CHAPTER 32
"What happened? Was she too tired?" Hirang asked like nothing and left, leaving the little girl in the cold soil.
He was about to take another step when he suddenly heard a serene melody, and his surroundings slowly disappeared, revealing a white floor and a surge of loud cheers from the audience.
"Welcome back, children!" Tedie greeted excitedly and scanned everyone. The players' white training clothes were dirty. Most had some blood, and others had traces of elemental attacks. The players also looked exhausted, and relief washed over their faces when they realized the game had finally come to an end.
"I see that you've had a rough first game," Tedie commented with a chuckle. "But don't worry, we will now see the results of your struggle. Here is the list of people who have gained the most to least flowers in the game!" he announced, and a massive hologram appeared in front of the players.
1 OLN103 - 81
2 OEL51 - 75
3 OST87 - 74
4 OEL86 - 69
5 OID76 - 67
6 OAR111 - 64
7 OLU94 - 63
8 OFE137 - 59
9 OIZ54 - 55
10 ODE152 - 54
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25 OWS59 - 45
When the list appeared, the children looked for their names and then at the name at the top. Their gazes went to the little girl, who was now awake and was looking cluelessly around, still disoriented from losing consciousness. They all stared at her with frowns and scowls. One even moved away as it wasn't difficult to guess her method of gaining flowers with her disheveled and blood-soaking appearance.
Instead of the innocent look she had in the game, she was now smirking, proud of what she had accomplished.
Hirayon, on the other hand, only looked for his name in the hologram and finally found it in the spot before those who had given up.
'It wasn't surprising, but I was still hoping I was not the last one,' he thought as he tried to compute all his points by mentally adding them.
"Now let's see who will be this game's top ten!" Tedie announced, and a column appeared beside the number of flowers. Each row moved up and down in the ranks until a few seconds passed and the top ten was decided.
1 OWS59 - 45 - 11,350
2 ODE152 - 54 - 9,690
3 OFE137 - 59 - 8,575
4 OSZ61 - 50 - 7,970
5 OAR48 - 49 -7,185
6 OIZ54 - 55 - 6,525
7 OEM129 - 46 - 6,440
8 OFF134 - 48 - 6,185
9 OID76 - 67 - 5,755
10 OEL51 - 75 - 5,380
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17 OLN103 - 81 - 3,165
"Our MVP is something else! Congratulations, OWS59, for getting the first rank! Please give him a round of applause," Tedie happily announced and looked at Hirayon with sparkling eyes. He could already foresee the child shaking the Torneo with his potential.
"What are you feeling right now?" he asked, and a small floating microphone appeared before Hirayon.
"Tired," Hirayon answered honestly, his voice resounding on the whole arena. He also felt pain all over his body, especially his head and stomach, but he kept it to himself as he didn't want to look vulnerable to other people.
Tedie nodded in understanding, "Of course, you will be. Out of everyone here, you are the only one who scoured around just to seek flowers. You never tried to steal or fight with other children. Why did you do that?" he inquired and almost everyone listened attentively as they are also curious why the child didn't resort to stealing as that would secure his win faster. Moreover, he is more than capable, as he can already use elemental abilities.
"I simply don't like fighting," Hirayon answered honestly, astonishing everyone.
Unlike the flabbergasted audience, the children other than the little girl looked at Hirayon strangely. They weren't aware that Hirayon had never fought anyone else as his clothes were soaking in blood.
"We figured that out," Tedie answered, laughing happily and scanning the children's confused expressions.
"For the record, OWS59 did not steal or fight with any children the whole game. He only searched for flowers and the blood you see; that is the result of him fighting for his life against elemental attacks of flowers."
The children looked at Hirayon with wide eyes. Almost all of them had to fight other children for flowers, and they all decided to resort to that when they realized looking for flowers was like finding a four-leaf clover in a vast clover field.
"Did he find all those flowers?" One doubtful child asked.
The other players contemplated, "Yeah, and his score is too high. Are you sure he did not cheat?"
They all expressed their concerns as they thought what Hirayon did was impossible. Tedie also can't blame them since he would be doubtful if he did not watch Hirayon get those flowers.
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"Well, we could all attest that he did not fight anyone. We also know how he acquired all the flowers, but I want the answer to come from our top-ranked. OWS59, what can you say?"
Hirayon took a breath that made him feel like his lungs were full of tiny needles. It was painful, but he composed himself. "I did not cheat. I was lucky," he simply said, which did not satisfy the other children.
Tedie nodded and didn't push anymore when he noticed Hirayon becoming paler by the second. 'He's injured, so he must be feeling pain somewhere.'
"That's what he said, but if you really want to know, you can watch the game recordings. Just ask your servants as they will show it to you. But I am curious about one thing. Based on the data, all the flowers you acquired were worth additional points, and none were deduction points. How did you know which flowers would give you a deduction?" he asked, as that was the biggest thing that had been bugging him since earlier. Hirayon avoided all the flowers with equivalent deduction points as if he could see the list throughout the game.
"I memorized the list you showed us."
"That's impossible. We only have a few minutes to remember the flowers!" a little boy chimed, and a few agreed.
"That's right! Did you make a copy for yourself?"
"You cheated, didn't you?"
"There's no way you were just lucky. You're so unfair!"
Hirayon listened to the children's protests and felt more dizzy hearing them speak. He wanted to rest so much and leave the arena, but he couldn't ignore the other children because it looked like they would charge into him anytime.
Hirayon carefully breathed and controlled his shaky voice, "That's my basic ability. I have enhanced memory."
"What?!"
"Is he for real?"
"That can't be right?"
"But the savage girl also has an ability."
Tedie noticing more of Hirayon's struggle to breathe, removed the mic in front of the child and spoke again.
"Now that the final rankings are out check the equivalent award points and the gifts the Familia members want to give. You will find them in the rooms, and this concludes our first game! Rest well, children, and see you next week for another exhilarating next Game!"
Tedie wrapped everything up after revealing another list with the ranking's equivalent award points and the number of gifts the children received. When the melodic music rang, the servants immediately attended to their masters. They guided them outside and carried those who were too injured to walk.
FORT685 hurriedly approached Hirayon with a small smile. "Congratulations, master, are you injured anywhere?"
"I'm not sure," Hirayon answered in a daze. He was happy that he got many award points but was too weak to think of anything else.
"Let me carry you," FORT685 said and immediately carried OWS59, speed walking in the hallways to have him treated immediately.
When they arrived in his room, Savio was already there and fixing things on the table, FORT685 laid Hirayon on the bed, and Savio went to treat him.
"His insides looked battered," Savio commented as he scanned Hirayon's body using his ability. Now he was sure that the child used the blood ability and controlled it to allow him to continue moving after falling from a tree and hitting a trunk.
"Thanks to your stubbornness, your Familia was happy and sent you generous gifts," he said and glanced to the side where there was a tremendous gift covered with black cloth and a few smaller ones in the same packaging used before.
Even without removing the cloth, Savio was sure that the gift was an Opod as that was one of the most popular gifts the children received from Familia.
"FORT685 clean his body," he ordered while he prepared the injections.
Although it would be faster to give Hirayon a recovery pill, Savio doesn't want to, as the medicine has a side effect, especially for children who undergo an experiment. Even if the effect was small, the recovery pill reduces the chance of Hirayon's body receiving other elemental abilities as it returns the body to its original healthy state. But in the experiment, the substances reconstruct the body to accommodate additional elements. It takes time for the reconstruction to settle, and it will all return to the body's standard structure once Hirayon takes a recovery pill. Even though this doesn't always result in the body rejecting other elements, Savio wants to make sure.
After FORT685 wiped Hirayon's body clean, Savio injected a substance that could help Hirayon's body heal faster. The effect is considerably slower than a recovery pill but doesn't have a side effect.
"He will probably sleep for a few days," Savio said as he looked at the unconscious child. He still has bruises and wounds all over his body, but FORT685 already did first aid on some.
"Should I monitor his condition?" FORT685 asked.
"No need. Just check him from time to time. I'll be in other rooms, report to me if you notice anything strange," Savio said and left.
During this time, most children are sleeping and have already received first aid except for one.
"Useless! Not only did you fail to rank first, but you lost to Savio's child!"
Eliu paced back and forth in front of Hirang with his hands on his waist. He is huffing in anger, with veins protruding from his neck.
Hirang kept standing and just watched his trainer get mad. He did not explain or try to appease the man, contrary to his servant's wish, who was worried about the child.
She knew that this would not only end in lecturing and was hoping that Hirang would defend himself, but he also knew that the child was hard-headed, so she decided to speak up.
"I think no one expected the child to steal the first spot suddenly," she expressed her thought which was the same as anyone in the crowd earlier. No one expected Hirayon to win as his method was unconventional, and the fact that he was in the bottom part of the rank with the number of flowers he had.
"And who gave you the right to speak?!" Eliu fumed and glared at the servant with bloodshot eyes. He looked like a crazed person who would attack anyone on sight.
FOSV463 stepped back and bowed, avoiding Eliu's deadly gaze. "I'm sorry, trainer," she said, quickly apologizing as she knew what she did was impertinent.
"So stupid!" Eliu shouted and held Hirang's collar, lifting him close to his face.
"Because of what you did, your Familia did not send anything! Do you realize how important their gifts were? He is your sponsor! He could've given you aura stones!" he said, throwing the child on the floor, not caring if the child had received injuries during the game.
Hirang sat properly and looked at his dirty hands. He could understand why his trainer was furious. "I'll do better next time," Hirang answered instead of getting mad. It dawned on him the lost opportunity to get stronger.
Eliu looked at the child with a seething gaze. "You better be! Or else forget being strong. You'll die even before you get the opportunity because of your own doing," he said, storming out of the room.
R E H I L I Y A