Days passed on top of the World Tree, and everyone was busy with something. Nym and Rachel were trying to get Finn to open up. Timofey was teaching Veronika about gunpowder, and Alric was getting slammed by his “fans.”

[There’re 12 to 1 more elves than humans,] said one of them. [You should just kill yourself.]

“Ha, it’ll be more fun when I win,” he retorted. “Whatcha gonna do then, huh?”

[If there’re any horns in you, then go fight the worms!]

[Softy!]

[Your partner’s planning to kill you.]

[The female has Ogre Diphteria]

[Hellspawn Hellspawn Hellspawn]

[Hahah, she’s gonna eat ya!]

Line after line of hateful slurs came and went for hours on end. Like a cryptographer in search of clues, the youth carefully read everything regardless of how vile. Unfortunately, the more time he spent in front of the screen, the more discouraged Alric became.

‘I need to change my strategy,’ he sighed one day before closing the chat. ‘I tried taunting, cursing, ignoring, reverse psychology, trading information, pleading, telling them to go screw themselves, and asking for a manager.’

So far, his time here had been a colossal waste. He’d learned that demons loved lava and found soft things uncomfortable. Bigger horns were attractive, and green was their most hated color. ‘Interesting trivia, but completely useless.’

It was definitely time for a different approach. If he couldn’t get them to love him, and he couldn’t get them to help him, then he would redirect their hate in a more suitable direction.

The next few hours were spent rehearsing his speech. What he would say, how he would say it, and what words to use for maximum impact.

This wasn’t his expertise by a long shot, but the boy didn’t want to consult his friends. At best, they would call him crazy. At worst, they would tie him to a branch. Fortunately, everyone was busy with their own things, so they mostly ignored him.

Alric muttering to himself for hours on end might've been disturbing to a stranger, but to Rachel, it was nothing new. Every once in a while, she would hear the pixies talk about physics or mathematical formulas. But, if they wanted to become scientists instead of murderous critters, then who was she to object?

After another day passed on top of the World Tree, Alric was finally ready.

“Miss me?” he asked after opening the chat. A flurry of insults covered his screen.

“Lame,” he shrugged while sighing deeply. More curses and death threats followed.

“You guys suck." Alric tilted his head putting on a bored expression. "I thought there’d be adventure, a true challenge for the ages. But, the first round’s test is making friends, and the second one’s about climbing a tree?”

The boy turned away from the chat, but with the corner of his eye, he could see the messages changing in a flurry.

“You know, I have half a mind to go back down there just to stretch my limbs. But, for what? So you bastards can have a laugh? No thanks.”

After lazily stretching his limbs, Alric lay his back on the branch as if preparing to take a nap. His head was resting on his palms right in front of the crystal.

“Even the silly games my brother used to play had rewards the hero wanted. And, you guys have what? A ring we probably can’t take with us even after we win? You think any of us care about shields? I have a tank back home. That’s a moving, fire breathing fortress in case you didn’t know.

I ran half a platform in the last round, and what did I get? Nothing.

Win a marathon in my world and you get a tower. A freaking tower. And, don’t even think of saying this ring was the reward. You know that was dumb luck.”

The next hour was spent listing all the "cool" rewards people got in competitions or games from Earth, and how terrible their arrangement was in comparison. Of course, his examples were exaggerated if not completely made up, but would the mob really care?

The more he talked, the more pissed off his audience became. This bug, this insignificant inferior species, dared to look down on their tournament. It was unacceptable.

[What the hell are the admins doing? They should throw a meteor on this a**hole!]

[Wait till the next round comes up. Amon’s gonna summon him inside a volcano, haha]

[Have you lost your horns? That imp doesn’t care. He’s just counting the dough]

[Yea, if DI hadn’t done such a s**t job at organizing this tournament, we wouldn’t be having this problem]

[Like, who makes a battle royale without prizes? How stingy can you get?]

In a matter of minutes, the discussion turned from kill the human to hate the organizers. Eventually, a petition was started to add rewards to the Species Tournament. Demons argued it would make contestants take more risks giving Alric’s passiveness as an example of bad television.

As a side effect, it only took a day for the youth’s live-stream to become the most watched one in the entire tournament.

It was a given the Entertainment Channel wouldn't stay passive for long. They were the other party involved in this mess, and their ratings were dropping by the minute.