Elias trembled, eying the treasure that just dropped in his hand. An item emitting red glow, which was the first for him.
From the different items he had obtained in the course of the Hidden Tutorial Challenge, Elias managed to learn what color denoted what rarity.
White is Common, blue is Uncommon, and purple is Rare. So far, he never got any red.
He glanced at the timer, seeing he had less than a minute. With gritted teeth he put the paper along with the rest of his rewards, inside a backpack that he was also rewarded.
[ Spatial Backpack (Rare)
Grade: Rare
Description: A spatial backpack created from rare materials. Despite its size, it possesses a space of 100m x 100m x 100m, while weighing the same as a usual backpack. Reminder that overfilling the backpack would result in the backpack being heavier. ]
"Time to leave," Elias exclaimed as he looked at the screen.
[ Do you wish to leave Combat Tutorial Space?
YES/NO]
Elias pressed Yes, the sensation of being moved without locomotion being unnerving but he managed.
Once the transportation ended, he looked around, only to see white. The only thing that was not white was the blue screen in front of him.
[STARTING LOCATION
Player Alisnair can choose his starting location. The starting location will be where player Alisnair begin their journey in the World of Ilyon … ]
"The options are random, Tarznik, Elerum, Fucia, Crolum," Elias read the entire option. As it turns out, World of Ilyon is either supported by an extensive server that could be described as massive and it would still be an understatement, or a legion of developers interested in creating a very large world with its own histories and cultures.
Either way, it is very impressive, if the different places aren't just copy-paste of one another.
"Let see then," Elias tried to gleam anything out of the names, hoping to find one that felt familiar. If he chose right, he could find a place that felt familiar, or at least those with cultures he knew.
Unfortunately, he could not connect the name with cultures he actually knew and learned for fun.
"If I don't know any place, I should just pick at random." In the end, Elias decided to entrust the final decision to fate, picking random.
He watched as a slot machine animation appeared, showing different names as it spins before finally stopping at one.
"Rulan." Elias spoke loudly of the name, as a portal appeared in front of him.
"Let's see what this starting location looks like."
He stepped into the portal, wondering what would be on the other side.
-x-
"Miss President! Here are the details of those who took on the Hidden Challenge!" President Paige turned her attention towards her secretary, who gave her the tablet she was holding.
Accepting it, Paige read the names, finding several familiar ones.
"Looks like a couple of people give certain details to their children." The secretary looked at the InterCorp President with a questioning look.
"The Hidden Challenge is something very few people know about, so how do they warn their children?" She asked.
"They don't need to give the exact details, just warn their children and grandchildren of how important the game is and they should try anything they can, especially in the tutorial and the early game." Paige commented.
"I see," the secretary nodded in understanding.
"Besides, they only made out the small part of the people who took on the Hidden Challenge. And most of them barely passed the First Hidden Boss." Paige continued.
"True. The Hidden Challenge's true purpose is to find those with … "
"Yes. And we found several." Paige looked at the top names, about 17, those who managed to not only defeat the Final Hidden Boss, but managed to do so at the Hell difficulty.