In complete contrast to our mood, Vienna’s Sorrow and his team walked out of their battle rooms with ugly expressions on their faces. They had entered this competition with every intention of winning it, even going so far as to declare that they would keep both the champion trophy and the MVP title in Los Angeles. Unfortunately for them, we were the ones who had the last laugh.

The final result was displayed on the big screens already, followed by the reward each team would get according to their ranking.

……

After we walked down the stage, Li Chengfeng ran up to me, hugged me and slapped my shoulder until I felt like a bone would break. "Hahaha, well fought, Lu Chen! Not only did you absolutely wreck Vienna’s Sorrow’s ass, you even fended off Breeze and Rain and God of War long enough for Beiming Xue to save you! You’re the only one in the entire world who could pull off such a feat!"

But Stranger of Three Lifetimes dumped a cold bucket on top of his head, saying, "Eh, he survived Breeze and Rain and God of War only because he had a slight equipment advantage. Also, didn’t Vienna’s Sorrow beat him during the second round? Even in the third round, he wasn’t so dominant that Vienna’s Sorrow had no chance of turning the tables at all, so to say that he absolutely wrecked Vienna’s ass is just…"

Li Chengfeng’s face immediately blackened. "Stranger, you know what people do to downers, don’t you?"

Stranger of Three Lifetimes spat. "Tsk, Sister He Yi taught you too well…"

Li Chengfeng laughed loudly. "Whatever you say. Anyway, Lu Chen’s treating us when we head home, right?"

I nodded. "No problem. I'll even hold a three-day banquet…"

Stranger of Three Lifetimes said, "Really? Then I’ll come back to Suzhou with y’all…"

Me: "..."

……

After the game and thankyous were done, it was finally time for a far more rewarding business, so to speak. The reward list appeared on the big screen again, and, I gotta say, every time I looked at it, I couldn’t help but be wowed by the generosity of the organizers. It was so, so much better than the nationals’ rewards—

17th to 32th: Level +2, Luck +2, 10000 EUR per player, and a chance to draw at best a Heaven-grade item!

9th to 16th: Level +3, Luck +3, 20000 EUR per player, and a chance to draw at best a Heaven-grade item!

5th to 8th: Level +4, Luck +4, 100000 EUR per player, and a chance to draw at best an Immortal-grade item!

3rd to 4th: Level +5, Luck +5, 200000 EUR per player, and a chance to draw at best an Immortal-grade item!

2nd: Level +6, Luck +6, 500000 EUR per player, and a chance to draw a Divine Armament–level item!

1st: Level +8, Luck +8, 1000000 EUR per player, and a chance to draw an item beyond Divine Armament–level!

……

As per the nationals, the reward distribution began from the 17th to 32rd teams first. The only team from China that fell under this category was Soul Battle Robes, so Song of Cloud and Water led Ringwraith, Song of Ice and Fire and God Bone up the stage to receive their reward. The process was quick and simple: scan your retina, spin the circle and receive your reward. However, the best prize they could draw was a Heaven-grade item only. Song of Cloud and Water got a 4-star Outstanding Heaven-grade shield that could probably be sold for 50k RMB on the streets, which wasn’t bad at all. The 10k EUR monetary reward was also pretty amazing. Both rewards paled in comparison to 2 levels and 2 Luck, however. One of the major reasons players competed in this competition was to obtain the rare Luck stat. After all, with enough Luck, obtaining great equipment was only a matter of time and number of bosses killed.

When the prize draw was over, 60% of the players got Heaven-grade equipment, 35% got Earth-grade equipment, and 5% unlucky children got Purple Gold–grade equipment. The supermen from Ukraine, for example, wept tears of "joy" when they got their prizes.

The next group to receive their prizes, the 9th to 16th teams, got much better rewards. Everyone got 3 levels and 3 Luck, and 90% of the players got Heaven-grade equipment. Of course, at this stage of the game, Heaven-grade equipment wasn’t anything special for experts on the stage.

Finally, the highlight of the reward ceremony began. First, the 5th to 8th teams went on stage to draw their prizes.

Tear Stain’s Throne of the Wild and Candlelight Shadow’s Candle Dragon were among this group. I doubted that either team expected to falter before they even entered the semi-finals.

On the stage, Tear Stain stopped in front of Candlelight Shadow before saying, "Candlelight, we both lost, but…"

Candlelight Shadow cut her off with a shake of his head. "You don’t need to say or prove anything to me. As I’ve already told you, I was always going to return to my country and serve my people after I graduated. With that in mind, I suggest that we interact less from now on. Don’t forget that the China server and the Korea server is at war right now, and I will never switch sides, understand?"

Tear Stain stared at him for a moment. In the end, she nodded and said, "Alright. I will support your decision no matter what it is. That being said, surely you don’t have a problem with me challenging Broken Halberd Sinks Into Sand until I beat him, do you?"

Candlelight Shadow snorted once, but didn’t say anything about that.

……

Candlelight Shadow, Tear Stain, God’s Dance and another two Korean players all got Immortal-grade equipment. Blue Sky Scar even got a Heaven Rank Boss pet, the lucky bastard. Also, every player in this reward tier got 100k EUR for their troubles, and I’m sure they didn’t mind it one bit!

It was now time for the semi-finalists to receive their prizes. Lin Yixin rose to her feet and said to me, "Pray for me, will you? I’m gunning for Divine Armament…"

I smiled cheekily at her. "Sorry to disappoint you, but 3rd and 4th-place participants have no chance of drawing a Divine Armament. You should thank your lucky stars if you even get Archean Immortal-grade equipment…"

Lin Yixin waved her fist threateningly at me before saying, "Hmph. C’mon, guys and girls!"

Snowy Cathaya and Cyan Beast went up to receive their prizes. It was worth nothing that Breeze and Rain and God of War wore grim expressions probably because they had failed to win the internationals.

On stage, Breeze and Stage shot Lin Yixin a look and was wowed by her gorgeous looks. He gave her a smile and said in slightly broken Chinese, "You are a strong player, Wind Fantasy. It’s too bad… we didn’t get a chance to spar!"

Purple Marquis laughed at him. "Spar? What for? Her boyfriend already kicked your ass! Whatever chance you had is long gone, my dude!"

"What? She already has a boyfriend?" Breeze and Rain exclaimed in shock.

Shadow Chanel happily poured salt on his wound. "Her boyfriend is Broken Halberd Sinks Into Sand, you know, the guy who defeated you during the semi-finals?"

"Ah…" His complexion instantly turned a shade of gray.

God of War patted his shoulders and tried to console him, "Heard of the saying ‘there’s plenty of weed in the sea’? You’ll find someone…"

Lin Yixin interrupted their broment frigidly, "Please don’t use an idiom if you can’t get it right. Anyway, a war between our countries is on the horizon, so I’m sure we will have a lot of chances to spar in the near future!"

Breeze and Rain cast away his sorrow and clenched his fist in determination. "I don’t know if this is love at first sight, and I don’t care. I just want you to know that I’ll beat Broken Halberd Sinks Into Sand and change your opinion of me!"

Lin Yixin chuckled. "Do whatever you want."

……

Beneath the stage, Lian Xin said in a dumbfounded tone, "Aiya, Lin Yixin truly is a sinful woman. She isn’t even trying, and she’s making enemies for you wherever she goes. It looks like Breeze and Rain is going to haunt your every step from now on…"

I smiled. "That’s fine, you can protect me, right?"

"He’s too fast, I can't beat him…"

"Try harder then!"

That pissed off Lian Xin a bit. "And why the hell should I do that? She’s your girlfriend!"

Li Chengfeng laughed heartlessly. "Oooh, it’s drama! Drama!"

Me: "..."

……

Anyway, back to Lin Yixin. The girl nervously stood in front of the prize drawing device and pressed a finger on the main display. A blue screen appeared, and a wheel began spinning rapidly. Lin Yixin did her utmost to identify the prizes, but all she got for her efforts was an onset of dizziness. In the end, she steeled her resolve and pressed "Confirm”.

The wheel slowed down more and more until a shiny female battle suit with fiery patterns on it entered everyone’s view. Unfortunately, the needle skipped over it and stopped at a black shield instead. The system notice said: Player "Wind Fantasy" has obtained "Shield of the Forest Turtle" (Heaven-grade, Outstanding★★★)

"Wah…" Lin Yixin’s mouth fell open.

I shook my head. "I can hear Yiyi’s heart shattering all the way from here…"

Even He Yi said, "Poor Yiyi, what terrible luck. That battle dress right before the shield seems to be a Divine Armament, or Immortal-grade at least with its orange-red luster…"

I nodded in agreement. "Yeah, 3rd and 4th place can get a Divine Armament if they’re lucky. Unfortunately, Yiyi didn’t have that luck…"

"Yeah…"

On the other side, Breeze and Rain drew his prize from the same wheel Lin Yixin drew from—I knew that because I saw that battle dress on the wheel—and obtained an Archean Immortal-grade sword that seemed even better than the one he was currently wielding. He bubbled with excitement for a moment, but suddenly shot Lin Yixin a regretful look and said, "I would’ve gifted you that battle dress if I drew it!"

Lin Yixin sneered, "Please, I couldn’t possibly accept such a valuable gift even if you did!"

……

Beside me, Stranger of Three Lifetimes pointed her lips at Breeze and Rain and said, "Lu Chen, that guy’s wooing your girlfriend right in front of you. Do you really have nothing to say?"

I clenched my fists and made a great showing of my hatred. "That motherfucker! Once we get back to China, I’m going to attack Cyan Earth City and destroy his cave!"

Warsky shot me a strange look. "You serious? You’d better be kidding, dude. Cyan Earth City is protected by Elephant City and Purple Grape City, and right now, we haven’t even expanded our influence past White Rose Fortress yet. It’s far more likely that you’re the one who’ll get rekt by them, not to mention that your reason for fighting them is absolutely terrible…"

I looked at him and said seriously, "If we’re going to war, Warsky Alliance will be our vanguard."

The guild leader hurriedly shook his head. "No way, get someone else to be your cannon fodder…"

It was at this moment Beiming Xue pulled my arm and said, "Big bro, look, it’s Purple Marquis’s turn to draw, and I think he’s…"

We all looked back to the stage, and it turned out that Beiming Xue’s intuition was spot-on. Of all the people who could’ve drawn the fiery battle dress, Purple Marquis had to be the one to draw it. If the sound of Lin Yixin’s shattering heart was loud, it was nothing compared to Purple Marquis’s. The last equipment he needed was one that didn’t even fit his gender—

Fire Goddess Battle Armor (Cambrian Divine Armament, Outstanding★★★★★★★)

Defense: 8500

Magic Resist: 6750

Strength: +1250

Stamina: +1220

Agility: +1100

Intelligence: +990

Tactics: +105

Passive: Increases user’s Defense by 75%

Passive: Increases user's max HP by 70000

Passive: Increases resistance toward all types of magic by 140%

Outstanding Property: Wind of Fire. Fire surrounds the battle armor and burns all nearby enemies for a certain amount of HP per second. The amount of damage dealt is tied to the user’s Attack.

Slots: 15

Gender Requirement: Female

Level Requirement: 190

Reputation Requirement: 450000