Translator: Atlas Studios Editor: Atlas Studios
As the star player of Long Sky, Hao Tian was a god player much stronger than the first-tier players. His PVP skills were amazing, and his level was much higher than average. With these advantages, he was the first to step into the ring. His attacks were ruthless and strong like a storm, defeating three Guild of Gods contestants in a row.
The combat ability of the Pugilist class was shown perfectly. The audience had originally expected a tight battle that would go back and forth, but it turned out to be a one-sided annihilation. The entire battle had lasted for more than five minutes!
The people were astonished.
After they stunned for a few seconds, deafening cheers and yells erupted all around.
“Impressive!” cheered the ordinary spectators.
“God Hao Tian! God Hao Tian!” yelled the passionate audience members.
“I love you, Hao Tian!” shrieked Hao Tian’s fans.
Hao Tian’s performance refreshed the audience’s knowledge of the upper limit of a player’s strength at the current stage, and he immediately gained a lot of new fans.
Although this was a private gamble battle, the excitement and passion from the audience almost felt like it was a pro competition.
“I won.” Hao Tian’s expression changed slightly—he had not expected to win so easily.
It was like walking down a path for a long time, and only when he turned around did he realize how much ahead he was of the people behind him. It turned out that, without noticing, he was so much stronger than normal pro players.
In the beginning, Hao Tian had just taken Han Xiao’s ‘hidden storyline’ as a lucky opportunity, and when he made it, he did not really treasure it, only taking it as a short-term opportunity. Hao Tian’s pro instinct habit made him always look far ahead to plan for his growth. Black Phantom was a Mechanic, and he was a Pugilist, so he felt he would not follow Han Xiao all the way. He had to look for a new mentor somewhere else just for his abilities.
However, at this moment, it finally occurred to him how much he benefited from this, and he began to take Han Xiao more seriously.
Black Phantom’s EXP reward would still be plenty even at max level.
Black Phantom’s mission reward really were very rich. It was not a big deal to tolerate weird missions for it. As a pro player, having strong will power, endurance, and a good pair of lungs was fundamental.
Seems like I can walk on this Black Phantom path for much longer than I thought.
The match was Best of Five, Hao Tian won three matches in a row and ended the battle, so other Long Sky contestants did not do anything except stare at Hao Tian like fans. In the Long Sky Club, Hao Tian, who had battled in the pro scene for many years, was everyone’s idol. A man of few words, always honing his skills, earning Long Sky one champion after another, he was Long Sky’s hero, and his name was tied tightly together with the words ‘Long Sky’.
Guild of Gods was obliterated, and the pro players whom they had invited were all in shock.
We are all pro players. Aren’t you showing off too much? At least leave us some face!
The contestants knew how strong Hao Tian was long ago. Not to mention his skills, the biggest problem was how ahead he was in terms of level, attributes, and abilities. They immediately thought of the fact that Hao Tian had triggered Black Phantom’s hidden storyline and were jealous.
“I wonder what kind of missions he has been getting from Black Phantom that made him level up this fast.”
The Temple of Gods contestants were jealous and envied. They wanted such treatment too, but Black Phantom did not care about them at all.
“Everyone’s level is relatively low, so the difference seems huge. When the pro league starts, everyone’s level will be much higher, and he won’t be able to beat us this easily by then. The difference will shrink sooner or later.” A Temple of Gods contestant attempted to lift his team’s spirits.
The pro players were just there to help—winning or losing was not important to them—but Jupiter was filled with rage. He almost wanted to smash Jade Green Sky’s arrogant face.
With the official guarantee, the mission item was given to Sky Territory.
The audience left the scene and continued to discuss Hao Tian’s amazing performance.
Conflicts between guilds were always a more popular topic, and Guild of Gods would only lose face temporarily for losing the gamble battle—their position was still one of the top.
Many people in the guild complained.
“If our boss Li Ge was here, Hao Tian would have thrashed.”
“Long Sky just got lucky. What are they even happy about?”
When things were settled, Han Xiao appeared the next day. Sky Territory completed the mission immediately, and seeing this, Jupiter was filled with regret.
If he had known that Han Xiao would appear that day… if he had just endured for one more day, none of this would have happened.
Of course, that was just what Jupiter thought.
As long as the conflict did not become a gamble battle, Han Xiao would not have appeared in front of them. He was very patient—he had once hidden and endured for half a year before he caught the opportunity to escape that secret Germinal base.
Han Xiao had actually prepared even dirtier backup plans. If the two large guilds had end up making an agreement privately, resulting in them not having a conflict… Han Xiao’s belief was to repeat things till he succeed. At most, he would get even more guilds involved and make the situation even more chaotic.
If even that did not work, he would simply distribute a mission that required the guilds to rent the rings. However, that was too obvious, and the Great Mechanic Han preferred to be discreet.
“What a horrible loss.” Jupiter wanted to cry.
At this time, he heard the sound of private message notification. He looked at it, and it was shockingly a call from Li Ge, so he hastily answered it.
“Boss Li Ge?”
“Hmm, I saw what happened recently. Do you have the recording of Hao Tian’s battle?”
“It was all recorded.”
“Send it to me.”
“Sure, of course.”
Upon receiving the recording, Li Ge said with satisfaction, “With the recording, I can analyze his battle style to prepare for the league. Good job.”
Hearing that, Jupiter felt much more energetic.
It did not matter how much they were at a loss—as long as the pro players benefited from it, it was one of their responsibilities.
…
The battle between the guilds showed people the effect of the ring. Many people were tempted, and guilds and players started to rent rings for Challenges or events. The functionalities of the ring started to show. Not only could the players in the arena PVP for free, but they also could join a Challenge or some events, so it became more boisterous.
Galaxy had more than game functions—it also had socializing functions, and the boisterous arena was obviously a very great place to socialize. Some player even spent all their time in the arena.
As a place with a lot of exposure, people who wanted to make a name for themselves had a demand for the ring—guilds hosted events, pro players took up Challenges to interact with normal players, and many others. Like some sports stadiums being rented out for a competition or concert, they were all getting what they needed.
According to Han Xiao’s experience, not only guilds, even some companies would rent rings to host some small events, like ‘Random Company Name Cup’ and other competitions that were not officially accepted by the E-sports Association, giving prizes to the winners to advertise for themselves. Even some pro players took part in such small competitions for the prizes.
How did he know about all that? Don’t ask. Anyway, there was a time in Han Xiao’s previous life when he was very rich, and he could even splurge on buying instant noodles in cups.
Also, the events that companies hosted might not be just PVP competitions. It could also be an art exhibition, sports event, or something else.
Mini-games always had their popularity in games. Since Galaxy was extremely realistic, other than not being able to excrete, the players could be as creative as they wanted and play other sports with their superhuman bodies, such as superhuman basketball, Pugilist soccer, Mechanic rally. These things mentioned were all real in Han Xiao’s previous life, and these casual and fun events were very popular among casual players.
Because of that, Galaxy started to have a virtual, vibrant society on its own.
The players now had only just started Galaxy, so they were still following things more or less strictly and did not have any weird events, and Han Xiao gave them a platform to do so. He guided the players to explore the entertainment possibilities of the game themselves, and there would always be someone who rented the ring that would think of something new to attract attention.
The ring was an event and show, attracting players to watch. Normal players could watch the events when they were not participating in free PVP, which would build a habit and culture.
Think of it like this, you take a stroll outside every day, and the park that you pass by always hosts all sorts of events. After a while, even if you do not take part, you will eventually be curious and guess what the event will be next time you take a stroll.
Therefore, when the arena became a common facility, it would increase the sense of belonging that the players had toward the sanctuary, as interest could be developed and cultivated.
