Total immersion had a tickly feeling to it. From head to toe, I was being suited up. The new threads were a lot different from our hunter uniforms, and we were color coded. Team Owl owned purple, our tech- styled clothing variants of that color. I looked over to Naomi, who had a crop top with skinny mesh leggings. When she noticed how revealing she was, she let out an irritated sigh. Well, at least they gave us her favorite color! And she was rocking it, too, from the silver pads, to the chest plate that came with her outfit. Reina looked great too, wearing an alternative to Naomi's outfit, while I had a more rugged look, complete with a chest guard, leg and arm guards, and fingerless gloves and other accessories that were shared among my team.

But immersion was more than just looking awesome. Immersion was the first step for every round, a segment where every contestant would acquire HG-biometric integration systems. HG-BIS was a basic term for a bunch of things, from the ability to use the HG-Armor, to the usage of respawn tokens and other items. HG-Armor was essentially the tool that allowed us to take damage after damage without physically being wounded. Even though the receptors within HG-BIS were responsive enough for its users to experience feedback from both environment and other contestants, the physical correspondences were generous. The armor was a film that protected our bodies, and it prohibited fatalities in the arena, and was incorporated with our HG-Vitality points.

Basically, it went against all laws of natural order, which made Onigen’s system so fucking cool.

Speaking of HG-Vitality, everyone started at 100. It didn’t matter how strong you were, or what year of hunting you were at. The way we got vitality points was different compared to our other attributes—you score more kills, your health bar goes up. Right now, everyone was sitting at 1 HG-Vitality, and 100 HG-HP. So if I got another player at 0 HP, my vitality would jump to 2, which would translate to my HP going up to 200.

The power between contestants was something that wasn’t scaled, and that was why a lot of year ones wouldn’t dare enter the ring with year twos and threes.

“With all of these belts and buckles, we are doomed to get snagged,” Reina commented as she glossed over her new clothes.

“We have ten minutes to work with for the whole round,” I whispered to myself as I eyed the big ring in the sky. The countdown officially started. I checked my com unit and both egg locations were on the map.

The map was a standard city layout. It had a couple acres to it, nothing out of the ordinary. This particular map was called Camilla, which looked very much like Venice, Italy. Maps were randomized every round, but I was glad our first one was pretty straight forward. Straight forward and beautiful. The immersion phase allowed us to see the city for its true vibrant colors. Canals and bridges, Italian architecture and shiny cobblestone paths. The sky was ablaze with streaks of crimson and orange, reflecting off the shimmering waters at every turn. Before the total immersion, I didn’t smell anything. But now, the air was filled with the scent of salt, fresh bread, and the faint aroma of coffee.

I felt even more terrible for skipping breakfast.

It was a real sight for sure, and I knew I would’ve taken more time to admire it if it wasn’t for the tournament.

“Are we going for the Fae or the Hydra dragon egg?” Naomi asked me.

“According to the map, Fae is closer. But I suggest we wait.”

“Wait?” Reina gasped. “Why?! So the other team could capture it?!”

“Yeah, actually,” I said bluntly.

“We are year ones, which means that we don’t have the luxury of a vast item tool box like the other teams do. Unless you guys have a respawn token too, then I’m the only one who has one. That’s the only advantage I’m bringing to the table. And with our limited supply of items, it’d be in our best interest to let the other teams use their items, and then later, we can capitalize on any traps they’ve laid out. Make sense?”

“That’s risky!” Reina chimed. “We are relying on a lot of variables that we have no control over.”

“Reina is right,” Naomi said, “What if the other team has the same strategy? And what if the egg is trapped?”

Ensure your favorite authors get the support they deserve. Read this novel on Royal Road.

“Trapped?”

“Untouchable. A team with perfect defense will be unbreakable. The only thing we’d be doing is feeding their HP.”

“If the egg is already trapped, we are out of luck, anyway. So we might as well try. And if we don’t get the Fae egg, we’ll get the Hydra dragon egg. We have to get one right?”

“So we should reach for both eggs!” Reina added. “That should help us. With more options, we are—”

“Now you’re talking absolute nonsense,” Naomi retorted. “Spreading our defenses by being greedy will only lead to a quicker loss. That’s an idiotic suggestion.”

“More idiotic than standing here and doing nothing?!” Reina hissed.

“Yes.”

“Listen, I’m the captain of this team, and I finalize the tactical decisions. You trust me, right?”

“Actually, I don’t,” Reina said bluntly.

“What changed?” I asked in a flat tone. “You didn’t have a problem with taking my lead during our contracts.”

“That was because those are contracts. And this is—”

“A game? Where we could lose out on money, right? Was that what you were about to say, Reina?” I said a bit irritatedly. “It’s pretty crazy how you can trust me with your life, but not with your cash. Which is more important?”

“Don’t you lecture me about importance!” she barked. “You walk around like you’ve got this all figured out! When in reality, everything is still up in the air! I can’t lose! I simply can’t! And this is a gamble! One I refuse to partake in!”

“You have two choices, to wait it out and potentially 3rd party, or to go for the Fae egg,” Naomi said.

“All right. To make it fair, we will vote,” I suggested. “All in favor of going for the Fae egg now, raise your—” I didn’t get to finish my sentence before Naomi and Reina raised their hands.

I stared at my teammates in disbelief. “Seriously, you guys want to do this?”

“I have a very good hunch that the high ranked teams know we are going to pull off a play like this. So we need to prepare for both outcomes,” Naomi said. “If we storm in late, they’ll have the perimeter on lock down. Which would be bad for us. You could say that a well-oiled trap could help us, but that is only if we could manage to not only avoid the traps but take out the three higher ranked hunters out defending the egg.”

“I agree,” Reina said.

“If we charge in now, we could stop them before they use their items, bettering our chances of securing the egg.”

“So we need to quit stalling,” Reina said as she tapped the unit along her ear. “It doesn’t seem like anyone has secured it yet.”

“Fae?” I asked.

“Yes. The Fae egg.”

“So we still have time,” I replied. “All right. If we are going to do it your way, then we need to lay out all the tools we have to work with.”

“I don’t have any items, unfortunately,” Reina admitted. “My four slots are empty.”

I looked over to Naomi. “How about you, Naomi?”

“I have a few,” she admitted, my eyes getting big at her statement.

“Well don’t hold out on us, how many do you have?” Reina asked impatiently.

“Not enough to carry us through the entire tourney, not if we don’t budget them right. I have ten all together.” She listed them all, and then the four she had in her item slots. I told her to get the Egg Relocator ready.

Egg Relocator: randomly relocate claimed egg and nest from one area in the map to another.

“That might come in handy soon,” I said, and then turned to Reina. “We’re heading for the Fae egg, now. Remember, stick together. A team who supports each other has better chances of winning.”

With that, we were off. I was really hoping we could wait it out, but the girls wanted to strike now. There was no telling if two teams would go after the Fae egg. In the start of an egg spawn point, two teams were usually within close proximity. That’s so the game was balanced, providing opportunity for each team. What that also meant was that there were usually two teams going after one egg at any given time. Sometimes though, teams would change tactics, and one egg would be prioritized over the other.

I was hoping this was the case here.

Wishful thinking. We had no idea where the other teams were. The map would only disclose the location of the gold eggs. After we claimed them, then the nest locations would show up.

“80 meters now,” Reina said, and already, we heard a commotion. The ground was shaking, and the sound of two teams fighting could be heard from the north.

“Hey, the Fae egg was the closest to us and another team,” I reminded them. “Which means that the Hydra egg only has one team on it.”

“We should confirm,” Reina said, and just like that, Naomi began to levitate off the ground, her body glowing with a deep purple outline.

I grinned. “Hey, I didn’t know you could fly,” I said as she hovered over us a couple feet from the ground.

“I’ve been training with Hayashi too,” she said. “He taught me how.”

“Well, your ability to fly would certainly come in handy,” Reina said appreciatively. “Please, be a dear and scope the area. But be discreet about it!” she whispered, Reina comically hiding behind a tree as Naomi flew over for a better look.

“That’s not going to help you, Reina,” I chuckled, walking over to her.

“Shh! Keep your voice low!”

“You do know that we are being televised, right?” I whispered to her. “What do you think your sponsors would say if they saw you cowering like that?”

She pouted. “They’d think that I am cautious and careful!”

“I’d be damned if all it took was hiding behind a tree to not get snuffed out by pros.”

I felt someone behind me as I talked to Reina, and when I pivoted my head over my shoulder, I noticed it was Naomi coming back.

“Well?” Reina asked.

“There’s no one there….”

“What?”

“What do you mean there’s no one there?!” Reina cried.

When she said that, the sound of fighting did stop. But by the time I realized what was going on, it was already too late…