With the league's opening day drawing ever closer, almost all players have flocked to the competition planet. Even those who aren't participants can join the grand event as spectators. This is a large-scale event for everyone, and players who love excitement won't want to miss it.
The uninhabited planet, now used as a battlefield, became bustling with activity. Spaceships came and went, and the entire planet served as a vast battlefield. Official players and volunteer players built numerous arenas and scenes, and coordinated the events. Continuing the style of the previous event, players were involved in the construction of the venue, enhancing the sense of immersion. Many players who chose to be spectators, having nothing better to do, were happy to help out.
Casual players are busily preparing their venues on the competition planet, while participating players are using the last remaining time to enhance themselves, strengthen their equipment, and upgrade their skills.
Han Xiao led a fleet, centered around a flagship, carrying various supplies from the warehouse, to the competition planet. When the Black Star Army fleet appeared, the players on the competition planet were astonished; they didn't know why the legion fleet had appeared.
After the fleet arrived, it remained in outer space. Many players, out of curiosity, entered the flagship and discovered that Han Xiao was also there.
When a player asked, Han Xiao gave a concise explanation.
"Intelligence indicates that a large number of Legion mercenaries have inexplicably gathered on an uninhabited planet, which puzzled me. I thought you had encountered some trouble, so I came to check."
This reason was both reasonable and unexpected, surprising many people, and many players found it very interesting.
Players have become accustomed to the realistic feedback from NPCs; all their actions influence the NPCs' judgments and affect the evolution of the Galaxy. This highly interactive feedback mechanism often makes players addicted to the game.
As a member of the Black Star Army, the gathering of hundreds of thousands of people alarmed the faction leader, who came to inspect the scene. This was a novel and interesting experience for the players.
Regarding character interaction, some players enjoy role-playing and interacting with NPCs in the same way as in the game to avoid immersing themselves in the role, while others prefer to be straightforward and blunt, directly telling Han Xiao that they want to play a competition.
"Since that's the case, I'd also like to see how far my mercenary has grown. I happen to have nothing else to do for the time being..." Han Xiao said in a natural tone, offering his excuse to stay, pretending to ignore the words "professional league" mentioned by the players, implying that he regarded it as a large-scale sparring event.
Most players didn't suspect anything; they hadn't expected that NPC spectators would appear in professional leagues, which they found even more entertaining.
Players were overjoyed to discover that the fleet also provided services such as resupply, equipment repair, and medicine procurement, as there was a supply station nearby, making it convenient for everyone.
The happiest people are undoubtedly the club players. They are wealthy and powerful, and the supply stations on Black Star allow them to flexibly adjust their tactics without having to travel to other planets to buy equipment, saving them a lot of travel time.
Han Xiao came to the professional league to join in the fun, so he wasn't afraid of the players' suspicions. As long as he didn't remind them, normal people wouldn't think in that direction.
Regardless of how low the possibility is that players suspect NPCs, even if someone does suspect them, it's useless. He's been running wild for so long and things have been calm. If there were any problems, they would have arisen long ago. He doesn't directly interfere in the professional league and maintains a certain level of discretion, so he's not worried at all.
Three days later, the highly anticipated second league officially kicked off!
The preliminary rounds are the first stage, an appetizer before the main course. Countless casual or skilled participants, under the coordination of the league staff, form teams to fight for a spot in the regular season.
Because the venue is much larger, the qualifying rounds of m. hetushu. com. com were significantly shortened compared to the first league.
On the forum, the league's official website released highlights of the qualifiers from various regions, and the topic of the second league completely dominated the forum. Posts with other content were quickly pushed to the back.
Millions of players from various countries are enthusiastically discussing the top teams, seeded players, and dark horses in their respective regions.
In Huaxia, the four major teams all have direct qualification tickets for the regional regular season and did not participate in the qualifiers. The most attention is focused on other top-tier teams, such as Rainstorm and Madman.
The Jiangcheng Team led by Frenzied Saber has also attracted much attention, eliminating one qualifying team after another, and advancing with unstoppable momentum.
In the individual competition, only a few players Kings and Generals and Frenzied Saber who made it to the international competition have a direct qualification for the regular season and do not need to participate in the most competitive individual qualifiers.
Because team qualifiers require players to gather teammates, while individual qualifiers are open to anyone, the vast majority of players want to give it a try, resulting in the largest number of participants—almost everyone is involved.
Compared to version 1.0, players are now stronger, with a wider variety of fighting styles and tactics, resulting in more diverse, intense, and exciting battles. The constant stream of new abilities keeps players on the edge of their seats.
Since entering the interstellar era, players have also encountered Mage Class and Esper Class. Some newcomers, or veterans playing new accounts, have chosen these two systems. All sub-regions have all five superhuman classes, only the proportions differ. The classes introduced in version 2.0 naturally have the lowest player proportions.
However, the situation has changed compared to the previous life. Originally, the proportion of Mechanic Class players was second to last, and even surpassed by Mage Class. Now, the number of Mechanic Class players has become the second largest, second only to Pugilist Class.
The reason for this situation is that Han Xiao misled a large number of players into switching to the Mechanic Class in version 1.0.
Another intuitive feeling Han Xiao had was that the average strength of the Huaxia players in this division was higher than in his previous life. He had allowed Planet Aquamarine to enter interstellar travel a year or two earlier, and whether it was experience, money, or combat experience, the Shattered Star Ring division had more advantages than in his previous life. The abundant resources provided strong support for the teams' tactical choices, and all the teams that were worth mentioning had combat power above the standard.
The second league was unprecedented in scale, with the entire competition planet becoming a battlefield. The qualifiers and secondary leagues were in full swing, and the schedule was shorter than the first league, making it even more intense.
More than ten days later, the qualifiers finally came to a close amidst a festive atmosphere, and the regular season rosters for each division were released.
The rosters for other divisions are not much different from the previous one, but the Shattered Star Ring Division has seen significant changes in its regular season roster. The strong teams are fine, as they all qualified just like in the previous one. The changes are in some of the later spots, with many new teams and players emerging.
One person surprised Han Xiao: Maple Moon, who was supposed to participate in the league in the third season, not only participated in this season but also made it into the 64-person roster for the individual competition, becoming one of the dark horses.
Han Xiao watched Maple Moon's qualifier videos. She was playing with two top players, Frenzied Saber Dao and Hao Tian, and her skill level improved rapidly. Gold always shines. She had the potential to play professionally, otherwise she wouldn't have made it in her previous life.
However, compared to her previous life, Maple Moon's skill level still has a certain gap. One important reason she made it into the individual competition roster was that she used the blueprints she bought from Han Xiao to build a poor man's version of the Void Dragon Mechanical Suit. Originally, it wasn't until the third league that the Mechanic Class began to have a version advantage and start to rise. Although the Mechanic Class is not weak now, it is not strong either. Her mech equipment, which can be considered god-tier at this level, is far from overwhelming top-tier players, but it has increased Maple Moon's margin for error in battles.
As the saying goes, each version has its own meta. The Mechanic Class is still not strong in version 2.0, but with Han Xiao as a great mentor, Mechanic Class players have avoided many detours. At least in the Shattered Star Ring region, the Mechanic Class's version disadvantage is not so obvious.
In the individual competition roster, there are nearly ten more Mechanic Class players than in the previous life. In terms of teams, Mechanic Class are also tactical members needed by the vast majority of teams.
Han Xiao made a fortune in the qualifiers. Needless to say, he sold equipment, and almost all the players were using mechanical equipment from the Black Star. He also made a lot of money from gene potions, with club teams purchasing them in bulk. Gene potions have a good tactical role and can become an X factor in battles. If it weren't for his ample stock, the clubs probably could have bought out his entire stock of potions.
Taking advantage of the business opportunities presented by the league, Han Xiao's savings exceeded a small goal.
The qualifiers involve everyone; the regular season is the real main course.
The impact of Han Xiao's recent large-scale operation has not yet subsided, and many forces are still paying close attention to the Black Star Army's every move.
The unusual gathering of a large number of "Black Star Mercenaries" on the competition planet has attracted the attention of many forces, who are privately speculating about Han Xiao's purpose.
Upon hearing the news, some of his fellow mercenaries felt a surge of envy. This incident indirectly demonstrated Black Star's control over the legion. Most mercenary groups lacked loyalty, while Black Star had millions of loyal troops from his own hometown, possessing high cohesion and willing to obey his orders and act in Black Star. Plus, it didn't cost him any money, making him far more reliable than freelance mercenaries.
Many factions believe that Black Star has the potential to transform from a mercenary group into a privately owned armed organization.
Because the previous incident provided Section Zero with many more helpers, the Black Star Army has come into the view of more high-ranking members of the Amethyst Civilization and is receiving considerable attention.
I'm only a few hundred points away from reaching Revered status in faction relations.
This situation has also drawn the attention of the Amethyst Civilization.
"Black Star has gathered over 80% of his Black Star Army mercenaries and made them fight each other on an uninhabited planet. What is he doing?"
At the Section Zero's office, numerous foreign affairs envoys discussed this matter.
Laifer tapped the table and smiled confidently.
"There's only one explanation: military training. Black Star is conducting military training!"
Upon hearing this, everyone's eyes lit up, and they all nodded in agreement.
Laifer smiled broadly, believing this to be the Black Star Army's active preparations for Secret War.
"What a reliable ally," Laifer couldn't help but exclaim.