"Nice!!!"

"Wow!!"

"Amazing!!!"

A blast of squeals and cheers erupted on the bleachers where the audiences were assembled. The huge screen at the center stage displayed the game characters with their new cinematic. It was a refined animation where tanks, marksmen, mages, fighters, assassins, and supports were executing their skills in a form of showdown.

"This new video is so good!" one audience continued to applaud even though the animations were finished.

"Yes, the visuals of archers when the arrow flies above the moon was too mind-blowing!" the person sitting behind him commented.

"No, it's the assassin, when it was casting the stealth to be invisible, ahhh, more beautiful!" another audience disagreed.

"EH? I don't know how to play assassin! So, I think the marksman was great!" the person insisted.

"Tsk! It was the mage when it cast an ultimate to summon the elements! Are you blind? When the water and fire formed into YinYang form, it's more beautiful!"

"No way! It was the support. Look at how beautiful the new skin of the support! I must buy this on the next update of the game! Hihihi"

The entire crowd could not help but clap their hands in awe until the play ended. Such a show was pleasing and brilliantly presented. Various opinions quickly sounded as the audiences started to compare the animations with the role that they usually play in the game. They have their own appraisals as to which character was greatly animated.

"Ladies and gentlemen, welcome!" the host quickly followed to greet the audience and the cheering became louder than before! It was almost deafening!

"Woooohhh..."

"Yeahh!"

"Yessss!!!"

The host smiled widely and looked around with misty eyes. This man also used to play games during his early age. But, the gamers in his generation were just a few and could not even occupy a small gym.

'Time has really flown by and the gaming community had grown well!' the host thought as he waited for the cheers to calm down a bit. He took a deep breath and wiped the tear in his eyes. To him, it was an emotional event as well.

After a minute of joyous screaming from the bleachers, the host continued, "Today marks a history of gaming in District 7! This is not only because this day is the first-ever online tournament held in this place. The game will also introduce to us a new map for the elimination round! Developers have worked hard to give us the widest map to give you all the wildest experiences in the game! This is the 40-Player map! We thank you all for the overwhelming support that you have showered in this competition."

One by one, the host mentioned all sponsors of the tournament. Then, he quickly introduced the important guests and commentators for the game. After that, the screen showed the names of squads that were assigned to be opponents. Minutes passed and all the formalities were completed. The host quickly introduced the 40 players in the first booth to go inside their lounge.

"Gosh, this battle is so insane! 40 players! I can't wait to see this!" one audience exclaimed from his seat while the players started walking towards the center.

The 8 lounges were placed in the middle of the gymnasium that was usually a court for basketball and other activity. Eight small desks that could fit for only 5 players were meticulously arranged with glass windows. On the desk were the accessories and the devices needed for them to play the game. Everything was sponsored by a prominent tech company. All they need to do was to sit and play.

On the stage, the large screen projected the logo of the game. Then, the 8 squad names followed with their squad status which was placed above - next to their names.

There were only 3 active data that could be seen on the squad details: Kills, Exp, and Gold.

In the normal 5v5 map of the game, scores were counted based on KDA. But, the scoring for this match would be based solely on the team performance instead of the usual individual numbers of kills, deaths, and support.

This was because, during this elimination round, there would be no command for respawning. Meaning, once a character turned dead, the players' screen will also become gray and he can no longer return to fight. He can only wait until the end.

Hence, the game won't count the number of individual deaths. Players would only die once. As for the number of individual support, the developers were very careful.

This was the first time they would introduce the map. So, they decided to simplify the data because there were too many players on the map. It may bug or slow down the entire software as it would need to loop too many commands for it to be displayed and be updated constantly. Moreover, it may confuse the audience instead of giving them a wholesome experience while watching the battle.

The above data on the large screen would simply show eight squad's status.

[Squad Name]: Kills: 0, Exp: 0, Gold: 0

The bottom data were flawlessly designed to display the items of every 40 players. And on the center of the screen was the 40-Player map of the battlefield.

"One base and the three final towers. Don't you think this match would be too easy to win instead of the usual map with one base and nine towers?" An audience questioned. From his perspective, having only one tower for each lane as a defense would easily give access to the enemy to invade the base.

"That is why this match is exciting! There are 8 squads that would compete for one victory. With this single tower placed in the bottom, mid, and top lane, the challenge of offense and defense will be extremely hard for the squad to execute!" the person sitting next to him responded.

"Yes, if a squad attacks their chosen target, it means they need to leave their towers and charge. But, it would make their territory wide open and another squad will surely take the opportunity and destroy their base. So, it's hard to choose how to take action on this map! They need a great strategy for them to get the victory!" another person agreed.

When the audience looked closer at the new map, they realized that the design was similar to a compass. Every base was strategically placed in 8 equal locations on the edge of the map:

Base 1 - North

Base 2- South

Base 3- East

Base 4- West

Base 5- North-East

Base 6- South-East

Base 7- North-West

Base 8- South-West

For the jungle of the map, the monsters were also multiplied in accordance with the number of squads inside. This would give players the opportunities to farm with equal jungle elements.

"Do you think this map would be available in the next game update?"

"Maybe? It's nice to play this map."

Some audience started to speculate whether they could play in an 8 squad battle. The game did not release an official statement yet about its new map. But, their speculation was immediately cleared out by the host.

"This map is only exclusive for official tournaments of the game. Sadly, with a wide map like this, the resources are also plenty. It would be too heavy to be included in the current game."

The audience nodded their heads in agreement after hearing the statement from the host. Although they felt a bit sad, it was also understandable. With the many resources of the game, it would require large storage space of their device.

Not long after, the commentators of the match took over the speaker and the first round quickly started.

Inside the third booth of the participant's area, Sofia and her team were also focused on watching the match.

It was indeed an extremely chaotic fight. There were no fake alliances between the 8 squads competing in the first round and most players were playing by instinct. Some characters have even charged forward without thinking and were slain easily.

Seeing the chaotic battles of game characters, the commentators were also at a loss! They were confused about how to describe the ongoing fights. All they could do was announced which squad was eliminated.

"Alright, now there are four squads, oh no! Now there are three..."

"Ehem, what an eye-opener! This round would surely give the next participants the idea of how to play in the map!"

Players continued to attack without any sense of direction. These were pro players but at that moment, their gameplays were not synchronized at all!

Perhaps, it was because these players were used to the usual game mode where they could revive after dying. The thought of charging towards the opponent to kill, however, they were slain instead! Only after they died and did not saw a revive countdown on their screen, they realized their mistake.

"Ahhh, I can't revive!" many players have the same opinion when their character died. They could only do a hard facepalm for their mistakes.

The entire round lasted for 8 minutes. While the first-round players were frustrated with their errors, the audiences were laughing so hard in their seats. Some were even holding their stomach as they suppressed the sound of their laughter.

The first round was like a comedy play in the eyes of the audience! Especially when the operator let them watched the gameplays with epic fails!

It was a replay highlight of all the epic fails!

Even the operators inside the computer room were grinning widely as they witnessed the first round.

"What the heck was that?" one operator commented as he continued to zoom in on the epic fails of the match.

"It was indeed a heck of whats!" his companion chuckled.

The host also scratched his head and cleared his throat. "Wow! What an entertaining battle! Hehehe I see everyone is laughing! This concludes the first round. Congratulations to Heavenly Noob Squad for winning the first elimination round. Now, let's see what kind of battle we will be going to witness on the next round!"

The players on the 2nd booth quickly went to the middle. While they were still preparing to log in to their accounts, the host repeatedly thank the sponsors of the tournament.

"What do you think about the 40-Player map?" The Fab_Gamers squad leader asked his two companions. They were able to occupy the front seat with perfect views from the player's lounge and also the screen on the stage.

"Boss WINS, this map is so complicated to play!"

"Yes, boss. Just by the first round, it really needs great teamwork and strategy! Those first eight squads lacked preparations! So I can say that the match result was based purely on luck."

WINS rubbed his chin while in deep thought. He was also observing the gameplay. He could easily tell that not only teamwork but also team coordination was required to win the game. Game tacticians would definitely enjoy creating various tactics for a map like this.

WINS quickly took his phone and opened his email account. He then composed a message and sent it to Sofia.

To: The Chronos Squad CEO UNRIVALED

Good luck!

Just as he was about to exit his email app, his recipient sent a quick reply.

From: The Chronos Squad CEO UNRIVALED

Your squad helped us with our preparation. With our practice match, this round can be conquered. If we don't win, we will be embarrassed for wasting the time of your squad.

WINS glanced at the 3rd booth in the participant's area where Sofia was occupying. Although he had not seen their group yet, as a pro player, he could easily tell which one was the Chronos squad. All the other seven squads were wearing the uniform of their squad blazers and jackets. While there was only one team that did not bother wearing a uniform. And only one member of this team was holding a phone. Which confirmed his guess that the player behind CEO UNRIVALED was Sofia.

"Boss, why are you not watching the game?!" his member asked after noticing that his eyes were focused on the 3rd booth.

"Hehehe boss, what are you looking at? Tell us, tell us," the other member grinned sheepishly, It was rare to see their squad leader getting distracted. So, they assumed that he might be looking for something more interesting than the game.

"The Chronos squad will play the next round," WINS mumbled.

His two companions quickly turned their attention to the 3rd booth. Then, they also realized which players were from the Chronos Squad.