The Cursed Star - Chapter 55. (Patreon)

“Is the Trial of Knowledge and Art that difficult?” Akira couldn’t help herself and asked Venus. 

“Mhm…” Venus nodded. “Of all the Six Trials, it is the second most significant. But for some, it is the most difficult of all.”

“Why?” Akira was more confused now. 

“The Trial of Knowledge and Art!” The voice of MoC resounded in the colosseum. 

Venus lightly smiled at Akira and gestured at the MoC who was about to explain the rules. 

“There are two Tests that you take in this Trial. At the end of the Trial of Knowledge and Art, Contestants who have less than 10 Points on the Tournament Table will be eliminated.” 

“It has been 1 hour and 40 Minutes since the Blood Moon Tournament started. The First Test will begin in five minutes, and the time you will get is 15 minutes for it. Right after it, the Countdown of 10 minutes will start where you must take your Test of Art.” The MoC smiled cheerfully. “Here are the Rules!” 

“First up, is the Test of Knowledge. It is a written exam…” Just when his words finished, the Arena lit up in a formation, and there were desks and chairs set around. They were set a safe distance away from each other and covered by a formation that seemed similar to the Space Prison that they had been inside the Mental Strength Test. “Take your Seats.” The MoC smiled at them.

It took the Contestants to take their assigned seats, and all turned their attention to the MoC.  

“You have 15 minutes to answer a Question Paper. There are 36 Riddles on it. There are 6 sections, each section contains 6 questions, and the difficulty rises with each section. The first Section is Basic, the second Section is Elementary, and the third section is Intermediate. The Fourth Section is Secondary, the fifth section is Advanced, and the Sixth section is Universal.” 

“What you must all remember is that each section is worth 1 Point. If you answer five of the six Riddles in each section, you will get 1 point, but if you make more than one mistake in each Section, you won’t get the 1 point. You can only answer a riddle once, so be careful there.”

“All of you will be locked inside a Space Prison, where you will be closely monitored by the Judges. Any foul play will result in disqualification from the Tournament.” 

The Contestants tensely nodded to the MoC and then carefully looked at the piece of golden paper in front of them. 

“There’s a total of 6 absolute points that you can gain from this Test, and if anyone gets all 36 answers right, they will be entitled to a question that they can ask the Judges of this Tournament. As long as the Question is not harmful to you or the two Realms, you will have your answer. 

“Your time starts… now!” As soon as the MoC’s voice fell, the Space Prisons lit up and caged the Contestants inside them. The Countdown of fifteen minutes started, and on the Space Prisons, appeared 36 blank circles, and as the audience observed, one by one, the circles started lighting up in green light. And after a couple of minutes, a red circle appeared on a space prison.

“The red circle means that the Contestant has answered one Riddle incorrectly,” Venus informed Akira. 

“Where are the Judges?” Akira looked around and asked. 

“Inside a Control Room. They are observing activity in each Space Prison and marking the questions live.” She answered with a smile. 

“No…” Akira sighed when she saw the 12th Circle on Lyla’s Space Prison light up in red. 

“She got the Point for that section, so it is alright…” Venus stopped her stopped as the 13th Circle on Lyla’s Space Prison turned Red as well. “Now she’s in trouble.” She sighed as well. 

The tension inside the towers and in the stands was just as grave as that of the Contestants inside the Arena. Every time a Red Circle lit up, the crowd gasped and sighed, but no one cheered for the green circles, not until someone secured a Point in each section.

Zeros was attempting his 14th Question, and so far, he had not got anything wrong. 

“Why is she rushing…” Akira complained as she saw Lyla attempt her 18th Question in under 6 minutes. 

To everyone’s relief, she got the 18th Question right and secured her third point with one wrong answer in the third section. 

Aizen glanced at the Space Prison of Yuliya, and his eyes turned serious. 

Yuliya was attempting her 17th Question, and so far, she had got them all right. Her speed was relatively faster than both Lyla and Zeros, and considering.

The words of Beena Lucifer resounded in his memories, and he roused his interest in Yuliya’s result more than than that of Zeros and Lyla. No matter how he had looked at her, no one would have thought that she was knowledgeable. He curiously looked at the Space Prisons of her brothers and saw them performing equally well. None of the Lycan siblings had made mistakes so far.

“Velrich treasures their Alphas…” Venus smiled when she caught him observing the Lycans. “They are nurtured carefully, with great attention. Fenris is a man who stresses heavily on the importance of Knowledge. The culture of Velrich saw some great changes under him, and he made sure that his Clan is among the top 10 Powerhouses of the Monster Blood.” 

“This crazy girl…” Akira clenched her fists tightly. 

Lyla gave two wrong answers in the fourth section, missing out on the 4th Point. 

Aizen glanced at Akira, and seeing a little anger reflecting on her face, made him smile. He had observed how Akira was around Lyla, and somewhere, both of them treated each other as sisters. 

“Zeros…” Akira worriedly called out the name when she saw him get one wrong answer in the fourth section. He was now attempting the last question of the fourth section, and all of them anxiously waited for the result. 

Aizen sighed together with Akira when Zeros missed on the 4th point. 

Yuliya had not got an answer wrong so far, and she was on her way to get her fifth Point, and as soon as she answered her 29th question correctly, Venus and Akira cheered for her, and Aizen smiled brightly. But then she got her first wrong on the 30th Question. 

The situation inside the Arena was turning grim with every answer of the contestants. 

There was a good majority of the people who only managed to secure 2 points. Those with 3 points could be considered to have done well, but those with 4 points were exceptional. And then there were just 13 Contestants who had secured 5 points, and Yuliya was one of them. But sadly, 12 of them failed to get even one question in the sixth section right.

“Fice is excellent!” Akira was not disappointed when Yuliya failed to get the right answers in the sixth section.

Aizen was no longer paying attention to Yuliya. His eyes turned to look at the Space Prison that had #527 on it. By now, everyone was paying attention to this Space Prison that had attempted 33 questions so far and got not a single wrong answer. It was Felicia Ivan Summer, who had aced the Trial of Elemental Control. 

The Colosseum of Ends burst out in cheers when she got her 35th question right, with only 15 seconds left on the clock, but then the crowd was stunned when she got her last question right as well. And she took only 5 seconds on it. 

“Was the last one that easy?” Akira shockingly looked at the 36 green circles. 

“No.” Venus shook her head. “All questions in each section are equally difficult.”

“Wow… She’s amazing!” The Azereus was still in shock, but it didn’t keep her from praising the lady.

The reaction of Yuliya was not pleased when she found out that someone had bettered her in the Test. She glared in the direction of Felicia, but turn her eyes back on the Virtual Screen, clenching her fists tightly. 

Felicia calmly glanced at the Virtual Screen and then turned her eyes away, closing them and ignoring everyone who was looking in her direction.

“Miss Felicia,” The MoC smiled at her. “You are the first person in over two hundred years to get every question right on the Test of Knowledge. Congratulations!” He sounded quite excited. “Would you like t ask your question now?” 

“No,” Felicia shook her head without hesitation. “I will ask it at the end of the Tournament.” 

“Very well…” The MoC nodded. 

Seven Portals opened right behind the MoC, and the Judges who were inside the Control Room arrived in the Arena. 

“Everyone, please pay attention to the Virtual Screens!” The MoC announced. 

On the Screens appeared the details of the second Test. 

“The Contestants inside the Arena will now be taking part in the Test of Art.” The voice resounded in the colosseum. “Each Contestant will be given this piece of Cold Clay.” The MoC raised his hand, and there appeared a lump of Cold Clay, that was grey and shimmered in spectral colors. “Your task is to create something out of this Cold Clay. The Audience present inside the Arena will be the Judge of your effort. Each person in the Stands will mark you, and the average point will be assigned to you. The Maximum Points you can get are 3 and the Minumum Points you can take are 1. The rules are as follow…”

“You can use your Elements in any way you want.”

 “You can not use any Artifacts.”

 “You can use Magic, as long as it is your own.” 

 “You can not take the aid of any Pills or Potions. 

 “You can not use any other materials or tools.”

 “You must use your hands!” 

 “You have 10 minutes to finish it.”

 “The Audience will be live marking your effort.”

 “A minimum of 1000 Votes are needed from the Audience to give you an Average Point.” 

 “An individual can only place one vote of three Points in each Realm of Strength. This means that every person in the Audience can give 3 point vote to four Contestants, each belonging to a different Realm.”

“Are the Rules clear to you?” The MoC asked the Contestants. 

“Yes!” The Contestants replied in unison.

The Information on the Virtual Screen changed and showed a live stream of four different places. 

“These are four different Stars, and that is where the first phase of your Last Trial will take place.” The MoC announced. “The Red Star is for the Royal Blood, the Green Star is for the Immemorial Blood, the Blue Star is for the Ancestral Blood, and the Golden Star is for the False-Origin Blood. The size of each Star is different.” 

The Contestants eagerly looked at the Stars. Their eyes brimmed with determination.

“Your task is to Retrieve these two things…” The MoC announced and images of two different items appeared on the Virtual Screens. “There are 100 Golden Medallions on each Star. And every Contestant needs at least 5 of these to take part in the second phase. And the maximum they can have is 5 as well.” 

In his hand was a Golden Medallion that was shining brightly. It was made of black stone, with a Golden crest of a phoenix on it. 

“Each Medallion is worth 1 absolute point.” 

The words of MoC made the contestants and the audience gasp in astonishment. 

“Even if you fail to get five Medallions, you will still get the Points equivalent to the Medallions in your possession.” The MoC smiled at them. “And then there is one of these Golden Crowns on each Star.” This time, there was nothing on his hands and only the image of the Crown showed on the Virtual Screens. “The Crown is worth 10 Absolute Points!”

By now, the Contestants realized what the second phase of the last Trial would be. 

“The one with the Crown will be the King of the Hill!” The MoC announced crisply, making the blood in the veins of the Contestants shover in excitement. “The moment someone touches the Crown, he will be teleported back in the Colosseum of Ends, inside a Ring. All their Medallions will be taken back if they have the Crown. The King of the Hill must defend his Crown in combat against challengers. And only those with 5 Medallions are eligible to challenge the King of the Hill. What you must remember is that each Challenger will be betting his five Medallions to get a chance to win the Crown, in case the King of the Hill successfully defends their Crown, the challenger will lose the 5 points. The match will be decided when someone is thrown out of the Ring, falls unconscious, or surrenders.” 

“You are not allowed to kill anyone on the Stars or in the Ring!” The words of MoC were grave. 

“You are not allowed to use any Artifacts during combat.”
“Pills and Potions are allowed on the Stars, but not inside the Ring!”
“You will have 15 minutes to Explore the Stars and collect Medallions, and then, the King of the Hill must defend the Crown for 30 minutes.”
“The Last Trial will begin right when the Countdown of the Test of Art finishes.”
“In case the crown is not found by anyone or if it is not touched by anyone in 15 minutes, Contestants in that Realm of Strength will only get Points to the number of Medallions in their hands, and that it will be the end of the Tournament for them.”

The words of the MoC finished, and in the Arena, sprouted four giant doors from formations. There was a Red door, a Green Door, a Blue Door, and a Golden door. And right after that, a great formation lit up and set up working stations for Contestants taking on the Test of Art.

“Isn’t that unfair?” Akira frowned. “The Audience gets to decide the result of the Test of Art. And there will be people who will target the contestants belonging to factions that they are hostile against.”

“That’s the point.” Venus smiled. “That’s how life is. You have to deal with such circumstances. And that is the reason why there is a maximum of only 3 points available in this Test. There’s a very low chance of anyone getting Zero points in this Test. Even if people target them, they will be helping the person get that 1 vital point. It is a Win-Win. But of course, if someone does not even get 1000 votes… that’s just unfortunate.” She giggled as she finished her words. 

The Countdown of 10 Minutes started, and all the Contestants started molding the Cold Clay in different figures. 

“Cold Clay requires a lot of effort to mold in any shape. The smart Contestants won’t push themselves to get those three Points. They will be happy with getting two Points.” Venus curiously looked around the Arena after she put away the Virtual Screen that she was working on. “If anyone wastes too much Mana in this Test, they are doomed in the Last Trial.”

Zeros and Lyla seemed familiar with the Cold Clay, and therefore, they carefully worked on it, not expending more mana than required. 

Lyla was making a figure of a Grey Wolf, sitting majestically on its hind legs, and howling to the sky. On her sides were two little puppies, whom she was teaching how to howl. The model was not perfect yet, but it could be clrealy made out.

Zeros was working on a model of two Wolves nestling against each other, rolling in the snow that he created with his Element. His design was a little tougher than Lyla’s, and he seemed quite confident about it.

All the participants were creating unique things, but most were models of beautiful and majestic Beasts. Some were expending too much mana, making their models exquisitely layered with their Elements.

Yuliya was one of those. She was not only using the Cold Clay, but infused her Earth Element as well, making layers of different colored clays to mix in. 

“This girl is full of surprises…” Akira exclaimed in awe. 

Yuliya created a cliff where a Grey Alpha was majestically standing, and on its head was a little crown. Under the Cliff was the Alphas pack, made out of different shades of Clay, and they were all bowing to their Alpha. 

As soon as the seven minute mark was crossed, the Virtual Screens on the sides of the Contestants showed their live Points. 

To the range of some contestants, the point on the screen showed only 1. And they stopped working on their model, but there were some, who despite getting 1 kept working on their model quietly. 

Zeros and Lyla both were the victims of Audience and got 1 point, but considering the simplicity and the lack of finesse and details in their models, it was justified. 

Yuliya didn’t even look at the virtual screen that was by her side, all her attention was on the model, and she kept adding details after details. 

She went as far as creating shadows of the wolves in her model with her Darkness element, and only after she was satisfied with her work did she turn to look at the virtual Screen. 

The three Points on her Screen brought a satisfied smile on her face, but she immediately remembered something and turned to look in the direction of a girl that was still working on her model. 

Aizen caught her looking at Felicia, and he couldn’t help but exclaim at the beauty of her Model. 

She created three Phoenixes with her Crystal Element, and then she created a Phoenix with Cold Clay. The details were sharp, and her design sparked various emotions in the hearts of the people.

The Crystal Phoenixes were banishing the Cold Clay Phoenix from their Heaven because it was not as beautiful as them. And the Cold Clay phoenix was constants shedding tears that she had created out of her Water Element.

The Points showing on her screen were 3, and there were more than fifty thousand people who had voted for her so far. The number of voters was three times higher than that of Yuliya. 

The prideful Lycan stopped smiling and concentrated her eyes on the Green Door, where the countdown was now under 15 seconds. 

With a loud sound of a bell, the time of the Test of Art ended, and people who had 10 or more Tournament Points madly rushed inside their respected Doors, leading to the Stars where they had to find the Medallions.