Zhan Long

It was already late at night when I went offline.

I sat by the headboard of my bed and opened Destiny website. A really eye-catching red flag was floating on the first page; when my mouse touched it, it showed a link with the words ‘China Server Allstar Battle’. When I clicked this link, I was redirected to the voting page. The competition would invite sixteen players, and then these players would elect sixteen more, making the total of contestants be thirty-two. Currently, players were just confirming their participation.

I clicked the Allstar Battle page and I could see that my ID was already in there. Actually, the sixteen people invited were the top 16 on the CBN Battlenet rankings—

Fang Ge Que, Q-Sword, Jian Feng Han, Bai Li Ruofeng, Xiao Yao Zi Zai, Cang Tong, Ye Lai, Mu Xuan, Simple, The Seventh Tang, Cang Yue, Lu Chunyang, Yan Zhao Warrior, Yue Qing Qian, Li Mu, Drunken Spear...

Apart from Little Demon who could not be reached, the top 17 players were all invited. I was the only one who had not confirmed my participation yet. Behind the names of Fang Ge Que, Q-Sword, Jian Feng Han, et cetera was the word ‘Confirmed’. I shifted my mouse over and clicked to log in and then confirmed my participation. What attracted me was that prize, it was huge—

First place or champion prize: 5,000,000

Second place: 2,000,000

Third place: 1.000,000

Fourth place: 500,000

Nineth to sixteenth place: 200,000

Seventeenth to thirty-second place: 100,000

……

As expected from the rich Destiny Company. Just by going, one could earn 100,000; only a fool would not go!

I looked at the page and there was a voting interface. Below it were rows of players and their game screenshots. One person could only vote once. The voting numbers were quite unimaginable. Wang Jian was first place and had over a million votes. Zhan Long's players were really famous. The second was Enchanted Painting. Xue Jing looked really beautiful and her body was nice. Along with her having the Water God Halberd, she was Legend's symbolic figure. She had over 900,000 votes. Further behind were Misty Clouds and Death's Contract, et cetera. People like Quick Thunder Swift Wind and Dancing Forest were at the top of the rankings. There were also some foreign faces like a girl Warrior called Furious Milk, whom I had never heard of before. However, her photo was really nice and her body was great, which was why she was ranked seventh. On the CBN Battlenet, she was ranked forty-first. As expected, she was not a famous person; I did not notice that there was such a person at all!

I saw the competition rules. Allstar Competition was famed for being fair. This time, all players were not allowed to bring equipment or skills and everyone’s level averaged at 150. The only skills that could be used were common ones. For instance, Warriors could only use Whirlwind Sword Break, Blade Rush, et cetera. This made things really fair; it was destined to be a battle of mechanics!

I lay in my bed and smiled. I had been playing Destiny for half a year; how much had my mechanics improved? This Allstar Battle came at the right time. I could test my ability minus the equipment and special skills. Nonetheless, there was something I was sure of, and that was the competition would be one the pulse-breaking style and ranged-control style would win.

The battle would commence three days later in Shanghai. There was no rush and I still had time to prepare. Actually, there was not much to prepare. Just go in and slice people.

I noted that, not just China server, even the other servers had Allstar events, so I did not have to worry about server wars in these few days. Everyone knew how important top players were. For example, without the thirty-two players, China region's combat strength would be 20% lower. Peak players were not only flags but also core commanders.

……

I fell asleep. These few days had really been tiring for me; at this point, I had finally solved a huge matter, with the South Protecting King even offing himself. Tian Ling City's Generals were switched by Lochlan into people he could trust, so nothing big should occur in Tian Ling City anymore. My Royal Army had moved into Tian Ling City to guard Fire God Mountain and Fan Shu City. My army continued to expand and was already publicly recognized as the top army. My next agenda would be to have a few days of rest before the Allstar Battle!

The outcome was indeed like that.

Over the next few days, I followed my girlfriend to level up. The various Majors of the army system were really hard working. After Xia Ye was promoted to deputy, he could shoulder more than half of my workload.

Time passed really quickly, and in the blink of an eye, three days had passed.

……

When I opened my lazy eyes, it was already nine in the morning. Lin Wan Er and Dong Cheng Yue were joking in the hall; I could also hear Tang Qi and Qin Wen's voices mixed in. Everyone was in a good mood. When I woke up, everyone was already ready. One did not have to bring a game helmet for this battle, which would begin at two o’clock in the afternoon and would end once the first place was decided. The game rules were quite simple, indeed.

Head out. This time, we drove Lin Wan Er's BMW. This 7 series was really stable and the feel was decent. I drove and Lin Wan Er rode shotgun. She talked to Dong Cheng Yue happily. In under two hours, we arrived at Shanghai's gaming center. This was Destiny's headquarters in the south.

When the car entered the carpark, two workers in black uniforms walked up to us. Lin Wan Er and I were recognized right away and one of them smiled in greeting. "Wow, Xiao Yao Zi Zai and Cang Tong finally came! The ones behind... Oh, you’re Cang Yue. Who is the other one?"

Tang Qi felt wry. He touched his nose and replied, "Call me Mr. Transparent!"

Lin Wan Er laughed and introduced him. "That is The Seventh Tang."

"Oh, I am sorry..." The girl smiled apologetically. "So it's Hero Mound's top Feng Shui master. Please proceed to the hall; the afternoon feast is about to begin."

"En, okay. Thank you."

We followed into the hall. I looked at the architecture around. This place was the south part of the hall, but it was the core area. Ten giant statues could be seen in front, and each was five meters tall and looked really somber. I noticed that one of them was a beauty holding a blade. "Is that Frost?"

The girl smiled. "En, that’s right. Xiao Yao, if you look carefully, you'll notice many familiar faces. Our international carving master made all these and each cost at least two million!"

"Rich..."

I raised my head; the one at the corner was actually Pearl who had passed on. Apart from that, there was Luo Lin, Lanais, Igoras, Lei Ding, Sif, et cetera. They were all really important NPCs. Further ahead, many giant emblems could be spotted hanging in the central wall of the exhibition center. They were the various emblems of the China Region's guilds!

First was a purple wattle flower; that was the mark of Legend.

Second was one of a dragon head and a sword, which was Zhan Long's mark.

Third was a blood-colored axe, representing Hero Mound.

Fourth was a chilling sword, which was Vanguard's.

Fifth was a fan, which was House of Prestige's.

Sixth was a shield, which was Judgement's.

Seventh was a pot of wine, which was Emerald Porcelain's mark.

Eighth was a blood-colored broadsword with a golden dragon wrapped around it. Behind it were the words ‘King Prague’. Thus, without a doubt, it belonged to uncle.

……

Lin Wan Er looked at the emblems and grabbed my hand. I understood that for Zhan Long to get to the current position, with our emblem appearing at the center wall of the exhibition center, was all due to our hard work. Why did we play the game? Was it not to prove ourselves and fulfil our dreams? With Zhan Long's achievements, our dreams had mostly been fulfilled.

Dong Cheng Yue looked at the emblems and said, "Our Zhan Long emblem looks the best."

I nodded. "Right!"

Tang Qi did not dare to praise Hero Mound's. In truth, theirs, a red axe, looked really handsome, but it did not match their style. Q-Sword was a gentle yet tough person, so a sword would be a better representation.

……

After entering the main hall, we got a participant lanyard after signing up. There were exactly twenty-two people, so four tables were enough. When we entered, Li Mu, Yue Qing Qian, Wang Jian, Dancing Forest, and Old K waved toward us. D*mn! Four tables and Zhan Long made up one of them!

I sat down and talked to Li Mu and Dancing Forest. We then started to eat. Only Old K from the Zhan Long studio managed to enter; he was the final one from the sixteen voting slots. After all, one's looks affected the votes. Fortunately, his war-crazed image was etched deeply into the hearts of people and had won him many votes.

……

I smiled. "En, who wouldn't come for such a high-paying competition?"

First place got five million, so who would not want that?

Fang Ge Que smiled. "That is true. Haha! It’s a cash grab competition, but one must have the skill to get the cash."

I nodded. "Let's see who is the best!"