Chapter 58 The First Official Match

The training base is equipped with all kinds of testing instruments. Tao Tao first took out a reader with a built-in competition analysis system, inserted one end of the reader into the virtual cabin, and then connected the other end to the screen.

The outer shell of the virtual pod was adjusted to a transparent mode. Fang Zhuo leaned back on the sofa and watched as the blue gelatinous liquid filled the entire virtual pod.

Tao Tao activated the communication mode of the virtual pod: "Can you hear me?"

On the big screen, Cheng Che gave a thumbs-up.

Knowing that this newcomer had no prior knowledge of mecha, Tao Tao explained it from scratch:

"Don't think of piloting a mecha as a connection of mental energy. To put it simply, think of it as dancing underwater. You need to be very focused on controlling your movements to ensure that you don't deform under resistance."

"What laymen call mecha talent is actually testing your ability to control every muscle in your body. Don't think of it as something too difficult."

"I'm putting you in D mode now, which is the feeling of piloting a D-class mech. You can try it. Your actual body movements should now be completely synchronized with those on the field."

Cheng Che jumped up and down on the spot, then waved his arms. Sure enough, it felt similar to when he played the match the day before yesterday.

Not only him, but several other players in the team were also secretly taking notes.

Although it's unclear how the boss managed to bring in such a renowned coach from across the entire Star Alliance, a few pointers from a coach of that caliber would be enough to train them for weeks on their own.

Top-tier instructors are truly exceptional; they can explain the principles of mecha piloting clearly and concisely in just a few words, making it remarkably easy to understand.

This is a rare opportunity; you don't get to attend a masterclass for free these days.

"Now I've shifted the gear to C. You only need to use about four-fifths of the original force to achieve the same range of motion as in D. This will be more energy-efficient and lighter, but you need to control the rhythm of your force application."

On the screen, Cheng Che tried to punch the air and gave a thumbs-up, indicating that he had mastered the gear.

Over the next few minutes, Tao Tao kept adjusting the virtual reality pod to A mode, while Cheng Che would only need about ten minutes to get used to it before he could move around freely.

Because his proficiency has gradually improved, Cheng Che's movements are now even smoother than in that match.

The other contestants exchanged glances upon seeing this.

In the Duxing League, most players on each team are at a level between C and D. Adjusting the level further will not only cause mild headaches, but also lead to serious operational incoordination.

In A mode, a person might only take a small step in the virtual pod, but on the field, that translates to a large stride. This is something that cannot be adapted and improved through long-term training alone; it requires a great deal of innate coordination and muscle control.

As for players who can freely pilot S-class mechs, there are only a little over a hundred across the entire Star Alliance. They are all highly sought-after talents during the transfer period, with annual salaries starting at least in the tens of millions.

Tao Tao's eyes gleamed with ecstasy. He stared intently at the large screen, his right hand resting on the virtual reality pod, shifting the gear to S mode.

Smooth, the movements are still so smooth.

After finishing the two-hour basic test, Cheng Che walked out of the virtual reality pod feeling refreshed and happily propped his hands on the sofa:

"Thank you, Mr. Fang, thank you, Coach Tao. Playing in S mode is much easier than playing in casual matches. I feel like I can play for hours without getting tired."

As soon as he finished speaking, several teammates let out a series of painful howls.

What about the aftereffects? Shouldn't people have splitting headaches after leaving a high-end virtual reality cabin? How come some people feel refreshed instead?

What's more terrifying than genius is genius who doesn't realize it.

After playing professionally for so many years, they could only adapt to D mode at most. Now, their Dao heart has truly been shattered.

Fang Zhuo patted Cheng Che on the shoulder and skillfully launched into a string of encouraging words:

"Keep up the good work. I hope you can give it your all in these next few days and grow quickly."

"Our team has provided you with a great platform, and I expect you to seize this opportunity to showcase your abilities. You won't let me down, will you?"

Cheng Che was just a sixteen-year-old boy. After hearing his boss's heartfelt words, he felt an immense fighting spirit ignite within him.

He wiped his eyes, choked up, and loudly assured his boss, "Don't worry, Mr. Fang! I will train hard and lead our team to our first victory of the season."

Tao Tao stood to the side: ...

He hesitated, wanting to speak but holding back. Finally, Tao Tao rubbed the lower half of his face with his palm and silently recited his boss's script in his mind.

While the athletes went to the weight room for extra training, Tao Tao walked around to Fang Zhuo's side from behind, hesitated for a long time before suggesting:

"President Fang, please forgive me for speaking out, but you may not understand what it means to master S-mode in two hours. Such a newcomer is extremely rare in the entire Star Alliance."

"I suggest you raise the salary of this player, at least to around eight million, otherwise he might be signed by someone with a high salary at the end of this season."

Fang Zhuo: "I'm offering him an annual salary of 20 million, with bonuses based on wins."

Tao Tao made a farewell gesture: "I'm sorry, Mr. Fang, I was too talkative."

With three days to go before the official competition, the post on the internal forum continued to gain traction.

Just before the match began, this Lone Star League, which was lagging behind its division, directly climbed into the top ten of the week's key events rankings.

As the name suggests, the Universe League is a competition organized by each planet itself. It is held four times a year, and the winner of each season will represent the planet in the secondary league within the region.

Because it's a round-robin tournament, meaning each team on a planet plays against each other once, the format is lengthy and the overall level of competition is low. Aside from the residents of their own planet, almost no one pays attention to this kind of small tournament.

Even the secondary leagues in the sixth division usually can't make it into the top ten of the rankings, so it's unheard of for such a small competition to get so much attention.

Before the competition even began, the number of registered viewers for the online live stream had already exceeded 100,000. Even before the players entered the arena, the chat was already buzzing with excitement—

[What bad luck! How come their first match is against last season's champion of the Six C Stars Solo League?]

Is this newbie's ID CHE? Let me check his match history.

[No need to search anymore, he hasn't played a single match in the past four days. His team sold the virtual pod a long time ago, so why would he play any matches? This rookie is just unlucky to have such a poor boss.]

[Anyway, I have no hope for this season. @UV Mech Arena, come and poach my players quickly!]

[Speechless. Small business owners who don't have a couple of bucks in their pockets shouldn't be running teams. They're wasting a whole season of rookies' time... I wonder how old CHE is. Mech pilots only have about ten years of prime time.]

[Uh, why are the comments already praising the newbie? The match hasn't even started yet, maybe their skills aren't that great...]

[To be honest, that newbie was just average; it was pure luck. My distant relative is a mecha instructor, and I showed him the recording of that half-hour match. He said some people are just naturally more adaptable to the virtual pod, but that doesn't mean they're actually that good.]

[Nonsense, if they were truly talented, they would have already passed the official Star Alliance ability screening. Why would they be picked up by a small team owner?]

[+1, there's no need to feel sorry for the newcomers; it's just a matter of what kind of player matches what kind of boss.]

[It's easy to talk when you're not in the situation, but at least you should ensure that others can train normally. Without even a virtual reality pod, what kind of team are you?]

[Is the competition about to start? What's this all about? I don't understand. Do the Lone Star League teams in the peripheral regions need to bring their own equipment? Why are people hoisting virtual reality pods into the arena?]

[...Do you not usually watch the StarLeague? Many of the virtual pods in the peripheral venues are outdated. To maintain their form, many teams choose to bring their own virtual pods.]

[So now JR's competitor is in the hoisting equipment business?]

[Of course! Didn't the comments above say that the opposing team was last season's champion? They shouldn't be short of funds, right?]

Wait, something doesn't seem right.

As five virtual reality pods were hoisted into the venue, the lights in the entire venue dimmed.

The next second, the red and blue team logos lit up again, and the JR team logo was prominently displayed on the back of the five brand-new virtual pods.

Immediately afterwards, the large screen behind them switched to the outside of the venue and began playing a live recording of the athletes entering the venue.

JR is playing against MEK, the champion team from last season's six-star team. The five members of the opposing team get off the automated guided vehicles.

Their joints were covered with a thick layer of medicated ointment, and they were confidently waving to the live stream camera.

Many remote stars with poor overall strength have a dominant team. Small owners who are not confident of qualifying from economically developed stars often choose to transfer their residency to remote stars to build teams. MEK is undoubtedly the number one team among the six C stars.

In just five years since its founding, it has replaced SixC Star in international competitions for eleven seasons. Smaller teams with lower rankings are simply crushed when they face MEK.

Unlike the spectators who were just there for the spectacle, they had just played against JR last season and were very familiar with the strength of the players on the JR team.

Even if they temporarily switched to a player with both long and short blades, JR would still be completely unable to turn the tide.

The MEK team members all seemed quite relaxed, and one of them even snapped his fingers at the camera.

Behind them, two black minivans descended from a track more than ten meters above the ground.

The door of the next minivan was opened first, and a dark-skinned sixteen-year-old boy quickly got out of the car, ran forward a couple of steps, and respectfully opened the electric door of the car in front.

As the electric sliding door slowly moved backward, all five contestants got out of their cars and stood obediently by the door, waiting for the people inside to come out.

The moment Tao Tao appeared on the live stream screen, the entire chat exploded with excitement, with all sorts of speculations and discussions, and the number of viewers in the live stream surged by more than 100,000.

Even the MEK team members who had just gotten off the bus stopped and stared wide-eyed in their direction.

The MEK players, no longer bothering to interact with the camera, began whispering amongst themselves.

"Wait, wasn't Tao Tao on the team on Star 2A just a few days ago? How did he suddenly appear here? Is he one of those special coaches? Has Star Alliance ever mentioned this before?"

"Holy crap, did JR buy Tao Tao?"

"Impossible. It's not even the transfer window yet. Forcing a signing would incur a penalty. JR is so poor they even sold their virtual VIP seats. Rookies can't even get matchmaking. Do you think any of their owners can afford the penalty?"

"Is Coach Tao a relative of the JR team owner? Or maybe he knows that newcomer... It's unlikely that he thought the newcomer had potential and paid the penalty for breach of contract to come and coach him for free."

"Dude, are you done with your life? Do you think Tao Tao is doing charity?"

"Never mind, I'll go over and ask him for an autograph."

"Wait a minute, I want one too."

To their even greater surprise, Tao Tao did not immediately enter the venue after getting out of the car, but instead stood by the car with the rest of the team and waited.

Is there anyone in their team who can keep Tao Tao in check?

Under the watchful eyes of more than a dozen people, a man with the air of a rising star in a tech company stepped out of the car. He first gave a brief nod to his teammates and coach, and then strode into the stadium surrounded by the crowd.

If JR hadn't suffered three consecutive disastrous seasons and been reduced to selling virtual pods just to stay afloat, the MEK players would have almost thought that man was some kind of business tycoon.

The group exchanged puzzled glances. Was it really necessary? This was a grand affair, even more extravagant than that of many established esports team owners.

JR team is almost bankrupt, so when did SixC Star have someone like this?

With that look and demeanor, he could have easily chosen to debut in the entertainment industry, or at the very least become a con artist who tricks people into investing. There's no way he would have gone so far as to stubbornly run a team to the point of bankruptcy.

When they entered the venue, they discovered that the virtual cabins on the red and blue sides were completely different in size and model.

The virtual pod used by the JR team was not only significantly larger than the standard equipment in the competition arena, but the metal ball connected to the fiber optic cable was at most the size of two grains of rice, which did not affect operation at all.

MEK's captain couldn't help but glance at the opponent's preparation area several times, touching his knee, which was aching slightly from the old version of the virtual pod patch, and felt a pang of sadness.

Unfortunately, the youngest member of the team, a long-short blade player, had the nerve to bring up the most awkward topic. He casually raised his hand and asked, "Captain, are the organizers biased towards the other side? Why is their equipment model different from ours?"

"Oh, I see..." The long-blade and short-blade fighter suddenly realized:

"Did they not have enough money to pay for the venue, so they rented a really old model of virtual pod and brought it over? No wonder it's so much bigger than the ones we use."

Captain MEK felt even more heartbroken and casually tapped the other person on the head:

"On the contrary, that's a new cabin that Platinum Cruises just launched last quarter, and it costs more than 20 million."

As soon as he finished speaking, the entire team fell silent.

Watching Tao Tao passionately explain various tactics, and seeing the five new hulls under the JR logo that caused no damage to the joints, everyone felt a mix of emotions.

To save costs, MEK's owner didn't even hire a coach.

Seeing the atmosphere growing increasingly subdued, and not wanting to affect morale before the match, Captain MEK quickly clapped his hands loudly to gather the team together.

He patted everyone on the back and encouraged them loudly, "They've even sold virtual reality pods. To keep that newcomer, their boss has no choice but to take a gamble and go to great lengths to rent new equipment from outside."

"What does equipment difference matter? Mech competitions are all about skill! We've played against JR before, so let's try to take them down in twenty minutes today and teach them a lesson, okay?!"

"Alright!" the group shouted in unison, gave each other a high five, and then entered the cabin one after another.

The player who had just started the conversation, using both long and short blades, joined the team voice chat, his tone tinged with amusement:

"We're not going to crush their morale for renting equipment in just one game, are we? I'm really sorry."

The support mech fighter chimed in, "If we can't finish this in twenty minutes, I'll treat you to dinner tonight. I'll kill that newbie at least five times today; hopefully, he won't cry too much when he gets back."

"JR's boss is really an amateur. Does he think virtual reality pods are some new fashion item? They don't use them for training, but they suddenly think of renting new pods to turn the tide during competitions."

"What kind of disc are you flipping through? A disc from your dreams, perhaps."

The gap in strength between MEK and the other smaller teams in Star6C is quite large; these single-round matches can generally be completed within twenty minutes.

MEK's captain stretched his neck.

Although they still couldn't figure out the newcomer, he didn't believe CHE could improve much since the opponent hadn't trained in the virtual pod before the competition.

He admitted that the JR team owner's pure spirit of not making use of his good looks and being determined to make a name for himself in mech competitions is indeed admirable, but sorry, blame it on the fact that JR was assigned to their first match of the new season.

After a quick warm-up, they promptly entered the arena.