Lord, Deserter, Wanted Criminal!
"Brothers, hurry up and get into the Game Panel! A new feature has been enabled: a live stream of the Fourth-Order Title Ocean Overlord Promotion Tournament!"
"Holy crap, that's amazing! I'm only at level two in the title grind, and someone's already at level four?"
"Damn, I just finished completing the Boundless Merit Release Machine, and these people have already maxed out the progress of ten million? That's outrageous!"
"A whopping 80,000 people have reached the 10 million progress mark, that's insane!"
"55 of the top 100 are human! It seems we humans are still stronger!"
"Is this some kind of battle of gods? Seriously, are all 80,000 people ghosts? Why can't I see a single one on the World Channel?"
This proved true both on Earth and in the wasteland.
The barriers between people caused by information asymmetry remain as thick as they can be.
At 7:08 PM, after more than 95% of the Ocean Overlord chose to enter and passed the first test...
The most crucial thing for everyone was that a new feature had finally popped up!
This new feature has finally caused an uproar among the survivors who were still trying to gain experience points.
From the release of the title to this point, it's only been two days at most.
The speed at which they were able to accumulate ten million progress points in such a short time and complete the intermediate tasks is awe-inspiring.
Approximately 90% of people are currently still striving to advance from the second to the third tier of titles.
Despite not seeing any progress, the daily improvements and the daily output filled them with pride.
They believed that their progress, even if not the fastest, was at least among the mainstream of humanity, or even ahead of it.
Unfortunately, their illusions were ruthlessly shattered in just two days!
Someone has already maxed out level 4 and is now aiming for level 5!
And there are more than 80,000 people!
Hundreds of thousands of alien races!
These numbers are like loud slaps to the face of every smug person, leaving them dizzy and disoriented.
Puzzled, they immediately clicked into the newly appeared promotion interface to watch the Tier 4 Title promotion competition, in which top elites from humans and alien races participated.
After a delay of more than an hour, some changes have occurred on the leaderboard.
The one currently in first place is no longer the Gambling Freak Lu Wei who had the advantage when Su Mo was watching, but has become a human with the ID Chu Xuan.
Currently, the player ranked last on the leaderboard, or 100th, has a score of 6.02.
However, Chu Xuan's score was three times that of the last-place player, a full 18.29 points! And a new icon had lit up after his ID: Ocean Defense Army - Thirty-Fifth Army - Corporal! Not knowing the meaning of this icon, the players and alien races who flocked in could only focus their attention on the people below Chu Xuan.
To the dismay of the alien races, the person currently ranked second on the leaderboard is still a human with 18.12 points.
ID: Great Emperor Wang Teng.
His name was arrogant, and his logo was even more imposing than Chu Xuan's.
Ocean Guard - Seventh Army - Centurion! "So, the Ocean Overlord is about their ability to lead troops into battle?"
With this question in mind, skipping over the first two, we arrive at the third-ranked individual, who is the only alien race among the top ten.
His ID consists of only one character: snake.
However, his current score of 17.79 is something that no one dares to underestimate.
Furthermore, as a member of a different race, he also received a unique mark that differed from the previous two humans.
Ocean Warbeast Army - Three Armies - Ten-man Captain
"So the test of the Ocean Overlord is each commander's ability to lead troops into battle? That's a bit outrageous!"
"The Imperial Guard, the Ocean Defense Army, the Vanguard Army, the War Beast Corps, the Logistics Supply Team —it feels like they have a really complete range of military units!"
"Why don't we see Su God? Did Su God fail to reach the 10 million progress mark this time? Or is Su Divine Eye?"
"Why isn't the live stream of the leadership contest starting yet? Isn't that much more interesting than the disaster relief live stream?"
As more and more people joined this novel fourth-tier advancement livestream at this time of nightfall, the chat section of the livestream became lively.
Currently, there is no live stream footage available, so they can only infer the game rules for promotion based on the existing leaderboard information.
Some people guessed that it's like a role-playing game, where everyone gets a military rank and then competes to see who can climb to the rank of commander first.
Some people guessed that, similar to Age of Empires, the early stages without live streaming were a time for everyone to develop their character.
Once the live stream starts, it's a battle of wits between you and me, where we all compete to see who has the highest command value.
Some have even boldly speculated that all the commanders will become part of the Ocean God's army, helping the Ocean God to conquer the world and attack the continent.
A thousand people will have a thousand different interpretations of Hamlet; you have your guesses, and I have mine.
In the promotion live stream room where there are no restrictions on speaking, the barrage of comments reached a staggering 3.5 billion times, with the screen scrolling at an astonishing speed.
But just when everyone was arguing fiercely, in a moment when no one was paying attention...
A new name suddenly appeared at the very bottom of the rankings!
And it only lasted less than five seconds.
When this name rose to number one with terrifying speed, everyone finally realized what was happening.
The next second, the live stream chat exploded!
"Holy crap, General Xing Daorong, points: 403???"
"Deserter wanted criminal, wanted level: two stars, what kind of position is that?"
"Isn't this the Ocean God's promotion tournament? Someone actually deserted? Is that impressive?"
"As expected of the General, this live stream was a total hit!"
"Damn, in a competition to advance to the Ocean God title, they dare to pull off such a shady stunt as deserting? Is this some kind of joke?"
"Awesome! This move can only be described as awesome!"
It must be said that among the top 100 lists dominated by regular military units, the sudden appearance of deserter Xing Daorong is quite glaring and conspicuous.
Unlike Chu Xuan, who has fallen to second place.
Xing Daorong, who appeared like a shooting star, crushed everyone with his high score of 403.
In an instant, the discussions about the advancement of the Tier 4 Ocean Overlord ceased.
There are no more people researching the rankings of alien races and humans.
Even some posts discussing how to boost scores have disappeared.
The only thing left in the comments was Xing Daorong, and everyone's mind was filled with curiosity about him.
But what no one expected was that the general who had risen to the top like a meteor was now facing a huge problem!
"Chief, good news!!!"
"The flying mines we deployed earlier have already blasted away all the scum of the Ocean Guard Team who came to attack!"
"They chased us all the way here, and now they want to sneak onto our island? They're practically asking for trouble."
Looking at the fishman subordinate in the distance, who was carrying a large sword that was nearly a meter long and swaying as he ran, the weight of the sword handle made him look completely lacking in style.
Su Mo, sitting on a rock, helplessly covered his forehead.
It's been three days.
Three whole days have passed since I entered this mysterious world through the challenge mode.
Contrary to everyone's expectations, this challenge is not about returning to the glass cabinet to rest after completing one level before attempting the second.
Instead, after completing the first level, the second level begins immediately, and each level is closely related to the others.
If you make the wrong choice in the first step, the difficulty of the Step Two will increase accordingly.
Even if you complete the Step Two, you will only make more mistakes and enter a vicious cycle, causing the situation to get worse and worse.
Su Mo, who is currently a deserter, is right in the middle of this cycle.
"Damn, other people are so lucky. They can get a military rank and lead an army as soon as they arrive. How come I'm a deserter!"
"Damn it, I didn't run away voluntarily!"
After glancing at the leaderboard on the challenge panel, I saw that my ID was at the top, and I was labeled as an arrogant deserter and wanted criminal.
Su Mo's eye twitched, and he half-stood up from the rock.
"Yu Yi, what are our casualties?"
"Reporting to the leader, we have no casualties! In addition, we have captured all the equipment and supplies of 40 invading naval scum. We've struck it rich!"
The fishman called Fish One is only a little over 1.2 meters tall, similar to the fishmen in Earth's Western fantasy world. He can speak human language, but his combat power is pitifully weak.
Although the large sword in his hand looked imposing, it was a standard weapon that had just been captured from the Ocean God forces.
But in this situation, Su Mo had a hundred reasons to believe that he would be cut by his own blade before even attacking the enemy! "That's right, if those scum from the Ocean God's forces dare to land on the island, give them a good beating!"
He forced a stiff smile, summoned Yu Yi, explained some follow-up matters, and handed her a bottle of powder.
Seeing the silly fishman excitedly retracing his steps, Su Mo stopped resting and, wearing his restrictive Mermaid Set, climbed down the rock.
Su Mo slowly moved towards the center of the island.
The island is not large, only about two square kilometers in size, and it is convex in the middle and subsides around the edges.
When Su Mo slowly climbs to the highest point in the middle, the entire island can be seen in its entirety.
But at this moment, Su Mo had absolutely no interest in appreciating the white sand and azure waters in his field of vision.
They also didn't pay attention to the fishman tribe that currently only has 9 people by the sea.
Standing on the Big Stone on the entire island, Su Mo gently tapped the surface of the rock with the Three-Pointed Double-Edged Blade in his hand.
If this action were performed in the wasteland, even if Su Mo smashed the stone to pieces, there would be no response.
But in this mysterious world of challenges, as Su Mo struck the stone, a seemingly unadorned token suddenly emerged from the center of the stone, defying the laws of matter.
Then, as Su Mo grasped the token, an attribute panel naturally appeared in Su Mo field of vision.
[Ocean Overlord]: Su Mo (Rank: 1; Points: 403)
[Commander's Identity]: Lord of White Sand Island; Deserter; Wanted Criminal
[Currently in Progress]: 3 (Free Lord Development Route) [Level Content]: Defend your territory and protect your subjects to successfully overcome the first hurdle (Completed) [Outside-Level Rewards]: Excellent-level Design Blueprint *1 (Upgraded, choose to claim?) [Inside-Level Rewards]: Beginner Territory Modification Card *1 (Choose to claim?) [Occupied Territory]: White Sand Island
[Territory Area]: 2 square kilometers (Actual usable area: 0.689 square kilometers)
[Territory Specialties]: Treasure Fish, Shrimp, Beet Coconut, Honey Pot Grape (Excellent)
[Number of Territory Residents]: 9 (Murlocs) [Territory Fame]: Obscure (0)
[Territory Development Potential]: None
[Territory Health]: 6 points (Lack of sustainable food production; lack of effective armed forces; lack of Defense Facilities; lack of intelligence gathering methods; lack of...)
[Evaluation]: In the vast ocean, this is a place destined to be only a resting place for travelers.