In the Pinhurst Mansion, everyone had left the living room and was sitting in the kitchen. It had been over an hour since MyrkLys had halted their progression. Upon realizing there wouldn’t be any change to the children’s Event due to Cynrik practically sealing them from the world in the shelter, Jessup decided it was dinner time.

During their meal, everyone was relatively silent as they digested everything they had witnessed during the Swarm event. The final minutes of which, Cinyah was unable to watch.

At that time, only Rikard and Jessup didn’t take their eyes off the screen, while everyone else was forced to look away.

“The SRD event is going well; the kids are making good time and have gained a significant amount of ground on their opponents,” Jessup stated as he finished his dinner and went to wash dishes.

“It’s to be expected, though. Unlike our kids, who went into it following the plan Cynrik laid out, that group from Romeoville relies solely on their leader for transportation. As such, they find themselves stopping too frequently while losing ground to Milo, Viisaus, and Sielu, who constantly stay on the move.” Cinyah cut in as she shooed off Jessup and took over washing the dishes.

“However, it’s good that Cyn had everyone take a break; I am sure those poor little ones are dead tired after pulling the sled for five hours straight. Especially Milo, who has to carry the most weight.” Standing beside her best friend, Maeve took the clean dishes and dried them by hand.

“The distribution of tasks was handled well; Cynrik has a good grasp on everyone’s abilities and didn’t give them anything out of their wheelhouse. It was intricately planned out and executed to perfection. Having Selene and Melody handle the incoming snow, Benny keeping everyone warm, and Gabby keeping Milo on course.” Mrs. Sanford said as she scrolled through some highlights showing her daughter and son in action.

“True, but Brance has the most difficult task besides the ones given to the pets. If you watch, he is constantly making adjustments and patching up any holes cropping up in the sled, not to mention the durability of his weapons is steadily dropping by using them as skis.” Jessup added.

“I wonder what they are doing in the snow shelter right now….” Still sitting at the kitchen table, Aiden spoke up, drawing all the adults’ attention since he had been quiet for the most part after seeing the impressive display of Cynrik and Brance in the Swarm event.

“That…honestly, I am sure everyone except Cyn and Brancie probably bundled themselves in blankets and are napping. But those two are likely trying to devise a plot on what to do upon reaching their target location.” Rikard tapped his chin several times with his index finger in thought before breaking the silence.

“Brancie filled me in on their initial strategy, which involves sending Cynrik in to recover the object, but from the looks of things, it won’t be possible anymore. Instead, they will need to send Benny and Brancie to hoist that huge Gem and carry it back up, and THAT poses many potential problems.” Sighing ruefully and hoping everything turns out well, Cinyah returned to the living room just in time to see the stone sled sliding away from the hole and MyrkLys popping out of their shelter, fresh and fully recovered.

—

In the studio, Cesar and Roni were following the struggles of Romeoville as they fought through the blizzards and deep snow before teleporting. Unlike MyrkLys, who had taken around two hours to recover, Romeoville’s downtime increased steadily after each teleportation.

Roni: “Oh, it seems VSFA have decided it’s time to go on the move again and are leaving the safety and warmth of their makeshift shelter. Hm…well, that is interesting.” Pausing and zooming in on Cynrik with the aid of the touch screen controls on the desk, Roni noticed the direction Cynrik was facing.

It wasn’t until she watched Cynrik making gestures and MyrkLys setting up the sled again that she broke into a broad smile and plotted their course on screen for the viewers to see.

Cesar: “If that isn’t confirmation, then I don’t know how to make it much more transparent. Cynrik Jetlensr of VSFA has, without a doubt, located the Target Search Location from nearly 300 kilometers away.”

Using the plotted chart Roni was making, Cesar excitedly compared VSFA’s approach to the one created for Romeoville and analyzed it for everyone watching.

Cesar: “After spending five hours trekking north, VSFA is finally on the hunt and have started directing themselves North by North West, and as you can see on the graph here, if they stay on course, they will end up EXACTLY at their targeted destination, and come in contact with the Artic Mountain Primates.”

Cesar: “If they continue moving forward at the speed they spent the better part of the first half of their adventure, then VSFA will arrive at the cave system a full two hours ahead of Romeoville, putting them in the lead by a significant margin.”

Roni: “Cesar, have you not realized it yet.” Cutting in and pinching Cesar’s waist, Roni pointed at the digital clock on the screen with slightly widened eyes.

Moving his eyes toward the direction Roni’s finger pointed, Cesar’s face turned ash white as realization dawned on him, and he sputtered incoherently with beads of sweat running down his face.

Noticing her companion’s reaction, Roni smiled and folded her hands on the desk before addressing the cameras.

Roni: “Although it is still early, and I can’t be certain, there is a good chance that VSFA will make another run at a National Record. Presently they are three hours ahead of the National record set by Romeoville last year. However, the hard part of the Event hasn’t even begun yet.”

Roni: “Arriving at the Search location is only one of the three goals, and generally, teams lose the most time in this portion of the Event. But we may likely see that upon arriving at the location, the members of VSFA’s Tier-3 team may struggle to retrieve the extremely heavy Mana Gem.

Roni: “The primary reason that Romeoville was able to break the record last year was because of Derrek’s teleportation skill allowing him to bring the large Mana Gem to the surface instantly while his team eliminated the creatures.”

Roni: “If VSFA can’t successfully clear the final two hurdles of the Event in the two-hour gap between themselves and Romeoville, they will not only lose the second Event, but we could also see Romeoville setting a new, even faster record than last year.”

Cesar: “It will come down to the nitty gritty this time, folks. So if you are watching from home, I sure hope you have a snack and drink and are in for the long haul because the Round One SRD Event just got a whole lot more interesting.”

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