1143 An Ordinary Veteran

Zeng Xinran wasn't the first to rookie to lose a battle because of nerves, nor would he be the last. But no rookie would ever want their very first battle to have such an embarrassing ending.

This was the very first point obtained by Happy in the pro league, a memorable point won by Ye Xiu. The story stopped there, though, since there was nothing memorable about the process of winning the point. This wasn't a match to be proud of.

Somehow, Happy won the point just like that. Aside from the judge, who had seen with his own eyes how nervous Zeng Xinran was, the only others who could really understand what had happened were his Hundred Blossom teammates.

Others didn't know anything about Zeng Xinran, but his teammates understood his skill very well. After all, he was sent out for this official match because he had the skill necessary to possibly achieve a win. But in the end, his performance didn't suit his actual abilities at all. The Hundred Blossoms players thought, and immediately knew that he had been too nervous.

It was common to be nervous, but strange to be nervous to this extent. But they couldn't put more pressure on Zeng Xinran after this. When he came off stage, his teammates spoke words of comfort and encouragement to him, until the judge called for the second individual competitor to go onstage.

Zhang Wei.

An ordinary name that couldn't get any more ordinary, just like his professional career.

Zhang Wei was a veteran player. After debuting in Season 3, he had played continuously for Team Hundred Blossoms. He wasn't particularly talented, nor did he show any sort of breakthrough growth. Through the years, he was just another ordinary member of Hundred Blossoms.

He had seen Blood and Blossoms wreak havoc upon the Alliance. He had seen Sun Zheping's tragic injury and untimely retirement. He had seen Zhang Jiale alone but still persevering in the fight. He had seen Tang Hao's rapid rise from a benchwarmer to a God at the peak of the Alliance. All of this took place right beside him, and he experienced it all, yet hadn't changed afterwards. In the end, he was just a very ordinary member of Hundred Blossoms. There were actually many pro players like this. They weren't very eye-catching, and they wouldn't often come up in the media or in conversations between ordinary gamers. However, they were still a very important component of the Alliance. It was just like how in real life, the majority of people were just ordinary people. Pro players were an extraordinary subset of Glory players, and Zhang Wei and the others were the most ordinary of this subset.

The second player in the individual competition for Hundred Blossoms' away match at Happy was this ordinary player, Zhang Wei.

Zhang Wei went onstage, entered the player booth, swiped his account card, logged into the game, and joined the match room. He had repeated this process many times over the years and so didn't need any sort of preparation. To him, it was as simple as eating a meal. Soon after entering the room, he saw his opponent enter: Steamed Bun Invasion.

Oh, it's that confusing player.

Zhang Wei thought back to the research they had done prior to this match. This player named Bao Rongxing had earned that evaluation. This guy! He had good technical skill for sure, but his performance in matches was sometimes good and sometimes bad. If that were his only problem, they could just treat him as a player whose condition was unstable. But this guy… Sometimes his good would become bad, and sometimes his bad would miraculously produce good. His play followed no rules, and so it was impossible to devise any tactics to counter him. In the end, the plan was just four words: play it by ear.

And now the task of playing by ear had fallen upon Zhang Wei's head.

Countdown. Loading match.

Zhang Wei's character was a Witch called Endless Forest. Although he was an ordinary player, he had played in Hundred Blossoms for many years now, and his position was relatively stable, so his character Endless Forest was fairly good. Of course, it couldn't compare to Vaccaria. Zhang Wei had debuted the same year as Wang Jiexi and played the same class, but his name was never mentioned with Wang Jiexi's, because in people's eyes there was nothing to compare.

Zhang Wei used this decent Witch, Endless Forest. The strategy of this match was to play by ear, so Zhang Wei's original plan was to open with strategic change of position. But the map that Happy had chosen was simple and flat. With no cover, there was no way to surprise the opponent, so he had no choice but to directly charge forward.

Steamed Bun didn't hesitate at all. As soon as the match started, he brazenly charged out, at the same time sending a message: "Let's decide the winner!"

"Alright." Upon seeing the opponent's message, Zhang Wei sent a reply.

Soon enough, without dodging, or rather with nowhere to dodge, the two players met at the center of the map.

Both Brawler and Witch were close to mid-range fighters, but the Witch's range of control was a bit larger. As a Mage, a Witch absolutely had to have some sort of AoE.

Zhang Wei's actions were extremely simple. Endless Forest tossed a Lava Flask, which was the most common opening move for Witches in PvP. Throw a Lava Flask, it didn't matter if you burned the opponent, just limit their movements. If they didn't want to suffer damage from the lava, they could only go around…

Okay, he's jumping over here!

The Lava Flask had instantly turned the area into a field of lava, but Steamed Bun Invasion leapt into the air. With a powerful Knee Attack, half jumping half attacking, he continued straight towards Endless Forest.

He managed to avoid the Lava Flask this way, but this kind of attack was just too reckless!

Endless Forest stepped to the side, and with a wave of his sleeve, a dark purple shadow flew out. It was the Witch skill Night Cloak, which could grab, and because it had a higher priority than Knee Attack, the grab could not be avoided with this skill.

The midair Steamed Bun Invasion looked like he crashed right into the Night Cloak, and he was immediately bound by the shadows and fell into the lava. But Zhang Wei wouldn't let him get away with just that amount of damage. Endless Forest raised his broom and prepared to launch further attacks, only to see something small flying toward him and steadily growing larger. In an instant it filled his field of view, and he was hit by the Brick.

When was this Brick thrown?

Zhang Wei didn't know, but he was sure that it was before his Night Cloak, otherwise it would have been interrupted by the Night Cloak's grab. And now, the Brick had hit him and interrupted his attack, while the binding effect of Night Cloak had worn off already. Steamed Bun Invasion was in the lava, and although he was taking damage, it didn't affect his movements.

Tyrannical Chain Punch!

Zhang Wei immediately wanted to have Endless Forest to dodge, but it was already too late. Steamed Bun Invasion was right in front of him. He got up and turned over, ignoring the lava's damage and coming with a ruthless hammering blow. Zhang Wei would suffer in this exchange. But he didn't really understand Steamed Bun Invasion's usage of Tyrannical Chain Punch right now. Although this was a fierce attack, there were no good follow-up skills. It would make more sense to first use some smaller attacks to pave the way, then finish the combo with a Tyrannical Chain Punch. But Steamed Bun Invasion was decisive, directly using the final step and leaving it at that.

Right, leaving it at that.

After the Tyrannical Chain Punch, Steamed Bun Invasion rolled backward and retreated. This was the motion prescribed by the system at the end of this skill and was unavoidable. Of course, Endless Forest, who had just been battered by the Tyrannical Chain Punch wouldn't be able to counterattack in such a short period of time. Otherwise, this attack would just become a skill where after it was used the player would be forced to suffer an attack.

So after this, the two characters stood up at almost the same time, and tossed out items at the same time.

Steamed Bun Invasion used Sand Toss, while Endless Forest used a Disperse Powder. If the opponent had any buffs, the Disperse Powder would get rid of them, and if they didn't, then the Disperse Powder would reduce their speed.

The two scattered materials intersected in midair and continued toward their targets, neither affecting the other. Because they were close to each other and were both attacking, neither had time to dodge, and they were both struck at the same time. Steamed Bun Invasion's movements instantly became slower, and Endless Forest had been a little late in turning his camera, so the Sand Toss reached his face. His field of view turned black.

Being Blind didn't mean that you couldn't move, so Zhang Wei immediately had Endless Forest to jump backward. The Blind effect from Sand Toss didn't last very long, while the effects of Disperse Powder would last a solid 10 seconds. After the Blind wore off, he would still have plenty of time to counterattack.

Zhang Wei hopped backwards in darkness, but while doing so suddenly felt like his character had been hit by something. After seeing the status effect appear, he was startled. This… wasn't this the lowered speed effect caused by Disperse Powder?

Tooth for Tooth!

Zhang Wei immediately knew that Steamed Bun had used this skill before his Disperse Powder, which allowed him to secretly learn the Disperse Powder skill. But as to why Steamed Bun activated Tooth for Tooth, Zhang Wei couldn't understand at all. Even though the events had already passed and Disperse Powder had been stealthily learned, Zhang Wei still couldn't understand why he would make such a move. Using such a powerful attack and then a Disperse Powder just pulled their speeds to the same level, he hadn't established any sort of advantage!

While he was confused, the Blind wore off and his vision recovered, only for him to see Steamed Bun Invasion charging toward him..

This… there was still a large distance between them! How would Zhang Wei let himself be attacked so easily? He saw Steamed Bun Invasion raise his hand in preparation to throw something, and he was prepared to dodge, but he quickly saw that the direction in which he had raised his hand was simply too far off-target.

What direction is that?

Zhang Wei turned his camera to see where Steamed Bun Invasion had thrown that missed Poison Needle, and then suddenly, there was a clunk at the back of his head. He was hit by a Brick, knocked Dizzy!

Brick! Where'd it come from?

Zhang Wei didn't know, but he had been Blind for a moment, so Steamed Bun Invasion must have used that time to find the right angle to pull it out. But Steamed Bun Invasion of course wouldn't run around behind him to throw the Brick. After all, he couldn't Teleport.

This Brick had originally been thrown at him almost head-on. The blind on Zhang Wei had worn off, but while he had still been fuzzy, Steamed Bun had come up with a diversion. That missed Poison Needle caused Zhang Wei to turn his camera, so he didn't see the Brick and left the back of his head wide open.

This this this...

What kind of strategy was this? He'd never heard of such a thing before! Zhang Wei was utterly baffled. And in that Tooth for Tooth exchange, what was with that Disperse Powder? He understood that even less…