The God that Qiu Fei saw with his own eyes wasn't so spectacular that it was impossible to look at him, as he had originally thought.
The real God was very normal and simple, but it was easy to see that his love for Glory came from the heart.
Competition wasn't just about winning; it was a joy in and of itself.
Qiu Fei really liked this quote from the God and was eager for the day he could experience the joy of competition. He never relented in his efforts, hoping that this day would come sooner. Some of the other trainees laughed at him for being dumb. To them, it was way too soon for him to even be thinking about succeeding God Ye Qiu.
That wasn't how Qiu Fei thought. God Ye Qiu's successor? This was just a title given to him by others. As for him, he hoped to stand beside God Ye Qiu on the battlefield, enjoying the match and pursuing victory together! Although he was coincidentally also a Battle Mage and it was rather hard to become a core member when there was a class overlap, but, no one ever said that it was impossible, right?
Qiu Fei had worked hard to achieve this goal, and that God would occasionally come to the training camp to give him guidance or play a training match or two with him. His habit was to point out flaws during the battle and then find a chance to personally demonstrate them. There was a reason that he was a master of all classes. Excellent Era's training camp did consist of more Battle Mages, but there were plenty of other classes. That God could give guidance to any player of any class, even more imposing than the fabled cheat.
Qiu Fei hadn't lacked that God's guidance back then. Each time it would be his problems that were pointed out before that God showed them how to deal with the said problem.
Last summer, when the two met unexpectedly, that God had fought a training match of unprecedented standards, except that time, that God hadn't had the chance to show him how to fix those problems. Now, after a year, that God had finally displayed the way to combo after cancelling a Double Stab. Though this might have been a coincidence, Qiu Fei couldn't help but think of that training match he had last year. Was the unfinished demonstration finally being completed in this match? He couldn't dodge this strike...
"Combat Form has been hit!"
With the commentator's yell, Lord Grim followed up on the hit that Qiu Fei couldn't avoid.
"Sky Strike! Shuriken! Moonlight Slash! Gore Cross! Earthquake Sword! Shadow Cloak! Eh! Er… er…" Commentator Pan Lin was shouting out all the skills as Lord Grim used them, but then his voice trailed off. He wanted to cut in again a few more times, but before he could announce the skill, Lord Grim was already using the next skill.
All of them were level 20 and under skills with little end or starting lag, and Lord Grim's combo was kept at an extremely fast pace, and in addition, he wasn't using any combinations Pan Lin was familiar with. Thus, after a few skills, Pan Lin could no longer keep up with the combos and could only shut up in disappointment.
"Is he going to just keep this combo up for the rest of the match?"
Qiu Fei found Lord Grim's combo very alien. He was very much familiar with these skills, but the combination created from them wasn't something within his realm of study. His mind couldn't keep up with the combo. This wasn't just a lack of experience, but it was like stepping into an entirely new realm, as if he was going up against a class from a different game.
What made Qiu Fei feel even more helpless was that Ye Xiu predicted all of his attempted countermeasures, avoiding the chance of him fighting back and prolonging his own offense. The few plans Qiu Fei had tried to execute were all quickly foiled because Ye Xiu managed to adjust before Qiu Fei had a chance to properly put them in motion, causing all of them to fail.
"Will none of these do? Then it seems like I have no choice…"
The airborne Combat Form timed himself to grasp a chance and suddenly twisted. Lord Grim pursued him and made to counter, yet Combat Form's raised spear didn't stab towards Lord Grim, but rather at the ground beneath him.
A halo of light descended from the spear and sunk into the ground. Following that, a pulse of magic spread through the earth and Combat Form swung his spear in the air. Suddenly, the ground seemed to tear apart and chunks of earth were blown into the air exactly where Lord Grim was.
The new level 75 Battle Mage skill: Shattering the Lands! The skill could transfer destructive magical energy and eventually erupt like that to land a sneak attack on an opponent
Level 75 skills only appeared a long time after Ye Xiu had left Excellent Era. Ye Xiu hadn't helped Qiu Fei master these skills, so he had mastered this skill independently. This was finally something that Ye Xiu couldn't easily predict. This Shattering the Lands interrupted Lord Grim's offense and helped Qiu Fei balance out the situation.
"Very nice. This Shattering the Lands was used perfectly. As a level 75 skill, there's no standard method of using it yet, so every player uses it according to their own method. We don't know how well Qiu Fei has mastered these skills either, but in that instant just now, Shattering the Lands was used beautifully, immediately cutting off any possibility of Lord Grim prolonging his offense combo and giving him a wonderful chance to strike back."
"Combat Form advances!"
Having interrupted Lord Grim's combo, Qiu Fei immediately had Combat Form strike back. He started with Dragon Tooth, a typical opening, but still one of the most commonly used for Battle Mages, and Qiu Fei used it with the most focus he could gather.
Dragon Tooth, Sky Strike, Falling Flower Palm, Circle Swing… These four skills were the lowest level skills for Battle Mages, but the small and simple combo formed through these four skills was something any Battle Mage could use with fluency. Under Qiu Fei's meticulous mechanics, the combo was flawlessly executed. In an instant, the four skills were all used, but they were still easily neutralized by Lord Grim. Many people knew how to execute these skills flawlessly, but their countermeasures had also long since been perfected.
Lord Grim easily dodged the four skill combo, but he didn't expect Qiu Fei to suddenly perform another unexpected action, unleashing another level 75 skill.
Cloud Whirling Windstorm!
The spear was whirled, whipping up the winds with a magic pulse, and the magic pulse was injected into these winds, raging towards their target alongside the spear.
That was when Lord Grim opened up his umbrella, hiding behind it lightly, unafraid of wind or rain.
This time, Qiu Fei didn't back down, and instead stepping forward when the Myriad Manifestations Umbrella opened up, slamming his attack right down against it.