***** PoV: Skeeraga the Huntmaster *****
Incoming challenger(s). A dragon with stealth abilities, seeking to absorb mass quantities of life and fire mana, and catch up on sleep. They’re from a new faction called Terra, so expect a completely different set of tools and abilities.
What a wonderful day! Finally, a chance to hunt something more challenging than a large pack of metal covered stompers or tent wearing glow boys. Sure, the skin covered sneakers that come with them may occasionally prove to be a challenge, especially when they use the armored stompers as distractions, but it happens so often these days that it’s boring.
On top of that, a new faction means that they will approach things differently, especially if they are not prepared for some of our more diverse biomes. It’s always fun watching outsiders stumble across biome changes for the first time, the expressions on their faces never get old, especially when they stumble across the edge of the fire or frozen lands biomes. It’s even more entertaining is when they realize that not all of the dangers of this Challenge are from being found by my hunters. Just because I warn them like I’m supposed to doesn’t mean they pay attention to that warning.
Regardless, I sent all of my minions to their starting locations, which are the same no matter who the challenger is for the first phase. They will arrive at the same point, and have the same amount of head start, but figuring out where they go from there is where things actually begin.
Portal opening in 90 seconds. Be ready!
As the last few moments passed, I took my place in front of where the portal would be to greet my adversary for this challenge, glad that there was no warning about dishonorable conduct. Not that anyone had been able to take me out that easily in quite some time, but an honorable opponent is always preferred. At the last minute, I remembered to stand several steps back from where I usually would as dragons are not small.
When the dragon stepped out of the portal, they were about twice as large as a hippofant, with scales that were red with a green sheen to them when the light caught them just right. “Greetings Challenger! Welcome to the hunt! I am the Huntmaster, Skeeraga.”
“Greetings Huntmaster.” they replied in a female voice, bowing their head politely. “What are the rules for this challenge?”
Wait, if she’s female, why do they have the extra set of horns for a male dragon? Actually, they kinda smell like both male and female somehow, which is fascinating. I doubt I’m going to get the full story on that before they leave my hunting grounds, but that doesn’t mean I won’t try!
“Greetings, Challenger.” I said, returning their bow. “Or is it challengers? The system was not quite clear on the details. Is there only one challenger, or are there more than one?”
“Yes.”
“What exactly do you mean by that?”
“Some of my enemies threw me across the void between worlds,” they replied in a male voice, with a smirk that clearly said they were enjoying my confusion, “and I landed inside a lady. For some reason, instead of exploding, we got fused together, and life has gotten… interesting.”
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“Huh. So, as far as tracking is concerned, there’s only one of you, correct?”
“Correct.”
“Alright. Then my minions will be tracking you as soon as your headstart is up. After your headstart is over, you have until you are Identified by five of my packmates, which will alert me to your exact location. When I personally Identify you, the challenge is over. The challenge area extends two hundred kilometers in every direction from the portal. Trying to go outside of that area will result in you turning around and being disoriented for several minutes. You get two hours to plan and prepare, provided you don’t leave the paved area around the portal. Remote scouting methods are both expected and encouraged. This is followed by half an hour of headstart, either when you let me know you’re ready, or when the preparation timer runs out. Either way, your headstart begins when I blow my horn. You will be scored based on how long it takes us to find you. The longer it takes, the better your score, and the better your rewards will be. Unfortunately, I don’t know what is in your reward pool, the Coverian System has not yet informed me of what non-standard rewards you agreed on with it.
“Be warned, there are many dangers in this Challenge beyond the hunters chasing after you. Some of them will be incredibly obvious, while others can and will kill you without you realizing they’re there. Do you have any other questions?”
“Not at this point, no.”
“Alright, your headstart starts in ninety seconds, when I blow my horn. Good luck, and Godspeed!”
“And you as well!” they replied, before launching some sort of tiny whirring construct into the sky. The brief look I had at it before it disappeared from view was odd, to say the least. It seemed to have four sets of wings, one on each corner, and what I believe is some kind of eye on the bottom. Given the circumstances, I’m assuming they’re using it for their remote scouting.
A mere fifteen minutes later, they came and told me they were ready to begin.
“Are you certain?” I asked, “Most challengers use at least an hour of their preparation time.”
“Yes, we found what we’re looking for.”
“Alright then. Ready, set,” SKROOOOOOONK!
As soon as the horn started blowing, they crouched down and lifted their wings so they were more or less straight up and down, before jumping into the air. It was even more confusing when they were suddenly covered in some sort of silvery metal, which added several large bumps on their wings. Before I could really observe or even comprehend what I was looking at, the bumps belched fire and they were launched upwards with incredible speed.
I had expected flight, they are a dragon after all, but I was not prepared for them to launch themselves as fast as an arrow, nor was I prepared for them to disappear into the trees of our rainforest biome without knocking anything over, or at least scrapping the bark off of something. On top of that, they outpaced all of my minions, forcing us to scramble in order to catch up to them.
“System, why did you not warn us they could fly like that!? How am I supposed to give them a proper challenge if you don’t tell me what they can do!?”
Because I was not aware that they could fly like that. Unlike all of the other factions, I was not able to observe this one very well before they entered my jurisdiction. They were quite literally dropped in my lap with no prior warning. If it weren’t for my prophetic subsystems, I would have been caught completely unprepared. On top of that, they discovered and annihilated one of the cataclysms all on their own, and this is the easiest way to give them what they asked for and keep them busy while I get everything else ready for what comes next. Do not worry if it takes you days or even weeks to find them, the same circumstances that led to their faction being thrown at me means that they have not slept in months, so one of the things that they asked for was somewhere to rest. I cannot give them that for free, not when I’m still setting up their Home Base Pocket and the Challenge Cycle hasn’t even been going for half a day. However, I have no doubts that they will be able to earn the rest that they need based on their general plan.
Oh. I was not expecting a personal response from the System, let alone one that is so heavily loaded. “Thank you, Master. I will endeavor to do my best to find them, even if it is nigh impossible to do so. You have created me to be one of your Huntmasters, and given me the ability to enjoy the Challenges that I present. I may not always understand why you have me do some of the things that you have me do, but you always have a plan. It is my Duty to trust your plan and see it through to the best of my ability, and the best of my minion’s abilities. For Coveria we Challenge!”