Chapter 1752: Proud Lonely Snow

The whole world was watching. Even when Drinking Alone came back and relayed the news to Grand Hegemony’s team, the players didn’t have a happy expression on their faces.

Grand Hegemony hadn’t recruited the stronger players within their hired forces to join their competing team. Their team consisted of two second-rate players from other clubs and two retired pro players who still had skills and experience.

“For the first match, we’ll deploy a Thief. Proud Lonely Snow, please do us this favour.”

Their new captain was Dancing Star Moon, who was Grand Hegemony’s only star professional player. Dancing Star Moon was originally from the Gangnam Royals, but once their competitive team disbanded, their Big Three players left for different clubs. Innocent Child chose to join Ruling Sword, while Dancing Star Moon chose to join Grand Hegemony.

“Don’t worry. I’ll try my best.”

Proud Lonely Snow was a male Thief player.

Ten years ago, this name was much more influential. Previously, he was affiliated with Seventh Heaven and Majin Temple as one of their main professional players. He decided to retire around two years ago from the professional gaming scene. However, the age of retirement was completely rewritten with the release of Dawn, so he decided to accept Grand Hegemony’s invitation to come out of retirement and fight once again.

“Greetings, Proud Lonely Snow Teacher.”

When Fat Monkey entered the arena, he quickly and solemnly bowed in Grand Hegemony’s direction.

Well, this was a little awkward. Fat Monkey was being polite and bowed, so he couldn’t just ignore him and not bow back. Proud Lonely Snow quickly bowed back, which signalled the beginning of the battle.

Lu Li realised that Fat Monkey was just simply acting.

If it was Lu Li himself, it wouldn’t be that easy to show a gap in the armor. However, Fat Monkey perfectly acted out the role of a nervous and cautious new player facing off against a veteran in the gaming industry. Throughout the battle, Fat Monkey was visibly nervous and shifted position at weird times. He even fired skills to some questionable areas.

Even the audience was completely fooled.

After acting for a while, Proud Lonely Snow finally decided to make his move. Fat Monkey was already right next to him and had his back turned to him. If he hadn’t done anything, then he would have been called out by everyone.

Everything was panning out just the way they planned it.

Proud Lonely Snow successfully gained the upper hand in the battle. Although Fat Monkey was struggling against his opponent, he was still ultimately suppressed by Proud Lonely Snow.

Of course, this was not without surprise.

No matter if it was Grand Hegemony or Ruling Sword, they had all underestimated Proud Lonely Snow. Once he gained the upper hand, it was impossible for Fat Monkey to leave with 30% HP.

Fat Monkey was down!

Lu Li immediately stood up from his chair.

What the heck? This Thief was so strong! Did Grand Hegemony really need Ruling Sword to give them 3 points?

In reality, Proud Lonely Snow couldn’t believe it himself. He only had one goal in mind – to work hard and work harder.

The man above gave him another chance, so why wouldn’t he give it his all?

He also had his glory years. However, with time, the deterioration of his body slowly pushed him out of relevance and he ultimately quit the competitive stage after 10 years.

Ten years of living his dream ultimately came to an end.

Although he gradually found the feeling once again, it was still as if he was being choked by something.

Upon seeing Fat Monkey’s youthful and passionate energy, knowing that his opponent was going easy today, he nearly cried on stage.

I am Proud Lonely Snow! Going easy!? Pah!

After defeating Fat Monkey, although it was a difficult victory, Proud Lonely Snow felt a huge burden lifted from his shoulders. The choking feeling from before was gone.

Lu Li breathed a huge sigh of relief and gave him a round of applause alongside the audience.

Everyone gave him a round of applause. The analysts, the audience, as well as both sides of competitors all gave him a round of applause. Proud Lonely Snow’s old fans were even crying as well upon seeing his old self return once again.

“Monkey, your acting skills are so good!” Kitty Likes Meat’s face was full of admiration.

Fat Monkey opened his mouth but didn’t know how to reply. He was even a little shocked. He was acting at the start, but once he was suppressed, it was for real. In the end, he even tried his best to try and escape, but he couldn’t and died.

“Kitty Likes Meat, try fighting normally first,” Lu Li said.

There was no need to go easy anymore. At least, in the Arena battles, Grand Hegemony could easily gain 2 points.

Kitty Likes Meat followed what Fat Monkey did and also bowed to Proud Lonely Snow.

Both Fat Monkey and Kitty Likes Meat were both extremely popular players. Last year, they, alongside March Rain all swept the awards for rising stars. Both of them now bowed to Proud Lonely Snow, but both of their bows had different meanings behind them.

Fat Monkey’s bow was because of Proud Lonely Snow’s experience and partly because he was acting.

However, Kitty Likes Meat’s bow was one of true respect of his strength and experience. Her performance was much better than Fat Monkey’s. She showed no fear and no nervousness. After all, her opponent was a Thief who was now nearly dead.

In the end, Proud Lonely Snow exited the Arena. He successfully took away half of her HP, which managed to cause many jaw-dropping gasps from everyone.

The Arena battles after this were all meaningless. All the thunder and attention from today had been stolen by Proud Lonely Snow alone. Anyone could see that Grand Hegemony was unbelievably lucky today. Who would’ve thought that an old veteran like him could still put up such a good fight?

Grand Hegemony successfully took two kills. It wasn’t possible for them to take another, otherwise, they wouldn’t be able to keep acting. The audience were not fools.

It was easier to give them kills in the Team Battles. Ruling Sword seemed to have all their attention focused on killing Proud Lonely Snow first and didn’t care about the other members. Although they successfully killed Proud Lonely Snow, Kitty Likes Meat ended up dying due to being focused by Grand Hegemony.

Both Ruling Sword and Grand Hegemony successfully entered the Top 100 together.

Everyone who watched the match were completely satisfied with it. No one noticed that it was an act at all. There were only a few people who were complaining about Fat Monkey, whose mistakes had costed him his match. After all, he was someone who was thought to be the next Mage God after Sorrowless.

There was an unforeseen result from this battle as well. Old and retired pro players were now once again relevant.

As mentioned before, Dawe rewrote the retirement age for professional players. Did this mean that the previously retired professional players would be able to revive their careers? These players all had a wealth of experience in the professional gaming circle, so it was only natural for them to continue playing games.

Lu Li asked Cat Dad to test the waters and contact some old players. Even if they didn’t want to fight in competitions, he wanted to recruit them to coach and give advice to new recruits.

Judgment Spear, which was Ruling Sword’s branch guild, was eliminated quickly from the competition. This was because it hadn’t been that long since the club was established, and their few competing players could not handle the competition in the Top 100.