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Chapter 145 – A Bit of Courage is Needed

Ghostblades, one of the four Swordsman sub-classes. They were Swordsmen that controlled Ghosts to fight. Depending on how a player chose his skills, Ghostblades could be divided into two types.

The first type used skills that buffed their attacks. They gave up some of their Phantom Ghosts, in order to achieve the highest attack. They were commonly referred to as Sword Demons.

The other type released their Phantom Ghosts in order to set up a powerful boundary that buffed allies who were in it. They were referred to as Phantom Demons.

The reason there were two types of Ghostblades was because their skill points were limited. No matter how it was said, it wasn’t possible to level every skill to the max level, so players had to choose which skills to prioritize. Ghostblades were considered relatively extreme. After choosing which skills to prioritize, the Ghostblade would take shape as one of two completely different types. Of course, there would certainly be players who chose to take the middle ground and leveled skills from both types. Choosing the middle ground was something which was commonly seen among normal players. However, in the pro-scene, players sought after the most effective route. For pro Ghostblades, if they weren’t Sword Demons, then they were Phantom Demons. There were very few who took the middle ground.

Of these two types, Sword Demons were simpler. They could both attack and defend and act independently. They could be considered a relatively balanced type. As for Phantom Demons, their strengths and weaknesses were very distinct. It was true that a large amount of high-leveled Phantom Ghost boundaries could greatly buff the Ghostblade’s combat strength. However, the boundary set up covered a limited area, which meant that once the Phantom Demon left the boundary, he would be useless.

This weakness wasn’t too obvious against NPCs, but was much more glaring in the Arena. The opponent didn’t need to fight in your boundaries. The opponent could simply wait until your boundaries disappeared. Long-ranged classes could even attack from outside the boundaries. In a 1v1 PK, Phantom Ghosts required more skill and knowledge to use. There were many normal players who even believed that Phantom Demons had no way of dueling against other classes.

From its development to its current state, Sword Demons were the most mainstream Ghostblades. The majority of players would choose to be a Sword Demon. Because the actions that could be done by Phantom Demons were numerous and complex and because the boundaries only covered a limited area, the amount of players who chose to be Phantom Demons grew fewer and fewer. But in these elite teams, Phantom Demons had their niche. But since the Phantom Ghost boundaries of two Phantom Demons didn’t overlap, there were only one or two per team.

For example, the Champion Tiny Herb team had a Phantom Demon. Zhou Yebai’s Ghostblade Rangoon Creeper was a Phantom Demon. He had appeared in an official match before providing the team with more choices and possible tactics.

“Phantom Demon…..” Qiao Yifan muttered to himself. Perhaps it was because no one had specially instructed him for a long time, but once he heard this suggestion, Qiao Yifan immediately accepted it. Even more so, he had been instructed by Ye Qiu, the Glory textbook, who even Wang Jiexi wasn’t as knowledgeable as.

“Correct, your view over the overall situation is very good and your ability to coordinate is very high, so a Phantom Demon suits you very well!” Ye Xiu said.

“But…… but……” Qiao Yifan said two “buts”, but wasn’t able to say anything past that. He had too much he wanted to say and didn’t know where to start.

Switch classes? How could he have the qualifications to do that? Even if he switched to a Phantom Demon, their team already had Zhou Yebai. How could they give Zhou Yebai’s Phantom Demon to him?

Start from scratch? That was even an more unlikely option. The pro-level Assassin he was currently using was already neglected by the Club. A completely new Phantom Demon would be neglected even more.

More importantly, his position in the club was falling lower and lower. After this season was over, his contract would expire. With how he was currently doing in the club, he doubted that the Club would renew his contract. And ever since he began in the pro-scene, he had always been invisible. The only thing he had going for him was the title “Champion team member”. With just this, he might be able to interest a few small Clubs. But if he started learning a new class now, with less than half a year left, would he be able to pass the entry tests?

If he lost his job as a pro-player, what was the point of changing to a more suitable class?

“Sigh……” In the end, Qiao Yifan could only sigh. At this moment, neither side moved. The spectators couldn’t hear what the two were saying. They didn’t know what they were doing. And how could they be polite with Qiao Yifan? They immediately began spamming messages telling him to hurry up.

Qiao Yifan didn’t dare delay any longer. But seeing that Lord Grim didn’t seem to have any intent on starting. He could only helplessly say: “Senior, I’m going to start now.” After finishing this, he began attacking.

Naturally, Ye Xiu handled Qiao Yifan easily. Qiao Yifan was quickly defeated. And sure enough, looking at the time, Qiao Yifan lost the fastest, just like how he took the longest to beat Tang Rou.

“Muster up some courage!”

Qiao Yifan heard Ye Xiu call this out when he left the field.

Courage?

Qiao Yifan silently sat in front of his computer, watching, as the next team member rushed up to face Lord Grim. The two sides began fighting without any polite greetings. The team members around him watched the battle while discussing it amongst each other. Qiao Yifan looked to his side, but Gao Yingjie wasn’t there. Looking to the other side, he saw that Gao Yingjie had been called over by the captain, who seemed to be talking to him.

“How lucky…… to be instructed by a god-level player like captain so often……” Qiao Yifan silently thought. He suddenly wanted to cry. He and Gao Yingjie had entered the team at the same time. They were the same age. One of them received the seniors’ love and affection. One of them became the seniors’ servant.

“Phantom Demon…….” Qiao Yifan couldn’t help but think of the suggestion that that God had made and that small bit of encouragement from him.

Maybe he really did need a bit more courage!

But……. courage wasn’t something that would come just from him saying it. After thinking about it for awhile, Qiao Yifan still felt scared.

Might as well just try it! He finally made this decision. He wouldn’t completely give up the Assassin he was using, but from now on, he would try a Phantom Demon out. Maybe there’ll be a difference?

Just this thought made Qiao Yifan feel extremely happy.

“Yifan, what are you smiling at?” At this moment, Gao Yingjie had returned to his seat. When he came, he saw his good friend with a foolish smile on his face. He looked distracted as if he wasn’t watching the match.

“Oh, it’s nothing.” Qiao Yifan immediately got rid of his smile.

That night, Team Tiny Herb’s record hadn’t changed. They all lost. Except this time, their captain Wang Jiexi hadn’t come out. However, after the day before’s match between the two, no one thought that their captain was afraid of losing. In short, their captain often did something unexpected just like when he suddenly pulled everyone into the game for training. Team Tiny Herb’s members were already used to this, so they simply listened to his commands without guessing what he was up to.

“How was today?” In Happy Internet Cafe, after finishing up with the great battle, Ye Xiu went to ask Tang Rou. The circumstances between the two were completely different. One of them had won every round. One of them had lost every round. Complete opposites.

“It was a bit better than yesterday.” Tang Rou said.

“Amazing!” Ye Xiu praised.

“But……. today, their Fiery Blaze invited me over to do some training or something!” Tang Rou said.

“Really?” Ye Xiu didn’t seem very surprised: “He’s got good eyes. You really do have a lot of potential. Did you accept?”

“I didn’t. I’ve never thought of being a pro-player.” Tang Rou said.

“No matter what, don’t let our boss hear you say that or she’ll choke you to death.” Ye Xiu said.

After thinking about it for awhile, Tang Rou nodded her head: “You’re right.”

“Ha ha, are you going to dungeon tonight?”

“Of course.”

“I’ll see you at 12.”

“Okay.”

After the two finished talking, they went back to their own business. Ye Xiu got ready to switch shifts, while Tang Rou went back to her seat and continued to play.

After 11, the Internet Cafe immediately changed scenes. The noisiness during the peak hours had passed and the place had quieted down a lot.

“Is the Pro Alliance really that fun?”

After Ye Xiu sat down at the receptionist desk, he logged into the game as Lord Grim and then received a message from Soft Mist.

“Is Glory fun?” Ye Xiu replied.

“I guess I could count it as fun.” Tang Rou said.

“Then the Pro Alliance is the same.” Ye Xiu said.

“Oh……”

“But with your personality, being a pro-player really suits you well. Don’t you like challenges?” Ye Xiu said.

“Then what about you? Why aren’t you playing in the Pro Alliance?” Tang Rou asked.

“I’ve already played in it. I’m tired right now, so I’m taking a break.” Ye Xiu said.

“Liar.” Tang Rou wasn’t stupid. How could “taking a break” mean running to an Internet Cafe and becoming a manager?

“I’ll be going back later.” Ye Xiu said.

“When?” Tang Rou asked.

“That’s a bit difficult to say……” Ye Xiu replied.

Tang Rou didn’t say anything more. The two quietly played. At 12, the dungeons refreshed. They partied up and did the same as they usually did.

The next day was the same. Except this time, Team Tiny Herb lost even more miserably than last time. There was no way they could improve so much after two or three days. But Ye Xiu on the other hand had gathered quite a lot of materials from the past two days. His Thousand Chance Umbrella had been upgraded all around once again. Every form was now Level 25. This was clearly more efficient than clearing dungeon records. Even better was that this could be done again and again, while dungeon records could only be set once.

Plantago Seed was still busily gathering the materials on the list, when he suddenly received another list of materials. Plantago Seed saw it and directly coughed up blood. This time, the materials were mainly from Level 30-35 areas. Currently, the Three Great Guild’s elite teams had only just hit Level 30 and were only just starting to challenge those areas. How would they be able to gather these materials?

Seeing how fast their resources were being depleted, let alone Herb Garden, even if all of the tenth server guilds gathered everything together, it still wouldn’t be enough. The vast majority of the players were Level 25. The Level 28 players such as Lord Grim were only a bit lower than the big guild’s elite teams. Compared to new players, besides eating and sleeping, Ye Xiu and Tang Rou played non-stop, so there was no way they would fall behind other players. They were already among the craziest of players, who only had one person playing on one account.

No materials. But Wang Jiexi didn’t panic. They were pro-players. Losing and winning were their jobs. They couldn’t just keep on fighting non-stop. They had to analyze too.

As a result, during the days where they had no more materials, Team Tiny Herb spent the night analyzing all of the recordings they had gathered together.

Ye Xiu naturally wasn’t concerned. If no one came to look for him, then he’d continue leveling. After a few days, they hit Level 30. During this period of time, Glory’s 22nd match of the season took place. Team Excellent Era finally realized their fan’s hopes and made a beautiful turnaround match with 9 points to 1.

In comparison, Team Tiny Herb came out with the opposite. Against a mid-tier team, they only took three points.