Snap Craft | Ch. 5 - Drive to Survive (Patreon)

Summer of 343, A.D.

“Haha. Oh, man! I should have holographed you, Kai. Your face when you were tased was priceless.”

“That’s just too funny, Alex.”

After another day of studying, Kai and Alex were walking home. Today had been yet another nightmarish, practical lesson taught by Neil.

“And weren’t you happy that Ariel was reading poetry to you?”

“Shut up, Alex!”

The older boy just laughed. Even though he didn’t want to admit it, he had to say that he was grateful for the challenge Neil concocted. It was the perfect excuse to admire Ariel's beauty without making it awkward. It wasn’t because she was the only girl in his sector who was his age. He was convinced that even if there had been thousands of girls around, he would still be fascinated by Ariel.

He loved how her hair fell perfectly over her shoulders, her smile brightened everything around her. Not to speak of her jade-green eyes. After a few electrical shocks, he learned to enjoy some of the poem's beauty. But honestly, what he had enjoyed was having Ariel reading for him.

“Well, I’m off now.”

“What? I thought we were going to play a board game or something.”

“Nah. I've got plans.”

“Plans?” Kai eyed him suspiciously. “What kind of plans?”

“It’s a secret. But I’ll see you later.”

Alex took off. Sometimes, he disappeared to who knows where. Was it Kai’s impression, or was his friend a bit more distant these days? He was coming to the age where he could be summoned to a trial. Perhaps it was just anxiety.

The sound of a cough brought him back from his daydreams. Steps and a rhythmic wooden tap accompanied the sound. In an empty city, all sounds felt loud, and he spotted Neil walking down the street. He was carrying a bag of rations. He must have gone to the delivery center.

"Hey, Neil. Wait up. I'll help you out."

"Kai? Thank you, boy.”

Kai took the bag off Neil and slowed his pace to match the old man’s.

“Weren’t you with Alexander?" Asked Neil.

“You just missed him. He’s off to do something on his own.”

“I see. And what brings you to this part of town? Weren’t you living close to the park?”

"I heard Sunny say this was the best street in town, and I decided to give it a go."

"Oh, yes. I tend to agree with her," he smiled sadly. "Although you have to walk uphill to get to the next delivery center, it’s easier to make the trip back with the help of gravity. You’re also close enough to the square, the library, and the park.”

“That’s what she said.”

“She's further up the road. I live over there." They walked for a few seconds in silence. "You've been doing well, Kai."

"Thanks.” After mustering up the courage, Kai asked the question that had bothered him. “Neil, can I ask you something?"

"Sure."

"Why do you focus so much on survival skills?"

"Do you know how many trials I have been summoned to?"

"Over ten."

Neil nodded gravely. "Sixteen, to be precise. Thanks to the survival skills I learned, I always brought back enough for everyone. Remember, Kai, the trials are, above all, about survival. If you can learn to survive, you can deal with whatever Daisy throws at you. Forget it if she says it’s all about math, appreciation, or generosity. It’s all about survival."

*

Present, 353rd Daisy exams.

Knowing how much time it had taken him to run around the arena, now, it was all a matter of doing some simple math. He had been running at a pace of about 180 steps per minute, and the average of his steps was about 75 centimeters, making his running speed 135 meters per minute. That multiplied by 21 was about 2800. The circumference of the arena was 3 kilometers, which made the arena less than 1 km across.

He wasn’t sure how valuable this information was, but it might be useful. He sure hoped it would be. After all, he had spent roughly 25 minutes finding this information, and now he only had 35 minutes left on the clock. The number of captures left again became the priority. It was time to finish filling his inventory with more cards.

In case there was another stage, as was often the case in these trials, he didn't know if the number of shots he could take would carry over from one stage to another. He didn't want to risk much on this assumption, though. At most, he’d leave one or two shots untaken to test this out.

He didn't know how fierce the competition was and how many people would be eliminated in this round, but he wanted to avoid being kicked out of the trial before it started. His sector couldn't afford that. Others might have a stockpile of resources from good results from previous years, but that wasn’t his case. This was a matter of life and death for him and Ariel.

It was time to roam the arena slowly. As his shoes walked over the pine needles that littered the forest floor, the only sound around him was the crunch caused by his steps and the gentle rustle of leaves. Kai tried to keep his eye out for anything worth snapping.

He hadn't heard any birds or seen any insects. It was all eerily quiet. The ground was slightly hilly, which made it difficult for him to see far into the distance. That, coupled with the many trees, made having a wide view of the surroundings impossible.

After a slight inclination downward, he spotted a slightly different tree from all the others he had seen. It was a difference that only became apparent after walking among hundreds of healthy pine trees for over an hour. It was still a pine tree, but it looked… sad. Whereas most tree trunks were mostly dark, with little patches of green moss or yellow lichen, there was so much of the latter that it was hard to see the bark.

Approaching the tree, he found beds of mushrooms growing from the tree's roots. The fungi didn’t belong to any species he’d seen yet. He held off on taking a picture until he could investigate this further.

The sulfur-yellow caps were roughly 5 or 6 cm in diameter. He remembered they were poisonous but forgot its name. He tried taking a photo of them.

Capture successful!

Tries left: 3 of 20.

Yellow Honey Agaric (Uncommon)

4 out of 4

Hp: 2

Vp: 2

Kai had gotten the very last one. At least two other trial runners had already found this mushroom, but for some reason, one of them had held off on taking a second picture. Either they had already used up all their shots, or they had found this mushroom at the same time. Although the first one was statistically much more likely, he couldn’t help but feel pressured by the second possibility.

He studied the tree again. There were some fly agarics here and there, and there were bear bread mushrooms off the trunk, too. Unlike the other trees where he’d found these same mushrooms, though, this tree looked overwhelmed by its neighbors. The tree seemed unhealthy. At least more so than the verdant pine trees that populated this arena.

The fact that it was different made it special. That had to mean something to this trial. He decided to take a chance. After all, few shots were left, and time was running out. The worst thing that could happen was for him to realize that he hadn’t used every last chance to make the most out of this stage. He framed it and went for it.

Capture successful!

Tries left: 2 of 20.

Dead Tree (Rare)

3 of 3

Hp: 4

Vp: 3

Kai sighed in relief. He had made the right call. This tree really was different from all the others. No wonder it was being overwhelmed with fungi. It was dead already. This was the first rare card he got from the trial. The first difference he found was that only three were available to all participants. Another player must have gotten the first two captures, leaving him with only the very last one.

The second thing that stood out to him was how its stats were much better than his other cards. The total amount of points between hp and vp for [Dead Tree] was 7. Common cards had 3 points, and uncommon cards were only slightly better, having 4. But from uncommon to rare, cards gained several more stats! This told Kai that the rarer the cards, the more precious they were.

In a challenge where the number of captures was limited, having more rare cards than an opponent could make the difference. Assuming that there were more valuable grades, those cards could put him ahead of the pack. He looked at the number of shots. Someone else had already found this place. That was so frustrating.

He could spot all the other three types of mushrooms he had found scattered throughout the map, all growing together in this particular tree. This location was a card treasure trove! He couldn't think of one photo he had taken so far that couldn't have been taken right here. The thought that a lucky trial runner had stumbled here and managed to get all these cards without effort made him mad.

The fact that such a place was inside the map was a meaningful discovery. If there was a treasure trove in this arena, another one could exist. After all, from the numbers he'd run, the arena was extensive enough for it.

But even if there was only one such place in every arena, a possible winning strategy would be locating it as fast as possible and taking as many photos in one go. Even if another player had been lucky enough to find his way here by chance, or worse, spawned here, at least he had learned a lot from taking the hard road and, like Neil always said, any discovery about the game's rules went a long way.

He circled the dead tree to ensure he hadn't overlooked anything here and then looked at the system’s clock. He had 10 minutes left to go. He headed south, the part of the arena he had least explored. There were only two shots left in his camera. The clock kept steadily ticking, but he didn’t find anything noteworthy. Kai decided that no matter what, he’d leave at least one shot untaken to see if the number of tries carried over from one stage to the next.

His biggest concern was that he wouldn’t have enough points to make it to the next round. He wanted to believe that he had done quite well for himself in this challenge, but there was no way of knowing how many points his opponents had. He looked at the clock and saw that he only had 5 minutes left.

He didn't know if he would have time to rest or ponder over the discoveries he had made during these first two hours. It couldn't hurt to use the time he had left to balance everything he’d learned so far. Just before he sent his thoughts into overdrive, he remembered sitting on Neil's electro-poetic chair, sighed, and decided to relax instead.

Not for a moment did he stop walking. This time, he wasn't looking at the woodland around him clinically, meticulously looking for something he could photograph. He was just enjoying the view.

Looking up at the tree canopy, he made out small patches of blue sky like blue gemstones in a verdant tapestry. He appreciated it until his eyes found the sun. Reasoning that here he couldn’t go blind, he tried challenging its brightness. He was still forced to look away. Despite the lush foliage and the sun being a digital representation of reality, he still couldn’t stare at it for more than a few seconds.

As his eyes shifted downward and he regained his vision, he saw a mesmerizing scene. Radiant beams of sunlight filtered through the latticework of branches and leaves. Each ray seemed to carry a piece of the sun down to the woodland floor.

Maybe he had seen such a scene already in his time here, but he hadn't taken the time to appreciate it yet. He glanced at the camera strapped on his neck, then at the beautiful scene, and shrugged. He framed the beams of light and took a shot.

Capture successful!

Light (Legendary)

Tries left 1 of 20

1 of 1

Hp: +∞

Vp: 2

He stared, flabbergasted at the notification. A legendary card? 1 of 1? It seemed that legendary cards were one of a kind. And did it have infinite hp? That had to be worth something, right? He still had no idea what hp was used for, but having a card with infinite hp couldn't hurt. He had so many questions. Since there was a pool of 5 common cards, 4 uncommon, and 3 rare, was there another grade between rare and legendary? Additionally, how many legendary cards were out there for grabs? Was there more than one?

And had he photographed light? The implications of this were massive. He could photograph intangible things. After all, he had just been focused on tangible things such as trees and mushrooms, but this told him he had barely scratched the surface! Could he photograph emotions? Abstract concepts? What were the limits?

In the euphoria of his discovery, the clock finally stopped ticking, and in the blink of an eye, he was transported back to the white room where he’d begun his journey earlier. All these sudden changes of scenery were leaving him lightheaded. He took a few seconds to adapt. The austere whiteness looked the same as he looked around, except for a new table now at the center of the room.

Its dark shape stood out as a sore thumb, and Kai couldn’t help walking to it. His fingers ran down the almost perfectly smooth black surface. Only toward the center of the table were there irregularities. There were two different engravings on the tabletop. He could see they were rectangular as he felt them with his hands.

Immediately, he thought of the similarly sized objects he'd seen many times today.

“Inventory.”

He stretched his hand and grabbed the cards in the floating system window. They all materialized, and he found himself holding a handful of cards; Fourteen to be precise.

Kai set them all on the table side by side, he started with the common cards, uncommon ones, and finally, the only rare and legendary card he’d gotten. This was a new stage of the trial. Everything he had done previously led to this moment, and it was time to figure out what he had to do here.

Ch. 4 - Stress Inoculation

INDEX

Ch. 6 - Exam Lottery