Chapter 39: War
The Hunter Union had conducted many surveys on its gold test. For the gold test when asked which was the scenario that one wanted to get the most in the second round, the answers varied from person to person depending on their or their team's skills. Scenarios like Hunt, Search, or Labyrinth usually took the top spots.
But when it was asked which was the scenario that they wanted to encounter the least, there was no top three list. There was only the first. Every surveyor unanimously gave the same answer.
War.
War, or as everyone fondly called it, the Civil War. It was possible to fail the objective of war. In the other scenarios, the objectives were team based. For example, in Hunt, the teams had to hunt demonic beasts for scores and the teams with the best scores win. In labyrinth, the first eight teams to find the exit would pass. And so on.
But the objective of War was a common objective. If the common objective was not met, then every single team could fail. And it was incredibly difficult to pass. Thus War boasted a spectacular ninety nine in hundred chance of failing completely. And even if by some miracle the main objective was cleared, rarely did thirty two people pass the test.
In other scenarios, if even a single member of the team died, by which it means that they were teleported out, the team would be disqualified. In War it was possible for a team to partially pass even if some of members of the team died. Otherwise, the chance that a team would pass War was less than one in ten thousand. Even with this rule, it was difficult for thirty two people to survive till the end.
The rule of War was exceptionally simple. The base of operations of the participants was a city with a white flag in the center. The city was under attack by the demonic beasts.
The objective of War was to go into the base of the demonic beasts and destroy the black flag that was there before the white flag in the city was destroyed by the beasts. If the black flag was not destroyed, or the white flag was destroyed first, War was considered to have failed.
This means that some of the participants would have to stay behind to defend the city, while some others had to go and destroy the black flag. The only rule was that the entire team had to move together for the same mission. Thus either the entire team stayed behind to defend or the entire team went to attack. It was not possible to split up a team.
These rules gave rise to a lot of problems. First of all, who defended the city and who attacked the beast den was left entirely up to the participants. There was no leader selected too. Thus if some disagreement occurred, and if everyone wanted to defend or everyone wanted to attack, or someone objected to the plan, it was far too easy for a fight to start. And since fighting between participants were not prohibited, it was common for participants to fight and kill others. According to legends, there were quite a lot of times, when the entire group but one was eliminated by the infighting, and seeing that it was impossible to both defend and attack at the same time, the last participant would simply kill himself to save time.
Also in a situation like War, it might be necessary for some special skills like scouting or healing. Since the entire team had to move together, it was possible that people with no skills in scouting had to scout, increasing the chances of death. Also if a person with a good or useful ability was there, the attacking and defending teams might fight over that team, all increasing the chance of failure.
Not only that, in case more than thirty two people passed War, the final thirty two was chosen by the examiners based on their performance in War. Thus there was usually a fight to get posts that people thought would give them an advantage.
But no one complained about War, as this was the only scenario where it was possible to get resources during the round. But the resources that one could get was different depending on the positions. This was another point of contentions.
All in all there was a much higher number of War cases where infighting occurred than those without. In War it was more likely to be killed by others rather than beasts. All of this contributed to war getting its nickname, Civil War.
Many people had tried to change the rules of War, or to simply eliminate it from the gold test entirely. But this did not seem to work. The sadistic bastards in charge enjoyed War the most, and thought of the whole thing as a game. Thankfully War had a very low chance of happening or no one would come to take the exam.
As the team watched the participants rage and complain, they simply smiled as they were used to this. They then quickly explained the rules to the people who did not know of them. But since War was probably the most well known scenario, almost everyone knew of its rules
"The second round would start tomorrow morning. It is currently noon. We have prepared rooms for all of you to stay in until then. Please wait while the teams are decided. If you do not mind which team you are put in, please go through the door on the right to reach the accommodation. If some of you would like to move as a team, please wait here for a while to give your names so that we can try and make it so. Also please note that the maximum number of people that can be in one team is four. Also please note that this is not a guarantee, and we will only try to make teams as per your request, and teams might be broken up if necessary."
Bai Yun did not care too much about where he ended up and then simply left. But most others did not do so. Only the strongest or the stupidest would not care where they ended up in War. If there was a divide in the team on what to do between the various roles, a Civil War might break out within a team itself.
As he left, he noticed that three others were leaving with him. They included both the spear youth as well as the strange creature. There was also one other person who was sauntering off to the exit.
Bai Yun was stunned as he looked at him. He was wearing a robe that seemed to have as many colors as possible and blinded one when you looked at it for the first time. The robe came together in an insane fashion almost making one unable to tear one's eyes away from it. That person might as well right the words target on his forehead. To top it all off, he even had a rose taped on his chest.
'An idiot.' Bai Yun made a snap judgment. But it did not matter to him at all. So he directly left the hall and went towards his accommodation, choosing to meditate and practice his skills as he did so. As he trained, Bai Yun felt that he was getting close to the second move of the moonlight sword, rain under the moonlight.
As Bai Yun trained, the control room was in a rigid discussion. Usually, the entire team making exercise was an easy thing, where they simply grouped people randomly. But this time, the process was a bit different as there were three celebrities in the group. If their backing was unhappy with the groupings, then they might put some pressure on them. Even though they were unafraid of it, it might get annoying.
"So there are four people that we need to watch out for. Gong Ming, Song Hui, Zhang Zi and Long Tian. We cannot put them all on the same team. But at the same time we cannot put them all in different teams. I propose that we split them into two teams." The boss said.
"That's fine. But how are we going to separate them? The two teams will definitely be split in attack and defense. If there is any hope for them to win, one of their teams will have to go for the attack and the other defense. And considering their strengths, they will definitely be leaders of their teams. So we will need people who are smart enough to lead."The man in the floral shirt said.
"From what I saw, Long Tian behaved quite well, and is quite capable. His fighting style is well thought out, and he also seemed to quite intelligent and knowledgeable. He even recognized the Shadow Leopard. Other than the fact that he seemed reluctant to socialize, he seemed to be quite fine. He can easily be a leader. And as for the other three, well I am quite certain that Song Hui has no brains in her head. And Zhang Zi only has muscles inside his. And as for Gong Ming, he is, he is...." The boss started to speak, but then ended with clutching her head in her hands, unable to finish her thought.
"Its fine boss." One of the people there tried to console her. "Your nephew will be fine. Even though his personality is, to put it mildly, problematic, he is quite intelligent. He will do well as a captain. And anyway we cannot put Zhang Zi and Song Hui in the same team anyway. Zhang Zi will definitely want to attack the demon base, and Song Hui has no idea how to pace herself. If she is put in the attacking team, she will certainly die quickly."
"So how should we split them up." The floral shirt man asked. "Is it Long Tian with Zhang Zi and Song Hui with Gong Ming, or Long Tian with Song Hui and Gong Ming with Zhang Zi."
"Dont put Gong Ming and Zhang Zi in the same team. Zhang Zi has no respect for Gong Ming. They will certainly fight if they are together."
"So its decided." The boss replied. "We will split them up as Long Tian with Zhang Zi and Song Hui with Gong Ming. The rest of the teams can be decided at random, with preference given for the lists that were submitted."
The team quickly dispersed, after deciding on the formalities. The night passed relatively quickly, with all the participants preparing for the second round tomorrow.
Bai Yun stepped out of his room at daybreak and headed towards the hall. Only less than half of the members had arrived by then. In the middle of the hall the list of the teams was displayed.
It was time for War to begin.
Gifts
-- Gift
received Weekly Power Status
-- Power
Ranking 
-- Power
stone