Chapter 22 Provocations

　　"Reward?" Alan couldn't help but take another bite of this fruit called Fire Berry, and as the fat and juicy flesh turned into pulp water and entered his body, he felt as if the source power of his body had been awakened and was rushing through his veins on its own. Source power was like a flame, and the syrup was the perfect fuel. So when the entire fire berry had entered Allen's stomach, the source power had burned hot enough that Allen's body temperature rose two degrees, his skin pores were permeated with heat, and his small face was covered with a scarlet color.

　　"Now go sit down over there, kid, and calm your source tides first." Hughton grunted sullenly.

　　Looking at Tonyshv again, he cursed, "You idiot, the Fire Berry will shock the source power, causing it to form a tidal wave of source power. If you don't calm and sort it out in time, instead of getting half the benefits, you'll get hurt, and you just let him eat it so easily."

　　Tornisph said in disbelief, "Aren't you here, with the Major General watching over you, it's hard for my baby to get into trouble." At the end, he didn't forget to wink at Allen.

　　Alan winced and jogged over to the training area and sat down. According to what Hughton said to calm his mind, to collect the source power in his body because of the stimulation of the fire berries. When he focused his mind on his body, Alan "saw" that the original source power was still quite calm, but now it was like a large cloud of light flames whistling through the veins in his body, just like a wave of surging. He had to use his will to control these rushing source power, pacify and restrain them.

　　Gradually, the light flames of source power converged and condensed, eventually forming clusters of source power vortices. The number of source power vortices did not increase, but upon closer inspection, the color of their light flames was a bit darker. This indicated that after the stimulation of the Fire Berry Fruit, the amount of source power hadn't changed, but it was a point or two denser.

　　Five minutes later, Alan's face had returned to normal and his temperature had dropped. When he opened his eyes, Tornisphere and Hughton looked like they were talking about something. Seeing that he had calmed down the waves of source power in his body, Hughton left the hall after dropping the phrase "I'm going for a walk".

　　"Come here, Alan." Tonisoff beckoned, calling out.

　　Alan walked over, he pushed the teenager to those boxes and said, "These are all fire berries, you have just tried them, they will stimulate your source power and make it more solid. They won't make your source power skyrocket, but they can make your foundation more solid. Consuming them for a long period of time can also strengthen your body, and with them, you'll have a better chance of impacting that first barrier of source power confinement."

　　"Who gave them to me?" Apparently Alan hadn't forgotten the word reward.

　　Tornisph patted him on the shoulder, "You earned it, baby. Remember, this stuff is good, but if you eat too much of it, you'll burn source power excessively. If the burning of source power is out of control, you'll probably just be wasted. You have to do it gradually, letting your body and source power gradually get used to their stimulation."

　　"Well, now I have to tell you something else too." The Ensign picked one of the fire berries and said to Alan, "Would you mind treating me to one."

　　Allen nodded and the Ensign took a big bite, "Even though this is of limited help to me right now, it sure tastes good. Let's get down to business, remember what I said? The competition between you and the other contestants has been going on since you set foot in Babylon."

　　Remembering his run-in with Fat Lucien during the day, Alan nodded. Tonisf shook his head and dropped the rest of the fruit into his mouth, "You don't know, Allen. The competition I'm talking about isn't one of those vague concepts, it's down to the numbers. Yes, first of all I must congratulate you for coming out on top in the first round of the popular vote with an excellent score, plus your friction with Lucien during the day puts you even more firmly in first place. That's why you were rewarded by the committee, namely these boxes of fire berries that help you condense your source power."

　　Allen froze and asked, "What's a popular vote?"

　　"When you arrive in Babylon on your first day, the people of the floating island get to know you as they welcome you. You were then given a single rating based on impressions of the different players, which will be collected and registered by the committee during the week. Your image, your experiences, have left a deep impression on the inhabitants of Babylon. That's why you scored the highest in this popular vote, and thus you came in first place in this week's assessment rankings." Tonisf explained, adding, "I hope you keep it up, and remember that your every word and action is watched by the committee. They will base your as the basis for adding or subtracting points, like your score in the reaction training, and thwarting Lucien, those are all scoring points. On the flip side, Fat Lucien was defeated by you, and he will be deducted points accordingly. You're a smart kid, you should be able to see some of the rules of the commissioner's point evaluation system in this."

　　"The evaluation rankings will be updated once a week, and the first place winner each week will receive a different level of reward. This time it's fire berries, next time it might be a grade of magic energy gun, in short, these rewards will enhance your strength. But ...」Tonisf said here and paused before saying with a straight face, "The most important role of the rankings is not these weekly rewards, but rather whether or not you can take advantage of the favorable conditions when the death ring begins. Of course, it also has some other roles attached to it, such as attracting the attention of whichever powerful nobles. If they are willing to invest in you, no matter if it's in terms of scoring or other aspects, you will have a huge advantage that other players don't have."

　　Tornisph stayed for a whole bell before leaving, and after the Ensign had gone, Allen gathered his thoughts. As the Ensign had said, the ubiquitous competition began the moment they, the teenagers from the surface, set foot in Babylon, and the competition could be as specific as the numbers, as well as their evaluation scores. These scores were important for their role in the death ring, in addition to the rewards such as fire berries that they could get Alan.

　　When the deathmatch begins, the committee will determine the starting location based on the different scores between the teens. According to Tonisoff, the higher the score, the more favorable the starting location will be. For example, they will be placed in a deserted area, or they will be rewarded with a large amount of supplies. On the contrary, the lower the score, the more dangerous the starting place would be. As for the bottom seven, they would be placed in the same area.

　　The result of that could be imagined, these seven people almost as soon as they landed on the ground had to start a life and death struggle, and in the end, only one person could leave.

　　Currently Allen was temporarily in the lead and was in first place. Behind him was Lucy, the girl that people couldn't help but associate with flames. Thinking of Lucy, Alan remembered that he hadn't returned her hair.

　　Riding the elevator to the 17th floor, Alan was slightly nervous as he stood outside the front door. He rang the electronic doorbell, and a few moments later, a woman opened the door. In her mid to late thirties, she was wearing a muslin nightgown. The dress was so thin that you could almost see the wonderful body inside the dress. The woman looked at Allen curiously and said, "Isn't this the brat from District 13? What's your business."

　　Alan took a deep breath before he could assure himself that he wasn't looking at the two spots on the woman's chest that bulged over her nightgown. He said, "Hello, ma'am. I'm Alan, I'm here to see Lucy, is she in?"

　　"Polite little one, come in." The woman hooked her finger and said, "I'm Elsa, Lucy's tutor, wait here, Lucy is probably in the shower."

　　"A bath?" Alan said awkwardly, "I'd better stay later then."

　　"No need, she should be out by now. Or are you afraid I'll eat you?" Elsa gently lifted Ellen's chin with her finger until Ellen's small face turned red and she left with a laugh.

　　A few moments later, she beckoned at Lucy's bedroom door, "Come on in, little one, that Lucy girl is calling for you."

　　Aisha pushed Alan in with a push from her rear end just as the automatic door to the bedroom opened. Alan stood still, the layout to the decoration of the bedroom was exactly the same as his. At the moment the bathroom door opened and a large cloud of water vapor gushed out. Lucy wrapped her bathrobe and stepped out of the water vapor. Seeing Alan, she didn't avoid him and waved her hand with a big smile: ''Hi, you're here. Come over here and sit down, what are you standing around for."

　　Allen had just sat down on the sofa in the inner room when Lucy unexpectedly removed her bathrobe, so a youthful, healthy body appeared in Allen's eyes. Ellen sucked in a breath, Lucy's skin was like fine satin under the room's light source, flowing with a rich luster. She stretched her body unconsciously, revealing some of her private places to Ellen's eyes.

　　Even though Alan quickly averted his face, he had already seen countless fascinating sights in the glimpse he had just taken. In his ears came the sound of Lucy getting dressed and her slightly husky laugh, "I guarantee that if Fatty Lucien was sitting in your current position, he would have pounced on you long ago. I have to say, Alan you are a gentleman."

　　"Well, I'm done changing."

　　Only then did Ellen dare to turn her head as Lucy changed into loose-fitting clothes and pants. Although the two small dots protruding from the chest of that blouse were telling Allen that underneath that clothing was a naked body, it was better than the strong visual impact just now. Seeing him in this state, Lucy laughed and sat down next to him on her butt and said, "Hey, you don't think you still don't have that, do you?"

　　"You have?" Alan asked without answering.

　　Lucy grunted, "So far, the males that have tried to pounce on my body have turned into corpses. Because I don't like them, but I like you, Alan. If you want something to happen ..."

　　Feeling a bit overwhelmed, Alan was busy saying, "Actually, I came to return something to you."

　　He hastily pulled out his bouffant, and Lucy said, "Oh." She picked up the bundle of hair as he applauded, but gently wrapped her fingers in his palm and said with a smirk, "Don't you really want something to happen?"

　　Alan gritted his teeth, "I don't care what happens if you try to provoke again."