Chapter 1 When the Teams Are Drawn

During the draw, each team sized up the others, with the Chinese team attracting the most frequent gazes, tinged with apprehension and respect.

Most people didn't want to be grouped with the China team, as they were a tough nut to crack.

The groups were completely random, and the draw results were quickly released. Dynasty was placed in Group A, while Temple and Long Sky were both assigned to Group C. All teams were distributed in a scattered fashion.

Group A was the most balanced, with a good ratio of strong and weak teams. China Dynasty and the American team Netherworld were the two strongest, with good chances of advancing. Group B mostly consisted of lesser-known teams, a collection of weaker competitors, making it the safest environment, though there might be dark horses among them. Group C had the worst situation, filled with strong teams like Kimchi, Tulip, Rose Knights, TS, Swedish Battleaxe, and others. Almost 60-70% of the strong teams were placed in Group C.

Besides the host, there were specially invited commentators, all professional esports commentators or retired players, who analyzed the situation for the audience.

"Qualification depends on the total score, so the grouping greatly affects the outcome. If there are too many strong teams in a group, it will be difficult to score points. Teams with the ability to advance might fail, while conversely, if there are many weak teams in a group, even a slightly weaker team can advance! In this situation, the battle for qualification will be extremely fierce. No one dares to hold back. Even in a battle they are bound to lose, they have to make the opponent lose more and score less. Therefore, the matches in Group C will definitely be extremely exciting!"

"Group C is the group of death! So many strong teams, if placed in the other two groups, could secure qualification. Now, no one can predict the outcome. Every team could be eliminated. That's what makes the matches interesting, and we look forward to their brilliant performances."

With the results set, the teams in Group C had grave expressions, their eyes filled with fighting spirit. Li Ge and Hao Tian exchanged a look, their eyes inscrutable.

"Heh, looks like you were right. We're in the same group, so we'll have to fight a civil war," Hao Tian said expressionlessly.

Li Ge frowned, saying nothing. The grouping was unfavorable to him, but it couldn't be changed. With so many strong teams, it would be difficult to advance.

Today was the opening ceremony. After the draw, all the participating teams immediately started researching information about their opponents in the same group.

Four hours later, the official forum released the schedule. The match density of international events was low. In the game, each group would have two team matches and individual matches per day. This meant the international group stage would last about thirty-nine days, with each team facing the 12 teams in its group once.

The next day, the competition officially kicked off, broadcast across all channels. Countless people witnessed the strength of the champions, runners-up, and third-place finishers from each region. It was no exaggeration to say that hundreds of schools of thought were contending.

Each team had its own special tactics and gameplay, opening people's eyes and arousing their interest. A general situation emerged in each group. North America's Netherworld team was dominating Group A, performing impeccably in both team matches and arena matches, but had yet to face Dynasty. Group B consisted of weaker teams with less fame, but they were also teams that had survived brutal elimination rounds to enter the international league. Overall, the strength gap was small, and the teams were evenly matched. The most eye-catching team was Australia's Kangaroo Boxing Team. Group C had the highest viewership, with strong teams clashing in fierce and exciting battles.

China's first match was on the third day, China Dynasty vs. Poland Wings. Chinese players eagerly awaited their team's international debut.

Other teams also watched the match. This was a great opportunity to observe the strength of the Chinese team. Although they were in different groups, most teams believed there was a high probability of encountering the Chinese team in the finals. They couldn't afford to be careless.

Amidst everyone’s anticipation, the third day of the competition arrived, and the match between Dynasty and Wings began.

...

The night was dark, with no moon in the sky.

An ancient, desolate ruin, with collapsed houses and broken stone pillars, seemed to tell the story of what kind of prosperous city once existed here. One by one, cold, blue light clusters wandered aimlessly through the ruins, like patrolling watchmen, bringing light and dispelling the darkness.

This was an actual scene from a newbie planet, replicated as a match map. Team matches took place in dungeon-like replicated scenes, with terrains randomly copied from various newbie planet scenes.

The audience had a God's-eye view, able to see everything both teams were doing.

The Dynasty team landed in a corner of the ruins. Each member wore Sunil Sergeant-level armor, carrying different mechanical weapons, with a strong sense of technology, and turned their heads to observe the surrounding situation.

"Hmm, ruins terrain, many obstacles, restricting ranged attacks, and it's nighttime, suitable for close combat and assassination. The Wings team's class composition is a defensive-type Esper, a ranged mage, and a battle mage combination, with plenty of output, but the back row is correspondingly fragile. If a fight breaks out, we need to quickly cut down the back row. The opponent should... no, definitely has fast movement skills. Our agility-type players shouldn't stick with the main force, act alone, lurking near the battlefield, waiting for an opportunity. The opponent's damage dealers have two possibilities: either they are heavily protected, or they are acting alone, looking for an output environment. Given that the opponent has many damage dealers, both situations may exist simultaneously."

"The only light source here is these randomly running light clusters. Entering the light exposes you to the opponent's eyes. The area of light represents danger. It's only safe to lurk in the darkness, so combat can only break out in the darkness. It depends on who discovers the other first in the dark. They have mages who can cast [Cat's Eye] and [Life Sense], while our advantage is the mecha's night vision, infrared thermal vision, and radar functions. In terms of detection, we have a slight edge..."

Wang Hou Jiang Xiang spoke calmly, with rich experience, quickly analyzing the situation and formulating countermeasures. Team matches were not just about head-on clashes, but also about competing in all aspects of ability, cooperation, detection, tactics, and so on.

Opponent information came from regional events. Now that so much time had passed, although the classes wouldn't change, each team's tactics would definitely have new variations. What made China feared was that they had broken free from the shackles of the newbie planet. There were too many opportunities to be gained in space. It was impossible to guess their tactical style and equipment. The unknown was the greatest enemy!

Dynasty's class composition only included martial artists and Espers, but they wore high-quality mechanical equipment, which meant each member possessed some of the Mechanic class's ranged output ability. Even without Mechanic Affinity amplification, the power was considerable. With absolute superiority in hard power, Dynasty took the initiative to attack, searching for the enemy.

In the live broadcast, the Wings team cast various concealment spells, stealthily avoiding the enemy, clearly not wanting to fight Dynasty head-on, being very wary.

In his previous life, the team avoiding battle was often the Chinese team, being stable and cowardly, but now the roles had been reversed. Taking the initiative to attack, through the God's-eye view, Dynasty looked like hunters chasing prey, taking the initiative, while their opponents were running everywhere. This strong scene made the Chinese audience very comfortable, and they could feel Dynasty's strong confidence through the video!

Dynasty's confidence came from Han Xiao. Following Han Xiao in the universe, their equipment and skill advantages belonged to the peak of a small group among all the teams, and their hard power was extremely strong. This was the advantage that Black Phantom had brought them.

The professional players from other newbie planets were envious and jealous, but there was no way they could find such a flamboyant character as Grand Technician Han on their planets.

"In the past, it was the Chinese teams being chased and beaten, but now it's the other way around. Not bad, not bad. They're all promising young men," Han Xiao said with a smile, quite happy.

The Wings team was cautious and careful, casting [Chameleon] and other trace-breaking magic, but the map was only so big. They couldn't run far, and sooner or later, they would have to fight. Wang Hou Jiang Xiang directed the team members to fire a shot into the sky, breaking the stalemate, letting the enemy hear the direction of the gunshot, thereby disrupting the uncertain situation, converging the possibilities. Either the enemy would come closer, or the enemy would flee in the opposite direction, or they would flank from the side. With a strong advantage in strength, Dynasty wasn't afraid of the enemy knowing their location.

The outbreak of a frontal battle stemmed from an accident. As Wang Hou Jiang Xiang expected, one of the opponent's battle mages was acting alone around the team. Tai Er Zi, who was also acting independently on Dynasty's side, keenly discovered the lone enemy.

Although Tai Er Zi was usually unreliable, he was very decisive during the match, launching a sudden attack.

Tai Er Zi was a martial artist who followed the agility route, also known as an assassin. He used reconnaissance-type Sergeant Mecha, a streamlined, lightweight body, a pair of wrist blades like deadly fangs, like a cheetah launching a thunderous strike. A set of assassin combos stepped on the nodes, not only flowing smoothly, but also as fast as lightning. There was almost no gap between the combos and position shifts. Even at the professional level, it was an excellent operation.

The battle mage was attacked, unable to react in time, and was instantly severely injured by Tai Er Zi's whirlwind-like flurry of slashes. He didn't last until the main force came to support, and turned into a white light and died.

A solo kill!

Tai Er Zi retreated into the darkness again, disappearing without a trace, leaving only blood all over the ground, deeply hiding his merit and fame.

The way of the assassin: strike successfully, retreat thousands of miles.

"Damn, the way he wields those blades is so cool!"

"Although Second Prince has problems with his brain, his strength is still very fierce."

The audience perked up and became excited.

This sudden solo kill opened up the situation. The Wings team lost a teammate, adding insult to injury, and was caught up by Dynasty's main force. A team battle completely defeated them, and there was no hope of recovery.

Dynasty delivered a zero-damage crushing victory, shining brightly, making the audience's hearts surge!

The subsequent arena match was even more stable, defeating the opponent. Wang Hou Jiang Xiang, a good individual combatant, defeated two people and crippled one, being extremely fierce.

The first match could be considered a perfect start. Compared to the Netherworld team in the same group, this performance was not inferior in the slightest.

A great victory encouraged the audience and also made the other teams' fear even greater.

Dynasty's mecha made its first appearance in the competition. The enhancement that this equipment gave to the players was comprehensive. If they were to fight Dynasty head-on, no one dared to say their chances of winning were above 50%.

"It seems we need targeted measures to deal with the Chinese team." Many captains had the same thought.

Tai Er Zi made a great contribution this time. During the post-match interview, he couldn't hide the excitement on his face at all—he didn't intend to hide it. He relapsed into his old ways, crazily boasting about how important a role he had played, saying that a key player like him should be the captain, that the current captain was too weak, etc. Wang Hou Jiang Xiang was already used to it and pretended not to hear.

...

The competition proceeded fiercely. In four days, one round was completed, which meant that each team had fought and completed its debut.

Hao Tian's Long Sky team, like Dynasty, had a style that was completely different from his previous life, having been indirectly changed by Han Xiao. They let go of themselves and were very fierce. Unfortunately, they ran into a strong Group C team. Although they won in the end, it was a pyrrhic victory and they didn't score as many points as Dynasty.

Li Ge's Temple team was exactly the same as in his previous life. Even though they had superior hard power, they played it safe and steady, only seeking to avoid mistakes. Their debut was a bladder-holding match, which was widely criticized—they were clearly so capable, yet they were so cowardly, couldn't they be a little more passionate!

However, Han Xiao didn't have much hope for Temple in the first place. Temple never sought merit but only sought to avoid faults. If he wanted them to be aggressive, unless pigs could fly.

Fortunately, this time there were Dynasty and Long Sky, so Temple's actions didn't suffer much criticism. After all, the concept of one team holding its bladder well was different from the concept of three teams holding their bladders well.

...

ps: (There won't be too many competition processes, only writing about the important ones, and glossing over the others. Already changed, the total number of matches is 78, two matches per group per day, so it should be 39 days)