"Beauty Lin sure is an ambitious girl…"

He Yi commented with a smile, "According to the MVP rules, the amount of enemy attacks you avoided, the amount of damage you received, the amount of damage you deal and more all contribute toward the MVP score. Killing an enemy without losing any HP especially adds a lot of points. She’s clearly paving her way to become the MVP…"

I smiled. "Yeah, Vienna’s Sorrow was trying to do the same thing himself. Who doesn’t want to be the MVP and potentially get their city upgraded? Our Dark Moon City is already at Rank 10, but maybe it can get higher and reach Rank 11, literally breaking the conventions of the game? Oooh, I can’t wait…"

He Yi rolled her eyes at me. "You are way too greedy…"

I shrugged. "It’s all for the guild. Also, if Dark Moon City gets to the point where it practically grows money on trees, you won’t have to travel all across the world for Raincube anymore. It’s going to be March real soon, and the flowers are all blooming already. I want us to go on a spring trip and pluck strawberries or something, but you’re always so busy, so…"

He Yi hummed as she looked at me with those deep, beautiful eyes of hers. Then, she smiled and said, "Very well, the day Dark Moon City turns into a money tree is the day I sell my shares in Raincube and roll in the interest. Let’s work toward that goal together, okay?"

Unable to stand the sweetness in the air any longer, Murong Mingyue said, "Hmph hmph, I can’t believe that the iron woman everyone looks up to in the IT industry just declared that she’ll give up her career for love. This world is way too biased toward femme fatales and handsome devils…"

I stared at her. "Who are you calling a handsome devil? I just want Eve to live easier is all. Her work is exhausting."

Murong Mingyue giggled. "To be honest, I’m quite exhausted myself, you know? Sure, it comes with the job, but when your boss dumps over half of her workload on you and doesn’t even pay you for overtime, it’s just…"

However, He Yi shut down her rant mercilessly. "Cut the bullcrap, you literal definition of a slothful glutton…"

Murong Mingyue: "..."

……

While we were talking, Lin Yixin had already won the second round and scored the first point. Snowy Cathaya’s chosen for the second match, Shadow Chanel did pretty well as well. Since it was quite obvious what the enemy was planning, all the dark tongue mage did was dodge their Trapping Nets twice in a row and kill them. She didn’t even need to dodge like Lin Yixin did because Trapping Nets didn’t work on mages until their Magic Shields were broken. She too swept her opponent with a 2:0 win.

Purple Marquis’ win was even more dominant than Shadow Chanel’s. The second the third match began, he used Insight to seal off the enemy’s Knight General before switching to Encourage VII, boosting his own Attack by over 100%. Then, he used Absolute Zero and Chaos Universe to annihilate his opponent perfectly! Both rounds were practically carbon copies of each other.

It was Clear Perfume’s turn to fight, and Lin Yixin whispered something beside her ears before sending her into the arena. The moment the battle began, Clear Perfume withdrew from her opponent and fired Skypiercer and followed up with ice and armor-breaking arrows at her opponent in rapid succession. At this point, the Turkish player barely had any fighting spirit left, so he died without putting up much resistance at all.

Obviously, the final 2v2 match ended in Snowy Cathaya’s victory as well.

And so, Snowy Cathaya advanced to the eighth-finals with a 5:0 overall score and a 10:0 individual score. They had practically annihilated their opponent like a death ray. Of course, it was because Turkey’s gaming level was pretty poor, and their champion team was at best a second-rate team in China.

Snowy Cathaya got a thunderous applause when they walked out of the battle room. It was because Lin Yixin boosted the guild’s popularity to unthinkable levels. In fact, there were foreigners who had heard of Snowy Cathaya before Candle Dragon. In a sense, if you were a gamer, it was hard to miss a gorgeous beauty who was also a super genius in gaming.

After Lin Yixin came back, Beiming Xue immediately served her a cup of tea and complimented her, "Sister Yiyi, your dueling skills are gorgeous to look at!"

"It’s nothing, the enemy went easy on us…" Lin Yixin’s display of "humility" was so fake that I nearly blushed from second-hand embarrassment.

……

The day continued. Wheel of Sun and Moon (Korea) destroyed Burning Sand (Egypt) with a 5:0 overall score, and Yellow Dragon (Russia) destroyed Jannah (Pakistan) with a 4:1 score. On an unrelated note, I always felt like laughing whenever I saw the name Pakistan. Here’s a joke: What’s the similarity between Pakistan and Game of Thrones? They both have a "stanis"! Get it? No? Well, moving on...

[1]

"Alright, it’s our turn, girls! Let’s go!" I grabbed my bag and rose to my feet. However, I was surprised when I heard a thunderous applause from somewhere. There were even a couple of people lifting a banner with the words, "Lu Chen, Little Heavenly King, Fight!" etched on them! What the heck?

I looked closer at the banner lifters and discovered that they were all girls. In fact, they were none other than Heaven’s Rain, Diamond Dust and Yu Tong!

When did they come to Los Angeles? And how did they get their visas approved so quickly? It couldn’t have been easy!

Lin Yixin giggled beside me. "Yo, looks like you have a lot of die-hard fans yourself, Lu Chen…"

I replied, "But of course. Anyway, here I go!"

I led the way while He Yi, Beiming Xue and Lian Xin followed behind me. Murong Mingyue was a priest, so her only duty was to sit on the bench and wait for the prize award ceremony. Currently, the meta for 2v2 matches was to annihilate one opponent before they annihilate one of yours. When the game first launched, most players didn’t have the burst to tear through a priest’s Spell Shield like paper, so a battle of attrition was technically possible. Now though, their shield durability was less than 50% of a mage’s, and they lacked the ability to change the battlefield or provide ranged DPS. Right now, the only way a priest might become viable in 2v2 was if they became a Divine General and gained Great Earth Transformation. Once their greatest weakness also known as their survivability was fixed, they could outlast their opponent just like at the beginning of the game.

On the stage, I checked out the enemy’s team composition while the host was introducing us. They were two warriors, one mage and one archer. None of them were hidden classes, and one of the warriors was at the same level as me, Level 187. So I said, "Eve, put me in the first match, will you? I think their ace is going to fight the first match as well, so…"

But He Yi shot me a knowing look and a sweet smile. "I know exactly what you’re thinking, dear!"

"Oh? What was I thinking?"

"You want to beat their ace without losing any HP and challenge your own limits, am I right?"

I was surprised. "God damn, you actually do know my plan…"

Lian Xin giggled from the side. "Come on, anyone who’s a human can see that!"

"Hmph hmph, so what if it’s obvious? I’m going to do it one way or another. You girls are the ones who should be careful. Ukraine isn’t a weak country, so…"

"We know!"

After He Yi entered our line-up, the match-up appeared on the screen—

1v1: Broken Halberd Sinks Into Sand LV-187 Undead Swordsman VS Seven Degrees Below Zero LV-187 Warrior

1v1: Beiming Xue LV-188 Dark Archer VS Python God LV-186 Archer

1v1: From Water LV-185 Magic Knight VS Eclipse LV-185 Mage

1v1: Lian Xing LV-187 Phantasm of Stars VS Moonlight LV-185 Warrior

2v2: Broken Halberd Sinks Into Sand LV-187 Undead Swordsman & Beiming Xue LV-188 Dark Archer VS Seven Degrees Below Zero LV-187 Warrior & Eclipse LV-185 Mage

……

As expected, the enemy sent their highest-leveled player, Seven Degrees Below Zero, to fight me. The warrior had to be the Ukraine team’s ace, so this was just perfect!

The first match was about to begin!

Swhoosh!

Seven Degrees Below Zero donned a black armor, a red cloak and wielded a dark blue-colored sword. After stabbing his sword into a nearby rock, he smiled at me and asked, "I know you, Broken Halberd Sinks Into Sand. You are the second strongest player of China, aren’t you?"

I kept the Purple Ying Sword lowered, but activated Great Earth Transformation. I replied, "It’s just a meaningless ranking. No one can remain the strongest forever. They can be surpassed while they are having lunch if they get careless!"

Seven Degrees Below Zero suddenly looked up and laughed. "Well, I can tell you right now that I’m the strongest player in Ukraine. I don’t believe in destiny, and it is my belief that only a man who managed to defeat all his opponents and step on the throne is worthy of respect. After all, it is in a man’s nature to become a king. What this means is that I won’t respect you until you become the best player in China. After all, a king can only look down on his subjects, am I right? Hahahaha…"

I simply curled my lips and said, "Whatever you say…"

What an arrogant bastard. I wasn’t going to go easy on him, but now I was definitely going to make a fool out of him. Keep gloating, because you won’t get a second chance to do so after I make you weep like a baby!

……

The countdown began, and the digitized voice struck against my heart like a gong. To be honest, I was just as nervous as Lin Yixin was just now. Just like her, this was the first time I was participating in an international competition. Although I was perfectly confident in my abilities, I couldn’t help but feel a bit nervous. For example, I didn’t dare roam the streets of Los Angeles myself because my English sucked, and I wouldn’t know the way back to the hotel in the event I lost my way. It was my first time here after all.

3!

2!

1!

Seven Degrees Below Zero charged me the moment the battle began. His technique was practical, and the skill he chose to begin his assault with was the Earth Shattering Slash, a skill with a cone-shaped area of effect that was very difficult to evade. Not for me though. He had used his cloak to hide the wind-up of his skill, but the concealing act itself told me exactly what he was planning to do!

Swhoosh!

I activated Thunderous Charge and left literal lightning in my wake. My sword clashed against his large blade 0.1 second before Earth Shattering Slash could activate!

Chiang!

It was a beautiful read. I had killed the skill before he could use it.

"Dammit!"

Enraged, Seven Degrees Below Zero twisted his wrist and slashed horizontally at me in a practiced motion.

I swiftly reversed my grip on my sword and parried the attack yet again. At the same time, I jumped into the air and slapped the bladed tip of the Sea Suppressing Poleyn into his chin. Then, I activated Universe Break and slashed downward at his shoulder!

Thunk!

87899!

Seven Degrees Below Zero turned as white as a sheet. He rotated on his feet and tried to slash me, but again my sword appeared at just the right angle to parry it. I kicked him in the stomach to push him away from me, and before he could react I slashed his head for a big fat MISS. Somehow turning even whiter than before, Seven Degrees Below Zero exhaled instinctively, "What? Pardon…"

Thud thud thud!

I jumped a couple of steps away from Seven Degrees Below Zero and tossed my sword at him. The image of a dragon surrounded the sword, and the improved version of Sword Boomerang, Coiling Dragon Revolution, swept toward him like a hurricane!

Boom!

A huge explosion later, the Purple Ying Sword punched right through the warrior’s chest, leaving behind a terrifyingly huge hole.

148282!

It was a perfect win; a flawless victory just like Lin Yixin’s!

1:0!

1. (T/N: The original joke is: What’s the similarity between Pakistan and Kaspersky? They both have a "dick" in their names. For obvious reasons I ain’t gonna translate that, not to mention that it’s untranslatable. E/N: How the actual fudge did you even think of that Pakistanis joke)