Today in the Pod Cafe was the Battle Royale finals, and hundreds of contestants were streaming inside. Fortunately, this was the last major competition because tomorrow was the Musuo event that everyone could participate in. Shui Yao was part of the thousands of participants that were lining up to attend the competition. The staff quickly processed the challengers, and soon she found herself making her way to her pod.
Shui Yao entered the pod, logged in, and was greeted with the familiar scene of her and ninety nine other participants sitting awaiting the start. Knowing that it would be a few minutes before the round started, she looked around to see everyone's actions. Some sat back with their eyes closed, others were silently speaking in hushed tones, and the rest were nervously tapping their heels or some other nervous action.
"This is your pilot speaking, Welcome to the finals of the Foundation Establishment realm Master division for Battle Royale", a voice came over the intercom, "We are due to arrive in one minute, so buckle up."
The jump lights near the back door illuminated to indicate to standby, and everyone stood up and turned towards the door. The doors started to open at the end of the minute, the light turned green, and everyone jumped out of the back of the plane. Shui Yao put her arms by her side, and plunged head first towards the island. When she looked towards the island, five landing zones appeared in her googles. She selected the campgrounds, and immediately adjusted her path towards the location.
Shui Yao was checking the her altitude level in her googles when she saw that she was about to reach 'dead' line. If she didn't deploy her artifact to slow her descent now, she would take damage when she landed. She counted down before activating the artifact, and was pleased when she achieved the perfect height. The air around her calmed down, and she safely landed on the ground.
Shui Yao knew a few others was about the land like her, so she bolted towards the building that looked the most important. She entered the building, shut the door behind her, and headed straight to the second floor.
Shui Yao ran down the hallway until she found the door that normal belonged to the director, and kicked it opened. She closed the door, moved furniture in front of it, and turned towards the director's private storage space. She found a few pills, a couple talismans, and a spear. She frowned because she wasn't very proficient with spears but there wasn't another option, and unfortunately a storage ring or bags was at another location.
Shui Yao heard footsteps coming up the stairs, so she headed to the window, opened it, and jumped out. She quickly made a few hand motions, and a sphere of water appeared slightly above the ground. She landed in the sphere, dismissed it, and sprinted towards the forest. As she reached the treeline, she could hear that her pursuers had started battling each other now that she had slipped away. She ran for half an hour before climbing a tree, deciding that she most likely no longer had anyone following her.
Shui Yao took a few moments to rest, and then took the items out of her pockets to inspect them. The pills were all the same, and their effect was to refill a cultivators energy, so it was a worthy pickup. The talismans were a tranquil plant talisman, and a gentle rain talisman. She had mixed feelings as the first talisman was a excellent choice for the forest, but the second felt redundant. She was born with excellent water roots, and the gentle rain technique wasn't difficult to perform. It also had no attack potential, but she decided to keep it anyways since it was up to the contestants to use their resources effectively.
Shui Yao put everything away, and climbed to the top of the tree she was in to get her bearings. She found the direction of the central area, but it wasn't time to move yet as it would take some time before boundary would start to shrink.
Thirty minutes had gone by, and Shui Yao had saw a few others pass through as they moved towards the center to avoid being eliminated. She did another quick check on the situation, and saw they boundary would soon arrive at her position. She prepared to journey to another location, but before she moved, another man came into her view. She create a small sphere of water, and tossed it towards the straggler. The man looked around as he felt the Qi from the technique, and just as he realized it was from above, the sphere engulfed his head. A cultivator at the Foundation Establishment realm could hold their breath for a unreasonable long time, but the attack was a distraction in the first place. Shui Yao landed behind the confused target, and touched his back with fingertips from both hands as she used the water spear technique. This technique shot water at high pressure strong enough to punch through steels walls, and the man was eliminated.
Shui Yao saw a small object fall to the ground, so she grabbed it and started her own journey towards the central region. Even though the boundary was closing in, she didn't panic and rush forward. She moved from any location that could be used as cover in an efficient manner until she heard a sound she was waiting for. Shui Yao was pleased when she came across a relatively big stream of water, which she waded into.
Shui Yao reduced her aura, and used a technique to move swiftly and unseen through the water. Within ten minutes, she was able to cover a long distance and safely pass by several ambush points. The stream continued to wide, but never reached the width of a river, and eventually fed into a lake. She found an inconspicuous spot, and took the time to inspect the item that she picked up earlier.
It was a storage ring, and Shui Yao grinned as she placed all her items inside. She swam over to some reeds to spy on the situation around here hiding spot, and poked her head out of the water. She looked at the boundary far off in the distance, and calculated that she probably would not need to move for at least an hour.
As Shui Yao stayed in her hiding place, the other participants were also executing their strategies as well. Some thought like her, and found places to wait it out, others went actively looking in the hopes of ambushing someone. Unfortunately for the majority of the challengers, their set of skills and the items they were able to forage were not enough to survive. By the time the hour was done, and she had to start planning her next move, eighty percent of the contestants had been eliminated.
Shui Yao was starting to worry, the boundary was closing in, and the lake she was hiding in was soon going to be out of bounds. She was getting ready to move to a new spot when three cultivators had moved into the area. She predicted that in the next five minutes the whole lake would no longer be safe, but she had no choice but to wait by the shore in the hopes that this battle finished quickly. Four minutes later the battle concluded with the winner walking over to loot the reward from the fallen.
Shui Yao knew it was time, and used her water movement technique to get behind the last standing enemy. She swiftly attacked with the water spear technique several times, but just as she went to grab the items, she sensed several arrows heading towards her. As much as it pained her to do it, Shui Yao abandoned the items she was not able to take. She activated her water escape technique at full power heading away from the approaching boundary. She dodged a few more arrows, but soon made it out the range of her attacker. Luck was on her side as she did not cross the paths of any of the remaining contenders. Unfortunately, she couldn't find another body of water to hide in so she took one of the pills to restore her energy.
Shui Yao hatched a plan that was somewhat risky, but she had to make do with what she had. She carefully crawled around until she found a spot that was out of the way but not suspicious. She used a modified version of the technique she used to hide in the lake to appear as water, and laid down in her chosen spot as a puddle. If the other participants actively sought her out, she would be in trouble, so she is trying to use the chaos of the event to cover for her situation.
Thirty minutes have gone by, and Shui Yao has only seen one person walk anywhere close to her hiding place.
'I have about ten more minutes before the boundary will threaten me again', she thought, 'Let's see what I gained.'
There were a few more pills and talismans, but what excited Shui Yui the most was an array disk. She took a few minutes to look at it, but when saw it was an illusion array, she felt disappointed.
'This had to be my worse round ever', she thought, 'Normally, I would have at least one reliable attack method by now.'
Feeling the pressure of the ever diminishing area, Shui Yao set off again towards the final battleground. Several times, she is almost spotted by one of the remaining fighters, but she used her water form to avoid them. She finally made it to the final area, and was heartbroken on arrival. Not only is there a serious lack of water, but everything is dry and rocky. She deployed the illusion array, but soon was attacked. She realized she had not tested the array first to see what it would appear as, and it was obvious to everyone when a bunch of bushes came out of nowhere in such a rocky place. Next thing Shui Yao sees is a her personal space with a light screen that displayed [You died. You achieved Ninth place.]
"Ladies and Gentlemen, I want to announce that the official events of the Pinnacle have come to a close", Lui Mingxue's voice was heard by all the audience, "But do not worry, tomorrow will be the final day. All the winners will be recognized for everyone to see, and the Musuo mode will start afterwards. This is not a competitive event, and is open to everyone. And if you are a top performer, you have the chance to be rewarded will fabulous prizes."
"I think everyone cannot wait for it to start", Jin Lei, the other host added, "I was told that it will be an experience that only a few have every had before. Before you ask for a preview, I have to confess that even we were excluded from gathering information."
A button clicked, and the QTV turned off as Wei Huoran had finished getting dressed.
He checked to make sure he didn't forget anything, put his hands together, and slightly bowed to a small orb he had used the other day at his hometown.
"Father, Mother, Everyone, I will return", Huoran said as he left his cave. Ten minutes later, Wei Huoran and Zeng Meirong were at the train station with all the other ministers, sect masters, family heads, and business leaders as a special high speed train pulled into the station.
"All passengers, the train to Misty Peak has arrived", an announcement came over the speakers in the station, "Please board once the train comes to a complete stop, and the doors open."
It was a sight for Wei Huoran, and he chuckled to himself as he saw all these guests wearing their finest robes entering the train. Zeng Meirong was not sure what Huoran was amused about, so she lightly elbowed him to make him regain his composure. The train departed, and soon everyone arrived at Misty Peak with a line of cars awaiting them. The car drove until they reached a restaurant named 'Divine Earthfire'.
Wei Huoran, Zeng Meirong, and all the other guests were led to their seats where they could view the awesome power of a volcano. The boiling magma would sometimes shoot out stream of lava and flames that would ascend and descend back into the crater. Despite the apparent danger, the array formation protecting the restaurant prevented any real harm to it guests.
Minister Ye raised his glass as he stood, "A toast to everyone. I know some are planning to leave tomorrow evening, so I thank you for attending tonight."
All the guests raised their glasses as well, and everyone drank in response.
"Please feel free to order your meals and socialize. In a little bit, we will present to all the guests a presentation on something we have been working on, so enjoy until then."
As the minister sat down, a line of waiters and waitresses entered, and started taking everyone's orders. Everyone started talking as they enjoyed the drinks that were delivered to the tables in a timely manner. Soon the dishes made their way to the guests to their delight, and everyone complimented the food.
"Everyone, I'm glad you have had fun so far", Minister Ye stood again, "If you please direct your attention to the wall over there, we will begin."
A table with a holographic projection system was placed in the empty space.
It activated, and a voice was heard by all, "Sun & Moon island is pleased to present all the guests with the latest news and products available to our allies. First, I will present our education programs that are available to everyone."
Images were displayed as the announcer told everyone about the academy and virtual realm courses, and all the subjects they covered. Then it moved on to the commercial district as it listed all the latest products for sale. The visitors got excited about the core batteries, the vehicle artifacts, and the train system that was being built on the Nanying continent. After discussing several other topics, the screen changed as a giant flying ship with the words 'The Explorer Project' hanging over it.
"This is our latest endeavor", Minister Ye spoke to the crowd, "We plan on send several ships like this out into the world to explore our world. The first one will be sent to the new continent recently discovered, and will act as a connection between here and there. While we have the crew trained to man the mission ourselves, we still want to offer the opportunity to any who wish to take it, if they have courage to do so."