A very large holographic display suddenly appeared in front of Atticus as he clicked his artifact.
Atticus had wanted to check his artifact before, but because he had been in a hurry to rescue Aurora, he hadn’t.
If he had to be honest, going through his artifact would only take a few seconds at the most it, but because he hadn’t felt like he could find out anything that would help him save Aurora as fast as possible, he hadn’t checked.
Seeing the holographic display in front of him, Atticus focused his gaze on it.
Welcome, students, to the annual Leaders’ Summit! As you all know, the Leaders’ Summit is held every year, and during each summit, the rules change.
The rules of the 98TH leader’s summit are as follows;
Summit Theme: Hunter and Hunted.
Summit Description: You and exactly 59 students have been transported to the domain of the Bone Race inside the academy. Every single one of your abilities has been blocked, and your ranks restricted to intermediate+. Every student has been tagged with the title “Fugitive” and will be treated as such by the members of the Bone Race. You and your subordinates are required to survive and complete the summit objectives.
Rules:
1. Summit Shop: Although every single one of your powers has been blocked, congratulations! There is still a way for you to get them back. For every successful hunt and enemy killed, depending on their strength, you will receive summit points. These summit points can be used to purchase anything, including your abilities, from the summit store. There are no limitations.
2. Bone Race: You and 59 other students have trespassed into their territory and will be treated like fugitives. You have all been given exactly 24 hours to settle. After this time, they will hunt you.
Note: Your live location isn’t being broadcasted to them.
3. Hunters: Every leader currently participating in the summit has been tagged with the title “Hunter.” As a hunter, you will be given a target among the other students every 24 hours, whose live location will be known to you at all times during this timeframe. It is mandatory for you to find and eliminate your target before your designated timeframe ends. Only the live location of your target will be known to you, not their identities.
Penalty for failure: Failure to locate and eliminate your target within the timeframe will result in you, the Hunter, losing the last thing that was purchased from the summit store. If nothing has been purchased yet, you will lose each limb for every failure, starting with your right hand to left, then right leg to left, before finally losing your head and, in turn, your life.
Note: Only the leaders are hunters, and only they receive targets. The surbordinate do not have this tag and in turn cannot see this rule.
4. Hunted: Every leader currently participating in the summit has been tagged with the title “Hunted.” Just as you, the Hunter, are given a target to eliminate every 24 hours, you will also be given to another student as a target to be eliminated. Thus, your live location will be broadcasted at all times to your Hunter. You will not be able to see your Hunter’s location nor know who he/she is. You are allowed to use everything in your repertoire to defend and repel your Hunter.
Penalty for failure: Death.
Note: Only the leader’s live position is broadcasted; the subordinates are not. The surbordinate do not have this tag and in turn cannot see this rule.
Objective and Winning Conditions:
1. Locate and hunt down all your targets until the end of the summit.
2. Survive and be the last one standing.
Note: Completing any of these objectives will automatically declare you the winner.
Bonus Objective (Optional):
1. Free yourself from the title “Fugitive” and let the bone race give up chasing you.
2. Battle the Ossarch of the bone race and survive for 2 minutes.
Reward: A Paragon Rank Art will be given to you, alongside your other rewards.
Note: Accomplishing any of this objectives automatically makes you eligible for the reward.
Atticus stared at the rules with a deadpan expression for a few seconds without saying anything.
‘Damn,’ it was such a crazy-ass competition that Atticus wanted nothing more than to smack his artifact into bits. He wanted to meet the one who created these rules badly.
Atticus’s gaze was fixated on two things. The first was the summit store and the fact that he could regain his powers back!
It was good news, very good news. Seeing this seemed to slightly alleviate the intense headache he was feeling. It had been truly challenging, and Atticus wouldn’t lie, but he had gained a few things from this.
It had been the first time he had used cheap tricks during a fight, and now that it had happened, he was certain he wouldn’t hesitate to do so again.
And the second was none other than the rule about the bone race.
’24 hours my ass,’
They were each supposed to be given 24 hours to settle before getting chased. But they had been attacked seconds after their spawn! Clearly, something was wrong with these rules. There could be no other explanation.
‘I can’t trust it completely,’ Atticus pondered.
Something suddenly dawned on Atticus.
There was another race inside the academy? It was odd.
Atticus had no knowledge about the other races, and the same could be said about the other first-year students.
When he had asked the oracle, he had learned that he would be taught extensively about them during the second and third years.
But what he does know was the fact that there was no single member of another race in the human domain, but clearly he had been wrong.
‘To think an entire race was living in the academy,’
Atticus was fascinated. It was already too late for friendly talks, but he was still curious about the bone race.
Atticus came out of his thoughts and decided to check out the summit shop. He really needed his powers back.