Chapter 94 – Dropping the Ball at a Crucial Moment
"Losing the group competition was unavoidable, but 301 has always looked towards victory. Their outstanding display in the group competition will lead them to the path for victory in the team competition. The most important part of this battle actually lies in the second part. Moreover, it's not about winning; it's about losing!" Ye Xiu said.
Chen Guo was dumbstruck. Normally, she already felt that the analysis by commentator and the honored guest were already amazing. However, hearing what Ye Xiu said made her feel that the commentator's and honored guest's words were nothing worth mentioning. Was the commentator and honored guest intentionally holding back their analysis to keep the suspense? Or is Ye Xiu on a higher level? Chen Guo wasn't sure, but hearing about hand speed going out of control, the team coming apart, etc. … They all felt like fantasies. This guy wasn't blabbering nonsense, right?
"Young people! They're not at that level yet." Ye Xiu shook his head and sighed.
Chen Guo stared blankly towards the match. At this moment, the Internet Cafe was deathly silent, like how they were when Excellent Era lost the second round. Everyone was sweating and nervous on behalf of the team. They weren't like Chen Guo. After hearing Ye Xiu's analysis, Chen Guo couldn't help but come to a conclusion. But these spectators still carried hope and still looked forward to Excellent Era's powerful counterattack.
Unfortunately, their hopes never came. In the middle of Pan Lin's loud shouts, Su Mucheng's Dancing Rain was the first to fall. Although they could call for the sixth player to switch in, the sixth player had to switch in a designated area. Under Scene Killer's desperate chase, Su Mucheng wasn't able to hold on until this step.
When Dancing Rain was killed off, Excellent Era's sixth player automatically entered the battlefield. He also knew that the situation wasn't looking good and hastily rushed over to rescue everyone.
Pan Lin's commentating never stopped. Seeing Excellent Era's sixth player enter the battlefield, he immediately said: "Good! Excellent Era's sixth player has entered. Yeah, the player who's come... He Ming's Merciless Magic, an Elementalist. Coach Li, do you think He Ming will be able to reverse Excellent Era's current situation?"
"Yeah, the sixth player often becomes the turning point in the team competition. However, Excellent Era weren't the ones to actively decide for a substitution. He Ming automatically entered the field. This in itself is already trouble for them. In addition, 301 has certainly prepared for this step. He Ming himself also isn't a top-tier player. His Merciless Magic isn't one either. I'm afraid that relying on him to instantly change the situation is a bit unrealistic." Li Yibo said.
"Then what do you think he should do?" Pan Lin asked.
"He first needs to coordinate with his other team members. This is crucial." Li Yibo said.
"But I feel like Excellent Era is already a bit disorganized. I can't tell if they have a clear plan on what to do." Pan Lin said.
"The crucial point is still on Sun Xiang. I feel like his individual performance has been a bit too outstanding. His sudden prominence up until now makes him feel like he's not on the same page as the rest of his team members. This also confirms my previous points. Sun Xiang just recently joined Excellent Era a few days ago. There's still the problem of breaking in!" Li Yibo unleashed another one of his great tricks: the concept of disguised replacement. By mentioning his previous point on Sun Xiang's disadvantage of breaking into One Autumn Leaf, he briefly answered the question while making him look perceptive and very professional.
No one could tell if Pan Lin knew whether he had been tricked or not. In any case, he still repeatedly praised him in a you're always right attitude.
At this moment, Chen Guo turned her head and looked at Ye Xiu in astonishment. What the professional honored guest had said was the same as what Ye Xiu analyzed. However, they were a bit different too. The honored guest had said that the team was coming apart because of the issue of breaking in, while Ye Xiu said that the reason was because it had been set up that way by their opponents.
"Good! Next up, let's see if He Ming's addition will turn the tables for Excellent Era." Pan Lin continued to commentate on the match. Chen Guo didn't ask any further. Although her idol, Su Mucheng, had already been defeated, she still had hopes for the substitute He Ming.
"Go go go!!" The spectators in the Internet Cafe all thought this to themselves, but no one yelled it out. They seemed as if they were afraid that the players on stage would hear them and be disturbed.
The only sounds remaining in the Internet Cafe were the sounds of fighting in the matches and the commentating. After He Ming entered the field, he cast magic all along the way, having learned from Su Mucheng's mistakes. And this made things very difficult for Yang Cong's Scene Killer, who needed to be up-close to assassinate. The Elementalist used everything he had to prevent Yang Cong from closing in. Keeping this sort of quick tempo all the way through, he met up with his team's players.
He Ming's display drew praise from honored guest Coach Li. Hearing it, Happy Internet Cafe's spectators all became restless again. It looked as if they saw another hope for victory and the atmosphere immediately brightened up.
Right when it seemed like He Ming's Merciless Magic was about to join forces with Excellent Era's other characters, a sudden bang rang out. The scene on the massive projection curtain disappeared along with the working sounds of every computer in the Internet Cafe. The few lights that were on also died out. The entire Internet Cafe suddenly turned pitch-dark.
A sudden clamor of noise! The just recently excited viewers instantly exploded. Screeches, whistles, etc. they were all there. Many of them were loud shouts asking: "Cafe manager!!!! What's going on?"
Amidst all of the yelling, the Internet Cafe's emergency lights lit up, and everyone was free from the darkness. Once the emergency lights lit up, some people were able to figure out the reason: a blackout.
"How'd that happen?" Chen Guo went outside the Internet Cafe to look at the streetlights. They were still brightly lit.
Some of the guests patiently waited. Some of them were loudly asking for the situation. Some even immediately got up and left.
"Little Li, go check if the circuit breaker was tripped!" Chen Guo called the Cafe manager to go look. At this moment, the second floor customers also found their way down to ask what the situation was.
Little Li quickly returned: the circuit breaker was still in a good condition. She didn't know what the problem was.
Chen Guo saw that there was nothing she herself could do to fix it and could only wait for the repairman to come. Once the customers all got the news, they immediately rushed like the tides to the reception desk in a hurry to pay their bills and leave.
"There's no electricity, how are they going to pay?" Ye Xiu was originally next to the reception desk. Because the crowd rushed forward, he was immediately squeezed onto the reception desk and had to ask Chen Guo.
"Manually, how else?" Chen Guo's situation was the same as Ye Xiu's. She was also pushed onto the reception desk.While answering Ye Xiu's question, she turned her head and roared: "Don't squeeze!! Line up one by one!!!"
A customer who was tightly pressed behind Chen Guo recognized her and felt embarrassed: "There's nothing I can do, Lady Boss. I can't move, see for yourself."
"If you take the chance to lean onto my body again, I'll kill you!!" Chen Guo threatened.
This brother was of good quality. He really wasn't doing it on purpose. After being threatened by Chen Guo, he alone had to hold back the huge army as if he were Zhang Wuji against the six major sects. He was in unspeakable pain and miserable beyond words.
Luckily, it was at the peak of the evening, the time when there were the most employees on duty. They came one after another to help the customers settle their bills and find change.
Chen Guo wanted to squeeze through the crowd to get behind the reception desk, but was unsuccessful. Looking to the side, Ye Xiu was also struggling in the crowd. With great effort, he was able to free one hand. And inside his hand was shockingly a cigarette!!!
"You're going to smoke at this time!!!" Chen Guo saw Ye Xiu deliver the cigarette into his mouth and turned furious! What was this guy.
"What else should I be doing?" Ye Xiu said. Seeing that he had no lighter in his hand, he called the little sister at the reception desk: "Come here, come here. Help this brother light a cigarette."
"Ignore him!!" Chen Guo said.
The little sister obviously listened to her boss and ignored Ye Xiu. But in the end, a caring person to the side said: "Brother, I have a lighter here."
"Thank you, thank you!!" Ye Xiu borrowed the lighter and lit his cigarette. After sucking in a mouthful, he cast a glance at Chen Guo. Chen Guo spat blood. While this beast was happily smoking, she was crammed tight until her chest was almost flat.
Luckily, order was quickly found. After forcing her way to behind the reception desk, Chen Guo let out a sigh. Wielding his employee status, Ye Xiu was also able to get behind the reception desk. He didn't do a thing and just stood there smoking.
Chen Guo had her hands full manually settling the customer bills. Seeing that this guy was still smoking there so easily and comfortably, she immediately ordered him: " Go call the repairman to come over."
"What number?" Ye Xiu asked.
"Look it up yourself." Chen Guo handed over her cellphone.
Ye Xiu took the cellphone and opened the contacts list. Starting from letter B, Repairman 1, Repairman 2, Repairman 3, Repairman 4…..
Which Repairman?" Ye Xiu asked.
"Four….." Chen Guo said.
"Boss, you're a genius." Ye Xiu worshipped. Flipping open Repairman 4, sure enough, it was the electrician's number. The other side asked for the situation, the address, and said that there just happened to be someone nearby and could conveniently come and look.
After hanging up the phone, he informed Chen Guo of the situation. Chen Guo nodded her head and didn't say anything more.
The customers were gradually sorted out. After hearing that they had called an electrician and that he was coming over, some of the addicted customers unexpectedly waited instead of leaving. However, this was just a small minority. Most of the customers quickly left. Chen Guo saw that even if the electrician came and fixed the electricity, she wouldn't know what time it would be by then. She waved her hand saying that they would get off work early today. The employees in mid-shift happily left. They definitely didn't care!
On the other hand, Ye Xiu looked quite worried. He'd even run outside from time to time to look around. Someone found their way downstairs and said: "What happened?"
"Nothing much, a power outage." Chen Guo heard the voice and knew that it was Tang Rou.
"Ah? A power outage? Can it be fixed?" Tang Rou said.
"They said that someone nearby would come. But it's been quite awhile and no signs of him yet!" Chen Guo said.
"Really? Then why isn't he here yet!" Tang Rou immediately went out the door to look and happened to come across Ye Xiu, who had just come back after looking outside. Chen Guo looked. These two reacted so similarly! They cared so much about the Internet Cafe. Chen Guo felt very warm in her heart. After looking outside and running back, Tang Rou immediately asked Ye Xiu in disappointment: "If there's no electricity, then we can't level up?"
"Right!" Ye Xiu also knitted his brows in worry: "This is a very tense moment where I need to rush to Level 25. Boss, why did this lousy Internet Cafe have to drop the ball at such a crucial moment?"
"Both of you go to your rooms and sleep!!!!" Chen Guo stamped her feet furiously.
Chapter 95 – Unexpected Guests
"I just got up. Why should I sleep?" Tang Rou said.
"I'm feeling pretty good." Ye Xiu said.
"When did you wake up?" Tang Rou asked.
"8 o'clock!"
The two chatted, each minding their own business, making Chen Guo speechless in anger. At this moment, the Internet Cafe door opened and an uncle came: "Is it you guys with no electricity?"
Ye Xiu and Tang Rou were overjoyed at the turn of events. They both welcomed him, nodding their heads and bowing: "Yeah, yeah. Uncle, you've arrived."
"What happened?" The uncle carried his toolbox and entered.
"You two take care!" Chen Guo was already done with these two. Right when she was about to go upstairs, she heard Ye Xiu yell from behind: "Boss, we have to pay right?"
When Chen Guo heard this, her feet slipped and she nearly fell to the ground headfirst. After a long time, she recovered and said slowly: "Get it from the cash box."
Ye Xiu and Tang Rou immediately became little robot servants. They followed him everywhere, waiting on the side with tea and water to serve. After the uncle electrician inspected the situation, he found the problem. But his expression didn't look good. The problem was clearly difficult to resolve, already causing the electrician to think of withdrawing.
"How is it?" Ye Xiu asked.
"It's not easy to fix. It's too late right now, I'll come back tomorrow!" The uncle said this and was about to pack up and leave.
Ye Xiu panicked. He was about to try and bribe the uncle with cigarettes, when he heard a "No way", interrupting his move. At this crucial moment, the beauty Tang Rou showed her power. She went up and pulled at the uncle, telling him soft words and asking him for help. After a few words, she broke down the uncle's defense. The uncle's IQ and EQ drastically dropped. His hands waved as if he were wiping away his drool. Carrying his toolbox, he turned around without hesitation: "Watch me!"
Ye Xiu was delighted and gave a big thumbs up towards Tang Rou. Tang Rou returned a smile. The two became professional electrician apprentices. One of them held the flashlight and the other carried the tools, while listening to the uncle explain the reason for the malfunction. They had no idea what he was saying and used "Okay. Yeah. Sure", every possible agreeing noise.
The electrician uncle was a kind and honest person. When he said that the problem was difficult to fix, it really did take a long time. In the end, he customers that had originally wanted to wait until the electricity came back all left. As time went on, Ye Xiu and Tang Rou also gradually felt a little sorry. It was already 11 o'clock. He had been fixing for two hours and no signs of the electricity coming back any time soon.
"Let's go buy some midnight snacks and rest for a bit!" Tang Rou, who had made the move to have the uncle stay, felt even more sorry. She felt that she should at least bring the uncle some midnight snacks to eat.
"Okay, I'll go." Ye Xiu nodded. He rubbed his head while asking: "Take the money from the cash box?"
Tang Rou made a sideways glance. Ye Xiu quietly nodded his head and went to the nearby restaurant to buy some food. He returned to invite the electrician uncle. The uncle really was tired, so he didn't decline.
"How much money?" Tang Rou asked Ye Xiu.
"What?"
"Food." Tang Rou said.
"86. You haven't eaten dinner yet, right?" Ye Xiu said.
"Yeah.... 86, I only have 43. I owe you then!" Tang Rou said.
"No need!" Ye Xiu laughed. This sister really was earnest. She wanted both of them to split the bill.
"If you insist on inviting me, then I don't mind." Tang Rou smiled.
"Eat eat!" Ye Xiu didn't mind. He turned around towards the uncle: "Uncle, thanks for your trouble. How much longer do you need?"
"Not much. Around half an hour!" The electrician uncle said.
The two let out a sigh. They finally saw some light.
He didn't need thirty minutes. After twenty minutes, everything was restored and the Internet Cafe's electricity came back. The bill went to the Internet Cafe.
After the uncle left and the Internet Cafe's lights came back on, only Ye Xiu and Tang Rou were there. It was already past midnight. Ye Xiu didn't have much work experience and asked Tang Rou: "Will there still be people coming?"
"I have no idea. Let's keep watch!" Tang Rou turned off the useless lights. Ye Xiu sat at the reception desk and had already turned on the computer.
.
"Then I'll sit down too!" Tang Rou went over and prepared to use the server computer. As long as there was one computer station that needed it, then the server computer would need to be turned on too. The electricity had only just come on at this time, so she didn't know if anyone would come to the Cafe. And it'd just be better to just directly use the server computer than to turn on another one.
"You don't mind me smoking, right?" Ye Xiu promptly asked.
"I don't mind." Tang Rou said.
"That's good." Ye Xiu let out a sigh.
"Would you like some tea?" Tang Rou carried her cup, about to go make tea.
"Thank you." Ye Xiu didn't decline.
"Your cup?"
"...." How could Ye Xiu have his own cup. In the end, Tang Rou took out a bottle of Healthy Master Green Tea from the cupboard and handed it to Ye Xiu: "It's my treat."
"...." Ye Xiu was speechless.
The majority of the Internet Cafe's lights were turned off. In the huge space, only their reception desk had some light. It looked like a small island. Tang Rou didn't say anything else and swiped her card to enter the game. She controlled her Soft Mist directly to Skeleton Graveyard. Ye Xiu, on the other hand, first went to open the web browser and went to the Glory Professional Alliance's official site.
They lost!
As expected, Team Excellent Era lost the team competition. In the end, in this round, relying on Su Mucheng's single victory in the individual competition and the second part's group competition, Excellent Era earned 3 points. Team 301, on the other hand, earned 7 points.
In the 20th round of the league, Team Excellent Era's ranking in the league didn't change. They were still second to last place. However, all of the supporters all had their hopes reignited after this round. All because of Sun Xiang and One Autumn Leaf's extraordinary 1v3 in the group competition. As for their loss in the team competition, everyone just blamed it on the fact that Sun Xiang had just entered the team and hadn't broken in yet.
In short, everyone held high expectations for Sun Xiang. Many of the faithful fans had already researched how many points Excellent Era would need to enter the top eight spots in the regular season and qualify for playoffs. From these calculations, they found the Team Excellent Era still had the possibility of qualifying for playoffs from their second to last place position. Their final result: in theory, there was still a possibility, but it would be extremely difficult. Their performance in the first half of the season really was too poor. Among the comments, there were many complaints towards the previous team captain Ye Qiu.
Ye Xiu silently closed the web page and immediately swiped his card, entering the game. Once he got online, he received a greeting from Seven Fields. After the greeting, Seven Fields sent an invite: "Want to dungeon with us, brother expert?"
Ye Xiu turned his head to look at the level of Tang Rou's Soft Mist. She was level 18, almost 19. She would definitely reach level 20 tonight. He only had a limited amount of entries for the Frost Forest dungeon. Ye Xiu felt that he should leave some entries and later bring Tang Rou over to get familiar with the map. As a result, he replied to Seven Fields: "How about a bit later! Train a bit first. I have a friend here. I'll bring her over in a bit and then we can dungeon together."
"Okay." Seven Fields obviously didn't object: "Then are we still going to Boneyard?"
"Yeah. You're the only one on today, right?" Drifting Water and Sunset Clouds didn't appear as online on his friends list.
"Sleeping Moon too!" Seven Fields replied.
"Then let's go together!"
"Is Steamed Bun Invasion with you?" Ye Xiu's friend list showed that Steamed Bun Invasion was online.
"No. He doesn't dare level, so he ran over to the Arena to PK."
Just when Ye Xiu was reading Seven Field's reply, Steamed Bun Invasion sent a message: "God! When are we going to go dungeon?"
"Soon, soon. You keep polishing your skills in the Arena! How are you doing?" Ye Xiu asked.
Steamed Bun Invasion replied with a "He he" and a silly smiley face. It looked like he was doing quite well. Ye Xiu wasn't surprised. With Steamed Bun Invasion's hand speed, he was more than good enough to be a champion among the new players. As for the experts. Blue River? Plantago Seed? Cold Night? All of these experts were rushing to level up. Who would go play around in the Arena!
After joining up with Seven Fields and Sleeping Moon in the Boneyard, they began leveling, and didn't have anything much to really chat about. Tang Rou was simply soloing dungeons, so she didn't have anything to say either. The Internet Cafe was extremely quiet. Only the two people's mouse-clicking and keyboard-tapping could be heard. This sort of atmosphere stayed for about an hour. Suddenly, they heard footsteps. The two shifted their gaze from their computer screens to the Internet Cafe entrance. It was almost two o'clock in the morning and there was unexpectedly a customer.
The person at the entrance glanced inside the Internet Cafe and then turned around and called in pleasant surprise: "Brother Hao, the Internet Cafe's empty!"
While he said this, three more people walked to the entrance. They looked inside the Internet Cafe. The previous person already rushed towards the reception desk, where there was light, and asked: "Are you guys open?"
If there were customers, then they had to do their work! Tang Rou ignored them. She was here to play the game. She wasn't on night duty. The one with the night shift was Ye Xiu, so Ye Xiu was in charge of the customers.
Ye Xiu immediately stopped playing. He brightened up the lights at the reception desk and greeted: "How many guests are with you?"
He raised his head and saw four people. Ye Xiu was startled. He completely recognized the four of them.
The person who had just been talking with him was called Chen Yehui. In Glory, he was Excellent Dynasty's guild leader.
The three others that came with him, Liu Hao, Wang Ze, Fang Fengran, were all pro players in Team Excellent Era. The four people's faces were all flushed and looked a little drunk. When they walked in, their angle just happened to be unable to see Ye Xiu, who was blocked by the computer. But they could see Tang Rou and their eyes all brightened.
When the four walked forward, Ye Xiu continued to sit calm and collected. That Liu Hao walked at the very front. Supporting his body with the table, he stretched out his neck and after glancing at Tang Rou's computer screen, he immediately laughed: "Sister, you play Glory?"
Tang Rou turned her head and took a quick look at him. After smiling and saying "Yeah", she turned her head back and continued playing.
"Cough!" Liu Hao coughed for no reason. It looked like he was trying to get her attention. He followed up as if nothing had happened: "You play pretty well!"
"Thanks." Tang Rou turned her head and smiled politely at him. Soon after, she ignored him again.
Liu Hao was puzzled, extremely puzzled! If she played Glory, how could she not recognize him? He himself was a great and famous pro player! With such a short distance between them, and the lighting being good as well… could it be because his hairstyle was a little different today? So puzzled! The people behind him tugged at his clothing twice. Liu Hao turned his head and saw that the two people behind him looked uneasy. They were looking to the side with a meaningful glance.
Liu Hao turned his head and looked. He saw Ye Xiu with a cigarette in his mouth heading over towards them.
"Are you going to use the computers?" Ye Xiu asked.
Chapter 96 – Because You Made Mistakes
Liu Hao was also startled. He looked like he didn't believe what he was seeing. After a long time, he recovered and suddenly grinned: "What a coincidence. It's actually Brother Ye. Brother you're here...as a Cafe manager??" Liu Hao said 30% astonished and 70% in ridicule.
"Yup!" Ye Xiu laughed.
"Oh oh, how is it? Is it hard? How much money do you earn every month?" Liu Hao asked as if he were very concerned about Ye Xiu.
"1800!" Ye Xiu said. In Chen Guo's Internet Cafe, most employees had a monthly salary of 1500 Yuan including food and shelter. For someone like him who had just arrived, this was quite good. Ye Xiu earned an extra 300 because he was there full-time for the night shift.
"Woah!" Liu Hao acted extremely worried, "1800! Isn't that a little tight? Do you have enough money for your cigarettes every month? If you don't have enough, then you don't have to be polite. Come look for us brothers. We're not that far away anyways. You just have to cross the street and walk a bit, no?" Liu Hao said.
"Okay!" Ye Xiu said as if everything was normal. On the side, Tang Rou could hear that this wasn't any ordinary conversation. Something was fishy about this customer's tone. She turned her head and asked Ye Xiu: "Your friends?"
Right when Ye Xiu was about to answer, Liu Hao stole it away: "Hey! Don't flatter us as his friends. How could we dare be friends with Brother Ye? To be more accurate, we're only Brother Ye's underlings."
Ye Xiu remained silent as before. His gaze was locked straight onto Liu Hao.
Liu Hao immediately retreated back a step and made an exaggerated expression of alarm: "Wow! It's that look!! It's that look again! Did you guys know? Once Brother Ye makes that look, then that means he's going to teach me a lesson!! Oh no oh no oh no."
That Excellent Dynasty guild leader Chen Yehui immediately took the opportunity: "Brother Hao, he can't teach you anymore right?"
"Right!" Liu Hao made another exaggerated expression: "How could I forget. You're already no longer the team captain! Oh no, what are you going to do now? Brother Ye, you definitely want to say a few words me to me right? But what a pity! I don't have to listen to anything you say now. HA HA HA HA."
"Mister, did you drink too much?" Tang Rou showed her rare impolite tone.
"Beautiful, you don't have to worry about it. This is a personal grudge between me and him." Liu Hao already had no interest in getting to know the beauty.
Ye Xiu laughed. He took the cigarette out of his mouth and put it out. He slowly stood up and said to Liu Hao: "I always scolded you before because you made mistakes. You didn't want it to be like that, but you never gave me an opportunity to, no?"
Tang Rou made "Pft" laugh. Chen Guo was right! This Ye Xiu really did have incredible skill at making others angry.
Hearing this, Liu Hao really did grow angry. His previous act had already disappeared. Blue veins popped out from his head and he straightened his neck until he was in front of Ye Xiu's face: "I didn't give you angry opportunities? Or you didn't give me any opportunities? Starting from the first day I joined the team, you always beat me down and never gave me the chance to come out. I always knew that you were scared of me. Scared that once I came out, I'd steal your position. But did you really think that you could keep me down? What about now? The one who stayed on the team is me. The one's who has been kicked is you! I'm the team vice captain. You're a small Cafe manager. 1800 every month. Ha ha ha ha. Hilarious, too hilarious!! HA HA HA HA."
Ye Xiu silently stared at him. He didn't say a word. Liu Hao cruelly laughed. Chen Yehui also smiled with him. Wang Ze and Fang Fengran hid behind them with unnatural expressions, not saying a word.
"You two!" Ye Xiu suddenly opened his mouth.
Liu Hao immediately held back his laughter. He wanted to hear what else Ye Xiu was going to say. In the end, Ye Xiu waved his hands at him and his gaze fell behind him: "Move. I'm not talking to you two."
Liu Hao turned his head and looked. Behind him was Wang Ze and Fang Fengran, but there's no way he'd move if Ye Xiu told him to. In the end, Ye Xiu ignored him and minded his own business: "Both of you played badly today. Wang Ze, you still care too much about being beautiful. You have too many unnecessary movements making it easy for the opponents to find an opening. Actually, your opponent today is a good example for you to learn from. Simple and practical. If you can do it like that, then adding on your smooth skill and tempo, you wouldn't lose to anyone one on one. Fang Fengran, you're too careful. You always worry too much about the pros and cons. As a pro player, you should know that the difference between everyone's reaction speed and hand speed is very small. If you always think so much, then you'll obviously have the key moments stolen by your opponents. Using your brain to compete is good, but you think too much. There are times when you need to learn to rely on intuition to make a decision. Intuition isn't as unreliable as you think. It's an accumulation of your experience."
Wang Ze and Fang Fengran stared blankly while hearing this. After listening, they weren't sure how to react. Answer? Or not to answer? In the end, the two could only lower their heads.
"HEY!" Liu Hao had also recovered after foolishly hearing this and suddenly jumped out: "What are you doing? You're still pretending you're the team captain? What qualifications do you have to teach my teammates? AH??"
"And you." Ye Xiu looked towards Liu Hao, "When Sun Xiang's energy was like a rainbow in the second round, did you not realize this? When he was completely relying on his individual strength in the team competition, did you warn him of anything? Did you have a complete plan to deal with Yang Cong's and Xu Bin's combo?"
"I..."
"I always scolded you because you made mistakes. I didn't let you come out because you're still too far off. But I have to admit. You are quite capable. You were actually able to climb your way up like this. Since it's already like this, then work properly. That isn't an easy position. Strength, you need true strength. You can do it!"
"F*ck, you..."
"Okay, the four of you can go back!" Ye Xiu made an order to expel the guests.
"What are you doing? We're here to use the Internet. Give us four computer stations!!" Liu Hao yelled.
Ye Xiu took a newspaper and rolled it up into a tube. He went to something on the wall and tapped at it a few times. But the lighting wasn't good making it difficult to see clearly.
"Little Tang, turn on the lights here." Ye Xiu turned his head.
"Aye!" Tang Rou agreed. After the lights turned on, Ye Xiu once again took the newspaper roll and tapped a clause hanging on the wall. He turned his head and said towards Liu Hao: "Do you see it? The Internet Cafe has the right to refuse any drunk people. I'm so sorry, you four."
"YOU!!!" Liu Hao was furious. They had drunk a bit of alcohol, but they were still far from drunk. How could they be considered drunk people? This guy was clearly using a feather as a banner of command!
Liu Hao was about to argue when Ye Xiu dully said: "Don't be so noisy. You guys are also public figures. If you keep on being noisy, then you guys won't look good."
After saying this, Ye Xiu quietly took out a cigarette from his pocked, lit it, and put it in his mouth.
Liu Hao's gaze was fixed maliciously on Ye Xiu. In the end, he clenched his teeth and turned around: "We're leaving!!"
"I won't send you guys off." Ye Xiu lit his cigarette. His eyes followed them as they left.
Tang Rou had stopped playing long ago. She had quietly watched the entire scene. After seeing Ye Xiu puff out some smoke, she noticed that his face looked a bit sad and then immediately returned back to his usual half-dead, lazy look.
"Who were they?" Tang Rou still asked.
"They were former colleagues." Ye Xiu dully said.
"People from the Glory pro scene?" Tang Rou asked.
"Yeah." Ye Xiu said.
"Were they famous?" Tang Rou said.
"They were quite famous. You actually said you didn't recognized them, making them look like they lost a lot of face, did you know that?" Ye Xiu smiled.
"I can't do anything about that." Tang Rou said helplessly, "I only know two pro-players from Glory. They were both often talked about by Guo Guo. One is called Su Mucheng and the other is called Ye Qiu."
"Ha ha." Ye Xiu laughed.
"Especially that Su Mucheng. Guo Guo really likes her! She even had a few ads of Su Mucheng hanging on her wall!" Tang Rou said.
"Oh? It doesn't like look they're gone now." Ye Xiu recalled.
"You've been in Guo Guo's room?" Tang Rou was astonished.
"Once, when I helped bring her a blanket." Ye Xiu immediately explained in order to avoid her making the mistake that he was some kind of guy that looked to steal stuff from a girl's room.
"Oh, she fell asleep on the sofa again?" Tang Rou was experienced.
"Yeah, is she always like that?" Ye Xiu asked.
"Pretty much everyday. She's probably sleeping on the sofa right now..." Tang Rou said.
"Shouldn't you go check on her?" Ye Xiu said.
"You're fine?"
"Me? Do you really think I'm not?" Ye Xiu asked a question in reply.
"They..."
"Ha ha. It was just a small scene. I can sail against any strong storm!" Ye Xiu laughed.
"Then that's good." Tang Rou said and went upstairs. Ye Xiu watched her back and smiled. This girl had a good heart. She was even afraid that he wasn't feeling good and talked about this and that to accompany him for a bit.
Tang Rou went up and came back down after a short while. After coming over, she declared: "My guesses were correct. She was asleep on the sofa."
"Tsk tsk." Ye Xiu sighed. His hands were already focused on playing the game.
Tang Rou also continued to run the dungeon non-stop. After quietly playing for awhile, she suddenly asked: "Will they come back later?"
"No." Ye Xiu said.
"Why? I feel that because they know that you're here as a Cafe manager..." Tang Rou didn't finish. She knew that Ye Xiu also saw those people's true intentions. When those people saw Ye Xiu, they wanted to go to a computer station even more. They would have used the opportunity to order him about as a servant in the Internet Cafe.
"Because it's not convenient." Ye Xiu said.
"Why is it not convenient?" Tang Rou didn't understand.
"Think about it. If a professional sports star randomly appeared on a crowded field, what do you think would happen?" Ye Xiu said.
"Oh..."
"It's the same. The Internet Cafe is a place where many Glory players gather. If they randomly appeared here, what would happen? Wouldn't there be a crowd around them? They'd be even more bothered by it than me." Ye Xiu laughed.
"I understand." Tang Rou immediately thought of the four guys from before who had first looked around to see if anyone was there.
"Don't worry about this. Hurry up and level." Ye Xiu said.
"I'm Level 20." Tang Rou announced.
"Oh?" Ye Xiu turned his head. Soft Mist had already reached Level 20.
"Change classes and then go to Frost Forest." Ye Xiu said.
Chapter 97 – Stupid Noob
The quests for changing classes were difficult for normal newbies. They would often need to try it again several times before succeeding. But for Tang Rou, who had quick hand speed, it wasn't difficult at all. She easily completed the quests for changing classes and Soft Mist officially became a Battle Mage.
"Where are you?" Tang Rou asked Ye Xiu.
Ye Xiu sent some coordinates over to her. He, Seven Fields, and Sleeping Moon had already rushed over towards the dungeon. In addition, he sent Steamed Bun Invasion a message to come over too.
But Steamed Bun Invasion had already become addicted to PK in the Arena as if he were Dugu Qiubai. He was actually unwilling to go dungeon. There was nothing Ye Xiu could do about this noob. No matter what a noob played, he'd quickly become addicted. No matter what a noob played, he'd find it fun.
While hurrying on, Ye Xiu sent a message to Tyrannical Ambition's guild leader Cold Night, asking him if he had gotten a hold of the information on Excellent Dynasty's party.
"Not yet. It's not easy finding what equipment they had." Cold Night replied. Glory didn't have any set up to directly check a player's information. In order to figure out a stranger's equipment, you had to be very familiar with equipment and then examine the clothing on a character. Cold Night was quite meticulous for this task. He sent an equipment specialist from his guild to study those five player's equipment.
"Their classes then? You should at least know their classes by now, right?" Ye Xiu asked. That wasn't hard to find.
"Yeah. We've already found it. Gray Black is a Spellblade. Sea Breeze is a Sharpshooter. Inherit is a Striker. Nowhere to Run is a Witch. Purse is an Elementalist." Cold Night said.
"Okay, got it." Ye Xiu replied. The corners of his mouth were grinning carelessly the whole time.
Spellblade, Striker, and Sharpshooter, just happened to be the classes that Liu Hao, Wang Ze, and Fang Fengran used. When he saw that these three and Excellent Dynasty's guild leader Chen Yehui were together, Ye Xiu had already suspected this. Now that he got the info, sure enough, the tenth server's Frost Forest clear record was indeed done by pro players.
But these three really did have a lot of free time. To actually come out and clear Frost Forest, that sort of low-leveled dungeon, what exactly were they planning? Just for fun? Ye Xiu couldn't think of the reason why at this moment. If they wanted to play for fun, then they could have just gone to the Heavenly Domain to play.
Was it possible that they just did it because they wanted the pleasure of setting a new record? If it was like that, then Ye Xiu had to blush with shame on behalf of them. To challenge the the record for the new server's Frost Forest, that was like if an NBA basketball star came to a high school match to determine the winner; how shameful was that?
But no matter how shameful that was, pro players coming out really was different. They had set the all-time record for Frost Forest in all ten servers. In fact, in each of the servers, there were many dungeons where the final record was set by pro players. Moreover, they were also the highest records in all of the servers.
However, these records weren't admired by anyone. On the contrary, players were actually angry at them. These records set by pro players were clearly better than normal player's by a large margin. No matter how hard a normal player tried, they wouldn't be able to beat it. They lost the chance to get the rewards for setting a new record for no reason. Of course they wouldn't be happy.
What happened to pro players? Pro players didn't compete in the Alliance and ran to the game to bully others?
The forums were once filled with these posts, making the pro players that set new records look extremely bad and making them not dare to say that those records were set by them. The characters that set the records became disused and basically became characters hated by everyone. In reality, these pro players didn't mean to be bullies. They had just casually played because they were bored. They didn't think that they would have caused such a ruckus.
There were even conspiracy theorists. They thought that the game company invited these pro players to deliberately set impossible-to-beat records, so that players wouldn't be able to set a new record and grab the rewards.
The game company had taken a bullet even though they weren't involved as if they received an injust treament like Liu Yu Xue . They had received unjust treatment. When the anger was at its peak, they even had to go out and explain it. In the end, they had to negotiate with the Professional Alliance and the Professional Alliance made a statement saying that pro-players were not allowed to do this sort of thing. But a statement was just a statement and no one monitored it. As a result, it all depended on the pro player. However, to be honest, pro players didn't really have any interest in setting this sort of record. After this mess, such an act became even rarer.
After all, if the record was clearly made by a pro, then millions of players would hate them. Only those mentally twisted guys would like that sort of feeling.
So for those three to set the Frost Forest record, Ye Xiu really didn't think too much of it. Seeing that they were together with Chen Yehui, it was probably Chen Yehui who mentioned it, so the three just conveniently played around. Low-end dungeons had their good points. Although it made them seem even more shameless, not many people paid attention to low-end dungeons.
"Are you there yet?" Ye Xiu turned his head to look at Tang Rou's screen. His group of three had already arrived. The were currently waiting for Tang Rou and Steamed Bun Invasion.
"On the way." Tang Rou said.
"Do you know the way?" Tang Rou was still a noob, so Ye Xiu was afraid that she didn't know the way there.
"I know!" It looks like Tang Rou wasn't that noobish.
Outside of the dungeon, the five players met. Seeing that the new player was a female character, ordinarily, they would have went over to check her out. But because brother expert had brought her, Seven Fields restrained himself. Sleeping Moon, on the other hand, expressed that such an act was beneath him. Only Steamed Bun Invasion, that stupid noob, ran up in front of Soft Mist and bounced up and down: "Hey beautiful."
Before Level 20, Tang Rou had leveled on her own. Previously, when she played with Chen Guo, she was only controlling the character and had never communicated with others. This was her first experience with Glory's voice system. After staring blankly for a bit, she suddenly started laughing.
"What are you laughing at?" Ye Xiu turned his head strangely.
"So that's how you speak? It feel so stupid!" Tang Rou said.
After seeing Steamed Bun Invasion bouncing up and down and say a single greeting, Tang Rou had laughed uncontrollably. For the first time, Ye Xiu began to have a few doubts: were these two reliable? Beating a record set by pro-players isn't something so easy to do...
"How do I speak?" Tang Rou asked.
"Oh? Is your voice option not turned on?" Ye Xiu recovered and instructed Tang Rou to turn on the voice option.
Tang Rou coughed twice and then greeted everyone with a "Hi everyone". Immediately after, she began laughing again.
"What's so funny..." Ye Xiu couldn't understand.
"I don't know either!" Tang Rou laughed while saying this.
In the game, Steamed Bun Invasion was quite excited: "Wow, it really is a beauty! Even her voice sounds nice. Brother Seven, Little Moon Moon, did you guys hear it?"
"Little Moon Moon YOU F*CKER!!" Sleeping Moon was alarmed. How terrible! How could someone he just met already know of this top-secret nickname? It must have been that son of a b*tch who privately taught him, right? Sleeping Moon began conspiring theories. He obviously didn't know, that right now, whenever he was talked about, they would always use the name "Little Moon Moon". Of course, Seven Fields and the others still used Sleeping Moon when they were in front of him, but Steamed Bun Invasion couldn't care less. A noob! What was a noob? This was one.
"Okay, okay, stop being so noisy. Let's party up and get ready to dungeon! This is Soft Mist's first time doing this dungeon. Everyone take care of her." Ye Xiu said.
"Your name is really pretty, beautiful." Steamed Bun Invasion said.
"Thank you." Tang Rou politely replied.
"Beautiful, what's your astrological sign?" Steamed Bun Invasion said.
"Aries." Tang Rou answered.
"Cough!" Ye Xiu coughed.
"Beautiful, can you guess what sign I am?" Steamed Bun Invasion asked.
"I don't know!" Tang Rou said.
"Guess! I'll give you three guesses." Steamed Bun Invasion said.
"Cough cough cough!! We're going into the dungeon, you two!!!" Ye Xiu couldn't bear it anymore.
But after going into the dungeon, would Steamed Bun Invasion calm down? Of course not! He continued to circle around Soft Mist and say: "Beautiful, be careful. This dungeon is very dangerous. You should stand behind me! Did you know? When I first came here..."
"Steamed Bun Steamed Bun Steamed Bun!!!" Ye Xiu felt that his IQ was rapidly declining, "You can chat when there's time! I'm going to pull the monsters, Soft Mist come with me."
"Okay." Tang Rou controlled Soft Mist to follow Ye Xiu's Lord Grim.
When Lord Grim took out his Thousand Chance Umbrella, it was already in the Battle Lance form. It was the same type as Tang Rou's weapon.
"Look, the monsters in this dungeon..." Ye Xiu said to Tang Rou while pulling the monsters. He gathered together different types of monsters in combat, explaining them to her while instructing her on how to pull the monsters.
Steamed Bun Invasion was very lonely. He was bouncing about in front of Seven Fields and Sleeping Moon: "Can you guys guess what sign I am?"
"F*ck off!" The two said.
Steamed Bun Invasion was gloomy. He went to the side and began drawing circles. He still felt that the beautiful girl was more gentle and kind.
Seven Fields and Sleeping Moon, on the other hand, were watching Lord Grim pull monsters. The more they looked, the more they were amazed. It wasn't because of brother expert. They were already used to brother expert's skill. The one that amazed them was the girl that brother expert brought. After explaining and demonstrating it a few times, this girl had already begun personally going into battle. From her positioning to pulling monsters to attacking to dodging, how was this a new player who had never been to Frost Forest?
"Who is that person?" Seven Fields muttered. With so many experts like this, as a middle-ranked players, they really did feel jealous! In fact, not just these two, but even that Brawler noob over at the side drawing circles.. after Lord Grim had taught him for a bit, his skill had advanced by leaps and bounds. His hand speed was clearly faster than theirs by a large margin.
Right when Seven Fields was feeling heart-broken, brother expert and the newly joined girl had brought back a few monsters. Bringing this bunch, Ye Xiu didn't dare use One Wave Rush. But there were still a lot more monsters that were pulled than normal.
Seven Fields and the two others immediately went up to support them. While fighting these monsters, Ye Xiu said this and that to Tang Rou and Steamed Bun Invasion. Sleeping Moon heard this and was baffled. He asked Seven Fields: "Why is he speaking so much to them?"
Seven Fields heard this and became heart-broken again: "They're planning on setting a new record for Frost Forest at Level 25!"
"Us five?" Sleeping Moon asked.
"Those three." Seven Fields said.
"Three players? No way, right?" Sleeping Moon was stunned.
Seven Fields was helpless. This guy really did know how to invite trouble! He could only comprehensively explain: "To set a new record, brother expert is needed. Brother expert looks like he's preparing Steamed Bun and that girl to help him challenge the record. I don't know who the other two members are."Chapter 98 – Teaching Like Crazy
Sleeping Moon naturally felt depressed. This clearly meant that Seven Field's and his skill weren't good enough. Sleeping Moon didn't want to accept it, but after seeing Lord Grim, Soft Mist, and Steamed Bun Invasion, they were clearly better than them by a grade.
Their constant moving and quick skill release all reflected high hand speed. The gap in their microing was difficult to see, but the fact that they could see it meant that the gap was quite large.
Seven Fields and Sleeping Moon fought monsters while heartbroken. Ye Xiu was still continuously instructing the two on what to do. Sleeping Moon wanted to learn too, but he wasn't of the same class. The other side was teaching them about the Battle Mage and Brawler. Actively ask for Lord Grim to teach him? It'd be better to just die. In the end, Sleeping Moon thought of a way: he should stick with Sunset Clouds more. That guy was a Blade Master like him. If he shamelessly went to that guy to ask for guidance, then couldn't he eavesdrop and learn too?
Right when he was thinking of this, he suddenly heard that guy say: "Little Moon Moon, what are you doing?"
Sleeping Moon recovered and looked. He started sweating. While he was thinking, he had already killed off his target. He was hacking at nothing right now!
Pretending as if nothing had happened, he immediately went back to fighting. Then, he heard that new girl say: "So it's this easy?"
"When the time comes, we're going to have to pull more of them. I'm just letting you get familiar with the dungeon right now. Each monster's position, attack patterns, attack speed, movement speed, you need to pay attention to them all. Steamed Bun too." Ye Xiu said.
"Why do you need to pay attention to them so much?" Steamed Bun Invasion was killing the Goblins in the dungeon quite relaxed, so he didn't really take things very seriously.
"Sometimes the final record will only be better by a few seconds. This small difference comes from these small details." Ye Xiu explained.
"So I'm not doing well enough right now?" Steamed Bun Invasion asked.
"Not good enough. But it'll be enough for today! In this run, I'll just give you a rough explanation. A bit later, you go back and continue fighting in the Arena. Save up your experience for now. Wait until I gather a few more people and when the time comes, we'll practice properly." Ye Xiu suddenly had this cautious thought. It really was all because this Steamed Bun Invasion behaved too much like a noob. This type of guy wasn't stable. It's be best to spend more time practicing.
Luckily, Steamed Bun Invasion was also addicted to PK. Hearing that he didn't need to dungeon, he was actually quite happy. He unreservedly agreed.
Ye Xiu followed and then suddenly thought of something else: "Right, how many points are you at in the Arena?"
"98 Points." Steamed Bun Invasion said proudly. He had been playing one on one duels in the Arena. Each win would only earn him 1 point, so 98 points meant that he had already won against 98 opponents.
"Don't randomly use your points. Save up until you have 250 points and then trade for a Level 25 Purple weapon." Ye Xiu said.
The Arena was similar to the pro scene. There were different types of matches that could be played. One on one was 1 win, 1 point. The group single-elimination competition (winner stays on until defeated) was 2 points for every member on the victorious group. The team competition was different from the pro scene though. It wasn't a 5 players and 1 sub set-up. In this competition, players could set it up however they liked. 2v2, 3v3, were all fine. The highest it could go to was a 5v5 with 1 sub, just like in the pro-scene.
The points earned could be used to trade for equipment. In the Level 50, Level 60, and Level 70 stage, there was even Orange equipment that could be traded.
Level 50 Orange equipment required 8000 points. Level 60 Orange equipment required 10,000 points. Level 70 Orange equipment required 12,000 points.
This Orange equipment couldn't be obtained with just perseverance. That was because starting from Level 50 in the Arena, besides earning points from winning, players would also lose points. Like this, players unable to achieve a 50% win rate couldn't profit.
However, it wasn't like there weren't any shortcuts. There was one method that could earn a player enough points in a single round: gambling.
Players could gamble with points, in-game currency, and even equipment.
There was no betting limit. In the default setting, if a player opened with 1000 points, then a challenger could join as long as he had 1000 points. In addition to this, players could also negotiate. For example, if a player opened with 1000 points, then if the challenger lost, the challenger would only have to pay 500 points. As long as both sides agreed to it, this sort of set-up was possible. The system always acted as the mediator, so it wasn't possible to shamelessly cheat others.
Those who dared to open a gamble undoubtedly had a trick or two up their sleeves. But most of the time, players made a profit of 100 points or less, because no one was confident in winning 100% of the time. Of course, there definitely were brave gamblers that made huge bets on one match. These types were usually between two sides with enmity towards each other and used the bet decide who was better. Apart from this, there were quite a few who had no idea what they were doing. In such a large game with so many players, there were definitely strange players with gambling mindsets that could not be understood by ordinary players.
The tenth server was only a new server. With Steamed Bun Invasion's level, there was no difference in fighting in the free-for-all matches or the same-level matches. Apart from the Fixed Field, which didn't give any points or rewards, the other places were all the same. Ye Xiu had suddenly recalled that the Arena's Level 25 Purple Weapon was a good weapon. Steamed Bun Invasion was currently addicted to PK and he just happened to have the ability to obtain this weapon and increase his strength.
"Oh? Is that weapon powerful?" Noobs always had questions. Ye Xiu naturally explained it to him.
They continued dungeoning and Ye Xiu explained to them the entire way. When they reached the BOSS, he said even more. This was because once the party reached a certain level, as long as they didn't make any mistakes, then the small monsters were nothing and nothing would surprise them. On the other hand, more changes could occur during the long fight with the BOSS. The few seconds of time that could be improved on came from here.
It was Tang Rou's first time in Frost Forest, so Ye Xiu taught her the BOSS's characteristics in detail. Steamed Bun Invasion had already cleared the dungeon several times already, but who else gave such a detailed explanation like this? So he learned quite a bit too. Seven Fields and Sleeping Moon had cleared it before too, so they roughly knew the dungeon. However, after hearing him, they also learned about quite a few details. Especially Ye Xiu's lessons on how to deal with certain situations. A lot of those parts made the two widen their scope.
In the end, this dungeon took 35 minutes to clear. All because Ye Xiu was talking too much.
After leaving the dungeon, Ye Xiu, whose throat was about to catch fire from being too dry, grabbed the green tea and madly drank a few mouthfuls. He turned his head and asked Tang Rou: "How about it? Do you understand everything now?" This lesson was mainly for Tang Rou.
In the end, Tang Rou was happily laughing: "No more guessing. No more guessing. I really don't know."
Ye Xiu turned his head and looked. Steamed Bun Invasion was once again asking her to guess his astrological sign. A mouthful of tea almost spurted out from his nose. Fortunately, Tang Rou immediately replied: "It's all so easy!"
"Then go solo it!" Ye Xiu said.
"Solo?" Tang Rou stared blankly.
"It shouldn't be a problem for you right? It's all so easy!" Ye Xiu said.
"I'll clear it for you to see!" Tang Rou didn't say anything further and entered the dungeon. The Frost Forest dungeon really was a lot harder than the beginner village's educational dungeons. But Tang Rou was still confident she could do it.
Soft Mist left the party and then entered the dungeon alone, which made Seven Fields and the others all at a loss.
"Brother expert?" Seven Fields was puzzled.
"Oh, she's going to practice." Ye Xiu said.
"Solo Frost Forest?" Seven Fields felt as if he was going to faint. These guys weren't humans!
"Ha ha, she won't be able to do it." Ye Xiu said.
Although Tang Rou was no longer in the same voice channel as them when she entered the dungeon, she herself was sitting next to Ye Xiu. She directly heard it and turned her head: "Who said I won't be able to finish it!"
"I said so!" Ye Xiu laughed.
Tang Rou didn't reply and wildly killed monsters.
"You guys go look for other players to dungeon with. I'm not going to clear it for now." Ye Xiu said to Seven Fields and Sleeping Moon.
"Oh!" As a result, the two looked for other players to party with. Steamed Bun Invasion now had a goal to trade for the Purple weapon and seemed even more excited. He yelled loudly "250! 250! My goal is 250!" Among the surrounding surprised players, he ran off to the Arena, making Ye Xiu feel another shadow over his heart: Will this guy really be okay?
Noobs couldn't be managed, but this sister next to him could still be taught. Ye Xiu pulled up his stool to behind Tang Rou. He drank tea and smoked his cigarette, leisurely watching Tang Rou solo Frost Forest and waiting for a bad situation to occur.
With Tang Rou's skill, soloing Frost Forest wasn't an issue of skill. She was already quite proficient with using Level 20 and under Battle Mage skills. The newly learned Level 20 skills, Circle Swing and Neutral Chaser, had already been explained before by Ye Xiu. At this moment, she was also gradually getting absorbed into her playing. She had slaughtered her way through very smoothly and easily. It truly wasn't something anyone could do.
But right before the first BOSS, in the last wave of monsters, something bad finally occurred.
Pulling a few monsters, her flowing playing continued. Her left hand beautifully swiped the keyboard and used Falling Flower Palm to attack. But Soft Mist didn't respond. After staring blankly for a bit, Tang Rou looked at a system prompt: not enough mana.
Tang Rou immediately gave Soft Mist a mana potion to drink. But potions were either instant recovery or slow recovery. Instant recovery potions were high quality goods. How could beginner village NPCs sell that type of instant recovery potions. Naturally, her potions were the slow recovery ones that required some time before the potion completely took effect. This duration was usually ten seconds. But different quality potions recovered different amounts every second.
While Tang Rou waited for the potion's effects, she used skills to kill off the monsters. In the end, after ten seconds, the effects disappeared and her mana was also used up again. Potions had a cooldown of 1 minute, so in the following 50 seconds, she had no way of using skills.
Tang Rou could only let Soft Mist dodge left and right and used a normal attack whenever there was an opening to. It put her in a somewhat difficult situation. After fighting with difficulty for 50 seconds, she drank another potion and used another 10 seconds worth of skills before her mana was all gone again.
"Ha ha ha….." Ye Xiu laughed, which felt extremely ear-piercing to Tang Rou. She grinded her teeth and endured. Under such a vicious cycle, she was simply wasting her time on these small monsters. Her own injuries weren't light either. And she had to hurriedly begin using food items to recover her health.
"When we're going for a new clear record, how is there going to be time to rest and recover?" Ye Xiu said from behind.
"Oh, I'll remember to drink potions." Tang Rou said.
"It's not just drinking potions. It's the rhythm for when to use your skills and potions that's needed to obtain the greatest endurance. You go to the side and watch me play for a bit! I'll show you how it's done." Ye Xiu said.
Chapter 99 – Endurance Limit
"After I finish this round." Tang Rou wouldn't let him.
Ye Xiu laughed. He knew that this sister cared about his previous judgement that she wouldn't be able to finish the dungeon, so she insisted on soloing it herself. As a result, he didn't bother her anymore. He left a "call me when you're done" and then dragged his chair back to its original place.
Hearing Ye Xiu's tone, it seemed like Ye Xiu didn't care at all whether she could complete the dungeon or not. Tang Rou suddenly felt quite embarrassed. But in her heart, she refused to give up and continued to solo Frost Forest.
Forgetting to drink potions was a common mistake among new players. Now that Tang Rou paid attention to this problem, she wouldn't be so careless. She took note of the amount of mana that the mana potion recovered, and wouldn't wait until her mana was completely used before she used a potion. Tang Rou already felt that she was already at the limit using potions like this. But her mana still ran out, so she had no choice but to stop fighting and rest a bit.
While she was resting, she turned her head to look at Ye Xiu. Ye Xiu was simply minding his own business and training. Puffing out clouds of smoke, he didn't even glance at her.
"Hmph!" Tang Rou's fighting spirit wouldn't die out because of this. She continued to fight fight stop stop, drink drink recover recover. Just from potion consumption, it was already clear how much more difficult Frost Forest was. She had soloed all three dungeons in the beginner village, but when had she ever had such a hard time?
Especially when she reached the final BOSS Frost Thain. It didn't need to be said that this final BOSS had the most health among all of the monsters in the dungeon. Tang Rou filled up her mana bar. Adding on her potion consumption while battling, she was unable to beat the Frost Thain before her mana depleted. In the end, she had to resort to drinking a potion every minute, using her skills for 10 seconds, and then awkwardly attacking without skills for 50 seconds.
She was also lucky that she had already been taught by Ye Xiu on the Frost Thain's specialties and attack patterns. If not, then if she had rashly gone to solo, she would have fallen for sure.
In this battle, Tang Rou used up a lot of her red and blue potions fighting the Frost Thain. In the end, she was finally able to take down the Frost Thain. And she let out a sigh of relief as if she had a weight off of her mind.
The dungeon statistics came out, time: 1 hour 33 minutes 24 seconds 49 milliseconds.
Although she eventually soloed the dungeon, this didn't make Tang Rou feel any sort of sense of success. She also felt too embarrassed to call Ye Xiu over. She just sent a message to tell Ye Xiu that she had finished.
"Oh? You're done?" Ye Xiu received the message and sent a reply.
"Yeah."
"You really brought a lot of potions!" Ye Xiu laughed.
"...."
"You should get up. Let me show you how it's done." Ye Xiu said.
Tang Rou silently dragged the wooden chair to the side. She did want to see how Ye Xiu played. She secretly noted how many potions she had used and how many potions she had left.
Ye Xiu dragged his chair over to sit. He lifted his hands and then let Soft Mist enter the dungeon. While pulling the monsters, he started explaining: "If you want to reach the endurance limit, then you have to do a lot of meticulous planning and careful accounting. Although the theories are all the same, in different dungeons, the methods you use won't be completely the same."
"First, the most basic point is to be clear on the amount of mana you have at any time." Ye Xiu said.
"Yeah, I pay attention to it." Tang Rou said.
"After that, you also have to know very well the amount of mana your skills use." Ye Xiu said.
"Oh..." Tang Rou couldn't answer. Sky Strike, Dragon Tooth, Double Stab... she was already quite familiar with these skills, but she had truly never thought of remembering how much mana these skills used.
"And after that, we want to use the least amount of mana to do the most amount of damage. First, you have to know what the hidden effects of each skill is. You should have already seen them in those guides, right?" Ye Xiu said.
"I've seen them!" Tang Rou agreed.
"Then have you tried your best every time to do the most damage with each skill? For example…." Ye Xiu talked about a skill. Then, Soft Mist jumped into the air. The battle lance stabbed a monster and immediately swung, a "Circle Swing".
"Yeah. Circle Swing's hidden effect is that if the arc made is greater than 180 degrees, then it will do more damage. I know this. I also do my best to do this as much as possible." Tang Rou said.
"Then have you fully used this skill's AoE effect?" Ye Xiu said. The Goblin, which had been Circle Swung, smashed into a group of its comrades.
"To maximize the damage, you have to consider the AoE effects of each skill." Ye Xiu explained while demonstrating: "Although Dragon Tooth and Double Stab are single-target skills, if we knock the target into the air and then use an aerial attack, we can make the target collide with other enemies and create an AoE effect."
"Falling Flower Palm is an AoE attack, but its range isn't large. The palm attack can at most hit three monsters at the same time. But its Blow Away effect is strong. An Aerial Attack will increase the Blow Away effect. So when using this skills, it's best to knock the targets up into the air first. Using a normal attack won't be able to knock up three monsters at the same time. You have to use Sky Strike's diagonal knock up effect. You've seen this in the guide right?"
While Ye Xiu said this, Soft mist stepped forward. From a side view, a Sky Strike leapt out hitting three Goblins into the air, but their heights were clearly uneven and they rose up and fell down at different times. At this moment, Soft Mist had already quickly turned around. Not waiting until these three Goblins fell, he launched a Falling Flower Palm. The three Goblins were still in the Palm's range. After being Blown Away, they once again smashed into a group of Goblins.
"After these series of attacks, do you know how much health these Goblins have left?" Ye Xiu asked.
"...."
"You have to know how much health these monsters have too. When these monsters only have a sliver of health left, a single normal hit will kill them. Why waste your mana on using skills?"
"Skills do more damage, but they can't be rashly used. For example, this Goblin over here. If this was a one on one scenario, with your skill's damage, you have to use at least three attacks to finish it. So then, we'll first consider the first combo..."
"Sky Strike, Dragon Tooth, and then a normal attack?" Tang Rou said.
"Yup, it looks like you've already understood this part. But your choice isn't the best one." Ye Xiu said.
"Why not?"
"Because you forgot that Dragon Tooth will automatically create a Chaser and creating a Chaser costs mana. So the best method is....." Ye Xiu's hands flicked: "A normal attack, a Double Stab to create the Bleed hidden effect, and then let it Bleed to death."
"But Double Stab's Bleed has a chance to fail….." The Goblin was hit by Soft Mist's Double Stab and then really did fall down from the Bleed. But Double Stab only had a 50% chance to Bleed. Tang Rou remembered that the guide said this.
"Right now we're pursuing the limit not the most dependable way." Ye Xiu said.
"Oh, I understand." Tang Rou nodded her head.
Soon after, Ye Xiu continued to explain. The skill's damages, their mana consumption, the monster's life, how to gather monsters, how to use the skill's features, back attack, aerial attacks, knock ups, etc. effects. The so-called endurance limit playing was simply extremely meticulous planning and careful accounting. Because Ye Xiu had to divide his attention to explain, it wasn't 100% perfect. But even so, Tang Rou still saw that the mana consumption was reduced and that the damage output didn't lose out to her madly using her skills the entire time.
In the end, Ye Xiu soloed Frost Forest in 1 hour 12 minutes 21 seconds 32 milliseconds. The harsh 20 minute difference made Tang Rou unable to open her eyes. It wasn't just the time either. Ye Xiu's potion consumption was much less than Tang Rou's. Beside eating food one time before fighting the Frost Thain, he had never stopped fighting the entire time. She knew that this wasn't this guy's limit either. Because Ye Xiu was explaining to her along the way. He had stopped sometimes and gave a demonstration. If this guy had focused on soloing the dungeon, then Tang Rou doubted that he'd even need 1 hour.
"Do you understand now?" After exiting the dungeon, Ye Xiu turned around to ask her.
"Yup!" Tang Rou nodded her head.
"Practice then! Remember to pay attention to the things I said before. This type of fighting really is tiring, but if we're going to set a new record, then you definitely need to give your 100%." Ye Xiu said.
"Understood." Tang Rou waited until Ye Xiu let her sit down before returning.
"After you've finished clearing it twice, use my account to clear it three times." Ye Xiu said.
"You didn't dungeon because you wanted to give me more chances to practice?" Tang Rou asked.
"Yup. My account and your account's damage from skills and mana consumption aren't too different. Using them interchangeably will let you break into this type of fighting style even faster. Once you've formed this sort of habit, concentrate on getting familiar with your own account and you'll be good." Ye Xiu said.
"Then every time I dungeon, I'll switch accounts." Tang Rou said.
"That's fine."
"Then I'll start with your account! Yours three times, mine two times. Five times is perfect." Tang Rou said.
"Okay." Ye Xiu got up and let Tang Rou play on his Lord Grim.
Tang Rou sat down and looked at his equipment's damage, skills, and attributes. This made Ye Xiu very happy, this girl had good prospects!
The two alternately used accounts. Ye Xiu trained. Tang Rou dungeoned. From time to time, Ye Xiu would turn around and give a few pointers. Tang Rou grasped it quickly. Her high mechanical skill was equivalent to having good hardware. In this sort of scenario, installing software was quite easy. With just software and no hardware, then the software couldn't be used. And upgrading hardware was much more troublesome.
Seeing Tang Rou's rapid progress, Ye Xiu felt that she was quite reliable. She wasn't like that guy Steamed Bun Invasion, who made him worry. Even worse, Steamed Bun Invasion's level was high. He wasn't like Tang Rou who was still Level 20 and had more space to practice.
"If it's just these two, I might still be lacking!" Ye Xiu sighed. Right now, he had already understood who his opponents were. They were pros, which made it even more clear what type of strength he needed. Equipment actually didn't need to be understood. Level 25 and the new server, equipment couldn't make much of a difference. The damage was at most at the level of Purple equipment.
Tang Rou's dungeoning needed an hour. After clearing it five times, daybreak had arrived long ago. The Interent Cafe employees with the morning shift came and saw that there weren't any customers in the Internet Cafe. There were only these two sitting at the reception desk madly gaming.
"Wait a bit!" Seeing that people were coming to take her spot, Tang Rou wouldn't let them. Her precious dungeon entries! How could she let them at this time.
" Come come. Come here!" Ye Xiu let up his computer.
"You keep practicing. I'm going to make a phone call." Ye Xiu said to Tang Rou.
"Okay." Tang Rou didn't even turn her head.
"Hello?" Ye Xiu called a number. The other side seemed a little fuzzy.
"Have you gotten up?" Ye Xiu asked.
"Huh??" The voice immediately became clear, "Where are you?" Su Mucheng asked.