At the edge of players, Li Ge was frowning.

Most of the players were surprised about Han Xiao selling class advancement knowledge, but not Li Ge, who was not happy at all. He already had another type of class advancement knowledge, which the Guild of Gods had poured their resources to help him get. It was Li Ge’s trump card; he was going to use it to shine in the competition.

However, Han Xiao’s actions largely decreased the effectiveness of this trump card of his, indirectly reducing the difference between him and the other players. Something that everyone owned would not be considered rare anymore.

Li Ge stared at Han Xiao with unknown meanings.

A few god-level players at the sides chatted in a group, and as usual, Second Prince was bragging. “With the god player, me, bringing Dynasty into the finals will be a piece of cake. An old man like Old Wang would beg me to carry him.”

“If it wasn’t for King Admiral 1 , you Dynasty would not be one of the biggest clubs,” Sun Eggplant said with contempt.

Second Prince was furious. They argued for some time, and Li Ge walked over with a smile and said, “It’s good to be confident. I hope everyone will be honing their skills. I need some help in the international competition to earn honor for China.”

They raised the corner of their lips. They disliked the attitude of Li Ge always considering himself as the leader. Hao Tian said directly, “I don’t like you to always representing others, speak for yourself.”

Li Ge’s smile vanished. He looked at Hao Tian and said coldly, “Then I will see you in the competition. Don’t let me win too easily.”

They stared at each other with sparks flying.

Suddenly, a laid-back voice appeared from the side. “Found you, moron, follow me back to the team for practice.”

The others turned around to look. A player with an unshaven beard walked over. He looked scruffy and slovenly, but the ID above his head was ‘King Admiral’. This was indeed the low-key, mysterious pro player at the top of the leaderboard in China, Dynasty’s core. He had an eminent nickname—Emperor!

“Don’t call me moron!” Second Prince was not happy.

“Okay, moron.” King Admiral nodded.

“Ah, *sshole!” Second Prince lost his cool easily when he saw the god player in his own team. He said furiously, “Don’t be so arrogant! One day, I will ride on your back and show you who’s better!”

Eww!

The others were loathing.

As if he had yet to wake up, King Admiral dragged Second Prince away by his collar without greeting the others. He did things his own way and did not get along with the others, but in Li Ge’s eyes, this was arrogance.

Looking at King Admiral’s back, Li Ge’s eyes sparkled, and he grunted in his mind. He yearned for King Admiral’s top seat; his career could only advance further if he became the top player.

“There’s no room for error in this Pro League.”

They exchanged looks and saw the resolve in each other’s eyes.

…

After three continuous days of sales, the EXP that Han Xiao received had reached an outrageous 1,000,000,000! Including the previous 500,000,000, he had a total of 1,500,000,000 EXP!

The amount of EXP storage determines how long I don’t have to worry for EXP in space. The next stage of my growth will be between the stars. The opportunities for growth can only be caught with enough EXP. After LV 70, the expenditure for EXP will be higher and higher. Plus, I’m a very experience-consuming Mechanic. After entering space, there will not be many chances to meet a large number of players, and there’s still the blank period between the version updates.

Han Xiao was thinking about future directions. Although the EXP that he had looked like a large amount, it would be finished one day after he entered the galaxy. Since that was definite, he had to hoard as much EXP as he could.

Bang!

A firework rose into the sky from the square outside the window.

This signified the official start of the Pro League!

The sound of cheers soared through the skies and created a sound wave, spreading out like a tsunami.

Looking down at the arena, the arena had now been reconstructed into the structure of a stadium. In the heart of it was a large ring surrounded by nine smaller rings. At the edge of the center was a large screen, and under the screen were the seats for the announcers and judges. At the exteriors were the audience seats, which were completely filled at this time without any vacancies, with yelling and cheering lighting up the atmosphere of the festival.

“So it begins.” Han Xiao lay on the sofa, changed into a comfortable position, and opened the forums to watch the live stream.

There were tens of millions of others who were watching the stream like him!

The beautiful female host, Red Phoenix, wore a professional smile on her face and gave the opening speech standing in the highest ring. Her pleasing to the ear voice echoed in the arena from the speakers. “Galaxy Pro League Season One, Planet Aquamarine Division’s Qualifiers officially commence!

“We have 2,759 teams and 104,652 players registered. The teams will compete in the wild areas. The arena is the venue for Singles; these rings will be where the contestants compete! One round elimination, the pairs will be chosen at random. The loser will be eliminated, and the winner will enter the next round till the best 38 teams and 64 players are selected.

“The Qualifiers will last for one month of in-game time. Yes, this will be a long season, but the entire process will be streamed. The audiences watching the stream can choose the player they want to watch freely, and our official stream will randomly choose the battles that are highlight-worthy.”

Red Phoenix finished talking about the competition rules and the speech to light up the atmosphere, then pointed toward the entrance to the arena.

“Next, let’s start the opening battle for Singles. Let’s give a warm welcome to the two contestants!”

From the dark tunnel, Hao Tian and the contestant with the ID ‘Star Chess’ walked out. The moment the two of them appeared, the atmosphere of the arena reached its climax!

To guarantee the atmosphere of the opening battle, the players had been chosen between the registered pro players. Hao Tian and Star Chess had thus been selected.

The two walked up to the main ring. Red Phoenix stood between them and introduced them. “I believe everyone is familiar with the contestant on my right. An old warrior battling in the Esports ring for nine years, earning top-five multiple times in the China pro player leaderboard, possessing an honorable and amazing battle history, with a steady and firm battle style yet not lacking aggressiveness. He is the core player of Long Sky Club, Hao Tian!

“On my left is a player you might not be so familiar with. He’s a senior in the Esports industry, once belonging to the Temple of God. His position was the core of his club, just like Li Ge now, but he retired five years ago. Now, he returns with his past honor and winning resolve. He re-contracted with the Temple of God Club, Star Chess!”

Cheering exploded between the audiences. Both sides had supporters, but the fan group of Star Chess was comparatively smaller. He had been retired for five years; therefore, his popularity had mostly faded. Star Chess looked up at his fans. They were all familiar faces; he did not expect there to still be a group of such supportive fans even after his five years of retirement. He was quite touched. He nodded toward his fans as a greeting.

The fans cheered even louder with all their strength as they saw this.

After Red Phoenix introduced both sides, she first approached Star Chess and said with a smile, “Welcome back to the pro scene. How are you feeling now?”

“Nostalgic,” Star Chess said with a lot of emotion. “I’m reminded of the days I used to battle in the pro scene.”

“We’ll always remember the achievements you led Temple of God to and that tint of pride.” Red Phoenix complimented him before asking, “This is the first season of competition hosted in Galaxy. Can you tell me how much have you familiarized yourself with this game?”

“I’m in a very good condition.” Star Chess smiled and said, “Confident to spar with any opponent.”

Red Phoenix asked a few more questions. Star Chess answered them with ease—he was experienced at dealing with hosts.

Red Phoenix’s eyes sparkled. She received the request from her superior to create some interesting chatter, so she asked, “I heard you invested your savings into a business after retirement. Your company filed for bankruptcy last year. Is this part of the reason you are returning to the pro scene?”

Star Chess’s expression remained unchanged and said, “Of course not. The pro scene is where I made my name. Returning is just because I never forgot where I came from. I’m looking forward to battling the younger generation. Hope that I can dig out some players with good potential and teach the young players nowadays some experiences. It will help them in their battles at the international competitions.”

As he was speaking, he smiled toward Hao Tian with a sense of superiority as a senior. Hao Tian was considered as his junior. The ‘young players’ whom Star Chess mentioned, of course, included Hao Tian.