Alex, among many others, had become disillusioned with the second stage.
She had been on this mountain for another ten hours, totalling twenty since the start of the stage and she was extremely displeased. Other than witnessing the power of a few wondrous items gotten from the tree base in the first stage, Alex had not gained as much information as she would have liked.
The boy, Damien, who eventually woke up pleaded with Alex for food straight away. He caught her biting on soft, fresh bread and completely forgot any decorum, wanting a small piece.
"Can I have some?" He sounded scratchy and hoarse, thirst morphing his voice.
"Give me your sword." Alex deadpanned. Her voice was completely flat, as though she was not making an absurd request.
Damien stared at her in confusion, wondering why she would ask for his weapons when she had two better ones by her side.
' She wants to kill me.' Damien had resolved his momentary confusion. He easily deduced the reason behind Alex's request, before laying down his short sword in front of her and outstretching his arms for his payment.
Alex's expression remained stiff, but inwardly she was amused. The boy's thoughts were splattered on his face. He truly believed he would die of starvation if he did not eat right now.
Alex honoured her part of the agreement by tapping the air as if she were interacting with the shop. Then, she visualized a bun and a bottle of water from her cube storage appearing, and so they did.
The boy's eyes twinkled with excitement and he did not hesitate to snatch the goods and dash away while giving his thanks.
Her map observation had been relatively uneventful, with only a few deaths across the four zones. However, all four centre areas were finally breached.
The mountain Alex was on was not even attempted by the majority, rather they used it as either a resting place or a hiding place. Alex struggled to watch as many gave up after 100 steps, deciding to pursue other ventures.
Those who did persevere, capped at the 400s, decided to rest or even sleep. They knew not many would climb for a mere 10 shards. Alex looked at the brown-haired boy, wondering how he had succeeded.
The ice zone was next after the 'fire' zone's conquering. The main issue with the ice spikes surrounding the centre was their ability to freeze whatever came in contact with it.
Except one had used the [ Cold Immunity Potion ], being impaled was not the sole concern, becoming an ice statue was a possibility as well. Of course, many had tried their luck, running through the danger zone. Their fingers even phased through the magnificent dome, a brief taste of victory, before they found themselves on ice skewers. Conscious, as they froze from the inside out.
The spikes would retreat, returning to the ice, after their swift appearance. The frozen bodies would remain on the ice shard, a somewhat effective deterrent for any more bold challengers.
However, two boys did not seem to take heed to the warnings, that lay in the form of frozen corpses, strewn around the dome. They looked like identical twins. They communicated with each other. Their stances around each other were relaxed, a testament to their possible bond. Their eyes held no hostility towards the other.
Their next actions were anything but warm, as they downed a [ cold immunity potion ] each and hopped across, using the deceased as footing.
Like Alex, they had noticed that the ice spikes did not pierce through any of the frozen challengers and leveraged the situation, granting themselves easy passage.
A few of whom had witnessed their actions, either did not have enough to purchase a potion or had not watched the brothers closely enough. They imitated the brothers, only to freeze the moment they landed on a body.
Alex switched to the ranking board and saw two names shoot up in the formerly stagnant ranks.
Taking note of their names, she switched back to her map set up. Alex was a bit startled to find them laughing animatedly at those who had jumped after them.
Too many of these challengers were twisted and abnormal. Normal eighteen-year-olds certainly would not handle such things so calmly. Those who were desperate enough to follow them were likely those ranking in the last thousand. A desire to survive only graced them with a faster death.
Many of those in the bottom ranks had found themselves surrounding the centre areas, too weak to even imagine killing another and too frightened to attempt to force their way into the centre area. Once in a while, someone would try to hunt them, but like deers, they ran away at the slightest indication of a threat.
The one who entered the centre area in the 'water' zone only had to swim underwater while avoiding compressed and high-pressure water blades which shot out randomly as well. However, the wait period between each shot was much longer than the ice spikes. The challenge with the 'water' zone's centre area was mostly being able to swim well enough and being calm enough despite the lack of air.
It was safe to say the only challenger who managed to enter was a skilled swimmer. They used the [ breathe ] potion and managed to get past without injury from the water blades as they were patient and cautious throughout.
Those were the most crucial scenes Alex had witnessed. Alex knew the surviving challengers were all skilled, in their way. Most of the sheltered youths in their age range knew nothing of starvation, or working for anything at all. While only a few at their age knew what became of those who did not take the reins of their own life.
They had most likely witnessed friends die. They had been told their family was no more. They had no one to depend on, yet they still tried to live even in the face of seemingly insurmountable walls.
It reminded Alex of her old friends. They were just like that, unrelenting. In the end, they still perished in the hands of their tormentor. The one they loathed the most.
The second stage ended with 8,534 remaining challengers after the bottom thousand had been - deducted.
The top ten rankings went like this:
[1- Alexandra Chase: 6000 spirit shards]
[2- Dahlia Ansfrid: 3070 spirit shards]
[3- Damien Osterrich : 3000 spirit shards]
[4- Elijah Fletcher: 2130 spirit shards]
[5- Isaiah Fletcher: 2040 spirit shards]
[6- Charles Blake: 1270 spirit shards]
[7- Imani Oreto : 740 spirit shards]
[8- Maria Augustus: 310 spirit shards]
[9- Luca Jansen: 310 spirit shards]
[10- Avery Ming: 300 spirit shards]