League of Legends: League of Unknowns

After they had returned to the university, Luocheng did not go back immediately to train with his club members. Instead, he headed toward the Paradise Residence near the university compound.

Paradise Residence was packed with low-story terrace houses, and the streets and alleys were cleaner compared to Da Luo’s old place.

Luocheng found Lin Dong and the others sitting earnestly in the middle of the living room, their eyes uniformly concentrating on the computer screen.

Luocheng nodded in satisfaction.

‘Great! It’s good to watch game replays as a team this early.’

Professional players were expected to complement their plays by learning from other professional gamers. It was advisable to analyze the tactics of professional teams from both inside and outside the country. Only through systematic analysis of other teams’ strategy and rhythm control could a team further elevate their performance in the game.

A lot of teams only worked obsessively on their own training and never studied the playstyle of better teams. This would somehow limit their potential and bar them from becoming a true competitor.

Almost everyone in Team Skycrown except Xiao Bei had had a taste of major tournaments before. They knew well what a professional player needed to do to achieve new heights, and one of the approaches was to watch and analyze game replays as a team, like what they were doing at the moment.

Ah~~~ Ah~~~ Oh~~~

‘Wait, is this the soft moan of Ahri being killed? It doesn’t sound right…’

Luocheng walked slowly into the living room and realized their expressions were a little different from his expectations.

‘Why the desperate horny faces? You guys are only watching a LOL replay, right?’

Ah~~~ Oh ah~~~

‘What the f*ck!’

Luocheng was completely speechless.

‘Study replay? Analyze strategies? Scrutinize playstyles? F*ck all that! They are watching porno! In broad daylight!’

Luocheng deduced that his members were completely shameless when he saw a naked male entwined with a female appear across the screen.

“Hey, our boss is here, give him a place,” Lin Dong said immediately after he saw Luocheng.

Xiao Bei stood up reluctantly and surrendered the best seat to Luocheng.

Luocheng did not know how to react. ‘I am no longer a single man. There is no need for me to find consolation through this type of movie…’

“I have something to say.” Luocheng coughed. “I said… I have something to tell you all!”

“Alright, alright! But let us finish this episode first.” Luocheng was utterly defeated by the five of them.

***

Five players in the team—Lin Dong, Xiao Bei, Da Luo, Zhou Yan, and Wu Sen. These were the official members of Team Skycrown. Although they had commenced their journey as a team by watching porno, this did not mean that they were not passionate and eager about their upcoming challenge.

Wu Sen was their long-time acquaintance, in the past, he had often trained with them in Shanghai, and all of them appreciated Wu Sen’s skill as a MOBA player.

Furthermore, as Wu Sen had never retreated from the pro scene, his current strength might even be greater than Lin Dong, Zhou Yan, and Da Luo, who were still working hard to regain their grooves.

Wu Sen’s playstyle fit the bill perfectly, he was good, but humble. When Zhou Yan had approached him to join their reformation, Wu Sen had immediately cut ties with his former team and joined Lin Dong’s side despite the lack of resources.

Lin Dong had made it clear that the maximum stipend he could provide for now was one thousand yuan per month, he had no budget for more.

Da Luo and Zhou Yan had never cared about the money, and Wu Sen had also accepted it benevolently and said that he had no problem as long as the money was enough to cover his meals.

The living expenses around universities were usually low, which was the reason why Lin Dong had set up their base camp beside Shanghai University.

All in all, they had to suffer for at least two months, and hopefully, their lives would take a better turn once they began to join competitions and obtain monetary rewards.

***

“Our team’s gaming computers seem to be below par.” Luocheng had a quick check on their computer equipment.

Lin Dong nodded. “This is a real concern. Most of our computers are close to being an antique, we definitely have to upgrade them. Da Luo’s computer basically lags whenever he runs LOL and QQ together, and Zhou Yan’s processing speed is too slow. He often has to wait for more than ten seconds before entering a game. These ten seconds of delay is extremely fatal.”

Wu Sen’s computer was in better shape for he had kept its hardware up to date since this was his means of living.

“How much would it cost to change all the hardware?” Luocheng questioned.

“Roughly 20,000 yuan plus we have to get you one too,” Lin Dong answered.

“I can settle mine by myself,” Luocheng said.

The prize money of the National University Tournament should be quite lucrative and Luocheng reckoned he would be able to buy himself a new computer if his university team was able to finish among the top positions.

He planned to give the rest to the team, provided he had any extra left.

Though the team didn’t mind the hardship, Luocheng and Lin Dong wished to improve the team’s condition wherever possible. At the very least, Luocheng was not entirely satisfied with the rented place. This place was a far cry from Yang Ying’s comfortable love house.

“By the way, I played a friendly game with the team from Fudan University today,” Luocheng brought up the matter.

“Their main team? I heard that they are pretty strong. This team is going to be one of the toughest hurdles in our path to LPL,” Lin Dong lamented.

“True. Their captain is exceptionally good, his maneuvers and timings are close to Xiao Bei’s level. We might be even in terms of personal skill, but they certainly have better chemistry. Their team play is way better than ours judging by the current form.”

The probability of losing was equally high if Team Skycrown were to battle against Fudan University now. Team Skycrown’s teamwork might be even worse than that of Team Shanghai.

This was why Luocheng wanted the match between Team Skycrown and Team Shanghai to be held quickly. He wanted the members from Skycrown to get familiarized with the team fight in LOL as soon as possible.

“You have set up a date with your university team, right?” Da Luo asked.

“Yep. Let’s have a match during one of the next few days,” Luocheng answered.

“That’s good, feel free to pick a time, we are going to be around anyway. Oh, so will you be our opponent?” Lin Dong asked.

“Probably. I am now the main team’s SP,” Luocheng said.

University E-Sports events were arranged by the college so it was entirely justifiable for Luocheng to participate in it. Of course, Luocheng was solely eyeing the designation of Distinctive Graduate, getting the title would definitely please his father.

The time was set for next week on Wednesday. Team Skycrown vs. Shanghai University’s first team.

Team Shanghai was going to be Team Skycrown’s first formal opponent. Honestly, Luocheng was a little worried. He was unsure whether the newly formed Team Skycrown could put up a fight against Team Shanghai that had been working together for more than a year now.

***

Inside the club room, Xiao Jia, Yang Ying, and the rest, had immersed themselves in training.

After losing to Fudan University, the despair of total defeat did not break their spirit. In contrast, they were now more eager than ever to improve their skills through pub ranked-games.

“Xiao Jia, your phone is ringing.” Zheng Xia alerted him.

Xiao Jia did not plan to answer the call. To do that in the middle of a game was no different than turning his back on his teammates.

“Xiao Jia, you have to answer this,” Zheng Xia said solemnly.

Xiao Jia was slightly irritated, however, his expression completely changed when he saw who the caller was.

“You guys carry on, I have to get this.”

Xiao Jia jumped up almost instantly and ran out of the room.

Yang Ying’s line of sight followed Xiao Jia’s figure out of the room and he silently cursed, ‘Feeder!’

***

“Hi, this is Xiao Jia speaking,” Xiao Jia sounded friendlier than usual.

“I am Asmodai, I have received your message. Our tournament happened to end within these few days.” The voice of a young man was heard from the other side.

“Does that mean you are going to be free?” Xiao Jia’s eyes were beaming with expectation.

“Yeah.”

“Great! We really hope that you can come over and pay our E-Sports Club at Shanghai University a visit.” Xiao Jia exclaimed with great enthusiasm.

“Let me know the time. I will be coming with my friend,” Asmodai replied.

“How about Wednesday? Wednesday evening. We are going to have a match with another team, we hope that you can provide us with some professional advice then,” Xiao Jia said hastily.

“Okay, Wednesday evening it is. Keep in touch.”

“Okay. See you!”

After he hung up, Xiao Jia face was lit up in a bright smile!

‘How unbelievable… Asmodai has agreed to pay us a visit!’

Xiao Jia could almost foresee their instant improvement under the guidance of the pro player. More importantly, Asmodai was Xiao Jia’s most admired player in the E-Sports world!

***

Back in the club room, Xiao Jia had completely lost his interest in continuing the ranked game.

“Haha, let me tell you all some great news!!” Xiao Jia stood directly in front of the projector and said with a face that was reddened in excitement.

“Damn! Are you insane? Get back to your seat, we are going to lose this game!” Yang Ying bellowed.

“Do you remember I once said that I had bumped into Asmodai in Server 3?” Xiao Jia ignored Yang Ying and continued.

“So?” Meiqi blinked her eyes and looked at Xiao Jia.

“Next Wednesday evening, Asmodai is coming to this very room!” Xiao Jia finally dropped the bombshell.

The entire room erupted in excitement as soon as Xiao Jia finished his sentence.

“For God’s sake, are you serious?! Asmodai from Team Daemons? The best ADC in this country?”

“Asmodai from the best China team? He is my idol! I don’t care, none of you shall stop me from begging him to be my master on that day!”

Yang Ying had stood up subconsciously from his seat. He asked Xiao Jia with a serious face, “Are you sure that the one coming is Asmodai?”

“Do I look like I am joking?”

“Gosh! This is unreal!” Yang Ying couldn’t help but exclaim.

At the moment, Team Shanghai had hit a wall and they were finding it difficult to advance to the next level.

Perhaps, with some advice from Asmodai of Team Daemons, his team would be able to find a breakthrough. After all, Hangzhou University did not become the second-best team in the national competition all by themselves. It was largely attributed to their close relation with Team Revelation!