VRMMO: The Unrivaled

I had one second to kill Lin Yixin when I pressed the Heaven-stealing Sword to Lin Yixin’s neck, and to be honest, I could’ve killed her in that time easily. But for some reason, I couldn’t do it when I looked into the gleam in her eyes. I didn’t feel too much guilt, however. In life, you’ll always have some ups and downs. If something belongs to you, it will fall into your lap in the end. If it doesn’t, it’s never been yours to begin with.

Ding~!

System Announcement: All players, please be informed that the champion of Who Will Rise is Snowy Cathaya! The party leader is Wind Fantasy, and the party members are Purple Marquis, Shadow Chanel, Clear Perfume, and Beauty At First Sight!

Ding~!

System Announcement: In this tournament, the player who survived the longest and dealt the most damage is Broken Halberd Sinks Into Sand. Therefore, they are declared to be the MVP of this tournament! Congratulations!

……

When I was teleported out of the tournament ring, I saw that everyone’s mood had changed from sorrow to joy—

"Not bad! We may not be the champion, but we at least have an MVP in our midst! Well done, Lu Chen!" He Yi smiled gladly.

Li Chengfeng said, "Second place is still pretty good. We lacked a bit of luck this time, but I’m sure we’ll become the champion next time. Plus, our true goal was to take out Candle Dragon and Candlelight Shadow, and in that regard, we passed with flying colors. So it’s fine even if we didn’t get first place, am I right?"

Beiming Xue nodded. "Yeah. Also, this is the second time you became the MVP, big bro. The prize money will be a lot, am I right?"

"Who knows? But Lu Chen is still treating us to a meal later!"

"Of course, of course!"

……

We logged out and walked out of the battle room. On the other side, Lin Yixin and the players of Snowy Cathaya had walked out as well. Both sides exchanged smiles with one another.

We were greeted by a thunderous applause and cheers. Everyone was praising the battle between me and Lin Yixin, which was understandable. Neither of us possessed a skill that could one-shot the enemy for certain, so the amount of finesse and tricks we had to throw out to one up our opponent drastically increased as a result. It also made the final a lot more entertaining to the viewers than it normally was. That being said, this match would have been over a long time ago had my Purple Dragon Howl not been banned...

The host Fei’er smiled brightly before announcing, "First, congratulations to Snowy Cathaya for becoming the champion! Second, congratulations to Lu Chen for becoming the MVP of this tournament! Both of you absolutely deserve your placements and titles!"

We were all pretty tired after that grueling battle, so we went to our seats after standing just half a minute on-stage. However, not even fatigue could stop us from feeling excited for the next part of the tournament; the part where we drew lots and obtained our rightful rewards! What will we get, I wonder?

……

With Fei’er acting as the host again, the 17th to 32nd place parties such as Flower Room, Mad Dragon, Snow of Frozen River, and other small fries went up first to draw their reward. They were made to go up the stage together to save time. Then, everyone drew their reward after standing in front of an instrument and undergoing an iris scan to confirm their identity. As it turned out, an archer from Snow of Frozen River got the best reward out of everyone. They had gotten a Level 100 3-star Outstanding Dark Gold–grade long bow with incredible Attack. Besides that, everyone was rewarded 1 level and 20k RMB prize money each—basically the tournament organizers’ participation payment to the guilds—and it was an amazing reward even if they failed to progress to the Top 16.

The next draw was for the 9th to 16th parties. This time, Hunting Moon Dynasty, Hegemon Palace, and so on went up stage to draw the lot. Their luck seemed to be much better than the earlier parties’ because even the lousiest reward they got was still a 1-star Outstanding Dark Gold–grade equipment.

With Xu Yang leading the way, Chaos Moon Gui Guzi, High Fighting Spirits, and Eighteen Steeds of You and Yun also went up the stage to draw their lots. I smiled and gave them a thumbs-up from behind. "Best of luck and karma! Everyone needs to come back with top-tier equipment!"

Chaos Moon looked back to smile at me. "Just you wait!"

Everyone in the second seed was the best of the best, so of course I wanted them to draw something better. Their improvement directly translated to the improvement of Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls’ strongest parties after all!

On the stage, our players spread out in a row before pressing their palms on the scanners of the instruments. The next moment, several lines of data were displayed on the screen.

Gui Guzi obtained the reward "Obsidian Necklace" (Dark Gold–grade, Outstanding★★★★): Stamina +80, Strength +77, Tactics +5. Increases user’s physical attack power by 11%. Outstanding Property: Max HP increased by 20%

Hot Sun obtained the reward "Waning Candle Legguards" (Dark Gold–grade, Outstanding★★★): Stamina +75, Strength +72, Tactics +7. Increases user’s Defense by 150. Outstanding Property: 3% chance to reflect all damage back to the attacker.

Chaos Moon obtained the reward "Death Lord Wristguards" (Dark Gold–grade, Outstanding★★★★): Stamina +82, Strength +75, Tactics +11. Increases user’s hit rate by 24%. Outstanding Property: Deals 10% extra damage to living targets.

High Fighting Spirits obtained the reward "Forgotten One Helmet" (Dark Gold–grade, Outstanding★★★★): Stamina +85, Strength +77, Tactics +10. Increases user’s Attack by 9%. Outstanding Property: Critical hit rate increased by 4%.

Eighteen Steeds of You and Yun obtained the reward "Earth Lizard Youngling" (Dark Gold Rank Mount, Pet)

Next, Fei’er summoned with a smile, "Purple Lily, Dragon God Temple, The Monarch Descends, and Dirge of War, please come up the stage and draw your reward!"

……

You could practically see the saliva dripping down everyone’s mouths. I should’ve known that the reward of a CGL-hosted tournament would be awesome. If the past rewards were this amazing already, I couldn’t even imagine what the champions and the runner-ups would get! At any rate, everything was turning out great so far. The stats were amazing, the level requirement matched their levels perfectly, and even the lousiest equipment our second seed got was still a 3-star Outstanding Dark Gold–grade equipment!

Everyone else drew their lots as well. Purple Lily’s Moonkiss got a 4-star Outstanding Dark Gold–grade cape, and Luo River God of the Capital got a super necklace that increased her Magic Attack by 25%. Countless people envied her for it! The guild leader of The Monarch Descends, Ling Xueshang, also got a pair of powerful 4-star Outstanding Dark Gold–grade leather armor boots!

……

Everyone’s excitement level was still climbing higher. It wouldn’t reach its peak until the final draw.

After that, it was the third and fourth place parties’ turn to draw their lots, and Warsky Alliance and Candle Dragon both went up the stage. Candlelight Shadow’s expression was still a little gloomy because they were aiming to win the entire thing, only to be stopped not at the final, but the semifinals. It was a huge failure for a guild like Candle Dragon.

The reward for the third and fourth place team were even crazier than the previous ones of course. Warsky got a powerful 3-star Outstanding Purple Gold–grade sword. Candlelight Shadow got a 4-star Outstanding Purple Gold–grade armor with insane Defense. Long story short, even the unluckiest person of the bunch got a 4-star Outstanding Dark Gold–grade equipment for their trouble. Speaking of which, Candlelight Shadow’s armor was the best of the bunch. Besides that, they also got 2 levels, 2 Luck and 200k RMB prize money!

Finally, it was our turn to go up the stage. Fei’er announced with a smile, "Next, we would like the runner-up, Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls, to come up the stage!"

"Time to go…"

I rose to my feet and rubbed my palms together. "Do you think we have a chance to draw Spirit-grade equipment?"

Beiming Xue giggled. "It’s not impossible, but your karma will have to be very good. While we were chatting earlier, I remember Fei’er saying that the chances to draw a Spirit-grade equipment were 10% for the runner-ups, and 40% for the champions."

"I see. Let’s go then, everyone!"

"Yeah!"

The girls and I went up the stage first. Li Chengfeng lagged behind a little and had to chug down his cola as quickly as he could. Soon, the five of us were standing in front of the instruments and placing our palms on the glowing glass that was the scanner. I shivered a little as my consciousness became merged with the system. The draw began after I gave the order!

Beep!

He Yi’s reward was displayed on the screen first—

Soul Suppressing Necklace (Spirit Grade, Outstanding★★★)

Strength: +100

Stamina: +92

Tactics: +21

Passive: Increases user’s Attack by 22%

Passive: Increases user’s Magic Resist by 35%

Outstanding Property: Accuracy, physical attacks very rarely miss

Slots: 3

Level Requirement: 110

……

"Wow! A 3-star Outstanding Spirit-grade equipment?" He Yi’s mouth fell open in joy. She most likely didn’t imagine that her luck would be this good today. Not only did she get Spirit-grade equipment, it was one with 3 Outstanding stars!

He Yi’s karma must be amazing for her to hit that 10% chance like it was nothing.

Beiming Xue, Li Chengfeng, and Murong Mingyue’s rewards also appeared—

Li Chengfeng obtained the reward "Skull of Sinister Smile Battle Armor" (Dark Gold–grade, Outstanding★★★★): 355 Defense, 320 Magic Resist, Stamina +96, Strength +85, Tactics +11. Increases user’s Defense by 17%. Outstanding Property: Terrify, chance to terrify the enemy into running away.

Beiming Xue obtained the reward "Frozen Thorns Wristguards" (Dark Gold–grade, Outstanding★★★★): 275 Defense, 220 Magic Resist, Agility +95, Stamina +88, Tactics +12. Increases max HP by 20%. Outstanding Property: Critical rate increased by 7%

Murong Mingyue obtained the reward "Necklace of Scorching Kiss Mark" (Spirit-grade, Outstanding★★): Stamina +100, Intelligence +95, Tactics +14. Increases healing output by 37%. Outstanding Property: Pity, healing critical hit rate increased by 20%

……

We were all surprised. Weird name aside, Murong Mingyue was the second person after He Yi to draw a Spirit-grade necklace. Everyone else got items that greatly increased their Tactics as well. Our karma must be really good today. This was good for our future growth because there really weren’t many pieces of equipment that added Tactics in the game at all. Even my Heaven-stealing Sword, as great as it was, didn’t give me any Tactics!

It looked like all the equipment rewards of Who Will Rise gave more or less some Tactics, further emphasizing the awesomeness of a CGL-hosted tournament. Speaking of which, Candlelight Shadow must be stewing in regret for failing to make it to the final right now.

I was the only one left now. For some reason, the draw was still running even though it had been some time after I gave the order. Just when I was about to lose my patience, a melodious ding finally entered my ears—

System Notice: Congratulations, player "Broken Halberd Sinks Into Sand" obtained the reward "God Suppressing Necklace"!

……

God Suppressing? Necklace?

I was a bit confused. Why did this equipment sound so similar to He Yi’s Soul Suppressing Necklace?

I looked at the big display, and all my confusion was replaced my overwhelming joy—

God Suppressing Necklace (Spirit-grade, Outstanding★★★★★)

Strength: +120

Stamina: +115

Tactics: +24

Passive: Increases user’s Attack by 30%

Passive: Increases user’s Defense by 30%

Passive: Increases user's Magic Resist against ice attacks by 50%

Slots: 5

Outstanding Property: God’s Rage. User enters a berserk state upon activation and crits 100% of the time. Lasts 60 seconds.

Level Requirement: 110

……

"WTF? What is this necklace?" Li Chengfeng muttered in a daze. "This is completely broken, isn’t it? 100% crit for 60 seconds? Who is a match for you after this?"

I was pretty speechless myself. I had no idea that I would be able to draw something this powerful despite losing the first place to Snowy Cathaya!

Even better, this was the perfect replacement for my Level 85 Dark Gold–grade non-Outstanding Explosion Necklace. I had been searching for a new necklace for a long time! This reward alone was worth all the invested time and energy we spent for the past few days!