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Opening: Skeleton CrewBeijing National Stadium.Glory Professional Alliance Season 18 Finals – Happy vs Tiny Herb, neutral game, Team Challenge.Happy: Ghostblade One Inch Ash, Launcher Dancing Rain, Qi Master Boundless Sea, Ninja Deception, Cleric Little Cold Hands, Summoner Concealed Light.Tiny Herb: Witch Vaccaria, Paladin Wind Guard, Blade Master Flying Sword, Knight Angelica, Sharpshooter Red Leaves, Battle Mage Euphorbia.The stormy rocking of the chosen map was no trouble for a Witch’s ability to hover and fly, but Team Tiny Herb’s current captain and controller of Vaccaria, Gao Yingjie, still sighed in his heart as he decided to leave Vaccaria standing on the quarter-deck.“It’s the Happy dungeon!” He typed in the chat in response to several exclamation marks. The exclamation marks gave way to angry curses.Angelica: “Is the Alliance helping Happy, or cursing us?! What kind of luck is this?!”Indeed, the odds had fallen to curse Tiny Herb by choosing the Season 10 commemoration dungeon set up by the gaming company. Also known as That One Dungeon, Bright as the Stars presented with a dungeon of extreme difficulty an in-game hall of fame for the current reigning champions of the Professional Alliance regular season. Since its inception though, the same team had occupied it sporadically for four times, leading to its other name – and Happy would go on for a fifth, if Tiny Herb did not stop them immediately.In the game, the dungeon in all its various settings – single-player, five-player, ten-player, twenty-player, fifty-player and hundred-player – all began with the very moment a player boarded the sky-ship Thousand-Mile Journey and continued right into the eye of a brewing hurricane. Floating in the sky, the galleon rocked as it traversed the storm winds and flecks of rain which had a chance of inflicting Blind. Falling from the ship was an automatic death regardless of class, and the ship’s rocking movements and the winds presented a chance of tipping unwary or reckless players overboard.This was only the start. The Happy dungeon, as it was also called, had become, since its introduction, a regular mainstay within the maps of Team Happy’s choice. Continuing in their tradition of the shameless and wretched, the dungeon map tended either end up ruined from the bloody battles, or shining glorious to preserve the images of Happy’s ridiculous beginnings from grassroots to champion.Worse – this was a moving map. The storm effects would continue up to the stage amidst the stars.“Captain!” Red Leaves reported using the voice function, her voice muffled by the howling storm. “Should we look for a trap?”“Do you think any Thief would have time to set traps?!”There was no point in looking for traps, because everything was a trap: On top of the natural environmental obstacles, the ratlines snared, the rigging strangled, the sails fully unfurled blocked everyone’s view and hid potential opponents.“Is this an NPC map?” the Paladin Wind Guard had elected to type instead. “Oh, hey, that’s nice, I can see the NPC guide! He’ll lead us inside the cabin!”!!!!!Gao Yingjie immediately shouted: “Wait, no!” right as the chat pinged with a ‘!!!!’Wind Guard was caught!“Red Leaves! Get the guide, save our healer!!” Gao Yingjie ordered, equipping a pair of eyeglasses which guarded against the Blind effect.Swinging from a ratline with the most basic controls, Red Leaves made a single shot. The bullet tore through a rippling sail, revealing for a single moment a ghostly horned mask with grinning teeth.A Flame Boundary erupted, purple flames licking across the planking underfoot. Unhindered by the winds, ghosts swarmed Red Leaves as a Moonlight Slash made to cut Red Leaves’ hold.Red Leaves let go. The character’s revolver kept firing in an aerial manoeuvre to toss itself into the mizzen-mast.Vaccaria tossed out Lightning Shackles in the direction where the Flame Boundary erupted. “Flying Sword, Angelica, healer!”Angelica moved for a bit, and then stopped. At this moment, the sounds of cannon-fire erupted from below-decks.Angelica typed: “When did Dancing Rain get down there?!”The Ash Boundary descended before the Full Moon Slash. The knock-back effect was excellently timed with the Thousand-Mile Journey rocking in that direction. Hindered by the extra weight, Angelica went over the gunwales and plummeted down...Gao Yingjie had no tears to cry. Angelica’s current controller was a fairly good Knight, but Happy had been tipping over tanks like him since Season 10. The only comfort was that Wind Guard, as a Priest subclass, had learnt the Cleric skill Angel Wings, so Happy couldn’t exactly tip him overboard too-Flying Sword threw out a Triple Slash to vault towards the below-decks hatch by the main mast. He threw himself down to perform the Open action. The next moment, a Spirit Cat started to attack him.“Summoner!” Red Leaves, after Quick Recover, rushed to aid Flying Sword as Vaccaria was controlled to shoot a Magic Missile. The Spirit Cat was hit by the Missile and two bullets, flying out to be whisked away by the storm.At this point, their sixth member Euphorbia shot out of the hatch, Ice Chasers glittering around him.“Look out for Once Inch Ash. Gao Yingjie typed while controlling Vaccaria to change its sight-line. One Inch Ash... Yifan was still here...“You found Dancing Rain?”“Exchange zone, I found the explosive nanny and the Launcher, who then fired me up a deck.”As the Cleric character with the highest recorded Intelligence, Critical Attack and Healing in the entirety of Glory, Little Cold Hands had kept up with all updates and seasons next to One Inch Ash, both characters as the support enablers of Happy’s explosive attacks.“They switched out someone for their summoner!” Gao Yingjie warned as a dark figure vaulted down the main mast from the crow’s nest above. “Red Leaves!”Bird Fall!Deception used a Cicada Shell Double Slash, and then employed Shadow Dance. The shadows split up, half swarming Red Leaves to push her overboard as the other half shielded Deception from Vaccaria and Flying Sword.Lava Flask!Sword Draw!Deception dived, climbing the ratlines to hide within the main mast’s sails. As the purple flames winked out, so too did the sound of the wind and the storm...Silence Boundary!1Vaccaria and Flying Sword dived out of the Silence Boundary, right as their sight went out.Dark Boundary!Vaccaria used Broom Tornado to strike out immediately. As he corkscrewed his way out, he spotted a Thunder Eagle and a Flying Dragon tackling into the Dark Boundary through the Silence Boundary, and then erupt out with Flying Sword’s stunned figure overboard into the storm...In all this mess, not once did the Qi Master appear.The winds died, the full sails deflated, and the Thousand-Mile Journey warded through the stormy seas to crash into its destination, right before Wind Guard reported through the chat:‘Why spam Hypnosis... overboard.’A gangplank unfolded. Gao Yingjie made Vaccaria throw itself overboard, followed by Euphorbia. A heartbeat later, all five of Happy’s active saboteurs alighted down on this floating stage that marked the end of the Thousand-Mile Journey’s regular stops.Stars twinkled against the dark blanket of night, time almost having no meaning. The temple glittered before them, but at this point, it would be a harrowing two-vs-five battle for Tiny Herb.Dancing Rain and Little Cold Hands at half health – though the matter was being solved. Deception, the wounds where Red Leaves had sniped still present. Concealed Light, now conjuring a summoning array with a wave of his staff. And shielding Concealed Light was the main participant in Tiny Herb’s current sabotage...One Inch Ash: “...needs work.”“En,” Gao Yingjie typed back.Vaccaria threw out a Star Ray at One Inch Ash.“Our opponents put up a good fight, but our preparations and luck were better.”This was the reply that Happy’s third captain Qiao Yifan gave at the press conference following Tiny Herb’s conference. There was only him, the lady boss Chen Guo, and a scared-looking girl who was Little Cold Hands’ current controller. The mass of reporters looked more relieved than anything else – Happy’s last two captains had been recent nightmares in Glory history.“E-Sports News here. Captain Qiao, congratulations on the fifth championship title that Happy has won. Was it a surprise that the map which appeared played such a large role in your team’s victory?”“It is not the first time that terrain played a role – however it is a double-edged sword,” the twenty-seven-year-old captain answered. “In this season alone, we too lost a player simply by turning overboard. Nonetheless, we won, if only by the skin of our teeth.”The reporters thought: One Inch Ash and Little Cold Hands being the last ones standing with low health, bit of an understatement there.“On this note, our rookies performed beyond expectations,” Qiao Yifan continued. “Little Cold Hands and Dancing Rain coordinated with Senior Luo Ji admirably. With the conclusion of this match, though, I would like to take this chance to announce the retirement of Senior Luo Ji and myself. Senior Luo Ji’s dedication to the mathematics of Glory would lead him to continue his work with our internal weapons-development with the summer vacation period after some rest. However, I would take one season in order to train Happy’s future captain Fēng Shun before a complete handover. I would now hand the floor to our lady boss, Chen Guo, to outline the next phase of Team Happy.”Qiao Yifan sat back down after handing the microphone, and Chen Guo stood up to speak:“The journey of Team Happy since Season 11 has been rocky, and only since Season 13 has Team Happy gained a propitious wind. As the youngest of Team Happy’s starting rookies, despite his previous experiences in the professional circles, Little Qiao’s efforts paid off as Happy found its way to victory time after time. We are glad that Team Happy, the newest dynasty of Glory history, is home to the current number one Phantom Demon. Members of Happy have weathered the toughest storms and the fairest weathers, going through ten thousand crags and currents to now, but we, Team Happy, are a team – past, present, and future.”With this, Chen Guo raised the champion’s trophy towards Qiao Yifan. “Team Happy – Champions!”“Lady Boss...”Qiao Yifan reached for the cup, the golden vessel drifting across the sea of space, directed and purposeful like the blood rushing in his ears, the crash of waves reaching and receding back...The receding wave pulled……and tugged..…dragged.The flash of light seemed to shine green at that one moment when time turned back.
1 This is my translation for the Ghostblade skill 静寂之阵. Wiki doesn’t have a translation yet...
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1. Green FlashOctober 7. A month into Season 8 of the Glory Professional Alliance, Ye Xiu received a friendship request on QQ. This was hardly strange, but the request message drew his attention:
One Inch Ash: Hello, Senior Ye.
The account never replied back, so Ye Xiu assumed it as a wrong number.Fast-forward, December 3, Glory’s tenth anniversary and tenth server opening. Blown by the north-west winds into the Happy Internet Café across the street from Club Excellent Era, the unspecialised Lord Grim made his debut in the tenth server – and immediately received a message:
[Player One Inch Ash has sent you a friend request]
Seventeen-year-old Gao Yingjie was secretly worried for his friend.Ever since his seventeenth birthday, Qiao Yifan had become much more withdrawn. Granted, it was easy to overlook his existence within Tiny Herb’s training camp, but... Gao Yingjie firmly stamped down that thought.Holding a pile of smurf account cards in his hand, Gao Yingjie handed them out to Tiny Herb’s substitute team. “Captain said that we need to try out breaking the Boneyard record. Last one was set by the player Lord Grim.”“Who cares who he is!” Zhou Yebai had been snickering over a Coke.Gao Yingjie overlooked him, turning to Qiao Yifan: “Who’s the tenth server guild leader again?”“Plantago Seed.” Qiao Yifan logged into the Assassin account within the five empty accounts. “He’s on my friends list, should I contact him?”“No. We just need to try this.”Did Yifan’s shoulders just stiffen? No, there was only the smile which was not quite a smile. “Alright, Yingjie.”“Yifan...” Gao Yingjie nodded decisively. “...You’ll be fine. We’re all together in this!!”Disaster did not come alone; the record runs for Boneyard fell painfully short, even with all players equipped with Purple weapons. When all was said and done, even their captain and resident God Wang Jiexi had set another assignment: find Lord Grim, and kill him.Yifan’s Assassin rushed out first, and ended up drawing the entire party sans Lord Grim to him. Their Battle Mage was the next to arrive, and was then tossed around with Vanishing Steps. The rainbow-coloured blur of a character was Gao Yingjie’s target, but Lord Grim was a step ahead of him, forcing Yingjie to call a retreat. In their first ambush, not only were the tides completely turned back on them, but Xiao Yun’s Cloudy Heavens ended up as a corpse and the rest made an embarrassing escape.“What about now?” The only girl on their team asked. Liu Fei had directed her question to Gao Yingjie – while their group of five had been led by Xiao Yun, she set up a new leader since Xiao Yun had died, without any plan in mind.“Uh...” Gao Yingjie had just led them in the heat of the moment. Now that he was out of combat, Gao Yingjie turned unsure of what to do.“We go back to kill him.”Qiao Yifan’s voice had... something that raised alarm bells in Gao Yingjie’s mind. “Y- Yifan?”“What about Xiao Yun?” Zhou Yebai turned his head to ask, since Cloudy Heavens was still a corpse.Xiao Yun glared at him in real life. “I revived.”Liu Fei asked: “How exactly did you die?”It was not a deliberate jab – losing was common fare within the pro circle. The problem was that this was in the game, where professional players were already considered as gods by normal players. If a god was killed by a mortal, then what honour did the god have?“Little Jie, you saw it right?” Seeing that Xiao Yun didn’t want to say it, Liu Fei turned to Gao Yingjie. He had no choice but to reply: “It looked like Vanishing Step.”Unfortunately, he was destined to be ignored.“It is Vanishing Step.”Everyone’s head turned towards Qiao Yifan. Qiao Yifan shifted aside to show his recording of Cloudy Heavens being tossed around by Lord Grim like a human basketball, constantly out of Cloudy Heaven’s view. The sight of it caused Xiao Yun’s face to fall.“Vanishing Step?!”Zhou Yebai and Liu Fei gave Xiao Yun looks of astonishment. “To be able to kill Xiao Yun with Vanishing Step, could this guy be at Captain’s level?” Liu Fei blurted out.Xiao Yun had to justify himself: “What do you know! That player was an Unspecialised character with a large variety of skills. He has a huge early-game advantage.”Nobody called him out that Vanishing Step was purely based on a player’s experience, decision-making, and accuracy. The fact that no skills were needed to torture Xiao Yun to death was scary enough.“Could this Lord Grim be Captain?”Zhou Yebai shook his head. “No! Captain told us to kill this player once!”Silence reigned with an exchange of doubtful looks. The reason now was not important; Captain had given them a task. Right now, Lord Grim wasn’t dead, and had actually killed their leader Xiao Yun instead, in an extremely infuriating manner too.“Now we don’t even know where they are,” Zhou Yebai complained.“Go ask Herb Garden’s players!”“They caught up!” All four speakers jumped in surprise at Qiao Yifan butting in.Throughout their entire exchange, Qiao Yifan had been playing his constant role of the listener. Besides privately chatting with Gao Yingjie, there was almost never any other chance for him to speak, so he had been tapping his keyboard as if none of this was related to him. What the other four now realised, was that Qiao Yifan had been looking out in-game the whole time. They immediately turned their cameras.Boneyard could be considered fairly spacious and empty. Gravestones, coffins, and withered trees made up a prominent bit of the scenery. Tiny Herb’s four living characters had been controlled to seize the strategic high ground upon realising that they were being chased, but it made escape fairly difficult. Four characters each held their own positions. Liu Fei was crouching behind a tombstone – standard operating procedure to cover when opening fire – while Qiao Yifan’s Assassin and Zhou Yebai’s Ghostblade used their overlapping views to observed Lord Grim’s group of five.From an overall perspective, their coordination wasn’t bad.“Earphones on.”All of them put on their earphones.“Cross Formation,” Zhou Yebai observed. “Brawler at the front, Striker on the left, Blade Master in the middle, Battle Mage in the back, Lord Grim on the right.”“Yingjie, what’s your Doll Shururu level?”“Er... 28.”“Barely enough... Senior Zhou, ready a Sword Boundary. Senior Liu, suppressive fire on Lord Grim. Yingjie, Doll Shururu, use Shadow Cloak on the count of three. Senior Zhou please follow up with a Dark Boundary on Lord Grim, turn and then Ghost Slash on the Bound players. Senior Xiao, whenever you arrive, delay the Brawler and Battle Mage. Start!”The Boundary was laid down. A rag-doll was tossed out, and met with a Brick. Liu Fei’s Sharpshooter laid down normal attacks with took the form of bullets against Lord Grim, ducking as counter-fire reached the tombstone she was using as cover. Ping, ping-Ashen Moon used Air Jump to double-jump over the mob around Doll Shururu, drop-kicking Lord Grim with Diving Arrow. In that one moment, Lord Grim side-stepped the drop-kick. Bloody blossoms flowered right then as blood was exchanged–“Life-Risking Strike!” Liu Fei’s heart shook.Half of Lord Grim’s health dropped in that instant, but so did Ashen Moon’s health. In comparison to the health burned to inflict damage, Ashen Moon seemed pitiful and was swept aside by Lord Grim’s Circle Swing. The little Assassin was still alive, though, and rolled away as Doll Shururu was killed.Gao Yingjie’s Weeping Crow threw out the Shadow Cloak now. It bound the Striker, Blade Master and Battle Mage, the three close-range fighters who had been Taunted by Doll Shururu.Who knew that, just as Weeping Crow threw out his skill, a sword’s light flashed over. Sword Draw’s sword light arrived first, alarming Gao Yingjie. With Gao Yingjie’s reaction speed and skill, he didn’t think that he would lost to anyone when fighting for time, and could only helplessly choose to dodge it. Even if he directly took on the attack, there was no way his Shadow Cloak would hit.However, Zhou Yebai’s Dark Boundary landed.The Blind status over Lord Grim’s avatar, combined with the damage from Life-Risking Strike, was almost enough for the remaining players to celebrate, even as Ashen Moon hurriedly flung himself back into Tiny Herb’s formation.Liu Fei was blinded by a Brick. Lord Grim stepped out of the Dark Boundary, a sickle in hand. Twice, white light washed over him – a Cure, followed by a Heal. The sickle then transformed into a ridiculously large umbrella canopy, vaguely recognisable as a shield.“HAH?!” Xiao Yun suddenly exclaimed. Everyone else looked up, to see Xiao Yun peering at Qiao Yifan’s screen. “Qiao Yifan, what’s with your health?!”“Potion.”“Why?!”“We’re in the game. I have low health in combat.”“Do you any zero pride as a professional player?!” Xiao Yun demanded with a sneer. “No, you obviously need the potions, since your skill level is crap.”“En.” Qiao Yifan turned back to his screen, placid as a lake. “Senior Zhou, you’re stuck.”“What?!” Zhou Yebai turned back to his monitor.The Ghostblade that Zhou Yebai was currently controlled was now stuck between Soft Mist and Lord Grim. Her character looked just like the initial Cloudy Heavens with seven Ice Chasers revolving around her. Soft Mist followed Lord Grim’s Dragon Tooth right after the Stun wore off with her own Dragon Tooth. An Ice Chaser flew out and the Stunned White Night Black Day had no way of dodging it. The Ice Chaser smashed into him, ice blossoming across his face as he entered the Slowed state, the avatar emitting a chilly aura. Zhou Yebai’s White Night Black Day’s health flowed away.Liu Fei’s Fallen Angel, on the other hand, was facing another Brick. “This Brawler-!!! Why a Brick?! Xiao Yun, come here!”“Wait, no, I’ll get our support out!”“No, get this Brawler away from me!”Lord Grim stepped aside. He used a Circle Swing, picking up White Night Black Day to flip him over. Seven Fields and Sleeping Moon now rushed forward, Sleeping Moon immediately jumped to Lord Grim’s original position. Their coordination seemed rough, but White Night Black Day was now in the middle of the broken formation and attacked on three sides.This was all done in the blink of an eye. Gao Yingjie hastily controlled his Weeping Crow to fly over, but Lord Grim stepped out to block Gao Yingjie’s Disperse Powder with a leisurely umbrella. After blocking Disperse Powder, he once again closed the umbrella and stabbed up at the flying Weeping Crow. No matter how fast Gao Yingjie’s reaction speed was, Weeping Crow got thrown into the centre of the three players, trapped with White Night Black Day.Even worse, Lord Grim was still handling Cloudy Heavens on one side too.“The Brawler!”“Shut up, Yifan!” Xiao Yun snapped back.Soft Mist rushed forward, leaping over the tombstone. Ignoring the bullets headed her way, Soft Mist slammed Ashen Moon far away from Lord Grim, a flurry of attacks drawing out multiple twinkling Chasers to end Ashen Moon’s life very thoroughly. Ashen Moon was laid out on the ground.Gao Yingjie: …Zhou Yebai: …Liu Fei: …Soft Mist waited. Ashen Moon did not move. Soft Mist slammed her battle lance into Ashen Moon some more.Qiao Yifan sighed. “...seems like they took the Life-Risking Strike too seriously.”Everything after Ashen Moon died went to hell. Liu Fei’s avatar was flung into the encirclement too, and then Xiao Yun quickly followed her quite unwillingly. The three pro-players really did want to cry, but no tears came out. Pro-players? In this moment, the three didn’t feel that they were anymore. They had all fallen into the net like little fishes. Punches, Bricks, slashes, stabs, bullets – whatever there was, they got. Qiao Yifan was the luckier one, having received the honour of being singled out to be carried away in one wave.In the end, the entire team was wiped out. The players sat in front of their screen, staring at their corpses at a loss.Qiao Yifan, tapping a key to stop the recording before he sighed and got up from his chair. “I’ll get us all some coffee.”He opened the door. He walked through and shut the door. Nobody paid him any mind.“...” Gao Yingjie opened his mouth. “Everyone... did you feel... that the first half of battle went very well?”Liu Fei jerked her head. “Life-Risking Strike! We were halfway there!”“...yeah!” Zhou Yebai brightened. “We actually took down half of Lord Grim’s health! Although the other players... and Xiao Yun was concentrating on Lord Grim too much...”“This…” Xiao Yun opened and closed his mouth, at a loss for words. When he made a mistake, he could usually force out an explanation. Now though, they had been wiped out by the opponents in the game, in a team battle, with just one person as their objective. Even though they were only subs for the Club, of which two of them had not even had official match experience yet, they were still pro-players who could come out as team representatives at any time. In an actual pro-match, they probably would not have suffered such a disastrous defeat. There was no excuse about this.“Yeah...” Zhou Yebai realised. “Everything was going well until Xiao Yun ignored the Brawler for Lord Grim! Let’s revive again and hunt them down!”“Erm...” Gao Yingjie swallowed. “Did anyone... realise...”The other three blinked, but gave him their attention. Even if Gao Yingjie was younger than them, he was the officially designated successor for Vaccaria, the future captain of Team Tiny Herb. His status was about half a level above them here.“It’s like... in the first half of our... attack,” Gao Yingjie haltingly stated. “And, right up until Senior Xiao went for Lord Grim instead of the Brawler... Yifan was in command the whole time.”That night, a QQ chat flashed.
Qiao Yifan: Good evening Senior~ o(*^＠^*)o
Lord Grim: Little Qiao? Good evening. It’s one in the morning already, why are you still up? Tiny Herb has daily drills, right?
Qiao Yifan: We’re supposed to kill you once, but the rest of the sub team gave up and went to bed already. Senior, how did that Life-Risking Strike get you? I even warned you in advance!
Lord Grim:...The Assassin. That was you?
Qiao Yifan: En. (～o￣3￣)～
Lord Grim:...With you around, I keep feeling like there’s gods and demons at work.1
Qiao Yifan: I am a Phantom Demon.
Lord Grim:...f*ck. I fell for that.
Qiao Yifan: Senior, I’m going to level-grind. Do you need help?
Lord Grim: No, go ahead. Ask me if you need advice on how Phantom Demons work. Remember, you are more talented than you believe yourself to be!
Qiao Yifan: Alright. I’ll message again when I log out~
Ye Xiu spent a long moment looking at the screen. He did not believe in gods or demons, yet sometimes, in his party, it really did feel like some demon was at work to make battle easier. That demon’s name was Qiao Yifan, ID One Inch Ash – subclass Ghostblade, play-style Phantom Demon.
1 ZH: 鬼使神差 – used to describe curious coincidences, as if demons and gods were at work. This is also a play on the Ghostblade’s ability to summon ghosts (in the novel written as 鬼神, which actually refers to supernatural beings in general).
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2. SylvanshineThat night, most of Club Tiny Herb’s reserve team had difficulty sleeping. Almost everyone used the excuse “low-level characters didn’t have every class skill available, so they weren’t used to it”, they all knew in their hearts that there was no excuse, being pro-players.The only one completely relaxed was Qiao Yifan, who had already known the general outcome. Plus, at this point nobody in Tiny Herb had any hopes for him. Not even Yingjie could have thought that his crude directions had helped the flow of battle along, yes? He slept extremely well, and woke up early of break fast before going to the practice room for daily drills.“Good morning- Whoa! Yingjie, did you not sleep?” Qiao Yifan jumped in fright that morning when he saw his friend the next morning in the practice room, especially the new panda eyes that Gao Yingjie sported.“Ah...” Gao Yingjie muttered.Qiao Yifan looked again, in his heart gleeful like a spectator at a game. Xiao Yun, Zhou Yebai, and Liu Fei – which one of their complexions looked good? However, their minds were still somewhat better than Gao Yingjie, and the bags under their eyes weren’t as heavy.“Yingjie,” Qiao Yifan murmured. “We got halfway there.”Gao Yingjie turned bleary eyes at Qiao Yifan.“I’ll direct more points to Life-Risking Strike,” Qiao Yifan entreated. “What we need now, though... is cover.”Gao Yingjie’s eyes brightened. “Yes... you...”Nine AM, Wang Jiexi arrived in the practice room with the rest of Tiny Herb’s main roster.Once Wang Jiexi arrived, the murmurs and whispering immediately stopped.Wang Jiexi walked around and came to where the substitute players were located. Everyone there sucked in a cold breath. Usually, everyone hoped that God Jiexi would notice them; now, they all hoped that they were invisible.Qiao Yifan was the only exception. He had always been invisible.“How was last night?” Wang Jiexi started.“We got halfway there!” Gao Yingjie suddenly burst out. “Yifan took down half of Lord Grim’s health!”Qiao Yifan gave a vacuous stare back to Wang Jiexi’s uneven look at him. “We have a recording? Does Captain want to take a look first?”...is Yifan actually... a natural ditz?! Gao Yingjie was floored by this realisation about his friend. He had never known this side of Qiao Yifan before.The other three subs glared at Qiao Yifan, but their captain now spoke: “Before the recording, I would like to know all your impressions. Yifan, since you volunteered, you go first.”“How can I speak before the seniors?” Qiao Yifan looked at Xiao Yun. “Senior Xiao took on Lord Grim first!”This junior is out to trap his seniors! This thought first flashed across Xiao Yun’s mind. Nobody expected the wallflower Qiao Yifan to be such an expert at entrapment.Seventeen-year-old Tiny Herb’s Qiao Yifan could not have done it. However, this Qiao Yifan’s mind was the twenty-seven-year-old Qiao Yifan of Team Happy, studying under three great seniors whose defining marks were thick skin, playing dirty, and utterly no limits – short of outright cheating – to win. The Glory world mourned the death of Happy’s last conscience when Qiao Yifan beat out all the first-generation team members to become Happy’s third captain after Su Mucheng retired that year...To be fair, there was no competition at all, Qiao Yifan reflected. Senior Fang outright refused; Sister Tang preferred to charge straight into combat over taking command; Senior Luo lacked the aggressiveness needed; the two living treasures Seniors Bao and Mo- NO; Senior An lacked the play-standard to assert himself as captain. The black pot thus fell on him, and what a story it was.In the end, Xiao Yun was stuttering before Wang Jiexi’s stare: “Uh… we encountered a few difficulties.”“How?” Wang Jiexi asked.“Er…”“Yifan used Life-Risking Strike!” Gao Yingjie burst out. “Captain, my Doll Shururu was high enough then, so it Taunted Lord Grim’s party members. Senior Zhou used a Sword Boundary, Senior Liu put Lord Grim under suppressing fire as I used a Shadow Cloak, then Yifan charged ahead to stab Lord Grim! Then Senior Zhou used a Dark Boundary to cover Yifan’s escape to... erm... use a potion.”“Life... Risking Strike...” Wang Jiexi took on a contemplating expression. “Standard in-game strategy. Very good. If you had such a good start, then how did you all fail?”“Er... Lord Grim’s team concentrated to kill Yifan first.”“Nobody was protecting him?”“Er... Senior Xiao was trying to break Senior Zhou and I out of an encirclement while Senior Liu was being chased by a Brawler.”Zhou Yebai and Liu Fei internally cheered. Xiao Yun’s character they guessed all too well, but the word of Gao Yingjie, Vaccaria’s future controller, weighed more with the main roster than sub-players like them.Xiao Yun finally managed to speak: “We’ve decided to practice on these low-level accounts and then go look for him again tonight.”Wang Jiexi was silent. After a short while, he suddenly turned to Gao Yingjie: “Little Jie. What do you think?”Gao Yingjie stood up, somewhat terrified, and then stammered: “…really strong.”“What’s really strong?” Wang Jiexi continued.“That... Lord Grim.”“How strong?”Gao Yingjie was an honest, introverted child. He was too embarrassed to make an excuse.He looked at Xiao Yun. Nobody had mentioned that Xiao Yun had been killed twice – the first time, Lord Grim had played with him to his death using Vanishing Step. Gao Yingjie at least understood what Xiao Yun wanted. But Vanishing Step really was a good indicator of Lord Grim’s skill level... Xiao Yun avoided his view.Gao Yingjie turned to Qiao Yifan with pleading eyes. Please?Why me?! Qiao Yifan stared back.I can’t do this alone! Gao Yingjie’s eyes then furrowed. You need this too!Before his only friend here, and the fact that he would probably be leaving soon, Qiao Yifan sighed in his heart. What was face? It’s not like Qiao Yifan ever had it here!“There were four other players with Lord Grim,” he began. “Two are regular players – a Blade Master, a Striker. Two are newbies, albeit with greater hand speed. His status as an expert is acknowledged in that group without question. Throughout the entire battle, Lord Grim was the one giving the directions – and teaching the newbies to throw Bricks.”Liu Fei paled. The memory of Bricks was fresh in her mind.“Considering that the tenth server just opened, and his current level, he could not be part of a professional club. He is the only one handling his account.” Qiao Yifan continued. “The hours of his online presence, according to the tenth server guild, are constantly nocturnal and early-morning; perhaps playing on night-shift work. His familiarity with the Cross Formation, and teaching newbies, imply long experience with Glory in a teaching format – something like coaches.”The other subs now had looks of realisation. Coaches were a new thing – the pro scene had only been around for seven years, after all. Currently, in the Alliance, the only real coaches were early-generation pro-players, each in a small Club working as coaches.“My concluding profile is... early-generation pro, possibly retired, definitely in night-shift, high-level or used to be high-level. Considering that this MO has only appeared in the tenth server, the retirement is recent...” Qiao Yifan trailed off.The main roster all looked like they had been struck with lightning. Wang Jiexi’s uneven eyes nearly popped out of his skull. Li Ji’s glasses slid down his face.“...Qiao Yifan.” The God known as the Magician said at last. “You already have some idea of Lord Grim’s identity, don’t you?”“Some god, maybe?” Qiao Yifan blinked. “I’m an Assassin, Captain. I just kill the target.”“Yifan, this target might be too hard to kill!” Gao Yingjie burst out. “Captain, I apologise for Yifan, he must be tired from lack of sleep...”“Is that so? Then Yifan must pull more all-nighters, if his brain is so active when deprived of sleep. After dinner, there’ll be one more practice.” Wang Jiexi announced to the entire team.“What practice?” One of the main roster players asked his team captain.“Kill a BOSS.”“BOSS? What BOSS?” Some people didn’t understand.‘The greatest BOSS in the history of Glory. Now, continue practice. Do you have recordings of yesterday?”Again, Qiao Yifan was the only one to offer recordings. The first section of the recording had ended only when Gao Yingjie’s Weeping Crow and Qiao Yifan’s Ashen Moon had escaped the first time. The second section was far more spectacular – Liu Xiaobie had actually begun clapping when Lord Grim received the first and only damage that he had got throughout the entire fight. They groaned as Soft Mist deliberately ate the Magic Missile to kill Ashen Moon, putting an end to the record.“Luck, but used well,” Wang Jiexi concluded at last. “Life-Risking Strike...”Everyone nervously stood behind Wang Jiexi, watching the video. They all had their heads down for the scolding!Wang Jiexi got up, patted Qiao Yifan on the shoulder, and then left.Xiao Yun and the others all hesitated. They didn’t know what to do and in the end, returned to their computers to continue practice.“Yifan,” Gao Yingjie spoke before the evening activity. “Will you take command?”“Why would I?” Qiao Yifan blinked. “The main team will be there.”Gao Yingjie hesitated. There was irrefutable logic within Qiao Yifan’s statement, but Gao Yingjie was still crestfallen at the thought. If Yifan could display a bit more talent, was Gao Yingjie’s wistful thought, knowing that the chance of his friend remaining in Tiny Herb dropped with each day that Qiao Yifan was stuck on the bench.In the end, Gao Yingjie reflected, how did it come to the actual Arena?The team had ambushed Lord Grim, two of the main roster had died, and then Lord Grim had run away to hide and log-out. Ye Qiu’s newest student of the Battle Mage had then come along, and Ye Qiu had used her account to start a teaching duel with Xiao Yun.Was it fair to call it a teaching duel? It was more like Xiao Yun being tossed around as a training dummy...It still ended up in training through gambling matches in a room called ‘Find Me Next Door’ after winning against a new player – entry was easy, winning was extremely difficult.“Everyone knows who Ye Qiu is,” their Captain had said. “Even if he’s retired, his skill level is still top-tier in the Alliance. Right now, he’s also using an unspecialised character, which has such an early-game advantage in skills. Everyone is also very unfamiliar with this class, so don’t be concerned about winning or losing. Everyone should treasure this opportunity to fight hand in hand with this type of top-tier player. Discover your own flaws and think of a way to improve. This is our purpose for clearing this BOSS.”As a result, Tiny Herb’s team members all began to go through the same cycle. They first crushed the novice Soft Mist and then got crushed like novices by Lord Grim. The materials put up as the starting bet were depleted one after another. The Arena recording function that could use multiple perspectives was being employed. Even though they kept on losing, the atmosphere of the team was very good – apart from the team member, who was fighting with Lord Grim, the others had all taken off their headphones, watching the match while discussing it with their fellow teammates. Everyone was trying hard looking for a way to beat Lord Grim. They were listening to each other’s suggestions and looking for their own flaws. Every contestant that went up was given lots of encouragement by their teammates.It was Qiao Yifan’s turn.“Hello Senior.”“...it’s you.”Everyone looked more interested now. What was it about Qiao Yifan that drew such a reaction?“En. I am Qiao Yifan.”“So polite. I’ll do you a favour.”Gao Yingjie couldn’t bear to watch. Do you have something against Yifan, he wanted to scream at God Ye behind Lord Grim. Even the main team members were giving Yifan strange looks.“Is God Ye still traumatised from Season 4?” Their vice-captain Deng Fusheng was whispering to the captain.“Surely not...” Wang Jiexi murmured. “He knows how to guard against such moves... but for a low-level Assassin to even manage to get so close... I don’t think Ye Qiu is going to give any mercy to Yifan.”Gao Yingjie quietly lit a candle in his heart for his friend.From Tiny Herb’s main roster to the reserve team, they were all beaten cleanly. No matter how many suggestions had been made, they had yet to see any way of winning. Only their Captain had managed to pull a draw.“That’ll be all for today!” Wang Jiexi announced.“Yes!” came the collective reply.“In the future, every day, two players form a team. You’re all free to choose who you want to team up with. Then go contact Lord Grim and spar with him. This extra practice isn’t required by the Club, but I hope that everyone will do it and learn from it. I think everyone knows what type of person Ye Qiu is. His experience, his knowledge, and even his trash talk are all things that we can learn from him.”“Yes.”“Okay, everyone go to sleep! Don’t be late for tomorrow morning’s practice. Yifan, stay back.”Gao Yingjie lingered outside the practice room, waiting for his friend. Qiao Yifan came out with a lackadaisical look on his face.“Well?” Gao Yingjie demanded.Qiao Yifan lowered his head. “Captain was worried... for my mental state. He told me... if I feel pressured, I can put aside challenging Lord Grim. Especially since God Ye seems to hate me...” Qiao Yifan’s voice kept going lower and lower until it was only a mumble.“I’ll team up with you!” Gao Yingjie quickly said. “I’ll definitely team up with you, alright?”“And... Lord Grim suggested that I should switch classes.”“Switch classes?” Gao Yingjie blinked. “What class?”“Ghostblade.” Qiao Yifan was staring at Gao Yingjie with a serious look. “Phantom Demon.”Ghostblade? Phantom Demon?Gao Yingjie thought it through, and realised that between Zhou Yebai and Qiao Yifan, he would rather fight shoulder to shoulder with Qiao Yifan. If as an Assassin his friend’s commanding was already so smooth, what if Yifan had more power to affect the team’s result? “Er... we can try first? I can...”“I have a smurf account. But... a Phantom Demon’s true strengths only appear around Level 40...”“We can find someone to level it up for you!” Gao Yingjie desperately suggested. “And... there’s always studying! We can try!”Gao Yingjie still held out hope.“Brother Ash!”“En.”“Ah!”“Mmm.”Days later, the Lord Grim party of were in Fire Forest, fighting the Fire Witch Cashew under a 6 Level Suppression.It... went very smoothly. That was the only way that Ye Xiu could describe his extreme luck in meeting Qiao Yifan.A neglected rookie in Tiny Herb, hiding a talent for monitoring the field. Calm and gentle, cool under chaotic conditions. Ye Xiu couldn’t even guess if Qiao Yifan was a natural-born ditz, or a natural-born black belly.1 Either way, he was an excellent team partner tailored to their current party’s needs; always present to make up for any holes, perfect to supervise rookie players like Tang Rou and Steamed Bun. When running a dungeon, Qiao Yifan’s presence was like a propitious wind blowing the party’s ship throughout the dungeon.Even now, with Tang Rou nearly losing control of the wild BOSS Fire Witch Cashew, One Inch Ash leapt in with a Wave Wheel Slasher. Swordsman low-level skill, also able to break Super Armour – the only skill in the entire Swordsman class-set able to break Super Armour. Consistency and knowledge – the badly needed foundation for these two unruly rookies to grow upon.“Timing!” came Qiao Yifan’s voice from One Inch Ash. “Try again!”“En!” Tang Rou smiled.“Little Qiao,” Ye Xiu drawled. “I see that you’re still partnering with Tiny Herb’s future captain?”“Yes, Senior. Yingjie knows that I’m trying a Ghostblade.”“On that I’m sure. Tiny Herb has a Ghostblade too? Rangoon Creeper?”“Substitute Senior Zhou out for an invisible rookie? Captain wouldn’t do that.”“Hey, invisibility is good for casting Ghost Boundaries. What senior? You’re much better than him.” If he had not checked the Pro Alliance website that Qiao Yifan was a properly registered substitute player, Ye Xiu would have been more inclined to believe that the Phantom Demon before him was actually Li Xuan. Digging Tiny Herb’s walls was looking more and more promising.“Thanks Senior, for your praise.”“We’re going to run the Desolate Land dungeon soon. Equipment?”“No problem. The levelling service sold a full set with Demon-Slaying Blade. Accessories also good.”“En. I never worry about Yifan.”“Eh? Boss, how come you never buy equipment for Brother Ash?” Steamed Bun Invasion asked.“Steamed Bun, your Brother Ash is younger than you.”“All the more you should buy a weapon for him!”“He’s got a perfectly good Tachi! …I’ll think of something... Yifan, any problems with staying up late?”“I already told Yingjie that I’ll be doing some extra practices,” Qiao Yifan clarified. “After all, I missed the last few times that the entire roster challenged Senior. Senior, as a training partner you’re going to burn out soon.”“That’s why you and Cleansing Mist are here to make my life easier! In exchange you get pointers on Ghostblade operation. If you sign up for All-Stars, challenge Li Xuan. I’m going to laugh when he gets chucked in a Ghost Chain.”“I can show Senior a ghost, but 6 Level Suppression is not a joking matter for Ghostblades.”“True. At 6 Level Suppressions Ghost Boundaries are kind of crap. Lucky then that Sword Boundaries still work on allies. Don’t forget that you’re a pro-player too!”“Yes!”“What ghost?” Tang Rou had heard the exchange, taking note.“Ah, he’s talking about Ghost Feast,” Ye Xiu clarified. “The Ghostblade’s number one damage-dealing move – all Ghost Boundaries controlled by the player erupt and turn into ghosts to attack enemies within range. It can be single-target, can be area-of-effect, whatever needed to carry out a last wave of damage in exchange for losing field control.”Lord Grim could use Sword Boundaries as well, but Ye Xiu left it to Yifan instead. It was not being lazy – it was a sign of trust, and confidence in Yifan’s ability to somehow steer the reckless charge of his party members. So they sailed on and on and the Fire Witch bit the dust, giving them a First Kill, and the Desolate Land record fell too...Digging at Tiny Herb’s walls for Qiao Yifan seemed even more and more promising now, despite the threat of Wang Jiexi’s protectiveness regarding his juniors. Ye Xiu pondered it again, and realised that Qiao Yifan was probably the most overlooked member of Tiny Herb’s roster right now. Otherwise, how could Wang Jiexi have ignored Qiao Yifan’s somewhat magical ability to control the field and left Yifan on the bench? Actually, why put Qiao Yifan as an Assassin at all?!Good talents were ruined by this sort of neglect, Ye Xiu complained in his heart. A thousand-mile horse could always be found, but someone who appreciated one was rare.A gentleman will die for the patron who recognises his worth. This was Qiao Yifan now; a swordsman willing to set the course by the star that Ye Xiu aimed for.
1 "Black belly"(腹黑) is a common term used to describe a character's personality in C-novels. Literally, it means stomach black and is usually used to mean that someone is secretly quite evil/sly/manipulative.
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3. Blue HourQiao Yifan’s life turned slightly different from this point.For one, he had located the Idiot’s Guide series and sent a friend request to Luo Ji. In another life, Luo Ji had helped him calculate how to manipulate Glory’s rendering engine for the Ghost Mirage, as Qiao Yifan’s secret move would later be called. Other signature moves would depend on manipulating optical phenomena as depicted in Glory – here Qiao Yifan had secretly been reading up on optical phenomena and how to scare people. He had had so many plans for Season 19 before retiring from the pro scene...Never mind, he decided. Qiao Yifan had won the title ‘Ghost in Broad Daylight’1 once, and could do it again. At this rate, Happy would be formed soon, and Seasons 9 and 10 hold so many possibilities. Especially, since Luo Ji was also the founder and only practitioner of the infamous Demolition Style.In Happy’s later Team Competitions, the opponents’ first move would invariably be to kill Concealed Light before the ‘Atomic Bomb’ went off and destroyed the whole map...So the next time that Qiao Yifan logged in, the guilds had already started an alliance and pursuing them from every direction.What a familiar sight (*^_^*).The battle of Congee Forest would be one for the history books. This was not only because of an unprecedented alliance of seven-plus Club guilds, it was also the start of the chaotic ambushes on ten sides where Team Happy was born.As a poor grassroots team, Team Happy’s pro-players had to steal BOSSES from established guilds. Even later when they had pioneered a semi-permanent alliance of five guilds for manpower, the team's play-style of playing more aggressively when attacked started here – a conditioned response developed in the chaos of in-game guild wars in the players, to seek every opportunity to kill their opponents. The more chaotic the situation, the more that Team Happy tended to pull the odds into their favour. Even later when Team Happy’s base grew more solid, the informality and simple brutality of summer training consisted of stealing BOSSES from experts and pro-players alike. Put nicely, it was fishing in troubled waters; to anti-Happy players and many established guilds, Guild Happy was led by demons to spread carnage wherever they may be.Within this carnage was, of course, One Inch Ash, running in the wake of Cleansing Mist. Steamed Bun Invasion quickly followed, dragging a Summoner named Concealed Light behind him. In a few moments, Soft Mist blew her way through the encirclement of guild players looking to kill them, and the beginnings of Team Happy were assembled now... plus one chatterbox.“Wow! It’s only been a short while since we’ve last seen each other, but Soft Mist got better again. One versus three, so strong! Aren’t we too shameful? It’s been so long and we haven’t even taken down these five! Work harder! What? I go and you run? F*ck me. How shameful! What a terrible friend! Watch my sword watch my sword watch my sword!”The chattering was not something that Qiao Yifan missed from Troubling Rain’s controller. “Hello, Senior.”“F*ck, I’m blown! I mean, who?”“I’m Tiny Herb’s Qiao Yifan.”“Tiny Herb?! Then why are you hanging out with Old Ye?!”“Practice,” Qiao Yifan acted dumb. “Captain told us to get experience from the BOSS.”“Where’s the BOSS?!”“The strongest BOSS in Glory’s history.” Qiao Yifan repeated the words exactly. “Isn’t Senior Ye right here?”“...then why aren’t you killing him?”“I was told to gain experience from him.” Qiao Yifan sent out a Sword Boundary right as Huang Shaotian’s Flowing Tree unleashed a Triple Slash. “Following Senior Ye around is much more meaningful.”Huang Shaotian was about to argue some more, but then One Inch Ash threw out an Ice Boundary towards their enemies, rolling away to avoid the attacks. Right then, Huang Shaotian realised that one of them was positioned to attack him where he hadn’t seen them.This guy has very good overall grasp of the situation! Huang Shaotian concluded as he continued to mow down players.Only when all thirty-two had been killed and their corpses left in Congee Forest, that Ye Xiu announced his decision to go to dungeons again.“Oi oi oi! Dungeons again? Didn’t you say we’d spar! Everyone in your team is quite good! This Ghostblade lil’ bro that I’ve never seen before seems pretty strong too. Go go go, Let’s spar!”“Thank you senior, for your praise.”“Senior? What Senior? Who are you calling a Senior? Who are you?” Huang Shaotian rebutted.“My name is Qiao Yifan.”“Qiao Yifan? You- Tiny Herb!” Huang Shaotian instantly recalled. Then the ‘Captain’ that Qiao Yifan had talked about earlier was... Wang Jiexi! Wang Jiexi also knew!“Who are you calling a Senior? Me? How could I be your Senior? Do people still say that? Are we in some Wuxia film?” Huang Shaotian laughed insincerely with his voice, while sending messages to Ye Xiu and Su Mucheng.
Flowing Tree: F*ck me. What do I do? My identity’s been exposed! If it comes out that I’ve run into the game to kill normal players, how can I show my face again? Hurry up and protect me! Protect me!
“Cough!” Su Mucheng coughed, “Yifan, who do you think he is?”“Senior Huang Shaotian.”
Flowing Tree: Su Mucheng, you f*cker!!!
Huang Shaotian immediately explained: “Lil’ bro, you’ve got quite an imagination. How could I be Huang Shaotian?”“Because you talk too much.”Coughs came from Ye Xiu’s and Su Mucheng’s avatars.By some sort of miracle, Huang Shaotian was actually struck dumb. He was talking to a rookie from the pro scene, right?A young debutant of the Pro Alliance, yes?!Why, then, does it feel like he was pitting himself against the Boss Wei with no lower limit, and the number one dirty master Fang Rui, both at the same time?!?“How could he be Huang Shaotian?” Su Mucheng then spoke. “Huang Shaotian is a very noisy guy. He constantly buzzes around like a housefly. This fellow Flowing Tree has a bit of that style, but his noisiness isn’t even one ten-thousandth of Huang Shaotian’s! Right, Flowing Tree?”“Hahaha...”
Flowing Tree: 靠靠靠
Cleansing Mist: ˓(*▼o▼*)ノ
Qiao Yifan would not have known that he had managed to aggro the Sword Saint. Even if he did
know
...
By virtue of being first in line to receive the next captaincy, Qiao Yifan had already been marked as the most direct student of Team Happy’s Three Shameless Elders. He had been Happy’s captain in another life, being the second team to achieve a dynasty. Aggro from other players was a given. It only made the life story of Qiao Yifan seem even more like ghosts in broad daylight – completely unbelievable.Thus, Qiao Yifan placidly became friends with Concealed Light and arranged to dungeon together some time, placidly supervised Tang Rou and Steamed Bun in their training, supervised them some more as they began to hunt down players of the allied guilds...“Watch out for the ghost camera!” Qiao Yifan told the two rookies as their party slaughtered their way through the outside of Line Canyon. “We’re going to have to break this record first!”
Sadly, Qiao Yifan had to get proper amounts of rest, so he had logged out once they had completed their dungeon runs.
T
he next time that Qiao Yifan managed to log into One Inch Ash, he had remembered to pay for
a substitute leveller over
Christmas. At level 37,
One Inch Ash
might not compare to most of the top guilds’ experts, but it was enough to continue his training of adapting to different situations. To be granted, eight years with Happy had more or less honed him to handle any and all situations, but there was only so much that could be done with consistency alone.
“Sin City requires a bit more work,” Qiao Yifan was addressing to Luo Ji at the moment in Sin City. By taking on the rookie, Senior Ye would be able to focus on his dungeon guide, and then Luo Ji could also learn situation awareness. This was easy compared to pro-level situations, but they were training a complete newbie from scratch – anything went.“See, you gain a stat increase in Intelligence within the Sword Boundary. As your support, it’s my job to assist you through the dungeon, but the effort to solo it through depends on you. Look, I just put an Ice Boundary there, so your spirits can attack there. Isn’t it easier now?”“Senior Qiao!”“I’m younger than you, Brother Luo.” Qiao Yifan paused. “Brother Luo, I don’t think that the Spirit-style helps you. The only pro Summoners around is Blue Rain’s Eight Notes and Hundred Blossoms’ Wind Carves, but too many Spirits mess up your rhythm.”“...” Luo Ji thought. “Then, the Four Beasts style?”Summoners were mainly divided along two styles at the moment – Spirit-style, and Four Beasts style. Spirit-style involved summoning little elemental Spirits, then combining two little ones to form a big elemental Spirit, and then combining all the big Spirits into a Spirit King, the number one elemental familiar in terms of attack and defence.“You have only four Beasts, but they all play a role. Of course, compared to little Spirits they take longer to summon, but they’re definitely stronger than Spirits at the start.”By the sidelines, Ye Xiu nodded in approval. “Also considering that there may be an update to the game soon to increase the level cap, the Four Beasts style gains viability as the skill points cap correspondingly increases. Of course, that’s a future decision. Concealed Light, resident!”Without looking, Qiao Yifan blew the resident back into the encirclement of Luo Ji’s familiars with a Moonlight Slash. “Is Senior Ye going to the All-Stars?”“Ah? Might as well stay home and play Glory... why would I?”“Alright. I’m taking part in the Rookie Challenge.”“What happened to keeping a low profile?” Ye Xiu asked in curiosity.“Yingjie asked me to sign up with him as support... he’s challenging Captain.” Qiao Yifan explained. “Meanwhile, I’ll challenge Li Xuan. Win or lose, if I’m desperate enough to gamble my future on this, I doubt that Captain would keep me in Tiny Herb.”“Tiny Herb... does have strict standards.” Ye Xiu commented. “To change your very class itself, months into the transition... it might be hard.”Qiao Yifan’s small laugh caught Ye Xiu off-guard. “...I, and no one else, have chosen this path. I trust that what I love will be the key to my salvation.”Ye Xiu could not press any more. Love for Glory, love of the pro scene, how could he not understand this? The Gods who stood at the top of the Glory scene had years and years of work to do behind the scenes for that one moment on stage. After all, the reason pro-players become pro-players – besides having talent, working hard etc. – was because they loved the game.To love the game, enough to change classes, to trust in fording the storm that was progress and be reborn as many times as necessary – Ye Xiu now knew, Qiao Yifan’s love of Glory outweighed the fear in his heart of failure, and coincidence had connected their fates across the electronic storm of Glory. The younger generation, he praised, was really to be held in awe.For Qiao Yifan, it was actually much simpler. Regardless of the butterfly effect, his eyes were fixed upon the star to guide his way, the prow poised to ford murky chaos and batteries of ghosts aimed to rain carnage.In the Season 8 All-Stars Weekend, win or lose – set course for Team Happy.
1 白日见鬼 – ‘see ghosts in broad daylight’; refers to the imaginary, absurd, pure fantasy, wild daydream.
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4. Brocken SpectreSeason 8 All-Stars Weekend. Set in S City, Club Samsara was hosting it this time around. After the gorgeous holographic entrance of all twenty-four All-Star accounts, was the Rookie Challenge.Team Thunderclap’s Dai Yanqi vs Misty Rain’s Chu Yunxiu – Elementalist vs Elementalist.Gao Yingjie vs Wang Jiexi – Witch vs Witch.The hosts, Club Samsara, provided players with Level 70 blank accounts. Their skill points hadn’t been added yet and their equipment could be chosen freely. In a fair battle of skill, Gao Yingjie won?Qiao Yifan smiled slightly when a stunned Gao Yingjie returned to the Tiny Herb seating. “Congratulations, Yingjie.”“Yifan... I won.”“En. You did.”“Yifan... you have to win, alright?”“My opponent is Senior Li Xuan.”“You are better than you think you are.” Gao Yingjie lied. He did not hold out much hope, but Yifan had good overall grasp of the situation. “God Ye Qiu recommended you!”“God Ye is not everything.” Qiao Yifan gave a smile which was not quite a smile. “I’m going up then.”“Good luck!”The audience was in an uproar. The challenger was a completely unknown player. Not just them, but even in the pro-circle, they were all whispering in each other’s ears to find out who this person was.“Oh.” Tang Rou quietly looked at Ye Xiu and all she saw was a completely calm face.A youth stood up from Tiny Herb’s seats. Amidst his team’s indifferent gazes, he walked onto the stage.The whispering didn’t stop, but the host continued to follow the program:“Qiao Yifan wishes to challenge the owner of the number one Phantom Demon, Crying Devil – Team Void Captain, Li Xuan!”Team Tiny Herb was in an uproar, having surprised everyone except Wang Jiexi. After all, in Wang Jiexi’s view, this was Qiao Yifan’s only chance to distinguish himself. Even if it was just for show, as long as Qiao Yifan showed something different, there was a chance of his contract with Tiny Herb being extended. Yet, for Qiao Yifan who played as an Assassin, to challenge Li Xuan as a Ghostblade... nobody in Tiny Herb except Gao Yingjie had expected that.After Qiao Yifan went up on stage, he said some common words on how he wanted to learn from his senior, which made Tiny Herb’s players even more puzzled.“The kid likes Li Xuan?”“No idea!”They were completely at a loss.“Yifan, go!” Gao Yingjie cheered as the third mirror-match of the day began – Ghostblade vs Ghostblade.Everyone was puzzled again. “What’s the kid doing?”“He’s going too far,” Xiao Yun tutted.“No one knows that he doesn’t actually play Ghostblade, right?” Liu Fei asked.The map flashed across the scene – a ruins map. There were a lot of walls and the terrain was quite good for Ghostblades to perform on. This type of terrain allowed for the player to hide themselves behind something, throw down a Ghost Boundary and then lure the enemy in.Ye Xiu tutted. In a duel between Ghostblades, it was very rarely a battle between hand-speed or mechanics – more of decision-making, game knowledge, and dirtiness. Would that innocent-sounding child be able to play dirty enough?On the projection, the two sides closed in towards the middle of the map, but way before the two met, Li Xuan’s character halted.In the Rookie Challenge, the first to take action was unexpectedly the God-level character. To be fair, though, Li Xuan had no choice because Phantom Demons were extremely adept at controlling the field. If he fell into a disadvantage at the start, then turning the tables was much harder to do than any other class. Losing a bit of style in the opening, in Li Xuan’s point of view, was still better than Wang Jiexi’s losing to a rookie.Amongst the audience seats, Chen Guo jumped as Ye Xiu began to snort besides Tang Rou and her. “Is something funny?”“This rookie is very good at entrapping his seniors,” Ye Xiu snorted.Away from the playing platforms, the Team Void congregation tutted as they saw Qiao Yifan’s character’s moves. First, for some illogical reason, Qiao Yifan’s character had tossed down two overlapping boundaries – an Ice Boundary and a Plague Boundary – before making a long, long walk around the outer edge of the ruins.At this rate, Li Xuan was going to jump out to ambush a character who wasn’t even there, and was actually behind him.Li Xuan jumped as Qiao Yifan was at the left wall, just a bit more distance. Li Xuan’s character looked around, seeming more puzzled than anything until the Moonlight Slash hit his back.Ye Xiu started to cackle as Qiao Yifan’s character threw down more equipment – upper body and waist – as it rushed in with a Full Moon Slash to knock Li Xuan into the overlapping boundaries at the edge. “I never thought you had it in you...”Five seconds more before the boundaries disappeared, Li Xuan’s character was knocked into the array. Plague Boundary decreased the defence of all enemies within, and Ice Boundary dealt damage with a Freeze crowd-control effect. If Qiao Yifan was going to attack it would be now, otherwise there would be no meaning at all. Li Xuan was already slashing down the Spellblade’s low-level Earthquake Sword, but Qiao Yifan did something completely unexpected.Ghost Feast!Both Plague and Ice Boundaries erupted as if in response to some summons. At this distance, Qiao Yifan’s character had completed the admittedly fast cast to release the Ghostblade’s ultimate. The demon gods of plague and cold respectively began to claw and devour at Li Xuan’s character, yet the other Ghostblade slashed out.At this point, Li Xuan had realised that this rookie was a rookie, without significant talent. Just two Boundaries and then a Ghost Feast? Not enough experience! I can see your shadow here!Moonlight Slash, followed by Full Moon Slash!The moves were beautifully executed, the sword shining in the holographic light, but it got awkward when his character was just slashing at thin air.Li Xuan was surprised. The audience was also surprised. Even Ye Xiu was shocked. Why was Li Xuan slashing in the complete opposite direction where Qiao Yifan had been? You’ve given your opponent time to equip back his armour, you know! Your opponent’s behind you!Chen Guo squeaked.Another Boundary descended. Dark Boundary!Li Xuan automatically reacted. Where had this Boundary come from?! Where was he?!One Boundary...Two Boundaries...Three Boundaries...The Boundaries could be stacked in layers, but at this point, Qiao Yifan let the circular lights unfold like the petals of a blossoming flower. All the Boundaries criss-crossed in the centre, but spreading out one or two Boundaries were overlaid, making it easier to control.Ghost Chain!Qiao Yifan threw out a Lunge followed by Full Moon Slash, throwing Li Xuan to the very edge of the Ghost Chain.“Huh? Why’d he-” Ye Xiu’s teeth clicked when Li Xuan’s character was blown into an alcove – walls on three sides, and the only exit guarded by Qiao Yifan. More Boundaries came down, especially the key Silence Boundary, sealing off all of Li Xuan’s skills.“So greedy...” Ye Xiu shook his head.Sure, Li Xuan was suffering from damage over time with lots of abnormal status effects, but did you really have to stick him in a prison? He’s already stuck in the Ghost Chain! For a Phantom Demon, once that had happened, the battle was halfway won!It was like Qiao Yifan was stirring a pot, and the pot’s contents kept trying to eat him...Li Xuan’s counter-attack to break out, though, proved Qiao Yifan’s wisdom. Immediately, Li Xuan turned his character around and chopped at the wall in a long combo. The ruins’ wall fell apart and Li Xuan’s character ran, only to be knocked up with a Ghost Slash into a Sword Boundary into an Upward Slash, the tempo of his attacks recklessly fast for Phantom Demon standards. Li Xuan countered with a Falling Light Blade and then Ghost Slash too. Being a Sword Demon, once Qiao Yifan’s character was knocked back, Li Xuan made to move but stopped.“Huh?” Wang Jiexi blinked. “Why is Li Xuan hesitating? Yifan-”The current number one Phantom Demon himself was currently cursing in his heart. Tiny Herb’s rookie made some mistakes, but not enough to cover the fact that he, Li Xuan, had almost been hung up and beaten with his own subclass speciality. Right now it was hard to say, but in a few years Li Xuan was very certain that, barring a miracle, the future number one Phantom Demon would be this rookie. Those two boundaries at the start... Li Xuan doubted his eyes. How did Qiao Yifan move so fast?Either way, now was not the time to reflect on being entrapped. Qiao Yifan had been blown into the ruins, surrounded by the boundaries that had been Li Xuan’s prison and were now Qiao Yifan’s best protection. Not to mention, the kid now had free reign of the ruins to set up another trap. Really, why hadn’t Tiny Herb sent this kid into the competition yet?The Boundaries burst in a wave of ghosts, and the kid’s character rushed out, but...Li Xuan was nearly caught off-guard, but let loose his extremely practised combo. He did not dare to let up. The fear reflex made him retaliate harshly and brutally, never letting the Phantom Demon get up, because if he did... if this thing got loose... well, Li Xuan might actually be dead. The rookie character wasn’t letting up, either – both of them were swapping blood. Li Xuan’s chosen Sword Demon had higher attack power, but lower health; Qiao Yifan’s attacks were weaker, but still chipped back with such ferocity that Li Xuan was pulling all of his skills.Li Xuan’s character remained standing, with only a silver of health left.Nobody cheered, though – they could all see the long trial that he had undergone. His opponent had stood up, the spotlight falling down upon his clean face. Li Xuan found it like a painted skin; almost angelic in its deception of hiding a heart blacker than many other rookies.After the match, they shook hands. The ghost of Qiao Yifan’s touch seemed to chill and burn at Li Xuan.“What was that mistake just now, God Li?” the host asked.“I don’t know,” Li Xuan honestly replied. “I was hoping to look at the recording myself.”“Oh, you think that Player Qiao had some technique?”“Player Qiao is an exceptional Phantom Demon,” Li Xuan complimented. This was not just common courtesy – his eyes kept darting to Qiao Yifan.The projection flashed up the recording – in three dimensions, Li Xuan watched his character get ambushed and blown away into the initial formation, the first Ghost Feast, and then...“Stop! Reverse, slow. Stop!” Li Xuan jabbed a finger at it. “Look here!”Illuminated amidst the composite of light, almost in three dimensions, there was the light and shadow from the eruption of the Boundaries, a crisp outline shadowed by the Ice and Plague Boundaries.“He was there! He was...” Li Xuan was struck dumb as he looked at the rest of the projection – Qiao Yifan’s character was already at his back, in an inclined position, ready to toss him into a black pot.“T- There’s a ghost in broad daylight!” Chen Guo exclaimed. Murmurs and echoes of this cry came up, and even the pro-players leapt to their feet, eager to look at the projection.Li Xuan turned to Qiao Yifan again. “This is... an outline of the character created by the explosion of two Ghost Boundaries to create an illusion.”“Oh, my.” Qiao Yifan murmured. “It looks like an effect determined by the system. Perhaps a coincidence?”Not only the audience – Team Void’s other Ghostblade Wu Yuce, Wang Jiexi, even Ye Xiu himself was taken aback.“I’ve never been in actual competition,” Qiao Yifan continued. “My hand’s a bit tender. I apologise to Senior Li for my upsetting performance today.”“Why have you never appeared in Tiny Herb’s competitions?” Li Xuan demanded.“I play an Assassin. Recently... it was suggested that I try out a Ghostblade class.”“In that case, I hope to see your Ghostblade take to the pro scene next year. You will take the world by storm.” Li Xuan sighed. An Assassin trying out a new class... the future generation is to be held in awe, he sighed in his heart.A ghost in broad daylight... yes, this move was like a ghost in broad daylight – an unprecedented Ghostblade technique that neither of Team Void’s duo Ghostblades knew.“Yifan!” Gao Yingjie was literally crying when Qiao Yifan passed by the Tiny Herb congregation. “It was so close! It was so close! What was that?!”“I messed up.” Qiao Yifan shook his head. “Sorry, Yingjie... I’m going to take a walk.”“Eh? But-”“Little Jie.” Wang Jiexi cut in. “Let Yifan recover from his loss.”“En...”“I’ll contact you later.”“Oh...” Gao Yingjie was still worried, but nodded slowly. “I’ll... I’ll be waiting for you.”“En.”Qiao Yifan walked through the passageway leading outside of Samsara’s stadium. He sighed, resting his head against the concrete exterior of the building. A sea breeze from the Bay of Hangzhou drifted to caress his cheek.“Congratulations,” someone said behind him. “You’ve just managed to aggro every Ghostblade player in that stadium. I hope you’re prepared to PK with the Ghostblade duo in the future.”Qiao Yifan turned around. “Senior Ye.”“What a greeting you’ve given your senior,” Ye Xiu scolded back. “I saw Li Xuan’s face. I think you’ve given him nightmares about this match. A ghost in broad daylight... you used a support class against an offensive class and nearly managed to win, good job. Your heart is dirty enough.”“Thanks, Senior.”“How much special treatment did you get from Wang Jiexi?” Ye Xiu asked. “That technique looks new... but Wang Jiexi is the type to do anything for Team Tiny Herb’s future.”“No... I found it by accident, and asked Brother Luo to help me calculate... on that map only.” Qiao Yifan shrugged helplessly. That was technically true, but the calculations for most conditions had already been worked out and Yifan had already memorised that data, on top of developing variations of it. Secret techniques were meant to be kept secret, after all.“That ghost was on purpose!” Ye Xiu exclaimed. It was one thing to notice such things, and another to deliberately create them. “Why don’t you be more excited, you don’t have to worry about being kicked out of Tiny Herb anymore.”“...I was never a part of Tiny Herb.” Qiao Yifan suddenly spoke up. “I was only a pair of hands closest to the vending machines in Tiny Herb. Senior’s words... in the tenth server, they meant something to me, that I did not have to give up on Glory.”A beat.“Was Senior talking about... just now?” Qiao Yifan continued, changing the subject.“...You realised.” It was a statement, not a question.“Yingjie is my friend. We... connected because we had similar weaknesses, I suppose,” Qiao Yifan continued. “We had different talents, though. That was... the start of our diverging paths.”Ye Xiu started to pull a cigarette to light up. He took a puff, deep in thought, the smoke swirling around him in a noxious mist.Two children who had entered Tiny Herb’s summer camp at the same time, and then entered the roster together. One a talented Witch, receiving the seniors’ love and attention, his destiny already mapped out for him as the successor of a God-level account. The other a wallflower, an invisible, the seniors’ servant.There was almost a flag going up, Ye Xiu could tell. So let him be the mentor then. There could never be anything to hate from children willing to learn.“Senior, I recall... you wanted to set up a team for the Challengers League.”“...that’s right.”“Then... can you let me join in?”“You’re serious?!” Ye Xiu exclaimed. It felt like casting pearls before swine, dragging a talent equal to Li Xuan into the Challengers League.“Am I not welcome, Senior?”“You’ve got to be clear, alright?” Ye Xiu started sweating. “Wang Jiexi already knows. Your status is going to be different- if you pick this, you’ll have to give up certain choices, you’ll have to face tough duels.”“Tiny Herb already has a Ghostblade. They won’t set him aside for me.” Qiao Yifan was still so placid for his relative youth, it was almost phantasmal. “I have the time and the right to work for my future. In order to rise, we must first fall.”“I cannot guarantee you a future.” Ye Xiu relented, looking at him. “I don’t even know how this thing would be done, or where we’ll get funds. You’ve really decided to hitch your cart here with me?”“The future is made by ourselves.” Qiao Yifan smiled, a flash from the darkness that seemed to be part of him now, part of the ghost-in-broad-daylight. “As long as you still need me, no matter how many times I am asked again, I will go through water and tread through fire for this team.”“...”
----- CHAPTER BREAK -----
5. Alexander’s bandIn another life, Qiu Fei and Tang Rou were lauded as the Battle Mages tutored by the Glory Textbook. However, neither of them quite inherited his tactical knowledge – Qiu Fei because he was Happy’s enemy, and Tang Rou out of a lack of desire.Once it had been decided to groom the only normal child of their team into the future of Happy, though, Qiao Yifan was hammered into shape by the Three Shameless Elders of Happy. He himself might not acknowledge the title of Master Tactician, but everyone – the media, other pro-players, even his seniors’ Weibo pages – had put him as the direct successor of Ye Xiu’s tactical expertise.None of that tactical expertise had quite prepared him to face down the Ghostblade duo of Team Void in a real-life PK.Well, Steamed Bun could help...“The two of you, please do not think about poaching my players,” Wang Jiexi, playing as a light-bulb,1 frowned at the pair.The third day of the All-Stars Weekend. The quartet were in a café close by the stars’ hotel, booked by Club Samsara to host the congregation for the All-Stars Weekend. Qiao Yifan had been called away, alone, with his captain, for a drink, and thus this current rendezvous.“His contract’s up for renewal, no?” Li Xuan gave a friendly smile towards Qiao Yifan.“Senior Li, Senior Wu.”“We’re not that old,” Wu Yuce nodded. “That technique yesterday, that ghost – it was amazing.”“Its application comes more as a surprise,” Qiao Yifan stated. “The map was left to the challenger this time, so I have a web friend help me... crunch numbers.”“Calculations?”Qiao Yifan tapped on his phone, and then slid it screen-up over to let the pair view the PDF. Both Ghostblade players took one look and shuddered.“For one map only.” Qiao Yifan nodded. “I’m told that the probabilities of producing a Ghost in Broad Daylight changes depending on the map.”Within moments, Li Xuan’s pronouncement had been taken literally and the move ‘Ghost in Broad Daylight’ had instantly been coined, spreading like wildfire through the Web. Even if Qiao Yifan had lost his rookie debut, his fame as the creator of an unprecedented Ghostblade technique had at least given Tiny Herb some reconsideration about retaining Qiao Yifan. While Gao Yingjie’s stunning upset of a match had made the eSports newspapers, Gao Yingjie had been more than happy that all the pro-players had actually ignored him for once in favour of his friend. His introverted personality made him shy from most attention, and the rumours of Qiao Yifan’s contract with Tiny Herb being left out of renewal had given him paroxysms of terror. That, coupled with the chaos of a Dragon Raising Its Head appearing in the Player vs Pro Battle meant that Ye Qiu was coming back. Team Void coming here to dig up players wasn’t strange if they considered the imminent threat.“That doesn’t matter,” Li Xuan dismissed. “Little Qiao, right after that match I called up Club Void’s management and immediately told them, you see this kid, he’s made a Ghostblade technique that neither Old Wu nor I knew. I don’t think even your Captain himself knows about it!”“Yifan catches us all by surprise,” Wang Jiexi glared.“Oh, go elsewhere to be your lightbulb,” Li Xuan shooed him away, still entreating Yifan: “I tell the manager, I want this kid, he’s going to be Crying Devil’s successor, none of the Ghostblades in that training camp can measure up to him, he’s practically tailor-made, we pair him with Little Gai and another Ghostblade, there’s the key members of the future.”Qiao Yifan sighed in his heart.Players changing teams was a common occurrence. This was done mainly in two ways: purchase, or trade. In a purchase, the Club and player would talk about breaking off the player’s current contract, and then discuss the player’s contract with the new Club. During this process, the player’s willingness was conclusive.When two Clubs traded players, though, they could directly trade contracts and continue fulfilling the obligations written in the contracts. During this process, the player had no power – besides renouncing his or her current contract, which could incur a fine and more penalisation; hence, the gains and losses were unbalanced.Now, though, the transfer windows had already closed and so did the registry of accounts, so Qiao Yifan knew that both the Ghostblade duo and Wang Jiexi were thinking about one thing: the day his current contract expired, 30 June. There was no way that anyone would trade for a contract that would expire in five months. Furthermore, it was definite that his contract was going to be renewed, if the glint in Wang Jiexi’s uneven eyes was anything to say. Qiao Yifan was registered as an Assassin now, but next season Rangoon Creeper could be transferred to him. In a purchase, Qiao Yifan’s word was the final say too.That one moment on stage had turned the Glory pro scene’s attention to him – until the next talent came along. All three pro-players were now trying to entice him so that, on 30 June, he would either stay with Tiny Herb or go elsewhere; failing that, Wang Jiexi would at least try to wrangle that secret technique from him.Qiao Yifan sipped at his drink. “Senior Li is in good health, and it looks like there are promising juniors in Team Void.”Wang Jiexi smirked.“I do not know, though, if Senior Zhou would let me take over him, or Rangoon Creeper.”“Spoken well, Little Qiao!” Li Xuan cackled back to Wang Jiexi, though his smile was strained.In their minds, the three had already determined Qiao Yifan’s seemingly slow train of thought; stay in a champion team as a sub for a position already occupied by a senior unlikely to be dropped, versus going to a middle-class team for a chance to use an All-Star account and become team captain in the future, but have to stay on the bench as a sub for the moment.“I would like to ask all seniors and Captain for a moment to think about it.”Qiao Yifan didn’t actually need to think to reject them outright, but it was a polite way to buy time and give face to the seniors.“Of course. But... if you got time this summer, you can drop by Club Void’s quarters anytime to look around!” Li Xuan smirked. “So... the Ghost in Broad Daylight? How’d you do it?”“Smoke and mirrors.”“Eh, why so coy?”Qiao Yifan’s expression was like a smile yet not a smile. “Senior is so cruel, trying to snatch a secret technique away like this.”Li Xuan sighed. It was true that all good Phantom Demons needed to be black-hearted, to some extent. They were a support-style subclass, even if they used swords. Did this kid meet Fang Rui somewhere, though? This was an actual blow of the wretched style at his conscience and fear responses right here. This angel-faced boy shouldn’t... have met Fang Rui, right?“Captain, we should eat before the last event,” Qiao Yifan now said. “Seniors, may we exchange QQ?”That night, Qiao Yifan messaged Ye Xiu.
Qiao Yifan: You were right, senior! The two ghosts and captain kept picking on each other!
Lord Grim: See? Aggro all the Ghostblades. I’m in a dungeon, pester me later.
Qiao Yifan: Ah, how nice... I’m stuck at the All-Stars while One Inch Ash is with the substitute leveller.
Lord Grim: Ah, OK. I’m planning our in-game guild in the tenth server.
Qiao Yifan: Is Sis Rou and Bro Steamed Bun going to be there?
Lord Grim: Yep. You too, we’re going to need you.
Qiao Yifan: I’ll help out when I can.
Returning back to B City, Qiao Yifan opened One Inch Ash’s account to see an invite from Guild Happy. After accepting, he quickly went to help the most honourable senior out.Guild Happy’s opening was so incredibly fraught with danger, sabotage, and guild politics that made Qiao Yifan so glad that the future Guild Happy would be handled by Boss Wei. While Qiao Yifan’s own in-game experience was not as long or as fruitful compared to Ye Xiu, and his expertise in management was also lacking, he could still teach newbies. After that All-Star Weekend, and Guild Happy’s creation, Qiao Yifan did his part for Guild Happy’s rapid levelling.Like its guild leader, Guild Happy immediately became the thorn in the flesh of the Club-backed guilds. Even more, while a Blade Master named Peerless Looks had been designated as nanny, Qiao Yifan now held powers in equivalence to the alternate account Chasing Haze in managing the guild. Once the five days of hell had passed and Lord Grim’s old party mates Seven Fields, Sleeping Moon etc had joined, Qiao Yifan could finally stop running all-nighters and catch up on sleep.Zhou Yebai took this chance to make a small report to Wang Jiexi. “That Qiao Yifan, he’s slacking off!”“He’s doing a favour for the guild,” Wang Jiexi had replied, unruffled. “After all, his Assassin doesn’t need to go up onto stage. The same, though, cannot be said for you. Zhou Yebai, how is your Ghost Chain coming along?”Qiao Yifan’s rookie debut in competition, even in his loss, had conferred some distinction upon him. Even if the other substitutes gave Yifan looks of wild panic and uncertainty, none of them could have matched Zhou Yebai’s fright at the thought of being replaced as the team’s Ghostblade.On the opposite end of the spectrum, Gao Yingjie was just overjoyed. Once Qiao Yifan got back to a more regular schedule, he kept dragging Yifan to practice with the main team. Qiao Yifan’s consistency, timing and grasp of the overall situation kept aggro-ing the Tiny Herb main roster, who kept throwing him compliments...“Let’s do a 2v2!” Gao Yingjie finally cried out after their standard practice exercises were concluded. “Yifan, partner with me!”“Excellent idea, Little Jie.” Wang Jiexi finally spoke. “Liang Feng. Li Ji. Play 2v2 against Yingjie and Yifan... use the standard map. Yifan.”“Yes?”“You’ve been getting advice from Li Xuan?”“What?!” Zhou Yebai was literally seething with rage. As the number one Phantom Demon or Ghostblade in general, Li Xuan’s videos were the learning model for all Ghostblades currently in the Pro Alliance. Qiao Yifan’s Ghost in Broad Daylight projection video might be making the rounds right now, but the majority of Ghostblade technique still came from Team Void.“Erm... I’m still learning...”“Practise on Rangoon Creeper in your spare time,” Wang Jiexi ordered.“Captain!” Zhou Yebai exclaimed behind them.Wang Jiexi stared at him. “Tiny Herb does not need two Ghostblades. While you are occupied for this season, the next season involves everyone in the team to prepare. As a substitute, surely you can spare some time for your juniors.”Qiao Yifan immediately realised the Captain’s intentions.While his friend Gao Yingjie had made his debut in Season 8, because Gao Yingjie had been so protected and lacked opportunities to participate in competition matches, the Best Rookie award had been lost out to Wind Howl’s Zhao Yuzhe. Season 9 would be where Gao Yingjie would be fully on stage, and Qiao Yifan was being moulded into a support for Gao Yingjie’s road towards Godhood.Qiao Yifan felt a bit awkward then.In another life, and hopefully this one too, Qiao Yifan had beat out everyone else in his age group in the race to be Champion, when Team Happy had won the Season 10 Championship. That championship had been stained with the blood of the New Generation, as the players after the Golden Generation would be called. Gao Yingjie, controlling Vaccaria, had been one of the many old Gods crushed in the course through adversity to the stars over the years of Team Happy’s dynasty.Now, though, he was supposed to help cultivate this talent...It could be worse, Qiao Yifan comforted himself. He could be stuck in Tyranny, for example. Tyranny’s traditions had not made the transition of captains too well in another life.Witch and Ghostblade vs Berserker and Sharpshooter. The map pulled by the random generator was the Lava Cemetery. Lava Cemetery was similar to Boneyard; coffins, gravestones, dried-up trees. The difference was that Lava Cemetery had countless rivers of lava engraved into the map. If a player jumped into one of them, they would immediately take Burn damage. Even after they jumped out, they would still take damage for five extra seconds.
Rangoon Creeper: Yingjie, got a plan?
Gao Yingjie blinked. “Yifan-”“2v2. Best to assume competition rules.”“O- Oh.” Gao Yingjie quickly nodded. “Good idea...”
Kind Tree: (*≧︶≦))(￣▽￣* )ゞ Besties teaming up! No plan though...
Rangoon Creeper: We need to corral Sharpshooter.
Kind Tree: Yep.
Rangoon Creeper: If we can toss them both into the Lava and use Ice Rain, then we can hang them up to beat them~!
Kind Tree: Yifan, these are our seniors.
Rangoon Creeper: In real life. This is preparing for the championships now!
Reading this message, Gao Yingjie felt his heart leap in his throat. Was this really Yifan...?! Yet, as Gao Yingjie continued to control Kind Tree, putting out high damage became easier, and Yifan’s Boundaries lit the way to victory as the Sharpshooter and Berserker were both tossed into the lava, frozen with an Ice Boundary, and then faced with a hail of Witch’s magical items. Gao Yingjie thus decided to ponder about this later and gleefully started beating up his seniors... in the name of training.Wang Jiexi’s attention was later drawn to the main roster’s cursing. Lifting his headphones, he asked: “Is something wrong?”“We just got abused... twice...” Liang Fang and Li Ji had tears running down their faces. Was this really the angel Qiao Yifan? Did he get possessed?!Wang Jiexi delayed Qiao Yifan back after the practice to his office. There was a desk and two chairs. They sat facing each other. “Yifan... how did you find practising with Yingjie?”Wang Jiexi had a pleasant expression on his face. He thought that his plan was working...“Yingjie is very talented.”“There are few who can keep up,” Wang Jiexi nodded. “Your overall grasp of the situation let him win easily, making up for his weaknesses with your assistance. At this rate, Tiny Herb will turn into a Witch-Ghost team.”Qiao Yifan furrowed his brow. Another option was opening up before him? “Is that... viable? Putting a high-mobility class with a class that creates stationary Boundaries?”“I’m sure we can invent a solution,” Wang Jiexi dismissed. “I am sure that right now, you know that you are the more promising candidate for Rangoon Creeper. Have you... received any offers?” Wang Jiexi asked him, a smile on his face.“Mostly Team Void.” Qiao Yifan neglected to mention Team Happy. “They offered to show me around their Club. Should I go, captain?”“As you like.” Wang Jiexi sucked in a long breath. “Yifan... Vice-Captain Deng is going to retire after this season, and Li Yihui is entertaining thoughts of going to 301 Degrees.”“Yes,” Qiao Yifan kept listening.“Yingjie will become captain in the future,” Wang Jiexi continued. “In the past, it was the lack of return for your hard work which threatened your career here... but that is over. Tiny Herb will keep you.”“...may I please have some time to think?”There was no need to think, for Qiao Yifan; he was going to Happy, no matter what. Tiny Herb couldn’t actually force him to stay – quite the opposite, some of the subs might actually team up to force him out of the team; especially Zhou Yebai. Qiao Yifan was not boasting, but as he was right now, he was no longer the invisible Qiao Yifan, but ‘the Ghost in Broad Daylight’.Yet, was he so promising as to make Wang Jiexi completely revamp the team? Some factors determined it – the Vice-Captain’s retirement, Li Yihui transferring to 301, the All-Star account Flying Drops being sold. With the coming roster changes, Tiny Herb might actually carry out this idea of pushing him as permanent support for Gao Yingjie.“Yifan... Li Xuan is still in his prime years.” Wang Jiexi sighed. “Ghostblades don’t compete based on hand speed. I would hate to see you end up like Jia Shiming.”Club Tyranny’s poor management of who could have been Desert Dust’s successor had become a cautionary tale of a substitute being left too long on the bench. Han Wenqing’s refusal to give up had driven Jia Shiming to transfer, first to the equally established Team Royal Style, and then move to Team Void this season. Wang Jiexi was baiting him, Qiao Yifan, to gain more experience before aiming to reach the realm of gods.In Wang Jiexi’s view, Vaccaria would always be Tiny Herb’s keystone to win. The choices as he had outlined was: go to Team Void, and risk a repeat of his current situation of being a substitute player to be groomed as the successor of an All-Star account; or, stay with the current champion team with a lower position, still bearing the title of ‘champion team member’, and be able to stand shoulder-to-shoulder with Yingjie.This was a rational analysis before Qiao Yifan. Yet, Qiao Yifan could not help but think; why was determination so hard to maintain? Perhaps it was simply a human thing, to try and minimise risk. The first time around, Qiao Yifan had truly been at the end of his ropes, and Team Happy had been the only risky choice before him to return to the pro scene. It had not been a very good choice – it had been the only choice.Hence, despite the nuances of his Phantom Demon build being meant for support, Qiao Yifan had fought in every facet of competition – individual, group, team. He became the forgotten ex-Tiny Herb player who beat out Vaccaria’s future successor in the race to the championships; later, he was the Phantom Demon who crushed their God-level Witch in PvP without even using a God-level account. The history of Qiao Yifan’s career the first time around could be summed up as the wronged returning for revenge – personally, he didn’t really care.This time around, Qiao Yifan was mentally twenty-five, and had just unwittingly opened more options as the Assassin whose new Ghostblade had nearly killed the God of Ghostblades, on top of (re)creating the start of a play-style unprecedented in Glory history.Oops...Wang Jiexi relented. “In between regular practice, try and work with Yingjie. Take your time to think, but try and give a reply soon. Tiny Herb does not raise idle hands, though. For until the conclusion of your contract, I hope that you would be able to guide Yingjie to have some notion of teamwork.”Qiao Yifan smiled bitterly. “...Does Yingjie know?”“I will tell him myself.” Wang Jiexi’s eyes were downcast.“I’ll need to find tissues then. Have a good evening, Captain.” Qiao Yifan stood up and walked out, trying not to get angry at Wang Jiexi.
In one life, abandoned because I could not contribute to the team; in another, pushed as support because the team has a designated successor...
With Gao Yingjie’s existence, all of the spotlight shone onto him. Qiao Yifan did not mind; the Witch’s flashy play-style was definitely more attractive and had the aura of a champion. Yet, the discomfort of watching his fellow and friend receive the seniors’ love and attention, and receive the same love and attention because of that same friend... it gnawed in a way that he had not felt.Example, he told himself. Not reliance.The gut-wrenching pain went away. Tiny Herb’s play-style and thus innate weakness came from relying on Vaccaria’s controllers, no matter where and when. Qiao Yifan’s relative lack of value the first time around had also made him fight with Happy and cultivate some independence. Glory might not be a one-person game, but adaptation and creativity needed to be explored by oneself. The teacher can lead to the door, but the progress had to be on oneself.Senior Ye, Sis Rou, Bro Steamed Bun, Bro Luo... all the future team-mates, still scattered across the ocean of time, were waiting. Team Tiny Herb and he did not have the fate of remaining together – his fate lay with that light, amongst the blanket of stars in the vault of the sky. Yingjie would be left behind; very well.When, Qiao Yifan thought, did my heart grow so big as to want so many things?“Thank about it.” Wang Jiexi’s lips thinned. Qiao Yifan, in the span of a few weeks, had made improvements so significant after fighting Ye Qiu, but why did it feel like his heart was no longer with Tiny Herb?
1 Refers to a third-wheel.
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6. Crepuscular“See, I told you what would happen. Did water flow into Big-Eyed Wang’s brain? Who could not want our Little Qiao? Now Big-Eyed Wang is trying to rope in Little Qiao as well.”“Aren’t you lucky, Senior? I like you a lot more.”“Yifan, how could you?! God Ye Qiu, three o’clock...”“Alright!”When Qiao Yifan asked Gao Yingjie to game with him, he had actually dragged Vaccaria’s successor into the siege of Thousand Waves Lake. While Herb Garden was nominally part of the guilds’ anti-Happy alliance being slaughtered by Lord Grim and his crew, the familiar sight of Weeping Crow gave Plantago Seed pause.
Plantago Seed: ...Little Jie? What are you doing with One Inch Ash? He’s one of Lord Grim’s elites!
Weeping Crow: Situation training. Captain told me to shadow Senior for these... four hours in endurance training.
Dammit! How could Herb Garden attack now that one of their gods was on Lord Grim’s side. Plantago Seed quickly typed.
Plantago Seed: Oh... do you need help?
In real life, the two young friends occupied neighbouring terminals.“Yifan, do we need anything?”“Food, potions... Broom, Tachi, Claw, two Lances, two Handcannons.”“Why are we robbing Herb Garden’s storage?” Gao Yingjie quickly asked.“Yingjie, this is your tuition fee.”“Then the two hours of fighting?!”“That was your tuition.”Qiao Yifan sent a message on the open party chat:
One Inch Ash: Herb Garden’s paying for food, pots & equip.
Lord Grim: !!!! Why?
One Inch Ash: Weeping Crow is sponsoring our continued siege as a tuition fee. Chaotic situation training. Captain already approved.
Lord Grim: Herb Garden’s on our side now?!
One Inch Ash: Secretly.
In the lulls between combats, Qiao Yifan wrote down identities that he’d killed with Yingjie and photographed the notes to send to Ye Xiu. Meanwhile, Thousand Waves Lake also made good training for water-battles.“The Club’s training doesn’t include humans,” Qiao Yifan spoke as inside the screen, One Inch Ash deployed an Ice Boundary which had the effect of freezing a pillar from the soil out to the Lake’s surface. “See, that Ninja’s escaping!”“I got him!” Gao Yingjie tossed a Lightning Shackles, the toss made closer to the Ninja than necessary. This was because skills deployed underwater tended to be slower, hence Gao Yingjie had made some compensation for his level 40 skills. “But... why do we have to trap them here?”“Drown them. The environment is a force-multiplier. Of course, other pros know this too, so it tends to come out very rarely.”Gao Yingjie had confidence in fighting most normal players one-on-one, but at the numbers that were chasing after Lord Grim and co., even he was a bit busy. His superior mechanics also needed concentration and stamina to use. Having killed over three hours, he was already exhausted where Qiao Yifan was more placid.“Game battles don’t have the immense pressure of pro-team battles, but the mental toll over time is far longer,” Qiao Yifan explained as One Inch Ash pulled a Dark Boundary. Curses could be heard, muffled by the system’s underwater effect. “Right now, we’re guarding Thousand Waves Lake and killing any guild dungeon team they saw.”“Even Herb Garden?”“Even Herb Garden. If not, the other guilds would suspect something and declare war on Herb Garden too. You can give Plantago Seed a heads-up.”“Alright.”“After all, only 100 players on this server can reach Thousand Waves Lake. If we stay here and level, five days later we can follow Senior into the dungeon...”Without needing to think of issues like food or equipment – except Lord Grim, who needed to repair the Myriad Manifestations Umbrella from time to time – all the dungeon teams near Thousand Waves Lake were quickly slaughtered. During the day Qiao Yifan took Gao Yingjie with the newly joined Horse Shooter and Thousand Creations to maintain the siege, and during the night shift Lord Grim, Cleansing Mist, Soft Mist took over. Steamed Bun and Concealed Light were too low in level...The hunted had become the hunters, and the hunters had become the hunted. Plantago Seed was also troubled, but what could he do? Herb Garden’s overall guild leader Arisaema had ordered him to keep an eye on Gao Yingjie. It got to the point where tenth server guild leaders were already sending him baiting words to check if Herb Garden had suddenly switched sides.Within the space of forty-eight hours, the Three Great Guilds had already settled an agreement for the right to peaceful development in Thousand Waves Lake. One Inch Ash had grown in infamy next to Lord Grim and Cleansing Mist too – some of the Ghostblades from Void Walk were even asking if he was God Li Xuan.“Hey, erm... is Little Jie alright?” Liu Xiaobie asked the captain a day later, after a Tiny Herb vs Blue Rain match where Gao Yingjie had narrowly beaten the All-Star Berserker Yu Feng. If not for the difference in stats and equipment, Tiny Herb could have won that point. “He’s been... more bloodthirsty lately.”Wang Jiexi smiled. “Good. Yifan is so good at tutoring... Yingjie has managed his schedule well.”Zhou Yebai gnashed his teeth, almost crushing the mouse in his right hand. With a false smile, he asked: “Captain, when can you ask Yifan to expound on his technique?”“Why would you need to?” Wang Jiexi rebutted. “Go and practice. You haven’t even done the basics yet, how can you run before you can walk?”Of course, Qiao Yifan dragging Gao Yingjie around on errands in the name of training did not go unnoticed, especially amongst Ghostblades. Like a game of Telephone, Team Void’s guild Void Walk in the Heavenly Domain had gotten the message from their tenth server guild leader Middle Path.1“There’s a Ghostblade with Lord Grim who can do Ghost in Broad Daylight! Crap!”The receiver of the message was first the overall guild leader Perfection of Wisdom.2 “Crap, crap, crap, fuck!” Perfection of Wisdom did not seem very wise at the moment, sending the recording to the team captain Li Xuan on QQ.
Crying Devil: Hey, it’s the little ghost from Tiny Herb! … wait one sec.
Huh? What?In the same building, a man jumped in his chair as the guild department’s office door swung open. Li Xuan bustled in, dragging two people behind him. The man in the chair stared groggily at Vice-Captain Wu Yuce being dragged in next to a serious-looking young man.“Little Gai, see! A Ghost in Broad Daylight against so many people!” Li Xuan crowed. The unprecedented technique that Team Void’s duo Ghostblades couldn’t do had just appeared from a Ghostblade under Guild Happy – a Ghostblade with high authority too, being trusted by Lord Grim. One Inch Ash, he believed was definitely Qiao Yifan.“Lord Grim is God Ye Qiu, eh?” Li Xuan tutted. “Little Gai, this boy will either be your teammate or your opponent soon. We have to save the little ghost from that dirty-handed Ye Qiu!”“Qiao Yifan has yet to actually fight in matches,” Team Void’s newest talent Gai Caijie reasoned. “Is that likely to change?”“Tiny Herb doesn’t look like it will deviate soon,” Wu Yuce yawned. “It’s also too late to change Qiao Yifan to a Ghostblade account due to regulations. Besides, where would Zhou Yebai go?”Zhou Yebai was taking extra practice, but Team Void did not know this. Even if they did, the only care they would have demonstrated was as a competitor. The more pressing issue was negotiating with Tiny Herb’s boss to trade Qiao Yifan over, but it was hard to find some point of entry. Qiao Yifan not taking any matches meant that his contract, if- no, when renewed, would leave Qiao Yifan with no other option than Tiny Herb.This was the Pro Alliance. In order to retain talent, many means were needed.The sun and moon might weave a shuttle across the sky, but months flashed in the blink of an eye. Lord Grim reached level 50, and embarked on the Heavenly Domain Challenge. Qiao Yifan wrote to remind him that the Arena was cross-server, and to compensate for 20 Level Suppression.Since he was in no hurry to level up too, One Inch Ash carried on the legacy of terrorising the big guilds, leading Guild Happy’s enthusiastic players, picking group leaders, organising parties, pulling raids to steal BOSSES. Soft Mist and Steamed Bun Invasion tended to follow him without question now – Cleansing Mist just sent smiley faces and provided artillery support. With his presence as a Master Tactician, Guild Happy did not begin to fall apart the moment Ye Xiu left, which stunned all the guild leaders who kept scolding One Inch Ash as black-hearted. Qiao Yifan just took a spectator’s view of this whole affair as if watching history unfold – Boss Wei joining up, the appearance of Unrivalled Super Hottie...In March, the game company released two reports that made waves.The most famous was, obviously, Lord Grim’s continuous win streak in the Arena. The officials directly released a stickied post telling everyone who reported Lord Grim for hacking that after a careful investigation, Lord Grim was not found to have violated any rules. The officials asked players to stop sending in further reports on Lord Grim. A warning would be issued for the first offense. A temporary ban would be issued for the second offense. Due to the reputation of Glory’s report department, this made waves that a God was behind Lord Grim.The second, while more technical, was an analysis of the Qiao Yifan vs Li Xuan match in the All-Stars Weekend. The Ghost in Broad Daylight moved was confirmed to be an optical illusion depicted by the game engine made by light and shadow interfering in the eruption of Ghost Feast. Concealed Light made an Idiot’s Guide expounding a bit, which quickly became printed and studied by every pro Ghostblade looking to copy the technique. A separate series of articles on ‘The Applied Mathematics of Glory’ would have followed, but Ye Xiu quickly shut that down on account of it being a secret technique...One Inch Ash reached the Heavenly Domain at level 55, the second player from the tenth server to do so. Before he had left, he had issued standing orders and kept in touch with Tang Rou and Steamed Bun’s controller Bao Rongxing. The big guilds cried when, three times a week, One Inch Ash descended from the Heavenly Domain to wreck carnage upon them for the twenty-four hours needed to change servers and then went back up to the Heavenly Domain to help Lord Grim snatch BOSSES.Within this half-year, Ye Xiu could not help but contemplate his extreme luck. He had actually picked up a treasure! Rich experience, complete grasp of the overall situation, strong awareness, put Qiao Yifan as a crane amongst the chickens. A talent made just nice for Team Happy – to be able to understand living treasures like Steamed Bun and Tang Rou who often deviated from the strategy, and to place a Boundary at the right time and right place to make up for these two maverick powerhouses, was so rare that it was laudable. In a BOSS struggle, Qiao Yifan laid out the course of Boundaries, and Guild Happy slew the BOSS away from the other guilds, as swift as a dagger to the heart.Yifan had also managed to assemble the blueprints and upgrade plan for his Silver weapon, the Tachi Snow Stripe. This weapon had accompanied him through numerous game updates and battles, so he had some attachment to it.Of course, there was nothing he could do about Happy’s lack of materials except steal more BOSSES ~(￣▽￣)~*.In the middle of May, the news of Qiao Yifan leaving Tiny Herb did not actually relieve the substitutes. In fact, for the only other Ghostblade, it only seemed like more pressure. Zhou Yebai kept looking at Qiao Yifan’s gentle expression like he had seen an actual ghost. Team Tiny Herb came in third in the play-offs, and as 30 June rolled around, and with it, Gao Yingjie’s heart broke once more.It had been broken continuously since May, so not even Wang Jiexi could interfere anymore.“Yifan… what do you plan to do?” Gao Yingjie pleaded. He did not know what he could do – Qiao Yifan had already refused the Club’s offer to extend his contract.“Me?” Qiao Yifan smiled. “I’m going to go pay a visit to a certain Internet café.”“Internet Cafe?”Qiao Yifan had finished packing his belongings, too quickly for Gao Yingjie’s preference. Granted, Qiao Yifan only had one suitcase stuffed with his clothing, and did not own a residence or have the right to request anything. “En. I’ll be following Senior Ye to practice and improve.”“Why?” Gao Yingjie’s face looked like he was desperately trying not to cry. “Yifan, you can practice and improve here! The Club and Captain already agreed that you could stay! Won’t you... reconsider?”“Yingjie... in Tiny Herb, you are here.”This was not his actual reason, of course. Qiao Yifan had not actually cared about any captaincy – if he had, then Team Void would have been his choice. Happy was his home, but it was not like Gao Yingjie could guess his arrangement with Ye Xiu.“My heart is higher than the skies,” Qiao Yifan admitted. “I want an achievement that will earn eternal glory. In Tiny Herb, I would only be your invisible support.”“I don’t care about the captaincy!” Gao Yingjie confessed. “Yifan, with your skill, you have the potential to make a God-level account! Look at Blue Rain’s Curse and Sword! Vaccaria would be the ace, but I’ll always listen to you! I’ll... I’ll...”“Yingjie. You don’t have the power to make any senior do anything.”Gao Yingjie staggered back, as if Qiao Yifan had physically hit him. In a way, Gao Yingjie could not quite handle Qiao Yifan’s brutally honest answer that it was his fault that his best friend was leaving.“I’m afraid that when we meet again, we won’t be teammates,” Qiao Yifan confessed. “It’s too bad that we never got the chance to play alongside each other in a match. Maybe... in the future, perhaps, but not now.”“We’re still friends... right?” Gao Yingjie swallowed. “Yifan, I wanted our partnership to continue forever. I... Ah!”In a rare moment, Qiao Yifan had put down his suitcase to hug the other young man, causing the squeak. “Tiny Herb formed a part of me. We will still be friends, Yingjie. Now, calm down. Is that how Tiny Herb’s future captain should be?”“Yifan... you wait!” Gao Yingjie sobbed. “I’ll be strong enough, even to beat God Ye Qiu! When that happens... will you come back?”“The world will see the Devils3 of Tiny Herb take the stage,” Qiao Yifan promised. In his heart, he sighed: Sorry, Senior, you’ll have to pull Yingjie’s hate for now...“I’ll send you off?”“Sure.”The sun was setting low as the two youths walked out of the Club together. After exiting the main gate, one of them got on a car, while the other stayed. They waved goodbye, and from then on, their courses diverged. Born in the same country, now it felt like they were worlds apart.Qiao Yifan was in H City by the next day. Standing at the front of the Happy Internet Café, his lips thinned. A breeze blew, and he wiped his eyes. They were wet. Close by was Forest Park, where their living quarters would be... how long more before the rest of Happy came together?However, it did not quite save the unlucky duo from Excellent Era when Qiao Yifan asked to see the lady boss, and spotted them.“Senior Xiao Shiqin? Senior Sun Xiang? Hi...”
1 OC, since Void Walk has zero info recorded in the wiki or Baidu. Written as 中道
2 Another OC. Written as 般若波咯米.
3 The word as I envisioned is 魔鬼. 魔 is part of the character which makes up a Witch, and 鬼 refers to Ghostblades.
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7. Moiré Pattern“Qiao Yifan?” The newly transferred Xiao Shiqin muttered when one of the café’s employees had come up to the practice room to inform the lady boss Chen Guo of Qiao Yifan’s arrival. “That young Ghostblade in the All-Stars?”“Really?” Club Excellent Era’s boss Tao Xuan was surprised. He felt like this person’s background could not be small, but could not quite remember.Sun Xiang nodded: “The Ghost in Broad Daylight? The one that lost to Li Xuan in the All-Stars Rookie Challenge?”The painful experience of himself losing to Han Wenqing deepened his impression of the event, so he even remembered Qiao Yifan. This could be a testament to how easily Qiao Yifan was forgotten...“He’s from Team Tiny Herb. Even though he has never gone out on stage, he’s an officially registered member of Team Tiny Herb,” Xiao Shiqin confirmed. “He’s registered as an Assassin with them, but his Ghostblade technique was... unprecedented. His glorious defeat was interesting.”On that alone, the entire pro circle could agree. It was literally seeing a ghost in broad daylight – in their QQ chat, the Gods of Glory sometimes commented on how the future generation was to be feared. Wu Yuce in particular had complained about how hard it was to understand the mathematics behind creating an outline using Ghost Boundaries and Ghost Feast, in between Li Xuan sighing about how creepy the technique was.“Team Tiny Herb!” Tao Xuan’s expression darkened. “Unprecedented technique!”Xiao Shiqin felt a bit embarrassed. Team Tiny Herb had made Qiao Yifan too invisible – bad for other players, but good if they were raising talents for their own team and feared the player going elsewhere. How could an outsider know such information on someone who had never played in an official match? “He challenged Li Xuan... he lost the match, but he forced Li Xuan to do everything to beat him down, on top of showing a technique unknown in the history of Glory.”Sun Xiang shuddered. That match took place before his own, so he had been absorbed in his own match, but the ghost outline in the projection had been truly amazing, if also terrifying in the paranormal sense. There were definitely nightmares to be had. Xiao Shiqin did not quite share Sun Xiang’s opinion; his interest was more academic, focused on considering a potential opponent as all three of them went down and unwittingly fell into a trap.Ye Xiu had known that Qiao Yifan was coming, so he had been expecting him. Ye Xiu had no idea of the reasons why Qiao Yifan wanted to come to Happy, but he did not look at the gift horse in the mouth. He just needed to hide his real-world location when Li Xuan found out that the long-sought successor of Crying Devil had already gone to Happy and decided to do a real-world PK...Watching Qiao Yifan entrap the unwelcome visitors by calling their names in an Internet café, though, was definitely a bonus.“Ha ha ha, good, good. You’ve got a good future ahead of you, kid!” Wei Chen patted Qiao Yifan on the head again, smiling widely. “So. you’re One Inch Ash?”“Hello Senior.”“Ha ha, not bad! You’re very polite!” The seemingly middle-aged Wei Chen then gave a gruff call. “Old Ye! What did you do to trick this boy away from Tiny Herb! Wang Jiexi would find you to do a real-world PK!”“Ha, he can be considered your senior too.” Ye Xiu told Qiao Yifan. “Wei Chen. Have you heard of him?”“Team Blue Rain’s first captain?” Qiao Yifan asked.“Good kid!” Wei Chen praised. “You have a bright future ahead of you!”“Thank you, Senior.”Either way, Qiao Yifan had definitely left an impression on the three from Excellent Era. He wasn’t a good person!
Vaccaria: I think my student is out to kill you.
Later that day, after showing Qiao Yifan around and setting up their workplaces in the team’s new quarters in Forest Park, Ye Xiu blinked at the QQ message that had been waiting for him.
Lord Grim: Huh? Gao Yingjie? Did I offend him sometime? I didn’t meet him at All-Stars!
Vaccaria: He’s friends with Yifan. Today Excellent Era’s boss called Tiny Herb’s boss and asked about Yifan. Yingjie found out that Yifan left to join your grassroots team.
Lord Grim: Oh, yeah, Yifan managed to entrap Tao Xuan, Sun Xiang and Little Xiao when they came over. I think he made an impression.
Ye Xiu’s gaze moved over to Qiao Yifan directing players of Guild Happy on the normal server. He had earphones on, so he could not see Ye Xiu.Wei Chen’s gaze followed him. “You got a problem with Little Qiao?”“The future generation is to be feared,” Ye Xiu sighed. “A good Ghostblade either plays wretched, or is a natural black-belly. Between the two of us, Little Qiao can only turn blacker.”“Not yet,” Wei Chen laughed. “Is this really One Inch Ash?”“Want to see his technique? It’s very surprising.”“I saw that technique,” Wei Chen shuddered. “Almost enough to get me to believe in ghosts. Not to forget your living treasures putting him through the gauntlet.”Ye Xiu’s QQ window blinked.
Vaccaria: When you fail, I’ll be waiting with a contract for Yifan.
Lord Grim: Haha.
“I still remember when he entered the Heavenly Domain the first time,” Wei Chen laughed, almost wistful.“Level 70 Warlock, killed by level 55 Ghostblade – left behind Silver weapon.”“Fuck!” Wei Chen swore lowly. He had gotten it back, as well as another chance at a pro career, but the memory was fresh. “Natural black-heart. He’ll be better than Yu Wenzhou once he grows up.”“Didn’t you raise Yu Wenzhou by yourself?” Ye Xiu needled him.“Che, Yu Wenzhou raised himself.” Wei Chen dismissed the jab. “No no no, this kid, I’m gonna put double the attention on him.”“Double? Oi, Old Wei, you already raised two gods by yourself!” Ye Xiu didn’t know whether to laugh or to cry. Such a good junior, to be ruined by Wei Chen, he didn’t even dare to think about it!QQ vibrated once more, this time not from Wang Jiexi, but from the Five-Guild Alliance. Guild Happy was leading Guild Heavenly Justice, Guild Conquering Clouds, Guild Radiant and Guild Parade – Happy provided the command, while the rest provided the manpower. It was truly the commanders who made the most difference, since they all worked like clockwork. Half the time One Inch Ash was in command instead of Lord Grim.
Martial Awareness: God, One Inch Bro is there with your team already?!
Loulan Slash: Congrats, God! Just heard from One Inch Bro!
Yue Zhiqin: Just finished! Congrats to God on getting One Inch Bro!
White Stream: Today was very fruitful, One Inch Bro really helped Guild Happy get a lot! Congrats on getting another member of your team, God!
“Little Qiao, you told them!”Having put down his headphones at the cry, Qiao Yifan turned around. “Huh...?”“The alliance!”“Might as well.” Qiao Yifan shrugged. “Otherwise they’ll think that I’m running errands in exchange for tuition again.”“Good idea,” Ye Xiu commented, sighing on his luck in his heart.“Oi, Old Ye,” Wei Chen sighed once Qiao Yifan had put his headphones back on to play Glory. “You know how I met One Inch – no thanks to you – so how did you meet One Inch Ash?”“Er... it was a snowy night, I was in an Internet café, and when I signed into the tenth server there was a friend invite to meet this kid in the beginner dungeon...”“Get to the point!”“I noticed his skill then, and asked him about it. Apparently all it takes to make a registered pro player run to the game and try to reinvent himself in a subclass that the champion team already had in a desperate attempt to keep his career. We teamed up to get materials and experience, the rest is history.”Ye Xiu had an expression of helplessness. “I knew he has good judgement and overall grasp of the situation, but... I didn’t know the rest. Old Wei?”Wei Chen was silent.“Are you...?”“Shuddup.” Wei Chen growled. “Got something in my eye.”Ye Xiu nodded, pulling a cigarette from his pocket to smoke. “Big-Eyed Wang still didn’t put him up afterwards, but Little Qiao told me that he was practising Ghostblade with Vaccaria’s successor.”Wei Chen understood. Although Qiao Yifan had lost, his glorious defeat did mark an unforeseen technique useful to Tiny Herb. Team Void had also expressed interest. To keep the talent from running away, Wang Jiexi had left Qiao Yifan isolated in Tiny Herb and away from matches where his talent would shine some more, so that when his contract expired, Tiny Herb would be the closest on hand to offer a brand-new contract. They were a big club, used to dealing with logical people, and they could sweeten the pot some more until they reeled in the fish. Only, the fish had not only refused the contract, but dropped to play in the Challenger’s League against Excellent Era...“I tell you, it’s a crap idea to put him into practice without giving rookies a chance at the stage,” Ye Xiu suddenly burst out. “Experience across classes can develop new play-styles, get some publicity, public experience, and courage. Making a kid try this kind of risky move... Little Qiao will need all the courage to get through this.”“So... you weren’t digging at Tiny Herb’s walls?”“The kid got Team Void too! A chance at Crying Devil or Carved Ghost! What Ghostblade would not want that?!”The next morning, when everyone came together at the practice room, Ye Xiu told Qiao Yifan the details of their team’s situation, as well as their current work. Wei Chen was slumped in one side of the room – having upgraded his Sceptre, Death’s Hand, had taken all night. Needing to face Excellent Era in the Challenger League didn’t scare Qiao Yifan though, because he already knew.“I’ll definitely try my best,” Qiao Yifan’s cautious personality came to the fore. Ten years in the Alliance’s most chaotic team and three years as captain of said team had honed his caution, to the point where it was already a sort of madness in caution.“Okay, as long as you understand,” Ye Xiu was actually smiling as he spoke. “Let’s start playing! Old Wei is currently a spy and is Samsara’s second elite group leader.”“Wow!” Qiao Yifan’s praise was hardly artful at all.Wei Chen waved his hands. “You flatter me.”“With Boss Wei’s talents, shouldn’t you take over the first elite group at minimum?”Wei Chen choked on his cigarette. “You- You little demon.”“Thanks to Senior for your compliment.”Wei Chen was stumped. Was this really the nice angel from yesterday? The polite child? He is a Phantom Demon...“Little Qiao, you’ll mainly be playing with us,” Ye Xiu cut in. “When you have nothing to do, you’ll practice on your own. When I call for you, we’ll gather together and snatch wild bosses.”“Understood.” Qiao Yifan hesitated. “Erm... I developed a training program... will Senior look at it?”“Mmm.” Ye Xiu scanned through the lined notebook that Qiao Yifan cautiously handed to him. “Based off of Tiny Herb’s?”“En. I made some... adjustments. And... please look at this...”“Not bad. Definitely workable.” Ye Xiu handed the book to Wei Chen, but frowned as he read through some more. “This... is the plans for a level 70 Silver weapon?”The Tachi Snow Stripe. The weapon of the demon of carnage, successor of Happy’s legacy of chaos – and not even the complete plans. “The- Tiny Herb let me practice on Rangoon Creeper sometimes... and I asked the equipment department... and I studied it up myself... I got the ideas, but... some of my projections are off...”“...” Ye Xiu blinked, and looked up. “...Little Qiao. Do you realise what you have on your hands?”“What? What?” Wei Chen snatched the book for a quick read. After one look, the book dropped from his fingers. Cigarette ash flew as Wei Chen slammed the book into his chest to keep it from slipping away.“Little Qiao... you accidentally found out how to self-make the Swordpoint effect?”Swordpoint was a Level 65 Orange Greatsword. Although it was not Level 70, it was even used in the pro scene. This Greatsword had a special effect; for every weapon put on an item hotkey, the character would have a 10% increase in Physical Attack. Considering that in Glory there was a total of 12 item hotkeys, the character could have a 120% theoretical increase in Physical Attack, allowing for the highest Physical Attack in the game. The issue of how to self-make the special effect of Swordpoint had perplexed the research teams in Clubs ever since the weapon had appeared in-game.For Ghostblades, perhaps the effect was useful to Sword Demons, but Phantom Demons needed cast speed and magic attack. Physical Attack was only mildly useful as a surprise, but the balance between weight and Physical Attack needed consideration. If all 12 item hotkeys were filled with weapons, then the weight would be too much of a burden.“You look at our Little Qiao, then look at yourself again!” Ye Xiu scowled at Wei Chen. “As a pro-player, you don’t feel shame at taking your Silver weapon to torture noobs in the game?”Wei Chen flipped through the guide, not listening to Ye Xiu at all. “Damn! Our Little Qiao is impressive! Not needing to worry about planning the training program is so useful! And this... accident... let’s keep it a secret first, alright?”“Alright.” The Swordpoint effect had been discovered by Guan Rongfei and Luo Ji one alcohol-filled night. Its early appearance in Snow Stripe’s upgrade only needed Qiao Yifan to screw up some calculations, which was easy to do without Luo Ji checking over his shoulder.“Oh, right, Little Qiao, how’s your quests?” Ye Xiu hid a yawn. “We need to pull up your skill points.”“My account has practically never touched a quest!” Qiao Yifan nodded as he received the guide to read through via QQ.“Oh, right, did I tell you the things we need to do in the game?”“Scrap-pick, kill Bosses, kill Deception.”“Good lad.”“Dog-shit luck,” Wei Chen cursed. “How you got such a nice junior I’ll never understand. I hope the Tiny Herb kid actually comes over to PK and get his friend away from this devil...”Ye Xiu’s QQ vibrated again.
Crying Devil: Old Ye you come out and PK! How dare you steal my successor!
Lord Grim: He’s not in Team Void! Quit trying to poach him!
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8. AnthelionIn order to relieve the seniors’ burden, Qiao Yifan was willing to do a lot, and did it well. The others, though, were hardly willing to use ‘child labour’, and Qiao Yifan was also doing quest after quest to raise his skill points. When a BOSS spawned, then he would drop everything to run to the BOSS – the quest wasn’t running anywhere, after all.“God! One Inch Bro!” The leaders of the Four-Guild Alliance called.“...” Controlling his Cleric character Little Cold Hands, An Wenyi blinked at his screen. “Little Qiao... you’re really popular?”“Huh? Is it?” Qiao Yifan’s voice came from One Inch Ash. “Well, I guess.”The four guild leaders brought their troops with them. In comparison, Guild Happy was pathetic, having only five people and worse equipment, no matter how long it took to manage the guild storage system. Yet, nobody dismissed them – the alliance only came into being because of the strength of God Ye Qiu.They had more people this time, though!Ye Xiu typed on the guild leader QQ group chat.
Lord Grim: What’s the situation?
Martial Awareness: Two simultaneous BOSS spawn. Level 55 wild boss, Red Ribbon Janna. Level 65 wild boss, Green Magic Disciple Amofu.
Lord Grim: Let’s go to Scarlet Cloud Taoist Rite.
Loulan Slash: …
Yue Zhiqin: That’s fine too. We didn’t really get any bosses yesterday, so we should start off the day well.
White Stream: Oh. Oh.
Lord Grim: Everyone, let’s work hard! Red Ribbon Janna has something I need!
Loulan Slash: …
Lord Grim: Yifan will be taking over command this time. Yifan, say hi!
One Inch Ash: … hi everyone.
Loulan Slash: One Inch Bro!
Scarlet Cloud Taoist Rite was an ostentatious little place, a Taoist abbey in the Heavenly Domain. A red cloud hung above the main entrance, painted with a black 武, the script almost alive and writhing. The dungeon, Scarlet Cloud Ancient Altar, had once ended the lives of who-knew-how-many heroes, but as a level 55 levelling area when the level cap was now 70, Scarlet Cloud Ancient Altar had long since become empty. The players who came here killed level 55-57 NPCs, and the wild BOSS, Red Ribbon Janna, was now a BOSS the big guilds were too lazy to send their elite groups to.Upon arrival, Qiao Yifan spotted through his character two Blade Masters from Blue Brook Guild. He was very familiar with both. One was Blue Bridge Spring Snow, also known as Blue River, also known as Peerless Looks. Qiao Yifan had made many contacts with this former babysitter of the tenth server’s Guild Happy in his wild BOSS raids. The other Blade Master, he could not be more familiar with.Lu Hanwen, the youngest pro-player at debut in history, heir of Troubling Rain. The most honourable Senior Ye had once predicted that Lu Hanwen would be Happy’s rival for the next 10 years. He was partially correct – Troubling Rain was their ace, but failing to find a successor for Swoksaar as Yu Wenzhou aged meant that Blue Rain had constant trouble as Happy developed their Demolition Style and, more often than not, buried Troubling Rain besides Swoksaar in their home matches. Happy’s home team element was amazing to see, so officials say – in the same way that landslides and storms were amazing. The word ‘carnage’ could not describe it any better.“Ignore him. Keep pushing forward. Clerics, keep up the healing.” Qiao Yifan typed into the group chat. “Senior Ye, take Little Hands and twenty Knights, rear support.”This child was not the opportunistic ambusher or Team Blue Rain’s ace yet, only a child still in the training camp. Before the black-hearted Ye Xiu there was nothing to look at, only Lu Hanwen being powerlessly collared and tossed around with the Taunt skills of Knights and Clerics’ control skills.There was only one opportunity to escape – blocked by a Dark Boundary in time.“Ah ah ah ah ah!!!!!” Lu Hanwen’s cry of rage echoed in the game as he died, and Qiao Yifan led the rest of the Alliance army to clash with Blue Brook Guild and Tyrannical Ambition.
One Inch Ash: Parade, left flank. Conquering Clouds, right flank. Elite Team, break through. Steamed Bun Bro, Sis Rou, Little Hands, Loulan Slash, Homeward Bound, Ocean Ahead, Night Tide, pressure but don’t go too far.
“Lady boss, with me!” Qiao Yifan called into his microphone. “Chasing Haze, two o’ clock, Satellite Beam!”“OK!”As the elite team started to break through the elite defences, Zhang Xinjie frowned from his Cleric’s position. For one, he did not quite recall that the five-guild alliance was this... tough.
One Inch Ash: Everyone else, pay attention to the elite team’s movements and coordinate. Parade side, Battle Mages to front, Sky Strike.
A troop of Battle Mages in Parade advanced to the front-lines. All of them used Sky Strike immediately. They could not exactly compare to God Ye Qiu, but one layer of Tyrannical Ambition’s players were cut off.
One Inch Ash: Radiant, all Ghostblades, Plague Boundary in BOSS position 6 o’clock in five seconds. Radiant, all Elementalists forward, Raging Flames and Blizzard.
As the Elementalists surged forward on another side, they stepped into a shining overlapping pattern of circular Sword Boundaries. The carpeted buffs under Tyrannical Ambition made them frail and sickly as the gods of plague spread their powers, lowering their defences. All Tyrannical Ambition players were blown off or frozen for the BOSS to kick them.Misty Mountains raised his cross, and trembled. Zhang Xinjie glanced down, and noted the greying out of his skills without him noticing at all. His screen’s perspective then changed as his character, through all the guards and protections, had been knocked up and blown away.When did Ye Xiu find another tactician?! He frowned.On the other side, Qiao Yifan frowned as Lu Hanwen’s Flowing Cloud managed to charge through. In short order, the child had been tricked into working for Ye Qiu and Enraged the BOSS. Sighing, Qiao Yifan sent Flowing Cloud a private message.
One Inch Ash: BOSS enrage, Earthquake Mountain Sway, 30 units around. Bye.
Flowing Cloud: Thanks!
Then a white flash appeared, and Flowing Cloud died again...Qiao Yifan: …In the end, the BOSS fell into their hands after a long battle, and they gained the last material needed for upgrading Lord Grim’s Silver weapon. And here was where Qiao Yifan received a friend request from Flowing Cloud, waiting for his approval. It was also at this time that Xiao Shiqin came over to spy as Ye Xiu upgraded the Myriad Manifestations Umbrella. Qiao Yifan just poured a cup of water to give to Xiao Shiqin, before going back to entertain Lu Hanwen and his Arena PK requests.Having been followed by a mysterious Su Mucheng to the Happy Internet Café, Xiao Shiqin suddenly saw Qiao Yifan get up and walk towards him.This made Xiao Shiqin puzzled. Qiao Yifan was someone even his boss, Tao Xuan, worried about. This did not bode well for Qiao Yifan’s intentions. He fixed his gaze on Qiao Yifan, who walked over to a water dispenser and poured a cup of water. Afterwards, Qiao Yifan placed the cup in front of Xiao Shiqin on the small coffee table: “Senior, have a cup of water...”Then, he returned to his seat.…...Perhaps – and this was a daring thought – not all the people following Ye Qiu were completely lacking in social niceties. At least, it was hard for Xiao Shiqin to think that Qiao Yifan had any hidden motives behind his action.When asked on the next boss, Qiao Yifan pointed out his opponent, and thus threw himself out of the race for the Red Mage Mierworr.His QQ beeped.
Lord Grim: Secret weapons need to be kept out of sight anyway... take a recording of the fight!
One Inch Ash: Yes, Senior.
Flowing Cloud was valiant and fierce on the battlefield. On that, everyone could agree. One Inch Ash, however, still managed to control the 1v1 and control Flowing Cloud to death.
On the other side, Qiao Yifan already guessed that Lu Hanwen had taken himself out of Blue Brook Guild’s forces for the time being, so he just played Flowing Cloud out of life and riches.
Yes, it was a gambling match. Lu Hanwen was paying materials to be hung up and beaten by a Phantom Demon.It got to the point where Qiao Yifan wondered if it was going too far. In mechanics, he could never match those with natural talent like Lu Hanwen or Gao Yingjie. However, Qiao Yifan was definitely more precise, and his fighting style was a curse on melee classes in a sense. For a newcomer to be constantly beaten like this for several rounds, it might have traumatised him. Yet, Phantom Demons were unsuited to single combat anyway, so was Qiao Yifan supposed to forgo positioning and use of the territory to charge in directly?‘Bullying’ the little friend Lu is a learning experience (￣y▽￣)╭ Ohohoho.....At this time, Team Blue Rain’s key players Yu Wenzhou and Huang Shaotian dropped in to check on Lu Hanwen’s day in the Blue Brook Guild, only to see a glum Lu Hanwen staring at his screen. This was very unlike the bubbly child.“What’s going on?” Huang Shaotian advanced after receiving a look from his captain. “What happened, Little Lu?”Having been controlled to death so many times that he had immured himself against his helplessness, Lu Hanwen jabbed a finger at the screen: “I fought with him for several rounds and didn’t even win once.”The two pros had slight changes in expression. They knew how strong their team’s Little Lu was, even if he was lacking in experience and his technique not quite so perfect, but he was definitely above-average in the pro circle. Yet, to be beaten like this in a game... Yu Wenzhou’s rested on the Ghostblade.The chat popped up.
One Inch Ash: Should we stop now?
Flowing Cloud: Last match o(≧口≦)o！！
From what Qiao Yifan recalled of Lu Hanwen’s current personality, Lu Hanwen should no longer have an interest in battling. This perseverance was a bit... well, could it compare to Lu Hanwen’s own interest in Liu Xiaobie?Qiao Yifan wanted to slap himself. What was he thinking? How did a rivalry born over having the same subclass somehow evolve into LiangZhu?!1 The imagination of the last Glory fan convention must have infected him...Qiao Yifan mulled over Lu Hanwen some more, and realised that the boy must have gone to seek help. In circles like theirs, faking a difference in ability was hardly fashionable. That was the reason that he had more or less exerted his skill in fighting Li Xuan. Of course, there may be a couple of skill points misallocated elsewhere, but it was plausible. If he had to hide his strength, it might as well be from Excellent Era... which was probably why, having press-ganged Xiao Shiqin into helping out, Qiao Yifan was not at the front-lines of the Boss fight but pulling Lu Hanwen around by the nose.Flowing Cloud’s skill was good and his style valiant, but it did not save him from being shut away into the Ghost Boundaries and slowly suffocated to death in a host of abnormal status resistances.Our Student Lu turned around to look at his seniors.“How dirty,” Huang Shaotian praised, a big grin on his face.“How intelligent,” Yu Wenzhou stated. “This One Inch Ash, is he not the one who assists Ye Qiu?”Lu Hanwen had yet to open his mouth when he was interrupted: “Who who who who who?! One Inch Ash? Wonder if he’s from Team Void’s training camp.”“Uh...” Qiao Yifan spoke. “Hello, Senior Huang.”“You?!” Huang Shaotian suddenly exclaimed. “You’re One Inch Ash?!”“Qiao Yifan.” Yu Wenzhou accurately placed his impression. “The Ghost in Broad Daylight.”“Hello, Captain Yu.”“Damn! What kind of dog-shit luck does Old Ye have, to get such a good Ghostblade to sign on his grassroots team?! Old Ye’s team is shaping up to be pretty fierce...”Thus began a strange exchange of Huang Shaotian’s narration, ending with Yu Wenzhou patting Lu Hanwen on the shoulder with a “You can try to interact more with him,” before pulling Huang Shaotian away.Lu Hanwen: ...The controller behind the infamous scrap-picker Deception finally came when he was killed for the nth time and could no longer scrap-pick in peace. After running the gauntlet – and having to kneel before One Inch Ash three times in a row – Mo Fan finally became a part of Happy (if not by initial choice). Amongst the important transfers and pros appearing in the game now, Qiao Yifan was assigned the Herculean task of putting Deception through his paces, while Ye Xiu supervised Luo Ji and remotely checked up on An Wenyi.Days in Team Happy was progressing like how Qiao Yifan remembered them the first time: practice, snatch BOSS, steal BOSS, poach BOSS...Happy was really too poor, it could not be helped ╮(╯▽╰)╭.The pro-players who enter the game would only increase from here... most of the cause resting with Happy’s antics. The legend of the Internet café team who in their first year in the Alliance managed to clinch the championship engraved itself in history and the Glory player population forever.Of course, the main reason was always to gain rare materials...“Senior, why is that Brawler trying to pull me out of the group?”“Oh, good eyes. Everyone, kill him!”Lin Jingyan’s character tried to run, only to be trapped in a secretly cast Hexagram Prison. It was a Warlock skill, which implied that a certain extremely shameless, extremely underhanded and extremely dirty Wei Chen was hanging around...“Old Lin, why are you trying to pick on your juniors?” Ye Xiu drawled. The Brawler did not move – he had logged out. It was the matter of a few magic attacks to turn the Brawler into a corpse. Still, the fact that Tyrannical Ambition was now hunting for Spitfire materials implied some things about Season 9.Qiao Yifan had not actually communicated with Lin Jingyan before. The only time they had spoken face to face, was when Senior Ye had somehow press-ganged the senior into tutoring Steamed Bun. That had been hilarious, but Qiao Yifan’s understanding still came from Lin Jingyan’s relationship to a future pillar of their Team Happy – Fang Rui. These events, happening again... history as unfolding in the present could only be recognised in hindsight.On the day that Lu Hanwen was announced as a first-string member of Team Blue Rain, Ye Xiu caught Qiao Yifan watching the screen with great intensity.“That’s the young Blade Master from Red Ribbon Janna,” Qiao Yifan told Ye Xiu.“So he is,” Ye Xiu nodded.“Another flashy one.”“You’re very flashy too, Little Qiao.”“No... I was mainly invisible.”“Being on the sidelines hurts, sometimes,” Ye Xiu agreed. “That’s why we’re taking on the Challengers League. We have... everyone.”Little Cold Hands’ strong points were his ability to judge the situation and his surroundings. Concealed Light’s strengths was in calculations and analysis – after a while, sheer destructive power. Qiao Yifan thought about it and nodded.“Your entry in the pro circle did not go quite as well,” Ye Xiu finally decided. “But your talent is out there now. You can take your unprecedented technique and leave if you regret it. Just tell me.”“A few times is enough for a play-style.” Qiao Yifan disagreed. “Perhaps... I just wanted more than what Tiny Herb was prepared to offer – to win. To not be invisible. Am I very greedy, Senior Ye?”“Good kid,” Ye Xiu smirked. “You just know what you want, and what you’re prepared to give up in exchange for it. There is no right or wrong – there are only people who chose otherwise.”“En...”“Get some sleep,” Ye Xiu ordered. “Our last two members will come soon. Tomorrow you’ll see at least one of them.”“...Thanks, Senior Ye.”“Have some courage. You’re a pro-player too!”How do fates turn and come back to these words again... A storm is blowing from Paradise; it has got caught in his sails with such violence, that the sails can no longer be closed. This storm, it pushed him through the doubts and dread, back to where he had begun – literally. Everything had begun with these words, spoken not from a fan at the height of his glory, but from a fellow pro-player, the most honourable senior, when not even Qiao Yifan himself thought that he could never continue to be a pro-player.Qiao Yifan had weathered plenty of storms with Team Happy, the sail that guided the ever-changing team to its fifth victory in Season 18.Starting again in Season 8, at the storms of his life, paled in comparison to everything.“Courage.”Qiao Yifan nodded. It sounded like a promise, and those of Happy, they kept their promises... to an extent... maybe... er... right.“Good night, Senior. Please leave it to me.”
1 The Butterfly Lovers is a Chinese legend of a tragic love story of a pair of lovers, Liang Shanbo (梁山伯) and Zhu Yingtai (祝英台), whose names form the title of the story. The title is often abbreviated to Liang Zhu (梁祝).
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9. SonoluminescenceThe specific training part concerned everyone except Luo Ji. Concealed Light was still in the midst of the Heavenly Domain Challenge, which also had all-round training, so he was already covered. Qiao Yifan sat with his room-mate An Wenyi most of the time, chatting about mechanics and the science thereof while also assisting to correct the latter’s mistakes.Mo Fan mainly did his own thing. Aside from some interactions with Su Mucheng, who spent most of her vacation at Happy or at the players’ rented quarters in Forest Park, he simply adapted himself even if he was not used to it. The shared document “Team Happy’s Practice Routine” now had some content from Qiao Yifan’s book, class-specific skills, and some more additions from the experienced seniors, but the style was mostly the same: demanding, repetitive, and dry. It was meant to train a player’s precision and speed.Everyone’s varying skill levels showed through this basic tech skill practice:Having done this for eight years, Qiao Yifan just did them some more. His hand speed did not lose to Tang Rou or Steamed Bun – it was simply his more cautious personality which balanced it out. He could complete each task in one try the majority of the time.Steamed Bun muttered to himself.Tang Rou was equally grave, clearly having some trouble.Mo Fan even frowned.It was even more painful for An Wenyi. If not for Qiao Yifan’s supervision, a lot more bad habits would have gone uncorrected. The pair of them had similar play-styles which demanded timing and accuracy more than flashy mechanics, though, so they covered their strengths and then worked on their weaknesses. An Wenyi was the one who spared them the most from worry – he might be the worst of them, but he did not require encouragement or consolation. He even asked to skip the wild boss battles in order to spend more time on the practice routine. Fighting for wild bosses was practically a break from this monotonous practice, but An Wenyi was willing to give up on his breaks.As it was, the days passed until one day in August, their lady boss summoned them to the first official meeting convened by their boss. When everyone got the news, their expressions became stranger. At this stage, the lady boss was more like the team’s nanny, dealing with all of the odd jobs...Qiao Yifan resolved to do whatever he could on the guild end to help out too.“Cough, the boss wants to hold a meeting. Everyone, please try to take this a bit more seriously.” Ye Xiu reminded them.There was a bit of shifting around when everyone realised that Su Mucheng was still in the meeting room, but after cracking some jokes, the atmosphere had relaxed to deal with a problem the lady boss had noticed – fans.Right. The Internet café across of Club Excellent Era was trying to raise a team to beat Team Excellent Era in the Challengers League. This was a prime recipe for chaos and player harassment.“Oh, this problem!” Wei Chen nodded. “This is certainly a problem. As for myself, I won’t be affected in any way. My worry is that you babies will cry when everyone points their fingers at you.”“Point their fingers? Middle finger? We can just return the favour! Just like this!” Steamed Bun immediately pointed both his middle fingers at Wei Chen.“Okay, it’s not a problem for Steamed Bun... You guys?” Wei Chen asked.“I think it’s more fun like that!” Tang Rou smiled. She looked a lot like her character in terms of blood-thirst now.“I think I can deal with it,” Qiao Yifan replied. Tiny Herb had its fair share of haters before. Plus, if Team Happy had cared about public opinion or the fans, they would have long crumbled under the pressure in another lifetime. Their team might not be highly regarded but always had a surprise somewhere, and all of its members tended to have strong psychological qualities.Next was Luo Ji. “Me? I have enough on my hands with those summoned creatures. I don’t have the energy to pay attention to anything else.”Everyone laughed. Whenever Luo Ji summoned a bunch of creatures, he would turn into a mess. It would be a huge spectacle if not for his analysis paralysis at every move.“I don’t think this is a bad thing,” An Wenyi spoke. “As an unknown team, we can ride on Excellent Era’s fame and get more attention that way.”Nobody bothered to ask Ye Xiu. Ye Xiu had already told a fan to his face that he fought only for victory, not for the fans’ support. If Ye Xiu was bothered by stuff like this, how could he have become a God?Mo Fan never showed up. Even if he came, he probably would not say anything. Qiao Yifan would just mention it later with Su Mucheng. They were the ones who understood more.Either way, the boss wanted to host an event at the Happy Internet Café – free Internet, and nightly challenges for the team, in order to promote hype for the team and send off Team Happy into the Challenger League. The challenges would be done online, so none of the players actually needed to step foot into the café.“Uh, I feel like this approach is kind of similar to cutting off our means of retreat, especially for you. After all, if it doesn’t work out for us, there might be other opportunities, but what about your Internet café?” An Wenyi had asked.“You’re worrying about me? No need.” Chen Guo waved her hands: “Just think about yourself!”“Erm... my signature play-style might be seen as cheating,” Qiao Yifan spoke up.“That will be a matter for the game company to decide, and they already declared that it’s a perfectly valid technique,” Ye Xiu pointed out. “Void Walk has screenshots, I know it!”All of them had clear strengths and weaknesses, but it was made up for by other team-mates. This was their team. Their boss was also a part of the team, choosing to stake her café’s business and burn her boats in giving her commitment to supporting Team Happy. This was Team Happy’s boss, who had never changed despite Team Happy having gone through three captains and five championships – from café team to big-shot pros, she had remained committed to Glory as the concept, not the commercial.Qiao Yifan did not quite mind, though his real appearance was only in the team competition. His ghosts might actually make people call the game company to say that Glory was haunted...QQ beeped, and to his great surprise, two messages stood out.
Kind Tree: Yifan you didn’t tell me that your team was doing this thing! How can you be so cruel /(ㄒoㄒ)/~~ I’m going to watch! Message me when you’re up!
Qiao Yifan checked on the other message.
Crying Devil: There’s still two more weeks! Come to X City! You don’t have to sell your arts by broadcasting this thing on the game!!! How is that a match! You’re just torturing artless idiots!
…Qiao Yifan ignored the second message in favour of Gao Yingjie:
One Inch Ash: Yingjie, the boss set up the event in order to send us off to the Challenger League.
Kind Tree: I went on the game but couldn’t find you /(ㄒoㄒ)/~~
One Inch Ash: OK OK stop spamming the cry emoticon!!!
While he was chatting in between breaks, Excellent Era’s training camp was mobilised to challenge Happy. Their strongest, Qiu Fei, had beaten Tang Rou, but was quickly taken over and pushed into a coaching duel with Ye Xiu. The rest of the students either lost to Steamed Bun’s unpredictable technique, or were toyed around with by Wei Chen. Appreciating a long and exciting match, Qiao Yifan contemplated to set aside the urge to look at Qiu Fei soon.After all, there was a Battle Mage, ID Combat Form, on Excellent Era’s registry.The first round of the Challenger League against Team Global Insomnia passed without incident. A team of four players could not hope to compete against Happy’s ambition here, after all.The second opponent was slightly more interesting – Team Everlasting, a former pro team who had been relegated. Team Everlasting was definitely more interesting than normal players, at least in terms of equipment. However, borrowing equipment from Team Heavenly Swords helped to even the odds, such that they beat out Team Everlasting in their away game 8.5 to 1.With the home advantage turned to them, Qiao Yifan had brought up the topic of changing the map to Luo Ji. They had even talked about all the maps in the Challengers League – those were public knowledge, having been put on the Alliance website to be downloaded for teams to study. Luo Ji promised that one particular ruins map would get his attention.Xiao Shiqin, you could have just stayed in Thunderclap, Qiao Yifan cackled in his heart. No, you had to come down here and stand in Team Happy’s way into the pro scene. If you try to pull a 1v3 again, I swear that I will bring that map down around your ears!!!In the home game against Everlasting, One Inch Ash had just killed the other side’s Warlock, Qi Master, and Spellblade in the Group Arena.“...” Ye Xiu rubbed his eyes, made puffy from lack of sleep. “Little Qiao. Do you have some grudge against them?”“No?” Qiao Yifan blinked. “I just... got carried away.”At the end of the Everlasting vs Happy matches, a complete report on Team Happy had finally been published in e-Sports Home. Even though the article was inside an ordinary page and only took up space about the size of a chunk of tofu, Chen Guo still took it out to be laminated and hung on the wall after making copies. In the history of the Glory Pro Alliance, no non-pro team had ever obtained this type of report. They were making history as an entirely new team entering the Alliance through the Challenger League.Of course, now everyone, from normal players to pros alike, knew that a god was slaughtering his way to challenge Excellent Era... and that a demon was leading under his flag.“Qiao Yifan? He ran to this team?”Qiao Yifan had only left Team Tiny Herb three months ago. No matter how invisible his public presence, Team Tiny Herb’s players would not forget the one who threatened their positions in the roster (or the one being groomed as a support player, in the Captain’s case). When they saw this name, they thought they had mistaken it, but they soon saw that it was that Qiao Yifan that everyone was thinking about.“He threw over a championship team for this?!” Zhou Yebai scoffed. Being the only other Ghostblade, Qiao Yifan’s sudden talent in the Ghostblade class had directly threatened him. “Ha! Serves him right!”“What’s all this commotion so early in the morning?” Someone’s voice came from the practice room.“Captain!” Gao Yingjie beamed. “Yifan’s in the paper!”Everyone immediately returned to their seats, leaving the e-Sports Home paper on the table, open on the Challenger League page. Wang Jiexi picked it up, spotting today’s topic of discussion.“A Phantom Demon dealt a 1v3?!” Wang Jiexi blinked and rubbed his eyes again.“Yes!”Wang Jiexi could not help but recall that phone call he received from the club manager, asking about Qiao Yifan. Qiao Yifan was certainly a talent worthy of being cultivated now, but...The kid had simply glossed over all the hints and assurances of getting to use Rangoon Creeper. Wang Jiexi had thought that he was having an effect, until Qiao Yifan had just left upon expiry of the contract, not even entertaining thoughts of renewal despite the club’s rising offers. At that time, Wang Jiexi had simply thought that Qiao Yifan was definitely going to Team Void for a chance at Crying Devil.However, Team Happy... it had the God Ye Qiu, the Glory Textbook. Qiao Yifan could certainly get more pointers than staying in Tiny Herb. In a new team, his background would be a treasure. And...Wang Jiexi’s eyes fell upon the smiling Gao Yingjie, who was getting a pair of scissors. “Yingjie, leave it for now. I’ll give you the article later, go practice.”“Er, yes...” Putting the scissors back in the drawer, Gao Yingjie scurried back to his station, leaving Wang Jiexi to his thoughts.When talented rookies drew attention with their great performance, they slowly lost their pace as other teams became familiar with their play-style. This was the so-called Rookie's Block. Excluding the first-generation pros and the demonic Ye Qiu, in the history of the Alliance there were only two people who managed to break through the block without faltering – Wang Jiexi himself, and Sun Xiang.Tiny Herb’s arrangements of putting their future talent Gao Yingjie as a substitute might have cost him the Best Newcomer award, but it had allowed the mentally fragile successor of Vaccaria to get used to the pace of pro matches. This gradual accommodation had been chosen by Wang Jiexi in light of Gao Yingjie’s soft personality, to let him slip past the Rookie's Block without too much trouble.Qiao Yifan, though... Playing as a new team in the Challenger League meant that Qiao Yifan would have to play more matches than other rookies who debuted at the same time. No matter the quality of the opponents, it was also getting used to not just the pace of the matches but the pressure of high-risk matches, the need to consistently the field under multiple situations... an exercise in consistency, in short.Wang Jiexi could not help but sigh. Much like the subclass itself, pro Phantom Demons only bloomed during the late-game. Tiny Herb had missed out such a talent because it wasn’t time. They had just left the kid with a class that didn’t suit him on the bench, watching the dazzling stage that he was supposed to go up on but never found a chance...Wang Jiexi read the rest of the article, pausing at the mention of another name.Wei Chen?Before his pro career, Wang Jiexi had known of Wei Chen’s fame. “How old is he now? He’s also gone to Team Happy?”Wang Jiexi lifted his head. Wei Chen... old pros might think of Wei Chen more as extremely unscrupulous, extremely shameless, and extremely underhanded. Those old pros also tended to forget that Wei Chen had raised by himself the current captain and ace of Team Blue Rain.Wang Jiexi saw Gao Yingjie sitting in front of his computer in a daze. Gao Yingjie soon noticed the captain’s gaze and froze in fright. “Sorry...”“Work hard!” Wang Jiexi assured. “When you meet again, it’ll be on the stage.” Assuming, of course, that Qiao Yifan had not been twisted beyond recognition by Wei Chen... Wang Jiexi could not help but shake his head. Wei Chen and Ye Xiu; a student of that combination sounded absolutely frightful.He would later realise, it was really frightful, especially after Fang Rui was tossed into the mix.
----- CHAPTER BREAK -----
10. RainbowWith the addition of Wu Chen as guild staff, Guild Happy became the owner of Guild Everlasting and all of its branches across the current servers. The coalition of guilds began to develop slowly. Two and a half months passed with matches, preparation, battling, equipment manufacture etc etc etc.After the 18th of November, the Monday of the next week, Glory officially announced another oncoming change that shook the entire Glory circle. This year’s anniversary would, as always, signify the opening of a new server, the eleventh one, but there would also be a massive update added to the game. The level cap was going to be increased to level 75. There would be new stories, new skills, new equipment, and even new maps...At this moment, it was a matter of headcount and the grounds were filled with corpses, and the alliance were less successful under such circumstances. Qiao Yifan often used one of a stable of alternate Ghostblade accounts in leading the front-lines of these wild BOSS brawls.Since up to the fifth round Happy had not seen an opponent that needed their ‘propitious sail’, Ye Xiu had left Qiao Yifan in the individual competitions with the same excuse of letting others have experience in working in a team. Being stuck counting mushrooms in between practices and volunteering for errands in the guild department had fed Qiao Yifan’s greed, up to the long-awaited level 75 update.This had not been the first update that Qiao Yifan had weathered in his career, but it would be Team Happy’s first historic phase where they could close the gap between a grassroots team like themselves and the other pro teams. This update was their first and only chance! No matter how foreboding it was for their prospects, this was the point in time to move forward! Team Happy had walked from an Internet café team to an illustrious team with no need to fear others due to this courage to face change!
Have some courage! You’re a pro-player too!
When the update opened, Team Happy’s dungeoning group immediately went for the closest ten-player Sealed Mountain Hideout. Lord Grim, Dawn Rifle, Windward Formation, Soft Mist, Steamed Bun Invasion, One Inch Ash, Chasing Haze, Concealed Light, Deception and Little Cold Hands invaded the dungeon.“You know something?” Ye Xiu commented. “Little Qiao, since you’re so enthusiastic about the level 75 dungeons, you get to direct this one.”“Senior, we’re pioneering!” Qiao Yifan would have slammed his head in his keyboard if it would help. Today he had just been planning to play support, honest!Wei Chen laughed. “Little bro, you fight guilds all the time! This dungeon is nothing. Besides, don’t you believe in your seniors?”“Not the first time you’ve done the command,” An Wenyi agreed.“I don’t mind,” Tang Rou agreed.“I’ll be in your care, Yifan.” Luo Ji did not hesitate.“I follow your orders all the time, little bro!” Steamed Bun grinned. His real name was Bao Rongxing, but everyone called him Steamed Bun anyway. It was suspected that Steamed Bun was not in fact human but an alien sometimes.Qiao Yifan turned his head. He was at the very corner of a square of twelve computers that were Team Happy’s practice computers, and Mo Fan was his neighbour in the row perpendicular to his own. “Little Mo?”“...no problem.”Ye Xiu nearly dropped his pen. “Ah?! When did you guys...?”“OK, dungeoning team complete! Little Mo, remember what I said about DPS and teamwork?”Mo Fan stared back.He nodded.Before handing over the captaincy, Su Mucheng had told Qiao Yifan the way to get Team Happy’s king of the ring to listen to him. Qiao Yifan had just repeated the same strategy he had used in his captaincy – even with all his experience in the future, the king of the ring knelt three times. Those three times had been much harder than this time around, when the Ninja Deception had just become a sandbag stuck in Ghost Boundaries.Mo Fan was not exactly a team player, but working in a team meant little sacrifices like this. Right now Ye Xiu had too much bad blood and did not dare to order Mo Fan around, so Qiao Yifan had just corralled in Mo Fan to cooperate for the purposes of increasing his DPS. It was a mutually beneficial arrangement~.3 December was Glory’s anniversary. The contents of the update had already been publicly released. As soon as the clock hit midnight, the new update would be released and Glory’s eleventh server would open. The leagues, Pro and Challenger alike, would pause for one week. On 14 December, the effects of the new update would finally spread itself in competitive play.“I’m still growing, I need some rest before pulling an all-night.” With that justification, Qiao Yifan had begged on his typical schedule to sleep in on 2 December. Never mind their soft-hearted boss, not even the shameless elders had reason to deny such a reason. Qiao Yifan was woken up closer to nine PM to grab a late bite and began parking his character in preparation for the update. The servers shut down at ten PM to prepare for the update.3 December, at midnight 00:00:00, Glory released the new content. Tens of millions of players fought to log in at that exact moment. In direct contrast, Team Happy went straight for the new level 75 dungeon, Sealed Mountain Thieves Hideout. As directed, Qiao Yifan took the position of command, throwing out Boundaries where appropriate. Where an opening was, Mo Fan got in. after clearing the first Boss Vanguard Season Wolf, the DPS chart did prove that Mo Fan listened to one person, if anyone.“Not bad,” Ye Xiu approved of this junior as well as Qiao Yifan’s proactivity. “Carry on.”The first mini-BOSS was surprising, the second long, the third and fourth ridiculously cruel, and the last of them all nearly caused Wei Chen to spit blood because he had missed the signs.“A Summoner?!” He had started yelling. “Fuck!”With the memory of this particular dungeon, Qiao Yifan had minimal problems directing it, even if he had to pretend that certain traps did not exist, such as Brother Wolf’s flare-gun, Tactician Frigid Eagle and Vice-Chief Brown Bear sharing aggro, Chief Sealed Tiger’s Enrage skills... An hour and a half later, the First Clear and several Orange weapons and equipment was in Guild Happy’s hands.The system announcement, and the corresponding advertising of Guild Happy, made the club guilds sit up and their eyeballs pop. The Three Great Guilds were in varying modes of doubt regarding whether to ask for a pro to help out, except that first, the guilds had no such power; second, it was only five AM and the pro-players were ot awake yet. When that time came, there would no longer be a five-player dungeon around...No matter their unwillingness to have Happy splash its name all over the First Clears, this time they could only watch as the TV kept flashing Guild Happy’s name and hold in all the curses in their stomachs.Wei Chen’s expression only grew more comical with every dungeon – WTF Old Ye what kind of dog-shit luck why would such a promising seed come to your broken-down team.Ye Xiu could only laugh – haha see this kid I dug out of Tiny Herb he’s so consistently surprising and his grasp of the overall picture is so good and so hard-working an ideal junior this is the future of the team! Not that it’s guaranteed yet...On Qiao Yifan’s direction and suggestion, Team Happy cleared all the ten-player dungeons in a single breath before splitting up to do the five-player ones. By the time they were done it was eight AM but no one was tired. Qiao Yifan sat back in his chair, hiding a yawn and checking the clock. Breakfast... sounded good...“Good job, Little Qiao. I knew you could do it! Take ten!” Ye Xiu cackled, opening up QQ for the pro-player group.
Lord Grim: Don’t you guys have anything on?
Troubling Rain: 我去我去我去! Don’t you know about today’s update? Anything, nothing, how could there be nothing on?!
Lord Grim: The First Clears and First Kills of all the five-player and ten-player dungeons were claimed by Happy. What do you guys have to be busy about? It can’t be levelling up, yeah?
Troubling Rain: …
Swoksaar: …
Immovable Rock: …
Vaccaria: …
Crying Devil: …...
Windy Rain: …
Cloud Piercer: …ah.
Lord Grim: Anyone who wants to do a 20-player dungeon, press 1!!!
Troubling Rain: 凸( ` ﾛ ´ )凸
One Autumn Leaf: F*ck, what the hell do you mean by that!
Lord Grim: …
Sh*t, I really can’t get used to this name speaking to me.
How come Excellent Era’s people are still in here?
Shouldn’t relegated people get kicked out? Wasn’t that a rule here?
One Autumn Leaf: F*ck, you just added that, didn’t you?!
Lord Grim: Yep! So, if you keep spewing bullshit, I’ll kick you! Anyone up for a 20-player dungeon? Press 1!!!!!!
Vaccaria: 1
Lord Grim: Just you, or your whole team?
Vaccaria: Entire team.
Lord Grim: Good! Each side has 10 players.
Vaccaria: Which dungeon do you want to run?
Lord Grim: Barrier Mountains!
Vaccaria: Rebel Army Vanguard Camp?
Lord Grim: I think that’s the one
Vaccaria: Contact me in game.
Lord Grim: OK.
Crying Devil: ...wait wait! 1!!!!
Lord Grim: ...We got 20 people already.
Crying Devil: 靠！
“Twenty-player dungeon! Set out!” Ye Xiu announced after closing QQ.Wei Chen glared. “Not enough people.”“We’re going to run it together with Team Tiny Herb.”Qiao Yifan, who was always cautious and never overstepped the boundaries, dropped his mouse. “Ah...?!”“I’ll be directing, you... help Mo Fan.” Ye Xiu was not quite up to giving Mo Fan nicknames just yet.Ye Xiu had glossed over the implications behind Team Tiny Herb’s cooperation, just like he had never mentioned Team Void’s volunteering too.What a joke. Hiding the secret weapon was all well and good, but letting those teams dig at his walls? Haha... no.Soon afterwards, the two teams gathered together in front of the entrance to Barrier Mountain’s twenty-player dungeon – Rebel Army Vanguard Camp. “Everyone’s here?” Ye Xiu saw Tiny Herb’s characters waiting for them.On Team Tiny Herb’s side, Vaccaria stepped forward. “We’re all here,” Wang Jiexi used his camera to measure up Team Happy – especially the only Swordsman-class, One Inch Ash. Herb Garden’s list of nightmares from Guild Happy included some of these characters, but some more of the roster was new too.Ye Xiu hummed. “Before we begin, how will we be splitting the rewards?”“According to each other’s needs!” Wang Jiexi shot back.“By class?”“Yes.”“What if there are conflicting classes?”“Roll.”“Materials?”“Fifty-fifty.”“Alright, let’s do that then. How are we assigning roles?” Ye Xiu ignored the hubbub of admiration from Team Tiny Herb.“We can take care of tanking!”“Of course.” Team Tiny Herb now had the number one Knight ‘Grind King’ Xu Bin in the All-Star Knight Angelica. Compared to Happy’s current roster which currently favoured DPS, the choice was obvious.“Healer?” Wang Jiexi asked next.“Mm... I’ll have to trouble you guys with healing!”“What? Is there a problem with your side?”“There isn’t a problem, but in front of Team Tiny Herb’s great healer, being modest is a must!”In real life, An Wenyi coughed.Wang Jiexi chuckled as the twenty players grouped up, and then pushed Ye Xiu as group leader.“Yifan!” Kind Tree immediately picked out One Inch Ash. “How’re you?”“Yingjie... keep killing monsters.” One Inch Ash’s Tachi glowed with a rime of frost about its edge, before deploying an Ice Boundary directly behind Kind Tree.Without looking back, Kind Tree immediately destroyed the monsters. “It’s the first time we’re pioneering together!”“En. Little Mo~” Qiao Yifan called to Deception.Deception killed the monsters corralled in his direction. Somehow, the character managed to express killing intent with every strike.“...Yifan, is your teammate alright?”“He lost a bet.”“Oh...”One Inch Ash and Kind Tree led the way in burrowing a path through monsters, while Deception was directed to pick off the rare stray in their way. Boundaries lit up their path like a carpet of light, the road to glory already spreading ahead of them through the sea of chaos. The allied team reached the first BOSS and quickly established aggro to deal damage.“Melee players, be careful of your positioning! Make sure to give the others and the ranged characters space to attack!” This was something Ye Xiu had to mention, since pro-players were very much used to running in five-man teams. With twenty people attacking the same target, too, it was harder for many to attack at a time. As soon as Ye Xiu spoke, everyone began to pay more attention. The members of Team Tiny Herb became a cooperating fighting system.While dealing out damage to note Vaccaria’s strengths in the new update, Wang Jiexi kept a note on Team Happy. Tang Rou’s improvement was almost godly and her style was brave, making her stand out; the Warlock and the Launcher were obviously experienced, Wang Jiexi had reserved judgement on Steamed Bun Invasion and company, yet the last member of Team Happy left him speechless.Qiao Yifan was supposed to be the most familiar player to Wang Jiexi, aside from the Glory Textbook. Yet, Wang Jiexi found himself unable to peer into Qiao Yifan. Despite having accounted for a change in subclass, the style of a pro-player was difficult to change. Traces of Qiao Yifan’s former Assassin lingered – that Criss-Cross Sidestep to toss Boundaries right around an obstructive monster, for example – but it was like Qiao Yifan had shed one’s mortal body and swapped his bones.1Although the Ninja and Kind Tree was his most regular partners, Qiao Yifan’s One Inch Ash was always in the most appropriate position, always delivering the best help to his team, even finding the time to teach that Ninja to read the team’s flow such that the Ninja’s damage output was like fireworks – a big bang, and a long aftermath in between rounds of being set off.Like clockwork, their combined team swept through the dungeon for a first clear, and the equipment haggling was concluded with minimum fuss – as much as possible with Ye Xiu involved. Then Lord Grim gave the order to disband, and all members of Team Happy logged off, leaving a trail of First Clears and First Kills in his wake framed with curses from the world chat.It was only upon reviewing the recording made from Vaccaria that Wang Jiexi’s back straightened and his chair turned around. “Little Jie!”“C- Captain?!” Gao Yingjie jumped in his seat, still typing. “Er- I’m saying bye to Yifan, he was up all night- he logged off.”“Yes, but you were with him throughout the dungeon, yes?” Wang Jiexi said.“Yeah...”“Have you noticed something about Yifan?” Wang Jiexi did not wait for a reply, but continued: “Throughout that dungeon, no order was ever given to Yifan. Not only that, several orders were given with the implication that Yifan would be there to patch up any holes in Happy’s teamwork. This dungeon went very smoothly – pioneering should not have been so smooth.”Gao Yingjie frowned, thinking. “But... I was fighting shoulder-to-shoulder... and he was providing area support at the back of the party too... what does that mean?”“It means, that someone as powerful as Ye Qiu has already acknowledged Yifan’s ability,” Wang Jiexi explained. “This upcoming Challengers League against Excellent Era would be very interesting.”Gao Yingjie slowly nodded. “Yifan... said that I was very good in front of his teammate today.”Then he blushed.Young man, where are your priorities...?! For a moment, Wang Jiexi felt a brief stab of despair.Meanwhile, it was the dead of night. The juniors had been sent to bed in light of their training schedule, including the ever-helpful Qiao Yifan. The two senior players of Team Happy had been reviewing their own recordings of the Rebel Army Vanguard Camp dungeon.“...they should have been a team,” Ye Xiu said after a beat when his recording had stopped. “Their loss is our gain, but a pair like this could develop into a Best Pair over time.”“You think?” Wei Chen mused. “I wouldn’t call it the Curse and Sword duo, but... needs time. Time that they no longer have short of All-Stars, and that’s assuming that they’ll both reach All-Stars.”“If Fang Shiqin was still with Tiny Herb, he would’ve blasted Big-Eyed Wang over losing a potential partner for Vaccaria,” Ye Xiu frankly replied, taking clippings from the recordings of both Windward Formation to piece together in a movie maker program. “That kid Gao Yingjie is the one setting the main rhythm, but sometimes Little Qiao takes over too...”The scenes continued to piece together – a sword and broom sweeping in sync, Ghost Boundaries spiralling out in a step-by-step movement of characters in a sea of chaos, almost like a dance. Ye Xiu then pulled up Bilibili on his web browser and typed a specific string of characters, before finally picking a song and downloading an MP3 file to insert and run through the video. One Inch Ash and Kind Tree were frozen as eternal images, the ghost of a partnership never born, never having the chance to be born, left forever only as the vague what-could-be.
The past, the present, has gone and no longer comes back.
Red leaves fallen, are left to gather dust.
From beginning to end, has always, never changed.
Wherever you are, you have drifted beyond the clouds...2
1 脱胎换骨 – refers to having changed completely; a complete rebirth; to become an Immortal.
2 This is my translation of the first verse of the ballad ‘Love of a Lifetime’ from the ‘A Chinese Odyssey’ series. Here is a nice version: https://www.bilibili.com/video/av4648369?from=search&seid=14840572701449207058
----- CHAPTER BREAK -----
11. IridescenceQiao Yifan never suspected what his seniors had been pitying about, nor did they bring it up with him. Over the next few days Excellent Era started to try and pressure Happy via breaking the dungeon records that Happy had been using to farm level 75 Orange equipment. Despite having spent most of their time in the dungeon in order to train to level 75, the members of Team Happy were all acutely feeling the difference in equipment.In this competition, Excellent Era had lost in spirit, while Happy had lost in material goods. From the direct results, Happy was at a disadvantage. This required all hands on deck to resolve as an opportunity was about to arrive.Two days before Christmas, Glory announced this year’s Christmas event – stealing stockings in an Arena-style map. 50 players will do battle in a random map, with only small teams being allowed. 20 stockings will be scattered around randomly each round. Stockings are not bound to the player and can be dropped. Apart from stockings, items would randomly spawn to assist the players. There were no-cooldown potions, invisible cloaks, fast-moving sleds, small boxes for carrying stockings, and so on. The entire event would last for three days, starting from midnight on December 25. Every character could only accept a quest to snatch stockings three times every day. As a three-day event, that meant a total of nine attempts, so there was no need to rush.
As for Happy, after two days of discussion
and lots of
surveying
from players who had already gone through the event
, they finally came up with a plan.
First, Wei Chen would lead Qiao Yifan, Chen Guo, Luo Ji, and An Wenyi to form a five-player party. With Wei Chen leading and accompanied by the cautious Qiao Yifan, this team was quite formidable despite the three other players who needed protection.As for the other five, Tang Rou and Wu Chen were designated as individuals. For Mo Fan, no one ever made any arrangements for him in the first place, though Qiao Yifan had suggested that Mo Fan participate as an individual. Even if Mo Fan did not comply with Ye Xiu, one look from Qiao Yifan was enough to get a nod. Finally, Ye Xiu and Steamed Bun formed a two-player team.What was strange was that, leading up to the event, Qiao Yifan had actually spoken up: “Senior Ye... can I team up with Yingjie for one event?”Wei Chen dropped his cigarette.Steamed Bun stole the words from his mouth: “Little Qiao! Why are you consorting with the enemy?!”“I...”Ye Xiu sighed. “Long-distance relationships are difficult, Little Qiao.”“Eh- it’s not like that!” Qiao Yifan protested. “Christmas! We can’t really exchange presents...”“Did he ask you?”“Yes... he only has Wednesday off.”The event lasted for three days, starting from Wednesday and ending on Friday. After the event ended, Saturday would be the sixteenth round of the season. As a main roster player, Gao Yingjie obviously could not skip out on training, so the game was their only chance to meet.“Fine, it’s Christmas. But use an alternate!” Wei Chen cautioned. “We’ll run our team at midnight, three rounds. You get the morning.”“...” Ye Xiu finally nodded. “Get all twenty stockings and split them up between you two. We don’t have so many Ghostblades, and it’s a tough phase now.”“Erm, I can do the Assassins too.”“...right. Alright, you’ll be running extras on the Assassins then.”“Thank you, Senior Ye, Senior Wei!” Qiao Yifan smiled back and settled down at his workstation to practice.The early morning of Christmas Day, a male Witch Weeping Crow met a female Ghostblade, Inch of Longing.1“Y- Yifan?!” Gao Yingjie did a double-take. The female Ghostblade on his computer screen was wearing a False General cloth armour too, a Killing Wolf Tachi hanging from her belt.“Yeah... the previous owner sold this account... we bought it. It was... cute? it’s built more like a Sword Demon though.”“...it suits you.”“Hahaha. Did you power-level Weeping Crow?”“Yeah... we need a way to meet online, yeah?”“En... let’s go then. Senior Ye said that we were supposed to get twenty stockings each round if I’m playing with you for three rounds.”“Huh?! Don’t the stockings pop up by luck? Aren’t pro-players doing this event too?!”“You need to buck up, OK, Yingjie~?”“...”The two paired up, and immediately went to take on the quest, which teleported them to the event map, a snow-covered winter wonderland in the midst of a snowstorm.Stockings were scattered around the map randomly. In the beginning, there would only be ten stockings. The rest of the ten stockings would be placed randomly within thirty minutes, depending on the time and position of the players on the map. The system gave notifications when these stockings spawned. nce a stocking was picked up, an announcement would be made indicating who had picked it up. There was also a clear list of stockings per team that updated in real time. After all twenty stockings were picked up, the system would begin a 120-second countdown. If no change occurred during the countdown, the quest would come to an end.“We get three rounds,” Inch of Longing spoke with Qiao Yifan’s voice. “Switch to typing? It’s hard to hear.”“...I don’t mind.”“And if we get found out by forty-eight other players?”“...”
Weeping Crow: OK OK. Only three rounds, yes?
Inch of Longing: On this account, yes. One Inch Ash still has to run a team. Happy’s base can’t compare to Tiny Herb, you know, I’m technically putting my own interests ahead of the team’s interest for you here.
Weeping Crow: !!! It’s Christmas!
Inch of Longing: And on Saturday you have a match, so what’s your point? We’re poor ...( ＿ ＿)ノ｜Are you offering to keep me?
Weeping Crow: Yifan, I... I’ll be happy to...
Inch of Longing: ...Yingjie, quest.
Based on a pro-player’s hand speed, it was no trouble to type faster than one could speak. Inch of Longing and Weeping Crow ran around the map, searching. Inch of Longing picked up a stocking, but Weeping Crow found three, causing him to celebrate.
Inch of Longing: Trap. Kill!
A Flame Boundary melted the surrounding snow, causing the three players hidden in the snowdrift to struggle from the purple flames inflicting Fire-element damage. Weeping Crow tossed down a Lava Flask, turning the ground into burning lava before using Shadow Cloak.“En... this team had seven beforehand.”Qiao Yifan called up the leader-board as Weeping Crow threw Disperse Powder at them all and bound them in a Shadow Cloak. In a minute all three players had died and four more stockings were dropped.
Inch of Longing: You stand out too much. Toss down all of yours, then go find more. I’m going to watch the team who picks up all the stockings.
Weeping Crow ‘accidentally’ dropped his three stockings, and then ran off to find more. A team of three players from Void Walk came across the pile, celebrating as they picked up the stockings, never noticing the ghost in their wake.Secretly tossing a few more stockings in the wake of the marked team, Gao Yingjie quickly typed:
Weeping Crow: ...for future reference, this is a little bit despicable.
Inch of Longing: We’re poor. I’d rather not be part of a couple living in destitution.
Weeping Crow: You wouldn’t be destitute if you’d signed the extension agreement with our Team Tiny Herb!
Inch of Longing: No, I’d just be a shadow to Vaccaria. (130, 126).
It was the mantis preying on the cicada while never noticing the oriole behind it. Inch of Longing picked up two stockings, waiting as the team from Void Walk managed to accumulate sixteen. Only when Inch of Longing was parked next to one more stocking that the signal was given.Weeping Crow attacked with a Lava Flask the moment a Silence Boundary popped up. Since he was in a party with the Boundary’s caster, Weeping Crow tossed all his skills into the Boundary and killed the imprisoned Void Walk players. In the very last stretch, they instantly snatched away the fat present bag.“No one pick up that last stocking!” Someone shouted in the map’s public chat.
[System Announcement]: Player Inch of Longing has picked up the 20th stocking. If no change occurs within the next 120 seconds, the quest will end.
Weeping Crow then followed Inch of Longing in jumping into a ditch that they had discovered beforehand. The map was littered with such ditches, but in this case this ditch was deep enough to hide characters. The system-generated features of their characters were close enough to touch.When the countdown hit zero, the characters stopped receiving commands from the players and stood still. The system announced the final results.
[System Announcement]: Congratulations to Weeping Crow and Inch of Longing for achieving a grand slam in the Christmas event.
Weeping Crow: Wow! We actually did it!
Inch of Longing: Yes, we did. Let’s go get the rewards!
When Qiao Yifan clicked on the Christmas envoy next to the map exit, sure enough, a grand slam came with rewards. After clicking confirm, another system announcement flashed.
[System Announcement]: Player Inch of Longing has achieved a grand slam in the Christmas event and has been rewarded: Frozen Apocalypse.
[System Announcement]: Player Weeping Crow has achieved a grand slam in the Christmas event and has been rewarded: Apocalypse Crystal.
Frozen Apocalypse, a level 75 Orange Tachi.
Weight 2.4 kg
Durability: 24
Attack Speed: 8
Physical Attack: 750
Magic Attack: 800
Strength +25
Intelligence +55
Magic Critical Rate: +10%
Cast Speed +3
Ice Soul Protection Boundary Skill Level +3.
Boundary Effects +5%
Upon casting any Ghost Boundary, there is a 5% chance of generating a Shadow Image. This Shadow Image will not affect the cool-down of Shadow Image.
“You’ve gotten such good weapons!” Gao Yingjie immediately started a trade request and sent over a Level 75 Orange ring.“Y- Yingjie?!”“You need equipment, right?! This one’s perfect for Ghostblades! I’ll use my new equip to replace it...”“Oh... I’ll treasure it...”Happy and Herb Garden made waves as Weeping Crow and Inch of Longing swept the rankings again and again. They might not have achieved a second grand slam at the end, but Arisaema still sat straight in his chair as he kept watching them collect stockings and rise through the first day’s leader-boards.Arisaema sighed; was it too late to tell the other guild leaders that this was just one of their pro-players on an online date?The last event map was at a frozen lakeside. Weeping Crow was able to attack while flying, courtesy of his subclass. Inch of Longing, though, easily skated as if born on the ice.“When did you practice on ice maps, Yifan?!” Gao Yingjie admired.“I had a sudden inspiration about maps.” Qiao Yifan manipulated Inch of Longing to do a rotating jump, throwing out a Ghost Slash behind her to their pursuers. The grab skill pinned the Berserker to the ground, becoming an obstacle to the rest of the pursuers. “How to move easier in maps, for example. Did you know that there’s a video competition hosted by the gaming company?”“Mmm.” While such things were aimed more towards normal players rather than pro-players, the hype behind Glory was always top be admired. “Wait... don’t tell me... you’re participating?”“No. The rewards aren’t useful.” Inch of Longing did another spin on the ice, graceful and deadly if the Ice Boundary that shimmered into being around her was another indication. “It’s a fun idea though.”Inch of Longing then performed a Lunge, one knee-lunge across the ice at the same time that powdered snow seemed to drift over her, giving her attacks an ice-based buff for twenty seconds. Being pro-players, it took Qiao Yifan a minute to kill the three pursuers. The system announcement flash once again, and then Inch of Longing extended a hand towards Weeping Crow.“Wanna try?”The public chat quickly flashed. More than one player had started recording to complain about this shameless Internet couple putting on public displays of affection in the middle of the event.
Greyhound: 靠! Give us single dogs a chance to live, guys!
Arisaema: !!!!!
Orange Jasmine: ...MMP.
Viktuuri: YOLO! We were born to make history!
Greyhound: Rotten!
“So, I want something round and golden in real life too,” Qiao Yifan chattered at the end of their third round before he logged off. “Yingjie, I know that you can reach it!”“Something round and golden... en! Yifan, we’ll get the championships!”“Alright! Next year, though, the champions will be Team Happy!”“En... Yifan. This winter transfer window... won’t you consider it?”“I have team responsibilities, Yingjie. And... if I transfer now, future contracts...” Qiao Yifan sighed into his headphones. “Anyway... I’m still being benched for the match the day after tomorrow – Challenger League. After this I’ll be on stage!”“I’ll watch you,” Gao Yingjie promised.“You’re busy with your own matches... make time for yourself too, alright?”“En. Yifan... Merry Christmas.”“Merry Christmas, Yingjie~!”When Qiao Yifan logged out of Inch of Longing, Wei Chen smirked at him from across their practice room. “Little Qiao, you get along real well with that Tiny Herb boy, right?”“Huh? En, Yingjie is a good friend,” Qiao Yifan quickly replied.“OK. Your ‘good friend’ is cheating on you,” Wei Chen seemed to take some sadistic glee at Qiao Yifan’s expression. “It’s all over the Glory forums – ‘Glory’s own LiangZhu’ is now Herb Garden’s Weeping Crow and Guild Happy’s Inch of Longing. Congratulations!”Qiao Yifan: ...
1 一寸相思 – from the same poem as One Inch Ash’s name.
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12. ChatoyancyOn December 27, Happy cleared their Christmas quests in the morning. That night, they beat Team Crack, and assured their entry into the offline tournament of the Challenger League. After that, they lined up to turn in their stockings and receive presents. The rewards from the leaderboard placings were even more exciting; high-quality Orange equipment, given out according to each character’s class. With this event, Happy’s equipment had all seen great improvement for their upcoming campaign.Of course, directly after, Team Happy’s regular partner Lou Guanning contacted them. As the captain and boss of Team Heavenly Swords, their contact stemmed all the way back to Lord Grim’s first entry into the Heavenly Domain and got a foundation during the time when the five guilds formed an alliance to hunt wild BOSSES. What was more unexpected was the entire Team Happy being invited by Lou Guanning to attend All-Stars.“Sure sure sure, thanks!” Ye Xiu was not too polite, because he knew that this type of invitation was trivial for Lou Guanning. Too much politeness might seem like he was treating the other as an outsider rather than a friend. Immediately afterwards, he told everyone in Happy about this.Wei Chen, Mo Fan, Wu Chen did not quite care. Tang Rou would have joined them, but since Chen Guo wanted to go, Tang Rou was dragged along. Luo Ji resided in T City, so it depended on his schedule. An Wenyi had finals imminent and needed to study.This left Qiao Yifan on the fence. On one hand, he had seen the big stage before, and had also participated in the All-Stars Rookie Challenge. A fun event like All-Stars did not give him much desire to attend – even after taking the helm of Team Happy and becoming the number one Phantom Demon, All-Stars was more an obligation mixed with perhaps some games. On the other hand... Yingjie is in the All-Stars this year.Qiao Yifan refused. There was no point going now, was there?His QQ beeped.
Kind Tree: Yifan, are you attending All-Stars?
Flowing Cloud: Brother Qiao! Are you coming to All-Stars?! Please come! We can PK!
Crying Devil: Little Demon, are you coming to All-Stars?! Let’s have a rematch! I’ll even use my true account!
…Qiao Yifan quickly answered the last message:
One Inch Ash: Senior Li, a new Phantom Demon taking on an All-Star account seems like a foregone conclusion. I’m taking inventory now, can’t go, sorry.
Crying Devil: Little Qiao, you’re not being nice anymore. You got time to skate with Gao Yingjie but no time to spar with me?! (；′⌒`)
One Inch Ash: Senior, I have to go now, bye.
Firing off variations of the same message to refuse, Qiao Yifan then told the seniors of his decision to stay and take inventory.“Little Qiao... you’re such a good lad,” Wei Chen sniffed. “Old Ye doesn’t deserve you.”“Er, Senior... you don’t have to cry, you’re staying to take inventory too. We need to organise our materials to build a database of materials, right?”“...”“Senior Wei, you should organise everything you know about materials as well. We still have so much silver equipment to research!” Qiao Yifan smiled, and got back to his work. They would start building Happy’s database up from this day forth.“I really can’t believe that we’re starting to get there...!” Wei Chen whispered before he jumped up and began yelling. “Organise materials! Organise materials!”About to embark on their trip to the airport, Ye Xiu almost looked back. “Little Qiao, what fit is Old Wei throwing?”“Senior Wei is organising a database of materials, Senior. I’ll help where I can.”“En... if Little Qiao is here that’s a relief.” Ye Xiu threw a longing look back to his own computer station but was dragged away by Chen Guo.It should be, Qiao Yifan thought. He had been helping out since the level 80 update coming in three years, and sometimes it felt like he could eat, sleep and breathe the database contents. Last time it was only the seniors doing this. He could not know how much one more person could help, but Qiao Yifan believed in doing his best for the team, including the seniors who had given so much.Ye Xiu and co came back with a helping hand from Sun Zheping. Even though he could only provide a limited amount of help for them, for Happy, they did not always need him to be there. A helping hand at the crucial moment could turn situations around.“Little Qiao, did I offend your friend?”“Yingjie? No?”Ye Xiu blinked slowly. “Then... did he fall out with Li Xuan?”“Not... that I know of?” One was a captain, and the other a future captain. No matter how Qiao Yifan considered it, there was no reason for Gao Yingjie to pick a fight with Li Xuan – it was completely out of character.Having now clarified and come to a conclusion, Ye Xiu then nodded. “Show me the database?”“Sure, Senior!”After All-Stars was the Spring Festival events, and on that Qiao Yifan went home to visit his parents. All in all, the bulk of his life was still in Glory, so introducing himself as a pro-player made minimal impact. His nights were spent on clearing the Spring event quests and helping the seniors to extract firewood from under Excellent Era’s cauldron to delay their advancements in equipment research.The Myriad Manifestations Umbrella reached Level 65 on February 8. At the same time, Happy’s development on other Silver Equipment became shelved. More and more pro-players were infiltrating the game, and thus Happy’s priority had now changed – from gaining materials, to pulling pro-players in as training partners.February 21, Glory, Heavenly Domain – Setting Sun Waterfall. Guild Royal Heritage had started to hunt the wild BOSS Hidden Warrior Alyan.“Tian Sen,” Ye Xiu had quickly summed up.“He’s doing the opposite...” Qiao Yifan checked the calendar. “Today’s a match day!”“He’s taking advantage of the fact that most pros would be focusing on match day to hunt BOSSES,” Ye Xiu answered. “Team Royal Style is currently twelfth place. Reaching play-offs at this point would require a miracle. Only teams with low goals can do this.”Qiao Yifan thought he heard a touch of wistful pity in his voice then.During the early days in the Alliance, Tian Sen’s Peaceful Hermit under the retired Guo Mingyu had been as famous as the Battle God and the King of Fighting. The champions of the Alliance’s first season had been born out of the match between Excellent Era and Royal Style. From that day forth, Team Royal Style was a team that stood at the top of the Alliance. However, after that, they trudged downwards. Times really had changed for Team Royal Style, to the point that the God-level account Peaceful Hermit was already in danger of being swept from All-Stars in Tian Sen’s generation.In Qiao Yifan’s time, Team Void had gained the title of the number one Exorcist for Gai Caijie already. The cost, though, was that Team Happy gained the absolute title of number one Ghostblade once Li Xuan and Wu Yuce retired, and no other Ghostblade player could compete with Qiao Yifan. The shallow honour did not quite affect the way of things – such was the Glory pro scene.So passes the glorious things in the world.Tian Sen was now being interrupted by Happy by the enchanting Setting Sun Waterfall, date spot turned battlefield.“It’s already 7:42. Little Tian, you’re still not going to head over? Don’t you have a match to play soon?” Ye Xiu, who was controlling Lord Grim, commented to the opposing Exorcist.“I’m going to attend the match,” the other replied. “I only need 14 minutes!”“What if there’s traffic?”“It’s at our home stadium!”“What if the elevator breaks down? From what I remember, the Royal Style building is pretty old. Do you guys frequently perform maintenance checks?”“.....”Looking at the BOSS, it was clear that only one more strike was needed to finish it off. It was impossible for the BOSS’s aggro to switch over to another target at this point. Yet, Happy had protected the BOSS to focus attacking Tian Sen’s Exorcist, delaying to inconvenience Royal Heritage. Happy and Royal Heritage were now in a deadlock on the banks of the waterfall.“It’s 7:44!” Ye Xiu was playing the alarm clock now, putting pressure on Tian Sen.Tian Sen’s Exorcist suddenly leaped up. The Scythe in his hands made three slashes, red trailing in its wake. The three Anti-Tank Missiles fired by Lord Grim were sliced apart. Tian Sen’s Exorcist flew out of the smoke, directly towards Lord Grim.Above them, a purple light burst out.A cold light flashed. Soft Mist’s spear arrived with a Circle Swing. The scythe swung again, knocking Soft Mist’s spear aside before deflecting another Circle Swing from Lord Grim. As Tian Sen was just about to reach Lord Grim, Lord Grim moved to the side, and the BOSS Hidden Warrior Alyan punched out with a Qi Master’s Sky Piercing Strike at the Exorcist.The Exorcist opened his hands and a paper talisman flew out. Right when the talisman was thrown out, Steamed Bun Invasion used an Inject Poison from his place beside Lord Grim. Before the talisman’s skill could be released, thousands of holes punctured through it, interrupting the skill.When the Sky Piercing Strike hit, Tian Sen’s Exorcist was blown away. Another part of the battle had passed, but Tian Sen’s character kept looking up.Ghost Slash!Due to the skill originating from mid-air, Tian Sen’s Exorcist was blown into the ground.“How treacherous. To think you hid a talisman... it’s 7:45.” Ye Xiu had not let off his self-bestowed duty as an alarm clock.“...”Tian Sen’s Exorcist finally stopped moving – a sign of a forced logout in combat. An online character under no one’s control was bound to be trampled over by others. Right now, it was still the target of the Boss’ aggro; Hidden Warrior Alyan continued to charge at Tian Sen’s Exorcist. It was then that the members of Guild Royal Heritage suddenly moved, throwing out every possible attack skill they could at Hidden Warrior Alyan, killing the BOSS.Despite having lost a BOSS, no one at Happy’s side seemed disappointed. Lord Grim had even turned his back on Guild Royal Heritage to lecture: “Little Qiao, good catch on that talisman.”“En.”“We are a team, we should understand the situation on the field in its entirety, without any blind spots, using the support we have from one another. On this point, we don’t do well enough; we rely too much on Little Qiao. We need to keep an eye of our teammate’s blind spots at any given moment and fill in these blanks for them, allowing us, as a whole, to achieve a state where we have no blind spots.”Silence from Royal Heritage.“Okay, Tian Sen has logged off,” Lord Grim only turned his view upon saying this, casually taking a glance at the Royal Heritage players, still excited over their kill. “No pro players would be on at this time, so let’s end today’s training here! Little Qiao, you’re going to hone your ability to read the match.”“Yes!”Continuing education is very important (*￣3￣)╭.Barrier Mountains. Level 75 BOSS, the Nightwalker BOSS Shadow Tactician Shaan had re-spawned. Until now, not a single guild had a systematic way to defeat the boss; it was all completely done by pouring out blood and tears.This time, Shaan had re-spawned on Forest Peak, and the Three great Guilds had already moved out to intercept it, led by their pro-players. Lu Hanwen vs Gao Yingjie, Huang Shaotian vs Wang Jiexi, and Zhang Jiale with Lin Jingyan... Most of the guild elites forgot why they had come; they only wanted to be the audience to this performance.In the ensuing fight, no one quite noticed when a small team snuck into the battlefield.“Comrade Mo Fan.” It was the first time that Ye Xiu had proactively communicate with Mo Fan before a battle. “I have a serious task for you this time. If any of us happen to drop our equipment, you must snatch back our dropped equipment no matter what happens.”“...” Mo Fan still did not show a response, though Ye Xiu’s words struck an alarm bell to the others.“Wealth and glory goes to those who takes risks! Comrades, forward!” Ye Xiu mobilised his troops.Qiao Yifan merely followed in Soft Mist’s wake, ready to cast a Ghost Boundary at any moment. Everyone in Team Happy came out one after the other, creating an uproar amongst the three guilds’ normal players“Lord Grim is here!”Howls echoed as if wolves had come. People were constantly shouting and typing. The Gods fighting each other also noticed them. When Lin Jingyan heard the cries from the players, he couldn’t help but glance over.“How about we ally together to crush that guy first?” Zhang Jiale suddenly proposed.The proposal failed, Huang Shaotian and Wang Jiexi started to fight each other, their juniors following their footsteps, and chaos everywhere.During this short period of time, while the Gods were in-fighting, Happy approached. Artillery fire boomed. Summoned creatures charged forward chaotically. Happy had been honed for a long time already, until that they were no longer three-legged cats when they went into battle. Their very origins even gave them a sharp, professional edge for chaotic all-out brawls, especially for this type of unmanned initiation with the purpose of causing chaos. As a result, this wave of sharp coordination crashed against scattered sand.Qiao Yifan had just sent out a Ghost Slash to interrupt Zhang Jiale’s Spitfire from combo-ing Soft Mist to death when someone called out to him.“Yifan!”“Your friend?” Lu Hanwen saw Gao Yingjie’s Witch look over there and even give a shout, so he asked. Gao Yingjie’s reply was sharp. “Yeah!” Gao Yingjie replied.“Is he strong?”“Uh...”“I’ll go see for myself.” Lu Hanwen suddenly said and then Triple Slashed towards One Inch Ash.“Ah!” Gao Yingjie was startled. For a moment, he had forgotten that Qiao Yifan was no longer part of Team Tiny Herb. His Witch immediately jumped onto his broom and flew over.Lu Hanwen had rushed until he could see the character, and his Blade Master then skidded to a stop. “No way, you?!”One Inch Ash swung his sword and activated an Ice Boundary in front of him, creating a protective zone. “Little Lu, you’re a bit far from your team-mates.”Gao Yingjie’s Witch caught up and rushed down from above, sending Lu Hanwen’s Blade Master into a stumble. One Inch Ash moved through the Ice Boundary, clearly unaffected, and followed up with a Moonlight Slash-Full Moon Slash-Ghost Slash combo to knock Lu Hanwen’s Blade Master far, far away.“To think we would fight side by side in this type of situation,” Gao Yingjie smiled at the screen.Before Qiao Yifan could answer, Gao Yingjie’s character was lifted up from behind and then thrown. He was unable to Quick Recover – it was a grab.Lord Grim threw Gao Yingjie’s Witch away. “You guys are enemies! Take this seriously!”One Inch Ash waved in the direction the Witch had been thrown, and then continued to clean up the scene.“Nice Phantom Demon!” A voice from above called out as another Witch flew by – this time, not Gao Yingjie.“Thank you,” One Inch Ash’s blade glowed. As Wang Jiexi’s Witch dodged the Brick that Steamed Bun was swinging at him, his screen turned black. The Witch had walked into a Dark Boundary...“Steamed Bun, Tyrannical Chain Punch!”Steamed Bun Invasion jumped in as the Plague Boundary descended. The Witch retaliated, Lava Flask burning the ground for a beat before the fractals of ice crystals froze over the burning lava as the elements of Fire and Ice cut each other off in a hiss of steam. At random, a Swordsman skill would be tossed in between the punches – Ghost Claw, Sword Draw, Collapsing Mountain, an encyclopedia of Boundaries...Wang Jiexi tossed a Disperse Powder as soon as he could, before hearing Qiao Yifan say: “Reinforced Iron Bones, keep going. Senior Wei, Hexagram Prison here to keep Senior Wang occupied!”The Hexagram Prison arrived at the same time that all sounds were muted out – a Silence Boundary had been placed right as the Dark Boundary ended. A Brick descended once more, inflicting a Dizzy effect as Steamed Bun continued to throw out attacks.Even Lin Jingyan had to pause to stare. “This... did Fang Rui switch classes?” The former Criminal Duo of Team Wind Howl might specialise in ganging up on single opponents, but Lin Jingyan was at heart a rather nice guy who had some tricks up his sleeves. In contrast, Fang Rui’s style was playing dirty, dirty, and dirty.Huang Shaotian completely ignored Steamed Bun Invasion, directly charging towards Wei Chen’s Windward Formation to pin him down.“Damn! Protect me!” Wei Chen quickly ran away, his actions honed with long practice.“You have nowhere to run!” Lu Hanwen appeared to cut off Wei Chen, returned after Qiao Yifan’s One Inch Ash had knocked him flying.Wei Chen still had no reservations about fleeing before his mother team’s newest recruit...Support in that section coming in the form of Little Cold Hands and their two Launchers, Qiao Yifan kept an eye out to toss a Ghost Slash at a departing Brawler. Lin Jingyan made his character leap forward and roll onwards to its feet to continue towards the BOSS. A few footsteps later, though, a tombstone descended from above right onto his head, stunning his Brawler.He was not alone – all around the field, tombstones began to rain down. The Ghostblade AOE skill Death’s Tombstone had started. Charging forward through the hail of tombstones was Soft Mist, her route winding past their Cleric to receive a heal before moving forward to face Lin Jingyan’s Brawler.Dragon Breaks the Ranks!Soft Mist charged forward, pinning Lin Jingyan in a haze of a level 65 skill’s release. As she cancelled the skill, the Brawler flew off of her spear right as Qiao Yifan put up another Boundary – Ice Boundary, which froze the Witch and Brawler.“Little Qiao... I think you might have trapped them two far...” Ye Xiu still had the time to languidly shoot questions, occupied with Zhang Jiale’s Hundred Blossoms style as he was. As he spoke, the Five Guild Alliance had finally arrived. From the east came another group – Blossom Valley’s players. From the west came Misty Castle, from the south Samsara, from the north... oh, it was Excellent Dynasty! The strangeness of the situation continued and the two sides’ guilds had already started fighting to the point of no return.The BOSS was still strolling around over there!“Old Lin! Did you go to the chat to get more people?!” Zhang Jiale was rather frazzled with Lord Grim’s harassment.“Stuck.” As Lin Jingyan spoke, another Hexagram Prison trapped Wang Jiexi’s Witch and his Brawler in with two more of Happy’s close-combat characters, supervised by a surprisingly sticky Ghostblade. “The BOSS! Get the BOSS!”Herb Garden had charged ahead, already receiving their orders. Gao Yingjie’s Witch had obviously gone to support the guild too. The situation had suddenly become extremely dangerous.“Oi! Old Ye! The BOSS is going to be taken away!” Zhang Jiale yelled to Ye Xiu.“He he.” The chuckle was the only reply he received, before he ate a Dragon Tooth.Team Happy’s goals were simple and direct. They didn’t care about the wild BOSS at all, so Herb Garden was none of their business. On the other hand, the other pro-players were perfect targets for their harassment. The pro-players were vexed, but did not wish to waste time, beginning to avoid Happy. Team Happy? They did not like this. We came to get battle experience, so if you keeping dodging about and running away, then we can’t use this to our advantage!Already Ye Xiu was jogging over as the Hexagram Prison dissolved. Both their enemies lay limp on the ground – despite the nine seconds of Hexagram Prison’s normal maximum duration, the logout escape had been their only resort in such a situation. The characters were quickly killed and the equipment looted, before Team Happy directed their attentions to the other pros.The harassment continued until Herb Garden had somehow managed to lead the BOSS around and smash it into other guilds, their aggro established enough that the other guilds could only hold back their tears to retreat.“Okay okay, let’s all leave,” Ye Xiu called to his people.“Are we not fighting anymore?” Tang Rou pouted.“Yes, let’s end things here for today!” Ye Xiu refuted. “Everyone is probably exhausted, right?”Hearing Ye Xiu’s words, everyone came back to their senses. Only then did they realise, that this battle really had been exhausting! In this chaotic free-for-all, all they did was fight and fight, until they had lost track of everything but survival. They had been tense, unable to relax, inputting a continuous stream of high-intensity mechanics and burnt themselves out.“Sticking two pros into your ally’s Hexagram Prison...” Wei Chen leant over to pat Qiao Yifan on the head again. “Was that a ghost just now, Little Qiao?”Qiao Yifan nodded, almost shy.“You even trapped Old Lin!” Ye Xiu agreed. “Good job!”“Thank you, Senior Ye, Senior Wei.”“Everyone should do some hand exercises before going to bed,” Ye Xiu ordered the others, who were all logging off and preparing to rest.
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13. Rayleigh scatteringSometime in March, Gao Yingjie messaged his friend once more.
Kind Tree: Yifan~! ━((*′д｀)爻(′д｀*))━!!!! Why does your team keep harassing pro-players?!
One Inch Ash: Training.
Kind Tree: …
One Inch Ash: Being able to spar with a pro-player is valuable, you know.
Kind Tree: (￣﹏￣；)
“Senior Liu, if we’re all being used as training partners, what would Captain say?”Liu Xiaobie sat up straighter. “Huh?”“I just found Yifan on QQ,” Gao Yingjie smiled, “and he said that Happy is using the BOSS hunts to find training partners.”“...” A low moan issued from Liu Xiaobie’s lips. “Find the real person to PK!”“The Captain won’t let me go to Hangzhou alone.”“Fuck, you’re really going to Hangzhou?!” Liu Xiaobie immediately messaged the captain, who was currently out on a meeting with the Pro Alliance chairman.Upon conclusion of the meeting, Wang Jiexi checked his smartphone and sighed.“Something up, Captain Wang?” Li Xuan asked him.“...my junior is trying to go to Hangzhou alone to see his friend.”“Oh? Which friend?”“Qiao Yifan.”“That little Ghostblade in Team Happy is friends with Vaccaria’s future controller? Not bad.” Li Xuan paused. “...my condolences.”“Should you not be consoling yourself?” Wang Jiexi’s reply cut to the bone. “Void Walk is hard hit by this too. Were you not interested in Qiao Yifan yet?”“Not for now,” Li Xuan agreed easily. Of course not now – the duo Ghostblades were at their peak. There was no need to scout a replacement yet. “That technique, though.”“...”“...you didn’t get it out from Little Qiao?” Li Xuan let out a chuckle. “Really? God Ye must be laughing right now. You let such a promising Ghostblade run to the Challenger League?!”“...Team Tiny Herb does not need to make much rearrangement this season.”“Oh, it’s on.” Li Xuan snorted. “We just have to wait until after the kid gets back into the Alliance then.”“...Xiao Shiqin is with Excellent Era.” Wang Jiexi softly replied. “That possibility... is remote.”Since Happy was causing trouble, the various teams viewed them as thorns in their sides. The harassment caused by Team Happy almost translated to an explosive increase in mistakes in February’s pro matches. After Chairman Feng Xianjun convened a meeting with the top ten teams of the Glory Pro Alliance, a proposal from Team Blue Rain’s Captain Yu Wenzhou was put into practice, giving Happy a regular rotation of partners.Previously, Happy had trained every other day. Seeing this happy occasion, though, they could not bring themselves to give it up. They would just need to train a bit harder! Not only was this a unique way of refining skills and accumulating experience, this allowed an opportunity to better understand future opponents!This kind of first-hand fighting experience was very rare. The only reason why Happy’s future training camps would not do this regularly, was because pro teams needed to answer to the Pro Alliance bureaucracy.This arrangement of picking a special team to delay Happy until the wild BOSS of the hour was killed went on for many days. All the clubs felt conflicted; they hoped that Happy would finally retreat, but they also afraid that Ye Qiu would think up some new evil idea. The status quo thus persisted through March and April.During this time, Soft Mist’s new Silver weapon Dancing Fire Flowing Flame had its blueprint finalised, and Qiao Yifan’s Tachi Snow Stripe was already created at level 75, only waiting for a lunatic weapons researcher to come along. 24 pieces of Silver equipment was created alongside it, and more were on their way.Team Happy would have to report on the weekend of April 19 and 20. April 21 would be the start of the offline tournament. The last two weeks before the offline matches passed by in a flash. During these two weeks, Happy did not create any new equipment. Luo Ji and An Wenyi made arrangements for their schooling. Qiao Yifan even stopped his own directing of the Alliance’s troops, something which greatly relieved Ye Xiu as the junior knew his own limits.In this time, though, One Inch Ash had already gotten in touch with Combat Form. The pair got along fine, though not even Qiu Fei could guess at the depths of Qiao Yifan’s strengths. Those strengths only came out in a team competition, after all.On April 19, trees by the roadsides bloomed, spring and pollen scattered in the capital city.Sun Zheping met with the team in real life at last, expressing his speechlessness at Ye Xiu’s dog-shit luck in pulling a future Li Xuan with lots of teasing. Even after knowing that Qiao Yifan was being tutored in strategy, his retort was along the lines of: “Old Ye, are you using a child labourer? The kid’s not even eighteen yet!”Ye Xiu’s retort only induced speechlessness: “The kid has ambition and drive, Old Sun.”“Don’t worry, Little Qiao!” Wei Chen grinned. “This senior will help you!”“No need, Senior Wei! I’m willing to do this,” Qiao Yifan was smiling. “I’m already excited to be able to help the seniors wherever I can, Senior Wei can tell me if you need help.”Ye Xiu patted Qiao Yifan’s shoulder, saying: “Little Qiao, no need to care about him, let him do his own thing.”“Damn you, Ye Xiu!”By the sidelines, Tang Rou whispered to An Wenyi: “I always think that Little Qiao is a bit M...”“...” An Wenyi fixed his glasses. “No... I think he’s only M to certain people.”“Who’s from M City?” Steamed Bun cut in, dragging Luo Ji. “Isn’t he from T City?”“Why am I being dragged into this!!!” Luo Ji cried out.“......” Mo Fan lowered his head to pull up Baidu on his own phone to look up the meaning of M, and then rolled his eyes to the ceiling.Team Happy had been thrown to Group B. With Team Mysterious Fantasy and Team Happy in the same group, it had been widely considered the Death Group. In order to discover problems, Ye Xiu had emphasised to Qiao Yifan: “You have to tone down your support!”Blink. Blink.“...you get three Boundaries. Use it well.”Going up into the team competition, Qiao Yifan had taken command very quickly. The three Boundaries had been employed soon enough, and Team Trader was crushed. It was as if their team’s strategy had been laid bare, a flat wave to be forded through with a keel and the wind behind their sails.Ride the wind, meet the waves, raise the sail, bravely move on...“Good match.” Ye Xiu’s smile took on an edge. “I’ve identified a few problems, we’ll go through them after your rest.”The problem was nothing new; consistency. Steamed Bun was a personality issue, Tang Rou was too explosive, Luo Ji was still rather weak, An Wenyi slower than expected, Wei Chen was old. The most consistent of them was really Qiao Yifan, whose One Inch Ash had been directing most of the match as a support character. Even if they won this match, Qiao Yifan had been the most exhausted after Wei Chen.The next day, the team worked as a whole – even Mo Fan had been dragged into the team’s problem. Everyone needed to understand each other's characteristics – strengths and weaknesses, preferences, etc. Ye Xiu directly took out every individual’s problem and discussed it with the entire team. Morning was for analysis of their problems; afternoons for training.In this, Qiao Yifan still stood out – even though he had done nothing but support throughout his entire match, his grasp of the overall situation simply made his assistance extremely timely. His understanding of his team-mates was already fairly complete, but Ye Xiu had some doubts about the team’s current position.The next day, Ye Xiu had already put together information on their next opponents, and they began making preparations. In the next matches, Team Happy crushed their opponents – Cloud-Viewing Pavilion and Mysterious Fantasy, killing their way out into the semi-finals.Eight teams were left, the winner to be filtered out over three rounds.The following matches would continue in a knockout-style best of one game. The map would be decided by the hosting party, all made by the Glory game company specially for the following games. With a match every week, the champions would be decided in three weeks.As for the competitive format, it would go by an entirely new format. The new format not only removed the individual competition, it lengthened the group arena from three-on-three to five-on-five. The scoring system would be the all-new headcount scoring system.Team Happy had finished off their first competitor easily, but the second round was going to be a bit more complicated; Team Jade Dynasty, also called ‘Revival King’. On the morning after Team Happy’s first match, Qiao Yifan had been dragged with the three ancient Gods to watch Team Jade Dynasty while the rest were parked before their computers.“Senior, shouldn’t I go practice-”“Little Qiao, this is your practice.”The four of them were thus parked before the hotel’s Internet café’s computer, watching Jade Dynasty’s team competition. This match ended with Jade Dynasty winning the team competition.“What do you think?” Ye Xiu spoke at last.“What's going on?” Chen Guo had walked up to them to ask.“Oh, we're studying Jade Dynasty,” Ye Xiu quickly explained. “Little Qiao, explain to our lady boss.”“Is there a problem with Jade Dynasty?” A vein throbbed in Chen Guo’s temple. “And why is Little Qiao explaining to me?! You’re the senior here, act like it!”Qiao Yifan looked down. “Lady boss... I’m supposed to expand my tactical repertoire...”“No, no, Little Qiao, you’ve done nothing wrong, it’s this horrible man...” Chen Guo sighed. “I’ll listen!”“Jade Dynasty's performance has been mediocre over the whole Challenger League,” Qiao Yifan started after a brief pause, “but being able to maintain that mediocrity also shows terrifying consistency. It means that they have the ability to win their matches in a more dominant manner, yet they only play at this level.”“Why is that?” Chen Guo pondered over it. Despite having humoured this junior before, she was honestly interested in the reply.“Maybe it's because they're intentionally showing that they're weak, or maybe it's because it's a way to control their rhythm...” Qiao Yifan drew a long breath. “The seniors all agree that there’s a chance that Jade Dynasty has new characters.”“Yu Wenzhou agrees too,” Ye Xiu had pulled up his QQ to chat.Wei Chen asked: “Should we get a second opinion? That Zhang Xinjie?”“Him? You can’t take a second away from his daily routine. We can’t count on him replying!”“Isn’t there another Master Tactician?” Sun Zheping asked.“Xiao Shiqin?” Ye Xiu clarified.“Maybe.”Ye Xiu shot a scathing look to Sun Zheping. “Do you know what team he’s on?”“Which team?”“Excellent Era!”“...oh.”“Do you not read news about transfers?”“Never.”“...”“Anyway, better not to ask that one, he might try to confuse us,” Wei Chen shamelessly painted Xiao Shiqin as shamelessly as he thought the other was.Sun Zheping nodded. “Right. People who play with tactics all have dirty hearts.”“Yes yes, all of them are shameless,” Wei Chen added oil to the fire. “You’re going to dye our Little Qiao’s conscience black at this rate, Shameless Ye.”“Haha,” Ye Xiu gave a dry laugh. “Little Qiao, what d’you think?”“Team Jade Dynasty might not be hiding anything in terms of their play-style,” Qiao Yifan shrugged, waving a sheaf of papers with all the information so far. “What they've hidden is the strength of their characters. Yet, the online Guild Jade Dynasty is a bystander in the BOSS hunts, so they have some sort of financial backing. Yet...” he trailed off.“Yet how does a team in the Challenger League get sponsorship, that is the question,” Ye Xiu agreed. “Little Qiao comes from Tiny Herb, you know how these things work, eh?”Qiao Yifan nodded slowly. “Lady boss, extra sponsorship depends on getting the final victory in the Challenger League. But... they could have switched owners?”“Why bother thinking about it so much?” Sun Zheping dismissed. “Even if we can't see through them, we just have to prepare for them well. When the time comes, we just have to beat them.”Friday, 8 PM, the offline tournament stadium. For the first time, the Team Happy fan-club began a small riot, but it would not be the last... in the audience behind their player seats, was a huge banner: Team Happy! Certain Victory!!!“God Ye!” The tenth server’s officers yelled, waving in greeting. “Oh oh, it's Steamed Bun! That fool!”“Haha!” Steamed Bun slung an arm around Qiao Yifan. His other arm dragged Luo Ji along like a prize-fighter. “Remember One Inch Bro and Little Brother Concealed Light, yeah?! Watch us mess these guys up!”“1v5, you dare!” Happy’s fan-club yelled back.“...” Qiao Yifan and Luo Ji shared looks of commiseration.“Concealed Light Bro! One Inch Bro!” Some more members of the fan-club hollered.Luo Ji had been a part of Guild Happy for a long time already, and in the eyes of rookies and noobs he was an expert amongst experts.In the case of Qiao Yifan though, the guild members regarded him as an existence second only to Lord Grim. Twice a week, this brother would descend from the Heavenly Domain and lead Guild Happy to fight back against the other guilds who tried to bully them. Before the offline tournament had started, One Inch Ash had even messaged the other guild leaders. Some implied threats may have been made. The officers were taking notes to settle the score after autumn.1Qiao Yifan then started as Steamed Bun went for the barricades. “Wait! Steamed Bun Bro! Don’t climb over the barricade!!!”During this time, the mysterious sponsor had apparently appeared to exchange words with Ye Xiu. The team captain had a strange look on his face as Team Happy returned to their resting area.“He bought the team that he supported,” Ye Xiu sighed.“It is love,” Qiao Yifan smiled. “Don’t you think so, Senior? It is just another form of love for Glory. But... it is not much help to the outcome of the match.”“...you’re right.” Ye Xiu conceded. “Let’s go, the match is starting.”In the arena portion, the first one up was Steamed Bun. He had managed to finish off the leading Blade Master who was also captain of Team Jade Dynasty, but at minimal health.Steamed Bun shook his head as he went down from the stage. “I only had that much health left. They didn't even give me some steamed buns to recover!”He actually seemed a bit angry at his quick loss in the second round.Qiao Yifan: (￣_￣|||)Group arena matches at the professional level usually consisted of a two-player up-and-down. What this meant was: one player, after defeating their first opponent, also took their second opponent to half health; if assuming a 1v2, after defeating their second opponent, they had little health left while facing the third and fell quickly. This was already considered a rarely-seen success in the arena.Everyone on Happy's side laughed. No one went over to console him though because everyone knew there was no need to. Sure enough, five seconds later Steamed Bun tried to climb over the railings to sit with the fan-club, though the security guards stopped him.Qiao Yifan stood up; he was the next after Steamed Bun.“Ready?” Ye Xiu asked him as he passed.“Yes.”“You can do it,” Ye Xiu assured. “Fundamentals.”“Yes!”Although both players were Ghostblades, on paper One Inch Ash would probably lose out to the current opponent, Jade Dynasty’s Anxious Ghost. This was because One Inch Ash was a pure Phantom Demon, which fared worse in 1v1 as compared to the other’s hybrid Phantom-Sword build. Furthermore, One Inch Ash currently only had two pieces of Silver equipment as compared to Anxious Ghost’s seven pieces.In terms of player skill, though, the situation was quite the opposite. Qiao Yifan’s previous background in Team Tiny Herb put his fundamentals far above that of Team Jade Dynasty. Even leaving out ten future years of experience in the Glory circuit somehow migrated across time, just the wholehearted guidance from a God of Ye Xiu’s station and his own intuition, awareness and knowledge of the Ghostblade sub-class put Qiao Yifan comfortably at a fighting position against the other.If you believe that what you love will be the key to your salvation, then you will be reborn as many times as you like. Qiao Yifan had changed his own class for Team Happy before, and choosing a second time had only reinforced his decision.
1 秋后算账 – ‘leaving the accounts to after autumn’, basically, to defer settling scores until later.
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14. AsterismThe map they were on was an ancient town. Under the fading light of the setting sun, the shadows and light lengthened, almost as if evil spirits hid within these shadows. As the fight began, Anxious Ghost raised his sword to rush over. Qiao Yifan chose to take a different path instead.He stopped under an overhang for a beat, his Tachi hitting the ground.“This...” the commentator chose not to comment on that move. In the player stands, though, Wei Chen sat up and squinted at the screen before starting to cackle.The odd move aside, Qiao Yifan chose to ambush at a corner away from Anxious Ghost, watching, waiting...As Anxious Ghost made for Happy’s spawn point, One Inch Ash leapt out to attack. Years of the fundamentals made his timing far more accurate than a rookie of his stature should be, and the strike hit, briefly stunning Anxious Ghost. One Inch Ash turned around to run, turning into an alleyway, his shadow stretched out behind him as One Inch Ash huddled behind the wall and cast a Sword Boundary to prepare an ambush.When Anxious Ghost charged over, he immediately saw this and sped up to give chase. As expected, the other Ghostblade did not walk along the wall in pursuit, but used an extra two steps to send himself into a rather large pathing curve around the corner. This way, he could gain some distance and guard against an ambush. One Inch Ash's Tachi still swung up, a Moonlight Slash sent at Anxious Ghost.Outside of the players’ booths, the commentator was about to comment on a seemingly simple mistake when the Moonlight Slash hit its target. After Moonlight Slash was a Full Moonlight Slash – the very same combo that Anxious Ghost had just used in pursuit, except that Qiao Yifan followed up with a Ghost Slash, grabbing at Anxious Ghost. Like a cannonball, the other Ghostblade flew head-first into the mud.The Jade Dynasty player Quick-Recovered into a diving forward roll. As he rolled, he turned to send out a Sword Draw as he got up. Yet, the sword struck air – One Inch Ash had chosen to keep his distance. The power of Phantom Ghosts emanated from the Tachi; two consecutive Boundaries were cast. The Ghostblade was trapped.Outside, the crowd watching the broadcast and the crowd watching the bird’s eye view in the stadium were in an uproar as the commentator explained: “Happy's One Inch Ash has laid his fourth Ghost Boundary now. Jade Dynasty's Anxious Ghost can’t seem to break out.”Of course not, Wei Chen sighed. High walls on three sides, and Little Qiao blocking the only exit?“Sword Draw! Oh, Anxious Ghost dodged it. Anxious Ghost keeps moving forward, but that's a wall over there! He bumped into the wall... oh, it's the Seed of Darkness, or the Dark Boundary, as it's more commonly known.”This caused a ripple of laughter amongst the crowd.“Sorry, there's too many interwoven Ghost Boundaries... when did One Inch Ash lay it down? Anyway, Anxious Ghost stepped into the Dark Boundary, and he couldn't see under its blinding effects, so he ended up walking into a wall... Dark Boundary's effects have worn off, Anxious Ghost turns… Wow, he’s frozen now, an Ice Boundary…”Indeed, Anxious Ghost had become an ice-cube, vulnerable to One Inch Ash hacking at him as if the Tachi was an ice-pick and One Inch Ash a bloodthirsty sommelier.“One Inch Ash has the absolute advantage here. To be honest, I want to just announce his victory now, but the happenings from before taught me a lesson, so let's finish watching the match first.” In the last match, the commentator had announced the popular verdict too early and ended up eating his words. One bitten, twice shy – Team Happy was a team that was always surprising people.“Anxious Ghost has been trapped there by One Inch Ash, unable to escape.” The scene flashed past, and the commentator spoke in surprise next:“Oh, One Inch Ash has quickened his pace, sending out all his Ghost Boundaries. With One Inch Ash sending out all these Boundaries, does he want… Ghost Feast!”The commentator leapt to his feet.“One Inch Ash has activated Ghost Feast, making all the Ghost Boundaries erupt, immediately taking the rest of Anxious Ghost's health with them. One Inch Ash won! A beautiful victory!”Alone in the player booth, Qiao Yifan shook his hands in a fan-shaped motion. There had been minimal need to use the map too much – this was an exercise of the fundamentals. The senior had emphasised that. The Ghost in Broad Daylight and associated techniques was to be reserved against Xiao Shiqin.“Between Old Wei, Old Sun, me and you, the others wouldn’t be able to come onto stage,” was Ye Xiu’s assessment. “So, this time you’ll be exercising the fundamentals. Cautiously.”“What... if I fail?”“Why else d’you think this senior is behind you?” Wei Chen had scolded then. “If you don’t get at least a 1v2, don’t come back.”Next was a Berserker – ID Severed Yearning. One Inch Ash had consumed lots of mana, but he had only lost twenty percent health in the previous round.Berserker... Qiao Yifan manipulated One Inch Ash to cautiously probe for opportunities.One opening, thirty percent chance... pass.Fifty-six percent... pass.
Are you a fisherman? ...oh. You’ve finally got impatient.
“Our Little Qiao is very good at positioning,” Ye Xiu commented to the opposite side’s boss as on screen, One Inch Ash wove in and out of the map’s alleys like a fish in water. Behind One Inch Ash was Jade Dynasty’s Berserker. A few minutes later, Jade Dynasty’s player finally cracked and typed in the open chat.
Severed Yearning: Are you planning on running around until you recover all your mana?
At Happy's benches, Ye Xiu actually went over to ask Chen Guo: “Did Yifan bring recovery equipment into the game?”Chen Guo glared at him. “Do you think everyone thinks like you do?”“I feel like, with Little Qiao’s skill, bringing an extra set is quite reasonable!” Wei Chen gave an enthusiastic thumbs-up.Chen Guo fumed. “Do you really think Yifan’s as shameless and unscrupulous as you guys?”Ye Xiu demurred: “Little Qiao is just rather cautious.”“He's probably overestimating these Jade Dynasty players,” Wei Chen followed along.“We also figured that Jade Dynasty was hiding their strength,” Ye Xiu bantered on.“Yes, that’s right,” Wei Chen concluded. “If not for that, he would definitely have brought another set of equipment.”“He definitely would have,” Ye Xiu agreed, completing the banter.“You two, fuck off!!” Chen Guo yelled, turning back to the screen with a huff.On screen, One Inch Ash was still running around, but the audience and even the commentator were full of praise, obviously due to Qiao Yifan’s performance in the last match-up.“One Inch Ash has managed to sneak behind Severed Yearning once more! Will he grasp the opportunity this time?!” The commentator shouted. “He's approached, but this position doesn't seem very appropriate for a Ghostblade's ambush-”Right under an overhang, One Inch Ash used a Blade Master low-level Lunge.“Jade Dynasty's player noticed, and has turned around- Collapsing Mountain! It looks like he was waiting for One Inch Ash to strike!”Lunge was followed with a Guard, but the Collapsing Mountain hit without a follow-up.“This...” the commentator blinked. “It seems like... Severed Yearning got his Greatsword stuck... in the ground...”“He even had the time to dig a hole for the next player!” Wei Chen cackled. “Now that is a classic example of trapping your seniors! This senior is proud to take such a student!”With the Berserker trying to pull his sword out, One Inch Ash’s Tachi glowed, rime scattered across its blade before it hit the ground. The Ice Boundary descended in a shower of crystals, freezing Severed Yearning as One Inch Ash contributed with some basic attacks and skills. As the Ice Boundary descended, a Dark Boundary followed, and the CC chain of attacks continued.“It seems like our contestant Qiao Yifan isn’t limited to just Boundaries as a Phantom Demon,” the commentator found his voice at last. “It is quite easy to forget that a Phantom Demon is a Swordsman too. We should all remember this Ghostblade player, Qiao Yifan, and his incredible foresight.”Full Moon Slash!Severed Yearning was smacked into another alcove where he was trapped in Ghost Boundaries once more. The audience clapped and cheered, deepening the wound for Team Jade Dynasty.“Qiao Yifan has done it yet again, an amazing performance. However, this sort of play-style consumes a lot of mana, so it seems that this time he won't be able to wipe out his opponent,” the commentator started to analyse. “That's perfectly fine though – being able to expend all your mana in the Group arena means you've truly done everything you can...!”Commentator and audience had gasped at the same sight; the Berserker almost breaking out.“Severed Yearning almost charged out of One Inch Ash's encirclement. Though Jade Dynasty's player fell into a trap, it seems like he hasn’t given up yet,” the commentator finally spared a few words for the other side. “Uh... Qiao Yifan's control seems to be too spread out this time!”Severed Yearning could still find some opportunity to try and break away. Compared to the previous player’s helplessness, this Jade Dynasty player was hardly losing so badly.“I think... Qiao Yifan is controlling his rhythm on purpose, to not completely deplete his mana so quickly,” the commentator assessed with a sigh of pity. “However, this leaves room for his opponent to struggle. In a situation where he has such an advantage, why doesn't Qiao Yifan just use up the rest of his mana to maximize his damage? I doubt anyone would be disappointed in him if he eventually lost the match.”Just as his words fell, the two on the field began their first-ever head-on exchange.“Dark Boundary! This Dark Boundary was very timely, otherwise One Inch Ash might not last against this barrage. I hope Qiao Yifan can take advantage of this opportunity and regain control over the situation...”Yet Qiao Yifan didn't accomplish what the commentator had hoped for, continuing to stubbornly keep his slow rhythm.“Jade Dynasty’s player is getting more and more confident as he fights, his status is at its peak,” The commentator shifted to comment on the other side. “Blood Sword, Destruction Slash, brilliant! Soul-Devouring Crimson Grip- missed. If that grab hit, it would have changed the situation completely. Qiao Yifan is struggling to endure. The tables are turning. Qiao Yifan didn't utilise his Ghost Boundaries to their fullest, so One Inch Ash lost a lot of health as well, with only ten percent remaining. What he is about to face is an even fiercer offense from his opponent because Blood Awakening has now been activated...”“Wait, it's been activated...” There was a beat of silence as if a realisation had dawned, and then the commentator yelled: “It’s coming!!”With this announcement, Ghost Boundaries began to unfurl themselves all over the place, and Severed Yearning’s health dropped with every petal of the Boundary flower.“It's enough!” The commentator suddenly roared. With this announcement, the Ghost Boundaries erupted, and Severed Yearning’s life was carried away by the ghosts of the land with the remnants of One Inch Ash’s mana.In the player booth, Qiao Yifan tutted as he looked at One Inch Ash’s bars. Ten percent health and nearly out of mana... there had been worse situations where he had won, but all those situations were contingent on being able to use Demolition-style. It was too wasteful against this Spellblade.Qiao Yifan moved One Inch Ash to head straight for the opponent.
Down amongst Happy’s benches, Ye Xiu sighed as One Inch Ash was taken down, and Qiao Yifan came out to thunderous applause.
“
Old Wei, you’re up next. You can’t do worse than your junior!”
A scoff was the reply that he got: “Che!”“How does a 1v2 feel?” Ye Xiu asked as Qiao Yifan, blushing with his head down, came into the player area.“Pretty good.” Qiao Yifan scratched his head, smiling.“Watch us next,” Ye Xiu nodded. “Team competition, go get ready.”“Little Qiao, you played good,” Wei Chen nodded fiercely, having just finished another cigarette.“Ehehehe... Senior Wei will be better.” Qiao Yifan nodded.“Of course!” Wei Chen swaggered out to beat down the remaining Jade Dynasty players.Chen Guo shook her head. “Yifan, you don’t have to be so nice to that guy.”Ye Xiu shot an amused look to Qiao Yifan. “Little Qiao, in what way do you think Old Wei would be better?”“...Senior Wei... has thicker skin...”This drew a laugh from Ye Xiu. “Later, you tell him that yourself.”On the screen, the chat window flashed:
Windward Formation: If I can’t finish off two players when a junior has already dug a hole for you, then I deserve to retire! Come, this senior give you three minutes to find me, or surrender!
The team competition came at last, and the players from Team Happy came up after Jade Dynasty’s roster.Leading in front was Ye Xiu. As someone who remained unsurpassed in the Glory scene, his status was not just limited to Team Happy.Behind him was Sun Zheping.From the boos from the crowd, it wasn't hard to guess who was next – Wei Chen, grinning at the crowd.After the boos, the crowd started to clap, because up next was a player who had won through solid fundamentals in today's Group arena – Qiao Yifan. He had similar accomplishments in the Group arena like Wei Chen, but the treatment towards him was the complete opposite.“Little Qiao, I told you, you’re not playing dirty enough,” Wei Chen turned to Qiao Yifan right there. “You dug a hole right on stage and everyone is still cheering for you.”“I’m sorry, Senior Wei. Senior Ye told me to practice the fundamentals on them.”“Practice...” Wei Chen suddenly burst out in laughter. “OK, you win. But you were the one digging a hole into the map!”“I was testing a hypothesis with Luo Ji,” Qiao Yifan demurred.“A... surprise?” Wei Chen’s smile turned more sinister. “For Xiao Shiqin?”“I’ll tell Senior after the match, Brother Luo is still doing a few more calculations.”After Qiao Yifan was Tang Rou, who received a lot of attention.After Tang Rou was Happy's Cleric, An Wenyi. When An Wenyi appeared on stage, the atmosphere in the stadium clearly became a bit colder. An Wenyi paid no mind to them, just like he paid no mind to the psychological warfare attempted by the other side’s Cleric.“Don’t worry, Brother An,” Qiao Yifan assured. “He’ll be the first one out.”Indeed, Lord Grim later fished the Cleric out and One Inch Ash delayed the rest of Team Jade Dynasty as Happy slew the Cleric. Jade Dynasty thus met its end and Team Happy was about to face Team Excellent Era. It was with this mentality in mind that two solemn-faced rookies presented the seniors with a proposal in the online Arena later that night.
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15. Diamond DustThat night, an important council was held. It consisted of a video-conference with Luo Ji and Qiao Yifan, presenting their findings to the seniors.“...” Wei Chen blinked at the screen. “...damn. We can win like this?”“I concede that Xiao Shiqin would never have thought about...” Ye Xiu waved at the picture of complete destruction pulled up on the online Arena map. “...demolishing the map.”Indeed, the Moon-Viewing Forest map, a new map just released this year, had now been swept aside by a landslide, the original village map now buried in piles of rubble. The cause of this destruction was Luo Ji’s Summoner Concealed Light – the one admitted to have the worst mechanics of all of Happy’s players.“The cost as things are right now, is too high to implement this style,” Luo Ji shook his head to his screen from his dormitory room, having returned to his university after the Jade Dynasty match. “I worked with Yifan to calculate the weak points of the map in today’s match, when Steamed Bun was up. That’s all I can do for now...”“No, it is my fault for not letting you on stage,” Ye Xiu smiled towards Luo Ji’s picture on QQ. “To implement it on the Group arena stage, on a random map...”“Yifan will have to go on stage first if we want to renovate the map to one of our choosing,” Wei Chen concluded at last. “Against Sun Xiang he won’t be able to fight.”“The original line-up assumes that Sun Xiang will be fighting first,” Ye Xiu agreed. “I thought about arranging Tang Rou, Mo Fan and you up, Old Wei. But... the other side has Xiao Shiqin. Little Qiao reminded me, just because Excellent Era is arrogant doesn’t mean that they’ve completely lost their brains.”“Just because they have the ability to make a 1v5 doesn’t mean that Xiao Shiqin would dare to field Sun Xiang first up against Old Ye,” Sun Zheping agreed. “What if you came out first and crushed him right there?”Wei Chen pored over Excellent Era’s current roster. “The current roster... Sun Xiang, Xiao Shiqin, Qiu Fei, Wang Ze, Shen Jian, Zhang Jiaxing-”“Throw out Zhang Jiaxing, he’s a Cleric,” Ye Xiu shot out.Wei Chen dutifully made a note on the list. “...who else?”“Su Mucheng... senior?” Qiao Yifan asked.The suggestion was like a bomb to the three men; they all flinched. “This... surely not?!” The cigarette fell out from Wei Chen’s mouth.“...”“Shameless Ye, say something!” Wei Chen shouted.“...” Ye Xiu frowned. “If it was only Xiao Shiqin, he might not. But Excellent Era is not Thunderclap; it is not composed of just Xiao Shiqin.”It was a pressing issue – and one that did not allow them time to think.“Xiao Shiqin... if he takes to the group arena, that might be hard,” Ye Xiu rummaged in his pockets for another cigarette as he dusted the ashes into an ashtray. “We can however be assured, that Mucheng will not be appearing in the team competition.”The other two elder Gods snorted; it was stating the obvious. Why would Excellent Era’s other players trust their characters to Su Mucheng and her undisguised hatred for Excellent Era’s current state?“Not only is there Sun Xiang, there is also Xiao Shiqin... the rest of Excellent Era is there, but these two characters are the ones who steal our attention, especially Sun Xiang...” In his contemplation, there was some trace of wistfulness in Ye Xiu’s manner.“Little Qiao, let’s train your tactical skill for a bit.”“Yes, Senior.”“What do you think of Sun Xiang?”“...” Qiao Yifan’s eyes darted around.“As an opponent, not as a senior,” Ye Xiu rephrased his question. “You’re respectful to your seniors and nice to juniors off the stage, yes.”Ye Xiu emphasised ‘off the stage’. On the stage, Ye Xiu’s assessment of Qiao Yifan against any senior pro was ‘fast, accurate, and ruthless’. Then again, this was the kid who managed to entrap the current premier Phantom Demon on his first match... when the latter was playing a Sword Demon, but that knowledge was there.“...The combination of Senior Sun Xiang and One Autumn Leaf is not something that anyone except the seniors can fight head-on,” Qiao Yifan quietly admitted. “As a team... er...”“As a team player he’s not there yet, but it hasn’t stopped Excellent Era from steam-rolling lesser teams,” Ye Xiu agreed when Qiao Yifan looked down. “Good enough. Now, assess Xiao Shiqin.”Qiao Yifan inclined his head. “Senior Xiao... is a team player... but can fight on his own. He focuses on defending... most of the time. Excellent Era... needs to gain the first move with overwhelming offence.”“...” Ye Xiu decisively turned to the webcam. “Luo Ji. How long can you calculate to... destroy a map?”“...Senior. The maps on that day are randomised. Even if I could calculate, it would take too long.” Luo Ji’s answer was firm.“Mmm, noted, thanks,” Ye Xiu leant back into his chair with a wan sigh. “In terms of using maps, our Happy might not lose to Excellent Era. However... sending Sun Xiang, Xiao Shiqin or Qiu Fei up first in the group arena might be useful to drum up morale. Little Qiao.”“Senior?” Qiao Yifan turned his head from the screen.“If you were Xiao Shiqin, how would you put it?”“...I do not think that this is the situation that Senior is looking at.”“Oh?” Ye Xiu smirked. “So what is the scenario that I should put?”“If I was Xiao Shiqin with Excellent Era’s line-up, against other teams Sun Xiang would go first,” Qiao Yifan was placid. “Against a team led by Senior Ye? Senior Ye never acts according to common sense, Senior Ye is playing a character with a class never before seen in the Alliance’s history, Senior Ye once crushed Excellent Era’s main line-up with a pick-up group with Team Heavenly Swords.”“Truly, all who play tactics have dirty hearts,” Wei Chen complained. “We’re going to ruin Little Qiao...”“Old Wei you shut it, Little Qiao is talking.” Ye Xiu blew a ring of smoke.“...Excellent Era’s matches and play-style generally revolve around One Autumn Leaf, which is clear in all group arena matches in the play-offs so far,” Qiao Yifan assessed, curling his thumbs into his palms. “Our first thought would be to entrap Senior Sun Xiang, and Excellent Era knows that – they would guard against it. If they switch out, it would have to be an equally powerful character who can sweep at least two juniors in order to mess up our tempo. Senior Ye... was my logic correct?”“Logical enough,” Ye Xiu agreed. “Well, Xiao Shiqin is one of the best in Glory for a reason. So... how would you do it? Propose an arrangement.”“...” Qiao Yifan’s eyes drifted towards Wei Chen. The elder blinked.“What?” he demanded.“Senior Sun Zheping as our last stand is a good idea, and Senior Ye before him in fourth position is a good reinforcement too.” Qiao Yifan stated. “If we consider though that Seniors Xiao and Sun would be somewhere in front... I think it would relieve a lot of pressure if Senior Wei was to go at the second position, with someone before Senior Wei to … soften down the target? However, fighting in the group arena would drain Senior Wei.”“Don’t worry, Little Qiao,” Wei Chen made a ‘hmph’ sound. “This senior is more than a match for them. Plan, first.”“Sis Rou at third position would be a good match, I think,” Qiao Yifan softly murmured. “Which means that for the first position, it comes down to Steamed Bun Bro, Little Mo, or myself. I am a team player, and at this stage leaving our fates to luck is rather dangerous, so the safest option is Little Mo.”Even with hindsight telling him that Xiao Shiqin was unlikely to change the plan that was made a lifetime ago, there was the butterfly effect to consider. In Qiao Yifan’s time, this match still bore some reflection upon – if only to study Qiu Fei and Sun Xiang’s dark histories. Especially Sun Xiang’s epically dumb screw-up of letting Lord Grim heal himself and top up on mana before starting their battle.“So... let’s say if Xiao Shiqin really wants to play it safe,” Ye Xiu posed, “and went up first?”“Hmm...” Qiao Yifan gave a smile which was not a smile. “I think Senior Wei should give him the cement boot and drown him.”Wei Chen laughed, giving a big thumbs-up. “Right after my own heart!”Please let him be joking, Wei Chen said in his heart.The Challenger League finals had changed venues to the Liulisong Sports Arena in B City. Although Tao Xuan waylaid them to try and trash-talk, he overestimated Happy’s exposure to the pro Glory scene and his trick failed. Only the players from Excellent Era came to warm up in the player booths – Tao Xuan did not follow along. After taking a look at their preparation area, they went to their area on stage.Just when Happy was about to leave, though, someone in Excellent Era suddenly said: “Hey!”Everyone in Happy stopped to look back. It was Sun Xiang.“Ever since the offline tournament started, I won every match 1v5,” Sun Xiang waved his hand. “Tonight will not be an exception.”“...” Everyone in Happy ignored him and left the stage.“This kid is hopeless,” Chen Guo sighed once they were out of earshot. Sun Xiang's taunt fell short, based on previous experiences.Xiao Shiqin said nothing even as Sun Xiang fell back. After all, Sun Xiang was still captain in name, and Excellent Era’s symbol of pride. This was strategy, specifically laid out against Ye Xiu. Both teams were in quiet contemplation, even as the stadium began to darken and characters began to come to life as each of their respective players came onto stage, Excellent Era’s side ending with Sun Xiang and One Autumn Leaf.After Excellent Era was Team Happy. When the host announced their name, the stadium erupted with boos. As usual, the Alliance’s number one face-tank aggro-ed all the hate towards himself with his own and Lord Grim’s rainbow presence. Boos and laughter from Excellent Era’s fans were thrown at him. Some fans even tried to rush on stage, but were quickly stopped by security and kicked out. For such a controversial match, the organisers had made preparations towards such possible behaviour.After Ye Xiu, though, the boos towards Happy clearly lessened. At the end, when Luo Ji and An Wenyi came onto the stage, there was practically no noise – Happy’s fan-club was rather small.It was time for the final preparations before the match. The list of who would be playing in which match had been set – it could no longer be changed.“Final thoughts?” Ye Xiu asked this arena’s arranger.“...” The arranger sighed. “My stage is later. Little Mo, remember what you need to do?”Mo Fan grimaced. He made no move to face Qiao Yifan; he only stood there to think for a good while. “First guy.”“Yes,” Qiao Yifan placidly agreed. “You’re going to scavenge Excellent Era’s sweeper. However, that is not your priority. You must survive, long enough to buy time. In that alone, I believe you can do it.”“...OK.” Mo Fan nodded, and walked towards the stage.The last match, everyone had been caught unaware by Xiao Shiqin’s sudden appearance in the group arena. This time, Ye Xiu’s unorthodox decision to train Qiao Yifan in strategy had led to an even more unorthodox move; Qiao Yifan directing the group arena. However, the basic idea was the same; guard against Excellent Era without compromising the team competition.On this bit, Qiao Yifan was faced with the same conundrum from last time; a lack of able players. Team Happy’s champion roster was hardly complete at this time; Su Mucheng and Fang Rui were still in the Alliance. Ye Xiu and Wei Chen were already in play, and Sun Zheping was injured; the rest were still rookies new to competitive Glory, no matter their mechanical skill.The 3v1 arrangement of Tang Rou, Mo Fan, and Wei Chen the first time around was, on hindsight, a stable balance of explosive power and experienced trickery. What Qiao Yifan had changed was three things; the order by which the players went up, giving Mo Fan special instruction, and making sure to be the closest member of Team Happy other than Mo Fan to be seen off-stage.Xiao Shiqin blinked as the youngest member of Team Happy was talking to their player before Mo Fan went up. Last-minute instructions was understandable, but where was Ye Xiu? Why was the cunning Qiao Yifan here?At the same time, the match-up for the first round in the group arena was announced:Team Happy – Mo Fan – Ninja – DeceptionTeam Excellent Era – Xiao Shiqin – Mechanic – Life ExtinguisherInside Happy’s rest area, Ye Xiu hummed. “It really is Xiao Shiqin...”Xiao Shiqin turned his head to look at Happy and smiled, though his smile only reached his lips and not his eyes.Qiao Yifan waved at him, causing another nonplussed look.Glory’s Four Master Tacticians had their own style of playing, no matter how adaptive they tended to be as well. Needless to say, they were also very familiar with each other’s style, and tended to have counter-plans to each other’s plans.What Xiao Shiqin did not expect, though, was for Ye Xiu to shove all the planning this time to a young rookie. This senior still does not act according to common sense, he complained in his heart. Seriously, who leaves the strategy for such an important stage of the competition to a rookie?Or was this another achievement in ignorance? Xiao Shiqin had researched all of Happy’s players, including Steamed Bun Invasion. Needless to say, his conclusion matched the other Master Tacticians in regards to Steamed Bun: utterly unpredictable. Was he hoping for a similar result from Qiao Yifan? But Qiao Yifan was a pro-player in Tiny Herb; Tiny Herb’s standards were strict, and could only get stricter. Expecting something brand new from pros close to the top was like seeing a ghost in broad daylight...Ghost in Broad Daylight!The Ghost in Broad Daylight then did something even more unbelievable:“Don’t underestimate your opponent, Little Mo~!”Xiao Shiqin almost tripped, barely saving himself in time. He resisted the urge to look towards Team Happy – and their player glaring at his own team.H- How long had it been since he heard someone utter those words? Never mind that, why wasn’t Ye Xiu saying anything?! Even if the senior says nothing, Qiao Yifan was the player who respects his seniors the most out of Team Happy’s rambunctious brats, right?!Which means... Qiao Yifan was directing this match?!Xiao Shiqin had the pro-player habit of cautiously approaching the unknown. Perhaps with other rookies Xiao Shiqin might have assumed something else, but Qiao Yifan’s first and only match in Season 8’s All-Stars had been too memorable. Not only was his skill publicly acknowledged by Team Void’s duo Ghostblades, the Ghostblade technique presented in that match had been completely unprecedented in Glory history – all the pros, even Ye Xiu and Han Wenqing, had admitted it.Was there a chance that there was some trick waiting for him?When Xiao Shiqin got into his player booth, he had adjusted his mentality to face his current opponent. He was an All-Star player; he had seen all sorts of storms and waves. Some new trick would hardly drive him to his wits’ end – he just needed to be more vigilant.Deception – scrap-picker turned pro-player. The first and only match that Mo Fan had played so far showed his style quite clearly; patient, good timing, able to execute a full retreat from battle.Such a quiet style against Sun Xiang would... probably wear him down. Xiao Shiqin did not underestimate Sun Xiang, but in Xiao Shiqin’s honest assessment, Sun Xiang’s play-style did not deal well with wretchedly dirty tricks.At this, Xiao Shiqin relaxed. Alright, this junior was acting according to common principle... at least one of them were.If this went well, if they beat Happy this kid would be the first one offered a job, he decided.Had Ye Xiu heard Xiao Shiqin’s thoughts, he would have cackled: Famous last words, Little Xiao.
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16. Crown FlashThe map was Dockside Town. This Dockside Town followed the tradition of maps chosen by the Alliance, giving a well-rounded fighting environment. Fighting in the streets, indoors, underwater and so on, could can all be taken advantage of on this map. Alleys criss-crossed the land portion of the map; in a sense, it should have been called Alley Town, if not for the wooden jetties and docks leading out to the sea at the map’s edge.“OK, everyone can see that the two characters have loaded in,” The guest-star Li Yibo announced. “The one on the upper left corner of the map is Team Happy’s Mo Fan. His character is Deception.”“The one in the lower right corner is Team Excellent Era’s Xiao Shiqin. His character is Life Extinguisher, a character we are all very familiar with. Now that he's appeared again, I'm sure many of our viewer friends are feeling reminiscent,” his partner the commentator Pan Lin followed.“The difference between him and the other players on Excellent Era is that Xiao Shiqin transferred into Excellent Era after its relegation last season. From this point, we can see his determination and foresight,” Li Yibo commented.“Yeah, what he's looking at is Excellent Era's future next year.”“At this point, it should be the next half of this year,” this tut was made without malice.In Team Happy’s rest area, Wei Chen hummed. “Watching the stream, Little Qiao?”“The holograms don’t tell me information I could get from other perspectives,” Qiao Yifan agreed. “Little Mo’s strategic walking takes him towards the jetties... he’s crouching... he’s sneaking down- Senior Wei, see that?”Wei Chen smirked as he spotted the hole in the dock wall, surrounded by moss with effluence pouring from it in copious amounts. “I see.”As Life Extinguisher elected to walk around in town, Deception had already snuck his way towards the docks. Climbing down towards the wooden supports of the longest jetty around, Deception reached the end of the jetty – directly across Life Extinguisher if nobody paid attention to the z-axis.Slowly, Deception raised his Ninja Blade and began to chop at the supports at the end.“...” Pan Lin blinked. “Coach Li... he’s chopping the supports.”“...” Li Yibo swallowed. “En.”“This is very different from our previous predictions.”“Oh, look, Life Extinguisher has finally realised something is up!” Li Yibo quickly announced.Deception had made quick work of both left and right supports, but at this point he had stopped halfway though. Deception squirrelled himself back, further away from the end of the jetty. The audience’s tension grew as the two sides began to close the distance between them – with a floor in between, but still...Xiao Shiqin had to express his own confusion here. Ten minutes into the match and Mo Fan’s Deception was nowhere to be found. No matter if Deception had holed himself up, the only reason that the referee had not sent a system notification was if Mo Fan was planting traps somewhere, everywhere... either way, it was not promising if Mo Fan had chosen to riddle the whole map with Thief traps. Those remained around for the group arena as long as nobody stepped on them.The audience’s boos could not be heard in the soundproofed player booths. Even if they had, Mo Fan would hardly have cared. He had this job, and this job to do, and then he could go back to stalking Life Extinguisher to death – that was what the two-faced Ghostblade had said.Whatever the newspapers said about Qiao Yifan being the last conscience in Team Happy, Mo Fan could only roll his eyes at the ceiling. Qiao Yifan was the only fooling everyone here...Life Extinguisher stopped. He sent out an Electron Eye, right as Mo Fan’s Deception was making a chain of hand signs.Ninjutsu • Thrashing Charge!This sudden-rush technique had the effect of making Deception seem like a shadow. He charged through the beams... and crashed through the sawn-off supports to land in the ocean with a splash.Life Extinguisher was alerted. His Silver Rifle, Flashing Shadow, immediately let off two shots into the waves, but no effect was made – not even a scarlet bloom. Life Extinguisher would have shot more were it not for the creaking supports causing the jetty to sway.“Could it be...” Li Yibo’s eyes widened. “That... the jetty...”Pink petals drifted across the waves, rippling the waters where they touched. Under the supports, more petals seemed to float until something caused them to change direction and charge straight into the semi-broken supports. A giant hole penetrated one support, and a torrent of cutting petals ate through the other in a brief moment.Ninja Level 75 skill; Ninjutsu • Cherry Blossoms Shatter the Moon!The jetty buckled. Wood creaked as the rest of the beams began to give way, having already had a Ninja charge through them with a high-level skill. Unable to hold on, Life Extinguisher immediately lay on the ground to prevent himself from falling and rolling into the ocean as the farthest end of the jetty crashed into the sea.Xiao Shiqin was hardly dumb, though. He let go, and as Life Extinguisher was about to fall, a Mechanical Box activated, transforming into a set of rotors that made Life Extinguisher fly as two more things dropped.“Rotor Wings... knew it,” Wei Chen scowled. “All who play with strategy have dirty hearts.”“How is this strategy? It’s standard procedure...” Ye Xiu rolled his eyes.Attacks could not be made by the user while using Rotor Wings, but the Mechanic subclass had other options such as Air Drops. The ‘Rising Winter Melons’ hovered around Xiao Shiqin’s Life Extinguisher as he flew from the jetty towards the town, Rotor Wings folding up as he quickly landed-“When did Deception set that Spike Trap?!” Li Yibo shouted as steel spikes erupted from the ground, trapping Life Extinguisher’s foot there. The character underwent a brief stun, like all characters did when attacked. The stun continued as Life Extinguisher ate a handful of Shuriken from above, where Deception had already made a mid-air jump and threw his projectiles, also exploding the Air Drops at the same time.Level 15 Assassin skill, Air Jump – possible for all in the Nightwalker superclass to learn. How would anyone have expected it? Xiao Shiqin was equally gloomy – such a range of skills was not exactly common in the pro circles because of the large amount of skill points needed.He did not know that, while Happy was lacking in every other resource, skill points were the one thing that they were flush with.Shuriken inflicted a brief stun effect when thrown, so Life Extinguisher was stunned some more as Mo Fan closed the distance on him.Cut Throat!Deception initiated with an Assassin skill. His knife slid across Life Extinguisher's neck, and blood spurted out as a ray of cold light flew out. Xiao Shiqin was unable to move Life Extinguisher due to the Spike Trap, hence he could only unleash a normal attack with his Rifle. Mo Fan ignored it, making Deception close in with a Flame Cut.Bang!Life Extinguisher was tossing a grenade, but Xiao Shiqin’s eyes widened as Deception’s hands were already pressed in a triangular formation. This... this...!!!“Level 75 Ninja skill! Ninjutsu • Great Fire Dragon!” Pan Lin was quite moved. Compared to the pro matches where the new Level 75 ultimate skills barely showed themselves, Team Happy was definitely showing off their studies in the new skills. A low-level Grenade could not hope to stop a Level 75 skill due to the differences in priority – no matter how long the stopping animation, it did not change the fact that Xiao Shiqin would be eating this damage.Bang!The grenade exploded, sweeping Deception back as a draconic conflagration consumed Life Extinguisher, sweeping him out and rolling with the damage. Life Extinguisher fell down the newly created slope and splashed into the sea...“Could it be...”In the broadcast, Li Yibo quickly announced: “The filming director has just shown us how did Deception manage to ambush Life Extinguisher!”The broadcast stills flashed – where Life Extinguisher was clinging on the jetty, at another part of the ocean Deception’s head bobbed as he climbed up another jetty back onto land. The view from Life Extinguisher’s POV was blocked by the jetties and flotsam from the earlier destruction of property.“What marvellous placement!” Pan Lin exclaimed. “Going back to the match, Deception has just managed to recover from the explosion to run after Life Extinguisher. Let us remember that earlier, Deception had broken this jetty in order to form a slope down, and now we see why he had expended so much time and mana simply to destroy the jetty! But he’s given his opponent time to rally up!”Life Extinguisher had climbed out of the water and set up an Amplifier. All sorts of offensive gadgets that were the stock of the Mechanic sub-class were being deployed, until a pair of feet kicked at Life Extinguisher’s head and knocked the other back into the sea.Ninjutsu • Bird Fall!Deception’s hands flashed together. A series of hand signs flashed, so fast as to be a blur, and Deception slashed out. This time, the Ninja Blade split into multiple streams of water and dived down.“...Deception has trapped Life Extinguisher underwater.” Pan Lin finally said. “It looks like Player Mo Fan is very confident in his underwater skills!”Mo Fan tossed a Smoke Bomb, which imploded in the water and made a cloudy mess.“This is bullying... isn’t it?” Li Yibo said after a long time, when Mo Fan had just tossed in ninja tools after ninja tools into the water. Sure, they hit Life Extinguisher, and some of Life Extinguisher’s return shots hit too...In underwater battles, many skills’ effects were different in water, but most had the same effect; a loss of speed. Exceptions like the Launcher’s Laser Rifle existed, but Xiao Shiqin was a Mechanic. Even if he was trained in water battles and was a long-range class, his opponent was currently standing outside the water, deliberately blocking his view, and peppering him with attacks. The situation was rendered more complicated as Life Extinguisher was trapped in Hundred Streams; since the amount of air permitted to a character while underwater depended on the character’s Stamina, his escape seemed more urgent as he ran out of air and got closer to drowning.Life Extinguisher pulled his Rifle, already aiming for the one moment that Deception dived down to shoot him.Deception... and several copies of Deception... dived down to surround the water prison. Life Extinguisher thrashed against the prison’s liquid bars, which held. All the clones, sixteen clones, drew their Ninja Blades and surrounded him.All the blades stabbed as Life Extinguisher let go of the Grenade. A low-level Spitfire skill, a normal Grenade was always useful to Gunners for AOE clearance and diversions, since it had a low cool-down and cost. Life Extinguisher could not avoid all the clones, but the ones directly before Life Extinguisher were swept away with the remnants of the Smoke Bomb for the water surface, red flowers blooming in the water as well.Life Extinguisher reached out, but could not float up. Arms held around him. Deception’s clones kept pushing him down even at the cost of their own health and being shot.Ninjutsu • Neck Bind Technique!Xiao Shiqin wanted to cry. Sure, he had come up to disrupt Team Happy’s formation, but he was the one being disturbed instead! Furthermore, he was a veteran being strangled by a rookie in an environment suited to the pros – the underwater battle! Compared to a Ninja who at least had points added to Stamina as a hybrid class, Life Extinguisher was a long-range Mechanic, and not even the low-level Sharpshooter body skills learnt could escape the Neck Bind and overcome the horde of clones dragging him deeper into the water. Was a long-range fighter like him going into a stamina battle against a hybrid class? No way.Life Extinguisher’s Rifle pointed. His intention was clear. Aerial Fire! This was his only way out, otherwise Deception might really go all-out in shamelessness and drown him to death. Even as the clones bodily chucked themselves to prevent him from building up recoil, Xiao Shiqin was already completing the actions for a Gatling Gun.Behind him, the arms let go.In the player rest area, Wei Chen sighed. “Damn... why couldn’t Mo Fan hold on?”“Wait!” Qiao Yifan exclaimed as one of the Deception clones made a hand seal – the real Deception!“Player Xiao Shiqin has realised the other’s intention, and has countered with attempting a basic Aerial Fire to escape,” Pan Lin sighed. “It was a good try of Player Mo Fan, being able to utilise and even change the map to suit his plans, as well as his experience in knowing where to set a basic trap to pin down Life Extinguisher. He is up against an All-Star player; for his first match this is already very promising.”The cool-down for Hundred Streams came off right as Deception completed the series, and his blade came out once more. The cascade of water was faster in the sea, and they closed into a water prison.“What kind of hand speed is that!” Pan Lin exclaimed.“Shameless, but effective!” Li Yibo praised. “Yet it looks like Deception would run out of stamina first!This was a completely shameless style of fighting, which could be summarised as ‘I have more health and stamina than you, so let’s see who’ll last longer underwater’. Gatling Gun shot out, but escape was no longer possible. With a Gun Shake, Life Extinguisher changed targets to shoot at Deception. Five bullets landed; Deception wavered, and then popped.Xiao Shiqin cursed. Shadow Clone Technique...!The real Deception broke through the water surface. Although the Mechanic army of gadgets leapt for him immediately, it seemed pointless; Deception had plenty of air and time to escape, while Life Extinguisher’s continuous firing slowed until he stopped and began twitching mechanically.Excellent Era’s fans booed as Life Extinguisher drowned to death. Mo Fan was only slightly better; sixty percent health and eighty percent mana had been dedicated to this match, and four more opponents to go.Yet, the stadium was shaken. Excellent Era was no longer calm – most of them had worried expressions. Team Happy’s fan-club started to build up a cheer, erupting into an echo.Mo Fan might be somewhere on his last legs, but he was still standing. What had landed him in this state, had been dedicated to taking down a God.Glory!“We drowned him!!!” Wei Chen crowed. “We drowned him, Little Qiao! Just like you said, we drowned Xiao Shiqin!”“We did, Senior!” Qiao Yifan laughed. “Little Mo succeeded!”Ye Xiu sighed. “Xiao Shiqin must be off his game today, huh. Now if only the rest of Excellent Era was that easy to drown...”
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17. Parhelion“Fuck.”The swear word came from within the stands. Those three from Tiny Herb who had snuck out to watch the Challenger League finals were few and far between – Gao Yingjie was here to support Qiao Yifan, Liu Xiaobie tagged along, and somehow Xu Bin got dragged with them. The one who had just sworn was Tiny Herb’s new vice-captain Xu Bin, current controller of the Knight-subclass character Angelica.“That was... not expected.” Liu Xiaobie rubbed his face. “Am I dreaming?”“A rookie just drowned Xiao Shiqin,” Gao Yingjie confirmed. “Senior Liu... you’re not dreaming.”“I... I honestly don’t know which side to root for.” Liu Xiaobie sighed. “I mean, Excellent Era is powerful, but Senior Ye Xiu... and now he’s got Qiao Yifan on his team. Qiao Yifan... wasn’t this good.”“He isn’t so good in mechanics, as compared to the rest of us,” Gao Yingjie clarified. “His overall grasp of the big picture, as well as his decision-making, was good enough to get Captain’s approval. Senior Liu, we... do you think Yifan would come back to Tiny Herb?”“...honestly? It depends.” Liu Xiaobie hummed. “But that would mean... that Excellent Era has to win, if Tiny Herb wants to offer Qiao Yifan a contract. A player that we once let go of... it’s hard to imagine that the boss would allow his return, but we can try.”“This...” Gao Yingjie subsided. His feelings were complicated; if Happy won, Qiao Yifan would have proven his ability to the world of Glory, and that would be the end of whatever meaningful coincidence they could have had as team-mates. If he lost... if he lost, then any possible return would forever be overshadowed by his past with Tiny Herb.
Yifan... I don’t know which ending I hope for. When you left... did you have an ending in mind?
Back in Excellent Era’s quarters, a red-faced Tao Xuan had just confronted Xiao Shiqin once he came down. “Are you alright?!”As the boss of Excellent Era from its climb up, Tao Xuan knew that winning and losing was common fare for soldiers, especially pro-players like Xiao Shiqin at the top of the Glory pro scene. Right now, however, they could not afford to lose, and Xiao Shiqin’s plan going awry made things awkward for Excellent Era. Even more awkward, since they could already know.“I... my plan was made to counter Ye Xiu,” Xiao Shiqin admitted. “He tossed the planning to Qiao Yifan, at least for the group arena.”“Hah?!” Sun Xiang jumped to his feet. “Little Thing, what does this mean?!”“Eh?!” Tao Xuan echoed. “The young Ghostblade discarded by Tiny Herb?”“Not discarded,” Xiao Shiqin wiped cold sweat from his brow. “He’s young, but... the directions executed by that Ninja were precise and... unexpected. They have two strategists on Happy.”All the Excellent Era players who had heard those words immediately cried out in surprise. Previously, a lot of their attention had gone to Tang Rou, who had gained that attention because she was tagged with two phrases: ‘Battle Mage’ and ‘with Ye Qiu’. Their newcomer Qiu Fei was terrifyingly talented with those two phrases; even if Excellent Era hated Ye Xiu, they had to acknowledge his eye for talent. Qiao Yifan now had one such phrase: ‘strategist working with Ye Xiu’.“Qiu Fei,” Xiao Shiqin called to the next player. “This player, Mo Fan, he is cornered. Do not let down your guard.”The stoic teenager nodded slowly.“After him, though... fight as you feel comfortable to,” Xiao Shiqin finally stated. “There’s something fishy about that slope they made by destroying the jetty – destroy it, given the chance.”“Yes, Vice-Captain.”Tao Xuan gave a benevolent smile until Qiu Fei had gone up on stage into the player booth. “Well? Vice-Captain Xiao?”“I think we’re looking at... Ye Xiu’s personal succeeding disciple?” Xiao Shiqin hazarded. “A bit of Ye Qiu... sorry, Ye Xiu’s style there too. Most of it is actually quite cautious planning, with a good assessment of our situation. Considering Team Happy’s current line-up, after the Gods, Qiao Yifan is probably the one who directs the team.”If Xiao Shiqin knew that sometimes even Wei Chen took orders from Qiao Yifan, he might swallow his glasses. To be honest, Qiao Yifan had only ended up directing because the juniors were tired of Wei Chen’s expletive-peppered words...“So what do we do?!” Tao Xuan panicked. Not even seeing Deception being beaten down by Qiu Fei’s Combat Form was a relief.“From here I can only instruct the players according to the situation,” Xiao Shiqin sighed, even as Deception’s defeat was made clear.He had been expecting for Deception to directly fight him, not for Deception to try and drown him. Granted, not even most pros would try for an underwater battle, but he was a veteran! Had Qiao Yifan planned this? Or was this another of Ye Xiu’s mind games?Xiao Shiqin peered out as Mo Fan descended the stage to boos on all sides. Most players hated scrap-pickers, so the jeering directed at him was self-righteous – they could even jeer a little about Happy. Happy’s side, in contrast, was a towel, a bottle of water, and Qiao Yifan’s smile.“How was it?” Qiao Yifan asked.“En.”“It was explosive, yes. Sometimes, though, it’s better to drag it out,” Qiao Yifan nodded. “Well, I’ll let you off from sparring practice with One Inch Ash this week.”“Umu.” Mo Fan returned to his seat without a word, or even a look at Ye Xiu choking.“Little Qiao... what’s this about sparring practice?” Ye Xiu spoke up.“I told Little Mo that if he managed to bring down the jetty, I would let him off from being controlled to death on a regular basis,” Qiao Yifan spoke with insouciance. “Of course, I would just open my Sword Demon smurf, but it would give him a more... explosive battle.”“...noted. I’ll pull a Ghostblade.” Ye Xiu nodded, closing his eyes. “What kind of motivation is that, though...”Wei Chen with his Windward Formation, heading up now, was the one with the strongest equipment in all of Happy. The fact that one of the two toughest in Excellent Era had just been thrown out and he was being thrown to face a rookie brought a great smile on his face as he entered the player booth.“Captain,” Xiao Shiqin spoke in Excellent Era’s rest area. “Get ready to go up.”“Huh?” Sun Xiang blinked.“Wei Chen might be old by current standards, but for him to be defeated by a rookie like Qiu Fei, with his style, would be extremely difficult,” Xiao Shiqin explained. “You’re up next.”Xiao Shiqin turned out to be correct; while it was hardly easy, Wei Chen still managed to win, and even give Sun Xiang some toying around before Windward Formation ended his life at the end of Evil Annihilation. Soft Mist was up after Windward Formation, which made for a long and exciting battle. One Autumn Leaf still prevailed, though not with enough health to withstand Lord Grim, who also proceeded to clean up the following Shen Jian before his mana ran out and he was forced to GG. The arena match in the end came down to the wire between Sun Zheping and Su Mucheng, with an upset when Su Mucheng openly declared her separation from Excellent Era and walked over to sit with Happy.“Don’t worry, Little Qiao, you did what you could,” Ye Xiu comforted as Sun Zheping came back to the rest area. “It’s all Old Sun’s fault.”“You were the one to press GG in the first place!” Sun Zheping snapped back. “Shameless Ye, you dare to say that again?!”“It’s all Old Sun’s fault,” Ye Xiu repeated with a straight face. “So, Little Qiao, I’m going to take command back.”“Yes, Senior Ye.” Qiao Yifan inclined his head. The outcome had not changed; they were still one point behind. However, the captain looked less stressed, more free...“Good lad.” Ye Xiu beamed, the first hint of the passion in his heart. “Let’s win this!”“Yes!”Their team: Ye Xiu, Tang Rou, Steamed Bun, An Wenyi, Qiao Yifan, Wu Chen.Set out.And won.One hour into the team competition, Team Excellent Era lost in a stunning upset when their Cleric Woven Shadow veered off-course from an Ice Boundary, giving an opening for a three-way sneak attack of Ghost Feast, Brick Buster, and Dragon Breaks the Ranks. From there, Life Extinguisher met a similar end on Lord Grim’s attentions, and the rest were cleaned up soon enough. Only One Autumn Leaf was left standing against Lord Grim and Little Cold Hands, and though Sun Xiang improved on his micro-control to create a variation of Dragon Raises its Head, how could it be effective if Lord Grim was still standing with 0.03 percent health left, and a Cleric dedicated to him?Happy is the Champion. This end had not changed.“I saw Zhang Jiaxing running from a ghost,” Sun Xiang had claimed in the press conference. “I’m getting my eyes checked tomorrow.”Team Happy had missed their own conference in a rush to celebrate their victory, hence the question of the ‘ghost’ could only be posed at the makeup conference days later.“The commentators answered that,” Ye Xiu replied slowly. “Sun Xiang saw the reflection of One Autumn Leaf in the Ice Boundary.”“Yes, but... using a Boundary as a mirror is an unprecedented move, isn’t it?” The reporter was about to cry. “Was it an accident?”“I’m not the one who placed that Boundary. Why ask me?” Ye Xiu nodded as the hubbub increased. “Our Team Happy’s Qiao Yifan is a very promising Ghostblade. I have never seen a technique of his like in the history of Glory – Li Xuan can back me up. The science of it I have to ask one of our other players, he’s got a Ph. D. I have high hopes for Qiao Yifan’s future.”The day after the conference, Gao Yingjie smiled through the reproach from Wang Jiexi about not preparing for his upcoming match.The day after the conference, Li Xuan and Wu Yuce assembled pens and notebooks to study the newly coined ‘Mirror Boundary’ move.The day after the conference, the Pro Alliance trembled as the news of the God Ye Xiu returning came in a huff of bloody winds and rain.Somewhere in the Heavenly Domain, Dancing Rain was already floating aside Lord Grim and One Inch Ash upon the upside-down Myriad Manifestations Umbrella on the surface of Weaving Silver Lake. Above her head floated the guild tag for Guild Happy.The mouth of her temporary Orange hand-cannon – as opposed to her Silver hand-cannon Devouring Sun – was pointed towards the wild BOSS Silver Lake Guardian Frederica on the shore.“...” Ye Xiu’s Lord Grim was using a regular Rifle as opposed to the Myriad Manifestations Umbrella’s gun form for the moment. “You know... up until now, I have never actually given solid thought to whether or not things can float.”“Boat,” One Inch Ash cast an Ice Boundary, which froze a perfect circle for One Inch Ash to leap onto. “Sis Mu? Fire.”Dancing rain let off a shot. The BBQ flew across the surface of the lake and hit the BOSS, who screamed.“Correct one degree left. Senior Ye?”A normal attack could not reach so far – Lord Grim deployed three Anti-Tank Missiles instead, which spread out in a triangle formation to hit the area around the BOSS. Knights in plate armour were knocked up into the air to face the BOSS’s wrath as the Lake Guardian started to turn her attention.Identical screams came from the guild troops trying to kill the BOSS: “Happy’s on the lake!!!”“Mmm,” Su Mucheng spoke through Dancing Rain. “Now it feels like our summer has started.”Happy had won, Happy was going into the Pro Alliance come September, and Happy still needed to hunt BOSSES. Carry on.
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Intermission: GloryUnder the waves of the Heavenly Domain’s sea, monsters drifted. These were ordinary monsters by the standards of the Heavenly Domain, but the new dungeon New Weir Peninsula had players confer another title to this area:‘Sea of Monsters’.The events outside of Glory made no difference to this area; or, minimal difference was made to this area. Where the curtain of light dissipated as the waters sunk into the deepest abyss of the seas, it seemed as though the halo of Glory’s sun and moon escaped it, even as the sun began to sink beyond the vault of the skies and into the horizon.Day sinking into night once more, orange gave way to blue until a verdant flash passed through. Perhaps some player spotted it; they may have considered it a bug, and some conscientious person would have lodged a comment to the company. The waves over the Sea of Monsters leapt anyway, and hardly anyone noticed as another entity joined the sea of monsters.Ratlines cut loose fluttered in the currents, and sails with holes enough to pass as sieves barely held together. Rigging creaked with every tiny movement, and upon the grand quarter-deck the ship’s wheel idly turned, a red braid tied around one particular spoke of the wheel.Groaning, the wheel stopped its idle spin. The string tugged, and the braided baluster turned until it stood at attention.The ship Thousand-Mile Journey continued to drift underwater, set onto its course.
END of Part 1