Chapter 487 - The Game Rules!
In short while...Felix was teleported to the game Hall just like the rest of the players.
Unlike the previous game halls he was in, this one was held in a forest with trees penetrating the sky.
All of the teleported players had opened up their eyes to the birds' chirps and chilly atmosphere.
They were standing in an empty area of grass field while in front of them there was a small tree with purplish leaves.
'It seems like the MC is going to be species who prefer living in nature.' Felix thought while looking around him.
He believed so because the MCs in the UISG platform ranges from all races in the SGAlliance.
If a human was going to be their MC, there was a high chance of him picking a closed-off assembly hall.
Soon, Felix stopped bothering with the environment after he realized that all the players were focusing on him either openly or discreetly.
'Hehe, It seems like everyone had taken a peek at your bounty.' Asna said with a snicker.
Unbothered, Felix gave a half-shrug and started surveying the 29 unique players, wanting to find Blood Merchant.
It didn't take him even a split second before he spotted a slender tall man in a red tuxedo, leaning against a tree while gazing at him with a friendly smile.
His gentlemanly demeanor made his smile appear quite genuine.
Alas, Felix knew that he was a monster in disguise as the videos of him sapping his victims dry out of blood were already installed in his memory.
'Felix, I am heading with Sphinx to a small assembly of friends to watch your game together. Do remember that we won't be able to talk with you at all during your game due to the rules imposed in the contract.'
Felix nodded his head in understanding.
He was already informed that the moment he was signed as a champion, he lost the privilege of having the primogenitors in his mind speak up to him since it was possible for the primogenitors to abuse it.
After all, they could easily watch the game with their main consciousness and give tips to their champion to facilitate winning the game.
The way to combat this was simply making the Queen rat on those primogenitors the moment she hears their voice in their champions' minds.
Hence, it was much better to watch the game in the assembly than in his mind where they could only remain silent lest they break the rules.
Naturally, Asna was free from this rule since her soul was connected to Felix, unlike the primogenitors.
Hence, anything she said was the same as Felix having a thought.
It wasn't against the rules to think.
'Although I won't be talking to you, do know that I am watching everything. So, crash him in front of everyone and show them why I put my faith in you.' Jörmungandr said while staring coldly at Blood Merchant.
Felix smirked faintly and promised with a confident tone, 'Leave it to me.'
Immediately after hearing so, Jörmungandr closed his eyes and logged in to the UVR.
Lady Sphinx didn't go with him since she was connected to the UVR with another piece of consciousness.
Meanwhile, Felix had already dropped the staring contest with Blood Merchant and went to find a place to sit down.
Soon, he found a thick branch close to the ground.
Felix jumped on it and got comfortable, knowing that waiting for the MC might take a few minutes.
...
On the other side of the grass field, a slim tall tanned man with pointy ears and long fangs reaching to his chin was currently walking elegantly to Blood Merchant.
Felix noticed this and narrowed his eyes, 'Vanlord, the 2nd vampire in the game. He must be aiming to start an alliance with Blood Merchant.'
As he assumed, Blood Merchant and Vanlord seemed like they hit it off quite easily as they kept conversing with each other nonstop for quite a while.
Soon, they made a handshake and glanced both at Felix for a split second before separating.
'Whatever, no matter how many allies he adds, our fight will still be one against one.'
Felix understood that making an alliance in this game was purely meant to look after the other during the daylight cycle.
That's when the players could gather, communicate, and scout for the apartments.
If someone had an ally, he could totally make an agreement with him to take shifts on patrolling their own apartments to force other players to give up on attempting to test their doors with their keys.
However, he knew that there were many disadvantages to this plan.
First, the moment a player leaves his ally to guard his door, the ally would 100% try to see if his key could open up that apartment.
This could be combated by using the contract terms.
Second, the apartments given were random.
Hence, if two allies ended up getting apartments that were on different floors or something, it was impossible for them to guard both at once.
If one player gave up on guarding his apartment just to protect his ally's apartment, then what's the point of the alliance?
The only good point about the alliance was trading information telepathically as they cover a bigger ground.
Like which player had exited from an apartment or whose missing from those who went outside to scout.
Felix had already created a plan to get this information all by himself in the 1st cycle.
That's why Felix wasn't considering taking an ally in this game.
If it was another format, he wouldn't hesitate to drop his soloing style and take advantage of numbers.
'We have been waiting for 7 minutes already, where is this...'
Poof!
Before Felix could finish his thought, a sudden explosion of white mist had occurred in front of the tree with purplish leaves.
Everyone focused on it and saw that a tiny dark shadowy figure was inside of it.
Whoosh!!
"Hey Hey!!"
Not giving them a second to guess, a tiny cute fairy had flown outside of the white mist while waving her little hands at the players!
She had blue-sky skin and short piggy-tailed azure hair. With her glossy purplish lips, she gave off quite of a sinister feeling to her, unlike other sparkly fairies.
'What an unlucky ass game to end up with a fallen fairy.' Felix cringed just like the rest of the players who were giving the fairy an unfriendly gaze.
"Boohoo! Why are you glaring at Luna?" The fairly pouted with teary eyes and said, "You make Luna sad...Very very sad."
Alas, the players' expressions were still as hard as stone, unmoved by her fake act.
They merely kept staring at her expressionlessly, waiting for her to stop wasting their time and begin the rules explanation.
"Humph! Luna is too good to hang with you anyways." Luna puffed out her cheeks in annoyance and fluttered right above their heads.
She snapped her tiny fingers, causing the tree leaves behind her to shape up into a humongous empty square.
A moment later, the empty area in it brightened up, displaying a building inside a stadium!
The building appeared like any other modern apartment complex with multiple floors and each floor hosted many apartments.
"This is your battling ground. I assume that all of you have read the rules extensively. So throw all of your questions right now." Luna ordered with her hands placed on her waist, giving off a bossy vibe.
The players lifted their hands obediently, knowing that fallen fairies were evil little things who wouldn't hesitate to make their lives hell in the game if they offended them.
They just needed to find a loophole in the rules and they would go out of their way to f*ck you up out of pure joy.
Luna looked at them one by one and picked the only player belonging to the Winter Wolf Race, who were known for their overwhelming strength if they entered a phase they refer to as blood frenzy.
He had a snow-white tail and ears above his darkened hair. With his blue eyes and short height, he appeared quite cute like a furry doll.
"I want to know if it's possible to trade keys or throws them?" He asked with a frigid tone, completely ruining his cute visage.
"No!" Luna rejected and added, "Players can't trade keys, throw them, lose them, or make other players enter the same apartment that their key had opened up."
Upon receiving his answer, the winter wolf player withdrew back within the pack and focused on the players with their hands raised up.
Soon, Luna picked another and he asked, "Is the environment destructible? Like the doors, walls?"
"No, just go all out in your apartments."
"Next!"
"Is it possible for the prey to escape the apartment after the hunter opened up the door on him?"
"No, the moment the hunter opens the door, it would be the same as stepping into another dimension. Nothing else can go in or out. Even if the door was open."
"Thank you."
"Next!"
"Is it possible to leave the apartment complex?"
"No."
"Does the strength debuffs stack or they would be gone after each shuffle?"
"They will keep adding up until you manage to kill off your target. If your target died before you do so, you will be assigned a new target during the shuffle and you will be required to kill him, or else the debuffs will keep stacking up."
The players all reacted in disgruntlement at the sound of that as they knew that it was going to be hard to find their targets as fast as possible.
"Oh, you don't have to worry about receiving debuff if you failed to locate your target." Luna clarified, "Only those who hid in their apartments passively would receive the penalty."
'Phew, that makes more sense.'
Most of the players sighed in relief after hearing so.
After all, there were 100 apartments that needed to be searched and only 30 minutes at the start to finish it.
If they failed, they would have -10%, which would give them a massive disadvantage during either their upcoming hunt or while being hunted.
"Next!"
"How many cycles would there be before the game ends?" Vanlord inquired while bowing his head politely.
"There is no limit." Luna replied, "As long as the Last Key Keeper hasn't emerged, the game will keep going and going!"
"Though, I wouldn't bother myself with that since after each shuffle, some players are bound to die." She snickered wickedly.
A game like this that leaves no choice for the players but to win, die, or disqualify was mostly used in Promotion games.
If the player lucked out on one in normal games, they would be given the choice to retry for another game.
After all, the platform never forces players to either play or die. It was totally up to the players' own decisions and reasons.
Yet, quite a few players still choose to go for those types of deadly games since the rewards were always too enticing.
"Next!"
"Will the apartments remain the same for each player after shuffles?"
"No, everything will be randomized again!"
Upon seeing that no one had his hand in the air after her answer, Luna proclaimed loudly while breaking into light particles, "The Q&A is over! You have 30 minutes to make friends!"
After her voice echoed one last time in the grass field, she disappeared out of sight, leaving the players to look at each other with hidden killing intent.
In this game, it was destined that only one player would survive...Unless some players here had coupons to save them in worst situations like the surrender coupon or they made themselves get disqualified by breaking the rules.
'I guess the news is true.' Felix rubbed his chin while thinking, 'The winner of every promotion game will receive a general title called, The Big League Player.'