Chapter 291: End Of The Fourth

{The Fourth Trial Ends in 24 Hours}

{Please prepare all final upgrades before the time runs out.}

That was the message that started the last day of the fourth trial, and greeted every hero when they woke up to what had become their daily routine. For most, it was a terrible omen.

The whole trial had been to live well, and they had been doing that.

Everyone had upgraded their skills, they had gained a huge number of new heroes, they had gained levels, loaded the storage warehouses, began going out to cultivate the lush green fields around the city.

It was all going well, even though it was still the rainy season, and it felt like every other day they got wet.

There simply wasn’t much for them to do in the last day.

So, everyone was asleep early, expecting the trial to end at midnight, and the next one to start, unless it gave them a waiting period in between again.

At ten in the evening, Kalli was waiting patiently in her favourite chair, checking the forums that the people of Marimgar had formed in the app to pass the time before the trial officially ended. They had absolutely crushed this trial, there was no doubt about it.

Now, they just needed their reward and good news for the next trial.

Snacks were passed around, and drinks were poured as everyone anxiously waited to see what the System was going to tell them.

Right on time, at the stroke of midnight, the message arrived.

{The Fourth Trial is over.

Total attrition rate during the fourth trial was 92 Percent.

Among the surviving factions, 9 are human.

Of the human factions, 1 is self-sustaining.}

Kalli saw a personal prompt appear in front of her eyes as the end of trial message paused.

{Coordinator, would you like to merge the human factions into Marimgar? If not, all other human factions will be eliminated for having failed the Fourth Trial.}

Kalli resisted the urge to roll her eyes. Obviously, she would merge them into Marimgar instead of letting them be eliminated.

The System’s end of Trial message continued, appearing on every wall in the city.

{All surviving human factions will be merged into Marimgar. Their status as failed colonies will be disregarded. However, their population will not be counted towards Marimgar’s result for the Fourth Trial.

Of the nonhuman factions, 194 remain.

Of the nonhuman factions, 23 are self-sustaining.

Factions that are not self-sustaining will be eliminated from the Trials and will lose System Access for the duration of their existence.}

That news was absolutely horrifying.

None of the residents of Marimgar knew who the 23 self-sustaining factions were, but they were definitely powerful, and resourceful. Or they wouldn’t have survived to the end of the fourth trial.

But what was really shocking was that there were a hundred and ninety-four factions remaining after the solar storm and everything else that had happened in the previous trials. They didn’t know how many there had been to start with, but that felt like a lot.

{Fourth Trial Rewards Calculating}

{Current Position} 2nd

{Status} Quality of Life increased 42 Percent

{Status} Population Growth less than 1 Percent

{Status} Food Production in moderate surplus

{Status} Material Goods production above replacement rate

{ Upon factoring for all four categories, Marimgar has fallen to 2nd place, behind the Sea King’s Temple, which increased quality of life 23 Percent, population by 215 Percent, with surplus food production and material goods creation. }

"Damn, mermen have been getting all that good good," Sanchez joked as the notification appeared on the wall.

Kalli shrugged. "With numbers like that, how could we hope to keep up? We don’t reproduce fast enough to triple our population in one trial. But you might be on to something. After their haul during the floods, the Merfolk women definitely gave them some rewards."

The tension in the room broke with their banter.

Tripling the population in a month was basically impossible for humans, even if they had planned it a year in advance. They simply didn’t have enough children for that.

"Hey, can we see who else is at the top of the list?" Vinnie asked as Kalli settled in to wait for the next trial’s information.

"Oh, probably."

Kalli searched through her System Interface, and found that she could bring up the rankings with administrative privilege, though she could only view the data, not edit it.

The rankings for the top 10 appeared on the wall display.

1st Sea King’s Temple

2nd Marimgar City

3rd Lycan King’s Castle

4th Hill Giants

5th Wolf Queen’s Royal Pack

6th Mountain Giants

7th Stone Giants

8th Naga Empire

9th Frost Giants

10th Troll King Larry’s Horde

That gave them their answer. The sea folk, two kinds of what sounded like werewolves, the Naga, the Trolls, and a lot of Giants. However, the fact that the Frost Giants, who had been in first until the end of the Third Trial, had fallen so far was shocking.

Kalli nodded in satisfaction. "Well, that answers that. We’re still doing pretty well, and the other powerhouse of this trial were the sea folk, who were mostly sheltered from the worst of the trial by the ocean itself.

Most likely, their lower results in the past came from the sea monsters, and without them being forcibly attacked, they made a real comeback this time."

Sanchez chuckled at the thought. The fleets had been forced out of the ocean by the monsters, so the fact that the Sea Folk had made it this far was actually very impressive. Surviving that was no easy feat, but it was their birth rate that really put them over the top.

Even if they took massive casualties in the earlier trials, they had likely recovered them by now.

Which left them only one last question. What had they gotten as a reward for coming in second? Fortunately, the System didn’t leave them hanging.

{Fourth Trial Rewards}

{ Each Hero will receive 1 [Home Renovation Token] Uncommon Grade }

{ Each Hero will receive 1 [Wardrobe Upgrade Token] Uncommon Grade }

{ Marimgar will receive 20 [Basic Farm Equipment] orbs, Common Grade }

{ Marimgar will receive 1 [Perfect Food Preservation Warehouse] Uncommon Grade }