The Great Thief

Besides Dou Dizhu [TLN: A Chinese gambling card game] on mobile, Supervisor Chang had barely played any games. All his game knowledge came from the game-related news.

He knew about the winners from each competition, including their specialties and which guild they were from.

If he was asked to talk about these, he would definitely be able to conjure up a great speech. Otherwise, he wouldn’t be able to host the Shadow Cup.

Although the Shadow Cup didn’t earn a huge amount of profit, it had an important and special meaning behind it.

When all the past Presidents of the Shadow Group made their speeches and vows, the Shadow Cup was always mentioned.

They would strictly announce that they had spend their entire career maintaining the Shadow Cup. Even if the company was to go bankrupt, the Shadow Cup would be the last investment to be written off.

President Zhao cared a lot about the Shadow Cup because after his father retired, he too, would be standing in front of the board of directors and honoring it.

And now, Supervisor Chang, who was hosting the Shadow Cup, stood before him without any knowledge on the most well-known player in the game. He felt a coldness sweep across his entire body.

After a hundred years, had the Shadow Cup really decayed to this extent?

Two seniors had lost their jobs because of an intern.

On one hand, this was truly a ridiculous event. Even Vice-President Zhao, who managed dozens of branch companies, had heard about the legends of Lu Li. He even knew of his First Clears and the days he had taken them on.

On the other hand, Supervisor Chang, a person responsible for the many affairs of the Shadow Cup, had no clue who this Lu Li was.

This was truly because of the environment of the job. People only focused on how to climb higher and became ignorant with regards to their actual ability for their job.

If things truly went according to what Supervisor Chang had previously said and they waited until Lu Li entered the round of sixteen to analyze his play, this would be truly be the downfall of the Shadow Cup.

At the same time, the Vice-President was about to succeed the group, so this was exactly the time for him to make big actions. Supervisor Chang had just happened to be around at the wrong time.

As for the intern, nothing too cliché, such as President Zhao suddenly promoting him to a supervisor, happened. He simply remained as an intern.

However, he became an intern who had been noticed by an executive of the group.

Unsurprisingly, Vice-President Zhao had a tight schedule. After he sorted this out, he left the office with a a heavy burden on his mind.

“Lu Li’s sixteenth match is about to begin.”

A technician sent a request to ask for the next arrangements.

Supervisor Chang had already left as well, and he hung his head in despair. The new supervisor was yet to be decided and the secretary, who was in temporary replacement, thought for a bit before asking the intern, “What do you think we should do?”

“Of course, we should find the best analyst for this. We should also analyze the previous recording and post it on the forums.” The intern didn’t end up leaving; he actually really loved this job.

“Post it on the forums?” In order to maintain a certain amount of profit, the Shadow Cup and the Game Company of Dawn banned people from recording the matches. It was very rare for match recordings to appear in forums.

“It was a battle that only lasted for 35 seconds and there’s no way that people will be satisfied from that. So, they’ll have to buy entrance tickets to see the match live. We’ll be able to earn the full profit for every single match.

“What do you guys think?” Compared to Supervisor Chang, the replacement secretary didn’t know much about these things too, but he was smart enough to ask for the other people’s opinions.

Most of those who were in the office were a part of the gaming industry, so they had a good idea about what to do.

The replacement secretary was also a trusted subordinate of the next President and had no hidden agenda, so everyone shared their opinions.

The results were clear.

The best analysts were sent over – not one, but two.

Dark Wind, who wasn’t an expert in the game, but who was a famous expert on game theory, had been an analyst for almost ten years and had a good reputation.

There was also Zhang Zhen, one of the top hosts in the analyst world. He adapted very well and also hosted many matches that included well-known Thieves, such as Blood Dagger.

A host combined with an analyst – this was a top combination for the very best.

“Hi everyone. The match actually hasn’t started; we’re just here too early, haha.”

Out of habit, Zhang Zhen cracked a joke before he began his analysis.

“Let’s take a look at the previous match. Teacher Wind, what’s the shortest match in our current season of Shadow Cup? Any matches shorter than Lu Li’s?”

“Of course there is. The shortest match only took sixteen seconds – a team surrendered before the battle even started,” Dark Winds said.

“We’ll skip the ones who have decided to forfeit. Teacher Wind, what do you think of the combination for Lu Li’s team?” Zhang Zhen asked.

“Two physical damage dealers, with a Priest as the healer. This is a fairly common combination.” Dark Wind didn’t mind stating the obvious truth. “For a Thief, there are many other better combinations out there. For example, a Thief combined with a Mage and Priest is the combination with the highest victory rate at the moment. Even Sorrowless made his comeback this time using this classic combination.”

“Lu Li and Sorrowless – which team do you think has a better chance?” A debate always made a good topic. Once this topic was brought up, everyone entered into a heated discussion.

Lu Li and the others hadn’t received their notification to go on stage, but his match was already filled with one hundred thousand audience memberes.

Ten thousand gold coins!

Even if it was only a 10% profit, that would be equivalent to one thousand gold coins.

Based on the rules that Lu Li and Wandering had placed down, the Xin Xin Mercenary teams that entered could receive sixty percent of this profit. The other forty percent would become the foundation of the Mercenary Group and could also be used as everyone’s salary.

This meant that Lu Li had earned 200-300 gold coins from this match alone.

“Both teams are strong and have their own specialties. It’s hard to say which team will be able to travel further.” Of course, Dark Wind didn’t come to a conclusion. He slyly changed the topic of the conversation and began to analyze the recording from the previous match.

“Have you guys noticed that Lu Li often uses this skill to suddenly appear behind his opponent? Take a look, it happens in an incredibly short amount of time.”

“You have a very strong game knowledge. What is this skill?” Zhang Zhen asked the question on everyone’s minds.

“It’s kind of like Shadow Step,” Dark Wind explained. “It’s hard to know the exact effects of the skill because there are currently no players who have demonstrated it. All the knowledge that I have of this skill comes from NPCs.”

“Seems like this is a precious skill,” Zhang Zhen sighed in amazement.

“But the skill that Lu Li used probably isn’t Shadow Step – it has a different effect. When an NPCs uses it, you can tell from the movement of their legs, but when Lu Li used it, his back would glow slightly. We’ll screenshot and enlarge this scene… can you see it? The slight glow is produced by the inscriptions on his cape. This is clearly……”

He dragged on his sentence for a bit as he purposely kept the audience guessing.

“So, it’s a special effect from his cape. Amazing observation, Teacher Wind,” Zhang Zhen said as he clapped in a cooperative manner.

Lu Li didn’t know that he had already been analyzed in detail by someone.

This wasn’t something that could be helped; he was bound to run into talented analysts. They usually had an entire research team behind them that focused on analyzing the skills, gear and play style of gaming experts.

If you didn’t have anything to show, there was no way that anyone would stick around to listen to all this nonsense.

“To be honest, Lu Li’s synchronization with Moonlight is something that deserves more of our attention.” Dark Wind proceeded to move onto another topic.

“Yes, I’ve seen it too. Lu Li first reduced the movement speed of the Thief, then went on to control the Mage. The Thief and Mage didn’t position themselves properly and they both got caught in Moonlight’s Whirlwind,” Zhang Zhen exclaimed with an exaggerated expression on his face. “This Whirlwind is truly amazing! Teacher Wind, why do I feel like Moonlight dealt more damage in this match?”

“They both dealt a similar amount of damage. It’s mainly because the damage of Whirlwind was more obvious to the eyes. We can take a look at the statistics from the system… yes, both of them dealt a similar amount of damage. Moonlight dealt a little more, about 3% more than Lu Li.”

“You said that they synchronized well. Can you elaborate on this?”

“Timing. Including this Priest, March Rain, who is slightly lacking in experience, the three of them have a smooth synchronization.”

“Do you see it here? They didn’t talk or make eye contact. Lu Li naturally created an opportunity for Moonlight to attack, but March Rain didn’t stand around doing nothing either – she positioned herself to block the vision of the opposing healer. The death of the Mage was a result from their teamwork.”

All of this took an entire three minutes to explain.

Strangely enough, people paid ten silver coins to enter the scene and watch the match through a virtual widescreen. All they saw was two guys chattering away, but instead of feeling annoyed, they paid attention and enjoyed listening the whole time.

It was hard to imagine that a short 35 seconds had so many things hidden within.