The King's Avatar

Mo Fan was testing his limits, but the reason why limits were called limits was because they couldn't be broken easily. Improving one's mechanics and awareness wasn't like farming for equipment in-game. You couldn't just get lucky and suddenly improve your strength with a piece of powerful equipment. These were things that were improved day by day, training and training, slowly accumulating real battle experience. If you wanted to break through your limits, it was the same. It wasn't as simple as one day becoming passionate about it, deciding to work hard and achieving a breakthrough.

Mo Fan was continuously testing his limits with disregard for everything else. He really was in a state he had never reached before in training. However, breaking through one's limits wasn't like farming equipment. It wasn't as if once you accomplished it everything was good. An abrupt breakthrough was one thing, but mastering it was another. In other words, you had to accumulate experience bit by bit.

Being able to defeat Sun Xiang, even if it was a One Autumn Leaf with only 72 percent of his health, was already an amazing breakthrough for Mo Fan. Against Du Ming, he wanted to continue, and was still stubbornly, even more wildly challenging his limits again and again. However, his condition had already been slipping, and though he had managed to surprise Du Ming, the other soon turned the tables. Deception's 14 percent health couldn't take much more before he eventually fell. Du Ming's victory was without suspense. Mo Fan's performance felt like it had plummeted at at the most crucial moment.

It seemed like defeating Sun Xiang had taken a lot out of him, however, he was still so fierce in this match...

Although he was just a newbie, Du Ming still felt a sense of respect rise for Mo Fan. This kind of opponent who never gave up was always worthy of respect, no matter where, no matter if they lost or won.

Leaving the stage, Mo Fan seemed rather worn out as expected. For him, it was a mental exhaustion. Constantly drawing together his focus to launch a barrage of intense attacks was like drawing himself tight like a bowstring. He had pushed himself, uncaring of the consequences.

"That was too reckless of you," Ye Xiu commented, looking at Mo Fan.

Mo Fan quietly glanced at Ye Xiu, but didn't say anything, returning to his own seat. Qiao Yifan passed a bottle of water over. Mo Fan stared for a moment in surprise before accepting it, nodding at Qiao Yifan in thanks.

What was this guy thinking? No one knew. The only one who could really communicate verbally with him was Su Mucheng. And even if it was Su Mucheng, she merely spoke more often to him, but never got a look into his thoughts.

"Talk with him more often!" Ye Xiu was helpless and could only hand things over to Su Mucheng, asking her to guide the loner.

By then, Happy's third player for the group arena had already stood.

Tang Rou, after the 1v3 incident, had been a constant as the anchor for the group arena. When she stood, the atmosphere in the venue chilled somewhat. Even now, Tang Rou's popularity was still at rock bottom. Even their home turf fans weren't very happy with her. It was clear what position she had amongst the fanbase. Plus, Happy only had her left while Samsara still had Du Ming's Moon-Luring Frost with 91 percent health, and a full-health Zhou Zekai, Glory's Number One, Zhou Zekai.

There was no point in continuing.

That's what everyone thought. Even if they announced Samsara's victory now, no one would care, probably.

However, Tang Rou simply ignored all of this. She stood, accepting the encouragements and blessings from her teammates and walking towards the stage determinedly. Even if she heard the jeers from the crowd, she didn't care. In their home games, Happy's fans would give her face considering that she was a member of the team, but in an away game, Tang Rou was like a public enemy. If she could endure that, then this silence in their home game was like an applause.

This sort of atmosphere in a home game was really rather strange and oppressive. Even Samsara's players felt uncomfortable, looking around at Happy's fans. They, of course, knew why this was, it was just that they didn't think it would be so intense. Tang Rou was receiving this sort of treatment from her own team's fans, the ones who would most stand up for them. And their support of Team Happy was so passionate too. This truly was strange.

They all knew too clearly what this sort of circumstance meant for a pro player, but a young lady like Tang Rou still managed to endure.

Samsara had researched Tang Rou's matches. After the one versus three event, the biggest change to Tang Rou was becoming the last line of defense in the group arena rather than the spearhead. Apart from that, there was no change. Her fearsome performance remained the same. Her popularity might have frozen, but her strength was still improving steadily. Amongst the rookies this season, she was definitely the best when considering pure ability. If it wasn't for the fact that she had started a little old, her future would have been limitless. Then, with her flawless looks and demeanor, a lot of people felt that what had happened with her was a shame.

Slowly, there were some voices that spoke out, hoping that people could be more lenient on the rookie. However, there were always those that just wouldn't let go, especially Esports Home's Ruan Cheng as a representative, who was now a professional hater of Tang Rou's. No matter what article or commentary he was writing, he could always twist it to hate on Tang Rou a little. However, it was more Tang Rou's attitude that exacerbated it. If she could stand up and address the issue with sincerity, with the winds beginning to change and people beginning to stand up for her, then this incident might have passed by without further trouble.

However, she didn't. Tang Rou didn't seem to have anything to say about this. This was why many fans hated her. Everyone felt that she refused to learn from her mistakes, staying as stubborn as a mule. Then some tied this to her appearance, arguing that she was probably used to being spoiled because of her looks, so she thought she was special and could do whatever she wanted. The few who spoke for her failed to pull her out of this slump.

However, what was most depressing for the haters was that they couldn't use her performance on the field to attack her. After the one versus three incident, Happy entered a period of consecutive wins. The worst of their scores were 9 to 1, and even their loss against 301 Degrees was a 4 to 6. They had still managed to obtain the two points from the group arena. With their group arena always victorious, Tang Rou's performance as the last line of defense in the group arena was really flawless. This meant that they were trying to pick bones from eggs, discussing subjective things such as "what techniques were appropriate".

They had been left hungry for so long...

But now, against Samsara, Tang Rou was in a difficult place as the last line of defense. It was such a difficult place that these starved people thought that even if Tang Rou lost here, it wouldn't be anything they could feast on.

She was set against almost two whole opponents, with Zhou Zekai as one. Losing was all too expected.

After Tang Rou entered the booth, the atmosphere changed, buzzing chatter arising from the crowd. The crowd was chatting, discussing, gossiping, like no one cared about the following match. Since they didn't like the next player on Happy's side, they had already convinced themselves of how the following match would end.

There was no more sounds of encouragement. In fact, the number of people who were even remotely paying attention to the match had plummeted. Only Samsara's supporters were still cheering, happy that they would finally be able to take back two points in the group arena.

The match started. The applause that would usually ring out at a time like this was few and far between.

"Is this because of… Zhou Zekai?" Feeling this awkward atmosphere at their home game, Chen Guo was smiling in a rather strained way.

Tang Rou truly was unpopular, but when she was on the stage, she was still representing Happy. The fans might not like her, but they couldn't not hope for Happy's victory. Thus, when she went onstage to defend the arena, she would usually get some applause.

However, this time, it seemed like Happy's fans had given up on her.

Chen Guo knew that there was only one reason why this would happen. The fans believed that Happy couldn't possibly win.

Why?

Because Samsara had almost two full health characters left, a huge advantage.

Because one of these two was Zhou Zekai, Glory's Number One.

Zhou Zekai's strength went beyond just boosting the morale and confidence of his team. He hadn't even gotten onstage yet, and he could already influence the attitudes of the fans.

"They have Zhou Zekai, we can't win…"

Chen Guo now truly understood Zhou Zekai's status in the Alliance, seeing how he could create such ideas even in a home game.

Chen Guo was a little annoyed at these fans, but not long ago in the Spring Festival event, the passion of their fans had proved how much hope they had in Happy. Perhaps they couldn't be blamed. The only thing to be blamed was the sheer strength of Zhou Zekai's presence and… how deeply unpopular Tang Rou was. Perhaps, if it was a different member of Happy, they might've gotten some encouragement and support.

"Ai…" Chen Guo sighed. Tang Rou's persistence made Chen Guo feel even more helpless than Zhou Zekai's strength. That young lady really wasn't "soft" at all. Was her name given to use as mockery? Chen Guo silently thought in exasperation at that renowned father of Tang Rou's.*

The match begun under the attention - or lack thereof - of the audience. But the players onstage didn't know about the reactions of the crowd. Du Ming was very much looking forward to this match. As the match started, his character Moon-Luring Frost made a few more cool poses than he did last match.

"I never would've expected that we would meet in an official match," Du Ming sent into the chat.

Tang Rou replied with a smiley face.

"Let's give it our all!" Du Ming yelled excitedly.

"Of course," Tang Rou replied. Soft Mist charged out and Du Ming's Moon-Luring Frost also charged directly. The two characters steadily entered each other's views without dodging or retreating, clashing head on.

Tang Rou was once the person who had put Du Ming in the most humiliating position.

In the audience player versus pro round of the All-Star Weekend, he had somehow lost to a challenging normal player and twice, too. For a long time, he had become a joke in their circle. But his opponent had been a normal player, while he was a pro. He couldn't go seeking revenge for something like that! Du Ming could only accept his misfortune and was depressed for a good while.

That was until the player that had defeated him seemed to have the intentions of going pro, and now, she was finally here on the same stage as Du Ming.

Revenge? Two years had past, and Du Ming really didn't have any intentions for revenge. However, he couldn't forget that incident. Thus, one day, after he realized that Tang Rou was entering the pro circle too, he began paying attention to her. The target of his attention wasn't one to keep a low profile either. Not long after entering the pro circle, she had gotten into quite the snit with the one versus three incident. She was the main character of it even.

But she didn't manage the 1v3 and broke her promise, going from the protagonist to the antagonist, someone everyone hated.

Du Ming was stunned. Disregarding everything else, she was truly a girl with character, and she was also very beautiful.

His past grudge had faded and blurred, and Du Ming began to develop a liking for the young lady he had been paying attention to. Especially the one versus three incident, that had Du Ming's heart aching for her.

He really did want to go and support Tang Rou, but… just think of his position! After the one two three four All-Stars on Team Samsara, then the Assassin Wu Qi and Cleric Fang Minghua, only then you could get to him. For this sort of sensitive topic, the reporters would casually ask for Samsara's members' opinions, but it would never fall to him to answer.

Seeing Zhou Zekai hesitate for half a day before spitting out a very strange "really strong" as an answer, Du Ming kind of wanted to go up and punch in his handsome face.

Really strong my ass, what's really strong???

Du Ming had never felt so anxious about Zhou Zekai's lack of speaking ability.

Back then, Du Ming's state could be described as heart-in-throat. However, he soon realized that his worry was excessive. Though her popularity might've plummeted, Tang Rou's performance was even more stable. In the following period, Happy had performed even better than Samsara.

Du Ming's admiration for this young lady shot up another notch.

Round 20 had finally arrived and Samsara was once again faced with Happy. This time, Du Ming and Tang Rou had the chance to face each other on stage.

Du Ming was hyped, and the Samsara players on the bench were all deep in discussion too.

The attention Du Ming had directed at Tang Rou was no secret in Samsara. For example, Jiang Botao, immensely skilled at communicating and reading others, could easily see that this guy had a crush.

"That guy took his sword and charged. Seems to me he's in a pretty good state! Does this guy want to express his admiration for his goddess by crushing her?" Wu Qi wondered aloud, seeing Du Ming's more eager than normal performance.

"He's probably trying to attract her interest through showing off his own talent," Jiang Botao, as expected, was skilled at understanding others.

"How childish, like an elementary school kid!" Fang Minghua exclaimed.

"Holy crap!" Someone yelled in shock and Samsara's players all facepalmed, lowering their heads in silence for Du Ming.

Moon-Luring Frost, charging up excitedly, had been thrown to one side by a Circle Swing.

"Has he already been wiped out?" Lu Boyuan had a hand over his eyes, peeking at the situation through his fingers.

"No…" Zhou Zekai said.

"Ah, I was too careless!" Du Ming yelled into the chat.

"Jesus, this is embarrassing…" Samsara's players all decided.

"He won't start yelling 'I love you' or something right then and there, will he?"

"If that's the case, well, the transfer window still had two days to go, let's sell him!"

"Sell him to Happy?"

"That's probably exactly what he wants!" They laughed.

Onstage, the battle continued.

TN: *The "Rou" in Tang Rou means "soft" or "gentle", the same "soft" in Soft Mist, so, Chen Guo is talking about Tang Rou's birth name, not the name Soft Mist