The King's Avatar

Faking carelessness and losing health before suddenly pulling himself together to defeat his opponent in one go. If one gave it more thought, this kind of thing fit with Li Rui’s personality. This must have been deliberate.

That’s what Li Rui’s companions believed. They would never have thought that the prideful Li Rui they usually knew, the Li Rui that gave little care for his opponents, would be nervous to the point that his mind had turned blank. He didn’t deliberately lose his health, he didn’t even have time to think about it. After the countdown from three, two, and one for the match, he was carried away.

Li Rui’s companions completely misunderstood him, so none of them were worried about him. Instead, they patiently waited for Li Rui to show his might. In the match, Soft Mist’s wave of attacks came again.

This time, Li Rui wasn’t lost in thought, he hastily made his response. However, his fingers were frozen, and refused to listen to his command. This situation looked terrible, if he didn’t do anything, then he would suffer a chain of attacks from Tang Rou. If they were evenly matched, then both sides would repeatedly be exchanging their skills to test each other. Until now, Li Rui could make responses, but they weren’t good. As a result, he fought in a strained manner.

”Is he still pretending?” Li Rui’s companions discussed as they messaged each other.

”He’s pretty good at faking.”

”Hehe, exactly, as if he really is struggling.””When he breaks out later, the opponent will definitely be mind-blown!”

”Too bad we can’t see his opponent’s expression!”

”Yeah, what a pity. But Li Rui is really despicable.”

”Of course, too despicable! He’s evil from heaven to hell!”

The two friends talked back and forth, while while watching Li Rui ”fake” his flustered composure.

”It’s about time for him to make his move!” Some replied. ”Mhm, about time.”

”Hehe.” The two sent the drooling emoji to each other. But after numerous movements, Demon Fighter lost another chunk of health.

”He’s still not making his move, he can really hold it in!”

”He must be planning to make a complete and grand comeback! He really has the guts!”

”Yeah, he’s too confident, tsk tsk!”

The two sighed repeatedly, and continued to watch Demon Fighter’s health go down. ”His health bar has turned red, he will definitely be making his move. He even waited for his health bar to go red, how ruthless.” Someone said.

”Indeed, I can’t help but to feel worried for him.” Another said.

Half a minute later.

”Say, perhaps we should really be worried for him.”

”What’s up with him? Something’s not right!!”

After Demon Fighter’s health bar turned red, they still failed to see Li Rui break out. All they saw, was him struggling and the health bar of Demon Fighter continue to fall. The two no longer continued to watch the match. They turned their head to see Li Rui. Li Rui’s face was a bit pale. Even though the temperature at the end of August was still a little hot, the workshop’s strong air conditioner continued to operate, so the workshop was chilly. But Li Rui’s head was covered with thin beads of sweat. The wind was cool, so was his sweat. Finally, the word ”Glory” shone on the screen. Li Rui stared dumbly with a paralysed face. Everyone gazed at one another, speechless.

It’s alright to lose! But what happened just then? He lost in such an unsightly manner! Was there any difference between him and those experts online that were bullied?

The people from Excellent Era were in shock. But the audience had no idea that Demon Fighter was a hidden pro. For them, this match was no different from the previous days they had crowded around to see. Before Soft Mist, all the players were abused like this. It seemed like this Demon Fighter was pretty good! He managed to hang on for so long. Perhaps, his future might be promising with more practice?

A rough start!

Chen Yehui sighed. But it wasn’t him who had lost, so his mood wasn’t too bad. Instead of going up to give comfort, his eyes gazed at Li Rui disdainfully. That’s what you get for pretending!

”Do I need to switch players?” Soft Mist asked from the Arena room.

According to the standard competition rules, three people would need to come forth for individual matches. One person for each match. Soft Mist would need to switch with another player after one match, but the people who challenged her might not be in a team, so they didn’t need to follow the standard competition rules. Tang Rou would be facing the challengers by herself. Only fighting one match wouldn’t be enough for her. So even though Chen Guo said that they would be fighting according to the competition rules, she still asked.

In the Excellent Era workshop, Li Rui suddenly jumped up and rushed before Qiu Fei with impatience. ”Lend me your account.”

”Mm?” Qiu Fei was puzzled, he was already logged into the game, so he could watch the match! When Liu Rui suddenly ran over for his account, Qiu Fei didn’t understand what he meant. On the contrary, Chen Yehui used to be in the training camp and currently managed the guild, so he was someone who had connections in both the online circle and professional circle. As a result, it was easy to guess what Li Rui was thinking.

This guy must have wanted to gain publicity through a match that drew a lot of attention. Who would have thought that he would lose in such an unsightly manner. But he refused to give up and still wanted to grab onto this opportunity. It wouldn’t have been enough if he used the same account to win back something he lost. Luckily he was online, so no one would know who was behind Demon Fighter. This guy just wanted to switch characters and win, so he can speak about this victory as a pretense.

”Lend it to me to try again.” Li Rui asked Qiu Fei without explanation.

It was unknown if Qiu Fei thought about it. He only glanced at Li Rui again. Qiu Fei didn’t hand Li Rui his account, but he got up to give him his seat.

”Thank you.” Li Rui said and sat down hurriedly, while he shouted at Chen Yehui that he would ”Try another round”. He didn’t care about Chen Yehui’s respond as he had already switched to Qiu Fei’s character and rushed into the arena. ”No need to change. Come!” A text bubble popped above his character’s head.

”Didn’t they say they would follow the competition rules?” Chen Guo found it hard to understand.

”It doesn’t matter.” Tang Rou said.

”You must be more than happy to fight. Of course it doesn’t matter.” Chen Guo said helplessly.

Tang Rou smiled and entered the match without minding at all. ”Don’t be careless with the previous guy, he was actually quite good. He just performed badly.” Ye Xiu said.

”Oh? Is that so?” Chen Guo wasn’t able to tell at all.

”Mm, he showed a glimmer of it, but he just played badly.” Ye Xiu said.

”Why so?” Chen Guo asked.

”Within our circle, this type of circumstance is called performing poorly.” Ye Xiu said.

”...” Chen Guo was speechless. ”Performing poorly” could be used to explain all sorts of things. All reasons could be summed up with ”performing poorly”, but there was nothing wrong with saying that.

”Mm.” Tang Rou answered as he listened to Ye Xiu’s words. She never underestimated her opponent. The opponent before her was called Silent Night, and was another Battle Mage

After experiencing nervousness to the point of going blank in the first round, Li Rui finally adjusted his mindset. He breathed deeply, and after the countdown, he immediately made his move.

This was a match that couldn’t be lost, but now that Li Rui finished adjusting his mind-set, his mind was no longer completely blank. He prepared to take her down with his full power, so he took the initiative to launch his attack when the match started. The two Battle Mages clashed together in the center. The two spears danced together. A hoarse, clashing noise sounded from time to time. Attacking and blocking were something that players loved to watch. Clashes between weapons would make the competition seem more intense.

This round, they were truly evenly matched.

The onlookers continued to watch, and their mood gradually rose. This was the scene that they have been waiting for! Even if, from what they have seen so far, the opponent was even at best, but the previous opponents of Soft Mist have only been oppressed, tossed, and turned. Now that there was finally an expert who could get out a fight. It was enough to raise everyone’s spirits.

The faceslapping group that had been silent for a long time started to liven up. A large number of cheering messages started to flood into the chat. The two that were fighting could see it. Li Rui saw that the competition drew a lot of attention, and now that he fight normally, he managed to bring hope to many! Win, I must win. If I win, I would become the hero of these people. They would spread news of this victory without me needing to do anything. If my identity is revealed, everyone’s attention will be focused onto me. Who knows, maybe fans might even block the club door to ask Excellent Era to make me an actual player!

But signing a contract with Excellent Era isn’t perfect! We’re only fighting in the Challenger League this season, and One Autumn Leaf is controlled by Sun Xiang. I have no chance at all! Speaking of age, I’m even older than Sun Xiang!

But if I don’t go to Excellent Era, this match’s victory wouldn’t draw the attention of other teams. I would only become a hero for the fans of Excellent Era for slapping Happy’s face. Fans from other teams are just there for fun. I might become well known, but it’s hard to say if my presented skills would be favoured by other teams!

Or maybe, that team would sign a contract with a well known player like me to bring attention to the team themselves? Mm, it’s not impossible, but the teams that would do this wouldn’t be a top team. It might even be the two teams that joined in this year. That Heavenly Swords is very rich. A rich team’s prospects would be pretty good, wouldn’t it? Moreover, the conditions they could offer me must be very generous. This player seemed pretty good. When Li Rui thought such, he thought too much. He suddenly realised that, this time, he could almost picture it before his eyes. Yes, he pictured it, but the match that he expected to happen didn’t appear.

Li Rui was alarmed, his mind had been distracted. Have I been playing subconsciously the whole time? When Li Rui regained his focus and saw the match. F*ck, I’m in the air.

But this time, Li Rui’s mind wasn’t blank, he quickly rescued himself from the airborne situation. However, he was stunned once again, when the word ‘Glory’ shone on the screen.

Silent Night, the character he lent from Qiu Fei, had fallen.