The King's Avatar

Ye Xiu didn’t stop with his progress as he chatted with the stranger, who never lifted his gaze from Ye Xiu’s screen. During the first minute, he was shocked by Ye Xiu’s character’s weapon and class. During the second minute, he was astonished by Ye Xiu’s amazing battle skills and maneuvers.

However, the stranger’s expression didn’t change much the second time. He was already as amazed as he thought he could possibly be. Who would have thought that the person in front of him would have even more in store for him?

“Unbelieveable… this is unbelieveable…” the stranger chanted under his breath while watching Ye Xiu killing a horde of monsters as easily as cutting grass. He soon realized that Ye Xiu’s damage wasn’t very good. However, this was rather normal considering that Lord Grim was only level 50. It was clear proof of Ye Xiu’s terrifying skill.

Soon, the battle ended. The stranger stared in awe at the piles of corpses littered all over the map and the full health bar of Ye Xiu’s character. His face almost twitched in extreme shock.

“Incredible!” He finally squeezed out a word of praise. But then the stranger immediately regretted it because the word came nowhere close to what he wished to say. Unfortunately, he couldn’t find any other word to describe it. He found that not only could his face not express his awe accurately, but his vocabulary was the same as well.

“It was okay.” Ye Xiu responded, “A bit slow though.”

“Of course, you’re only level 50.” The stranger blurted out.

Upon seeing Ye Xiu leave the battleground, the stranger gathered up all of his courage and asked, “Brother, do you have time for a round in the Arena?”

“Hm?” Ye Xiu was startled.

“I’m from the eighth server. My character’s name is Ascending.” The stranger introduced himself.

“F*ck me!” Ye Xiu suddenly cried out, surprising both the stranger and Chen Guo.

“What’s wrong?” Ascending was terrified.

“Nothing, nothing. You go ahead and create a room. I’ll be there soon.” Ye Xiu quickly answered.

“Aye!” Ascending jumped up and ran back to his computer.

“Are you okay?” Chen Guo was still surprised about Ye Xiu’s reaction just now. He was always calm and confident, so why was he did he suddenly curse a moment ago? Was Ascending someone very important?

“I’m so stupid.” Ye Xiu murmured.

“I thought so.” Chen Guo snickered.

Ye Xiu cast a helpless glance at Chen Guo, who just found a rare opportunity to mock him, then he continued, “I forgot that the Arena is cross-server. Aren’t I stupid for forgetting such a basic set-up?”

“What?” This time, Chen Guo was startled.

Ye Xiu shook his head, “And I was counting how many days it would take for the tenth server’s players to reach level 50. Tsk, tsk, tsk!”

“How come you never said anything?” Ye Xiu asked Chen Guo.

“I can be stupid too, can’t I?” Chen Guo was a bit depressed. The Arena being cross-server was basic knowledge among the players. In the end, the top tier professional player forgot about. Chen Guo, an experienced player who had played the game for five years, also forgot about it. Su Mucheng apparently forgot as well. When the three of them were together during New Year’s holiday to play the game, Ye Xiu had mentioned this problem. In conclusion, Su Mucheng didn’t see anything wrong and spent her time with Ye Xiu and Chen Guo worrying stupidly.

This… Did everyone just blank out?

Chen Guo pondered.

Ye Xiu had definitely blanked out; that was obvious. But for she and Su Mucheng to blank out on the exact same issue simultaneously… that was a bit questionable. This was a very basic rule and there was absolutely no reason for all of them to have forgotten about it.

Or could it have been because of something else? Such as a unwavering trust in Ye Xiu from the both of them?

Perhaps it was simply because he said it, the two girls believed it without a second thought. Perhaps it was because he was worried about the issue, so they went along with it and worried about it with him. They had only tried to think up a solution to the problem, but never bothered to check if the problem itself actually existed.

Was this guy… actually that reliable?

Chen Guo was having a bad time believing that this listless guy would actually gain her trust.

It’s probably because of his identity. Chen Guo answered her own question weakly.

On the other side, Ye Xiu was already rushing to the Arena. Then Ascending darted back, “Brother, I got the room. Fixed Field, Arena 5. Room 4689. The password is poiuy. “

“Poiuy? What does that mean?” Chen Guo was interested in the odd password.

Ascending turned and glanced at Chen Guo,”Look at the keyboard.”

Chen Guo looked down. From the right upper corner to the left of the keyboard, the first few keys were poiuy.

“Fixed Field? That’s unnecessary. Let’s go to the regular Arena!” Ye Xiu didn’t pay any attention to the password, but he was unhappy about the mode.

“Ah?” Ascending was stunned.

“I… quest requirement.” Ye Xiu replied weakly. This wasn’t a good explanation at all. A level 50 challenging a level 70 without being in the Fixed Field could easily be misunderstood as contempt against the opponent. Ye Xiu had no disrespect whatsoever against Ascending. It was just that victories in the Fixed Field didn’t count, so it would be useless for the Heavenly Domain Challenge. Then again, Ye Xiu didn’t need this particular victory, so if Ascending insisted, Ye Xiu would be fine with doing it in Fixed Field.

Ascending didn’t mind at all though. ”Wait a sec.” He nodded and dashed back. In a moment, he got a new room in the regular Arena and raced back to tell Ye Xiu.

After seeing Ye Xiu’s Lord Grim enter the room successfully, Ascending sprinted back to his own computer to start the match.

Ascending was a level 70 Mechanic and seemed to be PvP veteran. He rushed forward purposefully the moment the match started.

Ye Xiu didn’t hold back at all. He had refused a match in the Fixed Field, if he still held back, that would be truly disrespectful towards Ascending. As a result, Ye Xiu attacked fiercely and decisively ended the match in 1 minute and 14 seconds.

The match time was a bit longer than usual as expected. 20 levels of level suppression and 20 levels of equipment difference were all too real. Even if Ye Xiu could guarantee that he hit Ascending with every attack, the actual damage would still be reduced significantly.

Still, from a normal player’s point of view, this was an extremely one-sided match. After the first hit from Ye Xiu, Ascending never even got any chance to retaliate until his character died.

“Hey, was that necessary? Aren’t you going a bit too harsh on him?” Chen Guo couldn’t stand to watch.

“I was worried that he would think I belittled him by refusing a match in the Fixed Field, so I thought I’d show him that I really am much better than he is.” Ye Xiu explained.

“Awesome!” Just as Ye Xiu finished his sentence, Ascending sent him a comment.

Ye Xiu’s hands hovered over the keyboard. He wanted to reply, but couldn’t find anything to say. The usual “You’re not half bad either” wouldn’t work at all. Ascending lost this match so completely that Ye Xiu could find nothing to praise him with. If Ye Xiu were to applaud Ascending’s skills, the courtesy would have been so overly untruthful that it would just sound like mockery. After a few moments of thought, Ye Xiu settled on using a smiley face as a reply.

“Shall we try again?” Ascending asked carefully. His diction changed this time. He used “try” after realizing that he might not even get the slightest chance to attack at all.

“Okay.” Ye Xiu agreed, and the two started a second round. Ye Xiu already showed Ascending his true level of skills, so he went easy on Ascending. This time, Ascending lost at the 1 minute and 30 second mark.

“That was really awesome…” Ascending messaged again. This time, he didn’t lose as miserably as last time, but the match was still one-sided.

“It was okay…” Ye Xiu was rather modest.

“Sorry for the trouble.” Ascending texted again.

“Um? No more?”

“Nah, I can’t beat you. The difference between us is too great. I need a long time of practice to reach your level.” Ascending explained.

“Good luck.” Ye Xiu ended the conversation, and both of them left the room. Ye Xiu turned around and spoke to Chen Guo, “See, a smart guy who actually knows the difference.”

“The ‘smart guy’ is back.” Chen Guo saw Ascending running back when she lifted her head.

“If you don’t mind, could I have your contact info? If there’s another chance, I’d like to challenge you again.” Ascending asked humbly.

“Are you in the Heavenly Domain?” Ye Xiu asked.

“Ah!”

“I’ll be there soon. We’ll meet then.” Ye Xiu clarified.

“Oh, oh. Okay.” Ascending nodded. He looked at Ye Xiu and Chen Guo and added embarrassedly “Excuse me.” Then he ran back to his own computer again.

“Heavenly Domain!” Ye Xiu turned to look at Chen Guo. His clenched fists showed his determination. Ye Xiu paid no attention to the little episode of Ascending. As a pro player, meeting another player was nothing special at all. He had gotten used to it a long time ago.

“Hurry up!” Chen Guo answered.

“While I’m still here, I might as well get a few matches done.” Ye Xiu was still in the Arena. He started to enter rooms randomly in search of a suitable match. The regular Arena had two types: Free Field and Level Field . Because Lord Grim and Ascending had a 20 level gap and it wasn’t in the Level Field to cover such a huge level gap, Lord Grim and Ascending finished their matched in the Free Field.

In the Free Field, levels didn’t matter. However, Ye Xiu couldn’t pick on players whose level was lower than his. Thus, after changing the setting on the level limit for entering rooms, he started his conquest.

A conquest without any resistance.

Ye Xiu’s skills ensured that he could easily defeat any player, with or without the 20 levels of level gap. In the Free Field, high level players were primarily picking on the low level players. If a player really wanted a challenge, he or she would go to level limit type arena. In the end, tons of bullies lost miserably in front of Ye Xiu. The 20 levels of difference in levels and equipments were virtually non-existent.. If Glory wasn’t known for its clean gaming environment, a lot of people would suspect that he was hacking.

Still, there were still a large number of people who found this very suspicious. The biggest proof was that strange weapon. It was complete mystery to them. What kind of weapon would change its shape every other second? Would actually having the hack make one that dominant?

While Ye Xiu swept through the Arena, his character’s name showed up again and again on the official report forum. In the discussion forum for PvP, there were mentions of him everywhere. Lord Grim’s fame had finally spread outside of the tenth server and into the entirety of Glory.

As for Ye Xiu, he saw nothing but the waving hand of the Heavenly Domain as he counted his victories.