Lagi gave a long sigh. He looked up at the ceiling of the room at forty-five degrees and said, “Sigh, I’m probably going to be killed by the enemy. I never thought sacrificing myself in my first mission would be the end of my life. I want to write down my last words before leaving…”
“Quick-ly-go!”
Lagi left while sighing and shaking his head. Sylvia was trying so hard to hold back her laughter at the side that she was tearing up. Her cheeks were inflated, and she was pressing her mouth with her hands, letting out some suppressed laughter.
“Teacher, where did you dig this treasure out from?”
Han Xiao shot her a glare and said, “He’s just a little pessimistic at most. At least he’s useful and much stronger than you, yet you can still laugh? I told Reynold to supervise you. Have you been learning from him properly? Are you done with your homework?”
“Done long ago!” Sylvia’s expression instantly collapsed. She snorted unhappily, swung her ponytail, and left angrily.
Han Xiao curled his lips.
There were many officers in the Black Star Army. In Han Xiao’s eyes, the ones that had the potential to reach Grade A were only Herlous, Aroshia, Feidin, Sylvia, Harmon, Reynold, and Hila and Aurora, who were training under Ames. Reynold was currently the closest to Grade A, and Sylvia was the furthest.
Sylvia had achieved Grade A in his previous life, so Han Xiao always had high and strict requirements for her.
During the rest time, all the qualified teams from the various countries were announcing the status of their training every day.
Although Temple of Gods did not qualify, Li Ge was very smart—he volunteered for his team to help in the training for the top four teams in the Divisions, helping them in their conditioning before the Internationals. This got him some attention, and his reputation slowly recovered. The other strong teams saw this and did the same thing.
Coincidentally, in the eyes of the fans, this situation became the Chinese teams uniting due to their strong sense of collective honor. They had let go of their disagreements in the past and were helping their opponents, all so that the Chinese would become the world champions. Therefore, the Chinese players became even more passionate and excited.
Before the Internationals started, the reporters interviewed all the qualified teams. The teams from America, Sweden, Japan, and Korea all declared they would be the champions. Due to Dynasty’s outstanding performance during the All-Stars match, the reporters mentioned Dynasty specifically and considered them candidates for the top spot. The reporters asked these teams if they had the confidence in beating Dynasty. All of them announced that they would defeat Dynasty with confidence.
The break quickly passed. The International Regulars that the audiences from all around the world were looking forward to arrived.
The thirty-six teams from nine divisions all entered the venue. The venue was an arena even bigger than the previous season. As usual, the first day was the opening ceremony and the drawing of lots to determine the groups.
There were still three groups-A, B, and C. The teams would fight every other team in the group once, and the top eight teams with the highest points would qualify for the International Finals.
Long Sky entered Group A, Dynasty and Rivervale entered Group B, and Thunder Storm entered Group C. The stronger and comparatively weaker teams were rather evenly spread out through the three groups, unlike the previous season where the skill differences between groups were enormous. This time, there was no ‘weak group’ or ‘group of death’. This meant that there would be almost no luck involved-one could only enter the finals through actual skills.
In Han Xiao’s previous life, China had only reached the top four in the second season. This time, both Dynasty and Long Sky had a chance of becoming the champion. Han Xiao was quite curious about what the Chinese teams could achieve this season under his influence.
The International Regulars officially commenced. The fans from the various countries cheered for their favorite teams passionately. It was boisterous and full of life.
When the competition arrived at the mid-stage, the situation started to get clearer. The spectators had a rough idea of which teams were stronger.
Dynasty maintained their momentum and stayed at the top, second was Sweden’s Tomahawk, and America’s Devil followed.
Long Sky was fifth. Hao Tian seemed to have been holding back during the Divisions and only went full out at the Internationals. They showed the skills of a champion worthy team.
Both Thunder Storm and Rivervale were in the upper half of the list and stayed competitive. The average strength of the Chinese teams was very high, so the Chinese fans were very surprised and excited.
To the Chinese players, the Internationals were going extremely well. Dynasty and Long Sky both had the ability to qualify, while Rivervale and Thunder Storm seemed to have a chance of entering the top eight.
However, in the second half of the competition, something controversial and upsetting happened.
In the Survival matches that involved four teams, Dynasty repeatedly faced the situation where the other teams cooperated to eliminate them first. They were unable to get any points from the Survival matches, which resulted in their top position to get shaky, even starting to show signs of being surpassed by Tomahawk and Devil.
Originally, it was almost certain that Dynasty would have the most points in the end, but now it seemed to be slipping away right through their fingers. The Chinese supporters were furious. Countless Chinese viewers strongly and blatantly expressed their rage and contempt toward the teams that worked together on the various forums.
Posting hateful online comments was a basic ability of the Chinese players. The Mandarin language is deep and has a history of close to 5,000 years. Every player had experienced countless bloody verbal battles. In this environment, not to blow one’s own trumpet, but in terms of cursing and hateful comments, the Chinese were superior compared to all other countries.
The forums became another battlefield. The fans of the other teams wanted to protect their team’s reputation and argued that since the Survival mode was a scrimmage, working together was a sensible, logical strategy.
However, to the Chinese players, logic was as useful as farts, not to mention they were the victims in this situation. Their merciless and relentless cursing and toxic comments defeated the enemies and forced them to retreat.
This nonsense cracked Han Xiao up. He loved to see his countrymen curse; it could always give him a full day of joy.
Actually, it was not unreasonable for the other teams to work together in Survival. They were not doing it because of Dynasty’s results but because Dynasty was too strong. If they did not work together, Dynasty would most likely be the final winner.
Dynasty was not worried about qualifying with their current points, but the other teams had to fight for the top eight positions and needed those points. Hence, eliminating Dynasty first was indeed a sensible and reliable strategy.
This online argument affected the organizers, who told Dynasty to say a few words in order to end all this nonsense. However, not only did King Admiral’s reply not extinguish the players’ passion, it poured another gallon of gasoline onto the flames instead.
“No big deal, one who’s not envied isn’t talented. No matter how they work together to fight me, the only difference it will make is what ranking we will qualify with. When it comes to the finals, I will teach them the meaning of life one by one!”
King Admiral directly taunted everyone. The Chinese players were so exhilarated that they hoped the finals would start now so that they could watch Dynasty thrash every opponent.
Han Xiao got goosebumps.
To provoke all those people at once, Dynasty was really not afraid of dying at all!
However… it did make things much more interesting.
Chapter 650 - Milestone
The top six places were practically solidified, and Dynasty as well as Long Sky had locked in t
heir qualifications in the regulars. In the second half of the International Regulars, although the Dynasty team had encountered a siege in the Survival battle, they maintained unparalleled momentum during the team and ring battles. They secured first place, not allowing any of the following teams to overtake them.
The competition for the seventh and eighth place was the fiercest. Because the gap between seventh to thirteenth was miniscule, with only the last few matches left, there were seven teams with the opportunity to qualify. Rivervale was one of them, and as for Thunder Storm, it was a pity that they could not. While Rainy Kim was beautiful, the value of esports did not lie in one’s appearance. She could not support her team with her skills alone, so they missed out on the chance to qualify.
Frenzied Sword and Evil Sword became the Captain and Vice Captain respectively. With their potential stimulated after so many battles, their cooperation had become more tacit. The fans regarded them as the symbol of the Rivervale team, calling them ‘Two swords combine as one’.
There was only one game left in the regular season. Rivervale was tenth, only a few points away from eighth. This last game was their last hope of qualifying.
The team in eighth place was Hydra from Japan. Surprisingly. Hydra’s opponents for their last game was Long Sky, whereas Rivervale would face off against Team Kimchi from South Korea.
In one of the rooms within the Black Star Base No.1, the Rivervale members were called over by Frenzied Sword for a meeting, analyzing the situation.
Frenzied Sword knocked on the table with a serious tone. “Long Sky is ranked fourth whereas Kimchi is ranked sixth. Both are strong teams, and there is no possibility of getting an easy way out. If we want to fill the gap in points between us and Hydra, we need to cut a lot of points from Kimchi and have Hydra tie with Long Sky. Only then will we have a chance to qualify.”
“It’s too harsh! Hydra can be said to be evenly matched with Long Sky, but Kimchi is also a strong team. I’m not even sure if we can win.” Evil Sword shook his head.
“In addition to scoring a victory in the team battle, there is still a way to score a lot of points.” Frenzied Sword slowly spoke. “The duel battle allocates points based on the number of people who are inside, so if Evil and I go beyond our level and slaughter the other side, we’ll be able to rake in a lot of points.”
“It’s true that if we do well in the duel, we’ll be able to pull apart in terms of points lead,” Evil Sword replied, “but… Kimchi cannot be looked down on. Even Dynasty does not dare claim that they can wreck Kimchi totally.”
on.
“This match is our only chance. We must score more points at all costs! I’ve already taken out all the Ability Potions in the warehouse, and we have about sixty-seven potions left. If we cannot get into the finals, there’s no use in them. Thus, we’ll just finish all these potions in this final match and try to get as many points as we can.”
Everyone present felt their spirits being lifted up.
Evil Sword’s eyes glowed. “Leader, are you going to use Black Star’s Character Summon Card too?”
“That’s right. As long as we can enter the finals, we’ll have achieved our goal. There’s no need to wait any longer.” Frenzied Sword nodded in return.
“Then, we might just be able to pierce through Kimchi.” An expression of joy appeared in Evil Sword’s face.
Because there was enough inventory, Han Xiao did not use the Gene Extractor on himself, so the store did not have his Ability Potion. However, right before the Pro League, Frenzied Sword had completed a mission with a high rating and had drawn out a blank Character Summon Card through his random reward.
He had remembered that, during the First Pro League, he had utilized the Character Summon Card [Black Star’s Advent] to completely crush his opponent. Without hesitation, he immediately used his blank Character Summon Card to generate Han Xiao’s Character. This Character Summon Card became his ace in the hole.
At this sort of crucial match, Frenzied Sword decided that it was time to utilize the card.
In this final match, Rivervale had become the focal point for all China audiences. With Dynasty and Long Sky having qualified, if Rivervale could do the same, it would mean that for this year’s International Finals, there would be three teams from the China region. What a proud matter that would be!
In the team battles between Rivervale and Kimchi, the two sides duked it out. However, Kimchi made every effort they could to create a seamless defense, and only by using an Ability Potion did Rivervale finally clinch a miserable victory, obtaining a meagre score.
Many of the China viewers were quite discouraged. With only this paltry score, they practically lost the chance to overtake Hydra.
Not many of the viewers were optimistic about the duels, as only Frenzied Sword and Evil Sword would be battling, whereas the rest of the team would be on the sidelines. Just based off individual strengths, Kimchi had two people who had gotten into the finals for the Singles battle. While Rivervale could win, they probably did not have much chance of obtaining more points.
However, the moment the duels began, Frenzied Sword gave the audience a pleasant surprise while giving the Kimchi team a huge shock.
The moment Frenzied Sword stepped onto the stage, he activated tens of Ability Potions in one go, immediately adding a long list of Buff Statuses to his property panel. His entire body glowed, looking like a warrior of legends.
The commentators had their spirits refreshed. “Oh, it seemed like Frenzied Sword and company are getting desperate, and now the pressure is on team Kimchi!”
Every professional team had their own ace, and the Ability Potions that Han Xiao sold were the aces of most Chinese teams, which had left a huge impression in the Pro League. It gave the other teams tremendous headaches. Due to the randomness of the Ability Potion’s effects, they could not take any sort of measures against them.
However, the time effect for the Ability Potions was limited, and along with the numerous matches, every Chinese team was saving them; one used would be one less. After all, the finals would consist of five rounds, in which three wins were needed.
That being said, it seemed as though Frenzied Sword had thrown the situation of finals away, fighting as though his back was against a cliff. He unleashed a frightening combat capability, punching through two of the opponent’s players.
Team Kimchi knew that there was a time limit to the Ability Potions and only sent out their normal members, dragging the time out to grind down Frenzied Sword’s buffs.
“Team Kimchi has chosen the optimal delaying tactic. While Frenzied Sword has defeated two players, a majority of his Buffs have almost run out. Let’s take a look at the next player Kimchi is sending out… oh! They’ve sent out their ace! It seems like they wish to take the chance to end Frenzied Sword’s streak!”
The third pick from team Kimchi was their team’s ace, which was also one of the players who had entered the International Singles. At this point, Frenzied Sword only had a little more than half of his HP remaining, as well as a third of his Mechanical suit’s armor.
This situation was extremely unfavorable, and a majority of the Chinese players felt their hands slick with sweat as they began to panic.
At this point, Frenzied Sword took a deep breath before activating his only Black Star Character Summon Card.
A translucent figure of Han Xiao appeared behind Frenzied Sword, clad in black with an expressionless face. He had a hand placed on the head of Frenzied Sword.
“Alright, Frenzied Sword has activated yet another new ability. This is… wait a minute, did I see this scenario in the last Pro League?” As the commentator spoke, his eyes bulged open.
When the commentator finished describing the Buff, the spectators were all dumbfounded.
(Advanced Strengthened Life]: Taken from Character Summon Card-Han Xiao.
Increase Health based off the END attribute at the ratio 1:60.
In addition, +25% Resistance, and for
every 40% decrease in Health, +10% All Attributes temporarily.
Time limit: 20 minutes.
“F*ck me, this… this is cheating!” The commentator could not help but curse.
The countless viewers were also shocked silly.
The extra Health added was more than his original total Health!
A few of them realized that Frenzied Sword had also utilized Black Star’s Character Summon Card in the previous Pro League.
Black Star again!
Since this Buff came from the Character Summon Card, it meant that this was an ability belonging to Black Star himself. All this time, the Attributes of Black Star had remained a mystery to the players. The players only knew that Black Star was abnormally strong but did not know his specific capabilities.
But right now, Frenzied Sword’s buff revealed the tip of the iceberg of Black Star. However, just this tip was enough to shock the players into silence.
A Mechanic actually has a meat shield-like talentdoesn’t that mean his Mechanic abilities will be even more perverted!
Or is it that the Mechanic profession can actually awaken such a meat shield like talent?
With such a powerful endurance related ability, Frenzied Sword continued to battle on, steamrolling through another three players before being defeated. Evil Sword then burst out, taking down the final opponent with some difficulty.
The points for the duels were calculated based on the difference between the number of people lost on both sides. On Rivervale’s side, only Frenzied Sword had lost, reducing the total number of losses from Kimchi by one. That was the total number of points awarded to Rivervale, and they clinched an overwhelming victory.
Cutting through five with himself, making a name for himself!
Rivervale obtained a large number of points, and them going to the finals would depend on whether Hydra was able to obtain points from Long Sky.
Long Sky did not disappoint the public. They did not hold back at all, beating Hydra up thoroughly and only allowing them to obtain a scarce number of points. Because Hao Tian was close to Frenzied Sword, along with everyone being part of China, he was willing to help Frenzied Sword with this favor.
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