Chapter 1 The Beginning

As the New Year's bells rang, professional players from all the major teams in the Professional Alliance gathered in City Q for the All-Star Weekend. The Alliance seemed to have taken into consideration that the veteran players of Team Tyranny, who had shone brightly in the professional circle, were nearing the end of their careers, and entrusted the hosting of this All-Star Weekend to Team Tyranny's home stadium. However… it seemed that the voting fans had not understood this sentiment. Two veteran players from Team Tyranny, Zhang Jiale and Lin Jingyan, were not selected, which was truly regrettable.

On the evening of January 3rd, in City Q, at Team Tyranny's home stadium, the tenth season of the Glory Professional League's All-Star Weekend finally began. With New Year's blessings, the 24 All-Star characters who were selected appeared as holographic projections.

Since the introduction of holographic projections, the introduction of players and characters at the beginning of Glory matches had reached a fever pitch. The 24 All-Star characters represented the pinnacle of Glory characters, and on this occasion, the host team would rack their brains to create something spectacular.

Usually, this involved choreographing demonstration moves for each character after their appearance, either solo practice or duels. But this time, Team Tyranny, as the host, highlighted the theme of combinations in the character demonstrations.

Team Samsara's One Autumn Leaf and One Shot Through the Clouds;

Team Blue Rain's Troubling Rain and Swoksaar;

Team Tiny Herb's two Elementalist;

Team Void's Double Ghost;

Team Hundred Blossom's Dazzling Hundred Blossoms;

Then came Team Happy's Lord Grim and Su Mucheng;

……

As the combinations were showcased one by one, another theme of the demonstration was highlighted: remembrance!

The electronic screens in the venue began to play classic footage of these combinations battling together over the years. Many veteran Glory players found familiar classic scenes in these fleeting clips.

In Glory's ten years, players were inherited, characters were inherited, and this kind of professional organization was also being inherited in team after team.

But…

The screen paused, suddenly raising a question.

Was there a combination that had lasted ten years, fighting side by side since Glory's first season and continuing to this day?

Everyone was stunned, then turned their gaze back to the classic combinations on the field, counting them one by one.

One Shot Through the Clouds and One Autumn Leaf? Their partnership had only just begun this season;

Troubling Rain and Swoksaar? Swoksaar was a legacy passed down from Blue Rain's founding generation, but Troubling Rain debuted alongside Huang Shaotian, a member of the fourth season's Golden Generation;

Tiny Herb's Double Elementalist began operating last season after Gao Yingjie became a main force;

Void's Double Ghost emerged when Wu Yuce joined Void in the fifth season and insisted on using a Ghostblade;

Hundred Blossom's Dazzling Hundred Blossoms was formed in the second season, but the combination was interrupted when Sun Zhepingsuffered an injury in the fifth season and was only rebuilt after Yu Feng transferred to Hundred Blossom;

As for Happy's… that was as fresh as it could be.

None of these combinations were it, so what was?

Before many people could figure it out, a huge roar erupted in the venue. This was Team Tyranny's home stadium, and most of the audience present were local Glory fans. Tyranny fans were, of course, the largest component, and only they could create such a roar at this time.

Thus, the answer was revealed in the midst of the shouts.

Desert Dust, Life Extinguisher.

Yes, the All-Star characters who had been fighting side by side since the birth of the Alliance were these two: Team Tyranny's Grappler Desert Dust and Cleric Life Extinguisher.

The home team's combination was, after all, the climax of the show.

Desert Dust, the Fist Emperor who never retreated, and Life Extinguisher, who had been supporting him for ten years, appeared on the field amidst the cheers of the audience.

Ten years…

The footage of this combination was played longer than any other combination. From the early days of the Alliance until now, these two characters had been the symbol of Team Tyranny. No other team had such a combination, standing at the very peak. Not even the former Team Excellent Era, with its most glorious record!

Many of the old Glory fans who had followed Team Tyranny for ten years could no longer suppress their emotions.

What the hell is going on? Sentimental? This shouldn't be Team Tyranny's style. Why make us want to cry? Tyranny's heroes shouldn't shed tears. A dirty face smeared with tears is too embarrassing and ugly!

"Through thick and thin, a ten-year combination; characters can last forever, but players will eventually leave. But in our Team Tyranny, there is one who brought Desert Dust to this stage. He has led our Team Tyranny forward for ten years as if it were one day. From the first season, the second season, the third season, all the way to today, the tenth season! Always standing here, standing at this peak, this person, there is only one. Who is he???"

"Han Wenqing!!!" The audience's voice was almost a roar. Yes, Han Wenqing was the only Glory player who could receive such praise in the entire Alliance. Originally, his old opponent Ye Xiu could be considered one, but unfortunately, Ye Xiu retired midway through the eighth season, leaving a year and a half of vacancy. So…

Only Han Wenqing, no one else.

He not only persisted in this league for ten years, but what's even rarer is that he has maintained top-tier strength throughout those ten years. Time may erode his dexterity and his reaction speed, but it can never degrade his will, but instead make him even more resilient. This is Han Wenqing, the operator of Desert Dust for ten years, and the captain of Team Tyranny for ten years.

Silently, Han Wenqing had already stepped onto the stage. The holographic projection of the character Desert Dust was next to him. The venue gradually quieted down, and everyone was looking forward to what Han Wenqing, this ten-year warrior, would say.

But, nothing!

Han Wenqing declined the microphone handed over by the host. He said nothing, just turned his head and looked at the holographic projection of Desert Dust beside him.

Having operated the character for ten years, standing so vividly next to himself was a rare experience for Han Wenqing. He just looked at it and reached out his hand, actually patting the shoulder of the virtual projection. Then, he raised his right hand, clenched his fist, and waved it, not very hard, but very firmly, at all the audience and players.

There was no need to say anything.

I am still standing here, I can still clench my fist, everything is enough!

The venue responded to Han Wenqing's action with another burst of enthusiastic noise. Zhang Xinjie also walked onto the stage at this time, accurately walking to Han Wenqing's side with his calculated steps.

He was not the first-generation operator of Life Extinguisher, but he had been fighting alongside Han Wenqing for almost seven years. Players cannot fight like characters forever. In this sense, every player is a successor, passing on their spirit and will, contained in the character, from the distant past to the present and to the distant future.

The two players shook hands and embraced tightly under the gaze of tens of thousands of spectators.

The venue was filled with applause.

No one felt that Team Tyranny's All-Star arrangement was too focused on their players. Han Wenqing was the most qualified person to be the protagonist at this Glory ten-year celebration. He was the only player who had personally experienced this ten-year heritage. At this moment, he was above Team Tyranny.

The applause lasted for a long time. Team Tyranny did not really make this a Han Wenqing special. But the other 22 players took to the stage one after another, applauding and surrounding Han Wenqing and Zhang Xinjie in the center, giving Team Tyranny enough face for this arrangement.

The lively opening finally ended, and the players left the stage and returned to their teams. The All-Star Weekend was a carnival, so everything was very casual. Many players roamed around, drilling into the seats of other teams, chatting with their familiar players. And on the stage, the first part of the All-Star Weekend was being prepared, the Rookie Challenge.

First on stage was a rookie player from Team He Wu.

Many of the audience yawned. Compared to the climax stirred up by highlighting Han Wenqing before, the drop was too severe.

Li Jiu?

Who is that?

Small and medium-sized teams received limited attention in the first place, let alone rookies who rarely had the opportunity to play in these teams. Li Jiu was really an unfamiliar name to the audience. This kind of Rookie Challenge was not worth watching! The audience lamented that if not for the exciting All-Star show on the first day of the All-Star Weekend, the audience attendance on the first day would probably be very limited. To be honest, there was not much interest in these unknown rookies. Speaking of last year, especially the year before, the Rookie Challenge was very good. There were many rookies who were top players. But this year... many people were searching their minds, and it seemed that the ten years of Glory was a year of transition! Currently, there seemed to be no very powerful rookies?

Tang Rou?

Many people thought of this question, and a name popped into their minds.

Pui! Pui! Pui!

Many people spat. In their minds, this was a woman who didn't know the immensity of heaven and earth and would shamelessly cheat. What did she think this was? Did she really think that being beautiful gave her special privileges that could easily be forgiven? Get lost!

This was how many people felt about Tang Rou now. Even among the supporters of Team Happy, there were many who were upset that there was such a person on the team, and their mood was very tangled.

No rookies, there really were no particularly powerful rookies this season! Then, what about the second-year players? Everyone thought. Second-year players could also participate in the Rookie Challenge, but strong second-year players like Lu Hanwen had participated last year. The Rookie Challenge didn't seem to support repeated participation, right?

Poor Li Jiu had been completely ignored by the audience, who were thinking about whether there would be any highlights after him. It wasn't until Li Jiu's voice came out: "I want to challenge Ye Xiu senior from Team Happy."