League of Legends: League of Unknowns

When they reached the hotel, Yang Ying and Qianqian were already there waiting for them.

 Yang Ying patted Luocheng on his shoulder heartily, a smile full of admiration for him as he said, “Kiddo, you’re becoming more and more unbelievable.”

 Luocheng gave him a cheeky smile in return.

 In actuality, playing against Team Daemons was highly stressful for Luocheng. If they had lost both games, it would be hard to think about getting the championship.

 “Although, hahaha, no matter how awesome you are, I, Yang Ying, was once a person who beat you at solo mid!” Yang Ying laughed as he boasted.

 Yang Ying had always taken pride in that one time he had beaten Luocheng’s Lux with his Fizz, and now that Luocheng was quite well-known among the LOL players, Yang Ying would always bring up this matter when he met with any of the LOL fans.

 Looking at his ecstatic expression, Luocheng didn’t have the heart to tell him that at that time, he had been playing one-handed while his other hand was busy feeding his mouth and chewing on chicken feet.

 Yang Ying was sensible, so he went off to find other things to entertain himself with in the hotel, leaving his sister at Luocheng’s side.

 “There’s a hot spring here, why don’t you go for a dip?” Luocheng asked Qianqian with a raised brow.

 “No way!” Qianqian didn’t know what was going through Luocheng’s mind. Initially, she was about to gush over his beautiful performance today, but seeing him with those words and that face, what a hooligan!

 The game with Team Sky was next week, being able to draw with Team Daemons was a result that was acceptable to Team Skycrown. After winning the next crucial game, they would be able to enter the Worlds!

 “How many days can you stay?” Luocheng asked.

 Qianqian must have taken leave from university to come over to watch the competition. Other than Yang Ying, Qianqian, and the e-sports club, regulars from Demacia Cafe had also come to the arena to show their support, and this made Luocheng feel very grateful.

 Luocheng had been playing before the e-sports industry had risen, and at that time, even if you said you were a Dota god, only a few people would acknowledge you at all. Dota didn’t have proper competitions, no media exposure, and its influence was not as big as LOL. On the other hand, LOL professional players were treated like glorious stars, and the huge contrast between these two which Luocheng had experienced also made him very thankful.

 After the competition, Luocheng didn’t continue to train, instead, accompanying Qianqian in circles.

 Unfortunately, this wasn’t the city centre and there weren’t many things to see. Luocheng repeatedly invited her to take a dip in the hot springs but Qianqian firmly declined each time.

 When Luocheng sent a text to Lin Dong asking him to head over and bunk in with Da Luo and Wu Sen, hoping to secretly bring Qianqian over, that bastard Yang Ying came in a car and said that he was there to send Qianqian back to the university!

 In short, Luocheng would never forget that parting wave Yang Ying had given him, as well as that expression of ‘don’t think I don’t know what you were thinking of, we are all men’.

 Fine, as it happens, the competition organizers didn’t allow friends to be brought into the hotel anyway.

 ***

 Early the next morning, Team Skycrown began their training. They needed to find opponents to train against. It was difficult to find a comparable team to train against, and it seemed that Taiwan was carrying out their own Southeast Asia competition, so there were very few teams that had time to spare.

 

Luocheng and the others were getting bored of waiting, and just as they were thinking that they needed to head into solo que to train, he got a call on the hotel phone.

 “So early in the morning and we’ve got room service? That’s awesome! Hehe, the organizers are so considerate of us handsome boys, yeah?” Da Luo smiled naughtily as he ran over to pick up the phone.

 After answering the phone, Da Luo shouted to Luocheng from the next room, “Team Daemons wants to have a practice match!”

 Luocheng slapped his own forehead, wondering why he had been so stupid. They had completed their match against Team Daemons, there wouldn’t be much reservations between the two teams, he could have invited them to play a practice match too!

 There was little to doubt in Team Daemons’ strength and their experiences could teach Team Skycrown a lot of things. Luocheng hurriedly agreed and they headed over to the training hall provided for them.

 Team Daemons frequently played against Team Sky, thus, Luocheng naturally wanted to take the advantage to inquire more about Team Sky from Hades.

 Reaching the training hall, the members of Team Daemons who were decked out in their green-black uniforms were already there.

 Luocheng’s eyes swept over them. Hades, Charon, Belial, and Mephistopheles were there, and there was Anubis with his blonde hair.

 Asmodai wasn’t present, and from the placement of the seatings they were in, Anubis would be replacing Asmodai’s position as the ADC.

 Anubis was very young, only about eighteen years old. In Ionia server, Anubis’ name was also in the top rankings. He was a player with high-speed response and extremely detailed delicate maneuvers.

 Because he often duo-queued with Asmodai, he would play as the Support. An ADC that was proficient in the Support role would also be able to synchronize better with his own Support.

 Luocheng understood that in the next match, Team Daemons would be using Anubis in the ADC role, so they probably wanted to let Anubis familiarize himself with the team as soon as possible before the next match!

 ***

 For the entire afternoon, Team Skycrown and Team Daemons were both in the training hall.

 In the past, their training matches were always two games, whether win or lose, that was it.

 But this time, they played at least five matches with Team Daemons winning three rounds and Team Skycrown only managing to win two rounds.

 It wasn’t that Team Skycrown didn’t use their all to play, but rather, Luocheng found that with fresh blood in Team Daemons, the entire team had suddenly become very dynamic and aggressive!

 Anubis’ ADC was vastly different from Asmodai’s, his ADC in the early-game dared to poke people. With one or two critical hits, the frontline already had a layer of their health torn off, and this led to Team Skycrown’s members losing quite a bit of health even before the fight had started…

 In the practice matches, Luocheng played Support for all five games, not using his double Jungler tactic.

 The double Jungler tactic was an unorthodox tactic, and if the enemy already had precautions, it was no different than losing directly. Team Daemons was a very adaptable team, Luocheng wouldn’t dig his own grave like that.

 After the five matches, Luocheng was satisfied.

 It had been a long time since he had been able to play so heartily!

 This practice match was vastly different compared to yesterday’s game, everyone was playing more openly, and you could often see extremely interesting plays from both teams!

 No restraints, no excessive tensions, it was only free and comfortable!

 

Win or lose, it didn’t matter at all. What Luocheng wanted was for his own team to be able to cultivate a higher level of professionalism so that the team could face stronger teams with a calm and clear mind, knowing exactly what to do!

 ***

 Once the game was over, Team Skycrown and Team Daemons headed into the hot springs together.

 The hot springs was a benefit given to the competition contestants by Tencent, taking a dip after the competition, it was so good to the point that you could feel it in your bones.

 Of course, if there was a day where there would be a professional female-players competition, the next-door hot springs would be filled with groups of pretty girls splashing water and in towels… that would be so much better.

 Backing up from there a little, if there were phones or some tarot cards provided in the hotel, that would prove that the organizers really understood these otaku boys, and in the future, only Tencent would be allowed to organize it!

 Sadly, there was no such thing!

 “Come to think of it, if Xu Pingyang becomes the Head Secretary, our professional days will become a bit harder.” Charon, who was sitting beside Belial said.

 Luocheng heard this and was startled.

 Xu Pingyang was going to be the ACE Head Secretary?

 Team Skycrown had yet to join ACE, but the organizers, Tencent Games, had already given a lot of authority to the ACE. In the future, the interest of professional players would depend on ACE.

 Luocheng was clearly aware of Xu Pingyang’s motive, he would obviously use the e-sports industry with the intent to make money, not considering anything about the professional players nor bother about their futures. How could they let Xu Pingyang sit in that role!?

 “Tell me about this matter.” Luocheng asked hurriedly.

 “Xu Pingyang has a really extensive set of resources for online gaming, you should know that from the time you were in Sky Club. Basically, Sky Club has their finger in almost every competitive online game. Initially, Xu Pingyang was supposed to fill the role last year and become the Head Secretary when Team Sky appeared on the World’s stage. As luck may have it, he was looked over because of the dispute with your team.” Charon explained.

 “Yeah, he was supposed to have been dismissed for it, how is he back in the selection this year?” Da Luo said indignantly.

 The future professional players fate would gradually be managed and controlled by the ACE due to the authority handed over from Tencent Gaming to them. So to all the professional players in China, a good Head Secretary was so very important.

 And to Team Skycrown, if Xu Pingyang ever became the ACE Head Secretary, they wouldn’t even be able to dream of staying in the e-sports industry!

 He would find all sorts of reasons to make life difficult for them.

 Luocheng still remembered what Number One had said, that the Asian Indoor Games would still be related to ACE, and if Number One wanted to recommend a spot for Luocheng, it had to go through ACE. The problem was that if Xu Pingyang was the Head Secretary, would he even agree?

 

If he didn’t get strangled, it would already be considered good. This guy had always been trying to kill off Team Wings, and now, he was still up to his dirty tricks!

 “What other way is there, he has too many resources. Those who voted for him for the sake of their own interest and the gaming deals will of course push Xu Pingyang for the role, there’s no stopping that.” Mephistopheles said.

 If you think about it, there were many gaming studios and competitive teams who were under Sky Club. If it was by way of referral, of course they would all push for Xu Pingyang to be the secretary because this way, everyone would be able to make money.

 The only problem was that with someone who only wanted to make money in power, even though he had the power to make the industry look prosperous, the interest of the players would not be guaranteed. Thinking back on how they were first exploited, the final results would be disastrous.

 If there were no players who were willing to play professionally, this industry would really be short-lived!