That evening, a good number of the twenty-five players who remained began their preparations in earnest.
The target of their preparations was, of course, the necromancer Lu Ran, who could very well become their opponent in the third round.
This was also the first time a necromancer had made every single player in the Hundred Cities League sit up straight, alert and cautious.
Though none of them could quite figure out why, the fact remained—a single blood spear that could one-shot an opponent had already happened twice!
And what’s more, the first two opponents Lu Ran had faced—Wang Yan, the Mystic Armor Berserker, and Cen Yinuo, the summoner with the giant carnivorous plant—were hardly the type to be taken down in one hit.
Neither of them was exactly squishy!
By comparison, the other players with frailer builds were now starting to feel the jitters.
Some of them started swapping out their gear.
Some switched to all-out attack equipment, planning to take Lu Ran down before he could land his one-shot kill.
Others sacrificed a portion of their damage output in exchange for more defensive gear.
A lot of people guessed that Lu Ran must have some special piece of equipment that dramatically boosted his blood spear’s damage for a single strike.
So, if they could just survive that first blood spear, killing a necromancer would be a piece of cake.
After all, every single player here had a top-tier class—that’s why they qualified for the Hundred Cities League in the first place!
Of course, several parties had also done their homework on Lu Ran.
But they couldn’t dig up any concrete details.
All they could find out was that Lu Ran came from the slums, had exceptionally high mental power, but had awakened a class that was considered trash.
He leveled up at an astonishing speed, and was now a provisional member of all four major guilds in Longxia!
The reason the four guilds had chosen Lu Ran was probably exactly the reason for his strength!
Unfortunately, no one could uncover the specifics.
After all, Lu Ran’s power didn’t come from any external source—it came from his own inherent abilities!
Even so, no one had yet connected Lu Ran to the mysterious necromancer that had been making waves lately.
After all, a blood spear that could one-shot a rookie of the same level was still far from the kind of feats that legendary necromancer had pulled off.
As for the three women who had dinner with Lu Ran that night—
Cong Yu wasn’t competing herself; she only cared about her sister Cong Shuang’s upcoming match against Lu Ran, so she had nothing to prepare.
Cen Yinuo had also joined the spectator ranks and was eagerly looking forward to seeing Lu Ran perform.
As for Cong Shuang, after much deliberation, she decided against swapping in defensive gear. Instead, she maxed out her damage output!
She was going to take a risk and one-shot Lu Ran!
There was no way she was going to let him one-shot her first!
Of course, the difficulty was enormous.
After all, Lu Ran only needed one skill.
Cong Shuang, even going all out, needed a full combo—it all came down to speed.
And besides, even if she didn’t end up facing Lu Ran, against any other opponent, the lack of defensive gear meant she’d have to finish them off even faster. No surprises allowed!
Early the next morning, the plaza was already packed with people.
By the time Lu Ran arrived, Cong Shuang was already there.
Seeing Lu Ran head toward the back lounge, Cong Shuang called out, “It’s still early. Want to chat for a bit?”
Lu Ran had been completely drained last night by that tense, strange, almost explosive atmosphere three times over.
He shook his head and said, “Better settle my nerves. It’ll start soon anyway.”
With that, he and Su Ting headed off to the lounge on their own.
It seemed Cong Shuang had something she wanted to say to him, but since he wasn’t interested, she let it go.
She didn’t plan to waste any more time here either and was about to head to her own lounge.
But just then, someone stepped right in front of her, blocking her path.
“You know that Lu Ran?” the person asked.
Cong Shuang looked up and recognized him as Zhao Xuan from the Zhao family of the imperial capital—a well-known spoiled rich kid.
“A strong opponent is worth knowing a little about,” Cong Shuang replied casually.
“Strong?” Zhao Xuan raised an eyebrow, a haughty look on his face as he glanced at Lu Ran’s retreating back. “If that kind of trash counts as strong, then I really must have overestimated you.”
Cong Shuang shot him a glance but said nothing.
Zhao Xuan went on, unfazed: “To be honest, I’m dead set on winning this year’s championship. But in my eyes, the only rival I truly acknowledge is you. That necromancer? He’s just a lucky hack who got by on cheap tricks. I don’t even consider him a threat.”
Cong Shuang still didn’t respond.
Zhao Xuan felt the frustration of punching cotton.
He quickly added with a sneer, “That blood spear of his is indeed a problem, sure. But it might intimidate them—against me? Completely useless. I just hope he’s lucky enough not to run into me this round. Because if he does, I’ll put an end to his little legend. I’ll make sure everyone knows—a garbage class will always be a garbage class!”
With that, Zhao Xuan strode smugly toward the lounge.
Cong Shuang, as before, showed little emotional reaction—but Cong Yu, standing beside her, was practically hopping mad.
“Sis! Why didn’t you tell him off! How dare he talk about Lu Ran like that!” Cong Yu fumed.
“Since when did you get so close to Lu Ran? You care about him that much?” Cong Shuang cast a sidelong glance at her sister.
“We’re friends, of course we’re close! Anyway… definitely closer than Cen Yinuo is!” Cong Yu declared.
Cong Shuang took a deep breath, then slowly let it out.
She said, “Zhao Xuan might be a playboy, but he does have some skill. His class ability gives him ten seconds of invincibility while dealing damage. For other classes, ten seconds isn’t a huge deal—you can defend, stall, buy time. But for Lu Ran, that ten seconds means his blood spear is useless. Necromancers are fragile to begin with, and Zhao Xuan has more than enough firepower to one-shot him.”
Cong Yu suddenly grew nervous.
As her older sister, Cong Shuang could read her expression in an instant.
She added, “But, Lu Ran probably has more than just the blood spear up his sleeve. You mentioned the Titan Python—that’s one, but it’s also useless against Zhao Xuan. He should have other tricks. Otherwise, a single blood spear alone wouldn’t be enough to make all four major guilds list him as a provisional member.”
Hearing that, Cong Yu’s eyes lit up. “So Lu Ran won’t lose?”
Cong Shuang shook her head. “I didn’t say that. It all comes down to Lu Ran’s own abilities. Because… at the end of the day, no matter how unusual he is, he’s still a necromancer.”
She paused, then seemed to think of something. “Xiao Yu, if I end up facing Lu Ran, who do you want to win?”
Caught off guard by the sudden question, Cong Yu froze.
After a brief hesitation, she finally said, “Then… I still hope you win, Sis.”
A faint smile curled at the corner of Cong Shuang’s mouth. She patted Cong Yu’s head and said, “Alright, go to the Cong family seats. I need to head backstage. Watch the match closely later.”
Cong Yu hopped off happily.
Cong Shuang’s expression gradually calmed.
From that brief moment of hesitation in Cong Yu’s reply, she already had a pretty good idea.
In just two short days, Lu Ran had already climbed in Cong Yu’s heart to a place almost as close as her own sister’s!
