Chapter 973: A Sc.r.a.p Picker’s Talents
Translator: Nomyummi Editor: Nomyummi
Luo Tian’s half-hearted wariness made Zhang Wenyi feel the urge to rush onto the stage and whip that guy. You’re in the middle of a match! How can you be so relaxed?
In reality, patience wasn’t something that could completely disappear all of a sudden. Patience had to be gradually worn down. Luo Tian was no exception. The crowd was no exception. Even Zhang Wenyi was no exception. If he had been patiently and calmly watching the match, he would have noticed Luo Tian’s movements losing shape long ago. He wouldn’t have abruptly noticed it just now.
The expression on Zhang Wenyi’s face suddenly changed. Right when he was about to cry not good, Mo Fan’s Deception finally moved.
Ninjutsu - Disappearing Body Technique!
During these 30 seconds, Ninjas could climb in all sorts of angles like a spider, allowing them to attack from a blind spot. In the beginning, Luo Tian had been wary of this, but his guard had already gone down. Mo Fan had thoroughly checked the surrounding terrain. His figure slowly inched closer towards Luo Tian’s Elementalist in a strange manner.
It was a very ordinary strategy, but the patience and concentration displayed by Mo Fan was quite frightening. It wasn’t just strolling down the road towards his target. He had to ensure that he wouldn’t be noticed, so he couldn’t be careless at all. Due to his long sc.r.a.p picking career, Mo Fan was exceptional in both these areas. Most pro players didn’t have that type of experience. As time pa.s.sed, Luo Tian’s movements started to become sloppy, but Mo Fan still didn’t show himself. When concentration faced against carelessness, the result was obvious the moment Deception made a move.
Ninjutsu - Shadow Dance!
When Deception began his a.s.sault, he immediately started off with a high-level skill. Countless shadows of Deception suddenly appeared in front of the already jittery Luo Tian. Let alone figuring out which shadow was the core, Luo Tian wasn’t even able to react in time to the incoming attack. The shadows pounced on him, and the combo count skyrocketed. Mo Fan had been patiently waiting for an opportunity to the extent that everyone had started feeling annoyed. But as soon as he attacked, his agility didn’t lose to Sun Zheping at all. This was also a habit acquired from sc.r.a.p picking. If he wasn’t so decisive, he would have turned into sc.r.a.p who knew how many times in his sc.r.a.p picking career.
But because of his habits from sc.r.a.p picking, while Mo Fan acquired several strengths, he also acquired several flaws. Although Mo Fan’s offensive was very fierce, he lacked the ability to consistently extend his combos. It felt a bit like Cheng Yaojin and his three axe strokes*. When he sc.r.a.p picked, even if he attacked to kill his opponents, he would usually only choose characters with only a sliver of health left. As a sc.r.a.p picker, picking a fight with a group of full-health players was just asking for his own death.
Frequently killing these types of low-health targets led to Mo Fan being exceptional at short bursts of damage, but his attack afterwards felt rather weak.
Sun Zheping destroyed a Knight in 1 minute 17 seconds. On the other hand, after Mo Fan successfully closed in on the Elementalist, he was unable to quickly end the battle in a short period of time. In comparison to his sudden ambush with several high-level skills linked together, his following attacks made it feel like the offensive had a strong start but weak finish**.
Normal players might not be able to notice such a minute difference, but Zhang Wenyi was a former pro player with a wealth of experience. He immediately noticed it.
"It’s an opportunity! Steady, steady!" Zhang Wenyi couldn’t help but blurt out. He completely forgot that Luo Tian couldn’t hear him at all. However, Luo Tian didn’t disappoint him. After being caught off guard, he started steadying himself.
"Don’t feel too delighted just yet." Zhang Wenyi turned his head to glance at the relaxed and smiling Ye Xiu.
"Hahaha." Ye Xiu laughed. Zhang Wenyi turned his head back and suddenly froze.
After Deception’s three axe strokes, his offensive instantly became weak. Luo Tian steadied himself and right when he was about to launch his counterattack, he saw that Deception was running away.
Yes, running away!
The battle wasn’t over yet. Luo Tian’s Elementalist hadn’t started his counterattack yet, and Deception was actually running away. Luo Tian hadn’t predicted this would happen. When he started chasing after him, Deception had already disappeared without a trace. Luo Ji suddenly also froze at his seat.
"Happy’s Mo Fan is really surprising." The commentator was also stunned, but he couldn’t be idle, "But I have to say, this is truly a sc.r.a.p picker’s style."
Deception had disappeared, but that was only in Luo Tian’s perspective. Everyone else could see Deception’s location from the G.o.d’s view on stream. He had gone into hiding again. It was just like in the beginning. He was following Luo Tian’s Elementalist closely. The match once again circled back to the very beginning. It was just that this time, Luo Tian wasn’t nearly as calm as before; he was searching frantically for traces of Deception. On the other hand, Mo Fan was as calm and patient as ever. His previous burst of attacks didn’t seem to make him feel fired up.
This was another characteristic of a sc.r.a.p picker: restraint.
Let’s say there was an extremely precious piece of equipment in front of your face. How many players could restrain themselves from picking it up? Most would rush forward to give it a try even if they died, but Mo Fan would never do so. He would always wait for the right opportunity before acting, even if he wasn’t able to get it in the end as a result.
When he felt like the situation wasn’t suitable for him to continue, he wouldn’t continue even if the crowd’s boos instantly erupted. This type of playstyle was clearly unpopular.
Unfortunately, these boos didn’t help Zhang Wenyi feel any better.
Even if Mo Fan failed to win over the crowd, he would at least win over his opponent. This 1 point was already on the verge of being lost in Zhang Wenyi’s eyes. Even if Luo Tian learned from his past mistakes and didn’t dare be careless, his mentality had already tipped off balance. In this situation, it wasn’t just patience that was necessary. Calmness was needed too. However, Luo Tian wasn’t calm at all. He treated every tree and blade of gra.s.s as an enemy, throwing his magic around aimlessly.
"He’s lost it." Ye Xiu shook his head.
It was as if Mo Fan heard this evaluation. He suddenly made his move.
"Ah! Mo Fan didn’t choose to use Disappearing Body Technique to find an opportunity to move closer. Instead, he’s directly revealed himself." The commentator cried out.
Luo Tian was surprised by this sudden appearance, but he immediately followed up with a bunch of attacks delightedly. His Elementalist staff waved. However, not even a spark flew out from it.
"What is Luo Tian doing? Is he posing?" The commentator was puzzled.
Luo Ji wanted to cry. After putting in the correct inputs, he heard a system notification: on cooldown.
Such a low-leveled mistake happened to a pro player. The extent of Luo Tian’s instability could be seen from this. He hastily chose another skill and couldn’t help but check which skills were on cooldown and which skills weren’t. He had been throwing out magic spells randomly along the way. It was just like Ye Xiu said. He had completely lost it. There was no purpose or decision-making in his choices. He didn’t even remember which skills were on cooldown.
As a result, Mo Fan once again got the initiative. At the same time, this wave of attacks left Luo Tian in despair. His ability to resist fell to zero so much so that he couldn’t even steady himself like before. He was like a noob, randomly throwing skills trying to escape from the predicament.
Against this type of defense, even if Mo Fan was lacking in his ability to follow up, he was more than good enough to deal with it. As a result, he didn’t retreat this time.
A short moment later, Luo Tian’s Elementalist fell. The second round of the match concluded.
The post-game statistics on the screen made the entire crowd boo loudly. 8 minutes 12 seconds. This match actually took 8 minutes and 12 seconds. In the individual compet.i.tion, this was absolutely an anomaly.
In any case, Happy pocketed that 1 point.
Mo Fan quietly went off the stage.
"Not bad." Ye Xiu clapped. The others from Happy applauded his performance. Mo Fan didn’t say anything and quietly returned to his seat as if nothing had happened. His eyes were fixed on the stage. Who knew what he was thinking.
Team Mysterious Fantasy’s Luo Tian went down from the stage too. His face was pale, and he stumbled on the way over.
"You lost you’re calm!" Zhang Wenyi hastily covered up his inner thoughts and said to Luo Tian.
"You actually found his weakness, but you didn’t do a good job turning that into an advantage." Zhang Wenyi followed up. Unlike before with Fang Daxu, he didn’t find an excuse like you just too nervous. This time, Zhang Wenyi really had seen an opportunity for Luo Tian to make a comeback. Unfortunately, Mo Fan immediately chose to run away, making Luo Tian instantly feel lost.
"Next time." Zhang Wenyi patted Luo Tian, telling him that he can take a break.
For the third match, Team Happy’s Wei Chen came out. A look of pride showed up on his grizzly face. He glanced at the player seats for Team Mysterious Fantasy and waved his hands: "This senior’s about to go on stage. Is there a need to play this match? Why don’t you just forfeit?"
Zhan Wenyi ignored him. He nodded his head to the player, who would be playing for this third match. That player stood up and headed over to the stage with his head held up high.
"There’s really no need to play this match! You guys need 2 points. What’s the point of fighting for this 1 point? My recommendation is that you just play around and save your time and energy." Wei Chen followed up.
The referee immediately ran over from the stage and threw a yellow card at Wei Chen.
"Inappropriate remark. First warning. If you violate the compet.i.tive integrity of Glory a second time, the committee will think over your qualifications to compete." The referee said gravely.
"F*ck, I can’t even make a joke?" Wei Chen defended himself. The referee didn’t care though; he turned around and went back on stage.
"Their demands are so strict nowadays, ha." Wei Chen said angrily towards his teammates and then walked onto the stage
Translator"s Thoughts
Nomyummi Nomyummi
*It"s used to describe someone with a limited repertoire of skills. It"s the same Cheng Yaojin from the previous TLN. The saying is Cheng Yaojin and his three axe strokes, or Cheng Yaojin and his thirty six axe strokes. His weapon is a broad axe. His skills suck, but his luck is good. Three axe strokes is enough to defeat a weak opponent. But against a strong opponent, even thirty six axe strokes is not enough and he runs away instead.