone to ask something.
"I have a question," a student stated from the far end.
AlyxAtlas vanished from where she was and appeared before the student as she spoke, "we are all ears," then shoved the microphone into the student’s face after she was done speaking.
The student took a deep breath to ease the pressure he was feeling before he spoke, "are we allowed to attack other students?"
"HAHAHAHAHAH!!!" AlyxAtlas laughed as she floated upwards. "Now that’s a question befitting an occasion like this," she smiled at the student, giving him a thumbs up.
"The answer to your question is simply yes," she answered. "You can beat them up, cut off a limb or two, as long as you don’t kill them, anything else goes," she smirked. "And after that, their points will be automatically transferred to you without you needing to do anything," she answered.
As AlyxAtlas answered, the crowd chanted with madness and glee in their eyes, voices, and expressions.
"FIGHT!!!"
"KILL!!!"
"DESTROY!!!"
"DECAPITATE!!!"
"MERCY IS FOR THE WEAK!!!"
They were no different from madmen who only wanted chaos, bloodshed, and nothing else. They were here for the peak, and they shall get it. They didn’t care if anyone was going to lose a few limbs. Entertainment came first, safety came second. As long as the competition remained exciting, everything else was merely a secondary concern to them.
"Any other questions?" AlyxAtlas asked again, but this time, nobody asked anything, as they already understood everything that needed to be understood.
"And to make things more fun, a perk has been added," Thomasinho stated as he floated, his words causing the chants to die down instantly as everyone wanted to know what this perk was about.
"The perks are simple; they are flags," as he spoke, a screen behind him displayed various flags of different colors, one white, another green, another orange, another red. Eyes immediately snapped towards the screen as he continued to speak, "these flags only have positive effects, at least for their bearers," he mused.
"For example, the white flag. Channeling your Astra Energy into it automatically declares you the winner of any battle you are in. Meaning, if you are fighting against anyone you can’t win against, just activate the white flag and they will automatically be disqualified," he explained.
The students’ eyes immediately widened in pure shock. Even the indifferent ones were left stunned, and even the spectators were left speechless. Because this particular flag changed a whole lot of things and completely altered the value of direct confrontations.
It meant even the weakest student here could win against someone like Arianna Haellight. And if someone like Arianna Haellight was disqualified, billions of people around the world would immediately become bankrupt on the spot due to the countless bets riding on her talent, and particularly on her low betting odds, which told them she was likely to win against everyone, despite people of Crymora not knowing her particularly.
Silence now consumed the Coliseum, which had been filled with noise mere moments ago.
Thomasinho smirked as he had expected this reaction, and he savored every bit of it. With that, he continued, "other flags have similar effects. For example, the red flag can instantly double your combat power across all parameters."
The silence seemed to hold everyone by the throat in a chokehold as this was even more ridiculous than the Positive Zones. A simple flag capable of doubling someone’s combat power was an absurd advantage in a competition where every edge mattered.
And with that, Thomasinho decided to add the final nail to the coffin.
"And that isn’t the best part. The best part is that if you don’t use your flag in this qualifier round, you can carry it with you and use it in the next round," he added with a wide grin.
The moment those words left his lips, every student’s eyes immediately sharpened. Even people like Issac and Arianna, who were calm and indifferent, could no longer remain nonchalant as this also affected them and their future prospects within the competition.
"So, I will ask you again for one last time," AlyxAtlas stated with a smile, "ARE YOU FUCKING READY!!!!" She threw her head back as she roared into her microphone, the speakers rumbling as they tore through the silence and reverberated across the entire Coliseum.
"GIVE US THIS PEAK WE ASK!!!"
The crowd roared as they snapped out of their silence, their voices overlapping as the entire Coliseum shook as though an earthquake was coming. Stomps echoed, bangs echoed, flags were raised, cardboards were raised, names were chanted, and the atmosphere itself seemed to be nearing its breaking point as excitement reached unprecedented levels.
"THEN LET’S FUCKING GO!!!" Thomasinho screamed as he was more excited for this than anyone else.
An orb appeared in Thomasinho’s and AlyxAtlas’ hands, both holding one each, and together they crushed them. The moment they did, a blinding white light immediately exploded outwards and downwards, swallowing the students and throwing them into the survival battlefield without giving them even a moment to prepare.
A four-day timer immediately lit up within the center of the Coliseum. In front of the various spectators, a heads-up display screen appeared with the choice repeated 1,739 times, allowing them to view each student. They could even watch multiple students at the same time if they wanted, ensuring that not a single noteworthy moment would be missed.
And with that, the Inter-Empire Competition began in true actuality.
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AUTHOR’S NOTE: This Shameless and Greedy Author is begging for free super gifts... pretty please <(￣︶￣)>
