NOVEL NEXT Chapter 7: Analysis
[ 20/20 Gorilla Babies Slayed ]
[Rifts Transporting Team 567 to the Hall of Rifts ]
Zakar stared at the notification and thought for a second. They were not going in in accordance to their time of completion of the mission.
A sigh escaped his lips and suddenly a swirl of wind curled around his legs and in the next second, he faded out of existence (at least for a second).
He was teleported to the very place they had existed from. His eyes scanned the entire place and he saw his team mates landing simultaneously just as he had come.
They were not the only ones present there. Some other teams were already there. Zakar stared at them. About hundreds of teams were already done. He smiled at the implication of that.
"We've got powerful teams here." Zakar muttered to himself.
"I'm still wondering why we had to be in groups if we were running a single race of getting to heaven." Myia stated.
Zakar turned to look at her. He was not sure who she was referring to but he decided to reply since none of them spoke.
"To be damn straight, I can't tell. But I have a spooky feeling about the Guides. Well I can't say for now. We could just watch." Zakar said.
Justin looked at them and winked lightly. Zakar couldn't figure what that meant but he did notice that he and Sera went away towards the other flock of recruits.
"Still worried about him?" Myia's voice cut through his mind and he jolted back to look at her.
"Worried?...Why?" Zakar asked a bit coyly. She smiled.
"Never mind."
[Outcome Of Misson For Team 567::]
[Justin — 12 kills. ]
[Sera— 5 kills. ]
[Myia —2 kills. ]
[Zakar —1 kills. ]
[Time expended: 36:50 mins ]
[Team earned 498th place.]
Zakar stared at the notification in shock. His eyes roamed only one thing. 498th place? In what? Was it indirectly relaying the message that they were the 498th team to recover?
'This place still has a lot of mystery to answer. This feels off. Something like—'
"Do not feel bad. He's not going to kill you."
Zakar turned sharply to stare at her. Her words displayed how she felt of him. A damn weakling that couldn't do much to contribute to the team. A scandal.
He clenched his fists tightly as he stared at Justin sitting over by the other side speaking to some guys who were probably not listening to what he was saying.
"You need to build on your confidence." Myia said and he looked at her.
"My...what?"
"Yeah. You have a poor ground on your esteem. You seem to be one those bullied kind back on earth. Look, this isn't earth. This is a new world . Waste Land. If you want to survive here, you gotta use what you have to get what you want." she said like sermon.
"..."
"Really?" Zakar asked and stared at his hands. He had power and strength and that was good enough already.
"Yah. I believe you have something raw and tangible in you that others can't see."
Was that supposed to be a flatter or a motivational word? His eyes scanned her and from behind he saw many more rifts opening up for the players to fall in.
"Seems like a lot of teams finished at once." Zakar muttered to himself.
Then he followed Myia to the group of teams that were already standing by a corner. Zakar's eyes scanned through the hall as it was and noticed that something felt off about the air.
Then he saw someone walk out from the floating podium. He was on dark black hair that ruffled lightly but still kept still and firm. He was one of the Guides that had shown up before they had gone for their mission .
Everyone turned to stare at him. His body was built like a god and his arua was extremely negative. He looked like he could kill with a glance.
"Damn. Did he intentionally not let us observe him the other time?"
"He's cute." a girl from the other side blurted out.
'He's cute but he has a sort of arua that feels familiar. Too familiar to be real. I can't tell but it seems like I know him.' Zakar thought.
The Guide cleared his throat for easy flow of air through his windpipe. That was enough to get everyone looking at him.
"Greetings young and old players. My name is Lector Drin. I am one of the Guides in the world." he paused and allowed his words to sink in like sword piercing through the throat.
"I'm here to address you prestigious entities of your hardwork and the outcome of the mission." he paused again.
"We started this with about five thousand players but we have been reduced to some extent. To be precise we started with five thousand two hundred and twenty four players and be are down to five thousand and six players.
A loss of two hundred and eighteen players. That's a huge loss considering the fact that this is only but the intro Misson. "
"As sad as it, twenty teams have been totally annihilated. Some other teams suffered with the loss of one or more players." he said as cold as ever. Then a smile tugged on his lips. A dead smirk.
"That teaches us one thing. Weakness is a sin in this world. And the weak can't survive. They do not deserve life. This is a place to prove that you died by a careless mistake and not because you died because you couldn't help it."
"Our past builds our future. Your kind of person in your previous life determined how strong you would be here. There is no such like 'luck'. Better to build on your personality than to chase after the wind. Nothing hurts more than dying for nothing. Dying in grief. Dying and knowing that you couldn't fight back."
Zakar stared at him and noticed his harsh look. He was dead serious and it seemed like he would have to upgrade his rank. That would be later. Not now. Doing that now would only bring curious glances and possibly a huge question mark.
"Players! You have been assigned to your camps. Your team number will help you find your camp. Each team has a camp." he said and faded into the podium like dust fading in wind.