Chapter 180 The Second League

The opening of the league was drawing closer, and almost all players flocked to the competition planet. Even if they weren't participants, they could still attend the grand event as spectators. This was a large-scale event for everyone, and players who loved excitement wouldn't miss it.

The deserted planet, now used as the venue, bustled with activity. Spaceships came and went, and the entire planet served as the battlefield. The area was vast, and official players and volunteer players built many arenas and scenes for scheduling. Continuing the style of the previous season, players were involved in the construction of the venue, enhancing the sense of immersion. Many players who chose to be spectators were happy to help, as they had nothing better to do.

While casual players were busy preparing the venue on the competition planet, the participating players seized the final moments to enhance themselves, strengthen their equipment, and upgrade their skills.

Han Xiao brought a fleet, with a flagship as the core, carrying various supplies from his warehouse, to the competition planet. When the Black Star Army fleet appeared, the players on the competition planet were surprised. They didn't know why the army's fleet would appear.

After the fleet arrived, it stayed in outer space, and many curious players entered the flagship, discovering that Han Xiao was also there.

Some players asked, and Han Xiao explained concisely.

"Intelligence showed that a large number of the army's mercenaries were gathering on a deserted planet for no reason, which puzzled me. I thought you had encountered some trouble, so I came to take a look."

This reason was both reasonable and unexpected, catching many people off guard. Many players found it interesting.

Players were already accustomed to the realistic feedback from NPCs. Their every action would affect the NPC's judgment and influence the evolution of the Star Field. This strong interactive feedback mechanism often made players become deeply engrossed in the game.

As a member of the Black Star Army, the gathering of hundreds of thousands of people alarmed the faction leader to come and inspect, which was a novel and interesting experience for the players.

In terms of character interaction, some players liked to role-play, communicating with NPCs in a way that kept them in character, while others preferred to be direct and straightforward, frankly telling Han Xiao about their competition.

"In that case, I also want to see how far my mercenaries have grown. It just so happens that I don't have anything else to do for the time being..." Han Xiao said with a natural tone, giving an excuse to stay, pretending to ignore words like "Professional League" in the players' mouths, implying that he regarded it as a large-scale sparring event.

Most players didn't suspect anything. They didn't expect that there would be NPC spectators in the Professional League, making it even more fun.

After discovering that the fleet also provided various services such as supplying, repairing equipment, and purchasing potions, the players were even more overjoyed. Having a supply station nearby made everything convenient for everyone.

The happiest were the club players. They were rich and powerful, and the Black Star's supply station allowed them to flexibly adjust their tactics without having to run to other planets to buy equipment, saving a lot of travel time.

Han Xiao came to the Professional League to join in the fun, naturally not afraid of players suspecting anything. As long as he didn't remind them, normal people wouldn't think in that direction.

Regardless of how low the possibility of players suspecting an NPC was, even if someone really suspected it, it wouldn't matter. He had been freeloading for so long, and everything was still calm. If there were going to be problems, they would have already happened. He didn't directly interfere with the Professional League, maintaining a certain degree of restraint, so he wasn't worried at all.

...

Three days later, the highly anticipated second league officially opened!

The preliminaries were the first stage, a small appetizer before the main course. Countless casual or capable contestants, under the scheduling of the league staff, formed teams to compete and eliminate each other, striving for the qualifications for the regular season.

Because the venue was much larger, the schedule of the preliminaries was greatly shortened compared to the first league.

On the forums, the league officials released highlights of the preliminaries from various divisions. The topic of the second league completely dominated the forum, and posts publishing other content would be quickly pushed to the back.

Tens of millions of players from various countries enthusiastically discussed the top teams, seeded players, and dark horses in their respective divisions.

In China, the main teams of the four major powerhouses all had direct tickets to the regular season of their respective divisions and did not participate in the preliminaries. The most attention was paid to other first-tier teams, such as Storm and Maniac.

Maniac Blade's Jiangcheng team also received a lot of attention, eliminating one preliminary team after another, overcoming obstacles and advancing victoriously.

In the individual competition, only those who had entered the international competition, such as Wang Hou Jiang Xiang and Kuang Dao, had the right to directly enter the regular season without participating in the most competitive individual preliminaries.

Because the team preliminaries required teammates, and anyone could sign up for the individual preliminaries, most players wanted to give it a try, so the number of sign-ups was the highest, with almost everyone participating.

Compared to version 1.0, the players' strength was stronger, and various genres and combat styles were more diverse, making the fights more varied, intense, and wonderful, with all kinds of abilities emerging one after another, dazzling the eyes.

Since entering the interstellar era, players had also come into contact with the magic and psychic systems. Some newcomers, or old players playing new accounts, chose these two systems. All divisions had the five superpower classes, only the proportions were different. The classes that were only accessed in version 2.0 naturally had the smallest proportion of players.

However, compared to the previous life, the situation had changed. Originally, the proportion of mechanical players was second to last, even surpassed by the magic system, but now, the number of mechanical players had become the second highest, second only to the martial arts system.

The reason for this situation was that Han Xiao had tricked a large number of players into transferring to the mechanical system in version 1.0.

Another intuitive feeling for Han Xiao was that the average strength of Chinese players in this division was higher than in his previous life. He had allowed Aquamarine Star to enter the interstellar era one or two years earlier. 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 team's tactical choices, and all the teams that were known had a combat effectiveness above the average level.

The second league was unprecedentedly grand. The entire competition planet was a battlefield, and the preliminaries and second-tier leagues were in full swing. The schedule was shorter than the first league, so it was even more intense.

More than ten days later, the preliminaries finally came to an end in an atmosphere of carnival, and the regular season lists for each division were hotly released.

The lists for other divisions were not much different from his previous life, but the regular season list for the Shattered Star Ring division had obvious changes. The strong teams were fine, and they all qualified as in his previous life. The changes were some of the later spots, with many new teams and new players emerging.

One person surprised Han Xiao a little. Maple Moon, who should have participated in the league in the third season, not only participated in this season but even made it into the list of 64 players in the individual competition, becoming one of the dark horses.

Han Xiao watched Maple Moon's preliminary video. She was mixed with Kuang Dao and Hao Tian, two high-level players, and her level improved rapidly. Gold shines, and she originally had the potential to play professionally. Otherwise, she would not have made a name for herself in her previous life.

However, compared to her previous life, Maple Moon's operating level still had a certain gap. One of the important reasons why she made it into the individual competition list was that she used the blueprints she bought from Han Xiao to create a poor man's version of the Virtual Dragon Mech. Originally, in the third season, the mechanical system began to have a version advantage and began to rise. Now, although the mechanical system was not weak, it could not be said to be strong. A set of mech equipment that could be considered divine equipment at this level, although far from being able to crush first-line players, also improved Maple Moon's fault tolerance rate during battles.

As the saying goes, each generation has its own god. The mechanical system in the 2.0 stage was still not strong, but with Han Xiao, the great mentor, the mechanical players took many fewer detours. At least in the Shattered Star Ring division, the version disadvantage of the mechanical system was not so obvious.

In the individual competition list, there were nearly ten more mechanical players than in his previous life. On the team side, the mechanical system was also a tactical member needed by most teams.

Han Xiao made a fortune in the preliminaries. Not to mention the sale of equipment, almost all players used Black Star series mechanical equipment, and he also made a lot of money from gene potions. The club teams purchased them in large quantities, and the gene potions had good tactical effects and could become the x factor in battles. If it weren't for his sufficient inventory, it was estimated that the clubs could have bought out his potion stock.

Taking advantage of the business opportunities of the league, Han Xiao's deposit number broke through a small goal.

The preliminaries were for everyone to participate in, and the regular season was the main course.

...

Han Xiao's large-scale action not long ago had not yet subsided, and many forces were still paying attention to the Black Star Army's every move.

The gathering of a large number of "Black Star Mercenaries" on the competition planet, this abnormal trend attracted the attention of many forces, and they privately speculated about Han Xiao's purpose.

Some colleagues in the mercenary industry learned the news and were filled with envy. This event indirectly demonstrated Black Star's control over the army. Most mercenary groups had no loyalty, but Black Star had a direct line of millions of "fellow villagers" with high cohesion, willing to follow Black Star's orders and act uniformly, without having to spend money. This was much more reliable than free mercenaries.

Many forces believed that Black Star already had the conditions and would have the opportunity to transform from a mercenary group into a private armed organization in the future.

Because the last event had added many helpers to the Zero Organization, the Black Star Army entered the sight of more senior officials of the Purple Crystal Civilization and was highly valued.

The faction relationship was only a few hundred points away from reaching respect.

This situation also received the attention of the Purple Crystal Civilization.

"Black Star has summoned more than 80% of the Black Star Army's mercenaries to gather on a deserted planet to fight each other. What is he doing?"

In the Zero Organization's office, many foreign affairs envoys discussed this matter.

Lef knocked on the table and smiled confidently.

"There is only one explanation, training, Black Star is training soldiers!"

Everyone heard this, their eyes lit up, and they nodded in agreement.

Lef smiled, in his opinion, this was the Black Star Army actively preparing for the secret war.

"What a reliable ally." Lef couldn't help but sigh.