The King's Avatar

”Great Fang Rui, welcome! Please go up the stairs through here.”

Chen Guo furtively greeted the person, who had just arrived outside of Happy Internet Cafe. She looked back cautiously to detect any signs of movement from the customers in the cafe.

Living up to his reputation as the master of playing dirty, Fang Rui immediately understood and followed Chen Guo nimbly after a quick nod. He was here to watch Happy, he wouldn’t want to be watched by others upon arrival.

However, before he headed upstairs, Fang Rui couldn’t help but look back. What he saw across the road was completely different from his memory.

Fang Rui wasn’t a stranger to this street. He used to come here for the away-games against Excellent Era.

By the time he came again, Excellent Era was no longer there. But across the street, a new team was born in an internet cafe. The thought that this team might become his new home made him emotional over the changes that took place over time.

Fang Rui followed Chen Guo to the second floor of the Internet cafe. He walked past small, individual rooms, the R&D department, the guild department…

Compared to Club Wind Howl, Happy was obviously pitifully tiny. Chen Guo, who was walking in front, felt nervous. She didn’t know what sort of thoughts this God would have about the simplicity of Happy. Chen Guo only hoped that this wouldn’t influence his first impression that Happy’s skills were also simple.

They didn’t walk for long before they reached the training room. Chen Guo took note of Fang Rui’s expression when she invited him in, but failed to pick out anything.

When Fang Rui entered the training room, he saw familiar faces like Ye Xiu and Su Mucheng. They soon finished introducing the unknown rookies of Happy individually.

”So many hot girls.”

This was the first thought that came across Fang Rui;s mind upon his visit to Happy.

”So…” Chen Guo forcibly swallowed the word ’dirty’ from travelling out. Although it was rather dirty of Fang Rui to only mention the girls, his gaze didn’t dwell on them. His opinion remained an opinion; he had come here for actual business.

”Would you like to try the account for Boundless Sea?” Ye Xiu was a lot more direct. He was already walking over with Boundless Sea’s account card.

”Isn’t this too soon!” Frankly speaking, it was still too much for Fang Rui to change classes. Although he had come over, he was still very hesitant.

”What else is there to do? You’ve basically finished the tour around Happy.” Ye Xiu said.

Chen Guo’s face reddened. Happy was truly tiny. It only took them one minute to finish touring the place.

Fang Rui ended up being a bit unprepared due to how quick the tour ended. Everything had happened too quickly.

”Drop the formalities and hurry up. We actually need to assess you to see if you have any future with your Qi Master’s skills. If you don’t, you might as well go back to your Thief!” Ye Xiu said.

This was way too direct. It meant that whether Fang Rui could get in Happy wasn’t solely based on himself. Happy also needed to see if he could play the Qi Master well enough. Chen Guo immediately panicked when she heard this. Fang Rui was already a top tier Thief player, so changing classes was completely unnecessary. Now that Ye Xiu spoke with such attitude, would Fang Rui just leave?

”Fuck!” In the end, Fang Rui didn’t have such a bad temper. He accepted the account card for Boundless Sea from Ye Xiu after swearing.

He swiped the card and logged in.

”At the same time, you can also experience Happy’s strength!” Ye Xiu said.

”Oh?” Fang Rui did have such intentions. He looked around at the rookies of Happy with interest. Who would be his first opponent? Then he saw Ye Xiu sitting down across from him.

”What are you doing?” Fang Rui asked.

”Rookie Ye Xiu would like to experience the Great Fang Rui’s Qi Master.” Ye Xiu spoke deeply.

”Fuck off!” Fang Rui almost flipped the table.

”An unspecialized. Don’t you want to experience it?” Ye Xiu asked.

”Uh… then let’s play a round!” Fang Rui accepted after a short moment of thought.

The two entered the arena in game. When Boundless Sea logged on, it naturally attracted a lot of attention, but since there was a password set for the room, people could only see where they headed to without being able to enter.

It was obvious that everyone from Happy would be watching, so they all came rushing over. Just when they were about to settle down and enjoy with a comfortable pose, the match finished.

”Mm, not bad.” Fang Rui spoke with a calm expression.

”To last for 1 minute and 38 seconds is not bad indeed.” Ye Xiu was also calm.

”I haven’t played as a Qi Master in five years,” Fang Rui said.

”You’re lying. You haven’t touched it even once in private? Are you that heartless?” Ye Xiu asked.

Fang Rui was at a loss for words. It was impossible for him to not touch the class at all. Putting Fang Rui aside, any pro player would occasionally play the other classes for fun. If they needed to study a certain class in depth, then they would play that class more often.

”Shall I give you another chance?” Ye Xiu asked.

”Can I fight someone else?” Fang Rui asked.

”Sure!” Ye Xiu stood up and left, but Su Mucheng took his place. Fang Rui nearly swore again.

Then he battled with Dancing Rain. Fang Rui lost again, but this time within two minutes.

Although it was true that a pro player would still be a lot stronger than normal players even when playing another class, that was because the pros relied on their mechanics and experience. If they had to fight another pro player with the same mechanics and experience, then the unfamiliarity with an unspecialized class would be magnified. Fang Rui knew very clearly that he had no chance of winning against Ye Xiu and Su Mucheng, so he didn’t dwell on his loss too much. He only thought that Ye Xiu was too shameless in setting him up to fight strong opponents he could never beat.

Luckily, Su Mucheng retreated after this match and was replaced by Tang Rou. Fang Rui was trembling with excitement and prepared to teach the rookies just how scary top tier players in the league could be, but in the end, the match finished in 1 minute and 20 seconds. The time was even shorter than the match with Ye Xiu.

The speed that a match finished in was closely tied to the player’s playstyle and character, so it was insufficient to judge a player’s skill according to the amount of time they took to win. Tang Rou obviously wasn’t as skilled as Ye Xiu, but her straightforward and bold playstyle made Fang Rui even more flustered. He made Thief moves subconsciously, and only realized he was using a Qi Master when the character made no reactions.

”Hey, this pretty girl is good…” This time, Fang Rui lost the match rather unnaturally. He was a top tier God after all. Even if he was using the Qi Master, he believed he could fight a rookie, but he ended up losing so directly. The rookies from Happy were a lot more fearsome than he had imagined.

After that, it was Qiao Yifan’s turn. Ghostblades weren’t specialized in fighting 1v1, and adding on the fact that Qiao Yifan was cautious and careful, this round wasn’t as violent as the previous three rounds. Under the slow pace, Fang Rui was finally able to reveal some of his fundamentals as a Qi Master. However, the match still ended with his loss after a few minutes.

”Uh…” After losing against a class that wasn’t strong in 1v1s, Fang Rui felt even more embarrassed.

After that, it was Steamed Bun’s turn. After a chaotic battle, Fang Rui lost in utter confusion.

Fang Rui attempted to say something to liven up the atmosphere, so he cracked a joke with the next person who came to fight. However, this person’s face stayed emotionless as he sat on his seat and started the fight.

When Mo Fan came up, he fought silently and killed Fang Rui’s Qi Master without saying a single word.

”...” Fang Rui no longer had the energy to say anything. At this time, the person sitting across from him was eagerly chatting with him.

”Can you even win one round?” Wei Chen asked as he sat down.

Fang Rui was gloomy. If he had been playing as a Thief, then he would have the confidence to fight with anyone, but since he was playing as a Qi Master, it felt as if his hands and feet were tied. He had already grown used to a Thief’s decision-making habits after many years, so how was it possible to change all of these instantly with ease? He wasn’t a textbook like Ye Xiu.

In the new round, Fang Rui was slowly tortured to death by a Warlock with an abnormally long casting range. Who was he? He was a top tier player in Glory! How long has it been since he had been toyed with like that? This loss was nauseating enough for Fang Rui to puke.

Then he looked at the players from Happy, and saw that every one of them was trembling with excitement. Were they there to gain experience from him? And what’s up with that four-eyes over there? He was the Cleric, right? Was he going to join in and bully him, too?

Fang Rui was furious. Although the style of playing dirty required one to abandon their pride, the master of playing dirty currently found it difficult to keep his face.

”Who’s next?” Fang Rui grumbled.

Luo Ji lifted his hand on the other side and sat down timidly. He glanced uneasily at the companions around him.

”What are you afraid of? He’s easy to beat, hurry and fight!” Steamed Bun cheered his apprentice Luo Ji on.

Easy to beat!

Fang Rui glared at Steamed Bun, this guy only won the previous match out of pure luck! It would be hard to determine who would be the victor if they fought for a few more rounds. This rookie was so arrogant to the point that he didn’t know how vast the sky was.

Fang Rui thought to himself as he let out all his resentment in this match. Unfortunately, Luo Ji had the lowest skill in Happy, so even if he was considered skilled among normal players, there was a significant gap between him and pro players. It was obvious that he couldn’t resist Fang Rui’s Qi Master.

”Oh my, I have a chance! This opponent sucks!” Fang Rui thought with high spirits. Then he started crying on second thought. What was wrong with him? Had he fallen to the point where he could only win when the opponent was bad? This was so embarrassing, so shameful!

Fang Rui was able to finish Luo Ji off cleanly, and finally achieved his first victory in Happy.

”Who else is there!” Fang Rui desperately needed to prove himself.

Ye Xiu thought for a while, and then said, ”Should we call Ah Ning up to give it a go?”

”Who?” Fang Rui suddenly fell silent with awe, he thought Happy was finally about to reveal their hidden pro.

”The cashier for our Internet cafe. Ah Ning also plays Glory?” Chen Guo asked.

”I think so.” Ye Xiu said.

”You, fight me! Yes you, come on, I challenge you to three hundred matches!” Fang Rui yelled at Ye Xiu.

As a result, Ye Xiu sat down once again. Fang Rui spent his first day in Happy duelling with the Qi Master account, a class he hadn’t touched for many years. He strove to find a breakthrough, but he ended up being slaughtered by Ye Xiu’s Lord Grim every single time.