yasinovel Chapter 333 The Overlooked Rules
Chapter 333 The Overlooked Rules
Chapter 333 The Overlooked Rules
Lucy, who was stomping her feet in anger, noticed the special mechanism attached to the stone road sign.
Eclair walked over tearfully and said sincerely to Lucy, "I'm sorry, Lucy, my fighting strength is really a bit weak—"
"It's okay, it's okay. Without Eclair, I wouldn't even be able to get past Uncle Gildarts!"
Lucy smiled and waved her hand; she certainly wouldn't blame her partner.
"So Lucy, what should we do next?" Mengmeng's face was full of worry.
The first road sign stone is the easiest to obtain; if you miss this opportunity, you'll have to snatch it from other teams.
Upon hearing this, Lucy didn't panic as expected. Instead, she fell silent, contentedly gazing at the distant, shifting pillar of light.
After thinking for a while, she slowly spoke, "Eclair, Mengmeng, don't you think the second round of assessment is a bit strange?"
"Strange?" Akerea asked, puzzled.
"Yeah, ever since the president announced the rules, I've been thinking that everyone's strength is about the same, and we all know each other's strengths and weaknesses. It would be fine if there were no time limit."
Lucy frowned and voiced her doubts, "But beating all the competitors and collecting all four road signs in three hours is just too difficult."
Based on this analysis, she chose to form a temporary alliance with Kana to share the pressure (although it has since dissolved).
Now, the setting that the location and number of road signs will be revealed in real time will undoubtedly make the already extremely difficult assessment even more intense.
Without the strength to crush all other teams, it's simply impossible to collect all the road signs in just three hours!
Is the difficulty of the S-level assessment always so hellish, or is there some key information hidden within that I haven't noticed?
Lucy rested her chin on her hand, deep in thought.
Suddenly, the image of the president's sinister smile, which seemed very off, flashed before my eyes when he was explaining the assessment rules.
"That's it! There's definitely something we've overlooked!"
But what exactly is it?
Lucy felt she would soon be able to grasp the true meaning of this S-rank assessment, but she was still too conventional and couldn't figure it out no matter how long she pondered it.
"Hey, Eclair, and Mengmeng, if Chesgo were to participate in this assessment, what do you think he would do in this situation?" Lucy asked suddenly.
Without even needing to think, Akerea blurted out, "The assessment has just begun, and you've already decisively defeated everyone."
"We don't have that ability. What if our competitor is just as strong as him?" Lucy said, embarrassed.
Mengmeng's eyes darted around, and she raised her paw, saying seriously, "Maybe I'll beat up the examiners and force them to reveal the location of the first tomb?"
Well, this is actually what a certain fire dragon idiot is doing right now, but Natsu's idea is much simpler and more direct.
"Haha, hahaha, although it'll most likely be judged as a rule violation on the spot, it's definitely very much in line with Chess's style."
Lucy couldn't help but let out a wry smile.
Go beat those four monsters up and dig out the location of the first tomb from their mouths.
You'll die! You'll definitely die on the spot!
and many more!
Violating the rules? The rules!
As she laughed, Lucy suddenly froze, then a gleam appeared in the depths of her beautiful eyes. Excitedly, she hugged Eclair and cheered, "So that's how it is! I know! The way to complete the assessment faster than everyone else within the allotted time!"
Feeling the tight yet broad pressure on her chest, Eclair blinked in confusion.
"Hey Lucy, what's the method?" Mengmeng asked directly.
Upon hearing this, Lucy didn't hold back and revealed all her guesses.
"Think about it carefully. When the chairman announced the rules, he said, 'Collect all four road signs, and the road pointing to the first chairman's grave will appear,' not 'Collect all the road signs, and the first chairman's grave will appear.' In other words—"
"The first president's grave was always meant to be found; collecting all the landmarks was never a hard requirement. As long as you were the first to reach the grave within the allotted time, you advanced. This—"
"That's the decisive factor in the second round of assessments that we've overlooked!"
After listening to Lucy's analysis, both Eclair and Mengmeng's eyes lit up, and they suddenly understood.
It seems that's really the case!
That being said, this understanding is somewhat of a "shortcut".
Lucy wasn't sure if her speculation was within the bounds of the "rules," but compared to fighting back and forth with Cana Elfman and the others for road signs until all the limited time was used up, she felt it was worth the try!
As for the approximate location of the first president's grave, the arrangement of the four road signs in the east, west, south, and north has already given a hint: the trunk of the Sirius Tree is the gathering place for those who have passed the first test, so the only place left is the smaller two-story island above!
Without further ado, Lucy and her two companions set off immediately, quickly heading towards the second-floor island.
However, to Lucy's utter surprise, no sooner had they left than two men emerged slowly from the bushes not far away.
"Skipping the road signs and going straight to the original gravesite, we actually overlooked such an important detail!" Gray suddenly realized and slapped his forehead.
"Hehe, I knew following Lucy would lead to some unexpected discoveries~" Loki proudly adjusted his glasses on the bridge of his nose.
As a team without allies like Natsu, they abandoned the unwanted road sign to the west and chose to follow Lucy instead.
The initial idea was to hide in a dark corner where they wouldn't be discovered, waiting for Lucy and the others to collect the trail markers, and then stage a scene where the mantis stalks the cicada, unaware of the oriole behind.
As a result, by sheer chance, he unexpectedly learned the correct strategy for winning the test from Lucy!
In fact, this core objective hidden in the rules is not difficult to discover. Under normal circumstances, everyone except Nazhabi's team would be aware of it.
However, everyone's attention was diverted by Makarov's emphasis on "road signs," and they assumed that if they were slow to grab the road signs, they would lose their early advantage.
In addition, external factors such as the sense of urgency brought about by time constraints and the invisible pressure emanating from competitors may cause people to overlook this crucial information.
This is precisely why Makarov couldn't help but chuckle when announcing the rules.
He knew them all too well—they were all impulsive, competitive fools!