Chapter 99
this is a fictional story by realTensai
“Good morning, everyone.”
Alvis’ eyes shot open as the Priest’s voice dragged him out of his sleep.
“Not again,” Chao said, his sleepy voice filled with fear.
“I really enjoyed watching you yesterday,” the Priest said, making Alvis’ blood boil. “I’m expecting the same from you today. So, to make things even more fun, I’ve got a nice surprise for you.”
Alvis could hardly breath awaiting his next words.
“From now on, you won’t receive daily coins from me anymore. And that’s not all. At the end of the day, you all will have to pay a survival fee of 100 coins and whoever can’t pay it will die! Hahaha, I told you to spend your coins wisely so don’t act surprise now.”
An icy shiver coursed down Alvis’ back as he just stood there listening to the news. Even his usually fast brain needed its time to process everything he just heard.
“But don’t despair yet. Because I’m such a kind soul, I will add a simple rule. With every person you kill, you will receive 100 coins. Fair, isn’t it? Well then, let the fun begin!”
The transmission cut off, and the broadcast ended.
“This damned priest!” Alvis said, slamming his fist against the wall.
As if our situation wasn’t already bad enough.
“This will change everything,” Chao said, his voice oddly calm.
Alvis just stared at him, yet his eyes didn’t tremble in fear, as if he had already adapted to this game’s insanity.
“You’re right,” Alvis said, calming down too as his brain worked overtime, processing everything. “The humans stole our food reserves, so we have to pay coins if we don’t want to starve. Yet we still need 100 coins left at the end of the day, else we die.”
Alvis could only click his tongue, wondering about how strong the Elric’s curse had to be that he could just kill people like that.
“We have enough coins because we completed a quest yesterday, but I doubt that the majority of students even have 100 coins.”
“That only means that the fighting over the quest will get even more heated.” Alvis could already envision the bloody path that awaited them. “However, more desperate students won’t hesitate to take up the Priest’s new offer.”
“Kill a person for 100 coins,” Chao muttered, yet the disgust in his voice was clear to hear. “This guy is the worst.”
“Let’s finish up and go to the student council. We still have to plan what we are going to do against the fourth years and which quests we will target.”
“Yeah.”
They dressed up and made their way to the meeting.
-----
“Thank you all for coming this early in the morning,” Lia started the war council.
Sitting in the student council room were the leaders of each core group forming the big student council team.
Dane together with Sekki and Ulmi. Lia paired with Maya. Tristan and Loid. Kris on his own. And Alvis and Chao.
“Let’s not waste anymore time and get started,” Lia said, her emerald eyes shining with cold resolve. “As you all now, the fourth years will target us today.”
This novel is published on a different platform. Support the original author by finding the official source.
All the group leaders just nodded, as Alvis had already informed them about it yesterday.
“However, we won’t just let them kill us. We will defend by fortifying this building and turning it into a siege battle with us having the home court advantage. Did you check what I told you, Kris?”
“Yes, no one else is using this building, so we can turn it into our base.”
“Good. Still, for this plan, we will need enough coins to feed everyone and also enough coins to pay the tribute at the end of the day.”
Everyone’s faces went grim, yet no one despaired, a clear sign that they also had already adapted.
“How many coins do your team members have? Is it enough for food and the tribute?”
“Most of them don’t even have enough for food as they always spent the fifty coins they received daily for an extra food package,” Kris answered.
“Same for our team,” Tristan said, and Maya followed up with the same words.
“I haven’t checked on my team yet, but it might very well be the same case. But me in Chao have enough because of the quest we completed.”
“The same goes for me and Dane,” Sekki said. “But we haven’t asked the other members yet.”
“Because I know my team leaders wouldn’t do it, I did,” Ulmi said, rolling her eyes. Sekki only grimaced, probably wondering why he let her join his team. “Xing and I were smart enough to save up coins, but Diane didn’t.”
Lia listened with observing eyes before continuing.
“So, just as expected, we will have to earn coins by completing quests. Each member of the core group would share the rewards, so if one group completes a quest, all members are saved. Even if one core group can’t complete one, we can get them through using the coins transfer method.”
“The other teams probably plan the same thing,” Loid said, speaking up for the first time. “That only means the battle for quest will be even deadlier.”
“We just gotta overpower them with strength!” Tristan said, and Dane nodded.
“It’s not that simple,” Kris said. “We will have to carefully choose who will compete over a quest and who will stay behind in this building which the fourth years will attack.”
“That’s kinda hard to decide, as we don’t know which quests will appear and where. We aren’t the game master.”
Alvis immediately opened his system, Ulmi’s words making him remember his updated skill.
Game Master Lvl. 12: see things out of the game master’s perspective, Mastermind abilities still intact
Don’t tell me...
Without wasting more time, he activated his skill. However, the second he did, the world around him shattered.
Everything turned into code, a flood of numbers, data, and arrays tormenting his brain. Lines of glowing text and shifting symbols replaced reality, forming endless grids and patterns that pulsed and flickered like living things. Strings of variables unraveled in midair, twisting into equations he couldn’t comprehend. Functions branched out like veins, connecting invisible pathways that stretched far beyond his sight.
He couldn’t trust his eyes as he was met with a programming language even he didn’t know of. His mind spun the vortex of information being too much to handle, yet he gritted his teeth and opened up his game map. With everything being in code, he immediately spotted the places where the quests were programmed to spawn at. He saw what they would be about, their challenges and their rewards. Alvis tried his best memorizing as much as possible, but a sharp pain in his brain stopped the skill and the world turned normal again.
Alvis just clutched his head, taking a deep breath in and out as sweat poured down his face. Yet he couldn’t suppress the grin that was about to form on his face.
“I know the locations and content of the quests.”
Everyone shifted their gazes at Alvis, the surprise, and disbelief etched on their faces hard to oversee.
“How?” It was Lia who asked him, her sharp gaze making Alvis gulp. He couldn’t lie to her.
“As I completed the quest yesterday, I gained a secret skill which lets me predict where the next quests will appear.”
Technically, he didn’t lie, as it was with him completing the quest that his system updated. So Lia shouldn’t suspect him of lying.
Everyone’s eyes widened, as they couldn’t believe what they heard.
“But how can this be?”
“There a quite a few quests in video games where one gets a secret skill, so it isn’t unlikely,” Dane, the gaming expert, said.
“Wait, wait, it still doesn’t make sense,” Chao said, shaking his head in confusion. “Alvis and I are a team, so we should share each reward.”
“Maybe only the one who contributed the most gets the secret skill. Like a reward for the mvp.”
“I think so too,” Alvis said, just going with Dane’s explanation.
“But why didn’t you tell us earlier?”
“I’m sorry. I didn’t know what this skill was good for and I can only use it once a day. But now that I have this information, we can create the optimal plan.”
And this they did. Alvis explained everything and, based on that, they decided on their most efficient formation.
“Are you all ready?” Alvis asked after they went over the plan one last time. Dane’s, Tristan’s, and Alvis’ teams would prioritize the quests and Lia’s and Kris’ would stay back and defend against the fourth years. “The time for the quests to appear will soon come. Inform your team members about their duties.”
Alvis contacted Nero and Hibea, explaining that their team would have the hardest job of fighting for a quest. But they both responded with a simple okay showcasing their resolve. One look at Chao was enough for Alvis to see that the same applied to him.
“Let’s go.”
Thus, the curtain for today’s battles opened.