Chapter 1604: Core

In fact, winning or losing was a very obvious thing. This Thief from the Gangnam Royals was at a second or third-class level when he retired. After leaving the arena for three years, how could his abilities have gotten better and not worse?

Blood Dagger was being a tough opponent today. He didn’t look like a Thief but much more like a Berserker.

“He couldn’t have gone mad right?” Nine Phoenix was rather confused.

Lu Li guessed the reason as to why Blood Dagger was in a frenzy. He had cheated so much equipment from him and gotten him killed. It would be crazy if Blood Dagger wasn’t mad about it. If he kept his feelings suppressed, he could probably rupture a blood vessel or something of the sort.

If the one who killed Blood Dagger was a player of the same level as Lu Li or Wood Fearing, then he would probably humbly appreciate his murderer. Only they had the right to kill him. As for anyone else, they couldn’t possible kill him – they would be his rival for life.

But in reality, this wasn’t the case. The opponent who killed him was one that he didn’t know the identity of.

He was killed by a group of Thieves who were unheard of. They had surrounded him and butchered him to pieces, bit by bit..

To make an inappropriate analogy, if Blood Dagger was a girl, and a handsome guy violated him, then he could have accepted it. But in reality, the one who offended him was not a handsome man, but a vulgar man. A group of vulgar men.

The humiliation of being killed off by a bunch of nobodies made him seek revenge.

Hence, the arena became his stage. This poor Gangnam Royals Thief became his punching bag.

“Actually, I think Blood Dagger is going for a straightforward strategy.”

Lu Li hadn’t felt that he was the reason for why Blood Dagger had gone berserk and continued to hypocritically analyse from a technical perspective.

“Dwarves and Thieves are suited towards PVP, especially mirror matchups between Thieves. No other races’ Thieves can completely control Dwarven Thieves. His race means that he has innate immunity to bleeding and to poison. He can take back the initiative to fight in any situation. It is no doubt faster and more energy-efficient be straightforward with him. Blood Dagger Bro is really brilliant!”

Nevertheless, the opponent of Blood Dagger was not without strength to fight back.

Because of Blood Dagger’s messy way of fighting, he had found some opportunities to fight back. In the end, when he fell, Blood Dagger’s remaining HP was just under a third.

In this way, the next player from the Gangnam Royals was given a good ideal.

As an Ice Mage, the current update made him the best occupation at restraining Thieves. They were even more suited than Berserkers.

Blood Dagger didn’t calm down despite his low HP. He was here to find a punching bag anyway, so he fought with rage against this Ice Mage as well. He nearly scared him enough to run off at first until he realised he had full HP.

“Blood Dagger is about to die,” Water Fair sighed.

“Indeed, he’s dead.”

Lu Li had a face filled with regret. It was said with a tone of mourning and there was no sense of pleasure in it.

Without Blood Dagger, the youth training camp was pretty much only left with newbies. They were not even close to the level of those in the Gangnam Royals. The next few fresh faces from Glory Capital kept making mistakes.

 “Ah! So close! What a shame – this new fresh face had such good potential. He was just a tad lacking in the mental side of things.”

Lu Li even wanted to go up there and fight on his behalf.

“Why does it feel like you’re on Blood Dagger’s side?” Nine Phoenix asked, rather confused.

Lu Li didn’t want to reply to her question directly so answered with a lot of fluff.

“We’re just commentating so we need to be fair and just. There’s no taking sides.”

 “The whole gaming circle sees you and Sorrowless as archenemies of each other. Do you feel that you’re possibly not Sorrowless’ rival?”

Nine Phoenix didn’t have a good impression of Glory Capital so she asked purposeful questions. She hoped that Lu Li would belittle Sor rowless.

If Sorrowless became angered then he would probably have a conflict with Ruling Sword. Then, they both would suffer damages.

If he didn’t get upset, the nothing would happen.

“There is this possibility. I think I’m not Sorrowless’ opponent as of yet. Sorrowless is without a doubt the number one in the game. His capabilities are beyond anyone to surpass, and his leadership is also faultless…” Lu Li was praising Sorrowless endlessly.

“Ahem.”

Nine Phoenix couldn’t hear any more of it.

She finally understood why she couldn’t calculate Lu Li – he had no morals and no limits.

“Water Sis, you gotta be careful. In this day and age, men liking men is quite trendy. You can see how much he looks up to Sorrowless. Maybe one day he’ll run off with him.”

 “Oh well, by that time, I’ll send them my best wishes,” Water Fairy replied with a smile, and a dangerous look flashed in her eyes.

“Calculating is one thing, but don’t falsely accuse people,” Lu Li thought to himself, speechlessly. He again understood how accurate the meaning of ‘a woman’s heart is the most poisonous’ was.

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“Ahaha, Glory Capital lost!”

Nine Phoenix didn’t bother to hide her pleasure in other people’s pain. She was that type of person who was direct in showing her love and hate of people, but not to the extent of being brainless. Even if this type of laughter travelled to Sorrowless’ ears, he would only smile and let it pass.

 “Lost in a way that really shouldn’t have been…”

Lu Li didn’t have any way to say Blood Dagger did well.

In reality, if Blood Dagger had fought tactfully, he would have no problem fighting against three in the arena. Lu Li was still sure that one person was enough to accumulate all the points needed in the match.

 “Luckily there are team matches. I believe Glory Capital’s performance won’t let people down,” Water Fairy continued.

She didn’t have any intention of shaming Glory Capital. For heroines, there was no point in stepping on a defeated opponent. To shame them was completely pointless; it wasn’t like you could get anything out of it.

In the team round, Blood Dagger was finally not charging around violently.

Perhaps it was because he was told off by someone. Now, he had perfectly mastered the positioning in teamfights – he was a perfect textbook example.

After this, someone wrote an article commenting on this team match with the headline “The Role of a Star Player”.

Perhaps the young soldiers of Glory Capital could all become a pillar of strength like Blood Dagger, White Westhill or even Sorrowless in many years’ time. However, at the current moment, they were hardly dry behind the ears. No matter in the sense of operation or the cooperation of the team, their performance was a mess.

However, the new team members of Gangnam Royals were all veterans.

Some were retired for various reasons, some were bought over with large sums of money, and others were folk masters. All in all, each and every one of them were better than the young ones from the youth training camp.

They hoped to set fire to the healer of Glory Capital, but Blood Dagger stopped them. This Thief would always mess up their plans, which meant it was all for nothing. By the time they realised that their fight strategy needed to be adjusted, the rhythm of the battlefield was already out of their control.

“Does anyone else feel that there’s bullying going on in Blood Dagger’s side?” Nine Phoenix asked.

“Quite the bully,” Water Fairy had to admit as well.

The majority of clubs didn’t care about their ranking in the Donghua Cup. It was just a training ground for newbies, and there were some wild competitors who hoped to meet talent scouts through the competition.

It was very rare to see celebrity competitors at these places. Firstly, it was because they didn’t participate in these types of competitions. Secondly, it was a chance for the newbies to show off their talent. Blood Dagger was clearly an odd one out in the Donghua Cup. He probably didn’t even realise he was bullying the newbies.

The end results showed that Glory Capital had 2 points in the arena, while the Gangnam Royals had 3 points. However, in the team competition, Glory Capital accumulated 5 points while the Gangnam Royals only achieved a miserable 2 points.

 “This match has indeed been exciting. Blood Dagger has shown the gap between celebrity and normal competitors. At the same time, he has also shown the hidden issues in the Gangnam Royals’ team,” Lu Li said, beginning to analyse this match. No matter how ridiculous the match was, you always had to put commentating first. This was called professionalism.

“What hidden issues?” Water Fairy asked, going along with him.

“Their team has a few people with good capabilities, but it lacked cooperation as well as a team core. They could maintain their advantages against weaker competitors but once their opponents were too strong, they lost the room to make use of their true potential,” Lu Li explained.

Any team needed a core. With Ruling Sword, if Lu Li was around then he would be the core without a doubt. In the Donghua Cup, if he wasn’t there, then Fat Monkey and Mu Qiu would be the team core, and the others would cooperate with them in battle. Furthermore, Fat Monkey and Mu Qiu had partnered together for a long time, so they had already formed an astounding synchronisation.

With regards to Glory Capital, Sorrowless would be the core, along with White Westhill. Today, it was Blood Dagger who led the team, so he was of course the core.

Every team needed to have a core, but the Gangnam Royals didn’t have one!

Many of their previous players had the qualifications, for example Innocent Child and Dancing Star Dream.

Unfortunately, all of these people had left.

These master players that the Gangnam Royals had found were all about the same in terms of abilities, so no one out from the rest. Moreover, the confirmation of a team core was not just something chosen by a boss behind the scenes. As such, they were destined to be defeated in battle.

Lu Li pointed out the Gangnam Royals’ faults, but it did not mean he stood on the same side as them, nor did it mean he would become best friends with Heart of War.

He believed this problem was seen by Heart of War himself as well.

Even if he didn’t, Lu Li had spelled it out for him. In the short term, there was no possible solution to it.

Many problems were a result of complexities of humanity. Everyone had a greedy heart. If he wanted to resolve this, then he had to start there. Unless everyone could get rid of their desire of becoming the core, then even if they magically found an expert player, there was no use for it at all.

However, there were many teams who competed. Not all the players they fought were as strong as Glory Capital.

The Gangnam Royals’ new team had no problem in entering the regular season.

The Donghua Cup’s competition period was not quite 40 days – it was just over a month in total. It was nothing compared to the professional league which lasted half a year.

Lu Li and Water Fairy were both considered guest commentators. They got invited to commentate every now and then, and usually, they would be given a partner. Some were like Dark Wind who liked to play tricks on people, while others were like Nine Phoenix who wore their heart on their sleeves and had a clear line between love and hate.

Sometimes the production team would have them choose their own competitions. Other times, the production team will choose for them.

The ones chosen by themselves were purely out of their own interests. The ones chosen by the production team meant there was something fishy going on. If it wasn’t for the especially interesting teams, then it must have been for a team that had spent money to advertise themselves.

This couple’s reputation alone was enough to make the competition arena fill up.

Those who came to seem them also knew which teams there were. Only the famous teams would receive investments. With investments came more money to buy equipment and train players. Thereby, teams endeavoured to receive investments so they could expand their glory. This trick had already been used by the gaming industry over the past hundred or so years.

Another Stronghold Battle was scheduled again in this time period.

Once a month was already considered a rather sparse arrangement. The System had probably already sensed that a large-scale competition was going on.