The simulated group battle was over, and Oakland's outstanding performance amazed everyone. The speed, quality and success rate of his coat of arms production were the highest among all the heraldsmen they had seen. Even Hall's brother Owen could not guarantee that every production would be 100% successful.
"Hahaha, you are such a big baby. Looks like we are sure to win tomorrow!" Chris patted Auckland's shoulder and laughed exaggeratedly.
The combat division's grip was quite strong, and Auckland's shoulder was almost broken by his hit.
Just as Oakland was about to push Chris away, Hall got the better of him. He walked up to Oakland and, after a long pause, managed to utter, "Well done! Keep it up."
"Thanks."
"Tsk tsk, the boss is still so clueless..." Diana shook her head as she looked at the awkward atmosphere between the two people over there and looked at Ignaz. "Don't follow his example, or you'll never find a partner."
Ignatz looked at Diana with a slightly darker look in his eyes. He said calmly, "I'm not in a hurry."
"Whatever you say." Diana shrugged. "It's still early. I'm going to the arena to play a few rounds. Want to join us?"
"good."
"Wait for me!" Chris also followed and left the training room.
Only Oakland and Hall were left facing each other in silence, and the atmosphere became increasingly awkward.
"You..." The two of them spoke almost at the same time, and stopped at the same time.
"You speak first..." They said in unison again.
Hall's expression became increasingly tense, and his mouth tightened.
Auckland took a deep breath and spoke first, "Do you think it's appropriate for me to make power-increasing emblems in the first round?"
"It's very suitable for today's simulation training." Hall spoke truthfully. In today's simulation training with the intelligent computer, the enemy mechas all had protective shields. If there were no power-enhancing emblems to assist, it would be hard to say how long this simulation battle would last.
"Tomorrow's team competition will be very different from today. We will definitely need some other emblems then. You should practice them all." Today's simulation drill is just to make Auckland familiar with the battle scene. Today's tactics will definitely not be used tomorrow. At that time, we must adapt to the situation. Auckland must ensure that they can produce the emblems they need at any time.
"good."
"How many types of enhanced emblems can you create now?"
"Do you mean virtual or real?"
"Are you able to create real emblems?" Hall's face showed shock for the first time.
"Yes, although only one piece was made. It's a crest that enhances power." Oakland felt that since they were already in a cooperative relationship, being able to make a real crest would increase his own value, so he said it without hiding it.
"When the game is over, show it to me."
"no problem."
The day passed just like that. The Starnet News Station was flooded with various reports on the Rookie Mecha Competition team competition to be held the next day. However, the Fourth District Regional Qualifiers held that day did not receive much coverage at all and only occupied a very small space on the Starnet News Station's page.
*******
The Rookie Mecha Competition's team competition began at 9:00 AM on July 28, 5228 of the Interstellar Calendar. Auckland, a competitor, had arrived at the venue at 8:00 AM. He had secured two tickets for Dragal and Rachel from Hall, much to their excitement.
George Campbell was also very excited. He finished fourth in the fourth district preliminaries, but didn't even make a splash. No news mentioned him, which was a little hard for him to accept. Therefore, he attached great importance to today's game and hoped to shine in the game and let everyone know his name, George Campbell.
There are more than 100,000 participants in this team competition, including tens of thousands of teams consisting of five people.
The team competition will still be held in the mecha arena, but because there are so many participating teams, the virtual space technology used in the arena will be used to randomly teleport each team to different scenes to fight. The losers will be eliminated directly and the winners will enter the next round.
In other words, half of the contestants will be eliminated directly in today's first round of qualifiers, which is a very cruel competition system.
Thanks to the use of virtual space technology, spectators can freely select the battle space they are interested in on the screen, just like watching in an arena. However, only spectators who have purchased tickets for the live event are eligible to enter the battle space to watch. Otherwise, the virtual space may not be able to withstand the huge data flow of millions of viewers online at the same time.
After the members of the Silver Wing team confirmed their team information at the registration desk, they were directly teleported into the virtual space. They would have five minutes to prepare, and when the buzzer sounded, the game would begin.
After entering the virtual space, rolling heat waves hit you in the face, and what comes into view is a group of volcanoes, filled with thick smoke and hot magma, and there are small earthquakes from time to time. Such a scene is really not a place that makes people feel happy.
They were teleported to a mountain range in the northeast, where there was a cave with a workbench and the materials needed to make emblems. In other words, this was their base camp.
However, the entrance to the cave and the exit to the mountain were covered by a layer of light curtain. It seemed that they would not be allowed to enter or exit until the competition started.
They were battling a team called Team Frost Moon. The southwest of the map corresponded to a similarly tall mountain range, presumably the enemy's camp. The entire map wasn't very large, and with the help of thrusters, a round trip took only a dozen minutes.
Hall and the others summoned their mechas and entered their cockpits. While confirming their team information at the registration desk, their mechas were scanned one by one, and all virtual emblems were removed from the mechas and stored in a virtual warehouse. The same was true for the heraldry masters. To prevent any cheating during the competition, not only was there a dedicated supervisor for each match, but the virtual warehouse was also disabled.
Five minutes passed quickly. After the light curtain disappeared, Auckland rushed into the cave immediately, picked up the magic crystal pen, and began to make the emblem.
When Hall and his men saw the four light mechas flying high on the opposite side, they immediately formed an attack formation.
But what they didn't expect was that the opponent actually adopted a quick attack strategy, using their speed to attack them while flying. What they used was not the common Aurora Sword, but the Aurora Arrow.
Energy weapons can change form freely, but the Aurora Arrow's attack power is significantly weaker than the Aurora Sword, and it consumes more energy than the Aurora Sword. Unless you can accurately hit the mech's weakest point, it's difficult to cause significant damage to the mech. This is difficult to achieve when the mech is flying at high speed.
The Frost Moon Team had obviously prepared for a quick victory. Dense light arrows kept shooting towards them, and the members of the Silver Wing Team had to dodge everywhere.
Diana bore the brunt of the attack and was hit several times. Her heavy mecha had little advantage over the enemy's light mechas, not to mention that the enemy chose to engage in air combat, which was even more disadvantageous for her as she could only rely on thrusters to move.
"Diana, fall back and defend!" Hall shouted over the team comms.
Diana's mech quickly retreated towards the base camp, while the other four mechs continued to pursue, seemingly determined to eliminate Diana first. However, Chris, Ignatz, and Hall were no pushovers. They quickly advanced to intercept them, Aurora Swords in hand, forcing them to stop and quickly retreat.
The distance between the two sides was widened again, and the opponent launched a long-range attack using light arrows again. In the situation of four against three, Hall and his team were somewhat embarrassed to dodge.
Chris's mecha is also a speed type, so he can rush over and fight them, but if Diana cannot cooperate in the battle, Chris will face a one-on-two situation, which is tantamount to suicide.
"Boss, this won't work." Chris said impatiently, "How about we try using light arrows?"
"They have been prepared for a long time and have practiced shooting with light arrows. What about you? They move so fast, can you hit them? It's a waste of energy. We just need to delay them. Each time they shoot a light arrow, it consumes 400GJ of energy. How long do you think they can last?" Hall quickly analyzed the pros and cons and decided to use a delaying tactic.
"All right."
The Frost Moon team had apparently noticed their delaying tactics of dodging without attacking and decided to launch another fierce attack. This time, they assigned two mechs to entangle Hall and Ignaz, while the remaining two mechs focused their fire on Chris, who was the most vulnerable. Taking out one mech would make the rest of the battle much easier.
"Damn it, do you really think I don't exist?" However, at this moment, Diana's TA-152 heavy mecha suddenly appeared next to Chris in an extremely cool posture, and crashed into a hostile mecha at an extremely fast speed.
The mech instinctively retreated quickly, but it couldn't keep up with Diana's speed and was hit head-on by her mech. Diana's mech weighed a whopping 2 tons, and after being hit at high speed by such a heavy mech, the enemy's light mech crashed directly.
"Contestant No. 0356 is eliminated." The electronic sound rang out at the right time, shocking the opponent's remaining three mechas.
"What the hell is going on?!" the Shimotsuki team's captain yelled in disbelief. The TA-152 was incredibly heavy, and its speed was its biggest drawback. How could it possibly be so fast?
"Captain, that TA-152 seems to have used a reinforced emblem." A sharp-eyed member of the Shimotsuki team discovered the faint light emanating from the TA-152. It was not very conspicuous under the cover of the smoke surrounding the volcano, but it could still be seen if you looked closely.
"How is this possible? Could it be that..." The captain of Team Frost Moon immediately looked in the direction of Team Silver Wing's headquarters, and sure enough, he saw a flag planted on the mountain ridge, indicating that the opponent's heraldry master had already created a coat of arms!
It seems that the TA-152 took advantage of its previous retreat to secretly go to the base camp and obtain the emblem of enhanced speed, and then launched a surprise attack on them and killed one of their team members.
"Danny! How's it going over there?! We need your emblem!" The Frost Moon Team now has only three mechas left, and at least 20% of their energy has been consumed by the intensive light arrow attacks. With the opponent having increased their speed, there is no possibility of winning in a three-on-four situation. They can only rely on the power of the herald in the team!
"Wait a moment!" The herald master named Danny was sweating profusely in the cave in the southwest. The more anxious he was, the more his hands shook. He had just drawn half of the first herald when he failed because he was too nervous. He was now drawing the second herald, and he must not fail again!
To wait for Danny's emblem, they were forced to dodge. Chris and Diana were both incredibly fast, so their dodges were dangerous. One mech was struck twice by Chris's Aurora Sword, damaging its left arm. Another mech, only grazed by Diana's shoulder, saw its damage reach 17%.
"Danny!"
"Alright, alright!" Danny wiped the sweat from his forehead and called his teammates back to get the emblem.
Their captain quickly flew back to the base camp under the cover of his teammates and obtained a B-level emblem that enhanced his strength. Not only did his attack power increase, but he also replenished the consumed energy, which could be said to be a resurrection on the spot.
Just as he excitedly rushed back, he heard the electronic voice sound again, "Contestant 0357 is eliminated."
Without time to ponder what was happening, the Frost Moon team's captain sped up and flew towards his teammates. No matter what, he had to protect his only remaining teammate. Otherwise, even with his emblem, he probably wouldn't be able to hold out for much longer.
The idea is beautiful, but the reality is harsh.
He was only halfway through his flight when he felt his mech take a heavy hit. The thrusters behind him were damaged, and he could no longer maintain his position in the air and fell towards the ground. He turned his view and saw a KA-165 disappear before his eyes like a ghost.
Before falling to the ground, he used the mecha's balance system to adjust his posture and landed successfully.
"Contestant No. 0358 is eliminated." Almost at the same time as he stood still, another electronic sound rang out, and his last teammate was also eliminated.
"Ahhh! I'm going to fight you!" The captain of the Frost Moon Team madly fired light arrows into the air. After being strengthened with power, the attack power and penetration power of the light arrows increased by 25%. Even if an object as strong as TA-152 was hit by it, it would cause great damage.
However, Hall and his men just stayed far away in the air and did not launch any attacks on him, as if they were waiting for something.
Although the captain guessed they were trying to stall for time, he didn't dare stop his attack. He knew that if he stopped, they would come down and eliminate him immediately. How could he accept that? Even if the game was over and he couldn't escape elimination, he couldn't let the Silver Wings win too easily!
Relying on crazy light arrow attacks, he successfully tied down the Silver Wing Team for more than ten minutes. Just when he thought that the Silver Wing Team would wait until their energy was exhausted before attacking him, the TA-152 mecha appeared in front of him again.
"Ahhhhh! I'll beat you to death!" The captain of the Frost Moon Team adjusted the energy output of the light arrow to the maximum and launched a crazy attack on Diana.
Diana, seemingly oblivious, stomped directly onto his mech's fuselage with a swift, precise, and ruthless stomp, denting a large area of the mech's surface and nearly causing the captain to spit blood. The damage rate reached 50%. Diana slowly raised her Aurora Sword and stabbed the mech, piercing the cockpit and destroying the entire fuselage. The damage rate soared to 80%, completely eliminating him from the competition.
"Contestant 0359 is eliminated."
"Contestant No. 0360 is eliminated." After the Mecha Combat Division was completely wiped out, the unprotected base camp was completely smashed. After the workbench was destroyed, the Heraldry Division was automatically eliminated, and the Silver Wing Team won the final victory.
When the Frost Moon Team was teleported out of the virtual space, they were still confused. They could not have imagined that the wonderful tactics they had rehearsed many times would be defeated so easily!
"What's going on? How come you were eliminated so quickly?" Captain Frost Moon couldn't help but ask his teammates.
He only had time to go back and get the emblem, so how could he be defeated so quickly?
"Their heraldry! They're inhuman!" wailed the first member of Team Shimotsuki to be eliminated. "While you were going back to retrieve the heraldry Danny had created, they made a second one! And one that increased its power. That LX-774 was already fast enough, and with the increased attack power, it, along with that TA-152, eliminated us... There was no way they could stop us!"
"That's not all! Captain, when you were stalling for time with your final outburst, he made another emblem!" Another person also wailed.
During the battle, defeated competitors weren't immediately teleported out, but instead were placed in spectator mode. Therefore, they all clearly saw the three brightly colored flags planted on the Silver Wings' ridge. The TA-152 eventually returned and obtained the third emblem of enhanced defense. With its power, it withstood the captain's attacks and eliminated him.
"How is it possible...?" The captain of the Frost Moon Team was so shocked that he couldn't speak.
"It's true, Captain!"
Later, they read the report on the Interstellar News Station and found out that the captain of the Silver Wing Team they were fighting was the son of the famous Interstellar God of War, Hall Williams, and the Silver Wing Team's heraldry master was the recently famous young genius 'Lancelot'.
Although the preliminaries were an elimination system, the winners were ranked according to points. The Silver Wing Team won without any elimination and received a 100 basic points reward. Auckland even produced two A-level emblems and one B-level emblem, receiving an 80-point reward. The final total score was 180 points, ranking first in the preliminaries ranking.
The Dylan team, which included George Campbell and Ivan Percy, scored 120 points and ranked 29th. The main reason was that George was careless for a moment and was knocked down, which prevented them from getting full marks in basic points, which made Dylan Lowell very dissatisfied.
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