Delicate Flowers

Although the entire challenge was live streamed and recorded, people only really paid attention the first couple days, aside from some worried parents. Now that it is the last week of the challenge, people are starting to tune back in.

Quite a few people were still cursing Jacob though, except for the people of the base, Jacob never hid the fact that he built Secure Base A, and many people thought his tactic was shameless. Sucks for them because Jacob did not care, he spent the last of his week squeezing dry the beast cores of the other contestants, as well and hunting a variety of star level 3 exo beasts.

As the striker was only a single-use, he did not have the means to hunt another star level 4 exo beast, as did no one else either. Many people were upset with the RPG-HF, claiming it to be a scam, but no refunds were offered.

One rumor that has been going around that made Jacob rather curious, is that someone got it in their head to raid the bounty hall for the 'stored' beast cores. As the mastermind, Jacob has long kept all the beast cores in his dimension, but he was truly curious, and planned to record the event, he has long noticed the increased amount of live stream cameras in the base, so his drones won't be noticed.

Jacob planned to sit back and watch a good show.

~~~~~~~

In a cave about a kilometer from Secure Base A, three groups of people stood together. The first group, the largest with around 60 people, stood in a group haphazardly, the leader a handsome man in a red tracksuit.

The second group, with around 30 people, standing in a strict military formation, the leader of this group, along with all its members were wearing camo tracksuits. They seemed to be the leader of the three groups.

The last group, with only eight people, each with powerful auras at the peak of dantian refinement stage 9. They seemed to have no leader, but they did push out someone to speak for them.

The leader of the military group spoke, "This base is definitely not made by the military. Discounting that everything is only civilian grade products, the layout of the base, if you look closely, although it seems to follow military code, it only does so superficially."

The man in red spoke, "So what Diego, even if it is not the military who made it, it is still there. What? Do you think a student made it? Yeah, I could make it if I planned ahead for it, but I would still have to smuggle everything onto the planet."

The unwilling spokesman of the elite group spoke, "Dean, Diego, I think it is irrelevant who or what made the base, or whether it is military standard or not. The main concern is, can we raid the bounty hall for the cores, or if the cores are even there."

Dean and Diego's argument stopped abruptly, realizing they were only making fools of themselves. Diego shot a look at Dean then turned to the elite group, "Sam, we have checked, and there are never any robots transporting the cores somewhere else, we haven't noticed any other modes of transportation, and we can see the base all the way around."

Sam nodded, "Then the beast cores are probably stored on site, if this base was built by the military, then it could even be another test for the students. What we have to work out is how to do this without attracting a bunch of fishermen."

The three leaders put their heads together.

~~~~~~~~~

On the morning of the last day, when there were few people about, silently, a large group of people started to block the dorms. Another group of people arrived to block off and evacuate the bounty hall.

Then a group of 3 people entered the bounty hall, they quickly unleashed attacks at the receptionist, destroying them quickly, they hopped the counter and opened a door behind it. There was a long hallway with 3 doors total.

They bust down the first door, only to realize it was a server room, they ignored it and bust down the second door to find a janitor closet. They cautiously made their way to the last door, with a swift movement, they kicked open the door.

*Click*

A harsh noise was heard, and it echoed the entire base, sirens then started blasting. The wrist of each of the three groups started buzzing, before they experienced a harsh electric shock that stunned them to the ground.

Drones came out in swarms and picked up each unconscious person, dragging them out of the base, and to a prearranged area. A large mound of exo beast manure had been placed, and every incapacitated person was rested upon it.

Back to the group of 3, like everyone else, they were dazed by the sound, but unlike their pitiful teammates, they were not dosed with a charge of voltz. As they were dazed and confused, they heard movement from the bounty hall.

Who they saw was a very handsome man dressed loosely in black sweatpants and a gray t-shirt. The man's green eyes were filled with endless mirth. Before they could comprehend what was happening, the man rushed up and knocked them out one by one.

~~~~~~~~~

As people woke up and rushed out of the dorms, they were greeted by the sight of drones carrying people off. As people rushed by the bounty hall, they saw three heads poking out of the ground, as people got close, they reeled away.

The three people were buried neck deep in manure, just then, a robot came out calmly with a watering can, it slowly and methodically poured water on each head. After it finished its task, it pulled out a sign and planted it into the ground, it read 'Delicate Flowers, keep distance'.

Someone surprisingly noted that smartwatches now had a camera function.

~~~~~~~~~

People spent the rest of the day gathering their beast cores into sacks that were helpfully supplied at the shop. People who were stingy made theirs out of grass rope and vines, made very shoddily.

At around the time of sunset that night, countless dropships came from the skies and some landed near Secure Base A, a few went off into the distance to pick up various stragglers. The ones that decided not to reside at Secure Base A and were not eliminated.

Jacob was one of the last people to board the dropships, with a wave of his hand the buildings crumbled while the robots and supplies were stored. Many other students stared in stupefaction at what just occurred, while some of the smarter ones had lightbulbs go off in their minds as they connected the dots.

Jacob comfortably leaned back in the chair of the dropship with a small smile on his lips.

~~~~~~~~~

As the students were brought back aboard the Stars Fury, many teachers were staring at the newly arrived students, already deciding who they want to pick and who they can pick, they also stared at other teachers, seeing if they had similar eyes on their own picks.

As Jacob got off the dropship, many eyes turned to him, some with admiration, some with disgust. Jacob noted two particularly hot gazes from two old men standing side by side, that caused Jacob to shiver.

As Jacob was standing in the lines to count his beast cores, he was pulled aside by a staff member. They said they were bringing him to a special area to count his beast cores. This led to a few confused stares by other students, because unlike many others who had sacks or bags, Jacob's hands were empty.

Jacob nodded, being known as having some kind of spatial storage talent was a part of his plans. Jacob proceeded to follow the staff to a large 10 meters square cloth, at the instructions of the staff he waved his hand and a large mound of beast cores appeared to the astonishment of the other students.

Most students only had a small bag or sack filled with beast cores, some had larger or multiple stacks, but all this compared to Jacob's cache was like comparing a pond to a lake. Some people even accused him of cheating.

A few people quickly came and tallied his count, Jacob then left to sit in the area with other student's who had their shares counted. A few looked at him with eyes of envy, while a group of 3 people looked at him with hatred, Jacob looked at them and waved with a smile.

After a while everyone was counted and calculated and sat in front of a stage. On the stage was a middle aged man dressed in a suit. On the stage was a large screen that showed peoples names. The announcer spoke each person's name in the 1000-500 range, then talked about the resources of the people from the 500-100 range, the 100-10 range were told which top university they were selected to go to.

Now came the final 10 people. The announcer then spoke in a large booming voice, "For those in the top 10, please come up as announced, then stand next to the representative for the college you choose." he motioned to two old men, one large and muscular, the other thin with a wispy goatee.

The announcer then spoke out the names.

"In 10th place, we have Hubert Jazer, Congratulations!"

"In 6th place, we have Allison Nguyen, Congratulations!"

"In 3rd place, with 123,310 points, we have Justice Dernz!" A tall bronze skinned man ascended to the stage. Making his way to the Heaven Star Academy rep.

"In 2nd place, with a whopping 256,992 points, we have Emmanuel Darkmoth!" Trap Emmanuel stood up and bowed to the crowd, then walked to the Federal University rep.

"As for first place, it goes to the undisputed leader, with massive 1,235,670 points, Jacob Davis! He won this challenge, not only using his personal strength, but also his wit! Using undisclosed means, he built an entire base on Daliomon and tricked other students into working for him!"

Jacob nearly cursed out, it was one thing to say it, another thing to word it so harshly, he will sue for slander! Jacob walked up to the announcer, giving him a death glare, before smiling and turning towards the hostile crowd.

"I would like to thank my parents, my sister, and the many students who contributed towards the base I made, without their help, I would have an almost million point lead on second place! I thank you, I truly thank you."

F*ck! Everyone in the crowd was cursing in their minds, it was one thing for them to learn that they were used, it was a whole different issue where the user went so far as to THANK them, they don't want your useless thanks!

*Cough*

The atmosphere was interrupted by the large muscular old men who spoke, "Hello Mr. Davis, my name is John Jango, and I am the vice principal at the Federal University, we hope to welcome you to come -" Vice Principal Jango was quickly interrupted by another person, the thin old man with a wispy goatee pushed him aside.

The old goatee man spoke quickly, "Greetings young Jacob, my name is Li Shikuang, and I am the vice principal of Heaven Star Academy, we here at the academy greatly value your talents and would like to invite you to -" Vice Principal Li was quickly Interrupted by Vice Principal Jango

The atmosphere was tense.

The two vice principals looked at eachother with war in their eyes.

Vice Principal Li then said, "We have Shaska." In the horrified eyes of Vice Principal Jango, Vice Principal Li made a video call with his smartwatch. Very quickly the call was picked up by an absolutely stunning woman, most men in the crowd, along with a few of the women had their eyes locked on her.

Jacob fared better off than the drooling men, not because of his sexual orientation, just that he was more shameless with comfortably staring at the woman's figure. Vice Principal Li said something to the woman, then a soothing voice came from the woman, "Little brother Jacob, Sister Shaska has watched your amazing feat in the survival challenge, I wonder if you will accompany this big sister and -" Shaska was quickly cut off by another person on a video call from Vice Principal Jango's smartwatch.

"Sleazy succubus, stop trying to harm innocent boys! Only knowing how to use your talent and magical element to seduce people! Fight it out with me!" In the video was a tall athletic golden haired girl dressed in a martial arts suit. She then turned to Jacob, "I saw some of your fights, you don't like to use weapons, you are best with your fist, I am good with fist, if you come to the federal university, I will personally train you! My name is Athena Marks!" She then ignored Jacob to continue fighting with the other woman.

Jacob had actually long made his choice to go to the federal university because it had a much better choice on class courses. Jacob still stayed for a moment watching the two beautiful girls argue about his fate, while the Vice Principals stayed awkwardly to the side.

Jacob then clapped his hands loudly attracting attention, "I actually had long decided before even coming to the survival challenge which college I wish to attend, I thank seniors Li and Ford for their accommodations, but I ultimately choose the Federal University."

Quite a few people were surprised by his calmness, especially Shaska, she had used her talent and magical element against him, and he was not fazed in the slightest, this greatly attract her attention because she realized that although he was attracted to her, he didn't lose his mind like a lot of men did, he mind rapidly turned before she spoke to Athena, "I guess you win this time, i'll get you next time!"

Vice Principal Jango was happy and relieved, the fight between these two women are usually much larger, luckily the stalemate was broken by Jacob's choice, he spoke a little bit to Jacob and happily smiled at a sour Vice Principal Li.

The rest of the time was set aside for students to join various colleges. Jacob was informed that he would be able to get the measurements for his warframe recorded when he made it to the federal university. At the end of the day Jacob unexpectedly broke through to stage 17, he surmised that it was because he was relaxed after letting off a bit of steam because of the delicate flowers, allowing his foundation to consolidate quicker.

Jacob then decided to take a quick nap, tomorrow he will board a different ship with the students going to the federal university.