The King's Avatar Chapter 1007-1010

Translator: Nomyummi Editor: Nomyummi

“Life Extinguisher has entered Windward Formation’s line of sight. Wei Chen immediately had Windward Formation launch an attack. Chaotic Rain has already been cast. Xiao Shiqin…. Xiao Shiqin’s Life Extinguisher dodged it…” Pan Lin instantly became excited as soon as the attack came out, but it ended up having a strong start but a weak finish. He obviously didn’t want that to happen. He had hoped to talk about how Xiao Shiqin was caught off guard and panicked because of Wei Chen’s sudden attack.

Unfortunately, Life Extinguisher dashed diagonally, nimbly circling around Chaotic Rain’s effective range. Xiao Shiqin reacted without delay, not at all rushed. Evidently, Wei Chen’s Windward Formation standing there and attacking didn’t have any of Li Yibo’s “reverse reverse psychology” to it. Xiao Shiqin had been prepared!

After dodging Chaotic Rain, Xiao Shiqin waited to counter attack. Another curse from Windward Formation flew over. A Hexagram Prison suddenly emerged, attempting to seal him in, but Xiao Shiqin reacted promptly and had Life Extinguisher dodge it too. At the same time, he also threw out a Mechanical Seeker. The little robot strode cheerfully, marching towards its target.

At this distance, Xiao Shiqin obviously wasn’t hoping for this skill to damage Windward Formation. It was mainly to distract him, so Wei Chen would have to split his attention elsewhere and have a harder time locking him down.

Wei Chen seemed to not have noticed the robot though. Windward Formation waved his Death’s Hand and continued to point it at Life Extinguisher. Curse after curse was cast, up until the little robot was about to reach him. Only then did Death’s Hand move. A Curse Arrow shot out. Bang! The little robot was shattered into dust. Windward Formation didn’t seem to be affected at all and continued throwing out attacks.

“Xiao Shiqin attempted to use a Mechanical Seeker to distract Wei Chen, but it failed. Wei Chen deserves to be called an experienced player. This type of method isn’t able to faze him.” The commentator Pan Lin saw this scene and quickly commented on it.

“After beating two clearly inexperienced players, Xiao Shiqin will need to make adjustments in this match. He can’t keep playing like he did before!” Li Yibo sighed.

Xiao Shiqin didn’t need anyone to remind him.

Seeing how his little distraction produced no effect, Xiao Shiqin was deeply moved by his opponent’s efficiency. As a player who had joined in season four, Xiao Shiqin had never fought against Wei Chen before. In order to prepare for this match, he had looked up recordings from the past. From a tactics perspective, watching those past recordings didn’t help much because of Glory’s foundation in the game. As the level cap increased, new strategies and tactics would be created. Back then was still the Level 50 era. Those past tactics wouldn’t work in this day and age. Xiao Shiqin simply wanted to get a feel for his opponent’s style from these old matches. He felt like he wasn’t getting enough information from the Challenger League. Most of the time, the gap between the opponents was too wide. There was nothing valuable to learn from those matchups.

From the match recordings of Team Blue Rain’s old captain, Xiao Shiqin’s deepest thought was that Huang Shaotian had truly inherited Team Blue Rain’s glorious tradition of trash talking!

At the same time, Xiao Shiqin once again felt gratified at Yu Wenzhou, whose hand speed was no good. If Team Blue Rain’s two ace players had both inherited that non-stop trash talking tradition, it would have brought disaster upon the entire Alliance.

How lucky, how lucky……

After rejoicing inwardly for a bit, he obviously had some understanding of Wei Chen’s style. Wei Chen was an aggressive player. His tricks or his disrespect for his opponents were simply a way to disrupt the opponent’s mentality. Because after every little trick came a sharp wave of attacks.

Warlocks were proficient at controlling their opponents. His style seemed to be made for this class. As for whether Wei Chen picked this class because of his style or the class made him play in such a way, Xiao Shiqin didn’t know. From those past matches, Xiao Shiqin deeply felt that facing this player required staying calm and maintaining steadiness. This wasn’t easy. You could restrain your actions, but how could you restrain what you felt? As a result, it could be seen from those past matches that many clearly strong players lost miserably against Wei Chen. The performance that those players displayed wasn’t at all what it should be.

There were exceptions though. The one that stood out the most was his current teammate, Ye Xiu. In that year’s match, Wei Chen wanted to distance himself from Ye Xiu to assail him with trash talk, but Ye Xiu rushed towards him and slapped him relentlessly until there was no future left in Wei Chen because he was already dead.

It was like that……

Xiao Shiqin had thought up a way to deal with Wei Chen, and the person who gave him the greatest lesson just happened to be Wei Chen’s teammate , Ye Xiu.

Life Extinguisher, who had been dodging Windward Formation’s attacks the entire time, suddenly stopped and was hit by a Voodoo Curse.

It was only a DoT skill. Xiao Shiqin smiled. Life Extinguisher didn’t dodge the attack and instead launched his own attack.

Hunter!

This wasn’t the same as that Mechanical Seeker. Hunter was far faster than a Mechanical Seeker. As soon as the mechanical dog landed, it immediately pounced on Windward Formation.

Blood Siphon Curse, Soul Entanglement.

Life Extinguisher was hit by two more curses. Xiao Shiqin didn’t have any intention of dodging those two, although he did dodge the Binding Curse. While he ate those two curses, Life Extinguisher launched two more of his own attacks.

Air Drop, Self-propelled Artillery.

After releasing Hunter, he started an attack from the skies and the ground. Even though Life Extinguisher was suffering from several debuffs, that wouldn’t kill him so quickly. He used forceful attacks to destroy the other’s control.

Warlocks had cast times, so they had no way of casting curses under such concentrated attacks. Windward Formation withdrew and retreated.

“Windward Formation is falling back! Xiao Shiqin paid the price of three debuffs to win this opportunity to launch a dense wave of attacks. Wei Chen has no choice but to retreat. Windward Formation is starting to move. Hm… he’s only going to here….. here…..”

The commentator Pan Lin hesitated for an instant. Air Drop’s surprise attack had arrived. Bombs dropped down from the stomachs of those Rising Winter Melons. Boom boom boom boom. Explosions erupted one after the other. However, these bombs exploded above Windward Formation’s head, so the only things that fell were a few effect scraps. Windward Formation had found some cover for his head with just a few steps back. In the end, Air Drop was only able to get him to move to a different platform.

“Wei Chen found some a good cover. Air Drop is unable to reach Windward Formation, but there’s still that Self-propelling Artillery. Ah…. the Self-propelling Artillery can’t reach here either. Windward Formation has a cover in front of him. Self-propelling Artillery isn’t able to get to this height.”

The machines summoned by Mechanics weren’t huge fierce metal beasts. The majority of them were small precise gadgets. The Rising Winter Melons from Air Drop were about the size of a watermelon. The Self-propelling Artillery was even smaller. A washbasin was big enough to hold it.

Stopping these attacks wasn’t impossible. If not, if Air Drop actually dropped bombs like a real bomber, wouldn’t the map just get completely decimated?

As a result, Wei Chen found two covers, easily blocking both of these attacks. Behind those high walls, Windward Formation didn’t delay and started casting. After reaching this position, he continued his attacks on Life Extinguisher. As for that Hunter, he had trapped it with a Hexagram Prison long ago. That stupid dog was fearless and tried to escape. It was a challenge of skill priority which ended with the dog being turned itself into a pile of scrap metal.

Xiao Shiqin had eaten three debuffs to launch those attacks, but all of them were stopped just like that. What stood in his way had just been a platform and a tall wall.

“Wei Chen utilized the terrain beautifully, blocking Xiao Shiqin’s attacks. We talked about this when the match first started. Team Excellent Era should have a greater understanding of the maps than Team Happy. Xiao Shiqin’s performance has confirmed this conjecture. His familiarity with this map is as if this is one of his home maps, but it looks like the two details that Wei Chen used to block his attacks were details that he hadn’t studied!” Pan Lin said.

“This… Xiao Shiqin might have known about them, but he probably didn’t think that Wei Chen would be able to react so quickly!” Li Yibo said.

“It looks like Xiao Shiqin underestimated Wei Chen’s familiarity with the map. Disregarding everything else, Wei Chen has never left this part of the map ever since he started. Even if he wasn’t familiar with it at the start, he’s got to be familiar with it by now! Haha….” Pan Lin said half-jokingly, but Li Yibo was surprised.

He thought of when this round first started. Wei Chen’s Windward Formation didn’t leave and instead strolled around the spawn point. Could it be that this guy really had been studying the map? He planned on fighting Xiao Shiqin here, so he utilized the time it took for Xiao Shiqin to reach there to study the area around his spawn point?

Yes, it must be like that!

Li Yibo was certain about his guess because at this moment, Wei Chen once again utilized the terrain to beautifully to negate Xiao Shiqin’s attack. Pan Lin was currently in awe!

However, this discovery couldn’t be talked about! Because previously, he had been certain that Wei Chen’s movements at the start was a part of his “reverse reverse psychology”. If he said that Wei Chen was actually utilizing this time to study the terrain, wouldn’t that be the same as slapping his own face?

Chapter 1008: Focused Playstyle

Translator: Nomyummi Editor: Nomyummi

This wasn’t the first time Li Yibo had dug himself into a hole like this. With the experience he gained in all these years, his mastery of digging out was top notch.

“Wei Chen leaving Windward Formation there wasn’t just a psychological battle. He even took that time to familiarize himself with the environment. Now he’s able to utilize the environment to his advantage and grasp the upper hand firmly.” Li Yibo was composed as he continued talking, still not denying the idea of a psychological battle as he explained his new discovery.

“So that’s how it is!” Pan Lin was enlightened. He hadn’t manage to notice that. As for Li Yibo’s thick skinned eisegesis, he was long since used to it and couldn’t be bothered to say anything about it.

“In fact, from the beginning of their exchange, Xiao Shiqin’s Life Extinguisher has been continuously suppressed. The few times that he attempted to take the initiative back, he was easily thwarted by Wei Chen. These few counterattacks have fully utilized the environment.”

“Ah! Life Extinguisher has taken yet another blow! Once again, the terrain was fully used to his advantage. The Curse Arrows struck from a dead angle and a Soul Slice from the right. Xiao Shiqin made the decision to let Life Extinguisher take the better of two evils, the Curse Arrows, but he never noticed that there was a Binding Curse in the shadows of those Curse Arrows!”

“Xiao Shiqin is in a very passive situation right now, but he’s already understood where the problem lies. Look at his actions. He isn’t trying to counterattack anymore, but turn and retreat to regroup,” Li Yibo said.

“However, he’s taken a Binding Curse, so taking another wave of damage is certain.”

“Death’s Door, Wei Chen has directly activated the powerful move Death’s Door. He wants to trap Life Extinguisher in this corner! It seems like he’s noticed the change in Xiao Shiqin’s intentions and is willing to bet all his chips on this powerful skill, Death’s Door. The duration of the Binding Curse is just enough for Death’s Door’s chant. Just this skill might not be enough! However, if this Death’s Door hits Life Extinguisher, then he can use a round of attacks to deal massive damage to Life Extinguisher!” Li Yibo, who was usually composed and talking like a master presiding over the rivers and mountains, had now become excited as well as the match crescendoed. Everyone stared intently at the progress of Windward Formation’s cast time. What would happen once this skill was unleashed?

“Ah! Life Extinguisher moved first!!!” Pan Lin suddenly yelled. “He’s managed to struggle out of the Binding Curse early. Windward Formation’s chant seems a step too slow.”

“This is simply a character advantage! This is an All Star level character’s advantage. Usually, the duration of a Binding Curse is more than enough time to cast a Death’s Door, but Life Extinguisher’s spirit resistance has allowed him to escape the Binding Curse earlier. Windward Formation’s Death’s Door…. Huh, this Death’s Door….” Li Yibo suddenly came to a halt in the middle of his sentence. Windward Formation’s chant ended a little too late, and this lateness was meant to be the crucial opening for Life Extinguisher’s successful escape, but in reality, that wasn’t what had happened, because this Death’s Door had a larger range. Life Extinguisher might’ve been able to get the chance to run earlier, but he was still under the control of this Death’s Door.

“Life Extinguisher didn’t manage to escape! He’s still within Death’s Door’s range. How come this Death’s Door seems larger than the usual Death’s Door we’re familiar with? Coach Li?” Pan Lin said.

“Yes, this Death’s Door does have a larger range indeed… at least two levels higher than the usual Death’s Door,” Li Yibo said.

“Two levels higher, how excessive!” Pan Lin was shocked. For a powerful skill like Death’s Door, one level would cost an immense number of skill points, and for this skill, it’s crowd control was more important for Warlocks who specialized in control, not damage. So, for this powerful skill, usual skill builds wouldn’t max it out, only upgrading the skill to meet their needs. Especially for pro characters, they would be built according to their team’s style, strategies, so they went for an efficient build. After all, skill points were limited, if it really was possible to max out all skills, then this problem wouldn’t exist. For Warlocks, a maxed out Death’s Door? That was common amongst most normal players, but in the pro scene, you couldn’t even describe it as being like phoenix feathers and qilin horns, because it didn’t even exist.

“This… is probably a habit from Wei Chen’s years in the online game after retirement! Having gotten used to it, he probably finds it hard to change his habits,” Li Yibo explained weakly. How would he know that the main reason for the grandiose Death’s Door was that Windward Formation had more skill points than most pro characters. For many characters, investing in this skill would have been a burden, but for Windward Formation, two levels up was nothing, and his Silver weapon Death’s Hand added a level, too. For other Warlocks it maybe excessive, but for Windward Formation, this was an economic build for him.

“Ok, though Life Extinguisher used his higher spirit to get out of the Binding Curse earlier, Windward Formation used his higher level Death’s Door to keep him within the area of control… Windward Formation is now on the offense again, and Life Extinguisher… Life Extinguisher is continuously using gadgets, but within the range of Death’s Door, this is simply a waste! Life Extinguisher hasn’t just gotten on the field, this is already his third battle. Why would Xiao Shiqin waste so much mana?” Pan Lin was dumbstruck, staring at the match.

Originally, there was only one target in Death’s Door, but Xiao Shiqin’s continuous release of mechanical tools caused more and more miasma to coil out from the Death’s Door, dancing across the field. However, these mechanical tools were fragile and and couldn’t be controlled to dodge like the character itself could, mostly being swiftly caught and destroyed by the miasma. Even so, Xiao Shiqin continued to make Life Extinguisher throw them out relentlessly and black streams flew all over the area Death’s Door covered, explosions everywhere, coming from the gadgets that Life Extinguisher was throwing out. Soon enough, the reason for his actions became crystal clear. Using this chaos, Life Extinguisher somehow managed to escape from Death’s Door’s range.

“Ah… Life Extinguisher escaped! The attacks Windward Formation sent in combination with the Death’s Door didn’t manage to hinder him at all. The field was too chaotic and this was all caused by Xiao Shiqin’s willingness to sacrifice his mana to create this opening.”

“Sacrificing mana to keep his health. This is probably the only thing Xiao Shiqin could do. Actually, this isn’t the first time he’s used this method to escape a Warlock’s control,” Li Yibo said.

“Oh?”

“He’s done this in a match against Blue Rain before,” Li Yibo clarified.

“Oh? Against Yu Wenzhou’s Swoksaar?”

“Of course. Since Yu Wenzhou isn’t as up to task regarding hand speed, he didn’t manage to keep pace in such a chaotic situation like this and Xiao Shiqin’s Life Extinguisher managed to escape. For Wei Chen, he is no longer in his prime, so his reaction speed and mechanics can’t keep up with a situation like this either. Blue Rain’s ex and current Warlock players were both thwarted by this method of Xiao Shiqin’s, this coincidence…” Li Yibo sighed.

“However, Xiao Shiqin still isn’t a good position!” Pan Lin pointed out.

“That’s true. He used a great amount of mana and doesn’t have much left. If he can’t consume it efficiently, his mana probably wouldn’t last for the duration of this match,” Li Yibo agreed.

“However, this is already his third round. What he’s done so far is already enough of a victory!”

“Of course, it’s almost a one versus three. Xiao Shiqin has already done his best.”

The two were analyzing the match, talking one after the other. From their words, it was clear that they didn’t think Xiao Shiqin had a chance to win this match anymore. Though he had successfully thwarted Wei Chen’s plan to trap him, he had used up too much mana, and next, unless…

“Ah, Xiao Shiqin hasn’t left. After a strategic repositioning, he turned around and went on the offensive!!” Pan Lin yelled in surprise. He and Li Yibo had both thought that after escaping, Xiao Shiqin would have Life Extinguisher leave the area that had been the target of Wei Chen’s thorough research. They never expected him to turn after escaping and mount an offense.

“Uh, it seems like Xiao Shiqin feels that there’s no point in stalling any further, hoping to use this wave of attacks to deal as much damage as possible to Windward Formation and pave the way for the next player on his team!” Li Yibo guessed.

“Air Drop! However, this time Windward Formation has no cover within reach… Just escaping from Death’s Door, Xiao Shiqin has already used up a lot of skills, so most are still on cooldown. However, he’s using what he can to initiate attacks. He added a lot of normal shots, making up for the lack of skills to combo! Wei Chen doesn’t seem to be dealing with this round of attacks very well! That first Air Drop forced him to move and stop his attacks.”

“Self-propelling Artillery! This cooldown ended just at the perfect time to be used there.”

“Huh? There seems to be a Cruiser over there. When did he summon that? Windward Formation is retreating, trying to find cover against the Self-Propelling Artillery. Aiya, he’s been trapped. Windward Formation’s path was blocked by that Cruiser so he can’t get to the cover he needs and can only face the Self-Propelling Artillery head on. Aiyou, he’s not dealing with those blasts well!”

“The Hunter is in pursuit, too. Life Extinguisher’s offense is very consistent. He’s seen through Wei Chen’s use of the environment. Windward Formation retreats, ah! A Mechanical Seeker darted out from around the corner and he didn’t see it either. He didn’t see it and was hit… Windward Formation was hit by the Mechanical Seeker’s explosion and the Hunter has lunged for him… Coach Li… This…”

Li Yibo, who had been making a calculated guess about Xiao Shiqin paving the way for the next player on his team, was stunned by Xiao Shiqin’s relentless offense and immediately opened his mouth to express a new opinion. “Is Xiao Shiqin planning to wipe Windward Formation out in one wave? Let’s see if he can do it.”

Chapter 1009: A True Mechanic

Translator: Nomyummi Editor: Nomyummi

Eh, does Life Extinguisher have enough mana to wipe him out in one go?” At this time Pan Lin raised a question, one that almost everyone was concerned about. Life Extinguisher’s mana was indeed very low, especially after it had been squandered in order to escape from the clutches of Death’s Door. It looked as if it could run out at any moment.

Li Yibo didn’t immediately reply. After carefully examining the situation for a moment, he finally responded. “Xiao Shiqin is currently using many normal attacks to connect his offense and suppress his opponent. He is being extremely careful.”

“From their mana…” As Pan Lin looked at Life Extinguisher’s mana consumption and Windward Formation’s health decrease, he was momentarily stumped.

Li Yibo once again didn’t reply. However, when he carefully examined the situation again, he too couldn’t figure out the problem. From his observations, there was definitely insufficient mana. However, Life Extinguisher’s attack rhythm was very steady. At this moment, when his mana had been completely exhausted, he had suddenly started holding his fire. Li Yibo thought that this kind of thing shouldn’t happen when fighting against a peak pro player.

Digging himself into a hole was something that Li Yibo hadn’t done infrequently. However, when he could avoid it, he always did. Now, he didn’t dare to recklessly come to a conclusion, because he was very aware of the fact that players at Xiao Shiqin’s level couldn’t be completely understood by him in this day and age.

Life Extinguisher’s assault continued, yet many of the spectators had already forgotten to watch the battle, instead focusing on Life Extinguisher’s mana bar. They wanted to see when the light blue bar, which showed the character’s fighting strength, would reach its limit.

Still not there, never there!

Life Extinguisher miraculously continued his attacks, fighting very conservatively. It wasn’t at all like the previous two matches, especially not like the one with Deception, large-scaled and ostentatious. If the match with Deception could be called indiscriminate bombing, then Life Extinguisher’s current offensive could be likened to driving a train, car after car cleanly crossing in front of you. Every car accomplished its mission, never failing once.

“A very efficient offensive . . .” After a long period of silence, Pan Lin finally jumped out with this line.

“Indeed,” Li Yibo nodded. So far, Life Extinguisher had landed every hit without fail. Each blow had managed to achieve its purpose, something that was almost unbelievable on a professional stage. It wasn’t as if his opponent was a corpse.

Except, at this moment Windward Formation seemed to be a corpse, being rigidly suppressed.

“Wei Chen … has fallen into a trap.” Li Yibo suddenly came to this conclusion.

“What?”

“Xiao Shiqin just reversed the situation, utilizing the terrain. Everything Wei Chen relied on before has suddenly become a trap. See …” Just as Li Yibo said this, the screen showed Windward Formation backed into a corner from trying to evade the attacks. However, just as he turned, a land mine suddenly exploded. Wei Chen had nowhere to hide, because he was being attacked from all sides.

“When was that landmine placed?” Pan Lin suddenly yelled out. “Since Xiao Shiqin began his offensive, Life Extinguisher hasn’t had a chance to visit this position.”

“What about before?” Li Yibo asked.

“Before …” Pan Lin suddenly had a vague impression, “It appears that he had come over, but at that time …”

“At that time he was still being suppressed by Windward Formation’s use of the terrain,” Li Yibo continued.

Pan Lin was shocked. Absolutely and thoroughly shocked. He even forgot that he was currently providing live commentary. He had no words to describe the amazement he was currently feeling in his heart. Xiao Shiqin had actually placed a land mine at this spot at that time. This meant that he had already planned his attack at that moment.

Xiao Shiqin wasn’t at all unaware of Wei Chen’s strategy of utilizing the map. He had simply beat Wei Chen at his own game, using himself as an experiment to reveal Wei Chen’s plans. In fact, he had already made plans to counterattack at that time. Every move he made now had been precisely calculated. This was how his highly efficient offense had come about.

Master Tactician Xiao Shiqin. His fundamental grasp of Glory had only truly been revealed at this moment. He had this sly old fox in the palm of his hand, completely reversing everything that Wei Chen depended on. The following offensive had pretty much followed a defined sequence of events. Every move pressured Wei Chen, giving him no choice but to respond as expected. And each of these responses unfortunately gave Xiao Shiqin more opportunities to make things difficult for him, to the extent that basic attacks became the main method of reducing Windward Formation’s health. This could be easily seen in the statistics outputted by the system.

In terms of effectively injuring Windward Formation, the percentage of damage done by basic attacks was an astonishing 41.12%. This was indeed an extremely unusual circumstance, and as a result the broadcast specially cut to an image of the statistics to display to the viewers.

There wasn’t another explosion nor another mistake.

Xiao Shiqin’s movements truly seemed like those of a Mechanic, highly efficient and accurate.

Excellent Era was victorious. Xiao Shiqin had completed a 1v3, bringing Excellent Era a beautiful opening in the group arena, one that couldn’t possibly be more perfect. The Excellent Era fans in the stadium couldn’t control their excitement. The cheers they made drowned everything else out. Even words said face-to-face needed to be shouted to be heard.

In this situation, Wei Chen could only imagine the treatment he would receive. Yet, he was already past the point of caring about these things. As he returned to his seat on Happy’s side, his face was grave, to the point that Chen Guo almost couldn’t recognize him. His face was full of disappointment and concern, disappointment about this match, and concern for how the following matches would play out. This … where was the shameless Wei Chen that they were all so familiar with?

“With Xiao Shiqin’s successful 1v3, we can pretty much guarantee Excellent Era’s victory in the group arena. The real question is how many points can they obtain.”

“Under the new system of calculating points based on the number of players, even with this big of a lead, the team in the lead can’t relax. Of course, Happy is even less likely to let their guards down. So, who will Happy send onstage next?”

The camera pointed towards Team Happy’s preparation area. The person who stood up was completely unfamiliar to the camera, because prior to this, he had never allowed himself to appear on screen, refusing any coverage. Except this time, after coming out of retirement, he didn’t seem to resist at all.

“It’s Ye Qiu!!” Even though Pan Lin didn’t recognize him, he could see who it was from the competition’s lineup. “Now he ought to be called Ye Xiu, but simply changing a name doesn’t erase much. Happy’s fourth player is indeed Excellent Era’s former captain, the founder of Glory’s first dynasty, God Ye Qiu. After announcing his retirement, he suddenly established the grassroots Team Happy to return to the Glory scene. Throughout the Challenger League, he has brought us many surprises. And now, he and his team have reached the Challenger League finals, but blocking their path now is his old mother team, the team with which he won endless glory and countless cheers with. Now, Ye Xiu is representing Team Happy onstage. Team Happy has had a very unfavorable beginning in the group arena, while Excellent Era resolutely sent out their God Xiao Shiqin, showcasing his might in the group arena. Even though his character’s mana is mostly depleted, I can’t imagine that he’ll back off easily. In the previous round, Xiao Shiqin also had this miniscule amount of mana, using basic attacks to dish out 50% of his damage and achieving an ultimate victory. How will he perform this round, facing against Ye Xiu?” As soon as he saw Ye Xiu onstage, Pan Lin was also excited. Why had this year’s Challenger League received so much attention? Wasn’t it just for this very moment?

“Ye Xiu is walking towards the competition area. Communicating in the stadium is very difficult now. If I took off my headphones right now, all I would hear is booing. That’s right, sounds of booing. The audience is currently booing Ye Xiu very loudly. The following match is, in reality, one that many are unwilling to watch. Especially the Excellent Era fans; this booing is their protest. Their former hero has now become their enemy. For a long time now, this has been a type of cruelty in the pro scene. Ye Xiu had once borne the weight of far too much of Excellent Era’s troubles. Now, his animosity is something that many fans are unable to accept. This type of attitude is something we can all understand. However, a competition is still a competition. No matter what, we’re still hoping to see an exciting round.”

“At present, Ye Xiu has already entered the competition booth, and both characters have already been loaded. The match is about to begin. From the data on-screen, we can see that Life Extinguisher truly has very little mana left. If he still wants to kill his opponent like this, then I think his normal attacks would have to make up for more than 95% of his damage output, right?”

From the moment Ye Xiu appeared, Pan Lin had remained excited. Even as Ye Xiu walked over to the player booth, he had talked incessantly, not pausing until this moment when he had finally given Li Yibo a chance to get a word in.

“He he, there’s really no point in calculating this. Life Extinguisher’s remaining mana really isn’t enough to launch any kind of offense. Even during the last round, although normal attacks did a significant amount of the damage, the things that truly suppressed and controlled Windward Formation were still his gadgets. With Life Extinguisher’s current mana supply, there’s really no suspense to this match. Let’s instead watch in anticipation for the dialogue these two will exchange!” Li Yibo said.

Dialogue?

There was no dialogue.

As the fourth round of the group arena began, Xiao Shiqin finally stopped relying on tactics to open the match. Instead, he directly controlled Life Extinguisher to move towards the center of the map, directly meeting Lord Grim in the middle. The two sides clashed without hesitation. Life Extinguisher’s mana level was indeed too low to back up his attacks. After a few exchanges, Life Extinguisher’s mana ran out completely, and afterwards, the match concluded in the most straightforward way possible: after typing out a GG in the public channel, he directly withdrew from the match. (Author Note: GG is a polite phrase used in esports meaning Good Game. If you don’t know this, let me spread the word).

Withdrawing meant admitting defeat. In the esports scene, this had always been allowed, and Glory was no exception. Although Life Extinguisher still had some health left after his mana ran out, Xiao Shiqin decisively used this method to withdraw. No one in the audience felt much regret about this. Rather, they exploded in enthusiastic cheers and applause.

At this, even Excellent Era’s boss Tao Xuan smiled in satisfaction, standing up to applaud. In this manner, he showed his support for Xiao Shiqin’s decision to directly withdraw.

Continuing to skirmish and tiring out the opponent a bit would also have been okay. However, with this kind of dominating lead, continuing to fuss over small amounts really wouldn’t be proper for a former dynasty team. Tao Xuan felt very gratified that Xiao Shiqin had not brought his habits from his previous team over to Excellent Era. This kind of relentless fighting really didn’t suit Excellent Era, especially against this kind of opponent. As for Xiao Shiqin’s performance, Tao Xuan was truly pleased. He had integrated into this team well, possessing the style that the team should have.

At this moment, Excellent Era’s second player had already stood up, a youth that was unfamiliar to many people. Under the cover of the stadium’s cheers for Xiao Shiqin, he silently walked towards Excellent Era’s player booth.

Chapter 1010: Excellent Era’s Rookie

Translator: Nomyummi Editor: Nomyummi

“Team Excellent Era’s second player for this match is now heading for the stage. I believe many of you are unfamiliar with this pro player. His name is Qiu Fei, and was promoted from Team Excellent Era’s training camp just this season. The team underwent large adjustments during the time of its elimination this summer. Three core players left the team with Xiao Shiqin joining. In addition to that, Qiu Fei was selected to join the front lines from the training camp.” Pan Lin introduced the Excellent Era player upon his debut.

“Yes, if we add on the fact that Ye Qiu retired last winter, and the addition of Sun Xiang, Excellent Era changed almost all of their core members within the last year and a half.” Li Yibo said.

“Yeah, especially their captain Ye Qiu, and vice captain Liu Hao. These two core player left. Then there’s also He Ming, the member who appeared mostly as the sixth player in the matches. He and Liu Hao were traded for Xiao Shiqin, and joined Team Thunderclap. There was also Guo Yang, who joined Team Wind Howl last summer.” Pan Lin introduced Excellent Era’s trades.

“Mm, all the players that left Excellent Era are doing well this year.” Li Yibo spoke.

“Indeed, they are now part of the main rosters of their respective teams. Team Wind Howl, which Guo Yang joined, also went through some large adjustments throughout the year. There’s the addition of Tang Hao, the new ace, and Zhao Yuzhe, last season’s Best Rookie, as the main roster’s pillars. With the addition of a capable player like Guo Yang, Team Wind Howl’s performance this season has been outstanding. We can say that the team has risen to the top of the the league, no?” Pan Lin said.

“Yes, for Team Wind Howl, they no longer have to think about whether they can make it to playoffs. They should be considering how they can make it to the finals.” Li Yibo said.

“Liu Hao and He Ming have also been very good after joining Team Thunderclap. Team Thunderclap was very close to squeezing into the finals in the first half of the season. However, after the Glory’s update in the winter season, Team Thunderclap took a hit to their placings and are currently slipping behind.”

“That’s unavoidable for updates like these.” Li Yibo said.

“True, as for Qiu Fei, he’s a rookie found by Excellent Era after all those outstanding players left the team.” Pan Lin rounded back to what was currently happening.

“There’s a lot of strong rookies this season!” Li Yibo sighed.

“Yes, like Lu Hanwen of Blue Rain and Gao Yingjie of Tiny Herb. Both of their performances this season have been outstanding, so much so that they even played at All Stars.”

“I’ve noticed something interesting. The classes of Lu Hanwen, Gao Yingjie, and Qiu Fei coincidentally all match the class of their team’s ace players.”

“Yes… They will all become the future of their team as well as the league’s.”

“However, compared to Lu Hanwen and Gao Yingjie, who have experienced the matches from the league, Qiu Fei can only fight in the Challenger League this season!”

“Although he’s played a few matches… uh, this might seem disrespectful towards Excellent Era’s opponents, but I’ve got to say: the level of the opponents in the Challenger League aren’t really a good judge of Excellent Era’s level.”

“That’s true.” Li Yibo agreed.

“That’s why for Qiu Fei, this is the first challenge he’s ever truly faced!” Pan Lin said.

“This is a pretty big one too. His first opponent is Ye Qiu.”

“Yes, is there anyone else on this planet who knows Battle Mages better than Ye Qiu?” Pan Lin said.

“Keep it low, there are also a lot of outstanding pro players internationally.” Li Yibo laughed.

“Alright……” His words from before were only a form of hype, so he didn’t try to argue back. He continued to talk about the highlight player, Qiu Fei: “If Excellent Era nurtured this player with the intention of making him the successor, then the first player he would have succeed would be Ye Qiu!”

“Obviously.”

“Then when Ye Qiu was still part of Excellent Era, he would have taught Qiu Fei through words and example. The both of them might be familiar with each other.” Pan Lin said.

“But Ye Xiu has changed classes since, and no one has ever seen this type of character before in the pro scene. No one would dare to say they are familiar with his class.” Li Yibo said.

“But with Ye Qiu’s familiarity with the Battle Mage, he wouldn’t simply forget about it after changing classes! If it were like that, this match will be even harder for Qiu Fei.” Pan Lin said.

“That’s not entirely true,” Li Yibo laughed, “Ye Qiu knows about the Battle Mage, but that doesn’t mean he knows the player. The Qiu Fei that he knew was the Qiu Fei from one and a half years ago. Young players like Qiu Fei won’t be in a set shape in all areas, so no one can predict his growth. If Ye Qiu is trying to understand him by sticking up with the past, then I believe Qiu Fei will definitely give him a surprise this match. There must be a reason for Team Excellent Era to arrange such a young player to fight this round. I think it might be based on this mindset.”

Pan Lin was truly convinced by Li Yibo’s thinking: “You are right.”

“Alright, Qiu Fei has already entered the competition area, the match is about to start!”

When Ye Xiu started to appear on stage, the topics of the commentator increased. After the appearance of Qiu Fei, the two echoed each other and talked nonstop. Now that the match official started, Pan Lin’s spirit also rose. He personally looked forward to such a showdown.

“The current screen is now showing information about Qiu Fei’s character, Combat Form. Team Excellent Era is worthy of possessing the Battle God, One Autumn Leaf. Qiu Fei’s Combat Form also has good equipment. His character has ten pieces of Silver equipment. This is comparable with many of the top God characters! The character’s stats are also outstanding. 1314 Strength and 1310 Intelligence. Qiu Fei’s Combat Form inherited One Autumn Leaf’s style, where the Strength and Intelligence are relatively balanced.”

“Haha, when I saw that data, I was also shocked! Those stats are even higher than One Autumn Leaf’s!”

“Hahaha, it seems like you must have forgotten for a moment, that it’s the Level 75 generation. You were probably comparing this data with One Autumn Leaf’s data from the Level 70 generation.”

“I was. It’s a habit gained from commentating for a few years, so I wasn’t able to adjust my mind at the time.” Li Yibo said.

“I hope that, after this match, whether it’s Combat Form or One Autumn Leaf, both will eave a new impression in your mind. Alright, the match has officially started. The map is still Dockside Town, and both characters have appeared at the spawn point, what will they do?”

“Oh! None of them are moving strategically! Neither of them are moving strategically, whether it’s Ye Qiu’s….. Sorry, he now goes by Ye Xiu, whether it’s Ye Xiu’s Lord Grim or Qiu Fei’s Combat Form, neither of them are moving strategically. Both of them are heading straight for the center of the map.” Pan Lin shouted.

“Mm, what Qiu Fei did was correct. Even if he could give Ye Qiu, uh… Ye Xiu a lot of unknown moves, in terms of tactics, I think it would be best if he didn’t try to surprise Ye Xiu.” Li Yibo said.

“You’re right.”

“As for Ye Xiu, if this were the first round of the group arena, he would have carried out some form of tactics, but after Xiao Shiqin continuously fought three people from Happy, the morale is in dire need of an increase. They would need a person to stand out and fight resolutely, then defeat them directly. This would be a way to boost morale. After all, the group arena isn’t everything, there’s still the team competition afterwards. If Happy is in fear of Excellent Era’s grandeur, then they will definitely lose. The most urgent matter for Ye Xiu is to save Team Happy’s morale.”

“That’s right. Okay, both of them have now gotten closer to the center of the map. They should be opponents that are familiar with each other, and they might still have the bond of teacher and student. However, they didn’t exchange any words and headed straight towards the center to fight. There are still around 40 units of space between them, so they will meet soon.”

“30 units! Oh! He attacks! Ye Xiu launched the first attack. Lord Grim is running while firing his gun.” Pan Lin shouted.

“Lord Grim’s Silver weapon is very interesting and can change into various kinds of forms. As far as we know, it already includes the weapons of the six main classes. This is why Ye Xiu can control Lord Grim to easily use all the skills an unspecialized can use among the six main classes. A lot of newer players might not know too much about the unspecialized class. This playstyle was popular for a certain amount of time in the early days of Glory. However, the main problem was changing weapons to use skills. As everyone knows, many of the skills in Glory can only be used with the corresponding weapon of that class, so an unspecialized would have to change his weapon constantly in order to continue using skills of all the classes. Putting the matter of how complicated and often he would have to change his weapon aside, the cooldown between changing weapons also needed to be taken into consideration. This would confine the options the unspecialized could take. However, the Myriad Manifestations Umbrella in Lord Grim’s hand perfectly solves all of those problems. The various forms of transformation his umbrella undertakes doesn’t seem to have any cooldown. It could be said that this weapon is specifically designed for an unspecialized character. Okay……we can save this topic for later, so let’s watch the match for now.” Li Yibo saw that the two had already clashed in the match, so he stopped with his introduction on the information.

“Qiu Fei controlled Combat Form to dodge Lord Grim’s previous fire. Lord Grim didn’t use a kiting method despite having the advantage of a greater attacking distance. He still continued to rush straight at Combat Form.”

“Combat Form attacks and starts with Falling Flower Palm!”

“Lord Grim moves and successfully dodges!”

“Oh! There’s a small detail here…”

“Tyrant’s Destruction!!!” Pan Lin’s yell cut off Li Yibo’s attempt to explain. Li Yibo was helpless because the fight was intense from the very start. He didn’t have the chance to take advantage of what happened to give some high-level explanations.

“Lord Grim blocked it! This is the Blade Master’s Guard! Combat Form’s Falling Flower Palm was connected very suddenly with Tyrant’s Destruction. Lord Grim had no way to dodge, so he could only use Guard to catch it.” Pan Lin cried.