Stage 1 - Aliens and Predators

Friday, 20 June 1986

06:55 pm

After having an early supper, Darcie felt extremely tired because of using magic non-stop throughout the entire afternoon. By now, she had tried every Charm mentioned in the Standard Book of Spells, Grade 1, at least once. The results had been the same. She could do all of them effectively, but the results were not up to par with her standards and hope.

The Wand-lighting Charm had let her brighten up the extremities of anything, but never to a permanent state, eliminating the use of Counter-Charm. The Softening-Charm had let her soften any objects, but in this case, the size of an object became a great hindrance for her. Severing Charm had turned out to be the best, letting her cut small solid objects and fabrics with uncanny precision. The only issue was that the angle of these cuts tended to diverge midway.

She had conjured a fireball in her palm using a Flame-Making Spell, but it exploded into tiny fireworks, and Daphne threw a bucket full of water onto her face, missing them all. Locks had gotten unlocked pretty easily, but sometimes they just rattled, before starting jumping up and down. And she had mended a shattered mirror easily enough. But upon close inspection by Daphne, they found out that a few chinks were missing at the edges and corners.

Only the Levitating Charm was left alone by her. It had seemed easy, but she just didn't feel right about this magic.

They had ended the day with few conclusions. First, Darcie didn't lack in any of the three parts of the self-theorized principles — Specificity, Belief, and Intention. Second, by the process of elimination, she lacked Control. Her magic had developed too suddenly, it seemed, based on the Magical Theory book, making her already dwindling Control over magic even worse.

And there was only one way to test out the veracity of these conclusions.

Wands.

Darcie yawned, thinking of ways to get her mother's wand somehow tomorrow and repeat the experiments.

'Experiments?!' She thought, confusedly. But by then her eyes were getting heavy. With one look, she extinguished the candles and closed her eyes.

In the next moment, her breathing softened.

*

*

The clock struck 19:00 and the entire world paused.

The wind, flow of water, thoughts, and hideous, unseen gazes all halted in this Time Node.

A tremendous squeeze, accompanied by a blue shimmer, jolted the figure on the bed in Darcie's room. The shimmer brightened up, and then, with a flash, the figure disappeared.

When Kai felt himself sitting on something solid, he resisted the grogginess and cracked his eyes open. A light buzz entered his ears, and he saw many figures all around him, their heads bobbing around just like his. Suddenly, a soothing symphony came from the background, overpowering the buzz of people's whispers.

They were in a round, white hall. In the middle of the hall, 20 benches were lined in ten rows and two columns. 5 Contestants were seated on each bench, bringing the total to 100, and there was a comfortable gap between the columns, rows, and two Contestants.

Kai looked down and saw that he was wearing a disruptive camouflage patterned military uniform. There was a similar patterned hat on his head as well. Kai looked to his left and saw a middle-aged man looking back at him. Ignoring the condescending look, he observed his situation.

Kai was seated on the right extreme seat of the 7th bench on the left column. The right column was two hands away from him. His eyes followed the path and landed on the giant screen a few dozen feet ahead of the front rows. The screen was hovering midair, and its size was big enough for anyone to see it clearly.

The symphony died away gradually, and two voices took their place.

Kai's eyes widened. After so much time, he was finally hearing these voices again. Yes, these were the same voices he had heard after his resurrection.

As the voice spoke, the same words also appeared on the screen.

[[Suppressing all memories related to the Alien and Predators random worlds and species]]

Gasps and curses escaped Candidates' mouths, but it was too late.

Kai felt a pain drilling his brain. A crack and it was over. By the time Kai pressed his brows after this incident, he didn't rememberer hearing the voices or the words on the screen. Such was the case with everyone.

The two voices spoke again, and Kai expressed his shock as if it was the first time he was hearing them.

The screen reflected the same words.

[[

The Systems welcome all Candidates to the ?#?!?###? Tournament of Worth.

For fairness, each Attribute of all Contestants will be suppressed, matching it to the lowest value among all the Contestants' Stats. All Items above the Uncommon grade will be rendered useless. Bonded Magical Creatures' Stats will be suppressed to 25% higher than Candidates' Stats, if applicable.

All Requirements based on Attributes are hereby stand waived off, granted that the Contestant could use the particular Item or Skill with original Attributes' Stats too.

The new Attributes will be shown at the end of the instructions.

]]

'This…' Kai licked his lips. He looked around at the other Contestants, eagerly waiting for the voices to continue, and couldn't help but pity them. 'Well,' he thought, 'aren't they fucked?'

[[

All Candidates will be dropped one by one randomly on the island — T009.

T009 is a tropical island with the ruins of an ancient civilization taken over by the rainforest. The island is infested with two species: Xenomorph and Yautja.

Xenomorph is a highly aggressive endoparasitoid extraterrestrial species. The Xenomorphs are vicious predatory creatures with no higher goals than the propagation of their species and the destruction of any life that could pose a threat to them. Like wasps or bees, Xenomorphs are eusocial, with a fertile Queen breeding a host of subordinate castes.

Yautja is an extraterrestrial species characterized by their hunting of other dangerous species for sport and honor, including humans. The Yautja is a sentient, humanoid race that possesses a level of technological advancement far above anything available to humans.

]]

Kai didn't know if anyone else had recognized it, but he did. He was not unfamiliar with the word Endoparasitoid.

'An endoparasitoid is a parasite that lives inside another animal and ultimately kills it,' Kai thought, his face giving up nothing but a passive expression. 'It makes the first species much more dangerous than the second. Hmm, let's see.'

[[

There is a hierarchy within both species.

Xenomorph species have the Queen, her eggs, warrior drones, and the queenguards. The strength of these life-stages increases from eggs to the Queen.

Yautja species have a clan-based system where the hierarchy is decided by accomplishments and growth stages. There are three such stages on the island: Un-Blooded, Young Blood, and Blooded, with Blooded being the strongest.

A point system is assigned to the Survival Stage.

By killing any of the two species' members, Candidates can earn points. There is a daily cap of 10 points that a Candidate must obtain in 24 hours to continue with the next day. To pass the Stage, a Candidate must survive the island for 7 days and must have a minimum of 500 points. Stage 1's rewards depend upon the total tally of the points at the end.

Point distribution among the various members of the two species is available in the Candidates' Tablets that would be issued before the commencement of the Stage.

All species' members, other than the Queen Xenomorph and the Blooded Yautja, will respawn every 24 hours.

The collective threat level of the island, T009, is equivalent to an average 6th-floor Candidate with no Skills, Abilities, and Items.

]]

The last statement brought about an outrageous response. Some even stood up and openly cursed the Systems for taking things too far.

The Systems ignored them completely and continued with their instructions.

[[

All Candidates will be dropped on the island randomly in pods. The timer of 7 days will start at the opening of these pods.

A basic Survival Kit will be issued to all Candidates. All data relating to the Kit is available in the Tablets as well. Tablets are perishable and sophisticated pieces of equipment. They have a map of the entire island with key points marked on it, along with many other uses. Candidates cannot exchange points with each other, but killing Candidates will grant a fourth of their points to the murderer. (-the atmosphere within the white hall suddenly became cold-)

Inventories will be locked after the start of the Timer. Candidates are advised to take out their necessary Items and things from Inventory before the opening of the pods.

A onetime privilege of giving up the Tournament is now granted to all Candidates. If opted, a Candidate must say clearly "I give up" for the Systems to freeze the relevant Time Node and extract the Candidate out. The candidacy for further Stages will stand forfeited thenceforth.

The new Attributes are:

]]

As the words had reached the screen's bottom, all Candidates waited for the Stats to appear with bated breath.

Only Kai's face was relaxed, for he already knew the devastating blow the consciousness of these Contestants would suffer in the next moment.

[[

Active Attributes -

Strength: 10

Agility: 10

Stamina: 11

Perception: 11

Intelligence: 9

Breath: 7

Passive Attributes -

Defense: 6

Charisma: 8

Luck: 3

Worth: 3

]]

"What?!!!!!!"

"Impossible!!!"

"Motherf…"

"Who the hell is still alive with that LUCK?!!"

The corners of Kai's mouth twitched wryly.