Chapter 207 - The Bounty And The Map!
Five days later, one hour before getting teleported into the game...
Felix was wearing his usual Landlord outfit while sitting in the living room, browsing the daily news in the Mariana Empire.
Unsurprisingly, Felix found that his name was currently being mentioned by many of his fans in the network, using the hashtag #LandlordisBack!
"I bet everyone thought that you died somewhere." Asna said, laughing.
"Heh, some news platforms actually wrote so." Felix didn"t know whether to laugh or cry after reading some news, claiming that he got killed by hitmen sent by Mastermania or he was found drowning in his own puddle of blood on a deserted planet.
Well, the news platforms were just trying to milk as much attraction as possible from the fact that Felix was gone an extra 7 days.
Everyone a.s.sumed that he was going to start another game immediately after the two months reset, but when they saw that he was nowhere to be found day after day, rumors started to circulate in the network, starting small then ending up with Felix getting killed.
If Felix bothered to create a social media account, he could inform his fans when he was planning on joining another game, just like the majority of the players do.
Too bad, he had no interest in social media.
"Speaking of Mastermania, let"s see how much bounty did his agency put on my head." Curious, Felix waved the news hologram away from his face and created another blank one.
He wrote in the search engine >a guide on how to access the SG Bounties website<.>
The website was in the dark network, or in other words, it was not indexed by and, therefore, accessible via the search engine.
Since the website owner didn"t give Felix permission to gain access to his website, he couldn"t just request the Queen to find it for him.
That being said, the guide that he searched for was extremely helpful as it was created to facilitate for players like him to locate the website.
He used it before in his previous life, but he forgot about it as he never bothered to hunt for bounties or was too important for others to put one on him.
After a couple of minutes, a pitch-black hologram was displayed before Felix, showing a human skull right in the middle while underneath it a search bar.
This was the website appearance for individuals without members.h.i.+p. Just a basic search bar, nothing more, nothing less.
Unbothered by this, Felix typed >Unpaid Landlord_6996< his full SG ident.i.ty.
After clicking enter, the bounty placed on his head resurfaced, while written boldly with dripping blood.
500,000,000 SC!
"Hahaha, my reply must have p.i.s.sed them off." Felix laughed in amus.e.m.e.nt like his head wasn"t worth half a billion inside the games.
"You did tell them to go f*ck themselves." Asna giggled while covering her mouth.
"I guess it won"t matter much in the next game." Felix chuckled while closing the hologram.
He knew that everyone would be coming at him the moment he secured the Crown inside the game. So, nothing much changed.
"Asna, prepare the cards." Felix closed his eyes as he smirked, "We have to carry the tradition."
Delighted, Asna"s sun-like eyes brightened up as she created a deck of cards in one hand while getting out of bed.
So far they played cards two times during the last hour before Felix get teleported to the Game Hall, and if they kept doing so, it wouldn"t be farfetched to call it a tradition.
....
Whoos.h.!.+ Whoos.h.!.+....Whoos.h.!.+...
Inside a giant ancient-looking hall, which had many crystal chandeliers hanging from above, lighting every corner of it, and a wooden stage with a podium placed right in the middle, players started to get teleported one by one, filling the empty hall rapidly until one hundred players were all standing under the stage.
Expressionless, Felix kept looking around while walking towards a corner of the hall, planning to sit there until the MC arrives.
He knew that it was going to take a couple of minutes.
The players he pa.s.sed through didn"t make it difficult for him as they smiled politely while opening a path for him.
This was a pure demonstration of respect for one"s strength!
Felix guessed that probably all of the players had either an extensive idea about him or a slight idea.
After all, he was the only bronze player in this game with two wins.
So, even if the players didn"t follow the news and heard about him, they would have done it out of curiosity after seeing his low rank and two wins streak.
After sitting with his back against the wall for a couple of minutes, light particles started to take shape in front of the podium.
Felix, who was paying attention to what goes around him, saw a tall beautiful thin man with purple hair made into a bun, suddenly appear after the light of particles disappeared.
"Hmm, I never saw him before." Felix tilted his head slightly in confusion.
Well, it was obviously impossible for Felix to know every MC as there were millions of them just in low elo.
"Good morning my lovely players!" A merry feminine voice was released from the MC"s glossy lips, making some players confused whether he was a man dressing like a woman or the opposite.
However, the majority still knew that he was a man, who swung in the other direction.
"I am Meliodas, and I will be your judge in this game." Meliodas smiled charmingly and said, "Let"s not dilly dally and get into the game explanation!"
He clapped his hands twice and the same large screen descended from above, behind his back.
Felix raised his head and saw that the screen was already on and displaying the current map of the game.
It was a medium-sized island, stretching tens of kilometers from one end to the other. Rather, ends shouldn"t be used as a term for describing it as it was shaped like a circle.
Yet, none of the players cared about this but the fact that the island was split into two zones, each with a completely different environment and weather!
The southern zone was a rainy forest made out of trees, from all kinds of species, painting a gorgeous piece of nature.
The only thing they share was their towering height, reaching hundreds of meters into the dark cloudy sky!
Meanwhile, the northern zone had only one humongous volcano sitting at the very center of it. The volcano"s mouth was closed shut, appearing just like a dormant black behemoth.
Felix ignored the top and focused on one enormous tunnel in the volcano, probably leading to the underground.
"Tsk, at least I"m used to training in a forest environment." Felix clicked his tongue in criticism at the sight of the island.
During his practice in the past five days, he had to improvise and create many maps, each with a different environment, since the game clearly stated that the map was randomly generated.
That meant it could be anything!
Thankfully, his daily training most of the time include a forest environment since he knew that it was used quite heavily in the games.
Based on the gloomy expressions of the majority of players, it seemed like none of them nailed the map design in their practice rooms.
"As you can see, the map that was generated has only two environments." Meliodas pointed at the volcano tunnel, making the screen display where it was leading.
Surprised, Felix raised his eyebrows at the sight of a complex Labyrinth of tunnels connecting to each other, making it almost impossible to not get lost in them without a pa.s.sive or active ability to help.
Thankfully, they were dimly-lighted, making visibility, not a major issue.
Meliodas didn"t put too much focus on the tunnel as he swiftly replaced it with a sea of lava at the bottom of the volcano.
"While the rainforest is friendly, the volcano on the other hand isn"t!" He informed them playfully, "During the last 15 minutes of the game, the volcano will erupt at a random period of time. It can be at 15 minutes sharp or at the last minute of the game. Even I don"t know when." He warned them with a grin, "So don"t be near it when it happens."
Unsurprisingly, the players weren"t really that shocked, as they knew that most games with randomly generated maps have some kind of perk to make them more deadly for the players and entertaining for the spectators.
Though, the SGA would never take it that far and make the entire map turn into h.e.l.l for the players. That"s why they left the rain forest untouched and peaceful.
"Oh, and you will be getting two minutes warning before the eruption. You will know it when it happens."
"Now, into the hidden addition!" Meliodas pressed a b.u.t.ton and the center of those two zones suddenly had a beacon of light projected into the sky.
The volcano had a red beacon, that was placed right before the tunnel, while the forest had a green beacon in the middle of it.
"Those beacons are teleportation circles, that allow only the Crown holder to teleport!" Meliodas said.
"Nice! this makes it a bit easier for the Crown holder."
"Not bad, I just need to escape to the teleportation circles now."
"As expected." Unlike the players, who were exclaiming out loud in surprise and joy, Felix merely scratched his chin nonchalantly.
He knew about it beforehand as this addition was live in the game he played in his previous life.
The moment a surprise addition gets added in a game, it would either stay permanently or removed after not achieving its intended purpose, which was obviously entertaining the spectators.
"Shush down for me please." Meliodas showed a sulking expression, making the men in the hall to avoid having eye contact with him at all cost.
Besides the girls giggling, not a single sound was heard in the hall again.
"Good boys." Meliodas smiled and continued, "Those teleportation circles do not teleport players randomly on the map but to the other teleportation circle!"
Immediately after hearing so, the players" delighted eyes dimmed instantly.
They understood that those teleportation circles weren"t escaping routes but gates to h.e.l.l itself!!
"Hehe, life isn"t so easy." Felix couldn"t help but chuckle at their expressions.