章節 213: Pods' Explode - The Hidden Gaze!
Kai and Selene spent the next 30 minutes devouring the food, their stomachs rumbling with each swallow.
When the plate was empty, he leaned back onto the pod's wall, and Selene slithered up to his lap.
As he ran his hands across her length, feeling her smooth scales, Kai pondered over which Items to take with him.
The sheer mention of Inventory's inaccessibility meant that the Systems didn't think it was helpful for Contestants to travel heavily.
Kai wasn't unfamiliar with jungle survival, either. Most of his previous life had gone into learning about the mutated beasts and their habitats. No matter how dangerous the forest was on the island, it could never be as heinous as the carnivorous flora and fauna on his home planet, he knew.
-Swords are a must,- Kai reasoned. -HP capsules, Pokedex, the Book… Hmm, these should do. I can't rely on my Glitch, either. The entire Stage is being broadcast to the Primordial Tower. This is a risk I can't afford. I must rely on my Items and Abilities.-
-What about Magic, master?- Selene hissed broodingly, coiling herself in a bundle in his arms. -Now you have Elementary Magical Aptitude, right?-
Kai took a deep breath and shook his head. -Darcie's Mana is like an ocean,- he told her. -As she grows up, she will be able to access it to its full potential. This is called Magical development. After her accident, the Mana that she can access has increased too much in too little time. That's why she is having a problem with Control for puny spells.
-For us Contestants, though, we carry our Mana in a water bottle with us. Yes, this water bottle can become a bucket, a tank, a pool, and even a lake with Contestant's growth. But it would never reach the same potential as a main storyline Character. Of course, I can't say the same about the Contestants above the 12th floor. There is only so much I can infer from Meg's experiences. So even if Darcie can do mind-boggling Magic, I can't. What I can do are little things like this…-
Kai focused, repeating the same three words in his mind that he had countless times since his reincarnation in Darcie's body.
Then he snapped his fingers, and sparks followed the sound like little fireworks igniting out of thin air.
His MP bar lost 2 points. He snapped again, and a portion of the empty plate shattered, making him lose another 3 points. With another snap, Kai's hair cut around his neck unevenly, and as they fell, they seemed to melt into the white floor.
No need to have such long hair in this terrain, Kai reflected, seeing the MP bar dropping by only 1 point.
The Severing-Charm was the best magic he could do and with the least amount of MP.
But Kai had concluded that there was no fixed relation between different magics and MP consumption.
It's like when I do magic, Kai thought, taking out his Items one by one, my Mana just spill out of the container. Yes, it lets me cast a spell, but most of it just goes to waste. No wonder Meg told me that Wandless Magic and Non-verbal Spells are useless for Contestants. We need wands more than the main storyline characters could ever need them. Tch!
The timer showed 5 minutes when Kai looked at it.
-Selene,- he said, looking at her. -Don't show yourself without my orders. Don't kill. And don't chase the prey.-
-Hahaha!- Selene laughed maniacally. -What about a loving gaze, master?-
Kai ignored the jape, wondering if her Petrification Skill would even work on these aliens or not. What about Soul Chill and Ghost Neurotoxin? He just hoped they would have a soul.
Kai stood up, and Selene entered his body but stayed inside his left foot.
He tied the two newly acquired Katanas on his waist to his left, keeping the Fangs in his Inventory. Hp capsules and Pokedex went into his pockets. At last, he held the Book and called out Petyr. The character bowed and entered him.
Kai threw the bag on his shoulders, took a deep breath, and calmed his emotions down. The timer hit 0 and the sliding door of the pod opened up.
Kai walked out into the thick of the night, heavy darkness pressing on him from all around. But it wasn't quiet. Buzz of insects and rattle of nocturnal hunters echoed everywhere.
Suddenly, something flashed red behind him.
Kai looked over his shoulder and saw the white walls inside the pod turning red and white in a rhythmic order, like a beep. And the gap between these rhythms was decreasing exponentially.
Kai's eyes widened. Fuck! He cursed and dashed behind the thick trunk of a tree.
Boom!
The pod exploded with a thundering boom, and a mass of flames leaped to the sky like a balloon.
The Systems had just announced all Candidates' presence to the Island.
*
*
1st day, 01:00 am
T009
1 hour had gone by since the Systems' shitty move of exploding the pods to garner the attention of foreign elements on the Candidates.
Kai had distanced himself as far as he could from the landing site, but no matter how far he went, he couldn't shake off the feeling that someone or something was watching him.
He had thought of using Selene's Earth Vibration Sense to find any hidden animal that could have been stalking him, but then he remembered it would mean losing the element of surprise. Not to mention, she could only sense vibrations in an approximate radius of 110-120 meters. It was well and good anywhere else, not in the jungle, where the trees and plants were jam-packed, reaching a height where Skill could never hope to reach right now.
Among the primal fears, the fear of the unknown was the most ancient and horrific, Kai knew. And the only way to get past this fear was to either face it head-on or get to know more about it.
Both things he couldn't do without knowing where this thing was. Up? Down? Or maybe hidden within the layer of spatial fissures?
How come none of the 100 Candidates knew about the Xenomorph and Yautja? Kai asked himself, sitting inside a bush as if he was part of it. I can bet my ass that the Systems has something to do with it.
It was the only guess he could make sense of, for if they had known about both species' capabilities, then it wouldn't be a survival test, but a chaotic hunt, with Candidates trying to grab as many points as they could.
Suddenly, Kai felt a rustling to his right.
This hadn't come from the hidden watcher, Kai immediately guessed. He controlled his breathing and became as still as a corpse, his heartbeat calming down along with his breaths.
It wasn't enough.
"Who's there?" a woman shouted. "I know you are there. Come out or I will attack."
Now, who can be this stupid, shouting like this in the thick of the jungle? Kai wondered. Or maybe it's just a ruse to get any response by feigning stupidity? Hmm…
Kai's mind went through many scenarios related to the hidden element that was chasing him for a long time, and came to a decision.
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