The Legendary Mechanic

The schedule for the International All-Stars was released. The first match was already very exciting—the fight between the champion and the first runner-up of the previous season—Tulips vs. Dynasty.

The event organizers clearly knew that this would bring more attention to the All-Stars event, so they heavily promoted this match. In all the pro competitions, inviting the champion and the first runner-up of the previous season as the opening match of the All-Stars was a kind of tradition.

This was highly effective. This opening match was extremely popular, especially among the Chinese viewers. Being first runners-up was an achievement, but it was also regretful. They hoped to see Dynasty's victory over Tulips and start off this season with a blast.

Not just the spectators, but all the teams that intended to enter the Internationals were paying attention to this opening match, wanting to learn more about Dynasty and Tulips. When the time came for them to face one of these strong teams, they could at least be somewhat prepared.

Han Xiao was paying attention to this match as well. After all, Dynasty's guild had bulk purchased hundreds of Ability Potions from him. He had to observe the effects they would bring and think about after-sales services.

Like the previous season, the store would sell a specific Gathering Crystal to bring the attending players into the same virtual environment for the match. It would be broadcast officially as well as by the Galaxy Times.

A few days before the match, the Galaxy Times interviewed both the Tulips team and the Dynasty team, asking about what they thought of this match.

Tulips' captain, Lost Angel, was extremely confident and said that they would definitely win this match, protect their honor as the champions of the previous season, and so on. As they were the previous season champions, most of the spectators naturally had higher hopes for Tulips.

As for Dynasty, King Admiral did not know the meaning of the word 'humble'. He directly said for Tulips to wash themselves up and wait for him to wipe the floor with them. Of course, those were not his original words, but that was what he meant.

In this situation, the Chinese supporters did not want to see Dynasty being humble—this confidence boosted their morale much more. They all showed their support on the forums. After all, Dynasty had looked almost undefeatable throughout the Division Regulars. The Chinese players had very high hopes for Dynasty. The last thing they wanted to see was Dynasty doing what the Temple of Gods had done the previous season.

The various professionals analyzed the match before it started. Most of them felt that Tulips was slightly stronger—even the official host of the event thought so. They placed Dynasty in the challenger's position.

Galaxy Times did a conclusive report.

"King Admiral and Lost Angel have both made their victory announcement. Indeed, both of them have the potential to win. They will definitely have an exciting and unpredictable battle that will stay suspenseful until the very last moment. Let's look forward to who will be the final winner."

…

The day of the opening match soon came.

Countless players swarmed into the live broadcast channel. Other than the official channel, there was also the Galaxy Times' channel, which invited guests to watch the match together. Many viewers chuckled upon seeing the guest list of the Chinese version Galaxy Times—Bun-Hit-Dog was in it.

Bun-Hit-Dog's video career was blooming. He had finally turned himself into someone famous and now had both fans and haters. Him mixing with the other guests who were all pro players looked quite entertaining.

The two teams had entered the match venue with their Gathering Crystals long ago. Led by the host, King Admiral and Lost Angel both did a short interview on the scene before going to make preparations.

While waiting, the commentators and guests speculated and started chit-chatting.

The female commentator of the Chinese version Galaxy Times said to the guests, "The match is about to start soon. How about you guys try to predict the result and tell us which team you think is more likely to win. Oh, and please do tell us the reason for your choice."

The replies of the guests were all similar. They all said Tulips was strong, but they felt that Dynasty had a higher chance of winning. They then went on to give plenty of logical reasons for their choice. Mainly, it was just because they did not dare support the opponent in front of the Chinese viewers.

That was all except for Bun-Hit-Dog, who was not like the others. His position was extremely firm and without hesitation.

"I support Tulips; the French team will win!"

The guests were all surprised.

The commentator could not help but ask, "Are you sure? Why?"

"Well, it's a little difficult to explain…" With a serious face and tone, Bun-Hit-Dog said, "Have you ever heard of reverse psychology?"

The commentator was speechless. He had thought that Bun-Hit-Dog had lost his mind, but it turned out that he was just joking.

After Bun-Hit-Dog explained, the comments finally turned from all question marks into countless 'The French will win' comments.

After the commentators and guests joked around and chatted for a while, the match officially started. The relaxing atmosphere instantly became intense. The viewers all focused on the match.

The first match was a team match. The broadcasting view followed both teams at all times. Han Xiao was mainly looking at Dynasty.

The venue was random, and it was a rather complicated terrain. After Dynasty entered, they did not hastily look for the enemies but took out one mechanical item after another.

The commentator spoke at a suitable time. "Dynasty has chosen the steady strategy. They've used mechanical items to create an advantageous situation for them. One thing I should mention is that the items Dynasty is using are all Black Star series machines. The Black Star Army has a full set of machinery products. This has given the teams in the Shattered Star Ring division an advantage in designing their strategies. Comparatively, team Tulips does not have this advantage."

Bun-Hit-Dog nodded and added, "Definitely. According to my investigations, the players in the other divisions lack methods of obtaining set equipment as easily as the Black Star Army. Although the pro players are still able to gather a full set of top-notch equipment, this will have taken them more time."

As soon as the Black Star Army was mentioned, the Chinese players were like on steroids. The comments were filled with 'Black Star is awesome', 'Notice me, captain', 'Dragon Emperor licker here', and so on.

When the Black Star Army was mentioned in an international event such as this, the Shattered Star Ring players became extremely exhilarated. The Black Star Army was the bridge that connected the many players in the Shattered Star Ring—it had become their shared language.

Han Xiao was rather surprised. He had not been mentally prepared for the sudden mention. He suddenly had a strange feeling of 'Wherever I'm not, my legends are'.

The match continued. The two teams moved on the map and finally discovered each other. They quickly approached each other.

The viewers immediately grew nervous. They held their breath and waited for the intense clash between two strong teams they had expected…

However, dreams and reality are often very different. The actual situation was far from what they thought it would be.

There was no intense battle between two similarly strong teams—Dynasty thrashed Tulips from the beginning to the end, beating them up and ending with an overwhelming victory.

The commentators and guests were at a loss of words. The Chinese viewers were beyond exhilarated. On the other hand, the viewers of the other countries were stunned. Most did not support either of the teams, but they did look forward to an intense battle. To their surprise, the champion of the previous season was overwhelmingly and easily defeated.

The Duel that followed ended with Dynasty's complete victory as well.

The official casters and judges were all stupefied. The host wanted to make the opening match an exciting battle between two extremely strong and skilled teams. This was also why they had invited the champion and the first runner-up of the previous season. To their absolute shock, Tulips had been easily crushed by Dynasty.

It was Dynasty's complete, one-sided victory. The comments went crazy, and the Chinese spectators were overjoyed.

Han Xiao was not surprised by this result at all. In his previous life, Tulips had also been the champion of the first season, but they had become a normal, stronger than average team in the second season and almost did not even make it to the International top 8.

As for Dynasty, they were much stronger than the previous season. To Han Xiao, this result was very normal.

Although Tulips was the champion of the previous season, the French lacked a special advantage that the Chinese players had—there were too few hateful comments!

Unlike the Chinese players who had been fighting in such a harsh environment, they had no pressure. The Chinese players were always motivated to become better so that they would not get so many hateful comments. However, Tulips became relaxed after winning the championship.

In the same opening match in his previous life, the two teams had been Tulips and the American team Devil, where Tulips was also demolished by Devil. Now that Dynasty had taken over Devil's place in the first season, the one that demolished Tulips became them.

After the opening match ended, the various professionals all changed their minds and started praising Dynasty as they usually would, praising the winner after the match.

The teams of the other countries all saw Dynasty as the strongest competitor and focused on studying the match recordings, trying to design better strategies.

Dynasty's victory was sensational and received a lot of attention. Their fame surpassed that of the other three clubs very quickly. The Chinese supporters all cheered for them and almost saw them as their main team. With their excitement and joy also came their very high hopes.

The majority of the players in team Dynasty were somewhat nervous.

As members of one of the biggest clubs, they knew full well that this situation was a double-edged sword. Of course, if they kept winning, they would surpass everyone else and almost become god players.

However, once they lost, the mistakes of every single one of them would be indefinitely enlarged, and they would be drowned by the hateful comments. The more attention they got, the more pressure they would receive. King Admiral was the only one unaffected by this at all.

…

After the opening match, the International All-Stars officially commenced. The strong teams fought each other in entertaining ways to kick off the International Regulars.

The champions of all nine divisions showcased their skills and displayed their strength.

The schedule for this season was very tight. The end of the All-Stars was followed by only a few days of rest before the Division Finals started.

In the Shattered Star Ring Division, the eight teams were split into four pairs based on their ranking: Dynasty vs. Nine Gates, Rivervale vs. Fanatics, Long Sky vs. Fried Eggplants With Fish, and Temple of Gods vs. Thunder Storm. The format was best of five.

The most interesting pair was Long Sky vs. Fried Eggplants With Fish—the two biggest clubs met in the first round. As only the top four could qualify for the International Regulars, this meant that one of them would not be able to qualify.

In the previous season, Fried Eggplants With Fish had not been able to enter the International Regulars. This time, their morale was extremely high, and they had sworn to defeat Long Sky in order to qualify.

Sadly, Long Sky still won. Fried Eggplants With Fish did not qualify once again and went to the corner to draw voodoo circles.

Very soon, the first round of the Division Finals had ended. As expected, Dynasty defeated Nine Gates and kept their momentum.

Rivervale had a close, intense battle with Fanatics. At the match point of 2:2, Frenzied Sword and Evil Sword surged at a crucial moment and barely defeated team Fanatics, led by Yan Ran. Rivervale entered the top four.

The result of Temple of Gods vs. Thunder Storm, however, was very unexpected. Rainy Kim wiped the floor with Li Ge, eliminating Temple of Gods with a score of 3:1 and entering the top 4. Temple of Gods joined Fried Eggplants With Fish in drawing voodoo circles in the corner.

The top 4 was determined—Dynasty, Long Sky, Rivervale, and Thunder Storm. The result was quite surprising for many viewers. Two of the biggest clubs could not qualify for the International Regulars.

The top 4 teams were already qualified for the International Regulars. Next was the fight to be the Divisions champion. This was an honorable achievement as well.

The second draw made Han Xiao suspect that Frenzied Sword had touched Feidin beforehand as well. The two biggest clubs were due to face off against each other, Dynasty vs. Long Sky, whereas Rivervale had drawn the comparatively weaker Thunder Storm.

Frenzied Sword had only started to lead a team this season. Originally, team Rivervale was just a second-tier or even third-tier team, yet they qualified for the International Regulars. They were definitely a dark horse and attracted a lot of attention.

As a Mechanical Pugilist, Frenzied Sword's style was diverse, mature, and steady. He was much more famous compared to the previous season. He had started to make a name for himself in the pro scene.

Due to Han Xiao, Frenzied Sword had chosen a different class from his previous life. However, based on his current situation, his pro career was much smoother.