Tang Zheng had no intention of foolishly waiting around.
He was seated in the outermost section of the Imperial Arena. By the time it was his turn to leave, who knew how long he would have to wait?
Even so, it still took about twenty minutes to get out of the massive, ancient arena.
The duel between Gazef and Brain that had just ended had truly been an eye-opener for everyone who watched it.
Thus, even now, the fervor of discussion had not diminished in the slightest. Instead, it grew increasingly heated as people left the arena.
Tang Zheng had originally thought he could finally breathe easy after leaving the crowded arena. Yet the moment he stepped through its gates, he discovered that even more people had gathered outside.
Clearly!
These were commoners who could not afford to enter the arena but were equally eager to learn the outcome.
Both Gazef and Brain had enormous numbers of supporters.
After all, since the Royal Tournament had been established, this was the first final match with no nobles involved, only two commoners.
Perhaps the nobles saw it as a humiliating battle.
But in the eyes of commoners, it was precisely the opposite.
"Look, it's Red Drop!"
Suddenly, cries of surprise erupted from the crowd.
The next moment!
The relatively spacious flow of people around Tang Zheng abruptly became packed, as everyone voluntarily opened up a broad path for a team.
Red Drop?
Tang Zheng raised an eyebrow and looked up toward the figure walking at the front of the path the crowd had made.
A figure with shoulder-length pale golden hair and a striking red lock hanging over his forehead was the first to enter his sight.
He wore a black jacket over a red shirt resembling noble formalwear, paired with silver-black trousers in a relaxed outfit.
His entire bearing exuded noble elegance and composure. He occasionally waved to the people on both sides, immediately drawing a succession of cheers from women. He looked exceedingly high-profile.
Azuth Aindra!
The name surfaced in Tang Zheng's mind, and his gaze grew more serious.
One of the Kingdom's only two Adamantite Rank adventurer teams, the captain of Red Drop, a Kingdom noble with the title of Knight.
Tang Zheng looked at the four figures behind Azuth Aindra. They should have been Red Drop's members.
One was a middle-aged man in silver armor, his expression utterly cold as he carried an exceptionally broad greatsword on his back.
Another was dressed as a magic caster in a light-blue robe. No staff could be seen in his hands, and his entire body was hidden beneath the oversized robe. Tang Zheng could only tell that he was also male.
The remaining two were men as well.
One carried a longbow faintly gleaming with gray light. The other was shorter, with an utterly ordinary appearance and attire. It was impossible to tell his profession merely from the surface.
Compared to the others, he had almost no presence at all.
But according to common sense.
The more someone was like that, the more dangerous he tended to be.
Tang Zheng felt that he was probably some sort of Thief, though he did not know whether these men were the team's entire roster.
Whether in the anime or the novels, Red Drop had always been a rather mysterious team. Apart from Captain Azuth Aindra appearing in person, none of its other members had ever appeared.
He had not expected to see its members here.
Compared to the others, Tang Zheng was more concerned with Captain Azuth Aindra.
Though he did not know the other members' levels, he could guess that none of them had reached the Hero Realm, meaning level 29 or above.
Azuth Aindra was the only one who was truly dangerous!
He was not very strong. More precisely, he was probably the weakest member of the entire team, yet he was also Red Drop's true core.
Because the team existed because of him.
It was not because of his status as a noble.
It was because Azuth Aindra possessed a Powered Suit of around level 51!
Because of that armor, Azuth Aindra's otherwise unremarkable strength had been forcibly raised into the first tier of human combat power.
"Something like a Powered Suit definitely could not have been made by this world's humans. It should be a Player's Legacy."
"I just don't know whether it was the Legacy of the Six Great Gods, the Eight Greed Kings, or that captain of the Thirteen Heroes."
Tang Zheng lowered his eyelids slightly and thought to himself.
Perhaps only Azuth Aindra himself truly knew the answer!
Besides Azuth Aindra, the only other one with a Powered Suit was the Platinum Dragon Lord. He possessed a Powered Suit of around level 85, and the library edition of the novel seemed to mention that he had more than one.
The Platinum Dragon Lord held far more than just that much Player Legacy.
There were also the other True Dragon Lords. All of those fellows knew of Players and the game YGGDRASIL.
In short, the waters of this world ran deep.
If the Great Tomb of Nazarick had not been so overwhelmingly powerful, it might truly have suffered several devastating setbacks.
That Player who led the Thirteen Heroes, explicitly named Riku, had died after stumbling headlong into one.
Not only had the Platinum Dragon Lord completely extracted information from him regarding Players and YGGDRASIL.
He had even publicly claimed that the captain of the Thirteen Heroes had accidentally killed his companion, suffered a severe blow because of it, died young, and refused resurrection.
People of the New World might believe that.
But Tang Zheng, as a transmigrator, knew perfectly well what Players were like.
Refuse resurrection?
What a joke.
The Platinum Dragon Lord was obviously lying. He was nothing but a thoroughly scheming bastard.
Red Drop passed through the path opened by the crowd. Several more adventurer teams followed close behind, causing another wave of astonished cries among the people.
Tang Zheng had thought he would see the other Adamantite Rank adventurer team, Blue Roses, but that was not the case.
He did not recognize any of the adventurer teams that appeared, but judging by how warmly they were received, they should have been Orichalcum or Mithril Rank teams.
Clearly, Gazef and Brain's duel had drawn quite a few powerful individuals.
"It's time to leave. The next step is leveling up, then building my classes." Tang Zheng withdrew his gaze and silently thought as he prepared to turn away.
Hm?
As Tang Zheng turned his head, the corner of his eye happened to catch the final adventurer team.
There were only four people, yet they gave off a striking impression.
Two men and two women!
The most eye-catching were the two women at the front. One wore full-body armor, with long black hair, blue eyes, and a cold, beautiful face.
The other had long pink hair and wore the clothing of a holy cleric.
Though her attire ought to have looked sacred, its lower half was split up both sides like a cheongsam, exposing her black boots and thighs wrapped in stockings.
The appearance of those two instantly drew the gazes of most of the men present.
Tang Zheng recognized this adventurer team.
"If I remember correctly, they're called Four Arms. I almost didn't recognize them."
Tang Zheng recalled them, then could not help letting his gaze fall on the pink-haired holy cleric. His eye twitched slightly when he saw her outfit.
"I really can't make sense of this world's clothing."
"Still, it must be related to the Six Great Gods or the Eight Greed Kings. At least in terms of clothing, Players had a positive influence on this world."
The thought flashed through Tang Zheng's mind.
This adventurer team would become a Mithril Rank team in the future. At present, it seemed they had not yet reached that rank.
"Black hair... no wonder I didn't recognize her immediately." Tang Zheng looked at the cold-faced black-haired woman in full armor.
In the future.
Her hair was white, not for any particular reason, but because she had deliberately dyed it.
If one looked closely, one could see that the roots beneath her black hair faintly carried a golden hue.
That was right, she was actually blonde!
The Kingdom was originally dominated by blondes. She had dyed her hair black because black was more eye-catching and could raise her adventurer team's profile.
In the future, she dyed it white because of the Bone Lord.
Because the Bone Lord had created a team called Jet Black to gather intelligence, after it became an Adamantite Rank adventurer team, Four Arms dyed her hair white partly to avoid suspicion and partly because whenever people mentioned the words "Jet Black," they thought of the Bone Lord's team.
Tang Zheng seriously suspected whether there was some degree of inflation behind their becoming a Mithril Rank adventurer team.
Still, since they could trade blows with a Death Knight in the future, they should have had some real skill among adventurer teams.
In any case.
Neither pink-haired girls nor blondes who liked dyeing their hair were respectable people.
As for the other two male members... Tang Zheng had absolutely no impression of them.
Before you continue