Chapter 53: Stage 3

"I'm glad you hosted the competition," said the head of the Verma family with a smile, and the other family heads agreed.

"It's my pleasure," replied the head of the regional federation.

"Yeah, he's right. It's our pleasure to see the next generation progress," said the head of the regional school community.

"It's generous of you to say that" responded the Verma family head with a smile.

Sometimes later

The screen lit up, and the participant's points were shown along with the ranking.

Participant [rank]: Stage 1 [points] + Stage 2 [points]: Final Points [Pass/Fail]

Ravi [D]: 101 + 1790: 1891 [Pass]

Geeta [D]: 100 + 1787: 1887 [Pass]

Rakesh [D-]: 81 + 1770: 1851 [Pass]

Pallavi [D-]: 64 + 1775: 1839 [Pass]

Ajay [D+]: 9 + 1820: 1829 [Pass]

Ramesh [D-]: 49 + 1758: 1807 [Pass]

Sankar [E+]: 36 + 1670: 1706 [Fail]

Harsh [E+]: 25 + 1675: 1700 [Fail]

Lakshmi [E]: 16 + 1600: 1616 [Fail]

Aakash [E-]: 104 + 1400: 1504 [Fail]

Clap*

A sudden clap drew everyone's attention to where the speaker stood with a slight smile.

Seeing that he had successfully captured the audience's attention, he continued his magic, "You can probably guess that the qualifying points were over 1800."

Then, looking at the participants, he added, "I'm happy to announce that Ravi, Geeta, Rakesh, Pallavi, Ajay, and Ramesh have qualified for Stage 3, which will be the final round of the Young Championship."

"Hurray!" shouted one of the participants.

"I made it to the final round!" one participant exclaimed.

"Me too!" said another.

All the qualified participants cheered, their faces lighting up with big smiles. Meanwhile, the audience joined in with shouts of excitement.

"I knew Geeta would win!"

"Her luck knows no bounds."

"From today, I'm Rakesh's biggest fan."

"Me too!"

"Biggest fan? My ass!"

"Hahaha!"

"Okay, please be quiet," the speaker's voice resounded, spreading silence across the tournament field. Glancing toward the participants, he continued, "I know many of you might be dissatisfied with Stage 1, but now's the time to clear up some questions you've been wanting answers to."

With this announcement, everyone perked up their ears, eager to catch every detail. They were keen to know why the organizers had set up these kinds of childish tricks, which had caused some players to fail.

"I'm very excited."

"Me too."

"Shh, the speaker is about to make an announcement."

"Now that everyone is quiet and eager to hear the news, I should reveal some information before we dive into the details," the speaker said with a smile as a data chart appeared on the screen.

Cause of death [players]: Percentage [out of 1000]

Dungeon: 10

Labyrinth: 70

Seeing the simple data on the screen, everyone was confused. Even though most people get it but still didn't understand how?, a few in the audience gasped because they knew the data revealed something serious. Whispers started spreading through the venue.

One person in the crowd asked, "How?"

"I don't know," said someone nearby.

"Neither do I."

"Shh. Let's see if someone explains it."

Soon, someone stood up and said, "I'm not sure if I'm right, but let me share my thoughts." He glanced around at the people listening carefully, then continued, "The speaker mentioned luck earlier, so I think this data might show the number of people who died because of bad luck."

"Isn't he the biggest information live streamer?"

"Now that you mention it, I've noticed this too."

"That's what I'd expect from a top influencer," someone remarked.

"I'm definitely going to subscribe to his channel," said another.

"I'm here," a third chimed in.

"Hah! I subscribed to him two years ago and haven't missed a single video."

"He's live streaming on his channel right now."

"What's the channel's name?" someone asked.

"Ansh the Informant."

Ansh smiled faintly when he saw the audience's reaction. His subtle cough caught everyone's attention as he promoted his channel.

"Keep quiet," someone said.

"Yeah, let's listen to what he has to say."

Ansh, still smiling, continued, "According to the data, out of 1,000 players, 100 die in dungeons while 700 die in labyrinths." He looked around and added, "I think you all know why there's such a big difference in the death rates between dungeons and labyrinths."

"Yes, dungeons are designed to be cleared, while labyrinths are designed to kill players."

"Why is that?" someone asked.

"Fool! It's simple," another person replied, "because you can only die in a dungeon if you really have deep shit luck or if it's a brand-new dungeon."

Seeing that the nearby audience was starting to resolve their questions through debate, Ansh took the initiative and agreed with the player, "Yeah, he's right, as long as you don't get greedy and choose wealth over life."

Glancing toward the nearby audience, he added, "As for the labyrinth, it self-destructs once it's cleared for a newly formed labyrinth. And new labyrinths rise in that place, which are full of traps, illusions, poisons, and other dangers and also hold a different pattern from the previous one, which is why the death rate is so high."

"As expected of him. No one can deny his ability to understand deeper."

"That's why he holds a milestone on his livestream website."

Suddenly, a voice echoed through the competition arena, saying, "Attention, everyone."

"Quiet down, everyone. The speaker is about to make an announcement."

All eyes were on the speaker as he began, "I know most of you already have a certain idea, but let me clear things up."

He glanced at the regional federation head, the school community head, and the security head before continuing, "The mortality rate you're hearing about is accurate, and it was gathered by their departments five days ago."

Turning back to the audience, he added, "Let's give them a round of applause for their hard work." The sound of clapping echoed through the competition venue.

On the other side, all the family heads were pleased, with faint smiles on their faces.

The head of the Verma family took the initiative, "I didn't know you spent so much time gathering this information." Looking around at the other family heads, he continued, "We're glad we entrusted you with organizing this event." The other family heads nodded in agreement.