Shooters Royal was a highly competitive shooting game. The fitness of all players was reduced to Baron level and they could only fight one another with cold and hot weapons.
The variety of weapons in the game was truly outstanding. From frying pans to swords, automatic rifles to black hole bombs. All weapons ranging from the primitive to the futuristic existed in game.
All weapons started as primitive and could be upgraded with the right resources.
What was even more interesting were the diverse classes. Clones, flight, teleportation, over thirty different classes.
Bian was excited just reading about it.
"Since it's in a virtual plane, everyone is given the same base fitness. Although a Viscount can still react faster than a Baron, they would have the same physical fitness.
The outcome of every fight would depend on weapon, class, and skill. Unfortunately, even if I do register, I still don't have the mind of a Baron. It would be like playing with bad connection."
Although Bian was thinking this, he didn't slow down at all. He registered for Shooters Royal with a new account.
The Qualifiers for the actual tournament would begin the day after and go on for a week. All games were set to night time, giving everyone a chance to participate after their busy days.
"Every year, there are about one billion entries. Every qualifying battle is a single battle royale match of one thousand people with only one winner."
That meant there would only be one million participants in the actual tournament.
This was a game that wasn't all that widespread. The rewards were not enticing at all for an Earl, and most citizens considered playing games a waste of time.
"The final rewards aside from the cash prize is a geno fruit that can bring a Viscount up to an Earl. The previous winners have mostly been Viscounts, but some years a Baron would get lucky and win.
With the cash prize, they would quickly become Viscounts, and with the geno fruit, Earls. It's a one-way ticket to the top for the winner."
After he registered, Bian logged in to the game to get a feel for it.
There was no character customization to be done, he spawned in with the default skin.
He skipped the tutorials and a prompt for a name popped up.
"Name, normally I would have gone with Ken, but I just want to be a nobody for now."
Confirming the name, nobody, Bian started a match.
There were over a thousand maps, with a hundred new maps getting added season. Bian chose a random map and a display popped up.
A timer began alongside a map of the game. He tapped on the center of the screen, selecting where he would drop, and went to the class selection menu.
Here, every single class looked tempting. There was Tracker, Support, Disrupt, Defense, and Stealth. Each had specific skills within.
60, 59, 58, 57,...
"Hmm, I'll go with the shadow clone skill in Disrupt. I can summon three A.I.-controlled clones that can deceive the enemy and give me a chance for a surprise attack or to escape."
Bian waited patiently for a little while until the timer was up
3, 2, 1, START!
A blue light enveloped him, and in the next moment, he was airborne at the exact location he chose on the minimap.
Bian saw several other figures around him, controlling their speed and skydiving in different directions.
As Bian was about to go in a random direction, a lightbulb lit up in his head. The game prohibited external powers according to its constraints.
It could prevent elemental powers and the likes, but what about powers without a definitive scope?
He tried activating the Emperical Will and it worked. Even in game, he felt several invisible threads form around him.
Bian ignored the area most players were diving to, which had the most threads and followed the one closest to himself.
His mind was always very sharp, so controlling a body with a Baron physique was not too taxing for him.
Bian did a nosedive along the thread, making sure not to overshoot it.
At a certain altitude, his parachute flung open. Some other players had mushrooms spring up and catch them or golden ropes fall from the sky and lower them.
"Freaking pay-to-wins."
Bian scoffed and landed beside a metal box. He kicked it open and picked up an automatic assault rifle inside.
"Everyone starts with a default weapon which is usually uncommon. I have to gather enough materials across the game to upgrade it."
As soon as he picked up the AK-47, most of the threads vanished.
Bian was shocked, but he didn't stop moving. He was heading towards one of the threads that got stronger.
"The threads didn't vanish, but they got very thin, almost impossible to notice. I'm guessing the threads that thinned out led to other weapons, and they shrunk because I now possess a weapon."
The more Bian found out about the Emperical Will, the more pleased he was with it.
Unfortunately, the Emperical Aura was too conspicuous; if not, he would have an automatic scanner for finding players.
[Congratulations to BigBear for getting the first kill!]
The announcement rang, and at the same time, Bian saw a person standing up ahead.
Ratatata!
A body fell into the grass.
"Why was he just standing there?"
When the player died, he only left behind a smaller box made of plastic or kevlar. Bian found an iron plate of armour there.
"The armour plates early game are just mediocre. Only with additional materials can I get kinetic armour or, better still, hexagonal armour."
He also picked up a hand grenade and sprinted to his destination. Every half a minute, players would be eliminated by guns, swords, and cars.
Finally, Bian reached a four-story concrete building. He jumped through the window and ran up the stairs.
As he opened a door on the second floor, he saw a player crouching and aiming an AK-47 at him.
Bian hurriedly dodged to the side, his body armour taking the wild shots.
Ratatata!
He kept running and shooting, eventually killing the player who couldn't adjust after his ambush failed.
"These guys are terrible at the game. Did they pair me with newbies because this is my first time?"
Anyone with decent skill could have easily eliminated him in that ambush. Limited by the system, he had no way of detecting the opponent.
Of course, if Bian was a Baron, his reaction time would be much faster, allowing him to better react to novice ambushes like this one.
"Another AK-47, some ammo, and a rare grenade material. If I remember correctly, which I always do, rare is above common and uncommon, but lower than legendary."
He brought out the grenade he had picked earlier and pressed it against the weird mechanical part he was holding.
The rare grenade material turned to liquid metal and transformed the grenade. After five seconds, Bian held a cluster grenade.
"This is the grenade that bursts into tens of smaller grenades when thrown. It's really deadly.
But, if I wanted the black hole grenade, I'd need to get a mythic universal material, which usually appears in an airdrop."
Bian was no stranger to survival. He knew the gunshots from earlier would have attracted vultures, so he got out of the building fast.
He hadn't gone far when he heard the sound of guns firing.
[Congratulations to BigBear for being the first player to open an airdrop!]
"Who is this BigBear?"
The thought resonated as he lay in the grass and observed where the gunshots came from.
Ratata! Bam! Bam!
Two players were shooting at each other. One with an assault rifle and the other with a shotgun.
The player with the assault had a metal shield in front of him, while the player with the shotgun had a green halo surrounding him.
"Shield and medic classes."
When Bian found that he wasn't the main target, he readied his cluster grenade.
"From what I read, most players don't use thrown munitions because the game lacks any aim assist features. That's why I was also able to survive that ambush, only the pros take it seriously enough to learn the ropes."
Bian didn't have to worry about accuracy though, he hadn't needed to for a long time.
The inner pillars were gone, but he still had Mental and Vital Point Targeting.
A translucent ring appeared in Bian's vision and locked in on the assault user.
Bian quietly waited for the shield to fall and threw the cluster grenade the instant it did.
The grenade smacked the enemy's head before bursting into smaller grenades that blew up before the two could get away.
[nobody got a double kill; cluster grenade]
Bian looked at the notification and smiled. The system would show how each person died and who killed them, but luckily, it didn't reveal the locations of any player.
"Time to loo-"
As Bian was about to stand, a crazy wind blew through the grass. He hastily got back down on the ground, hidden in the grass.
"Damnit, a helicopter. I didn't land in the cities to avoid this."
Before the chopper even landed, a figure jumped out, heading towards Bian with a jetpack.
Bian looked at the enemy skin in shock. A normal soldier uniform, but a big mascot head of a bear.