...…

After a few more hours of waiting, the long-awaited system notification finally arrived and informed Shin about the start of the tournament.

"Shadow Ranking Cup, huh? Now, let's see the strong guys that you had," muttered Shin as he stood up from the bed while stretching his waist.

After that, he took a look at system notification for a moment before hitting the accept button, which teleported him at the venue of the event on the next instant.

At the same time, similar things were happening in different parts of the Atlas World. This was one of the reasons why this Shadow Ranking Cup special; all of the invited players came from different parts of the world.

**********

Meanwhile, there was an independent space inside the game which was set up like a newscasting studio. There was a rectangular table placed at the center of the studio, while a pair of a man and a woman sitting behind it.

Behind them, there was a huge screen segregated with multiple smaller parts, projecting different battlefields of the Shadow Ranking Cup's first stage.

"And~… It finally started! The first Shadow Ranking Cup of the «Destiny's Fate» finally arrived!" said the man in tux sitting behind the white table.

The man paused for a moment and shrugged his shoulders before continuing. "And as usual, here is your very handsome game commentator to cover this tournament. At your service, Mr. Cool Guy!"

At the end of his words, this guy formed a pair of finger guns with both of his hands and pointed it at the camera in front of him while also doing a wink at the same time.

And at the very same moment, the woman in a formal suit suddenly chimed in and said. "Oh~, come on, Mr. Cool Guy. You might scare some of our viewer of you keep doing that," while giggling.

Mr. Cool Guy suddenly clicked his tongue when he heard that and said. "Tsk! You are the same as ever, Ms. Bunny; you still stood at the side of my haters. But I'll let it pass since you look so gorgeous today."

"And there is that sweet tongue of yours. Unfortunately, it will not sell to me. It sounds like I am only beautiful today," replied Ms. Bunny almost immediately while wearing a sweet smile on her face. And she was the same 'VJ Miss Bunny' that 'stalked' Shin inside the game.

Mr. Cool Guy acted as if he had a dejected look on his face before giving his reply. "And you are still as heartless as before despite having that sweet look of yours."

Then he cleared his throat a little before adding. "Cough! Cough! That should be enough to ease our mood. How about we proceed at discussing this sensational Shadow Ranking Cup? So, what are your thoughts about this tournament?"

Hearing this, Ms. Bunny immediately replied to him. "Well, since you are already asking about that, then I will say that this Shadow Ranking Cup is very special this time. Especially if you compared it to all of the previous ones that are held before."

Going with the flow, Mr. Cool Guy nodded his head and said. "Absolutely! If we compared this current cup to a movie, then we can call it a star-studded one since there are a lot of Big Names attending this tournament."

"You also got it right in there. That should be a perfect comparison that we can have now. And as you can see, even the Betting Polls are overflowing with different predictions on who is going to be the champion spot," said Ms. Bunny with perfect timing after Mr. Cool Guy was done talking.

Then she paused for a moment before continuing. "Speaking of bet, who are your main players to put your money into, Cool Guy?"

"That is a good question. Let's see-…" said Mr. Cool Guy before pursing his lips as he thought about his bets.

A moment later, he gave his answer. "Ok, let's have my top three then. I'll go with the trio of 'Beastmaster: Akailu', 'Psychic: Janine', and the 'Wolf of the Beginning: Liszt'."

"Oh~! You have a good taste for your line up, huh?" said Ms. Bunny while giggling.

Then it was Mr. Cool Guy's turn to ask. "How about you, Ms. Bunny? Who are your bets on this Shadow Ranking Cup?"

"Me? Hm… one of my bets is not on the list of participants but I still have one candidate in mind. Which is the famous 'Nameless Swordsman' of the Saint Heaven Kingdom," said Ms. Bunny with a smile.

"Oh~! I see that you are too focused on the Saint Heaven Kingdom this time. So, I guess that your other pick that didn't attend this event is the 'Emperor of the Night: Sickarius'. And I see that you even use some of your 'Bunny Magic' on some of his battle videos," said Mr. Cool Guy while having an interesting expression on his face.

Ms. Bunny didn't reply at him as she just flashed a quick smile on her face. And when Mr. Cool Guy refused to comment, all he could do was to smile back at her and said. "Well, I agree that this guy 'Sickarius' is somewhat a good player; he repelled and defeated a lot of strong and famous players during this monster horde event in the Holy City-..."

He trailed his words a little before continuing in a careful manner. "But I must disagree with your thoughts about this 'Nameless Swordsman'. He may be a strong player compared to the average guys, but I don't see him getting a good spot on this Shadow Ranking Cup."

"There are a lot of stronger and more famous guys in this tournament and I can say that they are a lot stronger than him."

Hearing this, Ms. Bunny suddenly started giggling and said. "Well, you can't be sure about that. This guy scored a draw against 'Sickarius'. So, it is impossible for him to be someone so weak."

Mr. Cool Guy shrugged his shoulders and refuted. "You know, fame and reputation alone are sometimes unfounded. That single fight alone is not enough to prove he can rank among the strong players invited for this tournament."

He paused for a moment before continuing. "And that fight was his last battle that he had known so far. After that event, we heard nothing more about him."

When Ms. Bunny heard that, she immediately waved her index finger at him and said. "Ah-ah~… That is where you are wrong. After that fight, he had another. And it was against an official Titled Ranker, which is Vega; the Thief of the Eastern Valley."

"What's more, didn't he also help the God Slayer and his team during the battle on the Shunkai Forest?"

Hearing this, Mr. Cool Guy couldn't help but agree. But at the same time, he still stood on his side. "Well, that was also a good fight. But we can also see that he struggled in that battle. And I can even say that he only managed to win by fluke."

"As for the battle in Shunkai Forest? That's just a lucky experience for him. The main attackers are still the trio of the God Slayer, Death God and Elemental Goddess. As for him? He is just a supporting cast during that battle, nothing more."

With all of those rejection by Mr. Cool Guy, Ms. Bunny couldn't help but form a mysterious smile with her lips and said. "I wonder about that. A lot of time has already passed since that battle, and you don't know how much improvements he made during that span of time."

"Anyway, how about we look at the tournament now? It seems that the first round is already starting. And after that, let's judge him again based on his performance on this Shadow Ranking Cup?"

Mr. Cool Guy clicked his thumb and middle finger the moment he heard that and said. "That's exactly what I am about to say. Now, let's switch our view on the battle arenas."

*********

Just like what was stated in the rules of that tournament. The participants of the Shadow Ranking Cup were divided in different groups and were sent on their respective battlefield for the free-for-all battle.

With that, Shin was sent to the Battle Arena no. 25. And after being teleported to this place, the first thing that he did was to look at his surroundings and check the battle capabilities of his opponents based on how well they conceal their auras.

A moment later, he already spotted some noticeable individuals that have some decent fighting capabilities. There were even some players that caught Shin's attention; especially that those guys are strong enough to completely conceal their auras.

Seeing this, Shin couldn't help but wear a huge grin behind his mask before muttering to himself. "Interesting~! Looks like this is going to be an entertaining event."

Then he paused for a moment to find a secluded corner to sit onto while waiting for the battle to officially start. "But before anything else, let's keep a low profile for the time being. I don't want to attract more unnecessary attention before the First Stage starts."

And after taking a seat, Shin took another look at his surroundings before adding to what he had said. "Especially that there are also some guys that took notice of me."

If Shin managed to perceive the presence of the strong participants, then it was also naturally for them to notice him back. And based on their first impression of him, they all knew that this guy was not someone you could easily trifled with.

When Shin felt the caused gazes directed at him, the grin that he was wearing couldn't help but curve further upwards. "Come at me if you can, and I will welcome you all."

And with that, Shin was already itching to fight against these guys as he waited for the final waiting minutes to end.

...…