After the news of William Bridges leaving the Chinese community got out, rumors were flying once more. Many of the betting houses who were sure that Baron’s team would not be able to defeat Wang Yi’s team was now uncertain as to who would be able to beat each other. In normal circumstances, this would not be a problem as they would only be betting on some of the likeliest winners, but now both of the teams who have the highest chance of winning the aerial portion had taken a huge hit in power. For Under 1 Banner, they had lost presumably their best two strategists, and for Wang Yi’s team, they had lost William Bridges. In the end, the betting houses guessed that Wang Yi would still come out on top as they had two aerial masters while Baron had two new members who no one had ever heard of before.

Many rumors and speculations flew around for weeks before the faction selection tournament and did not seem to die out even when the tournament was just a few days from the beginning. Now that it was upon them, all of the teams were gathered in the Sun Alliance hall where the previous tournament was held. The glaring difference between the previous tournament and this faction selection tournament that was going to get going was that this one would require all of the tournaments to be held at once.

This meant that Zhang Da Zhi, Ding Lai Hang, and Qi Ji Guang from the Combined Dragon faction would be splitting up their best strategists into 3 groups and fighting in all 3 simultaneously. Zhang Da Zhi, the overall leader of the other two, would head a team known as the Eternal Dragon group and compete in the land portion. Meanwhile, Qi Ji Guang, the naval expert, would head a team known as the Imperial Dragon group and compete in the naval tournament. Lastly, Ding Lai Hang, the aerial strategist, would head a team known as the Celestial Dragon group to try for the aerial tournament where Wang Yi and Baron would also be in.

These 3 groups together formed to become the Combined Dragon group that was considered to be the best of the new generation, slightly above Baron’s Under 1 Banner group in the eyes of the general public. In other words, this group was Baron’s direct competition if he wished to be more renowned in this community. Baron’s group had a run-in with this group in the Sun Alliance tournaments before, and although they were allies in that situation, both sides knew that they would have to butt-heads if they wished for the opportunity to gather the most amount of respect and resources from anyone who was willing to do business with them. This was a war between the two that started the moment that each side laid their hands on each other.

In Baron’s team, Jaxon Long was their best and brightest hope of winning the tournament, followed by Lu Mu who was here as a favor from matron Fu Hao of the Femme Fatale faction that has since become recluse. These two in Baron’s team were not exactly regarded as masters since they have not fought many outside of their team, but their skills were certainly up there with the best of them.

In Ding Lai Hang’s team, he himself was an aerial master with many such blueprints in his arsenal, plus 3 more underlings who were just below Baron in terms of aerial skill. Quite a formidable lineup that Baron was sure would be a major problem when in the tournament. Even if his team wasn’t regarded as the two most likely to win, they were surely a force to be reckoned with.

For Wang Yi’s team, he and Eumenes of Greece were both aerial masters, they would have had another one but William Bridges left so suddenly. Deep down they knew that Baron was behind this, they had always known that there was some stuff going on behind the scenes but they had no idea that this plot would actually bear fruit. After rushing to find a replacement, they only had 3 other strategists in their team who was not all that much better than Baron. The responsibility that their elders had laid upon them was now burdening them far greater than they had anticipated when they were given the assignment so many decades ago.

A few days pass while everyone was getting their applications and such through, finally, there was only one more day until the start of all 3 tournaments. Roxi had just gotten there to send off her allies when something truly shocking caught her attention. She read an announcement from an anonymous person that read: anyone who is able to take down the Under 1 Banner group headed by Baron will be given a reward of 50,000 coins. This made Roxi rip it off the wall and run towards where her allies were. No doubt many had seen this sign not to mention all of the other ones posted around the hall.

(RB) “Baron! Take a look at this.” Roxi said while shoving the piece of paper at Baron’s chest which he took.

(BM) “50,000 coins? Anonymous? This is probably the work of the Vesper faction as I seriously doubt Wang Yi has this type of character about him. So despicable, so underhanded until the very end, stubborn Vesper.” Baron said while examining the text once more.

(JL) “What now?” Jaxon said a bit confused.

(BM) “Nothing, we continue on like we always do. Even if there are a few groups here and there who saw this, they would never be enough of a threat to us with you and Lu Mu together.”

(LM) “I’m not so sure about that, Baron. The Vesper faction wasn’t even a group when the Femme Fatale was still active, yet they are now so influential it is insane. Never underestimate them, for they are as cunning as a snake.”

(BM) “Not to worry, all we have to do is win.”