Another group of people walked up to us while we were conversing with each other. This time, it was Warsky Alliance. Warsky donned a black armor, deep blue cape and wielded a fiery red sword. He looked every bit a top-tier fighter. Following behind him were October Rain and the usual members of Warsky Alliance.

"Warsky?"

I walked up to him and asked him with a smile, "What are you guys doing at our waiting area?"

Warsky grinned and shrugged a little. "I just want to check in with you. Are we not welcome? Man, you’re so unfriendly."

"Just cut to the chase already, will you…"

"Hahaha, fine, fine, it’s easier this way!"

Warsky sheathed his weapon before starting, "It’s like this. When this WEL competition is over, 29 cities in northern China including Shenyang, Beijing, Yinchuan, Lanzhou, Xi'an, Zhengzhou, Taiyuan, and Xuzhou will be forming an alliance called the ‘Northern Players Alliance’. Their goal is to improve organization when conducting a city battle. Everyone will be registering with their real names so that they can be contacted immediately and mobilized effectively whenever a war breaks out."

Lin Yixin replied, "That’s a good thing, but we’re all ‘southern’ players here so to speak. I don’t think this matters to us, does it?"

Warsky smiled awkwardly before continuing, "Well, my real objective is… ahem. You see, over 70 million players chose to join the Northern Players Alliance, but there needs to be a leader—the president in short—to give them direction. After I discussed this with all the guild leaders of the big guilds, we decided that whoever has the best result in this WEL competition will become the president of the Northern Players Alliance. Naturally, this untalented one decided to volunteer himself…"

I chuckled. "And?"

This time, October Rain stepped up to speak for her guild leader. "Warsky Alliance is the second strongest guild in China’s Guild Ranking, and as a person, Warsky is a forthright and cool-headed man. The Northern Players Alliance could only do well in his hands, which is why we’re hoping that you could show a teeny weeny bit of mercy if we happen to encounter one another in the latter matches. Warsky Alliance isn’t afraid of the challenge, we just want a wise and courageous leader to lead northern cities. I’m sure this is what everyone wishes to see, right?"

I nodded before replying, "I have no qualms with Warsky becoming the king of the north, but I must remind you that WEL is a fair competition. In short, we won’t be showing anyone mercy, especially because it’s our dream to become the champion of China. We won’t give up on it no matter what the reason!"

Warsky rubbed his nose and said helplessly, "I knew it would turn out like this. Oh well. By the way, if I do become the king of the north, is there a chance you’ll be calling yourself the king of the south, Lu Chen?"

I smiled, but shook my head without giving a reply.

"Why wouldn’t you?" Warsky asked.

It was at this moment Chaos Moon stepped out and said, "I see that your skin is growing thicker and thicker, Warsky. Lu Chen’s not your gay partner, is he? In that case, why would he try to match you in anything? How do you think Luo River God of the Capital, Candlelight Shadow, Stranger of Three Lifetimes and even Lin Yixin would feel if Lu Chen did put on a ‘Lu Chen in the south, Warsky in the north’ show with you? Seriously!"

I smiled. "What she said, basically. We are in an era of war, and I would rather keep a low profile than paint a target on my own back. Listen, I know Warsky Alliance has been undergoing rapid development recently, but it’s not like you have zero competition, you know? As you can see, even old timers like Soul Battle Robes and Snow Moon have begun to make their move, so my advice to you is to keep rallying people like you usually do and wait for a better time to call yourself king…"

"I never said I want to become the king of the north though?"

"It’s written all over your face, dude. Anyway, just focus on beating Snow Moon, Soul Battle Robes and Candle Dragon for now!"

I paused for a second before continuing, "Also, I can tell you that the influence of this WEL competition is far-reaching. There won’t be any Nation War while the competition is going on, but that will change immediately when the competition is over. Be ready. The Northern Alliance, Elephant City and Purple Grape City are all coveting our soil. Our true responsibility is to protect every inch of our homeland."

"Yes, I know!"

Warsky gave me a goodbye wave as he turned away. "Well, see you later. May both our teams make a good run in this WEL. Seriously though, where the hell did these strong teams even come from? It’s like they suddenly sprouted out of nowhere!"

"I know right…"

……

After Warsky and his men left, we went back to leaning against the handrails and staring at the gigantic battle arenas below us. We would be battling on these complicated and ever-changing stages in the very near future.

Already, this WEL competition was turning out to be a bag of "pleasant" surprises. Snow Moon and Soul Battle Robes had made a comeback without anyone noticing, and a couple of guilds I had never seen before had appeared on the venue as a Top 64 contender as well. We were definitely going to witness some new, unheard of class and skill in the very near future.

Over 80% of the competitors were seventh-promotion players, which was why I had read up on every seventh-promotion skill a little. Warrior class got War God Rampage, a skill that increased Attack and speed, and granted magic and CC immunity for 12 seconds. Against archers and mages, it was practically a 12-second long invincibility skill as they would not be able to stun the warrior while the skill was still active!

I already knew about the Magic Knight’s Trapping Net, the mage’s Touch of the Dragonkiss, and the archer’s Skypiercer. Wanderer’s seventh promotion skill was Rage of the Storm, a skill that increased Attack, Defense and Magic Resist, and Priest’s was the Life Heal that instantly restored a target to full health at the cost of half their MP. Assassin’s fourth promotion skill was a 12-second cooldown skill, Dance of Death—also nicknamed the "time of death" by some players—that put the assassin in a deadly offensive state. For 12 seconds, the assassin would gain a huge boost to their Attack, movement speed and attack speed, and reduce the target’s Defense by 40%. This meant that, when Dance of Death was used, it was do or die for both the assassin and the victim!

I wouldn’t be going into detail for the rest of the classes, but the tamers had Grasp of the Divine Beast, the tacticians had Dragon’s War Song, and bards got Challenging the Heavens. Out of these three, the bard’s Challenging the Heavens increased all of their target’s stats by 50%, meaning that bards had officially entered the era of full stat buffs, just like Purple Dragon tacticians and Lin Yixin.

……

I raised my head and looked at the spectator stands for a bit.The ring of seats were beyond the competitors’ waiting areas, and cost a bit of gold to enter. Honestly, you could be watching this competition from a PC or a TV and achieve almost the same experience, but many players ultimately decided that the privilege of witnessing their idols with their own eyes and cheering for them were well worth the gold. To give an idea on how much the virtual ticket cost, it was almost as expensive as a ticket to Jay Chow’s concert.

"Do your best, Candlelight Shadow! You are forever China’s number one Martial God!" a female archer shouted on top of her lungs with raised arms.

Candlelight Shadow looked up and gave her a smile. He didn’t say anything.

Then, another girl—a mage—rose to her feet and yelled, "China needs a kind and righteous Martial God, and you are the only one who fits the bill, Lu Chen! Do your best and take out that pretentious prick! Candlelight Shadow doesn’t deserve the throne!"

As it turned out, the mage was none other than Yu Tong herself, our new female recruit.

I didn’t know if Yu Tong expected this, but her retaliation almost caused a fight to break out on the spectator stands. Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls had more or less the same amount of fans as Candle Dragon did, so if a fight did break out, it was sure to get very messy.

It was at this moment blue light illuminated the center stage, its rays joining together to form a familiar figure. It was Fei’er, the legendary host who hosted countless tournaments for the games of Eternal Moon Corporation across the years. Naturally, she had zero reason not to show up on a global-scale competition like the WEL.

Fei’er grabbed the mic and said in her uniquely sweet and melodious voice, "Can everyone calm down for a moment? You over there, I don’t care if you’re a supporter of Lu Chen or Candlelight Shadow, you can duke it out AFTER I’ve finished my announcement. I couldn’t care less what happens afterward. Just remember to save your equipment for me after you’re dead!"

The commotion died immediately after Fei’er’s timely intervention. She definitely was a three times host of the WSL alright; she knew how to handle her audience very well.

"First, I would like to thank Eternal Moon Corporation for building such a wonderful game for all of us. Next, I would like to thank the competitors for participating, and all the gamers out there for showing their support. It is thanks to you that this industry is able to survive to the next generation and continuously develop itself! Thank you so much!"

She paused for a moment before continuing, "The Top 64 teams of WEL China have appeared, and the Top 4 teams and a champion will be born from them! They will bear our nation’s flag and travel abroad to fight against the world! They are our representatives and the pride of Sky City, Wind City and Vanished God City!"

When the thunderous claps ended, Fei’er finally finished her speech, "The first round of the play-offs, or the 1/32 phase, will begin shortly, and all the matches will be held at the same time. The complete list of line-ups will appear in 120 seconds, so participants, please enter your line-ups now! I repeat, all participants, please enter your line-ups now!!"

……

A familiar blue screen appeared in front of us, and He Yi walked up to it and typed in the line-up we had decided a while ago. Two minutes later, our first opponent appeared on the screen—

1v1: Beiming Xue LV-183 Dark Archer VS Spring Mud LV-178 Warrior

1v1: Lian Xing LV-182 Phantasm of Stars VS Night Sorrow LV-179 Archer

1v1: Broken Halberd Sinks Into Sand LV-182 Undead Swordsman VS Moon Shadow LV-180 Warrior

1v1: From Water LV-180 Magic Knight VS Young Master Le LV-179 Warrior

2v2: Beiming Xue LV-183 Dark Archer & Broken Halberd Sinks Into Sand LV-182 Undead Swordsman VS Night Sorrow LV-179 Archer & Moon Shadow LV-180 Warrior

……

What a coincidence! Not only was our first opponent the first seed of Flower Room, the three traitors were among them as well!

"I can’t believe this. This has got to be some of the easiest 32nd-finals in history…" He Yi commented in a dumbfounded tone.

I smiled back. "Let’s not waste this boon the heavens have granted us. Let’s take them out in five minutes!"

"Mn!"

Beiming Xue was the first player to go on stage, and she gave the still-sixth-promotion Spring Mud no chance to even land a hit on her. Several rounds of Spiraling Arrow Blades and Skypiercers later, the poor bastard collapsed to his knees after running half the circumference of the arena. Lian Xin was the next person to go on stage, and just like Beiming Xue, she forewent all defense and simply blasted Night Sorrow’s face with magic until he died. She was protected by her Telekinetic Shield, but Night Sorrow didn’t have any way to defend himself at all. Therefore, his chances of beating Lian Xin were always going to be lower than 10%

……

The girls scored two points for Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls in no time at all. I was the third player to go on stage, and my opponent was the Level 180 Moon Shadow, a former member of the guild.

"Lu Chen!" Moon Shadow called out to me with a glare.

"What?" I replied indifferently while gripping the Purple Ying Sword.

"I will never forget that you are the reason we were chased out of the guild!" Moon Shadow’s sword hand shook visibly with anger. "You are the reason we had to leave Murong Mingyue and He Yi!"

I sucked in a deep breath before retorting, "Oh really? Am I really the one who made them lose faith in you? Or are you the ones who never showed them any sincerity in the first place? I was just a big bargaining chip to you people, wasn’t I? To be honest, I can’t even describe how glad I am that Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls are rid of you fuckers. People like you don’t deserve to stay by Eve’s side at all!"

"Die, you bastard!"

Enraged, Moon Shadow activated his seventh-promotion skill, War God Rampage! For 12 seconds, his Attack was increased by 40%, his Defense was reduced by 25%, and he was immune to magic and CC effects!

……

It didn’t matter in the slightest, however. I charged him in a straight line and pierced his chest with Burning Blade Slash and Universe Break the second I activated Great Earth Transformation. 0.7 seconds later, the fight was over!