The Immortal Player

At this moment, Chairman Dong Li smirked and said, "Moving on… to their opponent! Introducing… From the Land of a Thousand Islands! Please welcome, Team ARES of the Armaz Electronics Inc.!"

Team ARES' logo was displayed in the hologram projector—similar to yesterday's introduction of the participating teams. At the same time, the 7 players from Team ARES entered the arena through an opposite entrance of the VIP Area.

The Filipino fans erupted in support of them, both amongst the audience and the spectators all over the world. Add up the fans of Talia that were cheering for their 'goddess', the audience was more rowdy compared to when Team Fuji's 18 players entered.

Of course, Talia happily waved her hand as if she was a well-known celebrity.

After a few seconds, Chairman Dong Li faked a cough and said, "For their Team Ace… They said you don't want him to get angry! He's not Hulk… He's Bulk!"

At this moment, the Filipino fans erupted once again as Lony entered the Arena with a serious look on his face—occasionally waving his hands along the way. Lony's fully armored character was displayed by the hologram projector that made some of the audience gasp in awe at his cool armor.

"And finally… Their Team Captain… The one and only heir of Armaz Energy International and Armaz Electronics Inc.! The Unfathomable Boss of Team ARES, Captain… Black!" Chairman Dong Li said with a smirk on his face.

The Filipino fans erupted once again as some of them stood from their seats. He may not be the most handsome Captain nor a player with a famous reputation like Kazuto Kageyama but… Pedro was the son of the president and owner of the only company from the Philippines that is acquainted in some way with the Game Developers of Bearth Online.

It was also probably the reason why even Chairman Dong Li—the Owner and the President of the Bearth Online Game Developer Group, personally introduced him and his team to this competition. Well… That was only the most probable reason for it.

On the other hand, Pedro himself could only force out a smile after being introduced as if he was just a rich young man with a lot of connections because of their family's company.

In fact, some of their opponents from Team Fuji even chuckled—thinking that Team ARES was just a team to temporarily represent Armaz Energy International and Armaz Electronics Inc. at this moment.

Well… They were not the only ones who thought so. Even, many amongst the audience in the arena and the spectators/viewers all around the world thought the same thing.

The few numbers of players on Team ARES, up to the 'expensive' looking armors of their Captain and Ace… They were more like a group formed with the closest friends of Pedro—the heir of the two companies as said by Chairman Dong Li.

This, consequently, gave a wrong image to Team ARES as "The most powerful Pay-To-Win Team" that was participating in the competition.

Thus, speculations about this matchup started to arise—that the first match in the competition was between one of the strongest teams, in terms of player experience, in the Asian-Australian Server and one of the strongest teams, in terms of the 'Pay-To-Win' idea, in the same said server.

That is why after Pedro joined the rest of Team ARES, Bob—one of the commentators, bravely asked Chairman Dong Li, "Sir Chairman Dong Li, our audience in the arena and the viewers all over the world are seemingly curious about how these two "bigshot" teams were matched—here in the elimination round? Did the event organizers purposely made this matchup at the start, or was it pure coincidence that the system arranged?"

Chairman Dong Li simply chuckled in response and said, "It was purely a coincidence, because the Separate Autonomous System—that was being used for the Simulated Matches, was the one that assigned the opponents of each team in the Elimination Round."

He paused for a second before saying, "It would be the same for the Inter-Server Playoffs Round! The Autonomous System would always be at play to avoid any biased actions from the organizers. That said… I won't deny that the arrangement of each match was slightly modified by the event organizers so that we might have some exciting match right off the bat!"

"And this match is one of those, Chairman Li?" Rudy Mason asked.

Chairman Dong Li simply nodded and smiled towards him in response.

"Well… That's interesting!" Bob interjected with an excited tone. "As a player of Bearth Online, myself… I wonder if being a "Pay to win" player can be good enough to match someone who's an "expert" on VR Games—not to mention the Pro VR Leagues that are also mostly Simulated Battles!"

Chairman Dong Li simply chuckled in response and said, "We'll see soon enough!"

…

At this moment, Pedro was having his last-second meeting with his players before they enter their own VR Boxes.

He clapped his hands to get their full attention and said, "Guys, Guys, Guys! Focus, okay! Remember not to underestimate the enemy, and don't get swayed by any of their taunts! Most of the time, in games like these, once you lose your temper because of a disadvantageous situation, you'll get played, toyed, and trashed by the enemy—regardless of whether you are stronger than them!"

Pedro paused for a second before saying, "Remember to stay calm and attentive at all times! Always be focused and follow our plans!" Pedro glanced towards Talia and said, "Talia, you can show off… But don't take the spotlight from Lony no matter what!"

Talia smiled in response and made a thumbs up to Pedro.

"Good!" Pedro said as he nodded in response. Then, he glanced to everyone else before saying, "Other than that… I want to say have fun but… It's more exciting if I say… Assume that we are going against Clara and Ragas! SHOW THEM NO MERCY!"

"NO MERCY!" Everyone shouted in response—as all of their eyes emanated a strong killing intent. All of them were as calm as the wind on a hot sunny day on the plains.

Even the event personnel—managing their VR Boxes, shivered from the tense aura that they exerted as everyone went to their own VR Boxes.

On the other hand, the crowd erupted as the two opposing teams entered their VR Boxes and started logging into their Simulated Battle Accounts.

[Welcome to Bearth Online: Simulated Battle System!]

[Logging in to Synced Bearth Online Character Account…]

[Log in, Complete!]

[Transferring Player Black_ARES_ArmazEnergyInternational to Team ARES Lobby! Please wait!]

…

A few seconds later, Pedro and his teammates materialized in an empty room as their fully armored characters were also displayed in the holographic projection in the arena.

"Whoa!" Bob could not help but gasp together with the audience in the arena.

Obtaining a decent sword—other than the Newbie Sword, was already difficult at these moments of the game. It was very hard for common players and even some streamers to earn coins—what much more weapons, armors, and such.

That is why most of the people who were already able to play Bearth Online, knew that the full armor set of Pedro and Lony was already an 'overkill' on the side of Team ARES. They had a hunch that the two sets that Pedro and Lony were wearing, cost the Team ARES most of its budget—the reason why they can only bring a small team at the competition with only even Mathew as their Pro VR Player.

Upon seeing that the rest of the Team ARES with the same full armor set and even matching weapons, it was only natural for them to be amazed by the very equipment of Team ARES.

"It looks like we have underestimated Team ARES too much with their capability to spend money for the game!" Rudy Mason chuckled in response to Bob's reaction.

Chairman Dong Li laughed lightly in response and said, "Sometimes, if you want to win and stand on top… You need to take the necessary risks—including spending money! That aside… I am impressed with Team ARES! They really prepared well for this competition and are seriously considering this competition!"

"But if that was the case, Chairman Li! Why would they not place player Neem and the reserves of Team Oran Gutan to fill their team?" Rudy Mason asked. "I mean… They should at the least fill all the 20 slots within a team if they are really considering winning the competition."

"Who knows?" Chairman Dong Li said with a smirk on his face. "It must have been part of their plan or something… What I only know is that… You won't equip all of your men with good armors and stuff just to flaunt your money to the world! Even Mr. Jon Armaz of the Armaz Energy International is not like that when I met him a few days ago."

"Interesting…" Rudy Mason nodded in response. Then, he stared at the characters of Team ARES that were projected by the hologram, and said, "I can't wait to see them fight in actual!"

At this moment, Bob was able to gather himself once again and said, "This Team ARES is a bit overkill! A few days ago, I learned that the Adventurer's Guild, which was quickly being established by the NPCs all over the Asian-Australian Region, was selling a Silver Sword for two gold coins each! Although the sword and the armors of Team ARES are not as elegant as the Silver Sword… I assume that each piece of their equipment would cost tens of silver coins at the least! And by basic mathematics… It is safe to assume that Team ARES spent tens of gold coins on their armor alone! That… To me, as a player—is something that I could only dream of having! Truly Terrifying! You can't underestimate the power of Pay to Win Players!"

The Audience in the arena and the viewers all over the world could only nod in agreement to Bob—who are mostly also players of Bearth Online.

Fortunately, the Battle Mode was about to be selected—allowing Rudy Mason to take over, saying, "Well… We will all find our answers to the mystery of the two big teams from Asia as the match is about to begin! Again… Team Fuji versus Team ARES! Who would move forward to the next stage of the competition and who would go home? Let's all find out in the first Bearth Online Simulated Battle Competition!"

Everyone erupted in cheers as the hologram projected the system randomly generating an environment similar to Bearth Online.

[Game Mode: Kingdom Defense!]

[Map: Mountain Ridge and Open Plains!]

…

[Tradean Empire: Team ARES]

[Military: 10,000 NPC Soldiers]

[Population: 100,000 NPC Civilians]

[King: Black_ARES_ArmazEnergyInternational] (AN: Pedro)

[Queen: White_ARES_ArmazEnergyInternational] (Author's Note: Obviously Sabrina is white. xD)

[ACE: Bulk_ARES_ArmazEnergyInternational] (AN: Lony)

[Jack: Shawarma_ARES_ArmazEnergyInternational] (AN: Talia)

…

[Defacto Kingdom: Team Fuji]

[Military: 5,000 NPC Soldiers]

[Population: 200,000 NPC Civilians]

[King: Kageyama.TeamFuji.SunIndustries]

[Queen: Mina.TeamFuji.SunIndustries]

[ACE: Ryu.TeamFuji.SunIndustries]

[Jack: Shino.TeamFuji.SunIndustries]

…

[Teleporting Players to the Simulated Area in 3!]

[Teleporting Players to the Simulated Area in 2!]

[Teleporting Players to the Simulated Area in 1!]