Chapter 231: Ghg The Game Pool

As they are in the car making their way back, Bai Liu who is sitting in the front passenger's seat explains his thoughts for the league in simple terms.

"You all want to join the league this year?" Tang Erda furrows his eyebrows.

"I think it's too rushed too, there are only two months left, Bai Liu and Mu Ke still need to play 48 and 49 games." Liu Jiayi lays on the passenger's seat speechlessly, "I think it's difficult for the two of you to even sign up for it."

Bai Liu tilts his body to look at Tang Erda who is sitting behind him, "any suggestions, captain Tang?

The wrinkles between Tang Erda's eyebrows deepen, "I'm not sure about the status you all are in now, I can't predict it..."

Bai Liu rephrases his question and asks again, "if you're doing a level three instance dungeon by yourself, what's your fastest record in real life time?"

Tang Erda answers without any hesitation, "31 minutes."

Liu Jiayi who is sitting in the back choked on the water she's drinking and starts coughing violently; Mu Ke's hands slip as he's driving, almost driving the car out of the roadway.

They ask in a union, "how are you that fast?!"

What the fuck kinda monster is this guy?! Passing a level three game using only 31 minutes?!

"The transition from the flow of time in a game's dimension to reality has to be calculated twice," Tang Erda elaborates in a deep-toned voice, "you should first covert the in game time to the time in the lobby's dimension, then convert it to reality's time through the time within the system."

"And to convert the time in a game to the system's lobby dimension, it's not based on the flow of time in a game, it's based on the endings of the games."

Tang Erda uses an en example to explain, "there are three different endings to a game, [Bad End],[Normal End] and [True End].

"If it's a [Bad end], it'd be useless to calculate the time. Meaning that if a player got a [Bad End], meaning death or turning into a monster in the game, then the moment he enters the game the time will stop completely in the game for him, and there is no way to convert it to the dimension's time or reality's time."

"Bai Liu usually gets the [True End] which normally is the longest time that a game could last, converting that to the time in the lobby's dimension is usually 3.5-5.5 dimensional hours, then converting that to the time in reality would mostly be around 21-27 hours."

Bai Liu rubs his chin as he cognizes, "Is there a fixed exchange scale when converting the dimensional time to reality?"

Tang Erda shakes his head, "No, although it seems like there's a pattern for converting the dimensional time to reality, the pattern is flexible. They would be stable for a period of time, but after a while, it would be different. I haven't found a fixed scale yet, so I can only predict and assume it."

Bai Liu narrows his eyes, "the flexibility between reality and the lobby, and the uncertain rule for the conversion of time..." --Isn't that just like the rule for converting time between an instance dungeon and the system's lobby?

Plus Bai Liu once saw things from the [future], he can basically be sure that [reality] is some sort of instance dungeon dimension.

If [reality] is an instance dungeon within the system, it means that the players are currently making their way toward a set [end] point. When a player changes their route in a game halfway through it and makes it to another [end], it will change along with the time conversion rule within the system.

--So, in this instance dungeon of [reality], which kind of [end] is he going to get?

[True End], [Normal End], or[Bad End]?

"The fastest way to pass a level is to get to the [Normal End]." Tang Erda continues, "not discovering any monsters, not looking for any hints to pass a level, and finishing the final boss. passing the level with sheer brute force. My fastest record is 17 minutes, it's a level two single-player instance dungeon."

Liu Jiayi turns emo and lay on the chair motionlessly.

Finishing a level two instance dungeon within seventeen minutes...

With this kind of speed, even if he's taking four people, two months are definitely enough to let all of them join the league.

Pros from the league are absolutely terrifying.

"But the time for getting into the league is still too tight," Tang Erda warns sternly, "even after getting qualified to join, all of you differ too much from the players in the league. Rather than getting qualified, the more important thing for you guys is training."

"After getting qualified to join, you all need to train at least sixty times in the game pool to get familiar with the rules of the instance dungeons of the league before you can finally join."

Liu Jiayi adds, "besides that, popularity is also very important. You guys need to get more votes outside of their games and make audiences support you, then pay for you. Only the players that can get to the top one hundred of the popularity ranking can get the [Death-Exemption Medal]."

"What is the game pool and the death-exemption medal?" Mu Ke feels lightheaded from listening.

As a new player, he just understood most of the basic rules of the game lobby, he doesn't know as much as Tang Erda who's a veteran and Liu Jiayi who was trained.

Liu Jiayi seems to realise that, holding her forehead as if she has a headache, "right, I forgot that you guys are still newbies. Listen closely, the [Game Pool] is a brand new area, only players that successfully applied for the league can enter, it is usually for league players to train there."

Tang Erda nods in agreement with Liu Jiayi, "this area included a game selection menu, a game entrance, and a game exit. This area is not open for display, so there is no television there, it's also called a [Non-Television Area]."

"--Besides that, the games in this area allow players to leave at any time." Liu Jiayi holds a finger up, her expression unusually rigid, "it is also the most special area. The system would provide some protection for the players that successfully joined the league, and the tool that protects them is the [Game Pool]."

"To make sure league players can engage in the league after they had successfully applied, these players would train in the [Game Pool] before the league officially starts. When sensing a life-threatening situation, you only need to pay a certain amount of points to quit the game."

Bai Liu raises a brow, "it seems like the league is really important to the system."

--Unexpectedly, there is an area for training where the system gives up trying to harvest the player's souls just to make sure players can join the league smoothly.

"Don't lower your guard." Tang Erda admonishes, "a system like the game pool exists because it's the equivalent of a level three instance dungeon in the league, a lot of people died before they can exit."

"That's right." Liu Jiayi nods repeatedly in a pretentious manner, "I heard from Hearts that the instance dungeons from last year are selected randomly from the game pool, they are all really hard. To make sure that they are familiar with how these instance dungeons work, a lot of members from big guilds from last year would do 52 instance dungeons right after the league, then enter the [Game Pool] to do advanced training."

"So is this why we can't see members of the big guilds' teams outside?" Mu Ke asks. "You can only see the star players in the [Television Area] that the guilds use to advertise, you won't be able to see the stronger members from their teams that trains in the [Game Pool] for the entire year." Tang Erda says plainly.

Liu Jiayi retorts, "but this doesn't mean that the star players are weak, it's the exact opposite, they are mostly really strong."

Mu Ke pauses, "star players?"

Bai Liu takes out a pen and a piece of paper from the glove box in the front passenger's seat and then writes a few simple keywords, circling the word [Death-Exemption Medal] before asking, "the existence of a star player is related to the death-exemption medal, right?"

Tang Erda stays silent for a moment before speaking, "yes."

"Even though you can exit the game at any time in the game pool, you are not allowed to exit the game in the league before it's decided who won, this means that the side that loses will all be eliminated."

Bai Liu taps on [Benefits] lightly, lowering his gaze and speaking softly, "--but this is a league, if one team is completely eliminated, it means that one team will disappear after every match. This way the competition wouldn't have ways to continue, and it wouldn't benefit from it either since it can't use the feelings that the audiences have for some specific team members so that they would place money and bet on them."

"Under this situation, a tool has to be made to keep the most popular, most valuable player -- thus born the [Death-Exemption Medal]."

Liu Jiayi sighs, "that's probably about right. After a player gets a [Death-Exemption Medal], the system automatically logs them out when their health bar or sanity bar is dangerously low."

"The[Death-Exemption Medal] is obtained by relying on popularity rate, it's also the support you get from the audiences, which is where the support season comes from -- two months before the league starts, big guilds would start frantically advertising their teams while making their star players advertise themselves frantically."

"Basically, a team needs one or two eye-catching star players, so that the other players of the team wouldn't have to worry about the [Death-Exemption Medal] since the fans of the star members would vote and pay for everyone for the team, making sure that they can use their full potential to attack without any worries."

Liu Jiayi starts to count her fingers, "like Hearts from the King's Guild, Ace from Assassin's Sequence, Charles from Gambler's Alliance, Georgia from Golden Twilight, and the God Defying Judge from Deer Hunter -- but that person will transfer to Assassin's Sequence this year."

Liu Jiayi holds up two fingers near Bai Liu, "meaning that there are two star players in Assassin's Sequence this year, so they won't do anything for the support season since they don't have to worry about the [Death-Exemption Medal] in this situation."

"But--" Liu Jiayi retracts her fingers with a bitter expression, "in our team I'm only half a star player, it would be a problem if you guys want to obtain the [Death-Exemption Medal], we need to think of a way to gain a fanbase..."

"Things that are given by others don't matter, what matters is your own abilities in the league," Tang Erda corrects Liu Jiayi coldly.

Liu Jiayi's eyes widen. She takes out her goggles with disdain, scanning Tang Erda up and down with a scornful gaze after putting them on.

She scoffs, "I can understand why you weren't able to become a star player with this look, you're probably just jealous that you aren't able to get the death-exemption medal."

It's true that Tang Erda doesn't look good right now. There is an untidied stubble beard on his face, his clothes are messy, and the corner of his eyes is tainted red. A strange mixed scent of blood and roses can be smelled from his body, a scent that makes people gag. He looks decadent and messy as he sits stiffly in the backseat, it is almost like he's a stray dog roaming the streets for a year before being picked up by Bai Liu at random.

Tang Erda opens his mouth and is about to speak, but looking at Liu Jiayi whose height only met his waist. He seems to think that arguing with a little girl would make him look childish, so he turns his head, looks outside the window and decides to not continue what Liu Jiayi was saying.

Liu Jiayi lets out a victorious humph, leaning onto the back of Bai Liu's seat and continuing to ramble, "don't listen to him, Bai Liu, the [Death-Exemption Medal]is really important. Hearts showed me the report of the death rates in the league, the survival rate of teams with star players is much higher than other teams."

When the survival rate is mentioned, Tang Erda's hands squeeze into a fist for a moment. His expression turns cold, but his gaze seems hazy -- perhaps Liu Jiayi is right...

He used to insist on relying on their own abilities and didn't advertise his team at all, making his team train in the game pool frantically. When he is competing against Bai Liu, no one from his team survived except him. The funny thing is, he has the death-exemption medal...

Bai Liu writes down [Star Player] in the notebook that he casually grabbed, scribbling a question mark next to it.

"I understand the importance of a star player now, but it's not an easy thing to polish a star player, right?" Bai Liu glances at Liu Jiayi who is leaning against the back of his chair, "I'm assuming, that most star players are considered star players basically because they had performed spectacularly in previous leagues?"

"It's hard to polish a star player with a massive fanbase by simply relying on their performances in the [Television Area] -- such as you, Liu Jiayi."

Bai Liu sketches Liu Jiayi's face with a pen in the air as he speaks calmly, "you have a likeable face and a really unique skill. A top big guild poured their hearts out to polish you, and there's a number two star player making a path for you."

"You gathered all the needed resources and advantages that a player that hasn't joined the league once, but can you make sure that you can obtain the death-exemption medal the moment you join the league?"

Liu Jiayi pauses.

Bai Liu asks plainly, "you can't, no?"

"I agree with captain Tang's thought process on this, to a team made up of new players, our strength can be gained from hard work. Rather than the benefits provided by popularity that is granted by the outside, the league relies more heavily on our strengths. That being said, it's more important that we make it a priority to train in the game pool in the following two months."

Bai Liu makes his final decision. His gaze brushes over Liu Jiayi who is hit hard by his words and dazing off with her head rested on her hand, and Tang Erda who silently lets out a sigh of relief, a smile that can send a chill down people's spines appears on Bai Liu's face, "but this doesn't mean that we are going to give up trying to attract audiences. We still have around fifty games that are done in the [Television Area] before we can enter the game pool."

"We need to do our best to attract audiences to support us in the following fifty games."

Bai Liu's gaze lands on Tang Erda's tousled hair, "let's start with forging captain Tang into a hot guy that is suitable for ."

Tang Erda, "...??????"

Mu Sicheng coughs as he runs out from the backdoor of the factory. After making sure that the Anomaly Authority teams have taken full responsibility for the otherworld factory, and taken control of the factory director who was about to escape, he slipped out from a corner and ran away with his motorcycle.

Putting on his helmet and his Bluetooth monkey-shaped earphones, Mu Sicheng calls Bai Liu as he is speeding through the streets, anxiety filling his mind.

Bai Liu was going to announce that he is the culprit for the bombing, making him stay in the relatively safe otherworld to stall time.

He doesn't know what those monsters from the Anomaly Authority would do to him after they have control over him!

The last time Bai Liu enters he lost half of his life!

Even though Bai Liu kept saying that he has his ways, in the real world he is still just a normal person, what ways is he going to have when facing a huge organization?!

Mu Sicheng takes a deep breath as he waits anxiously for Bai Liu to pick up. The moment he picks up, he immediately starts asking, "Bai Liu are you okay?! Where are you?!"

"I'm okay," Bai Liu's unhurried voice passes through the other side of the phone, "I'm now at..."

Before he can finish his sentence, a desperate strangled roar cuts off Bai Liu's voice, "get away from me! What are you going to do to me?! I'm not doing this!"

Mu Sicheng is a bit confused, he can tell that voice is Tang Erda's voice, so he slows down the speed of his motorcycle and asks with hesitation, "you guys got Tang Erda out of the Anomaly Authority and even handled him?" Bai Liu holds the phone in his hand and looks at Tang Erda who is struggling desperately with his head full of bubbles, "you can put it that way."

"Let me go!!" As Tang Erda looks at the beautician approaching him with a black plastic object, terror flashes in his eyes, "let me down!"

"......" Mu Sicheng feels happy about his sufferings but also doesn't know how to feel about it, "what are you guys doing to him? Torturing him? This is the real world, Bai Liu, don't overdo it."

Bai Liu tries to explain, "-- I'm not torturing Tan Erda."

From the background, the groan of a man being tortured can be heard.

Mu Sicheng stops his motorcycle, not believing any of his words, "then what are you guys doing to him?"

"A full-body makeover." Bai Liu eyes Tang Erda's legs which are covered with hair removal tapes, "specifically, removing his leg hairs."

The beautician girl grabs the corner of the tape and tears it cruelly without any hesitation.

Tang Erda balls his hands into a fist and lets out a soft groan again, looking at Bai Liu almost pleadingly with his slightly teary eyes, "--why am I doing these things?!"

" I dunno," Bai Liu shrugs, "go ask Mu Ke, he's the one that took us to this beauty salon and ordered the best beauty set for you."

Tang Erda looks at Mu Ke.

Mu Ke's smile is as gentle as a spring breeze, "this is the best beauty salon for men that I know o, a lot of famous people came here for make-up or designs. I thought that since it's about advertising, perhaps this is suitable for you, captain Tang."

The beautician quickly agrees, "that's right! That movie star Xing Muchi also did it here, he's been popular for years! This year he's featured in two trending movies!"

She says with a bright smile as she rips off another tape mercilessly.

Tang Erda sucks in a breath and chokes out, "it's still not necessary to do this, it's not that I will be showing my legs on TV..."

"I do think it's necessary, it's hard to say. What if you need to show your legs one day?" Mu Ke takes two steps toward Tang Erda, and an amicable face hangs on his face, "we need to make sure each part of your body can attract audiences."

Showing his legs on TV...attracting audiences...

As the beautician girl is about to rip the tapes off, she glances at Tang Erda's perfect muscular body, and the expression on her face turns weird.

Mu Ke glances behind him. After making sure that Bai Liu has his back facing him as he's talking to Mu Sicheng, he quickly lowers his body and whispers in Tang Erda's ear with an unchanging smile, "when you drowned Bai Liu, did you think it was unnecessary?"

Tang Erda unnoticeably paused.

After saying that, Bai Liu who is talking to Mu Sicheng turns around.

Mu Ke swiftly backs away from Tang Erda, looking at the tape-covered legs of Tang Erda with a gentle gaze as he says softly, "==this is the most expensive set, there's no need to thank me, I will pay for everything. I especially ordered this permanent hair removal procedure for you, it might hurt a little, but it works very well."

Mu Ke chuckles as he pats Tang Erda's legs which are reddened from the tapes, "after transforming into a handsome man, do your best to advertise for us, captain Tang."

Tang Erda suddenly feels his whole body tingling with pain, "..."

The beautician girl grabs the tape from Tang Erda's inner thigh and rips it off harshly as Tang Erda is chatting with Mu Ke!

Looking at the light slipping away from Tang Erda's eyes, Bai Liu gives a look of sympathy as he tells the location of the beauty salon to Mu Sicheng.

Mu Sicheng removes his earphones with a deadpan as pained groans continue to ring from them.