Wang Hao had to review the rules given to him twice before he was sure that it was the legitimate one. He gave a questioning look to Roxy, who just looked away, clearly trying to avoid Wang Hao’s accusatory glare.
“Sigh..” If not for the power demonstrated by the Underworld, Wang Hao would have screamed out of frustration already.
“First, these dead people have fetish for fatties, then now, it seems like they also have the hobby of making ridiculous tasks!” Wang Hao did not dare to say this out loud, for the fear of offending everyone.
From what he can see, everyone except him seems to be accepting of the rules. Wang Hao thought that it must be due to the fact that they have been living in the Underworld far longer than him. But even with that, he could not help but feel aggrieved later.
The rules of the first part of the trial were as follows:
1. The trial mountain will be divided into 4 areas, namely North, East, West and South Area. These areas were placed in respect to their cardinal direction. A trial participant with three followers will be called a group. There will be 144 groups in total.
2. For each area, 36 groups will be placed. They will be placed in random places at the base of each area. These groups then have to climb the mountain to reach the peak, where the 12 thrones were situated. Each area will hold 3 thrones due to the division. The participants that manages to sit on the throne will be considered to have passed the trial.
3. Everyone who steps in the mountain has to reduce their strength to that of a First Stage. No formation will be used to suppress their strength. It will be up to the participants to suppress their power while walking and fighting. If a participant or his/her followers uses power exceeding that of a First Stage, they will be immediately disqualified from the competition.
Wang Hao narrowed his eyes from seeing this. He realized that this portion tests the mental fortitude of the participants. They have to restrain their strength while fighting another powerful opponent at the same level of power. Fight like this will take long to finish. It was at these moments that a participant might accidentally use power greater than First Stage.
Those who do this will immediately be disqualified. The Underworld can put a formation to suppress their power, but they must have thought that making the participants restrain their strength will be better. At least this part will show who among the participants were patient and skilled in fighting.
4. The mountain exudes a pressure to everyone stepping on it. This pressure increases at the groups get nearer to the thrones. The pressure will be at its strongest right around the thrones.
5. When a group gets within a meter of another group, they can only use 2 actions: Fight or Flee. Both groups have to make their choice before they can start the action. If both groups chose Fight, they will start fighting with each other until one group wins. The losing group will then be whisked out, considered to be a loser. If both of them chose Flee, they will be teleported away from each other to another random area.
6. If one group chose Fight while the other group chose Flee, the group with the trial participant that was listed higher the list will have their choice followed.
For example, the trial participant in Group 1 was listed No. 25 on the list, while the trial participant in Group 2 was listed No. 18 on the list. This means Group 2 has higher ‘rank’ than Group 1. If Group 1 chose Fight while Group 2 chose Flee, Group 2’s decision to Flee will be the one to be followed.
7. If two groups fought each other and the lower ranking group wins, they will take the rank of the higher ranked group. If the higher ranked group wins, they will not get any rank benefits at all.
That means if Group 1 defeats Group 2, the rank of Group 1 will change from 25 to 18. If Group 2 wins, their rank will stay at 18 since Group 1’s rank was lower.
8. The actions Fight or Flee have limited number of uses. Before the climb, each group will be randomly given a number ranging from 6 to 12. This number indicates how many times a group can use the options fight or flee. A group who uses up all the options will have no more actions available to use. A group that has no more actions available to use will be disqualified once they get into a meter of another group.
For example, Group 7 was given the number 9 while Group 98 was given the number 12. That means Group 7 will have 9 chances to use Fight or Flee. For Group 98, they can use the choices Fight or Flee 12 times.
Once Group 7 uses the choice to Fight, they will then have 8 chances left to use Fight or Flee. If they used the option Flee 8 more times, they will have 0 chances to use Fight or Flee. This means they cannot do anymore actions if they get within a meter of another group. Their only choice was to occupy a throne before a group gets near them.
If they have no more actions left and then they get within a meter of Group 98, Group 7 will be declared disqualified while Group 98 may gain the rank of Group 7, provided that Group 7’s rank was higher than Group 98’s.
9. A group can only start to occupy a throne if and only if there are 6 groups left on that area.
That means a group cannot occupy a throne at the start since their area still have 36 groups. They can only wait until subsequent fights and disqualifications bring the number of groups down to 6. Only at that time that the group’s trial participant can sit on the throne.
10. The trial participant must seat on the throne for a minute straight before the throne can be considered to be occupied. The participant must not leave that seat in that minute. If the participant left that chair within that one-minute time limit, the participant’s group will then be teleported to the base of the mountain.
11. Once a participant starts occupying a throne, other groups can freely attack that trial participant with no reduction to their actions.
For example, the trial participant from Group 1 manages to sit on a throne. He had to sit on that throne for one minute before it can be considered to be occupied. Within that time, other group can freely attack him. At that time, Group 9 has 3 actions remaining. Even if they attack Group 1, their actions will not be reduced since the obstruction of a throne occupation was a free attacking event. Group 1 can only fight back, and their actions will not be reduced too.
12. The trial lasts for 9 hours. If 8 hours have already passed by and the number of the groups remaining was not 6 yet, random groups will be disqualified until there were 6 groups remaining.
13. Those who occupies the thrones at the end of the time limit will be the passers of the trial. At the instance that there were empty thrones at the end of the trial, other rubrics will be used.
14. The empty thrones will be given for the groups with the best performances in the trial. The grading of the performances will be based on how each group used the given options to them to the fullest potential.
For example, there are 3 empty thrones at the end of the trial. The top 3 groups aside from the passers with the best performance will be the one that can freely occupy the throne.
15. Fin.
“Bunch of bollocks!” That was what Wang Hao could only say to himself after reviewing these rules. His greatest peeve was the randomization part. There were just way too many random parts in this trial. Random placing, random numbers, random teleportation and even random f**king disqualification!
This seems to be too much to Wang Hao.
Don’t even get him started on the limited actions, that one-minute time limit and clearing out of groups into 6 at the last hour. Each of these sounded more and more excessive to Wang Hao.
“Is it really fine for the trial to be like this?” Wang Hao voiced his doubts to the indifferent Roxy.
“Actually Master Wang Hao, it’s the rules like these that makes the trial livelier! Everyone’s enjoying it!” Roxy said it without any hint of shame.
“Wait what do you mean by everyone? Isn’t it just us 144 here? I am sure not any of us will be enjoying this.” Wang Hao replied irritatedly.
“Well….” Roxy shyly twirled a lock of her hair as she said,
“Everyone at the Underworld will be watching this trial. Big events like this will be broadcasted to the whole Underworld.”
“……….” Wang Hao was speechless on how eccentric the Underworld Residents were. He could only wish that he will not be like them if he prolongs his stay in the Underworld. He then asked Roxy,
“Speaking about the trials, which d*mbs*it created these ridiculous rules? He must be high when doing this!”
“Actually, it’s the Yama who made these rules.” Old Billy’s dry voice droned on as he continued speaking. “Be careful on what you are saying. Nothing good comes to those who criticize the Yama.”
“……..”
