“The preliminary round registration is open. The club has selected the other team members and is urging us to return and work on our tactics. Lao Hao, this is the list of the other three team members and two substitutes.”

There were three people in the chat channel: Haotian, Mingyue Changzhong, and Shanguang Chaofan. They were all professional players belonging to the Changkong Club.

The four giants of Huaxia e-sports are Shrine, Changkong, Royal Dynasty, and Yuxiang Qiezi. When players see these names, they think of the glorious achievements in the history of these giants and the glorious history of standing on the podium.

The giants all have their own pillars. For example, Shrine has Li Ge, and Yuxiang Qiezi has the “Three Musketeers”. Haotian and Mingyue Changzhong are both veterans of Changkong and are known as the “Changkong Double Stars.” In recent years, a group of young and potential players have emerged from the youth training camp, among which Shanguang Chaofan is the most promising genius to take over.

Haotian, Mingyue, and Shanguang are the core members of the Changkong team. This competition system requires a total of eight official team members plus substitutes. Haotian is undoubtedly the team leader, and Mingyue and Shanguang are definitely team members. The other five are selected within the team. The winners and the three core members form the seed team, and the remaining second-tier players form the second team. This is how big clubs do things.

Haotian looked through the list and said, “These team members are all veterans and familiar faces. After a little warm-up, they can regain their competitive status. There is no problem with the selection, no need to change.”

He is a super-god player who has served the club for many years, and his right to speak in competitions is sometimes higher than that of the coach and manager.

Mingyue Changzhong nodded and said, “The first competition is very important. I hope to get a good start. I have also read the competition system. There are five stages. The schedule will be very long. We have plenty of time to prepare and continue to upgrade. Now the first batch of leading players is approaching level 50. By the time of the divisional finals, the remaining teams will almost all be at max level.”

“The preliminary round is the first stage, accepting registration from all players. The fighting is the fiercest. A divisional competition area has at least thousands of teams, competing for 38 qualifying places. You can imagine how terrifying this competition is. Because of the large number of people, the preliminary round adopts a one-battle elimination system. One battle determines the outcome. If we are unlucky and lose to a strong enemy, we will not be able to enter the regular season. We must be cautious from the beginning.”

“All opponents can be roughly divided into four types: salted fish teams of passers-by who are just there to make up the numbers, skilled passer-by teams with strength, strong club teams, and giant teams. Our biggest opponents are the other three giants. I estimate that club teams will occupy more than three-quarters of the top 40 seats in the regular season.”

Haotian said in a deep voice: “Team battles are ever-changing, don’t underestimate any team.”

“Lao Hao, are you signing up for the individual competition?” Mingyue Changzhong asked.

"Yes."

“Then I won’t go.” Mingyue Changzhong shrugged. He knew Haotian’s combat power very well. There was a high probability of winning a place in the individual competition and increasing points for the team in the regular season. Basically, all clubs send their strongest players to participate in the individual competition.

As another member of the Changkong Double Stars, since Haotian is going to the individual competition, he will focus on the team, each performing their own duties.

…

At the same time, Kuangdao Nujian also submitted an application for the individual competition. Unlike the giants like Changkong, the Jiangcheng Club he belonged to was a small team in name and reality. All the players in the club were just enough to make up the number of team members. There were no other rotations. The members were all third-tier players. Only Kuangdao was a little famous.

But he is not the team leader. The team leader is another player, "Xingdu He," who is Jiangcheng's own nurtured signboard, but has no achievements.

Jiangcheng is a weak team, lifeless, and saw Kuangdao, signed him over, regarded him as a strong support, and after he joined, the team barely regained some vitality.

Xingdu He, however, disliked Kuangdao and felt that Kuangdao threatened his position. Where there are people, there is jianghu. The management regulations of some small clubs are not as perfect as those of the giants. The situation of seniority is common. Before there are any definite results, professional players are a group of arrogant people. I am the boss, and everyone else is trash. Kuangdao was very lucky to be targeted and was squeezed out by the team.

His individual competition application was blocked by Xingdu He several times. Xingdu He’s reasons were very high-sounding, saying: “The team must retain its strength. You are our trump card. If you expose too much information in the individual competition, others will develop tactics against our team.”

Later, the higher-ups spoke, and the application was approved.

Kuangdao was not optimistic about this group of shrimp soldiers and crab generals at all. It was a fool’s dream to rely on such a team to achieve results. He pinned his hopes on the individual competition. As long as he became famous in the individual competition, his position would be stable. He really didn’t want to fight with others.

“My win rate against Haotian is 40-60. He is a top-tier god, and I can achieve a 40% win rate. I should have a good chance of entering the top 64 in the individual competition.”

Kuangdao has a lot of confidence in his own strength. He obtained a massive amount of experience from Han Xiao’s missions. His level is among the best among all players, and his skill levels are also very high. His equipment is all limited editions from the Black Phantom Shop. The Mechanic class relies heavily on equipment. His equipment is basically all blue, and even his weapon is purple. The mechanical types also exceed the knowledge of ordinary players, which is very luxurious.

The so-called limited edition is actually the machinery that Han Xiao tailored for him. He comprehensively trains four people. Strictly speaking, Kuangdao, Fengyue, Haotian, and Roubao can be regarded as his disciples.

Kuangdao knows very well that most of his strength comes from the “hidden plot” of Black Phantom. Every time he thinks about it, he is extremely grateful that he met Han Xiao during the closed beta.

“I must get a good ranking!” Kuangdao secretly encouraged himself.

…

The preliminary round registration is in full swing. The movements of various clubs are frequent. A large amount of news is spread on the forum every day. It is very lively. Players actively discuss it. This is a carnival event. Players look forward to their idols fighting in the professional arena and look forward to seeing high-level peak duels.

Now players can travel across the ocean. Countless players gather in the Third Sanctuary, which is the venue for the individual competition. In addition to the players who signed up to participate, many players are there to watch the live broadcast. The number of players in the city is constantly rising, and a massive flow of people is processed every day.

The most players participate in the individual competition. After all, most players know that they cannot beat professional clubs in team battles, and it is not easy to put together a team. In comparison, the individual competition is simple. One person can sign up. The official announcement on the forum statistics that more than 100,000 players in each division have signed up for the individual competition, which shows how fierce the preliminary round will be.

The participating players are basically old players who entered the game in the first few batches. The newbies who joined later are currently only in their twenties. It is useless to go up there. Some people complain about the competition system and feel that it started too early, but their voices are quickly drowned out in the ocean of the people.

The public beta has been going on for eight months in the game. According to the schedule, the divisional competitions will last for about half a year, and then there will be a preparation and rest period of nearly one year before entering the international competition. Such a long off-season is mainly to give the qualifying teams more time to practice together, reflecting the importance of the international competition, and to adopt a scarcity marketing strategy to increase the influence of the competition. The international competition will not start rashly.

The competition schedule is almost two years in the game. The entire time of version 1.0 is three and a half years. New players who cannot catch up with the preliminary round can only say that they are unlucky—who told you not to play earlier, time waits for no one.

Fengyue did not sign up to participate in the preliminary round. She is a casual player and a soft girl. She rarely pays attention to the competition and is completely ignorant of the competition system. She is at ease as a salted fish spectator. Han Xiao naturally cannot force her to participate. Moreover, Mechanics who focus on manufacturing skills like Fengyue are indeed very ordinary in combat power in version 1.0. Others do not have the strength of Master Han.

Roubao Dagou contacted other streamer friends and formed a streamer team, and went to participate happily. From Han Xiao’s point of view, this streamer team is guaranteed to be there to make soy sauce and give away heads. If they can make it to the regular season, he will swallow ten energy crystals on the spot.

“So, there are only three people under my banner who are participating in the competition, Haotian, Kuangdao, and Roubao, um… the last one can be ignored.”

Han Xiao stood by the window, overlooking the crowded square, and thought to himself: “I hope they two can get good results.”

The registration stage is the preparation period for the competition and the best stage for him to make huge profits. There are 100,000 individual competition players, and they are willing to spend money and experience for a little bit of progress.

A trace of a gratified smile appeared on the corner of his mouth.

“After going to the interstellar space, I will not be able to interact with a large number of players in the short term. All the experience I earn now is my family property that I will take to the interstellar space. The more the better.”