Chương 63: HURRY UP PLEASE, IT’S TIME

VOTING ROUND—THREE Round Rating: 217 Ability Deactivated: From the Fragments to the Aftermath Ability Notification! Development points assigned: 77 Progress toward ability upgrade: 130/1000 Bonus Event Quest Update! Description: Survive a voting or hunting round. Completed: 5/X Reward: +1 Will, +10 gold, and +1 skill point for each round survived. +50, 000 clicks. Delivered immediately.

Received: +1 will +10 gold +1 skill point +50, 000 clicks New Achievement: Level Twenty-Three +2 Gold +2 Skill Points +1 Will >>Breaking News! We are now in a three-team game. Check out the scoreboard. Scoreboard: Red Team: 12 Blue Team: 11 Green Team: 1 Total players remaining: 24 >>Who is the new green team member, and how did they get permission to throw their own party? >>Other than that, we're down three players, all apparently on the blue team. >>Urdo, the walking suit of armor, is gone.

He was last seen in the screens bludgeoning that weird crystal thingy, who is also gone. >>Also, Veronica is dead, but we saw that happen already on the screens. She was the one shooting at Top and Pine, and then the next thing we saw was Pine looting her body with his not-at-all-suspicious Full Murderhobo ability. >>Let's go around the horn and check in with— >>Oh, right. They're all looking at us. They must have noticed the leaderboard. >>Check it out, Mr. Diamond.

Leaderboard Pinnacle (20 votes) Diamond (12 votes) • George—66 tokens, rating: 271 Gold (8 votes) • TLX-448571001—30 tokens, rating: 149 • Neco—22 tokens, rating: 133 • Lady Greesh—17 tokens, rating: 125 Silver (5 votes) • Pine—14 tokens, rating: 100 • Ezra Deathmantle—7 tokens, rating: 99 • Sarala—12 tokens, rating: 89 Bronze (3 votes) • Grey—5 tokens, rating: 77 • Tycho—5 tokens, rating: 44 Iron (2 votes) • Hollywood Cole—4 tokens, rating 34 • Tinntannabel—3 tokens, rating: 32 • Cassie—2 tokens, rating 32 • June—4 tokens, rating: 25 • Top of the Morning—2 tokens, rating: 25 • Loveland—2 tokens, rating: 24 • Misco Narisco—2 tokens, rating: 22 It was Cassie who broke the silence.

"George! You did it!" Then she slapped her hand over her mouth when the other players turned to look at her. [In the next round, I will come to you, and you will reveal the source of your token windfall. —TLX] Then there was a pause. [It was a challenge room. —TLX] [You will reveal the location of the challenge room. —TLX] >>I really wouldn't mind if that guy tripped into a pool of molten metal or something. >>TLX jumped up on the leaderboard, but I would have thought he'd have found even more tokens than that.

He can fly, and he has that scanning ability. >>Seems like he has been pretty locked into his "join or die" narrative. >>Still, he would have gone on a spree in that platform challenge room. You'd think he'd be doing better than this. >>Yeah, but to find that challenge room, TLX would've had to slow down, take a drive, and befriend an AI car whose whole purpose is chauffeuring people to loot. I don't see the Liquid Metal Yoga Ball playing a strong enough social game to pull that off.

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"Bro. You're in the top spot," Top said, pressing his fist against the barrier between them.

"Nice one." >>He wants you to fist-bump him, George. >>It is a common form of greeting among earthlings. It expresses affection and commendation. >>Don't leave him hanging, George. That's not cool. George gave him a small wave in a gesture that somehow acknowledged his comment while also communicating that he should not say anything else. >>I'd rather not have this attention on me. >>Too late for that. >>Speech! >>… Or suck in that gut and just look like the strong silent type. George went for the second option.

Instead of responding, he scanned the room and took in the state of the players. Tycho had his backpack off and was rummaging through it. Ezra was lying on the floor of his enclosure with his arms and legs spread wide. The gnacker was pacing the edge of the enclosure with its head low. Pine was already sitting in his chair, pouring another cup of tea as usual. Lady Greesh looked directly at George, one eyebrow raised and a ghost of a smirk tugging at her mouth. >>Look who has a new roommate.

Misco Narisco, the woman last seen standing on the ceiling of her voting enclosure while flower petals rained down beneath her, was now sharing Grey's enclosure. They stood shoulder to shoulder and looked like it was neither a surprising nor unwelcome change. The others saw to injuries, checked their supplies, or just watched the room and waited for Razza to show up. No one spoke. >>Why did we get such a high rating? I didn't think we'd be at the top.

>>That happened because we had a killer round, topped off with an extra few hours of tearing through the hunting maze alone. >>Let's review our gains. >>At the start of the third hunting round, you only had three tokens and were languishing at the bottom of the iron tier on the leaderboard with a measly two votes.

>>Then we found screens that let us spy on every other player in the game, killed some zombies with your speedster ability, went on a joyride with a sentient car, soloed a challenge room with a record-setting performance, stole a pocket hovercraft, dodged some vordigans in a creepy haunted manor, scooped up the nodling, went shopping in the Trial Nine, and snagged a sweet wristband force shield. >>Not to mention that we grabbed enough prestige tokens to more than double the amount of the next highest token holder.

>>Basically, we dominated. >>So. All hail George Brandiss, Lord of Trials. >>Also… quick update from the cradle. >>The nodling's click rate is holding steady at 65 kilo clicks/hour. Given their meager intelligence stat, they seem to have reached the ceiling of their ability to iterate productively. In other news, Expander is now the size of a bowling ball. Somebody's got to stop that guy. It is getting out of hand.

Razza began to rise through the floor, and Greesh spoke before the moderator even fully took his place.

"I have acquired a series of ability orbs that have allowed me to change the rules of this trial," Greesh said.

"As you can see, I have started a third team, of which I am currently the only member." She held up a green team card for all to see. Though most other players looked battered and bruised by the trial, Lady Greesh looked like she wasn't even playing. Her white robe was still spotless. Her hair was drawn back in a tight tail that ran smoothly down her back. She looked intimidating—taut but not stressed. She held her silver cane at her waist but did not lean on it.

Her other hand held an ability orb that she was tapping against her thigh. Identify showed George her profile again. <Name: Lady Greesh Race: Human Level: 198, D-Grade Profession: Malevolent Croupier Abilities: A Bat Out of Hades; What The Scorpion Gave The Frog; When the Hurly Burly's Done; Those Poor Benighted Heathens; etc. House: Flensa House Rank: 10 Metadata—Encyclopedia Esoterica: House Flensa is one of the oldest powers in the Labyrinth.

Though they have declined on the house rankings as newer houses have pushed them aside, they retain their reputation for gritty intrigue and back-room political machinations. The house's founders were instrumental in forming the trial system and leveraged their insider knowledge to gain an advantage. What they lack in sheer power, they make up for with trial savvy. Everyone must deal with the fact of the trials, and no house is known for manipulating the forces of the trial like the Flensa.

>"I have also altered the win conditions of this trial. Now, when one team is eliminated, the other two teams will win, and the trial will end."

"Unacceptable," Razza said.

"You're the one who allowed ability orbs, moderator," Greesh said.

"I'm merely exploiting a loophole you left open."

"I did not choose to allow those orbs, Lady Greesh," Razza said.

"And yet, I was able to acquire and activate them. It is done," Greesh said.

"You may find you can only bend the rules so far," Razza said.

"Before they snap back on you."

"As I was saying," Greesh said, addressing the room.

"I have the power to add three players of my choosing to the green team. We'll make it a race. The first three of you who can make it to my fortress in the Death Self will win a spot on the green team. I will bind you to the room so you start each hunting round there as I do. We will wait out the trial while the other two teams tear each other apart." >>Wow. Well played. >>She's got that place landmined, booby-trapped, and buttoned up. If anyone tries to come inside, they'll be at her mercy.

>>Actually, that might be her whole plan. >>Who knows if she plans to add anyone to her team? >>Maybe she just wants to lure us all in and blow us up. >>She'll need some people on her team; otherwise, the rest of us can vote her out in a few rounds and end the trial if she is the only green team member. >>So she needs patsies. I'll bet Top is looking like good green team recruitment material. Or, you know… us.

"But I will only accept people who do me one small favor first," Greesh said.

"Vote out Prince Neco right now." She lifted the orb she'd been holding in her hand. Ability Orb Activated (Lady Greesh) HURRY UP PLEASE, IT'S TIME: Trigger the immediate start of the voting phase in a voting round. With a put-upon look at Greesh, Razza said, "Cast your votes. You have 60 seconds." >>Holy shit. This is happening. >>What do we do? >>We can't vote for Neco. >>But maybe they'll vote him off for us.

"I will be voting for the Auctarium," Neco said.

"The vordigans have taken over four rooms and behaving more intelligently than usual. They will have reached a critical mass in a few more rounds, greatly increasing the odds that any of us will start the round in a vordigan-controlled room. If that happens, we'll be handing the Auctarium the victory." Neco fixed a long stare at George as he said that last sentence. >>I'm voting for Murdge. We can't vote for Neco, and I don't like the idea of that guy with a vordigan army. >>Agreed.

No one else said anything for the rest of the voting phase. When the timer ticked down to zero, a notification appeared that showed the outcome of the vote. Resolution Phase—Vote Ranking Murdge the Auctarium: 34 Prince Neco: 21 Dragonmaw: 13"The two-minute resolution phase will now begin," Razza said. Murdge, Tycho, Cassie, Loveland, and June took Greesh up on her challenge to vote for Neco. George voted for Murdge along with Pine, Hollywood Cole, Grey, TLX, and Tinntannabel.

Surprisingly, Neco didn't vote for Murdge as he said he would. Instead, he and Sarala voted for the slime.

"What?" Murdge roared. He produced an ability orb in his hand, looked at it, and then dropped it to the floor. Another orb appeared in his hand, and he threw it down. Greesh looked like she'd eaten something sour, and Neco raised his arms at her in a shrug that said nice try. Pine stood up so suddenly that his chair tipped backward. He walked to the edge of his enclosure and studied the pale blue arrows that connected each player to the person they voted for.

"If you save me, the vordigans won't touch you for the rest of the trial!" Murdge announced to the whole room. Pine withdrew an ability orb and crushed it. Ability Orb Activated (Pine) The Laugh of Recognition: Change your vote to another player. Pine's vote arrow shifted from Murdge to the slime. A new vote standing appeared. Resolution Phase—Vote Ranking Murdge the Auctarium: 29 Prince Neco: 21 Dragonmaw: 18 Murdge read the new notification and then looked at Pine, confused.

Pine turned around and gathered his chair, his tea, and his table back into his inventory. >>Why did Pine switch his vote? Why would Pine try to save that guy anyway? >>And why didn't Neco vote for Murdge like he said he was going to? The timer on the resolution phase hit zero, and Murdge let out another angry roar that was abruptly cut off when he disappeared. >>Honestly… he had to see that coming. >>He was putting out major "I'm going to climb to the top of this trial over a mountain of your dead bodies" vibes.

>>That's karma, bro. Razza said, "Murdge is eliminated. The fourth hunting round will now begin."