BXBX NOVEL Chapter 108: Star Rays
Another day passed without any other spaceships arriving. That extra day was given to the latest comers so they could recover from the fourth-dimensional journey. Everyone received a message stating the time when the explanation about the fourth test would start.
*Zanm, zanm, zanm, zanm, zanm, zanm...*
Linfel and his group were in the main hall of the airship, waiting with everyone else, when the screens all turned on. The same thing happened in all the other spaceships.
On the screen, a man who wore the emblem of the Ventis Sect appeared, smiling at everyone. On the back, one could see a few more people with the same attire and emblem. One of them was Alexandra, responsible for the test in Serfen Planet. The others were the Minor Elders sent to supervise the tests on the other planets.
The man looked at the time and finally began to speak. "Hello, my little friends. My name is Mosie Suan, an Inner Elder of the Ventis Sect. Congratulations on making it this far. You are all the cream of the crop of your planets, and I'm happy to see the seedlings this time around are even better than the last time.
Some of you, in particular, caught my attention quite a bit, so I'm looking forward to your performances."
Mosie continued. "Alright, I'm sure you all can only think about the fourth test, so let's talk about it. As all of you know, the test will happen on the asteroid in a zero-gravity environment. Well, it isn't completely zero, but it is barely perceptible at all. Anyway, the fourth test is all about high scores. The top 1% of the participants will make it to the fourth test."
Everyone took a deep, cold breath. So far, it has always been the top 10%, but now it will be the top 1% only. Considering the number of spaceships, there are bound to be five hundred to a million participants. To have just a single percent succeed was quite brutal.
"Some of you might be curious. For this test, we have a little over seven hundred thousand participants. Of these, only seven thousand will go to the next phase," Mosie commented. "Now then, release!"
All the screens immediately changed to the surface of the asteroid. From its countless dark holes, even more Magic Beasts began to fly out. They had weird shapes, looking a little like stingrays. Their skins had the same colors as the space outside, dark with various white spots similar to stars on both sides of their bodies.
Alvin and Linfel glanced at that and didn't know what they were looking at. Those Magic Beasts didn't only move inside the artificial atmosphere of the asteroid, though. They all could feel they were free and immediately flew out of the asteroid range.
Nonetheless, they didn't seem to feel anything. They could all survive in the middle of space without problems. It was a rare life form that didn't need a planet to exist. One can only imagine what kind of evolutionary process had to happen for such a creature to exist. Their bodies shined with blue light, which seemed to be used to move in the zero gravity.
Unfortunately for them, they weren't able to fly much longer. A few kilometers away from the asteroid, they hit some kind of invisible barrier that bounced them all back. That caused them to start flying around aimlessly as they couldn't dive deeper into the open space.
Alvin was quite marveled by the creature. However, it was then that he noticed the expressions of a very of the Maguses around. The majority seemed confused or interested in the creatures, but the few who knew it were anything but pleased.
"I give up the exam!" One of the participants installed jumped out of the ship.
"I'm out too!" Another one quickly followed.
"The Ventis Sect is crazy! How can they be using those things? I'm definitely not going!"
Similar requests came up one after another, not surprising the crew of the spaceship at all. If anything, the organizers of the test already expect this reaction.
However, there were also those who knew about these creatures but didn't give up. Nonetheless, their expressions didn't look good at all. They watched as the creatures flew around randomly all around the asteroid. There were tens of millions of them, maybe hundreds.
Suddenly, the screens changed again, and Mosie's face was shown. "Would you look at that? There seems to be a lot of you willing to give up already. I can't blame you, though. Don't worry; if you decide to give up now, our Ventis Sect won't force you."
Half of the screen then showed a scoreboard as Mosie continued his explanation. "While in zero gravity, you will have to survive for 40 Clicks."
Every planet has its own time measurement. In Serfen, it is hours, but on other planets, they have different ways of counting time. Because of that, a universal measurement has been accepted a long time ago, the Clicks. For Alvin and Linfel, a single click was pretty much the same as a single hour, so it made things easier for them. There were just a few seconds of difference.
Mosie continued to talk about the creatures and the rules. "If you kill a single one of those little guys, you are disqualified. Also, just because you are disqualified, it doesn't mean we will come to save you. No one will enter that asteroid range until the 40 Clicks are over; keep that in mind. Once you are there, you will have to stay there until the end of the test."
Mosie looked at the Magic Beasts as well. "You see, they are very special creatures. They are called Star Rays. Their bodies are capable of interacting with their target's Magic Energy. Once they work together, they can even act like a magnet that can pull any source of Magic Energy towards them. Obviously, that includes your Cores."
"Their method of hunting is very simple. They enter the planets, pull many living creatures with magic energy in their bodies all the way to space, and wait for them to die in the open space environment. They never need to get anywhere near their prey before it is already dead. They usually do it at clear nights, so you can understand why their bodies seem to be like the night sky itself."
"Oh, and one more thing," Mosie added, "The effect on Magic Energy includes hallucinations, so make sure you take good care of your Magic Energy and don't let it fall under these creatures' control. Otherwise, you will try to fly into open space by yourself and won't even notice you are dying. These little guys haven't eaten for a while, so I'm pretty sure they will appreciate the free meal."
"Alright, I'm finished explaining about the Star Rays. Now, let's talk about the score and how to gain points."