Chapter 123 - Unexpected Reaction!
The players near them tried their best to eavesdrop on their conversation. But Felix and Princess Bird expected such behavior to happen, thus they kept their conversation as quiet as possible.
"What do you think they were talking about Miss. Charming Sky?" A two-meter shredded giant stood with a n.a.k.e.d upper body, exposing his hairy chest and abs, asked the same alluring woman, who was wearing only a dark thin veil to cover her body.
"Why don't you go ask them yourself Muscle Boy?" She smiled teasingly, not caring about his fuming expression.
"Forget it; it was my fault to ask a b*tch like you." Pure Muscle turned around and left her alone.
'Hmm, but I do wonder what that cutie wanted from Landlord.' Intrigued, She licked her lips seductively while giving them one last glance.
The others as well, focused on different things after they lost interest in Felix.
Just because he was the one to propose the open wager, it didn't make him the main lead of it. In their eyes, their true rivals who would make them struggle to emerge as the winner were those around them. Players they either played with before or they heard about online.
As for Felix? He still got a long way before he reached their levels. That what they believed, and that's what Felix was going break during this game. The belief that a newbie would always be under the mercy of veterans in the games, due to the unbalanced ranks and integrations in each game.
Just like in this case, Felix's integration still didn't even reach greater purity, while those hardcore players already on the peak of 1 stage of rep.
This wide gap in strength resulted in the newbies to get bullied constantly by the veterans during the first games.
The veterans themselves went through the same hell during their starting days. Only those who survived the early first games could be called veterans.
Felix as well went through this newbie baptism in his previous life. He lost all of his placement games plus a few more following after. But he never complained about it, he was simply glad that he did not die in them.
However, things were going to be different in this life. As of now, Felix was the one who was going to bully those silver veterans and break this eternal circle.
....
Before long, the 30 minutes passed by in a heartbeat. The players didn't chat as much as before, to concentrate and calm their minds.
"My lovely players, you will be teleported in the stadium in ten seconds. Prepare yourselves and good luck!"
Everyone stopped whatever they were doing the moment they heard Zoe's announcement. Felix jumped down from the podium and stretched his restless limbs. The other players near him each did their own ritual before they get teleported.
Some kissed a necklace, some created a bucket of water and splashed their faces with it and some prayed for good fortune. Each had their own superstition ritual they used before every game for good luck and most importantly to survive at the end.
Losing a game was never the problem, as they could always queue up and try again, but dying uneventful death was what scared the shit of every player in the SG.
"Three..Two..One."
Immediately after Zoe finished her countdown, the bodies of the players disintegrated into light particles until no one was left inside the massive hall.
....
"Mastermania!!" "Mastermania!!" "I love you Mastermania!!"
The first thing Felix heard after his body reconstructed inside the stadium was the crazed cheering of Mastermania's fans. He smirked as he sized up the target of this unconditioned love.
A tall handsome man that had the kind of face that stopped everyone on their tracks to feast on it. He had tousled dark brown hair, which was thick and l.u.s.trous, and his eyes were a mesmerizing deep ocean blue. He smiled politely and waved his hand towards his fans, showing appreciation for their continuous support.
"Oh my god, He waved at me!!" "He is so handsome, I am going to faint.".. "His smile almost gave me a nosebleed."
His female fans, all had red cheeks, burning from excitement and rush at seeing their idol caring for them.
However, those chants did not last for long, before they got engulfed by much louder chants and drumming noises, deafening the ears of those poor women.
"LANDLORD!!!" "LANDLORD!!!" "LANDLORD!!"...
"Landlord of Inducements Club!! TELL ME WHAT WE SEEK?!!"
The same man with a bushy orange beard, who swore his loyalty to Felix during his previous game, roared loudly through a cheering gadget to make his voice heard even further.
"TO SEE VETERANS GET PLAYED TO DEATH!"
"TO SEE NEW UNIQUE INDUCEMENTS!",
"TO SEE HIS FACE!!"
"SCRAP THE LAST ONE AND CHANT HIS NAME!"
He smacked the back head of the fan who chanted the third one and ordered the club ardently.
"Landlord!!" "Landlord!!"...
Every player and spectator stood awestruck, hearing and seeing a newbie fan club dominating the famous fan club of Mastermania!
Even Felix himself had no idea that his popularity had reached this point from just one game. He assumed that he needed at least three games before his club gained a solid footing.
After all, his club needed materials to brag about him in order to seduce new members into joining. But what the hell was he seeing now?
A club created from a single game, dominating a deep-rooted club without any way to retaliate. How could those ladies contest in shouting with those barbaric hairy men who were charmed to support and cheer Felix, not by his looks, but his brutal fighting style, and specifically his unique bloodline?
There was just not a chance!
At the end of the day, SG was a platform for spectators to seek blood and gore, not to appreciate the players' good looks.
That was merely a bonus.
Mastermania's eyelids twitched slightly at this sight. He wasted a massive amount of resources to build his idol image. From doing interviews, meeting with fans, streaming his daily life, and more f*cked up things to raise his fan club into what it is today.
But here he was basking under the cheers of another player, who didn't even show his face to the public. He couldn't accept this bullshit fact, neither wanted to.
However, having gained an understanding of how things work in showbiz, he knew that he couldn't show even a hint of being affected by those cheers. Otherwise, the cameras wouldn't miss it and make sure to plant his face on the large screen for everyone to see. By then, the aloof handsome image he built would be shattered in an instant.
'Might as well take advantage of this situation and grab more attention to me.'
He approached Felix with his hand extended, a clear sign to all that he was seeking a handshake. The cheeky bastard was quite far from Felix, so for him to extend his hand in this way, was an obvious attempt at stealing attention from Felix to him.
Zoe as the MC clearly didn't miss such a juicy interaction. She immediately switched the camera to focus only on it, displaying the upcoming drama for all to see.
Mastermania glanced at his handsome image on the screen and smiled even more beautifully, sending a 2nd wave of female screams in the audience.
'Heh, works every time on those shallow women.'
Even though he thought so, his face never showed any hint of disdain, he merely kept walking towards Felix step by step not rushing at all, to gather as much attraction as possible.
He was trained to do so by his agency from the moment he went a fully-fledged idol.
This was his path, to reach peak popularity by relying on the SG platform. As for winning games? That was merely secondary, what's important to him and his agency was the massive revenue he earned after each game, ranging from 100 million to half a billion based on the streaming percentage he received.
The only downside to this kind of coin farming was the risk of dying during the games. As other players would constantly keep hunting him down to gain instant success. But Mastermania didn't survive the previous games just based on his looks.
Anyone who believed so would be taken on a ride. If it was not for his strong prowess, Felix wouldn't have added him to his threat list.
To be an Idol one should first have total confidence in his strength. Otherwise, surviving the first game was merely wishful thinking.
"Oh, it seems like you are quite popular Mr. Landlord." Immediately after facing Felix, he began flattering him with a polite charming smile.
Felix kept switching sight between Mastermania's sincere eyes and his extended hand that was in front of him.
The players watched this sight, curious about Felix's reaction. Meanwhile, Zoe kept speaking passionately about the birth of a new friendship between two popular players, asking the fan clubs to join hands and cheer for them both.
Unexpectedly, Felix tilted his head to the side, not even bothering to take his hands outside of his pockets, and asked utterly bewildered, "Do I know you to act friendly with me?"