They dismissively called them a rabble, yet they couldn't suppress the inexplicable sense of bewilderment and fear in their hearts.
Chapter 98
The Freshman League has passed its first day of adaptation and exploration, and is now entering its first period of shrinking playoffs.
Those watching the matches live were mostly Awakened, and watching three consecutive days of matches had no effect on them; the same was true for the players in the virtual reality environment.
Twenty-four hours later, during the fourth topographical shift, an ominous black fog emerged from the outermost limit zone of the active continent, extending towards the center of the continent.
"Head towards the central area!"
At this point, the more than 8,000 players still alive on the field, especially those on the periphery, were all trying to get to the center.
Five kilometers, ten kilometers, fifteen kilometers.
Ultimately, the first shrinking of the lap stopped at the 15-kilometer mark in the extreme zone.
The entire circular continent has a diameter of 200 kilometers and an area of more than 300 square kilometers. Because the shrinkage begins from the edge, the area of the safe zone reduced in the first shrinkage is the largest.
This also means that the space for the players to move around on the field has been relatively reduced.
When the battle group composed of players from the Ocher Soil faction was operating, the frequency of encountering other players began to gradually decrease.
The vast majority of the more than four thousand remaining Ocher Soil were in the team organized by Wen Jing.
With a battle group of over three thousand people, their whereabouts were impossible to conceal.
The contestants from the other two academies would not choose to provoke this behemoth at this stage.
A loose, scattered Ocher Soil is completely different from a cohesive Ocher Soil now.
Even players capable of escaping unscathed from a massive attack by a thousand people wouldn't do something so strenuous and thankless.
At this stage, the Ocher Soil Battle Group is an existence that no one dares to provoke on the field.
"Our college has really gained prestige this time!"
Even the students from Ocher Soil, who had already been eliminated once, were thrilled and excited watching from the audience.
A sense of collective honor is contagious. Even if they were unlucky and were eliminated before meeting Wen Jing, watching the remaining contestants from the sidelines now, they hope that the remaining contestants can go further and achieve higher rankings.
On the first day, they eliminated four or five hundred Azure Jade students and more than thirty Mystic Radiance students. This achievement would have been unthinkable for Ocher Soil in the past.
Even if most of the students from Ocher Soil are eliminated immediately, the academy's overall ranking has already improved by several hundred places compared to previous years.
Not only were they on-site, but students and mentors from the academy on the distant Red Earth Star were also watching the competition via interstellar live stream.
Some corporations on Red Earth Star even operate small-scale gambling operations.
While Ji Shuang and others, who had previously teamed up with Wen Jing, were thrilled by the achievements of this year's freshmen, they were also worried about the ever-growing team.
If this battle group hadn't consisted of low-potential Awakened of F and E ranks, they would have been suppressed by the other contestants long ago.
Just like how a large number of students in Azure Jade formed teams by chance in one of their years, forcing the arrogant Mystic Radiance to join forces to break them up, they ended up being the worst-performing class in the Azure Jade Academy in those years.
Wen Jing's 'commands' can indeed be used for some group command, but the problem is that in virtual reality competitions, everyone's compatibility is less than 60%, so she cannot use Mental Link to control the group collectively.
They all hope that this ability of hers will come in handy in future official leagues.
The fact that Ocher Soil now commands half the battlefield is entirely thanks to Wen Jing, and they've already reached a dangerous limit...
As time went on, Azure Jade and Mystic Radiance stopped directly engaging in combat upon meeting, indicating that the competition was entering a new phase.
As the second shrinking of the area occurred, the terrain changed, and the beast tide erupted. Resource points of various colors fell from the sky like meteors.
Amidst a multitude of blue-green meteors, a few white-purple meteors were scattered across the sky. Suddenly, a brilliant golden streak flashed across the horizon.
Seeing this scene, both the spectators outside the arena and the athletes inside were deeply moved.
The second Decoy Beacon finally appeared during the race.
The value of this beacon is further enhanced now that the Ocher Soil Battle Group exists on the field.
" Wen Jing, aren't we going?"
The surrounding students asked.
In the past, at this point in time, unless one could snag a bargain nearby, actively participating in the competition for resource points would be completely irrelevant to the students of Ocher Soil.
However, now, wherever the Ocher Soil Corps goes, all the resource points that can be looted are completely plundered.
"It's too far."
Wen Jing looked at the location where the golden resource point had landed and shook his head.
"That's true. If we chase after them now, we'll have no idea who they've fallen into..." Yu Yang scratched his head.
Xia Yun, standing beside him, looked at him speechlessly. "It's because whoever gets the Decoy Beacon will definitely throw it at us immediately! Wouldn't we just be delivering ourselves to their deaths if we went over there now?"
"Uh--" Yu Yang's eyes widened, and he suddenly realized what was going on.
If the Decoy Beacon falls into the hands of the other two houses, they will definitely use it on the Ocher Soil Corps!
While the people of Ocher Soil can unite to resist the beast tide, it would be a different story if they also had to face attacks from prepared contestants from the other two academies while facing the beast tide.
The biggest impact of this thing is that it acts like a signal flare; once someone uses it on Ocher Soil, without much communication, others will definitely follow suit.
"It's time."
Wen Jing looked at the distant sky, then turned to the crowd and gave the order:
"Let's go and get the nearby resource points first..."
*
"They've split up their forces?"
As viewers at the scene and watching the live stream saw the Ocher Soil Battle Group loot all the newly spawned resource points nearby, the already somewhat bloated team on the field began to break into smaller groups of a hundred people.
For the students of Ocher Soil, this was just the right number—troublesome but not threatening.
"We're definitely going to score. After the circle shrinks, Ocher Soil's large group is too conspicuous. If they don't split up, they'll inevitably become the target of everyone's attacks."
The Analysis on the field astutely pointed out the current situation.
Under the format of the Freshman League, it's impossible to play as a faction-based competition. The reason why the Ocher Soil Battle Group was able to gradually rise to prominence before was entirely because of the emergence of Wen Jing in this season.
When the number of people increases and the space for activities shrinks, conflict will naturally break out. With such a target, others will have no choice but to unite, even if they don't want to.
"Dividing the forces is the smartest way to maintain the current situation; the rest of the game needs to return to a normal pace."
"However, the fact that Ocher Soil has achieved this makes them worthy of being called this year's dark horse."
Besides the Analysis from professionals, the most obvious difference is that the live stream comments, which are most popular among casual viewers of the league, have shown a rare increase in discussions about Ocher Soil, unlike in previous years.
[The overall ranking of this year's Ocher Soil students has skyrocketed!]
What place will Wen Jing ultimately get?
[She later commanded the Ocher Soil Battle Group and didn't display any more special abilities, but based on her current performance, she might actually make it into the top 500 if she's lucky.]
[That's too low, I think it could have made it into the top 200!]
The golden resource point was eventually captured by a Azure Jade player, but just as he was searching for the Ocher Soil battle group, he discovered that the enemy had already split up.
Many players thought the upcoming match would be a faction war, Wen Jing took the initiative to divide his forces and spread out the battle lines, turning the game into a guerrilla war.
The so-called guerrilla warfare is not just about small groups of a hundred people operating separately, but also about her personally moving between various battle groups.
Wherever she goes, it's like a super-enhancing buff, boosting the small group's combat power many times over.
" Wen Jing?"
Mystic Radiance, who had intended to wipe out the small group of Ocher Soil in front of him, suddenly focused his gaze on the familiar figure that had blocked his attack.
"Sixteen, long time no see!" Wen Jing greeted his high school classmates with a smile.
Sixteen was taken aback, then angrily said, "My name is Lin Yuan."
"Oh, Lin Yuan!" Wen Jing politely corrected himself.
Seeing this, Yu Yang, who happened to be in the back of the line, felt extremely embarrassed. Class 1 of No. 1 Middle School had produced four Awakened, the first two of whom were both B-level, while he was only F-level...
Oh, Wen Jing is also an F, but Wen Jing's strength always makes him subconsciously forget that she is an F.
"Trying to get close to them won't work; you can't protect them if I do that!"
After a brief moment of astonishment, Lin Yuan sneered and suddenly unleashed her energy.
As a classmate, she used to be someone who could only look up to Wen Jing in class.
Now the situation has reversed. She has awakened the B-grade Wilderness Body [ Titan's Core ], signed a contract with the Temple Group, and become a promising new member of Mystic Radiance. It's now their turn to look up to her!
"Boom..."
Amidst swirling lightning, Lin Yuan hovered in mid-air, the spherical Thunderstorm Field enveloping a fifty-meter radius around her, making her face appear deathly pale.
The level two shield hastily erected by the student in the Ocher Soil was accidentally hit by the electric current and shattered instantly. Seeing this, the people next to her quickly erected their own shields and pulled her back.
Lin Yuan smiled.
Her current compatibility is 35%, and as the compatibility increases in the future, the power and range of the Thunderstorm Field will continue to increase.
"That's not necessarily true..."
Just then, Lin Yuan heard Wen Jing's familiar voice beside her.
Lin Yuan's pupils suddenly dilated, and for a moment she felt as if she had returned to the time when she was in high school during combat training and accidentally ended up in Wen Jing's place.
The opponent completely ignored the lightning surrounding her, which was enough to turn a person into charred remains, and Extreme Speed approached her.
Under Lin Yuan's shocked gaze, Wen Jing laughed strangely:
"Don't underestimate the bond between us classmates!"
[ Mystic Radiance player ' Lin Yuan ' has been eliminated, ranked 6841]
"... bonds?"
Lin Yuan, having removed her helmet, pondered the word with a melancholy expression, her inner turmoil silently increasing by one point.