Chapter 89 - Otherside

After a quick round of congratulations for the interviews they decided to discuss everything later so they sat down in order to consume their much needed dinner. After mountains upon mountains of seemingly endless varieties they moved towards their usually used spot for discussion, the couches nearby. Making themselves comfortable before beginning Chaff decided to be the first one to speak on the topic.

"You have done quite well, both of you. Especially you Kaiser. Since you had the most time during which you had to avoid exposing your secrets your performances were extraordinary. Although a few might have been disappointed that they didn't get to know more of your secrets all of them were astounded by your skills and we have received a lot of sponsor requests from various important people."

Turning towards Aster he smiled and continued: "You weren't bad either, girl. You fully captured the hearts of the audience. Although your performance wasn't as spectacular compared to Kaiser's everyone loves your character. While he is the lively fiery light of excitement like a large bonfire that leaves you in awe, you are the soft and gentle flame of a candle that everyone wants to cherish. No one could belittle what you have done. You are one of the bravest girl I know. I just know you'll get quite far in the games. I'll do my very best to ensure that."

Next in line was Seeder and after her the stylist teams that were mostly really excited about their own work and how it had harmonized with them. Asmodeus went last and was like most capitol people's view quite heavily influenced by emotion. After the day Kaiser was really glad when he was allowed to go to bed. There he would think about his main strategy during the games. Although he had obtained an aircraft there was no way to use it since it wasn't repaired yet and it would be very suspicious for him to have one. There was the possibility that he would meet his familiars in the arenas since strong creatures tended to be released into the arenas to roam and kill tributes to make the games more exciting.

In the end he decided to just grab a bit of stuff he could get close to the edge of the Cornucopia and leave since fighting against many wasn't really desirable to him, picking them off one after the other was less troublesome. Exploring the arena seemed to be more interesting to him anyways. Since arenas were created artificially he would observe it and perhaps he could learn something although he doubted it since he already had the blueprints of all existing and planned arenas which was continually being updated. Sadly calling up the memories took a long time since he had often had to comb through countless other memories he had gained. Although it was just information about one world it was much more than any normal human could comprehend or even contain and memorize. He knew that it was being stored in his soul but it was still very confusing and a lot.

A few hours of sorting through and discovering new information that he didn't know about technology and human advancements he went to sleep as he had to rise early the next day.

When he was woken up early the next morning the first thing he grasped for was the wooden box he had stored underneath the bed. Feeling the smooth but slightly uneven texture underneath his fingers he relaxed and slowly got out of the bed. Today was the day. He knew that if he were to remain in it he would absolutely hate to get up later and start his day in an even worse mood than the knowledge that perhaps he would need to kill a few kids in a few hours. Although normally the tributes would head off to the arena directly after being woken up Kaiser and his stylists had agreed to wake him up earlier in order to have a proper breakfast together. Eating a filling meal quickly he prepared himself once more. All that had needed to be said had been in the previous days, all was left was saying goodbye from their mentors and Asmodeus who would head to the control center of the arena to finalize the sponsorship agreements they had worked out the past days with various influential figures. Their stylists would be the ones who would accompany them until the moment they would enter the arena.

45 minutes after Kaiser and the rest had woken up they moved to the elevator and moved upwards to the roof. To arrive there they had to traverse the 12 floor in which the other tributes form District 12 had lived. Although a few things were different most of the things inside seemed to be identical. Arriving on the roof Aster is the one to go first. A hovercraft arrives completely silent and a ladder is extended from it. Qarimir, Aster's personal stylist was the first to approach the ladder, climbing up quickly which proving his fitness which was unusually high for a Capitol citizen. In contrast as soon as Aster grabs onto the latter she doesn't climb higher and the hovercraft takes off while the latter with Aster on it is being pulled inside, quickly disappearing from sight. Not even a minute later another hovercraft arrives and Aurumia climbs up first. Almost out of breath he could see her leaning onto the rim of the opening panting as she shouted down: "Come on slowpoke! We've got a game to win!"

Smiling slightly Kaiser grabs onto the ladder only to feel and electrical current trying to override his control over the nerves in his most areas of his body, especially in his limbs, trying to 'freeze' him onto it. With a bit of effort he probably would be successful in escaping it but he didn't as it would be much more bothersome. Once he was fully affixed to the ladder the hovercraft took off while Kaiser was being pulled inside. Expecting to be released he was surprised when a doctor in a white lab coat approached him with a needle in hand. Noticing his questioning look the doctor smiled and said: "Hold still. This tracker is really important so behave."

As if he had another chance when he was being run through by an electrical current. How funny. Although he did have the option to erase it with his Perfect Body skill which in this case would function in a half passive-active Skill way. In short it was confusing. But it was be really tempting to not use it and frighten the doctor. Allowing the doctor to implant the chip which was only slightly unpleasant due to his already quite high level Pain Resistance Skill which had already advanced a lot, blocking about half of the pain his body was experiencing.

Once the doctor had left the room Kaiser was released and in an adjacent room which was illuminated by a simulated window which showed a wonderful view of the ocean he ate a bit more in the company of Aurumia. There were probably no windows because that could have given the tributes information about the arena they were going to face. The people wanted it to remain a surprise. Soon the hovercraft landed and Aurumia approached Kaiser to cover his eyes with a black mask. When they got out Kaiser's eyes were checked on whether he could still see before being led into a what he assumed to be a tunnel as he was able to hear a clear echo of their footsteps. With a quit hissing what he interpreted to be a door closing behind them Kaiser's sight was restored. A small launch room is what awaits me. A small bathroom with shower and toilet, a simple wooden wardrobe, a few couches with a table where some tea is waiting for him and in the center of the room a smooth small metal plate with the symbol of a corn stalk on it, the symbol of his District as well as a large M underneath.

Turning away Kaiser decided to shower a bit before the games began. Aurumia roughly knew how much time he had left so she would tell him soon enough. Preparing the clothes he was supposed to wear next to the shower he stepped in and enjoyed a warm and relaxing shower. About 25 minutes later he left the shower and dressed up in his new outfit. Basic, rather common underwear, decent but rather tight fitting black trousers, a shirt of dark yellow/golden color was well as a standard leather belt. Solid black shoes were provided with good profile. It seems as though they wanted to make the chases more interesting. Shoes should be the least problem.

Sadly no jacket was provided. Perhaps they wanted to make the tributes stand out when they made a fire to warm themselves? This wouldn't be his problem however. Walking towards Aurumia who was seated on the couch he extended his hand. "Did you have it checked? Give it to me please." She smiled back at him. "I did. Everything went smoothly. No objections were made. Take it." Grasping to the side of the couch she pulled out the wooden chest. As Kaiser extended his hand towards it in a demanding way she pulled out something reminiscent of a armband that she still had in her pocket. "I almost forgot to give you this. This year is a bit special you see. Because of that they decided to hand out this little thing here. It's a small radar but not just any normal one. This shows you the approximate location of a tribute should he be within 20 meters of you in the form of an arrow that points towards him. It will link up with your implanted chip automatically." After attaching it to Kaiser's arm she turned towards the box. Opening it she handed the leather coat to Kaiser with the words:

"I wish you a lot of fun out there. Please survive until the end and kill them all. I'm counting on you!"

As Kaiser took it and put it on he said: "You really are a crazy psychopath. Do you find the death of others so amusing?"

"Why do you think I'm taking part in these games?"

Shaking his head Kaiser sat down on the couch and took a few sips of tea from the nearby filled cup.

"Even for someone from the capitol you truly are crazy."

"Thank you for the complement!"

With that their little exchange concluded. With the remaining time left Kaiser decided to check up on his Status.

[Status!]

Name: Kaiser (Formerly known as: Hermann Kaiser)

Titles: Assassin, Craftsman (Beginner)

Age: Currently 14 years (Acc.u.mulated: 40)

VIT: higher + [Due to Skill Seal]

STR: higher -

DEF: high

INT: high +

WIL: average +

STA: unlimited - [Due to Skill Seal]

LUK: average +

System points: 500 000

Unused Rewards: - None -

Inventory: Sword of the Beginning [sealed], Shield of the End [sealed], Demonic knightly armor [sealed], miscellaneous items: 320

- ??? Energy&Matter Manual (Stage 3: Basic External) [sealed]

- Multidimensional Travel MAX

- Safe&Load MAX

- Energy&Matter Creation 25% Mastery [sealed]

- Energy&Matter Control 25% Mastery [sealed]

- Copy&Paste MAX [sealed]

- Observation (internal) 27% Mastery

- Observation (external) 35% Mastery

- Pain Resistance 45% Mastery

- Sneak 40% Mastery

- Energy Enhancement (internal) 17% Mastery [sealed]

- Energy Coating 10% Mastery [sealed]

- Beast tongue MAX

- Perfect Body MAX [partial seal]

- Martial Arts 38% Mastery

- Knife 58% Mastery

- Sword 47% Mastery

- Spear 42% Mastery

- Shield 46% Mastery

- Bladed Gauntlet 27% Mastery

- Whip 24% Mastery

- Scythe 46 % Mastery

- Punching MAX

- Kicking MAX

- Running 64% Mastery

- Climbing 49% Mastery

- Tailor 37% Mastery

- Enchanting 12% Mastery [unusable]

His Status had changed quite a lot. Because the levels had appeared fixed he had decided to instead change it to percentage. Should he discover stronger people with greater skills the percentages could easily be changed. His personal stats had also changed to fit in with the people of this world. In general it had changed to a tier level.

Unlimited: was a level that could only really be achieved by a god like being.

Highest: was about the top of humanity

High: was above average in the upper 25% of the worlds inhabitants

Average: was the average of the general capability of the people in the world

Bad: was in the lower 25% of the worlds inhabitants

Worst: was the lowest a creature could be before dying

All in all he was much more pleased with how it was now as it seemed a bit more natural to him. Checking a few more things he prepared himself. Soon from a speaker that had been built in in a corner they received the order to step onto the metal plate. Turning towards Aurumia before standing up he said:

"Since you take so much pleasure in the suffering of others I know you'll enjoy what is going to happen."

She merely smiled and gave a wave.

A glass cylinder soon lowered around the plate he was standing on. Shortly after the plate began to rise towards the surface. Surprisingly another thing happened before he managed to reach the top.

Win the Hunger Games.

Rewards: Materials and equipment to repair Hawk Series: Model Artemis

This occurrence was quite interesting since it had been long since he really had a Quest. Sure, a few had appeared here and there but they had all been miscellaneous and hadn't given him a lot. Smiling at the reward he focused at the sky above him. When he looked up he couldn't see much but at least the light that came down wasn't too bright that it hurt his eyes an disoriented him. Once he arrived and looked around he was surprised at what he saw.

[That is no Sky!]