Chapter 357: A Hide And Seek Event Where You Can Cheat
As Caelus drew closer to the crater, a notification appeared before him.
[Origin Network Alert]
[You are near an Event Zone: Hide and Seek]
[Event will commence in 5 minutes]
His eyebrows rose at the message.
An event zone in Fairyland? That was unexpected.
He descended toward the crowd gathered at the crater’s edge. The players around him turned to look, some with curiosity, others with wariness. In the Origin Expanse, you never knew when another player might suddenly attack and kill you.
Then he spotted a familiar figure standing near the front.
The orc waved at him with a wide grin.
"Hey, kid! Over here!"
Caelus walked toward him, a little surprised by the encounter.
"We met sooner than I thought," Caelus said as he approached.
"The world is small, isn’t it?" the orc said with a laugh, then gestured to the man standing beside him. "Let me introduce you to someone. This is my friend, his real name is Lucian Re..."
"Is this Voidwalker?" Caelus cut in, his eyes landing on the man covered in gold accessories.
Gold rings on every finger. Gold chains around his neck. Gold bracelets on both wrists.
The orc blinked in surprise.
"Yeah, how did you figure that out?"
Caelus shrugged with a faint smile.
"I mean, as soon as I entered the chat, you guys were talking about how Voidwalker does weird things with gold, and now he has gold all over his body."
Lucian’s expression changed immediately, his face twisting with indignation.
"That’s slander! Do not believe these people. They spread lies about me all the time!"
Caelus chuckled at his reaction.
The orc slapped Lucian on the back and laughed loudly.
"Since I introduced his real name, I should do the same for myself." He thumped his chest proudly. "I’m Gorn. Nice to officially meet you, kid."
"Nice to meet you too," Caelus replied. "Are you guys participating in this event as well?"
Both Gorn and Lucian nodded at the same time.
"We got notified about an event here and came running," Gorn explained. "Others from the higher-level regions in the Origin Expanse should also be arriving soon."
Lucian adjusted one of his gold chains and added, "Events like these usually have decent rewards. It’s worth checking out, at least."
The timer continued counting down as more players gathered around the crater.
Some came alone, while others came in small groups, all drawn by the same notification.
[Event: Hide and Seek will commence in 10 seconds]
[Participants detected: 47]
[Preparing teleportation...]
A bright light engulfed everyone near the crater.
Caelus felt his body shift through space, and when the light faded, he found himself standing in a completely different location.
It looked like an abandoned village filled with old houses, broken carts, and overgrown vegetation.
[Event Rules]
[Hide and Seek - Round 1]
[3 Seekers will be selected. All other participants will be Hiders.]
[Hiders can shapeshift into objects or merge with the environment.]
[If a Seeker finds a Hider, the Hider becomes a Seeker.]
[If Hiders survive until time runs out, they win the round.]
[If Seekers find all Hiders, they win the round.]
[If even 1 Hider is left when the time ends, there will be another round. If the Seekers win on the first try, there will be no Round 2.]
A spinning wheel materialised before Caelus, switching between two options.
Hider... Seeker... Hider... Seeker...
The wheel slowed down and landed on Seeker.
[You have been assigned: Seeker]
Caelus looked around and saw the other players receiving their roles as well.
Some cheered at becoming Hiders, while others groaned at becoming Seekers.
Then another notification appeared.
[Hidden Notice for Hiders]
[There are hidden treasures buried inside the map.]
[Find these treasures before the Seekers do.]
[Each treasure found by Hiders extends the game time.]
[Seekers can roam freely and have the advantage of movement.]
Two figures materialised beside Caelus in flashes of light.
Gorn and Lucian stood there, both looking at their status screens.
"What a coincidence," Gorn said with a grin. "Looks like we’re on the same team again, kid."
Caelus smiled at the familiar face.
Lucian crossed his arms and spoke up. "Hey, I want to win this and get Origin Credits. Make sure you both help me win."
Both Caelus and Gorn rolled their eyes at his words.
[Game begins in 30 seconds]
[Hiders, find your hiding spots!]
The Hiders scattered in every direction. Some transformed into wooden planks, while others merged with barrels and crates.
One player turned into a flower pot. Another became a stack of hay.
The transformations were impressive. Most people would not find them under normal circumstances, especially since this was their first time playing the game. No Seeker would know what originally belonged in each place.
[Game Start!]
[Time Remaining: 10 minutes]
[Hiders Remaining: 44]
The three Seekers spread out, each taking a different direction.
Gorn headed toward the northern houses, while Lucian went east.
Caelus stood still for a moment as a thought crossed his mind.
Could he use his skills here?
He activated his Chaos Perception Eyes to test it, and to his surprise, they worked perfectly.
But that was not enough.
He reached deeper and activated the Life Vision from his Life Bringer Talent.
The world transformed before his eyes.
Every living signature in the area lit up like beacons in the dark.
He could see them all.
The player hiding as a barrel in the corner. The one merged with a wooden door. The one pretending to be a scarecrow in the field.
All forty-four Hiders appeared clearly in his vision, their life signatures impossible to hide.
A wide grin spread across his face.
"You can’t hate the player, you can only hate the gamer for having a skill like this, my fellow Hiders."
He sprinted toward the nearest signature, a player transformed into a wooden crate near a collapsed building.
"Found you!"
The crate shimmered and reverted back into a shocked player.
[Hider captured!]
[Hiders Remaining: 43]
The player stared at Caelus with wide eyes.
"How did you find me so fast?!"
Caelus did not answer. He was already running toward the next target.
He spotted a player merged with a stone wall and tapped it without hesitation.
[Hider captured!]
[Hiders Remaining: 42]
"What the hell?!" the player materialised with a look of disbelief. "I just hid there two seconds ago!"
Caelus was already gone, chasing the next signature.
He ran through the abandoned village like a man possessed, tagging Hiders left and right.
A player hiding as a wooden bench? Found.
Someone merged with a hay pile? Found.
A person transformed into a bucket? Found.
[Hiders Remaining: 38]
[Hiders Remaining: 35]
[Hiders Remaining: 31]
Seeing this, the Hider chat exploded with complaints.
[Hider Chat]
[FlowerPot42: WHO IS THIS GUY?!]
[ShadowMerge: He’s finding everyone instantly!]
[HiddenBlade99: This has to be cheating!]
[BarrelKing: I literally just transformed and he found me in 3 seconds!]
[StealthMaster: Report him! This is impossible!]
[FlowerPot42: What do you mean report him, bro thinks this is a Valorant match.]
Caelus did not care about the complaints.
He was having too much fun.
He chased after a player who had transformed into a signpost, but his foot caught on a loose stone.
He stumbled forward, his arms flailing wildly as he tried to regain his balance.
His face planted directly into a mud puddle with a loud splat.
"Ow..."
He pushed himself up, mud dripping from his face, and saw the signpost player trying to sneak away.
"COME HERE!"
He lunged forward and tagged the player before they could escape.
[Hider captured!]
[Hiders Remaining: 28]
The player materialised and burst out laughing at his mud-covered face.
"At least I got to see that before getting caught. How do you have the combat score of an Ace-rank and still fall down? Talk about embarrassing."
Caelus glared at him.
"What did you just say?"
BOOM!
His fighting spirit burst out, instantly making the player turn pale.
"I-I was joking."
"Yeah, that’s what I thought, buddy," Caelus said with a glare.
Caelus wiped the mud from his eyes and continued his hunt.
He ran into an old building and immediately noticed something strange.
A cluster of mushrooms grew in the corner, glowing with a faint blue light.
They were not player signatures, but they radiated a unique energy.
He picked them up and examined them closely.
Gorn appeared at the doorway and spotted the mushrooms in his hand.
"Hey, those are Mana Storing Mushrooms!" His eyes widened with recognition. "That’s a valuable find, kid!"
"What do they do?" Caelus asked.
"They help create a rare and extremely potent potion," Gorn explained. "The potion injects a Mana Core into you."
Lucian walked in behind Gorn, his gold accessories jingling with each step.
"A Mana Core increases your overall mana capacity," Lucian added. "But making the potion requires someone proficient at Grade 5 of their specific rank in alchemy."
Gorn nodded and continued, "Mana potions are a one-time thing only. They create a Mana Core, and from there, you have to increase its capacity yourself."
"One thing people have noticed is that even in places with restricted mana capacity, like Dead Zones, you can still use a Mana Core to activate skills."
Caelus’s eyes lit up at that information.
He immediately gathered all the Mana Storing Mushrooms and stored them in his inventory.
"Thanks for the info."
He left the building and continued his hunt.
His Life Vision spotted a player slowly moving toward a hidden spot in the ground.
A treasure location.
Caelus grinned and sprinted toward them.
The player was inches away from reaching the buried treasure when Caelus appeared behind them.
"Found you!"
[Hider captured!]
[Hiders Remaining: 24]
The player screamed in frustration.
"I was so close! You monster!"
[Hider Chat]
[TreasureHunter7: HE LET ME FIND THE TREASURE AND THEN CAUGHT ME RIGHT BEFORE I TOUCHED IT!]
[SneakyPete: That’s evil!]
[GhostWalker: This guy is a tyrant!]
[InvisibleMan: Someone stop him!]
Caelus laughed and dug up the treasure himself.
Inside the chest was a bundle of herbs that radiated potent life energy.
Lucian appeared beside him and examined the herbs.
"Those contain concentrated life essence," he explained. "They help with developing Aura. They are very rare stuff."
Caelus raised an eyebrow at the find.
"Damn, is this place some kind of herb garden or something?"
So far, he had found valuable mushrooms and now life essence herbs.
Maybe this place really was a former herb garden or a village related to that?
He stored the herbs and activated Chaos Analysis on them.
[Chaos Analysis: Life Essence Herbs]
[Effect: Assists in Aura development when refined properly]
[Analyzing..]
He would duplicate a bunch of these later once it was done analyzing.
For now, there were still Hiders left to catch.
He continued his rampage through the village, tagging players without mercy.
[Hiders Remaining: 18]
[Hiders Remaining: 12]
[Hiders Remaining: 7]
Gorn and Lucian had barely caught five players between them.
Caelus had almost single-handedly eliminated the rest of the competition.
[Hider Chat]
[LastStanding: Where is he now?!]
[DesperateDan: I’m literally inside a wall and I’m still scared!]
[PrayingMantis: Just accept your fate...]
Caelus found the last seven Hiders in quick succession.
One was hiding as a chimney. Another was a weathervane. The rest were scattered throughout the village in different forms.
None of them escaped his Life Vision.
[All Hiders captured!]
[Seekers win Round 1!]
[MVP: Caelus Kross - 39 captures]
[Round 2 will not be necessary. Seekers have achieved an overwhelming victory.]
[Event Complete!]
A bright light engulfed all the participants, teleporting them into a blank white space.
Then, a notification appeared before everyone.
[Event Complete...]