Four Split Personalities

Chapter 2573: Chapter 1215: Free-for-All Match · Awakening Dragon (I)_2

And then... there was no "then". Innocent Company remained rock-solid, The Realm of Innocence kept running as usual: no streaming means no streaming, no playing in daytime means no playing in daytime.

In the end, the vast majority of those so‑called "quitters" still came back to The Realm of Innocence. On the one hand, the game really was insanely fun; on the other hand, the return period for the Game Cabins was basically long over.

And after repeated weighing and discussion at the top of Red Constellation, plus consulting Awakening Dragon himself, they actually chose to let him continue treating The Realm of Innocence as his main project.

The main reasons were twofold:

First, it was absolutely only a matter of time before The Realm of Innocence blew up. Forget everything else—just this one perk of "you don’t get tired while sleeping" was enough to insta‑kill every other game of the same type on the market. So under that big trend, as long as The Realm of Innocence didn’t suddenly choose to commit suicide—for example, having a brain fart and starting to offer lewd instruments in the Public Space—then this current "trend" title would sooner or later turn into "mainstream".

Second, Awakening Dragon liked playing The Realm of Innocence.

So even if they couldn’t stream it, Red Constellation Club still kept pumping resources into The Realm of Innocence, steadily expanding its own strength and influence.

By the way, Awakening Dragon’s original live gameplay streams on Saturday and Sunday nights had been changed into two shows: "Awakening Dragon Teaches You English" on Saturday morning and "Cook With Awakening Dragon" on Sunday afternoon. The revenue stream actually went up instead...

Back to topic.

Although The Realm of Innocence banned streaming, there was still plenty of room for pro clubs to operate within certain rule‑permitted Domains—for example: the no‑preference matchmaking mode.

If deliberately configured, any Player’s battles in the Public Space could be spectated. The ways were: follow a certain alt ID of that Player (if it changed, the follow wouldn’t auto‑transfer), or be that Player’s friend in The Realm of Innocence.

A star Player on Awakening Dragon’s level naturally wouldn’t casually add friends, so the second method was basically impossible. But once both The Realm of Innocence’s popularity and Awakening Dragon’s strength rose, Red Constellation Club quickly announced on its official site Awakening Dragon’s permanent ID in the Public Space: [Red Constellation·Awakening Dragon], and stated that any little buddies who liked Awakening Dragon could freely watch when he queued, with weekly updates on his matchmaking time slots.

Previously, the frequency was about two to three matches a day, starting around AM03:00 Game Time.

But starting last week, that frequency actually tripled, and the start time was moved up to PM21:00 Game Time every day.

As for why, Red Constellation Club didn’t give any clear explanation, but many people who understood the club’s operating model quite well smelled something different in this. They felt...

Awakening Dragon was probably preparing for something.

In fact, Awakening Dragon really was preparing something.

Simply put, Red Constellation Club had received reliable information through certain special channels: in the not‑too‑distant future, Innocent Company was likely to host an official event themed around "combat", and more than likely in a "world’s number one martial arts tournament" format.

By then, not only would there be streams inside The Realm of Innocence, Players outside the game could also watch the stream at adjusted speeds.

Even though the intel was still pretty vague, the club remained very serious about that yet‑to‑exist tournament, and hoped their main star Awakening Dragon could prove himself there.

After all, being ranked fifth or sixth on the most intuitive power leaderboard might already be godlike for other Players, but not for Awakening Dragon. For him that should’ve been just a transitional phase!

Yet this "transition" stayed a transition all the way up to now. To this day, the highest rank Awakening Dragon had ever hit since he started The Realm of Innocence was only a brief half‑month at fourth; the rest of the time he kept floating between 5th and 8th.

Could anyone live with that?

Awakening Dragon could. He honestly didn’t care much.

But Red Constellation couldn’t, which was why upper management attached such importance to this merely possible chance for Awakening Dragon to prove how strong he was.

This was also why, besides internal scrims, Awakening Dragon had been queuing nearly ten matches a day lately!

On one hand it was to build hype for himself; on the other, to prep for that official event.

And so, Awakening Dragon showed up here.

Bringing with him a Spectator count that had already broken six digits and was still climbing, he appeared in front of Motan.

...

The Realm of Innocence, Player Public Space·Arena Zone, [No‑Preference Match Room K307]

"Hello."

Not displaying any gear, dressed instead in a simple white close‑fitting outfit, Awakening Dragon gave Motan a slight nod and smiled. "Hello, I’m Awakening Dragon from Red Constellation Club."

"Hello."

Motan’s expression was complicated as he nodded, and he smiled politely. "I’m just a nameless passerby nobody."

"Haha, you’re being too modest, bro."

With his well‑defined features and easygoing personality, Awakening Dragon chuckled, his pleasantly clear voice leaving a great impression as he said with a grin, "Relax a bit."

Motan actually wasn’t nervous, just a little conflicted (if he got one‑shotted, Dawn definitely wouldn’t get any EXP, and the time he’d agreed on with Frank and Double Leaf was almost up). He took a deep breath and slowly drew the [Dawn· Ruthless Sword] from his waist. "Thanks."

Awakening Dragon slid both hands into a pair of simple claw blades hanging from his own belt and smiled. "Please."

It was obvious Awakening Dragon had no intention of making the first move. That wasn’t arrogance or conceit, just pure confidence in himself.

And as a professional gamer, if he still had to fight a no‑preference match by scrambling for initiative against some Common Player, that would be pretty lacking in grace.

Of course, there was always the possibility his opponent was also a professional gamer, just playing dumb and lying low to eat the tiger later, but Awakening Dragon didn’t care about that. He’d always had a very objective understanding of himself.

Which was that he was strong. Very strong.

And Motan was very clear on that point as well, so—

[Ghost·Gales]!

First move: straight to the finisher!

In front of Awakening Dragon, Motan held nothing back. In a blink he appeared behind his opponent at an unbelievable speed, the [Dawn· Ruthless Sword] in his hand silently kissing the back of Awakening Dragon’s neck. At the same time, two ghostly dark blades of light split from the sword tip, stabbing straight toward Awakening Dragon’s heart and flank with lethal intent.

As the challenger here, he didn’t need to worry about erasing a Life, didn’t need to worry about wiping the opponent’s character clean and sending it off to be rebuilt. This "Mor" character, for once, attacked with genuine "killing intent"!

And [Ghost·Gales] was currently the sharpest of all Skills Motan could use. It didn’t just combine speed, lethality, and suddenness; because it came with follow‑ups built in, it had excellent adaptability in any situation. Using it as an opener was practically a luxury.

However, if the opponent was Awakening Dragon, then no matter who you asked, they probably wouldn’t call this a luxury.

"Mm, can’t dodge this."

Awakening Dragon made his judgment almost the instant Motan Disappeared from his field of view. By the time that thought flashed through his mind, the [Dawn· Ruthless Sword] in the latter’s hand was already less than two centimeters from the back of his neck, and the heart that had been Locked by the other blade of light was already feeling a faint chill.

So—

[Reinforced Iron Bones]!

His exposed skin was plated with a layer of bronze color. Awakening Dragon didn’t move, didn’t look back, didn’t even attempt to block. He just tanked Motan’s ghost‑like slash head‑on. As for that other blade of light, which was by no means weak either, it didn’t even manage to leave a mark on his clothes; it just silently Disappeared.

As for the white line Dawn carved into his neck, in that [Reinforced Iron Bones] state it shaved off about...

1.8% of his Health Points.

Chapter 1215: End