Chapter 2 The Second Round Results

A few days later, the results of the second round of the divisional finals were released. Dynasty steadily defeated Changkong, and Jiangcheng narrowly eliminated Baoyu. Dynasty and Jiangcheng would meet in the final round to compete for the championship.

Kuang Dao's previous good luck didn't continue. The difference in hard power was too great, and he failed to lead Jiangcheng to victory. In the end, they took the runner-up title, and Dynasty won the divisional championship for the second time.

Before the competition, Wanghou Jiangxiang had boldly declared that he would win both the divisional and international championships. Now that one of his goals had been achieved, Dynasty's popularity continued to rise, and countless players were full of expectations, hoping that Dynasty could really fulfill its promise.

For Kuang Dao, he was quite satisfied to have won the divisional runner-up in his first time leading the team. The team still had room for improvement, and Jiangcheng was definitely the dark horse of this year's competition, also gaining a large number of new fans.

Changkong finally defeated Baoyu and got the divisional third place. If they hadn't met Dynasty in the second round, with Hao Tian's team strength, they could have won the divisional runner-up.

The nine major divisions also determined their champions, and the divisional competitions came to an end. The schedule arranged for a break of more than ten days, and then the International Regular Season would be held.

With no more matches in each division, and international events not allowing live viewing, only forum broadcasts, players no longer lingered on the competition planets and dispersed, doing their own things while following the forums.

Due to the divisional competitions, countless players had not been doing missions during this period, delaying a lot of time. The Black Star Army only had over a hundred thousand mercenaries and a small number of players continuing to operate. However, although business was delayed, Han Xiao not only didn't lose money, but also took the opportunity to make a fortune.

The ability potions in the warehouse were sold out by eighty or ninety percent, and the business of selling machinery and repairing equipment also brought in a lot of money. Han Xiao earned tens of millions of Enas, and his deposits nearly doubled, emptying the wallets of many players.

With this money, he could purchase more fleets and recruit a large number of free mercenaries. During the version update, without the help of millions of players, he would have to rely on the funds earned from them to develop himself. Ten years was not short, and the more reserve funds, the better.

After the players left, Han Xiao returned to Base Number One, released news, and began to recruit people from all over the Star Cluster to prepare for the secret war that was about to break out between Klent and the Purple Crystal Civilization. His current focus was on brushing up faction favorability to obtain cutting-edge knowledge. Before obtaining cutting-edge knowledge from the Purple Crystal Civilization, he did not intend to personally do other mercenary missions.

However, Han Xiao received a commission that was difficult to refuse; it was a message from the Heavenly Ring Allied Forces.

A Heavenly Ring mercenary team encountered unsolvable danger while performing a mission in the Feiwun Star System. The original mission was an ordinary planetary-level rebellion. According to the employer's description, the enemies were at most B-grade, but unexpectedly a Calamity Grade enemy appeared. The closest ally was the Black Star Army, so this team had no choice but to request emergency support from Black Star.

Black Star had already entered the ranks of top mercenary groups, and had been maintaining cooperative relationships with large mercenary groups like Heavenly Ring. With wide connections and good relationships, Han Xiao would help this time out of reason and emotion. It was just a small effort, but this time he didn't want to make a trip himself, so he called Laki over.

Since joining the Black Star Army, the idle magic research lab had become Laki's territory. He stayed at home every day doing research, saying that he was "doing something meaningless to make time pass faster while waiting for himself to rot and grow old."

However, although Laki was decadent, his professional skills were excellent, raising the level of magical ability in the Black Star Army. At least the enchanting effect of an A-grade mage far exceeded that of a B-grade. Han Xiao had already had Laki re-enchant his mecha and weapons, and the attributes had obviously increased, with many special effects attached.

Han Xiao planned to send Laki on this mission. He was, after all, the only Calamity Grade cadre. Since he took the money, he had to share the worries for him, the head of the group.

With Laki, the Black Star Army had the ability to deal with Calamity Grade targets without him having to do everything himself.

Sylvia brought Laki to Han Xiao's room, and Han Xiao got straight to the point. "I have a mission for you."

"I knew it. Unlucky premonitions often come true," Laki sighed.

Han Xiao ignored him and explained, "A team from Heavenly Ring is asking us for help. The enemy is a Calamity Grade Esper. Right now, in the army, besides me, you're the only one who can deal with Calamity Grade. As the head of the group, it's not appropriate for me to personally handle such low-level events. You go and support them. This is your first mission. I believe in your strength. You can choose any spaceship in the hangar... just don't take mine. The target's information and coordinates have been sent to you."

"I have a question."

"Speak."

"Can I not go?"

"Guess."

Laki tentatively asked, "If they've all been killed by the time I arrive, does that mean I don't have to do my mission?"

Han Xiao narrowed his eyes. "Are you deliberately trying to take a detour to delay the time?"

"...I've been seen through," Laki said with a bitter face.

Just how reliable is this person... Veins popped out on Han Xiao's forehead. He said helplessly, "Hurry up and leave. I don't want to see your first mission end in failure."

Laki looked lost and sighed deeply, looking up at the ceiling of the room at a forty-five degree angle.

"Alas, I'm afraid I'll be killed by the enemy, sacrificing myself on my first mission. I didn't expect this to be the end of my life. I want to write my will before I leave..."

"Get! Out! Now!"

Laki sighed and shook his head as he left. Sylvia, who was next to him, was holding back her laughter so much that tears came out. She pressed her mouth and puffed out her cheeks, and air squeezed out of her lips, making a suppressed chuckle.

"Teacher, where did you find such an oddball?"

Han Xiao glared. "He's just a little pessimistic at most. At least he can be of use, and he's much better than you. How dare you laugh? I had Reynold supervise you. Have you been properly learning from him? Have you finished the homework I assigned you?"

"I finished it long ago!" Sylvia's expression suddenly collapsed, and she harrumphed unhappily. She flicked her ponytail, leaving Han Xiao with the back of her head, and ran away in a huff.

Han Xiao curled his lips.

Now there were many cadres in the Black Star Army. In Han Xiao's eyes, the companions with A-grade potential were only Melos, Aroshia, Fording, Sylvia, Haimo, Reynold, plus Hela and Aurora, who were following Ames in her training. Reynold was currently the closest to A-grade, while Sylvia was the furthest away.

Sylvia could reach A-grade in his previous life and was a potential stock, so Han Xiao had always had high standards and strict requirements for her.

...

During the offseason, the teams that had qualified from various countries were posting about their training progress every day.

Although Temple was eliminated, Li Ge was very shrewd. He volunteered to be a sparring partner for the top four in the division, helping them find their form and brushing up his presence, which slightly warmed up his reputation. Other eliminated strong teams saw this and followed suit.

Coincidentally, in the eyes of the audience, this situation created the feeling that "Chinese teams are united, have a collective sense of honor, and help their opponents regardless of past grievances, striving to bring back the world championship trophy," which made the enthusiasm of Chinese players even higher.

Before the start of the international competition, reporters interviewed all the strong teams that had qualified from various countries. The strong teams from the United States, Sweden, Japan, and South Korea all shouted out their championship declarations. Due to Dynasty's outstanding performance in the All-Star Game, reporters specifically mentioned Dynasty, treating them as a candidate for the championship and asking them if they had the confidence to deal with Dynasty. The four countries all expressed that they would definitely defeat Dynasty, full of confidence.

The reactions of the American and Swedish teams were fine, but Chinese audiences were most strongly opposed to the reactions of the Japanese and Korean teams, directly starting a group mocking mode. They could lose to anyone, but they couldn't lose to the Japanese and Korean teams!

The days of the offseason passed quickly, and the International Regular Season, eagerly awaited by audiences from various countries, finally arrived.

The thirty-six teams from the nine major divisions all entered the arena. The venue was an even larger arena than the previous one. The first day was still the opening ceremony for the draw.

They were still divided into three groups: A, B, and C. The teams would play against each other within the group in a round-robin format. Finally, they would be ranked according to their scores, and the top eight would enter the international finals.

Changkong was assigned to Group A, Dynasty and Jiangcheng were assigned to Group B, and Baoyu was assigned to Group C. The average strength gap between the three groups was not large, unlike the previous session, where the strength between groups was vastly different. This time, there was neither a weak group nor a group of death, meaning that there was almost no luck involved and they could only rely on their actual abilities to enter the finals.

In his previous life, China only reached the top four in the second season, but this time, Dynasty and Changkong both had the potential to win the championship. Han Xiao was quite curious about what kind of results China would achieve in this session under his influence.

The International Regular Season officially kicked off, and audiences from various countries waved their flags and cheered for their own teams, with overflowing enthusiasm and an unprecedented grand occasion.

In the middle of the schedule, the situation gradually became clear, and the audience had a rough impression of the strengths and weaknesses of each team.

Dynasty maintained a high-spirited momentum, firmly occupying the first place. In second place was Swedish Battle Axe, which even suppressed American Demon Realm.

Changkong was in fifth place. Hao Tian didn't show his strength in the divisional competition, as if he was conserving his strength. When he arrived at the international competition, he unleashed his full power, and his results continued to rise, showing the combat effectiveness of a seeded strong team.

Baoyu and Jiangcheng were both in the first half of the rankings, maintaining their competitiveness. The average strength of the Chinese teams was very strong, which surprised and excited the Chinese audience.

For Chinese players, the international situation was very good. Dynasty and Changkong both had the ability to qualify, and Jiangcheng and Baoyu could fight for a chance to enter the top eight.

However, in the second half of the schedule, a controversial and upsetting incident occurred.

In the survival competition, where four strong teams were fighting, Dynasty repeatedly encountered the difficulty of other teams teaming up, and was often the first to be eliminated, unable to get any points from the survival competition. This caused their original stable first place position to gradually waver, with a tendency to be overtaken by Swedish Battle Axe and American Demon Realm.

Dynasty had already locked in the first place in the regular season, but now it seemed that the cooked duck was about to fly away. This time, the Chinese audience exploded, and countless viewers voluntarily went to battle, angrily scolding the teams that teamed up in various sections of the forum, making players from various countries fully aware of the brutal combat power of the world's number one scolding army.

Scolding people was a basic skill of Chinese players. The Chinese language was broad and profound, with a history of five thousand years. Every player had experienced countless fierce tearing and scolding matches. Under the influence of the environment, it was not that Chinese players were being modest, but in terms of scolding people, all other countries were younger brothers.

The forum became another battlefield. Fans of other teams wanted to defend their own teams, arguing that since the survival competition was a melee, teaming up was a reasonable strategy.

However, in front of Chinese players, reasoning was as useless as farting, not to mention that they were also the victims whose interests were damaged. With a burst of frenzied scolding, they killed the enemy, causing them to be defeated, abandon their armor, and retreat in defeat. It was as if fans from various countries had become the Eight-Nation Alliance, and they were all beaten back by them, scolding out their patriotic feelings, and their comrades couldn't help but sympathize with each other.

This farce amused Han Xiao. He liked watching his compatriots scolding people the most. It was simply pleasing to the eye, and it always made him happy all day long.

In fact, it was understandable that other teams teamed up in the survival competition. They were not targeting Dynasty's results, but rather that Dynasty's strength was too strong. If they didn't team up, Dynasty would probably win the final victory.

Dynasty didn't have to worry about qualifying, but other teams still had to fight for the qualification to qualify, craving points, so eliminating Dynasty first was indeed a reliable tactic.

This public opinion storm affected the organizers, who asked Dynasty to come forward and smooth things over. However, Wanghou Jiangxiang's answer not only did not extinguish the enthusiasm of the players, but instead poured another barrel of gasoline on the fire.

"It's okay, mediocrity is never envied. Let them besiege me however they want. It's just the difference between which place we qualify from. When we get to the finals, I'll teach them how to be human one by one!"

Wanghou Jiangxiang directly group mocked, and the Chinese players suddenly exploded, extremely excited, wishing they could go to the finals now and watch Dynasty slap all their opponents to death.

Han Xiao's hair stood on end.

Daring to set up such an obvious flag, Dynasty was really not afraid of death!

But... it sounded kind of exciting.