It had been about three days now since Damien left the Cutania tribe. Along the way, everything had been relatively peaceful, having not encountered any monsters or beasts. Looking at the world and seeing all the run-down buildings and the cracked roads filled with moss and vegetation gave Damien an empty feeling.

  Honestly, though, he quite enjoyed this scenery, even if it was empty without all the people. For some reason, Damien found it… peaceful. It's moments like these that make you think the system isn't all that bad.

  Speaking of the system during his travels Damien had been asking it all the questions he could, poking and prodding at it to see what he could ask and what he could not and it had been quite successful.

  One of the things he learned you could ask the system about was other planets. According to the system, there were tens of thousands of planets within Damien’s universe. Among them, many had life-like earth, while others were barren wastelands.

  Something unique Damien learned, though, was that some planets only had one type of element. What the system meant by that was the people on the planet only used, for example, the light element. This might seem weak, but according to the system, since everyone follows the same path, their knowledge of that element is without equal.

  Intrigued by this, he asked the system if he could go to such a planet in the future, but it told him that these planets were not only extremely rare, to the point only three had been recorded by the system in his universe, but they were also hostile to any outsiders without question. The only way to explore these planets without being hunted by everyone you come across is to have an insanely high affinity for the element the people of the planet use.

  So that meant if Damien wanted to check one of these planets out, he would have to do a lighting or blood one, maybe a space one, but he was not sure if his talent for it was high enough.

  Suddenly, as if by coincidence, the system's voice boomed out all over the planet as it had when it made the multiversal announcement.

  “Due to undisclosed reasons, the second event will be started now. The system will give users an hour to prepare themselves before giving everyone the option to teleport in, those who do not wish to participate can choose not to do so.”

  Silence resumed once more. The only sound around Damien was the light wind blowing through the air around him. Stunned by the unexpected announcement, Damien did not know what to think. ‘Why so sudden? Could the event not wait for a couple more days?’ thousands of thoughts were shooting out inside his mind.

  The main thing he was concerned about, however, was Ela. had she made it to the town? Would they be put together like before, or would they be separated? Worry began to build inside him, even though he was trying his best to stay calm. Unfortunately, even with the hour the system gave him, Damien would not be able to make it to the town in time as he was still quite a ways away.

  Letting out a deep sigh, he took a seat and crossed his legs to sit in meditation since he could do nothing about the situation. It was best just to wait for the event to start. He trusted Ela and knew she could take care of herself regardless of what happened.

  * * *

  Ela had been waiting for Damien at Owlshire for about a week by now, and upon seeing the notification from the system, she immediately started to stress. Had it not been for the fact that she was an evolved human, Ela most likely would have had a breakdown by now.

  Taking a deep breath, she calmed herself. Damien is stronger he will be fine. For now, she needed to worry about the next event and focus on herself, she did not want to be left behind Damien with no way to catch up.

  Thinking about things that way, Ela’s face brightened up, this was an opportunity for her to grow. Just like when Damien was still being held by the organization, Ela would show them all that she was no less talented than him.

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  Suddenly, the system spoke out once more. An hour had already gone by, time seemed to be becoming faster and faster to Ela the longer she lived.

  The event will now start.

  Would the user like to participate?

  Yes.

  No.

  Starting at the prompt, Ela smiled before quickly selecting yes, hopefully, this event would be more interesting and not some boring maze.

  Her vision blurred, and she felt her body being pulled in a way she could not describe. After just a moment, Ela could see once more looking at the familiar surroundings. The system had placed her where it had originally placed them before the first event began.

  Looking around at the people popping up, Ela saw many familiar faces, such as Ruby, which made her happy, at least there was someone here she could talk to. Walking over to her, Ela kept turning to people every time they appeared to see if it was Damien.

  “Ela, where is Damien?” Ruby called out, seeing her approach.

  “No idea. We were supposed to meet at Owlshire, but he had not arrived yet before the system suddenly said the event is to be held early,” Ela responded with an annoyed expression.

  “I am sure he will be fine, El. he has my combat teachings and your mana teachings. I doubt anyone stands a chance.” Ruby said with a mischievous smile. Ela smiled in return, knowing she was right.

  Ruby suddenly adopted a frown, making Ela raise an eyebrow and glance in the direction she was looking. A man was approaching them from afar, one that Ela recognized well, making her also frown in response.

  The man in question was the one from before that approached Ela during the first event, he wore a full set of golden armor and had the same cocky look on his face.

  “Well, well, we meet again. I must say, however, where is your previous teammate? Is this event too much for him?” Ela began to feel anger build up inside her, almost lunging forward to attack the man before Ruby put her hand on her shoulder.

  “Fuck off loser,” Ruby said coldly looking directly into the man's eyes.

  Turning his gaze from Ela to her, the man's eyes lit up, and he scanned Ruby’s body from head to toe. “Wow, are all your woman friends this beautiful?” the man asked, looking back at Ela once more.

  Ela and Ruby simply ignored him this time while glancing at each other, they would make this man regret his actions in the next event. He better just hope it's not combat-related.

  Seeing himself being ignored, the man's smile brightened, “No matter if you ignore me, ladies, I will make you both mine eventually, starting with crushing any other men you have in your hearts. Just hope I don’t see that previous weakling again.”

  “Oh, and by the way, my name is Lucius, Prince of the grand empire known as Bulgaria. Do remember it.”

  Once the man was far enough away, the two women looked at each other before bursting out laughing. “Haha, in what world would a woman find that cringy shit attractive?” Ruby said aloud, getting a nod of agreement from Ela.

  While they were making fun of him, the last person arrived, and the system spoke out once more.

  “Now that everyone is here, I will explain what this event is and the rules for it.”

  “This event will be purely about combat, no teams, a full-on battle royal. The goal is to stand within the top ten remaining to get a reward.”

  “Rule one: No teaming.”

  “Rule Two, Users are not allowed to hide should someone do so they will be eliminated and removed from the event.”

  “Rule three: To make this fair, users are only allowed to use their bodies and weapons to fight. No artifacts or boosting items are allowed.”

  Hearing that last rule, many were outraged immediately. “How is that fair!?” one person yelled. “I went through all that effort to obtain my items just to be told they can't be used for the event!” yelled another.

  “The point of these events is to allow the people of this universe to develop experience with other races and to get better at combat without help, This includes help from external objects such as boosting potions or pills or artifacts that make the user stronger.”

  “Does anyone have any questions? If not, the system event will commence.”

  Suddenly, Ela had a thought and raised her hand for the system to call out to her.

  “What is your question?”

  “Is it safe to assume that there is more than one of these events being held at a time?” Ela asked out of curiosity as to what the system would say even though it was obvious that was the case given there were only a hundred people in the waiting area for the last event.

  “Yes, given the event, the system splits up people into different event areas. For example, the last event had a limit of one hundred people; given the amount of people in this universe, you can imagine how many maze events were held.”

  “Does anyone else have any questions?” the system voiced once more. Seeing silence, it announced the start of the event.

  “The event will now commence. Prepare yourselves to be teleported.”