The Great Thief

The next day, Lu Li didn’t go levelling, nor did he go into the workshop.

Although it didn’t look like he was doing much, he was actually watching a highly-anticipated match. Given the strength of Ruling Sword, most other guilds couldn’t actually pose a threat to them.

It was their fifth match today, and they had scored a total of 40 points in the last four matches.

Ruling Sword was up against Floating Clouds and had gained quite a lot of attention.

Floating Clouds was relatively unremarkable, but they were considered to be a large guild. They were ranked 28th on the guild rankings and had made it into the top 100 of the Shadow Cup..

There was no way to explain the previous matches. Many of them just involved Fat Monkey or Kitty Likes Meat, who both tended to end their fights within a few seconds.

The difference between their strength was too great; that was clear to everyone. There was no reason for them to explain the small time-difference between each of the matches.

However, Floating Clouds was different. They were an old guild with decades of history, a variety of support facilities and a large organizational structure. Many of their players had decided to compete in the tournament.

Don’t Know Anything was a Paladin player from Floating Clouds. He was an off-tank that had strong damage reduction skills and contrary to his name, was actually a theory specialist.

Soviet Purple was another Floating Cloud player who was a Mage. He was one of the younger generation and specialized in Arcane Skills.

Wildcat was one of the rare Druids that focused on dealing physical damage with some Defense. He was particularly hard to deal with from the beginning to the end of a fight.

In addition to these, Floating Clouds also had many other famous players.

On the gambling black market, very few players believed that they would be able to defeat Ruling Sword. Those who placed bets on them only wanted to give the unpopular option a try.

”The time is currently 8.30 in the morning. The match between Ruling Sword and Floating Cloud is about to begin,” a caster called Rainy announced.

”That’s right; I’m really looking forward to this game. Rainy, who do you think will win?”

The person who responded was the industry-famous Pure White Season.

”I think Floating Clouds look promising,” Rainy smiled as he gave a neutral answer, then continued, ”I actually quite like Floating Clouds; they have quite a positive reputation. It’s just unfortunate that they have run into Ruling Sword in these preliminary rounds.”

”The opening player for Floating Clouds is unsurprisingly Don’t Know Anything, but I don’t know who Ruling Sword will send out. In their last four matches, Moonlight has gone once, Fat Monkey has gone once and Kitty Likes Meat has gone twice. Lu Li has still yet to participate in a match,” Pure White Season said, beginning the discussion on today’s match as he analyzed the lineup on both sides.

”I feel like Lu Li wouldn’t appear in a preliminary match,” Rainy commented with disappointed tone.

”If the two sides played their normal lineup…” Pure White Season’s started, then suddenly raised his voice and continued, ”The match has begun and both sides have chosen to go with their usual lineup. Floating Clouds has sent their Paladin Don’t Know Anything and Ruling Sword has sent Kitty Likes Meat once again.”

”Kitty Likes Meat is an expert who grew up on the arena. She has set a 40-game winning streak before and has repeatedly defeated many other professional players,” Rainy said, quickly introducing Ruling Sword’s female Warlock.

Both professions were quite mana hungry, so neither of them were going to use any stalling tactics.

The first fight was all-out; Don’t Know Anything chased Kitty Likes Meat and attacked relentlessly, not giving her any space at all. Just as Pure White Season had explained, Floating Clouds wanted to achieve a decent score, but they also didn’t want to perform too poorly in this first round.

Right from the beginning, it was clear that Kitty Likes Meat was in a weaker position as her HP depleted.

However, when Don’t Know Anything’s movement speed buffs wore off, she pulled away with a Blink Skill while a Succubus replaced her Hellhounds.

The Succubus’ damage wasn’t as good as the Hellhounds, but it had a charm skill.

Don’t Know Anything was stunned and he had to deal with the Succubus. Fortunately, it had less HP than a Thief, so he was confident that he could kill it quickly.

”I’m not sure if the master will win here.”

Perhaps it was quite clear to the on-lookers or perhaps Pure White Season was quite a skilled player herself, but she was quick to find that Kitty Likes Meat had set a trap.

It was actually very simple – if you attacked the pet, she would attack you.

”Between a Paladin and a Warlock, it’s anyone’s game,” Rainy noted.

Although Kitty Likes Meat currently had the upper hand, both sides had a variety of HP-regenerating skills. It was still quite difficult to tell who was going to be the winner.

After about five intense minutes of struggling, Kitty Likes Meat finally defeated her opponent. She only had less than 30% HP remaining.

Floating Clouds’ next player was Soviet Purple.

”Pure White, do you think that isn’t possible for Kitty Likes Meat to win this next fight?” Rainy mused whimsically.

”I don’t think she can. If it was me, I would just try to deal as much damage as I can,” Pure White Season replied promptly.

Arcane attacks weren’t stronger than Fire attacks, but he still had so many bonus skills that he hadn’t used yet.

Just as Pure White Season expected, Kitty Likes Meat didn’t delay. She casted all of her remaining skills as quickly as she could. By the time she fell, Soviet Purple had lost 40% of his HP.

”We may have the privilege of seeing a match between ice and fire,” Rainy said excitedly, raising the pitch of her voice.

”Probably not…” Pure White Season responded with a shake of her head.

When Moonlight appeared in the arena, it was clear why Pure White Season had become so well-known. Her predictions always seemed to come to life.

Ruling Sword didn’t want to lose too many points in this part of the game, so it was inevitable that Fat Monkey would change positions with Moonlight. It was much easier for a strong Warrior to fight a Mage than it was for a Mage to fight in a mirror-match.

Soviet Purple was immediately crowd controlled and almost surgically dispatched by Moonlight.