Martial Online.

Chapter 455 A-M-B-R-O-S-E

?In Rothsmith Estate's lounging room.

Crackle~

The fireplace crackled as the warm flames danced and illuminated the cozy atmosphere.

Atop the fireplace, a flat-screen television showed the tournament of the century, and currently, it was showing many floating islands with otherworldly landscapes.

Jack watched with coffee in hand and legs crossed.

While the Rothsmith family only had one team—Sunseeker and Moonshadow—that could fight for the victory, he still cheered for the few teams that came from Nocklund.

Anna had an open book on her lap while occasionally glancing up at the intense battles happening on the screen.

There was a golden camera that flew all around the tournament realm, and it was the one that caught all the action and displayed it for the main broadcast.

There were hundreds of other gray cameras, but they only displayed the secondary streams that had nowhere near the same viewership.

However, whoever wanted to try to find their supported teams could try to search through them.

The door opened, and Emma walked in with a red-eyed bunny in her arms. She looked at the flat-screen television with bright eyes.

"Emma, glad to see that you've finally woken up."

Anna looked at her daughter and smiled.

"Have you seen brother yet?"

Emma asked excitedly as she looked at the television.

Jack raised an eyebrow and asked, "He qualified; are you sure?"

"Yup, his name was on the qualified list!"

Emma said with a boastful expression. She also happened to boast to her friends from school about her brother's accomplishment.

"What is his name in the game?"

Jack asked curiously, as he didn't remember ever asking.

Anna also curiously looked at her daughter and brought out the list on her phone, as she planned to check it out herself.

"It's Ambrose!

"Uh, the spelling is A-M-B-R-O-S-E!"

Emma spelled it out eagerly and peeked at the phone over her mother's shoulder to see if her spelling helped her find the name on the qualified list.

'Ambrose…'

Jack thought about the name and wasn't certain whether he had heard about it before.

Anna slowly scrolled down the phone, but then heard her daughter's excited cry behind her.

"There!"

She stopped scrolling, and there was indeed a name on the qualified list - Ambrose.

"Oh, he is there."

Anna looked surprised and smiled in relief.

She was aware that her son had spent quite a lot of time inside the game—so much that they barely saw him except during morning jogs.

It seemed like he had become quite a powerhouse in his own right.

Jack leaned closer to her and looked at the qualified list on the same phone.

He nodded after seeing his name, but when he saw his teammate's name, his expression widened in brief surprise.

"His teammate…"

After hearing her husband's whisper, Anna turned to check who his teammate was, and after seeing it, she let out a surprised cry.

Jack rubbed his chin and said, "So, that's why Moriarty called us."

"Isn't Moriarty quite popular? Why did he want to team up with Jesse…"

Anna wondered, her voice trailing off as she pondered the unlikely partnership.

Emma pouted and shouted, "Because brother is powerful, and he'll qualify to the finals!"

Anna wryly smiled and could tell that not just everyone could qualify for the second round. However, she didn't think qualifying for the finals was a very realistic goal.

It was very competitive, and only the best of the best would make it.

"I'll make a phone call."

Jack said, pulled out his phone from his pocket, and dialed the number. He walked to the corner of the lounging room, right beside a frost-covered window, and placed the phone against his ear.

Click—the phone call connected.

"Good morning, Patriarch."

Jack greeted the person on the other end of the line.

"Good morning. What is it, Jack?"

Mark's elderly yet wise voice sounded from the other side of the line.

"How many teams that have partnerships with the Rothsmith family have qualified?" Jack asked curiously.

"Three." Mark said with a hint of disappointment. "Sunseeker and Moonshadow were 15th in the first round. They're the only ones who can give some competition to the top teams."

"You can add fourth team to that list." Jack said. "My son, Jesse, managed to qualify as well."

"…"

The other side of the phone stayed quiet for some time.

At last, Mark replied, "Not bad, I suppose. What's his team's name?"

Jack walked over to Anna, glanced at the phone, and said, "Phoenix Quill."

"I'll check them out later.

Mark said, and he disconnected the phone call.

Jack looked at the phone, and after seeing that the call was disconnected, he pocketed his phone and sat beside Anna with a frown on his face.

"Is something wrong?"

Anna asked after seeing her husband's expression.

"No, I am just thinking."

Jack said and forced a smile.

However, deep down, there was indeed something that was bothering him.

'Ambrose, I swear I've heard that name somewhere, even though I am not very invested in the whole gaming sphere. But it's been nagging me ever since I heard it.'

…

Mark Rothsmith stood on the balcony of a vast mansion with his phone in hand, deep in contemplation.

'Jesse Rothsmith. He might've qualified through the first round, but that doesn't mean anything. This will be as far as he will go.

'I am sure Jack informed me about this because he wants my opinion on Jesse's progress in the competition.

'It's not bad, but not good either. I only care about the finals, and everyone who fails to reach them is worthless.'

He pocketed the phone and walked through the balcony door, arriving at the room with hundreds of screens showing different scenes happening all around the tournament.

In the same room, hundreds of Rothsmith members were looking at the tournament with concentrated expression while keeping an eye on Sunseeker and Moonshadow, whether they appeared on one of the screens.

In the middle of all of the screens, there was clearly the largest television, which showed the main broadcast.

At the current moment, the main broadcast started to show an island that had never before been shown. However, it looked like it had suffered catastrophic damage as some strange black smoke had corrupted the outskirts of the jungle. ɪꜰ ʏᴏᴜ ᴡᴀɴᴛ ᴛᴏ ʀᴇᴀᴅ ᴍᴏʀᴇ ᴄʜᴀᴘᴛᴇʀs, ᴘʟᴇᴀsᴇ ᴠɪsɪᴛ NovelEnglish.net

Mark crossed his arms and shouted, "Someone, bring out the information about Team Phoenix Quill to me right away!"

A short-haired servant pulled out a tablet, soon found the information about Phoenix Quill, and then handed it over to Mark.

Mark snatched the tablet from the servant's clutches, took a seat on his reclining chair, and started to check out the information with a calm look.

However, as soon as he saw the two members, his eyes shrunk.

'Jesse must be this Ambrose, but his teammate is… Moriarty!'

His eyes widened as he recognized that name as one of the most popular streamers in the world.

Meanwhile, they failed to recruit any of the streamers in the top 10 rankings; one of the members of the Rothsmith family, whom he had very low expectations of, somehow managed to do that!

'Are they friends or what?'

Mark's brows furrowed in deep contemplation. He couldn't understand why someone like him joined up with the bastard son of Jack Rothsmith.

It was unthinkable that they could form any kind of alliance or friendship.

He then looked down at further information, and his eyes shook slightly.

"They were 102nd in the first round."

He nodded, as that was pretty good, but not nearly as good as Sunseeker and Moonshadow. However, he wasn't a fool and knew that the starting position mattered plenty.

"Interesting." Mark motioned for one of the servants to come to him and told him to put the name Phoenix Quill on one of the screens in bold letters.

It was now considered one of Rothsmith's teams.