The King's Avatar
chapter-926

The commentator liked players with a story behind them. That way, they didn’t need to rack their brains trying to think of something to say to introduce them. While he introduced Yu Feng’s situation, Yu Feng went on stage, greeted Lou Guanning, and shook his hand.

Lou Guanning’s reputation as a money warrior made everyone subconsciously imagine him as an arrogant and despotic upstart. Quite a few people were hoping that his arrogant request to challenge Yu Feng would end up with him being slapped fiercely in the face.

However, Lou Guanning behaved gracefully and looked happy to chat with Yu Feng. He was only a small character in the pro scene, yet standing alongside an All Star and God, his aura didn’t lose out to the other side one bit. From this point of view, no one would think that this was, in fact, a Rookie Challenge.

Rookies weren’t experienced and didn’t have much knowledge about how to act on stage, so even when Zhao Yuzhe challenged a God so ambitiously, his aura still felt weak.

But for Lou Guanning? He was a player from a newly-promoted team. He wasn’t a God like Sun Xiang or Tang Hao, nor did he have the same energy as Lu Hanwen. He stood on stage very normally, but no one felt like he was any worse compared to Yu Feng.　

His confidence couldn’t have come from his own strength. After all, half a season had passed, and those who paid any attention to him knew very well what level of skill Lou Guanning was at.

"An owner is truly amazing!"

All sorts of whispers stirred within the crowd. They clearly recognized that Lou Guanning was no ordinary rookie.

As a result, there was no anger or provocation in this confrontation. It didn’t have the usual fan to idol mentality. Though Lou Guanning clearly explained that his reason for challenging Yu Feng was because Yu Feng was his favorite player, it wasn’t that sort of flattery that many new players had towards the Gods they admired. It stemmed from his admiration and appreciation towards Yu Feng. The audience misperceived it. They were wondering if he was going to follow up with an "Are you interested in joining our team?"

Lou Guanning didn’t end up saying such an inappropriate question. The two went up on stage and used their own characters for the battle. They entered the map and began fighting.

The battle was intense. Their blades dripped with blood. This was the Berserker fighting style though. Because their skills would be awakened after dropping below 50% health, some players even intentionally took damage to achieve more explosive damage output. Berserkers were a class that personified the strategy of killing one thousand enemies by sacrificing eight hundred allies, and were considered the number one class in terms of manliness. At the same time, they were also the most difficult class to heal because, for many Clerics, they sometimes didn’t know whether the Berserker was actually getting hit, or if he was intentionally letting himself get hit in exchange for stronger attacks. Unable to make a clear conclusion, the Clerics didn’t know what to do. As a result, sometimes Clerics would be yelled at for healing and yelled at for not healing.

Every Berserker hoped for a healer that understood their intentions. Every healer hoped that their team didn’t have a Berserker. If the team did, they hoped that the Berserker wasn’t a brave hero who liked to take damage to power up.

The battle between Yu Feng and Lou Guanning was intense, but the experts could see that both sides were holding back.

Yes, as the God being challenged, Yu Feng held back. As the challenger and rookie, Lou Guanning wasn’t going all out either.

Yu Feng won the match in the end, but Lou Guanning had lost the match and won the war.

After the match ended, both sides went off stage and continued to chat with each other. The two then left the stage together. The Rookie Challenge on the first day of the All Star Weekend ended with such a friendly match.　　

The event ended. The pro players easily left the stadium through their own private exits. Ye Xiu and the others could only squeeze out of the stadium with the rest of the crowd.

The exiting was bustling with noise. When they finally got out of the stadium, Chen Guo heard her cell phone ringing. She took it out and took a look. She had eight missed phone calls all from one person, Lou Guanning.

"Hey, Little Lou!" Chen Guo picked up the phone and spoke coarsely. She had seen Lou Guanning’s grace in the final match of the Rookie Challenge. Speaking of which, Chen Guo had also been someone who thought of money warriors as arrogant upstarts. After interacting with Heavenly Swords, she slowly changed her view. Now that she personally witnessed Lou Guanning’s poise on stage, her initial impression of him had now been completely overturned.

Although Lou Guanning was Glory’s most famous money warrior, the other side had both skill and style too. Chen Guo felt like she was losing to Lou Guanning as a boss! When she picked up the phone, she anxiously reminded herself.

"Ah! It’s me. Did you guys come out yet?" Lou Guanning asked.

"We’re out. What’s up? Is there something going on tonight?" Chen Guo tried to be more proactive.

"Ha, let’s go out for a late-night snack! Go out from Tiny Herb’s main entrance, cross the skyway, and you’ll see a tea restaurant*. We’re over there! Room 2." Lou Guanning said.

"Okay, we’re heading over." Chen Guo didn’t refuse. They had come here because of his invitation. It didn’t make sense to refuse to see him.

The group of four continued to follow the crowd. There were quite a few people crossing the skyway, but there were also many passionate fans waiting outside the main entrance, holding signs to show their support for their team and idols, waiting to meet them. Lou Guanning and the others had already gone to the tea restaurant across the street and had the time to call her eight times. Evidently, the pro players did not leave through the main entrance. These fans were too ignorant when it came to gathering information.

Ye Xiu’s group crossed the skywalk and saw the tea restaurant. They went in and asked to go to room 2. An employee immediately brought them over. There were five people waiting respectfully in room 2. When they saw the four arrive, they immediately got up. One of them was especially excited. He even seemed a little bewildered.

This tea restaurant wasn’t too high class of a place. The environment was fairly ordinary. It was even a bit crowded with nine people squeezing into this room.

It was the first time meeting each other offline, but Lou Guanning’s first words got rid of the feeling of unfamiliarity between them. He smiled and said: "Did you guys see my performance? How was it? God, please give me some advice!"

Lou Guanning looked at Ye Qiu. Even though the two sides hadn’t introduced each other, he instantly determined who the legendary God Ye Qiu was.

"Haha, you fought too politely." Ye Xiu said. He wasn’t shy with strangers at all. It even seemed like he was the host: "Have a seat, everyone. Why are you all standing!"

Everyone sat down. Ye Xiu impatiently fished out a cigarette. He didn’t forget to ask if anyone else wanted one, but the five Heavenly Swords people waved their hands and refused. Ye Xiu didn’t ask if they didn’t want to smoke or if they didn’t know how. In any case, he grabbed a cigarette and tossed the cigarette pack onto the table: "If you guys want one, feel free to take one!" Then, he quickly started lighting up his cigarette.

Before he could light it, Chen Guo moved her hands like lightning: "Hey, show some manners!"

"Hahahaha..." Lou Guanning laughed. He didn’t make any comments and continued, "How about you introduce yourselves?"

"Tang Rou, Chen Guo, me, Steamed Bun." Ye Xiu quickly introduced everyone from left to right.

"Bao Rongxing!" Even though Steamed Bun didn’t mind being called Steamed Bun, he still gave his actual name to everyone.

"Haha, you must be Steamed Bun Invasion!" Lou Guanning laughed.

"It seems like you’ve heard of my might. Not bad." Steamed Bun was very excited.

Lou Guanning was somewhat puzzled. Don’t we already know each other? Do you not know who I am?

"I’m Chasing Haze." Chen Guo introduced her in-game character.

"I guessed that." Lou Guanning nodded his head. He had only ever met one person, who would shout at God Ye Qiu.

"Soft Mist." Tang Rou half rose out of her chair and introduced herself by her character tag.

"Oh, the expert. How surprising." Lou Guanning said. He didn’t say what was surprising, but anyone smart would know. Soft Mist was a very aggressive Battle Mage, but the player behind her was a beautiful girl. It was a surprising contrast.

"I’m Loulan Slash!" Lou Guanning began introducing his side. After introducing himself, he pointed to the people beside him: "Zou Yunhai is Ocean Ahead."

"Hi everyone." Zou Yunhai greeted.

"Wen Kebei, Homeward Bound." Lou Guanning continued.

This person was the one who was the most excited, that he wasn’t sure what to do when the four entered the room. After being introduced by Lou Guanning, he finally couldn’t hold back: "God, please give me your signature!"

"Show some manners!" Lou Guanning also scolded like Chen Guo did. Everyone laughed. Chen Guo felt a myriad of emotions after laughing. In the beginning, she had also been innocent! But now? She glanced at Ye Xiu. His cigarette wasn’t lit, but he still held it in his mouth. How irritating!

"This is Gu Xiye. He’s our Grappler, Night Tide. That’s Zhong Yeli. She’s our Cleric Thousand Falling Leaves." Lou Guanning finished introducing everyone. It was their five-man group in the game, four guys and one girl.

"Your Heavenly Swords isn’t only you five anymore….." Ye Xiu said.

"Yeah... but... there’s not enough seats." Lou Guanning smiled. He had obviously just come up with this excuse on the spot. He clearly hadn’t planned on bringing more people. Those other Heavenly Sword players didn’t have any relationship with Ye Xiu and the others. It meant that this meetup was because of their friendship in the game.

"It is a bit tight." Chen Guo saw that everyone was friendly. She didn’t pay too much attention to the particulars and commented on the matter.

"It’s just because it’s close. There’s not much else to do nearby." Lou Guanning said.

"Then what do you have prepared for this late-night snack?" Chen Guo smiled. She was a natural socializer and very easily became familiar with strangers. Ye Xiu had experienced this a long time ago.

"Is there anything you’d like to eat?" Lou Guanning asked.

"Does this place have everything?" Chen Guo smiled.

"No, but if you want, we can have other places deliver food here!" Lou Guanning also smiled.

Chen Guo stared blankly. How tyrannical. This nouveau riche finally exposed his tyrannical ways. It was best if this topic didn’t continue. If not, they might get kicked out of this place. There would always be places where they would be looked down upon.　　

"I’m just joking around. It doesn’t matter. We didn’t come here to eat." Chen Guo said.

"What? If a late-night snack isn’t for eating, then what’s it for?" Steamed Bun interrupted.

"...."

It was best not to talk about certain things with those guys, but for Steamed Bun, it was best not to talk about anything in general.

*The official translation would be cha chaan teng, and they usually serve Hong Kong cuisine and Hong Kong style Western cuisine. The "tea" part of it is to distinguish the tea restaurants from Western restaurants that serve water. It’s different from a tea house, which generally just serves tea.