After Moon Feather disappeared, another person who looked like a normal office worker wearing a suit stepped up on the elevated platform.
"We will start by splitting Tier 2 players into 2 groups. Please watch the screen before we start shuffling."
Max raised his head and looked at the screen, just as instructed. Everyone else did the same. A second later, the screen showed a tournament grid split into two sides with 5 empty boxes in the middle. The other boxes were filled with names.
The man on the platform raised his hand and said, "Shuffle start."
Once he said the voice command, the names on the screen started to scramble around, moving from one box to another. Max tried to follow his tag name, but it was useless. They were moving too fast for his eyes to follow.
After a while, it stopped with a loud ding and showed the list of group A and group B.
"Please find your name. We shall start the first game in 5 minutes, with a random team. Good luck to all players." The man continued before stepping down from the platform and disappearing into the shadow.
"I found my name in group B," Ranga spoke from the side with a gleeful voice. "It seems we're in a different group. Good luck."
Hearing that, Max nodded. He had also found his name on top of the group A side. They would meet in the third game if they succeeded, meaning they wouldn't be able to advance to the final together.
Still, Max had another problem before thinking about the third game. He looked at the name written right under him.
'Puppeteer... We're in the same group.'
Whether he wanted it or not, he had to face or be Puppeteer's teammate in the first two games. He just hoped to have a nice game with him and not be burdened with it.
'I guess this means I can test my skill against one of the top players in the world.'
While Puppeteer was a streamer, he also played in a pro league sometimes. Meaning, the man could also be considered a pro gamer in this circle. If Max could beat him, then that would be an achievement for himself.
"I guess I just have to do it."
All the players were looking forward to the first game. Some Tier 2 players despaired that they had to face Puppeteer and Max early on.
His name was spread enough to make him recognizable in this society.
Laughing shyly, Max scratched his cheek.
"Hahaha, I am happy that you guys are confident and trust me. But let's not lower our guard. Our enemies are players who managed to advance to Day 2. They must have adequate skills to back the result. We can't look down on them."
"Yeah, I understand." Darkki commented, "But we need the confidence! We will win this!" He shouted and raised his arm like a cheer before a sports competition.
"Yes, yes!" Sikoga exclaimed, raising her hand, "Now, about the role, what should we do? We all know that Breeze will be the leader and will catch them all. I am confident in my ability to find the disguised thieves!"
Before Max could say anything regarding the role that Sikoga selfishly gave, Mo3kyun spoke in a deep voice.
"I have many traps. Let me lay them around the boat escape."
"I also have traps." 00Lopez00 added in an accent that sounded like a Mexican accent from Max's past life, "I better be alone and away from the NPC. So let me handle the west hover car escape."
"Then I will support Breeze and be his sidekick." Darkki pointed at himself with his thumb, "I can run fast, you know? While I am not as fast as Breeze, but I have 89.7% SR! It's way lower than him, too. I know it, but trust me!"
It seemed like everything had been decided. This was the first time Max had teammates who looked at him with gazes filled with respect and adoration. Not one, but four of them.
'Is this what Puppeteer felt every time he played Midnight Heist?' He thought, remembering the video he had watched before logging in.
Anyway, they were definitely better than a troll or AFK teammates. He didn't know their skill level yet, but he could only trust their ability to reach this far.
Nodding, he agreed to the plan.
"I guess the role division is over. And may I take the main communicator position and the one who gives instruction?"
After learning from Puppeteer's video, he wanted to try it at least once. Doing it in a tournament was a gamble, but everyone had their first, no? He was confident he would do well as long as he wasn't nervous. The basics were already in his head.
"Feel free to!" Sikoga nodded excitedly, "We will follow your instructions as best as we can."
"Yeah. I am stupid, so please direct me to my task." Darkki added with a firm nod, "I am your sidekick, after all!" The way he said that was like a fan who had met his heroes and wasn't disappointed. He was proud of his position.
Laughing bitterly, Max looked at the air. They would be teleported in 10 seconds.
The first game had begun.