Chapter 301 - Regular Season, The Group of Death
Translator: Atlas Studios Editor: Atlas Studios
Under the bright, burning sun in the middle of the desert, the two teams were staring at each other with a sand hill in between. The players were soaked in sweat as they stood on the burning sand and entered the [Energy Draining] status. Even though they were not moving, their energy points were still decreasing at a steady rate.
“The location in the desert is too open, which is bad for us. We are probably going to lose here.” Lone Crane was discouraged.
This was Frenzied Sword’s Rivervale Club Team. They were lucky as they had not met any strong teams. They had struggled their way through the competition, and now, they are on the last batch of the Qualifiers. If they won this game, they could get into the next stage.
But it seemed that Rivervale’s luck had run out. The randomized map was an open desert, which was bad for a composition focused on close combat.
Lone Crane was annoyed, and because of that, the whole team’s morale was down.
Frenzied Sword stepped up to change the atmosphere and frowned. “Don’t worry, the fight hasn’t started yet. We still have the chance to win.”
Lone Crane shook his head. “The chance is too abysmally slim.”
“You are the leader; don’t you say things words.” Frenzied Swords got more and more unsatisfied on how the Lone Crane led the team. He had no leadership skills and did not give any insightful command. On top of that, he only brought a negative energy to the team.
“Oh? Then what do you suggest we should do?” Lone Crane glanced over.
“The enemy has a strong ranged attack abilities, so the only way for us is to close the distance. Of course, we will only get kited if we charge in recklessly, so the best way is to lure them into an ambush. I can hide in the sand, and you all act like you are running away and lure them to where I’m hiding. Then I can pressure their backline while you all turn around and attack. This is the only way.
“Luckily, I still have two shields for cover. Who wants to ambush with me?” Frenzied Sword said as he took out two oxygen shields. This was equipment that he always brought, and it was the essential tool for the plan to work.
The teammates all looked at each other, and this time, Lone Crane replied, “Since this is your idea, if we lose, you will be responsible for this.”
Lone Crane was obviously trying to be avoid the blame so that he would be off the hook if he lost the game. Frenzied Sword hated this type of behavior and stopped paying attention to him. Looking at his teammates, a pugilist sped forward to be his partner for the ambush.
They quickly selected a spot, and Frenzied Sword and this teammate hid under the cover and sank into the sand. Lone Crane and his team on the surface made some disguises and went on with the operation. They walked up the hill and exposed themselves in the vision of the enemy.
“Hehe. Seems that they can’t wait any longer.” Isaac from the opposing team laughed. The other team with six people saw the movement of Lone Crane and his team.
Isaac looked like the skillful one in his team, but in reality, all the six contestants were ‘spies’ all from other nations’ clubs to challenge the competitive league in Planet Aquamarine. Every league had this type of team.
“The enemy is just a small club. I saw their matches before, and they excel in close combat, but they have no synergy. Plus, we have the map advantage, so as long as we keep our distance, victory is ours.”
They moved up toward Rivervale and initiated their attacks while keeping their distance. Most of the players were Espers. Isaac could create a small tornado, while one of his teammates could shoot laser beams from his finger. Another could even create a small white fish ball that exploded like a grenade.
Lone Crane and the other four ran with tails between their legs. Isaac’s team quickly chased after them, but soon, they realized that there were only four people in Rivervale team.
“Where did the other two go?” Isaac raised his suspicion and raised his hand. “Halt. I think they are luring us into a trap.”
Isaac thought that if Rivervale was luring them, then if he stopped, Rivervale would also stop, or at least they would slow down their pace to bait Isaac. However, Rivervale did not slow down and ran as far as they could.
Lone Crane kept on running forward while being demotivated. He could not understand Frenzied Sword’s strategy. Then he suddenly had an idea to push all the blame on Frenzied Sword. If he directly fought the enemy head on without telling Frenzied Sword, at least it would seem like Lone Crane tried his best, while Frenzied Sword was hiding the entire fight. This would definitely make the higher officials be disappointed in Frenzied Sword.
However, he could not purposely steer away from where Frenzied Sword was hiding since the rest of the teammates also knew the location. Therefore, the only thing that Lone Crane could do was make them look like they were luring the enemy into a trap. Thus, Lone Crane kept on running, regardless of whether the enemy followed or not.
Lone Crane had been in the profession circle for years. For a man without much glory and achievements, he had been hired by Rivervale with a higher pay than before. However, he had never cared about winning or losing. The only thing that he wanted was to keep the position as a leader and enjoy the wealthy pay and luxurious life. There were all kinds of people in the professional scene, and the type like Lone Crane was also common.
However, Isaac misunderstood the intention. He shouted, ” Look at them go! They don’t look like they are trying to lure us, and there’s a lower chance that there will be an ambush in the open field. Let’s chase after them!”
Unfortunately, Isaac was wrong. After chasing Rivervale for a while, they reached the ambush area, and a spot within the team exploded, covering them in sand. Frenzied Sword and his teammate rushed out and charged into the backline.
It was so sudden that Isaac and his teammates’ jaws dropped.
Frenzied Sword used all his strength and tore open the enemy’s formation. Lone Crane, who was far away, also frowned, and he had no choice but to lead his team back into the battle.
The scene was in chaos. Despite the ambush, Isaac and his teammates did not back down easily, and Rivervale still had to fight an intense battle. Luckily, Frenzied Sword had a great performance and eliminated the squishy Espers, getting a double kill.
After Isaac fell to the ground, the surroundings finally quieted down, and one could only hear wind blowing through the sand.
Rivervale’s victory!
“We won!” Frenzied Sword waved his fist.
“We actually got into the next stage…”
Lone Crane could not close his mouth as he was shocked. Was the enemy so stupid that they could not tell his obvious act?
…
As the final round came to a close, the names of the victors of the qualifiers were announced. All the players were excited, and the attention from the public also reached its peak.
The qualifiers were just the appetizer. The regular season was the main course!
From here now on, the competition would be in a normal schedule unlike the qualifiers. Every match would be intense and thrilling.
From thousands of teams and hundreds of thousands of players, there were only thirty-eight teams for group bracket and sixty-two players for individual bracket. Han Xiao skimmed through the list, and the four powerhouses had all made it into the regular season, while the rest of the teams are all famous clubs such as Madhouse, Mystic Nine, and Storm. There were clubs from other countries, and there were only three non-professional teams.
Rivervale was in the list of qualified teams. Han Xiao recalled that back in his own world, Rivervale never got into the regular season, and instead, a team with foreign players got in.
As for the individual bracket, Frenzied Sword in both worlds was qualified for regular season, and the one in this world had more attention from the public compared to that of the other world. There were on
ly four mechanic players in the individual bracket, and all of them were Cannon Master except Frenzied Sword, who was Mechanical Pugilist. Because of that, the audience showed more interest in him.
In addition, the recordings of Rivervale’s matches were released, and everyone witnessed how Frenzied Sword carried his team to victory. On the contrary, no one cared about the real leader, Lone Crane. In the eyes of the audience, he was just a side character who served no purpose, and they thought that Frenzied Sword was the irreplaceable part of the team.
Lone Crane was envious of the glory, yet he could not duplicate Frenzied Sword’s performance. He could only watch the Frenzied Sword getting more and more popular.
Frenzied Sword was indeed a natural talent in close combat fighting. His skills kept on improving, and other mechanic class players replayed the tape of his matches to learn the techniques.
Some players even went through some older posts and found out that Frenzied Sword was one of the mysterious characters under Black Phantom. The high-quality equipment and buffs had to have been given by Black Phantom. All the players could only drool next to the fancy equipment, and Han Xiao earned another wave of popularity.
They did so much better than in my old world. Han Xiao was satisfied and was glad that his work payed off.
A few days later, the secondary league also finished their matches, and only the top two got into the regular season; in the end, there were forty teams in the group bracket and sixty-four players in individual bracket.
The official site announced the results of the randomized groups in the regular season. The players were evenly spread out into A, B, C, and D groups. For every group, there were ten teams for the group bracket and sixteen players in the individual bracket.
The regular season used a points system, where teams would fight against each other in rotation. Only the two teams with highest points would be eligible for the next stage in the group brackets. For individual bracket, there would be four players coming out of each group.
The players’ jaws dropped as they saw the list of the groups.
Fried Eggplants with Fish, Dynasty, and Long Sky—three powerhouses—were all in group A!
Moreover, Tiger Dragon Club and Sky Palace Club were also in group A with another foreign club team. This was the group of death!
With so many strong teams, only two teams could get out of this group stage. At least one of the powerhouses would be eliminated from the competition. This news threw the fans of those teams into turmoil.
The atmosphere was already tense and nervousness when the regular season had not even started.
Chapter 302 - The Hidden Main Storyline
Translator: Atlas Studios Editor: Atlas Studios
Galaxy Times made an objective analysis for each group in the tournament. Group A was the most competitive. The fan-favorite team since the start of the tournament, Long Sky, might even be eliminated there. Although Hao Tian was still overpowering all his opposition, many of the other teams that had survived thus far had been conserving their strength. Most of the teams had not revealed their trump cards yet. Under such conditions, even strong teams like Long Sky would have hard fights ahead.
The fans of the teams who were placed into Group A were not having any of it. The fans of the three big guilds, especially, were flaming and spamming in the forums about how the tournament was rigged and why all those strong teams were placed in the same group.
But their arguments were not at all convincing. Most of the neutral audience believed that if each of the four big guilds had been placed into different battle groups, then that would really have meant that the tournament was rigged.
Of course, what was logic in the face of the crazed fans? The discussions on the forums were getting more and more heated as the tournament entered its pre-seasons.
The pre-season matches did not count toward a team’s score and served as more of a warm up for the teams to gauge each other’s strengths or even misguide one another.
Compared to formal matches, these warm-up matches were much less pressuring on the players. The audience loved watching these matches as players often played without restraint and used whatever tactics and plays they wanted.
Each team’s mistakes and insane outplays were soon turned into memes and analyzed on the forums. Bun-hit-dog also made a few videos on these warm up matches.
After the pre-season matches would be a cooling period where teams would be given time to rest up and regroup. This was also when the clubs would amp up their advertising to hype up the next stage, which was the regionals. The waves of advertisements would be used to further excite the audience.
Once the official matches began, it was already the sixth month of the Galaxy Calendar.
Han Xiao had stayed in the shelter this whole time to farm experience points from the players. Other than that, there was not much else for him to do. He had already met the requirements for the third part of the hidden main storyline mission, but he could not get in contact with Hannes and thus could not turn in the mission.
This was the first time that Han Xiao had heard about this mission, and he was not sure how things were supposed to go. When he still could not find Hannes despite going through the Dark Net’s intelligence network, Han Xiao realized that something was wrong. If even the Dark Net, the largest intelligence hoarder on the planet, could not find him, then Hannes was really missing.
After some more digging, Han Xiao found out that Hannes had last been seen at a barren wasteland called the Somar Desert.
This kind of sound familiar… Han Xiao frowned. Oh right, I once visited this desert for a bounty mission. [Basic Strengthened Life] was also obtained from this place. It was the ruins of a nation, and there were also wanderers trying to find traces of magic or the like there.
Although Han Xiao was not very close with Hannes, since he was the NPC who gave out the hidden main storyline mission, Han Xiao was not just going to sit still as he went missing. Bennett had a similar thought.
Just as the official matches were about to start, Han Xiao left the shelter and arrived at the Somar Desert with Bennett.
…
Under the sun’s glare, heat waves constantly rolled across the desert floor. All one could see past the barbed wires of the Dark Net checkpoint was an endless sea of sand.
“Hannes was last seen a month ago. He resupplied at this checkpoint before entering the Somar Desert, but he never returned.”
The man in charge of the checkpoint reported the details to Han Xiao and Bennett while showing the two the supply reports proving his words.
“I have already sent out search parties to look for his tracks, but… the sands in the Somar Desert constantly shift and reform, and there haven’t been any concrete results yet,” said Bennett.
Han Xiao glanced and asked, “Can’t you come up with a better idea than that?”
Bennett was helpless about this. “Telecommunications and any other kind of communication all met a dead end. There’s no other way.”
Searching this way was like trying to look for a needle in a haystack. Han Xiao shook his head. “This is too much of a waste of time… but there really does seem to be no other way. Let’s hope something comes up soon.”
The Somar Desert buried countless secrets, and Hannes may have run into a tricky situation this time. When Han Xiao started thinking about the ruins of Felonia and the remnants of a ‘magic’ civilization, a thought started to form at the back of his mind.
“I’m afraid that Hannes may have already died.” Bennett sighed.
Han Xiao was not too sure about that. In the past, Bennett had raised tombstones for Hannes and the others, but Han Xiao felt like things were different this time. First of all, the hidden main storyline had not failed yet and was only stuck at the third stage. Han Xiao felt that Hannes should still be alive, as he was the mission NPC. Maybe this was all part of the storyline.
Since there was no other way to progress the mission, Han Xiao decided to
patiently wait for something to happen. Although he was curious about what this hidden main storyline would lead to, the reward that the mission offered was not that tempting. The Great Mechanic Han did not need to work hard to farm experience at the moment, and the experience that would be rewarded upon mission completion was nothing in Han Xiao’s eyes.
After sending out some more orders for the men, the two got back on their planes to return. On the plane, Bennett suddenly said, “I heard that your shelter is welcoming more and more Inhumans. Make sure to keep a careful watch over them in case they decide to cause trouble one day.”
Han Xiao raised his eyebrow. “What are you trying to say?”
“Inhumans have unclear origins, and they often demonstrate weird behavior,” said Bennett with a heavy expression. “They are a ticking time bomb. If all the Inhumans decide to group together and rebel, the planet will see another bloodbath. We can’t take another war. My sources tell me that the Six Nations had already contacted the space civilization, and they will soon send personnel down to our planet to investigate the Inhumans.”
“I know.” Han Xiao gave off a faint smile and patted Bennett’s shoulder a few times.
Not only was Han Xiao aware of the Godora investigators’ future visit, he even knew the specific date and time when their spaceship would enter the atmosphere. This was fate smiling down on him. The spaceship sent by Godora would be his chance to venture out into the stars, in about another month.
…
During the next month, Han Xiao followed his original plan and continued amassing experience points. More and more players were visiting the shelter every day due to the ongoing tournament, and Han Xiao never ran out of players to farm experience from.
Han Xiao occasionally followed the tournament. There was now a new match format: the duel. Each team would send out six players to battle against another team’s six, one at a time. Winners would stay on the fight against the opposing team’s next player, until one team has no players left. There was also a point tallying system where the total points your team would win, in the case of a victory, would be six points minus the number of players who were defeated in the match.
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