2368 A Pin
Alex watched the Alchemy God puff into existence in the room, appearing in
silvery-white light. The man paused for a moment and looked around as everyone quieted down.
After seeing him multiple times, the participants were no longer excited at his sight. He was something they had gotten used to.
The Alchemy God peered around for a long moment and slowly brought out
something from his Soul Space.
Alex looked at what it was and saw some sort of item with violet sands flowing inside. Even from where he was, he could tell that it was Voidsand, something that was incredibly good at keeping track of time.
"As of this moment," the Alchemy God began speaking, "anyone who hasn't made it into the hall is now disqualified."
The words caused a sensation to pass through the group. They hadn't expected the man to disqualify the people so simply. But then, he had the right of it, and it was indeed time.
"Please let no one else enter," he told his staff.
The many staff surrounding the hall nodded and began municating outside to tell them what had happened. At that point, not a single other person teleported into the
room.
The man landed on the floor, no longer flying. He took a step forward and another step as he walked among the people, looking at everyone. He walked until he was at the very center of the hall.
He spun, gazing at each person. "Let me start with some statistics that you might have wanted to hear from me," he said. "At this very moment, there are only 37,861 people among you. Forty thousand of you had passed the third petition, and yet so many of you failed to return again."
Alex was genuinely surprised at the number. Had people been late... or had they died? They were missing over 5% of the participants. That was a lot if they really were dead.
"Another statistic: 8,356 of you have managed to finish the first petition," the Alchemy God announced. "Which, I must say, is very surprising. When I tested this with my own people, it had taken them 22 years on average. You are way more efficient than they were."
The words were very much a praise to many of the people, who began smiling widely in happiness.
"However, here is another fun statistic," the Alchemy God said. "While 8,356 of you did IIOPL YL:I, HILIA, I5 ༢IIIPLHILL IIII JUELIDLIL" IL DILIL.IIIy ༄ILL S&IIM, FBHIHIK- ES‚༢PPL AFI YVPI JILL pass the first test, nearly 2,000 among them had already been disqualified due to either being late or having lost in the past petition. Do you understand what that means?"
He looked around the room, seeing the horror of the situation settle onto the ones that had yet to plete the first petition. He smiled.
"That is correct," he said. "Even if you pass the test, if you are not among the remaining 1,600 or so people who can still plete the first petition in time, you will get disqualified from the final petition."
Gasps spread through the people who hadn't realized it yet, or had hoped what they thought wasn't true. Many had hoped that it meant that those who had been disqualified would be removed from the first petition, and yet it wasn't happening.
That meant the people that had actually passed were even fewer.
"The moment all 10,000 pills for the first petition are registered, the rest of you will be immediately disqualified, regardless of the situation."
Many of the participants began to realize just how desperate their situation really was. It was far worse than what they had imagined.
"I'm sorry for scaring most of you like this," the Alchemy God said. "So let's move on to some other talk. Before I explain to you the next petition, I want to call someone here. Lady Leafheart, if you are here, please e over."
The people gathered immediately recognized the name as the person who had won the last petition.
Far at the edge of the room, the orange-haired woman stood up, very much confused and very much nervous.
"Ah, there you are. I was worried you would be absent. Please e on over," the Alchemy God called for her.
Leafheart, the disciple of Pinkflower, slowly made her way toward the Alchemy God.
"No need to be nervous, young lady," the Alchemy God said. "You are being called for something good."
Leafheart still looked at the man nervously, not entirely sure what she was doing there. "H-how may I be of help, Your Majesty?" she asked.
"Don't be scared," the man said. He reached into his Soul Space again and pulled out something. He made a show of pulling it out and then raised it high for everyone to
see.
Alex looked at it and saw that it was a metal pin, made of regular gold and some golden-green color. The pin had the emblem of the Alchemy God on it - a small leaf etched on a half-open scroll.
"The one who performs the best in each of the petitions is given one of these," the Alchemy God said. "The winner of the first petition has already received this, which we sadly couldn't give out in the open. However, since you are the winner of the third petition, you shall receive this."
He handed the pin over to Leafheart, who took it from him with a curious look. She looked it over for a few moments before looking up, obviously searching for answers. "That pin is an Immunity pin. Should you get disqualified in one of the uping three petitions, you will still be able to continue on with this immunity. If you don't use this until the very last one, then you can trade it for something significant in your last petition."
"All in all, this should be an incredible help to anyone who has received it," the Alchemy God said. "And as such, I suggest every single one of you try and get your hands on one of these. I promise you, it will give you quite the advantage in the final
petition."
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