The King’s Avatar - Chapter 175

Chapter 175: Three Chances Waiting For You

Qiao Yifan’s One Inch Ash soared from Level 23 to Level 30 in a mere several days. This sort of leveling speed was even quicker than the big guild’s 24 hour online routine.
The big guild’s characters were always at the front of the tenth server. You had to rely on yourself to resolve your own problems. Even though Ye Xiu and his group’s characters were a bit behind, their situation was about the same. They were slower because they weren’t able to play as much.
The power leveling done by Qiao Yifan’s One Inch Ash didn’t lose to the amount of play time the big guild’s leading characters players had. For his character to level up so quickly, it was because his One Inch Ash started later. The situation was similar to those in the old servers.
A character in any old server would definitely level faster than one in the new server. The reason was simple: there were people to carry them.
Even though the tenth server didn’t have as many high-leveled characters as the old servers, for late starters like One Inch Ash, there would definitely be high-leveled characters to help him. The reason he was able to fully utilize the quickest substitution leveling was because of this.
Ye Xiu naturally knew about this. When he saw how quick One Inch Ash leveled, he had figured out that the character was being power leveled.
As a result, Ye Xiu conducted a special training in Desolate Land today. That’s why after they finished their practice in Desolate Land, he urged everyone repeatedly to not level today.
If they continued leveling, they would reach Level 31. Once they went past the level limit for the dungeon, the record they would set wouldn’t be accepted by the system.
“I hope he’ll come early!” Tang Rou lamented, while carrying her teacup back to her seat.
In game, Poplar Beach spammed messages in the world channel for another half an hour, while Ye Xiu was just doing his own thing. Ye Xiu would sometimes glance at the messages. The ones he didn’t see, well, he didn’t see. He clearly didn’t care about them.
The night passed. They went to sleep when the sun rose.
Club Tiny Herb.
Pro-players obviously couldn’t have their days turn into nights like that, especially for someone like Qiao Yifan, who was on the verge of being kicked out. He didn’t dare make any mistakes. He would follow the Club’s scheduled break and practice time. During daytime practice, he didn’t dare get distracted, but once his free time came during the night, he immediately began researching Ghostblades. He would look at guides, watch recordings, and even bought two Ghostblades to experiment with personally.
However, the character he was looking forward to playing the most was One Inch Ash, because with this character, he could be instructed personally by God Ye Qiu. When he thought of this, Qiao Yifan felt indescribably happy. He hadn’t been sleeping much recently, but he didn’t feel tired. Everyday he would sleep late and wake up early, yet he was still in glowing spirits. Even during the day, when he practiced his Assassin, he would feel that his performance had improved a bit, though he didn’t know whether or not that was because of his mental state.
And today was the scheduled day when he would get his account back. In other words, this was the day, when his One Inch Ash hit Level 30. He could finally go to the tenth server and look for God Ye Qiu for his coaching. In the afternoon, Qiao Yifan got a little distracted and contacted the substitution leveler early. After confirming that there weren’t any problems, he felt even more ecstatic.
“What happened, Yifan? You seem really happy.” During afternoon practice, his good friend Gao Yingjie saw Qiao Yifan’s happiness and couldn’t help but ask.
“He he, am I really?” Qiao Yifan foolishly grinned.
“Are you okay?” Gao Yingjie extended his hand to touch Qiao Yifan’s forehead.
“Nothing’s wrong! I’m completely fine. Hurry, practice is starting.” Qiao Yifan dodged Gao Yingjie’s extended right hand. He retracted his foolish grin and sat down in front of his computer. But after a short while, the corners of his mouth began to rise up slightly again. This hadn’t escaped from Gao Yingjie’s eyes.
Gao Yingjie obviously knew that his good friend was hanging on a balance and that he was under a lot of pressure. Even though he was the Club’s new star, reputed as the successor to God Jiexi, he didn’t have much authority. There was really no way for him to help Qiao Yifan. Seeing how Qiao Yifan’s mood had been so unusually good, he was worried that something might have happened.
When afternoon practice ended, Qiao Yifan hastily ran back to his room. Gao Yingjie wasn’t able to find an opportunity to talk to him. As an important new member in the Club, he would often have extra practice under God Jiexi’s instructions. Just as he was planning on chasing down Qiao Yifan, team captain Wang Jiexi had called for him.
By the time extra practice had ended, it was already dinner time. Gao Yingjie rushed to the Club’s dining hall, but didn’t see Qiao Yifan. When he asked his other friends in the team, no one had noticed someone as invisible as Qiao Yifan. Surprisingly, no one had an answer to whether or not he had come to the dining hall.
Gao Yingjie ran to Qiao Yifan’s room. Similarly, Qiao Yifan wasn’t there either.
Gao Yingjie felt that something was amiss and didn’t know why his friend was acting like so. He didn’t want to report it to the team captain, so he hurriedly called Qiao Yifan’s cellphone number. Qiao Yifan picked up, and said that he had nothing to do after eating dinner, so he had gone outside to take a stroll…….
“I’m coming back!” Qiao Yifan said to Gao Yingjie. He had gone out to retrieve his account card. Even though he could have received it by mail the next day, Qiao Yifan couldn’t wait any longer.
However, he couldn’t let anyone in the Club know about this, which was why he had to quietly slip away. Though for someone as invisible as him, it wasn’t that hard. Who would have thought that his good friend had felt something was amiss? Qiao Yifan felt somewhat moved, but he wasn’t planning on telling Gao Yingjie the situation. This was his own choice. It had nothing to do with anyone else. Even though Gao Yingjie cared about him, he knew that Gao Yingjie wasn’t able to help him. If he kept on dragging Gao Yingjie along, he might even cause trouble for his friend’s future.
By the time Qiao Yifan had returned from picking up his account card, it was already nine at night. Similar to how no one had noticed him leaving, no one had noticed him coming back. Just as he was about to open the door to his room, a voice suddenly called out to him. He turned around and saw Gao Yingjie walking over.
“Yingjie ah, did you just finish your extra practice?” Qiao Yifan greeted him.
“Yeah.” Gao Yingjie replied. He then asked casually: “Where’d you go?”
“I just walked around randomly.” Qiao Yifan said.
“Did……. something happen?” Gao Yingjie said.
“Me? How could something have happened to me!” Qiao Yifan laughed, “It’s getting late. You should go to sleep. I’ll be going back!” Qiao Yifan said as he opened the door.
“Oh…..” Gao Yingjie answered back in this way. In the end, he was still an introvert who wasn’t too good at conversations. He could see that Qiao Yifan had something on his mind, but he didn’t know how to ask about it, so he had been blocked out like this.
Gao Yinjie stared blankly for a good while. In the end, he could only let out a sigh and return to his room.
Qiao Yifan went into his room and turned on his computer. He immediately opened up Glory and logged into his One Inch Ash account. When he came online, he saw Lord Grim online and felt a wave of excitement wash over him. He cautiously sent a message: “Senior, I’m already Level 30.”
“Oh, pretty fast!” The reply was quick.
“Let’s dungeon together at night! Is going past midnight okay?” Ye Xiu followed up and asked him.
“No problem, no problem!” Qiao Yifan responded excitedly.
“Good, do you still remember how to run Desolate Land?” Ye Xiu asked.
“I remember!” Qiao Yifan said.
“Good, but don’t lie! Our goal is to set this server’s record.” Ye Xiu said.
“Really? Then I should go and review it again!” If he was any other pro-player, then he would have put Desolate Land as completely beneath him. But Qiao Yifan didn’t dare be negligent. This was his habit of being extremely cautious at work.
“Okay, take a look then. We only have three chances.” Ye Xiu said.
“Why?”
“Because besides you, after three more runs, our team will probably hit Level 31.” Ye Xiu said.
Qiao Yifan checked the tenth server dungeon leaderboards. The 24:41:46 Desolate Land record made even him, a pro-player, startled.
“The record is really high!” Qiao Yifan said to Ye Xiu in astonishment.
“It is. You could even said that it’s the current limit.” Ye Xiu said.
“Unless they have better equipment. But for a new server, their current equipment is pretty much at the limit as well.” Ye Xiu replied.
“‘Then what are going to do?” Qiao Yifan asked.
“Three chances. As long as you can assimilate into the team, breaking the record won’t be a problem.” Ye Xiu said.
“Three times…….” Qiao Yifan didn’t have confidence. Confidence in himself was his biggest weakness.
“Relax! It won’t be a problem if it’s you. I believe that you can do it, which is why I specifically left three chances waiting for you.” Ye Xiu said.
“Waiting for me?” Qiao Yifan was startled.
“Right, without your Phantom Demon, breaking this record would be really difficult.” Ye Xiu said.
“But I’m still not very familiar with Phantom Demons yet.” Qiao Yifan panicked.
“Three chances should be enough for you to get familiar enough at least in this dungeon. Don’t forget, you’re a pro-player too!” Ye Xiu said.
You’re a pro-player too.
These simple words should have just been simple words. However, Qiao Yifan had never heard these words before. He was used to being invisible. He was used to always being a sub and never going up on stage. He was used to always watching enviously in the shadows as Gao Yingjie was personally instructed by the team captain.
Being in the champion team only gave him more pressure. While his other teammates were proud of themselves, he was always worried that he wasn’t good enough to be on the team.
You’re a pro-player too.
This type of assurance, this type of acknowledgement, didn’t come easy for Qiao Yifan. And having this coming out of God Ye Qiu’s mouth made these words carry even more weight.
Seeing these words, Qiao Yifan’s pent up grievances gushed out. Tears began streaming out from his eyes. He replied, determined: “I am! Three times is more than enough!”

Chapter 176: Problems in the Details

There were still two hours until midnight. Qiao Yifan stopped being so sentimental. He told God that he’d be right back and then temporarily logged out of One Inch Ash. He switched accounts in order to run Desolate Land in another server and do a quick review of the dungeon.
As a pro-player, he obviously knew how to run this dungeon. However, setting a record meant that he had to understand both the details and the general picture. Qiao Yifan began to study.
The types and patterns of the monsters.
What route to choose when advancing through the dungeon?
The characteristics and patterns of every BOSS.
Qiao Yifan used his main account to run Desolate Land three times. There wasn’t anything wrong with using this account. No matter how borderline he was in the team, having been able to get on the team was already recognition of his strength. Although he was bit worse than his teammates, he was still much better than new players with only strong mechanics like Tang Rou and Steamed Bun Invasion.
After familiarizing himself in those three runs, it was almost midnight. Qiao Yifan switched accounts and returned to the tenth server. He then sent Ye Xiu a message and both sides agreed on where they would meet up outside Desolate Land.
On his way there, Qiao Yifan saw that there was someone in the world channel repeatedly calling out Lord Grim for a challenge. One of his challenges was the Desolate Land record and the other was a duel with Lord Grim.
“Who is this guy?” Qiao Yifan muttered to himself. The dungeon record was another matter. After all, that could only be done with a team. And moreover, the record limit for low-leveled dungeons could be done by normal players as well.
But a duel…… this was a direct clash between the two sides’ skill levels. To actually challenge God Ye Qiu so arrogantly, such a person made Qiao Yifan completely speechless.
Out of everyone he knew, even their team captain Wang Jiexi didn’t dare have this type of attitude in front of God Ye Qiu. The only person he knew who might issue such an open challenge would probably be Tyranny’s Han Wenqing! This God had begun opposing God Ye Qiu ever since he joined the Alliance. After ending Excellent Era’s consecutive Championship titles, the two became true rivals.
In terms of mechanics, Han Wenqing was on par with other Gods. But this guy was extremely aggressive. In addition, his personality was very direct and stubborn. If he ever saw any mistakes, he would immediately start shouting.
Rumors say that after one of the matches, where Tyranny had performed terribly, Han Wenqing furiously reprimanded the team. He repeatedly watched the recordings of that day’s match. Every time he saw a mistake he would immediately start cursing madly. At that time, Tyranny’s boss had come to visit. Midway through, his cellphone suddenly rang and the angry cursing stopped. Han Wenqing turned his head and glared coldly at the boss. He said two words: “Get out.”
The boss gave him face and immediately ran out to pick up his phone. Tyranny’s entire team was scared speechless. Even their boss had been roared away to one side. How could they dare talk back?
Han Wenqing’s behavior was like this as well. In terms of experience and skill, only he could compare with Ye Qiu. But now, in game, some random guy was shouting at God Ye Qiu for a challenge. Qiao Yifan truly didn’t know whether to laugh or to cry.
Outside of Desolate Land, Qiao Yifan’s One Inch Ash finally met with God’s Lord Grim. He also saw Tang Rou’s Soft Mist, someone who couldn’t be considered a stranger to him anymore. He had also met Steamed Bun Invasion before, in the very beginning. Besides them, there was the Launcher, Cleansing Mist. Seeing this character, the first thing anyone, who knew about the identity of the person playing Lord Grim , would immediately think of Su Mucheng. She was someone who always stood by Ye Qiu, just like that Launcher who always stood behind One Autumn Leaf. But now that Ye Qiu had retired, was this Launcher still Su Mucheng?
Qiao Yifan didn’t ask. Even though he was a member of a Champion team, he clearly knew his current position in it. In the eyes of other teams, his existence was even weaker. His other teammates had fought against other teams’ pro-players and had become friends. But Qiao Yifan didn’t have any opponents, so he didn’t have that type of friend……
“So you’re here.” Seeing that One Inch Ash had arrived, Ye Xiu greeted him. “We’ll begin at 12 o’clock sharp.”
“Okay.” Qiao Yifan replied. He opened up the dungeon record leaderboards to verify the current record. But when he looked at it this time, he immediately felt that one of the team members on the leaderboards was somewhat familiar. Wasn’t this the guy who had challenged God?
“No wonder he’s so arrogant. That record really is quite good. It looks like he’s an expert too. But it looks like he doesn’t know who his opponent is!” Qiao Yifan thought to himself.
“Any problems with your equipment?” Ye Xiu asked.
“No problem.” Qiao Yifan replied. When he bought the substitution leveling services, he had also ordered a set of equipment. The current One Inch Ash had a full Level 30 Ghostblade set and was also carrying a Level 30 Purple Tachi, Demon Slaying Blade. His accessories were quite good too.
“We won’t be going for speed on our first run. We have a new player, so this run will be used to let him learn our strategy.” Ye Xiu said.
“One time is enough?” Steamed Bun Invasion was probably thinking of Full Moon Guild’s guild leader. In the beginning, Ye Xiu had said the same thing, but that guild leader still wasn’t very outstanding even after three runs.
“It’ll be enough.” Ye Xiu laughed.
On the side, even though Qiao Yifan hadn’t replied, he could feel his heart boiling. Seeing that there was still some time before midnight, he ran to splash cold water on his face. He had to maintain his composure and focus. He couldn’t let down God.
“They’re refreshed, let’s go!”
At midnight, the dungeon entries refreshed soYe Xiu led his team into Desolate Land.
At this moment, Blue River, who was also beginning to run the dungeons, began to look anxiously at the messages in the world channel.
Poplar Beach’s spamming often made him feel somewhat angry. He was only being so arrogant because he had participated in setting a faster record. This endless enthusiasm didn’t seem like it was to prove their name, but just to create an unreasonable scene. This wasn’t the first time Blue River had seen people do this, but the problem this time was that that character was from Blue Brook Guild. Everyone who saw these messages knew that. The Desolate Land records hanging on the leaderboards had their name on it!
Not only did he have guild’s name behind him, he was also one of the experts on the leaderboards. Blue River felt that shouting on the world channel constantly like this was so shameful.
It wasn’t as if Blue River hadn’t warned him. It was just that once Poplar Beach received it, he would laugh at him and mock him.
Blue River was feeling conflicted. He obviously hoped that their guild’s record would be able to remain up there, but when he thought of how happy Poplar Beach was, he couldn’t help but want someone to just step all over the record.
Of course, the only who could step all over the record was Lord Grim.
Blue River was feeling somewhat uneasy. He had been paying attention to Lord Grim’s level. It looked like he had spent much longer at Level 30 than one normally would . At this moment, Blue River and the others in the front were already level 33. The higher the level, the more experience was needed. This was why the distance between them was getting smaller. With how fast Lord Grim had been leveling, he should have only been 1.5 levels behind them. But right now, he had stopped at Level 30. The possible meanings this implicated was why Blue River felt uneasy.
Especially now. Blue River had received a message from guild members at Desolate Land saying that they had seen Lord Grim’s group with a new member called One Inch Ash, a Ghostblade without any guild.
One Inch Ash? Who was this? Blue River looked at their guild’s name of lists. Last time, there was that Blade Master Flowing Tree who had only gone online for a brief moment. He couldn’t help but feel alarmed.
Meanwhile, in Desolate Land’s dungeon, the newly-joined Qiao Yifan was employing the strategy that Ye Xiu was instructing and was beautifully coordinating with the others.
“Yeah, just like that. Pay attention to our attack tempo, the timing of your ghost boundaries, and your cooldowns. Maximize the efficiency.” Ye Xiu continuously instructed. Coaching a kid with a solid foundation really was a lot easier, unlike Tang Rou and Steamed Bun Invasion, who had to learn the dungeon’s strategy by rote memorization. In terms of their understanding of the dungeon, in reality, these two weren’t even as good as Full Moon Guild’s guild leader.
Tang Rou and Steamed Bun Invasion’s mechanics were there, but they had to memorize the strategy and increase their game knowledge.
As for Full Moon Guild’s guild leader, he was familiar with the game. Everything Ye Xiu said, he understood. It was just that he wasn’t used to it, which was why he had so much trouble.
As for Qiao Yifan, he had the strengths of both sides. Ye Xiu immediately saw this. He could easily keep up with them, which was why Ye Xiu was certain that one practice run was enough. After all, he was a pro player.
“You don’t need to start with Shadow Image. Instead, it’d be better to attack and deal more damage.. You won’t have the aggro changed to you and you won’t take any damage.” Ye Xiu said.
Shadow Image is a Ghost that Ghostblades can summon at Level 25. This Ghost can be carried by the user, except it would just be a Ghost surrounding the user. The Ghost could absorb and reduce damage. The higher the level, the greater the reduction and the more hits it could take. This was a skill solely used for defense. Ye Xiu had told Qiao Yifan to not use the skill. This was because the other party members would protect him.
Qiao Yifan was used to being cannon fodder. But now, the team was actively putting in energy to protect him.
“Ooh, this Ice Boundary……”
“Is there’s a problem?” Qiao Yifan was terrified.
“No, no. It was done very well.” Ye Xiu turned around to say to Steamed Bun Invasion; “Steamed Bun, it was your mistake this time!”
“It was mine, it was mine.” Steamed Bun Invasion shouted in response.
Originally, the Ice Boundary shouldn’t have been used there, but because of Steamed Bun Invasion’s mistake, the situation had changed. However, Qiao Yifan had adjusted as well. When he cast his Ice Boundary, he immediately got the crowd control effect he wanted, reducing the team’s pressure.
Ice Soul was a Boundary Ghost that could be summoned by Level 30 Ghostblades. Enemies inside the boundary would take Ice Elemental Magic Damage and there was even a chance for the targets to be Frozen. It was a more attack-oriented Ghost Boundary.
“However, there was actually a better choice you could have made.” After criticizing Steamed Bun Invasion’s mistake, he returned to Qiao Yifan.

Chapter 177: Dual Linking Ghost Boundaries

“Look. Steamed Bun Invasion’s previous mistake made it so that the monsters weren’t gathered perfectly. However, the three monsters that slipped through just happened to be heading towards you. Here, the best choice wasn’t to immediately use Ice Boundary to control them. Instead, you could have first used a Ghost Slash to send the three monsters back into the desired positions and make up for Steamed Bun’s mistake. Then, using Ice Boundary would have been perfect.” Ye Xiu said.

“But there were more than three that had slipped through!” Qiao Yifan said.

“Aren’t we a team?” Ye Xiu smiled, “We can help fix the mistake and coordinate with you as well!”

“If a mistake like this happens, does this mean that there’s no hope for setting the record?” Qiao Yifan said.

“Ha ha, from that perspective, such a mistake really wouldn’t be good. We could make up for the lost time but it wouldn’t be enough. However, more important than the record is training our game knowledge and decision-making by going through these types of scenarios. In the previous scenario, it was easy to pull off an Ice Boundary. But that was in a dungeon. What if that was in a match? Could you be certain that you wouldn’t be interrupted while using your Ice Boundary in a scenario where you have no cover?” Ye Xiu said.

Qiao Yifan immediately understood: “I understand.”

“Even though this is only a dungeon, you still have to try hard and increase your game knowledge!” Ye Xiu said.

“Right, right.” Qiao Yifan responded. He felt as if a door in his heart was opening; as if the bottleneck he had been stuck at was slowly being broken through. He wasn’t sure if it was because he had switched classes or because he had received coaching under a God or maybe even both. Qiao Yifan thought.

Even though he had already taken the dungeon very seriously, after hearing Ye Xiu’s words, he felt that he still hadn’t placed enough emphasis onto it. Even if it was just a dungeon, there were still lots of places for improvement.

Under Ye Xiu’s constant instructions, the team quickly pushed forward. Ye Xiu’s team was using the “missing a player” strategy they were experimenting with last night.

The monsters that they weren’t originally able to kill fast enough and the places where they had originally struggled with, suddenly turned good with the addition of One Inch Ash.

Tang Rou felt indescribably shocked. To be able to create a strategy before one of their members had ever coordinated with them before, just how much further did she need to go before she could catch up to Ye Xiu?

“You two!” Ye Xiu called out to Tang Rou and Steamed Bun Invasion, “Pay more attention to his Ghost Boundaries. Coordination is mutual! Now that I think about it, do you two know the effects of these Ghost Boundaries?”

“No…” The two new players said.

Ye Xiu was helpless. He had no other choice but to give them a brief introduction about the skill. Support classes who provided support on the sidelines didn’t necessarily count as coordination. Those being supported have to fully utilize the support. If you don’t even know what the effects of the support are, then how are you going to utilize them?

In a Level 30 Ghostblade’s arsenal, besides the defense-oriented Ghost Shadow Image and the attack-oriented Boundary Ghost Ice Soul, there was also Sword Soul that could be learned at Level 10.

The Sword Soul’s strength was that the allies within its boundary would have increased Strength and Intelligence, which determined the amount of Physical Damage and Magic Damage one could deal. It could be said that any class within the Sword Soul would gain huge buffs. This skill was also called Sword Boundary by players.

The skill could be learned at Level 10 and could be skilled up every three levels. A Level 30 Ghostblade could have a Level 7 Sword Soul, which would increase Strength and Intelligence by 105. As soon as this number was said by Ye Xiu, Tang Rou and Steamed Bun Invasion jumped back in astonishment. The two checked their profiles and immediately recognized how terrifying an increase in 105 points of Strength and Intelligence were.

Battle Mages and Brawlers had the same Strength growth. At Level 30, without any equipment or stat rewards, their base Strength was 105 points.

Of course, a character’s base stats weren’t the most accurate indicators. In reality, with their equipment and rewards, the two characters would have much more.

However, 105 extra Strength and Intelligence was enough to make them start sweating.

Ghostblades had to cast Sword Soul at the right time and the other characters would have to fully utilize the Sword Soul as well. They should try and deal as much damage as possible within the Sword Boundary during the duration of the effect.

Seeing this incredible number, Tang Rou and Steamed Bun Invasion already understood. The coordination between the two sides was now smoother. Even though it was their first practice trial, it was already much better than their previous trial with Full Moon Guild’s guild leader.

Their coordination with each other had been improved by the utilization of the support, but the crucial point was still Qiao Yifan’s outstanding view of the general situation. Qiao Yifan himself felt like he was a fish back in the water in this dungeon. No, to be more accurate, it was in this team that he found the feeling of being a fish back in the water. Qiao Yifan had already believed that even if they weren’t running a dungeon, even if they were in any other place, even if they were in a pro match, he felt as if he had a place in the team.

So moved!

In such a short moment of time, feelings of being blessed had risen many times. In return, he tried his hardest in this dungeon.

They pushed through the dungeon without a hitch. In the blink of an eye, they reached the final BOSS Toya. Qiao Yifan looked forward to the God’s commands. He knew that Toya was the most influential part of the record.

In the end, God actually talked less in this area. The entire team was more free to do their own thing. Even though there was some coordination, it didn’t seem like it was be good enough. They seemed more passive in front of Toya.

Qiao Yifan was a pro, after all. He could roughly judge that with the way they were playing, they wouldn’t be able to beat the record.

Qiao Yifan felt a bit puzzled. Even he could come up with some sort of strategy for this part. He could at least do better than their current strategy of randomly playing. God Ye Qiu had to have some sort of plan, right?

Just as he was thinking this, he heard God’s Lord Grim move next to him and ask: “What do you think about this?”

After a brief pause, Qiao Yifan said the truth: “I think that if we play like this then breaking the record might be difficult.”

“You don’t need to worry.” Tang Rou’s Soft Mist had also come over. Hearing their discussion, she added: “All of this is because someone here refuses to go all out. If not, then you’d be seeing a completely different scene.”

“Ha ha.” Ye Xiu laughed. He then said to Qiao Yifan : “When the time comes, you’ll know what to do. You can do it!”

“Uh…” Qiao Yifan was a bit lost, but he didn’t ask.

After finishing the run, they had completely understood the strategy.

“Two chances!” Ye Xiu wasn’t only saying this to Qiao Yifan, but to the other three as well. Having strong mechanics didn’t mean that you wouldn’t make mistakes.

“Yeah.” Tang Rou simply answered.

“Relax! I only show my true strength at crucial times like this.” Steamed Bun Invasion said.

“You too!” Su Mucheng reminded Ye Xiu as well. Ye Xiu obviously wasn’t someone who was immune to mistakes. In his ten years of gaming, he had plenty of experience making mistakes.

“Begin!”

Under this command, they began.

In the beginning, where they needed to pull monsters, their current strategy was similar to their original one. Except this time, Qiao Yifan’s Once Inch Ash helped pull the monsters. As soon as they gathered together…

“Sword… Soul!”

Ye Xiu had only said one of the words, when Qiao Yifan’s Sword Soul had been casted.

The timing had been grasped perfectly, coordinating seamlessly with the rest of the team.

Ye Xiu was extremely happy. Bringing an expert like this was so much easier; he grasped everything so quickly!

The others were also controlling the monsters. If not, then the monsters would escape the Sword Soul’s range. The difference between their DPS inside the boundary and outside the boundary was completely different.

There was only one bad part. Sword Soul only lasted 20 seconds, while the cooldown was 30 seconds. There was no way they could keep it on forever, there would always be 10 seconds of free time.

But this time, the instant the Sword Soul disappeared, Lord Grim suddenly jumped backwards to escape from the mob. He then waved his sword and a shadowy mist leapt out of his sword, congealing into a dark violet Ghost.

One Inch Ash’s Sword Soul had faded away, but a new one had followed up closely.

Sword Soul!

“If it’s Sword Soul, I know it as well!” Ye Xiu said. Lord Grim’s sword danced and followed up with a Berserker skill.

The Ghostblade’s Sword Soul was a Level 10 skill, so of course unspecialized had it. The effects of the two couldn’t overlap, but it could be used to fill up the empty gap.

This type of coordination had a name in Glory: “Dual Linking Ghost Boundaries.”

In the current Professional Alliance, only Team Void used this type of strategy. Besides their team captain Li Xuan’s Crying Devil, they also had another Ghostblade class.

However, Ye Xiu and Qiao Yifan’s “Dual Linking Ghost Boundaries” weren’t perfect. After all, Lord Grim’s unspecialized class could only learn the “Sword Soul” and no other Ghost-summoning skill. Even so, it still let them maximize their DPS.

The first wave was cleared quickly inside of the Ghost Boundary.

Second wave…..

Third wave….

Fourth wave…

On their smooth journey through, there wasn’t any excessive talk. Not just Qiao Yifan, but Tang Rou and Steamed Bun Invasion no longer needed Ye Xiu’s constant reminders after running it so many times. The two weren’t lacking in the slightest in what they had to do.

Qiao Yifan’s Phantom Demon was doing even better. His Ghost Boundaries came out whenever they were needed, and he wouldn’t mess anything up whenever he wasn’t. He also linked together with Lord Grim’s occasional Sword Soul well, too.

Without any suspense, everyone swiftly smashed their way to the dungeon’s rear garden. Only a mere 19 minutes had passed.

Chapter 178: Their Wishes Finally Came True

For the final BOSS, Toya, if they played randomly like the previous run, there might not be enough time. This was originally a relatively difficult BOSS. Blue Brook Guild’s Changing Spring and the other experts had to train hard numerous times in order to suppress it through coordination. But what about now? What method was left in store? Qiao Yifan recalled how they had said that God wasn’t going all out and became a bit curious as well as a bit uncertain.
“Sword Soul!” Ye Xiu yelled out, while they were rushing forward.
If Qiao Yifan was making the decision, he definitely wouldn’t cast Sword Soul so early. However, he trusted in the God’s decision and immediately cast Sword Soul when he heard it. One Inch Ash’s Demon Slaying Blade flashed. A ghostly mist congealed into a Sword Soul after the chant and formed a Boundary.
This “Sword Soul” shout also seemed to be instructions to others as well. Cleansing Mist’s handcannon spit out a flame tongue and hit the idle BOSS, Toya, with an artillery shell .
Toya turned his head and rushed at them. He stepped on a stone in the garden and somersaulted forward. In mid-air, he whipped out his leg to kick them. Lord Grim moved up as well. His Myriad Manifestation Umbrella turned into a Battle Lance. The two brushed past each other, however Toya suddenly disappeared. He had unexpectedly been Circle Swung onto the ground by Lord Grim.
“So quick!!!”
Qiao Yifan’s point of view was very different from Tang Rou’s and Steamed Bun Invasion’s. Whenever Ye Xiu attacked, those two had seen it so often that they were completely indifferent to it. However, Qiao Yifan could see how difficult the move was.
Positioning, speed, precision, prediction.
In this type of situation, if even a single one was slightly lacking, the attack would have failed. Just using Circle Swing didn’t mean that you would hit the monster. Glory isn’t such a simple game!
With the way Circle Swing captured the target, Toya had no way of Quick Recovering in order to avoid this knock down. But he could be considered quick as well. Right when he crashed to the ground, he sent out a shock wave in order to get back up. Lord Grim had already anticipated this. As soon as his Circle Swing flung Toya down to the ground, he immediately leaped back. Not only did Toya’s shock wave not hit anything, Lord Grim drew out his sword and sent out a Sword Draw towards him.
“So quick!!!”
Qiao Yifan had the same impression as before. Toya and Lord Grim’s battle tempo really was fast. But Toya was a system NPC. He didn’t need to think or make decisions, but Lord Grim? He was able to make consecutive moves without practically any time to think. Each move he made suppressed Toya’s offensive.
The strength of an unspecialized!
Qiao Yifan understood this, but more importantly, even with an arsenal of skills available for use, God Ye Qiu was able to pick the most suitable choice with little time to think. His quick and accurate decision-making were almost like a robot’s.
“Too scary!” Qiao Yifan was astonished. Just how much experience did he have? If this was any other pro-player, they might be able to make the same accurate decisions, but to do so with almost no time to think, only a select few could do that. Experience could only be gained with time and time couldn’t be controlled. Old generals could no longer be as full of energy as new players. As for new players, if they wanted the experience of the old generals, the only way was to wait and become old generals themselves.
In this situation, where Lord Grim was suppressing Toya by himself, the final obstacle became incomparably easy. To the other four, this battle was just like any other. They were against a very ordinary BOSS. All they had to do was coordinate with Lord Grim and deal damage.
Sword Soul, Ice Soul.
Qiao Yifan switched between the two Boundaries. He could also use Ghost Slash, Moonlight Slash, Full Moon Slash to deal damage. However, these Slash skills clearly weren’t too high-leveled. Skill points had to be saved for skilling up the Phantom Ghosts. The damage dealt by Phantom Demons couldn’t compare with the damage dealt by Sword Demons.
1 minute.
Toya’s health had already dropped by ⅓. If they maintained this tempo, they would definitely finish the battle in three minutes. With so much time left, they could even afford to make a few mistakes.
Too strong!
Qiao Yifan lamented. Even though an enormous amount of importance had been attached to him, he understood very clearly that he wasn’t the final deciding factor in setting the record.
It was a fact that Phantom Demons could increase the entire team’s strength. In theory, the more members in the team, the more useful a Phantom Demon was. This was why all of the big guilds would specially train a few Phantom Demons.
However, in the Professional Alliance’s official matches, the number of players that could go on stage was restricted to only five players; this limited the amount of support a Phantom Demon could provide. In a five-man team, Phantom Demons weren’t the worse class, but the value of their support might not make them more valuable than other classes either. Their existence wasn’t a necessity, but rather just another option.
In Desolate Land, the usefulness of a Phantom Demon was similar to this as well. He could provide support, but he wouldn’t be the main factor for why the team would break the record.
The true factor was still Lord Grim.
It was because the strengths of an unspecialized could be fully utilized which allowed them to surpass this dungeon’s limit.
It was because of the unspecialized that they could employ Dual Overlapping Ghost Boundaries.
It was because of the unspecialized that they could completely suppress Toya.
In addition, Lord Grim’s weapon was clearly self-made. It was clearly a top-tier Silver weapon. How could Qiao Yifan not know about Silver weapons? There was no way other teams had this type of advantage in damage.
The record was right in front of them!
Two minutes had passed. Toya’s health had dropped down by ⅔.
Attack attack attack.
The five continued to attack. This was only the second time Qiao Yifan had coordinated with the others, yet their coordination wasn’t lacking in the slightest. Actively coordinating with others; this was his biggest strength. Whether this was because of talent or because of he was trained as a person on the edge, no one knew.
“Careful, almost Red Blood.” When Toya’s health had dropped down to 10%, Ye Xiu warned them as usual.
Tang Rou and the others were completely indifferent. Toya becoming Enraged didn’t mean anything. He would still be suppressed by Lord Grim.
On the other hand, Qiao Yifan made preparations for Red Blood. As soon as he saw Toya go into Red Blood, he suddenly used the Grab skill Ghost Claw. After capturing Toya, he followed up with a Moonlight Slash, launching Toya into the air. Icy frost formed at the tip of his blade. The ice shattered and an Ice Soul flashed out. Ice Boundary!
The mid-air Toya continuously took Ice Damage. When he fell, he froze into a giant ice cube. The team rushed forward to attack. However, the BOSS’s resistance was high, so the Freeze didn’t last long. But after breaking out of the ice, what could Toya do next? Under Lord Grim’s lead, Toya’s health continued to plummet.
Sky Strike, Dragon Tooth, Falling Flower Palm, Anti-Tank Missile, and even a wretched Brick.
In the final string of attacks, the explosion from the Anti-Tank Missile sent Toya flying into the stone wall. No one moved up to continue attacking. Toya had been killed.
System announcement!
Congratulations to players Lord Grim, Cleansing Mist, Steamed Bun Invasion, Soft Mist, One Inch Ash for breaking the Desolate Land record, time: 22:35:22.
After this brief message appeared, the world channel exploded.
There wasn’t any excessive amazement. For new players in the new server, they didn’t have any concept of what the time for the records should be. They weren’t like the veterans who jumped in fright at this terrifying record. For the tenth server’s players, they only had one thought; the record had been broken. It had been broken by Lord Grim again.
As a result, mostly congratulation messages appeared on the world channel.
Their congratulations weren’t directed towards Lord Grim, but rather Blue Brook Guild, especially that Cloud Listening Blade from Blue Brook Guild.
Cloud Listening Blade was Poplar Beach, who was constantly shouting at Lord Grim to fight him, to break their record.
At this moment, the players were all congratulating Blue Brook Guild and Cloud Listening Blade for having their wishes finally come true. The players were sarcastic and savage. It didn’t matter how skilled or experienced they were. The new players were all mocking them.
Poplar Beach was pale. He had sent another message a few moments ago. He specially guarded this time to provoke him. And in the end, a system announcement had given him a reply.
“Impossible!!” Poplar Beach didn’t want to believe it.
The record they had set was already the limit. Poplar Beach had been confident that it wasn’t possible to improve it, which was why he had been so arrogant. But now, the other side actually improved the time by about two minutes. Poplar Beach couldn’t imagine how this was possible.
The mocking continued. The person who had stepped had been stepped on. This type of show was something everyone loved to see. Everyone was discussing what Cloud Listening Blade was probably feeling right now. Sharp comments popped up one after another. Poplar Beach didn’t want to look at his screen. He was afraid that he’d die from anger in front of his computer.
How should he respond?
Poplar Beach had his head lowered as he stared at his keyboard. He didn’t know what keys he should press.
He suddenly heard a system prompt telling him that a friend had gone offline, making Poplar Beach lift up his head to look.
The one who had gone offline was Blue River. Poplar Beach obviously knew where Blue River was going. Poplar Beach felt embarrassed and resentful. The guy had finally found his sore spot.
Poplar Beach was aware that things weren’t looking good.
How did Lord Grim and his group set this record? These guys didn’t have all Orange equipment, right?
This thought kept circling around Poplar Beach’s head, but he wasn’t convinced. Would he make such a large investment just for a dungeon record? Moreover, this was the new server. Even if you had the money that didn’t mean it was possible to gather a full set of Level 30 Orange equipment for yourself, let alone an entire team. How could Orange equipment be as common as cabbage?
“Lord Grim! To be able to beat our record, it looks like you really do have some skill! Do you have time to duel me now?”
Poplar Beach hesitated for a long time, but in the end, he pressed enter and sent it.

Chapter 179: A Chance for a Comeback

The entire world was mocking Poplar Beach’s Cloud Listening Blade, so of course they were waiting for his response. As a result, many saw this message and a bunch of new messages immediately appeared. Comments such as “Cloud Listening Blade is such a man”, “Cloud Listening Blade is a true hero”, “Cloud Listening Blade refuses to die with his head low” and so on. They were still filled with sarcasm. Clearly, no one liked arrogant guys like him.
This didn’t mean that people who liked to be arrogant wouldn’t know this, it was just that arrogant people weren’t arrogant so they could be liked. They were arrogant because they liked the pleasure of standing above others and looking down on them.
When Poplar Beach had bragged about the record he had set, although everyone was angry, they had no way of beating his record. This was the pleasure of being arrogant. But now, when he was above everyone, he had suddenly been stepped on. This was an extremely painful feeling.
The reason Poplar Beach continued to demand a duel against Lord Grim was so that he could keep up his arrogant attitude. He couldn’t do anything about the record, so his only choice was to use a duel to prove that he wasn’t a braggart, but rather an amazing top-tier player. This was what it truly meant to be arrogant.
Amidst the storm of ridicule, Poplar Beach waited for Lord Grim’s reply.
He didn’t have to wait long. This time, Lord Grim finally replied to him: “How about tomorrow afternoon? Use your main account.”
“Good, I hope that you won’t run away.” Poplar Beach coldly typed out. He then waited for a very long time, but no reply came. How could Ye Xiu care to respond to such a pointless provocation? Ye Xiu had already brought his party into the dungeon again. This time, everyone was still playing diligently, especially at the final BOSS, Toya. Everyone coordinated with Lord Grim even better this time. This time, the record had been broken again.
22:29:57. The world went into an uproar again.
The record had improved by 6 seconds. It wasn’t much. However, at this record limit, another six seconds wasn’t easy. It was practically the result of a perfect run.
At the same time, after the three runs ended, Lord Grim and the other four characters leveled up to level 31. Su Mucheng left first to sleep. Qiao Yifan was also a pro-player. He shouldn’t have had so much free time. But after being with Ye Xiu and the others for these three runs, a completely different feeling had already risen up in his heart. When the three runs were finished, he actually wasn’t willing to go to sleep and went to Line Canyon with them.
On Blue Brook Guild’s side, after Changing Spring heard Blue River return with the news, they rushed over to the tenth server and saw the new record on the leaderboards. They were all speechless. Before they could even recover, the record had been broken again.
One time, maybe they were just miraculously lucky.
But two times in a row? That, without a doubt, was a proof of their strength.
Even though Changing Spring had braced himself for this long ago, from the guild’s point of view, this was a disastrous result. However, there was nothing they could do. If they hadn’t fought for it, there was no way they could explain it to their own guild. Right now, even at the guild headquarters in the Heavenly Domain, they were discussing the great battle over the records in the tenth server. Everyone, particularly Poplar Beach and his group, would agree to a compromise only if there was no other choice.
In order to keep the peace in Blue Brook Guild, they had to sacrifice a bit of the tenth server’s Blue Brook Guild’s reputation. At least, right now, they were only adding frost to the snow. They were already a laughingstock in the tenth server. Their image could only be recovered at a later time. It could be said that, from here on out, Blue Brook Guild’s development would fall behind the other guilds.
However, a chance for a comeback was still possible.
Poplar Beach’s duel with Lord Grim. This was their chance.
Even though Blue River wasn’t in favor of this duel and wasn’t optimistic about it, he had no choice but to admit that if Poplar Beach won, then they’d be able to win back their guild’s image in the tenth server. This duel was being followed by many. The entire world was talking about it. Who knew how many would wait for the afternoon show?
Poplar Beach’s actions, from a reasoning standpoint, weren’t stupid. This was actually the best way of winning back their guild’s prestige. However, could he win?
Blue River was very very doubtful, but he couldn’t say anything. After all was said and done, he was always for the guild. At this moment, he was hoping that Poplar Beach would win, even though he could foresee that if Poplar Beach actually won, then his arrogance would rise from the earth to the heavens.
This struggle over the record deeply impacted Tyrannical Ambition as well.
Blue Brook Guild had bravely stepped out. This was something they wished to see. As a result, they didn’t rush to fight for the Line Canyon record and decided to carry their tarnished name for two more days. They wanted to see what Lord Grim’s attitude was and what he would do.
In the end, they saw it all. Lord Grim had sneakily stolen the Level 36 wild BOSS First Kill and then easily stepped on Blue Brook Guild’s record twice.
Tyrannical Ambition’s boss, Jiang You, had personally come to the tenth server as well. Similarly, he also gathered the guild’s strongest troops to come over. But after seeing this result, he quickly gave up on his original plan.
The record’s limit?
It seemed like there were two of them. One for normal players like them and another for Lord Grim’s team. Jiang You was truly doubting whether Lord Grim had set the record for the same dungeon. The record that was the limit in their eyes had been crushed by minutes.
“What do we do? Talk with Lord Grim?” Cold Night was naturally depressed. Why was the tenth server so troublesome? Such a difficult guy had popped up.
“Let’s not rush…… They’re still a few days away from reaching Level 33. Right now, Blue Brook Guild is in the spotlight, so we’re being overlooked. I’ll see if there’s any other way to resolve this situation. Giving in to Lord Grim’s demands isn’t good. We have to at least show that we have the strength to resist his suppression, even if it is just once. After that, we can still negotiate with him and we’ll have a better time.” Jiang You said.
“How do we prove our strength?” Cold Night stared blankly. Their experts clearly wouldn’t cut it. Blue Brook Guild was their proof for that.
“I can try and ask the team.” Jiang You said.
“That’s a bit too much, right…….” Cold Night began sweating. Team Tyranny was a powerful team that was aiming to be Champions. Ask them to help them set a record in the tenth server? With the team captain Han Wenqing’s personality, Cold Night felt like they were looking to be shouted at! Jiang You’s suggestion was too brave.
“Uh……. let me think……” Clearly, Jiang You was also hesitant.
Besides these two guilds, the other guilds were extremely happy seeing Lord Grim turn Blue Brook Guild’s record limit into ashes, and twice too. Their emotions were constantly going up and down. But after taking joy in their enemies’ plight, they also had to ponder over their own situation. This issue really was quite troublesome.
The night went by like this.
After Poplar Beach arranged for the duel, he left the tenth server and went on his main account. He went to the Arena and fought for the entire night. He specifically looked for opponents with high win rates and practiced fiercely.
In the blink of an eye, the afternoon came and Poplar Beach went to the tenth server to look for Lord Grim. He hadn’t slept well at all. He was already feeling tired, but his mind couldn’t calm down. As soon as he closed his eyes, he would think of the Arena. Even compared to that time he decided to challenge Blue Bridge Spring Snow, he had never felt so nervous before.
Even though he wasn’t in his best condition, it was truly too shameful to schedule the duel for a different date. Even if he did, he still might not be able to calm down. By then, his condition would be even worse.
Poplar Beach did a quick search and found that Lord Grim was online. He immediately shouted at him in the world channel. The players in the entire server shook. He had arrived. He had finally arrived.
“You should go create the room.” Lord Grim replied.
“Level Field.” Poplar Beach switched to his main account and entered the Arena. He created a room and invited Lord Grim.
In Happy Internet Cafe, Ye Xiu left the tenth server and went to find Chen Guo. Boss Chen was also playing Glory right now. She was sitting in front of her computer and her hands were moving about like the wind. Ye Xiu blew out two smoke rings. Boss Chen’s avatar staggered. She turned around and yelled angrily: “What are you doing?!”
“Boss, let me borrow your account!” Ye Xiu said.
“To do what?”
“To PK with someone.” Ye Xiu said.
“Who?”
“What was his name again?” Ye Xiu scratched his head.
Chen Guo rolled her eyes and said as her character returned to the main city: “Level or Free.”
“Level.” Ye Xiu said.
“Room number?”
“I don’t know…….”
“Then how am I supposed to look for it?” Chen Guo asked.
“Go to the side and say that Lord Grim has arrived or something.” Ye Xiu said.
Chen Guo typed it in. Soon after, a pile of messages from cheering spectators covered the screen, scaring Chen Guo. After that, she received an invite and accepted it.
She entered the field. The map that had been chosen was the most basic ring. It was a simple and straightforward map. Most players liked it. After Chen Guo’s character went in, she immediately sucked in a cold breath. For there to be so many spectators, this was something she had never imagined.
“What’d you do?” Chen Guo had originally planned on playing for awhile, but after seeing so many spectators, she immediately felt that the situation was important. She didn’t want to mess things up, so she got up and let Ye Xiu take over.
And at this moment, the current receptionist Tang Rou stretched out her neck to ask: “Did it start? Did it start?”
“About to.” Ye Xiu replied.
“Help me out for a moment please.” Tang Rou immediately asked a manager to take over for a bit. She then lightly skipped over.
“Watching it like this won’t be very fun. Let’s get onto another account.” Chen Guo had a lot of experience and immediately went to turn on another computer.
“Don’t start yet!!” She didn’t forget to warn Ye Xiu. Even though she didn’t really understand the situation, her curiosity had already been sparked.

Chapter 180: The Fastest Launcher

“Lord Grim???” Poplar Beach was a bit doubtful when he saw that a female character had entered the field.
“Yeah.” Ye Xiu said.
Poplar Beach wasn’t too surprised though. Lord Grim had said that he would borrow an account. Male characters were the same as female characters; their stats and equipment weren’t much different from each other.
However, this was something that Ye Xiu had said during their dispute in front of Desolate Land’s entrance. How could the other players know this? All they knew was that, yesterday, Lord Grim told his opponent to use his main account, so many concluded that these two characters were both side’s main accounts.
“Poplar Beach!!” This character was quite famous. Many veterans from the Heavenly Domain, who came to pioneer in the new server, knew this character.
“Poplar Beach??” In Happy Internet Cafe, Chen Guo and Tang Rou had turned on a computer and logged into Glory with Soft Mist. They found the room and entered as a spectator. When Chen Guo saw the opponent’s name, she couldn’t help but cry it out in surprise.
“You’re familiar with him?” Tang Rou asked.
“I’m not familiar with him, but I do know of him. He’s from Blue Brook Guild after all. He’s an elite in there, but he’s always shouting arrogantly in the world channel. He’s really annoying.” Chen Guo was in the Heavenly Domain as well, so she recognized the famous experts from Blue Brook Guild. But clearly, her impression of him wasn’t good.
“Oh.” Tang Rou was the type of new player who had no concept of how great “Blue Brook Guild” was. She just thought that they were the same as Full Moon Guild; they were one of the guilds that had asked them to set a record and nothing more.
“Why are they PKing?” Chen Guo asked Tang Rou in doubt, while yelling at Ye Xiu: “Hey, hey. You can start now!”
“Okay.” Ye Xiu put on his headphones and clicked Ready. Poplar Beach immediately clicked Ready as well and their match began. Chen Guo and Tang Rou’s screen flashed and switched to spectator mode.
“Are you a male or female?” Poplar Beach asked. After entering the field, the two were able to talk to each other.
“Male.” Ye Xiu replied.
“So you’ll be using this character. You’re sure that you won’t switch?” Poplar Beach asked.
“Yeah.”
“How many rounds to determine who wins or loses?” Poplar Beach asked about the details of the duel.
“One round is enough.” Ye Xiu laughed, “One round is enough to let you know the gap between us. I guarantee that you won’t fight a second round.”
“CUT THE CRAP!!” Poplar Beach roared.
Even though Chen Guo and Tang Rou weren’t able to listen to the two talk in spectator mode, they could hear Ye Xiu, who was sitting next to them. They could hear whatever Ye Xiu was saying. After hearing this, Chen Guo curled her lips towards Tang Rou: “He sounds really mad!”
“It’s started.” Tang Rou said. Right now, Chen Guo was controlling the computer, so she needed to adjust the spectating angle.
In the ring, after Poplar Beach said that, he took the initiative to attack. His character rushed towards Chasing Haze, which Ye Xiu was controlling. The instant his character entered Chasing Haze’s firing range, his character suddenly flashed. Moving in an irregular pattern, Poplar Beach’s character immediately blurred into one, two, three, four afterimages.
“Shadow Steps! Four afterimages!” Chen Guo immediately shouted.
This was a high-leveled Blade Master skill. The skill’s effects depended on the player’s mechanics. Poplar Beach’s movements created four perfect afterimages, making Chen Guo yell out in astonishment. In her experience against other Blade Masters, she had never met any players who were able to create four afterimages. This Blue Brook Guild’s expert really did have the ability to back up his arrogance.
“Woah, not bad!” Ye Xiu lightly praised. Poplar Beach had quite a bit of experience. His Shadow Steps were timed perfectly. They were completed the instant he entered Chasing Haze’s firing range. To be able to instantly determine Chasing Haze’s firing range was a testament to his exceptional knowledge of the game. This judgement could only be made by looking at Chasing Haze’s equipment.
As for the four afterimages that Chen Guo was so astonished about……. they weren’t anything to Ye Xiu. In the pro-scene, which pro Blade Master couldn’t do this? For top-tier Blade Masters like Huang Shaotian, he could create six and a half afterimages with his movements. Four? Too few……
Ye Xiu instantly recognized which of the four afterimages was the real one. His mouse moved and Chasing Haze immediately fired out a Quantum Bomb. At the same time, he tapped the keyboard with his left hand to have Chasing Haze step back. “Quantum Bomb” and “Laser Rifle” were similar when they were fired. They had a strong recoil, requiring the user to move their character a step backwards in order to dissolve it. If not, then the character would fall backwards towards the ground. 。 Poplar Beach wasn’t too surprised by this “Quantum Bomb”. He slid to the side with Shadow Steps and moved just outside of the Quantum Bomb’s shockwave radius. This precise control made Ye Xiu want to praise him again. But who would have thought that right after Poplar Beach dodged it, he would immediately follow up with a “Sword Draw” to hack at the Quantum Bomb.
The system allowed for this type of attack as long as your hand-eye coordination and hand speed was good enough. In theory, you could even slice apart a Sharpshooter’s bullet. Of course, anyone who could do that would be an expert with mechanics that were even higher than those at the peak.
As for people who could slice apart a “Quantum Bomb”, quite a few people could do that. However, it also required a good enough hand-eye-coordination as well as fast hand speed. However in this situation, Poplar Beach had already avoided the “Quantum Bomb”. For him to suddenly use such a difficult move was completely unnecessary. Besides looking cool, there was no other reason to do so. Ye Xiu helplessly shook his head. Did this guy not understand the situation?
Since things were already like this, how could Ye Xiu ignore this huge opening? Without a word, he switched to a gun and used a “Floating Bullet”.
Launchers could use other weapons other than heavy artillery. It was just that many of the Launcher’s high damage skills required a cannon to use. The skill “Floating Bullet” wasn’t actually a Launcher skill. It was a Level 20 or below Spitfire skill. It was named “Floating Bullet” to indicate the strong Knock-up effect the skill had. If the skill was used with a smaller gun, the bullet would come out faster.
Switching guns and using dual guns was quite common for Gunners. Ye Xiu had noticed that Chasing Haze had a reserve gun when he took over the account. As a result, he pulled out the handgun and quickly fired a Floating Bullet.
However, the following scene made Ye Xiu somewhat surprised. When his Floating Bullet was fired, he immediately put the handgun away and prepared to switch to the cannon to follow up with an attack. But he then saw that Poplar Beach cancelled his Sword Draw mid-animation and jumped forward, dodging the Floating Bullet. After landing on the ground, he followed up with a Triple Slash. As the sword light arced forward, his character closed in on Chasing haze. Triple Slash was a Blade Master skill that was often used to move quickly.
“So it was a trap! This guy!” Ye Xiu immediately understood. Poplar Beach unexpectedly had a few of his own tricks! His previous actions, which aligned with his show-off personality, were just bait. He used the time that his opponent needed to switch weapons in order to close in!
The actions of switching guns wasn’t quick because switching weapons had a cooldown. This was one of the biggest obstacles that limited the power of unspecialized characters.
Seeing that his ploy had worked, Poplar Beach felt ecstatic in his heart. It was already too late for Chasing Haze to raise her cannon and defend. There wasn’t enough time for Chasing Haze to escape with an Aerial Fire either. He had found an opportunity where he could attack and the opponent had no way of resisting! Poplar Beach had already begun his offensive, however, Ye Xiu returned the surprise. Poplar Beach saw his opponent throw his weapon onto the ground.
“What? Did he make a mistake in panic?” Poplar Beach hadn’t expected something like this to happen. Equipment couldn’t be dropped in an Arena, so could this guy have actually thrown down his weapon by accident?
Poplar Beach knew Chasing Haze’s firing range, so he had figured out what his opponent’s weapon were even before that.
Rose Flower Cannon, a Level 70 Purple weapon. If something like this just dropped on the ground, who wouldn’t want to pick it up? Even if you couldn’t use it, it was still worth a lot of money.
“F*CK!!!” Chen Guo jumped up from her seat. That Rose Flower Cannon was hers! Ye Xiu had thrown it on the ground. What if the opponent picked it up and took it away? Chen Guo immediately felt a pang of regret. Hate! Why didn’t she bind it? It was because she was too ambitious. She was always thinking of switching for an Orange weapon and then sell her Purple weapon. But now?
However, Poplar Beach wouldn’t pick up the weapon right now. Although he was surprised, he still continued his offensive. However, he suddenly saw a Knee Strike come flying forward from Chasing Haze.
Knee Strike? What was the use of that?
Poplar Beach sneered. It was true that Knee Strike was an uninterruptible Super Armor skill, but unfortunately, Poplar Beach had anticipated that Chasing Haze would use some sort of Super Armor skill to force them apart. As a result, he used a “Wave Wheel Slasher”, which could break Super Armor.
This skill actually took some time to execute. However, his opponent was the slowest Gunner class, a Launcher, so he had more than enough time to interrupt this Knee Strike. Knee Strike was a low-leveled Sharpshooter skill. Even though the speed of it was unrelated to the user’s firing speed, the weight would affect its speed. A Launcher using a Cannon and Heavy armor would be very slow when using this skill.
Poplar Beach had thought that his decision was perfect, but unexpectedly, Chasing Haze’s Knee Strike was faster than his “Wave Wheel Slasher” so he was launched into the air.
“Impossible……” Poplar Beach adjusted his camera to look down, when he suddenly realized: Weapon weight affected the move’s skill. As a result, what was supposed to be a very slow Launcher, without a cannon, in his hands were……. his hands had no weapon!
A Launcher with nothing in his hands. How fast would the move be? Poplar Beach suddenly realized an issue he had never thought of before.

Chapter 181: In a Flash

Poplar Beach noticed it just now, but it was already too late. His opponent had already thrown out a Grenade. The timing was perfect. The shock wave from the explosion launched his Blade Master even higher into the air as Chasing Haze picked up her Rose Flower Cannon. Seeing his opponent move like this, Poplar Beach finally realized: throwing down the Rose Flower Cannon was one of the opponent’s ploys!
Chasing Haze crouched and swung the Rose Flower Cannon back onto her shoulder. Blue light began to accumulate at the mouth of the cannon. Poplar Beach moved his camera to look down. Just before his character hit the ground, the stored blue light shot out and a brilliant blue artillery shell flew directly at him.
“X-1 Extruder……” Poplar Beach realized that his opponent’s crouch and swing wasn’t without meaning. The crouch reduced the time needed to put the cannon onto her shoulder. It also let him shoot from a lower height, making it so that the X-1 Extruder would hit him just as he was about to land on the ground.
“X-1 Extruder’s” feature was that it would vacuum in enemies that were hit by it, restricting their movements. The enemies would then fly forward along with it and then explode when it hit the ground, knocking the enemies to the ground along with it. Poplar Beach didn’t have any way of avoiding this vacuum effect. This time, damage would be certain. Just as he was calculating what he would do next to counterattack, he suddenly saw his opponent raise his hand and snap his fingers.
Poplar Beach was startled. This wasn’t a random movement. This was the casting animation for a Launcher’s Heat-Seeking Missile. The finger snap would bring up a crosshair. The final position of the crosshair would direct where the missile would land.
The attack did tons of damage, but the weakness of it was obvious. For one, the crosshair had to be accurate. However, the main weakness was that it was extremely slow. Poplar Beach decided he would do the same as with the Quantum Bomb and slice it apart. In mid-air, a sword light flashed forward. Sword Draw was executed towards the missile.
This move had been used in that match between Excellent Era and 301. Team 301’s Blade Master player Gao Jie had done this to dissolve the Heat-Seeking Missile. Poplar Beach’s situation was similar to Gao Jie’s situation. Both of them acted in midair. However, Poplar Beach wasn’t as skilled as a pro-player. Poplar Beach could only pray that his Sword Draw would hit the target.
Please hit!!
Seeing the flying slash’s direction and the missile’s arc, Poplar Beach determined that they would collide and a surge of happiness immediately washed over him. But who would have thought that at this moment, an explosion would suddenly ring out. Sword Slash’s sword aura had been exploded into three sparks. Poplar Beach was startled. He looked over at Chasing Haze and saw gentle smoke drift out from the mouth of the cannon…..
Sh*t! Poplar Beach’s Sword Slash had been deflected by his opponent’s Anti-Tank Missile. The flying heat-seeking missile flew towards him.
Poplar Beach felt a chill in his heart. He knew that his difficult maneuver had been done out of luck, but what about his opponent?
The bright crosshair finally found its target. A loud boom sounded out from up above in the sky and a Heat-Seeking Missile descended down. Poplar Beach began to fall. He had no way of immediately using Quick Recover. He hadn’t been launched in a normal way. he had been sucked in by “X-1 Extruder”.
The crosshair, Poplar Beach, and the suction from the X-1 Extruder together let the Heat-Seeking Missile arrive and a large mushroom cloud leapt into the air. But things weren’t done yet. Poplar Beach, who had been forced tumbling in the air from the shock wave, saw a large laser beam shoot down, the Gunner’s ultimate: Satellite Beam…..
Poplar Beach had eaten all of the Launcher’s high damage skills.
Poplar Beam was still tumbling from the explosion and light of the Satellite Beam. Ye Xiu used this time to quickly throw out a few more skills. The spectators watched dumbstruck as explosions continued to chain together, reaching a 77 Combo.
The light from explosions receded. The smoke dispersed. Poplar Beach had already been defeated.
Starting from when he was launched into the air by that Knee Strike to the instant he landed on the ground, he wasn’t able to find any opportunity to counter attack. In that span of five seconds, how many skills had hit him? The spectators had to count on their fingers to work it out.
Everyone saw the result: Poplar Beach had been defeated.
Defeated!
He really had been defeated!
In just an instant, the long health bar had been washed clean. The spectators weren’t even able to type. They were completely dumbstruck.
Chen Guo was also staring blankly at the computer screen.
She was already standing because Ye Xiu had thrown her Rose Flower Cannon. She was just about to go over and kill the guy. However, her Rose Flower Cannon had been picked back up and in the blink of an eye, the opponent had turned into a corpse. All of this happened as she jumped up from her seat……..
Chen Guo finally saw how Ye Xiu was able to beat an opponent in a few seconds using her Chasing Haze.
Chen Guo had never thought that her Chasing Haze had the burst power to explode someone to death in one go. Moreover, the person who had died was a famous expert in the Heavenly Domain. Chen Guo felt a surge of excitement! She had originally wanted to go and strangle Ye Xiu to death, but now she couldn’t move, she didn’t know how to describe what she was feeling.
Poplar Beach’s corpse quickly disappeared. The experienced gamers knew that this person had already left the room.
What could Poplar Beach say now?
The arrogant him had been completely shut up. There was nothing he could say.
He realized that Lord Grim’s words weren’t a provocation, but a reality.
One round, it really was one round.
He completely recognized the gap between their skill.
To lose so quickly and tragically, this wasn’t a question of whether it was luck. The match ended so quickly that the spectators had overlooked another reality. This was a “Perfect” match, Chasing Haze hadn’t suffered any damage..
Once Chasing Haze left the room as well, the room was naturally dissolved and the spectators were kicked back into the lobby. But everyone was still in shock and were still circling about. Only Ye Xiu didn’t care. He took off his headphones and turned his head: “Boss, you can have your account back!”
“Huh?” Chen Guo was also one of those who were dumbstruck.
“Did you record it?” Chen Guo suddenly turned her head to ask Tang Rou.
Tang Rou laughed bitterly: “You were the one controlling it!”
“Ah ah ah ah!!!” Everyone had already left the room. How could she still have the chance to record it? Chen Guo felt regretful. It would have been such a great video! It was something she could watch a hundred times.
Chen Guo felt depressed! She suddenly discovered something amiss. She looked around and discovered that a few people were looking at her.
“What are you looking at?” Chen Guo wasn’t very polite. The people looking at her were frequent customers, so they knew each other. She hadn’t done anything out of the ordinary, so what were they all looking at?
“Boss, you’re so fierce!” Someone suddenly said.
“What?” Chen Guo stared blankly.
“Chasing Haze!!” Someone else shouted.
“What? Chasing Haze? Where? Where?” Another person jumped up. This time it was a customer Chen Guo didn’t recognize.
Chen Guo instantly understood. This duel had been seen by some in the Internet Cafe. Among those were a few who didn’t know that Lord Grim was a manager at this Internet Cafe, but they did know that Chen Guo’s Glory character was Chasing haze. After that, they thought that Lord Grim was actually Chen Guo.
And those unfamiliar customers obviously didn’t know anything. They just heard someone in the Internet Cafe speak up about it, so they immediately looked for her and crowded around her. Chen Guo didn’t know whether to laugh or cry. She looked around, but didn’t know where Ye Xiu had slipped away to. She could helplessly cry out: “That wasn’t me. Someone else borrowed my account” and then hastily ran off.
The customers all stared blankly. They didn’t say anything else. The crowd was just there to satisfy their curiosity.In reality, most of the Glory players that knew Chen Guo knew what her skill level was. It was just that the previous match had been too surprising. Poplar Beach! All the veterans knew who he was.
And thus, saying that someone had borrowed the account was very reasonable. 。 There weren’t many who both recognized Chen Guo’s account and watched the match, so there wasn’t too much commotion. Everyone went back to the game to discuss about it in private. This match was too quick. Not only was the course of events quick, even the room had been dissolved quickly, making it so that there wasn’t any place for everyone to talk about it. After the players left the Arena, they immediately began discussing it in the world channel.
In a short moment, a single topic conquered the tenth server world channel.
Lord Grim, Chasing Haze, Launcher, threw down his weapon, instant kill, etc. these were all keywords.
The match was too frightening, making it so that everyone was concentrated on the one who was victorious. At this moment, Poplar Beach was like a pitiful backdrop. Very few people mentioned him.
There were a few new players who didn’t really understand. They obviously didn’t know how incredible Poplar Beach’s background was. They just saw that he had been instantly defeated, so they wanted to mock him. But their mockery was actually met with other’s mockery.
Who won and who lost the match wasn’t because one side was weak, but rather because the other side was too strong.
In everyone’s eyes, this was the impression they got. Of course, no one felt that Poplar Beach’s loss was dignified. However, his defeat wasn’t the main point everyone was talking about.
Chasing Haze, so strong!
Launchers, so strong!
Lord Grim, so strong!
These were the main points.

Chapter 182: Consultation

The match was beautiful and the reaction to it was massive. But to the big guilds, its impact wasn’t as great as the record that had been set in Desolate Land. The big guilds recognized the result and talked about it for a bit. However, there was no way it would be put above Blue Brook Guild’s tarnished image.
The only ones who were truly concerned over the match was Blue Brook Guild.
Currently, the tenth server’s Blue Brook Guild was completely silent. Everyone silently watched the discussion go on in the world channel.
Don’t look at how the highest among them were only Level 33. The people behind those characters, the senior players in Blue Brook Guild like Changing Spring were all there.
However, Poplar Beach wasn’t there.
After he had left the Arena, he directly logged out of the Heavenly Domain, but didn’t log into his tenth server account.
Even if he was arrogant, right now, he felt too ashamed to meet other guild members.
Lowering Poplar Beach’s arrogance might have been the only reward that Blue Brook Guild received. However, seeing the situation in front of them, Lord Grim’s strength was too ridiculous. It was quite possible that Poplar Beach might have been hurt too much from this match.
“Which of you went and watched it?” Changing Spring asked. Whenever they talked about guild matters, Changing Spring usually had the characters find a place to meet up at. The reason was because their guild leader Changing Spring really wasn’t fond of typing.
“I watched it.” Blue River let out a sigh as he spoke.
“What did you think of it?”
“Pretty much identical to how the world channel is describing it. They’re not exaggerating……. because there’s really isn’t any way to exaggerate it.” Blue River said.
“This Lord Grim really didn’t leave us with anything!” Flying Brushstroke said.
“I think it’s the exact opposite. I think the way he did things actually left us with room to recover.” Blue River said, “If you take a look at the world channel, most of them are discussing about how strong Lord Grim was. There was not anything else being talked about. To us, these results aren’t too bad.”
“Sigh……..” Changing Spring also sighed: “This Lord Grim really isn’t easy to deal with.”
“After our dungeon record was beaten, all the popularity we had recovered dropped again. Today, the number of players who wanted to join our guild fell by 70%…….” Blue River said.
“Line Canyon…… isn’t that the one we said we wouldn’t fight Tyrannical Ambition over?” Changing Spring asked.
“Yeah……”
“Then it looks like the only thing we can do for now is endure.” Changing Spring said somewhat regretfully.
“That…….” Bound Boat had also come to the meeting. In the tenth server, he was second only to Blue River. However, everyone present at the moment were all the seniors in the Heavenly Domain. As a result, Bound Boat clearly seemed smaller; his words also seemed like they were hesitant.
“Oh? Bound Boat, what do you have in mind?” Changing Spring asked. He knew the important players they had sent over to pioneer.
“Maybe we can ask the teams to help us? Even though these are only low-leveled dungeons, which of the current tenth server records are achievable for us? Not just Lord Grim’s records, but that Frost Forest record set by Excellent Dynasty as well! Fortunately, these were made in the new servers. If these were made in the old servers, then these records would have been suspected of being set by pros a long time ago, no?” Bound Boat said.
In the tenth server, there were only records for Frost Forest, Boneyard, and Desolate Land. However, it was just like how Bound Boat had described it. The three records were all records that surpassed their limits. Changing Spring and the others were all at the top of the normal players, yet even they were crushed by Lord Grim’s team. This was a clear and terrifying reality.
“Where exactly did these guys come from?” The background of Lord Grim and these others couldn’t be small. The word pro-level began to spiral around their minds.
“That’s why I say we should look for the experts in the team to help us appraise them.” Bound Boat said.
“Hm. This suggestion truly is quite good.” Changing Spring nodded his head. They weren’t asking them to substitute. They were only asking to chat with the Club’s experts on these incredible records and request for an appraisal. That wouldn’t be difficult to do.
“Alright then. I’m going to go and ask.” Changing Spring decided on this. The people who were participating in the meeting all had weird expressions on their faces. For the pioneering in the new server to be so shocking that they even needed pro-players to come out, this was something they had never even dreamed of before. If they knew that the entire Champion Team Tiny Herb had come to the tenth server for training, their blood pressure would probably shoot up.
“I’ll be leaving first then.” Changing Spring informed everyone. He was also someone who handled things straightforwardly.
After logging out, Changing Spring looked at the time. Right now……. the team should be doing their afternoon practice. Changing Spring ran the Blue Brook Guild in Glory in place of Club Blue Rain. He was just like Chen Yehui in Excellent Era. He could be considered as one of the Club’s official staff members, so he had some say in the Club’s matters.
Changing Spring often came to the team to look around, so he wouldn’t be considered unfamiliar with the pro-players. He’d sometimes even have the chance to compare notes with the team members. Of course, if the pro-players wanted to play two rounds with him for fun, Changing Spring wouldn’t refuse. However, if he went actively look for pro-players to play with him, he would be suspected of wasting their time. Changing Spring understood this.
Changing Spring calculated the time and chose to go at a suitable time. He didn’t have too many restrictions when walking around in the Club. Besides going to the tech team who researched self-made equipment, there wasn’t anywhere he wasn’t allowed to go to.
“Hi Senior Chun!”
Changing Spring had chosen a good time. He arrived just as Team Blue Rain finished practice, a time when everyone was relaxing. When he appeared in front of the entrance, someone saw him and greeted him.
Changing Spring’s real name was Liang Yichun, so the people who were familiar with him called him Senior Chun.
“Hi.” Changing Spring waved his hands at the pro-player that greeted him. The pro-player was a guy called Li Yuan. He was a new player in Blue Rain. He wasn’t as cautious and careful like the majority of new players were. After the young guy joined the team, he was extremely energetic and was always very friendly with everyone. He quickly became familiar with everyone including Changing Spring.
With his greeting, the other pros who hadn’t known that Changing Spring had come turned their heads and looked at him. The majority of the pros nodded their heads as a greeting and then went back to doing whatever they were doing before. However, Yu Wenzhou got up and walked over to him: “Senior Chun’s come over!”
“Yeah, I’m here to take a look……” Changing Spring said politely.
Yu Wenzhou, Team Blue Rain’s team captain. Most of the team captains were also the team’s ace player, but there would obviously be a few exceptions. Blue Rain’s ace player was Huang Shaotian, but their team captain was Yu Wenzhou. Even though Yu Wenzhou’s mechanics weren’t as good as Huang Shaotian’s, his ability in strategy and tactics were extraordinary. Moreover, that Huang Shaotian’s constant chatter pulled down his demeanor. The words of someone who was always talking would feel somewhat frivolous to others.
“You haven’t been here in awhile!” Yu Wenzhou treated him politely as well, seeing that Changing Spring had come to talk with him about something.
Changing Spring also knew that Team Blue Rain’s captain was relatively easy to speak with, unlike Tyrannical Ambition’s Jiang You, who was so hesitant. If Blue Rain’s captain had been so fierce like Han Wenqing, he definitely wouldn’t have immediately logged offline to go look for him.
“Yeah, I’ve been busy. The pioneering in the tenth server!” Changing Spring began to ease into the topic.
“It’s just pioneering. As if you needed to personally lead, right?” Yu Wenzhou chuckled. He knew how the Club’s guild operated in general.
‘But this time’s tenth server is too different!” Changing Spring said very seriously.
“Oh? What do you mean?”
“A bunch of experts suddenly popped up out of nowhere. All of the low-leveled dungeon records that have been set in the tenth server so far are above the all-time records. It looks as if they were all done by pro-players.” Changing Spring said.
“Crash!” A loud crash resounded in the practice room, along with three or four players crying out in alarm: “Huang Shao, are you okay? What happened?”
“It’s nothing. It’s nothing. I slipped, that’s all.” Huang Shaotian said ashen-faced as he supported himself up with his chair. Seeing that Changing Spring was looking at him in astonishment, he hastily waved his hand: “Senior Chun, you’re here! Ha ha ha, long time no see. You’re free today? Have you eaten yet? You probably haven’t eaten, right? Lucky you! It’ll be time to eat soon. You should eat some food before you go!”
“Sure, sure.” Changing Spring repeatedly nodded his head. He didn’t dare say anything too much or else he wouldn’t hear the end of it.
“Do you have a tenth server account card? Let’s take a look at the records!” Yu Wenzhou said.
“I do!” Changing Spring took out a card and gave it to Yu Wenzhou. Of course he had prepared everything before hand.
Yu Wenzhou found a random computer to sit down at and logged into the game. At the same time, without turning his head, he also said: “Shaotian, you should come and look too!”
There wasn’t any response from behind him. Huang Shaotian was wearing his headphones acting as if he hadn’t heard anything. The players beside him pushed him: “Huang Shao, captain’s calling for you!”
“Ah? What is it?” Huang Shaotian took off his headphones and turned around to ask.
“Come over here to look at the tenth server records.” Yu Wenzhou said.
Huang Shaotian had no choice but to get up. As he walked over, he asked: “Tenth server? The new server? What’s there to look at?”
“Woah! The records really are incredible!” Yu Wenzhou had already entered the game and directly clicked on the record leaderboards.
“Shaotian, how do you think these records were made?” Yu Wenzhou asked.