Kelvin thought about the question and said, "I don't think there is any essential difference between the foreign battlefield and this obstacle course. The two of them are nearly similar in the randomness of danger."
"On the foreign battlefield, danger can come from anywhere. You need survivability and resourcefulness to be able to survive and perform well on the battlefield. If there is a difference, it will be that the battlefield is more difficult and not so forgiving."
The Black Crow said, "So you're saying that if all of the players that participated in the obstacle course go to the foreign battlefield, most of them will die."
He nodded. "Yes. I am not saying that they are weak. Actually, I think most of them have great abilities. Mecha Man, Evil Eye, Charmer, and the Butcher, for instance, can be deadly in certain circumstances. But in other circumstances, they are helpless and will surely die."
"Charmer died on the obstacle course because it was too late to surrender. The others that survived the obstacle course are more likely to die on the foreign battlefield because there is no opportunity to surrender."
"Most of them didn't even last 10 minutes on the obstacle course. Meanwhile, on the foreign battlefield, we had to fight for days and even months on end. So yes, I don't have faith in them surviving."
The Black Crow asked, "Even Mecha Man will die? He did well."
Kelvin shrugged. "He could die or he could survive. Just like the obstacle course, it is a matter of chance."
"But what I think is that he is more likely to die because he is slow to react. While he is resourceful, his ability takes too much time to use. It even takes more time than the ten seconds needed to surrender. On the battlefield, if there is no time to surrender, there surely won't be time to summon his weapons."
"When they are surrounded by danger and death everywhere, if they can't save their lives in a moment, then they can forget about the foreign battlefield."
Someone spoke up against what he said. It was Evil Eye.
She said, "Just because you survived one foreign battlefield doesn't make you an expert."
He said, "Just because you have an omega ability doesn't mean you will survive one foreign battlefield. I have seen demigods die right in front of me. I have seen fire rain down from the sky all over the battlefield. I have seen the ground erupt with lava and inferno. What can your eyes do against that?"
"I have fought with insects the size of tanks. I have also fought with insects so many that they blocked out the sun. You, on the other hand, were eliminated by ten bees. Just ten bees."
He is still bitter about that. He expected the bees to defeat her, but he didn't expect that she wouldn't even give it a try. She made him lose game points.
"You are right to say that I am not an expert because I survived one foreign battlefield. But if you think your omega ability will secure your life, you are terribly wrong."
He glared at her as he said, "I am not saying that because I am an expert. I am saying that because I can snap your body like a twig."
He even showed how he would snap her by demonstrating with his hands. It made Evil Eye indignant. It didn't help that many people in the audience were cheering Augustus on.
Evil Eye knew that she had been had, but she still wanted to say something in her defense. But the Black Crow intervened by cackling and saying, "That's enough for the interview section. Let's move on to the matter of the MVP."
"To be clear. I have already made up my mind. But I want to hear what you have to say about who should be given the title of the most valuable player in this game."
"I am not promising anything, but I can indeed change my mind if you guys are convincing enough. So everyone should vote. You have 30 seconds to do so."
A screen appeared in front of everyone with a prompt for them to choose who they think should be the MVP. It is a voluntary prompt that they can abstain from.
Both the audience and the 20 players received the prompt. The audience could only pick one player, while the players could pick and also state a convincing reason why their choice should be given the title.
Most of the audience voted. Many of those who voted chose the player that they believed deserved the title.
But there were some who only voted for their heroes. They didn't care about who deserved the title.
As for the players, most of them didn't vote. They didn't feel good about nominating themselves when they didn't perform well.
They also didn't want to nominate someone else, as that would be admitting that they are inferior. So they abstained from the vote.
Kelvin chose to vote. He also chose himself. The reason he wrote for choosing himself there made him chuckle.
Thirty seconds later, the vote was tallied and placed on the screens for everyone to see.
It was shown that only 2 out of the 20 players voted. One of them was Augustus, while the other was Mecha Man. Both of them had chosen the same person.
The Black Crow laughed when it saw the reasons that both of the players put in.
It said, "Who put 'Augustus is the greatest and the best without a doubt, so he deserves to be MVP?'"
It is clear to everyone who said that. The Black Crow turned to Augustus and asked, "What do you think about this statement? Do you think the person who wrote is right?"
Kelvin thought about it seriously for a while. Then he said, "I don't see how they can be wrong. They are onto something about my greatness. It sounds to me like they know what they're talking about."
The black crow laughed some more. Then it said, "Unfortunately, the audience is not so certain about that."
"47% voted for you, 45% voted for Mecha Man, while the remaining 8% voted for the other players. Apparently, many people don't think you're so great."
He folded his arms across his chest and said, "They are wrong. I cleared twice as many obstacles as Mecha Man, yet they don't think I deserve the title more than him. Something has to be wrong with them."
"Even if all of them had voted against me, it doesn't mean that they are right. The agreement of fools doesn't birth wisdom."
The Black Crow said, "Well said. Only one person's opinion matters in regards to this decision. That person is me."
"By the power vested in me by the Tower of Destiny of Earth-11, I hereby declare Augustus the MVP of this game and also declare this game over. Goodbye everyone."
The game ended there. Everyone disappeared and returned to where they came from.
Kelvin returned to the mental space of the Tower of Destiny. Then he checked his game evaluation.
He didn't need to bring it up. The screen was right there waiting for him to look at it.
Game Evaluation.
- Difficulty: C × 1.1
- Achievements:
1: Highest Number of Game Points × 1.1.
2: Highest Number of Obstacles Cleared × 1.1.
3: Best Player Title = × 1.5
Total Points: 3,215
Final Game Points ((Difficulty + Achievements) X Total Points) : 1.8 × 3,215.
Total Game Points = 5,787
He exclaimed, "Wow."
He was surprised because he had just earned nearly double what he earned for all his work on the foreign battlefield.
He had earned 2,900 game points after the war in Lignum. 5,787 game points is nearly double that amount, and he didn't have to risk his life as much as he did on Lignum.
"The obstacle course was not as dangerous as the foreign battlefield, but my life was still on the line."
If he had died in the game, he would have died forever. If he had failed the game, he would have died too because the god kings of Yggdrasil don't want him to waste time either.
This is what Hermes had wanted him about. He has only one choice, and that is to keep progressing. He can't fail the game, so he doesn't have the leisure to surrender at the beginning of the game.
His personal circumstances aside, the game was actually difficult, as seen by the fact that more than 50% of the players were eliminated in the first five minutes. Some players didn't even cross the third obstacle.
Charmer was killed at the third obstacle. A promising person like her died just like that.
Even someone as good as Mecha Man only got up to the 21st obstacle. Yet he reached the 43rd obstacle and could have done more if he wasn't worried about revealing his identity.