The Immortal Player

The two Team's first trials on the simulated battles ended with Team ARES' victory.

Unfortunately, The Kingdom Defense Mode was still unavailable at that time, thus, the two teams had a Direct Combat Mode instead in a simulated open field.

It was not an instant victory for Team ARES though.

Meen's non-stop barrage of arrows gave them a difficult time closing the distance between the two teams after being spawned.

In fact, if everyone in Team ARES were not moving faster than an ordinary player and they were not wearing decent full-body armors, there was even a chance that one of them—from Team ARES, would have been killed as they were just charging towards the location of Team Oran Gutan.

Add up the specialized formation that the Team Oran Gutan were testing against Team ARES, they were even able to hold off their defeat for several minutes.

Unfortunately, Pedro, Sabrina, and Arvedar specifically targeted Weyron and Meen—killing the two leaders of Team Oran Gutan before they could even use their 'Frozen Arrow' trump card.

Of course, in the second trial match, Weyron asked Meen to use the 'Frozen Arrow' at the very start.

Consequently, it immediately transformed the green and windy plains into a place that was seemingly buried thousands of meters deep into the ice of Antarctica—just a few seconds after the match has started.

The Holographic Projector even encountered an error as the match was later on concluded by the system as a draw.

Well… It was not because all of the players were killed on both sides…

In fact, amongst all the players in the simulated area, Pedro and Sabrina were the only ones who were able to survive the blast by reactively using their Magical Energy to protect them.

However, the system considered the match as a draw because the battlefield itself was 'essentially' destroyed by the 'Frozen Arrow'.

Of course, Pedro was worried about it—especially that if the same mechanics or governing rules would be applied on the system that would be used in the competition. That said, Pedro won't report this to the game developers because it would just reveal the Team Oran Gutan's "Simulation System Destroying" Trump Card.

Besides… It's not like they don't have a counter against the 'Frozen Arrow'.

In fact, Pedro did not even—in the slightest, tried to stop the arrow from hitting the ground. He, himself, wanted to know how powerful the 'Frozen Arrow' was, and to what extent can it bring damage to the opponent.

It's just that he failed to calculate that the 'Frozen Arrow' was so strong to the point that it converted the windy plains into a place submerged in thousands of meters of layers of ice in an instant—that would even probably take years to be dug in the game.

On the other hand, Weyron, Meen, and the players from Team Oran Gutan were also terrified by the power of their secret weapon but were extremely happy—knowing that they have a fighting chance against a seemingly overpowered team like Team ARES.

In the end, the simulated battle trial was stopped because of errors in their simulation equipment.

Both teams were satisfied with the result of their first trial of the Simulated Battles despite some ups and downs that they encountered along the way.

Talia even bugged Weyron afterwards—not to use the 'Frozen Arrow' and fight bravely like a man.

Of course, Weyron simply shrugged her off in response. Obviously, Weyron can't fight equally against opponents like Team ARES. If he gave them just a slight chance to attack, it would even be too late for them to even use the 'Frost Arrow'.

With the Simulation System unavailable, the two Teams had no choice but to continue their trainings back to the game.

However, there were no more skirmishes between the two teams and they were back to training by themselves at this moment.

At night, the both team's opponents were released.

Team Oran Gutan's opponent was a Team composed of VR Streamers from Europe, and their Elimination Match was scheduled in the afternoon the next day.

As for Team ARES, their opponent was Team Fuji—one of the two well-known Gaming Organization that were going to participate in the competition from Japan.

Pedro, himself, was familiar of this Gaming Organization because it was the guild that was led by the man—whom he got the 'fake inheritances' from.

Pedro could not help but chuckled and said to himself deep inside, "What kind of matchmaking is this? Matching two bigshots from Asia right of the bat??? Well… It's not like I am worried that we are going to lose but… I also hoped that there would be a lot of Teams from our server—that would be able to reach the next round of the competition. That way… The Adventurer's Guild might get famous and get a lot of attention!"

"Anyway… It can't be helped! Besides… I am also curious to know what that man, Kageyama, did after I killed him in the game!" Pedro smirked mischievously. "We'll see what they can do, tomorrow morning!"

…

April 2, 2031

7:30 AM

Bearth Online Stadium

Shanghai, China

It was so early in the morning but the whole Bearth Online Stadium was already packed with audience. The previously VIP Area was converted into a VR Box Area—where the VR Boxes that the two teams would be using were located.

The hologram projector that would display the live coverage of the match was still located at the center most area of the arena.

The lower part—close to the hologram projector in the ground would display the map that was randomly generated by the system for each match. While above it, in the air, a hologram projection on a specific point in the battlefield was displayed as directed by the organizers of the competition.

That way, the people inside the arena would feel like as if they were inside the simulated battle and were part of it themselves—increasing the immersion and the thrill that they would feel inside the arena.

At this moment, the hosts and analysts started introducing themselves after the opening projection of the competition was displayed.

"Glorious morning to everyone! I am Bob, the newb, A VR Streamer who has experienced the most brutal way to die in the game!" A fat man in a suit said whilst waving his hands.

Then, he was followed by the man sitting beside him—who was a good-looking American Host, saying, "I am Rudy Mason, a professional VR Games analyst!"

"And I am Dong Li, Chairman of the Bearth Online Game Developer Group!" The old Chinese man beside Rudy Mason, smiled happily whilst waving his hand.

Rudy Mason smiled in response and said, "And we would be your commentators for the first match of the first ever, Bearth Online Simulated Battles Competition!" Then, he paused for a second and glanced to Chairman Dong Li and said, "That said… It's quite nerve-wracking to be commentating beside you Chairman Li!"

Chairman Dong Li simply laughed in response and said, "I completely understand how you feel. But, I have to ask you to bear with me for a bit. It's been one of my life long goals to be able to commentate in a game. And obviously… This is one of the few opportunities I have to do so in my life. Hahaha!"

Rudy Mason smiled in response and said, "Well… It is my honor to be able to commentate a match with one of the creators of Bearth Online. I am sure that the other VR game analysts and commentators are all envious of me and Bob!"

Bob and Rudy Mason simply smirked afterward as Chairman Dong Li laughed out loud.

"Anyway… The Audience—no, the world is already dying to see the very first match! So, shall we call in and introduce the first two teams that would compete for the first Elimination Round Match?" Rudy Mason said as he glanced to Bob and Chairman Dong Li on his sides.

Bob exaggerated his 'shake' on his body, whilst saying, "Let's go! Everyone's excited like me!"

Chairman Dong Li smiled to the camera and said, "For the first match of the Elimination Round… Two big shots from Asia would go against each other!"

Bob smiled and said, "Introducing… From the Land of the Rising Sun! Please welcome, Team Fuji of the Sun Industries!"

At this moment, their team logo was displayed in the hologram projector—similar to yesterday's introduction of the participating teams. At the same time, the 18 players from Team Fuji entered the arena through the entrance of the VIP Area—now the VR Box Area.

The Japanese fans—amongst the crowd and the spectators all over the world, erupted in support of Team Fuji and its players.

"Their Team Ace… They call him the 'Ent Killer'… The Ice Mage, Ryu!" Bob said in a cool manner.

Ryu's Character was displayed in the holographic projector as he came out of the entrance to the VIP Area. He waved his hands towards the crowd whilst smiling towards them.

The Japanese fans erupted in support of Ryu.

A few seconds later, Bob continued saying, "And… Their Team Captain! The Rank One VR Player of Japan… The Fearless Sword Master… Kazuto Kageyama!"

Kazuto Kageyama walked out from the entrance with a serious look on his face, whilst his character was projected in the holographic projector.

The Japanese fans erupted once again as the other spectators and audience started murmuring to each other—intrigued to the identity of the team who was matched with Japan's front runner in the VR Games Industry.

"And that's your Team Fuji!" Bob said one last time as the Japanese fans erupted in cheers—one last time.