The King's Avatar

Deception hadn’t left! After entering the gully, he had hid there and used an Underground Tunneling Technique.

Sun Xiang’s view was focused on the two turns at the ends of the gully. He had been trying to figure out which way to go and hadn’t thought to think of what was under his feet. By the time Deception’s movements were large and close enough to be sensed, it was too late to react.

The ninjato struck One Autumn Leaf under his chin harshly, throwing him into the air. Mo Fan, Deception, was the first to land a hit!

Annihilate, Flame Cut, Neck Bind Technique, Ninja Arts: Flickering Charge.

Four skills landed on One Autumn Leaf in flawless succession. Even if it was Sun Xiang, he was helpless against it.

”Beautiful!” Fang Rui yelled from Happy’s player bench.

Talented at timing, Mo Fan had a very solid grasp of landing combos. However, even if the system judged it as a combo, that didn’t mean it was unbreakable. From a certain perspective, false combos were the real unbreakable combo. However, a consistent use of this sort of comboing, a characteristic of Ye Xiu’s unspecialized, was extremely hard to master without experience. In this area, Mo Fan’s talent wasn’t outstanding.

However, for a system-determined combo, especially a combo of five or fewer skills, Mo Fan had such outstanding mastery that even Ye Xiu looked on with awe. This came from the habits he had developed in game. When scrap-picking, you weren’t meant to entangle with targets, so he would always find a good opportunity to unleash a barrage of attacks, take what he needed and leave in the shortest time possible. This barrage had a max of five skills. More, and Mo Fan would judge it as an inappropriate time to strike.

After all this time, Mo Fan had developed a habit of using this monotonous battle style. His habits meant that anything coming after his barrage was lacking in comparison. After joining Happy and undergoing professional training, he was finally beginning to change. At first, Ye Xiu had hoped he would be able to completely change this style of fighting in short bursts, but he soon began to realize that this habit of Mo Fan’s wasn’t just a thing of mechanics, but also of his spirit.

Focus.

Mo Fan’s focus would also fluctuate with this rhythm. When he unleashed his barrage, his focus would peak. His mechanics would be precise, efficient, comparable to a God. However, after this short burst, he experienced a clear slip. His mechanics after that would be nothing comparable to how well he had performed in that period.

This instantly condensed overpowered focus was the reason why Mo Fan could fight on par with a God for short bursts. This was almost like a skill of his that had a cooldown.

After realizing this, Ye Xiu also realized that this would probably become a characteristic of Mo Fan’s style. His eventual style would probably also develop from this.

Thus, Ye Xiu stopped expecting Mo Fan to eventually get rid of his habit and instead helped him develop his talents, teaching him how to combine his skills to make sure he could endure throughout the battle.

In the past, Mo fan would run after getting what he wanted. After his barrage, he usually wouldn’t have to fight any longer, and thus naturally didn’t have to consider what skills to use after that. He would throw out whatever was convenient during his barrage. However, you couldn’t fight that way in an actual match. The battle was far from over after a single barrage! It was unacceptable if he was sent into a panic at what to do after, or using two skills and being unable to follow up.

Mo Fan had completed this transformation. When his barrage wasn’t indiscrimmitory, his battle ability was vastly increased. Now, on the field, his focused barrage could match Sun Xiang strike for strike.

However, it wasn’t unexpected to Ye Xiu that he still turned and ran after a few exchanges. At this point, his focus would scatter, and he definitely wasn’t a match for Sun Xiang then.

However, not even Ye Xiu expected it when, after retreating for only a brief moment, Mo Fan came back with another barrage.

Underground Tunneling Technique, Annihilation, Flame Cut, Neck Bind, Ninjutsu: Flickering Charge.

Under the limit of Mo Fan’s overpowered focus, not even Sun Xiang could match this combo of five skills.

But… wasn’t a little too close together with the previous barrage?

In reality, Ye Xiu wasn’t sure how many times Mo Fan could gear himself up into that focused state. He also didn’t know how long it would take to enter that state after a previous barrage. Ye Xiu could only tell, by experience, that this sort of peak performance in short bursts was a sign that he was stretching his limits. That was why his focus would scatter after each barrage: it was a sign of mental strain. However, this time, Mo Fan had consecutively unleashed two barrages. How much strain was he putting on himself, doing this?

”This kid is really pushing himself!” Team Happy’s members naturally all understood Mo Fan’s characteristics. Seeing how he had unleashed a second barrage so soon, Wei Chen called out in surprise.

”How long can he last if he fights like this?” Qiao Yifan wondered aloud.

Everyone fell silent. Mo Fan was still quite a loner. His style had matured, but no one knew how he would use it and where his limits where.

His combo successful, Mo Fan once again had Deception hide.

”Huh? How come he doesn’t continue his offensive?” Pan Lin couldn’t really understand. Though his combo had ended there, it was perfectly feasible to strike fast and unleash a new barrage of attacks after this combo.

”He probably doesn’t think he has a solid enough grasp of this opportunity…” Li Yibo theorized.

”Mo Fan very rarely performs long combos! With his mechanics, I think he can definitely do better. I think he’s a little too cautious,” Pan Lin commented.

”Heh, this is probably because of his background!” Li Yibo said.

”You mean, as a scrap-picker?” Pan Lin asked.

”Yes, the most important thing for scrap-pickers is to secure their own safety! If they can’t even keep themselves safe, then how would they scrap-pick? Though, of course, Mo Fan is a pro player now, but he’s been active in-game for a long time. Caution and care is probably a habit he’s built up over all that time,” Li Yibo replied.

These words made sense and Mo Fan did have this sort of habit from long-term scrap-picking but these two clearly hadn’t noticed what was really going on with Mo Fan. You could say, that apart from his teammates in Team Happy, no one knew that Mo Fan’s style came with a cooldown. After all, Mo Fan didn’t regularly appear in matches and hadn’t played many compared to the rest of Happy.

But in this match, against a strong opponent like Sun Xiang, Mo Fan’s potential seemed to have been forced to appear in its entirety. The match had barely started and he had already unleashed two barrages of attacks, successfully depriving One Autumn Leaf of a good chunk of his health. This was something no one expected. From everyone else’s view, after Sun Xiang had managed to get rid of Fang Rui so efficiently, wouldn’t a rookie be easy to deal with?

Since Sun Xiang had finished his first opponent with a 72% health advantage, the Happy fans didn’t dare to yell ten to zero anymore. Instead, the Samsara fans had gotten hyped, yelling one versus three and whatnot. One versus three was also something that held a rather terrible story for Happy. Samsara’s fans yelling this was killing two birds with one stone: mockery amongst encouragement.

However after Mo Fan had managed to draw first blood like this, Samsara’s fans shut up. They began to discuss how could this rookie be so strong?

Everyone was struck dumb by Mo Fan’s barrage and even Sun Xiang didn’t dare underestimate his opponent. It was rare that someone would be able to match him in technique and mechanics like that. Thus, Sun Xiang, looking for a trace of Deception, was more cautious. He had to look down every now and then, as if Deception might just pop out of the ground.

No!

Deception had disappeared completely this time. Sun Xiang couldn’t find him no matter how he looked and was feeling a little helpless. He knew that this player had a terrifying amount of patience. This was a… a player who had waited so patiently that the referee had given him a red card. This was something only he could boast in the history of Glory.

Thinking of the red card last time, Sun Xiang decided to just stop moving. One Autumn Leaf just stood there in the open. You coming out, Deception? You want another red card?

However, was this Mo Fan still the Mo Fan of the past?

Before, Mo Fan had just stayed there, unmoving, being seen as passive and unsportsmanly. However, the current Mo Fan might not be prepared to strike just yet, but he was rather active. He kept having Deception reposition himself, trying to find a chance to attack. With One Autumn Leaf not moving, Deception immediately went behind him. It was just that after getting behind One Autumn Leaf in the gully, he felt that the distance was too far to execute a sneak attack. It was unreliable. After checking it over, Deception left again.

Boos rose from the crowd. Naturally, all from Samsara’s fans. Though Happy’s fans didn’t like this sort of wait, they were willing to give their players some leeway.

Deception had gone in a circle and not found a good opportunity. That was when the referee struck, unexpectedly giving Sun Xiang a yellow card.

Sun Xiang stared in shock. What the hell was this?

In reality, Sun Xiang didn’t really understand the rule regarding passivity and sportsmanship well either. He didn’t need to research something like that with his style. However, in the current situation, Sun Xiang’s One Autumn Leaf was standing there, unmoving while Mo Fan’s Deception was circling around, trying to find an opening. Who was passive and who was active was clear.

Sun Xiang, who could now curb his temper and impatience, really had improved greatly. Last match, his self-control had won him a beautiful victory. This time, however, it had brought him a yellow card.

It wasn’t just Sun Xiang who was shocked, Happy’s members were also exchanging looks!

The yellow card was a system message and Mo Fan, naturally, could see it. If it was Fang Rui, then he’d could probably use this to spout a good load of trash talk. However, Mo fan probably spoke even less than Zhou Zekai. Trash talk was naturally a skill that wouldn’t appear with him.

Sun Xiang, forced to move by the yellow card, could only have One Autumn Leaf start looking for Deception. The group arena was also a 1v1, so the map wasn’t too big. One Autumn Leaf began moving along the gully, keeping a careful eye on interior and beginning to reduce Deception’s room for movement. Deception also began to head towards the direction One Autumn Leaf was coming from.