Free Competition Zone, Emerald Star Cluster, a certain planet.
On the rugged, yellowish-brown wasteland, hundreds of shuttle-shaped low-altitude combat vehicles are engaged in fierce combat, weaving through the obstacle-like cliffs and rock peaks, using them as cover.
Scorching beams of light streaked across the landscape, striking the cliffs along the way, causing protruding rocky hills to collapse and scatter debris everywhere.
There are four different faction markings on the outer armor of these low-altitude vehicles. One of them is the Jiangcheng guild mark, and the other three are the emblems of different foreign clubs.
Jiangcheng was in a precarious situation, being besieged by these three foreign clubs and forced to fight and flee to avoid being surrounded.
Inside a vehicle, Maple Moon stood in the driver's seat, her hands gripping the spherical control devices on either side, which were designed for mechanics. Streams of Mechanical Force, crackling with electricity, connected to the devices, turning the spaceship into an extended limb that could move at will. With a nimble spin, she dodged concentrated fire while firing a main cannon shot that destroyed one of the pursuing vehicles.
However, several visible dark figures flew out from the flames of the vehicle explosion. They were players from the enemy ship. One of the Mechanic Class players threw out a compressed ball, which transformed into a new vehicle and carried the group to catch up again.
Seeing this, Maple Moon couldn't help but open the team channel and said helplessly, "Dao Dao, there are too many enemies. If this continues, we'll run out of supplies. Maybe we should just die and go back. We don't need these resources."
"Hold on a little longer, our allies are on their way."
Frenzied Saber focused on dealing with the enemy ships, secretly feeling somewhat annoyed.
This planet was originally controlled by a small mining organization. Guilds such as Jiangcheng and Long Sky cooperated with it, providing military guarantees in exchange for a share of the mining profits. This is now the common practice among player guilds in the Free Competition Zone.
However, several mid-level managers of this mining organization were turned by a few foreign clubs in Southeast Asia and secretly helped them hide on the planet. When Frenzied Saber and his men came to routinely receive the resources, the three clubs that were lying in ambush immediately jumped out, catching Frenzied Saber and his men off guard.
Nowadays, the forms of conflict between players are becoming increasingly complex, and they are becoming more adept at utilizing smaller factions, having mastered NPC interaction techniques such as bribery and threats without any formal instruction. The Frenzied Saber that Kuangdao encountered this time was just a small-scale skirmish; larger guilds are now starting to engage in strategic alliances and betrayals, with various forms of infiltration, backstabbing, and defection emerging one after another.
Jiangcheng Guild's vehicles were destroyed one by one, forcing many players to land on the plains. Maple Moon led the Mechanic Class players to form a fortress and launch an air counterattack. The opposing team also dropped a group of players, and the two sides clashed in the wasteland. Due to their numerical disadvantage, Jiangcheng's situation was precarious.
After a fierce battle, several warships suddenly appeared in the depths of space and quickly approached. They were the allied guilds, including Long Sky, who had come to provide reinforcements. Upon seeing this, the three foreign clubs immediately took off and returned to their ships in outer space to await orders. Before the reinforcements arrived, they used a jump to escape, their movements very practiced, clearly indicating that they had been prepared in advance.
Are you all alright?
Hao Tian led the Long Sky Team to land next to Frenzied Saber and the others, glancing at the mess on the ground.
"Sigh, we got caught in the trap. This time it's a bit of a loss; some people died several times and lost some experience points."
Frenzied Saber was helpless. Players have a daily limit on the number of times they can die, and the penalty increases with each death. Players are not afraid of dying, but they must die for a reason. Dying without any benefit is naturally a loss.
"These foreign clubs are now targeting our Huaxia guilds, teaming up to target us every now and then," Maple Moon complained.
"There's nothing we can do. We're the ones who earn the most and have the strongest faction," Long Sky shrugged.
Now, the Huaxia club is thriving in the Free Competition Zone, riding on the coattails of the Black Star Army. This has brought them the ire of foreign clubs. Their previous plan to incite national animosity failed, and unable to utilize their own faction's players, they have no choice but to take matters into their own hands. In recent months, they have been frequently harassing the Huaxia club, aiming to delay their opponent's development.
Frenzied Saber with some worry, "It's usually alright, but if we get Sniping in the professional league, it will be difficult for us to achieve good results this season."
"If we win the championship again this year, Huaxia will be a three-time champion dynasty, enjoying the fame for three consecutive years. Clubs from other countries certainly don't want to see that happen," Jiang Yuluo said calmly.
Participating in competitions is about gaining recognition; recognition translates to traffic, and traffic translates to profit; the ultimate goal of professional clubs is to make a profit.
International leagues are the only major public tournaments that allow professional teams to increase their visibility. Where else can you find a platform with so many people watching for professional teams to shine?
Therefore, if Huaxia dominates, it's like blocking the path to wealth. Other clubs from different countries aren't willing to just get a small share, and some might not even get any. So, some people will resort to any means to suppress their strong rivals. Everyone is a competitor; if one side is too strong, the others will definitely band together to Sniping, which is understandable.
"Beep beep beep--"
Just then, everyone's communicators rang simultaneously.
The group exchanged surprised glances, looked at their respective communicators, and were slightly taken aback after reading the message.
"Black Star Cup?"
The communicator displayed a newly released Legion announcement:
[Legion Announcement - Black Star Cup Army-Wide League Call to Arms]
[To the entire Legion: The Black Star Army has been on a path of rapid development. With business expansion, our personnel size is growing larger. To enhance understanding among members of different departments, strengthen cohesion, and select talent from various fields, the Legion has decided to hold a parade-like event. Preparations for the first Black Star Cup Army-Wide League will begin immediately. Details can be found in [Appendix - Tournament Rules] (fold/unfold). All Legion members are welcome to participate. The Legion will not hesitate to reward outstanding achievements. We welcome your enthusiastic participation – Legion Commander Black Star]
At first glance, the announcement seemed unremarkable, but upon opening the appendix, a dense array of information unfolded before their eyes, and their eyes widened in astonishment at Black Star Cup's extravagant gesture.
"My God, the scale of this faction event is huge!" Maple Moon covered her mouth, looking surprised.
"And they can even apply for projects themselves?!" Frenzied Sword Fried Rice's eyes widened.
Just reading the introduction made the players present very excited and eager to try it out.
Compared to the scale of the Black Star Cup, international events seem small-scale.
Frenzied Saber and Hao Tian exchanged a glance, both of them realizing something more.
"This is a great opportunity to increase our visibility!" Frenzied Saber Blade said excitedly. "An event of this scale will definitely attract attention, and we also have nearly ten million Legion players as a natural audience."
"That's right. Although it's an event organized by NPCs, as long as it gets attention, it can bring in the same amount of traffic and replace the role of international events, or even be more effective!" Hao Tian agreed.
Upon hearing this, everyone's expressions changed, and they looked at the announcement as if they had seen a huge windfall.
Everyone realized that this was likely a new platform for professional gamers to shine, and with far more projects than international tournaments, it could bring extremely high exposure.
Although clubs from other factions cannot participate, resulting in Huaxia clubs having no rivals and the competition not being as intense as in international tournaments, isn't this also a unique exposure opportunity exclusively for legion players?
Especially in the early to mid-stages of the game, with professional leagues still a long way off, many players are in need of entertainment, and the Black Star Cup League fills that gap perfectly!
If the level of attention is high enough, they are even willing to apply the same enthusiasm they have for international leagues to preparing for the Black Star Cup, turning their accumulated experience and wealth into combat power ahead of time and spending lavishly.
Why do we save money? It's so we can spend it when the time is right!
Such a great opportunity has fallen into the hands of our Huaxia Football Club again...
Thinking of this, everyone felt a surge of emotion welling up inside them, a strange feeling of being moved.
--Black Star might be a party member!
"The Black Star Cup?!"
Many foreign clubs were envious after seeing the legion's public announcement.
Every club could see that this was an excellent opportunity for exposure, exactly the stage they needed.
However, only members of the Black Star Army can participate in the Black Star Cup. Clubs belonging to other factions can only watch helplessly as such a good opportunity slips through their fingers.
It's like watching the neighboring village get rich and build villas, while you can only stay in a mud-brick house and a small plot of land, envying others' big meals all day long.
If it were just a simple task-based benefit, these foreign clubs could tolerate it. But now that they've encountered this kind of exposure opportunity, many clubs' belief in not switching clubs has wavered.
Why are the Black Star Army so adept at hitting our G-spot?!
Or maybe I should just... give in?
"What is Black Star up to?"
On the other hand, some Beyond Grade A were puzzled by Han Xiao's actions.
In the view of this group, such large-scale events are not only wasteful of manpower and resources, but also take up their subordinates' working time.
However, after some thought, many Beyond Grade A realized that they understood Black Star's good intentions—with the Development Federation, their opportunities to take action personally would become fewer and fewer, which would be detrimental to maintaining their personal deterrent power. Black Star might be looking for a new way to demonstrate his strength to the outside world.
Many Beyond Grade A secretly sighed.
The vice president has a truly far-sighted perspective; he's a real go-getter who works for our benefit...