One minute.
Two minutes.
Until half an hour had passed.
[SYSTEM: UNDETECTED]
[SYSTEM: CURRENT HIDE-AND-SEEK GAME SUCCESSFUL]
The system prompt rang out, and Motomu's eyes lit up.
It worked!
So simple!
[SYSTEM: EXPERIENCE POINTS +0.01]
"The system gives so little!"
Only 0.01 for half an hour.
At this rate, he might not level up once in his entire life.
Motomu thought for a moment and calmed down.
Hide-and-seek was definitely not that simple.
Since the rule was that the longer one remained undetected, the more experience one gained...
To get satisfying experience, one definitely had to wait a bit longer.
Motomu was patient.
He didn't immediately try to transform into something else.
The stone Big Eyeball had transformed into remained motionless on the spot.
Through the third-person perspective, he continued to observe his surroundings.
Suddenly, a breeze swept by.
A squirrel fell from above, crashing toward the stone Big Eyeball had become.
Motomu had just seen it happen.
This gray squirrel had intended to jump onto a branch in front of it, but a gust of wind blew, causing the branch to sway and perfectly miss the squirrel.
Caught in the unexpected accident, the gray squirrel skillfully puffed out its tail to slow its descent, landing with a splash right on the stone.
The stone trembled slightly, and Big Eyeball reverted to its true form.
Feeling movement beneath its bottom, the gray squirrel was spooked and dashed back up the tree.
[SYSTEM: HIDE-AND-SEEK FAILED, TUTORIAL ENDED]
The hope that had risen in Motomu's throat completely died.
After all that effort, it turned out to be just a tutorial level?
Motomu: "..."
Staring at those words on the system panel, he was momentarily speechless.
So he had just been acting like a fool.
To think he had stared at a stone for half an hour, only for it to be the system teaching him how to play?
Furthermore, that squirrel at the end was clearly a deliberate setup by the system.
The branch swaying, missing just right, falling just right, and hitting just right.
For things to be such a coincidence...
Motomu refused to believe his luck was that bad unless the system was pulling the strings.
Motomu analyzed while straightening out his thoughts.
Based on this, the failure condition for hide-and-seek should be being touched by any living creature or having an anomaly noticed.
If that was the case, his watching and protecting nearby might also count as being 'discovered.'
On the other hand.
Perhaps as the hiding time grew longer...
The system would arrange coincidences like the one just now to create difficulties for him.
Motomu thought about it and felt it was very likely.
If the tutorial level used a squirrel to force an encounter, the official game likely wouldn't be easy either.
Hide-and-seek still required some brains.
Motomu ordered Big Eyeball to an open space in the center, away from trees and other things that could potentially fall.
Having chosen the location, Motomu immediately began the next round of hide-and-seek.
[SYSTEM: DING]
[SYSTEM: YOU HAVE TRIGGERED THE HIDE-AND-SEEK GAME]
[SYSTEM: NOTE: CONTINUOUS HIDE-AND-SEEK INCREASES THE RISK OF FAILURE. DO YOU WISH TO CONTINUE THIS GAME?]
[SYSTEM: YES/NO]
Motomu naturally chose to agree.
His primary intention this time was to study the rules.
As for how much experience he could get or how long he could hide, Motomu didn't care much.
Only by grasping the rules could he better utilize them.
[SYSTEM: GAME HAS CONTINUED]
[SYSTEM: TRANSFORMATION SLOTS AVAILABLE]
[SYSTEM: 1. STONE]
[SYSTEM: 2. DAZZLING TEACUP (GREEN CHALLENGE OPTION: SELECTING CHALLENGE INCREASES THE EXPERIENCE GAIN RATE BY 10X)]
[SYSTEM: 3. FREE CHOICE]
Oho!
Is there even a 'taunt the cops' phase?
"Dazzling Teacup."
He repeated the name while looking at the green challenge tag and the ten-fold experience multiplier next to it.
The system is baiting me, right?
It definitely is!
A stone is so ordinary; who would notice if it just sat on the ground?
But a teacup in the wild?
And a dazzling one at that?
In this middle of nowhere, if a flashy teacup suddenly popped up, let alone a person, even a passing dog would have to stop and take a second look.
Motomu could imagine the scene.
A large Pidgey flies over, sees something shiny on the ground, gets curious, dives down, and flies off with it.
'System, can you be any more ridiculous?'
Motomu's lips twitched.
However.
As they say, the greater the risk, the greater the reward.
The hide-and-seek computer games he played in his previous life followed the same logic.
In those games, the more conspicuous the hiding spot and the more absurd the transformation, the higher the score.
There were even mysterious gadgets available from time to time.
It really took 'playing with fire' to the extreme.
Back to the present.
Since a green challenge gave ten times the experience...
Wouldn't purple or orange ones be even more absurd and grant more experience?
So that's why the experience gain was so low before?
Motomu didn't hesitate and confirmed immediately.
[SYSTEM: DAZZLING TEACUP CHALLENGE: COMMENCED]
Amidst shifting lights and shadows of myriad colors.
Big Eyeball spun and completed its transformation.
A miniature ceramic teacup appeared on the grassy clearing.
Hearts were painted on the cup's body, and its dazzling ceramic surface refracted a dreamy halo under the moonlight.
It's so bright!
It's so flashy!
It was almost hard to keep his eyes open.
Looking at Big Eyeball's form after the transformation...
If Motomu had to describe it...
He could only say that in an extraction shooter game, this cup would be worth at least a million-dollar extraction.
Clearing his mind, he held his breath and focused.
Motomu began the long wait.
Minute 1: Nothing happened.
Minute 3: A beetle crawled out of the grass, circled the teacup three times, and then dove back into the dirt without looking back.
Minute 8: The sound of wings flapping came from the distance.
Motomu immediately became alert.
It was a Pidgey!
That Pidgey seemed to have just returned from foraging; it merely wanted to fly past the edge of the clearing.
Motomu held his breath, staring at its every move.
While flying, the blue-feathered Pidgey tilted its head to look at the teacup on the ground.
'Don't come over, don't come over!'
'That's just a stone—no, that's just a cup—no...'
Seemingly feeling Motomu's internal mutterings, the Pidgey eventually flapped its wings and flew away.
Motomu let out a long sigh of relief.
Half an hour passed.
The system notification suddenly rang out.
[SYSTEM: UNDETECTED]
[SYSTEM: CURRENT EXPERIENCE MULTIPLIER: 10X]
[SYSTEM: EXPERIENCE POINTS: 0.1]
With ten times the experience, it was only 0.1 for ten minutes.
At this rate, to save enough for a level up...
Motomu didn't even need to calculate; the efficiency was dismal at a glance.
Another 29 minutes passed.
A rustling sound suddenly came from the bushes in the distant forest.
Motomu sharpened his focus.
A gray rabbit poked its head out, its nose twitching a few times.
While being alert of its surroundings, its gaze was instantly captured by the teacup.
The rabbit hopped closer, circling the teacup twice.
Motomu stared at it nervously, fearing it would sit on it like the squirrel from before.
The rabbit didn't fall.
It extended its head, its nose tentatively moving toward the rim of the cup.
*Sniff sniff!*
Just as it was a few centimeters away from touching...
The rabbit seemed to sense something; it suddenly retracted its head and dashed back into the bushes.
The heart that had jumped into Motomu's throat slowly settled back into place.
Another half-hour mark was reached.
[SYSTEM: UNDETECTED]
[SYSTEM: CURRENT EXPERIENCE MULTIPLIER: 15X]
[SYSTEM: EXPERIENCE POINTS: 0.15]
Having endured two rounds, the experience points began to increase just as Motomu had expected.
Though the increase was quite significant.
It went up by five times in one go.
If the base transformation was good and they lasted a few more rounds, Big Eyeball's experience gain would become very substantial.
This round of hide-and-seek filled Motomu with confidence once again.