Chapter 237 God of War Cup

Since the Realm of Divine Presence opened its custom PVP mode, the God of War Cup is the first large-scale PVP event in a true sense.

The game officials won’t voluntarily host any events—enhancements for monetization don’t really count as events. So, any competitions are essentially organized by players themselves. The officials do provide channels to help promote these, making them seem no different from regular events held by game developers in other games.

This God of War Cup serves as an example set by the major forces for all players. Perhaps until now, only the top-tier players have truly grasped how to play this game.

Additionally, before the God of War Cup began, the Realm of Divine Presence had undergone dozens of updates, bringing the game ever closer to the final version that Xia Xinyan experienced in her previous life.

Several significant changes are worth noting—

Firstly, the fixed three-hour dungeons have been eliminated. Now all dungeons are time-differential proportional dungeons, and the ratios are gradually nearing one-to-one. This has led to the nutritional fluids starting to sell like hotcakes, resulting in quite the expenditure for players.

Secondly, the reward multipliers for all dungeons have been increased. It’s as if the game accelerates the pace at which players grow stronger once they become familiar with it to better prepare for the impending Cataclysm.

As for the third change, the ecological chain within the game has been fully established, with most regular player communities becoming nearly indistinguishable from the real world. This has significantly impacted existing industries, leading many to complain about the game and hope for government intervention—though thus far, there has been no action from the government.

Overall, a lot has changed in the world by now.

Moreover, just before the God of War Cup, Xia Xinyan specifically had Ling Mo persuade friends from the school club to join the Canglong, now affectionately dubbed the “Baby Stroller.” After all, these connections are a resource not to waste. For Haonan and the others, this is all benefit with no drawbacks. Having a force to rely on in the face of chaos is far better than facing it alone.

Furthermore, Xia Xinyan had her own goal—integrating the team so they could all participate in the God of War Cup.

It’s worth mentioning that even though the God of War Cup is PVP, it doesn’t act as a simple arena for all participants to slaughter each other. Instead, it’s still conducted through a dungeon style, albeit with special characteristics—relatively short, simpler tasks, a one-to-one time ratio, capable of live broadcasting, and most importantly, there are no penalties for friendly fire.

Thus, the game rules are simple: it’s a knockout system, with each match randomly featuring twenty to thirty participants. There are no restrictions in the dungeon, and the outside team can support up to four members, but inside, players can choose to temporarily ally with others or fight each other. Completing the dungeon counts as a victory, and losers get a chance for one knockout round.

After several rounds, when only one arena remains, it shifts to pure PVP without dungeon tasks. All players can eliminate anyone they see by any means, with the last one standing emerging as the God of War Cup winner—besides gaining the title of God of War, they’ll also receive a heap of rewards jointly issued by all major forces. Essentially, if you can become number one, you could live off those rewards for generations without worry.

Of course, nobody would actually do that.

Besides the first-place winner, all players in the final match receive ranking rewards, including those in the last ten rounds who also get some rewards. Though not much, the significance behind it is what’s most crucial—this means they have a chance to be recognized and absorbed by major forces, with the lucky ones even rising to the peak of their lives.

Looking at it this way, the God of War Cup somewhat resembles the ancient sect disciples’ selection大会.

As for the major forces now, aside from using this God of War Cup to absorb capable warriors, it’s also an opportunity to showcase their strength—because this greatly influences the size of benefits they will share in the future.

You could say, most of those participating in this match are chasing the various significances behind it.

Moreover, even if one doesn’t have the strength to obtain the final rewards, this match offers an excellent training opportunity—after all, in the future, there won’t be such a good chance to hone one’s skills in cunning and combat without any life-threatening risks.

During this time, Summer Jincang has been busy preparing for this.

However, Xia Xinyan and Ling Mo had it much easier. After settling the Canglong business, their main focus during this time was to quickly improve their strength in preparation for the upcoming God of War Cup.

The timing for the God of War Cup just happens to be the second last day before the New Year.

For now, the social order on the surface hasn’t collapsed, and they still have to celebrate the New Year. Thus, before this event, Ling Mo bid farewell to Xia Xinyan and returned to his hometown.

Given his current identity, there’s no talk of spending the New Year at the Summer Family—especially according to Xia Xinyan’s description of the future, during this period after the New Year, he should protect his family at home.

Not to mention, he wouldn’t be unreachable. Xia Xinyan specially sent him the Game Pod, and once the match began, they could naturally meet in the game.

However, after suddenly parting from Ling Mo, Xia Xinyan found herself somewhat unaccustomed.

She also wasn’t used to this “home.”

During this period, Summer Jincang followed her back. Knowing Ling Mo had finally left, he was extremely cheerful, coming several times to flaunt his presence before Xia Xinyan, which eventually made her, basking in the garden sun, a tad impatient: “Are you that free? Wandering around in front of me every day?”

“Ah… I was just passing by for a walk. If you don’t like me, I can leave,” Summer Jincang answered, suddenly deflated by his sister’s retort.

Xia Xinyan surveyed her surroundings: “You can walk all the way to my family’s back garden?”

“…There’s a path here,” he scratched his head, suddenly looking back, “Auntie, hello.”

Xia Xinyan turned to see her not-so-great mother standing at the door, smiling kindly: “Jincang is here? Haven’t eaten yet? Lunch is ready, why not stay and eat?”

Summer Jincang immediately grinned: “Then I’ll intrude.”

“There’s no intruding—this child…” her not-so-great mom chuckled and waved to Xia Xinyan, “Xinyan, come eat.”

Xia Xinyan paused, sighed, “Alright.”

In fact, minus Summer Jincang, this family atmosphere is quite reminiscent of her former home.

It made her somewhat nostalgic.