Chapter 6: Chaos and Order

Adam continued to ponder over the information, trying to make sense of it all. Then, another crucial question came to mind, "The game won't be ending anytime soon, which means I have to survive on this island. Where can I get food supplies, drinks, and other survival necessities?"

[Some Beasts can be used as food supplies, the island contains various edible fruits, and the river water tends to be clean and safe. Additionally, other equipment has been distributed to players at the beginning of the game.]

"I haven't received any equipment at all," Adam said with a puzzled expression.

There was no response from the System.

After feeling that most of his curiosity couldn't find answers, Adam sighed deeply. Next, he just needed to wait for the break time to end.

Adam gathered some equipment from Eric, including a metal water bottle and a small bag to store some basic items.

Thirty minutes passed by.

[Break Time over]

[All players are expected to gather at the designated point within three hours]

[Players who fail to reach the destination point will be disqualified]

On the right screen, a clock reappeared, blinking slowly with each second.

On the upper middle screen, which was the minimap, a red dot appeared. However, it was within the clouds, indicating an area Adam hadn't visited yet.

Without wasting any time, Adam exited the cave and took the path towards the destination point.

Twenty minutes passed, and Adam found himself in the wilderness of the forest. He spotted a group of black horses with glowing red eyes gathered in one place, by a small lake.

[Dark Horse-C]

"That's on par with the horned wolf," Adam muttered.

Considering it was a group of beasts, Adam chose to take a different route, which undoubtedly added to the travel time.

During his journey, he encountered a white rabbit with a blue gem on its forehead.

"System!"

[System Ready]

"Is it safe to use as food?"

[Pendant Rabbit-D]

[Has a low-level poison. By removing its stomach contents, the poison will significantly decrease. Recommended consumption method is cooking]

Adam nodded, "Good, that's useful."

He hid in the bushes, aiming with precision. This was the first time he had used a bow as far as he could remember. He had anticipated that his aim might miss, but he didn't expect that with just one arrow, it would pierce the stomach of the Pendant Rabbit.

The Pendant Rabbit writhed a bit at first, but over time, it stopped moving.

[Unlocking Arcana Card level conditions]

[The Hanged Man requests a soul sacrifice]

[Chaos and Order]

Adam was surprised to see text appear on the bottom left screen, the same screen as the image of The Hanged Man card. "Chaos and Order?" He instinctively asked.

[The Hanged Man's current Level: 0]

[Requirements to unlock Arcana Card level menu: Order Soul-Fulfilled, Chaos Soul-Fulfilled]

[Experience Points: 0/10]

[Chaos Soul can be obtained by killing Beasts. The higher the beast level, the more points obtained]

[Chaos: E-1, D-2, C-3, B-5, A-100, S-500]

[Order Soul can be obtained by sacrificing pure human souls]

[Order: Human without card-5, Human cardholder-10]

Adam momentarily stopped to understand this new feature. "Chaos is obtained by sacrificing a Beast soul, while Order is obtained by sacrificing a human soul."

"The requirement to unlock the level menu is fulfilled by sacrificing one human soul, which has already been fulfilled with Eric, and one beast soul, which is now newly fulfilled." For some reason, Adam felt a shiver down his spine as he understood the basic concept of this feature.

Nevertheless, sacrificing a human to gain experience points was still too horrifying for Adam. Even though he had convinced himself that survival was the most important thing now, achievable only by getting his hands dirty, it still shook him. Besides, Eric attempted to sacrifice him to The Hanged Man; that was the main reason Adam had no hesitation in killing Eric.

"In addition, the points that can be obtained from each Beast vary. Starting from E-level beasts only give one point, while S-level beasts give fifty points." Considering the Gigantic Boar he encountered before was at the A level, Adam believed that getting points from killing five hundred E-level beasts was safer than hunting S-level beasts for five hundred points.

"On the other hand, in Order, there are two categories: cardholder humans and non-cardholder humans. Aren't all players without cards disqualified?" Adam was a little confused about this.

Seeing that there were still two hours left on the right screen, and the destination point wasn't far away, Adam considered trying to level up The Hanged Man to level one to see what would happen. But on the other hand, Adam also considered the potential issues that might arise on the journey to the destination; who knew something would obstruct him?

He believed that reaching the destination point was currently the priority.

After collecting the pendant rabbit and putting it into a small brown bag, Adam continued his journey.

During the journey, Adam encountered another Pendant Rabbit and managed to gain four experience points.

[Experience Points: 4/10]

Thirty minutes later, he arrived at the destination point.

It was a gray castle with many conical towers. High walls with fortifications like cannons that had decayed perched on top of the walls. Despite the gloomy and eerie appearance of the castle, it also looked majestic and sturdy.

Adam walked towards the castle gate and found himself greeted by a large system screen at the gate.

[Welcome to the Black Castle]

[Destination Point]

[Core location of the second wave]

Adam passed through the gate, and a sensor lit up green.

[Cardholder, welcome]

Behind the gate, Adam suddenly found himself under scrutiny.

Several people had gathered inside the walls.

"Oh, another player who made it safely," a man with a sharp nose and blonde hair smiled warmly.

The man was dressed casually in a dark blue jacket and a green hiker's backpack that seemed to contain many items. He had an axe at his waist.

He approached and immediately extended his right hand, "Welcome fellow, I'm Leon."

Adam, still not fully recovered from the recent events involving Eric, instinctively felt suspicious. "Adam," he replied curtly.

"You're a cardholder, right?" the sharp-nosed man asked again.

"I believe if I weren't a cardholder, I wouldn't be here," Adam replied coldly.

The sharp-nosed man's expression seemed somewhat awkward.

"I hold The High Priestess card, how about you?" he then asked.

Adam furrowed his brow. It was clear to him that the System had stated earlier that the card would determine a player's strengths and weaknesses, meaning that revealing one's card information now was intelligence that could be used to take down that player. He had anticipated that the next game would be an individual-based game, or something similar.

"I won't say it here," Adam replied. As much as possible, he didn't want to reveal his card now, at least until the System revealed it to the other players.

Behind, a short-haired black-haired woman in yellow sports attire chuckled, "At least the newcomer is smarter than you, Leon."

Leon looked annoyed at the woman's comment and said irritably, "What's wrong with revealing our cards now?"

The woman shook her head, closing her eyes, then glanced at Adam and said, "Ignore this fool." She pointed towards Leon.

"By the way, I'm Elly," she smiled while sharpening her military knife.

"My name is Adam Lockwood, nice to meet you," Adam immediately walked past Leon and took a seat to rest.

Sixteen players had arrived at the location by the time Adam got there, and groups began to form.

Adam sat near Elly and Leon, who also joined them.

"How did you end up on this island and involved in the game?" Adam tried to satisfy his curiosity. It was something he couldn't directly ask the System about.

Elly and Leon looked at each other, "I think it's the same as you," Elly answered.

"What do you mean?" Adam wanted further clarification.

Leon took a short breath and then answered, "When we became aware, we were already on this island. We couldn't remember events before we were on the island."

Adam fell silent for a moment, once again encountering a dead-end in unraveling the mystery.

In the next hour and a half, one by one, players arrived.

On the right screen, Adam saw the clock image rapidly blinking and changing color to red.

[10... 9... 8... 7... 6... 5... 4... 3... 2... 1]