74: Chapter 74 Strength Exposed? The Battle of Nations!

[Lord of Dragon Kingdom Su Yang successfully completed the ruins mission, unlocking the achievement: Peeling Back the Appearance of the World]

[Lord of India: Wow, the Dragon Kingdom either stays silent, or when it makes a move, it's a big one!]

[Anonymous: As expected of the Dragon Kingdom, this must be the fastest completion of a ruins mission in the history of the Forbidden Ground.]

[Korean Lord: What's so surprising about that? They got the decryption card last time, so getting a ruins mission this time is simple. If it were me, I would have gotten it too.]

[Anonymous: Oh, sure, who is as amazing as your 'Universe's Number One Country'?]

[Korean Lord: You little b*stard, my great Korea's army will beat you until even your mother wouldn't recognize you!]

[US Lord: Since you've obtained the ruins reward, Brother Su Yang, why not come out and share it with everyone?]

[Lord of Japan: The Dragon Kingdom is like our Japan, valuing 'Great Harmony.' I believe Su Yang will tell us.]

Su Yang looked at the messages from the US Lord and the Lord of Japan without saying a word.

These two were just putting on a show, trying to pry information out of him.

Wishful thinking.

Unless necessary, he would never voluntarily expose his own resources and strength.

Once exposed, he would be studied and targeted.

Hiding his strength and holding more trump cards was the safest approach.

This was the way of survival in the Forbidden Ground.

Ignoring the other lords, Su Yang felt somewhat surprised by the Forbidden Ground announcement.

If the System could issue an announcement, it proved that the ruins mission was also a key achievement.

Perhaps the historical secrets he hadn't paid much attention to would hide something big in the future.

Just as he was pondering, another System announcement popped up on the panel.

[3 days remaining until the end of the second week]

[The lord ranking activity for this week is the "Nations Hegemony Tournament"]

[From midnight on the fifth day to midnight on the seventh day, all surviving participating lords will take part in the Nations Hegemony Tournament]

[Every lord will lead their troops to travel to a region other than their own to fight against the Xenomorphs of other areas]

[Countries that successfully defend against the Bug Swarm Tide in other regions will participate in the lord ranking afterward]

[This lord ranking has only one single ranking — the Hegemony Ranking]

[After completing the Nations Hegemony Tournament, the System will analyze a series of factors such as command points obtained from unit kills, combat loss ratios, and mission completion rates]

[After a comprehensive analysis, a Territory Hegemony Index will be derived, and the top five lords for this week will be ranked according to the Hegemony Index]

[The top five lords will all receive command point rewards, and the first and second place winners will receive special rewards and resource manifestation rights]

[Note: The Nations Hegemony Tournament will be broadcast live, uninterrupted, to all lords and citizens of all countries]

[Lords from various countries will enter the hegemony arena in random order to take on the challenge]

[The Rank of the troops brought by the lord must not exceed the monster threat Rank of the arrival region]

[The excess portion will be suppressed, and units produced by high-Rank barracks will be restricted from participating]

[After entering the hegemony arena, there will be 20 minutes of preparation time, followed by the launch of the Bug Swarm Tide attack]

[All command points obtained in the hegemony zone will be doubled and added to each lord's total command points]

[The scale of the Bug Swarm Tide will be the maximum scale of the current threat Rank of the arrival region]

[Death during the hegemony tournament will also be considered elimination, and the corresponding country will suffer a disaster]

[The dark night is coming; good luck to all lords]

Nations Hegemony Tournament.

Su Yang quickly found relevant information in the materials provided by the official source.

Like the Arrival Night Bug Swarm Tide, the Nations Hegemony Tournament was also a Forbidden Ground activity that often appeared at the end of every week.

Its content was also to defend against a wave of the Bug Swarm Tide, but it involved being teleported to other regions to fight against other Xenomorphs.

This mode would largely level out the unfairness among lords regarding their initial arrival regions.

Some countries had low-difficulty arrival regions, so even if their early-stage troops weren't strong, they could have a smooth start.

Some countries had high-difficulty arrival regions, so even if their early-stage troops were strong, they couldn't obtain very good resources.

The Nations Hegemony Tournament would randomly shuffle and arrange them, allowing the lords to experience the intensity of different regions.

And by ranking the lords based on scores, those lords who didn't have a smooth start would have a chance to regain an advantage in this round.

Besides the lord ranking rewards and partial resource acquisition, the Nations Hegemony Tournament had another important function.

A diplomatic function.

The Nations Hegemony Tournament was a real-time live broadcast open to everyone.

The troop strength and technological strength of various civilizations, as well as the command ability and tactical level of each lord, would, without exception, be observed and judged by everyone.

If a civilization's troop strength was high and the lord's ability was strong, then allies would surely flock to them afterward.

But with opportunities, there would also be risks.

If a country exposed its weaknesses, it would very likely be shunned by other countries.

In short, the Nations Hegemony Tournament would be a major reshuffle for the not-yet-solid Alliance relationships within the Forbidden Ground.

Su Yang's mind was racing with thoughts; he wasn't really considering safety issues.

The Imperial Armor Legion could even defeat the Xenomorphs, so they would naturally crush everything in other regions.

What he was worried about was the exposure of his own strength due to the live broadcast.

To send troops out, the powered exoskeleton Imperial Armor certainly couldn't be hidden.

By then, other countries would have a new understanding of the Great Qin's combat power, and hostile forces would also adopt stronger and more direct targeting strategies.

This was the negative factor that exposing his strength might bring.

However, there was one rule that allowed Su Yang not to expose too much strength.

That was that the Rank of the troops brought could not exceed the threat Rank of the arrival region.

The threat Rank was the degree of hostility the Xenomorphs in each region had toward the lord; in the Heart of the Hive, it was the Gaze of the Abyss.

If someone arrived in his region, they would have to face the siege of the Bug Swarm Tide with a Gaze of the Abyss level 4.

According to past experience, the abyss level in most regions in the second week would not exceed level 2.

If they arrived in a level 2 region, they could only bring Elite Soldiers and Crossbowman to fight, while the Skyfire Guard belonging to the level 3 Main Base and General Li Xin could not participate.

Moreover, the Rank of the Great Qin Elite Soldiers and Crossbowman would be suppressed to level 2; this was specifically to let everyone have a unified starting line for the sake of fairness.

With this rule in place, although he would expose part of his combat power, he wouldn't be fully exposed.

As long as the enemy didn't know the extent of his development, he would still have trump cards to hide.

After careful analysis, Su Yang judged that the Nations Hegemony Tournament's pros outweighed the cons.

Exchanging the exposure of partial strength for ranking rewards and the stability of the Alliance was, no matter how you looked at it, a profit.

Su Yang's eyes flickered; as long as there were no accidents, he should be able to take first place in this lord ranking.

As long as he played steadily and took every lord ranking, he would be able to firmly hold the advantage in his hands!

There was still more than a day until the hegemony tournament, and once he entered the hegemony tournament, he wouldn't be able to operate his territory,

so he must upgrade the lords residence before the competition started...