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The Empyrean Talons were not the only ones preparing for the group stage of the United Cup.
The top guilds and huge organizations within the game were already making their respective preparations. Given their resources, the range of their information network was much larger than the Empyrean Talons, especially when they had a fully established system.
Compared to Arthur and the others, who were only relying on their connections, the teams supported by these guilds and organizations had a more detailed and organized set of information.
But that did not mean the information that Arthur and Cloe had that much inferior. After all, Arthur could just ask for some help from Shiella if he wanted or buy detailed information from the Assassin Union.
Regardless, these teams that would be their future rivals were thoroughly studying the Empyrean Talons as they were one of the top contenders in this tournament given that they had quite a lot of noticeable individuals in their group and quite a lot of Godlike Players. Some of them were even comparable to those at the peak and recognized as Maverick Gods just like Diablo.
Alucard was in a special situation as he had gotten an official title as a Titled Ranker, but his strength was comparable to the Godlike Players. However, there were not many who were aware of this as he rarely appeared in the eyes of the public.
He was much stronger than what others could expect, especially with the Legacy that he had gotten from Dracula from their previous adventures in the Frozen Kingdom.
The only team that knew the true strength and potential of the Empyrean Talons were the current champions of the United Cup, the God's Paradise, since they had been having scrim matches with them before the Frozen Kingdom opened its borders to everyone.
However, it was also working the other way around as the Empyrean Talons became more familiar with them, albeit God's Paradise did not show their full strength since some of their members were not present in the Saint Heaven Kingdom during that time.
As these top teams were busy with their preparations, the players, who were paying close attention to this competition, watched the early rounds of the United Cup and started to notice quite a few of the previous top teams dropped from the original tier list and struggled against some emerging forces that they had never heard or seen before.
Among these new teams were from those powerful and influential corporations from the real world.
People immediately noticed how much resources these huge corporations had spent on their teams as all their members were wearing top-quality equipment and weapons.
Some of these teams even have famous players, who were widely known for playing solo. Rumors said that these corporations spent quite a huge sum just to recruit these people.
Aside from these teams, some were formed by well-known solo players. Some of them were even Godlike Players and Maverick Gods, who were known for not joining such a team competition.
Aside from the solo tournaments like the Ranking Cups and Hegemon Cups, these players never joined any other tournaments.
But they gathered and formed a team together, following the lead of the Empyrean Talons.
Even though they had not accumulated enough reputation as a team like the Empyrean Talons, they were still a strong contender in this competition given the individual prowess of their people.
However, they should be facing the same problem as the Empyrean Talons when it comes to the synergy of their members. But since they were starting from the very bottom of the tournament, they would have a lot of chances to fix their flaws and solve the problems that they could not do alone.
Along with the forces of their allies such as the Assassin Union and Secret Society and the affiliated groups that Shin and the others had invited, the management of the entire territory had become very stable.
But that was only limited to the Sky Deceiving Valley and the neighboring regions within the borders of the Saint Heaven Kingdom.
Moreover, there was still the Frozen Kingdom that was being explored by quite a lot of forces and right beside Sky Deceiving Valley, so they were still lacking some people.
They had also just established their branch in the Sacred Light Kingdom, so the leading figures of the guild were quite busy.
Delusive Smile had been running around to manage everything just recently because Shiella had been away for quite some time. It was quite fortunate that she managed to hold well up until now.
Shiella had just returned and was already planning to leave right after clearing her promotion quest. It would not only hit their morale but also affect some of their operations given that some annoying people were eyeing their territories and operations.
With the recent successes that the Hand of Midas had been getting, a lot of forces had become jealous of them and started giving them trouble.
Black Hammer nodded his head as he agreed with Harmony. "Harmony is right, Guild Leader. I don't think it is the right time to leave now."
The other chiefs did not voice their opinions, but given the expression on their faces, it was clear that they were against with Shiella's decision as well.
Shiella already expected this to happen, so she was not surprised by the opposition. She remained calm before turning to Delusive Smile. "What do you think, Smile?"
Delusive Smile was silent for a moment before closing her eyes and sighing. "I hate to admit this, but I think it is also better for the progress of our guild to let the guild leader go."
The chiefs turned at her all at the same time, giving her questioning and curious gazes. They wanted to know her reason for saying those words, especially when she was the one who suffered the most during Shiella's absence.
Seemingly understanding their confusion, Shiella signaled Delusive Smile with her chin. "Show it to them so that they can understand."
Getting the permission, Delusive Smile sighed once again before projecting a virtual screen to everyone.
What followed it was a complete silence. The chiefs of the guild were unable to say anything for quite a while after seeing everything displayed on the virtual screen.
Everything that was displayed in front of them was the organized information that the Empyrean Talons had collected about the Awakened Continent from the Divinity City, which Arthur had sent to Shiella.
The more the chiefs read through them, the quieter they became.
Shiella waited for quite a while to give them time to digest everything before asking. "What do you think now? Do you think heading there and establishing our footing earlier than others is not right?"
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