Chapter 259 - Bribes Done Right.
Without a second delay, Maria snapped her finger once, and a field of pink flowers started to materialize under the eyes of everyone.
The field was caught in the process of expanding further and further away from Maria, putting more bloodliners under her ability's effect.
But a moment later, the pink flowers broke into pinkish mist and drifted in the air.
Feeling the bits of mist touch their faces, the juniors felt shivers coursing in their skin at the thought of being inside her ability's range without anyone noticing it.
Although everyone had their guards lowered, making them not use their vision abilities, they were still pretty scared by the notion of being under someone's else mercy without their knowledge.
Unlike Felix, who didn't bother to check on those Ten elites' abilities and bloodline, the juniors knew that Maria's flower field was just the basic set up for the rest of her aggressive mental abilities.
Anyone who got inside her field was pretty much doomed. However, her fighting style still made her reach only the 6th rank in the list.
This makes one wonder how strong those above her were?
'Maria, stop fooling around and draw a lot.'
Hearing this mind message, which was sent to her personally by Mr. Rodrigas, Maria didn't dare to continue her charade as she swiftly went upstage and stood before a green box.
Just as she wanted to draw a lot, she saw Felix opening up a folded slip of paper next to her.
Then...He started chuckling in derision as he turned around and showed it to the camera.
Maria titled her head and glanced at the content of the paper. The moment she noticed the number 65 on it, she couldn't help but explode in laughter while holding her waist.
It wasn't just her who laughed as the majority started ridiculing Felix's garbage luck by landing on last placement in the airplane transportation method.
Literally, not a single lot was worse than this!
"I should have sent Noah instead." George merely sighed while looking at Felix spreading the paper widely without a hint of embarrassment. He was already numbed by Felix's trash luck in draws.
Alas, as they said, someone's misery is someone else's happiness.
"Captain Felix, thank you for the sacrifice." Maria said as she wiped her reddened eyes.
"Do I get a reward for it?" Felix flicked the cursed slip of paper behind him, hitting a junior in the head.
"Heey!"
Unbothered by the irritated call, Felix just advanced next to Maria with an easy-going smile.
He stood a meter in front of her and started inspecting her face with his golden triangle-like pupil, making her feel like every pore of her face was under his surveillance.
Alas, that was exactly what was happening as with Felix's enhanced eyesight, her gorgeous face was no more as he could spot tiny blemishes on her skin, which were covered in makeup.
But in his eyes, those blemishes appeared like giant pimples, zoomed-in next to his face.
Such a horrifying experience destroyed any tingle of desire that he felt for her and probably for most of the girls that he meets up with in the future.
It's not like having a goddess living in his consciousness wasn't enough to ruin his beauty standards. Now even his own eyesight was messing with him.
'Heh, trying to flirt with me? He seems quite young and even handsome. Should I play with him tonight?' Maria giggled at his invasive eyes, not bothered in the slightest by them.
She was experienced with being ogled on daily basis.
Alas, if only she saw what Felix's eyes were showing, she would have lowered her confidence in her beauty down a notch.
"Never mind." Felix pursed his lips in revulsion as he turned around, walking towards his team.
Well...That should do it alright as Maria kept looking at his retreating back with parted lips, not knowing how to respond.
'What the hell?! Was he trying to flirt or provoke me!' She knitted her eyebrows in irritation at the image of him pursing his lips in disgust.
She was merely irritated but not angered as she experienced something like this before with other males.
'Trying to show your lack of interest in me to set yourself apart from the rest?' She scoffed as she looked at his wide back, 'In your dreams.'
"MARIA DRAW A LOT AND GET OUT OF MY STAGE ALREADY!" Mr. Rodrigas, whose patience ran dry, couldn't help but scold her out loud after seeing that her hand was still not in the box.
"Fine!" Maria drew a slip of paper and opened it up. Soon, her expression turned nasty after seeing the number 59!
After showing her number to the others, the same mocking laughs directed at Felix rained on her without hesitation.
"Now go back to your team." Mr. Rodrigas shooed her away with his hand and started calling for the next twelve.
This process lasted for an extra five minutes before all of the captains picked their queue number.
After so, Mr. Rodrigas informed them that tomorrow they would be departing at 07:00 AM and the rest of the details would be given to their instructors.
Such as, what was allowed to be taken, the place where they would be meeting, the rules about eliminations and extraction, and the zone in the black forest where the competition would be held.
After all, the Black Forest in Germany was a region that was roughly oblong in shape, with a length of 160 kilometers (100 miles) and a breadth of up to 50 km (30 miles), occupying an area of about 6,009 km2.
Such a massive area was of course not just pure wilderness but had urban cities and towns.
The competition needed to be held in a zone that was further away from those places in order to preserve the peace of those urban areas or the integrity of the competition.
Shortly after, Mr. Rodrigas told the juniors to remain for interviews if they wished or leave if they didn't want to.
He then stepped down the stage and went away with Jacob, leaving the reporters to assault the juniors, and especially the Ten Elites.
Surprisingly, there wasn't a single reward announced for securing a flag.
No one knew if the ESG Organization didn't plan to give anything for the juniors or they had something else in mind.
....
Tomorrow Morning, at 08:00 AM, inside a public airport within the city Freiburg, 195 teams were crowding the terminal.
All of the teams had taken flights from Berlin Brandenburg Airport to this beautiful city that was inside the black forest.
After all, the distance separating Berlin and the Black Forest was in the hundreds of kilometers.
Thus, they needed to bridge the distance as much as possible before taking the three methods of transportation to the competition zone, which was 50 kilometers away from the airport.
It could be seen that the airport was closed for business as there were only the staff members and the teams.
The ESG Originazation chose a public airport instead of a private one due to the lack of space.
After all, there were 2000 juniors all gathered in one place, and the terminal of the private airport wasn't designed to hold such a massive number of travelers at once.
Soon, two-thirds of the teams left the premises of the airport on buses.
One third was sent to the designated area for helicopters while the other stayed in the buses, going straight into the competition zone.
Meanwhile, the last third was left behind in the airport, where skydiving aircrafts were waiting for them.
"Number 1, 2,3....10 in the queue, please head to the runway. You will find your planes waiting for you." A sudden feminine announcement resounded in the terminal, shushing down the juniors' chatter.
Upon hearing the content, the first ten teams did a secondary basic safety check on the parachute bags, which was given to them the moment they stepped inside the terminal.
Those safety checks were taught to them yesterday by a professional skydiver. He was hired to give them a quick lesson for those who never experienced skydiving before.
Felix and the rest were also taught the correct procedures and the body position to aid a successful deployment of the parachute.
But with all of those precautions taken, it was still possible for the parachute not to open successfully. Be it through error or simple chance.
Typically, one in a thousand parachutes will fail to open.
That's why they were taught not to panic in that situation and utilize the reserve parachute. Those instructions were given to the juniors, who weren't scared of skydiving.
The rest were going to tandem skydive just like Olivia.
"Little Oli, are you sure you don't want to tandem with me?" Felix asked again with an innocent look.
"100%!" Olivia humphed, "You think I am stupid to put myself under your mercy in the air?"
"That's harsh." Felix chuckled mildly as he gestured with his head at Noah, "Good luck with that sis-con. He probably never skydived in his life as well."
'It can't be!' Olivia shivered at the thought.
She realized that she never actually asked Noah about it as she was simply seeking a partner and Noah was always the most reliable person on the team.
Thus, the moment she asked him yesterday, he didn't object to her request.
"Brother Noah, did you ever skydive before?" Olivia asked while chewing her lips in anxiety.
Alas, the response she received sent her to the depth of despair as Noah shook his head firmly.,
She knew that she would rather get bullied mid-air by Felix than jump with Noah, who was a total rookie just like her!
However, she still didn't consider Felix, as there were 7 others on the team.
Sarah and the rest of the substitutes sadly didn't come here with them as they were asked to remain in the hotel.
Their journey with the team had ended after the gathering.
"Brother Johnson, can I partner with you?" Olivia asked with puppy eyes, making Johnson's heart soften a bit.
Alas, a message sent to him by Felix hardened it again, '10,000 SC to say no.'
"Sorry Olivia, but I never skydived before." Johnson denied her request politely while avoiding eye contact with her.
He didn't want to disappoint the flower of the family but 10K SC was too hard to pass by for a broke junior like him.
"It's okay." Olivia sulked as she went to Kenny, planning to ask the same. However, he gave her the same response while taking quick glances at Felix.
He didn't think that he would actually receive a message from Felix personally when he never bothered to spare him a glance.
However, he still accepted the bribe quietly as he always went with the flow not knowing where it would take him.
Just as Olivia wanted to try her chances with the rest, Felix said in a lazy manner, "You can stop little Oli, no one knows how to skydive except for me." He asked while giving them a knowing look, "Right guys?"
Olivia was stupefied at the sight of them all nodding their heads in agreement.
Adam didn't receive a message from Felix as he was already going to tandem skydive with Lexie. Thus, he was just as bewildered as Olivia by their response.
Seeing Olivia's distressed expression, Felix started laughing while spreading his arms wide open, "Let's have fun together."
"Nooo!!" Olivia cried out loud in despair after knowing that her fate was set in stone to partner up with Felix!