Chapter 312
However, there is another possibility.
After all, Olmer Ingla has crippled many athletes and made a lot of enemies. Perhaps it was a family member of one of the injured athletes who paid someone to kill him?
Olmer is a typical rich kid; his family is extremely wealthy. He participates in the Knight Competition tournament not to win, but to enjoy the thrill of violence.
Sometimes they even cripple their opponents before taunting them into surrendering, thus incurring a great deal of hatred.
"Phew, Maria. Although the Rust Copper Knight incident was a bit sudden, it's good that you weren't injured. You're really lucky to have escaped the competition unscathed."
Maria placed the shield on the bar counter and sighed with some regret:
"Aunt, I have a feeling that this matter is very likely as those spectators are saying. The Commercial Union is manipulating the course of this competition behind the scenes for its own profit."
They will use every means possible to put me in the spotlight, to let everyone in Kazimierz know that the little Knight of the Nearl Family has returned.
Sophia stared into her eyes, her expression serious:
"Maria, regardless of whether things are as you say, you should know that sometimes being praised too highly is not a good thing, because the fall will hurt even more."
"I understand, Aunt."
Bar owner Martin came to the bar through the back door and saw several familiar faces. He greeted them warmly.
"Hey, welcome back, Maria! It's so good to see you back safe and sound! Your drinks are on the house tonight, so have a good time!"
"Sorry, Martin."
Sophia spoke up, interrupting the plan:
"With this incident today, many media outlets will likely be looking for Maria. We're just here to rest; staying here would only cause you trouble."
Martin expressed his understanding and watched the four leave.
Before long, a woman Kuranta, with silver hair and brown eyes, carrying a large crossbow, arrived.
Seeing her looking around, Martin called out:
"Wow, it's been a long time since our bar has had such a lovely customer. What would you like to order?"
Platinum glanced down at the wine list, then pointed:
"Let's have a cup of Thorn Tears."
AGM Beautiful Pictures. jpg
Is 380 really that weird? 3K
June 27th, 7:00 PM
After leaving the Knight Competition' Arena, Shi Lei wandered around the city. Only after confirming that no one was secretly following him did he return to a warehouse owned by the Jade Chamber Company.
He first searched online for Maria Saria's upcoming opponents. However, the page didn't display them; he wasn't sure if they weren't scheduled or if they were but hadn't been updated.
Suddenly, Shi Lei's backup phone rang. Looking at the caller ID, it was an unfamiliar number.
To easily access the Kazimierz network, he spent money to buy several SIM cards registered under other people's identities in the suburbs. This way, even if something happened later and the matter was traced back to him, he wouldn't be held responsible. The contact number he left for this competition was one such example.
"Hello?"
"Mr. Lucky Knight, I am your agent, Rebecca. I'm so sorry to bother you at this time, but I have something very important to discuss with you."
Shi Lei stopped what he was doing and responded:
"You say."
"That's right. Although you've won the amateur competition and entered the preliminary rounds of the special tournament, your score is too low. I'm afraid it will be difficult for you to obtain the title of Knight when the results are tallied later."
"That's how troublesome it is for independent Knight who aren't part of the Competitive Knight orders. That's why I called to ask for your thoughts, so we can finalize our plans."
He knew the rules of the game.
Once the preliminary rounds of the special tournament conclude, the top 500 players will be awarded the title of Knight.
The top 64 Competitive Knight on the leaderboard will directly participate in the subsequent knockout stage.
In other words, if Shi Lei doesn't have enough points, he won't even be qualified to fight Maria.
I understand the significance of points; do you have any suggestions regarding this?
"Yes, yes, let me see."
The sound of files being flipped through came from the other end of the microphone:
"Whether you want to qualify for the Special Tournament or simply want to earn the title of Knight, you need to maintain your ranking within the top 500 before the preliminary rounds."
Currently, independent Knight can earn points through racing and duels. However, racing doesn't yield many points, so participating in duels is preferable. Winning a duel can earn a significant number of points. But duels are also quite risky, so I don't know if you..."
Hearing his agent express concern for his safety, Shi Lei smiled and politely asked:
"Miss Rebecca, don't laugh at me, but my goal is to qualify for the Special Tournament. Could you register me for all the duels in the next two days?"
"Ah, all of them?"
The agent was stunned, wondering if he had misheard, and found it hard to believe:
"Are you going to participate in consecutive duels?"
"Yeah, even though I just won a civilian competition, I'm currently at the bottom of the standings. The 23rd Knight Competition has been going on for over half a month now, so I should really work on my points if I want to qualify for the Special Tournament."
Rebecca is an intern at the Commercial Union who volunteers to be the agent for independent Knight.
No one wanted to work with Knight who had no commercial value. This gave her, who hadn't had any sales for months, a chance to prove herself.
Rebecca was worried about Lucky Knight; could she withstand such intense competition? If she fell in the first match, it might affect her future chances of becoming a regular player.
"How about this, would that work for you? I'll register you for a relatively easy duel first, so you can experience the challenge of fighting against Competitive Knight. If it goes well, we can register you for other competitions?"
"Okay, I'll do as you say."
"The next duel is at 11:00, so I'll wait for you at the entrance of Hall B1 at 10:30 tomorrow morning?"
"Okay, see you there."
After ending the call, Shi Lei used his main phone to call Sophia to discuss some matters.
Maria's situation is similar to his; both are starting from zero points and working their way up. To break into the top 500 on the leaderboard, they absolutely cannot miss the duel matches.
If we crash into each other beforehand, it will be a real problem. So we need to coordinate our schedules in advance to avoid collisions.
The call was answered shortly afterward.
Sophia was quite surprised, wondering why Doctor Zhong would call at this time. She had assumed something very important had happened.
"What can I do for you?"
"There's still a week left in the duel tournament, with three to five matches each day. Don't let Maria participate in the first two days; she'll have plenty of time to accumulate points later."
"Okay, I understand."
Upon receiving a reply, Shi Lei decisively ended the communication.
Sophia might be unable to resist her curiosity and ask him if he had anything to do with the Rust Copper Knight. Rather than answering that he shouldn't pry and arouse her suspicion, it's better to cut off the opportunity altogether.
June 28, 10:20 AM
Shi Lei arrived at the venue entrance early, holding a tree branch he had picked up on the road. He thought it was straight enough to use as a weapon later.
The rules of the duel are very simple: a bunch of Knight are put into the arena for a free-for-all to attack each other.
Each successful attack with a weapon earns you one point. At the end of the match, scores are awarded based on the ranking of points earned.
There will be many drones and cameras on site, so there's no need to worry about hitting something but not getting the points counted.
There were no requirements regarding weapons, as long as they could be attached to sensors. Shi Lei didn't want to reveal his abilities, so he used tree branches to fight, focusing on a casual approach.
Rebecca ran over with the documents and explained to him the Competitive Knight they needed to be wary of in this match:
"Mr. Lucky Knight, you need to be wary of this Blade Knight and this Grizzly Knight in this match. They both have relatively high scores and pose a greater threat, and also..."
Shi Lei is always a man of careful planning before acting, and he works eight hours more than the average person every day. Even knowing today's match would be a crushing defeat, he wouldn't harbor any illusions.
"Miss Rebecca, I've reviewed the information on these Competitive Knights. Also, you'd better keep a certain distance from me and not get too close. Don't ask about the protective gear and weapons; I know what I'm doing."
After saying that, he turned and entered the venue.
The duel is scheduled to begin at 11 a. m., and many spectators who arrived early can already be seen.
Shi Lei wasn't wearing protective gear, and the way he held the thick tree branch behind his back made him look like an old man taking a stroll. Did he go to the locker room to chat with the other Competitive Knight?
Because there's no need for it.
More than ten minutes later, the other 14 Competitive Knight entered the arena one after another.
They looked at Shi Lei, who wasn't wearing any protective gear and was holding a tree Shi Lei with his bare hands, as if he were a freak.
"Hahaha, is this guy here to be funny? He dares to participate in the duel looking like that?"
"I don't remember, I don't know which Knight order they were from, maybe they were independent Knight."
"Hilarious! Does he think he can escape being hunted down like this? Nobody's allowed to take this easy target from me! I'll make him the first one later, just you wait."
Even the referee suspected that the player was up to something and came over to check.
Upon learning that this person was the Lucky Knight, the referee was startled and took several steps back. Without asking if the other party had signed a waiver, he turned and ran back to the referee's table.
Such an extreme reaction left the other Competitive Knight completely bewildered.
Could it be that this guy is incredibly powerful? So powerful that he can easily defeat them without even needing protective gear?
It's not that Shi Lei doesn't want to wear protective gear, but that he can't. The material he creates is much purer than what's available on the market, which could easily arouse suspicion from the authorities.
Moreover, Shi Lei's current strategy is to play the Lucky Knight brings bad luck to others, preventing opponents from even encountering him. Whether or not he has protective gear makes little difference.
With the match time fast approaching, the commentator for this duel passionately shouted into the microphone:
"La Signora and gentlemen, welcome to the Giant Peak Arena! Knight will unleash their Knight fighting instincts in this large arena sponsored by Giant Peak Pharmaceutical!"
Here, every effective attack they launch against any Knight will accumulate points. At the end of the game, points will be awarded based on their ranking.
I know you want to see a fierce battle, to see Knight fall. Come on, come on! I can't wait to see what happens to these Competitive Knights!
If you haven't participated in this prediction yet, you have three minutes left to place your bets!
Drones and cameras from Thor Industries will record every angle without any blind spots! Eight registered referees from the Knight Association will not miss a single detail!
The Knight are now equipped with their sensors and ready at their designated positions. I hereby declare the Great Peak Duel officially commence!
At the narrator's command, the fence in front of the fifteen Knight rapidly rose. Once they had emerged, it quickly closed again, completely cutting off all escape routes.
The referee, who arrived late, was very surprised to see a person with no protective gear, only a sensor chip attached to their clothes.
"What's wrong with that man?"
The referee beside him respectfully explained:
"My lord, he is the Lucky Knight that Edward kept promoting in the chat group a few days ago. I heard that as long as you attack him or stand within a certain range of him, you will be plagued by bad luck."
"What nonsense is this?"
The referee, upon hearing this, appeared utterly speechless.
"How old are you all? Why do you still believe in this?"
But within seconds, reality slapped him hard across the face.
The Competitive Knight, who had declared before the match that he would easily defeat the weak, charged straight at the Lucky Knight at the very start, hoping to earn enough points from him.
For some unknown reason, the smart armor he was wearing suddenly started smoking. The entire armor became unusually heavy, and he collapsed to the ground, motionless.
There was also Competitive Knight who was clutching his stomach in pain, rolling back and forth on the ground, with beads of sweat the size of soybeans seeping from his forehead.
Shi Lei focused on three Competitive Knights who wanted to attack him to farm points, ignoring the others.
He held a straight branch and kept hitting their sensor points, just like a parent disciplining a child.
Such a scene is unprecedented in the entire history of Knight Competition.
Not only were the spectators and referees at the scene stunned, but viewers in front of their televisions were equally dumbfounded.
Holy crap, is this Knight really that weird?