Chapter 301 – The Show Begins
The venue for the All-Star event bustled with noise. As the main host, after finis.h.i.+ng the Alliance’s requirements, Club Samsara obviously put in all of their efforts to show off their power. On the brochure, each of the 24 players chosen for the All-Star event had their own page. The page had a photograph, the player’s information, an introduction, and a hand-drawn picture of the player’s powerful Glory character. The production was quite good.
Who were the 24 chosen players? A fan like Chen Guo knew the answer way before the event started. Right now, she was holding the brochure. The more she flipped through it, the more excited she became, especially when she got to Su Mucheng’s page. She was so enamored that she had even forgotten to move.
Chen Guo had seen these types of All-Star brochures before. Those times, Ye Qiu would certainly be beside Su Mucheng. Except his photo would always be a shadow, making him look like an enigma. This time Excellent Era’s new core member, Sun Xiang, was next to Su Mucheng’s page.
One Autumn Leaf looked as mighty as ever, but his owner had changed.
These were the only two players that were chosen from Team Excellent Era. If the players were chosen based on the team’s performance, then it would be very hard to argue for the dismally-placed Excellent Era. Even though they were recently moving along a positive trend, it was still pretty much hopeless for them to enter the top eight. Su Mucheng’s popularity had no relations.h.i.+p with the team. With her popularity, even if she was never put into a match, it was very possible that her fans would push her onto the All-Stars list anyways.
As for Sun Xiang, he had only just transferred into Excellent Era mid-season. He had an extraordinary run with his previous team, Conquering Clouds. He had led the very ordinary team into the top eight. After transferring to Excellent Era, Team Over the Cloud’s performance immediately fell, while Team Excellent Era’s performance rose. This could be considered proof of his extraordinary ability. He had been t.i.tled the Most Outstanding Rookie last year. His popularity this year had clearly gone up a level.
Amidst the liveliness, the three found their seats. The event had not yet officially started. Chen Guo looked all around and seemed indescribably excited as if she had discovered something new.
They sat like this for half an hour. The spectators gradually trickled in as the official start of the event grew nearer and nearer.
At eight o’clock sharp, the music that had been playing the entire time stopped. The venue suddenly turned pitch black, as if a movie were going to be shown. Not waiting for people to cheer, a pillar of light dropped down onto the stage. In the middle of the light, a projection of a Glory character appeared. One after the other, in a circle, characters descended down onto the stage as if the they had come from the heavens. The audience immediately erupted into cheers and shouts. Chen Guo was also extremely excited. She pulled at Ye Xiu and Tang Rou, pointing at those glowing characters.
Tang Rou obviously couldn’t identify them. Ye Xiu was more familiar with them than Chen Guo, but he didn’t say anything. He only smiled as he heard Chen Guo excitedly point out every character she recognized.
“One Autumn Leaf! That’s One Autumn Leaf!! Look, look, look!!”
Amidst Chen Guo’s cries of joy, One Autumn Leaf with his Silver weapon, Evil Annihilation, descended down. This character didn’t have a life, but at this moment, it looked alive. While Chen Guo was shouting, she suddenly recalled the player behind the character that had recently retired. Her voice suddenly stopped and her expression dimmed.
However, it was only for a short moment. The character that closely followed One Autumn Leaf’s character quickly ignited Chen Guo’s spirit again. The shout she made that instant was completely unrecognizable to Ye Xiu and Tang Rou.
Dancing Rain!
The character that followed closely behind One Autumn Leaf was Su Mucheng’s Dancing Rain. She heaved a cannon on her shoulder and her long hair fluttered in the wind. She clearly looked like a warm and kind-hearted girl, but she had chosen a character that used heavy artillery. Ye Xiu thought of this and couldn’t help but smile.
“What are you smiling at?” Chen Guo looked strangely at this guy’s weird smile. Then she thought of her recent excessive fangirling. The people around her had been startled by her and were now all staring at her, making her feel a bit embarra.s.sed. Seeing Ye Xiu’s smile again, she immediately felt that he was mocking her.
“It’s nothing. Su Mucheng! Cool!!” Ye Xiu shouted, while applauding wildly, relieving Chen Guo of some of the attention. Many of the people were now staring at Ye Xiu instead of Chen Guo.
“Yeah, yeah! If you’re coming to watch it live, you have to join in with the crowd!” Chen Guo was very pleased with Ye Xiu’s att.i.tude. She didn’t care if her fangirling was a bit excessive. She turned to look at Tang Rou: “What do you think, Little Tang?”
“I don’t know. I don’t know them……” Tang Rou shrunk back. She pretended that she didn’t know who the two people beside her were…….
“Come, come, come. I’ll introduce them to you.” Chen Guo was very enthusiastic and she began introducing the characters in the pillar of light to Tang Rou. Chen Guo knew who the 24 chosen players were long before the event started. As long as she saw the character’s cla.s.s, she could pretty much guess who it was seven times out of eight. She pointed at each one and didn’t make a mistake.
Finally, 23 characters had been shown. For the final character, the character’s descent was slightly slower. By stopping and moving repeatedly, the action beautifully created a feeling of antic.i.p.ation. It made it seem as if the 23 characters prior had been little soldiers opening the way for the great general to arrive.
Club Samsara had taken advantage of their powers as the host to have this 24th character be the last one to come out. This character was obviously their Samsara’s trump card, Zhou Zekai’s character, known as the Great Gunner: Cloud Piercer.
Even though Chen Guo was a fan of Excellent Era, she didn’t have any ill will towards Zhou Zekai’s character and applauded. However, since this was Samsara’s home grounds, Samsara clearly had more fans here. Cloud Piercer appeared majestically on stage. The applause and cheers from the audience were simply deafening. The people who had turned their heads to glare at Chen Guo and Ye Xiu had lost their own poise and were clearly Samsara fans.
Apart from the audience’s reactions, there was no other noise. As Cloud Piercer descended, the pillar of light flickered into 24 pillars. The pillars flashed in an alternating manner, s.h.i.+ning on all 24 All-Star characters.
The audience’s cheers grew even livelier. Then, the 24 characters, which had been quietly standing there, suddenly sprang into action.
Das.h.i.+ng, attacking, dodging, jumping…….
The 24 characters displayed all sorts of movements. The audience erupted into another wave of cheers. The projections looked as if real people were moving around in a cosplay act.
After they all performed a set of movements, the pillar of light suddenly dimmed, leaving the audience in darkness again. The audience’s cheers also calmed as the stadium darkened. Everyone was waiting for the next part of the show.
A pillar of light…… a pillar of light once again dropped down, s.h.i.+ning on a single character. This was the first character that had descended down. The leader of last year’s Champions. Team Tiny Herb Captain w.a.n.g Jiexi’s Magician: Vaccaria.
The audience wondered if the character was going to do something again. Then, they watched as Vaccaria hopped onto his broom and flew into the air. Vaccaria turned his head in mid-air and lifted up his arms. The pillar of light followed as he flew and the audience focused their attention onto the red potion bottle in his hands. Players who were familiar with the Witch cla.s.s would recognize this Witch skill: Lava Flask.
“Shatter…..”
In the absolutely silent stadium, the breaking of the Lava Flask could clearly be heard. It was exactly the same as in the game. Following the shatter was an explosion. Lava burst forth from the flask onto the stage. The flames burned and surged.
As the audience watched, stunned, Vaccaria lifted his hands again. A white fog-like item was thrown into the air. Puffs of clouds formed and blue rain poured down. The audience immediately recognized this as another Witch skill: Acid Rain.
Then, Vaccaria revealed a few more skills. The visual effects were exactly the same as in the game. The stunned audience only now realized that these visual effects were only projections. In that instant of realization, shouts and cheers erupted across the stadium. Vaccaria’s pillar of light faded away and the darkness returned. The second character followed with another display of skills.
After each of the 24 characters performed, the audience awaited the next scene.
The previous performance had been done individually. If all of the projections began shooting out their skills and engaging in battle, what would the scene be like then?
The host didn’t disappoint. After the individual performances, they immediately began the battles.
1v1, 2v2…… even a 12v12 fight!
The skills from the various characters mixed into a flurry of colors. The Silver weapons in each of the G.o.d-level characters’ hands glittered like gems.
The scene in front of the audience’s eyes was no longer as if they were in the game, but rather a movie. It looked as if each and every character was standing in front of them. It was much more vivid than looking at the game. As for the chaotic battle, no one noticed the skills that were being used. They had been entranced by the splendid visual effects. They hoped that it would never end……
However, since these 24 characters represented the 24 All-Star players, they couldn’t show a winner or a loser. After enjoying the on-stage effects, Samsara’s trump card, Cloud Piercer, suddenly jumped into the air and flew towards the top of the stadium. The other characters ascended like stars as if they were chasing after him. The 24 characters flew up to the top and then exploded with a bang, like fireworks. The audience stuck out their hands to touch the lights, only to confirm that the projections truly weren’t real.
Soon after, the lights on the stadium lit up. The large screens hanging in the air broadcasted the images of real fireworks that had been shot into the air above the stadium. The host’s voice boomed: “This year’s All-Star Weekend has officially begun!”