[FLOTG] Chapter 12: Arena (Part 1)

Shen Huai stared at the cutesy <Falling Sleet> on the screen in deep contemplation.

Song Xue-Yang was a very meticulous thinker, and his tactics were strange and unpredictable. Among the pro gamers, he was known as a ghost fox. If he wanted to approach Shen Huai, it wasn't impossible that he might have deliberately made a smurf sniper account.

It's just... they were already friends to begin with, so Song Xue-Yang could have just openly sought him out to speak with him. Why did he have to play a smurf account and trick him?

The more Shen Huai thought about it, the more confused he was. If Song Xue-Yang had some secret shameful motive for approaching him and could not let him discover his real identity, then why did Song Xue-Yang fire that shot so incautiously when Shen Huai was being pursued?

Unable to figure it out, Shen Huai decided to let it be for now. He would wait and see what Song Xue-Yang wanted to do.

Everyone chose a treasure chest and opened it. The boss of this third level gave considerably more materials than those in the previous two levels, which made it worth their time fighting for so long.

Of course, the poor guild leader <Endless Maple Moon>, who was not lacking at all in materials and who had been forced to be hypervigilant all the way, would like to declare ― he had never battled a dungeon so hellish on both body and soul!

Shen Huai sorted through the materials, and then he saw a notification in the lower right corner of his screen telling him that he had new mail. It was from <Falling Sleet>.

―― "A tribute to master O(∩_∩)O"

Attached to the mail were the materials dropped by the boss they had just defeated.

Shen Huai privately messaged <Falling Sleet>: [ The equipment you're wearing hasn't been upgraded yet. These materials are all useful for you. ]

<Falling Sleet> replied quickly. [ I'm fine. Wait till I've learned how to play assassin from master, and then I'll be switching to an assassin account ~ O(∩_∩)O ~ ]

Looking at this emoji which was under serious suspicion of acting cute, Shen Huai felt like laughing. And then he thought about how <Falling Sleet> might very well be Song Xue-Yang, so he accepted the gift graciously.

Perhaps because this dungeon had been so tough to beat, no one exited the party even after they had left the dungeon.

<One Leaf Skiff> said wishfully: [ Bro, you play assassin really well. Do you want to join our guild? ]

<Endless Maple Moon> was gobsmacked. [ Bro??!! ]

This assassin before his eyes had a head full of long flowing hair, a full body with all the right curves, and sported a name so feminine it could not be any more feminine, MuWanGe.... and this <One Leaf Skiff> was calling her 'bro'?

<One Leaf Skiff> explained. [ You didn't know? He's a guy. The account had a bounty placed on it as soon as he bought it, so he just hasn't had time to change his name yet. ]

Shen Huai concurred. [ Mhm. ]

<Endless Maple Moon> was so shocked by this confirmation from the man himself that his jaw was about to hit the floor. If this assassin was a guy, then he wasn't Captain Song's first love? It was all a misunderstanding?

But that cannot be! Look at how nice and earnest Captain was treating the other! He couldn't believe it if that wasn't the behaviour of a man chasing his wife.

[ Don't interrupt. ] <One Leaf Skiff> was persistent. [ Bro, come to our guild. Both Desert North and I are there, and though our guild has no pro team backing us up, we're still a peaceful level 5 guild. Everyone is usually very active on missions, and the mood is nice and friendly. If you join us, then we can do guild missions together. ]

He truly admired Shen Huai's operational skills. In his view, Shen Huai's skills were already comparable to some professional players. Moreover, even more commendable was the fact that he had a very good temper and wasn't arrogant. Even when the fight in Falls Abyss became such a mess, he had not blamed anyone else.

He did more than he spoke — this kind of person would definitely be a great and dedicated guild member.

Shen Huai took a look. <One Leaf Skiff> and <Desert North>'s guild was "Tianshan Snow Lotus". The name didn't ring a bell, but it was indeed a level 5 guild.

[ Thank you, but this isn't a good time for me right now. ] Shen Huai replied politely.

Although he had chased off the members of the Primo Wolf guild this time, <Drunken Snow> and her gang obviously hadn't given up yet. Since he had offended such a prestigious guild in this professional region, Shen Huai would just bring trouble anywhere he went right now.

<One Leaf Skiff> thought about how Shen Huai was still being hunted. Their guild was made up of peace-loving casual players who rarely even fought in the Arena... it might indeed be difficult for them to take in and cover for Shen Huai who was currently riding the edge of danger.

Even as he spared a moment to regret the circumstances, he found himself even more impressed with Shen Huai's character. He had been focused on recruiting Shen Huai into his guild, but the other had put himself in their shoes and made the best choice for their guild. This made him feel somewhat ashamed.

[ So you won't join any guild then, bro? ]

Although the gameplay of PVE and PVP was separated in "City of Despair", the skill points needed in PVP mode still had to be redeemed with merit points from the PVE dungeons.

[ Temporarily not. ]

Shen Huai's thinking was simple. There was still time for him to join a guild later after he had joined a pro team; it was fine if he couldn't do any guild missions in the meantime.

Song Xue-Yang sent <Endless Maple Moon> a private message. <Endless Maple Moon> could already guess what it would say without even opening the message. He typed: [ Why don't you come join Maple Moon? The Primo Wolf guild most likely wouldn't dare to come trouble us, and this matter can be settled. ]

[ Yes! ] One Leaf Skiff said happily, [ If you join Maple Moon, <Drunken Snow>'s group definitely wouldn't dare to continue making trouble for you. Guild Leader Maple Moon, I did not expect you to be so generous. You've impressed me! ]

<Endless Maple Moon>: ......

He really wanted to know if <One Leaf Skiff> was trying to praise him or insult him.

Shen Huai smiled faintly. <Endless Maple Moon>'s words was just further proof that <Falling Sleet> was Song Xue-Yang.

So Song Xue-Yang wanted him to join the Maple Moon guild to let this storm from buying this account blow over?

I'm not going to make it so easy.

[ Better not. I'm not that close with Maple Moon. ]

Having an invite to join their guild rejected for the first time ever, <Endless Maple Moon: ......

Seeing someone reject a guild invite from Maple Moon for the first time ever, <One Leaf Skiff>: ......

Though it was extremely regrettable, Hai Xing was very happy to see his captain hitting a wall ― Good job, Ash Wing!

Captain Song would like to say that he was someone who has experienced great waves in life.... he would never be knocked down by the difficulties before him!

<One Leaf Skiff> awkwardly shifted the topic. [ By the way, bro, we're planning to go fight the Mysterious Tribe tonight. Come with? ]

[ No thanks, I'm going to hit the Arena tonight. ] Shen Huai paused for a moment, then added: [ Apprentice and <Horizon>, come with me? ]

<One Leaf Skiff>: [ ...... ]

He suddenly felt a surge of respect for Shen Huai. Actually bold enough to try and carry that burdensome noob of a disciple... this was totally a team destined to lose points!

Inside the training room, Hai Xing was yelling in excitement. "Oh my gaaaaaaawd! God Wing is asking me to play in the Arena together!"

He instantly replied with a [ yes! ] inside the game. Then, remembering that he could not actually display his awesome skills to God Wing because he still needed to continue acting like a noob, he felt a little depressed.

Song Xue-Yang pretended to hesitate. [ Master, maybe you shouldn't bring us with you? We're very bad. ]

Shen Huai smiled. How could he miss this great opportunity to observe Song Xue-Yang?

[ Master will carry you. ]

After dinner, Shen Huai logged onto the game again and sent <Falling Sleet> and <Horizon> an invitation to the Arena.

The Arena in "City of Despair" adopted the same model as the one used in the professional leagues, with the three modes of 1v1, 2v2, and 6v6. The 1v1 mode used a fixed map, the 2v2 used a random map, while the 6v6 mode was further split into 3 sub-modes with their own distinct victory criteria and maps.

Shen Huai's specialty, the assassin, was by the nature of its profession destined to be a solo arena character class, immensely weak in the 6v6 group battle mode. As such, Shen Huai very rarely chose to play in the 6v6s, but since he had <Falling Sleet> and <Horizon> with him this time, he could only go with the 6v6 mode.

As the small team entered the Arena, Song Xue-Yang was still doing his best to play the part of a noob, asking all sorts of questions. Shen Huai did not expose him, patiently answering all his questions.

The Arena would randomly match players with teammates and opponents of close or similar rank. All three of their accounts were at Warrior rank — the only difference among them was that although <Falling Sleet> and <Horizon> had very few arena matches on their accounts, their win-rates were almost 100%, while this account of Shen Huai's already had several dozen matches recorded in S5, but with a rather low win-rate. It was clear to see that the previous owner of the account wasn't very good at using an assassin for PKs.

The system alerted them that the matchmaking had succeeded. The randomly chosen mode was unfortunately the War Campaign mode which Shen Huai had the most trouble with. The War Campaign mode was very similar to many other battle arena-type games. Players worked on levelling up and developing their characters in separate lanes, and then gathered back together to fight team battles. Whether or not the team battles went well would usually determine the outcome of the overall match.

On Shen Huai's side, the line-up was assassin, <Falling Sleet>'s sniper, <Horizon>'s ice mage, a random qigong master, and 2 random swordsmen.

The opponent line-up consisted of a gunner, 2 mages, a warrior, a holy priest, and a spellcaster. For a random pick-up game, this was a pretty comprehensive line-up.

After the game map was loaded, the system would provide a brief 1-minute description of the map and gameplay. Players could use this time to discuss strategy.

As soon as they entered the game, the qigong master in the team called <West Wind> typed out: [ GG. ]

The swordsman sent a question mark.

<West Wind> then added: [ No healer, no tank, and an assassin. How to fight? ]

It was common to encounter players like this who had strong biases against particular character classes in the Arena. In his previous play region, Shen Huai's main account was already at Immortal rank, and even then he would often meet teammates who would diss his character class, let alone here at Warrior rank.

Luckily, there were too many people like this around that everyone knew better than to pay them any mind. The swordsman simply asked: [ Who will direct? ]

Song Xue-Yang and Hai Xing of course wished that Ash Wing would be the one to take command, but the qigong master <West Wind> said: [ Sigh, I'll do it. ]

Looking super reluctant the whole time.

The swordsman asked dubiously: [ You? Can you do it? ]

[ If I can't, can you? 10 minutes. We'll just surrender if we aren't in the lead. No need to waste time here. ]

The swordsman typed in response: [ Hehe. ]

<West Wind> acted like he couldn't see it. [ Everyone listen to my commands. Assassin and swordsman, guard the East Gate. Heavy swordsman and sniper guard the West Gate. The mage and I will guard the Main Gate. ]

He had barely finished typing this out when the black-clad female assassin began sprinting towards the West Gate, leaving a line in the party chat:

[ Apprentice, come with me. ]

And then, the short and petite sniper scampered after the assassin.

Song Xue-Yang was not surprised at all by this outcome, and he himself was very eager to stick close to Ash Wing the whole time.

With gleeful schadenfreude, Hai Xing mentally labelled the qigong master as an idiot.

Frankly, <West Wind>'s plan wasn't too bad — both the swordsman and the assassin were speedy attackers with agile moves, and they would be able to catch the opponents off-guard by working together in one lane. Meanwhile, the Main Gate had the most minions and was the most convenient lane for clearing minions, so the qigong master and the ice mage with their crowd control skills would definitely be able to handle the lane very comfortably. And finally, the heavy swordsman could be counted as half a tank, and would be able to protect the damage-dealing sniper.

Unfortunately, he had not taken the terrain into consideration. The three gates of the defensive side were located to the east, west, and south, and the city walls were surrounded by a moat.

Among the 3 gates, the South Gate (Main Gate) featured the most spacious terrain and was close to the other two lanes. Thus, it was suited for character classes who could move quickly to provide support. The West Gate was densely forested with plenty of trees and shrubs which can be used as cover. As such, it was most suited for those character classes who would kill and attack from the shadows, such as assassins and snipers. Lastly, the East Gate was a very narrow lane backed by mountains. There were hardly any hiding spots or space to manoeuvre — sending an assassin to this lane was pretty much a death sentence.

<West Wind> saw that someone was unwilling to follow his orders and began typing again: [ Sigh, surrender in 10 mins. Always meeting noobs like this who don't understand human speech. ]

Hai Xing: "Hehe."

These two people who you are calling 'noobs'... one is Song Xue-Yang, the captain of Maple Moon, a pro team which is giving all other pro teams a headache, while the other is the Ash Wing, a great god with 3 million fans who is currently fervently being recruited by many major pro teams.

Follow your command? Dream on.

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Previous: Chapter 11: Suspicion
Next: Chapter 13: Arena (Part 2)

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