Li Mochen's timely arrival made his agent, Edward Jeffries, and Borg Ferguson, heave a sigh of relief. They were afraid that Li Mochen wouldn't be interested in the endorsement fees after his change in identity and didn't plan to continue on the path of a fighting superstar.
Carl Holden also looked slightly relieved after seeing Li Mochen. "I thought you weren't going to participate in the competition, Your Highness the Crown Prince of the Wildenstein family."
The change of heir to the Wildenstein Group was now gradually brewing all over America. Many people didn't know the truth and made all kinds of speculations, and rumors were flying everywhere in the outside world.
Some people thought that Li Mochen's performance in recent years had won the appreciation of the Wildenstein family's elders; others thought that Cleo's three siblings launched a coup and were removed from the upper echelons of the Wildenstein Group after their failure; there were also rumors that Philip the First was ill and officially retired behind the scenes, and Conxiuli, who was able to rise to the top, finally revealed his true colors and kicked out the children he had with his first wife. And André, the only male blood descendant of Philip the First and his stepwife, was promoted to the first heir position in one fell swoop.
Carl also didn't know the truth, and Dwight was secretive and didn't tell him the truth. But the change in status between the two sides was real.
According to the rankings made by some organizations in the underground world, the overall combat power, financial power, and influence of the Wildenstein family ranked between 25 and 35 in America. They ranked between twenty-fifth and thirty-fifth in America, and in the heyday of Philip I, they even touched the threshold of the highest family.
And as the first heir to the family, Li Mochen's status and power were equivalent to that of a prince of a small country.
"Crown Prince?"
Li Mochen sneered. "You're deliberately disgusting me, aren't you, Carl?"
"That's what the newspapers and TV are saying now."
Carl Holden spread his hands. "You're no longer a prince in distress, Ammo. More people think that your experience is simply a real-life version of the Gray Prince — the male version of Cinderella."
"So?"
"Right now, the outside world's perception of you is polarizing. Children of aristocratic families are always disliked by the commoners. This is also the reason why many children of aristocratic families are unwilling to enter the world of combat. This makes a lot of people dislike you a little, and those who dislike you hate you even more. But correspondingly, your female fans are more loyal, especially those from the middle class. In their eyes, you are simply their dream, the ideal lover in their dreams. "
Carl bitterly smiled and said, "Our people are fully mobilizing the media to portray you as a person who was abandoned by your family, but struggled hard and finally got the recognition of your family. However, our opponent's media resources are no weaker than ours. Felton Williams and Grimm Adams benefited from their misfortune and gained several times more support than before. The people are looking forward to them defeating you. The heroes of the common people will trample you, a disciple of a famous family, into the mud and strip you of your pride. This is a show that the people love to see. "
Li Mochen only exchanged a few words with Carl before he was forced to stop. This was because his first match was about to begin. His opponent was called Andrew, the runner-up of North Carolina's state competition. He was a contestant who had obtained a wild card from the competition committee due to his strength.
Other than the eighty state champions, the NHSAA National Tournament would also give out ninety-six wild cards to the contestants from each state who were exceptionally strong but had not qualified for the national tournament. These people would first fight against each other, and then the forty-eight victors would join the eighty state champions to decide the top sixty-four.
Li Mochen had to defeat this person and the next round of contestants before he could meet up with Felton Williams in the top thirty-two.
The process of the battle was unremarkable. After three rounds, Li Mochen defeated this student Andrew after a hundred exchanges, taking all fifteen points in twenty minutes and forty seconds.
Two days later, his next opponent was the same as Andrew. He used a Critical Hit once every 100 rounds, and after a total of 300 rounds, he was defeated by him in 19 minutes and 12 seconds.
This opponent's overall strength was slightly stronger than Andrew's, but when they fought, he was a little more impatient, so he took less time.
However, before and after the match ended, there were cheers from both sides of the stands. This made Li Mochen clearly realize that his identity as the first successor to Wildenstein had brought a lot of obstacles to his road to becoming a fighting superstar.
His management company was actually able to help him sign two big endorsement deals, Skywalker Sports Drinks and Cadilla Pharmaceuticals, under these circumstances. It was really hard on them —
"Don't worry about the audience, Ammo. Los Angeles is the West Coast of America after all. And you're a fighting superstar from the East. It would be strange if they would like you. This is Williams's home ground. What you need to care about is the popularity and influence in the country. "
After the second round, Li Mochen's personal manager, Borg Ferguson, didn't care at all about the tsunami of curses in the stands. "The situation now is better than we thought. Your match is still the highest among all the NHSAA national competitions, and the ratings are twice as high as other fighting stars. And the products of Nathan Group and Elizabeth Cosmetics have exploded in sales again. There are many people who support you. How should I say this? In terms of purchasing power, your fan base crushes those stiff (paupers). "
"The situation is also improving now. According to our investigation, many people are now changing their attitude toward you, and they are all real fighting fans."
The one who said this was Carl, his expression solemn. "According to our company's investigation, it should be related to the fact that you've never used strength or speed that exceeds that of a magic ability professional of the same level in the competition, and you've always won with technique. This has made many senior competition critics and retired stars praise you. They think that you have real master-level fighting skills, and the swordsmanship you used in the competition is very exquisite, very practical, and is a skill that can defeat the strong with the weak. This also caused your ratings in the second round of the competition to increase by 1.5% compared to the previous round, and many fighting fans are paying attention to your swordsmanship itself. "
Li Mochen was already aware of this situation.
After these two matches, it could be seen from the sales of his book, Furious Battling the Heavenly Kings. So far, the five published books had a small wave of explosion, and the sales of each had increased by two to three million copies.
"But what comes next is the key. You must defeat your opponent in the next round, Felton Williams, cleanly and beautifully. Otherwise, Ammo, you will become the laughing stock of all of America. And before that, Mr. Williams has already made sufficient preparations. "
Carl's expression was solemn. "Rumor has it that this guy has already entered level eleven and advanced beyond the law. And his overall strength is even enough to fight against those powerful level seventeen or eighteen outsiders. So your odds at several betting companies aren't too good. Now it's 3.27, and those who bet on you winning a hundred rounds are 70.2, and so far no one has bet on you. "
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