[Candidate {Hunter Tamaniel} has been granted {Vortigon Ascension Plateau} ]
[Description: ???]
"That's... A lot of question marks... There's no description either..."
Hunter muttered in bewilderment and looked over to Nina who had her grubby paws in a bag of cheese snacks. Her expression was every bit as absurd and amusing as Hunter had hoped. Nina's little mouth was wide open and her pupils had shrunk to a fraction of their size, well, relatively speaking.
"So... Are you gonna contact your supervisor?"
"A-ahem~!"
Nina coughed exaggeratedly and averted her eyes from Hunter, trying her best to maintain a level of decorum expected from the entities entrusted with assisting candidates of one of the most crucial wars in the multiverse. However, it wasn't the most effective strategy as her rapidly fluttering wings betrayed the chaos and disarray assaulting her mind.
Nina closed her eyes to contact her supervisor but opened them only a second or two later.
"Nina can't contact Nina's supervisor, they must still be busy with the previous matter." Nina stowed away the snacks and dusted her hands as she rose about a foot or so above ground. "Nina will contact a supervisor."
"Do what you must."
Hunter had certain doubts and concerns about the situation but kept them to himself. He lounged around and ate snacks as Nina closed her eyes and entered communications with who he assumed was another supervisor.
Hunter was a rather adaptable and flexible fellow. Although the last twenty-four hours had played like a fever dream, he had come to accept and somewhat enjoy his current situation. One aspect that allowed him that little bit of maneuverability and freedom was his talent, Empyrean Fortune.
Hunter was inherently untrustworthy and cynical. He was the kind of individual who required substantial evidence and proof to place his trust in a result, and rarely did he ever let his emotions get the best of him. However, what he had witnessed during the three perk allocations had instilled in him a belief in the talent's capabilities.
Even though Hunter found it ironical that an existence who had cursed luck their whole life had managed to acquire a talent that amplified fortune, it was indeed true that the ability was effective, scarily so. Hunter had started to understand his talent a little and had tried to predict the result of the location wager. Given how the final army allocation unraveled, he had speculated that since the location perk would yield only one overall reward, the quality might be of an extraordinarily high grade.
Hunter was pleasantly surprised by the degree of the enhancement, of course, but it didn't fall too far beyond the scope of his imagination. In the end, it was one of the aspects of this so-called war that would only come to benefit him in the long run. It would be disingenuous for him to pretend to be worried or anxious about an exceedingly abundant reward.
Hunter chowed on a myriad of fruit snacks that bore the shape of their inspiration as he glanced at Nina, who had been talking to a supervisor for about two minutes now. Her expression was clouded by worry and her eyebrows were scrunched into a frown, indicating that the conversation wasn't flowing too smoothly, which didn't startle him in the least.
He had been idly wondering if the administrators only one level above the assistants would have any relevant information. His experience with the whole system had led him to believe that the ground-level assistants and those supervising them were rather inexperienced, still learning the ropes and getting the hang of things.
A little over ten minutes elapsed before Nina slowly opened her eyes and floated down to the ground. From her dispirited demeanor and dead eyes, it was evident that the discussion had been far from fruitful.
"Nina? Everything alright...?"
Hunter felt awkward breaching the subject since it was clear from her countenance that the past couple of hours had been weighing on her. Nina had lightheartedly mentioned her incompetence a few times, but when he tried to talk to her about it, Nina brushed it off as a joke. However, as someone who is used to carrying heavy burdens, Hunter understood that the multiple instances of inadequacy had chipped away at her confidence.
Hunter didn't blame himself, he was a victim and would need to risk his life in a battle to the death, but he was still sympathetic to her plight. He was her first candidate, the first assignment, yet at every turn, Nina had no choice but to run to somebody with higher authority because the proceedings of this white space were way out of her league.
"The supervisor was very surprised, and asked Nina to explain from the start~" Nina slumped to the ground and buried her face in a bag of sweet treats. "The supervisor said this is out of their jurisdiction, so they are contacting their senior. Hunter will have to wait for a response from them as well."
The bag was muffling Nina's voice, making it barely comprehensible, but the melancholy behind it could be sensed from miles away.
"So, we have two issues we are waiting for a response on?"
Hunter kept his voice cheery, making sure it wouldn't seem like he was accusing Nina of anything.
"Mmhmm~"
A few sweets rolled about inside the bag, transmitting the message.
"Alright, then, can't be helped."
Hunter waved his hands dismissively and called out to Nina, but she grunted from inside the sweet packet, making no movements to leave the comfort of the sweet haven.
Hunter sighed and tried to pull on Nina's tiny heels.
"Come on, Nina! Don't be like this! You said you would elaborate on this location perk once the specificities were acquired." Hunter directed more force to his hands but Nina stubbornly held onto the inner layer of plastic tightly. "The quality doesn't matter now, we have a location now, and that's enough! Come on, come on~!"
Eventually, after a solid ten minutes worth of persuasion and coaxing, along with another batch of snacks and treats, the tiny high-maintenance devil finally popped out from the bag and settled on Hunter's thigh, kicking her legs in the air.
"What does Hunter think the 'battlefield' is?"
Nina's question caught Hunter off guard. He had been exposed to the word 'battlefield' from the moment he had opened his eyes in this space, but he hadn't put much thought into its significance.
In the beginning, Hunter was convinced that this 'battlefield' would just be a barren wasteland where all the contestants would duke it out until only one or whatever the required number of winners remained. However, as time passed and events progressed, his understanding of the intricacies of this war deepened.
The body reconstruction, the information window, the perks, the battlefield tokens, the support system, the absurd number of contestants, and much more. All of these indicated to Hunter that the 'battlefield' was shaping up to be more complex than he could have imagined, and would be the farthest thing from a sandpit of fighting maniacs.
"Are we talking conceptually or physically?"
Hunter scratched his chin and looked at the ever-expansive whiteness around him. He had spent over a Terraian day here, yet he was still nowhere near comprehending the nature of this space.
"Physically... Where does Hunter think the conflict will take place?"
"Ho~ Initially I assumed it would be a plane field, maybe on a neutral planet somewhere... But given the insane number of candidates, it could either be a ginormous planet or a series of close celestial bodies."
Hunter violently scratched his brown silky hair, trying to wrap his head around the idea of a battlefield spanning multiple planets. There was just a tiny problem with that theory.
"However, we've been talking in quintillions, sextillions even. Heck, I have an army of over 1.7 quadrillions strong... And according to physics, a planet can only be so big... Ah, maybe a huge star can accommodate so many candidates? But how would that work?"
Hunter spiraled into theories and concepts, but every answer he derived was contradicted by some other knowledge he possessed.
"Hehe~ Terraia's development has limited Hunter's comprehension. The wonders of the multiverse are beyond Hunter's imagination."
Nina finally seemed to have regained some of her liveliness, and although that did come at the expense of Hunter's planetary pride, he was glad that she wasn't all droopy anymore.
"Nina isn't allowed to divulge all of the particulars, but Nina can give out a few vague details."
Nina ruffled through the snack mountain and pulled out a sour strip of candy. And although it was clear that she wasn't used to the flavor by her furrowed brow, she kept gorging on them.
"Hunter is correct about one thing... There is indeed more than one battlefield. Hunter won't enter the warzone and instantly encounter an entity hailing from a distant multiverse, there are various levels of—"
Nina's eyes narrowed and her demeanor exuded a sense of seriousness. Ever since she had been admonished for disclosing too much information, she had done her utmost to avoid that pain.
"The battlefields are realms of immense proportions, their size measured in thousands if not millions of light years. Hunter might think of it as absurd and excessive, but once Hunter indulges in a power system and gains a certain level of strength, the sea Hunter believes it to be will soon appear as a mere pond."
"Okay... And how does the location perk fit in all of this?"
"Once the perk allocation ceremony concludes and all the formalities have been taken care of, the candidates are transported to the battlefield."
Nina flattened an empty pack of candies and used it to demonstrate the information.
"However, the initial location that a candidate is sent to is completely random. In a realm of such incomprehensible magnitude, there are going to be the good and the bad locations."
Nina pointed at the holographic screen still displaying the text announcing Hunter's rewarded location, {Vortigon Ascension Plateau} .
"Nina can't tell Hunter the exact reason, but the initial location plays a crucial role, especially during the beginning stages of the war."
Hunter nodded in understanding. Hunter associated the concept with that of a battle royale video game, where the initial location could determine the subsequent progress of one's character. A good drop point could help one equip themselves with tools and knowledge and clutch the whole game. Only here, that location would be completely random and could be the reason an individual thrives or faces demise.
"Okay, so it is important, I get it. Why did you call it a double-edged sword?"
"A good initial location can assist the candidates a huge amount in their overall progress, however, the inverse is also true. If a candidate finds themselves in a less-than-adequate location, their progress can be thwarted, so it is a very dangerous perk."
Nina stopped multiple times during her explanation and looked around warily, making sure that the hammer of punishment wouldn't descend on her frail body.
"I still don't get it, if one gets this perk, isn't that a good thing? I understand that this battlefield will be very huge, millions of light years you say, most galaxies aren't that long. Many places throughout this battlefield might be dangerous, so the effectiveness of this perk is amplified further I would think?"
"No, there could be scenarios where the perk could spell doom for certain individuals. It could be that the location a candidate would be sent to without the reward might be way better than the one allocated to them by the perk, and can thus be the reason that they eventually die."
Nina loudly chomped on a snack that had sharp edges as she lectured.
"Or it could be that the location allocated by the perk has other problems that cause the individual to fail... As Hunter is aware, there are fifteen categorizations in this particular perk, and let Nina tell Hunter, those low tiers put the candidates through a rather cruel journey."
Nina chortled as Hunter experienced a chill running down his spine.