Is This Damn Amateur Level?

With so many people watching him, Chen Jue wasn't nervous at all.

Once he opened the Attribute Panel, everyone and everything within three meters became indistinguishable beneath a mosaic.

For someone with social anxiety, this hidden feature was incredibly useful.

"Coach Lin, you're too kind. Just call me Chen Jue."

"And I'm hardly some amateur ace! I'm just an ordinary darts enthusiast, same as all of you." Chen Jue waved his hands, quickly trying to clear up the misunderstanding.

If he'd been practicing darts at the gym, there wouldn't have been any problem with people calling him an amateur ace.

But here at the darts club, experts were everywhere. Calling himself an ace would only make people resent him.

And with two beautiful women, Lin Ling and Hu Feifei, greeting him, that resentment would be doubled.

If the group of lecherous guys surrounding them could throw darts with their eyes, they'd probably have turned Chen Jue into a pincushion by now.

"Chen Jue?"

"You look a little older than me, so I'll call you Brother Jue!"

"This is my good friend, Hu Feifei. You two should get acquainted. We'd love it if Brother Jue could give us some pointers on our darts sometime!" Lin Ling's eyes shifted. She'd always been fed up with the lecherous guys at the club.

They never bothered to practice properly. They just came to the club to hit on the female members.

She could put up with it once or twice, but after a while it got incredibly annoying.

Seeing Chen Jue arrive gave Lin Ling the perfect chance to get away from them.

In her eyes, Chen Jue was the honest, quiet, bookish type, and his gaze was respectful.

Unlike the group of lechers beside them, who would aim their darts at the most suggestive places imaginable whenever they came to throw.

Was this really what they came to the club to do?

Hu Feifei was just as fed up with the unwanted attention, so she pretended to strike up a friendly conversation with Chen Jue.

As they chatted, he learned that they were both female coaches at Yilian Fitness, though they worked at different locations.

"So you're both female coaches!"

"Could they be rich heiresses too?" Chen Jue thought to himself.

No wonder the lecherous guys nearby couldn't hold back. The two coaches had fantastic figures, and standing together, they really drew the eye.

As they chatted, a broad, heavyset middle-aged man cut in. "You're new around here, buddy. Did you just join the club? Since it's your first time, how about showing us what you can do? Want to have a match?"

"Brother Liu, you're already an amateur-level player. Isn't it a bit unfair to go up against a new member?"

"Why don't you let me take his place?" chimed in another member, a tall, skinny young man.

Both men had their eyes on Lin Ling and Hu Feifei. They'd been looking for a chance to show off in front of the two women, and now that Chen Jue had drawn their ire, they naturally wanted to put him in his place and show off their skills.

Chen Jue hadn't wanted to deal with them. They'd only just met, after all.

Who challenged someone to a match the moment they met?

But Lin Ling and Hu Feifei both looked expectant, so Chen Jue had no choice but to nod. "I just became a member today and haven't had a chance to meet everyone yet. Why not make friends through darts?"

What could he do?

He was a lecher too!

When Chen Jue agreed to the match, the lecherous members gathered around and started cheering.

The players practicing steel-tip darts around the venue turned to watch, eager to see what would happen.

Seeing this, the young woman at the front desk explained things to Chen Jue as she led everyone to the official competition area.

The practice area had electronic dartboards and magnetic darts, equipment made specifically for beginners and enthusiasts to practice with.

Real professional matches didn't use such entry-level equipment.

They used traditional dartboards made of sisal fiber or cork, which could withstand tens of thousands of throws.

On the way to the competition area, Chen Jue also learned more about the two members who wanted to challenge him.

The broad, heavyset middle-aged man was Liu Songfu. He was in his forties and worked as a construction contractor.

The tall, skinny young man was Wei Jinsheng. He was twenty-nine and ran a small e-commerce business.

"So they're both wealthy men with plenty of free time!"

"No wonder they've set their sights on Lin Ling and Hu Feifei," Chen Jue thought.

Both men were longtime club members. They'd been practicing steel-tip darts for years and had joined Zhu Hongbin in quite a few competitions and events. Chen Jue had seen them in group photos at the club. They were among its better amateur players.

As for Chen Jue, a newly joined member making his first appearance, everyone was curious about him.

Once word got around that he seemed to be an amateur-level player too, even more people came to watch the match.

The group made its way noisily to the competition area.

Liu Songfu planned to compete in the second match, so for now he took on the role of referee.

"Are you two going to play a traditional game of 501, or a nine-dart bullseye challenge?" Liu Songfu asked as he picked up a set of competition-grade steel-tip darts from the rack.

The game of 501 was the most common format in international darts competitions. Players started with 501 points, then subtracted the points they scored by hitting designated areas.

The players took turns throwing three darts each. To finish the game, a player had to hit the corresponding double-scoring area on their final throw. Missing it or scoring more than the points they had left meant they'd gone bust, and play moved to the other player.

The first player to reduce their score from 501 to zero won.

The nine-dart bullseye challenge was much simpler.

Players aimed for the bullseye and added up their scores. Each player threw nine darts, and the one with the higher total score at the end won.

"You're the new member, so you can pick. Either way is fine with me." Wei Jinsheng graciously left the choice to him.

"Then let's do the nine-dart bullseye challenge!"

"Best of three."

"But shouldn't we put something on the line to make it more interesting?"

"How about the loser buys everyone afternoon tea?" Chen Jue settled on the format without giving it much thought, then made his suggestion.

Compared to the complexity of 501, the nine-dart bullseye challenge was much simpler.

Besides, the Darts he'd been practicing weren't the traditional steel-tip kind. He'd been practicing hitting the bullseye, so this format suited him better.

Of course, the onlookers approved of his wager and cheered.

"Then the loser buys everyone a coffee!"

"For the second round, when I compete against him, the loser can buy everyone little cakes," Liu Songfu chimed in, placing an order with the young woman at the front desk.

The club had a restaurant and a café, and they could prepare both right there.

There were dozens of people at the club, though, so treating everyone would cost at least two or three thousand yuan.

Of course, steel-tip darts was a Western sport, and coffee and cake were imported as well, so they made a fitting wager for the match.

"Good luck, Brother Jue!" Lin Ling encouraged Chen Jue, pulling Hu Feifei along with her.

Wei Jinsheng watched them, growing more and more irritated. He grabbed his three steel-tip darts and went to the throwing line to warm up.

Chen Jue followed him, picked up his darts, and began to warm up too.

International darts matches always started with a few practice throws to help players find their rhythm and put on a good show.

It was Chen Jue's first time competing against someone, and with so many people watching, his heart began to pound and his breathing grew shallow.

"Am I nervous?" Chen Jue wondered.

This was only a casual match, yet the pressure was already so intense.

If he ever made it to an international competition, with the spotlights on him and cameras pointed at his face from every angle—

And with a sea of spectators below, all cheering and staring at him—wouldn't someone with social anxiety like him just explode on the spot?

"No wonder they say being an athlete is tough."

"During practice, you can be at the top of your game."

"But once you're on the competition stage, you're lucky if you can perform at seventy or eighty percent of your usual ability." Chen Jue had never taken part in a competition before. He'd always been nothing more than a spectator.

Now that he was experiencing it firsthand, it felt as though he were submerged in water, struggling to move but unable to. It was miserable.

Wei Jinsheng, on the other hand, was used to it. During his warm-up, he repeatedly hit the bullseye and the green ring around it. Clearly, he'd competed and practiced with people at the club many times and wasn't bothered by the crowd.

Chen Jue tried a few throws, but he wasn't in good form.

Still, he adjusted quickly. He opened the Attribute Panel, then looked around.

By manually mosaicking the spectators, he blocked their gaze, and his nervousness gradually faded.

"Warm-up's over. Xiao Wei, you go first," Liu Songfu announced.

Wei Jinsheng nodded, took a deep breath, and stepped up to the 2.44-meter throwing line.

He raised his right hand, holding his forearm perpendicular to his upper arm. Then, pinching a dart between two fingers, he aimed at the board and flicked his hand lightly. The dart traced an arc through the air and struck the board with a thunk.

The electronic scoreboard above them lit up with the number 25.

Each colored section on an international dartboard corresponded to a different point value. (Note: There'll be an illustrated bonus chapter about the board later.)

The red dot at the very center was worth 50 points, and the green ring around it was worth 25. The other sections were scored by multiplying the numbers printed around the board by the corresponding multiplier. (The nine-dart bullseye challenge didn't use multipliers; only official 501 matches did.)

Wei Jinsheng's first dart had landed in the green outer ring around the bullseye, earning him 25 points.

"He throws with an arcing motion. His technique is gentle, so he's not a power player," Chen Jue observed from the sidelines.

Since steel-tip darts were played over a relatively short distance, players used all sorts of throwing techniques.

When Chen Jue had first started practicing, he'd used the same arcing technique as Wei Jinsheng.

It took relatively little effort, making it suitable for players with weaker arm strength. Many female players used this technique.

But later, after he met Zhu Hongbin at Jingtanghui and received some pointers, Chen Jue switched to an explosive, straight-line throw.

The explosive throw was similar to traditional Chinese Hidden Weapon Technique.

It took more effort, but the darts flew faster, hit more accurately, and packed more power.

While Chen Jue was thinking, Wei Jinsheng finished his three throws, scoring a total of 67 points.

In official matches, each player threw three darts at a time.

Too many darts on the board could get in the way of subsequent throws, so after throwing his three, the first player had to walk over, retrieve them, and wait for the next round.

"My turn!"

Chen Jue steadied himself and stepped up to the throwing line. He focused his attention and gaze as his forearm, wrist, and fingers all moved at once. His red dart shot forward at incredible speed and struck the bullseye.

The Attribute Panel displayed [Proficiency +5], while the scoreboard above lit up with 50 points.

"He hit the bullseye with his very first dart?"

"This newcomer's got some skill!"

"Maybe he's just getting carried away and got lucky?" the onlookers murmured.

Chen Jue immediately threw his second and third darts as well.

Thunk, thunk. One hit the bullseye, while the other landed in the green outer ring worth 25 points.

His three darts scored a total of 125 points.

When Wei Jinsheng saw the result, his face turned green.

"Is this damn amateur level?"

"That's clearly professional-level skill!"

First update~ Please keep the votes coming!

There'll be an illustrated bonus chapter explaining the dartboard later. If you don't understand the rules, check it out.

Consider it a chance to learn something useless. (Covers face)