[FLOTG] Chapter 2: Live-stream

While the game was still loading, Shen Huai typed out a message into the public chatbox.

― What questions do you have?

[Yes!! Please recommend a point distribution strategy for S5 assassins! ]

[Great God Ash Wing, I just want to ask, now that this version got rid of Killing Strike, are assassins still playable? How? ]

[I no longer dream of going up to King rank with an assassin anymore... as long as I can reach Hero rank... Begging God Ash Wing for guidance! ! ]

The questions on the screen were almost all related to the assassin class, because that was the character class Shen Huai was most proficient at.

From the "one-shot" assassin of S2, to the "infinite paralysis" mode of S3, to the "dual-cultivation poison-magic" style of S4. It could be said that Shen Huai was able to develop a new play-style for the assassin class for every competitive season, and refine it further until it seemed almost too good to be legal.

Still, not just anyone could pull it off, otherwise everyone would have become gods just from watching his live-stream.

With their flashy combos, stealth mechanisms, and the advantage of nil mana consumption, assassins had immediately become a popular choice for moving up the ranks as soon as the character class was released in S2. In particular, assassins were veritably unrivalled in the 1v1 arena, so much so that, at one strange point, over half of the top 100 in the global server solo arena were assassins.

Consequently, the game developers began to make changes and adjustments to the assassin class, again and again. Under the constant nerfing of the developers, by the middle of S3, the ability of the assassin class to solo in the arena had dropped drastically. Its overall server-wide win-rate was down to 47%!

When the new 'qigong master' class was released in S4, it dominated the solo arena with its defence comparable to that of a melee swordsman, its high long-range skill damage, as well as its crowd control and knockback skills. The assassin class, which was already in an awkward position in 6v6 battles, now lost its foothold on the 1v1 stage as well, and almost vanished completely from the battle arena.

Today, there are very few assassin players, even within the professional teams. It was extremely rare to see an assassin flicking its signature dual blades in official matches or in high-rank games. In this sort of environment, Ash Wing's assassins were the final ray of hope for the assassin enthusiasts!

Shen Huai responded affirmatively in the chatbox.

― Of course assassins are still playable, but the minimum threshold has been raised.

An increase in the minimum threshold meant an increase in the difficulty of operational skill. More technical skill would be required to deal as much damage as before.

But still... NANI{纳尼: Japanese for 'what'. In this context, it is used to express shock or outrage.}?!

The minimum threshold of assassins was already the highest among all the classes, okay? Just look at the current version-dominant qigong master ― even just blindly smashing one's face into the keyboard was enough to send one shooting up to Hero rank. Meanwhile, us assassins still stuck at Warrior rank actually have to work on our operation skills?

Could it get any worse?

The game had already loaded up to the character selection interface. Several figures representing the different character classes stood on the screen. In the middle, an assassin dressed in tight-fitting black clothes and a silver half-mask was standing confidently on a boulder, two razor-sharp daggers glinting coldly in his hands.

Shen Huai clicked on the assassin and entered the game, selecting the option of Arena at the same time.

The 6 ranks in the Arena of "City of Despair" from lowest to highest were: Wanderer, Soldier, Warrior, Hero, King, and Immortal. Moreover, the ranks were further split into 3 tiers of high, mid, and low, and the point total needed to fight at each rank-level of the Arena was different.

The Arena had 3 battle modes: the solo 1v1, the doubles 2v2, and the group 6v6. Shen Huai selected the 1v1 mode without any hesitation.

[Damn...... it hasn't been a month since the new season started, and god is already at Immortal rank?? ]

In response to the question, Shen Huai typed:

― Well, I didn't have time. Had the help of a booster{代练: For those unfamiliar with this term in the context of gaming, it is referring to hiring someone else to play and level-up for you. Basically, to 'boost' your account for you.}.

[......]

[God, you will be reported for being so honest...]

[Ha, you're the only streamer on the internet who would dare to admit so openly that you used a booster. Yep, very smooth, this is very Ash Wing. ]

[There's actually someone who's capable of boosting for God Ash Wing?? I just want to know if his hands were shaking when he accepted the order! ]

[Please rec the booster!! I also want to be shoulder to shoulder with God Ash Wing!!]

At the thought of his booster, Shen Huai's lips curved into a slight smile.

― You all can't afford it.

The fans blew up.

[F*ck! Was I just mocked by God Wing? ]

[God Wing, aren't you afraid we'll report you for pulling so much aggro? ]

[Lousy streamer, I'm gonna stop being your fan! No more fan! Flag! Report!]

Both the PVE{i.e. Player vs Environment} and PVP{i.e. Player vs Player} gameplay of "City of Despair" were very well done. In PVE mode, players would need to forge their own weapons and equipment or purchase them. Meanwhile, in the PVP Arena, weapons and equipment were to be selected from a standard arsenal after entering the Arena, which also worked to ensure the fairness of play in the Arena.

From the selection of assassin weapons, Shen Huai still ended up choosing dual blades. Dual blades featured high attack and critical damage, but did not allow one to also equip a shield, thus decreasing the player character's defence and HP{i.e. health points}. Even so, Shen Huai did not hesitate to abandon a single dagger for dual blades. He chose a set of attack speed enhancing dual blades, and also equipped himself with a combination of equipment which favoured attack speed and movement speed.

After choosing his equipment, he began distributing the points of the character among the class-specific skills and the common talents. The game featured 8 primary classes. With the exception of the qigong master, all the other classes had 4 different skill trees. As skill points were limited, one could basically only choose one skill tree to focus on, with some points leftover for a supporting secondary tree. The same applied to the talents section.

Every year, based on big data and feedback from the players as well as the performance of the professional players in the official matches, the game developers of "City of Despair" would make adjustments to the various classes in order to maintain the balance of the game. The adjustments would generally be direct changes to the class-specific skills or indirect tweaks via the talents.

During the S4 competitive season, the talent "Killing Strike" allowed snipers to flourish as they capitalised on it to finish off their opponents from a great distance away. And so, at the beginning of the S5 competitive season, "Killing Strike" had been removed when the game developers unveiled the new talent selection. This was meant to be an adjustment targeting snipers, but the assassins who had been relying on the extra damage dealt by "Killing Strike" to survive also ended up as collateral damage.

When he had seen the updates of the competitive season last month, Shen Huai had fallen into deep contemplation.

The effect of "Killing Strike" was to deal greater damage to enemies with less than 50% HP. This talent could be said to be a lifeline for the much-nerfed assassins — now that "Killing Strike" had been removed, it would indeed be much harder to play as an assassin with the amount of damage they dealt.

Still, Shen Huai pondered as he browsed the newest talent system, and he finally came up with a feasible plan of action. And today, he would execute the theory in battle for the first time.

Shen Huai skillfully finished assigning the skill points and talent points. To their great surprise, the fans watching the live-stream found that Shen Huai had chosen a completely different pattern of point distribution from before!

In the previous two competitive seasons, no matter how much he varied his points distribution, the mainstream play-style of assassins had always been to rely on attacking with poison and afflicting bleed. But this time, Shen Huai had completely given up on this skill tree, switching over instead to a skill that had only appeared briefly in the S2 competitive season ― "Blood-Blessed Blades"!

This was a passive skill for assassins. With "Blood-Blessed Blades" activated, HP would be drained when using normal attacks or activating skills (until the player's HP drops below 10%), in return for greater damage. The lower one's HP, the greater the damage yield.

The skill might sound very powerful from its description, but in reality, the skill was nothing less than prolonged suicide for assassins with their fragile build and lack of crowd control skills. Moreover, the attack damage of assassins had been reduced after the S2 competitive season, so assassins could no longer finish off an opponent instantly with one explosive combo. Thus, this skill was made even more redundant, and it was basically abandoned by all players.

Ash Wing was the pioneer of the dual-cultivation poison-magic play-style which relied on inflicting Bleed through poison attacks. Was he really going to cast aside the school of play he had founded?

The audience of the live-stream couldn't help but get excited, because they had reason to believe that the name "Ash Wing" would never leave them disappointed!

The game loaded into the matchmaking interface, and soon enough, Shen Huai had been matched to a player of the same rank. Coincidentally, the player's profession was the solo king of the past two versions highly lauded on the forums ― a qigong master.

[GG!  Meeting a champion of the ring right off the bat.]

[God Ash Wing, thrash him! I don't even dare to play solo arena anymore. Qigong masters everywhere!]

[Qigong masters are the boss of this version, even God Ash Wing probably won't find it easy... and God Ash Wing is trying out a new talent tree skill tree combination, so this round should just be for practice...]

The qigong master on the opposite side was also very shocked. He had been playing all day in the Arena, and this was the first time he had bumped into an assassin.

[All][Qigong Masters Always Win]: ??? Assassin??? I've run into a national treasure{国宝: In this context, this term is used much like 'endangered species'.}?? Isn't this Immortal level?

Shen Huai ignored him. His slender fingers rested lightly on his keyboard as he meticulously looked over the skills he had just adjusted.

[All][Qigong Masters Always Win]: damn, it's really an assassin? An Immortal rank assassin? I thought I had accidentally used my smurf! So there are still people playing assassin now...

[All][Qigong Masters Always Win]: Why aren't you saying anything? You an actor? Here to give points away??

The netizens in the live-stream couldn't take it anymore.

[This dude is so annoying... what's wrong with assassins? Who said assassins can't go up to Immortal! God Ash Wing's assassin is #1 in the server ok? ]

[He doesn't even recognise God Ash Wing's ID... isn't he the rare national treasure?]

[Waiting for some power face-slapping by God Ash Wing!]

The opposing qigong master had blabbered on quite a bit, so out of politeness, Shen Huai also opened the chatbox.

[All][Ash Wing]: . . .

While pressing the enter key, Shen Huai nimbly leapt up onto the stage.

The fixed map for 1v1 matches was a large platform with a pillar at each of its four corners. Clear lake water flowed beneath steps attached to each of the sides. In other words, this was a floating arena.

The qigong master was already standing on the platform. He was being very careful with his positioning and movements, because assassins could turn invisible. His character moved forward in circles, firing a frontal Qi Blast every so often.

Even as he was cautiously testing the waters, he saw an assassin openly jump up onto the platform.

The qigong master: ......

All that MP I wasted, and you didn't even use Stealth.

With a Quick Stab, Shen Huai had dashed right up to the qigong master. The qigong master was still an Immortal-rank expert after all, so a combo would be pretty much impossible with a frontal attack. The qigong master swiftly used Dragon Snare and Thunder Palm, sending Shen Huai flying.

The combination of these two skills would not only knock an opponent into the air, but also leave the opponent stunned for 1.5 seconds. The enemy qigong master quickly took the chance to fire a barrage of Qi Blasts from a distance.

Qi Blast was a key attack skill of qigong masters. The skill had a cooldown of only 0.5 seconds and consumed very little mana, and not only could it work to provide seamless transition between skills, it could also specifically target an enemy to knock back. Basically, as long as a qigong master managed to successfully combo their skills to send an opponent flying, they could just mindlessly fire Qi Blasts after that. This was why qigong masters were criticised as a class which dealt a great deal of damage even though it was so easy to operate.

This combo set of Qi Blasts instantly knocked off 30% of Shen Huai's assassin's HP!

Shen Huai immediately activated Stealth and turned invisible. He circled round to the back of the qigong master, and then stunned him in place with Soul Steal, following that up with a major combo of "Reaper's Mark - Assassination - Blood Blade - Pierce - Dark Razor".

Combos were a specialty of the assassin character class. Different combo special effects could be triggered by applying different markings before attacking. A combo beginning with Reaper's Mark would guarantee that the 4th hit dealt within the subsequent second will be a critical hit, causing 200% true damage!

If this had still been the S2 competitive season, this combo would have knocked off at least 30% of the enemy's HP, but now, the attack damage of the assassin class had been reduced, and Shen Huai had not chosen any attack enhancing talents, so the combo only managed to take away 15% of the qigong master's HP. Meanwhile, Shen Huai's assassin had also lost 5% HP due to the bleed effect of Blood-Blessed Blades.

As soon as the qigong master regained mobility, he again unleashed the combo of "Dragon Snare - Thunder Palm" to throw Shen Huai into the air, and after 3 shots of Qi Blast, he immediately cast the special — Blitzkrieg!

A hail of blue Qi Blasts shot out from a distance to strike the assassin again and again. Shen Huai made no move to dodge, receiving the qigong master's special in its entirety!

After this, only 7% of his HP remained, while the qigong master still had 85% HP. Defeat was almost certain with such an insane gap!

The viewers of the live-stream were gobsmacked.

[F*ck! Am I about to see God Ash Wing be wiped out by a random Immortal rank qigong??]

Shen Huai's eyes were trained on his computer screen, which was flashing red in warning, and he finally started to look a little more serious.

---

Previous: Chapter 1: ID <Ash Wing>
Next: Chapter 3: Invitation

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