Chapter 91 - The Map and The Hidden Addition
Marlion pressed on a button in his podium and a large screen descended slowly from behind him.
Thud-ung!
Immediately after stopping, Marlion turned it on and displayed a humongous red Planet.
"This is Solaria Planet, where your race will be held." He introduced composedly.
"Now let's take a look at your race track."
The vision rapidly zoomed inside the red planet until it stopped above an empty crimson desert that didn't have a single living being above it, or probably even underneath it.
"This is where you will start the race, and also finish." He pointed a finger at the long line made of black and white squares in the desert.
Multiple sighs of relief resounded in the hall after seeing the desert. This only meant that most of them included it in their practice just like Felix.
Unfortunately, their relieved expression did not last for long after Marlion introduced the 2nd area of the race.
"After exiting the desert, you will enter this canyon."
The players' expressions instantly turned unsightly after seeing the narrow paths of the canyon that only allowed a maximum number of three cars hovering beside each other.
They knew that a massacre would begin before they reach the canyon. Since, if they entered it all at once, those at the front would always be free targets to those behind them.
Simply because there was no space to maneuver!
Marlion ignored their noises and moved on to the 3rd area of the race.
"The end of the canyon is connected to tunnels leading to the underground." He gave his trademark creepy smile and joked, "Don't worry about visibility. The river of lava underneath will take care of it."
No one laughed at his tasteless joke after seeing the river spewing bursts of lava upward, reaching at least 200 meters in height. Their f*cking hovercars were only able to reach 100 meters in height!
How are we supposed to fly through that? They thought to themselves.
'This race is getting harder and harder, I doubt many will walk out of it alive, especially the newbies.'
Felix paid his condolence to the poor newbies who lucked out in this tragic game. Yet, things only kept getting worse and worse as Marlion continued to show the following areas. Starting off by leaving the underground from the mouths of inactive volcanoes.
The messed up part was that the majority of them were freaking active!
So the players had to find an exit from their first shot. Otherwise, they would get delayed significantly.
However, even if they managed to leave the underground smoothly, the only thing that would greet them was a sea of lava they had to pass through successfully to reach the red desert and then the starting/finish line.
After so a lap would be marked as complete.
"That's the race track, and to win the game you simply have to course 3 laps in it." The MC casually belittled the track hellish areas.
Make 3 laps in it? They doubted they would survive the first one.
Felix was not despairing as the majority of those players after seeing the track. After all, he had seen much worse before.
He was only slightly surprised that the Alliance actually used one of those maps for a bronze game, where newbies numbers were at best.
"Moving on to hidden addition!"
Without further ado, Marlion pressed a button and suddenly the empty track had aqua bluish boxes with '?' marks on them hovering randomly in every track area.
Felix looked at those boxes speechlessly.
'Why do they resemble a famous game on my planet?'
His speculation soon turned to be slightly off the mark by Marlion detailed clarification.
"Those boxes contain three types of results. One, abilities that can be used on you or against others. Two, Items from the prize pool. You can even obtain Purity fountain drop inside one."
Yet before he continued to the last result, the players went completely bonkers after hearing about the 2nd result.
"What the hell!! Doesn't this means we can just farm items inside the race without bothering about 1st place?!!"
"This is exactly what I am going to do; I already know that my driving skills are trash, so it's better to just earn free items."
"True, I might do the same."
"I cou..."
"SILENCE!!!"
Not a single peep was heard anymore after Marlion's shout. They knew that he could pop their brains easily like the four dead bodies near them. He just needed to wait until they broke a rule and take care of them.
That's why MCs in the SG should always be shown respect in the game they commentate on, as they were also a judge in it.
"If you let me finish my clarification you wouldn't be hopping around now like idiots." He eyed them disrespectfully and continued from where he left.
"The third result is traps! Some of those boxes have within them either negative effects to your vehicle or yourself, as well as bombs that can straightaway explode your car to oblivion."
"So if you want to farm those boxes and give up on the race, do so at your own risk." The MC concluded his explanation with a warning.
'I am not touching those for sure.' Felix firmly made his decision.
In his eyes, solutions that rely on luck never had good endings. So, it's better to race properly while ignoring those boxes that might lead to his death from a single mistake.
Felix was not the only one who decided to ignore the existence of the boxes, as the majority of the players' delighted eyes were turned off by the 3rd result.
They would rather eliminate their peers and obtain game points to buy items than rely on a mystery box.
The only ones, who were still slightly excited about them were the losers who never had a chance to win in the first place by depending on their driving skills or bloodline abilities.
In a sense, this hidden addition was to give those losers a chance to make things difficult for the veterans when they get hunted for game points later on.
But that's only if they didn't die straight away from the first box they pick up.
'Oh?! I get it now.' Felix chuckled after realizing why the purity fountain drop, a gold rank reward was in this game. It turned out, it was compensation for the veterans, who now had their game difficulty increased even further.
Ultimately, the newbies weren't supposed to pose a threat to their game, however by adding such a deadly external help. Things wouldn't be the same anymore.
"Now, if you have any questions, feel free to ask." Marlion looked at his bracelet and said. "You have 15 minutes of Q&A, Begin."
Immediately after, the majority of players lifted their hands in the air like students in a classroom asking for permission to head to the bathroom.