Chapter 154 Newcomer Challenge

The Newcomer Challenge was indeed a personal activity for the rookie players. Registration did not require the permission of the club or the team. But usually, a newcomer who wanted to participate would at least inform their team. Sometimes, if a club wanted to promote a rookie player, they would actively encourage them to participate.

Obviously, Qiao Yifan was not the latter. Team Microherb had Gao Yingjie, a genius rookie. It wasn't his turn to promote or show off. Participating in the Newcomer Challenge was Qiao Yifan's own idea. He did mention it to the club, which only surprised everyone.

A newbie like him actually wanted to participate in the Newcomer Challenge. It was truly overestimating himself. That seemed to be what everyone's eyes were saying. Qiao Yifan had already thought of this, but it didn't shake his determination at all. However, when it came to the captain's statement, he was still a little apprehensive. If the captain didn't support his decision, and he insisted on having his own way, although according to the rules, no one had the right to stop him, his future in the club would inevitably be even darker.

But, apart from the Newcomer Challenge, Qiao Yifan really didn't have any stage to perform on. This was his only chance, and he hoped that he could have such a chance.

He got it!

Captain Wang Jiexi didn't obstruct his decision in any way, nor did he look at him with ridicule like some of the team members. Wang Jiexi only showed the attitude that a captain should have: he simply gave a few words of encouragement, telling him to perform well and learn more.

"I will!" Qiao Yifan was very excited. After that, he had been preparing for this day. No newcomer had ever taken the Newcomer Challenge so seriously, because they all knew that it was just a "show." Qiao Yifan also understood, but in this "show," he hoped that he could "show" something different and win a turning point for his career.

Qiao Yifan, challenging the number one ghostblade, Li Xuan.

The host announced the pairing, and the players and audience were unimpressed. The only ones who were excited were Li Xuan's fans.

They didn't know what was surprising about this match, but the people from Microherb knew.

Because the class that Qiao Yifan used was an Assassin, and he was challenging Li Xuan, who used a Ghostblade. It was completely mismatched.

Although the newcomer was free to challenge whoever they wanted, the newcomers also had their own reasons. Usually, everyone would challenge the senior player they liked most in the league, so the probability of colliding with the same class was extremely high in the Newcomer Challenge. Qiao Yifan challenging Li Xuan, outsiders thought it was for this reason, but for the more informed Microherb people, they couldn't guess what Qiao Yifan was thinking.

When Qiao Yifan came on stage and said the same old clichés about paying respect to the seniors and learning from them, the Microherb people were even more confused.

"Does this kid like Li Xuan?"

"I don't know!"

Everyone was at a loss. It wasn't until this moment that they realized that they knew very little about this junior teammate. They couldn't help but look at Gao Yingjie. Qiao Yifan and Gao Yingjie had a good relationship. This was perhaps the only thing they knew about Qiao Yifan, and it was still because of Gao Yingjie's existence.

Gao Yingjie was even more confused than these seniors. Because he knew Qiao Yifan, but he couldn't figure out why he wanted to challenge Li Xuan... Thinking of how Qiao Yifan had been busy lately, and often alone, and didn't communicate with him much, Gao Yingjie vaguely felt that something had happened.

On the stage, Li Xuan had also come on stage. As an ace player and captain, his aura was much stronger than Qiao Yifan's. After coming on stage, he also looked like he cared for the younger generation, and after saying a few simple words, the two walked to the competition stage.

In the eyes of others, this seemed to be the same as the first match. But the people from Microherb felt that there was something unusual about it. And Ye Xiu completely guessed what Qiao Yifan was thinking, but...

"Sigh..." Ye Xiu sighed softly again, and was unfortunately seen by Tang Rou, who was looking at him.

Sighing again? Tang Rou was also a little puzzled. She had seen Ye Xiu sigh in the previous match, but she didn't see anything worth sighing about in that match. As a result, he sighed again in this match. Qiao Yifan... Tang Rou certainly recognized that this young man was One Inch Ash who was with them. When they were on the same team, he didn't avoid his name. Then, did Ye Xiu's sigh mean that Qiao Yifan couldn't win?

Tang Rou was really a newbie in Glory, a complete newbie. Chen Guo knew that all the matches in the All-Star Weekend were for show, especially the Newcomer Challenge. However, she didn't remember to explain this to Tang Rou. Tang Rou took these matches more seriously. At this time, someone she knew was on stage, so she hoped that this young man could win, but Ye Xiu's sigh made her realize that her hope would probably be dashed.

In the arena, the map was quickly projected in holographic form, and the two had already selected their characters, added points, and selected their equipment. After a while, they entered the arena.

Li Xuan chose the Ghostblade, which was no surprise to anyone.

Qiao Yifan also chose the Ghostblade, which was also no surprise to anyone, except for the Microherb people.

"What is this kid doing?" Everyone was puzzled again.

"This is a bit too much," said Xiao Yun, a member of Microherb.

"It's a good thing no one knows that he doesn't actually play Ghostblade, right?" said Liu Fei, a female member.

Although the Newcomer Challenge was mainly for show, respect had to be shown in the show. Challenging a god and then using a class that wasn't your own was a bit too much of a joke. After seeing Qiao Yifan also choose a Ghostblade, even Captain Wang Jiexi frowned secretly.

But what Liu Fei said was right. Except for the people from Microherb, no one knew that Qiao Yifan was an Assassin player. They didn't even know who Qiao Yifan was.

In the arena, the match started quickly. Like the first and second matches, both sides rushed straight to the center of the arena.

The map of the match was a ruin map, with many broken walls and ruins, which was quite suitable for the Ghostblade's arrays to play. Hiding behind obstacles that could block one's figure and secretly dropping Ghost Arrays, and then luring the enemy into the barrier, was a very common technique for Ghostblade players.

Ghostblade duels rarely involved speed or skill.

Everyone usually compared their awareness, judgment, and... sneakiness.

Li Xuan, known as the number one Ghostblade, naturally had first-class qualities required of Ghostblade players. The two characters approached the center of the map, but they were still far from touching each other. Li Xuan's character stopped precisely.

This stop happened to be outside the possible range of Qiao Yifan's Ghost Arrays. Then, he took two steps to the left and hid behind a broken wall on the side. The audience could see the whole situation and saw it clearly. But from Qiao Yifan's perspective, Li Xuan's character had disappeared.

In the Newcomer Challenge, the first to take action was actually a god-level figure.

The audience might not think much of it, but the professional players knew in their hearts that the "loving" seniors would usually let the newcomers struggle for a while before starting to perform. But Li Xuan? He took action first.

Li Xuan didn't want to be so ungentlemanly, but the previous internal battle of Microherb forced him to be careful.

The previous match was obviously a real fight. And the Microherb rookie didn't even show mercy to his own captain. Now, how could he dare to treat this as a "show" like the first match?

Although this rookie in front of him didn't have the name of a genius like Gao Yingjie, who knew if this was some secret weapon of Microherb? Maybe he wanted to take advantage of this Newcomer Challenge to step on him and become famous in one battle?

Li Xuan's considerations couldn't be said to be suspicious, it was very reasonable and well-founded. At this time, if any senior player came up, they would probably have the same idea as him. It's just that many experts, even if they knew this, would probably strike later and maintain that demeanor. Li Xuan had no choice, because the Ghostblade class had a strong control ability. Once he fell behind at the start and the opponent seized control of the situation, it would be much more difficult to turn the tables than other classes. So Li Xuan had no choice but to take the initiative. Losing a little bit of demeanor at the start was better than being defeated by a rookie like Wang Jiexi.

Li Xuan's character hid behind the broken wall, and Qiao Yifan's Ghostblade also stopped. The scene was momentarily frozen.

This kind of duel of awareness and judgment was sometimes a bit dull. Everyone would constantly interrupt the match, stop and guess, to judge the other party's intentions. In this match, the two hadn't even fought yet, and they had already fallen into this situation.

Behind the wall, Li Xuan's character didn't move. Outside the wall, Qiao Yifan's character approached a few steps, squatted down, and continued to walk slowly. Walking while squatting was slower, but it didn't make any footsteps. Of course, it also depended on the terrain and environment, but on the current map, it definitely was.

Li Xuan's character was sideways against the wall, seemingly listening carefully for the opponent's footsteps. The two had just interrupted the match a moment ago, and this gradual approach, although the audience could see it clearly, everyone's heart was still in suspense.

Seeing Qiao Yifan's character approaching step by step, everyone was guessing how the two would break this deadlock when Li Xuan's character suddenly jumped out from behind the wall, in such a casual and seemingly defenseless manner.

Qiao Yifan had already thought of this possibility. Dropping a Ghost Array required casting, and the distance between the two was a little too late. Qiao Yifan didn't hesitate. The moment Li Xuan's character flipped out, he had already slashed a Ghost Slash.

What about Li Xuan? The character waved his arm and slashed down, and a dark purple light appeared, which was also the same move, Ghost Slash.

The same skill, cast at the same time, after colliding, both sides suffered damage, and it couldn't be said who was superior or inferior. But now it was different. After two blade-like purple lights flashed down, one suddenly disappeared, and Qiao Yifan's character flew out. Li Xuan's character rushed forward and used a Moonlight Slash to knock the opponent into the air again.

"Ah!" Everyone exclaimed. Being launched into the air as soon as he came up was really bad.

The more experienced professional players had already seen that Li Xuan's Ghostblade was not his specialized Array Ghost. In this match where he could set his own character, he had actually created a Slash Ghost.