League of Legends: League of Unknowns

Xiao Jia looked at Luocheng and Asmodai in bewilderment.

‘Asmodai is challenging Luocheng to a game??’

The tension in the club room intensified and everyone looked at Luocheng trying to figure out his past that was hidden under his innocent face.

“Asmodai, why? He is just a year 1 newbie from our university…” Xiao Jia chipped in.

“True, that’s his identity now, but do any of you know about his past?” Asmodai pointed at Luocheng.

Luocheng frowned slightly. ‘Is Asmodai going to expose me here?’

‘Not like it’s going to change anything, nobody would recognize me anyway.’ Other than the “old folks” like Asmodai, who had gotten into E-Sports since the very beginning, no one cared about those long-forgotten histories.

When they had won, nobody had cared, let alone the fact that they had lost…

He no longer belonged to that era, it was now Team Daemon’s time to shine. Luocheng had started a new life and didn’t wish to speak of the past.

“You all should be aware that Team Daemon had obtained first place in the previous LPL, so we were practically the top team in China last year and were given a ticket to join the international tournament…” Asmodai raised his voice a little.

As the top team of LPL, Team Daemon’s name had long spread across the entire continent. This was largely due to their ability to battle at the largest stage, as well as the full support and publicity given by the government.

Right now, their popularity was unprecedentedly huge and Asmodai had also become one of the superstars in the E-Sports scene.

However, was Team Daemon content with such achievements?

The answer was an absolute no!

This was because they still hadn’t topped the achievement of Team Wing. It was a place they could only fantasize about, and the reason they were so popular right now was not that they were a better team, but rather, a consequence of the changed era.

“Though we are at the international stage, fighting the best teams of LOL from other countries, our results are nothing to be proud of. We couldn’t even manage to qualify from the group stage…” Asmodai continued.

At the international tournament, Team Daemon had lost a vital match and had been sent packing as early as the group stage.

Team Sky’s performance had been even worse. They had only managed to register one win throughout the entire tournament.

It was a disgrace for not having a single Chinese team in the quarter-finals. Dominance inside the country meant nothing when it came to the grandest arena.

“Asmodai, you guys are not to be blamed. You have done your best. LOL was introduced late in our country and the whole E-Sports system here was not as perfected as the other countries…” Xiao Jia tried to comfort Asmodai and sooth the gloomy conversation.

Asmodai shook his head and said, “That should not be an excuse, because two years ago, someone else managed to enter the international stage when the entire E-Sports system in this country was just a mess. They were the scariest underdogs in the history of E-Sports.”

“Not only did they defeat the traditional powerhouse Korean team, but they even played several European teams into their hands and even brought down the mighty American team.”

“They went all the way into the finals, the finals of an international game…” Asmodai smiled bitterly.

Team Daemon had not even survived the group stage, and Asmodai understood very well how far Team Daemon was from the final throne.

Yet, the once-in-a-decade genius of E-Sports, the man who had won almost every available honor in the China E-Sports scene…

He had chosen to return to the life of a university student, learning knowledge that even those educators didn’t know how to apply in real life. ‘This is how he has chosen to crush his own gift?’

‘Is E-Sports something not worth hanging onto? Then, what are we, Team Daemon, fighting for?’

They had worked extremely hard trying to win back a world-class honor for their country, training like crazy day and night for recognition in the world stage. However, would they wind up like Fighting Hawk? Was it their ultimate fate to admit defeat one day and bow down to this sick society?

***

“Someone in our country had stepped into the finals at the world stage before?” Xiao Jia asked, seemingly puzzled.

Almost everyone in this room was passionate about E-Sports. Nevertheless, their memory of E-Sports began with the rise of LOL and they knew nothing about the E-Sports circle in the country before that.

“I think I’d heard about this before when I was still playing DOTA. There was indeed a team in the international finals before,” Jian Feng spoke up.

He had been a DOTA player in the past and he had played enough to be informed about such news…

However, he had no idea about the name of the team as well as the members in it…

“That’s f*cking awesome!” Yang Ying exclaimed in awe.

Team Daemon which Asmodai was in couldn’t get out of the group stage alive, Yang Ying could only imagine how strong the other team was for being able to enter the finals.

Then again, why was such a powerful team not known by the public?

“I found it! I found it!” Zheng Xia had been on her phone verifying the news with the Baidu search engine. She began to read out the results, “The highest honor a China team has ever obtained in E-Sports was DOTA. Two years ago, Team Wing under the Sky Club beat the more complete E-Sports team from Korea and marched into the finals to face off one of the world’s best teams, England.”

All the eyes in the room were now fixed on Zheng Xia and they listened quietly to her narration on this little-known history of E-Sports.

“The members of Team Wing are “Sky Swan” Lin Dong, “Lone Gull” Luo Qing, “Gale Crane” Zhou Yan, “Blood Eagle” Zhao Tinghua…”

“Zhao Tinghua!!”

“Isn’t he the captain of Team Sky?”

The name Blood Eagle was well known in LOL now, and his fame was even greater than Asmodai. Only Hades of Team Daemon and Brandon of Team Revelation had a better reputation than him inside the country right now.

Without Zheng Xia’s reiteration, they would not have known that Blood Eagle had actually achieved such a great feat in the past.

“Wait… You have only mentioned four members. Who was the last one?” Yang Ying drew closer to Zheng Xia and looked at her phone display.

His facial expression changed to mimic Zheng Xia’s when he too read the last line.

Both of them were flabbergasted and they doubted whether there was some mistake in the article.

However, the information on the page was fact-checked and couldn’t be more truthful.

“What’s the matter? Read it out!” Xiao Jia urged impatiently.

After being told of the story by Asmodai, the people inside the room were eager to know who was the final person that managed to acquire such a groundbreaking glory.

Zheng Xia raised his head and looked at Luocheng in bewilderment. She announced tremblingly, “Captain of Team Wing, Fighting Hawk—Luocheng!”

Fighting Hawk, Yu Luocheng!

Yu Luocheng!

‘It’s him! How is that possible?!’

Suddenly, the entire room was reduced to a pin-drop silence.

The only expression seen on their faces was utter disbelief, and this included Feifei’s. She opened her mouth slightly in surprise and stared at Luocheng’s back with a thousand thoughts racing through her mind.

***

Yang Ying, Xiao Jia, Jinbei, Zheng Xia, and Meiqi had thought that they had grown to know Luocheng better after these few months. They thought of the freshman more highly after his exceptional performance against Fudan University, nonetheless, they were not prepared for such striking news. This freshman had actually attained the honor that even the current strongest Team Daemon could only dream of!