After the first round of matches, the standings were released. Devil ranked first, followed closely by the Dynasty. The top three to six teams were all from Group B, seemingly having a lot of fun in the lower ranks. Meanwhile, the strong teams in Group C were locked in fierce battles, mostly winning by a narrow margin and not gaining many points, thus ranking lower. However, there were some formidable teams among the strong ones. The French Tulip from Group C ranked seventh, which seems a bit low, but their opponent was the Swedish Battle Axe. Sweden esports has always been strong, and this was a super-strong team, a contender for the championship. The fact that the French Tulip managed to snatch so many points from them is truly terrifying.
Han Xiao recalled the first league in his distant past life and suddenly realized, "That's right, the first champion was the French Tulip. Their strength was overwhelming. Their professional team composition, equipment selection, and skill complementarity were almost perfect, and their tactical coordination was seamless. It seems that only the Huaxia Dynasty, made it to the top eight. The other two teams were in the middle of the standings and failed to advance."
Looking further down, the scores from eighth to seventeenth place are all the same, it's very close.
This is only the first round, so the rankings don't matter much. Each team still has eleven matches to play, and the final result is still uncertain.
The individual competition also had high viewership. One-on-one duels have always been a source of passion, with various masters showcasing their skills. Frenzied Saber narrowly won the first round, and Kings and Generals also achieved victory. However, another player, Snow-Dyed Blossoms, suffered a defeat. This guy is a big man with a feminine side, and his fans call him "Sister Snow." Everyone felt sorry for his loss. Among all the contestants from Huaxia, he was the only one to lose in the first round.
After the competition, the Huaxia players sought out Han Xiao to repair their mechs. During the competition, these professional players spared no expense, investing a large amount of Enas to enhance their mechanical equipment, which Han Xiao accepted without hesitation. It was thanks to the players' tireless efforts that he was able to accumulate nearly 800,000 Enas, enough to buy a spaceship.
Of course, buying a spaceship is absolutely out of the question; why buy one when you can just get one for free?
As the competition progressed, the Huaxia team showed great momentum. They encountered strong teams along the way, and although the battles were tough, they ultimately managed to secure a victory. The equipment that Han Xiao sold them had been carefully selected. While the Non-Commissioned Officer-Grade Armor was powerful, it wasn't invincible. The players were all at the maximum level of 60, representing the best of the region, and their equipment was also quite good. Who knows what trump cards they might be hiding that could turn the tide of the competition and surprise everyone at a crucial moment?
Although Huaxia's overall strength is at its peak, the game is ever-changing, and there are countless examples of the underdog defeating the strong through tactics.
It's impossible for Han Xiao to release the most core equipment for sale ahead of time. He wouldn't ruin his sales plan just to improve Huaxia's ranking. He doesn't even understand how this world works yet, so where would he get the time to control the players' league? Besides, he sees the league more as a business opportunity. He watches players participate mainly to let them showcase the excellence of their equipment, thereby expanding their potential customer base. As long as the ranking isn't bad, that's enough for him.
After fierce battles, all teams gained a clearer understanding of their opponents and devised strategies to counter them, and Huaxia also became a target of these strategies.
--The most formidable aspect of the Huaxia team is their mechanical weapons and mechs from Black Star. If we can counter that, their threat level will drop significantly!
As a result, the opponents that Huaxia encountered next all changed their class combinations, adding multiple psychic masters.
In the early stages, the Esper Class is the biggest nemesis of the Mechanic Class, without exception. Not only can they control objects, but their mental attacks completely ignore physical armor. As for the Mage Class, their high mental resistance can help them withstand some damage. The Pugilist Class has good physique and can reduce the duration of negative status effects. The Esper Class ones, can be left out and not considered an exception. Only the Mechanic Class is targeted. Relying on machines to fight, their physical bodies are mostly fragile. Psychic masters can easily penetrate the armor to directly kill the user. Moreover, they have many mental control methods, such as various intimidation, illusion, and confusion debuffs. Their attack range is also very long, and they can ignore terrain. The brainlessness of this class is second only to the Pugilist Class.
Faced with this kind of targeting, the uniqueness of the Huaxia team became apparent. Although they wore armor, their true nature was Pugilist Class and Esper Class. The psychic weakened the effect of the armor, pulling them down from their peak strength. The problem is, even so, the Huaxia team's strength is still top-notch, and their opponents still have to face a group of fierce professional players.
Besides Esper Class, Mage Class spells like elemental magic, rust spells, and curses are also effective against mechanical armor. Of course, everything is relative; while they are effective against mechs, they are also quite fragile themselves.
The presence of armor forces these teams to expend more effort to deal with it, and its strength is obvious. This thing is usable by all classes and provides comprehensive enhancement. It's like having a spiky turtle shell on the outside, giving you an extra health bar, and it also allows for ranged attacks. If the margin for error for an ordinary team is 3, then the margin for error for the Huaxia team is 10!
The increase is too large!
Even with some damage adjustment and balancing, it's impossible to eliminate Huaxia's equipment advantage.
Actually, mechs will be standard equipment for everyone in version 2.0 or 3.0. Everyone will have the same mechs, and the focus will be on performance. The difference won't be as big as it is now. Unfortunately, in the first version, characters selling armor are extremely rare, and they are all crude, half-finished products. For now, only Han Xiao offers high-quality full armor sets.
However, the measures were effective, and the Huaxia team suffered a significant increase in casualties. Since everyone is a strong team in their respective regions, it's not always possible to achieve a crushing victory. The following matches were back and forth, with wins and losses, making them very intense and exciting.
The rankings fluctuate daily, captivating viewers from all over the world. The Dynasty and the Devil Realm clashed, with the Dynasty narrowly emerging victorious and taking the top spot on the leaderboard, drawing considerable attention.
Such achievements have made Huaxia viewers proud. Whenever there is a match in Huaxia, they will definitely stay up to watch it on the forum. Not only Huaxia viewers, but also many foreign viewers have become fans of the Dynasty Team's performance. The viewership ratings of matches in Huaxia can be ranked in the top three.
Compared to the bleakness of her previous life, it was a complete transformation.
Long Sky and Temple, who are in Group C, are in a worse situation, hovering between eighth and twelfth place, on the verge of qualifying, with fierce competition.
Juberly Hub, Black Star Mercenary Group stronghold.
An unused alloy room had been converted into a prison cell, where Rezar was imprisoned. His hands and feet were firmly strapped to an iron bed, and several needles were constantly inserted into his body, injecting him with nutrients and sedatives. His eyes were empty and lifeless, his appearance was emaciated and his complexion was sallow, as if he had been tortured and ruined.
He was used as material for the stripper, deprived of his freedom, and tortured to the point of being unrecognizable. His newly recovered magic would be drained away without giving him even a sliver of hope.
The door opened, and Han Xiao walked in. He glanced at him, then continued working, changing the nutrient solution while humming a little tune. He seemed oblivious to Rezar's miserable state, like a doctor accustomed to life and death. Then he took out the dissecting device and routinely drew blood.
The bright red, fluorescent blood flowed through the tube into the test tube, transforming into a new Ability Potion. Han Xiao now had eight potions in hand.
Rezar turned his head to look at Han Xiao, and spoke, his hoarse voice almost inaudible, revealing a deep weakness and helplessness, "Are you planning to trap me forever...?"
"Of course not forever."
Han Xiao raised an eyebrow. "Do you think you can live that long?"
"Can... cough cough, can we make a deal? You set me free, and I'll give anything to serve you. I just want to come to the Upper Realm to satisfy my thirst for knowledge. I'm not opposed to risking my life for anyone..." Rezar pleaded.
Han Xiao picked up the new Ability Potion with two fingers, shook it, and the viscous red liquid clung to the side of the container. He turned to look at Rezar and smiled, "I already have everything you have."
"You! You're so ruthless!"
Rezar gritted his teeth, his eyes filled with deep-seated hatred and profound despair.
"I wouldn't treat innocent people like that. If you were an ordinary person, perhaps I would sympathize with you, but you're a villain who almost killed millions of lives. Ha! Do you expect me to have any pity for you? That would be an insult to the millions of people you almost killed."
Han Xiao remained unmoved. Having experienced the dark period of being imprisoned by the Germinal and used as experimental material, he understood that feeling well and was happy to inflict it on people like Rezar.
He asked himself whether he was a benevolent person or a good person.
"Rest in peace and anticipate the day of your death; that release is your last hope."
Han Xiao spoke calmly, closing the door and leaving Rezar inside, howling in despair, his old and frail body emitting a beast-like scream.
Back in his room, Han Xiao cleaned and disinfected the peeler, then lined up all the Ability Potion, labeling them all. Taking advantage of the league's momentum, he planned to sell these potions to players.
Looking at these medicines, Master Han suddenly had an idea.
"The stripper needs to be used on NPCs to form the potion. If I extract my own genes... will it be successful?"
Han Xiao became interested and carefully washed the peeler again. He then pressed it against his arm and adjusted it to the lowest power setting.
[You are using the [Super Gene Extractor - Experimental Model] on yourself]
A wave of emptiness surged from within, instantly piercing through his body. Han Xiao raised an eyebrow, but didn't stop until he had filled a whole tube.
You have obtained [Ability Potion] x1
"It really works!" Han Xiao's eyes lit up. He then looked at his character panel and saw that he had been given a [Weak] buff that would last for 12 hours, reducing all his attributes by 30%. He felt weak in his limbs and sluggish in his strength.
He didn't take it seriously. He was resting at the Juberly Hub and had no chance of fighting during this time, so his temporary weakness was nothing to worry about.
"What effects will my Ability Potion have...?"
Han Xiao became extremely curious, and his eyes darted around.
"It would be such a waste to drink it myself; there are already customers here."