Veil of Rivalry

Chapter 8

"Can you stop doing that? It's irritating," I snapped, my patience wearing thin as Sandra kept on whistling.

Her annoying noise was getting on my nerves, and I couldn't concentrate. "Come on, don't be so grumpy," she uttered with a laugh, completely unfazed by my irritation.

I ignored her and focused on my phone instead. Right now, I had 1,245,000 digital points. The tasks this week had been relatively easy, and I'd managed to rack up a decent amount of coins.

While I was scanning the system's features, my phone beeped again. I checked the notification and found an additional 100,000 points deposited into my account.

This must be the payment for completing the first round of the challenge. Now, we were moving on to Phase 2.

The challenge had five phases in total, and it wasn't just about rowing a boat. We had to tackle a variety of physical and mental activities. The regatta was the main event, but other tasks were thrown in along the way, and I had no idea what lay ahead.

My phone beeped again, signaling a five-minute countdown before we had to head to our assigned site. Here we go again. As the countdown ended, our tent number was revealed: C17.

I immediately took off, running around the site, searching for the number. When I arrived, chaos greeted me.

"I like the color white."

"No, darling, it suits me better, so give it to me."

"I'll have pink then."

"No, that's my favorite color."

My ears were assaulted by the cacophony of voices arguing over trivial things. This team had no future.

"Stop pushing me, my gosh, you're ruining my—"

"You stop pushing me!"

"Ahhh, there are too many ants!"

"Hey, slow down a bit, won't you? I'm getting tired of walking." Instead of slowing down, I stopped in my tracks and looked at them sternly.

"Then you go ahead," I said, crossing my arms. She rolled her eyes but didn't budge. I then averted my gaze and continued walking.

We were at the entrance of a forest, each wearing different kinds of suits. That was what they were fighting about earlier.

They didn't care about the practicality of their outfits, as long as they were in their favorite colors. Now, here we were, at the edge of the wilderness, and they looked like they were going to the beach with their shorts, skirts, and above-the-knee dresses. How great.

Meanwhile, I was dressed appropriately for the forest. I wore dark, durable cargo pants for comfort and protection.

A lightweight, long-sleeved jacket with multiple pockets was ideal for storing small items. Sturdy, broken-in hiking boots with good ankle support were crucial, along with accessories such as a wide-brimmed hat for sun protection, lightweight gloves, and a versatile bandana.

I also carried a sword on my back. Earlier, the facilitators had asked us to pick any equipment we wanted, but it had to be only one item.

There were no food and drinks allowed, as stated by the system. So I had to maintain my energy for a while since this would be a tiring walk.

This was quite tough, and I had no idea where we were supposed to go. I was just walking, and they were following me. There must be traps here, so I had to be careful.

"This is so tiring. Do you even know where we should go?"

"Yeah, I'm tired too."

"Me too."