National destiny: Global tower climbing skills have decreased by 10,000 times.

Chapter 104 The King's Gaze

几分钟前。

Eagle Nation, Institute for Foreign Strategy.

The office was dimly lit, and a huge world map hung on the wall, marked with esports development indicators for different countries using various colored pins.

Kos stood by the window with his hands behind his back, a half-lit cigar dangling from his mouth, his gaze fixed on several crumpled sheets of paper.

There was a knock on the door three times.

"Knock knock knock!"

"Come in."

A young man pushed open the door and entered, carrying a tablet computer in his hand, walking briskly.

His name is Fried, and he is the chief technical officer of this "Dragon Slayer Ranking" competition.

His eyes, visible beneath his black-rimmed glasses, were bloodshot, clearly from working continuously for a long time.

"Sir, the competition has been going on for thirty-eight hours as of today."

Fried opened his tablet and spoke quickly: "So far, the situation is much more complicated than we anticipated."

"Many outstanding players have emerged from various countries, many of whom were not on our pre-registration list."

Koss turned around, walked behind his desk, sat down, and poked his cigar against the edge of the ashtray.

"Brief summary."

Fried adjusted his glasses: "Currently, in addition to the professional players from various countries who have been confirmed to be registered, there are four players whose identities are unknown and who stand out."

"They come from the Dragon Kingdom, the Bear Kingdom, the Goryeo Kingdom, and the Cherry Blossom Kingdom, respectively."

"Especially that player from Japan—"

As he spoke, Fried pulled up a page of data: "His ID is 'Sakura's Second Blade,' he plays the Hunter class, and even though the competition hasn't been going on for long, legends about him are already flying everywhere."

"It is said that this person is currently undefeated and defeated the American genius Elan the day before."

"Just now, it was him who defeated Hanada Meijin, the number one hunter in Japan."

"This matter is now causing a huge uproar throughout the United States and Japan."

Koss raised an eyebrow slightly.

"Moreover, so far, we still can't figure out the extent of this person's strength. His fighting style is unpredictable and doesn't belong to any known school of martial arts."

He paused, then added, "What's even stranger is that the professional league in Japan has contacted all registered players but hasn't found anyone who corresponds to this!"

Koss remained silent, his hands behind his back, his expression unchanged.

"What about the other three? What's the story with the one from Korea?"

Fried immediately replied, "The one from Korea is also amazing, but there's much less information about him. All we know is that he has an extremely high win rate and a variety of playing styles."

"However, no corresponding information about Korean professional players could be found either, and the investigation is still ongoing."

Koss sighed, raised his hand to stop him, and didn't let him continue.

"Alright, alright, this is nothing special."

"Since it's anonymous, there must be many players who don't play by the rules; it's not as magical as it seems."

"The competition has just begun, and all players are mixed in the same low-level group. It's normal for a few to stand out."

"Wait a little longer, and the differences between players will become clearer; only then will the information be valuable."

Fried was silenced, and the two remained silent for a while, the room quiet.

Koss sighed and slowly asked, "What about that man? Any news?"

Fried knew who he was talking about: "There's still no indication of them competing."

Upon hearing this, Koss waved his hand, seemingly somewhat disappointed.

"Then continue the investigation. If there's nothing else, you can leave."

"Yes." Fried closed the tablet, but did not leave.

"Is there anything else?"

"Yes, sir." Fried reopened the tablet and turned to another page.

"There's another technical issue; our decision requires your approval."

"Speak," Kos said, exhaling a cloud of smoke.

"We've noticed a phenomenon: many skilled players, once they reach higher ranks, find it difficult to find opponents using the current algorithm due to the large differences in skill levels and kill counts."

"Especially from the fifth level onwards, there are often situations where it takes a long time to find a match."

"This results in many skilled players getting stuck at Advanced Level 5, repeatedly attempting the challenge, while some who are able to advance don't get a chance to climb higher due to matchmaking issues."

"Taking all these factors into account, our technical department recommends that we expand the scope of matching at Level 5 and above."

"Relax the matchmaking restrictions based on opponent's score and kill count, and the longer the wait time, the wider the search range, until a match is found."

Fried explained, "This way, skilled players won't get stuck at lower levels because they can't find matches, and they can showcase their skills at higher levels more."

"And once the higher-level stages are unlocked, the differences between players will become even more apparent."

Koss exhaled another puff of smoke.

"Okay. I approve."

"Do a good job of maintenance and statistics, and avoid any mistakes."

"Also, keep a close eye on things!"

"Yes, sir!"

Fried bowed slightly, turned and strode out of the office, the door closing softly behind him.

Koss stood up again, walked to the window, looked outside, and muttered, "Thirty-eight hours—"

"This game has only just begun."

Dragon Kingdom, Ye Fei's Villa.

Ye Fei lay on the table, his fingers unconsciously tapping on the mouse.

After the matchmaking circle for Advanced Level 6 had circled several times, the system suddenly popped up a notification:

"Expanding your search to find opponents of similar strength."

"Huh?" Ye Fei hadn't noticed at first, but then he realized there was this line of text.

Xingyuan stood to the side without looking up, clearly used to this kind of waiting.

In less than ten seconds, a match success notification popped up, displaying the opponent's information:

Opponent ID: 'Sword Immortal'

Nationality: Dragon Kingdom Role: Crown Prince His points and kill count are not low, but not top-tier either. However, compared to the people he just encountered, they are already quite high.

"Sword Immortal?" Ye Fei read it aloud, feeling that the ID looked familiar yet strange.

He thought for a moment and suddenly remembered someone—the "Sword Demon," Chu Liang.

He suddenly remembered that he had given him a video of the Crown Prince A10 to help him improve his strength.

He almost forgot that he still needed to find him to form a team, and he would go to see him in the near future.

Now, five months have passed, and I wonder how Chu Liang's cultivation is progressing.

"It can't be that much of a coincidence, can it?" Ye Fei muttered to himself as he clicked "confirm."

At that very moment.

In another part of the Dragon Kingdom, in Chu Liang's live broadcast room.

The number of comments on the screen was several times denser than usual, and the number of online users had exceeded 30,000.

The live stream title reads:

"After five months of seclusion, I return with my sword forged! I'll test my mettle against the Dragon Slayer Ranking."

Chu Liang sat in front of the computer, looking much thinner than he had five months ago, with a more defined jawline.

His expression was focused, and his fingers moved steadily on the mouse. He had just won a game on A5, and his score had increased again.

"We won! Sword Immortal Bro is awesome!"

"It's been so long! I thought Sword Demon Bro had stopped streaming and gone to play professionally."

"Did he really go into seclusion?"

"It seems like Sword Demon Bro has gotten even stronger. I wonder what his strength is now."

"You've won five games in a row today, right? You've only lost one game in the Korean professional scene."

"That sword demon is back!"

Chu Liang glanced at the comments section; the fans' enthusiasm made him feel somewhat at ease.

After five months of arduous training, he watched the videos Ye Fei gave him dozens of times, managing to increase his A7 win rate to over 50%.

Now, in the Crown Prince category, he has become one of the top players in the Dragon Kingdom.

A match success notification popped up, and he glanced at his opponent's information:

ID: "Sakura's Second Sword"

Nationality: Japan (Sakura) Character: Silent Hunter The comments section exploded instantly:

"Holy crap? A second cut?"

Hahaha! I can't take it anymore!

"Is this some kind of joke? First cut, then a second cut?"

"Didn't you get enough of being beaten by Wuhen last time?"

Wait a minute, something's not right!

"Could it be that mysterious hunter who defeated Elan and Hanada Meijin?"

At this moment, someone in the live chat recognized it as the ID that had been trending on the international internet for the past two days.

Especially in the United States and Japan, it caused a huge uproar and left behind many legends.

"Don't laugh yet! This second strike is no simple matter; he's a true master."

"Yeah, don't you guys read international esports news?"

"It's him. He just forced Japan's top hunter to retire from live streaming."

"Really? I've never heard of this."

Upon seeing this, Chu Liang's expression became slightly more serious, but he did not panic.

He took a deep breath and thought: Although he didn't know if it was true or false, it certainly wouldn't be simple.

Now, after five months of arduous training, he is a completely different person from before.

He was confident in his abilities and believed that even a mysterious hunter should give it a try.

"Let's fight!" he said in a low voice, and nodded firmly in confirmation.

In this game, Chu Liang played very seriously, and right from the start he used his signature move:

One "Starlight Sword Forging Style Dual Opening"!