CH 6

The biggest difference between ‘Zone’ and many other popular games would be its unique equipment system.　

The designers behind the game seemed to put a lot of thought in the entire artefact setup. Whenever new equipment was designed, not only were the attributes unique, but from the peculiar instances where drops1 could be found, down to the structure of the layout it could be said to have been well organized. 

Once a new weapon was introduced, not only would the crazy PvP players try to come up with methods on how they could reap these rewards, but even average PvE players would go as far as to spend money asking professionals to help collect them. No one was willing to let a single item go.

Lin Xiao was certainly not the reserved type that would keep himself under control in these conditions, however, since he’d already grasped the attributes behind most of the equipment as well as his status as a senior pro player, he believed time was better spent on leveling up his equipment and creating new strategies.

All the equipment in ‘Zone’ could be placed in the player’s inventory just after acquiring them. Although many players could have the same weapon, they were bound to be different and have unique effects. Each piece of armament could be trained to have effects from the eight main attributes: Blood Soul Effect (Physical Attack), Magical Effect (Magic Attack), Shield Effect (Physical Defense), Magical Defense (Magic Defense), Mana Capacity (Mana Limit), Wind (Speed ​​Sensitive), Environment and Elemental (Resistance), and Condenser (Cooldown Reduction).

As a result of this, each player could have more ground to compete based on their own uniquely added characteristic, and it also made creating match strategies and choice of weaponry a bit more complex. Whether it may be international pro players in the league or a local team in a match, the participant’s ability to use various tactics when selecting weapons was one of the most exciting aspects of the game. 

After leaving the instance, Lin Xiao quickly dumped all the equipment from his backpack to his inventory.  Looking around for a bit, he opted against picking artefacts that needed to be trained long term and simply tossed them into the system for demolition. Normal people would have chosen to split them in parts and place them in the cool down reduction system.2

After Lin Xiao added Red Alert, there was no contact between the two. He mostly devoted himself to clearing various dungeons. In order to improve his ranking on the ladder as fast as possible, he needed new equipment. However in order to get new equipment, his own basic equipment had to be trained first.

Lin Xiao, who was on his own, could only clear levels with random teams, and not all bosses in dungeons were easily killed. So wanting to conquer dungeons quickly was unlikely. It took an entire week before a sufficient amount of artefacts could be gathered for the cooldown system. 　　

The equipment training method that granted the cooldown reduction attribute mainly focused on cooling, and shrinking had become a cooling flow in the Zone world, which granted extreme skill shortening effects. However, players who used the cool down reduction system would select 4 other attributes to train, so even if they were playing against professional league players, they would use a maximum of 6 pieces. Unlike Lin Xiao, who had prepared 8 pieces of equipment and planned on training the entire set with only CD [cool down] effects. One could only describe this as madness.

The basic equipment was ready, and next in line were the main training equipment. Based on limited conditions, he temporarily selected several equipment that were relatively easy to obtain.

There were already five finished products in Lin Xiao’s hands, and the other three could be obtained from more difficult dungeons. Major guilds had their respective groups assigned for instances. 

He began browsing through the map channel to find a suitable group to clear levels with when suddenly, there was a pop, then a flash, and the computer screen went dark. After checking, he found it was only a wire trip which had short circuited and after restarting and waiting for a while, a series of English words popped up, covering the entire screen on a dark background.　　

Well, the computer was broken.

“So unlucky,” Lin Xiao muttered as he disassembled the computer into three separate parts, and went downstairs to find a computer store within the city. Stuffing himself into the backseat of a taxi and curling up into a ball, he couldn’t help but yawn. After several days of  sleepless nights and endless grinding, he really was tired. It was thanks to the broken computer that this could be considered a mini vacation. 

T/n

Heyyo my GGS darlings, sawwy about the very late updates. I was ill as well as preparing to go back to school, but the team and I are back and ready to work again and we thank you for your patience. (^‿^｡)

Drops – Drops are what we call in-the-game loot. They are rewards or pieces that are received at the end of defeating a particular boss or an instance.

Cool Down Reduction system – This is a mechanical feature that reduces the cooldown of spells, passives, items and charge based abilities.

“The device won’t turn on, it may be a hardware issue. You wait here for a bit, while I take it in for a closer look.” The computer shop owner dropped this sentence before asking someone to carry the computer inside.

Lin Xiao turned around looking a bit bored, before his gaze finally locked onto an empty chair. He was about to walk over when someone made a sudden outburst, “Well, this will be a really good show!” Looking in the direction where the voice came from, he saw a laptop placed on a table and around it, several people gathered. Between the gaps, a familiar scene could be seen on the screen.

Only then did it occur to him that this was the season for the domestic league spring tournament.  

The logos for both teams were very eye-catching on the screen. Coincidentally, today’s match was Black Rose vs Liuyun. Lin Xiao stood watching for a while before slowly walking over with his hands in his pockets.

At that moment, playing live in the second round of a 1v1 match were Shen Chang of  Black Rose team, operating the summoner, Season Rain vs the dark mage, Crazy Fish operated by Liuyun’s team, Zhang Fengyu. Since both sides were the vice captains of their respective teams, this duel naturally ignited the fighting spirit between both parties, causing the atmosphere within the audience to become dazzled.  

Not only were the spectators at the venue crying, but even the onlookers in the computer shop were very excited. Because there were fans of both teams present, it gave rise to fierce discussion and if there was a disagreement, both sides would fly into rage.

Lin Xiao looked at the scene of madmen in front of him and found it a bit funny. He removed the cigarette from his mouth as he took a deep breath, while narrowing his eyes when they fell on the person in the center of the screen.

Xu Qingyu, captain of the Aotian team.

As a member of the league, although he wasn’t as talented as other players, he always worked hard and was considered a mid tier level character within the gaming circle. Lin Xiao always admired this positive captain. Despite the fact that the esports industry in those times were at the very beginning and could be regarded as declining at one point, his presence in the league was very inspiring and encouraging.

But he just didn’t expect that after five years, Xu Qingyu would actually choose to retire.

Thinking about it, he would have been 22 years old back then, and now he was already 27. He could now be thought of as a senior amongst esports players. For the sake of future development, this was indeed a wise choice. Besides, sports commentary was not some random job that just anyone could take on casually. Xu Qingyu had prior knowledge of the combat style and strategies of various teams, so in a sense, this was most suitable for him.

Lin Xiao sighed as he seemed to recall that the man owed him five hundred yuan.

Suddenly, a wave of cheering sounded out, frightening Lin Xiao from his thoughts. His cigarette trembled slightly, causing the ash to fall on his trousers.

Glancing up, it turned out that the players from both sides had walked unto the stage in the order in which they were introduced. He couldn’t help but wipe his sweat silently. He normally watched games like these with his past teammates but never from the perspective of crazy onlookers. Now that he experienced it… these fans were really… um… enthusiastic!

The sudden outburst obviously caught the attention of the people working in the backroom and an angry roar from the boss came out, “What are you doing here if you’re not working? Noisy! Believe it or not, I will fire you!”

It was as if someone pressed a mute button in the shop because the entire place went silent for a while, with only the commentator’s voice on the laptop in the background.

Lin Xiao looked around at these people as if watching a drama, pulled himself a chair and sat lazily in front of a computer.

Shen Chang and Zhang Fengyu could be considered old enemies if one should trace back to the past. They were both well known for stable characters and rigorous fighting styles. They also joined the league around the same period and they just so happened to both be the vice captains for their respective teams. This obviously caused the two to always be placed together for comparison.

Both were no strangers to Lin Xiao.

When Lin Xiao was the captain of the Black Rose team, Shen Chang was only an unknown substitute player back then, during which Zhang Fengyu had already shone in the professional league and was quite popular.

As time went by, Black Rose team made several replacements one after another. In the second season however, to everyone’s surprise, the two-seasoned championship team captain, Lin Xiao, suddenly pushed Shen Chang to the vice captain position. At the time, Shen Chang was just an unknown rookie. When everyone was questioning his decision, Lin Xiao simply faced the camera and gave a small smile. “Vice captain Shen is a rare prodigy, and as for the reason I made this decision, I will soon give a satisfactory answer.”

This sentence was regarded as an official response at the time. But after the defeat of the Black Rose team in the third season, this caused more dissatisfaction amongst fans.

However, in the fourth season, Lin Xiao ultimately led the Black Rose team to the podium of the GDL world championship, raised the championship trophy high in the air with Shen Chang, which was his satisfactory answer to the decision made that year. In spite of everything, when it ended, Lin Xiao aka ‘Old Ghost’, who could be considered a legend back then, died in a car accident on his way home.

Thinking of this, Lin Xiao couldn’t help feeling it was a pity. At that time, he had promised the vice captain three more victories together.

Although Black Rose still existed as a mighty team, they appeared to have fallen slightly. The only thing that came as a surprise to Lin Xiao was that even after five years of his absence, Shen Chang, who was the deputy then, still held that position now. The captain’s position was held by the brilliant new generation star, You Jing, operator of the Cleric ‘Dazzling View’.

Prior to his rebirth, he had never heard of this character.

The players on both sides had now been introduced. The image on the screen switched and paused momentarily on a figure, and though it was just a few seconds, it was enough time for the atmosphere to become overwhelmed with screams and this momentum was used to commence the entire event.

Lin Xiao frowned as his ears ached due to the noise, his eyes fell on the silhouette wearing the black rose uniform.