Chapter 258 - The Three Transportation Methods.
Felix's attention was soon brought back to the stage, looking at twelve staff members, carrying a small box each.
When they made it to their positions, they placed the boxes on a perfectly sized platform and walked away.
Everyone was inspecting those boxes, which were split into three different colors.
Four boxes were colored blue, Four more were colored green, and the last four had a white color.
The camera soon zoomed in and showed that each of those boxes had three terms written on them. Airplanes, Helicopters, and Vehicles.
This made the viewers pretty confused about the purpose of those boxes.
Mr. Rodrigas didn't leave them guessing for long as he pointed his bracelet at those boxes and three holograms were created, each on top of a different colored set.
He then started explaining, "Due to the large influx of participants, we can't be taking everyone by vehicles and place them deep within the forest. Especially when it was challenging for the vehicles to reach the heart of the forest.",
He pointed his finger at those boxes and said, "Thus, we have decided to be transporting you from the air as well as land."
Everyone nodded their heads in understanding as it was indeed a massive improvement than just using vehicles.
Everyone assumed that they would be placed in the edges of the forest and left there to do what they wanted.
However, since the number of participants was massive, they were bound to meet every second due to their close proximity.
But now, with air transportations added to the mix, all of them would be placed in different locations in a short span of time.
"To make it fair, you won't be given the decision on which transportation method you wanted. Instead, we will let the unbiased Queen decide."
Composed, Mr. Rodrigas waved a hand in the air, and the large hologram with everyone's ID was brought closer to the three other holograms.
Then he requested out loud, "Queen AI, please split the captains' IDs from the rest and place them in either of those holograms."
The Queen immediately split 195 IDs from the 2780 IDs and allocated 64 IDs on each of those three holograms.
Since all of them were censored for security reasons, the captains didn't know which box's type they landed on.
Felix swiftly requested the Queen to tell him about his ID placement. Since he was asking for his own ID, the Queen didn't deny his request, 'Your ID has been allocated in the 3rd hologram.'
'Uhm, airplanes?' Felix scratched his chin at the sight of the 3rd hologram being above the white boxes.
He didn't care if he was transported by air or land, but he did realize that this method was actually the worse of the three.
Unlike going by vehicles or helicopters, it was obvious that they would be required to skydive into the black forest!
It was going to be extremely difficult to land smoothly with the trees being in the way.
After Mr. Rodrigas informed the captains to ask the Queen for their placements, 3rd of them had either unsightly expression or a dejected one.
It was evident that they also landed on the airplane transportation method and realized the disadvantages of it.
Alas, they could only curse their shitty luck and inform their teammates about their placement.
"Felix, what did we get?" George asked with a hopeful tone after seeing Felix's easy-going smile.
"Airplanes."
"Why the hell are you smiling then?" George sighed, "Getting my hopes up for nothing."
Meanwhile, Olivia got stunned for a second before wailing in despair, "Nooo!! I don't want to skydive!"
She never skydived before and was scared shitless by the idea of it. What's worse, they were skydiving in a forest!
For a total beginner like her, that was demanding too much.
Thankfully, it seemed like the ESG Organization had put the juniors' lack of experience into consideration as Mr. Rodrigas mentioned that tandem skydiving with teammates was within the rules.
This news calmed Olivia a little bit. Now, she only needed to see who was willing to tandem skydive with her.
Noticing Felix's honest smile, she immediately removed the thought of asking that devil.
She wasn't fooled by his innocent look as she knew that the?jerk was going to make the experience even worse than doing it alone.
Sadly, she didn't have enough time to ask the others as Mr. Rodrigos carried on speaking, "Since we can't be delivering you all together at the same time, there will be a queue for each transportation method."
Mr. Rodrigas pointed at the boxes and clarified, "Your team placement in the queue will be decided by drawing lots. If you draw the number ten in the helicopter transportation, your team will be delayed by utmost a minute. However, if you draw the last placement lot, your delay could reach up to 15 minutes."
Although it seemed unfair for the latecomers, no one really voiced their complaint.
They understood that the ESG Organization was doing its best to minimize those random elements while keeping the competition integrity intact.
After all, it was too risky to drop 640 bloodliners from the air simultaneously and they didn't have all the helicopters in the world to carry such a large number at once.
15 minutes maximum delay wasn't even that bad, as those bloodliners dropped at the start, wouldn't manage to achieve much in it besides setting up an early camp.
Just like this, 2000 bloodlines would be transported in the forest, which would soon turn into a battlefield, at almost the same time.
"Now, can you please come upstage after hearing your name getting called." Mr. Rodrigas requested while having a list showing all of the captains' names in front of him.
Without further delay, he called the names of the first twelve captains in the list. The moment those captains heard their names, they separated from their teams and went to the wooden stage with a?composed expression.
After climbing the stairs, every one of them chose a box and stood before it.
It looked like Mr. Rodrigas wasn't calling names randomly but choosing four captains for each transportation method.
This meant captains with airplane transportation couldn't pull a fast one by drawing from a box that belonged to other methods.
Heck, even if Mr. Rodrigas didn't do so, no one would have dared to cheat.
Since the Queen was monitoring their actions up close, she would expose them immediately when she notices that they broke the rules.
Hence, the captains behaved properly by drawing a slip of paper, showing the number on it to the camera before going back to their places.
Some were clearly excited, while some were shaking their heads in disappointment.
Soon, another twelve captains were called upon, and this time, the 2nd ranker in the Elite Ten list was part of them.
"Zhang Wei, The captain of the Chinese team is stepping on stage."
The American broadcaster informed while looking at the giant man, reaching two meters and a half in height, toppling over everyone in this competition.
His height wasn't all-natural as it was known on the internet that he managed to grow a whole meter after replacing his rare tier 1 bloodline with an epic tier 2 bloodline.
Unfortunately for his foes, he didn't just grow taller but also wider, making him buffed out to the point his nickname was replaced to The Colossal of China.
After he stepped onto the stage, he went to a green box and picked a white slit of paper. He opened it up and smiled in delight after seeing number 2.
He showed the number to the camera just like the rest of the bloodliners and they received a short round of polite applause.
Then, they stepped down and let Mr. Rodrigos carry on his calling.
Ten minutes later...
"Maria Oliveira, the captain of the Brazilian team, please step forth."
"Mouloud Taluk, the captain of the Moroccan team, please step forth."
...
"Felix Maxwell, the captain of the American team, please step forth."
After hearing his name finally getting called, Felix pulled his hands from his jacket's pockets and started walking towards the stage.
A faint smile was affixed on his face, showing that he was cool-headed even under such a nerve-wracking experience.
Yet, the camera wasn't even directed at him but at a breathtaking brunette, who was walking slowly while waving her hands in the air like she was receiving a standing ovation.
Her proud expression as she was doing so actually didn't offset an outrage or got her ridiculed!
Instead, the majority of the male juniors were staring at her soul-capturing smile with unfocused hazy gazes like they were looking at a fine piece of art.
"Maria Oliveira, The Demoness of Brazil, is at it again with her active ability, Enchantment Field." The broadcaster said while letting out a forced laugh at sight.
Neither the broadcaster nor the viewers were affected by her ability, but they could see that the juniors' reaction was abnormal.
Since the broadcasters were required to do extensive homework on the bloodliners abilities, he instantly figured out the cause.
"Turn it off." Too bad for Maria, Mr. Rodrigos wasn't in the mood for jokes as he said, "This is your first and last warning."
"Fine! I was trying to make an entrance, jeez." Maria said while rolling her eyes in annoyance.