Chapter 117 - Shuffle Maze!
Felix did nothing else but stare at the ceiling absent-mindedly after landing on the most hated format game for those who were confident in their strength to beat the shit out of their contenders. The many variables within its games nullified their absolute strength.
In Felix's previous life, Puzzles games were actually his favorite format. He didn't win them all, but he still had a good win rate while playing them in comparison to other formats.
One single small mistake could even eliminate the 1st ranker player, one lucky opportunity could make the last ranker clinch the win. This kind of uncertainty was Felix's jam. His trash bloodlines weren't making it easier to compete in battles format games, but in puzzle ones, at least he had a shot.
If the death race luck meterage decided who would have better opportunities to clinch the championship, in the case of puzzle games, luck decided whether one emerges as champion or not.
However, without the necessary intelligence to take advantage of a lucky opportunity during the game, a player could only waste it.
Intelligence was still the true deciding factor to perform the best of one's ability within puzzle games.
Dejected, Felix rubbed his eyelids while sighing. He gave a spiteful glare to his hands, which kept causing him misfortune.
"I dare you to let me down again." He threatened them like a lunatic, "I swear I will cut you down and heal you back up."
He rubbed them nervously while eyeing the green button that was for spinning the next wheel, which had hundreds of puzzle games within it.
"F*ck it." He swore and pressed the button forcefully, not worrying anymore about what happens.
The wheel span rapidly again. However, this time Felix didn't leave it spin for even two seconds before he stopped it.
The wheel gradually slowed its speed until it stopped completely. Felix glanced at the chosen game and had a bad feeling after seeing the word maze. He clicked on the game and its details were displayed in front of him.
// Game Format: Puzzles. (Maze edition)
Game Name: Shuffle Maze
Participants Number: 95 (Still increasing)
Integration allowed: From lesser purity to peak stage 1 of replacement.
Ranks allowed: silver and bronze ( This is a silver game)
Maze map: ???
Surprise Addition: No.,
Prizes Pool: High-grade stones, Peak-grade stones, Instant Recovery Potion, Hateful Miasma breath, Spiritual Flat Bone...
Rules of the game:
1) Players get dropped randomly in one giant maze. (The distance between the exit and the dropped spot is fixed for every player.)
2) Creating Alliances is allowed.
3) The maze walls shuffle after every 30 minutes.
4) The duration of each shuffle is 10 seconds.
5) Players can glimpse beyond the walls in each shuffle, but won't be able to move during it.
6) There are hidden compartments in the maze. (teleportation circles, treasure chests, traps...)
7) Treasures that are in the open areas are guarded by beasts. (Beasts strength increase based on the chest rank.)
8) Game points can be earned from eliminations, beast hunts, and treasure chests.
9) The player first to leave through the maze exit wins.
10) The game duration is two and a half hours.
11) The player with the most points after the duration ends wins.
For more information please open your SG profile Interface.
Good luck to all participants.//
Just like Felix feared, the game rules included hidden teleportation circles. A luck-based addition that could teleport a player near the exit, giving him a free win.
But to balance the game, that would be quite unlikely. This meant, the player would only be teleported in a large diameter around the exit, and that's only if he got lucky. In worst cases, he might be sent back to where he started!
That being said, Felix strangely wasn't looking at the 6th rule but actually had all of his attention attracted by the 8th rule!
"Can I do it regardless?... Maybe it can work even in a puzzle game." He kept murmuring under his breath in a trance-like state.
He felt that his luck turned upside down too quickly. Just now, he was feeling horrible over landing on a puzzle format, but after seeing the 8th rule, a plan formed in his head. A plan, if executed correctly, he would obtain a shit load of game points.
The game added the 8th rule in order to help the less intelligent, or simply players who had abilities totally useless in locating the exit. They just needed to hunt for game points and hope that no one manages to find the exit before the game duration ends.
This game might be a puzzle type, but still, the SGA always left leeway for those with low IQ in some way or form. After all, no one wanted to watch a game that had 100 players, but only 3 were active within the field.
...
"Hopefully it works."
After a couple of minutes of deep pondering, Felix finally woke up from his daze. He lifted his head and saw that the wheel was still in front of him. He swiped it away from his face while requesting the Queen to search online for his game.
A moment later, a list that had only 3 shuffle mazes games was displayed before Felix. Those games were being played out in the entire Galaxy.
Each game was from a different empire. This meant, the game Felix was currently on had only players from the Mariana empire.
Felix's rank was too low to join galaxy-wide games that included players from all empires. He needed to reach gold for him to compete in that level.
He clicked on the game that was in the middle and was transferred to another web tab that showcased all the public details of the game.
Just like before, he pressed on the player list and was met with a long string of unique players' names.
//Participants List:
> Chrome Rising_1344: Bronze Rank, High-Tier Wins 3 / Losses 4. (For more details click on the name)
> Cold Bounty_1224: Silver Rank, Mid-Tier, Wins 3 / Losses 6. (For...)
>...
> Hellstorm_7754: Silver Rank, High-Tier, Wins 8 / Losses 9. (For...)
> Spirit Visage_2199: Silver Rank, Peak-Tier, Wins 6 / Losses 3 (For...)
> Unpaid Landlord_6996: Bronze Rank, Mid-Tier, Wins 1 / Losses 0. (For...)
>...
> Solar Mist_7778: Silver Rank, Peak-Tier, Wins 7 / Losses 4 (For...)
> Farphobia_3355: Silver Rank low Tier, wins 3 / losses 5. (For...)?//
Not surprised a bit that at least 80 players were silver ranked, Felix simply kept on reading the list in a nonchalant manner.
He already knew that he would be placed in a silver ranked game, even though he was still in bronze. This was the result of Match Making Rating, or in short MMR.
Since Felix won his first game, it meant he was good enough to start playing against only veterans and hardcore players instead of unranked newbies.
This rarely happens though, since the majority of unranked players actually end up losing at least 3 of their placement games or even all of them. This meant, they would start normally climbing from low bronzer to silver.
MMR affected all the players, not just Felix. Any player who had way more wins than losses get placed in games above his rank.
As for those who had more losses than wins, they remain playing in the same rank instead of being placed in lower rank games.
The SGA wasn't stupid to let that happen, as they knew that most players would start losing intentionally to be put in lower brackets and have an easier time competing with newbies. This wasn't a video game, where one gets rewarded only virtual points after he wins.
In the SG, winning meant getting a free wish to fulfill one's desires. In other words, every win was worth it, even in bronze rank.
Although Felix could be said that he was affected negatively by the MMR since he was put in a higher rank game, he didn't see it as such. He actually preferred so, as it meant, the wish would have a silver rank limit while he was still in bronze.
This was a bonus for those managing to clinch the win over higher-ranked players than them.
Soon, Felix began scouting the highest-ranked players in the list, marking all the threats he planned on adding to his plan.
He first started off with peak-tiered silver players. He picked them one by one and made sure to do detailed homework on their bloodline abilities, strengths, and weakness. Anything that was public about them, he made sure to remember it well.
He didn't want any surprises to f*ck up his plan.
...
A couple of hours went by, and Felix had studied 15 players all at once. He found some names that he somewhat recalled in his previous life, like Solar Mist and Hound Stench. One of them got famous immensely 7 years from now while the other had a unique characteristic that set him apart from a lot of bloodliners.
However, the player that Felix actually remembered thoroughly, was named Birds Call. He didn't expect that the princess of the Maganda tribe would actually be in his game. He honestly didn't want to interact with her one bit.
Right now, Felix was refreshing the list every two minutes, wanting to see if there would be any new addition before he called it a quit. After a few refreshes, he saw two players joining the list. Mastermania, and EL Truca.
He clicked on Mastermania's name and was transferred to his profile page.
'Oh!'
His eyes shone with delight after finding out that he was actually an idol, popular enough to own a fan club with millions of members.
"Such free juicy exposure." He grinned while rubbing his hands in a wicked manner.
Players loved those kinds of popular idols the most, as by eliminating them they get a wide media exposure, thus turning them into semi-famous players instantly with low effort.
Felix planned to do so as well.
He needed as much exposure as possible, as relying only on his fan club to bring more fans was not enough to put him within everyone's radars.
The only ways to do so was by either winning games, and winning them magnificently, or eliminating popular players and idols.
That's how famous players were born before. Fan clubs were only by-products of that.
Shortly after, Felix closed the list tab and changed his outfit to training one. He planned to head to the training center to practice in his room.
Although he didn't receive the maze map, nothing stopped him from trying to mimic one by relying on the previous Shuffle Maze games.
Since there was no hidden addition in this game, it meant that the only difference within it would be the maze layout and hidden compartments places.
After he wore his outfit he entered his car, which was inside his garage, and drove speedily towards the Center.