Chapter 649 Group Taunt
After a few days, the result of the second round of the Division Finals was decided. Dynasty defeated Long Sky steadily, and Rivervale barely beat Thunder Storm. Dynasty met Rivervale in the last round for the championship.
Frenzied Sword could not carry on his luck from before; their raw skill difference was too vast, and he could not lead Rivervale to victory. In the end, they finished first runners-up, and Dynasty were once again the Divisions champions.
King Admiral had made the announcement before the competition started that they would finish both Divisions champions and International champions. They had already achieved one of them. Dynasty continued to attract more attention as time went on; countless players hoped that Dynasty could really live up to their words.
To Frenzied Sword, getting the first runner-up the first time he led a team was satisfying enough. His team still had a lot of room to improve and practice their teamwork. Rivervale was certainly the dark horse of this season, and they obtained a lot of new fans.
Long Sky defeated Thunder Storm and got the Divisions second runner-up. If not because they had met Dynasty in the second round, Hao Tian’s team would have been the first runners-up of the Divisions.
The results of the various divisions were decided, and the Divisions ended. There were more than ten days to rest before the International Regulars.
There were no more matches in the various divisions. The Internationals could not be viewed at the scene and only watched on the broadcast. Hence, the players did not remain on the planets used for the Divisions and went to do their own stuff while paying close attention to the forums.
Due to the Divisions, countless players did not do any mission during this time. Only more than a hundred thousand mercenaries in the Black Star Army and very few players were still taking on missions. However, although the business was neglected, not only did Han Xiao not make a loss, but he made a humongous amount of profit instead.
Most of the Ability Potions were sold. The business of selling machines and repairing equipment was also quite profitable. Han Xiao had made many tens of millions of Enas, almost doubling his bank account while emptying the wallets of many players.
With this money, he could purchase more fleets and recruit more freelance mercenaries. During the version update when he would not have the help of the close to a million players, he would have to rely on the money that he had earned from them to develop himself. Ten years was not a short period of time—the more money he could make before that, the merrier.
After the players left, Han Xiao returned to Base No.1 and sent out a message to recruit people from all around the Star Cluster. He started to prepare for the secret war that was about to break out between Klent and Purple Crystal. His current focus was to get more Favorability from Purple Crystal and obtain the Cutting-Edge Knowledge. Before he obtained the Cutting-Edge Knowledge from the Purple Crystal Civilization, he was not planning to personally take on any other missions.
However, Han Xiao received a mission that he could not reject-it was a message from the Sky Ring Army.
One mercenary team from Sky Ring encountered dangers that they could not resolve during their mission. The initial mission was an ordinary mission to deal with the rebellion on a planet. According to the employer’s explanation, the strongest person among the enemies was just Grade B. However, a Calamity Grade enemy appeared. The Black Star Army was the nearest ally that Sky Ring had, so this team could only request emergency reinforcements from Black Star.
Black Star had become one of the top mercenary groups long ago, but he still maintained his partnership with large mercenary groups such as Sky Ring. Usually, Han Xiao would definitely help them himself since it would not be too much trouble, but this time, he did not want to go there himself. Hence, he called Lagi over.
Ever since he joined the Black Star Army, the previously unoccupied Magic Research Lab had become Lagi’s territory. He spent every day there doing research and studying. Using his words, he was ‘doing meaningless things to make time pass faster while waiting for himself to rot and grow old.’
However, despite being extremely pessimistic and negative, his raw skills were too high. He improved the magic aspect of the Black Star Army single-handedly. At the very least, a Grade A Mage’s enchantment effect was far superior to a Grade B’s. Han Xiao had already gotten Lagi to re-enchant his mechanical suits and weapons, which considerably increased their stats while adding many special effects.
Han Xiao planned to send Lagi to do this mission. No matter what, he was the only Calamity Grade officer, and he had to at least take on some responsibility.
With Lagi, the Black Star Army could deal with Calamity Grade missions even without Han Xiao. He did not have to do everything himself anymore.
Sylvia brought Lagi to Han Xiao’s room, and Han Xiao cut to the chase. “I have a mission for you.”
“I knew it.” Lagi sighed. “Bad feelings often are proven to be right.”
Han Xiao ignored him and explained, “One of Sky Ring’s team requested reinforcements from us. The enemy is a Calamity Grade. Currently, in the army, you’re the only one that can deal with a Calamity Grade other than myself. As the captain, it’s not suitable for me to settle this kind of low priority matter. Hence, you will be going there to rescue them. This is your first mission. I believe in your strength. You can pick any spaceship from the hangar apart from mine. The information about the target and the coordinates have been sent to you.”
“I have a question.”
“What.”
“Can I not go?”
“Take a guess.”
Lagi tested the waters and asked, “If they are already all dead by the time I arrive, does that mean I don’t have to do the mission anymore?”
Han Xiao squinted and said, “Are you thinking about taking a detour to purposely waste time?”
“I’m exposed...” Lagi had a bitter expression on his face.
Is this person even reliable at all? Veins popped out on Han Xiao’s forehead. He sighed and said, “Quickly get going. I don’t want to see your first mission end with a failure.”
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.