22 November 2975
In midst of the beautiful sunrise a golden orb hovered over the contestants. Most of the people didn't either notice it or bothered to notice it.
Reaching over the center of rocky mountain, where the fire torch was situated the orb stopped and the voice of the president of the council could be heard
"Well, congratulations energetic fellows for keeping up till now. The first round went pretty smoothly and this year the casualties were minimal."
Brock was speechless. He was still feeling dizzy.
"*Heavy breathing*...THIS IS LITERALLY CRUELTY...How the fuck they call it minimum"
The announcement continued
"...The next round is going to be interesting. There are 100 golden orbs like this hidden in the total test ground. Your challenge will be to find them.
AND OF COURSE THE BLOODY PART WILL BE TO SUBMIT THEM BACK IN THE ROCKY MOUNTAINS...."
Ryan glanced at Brock. Brock knew what he was thinking as Brock was thinking the same
"Many more to die!"
The second round scheduled to start after lunch. They sent food through drones over the rocky mountains. First aids and medical herbs were also sent.
Brock finally felt better after taking the grupin elixir. The lunch was great but both Brock and Ryan decided to eat minimal so that the full tummy won't get in the way.
Ariana couldn't be seen after the sunrise.
"Where might she be?" Brock sighed
The red-snake-mask or whatever gang pretty much established the unspoken rule that the west side of the mountain is their territory and none really could oppose
them as they might not be the strongest but united at the very least .The west side was packed with a crowd but no normal man could differentiate between two of them
for their similar costumes . All of them had a kind of cold look. Their eyes looked...lifeless.
The lunch session is over. The holographic mobile vibrated. A notification popped up
Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.
"The 2nd Round starts in 15 minutes."
Brock went to the edge of the mountain to take a view. The soothing sunlight of the morning was now the harsh globe of heat
Some other contestants were also roaming close to the edge, finding the scope to find the location of an orb with their bare eyes or with the help of their cosmium.
But of course things weren't that easy.
"It can be deep inside the ground, inside the tree trunk of the most dense bush. Or as the crown of a neo cobra resting in an abyss.
But it will be harder than the 1st round. And my instincts are saying it will be so hard that the first round will feel like a trifle."
Ryan grumbled to take Brock's attention when these thoughts were running across his mind.
"I can feel through any plants or herbs. Hope We will find one inside those. That'll make our job easier."
"Well yeah. My worst fear isn't that we won't find the orbs. It's after we find them...."
"I Know."
Ryan glanced at the gang with serpent masks .
They knew finding an orb will be much easier than to submit it.
The orb of the rocky mountains started the countdown
"5...4...3...2....1...GO!"
Brock and Ryan slid through the mountain slopes . Others were taking advantage of their cosmium to go down but they weren't too ahead of Ryan and Brock.
Reaching the plain land Ryan touched a shrub, trying to feel around using his cosmium.
"THERE!" Ryan pointed out toward the large rock. Brock made a sign of a falcon and crushed the rock with a gigantic sand hand. A silhouette of an orb could be seen
through the dust clouds. Brock chuckled and sprinted to hold the orb. But something didn't feel right. Everything couldn't go this easily.
Getting close to the silhouette, dust clouds disappeared
It wasn't a golden orb
It was black orb. And it blasted like a bomb.
"BROCK!"
Ryan tried to find Brock in black smoke of the explosion.
"*cough*cough* I am alright."
Brock managed to make a sand shield just in time.
"So...just because we find an orb doesn't mean we find a golden orb,eh?*cough*"
Brock grinned
"Yeah . More like
TRICK OR TREAT"