"This is the contract for this competition, Mr. Ethan. Take a look, and if there is no problem, just sign here."
Ethan didn't answer but silently took the contract from the other party's hand and began reading it.
[About Ice and Fire: Battle Royale Game Participation Agreement]
Party A provides Party B with a way to travel through time and a body for use in the world of ice and fire.
Party B voluntarily goes to the world of ice and fire to participate in this competition and assumes corresponding legal responsibility for this.
Rule details
Bonus details
The organizer of the game was an upper dimensional organization that had arrived in Ethan's world more than ten years ago. They brought extraordinary powers that neither Ethan nor his world had ever known.
Fortunately, their purpose was not to conquer, but... to entertain.
What was even more valuable was that they also abided by local laws. For example, in the game Ethan was about to participate in, a contract needed to be signed in advance.
It took Ethan nearly half an hour to read the not so long agreement word for word.
The content of the agreement could be summarized into the following four points:
Competition Introduction: This was a competition held in the world of A Song of Ice and Fire, with a total of one hundred players participating.
Victory Rules: After all players outside an alliance are eliminated or the total points of the alliance exceed 10,000, victory can be declared with the unanimous consent of all alliance members. If the players in the alliance cannot reach an agreement, the alliance will be automatically dissolved.
(Players can form alliances through the auxiliary system after entering the game, and each alliance cannot exceed four people.)
When the final victory is declared, all surviving players will be teleported back to their original worlds one hour after the declaration.
Bonus Rules: If one person wins, they will receive tens of billions of dollars. If two people win together, they will share one billion dollars equally. If three win, they will share ten million dollars equally. If four win, they will share one million dollars equally.
Risk Reminder: The death of a player in the game results in real death.
"So, Mr. Ethan," the receptionist from the organizer saw Ethan put down the documents and asked, "do you have any questions?"
"Of course," Ethan nodded. "As far as I know, you've held similar competitions more than once before. The prize money was quite satisfactory then, but this time it has been increased unprecedentedly. I'd like to know why."
"I wonder if you've noticed the name of our competition?"
"Ice and Fire Escape Game?" Ethan raised his eyebrows. "To be honest, I don't quite understand the name. I've watched all your previous games, and they were all Lord Battle type games without exception. So..."
"So the type of our competition this time is different from the previous ones," the receptionist said first. "Our earlier competitions usually focused on the players' struggle for hegemony after becoming lords, so we gave players significant development support to help them get through the early stages quickly.
In the later stages of the game, the probability of player death would plummet, because when a player realized they had lost their chance to win, they could simply give up, find a small village to hide in, and wait until other players met the victory conditions to return as a survivor."
"But this time it's different?"
"Yes. This time, we've placed the competition throughout the entire game duration. That means from the moment they arrive, players will fall into fierce competition and even kill each other.
We will only provide players with extremely limited development resources, and they must take huge risks to compete for them. In fact, I can tell you that a large number of players may not receive a single resource from the auxiliary system throughout the entire game and may even be exhausted due to certain mechanisms.
Therefore, in this competition, the risks faced by players are greater than ever before. It would not be surprising if only a single digit number of players survived."
"Can you tell me more specific information? For example, the mechanism that will cause players to be exhausted?" Ethan interrupted.
"Of course not," the receptionist shook his head, maintaining a textbook perfect smile. "Any specific game mechanisms must be discovered by players after entering the game."
"Alright," the receptionist handed a signature pen to Ethan. "I have informed you of the risks. Before the final list is confirmed, you can choose to withdraw or sign the contract."
"You know I have no choice." Ethan smiled and shook his head, took the pen from the receptionist, and signed his name on the agreement.
He was seriously ill and couldn't afford the massive medical expenses. He had less than three months to live. No matter how risky the game was, it was his only option. To put it bluntly, even if he died in the game, as long as he could survive for three more months in a different world, it would still be a gain.
So when he received the organizer's invitation, he agreed immediately and participated in several pre selection assessments. These assessments included a written test, a situational simulation, and a competition simulation, with final admission based on total score.
Although Ethan hadn't participated in the competition simulation due to health issues, he still stood out among nearly 10,000 applicants with high scores in the first two tests and earned a spot in the main competition.
"Okay, Mr. Ethan, your participation quota has been officially confirmed." The receptionist tapped on a tablet. "Please take a rest. Once our working group finishes processing all players, I will take you to the operations room."
Ethan didn't respond, just closed his eyes and waited quietly.
After a while, the receptionist spoke again. "Mr. Ethan, a total of 27 players who had obtained a spot in the main competition have withdrawn. These players have been replaced by applicants ranked lower."
"So few? Less than one third of them withdrew?" Ethan was a bit surprised.
"Haha, Mr. Ethan, you must understand not all contestants come from peaceful countries like yours. For residents living in war torn regions, facing a reward of hundreds of millions, even a 90% death rate is hardly a deterrent."
Ethan gave a sarcastic smile.
"In addition, I have some not so good news. The two allies you arranged to team up with have already withdrawn from the competition. Therefore, at least in the early stages, you may have to fight alone."
Ethan's heart sank.
He had actually expected that his allies might back out. After all, like him, their lives weren't especially difficult. It was reasonable that they were unwilling to gamble with their lives.
But hearing the news still made him uncomfortable it meant the difficulty of the game had increased yet again.
"Mr. Ethan, if you are ready, please come with me."
"Good."