Listening to Aphrodite's evaluation, Shadow Origin frowned inwardly.
King Purple Mist had also told him sothing similar when he had asked him about Red's prospects of clearing the 3rd Stage of the Tournant of Worth.
When he had asked for the reason behind such an evaluation, though, he had got nothing but silence.
Aphrodite was different.
She shared gossip and secrets like toffees on Halloween.
Ravana looked at all and prodded, "Sure, Survival is one of the rarest Thes, my lady. But Red..."
"Ara!" Aphrodite pouted. "Not letting enjoy the at... Oh! That sounded so..."
Jade Beauty clenched her fist so tight her knuckles turned white.
Ravana had more years on him than Jade Beauty, though.
He was also more prudent; it seed.
Hurrying, he took out another plate of marvelous cuisine and plated it in front of the old monster.
Aphrodite looked at Ravana appraisingly.
"There's still hope for you," she blurted, making Ravana almost tear his beard off. "Ah! As I was saying, Haki, no matter which one of the three or similar powers, doesn't matter (-all viceroys raised their eyebrows, dumbfounded-). Tell , little sis, what are the criteria for getting the 1st Rank in the Tournant of Worth?"
Jade Beauty inadvertently sat up straight. "You just have to last longer than others."
"Bingo!" Aphrodite poked Jade Beauty's breasts with a fork as the ladies were seated side by side.
Jade Beauty's breathing quickened and she looked at others as if daring them to laugh. None did.
"That's why there's an option to give up in all three stages of the Tournant," Aphrodite told them, elegantly using the towel to clean the grease off her lips.
"3rd Stage is soooo hard!" She noticed all n loosening their holds over their mbers. "Ara! Hehe! Calm down, boys! In the last Survival The-based Tournant of Worth, the Candidate at the 1st Rank was at the 1st Rank not because he had cleared the 3rd Stage, but because he had lasted longer than all below him before giving up, no?"
"Anyway..." Aphrodite drawled, pinning a thin slice of fruit under her fork. "No Candidate in thousands of years has pushed oneself to clear the 3rd Stage. No Candidate from Chaos, at least. Not since Chaos lost its — Authority."
The viceroys didn't need to be told what Authority Lady Aphrodite was talking about — Glitch!
"70,000 years ago, soone from the Order cleared the 3rd stage," Jade Beauty countered, running her fork on an empty plate. "He got it. The Glitch!"
Aphrodite sniggered.
"Yeah, they wish!" she snorted, throwing her long, hot-pink hair over to the other side. "What are Glitches? Cabbages?! When have the Systems ever promised Glitches? Is there a notification claiming such rewards? Have you seen one?"
This?!
The rest of the four viceroys shared hurried and bewildered glances.
"Your Kings and Queen didn't tell you?" Aphrodite asked, sucking on a strawberry. "These Glitches are overpowered Skills at best. Take them as strengthened Blessings from the Deep Ones. Powerful, true. But not quite the sa, no?"
"There's only one way to get the Glitches." She looked at them, smiling. "Get resurrected with them!"
Shadow Origin had held his tongue for long. Not anymore.
"What has it anything to do with Survival The?" he blurted, gaining a disapproving look from Jade Beauty. "Even if Order's Contestants sohow spread this rumor..."
Aphrodite's giggle cut off Shadow Origin's words.
"Order's Contestants didn't spread this rumor of obtaining Glitch as a reward by clearing the 3rd stage," she told them, finding this thought quite amusing. "It's the Systems who did so."
"What?!" Black Mountain was stunned, along with the rest of them. "Impossible! What's the point?"
"Well," Aphrodite continued, holding back her laugh, "millions of Contestants still participate in it, no?"
What was she trying to say? The four viceroys thought the sa.
The Systems spread a rumor about awarding a Glitch to make Contestants take part in it?!
"Do you know what the Tournant of Worth was called in the earliest days of the most ancient tis?" Aphrodite asked, staring at them.
They shook their heads.
Who thought of asking such questions?
"It went by just one word; one na —," Aphrodite answered herself, licking her lips.
"— Debugging!"
Shadow Origin's jaw slacked, and others' jaws soon followed him.
"There was a rumor in those tis as well," Aphrodite told them, amusing herself with their expressions. "If a Glitched Candidate could win the Tournant, then his Glitch could evolve.
"But only later did Contestants find out that this rumor wasn't entirely false; Contestants just exaggerated so things, making the Systems sound like so evil schers.
"Glitches, because of their inherent nature, can't evolve, but they can transform, suiting themselves more in tune with a Glitched Candidate based on experiences and potential. A tamorphosis, you can say."
Ravana dared to add his words in."But what is so special about... Debugging? Even if it's the hardest Random World, surely Contestants still could..."
The corner of Aphrodite's mouth arched up.
"Is that so?" she asked, not looking up. "What if I told you that, whenever a Glitched Contestant took part, the 3rd Stage of Debugging always —"
"— centered itself around the World of Cartoons!"
Fear pounced upon the four viceroys. They suddenly rembered their last missions and their souls shuddered.
A grave, but enchanting silence fell upon all the four viceroys.
Aphrodite liked this silence very much.
It was so thrilling, to see their faces; blue, white, and sickly pale.
"Of course," Lady Aphrodite continued, her voice pulling the heartstrings, "all Glitched Candidates died, anyway.
"You see, the Systems also follow rules. According to these rules, they can't help but pay the price for Glitches and give privileges to Glitched Contestants.
"So, to debug themselves, they started this Tournant. However, they couldn't just start killing Contestants, either. Rember, the Systems' underlying rule is to pay the equivalent price for everything.
"So, they had added a reward of transforming Glitches in-line with the risks Glitched Candidates would take by participating in the Tournant.
"But that was then, and this is now. Tell , Shady, what would a Glitched Contestant think upon knowing that the Tournant of Worth could grant Glitches?"
Shadow Origin's pupils trembled. "That he could sohow evolve his Glitch further..."
Aphrodite nodded.
"Even if he were to know that it's a rumor," she said, eying the desert, "he would still take part hoping to gain more Power. Power... Ara-Ara! It's the allure of Power that births Kings and Queens. And it's the sa allure that eradicates them.
"Since the tis when Chaos lost its Authority over granting Glitches... No. Better would be to say, since the tis when the Rule that bound Chaos to grant Glitches vanished, Survival The had been appearing as a precautionary Debugging.
"But it only truly becos a Debugging Tournant when a Glitched Contestant takes part in it. Otherwise, it's just about Survival. Nothing more."
All viceroys had lost their appetites for so reason.
Such a secret had remained unknown to them for so long. At their level of power, who wouldn't feel slighted?
"It's not all bad," Aphrodite humd, taking pleasure in the cheesecake. "All Tournant of Worths do grant outstanding rewards, don't they? Well, it's Red's good Luck at work here."
Shadow Origin's face snapped up. There was a ti when he had wondered about the Red's great Luck.
"How so?" he asked.
Aphrodite gulped down the morsel.
"Well, Survival is the hardest The as it becos a Debugging Stage whenever a Glitched Contestant participate in it," she told them, eying all one by one. "Sure, this 3rd stage would be the toughest stage among all the Tournants and Thes, but it won't be centered on the World of Cartoons.
"So, if Red could push himself beyond the limit before giving up, lasting more than expected of him, then he would obtain the greatest rewards.
"And, given his Observation Haki and his strong Will, he probably will do so. Ara! I want him more now."
Shadow Origin should have felt glad after knowing this much, as Red had accepted his offer.
But there was just a teeny-tiny doubt in his heart, making him anxious.
Let's just hope... Shadow Origin wondered, taking out another cigarette. He lit it up, and puffed out a long tail of smoke, leaning back on the chair. Let's just hope that Red is not a Glitched Contestant, then.
Shadow Origin was still dealing with the ominous feeling when, out of nowhere, a massive number of Mission Credits vanished from his Stats.
The mont Kai had received notification about getting an award for revealing his face, the sa notification had appeared for the Sponsors as well.
Of course, in the latter's case, it didn't ntion Kai's Glitch.
However, none really thought much about it.
For them, Contestant Red was but a 2nd Set rookie.
Just what could be the value of a reward given by the Systems?
Even if it went up to a dozen millions, they wouldn't worry about it.
A few hundred millions was nothing but chump change for them anyway.
Contrary to these thoughts, though, Shadow Origin's eyes almost popped out.
Ten... Ten Billion?! Shadow Origin looked at the disappeared sum. Just... Just what kind of reward the Systems gave him for revealing his face?!
He wasn't even that handso, for fuck's sake!!!!
***************
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