Chapter 973: A Scrap Picker’s Talents
The King's Avatar
Translator: Nomyummi Editor: Nomyummi
Luo Tianâs half-hearted wariness made Zhang Wenyi feel the urge to rush onto the stage and whip that guy. Youâre in the middle of a match! How can you be so relaxed?
In reality, patience wasnât 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 Tianâs movements losing shape long ago. He wouldnât have abruptly noticed it just now.
The expression on Zhang Wenyiâs face suddenly changed. Right when he was about to cry not good, Mo Fanâs 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 Tianâs Elementalist in a strange manner.n/ô/vel/b//in dot c//om
It was a very ordinary strategy, but the patience and concentration displayed by Mo Fan was quite frightening. It wasnât just strolling down the road towards his target. He had to ensure that he wouldnât be noticed, so he couldnât be careless at all. Due to his long scrap picking career, Mo Fan was exceptional in both these areas. Most pro players didnât have that type of experience. As time passed, Luo Tianâs movements started to become sloppy, but Mo Fan still didnât show himself. When concentration faced against carelessness, the result was obvious the moment Deception made a move.
Ninjutsu - Shadow Dance!
When Deception began his assault, 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 wasnât 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 didnât lose to Sun Zheping at all. This was also a habit acquired from scrap picking. If he wasnât so decisive, he would have turned into scrap who knew how many times in his scrap picking career.
But because of his habits from scrap picking, while Mo Fan acquired several strengths, he also acquired several flaws. Although Mo Fanâs 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 scrap picked, even if he attacked to kill his opponents, he would usually only choose characters with only a sliver of health left. As a scrap 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.
"Itâs an opportunity! Steady, steady!" Zhang Wenyi couldnât help but blurt out. He completely forgot that Luo Tian couldnât hear him at all. However, Luo Tian didnât disappoint him. After being caught off guard, he started steadying himself.
"Donât 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 Deceptionâs 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 wasnât over yet. Luo Tianâs Elementalist hadnât started his counterattack yet, and Deception was actually running away. Luo Tian hadnât 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.
"Happyâs Mo Fan is really surprising." The commentator was also stunned, but he couldnât be idle, "But I have to say, this is truly a scrap pickerâs style."
Deception had disappeared, but that was only in Luo Tianâs perspective. Everyone else could see Deceptionâs location from the godâs view on stream. He had gone into hiding again. It was just like in the beginning. He was following Luo Tianâs Elementalist closely. The match once again circled back to the very beginning. It was just that this time, Luo Tian wasnât 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 didnât seem to make him feel fired up.
This was another characteristic of a scrap picker: restraint.
Letâs 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 wasnât able to get it in the end as a result.
When he felt like the situation wasnât suitable for him to continue, he wouldnât continue even if the crowdâs boos instantly erupted. This type of playstyle was clearly unpopular.
Unfortunately, these boos didnât 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 Wenyiâs eyes. Even if Luo Tian learned from his past mistakes and didnât dare be careless, his mentality had already tipped off balance. In this situation, it wasnât just patience that was necessary. Calmness was needed too. However, Luo Tian wasnât calm at all. He treated every tree and blade of grass as an enemy, throwing his magic around aimlessly.
"Heâs lost it." Ye Xiu shook his head.
It was as if Mo Fan heard this evaluation. He suddenly made his move.
"Ah! Mo Fan didnât choose to use Disappearing Body Technique to find an opportunity to move closer. Instead, heâs 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 Tianâs instability could be seen from this. He hastily chose another skill and couldnât help but check which skills were on cooldown and which skills werenât. 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 didnât 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 couldnât 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 didnât retreat this time.
A short moment later, Luo Tianâs 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 competition, 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 didnât 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 Fantasyâs Luo Tian went down from the stage too. His face was pale, and he stumbled on the way over.
"You lost youâre calm!" Zhang Wenyi hastily covered up his inner thoughts and said to Luo Tian.
"You actually found his weakness, but you didnât do a good job turning that into an advantage." Zhang Wenyi followed up. Unlike before with Fang Daxu, he didnât 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 Happyâs 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 seniorâs about to go on stage. Is there a need to play this match? Why donât 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.
"Thereâs really no need to play this match! You guys need 2 points. Whatâs 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 competitive integrity of Glory a second time, the committee will think over your qualifications to compete." The referee said gravely.
"F*ck, I canât even make a joke?" Wei Chen defended himself. The referee didnât 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
Translatorâs Thoughts
Nomyummi Nomyummi
*Itâs used to describe someone with a limited repertoire of skills. Itâs 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.