"Aww, not even one of you stepped in? Well, I guess I should have expected this to happen."
No one moved when the white-masked man stepped on the ferry and looked down with a bored expression on his face. He was the most dangerous opponent in the vicinity so no one was leaving him unchecked.
The white-masked man noticed this and sighed dramatically.
"Well, I tried so hard to bring this ferry to you all, but I can see that my honest expression was not enough for you all. Well then, what shall we do now?"
The white-masked man asked but no one answered him. They were all too busy trying to find his weakness.
That, more than anything, caused the white-masked man to snap his fingers, and the ferry he was on broke down into light particles.
"What do you want from us? Is this a part of some kind of test? There is no way this ferry could be the one to take us to our second test location."
A random person spoke up as soon as he noticed that the masked man had no intention of helping them out.
Those words of accusation caused the masked man to grin. Despite his face not being visible, anyone could tell that he was amused by this sudden shift in everyone's behavior.
Somehow, that masked face was still able to show malice and Keith took a step back hesitantly. He seemed to be the only one who noticed this sudden shift in the masked man's mood.
"Hmm, that is troubling. I never expected to get questioned this harshly when all I wanted to do was help you out. I feel betrayed by you a lot."
The masked man was still saying this all with a joking tone but Keith made sure to keep his distance from the person accusing the masked man.
"I do not care if you feel betrayed or not. I just want you to take us to our test site. Now hurry up and-"
The man never finished his words.
One second, he was yelling out loud at the white-masked man, the next second he was busy choking on air. Keith was surprised when the man fell suddenly.
"H-He is dead. Oh god, he died. How did he die?"
The female warrior standing next to the now-dead man exclaimed. Her shock and betrayal colored her voice as she looked at the man.
Suddenly, everyone who had looked annoyed previously now looked cautious of the white-masked man. There had been another shift in the mood.
"What is wrong? You all were asking me questions? Do you no longer need answers from me?"
The masked figure asked as he looked down at the crowd. No one was moving an inch, nor were they opening their mouth.
It seemed like the shock of someone dying had been too much for their psyche to bear.
'Then again, humans are weak creatures who fear the unknown. I think this was something Olivia taught me.'
The masked man was certain he had heard about human nature before. But the masked man was more interested in discovering the human psyche himself rather than hearing about it from someone else.
"Alight, time for you all to stand up now. Since it looks like you are not interested in chit-chatting anymore, I guess it is time for me to reveal your surprise."
The masked man looked down at the unmoving group. He was going to shake their foundations and make their friendship to the test.
"This forest has 16 tickets for the next round. That means, out of you 32 people, only 16 will get to go to the second round. If you find a ticket, bring it here so that I can verify it. You have 6 hours to find the tickets. Otherwise, I will randomly select the remaining people to go to the next round."
Keith's heart was caught in his throat as soon as he heard those words.
This round was not a test of power or even intelligence. It was a round of luck.
And knowing Keith, he would have average luck in this round. He was not very lucky with gatchas in the past.
But there was one person with supreme luck on his side. And that was where his hopes were pinned.
"Ah, this is another tiresome round. And another team round as well. Listen, Amelia, we need to do well in this round. We need to pass this round at any costs."
Sara pointed toward Amelia as she walked close. Sara seemed to have made up her mind to team up with Amelia at all costs.
Amelia looked a little conflicted and Keith waved his hand at her to do what she wanted to. And that was enough for Amelia to take Sara's hand in her own.
"Of course, I will help you out, Sara. There is no need for you to be worried-"
While they were talking, Keith decided to look around for a ticket. He knew there would be one nearby since Amelia was extremely lucky.
A glance did not bear any fruit for Keith. Until he noticed the small paper-like thing in Amelia's handbag.
Keith had never seen the ticket for this round before, but his instincts were telling him that the paper slip in Amelia's bag was certainly a ticket.
So, while Amelia and Sara were busy fighting around, Keith decided to slip the ticket out of Amelia's pouch and wipe it off.
Once he had the ticket, he quickly decided to exchange it before it could be robbed of him. He did want to get to the next round of this tournament.
"Hey Noah, where do you think you are going? Are you going to go and look for the tickets alone?"
Sara questioned him, finally noticing that Keith was walking away from him and Amelia.
"I am going to the washroom. I will be back soon so you can start looking around for the ticket."
Keith waved his hands in a carefree manner and Sara was taken aback by his attitude. Then his words registered in her mind and a flush rose on Sara's face.
"I-I see. If that is the case, then I shall allow you to leave. But come back soon so that we can look around for that ticket, alright?"
Sara ordered while faking her cough. She seemed adamant about controlling Keith's movements for the time being.
Keith did not respond to her and hurried back to the beginning. He was sure that he would be the first person to be back as well.
But much to Keith's surprise, someone else seemed to be handing the white-masked man a ticket as well.
This new figure was cloaked from head to toe. Their dark clothes made it impossible to tell if they were male or female, but there was something about that body structure that screamed 'female' to Keith.
Once Keith got close enough to hear what was being said, he realized that there seemed to be some kind of problem with the ticket exchange service he saw.
As a result, Keith's heart skipped a beat in fear. He was not sure he would be able to keep his ticket safe from others for any length of time.
"-not fair. This is a ticket as well, right? So, you should accept it."
The cloaked female spoke. Her voice gave her gender away completely. But the white-masked person was not fazed by her tone or her speech.
"I am sorry miss, but I will not allow you to progress through this mission with a fake ticket. What happened in the first round will not be repeated."
Keith somehow felt he had stepped into a very sticky situation. But it was too late for him to step back.
All he could do not was stand in his place and pretend like he was not hearing anything.
"This ticket is not a 'fake.' I did find it fair and square in the forest. How can you even say that this is a fake ticket? What proof do you have?"
The cloaked lady asked while holding her ground. She was not going to budge until she got her answer from the masked man. She was adamant and she knew that what she had with her was the real good.
The white-masked man grinned a vicious smile and then turned toward Keith.
"My lady, I do not think you have seen the real ticket before to be even comparing your fake with it. Here, let me show you what a real ticket looks like."
Keith's ticket left his being before he could even make any sound and it was in the masked figure's hand.
The masked figure rubbed it a little and the ticket brushed out into blue flames with a unique mark in between.
It was so brief and unique that Keith had no words to describe it. He was still in shock over what had happened.
"See, this is a true ticket. I am sure your 'ticket' is incapable of anything like this."
