Chapter 1 The All-Star Weekend Begins

The All-Star Weekend venue was a lively scene. As the host, Team Samsara was doing their utmost to promote themselves after fulfilling all the league's requirements. The brochure handed out upon entry dedicated a full page to each of the 24 All-Star players. A photo, some personal information, a career summary, and a majestic hand-drawn image of their Glory character – the production was quite exquisite.

Who were the 24 players? Chen Guo, a Glory fanatic, had memorized them long ago. Holding the brochure, she grew more and more excited as she flipped through it, especially when she lingered on Su Mucheng's page, so engrossed that she forgot to watch where she was going.

Chen Guo had seen All-Star commemorative brochures in the past. Back then, Ye Qiu would always be on the page next to Su Mucheng. But the photo there was always shrouded in shadows, making him a mysterious figure. Now, the page next to Su Mucheng featured Sun Xiang, the new generation leader of Team Excellent Era.

The character One Autumn Leaf's image remained as majestic as ever, but his master had finally changed.

These were the only two players from Team Excellent Era who were selected. Judging by the team's performance, the dismal season that Excellent Era had was hardly convincing. However, Su Mucheng's popularity had always been independent of the team's performance. Someone like her could likely be pushed into the All-Star roster by fans even if she didn't play a single match in a season.

As for Sun Xiang, he had only transferred to Excellent Era midway through the season. Before that, he had put on an extraordinary performance with his old team, Team Conqueror, leading that ordinary team into the top eight. After he transferred to Excellent Era, Team Conqueror's performance immediately declined, while Excellent Era's performance quickly improved, demonstrating his exceptional strength. This Rookie of the Year from last year had clearly risen to even greater popularity this year.

Amidst the hustle and bustle, the trio found their seats. The event hadn't officially started yet, and Chen Guo was excitedly looking around, hoping to spot something interesting.

They sat there for half an hour, and gradually, fewer and fewer spectators entered. The official start time of the event was drawing closer.

At exactly eight o'clock in the evening, the music that had been playing at the venue suddenly stopped, and the venue went dark, just like a movie theater before a film screening. Before people could even cry out in surprise, a beam of light suddenly shot up from the center of the arena, piercing the ceiling. Within the beam of light appeared projections of Glory characters, rotating one by one, as if descending onto the arena from the top. The audience erupted in cheers and screams. Chen Guo was also extremely excited, grabbing Ye Xiu and Tang Rou, pointing at the beam of light, and trying to identify the characters.

Tang Rou definitely wouldn't recognize them, but Ye Xiu was much more familiar with them than Chen Guo. However, he didn't say a word, simply smiling as he listened to Chen Guo's delighted surprise at each character she recognized.

"One Autumn Leaf, that's One Autumn Leaf!! Look, look!!"

Amidst Chen Guo's shouts, One Autumn Leaf, wielding the dark silver spear Evil Annihilation, slowly descended within the beam of light. This character, who once looked down upon the world, was originally lifeless. But at this moment, he seemed like a living being. Chen Guo cried out, and suddenly remembered the person behind this character who had already retired. Her voice trailed off, and her expression grew somewhat melancholy.

However, it was only for a brief moment. The character that followed One Autumn Leaf quickly ignited an even greater explosion of excitement in Chen Guo. The shout that erupted in an instant made Ye Xiu and Tang Rou wish they could cover her mouth.

Dancing Rain!

The character that descended right after One Autumn Leaf was, of course, Su Mucheng's Dancing Rain, with her heavy cannon raised on her shoulder, her long hair constantly fluttering. She was clearly a very gentle girl, yet she had chosen such a heavy-firepower, heavyweight character. Ye Xiu smiled involuntarily at the thought.

"What are you smiling at?" Chen Guo noticed the strange smile on his face. When she thought about how she had been too engrossed earlier, and how many other spectators had been startled and looked at her, she felt a little embarrassed. Seeing Ye Xiu's smile, she felt like he was mocking her.

"Nothing, Dancing Rain! Great!!" Ye Xiu also shouted and clapped his hands a few times, helping Chen Guo draw away some of the attention. Many people started looking at Ye Xiu instead of Chen Guo.

"That's right, that's right! Coming to the venue is all about immersing yourself in the atmosphere!" Chen Guo was very satisfied with Ye Xiu's performance, not caring whether this immersion was a bit over the top. She turned to Tang Rou and said, "Little Tang, what do you think?"

"I don't know, I don't recognize any of them…" Tang Rou shrank her neck, pretending not to know the two people next to her…

"Come, come, come, let me introduce them to you." Chen Guo was very enthusiastic, and began to introduce the characters in the light beam to Tang Rou. Chen Guo already knew who the 24 players were, so as long as she could identify the character's class, she could basically guess who they were. She pointed them out one by one, and didn't make any mistakes.

Finally, after 23 characters had descended, as they approached the last one, the character's descent was slightly delayed. This small pause perfectly created a sense of anticipation, as if the previous 23 were just pathfinding soldiers, and this one was the highly anticipated general.

This 24th character was naturally arranged by Team Samsara, taking advantage of hosting the event, to create such anticipation. And this character was, of course, their Team Samsara's ace player, Zhou Zekai's character, the Sharpshooter known as the Gun King: One Autumn Leaf.

Although Chen Guo was a supporter of Excellent Era, she didn't harbor any ill feelings towards Zhou Zekai and his character. She even contributed a little applause. Moreover, as the home of Team Samsara, it was obvious which team had the most fans. One Autumn Leaf's grand entrance was met with screams and applause that shook the earth. A few of those who had previously looked down on Chen Guo and Ye Xiu now had no composure, clearly being die-hard fans of Team Samsara.

The entire venue was silent except for the audience's reactions. The opening show was completely silent. As One Autumn Leaf landed, the beam of light flashed and transformed into 24 beams, alternately shining, illuminating the 24 All-Star characters already standing in the arena.

The audience's cheers grew even more enthusiastic. Then, the 24 characters, who had been standing still and posing, suddenly began to move.

Running, attacking, dodging, jumping…

The 24 characters acted out various basic movements that they would only perform in the game as if they were alive. The audience gasped in amazement. They had originally thought these were just projections, but now it seemed that these were actually real people doing cosplay?

After each character displayed their actions and poses, the beams of light suddenly went out, and the arena went dark. The audience's cries of surprise died down with the darkness, and everyone held their breath, waiting to see what would happen next.

A beam of light… Another beam of light shone, illuminating a character on the arena. It was the first of the 24 characters to descend from the sky, last year's champion, the captain of Team Tiny Herb, Wang Jiexi's Magician: Wang Bu Liu Xing.

Just as the audience was wondering why the character was being singled out again, they saw Wang Bu Liu Xing mount his broom and fly into the air. The character in the air turned his head and flicked his hand, and a beam of light followed, showing everyone a red bottle. Players familiar with the Magician class instantly recognized it as the Magician's skill: Lava Concoction.

"Bang…"

In the silent venue, the sound of the Lava Concoction bottle shattering upon impact was exceptionally clear, just like in the game. Then, a "boom" was heard, and the arena where the Lava Concoction bottle had shattered was now filled with burning, churning lava.

While the audience was still dumbfounded, Wang Bu Liu Xing raised his hand again and flung a cloud of white mist into the air, like fluffy white clouds. Then, blue raindrops began to fall. The audience immediately recognized this as another skill of the Magician: Acid Rain Cloud.

Afterward, Wang Bu Liu Xing demonstrated a few more skills. The light and shadow effects were exactly the same as in the game. The audience, who had been stunned, finally realized what was happening. They had previously suspected that the characters were being played by real people, but the skill effects clearly indicated that this was just holographic projection technology. In an instant, screams and applause erupted again throughout the venue. The beam of light on Wang Bu Liu Xing faded, and he disappeared into the darkness, followed by the lighting up of the second character, similarly displaying some skills with the same effects as in the game.

After each of the 24 characters had performed, the audience was already anticipating the next scene.

That's right! Combat!

Before, it was just individual demonstrations. What would it be like to have a battle using holographic projection technology?

The organizers didn't disappoint the audience at all. After the individual demonstrations, they immediately started pairing off for fights.

One-on-one, two-on-two… until it evolved into a twelve-on-twelve free-for-all!

The skills of various characters blended together in the arena, and the silver weapons in the hands of the top-tier characters shone brilliantly.

What was presented to the audience was no longer what they could see in the game or on broadcasts. The characters seemed to be standing right in front of them, more vivid than what they saw in the game. And in the chaotic free-for-all, no one noticed any technical details. They were simply captivated by the magnificent effects of the battle, hoping it would never end…

However, these 24 characters symbolized the 24 All-Star players after all. It wouldn't be appropriate to show anyone winning or losing in the design of this opening show. After letting the audience enjoy the magnificent holographic projection effects, Team Samsara's ace character, One Autumn Leaf, suddenly jumped into the air, soaring towards the top of the venue like a meteor. Then, the other characters seemed to be chasing after him, each transforming into a meteor and chasing after him. Finally, all 24 characters flew to the top of the venue, exploding with a bang, falling like fireworks. The audience reached out to touch them, finally confirming that they weren't real.

Afterward, all the lights in the venue suddenly came on, and the large screens surrounding the upper part of the venue showed real fireworks rising outside the venue. The host's voice finally sounded at this moment: The annual All-Star Weekend has officially begun!