Awakening to a Special-Grade Explorer
Vol. 5 - Ch. 223 - Final Preliminary (2)

Around an hour and a half had passed after the final preliminary had begun.

The preliminary had started at 10 AM, and considering the time, it would soon be the time for lunch in the next thirty minutes. While feeling the slight hunger, Tenji was climbing the stairs of a small ruined building on the outskirts.

"Hmm, the footprints are pointing......at this room huh."

The footprints that he had been following on the dusty floor was leading to a room on the third floor. By straining his ears, he could already hear the clank-clank sound coming. Squinting, he could glimpse the shadow of a doll that seemed to be just about to rise behind frosted glass.

(Hmm, another safeguarding doll? They have appeared three times in my total of 6 watermelons found...so it's working at 50% probability? Well, I am getting extra points from them as well so the more the merrier.)

In the meantime he approached the room, Tenji swiftly drew an iron sword from his weapon case and unhesitantly pulled the door of the room. He was correct, another doll---well, mannequin, was here.

The moment the mannequin confirmed a human figure, it leapt up with a sharp kick aimed at his solar plexus.

It however didn't even faze his expression as Tenji easily sidestepped the attack. With precise motions, he pushed the hilt of his sword diagonally upwards with the palm of his hand.

In a moment of split second, the tip of the sword had accurately pierced the MP ore. Like a string cut puppet, the mannequin dropped crumbled on the spot, the sword embedded into its head.

Use minimal movement as possible when dealing with small fries to conserve energy; perfectly replicating Leon's teaching, Tenji took down mannequin silently like an assassin.

"With this, I now have 29 points and another four with the watermelon, Alright, things seems to be going alright."

So far, he had acquired points from four mannequins and six watermelons. Registering on the mannequin granted him one point while registering fingerprint on watermelon netted him five points each. Though, Tenji couldn’t tell if he was going slow or too fast by scoring 34 points in one hour and a half with nothing else to compare.

After his encounter with Mizue, he hadn't crossed paths with any other participants. Therefore, he had no idea where his point total ranked among the other participants.

He also hadn't heard anything from Koro-chan either after the initial conversation, so everything was covered in black veil for him.

However the occasional sighting of fixed cameras or drones etc machines prevented loneliness from creeping up on him, allowing him to focus on the final preliminary with undivided attention.

"Well, or maybe scoring points is much harder huh.”

Perhaps, the time limit of six hours~forty-eight hours must have been considered following the time the search might consume. It had to be either that or maybe the broad timeframe was brought in because the association wanted to put a field big enough where contestants couldn't encounter each other casually, and also to provoke anxiety among the contestants.

When one's under extreme circumstances, the human’s body behaves differently. It must have been a test to judge how contestants carry themselves when under tense situations.

In that case, it's better to think less about the contestants and more about the points. My main objective should be to focus on winning this preliminary, Tenji thought.

"Alright, where should I begin to look for the next hint huh? I need at least 66 points more to reach the minimum starting line for the main tournament, which means I need to look around for 13 more watermelons."

Murmuring the details, Tenji had just taken a step outside of the small ruin when he felt a tug on his thoughts---a signal that Koro-chan was attempting to connect with him via telepathy.

Tenji immediately stopped on his tracks and focused on his thoughts while gazing at the sky.

<Did you found it, Koro-chan?>

<Found 'em. It's bumpingly tough to find 'em though.>

At the same time as he heard those words, Koro-chan shared its vision with Tenji. It was also one of Koro-chan's abilities. Though the shared vision doesn't give an immediate hint to the place, the position of sun or the condition of buildings around had given enough hint for general location.

<Oh, it's around 3~4 km away from here. Good job, Koro-chan! I really am glad to find you, honestly. I will be there soon.>

<'Kay, I will be heading to look for another one.>

Tenji adjusted his direction and headed for the newly discovered watermelon spot. On the way, he continued to chat with Koro-chan.

<But man, they're so rare, aren't they? I have only managed to find six myself. Even then, they're either hidden in room somewhere or buried nearby the roots of a tree and etc......what kind of mean person do that honestly.>

<You have greater insight than someone like me, well that's why you're the third-generation leader~. Speaking of, I also noticed a smell.>

<Smell? Of what?>

<It's that thing, that Mupee or whatever you often mentioned, Third Lord~. That watermelon is awfully drenching in that smell, almost like its inherent smell. Maybe it's my instinct as weak but I'm quite sensitive to these creepy things.>

<Huh, then you can tell where it's coming from?>

<As long as it's within half a mile, kinda I guess~.>

<Woah, impressive Koro-chan. Inform me immediately whenever you notice it.>

<Sure thing~.>

With that, the telepathy connection with Koro-chan was cut off. Tenji, too, was once again on his goal to acquire 100 points.

†　†　†

"............Someone has already split it."

Tenji mumbled in daze, rooted on his spot.

It should have been barely ten minutes when Tenji arrived at the spot Koro-chan had reported...only to walk upon an already splitted watermelon. The watermelons were added with the mechanism where they split open like real watermelons after the points were acquired.

"What devil timing they must have......haa, this is what it is huh. First come first serve. But atleast I now know there is another contestant nearby."

Tenji took a deep breath to shake off disappointment. He looked up at the sky, and then at the inoperable, more so due to no electricity, traffic lights in the distance.

His eyes had just stayed on it for a moment when he saw a shadow of someone dashing off from the opposite side of the intersection where that traffic light was. The person was desperately running for his life, stumbling and scrambling to find a cover.

"Oh, finally a contestant. We might be opponents trying to outwit each other but it does make me happy. Hmm, I wonder if he will mind if I hit him up for a little conversation? I just hope he doesn’t grump out.”

Such whimsical thoughts flash past Tenji's mind......only for an instant.

The contestant seemed to have noticed Tenji's eyes on him as well and immediately flailed his hands, seemingly conveying something.

But since contestants were forbidden from attacking others, Tenji didn't take much notice of the gesture and waved his hand in greeting, smiling.

"You dumbasssssss!!!"

"What?"

The sudden shout, laced with a desperate expression, elicited a befuddled look from Tenji.

However the confusion lasted only for a second as Tenji finally realised why that Contestant was so mad at him. An odd shadow was chasing after him.

"Ruuunnnnnnnnnnn!!"

From the intersection contestant made a turn, shouting, a doll followed after with strange movements---the doll's knees drawn closer to its chest, and arms bent into the 90 degree.

Just one doll? Tenji was conufused until he saw......another doll appeared from that intersection, followed by third, fourth and so on. There should've been at least 15 of them chasing after.

In awe of the scenery, Tenji involuntarily gaped in surprise.

In his search so far, he had only managed to find one doll at a time and yet, for some bizarre reason, there were 15 of them right around him. Could it be an event thought by Ukai to entertain the audience? Tenji could only wonder.

"Hey you, snap out of it! We need to run!!"

In the meantime, the contestant had made it to Tenji.

He grabbed Tenji's arm with sudden movement, seemingly to get him out of here, and continued to press forward.

Well, meetings do come in different shapes I guess? Tenji thought, running at the same pace as that contestant, leaving the spot behind.

(Yeah, his tone is a bit intimidating but he sure is kind. He could have left me behind too......let's see when I get the gap to converse. I wonder how many points he has?)

The contestant was slightly taller than Tenji, probably around 175cm. With a somewhat long face, his hair was mostly hidden under a purple knitted hat, but the little bit of hairs peeling out hinted at their considerable length. He wore glove-like weapons and a blue fourth-grade inner suit, suggesting he might be an amateur explorer with excellent martial skills.

The lack of explorer school's uniform indicated he might be a university student or a commoner unaffiliated to any organisation. However his presence in this final preliminary was proof of his talent. Perhaps, the high-grade weapon on his hand was borrowed from some professional explorer guild.

But he was running as if trying to escape from the mannequins right now.

"Hmm, what's going on? Where did you catch them?"

Tenji gave a side glance abruptly, looking into his eyes as he asked.

However the guy shook off the eye contact and answered in a loud voice.

"How should I know!!! They just suddenly appeared from inside an abandoned supermarket!"

"By the way, did you also split the watermelon that was in that single house? It was my target but someone took the headstart. ......Ah, I am not trying to blame you or anything, I am just curious."

"......The hell, how're you so calm?! Shouldn't be like, even more desperate!? I'm telling you, they're scary bunch. What in tarnation is with that creepy running style? I swear they're gonna haunt my dreams at this rate. Also, they're too many goddammmn!! What the hell are we supposed to do with that?! I didn't sign up for this damn final preliminary for this!"

'Lucky me,' Tenji pumped his fist internally. After all, his words were the indication of his inability to deal with the dolls. In that case, he wouldn't be accused of being opportunist now if he takes them down.

Initially, Tenji had already decided that if this person had some sort of plan he wouldn't interfere. For him, it was in bad faith to steal someone else's points in the official match.

He wanted to be fair and square here, and focus only on the points he himself had found. It might be taken as his naivety but for him, this was his way of doing things.

Tenji drew the iron sword and flashed a smile toward the contestant.

"Since you're not up to, I will be taking those points."

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