Chapter 222. New Card (2)

"Spiritmaster Melly is a rare champion, right? Some people might not know her. OrangeKing, would you please explain? What should we focus on?" the commentator quickly pointed out that Melly was a rare champion so the audience wouldn’t be confused.

"Ah, the most important thing is that this champion is quite challenging. The entry barrier is as high as the Monk."

"Really? As high as the Monk?"

"Yes, because multitasking skills are included in almost all of her abilities."

"Ah~ You have to move something else other than your own body?"

"Exactly. The lane phase will start soon, and this character is very weak at Level 1."

"Ah, is that so?"

"If Melly doesn't have at least five spirits, she's trash. You can't summon any spirits at Level 1 either."

"How does she fight, then?"

"She shouldn't fight!"

Laughter spread across the GreenTeaBagging section of the audience.

"Shouldn't she have some kind of skill? The developers wouldn't create such a useless character."

"She does have something... a Spirit Wave, but its damage is really lacking. It's like a jab in boxing."

"Ah... Is that so? But isn't that skill important?"

"Yes. Just as the jab is basic in boxing, you have to land Spirit Wave to generate spirit to summon spirits. Of course, don't expect much damage."

"Ah, is that so? The opponent in the lane, player Onion is ranked Gold. He looks very confident and really angry!"

"Exactly! How dare you pick Melly in the shop? Showing your true colors! Especially when Onion has picked the Electric Wizard Kaizad, who has decent damage at Level 1. His confidence must be sky-high."

***

Almond was in the mid-lane. From his perspective, his opponent's expression didn’t look good. That was understandable.

A shop pick in the tournament was surely seen as a provocation. Almond knew that, but the other side provoked them first. This was also an opportunity to gain experience with a new champion.

Even Spiritmaster Melly seemed puzzled.

[Summoner, you're interesting. Immediately calling me to the battlefield.]

Her tone sounded somewhat excited.

[When will we fight? Have you ever dealt with souls?]

It seemed that Melly had something to teach him. The tutorial would begin soon.

As someone who had made shop picks three times before, Almond smoothly proceeded with the video tutorial.

[Spirit Wave is the skill. Once...]

Almond had learned that practicing immediately was the fastest way to learn and preemptively cast the spell before Melly even finished talking.

'Is this how it's done?'

Oooh...!

A strange feeling accompanied the spreading, purple smoke.

Whoosh!

The smoke flew toward the direction where Almond pointed.

[Oh. You're quick? Now focus on your inner world and try moving the spirit.]

Almond did as she said.

[At first, it won't go well...]

Zap!

A spark exploded in the flying purple wave.

Swoosh!

Suddenly, the purple wave jerked to the right. Then again, to the left. It slithered through the air like a snake before dissipating.

[Oh! What are you!?]

Melly's voice rose an octave.

[You adapt quickly, don't you? Hahaha!]

Melly found a summoner worth her time. Although she was not visible, it felt like she was jumping with joy.

'Is this praise just lip service programmed into the champions?'

Almond always pondered about characters that praised him like this. In the meantime, Melly gave him detailed explanations about the skills.

[You earn spirits when you hit enemy summoners or kill minions. Hitting summoners will give you three, and killing minions will give you one. Spirits are crucial when playing with me! One spirit for one spirit body.]

Hitting summoners gave three stacks. Killing minions gave one stack of spirit, which he could use later to summon spirit bodies.

As he shoved this information into his head…

[Minions have spawned.]

The battle officially began.

***

With icy eyes, Onion looked at Almond going through the tutorial in the distance.

'Really, a shop pick? Even though I’m Gold, there's a limit to looking down on me!'

He was boiling with rage.

[Minions have spawned.]

The game officially started, and a sense of resolve filled Onion's eyes.

'I’ll show you hell.'

Zap!

Blue electricity gathered in his hands since he chose the Electric Wizard Kaizad.

Kaizad had decent attack power as a wizard type even at Level 1. On the other hand, Spiritmaster had nothing she could do at Level 1. She could only learn summoning at Level 2.

'This is a fight I can’t lose.'

Almond was approaching to last-hit the minions.

Choosing Spiritmaster made Almond look like a middle schooler, but that didn’t disturb Onion's aim.

Onion immediately cast his magic.

[Overcharge]

Kaboom!

Fierce sparks flew across Almond's face.

[HP 87%]

'It hit!'

Indeed, the lightning magic was hard to avoid. Their exchange started well for Onion.

"Haha!"

Onion thought he successfully seized the initiative and loudly laughed. Then he raised both arms and shouted one of Kaizad's famous lines.

"POWER!"

The audience cheered.

— Woah!

— Hahaha!

— Power!

'I heard his mechanics were crazy, but it's nothing much. What's he going to do with a slow champion?'

Onion felt satisfied with his play and focused on collecting minion gold.

Just then…

Boom!

He suddenly sensed something ominous behind him.

"?"

He looked back, but only saw his allied tower and minions. It couldn't have possibly been an enemy.

'What is it?'

Then, it must have been an attack from Almond.

'A Spirit Wave?'

The only attack Almond had was the Spirit Wave. The wave of souls curved enough just to hit the back of Onion’s head.

'Can it even curve at this angle?'

Onion also used Spirit Wave before, but it only curved about 45 degrees. More than that wasn’t possible.

'Is it coming from far away?'

He looked around with his head tilted up, but didn’t see any curving purple projectiles.

A Level 1 Spirit Wave would disappear in the middle if it came from that far.

'What is this? Did I miss something?'

Bang!

Just then, something shocked his jaw.

"Cough! Cough!"

He retreated while coughing in the rising acrid smoke.

"What..."

This was bewildering. Where was it coming from?

[Health 89%]

Moreover, their health situation was now similar.

'At Level 1, I have a much better advantage. This can't be happening.'

Onion activated his skill again.

Sizzle!

[Overcharge]

Bang!!

A strong spark sprang toward Almond, and white smoke rose.

[Health 77%]

It didn't hit properly, but still managed to land. Onion needed to keep Almond in check like this.

'I should also keep him on edge with basic attacks.'

Basic attacks were attacks that didn’t use any skills. The basic attack of a mage champion was basic magic. This didn’t have any cooldowns or constraints, but of course, the damage wasn’t very high.

Sizzle!

The small spark that Onion fired slipped between the minions and struck Almond.

Whoosh.

Almond deflected the attack with a subtle step.

Basic attacks, unlike the Overcharge skill, consisted of slower projectiles and were much smaller. This made them easy to avoid.

'Did he dodge it? He was looking somewhere else though.'

Again, something struck Onion’s jaw.

Boom!

Smoke obscured his vision.

'Damn...'

Even as he clenched his jaw, his eyes stared at the ground this time. Only now did he see it.

'Insane. It was crawling from the ground?'

Almond made the Spirit Wave crawl on the ground like a snake. Then, it suddenly whipped up to attack.

'It's possible to control it like this?'

The reason Onion didn't notice was simple.

Almond hadn’t been looking at the ground at all. He was leisurely attacking minions with basic attacks that did insignificant damage. All the while, he had been continuously sending out one Spirit Wave after another.

'Here it comes again.'

Wooong...!

Now Onion could see it. A purple mist stealthily approached from the ground.

The snake of purple mist seemed to dodge the minions one by one as it slowly approached.

"Hup!"

Would he still get hit even if he knew?

Thud!

Onion kicked off the ground to dodge.

Whoosh!

The purple mist brushed past the tip of his nose.

'I dodged it...'

Just as he thought so…

Swoosh!

The head of the rising purple mist suddenly turned toward Onion. His eyes wavered when confronted with the spirit.

"Damn..."

Boom!

The Spirit Wave finally struck him in the face, and the purple mist spread out wide.

Onion coughed and looked at the corner of his UI. His face hardened.

'Wait. When did my health get this low?'

The Spirit Wave was supposed to do insignificant damage. His health had been nibbled away more than he expected because he allowed too many attacks.

Wooong...!

Even then, another purple spirit was approaching.

'Thi-This is dangerous...'

***

Thud!

OrangeKing banged the table and stood up, "No way! Almond!!! What is this!?"

"The Spirit Wave... It seems like it's alive!?" the caster also raised his voice.

Almond was currently overwhelming the opponent with just Spirit Wave. Spirit Wave was only a medium for summoning. It wasn’t supposed to be an offensive skill.

"The Spiritmaster fights with a mental body! Mr. Almond! That's not how you do it!"

"No! And Onion's health!"

"Onion looks like he'll die before we even see the summoned creature's face!"

"Ah. Initially, I thought he was successfully pressuring Almond with the advantageous matchup at Level 1..."

"What is this multitasking ability!?"

Boom!

More purple smoke rose around Onion.

Boom!

Boom!

Boom!

Almond nonchalantly continued attacking minions even while the waves struck Onion here and there after every cooldown.

"Onion! Please dodge the skill! How many hits are you taking!?"

"Almond isn’t even glancing at Onion, right!? Is multitasking on this level possible?"

"They say it feels like moving a body part you don't have! Such a foreign feeling. Is this possible with a shop pick!?"

The sensation of moving a body part that one didn't have. To Almond, that was a familiar sensation. Moreover, he had been consistently practicing with Flashy Blade.

Spirt Wave was actually more flexible. The skill used a similar mechanism like playing with Flashy Blade.

Of course, the commentators didn't know he had trained with Flashy Blade.

"Almond's multitasking is top-tier!? How can he do this with a newly bought champion!?"

"Ah! Onion is just turning around and running away!?"

"Where did that bravado go!?"

— LOL, running away against a Level 1 spirit summoner who can't even summon?

— He's running away, hahaha.

— Crazy lol

[Health 5%]

Onion desperately retreated after seeing his rapidly declining health.

"However! Onion decided to flee too late!"

"He ended up getting hit!"

As the commentators said, it was too late.

Onion simply created an opening for the last hit.

Boom!

[First Blood!]

Thud.

Onion collapsed.

"Did Almond just score a kill by relentlessly attacking with Spirit Wave!? It's truly astonishing! He painstakingly killed Onion with tiny pricks!"

"Almond! He didn't even bat an eye! Did he know he'd score the kill!?"

From a third party's perspective, it looked like Onion simply died by himself while Almond was farming minions.

Then…

"Ah. Wait a moment," OrangeKing suddenly lowered his voice. "If I were player Onion, I'd be even more scared now."

"… Huh? Onion is already dead. What can scare a dead person?"

"Almond is Level 2 now!"

"Ah!"

With the collected souls, Almond could summon a spirit body. In fact, this was the real start for a spirit champion.

Judging by how many times Almond hit Onion earlier, he must have collected quite a number of souls.

"How many souls did Almond gather? If it’s more than 20...!"

"What happens if it's more than 20?"

"The turret is in danger! The game might end here!"