Whenever the Warrior-Mage-Priest Combination came up, three people had to be mentioned. Though they hadn't invented the combination, they had created many new tactics that differed dramatically from the classic approaches, and could even be said to represent one of its pinnacles!
Their in-game IDs were famous in their own right... One Leaf Windwalk, Wangying Lanxi, and Carefree Immortal. Two World Cups ago, their trio had fought through round after round, finally defeating the American team led by Heavenfall to claim that tournament's 3v3 world championship!
That was when Xiao Xiaoxian had fallen in love with Carefree Immortal's Light Priest character. He had made him his idol and sworn to become a legendary god of priests just like him.
That year, Xiao Xiaoxian had just graduated from middle school... Young as he was, he was no novice. He had started playing Light of Freedom in his first year of middle school, giving him a full seven or eight years of experience by now! His excellent skills weren't just a matter of talent; they were also the product of long years of hard practice.
In Xiao Xiaoxian's eyes, the Warrior-Mage-Priest Combination was the strongest lineup. It might not have been the most perfect, but what could he do when he idolized Carefree Immortal so much? The power of an idol was boundless!
The Mage and Warrior currently teamed with Xiao Xiaoxian were both among the Ninth Division's finest. War Hero Yi Yan also intended to nurture Xiao Xiaoxian's talent, deliberately selecting the best teammates for him in hopes that his enthusiasm would help him develop truly outstanding skills.
After all, the kid was so young and so skilled that "in the prime of his youth" suited him perfectly. If a talent like him developed properly, he might even enter the professional scene someday. Now that would be something to be proud of!
Everyone knew how glamorous life was for professional players. Each of them was worth billions, as badass as anyone could get. But everyone also knew that going pro wasn't easy. China had hundreds of millions of gamers, while the professional scene had what? Just a few hundred people. Only the very best could hope to squeeze their way in.
Large as the War Hero Family was, it was still only an in-game guild, and its members rarely reached professional standards. If it actually produced someone good enough to go pro, that would absolutely bring honor to the whole guild!
Never mind anything else-the publicity alone would be priceless! It was like a famous university alumnus saying, I've made my name across the world and achieved countless things. All I have to do is find a chance to talk about how outstanding my alma mater is, how crucial it was to my growth, and so on. The results would be nothing short of fantastic.
If War Hero Yi Yan really managed to cultivate Xiao Xiaoxian into that kind of player, it would be a major achievement. His guild rank might even start edging toward branch leader... How could he not take it seriously?
Yet Xiao Xiaoxian seemed a little off his game today. He kept glancing around while fighting monsters, and even his healing was distracted. Who knew what he was thinking?
War Hero Yi Yan frowned, privately puzzled... He had overruled everyone else's objections to bring this kid into the Raid Team, yet the boy was being so lackadaisical about guild activities. Something wasn't right. Was he really that clueless, refusing to get with the program?
As he was thinking, a flash of fire suddenly appeared in the distance! Xiao Xiaoxian immediately changed his healing gesture and cast Divine Prophecy on himself. Then a cyclone rose from the ground and swept him into the air.
[Team][War Hero Yi Yan]: Something's happening at squad five. Gather up!
The raid leader's reaction was swift indeed. The squad members hadn't even had time to report what was happening before he had already started notifying everyone else.
The Mage teamed with Xiao Xiaoxian suddenly lost a huge chunk of health, making him jump with panic! But his character's level was still so low that he hadn't learned any powerful skills. Although he knew the enemy was nearby, there was nothing he could do except trade shots. The problem was that the enemy had already struck first, and his own healer was crowd-controlled. Trading shots wouldn't help much either.
"Damn! How does this Mage deal so much damage?!" Looking at his health, the Mage had no choice but to resign himself to his fate. Fuck! Just two or three seconds, and over a thousand health is gone! I've got a full set of green gear and a blue weapon, damn it. My health is pretty high, and even I only have twelve hundred or so! What's that monster over there wearing? A full set of yellow gear?
Xiao Xiaoxian suddenly straightened, and the cyclone restraining him vanished without a trace. Before he even landed, his hands were already moving. An instant-cast Light Infusion restored over five hundred health to the Mage in one shot!
A Flame Arrow came howling in, instantly blasting nearly four hundred health off the Mage again!
Unhurried, Xiao Xiaoxian planted his feet and chanted a spell. He raised both hands, and white light coiled around the Mage, bringing his health back up by over six hundred!
Another Flame Arrow came howling in, but this time it didn't take away a single Health Point. The golden shield of light surrounding the Mage absorbed it all. That was the Light Priest skill-Shield of Light.
Shield of Light: Holy light protects you or an ally, absorbing 242-265 damage. Spell range: 30 meters. Instant cast. Mana cost: 65. Cooldown: 6 seconds.
No more Flame Arrows followed. Xiao Xiaoxian had successfully healed his critically wounded teammate, though the whole process had been a hair-raising close call.
[Team][War Hero Yi Yan]: Well done! Everyone, surround him!
Now the raid leader understood. Xiao Xiaoxian hadn't been distracted at all; he had been considering how to deal with a possible ambush all along. Sure enough, the enemy had targeted someone in his group, and the kid had demonstrated exceptional skill!
Divine Prophecy was an anti-control skill that could dispel two negative effects from a friendly target. However, it didn't dispel them immediately. The spell took two seconds to activate, and it couldn't be cast while the caster was crowd-controlled.
Countless Light Priests had once called it the most useless skill in history, because there was no telling which negative effects it would remove. What if it only dispelled two slows? Worse still, once you were controlled, you couldn't cast it at all. How the hell was that an anti-control skill?!
Using Divine Prophecy well required precise anticipation, insight into the enemy's intentions, close coordination with teammates, and so on... In short, only experts could use it properly. Anyone lacking the skill should kindly drag it off their hotbar, because it really wasn't suited to low-level play.
Carefree Immortal, however, could use Divine Prophecy brilliantly. During that World Cup, he had repeatedly coordinated with his teammates to achieve marvelous results with it. Those plays could only be called strokes of genius.
Xiao Xiaoxian was obsessed with Divine Prophecy. He knew a saying from the great Immortal that described this very skill: "There are no useless skills, only players who don't understand them."
His years of hard practice hadn't gone to waste. The kid had just pulled off a beautiful play-when his teammate came under attack, he anticipated that the enemy might crowd-control him, abandoned his heal, and cast Divine Prophecy on himself first. Two seconds later, it dispelled the enemy's control skill, allowing him to save his teammate's life.
What was that called? Game sense!
Skill encompassed a broad range of things. Execution was one aspect, but game sense was another equally important aspect. Often, it mattered even more than execution!
Ye Fengxing was slightly surprised. His Flame Arrow had landed a critical hit, yet it hadn't taken away a single point of health... That meant the enemy's Shield of Light could absorb at least three hundred and fifty damage! By that calculation, the little priest had at least around two hundred and sixty spell power, and his Magic Device was probably blue-quality too.
Ye Fengxing checked the priest's health. Whoa! A full fifteen hundred-plus. It looked like he had invested attribute points in Constitution-one of the standard stat builds for Light Priests.
Generally speaking, healers were the easiest targets for enemy damage dealers in PvP. That meant a healer had to be able to take a beating, or even the strongest healing would be useless. The enemy had plenty of control skills to keep you from healing. If you didn't have enough health to survive that window, what good would ten thousand spell power do you?
This little priest has such high SP even after investing in Constitution. His gear must be pretty good. More interestingly... he's got some real skill too.
Ye Fengxing knew perfectly well that his ambush had been sudden, and he had even launched it from Wind Stealth. The fact that the kid had neutralized that assault was clear proof of his skill. As for exactly how he had done it, though, Ye Fengxing's view differed somewhat from War Hero Yi Yan's.
The little priest's initial reaction had been no different from any ordinary priest's: he had immediately tried to heal his teammate. Only midway through had he interrupted the cast and used Divine Prophecy on himself. Why exactly had he done that? Was it game sense?
Ye Fengxing didn't think so. His eyesight was excellent, and they weren't that far apart-only thirty meters. He had seen the little priest's expression clearly. Just as his Cyclone Bind was about to finish casting, the kid's eyes had suddenly narrowed.
Offensive spells generally fell into two categories: projectile spells and instant-effect spells.
Projectile spells had a flight path. Although they traveled very quickly, experts with fast reactions could still intercept them-Ye Fengxing, for instance.
Instant-effect spells were much harder to defend against. They acted directly on you, leaving no way to dodge or block them.
But was that really true?
Actually, Ye Fengxing wanted to say that it really wasn't that simple...
Cyclone Bind was a typical instant-effect spell, so it would serve as an example.
While Ye Fengxing was chanting and his cast bar was filling, Cyclone Bind showed no signs at all. But in the instant just before he finished casting, a current of air would stir beneath the target's feet... Then the spell completed, and the poor bastard was swept into the air. That was the entire process.
Judging by the little priest's reaction, that didn't look like pure anticipation... It looked more like he'd seen the cyclone beneath his feet, then interrupted his own cast to use Divine Prophecy.
Ye Fengxing knew exactly how fast someone's reactions and execution had to be to pull that off. After all, that "instant" was fleeting. Most players didn't even know it existed, and few of those who did could react in time. Even someone with the necessary reaction speed might not have the execution speed to match. People who could manage all of it were generally professional players...
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