Chapter 277: A Brief Intermission

Chapter 277: A Brief Intermission

After the first round of the Resource Battle, there was a short break for various countries and the Star Alliance to prepare for the second round.

This let the first‑round participants breathe easy for a bit, and let viewers from every country take their time soaking in the first round.

The Star Alliance had many viewing angles, but only those of the team leaders and star players were available, and no replays would be released until the entire Resource Battle concluded, so traffic to the top commentators exploded.

The StarNet was buzzing.

Traffic to Central Star’s Holo‑World also shot up, as the star players were now free, and many people crowded in to watch them practice.

As soon as the match ended, Lakeley jumped at the chance to pull an all‑nighter, compiling the data and recordings he had gathered into a Grath-themed feature and posting it on various platforms.

Lakeley had originally planned to check out the Kaileer Alliance's official perspective, gathering highlights and interesting moments from Kaileer Alliance to create a separate Kaileer Alliance feature. He usually did this with other popular topics.

But this time, it wasn’t necessary. Lakeley made a Kaileer Alliance feature that was bare‑bones – just one line—"Third place in the first round of the Resource Battle, Grath’s ally."

The Grath feature, however, was much richer.

Lakeley first released a teaser with the caption: "Grath’s Road to Taking Buston’s Flag!"

The teaser wasn’t long, but it was eye-catching, with fitting background music. It started with that tight, pre‑battle tension, then quickly picked up pace, leaving almost no time to breathe.

The opening scene showed the Grath leaders' platform, with Norton at the front, and the Graths standing neatly behind him, viewed from a low angle.

Then the scene shifted to the start of the Resource Battle, with the Graths leaping off their starships in a stream. The camera lingered on Ye Mo, with Baide right behind him.

The strikingly young soldier dove off the starship, while the older ones followed closely, sticking with him the whole way.

Then came the battle scenes: when Ye Mo turned back to find Zener, with several mechs on the field, he still charged in without a second thought, stomping hard on a mech.

The scene cut away to Baide facing Orka. Almost nothing was cut here, all the way until Orka had to bail out of his mech.

Then the scene shifted again, showing Baide draping his cape over the flagpole, the wind lifting the cape to reveal the Grath emblem.

The whole teaser was pure visuals – not a single word.

As soon as the teaser was released, it instantly hit number one trending, pulling in StarNet users who’d been hunting for Grath info.

Many viewers had only focused on their own countries or favorite teams and were completely baffled by the final outcome.

Now they were also scouring the whole net for Grath, but the country seemed to have appeared out of nowhere. Besides the little bit from the Star Alliance, there was zip about them, and not even the country's name had appeared before this.

"Grath, huh? Let me see exactly how I blew two months' allowance."

"I saw someone who made a killing. Grath’s odds were ridiculously high—like, really ridiculous. Who in their right mind would put money on them winning before the match? And they actually got it right. The Star Alliance didn’t rig the results, did they?"

"Grath’s special feature—why is 'Buston' in the title?"

"They’re fighting Buston, so why not put it there? Go ahead, I love watching it. Grath’s match was a total blowout. You guys should watch more and get a clue."

Lakeley watched with satisfaction as the number of followers for his feature grew rapidly.

He then happily put out his entire footage from the Resource Battle in full. During the live event, following him through various viewing modes was free, but now experiencing the full holographic perspective would cost money, with a good chunk of the revenue going to the on‑screen players via the Star Alliance cut.

This unique perspective quickly spread across the StarNet as well.

Scouring the whole net, aside from the official captain’s perspective, the only Grath footage was Lakeley’s feed following Ye Mo, and Baide’s part—more than half of which was him casually messing with Ye Mo.

Thus, the number of people following Lakeley was unprecedented.

Unfortunately, there was no footage of Adrian and the others. Lakeley was a little bummed.

Lakeley was a professional commentator. He could apply for a separate instance access to enter the Resource Battle, but only he could enter, and he was basically stuck following one POV.

Next, Lakeley released more detailed information about the Graths as character intro profiles. Owing to personal bias, he kicked off with Cyril—the one he had first noticed. Perhaps out of habit, even though he had now unlocked many new characters, like the hot‑tempered Herli and Deenlie, or the insanely strong and nasty Baide...

Lakeley still cared most about Cyril.

Before the official release, he’d already put together a bunch of Cyril’s pictures: battle scenes, training moments, and even a photo of Ye Mo sleeping in the garden with his head on Pawpaw’s belly.

He sorted through and ended up picking a shot of Cyril pulling his sword during the first match. Cyril’s cape fluttered a bit with the motion.

Cyril usually looked strikingly beautiful and seemed easy to bully, but when holding a sword, his expression turned determined with an unconscious hint of fierceness.

Anyone seeing this image would recognize him as a qualified warrior.

Lakeley also added an image of Cyril’s sword, with a small note underneath: "Cyril’s sword."

Then he began filling in the details.

"Cyril Grath, son of Norton Grath, the youngest member of the Grath family. Weapons: sword. Likes old-style robots. (Has two old robots, one of which was damaged on Central Star.)"

"Based on observations, his personality is the gentlest among the Graths. If you see him, say hi – but definitely watch out for the other Graths around."

Then came Norton’s page. Norton’s information was noticeably simpler. When Lakeley was following Ye Mo, he rarely saw the other Graths, and Norton, being the Emperor of Grath, was generally in restricted areas.

Lakeley put up a shot of Norton on the leader platform during the Resource Battle, taken from a low angle, making Norton look super imposing.

"Norton Grath, current Emperor of Grath, son of Baide Grath. Beloved son: Cyril Grath."

By the time the feature was fully complete, Grath had become the number one trending topic on the StarNet.

"In the opening of the first match, they were that hardcore right from the start? In hundreds of years, I’ve never seen anyone just jump. People have jumped in mechs before, but mechs can fly!"

"Holy crap, Cyril is Baide’s grandson? That’s insane. No wonder Baide had to follow even though he wasn’t competing. I thought he was Baide’s youngest son. His dad Norton is so handsome!"

"Norton is the one from that small-country team feature list before the tournament started! He made Grath popular with his face even before the competition began. Many people went into his leader-platform perspective just because he’s good-looking, along with all the handsome men and beautiful women on the platform."

"Are they really a family? That can’t be true, right? That Baide, in the teaser, looks so handsome and cool, but his personality is awful."

"Terrible but gorgeous. And he’s so strong; I don’t mind if his personality is bad."

"Their fighting style is worth studying. Also, I’m skeptical about them being a family. It’s almost impossible unless it’s human experimentation."

"Forget it. Innate mental power cannot be changed through any technology—this has been proven for forever. It’s more believable that they evolved."

...

The Graths didn’t pay much attention to the StarNet. Central Star had enough entertainment, and this StarNet was still a bit unfamiliar to them.

Theodore, who spent the most time on the StarNet, was fully aware of everything, but no one asked him about it. He just made his rounds, quietly cleaning up any comments bad-mouthing Cyril, and stopped caring.

But the next day, all the Graths keenly noticed far more eyes on them than before—except for Ye Mo.

Noon.

Adelaide prepared enough food suited to the Graths' appetites. Considering their consumption over the previous period, it was a bit more than usual—to outsiders, it seemed excessively lavish.

Norton ate as usual, and Baide ate without a care.

The other Graths were a bit irritable. Their mental control wasn't as refined as Baide's or Norton's, who could freely choose whether to receive or not. With so much information, they inevitably picked up a bit here and there.

Normally, regular information transmission had little effect. They had just arrived and discovered that the central planet's information flow was much denser than elsewhere, but earlier it had been manageable. As long as no one paid attention, it had no effect.

Even with Lakeley around, when they deliberately shielded themselves, it was at most a bit noisy. Staying with Norton couldn't completely block it out, but it was relatively quiet.

Now being here felt like having construction going on upstairs and downstairs. Even with Norton, it had become noisier than before—like a neighbor renovating. The staring was secondary; it was just too loud.

"They really are a family, eating together like this."

Of course they eat together—Herli, having picked up a bit of information, figured it was only natural.

"Not nutrient fluid—this is the life! But isn't it too much? It seems like so many people won't finish it. What a waste."

Jacob silently put down his steak and sighed. He could finish it all by himself, no need to worry.

"Cyril eats so much. Baide is so mean—why's he stealing his food when there's plenty left?"

No, he eats the least in our family. He's just not picky; he even eats vegetables, Arnold thought to himself.

Jacob glanced with slight envy at Ye Mo chow down carefree, and added another steak to his plate.

Herli spoke up boldly, "Let's go to big brother's for dinner tomorrow."

Arnold immediately raised his hand, "I agree."

"Same here."

Norton didn't say anything. He didn't really care about such things.

Ye Mo looked up in confusion. He only noticed that today's meal went unusually smoothly—no need to fight for food, and Adelaide hadn't even brought out the second round yet. "Why?"

Baide said with a fond look, "You'll get it when you're older."

Ye Mo didn't get it, so he chose to focus on eating.

Herli looked at Baide with a complicated expression, then reached over to pat Ye Mo's head, still focused on his meal. "Ignore him."

Then her hand paused. The world went silent.

She lifted her hand, then placed it back. Ye Mo, cheeks still puffed, looked up at Herli again, confused.

Herli moved her hand away—noisy. Put it back—quiet.