59: Hot competition

The World Championship began.

After a series of cumbersome ceremonies, it was finally time for the draw.

Lin Ye's spirit was invigorated, all sleepiness gone; the content of the first round of competition was about to be revealed.

Each team sent a representative to draw lots from six mission modes.

Ultimately, the mode with the most votes became the mission mode for the first round.

Blazing Dominator Scramble.

There was a piece of blazing land in the Star Realm area controlled by the Beautiful Country.

It was rich in a type of exotic beast, the Blazing Dominator.

This was a mineral Life form that devoured heat and rare mineral metals, forming an extremely rare metal, the fiery core, within its body.

Its function was very special: it was hard in texture, strong in impact resistance, strong in elemental defense, and could absorb and store heat, making it the top-grade material for manufacturing golden-tier armor for fire-element ability users.

This area was originally a reserved land for the Beautiful Country, and they would never allow other ability users to enter and develop it.

But now, it was chosen as the mission mode for the World Championship.

Lin Ye was very confused internally. Since it was the Beautiful Country's reserved land, how could fairness be ensured?

The Beautiful Country had been developing it for a long time and was already very familiar with this area. Wouldn't finding Blazing Dominators be as easy as turning over one's hand?

Subsequently, the organizers answered his doubts.

This area was not the one developed by the Beautiful Country, but a similar area newly acquired by the Blue Star Alliance, so fairness could be guaranteed.

Lin Ye breathed a sigh of relief, but the Beautiful Country's power advantage was still significant. With years of development experience, they were well-versed in the Blazing Dominator.

However, the next operation dispelled his concerns.

The organizers sent all information about the Blazing Dominator to every player's light brain, along with a brief map.

Lin Ye expressed his approval, as this indeed greatly ensured fairness.

In such international competitions, there wouldn't be obvious shady dealings; if any, they would only be small advantages given secretly.

If basic fairness couldn't be achieved, the league would not be able to last long.

The analysts of each team began to analyze the information of the Blazing Dominator.

The Blazing Dominator, a mineral Life form, lived in volcanic areas, absorbing geothermal heat and devouring mineral metals to grow.

Its appearance was similar to a character from a game in Lin Ye's previous Life, the Lava Golem.

Low-tier Blazing Dominators were very small, often living on the outskirts of volcanoes, and did not have the rare fiery core within their bodies.

Only fourth-tier and above Blazing Dominators possessed a fiery core.

The higher the tier of the Blazing Dominator, the larger the fiery core. A fourth-tier might only be the size of a grain of rice, but a seventh-tier could be the size of a basketball.

However, they also lived in the inner circle of the volcano, the core area, and some even resided inside the volcano itself.

The difficulty of obtaining them was undoubtedly greater.

The analysts all concluded that it was more efficient to hunt high-tier Blazing Dominators.

Hunting fourth-tier Blazing Dominators was a waste of time, as the fiery core had to be dissected and searched for, and could be found in any part of the body, unlike abilities that were directly located in the brain.

Preparation time ended.

The competition officially began.

The ten-day Blazing Dominator Scramble kicked off.

After putting on their Life-saving items, the contestants entered the Star Gate one after another.

This was a desolate land, with scorching air and a foul smell of sulfur.

In front of everyone was a massive volcano, far larger than any mountain on Blue Star.

After some instructions, the staff teleported everyone to different outer areas according to their teams.

The monitoring Star Level rune equipment also activated, transmitting the footage to Blue Star.

The teleportation by space-type powerhouses was clearly not as stable as the Star Gate.

It was another wave of nausea.

It was still a similar desolate land, but there were no other teams around.

"Is this the Blazing Dominator?" Zhao Wenlong was very active. He was a fire mage and felt very comfortable in this region, with his combat power significantly increased.

However, fire had extremely limited effect against the Blazing Dominator, so Zhao Wenlong's increased combat power wasn't very useful. It might be somewhat useful when fighting other teams.

In front of Zhao Wenlong was a half-human-tall rock. Zhao Wenlong condensed a hand of flame to test it, and the rock instantly absorbed the flame.

Then the rock extended limbs and stood upright, already a human's height.

A fourth-tier Blazing Dominator.

A fourth-tier is human height, a fifth-tier is three meters, a sixth-tier is five meters, and a seventh-tier is seven meters.

This is the relationship between the Blazing Dominator's tier and its size.

This one was clearly fourth-tier.

The Blazing Dominator watched everyone warily, its small head looking very comical, as it slowly retreated.

Lin Ye and his team had no interest in fourth-tier Blazing Dominators.

"Don't even mention it, it's adorably clumsy. It's just as the news said, extremely low intelligence." Lin Ye stroked his chin.

"The outer areas are inefficient. Everyone, don't make a move yet. Let's enter the area of the sixth-tier Blazing Dominators first," Bai Zhiqing reminded.

Everyone nodded in agreement.

The stronger the Blazing Dominator, naturally, the closer it lived to the volcano's crater.

Of course, it wasn't absolute, as some areas also had peculiar terrains that produced geothermal heat.

The journey was quite uneventful, encountering no dangers.

Blazing Dominators were all reclusive stones. They only moved around to search for mineral metals when they needed to feed. Normally, they transformed into ordinary large rocks and simply absorbed geothermal heat.

Even if you sat on its head, it wouldn't pay any attention.

These reclusive stones, however, were targeted by humans because they produced scarce resources. It truly was a case of an innocent man being ruined by his wealth.

Everyone climbed continuously. It was only when Zhao Wenlong made another probing attack and discovered a sixth-tier Blazing Dominator that they began to hunt.

Blazing Dominators had high defense and thick health, and their recovery ability in their home territory was astonishing, making them very troublesome.

Due to being countered, Zhao Wenlong could only act as a lookout, with Lin Ye and Bai Zhiqing being the main damage dealers.

For them, the Blazing Dominator Scramble was not an ideal mission, but fortunately, with everyone's strength, even with restrictions, securing a qualification spot was not difficult.

Lin Ye stared intently at the Blazing Dominator before him. When Chen Ou embraced it, Lin Ye unhesitatingly struck, launching a Breaking Void Fist attack at the weak point of its knee joint. This was precisely the fatal weakness of clumsy, massive tank-type enemies, making them easy targets for sneak attacks.

The Blazing Dominator's small head let out a painful cry, and the entire stone statue was instantly enraged. How dare these despicable aliens ambush this stone! It began to unleash its stored firepower, and its originally hard rock body gradually transformed into a blazing magma body, with its surface temperature rapidly rising.

Chen Ou was badly burned and immediately released his hold on it. Lin Ye, on the other hand, used Ruyi Strength to control the enraged Blazing Dominator.

"This rock is really tough to deal with!" Chen Ou said, enduring the pain. At this moment, his palms were already scalded red and swollen, and even a few blisters had appeared. However, facing such a difficult situation, he did not back down but gritted his teeth and continued to persevere.

Wang Mengmeng, seeing this, felt very anxious. She immediately cast her specialized healing spell, hoping to help Chen Ou alleviate the pain and heal the burns.

As light flickered in her hands, gentle energy waves slowly enveloped Chen Ou's injured palms, bringing a touch of coolness and comfort.

Just then, the Blazing Dominator suddenly broke free from its restraints and charged towards everyone like a mad beast. A scorching aura emanated from its body, making it difficult to breathe.

Bai Zhiqing stood among the crowd, her eyes revealing determination and courage. Beside her, a cyan storm swirled, as if merging with her.

In the past, she always appeared as a support for Wind and Fire Dual Mages, silently enhancing the power of Zhao Wenlong's flames. But few knew that her own strength was actually far greater than Zhao Wenlong's.

In the blink of an eye, a cyan long spear materialized in her hand. This spear shimmered with dazzling light, emitting a heart-pounding aura. Bai Zhiqing unhesitatingly threw it, and as the spear cut through the air, it let out intense hissing sounds. In an instant, strong winds rose, and the momentum was immense.

The Blazing Dominator sensed the threat from the cyan long spear, and its flames instantly surged, covering its entire body. In a flash, it transformed into a high-temperature, high-pressure heavy truck, charging forward at an astonishing speed with unparalleled might.

The cyan long spear and the Blazing Dominator collided with a thunderous roar, instantly stirring up a terrifying fiery tornado. The fierce collision between the two generated a massive shockwave that swept through the surroundings. Everyone retreated to avoid being caught in it…