Chapter 1178: Normal Etiquette
Translator: Nomyummi Editor: Nomyummi
The battle loaded, revealing the map: Magic World.
It was a bit difficult to pin down exactly what kind of world the world of Glory was. There were firearms and cold weapons, there was magic, the Glory world truly encompassed too many things. So, in terms of maps, there was everything from magical dreamlands to a parking lot.
The map that Fang Rui chose was a strange, shifting little world crafted from magic, one of his preferred maps. Lin Jingyan would certainly know this, but Fang Rui wasn't deterred because of that. He was skilled at many maps, so even if Lin Jingyan told Tyranny everything, they wouldn't be able to guess which map Fang Rui would use for this match, and they couldn't specially prepare for every possible map. That was why choosing the map was such an advantage for the home team. Even if the opponent had some understanding of you, it would still be difficult to make any preparations.
The match began, and both characters began to move.
Song Qiying was a rookie that had never appeared onstage before. Aside from age and class, there was no information on him. Although he was only 17 years old, Fang Rui didn't dare underestimate him. After this season finished, Han Wenqing would have played for a full decade. If he still wasn't finished within two years, then some scientists should really take him apart for research.
Needless to say, Tyranny needed a new player to step up. And Song Qiying's age fit quite well. For now, he could play a few matches, gaining real experience and steadily growing up, and in two or three years he could play a big role.
Although Tyranny had made a mistake in the past, there was really no way of underestimating someone who was being raised to be a core player. After the battle opened, Fang Rui opted to lie low as he moved, strategically weaving this way and that as he moved.
On this map were countless magic lights and shadows which were unbreakable. If you touched some of them, you would take damage. Fang Rui knew the distribution of these magic lights like the back of his hand, but if a player was unfamiliar with them, then the battle would become extremely difficult.
In the three individual battles, Happy's map choices were all very distinctive. Su Mucheng chose a scenic map where the props could all be destroyed, Ye Xiu chose a simple and bare stadium map, and Fang Rui chose a magic map where nothing could be destroyed.
The carefully-moving Fang Rui neared the center of the map. He looked outwards, but he didn't find a trace of River Sunset.
Was he also strategically moving? Fang Rui found this unexpected. This was Han Wenqing's successor. Although every player had their own style, it was generally easier to transition if the successor had a similar style to the original. If possible, the team generally hoped that the familiar style of the core player could be passed down.
"Strategically moving? What a personality!" Unable to see his opponent, Fang Rui began his trash talk attack in the chat.
The message was sent, but the opponent didn't respond. The audience members exchanged looks with each other.
Because they knew, Song Qiying was not, in fact, using any strategic movements. He was heading straight toward the center of the map. He hadn't arrived yet only because his movement speed was a bit too slow.
Even with no opponent and no obstacles, Song Qiying had River Sunset move slowly, very slowly. The display screen showed Song Qiying's viewpoint, and everyone could see his camera constantly turning this way and that. But even if you were trying to defend against the opponent, you didn't need to start this early? It wasn't like the opponent could instantaneously teleport to any position on the map. For the two characters to meet, there was a minimum amount of time that would have to elapse first. But Song Qiying acted as though he were defending against something and continued to walk this slowly. After Fang Rui launched his trash talk attack, the crowd anticipated his response, but in the end, he didn't even acknowledge this message, like a stone facing the roaring ocean.
"What's up, too embarrassed to talk? The rookie's quite shy, this isn't like Team Tyranny's style at all!" Fang Rui continued.
"If there's no need, then a reply isn't necessary, it wastes time." Song Qiying suddenly sent this reply.
"Haha, then how come you just talked? Logically, your message wasn't necessary, a waste of time!" Fang Rui replied.
"No, this was my explanation of my position to you. After this, meaningless talk will be ignored as stated above," Song Qiying said.
"Oh really? Then what's considered meaningful talk?" Fang Rui asked.
No reply.
"How is this question not meaningful? If a discussion of what has meaning doesn't have meaning itself, that's just too ironic." Fang Rui was almost talking in tongue twisters, but still, no response.
"My friend, you're really quite resolute!" Fang Rui still didn't give up.
"You really won't say anything?" Fang Rui said.
"Looks like I'll have to think of a meaningful question, then!" Fang Rui said.
"Hm… Did you eat dinner yet?"
The crowd was about to die of impatience. This Fang Rui was only focusing on the trash talk, but River Sunset was already very close to his position, approaching in a roundabout way. Fang Rui had wanted to strategically maneuver around his opponent, but he was the one about to be strategically maneuvered. And he was still trash talking. Spewing this nonsense without losing control, do you think you're Huang Shaotian or something?
Straight Punch!
River Sunset finally circled around to a position with which he was satisfied. While Fang Rui was happily trash talking, he suddenly unleashed a Straight Punch. River Sunset darted forward and was at Boundless Sea's side in an instant, a fist flashing out.
But Boundless Sea seemed as though he were long prepared for this. With a roll, he easily dodged this punch, and even typed another word in the chat: Haha.
This guy!
The crowd was speechless. So Fang Rui had detected River Sunset's movements early on, but he purposely didn't do anything. He continued to use trash talk to pretend that he was distracted, luring Sunset River to take the initiative to attack.
The Straight Punch missed. Song Qiying knew that Fang Rui had noticed him before. At this moment, when the attack was already started, even a normal player would probably continue to attack and see what they could accomplish. But Song Qiying, after this one attack missed, immediately jumped backwards twice. He didn't continue to attack, instead taking a defensive stance.
"What's this, my little friend is a bit of a scaredy-cat? I didn't scare you that much, did I?" Fang Rui continued to blab in the chat, but in his heart he was a bit alarmed. He knew that Song Qiying was about to ambush him, and so he had prepared to defend against it and launch a counterattack. Once the opponent's attack missed, he would seize that chance to attack. But in the end, this Song Qiying immediately retreated after missing that one attack, completely throwing off his plans.
Was this guy really that scared, or did he see through my intention? Fang Rui couldn't help but wonder. Their two characters couldn't just maintain this three body unit distance without moving, of course. When he saw the opponent retreating, Fang Rui finally decided to attack. Boundless Sea's fist swung forward with a low-level Qi Bullet. Attack and disrupt, and then follow through.
But River Sunset didn't dodge this Qi Bullet. He sunk his stance, lifted his chest, left hand protecting his front, right hand bracing his waist, and then after he completed this pose he didn't move, as though he were a statue. Boundless Sea had already prepared a follow up to the Qi Bullet, but he saw River Sunset just take the bullet and sink into this stance.
"Fuck!" Fang Rui suddenly realized what was about to happen and he hurriedly tried to adjust, but the right fist had already swung forward.
A seemingly very ordinary fist, but Fang Rui knew what was about to happen. The attack that Boundless Sea had been preparing was shattered by this one punch, instant proof of its power. And then the punch reached Boundless Sea's chest, and with a burst of power, Boundless Sea was sent flying.
Emperor's Fist!
A punch that looked very ordinary, but hid a vast amount of power.
"You little brat!" Fang Rui was normally the one taking advantage of people, but now he was the one made a fool of. He was rather upset, but could the opponent's attack really be considered taking advantage? It was an upfront and noble punch, was there an attack any more unembellished?
In the end, this unembellished attack became the single thing that broke through Fang Rui's complex plan of attack, with his distraction, interference, preparation, follow-through, and so on.
One strong can defeat ten clever.
Realizing this, Fang Rui calmed down. He needed to carefully deal with this opponent, study his every movement.
Striker River Sunset, Qi Master Boundless Sea, these two Fighters began to brawl.
In the end, Fang Rui's skill was a step higher and he smoothly killed River Sunset. But his Boundless Sea didn't have much health remaining either, only 14%.
When the match ended, Fang Rui let out a relieved sigh, feeling a bit stiflingly hot. This match had not been won easily.
After thinking over this match in the competitor booth for a moment, Fang Rui finally prepared to leave the stage, but then he inadvertently saw Song Qiying standing right at the center of the stage, looking at him.
What's he doing? Standing in the middle of the stage, is he posing for the cameras? Fang Rui was mystified and continued to walk offstage, but suddenly he saw Song Qiying quickly making his way over.
"He's looking for me?" Fang Rui continued to wonder, stopping his footsteps and waiting. Song Qiying came over, and extended his right hand.
Fang Rui hesitantly shook his hand, and heard him say, "Thank you Senior for your teachings."
"Mm." Fang Rui didn't say anything, feeling that Song Qiying must have something else to say.
But no, that was it. After he said this, Song Qiying turned around and headed back.
Fang Rui stared after him, dumbfounded. As it happened, the judge came by to check on the competitor booth, and so Fang Rui asked him, "What's up with this kid?"
"Hm?"
"What'd he run over here for?"
"Shaking hands and giving thanks, normal etiquette for a match," the judge said lightly.
Fang Rui blinked. Indeed, it was the traditional etiquette to shake hands before and after a match. But now everyone was much more casual. Typically, they would just shake hands before a match, and shake hands after a team match, and that was it. For the individual and group rounds, they would skip on this post-match handshake, but this kid still came over to shake hands with Fang Rui.
"Did I inspire him in this match or something?" Fang Rui pondered over whether he had done any deep, significant thing in this battle. When he returned to the player area, he immediately complained to Ye Xiu. "This kid, he's nothing at all like Han Wenqing."
"Yeah," Ye Xiu nodded. "He's more like Zhang Xinjie."
Chapter 1179: A Positioning Expert
Translator: Nomyummi Editor: Nomyummi
The individual competition had finished, and Happy had unexpectedly won all three points. This was a surprising result. But after thinking about it carefully, Happy's three All-Stars had went on stage in the individual competition, so winning all three rounds wasn't too crazy. But then again, none of players Tyranny sent up for the individual competition were weak either. Lin Jingyan and Zhang Jiale were both top All-Star players.
But Lin Jingyan just ran around in a circle and then flashed before dying, while Zhang Jiale straight up suffered a crushing defeat. It was actually their new rookie Song Qiying who performed well facing the master of playing dirty, Fang Rui. In that match, it wouldn't have been a surprise if Song Qiying had won in the end.
Not earning a single point was a somewhat disheartening outcome for the Tyranny fans. They could already imagine how the media would talk about Tyranny, especially Lin Jingyan and Zhang Jiale. There would probably be a few irresponsible people that would grab at the opportunity to question if they were too old to play. Those guys would definitely ignore the fact that Ye Xiu, the person who beat Zhang Jiale, was also an old veteran.
After a short break from the individual competition, the group arena was about to begin. Because of Tang Rou's promise, the group arena was viewed with even more interest. From the ongoing discussion, this promise had attracted even more attention towards Tang Rou, but it had also damaged her image. Even just a casual remark claiming a 1v3 within five rounds was already too arrogant and egotistical, and putting her professional career on the line only made her claim even more irresponsible. Glory wasn't played alone. Tang Rou also had a team around her. Everyone could see that the team valued her quite a lot, so even many Happy fans could not agree with her reckless promise.
In any case, what's done was done. In the group arena, Tang Rou would be the first to go up. The other two would be Mo Fan and Steamed Bun.
It was an assembly of rookies. As for Team Tyranny, their first player would be the helper to the Four Heavenly Kings in the team competition, Qin Muyun, and his Sharpshooter Negative Nine Degrees. Their second player would be Bai Yanfei and his Elementalist Rota. Their final player was their one and only captain during Tyranny's ten years of history, Han Wenqing.
If Tang Rou wanted to 1v3, she would need to be beat these three opponents consecutively.
Many people didn't know what type of attitude they should be watching this match with.
If she really did complete a 1v3, it would be proof that her arrogance and ego were not unfounded. That would be truly displeasing.
If she failed to complete a 1v3 and left the pro scene, everyone would feel great, but Happy would have lost a dauntless general. Wouldn't that be bad?
This type of conflict made them feel annoyed at Tang Rou's rash act.
The match was about to begin. Even though Tyranny's failure to earn a single point in the individual competition disheartened their fans, they still cheered them on for the group arena. As for Happy? They had a huge lead, but seeing Tang Rou go on stage, the atmosphere of the crowd turned cold. The cheers for her were sparse and soft.
Chen Guo was very worried. She discovered that this event would greatly damage Tang Rou's image, even if she did succeed with a 1v3. Compared to how the crowd exploded when she completed a 1v2 in the second round, the crowd this time had become ice cold.
"Why did things have to turn out this way…" Chen Guo sighed. If she could go back to that day, she would have done everything she could to stop Tang Rou from going out to the press conference.
The countdown ticked. Five seconds later, the group arena began.
Despite receiving such criticism, Tang Rou's style hadn't changed. As soon as the match started, her character decisively charged towards the center.
Shouldn't we give her some applause? The crowd hesitated. They hesitated the entire time. On the other hand, Tyranny's fan group became more and more excited as the match progressed until they seized control of Happy's home stadium.
This time, the unwavering support from Tyranny's fans didn't disappoint. Tang Rou, with a 1v3 as her goal, lost in the very first round of the group arena.
The Tyranny fans were overjoyed. They obviously sent down merciless boos towards her. There were even many neutral spectators and a portion of Happy's fans that booed along with Tyranny's fans.
Tang Rou came down from the stage amidst the boos and returned to her seat in silence.
"This Qin Muyun needs to be studied carefully," Ye Xiu said.
"Oh?" Tang Rou looked at him.
"Keep working hard!" Ye Xiu said.
Tang Rou nodded her head.
Next up was Mo Fan. His one round suspension had been lifted; he and his Deception could come onto the stage again.
Happy's fans suddenly started livening up. Their treatment towards him was the complete opposite of their treatment towards Tang Rou. Tang Rou had originally been Happy's most popular player outside of Happy's Gods...
Chen Guo felt uncomfortable. She glanced at Tang Rou and saw her with her head up. Tang Rou's eyes were staring at the highlight replay of her fight with Qin Muyun. It wasn't until the scene shifted to the upcoming match did Tang Rou's gaze return to the stage.
Qin Muyun, who had beat Tang Rou, didn't have that much health left. His Negative Nine Degrees only had 11% health left, nearly at red blood.
Despite facing such a frail opponent, Mo Fan didn't rush over. He moved strategically as always. Qin Muyun also moved strategically. As a result, at the center of the map, neither of them directly appeared. They were all hiding, carefully observing their surroundings.
On the screen, the camera views of both players could be seen, letting the audience know which direction the two were looking at.
From Mo Fan's view, he had already locked onto the location of Qin Muyun's Negative Nine Degrees. Afterwards, he slowly started moving.
He's circling to his back...
Much of the crowd felt quite annoyed. The guy only had 11% health left, yet you still feel the need to sneak to his back? Just charge at him, bring him out, chase him, and kill him.
The opinions of the viewers clearly weren't being sent to Mo Fan's mind. Even if they were, it would be a question of whether or not he would accept their opinions.
Mo Fan was outstanding at sneaking behind someone. He quickly traversed in a circle towards Negative Nine Degrees' previous location. Yes, previous. While he was moving, Negative Nine Degrees had already moved, but Mo Fan didn't know.
It hadn't been easy for Deception to find his target, but by the time he got there, his target was nowhere to be found.
He had moved according to his predictions. In reality, he wasn't certain of his opponent's location either. Not finding his target either meant that his prediction had been wrong or his opponent had moved. Mo Fan didn't know which one was correct.
Just when he was thinking about what to do next, a sneak attack came from behind Deception.
Qin Muyun had moved away, but he hadn't gone too far. An important reason for why he picked his new spot was that he could see his previous spot.
His choice wasn't wasted. While Mo Fan was thinking that he had ran around for nothing, Mo Fan didn't know that he had already fallen into Qin Muyun's trap.
Through the scope of his gun, Deception's head was magnified extremely large!
Snipe! Headshot! Double damage. The powerful impact of the snipe pushed Deception's body askew. Negative Nine Degrees rushed out and immediately started attacking fiercely. Deception was suddenly enveloped in a rain of bullets. The Sharpshooter's attacks weren't as fierce as Launcher's, and their skills weren't as handy as Spitfire skills. In reality, most of their skills were simply normal attacks with buffs.
The number of bullets produced from Rapid-Fire, Dual Shot, Scatter-Shot, and other Sharpshooter skills were definitely the champions among other Gunner classes though.
Deception was in a tough spot. This time, Mo Fan didn't employ his favored strategy of running away and then searching for another opportunity later. Instead, he had Deception directly attempt a counterattack.
However, to counterattack, the first step had to be to break through Negative Nine Degrees' bullet rain.
Shadow Clone Technique? Smoke Bomb? Substitution Technique?
When an opportunity arrived, Mo Fan used his escape skills. However, to his surprise, he was still unable to escape. Negative Nine Degrees' attacks were always able to instantly shift to where ever he had just escaped to in pursuit.
"He's being suppressed that hard?" Fang Rui was astonished. Tyranny's old generals hadn't performed well today, but their rookies were giving a frightening show.
"His positioning is extremely good," Su Mucheng said. She was a Launcher and proficient at a support playstyle like Screen Cannon. With just one glance, she could see the key to Qin Muyun's complete suppression towards Mo Fan.
Negative Nine Degrees' position allowed him to cover all of Deception's options, including the possibilities from Deception's various Ninja skills. He wasn't just standing there either. Whenever Deception moved, he would always adjust according to the situation, maintaining his positional advantage.
"He's a positioning expert!" Ye Xiu concluded.
Positioning experts were especially suitable for playing long-ranged classes. Long-ranged classes had attacks with wider coverage. When melee classes picked spots, what they could attack was only limited to the area immediately surrounding them. When long-ranged classes picked spots, the area that they could cover was on an entirely different level. Very few players were like Ye Xiu, who picked flat maps without any obstructions. In maps with obstructions, long-ranged players with poor positioning skill would find it difficult to bring out their class's full capabilities.
Qin Muyun was this type of expert though.
After watching Tang Rou's match and this current one, Ye Xiu could completely confirm it.
"Positioning… Mo Fan is quite good at that too, no?" Chen Guo said.
"Mo Fan is an expert at picking static locations. Qin Muyun is an expert at picking spots while moving. The two are completely different," Ye Xiu said.
"Then this match…"
"If you can identify the opposing player's possible movement options, you can make accurate predictions. No matter how great you are at positioning, there will always be dead angles. Thus, after making predictions, the rest is up to reacting to the opposing player. However, Qin Muyun adjusts his position extremely fast. Trying to escape one step at a time isn't likely. In order to escape, you need to complete it one go. And when you do, you have to be careful that your choice wasn't read by him or else he'll just start suppressing you again," Ye Xiu said.
"From what you're saying, this guy sounds invincible…" Chen Guo said.
"If you have Mo Fan compete against him in positioning, then yes, he's practically invincible," Ye Xiu said.
"Then what should he do?" Chen Guo said.
"Find a way to restrict or interfere with his positioning," Ye Xiu said.
Chapter end
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