<h4>Chapter 149: Reaching For the Stars Part 1</h4>


    Silvia Goldberg, female, twenty years old. If you ever ask who the strongest professional gamer in the United States is, you are bound to hear her name every single time. She appeared for the first time five years ago at the amateur section of the nationwide tournament.


    In that tournament, she managed to win all of her elimination matches and the main matches without losing a single round or shrivel of her HP, and she even managed to wlessly beat the professional gamers. That victory made her name world-famous, and from that day forward the nickname “Silvi” was forever carved into the minds of the yer all around the world.


    After her debut, Silvia Goldberg was scouted by one of the best professional gaming teams out there in the United States, “Zodiac Cluster”. Since then in less than a year she managed to raise to the top in that team and formed her own division “Star Rain”, gathering the best yers of the best. Fast-forward five years in to the future, and she’s still currently one of the very best yers in the world, setting record after record like it was nothing……


    「Amazing, talk about the Last Boss character.」


    「It’s even better than that. In her whole career she never lost a single round.」


    「Ah, I see, I get it.」


    In other words it is someone like a Demon Lord who obliterates her enemies in an instant, not giving them time to recover and then eats their remains to be absolutely sure that the threat is now gone. In addition, that expression that I could see in the photo…… It was the face of someone who was crazy strong and she knew it. A Demon Lord who from the first moment she appeared was way more popr than the Protagonist.


    「The other members are no pushovers as well, but if youpare Silvia Goldberg to a First ss, then those guys are Second or even Third ss at best. No…… It would be something like a Second and a Half ss. Yeah.」


    「And you said what our chances at winning against here are……?」


    「Since I am a professional gamer our chances are not entirely zero, but I’ll be honest with you: things aren’t looking too bright for us……」


    「I agree, that would be the case if we were ying a game that was already released on the market. In fact, I’ve fought against her a few times before and the best I managed to achieve was a draw. Everything else, she wiped the floor with me…… But this time around things are going to be different.」


    Katsu swipes the tablet’s surface and the picture of the enemy team disappears, with another one taking its ce. It was the picture of some sort of game website, with lots of fancy fonts and designs.


    「“Gxia Heroes: Chaos”…… It will be released worldwide this fall…… Which means that it’s not out yet.」


    「And it is going to be the game that we will be ying the day after tomorrow during thest day of GGC. This is going to be its official presentation.」


    「Seriously?」


    Gxia……? Haven’t I heard that name somewhere before……? Ah.


    「That’s theic books you’ve sent me to read on my way here.」


    「Yes, it’s the work based on thetest crossover from the Gxia universe, where there is no clear distinction in between Heroes and Viins. And its developer is the UES - Utopia Entertainment Software, the studio responsible for the best “post-ShanFro” games currently on the market.」


    ShangriLa Frontier, I didn’t expect to hear that name here of all ces. I could even feel my own expression under the gas mask stiffen at the mention of the game I’ve been having so much of a st ying. It appears that this game was much more influential than I would have initially thought.


    「Gxia uses almost the same engine as ShanFro, albeit with some small differences. But still, it is the technology that is severely ahead of its time. UES is currently believed to be thepany responsible for the revival of the US school of game development, although some say it’s mostly because of some lucky decisions…… But that’s of no importance right now. What’s important is the fact that this game is going to bepletely different from its predecessor - Gxia Heroes: Burst.」


    「Hmm, I see…… I think I know what you’re trying to say. Basically, what you mean by that is the fact that it is going to be a game that ispletely unknown to blondie and her crew, the Americans, but for us Japanese it is going to be something really simr to ShanFro…… This means we have the advantage here since we are so used to it by now.」


    「That is why, both our team will have the early ess to the “Gxia Heroes: Chaos”…… We will only have two days to get used to it, but since we have been ying ShanFro for so long, we have the natural advantage here. That is the only way in which we can hope to beat America’s number one gamer.」


    From Pencilgton’s guess I can roughly guess Katsu’s answer. Long story short, since the technology for this new game is based on ShanFro, just the fact that you y ShanFro can be turned into advantage. And since ShanFro is majorly an “Japanese-only” product, there is no way that American can have that same kind of advantage.


    「So that’s the reason why you chose us specifically.」


    「Because we have gone through Wezaemon battle together, I am more than sure that your ability is on par to that of professional gamers.」


    While saying that, Katsu…… No, professional gamer Uomi Kei had a fearless smile on his lips.


    「Well then, let’s start the strategy meeting on how to overthrow Silvia Goldberg and her Star Rain!」