The Glory Textbook

Jogging down his initial thoughts onto a notebook, Ye Xiu replayed the video once more, but this time entering the view of a single player.

Deceiving Hawk!

Because he had watched the match in spectator's view earlier, Ye Xiu was able to watch from above the map, giving him a grasp of the entire situation the entire time. However, by entering a specific player's view, he would be able to catch the perspective of the player, allowing him to catch the unique habits and techniques of the player.

An avatar with unparalleled speed, one that he had never seen; how would he fare against such a person? 

Placing himself in Deceiving Hawk's shoes, Ye Xiu continued to pause and play the video, wondering what he would have done in his situation.

If he were the one playing, rather than kicking off the fight with the skill Flying Hands, he would have targeted the launcher Cannon Fodder with a toss instead. By utilizing his speed, if he had moved in the dead angles of the players on Defying Nebula, even if they had spotted him early on, they would still be unable to stop him.

Tossing the Launcher first would eliminate the chances of Defying Nebula pulling back while kiting out Thundering Waves, preventing them from taking back the initiative.

Besides, a Witch with a medium-sized range, they only had a Sharpshooter that was able to deal damage from afar. 

But what was the range of a Witch and Sharpshooter compared to a Launcher with the longest range in the game?

However, whether it was intentional or an accidental mistake made under pressure, Ye Xiu wouldn't know. Watching a video would only allow him to make accurate decisions based off the situation and experience he had.

Resuming the video, Ye Xiu continued to watch.

Deceiving Hawk performed the short exchange with the two players of Defying Nebula as Ye Xiu paused and played back the video a couple of times out of surprise.

Right here! What good accuracy!

Although Ye Xiu would usually praise everyone, the words were usually said out of courtesy and motivation. Yet, his praise for Deceiving Hawk was genuine.

He really had an insane accuracy. Such a rare remark from Ye Xiu verified his skills.

Initially, when watching the video for the first time, Ye Xiu had assumed Black Light wasn't able to respond to Flying Hands due to his reaction time, but now that he had a closer look on Deceiving Hawk's perspective, that wasn't the case at all!

In fact, Black Light wasn't late in responding to Deceiving Hawk at all as he had lifted his sword, but Deceiving Hawk had already seen it coming thus he struck out with two swift and small punches onto the vital points of Black Light who was playing a Blademaster.

Due to Glory's realistic feature, a punch on the vital points would make a character flinch, but that wasn't what Ye Xiu was surprised about. During those two swift punches, Black Light's body had never stopped moving, but Deceiving Hawk had managed to accurately strike at two vital points in just a second!

But Black Light wasn't the only character that was moving. Deceiving Hawk himself was moving too, which increased the difficulty of landing two punches on the vital points even higher!

For example, in a shooting range with an immobile dummy, if you were to run and shoot the target with a gun at the same time, doing so would be much harder than standing still and taking your time to aim.

But Deceiving Hawk had managed to aim while moving! And it was against a pro-player!

Such skills and technique may only be replicated by players like Zhou Zekai, as it also reflected on a player's APM.

Letting out a sigh, Ye Xiu continued to watch Deceiving Hawk successfully toss the two players from Defying Nebula in the opposite direction as he chased after Black Light.

Soon afterwards, the fight resumed as it had the first time with nothing notable even in a player's perspective. The fight finished with a crude style from Thundering Waves, winning based on sheer numbers.

Fortunately, Ye Xiu did discover a useful habit of Deceiving Hawk. Rather than calling it a habit, it would be more accurate to describe it as a 'flaw.'

Watching Deceiving Hawk's perspective, Ye Xiu realized every time a spell or skill would be directed towards him, Deceiving would almost always dodge towards the left.

Such an individualistic tendency would be extremely detrimental if exploited correctly, as the player's movement would easily be predicted. Ye Xiu had originally thought it was out of coincidence that Deceiving Hawk would always turn to the left when dodging but after switching the camera out of his perspective onto the entire map and other players, there would be scenarios where if he had dodged to the right instead, Deceiving Hawk would have been able to turn the situation around, rather than continuing to flee.

As a pro player, there was no way he would look over such possibilities multiple times would he?

Closing the recording app, Ye Xiu reached out into a gray bin with his right hand and fished out a Grappler Glory Account Card, before signing into the game. After watching the fight that had taken place, Ye Xiu felt an urge to play Glory as he also wanted to test out the techniques he had learned during the match.

Although his character didn't have the same equipment as Deceiving Hawk's, one could still replicate it to a certain extent. 

Ye Xiu immediately started a match in the Glory Arena.

"Oh? Falling Leaf?"

Falling Leaf Arena was practically a forest with hundreds of trees including some rivers and tents, as a Grappler, playing in a map like this was one of the best scenarios that could have happened as he could use the trees as coverage.

Although he was fighting in the Glory Alliance, Ye Xiu still strategically moved as if he was going against a pro.

Slowly advancing but scouting in the process.

Climbing atop a small cliff, Ye Xiu hid his character Shredded Hook behind a tree, patiently waiting for his opponent to appear.

And sure enough, not even half a minute later his opponent Splitting Shadow who was playing a Ninja appeared.

Despite moving at a fast pace, there were no sounds of footsteps but Ye Xiu had still manage to catch a blur on the corner of his screen. 

There were no animals, nor other players, thus the only moving entities that were in the arena was himself and Splitting Shadow.

And without letting the opportunity go to waste, Shredded Hook darted towards Splitting Shadow.

Back Throw!

Grabbing onto the shoulders of Splitting Shadow, Ye Xiu had Shredded Hook flip him over his shoulder, creating a shockwave that toppled over some trees around them in the process.

Back Throw was a skill that prevented the targeted user from using Quick Recover, restraining the player from getting back onto his feet instantly afterwards.

While Splitting Shadow was still on the ground, Ye Xiu replicated a technique he had learned from Deceiving Hawk earlier.

Flying Hands!

Spinning Throw!

Although there was only one target to grab, it was essentially the same. Shredded Hook seized the legs of Splitting Shadow before smashing him down on the ground, but before Ye Xiu could continue with his combo, he immediately cancelled Spinning Throw and threw a few punches instead.

Close! 

When Ye Xiu had casted Spinning Throw, he felt a very slow cast time, which created an opening in his attack, allowing Splitting Shadow to retaliate causing Ye Xiu to have no other choice but to cancel the skill.

"Sigh… perhaps replicating it might have been

an overstretch." Failing in completing the combo, Ye Xiu didn't bother to waste any more time, finishing off his opponent in 30 seconds.

But Ye Xiu didn't stop there, he instantly had Shredded Hook jump into another match. Because his previous opponent was a Ninja with high mobility and attack speed, he was able to counter in time, but what about other classes? Classes with slower attack speed, the technique may just work even without the use of Silver Equipment.

GLORY!

GLORY!

Without even knowing himself, Ye Xiu had repeatedly enter match after match, he had already created a commotion in the arena!

"Hey, there's a Grappler with a hundred percent winrate!"

"I heard he had already beaten up some of the experts!"

"No way right? Someone with a hundred percent winrate, does he think he's Ye Qiu?"

...

Meanwhile outside of the training room, Zhang Xinjie had woken up at 8AM like every other day, and was preparing to enter the training room when he saw Yu Wenzhou.

"Oh? You're up early!" Zhang Xinjie heard footsteps behind him as he turned around to the source of the noise.

"Haha, you fail to disappoint, I really envy you." Of course Yu Wenzhou knew about his strict day-to-day routine, thus he wasn't surprised about him arriving early. 

But… it looked like the lights were already on!

Someone had arrived earlier than them? And judging by the smoke in the room, it seemed as if the person had been inside for quite a while.

Turning their heads towards each other, they both nodded before quietly entering.

Ye Xiu!

Both of them were initially shocked, but it seemed to make sense afterwards, however, it appeared as if Ye Xiu wasn't aware of them walking in.

He was completely immersed into the screen in front of him! 

Seeing Ye Xiu focused, they silently walked behind from the very side of the room, avoiding his eyes as they looked over at his screen.

Hm?

Hm…?

Playing Glory? PK?

Yu Wenzhou and Zhang Xinjie's eyes met once more before tacitly agreeing on just watching.

A Grappler… it wasn't as if the two of them weren't unfamiliar with the class, but watching Ye Xiu, he seemed to be testing out new combos and techniques? Although some of them worked, it didn't seem to be efficient in actual matches, this was something both of them had thought, but the guy playing was Ye Xiu! 

The Glory Textbook!

Would the Glory Textbook be unaware of such things? Thus, the two continued to silently watch.

Looking over his clean pair of hands, Zhang Xinjie was suddenly reminded of his captain, Han Wenqing!

Even though he had debuted in season 4 of Glory, he had witnessed the dynasty Ye Qiu had started in the first three seasons, and although he had been the team to topple down Excellent Era in season 4, he had still regarded Ye Qiu to be the best player in all of Glory.

But after a series of events, Ye Qiu had failed to win another championship, until season 8, when he retired.

During that time, Han Wenqing had called him a coward for abandoning his team and their Glory, but he didn't think so at all!

In every match that he had played and witnessed of Ye Qiu, he could tell that the battle god, One Autumn Leaf was still as persevering as ever.

And his feelings hadn't betrayed him, the former battle god came back as Ye Xiu, leading a team of grassroots all the way through the challenger league and becoming the champions the season they debuted, toppling the powerhouse Samsara before they won their 3rd Championship, living up to the names of Excellent Era in the past.

Perhaps through all of this, Ye Xiu was the one who fought the hardest in Glory, relenting as ever, continuing to fight through all the turmoil.

For Glory, he had never given up, he was never a coward, yet in an industry as tough as this, he had managed to persevere for over 10 years.

Rest? He had never rested. Coward? He had never given in. Grown weaker? What a joke, he managed to lead a grassroots team into becoming champions! 

But amidst the Glory, there would ultimately be a time where one had to leave the stage.

Han Wenqing could still play next season, but what about Ye Xiu? Perhaps this was the last chance for him.

GLORY!

Seeing the big word with different meanings to every player, Zhang Xinjie was dragged out of his thoughts as he clapped. "Not bad! Looks like you're still persistent as ever!"

"Haha, as expected of the Battle God." Yu Wenzhou chimed in, raising his thumb towards Ye Xiu.

Hearing the voices behind him, Ye Xiu jolted in fear. "Shit! When did you guys come in, I'm getting older, are you planning on giving me a heart attack?"